A living, panting document

This weekend, I watched a re-run 2005 episode of Nova on PBS which chronicled the conservation of the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The painstaking restoration of our nation’s founding documents was a worthy subject of documentary, and I’m glad I watched it. As with most documentaries these days, the narrator gave the … Read more

.500

Vols 48, Indians 27 Now that Tennessee has defeated the Arkansas State “former Indians,” the Vols are now 2-2. Things are back on the upswing, right? If it were only that easy. The Vols did good to win today, but the real story of this weekend were the tough games played by Arkansas, South Carolina, … Read more

And I thought Civics were cars…

ISI has just released the results of its American Civic Literacy Quiz. Apparently the average score for college seniors was 50.4%. Couldn’t be that bad, I thought. So I took the test. Yikes. It’s a little tougher than those Jay Leno, “man on the street” quizzes. I thought I aced the thing, only to find … Read more

The end of the Phillip Fulmer era

Vols 20, Gators 59 It’s time. At Tennessee, you can only lose to an arch rival so many times. You can only throw a subordinate coach under the bus so many times. You can only slap arrested players on the wrist so many times. At some point, it’s time to move on. Phillip Fulmer’s time … Read more

Dorothy Estes, R.I.P.

Yesterday, in the earliest hours of the morning, another of my great aunts, Dorothy Estes, passed away. Aunt Dot, as we all called her, was the sister of my grandmother, and an integral part of my extended family in the Knoxville, Tennessee area. Born on April 16, 1925, she was the eldest of three sisters. … Read more