Firebombings: From My Father's Wars to Mine (2003)

In 2003 I was asked to speak at Clemson University, James Dickey's alma mater, about his work as a poet and mine as a journalist. The speech was adapted afterward into this essay published by the Clemson University Press, but, I fear, no longer available on line.

I am re-posting now as we enter a new phase of war in the Middle East, the result of so many bad decisions that were apparent 16 years ago exacerbated, now, by the miscalculations of the current administration.

My apologies for the format. I hope to re-post shortly as a PDF.

A note on the horrific flooding in our old Columbia, South Carolina, neighborhood

So much is gone with the wind and the floods that ravaged the Carolinas. In Columbia, SC, the dam that created Lake Katharine broke, devastating the homes downstream. (See Ben Hoover's stunning coverage at https://www.facebook.com/bl.hoover.3?pnref=story ). My family lived on Lake Katharine for almost 30 years and these are some snapshot memories cerca 1970-74, including James Dickey with Robert Lowell, Robert Redford, and grandson James B.T. Dickey on the dock behind our house at 4620 Lelia's Court (which was torn down after we sold it in 1998). I am sure Bronnie and Kevin, Janet Lee Burnet, who took the great photo with Lowell, James Mann, Michael Allin (who taught me to water ski on that lake), Ward Briggs, Gordon Van Ness III, and others have more pictures they could share as well to help us remember our time on Lake Katharine, and I hope Shani Shani Raine Gilchrist has great success helping to organize relief efforts for people who live below the broken dam. To that end there will be a reading by South Carolina authors, including Marjory Wentworth, on Oct. 10 in Charleston.