Walkin’ II: Early Morning Strolls

5 October 20214 October 2021 The Portly Politico10 Comments

I’m currently cutting back on my calories and have so far dropped around ten pounds in the past two weeks. I’d let myself get comfortable and complacent after a long, lazy summer. Sure, I’ll loosen up a bit—both my calorie restrictions and my pants—for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but I’ve been doing pretty well regulating my daily intake. It had grown, quite frankly, massive.

I mentioned this latest of my various weight loss odysseys to my neighbor, the man who takes Murphy out for me and—more germane to this post—who is the Zone Captain for our Neighborhood Watch. My adventures in dropping unsightly pounds and inches inspired him to propose the Lamar Neighborhood Watch establish small walking groups, and yesterday morning, he and I met shortly after 6 AM to walk a short circuit downtown.

SubscribeStar Saturday: Another Election

2 October 202130 September 2021 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive. To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more. For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

One month from today, my little adopted hometown of Lamar has another election. There is a competitive mayoral race, between a current Councilwoman and another resident. That should be an interesting race to watch. If the Councilwoman loses, she’ll maintain her seat on Council, as she is in the middle of her term and not facing re-election this election cycle. If she wins, it would trigger a special election—I think—to fill the vacancy. Either scenario is interesting, but either way she would remain on Council.

There are also two Council seats up, both with incumbents running—another Councilwoman and myself.

For the Council races, residents will be able to vote twice—once for each seat. Since there are no other filed candidates, it should be a fairly straightforward election.

That said, I lost my first run to a surprise write-in candidate (indeed, to the other Councilwoman running), so I don’t take anything for granted.

So, what is my approach this time?

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Driving the Georgia Backroads

7 September 20216 September 2021 The Portly Politico30 Comments

Murphy and I spent this Labor Day Weekend visiting my girlfriend and her German Shepherd in Athens, Georgia, which is about three-and-a-half hours from Lamar. As such, I spent a solid seven or so hours on the road this weekend, not counting time we spent tooling around Athens.

For a three-day weekend, that’s not much driving, and I’ve driven longer distances. Way back in the mists of graduate school, circa 2006 or 2007, I drove from Knoxville, Tennessee to Rock Hill, South Carolina (not far), then from Rock Hill to Richmond, Virginia and back just to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra with a friend. She took the wheel only for the last hour of the drive back, and apparently as soon as I got into the passenger seat, I was out cold.

Granted, I was twenty-one or twenty-two at the time. In the intervening fifteen years, my zest for driving all night to hear live symphonic holiday power metal has waned considerably. Now I’m lucky if I can make it to 10:30 PM without falling asleep on the couch, my multiple after-school drives to Universal Studios notwithstanding.

But I digress. While I may lack the stamina of my reckless youth, I do alternatively loathe and appreciate a long drive.

Civic Engagement and Leadership

10 August 20219 August 2021 The Portly Politico20 Comments

I am blessed to live a wonderful town, the great Lamar, South Carolina. Lamar is a small town of less than 1000 people, and it has many of the possibilities and problems of any small Southern town.

The possibilities, I believe, far outweigh any problems we face. As any Human Resources rep will tell a prospective employee, “our people are our greatest assets.” Of course, that bit of treacle is usually a sign that the people are not considered the company’s greatest asset, and often precedes the stab in the back to the unwitting employee.

I do not mean it in that sense; in other words, I am sincere when I write that the residents of Lamar truly are the town’s greatest resource. There are dozens of residents who are ready and willing to pitch in at a moment’s notice to help out, often without being asked.

This phenomenon is quite American—and, perhaps, even more enhanced among Southerners of every race and background.

It is not, unfortunately, universal. Broadly speaking, it seems that civic engagement across the country is well below the traditional standard I believe exists in my little town. The drying up of civic organizations like the Kiwanis and the like is suggestive of a general decline in civic involvement.

Belated SubscribeStar Saturday: Back into the Arena Again

24 July 202124 July 2021 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

This post was meant to be published on Saturday, 17 July 2021, but I was out of town without Internet. Apologies to subscribers for the delay.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a detailed update on Lamar Town Council. Lamar is really a wonderful town, and a great place to live; we’re just experiencing a number of strains that are typical for a small town with an aging population. Even so, Lamar is uniquely poised for a renaissance, given its proximity to I-20 and the major population centers in the region.

That said, there are some systemic problems that are making that renewal more difficult. Progress is being made to address each of these problems in turn, but it’s slow and often piecemeal. That’s no criticism of the fine people who work for the Town—they’re doing quite well—but it’s indicative of the kinds of pressures on time and resources the town is experiencing.

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Adventures in Dog Walking

13 July 202112 July 2021 The Portly Politico10 Comments

Taking long, contemplative walks is one of life’s simple pleasures. Doing so with a dog, I have discovered, is even more fun, even if it means carrying around a hot, steaming bag of poop part of the time.

For the past week, I’ve been dog sitting my girlfriend’s lovable German Shepherd, Lily. Lily is nearly three-years old, and very well-trained (my girlfriend will tell you otherwise, but she did a good job with Lily). For that reason, we have been walking a lot this past week. Being somewhat inexperienced with dogs, anytime she starts nosing at the door and whimpering, we go for a walk, so we’re probably doing it way more than necessary.

Regardless, taking all these walks has afforded the pup and I several opportunities to see the town. Walking a location, rather than zipping by in a car, gives the walker an intimate understanding of a place. Lily has certainly left her mark—scatologically and otherwise—all over.

Summertime Schedule Begins

8 June 20218 June 2021 The Portly Politico4 Comments

After a long school year and a whirlwind trip to Universal Studios, I am finally settling into my summertime schedule. My History of Conservative Thought course did not “make” this summer, as I only had one student enroll (the course really needs a minimum of three students to work well), but my dance card is full enough with lessons and other obligations and engagements.

Next week I’ll be running my first ever “Rock and Roll Camp” at my little school. It will essentially be a condensed version of the Music Ensemble class I run throughout the school year, squeezed into four three-hour days. The plan is to end the final day with a short concert. I’m waiting to hear back on who is enrolled and what kind of instrumentation we have, as that will determine the song selections, but I think it will should be a fun camp.

After that it’s the return of Minecraft Camp, a perennial favorite. At last count I have either ten or eleven campers signed up for that camp, which is quite good. Minecraft Camp is the most lucrative camp of the summer, and accounts for a good chunk of my supplemental income this time of year. I missed out on it last year, as I was very sick, so here’s hoping I’m good to go this summer.

The Small Pond Talk

31 March 202123 March 2021 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Last Thursday a colleague asked me to give a talk to his Public Speaking class about serving on Lamar Town Council, working as a teacher, and how I balance the two. Below is the written version of that talk, which is adapted in part from my post “Small Pond” (read the full version on SubscribeStar).

When Does it End?

10 March 20219 March 2021 The Portly Politico3 Comments

At my second Town of Lamar Council Meeting, my colleagues outvoted me 4-1 to renew Lamar’s mask ordinance for another sixty days. They also shot down my proposal that we reopen council meetings to the public, who can currently only attend online via Facebook Live and Zoom.

That’s precisely what I expected to happen, and I appreciate their reasons: concerns about safety, etc. The big, lingering question—one I can’t get out of my mind—is “when does it end?” At what point are we safe “enough” to remove our masks?

Brief Monday Morning Update

8 March 20217 March 2021 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Last week was an exceptionally busy one for yours portly, with a number of duties and responsibilities intersecting at once. I’m sure many readers have noticed this phenomenon, but there is a decidedly cyclical nature to workflow; indeed, it’s almost tidal in the manner it ebbs and flows: I can go for two or three weeks enjoying a fairly placid schedule, only to have a couple of weeks of intense activity. Everything seems to come to a head at the same time.

That’s particularly true in education, a field that is structurally cyclical, with regular intervals of heightened activity baked into the calendar. The third quarter ended Friday, marking the beginning of the end of the school year (fourth quarter—that last, mad dash to summer vacation—starts today). That means last week was a flurry of finalizing grades and writing report card comments.

My school requires unique, individualized comments for every student, and though we teach (on average) fewer students than the typical public school teacher, we’re expected to go above and beyond. Because my colleagues and I were scolded as a group for comments deemed inadequate (for the record, I always write exceptional comments), I decided to double-down and write even more ridiculously detailed comments. Our registrar read through them Friday morning (after I worked furiously and late into the night Thursday to finish them before the weekend) and said, “I felt like I was reading a novella.” Mission accomplished.

That’s all to say that I’m very tired, so I thought this Monday would be a good opportunity to offer some brief updates.

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: small towns