No Strategy

Dear Editor,

Part of watching politicians talk and news coverage is making a sport out of picking which phrase will be hyped up into its own news event.

When the president responded, “I have no strategy…,” to a reporter’s question, I knew that would be the one. Those who oppose the president at every opportunity have used it to suggest that he’s lacking in leadership and planning the fight against this particular terrorist group. And the news media accommodated that aspect. I think that’s the

Sometimes it’s hard to listen attentively, especially when people leave the most important information until the end of their speech. I am an undisciplined listener. I listen but I don’t hear. All it takes is one word that may catch my attention and snatch my thought process completely away from the topic. This is how I miss the crucial part of directions, schedules and appointments. Unless the speaker is riveting in his presentation and commands my attention somehow, my thoughts flit around from one thing to another, not necessarily in any logical order.

It’s not that I’m consciously inattentive. It’s just that the things I pay attention to may not be what the speaker is saying. He may have wonderful information. But if he speaks in a monotone or has an unpleasant delivery, I may be focused on the collar of his shirt, trying to decide if it’s permanent press that was left in the dryer too

I’m not even certain where to begin my column this week. Current events have provided enough fodder for me to write one column per day and still not cover all the thoughts that I’ve been mulling around in my mind since last I wrote, but I suppose like diving into a freezing cold pool, this is one of those times when I simply jump in feet first.

During my day job, I work for a program through Behavioral Health Services called Empowering Families. Tied closely to the Department of Social Services, I do home visitation with families who have been reported to DSS for alleged abuse or neglect of their child or children. I go to the homes of my families and assess for safety and risk factors that might lead to abuse or neglect. My goal is to look at the strengths the family has and build upon those, connecting them with the resources and support they need so that they can be completely independent and self-sustaining.

Above all this, my job is to ensure that the children in these families are cared for in the ways children should be — that their basic needs are met and that they are loved and treated

Gillespie looks back at board tenure

Dear Editor,

I decided not to run for reelection for the school board because I can no longer devote the time necessary to being a school board trustee. I want to thank the public for their encouragement the last four years. I recently read my campaign flyer from four years ago and I am happy with what we accomplished.

From 2006 through 2008, superintendent Lee D’Andrea hired administrators from all around the state and paid them excessive starting salaries. This was taking money out of the classroom, and I pledged if I was elected to help “reduce excessive administrative salaries and redirect the savings to the classroom.” By promoting from within

A long time ago, when we didn’t know any better, we picked out light fixtures for the house. Although we looked at so many different styles I became overwhelmed, we at last, due to overload, picked a light for the stairwell that hung from the ceiling.

The chain is just a couple of feet long, and it is very pretty.

We could have selected lights that attached to the wall in the stairwell, but at that time in our lives we weren’t worried about the future.

Or the thought of what we’d have to do when the bulb burned out. We never thought at all.

So now, if, heaven forbid, the bulb in the stairwell burns out, it takes a bit of doing to change it.

Doing heights has never been one of my strengths, and it seems to

The leaves on the snowball bush are turning red, as are the tips of the leaves on the dogwoods. That’s the first message sent saying “Get ready. Fall’s coming.”

Even before this nature alert, there was something in the air. Just before the onset of autumn, we notice a discernable difference when the front door is opened and we breathe in the morning. It’s in the breeze. The sky seems a slightly different shade of blue.

The butterflies hovering around the lantana are beautiful, but some of their wings are a little tattered on the tips. In the late evening yesterday, there were 25 zebra swallowtails counted on one lantana alone.

They know something is coming. There is going to be a change, a

Emerson’s 11th birthday is right around the corner, so I spent this holiday weekend laboring lovingly over her birthday scrapbook while she and Ella were visiting with Brian. As I sentimentally organized piles of pictures from the last year, I couldn’t help but marvel at how much my “baby” has grown.

The tallest girl among her peers, we are no longer able to shop in the kids’ department, which presents challenges, as I don’t want my 11-year-old looking like an 18-year-old. Em is in the fifth grade and her last year at Forest Acres Elementary; then she will enter the unchartered territory of Gettys Middle School.

I like to have ambient noise in the background while I work on projects. Lifetime provided both noise and an educational experience Sunday afternoon as I scrapbooked memories of the last year. In Sunday’s Lifetime lineup was a movie called “The Choking Game.” While I didn’t focus my attention on the movie, I heard and saw enough to wonder if this is another thing I need to add to my mental checklist of things to worry

Education money

Dear Editor,

Money for education has evolved into a strange beast.

Back in the 1960s, I was able to save enough from my summer work cutting grass and in the textile mill to pay for college tuition. It also included paying for the commuting gasoline, clothes and books … and whatever teenagers spent for amusements.

That was also when minimum wage was $1.25 to $1.40 per hour and tuition and student fees were $650 per year … $2,600 for a four-year degree. The equivalent in 2014 dollars would be $8.13-$9.10 for minium wage, $4,225 per year and $16,900 for a degree.

Some textbooks now, the real kind with ink on the pages, cost half of what I paid for a semester’s tuition. But all of

I’m not sure how I do it. Every year I get myself excited for the Clemson football season, as if they are going to be undefeated and win the national championship. That’s not really a good excuse, because in 1981 the Tigers were undefeated and won the national championship, yet somehow my check from the school must have gotten lost in the mail.

So the lesson is that if Clemson is undefeated and wins the national championship, my pay remains the same as if the team lost every game of the season. So why do I get so excited every year?

This season I was really excited. All we needed to do was beat Georgia, somehow upset Florida State, then win the rivalry game against the Gamecocks — a tall order since they have won five straight years against Clemson.

But we didn’t even do the first one. Now upsetting Florida State in a couple of weeks looks unlikely, and who knows what will happen when we play those birds from Columbia. And North Carolina is looking iffy too. And Louisville, Duke, Wake Forest

I really hate to break the news but they’ve moved Whitewater Falls. No, I’m not making this up. We know they’ve moved it because we went up to Jocassee with the express purpose of kayaking up to Whitewater Falls, and it was nowhere to be found.

And, what’s more, we looked pretty carefully at the large map mounted near the boat ramp, and it clearly indicated where Whitewater Falls was located.

Someone, maybe the park ranger if they have one, had stuck little silver stars onto the map to indicate where all the water falls are around the lake. There’s a printed legend that identifies the different falls.

Not only did we consult the map, we also asked someone at the boat ramp who looked knowledgeable about waterfalls, and he told us