I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
I have apparently been lucky. I’ve had a WordPress blog for more than a decade, but last week my luck ran out. I could log into my account, but I could not access the dashboard.
After logging out and back in and trying everything I could think of, I caved in and hovered the cursor over the “?” button. “Help Center” appeared. I took the bait.
That’s when things went off the rails.
Photo by Emilipothèse on Unsplash. (Disclaimer: The WordPress bot may or may not look like this.)
I told the bot that I could not access my dashboard.
Bot’s response: “That’s a common browser-related hiccup! Try these quick fixes one at a time: First, open your site in a private/incognito window – if the drop-down works there, a browser extension is likely blocking it, and you can disable extensions one by one to find the culprit. If that doesn’t help, try clearing your browser cache (usually in your browser’s Settings –> Privacy/History –> Clear browsing data), then reload your site. Does either of these make a difference?”
My response: “I don’t know how to do that. I’ve never heard of a private/incognito window. I thought all my windows were private!”
Bot’s response: “No worries – it’s a bit of a confusing name! A private/incognito window just means a temporary browser session where your saved cookies and extensions are turned off, so it helps us figure out if something in your browser is causing the issue. Here’s how to open one depending on your browser.” (Bot went on to give instructions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, but I use Edge.) “Once it opens, go to your site and try hovering over the black toolbar – does the drop-down appear?”
My response: “This is beyond me! You said it was common, but in the 12 years I’ve had a WordPress blog, it has never happened to me before. Guess I have been lucky. Looks like I’ll have to pay my computer guy to come do this for me. There goes $75, since you couldn’t help me.”
Bot’s response: “I completely understand your frustration, and I’m sorry the steps felt overwhelming. Let me try one simpler thing before you call anyone – it might save you that $75. Can you try a different browser? For example, if you normally use Chrome, try opening your site in Firefox or Edge (or vice versa) – they’re free to download. If the drop-down works there, your computer guy can ix the original browser quickly and cheaply. Would you like to give that a try?
My response: “Actually, you are a robot. You do not understand my frustration. Sounds like I’ll need my computer guy anyway, so what’s the point?”
Bot response: “You’re right, and I appreciate you saying that directly. I can’t truly feel frustration the way you do, and I shouldn’t have said that. Before you call your computer guy, there’s one thing worth knowing – you can actually manage your blog, check comments, and write posts entirely through wordpress.com/home without needing the black toolbar at all. Would that help as a workaround in the meantime?”
My response: “It might. I’ll try that. Thank you.
Bot’s response: “You’re welcome! Just go to wordpress.com/home and everything you need – posts, comments, and more – should be right there. Good luck!”
My response: “Thanks. Goodnight.”
Bot’s response: “Goodnight – take care!”
Where things stand now
At least we parted ways in a civil manner.
I’m accessing my blog via wordpress.com/home. That’s not ideal, but it works.
It’s called progress, but I miss the days when you could talk to a human being.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around. Vote!
It has been a while since I posted a “political rant” on my blog. Being somewhat of a historian, I feel compelled to vent my disfavor today over how the Trump Regime is erasing and re-writing U.S. History.
Before you cast your vote in the November 3, 2026 United States mid-term election, please consider if you really want to vote for the continuation of the things the Trump Regime is doing. That includes Trump’s attack on our history and how it is presented in our national parks, monuments, historic sites, and museums.
The Difference between a Presidential Administration and a Regime
A U.S. Presidential Administration promises to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States of America.
A regime promises to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States of American, but it instigates its own policies and picks and chooses which laws it will acknowledge or enforce. A regime makes up the rules as it goes along and runs roughshod over its perceived enemies.
Ongoing damage to the Truth
We Americans really have no idea how much damage has been done to our country by the Trump Regime. Time will tell what has been destroyed and what cannot be recovered.
One of the things that the Trump Regime’s Department of the Interior under Secretary Burgum is doing is the erasing and re-writing of history. Sort of like what happened in Germany in the 1930s to mid-1940s. Sort of like what happened in Russia in the early 20th century.
Trump only deals in “alternative facts,” which is another term for “lies.” He does not want Americans to remember, honor, or learn about their nation’s history, so exhibits and signage in numerous national parks and the Smithsonian Museums have been removed.
He even went so far in his hatred of the truth to erect signs outside the Smithsonian warning visitors that everything they might see inside those museums might not be true.
How does an individual become so afraid of the truth and education?
I don’t have the answer. I just know that a person like that can do massive damage to a country when put in a place of power. Combine that with the fact that the person in power surrounds himself with people like Stephen Miller. They feed off each other’s hatred at a level of evil the United States has never witnessed before.
All heroes don’t wear capes
We owe a debt of gratitude to former National Park Service Ranger Melissa Dalley. Since April 2026, Dalley has been traveling around the United States in an effort to document the signs that have been removed. She believes the list I share in today’s post is not a complete list of what has been lost.
Armed with the National Park Service spreadsheet released on June 17, 2026, and an internal database which was made public last March, Dalley is trying to identify all the signage and exhibits that have been removed.
Dalley left the National Park Service over the removal of historical facts. She is now on a mission to record what has been torn away by the Trump Regime.
Photo by chris robert on Unsplash
Removed AND Discarded
Between September 2025 and August 7, 2026, informational signs and exhibits were removed from the following national parks, national monuments, historic sites were removed and DISCARDED:
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Delaware (“Guide to the Gap” brochure was removed and discarded because it described how the arrival of settlers from Europe introduced diseases that “devastated the native population, who had no immunities.”)
Gateway National Recreation Area in New York and New Jersey (Display that referred to slavery, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and conflicts between the U.S. Government and Native Americans was removed and discarded.)
First State National Historical Park in Delaware (Caesar Rodney exhibit removed and discarded because he owned slaves. He also helped secure Delaware’s vote for American independence in 1776.)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Memorial, Washington, DC (The sign that told about the discrimination in some of President Roosevelt’s policies was removed and discarded.)
Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, Washington, DC (An “informational wayside” was removed and discarded at this house and museum of the women’s suffrage and equal rights movements.)
Buck Island Reef National Monument, U.S. Virgin Islands (A Junior Ranger book was removed and discarded, apparently because President John F. Kennedy once called it “the finest marine garden in the Caribbean Sea.”)
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia (This park preserved the mountain pass used by Native Americans and Daniel Boone as he led pioneers west. I could not find exactly what was removed and discarded.)
Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, South Carolina (An interpretive display about how sea level rise, coastal erosion, flooding, and storm surge in relation to climate change might eventually submerge this Civil War fortress was removed and discarded. The display was based on research conducted by the National Park Service and Western Carolina University.)
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, Louisiana (I was unable to find out exactly what was removed and discarded from this six-site area of protected swamps, the Chalmette Battlefield of 1815, and centers of Cajun and Creole heritage.)
Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Mississippi (A Junior Ranger book that allegedly contained disparaging statements about some white people was removed and discarded. (The site is where Medgar Evers, a black civil rights activist, was assassinated in 1963. His assassination helped generate support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.)
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (A sign giving the history of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, an early Yellowstone explorer who participated in a massacre of Native Americans was removed and discarded because it was deemed as making “disparaging” remarks about Doane.)
Sunset Crater National Monument, Arizona (A sign describing basalt bubbles at this 1,000-foot-high cinder cone volcano was removed and discarded because a visitor was shown holding a Pride flag.)
36 Signs/Exhibits Removed but possibly not destroyed at the following sites:
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina and Virginia
Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts
Colonial National Historical Park, Virginia
Acadia National Park, Maine
Independence National Historical Park, Pennsylvania
George Washington Memorial Parkway, Virginia
The National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington, DC
Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, Washington, DC
Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida
Cane River Creole National Monument, Louisiana
Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Florida
Christiansted National Historic Site, U.S. Virgin Islands
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, North Carolina
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, North Carolina
Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida and Mississippi
Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Florida
Virgin Islands National Park, U.S. Virgin Islands
Muir Woods National Monument, California
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, South Carolina
Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, Georgia
Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee
Two Other Exhibits, status unknown:
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska (Signage/exhibit removed; not known whether it was saved or discarded)
Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC (Signage/exhibit removed; not known whether it was saved or discarded)
The Yosemite Land Swap
I have never had the opportunity to visit Yosemite National Park, and at this stage of my life I know I never will; however, I treasure that national park. I’ve seen pictures of it all my life. I’m in awe of the grandeur of God’s creation there. Yosemite has been protected since 1864. Its waterfalls, giant sequoias, and mountain peaks have been provided rest, reflection, and recreation for thousands of people from around the world.
And I thought it was protected forever. That’s what our national parks were meant to be. They were set aside and maintained by the American taxpayers for the good of all. The common good. It’s a pillar of our nation. We took it for granted.
National parks and national monuments were set aside as a covenant between the government and the people. We couldn’t imagine anyone with a personal vendetta against Mother Nature would ever be elected U.S. President.
So why does Donald Trump have the right to give Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a land developer, part of Yosemite National Park in trade for an unknown piece of land in California?
The answer to that question is, “He does not have the right!” But his advisers, Cabinet members, and members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate don’t have the courage to stop him.
They let him tear down the East Wing of the White House and most of them never said a word. No wonder he thinks he can destroy our national parks.
The Yosemite Land Swap has reportedly not been finalized, but can we trust Trump’s Department of the Interior to tell us the truth about anything they’re doing?
Ask your U.S. Representatives & Congressional Candidates
Every seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is up for grabs in the November election. Ask the individuals campaigning to represent YOU in the U.S. House if they are in favor of the removal and re-writing or disappearance of American history in our national parks, monuments, and historic sites.
A few of the above listed instances got a little attention by the news media. Were you paying attention? Do you care that current and future generations are being set up to learn a white-washed version of American history — a history in which no white people ever did anything wrong and all people of color were always treated fairly and with respect?
That version of history is a fairy tale being forced on us by the Trump Regime and apparently supported by Trump’s supporters in Congress.
Don’t send them back to Washington to continue to support the Trump Regime.
And one-third of the U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs in November. If you live in a state in which you have a chance to elect or re-elect a Senator who is in favor of continuing down this road of the destruction of history or a candidate who will stand up against the re-writing of our history, please be careful and deliberate in who you vote for.
Vote as if your life depends on it
Vote as if your life depends on it, for life as we’ve known it does depend on it. Do you really want a U.S. House of Representatives and a U.S. Senate that continue to bow and bend to the whims of Donald Trump?
Is that what you want for your children and grandchildren?
Just for fun today I’m posing a question and I hope all my blog readers will participate. I got the idea from the Goodwill Librarian Facebook page.
Here’s your question:
What was the job of the main character in the last book you read? If you don’t remember, think of the occupation of the main character in one of your favorite novels. Can you see yourself in that job?
My answer:
The last book I read was The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife: A Novel, by Anna Johnston.
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife: A Novel, by Anna Johnston
The main character in the book was a man who was at the end of his rope, so to speak. He was on the verge of being evicted from his home when he came upon a man his same age who was in a wheelchair by a river. The man in the wheelchair ended up in the river by accident and the other man assumed that man’s identity. Their resemblance is uncanny. He tried to set things straight, but no one would believe him.
It is a delightful story of forgiveness and unconditional love and is told with lots of humor.
The main character in the book didn’t have a job. He was in his 80s, so his situation doesn’t exactly fit the question I’ve posed today; however, if I try to put myself in his shoes – in my 80s, losing my home, and having a chance to move into a retirement home with someone else footing the bill — I’m not so sure I wouldn’t do what he did. I remind you, he tried repeatedly to tell the authorities who he really was, but they all thought he was confused. After all, the man they thought he was had dementia.
It’s your turn…
What was the job of the main character in the last book you read? If you don’t remember, think of the occupation of the main character in one of your favorite novels. Can you see yourself in that job?
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
Never take your right to read – or your right to vote – or your right to be in charge of your own body – for granted.
Before I jump into my thoughts about the only book I read in September, I remind you that this is Banned Books Week.
Unfortunately, there are some people in the United States who take it upon themselves to try to dictate what the rest of us can read. Therefore, the American Library Association sets aside a week every October for us to pause and consider the books that some people try to get banned from school and public library shelves.
Stay alert to this in your community.
Women of a Promiscuous Nature, by Donna Everhart
Women of a Promiscuous Nature, by Donna Everhart
This is the first novel I’ve read by fellow North Carolinian Donna Everhart. The subject matter of Women of a Promiscuous Nature is a difficult one, so kudos to Everhart for tackling it.
It is obvious that she did extensive research and the book is well-written; however, the combination of the difficult subject matter and everything I had going on were not a good match at this time.
This novel shines a light on the “American Plan,” which was a government program to regulate women’s bodies in the first half of (and some years beyond) the 20th century. Everhart’s book is set in North Carolina.
I read much of the book and became increasingly depressed about the way women – especially unmarried women – were often assumed to be “loose women.” Apparently, if you were unmarried and dared to hold down a job and live by yourself, you were suspect. Girls and women were picked up at their homes or as they went to work. They disappeared without their employers or family knowing what had happened to them.
In this novel, they were taken by sheriff’s departments to the Samarcand Juvenile Detention Center (for girls) in Eagle Springs, North Carolina and to the The State Industrial Farm Colony For Women in Kinston, North Carolina where they were sterilized, put to work in hard labor in the fields, and put in solitary confinement when guilty of regulatory infractions, etc.
The story is set in the 1930s and 1940s. The “justification” was that male soldiers in the First World War got sexually-transmitted diseases and it was, of course, blamed on unmarried women. When World War II broke out, it was assumed the same thing was going to happen, so unmarried women had to be “fixed” in more ways than one so they could be paroled back into society to be good citizens.
North Carolina has a horrible eugenics history. Before the 1960s, poor white girls and young women were sterilized under the direction of the state. Sadly, many of them had been sexually-abused by family members and they were then labeled as “troubled” or “feebleminded.” With the coming of the 1960s, black girls and women became the state’s target for this hideous process.
This history made me sick! It serves as a reminder that even in the United States of America the government can turn against segments of its citizens and do horrible things to them.
If we don’t learn from our history, we are bound to repeat it.
Janet
Never take your right to read whatever you want to read – or your right to control what is done to your body – for granted.
Since western North Carolina was so severely damaged by Hurricane Helene beginning on September 26, 2024, I am blogging about it today. I don’t want people to forget, and I want people to know that the people in the region are still recovering from the storm.
Trouble came on a scale no one could have predicted.
You can find thousands of photographs from the disaster online. I just did not have permission to post any of them.
Summary of Hurricane Helene Damages in North Carolina (Data gathered from various online sources, some not in agreement, of course. This is my best effort as a regular citizen.)
Lives lost: 106
Total estimated damages: Nearly $60 billion
Federal funds received to date: $14.4 billion
Highest recorded rainfall, September 25-27, 2024: 30.78 inches in Busick, a community near Mount Mitchell in Yancey County
Landslides: More than 2,000
Dams that failed or were severely damaged: 40
Tornadoes spawned: 8
Housing units destroyed or severely damaged: 3,800
Housing units damaged: 125,000
Timberland damaged: 822,000 acres
Trees downed in national forests in NC: Millions
State-maintained roads destroyed or heavily damaged: 5,000 miles
State-maintained bridges destroyed or damaged: 700
State-maintained culverts destroyed or damaged: 700
Privately-owned roads, bridges, and culverts severely damaged: 7,000
Water and sewer systems damaged: More than 160
Jobs lost in western NC in the month after the hurricane: 19,000
Examples of Assistance western NC has received:
Search and Rescue members sent from California: 151
Starlink internet terminals sent from a Kentucky storm chaser: 30
Starlink internet terminals contributed by SpaceX: 500
Line crews sent from T&T Line Construction of Hornwell, New Brunswick, Canada: 11
Additional line crews from Quebec, Canada: several
Line crews from across the US: multiple
Helicopters sent in to transport and set power poles: Duke Energy
Disaster relief assistance: 1st Battalion of the 169th Aviation Regiment of the Connecticut Army National Guard
Volunteer private helicopters in rescue efforts: Operation AirDrop and the Carolina Emergency Response Team
Meals provided by World Central Kitchen: More than 64,000
Affordable microhomes built by Beloved Asheville: 12 so far, with another village planned in nearby Swannanoa
Value of pizzas donated to Asheville residents by Mellow Mushroom: $5,000
Liters of water distributed by FEMA: 6.5 million
Meals distributed by FEMA: 7.1 million
Cajun Navy arrived from Louisiana immediately with search-and-rescue teams. They stayed for weeks, if not months.
Heavy equipment work donated by Precision Grading of Tryon, NC (a small excavating and grading company that now includes a 501(c)(3) division to handle donations whose name is now Precision Grading & Disaster Relief.) Basically, their disaster relief work is free-of-charge, but individuals receiving insurance benefits for damages are requested to pay the company for work done.): More than 500 days of very hard work and counting. Visit https://myfox8.com/video/north-carolina-nonprofit-owner-worked-500-days-straight-helping-hurricane-helene-victims-rebuild/12197331/ for a recent report.
Mountain Mule Packers Ranch’s nonprofit Mission Mules (in Mount Ulla, NC) carried tons of food, water, insulin, building supplies to areas inaccessible by other means in North Carolina.
Books collected and distributed by 21st Century Packhorse Librarian: 9,000
PVC pipes cleaned out of the French Broad River due to the flooding of the IPEX plastics manufacturing plant in Woodfin, NC by volunteers from the environmental nonprofit MountainTrue: 6 million pounds. (IPEX has agreed to pay MountainTrue $500,000 for their efforts.)
Amish people from Pennsylvania and Ohio came and built tiny homes for people who had lost their home to the hurricane, but I could not find the exact number.
Rebuilding projects completed or underway in Yancey and Mitchell counties by Rebuilding Hollers, a 501(c)(3) organization: 585 (Visit https://rebuildinghollers.org/Projects for more details.)
Looking to the Future
Landslides: The State of North Carolina is remapping western NC using new LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scans that show the actual damage and waterway channel shifts as a result of Hurricane Helene. That data will continue to be processed for updated flood-hazard maps. That information will be shared with FEMA.
Information I found indicates that FEMA flood zone maps concentrate on rivers and coastal storm surge. Western NC is 300 to 400 miles from the coast. The steep terrain and 30-inch rainfall associated with the hurricane turned tiny streams into raging rivers that were not accounted for on FEMA flood maps. Therefore, fewer than 3% of the properties in western NC that were most damaged by Hurricane Helene are included in FEMA’s mapped flood zone areas.
LiDAR scans that have been superimposed over older maps that predicted potential landslide locations have lined up very well and have identified many additional landslide-prone locations. This information will be used to restrict future development.
Water, Wastewater, and Sewer Systems: Water, wastewater, and sewer systems receiving State funds for repairs and reconstruction are required to repair/reconstruct to a higher, storm-resilient standard and not merely rebuilding to the pre-Helene standards. The NC Department of Environmental Quality has awarded grants totaling more than $1 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure in western NC counties. Another $750 million is needed.
Dam Repair/Reconstruction: After not having a state budget for a couple of years, the NC General Assembly finally adopted a budget this summer. It includes $20 million toward the repairing and reconstruction of failing dams. Government officials and environmentalists will hopefully work together to implement work to be done. Reports indicate that some of the dams were constructed to supply water to textile mills that no longer exist and those dams – at least one of which dates back to 1905 – were not built for flood control. This, no doubt, will be a contentious issue over the coming years as removal of a dam is not a simple undertaking.
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
If you’ve been following my blog for the last two years, you will remember that I have written a number of times about Brother Wolf Animal Rescue in Asheville, North Carolina. Staff and others did an amazing job of evacuating all the animals before the facility was wiped out by Helene’s flood waters.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Asheville stepped up and provided temporary quarters for Brother Wolf, and a campaign was held to raise money for a land and building(s) in a less vulnerable location. Having temporary space provided by the local ASPCA made it possible for Brother Wolf to find homes for more than 900 animals in 2025 and many more were given medical care.
In 2026, the ASPCA awarded Brother Wolf a $1 million grant toward its rebuilding!
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, visit https://www.bwar.org/.
Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina
If you follow my blog, you know that the Blue Ridge Parkway is near and dear to my heart. Portions of the parkway are still closed, but it is predicted to be fully-reopened in NC by the end of 2026; however, not all hiking trails, picnic areas, or other recreation areas will be fully restored by then.
Keep in mind that the North Carolina portion of the parkway runs from Milepost 216.9 at the Virginia state line to its terminus at Milepost 469.1, so most of the parkway is open now. Motorists just need to check maps of the parkway and plan accordingly.
If you’re planning a trip to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage in the Blue Ridge Mountains, be sure to get off the parkway occasionally to support restaurants and small businesses because they took a big hit in multiple ways since September 26, 2024.
Interstate 40 in Pigeon River Gorge
For months after the hurricane, I gave updates from the North Carolina Department of Transportation on I-40, US highways, state highways, and state roads as they were reopened – and in many cases – rebuilt. That story continues two years later and will not soon end.
I invite you to watch a two-minute video at https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2026/2026-09-02-i-40-reconstruction-update.aspx, which is part of a September 2, 2026 update from the NC DOT. (Note the size of the Pigeon River under normal times in the right portion of the photo.) The numbers are staggering and the ultimate estimated completion date for the 5.5 miles of I-40 that were destroyed or severely damaged by the hurricane is now the end of 2029.
As is indicated in the referenced video, the state hopes to have three lanes open by the end of 2028. Currently, only two lanes (one eastbound and one westbound) are open with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit.
US-176 in North Pacolet River Gorge
A 1.1-mile stretch of this federal highway between Tryon and Saluda, NC has been closed since Hurricane Helene. It has received little publicity, and I’m afraid I have failed to mention it in my earlier hurricane recovery blog posts.
A month ago, Blythe Construction of Charlotte was awarded the contract for this $32 million highway reconstruction project. The work is projected to be completed late in 2029. The project faces many of the same challenges as the reconstruction of I-40, as the highway is/was wedged between a river and steep terrain.
The flooding of the North Pacolet River during the hurricane washed out portions of the highway and all the soil underneath it. Some of the slopes where the highway was now drop as much as 60 feet down to the river.
I look forward to the day I don’t need to give Hurricane Helene updates! Perhaps on the storm’s fifth anniversary, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue will be settled in its new facility, the Blue Ridge Parkway will be fully restored to its former glory, I-40 will almost be rebuilt through the Pigeon River Gorge, and US-176 through the North Pacolet River Gorge between Tryon and Saluda will almost be rebuilt.
I apologize to the countless individuals, organization, and companies that I have failed to name that have and will continue to work tirelessly to help the residents of western NC recover from Hurricane Helene.
Janet
All history is local, but no history is just local.
Last Tuesday, I was one of the presenters for the “history day” meeting of the 2026 Class of Leadership Cabarrus. (Cabarrus is the name of our county.)
“Through a series of monthly class days from September through May, participants are introduced to and examine how leadership in the historical, geographical, educational, economic, governmental, and cultural segments work together to perpetuate and advance the Cabarrus County region and its citizens.
“The program is also designed to nurture and develop the leadership skills of current and potential leaders, offering a stimulating atmosphere that fosters diverse viewpoints and yields innovative solutions to the critical questions facing our community. The program’s focus is creating awareness and connecting leaders to the issues; it is not an academic leadership training program, but an excellent professional development opportunity to communicate with the Cabarrus County community. Furthermore, the program is non-partisan and does not recommend or advocate for partisan positions on public matters.”
Since the 1980s, Leadership Cabarrus has hosted more than 700 participants from 200 companies.
This was the third time I’ve been invited to be a presenter for Leadership Cabarrus. I spoke to the 2024 Leadership Cabarrus Class about the history of Harrisburg. I was invited back last year but had to cancel at the last minute due to illness.
After cancelling at the last minute in 2025, I was pleasantly surprised to be invited back this year.
The venue is not always the same. I spoke at the county office building in Concord in 2024. This year, I was scheduled to speak at Southern Grace Distilleries at Whiskey Prison in Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina.
Say what?
Yes, I was scheduled to speak in the chapel of the former prison, which is now a distillery. I thought this would make an interesting blog post, so I arrived a few minutes early and took some pictures.
Guard Tower, I assume was only in operation while it was a prison.
Southern Grace Distilleries, Mt. Pleasant, NC
A sign I assume is left from the property’s former use as a prison.
Things soon went off the rails because the motorcoach (is that still the proper term for a bus?) transporting the 36-member Leadership Cabarrus Class had massive electronic issues and a replacement bus had to be requested from Winston-Salem – some 60 miles away.
Since the class members were stranded at the Eastern Cabarrus Museum, it was decided that I should leave the prison and drive back into Mt. Pleasant and meet the class members at 73 & Main Restaurant. When I arrived at 73 & Main, I could see the class members in the distance as they walked from the museum to the restaurant.
73 & Main Restaurant, Mt. Pleasant, NC
I must say that the people in charge of Leadership Cabarrus showed phenomenal leadership as they juggled the schedule on the fly and dealt with the disruption of the rest of the day’s schedule – which was planned down to the minute for the next six hours. The whole experience turned out to be an unexpected lesson in going with the flow.
The group was congenial. I only noticed one member who was visibly bored out of her mind as I spoke as fast as I could about the history of Harrisburg. Perhaps she was there under duress.
Unbeknownst to me, one of the class members was the daughter of a school classmate of mine whom I’ve known for 65 years. Meeting Stephanie’s daughter was a great surprise! Coming full circle, I expect to see Stephanie at our high school class reunion this weekend.
I must have done an okay job because after I spoke, I was asked to present again in 2027. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get another chance to speak in a former prison. I finished speaking as the replacement motorcoach arrived, so everything worked out great for me. I have no idea how the rest of the day’s schedule went for the group. Fortunately, I got to go home.
I’m glad we still have freedom of speech in the United States, although Trump continues to attack the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Case in point: banning news agencies who report the truth about his evil deeds get banned from the White House. It’s not his house. It’s not his constitution. The White House and the U.S. Constitution belong to the people. Only a dictator attempts to control or silence a free press.
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America
Janet
The First Amendment guarantees our right to religion, speech, the press, assembly, and our right to complain to and about the government. Don’t take one word of that Amendment for granted!
Do you remember last year when I introduced my book, I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter? It’s mid-September and time to remind people who live in the northern hemisphere to reconsider that book. Although it is still much warmer than normal here in North Carolina in mid-September, I don’t want fall and winter to sneak up on you.
I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter, by Janet Morrison
I wrote the book from my own experience. I don’t just dislike cold weather, I dread autumn and winter. That’s half the year! What a waste of my time and energy! It’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I thought it only affected people in the cold, but I have read that some people experience this in the spring and summer.
When I was given my diagnosis, the physician’s assistant urged me to get out in the bright sunshine every morning. Since I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, that simple-sounding recommendation continues to be a challenge for me. When you don’t sleep well (or at all) at night, and you wake up every morning feeling worse than you did when you went to bed – even if you got a few hours of sleep — early mornings are not an enjoyable time of the day.
It was one morning as I walked that I kept repeating to myself, “I need the light. I need the light. I need the light.” It was perhaps the fifth time I said those words that I realized that the short sentence had a double meaning.
I need light to help me cope with SAD, but I need The Light – Jesus Christ – to help me cope with all facets of my life. That is why “The” is capitalized in the book’s title.
Each weekly devotional looks at a different passage in the Bible that references light or The Light. I quote five versions of the Bible in each devotional and I draw on several other books and Bible commentaries in my comments about each passage. Each week includes a suggested activity and a recipe for a comfort food.
People have commented that they like the conversational style in which the devotionals are written. That pleases me because that’s the comfortable and familiar manner in which I hoped to share my thoughts.
These are books that you can read again every year and get something new out of them. I hope you or someone you know who does not thrive in cold weather will find these books helpful.
I concentrated on my writing in August, to the detriment of my reading; however, I did read two interesting and very different books.
P.S. I Forgive You: A Broken Legacy, by D.G. Kaye
P.S. I Forgive You: A Broken Legacy, by D.G. Kaye
In this memoir, D.G. Kaye writes about how difficult and painful it was to grow up with a narcissistic mother. Everything was always and only about her mother, so Kaye grew up knowing that she could never be good enough to gain her mother’s praise.
Kaye writes about how she and her siblings coped in different ways through the years and then handled the situation differently when they reached adulthood. Kaye struggled to make her decision to estrange herself from her mother, but as her mother’s death approached and came to pass she had to deal with that decision all over again.
Kaye loved her mother, but she eloquently writes about how difficult it was to live with her and under her lingering influence.
P.S. I Forgive You: A Broken Legacy is not an easy read, but I highly recommend it.
For people like me, who had a wonderful mother who always put her children ahead of her own desires and needs, I found it jarring to read about Kaye’s experience.
I was fortunate beyond all measure in my childhood home life.
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, by Kristin Harmel
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, by Kristin Harmel
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, by Kristin Harmel was the August pick for the Rocky River Readers Book Club. It created lots of good discussion. The moral question presented by this novel is whether it is ever all right to steal.
Intrigued?
The book’s protagonist, Colette Marceau, was born in to a family of jewel thieves. The catch, is that her mother told her that they were descendants of Robin Hood and, therefore, their thievery was justified in that they used the proceeds for good causes.
Specifically, Colette dedicated her life to stealing jewels from Nazis and Nazi sympathizers and putting all the money gained from those jewels to build and maintain a Holocaust museum/center.
The story revolves around the disappearance of her sister along with her sister’s half of a butterfly bracelet. Colette had the other half. In her later years, Colette set out to find her sister’s half of the bracelet and determine who killed her.
The story becomes very complicated as everyone is not who they claim to be, there are familial connections you won’t see coming, and was the body retrieved from the river actually Colette’s sister… or did she survive World War II?
All the loose ends are tied up in the end, and some of them will surprise you.
When we think about earthquakes in the United States, our thoughts usually jump to California, but 140 years ago today Charleston, South Carolina experienced a powerful one.
Present-day street scene in Charleston, South Carolina. Photo by Leo Heisenberg on Unsplash
The Charleston Earthquake predated the Richter Scale, but it is estimated now that it was probably a magnitude 6.9 to 7.3. It was felt as far north as Boston, as far west as New Orleans, as far south as Cuba, and as far east as Bermuda.
It was felt here in the southern piedmont of North Carolina, so I wrote about it in 2010 when I was writing a local history column for a newspaper. Therefore, my two-part newspaper series about “Earthquakes Felt Here” is included in my book, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2.
Sand and water spewed from fissures in the ground approximately 12 miles west of Charleston, and it is believed that the earthquake was most intense in that area. The sound was compared to that of steam escaping from a boiler. The term for that is soil liquefaction.
Reading that was the first time I remembered hearing about that possible result of an earthquake.
The Times, a newspaper in Concord, North Carolina, reported that the first shock at 9:52 pm toppled chimneys and kerosene lamps in homes. That three-and-a-half-minute shock caused houses to crack and sway.
A second shock came fifteen minutes later, and a third one came about fifteen minutes later. Aftershocks were felt here in Cabarrus County, North Carolina (200 miles northwest of Charleston) through at least September 5.
Other topics in Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2 include the following: an 1849 meteorite, the 22-mile ring dike Harrisburg sits in, the building of the Rocky River Presbyterian Church’s fourth sanctuary in 1861, baseball, the Piedmont Area Development Association, the incorporation of Harrisburg in 1973, the Sauline Players, bridges built over Rocky River in the 1870s, Rocky River Academy, an attempted train robbery in 1907, a tribute to George L. Govan, a year without a summer (1816), gristmills, early schools, the push to get electricity in 1928, the coming of the “high-speed” rail in 2012, and the Pioneer Mills goldmining community.
Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2, by Janet Morrison
Janet
All history is local, but no history is just local
Note: I failed to include the following information in my original post: There were at least 60 deaths. Approximately 2,000 buildings were severely damaged and most of the chimneys in Charleston and the Summerville area were toppled. Damages were estimated at more than $5 million at the time of the earthquake, which would be around $200 million in today’s dollars.
I love maps, but just let me say that the Trump Administration has once again acted loose and fast with the facts.
We all remember when Trump took a Sharpie pen and altered a NOAA hurricane prediction map to show Hurricane Dorian taking aim at Alabama.
The latest in White House-issued maps was apparently intended to substantiate Trump’s threat to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America and to remind us that, in Trump’s mind, the Gulf of Mexico is the Gulf of America. Trump believes he has the authority to do whatever strange thought crosses his mind. He believes if he says it, it is true. He believes if he does it, it is legal.
That latest White House-issued map is a Lego map. Perhaps it was AI-generated. If so, it stands as a prime example of why AI cannot be trusted. Regardless of who or what created the map, it was the White House that proudly issued the map on the internet for all the world to see.
I preface the following paragraph by reminding you that I have lived in North Carolina my entire life. I have visited Washington, DC several times. I visited the Great Dismal Swamp two years ago.
You see, in addition to proudly displaying “Lake America” and the “Gulf of America,” this week’s Trump map places Washington, DC smack in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp in northeastern North Carolina.
Map of USA posted by the Trump White House on social media on August 25, 2026
It is ironic that Trump campaigned promising to “drain the swamp,” but now he has apparently moved our nation’s capital 200 miles south to real one.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
P.S. I didn’t even mention the social media post that the U.S. Department of Education had to take down this week when it was brought to their attention that it equated the Trump Administration with Nazi Germany.
Perhaps someone in the Department of Education needs to study World War II. Or… could it be that someone inside the Administration was trying to tell us something?
