Andy Brack

Andy Brack
Andy Brack is a syndicated columnist in South Carolina and the publisher and a columnist for StatehouseReport.com. Brack, who holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also publishes a twice-weekly newsletter about good news in the Charleston area, CharlestonCurrents.com. A former U.S. Senate press secretary and reporter, Brack has a national reputation as a communications strategist and Internet pioneer. As a communications strategist, he's recently worked with the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Charleston School of Law. Brack received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University. He, his wife, two daughters and Simon the Wonderdog live in Charleston, S.C.
Number of posts: 10
Email address: brack@statehousereport.com

Posts by Andy Brack:


    Life, People & Places, Talk

    Scent of kerosene leaves mark

    by Andy Brack | 2, Add your Comment | Jun 8 10
    Scent of kerosene leaves mark
    ALONG THE GULF COAST – The hint of kerosene in the air on Mobile Bay served as an immediate reminder of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It wasn't an overpowering scent, but a faint fragrance similar to what you might smell a few minutes after spraying WD-40 on something. For all of the people I met and talked with during a weekend long exploratory tour of what's happening along the Gulf coast from Dauphin Island, Ala., to Apalachicola, Fla., this change from the normal salty sea breeze to slightly oil-tinged winds is something that won't be easy ...
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    Rhythm & Dews, Talk

    New Spoleto Festival poster panned

    by Andy Brack | 7, Add your Comment | May 7 10
    New Spoleto Festival poster panned
    CHARLESTON, S.C. — I like to paint.  I like art.  I like modern art a lot.  I even like odd conceptual modern art. But I am befuddled by the newly-unveiled poster for the 2010 Spoleto Festival USA, slated to begin at the end of the month in Charleston.  The world-renowned festival and world-renowned artist it commissioned have thrust something into the public domain that doesn’t seem worth the paper on which it is printed. Maybe that’s the point – to offer a poster that is so controversial artistically that it gets people talking about Spoleto which, in turn, may drive people to ...
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    People & Places, Politics, Talk, Voices

    Let’s learn from the Civil War to move forward

    by Andy Brack | 7, Add your Comment | Apr 12 10
    Let’s learn from the Civil War to move forward
    One hundred and forty nine years ago today, April 12, Confederate troops bombarded Fort Sumter to open a national gash that oozed for more than a century. By the time the bloodiest of American wars ended in 1865, more than 662,000 Americans lay dead. While the total number of Union troops killed was greater (364,511), the South’s wound cut deeper because the estimated 258,000 Confederate dead came from a smaller regional population. One in four white Southern males between the age of 15 and 40 died in “The Lost Cause.” Our War Between the States tested America and its notion of ...
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    People & Places, Talk

    Whatever happened to the South’s mules?

    by Andy Brack | 6, Add your Comment | Feb 9 10
    Whatever happened to the South’s mules?
    CHARLESTON, S.C. — American photographer Walker Evans is remembered, in part, for his iconic Depression photographs of three poor, tenant farming families in Alabama in 1936.  Published as part of the 1941 book, “Let us now Praise Famous Men,” Evans piercing photographs portrayed barefoot children, their worn mothers and their tired, sunburned farmers with pained, pained eyes. But two photographs in Evans’ series were different. They included mules. [See some of his photographs by clicking on this link.] “Mules did everything,” remembered retired Army Corps of Engineers Gen. Carroll LeTellier of Charleston during Saturday breakfast at the Marina Variety Store.  Mules pulled ...
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    Politics

    Gibbs outlines pressures, joys of White House job

    by Andy Brack | 3, Add your Comment | Jan 28 10
    Gibbs outlines pressures, joys of White House job
    Washington — White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has an office that's big enough to accommodate a gaggle of 25 reporters. In fact, he periodically invites key members of the press corps into his office overlooking the White House's north lawn to give preliminary briefings on major news events. But with the advent of the 24-hour news cycle and the immediacy of information delivered by blogs, Twitter and the Internet, there are fewer gaggle briefings than in years past. During a one-on-one conversation early Tuesday in his White House office, Gibbs outlined the grinding weekday work cycle that often begins at 6 ...
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    Life

    Pilot of new TV show on music debuts

    by Andy Brack | 1, Add your Comment | Jan 24 10
    Pilot of new TV show on music debuts
    It's not every day that your college roommate is host to a national television show. But come Monday night at 10 p.m., you'll be able to see Marco Werman on public television nationally as he hosts the pilot of "Sound Tracks," a new show that highlights what's happening globally with music. "The whole idea of 'Sound Tracks' was essentially to take the 'Global Hit' segment I produce for radio -- for 'The World' -- and give it visuals," Werman said in an interview. "It works extremely well with music that's happening around the globe because artists tend to occupy spaces that ...
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    Life, Talk

    Rockwell painting nudged nation

    by Andy Brack | 5, Add your Comment | Jan 18 10
    Rockwell painting nudged nation
    CHARLESTON, S.C. – With the eyes of the nation this week on civil rights, let’s turn our focus to a painting inspired by a Louisiana event that astonished America when it came out 46 years ago. In 1964, artist Norman Rockwell, the well-known illustrator of iconic images of the American dream, unveiled the first of his civil rights paintings, “The Problem We All Live With.” It’s very likely you have seen this painting that debuted in a two-page spread in Look magazine. It’s very different from most of Rockwell’s work. The painting shows a full-length profile of a young black girl in ...
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    Politics, Talk

    Moving beyond SC’s Faulknerian protagonist, Mark Sanford

    by Andy Brack | 1, Add your Comment | Dec 18 09
    Moving beyond SC’s Faulknerian protagonist, Mark Sanford
    Two things surprised me about a new poll on what South Carolinians think should be done about our state’s now famous, philandering governor, Mark Sanford. First, only 1 percent of the 770 registered voters who responded to our new InsiderAdvantage/Statehouse Report poll had no opinion of what should be done about the governor’s behavior, which has turned South Carolina into a running joke everywhere from water coolers to late night television. For only 1 percent of people to have no opinion about options for his fate shows just how deeply his personal failures have cut into the state’s psyche. Second, a majority ...
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    Life, Talk

    Hidden gems flourish across Palmetto State

    by Andy Brack | 1, Add your Comment | Nov 29 09
    Hidden gems flourish across Palmetto State
    South Carolina, known for its “smiling faces, beautiful places,” has countless hidden gems – restaurants, parks, communities that shine for their uniqueness and special offerings. We all have a special place that we value, whether it's a waterfall, a mountain walk, a blackwater river, a country store, a prime fishing hole or a tucked-away corner of a beach. Over the last week, we've asked people from across South Carolina to share their hidden gem. Here are some of the best: Stumphouse Tunnel, Walhalla. State Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, suggests a trip to this uncompleted tunnel started during the Civil War. Cool ...
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    Politics, Talk

    Now is the time for courage

    by Andy Brack | 11, Add your Comment | Nov 23 09
    Now is the time for courage
    Now is the time in the South and nation for courage —  for leaders who will stand up for what’s right, regardless of how it will impact them personally. What do we have instead? — Blowhards like Sarah Palin who are more interested in soundbites, making money  and getting on TV than actually doing any work. — Weaklings like S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford, who drag out the release of a public report of a public investigation by a public body about his ...
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