When home isn’t home anymore

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Joey Ledford

Joey Ledford is a veteran journalist, who for more than 20 years was a writer and editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He also served as a writer and editor for United Press International for eight years.
Number of posts: 2
Email address: email
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Posts by Joey Ledford:

When home isn’t home anymore

by Joey Ledford | 8, Add your Comment | Jul 16, 2010

The great philosopher Mick Jagger sang it best: “What a drag it is getting old.”

One of the worst parts of the affliction the Stones’ song recalls is that not only are you putting on years, but the people you begat are getting that way as well. Or at least they are getting old enough that they don’t need the nest anymore.

Read on →

The amazing lightning bugs of Elkmont, Tenn.

by Joey Ledford | 5, Add your Comment | Jun 8, 2009

ELKMONT, Tenn. — One spectator likened it to Aunt Melba’s Christmas lights. Another described the trek through the darkness to see the show as a Halloween for adults without candy and the annoying trips up steps to knock on doors. “Woo,” said a third. “This is SOOO cool.” This magnificent display of nature is known as Elkmont’s synchronized lightning bugs. Photinus carolinus, one of 14 species of fireflies that inhabit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, pick a two-week window each June to do their thing. Accounts differ when people are asked to describe this eerie explosion of fluorescence. From watching individual fireflies among thousands, it appeared to me that they light six consecutive times within about six seconds. Then darkness prevails for a like period before the cycle begins anew. Some felt the glow swept through the woods in a right to left wave. The phenomena appears to be [...]

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Googling Cousin Angie

My Aunt Naomi from the piedmont of South Carolina was visiting my mother in Southern Georgia. I wanted to see her, too, so I invited my parents and Aunt Naomi over for a cookout at my house. Aunt Naomi had been the victim of a stroke some years earlier and had some problems from time to time with speech, but hadn’t aged much, except for long gray hair that resembled Emmylou Harris. The steaks grilled, corn on the cob boiled, field peas cooked just right in chicken broth, and the crescent rolls ready, my wife and I sat down with them f Read on →

Many state school systems shortchange students in education

"Nothing but the best for our students." "Education is key to the future." "Our students must compete with the brightest in China." You've heard remarks like this before, often from educators and elected officials. But the reality is far different from these remarks. We've found that a majority of the counties in Georgia provide less than the state-mandated 180 days of instruction for their county students. Can you imagine that you could provide "nothing but the best" by shortchanging the number of days students are in school? It's happening. Take a look at the adjacent map. The orange counties are providing 180 days of instruction. Read on →

Feuds, Fathers, & Forgiveness

There’s something about being a writer that leads people to confide in me. Think about that. Why tell a writer, a person who uses life itself as raw material, your deepest secrets. But tell me they do, and sometimes their secrets break my heart. Through my writing and books, I meet a lot of people. Some become friends. I’ve come to know women who confided in me just how much they hated their father. They had reason. So they say. Several told me how hard life was with an alcoholic father. Others talked about how abusive their dads were, and some fel Read on →

Machine Madness and Big Al Gore

Let's think about PRISM. The problem isn’t that someone is going to be listening to your telephone conversations or looking at your telephone records. They may well do so, no matter what the President says. Indeed, they will be because that is the nature of human curiosity. However, that is not the problem. The problem is the machine that is PRISM will be looking at every telephone call you make and every email address you send something to or receive something from. Likewise, the machine will take note of every web site you visit, and, if you have a blog or we Read on →

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Joey Ledford

Posts by Joey Ledford:

When home isn’t home anymore

The amazing lightning bugs of Elkmont, Tenn.

Worthy of Comment

Also on the Dew

Googling Cousin Angie

Many state school systems shortchange students in education

Feuds, Fathers, & Forgiveness

Machine Madness and Big Al Gore