Opinion Archive

Whenever Apple introduces a new iPhone, eager crowds line up in the predawn hours outside Apple stores hoping to be one of the first to get the latest.

My wife and I have never been in that crowd; we keep our phones until they will not work anymore.

I spent Friday night babysitting a lizard for my daughter who turned 23 Saturday. Both halves of that sentence are improbable sounding to me. That I would babysit a lizard and that my oldest child would turn 23.

When you are in the first blush of parenting, it seems they will be little forever.

I’ve never been one to put a lot of stock into rankings, be it preseason, in-season or postseason. They have as much value as the lint in my pocket. Maybe less.

Apparently, rankings mean even less than I first thought based on how the Region 1-2A bracket was set up for flag football.

Mother’s Day is May 9 and I’m celebrating a little early.

I am in Orlando this week to see my mom who I haven’t seen in more than a year due to COVID. She was living independently before COVID.

After Hurricane Sally, the road on the National Seashore (399) that runs from Navarre Beach to Pensacola Beach was closed for months.

When it finally opened, the speed limit was clearly marked at 25 mph (and 15 mph in some places) because of the remaining damage to the road and because some lanes were only partially open.

I got my second “jab,” as the Brits call the COVID-19 vaccine, and the “jabber” was good. I did not feel a thing, nor did I experience any significant side effects.

Now, depending on whom you care to believe, I am either safe from the coronavirus … or I am not.

For the last eight months, I’ve been immersed in the worlds of Navarre and Santa Rosa County.

It’s been fascinating and challenging to understand the smaller community of the area stretched along U.S. Highway 98 and the county, which includes everything from high-rise condominiums in the south to agriculture in the north.

It’s the summer of 2015. It’s hot and humid. The sun is unforgiving as it bakes the football practice field behind Bennett C. Russell Stadium.

I’m here to watch the Raiders put in work at one of their trademark intense summer workouts, and my focus is locked in on two players in particular. Michael Carter and Thomas Leggett.

Almost as soon as we moved to the area 25 years ago, we started getting occasional calls for “Dr. Rudman.” People wanted to make appointments or cancel them for this doctor who shares our name. At the time, he was in Walton County.

We didn’t know him or anything about him.