City Girl

The first item I submitted to the Rains County Leader was a letter to the editor called “Your Tax Dollars at Work.” It was an appeal to seniors in the area to check out the meals and activities at the Senior Center which was in danger of shutting down for lack of patronage. […]

According to the current Yahoo weather forecast, there is a 90 percent chance the publication of this week’s Rains County Leader will be accompanied by snow. The snow could be preceded by a couple of days of rain, and if the temperature drops at just the right time – or the wrong time – a base of ice could turn any snowfall into a real mess like the one we experienced about this time last year. […]

The last two weeks have seemed like a mini shut down, at least in my little corner of the world. The schools shut down two extra days over the Martin Luther King weekend for deep cleaning and because one hundred staff members and teachers were absent. […]

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. During the month, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services makes fighting against human trafficking a priority, and strives to improve awareness, services and prevention efforts to help eradicate trafficking in Texas. […]

Several weeks ago I wrote a column about a friend who had been on the receiving end of a very unkind attitude and some very unkind words. These words came from an erroneous assumption based on her appearance after surgery and extensive chemo and radiation treatments. […]

On New Year’s Eve, David asked me the big question of the day: Have you made any resolutions this year? I was already prepared with my answer based on a memory that had popped up on Facebook earlier that day. […]

Christmas shopping is usually pretty simple around the Brendle household. David and I exchange a few gifts with each other, but our needs are few and our budget is limited, so shopping isn’t complicated. […]

Warning! This is not a typical light-hearted, feel-good column that will leave you with a smile. It is a full on rant against cruel and insensitive people whose words leave wounds that may never heal. […]

In the late 18th or early 19th century one of two newsmen coined a phrase about the newsworthiness of a certain event. Both are given credit, but whoever said it was probably right: “When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.” […]

After a COVID cancellation last year, Christmas around the Square is returning to downtown Emory this Saturday from 8:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. I had participated in this annual tradition twice as a vendor, and Christmas 2021 didn’t seem complete without it. […]