Op-Ed
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North Carolina can’t afford to lose its best teachers
We often measure an education budget by how many new teachers it attracts. Perhaps it is time to ask a different question: How many accomplished veteran teachers does it inspire to stay?
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Student voice isn’t a slogan — It’s a commitment
There’s a phrase we hear often in education: student voice matters. It shows up in mission statements, strategic plans and conference panels. But too often, it stays an idea we agree with, rather than a practice we commit to. Fortunately, students are challenging that.
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A Collective Way Forward: Taking Action for Afterschool in Western NC
“It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” – Irish proverb
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Let’s listen tothe voices ofthe homeless
When I was a kid, there was a commercial for the brokerage firm EF Hutton with the iconic line: “When EF Hutton talks, people listen.” The entire group of people in the commercial would go silent, and heads would turn. Everyone knew that what was about to be said was…
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JOHN HOOD | Carolina patriots showed their resolve
Our state’s official seal presents North Carolina as a series of dualities. In the background of the circular emblem are green-topped mountains to the west and crystal-blue water to the east. In the foreground, two female figures in classical garb symbolize Liberty (clutching a constitution in one hand and the…
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Telling you how I really feel
While recently driving through my local Walmart parking lot, I noticed snatches of scorched brown fronds peeking out from between the bars of Walmart’s Outdoor Center and I was overcome with disgust as I knew them instantly to be my former springtime nemesis; the Boston Fern.
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JOHN HOOD | Voters deserve information on fiscal crisi
Every citizen who meets the basic requirements — adulthood, residency, and the completion of sentence after a felony conviction — can cast a ballot in North Carolina. There’s no test of civic knowledge required to exercise the civil right to vote, nor should there be. (Our state constitution still contains…
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JOHN HOOD | Why North Carolinians downsized governors
There are many critters designated by law to symbolize North Carolina. For example, we have an official state bird (red cardinal), reptile (eastern box turtle), horse (colonial Spanish mustang), mollusk (Scotch bonnet), dog (Plott Hound), and mammal (eastern gray squirrel), as well as two state amphibians (the marbled salamander and…
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Whoa, hold up Santa!
Is it just me, or do Christmas decorations seem to go up just a little bit earlier every year?
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Lots Of Miles, And Thoughts To Go With Them
Between life as a pastor in my hometown, recent travels on mission trips and revivals and a bit of vacation, and several trips back and forth to the North Carolina mountains for relief efforts, my head is pretty well spinning. So please bear with me as I attempt to grab…
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Why I stand with LEO
September 11 remains a dark day, forever ingrained in the hearts and minds of those who lived through watching the towers fall. We know where we were and what we were doing when the news hit us like a sucker punch to the face.
