NotesFromtheVoices

“Dead Catch” by Cary J. Griffith was the perfect book to read on a beach vacation. I had the time to read it, and it gave me plenty of twists and turns. “Dead Catch" is the fourth book in the Sam Rivers mystery series. The synopsis of the book asked how a murdered conservation officer and a multi-million-dollar poaching business are connected to Sam Rivers’ childhood friend? Holden Riggins is an expert outdoorsman and a known poacher. He’s made a small fortune by exploiting nature’s bounty. It’s no surprise when two conservation officers from the Department of Natural Resources come upon Holden’s fishing boat, anchored beside an illegal walleye net. What is a surprise, however, is Holden’s condition: nearly frozen to death on the bottom of his boat. That’s not the COs’ most shocking discovery. Twisted and tangled within the twines of another nearby net is the dead body of their missing colleague. After the COs save Holden from the icy grip of hypothermia, the suspected murderer re...

On May 3,  I went to the 12 th annual ArtFields Festival in Lake City. ArtFields is one of the biggest art festivals in the South and is worth the almost hour and a half drive. This art competition and festival turned Lake City into a living art gallery, with more than 700 pieces of art  on display in numerous venues. Fellow road junkie Bennie Miles and I were able to see only a fraction of all the artwork. According to Art F ields organize rs, the artwork ranged from paintings and sculptures to installations and new media works, displayed in restaurants, boutiques, offices, art galleries, and other types of businesses . Artists over the age of 18 from 12 states are eligible to submit work for the competition. Student artists in grades 1-12 from the state enter ArtField s J r. The to p- rated works from both age groups are invited to be part of the exhibition and competition.  A jury panel selects the winners of the $ 50,000 grand prize and $25,000 second pla...

“If I don’t poke my head out of my shell and show people who I am, all anyone will ever think I am is my shell.” – Shonda Rhimes, “Year of Yes” Recently I reread the boo k “Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes, who created “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” and “How to Get Away with Murder,” wrote this book detailing her one-year experiment with saying “yes” and how it transformed her life. Rhimes was miserable, working all the time and not socializing. One day, her sister told her, “You never say yes to anything.” Those six words changed Shonda’s life, and she took up the challenge of a Year of Yes—to say yes to everything. This was the start of her incredible journey and transformation. At times, my identity is tied more to being a journalist than a person. I know 80 percent of my life is devoted to work, but I want to lower the percentage to 50/50. After rereading the book, I challenged myself to say “yes” more to events, adventure s, a nd situations. It started small by hanging o...

In October, I celebrated my 50 th birthday. It was a great one! At age 50, I started a new job as a newspaper editor and got a newer vehicle. I feel blessed and grateful. I rode several rollercoasters for my 50th birthday.  On Jan. 1 of this year, I decided to do something big for my 5oth birthday by completing a bucket list.  I worked up to 70 hours a week in a previous position as an editor, so I didn’t have a chance to complete many items.  My goal is to get as many items on this list completed before Dec. 31 with the help of my son James aka The Tall One, and close friend/Road Junkie partner in crime Bennie. One recent adventure was the Masterpiece Escape Room in Indian Trail, N.C. I must confess this was not my first escape room. Bennie and I tried to escape one a a few years ago in Florence and failed. My goal was to complete one successfully. And we did it with little over a minute left. It wasn’t easy. We had to get inside and get out of a hermit’s hous...

  “Who am I? I’m the little girl who would run after school every day in third grade because these boys hated me because I was …not pretty. Because I was…Black.” –“ Finding Me” by Viola Davis   If I could recommend one memoir to read in 2022, it would be “Finding Me” by Viola Davis. This memoir by the award-winning actress was amazing. Reading “Finding Me” was like having a conversation with her about how her life experiences made her the person she is today. Davis said the book is her story , starting  from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. On the book jacket, she said, “This is the path I took to finding my purpose and my strength, but also to finding my voice in a world that didn’t always see me. ” She went on to say ,  as she wrote  Finding Me , her eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. They are bogarted, reinvented to fit into a crazy, competitive,...