Movies You Missed From 20 Years Ago: Open Range

Open Range (8/10 Rating) Released August 15, 2003 Streaming on Amazon Prime. For rent/purchase on all major platforms. Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Western R: Violence 2h 19m Four cowboys find themselves defending their cattle and their lives when they encounter a corrupt lawman and the kingpin rancher that controls a small town on the... Read More

Movies You Missed

August 15, 2023

Bubbles in a “Straw”

The extreme “fizziness”(carbonation) within a bottle of Cheerwine soft drink recently took me back to my early childhood in my old hometown of Salisbury, N.C. (still the home of Cheerwine). In the hottest part of summer, the meteorologist warns us of thunderstorms popping up in the sky. But the above-ground, adult immersion pool pops up... Read More

Uncategorized

August 12, 2023

Preserving Wine During the Dog Days of Summer

When someone uses the term “dog days of summer,” it usually refers to the most oppressively hot time of the season. According to almanac.com, this period of sweltering weather coincides with the year’s heliacal (meaning “at sunrise”) rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Majoris—the “Greater Dog”—where Sirius gets... Read More

The Wine Spot

August 10, 2023

Plant X: Broom Therapy

(Scene: Plant and Linda converse while Linda sweeps her sun-dappled kitchen floor.) Plant (curiously): What are you doing? Linda (tolerantly): Cleaning a living space helps people stay healthy. P: And organized. Why are you sweeping around those towers of manufactured goods rising up from the floor like staggering geometric islands? L: The stacks of books,... Read More

Fiction

August 8, 2023

Another Writer’s Response: Noel Eichman-Dorr

Because she and I taught together at the Community College in rooms almost across from each other, we shared many thoughts about writers we appreciated as well as issues regarding what she and I wrote. Although Ms. Eichman-Dorr and I discussed writing a book together, we never had a chance to bring that idea to... Read More

Writers' Page

August 4, 2023

Inside the Method of Acting with Ava Miller

Ava Miller’s life was changed forever when she was in the fifth grade. After going to see a touring production of The Phantom of the Opera with her parents at DPAC, she was in awe. Seeing this production made her think to herself, That’s what I’m going to do one day! And the rest was... Read More

Action

August 1, 2023

A Story of Skill and Dedication

John Carey knows just about everything about the science of welding. He has over 35 years of experience in the trade. Carey first discovered his love for welding at 13, when he took an agriculture class at Blairs Junior High School under Robert Pollock. “I had grown up working on a small farm. We were... Read More

Cover Features

July 21, 2023

Following My Own Advice

Recently, I caught myself not taking my own advice, which is to keep an open mind about wine and wine-food pairings. My task was to match a wine with creamy blue cheese. In my mind, I jumped to the intensely flavored blue cheese. Thinking that a strongly flavored cheese should be matched with an intensely... Read More

The Wine Spot

July 19, 2023

Auf Wiedersehen Erma’s

Back in the April edition of Evince, I wrote about a house that is no more. This month, I write about a restaurant that is no more: “Erma’s Restaurant.” My writing about these two demolitions within a specific range of time only reflects the specific range of time in which they occurred. It doesn’t mean... Read More

Essays

July 13, 2023

Movies You Missed From 20 Years Ago: Seasbiscuit

Seabiscuit (7/10 Rating) Released July 25, 2003 For rent/purchase on all major platforms. Genre: Drama, History, Sport PG-13: Some sexual situations and violent sports-related images 2h 20m Sometime after the release of the original Spider-Man trilogy, which I loved, I grew an unwarranted hatred for Tobey Maguire. I cannot say I had a valid reason,... Read More