Brothers in Clay: How Destruction Became Creation for BC Clay Art

In the hills of North Carolina, where the earth provides a natural palette of various clays, brothers Brad and Bryan Caviness have turned disaster into artistic innovation. Their studio, BC Clay Art, specializes in “worlds in jars”—broken pottery vessels revealing intricate miniature scenes of ancient historical sites within their fractured walls. Their journey began with... Read More

Cover Features

June 2, 2025

Movies You Missed From 20 Years Ago: Batman Begins

Released June 15, 2005 Streaming on Max & Netflix, For rent/purchase on all major platforms. Genre: Action Epic, Epic, Superhero, Action, Crime PG-13: Intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements 2h 20m After 1997’s Batman & Robin, it would be 8 more years before we got to see a new actor take on... Read More

Movies You Missed

May 17, 2025

A FEW GUIDELINES I SHOULD HAVE FOLLOWED

Today more and more wines are bottled with metal screw caps. I understand it is more economical, and it reduces spoilage. If, however, you are opening a bottle of wine with a cork, consider these signs as a possible warning of spoiled wine, as mentioned in a Vinovest blog; A bulging cork may indicate heat... Read More

The Wine Spot

May 14, 2025

Detectives

Unpaid, undaunted children searched hallways and rooms. Looked under rugs and bedspreads, pillows and cushions and legs of suspicious chairs. Their search lasted hours and more, until each sleuth knew for sure their hunt had revealed their pet dog had gone outdoors.

Poet's Corner

May 12, 2025

In the Bosom

The subject of this story is not what you may think from the title. Catchy titles draw the reader in. So, I hope you are suitably drawn. I sometimes source my collection of hats, helmets, coats and jackets of different time periods of the twentieth century to affect a certain “look from history” when venturing... Read More

Essays

May 8, 2025

Movies You Missed from 20 years ago: House of Wax

House of Wax (6/10 Rating) Released May 6, 2005 For rent/purchase on all major platforms. Genre: Slasher Horror, Teen Horror, Horror, Thriller R: Horror violence, some sexual content, and language 1h 53m One of my favorite movie discoveries of recent years is Tourist Trap (1979). It certainly has its flaws, but it is genuinely... Read More

Movies You Missed

May 6, 2025

Sammy the Whammy (A Mamie and Solly Story)

(Scene: Mamie is driving the three of them home from an appointment. Solly seems abstracted.) Solly: Are you out of blinker fluid, Mamie? Mamie: What blinker fluid? A turn signal doesn’t need fluid. S: Then why isn’t it working? M: The turn signal? S: You’re in the left lane. No blinker. M (flips blinker down):... Read More

Fiction

May 1, 2025

Center Stage & Beyond: Jamie Gilbert’s Journey from Thespian to Teacher

When in the sixth-grade, Jamie Gilbert was nudged toward drama class by her mother to “help come out of her shell.” She couldn’t have predicted how that decision would shape her future. Growing up in Williamsburg, Virginia, Gilbert was initially skeptical—especially after watching Cats, which she admits she “hated.” The casting of her as the... Read More

Cover Features

April 17, 2025

Friends

Too long ago to remember, where it was we met or what made our phones connect. Did we discuss our futures when we didn’t know how far our lives would take us on which unfamiliar roads? Now we meet to plan where our future trips will go.

Poet's Corner

April 15, 2025

Everything Made New (or Newer)

Just up the road from me is a mini-Shell station, not really a full-fledged service station, for its main service is at the tap or swipe of your card, the gasoline becomes available (if approved). That little Shell station recently had a total replacement (all I ever had replaced were my hips). I saw the... Read More

Essays