Johnny Cash once explained why he wore black, and in doing so offered something rarer than fashion advice: a moral posture. The black clothes were not a costume, and they were not a rejection of the world. They were a reminder. A signal that while some move through life comfortably, others are quietly crushed beneath … Continue reading The Man in Black Ethos
My First Published “Article”
Years ago, at the ripe old age of 15, one of the greatest magazines of the era published my astute observation on how to deal with one of the "bad guys" of the 20th century: Why don't we just send Saddam Hussein a skateboard and a halfpipe and let him kill himself? Source: https://www.thrashermagazine.com/imagesV2/Burnout/2013/Magazine_1991/May_1991/TH0591May1991p6-7_800t.jpg
Brother Jonathan And Uncle Sam: Two Faces Of American Identity
Uncle Sam is not your neighbor. He never was. He points, he commands, he recruits. He appears when taxes are due, when wars begin, when authority needs a face. For more than a century, Americans have treated this as natural — as if the republic itself could only be imagined as a stern, aging uncle … Continue reading Brother Jonathan And Uncle Sam: Two Faces Of American Identity
William Blevins and the Cherokee Nation: A Historical Intersection
When settlers pushed into the Tennessee frontier, they weren’t the first to chart the land — the Cherokee had been here for centuries, and their story intersects with the Blevins family in ways both documented and legendary. In tracing the life — or perhaps lives — of William Blevins, father and son, it’s worth stepping … Continue reading William Blevins and the Cherokee Nation: A Historical Intersection
The Curious Case of the King of Mann — A Coda
In 2013, I wrote about David Drew Howe, the Maryland man who briefly stepped into the public eye by asserting a hereditary claim to the medieval title “King of Mann.” At the time, his story was circulating widely enough to merit attention: an American genealogical enthusiast announcing a royal lineage, a minor media stir, and … Continue reading The Curious Case of the King of Mann — A Coda
Boards and Banners: How Skate Decks Echo Medieval Heraldry
Recently, while watching Powell-Peralta’s Future Primitive, something I’d taken for granted in my youth hit me with unexpected clarity: the iconography of skateboarders isn’t far removed from medieval heraldry. The two seem like they belong on different planets—one born of knights and genealogical rolls, the other of concrete and rebellious energy—yet both compress identity into a … Continue reading Boards and Banners: How Skate Decks Echo Medieval Heraldry
Thomas Morgan of Tredegar: A Tudor Powerbroker
Thomas Morgan's arms (impaled on the right). Every so often, a figure steps out of the Tudor murk with enough documentation to feel almost modern. For me, Thomas Morgan of Tredegar is one of those rare Welsh ancestors who doesn’t exist as a rumor or a scribble on a pedigree roll, but as a man … Continue reading Thomas Morgan of Tredegar: A Tudor Powerbroker
