Before moving to Charlotte, I spent four very long years living in a much maligned and ridiculed city that I won't name (hint: it sits on Lake Erie). I don't feel any particular need to repeat any of the numerous jokes and stereotypes often associated with this particular city (although you shouldn't take that to mean I'm refuting any of them): I'll leave that to everyone else who's been there. And I can't ...

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Growing up in New England, I generally associated "drought" with distant, exotic places. Places like Ethiopia. The Australian Outback. California. In fact, the closest brush with drought I had as a kid was during my junior year of high school, when an historically dry winter had followed an historically dry summer and fall, and concerned local officials were on the verge of instituting water-use restrictions. Then it rained for about a month straight, ...

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Following my sophomore year of college I,  returned home to discover that my dad had treated himself to a really...cool...toy. It was a 1961 Corvette. Dad had briefly owned a '58 'Vette in college--until his roommate totaled it--and I think he bought this one as a way to even things out. (Well, maybe not, but that sounds a whole lot better than making an obvious reference to the onset of ...

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