Dee Thompson's Profile

My mother always said "If you don't laugh, you'll cry. Laughing's better." She did a lot of laughing during her 86 years. Elva Hasty Thompson was born in Marietta, Georgia in 1933, and she left us today. While it makes... Continue reading

Posted 7 days ago at The Crab Chronicles

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Judging the Past

There is a new piece over at The Bitter Southerner, On Flannery O'Connor and Race: A Response to Paul Elie, and it sparked these thoughts in me when I read it. Flannery O'Connor was a product of her time and... Continue reading

Posted Jun 25, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Dad's Best Advice

I was blessed to have a wise and very present father, who led by example. He never shirked responsibility, and he didn't stick to the sidelines. My dad was a hands-on father at a time when most daddies were not.... Continue reading

Posted Jun 21, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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A Statue is Not Just A Hunk of Metal or Stone

I am tempted to stop watching the nightly network news because so much of it makes me really upset. This country has never been more divided than it is right now. Everyone I know is angry and upset about what... Continue reading

Posted Jun 13, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Don't Believe Everything You Read

My great uncle Doyle Butler was murdered in cold blood in 1931. There were many witnesses. There was no question who the murderer was, a Greek immigrant named George Goumas.Goumas was convicted of the murder and served 14 years in... Continue reading

Posted Jun 9, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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The Changing World

About 10 or 15 years ago I was working for a young attorney and he had me writing blogs for him. It was interesting. I had to do a lot of research to find what I thought were interesting topics... Continue reading

Posted May 30, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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McMillans and Hastys in North Georgia

In recent years I have altered my blog a bit, focusing more on general topics and less on my family, since my kids are now grown and gone. This is not merely a "mommy blog" but an ongoing way for... Continue reading

Posted May 15, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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The Case for Corona Civility

I walk my dog almost every day around my quiet suburban neighborhood and sometimes I see things that make me wonder what the hell is wrong with people. I saw a masked lady walk up to one of my neighbors... Continue reading

Posted May 3, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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What's for Dinner, Mom? (My new cookbook)

When I became a first-time mom at age 41, to a 13 year old, it was a huge challenge to go from 20 years as a singleton to being a mom to a child who spoke no English. I tried... Continue reading

Posted Apr 22, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Writing Your Own Story

A lot of us have time now to do things we normally don't have time to do, like clean out the closet or organize the garage, or make some meals and put them in the freezer. Fun? Maybe. Here's another... Continue reading

Posted Apr 12, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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The Weird Me

Since everyone is cocooning at home at the moment and many of us [not me, I work from home] are getting bored to death, I have been seeing a lot of Facebook prompts about "getting to know you" types of... Continue reading

Posted Apr 7, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Writing About The Current Crisis

I was blessed to have two parents that liked talking to me and my brother when we were kids, and who told us vivid stories about their childhoods and the years before my brother and I joined the family. Mom... Continue reading

Posted Mar 29, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Living in History

When I was in college I took a class and read a book in that class that changed me forever. The book? Hard Times, by Studs Terkel. The book was basically a collection of interviews with people who had lived... Continue reading

Posted Mar 28, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Predictions from the Middle of the Pandemic

I keep reading predictions about what's going to happen, but I read them with a Big Grain of Salt. Like, the size of Plymouth Rock. Call me cynical. I am going to throw out a few predictions, though. I don't... Continue reading

Posted Mar 22, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Ten Things To Do On Your Corona-cation

Are you stuck at home, wondering what on earth to do with yourself? Tired of watching the news channels, with their predictions of gloom and doom? Here are some things to do while you're on your self-quarantine, or as I... Continue reading

Posted Mar 19, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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A View from Inside the Pandemic

Two weeks ago I was aware of the Corona Virus but I was much more focused on the fact that I was sick [sinus/ear infection] and my mother was hospitalized with the flu and a UTI. Mom nearly died when... Continue reading

Posted Mar 15, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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A Few Thoughts on International Women's Day and the Value of Critical Thinking

I had never heard of March 8 as being an internationally celebrated holiday until I adopted my daughter from Russia and became friends with a Russian lady who lives here in Atlanta. "International Women's Day (March 8) is a global... Continue reading

Posted Mar 8, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Twenty Questions With Peter Stoddard

My father loved Lewis Grizzard. Mom and Dad always read his column in the paper, and I read it too, even though I was a bit too young to really appreciate the humor. In the 1980’s and early 90’s I... Continue reading

Posted Feb 18, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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The Choices for Women

I watched the movie On the Basis of Sex the other day, about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and was reminded about how limited the choices were for women, until recently. Young women today have literally no idea how fortunate they are... Continue reading

Posted Feb 9, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Talking Like Mama

I was nearly grown before I realized that my mother had her own language, and not everybody knew it. We spoke fluent mama at my house, me and my brother, from an early age. It's a very expressive language, very... Continue reading

Posted Jan 25, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Two Movies I Want to See With Actors My Age

I was thinking a few years ago that there are not that many movies out there that star people in my age range -- 45-65. Most movies have main characters that are twenty-somethings or thirty-somethings. I enjoy movies like Jumanji... Continue reading

Posted Jan 11, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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The Future is So Bright...

I just finished reading an article in Vanity Fair that was pretty gloom and doom -- predicting the changes we will see in the next ten years "won't be pretty." Instead of a happy Jetson's type life, we will all... Continue reading

Posted Jan 6, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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I'll Take My Weird Family for a Thousand, Alex

I grew up thinking I was the only kid in the world who had weird parents and a weird family life. When I got to be a teenager and spent a fair amount of time at other people's houses I... Continue reading

Posted Jan 5, 2020 at The Crab Chronicles

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Atlanta, Georgia, Best Place to Live on Planet Earth

There is a Facebook group called Georgia Followers -- Everything Georgia and someone posted this a few days ago: "Georgia is too hot during the winter and way too hot during the summer." Of course, a firestorm of debate was... Continue reading

Posted Dec 30, 2019 at The Crab Chronicles

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Connected

When I was 8 years old we left Augusta, Georgia, the only home I'd ever known, and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. Knoxville is a lovely city, in the foothills of East Tennessee, very close to the mountains. Many nice people... Continue reading

Posted Dec 28, 2019 at The Crab Chronicles

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