Andy's Blog
Race and “Good Taste”
Not long ago I was offered a gig at The [ Withholding the Large Virginia Town's Name Here ] Arts and Culture Center. After responding with the thank-you-for-inviting-me email, I went to the center's website to see what the place was like. There I encountered the following program...
Invasion of the 4-H Club!
At the get-go I must tell you that I remember my pre-literate self. I really do. Back in the early 1960s, kindergarten was for learning to count and reciting the alphabet to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, for you serious melody etymologists). I...
Unhinged Folly ~ Andy Offutt Irwin
This essay appeared in The Covington [GA] News on July 6, 2022. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of folly out there. And it’s important to remember that… “Folly is a more dangerous enemy to the good than evil…There is no defense against folly. Neither protests nor force are of any avail...
A Day in the Life of James Madison
I was at a reception on a riverside screened-in patio somewhere in South Georgia, a convivial, countrified place that was bedecked with old pressed-metal advertising signs. Right next to a Coke-bottle-shaped thermometer (in mint condition), I spied one of those old-timey,...