Blog | Jim Blackburn Seminars

It was 12:40 pm on a warm Friday afternoon, and I had just stepped across the street to take the picture shown above of Shorty’s, a legendary stopping place for hot dogs and beer when Wake Forest College was in the town of Wake Forest before moving to Winston-Salem in the summer of 1956 and eventually becoming a university. I had 20 minutes before meeting a group of people for a downtown walking tour, organized by the Wake Forest Historical Museum, and the question on my mind was whether I had ...

After walking briefly on the sunlit beach in front of the Marriott Grand Dunes at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and sitting by the pool for about half an hour, I realized it was just plain hot, causing me to go inside, find the Bar and order a glass of wine. I asked for a glass of rose, and the bartender asked me did I want a six-ounce pour or nine ounces. I thought a moment and asked for the difference in prices. She glared at me, went to her computer to check and after fumbling for a moment, I ...

On July 6, 2018, the New York Times published an Essay by the Novelist Tayari Jones on “The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela.” Here are my thoughts on it.