Son Matthew uses the phrase “Keep dreaming,” when he closes his emails that go out to the hundreds of dedicated supporters of the Friends of Dreamland Ballroom. It reminds me of this quote from Thoreau …
Besides finding out my melanoma was stage one and confined to only my nose, the second-best Christmas gift I got this year was a new puppy.
Don’t look too closely, unless you’re gross like me and want to. No, that is not a red Christmas decoration in the picture above. It is an amelanotic melanoma that Dr. Chris Shewmake dug out of the tip of my nose. Gross!
Recently, I decided to use AI to help me reflect on FAB’s year-end sales and write some ad copy. This is what I sent ChatGPT…
The social juxtaposition of my time in Miami and my life in Little Rock is glaring. In Miami, I feel almost alone in a crowd. I know no one. On those days when I don’t feel like putting on my makeup, or “dropping out” as we used to say, it can be nice …
Once again, I am fighting the good fight against the skin cancer on my nose. The dang stuff just keeps popping up and the doctors keep scooping out hunks of flesh to send off for biopsy. Thus, I am working a lot from home via email. And once again, I am reminded how important a well written email is for the reader and for efficiency.
In an earlier blog I wrote, “Leadership qualities are not a secret. Leaders are usually: hardworking, action oriented, optimistic, brave, good communicators, empathetic, open minded and honest.” In my previous blog, I expounded on the topics of honesty and optimism.
To continue my pseudo-lecture on leadership qualities, I’ve next selected the attribute of bravery to write about. Everyone can learn to be brave and this bravery comes in all different fashions.
Leadership has been a reoccurring theme the past two weeks. I’ve been…
My love of old structures and saving history is evident in the lifestyle choices I’ve made (i.e. the Dreamland Ballroom and my 1911 Craftsman-style residence). This preference began early. In 1975, upon returning home to Arkansas from Dallas, I took up residency in the aging Hillcrest neighborhood of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Dallas Cowboys football team is about as close to a pro sports team as Arkansas gets. We Arkansans relate to them because their current owner, Jerry Jones, and their former coach, Jimmy Johnson, both harken from Arkansas. And their alma mater, the U of A, is a feeder school for the team’s new recruits.
At the end of a long Mother’s Day, Grady said to me, “Sorry you had to work so hard.” My reply was honest and simple: “I enjoyed it.”
This summer will be my 50-year high school reunion. Like all reunions, it snuck up and surprised me. But it didn’t surprise me as much as the phone call I got, later.
Last month, in another blog post, I wrote that FAB had some exciting news to share and I could not wait to tell everyone. Also, if you remember, last year I asked my readers for suggestions on adding a new product line that would complement FAB by having merchandise synergy and a peak season in the winter months (opposite FAB’s summer peak in flag sales). Thank you for all the good product suggestions …
It has been years since I played in the rain. Recently, a rain event began in panic and desperation as I tried to stop flooding into our warehouse that has over $250,000 worth of inventory in it, but ended in a carefree, childlike feeling.
This past flag season, which is the second quarter of every year, it seems everybody in America was looking to represent themselves with a flag.


