Archive — Winn Collier
13 Aug
Saying Goodbye
Write from where you are, the writing gods say.
Well, this evening finds me sitting in a familiar leather chair sitting next to a familiar large window watching the sun sink down beneath a familiar line of trees. For the past six and a half years, I have named Clemson, South Carolina, home… . But now I must go.
9 Jul
Thinking About Me
Lately, I’ve been thinking about myself. That may sound narcissistic; but come now, we all do it.
18 Jun
Deep Roots
One of our favorite places to go with the boys and picnic or kick around the soccer ball is Bowman Field, the large green space where Clemson’s “town and gown” (university and city) intersect. On the edge of Bowman Field stands the grandest tree I have ever seen… .I can only imagine how this mammoth tree stretches beneath the soil. How wide and deep must the root system extend?
30 Apr
Facebook and the Incarnation
I have a twenty-something friend who recently declared that a single event signaled Facebook’s imminent demise: his mother friended him.
Bizarre annoyances are nothing new for Facebook. How many times must I hit ignore in response to a barrage of loony requests? No, thank you, I don’t want to be a pirate or join in a snowball fight or poke anyone with a broccoli stalk or plant a geranium in someone’s (virtual) garden. However, this motherly intrusion unnerved my friend on quite a different level - his virtual reality collided with real life in disturbing ways.
6 Apr
The End of Death
Fourteen years ago, I sat on Pensacola Beach as the tide moved in and out – but I barely noticed the ocean. I was too enamored with this gorgeous woman sitting next to me, my girlfriend for a couple years. We talked. We dug our toes in the cool sand. My heart thumped like a sledgehammer trying to break free. And when the time was right, I said, for the very first time, I love you.
Truthfully, though, I had little idea what those words meant. I didn’t know the kind of desire and pain and hope and disappointment that came along with such a simple declaration. We usually grasp the gravity of our profound experiences later, as we actually begin to live them.
10 Mar
Passing the Time
One afternoon, when our youngest son Seth was two, he loudly declared, in broken toddler English, “I God.” Seth does have a strong sense of self - and for that, we are thankful. However, if he makes a life-habit of such pronouncements, he will, of course, be living the grandest delusion.
