Random Connect Points:
Reba's Stories

 I don't have the fame, voice or money of the "real Reba," but I do have her poster.  Now that this blog has finally joined the social media bandwagon, I’ve been going back through some old posts and sharing a few of them through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. A favorite I came up on today is about the importance of your name and the “Cheers” factor (a place “where everybody knows your name”). In this 2016 blog post , I wrote about the discomfort of having an unusual name when I was a child. I hated that my first grade teacher was trying to insist on calling me Rebecca because she didn’t like nicknames. I lamented that I was never able to find my name on the racks of hundreds of embossed keychains at the Gay Dolphin when I visited with my friends in middle school. In the past week, I’ve eaten in three of my favorite local restaurants. While the food is always good at all three, that’s not really the main reason I frequent Eggs Up, Crave or Labraskas. It’s b...

At first glance, the pairing may have seemed to be an odd juxtaposition of two authors on the Charleston Music Hall stage recently as they discussed their newly published books - one about dogs and one about politicians. It was a sold-out show. These writers’ careers as two of the best photographers in their respective areas of expertise have brought them accolades, awards and left them with thousands of photographs. But their recently published books share deeper insights than just pictures from their travels. These writers have taken years of observation, connections, creativity, and a sensitivity to the world around them and translated it, through their own unique lenses, into two compelling books. Callie Shell spent more than 25 years photographing world leaders and international events just an arms-length away from some of the most powerful people in the world. For eight years, she chronicled Vice President Gore’s two terms. For the last two decades, her work ...