In case you missed these ... top local columns of the week

We’re looking for three or four local columnists to add to our lineup this year.

If you like to write and can tell stories for readers in (mostly) Durham and Orange counties, send a 600 to 800 word sample column to managing editor Mark Schultz at mschultz@heraldsun.com. Look for a reply email confirming we’ve got it.

Here is a sampling of local commentary we’ve published recently. Find the full columns at www.heraldsun.com/opinion/. We invite your comments on these and other columns at letters@heraldsun.com.

“Small game and big life” by Jason Hawkins

“Down the hill they came, and I saw glimpses of childhood in them, and perhaps me. Down the hill they came, and I saw two boys who once needed my hand to walk over the logs, stepping over them and jumping when they were happy. Down the hill they came, and I could hear them giggling and laughing and, at 11 and 14, these boys were acting like young kids. And, down the hill they came, and when the youngest saw me, there was a happiness and a joy and I saw the faces of two boys, alive and bright and it was goodness for this soul.”

– Jason Hawkins lives in Orange County. His outdoors column runs twice a month in The Herald-Sun.

“Seriously, where would go in a nuclear attack?” by Robin Kirk

Let’s say you have an hour to prepare. That’s more than the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki got. The only time any country has used nuclear weapons was in 1945 – and it was us using them against Japanese civilians. On August 6, the United States detonated a nuclear weapon over Hiroshima. Three days later, Americans detonated a second bomb over Nagasaki.

There was no warning.

– Robin Kirk, a writer and human rights advocate, teaches at Duke University.

“Let’s tear down the worst slavery-era monument: the Electoral College” by Frank Hyman

The conventional wisdom is that the Founders fabricated the Electoral College simply to protect the smaller states. But why don’t any of the 50 states use the practice to protect less-populated counties? And why don’t any other democratic nations use an electoral college to choose their chief executives?

The truth is that like a Confederate soldier on a pedestal, the Electoral College originally stood on two legs, both of which skewed power in favor of slave states.

– Frank Hyman is a former member of the Durham City Council and the policy analyst for Blue Collar Comeback.

“From my Durham to yours” by Howard Craft

Musicians, visual artists, and poets gave folk a reason to go downtown again. Now, most artists can’t afford to live anywhere near downtown. It also seems that the revitalization has done little for the surrounding community other than making it more expensive to live there. And yes, it’s nice, to have bikes offered by the city for people to rent. It looks hip and renewable-sustainable-chic, but as a friend intimated in a Facebook post, it would be better to spend that money on putting sidewalks in the surrounding community or more shelters for bus stops, so folks don’t get drenched in the rain while waiting on a bus to go to work.

– Durham playwright Howard Craft’s “The Miraculous and the Mundane” runs through Feb. 3 at Manbites Dog Theater, 703 Foster St.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 12:02 PM with the headline "In case you missed these ... top local columns of the week."