Julian Miller: My Sam

My “Sam” was actually a “Bill”, W. S. “Billy” Morris III, to be exact. He was the CEO of the company and he loved to tell me I was not a publisher any more than he was a CEO. “We are nothing but teachers,” he would say, “Our jobs are to help others grow. Hopefully, we will be better next year than we are this year.” His teaching experiences were many and varied. In the 1980s, Billy owned not...

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Dennis Sodomka: My Sam

I’ve known Gregory Favre for about 35 years, and as great a newsman as he is, I’m grateful to him for showing me it’s OK to be friends with people who work for you. You can have fun and be in a serious business. When he was the managing editor of the Chicago Daily News, no one worked harder. He could be a tough editor, yet we had some great racquet ball matches. And when we found ourselves with...

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Being A Sam To A Sam

About 10 years ago, we were in the midst of a major cross-country move – from Alaska to the Midwest. I was transferred within my company. And we did not know a single person other than my boss when we got there. No one. At the time, the eldest Son of Thunder was three; the second Son of Thunder was hanging out inside the Little Black Dress, and was due in a couple of months. Between the...

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Robb Krecklow – My Sam

There have been many changes in classroom education since I left high school in 1969, but I am confident that one thing has remained constant. Good teachers influence students for a lifetime, not just for the year, or less, they have them in a classroom. That’s how I felt after learning that Cecil M. Richmond had passed away in my Nebraska hometown. He was 90 years old. You don’t know him, of...

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When Illegal Immigration Hits The Church

This post originally appeared on my personal blog – Just Flip The Dog I’ve been on a rather whirlwind tour the last 10 days or so down in Georgia promoting my new book, Everyone Needs A Sam.  I’d call it a success. I’ve learned a lot, the Little Black Dress and the Sons of Thunder got play time with friends. A good trip. Yet I also learned, and saw, one of the most...

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Leon Thompson: My Sam

When I was three years of age my father abandoned my mother and me. Drugs, alcohol and womanizing were the culprit. I never saw my father again until I was 26 years of age. My mother was very young and without support and returned home. During the years that followed I was raised, for the most part, by my grandparents. My grandmother’s heritage was Pennsylvania Dutch Quaker and my grandfather...

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