MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: A conversation with royalty, a glimpse at the King
Yes, I met the King twice in Memphis. Well, encountered sounds more accurate here. Ok, so maybe we were in the same place at the ...
Mike Wilson, Author at Farmville
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Spanish lessons can end with a punch
In light of the most recent round of border disturbances, Mexico no longer calls to me as it once did, but there was a time ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, April 3, 2024 12:00 pm
Mike Wilson column
Mike Wilson: A bootlegger named Tomcat and a Three Stooges marathon
It’s funny what you think about sometimes. I’ve found myself thinking back here lately to Christian Sorenson Bennett. One year my senior, he was my ...
by Mike Wilson, Sunday, March 17, 2024 6:22 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: I googled ‘Michael Wilson’. That went well.
Ah, the internet. It can be an interesting place, filled with all kinds of things. That includes, it appears, more information about your own name ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, March 6, 2024 12:30 pm
Mike Wilson column
Mike Wilson: A tale of Blue Thunder and its replacement
It may have been a while, but I can still remember Blue Thunder. There is an arresting and memorable image in “Sensation of Velocity,” a ...
by Mike Wilson, Friday, March 1, 2024 6:44 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Some famous (and almost fatal) last words
The most dangerous last words in all the world have nothing to do with hunting. You likely won’t find them on a construction job or ...
by Mike Wilson, Sunday, February 25, 2024 12:00 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: I can’t find it, but it’s all there, somewhere
We’ve all got some. C’mon, let’s be honest now. There are places in your house where things just happen to accumulate. In my office at ...
by Mike Wilson, Saturday, February 17, 2024 9:21 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: It’s that time of year again
I shot my first deer as an adult in Virginia about 35 years ago. Here’s a story of a couple variations of buck fever. When ...
by Mike Wilson, Friday, February 9, 2024 7:05 pm
Mike Wilson column
Mike Wilson: I can still taste the hoop cheese
One of my most prized possessions is a watercolor painted behind my back some years ago by an artist friend. It was done at the ...
by Mike Wilson, Friday, February 2, 2024 10:22 am
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Of fictive kinship, Hampden-Sydney and an old legend
After I lectured to a Hispanic culture class at Hampden-Sydney College about the profound importance of “fictive kinship” in Latino societies, I began to think ...
by Mike Wilson, Saturday, January 27, 2024 12:45 am
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Time to tell the story of Big Bob & Hampden-Sydney
It was with considerable distress that I recently discovered in a Christmas card from an old friend that another, Robert Eugene Wells, had passed away ...
by Mike Wilson, Sunday, January 21, 2024 12:00 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: I have no regrets
Thinking back across the decades as we go through another January, I am struck by the thought that Identified Flying Objects actually inspire more fear ...
by Mike Wilson, Thursday, January 11, 2024 12:00 pm
Guest Column
Mike Wilson: It’s a New Year, but I’m learning the same lessons
Well, we’re entering a new year, but somehow I’m still learning the same old lessons. I killed my first duck, a hen mallard, while lying ...
by Mike Wilson, Saturday, January 6, 2024 12:04 am
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: New Year’s traditions and a Museum of Ham
Everyone has their New Year’s traditions. My granddaddy used to get country hams and fresh tenderloin from a childhood friend, Jumper, who stuck with farming ...
by Mike Wilson, Monday, January 1, 2024 12:50 am
Columns
Mike Wilson: Oh, he will be back …. and so will I
I suppose I am sometimes viewed as “portly” by those with enriched active vocabularies. Accordingly, my chest waders (to use the nomenclature of most outdoor ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, December 6, 2023 5:32 am
Guest Column
Mike Wilson: A grand sweep, thanks to Hampden-Sydney
Back when our girls were small, my teaching schedule at Hampden-Sydney College allowed us to make a grand sweep of the eastern U.S. during summer ...
by Mike Wilson, Friday, November 24, 2023 12:23 am
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Make mine a redhead
If zipping along in the dark at 26 knots in 25 degree temperatures and 20 knot winds in a 21-foot fiberglass tub in skinny water ...
by Mike Wilson, Thursday, November 9, 2023 11:53 am
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: I used to be a Meherrin deer hound
My last time serving as a deer hound happened in Meherrin. Now I have been duck hunting a few times with others who had well-trained ...
by Mike Wilson, Friday, November 3, 2023 3:00 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Stanley and the Dirt Clod
After reading my recent piece on confessions, my daughter hastened to inform me that I had left out a very important one, so here goes: ...
by Mike Wilson, Thursday, October 12, 2023 12:00 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: A story to tell about Briery Creek
When the Briery Creek Wildlife Management Area, featuring hundreds of acres of flooded timber for bass fishing and duck hunting, opened in Prince Edward County ...
by Mike Wilson, Friday, October 6, 2023 10:15 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Puttin’ on the Feedbag
My grandmother Ella in Jackson, Tennessee was the best cook I’ve ever known. Her Thanksgiving dinners— always served promptly at noon per their custom from ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, September 27, 2023 12:05 pm
Columns
Mike Wilson: A handy guide to low disposable income fowling
A well-heeled middle-aged acquaintance of mine recently decided to take up fowling for the first time and asked for my guidance in gearing up for ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, September 20, 2023 12:01 am
Mike Wilson column
Mike Wilson : A concise guide to modern granddadding
Let’s talk about modern granddadding. There is nothing in this life quite like that moment when you hold a newborn grandchild for the first time. ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, September 13, 2023 10:55 pm
Guest Column
Mike Wilson: Ice Capades
I am no Nancy Kerrigan, by which I do not mean to suggest that I have never been whacked in the knee, which happened plenty ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, September 6, 2023 12:30 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Time for some confessions
While channel surfing recently, I happened upon “The Goonies,” a family favorite from the mid-80’s. I landed on that wonderful scene in which Chunk, believing ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, August 30, 2023 12:00 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: Let’s give a requiem for Sweet Sally
It is a significant understatement to declare that my friend The DC (apologies to Phil, but doesn’t every veteran duck-hunting crew have one by now?) ...
by Mike Wilson, Wednesday, August 23, 2023 12:00 pm
MIKE WILSON
Mike Wilson: The story of me and Mr. French
I still remember meeting Mr. French for the first time very clearly, even though it has now been almost 60 years ago. How could I ...