Tommy Tomlinson

1 week ago | wfae.org | Tommy Tomlinson

Sometimes a power outage is just a power outage. But other times it can feel symbolic. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, spent some time recently pondering that in the dark. The power went out at our house the other night. I happened to be awake. It was 2:45 in the morning. It was dark all up and down the street, the kind of dark you almost never get in the city. The worst thing about the power going out, especially in the middle of the night, is the uncertainty.

2 weeks ago | wfae.org | Tommy Tomlinson

Every state has its weird little quirks and stories. But not every state is lucky enough to have someone like Jeremy Markovich around to tell them. Jeremy’s newsletter, the North Carolina Rabbit Hole, might dig into a dusty corner of history one day, then the next day try to solve a tiny mystery — like, for example, how Steven Spielberg, while directing one of the Indiana Jones movies, ended up wearing a North Carolina Highway Patrol trucker cap. Jeremy figured that one out.

2 weeks ago | wfae.org | Tommy Tomlinson

Duke University plans to shed some of its faculty and staff in anticipation of actions by the Trump administration. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his “On My Mind commentary,” says a lot of the cuts are self-inflicted. My mama hated snakes. Once when I was a kid, and the neighbors lost their pet python, she stood on our couch until they found it. (Turns out it was under their couch.)But it didn’t have to be a python for her to freak out. Any little garden snake would do.

3 weeks ago | wfae.org | Tommy Tomlinson

One of NASCAR’s all-time characters is on the track right now, winning races and infuriating other drivers. But the country at large doesn’t know him. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, wonders if it’s too late for NASCAR to get any cultural traction. If you fed the movie “Talladega Nights” into an AI program and asked it to spit out a real-life NASCAR driver, you’d end up with Ross Chastain.

1 month ago | wfae.org | Tommy Tomlinson

Today we’re replaying my 2018 conversation with Dale Earnhardt Jr.I thought it was a good time to bring this one back because there’s a new documentary on his dad, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. Dale Jr. is an executive producer on the film, along with others including Ron Howard. Dale and Dale Jr. had a famously complicated relationship, all the way until the moment Dale Earnhardt died in a crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001.