Author Archives: Doug Cumming

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About Doug Cumming

Doug Cumming is an associate professor emeritus of journalism at Washington & Lee University with 26 years experience at metro newspapers and magazines. After getting a Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill in mass communications, he taught multimedia reporting and feature writing at Loyola University-New Orleans and at W&L in Virginia. Earlier, he worked at the newspapers in Raleigh, Providence and Atlanta; was editor of the Sunday Magazine in Providence; and helped launch Southpoint monthly magazine in Atlanta. He won a George Polk Award and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

Brief candle, against dark politics

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Doug Cumming

On April 3, 2008, a mother I did not know held her newborn daughter for 27 minutes of life in a Virginia hospital. The newborn, in utero, had developed with a chromosomal disorder called Trisomy 18, or Edwards Syndrome. The … Continue reading →

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The Sam Hose case, 1899

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Doug Cumming

In a 1963 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, I read an account by Ralph McGill, who was editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution when I was growing up in Atlanta, of his interview with the distinguished black scholar W.E.B. … Continue reading →

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Crypto- klepto-mania

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Doug Cumming

In the spring of 2014, I took a class of 14 students to New York City for three days to visit magazine offices. This was the first six spring-term courses that became my most popular and successful teaching at W&L, … Continue reading →

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Georgia votes on history’s hinge. Again.

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Doug Cumming
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Seeing “hot button” issues coolly

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Doug Cumming

Sometimes, it’s hard for people to connect the daily stuff of their own lives with Washington D.C. policies or even state-level politics. Military aid for Ukraine doesn’t seem to hamper our day-to-day struggles, but defending Ukraine against Putin’s Russia also … Continue reading →

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What’s the meaning of ‘meaning’?

Posted on July 29, 2024 by Doug Cumming
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Jazz Concert for Rick

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Doug Cumming

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 13, 2023 Contact: Doug Cumming, cummingd@wlu.edu 540-570-0293 Second Concert of the “Rick Saylor Memorial Jazz Series” Thursday, July 25, at First Christian Church of Decatur A jazz combo that grew from years of “workshopping” at the … Continue reading →

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Let’s go, Joe. Please.

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Doug Cumming

On April 16, I voted in Georgia’s Democratic presidential primary for Joe Biden. It was the only choice at that time for beating Donald Trump. That’s what my vote meant then. Now, Biden is no longer my choice. He is … Continue reading →

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An Open Letter to Decatur Officials

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Doug Cumming

Re: Zoning Board of Appeals variance decision for Commerce Drive curve, June 10, 2024 Dear City of Decatur Leaders: Our city is trying hard to accommodate growth with intelligent urban planning. We see this with the projects for pedestrian and … Continue reading →

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Daddy’s history. I follow in his footsteps (with a map)

Posted on May 22, 2024 by Doug Cumming

There’s this memory I have, but it couldn’t have been mine because this is before I was born. It’s 1946, thereabouts. The memory is of a college campus high in the Cumberlands of Tennessee, misty Gothic buildings, professors in loose … Continue reading →

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