Snow:It is said that sex sells -- whether it's in a book, a movie, magazine or just plain gossip. But never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that sex might help sell a biography of the late N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Susie Sharp.

A. C. Snow:I sometimes wonder if our house isn't marked with some secret sign, visible only to door-to-door salespeople, that reads: "Stop here. Soft touch!"

A. C. Snow:You've heard the anecdote in which the wife suggests to her husband that they renew their marriage vows and he responds with uncommon delight, "You mean they've expired?!"

Snow:With more layoffs and early buyouts in today's ailing job market, retirement parties are becoming ever more numerous.

Snow:So John Edwards blames his "narcissism" for his fall from political grace.

Snow:The morning after the latest earthquake in Los Angeles, I received an e-mail from a reader, a fellow I deem fairly intelligent, well read and "level headed."

Snow:Sen. John McCain, with good reason, frets from time to time that the media is giving opponent Barack Obama a free ride, covering him like a rock star while sparing him tough questions on issues and ignoring McCain's own campaign.

Snow:If someone asked me today why I went to war right out of high school, I'm not quite sure how I'd reply.

Snow:If you're interested in going back to your or America's roots, visit your nearest farmers market.

Snow:According to Shakespeare's Marc Antony as he eulogizes Julius Caesar, "The evil men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones."

Snow:It's not something that keeps me awake nights. But I can't help realizing from time to time that I have never had anything named for me.

Snow:My two favorite hours of the day are just after dawn and at twilight, when day gives way to dusk.

Snow:The temperature on the porch was 102 degrees. In the bluebird house with the metal roof, it must have been at least 115.

Snow:When neighbor Aileen Pressley offered to drive us to the airport for our recent two-week vacation in Italy and Greece, she seemed disappointed that we had already made other arrangements.

Snow:In 1967, former Mayor W.G. Enloe asked me to write a piece describing life in Raleigh for its residents of 2017. The document was placed in a time capsule at North Hills' Cardinal Theatre, then under construction.

Snow:By now you may have received and possibly spent your "nepenthe" from Uncle Sam.

Snow:You'd never think of Sam Johnson as a modern-day Perle Mesta, the society hostess. But as an apprentice to the title of "host with the most" in the fine art of conversation, he's doing OK.