Mobile, Alabama—a bed and breakfast. It’s early morning. I am not a morning person. On a good day, it takes me a full sixteen hours to wake up. There are two girls at the breakfast table. They are from France. Sisters. They are young. Talkative. They speak English, with accents. They are eating triple the […]

September 9th, 9:18 A.M.—Hurricane Irma is making landfall in less than 24 hours. Anxiety fumes are in the air—you could light a match and the room go up in flames. I’m in a Holiday-Inn lobby. This place is overrun with people. The desk clerk tells me that most guests are evacuees from south and central […]

“He was a dirt farmer, last of his kind,” she said. “Poor as a church mouse, we never had money.” Back then, few Alabama farms did. After a Depression, a world war, and losing acres of cotton to the boll weevil, she says they were almost licked. Then he started growing tobacco. “His daddy was […]

Mobile, Alabama—I’m in a large hotel lobby. There are hundreds of people here. I’m people-watching. Many of the hotel guests are young. Several use wheelchairs, or walking canes. Some are communicating in American Sign Language. A boy sits next to me. A teenager. He’s got hearing aids in both ears and thick glasses. “IS THIS […]

Foley, Alabama—I’m sitting in Lambert’s restaurant. This is the “home of throwed rolls.” Servers stroll the dining rooms, tossing yeast rolls at customers like four-seam fastballs. A waiter lobs one at me. It hits me square in the teeth. He laughs. So does my wife. It leaves a mark. Our waitress brings our plates. Chicken-fried […]

My mother-in-law fell yesterday. She stumbled in the garage. It was bad. She smacked her face on the pavement. She busted her glasses. And her nose. When I found her she was bleeding. “We’re going to the ER,” I said. “I feel lightheaded,” remarked the white-haired Scarlett O’Hara. “Yes, ma’am. Here, take my arm.” “Wait, […]

Early morning. Belleville Avenue. That’s me in the kitchen, eating bacon by the handful, wearing a coat and tie. I just got engaged. My future in-laws are throwing a brunch. My soon-to-be aunt, Catherine, cooked nearly fifty pounds of bacon for this shindig. I even bought a new shirt for this brunch. Also: a coat, […]

I’m no doctor, but I’m about as close as you can get. And as a qualified liberal arts major, I recommend you take a week off work, and drive through our part of the country. You don’t need a reason, just visit. Avoid interstates, take old highways. Cut through Tennessee, Georgia, or Mississippi. And do […]

Some fool called her, “trash.” And that’s when she made up her mind. She wanted to better herself, and her family. So, that’s what she did. “That GED test,” she said, while she checked my blood pressure. “That ain’t no joke, now. It’s tough.” Her accent is so Alabamian it hurts. She’s missing a few […]

Her husband left her with two boys. And since money didn’t grow in the backyard, she worked more than one thankless job. One morning, she found a stray dog on her porch, stealing food from her cats. She tore out the door and shouted. A man came out of the woods to fetch the dog. […]