Welcome to my blog. Here are some true tales about growing up Southern and some stories about how everyday things are sometimes more meaningful than they seem.
It Happened Like This & Other Stuff
The Christmas Chaw, the Pony, and the Paddle
What happens when chewing tobacco, a Christmas tree, a pony, and a paddle with holes in it cross paths? It’s not pretty, I can tell you.
But it’s what came to mind right off the [...]
Will We Get It Right This Time?
In late 2018, when the first edition of South of Little Rock was nearing publication, a friend asked why, after a career in history museums and historical writing and editing, I had taken up writing [...]
Throw Me Some of Them Goobers
“When Lawmakers Howled Like Dogs,” or “The Day They Shut Down Louisiana,” or “Closed” would each also be as appropriate a title for this post as “Throw Me Some of Them Goobers.” All four of [...]
Magic Portals
This is a tale of gratitude. I expect most of us know and appreciate how, even in this age of the Internet, libraries, archives, and museums are magic portals to learning and adventure. They hold [...]
Here, Take This
Ever wonder how many years, or centuries, parents bearing medicine have been saying, “Here, take this, it’s good for you,” to kids? I don’t know the answer, but I bet my mother told me that [...]
Baseball, Names, and A Pig
Sometimes you just have to follow the signs, and five of them ganged up to point me here. To start with, for whatever reason, I’ve heard Johnny Cash’s recording of “A Boy Named Sue” a [...]