Our hike continues on in humid air with welcome breezes when, all of a sudden, I sense someone running behind me before hearing a terrified scream. “Ah!” Katie yelps. “Oh my God, Casey! Help!” I’m in the lead of our pack, but, startled, I turn around to my wife. Katie’sContinue Reading
“Do you have it?” Aunt Debbie sounds hopeful and looks to Mom with a soft smile. “I do,” my mom whispers stoically, reaching her hand into her purse. Aunt Stephanie curiously watches as an old handkerchief, a memento of their Grandma Shorty, is carefully lifted for the three sisters toContinue Reading
All aficionados of Southern literature know that William Faulkner’s literary landscape was the alluvial soil of the Mississippi Delta, the author’s “postage stamp corner of the world,” in his own memorable phrase. However, Faulkner’s biographers often overlook or downplay his connections to Tennessee. For instance, Faulkner’s great-grandfather and namesake,Continue Reading
I am genuinely amazed when outsiders view Appalachian people as nothing more than incestuous (or inbred), uneducated (or lacking), violent, “pillbillies,” (also here and here). To a good portion of people, we are poverty porn, and a host of caricatures. These views are psychologically brutal and personal. And we doContinue Reading
The absence of regional, independent bookstores in Appalachia and the South is similar to an urban sprawl in a bone-dry, flowerless space. We are all, in one way or another, readers for life. And readers search for some kind of respite, or thirst for a more tangible knowledge, or craveContinue Reading
Below are the answers to our Appalachian English Quiz 2. A bit of information about each word is given, using the following dictionaries: Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) Dictionary of Smoky Mountain and Southern Appalachian English Other resources are linked within the definitions and information.Continue Reading
The myth of the Old West exerts a tremendous influence on the popular imagination. Zane Grey pulp novels, countless TV series, and iconic Western films ensure that the cowboy remains a uniquely American archetype representing in one writer’s words, “movement, isolation, change, and new beginnings.” Of course, the outlaw isContinue Reading
One of my greatest joys is visiting museums. I love museums of all kinds but I’m particularly fond of author museums. It should come as no surprise that my bias leans toward Southern authors. (And, if I break it down further, I’d say, I’m even fonder of Appalachian authors.) AContinue Reading
When you grow up sheltered in the shadows of the Appalachian Mountains, magic is all around you. My people came from across the world to these mountains and hollers: bringing with them a mixture of religions, demons, folklore, and wisdom. The mixture of these cultures, combined with the ever-present headyContinue Reading
People are often horrified when I explain how much a scene in the movie Deliverance, based on the James Dickey novel, reminds me of my family and fills me with such fond memories. No, not that scene, though I can’t blame anyone when the mind instantly leaps to that part.Continue Reading