I stumbled upon this haunting echo of the Old South while driving the back roads near Starr, S.C.
Read more
Archive | Tales & Recollections RSS feed for this section
Real Southern Rules: Cane Pole Fishin’
May 30, 2012 
0 Comments
The only way you could simplify fishing any more than using a cane pole would be to just tie a line on a stick. But an oak branch or maple sapling could never capture the perfectly pragmatic spirit of the cane pole.
Read more Stomping on Toes: The New Tennie Shoes Syndrome
May 3, 2012 0 Comments
The worst thing that could ever happen to a boy in my coastal Alabama elementary school was to get a new pair of shoes.
Read more If I Hadn’t Stopped: Conversations from the Walmarts
February 20, 2012 12 Comments
“It’s a heady thing to have someone’s entire life story dumped in your lap while standing in frozen foods.”
Read Wayne Franklin’s account of his encounter with a down-on-his-luck Southern man at “the Walmarts.”
Read more The Great Dog Experiment of 2011
January 19, 2012 3 Comments
In the annals of great Southern experiments, there are many failures. Add to that list the recent attempt of the Franklin family to get a new pet, a.k.a The Great Dog Experiment of 2011, a.k.a The Christmas of Disappointment.
Read more Take That, Thanksgiving!
November 29, 2011 6 Comments
I know it has become fashionable to rant and rave about Christmas encroaching on Thanksgiving’s territory, but don’t be surprised if I mock you for espousing that sentiment. If history has taught us anything, it’s that Thanksgiving is a cruel, evil holiday that is slowly trying to kill me and my family.
Read more Man vs. Gov’nah, Round Two
August 10, 2011 5 Comments
“When last we spoke, I told you how Texas Governor Rick Perry began hating me simply because I showed up at his first big press conference a teensy bit late. If you read that entry, then you know it wasn’t even my fault.”
In his second guest post for RSM, Nicklaus Louis continues his exploration of how he inadvertently earned the ire of Texas Governor Rick Perry. He also displays a shocking lack of self-awareness.
Read more Bondye Bon
July 28, 2011 3 Comments
RSM Jerrod Brown looks back on the April 27 tornadoes – and a whole slew of other disasters – to embrace a new approach to life: Bondye Bon.
Read more Southern Living reminds us “What Stands in a Storm”
July 26, 2011 0 Comments
This week, Southern Living’s August issue hits newsstands with special coverage of the aftermath of April’s tornadoes that tore through the heart of the South.
Read more Real Southern Men Bring the Funny
June 15, 2011 0 Comments
Yesterday, we shared with you the best of our musings about Southern life, family and our own histories. Today, we go the other way. Southern storytelling has a long history of humor, peppered with hyperbole, wit and sarcasm, sweetened with a heaping spoonful of gentility. Like good Southern cooking, it’s complex – savory and sweet.
Read more
