COLUMNS & COMMENTARY 

Polly Triumphant
Go for it, young man. Then simmer down.
by Dave Shiflett

Blanks
Hollywood snatches Betty Lou’s handbag.
by Charles Taylor

Joseph Mitchell
One New Yorker Inspects another.
by Rich Cohen

FEATURES

Coming off the Back of Brasstown Bald
Risk-taking make easy (close your eyes).
by James Kilgo 

The Great Fried Chicken Conundrum
Secrets revealed, mad delights, a million downed chickens.
by Ted Roberts

Style with Meaning
As pimp or principal, the Memphian earns plaudits.
by Steve Vineberg 

Basketball Season
Requiem of a Mississippi cheerleader.
by Donna Tartt

Back to Bob’s
Our Yankee nutrition expert plumbs the depth.
by Rich Cohen 

Photo Essay
by Eudora Welty 

FICTION

Asphalt
A leader of the Delta, evoked.
by Willie Morris 

Dogman
Big moment/big deal.
by William J. Slattery

Flight Patterns
A father’s elusive love. 
by Cynthia Shearer 

POETRY

Zeus Retired, by Michael Chitwood

One Mean Kid, by X.J. Kennedy

Song of Miranda Lalisle, by Roy Blount, Jr.

In Memoriam, by X. J. Kennedy

Girls Live Longer, by John Nixon, Jr.

Cover: Photograph: by Eudora Welty of a wooden suspension bridge in Byram, Mississippi. From the © Eudora Welty Collection—Mississippi Department of Archives and History.