Columns & Departments

Editor’s Box 
by Marc Smirnoff

Local Fare
MY CHEESY PASSION
by John T. Edge
A food writer reflects on his evolving taste for Southern cheese.

Food
TASTE BUDS
by Beth Ann Fennelly
An email friendship devoted to culinary delights.

Food
IN YOUR LANGUAGE
by Kim Sunée
After traveling the world, a food writer comes home to an Alabama market.

Sport
THE WORKING MAN’S RACE
by Leigh Ann Henion
In North Carolina, some lawn mowers are leaving stock cars in the dust.

Outdoors
IS THE ENVIRONMENT CROAKING? (IS ANYONE LISTENING?)
by Lyn Miller
On the ground, ears open, with one of Florida’s leading ecologists.

Travel
OUR SIDE OF PARADISE
by Kimberly Meyer
The quest for eternal youth leads to Florida.

Romance
I LOVE YOU IN TWELVE LANGUAGES
by Wendy Brenner
Sex, letters, and cassette tapes—remembering the one that got away.

Southern Lit
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
by William Caverlee
Eudora Welty’s antic depiction of young love in the Mississippi woods.

Writing on Writing
RECESSION BLUES
by Thomas Swick
A dream career—as a travel writer and editor—goes bust in the economic downturn.

Dealer’s Choice
HOME FROM THE HILLS
by Hal Crowther
It’s time to fight the destruction of nature underway in Appalachia.

Poetry

THE FLÂNEUR
by Billy Collins

SMALL UGLY GOD
by Eric Nelson

Features

A MAN WITH MY NUMBER
a story by George Singleton
One scam artist meets another.

THE DEER OF VIRGINIA
a story by Lincoln Michel
So many days seem to end this way.

THE LONG WEEKEND
a story by Rebecca T. Godwin
In the wake of the Kennedy assassination.

Fourth Annual Best of the South Odes

Daisy Dodge welcomes you Home

Alan Grant hits the Highway

Ander Monson plays Disc Golf

Sarah A. Strickley loves a Toy Store

Lauren Groff learns to love a Duckpond

Joni Tevis watches a Demo Derby

Lolis Eric Elie eats a Pecan Pie

Keith Pandolfi recalls The Last Gentleman

Emily Raboteau encounters a Civil Rights Heroine

Mark Winegardner raises a Toast

Andrew Hood relives his Phobia

Sam Eifling profiles a great Bull Rider

Michael Gills escapes to a Beach

Matthew Vollmer partakes of an Ice-Cream Parlor

Michael Parker admires Merry Clayton

Sean Rowe restores a Farmhouse

David Taylor meets an Outsider Artist

Wright Thompson attends a BBQ Funeral

Matthew Pitt perfects a Scream

Marion Field slips into a Perfect Coat

Brandon Reynolds salutes the potency of Meat-Juice

Susannah Felts falls for Waterskiing

Cover photograph by Charity de Meer