No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is vicious. ~ Henry Brooks Adams
H.L. Mencken hated the South. My first meaningful encounters with Mencken's work came while we were in Dayton. Mencken approached his coverage of the Scopes Trial — and Dayton and its people — with the same quick-witted ferocity he was famous for. In reading over his attacks of the South in Ralph C. Wood's Flannery O'Connor and … Continue reading Do We Remember: ‘We Have Had Our Fall’
Ralph C. Wood is a guy I've heard a lot about. The Baylor professor has shown up multiple times in writings of others I follow and in some casual conversations with friends. The book I keep hearing about is his Flannery O'Connor And The Christ-Haunted South. This week, I began the book both because: • O'Connor … Continue reading Learning About My Christ-Haunted People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkK5eHkY46o I suspect I'll be largely unsuccessful in this, but I wanted to write about what Tennessee means to me. My sister, Ashley, told me about the band above (Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors) a few months ago. She pointed me to this song, "Tennessee," and it captures almost perfectly my own sentiments about Tennessee. One … Continue reading ‘Tennessee’
My friend Matthew Lee Anderson has been kind enough to publish my review of The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher. It's posted at the fantastic blog Mere Orthodoxy. Along with a lot of other folks, I consider Matt one of the most important voices among conservative Christians today (and he's only getting … Continue reading My Review of The Little Way of Ruthie Leming Posted at Mere Orthodoxy
I miss the South these days, which are odd days to miss it, since it’s being smothered by wet heat like a hot towel in a sauna. Nevertheless, the South is my home, and I miss her. I blame Warren Cole Smith for reminding me. To mark the forty-sixth anniversary of Flannery O’Connor’s death, in … Continue reading The South, Memory, and Meaning
Michael Reneau 