Yes, he broke my heart, but I survived it. And the ornament was a symbol of that survival.
Read more
The Christmas Ornament
Not all holiday mementos are joyful
Essays
The Conversation That Continues
An old friend is the best friend
It was the fall of 1970, and we were freshmen in high school, that tender, socially feverish age when your friendships are everything and time stands still around every relationship.
Read more
The Pulitzer Prize
A forgotten novelist is remembered through music
Thomas Stribling won the Pulitzer Prize for a trilogy he wrote about Florence, Alabama. But when I was growing up in the 1960s, no one in Florence spoke of Stribling anymore.
Read more
Handyman Blues
An unhandy DIYer considers the question of when to try again
In spite of my failures, I haven’t given up my handyman aspirations. I still believe I can fix things.
Read more
Reading Our Way Toward Otherness
A Memphis poet considers the legacy of his parents’ wise gift
At the close of the year I found myself thinking about one of the most wonderful, significant Christmas gifts I ever received. I was ten, and I got it because I didn’t get the thing I asked for first.
Read more
Going to Meetin’
There’s nothing like the connections that bring writers and readers together at the Southern Festival of Books
Here it is, finally, the day when writers and readers throng into Nashville on an October weekend seeking fellowship and elevation of the spirit and news and gossip. But especially old friends and new books.
Read more