Football

The "Dawgs" looked good  last night. The Rebels not so great. Of course Auburn is a dang freight train--the Crimson Tide better buff up for the Iron Bowl. The Golden Eagles lost a back-breaker in overtime--dang!
The stars must be alligned just right for Baylor and Mississippi State to be nationally ranked in the same week of the same year.

Mississippi Delta

 When one speaks  of the Missississi Delta, he might be speaking of the region in NW Mississippi, SE Arkansas, or NE Louisiana. It is the fertile area created by years of flooding by the Mississippi River.         

Technically it is an alluvial plane as opposed to a delta--see geology 101 for the difference.
In any even event when one is in the State of Mississippi he is speaking of an area centered roughly east of a line from Memphis to Vicksburg.

My son lives in a small community north of Bastrop Louisiana; so small that he lives in the woods, where everybody should live--the woods--or at least somewhere where birds, frogs, crickets, etc. can be heard. He was reared in Houston, Texas, so his recent move has taken him from hell to heaven. When I visit him in the "delta" it is, regarding the people, the land, the traditions like going home. I love Texas, but Houston, like all of the "New South" cities has taken on a non-southern flavor.

I would recommend to anyone and everyone, James Everett Kibler's WALKING TOWARD HOME for a taste of what I mean.

Red Necks.

I always made it two words. I heard someone (on the radio, I think) talking about some people, in pejorative lingo: "Just a bunch of Red necks." Having attended Mississippi State, I have at least some capacity for quipping on the term.
Usually, it is used in such a manner, i.e.., those of lesser degree, and usually from down South. However, a red neck is someone who has been working in the sun daily, to the point where the back of his neck is burned. Hard for some of us to wonder how a working man could be looked down on. But, I guess it takes all kinds.

Secretariat

A wonderful story about a wonderful Southern (Virginia) champion---Secretariat. To his friends he was Big Red. This is defintely to be added to my favorite movies.
I am old enough to remember watching him run (on T.V. of course). The Belmont was something from another world. But the story of the family who owned him is special.

Southern Stories

I have always loved Southern stories, whether Faulkner, O'Conner or Joel Chandler Harris. They are part of my roots. I was fortunate to get Wido Publishing interested in my first novel: Mississippi Cotton. When they first offered to publish, they were even kind enough to promote it in the same vein as A Painted House and To Kill a Mockingbird. I was happy they understood the story-telling aspect of it. Southern stories are always first (in my opinion) about story and then about writing.