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THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

Better South / Better Word

Weekly Columns

Essays, opinions, commentary, criticism, and fiction from Southern writers.

THE BITTER SOUTHERNER
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August 23, 2018

For God & Country: Abe Partridge

August 23, 2018/ Tony Paris
For God & Country: Abe Partridge

A wholly different kind of Alabama songwriter wrestles with salvation and sin.

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August 23, 2018/ Tony Paris/
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August 16, 2018

Near Wild Heaven with Brewmaster Eric Johnson

August 16, 2018/ Bob Townsend
Near Wild Heaven with Brewmaster Eric Johnson

One of Eric Johnson’s many hats involves one where his love of homebrewed hops is an asset.

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August 16, 2018/ Bob Townsend/
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August 09, 2018

The MacGyver of St. Marys, Georgia

August 09, 2018/ Phil Hudgins
The MacGyver of St. Marys, Georgia

He’s a crabber. He used to be a diver, a welder, a pawnbroker, and the guy who ran the wrecker service. Gene Hope is the very model of coastal Southern self-sufficiency.

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August 09, 2018/ Phil Hudgins/
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August 02, 2018

All Y’all Working for Social Justice for All Y’all

August 02, 2018/ Todd S. Hawley, Ph.D., and Adam W. Jordan, Ph.D.
All Y’all Working for Social Justice for All Y’all

The two-day conference, which focused on what social justice looks like in the South, included a component that centered around making education more just, equitable and culturally relevant for everyone.

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August 02, 2018/ Todd S. Hawley, Ph.D., and Adam W. Jordan, Ph.D./
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July 26, 2018

The Real Reason MerleFest Matters

July 26, 2018/ Lee Zimmerman
The Real Reason MerleFest Matters

The festival the late Doc Watson began 31 years ago to honor his son has put tiny Wilkesboro, North Carolina, on the international stage.

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July 26, 2018/ Lee Zimmerman/
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July 19, 2018

Keeping Poor Whites & Blacks Apart: a Southern Tradition

July 19, 2018/ Keri Leigh Merritt
Keeping Poor Whites & Blacks Apart: a Southern Tradition

Stuff you should know: Historian Keri Leigh Merritt with the first in a series of columns about the dirt underneath the modern South.

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July 19, 2018/ Keri Leigh Merritt/
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June 28, 2018

Your Summer-School Curriculum to Support Teachers

June 28, 2018/ Adam W. Jordan and Todd S. Hawley
Your Summer-School Curriculum to Support Teachers

If you want to stand up for public school teachers across the South, our columnists have built a complete summer-school curriculum for you.

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June 28, 2018/ Adam W. Jordan and Todd S. Hawley/
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June 14, 2018

The Two Jameses

June 14, 2018/ Pete Candler
The Two Jameses

James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, and James Oglethorpe, the Godfather of Georgia, silently stare down each other and their respective legacies in Augusta.

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June 06, 2018

Levine Museum of the New South Gets Charlotte Right

June 06, 2018/ Delia O'Hara
Levine Museum of the New South Gets Charlotte Right

The Levine Museum of the New South strives to tell the full story of the Southern Piedmont.

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June 06, 2018/ Delia O'Hara/
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May 30, 2018

Beer, Braunschweiger and All Y’all in Nashville

May 30, 2018/ Bob Townsend
Beer, Braunschweiger and All Y’all in Nashville

This year, Nashville put a definite Southern spin on the national Craft Brewers Conference.

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May 30, 2018/ Bob Townsend/
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May 24, 2018

The Party of Both

May 24, 2018/ Jason Carter
The Party of Both

Jason Carter, former Democratic nominee for Georgia’s governorship, looks at how the national narrative in the current race for the state’s top office offers opportunity — and dangers.

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May 24, 2018/ Jason Carter/
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May 15, 2018

The Thread

May 15, 2018/ Allison Moorer
The Thread

Threads run through everything. Writer and musician Allison Moorer was thinking about those ties that bind us when she took a BS General Store T-shirt and made it her own.

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May 09, 2018

Voices: A Letter to Our Young Folk

May 09, 2018/ Adam W. Jordan and Todd S. Hawley
Voices:  A Letter to Our Young Folk

Refusing to be defined by a best-selling “elegy,” Appalachia’s young raise their voices and the consciousness of a region through homegrown activism.

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May 09, 2018/ Adam W. Jordan and Todd S. Hawley/
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May 03, 2018

How College Policing Fails Sexual-Assault Victims

May 03, 2018/ Muriel Vega
How College Policing Fails Sexual-Assault Victims

A Kennesaw State University student researched how his school handled sexual assault cases and found its processes insufficient.

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May 03, 2018/ Muriel Vega/
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April 26, 2018

The King of the Delicious, Frozen South

April 26, 2018/ Muriel Vega
The King of the Delicious, Frozen South

The 👑 of the delicious frozen South? The King of Pops, of course. Today, Holly Belien of Hypepotamus tells us the story of Atlanta’s startup royalty.

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April 26, 2018/ Muriel Vega/
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April 20, 2018

“I Am a Country Singer”

April 20, 2018/ Jonathan Bernstein
“I Am a Country Singer”

Everybody in Nashville wants to label Joshua Headley. Ain’t it enough just to be a country singer?

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April 20, 2018/ Jonathan Bernstein/
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April 11, 2018

The Bourbon Boom

April 11, 2018/ Clair McLafferty
The Bourbon Boom

Thanks to the momentum of the craft cocktail movement, the South’s favorite whiskey has again gained a global cool factor.

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April 11, 2018/ Clair McLafferty/
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April 05, 2018

Covering Southern Sports: The Right Way or the White Way?

April 05, 2018/ Caleb Johnson
Covering Southern Sports: The Right Way or the White Way?

Coverage of NCAA March Madness found Southern sportswriting falling back into old-school code words.

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April 05, 2018/ Caleb Johnson/
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March 22, 2018

Alternative Schools Save Lives

March 22, 2018/ Adam W. Jordan and Todd S. Hawley
Alternative Schools Save Lives

If you want to understand the power of alternative schools, listen to the words of their former students.

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March 22, 2018/ Adam W. Jordan and Todd S. Hawley/
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March 15, 2018

Hoss of the Everglades

March 15, 2018/ Jordyn Rozensky
Hoss of the Everglades

Two young Americans, traveling the nation gathering stories, encounter a true creature of Florida.

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March 15, 2018/ Jordyn Rozensky/
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