Category Archives: Alabama

The Progressive Farmer

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Terry Taylor

July: The kitchen in my grandmother’s house smelled like collard’s boiling, creamed corn, fecund humidity and fresh ink on the latest issue of The Progressive Farmer; John Deere green on one page, Massey Ferguson red on another. A picture of … Continue reading →

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Shop Class Blues

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Terry Taylor

With Richmond motorcycle repairman (University of Chicago Ph.D.) Matthew Crawford’s new book, Shop Class as Soul Craft: An Inquiry Into The Value of Work, I am rethinking my shop class experiences from high school. I’ve spent my life in a … Continue reading →

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Being The Mule

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Terry Taylor

The metal push-plow churned up ants and wigglers and little snakes. I pulled back on the bent wooden handle and shoved the blade harder into the earth again and again, pushing and pulling, working an angle to break the new … Continue reading →

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The Go-Cart

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Terry Taylor

My cousin has recently begun to read the stories I write on this blog. He is a few years younger than me. Craig, you will like this one.  Tweet This Post

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Porches In The Rain

Posted on April 10, 2009 by Terry Taylor

The rain came under a ledge of gray clouds. The mountains could not stop it. The Blue Ridge turned a foggy face to the deluge and earned their name in somber hues above us. We sat on the front porch … Continue reading →

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Wasps Riding The Clothesline

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Terry Taylor

I just filled our clothes dryer with yet another load of damp laundry. It reminded me of a time when we had no dryer and our formerly nasty clothes hung in the backyard on a clothesline for everyone to ogle. … Continue reading →

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Drunk and Dressed To The Hilt

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Terry Taylor

I went to a Southern university where proper ladies and gentlemen of culture wore suits, ties and sundresses to football games on Saturday. Since I was neither proper nor cultured and wouldn’t recognize a lady or a gentleman if they … Continue reading →

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Door-to-Door Donuts

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Terry Taylor

It was a recession, not unlike now, but not as bad. The man lived down the street from my family in Montgomery, Alabama. He owned a sea-green station wagon that looked like a military half-trac. He had been laid off … Continue reading →

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The End of Mystery

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Terry Taylor

We want to know everything. We want all the answers. We skip to the end of the book, we FF through the movie, we dip our fingers in the cake batter and taste the salmonella. We suck the whip cream … Continue reading →

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Freshman Year With Bernie

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Terry Taylor

Bernie Madoff, the money guy accused of Ponzi scheming the rich and famous, went to the University of Alabama in the 1950?s. I don?t think my alma mater will be using this tidbit in the recruiting brochures or touting it … Continue reading →

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You Can’t Hide Your Possum Eyes

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Terry Taylor

Walking deep in the woods on a whispery warm day in December, a carpet of pine straw cushion crunches below, sap blows in the air, not a deadline in sight. Out here there is no bad news by the minute, … Continue reading →

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Noodling and Shaking

Posted on January 7, 2009 by Terry Taylor

Recently, I have been talking to people about Southern proclivities that fall outside regional categorization. Noodling, for instance. Tweet This Post

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What I Got For Christmas: Fire Ants

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Terry Taylor

I have written about fire ants before. But things have changed in the South. Call it global warming. Call it a fire ant invasion. Call it an environmental rash, whatever. I have experienced fire ants up close all of my … Continue reading →

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This Year, I Was The Fat Man. Again.

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Terry Taylor

Many years ago when my nephew (now in his early thirties) was a child, I did something so stupid it has attached itself to me like a permanent holiday appendage: I wrangled a Santa suit and scared him so badly, … Continue reading →

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Barbecued Karma

Posted on December 26, 2008 by Terry Taylor

  Huey, the spare rib genius, was half past drunk when I parked the Ford in the woods. Barbecue sauce smeared the front of his undershirt like a culinary wound. Chargrilled air flowed through the sweet gum. A man stepped … Continue reading →

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