Sean Dietrich Articles

Sean of the South | Therefore, consider the turtle

OPINION — Jim was stuck. In the middle of the rural two-lane highway. Right there on the pavement. Not far from the solid yellow line. Tucked tightly in his shell. Scared to death.Vehicles sped past little Jim, on both sides, shooting by with the deafening roars of...

Sean of the South | Where you come from

OPINION — There was an old man sitting outside the dusty bar. He sat in a plastic lawn chair. There was a dog with him. The dog was either asleep or dead.He was whittling a stick for no reason — the old man, not the dog. This is what old men did before TikTok.A truck...

Sean of the South | Going through old photos

OPINION — I found old photographs in the attic. I rifled through hundreds of old Polaroids. Most were infant pictures of me naked.I was a fat baby. People were concerned about me as a newborn. “Have you seen Sue’s baby?” people would say. Then they would inflate their...

Sean of the South | My little school

OPINION — It was late. I pulled into the campus after seven o’clock to attend my last class of the semester. My last college class. Ever. It was a night class.In America, most self-respecting people my age were finishing supper, settling down to watch “Wheel of...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Jul 21, 2026

OPINION — I used to write about her all the time. She was just so easy to write about.From the first moment I met Thelma Lou, when she was an...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Chasing imperfection in a wax-covered world

Jul 14, 2026

OPINION —The bag of vegetables magically appeared on our front porch along with beer. I looked around for angels and wisemen.Then I turned to my...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Recess on the road

Jul 7, 2026

OPINION —I am in the backseat of our van, sitting in a tiny, hollowed-out cavern of stuff.We [were] traveling to Tennessee and Kentucky [last]...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Fourth of July

Jun 30, 2026

OPINION —On my kitchen counter is a pound cake, sitting on a pedestal, beneath a glass dome.Pound cake is the food of summer. It can make or break...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Juneteenth

Jun 23, 2026

OPINION —The year is 1923. It is the middle of June. You are a kid in a seersucker suit, on your way to a picnic. The weather is hot. Sweltering,...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Father’s Day

Jun 15, 2026

OPINION —I thought of you a few days ago. I was driving past a controlled burn. The fire department had lit up half of the lower Alabamian forest....

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Thank God for Baseball

Jun 8, 2026

OPINION —The sun is lowering over the trees on the horizon, and the sky is lit orange here in Birmingham. The world is filled with daylight. The...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Women

Jun 2, 2026

OPINION —I’m supposed to be eating complimentary hotel-breakfast, but I’m in line behind a girl’s softball team.The dining room is nothing but...

Sean of the South | Scents and sensibility

Sean of the South | Memorial Day

May 26, 2026

OPINION —The 94-year-old woman gets a jumpstart on Decoration Day every year. The cemetery gets busy at her little church in Elmore County. She...

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