Sean Dietrich Articles

Columnists’ Day

BY SEAN DIETRICH I didn’t believe him. I thought he was pulling my leg or similar appendage. I was at the airport bar. He told me April 18 was National Columnists’ Day.“Surely you’re joking,” I said.“Nope,” he said. “And don’t call me Shirley.”The bartender pulled us...

About today

Hi. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. We’re strangers. But we’re the same, sort of. Only chances are, you drive a nicer car than I do. In fact I guarantee you drive a nicer car.I drive a 25-year-old truck. The tailgate is rusted, there is a prodigious layer of dog...

Easter

BY SEAN DIETRICH A few years ago I attended my first Catholic mass in a busy church outside Birmingham. It was Easter Sunday. I sat in the nosebleed section.People greeted me with the words, “He’s risen.”And because I was not raised under a rock, I answered with:...

Dollar General

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — The following actually happened. In a major American city. A guy emailed me about it.A young woman is in Dollar General. A mother of two. Shopping. She has her kids in tow. They are dressed in ragged clothes that look like they’ve been...
I Hope

I Hope

By SEAN DIETRICH I hope you have a good day. The entire day. Start to finish. Not the Best Day Ever. No, that’s too much excitement crammed into 24...

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I Hope

Gone Country

By SEAN DIETRICH A beer joint. In the sticks. A cinderblock building. There were beat-up trucks parked in a dusty parking lot. No sign. Only a small...

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I Hope

Good

By SEAN DIETRICH Late afternoon. The grocery store was busy. It was a big weekend, hurried customers played demolition derby with shopping carts. I...

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Sunrise

Sunrise

By SEAN DIETRICH I’m writing this in the early morning. The birds are asleep, the crickets, too. The sun is about to rise, and it’s going to rise...

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I Hope

Country Music

By SEAN DIETRICH A no-name beer joint. Just off the highway. Somewhere outside Atlanta. Glowing Coors signs. Un-level pool tables. I had been...

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I Hope

Dear God

By SEAN DIETRICH A potluck. A little church in the sticks. There were maybe 50 people at the covered-dish social. Attendees were of all ages. All...

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I Hope

The Sandwich

By SEAN DIETRICH Do this. Get a tomato. Not just any tomato. A Slocomb, Alabama, tomato. Make sure the tomato is firecracker-red and softer than the...

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Sunrise

Tough

SEAN DIETRICH Three of us sat beside Mama’s above-ground pool, out in the wilds of Black Creek. We were beneath a dollar-store umbrella, and a...

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I Hope

The Ballad of Bubs McFee

By SEAN DIETRICH New York Harbor, 1885. Only 20 years after the Civil War. New York was the epicenter of the world. Bubs McFee had traveled all the...

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