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Sean Dietrich Articles

More letters to Dear Sean

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — DEAR SEAN: All I want this year is for this girl in my third period class to go on a date with me, but she’s way out of my league.Please help,Fifteen and pathetic in Birmingham Dear Pathetic:I’ll put this in the nicest way I can: If you’re...
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All the purty horses

BY SEAN DIETRICH The day before New Year’s Eve. I was stuck in Birmingham rush hour. A ten-mile line of standstill traffic stretched before me. It looked like I wouldn’t be getting home until sometime around the next papal installation.The Dodge truck beside me towed...
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The Giving Tree

BY SEAN DIETRICH Merry Christmas, Layla Grace. I got your name from the church Christmas tree. It’s kind of like Angel Tree, where you buy gifts for kids whose names are on the tree.Your card was hanging on the branch when I was walking through the lobby. I was...
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Christmas Prayers

The side-of-the-highway café was decorated for Christmas. Plastic balsam trees on formica tables. Beside the napkin dispenser, a nutcracker soldier with a Sharpie graphic drawn on his unmentionables, lending new meaning to the unfortunate soldier’s station in...
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Morning

Morning

Oct 12, 2022

By SEAN DIETRICH Morning. The lobby of my hotel is crowded. It’s breakfast time. This is the moment of day when guests emerge from rooms with...

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Morning

The Helpers

Oct 5, 2022

The hotel parking lot. Early afternoon. He was packing his truck. Slamming toolbox lids. Reorganizing luggage in the rear cab. Iowa plates. I’ve...

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Morning

Friend

Sep 28, 2022

By SEAN DIETRICH I met an old friend for lunch today at a neighborhood deli. The portions were generous. The food was good. Our sandwich and burger...

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Morning

Oscar

Sep 21, 2022

By SEAN DIETRICH Mobile, Alabama. Morning time. I was meeting someone important. I pulled into the parking lot of Toomey’s Beads & Bulk Mardi...

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Morning

People Watcher

Sep 14, 2022

By SEAN DIETRICH The hotel lobby is about the size of an aircraft hangar. It’s like a city unto itself. They do things big in Atlanta. There are...

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Morning

Five Bucks

Sep 7, 2022

By SEAN DIETRICH This is not my story. I am hearing it for the first time, just like you. He is the one who tells it. He is old. He is in a...

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My Generation

My Generation

Aug 31, 2022

BY SEAN DIETRICH They called us the TV generation. Because that was pretty much all we had. No smartphones. No computers. No internets. We had a...

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My Generation

I Hope

Aug 24, 2022

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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My Generation

Gone Country

Aug 17, 2022

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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