Sean Dietrich Articles

Sean of the South | Last night at the Opry

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — I arrive at the Opry House a few minutes before rehearsal. My guitar and fiddle cases trip the metal detector, so the security guard makes me open them.“You ain’t smuggling moonshine, are you?” says the guard with a watchful eye.“No,...

Sean of the South | Weird Al

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — The boy didn’t have a lot going for him. At least, that’s what his parents first thought.His parents were concerned. The other children would not stop laughing at their son. The other kids had turned him into a joke.His name was Al. And...

Sean of the South | Swimmers of Lake Martin

OPINION — Lake Martin shimmers beneath a heavy midday sun. I am sitting on a dock.There are distant sounds of splashing. Kids laughing. All the children are swimming. All their respective adults are sitting ashore, dry. As adults often are.There is nothing like July...

Sean of the South | Fourth of July

BY SEAN DIETRICH 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 the entire season. A summer without pound cake is like church without singing, Monet without color or...
Pound Cake Day

Pound Cake Day

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — You might not know this, but a few days ago was a national holiday. A day when our nation traditionally puts aside our...

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Pound Cake Day

Where the redhead grows

OPINION — BY SEAN DIETRICH My interview was scheduled for noon. It’s not every day you are a keynote speaker for Miss Bernice’s fourth-grade class...

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Pound Cake Day

Super

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — If you’re a boy, and you’re thinking of marrying a Southern woman like I did, you’d do well to understand how she thinks...

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Pound Cake Day

People next door

OPINION — Marie was a Waffle-House waitress with two kids. She smoked like a fish, worked like a trail horse, and was self-conscious about her...

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Pound Cake Day

It’s Girl Scout season

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION —It’s Girl Scout-cookie season again, which traditionally begins right after deer season, and is followed by Lent.This is...

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Pound Cake Day

Newsboy

OPINION — Newspapers have a smell. If you’re lucky enough to find a newspaper in our digital world, you’ll notice the smell first. Fresh newsprint...

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Pound Cake Day

Brother John

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — Pineview Street. A nondescript house. Off-white. One story. Nothing fancy. Nice neighborhood. Manicured lawns.On the back...

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Pound Cake Day

America’s Aunt

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — Nobody knows when it started. But it did. The first jar of pickles to appear on Aunt Bee’s grave in Siler City, North...

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Pound Cake Day

Morning in Tuscaloosa

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — The plane landed in Tuscaloosa at 8:37 p.m. Central Time. Coach Kalen DeBoer deboarded.He was met with an entourage of...

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