Sean Dietrich Articles

Sean of the South | Dumpling

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — I’m 5 years old. On Mama’s stove is a steaming stock pot, filling the world with the essence of chicken and dumplings.I’m watching her use her fists to mercilessly beat a lump of flour that will become dumplings. She punches the dough,...

Sean of the South | A walk with my dog

OPINION — I am walking my blind dog in a public park. We are on one of those community tracks.People exercise everywhere. Joggers. Walkers. Cyclists. One woman is power walking, wearing earbuds, having a violently animated phone conversation with an invisible...

Sean of the South | Confessions of a morning person

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — I haven’t always been a morning person. God knows. When I was a young man I was anti-morning-people. Morning people were insane. My mother was a morning person.As a boy, I’d awake to find my mother already in the living room, snuggled...

Sean of the South | An analog childhood

OPINION —  Wake up early. Saturday morning. Leap out of bed. Oh, the bliss. You sprint to the television set, racing your sister. Last one’s a rotten egg. You are still wearing Superman pajamas. Beneath your Man-of-Steel PJs, you’re wearing Batman skivvies, which...
Lightning Bugs

Lightning Bugs

It’s a quiet night in Avondale. The sun is low in the western sky. The air is lit with lightning bugs. There are a few neighborhood kids, playing in...

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Little Voice

Little Voice

Hi there. This is that Little Voice inside your head speaking. Yeah, I know. It’s been a while. But how are you? How’s life? How’s the fam? You...

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Mountains

Mountains

By SEAN DIETRICH The Alabama mountains look good today. The evening sun is cresting over the hillsides. I’m watching an Appalachian spring overtake...

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Mountains

The Country Gentleman

By SEAN DIETRICH Danny and the band arrived late to the nursing home. They were running behind schedule because of traffic. But they were here, and...

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Mountains

Bar Food

By SEAN DIETRICH I am at a bar. It’s loud. There is live music. And cheeseburgers. I missed dinner tonight because I was making a speech at a dinner...

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Mountains

The Good Old Days

By SEAN DIETRICH I have a confession to make. I am addicted to my cellphone. I’m not proud of it. I don’t like admitting it. But I’m coming clean,...

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Mountains

Dadeville

I can only pray. That’s all I know how to do. I am nobody. I am not particularly smart. I am not savvy when it comes to political discourse. I am...

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Mountains

The Phone Call

By SEAN DIETRICH The call came late afternoon. “May I speak to Sean?” said the child’s voice. Speaking, I said. “Is this a bad time, Mister Sean?”...

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Mountains

Opry Kid

By SEAN DIETRICH The phone rang. My wife and I were in the kitchen, cooking an elaborate gourmet dinner. I was chopping garlic. My wife was sauteing...

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