Sean Dietrich Articles

Sean of the South | Recess on the road

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] weekend where I [performed] my one-man shipwreck.So anyway, my wife is driving. My cousin Randa is in the passenger seat. And...

Sean of the South | Fourth of July

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. Or Monet without color. Or Andy without...

Sean of the South | Juneteenth

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, actually. Texas can be like a steam bath sometimes.Today is a holiday. At least that’s what everyone is saying. But it’s a...

Sean of the South | Father’s Day

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. It was terrifying but beautiful — the flames surrounding the trees. Fire trucks lined the road. It took several men on...
Sean of the South | A Strawberry Moon

Sean of the South | Who is God?

OPINION — The question was simple. “Who is God?” CHRIS (5): He’s a big, big thing, but you can’t see him. He has big hands and he can pick you up...

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Sean of the South | A Strawberry Moon

Sean of the South | Easter

OPINION — 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...

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Sean of the South | A Strawberry Moon

Sean of the South | Just hold on

OPINION — I have here a letter from a young woman who will remain anonymous. “Sean, I’m in a very rough place — the man I love and was supposed to...

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