Sean Dietrich Articles

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 first. Take for instance, my wife, Jamie. I’ve spent years in training beneath her tutelage. I’ve learned a few things....

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 teeth.Several of us fellas used to visit her every weekday morning for breakfast.Once she showed me a bronze token.“I’ve been...

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 the time of year when words like “Samoas,” “Shortbread Trefoils,” “Do-si-dos,” and “Tagalongs” become household names. A...

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 paper. SoySeal ink. Still warm. It’s a unique scent.I grew up throwing newspapers. Not on a bicycle. My mother and I...
All the purty horses

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...

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All the purty horses

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...

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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...

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All the purty horses

Sean of the South

Relax, you're going to be okay You’re going to be okay. That’s not an opinion. It’s not a guess. This isn’t some trite little catchphrase from some...

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All the purty horses

The 11-year-old in the house

BY SEAN DIETRICH There is a little girl in my house. She is 11. She is currently playing piano in my office. She is blind, so she plays by feel. She...

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An American in Rome

An American in Rome

BY SEAN DIETRICH Rome, Italy. The sun is rising over the City of Seven Hills. I am sitting at a cafe, not far from our hotel, editing a column on a...

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