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...
All the purty horses
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Sean Dietrich Articles
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...
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...
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...
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...
From the files of ‘Dear Sean’
BY SEAN DIETRICH DEAR SEAN:I’m not sure what to do. My teenage son died in an accident three years ago. … A few months ago one of his good friends...
Sean of the South – The Checkout Lane
He was loading my grocery bags. I’ll call him Michael. He was early twenties, wearing an apron. He has Down syndrome.“How are you today?” he...
Sean of the South: A ‘Dear Sean’ letter
BY SEAN DIETRICH The email came from someone named Paxton.“Dear Sean,” the message began, “my dog died today and I feel like I can’t go on. I know...
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...