Sean Dietrich Articles

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...

Brother John

BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — Pineview Street. A nondescript house. Off-white. One story. Nothing fancy. Nice neighborhood. Manicured lawns.On the back of the house is a newly built wheelchair ramp. I knocked on the door. The caregiver answered.Inside, the first thing...

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 Carolina, showed up in in 1989, the year she died. Legend states that the pickles were probably homemade. Although some...

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 photographers and reporters with iPhones. DeBoer’s press conference was scheduled for 1 p.m.It was a blustery, rainy day...
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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Beulah Land

Beulah Land

BY SEAN DIETRICH The man had a dream. In this dream, he died. It happened so quickly he almost didn’t know life was over. One minute he was alive;...

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All Dogs Go to Heaven

All Dogs Go to Heaven

BY SEAN DIETRICH It was dark. The young dishwasher was on break. He was sitting behind the restaurant, out by the dumpster, tapping a carton of...

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Beulah Land

A Long Way to Mobile

This is not my story. But it was told to me by an old man who lived it.The year is 1987. Rural Alabama. Our main character is a young kid. He’s at a...

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THE KID

BY SEAN DIETRICH This is not my story. It was told to me. In fact, I’m hearing it for the first time, just like you are.The year was 1982. The old...

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ROAD TRIP

BY SEAN DIETRICH Traffic is heavy. There is a blind dog in the passenger seat of my vehicle, emitting strange and exotic smells.The dog’s name is...

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The Interview

BY SEAN DIETRICH I am mid-20s. I am a cub journalist for a tiny local newspaper with a circulation of about six. My biggest dream is to write for...

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FLY

BY SEAN DIETRICH I am writing from a plane that is stuck on a runway. It’s raining. Hard. I have a screaming baby behind me. Angry passengers...

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FLY

BY SEAN DIETRICH I am writing from a plane that is stuck on a runway. It’s raining. Hard. I have a screaming baby behind me. Angry passengers...

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