They were calling for rain. But no rain came. Yet.  The umpires stood on the field, clad in clerical black, staring at the sky, palms facing upward. Modern-day soothsayers.  The sky was the color of a battleship. The air was damp and sticky.  “It is...

By SEAN DIETRICH "HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY?!" shouts the talking head on TV. I’m at an American diner. The kind with fried food and waitresses who call you “sweetie.” There is enough saturated fat in the air to cause a coronary event just by breathing....

By SEAN DIETRICH Buc-ee’s convenience store sits outside Athens, Alabama, like a giant squatting beaver. This Texas-based gas station place is not a mere gas station. Buc-ee’s is a dwarf planet. You’re looking at Six Flags Over Circle K. And the place is packed today....

By SEAN DIETRICH I have a thing for trees. I don’t know why. Maybe because I’ve always been a nerd. I think it all dates back to my days in Boy Scouts. My cousin Ed Lee and I were second-class Scouts, and we earned our forestry merit badges one summer. Actually, I...