Welcome to Bizarro Texas!
Deep in the jungles of the southern hemisphere lies an eerie version of my homeland; the natives call it 'Brazil'
Cattle auctions are regular TV fodder; their favorite drink is ‘the little redneck’
As rural culture is throttled and the countryside is depopulated, we await a future of economic bifurcation beneath the cruel lash of our overclass masters
It is a place from the nightmares of America’s elite metropolitan progressives. A place where there is a steakhouse in every neighborhood. Where the favorite drink is called “the little redneck.” Where new Ford F-150s sell out as soon as they are offered by dealers. Where crowds gather to watch football on TV, with their cheers echoing blocks away when their team scores. Where Pentecostal street preachers and televangelists are gaining ever-more converts and political influence. A place whose history is defined by both cattle ranches and slave plantations. A place where courtesy and violence are two sides of the same coin. The perfect target for a boycott.
Texas? No, Brazil.
Brazil is like a southern-hemisphere Bizarro World version of the United States. As a sixth-generation Texan, when visiting Brazil I confess that I feel more at home than I do in the American Northeast or West Coast. …
A Hurricane in Georgia
Helene Made Some Memories Here, Too
Rip-Roarin’ Gal Leaves Path of evastation Through Georgia Before ipping North
Buy batteries, ice, propane camp-stove canisters, charcoal, and lighter fluid
I can sleep through anything, so the first I knew of the storm was my wife waking me up around 3 or 4 AM on Friday morning, the 27th of September. Our old feist dog was whining and panting hard, in panic mode under the bed. The wind was howling and it was pouring sheets of rain. The power was off, so I retrieved my flashlight to comfort the dog. We had no idea what was really happening outside. No one was worried. No one was prepared. My preparation consisted of dropping the umbrella on the patio table, to account for wind. The only significant damage I could remember from a hurricane, outside of isolated tornadoes, was when Hugo came through in 1989 and caused significant treefall in some areas.
I live in the first planned suburban neighborhood in Aiken, South Carolina, and it is a large development. It is the kind of neighborhood where investors and hedge funds love to buy up homes to create …
Hello, Dolly!
Dollywood is the Disneyland of Appalachia
‘We’re not meant to be slouching from grief to grief’
Save those Precious Memories on your iPhone
On a crisp Friday morning in early October, before the first frost, mom and I set out from our home in deep Southwest Virginia to visit the Dollywood theme park in East Tennessee. We’d been there once before, years ago, when I was five or six years old. Dolly’s Eagle When She Flies album had just been released, and my parents bought me the cassette tape as a Christmas gift. I loved Dolly on the cover, in her white blouse and tight denim. I loved the tune “Silver and Gold” even better. Mom sang it to me as a lullaby: “Time can’t be brought back with silver and gold.” When I think of it now, I hear it in mom’s voice.
“Do you remember anything about that trip?” Mom looks over at me expectantly. Through the windshield, I watch the car swallow the pavement beneath us. “I don’t know,” I reply, hesitating. “I sort of remember women dressed in pink and purple spandex with butterfly wings.” Mom …
