Snake & Tree

February 3, 2018February 3, 2018

Guilt, Shame & the Southern Imaginary

We can feel guilt or shame about our ancestors. Or we can drink a lot and get to work.

February 2, 2018February 2, 2018

Posted on The Baffler

DACA, undocumented-gay-boylesque-dancing Alabamans, and what Trump got wrong–per usual–in the State of the Union.

January 25, 2018

The Possum and the First Lady

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were both legacies. I think she got the short shrift.

January 20, 2018

This week: government shut down, Christian Picciolini, Peter Joffrion, and Amazon.

This week we got the government shutting down, a reformed Skinhead making me optimistic, and Amazon screwing with my commute.

January 18, 2018

Review: Steven Stoll’s Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia

Stoll’s book of Appalachian history was released in November of last year. The responses are wild, so here’s mine.

January 15, 2018

Swallowing Us Whole: New Regulations on Predatory Lending Felt in Appalachia

Predatory lenders continue to invade rural landscapes. The CFPB tried to regulate them. Congress said no. Here’s why that’s awful.

January 9, 2018January 9, 2018

American Farm Bureau Speech

Thoughts after Trump’s American Farm Bureau Conference speech. Short and sweet? It was lame.

I’m Rachel, a jaded twenty-something English grad student looking to tell some stories. Currently based in Nashville, born and bred in rural Alabama. Here you’ll find liberal political tirades, stories, book reviews, and folklore focused in on these lower Southeastern thirteen states.

The title, Snake and Tree, comes from the Alabama proverb that if you hang a dead snake in a tree it’ll bring rain. These stories are the snake. The rain is making peace with this broke South.

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