alabama – Snake & Tree

February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

Meth Mouth

As if you needed to know the various ways policies have ignored the meth epidemic.

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 6, 2018January 6, 2018

No Pleasure but Meanness: The Untold History of the Kingpin of Organized Crime in Alabama

Willie Dewitt Dawson drove a black Lincoln Continental with “kingpin” on the front license plate. Don’t piss off the boys from Alabama.

December 31, 2017December 31, 2017

A Very “White Trash” Christmas

Some families enjoy a Christmas ham and caroling. My family enjoys not having possums in the attic and a good mullet.

December 2, 2017December 4, 2017

Poor People’s Investing: Quick Cash and Payday Loans

Quick Cash and Payday Loan merchants are fixtures in most rural towns. This is why I hate them.

I’m Rachel, a jaded twenty-something English grad student looking to tell some stories. Currently based in Knoxville, Tennessee, 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.