Lisa Kesler print of a line in TKAM, here in my office
Mary Badham does an interview with the Sydney, Australia Sunday Life Magazine and talks very briefly about her relationship with Nelle Harper Lee. Not a lot of revelation here. Seems NHL was on-brand regarding this, though:
Funnily enough, despite Mockingbird being an exceptional part of our lives, we never spoke about it. It upset her. Once, a family member came with a copy of the book to be signed. She was sitting out front and screamed for me to take her back to her room.
Super random:
1/ Okay, remember the armadillo red velvet cake in Steel Magnolias? Well for some reason, here is a it-really-looks-like-it Whataburger honey butter chicken biscuit that is…a red velvet cake.
2/ In an obit of someone who was obviously wonderful, and wonderfully loved, the mention that “She loved her coffee but nothing compared to her DUKE’S mayonnaise.”
3/ and PS Duke’s is entering the sauce game incl a take on white chicken sauce: “Duke’s Southern Sauces were created to emulate the true regional tastes of the south. Tasting is believing! From Northern Alabama’s zingy white sauce to Georgia’s Sweet Heat and spicy molasses sauce to South Carolina’s Gold signature mustard-based sauce, Tennessee Smoke & Whiskey and Hickory Moonshine.”
4/ Commander’s Palace has a new sign and of course the old one had much more charm.
5/ There’s a waitlist for the ~$3000 Aaron Franklin barbecue pits
6/ So anyway, Armadillo-eating coyotes are swimming between SC barrier islands
7/ Maybe maybe maybe the ivory billed woodpecker isn’t extinct after all, and Louisiana Wilds is offering a $12k reward for information leading to the discovery, of an active Ivory-billed Woodpecker roost or nest cavity
8/ and L O V E that a few of you sent me this tweet to share. xoxo!:
This is beautiful. People closed in their houses in Siena, but singing together through the windows. https://t.co/htq33vS5iK
— Rachel Donadio (@RachelDonadio) March 13, 2020
American Songwriter on Paul Burch’s new Light Sensitive
…a record rooted in history and place. It was inspired by a trip Burch took to his former hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, and includes a commissioned piece that tells the tale of “Mobile’s Renaissance Man” Eugene Walter.
kudzu doing its thing in Cornersville, Tennessee
There’s a tiny mention in the NYT of invasive species like kudzu being utilized for good by students at Tennessee’s architecture school but all the really great pics and ideas are here on the project’s page, Material Misbehavior, at After Architecture.
National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery
The NYT with Following the Civil Rights Trail visits National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis; Mississippi Civil Rights Museum: Jackson; Birmingham National Civil Rights Monument; National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery. Also as part of the NYT’s museum series, this piece on New Orleans’ Le Musee de f.p.c.
This New Orleans Artist Challenges the Way People See Things at the NYT on BMike (and check out his hoodie’s message: “I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.”). “I want the kids coming through here to see that they’re worthy of being painted 12 feet tall with a halo, or just with beautiful colors,” said BMike, 34. “I want to challenge the way people see things.”
rice field outside Crowley, Louisiana
Meet the Louisiana priest behind a 100-gallon crop duster blessing — you may want to consider skipping to 19:30, where the interview begins.
‘Your Imagination Can’t Play that Game’ — Lonnie Holley in Conversation
‘All I’m trying to do is say what I have learned,’ says Lonnie. ‘Not what I think. I mean, think about me being an artist since 1979. For years I checked out more materials and the identification of materials and the materials’ value than pretty much any other artist than I know on Earth. But I don’t wanna boast about that because I’m not trying to act like I’m better than everybody else. I want everybody else to get better than me and learn from what I’ve been an example of. I am a geographic artist.’
learning shape note singing from Buell Cobb in 2011
Evelyn Lamb begins her review in Scientific American of Francis Su’s Mathematics for Human Flourishing with several beautiful paragraphs on Sacred Harp singing, and it works.
White-Bread Evangelist: The starchy Acadiana staple is anything but plain by Rien Fertel in 64 Parishes
This is where workers hand-twist two pieces of dough into a single, oven-ready plait, a bit of old-fashioned artisanry that gives Evangeline Maid—as well as Bunny Bread—its distinctive density and roof-of-mouth-sticking tensility. He offers an analogy: think single strand versus braided rope. Weaving provides strength. And though South Louisianans prefer air-pocked, feather-weight French bread for their po-boys, they depend on steroidal slices to hold scoops of peanut butter or breaded and fried pork chops. That twist defines our “regional profile,” Painter told me, “our taste repertoire.”
Pal’s in Kingsport, Tennessee
Pal’s Sudden Service on this episode of Tennessee Farm Table
Speaking of Commander’s earlier…hope we’re all back to eating at beautiful places very, very soon. Have a fun, healthy week. xoxo!
