Best of the South 2009

June 2009 - Issue: 65

What is best about the South? That is the question. Or at least the one we asked our free-spirited contributors. In the issue we call "The Best of the South 2009," you will find their answers.

And let's not downplay the durability of the technology: Perfectly sized to toss in your travel bag (you wouldn't toss your laptop into your travel bag!), our "Best of the South 2009" issue is packed with things to do and think about.

To achieve such highfalutin goals, we consulted literary experts: vibrant writers who know the South and who can illuminate the overlooked with expertise and pizzazz.

So what do our experts do? Well, they search for eternal youth; they find the best cheese; they honor the best singer to have sung on a Rolling Stones song (not Mick, not Keith, not even Charlie); they rediscover Eudora Welty's second-funniest story; they travel haunted roads; they walk—sorry, ski—on water; they rebuild farmhouses—in short, they write (very eloquently!) about people and things and experiences that can shed light on our sometimes baffling but always rich experience of life in the American South.

If you want names, we will tell you that our "Best of the South 2009" issue features some amazingly skillful writers, including: Wendy Brenner, George Singleton (in his OA fiction debut), Michael Parker, Sean Rowe, Hal Crowther, Lolis Eric Elie, Rebecca T. Godwin, John T. Edge, Beth Ann Fennelly, Wright Thompson, Kim Sunée, William Caverlee, Thomas Swick, Alan Grant, Lauren Groff, Keith Pandolfi, Mark Winegardner, Emily Raboteau, Susannah Felts, Billy Collins, and many other literary hotshots.

We think this is our best "Best of the South" issue (it's our fourth), but we'll leave that for you to decide. Thanks for reading!

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ISSUE (FREE ARTICLES!)

Hal Crowther HOME FROM THE HILLS: If you are a regular Oxford American reader, then you know that our longtime columnist Hal Crowther does not kowtow to popular opinion nor toe any party line (according to Bill Moyers, "Hal Crowther hunts with live ammunition.") In this issue, Crowther examines how the economic meltdown may actually be helping a small but mighty effort to save the mountains of West Virginia (and perhaps stave off other environmental disasters).

Thomas Swick RECESSION BLUES: Swick had a dream career: As a travel editor and writer at a respected newspaper, he flew around the world (all expenses paid) and wrote about his experiences. But when the recession hit, his paper's travel section was downsized and then discarded and this writer had to start all over from scratch. This inside view of the freelance writing life (and the future of print journalism) is both dispiriting and inspiring.

Lyn Millner MAN VS FROG: For those of us who love nature but are unable (or unwilling) to trek into a tropical swamp at night, Millner offers a listening adventure with an indefatigable ecologist, his trusted cohorts, and a whole lot of Florida frogs.

OA BEST OF THE SOUTH ODES, A (VERY SMALL) SELECTION

Emily Raboteau's Civil Rights tour of the South leads to Ms. Joanne Bland of Selma, Alabama; Lolis Eric Elie finds the best pecan pie in the South (if not the world); Matthew Vollmer praises Pop's Soda Fountain in Roanoke; and Susannah Felts falls for water-skiing.