COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

Dealer's Choice
by Hal Crowther

Meditations for Bad Girls
by Vicki Covington

Gone off up North
by Roy Blount Jr.

Local Fare:
Soul Foods Served on a White Tablecloth
Sampling the Nouveau Soul offerings of Puff Daddy, Gladys Knight, and Evander Holyfield
by John T. Edge

Southern Gallery:
Q & A with Denise Giardina
A novelist turned gubernatorial candidate discusses the controversial issues in West Virginia politics

Q & A with Ernest Gaines
The author of A Lesson Before Dying comments on the book’s new adaptions to stage and screen

Politics:
In God We Trust—But not Necessarily in Jesus 
What our Founding Fathers really thought about religion and its place in politics
by H. W. Brands

Wildlife:
Turtlemania
Confessions of a boyhood passion for turtles and the one that got away
by Rick Bass

Business:
Hairdresser to the Authors
A new East Texas business combines two form of artistry—literature and hairstyling
by Carol Dawson

Southern Music:
California, Here I Come
Hot Jazz singer Banu Gibson recalls the early days with her unforgettable trombone player
by Tom Piazza

Off the Street:
The Chess King of Decatur Street
by Matthew Teague 

Comics
by P. Revess

SERIAL

A Painted House
Luke discovers that the brawl he witnessed has deadly results that threaten his family. Part Two
by John Grisham

FEATURES

Perfect Strangers on a Train
Riding the rails of Amtrak’s Crescent, a passenger becomes part of a moving village
by Tim Gautreaux

The Chess King of Decatur Street 
A day in the excellent world of Jude Acers, sidewalk chess master, and French Quarter original
by Matthew Teague

SHORT STORY

Father Judge Run 
A boy pining for his absent mother thinks his employer’s parrot is an ominous and eerie presence
by Carrie Brown

POETRY

Stalking the Ordinary
by Joshua Gordon

Cover: Art by Jeff Louviere