1887 Needs Your Help

I’m a little behind where I want to be, but I’m about to take the 20 year leap in the first draft. I have needs, though. If you can help, leave resources in the comments, please. In return, I will be eternally grateful. 1. I’d like a good reference book about different kinds of familial [...]

Can I Plant a Palm Tree, Now?

It’s near sixty here and sunny at the end of January. Global Warming, can I have palm trees in my yard? I want to be ahead of the curve, if possible.

When It’s Someone You Love

I wrote a little about “tolerance” at Pith today. But I do just want to reiterate that, if you believe your personal beliefs or your religious beliefs compel you to hurt me or people I love, to lie about me and people I love, to dismiss my pain and the pain of people I love–in [...]

Left Me here to Sing His Song

As you know, one of the things that brings me greatest joy in life is discovering… hmm… I’m not sure what to call it–evidence of influence. Yes, that’s it. I like to be able to trace the path people’s creative sparks make through history. And here, today, is a good one. Listen to that Otis [...]

Regular Man, Regular Woman

From WBIR: 10News sat down with the senator where he confirmed his statements, but said it was taken out of context. He said that he acknowledges that heterosexuals can contract the virus. He meant that certain groups are at much higher risk for AIDS. “A lot of people trying to gloss over and say it’s [...]

History Things

–Ugh, this point about our belief in medical explanations vs. witchcraft explanations and the future having other explanations just hits me right in the gut. Good stuff, though. –We’re discussing the outbuildings at Sevier Park in the comments at Pith. My new opinion is that, if you can’t get a home made out of stone, [...]

Braisted on Campfield Action

The owner of a Knoxville restaurant kicked Stacey Campfield out of her establishment last night for being a destructive bigot. Sean Braisted gets to the core of the matter. Knoxvillains who wish to eat out have a whole host of different options from which to choose from.  But Tennesseans who want equal representation and rights [...]

The Masks of Living People

Late last night, I caught the premier of this show on HGTV. Let me just say two things. 1. If you’re ever wondering if there’s anything about Nashville I don’t like, it’s these people, who permeate a whole strata of Nashville society and are recognizable by their accents which are all the same, but unlike [...]

Sunnyside

I Finished It

I am so bummed to be done. I’m glad the Butcher took the dog to the park, both so I had the time to finish Life on the Mississippi and so there was no one home to annoy when I laughed out loud a number of times. My favorite part is when he is preparing [...]

Medium Rare?

I sometimes catch The Dead Files on the Travel Channel. I don’t really like it. But I watch it anyway, because the stories are right up my alley. The premise is that this cop and this medium go around investigating people’s troubled haunted houses, but that the cop and the medium don’t compare notes until [...]

Oh, I See. “You” Doesn’t Include Women.

Tom Humphrey has talked with Campfield further about his strange beliefs about straight people and HIV. I would just like to point you to this section: Campfield said Friday that his point in the radio show is valid in that, within the United States, heterosexual encounters almost never result in AIDs “unless you’re having sex [...]

The Great American Novel

People, I honestly don’t know how any writer in the United States who didn’t start writing before reading Life on the Mississippi dares put words to page after reading it. It may not be the “great American novel” but I honestly don’t think there’s a more perfect book about the United States. At least, he’d [...]

Setting the Record “Straight” on How Heterosexual People Can Prevent HIV/AIDS

You’ll be unsurprised to learn that it’s pretty much the same things gay and bisexual people can do. I find it a little annoying that the government is all “just don’t have sex with that many people, okay?” since there are enough non-sexual ways to contract HIV and rape is common enough that concern trolling [...]

An Evening with My History Boyfriend, Mark Twain

As I said on Twitter, in black and white, Twain’s hair looks disheveled and old-man-y. In color, it looks like bedhead. Anyway, the back end of the book is apparently just Twain snarking on everything, including the Atheneaum in Columbia. I love his description of the mule race and wish we could have one here [...]

Yes, Those Monkey-Screwing Airline Pilots. I Hate Those Guys.

What we can learn from this Metro Pulse post. 1. Stacey Campfield has some strange ideas about what airline pilots get up to in their free time. 2. While I don’t believe you should fuck Stacey Campfield just out of general principle, you should for sure now not fuck Stacey Campfield, because he doesn’t understand [...]

I Now Kind of Get Why People Live in Giant Houses

I wanted to spend the evening with my new history boyfriend, Mark Twain, but the Butcher wanted to watch TV, so I got sucked into watching TV with the Butcher. Which is a fine way to spend an evening, don’t get me wrong. I love trying to guess in the first five minutes what the [...]

Metro Pulse! I Love You!

I have just been enjoying the crap out of Knoxville’s Metro Pulse lately. Check out this story about Karen Dalton, which manages to talk about Dalton in historical context, compare her with other artists, and give you a hint of what makes her special (and limits her legacy) as an artist without the normal “Oh, [...]

Well, This Is Sad

Richard Floyd and David Fowler are confused about why their violent, vile bigoted rhetoric is being met with hostility. Fowler actually says, “The unfortunate thing in our culture is that we’re getting to the point where oftentimes we can’t say anything without it becoming uncivil and getting off the merits of the discussion.” Fowler, everything [...]

Crouching Mama, Hidden Daddy

Those of you who were around yesterday may remember that I linked to the past, which is creepy. Well, our very own Beth found such a creepy picture of her own ancestors. The hidden parent is pretty well hidden at first. But once you spot the fingers, it doesn’t take long to make out the [...]

One Last Bit about Twain and Napoleon

He’s full of shit, right? He must have known all along that Napoleon was gone–a town that took up that much mental space for him on a river that took up that much mental space for him. But the thing I find incredible is that, while Life on the Mississippi is supposed to be an [...]

Ill-Fated Napoleon, Arkansas

Holy shit. So here is how Napoleon, Arkansas was lost. Napoleon stood at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Arkansas rivers. Before the Mississippi reached the Arkansas, it took a drunken turn toward Beulah, Mississippi, and spooned the fat curve of its belly along her main street. Where the river’s belly swung back west [...]

More Granju Stuff

I should be shocked to learn this, but honestly, I am not. I mean, I’m surprised to learn she was under indictment, but on the other hand, it explains why she didn’t call the authorities when she should have. She weighed going to prison against a kid’s life and Henry lost. But I am not [...]

Oh! Harcourt Makes a Move

Amazon has a publishing arm, a legitimate publishing arm, which has been in the news for handing out wonderfully high royalties and for the animosity traditional bookstores have expressed toward Amazon’s publishing venture. You could publish with Amazon, but you weren’t going to find your book in Barnes & Noble. Except that now Amazon has [...]

The Past Was so Creepy

But well-upholstered.