I have a friend who coaches me in the Unwritten Rules of the South. We’re still in the beginning stages, but I daresay she has helped me immensely in my quest to become an insider in one of the remaining places where rules of conduct still matter. I would share some of these tips with […]

I’ve just returned from my youngest niece’s graduation in Boston, one of my favorite cities ever. When I noticed an absence of flip-flops on the graduates, that set me to thinking about some of the differences between East and West, North and South. Besides a greater respect for tradition, the humid East boasts two other things that I missed during […]

Ever since I was a little girl, my favorite time of the week was always Sunday afternoon. We’d come home from church to a home-cooked feast at my grandmother’s house, then either take a scenic Sunday drive as a family or I’d climb into our hammock and read a book. Even before I had a personal faith in […]

One thing I’ve discovered is that people in North Carolina like to give directions with landmarks. A simple request for how to find a certain store often goes like this: Local person: “You take you a right after Boomer Wilson’s store.” Me: “Where’s that exactly?” Local:  “Oh, ‘at’ll be after the Baptist church." Me: "Which one?" There are 50 in […]