Our Southern Souls Sunday

Welcome to Our Southern Souls Sunday. I’m glad you’re here. This week’s stories are about The Toy Bowl Classic, a river rat, and starting over from scratch.

“My house burned down on September 17. Something woke me up, and I saw the smoke. The fire spread so fast, but I got out in time. My parents had that house in Fairhope for twenty-four years; now I live there by myself. I lost almost everything. It hasn’t hit me, yet. I just try to go to work, laugh, joke, and watch sports. But I know the tears are coming.”

Link to Maurice’s story and info about how to help

“I played in the Toy Bowl Classic in the Civic Center in 1966. They hauled red clay in for the field. No grass. Just marked lines on the clay. Landing on the ground didn’t hurt. We were in grade school and thought we were tough.”

Link to Pat’s story.

Flashback

I’ve been doing Souls for almost nine years, so it has been fun to go back to the stories from the beginning and post a few here. I was amazed that strangers would share a part of themselves with me and that I could learn so much from a spontaneous conversation. I still feel the same way thousands of interviews later. These early photos also show how far the iPhone camera has come.

“I am adding a mockingbird on my arm because I am from Vicksburg, Mississippi. I left at 17 and never went back. I am a river rat and grew up in the Mississippi Delta and fishing on the Mississippi River. My dad was a commercial fisherman on the river during his off time. My brother died in the Yazoo River when he was working on a tugboat, so I don’t go into that river. It is still a sore spot. Part of where I grew was Campbell Swamp, it was an old indian reservation. We spent summers there. It was a different way of growing up. I wish I could give more of that to my girls.”

Link to story

“I am training to be a professional wrestler. The heartbeat is for my dad. He was a doctor, but he died two years ago.”

Link to story

Our Southern Souls, Vol. II will be here in a couple of weeks! The first author event is Sunday, October 20 with my good friend Ardith Goodwin. The night is about stories matter and will be some of the conversations Ardith and I have had making our books. We tell stories in very different ways, but have learned a lot from each other. Ardith is brilliantly creative and just as fun. Tickets are $24 and all money goes to Central Food Pantry that provides food and resources to 750 families each week. Camm Lewis is opening the night. I did Souls with him and love the stories he tells through his songs.

Here’s event info and how to buy tickets

Thank you for sharing a part of your Sunday with Souls. If you have suggestions for folks I should talk to, email me at [email protected].  Have a great week!

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