Southern Cultures

Southern Cultures Volume 20: Number 1 Summer 2014Table of ContentsFront Porchby Jocelyn R. NealOne of the challengesand, simultaneously, deep pleasuresof studying the South is that the disciplinary walls of the academy neither contain nor constrain the work.Rewriting ElizabethA Life Lost (and Found) in the Annals of Bryce Mental Hospitalby Lindsay ByronHer name was never to be spoken. Even upon the lips and within the hearts of her own children, remembrance was forbidden. Silence nearly erased her from history.Ghosts, Wreckers, and Rotten TiesThe 1891 Train Wreck at Bostians Bridgeby Scott HuffardWhen train number nine on the Western North Carolina Railroad tumbled off Bostians Bridge in 1891, it ignited a media frenzy, as well as a firestorm of outrage, a detailed investigation, a compelling mystery, and a series of unanswered questions.Photo EssayTeenage Pastimeby Natalie MinikWhen the unlimited energy of adolescence comes to bear on the limited experience of childhood, the results often swing toward one of two polesan enthusiastic confirmation of the culture a child grew into or a bold rejection of the culture they grew out of.The Best Notes Made the Most VotesW. C. Handy, E. H. Crump, and Black Music as Politicsby Mark A. JohnsonFeet commenced to pat. A moment later there was dancing on the sidewalks below. Hands went into the air, bodies swayed like the reeds on the banks of the Congo.Taking Strong Drinkby Bill KoonSome devout Baptists complained that there was too much booze in a mini bottle for one drink; the rest of us complained that there wasnt enough.South PollsPartisan Change in Southern State Legislatures, 19532013by Christopher A. Cooper and H. Gibbs KnottsAt mid-century, the South had no Republican senators and only two Republicans in the 105-person southern House delegation. By 2000, [both] delegations were majority Republican.Beyond Grits and GravyMaggie and BuckCoal Camps, Cabbage Rolls, and Community in Appalachiaby Donna Tolley CorriherMaggies neighbor-women saw a young woman just like themselves, with children to feed, trying to build a life, and so they helped her, unquestioning in recognition that she would help them in return. This was so.Not ForgottenWinning Friends and Influencing Dead Peopleby JL StricklandJoe cackled fiendishly, addressing Vernon through the closed lid. Whos got the last laugh now, big boy?MasonDixon LinesApple Slicespoetry by Todd Boss. . . flavored of tin fromthe lip of the cupof a dented thermospassed between usBooksElaine Neil OrrA Different Sun: A Novel of Africareviewed by Fred HobsonJennifer Rae GreesonOur South: Geographic Fantasy and the Rise of National Literaturereviewed by Michael McCollumAngela C. HalfacreA Delicate Balance: Constructing a Conservation Culture in the South Carolina Lowcountryreviewed by Brian GrabbatinAbout the Contributors