Long Time Leaving
Dispatches from Up South
Bringing in the SheavesThis was written before the midterm elections of 2006, in which, as we now know, America—even as far South as Virginia—began to take my advice. Much remains to be seen.
Down South recently I read a letter to the editor that sought a middle ground on glossolalia. Apparently controversy has been high among Southern Baptists as to whether speaking in tongues should be embraced doctrinally. The writer began as follows:
“I have never, as far as I am aware, been inspired to speak in tongues myself, but . . .”
As far as I am aware.
Aw, man, I miss that stuff.
Best I recollect, I have not personally been swallowed by a whale, as such, but . . .
I moved to the Northeast thirty-eight years ago. By now, you’d think I would have left the South. But I keep needing to get back down there. As long as I can get back out again.
In October 2001, an American flag was stolen in Massachusetts and another one in North Carolina. I know of the first from a photograph in the Berkshire Eagle, of Pit ...
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