Slightly Used Poem VII

Night Talk

She said, "tonight let's talk of things untrue."

He said, “ like black is white and night is day

And up is down and in is out?”

She said, "yeah, things like that.

Those things we know for sure.

Things like... well,

You could say, 'I really love you.'"

And I could say, "Yes, I know you do."

'possum

The Stain on Our Meridian

Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman

Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman, American civil-rights workers in the South during the 1960s. Michael Schwerner (b. 1939) and Andrew Goodman (b. 1943), both white New Yorkers, went to Mississippi in 1964 as volunteers to aid in the registration of African-American voters as part of the Mississippi Summer Project. They and fellow volunteer James Earl Chaney (b. 1943), an African American from Mississippi, disappeared on the evening of June 21, 1964. The FBI recovered their bodies, which had been buried in an earthen dam, 44 days later. The Neshoba County deputy sheriff and 17 others, all Ku Klux Klan members, were indicted for the crime; seven were convicted in 1967 and an eighth in 2005.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

In depth review of the trial and key people involved

Surcarnochee Review

Mississippi Chris Sharp with Piper Lauderdale




The Sucarnochee Revue's site with some good music

Martha Markline Hopkins's Sculpture

Click on for a larger picture.



Per Martha Ann:

"Here is 'Progression,' my sculpture, under a maple tree in my yard."

"It is composed of 9 sections of burnished and bent aluminum tubing, 4' x 7' x 4' connected by a rod and welded in place. I had the tubes bent in Birmingham. at Brooks Welding. The company is one of the few companies in the U.S. who bend tubing. Those bending machines are interesting to watch; they groan and squeak when bending, and sometimes the tubes crack."

A Joan Baez Favorite

Here's Looking at You Kid

Great Lyrics Here

Soulé Steam Feed Works

Soulé Steam Feed Works is a historic business founded in Meridian, Mississippi in 1891 by George Soulé (Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1849, G. W. Soulé was a descendant of another George Soulé that came over on the Mayflower.) The complex was listed as a contributing property to Union Station Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 under the Meridian Multiple Resource Area (MRA). It was listed as a Mississippi Landmark in 2003. The business, known for its many patented innovations in steam engine technology, reached its height around the turn of the century, producing products that were sold around the world.
In 2003, the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum obtained the lease to the complex and has operated there since. The city holds an annual Soulé Live Steam Festival at the complex attracting thousands of people from around the nation.

1907 annex, which contained an assembly room upstairs and a blacksmith shop downstairs

History

The Platters

It's impossible to remember our past without remembering "our" music

Stolen off of the Meridian Blog.

Meridian Community (née Junior) College

Meridian Community College is a two-year public community college in Meridian, Mississippi (USA). Founded in 1937, it was originally named Meridian Junior College but changed its name in 1987.

Meridian is home to two post-secondary educational institutions.

Meridian Community College is located at 910 Highway 19 N and offers free tuition for four semesters to graduates from the Meridian Public and Lauderdale County School Districts as well as home schooled children who reside in the city limits.

Founded in 1937 as the "13th" and "14th" grades at Meridian High School, Meridian Community College is the only one of Mississippi's 15 public community colleges to originate through the initiative of the local school system. MCC began as the vision of Dr. H.M. Ivy (1884-1977), superintendent of the Meridian Separate School District in the 1930s. The college, then known as Meridian Junior College, operated at Meridian High School until 1964 when the College moved to its present location.

In 1970, the College merged with the historically black T.J. Harris Junior College as a result of a federal court order to the Meridian Municipal Separate School System. More than 400 students joined the MJC campus from Harris that year.

Meridian Junior College made its final break with Meridian Public schools by establishing its own district and Board of Trustees in 1980.

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the College changed its name to Meridian Community College to more accurately reflect the diversity of opportunities it provides for a growing community area.

Confessions from Way Back Then - MHS '56,'57', '58

A rerun from 2008 posts:

I wrote the below as a series in our 50th Reunion class blog because I got tired of the kitties and church and grandchildren posts. I felt the blog needed enlivening. Mostly, it is all true.

My Confession #1

Weidmann's

Who remembers the “Will Special”? Chances are girl classmates, if you were sometimes taken to Weidmann’s for dinner, greeted by host, later owner, Shorty McWilliams and then found your date looking to the tall, of course, black, graying, sort of elderly waiter, named Will, trying to catch his eye, your date was in on "it". Will would come over, invite you to follow him where he would seat you somewhere inconspicuously. The "Will Special” was on. This “Special” was only available on busy Friday or Saturday nights when Will would tell us the “Special” was on — or not. Well, WTF was the “Will Special”?

Now, I don’t mean to mislead you. This was not as important as the discovery of the Venona Papers, or the outing of Claus Fuchs, but it was damned important to boys with limited funds in High School. Here goes. Pretend I’m whispering, OK?

THE WILL SPECIAL

Order anything on the menu and Will would write the check for about $2.00, and as long as you matched the check amount with a tip equal to or greater than that check, behold children, you just got the "Special". Most of the time my check was for shrimp remoulade and coffee: about $2.15. I always tipped Will in the vicinity of that amount. With a date? Anything on the menu and a check for 1 shrimp remoulade, 2 coffees. Dinner for 2? Less then $5.00, including the tip at Weidmann’s. A "Will Special".

We, who were in on the special, ate this way for almost 2 years until Will, Jr. started working there. He messed up, provided the special one night when it wasn’t busy enough. This caught the eye of ol’ Shorty Mac (as he was called) who promptly fired both Wills. Well, it was good while it lasted. Now, you boys and girls who didn’t previously know about the "Will Special" are privy to a closely held secret. By the way, I think several classmates know of this. The question is will they, too, come forward and ‘fess up?


My Confession #2

Drinkin' In High School

As long as you now know of the Weidmann's caper, I might as well tell you more about me. This series takes place before we were so rudely evicted from our youth.

As I’m sure you remember, Mississippi was a "dry" state, except for beer. NO HARD LIQUOR! Unique to this law, there was no distinction for age. The crime made it unlawful to sell liquor, PERIOD. This meant anybody could buy liquor. It could be sold to teens as well as adults. A conviction did not take into account age. So, we callow youths bought it with the seller being at no more risk than if he sold it to an adult. I don’t know about you folks, but me and my friends bought our liquor from Shadey Waddell, a black bootlegger with an innovative approach to purveying his wares: "the window".

That’s right. Shadey scooped MacDonald's with his “drive thru”: "THE WINDOW”. We, and most of his black customers knew the “drive thru” well. Drive up, lean out and knock on the opaque window. It would be raised and a voice from within would ask: "What’ll it be?” I never saw Shadey, as was the case with most of his customers, I'm sure. It gave him a way to deny a transaction because he could not be identified by his customers. Shadey was a smart man. His specialties were pints and half- pint bottles of whiskey and some cheap ass “Taaka” Vodka. Mostly, he sold “Early Times” and the budget brand, “J.W Dant”(for about 80% of the Early Times price). J.W. Dant may have been made in West Virginia in a process involving an auto radiator. But we bought it and we drank it and it would make you as drunk — or drunker (more drunk?) — as the "high priced Spread" — to borrow from an early margarine commercial. So, yes, I, and some of you, bought and drank in High School. I know some names because some of you, at one time or another, drank and got drunk with me.

This is enough for confession #2.

My 3rd Confession will be revealed on Sunday. It’s about me being arrested for being “drunk and disorderly” at “SKY VIEW”.


My Confession #3

Drunk and Disorderly.

When I wrote about drinking in High School, I hope I didn’t mislead you. We drank but I didn’t mean sloppy, falling down, passing out and hurling drunk... so hung over the next morning that you grabbed the wrong tube and brushed your teeth with “Preparation H” drunk. But I did get “Mouthing Off”, slightly drunk. Usually it was on beer. I got this way several times... OK, many times. There was seldom a trip to Shadey’s. Well, there was the Great Easter Drunk, really drunk, drunk, but that’s a story for another time.

At Skyview, the fabled Honky Tonk, I was sort of friends with the manager/part owner Robert Earl Northcutt. He told me of the pre-raid phone calls he would get from Deputy Sheriff, Larry (I think that was his name) Thomas. Larry would call and tell Robert Earl that they were coming out in about 20 minutes. This, of course, gave Robert Earl and his bouncer, who, for a while was Wayne Roberts, time to lift off the craps table which was overlayed on top of the snooker pool table, pull out the cues and rack the balls. I was there only twice to see this so-called raid. Both times, Larry would swagger in, walk

over to the pool table where the bouncer was standing, holding his cue straight up, chalking, as players will. The bouncer would say, “Your shot Robert Earl." Larry would walk around for about 5 minutes and leave, telling Robert Earl, as he left, to “keep it clean”. What ever that meant. Robert Earl would walk outside give ol’ Larry $50. The money was in plain sight both times that I saw the raids.

Of course the night I was arrested I was in the full mouth-off mode. I was outside leaning up against my friend, John’s car. As Larry walked by me he mumbled something to me. The way I recall it, I didn’t even understand what he said, but I told ol’ Lar he could go do something that was anatomically impossible for him to do to himself.

About 15 or 20 minutes later, I was in the Lauderdale County Jail, arrested for being drunk and disorderly. I’m glad I wasn’t driving that night because I’m sure he would have nailed me for a D.U.I, too.

Now it gets interesting. The Lauderdale County sheriff was Alton Allen who for years owned a grocery store on, I believe it’s 23rd Avenue (haven’t been back in a while), right across the street in back of MHS. Alton replaced Dr.J.V Duckworth, the corpulent ex-Veterinarian sheriff that I’m sure some of you remember.

Alton Allen was also something else. He was our neighbor, one house down in Marion. His family and mine were close friends, had been for years. Good news and bad news, right? Right. He sat me down on a bench while ol’ Lar filled out some paper work. And Alton went back into his office where he must have called my Dad. It was late, around 2 a.m. By this time Alton had become Mr. Allen for me.

He came out to the bench, got me, took me into his office and told me to call my Dad. And I did. I told my Dad the Reader’s Digest version of how I got where I was. I’ll never forget what he said to me. He said, “Son, what have I or your mother ever done that would lead you to where you are now?” I, of course, said, “Nothing”. He then said, You mean you got where you are on your own?” “Yes sir”. My Dad then said, “Well you got in, you get out.”

I don’t know why it took so long, but at that moment I became really scared. Mr. Allen took me back out to the bench and told me that the only cell available was down on the end with another man arrested for being drunk and fighting. Now I got really, really scared. I remember Mr. Allen telling me breakfast was at 6 a.m. and he said the meal was a hamburger
soup or something that sounded disgusting.

I sat on the bench for what must have been 45 minutes. My Dad walked in, thanked Mr. Allen, and drove me home. He and Alton (back to "Alton" again) had planned the scenario. I didn’t get to drive for about 6 weeks. Had to apologize to Alton for putting him to such trouble and my Dad insisted I cut the Allen’s grass for the rest of the summer.

But my dad never spoke of the incident again.

Nota Bene:

My 4th Confession will be posted on Wednesday night. Isn't this fun? You know I read somewhere that once ya get on Medicare you are absolved of any youthful indiscretions. So my 4th Confession will be about classmates with whom I had sex.


My Confession #4

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

First let me get a couple of things out of the way... so to speak.

!. Ouida and I agree that nothing went on between us. I said, “Believe me Ouida, if it had you’d remember it.” She said, “Yeah, I’ll bet. What’s your name again?”

2. There are no boys on the list. Although, refer to My 3rd Confession: “The Great Easter Drunk, really drunk, drunk.” But, I don’t think so.

3. Most of the names I have were 11th graders, class of ‘59. There were 3 or 4 13th and/or 14th graders. 1 for sure, from the 10th grade. But most all the boys knew her “biblically”, if you get my drift. To know her was to love her.

Now on to the heart of the matter: the class of ‘58. Although several of you contacted me and wanted to be at the “top” of my list, I was first thinking, “ no, not more groupies. Not for this, too.” But I checked my list and, unless I lied to my diary, you girls weren’t even on my list! Using an O.J. Simpson trial-ism: “if ya ain’t in my book, ya didn’t getta look.”

Now, for the 11 or 12 of you on my “list” – that I hid – and you know who you are, re-reading through my MHS ‘58 diary, one page really that really stands out in bold letters is this: I WON’T TELL, IF YOU WON’T. So girls, please ask your husbands/partners... whatever to put away the shotguns. Take the 00 buckshot back to Walmart... or save it for deer season. If any of you knew me, you’d know that I’m sort of honorable and I won’t tell, if you won’t.

Chuck Berry's Meridian Visit. (updated)

Photo courtesy of Charles (Buddy) Broome.

TKO Leadout: 1959

Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll !!!
I would anxiously await his every release. Chuck was Rock and Roll to many of us. Lee Arthur Rhodes, a disc jockey from WQIC — " th' Black spot on yo' dial" — would come by and load that Student Activities building jukebox with Chuck Berry's latest and it would play almost non-stop for days.


Chuck Berry provided his teenage fans with an outlet to express the feelings and desires that 1950's society taught them they were not supposed to have.

Want some more? I do!

Roll Over Beethoven

Brown-Eyed Handsome Man

Maybelline

History courtesy of Charles (Buddy) Broome: John Harvey, Fred Ross and I signed Chuck at Fred Ross's mobile home on Hwy 80 in Jackson. Chuck was very polite and looking sharp in his silk suit and bebop cap. He drank a beer with us and didn't seem at all troubled about doing business with juveniles. (I believe John was 18, Fred was 17, and I was 16.) My last image of Chuck was someone leading him out a side door at the Key Field Officer's Club to hide him after the problem arose. Ross had proudly assumed the mantle of Chuck's roadie; drove him to the Country Club for intermission, and when they of course told him that people of the Negro race were not admitted socially, cut a deal for Chuck to pay his way by performing a couple of songs there. Then, during a break in the latter stages of the dance, he responded to Chuck's request for a little female company by recruiting the girl to visit the break room. What happened there we may well imagine, but she left distraught, and probably told her friends straightaway. Police officers escorted Berry out of the parking lot and straight to the jailhouse where they fined him for disturbing the peace. A couple of days later, a police car took the Prince and I to the County Attorney's office for depositions. We of course knew nothing.

There were a lot of "good ol' days".

And, there were also a few "bad ol' days".

I think I remember the girl. I'm sure some of you do, too. If you do, keep it to yourself. Going on Medicare automatically absolves us of all our youthful impulsiveness.

Newell Paper Company

Originally founded as the Jackson Paper Company was founded in 1921 by Mr. Harvey Newell. Newell's employees started off selling industrial paper products like paper towels, toilet paper and cups, later adding fine printing paper and janitorial supplies and equipment to the list of products. Today, the company sells more than 7,000 different products to its customers under three primary product lines: fine printing papers, industrial grade papers and janitorial supplies and equipment. In 1946, the company expanded its operation by opening the Newell Paper Company in Meridian. Today the company, which is owned entirely by its employees as a privately held corporation, covers a market area which includes over 8,000 customers in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama and has 185 employees Current location is: 1212 Grand Avenue, Meridian 39301

Okatibbee Creek.

Okatibbee Creek bridge ( pony truss) near Meridian, Mississippi on old US 80.The creek flows south out of Okatibbee Lake ( now, it was not there back then ) some 8 miles north of Meridian, and meanders its way back and forth right through the western edge of Meridian. It continues flowing south until it merges with the Chunky River near Enterprise.

Guess Who?

Hartley Peavey,
founder of Peavey Electronics Corporation

Hartley often doodled iterations of his now-famous logo during high school. It's difficult for me to think of Meridian today without thinking of Peavey Electronics.

A Recent Interview with Hartley – Be sure to check out the comments.

Peavey Celebrates Its 44th Birthday

In Business Week Magazine below:

Peavey Electronics Corporation

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Peavey Electronics Corporation manufactures musical instruments and professional sound equipment internationally. It offers amplifiers and instruments, such as acoustic amplifiers, acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and cabs, bass guitars, drums, guitar amplifiers and cabs, electric guitars, keyboard amps, steel guitar amplifiers, and damage control products; and professional audio products, such as microphones, mixers, power amplifiers, speakers, products for DJs, and audio performer packs. Its products are used by musicians. The company's audio installations are found in parliament houses of New Zealand, Russia, and Germany; opera house in Australia; theme parks; and NFL stadiums in North America. Its audio technology is used by audio, communications, and integrated media industries. Peavey distributes its products through dealers and store locations. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi.

Company Headquarters Address:
5022 Hartley Peavey Drive
Meridian, MS 39305

Hartley, in my opinion, Meridian owes you a huge debt of gratitude for, not only providing great employment opportunities, but also for your civic generosity. You have truly made a difference.

Damn! I used to be cute.

Click on it. It's even worse.

An Old Den of Iniquity - The White Castle

Click on for a bigger picture.



Located where Grand Avenue ran into Highway 45 South just before getting to the Three Mile Inn (remember it?). The White Castle was among the many fabled honky tonks in and around when we were growing up in Meridian.

A Favorite Pat Conroy Quote

From the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.

“My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me, "All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: 'On the night the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to sister”

Former Classmate's Donated Art

Our MHS Class of '58 artist in both paint and sculpture, Martha Ann Hopkins, neé Markline, recently presented her sculpture, "A Wheel for Lilith" to Gadsden, Alabama's Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts. Details of her gift are below.

Lilith is a large sculpture: 7' x 5' x 7', and is composed of found objects from the junk yard and cast bronze and cast iron.

The Class of '58, 40th Reunion (1998)

I found this while cleaning out some old business file cabinets. Its envelope had not been opened. Although I always sent my money, I never attended a reunion until the 50th. I always got a booklet and, for the 40th, a group photo. I guess I tucked this away and I forgot about it. Lots of men with glasses. Lots of women with contacts. Vanity? Plus de choses changent, plus le séjour de choses les mêmes. Click on the picture for a closer look. Enjoy

Meridian and Royal Drive-Ins – R.I.P.

At their peak, which most experts agree was in 1958, there were almost 5000 drive-ins. Today, there are only 372 drive-in theatres still open in the US.


To capture the memories of drive-ins, I think we need a little Bob Seger music, don't you?

Everybody's Favorite – Highland Park

Click on:

The history of Highland Park begins in 1889 when the area was used as the Meridian Fair and Livestock Exposition. When the Fair and Exposition Corporation dissolved in 1906, ownership of the land was transferred to the newly formed Park Association, established as a non-profit corporation to assemble property and develop initial plans for Highland Park. At the time Highland Park was designed, there was a national trend for streetcar pleasure parks, and electric railway companies wanted to increase their operations by owning or investing in these parks.

The Meridian Light and Railway Company followed the national trend, building a rail line beginning at 8th Street and following 34th Avenue until it turned west between 19th and 20th Streets and continuing west into Highland Park. The company also cooperated with the city to build the park itself in 1908 and provide band concerts for its amphitheater.

This just in!

Weidmann's to re-open – AGAIN – under new management.

Ever see the movie, Groundhog Day?

Let's hope it sticks... this time.

Bye, Bye, Miss Meridian Pie

LONG TIME RESTAURANT CLOSES ITS DOORS

Lonnie and Pat's Cafe, a staple of the Meridian restaurant scene, has closed its doors, perhaps for good this time.

A sign on the door reads: "Due to lack of business May 8th will be our last day to be open. Thank you for your business."

Lonnie Jones’s first venture was a general store by the name of Lonnie's Curb Store.

For many of us, sitting around on wooden drink cases, drinking beer and telling lies at Lonnie's was a rite of passage.

City Hall

City Hall is located at 601 24th Avenue, and since September 13, 2007, the building has been undergoing a restoration to its original 1915 appearance. Temporary City Hall is located at 2412 7th Street.

Time out

When posting fellow needs a break, he can always scan and post Ms. Posting Fellow's engagement picture at the tender age of 20— 45 years ago. Click on.




Or I guess he could post some interesting video out takes from the below movie(s).

"Losing My Religion" – R.E.M.

A favorite song. A favorite video.


R.E.M. - Losing My Religion by WBRNewMedia
The phrase "losing my religion" is an expression we hear occasionally from the folks here in the South that means losing one's temper or civility, or "being at the end of one's rope." It's sometimes uttered in a voice of resignation during the dissolution of a love relationship.

Key Field

Who hasn't flown out of here?

Click on for a larger picture

A Little History

Meridian Regional Airport ( KMEI) is a public airport located on Key Field, a joint civil-military airfield located 3 mi (4.8 km) southwest of the city of Meridian in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, USA. The airport is served by one commercial airline, but is primarily used for general aviation and military traffic. At 10,004 feet, Key Field is home to the longest public use runway in Mississippi.

Meridian Regional Airport opened in November of 1930 with the completion of the terminal, hangar, powerhouse and a graded and packed dirt runway. With the onset of the Great Depression, the City of Meridian considered abandoning the airport because of the cost of maintenance.

Brothers Algene and Frederick Key, managers of the airport, devised a scheme to keep the airport operating. They hoped that by breaking the standing flight endurance record of 23 days they would focus worldwide attention on Meridian and its airport.

From June 4 until July 1, 1935, the brothers flew over Meridian; a total flight time of over 27 days. Key Field is named in their honor. The hangar and offices used by the Key brothers preceding and following the flight are still in use today and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Key Field is the site of the famous flight by brothers Fred and Al Key ("The Flying Keys") which set a world endurance flight record in 1935. At 12:32 p.m. on June 4, 1935, brothers Al and Fred Key lifted off in their Curtis-Robbins monoplane, the "Ole Miss," from Meridian's airport. The record they established in their 27 days aloft, totaling 653 hours and 34 minutes, remains unbroken in conventional flight. Working with other Meridianites such as A.D. Hunter and James Keeton, the Key brothers devised a workable method of air-to-air refueling in order to attempt this feat.

The site also contains an exhibit reviewing the history of aviation, and is the home of Meridian's Aviation Museum.

Weidmann's. Down For The Count?

Weidmann's. Is she gone forever? Meridian Star 05/02/10


On every table there was the ubiquitous Jar (urn?) of Peanut Butter and, of course, crackers.



Attribution: A really good photographer who calls herself: Deep Fried Kudzu took this along with some other excellent photos of Meridian's places of interest. She has a keen eye.

Old Postcards: Worship in Meridian

Click On:

Meridian is home to lots and lots of religious institutions.

Do You Know Shelby Lynne?

Shelby Lynne's early life was sad and hard.
Lynne was born Shelby Lynne Moorer in Quantico, VA, in 1968 and grew up mostly in Jackson, AL. Her father was a local bandleader and her mother a harmony-singing teacher, and as children, she and her younger sister Allison -- later a country recording artist in her own right -- sometimes joined their parents on-stage to sing along. However, Lynne's father was a violent alcoholic who at one point had her thrown in jail; when Lynne was 17, he shot his wife dead in the family's driveway, then turned the gun on himself.

I like her a lot.

"Old Time's Sake"

Want to learn more about her?

This long New York Times article covers all the ground.

Roytex Shirt Factory in Tuxedo – RIP

Roytex, Inc.

901 D St.

Meridian, MS 39301

Roytex, Inc., a private company, was founded in 1955 and is still around today with offices and about 50 employees in New York City. Like so many other textile-related industries, they outsource the work to overseas operations. From what I can find out, the products from the Tuxedo plant are now being made by a contract manufacturer in Bangladesh.

Roytex Inc 901 D St Meridian, MS 39301

"Down in Mississippi" – Jimmy Reed

Now as then, I can listen to Jimmy Reed all night long.

Memorabilia - 1957

A Meridian Star fragment from May 1957. Yet another piece of our past given me by Joe B. Stewart.

Click on for a larger view.

J.B. Melton/22nd Avenue Bridge

Before the construction of the James Melton Bridge in 1957, I'm sure some of us remember that trains rolled through the downtown shopping area.

The bridge (see below) was re-built and re-opened in January, 2010.

More from Meridian Author, Brad Watson

The below Narrative Magazine story, In the Prime of Their Lives is but part of Brad's novella which is in his excellent new book of stories:
"Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives"

Click on this link to read this delightful story.

“SHE WAS A GOOD Baptist girl, but she wasn’t a prude, and she liked to drink a beer here and there, and go to parties, and she generally liked my rowdy crowd. She was a virgin, though, and determined to stay one until she married.”

Biographical Information

Brad Watson was born and grew up in Meridian, Miss. He became interested in theater in high school, and, after graduation, went to California to look for work in Hollywood as a set-builder. Unable to find a movie job due to a strike, Watson worked as a garbage collector. After about a year, he returned to Meridian and worked in a variety of jobs, including carpentry and bartending. He also attended Meridian Junior College, where he became interested in writing. Watson earned a BA in English at Mississippi State University in Starkville in 1978. He then enrolled at the University of Alabama, earning an MFA in creative writing and American literature in 1985. In the mid-1980s, Watson also worked for a weekly newspaper on the Gulf Coast. He later wrote for the Montgomery Advertiser and for an advertising agency in Montgomery.

From 1988 to 1997, Watson was employed by the University of Alabama as an instructor and as a writer in the public relations office. During this time, he was also writing short stories. Several were published in literary journals such as The Greensboro Review and Story. A collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men, was published in 1996. The following year, Watson moved to Massachusetts where he held a five-year appointment as a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at Harvard University. He published a novel, The Heaven of Mercury, in 2002. Watson then moved to Pensacola, where he was writer-in-residence for a year at the University of West Florida. He spent a semester teaching at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before being appointed the John and Renee Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. In 2005, Watson became a member of the English faculty of the University of Wyoming and moved to Laramie.

Interests and Themes

Brad Watson’s fiction is set in the South and frequently involves failed interpersonal relationships. Last Days of the Dog-Men is a collection of short stories about dogs and people. The Heaven of Mercury is set in a fictional town that is based partly on his hometown of Meridian, Miss., and partly on Alabama Gulf Coast towns like Foley and Gulf Shores.

Want to learn more about Brad? This is an excellent 2002 interview that really draws him out.