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Don't Date Baptists and Other Warnings from My Alabama Mother
Following in the tradition of Alabama memoirist Rick Bragg, Don’t Date Baptists explores the world of Bessemer, Alabama, circa 1960’s–70’s from the eyes of a boy who grew up there, struggling to understand the divide of race, class, religion, and neighborhood anxiety. Essayist Terry Barr learns from his parents that not all love is the same; that certain neighbors are not to be trusted; that crosses and stars and popular music can with seamless meta-morphosis signal danger, desire, hate, and deep abiding love. While public pools might be filled with clay to prevent integrated swimming, or so-called friends might slur those darker than themselves, this southern boy learns to appreciate how these incidents and relationships have challenged and molded him into the teacher, writer and unapologetic Bessemer man that he is. With humor and poignant authenticity, Barr captures what it means to come of age as the New South cuts its teeth, with much trial and terrible error, in territory that is rich and explosive, devastating and beautiful.
TERRY TELLS STORIES that are uniquely his and at the same time col-lectively ours. His cast of characters will have you nodding your head and saying, “Yes…I know those people, too!” He peels back his life with mature, discerning, perceptive eyes and invites us into his growing up and home town experience. He’s a story teller who isn’t afraid to share his doubts, joys, anger, sorrows, and soul. —Wanda Meade, writer/photographer
IN TERRY BARR’S essays we hear an authentic Southern voice rooted in a particular time and Bessemer, AL, beginning in the 1950’s. He brings to bear a historian’s delight in concrete details combined with a probing sen-sitivity to the psychological tensions and complexities beneath the surface of characters and events. —Steve Beauchamp, poet
TERRY BARR’S BEAUTIFUL, straight from the heart writings remind us of memory’s healing power; they are evocative of places I know very well but have never been, of people with whom I’m intimately familiar but have never met. These are remarkable personal essays—funny, wistful in the right measure, smart, and heartbreaking. —Leslie T. White, Professor of English, University of New Orleans
TERRY TELLS STORIES that are uniquely his and at the same time col-lectively ours. His cast of characters will have you nodding your head and saying, “Yes…I know those people, too!” He peels back his life with mature, discerning, perceptive eyes and invites us into his growing up and home town experience. He’s a story teller who isn’t afraid to share his doubts, joys, anger, sorrows, and soul. —Wanda Meade, writer/photographer
IN TERRY BARR’S essays we hear an authentic Southern voice rooted in a particular time and Bessemer, AL, beginning in the 1950’s. He brings to bear a historian’s delight in concrete details combined with a probing sen-sitivity to the psychological tensions and complexities beneath the surface of characters and events. —Steve Beauchamp, poet
TERRY BARR’S BEAUTIFUL, straight from the heart writings remind us of memory’s healing power; they are evocative of places I know very well but have never been, of people with whom I’m intimately familiar but have never met. These are remarkable personal essays—funny, wistful in the right measure, smart, and heartbreaking. —Leslie T. White, Professor of English, University of New Orleans
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 24, 2017
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