About South

This week, we traveled to Baton Rouge and sat down with Dr. Carolyn Ware, a folklorist and an associate professor in the Department of English at Louisiana State University, to talk about the tradition of Cajun Mardi. Carolyn has spent years talking to Cajun Mardi Gras communities about their traditions, and, no, it’s not just a knockoff of the New Orleans Mardi Gras. Carolyn educates us on what Cajun Mardi Gras is, who participates, and why it’s still important. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

In this week's episode, join in as Gina and returning About South guest Lindsey Eckert travel to the Minnesota State Fair to eat cheese curds, watch a rabbit show, and talk about regionalism. More specifically, the pair discusses how we construct regions to exist as idyllic places, separate from the problems apparent in the rest of the nation and dependent upon certain cultural calling cards-- like food-- for their survival. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

Before Maurice Hobson became a Professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University, he was a Division I football player at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has since worked with student athletes at institutions across the South. We talked with Maurice about how he became interested in football, his experiences as a player and the race and class politics of southeastern football. As a former player and a fan, Maurice offers a unique perspective on the current problems facing college programs, especially programs in the South, and how we might work to make the sport safer and more ethically responsible. *This episode contains language that may be offensive to some listeners. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

In an issue of Swamp Thing, Superman contracts a virus that will cause him to become violent. Instead of wreaking havoc in Metropolis, he heads south to Louisiana: a place where there are no superheroes. While Superman and his ilk may not make their homes in the south, the region has been richly explored in the comics medium: from early narrative comics such as Li’l Abner, Pogo, and Kudzu, to more recent serials and graphic novels such as The Walking Dead, Preacher, Bayou, and Swallow Me Whole. This week we visited Brannon Costello, English professor at LSU, to talk about southern comics. We discuss how comics explore the south’s relationship to the nation, grapple with the region’s history, and imagine its future. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

This week, we chatted with scholar Jennie Lightweis-Goff about New Orleans, southern exceptionalism, urban plantations, and the lasting effects of Hurricane Katrina. We met with Jennie at her home in New Orleans to discuss why it’s important to imagine cities in the South, how urban areas of the South are as valid in their southern identity as rural areas, and what it means that New Orleans decided to take down its Confederate statues. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

In this week’s episode, the About South team drove six hours to Ridgeland, Mississippi to attend _Murder is Golden_, a _Golden Girls_ tribute and parody dinner theater put on by Mississippi Murder Mysteries and the Fringe Dinner Theatre. Gina, Adjoa, Kelly, and About South friend Shannon Finck talk about the power of community and community theater in a time where interaction is undervalued and, as we’ve seen recently, increasingly violent. By bringing people together over a show set in Florida, a state itself divided with exclusionary politics, the Fringe theater group inspires laughter, self-acceptance, and the opportunity for connection. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

When Jon Smith, a professor of southern studies at Simon Fraser University and one of the toughest critics in the field, told us that he would be visiting Atlanta in April, we invited him on the show to critique our first season. We discussed many of the things folks might identify as southern, including blue crayfish, cornbread, and Cahaba lilies. Our conversation highlights why talking about the south is important, and why it is sometimes necessary to dispense with manners in order to do it well. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

This week, we travelled to Gadsby’s Tavern Museum in Alexandria, Virginia to talk with Lauren Frances Adams and Stewart Watson about their art installation, _Centennial of the Everyday_, which is currently on display in the museum. While Gadsby’s Tavern is well-known for its connection to the “founding fathers,” Lauren and Stewart’s installation highlights the contributions of women, enslaved peoples, and other unnamed citizens to the important events that occurred in this space. Their artwork complicates simple narratives about what America was and what it is, inviting visitors to consider spaces as archives and to remember the many "strangers" in the periphery of historical texts. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

With around 40 million downloads, Brian Reed’s hit podcast S-Town prevails in the American conscious and understanding of the south. In this episode, we sit down with David Davis, a professor of English and Southern Studies at Mercer University, to discuss the telling of a southern reality in S-Town. We look at how Reed’s telling takes a real story of human complexity and frames it as fiction, buying into southern gothic tropes and obscuring the lives of his subjects with a thin layer of regional gold. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

This week we talked with Monique Verdin -- an environmental activist, documentary filmmaker, and citizen of the United Houma Nation --about how the oil and gas industries have affected her tribal community in southeastern Louisiana. Monique tells this story in her documentary film, _My Louisiana Love_, which was directed by Sharon Linezo Hong. By following Monique’s family during the time between Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, the film reveals contemporary dilemmas faced by the Houma Nation. Monique sat down with us on a rainy day in New Orleans to discuss the documentary, her environmental activism, and why we should all care about what’s happening in Louisiana. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

To kick off Season Two, Gina and Kelly travel to the end of the world: Venice, Louisiana, which claims to be the southernmost point in Louisiana accessible by car. Traversing through landscapes reminiscent of _True Detective_, they find oil refineries, fishing communities, and estuary wildlife — alligators, egrets, herons, spoonbills, ibises, and several other species of birds. They leave with questions about how our dependence on oil has transformed coastal wetlands into sacrificial spaces, as Louisiana continues to lose approximately 38 football fields worth of land every day. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

We're back with Season Two! Tune in on July 7th. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com.

Gina and Kelly discuss their favorite moments from the second half of season one. In this episode, we discuss Gina’s storied history as a majorette. We also catch up with Ali Arant. In an outtake, Tara Bynam and Gina discuss the inherent pleasure of righteous anger. We also discuss a possible spinoff: “About War Eagle,” and we investigate the motivations of humans and monsters in bonus clips from “Real Early South” and “The Faulkner Witch Project.” Rounding out the episode, Joey Kennedy provides insight about the incoming Attorney General, and Vice Mayor Seyram Selase tells us why it’s important to return to the South. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |

Gina and Kelly discuss their favorite moments from the first half of season one. We discuss the crayfish names suggested by listeners and Lindsey Eckert’s loveable personality. We talk about butt transcendence from “Vampires on the Outside, Accountants on the Inside” and booty-shaking rhythm from “Southern Souls.” We share a surprising snake premonition from our trip to Pasaquan, and Monica Miller answers questions about southern belles and Georgia peaches. In bonus clips, LeAnne Howe and Kirstin Squint discuss native mascots, and Gina talks with Michael Bibler about gifts. We end this episode with a clip from our conversation about southern nostalgia and authenticity with Scott Romine. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |

A special announcement and invitation from Gina and Kelly. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |

On Mother’s Day in 1961, the Klan attacked 13 Freedom Riders by firebombing their Greyhound bus outside of Anniston. We close our first season by talking with Anniston Mayor, Vaughn Stewart, and Vice Mayor, Seyram Selase, about the Anniston Freedom Rider’s Memorial currently up for National Monument status. Stewart and Selase retell the story of the Freedom Riders and the bus burning and describe why recognizing this important landmark is significant for their town, the state of Alabama, and the nation. Special musical guest: Jaye Price Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |

This week, we met with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joey Kennedy to discuss this upcoming presidential election, southern politics, and the media. He explains how the “solid South” was created and why it’s important to view the South as more than a block of red states. As a journalist with more than thirty years of experience, Joey emphasizes how changing business models have affected the way that news is reported and the consequences of those changes on politics both regionally and nationally—most visibly, in the way that they have created the Donald Trump phenomenon. This week's music is from Stuart McNair. Buy his music at stuartmcnair.com. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |

Ghost stories are frequently attached to place—a house, a bedroom, a hallway, or a highway. The stories themselves even take on regional inflections, changing as they are told in different environments. To celebrate Halloween, we sat down with Eric Gary Anderson, Associate Professor at George Mason University to explore Undead Souths. We discuss how southern spookiness is expanding to encompass more than just Southern Gothic tales. We also question the function of the South as a site for creepiness in contemporary supernatural television shows such as True Blood, American Horror Story: Coven, The Walking Dead, and The Vampire Diaries. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |

In the mid-1840s, Warner McCary, an ex-slave from Mississippi, took on a Native American identity, calling himself Okah Tubbee. He soon married Lucy Stanton, a divorced white Mormon woman from New York, who reinvented herself as a Delaware Indian named Laah Ceil. The two then embarked on an astounding adventure spanning all of North America, giving musical performances, working as Indian doctors, and participating in the early Mormon Church. This week, we talk with American Studies scholar, Angela Pulley Hudson about how the couple used popular notions of "Indianness" to disguise their backgrounds, protect their marriage, and make a living. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |

Southern drinking mythology includes many larger-than-life stories about famous authors such as William Faulkner and Barry Hannah. However, according to American Literature scholar Matt Dischinger, this mythology leaves out important aspects of southern drinking culture. Today we sit down with Matt to talk about the impact of temperance as well as the current craft cocktail and local brewery boom in the South. We discuss “southern” spirits as well as regionally inflected drinking experiences. Our conversation explores how regional drinking culture is created and maintained through a combination of lived experiences and creative imaginings. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | | www.brianhorton.com |