Oxford American # 62, Fall 2008

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS
Editor’s Box
by Marc Smirnoff

Publisher’s Note
by Warwick Sabin

Gone Off Up North
Finding a perfect match for Bill Clinton.
by Roy Blount Jr.

Local Fare
A local mecca for catfish lovers.
by John T. Edge

Food
Remembrance of things past.
by Wright Thompson

Writing on Writing
A dream comes true.
by Constance Adler

Family
Our legacy of not evacuating.
by Jesmyn Ward

Family
Remembering a childhood storm from a long-ago summer.
by Michelle Richmond

Politics
Did Mississippi’s governor do the right things in post-Katrina chaos?
by Ellen Ann Fentress

Place
Local bar can say it all.
by Moira Crone

Community
Love in the ruins.
by C.D. Wright

Place
It’s funny what we hold onto.
by Anne Gisleson

Community
Did all the newcomers to Baton Rouge suddenly make it…cool?
by Alex V. Cook

Meditations
The summer doldrums.
by Ada Liana Bidiuc

Food
A hidden: sausages.
by Sarah Roahen

Lagniappe
A short list of restaurants that survived and are better than ever.
by Brett Anderson

Art
The artist Willie Birch sees the promise and the darkness of New Orleans’ future.
by Bill Sasser

Personalities
Dr. Ben Marble, an unlikely hero, gave Dick Cheney a taste of his own medicine.
by Mark Winegardner

Community
The spirit of a lounge.
by Maura Fitzgerald

Southern Lit
What is the great New Orleans novel? Here are a few suggestions.
by William Caverlee

Writing on Writing
History in the making.
by Ned Sublette

Southern Lit
Here’s an author deserving of a fresh look.
by Clay Risen

Writing on Writing
The two greatest moves in his life were leaving Louisiana and returning to Louisiana.
by Ernest J. Gaines

FEATURES

Still Live, with Voices
Not neat, not linear, and not monosyllabic.
by Lolis Eric Elie

No Direction Known
Wrong turns, deadends, and all the agony and ecstasy one man can take.
by Chris Rose

Letting Her Go
Why it’s so hard to leave and also why it’s necessary?
by Sarah M. Brown

Why I stayed
It wasn’t an easy decision.
by Jed Horne

I WIll Forever Remain Faithful
Rap music helps a teacher connect with his students.
by David Ramsey

Fiction

Wanted Man
Family drama—with guns, explosions, shoot-outs, and strange creatures—on the Louisiana prairie.
by Nic Pizzolatto

My Secret Garden
A boy follows a girl to New Orleans and finds himself lost in a garden.
by Peter Zinn

POETRY

Epithalamium, by Forrest Gander

Honey Behind the Sun, by Greg Brownderville

Invitation to the Gretna Royals, by Alison Pelegrin

Lament, by Ginny Kaczmarek

Thanksgiving on the Gulf, by Wilmer Mills

Cover: “Ally Running” by Samuel Portera