Cassandra King on the legacy Rick Bragg will leave behind.
I, for one, beg to differ.
Rick wroteAvas Manas the story of his maternal grandparents.
Credit: Terry Manier
In his endorsement, Larry McMurtry called it a book of a certain gritty grandeur.
High praise indeed, from a master.
This was made true for me in a whole new way when I first met Rick Bragg.
Many years ago, my husband Pat and I visited him at his mothers farmhouse near Jacksonville, Alabama.
As soon as he slung himself out of the car and drawled a greeting, I knew him.
Wed never met, but as we say in the South I knew his people.
Our vernacular differs, but we still understand each other.
Both of us have eaten purple hulls,tea cakes,and field-dressed quail.
No Southern storyteller can truly tell the tales of his or her life without delving into the past.
Rick Braggs own works are shaped by a past that turned him into the writer he became.
Those words struck me like a thunderbolt.
It is a part of who we are, as a people, a community, and a nation.
Yes, son, you did.
And mine, too.
Event info and tickets available atmy.alysstephens.org/3382.
