The Bitter Southerner

August 26, 2026 — Originally published in Issue No. 14 of The Bitter Southerner Magazine One of the most common refrains in journalism is that it is dying. This death knell has sounded for decades but, with each passing year, as legacy media outlets are gutted or sold to billionaires as playthings, the pitch of that refrain grows louder and louder. At the same time, the consequences of an ever-shrinking mediascape become more dire and urgent.

Author of Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores, Katie Mitchell is one of our nation’s leading champions for the power of books. Her online and pop-up Black bookstore, Good Books, has been featured in The New York Times, NBC, NPR, PBS, and many other outlets. She curated a powerful list for us last summer, so we turned to her again as we need even more inspiration and courage this year with the approach of our country’s 250th anniversary.

Photos by Jon Bilous & Jimmy Nicholson August 14, 2026 — Originally published in Issue No. 14 of The Bitter Southerner Magazine I grew up in a church where Sundays were for avoiding Hell. Not metaphorically — practically. Sunday was our reminder of the ways we fell short Monday through Saturday and how much we needed redemption, not for redemption’s sake, but as an antidote for the sins of our week. It gave fear a shape and morality a recurring deadline.

Kris Cravens-Hutton hails from Arkansas and a life-long military background. Two years ago, she hit the big time on Instagram after she and her husband installed an enormous Pride installation at their home in Detroit. Charming us all with her salty language and her fierce love for democracy (and Dave), Kris has become a phenomenon speaking her mind and getting into all kinds of good trouble. Here she and Kyle cover some ground.

August 5, 2026 — Originally Published in Issue No. 14 of The Bitter Southerner Magazine I have a visceral connection to cotton. I grew up in northeast Arkansas — in Mississippi County — one of the most important cotton-producing regions in the country. From the 1950s to the 1970s, my childhood was shaped each year as school began by the sound of ginning and the sharp smell of defoliant in the late summer air.

Kevin Wurm, an empathetic, self-taught photographer from Tennessee, is known for his profound connection with his subjects and their environment. Here, he captures the resilience and determination of Boxtown, a South Memphis community founded by formerly enslaved people and Freedmen, whose latest threat is dangerous emissions from a nearby data center. August 5, 2026 — Originally Published in Issue No. 14 of The Bitter Southerner Magazine Air should be weightless, invisible, life-giving.

July 15, 2026 — Originally published in Issue No. 14 of The Bitter Southerner Magazine Reconstruction — those “seven mystic years,” per W.E.B. Du Bois, when America came as close as it ever has to fulfilling the promise of a truly democratic democracy — effectively lasted longer in Wilmington, North Carolina, than almost anywhere else.

4/1/26 — Published in Issue No. 14 On our nation’s 250-year anniversary, record numbers of American citizens are leaving for other countries that they find more safe, stable, and affordable. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, this millions-strong phenomenon of people choosing to retire, study, and live outside our borders is surging — with 180,000 Americans voluntarily leaving in 2025.

Light breaks the window. You don’t recognize light as a hard hitter. Moonlight moonlighting as meteorite, curtain rod come loose, cabinet collapsed at dawn, a sign you must go out into the world, received by the reproduction of gardenias and orange blossoms hungry for visitors. Love bends the balcony in water weight. Once, a neighbor cried out for help, collapsed under the collapsed trellis of passion flowers. Maybe the best omen for moderation is the thing we love pinning us down.

In 2012, in a small suburb 10 minutes outside of Memphis, a 14-year-old girl gives herself four more years in the United States. At 18, she will leave America, move to Paris, and live and work as a pastry chef. This isn’t a young girl’s dream. It’s her plan.