Looking For the Buckhead Boys
by James Dickey

"Some of the time, going home, I go
Blind and can’t find it.
The house I lived in growing up and out
The doors of high school is torn
Down and cleared
Away for further development, but that does not stop me.
First in the heart
Of my blind spot are
The Buckhead Boys. If I can find them, even one,
I’m home. And if I can find him catch him in or around
Buckhead, I’ll never die: it’s likely my youth will walk
Inside me like a king."

A few lines from a much longer poem by James Dickey. Yes, Mr. Deliverance was a poet , as well. Good Luck in finding " a Buckhead Boy" today, ghost of Mr. Dickey, 'cause he has long, long since moved to St. Ives or Seaside. The very few there were to begin with. That Buckhead, that Atlanta, that South, is gone.

"People remember what they want to the way they want to, and call it history.", a line from a wonderful article that is the cover story of this weeks Newsweek, written by James Dickey's son, Christopher Dickey. Please , follow the link and read the story. It's full of maps and videos that go along with the article all about Christopher Dickey's trip though my part of the universe , and what the "New South" means in 2008, and how it will effect the coming election.

I am Southern. But , I live in rural upstate New York. How many people now living in Gweat Gwinnett, Historic Cobb or lily white Cherokee counties around Atlanta self identify as "Southern"? And how will all these new folks, a whole lot of them brown skinned, vote in November?.

 Mr. Dickey writes: "These newcomers have little interest in re-enacting the Civil War, no reason to revive the emotions of the civil-rights movement. They did not move here for iced tea or a more leisurely pace of life. The South to them is future, not past." What can it mean, now , to be "Southern".... Is there even such a thing without the past? 

"The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." -- William Faulkner" . Way to often quoted, and now... not even true. I am not saying this is such a bad thing , the "solid south" that once kept hard core raciest like Jessie and Strom in power , first as Democrats and then Republicans, can go the way of the hoop skirt. Breath some fresh air into the region. Thing is, those of us that are Southern, don't really do the change thing all that well. 

Christopher Dickey goes back to the place where his dad placed his most famous novel. Only to find gated communities and swimming pools. Kids playing in the river where those men got into all that trouble. In 2008 it's " squeal like you just got your S-class Mercedes dinging in the Starbucks parking lot"...... I'm off to make some grossly sweet iced tea ( with Splenda, we do accept some changes) and mow my lawn.