Best of 2024 Commentaries (Part 1 of 2)

 

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Chuck Reece, editor-in-chief of Salvation South

Credit: Stacey Reece

I’m Chuck Reece, editor-in-chief of SalvationSouth.com and host of the Salvation South podcast from Georgia Public Broadcasting. Each week we bring you a new short commentary on the culture and values of the American south, and they’re available worldwide anytime on our podcast feed.  On the first of this special 2 part episode of Salvation South, we look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB radio in 2024. 

This first one is from the end of May, and it’s titled “To R Is Human”. 

Some people say folks here in the American South talk funny. We do have distinctive ways of speaking. But losing this accent has become big business. It’s easy to find companies that charge big bucks to teach you to lose your Southern accent. I just wonder why you would want to. To me, our accents are as diverse as our region’s population.

Commentary: To 'R' Is Human (from May 2024)

Credit: Collage by Jake Cook

This next one was the first one we aired this year.  In this commentary I introduce you to—or at least remind you about—one of the South’s greatest writers, Ron Rash. Reading Ron’s novels, short stories, and poems will teach you how to pay attention to the details in life, to the things that matter.

 

Commentary: On Paying Attention to the Details (from January 2024)

We’re taking a look back on the most popular Salvation South commentaries from 2024. And what a year it was. 

Outside of the non-stop news cycle: this year, people in North Carolina celebrated the hundredth birthday of one of their most beloved sons, the revolutionary and legendary bluegrass banjo player Earl Scruggs. He defined how most of us believe the banjo is supposed to sound. But the story is a little more complicated than that. Here’s my tribute to Earl Scruggs.

 

Commentary: Mr. Scruggs and His Three Magical Fingers (from June 2024)

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Earl Scruggs

Credit: Collage by Jake Cook

We aired this next one back in the springtime, when we were first starting to dream about an annual cause for celebration in the South — the arrival of homegrown tomatoes in backyard gardens and at farmer’s markets. And like every year, with the blooming of these precious fruits came an opportunity for all Southerners—regardless of politics, philosophy, or faith—to come together.

 

Commentary: One Perfect Thing: The Tomato Sandwich (from April 2024)

Credit: Collage by Jake Cook

This next one is thankfully the only commentary this year which involved me going to a hospital.

All throughout our sweltering Georgia summer, people across our state bravely went into their yards with dangerous implements—mowers, shears, weed whackers, and other weapons of lawn maintenance. And I did the same, until one day I learned this painful lesson. 

 

Commentary: The Violence of a Two Stroke Engine (from September 2024)

And that concludes the first part of our year end Salvation South commentary retrospective. Be sure to subscribe to Salvation South on your favorite podcast platform for part two. And keep an eye out for Salvation South Deluxe, a series of longer episodes that tell deeper stories of the Southern experience through the unique voices that live it.

Listen and subscribe to Salvation South at gpb.org/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, and come visit us at SalvationSouth.com.

I’m Chuck Reece. I appreciate you listening.

 

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece comments on Southern culture and values in a weekly segment that airs Fridays at 7:45 a.m. during Morning Edition and 4:44 p.m. during All Things Considered on GPB Radio. Salvation South Deluxe is a series of longer Salvation South episodes which tell deeper stories of the Southern experience through the unique voices that live it. You can also find them here at GPB.org/Salvation-South and wherever you get your podcasts.