On Second Thought for Thursday, June 14, 2018

Flannery O’Connor is regarded by many as Georgia’s greatest fiction writer. Her books are written with dark humor, eccentric characters, and it’s all set in a devout Catholic faith. All of which made her a leading voice in southern gothic literature.

 On Second Thought's full show for Thursday, June 14, 2018.

She was born in Savannah, Georgia but lived sporadically at her family farm in Milledgeville. The home is called “Andalusia”. She lived there until her death at the age of thirty-nine.

The home is now being renovated into a museum and will be reopening on June 19th .

Virginia sat down with Matt Davis, the Georgia College’s director of Historic Museums. She also spoke with Mary Lawrence Kennickell, an artist in Savannah who was also a close friend of the O’Connor family.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup competition kicks off today in Russia. We talked with a group of student journalists from Kennesaw State University who are set to report, podcast and live tweet the global spectacle, and yes, this plum assignment actually counts for college credit.

We spoke with KSU seniors Virginia Wyckoff and Alex Keller, as well as their professor, Carolyn Carlson.

GPB’s Taylor Gantt (“purveyor of all sport!” per his Twitter bio) also gave us a primer on what to expect from the tournament and how the U.S. team’s absence could affect viewership this side of the Atlantic.

From America's segregated past to Atlanta's integrated restaurant scene, chefs are discovering the uniqueness of combining two cultures to create southern food. Todd Richards, an Atlanta chef and owner of Richard’s Southern Fried just released his newest book about the ever-changing southern recipes. His book is called “Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes.”

He incorporates his personal stories with reliable southern recipes with basic ingredients. It even includes a playlist! Richards sat down with Virginia to talk about his new book.

We end the show with On Second Thought's LaRaven Taylor talking to Multi-Grammy award winning Jazz musician, Robert Glasper. He assembled superband, R + R =Now.  Glasper says the group’s name was inspired by Nina Simone. R + R =Now will perform songs from their debut album, Collagically Speaking this Friday at Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. Guest voices on the album include actors Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Amanda Seales and Yasiin Bey/Mos Def.