How the mysteries of poetry can help a writer expand the boundaries of language.

ORIGINS, OCTOBER 2017

Eudora Welty's "Where is the Voice Coming From?" helps show a full picture of Mississippi in 1963.

National Public Radio, August 17 2011

A look back at the joys of summer reading on an old bookmobile

National Public Radio, August 10, 2010

On a youthful first encounter with William Faulkner’s The Reivers.

National Public Radio, July 3. 2012

A look at the ever changing mind of the American South.

The Washington Post, September 21, 2008

A look at the significance of Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail

The Washington Post, January 16, 2005

Four U.S. Poets Laureate have taught at the University of Michigan. The author shares his memories of three of them.

Michigan Today, April 13, 2011

Genetic testing suggests that white and black Americans have more in common than they suspect. Will this change our perception of race?

The Washington Post, January 1, 2006

Now is the time to reconsider a policy that must eventually change. But simply replacing race with class isn’t the solution.

The American Scholar, Winter 2009

An analysis of the comments made by Trent Lott at Strom Thurmond’s Birthday Party in 2002.

The Washington Post, December15, 2002

A meditation on the integration of the University of Mississippi 25 years later

The Washington Post, September 27, 1987