Hey there, I’m so glad you’re here! Welcome to Sweet Tea by the AJC, a newsletter for refreshing, positive stories from around the South. Sit and stay a while. We have so much to tell you.
I just came back from a long trip, and it’s got me thinking about the sky of all things. I still remember how the sky looked as I crossed the Georgia border for my first long stay in 2007; before I made a home here two years later, before I met my husband and dearest friends and built a life I loved. It was the palest blue with long soft fingers of peach and pink lit by the setting sun. The sky over home always looks a little different, doesn’t it? Even when it’s gray or cloaked in night, it seems to stretch its arms and say, “Welcome back. This is where you belong.”
A MAN AND HIS DOG
Credit: Dagny Willis/Moment/Getty Images
Credit: Dagny Willis/Moment/Getty Images
We get it. Your dog goes missing, and you’ll do anything to get them back … including going missing yourself. A little dramatic, but needs must!
Steven Troy Roper went into the woods near his Tennessee home to search for his missing dog, Baxter. A few hours later, he texted his wife saying he couldn’t find his way out.
More than a day later, with the help of the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency staff members and the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Roper was found safe and sound with Baxter in tow. Both were fairly unscathed, apart from being very, very dirty.
🐕 More from the Haywood County Sheriff’s office here, and the full story from WBBJ.
Side note: Roper alerted his wife to his situation by sending her a pic of him smiling peacefully in waist-deep water. Classic Southern Man behavior. My husband almost cut his leg off with a chain saw once, and after being kindly asked to keep it chill for the rest of the day, found a 4-foot king snake which he triumphantly lifted above his head like it was the boom box in “Say Anything.”
THE WAY OF THE WATERMELON
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr./AJC
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr./AJC
New dream job: Watermelon fondler. Wait, that sounds weird. Watermelon thumper? Slapper?
Officially, Brian Nichols works for the Georgia Federal-State Inspection Service. Unofficially, he’s a watermelon quality control guy. After doing the job for a decade, he knows what a ripe watermelon sounds like. He and other melon professionals in Cordele offer some advice for identifying the perfect ripe watermelon:
🍉 The sound of success: Nichols says ripe watermelons give off a “ping” when patted. “It sounds like a flat basketball,” he told the AJC.
Ana Gomez, a melon seller in Cordele, agrees: “If it sounds hollow-ish or like a basketball, it’s because it’s ready to eat,” she says. “Now if it sounds flat, it’s not good.”
🍉 Eye it up: In addition to the sound test, Ricky Cruz, proprietor of the Melon Shack, checks the bottoms of the watermelon, where they rested on the ground as they grew. If that area is a nice, buttery yellow, the melon’s probably good.
Remember: Watermelons don’t keep ripening after they’re cut from the vine, so you get what you get!
OK, now put that watermelon to work! I recently made this watermelon pie from Southern Living, and it was absolutely divine. It’s a little involved, with the tapioca powder and various creams, but it’s so worth it. Add some fresh chopped mint on top, and don’t skimp on the Biscoff crust.
SIPS FROM AROUND THE SOUTH
🏥 Apex, NC: North Carolina is getting its first stand-alone children’s hospital, and it’s expected to bring 8,000 jobs to the area. It’s the result of a partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health. More from WRAL.
🫶 Hunt, Texas: Countless heroes have stepped up to help in the aftermath of the devastating floods in central Texas, and some are being credited with saving lives. One Hill Country couple ran to a nearby resort to beat on doors and wake people up, urging them to get to higher ground. Such a simple act was likely the difference between life and death, the resort’s owner said. More from KSAT.
⚾ Conyers, GA: The MLB and the Atlanta Braves shined up a new field of dreams for the Conyers Boys & Girls Club. The new All-Star Legacy Field features a newly-renovated baseball field, updated dugouts, new equipment and new must-haves like a scoreboard, fencing, lighting and irrigation systems. More from the AJC.
🌈 Little Rock, AR: Hairpins, a series of pop-up events in Central Arkansas, are helping LGBTQ+ people party on while feeling at home. I absolutely love this story from Stephanie Smittle at The Arkansas Times.
IT’S BEYONCÉ’S (SOUTHERN) WORLD
Credit: Julian Dakdouk
Credit: Julian Dakdouk
At long last, Beyoncé‘s “Cowboy Carter” tour has hit the South; her homeland and the birthplace of country music. She visited her hometown of Houston in late June, and is currently in Atlanta — with a big ol’ golden horse, nonetheless. While Beyoncé‘s music is practically a universal language, it just seems to mean more here.
Some highlights from the Houston and Atlanta reviews:
🇺🇸 “For Beyoncé, grappling with this country’s history is just as important as acknowledging the triumphs of your own history.”— DeAsia Page for the AJC.
🤠 “‘Cowboy Carter’ … is much more than a tour or an album. It’s an immersive experience that pulls fans deep into its world through deliberate dress codes, layered history lessons and a challenge to listen and look beyond the music. Looking around NRG Stadium, it was like RodeoHouston, leveled way up, with sparkle, edge and purpose.”— Joey Guerra for The Houston Chronicle
TELL US SOMETHING GOOD
Is there a cool event we need to know about? Something great happening in your town? Let us know. This is your space, too. amatl@ajc.com.
SOUTHERN WISDOM
Maybe I'll always live in the city. Maybe I'll never uproot and move to a place where my family can walk to school or to the library, but I realized as I was driving home that day that I didn't need to live in a small town to be a small-towner.
In a beautiful article for Garden & Gun, Calloway shared how a little hardware shop in Matthews, North Carolina, shaped her personal and literary worldview.
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