re: Congress getting in on the basketball investigations

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My momma didn't read any of those. She loved Lewis Grizzard. I've never read him, so I don't know what his humor is like.

I did just re-read 'As I Lay Dying' a couple weeks back. It's easier than 'The Sound and the Fury' (if not by much) and still sounds impressive when hitting up girls at the cotillion.

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"As I Lay Dying" is one of my favorite novels. I read it in high school on the recommendation of an English teacher who knew I liked Faulkner. (Yeah I know how nerdy is liking Faulkner that young - I mean adults fake read him ). I was so taken with how the story was told that I wrote "My mother is a fish" on the sides of my kick arse Chuck Taylors. "Sound and the Fury" is great but I'd also recommend "Absalom, Absalom!" as Quentin's struggle with what it is to be southern stands to this day as the perfect illustration of what southerners of conscience and intellect struggle with.

My step-dad loved Lewis Grizzard and had a ton of his comedy tapes and as a kid we'd listen to them on long trips. I found his humor hilarious as a child but today I find it chauvinistic (in the classical sense where the word refers to regional prejudice or overzealous nationalism - seriously everyone should google the word because it's so associated with 'male chauvinism' that the true meaning has been lost.)

That's not to say Grizzard is without merit. In columns and in his standup he had some wonderful insights. He's just problematic because in many ways he promoted some of the very things southerners need to shed in order to get on with our lives and improve the standing of so many things within our states.