The Bitter Southerner

Nov 22, 2024 | bittersoutherner.com | Anne Byrn

In the South, cakes are our love language. We bake to celebrate birthdays, reunions, potluck dinners, and even elections. Now, we bake for therapy, especially through the holidays. Janie Cheney’s Sticky Lemon Cake I was having lunch with an old friend at Chez Fonfon in Birmingham a couple of years ago, before James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Dolester Miles retired. On display, for the entire restaurant to see, was her sleek and captivating coconut-pecan layer cake.

Oct 31, 2024 | bittersoutherner.com | Wyatt Williams

In the spring of 2023, Hannah Mann Rees decided that there were books in the library that she didn’t like. Rees lives in Prattville, Alabama, a city of almost 40,000 on the outskirts of Montgomery. The fact that there were books in her local library that Rees didn’t like was not at all surprising; any person can walk into any library and find some reason to dislike some book on the shelf; such is the design of a library.

Oct 28, 2024 | bittersoutherner.com | Robyn Ross

As a board-certified chaplain, Deborah Reeves usually preferred listening over public speaking. But the night of January 29 was different. The school board in her town of 4,700, a short drive from Austin, Texas, was poised to make a momentous decision — one Reeves feared would erode the boundary between church and state. That night, the board would vote on whether to allow religious chaplains to serve in public schools in the roles traditionally held by guidance counselors.

Sep 10, 2024 | bittersoutherner.com | Gray Chapman

For years, right-wing extremists have abused the courts to reshape American policy. Democracy Forward, a legal organization led by Skye Perryman, has stepped up to fight back for abortion access, labor rights, freedom of speech, and basic democratic freedoms in courtrooms across the country. They say there’s no community too small to be worth fighting for.

Jul 10, 2024 | bittersoutherner.com | Roxane Gay

It’s a TikTok world, creative and sprawling and strange and anarchic and tedious and gross and you can’t stop scrolling and you can’t stop looking and you just want more. So what’s the problem? The influencers, yes, with their perfect makeup and strategic camera angles and professional lighting, all to make their lives seem enviable while narrating their days in a strange monotone. They show off massive homes with the house numbers in the font of gentrification.