Elvis Is Dead And I Don T Feel So Good Myself

The 1950s were simple times to grow up. For Lewis Grizzard and his buddies, gallivanting meant hanging out at the local store, eating Zagnut candy bars and drinking "Big Orange bellywashers." About the worst thing a kid ever did was smoke rabbit tobacco rolled in paper torn from a brown grocery sack, or maybe slick back his hair into a ducktail and try gyrating his hips like Elvis. But then assassinations, war, civil rights, free love, and drugs rocked the old order. And as they did, Grizzard frequently felt lost and confused. In place of Elvis, the Pied Piper of his generation, Grizzard now found wormy-looking, long-haired English kids who performed either half-naked or dressed like Zasu Pitts. Elvis Is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself is the witty, satiric, nostalgic account of Grizzard's efforts to survive in a changing world. Sex, music, clothes, entertainment, and life itself receive the Grizzard treatment. In this, his sixth book, Grizzard was never funnier or more in tune with his readers. He might not have felt so good himself, but his social commentary and humor can still make the rest of us feel just fine.

In this pertinent and engaging volume leading Christian philosophers, theologians, and writers from all over the denominational map explode the black-and-white binaries that characterize both sides of the New Atheism debate. They transcend the self-assured shouting matches of this latest expression of the culture wars by engaging in rigorous, polychromatic Christian reflection that considers the extent to which the atheistic critique-both new and old-might help the church move toward a more mature faith, authentic spirituality, charitable witness, and peaceable practice. With generous openness and ferocious wit, this collection of essays, interviews, memoir, poetry, and visual art-including contributions from leading intellectuals, activists, and artists such as Stanley Hauerwas, Charles Taylor, John Milbank, Stanley Fish, Luci Shaw, Paul Roorda, Merold Westphal, and D. Stephen Long-provides substantive analysis, incisive critique, and a hopeful way forward for Christian dialog with atheist voices.

Lewis Grizzard got his first newspaper job when he was ten years old. Thirty-odd years later (thirty-very-odd years) he's still in the newspaper business--and he's still infuriated by it, still tickled by it, and still very much in love with it. If I Ever Get Back to Georgia, I'm Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground is all about that anger, that great humor and that even greater passion for something that affects every single one of us: the daily newspaper. Grizzard begins with his first writing job (covering a Boy's Church League team in Newman, Georgia), and continues through his college years in Athens, Georgia, where he learned how to do such things as prepare a front-page headline and layout in case Jesus Christ ever returned to earth. (Headline: HE'S BACK!) He examines the great Atlanta years and the cold Chicago winters--as sports editor of the Sun-Times, during which Grizzard lost his second wife, his cool, and very nearly his sanity, but also learned an awful lot about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is Grizzard's funniest--and his best--book yet.

In Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night, Lewis Grizzard once again confirms his reputation as the "William Faulkner of just plain folks" using colorful storytelling to tackle such Grizzardian subjects as: Fashion: "Don't wear anything that features a picture of a pelican, a pink flamingo, or a beer can." The Future: "I'm predicting the world isn't going to come to an end anytime soon. There's too much unresolved, like whether or not Elvis is still alive, Jimmy Swaggart can stay on television, and if there will be another Rambo sequel." Dating: "Any single white female who has to resort to taking out an ad to find a boyfriend would take a SWM who's into yodeling, Hustler magazine, Ripple, and robbing convenience stores." People Who Cheat in the 12-Items-or-Less Lane: "Previously, I have dog-cussed these people and put curses on them, like, 'May your children grow up to be liberal Democrats.' I'm not going to be that mean-spirited anymore. What I'm going to do is go to the vegetable bin, grab a large cucumber, and beat them about the head and shoulders with it." Lewis Grizzard offers his views on everything from politics, religion, sex, and golf to the largest condom heist in history, wittier and more outrageous than ever. Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night shows why the South's most popular humorist continues to be America's most popular funny man.

The International Conference on Elvis Presley, convened at the University of Mississippi in August, transformed a rock and roll icon into a scholarly phenomenon. Educators, artists, and Elvis aficionados from across the worldplus over one hundred internationally based reporterscollected on Oxford, Mississippi, soil to analyze and celebrate Elvis impact on the world stage.From this conference, which became front page New York Times Magazine news, springs this book, the best and brightest essays and artwork swirling around the cultural, social, political, and iconographic figure of Elvis Presley. Discussed within are such topics as Elvis as Southerner, Elvis as sign system, Elvis multicultural audiences, Elvis and rockabilly, Elvis as redneck, the Elvis oeuvre, and Elvis religious roots. Taken together, In Search of Elvis represents a daring and groundbreaking academic analysis. Richly illustrated with original Elvis-inspired artwork, this book captures the subterranean essence of one of the most phenomenal artists to have ever lived. }The International Conference on Elvis Presley, convened at the University of Mississippi in August, transformed a rock and roll icon into a scholarly phenomenon. Educators, artists, and Elvis aficionados from across the worldplus over one hundred internationally based reporterscollected on Oxford, Mississippi, soil to analyze and celebrate Elvis impact on the world stage.From this conference, which became front page New York Times Magazine news, springs this book, the best and brightest essays and artwork swirling around the cultural, social, political, and iconographic figure of Elvis Presley. Discussed within are such topics as Elvis as Southerner, Elvis as sign system, Elvis multicultural audiences, Elvis and rockabilly, Elvis as redneck, the Elvis oeuvre, and Elvis religious roots. Taken together, In Search of Elvis represents a daring and groundbreaking academic analysis. Richly illustrated with original Elvis-inspired artwork, this book captures the subterranean essence of one of the most phenomenal artists to have ever lived.

Welcome to the first publication of the Creative Writers Forum of Fredericksburg, Virginia. We hope you enjoy reading our work as much as we enjoyed writing it. With new styles and ideas to excite your imagination, we'll scratch that itch in your gray matter. You'll find our views span the scope from the traditional to the outlandish and beyond. You'll smile and maybe shed a tear. You'll agree, and you'll surely disagree, but you're bound to have an experience of the mind that keeps us all thinking and questioning and growing. Contributing writers are: William Bray Christina Freeburn Clint Gaige Sara Lindley Bill Saffell Deborah Snyder Mary Triola Shannon Triola Carol Winters C. E. Wells

Cheryls Poems range from the autobiographical, with a touch of Southern gothic, to the unknown future and a little bit of everything in between (aliens, animals, coaches, crazy aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, drugs, drunks, Elvis, the famous and infamous, geniuses, grandparents, hackers, heroes, hunters, hypocrites, judges, lawyers, lovers, players, preachers, presidents, prisoners, prostitutes, refugees, robots, royals, scientists, singers, soldiers, teachers, and so on). Have you ever been infatuated, in love, and/or in lust? Might you be interested in life in the rural South during segregation? And the deaths of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, or Che Guevara? Has anyone in your family ever been involved in conflict or divorce? Are you interested in adventure, family history, any history, -isms, literature, mythology, nature, peace, politics, pollution, religion, science, sports, or war? Have you wondered about the supernatural? Are you concerned with justice and rights? With the environment? With the future of the earth? Have you ever felt abused, bullied, depressed, discriminated against, sexually harassed, or insecure? (Who hasnt?) Every emotion and something for everyone are in this collection of poems. Cheryl was a ridge runner as a girl growing up in the mountains of North Carolina but has since been around the block. She has lived in seven US states and on the island of St. Lucia. For a year, she crossed the border from El Paso, Texas, to work in a hospital in Juarez in Mexico. She called Atlanta home for fifteen years when she saw and met several famous people she tells about. She lives back in her small North Carolina hometown, which has never been like Mayberry (and her daddy wasnt like Andy). She is a committed activist for the environment and justice and is interested in history, literature, people, and sciencethe past, present, and futurewhich are all reflected in her poetry.