Possumblog

Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

REDIRECT ALERT! (Scroll down past this mess if you're trying to read an archived post. Thanks. No, really, thanks.)

Due to my inability to control my temper and complacently accept continued silliness with not-quite-as-reliable-as-it-ought-to-be Blogger/Blogspot, your beloved Possumblog will now waddle across the Information Dirt Road and park its prehensile tail at http://possumblog.mu.nu.

This site will remain in place as a backup in case Munuvia gets hit by a bus or something, but I don't think they have as much trouble with this as some places do. ::cough::blogspot::cough:: So click here and adjust your links. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it's one of those things.

Thursday, April 11, 2002

Pulitzer mining in Alabama
The Birmingham Post-Herald's Wade Kwon with comments on the recent award of a Pulitzer to Dianne McWhorter and past awards granted to those writing about Alabama (scroll down the page about 3/4 of the way--as always, I have no idea why the P-H does this with stories.)

Not all of Alabama's unintended contributions to the Pulitzer contest have been about racial strife. Other cheery topics that earned wins or nominations include: state prisoners used for drug experimentation (Montgomery Advertiser and Alabama Journal, 1970); the state's high rate of infant mortality (Alabama Journal, 1988); problems in the state tax system and schools (Birmingham News, 1991 and 1994); questionable management practices at the Southern Poverty Law Center (Montgomery Advertiser, 1995); and state constitutional reform (Mobile Press Register, 1995).

And while "Carry Me Home" is all about this city, two unusual tie-ins precede it: Pulitzer-prize winning composer Elliott Carter was a nominated finalist again in 1996 for "Adagio Tenebroso." That piece premiered in Birmingham by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

In the 1984 Feature Reporting category, Post-Herald reporter Jay William Hamburg was a nominated finalist for a series documenting the world of a young boxer and his manager.

This latest Pulitzer is both albatross and tribute to a city stuck in the spotlight of 1963. (Already the year has seen church bombing suspect Bobby Frank Cherry pop up in two forms, TV movie and real-life courtroom drama.)

Upon winning, McWhorter remarked, "I am probably the first person in the world to say, 'I'm so lucky to be from Birmingham, Ala.' "

Alabamian by birth ... Pulitzer by the grace of God.

posted by Terry at 12:18:00 PM

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