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The Dear John Letters
- Southern Cultures
- The University of North Carolina Press
- Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 2001
- pp. 2-3
- 10.1353/scu.2001.0008
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
Southern Cultures 7.1 (2001) 2-3
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Letters To The Editors
The Dear John Letters
[Figures]
They are hastily put-together things, often arriving here on the front lines in used envelopes with the flaps re-taped. Sometimes they arrive postage due. The notes inside occasionally reflect a disdain for punctuation and a distinct irreverence toward spelling. They boast of shared ancestry, philosophy, and tastes in bourbon, and sometimes all three. These are what we call the "Dear John" letters--that correspondence sent to our office care of our coeditor, John Shelton Reed, or, as many of his fans, colleagues, and groupies simply call him: "Reed."
By these letters it seems our coeditor knew, knows, or soon finally will know everybody, or he at least knows of somebody who knows [your name here]. This is borne out by the editorial staff's seldom forays out of the trenches and up into the real world, where chance encounters always turn into discussions about Reed. "Reed says West Virginia isn't in the South." (Reportedly an actual classroom quote.) "Does he still have that picture of Reagan on his desk?" (He does.) "Does he still wear that same sort-of-tweed sports jacket?" (Yes, in all weather.)
Of course, we've greatly benefited at Southern Cultures by having him around. One of the many ways is by his regular contribution of his provocative South Polls feature. (Interested readers will find this issue's South Polls is no less provocative in its discussion of the most important southerners of the last century.) In a missive that defies the usual style of letters to Reed, Gaines M. Foster, associate professor of history at Louisiana State University, wrote to let us know that he thinks the findings from South Polls over the years can be condensed into "a prototypically southern statement." We print his letter below. [End Page 2]
Our Dear John letters never indicate a break-up or the presence of more salient interests--new loves--that can only ruin a relationship. And readers of Southern Cultures will be happy to know that although Reed will no longer be teaching at the University of North Carolina, and although he will devote much of his newfound time to other loves, he is not yet ready to sever his relationship with this publication. So keep those "Dear John" letters coming in.
"I wanted to tell you that South Polls have been a wonderful source for my New South class. I have made much use of many of them. (The one on mobile homes and the Lee Smith story on doublewides [from the Winter 1997 issue] alone has been worth the price of my subscription to Southern Cultures.) I appreciate your doing them; my students do even more since they find your findings far more interesting than my lectures. In fact, my lecture today rests heavily on several of the South Polls. I have combined their findings and your early survey data--with apologies to David Allan Coe--into a prototypically southern statement: 'Y'all, my momma was eating okra in her trailer when Daddy said he wouldn't go to church, so she shot him. But it's still a mighty fine place to live.'"
Gaines M. Foster
Louisiana State University
Ed. note: If you'd like to order extra copies of our John Shelton Reed issue, call (919) 966-3561, ext. 256, or email UNC Press at uncpress_journals@unc.edu.
Send your correspondence to: "Letters to the Editors," Southern Cultures, 03B Manning Hall, CB#3355, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3355. We'll assume letters received at this address are intended for publication, subject to editing. If we use your letter, we'll send you a free extra copy of the issue in which it appears.
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