Jeff LoweAug 24, 20212 minThe Baby's CryA crucial motif in the novel Rufus is the sound of a baby crying. The boogeyman snatches up the child in his sack and totes her off into...
Jeff LoweJul 31, 20211 minThe pawpaw tree in RufusThere's a twist on the Eden story in Rufus which features a pawpaw tree, a serpent, and a snakebit young woman in the swamp of Hell's...
Jeff LoweJul 28, 20211 minThe Blue Tail FlyI don't remember exactly how the blue-tail fly became the spirit animal of Rufus, though, as usual, it started as a small, offhand thing...
Jeff LoweMar 30, 20211 minRufus comin...White horse, black horse, red horse, pale You can try to catch us but you mos def fail Cuz when the horses run, they in the zone And...
Jeff LoweOct 2, 20202 min...AFTER ABNER COLE III AND SUZETTE LANGTREE WERE MURDERED, their daughter, Rose, made her first trip to Crockett County, Alabama to deal...
Jeff LoweOct 2, 20202 min...D'MON BROWN WAS BORN IN AFRICATOWN, a community near Mobile that was begun by people smuggled into Alabama in 1860 on the Clotilda, the...
Jeff LoweSep 29, 20204 min...AND SO AJ TOLD HIS RUFUS STORY. IT WENT SOMETHING LIKE THIS: When my granddaddy, Maize, was a little boy, about six years old, he had a...
Jeff LoweSep 29, 20202 min...FOR THIRTY YEARS OR MORE, a black man people called Wavin Willie wandered the roads of Crockett County, Alabama, flapping an old burlap...
Jeff LoweSep 28, 20202 min...WHEN CHET KIMBALL WAS THE SHERIFF OF CROCKETT COUNTY, he liked to stay involved in the community as a "civilian," and having been a track...
Jeff LoweSep 27, 20202 min...GROWING UP ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE OF MANHATTAN, Cooper Benjamin learned to use his unusual foot speed to run away from the bullies that...
Jeff LoweSep 25, 20202 min...CHARLIE HAWK'S FAVORITE LINE FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE was the one about "merciless Indian savages," and in that rebellious...
Jeff LoweSep 24, 20202 min...AJ CROCKETT HAD TWO SEEMINGLY OPPOSING SKILLS: he was a fast runner and a crack shot. His explosive foot speed earned him the nickname...
Jeff LoweSep 23, 20201 min...HORACE KING WAS A SLAVE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, but not in the cotton-picking mold. He was born in South Carolina in...
Jeff LoweSep 20, 20201 min...IN CROCKETT COUNTY, ALABAMA THERE'S A SECTION OF CURSED LAND CALLED HELL'S BACK FORTY. County land records cite "The Devil" as the...