Columns & Departments 

Editor’s Box
by Marc Smirnoff

Native Daughter
AGAINST ALL GOOD SENSE
by Jesmyn Ward

I Don’t Hate It
SPARKLE AND DANGER
by Jack Pendarvis

Dealer’s Choice
THE YOUNG BLOOD OF THE SOUTH
by Hal Crowther

Food
THE BEST BALLS IN TOWN?
by Jesse Donaldson

Food
PRAISE THE LARD
by Sarah Courteau

Music
CAUSE YOU KNOW I’M GONNA MISS YOU WHEN YOU’RE GONE
by Anne Jones

Music
STRONG AS DEATH, SWEET AS LOVE
by Daniel Browne

Art
ART OR LIFE?
by Eric G. wilson

Kin
THE IMAGINARY FARM
by Harrison Scott Key

Writers on Dating
HAVING AT IT
by Dale Ray Phillips

After the Storm
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD
by Carolyn Mikulencak

After the Storm
THE FUN OF BAD BUSINESS
by Thomas Beller

Gone

On William Gay
by Tom Franklin
by Marshall Chapman

On Lewis “Buddy” Nordan
by M.O. Walsh

On Doris Betts
by Marianne Gingher
by Lee Smith

On Harry Crews
by Gary Hawkins

Books

WHERE BEAUTY EASES GRIEF
by Carol Ann Fitzgerald

IGNATIUS SCREAMED
by James Whorton, Jr.

Features

IF THEY HAD ANY SENSE
a story by Addie Citchens

DOWN IN THE VALLEY WHERE THE GREEN GRASS GROWS
a story by Wendell Berry 
Big's private life, with mules

WHO DREAMT THIS DREAM?
another (shorter) story by Wendell Berry
The best lie.

TRUE BELIEVERS
a story by Tyrone Jaeger
He was looking for love. She was looking for something else.

CHURCH IS WHEREVER YOU ARE
by David Lumpkin
Looking for God—and my mother—on the television.

Odes: Best of the South 2012

by Rebecca Bengal, Emily Wallace, Victoria Grace Elliott, Michael Parker, Drew Bratcher, Neisha Tweed, James Pogue, Alex V. Cook, Josh Eure, Henry Eudy, Jamie Quatro, Magdalena Zurawski, J. Chris Champbell, Michael Griffith

 Cover: “Player” by David van Alphen