tidbits, fragments, and ephemera is a usually weekly but not always, sometimes substantial but not making any promises glimpse at some information and news related to Generation X in the Deep South.
The Pope visited the University of South Carolina?, 1987
Apparently Pope John Paul made a stop in Columbia and gave a short speech there. In his opening remarks, he is quoted as saying, “For many months I have looked forward to my visit to South Carolina. It is a great joy for me finally to be here.” Linked above is the Vatican’s transcript of the speech, and here is the New York Times coverage of the event.
A look back at Atlanta in 1978 from ajc.com
This digital photo spread on the Atlanta Journal Constitution‘s website was posted in 2018, on the fortieth anniversary of these photos being taken. Of the twenty-four images, quite a few involve the Braves baseball team, music and bands, or construction.
George Wallace is shot, 1972
There were really two George Wallaces: the guy who the Boomers remember as leading pro-segregation forces in the South in the 1960s and who carried disgruntled whites with him into the ’70s, and the wheelchair-bound politician that Generation X remembers from the 1970s and ’80s. During a presidential campaign rally in Maryland in 1972, Wallace was shot, leaving him paralyzed. Later, the two-term segregationist would morph his image and approach, and gain another two more terms by courting votes from the same black people he opposed earlier in his career.
Judas Priest at Memphis’s Mid-South Coliseum, 1982
When folks think about the South and music, the idea is: country. However, mainstream pop, rock, R&B, and even punk bands played shows all over the South. This is a set list from a Judas Priest show in December 1982. That same year, Memphis hosted Fleetwood Mac, Morris Day and The Time, Rush, and AC/DC.
level:deepsouth is an online anthology about growing up Generation X in the Deep South during the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. The anthology is open to submissions of creative nonfiction (essays, memoirs, and reviews) and images (photos and flyers), as well as to contributions for the lists.
