All right, so I'm going to talk about duty and desire in the Southern Soul, as expressed, at least how I see it in these stories.

And my hope for this talk is, as for all of my talks, is not to shut down a conversation with my opinion.

Thank you.

All right, am I good?

All right.

But to open up a conversation for interpretation from all of you.

And so I am not going to be interpreting these stories as much

as saying what I noticed about them in hopes of creating a conversation that extends beyond this

talk. But in order to begin, I want to tell you how intimidated I am by this topic because I grew up very, I've never lived in the South.

And what I have learned through reading Southern literature is how profoundly formative the place of the South seems to be on the souls of Southerners, which is a very different experience from my own.

So how many people here consider themselves Southerners because you grew up

in the South or live in the South now? Okay. And how many of you recognize yourself in these

stories that we've read. Yep, right.

We were talking about this at dinner last night,

and a couple of comments were just so illuminating to me.

One was somebody at the table said that they didn't grow up in the South,

but now she now lives in the South.

And in reading the stories, they feel like home is what she said.

Right.

But she doesn't know why.

I couldn't put her finger on exactly what it is.

Right.

...