Skip to content
Carmen K. Sisson
Skip to content
  • Published Favorites
  • Recent Bylines
  • Content Marketing
  • Photography
  • About
  • Clients
  • Email Me
Home Archive by category "Published Favorites"

Category: Published Favorites

Mexico Beach residents still struggling after Hurricane Michael

The late afternoon sun bathes this gulf-front community in color. New condominiums, painted in shades of saltwater taffy, overlook turquoise water and a cotton-candy sky. But there are other colors, too, not so cheery. Blue tarps cover roofs and red-lettered “for sale” signs proliferate like a virus. The city is still struggling to regain its footing a year after Hurricane Michael’s ruthless assault left 852 of the town’s 1,900 homes substantially damaged or destroyed.

Continue reading

Carmen Sisson October 12, 2019 October 29, 2019Published Favorites, Recent Bylines disaster, Florida, Hurricane Michael, Mexico Beach, Washington Post 0

After tornado, Alabamians lean on one another

On a windswept hillside in eastern Alabama, white crosses glimmer in the morning sun. Birds twitter in the nearby trees and a fine coating of dew sparkles on the grass like jewels. Angels’ tears, older Southerners call it. On this morning, in this place, no one would be inclined to disagree.

Continue reading

Carmen Sisson March 11, 2019 March 31, 2019Published Favorites, Recent Bylines Alabama, Beauregard, Christian Science Monitor, disaster, Opelika, tornado 0

Grit and the gridiron rescue Texas town Refugio

Hurricane Harvey left an indelible mark on Refugio and other small communities in what’s called Texas’ Coastal Bend, battering buildings and replacing bucolic bliss with chaos. But the streets in this town of 2,890 people are not empty because of the hurricane – they are empty in spite of it. It’s a brisk nod of Texas defiance in the face of overwhelming loss. A tip of the hat to the unifying roles of faith, family, and football as Texans begin to rebuild a way of life that neither war nor weather has managed to vanquish.

Continue reading

Carmen Sisson October 17, 2017 May 19, 2019Published Favorites, Recent Bylines Christian Science Monitor, disaster, favorites, football, hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Refugio, Texas 1

Selma’s long march, 50 years later

Selma is a reflection, both good and bad, of life in Alabama’s rural Black Belt, where poverty remains entrenched. Selma has both been lifted by and bears the burden of its history. As one of the main cities in this agricultural area, many expect it to forge a renaissance and lead some of the South’s poorest counties back to prosperity while providing a glimmer of hope to an increasingly racially polarized nation.

Continue reading

Carmen Sisson March 6, 2015 July 15, 2015Published Favorites, Recent Bylines African-American, Alabama, Black Belt, Bloody Sunday, Christian Science Monitor, Civil Rights, racism, Selma, South 0

Noxubee County’s honky-tonk angel

Death did not ride in with a thundering of horses’ hooves on a cloud of gun smoke, though no doubt Heaven is a bit more lively since Macedonia native Bessie Morton’s arrival April 27. After a lifetime of adventure, it must have seemed anti-climactic, but at 87, she had slowed down a little, so perhaps death took note and crept softly, so as not to awaken Noxubee County’s self-proclaimed honky-tonk angel.

Continue reading

Carmen Sisson May 6, 2013 May 21, 2015Published Favorites, Recent Bylines Bessie Morton, Commercial Dispatch, elderly, honky-tonk, Mississippi, Noxubee County, obituary, senior citizen 0

Search for missing Mississippi woman spans decades

Missing woman's brother

She left her clothes on the back porch. She left her gold, Hunt High School Class of ’56 ring on the dresser. She left her baby, Gloria, in her sister Betsy’s arms. And then, on a hot summer day in 1960, Lyrian Wyvonne Barry boarded a Greyhound bus bound for St. Louis and disappeared behind a cloud of Mississippi dust.

Continue reading

Carmen Sisson April 6, 2013 May 21, 2015Published Favorites, Recent Bylines African-American, cold case, disappeared, Lyrian Wyvonne Barry, missing, missing persons, missing woman, Mississippi, South, The Commercial Dispatch, woman 0
123
  • Twitter LinkedIn GooglePlus Flickr Instagram
  • Recent Posts

    • For historic Mississippi church, a day of Thanksgiving
    • Mexico Beach fights despair with hope after Hurricane Michael
    • Mexico Beach residents still struggling after Hurricane Michael
    • After tornado, Alabamians lean on one another
    • Senate runoff brings Mississippi’s painful past to the fore
    • In Florida, resilience battles uncertain ability to rebuild
    • Back to school in Texas a year after Hurricane Harvey
    • Raising men, helping others with free lawn care
    • Alabama first grader becomes bestselling author
    • Teens’ march to honor King became a deeper journey
  • Tags

    African-American Alabama children Christian Science Monitor Civil Rights Columbus content marketing disaster Disaster News Network disaster response economy education fire flood Florida football Houston hurricane Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Katrina inspiration Louisiana Mack Trucks Memphis military Mississippi New Orleans offbeat politics racism Randall-Reilly religion Selma South Southern Baptist Disaster Relief sports Tennessee Texas The Commercial Dispatch TIME tornado truckers trucking industry volunteerism weather
  • Archives

  • Find Me Elsewhere

    • Cloudybright
    • Goodreads
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Photoshelter
    • Twitter
All images and text Copyright 2000-2023 Carmen K. Sisson/Cloudybright.
Twitter LinkedIn GooglePlus Flickr Instagram
Powered by Tempera & WordPress.