Carmen K. Sisson | Page 3 of 23 | Making sense of the South, one story at a time.

If you want to find the South, ask directions from a Southerner.

If you want to find the people, meet them where they live.

Because the South is more than hurricanes, heat, and humidity ...

The South is more than sweet tea, antebellum homes, and the Civil War ...

Every story a writer could ever want to tell is here, buried beneath the soil.

If you want to find the South, ask directions from a Southerner.

There is something extravagant and wild about what they have to say — snakes on the roof of a car, swamps, a delta, sweat, the smell of sea, buzz of an air conditioner, Coca-Cola ... ~ Natalie Goldberg

If you want to find the people, meet them where they live.

Being Southern isn't talking with an accent ... or rocking on a porch while drinking sweet tea, or knowing how to tell a good story. It's how you were brought up ... family (blood kin or not) is sacred ... And food, along with college football, is darn near a religion. ~ Jan Norris

Because the South is more than hurricanes, heat, and humidity ...

Summer in the Deep South is not only a season, a climate — it's a dimension. Floating in it, one must be either proud or submerged. ~ Eugene Walter

The South is more than sweet tea, antebellum homes, and the Civil War ...

How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home. ~ William Faulkner

Every story a writer could ever want to tell is here, buried beneath the soil.

And after 30 years of covering the South, I'm just scratching the surface. Faulkner said: "To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi." Consider this an introduction.

Engagement is not a buzzword — it's a survival skill.

If you're looking for a writer to aggregate content, regurgitate press releases, or deify pundits, I'm not the one. If you're looking for a writer to spew statistics, quote jargon, and bill by the hour, well, that's not me either.

If you want to connect with people, we should talk.

If you want to know how people feel, what they think, and who they are, I might be your writer. If you want a seasoned journalist who prefers to be in the field instead of behind a desk, someone equally skilled with both pen and camera, someone who keeps a suitcase packed and notebook ready, I might be your writer. If you want a journalist who is a native Southerner — who understands its people, knows its terrain, remembers its past and cares about its future — I might be your writer.

Because if it's people you want to reach, I'm all in. And if you've got a story, you've got my interest. Email me today.

A rainbow of Granite powers KR Trucking

Keith Radford, owner of KR Trucking, watches as his fleet of Mack Granite dump trucks head into a clay pit, Sept. 20, 2016, in Huntingdon, Tenn. The company, which mines both kaolin and ball clay, uses primarily Mack Granites in its fleet. (Photo by Carmen K. Sisson/Cloudybright)

KR Trucking’s Mack fleet is the talk of Tennessee, and it’s easy to see why. Owners, Kenneth and Keith Radford’s 16 Mack® Granite® dump trucks are some of the cleanest — and most colorful — trucks on the road. Every truck is a different color, prompting frequent comparisons to Skittles candy. But beneath the sweet exteriors, it’s all business, providing the strength Radford needs for clay mining and the durability he has come to expect from the Mack brand.

Baptist students aid Louisiana flood survivors

John Whitehead woke to an unfamiliar sight in mid-August — water had breached his house and was rising fast. The Louisiana State University student panicked for a few minutes, facing tough decisions. What should he save and what should he leave behind?

Southern Baptists bring stability to flood survivors

Every day, assessors walk the streets, attempting to find the most vulnerable people with the greatest need. And every day, volunteers don their gloves and get to work, crawling around on a mud-slicked floor or hauling sodden carpet to the curb for trash pickup.

Baptist volunteers witness power of community

Driving the streets of Baton Rouge, the need is apparent. Life is slowly getting back to normal in some places, but the majority of streets hold deep pockets of pain. In these areas, SBDR volunteers are greeted with smiles, tears and heartfelt gratitude.

Macks power Lakeview Rock through all conditions

By Carmen K. Sisson | Randall-Reilly Publishing/Mack Trucks NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah — Scott Hughes, president of Lakeview Rock Products and Hughes General Contractors, has owned Mack® trucks since 1977 and says he considers Mack Trucks a crucial business partner in the company’s quest for continued success. Located in North Salt Lake,…

Louisiana flood survivors helped by Southern Baptists

Neighborhoods and side streets tell a heartbreaking story. Clothes, mattresses and household furniture lay strewn across wet lawns in hopes that the sun will shine long enough to dry them. Everything that was not salvageable is piled high along the roadways, transforming shady lanes to narrow pathways, children’s toys providing the occasional jolt of color.

Hilco Transport fleet improves uptime

Jeff Loudermilk can tell you anything you want to know about Hilco Transport, but he laughs when you ask about uptime. He stopped tracking it years ago, because he didn’t have enough issues to report. His 381-truck fleet — 279 of which are Mack Pinnacles and Granites® — keeps rolling, season after season, regardless of climate or application. Downtime is a distant memory.

Macks keep Waste Pro sustainable

“When John Jennings made the commitment to become greener, Mack — the leader in the industry — already had a product engineered for the refuse industry,” Brown says. “A lot of the big garbage guys have gone green. Lots of contracts and municipalities want it.”

For Mike Adams Towing, it’s a family affair

“When that sheriff’s department calls and they’ve got a tractor-trailer blocking five lanes of interstate, they don’t want to hear that the truck won’t run or that we’re putting on a tire,” Adams says. “They want to know we’re on the way. The man at a red light, broken down in a log truck, needs to get that truck to a repair facility so he can make a living. It’s as important to the small man as it is to the large, right up to the state patrol.”

Sunoco lightens up with Mack

Sunoco was rapidly expanding its footprint across the nation and needed a truck manufacturer that could keep pace with company goals. It had five major requirements: the tractors needed to be lightweight, driver friendly, fuel efficient, powerful and good-looking. Mack Trucks provided all that and more, says Bob Manchester, Sunoco’s senior director of Transportation/Operations.

Gordon Driver of the Month: Lyle Schliep

“I was 53 when I started. I had tried other things out there, but I was getting older all the time, and I got to thinking, ‘I’d like to drive a truck. I think I would be good at it.’ I was tired of being broke. I didn’t have medical insurance. I was tired of going nowhere. I wanted to have a skill.”

GuardDog Connect stays ahead of the curve

Every day, more than 500 drivers — including nearly 200 owner-operators — haul loads coast to coast for Carroll Fulmer Logistics Corporation, Groveland, Florida. Monte Vanover, director of fleet maintenance, keeps the trucks — a challenge he says he enjoys even more since implementing Mack Trucks’ GuardDog® Connect.