Facing the past in Montgomery, Alabama
Lonely Planet, May 2018
The national spotlight is on a city that was once among America’s most active slave-trading hubs: Montgomery, Alabama has opened the first-ever museum and memorial to the victims of lynching and enslavement in the United States. A visit to the city is an opportunity to reckon with America’s racial divide. As they confront this history, visitors may find both motivation and will to continue moving forward.
Best of the beach on a budget in Jacksonville, Florida
Lonely Planet, August 2017
Florida is a traveler’s haven: it’s filled with history, entertainment and more than 1,000 miles of coastline. But any popular destination can become expensive. A visit to Jacksonville, on the Atlantic side of the state, is the antidote. The city blends coastal appeal with a metropolitan vibe, and it’s much more affordable than many other Florida hot spots.
Sweet Home History
AL.com, October 2016 to February 2017
Ali will spend the next eight months learning about her home state–and she’ll do so by walking the paths of Alabamians before her. Ali’s mom, Rachel, recalls her own Alabama history lessons, 26 years ago, as dry and boring. Rachel instead designed her own curriculum–and invited AL.com along for a road trip through Alabama history.
We’ll trace the state’s existence from prehistoric days to the modern era. Along the way, we’ll discover places to visit and how a state’s past influences a Southern girl today. And we’ll share that with you, the reader, through a series we call Sweet Home History.
How does Birmingham, England compare to Birmingham, Alabama?
AL.com, Aug. 16, 2016
I bought tickets to see the Dixie Chicks in Birmingham, England.
On purpose.
That two-word clarification proved necessary in the months before my overseas excursion. Some people were mystified, but my explanation was simple. Two of my greatest regrets are giving away a pair of Dixie Chicks tickets and not studying abroad in college. This was an opportunity to right those errors.
Besides, I’m too detail-oriented to make that mistake, I thought. But while I was in Brum, as they call it, a British couple drew attention for booking their Vegas trip from the wrong Birmingham.