On Thursday, February 2, 2012, academic speaker Rick Bragg entertained and informed students with stories about his life and writings in Watkins Auditorium. Bragg is an Alabama native who is a former New York Times writer and
Pulitzer prize winner for feature writing, now working for Southern Living. He has written several best-selling books, including All Over but the Shoutin’, The Prince of Frogtown and The Most They Ever Had. Some of his best works relate to southern living and the value of it.
When it comes to the south, Bragg feels that it is a place full of good stories and hard-working people that help push society forward.
“I want readers to read the stories [I’ve written] and see the value of those people. These are people who gave their fingers, hands and arms in cotton mills for a little blue-collar dignity, so they could own a two-bedroom, wood-frame house with a red-dirt driveway. These are people who dug coal; these are people who swung hammers; these are people who, like my momma, picked cotton, took in laundry, took in ironing. You know, it seems like in this country there’s an ever-widening gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots.’ And we try to portray the ‘have-nots’ as people who aren’t trying very hard. But I know there’s more strength and character, toughness, in those people than just about anybody I know. And they don’t have any champions. So, the most I can do is sing them a song or write them a poem. That may not be very damn much, but it’s all I got,” Bragg said.
Bragg has been writing since he was 18 years old and even though it is an important part of his life, he views it as one of the hardest.
“I believe that writing is a painful, awful, haunting process. When I go to bed at night, I don’t go to bed thinking, ‘God I hope the news flits in through the window and lands on my shoulder.’ My muse is a hairy, little nasty goat-like thing that sleeps up under the bed, and it knocks on the slats in the middle of the night, reminding me that I’ve got work to do. Maybe I’ve got some things to say that are important, but mostly, I’ve got work to do. I’ve got to do this deadline; I’ve got to meet this contract. And that’s my muse, is some fella calling me up and saying, ‘I got news for you bubba, if you don’t write this, we don’t pay you,'” Bragg said.
Despite Bragg’s extensive experience with writing many harsh news stories, such as the tornadoes that hit his hometown, Tuscaloosa, he still insists that writing cannot be equated with being involved in it.
“Reporters, you know, we spend most of our time talking to other people about tragedy. And I’ve never been willing to pretend that writing about tragedy was remotely anything akin to being in it. I’ve written about killing and dying all over this country, and I’ve written about it in the Caribbean, and I’ve written about it in Central Asia. And the one thing you don’t get to do is to pretend that writing about it is the same as being in it, because you always get to go home,” Bragg said.
When it comes to young and upcoming writers, Bragg says that determination, hard work and flexibility are qualities that will lead to success.
“One of the things I think you want to do if you’re going to write for a living is you have to be on roller skates all the time. Take advantage of everything that goes your way. There ain’t no dumb writers. You have to be willing and able to seize your chances. If you have a talent, and you work it hard, really hard, then you can have a better life, and then you can make life better for the people who come after you. If they start poor, then they really do have to grind their teeth and just work harder than everybody else. But that chip on your shoulder doesn’t have to be a weight; it can be a weapon,” Bragg said.
As for the future, Bragg is currently working on a biography for Jerry Lee Lewis and eventually wants to write a book on how his South has changed over the years.
Eventually, however, he hopes to spend time away from the computer screen and experience new things.
“My dream is to piddle full-time. I am not going to write in old age. I’m going to do a few more books, and then I’m going to piddle. Writing is like diggin’ tators or coal; writing to me is work. I like having written. It’s like eatin’. I don’t like cookin’; I like eatin’. And to me, writing is the same thing as cookin’. I still have some things to say and I want to get them said, but there’s going to come a day, where I’m going to read every damn book I’ve ever wanted to read. There are also many fish I want to catch. I’ve written books; I know what that’s like, but I’d like to catch some fish before I die, that ain’t asking a whole lot. It’s a difference between eatin’ and cookin’. Right now, I’m cookin’ but there’s going to come a day where I’m not going to cook anymore,” Bragg said.
