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For Wayne Greenhaw, writing and life are synonymous. From his childhood days in
rural Alabama to his days spent south of the border in Mexico, he relates stories of his
experiences, finding an Alabama/Mexico connection is some of the most unlikely places.
He begins by introducing his readers to his Granddaddy, Hiram Dizzy "Bub"
Able, who once told him, "When your heart’s in the earth, you know you’re
home." Ironically, Greenhaw met an old Mexican who told him the same thing years
later. And it was then that he knew that his home state deep in the heart of
America’s South was somehow related to Mexico. Little did he realize that the common
bond was him.
To Greenhaw, Alabama, a state most readers know little about, isn’t a place,
it’s a "state of mind." His roots run deep in the rich soil and stories of
his home. But for Greenhaw, while his home may be Alabama, his heart is forever in Mexico.
In this intriguing series of true stories, Greenhaw takes his readers with him as he
ventures for the first time across the border at age 18. Written in prose reminiscent of
great Southern writers like Truman Capote, Greenhaw shows what’s its like to be
Southern.
The son of a traveling salesman, he grew up with the sounds of the Grand Ole Opry but
didn’t appreciate the deep, heart-wrenching lyrics until later on in life. As he
remembers his childhood, he weaves a tapestry of life in rural Alabama that few readers
could never imagine.
His cast of characters reads like a Who’s Who of the Famous, from Governor George
Wallace, a personal friend of his daddy, to William Spratling, an Alabama native son, who
single-handedly revolutionized the silver and pottery-making industry of Mexico. His knack
for down-home biographical details makes each personage come alive. Each character gives
Greenhaw’s tales a special twist that makes life in both Alabama and Mexico easily
understood.
He recalls the South of the Ku Klux Klan, back roads and good ole boys–of green
beans, country stores and black eyed peas and cornbread. He introduces his readers to Nub,
the ultimate football fan, and to Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, which
he covered for local papers.
But Alabama is only half the story. Greenhaw went to study writing in San Miguel
Allende a week after graduating high school. On the train, a Mexican General introduced
him to his first cerveza, and then to tequila. But that introduction would pale in
comparison to some of the characters like Alan Ginzberg, "an overweight poet,"
he met while studying at the Instituo Allende.
Mexico got under Greenhaw’s skin, just as she does to so many creative people. But
he still sees her through Southern eyes.
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