Author Archives: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

About Deborah Fagan Carpenter

The creative and professional life of Deborah Fagan Carpenter has taken many directions: visual merchandiser, decorator, potter, sculptor, modern expressionist painter, photographer, and freelance feature writer. As Contributing Editor at PorchScene, her contributions are fueled by her love of all things beautiful, interesting, edible, and Southern.

This Week’s Southernism, Monday, February 6, 2023

“Oswald welcomed the cooler weather because in the following days he discovered it brought winter sunsets, and the river sunsets were different from anything else he had ever seen. They mesmerized him.” —Fannie Flagg, Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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A Southern Christmas Memory (II)

A Southern Christmas Memory by Deborah Fagan Carpenter (First published here in December, 2016)  “Imagine a morning in late November. A coming-of-winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. … Continue reading

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This Week’s Southernism, Tuesday, December 20, 2022

“Christmas in the South means a creamy bowl of rum and bourbon based eggnog and a rich array of cakes and candies: coconut cake, white fruitcake, bourbon ball candies, and sugary divinity candies topped with pecans.” — Eugene Walter, writing … Continue reading

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This Week’s Southernism, Tuesday, November 22, 2022

“A lively day, that Thanksgiving. Lively with on and off showers and abrupt sky clearings accompanied by thoughts of raw sun and sudden bandit winds snatching autumn’s leftover leaves.” —Truman Capote, The Thanksgiving Visitor     Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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This Week’s Southernism, Monday, November 7, 2022

Your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union.” —John Lewis Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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This Week’s Southernism, Tuesday, November 1, 2022

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” —Maya Angelou Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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This Week’s Southernism, Monday, October 17, 2022

“I will do those things that make me happy today and which I can also live with ten years from now.” — Greg Iles Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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This Week’s Southernism, Monday, October 3, 2022

“Eating together is an occasion that humans have made into a peacemaking ritual.”   —Paul Theroux, Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads     Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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This Week’s Southernism, Monday, September 26, 2022

“Trees still grow after letting dead things go.”   —Darnell Lamont Walker, southern writer, filmmaker, and artist Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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This Week’s Southernism, Tuesday, September 13, 2022

“The three biggest funerals in Alabama history define the state’s contending loyalties, I was told: George Wallace’s, Martin Luther King’s, and Bear Bryant’s.” —Paul Theroux, Deep South: Four Season on Back Roads Photo: Deborah Fagan Carpenter

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