Mama Makes Up Her Mind : and Other Dangers of Southern Living

Oh, Miss Bailey White!

I want to be your friend, your neighbor, heck I'd marry you if you'd have me. I just want to be near you and live the high life with you down there in Georgia.

I wouldn't mind if I had to sleep in the old folding bed that creaks in the middle of the night and folds itself back up, with the sleeper in it. I wouldn't mind eating Cathead Island oysters even though I detest seafood --but would you'd be so kind as to check them over first to make sure I don't gulp down anything not an oyster please?

I would love if Aunt Belle would let me tag along with y'all on her "junkets," like over to The Devil's Hoofprints where "dirt will not fill these strange depressions, and chickens will not eat out of them." How mysterious! show more

Do you think your mama would mind if I sat in the kitchen reading her stack of old Natural History magazines she has tottering there? I would willingly sign an injury waiver first.

Oh yes, yes of course I don't mind living with your mother too. In fact, I would be delighted. show less

I think I read Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living, but it was so many years ago that I read it on cassette tape. If I read it all. The only thing I remembered was how much Bailey White’s bohemian mother loved Midnight Cowboy. And maybe I just heard that on National Public Radio.

It doesn’t matter because I have loved Bailey White since the 1990s, and I love her still. This collection of stories about her mother, her long-suffering sister Louise, and the oddball residents of White’s Thomasville, Ga., proved utterly enchanting: stories of hurricanes, disheveled housekeeping, a Native American museum, buying cars, train travel and more. Humorous and insightful, this is book to read and re-read. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed this much more than I expected I would. I had heard some of Bailey White's pieces on NPR, so her distinctive voice was familiar to me. I think having her pace and tone in mind while reading her short, autobiographical essays is ideal, but the stories are strong on their own. Individually, they occasionally seem like mere slices of life, but the cumulative effect creates an image of White's slightly askew, endlessly interesting, and deeply Southern life and family. And as an added bonus, despite my initial expectation that this book might seem, for lack of a better word, somewhat "grandmotherly," White sometimes seems gently radical in her opinions and behavior. She does not intend to shock, but she does intend to live life as show more she sees fit. show less

You should see my copy of this book. One of my co-workers, who, for various reasons, has only recently seen how much I read, saw all the neon post-it flags sticking out of the side of my book and asked me what on earth I was doing. I blushed and tried to explain how the people in Bailey White's humorous little reflection on life in the South kept reminding me of people I know, so I was just marking the pages. She said that she'd never heard of anyone doing that, looked at me like I was weird, and moved on.

But it's true. "Mama" in particular kept reminding me of different people. I can see all the family members reading this and bracing themselves, but none of you put in an appearance, I promise! Well, Luis does, but he's been warned. show more Mostly they were little descriptions, but they were so spot-on that they just tickled me. There's this one that reminds me of my grandfather: "When Mama starts to move across a room, people pay attention. You can never be sure she's not going to grab you by the top of the head to steady herself. And she's pretty free with that walking stick too." Her description of the house that she shares with Mama could have been a description of my grandmother's house. I even recognized myself, but I can't tell you where, because it's the punchline to one of the stories. Here's my favorite, reminding me of my husband. After Bailey covers herself from head to toe to brave some repairs among the spiders under the house, she says, "It was no mean trick doing the wiring with those mittens on. But I managed it and crawled out, batting spiders into the shadows. I could hear a thud as they hit the floor joists, then a scuttling sound, then, worst of all, the silence of spiders." I wish you all could see the picture of my husband that this brings to mind. We were picking blackberries in a huge wild, thorny patch of them when he found a gigantic spider. Obviously, he's not a fan, but to be fair, he lived in Colombia when he was young. If I'd had to deal with those mega-spiders, I would probably have arachnophobia too. Anyway, there's a gigantic spider next to a nice juicy patch he found. He yells at me to look over, and I look. From about 50 feet away, I could actually see it. I don't know what kind of spider it was, because we don't grow them that big around here. But Luis decided to brave the spider for the blackberries and he manned up, keeping an eye on The Enemy. And then it was gone. I heard a cry of "I can't find it!" I looked up, and he was high-stepping it out of that patch as fast as he could go! I am not lying about the high-stepping. Those skinny white knees were clearing the tops of the thorns! I laughed till I cried! So, anyway, he understands about the silence of spiders. And the absence of spiders.

These were mostly just short, two or three page vignettes telling an amusing story about Bailey and her eccentric family. But there were a few stories that just told about a poignant memory she has, such as the time she came eye-to-eye with a bald eagle. I loved them all, funny and touching. Well, almost all of them. There were three stories about snakes and I had the willies by the time I finished the last one! Anyway, I do recommend this for anyone looking for a good laugh. I don't think the appeal will only be to Southerners. We're all just people, after all. show less

This is an easy read full of short essays & anecdotes. Almost all of them made me chuckle and some even made me laugh out loud! I am also a Southern woman, just younger than Bailey White by maybe 10 -20 years but I saw the south that I loved through her essays. This is a very good way to enjoy south Georgia and the amusing people and critters that live there.

The first part of the book is about her mother whose house is filthy. I amidst stopped reading. Her mom is bizarre not cute not interesting. Once we got by her the stories were good.

This is a lovely collection! I was particularly pleased to find that she discusses Egg and Butter Road, which I have driven while visiting my grandparents in south Georgia. It's hysterical and sweet, and dele2451 is absolutely right about this book curing what ails the homesick transplanted Georgian: it helped me through a Chicago winter and a flight to England!