Meet Rodney Earl Drawl!

Illustration credit: Eve Butler

     I live in a trailer down the road from Momma and Pa in Rock Paper Flats and I work on cars. I’m damn good at it, too. Business has got real slow down at the garage and Momma fusses about my side job, so I haven’t been working too much here lately.

     The good thing is that I’ve been saving up money for a few years. About eight or ten years ago, I was at a party in town, and somebody called me an “ignorant redneck who’s never been anywhere.” I’ve been called a lot of things, but that ignorant part smarted a bit, and I kept thinking about it. I dug up one of my dictionaries from when I took classes at the community college and looked it up. I found out it meant “lacking knowledge or awareness; uneducated or unsophisticated.”

     I won’t much for books and schooling, I’ll admit, and I don’t want to be sophisticated. But I don’t like the idea of lacking knowledge or awareness. That sounds downright dangerous.

     I don’t know if that asshole was right or not about the ignorant part, but I’ve not been around much. I went to DC in high school one time and I’ve been to Florida and Myrtle Beach two times apiece, and I’ve been to Darlington overnight, but I ain’t really wanted to go nowhere much before. Lately I’ve been reading a lot about places all over the country and all over the world, and I’ve been thinking it’s a durn shame to live somewhere with so much and not ever see it.

     I was messin' around on the internet a couple weeks back and found Drawl’s blog. I sent them a message asking where a Southerner ought to start. They wrote me back and said they would like for me to write to them about my trips and they’d even find people to start guiding me on my journey. Seeing as to how I’m pretty slight, I don’t cost much to ship around, I reckon. I told them I’m not a good writer, but they said they’ve got an editor who can fix my spelling and everything, that they wanted a “nice, true voice,” whatever the hell that means.

     So, I’ve decided to cash in my coffee can and do some traveling, and I guess I’ll be writing for a magazine. Momma can’t hardly believe it. I travel light and cheap, and I might come looking to see you. I don’t take up much space. If you’d like to host me or just shoot the bull, send an email to red@drawlmag.com. I ain’t much of a writer, but I’ll be posting pictures and updates about my travels on my blog with some help from the Drawl staff. I’m gettin’ in to the internet, y’all. Add me on the Facebook.