Weekender: for the birds
Gamecocks, the Florida Keys, and Alabama's Black Belt
Happy Friday! If you’re looking for a few good reads this weekend, here are some ideas.
The Cockfighting Kingdom
I’ve been on the chicken beat, lately, but I did not know until this week that the U.S. supplies most of the world’s game fowl—despite cockfighting being outlawed in every state. Once I learned that fact, it was less surprising to find states across the South making frequent appearances in this profile of the cockfight-rearing industry in the New York Times Magazine. “It’s tragic, really,” says one gamecock rehabilitator, “in every sense of the word, that boys that grow up wanting to be close with animals don’t have ways to do that that don’t involve hurting animals.”
Birding in the Black Belt
Alabama’s “Black Belt” is named for its rich soils, but the phrase could also describe the demographics: most of this swath of central Alabama is majority Black, a legacy of the region’s cotton-growing past. For Bitter Southerner, Jennifer Kornegay profiles Christopher Joe, a third-generation farmer who’s launched a bird-watching business in this expanse of farmland.
Exploring the Keys
I’ve got several friends and acquaintances behind the scenes at Wildsam, a travel and publishing company whose books I adore. Pick up their latest guide, to the Florida Keys. And if you live down that, be sure to sign up for the birding field trip they’re hosting next week.