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Really glad for your recommendation of Patricia Sullivan’s work, Diamond-Michael, particularly as we recently relocated to South Carolina (although I still spend a lot of time in Asheville, NC). I confess to some hesitation about Black History books written by white authors, so your thoughts here are reassuring. I plan to get my SC drivers license next week and a library card soon after! I hope some of her work will be on the shelves.

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Jazzed to hear this. Where in South Carolina? And why there?

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We're now in Spartanburg. That wasn't plan A (or even plan B, which was nearby Greenville), but the pandemic really caused a spike in housing prices in Asheville, NC (plan A) and similar mid-sized towns--especially if they had mountain views because many people were suddenly able to work remotely for the first time.

I spent most of my life in Atlanta and environs (grew up in Decatur, GA), and it will always be near and dear to my heart, but the traffic just became too much to bear, and my caretaking responsibilities for my parents there had come to a close. It was also time to downsize. (Our son and his wife are in NYC.)

We love the mountains and quirkiness of Asheville, and Greenville has a cool downtown that we like, but we could afford more house in Spartanburg, so that's where we landed. The Greenville-Spartanbug airport is a little bigger and better than Asheville's and they are only 1.5 hours apart by car. We are maybe 2.5 hours from Charlotte, NC or Atlanta. Charleston, SC is an easy 3 hours straight down I-26. Columbia, SC (the capitol) is less than 2 hours away. So it's well-situated for Interstate travel (as long as we still have a car). Downtown Spartanburg is rather charming, and we've been pleasantly surprised by the variety of restaurants and such.

What is your connection to South Carolina, Diamond-Michael?

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"And She’s White: Does That Even Matter?" No, it doesn't. What matters is if she is accurate and insightful.

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