The community story that inspired Between the Ditches….

In 2016-2017, retired writer Dixie Scovel moved from her Long Island home to Water Valley, Mississippi. In 2019, I asked her about some of the good things about her new community, and she described the landscape and the language.

Between the Ditches depicts the office of the North Mississippi Herald, a regional newspaper that employed Dixie as a columnist for during her first years in Water Valley. Her column enabled her to meet and interview local community members, better understand our weirdo language and customs, and get to know her new home.

In Dixie’s words, “I think the other thing that I really like about Water Valley is when I talk to long-term residents and hear their vernacular, their use of language, in their stories. For example: 'Will you ride me back to my house?' instead of ‘Will you drive me back to my house?’ I love to hear this. I was out one day having a drink with someone and I was a little concerned about her getting home. And I said, 'Are you all right?' And she said, 'I can keep it between the ditches.'

I think my interest in the writers of Mississippi is that I'm always sort of thinking, "Where does that come from?" And I don't have a lot of clarity about it. The entertainment of self, I think, that so many of them have in just telling stories, and how those things are passed generation to generation. Those two things, language and story, are very positive. And for someone like me [a writer], they're very important.”