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Getting At The Meat Of Writing

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The Associated Press

Published: February 14, 2009

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Four college students walk into a smoky restaurant, sit at a table under a blaring TV and order their class work for the day - two slabs of dripping spare ribs.

They've eaten sweet sauces and dry rub, ribs and sandwiches, cole slaw and potato salad.

After cleaning their plates and licking their fingers, the Birmingham-Southern College students left the joints with bulging bellies to document their experience with stories, photos and video posted on a blog and the Web site they built, southernbbqboys.com. Those components, along with a final essay each one is finishing, will determine their grades.

A big fan of barbecue, Art Richey of Russellville wanted to take a road trip and write reviews of restaurants during the college's monthlong interim period, which lets students propose out-of-the-box projects for credit. Working with English instructor Robin Mozer, Richey developed a course contract with Matt Lee of Cullman, Jeff Vaughan of West Palm Beach, and Will Foster of Alpharetta, Ga.

Barbecue is sacred food in the Deep South. It's worshipped in roadside chapels with neon signs, outdated calendars and cramped booths. Friendships are forged - and strained - by discussions over which kind of sauce is best: vinegar-based or tomato-based or mustard-based.

The point of the endeavor, at least academically, was for the students to develop their writing, and they say that their storytelling and descriptive skills have improved as a result. Richey said he learned that it wasn't enough just to say a restaurant's barbecue sauce tasted good. "You have to describe it, say it's sweet as molasses or spicy hot."

The Associated Press

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