An Alabama native, I've spent the last 20 years covering political culture in my home state and the South. As a columnist for AL.com, I write about character, corruption, cruelty and hypocrisy while also searching for those righteous folks who stubbornly stick to their principles and make
National Awards 2024 Silver Gavel Award, commentary See the winning work here: “Alabama’s Desperate Bid for a Milligan Do-over” 2023 Pulitzer Prize, commentary "For measured and persuasive columns that document how Alabama's Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion, told through tours of
Why is Alabama the way it is? "State of Denial" shows how the architects of the post-Reconstruction South attempted to bring the Confederacy back to life within the confines of the U.S Constitution, and how their handiwork affects and afflicts Alabama today. In 2023, this project received
I love to write, but being seen and heard is as important for reaching audience as being read. In 2017, I won a regional Emmy for my work at Reckon/AL.com and have recently dabbled again in shortform video. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kyle
In 2016, I could see it coming. Few observers of national politics seemed to be taking Donald Trump seriously, but my experience covering my state told me otherwise. I had seen the politics of spite and self-defeat, and I could see Trump tapping into it. In a fit, I wrote
"There are no opinions," a college professor once told me. "Only arguments. And some arguments are better than others." Good arguments are built on foundations of fact. Likewise, good commentary is built on deep, careful reporting. Some of my best work is investigative commentary, blending the
As much as I enjoy giving public officials hell, the work that gets the best reader response might be when I write about the things closest to me. When each of my children were born, I used the privilege of my post to write each of them an open letter