Tomorrow night, when Kentucky plays Louisville in the Final Four, I'll be sitting on my couch in Brooklyn, and filled with the anticipatory feelings of a person who, born in Lexington and brought up to listen to what his grandmother tells him to do, eschewed smart bracketology to pick the Wildcats to go all the way. And I'll be eating beer cheese, a Kentucky specialty, with crackers and chips. It's a simple spread, and ridiculously easy to make, and I invite you to prepare some too, because even if you aren’t rooting for the 'Cats, or don’t care a thing about basketball, beer cheese is delicious—second only to [...]

Being from the state of Kentucky, you get pretty used to being the butt end of tired jokes. Whether it's one of those uproarious "marrying your cousin" numbers needlessly tacked onto the end of an Alicia Silverstone movie or the classic "rides your horse to school" bit from some drunken Long Island-bred friend, the hits keep coming. And coming. And coming. Ironies be damned.

It happens so much that at some point you become inured and stop being appalled and hurt, at least outwardly. Whether it's through attrition or ambivalence, you learn to chuckle it off with a knowing "Yeah, we're pretty hilarious" and move on, forgoing [...]

Let's go to Kentucky! "More than 5 million barrels of bourbon and other whiskeys are currently aging in the state, the highest inventory since the early 1980s. The 4.7 million barrels of aging bourbon even outnumbers the state's population of 4.3 million."

There was politics last night! In Pennsylvania, party-switching career politician Arlen Specter saw his career end in a Democratic primary loss to Rep. Joe Sestak, marking the first time Pennsylvania Democrats were able to beat Specter statewide. In Kentucky, Rand "Son of Ron" Paul beat the establishment candidate in the Republican Senate primary, proving that the Tea Party movement "is huge," and not too crazy for Kentucky Republicans. In Arkansas, incumbent Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln was forced into a run-off with Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in what an Arkansas paper adorably thinks is "one of the most closely watched Senate races in the nation."

Back in 2005, the Appalachian Program, a project of the Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, put on a play based on local oral histories. This first largely addressed prescription drug abuse. This spring, they're back again with a new original musical drama at the school's Cumberland, KY campus, according to the Harlan Daily Enterprise, with "Higher Ground 3: Talking Dirt": "Natasha Painter, of Wallins Creek, said this is her first year participating in Higher Ground. She said she plays the part of Beth. 'Beth is a really strong character,' said Painter. 'She’s confused about whether to leave Harlan County or not. She loves the area and [...]

Among all the consequential pieces of federal legislation passed or proposed last year, you may have missed one gem: "America's Spiritual Heritage Resolution." Some salient facts about this bill: (1) it was co-sponsored by Michele Bachmann; (2) it relies heavily on the historical scholarship of Newt Gingrich; and, most obviously, (3) "America's Spiritual Heritage" is unequivocally Christian. The bill died in committee. But if you think you've heard the end of this type of thing, you haven't yet learned that Christian Fundamentalists are the hydra of American political theater. When one crazy idea gets axed, two more, bilious and hissing, sprout up in its place.