Sweet Home Alabama

When NBA star Ben Wallace signed with the Chicago Bulls, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune traveled to Wallace's tiny hometown of White Hall, Ala., to find out more about him. The resulting "Big Ben's Humble Beginnings" is a beautiful portrait of an ambitious young man, the devoted matriarch who encouraged him and an impoverished town that can't decide whether to worship or resent its most famous son. Johnson's writing is full of great descriptions of White Hall and its people.