Steeltown Magnolia

What, exactly, is a steel magnolia? If an Internet web-ring for self-professed steel magnolias is a reliable fount of knowledge, then Sheila Copps is not one or, if at all, she is way more steel than magnolia. The web-ring for steel magnolias has membership criteria such as elegance, “mannuhs” and respect for traditional “southern” values: morals, heritage and integrity. These gals are conservative and proud of it. Their strength is inner, not out there. A quick and perplexed survey of the web-ring’s 119 member sites reveals fluffy angels, bad poetry and Florida crackers, and I am sure if there were a way to send sickly scents over the Internet, these sites would be the first to do so. The cynical would drill down into those web-rings following the delicate whiff of something slightly sinister, something, oh, I don’t know, pure laine, confederacy-style…

Sheila Copps definitely has morals, a sense of heritage (a minister of such, after all) and integrity, but I...