It was November, 1999, one month after my first book had been released and had made best-seller lists across the nation, aided greatly by Barbara Walters. But that’s another story.This one is about Mama and me. Bellsouth, at that time one of the South’s greatest corporations, sponsored a seven-city book tour for me across the state of Mississippi following a major tour that had been presented by my publisher, Penguin-Putnam.