Lee Mellon shared with me his background, stating he was born in Meridian, Mississippi, and raised in Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina, specifically near Asheville. He noted that this region is associated with the writer Thomas Wolfe. This geographical upbringing set the context for our conversation.

Interestingly, Mellon did not possess a Southern accent, which I pointed out. He explained that his lack of accent was attributed to his childhood reading of philosophers like Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Kant. He believed that engaging with such complex thinkers somehow eliminated his Southern accent, a notion I found amusing since I had never considered the connection between philosophy and regional speech patterns.