Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in Missouri and moved to Georgia almost fifty years ago as a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteer. After over three decades of service, I retired from Georgia state government. Would They Do It Again? From 1964 to 1968, a handful of Black…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I have almost always lived in the South (Southern Maryland, Southern India, Southern Florida, and Southern California). Give me an afternoon under live oak trees dripping with swaying Spanish moss, sweet tea, and a good book, and I’ll be happy. Humidity? Bring it on. It’s just part…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: You’ll know I’m from the South when you hear my drawl, or smell my Meemaw’s peach cobbler bubbling in the oven. Born and raised in Texas, I share with all those who call these steamy lands home a history as much told as untold, as painful as…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in the capital of the Confederacy, a stone’s throw from the James River. My dad grew up on Monument Avenue, a stone’s throw from the Jefferson Davis monument. My grandpa used to say “you can’t beat a dead mule and expect him to pull…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: “Stop bein’ ugly or I’ll paint your back porch red.” Jerked from the reverence of a funeral graveside prayer because the fire ants have crawled into your sandals, driving nails into your feet. Sitting on the porch swing, watching the heat lightning while listening to Christmas music…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’ve lived in West Tennessee all of my life, and though I believe myself to be the most polished of my siblings, I still have quite a bit of residue on me. My six brothers and I were the proof that things are not boring in rural…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My first cousin initially said it and has reminded me often, “You know where your roots are.” His words were in response to my living and teaching in northern China for two years. I was born in north Louisiana and ultimately moved to central Louisiana. Oddly, I…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: You may be from around here if you’ve ever loved how cool June mornings are until about eight, but didn’t mind the afternoon heat as long as there was some shade, a breeze, and a glass of ice tea. You may be from around here if you’ve…

My Southern Legitimacy Statement: I went to college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home of the Krispy Kreme donut. One of my elders (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) once executed an illegal U-turn in downtown Charlotte when he spotted a flashing Krispy Kreme “hot” light. A Ten-Dollar Hole…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised one block south of the southern shore of Lake Erie, not far from the Cuyahoga River, which back then was redder than the reddest red clay of Georgia. We didn’t brag about it, though. Did the red clay of Georgia ever catch…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I frequently think about how the South and it’s defining characteristics, good and bad, exist in other cultures and, more recently, have reflected on that in my writing while carefully cultivating timely opportunities for drinking Coke and eating BBQ. The Butteri and The Batture There are aspects…

My Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born and raised in Southern California and smart enough to marry a man from Abilene, Texas who has fostered my love of hush puppies, collard greens, and, DUH, barbecue! The Wrong Job at the Right Time “We’re really going to need your magic wand for this…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m a lifelong Atlantan who’s been known to sit, unfazed, in my hot car in the summertime to finish listening to a song. Even in the city, the notable features of my block are two churches and a Waffle House. My first novel, The Gallery of Unfinished…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: We were a prototypical southern nuclear family. My Papaw came up in the Great Smokey Mountains, near Farner, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina. When he was nine, he lost track of the time one summer evening, squirrel hunting up on the mountain, and he avoided a sound…

As for my Southern Legitimacy, I was born in Southern Indiana but my parents quickly relocated to Clarksville, Tennessee and then my adopted hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina. As an Army kid I moved around a lot, but always seemed to return to the Sandhills and Central North Carolina, which…

As for my Southern Legitimacy, I was born in Southern Indiana but my parents quickly relocated to Clarksville, Tennessee and then my adopted hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina. As an Army kid I moved around a lot, but always seemed to return to the Sandhills and Central North Carolina, which…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My Southern roots are gastronomic. My mother spent her childhood and most of her teen years in Shreveport, LA. There she and her identical twin Cecile developed the sweet inflections of the deep south, a witty appreciation of language, and – most important to me as a…

Southern legitimacy statement: I’ve spent nearly my whole life in the South, though I’ve never really thought of myself as a Southerner. I studied at Thomas Jefferson’s University. Completed my graduate studies in the shadow of the chemical plants of Southwestern Louisiana. Taught at a university with a tiger mascot…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Philadelphia (Southeastern Pennsylvania), which is south of the rest of Pennsylvania. For the last few years I’ve lived in North Carolina, which is actually traditionally considered to be “The South,” and, after trying hushpuppies and sweet tea, I can say I…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: April M. Hedges bleeds purple and gold. She loves a cold beer when it is 72 and sunny, a crawfish boil, and humor with a little bit of snark. Visiting Althea swirled her coffee in the mug she got the year all of them went to Dollywood,…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born in Missouri and transplanted to the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina before I turned two, my southern upbringing deeply influenced who I presently am (read: being the only atheist kids in the Bible Belt was quite unpleasant at the time, but helped to sculpt my brothers…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: A chance meeting after a war, a love affair that lasted until their deaths… I am a half-breed: product of a woman from Acadia Parish and a teacher from way up north, nearly to Arkansas, where I was born on a frosty morning. I chose my institution…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Not a native but I have settled in both Carolinas longer than an eye on a tater. Appreciating over a duo of decades away from kin and my midwestern roots to savor Blue Ridge mountain hikes and white-water rafting somewhere under thick foggy mornings and red clay…