Southern Legitimacy Statement: We repainted our front porch ceiling last fall and it’s haint blue, the proper southern tone of sky blue so prevalent in old houses around here. Sherwin Williams has a paint color named “porch ceiling blue” in honor of such occasions. We’ve got a “Haint Blue” story in March!
MARCH 2021
The month of February, usually filled with bleak gray weather, graced some of us with sun and rain and many of you with snow. The Mule had its own problems, a firewall breach (according to GoDaddy, our hosting company) and we were “down” for 4 days. It’s frustrating to watch a website falter and crumble, believe you me.
We average around 200 unique visitors a day here and each visitor reads an average of more than 30 pages. Nice, eh? And ya’ll are from all over the world! We’re so grateful for your kind attention.
As the browsers forbade us to enter the Mule because of security concerns, you folks lost some valuable reading time. Here’s hoping everyone caught up with February and is ready to begin a new with a GREAT March issue. We’ve got poetry, essays, memoirs, fiction and it’s everything you could want in a literary journal. Read on!
The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, online since 1996, yup 25 years, hacked 3 times and still kicking. It is my distinct pleasure to offer up this month’s incredible writing. The Mule’s consistently fantabulous writing never falters even when technology bites us in the ass.
We hope you’re all in good health and if not, that your healing process is a short one and you are better soon. It’s been a tough year (can I get an “amen”?) for the world. Writers keep the world spinning. Words keep us alive, keep us vibrant. With that in mind, we’ll start taking submissions in March 2021 for our Fall/Winter 2021 issues. Check our submissions page for more information and a link to our submittable page. Please read the submission instructions/requirements. They’re not difficult.
The big thing? Remember to include your southern legitimacy statement. If you’re not familiar with the SLS, then you’re not familiar with the Mule. Everyone is south of somewhere, tell us about yourself from this standard.
Here’s to your health. And yes, wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands. We’re all in this together. I’ve had both my vaccinations and had no side effects from either time. If you disagree with me, I truly don’t care. This is, after all, a literary journal, not a political website. Proper hygiene during a pandemic is not political. It’s common sense.
Take care,
Valerie MacEwan
Editor and publisher of the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature
