Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Norfolk, Virginia and grew up in nearby Virginia Beach. Spent lots of time in Gloucester VA where my mom grew up. Summers almost always involved a two-week trip to the Blue Ridge. If you want to go further back, I recently traced a bunch of family back several hundred years to North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas (and there is another line that is all Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire). Moved to Northern VA for college and afterwards. At age 30, my wife and I moved to upstate NY, my first non-Virginia address. Sometimes I’m ok with that.
In the Middle of Amberly Road
I was six when
our neighbor Jim
told me not to end
so many sentences
with “man,” because
I sounded like
“them colored boys.”
I told Jim I didn’t
care, but ended
my sentence there.
