Category: Essays

Southern Legitimacy statement(s): 1) I’m from further South than most Southerners, 2) Dang redbugs! Southerisms from the Spanish Moss Belt I live in Alachua, Florida. Not quite the Florida most people think of when they envision South Beach, The Orlando...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Missouri and now live (very, very) close to Atlanta. With the exception of college, I have spent my entire life in the South. Nudge Apa The Hungarian word for grandfather is...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: This piece details a memory I share with my little sister while visiting my mother’s best friend, who was born and raised in the South. She ran her household as if she still lived in Oklahoma even...

SLS: When I close my eyes and recall my childhood, I see hay, tractors, ponds, creeks, cows, and biscuits. Lots and lots of biscuits. Biscuit Reflections Not to toot my own horn, but a few months ago, I started thinking....

Southern Literacy Statement: I am originally from south Louisiana, where I grew up on the Bayou Teche. I left in 1989 for graduate school at the University of Tennessee, then taught at Texas A&M for a couple of years, followed...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in New Orleans and spent the first ten years of my life in southern Louisiana. Since I was ten, I’ve lived in Kentucky. My daddy is from Arkansas; my mama born in Mississippi. I...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Growing up in South Jersey with West Virginia roots brings a person towards the equator to seek understanding. While in South Carolina I decided I want to be a writer and I moved to Florida to find...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am a Southerner though for sure. I was raised in Florida by a dad whose family crept down from Georgia and a mom whose ancestors moseyed down from North Carolina. My grandaddy said you were all...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I go to school in Alabama, and every Friday the cafeteria serves mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, collard greens, corn bread, and fried chicken. Don’t worry, there is no shortage of y’alls, ain’ts, and down yonders in...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Honeysuckles, Chopped Pork BBQ and Muscadine Wine I remember walking from my grand mama’s house with my brother. We’d walkthrough the lane that was in truth a two way, one way street. I mean the signs said...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born in San Diego, raised in Western PA, during my fourteenth year of existence, my parents decided to relocate the family to South Carolina. How I hated the humidity, the drawling language, and politeness. Almost two decades...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My family never hid our crazy folks; they generally sat on the front porch and enjoyed the breeze just like the family who weren’t crazy. Come to think of it, we all had some crazy mixed in...

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Howard is a retired materials management and manufacturing professional with over forty years in the military and manufacturing arenas. He spent time at sixty plus posts while in the military and has traveled to all fifty states...