Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am from southeastern Kentucky, the land that is not quite South but nowhere near North, but I moved to Tennessee in 2010. I live in a place of fierce loyalty, small town gossip (used only for prayers), eccentric people, and mind-your-manners. I feel terrible if someone…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I have been in your magazine, have babysat grandchildren in NC, and trained for the Korean engagement with ETSU’s 278th Infantry. Dared Dream I didn’t want to wake you too early. I hope your sleep was deep, thorough, and you cross-dreamed with a friend who carries a…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: For years I lived off barbecue ribs in Memphis, Tennessee, then broke up with my ex and moved to California, which turned out to be a big mistake, because people out west don’t drink beer and raise hell like people in the south. Holy Water Abraham joined…

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. Only wore shoes if I was going to church or school. Relocated to North Carolina where I now enjoy Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits. Off Me, I Said Get Moron. Loser. Dumbass. These were the names I was routinely called during my summer stint…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born in Tennessee, raised in Kentucky, live in North Carolina. I’ve bumped my head in tens of caves where Daniel Boone was rumored to have slept, and each time I’ve believed it. The Box The summer sun was gone behind the trees on the horizon, and the…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: E. G. Fate is the penname of an author, who currently resides in the state of South Carolina in the basement of their family’s house. While having no works published as of yet (aside from stories on fanfiction.net), E. G. Fate enjoys writing both comical as well…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: A good piece back, I was Drum Major for The Pride of Dixie, Cairo High School, Syrupmaker Marching Band.  It was during these formative years I developed a talent for walking backwards for long stretches of time. Ash It was their creak upon the porch I mistook for…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Being from West Virginia, I am from a certain section of the South. I am Appalachian raised with a special place in my heart of all things Southern. Homecoming I woke up sweaty, tangled in the white cotton sheets of the bed. Stupid dream. The air was…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: * here’s how they talk in Somewhere, Texas? Uncle Dwayne’s Luger “Sue-Lynn called me hollerin’ an’ bawlin’ over the phone: ‘Oh Uncle Joe, it’s jus’ the awfullest thang!’ ‘Whut the hell er ya caterwallerin’ ‘bout, Sue-Lynn?’  I wuz pushin’ like a roothog t’ make my next inspection…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: A good piece back, I was Drum Major for The Pride of Dixie, Cairo High School, Syrupmaker Marching Band.  It was during these formative years I developed a talent for walking backwards for long stretches of time. Ash It was their creak upon the porch I mistook…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I still say y’all, ain’t and I reckon. I live near Tampa and I would say that is nearly southern as one can get, although I don’t live near a swamp. Calls From the Southern Forest Today, in the forest, I happened upon something that triggered a…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up on a tobacco farm in Rougemont, North Carolina. As soon as I turned eighteen I did what everybody else who gets tired of the work and the dirt and the tobacco worms do and I packed up my things and walked away. I spent…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up watching the BC Powder commercials with the woman clutching her temple and saying: “That sure ain’t helping my headache.” I learned at an early age that one of the proper ways to drink Coca-Cola is from a bottle with salted peanuts dropped in. Blondie…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m tired of apologizing for being a native Floridian. I’ve never ridden an alligator or cooked meth, and “Florida Man” headlines freak me out too. Some of us down here in the thumb of the country are nice, normal people, but I can’t deny that living in…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in the segregated South. Separate water fountains, restrooms, seating in the movie theater, and schools. My high school didn’t desegregate until two years after I graduated. I regret that. My city commission just moved the statue of a Confederate soldier from downtown…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: An image of a worn Meerschaum clinched tightly between my father’s tobacco-stained teeth as he loosed an iron horseshoe toward a wooden stob in the ground. Granny’s Rapture “Bobby, you better git in here fore the Rapture comes and leaves you behind.” I had just pitched a…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: It’s true I was born and raised in Chicago, but after my parents died, I found evidence that I was conceived in Tucson, Arizona. I ended up living in Tucson quite by accident nearly twenty years ago. Years before, I lived in Houston, Texas where my home…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: It’s true I was born and raised in Chicago, but after my parents died, I found evidence that I was conceived in Tucson, Arizona. I ended up living in Tucson quite by accident nearly twenty years ago. Years before, I lived in Houston, Texas where my home was…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I live in Fort Worth but hope to die in the desert. I love my two dogs, two daughters, and Texas, but not necessarily in that order. Mark A. Nobles is a sixth generation Texan born on Fort Worth’s infamous Jacksboro Highway and proudly claims blood and…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Lucinda Trew lives and writes in Charlotte, N.C. She studied journalism and English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill… Women Who Lunch I was once hit by an automobile, announced the white-haired lady lunching with friends. At a crosswalk where there should have been…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Although a Northerner by birth (and due to no fault of my own), I was raised in Eastern Kentucky amongst the hills and hollers, and attended college in North Carolina, before returning to the beautiful Bluegrass State and settling in the Derby City of Louisville – a…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I have published in North Carolina, baby-sat three grandchildren there, and trained with the EKSU’s 278th Infantry Regiment (activated for the Korean conflict) at Fort Devens, MA and was one of the two Northerners on the undefeated post football team. Red High Heels at the River Odd…

Southern Literacy Statement: I was born in Ohio, but I got to Texas as fast as I could. Texas is like the rest of the South, but better. Now I know that people who say Texans talk about Texas too much don’t know anything about Texas. The Life and Death…

Southern Legitmacy Statement: I live where I grew up, (across the road) from the 1820 farm house where I grew up, make biscuits from scratch (most of the time) and cook collard greens with fat back. Seventy-five MPH Yes, I know what is happening but do not believe it– that…