Southern Legitimacy Statement I grew up chasing off guinea fowls and picking wild strawberries from the backyard. Cupping lightning bugs in my palm, eating pinto beans and cornbread, and licking honeysuckles in my bare feet. Calling and being called “honey, sugar, dumplin’, pumpkin, sweetie pie.” Saying, “I reckon we’ll meet…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I attended East Carolina U., Virginia Tech., and NC State U. In 1976, I married a wonderful guy from North Carolina, and we have lived in North Carolina ever since. Once I could pronounce “y’all” as a one syllable word and eat grits, I considered myself a…

SOUTHERN LEGITIMACY STATEMENT I’ve lived in Louisiana for a handful of years, and I’m now working on a PhD in English (Rhetoric and Composition) at LSU. In my time here, I’ve tried many different gas stations’ boudin (they always have the BEST boudin. My favorite: Nonc Kev’s in Rayne); done…

Southern Literary Statement: I was born in South Georgia and grew up in North Florida twenty miles from the Georgia State Line. My childhood revolved around church twice on Sundays and a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights. We’d make a 10-mile trip into town for groceries on Saturday afternoons. Memories…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Adrienne Burris grew up in the purple shag-carpeted room her mother grew up in, the third bedroom of a small brick ranch sandwiched between a cow pasture and a tobacco farm. Her grandfather picked her up from high school in his pickup truck, and they listened to Walter…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Mark Currey is a singer-songwriter whose roots run through Ft. Worth, Texas and the deep pine forests of southeast Arkansas. Inspired by roots rock, classic country and Americana music as well as southern gothic literature, Mark is a story teller searching for a honest expression of his…

My Southern Legitimacy Statement: My Southern Legitimacy starts with the breath, the first time I inhaled Faulkner and Tennessee Williams—the rhythms and sounds of their language sliding under my skin, pulsating through my veins. It’s amplified when I pick up my blues harp and play along with the only kind…

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m so Southern, my Ancestry profile predicted my relationship with my stepmother to be a 5th-8th cousin. Does the shared DNA make me uncomfortable? Nope. It makes me an Alabamian. Divinity We’re up with the birds, the ladies and I, ready to caravan on down the road….

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m full up with Southern. Grew up in Arkansas, right on the Oklahoma border, lived in South Carolina, North Carolina and now here in the Dismal Swamp. I may change the names to protect the folks whose feelings get hurt, but I always write the truth as…

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…