
H. L. Liptak :: The Flabbyman ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Growing up in South Carolina we whispered ghost stories about the Gray Man, plateyes, or the Lovely Lady when we snuck past crooked iron gates into grave yards covered with kudzu and ancient oaks dripping with Spanish...

Henry Stevens :: The Definition ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in the Halifax County, Virginia and other than two years I spent doing undergraduate in China, I never lived anywhere else but the South. I finished my undergraduate at Duke in North Carolina, and...

Ken Wheaton :: Mother of the Year ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: One of my first instances of writing for the public was telling the college cafeteria that their “gumbo” was so wrong that it was an affront to Southern Louisiana and all its people. I was a veritable...

Juan Cruz :: Not Dark Yet ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Bogotá, Colombia. I moved to the US when I was in my twenties. I lived in South Carolina for almost a decade. I earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of...

Nancy Werking Poling :: Oscar’s Bane ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My regional identity is confused. Though born in Indiana, I grew up in Orlando before Disney and attended Robert E. Lee Junior High, where we flew a Confederate flag. After living in the Chicago area for almost...

John Riley ::What Did She Lose?::
Southern Legitimacy Statement A field did stretch between our old house in Randolph County, with its recently exposed plumbing that froze every winter, and a much nicer house across the field. The people who lived in the nice house wanted...

Noah Banta :: A City’s Lagniappe History Of Old And New People ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Spent my entire life living in a town being constantly expanded upon where I can’t remember ever being a time where a highway wasn’t being constructed over my house or a night sleep without the muffler of...

Lorena Pimentel :: Gummy Bears ::
If the South is a state of mind and all we need is a good old penchant for mysteries and a mosaic of everythig we’ve know, the Globl South is my South. I am a writer, editor and translator from...

Ellen Perry :: The Door ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement -I was born in North Carolina and lived here all my life (almost 50 years, now, good Lord). Dad is from east Tennessee, Mom from Georgia – I’m a hybrid, then, of Deep South and Appalachian sensibilities....

Jessica Arzola-Grissom :: Her Pretty Little Head ::
Southern Legitimacy My great-grandmother’s name was Cinderella and she settled in Nederland, TX. The family didn’t quite live up to the fairy-tale name and several people moved just south of Dallas. That’s when I entered the picture. My Mama is...

Nancy Werking Poling :: Oscar’s Bane ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement My regional identity is confused. Though born in Indiana, I grew up in Orlando before Disney and attended Robert E. Lee Junior High, where we flew a Confederate flag. After living in the Chicago area for almost...

C. K. North :: Cardinals ::
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Northern Virginia – The South by definition, but not by heart. I was born and raised here, enjoying a childhood with farms, general stores, apple orchards, and civil war artifacts found in frequently yards and creeks. Suburbia...

Matthew Cullifer :: The Big Bass ::
I’ve lived in the southwest corner of Georgia all of my forty-seven years. Cows and lightning bugs outnumber the people. Lynyrd Skynyrd is the finest American rock band of all time, and Lewis Grizzard wrote real literature. Saturdays in the...