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. I guess I shouldn’t even feign pride. After all, it’s…
Start your day, your afternoon, your evening… pick a time of day… with our brand new podcast. Click here for immediate entry into the Dead Mule world of southern story- telling brought to you by Virginia Lee, the official voice of the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Please support…
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 by one year living outside of the South, teaching in…
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 grew up on boats and in gardens and saying ma’am…
Southern Legitimacy Statement My father and his ancestors are from the Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina, mainly Haywood, Henderson and Buncombe Counties. We spent many summers there at the old family homestead in Crabtree and with family in Clyde, Waynesville and Hendersonville, where I learned to drink water from…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: One day while riding my motorcycle, I came upon a sign that read “site of the Mason-Dixon Line”. I looked at it for a while, then crossed to the other side, then back again, then sorta straddled it, then started my bike again. Edward Michael Supranowicz has…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I spent a large chunk of my life in Birmingham, Alabama, working as a freelance writer for various companies, institutions, and magazines. Most of the time I was the only non-Southerner in the group, which can be fine or not so fine. Southerners can be cruel but…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Texas. Have never lived above the Mason-Dixon Line. Drawn to southern weather and landscapes. Grew up saying y’all and now advocate for it becoming the official second person plural in English. Three Poems Tornado Year That was the year we almost lost everything,…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My Momma made me a sack out of a pair of my Daddy’s old blue jeans when I was six-year-old. What on earth for you might be asking. So I could pick cotton. If that ain’t legit enough you can kiss my… Hit and Run First cold…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Well, let’s begin with: I wrote all of these poems when living south of the border, far south–as in Guatemala. Hope that legitimizes me. If not, let me say that I taught at McNeese State University for a bit in another life and/or that I spent 20+…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I attended East Carolina U., Virginia Tech., and NC State U. I married a southern gentleman and have lived in North Carolina for over forty-three years. Once I could pronounce “y’all” as a one syllable word and eat grits, I considered myself a true southern. Wilted “Sharp…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: The joke is that my ancestors ran brothels and stole hogs in South Carolina; that’s why we lived in Mississippi. I know the way that pine trees bend in hurricane winds, and I know how catfish should be prepared (lightly fried, salt and pepper). My accent retreated…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Whelp, I’ve definitely thought about the South before, and I get offended when greens aren’t cooked right, so I’m probably the most legitimately Southern person you’ve ever heard of. Apocalypse Now Until the Streetlights Come On James crawled along a dry patch of shade behind the large…
*Southern Legitimacy Statement: To you folks, I’m not sure I’m legitimate. Read on… Ben Gilbert is founder of TheBlueSpace Guides Co-operative and a consultant to Child Space Foundation, Nepal. He lives in the United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. * so he’s legitimate, right Mules?…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I don’t know if any of my people were legitimate, but they were most certainly poor dirt farmers in the Carolinas back into the 1600’s. My folks consider sweet potato a vegetable, and salads wiggle like a hula girl’s hips. Is that a decent enough pedigree to…
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 salvation for my mind, relaxation for my body, and to…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I spent half of my childhood living in an out-of-place dome house in a forest in Arkansas. My dad grew weed in the backyard and told me it was “smelly okra.” Shelf Clouds “Why would she make me go that way?” he asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am a native Mississippian, born in Hattiesburg, and raised just across the river in Petal, Mississippi. Most of my life, I was a professional illustrator and graphic designer. About two years ago, I moved to South Carolina, and I am now pursuing my MFA in Creative…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up and have lived in Missouri (Mizzourah), Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia; my family lives in Alabama (WAR EAGLE!) and Tennessee; the Lake of the Ozarks in Arkansas is our Redneck Riviera. In my story, creek is pronounced “crick.” Creek On The…
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 right if you came from North Carolina but South Carolina,…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: “No good Southern fiction is complete without a Dead Mule.” Karen is South of somewhere, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Pyrotechnics Leon whips the top of the lighter back and forth like a battle-ready Kalthoff repeater. The rhythmic clicking builds to a percussive fury as Jory approaches. Dust…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I live in the very south of the United Kingdom: Southampton. I attend the University of Southampton. The End of This Week Is Sunday Former muse, You lean in and pluck the hanging earring from my right lobe Pushing my hair back with your knuckles Keep it…
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 my life. Take a Step. A Small One. You wait…
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Southern since ’63 with no plans to change. What a Jezebel Looks Like If I never say nothing else in my life that’s true, they’s one thing I can say for sure and be satisfied about it: Men is dogs and always have been dogs and always…