Battle Flag ( No matter how noble our intent, using Confederate imagery has no honor #takeitdown)

I’ve lived my entire life in the South, first Georgia and now North Carolina, but I’ve never paid much attention to the Confederate battle flag, the so-called stars and bars. Despite some ancestors who fought for the Confederacy and several childhood family vacations spent navigating cannons, split-rail fences, and museums filled with the tattered remnants of soldiering at Civil War battlefields, I didn’t associate the Confederate flag with my Southern heritage. However, I didn’t particularly associate it with present-day racism, which seemed more insidious and less blatant.

Read the rest of my new essay at Killing the Buddha: http://killingthebuddha.com/ktblog/battle-flag/

My Short Story “Say When” Published

My short story, “Say When,” has been published at Deep South, an online magazine featuring all things Southern.

As a friend of mine said, when a telephone “brays” in the first line, there is a definite drawl to the piece. But before cell phones and ring tones, that’s what land lines did. The phones were like little donkeys calling out for food and a good petting.

The story may amuse (or horrify) — and it’s free.

Bird. A Southern one. Lura Lee Biddix loved to watch the birds.