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Featured Essays

This Land is Your Land, Buddy

This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York island, From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;...

My Mother Wasn't Trash

My mother died the day she turned 55. This Sunday will be my first Mother's Day without her, but nearly a year after she died, I still...

What/Where/Who is Appalachia?

Appalachia is a place. It is defined on maps, even when competing mapmakers disagree about its boundaries. It is also a culture, even...

Chilhowee Camping, Day 1

Early this afternoon, JD and I set out for the Chilhowee Recreation Area in the Cherokee National Forest. Chilhowee is near the Ocoee...

This Land is Your Land, Buddy

This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York island, From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;...

Three Years Gone

July 4th marked three years since I last wrote an essay for my website. In those three years, I watched our son JD grow, celebrated...

Poor great dads can't do this.

Some daddies can take better care of their babies than others because some daddies aren't poor and some are. I can tell already that...

Finding My Way Back Home

Growing up, I lived in a whole lot of different houses, but I never really lived in a home. There was one place, however, that always...

A White Trash Manifesto

"I believe those dogs belong at that trailer up Beck Branch. The one with the goat tied up out front and the Confederate flag in the...