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Month: March 2013

It’s Different

“Begin with yourself,” said several of the panelists at today’s Memphis United People’s Conference on Race and Equality. They were talking about racism. “Begin with yourself and ripple out from there: to your household, your family, your neighborhood, your community.” This ls a paraphrase, but the concept was repeated many times. This is...

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Open to All

There is a religion in New Orleans that I don’t know. In this religion the windows open outward. The joy vibrates and you are asked, “Are you Italian?” No?” Then you are told about the blessed bean. In this religion, hands wave, the food is spread and waiting. Sometimes the religion is about the saints. Sometimes it’s about the floats you...

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Squids, quicksand, and the baby chicks apeeping

I am refilling a manuscript with a contest I entered last year at this time. To do so, I must justify the refilling, describing how the manuscript has changed. Thus, I’ve had occasion to review what last year I thought was a nearly complete version of The Bone Trench, this novel I can’t seem to give up on. This earlier version of the...

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