The Confederate Flag is no longer a part of the Georgia Flag. And the decision to remove the symbol had nothing to do with heritage or history or political correctness or sensitivity. It had everything to do with economics. During… Continue Reading →
Who understands war? Our forefathers might be the only ones, holding muskets in trembling fingers at a target only a few hundred yards away. Explosions, blood, panic. I can sense it as I walk through an interactive tunnel in the… Continue Reading →
“Most struggles are money struggles. Maybe that isn’t the root but that’s where it comes out,” says my cousin, Aaron Schnurbusch, who works at a crisis ministry in Asheville, North Carolina. He’s speaking to the homeless and addicted in the… Continue Reading →
In Charleston, West Virginia’s capitol building casts its shadow on the state museum. It’s oddly fitting given the historical context. A similar shadow loomed over West Virginians during the Great Depression, when the state levied a penny tax to build the… Continue Reading →
When you ask people about the state they were born in or the state they live in, they usually tell you about the beautiful scenery, the off-center local dive bars or the eclectic music scene. They don’t tell you about… Continue Reading →
I’m Googling cheap massages in a parking lot in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when I look up to find myself outside the co-op grocery store, Ozark Natural Food. What’s a co-op doing so close to Walmart’s turf of Bentonville? Spencer, a store… Continue Reading →
Am I us? Or am I them? Do I have to answer that? To call the 3.8 million square miles that is the United States united is dismally laughable. We’re always fighting the ‘them’, whether that’s conservatives, liberals, Mexicans, Muslims,… Continue Reading →
Six Flags-New Orleans closed in preparation for Hurricane Katrina more than a decade ago. It never reopened, but remains a hauntingly beautiful reminder of America’s throwaway culture. Quotes courtesy of Scrooge McDuck. “You know, I bet those Incans could have minted a… Continue Reading →
“It’s corporate America,” the woman beside me says. We’re in a cafe in Oxford, Mississippi, and she’s talking about her job with Winchester Ammunition. “The people are secondary to the production.” Although, she says the company is trying to change that. For… Continue Reading →
“Why’d you come here,” the bartender asks as she pours a bottle of Budweiser into a cold mug. She’s a middle-aged white woman with blonde, immobile waves and rhinestone crosses on the ass pockets of her jeans. The restaurant and bar… Continue Reading →
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