Why It Matters

The Writing Jellyfish

Last week I submitted more work to literary magazines than I did throughout the entirety of 2015.
From The Stacks: Songs and Pictures of the Fabulous Beatles

The Beatles on Vee-Jay? Score! Wait, not so fast.
Throw Beck Thursday: Will James Become A Teen Hooker?

Highway 11 was the back fence of my small world, the northernmost boundary of my known universe. It wasn’t much to look at — a black two-laner bordered by peach orchards, pine trees, and kudzu. Big rigs tore down the blacktop on their way to and from Gaffney, sucking my bicycle into their wakes and…
Deep Cuts: Boxer Songs

The Greatest is gone, and with him the last great era in boxing history.
Why I Can’t Write About Ali

I am caught between obligation and dread. Muhammad Ali is dead, and I feel like I’m supposed to write something profound about his passing, but I don’t want to.
From the Stacks: ‘Yardbirds on Down’

Here’s one from the golden era of bootlegs.
Throw Beck Thursday: James Goes To High School

Boiling Springs High School was the newest, cleanest building in town.
Harambe

“When did we get a new dog?” Amy said.
Deep Cuts: War Songs

The challenge with creating a playlist of war songs is that there’s so damned many of them.
A Memorial Day Story

They were a typical 1920s Iowa farm family with a bumper crop of sons who someday would provide free labor: