Splendora Drive

The first voice exercise that Barbara Samuel had us do was write for four minutes on this topic: Describe the house you lived in when you were seven years old. Timer set? GO! Here’s what I wrote: ******** I still dream about the house on Splendora Drive. It was in a subdivision called Candlewood, down a long road through…

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Brownie Points

In Scottish folklore, brownies are hobgobliny imps that will do housework for you (and things like keep your milk from turning sour) if you treat them well and leave them proper tributes like bowls of porridge and honey. In America, Brownies wear chocolate miniskirts and beanies and sashes with nifty patches sewn on them by overwrought mothers. They go…

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Goth Girl’s Guide to Better Traction

In the twenty-first century, it’s not uncommon to have several Thanksgivings and Christmasses. You’ve got your mom’s family, your dad’s family, your stepfamily, your work family, your own family, and seven other families I forgot (but you best not have). I’m luckier than most in that I only had one Thanksgiving and two Christmasses this year — one in…

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Southern Wedding

Once upon a time there were Three Musketeers who grew up: Me, Casey & Margo. Each of us had a little sister: Soteria (Sami), Darra Dane (Dee or Brat) and Alison (only one “l”). Last month, The Brat got married at the Lace House on the Governor’s Mansion grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. It was a perfect, gorgeous, sunny…

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