Pictured above: My mom, Ginny Carter, when she visited me in South Africa. First appearing in the U.S. in the 1700s and known as “slops,”...

The term “big boy” can mean a lot of different things. The big boy was covered in Big Boy sunscreen while riding his Big Boy enjoying a...

I have been making Vodka in my potato bin. I did not set out to be a moonshiner, it just happened. Maybe it is my Appalachian roots. I...

My mom, who was raised in the Appalachian hills, often used the phrase, “God willing and the creek don’t rise.” As a young girl, I...

I recently read an internet article written by an American expat living in Germany. https://www.caliglobetrotter.com/15-questions-im-aske...

Tonya Jewel Blessing www.tonyajewelblessing.com christonyablessing@gmail.com I just read an article by Peter Mead called 4 Problems with...

I found the picture above when I Googled Appalachian love stories. Because there was no story included, I decided to write my own. Ready...

It is an Appalachian tradition to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day. A mountain folk belief claims that the beans resemble a coin and...

I recently completed a virtual book tour with Celebrate Lit. Although I was a little intimidated by the process, the experience was...

On a recent lovely fall day, I decided to visit a Denver area Barnes & Nobel bookstore. The idea was to browse through the shelves, to...

One of my favorite things in life is being an aunt. I have four nephews and four nieces. I also consider myself an aunt to their spouses...

I like big purses. I always have. I somehow feel a need to carry diverse articles with me: random receipts, a collection of pens and...

To intentionally kill a honey bee brings bad luck. (Appalachian Folk Belief) Wouldn’t it be fun to host or attend a literary event? If I...

Paying the bride price or lobola is a controversial issue in South Africa. Some believe that the tradition of paying the bride price...

My husband and I recently traveled with my mom to wild, wonderful West Virginia for an Ashby family reunion. We had a marvelous time. I...

It’s that season again. November rolls into town, and it’s time to make a shopping list of creative gifts for the special people in your...

“In nineteenth-century France, disgruntled workers developed a subversive tactic that involved throwing a shoe into a factory machine,...

For the past couple of weeks, I have been studying the life of Joseph. The several chapters in Genesis devoted to Joseph are very...

A synonym for the word resistance is opposition. We live in a world that often opposes the things of God. The Bible tells us that...

A pseudonym is a name someone uses instead of his or her real name, especially in written work. (Cambridge English Dictionary) The...