Folly Chasing Death: A New Meaning

Y’all…I know it’s been a minute since I last posted. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing!

Just in time for Fat Tuesday, The Washington Post published my op-ed, After two pandemic years, ‘Folly chasing Death’ takes on a new Mardi Gras meaning.

This pieces is a testament to perseverance. You see, I wrote and submitted it last year. The editor loved it and intended to publish it, but with all the hard news events (y’all remember the attempt to overthrow our government, I’m sure), it fell through the cracks. Things happen.

But the editor was so nice and so very apologetic! He encouraged me to resubmit it this year, which I did. I kind of wonder if he really expected that I would, but we Virgos mark these things down in our calendars and follow up.

So here we are, on Mardi Gras day, on the FRONT PAGE of The Washing Post’s online edition!! Y’all, I nearly fell out when I college friend Angel Bethke told me it was on the front page.

I can’t ignore the fact that the events in Ukraine fills out the rest of the page. My heart breaks for them in this time of war and strife. Fear for them, and for our world at large, rises up in me. And I don’t want to seem callous for celebrating this achievement when so many are suffering.

But maybe the fact that a little old country girl from Citronelle, Ala. can make it to the front page of The Washington Post might inspire some other little girl in a small town somewhere. And maybe this op-ed, holding it’s own down in the corner against some of the best reporting you’ll find anywhere, will bring a little hope and joy to someone who needs it.

Happy Mardi Gras and laissez les bons temps rouler … at least for today!

p.s. And in case you missed them, here are two other pieces I wrote last year that got published in Reckon South: What’s so funny about my Southern accent? and Will I ever wear shoes again? Dressing for work post-pandemic