Mariflo Stephens

The principal of Peter J. Jeffres High School finished locking the trophy cabinet and put the tiny key in his pocket. For a second he just stood there, light refracting off the bifocals he couldn't get used to. The gold wavered like a candle flame, [...]

The worst thing is when the founder of the sorority come down. Last year those girls they wanted turkey, dressing, the works like a big Thanksgiving dinner right smack in the middle of May where here in Virginia it's hot as Hades. Those girls. Drin [...]

To read Mary Lee Settle is to be airborne. Airborne in a small plane with a group of people determined to tell you stories, and not merely the stories of their lives, but the stories of their land, their country; they show you their wounds. You ar [...]

Every year when I was growing up, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the stern adults who peopled the landscape of my childhood, making me miserable much of the time, became almost sweet-faced each year as they asked this question. "Is your mother [...]

Every day I waited outside the double doors for the deputies to bring him in from the holding cell. The first day I turned my head away when I heard the hollow bang of the metal. I was afraid to meet the naked eyes of a murderer; afraid it would ji [...]

I grew up listening to stories. Our family seemed to live on them. I picture us around a table. We are slightly hunched, with our arms forward, as if we're ready to work. We think we are at work. We're working in a family business. We are in the bu [...]