My southern roots run deep. My daddy was the son of sharecroppers from Pulaski, Tennessee and my mamma the daughter of oystermen from Gloucester, Virginia. One side of my family tree witness the birth of the original KKK and the other the surrender of Cornwallis. I was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia were is was considered a capital offence if you did not say yes ma’am or no ma’am or yes sir or no sir when addressing your elders. Oh How I miss those days. I moved up north when I was eighteen and those people spent most of their time correcting my English. They said I mispronounced my vowels. I’d say take it up with my grade school teachers who spoke with thick southern accents and who taught me my vowels. The bottom line - they
