Maryann Austin

Virginia Elizabeth Keckley October 10, 1857 I been thinkin bout the yankees wantin to free us.  Theres a lot a people, negro and white alike, who is proclaimin slavery evil.  Since I was a girl, I knew they was people who believed this way.  Down here in the south too.  It seems,tho, that the idea is spreadin more these days.  There is slaves who run away and go to the free states where a man can walk about free to mind his own matters, white or negro.  Some go to a place even more north, Canada.  I hear there is men who find the runaways fo money.  They go nawth to fine them then they bring them back to they marse in the south.  Some marses is godly and wont severly punish, but others hand down much worse punishments.  These marses will to the worst they can do to a slave without killin him.  I known of a slave whose marse cut off every toe on one o his feet fo runnin.  If a marse was to kill a slave, it wouldnt mean noth...

My brother and his wife own and operate two Rita's Ice stores in New Jersey.  Recently, my sister-in-law Kim posted the following to facebook.  It conveys the frustration employers feel in dealing with young employees who have "entitlement issues."  The problems she describes are a major reason why America is falling behind the rest of the world in academics and business.  Thanks for letting me share this, Kim. To all of the parents with young children, this is what I am seeing as an employer of young people (high school/college age). YP unable to fill out an employment application properly or fully (I even have parents coming asking for and filling out applications for their children) YP who think that they can have EVERY day off they request YP who do not know how to change a garbage bag, sweep and  mop a floor, clean a bathroom. YP who look at a job as an extracurricular activity instead of as a responsibility. YP who can not put down their cell phone. I ca...

I moved to quiet little Warrenton in ‘89 or ‘90.  I was in a very rocky relationship and I decided that it would be a good idea to take some college classes.  I felt lucky when I discovered that I would not have to go to Manassas each day.  I could pursue my interests in Warrenton--but that would require that I attend classes at a place called “the barn.”  The barn, I thought.  What the heck?  I was raised in New York and had some reservations.  But my curiosity got the best of me.  So I made the trek to another little place called Middletown and enrolled.   Since writing had always been my strong suit, College Composition was one of the first things for which I registered.  The instructor was Paula Lassiter, and I credit her with my interest in writing fiction.  Until that point, my writing had been limited to interviews, research papers, and various informative articles.  And one day, Paula gave a short assignment. ...