The COVID Diaries, Part II: Embracing the Distance

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, Our Land will be publishing a series of diary-style updates to capture this unique moment in world history. This is part two.

Writing for the Feeling

A brief essay on the act of writing.

The Thing They Don’t Tell You About a Dead Body

‘When we arrived, he was lying on his side in bed, a phone resting on his left ear. Barely breathing; maybe three breaths per minute. Unresponsive.’

The COVID Diaries, Part I: The Invisible Menace Descends

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, Our Land will be publishing a series of diary-style updates to capture this unique moment in world history. This is part one.

Fiction Pick: ‘Goodbye, Albert’

‘The writer had finally run out of things to write about and at first he felt as though this meant he was royally screwed.’

‘A man who should be celebrated’

Just months before his death, Tommy Hall reflected upon the legacy he’d left in a small North Carolina town.

Eight Days on Okaloosa Island

A trip to Florida’s Emerald Coast bookends a writer’s ‘younger years’

‘The next great American cookware company’

Charleston’s Smithey Ironware is revitalizing the dying art of generational cookware.

‘The people were calling me that Old Catman’

Harold Sims (aka, the Catman) dedicated his life to creating the nation’s greatest house cat museum. Against all odds, he pulled it off.

Hopscotching Alone

What it’s like to roam from venue-to-venue at Raleigh’s biggest music festival.