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The AI-Written Essay That Wasn’t Mine but Totally Was

Back in 2017, I wrote a personal essay for grad school—no help from AI, because it didn’t exist for me yet. But in 2025, a detector flagged it as “likely AI-written.” Turns out, I might’ve been channeling The Mechanical Muse before she ever showed up.

Stand For Truth – by Toby Edwards 10/12/2011

“Truth doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it just stands.” Stand for truththrough lies and misconceptions.Stand for truththrough slander and deceptions.Stand for truthwhen all ails.Stand for truthwhen all else fails.Stand for truth,and by His hand, truth will guide you.Stand for truth,and in the end, truth will stand for you. 📬 Follow Vicky’s View Subscribe for fresh posts from the desk...

My Rock Pile: A Reflection on Faith, Healing & Letting Go

Postscript at the Start It’s been a long while since I last examined my rock pile. Life gets messy and busy, and sometimes self-care falls by the wayside. That large rock from 2008 represented one of the scariest times in my life. I was under investigation as part of a mortgage fraud scheme involving a strawman. I didn’t even know what strawman meant at the time. But a good criminal lawyer...

Last Home of the Choctaw Nation: H. Louis Freund’s Forgotten WPA Mural

📜 About This Project I was honored to be one of 50 contributors selected from over 500 applicants for the Smithsonian and U.S. Postal Service’s Indians at the Post Office project. My piece, Last Home of the Choctaw Nation, was accepted for publication and remains part of the project’s archival collection—even though it was never publicly released due to image licensing restrictions. By Samantha V...

Perceptions

A flash fiction story capturing the emotional toll of war in just 100 words. Mud, innocence, and the grim reaper collide in a powerful snapshot of combat.

Life After Pentecost | A Holly Hobbie Story

It was hard to remember my life before Pentecost. Some memories stood out—like the time I broke my nose playing jump rope, the ‘D’ my third-grade teacher gave me for cursive, and the merciless teasing we inflicted on our fourth-grade teacher. But everything else faded. One day, we were just a family. The next, we were Pentecostal. And everything changed. From Family to Faith: When...

Writing Location Without Naming It: A 2015 MFA Writing Exercise

Originally written during a 2015 MFA writing exercise, this short story explores how to describe a location without directly naming it. Through memory, emotion, and sensory detail, a haunting narrative unfolds — followed by a mini-lesson breaking down the writing techniques used.

Vicky

Vicky Edwards is a writer, storyteller, and lifelong observer of life’s everyday messes. She blogs about memories, grandkids, life, and all the weird little moments in between—some of it’s true(ish), some of it’s not, but it’s all accompanied by a tear or a smile. She’s written for The DeQueen Dispatch, contributed to national history projects, and served as an editorial assistant for The Lindenwood Review.

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