Mitch Hedberg once said that Bigfoot is just blurry. I may not be Bigfoot, but I am just as blurry. I get it from my mother; she scared a pair of police officers in her 20s when she said that she was going to curse them for seven years if they didn’t let her go. After many blurry mugshots, they were rattled and allowed her to go home with my grandparents. Seven years later, that crime mysteriously appeared on her record.
I thankfully have not had the experience with frightening police with a seven-year curse, but few in-focus pictures exist of me. My mother’s reputation as a spiteful witch tends to not be spoken about, but my reputation of “that weird dude in the forest” is mumbled about here and there.
I did decide to rename myself “Siren.” The multitude of meanings behind the name are all part of why I chose it. Deadly-mermaid sirens are a cryptid of sorts, and also are as blurry as Bigfoot if you’ve ever watched Mermaids: The Body Found. Personally, I was thinking mostly of the salamanders in the Sirenidae family, who look like this:
They’re cute little guys!
I have a certificate in herpetology, and I’m working on ways to educate people in the area about how important herpetofauna are for our delicate – and unique – ecosystems. On nice days, I trudge through the nearby nature preserve and count salamanders; the foliage does make it difficult to take a picture that isn’t blurry, especially since I usually hit the hills a little before sundown.
Think of this post as an introduction of sorts. I feel like a lot of people overlook Appalachia as a whole, and there are so many interesting things here! Though my novels are fiction, my plan for this blog is to show all the cool animals, rock formations, and folktales that make this place home. I also have a YouTube, which I plan to use to make videos surrounding writing in general. These plans may change, but we’ll all see what works together.
Take it easy,
– Siren 🐟
The Appalachian Wolf 
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