Mississippi Transplant: Todd Osborne

"Living in Mississippi has provided a sense of purpose and focus that I don’t think I would have found if I lived elsewhere."

What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Originally from Tennessee, Todd Osborne moved to Hattiesburg, MS, to pursue his PhD in Creative Writing. Along the way he found a community and met his wife through a shared love of literature and tabletop role-playing games. His debut collection of poetry, Gatherer (Belle Point Press), written during his time in Mississippi, will be published this month. Todd writes: “…living in Mississippi has given me perspective on my time growing up in Nashville, even as I find ways to talk about what it means to live and grow in Mississippi, too.” Below, he shares why he’s chosen to plant his roots in Hattiesburg.

Where are you from? 

Antioch, TN, about twenty minutes southeast of Nashville.

When did you move to Mississippi and why did you move here? 

I moved to Mississippi in the fall of 2015 to get my PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers.

What does “home” mean to you? How does Mississippi fit into that definition?

Home is a place you choose. Easy enough for home to be where you are “from,” but more meaningful for home to be where you decide to stay. Where, if not everybody, many people know your name, or your face. It is a place where you can be yourself truly and fully. 

Mississippi has been that place for me since graduating from USM in the spring of 2019. It is hard when you are a grad student to feel connected to any one place. Everything feels so temporary, but once I knew that I would be sticking around in Mississippi, that sensation turned into trying to find the places that I could call home in this state. I have found that in Hattiesburg and I have been doing my best to create that sense of “home”-ness ever since.

What do you miss most about the place where you’re from?

For most people, the place you are from is not a static thing, and that feels especially so having grown up in the suburbs of Nashville. Every time I go home, I can’t help but notice the things that have changed. So many places I would frequent as a college kid in Nashville have disappeared or become weird shadow versions of themselves. All that being said, I miss my family. I miss my friends, many of whom still live in Nashville, but most of all I miss Nashville as it was, even as I recognize that change is a constant. It feels disorienting to return to Nashville now, even as it is often very rewarding and fulfilling to do so.

Todd and his wife Mary in front of their home in Hattiesburg.