Everyone needs a creative outlet, whether someone is a student or with a career. They have a desire to showcase their talents for people to see.  This is what Selena Faye Hodge, Starkville resident, had in mind when she began her blog, Faye Dodges Zombies.
“I knew if I started a blog I would be more inclined to be creative on a regular basis and challenge myself to try new things, which it has,” Hodge said.
Her blog is quirky, fun to read and an informative website that has something everyone can relate to. It is easy to find something interesting in this blog since Hodge seems to have such a wide variety of likes and dislikes. She has written how-to blogs that range from how to make chicken noodle soup, to how to make your own coaster, and they are simple to read and follow. Hodge will sometimes just post what makes her happy or something that’s on her mind, such as snow, friends or scarf shopping.
“I decided to start Faye Dodges Zombies because I thought it would be fun to offer my perspective on marriage, crafting, attempting to bake and living in Mississippi,” she said.
The “Mississippi” section of her blog is a reoccurring theme for all of the writers under her network, Porch Swing Media, because most of the writers are from Mississippi and all of them are from the South. That is what gives her blog such a local, hometown vibe.
Kirby Doss, founder of Porch Swing Media said the main focus of the blog site is capturing the lives of modern southerners.
“The cohesive element of all of the blogs is that all of the writers are southern, and most contain a great deal of how-tos. One of the things that stands out the most to me about the South is the stories and the know-how.”
Hodge brings a little slice of our town to the network through Faye Dodges Zombies because she blogs about The Prairie Arts Festival, which is just in West Point, and even blogged about the most recent snowfall in Starkville. Through her creativity and talented writing skills, she brings these events to life.
Hodge also commented on the locality of it all.
“I love how local Porch Swing Media is and, really, being local is the point,” she said.
The point of the entire network is the South and locality, Doss said.
“We aren’t trying to document a dying way of life, but rather, we are trying to expose a different way of life. When I think of the South, I think of the salt of the earth. Maybe that’s a good tagline: the salt of the net, or web, or internet, or something. Big fish stories, and incredible know-how, and hard work also come to mind, and while we aren’t old men sitting around a campfire reminiscing of simpler times, there are some similarities there; we are making an honest attempt at capturing, in some way, life in the South for our generation.”
Currently, Hodge makes her own notebooks and journals that she sells at The Sundial on Main and will have her own booth at this year’s Cotton District Arts Festival.
For more information, visit  Faye Dodges Zombies and Porch Swing Media.