Strange Doings at the Oxford American -- Updated

The Oxford American, a magazine of Southern culture that started several years ago in Oxford, Mississippi but later drifted over into Arkansas, seems now to be in the middle of a major organizational crisis, or staff shake-up, or power play, or some such.

Fired suddenly are the founder and editor Marc Smirnoff and managing editor and arts editor Carol Ann Fitzgerald, according to publisher Warwick Sabin.

Go here, and here,  for more information.

Now, when you fire the founder, that's a shake-up. Not to mention the arts editor.

This is a major story in Southern cultural life, well worth following.

Folks are of course lawyering up,  so there will definitely be more to come.

The Oxford American is a lively publication that often gives significant coverage to the arts in the South, including most recently its list of 100 Superstar Southern Artists which included lots of photographers.

Update -- Maybe Marc Smirnoff got canned because he spoke truth to power about Garden and Gun. Check out his comments here.