I can recall several times as a child when, after committing a transgression against my younger sister or a playmate, my mother or another adult would instruct me to apologize. “Now, tell each other that you’re sorry,” they would always say, smiling and nudging. In particularly upsetting circumstances, the apology did not come easily.
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This issue of the Jackson Free Press, owned and operated by animal lovers, is dedicated to the idea that Jackson, and Mississippi as a whole, can quickly become a whole lot smarter when it comes to taking care of animals. Even though the state has long had a bit of a laissez-faire culture—choosing to put certain things off or justify not taking action altogether—the issue of animal care must be high on our priority list.
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Boneqweesha Jones: “Stimulus checks come to those financially challenged citizens who wait for a few months. Today hundreds of consumers have gathered at the Funky Ghetto Mall parking lot to celebrate the long-awaited arrival of their stimulus checks and view the procession of the Ghetto Science Team’s Post Tax Refund and Stimulus Check Day Parade, broadcast live on Ghetto Science Public Television. Kunta ‘Rahsheed X’ Toby, controversial filmmaker and media mogul, is my co-host for this unique event.
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It’s 2008. Do you know where your kids are? Better yet, do you know what they’re plotting behind those closed bedroom doors, between cell phone texts and e-mails on MySpace or Facebook? Do you really “know’’ what they’re doing? Know this. When a 15-year-old is shot down on a street corner at 2 a.m. or three 10-year-olds are accused of hatching a plot to kill a teacher, something has gone wrong in the matrix.
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Recently, at a flea market in a town a little south of here, I dug into a bin of old newspapers and found a copy of the Jackson Daily News printed 35 years ago to the exact date. Besides reinforcing all my superstitious beliefs, I decided that there was a reason I was led to this exact spot, in this exact time, to read this paper. That may seem a little strange to some of you, but I watch enough bad horror and am just Catholic enough to hold on to a whole barrel of irrational beliefs concerning fate, destiny and black cats—and I actually own two black cats.
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The last time I talked to documentary filmmaker Micki Dickoff, we were standing on Center Avenue in my hometown during the Edgar Ray Killen trial. I was yelling at her for trying to own the story of long-overdue justice and the people who had fought for it for so long.
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The town-hall meeting that the local police union and the Jackson Free Press sponsored last week downtown was eye-opening and sobering. Audience members seemed genuinely flummoxed when they saw the PowerPoint slides of how few police officers are available in a given department at any one time. The numbers are grim—especially considering the naive ideas about crime-fighting pushed by local politicians and media.
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Brotha Hustle: “Many of you know me as the cutting-edge, forward-thinking and constantly evolving Juicy Juice-selling entrepreneur. Many of you may also know I collaborate and coordinate other business opportunities with my computer-technology-inclined Aunt Tee Tee.
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Shoes, Shoes and More Shoes
There is no better way to burn some time than to count shoes in the spring afternoon on my front porch, knowing it’s worth every minute.
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Young people in Jackson are grieving this week- but you didn’t see the reason for their grief on the breaking news when we lost another student to violence. In fact, all news sources in Jackson reported different information, and they asked questions that they probably won’t bother to follow up on for the answers. Young people know their day-to-day world doesn’t make breaking news.
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When I was at Neshoba Central back in the 1970s, I would get called to the office quite a bit. The students around me would look at each other, cutting their eyes from side to side. “What has she done now?” was the question hanging in the air. I was editor of our school newspaper (which was printed in the Neshoba Democrat), and one of my mentor/instigators was Ms. Oneida Hodges, who dressed all in black and encouraged me to sing my opinions at the tops of my non-conformist little lungs.
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A vote this week by the Rankin-Hinds Pearl Flood and Drainage Control District (“Levee Board”) appeared to overturn its decision of last July to support a “Lower Lake” plan based, in part, on the Levee Board-sponsored charrette featuring noted architect and city planner Andres Duany and his company, DPZ. We feel that’s unfortunate, and hope the Lower Lake plan, if viable and responsible, will still be considered in the future.
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Grandma Pookie: “Welcome to the Gripe, Moan and Complain Weekly Business Report with Pookie Peterz. I’m Grandma Pookie sitting in for my very busy grandson. He’s preparing taxes for financially challenged citizens, making them eligible for those long-awaited stimulus checks. Something is better than nothing.
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It appears that the chickens did indeed come home to roost. No, not in the Rev. Jeremiah Wright sense. Not even the Malcolm X sense. These “chickens” are a direct product of America’s passive attitudes toward race relations. Its longstanding dismissal of the obvious problems between folks of different hues and different histories has now come back to bite it on its hind parts.
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WTF, Ledger!?!
Given the chance to be the mainstream media authority during a primary with a shocking turnout, The Clarion-Ledger flubbed it, instead displaying how deep its culture of incompetence runs. On primary night, as networks called the election for Obama before any results came in, the Ledger’s reporter-on-the-ground, Natalie Chandler, seemed clueless about what she was watching happen in living color.
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Senate Bill 2988, a bill making felons out of employed undocumented immigrants and their employers, is now law. Mississippi Building and Construction Trade President David Newell says the law will help prevent the displacement of working U.S. citizens, while associations that represent employers say a law like this is going to present one more hoop to jump through on the way to filling a thin work schedule.
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Mr. Announcement: “In a recessive economy, opportunists overwhelm financially challenged individuals on fixed incomes with inflated prices. As the price of gas and other necessities increases, poor folk commit desperate acts of retribution. Greed, desperation and retaliation are elements in the stories of the men and women of the Price Gouged Victims Unit.”
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Immigration Lies
As a recent transplant from Texas and an American of Mexican decent, I am appalled at the ignorant comments made by some radio personalities and politicians running ads in Jackson regarding the immigration issue. “Pedro” jokes are no less insulting than jokes against African Americans. Unfortunately, though, Mexicans who are here illegally can’t defend themselves. Thank God, these same “Billy Bob” imbeciles would not dare to make their racist comments against blacks anymore, but hey, “Mexicans” are fair game.
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Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Prize-winner from Kenya, planted seven trees in 1977 in honor of seven women environmentalists. Jailed and reviled for her own environmental activism, Maathai’s seven trees became 40 million over the course of two decades, planted by village women in her honor. When she received the call about the Nobel Prize, her first reaction was: “I didn’t know anyone was listening.” Maathai’s story demonstrates power. Her actions generated far-reaching results, even when they were mostly invisible to her.
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What a bizarre, crazy week. As we’ve been putting together this special Fly issue, dedicated to the madness that is the Mal’s St. Paddy’s Parade, not to mention lots of loud women running around with padded boobs and butts, we’ve also been covering the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. To boot, JFP folks have been interviewed by international media curious about what is really going on in Mississippi politically.
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This week, the commission appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour to choose a location for Mississippi’s Civil Rights Museum voted 22-9 in support of its location committee’s recommendation that the museum be located on property leased to the museum by Tougaloo College. more...
Mr. Announcement: “On this edition of ‘Animals ‘n’ the ’Hood,’ Poochie, the shiny, black, talking and literate dog, addresses a very sobering phenomenon called ‘Black Dog Syndrome.’”
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By the time you read this column, the cameras will be gone. The reporters will have packed up all their pens, pads and voice recorders, and moved on to Pennsylvania. All the ballots will be counted.
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You flip a switch, and the light goes on. It’s like magic. It is easy to forget how much impact electricity has, how it allows us to work at night, stay warm, send e-mail around the world and compute our debts. But generating electrical power has other effects. It is still one of the largest sources of air pollution, although—primarily due to emission controls—the levels of most air pollutants are dropping, according to the EPA.
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After exploring Beijing’s Chaoyang district for much of the afternoon, my boyfriend JP and I escaped the heat of the July sun, ducking into a Starbucks. The three stories of the coffee shop were packed with foreign and Chinese businessmen, 20-somethings on their laptops, and friends gathered for a mid afternoon coffee break. After scanning the menu, we both ordered plain coffee and found a seat on the second level to check our e-mail accounts.
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Last issue, the Jackson Free Press told you about SafeCity’s attempt to make parts of the city into what one JFP reader called on our Web site, “Baghdad by the Pearl.” The “watchdog” group wanted to create some sort of bizarre, gerrymandered “green zone” situation that, essentially, would have allowed the Mississippi Highway Patrol and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith (who is also a state employee) to run our law enforcement.
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Mr. Announcement: “Welcome to the premiere television episode of ‘The Finance Pimp Gets His Homes Back.’ Our story takes place in a barren suburb of foreclosed homes. Predatory lending, sliding interest rates, the ‘War on Terror’ and a recessive economy over the past eight years have restructured the lifestyles of the working and middle classes who have returned to apartment living.
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Apr 13, 08 | 5:16 pm [Editor's Note] Children of Cowardice ladd: "I'm sorry if you were offended."
Right. That isn't a real apology, and it's blaming the victim. I've been thinking a lot in recent days about how weird it is to live in a world where someone gets in more trouble for uttering the b-word...
Apr 13, 08 | 5:06 pm [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts BubbaT: I think msgrits was meaning was even though you don't allow it at home they have too much access to computers at friends houses, school, libraries and even their cell phones, they will have a myspace page reguardless of what you allow them to to at...
Apr 13, 08 | 9:55 am [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts emilyb: I disagree with that one msgrits....I don't like allowing my child to do something because he "could" have access to it somewhere else. I just don't think middle school kids should be a part of that type of community at that stage in their...
Apr 12, 08 | 10:03 pm [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts golden eagle '97: I'm not sure if it's so much the age of the parents that's a problem as it is other forces influencing children these days. Our grandparents and great-grandparents were having babies in their teens--and that was very common--but they raised their...
Apr 12, 08 | 11:56 am [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts msgrits: You can't stop kids from being on MySapce etc. They don't need you or a computer in the home to maintain a page. You can create as much dialogue as possible about what's on the page, appropriate behavior, safety. Forbidding them from being on...
Apr 12, 08 | 10:56 am [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts emilyb: This is a parent who needs a clue:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24009077/
I can't get over parents allowing their kids, especially middle school kids, on myspace, bebo, etc. That's insane....
Apr 11, 08 | 3:41 pm [Editorial] Time to Be Responsible, Pet Owners L.W.: I read that sentence too, Knol, and I assumed they were trying to say that some people exercise their dogs too vigorously or something. Hopefully someone will come along and clarify....
Apr 11, 08 | 2:56 pm [Editorial] Time to Be Responsible, Pet Owners kaust: "Do you run or ride bicycles pulling a dog alongside you, supposedly so they can get “their” exercise?" -editorial
Huh? It seems exercising with your dog or exercising your dog is in their with mistreating them???
A dog, especially larger or...
Apr 11, 08 | 12:54 pm [Sue Doh Nem] Hush and Be Cool L.W.: Yeah, we know it's hush money, but if I get a check, I'm not returning it. :-P
Seriously though, something's got to give. We just got an economic stimulus in 2001, and what have we learned between then and now? I know the government wants us to...
Apr 11, 08 | 12:49 pm [Gregory] ‘Mom, What Did You Do?’ L.W.: This article was right on the money, Lori. I've said it many times: yelling at the TV can only do so much. You have to be a part of the solution in one way or another. Even if it is a small role, at least you did something. Man in the mirror,...
Apr 11, 08 | 12:42 pm [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts L.W.: A friend told me that she was appalled at a Christmas gathering that she attended at which a six year old was handed a beer just like it were a soda pop. Our priorities totally out of whack. Too many people are worried about your pants sagging...
Apr 11, 08 | 12:15 pm [Editor's Note] Children of Cowardice L.W.: I tried never to make promises I couldn’t keep, say “I love you” when I wasn’t ready, and of course, never, ever say, “I’m sorry,” if I simply wasn’t. I discovered loopholes like, “I’m...
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Shoes, Shoes and More Shoes
