Remember to get out and enjoy the Medgar Evers-B.B. King Homecoming Celebration this weekend. See you at the parade Saturday—and, yes, we'll have voter-registration forms on us. Can you imagine a more appropriate place to register to vote in Mississippi!?
by Donna Ladd
May 28, 2003
As I shook the hand of Myrlie Evers-Williams on April 25, 2002, at the Old Capitol Museum, I told her I had come home to Mississippi because my niece and nephew didn’t know who her first husband was—a slight over-simplification, but essentially the truth. Until May 2001, I’d been living outside the South since the day after I graduated from Mississippi State in 1983. I’d written about social injustice everywhere but where it hurts me most. After all, growing up amid the defiant madness of bootlegging sheriffs and Klan rallies and nasty Citizen Councilors and forced integration and lynchings and segregated proms and Jim Crow and stubborn defense of the Lost Cause had made me an activist journalist in the first place. But, truth be told, I wasn’t sure I was up to the “worthy scrap,” as a good friend here calls it, of staying in Mississippi and working methodically for positive change. Simply put, I was afraid to challenge those I know and love the most, to write the truth as I see it back here on the home soil.
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:: columns
EDITORIAL: Unite Against Crime
May 28, 2003--Crime is up just about everywhere. That's not an excuse. It's just a fact. In 2002, crime was up 7.2% in Ventura County, Calif., for instance, long considered the safest city in the west. Crime is creeping upward all over the South and all over the country. Property…
Hopelessly Devoted to You
by Jennifer Spann
May 15, 2003
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
– Phillipians 2:3, NIV
I’ll admit it: I’m a selfish only child. I want things my way. I like to have the last word, and I’m not impressed easily. You should have seen my toy room as a child (yes, an entire room devoted to nothing except my toys); Pops bought out the toy store regularly, and I still never understood why other kids were gaga to play at my house.
May 15, 2003
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
– Phillipians 2:3, NIV
I’ll admit it: I’m a selfish only child. I want things my way. I like to have the last word, and I’m not impressed easily. You should have seen my toy room as a child (yes, an entire room devoted to nothing except my toys); Pops bought out the toy store regularly, and I still never understood why other kids were gaga to play at my house.
OPINION: The Sky Is Not Falling
by Frank Garrison
May 1, 2003
Crime has once again become the dominant topic of local public interest. It is a volatile issue and, therefore, is occasionally treated by the media, the public, and some politicians with a degree of panic and hysteria that bears little…
May 1, 2003
Crime has once again become the dominant topic of local public interest. It is a volatile issue and, therefore, is occasionally treated by the media, the public, and some politicians with a degree of panic and hysteria that bears little…
LADD: Let the Music Play
by Donna Ladd
I’ve never understood folks who listen to only one type of music. That’s kind of like eating McDonald’s for every meal; how can one live that way? I could have gone down that road, though. I grew up hearing nothing but country music in Neshoba County. It was the ‘60s for heaven’s sake, and not a single Motown tune. Or Dylan. Or the Beatles. Basically no music that was remotely diverse or revolutionary. I knew Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner and Merle Haggard and Charlie Pride (OK, a bit of diversity) intimately, however. I’d sing their songs (horribly) at the top of my lungs in the back seat of my stepdad’s Olds 98 on our car trips.
I’ve never understood folks who listen to only one type of music. That’s kind of like eating McDonald’s for every meal; how can one live that way? I could have gone down that road, though. I grew up hearing nothing but country music in Neshoba County. It was the ‘60s for heaven’s sake, and not a single Motown tune. Or Dylan. Or the Beatles. Basically no music that was remotely diverse or revolutionary. I knew Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner and Merle Haggard and Charlie Pride (OK, a bit of diversity) intimately, however. I’d sing their songs (horribly) at the top of my lungs in the back seat of my stepdad’s Olds 98 on our car trips.
SPANN: Invisible Woman
by Jennifer SpannBlack clothing is the choice du jour to disguise excess weight. The blackness of night can camouflage all sorts of “down low” activities. But I didn’t realize that black could make people invisible. Until recently I never really paid it much attention. I’d be approaching someone on a stairwell or passing a stranger on the sidewalk, and then it would happen: I’d suddenly become invisible. Amazing! Was I a scientific mystery, or should I join the ranks of the X-Men? It even happened when I was out with white friends. People could see them, but I was perfectly invisible as greetings were exchanged or as we were being shown to our table in a restaurant.
Watching the Watchdogs
by Donna Ladd
April 28, 2003
Former TV sportscaster Rick Whitlow seems like an incredibly nice person. He did not, however, impress me as a criminology expert when we met April 24 to talk about his new job. He is executive director of the new Metro…
April 28, 2003
Former TV sportscaster Rick Whitlow seems like an incredibly nice person. He did not, however, impress me as a criminology expert when we met April 24 to talk about his new job. He is executive director of the new Metro…
Thanks, But No Thanks
by Jennifer SpannApril 17, 2003
I’m no feminist, and I definitely wear a bra most days of the week, but I am fed up with men giving me their unsolicited advice or trying to force me into liberation. It happened on the track one day at the YMCA on Fortification Street. I was plodding along at my 5.5 mph pace minding my own business. Suddenly some jerk … oops, I mean strange man … ran up beside me and said, "You should lengthen out your stride," then ran on ahead. Look, buddy, I’m training for a marathon and being coached by a nationally ranked triathlon athlete; I don’t need your advice. Needless to say, I didn’t see the fellow again that evening. Why? After one measly mile, he headed inside to lift weights. I finished my six miles in record time while fuming over this meathead’s comment.
We’re Not Clueless
by Cordie Aziz
April 17, 2003
When we consider activism of the '60s and '70s, we think of the war on Vietnam with thousands of citizens flocking to the street with “Peace Not War” signs. Or we recall the Civil Rights Movement that snaked through the southern states. Seldom discussed these days was a call for a right not granted to many U.S. citizens, and the very ones dying in Vietnam: the right for 18-year-olds to vote.
April 17, 2003
When we consider activism of the '60s and '70s, we think of the war on Vietnam with thousands of citizens flocking to the street with “Peace Not War” signs. Or we recall the Civil Rights Movement that snaked through the southern states. Seldom discussed these days was a call for a right not granted to many U.S. citizens, and the very ones dying in Vietnam: the right for 18-year-olds to vote.
Proud to be an American
by Donna Ladd
April 3, 2003
We only lost three distribution spots due to our last issue, which offered dissenting views to the Iraqi War. We knew when we switched last issue's cover story at the last minute from the state of the crime debate in Jackson (which is now this issue's cover story) to the war, which was in its opening moments as we went to press, that we were courting controversy. But we also knew that we would not be true to our mission and our promise to our readers to be thought-provoking if we failed to take a more critical look at the build-up to the war as it was developing into the most important issue that most of us would be facing over these weeks—both intellectually and emotionally. We simply do not know how not to analyze the news, question dogma and exercise our right to free expression at every turn.
April 3, 2003
We only lost three distribution spots due to our last issue, which offered dissenting views to the Iraqi War. We knew when we switched last issue's cover story at the last minute from the state of the crime debate in Jackson (which is now this issue's cover story) to the war, which was in its opening moments as we went to press, that we were courting controversy. But we also knew that we would not be true to our mission and our promise to our readers to be thought-provoking if we failed to take a more critical look at the build-up to the war as it was developing into the most important issue that most of us would be facing over these weeks—both intellectually and emotionally. We simply do not know how not to analyze the news, question dogma and exercise our right to free expression at every turn.
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:: cover story recent comments
Nov 20, 2008[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Walt: Senator Ted "Lil Man" Stevens conceded defeat today. Upon leaving he said to his republican colleagues, " I didn't get all…
Nov 20, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Walt: Obama called me too asking if I wanted any position or hook-up for helping out on his campaign. I told him…
Nov 20, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Whitley: I feel you on Lieberman, but I like the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force. It will be best to have as…
Nov 20, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Tom Head: Re Lieberman: Speaking at the RNC was bad form, but I'd rather have Joe Lieberman in the Democratic caucus than…
Nov 20, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Tom Head: Eek. As you can probably tell, I haven't actually read/heard the Al-Qaeda remarks yet. :P
Nov 19, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Whitley: I was merely being facetious with the Malcolm X comment. It was a spoof of the Al Qaeda claim that stated…
Nov 19, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Tom Head: Would also add that black liberation has NEVER been one of Al Qaeda's priorities. They're a multiracial group, but they…
Nov 19, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Tom Head: Not sure I understand this post. Malcolm X would have hated Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda would have hated Malcolm…
Nov 19, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Whitley: Jeff, it seems that one of Al Qaeda's complaints is that Obama is not Malcolm X and he is not the…
Nov 19, 2008
[Wilson] What We Conservatives Learned
Walt: This is great Daniel. I said earlier the intelligent people are bolting from the GOP faster than a burglar about to…