by Jesse Alejandro Cottrell
Aug. 21, 2003
To anyone who watches MTV all day—where P. Diddy, Ja Rule and Nelly dominate the screen flashing fancy cars, gold chains and an entourage of scantily clad women—political empowerment and hip-hop may seem like conflicting terms. But hip-hop has been political in nature since its birth in the youth subculture of the Bronx during the late 1970s. Unfortunately, what started out as a gritty portrayal of what was really happening on the streets has been perverted in less than two decades into a seemingly endless supply of high-paid corporate clowns rapping about little more than the fact that they’re rich. Today, mainstream hip-hop is worse than apolitical—it has become a tool to oppress and distract an entire generation of youth, especially youth of color.
by on 08/21/03 at 07:37 PM Comments (0) -- Read More...
jackson weather: 34°f (1°c)
:: cover stories
Get Your Grid On
Dr. S' Amazing College Football Preview
Aug. 21, 2003
That chill in the night air (it got down to 75 the other night, brrr) signals that it’s almost time for football. And here in Mississippi, the favorite brand of football is college football (unless Junior is playing for the middle school or high school team). College football is what binds students, alumni and fans together for a common cause. And causes them to be rude to other people wearing different colors. As Aug. 30 approaches, there are several burning questions on the minds of every true college football fan:
1. Can Eli Manning do what his daddy, Archie, and brother Peyton couldn’t do—win the Hypesman, uh, Heisman Trophy?
by Dr. S on 08/21/03 at 06:53 PM Comments (0) -- Read More...
Aug. 21, 2003
That chill in the night air (it got down to 75 the other night, brrr) signals that it’s almost time for football. And here in Mississippi, the favorite brand of football is college football (unless Junior is playing for the middle school or high school team). College football is what binds students, alumni and fans together for a common cause. And causes them to be rude to other people wearing different colors. As Aug. 30 approaches, there are several burning questions on the minds of every true college football fan:
1. Can Eli Manning do what his daddy, Archie, and brother Peyton couldn’t do—win the Hypesman, uh, Heisman Trophy?
by Dr. S on 08/21/03 at 06:53 PM Comments (0) -- Read More...
School Daze: Testing Madness
by Donna Ladd
Aug. 6, 2003
As I proctored a classroom full of seventh-graders taking the Grade Level Testing Program (GLTP) test last April in a suburban Jackson public school, I couldn’t help but think that some of the children are going to be left behind. The students in this room, although mostly white, were very different from each other. Some were fidgety, others defied any suggestion of authority, one or two were geeky and smart-looking, several seemed more concerned with their appearance than anything else. They all had one thing in common: They seemed extremely nervous about taking the writing exam.
by on 08/16/03 at 07:25 AM Comments (12) -- Read More...
Aug. 6, 2003
As I proctored a classroom full of seventh-graders taking the Grade Level Testing Program (GLTP) test last April in a suburban Jackson public school, I couldn’t help but think that some of the children are going to be left behind. The students in this room, although mostly white, were very different from each other. Some were fidgety, others defied any suggestion of authority, one or two were geeky and smart-looking, several seemed more concerned with their appearance than anything else. They all had one thing in common: They seemed extremely nervous about taking the writing exam.
by on 08/16/03 at 07:25 AM Comments (12) -- Read More...
Tough Questions: Gov. Ronnie Musgrove
by Donna Ladd
Aug. 6, 2003
They said they’d give me 15 minutes. I took 23. In that minuscule amount of time—enough time for sound bites, but not as much substance as I’d like—I tried to pack in as much meat as possible about issues that matter in the state of Mississippi. I really wanted to focus on the No. 1 issue facing the state of Mississippi, the big kahuna that, as GOP opponent Mitch Tyner wisely pointed out at the Neshoba County Fair a week later, will pretty much solve all the other problems if we can get it right. In my interview with Musgrove, and at appearances I trailed him to over the next week to make up for the 23 minutes, I was impressed with the fact that he likes to talk education—even though he's not asked that many questions about it.
by on 08/06/03 at 07:29 PM Comments (4) -- Read More...
Aug. 6, 2003
They said they’d give me 15 minutes. I took 23. In that minuscule amount of time—enough time for sound bites, but not as much substance as I’d like—I tried to pack in as much meat as possible about issues that matter in the state of Mississippi. I really wanted to focus on the No. 1 issue facing the state of Mississippi, the big kahuna that, as GOP opponent Mitch Tyner wisely pointed out at the Neshoba County Fair a week later, will pretty much solve all the other problems if we can get it right. In my interview with Musgrove, and at appearances I trailed him to over the next week to make up for the 23 minutes, I was impressed with the fact that he likes to talk education—even though he's not asked that many questions about it.
by on 08/06/03 at 07:29 PM Comments (4) -- Read More...
Blogging the Body Politic
by Todd Stauffer
July 24, 2003
Read about presidential hopeful Howard Dean's remarkable grass-roots blogging campaign. And add your voice at the end: Will this campaign change politics as we know it?
by itodd on 08/06/03 at 03:50 AM Comments (33) -- Read More...
July 24, 2003
Read about presidential hopeful Howard Dean's remarkable grass-roots blogging campaign. And add your voice at the end: Will this campaign change politics as we know it?
by itodd on 08/06/03 at 03:50 AM Comments (33) -- Read More...
Will You Bother to Vote?
by Adam Lynch
July 24, 2003
There’s no argument that the right to vote has been hard won in Mississippi, but this election year only a fragment of the state’s citizens, black or white, is likely to bother to lock down a decision at the polls. You’d think after all the work that went into ensuring the right to vote here that it would be something to savor, if but for the sole excuse of slipping away from the workplace for an hour or just for the sake of democracy.
by on 08/05/03 at 11:47 AM Comments (3) -- Read More...
July 24, 2003
There’s no argument that the right to vote has been hard won in Mississippi, but this election year only a fragment of the state’s citizens, black or white, is likely to bother to lock down a decision at the polls. You’d think after all the work that went into ensuring the right to vote here that it would be something to savor, if but for the sole excuse of slipping away from the workplace for an hour or just for the sake of democracy.
by on 08/05/03 at 11:47 AM Comments (3) -- Read More...
Tyner Lunges, Barbour Defends
by Adam Lynch
July 24, 2003
The two personalities on the Republican primary ballot of the gubernatorial race couldn’t seem any more different. Tyner, with his innocent gee-whiz demeanor and Boy Scout-ish philosophies, stepped quietly into the political boxing ring like a million-to-one-long-shot prize fighter with a toast-rack chest, diminutive little legs and oversized boxing gloves.
by on 07/24/03 at 04:00 PM Comments (2) -- Read More...
July 24, 2003
The two personalities on the Republican primary ballot of the gubernatorial race couldn’t seem any more different. Tyner, with his innocent gee-whiz demeanor and Boy Scout-ish philosophies, stepped quietly into the political boxing ring like a million-to-one-long-shot prize fighter with a toast-rack chest, diminutive little legs and oversized boxing gloves.
by on 07/24/03 at 04:00 PM Comments (2) -- Read More...
Downtown: The ‘Neighborhood’ Solution
by Todd Stauffer
July 12, 2003
On Thursday, July 3, 2003, real estate developer Mike Peters and his wife drove to Memphis to stay in the Peabody Hotel. After dinner, they were told in the lobby to check out the roof of the hotel, where a…
by itodd on 07/10/03 at 12:49 AM Comments (44) -- Read More...
July 12, 2003
On Thursday, July 3, 2003, real estate developer Mike Peters and his wife drove to Memphis to stay in the Peabody Hotel. After dinner, they were told in the lobby to check out the roof of the hotel, where a…
by itodd on 07/10/03 at 12:49 AM Comments (44) -- Read More...
[Questions] Danny Goldberg Takes on Teen Spirit
by David Wallis
July 10, 2003
Unabridged
Just months before the 2002 election, Danny Goldberg, the music industry macher who shells out big bucks to progressive causes, received an invitation to a Democratic Party fundraiser. The invite featured the following quote: “Never before in modern history has the essential differences between the two major political parties stood out in such striking contrast, as they do today.”-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1945. Goldberg could not believe what he read. “It seemed to me a terrible commentary on today’s Democrats that they had to go back to the 1940s to evoke a contrast with Republicans,” writes Goldberg in “Dispatches From The Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit,” (Miramax, 2003). His debut book delivers a blunt warning to Democrats: get with it or get trounced.
by on 07/10/03 at 12:30 AM Comments (0) -- Read More...
July 10, 2003
Unabridged
Just months before the 2002 election, Danny Goldberg, the music industry macher who shells out big bucks to progressive causes, received an invitation to a Democratic Party fundraiser. The invite featured the following quote: “Never before in modern history has the essential differences between the two major political parties stood out in such striking contrast, as they do today.”-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1945. Goldberg could not believe what he read. “It seemed to me a terrible commentary on today’s Democrats that they had to go back to the 1940s to evoke a contrast with Republicans,” writes Goldberg in “Dispatches From The Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit,” (Miramax, 2003). His debut book delivers a blunt warning to Democrats: get with it or get trounced.
by on 07/10/03 at 12:30 AM Comments (0) -- Read More...
A Soldier’s Daughter
by Debbie Phillips
June 25, 2003
I read recently that patriotism is learned behavior. If that is true then I learned from my dad that America is beautiful. He joined the Navy at the end of World War II and served as Yeoman 3rd Class on…
by on 07/06/03 at 11:01 AM Comments (1) -- Read More...
June 25, 2003
I read recently that patriotism is learned behavior. If that is true then I learned from my dad that America is beautiful. He joined the Navy at the end of World War II and served as Yeoman 3rd Class on…
by on 07/06/03 at 11:01 AM Comments (1) -- Read More...
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