by Mimi Holland-Lilly
May 1, 2003

No one would know it by looking at me now, but I used to be kind of cool. At least I used to think that I was. I would fly around the college campus in my black vintage '78 280-Z…
 
by on 05/10/03 at 03:00 AM Comments (0) -- Read More...

Can Young Voters Change Mississippi?
by J. Bingo Holman
April 17, 2003

If you're under 25, you don't count, at least not for much. Now, before you get huffy, let me explain. Only 42 percent of you voted in the last Mississippi election (compared to…
 
by on 04/17/03 at 04:24 PM Comments (17) -- Read More...

Is it OK with you that only about a third of Mississippians are making decisions for all of us? Are you tired of not having anyone you want to vote for, who addresses your concerns? Do you want to be heard? Then, speak up, sweetheart, and change the world while you’re at it—one vote at a time. Here's how (and, get this, it's fun). Who knew?
 
by on 04/17/03 at 04:10 PM Comments (8) -- Read More...

by Donna Ladd
April 17, 2003

The question of whether Jackson is "safe" has become about as polarizing as "Ford vs. Chevy" or "fats vs. carbohydrates." It depends on whom you ask. Crime is up 15 percent. Crime is down this month. Crime skyrocketed in February. Crime is way down over the last decade. We’re drowning in crime. We’re safer than ever. Just look at the numbers. It seems this spring has been open season on crime statistics. Everyone says the numbers don’t say enough, even as they try to use the statistics to their advantage, whether to push an ideology, build a political campaign, raise ratings, sell newspapers, bash the city—and sometimes even to try to prevent crime. Which brings us to the central questions. One, is crime completely under control or out of control? Two, do the statistics matter?

Answers: Neither and somewhat.
 
by on 04/17/03 at 02:12 PM Comments (8) -- Read More...

Editor's Note: Links to all of the JFP's crime stories to date are archived below this story.

by Donna Ladd
April 3, 2003

The tall window of the Jackson Police Department’s COMSTAT room on the 17th floor of the Standard Life Building looks west and north on a crumbling Jackson. The King Edward Hotel looms just to the left, the remains of the bulldozed Noble Hotel is straight ahead, a ripped-up Farish Street lies a bit further on. Thanks largely to racial politics and the rise of a suburban culture that takes from cities without returning a whole bunch, the riches of the past are no more, at least not right now in downtown Jackson. What has replaced the neon lights and bustling commerce of yesteryear is crime, or at least a powerful perception of it.
 
by on 04/11/03 at 09:25 AM Comments (41) -- Read More...

by Gwynne Dyer
What is going through the mind of Saddam Hussein as he waits for the American avalanche to bury him? Not exile. In this end game, Saddam is trying to come up with a way to enshrine himself as an Arab hero. Like any doomed man, Hussein…
 
by on 03/20/03 at 07:09 PM Comments (0) -- Read More...

by J. Bingo Holman
March 16, 2003

"Chicks rule!"

Sure, it may feel that way for at least one weekend in March in Jackson. But after the parade, "chicks rule" is still not exactly the state of affairs in the Magnolia State—not by a long shot. Just look at the line-up of our Washington representatives. The local political columnists in the daily newspaper. The anti-abortion crosses on the Capitol lawn. The confused looks when we get loud and pushy. We can scream all we want about women's rights, and pay equity, and reproductive freedom, and how great and strong women are here in Mississippi, but the truth stings mightily: Mississippi is not even the 50th worst place in the United States for women. We're No. 51, behind the other 49 states and the District of Columbia.
 
by on 03/17/03 at 12:36 AM Comments (12) -- Read More...

Jackson’s Music Scene Struggles for Respect, Audience

by Lori Herring

Here’s the thing: Jackson actually has a thriving music scene, filled with phenomenal, under-appreciated musicians and people who are working hard to give them opportunities to play.
 
by on 02/21/03 at 01:18 AM Comments (11) -- Read More...

by Marty Jezer

Martin Luther King's birthday holiday made me think of the connection of religion with politics and the contradictions that so often result.

Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister. The organization that he helped to start and lead was the…
 
by on 02/11/03 at 12:44 AM Comments (0) -- Read More...

by Todd Stauffer
January 9, 2003

What step to take next will be a huge question for 2003. We could be going nowhere, or at least a relatively short distance—after all, we’re in a recession, Mississippi’s telecom industry is “retrenching,” and the prospect of war may change local and national goverment priorities significantly.
 
by itodd on 01/26/03 at 11:39 AM Comments (1) -- Read More...