:: opinion archives
Screw Friendship Bracelets
by Hope Owens-Wilson
October 8, 2008
It’s hard to believe that the Media Literacy Project came from a day at the zoo. The Civil Rights Civil Liberties Club, a Jim Hill High School-based group, held a retreat for its members at the Jackson Zoo…
1 Media Literacy Project: Editors Speak Up
October 8, 2008
With the conclusion of the research from the Media Literacy Project, editors from the Jackson Advocate, Northside Sun, and Madison County Journal respond.
Media Literacy Project: ‘Yes, We Can’
by Ambrose Tabb
October 8, 2008
Hearts racing and full of energy, 15 Jim Hill students yelled at two teachers, and the teachers yelled at the students. But no one received detention in Room 213.
Media Literacy Project: The Mouth Of Babes
by Sarah Rutland
October 8, 2008
“Idle hands are the tools of the devil.” At least, that’s what city officials like Mayor Frank Melton and Ward 3 City Councilman Kenneth Stokes seem to think about Jackson youth.
Media Literacy Project: Intentional Bias
by Spencer Bowley
October 8, 2008
Earlier this year, in a span of less than two weeks, two tragedies rocked the communities of Jackson, Madison and Canton. During the early morning hours of March 23, 15-year-old Alfred Hawkins, a Jim Hill High School student, was…
Media Literacy Project: Now What?
October 8, 2008
After months of planning and research, along with three hour-long interviews with editors from the Northside Sun, The Jackson Advocate and the Madison County Journal, The Jackson Media Literacy Project associates have compiled a list of suggestions for the local papers and the…
[Editor’s Note] Lessons Learned
by Bryan Doyle
October 8, 2008
I remember walking through the door of David Molina’s office in May, confidently strolling up to his desk and handing him a packet of papers that read “Jackson Media Literacy Project” across the front. Molina, whom I had worked…
[Editorial] Be Deliberate
October 8, 2008
There is no better time to pause and look at the media’s (poor, unfair, incomplete) coverage of the young people of Jackson and America than in the middle of this nasty presidential campaign. As adults are slinging insults and ignoring issues right in…
[Sue Doh Nem] ‘Everything is Everything
by Sue Doh Nem
October 8, 2008
Miss Doodle Mae: “Greetings customers! I’ve been assigned a new responsibility as spokeswoman and public relations director for Jojo’s Discount Dollar Store.
[Kamikazi] Main Street or Backstreet?
by Kamikaze
October 8, 2008
This presidential election has introduced America to a lot of new and interesting concepts. Never has a race captivated the minds of voters so much that it seeps into popular culture. It has unified us, but it has also polarized…
[Queen] A New Underground Railroad
by Queen Folayan
October 8, 2008
I was 5 years old when I first learned about Harriett Tubman and the Underground Railroad. I felt an immediate connection to her, and I’ve carried it with me all my years. Lady Tubman reminded her followers that they…
[Editor’s Note] A Candid Candidacy
by Maggie Burks
October 1, 2008
After Sen. John McCain announced he would not attend the presidential debate last week until a bailout deal was reached, many people, including the two nominees, began throwing around the phrase “The next president of the United States will…
[Sue Doh Nem] Fighting For Gas and Their Lives
by Sue Doh Nem
October 1, 2008
Mr. Announcement: “In the ghetto criminal justice system, the people are represented mostly by two members of the McBride family: Dudley ‘Do-Right’ McBride, police officer and part-time security guard at the Funky Ghetto Mall, and attorney Cootie McBride…
[Letters] Vol. 7, No. 3
October 1, 2008
Ignoring Serious Questions
Ms. Ladd’s and Ms. Mott’s recent columns notwithstanding, can we all be honest and admit that Sarah Palin and her family, just a generation ago, would have been considered…
[Jones] Time to Think, and Hire, Local
by Lena Jones
October 1, 2008
Calls coming last week from Oxford, my hometown, suggested that the mood of local residents was shifting toward disgruntlement as they waited to hear if John McCain would show up for the presidential debate. They expected a payoff for…
::opinion - recent comments
Oct 10, 2008Screw Friendship Bracelets
ladd: Folks, the Jackson Media Literacy Project is one the coolest projects that has happened on Jackson Free Press soil. I applaud all the associates, Bryan Doyle and everyone else involved. And a big shout-out to David Molina for picking up an idea I'd hold on to for a while and making it happen.
Here's his blog post about it, explaining exactly how it came about. And don't miss the photo gallery there of the associates working in the JFP classroom here. (I love that my "zebra chair"—which is my teaching chair—made the cut, and all those images of our Emmett Till movie poster. There's something so *right* about that.)
Oct 07, 2008
[Editor's Note] A Candid Candidacy
L.W.: Well, Maggie, let's see how things go tonight with the town-hall style since Joe Six-Pack and John Latte will be the…
Oct 01, 2008
[Kamikaze] More Than A Rapper
Whitley: Chip, I often experienced the same thing, I was carded until I was 35. It's a blessing and a curse. It…
Oct 01, 2008
[Kamikaze] More Than A Rapper
chip: Good article Kaze. Although I am not a rapper, I have been suppressed due to my age and, even more so,…
Oct 01, 2008
[Editorial] GOP: Watch the Racist Talking Points
Whitley: Like Sarah Palin, I also believe in the devil. It is a stanic tendency among a certain segment of…
Oct 01, 2008
[Editorial] GOP: Watch the Racist Talking Points
L.W.: Thanks for the link, Whitley. I like this part:
Because the number one cause of personal bankruptcy is due to health-care expenses, its reform is an urgent priority. People are using their financial resources to pay for health care due to lack of coverage and are therefore unable to pay mortgages on their homes.
Regulation of Wall Street is needed to restrict and regulate credit default swaps and to ban predatory mortgage and credit card lending.
The financial bubble has burst. Corporate greed must be replaced by the biblical mandate of stewardship. All we have is ours “on loan” from God to be used for good in this world. John Wesley’s mandate to “do no harm” is violated when we prey on the vulnerable.
Oct 01, 2008
[Editorial] GOP: Watch the Racist Talking Points
Whitley: The United Methodist Church references the imbalance of wealth in its official statement on the bailout/rescue: http://www.umc-gbcs.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=frLJK2PKLqF&b=3455813&content;_id={77DCEB5E-B06D-41BD-8DAF-378D7574665F}¬oc=1
Oct 01, 2008
[Editorial] GOP: Watch the Racist Talking Points
ladd: Also, folks, we need to get a conversation going about the purpose of the CRA: to end redlining against…
Oct 01, 2008
[Editorial] GOP: Watch the Racist Talking Points
ladd: The business media are continuing the effort to debunk this racist GOP talking point. Thomas Frank today in…
Sep 30, 2008
[Editorial] GOP: Watch the Racist Talking Points
L.W.: Foegive me if this was posted elsewhere:
Article title: Bachmann Blames President Clinton, ‘Blacks,’ And…