FAQ: What National Media Ask Mississippians

Tee, hee.

You’re so well spoken; why are you still in Mississippi?

HA HA ...I actually got asked that one by a yankee doctor at one of my wife's appointments. Well, first she asked me where I was originally from.

Right. I love it when we get calls from people in other (northern) states who seem to expect us to be idiots.

Or, when someone tells me they live in "New York City," and I ask what part, and they seem confused that I would ask such a question -- because how would I know anything about Noo Yawk Citee?

We had fun coming up with this list. If there is anything all Mississippians can agree on, it's how badly many in the media condescend to us.

I get this one, Is you name really Bubba?
No, it's Billy Bob Joe Bubba but they just call me Bubba.

I had someone from PA. ask me if I had indoor plumbing, a few months ago.

As I checked in at a Minneapolis hotel a few years ago, the desk clerk asked me if our houses were on stilts. After telling her that many beachfront homes on the Gulf Coast are, she seemed genuinely shocked that we even had a coast, almost as if we didn't deserve one.

One of the funniest things about 'outsiders' I've run into happened at an interracial wedding in Jackson about 15 years ago. The groom was an Italian-American New Yorker, the bride an African American from Simpson County! At the wedding reception, a relative of the groom walked up to the 6-year old nephew of the bride, extended her hand to him and carefully enunciated in a very prim and proper voice, "Hello there; I'm Joe's aunt and I'm from New York, New York" Without missing a beat, the youngster shook her hand and said, "My name is Robert Earl and I'm from Jackson, Jackson."

I gave this to colleagues here at the University of Memphis who recently moved here from New York and Alberta. I suggested that when they found the piece humorous, they might consider that they were becoming acculturated.

I had actually given the issue to another colleague two offices down for the James Meredith coverage. He came to my office in tears from laughing. He is from Cleveland MS.

Yes, our multi-racial staff from MIssissippi and beyond had a grand ole time doing this. If there is anything Mississippians can agree on, it's the condescension and bigotry of many national reporters toward us. And there is nothing more delightful than proving them wrong. ;-)

(I personally have been asked the first question by more reporters than you might imagine.)

I had someone from PA. ask me if I had indoor plumbing, a few months ago. -Bubba

Lol! that's too funny and also sad