Jackson Free Press

We need your help, guys. It's almost time for the Most Intriguing Jacksonians issue, and we'd like your suggestions. These are the news-makers of 2008--the people who were in the spotlight, whether for good or bad reasons. They are the Jacksonians who have bewildered, fascinated and/or inspired the city over the course of the last year. So, I'm opening the floor to suggestions. Who has the city been talking about around the collective water cooler? Go!

Previous Comments

ID

142392

Comment

BEN ALLEN!!!! "nuff said

Author

Queen601

Date

2008-12-18T11:06:30-06:00

ID

142394

Comment

I read somewhere once that Nick, of Nick's restaurant, was instrumental in opening the state up to greater wine selection.

Author

synapsed

Date

2008-12-18T11:59:12-06:00

ID

142400

Comment

Id say Kamikaze has to be one of the most fascinating figures of 2008. Indeed people like him and Ben have been instrumental in getting folks excited about what this city can become. and Kaze has made it cool for young folks to get involved. My kids are now regular watchers of the city council re-runs and we've even had discussions about the mayor's race. He spoke to our Rotary club recently and I am just amazed at his ability to appeal to all walks of people whether black or white, young or old. He may be the first "real-estate rapper"

Author

trusip

Date

2008-12-18T14:55:48-06:00

ID

142404

Comment

Frank "Sledgehammer" Melton. He's a real crack-up.

Author

HardTravelin

Date

2008-12-18T15:42:26-06:00

ID

142409

Comment

I guess that if you are counting both good and bad, Frank would have to take it, but why promote the bad guy? Like trusip, Kamikaze would get my vote. I disagree with some of his ideas about what is best for Jackson like commuter taxes and dissing the suburbs, but he certainly does work tirelessly to make Jackson a better place...

Author

Rico

Date

2008-12-18T17:47:21-06:00

ID

142411

Comment

Definitely Frank Melton. Love him or hate him, he keeps everybody talking.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-12-18T18:07:35-06:00

ID

142413

Comment

Melton gets the lifetime achievement award. ;-) We're really looking for ideas of people we haven't covered a lot. And, yes, it's important to remember that "intriguing" isn't meant as a compliment. This is about newsmaking and intriguing people into talking about them, not about celebrating them. Our past choices have included some pretty shady folks (including criminals) among some who are doing good things.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-12-18T22:21:57-06:00

ID

142414

Comment

I'd say Marcus Wright would be my first suggestion. Melton and Recio already made the list, but Wright's role in the Melton trial has gotten a lot more prominent now--and buzzworthy--following his cooperation with prosecutors, the weird business of the allegations (unsubstantiated, as far as I know) re: drag queens, and so forth. BTW- Apropos of nothing, went to Koinonia for the first time earlier this evening. VERY strongly recommended.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-12-19T01:03:58-06:00

ID

142415

Comment

I have to agree with trusip..Kamikaze gets my vote hands down...

Author

Meka

Date

2008-12-19T10:01:54-06:00

ID

142417

Comment

Deleted.

Author

Hot Sauce

Date

2008-12-19T18:52:05-06:00

ID

142429

Comment

Ben Allen, David Watkins, Kamikaze, Jeff Good, Patrick Harkins, Bill Kehoe should all be on that list somewhere- When's the finals?

Author

kcaven

Date

2008-12-22T00:30:53-06:00

ID

142430

Comment

Luke Lundemo; computer cooperative owner, CEO Rainbow Grocery Cooperative, founder (maybe co-founder) Conscious Living Project, took the global warming course from Al Gore and gives his lecture, teaches meditation with his wife in Millsaps continuing education program...the list goes on Clay Harwick; local film-maker, video artist, designer, Millsaps student Daniel Guaqueta; WLEZ radio host Mundo Melodia and Radio Fondren, musician who does art group TTOCCS REKARP, rap/rock group with Kamikaze and Baby Fred, and does solo stuff for organizations such as MPB, USM grad Austin Richardson; One to One Studios magnate

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2008-12-22T03:52:53-06:00

ID

142431

Comment

Great suggestions! Would make it Luke and Charlotte Lundemo, and speaking of power couples, would add in Bill Chandler and Patricia Ice of MIRA.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-12-22T03:58:51-06:00

ID

142433

Comment

TRUE THAT Tom! Charlotte definitely has to be included - they really do function as a pretty dynamic team.

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2008-12-22T04:06:03-06:00

ID

142435

Comment

There are no finals. ;-) We pick 'em this week. In fact, we already have a list but want to see who we might be leaving out. Remember, these are newsmakers that the city was "intrigued" by in a very public way, regardless of whether they did good or bad things. Some of the folks mentioned don't quite fit that, but they are good ideas for future features, Jacksonians and the like, so the ideas are very welcome! Otherwise, HOt Sauce, this isn't a site for anonymous rumors. You're welcome to send us story tips, with sources to verify them, but that post has been deleted. Please remember this going forward; if you continue to post stuff like that, I'll have to suspend you, and I prefer not to.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-12-22T10:23:11-06:00

ID

142436

Comment

Jeff Good, Gary the owner of Wired Cafe (last name Davis??), Nina Parikh of Ballast Indie Spirit fame, and maybe a baby, a special baby, say, someone born this year, who can it be? I like the idea of a kid or a baby

Author

Izzy

Date

2008-12-22T10:48:24-06:00

ID

142446

Comment

My vote for the most "intrigued" person's list would include Dickie Scruggs and his son, Zach Scruggs. They were a father and son team.

Author

justjess

Date

2008-12-22T15:16:00-06:00

ID

142485

Comment

Judge Tomie Green. No doubt.

Author

motherofthekings

Date

2008-12-23T14:18:13-06:00

ID

142486

Comment

Ooh. Great idea.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-12-23T14:23:42-06:00

ID

142509

Comment

David Watkins, with what he's doing downtown with the King Edward, Standard Life bldg. & Farish St. Id vote him Jacksonian of the decade. Me being the owner of a club & restraunt right in the middle of everything down there id have to say that I couldnt think of another person thats done more.

Author

clay e.

Date

2008-12-25T10:34:58-06:00

ID

142510

Comment

Ron CHANE has been an amazing presence for the counterculture of Jackson for over a decade. From sponsoring Jackson skate and BMX teams to creating a small economy of his own supporting the growth of artists within his multiple businesses. He has also gone out of his way on multiple occasions throughout the years to support the arts at his own expense.

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2008-12-25T12:55:01-06:00

ID

142517

Comment

Nicole Marquez. She's a fighter.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-12-26T11:48:31-06:00

ID

142529

Comment

I second Nicole-you cant leave her out!

Author

kcaven

Date

2008-12-28T02:58:37-06:00

ID

142535

Comment

Hey...Tommie Green is a GOOD ONE!!!! I'm down with that.

Author

Queen601

Date

2008-12-29T09:22:08-06:00

ID

142678

Comment

My vote goes to the guys that own JacksonNCrowd, Next Level Entertainment, and Nero Denero.

Author

babydoll

Date

2009-01-05T18:52:36-06:00

ID

142679

Comment

Remember, these are newsmakers that the city was "intrigued" by in a very public way, regardless of whether they did good or bad things. Some of the folks mentioned don't quite fit that, but they are good ideas for future features, Jacksonians and the like, so the ideas are very welcome! - ladd i think the disonance between who the people in this conversation think are intriguing and the definition you give here highlight a disappointment i've had with this JFP feature. i don't think that most of the "newsmakers" during a year end up being the most intriguing. The fact is that most of those people are only interesting insofar as what they did to make news. i personally don't hear conversations about these people beyond commenting on what we already know and those conversations rarely seem to be more than threads connecting real discussion of the people and events of Jackson which tend to have more depth than what is typically (and appropriately) considered a news item. i think (and i'm just sharing i think JFP does a generally stupendous job and am in no way shaking my finger here) that your most intriguing Jacksonian feature should show the people working the streets of Jackson who have got people talking. They probably didn't garner much news cause they don't do any one monumentously newsworthy thing - but their general presence in Jackson has people talking and moving and shaking etc. That is just my two cents. Those are the types of people that seem to be suggested here. i personally don't care about a recap of the people who did the most newsworthy things in Jackson. Too often those people are just old news; boring. Jacksonians - now they are intriguing.

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2009-01-05T22:50:59-06:00

ID

142680

Comment

Daniel, we do that in every issue, on page 3 and beyond, and have from day one. Not to mention in special issues: Young Influentials, Chicks We Love, Best of Jackson categories, so on and so on, throughout every year. ;-) This is a different type of feature that pretty much follows the definition of "intriguing" in the dictionary. And it's not simply about "newsmaking"; it's about people who "intrigue" us during the year -- meaning make us scratch our heads and raise our eyebrows. The feature will be out this week. We held it a week due to the massive Melton coverage in the last issue.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-06T07:50:49-06:00

ID

142715

Comment

No doubt you cover those Jacksonians who are making the city stand back and take notice. i have always applauded the JFP's devotion to maintaining an eye to the positive news on a majority of your pages. You have even created separate magazines focusing solely on the positive development of Jackson and hear i can look forward to an even further new magazine beyond Boom which will cover even more of that good news. Looking up the definition of intriguing it seems you use : arouse the curiosity of; fascinate. i'm interested to see this years feature and am not really commenting on it - but in reference to the conversations i heard surrounding last years feature and the suggestions on this particular forum on the issue - i guess i just don't scratch my head and maintain serious curiosity about news events which seem to be perpetrated by misguided individuals. i don't run into people who are curious about those people. It's those people on page 3 and throughout the back 1/3 of your paper which i yearn to know more about! It's those people who others bring up in conversation and ask me more about. As you say though, you are covering those people under a myriad of headings...especially in the features you mention you are clearly presenting these people as intriguing - just in a more precise context (chicks, dads, best of, young, etc). After all, there are so many of them you could hardly just use the heading "intriguing" every week. :) i of course admit that perhaps i attract a particular type of atmosphere which doesn't necessarily ruminate on these people...or understand the word intrigue in the same way. i guess it is really just the word intrigue which seems to be not very clear to me and the people i hear speak on the subject and which seem to elicit the wrong types of responses in the query on this forum. Of course, regardless of our understanding, it is clear how you are using the term and it is clear what the feature is intended for.

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2009-01-06T19:51:17-06:00

ID

142717

Comment

i guess i just don't scratch my head and maintain serious curiosity about news events which seem to be perpetrated by misguided individuals. i don't run into people who are curious about those people. That's cool, Daniel, but many are. And frankly I don't judge that: As a city, we need to be "intrigued" by what makes people we/others think are "good" do very bad or shocking things. As our mayor has melted down, people have been fascinated and intrigued by him. People are intrigued by why his bodyguards would do what they have done with little questions. People are curious about our current DA's motives. I think focusing on that curiosity is a very good use of four pages of our paper a year. Not that the annual "intriguing" feature is a psychological study. It's much like Time's "Person of the year" in its focus on fascinating people, negative or positive, and is supposed to be. And I well know that among our readers are people who never read the back of the book, the front of the book or the middle of the book, or even page 3, but pick it up for specific things, from the coverage of the mayor to the music listings. I don't expect everyone to like everything in the paper, or every annual feature. I do find it interesting (intriguing?) that a lot of people seem to be talking about this, and the word "intriguing" as we use it; in the media, that is usually considered a successful idea. ;-) Truthfully, it is designed as an end-of-the-year round-up of intriguing newsmakers as seen in many cities across the country, and doesn't pretend to be anything else. That's about all I can say about it. Thanks for your interest, though!

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-06T20:26:35-06:00

ID

142718

Comment

Re Intriguing-Gate, here's a fun little factoid showing the use of the word itself has long been, er, mired in controversy : [From French intriguer, to plot, from Italian intrigare, to plot, from Latin intrÄ«cāre, to entangle; see intricate.] in·trigu'er n., in'trigu'ing·ly adv. Usage Note: The introduction of the verb intrigue to mean "to arouse the interest or curiosity of" was initially resisted by writers on usage as an unneeded French substitute for available English words such as interest, fascinate, or puzzle, but it now appears to be well established. Seventy-eight percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the sentence The special-quota idea intrigues some legislators, who have asked a Washington think tank to evaluate it, whereas only 52 percent accepted it in a 1968 survey. People are going to think I chose the word on purpose to get people to talk about it; really, I didn't. Really.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-06T20:36:22-06:00

ID

142719

Comment

This is an intriguing conversation! I don't personally love the word "intriguing" but I see I've used it twice in the approximately 34 months that I've been About.com guide to civil liberties. Once in reference to a judge who ordered that a woman on probation have an abortion if she becomes pregnant again, and the other in reference to the candidacy of John Arthur Eaves. Neither reference was intended to be flattering. I'm not sure I know what "intriguing" really means. It's one of those words, like "nice," that seems to kind of slip off my tongue or fingers without carrying much content along with it. I would say that to the extent that it means anything to me (and sometimes it doesn't), it's "engaging" with a vague whiff of the suspicious, disreputable, strange, exotic, gossiped-about, or unpleasant, unless I'm parroting someone else's less loaded use of the word. So while I would (for example) certainly put Nicole Marquez on the JFP's list of the Most Intriguing Jacksonians on the principle that she's gotten a lot of well-deserved attention and that's what people who refer to her as "intriguing" would generally mean, I probably wouldn't refer to her as "intriguing" in casual conversation myself, because I like her. I'd be more likely to say "engaging" or "fascinating," which carry more positive connotations for me. But that's a personal thing. For most people "intriguing" probably doesn't carry the same connotations.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2009-01-06T20:46:18-06:00

ID

142720

Comment

An early tip: Nicole is on the list. How could she not be? All the ways the word is defined in the various definitions is pretty much the point. I don't think of it as negative, per se, but I do think the word "puzzling" is one way to describe it. Nicole is a remarkable young woman (and always has been); what happened to her, the mystery around it due to her blackout and her amazing recovery (and spirit) make her one helluva intriguing person! Thanks for all the chatter about it, regardless.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-06T20:53:31-06:00

ID

142721

Comment

Very glad she's on the list! You know, one of the things that I find intriguing in a good way about Nicole is that I didn't realize how awesome she was, or how awesome Josh Hailey was for that matter, until I started following her recovery. It shows a strength and a commitment and a depth of character in both of them that I find incredibly impressive. I've never been able to look at either of them in the same way since then because I had no idea, until recently, that they were so powerful. I find myself putting a lot more stock in their opinions and so forth than I did before I found out what they were really made of. The old Rita Mae Brown remark about how women are like teabags--e.g., you can only tell how strong they are when they're in hot water--comes to mind. I mean, who knew how tough Nicole Marquez was? Some people had figured it out before all this happened, I'm sure, but now everybody knows. So she would definitely fit any positive definition of intriguing in my book.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2009-01-06T21:24:50-06:00

ID

142722

Comment

i can't tell you how geekily excited i am about this conversation. i obsess over meaning and syntax to a fault but also to my endless amusement. Thanks so much for the etymology. i have to agree that it seems to carry some bit of surreptitiousness or at least the possible implication of the unexplainable. i definitely think Nicole is intriguing. Despite being only an aquaintance, i find it impossible not to follow her story and be a positive part of it when possible. It is just so intriguing. Interestingly, upon reflection it does not even seem contingent on the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the accident, but rather the mystery of human will and inspiration to react as she, her family, and community did. And i must also contradict myself over the beginnings of this conversation. Having Donna reflect part of it back to me: daniel: i guess i just don't scratch my head and maintain serious curiosity about news events which seem to be perpetrated by misguided individuals. i don't run into people who are curious about those people. Donna: As a city, we need to be "intrigued" by what makes people we/others think are "good" do very bad or shocking things. i certainly agree with this. It is important to understand the motives of people. i guess i've been kinda mentally categorizing the feature as a news reporting function rather than as a more analysis type feature. And i apologizes for initially using the word "recap" in reference to it. One thing i can definitely say for sure is that i'm intrigued by the feature itself and the interaction it inspires in others. Thanks for another stellar addition to the scene!

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2009-01-06T22:37:05-06:00

ID

142723

Comment

i was totally just writing an email and dropping "intrigue" into it as if i'd never called attention to its ambiguity.

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2009-01-07T01:01:48-06:00

ID

142724

Comment

That's intriguing, man. ;o)

Author

Tom Head

Date

2009-01-07T01:04:33-06:00

ID

142726

Comment

I think it's a matter of perception and since it ultimately is the JFP's decision, the person will be evaluated based on what intriguing means to JFP. I personally don't love the word either, but I think I know what the intention behind this list is, so i understand its use here. I think Nicole's story is a facinating one (agreed Tom) or encouraging one, inspiring even; not necessarily intriguing...to me. As with some other names thrown out there. But hey, as I've been told....it ain't my list!

Author

Queen601

Date

2009-01-07T09:36:00-06:00

ID

142727

Comment

I just love all of you! Even you, Tom. ;-) It's great that the feature is controversial before it ever comes out. You can't buy that kind of guerilla marketing! Hilarious about your e-mail, daniel! Blame the French.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-07T10:18:50-06:00

ID

142731

Comment

D-ladd, we do our bestest!!!! Anytime you let us know what the feature is going to be ahead of time, this will likely happen. We're avid JFP fans and most of us totally feel like we are apart of the JFP family and think our opinion really matters. :-)Imagine that!?!

Author

Queen601

Date

2009-01-07T10:45:23-06:00