We Need to Learn From Charter Schools Before Expanding Them
It is too early to deem charter schools a success or failure in Mississippi. We are witnessing the beginning of a limited experiment in privatized "public" education starting this year …
God Is Still in Public Schools
I am a high-school teacher and a Christian. And I have some great news: God is still in our public schools.
Civil Rights
On Education, Privilege and Empowerment
Payton Head, student body president at the University of Missouri, my alma mater, recently wrote that while walking through campus Sept. 11, a pickup truck full of white guys screamed …
Another GOOD Idea: Improving Pregnancy Care
In a state with so many restrictions on sexual education and abortion, ostensibly to protect the health of women, the conventional wisdom should hold that Mississippi's pregnancy statistics should be …
One Hiccup Should Not Ruin FFT
Every time we have a hiccup, we can't boycott, we can't shut things down, we can't run from it. We all can learn from the mistakes, and all come out …
Your Turn—The Confederate Flag: A View from Tougaloo
Our state's continued waving of the Confederate battle flag is an indicator that our dark past is more prevailing than our bright future.
City & County
Creating a Sense of Community
Before our kids venture off into school or seek out new places for recreation, it's the very streets where they grow up that give them their first introduction to a …
Editor's Note
Need Solutions? Love The Problem
What Jackson needs, perhaps more than anything else, is more taxpaying people to help shoulder the burden and work on solutions.
Civil Rights
Time to Understand and Undo Racism
Awareness of differing viewpoints and cultures must happen: Ignorance needs to be dispelled and truths told in a safe environment with the purpose of moving forward on a continuum of …
Real Transparency, Please, Not Smoke and Mirrors
One online dictionary defines transparency as "free from pretense or deceit," "easily detected or seen through" and "readily understood." However, too many government agencies at the local and state levels …
Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Warfighters'
Sen. Cochran, who came within a hair's width of losing his Senate seat in the Republican primary against state Sen. Chris McDaniel because of his penchant for pork-barrel spending over …
Tripping, Flipping, Fixing, Selling and Pimping
"For a while, I believed that certain types of people would never change. On today's show, the Finance Pimp is on the set to prove me wrong."
Civil Rights
The Curse of the Mississippi Flag
The 1894 Mississippi flag, with the Confederate battle emblem as its canton, represents much more than an antiquated piece of cloth.
Do the Right Thing in Disasters
There's an expression that says if the nation sneezes, Mississippi catches the flu.
Civil Rights
The Katrina Education Lie
Among the many reflections on the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, the discussion of its effects on schools in New Orleans may be the most disingenuous.
Politics
Howard Industries’ Secret Life
Many of Howard Industries' predominantly black workers say they're underpaid for the hard, grueling work they do, but negotiations with management went nowhere after at least 16 meetings.
Editor's Note
To Build a ‘Creative Economy,’ Fund Education
I started thinking a lot about the "creative economy" when we started our coverage of the 2014 TEDxJackson event. The whole idea behind Jackson's first TEDx event was big ideas, …
Media: Stop Vilifying Black Teens, Explore Roots of Crime
One doesn’t wake up and become a criminal, nor is one born a criminal; something happens that pushes a young person toward it.
Oxford Takes Right Stand on Flag, Deserves Support
Making a change by adopting a new state flag would make it much harder for outsiders to look at Mississippi and see us as the backward haters they mistakenly think …
Barbour’s True Place in Katrina History
The 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastation has understandably come with a deluge of retrospectives and remembrances—what went right and wrong, what lessons were learned, what work remains and how …
