Jackson Free Press

The twists and strange turns of the 2015 Jackson State football season continued today as the Clarion-Ledgers announced it was going to halt beat coverage of the team. This decision was made after JSU stopped making players and assistant coaches available to the media on Tuesdays and Wednesdays before practice.

Since Harold Jackson was fired on October 6, the Clarion-Ledger says that JSU has violated its own media police by only making interim head coach Derrick McCall available to the media. The only time since Jackson was fired that players and assistant coaches were allowed to speak to the media was after the Tigers 28-22 loss to Alabama A&M this past Saturday.

JSU stated that mid-term exams as the reason players weren't made available and this week announced it was a coaches decision not to let them speak to the media. Due to only one person's view point, coach McCall, the C-L decided not to have a beat reporter cover Jackson State until the matter is resolved.

While it is unusual for local media to not cover a team, it is not unheard of even in this age of mass media. Last August, the Miami Herald stopped covering Florida International football after their beat reporter was denied credentials to the beat reporter.

The Clarion-Ledger says their beat reporter spot for JSU will remain vacant until the matter with the university is resolved. Reporter Antonio Morales will move to different sports coverage including other SWAC schools.

Earlier this month, the 42 for Better Schools campaign asked the Mississippi secretary of state's office to review ballots across all 82 counties in Mississippi after finding errors on ballots in Hinds County.

A Mississippi voter in Hinds County found the errors when the voter went to complete an absentee ballot, 42 for Better Schools spokeswoman Patsy Brumfield said at the time.

The same errors on the absentee ballot had been visible on the Hinds County sample ballot. The letter "A" was removed from the Initiative 42-A choice, so voters can vote "FOR Initiative Measure No. 42" or "FOR Alternative Measure No. 42." Without the letter "A" to designate the alternative, voters might vote for the wrong initiative Brumfield said.

Now, Hinds County officials want to reach out to people who voted absentee and ask them to submit a corrected ballot. Pieter Teeuwissen, the attorney for the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, said the county otherwise could be open to litigation.

At today's board meeting, supervisors, attorneys and election commissioners braced for mass confusion over the ballot initiative, which requires the Legislature to adequately fund public schools or be compelled to do so by the courts.

Connie Cochran, the District 4 representative to and chairwoman of the Hinds County Election Commission, called the initiative "confusing."

"I think what we're going to have is a lot of people who just don't vote" on Initiative 42, Cochran told supervisors today.

Board President Tony Greer, the only Republican member of the board, said even though he believes Initiative 42 to be a "perilous slope to changing the constitution," he does believes voters need proper information when going to the polls.

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Education topped the talking points at the Women's Foundation of Mississippi annual meeting on Thursday. Laurene Powell Jobs (Steve Jobs' widow), Donna Barksdale and Toni Cooley discussed education at national and statewide levels. Jobs is passionate about transforming the educational system in the U.S., and she recently launched a project called XQ: The Super School Project, a project to reimagine high school structure and design by engaging students in the conversation. The XQ project came to Jackson this week, which was why Jobs was in town.

Jobs, Barksdale and Cooley discussed philanthropy and the importance of funding in education. Initiative 42 was discussed and promoted, and Jobs said she supported the Mississippi citizen-driven initiative because funding public schools is necessary for them to leap frog to the place they need to be.

"Everyone in this room should commit to passing Initiative 42," Jobs said.

Jobs said passing Initiative 42 is a tangible way for the community to get involved in education in Mississippi. Jobs' XQ Project focuses on rejuvenating the old high school model, rethinking classroom structure and models.

"If we're going to condemn the system, we ought to understand the system," Jobs said.

Jobs emphasized that students need the ability to be lifelong learners and creative thinkers. Jobs, Barksdale and Cooley discussed the importance of education, particularly for women. Donna Barksdale's husband, Jim Barksdale has donated to pass Initiative 42 and attended the annual meeting on Thursday.

Mississippi Museum of Art Executive Chef and Culinary Curator Nick Wallace is in the kitchen behind The Palette Café at the museum, talking to his staff members as they pass through. In a small pot behind him, pig ears boil in a combination of vinegars, spices and sriracha. Eventually, they'll transform into a fried-green-tomato and pig-ear Panini for the October 'sipp Sourced menu, which he began serving at 11 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 15, and will serve through Saturday, Oct. 17.

Besides the fried green tomato and pig-ear Panini, the menu for "Scary Good Creepy Cuts" will feature a range of dishes with "scary" types of meat—chicken liver and gizzards, pig tails, oxtails and turkey necks.

It fits, considering the Halloween theme for this month's Museum After Hours. But besides that, Wallace wanted to take less desirable cuts of meat and turn them into something more elevated.

"To me, I think (Halloween) is pretty super, like in the Louisiana area," he says. "I think it's getting there for Mississippi, but I don't think it's there yet. This gives us a way to really embrace October, the Halloween season, all that stuff, which is great. As far as the menu is concerned, with the creepy goodness, all the cheap cuts of meat, that's how I was raised."

He grew up on a farm in Edwards, and says that his family used every cut of meat on the animals they cooked.

"We didn't throw anything away because we just couldn't afford to," he says.

For this month's 'sipp Sourced, he wants to bring that back.

"People that are poor really are the best cooks ever, because they'll take a chicken gizzard and boil it and marinate overnight, then fry it, and you think it's the best thing in the world," he says.

For those who are hesitant to try some thing like pig tails, Wallace will also serve dishes that include meat cuts such as the scaredy-cat seafood po'boy, which has shrimp boudin sausage, lettuce, tomatoes, blood sorrel, sun-dried tomato aioli and crispy catfish, served with fries. And for those who are vegetarian or vegan, don't worry. The menu also includes dishes such as the zombie-fried green tomato panini, which is basil, mustard, onion marmalade, breakfast radishes and Swiss cheese on sourdough bread, served with fries and ketchup. The adventurous eaters can try dishes such as the "no-guts-no-glory" fried chicken livers, which are served with white gravy, whipped potatoes, bread-and-butter pickles, braised greens and hot sauce.

Mississippi Museum of Art's Museum After Hours (380 S. Lamar St.) is Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 10 p.m. The event will include works from artists who learned from, knew or were influenced by Marie Hull, whose art is currently on display at the museum and a showing of the film, "Night of the Living Dead." For more information, visit msmuseumart.org or find 'sipp Sourced on Facebook.

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