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Books
Sweet Home Mississippi
It's no surprise that "Growing up in Mississippi," (University of Mississippi Press, 2008, $25), an edited short story collection of tales and reflections from famous Mississippians like Jimmy Buffett, former …
[Rev] (Don't) Sound The Alarm!
Saw a sad sight today, reminding me to get to writing my column about noise pollution and car alarms. There she was: a honking, lights-flashing Ford Taurus being pulled by …
Undead On Arrival: A Review Of "Land Of The Dead"
In the crafting of "Land of the Dead," the latest installment in his long-running zombie movie franchise, veteran director George A. Romero faces a problem: The genre he created four …
Judge Not the Hairy Paw
The Fondren Theatre Workshop will take over the former Radio Shack space at Meadowbrook Mart this weekend for a production of Charles Ludlam's camp-Gothic penny dreadful "The Mystery of Irma …
Imperfect Storm
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southern Louisiana and Mississippi Aug. 29, 2005. The subsequent flooding of New Orleans was a tragedy on a scale that is still unimaginable in modern …
Walkin' The Creek
Peering through the last few feet of shaded brush and trees, I began spotting glimpses of them ahead in the bright sunlight. Splashing in the water. Laughing. Talking over one …
DIY Music Studio
During the last mayoral campaign, candidate Frank Melton promised to build a recording studio on Farish Street. Well, he won, but the studio hasn't happened, yet—and with his mayoral future …
Dreaming Through Adversity
"What happens to a dream deferred?" asks Langston Hughes in his poem "Harlem." "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?/Or fester like a sore—/And then run?"
Theater
Tying Up Loose Ends
The setting: Basil's in Belhaven on a warm Sunday evening. A plain white sign taped to the door wards off curious pedestrians with the discreet words "Closed–Private Dinner Theater."
Deconstructing Thomas
Wearing a black T-shirt and perched on a wooden stool under track lights in his fourth-floor live-work loft in the Fondren Corner building, Jackson native Thomas Morrison hasn't quite shed …
Eat Free or Die
Radio ads announced a once-every-four-year opportunity for free food: the GOP candidate forum to be held at the Sports Museum on Lakeland Drive. A sucker for free food, I have …
When Every Choice Is Open
In a way, Neil LaBute's "The Mercy Seat" resembles an R. Crumb comic strip. In the 1960s, Robert Crumb appropriated the comic strip, a medium whose "Golden Age" was marked …
Art Smart
So long as Frank Melton isn't accosting you with a firearm in a church when you're just innocently trying to discuss the state of the arts in Jackson with the …
Eating By The Bay
I recently returned from a week in San Francisco visiting my lovely sister, Annie, and her husband, Jess. I planned my trip several weeks in advance so that our first …
Blueberry Heiress
Every summer, my mother and I head out to Oktibbeha County to pick blueberries. I even managed to snag one of the heirs to the blueberry farm as my first-grade …
Grappling with Inertia
When most people think of symmetry, perfection often comes to mind. But Audrey Niffenegger confounds this definition, as the title suggests, in her latest novel, "Her Fearful Symmetry".
Jihad, Defined
Casual readers may view "How to Win a Cosmic War" (Random House, 2009, $26), the second book by acclaimed religious scholar Reza Aslan, as a defense of Islam. In part, …
Southernisms 101
When JFP managing editor Ronni Mott moved to the south from Washington, D.C., she quickly noticed some of the rules and sounds of the South. Social niceties such as asking …
Gettin' Hitched
Food, wine, dancing and love. That sums up the things I need in life. It also explains why I adore weddings.
