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THEY DID: Queen Makes Big-Ass Promise
Not too long after I met Jill Conner Browne, I was bouncing around Downtown alongside a huge rolling crown. I was wearing a sequined green padded number that flattened my …
Singing Without Shame
Jill Conner Browne, The Sweet Potato Queen, and I are pulling thick wires out of glittered sweet potatoes on a farm in Clinton. Inside a barn, two Sweet Potato Queens, …
Body+Soul
Don't Feel Like a Nut
Before we were married, my fiancée dropped by my house with her two teenage daughters one Sunday afternoon. We all sat down, and Michelle talked about her near-death experience she …
High On The Hog
I've eaten bar-b-que all over the world, and with the exception of some I had in Utah, none of it tasted bad. Bar-b-que starts at good no matter what and …
A History of Defiance
To determine whether or not to read a new book of history, examine the footnotes. If the notes reference previous books and journal articles, you've got a rehash. If, on …
[Drive] The Other Mini
It occurred to me the other day, as I climbed into Ms. K's new Toyota Sienna to take it for a spin, that I haven't reviewed a minivan in at …
More Ways To Skin A Catfish
Did you know that catfish accounts for 46 percent of the value of aquaculture production in the United States? That 660 million pounds were produced in 2003? That the catfish …
Culture
Freedom Codes
According to oral legend passed down through generations of African Americans, slaves during the time of the Underground Railroad used an unsuspecting medium as their gateway to freedom: quilts. Slaves …
One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four…
Mark McCrary, executive director of the Mississippi Center for Nonprofits and enthusiastic St. Paddy's Day celebrant, grew up eating potatoes—the most Irish of vegetables. His mother no doubt used them …
Urban Oasis
I never knew that 305 acres of state park with trails and a lake are right in the middle of Jackson. I knew where LeFleur's Bluff was, but I just …
Have Crustaceans, Will Drink
For years, I found myself scoffing at California Chardonnay: too oaky, too buttery, too over the top. Even as I became interested in whites, the Rieslings and Sauvignon Blancs drew …
You Cook, I Cook, We All Go Out to Eat!
As a new resident of the Jackson area, I am in awe of the masses who seem to go out to eat every single night. Don't get me wrong, I …
Art
Raoul Dufy: The Controversial Aesthete
Amid the throngs of women attired like birds of paradise, the men in their usual palette of blues and grays, the clink of cocktail glasses and the rhythmic swell of …
Don Warren: Footing the Reel
As I walk into Don Warren's office, I can't help but feel the cool vibes that inexplicably come with being a cinematographer. He shakes my hand and immediately begins chatting …
One Less Knight
When I brought "Glubbery Gray" (Pelican Publishing, 2010, $16.99) home, my 8-year-old son, Mateo, couldn't wait to take a look. If it's a story about space, superheroes or knights, he's …
Gifts That Matter
Every time I pick up my mail these days, I get a half-dozen pleas from non-profits and charities to send money. Unfortunately for them, it was last year that I …
Mound Bayou, Revisited
The story of Mound Bayou, Miss., is as improbable as it is inspiring. In 1887, former slaves founded the town in the Mississippi Delta wilderness as a haven for former …
Art
The World's Window
Promoting cross-cultural understanding through cinema is the goal of the Global Lens film series, which began showing films from around the world in U.S. venues in 2003. It will begin …
The iTodd's Gift Guide
The holidays are frustrating for a geek. Why? Because we know exactly what we want. And no one else does. Why? Because they're not paying attention. Here, then, is a …
Stop the War
Friends, there is a war—indeed a food fight of major proportions—taking place at our collective American table. The proponents of protein hurl vicious insults at our friends, the carbohydrates, while …
