Jackson Free Press

Random Musings

Maybe it's the lack of sunlight this time of year, but my mind is going a million different directions and I can't focus worth squat. Anyone else feeling like this? …

Happy the Caanan Mix

I was out at the Mississippi Animal Rescue League the other day and met Happy. Happy is a Canaan mix dog who was brought to Mississippi from Turkey. I had …

Say Cheese … Cake, That Is

Every year as the temperatures rise and the Easter baskets start appearing, I find myself obsessing over cheesecakes.

The Correction

Neil White, a Mississippian who published newspapers and magazines in Oxford and on the Gulf Coast, was arrested in the early 1990s for "kiting" checks—passing them back and forth between …

These Boots Are Made For It All

When I arrived at Boy Scout backpacking camp at the end of summer, the entrance to our ranch in the New Mexico Rocky Mountains was decorated with dozens of dusty …

Jewels In My Crown - Hurry! Ends Sunday

Regina Taylor's "Crowns" is an adaptation of the eponymous coffee table book written by Michael Cunningham and Craig Murberry. The protagonist of the stage play is a young woman, Yolanda, …

A Call from the Wild

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is rare breed. It unfolds slowly and on its own time. It never drags; its pace is leisurely but well measured. The art style and stop-motion photography …

Cops, Killers And Thugs

The world around you brightens into view. You're in a bathroom, somewhere. Something below you is pulsating slightly. You look down and find the corpse of a middle-aged man, and …

Breakfast Worth Waking Up For

Nothing worth knowing about happens before noon; and if it does, someone will tell you about it. Thus, I carefully arrange my schedule to begin the awakening process around 11 …

Postcard to the Future

With a skinny tie and sassafras root 'round his neck, Seth Ballard Sr., the last of the Mississippi Herb Doctors, looks out serenely from a photograph on page 37.

Just Art, No Rules

Artist and community activist Teresa Haygood says it's not uncommon for a child to look up from their work In the middle of her mosaic classes and say to her, …

Domestic Disturbance: A Review Of "A History Of Violence"

By turns tender and tragic, funny and frightening, David Cronenberg's masterful new thriller "A History of Violence" has emerged on the short list of 2005's most outstanding releases. A meditation …

Politically Incorrect Dining

With all the advice given to the new Legislature about education, tort reform and the economy, I have not read or heard one person address the most important decision made …

Comic Geek Chic(ks)

One look at Cami Roebuck's purple hair, inspired by the character Hit-Girl from the comic book and film "Kick-Ass," and it's clear that bucking trends is nothing new for the …

Sloppy, Dreary ‘Village'

"The Village" takes forever to reach its destination, and when it does, it's difficult to care. Following a trio of superbly crafted thrillers ("The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable," and "Signs"), writer/director …

The Whitewater Bug

In the early '70s, three Atlanta school teachers with a love for whitewater kayaking bought a simple motel on a narrow strip of highway in Wesser, N.C. Beside the highway …

(Barber) Shop Talk

Until recently, I had not been in a barbershop in nearly 10 years. I have always been a bit lackadaisical when it comes to my hair. For starters, I have …

Music Lasts Forever

It all started with a blues band, an 11-year-old and a drum set. McComb native Jesse Thompson began playing drums in a blues band before he was even a teenager. …

Fellowship, Koinonia Style

On the day Lee Harper graduated from Mississippi Valley State University in 1978, the U.S. Department of the Treasury offered her a job. It was a good paying job—"Nobody made …

Mississippi Voter Forum, Debates On Way

From the Mississippi League of Women Voters: A Political Forum on Saturday will

Election Day. Secretary of State Eric Clark will lead the introductory Political Forum, then U.S. Representative Benny Thompson and Mississippi Supreme Court justices will be featured in four televised debates …