Jackson Free Press

Boys In Their ‘Hood

In the mid-'70s, a new sport emerged from the beaches of Southern California, thought up by surfers during a summer drought. Using skateboards with urethane wheels, the teenage members of …

[Drive] The Ultima Armrest Test

I rolled up to Ms. D. and pulled the car to a stop, as I'd successfully navigated the Hertz desk and become the proud temporary proprietor of a red 2003 …

[In The Street] Barefoot Beats

Benefitting Habitat for Humanity, this is the festival's first year, and it promises to be a good time.

Her Perspective

To be 19 years old from a small town outside of Petal, newly married and living in "the big city" provides opportunities to see things other people take for granted. …

Untangling Funk

The New Yorker editor and novelist Ben Greenman's new book, "Please Step Back", tracks the life and career of funk-rock star Robert Franklin, a.k.a. Rock Foxx, a fictional character based …

Don't Spill the Refried Beans

When I was growing up, taco night was not complete without a giant bowl of soft avocado mashed together with onions, tomatoes, and cilantro and surrounded by crunchy white corn …

A Bloody Mess

The advertisements for "High Tension," a low-budget, rather arty French thriller that has inexplicably garnered a wide U.S. theatrical release, bill it as one of the year's most intense and …

The Joy of 12,000 Feet

What's a middle-aged Jackson dad doing taking a month-long backpacking trek through some of the most rugged vistas in the U.S.?

Saved by the Light

"The Blind Side" may be an atypical sports movie, but this film about Ole Miss Rebel and Baltimore Raven offensive tackle Michael Oher has plenty of quality for everyone.

[Best of Jackson]

Just moving to Jackson and unsure of where to go? Check out our readers' picks for the Best of Jackson from earlier this year.

[Wine] Worth The Money

How often have you gazed upon really pricey wines on a wine list or at a retailer and thought, "It can't be that good." Well, it can. Sometimes it's worth …

Ice Cream Sandwiches for Grover

"Sesame Street" used to have a segment in which über-friendly voices sang a little song about a group of objects.

[Fly] Make Your Own Gournet Dog Treats

Most of us love our dogs enough to consider them a member of the family, so why not bake for them as if they were?

[Drive] Less Than Zero

Ms. D likes to point out that I'm less of a car reviewer and more of an obsessive car shopper. She's right on many levels—while I like to take sports …

‘Blue Dixie': Anecdotes and Assertions

A couple of years ago, Thomas Schaller wrote a book, "Whistling Past Dixie," that got a lot of people up in arms. The book's thesis was nicely summed up by …

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.

Rather Fun House

A Review of "House of Wax"

Nearly a decade has passed since the revitalization of the horror-film genre in the mid-1990s, and the dozens (hundreds?) of fright flicks loosed into multiplexes since then have exhibited a …

The Art of Film

Esther Blueburger is not your typical teenager. Determined to be true to herself at all cost, Esther breaks out of the confinement of her repressed private school and her toxic …

Formality - A Necessary Evil

You're out to dinner, and you order a bottle of wine. The waiter brings the bottle and starts going through the motions of formal wine service at the table. For …

The Comfort of Coast Cuisine

Before I met my husband I had no idea about the simple pleasure that comes from eating an oyster po-boy and gulping down an ice-cold Barq's root beer from a …