[Casey's Note] Leaving My Heart In Jackson
When I first saw the Jackson Free Press, something sparked. I had given up hope for local weeklies, but the cover—a grid-like spread of a variety of Jackson folks—called to me. Someone had dropped off about 100 copies outside of the Millsaps cafeteria, and I—the eternal journalism snoop—scooped up two. I devoured the whole preview issue and then Googled "Jackson Free Press," hoping to find some Internet connection to this new paper.
[Stiggers] Finding Philmo
It's time to take your mind on an adventure with Readin' Rain-Bro! Join him as he shares with us a Christmas holiday story.
[Greggs] Hear Me Roar
The other day I was reading a news brief about Heidi Fleiss opening the first all-male brothel in Nevada. It has all the other cathouse owners in the state, the owners of the regular brothels, in high dungeon. They complain she is drawing attention to the sex trade in Nevada. They've obviously been trying to hide the fact that they operate whorehouses from the religious population and don't want her sashaying in and "causing problems."
[Fleming] Goodbye, My Friend
In the early spring of 1993, I had a serious decision to make. One choice was to become a lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps, having served six months reserve duty in a special program designed to lure African Americans into the Corps' officer ranks. The other was to serve as the campaign manager for a long-shot mayoral candidate whom most people saw as a protester rather than a public servant.
[Kamikaze] A Simple Plan
The equation seems simple. In order for society to create productive adults, it must first nurture them as children. Young people are the foundation of our future. Some will be our next teachers, doctors, lawyers, bus drivers, skilled laborers, star athletes and music moguls. Still some will run afoul of the law, becoming yet another crime statistic.
My So-Called Holiday Column
They say that during the holidays, you're supposed to stop and consider what you're thankful for. (OK, this is starting out cheesy, I know. Work with me here.) Combine that seasonal desire with the fact that Donna assigned me the Publisher's Note this week, and you get what you paid for—a Publisher's Note in which I offer up a laundry list of the things that have me smiling this season.
[Stiggers] Tale Of Two Nations
We interrupt Oprah's Lexus from Texas Luxury Car Giveaway show to bring you a special holiday message from Rudy McBride, C.E.O. of the Let Me Hold Five Dollars National Bank.
[Berger] Merle Haggard, Redneck Renegade
Why don't we liberate these United States
Coming Home
I was always that kid who stuck out in school. With my glasses as thick as ashtrays and my disheveled hair, I was constantly slipping on social banana peels wherever I walked. I was clumsy and silly, but eager to run around barefoot and climb the trees, constantly searching for a place where I felt more at ease with my peculiarities. I often took refuge on our family farm in Hurley, Miss., knowing that the horses didn't care about my awkward inclinations.
Oh, Say Can We See?
When Mazie Moore saw that picture in Jet Magazine in 1955, it terrified the Franklin County mother. Mamas across the South, black mamas, were hearing about the photo. They took it as a warning to protect their boys from the wrath of angry white men. She couldn't, though: One of her sons, Charles, would be brutally murdered in 1964, just because he stepped in the path of hateful white men out to terrorize young black men. And no one did anything about it. Her son's life didn't matter.
[Stiggers] Stayin' Alive
Here's a brief pre-holiday message from Pork-N-Piggly CEO and former third-string NFL football star Ernest "Monday Night Football Head" Walker: "An inflated economy has produced a depressed nation of price-gouged poor people already in debt before Christmas. Family gatherings will be sparse this year because children and grandchildren cannot afford to go over the river and through the woods to grandmomma's house.
We Need A Mayor, Not A Daddy
It is going to be painfully ironic—and useless—if the recent murder spate is the factor that finally gets the Jackson media to start questioning Mayor Frank Melton. Unless proven otherwise, the nine murders in 10 days are not Frank Melton's fault. To my knowledge, he did not put the guns in the killer's hands; he did not tell them to rob and kill; he did not provide illegal drugs that people are willing to kill for; he did not tell a troubled man to pick up a weapon and go kill his girlfriend and another man.
[Kamikaze] Hold The Beef
There is great joy in understanding. Simple communication doesn't get nearly as much hype as it should. Conflict managers through the ages have championed the benefits of true conversation, but in this age of beefs (real or perceived) people have yet to simply talk to one another.
[Stiggers] Oui, Oui-ing On Poor Folk
Ghetto Science Public Television presents the Boneqweesha and Momma Church Hat News Hour. Boneqweesha: "Greetings! Momma Church Hat kicks off the News Hour with a special report on the riots in Paris, France."
[Greggs] All In The Single Girl's Family
In honor of the holidays I was going to write an endearing column listing all the wonderful things in my life for which I have to be thankful. I scrapped that after realizing it would probably end up sounding trite and, well, endearing. So I've decided to write a column traversing the sticky rainforest-like scape of my family's deep-seated personality disorders and their relation to my oft-pointed-out single status. That sounded like a lot more fun, and one way that I might actually get excluded from the family festivities this year.
Sensational ‘Suburban Legends'
Perhaps the biggest single flaw that The Clarion-Ledger has in its recent addition to its "Changing Face of Jackson" series is the fact that it doesn't include itself in the litany of problems that the newspaper claims are holding back the city of Jackson.
[Stiggers] Hell On Earth
G-SPAN television presents "The Ghetto Science Team's Working Poor People's Economic State of Emergency Summit," with closing remarks by Grandpa Pookie.
[Mangum] The Life and Death of Hamburger
I keep getting asked why I don't eat red meat. Not to be an Oprah, but I actually do worry about Mad Cow Disease. There's a story, too—the real reason I don't include red meat in my diet.
You Can Do That
I hadn't planned to write about the death, or the life, of Rosa Parks. I know she was an amazing hero, but I didn't think I had anything else to say that everybody and his brother aren't already falling over each other to say.
[Kamikaze] Bush's Report Card
My kids got their first report card of the year recently. As most parents know, it's that initial indicator that lets you know just where your child stands with his schoolwork or his behavior. It's those infamous letter grades that say either "good job" or "some improvement is needed." Either you're on your way to success or headed toward failure.
[Stiggers] The Michael Moore Of The Ghetto
The Bootleg Low Power Television Network presents "Wee Hour Conversations by the Stove in Grandma Pookie's Kitchen with Ghetto Economist Pookie Peterz."
[Greggs] One Tiny Little Pink Line
On some rather innocuous Sunday eight years ago, I was a 21-year-old recent college graduate just back from a camping trip. I sat on the edge of a bathtub and anxiously awaited the results of a pregnancy test. It wasn't mine. The test belonged to my last official college roommate. She forced me to take the second test in the two-pack just to make her feel better. She then forced me to watch two white plastic sticks for the longest 300 seconds in my life and tell her the results. When she finally screamed "What does it say?", I could only answer, "Well, one of 'em ain't good, but it ain't mine."
[Stiggers] Law And Order In An S.U.V.
Cootie McBride uses his S.U.V. to help Ghetto Science Team Counter-Intelligence agents conduct a drive-by investigation regarding a CIA leak. They stop at a prestigious Washington, D.C., hotel to take security guard Lee-Lee Johnson for a ride around the block.
Blowin' In The Wind
Last week Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, I. "Scooter" Libby, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice in an investigation into how the identity of a covert CIA operative was leaked to the press. This scandal comes one year after President Bush was elected to his second term, and it puts us in mind of two things that happened about a year ago this month.
Franklin Advocate Editorial and Thomas Moore Response
Franklin Advocate, July 28, 2005
This letter appeared in The Franklin Advocate, the weekly newspaper in Meadville, Miss, the week after Thomas Moore's story appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It is reprinted verbatim; below it you can read Thomas Moore's letter to the editor in response, which the Franklin Advocate has never printed.
Damned If We Don't
The weekend Katrina hit, Kate Medley and I were in the Natchez area finishing research and art for the package of stories that you'll read in this issue. This time in Adams and Franklin counties, as Kate and I got to know people like Burl Jones, a Klan victim who had never been interviewed about the experience, and then watched burly Wharlest Jackson Jr. bawl like a baby describing his daddy's murder that has gotten so little attention over the years, I was still seething about a little ditty in The New York Times that belittled Southerners who are trying to confront our past.
[Cohen] All Haley The Chief
On Oct. 1 in Oxford, 4,000 people filled the Tad Smith Coliseum for what was billed as a fund-raising concert to benefit Hurricane Katrina's Mississippi victims. My wife and I were there. America was generous that night: 11,000 people called in to offer help. Between individual donors and corporate gifts and pledges, the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery fund has raised $15 million.
[Kamikaze] The Apocalypse Is Nigh
I'm back from a couple of weeks in the media capital of the world—New York City. Bright lights, big dreams and bad weather. Unfortunately while I was there, the Northeastern seaboard experienced some of its worst weather in years. Here I am running from the remnants of Katrina and Rita and, POW!, seven straight days of blinding rain and flooding in New Hampshire. Methinks this is yet another sign that the Apocalypse is nigh.
[Stiggers] Crunchie Burga, Give Us Gas
It's Boneqweesha, your on-the-scene reporter, live from Crunchie Burga World headquarters. The Customer and Support Services Workers' Union, No. 208-1/3, has gathered outside C.B.W. headquarters to protest the plight of the minimum-wage worker. Union president, part-time old-skool deejay and head maintenance person Lionel "Electric Slide" Rutherford is here to explain the protest.
Your Name In Lights
You gotta love the folks who decide to do something instead of just complain about it. Last year, in response to the common refrain "We never get any decent independent films in Jackson," the Crossroads Film Society decided to expand from its core mission—supporting and nurturing independent filmmakers through educational programs and the annual Crossroads Film Festival in April—to make it possible for more people to see the great independent films that are being made all over the country and the world.