Doin' the Cha-Cha for Equality and Rent Money
Electric Slide Foundation of America presents the 2004 Post Olympic Cha-Cha Slide/Steppin' Dance Competition and Voter Registration Drive for World Peace and Rent Money.
A Republic Without Citizens
Thomas H. Keane and Lee Hamilton conclude the preface to the 9/11 Commission Report with these words: "All of us have had to pause, reflect, and sometimes change our minds as we studied these problems and considered the views of others. We hope our report will encourage our fellow citizens to study, reflect—and act."
[Lott] An Equal Education
<b>Web Exclusive</b>
Recently I was pleased to welcome Monticello native and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige back home to Mississippi. He spoke to 6th and 8th graders in Pascagoula, observing them and taking some thoughtful questions from the students. It was a real honor for me to have the U.S. Secretary of Education visit the school I had attended and which now bears my name, but, more importantly, it was thrilling to have this particular education secretary here.
When A Plan Comes Together
"I love it when a plan comes together" was the signature line of George Peppard in his role as Hannibal Smith on the 1980s TV show "The A Team." It's unfortunate that I can't get it out of my head, but it's apropos in more ways than one. I recently saw George Peppard again in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," as I seem to be on an inadvertent VHS tour of Audrey Hepburn's career. Because many of my neural pathways were developed in the 1980s, it's difficult for me to see Peppard in any setting and not think of Hannibal Smith. It's my own personal hell.
[Aust] The Wrong Side of the Right
With the shadow of the Republican National Convention fading, there are many stories that were overlooked by press outlets or purposefully ignored. One scandalous story that barely hit the waves is the "outing" of U.S. Rep. Ed Schrock, R-Va.
[Hightower] Fleecing America's Soldiers
It's been said that you don't know what hell is until you've had an insurance salesman in your living room, prattling on eternally about term life annuities.
[Lynette's Note] Because They'll Thank You Later
What do you do when your sweet and sexy husband dies at the age of 36, leaving you to raise two cutie-pie sons, ages 7 and 4, all by yourself? Why, you come home to Mama, Daddy and your brother, right?
[Williams] Republican Ophelias
Thank you, Swift Boat Veterans, for chucking the blocks out of memory. It all comes back to me now: Vietnam, anti-war protests, Civil Rights struggles. But not at all in the way John O'Neill is re-telling it.
[Eastburn] Love Your Soldier
It is Monday night, and I am driving my oldest son, 19, to a hotel where he will wait to be picked up by a bus. We've stopped at K-Mart for toothpaste and shampoo and a prepaid telephone card and other last-minute incidentals. I grab a pad of unlined paper and a box of envelopes, hoping they will remind him to write. We drag out his departure as long as we can. When the bus picks him up at the hotel, it will deliver him to the United States Army. A reservist, my son will spend the next 10 weeks getting fit, training to be a soldier, should he be called to active duty. The odds are great that he will. We are, after all, at war.
[Stiggers] Ain't No Use in Going Home
Sgt. Lil' Pookie Peterz III, of the Mr. Cholly battalion, spent 15 grueling months in Iraq fighting the terrorists to preserve and maintain the free world. After completing a de-briefing session, he is sent home from his tour of duty. Our hero anticipates a gracious return home to ticker-tape parades, honorary hero's honors, his assistant manager position at the Crunchie Burga World, the Range Rover with the 27-inch rims, a loyal fiancée, and a loving family who has to give him the sad news.
[Newitz] Fear is Good
I decided to watch M. Night Shyamalan's latest highbrow horror-nerd movie, "The Village," for reasons I can't properly explain. I think it had something to do with the vague sense of doom I always experience when the Federal Communications Commission starts bending the electronics industry to its will by issuing gold approval stars to certain companies and not others. In case you missed out, the FCC just issued a list of 13 high-definition TV recorders (including several made by Sony, a new TiVo, and Microsoft's latest Media Player) that are authorized for the marketplace because they "protect digital broadcast television from the threat of mass, indiscriminate redistribution."
[Lott] A Serious Issue
We say we're upset by gasoline prices. We complain because it costs $30 dollars to fill up our car or perhaps $40 or even $50 to fill up our truck. But do we really care about the country's dependance on foreign oil? Are we really serious about reducing our dependency? Apparently not. In recent months it seems we've come to accept $1.80 and $2 per gallon fuel prices. Unless America wakes up and adopts a national energy policy, we're going to see increases at the pump again and again until one day Congress and citizens alike will be forced to make a sudden, sobering change in the way America lives, works and travels.
This Here Alternative Universe
I'm sitting here, OK lying here, in a humongous, brick-colored sofa far away from Jackson in the Pacific Northwest, counting my blessings about life in Mississippi. I didn't start out to wax about my good fortune, however. Truth is, we left Jackson in a flurry after putting out our biggest issue (The Annual Manual) and holding an open house for 100 people to honor our interns and young staffers (who produced the Manual). So I didn't have time to write my editor's note before we left.
[Hutchinson] Bush Had a Point About the Democrats
In a July speech to the National Urban League Convention, President Bush asked: "Does the Democratic Party take African-American voters for granted?" The answer: a resounding yes.
[Stiggers] A Transplant for a Brand-New Start
It's another episode of "All God's Churn Got Shoes!" This week Grandma Pookie, Dr. Peanut and the Ghetto Science Team attend a briefing at a stem cell research conference. When conference officials deny the group access to the briefing, filmmaker Michael Moore comes to the rescue. He helps Grandma Pookie and company (disguised as Moore's film production crew) sneak into the briefing.
[Colleges] This is Your Life, Baby
It's 8 in the a.m. on your first official day of college, and you and several hundred of what you hope will become your closest friends are gathered in the gymnasium watching your freshman orientation leaders (OL) sing and dance.
[Casey's Note] The Bubble Isn't Enough
My parents wouldn't let me have a car my freshman year of college. It only bothered me the first week. After that, I quickly found that college campuses are pretty autonomous. Even now, I hear the phrase "Millsaps bubble" tossed around more frequently than "homework" or "essay," but back then it didn't bother me. Seniors complain about getting trapped in this so-called bubble. They worry about never leaving and feeling too provincial.
[Jacobson] Free Higher Education for All
For the past two decades, the cost of college has skyrocketed to heights most lower- and many middle-income families cannot afford. In Mississippi, and all over the country, financial aid (both state and federal) and scholarships are not meeting the costs of college. Every year, some part of the cost of higher education increases, whether it's a state school or private school, and yet, no legislature, or governor or even really the president, has made any significant change in this growing problem. With a post-secondary education becoming mandatory for almost every career field, it is time the government stepped up before the American people fall behind.
[Gonsalves] The No-Stupid-Question-Rule
So how come conservative Christians aren't insisting that Jefferson is burning in Hades, quoting verses from Paul's letters about what hellish future awaits those who mess with the Word?
[Silver] Kick ‘Em When They're Down
In Carl Hiaasen's brilliantly funny and entertaining novel, "Strip Tease," the villains belong to the South Florida sugar lobby—a group that bribes congressmen to vote for sugar subsidies. Although fiction, Hiaasen clearly makes the Libertarian case for free trade as he explains how agricultural subsidies keep farmers in the United States rich and condemns those in Third World countries to poverty.
Mrs. Hodges and Mrs. Salter
Back in the '70s when I was at Neshoba Central, a gawky girl from a trailer park bursting with ideas that I didn't know where to put, two women saved my life. Mrs. Oneida Hodges and Mrs. Alline Salter gave me permission to find my voice, to reach deep inside myself and say, "I have something to say, and I'm going to say it." Those two English teachers, my mentors, not only told me it was OK to express myself, they also taught me that expressing alone is not enough. You have to observe, research, think, ponder, rewrite, think more, question, consider, adjust.
[Stiggers] Meet Ghetto-Economist Pookie Peters
Welcome to "Ghetto-nomics 101": The common people's show! I'm yo' ghetto-economist Pookie "Hustler International" Peters. My guest is grandma Peterz, affectionately known as Grandma Pookie. She will share on surviving in a struggling economy.
[Lott] Eliminating Bad, Brown Water
Recently I was pleased to join our Congressional delegation in announcing almost $6 million in federal assistance for water system upgrades throughout Mississippi. Every year I vigorously support water and waste water projects because they sustain and improve public health, and they lay the groundwork for new job growth. Any community's future will depend largely on the quality of public works they can provide. In the 21st century there's really no excuse for anybody to be drinking bad water or depending on a weak, undependable water system.
Let's Do the Time Warp, Aga-inn
This is a hard column to write. Sometimes something is so painful, so heart-wrenching that you don't want to expose it. You just want to ignore it, and hope no one notices. As much as I'm a fan of open dialogue and brutal honesty about our history, I sometimes want to close my eyes and say, I did not read that. I did not hear that. No one thinks that way in 2004. Not in Jackson.
[Stiggers] All God's Churn Got Shoes
Presenting the new ABC (African Broadcast Corp.) network soap opera "All God's Churn Got Shoes." Our story takes place at the No Child Left Behind Remedial Alternative School for the Financially Challenged where Miss Teacher conducts her weekly oral examination of students in the spelling and language arts class. She asks her prize student Boneqweesha Jones to define the word "churn."
The NAACP: An Equal Opportunity Critic
Recently, critics have argued that the tax-exempt status of the NAACP should be withdrawn because of attacks that the leadership made upon President Bush and the Republican Party. But those same critics fail to mention that Julian Bond, chairman of the board of the NAACP, was also critical of the Democratic Party in the same speech about their spineless posture in failing to speak out on vital issues.
[Ask JoAnne] The Voting Conundrum
A. What can be done to get young people to do anything? As a former high school teacher and a mother of two grown sons*, I know a little about this subject—a very little, as a matter of fact. It's hard enough to get a 2-year-old or a 14-year-old to do what you want them to do, but devising a strategy to deal with an 18- to 25-year-olds is pretty much out of bounds—certainly for anyone who's not 18 to 25 years old.
[Parks] Keep the Gum and Buttons
We hear it often. We 18- to 24-year-olds hold the future in our hands. We have the power to swing elections and change America. And come November, when we do this, we'll be armed with hip slogans, slick gimmicks and absolutely no clue about the issues.
[Stiggers] So Why Are You Invisible, Man?
Greetings! My guest is one of the many street corner philosophers/intellectuals, handymen and jack-of-all-trades who cannot find a job as a black male. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome D. Invisible Mann.
[Aziz] Party With a Purpose
The most tragic outcome of the 2000 election debacle is that it added to a list of excuses that Generation Y already has on why they shouldn't bother to vote. When you look at the hang-ups of young voters, the same answers constantly arise. The most popular reason to evade elections seems to be because none of the issues debated at election time affect the young voter. Another reason is because politicians don't target young voters (outside of occasional appearances on MTV programs). However, I think there is a more evident reason: lack of education.