[Stiggers] McScruffie, the Crime Dog
"I know only three ways of living in society: one must be a beggar, a thief, or a wage earner." Honore de Mirabeau (1749-1791)
[Stauffer] Where the Sidewalk Begins
I stepped out of Peaches Restaurant on Farish Street the other day after stopping in to hear Dorothy Moore sing and to celebrate her recent album release. When I got to the curb, my feet turned away from the car and headed south down what there is of the sidewalk that borders the torn-up street. This, I thought, is the Entertainment District. In a word, it's a mess. But, I thought, it seems to be a little less of a mess than it was a few months ago.
[Stiggers] Fall for These Books
"Kizzy Speaks: Massa George and Me" is a delightful narrative in ebonic dialect by Condoleeza Rice as she extols the virtues of the M.C. George Bushy's "I'm Not Down with WMD Pre-emption" Reggae Tour of African Nations. Lynne Cheney provides a poignant standard English introduction.
Tell Me the Truth, JoAnne
Q. I was reading your column in the July 10-23, 2003, edition and saw the question about the best fried chicken in Jackson. I was entertained, but a little disappointed in your response. You never answered the question. Now, maybe I can be of some assistance.
[Kinnison] Engage This
"One of the most patriotic things you can do in this country is protest." — Keith, 21
[Stiggers] Darned Good Rhyme
In an effort to reach a younger audience, DGI (Darn Good Intelligence) and Bring Em On Records present M.C. George Bushy's new hiphop single "Back Dem Tanks Up: Speech Aftermath, pt 2 (The Remix)" from the CD "Those who Know Don't Tell, and Those who Tell Don't Know"—featuring George "Blame it on the Rain" Tenet, Condoleeza "Kizzy Speaks" Rice, Colin "Where's Waldo" Powell and the White "In the Howse" Staff. Here are a few lines from the single. ...
[JoAnne] Tell Me the Truth
<b>No Amount Of Lovin'
Q. I'm thinking about getting married. What is the one best piece of advice you can give me?
[Spann] Tonight, Baby?
The nubile young bodies writhing on our television screens and the sultry voices emanating from our radio speakers would lead most of us to believe that Americans are having great sex … and a lot of it. But is that really the case, particularly among married couples?
[Ladd] Stuck in the Middle with You
I don't know about you, but I'm sick of nastiness. Of sniping. Pettiness. Silly arguments. Name-calling. Divisiveness. It seems as if hurling insults has become the new national pasttime. Chris Matthews yelling louder than his guests. Michael Savage telling a presumably gay listener he hopes he contracts AIDS. Ann Coulter accusing anyone left of Attila the Hun of committing treason. Michael Moore exploding at the Academy Awards.
[Stiggers] Col. Reb's Last Stand
Concert and event promoters: Have I got an idea for you! Man, this could be the biggest gala event in the "state of minds" of Mississippians! I'm thinking of a retirement celebration for Col. Reb. Let's call it the "Stone Soul" picnic, disco, gun show and hiphop concert featuring guest M.C. George Bushy, D.J. Dick "Off the" Cheney and Secretary of "D-Fence" Rumsfeld's Weapons of Mass Destruction Search Posse performing the chart-climbing single "Back Dem Tanks Up"; the new millennium world beat hit (oops, I did say hit?) "Preemption Song"; and the billboard No. 1 single "Air Strike: Drop It Like It's Hott!"
Tell Me the Truth, JoAnne
Q. I've been hearing a lot about crime on the evening news. Should I consider moving out of Jackson to raise my children? – Running Scared
[Spann] Breaking through the Ice
So Vanilla Ice is a rock star these days? I heard that he even played a set at a club in the Jackson area not so long ago. Perhaps a heavy-metal version of "Ice Ice Baby" was at the core of his set. Well, maybe he's finally found his place in the music world. Sorry … was that too cold, too cold? White fans of hiphop and artists like Eminem have had to contend with comparisons and jokes since the dark days when Vanilla Ice donned those baggy Hammer pants and did that annoying neck-jerking dance on the Arsenio Hall Show. But a whole new generation of rappers and rap aficionados with a lot of heart and no pretensions of ghetto hardship has cropped up in the white community.
[Ladd] ‘Say These Words With Me'
"How is everybody?" Bob Moses asked the congregation in his famous whisper. He paused and then added, "Say these words with me."
Funkee Fanger Productions
"Unsolved Mysteries of Butt Nekkid Divorcees" combines reality TV with the paranormal. The premiere episode (titled "Know a Playa When You See His Azz") features a segment about a mysterious news photographer who videotapes a surprised and "buck nekkid" Kirk Fordice. News anchor Bert Case is the special guest host.
Tell Me the Truth, JoAnne
Q. I'm fairly recently divorced, and have even more recently returned to the North Jackson area after a few years away. Do your sources have any idea where interesting single/divorced women hang out? Some places I won't name are just packed with 22-year-olds who wouldn't give me the time of day.
Tell Me the Truth, JoAnne
Q. I'm fairly recently divorced, and have even more recently returned to the North Jackson area after a few years away. Do your sources have any idea where interesting single/divorced women hang out? Some places I won't name are just packed with 22-year-olds who wouldn't give me the time of day.
Tell Me the Truth, JoAnne
Q: What should I do about a partner who snores? —Sleepless in South Jackson
LOTT: The FCC's Mistake
The Federal Communications Commission has voted in favor of rules allowing more concentrated media ownership in which newspapers can own radio stations, TV stations or vice versa within the same market area. I think the FCC made a mistake. I know less concentrated ownership would better serve Mississippians, and I oppose these new rules.
SPANN: It's a Crime and a Shame
Sitting in the beauty salon last week, I listened while my stylist and a friend of his sparred about the criminal-justice system and the political mechanism they believe runs it all. As they argued the finer points of rehabilitation and prisons, I got to thinking about all the finger-pointing that's going on these days. Can we really blame any one person or entity for crime in the metro area?
STIGGERS: Head Start Ho' Howse
Support for Ken Stiggers' "The Haley Barbour Head Start Ho' Howse" is brought to you courtesy of The Dan Quail Spellin' Bea (Sowwy, that's BEE) Literacy Tour; Rudyard Kipling White Man's Burden Post Moredom Therapy Center, International; The Trent Lott Reparations Council, and the Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell Anti-Ebonic Urban Youth Literary Initiative.
Mr. Dylan, Mr. Evers
A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood.A hand set the spark Two eyes took the aim Behind a man's brain But he can't be blamed He's only a pawn in their game. —" Only A Pawn in their Game," Bob Dylan, 1963
Runnin' with the Big Dawgs
We were sitting in the office around 7 p.m. last Friday anticipating another "press weekend." Stephen and I were in a heated discussion about some aspect of the upcoming issue when Donna, sitting at one of the computers in our office, let loose with a scream. "It's up!" She backed away from the computer screen as if sudden movements might cause it to lunge at her. "I can't read it."
Tell Me the Truth, JoAnne
<i>In her new column, JoAnne Prichard Morris tells it like it is.</i>
Q: What do you think about Haley Barbour's comment that "some of those kids in [Headstart] would be better off sitting up on a piano bench at a whorehouse than where they are now"?--Baffled in Belhaven
Home to the ‘Worthy Scrap'
Myrlier Evers-Williams is not boycotting Mississippi and its progeny; she wants to introduce young people to her first husband.
EDITORIAL: Unite Against Crime
May 28, 2003--Crime is up just about everywhere. That's not an excuse. It's just a fact. In 2002, crime was up 7.2% in Ventura County, Calif., for instance, long considered the safest city in the west. Crime is creeping upward all over the South and all over the country. Property crime is invasive--violent crime is horrific. The JFP's editorial team lives in and around Belhaven and Fondren and Downtown and West Jackson. With every story of a crime committed--whether an armed burglary in a Fondren home, an armed robbery in Brent's Drug Store or an uncle shooting a nephew in West Jackson--we feel pained and determined to do something about it. We are not immune; some of our staffers have been crime victims. We know how it feels to want to blame.
Hopelessly Devoted to You
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."
OPINION: The Sky Is Not Falling
Crime has once again become the dominant topic of local public interest. It is a volatile issue and, therefore, is occasionally treated by the media, the public, and some politicians with a degree of panic and hysteria that bears little relation to the actual day-to-day lives of ordinary residents. Granted, in our neighborhood of Fondren, crime has become more of an issue for residents. I have recently heard more about crime, specifically thefts or robberies in the area between Meadowbrook, State and Old Canton (four arrests were made the week of May 12). It is also my understanding, however, that these sorts of incidents are on the rise in the city overall and can also be attributed somewhat to the onset of longer days.
LADD: Let the Music Play
I've never understood folks who listen to only one type of music. That's kind of like eating McDonald's for every meal; how can one live that way? I could have gone down that road, though. I grew up hearing nothing but country music in Neshoba County. It was the '60s for heaven's sake, and not a single Motown tune. Or Dylan. Or the Beatles. Basically no music that was remotely diverse or revolutionary. I knew Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner and Merle Haggard and Charlie Pride (OK, a bit of diversity) intimately, however. I'd sing their songs (horribly) at the top of my lungs in the back seat of my stepdad's Olds 98 on our car trips.
SPANN: Invisible Woman
Black clothing is the choice du jour to disguise excess weight. The blackness of night can camouflage all sorts of "down low" activities. But I didn't realize that black could make people invisible. Until recently I never really paid it much attention. I'd be approaching someone on a stairwell or passing a stranger on the sidewalk, and then it would happen: I'd suddenly become invisible. Amazing! Was I a scientific mystery, or should I join the ranks of the X-Men? It even happened when I was out with white friends. People could see them, but I was perfectly invisible as greetings were exchanged or as we were being shown to our table in a restaurant.
Watching the Watchdogs
Former TV sportscaster Rick Whitlow seems like an incredibly nice person. He did not, however, impress me as a criminology expert when we met April 24 to talk about his new job. He is executive director of the new Metro Jackson SafeCity Watch, a group formed to bring "accountability, enhanced communications, community involvement, and entrepreneurial energy to the broken Metro Jackson Criminal Justice system," as a press release put it on April 28.