Barbour's Shameful Pardons
We first heard that then-Gov. Haley Barbour had pardoned another wife-killer Saturday night on WLBT after the Saints game. From there, the news snowballed, with another wife-killer added to the mix, culminating in a list of more than 200 pardons and grants of clemency that we were trying to sort through as the paper went to press.
[Stiggers] Help the People See
Miss Doodle Mae: "This is the part of the year when people get serious about resolving issues from last year. And it looks like boss man Jojo of Jojo's Dollar Store has jumped on the bandwagon. At this morning's first staff meeting of 2012, he explained why he made a New Year resolution."
[Queen] I Am a Feminist
One of my favorite quotes is by Margaret Trudeau: "I can't be a rose in any man's lapel." For years, these words have sung to the very core of my being, yet I failed to understand its significance to my life. A recent conversation led me to recall situations in coming-of-age that have awakened my reality.
[Editor's Note] Peace, Prosperity and Tolerance
Every December now for about a decade, we have asked the Jackson Free Press staff members to sign hundreds of holiday greeting cards that we send to freelancers, advertising clients, sources, and other friends and acquaintances of the JFP.
Peace, Prosperity and Tolerance
Every December now for about a decade, we have asked the Jackson Free Press staff members to sign hundreds of holiday greeting cards that we send to freelancers, advertising clients, sources, and other friends and acquaintances of the JFP.
New Year, New Start
Recently, the Jackson Redevelopment Authority decided to stop and breathe rather than be bulldozed into making a decision without having all the information they needed for the proposed convention-center hotel. This past week, the organization's board went a step farther.
New Year, New Start
Recently, the Jackson Redevelopment Authority decided to stop and breathe rather than be bulldozed into making a decision without having all the information they needed for the proposed convention-center hotel. This past week, the organization's board went a step farther.
[Kamikaze] Embracing Who I Am
I'm a fan of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." At the end of every show, in a segment called "What have we learned today," each of the hosts tells one thing new that they learned on that's day's show. It's always interesting, because as well-read as the hosts are, they still take in some new information almost daily.
[Barkley] Women: Time to Rebel
It is time for us to refuse to passively cooperate with government that ignores the realities that punctuate the lives of women in the Deep South.
Resolution Tango
When I was younger, I would annually trot out the usual suspects when it came time to make my new year's resolutions. You know the ones: lose weight; quit smoking; improve my relationships; get a boyfriend; re-connect with people I lost touch with.
[Queen] A Light Ahead
Having a friend with depth and the ability to shoot from the hip is always a plus. But having one who has those characteristics and a degree in social work equals a huge win for me.
Are ‘Workers' All We Want?
As we move into the fourth or fifth year of the Great Recession (depending on whose measurement you use), it's more and more difficult to divorce anything from its ability to make money and create jobs. Education isn't exempt.
[Stiggers] The Dirty Lowdown
Congressman Smokey "Robinson" McBride: "Citizens of the Ghetto Science community: I am honored to host the premiere broadcast of 'Christmas at Clubb Chicken Wing Holiday Television Special.'
[Kamikaze] Parental Sanity
Our children are our greatest commodities. It is our responsibility as parents, as teachers and adults to protect and nurture them so they can grow to be productive citizens.
[Danahar] The Best Work
Are you ready to make your work be as good as it can be in 2012?
In the Flow of Good Work
My obsession with the spirituality and science behind "good work" started innocently enough. We were about five years into publishing this newspaper and were working so much that I didn't have time to think about, well, work.
[Stiggers] Survive, Thrive, Stay Alive
Brother Hustle: "Newt the Ging-Grinch said this about poor people and children: 'Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of "I do this and you give me cash," unless it's illegal.'
[Hales] Death of the College Dream?
For the past two months, Americans have struggled to figure out what exactly the Occupy Wall Street movement is about. Who are the protesters? What do they stand for? What is their agenda? Many have asked these questions, but no one has seemed to produce a solid answer.
Barbour: Don't Marginalize Women
I'm not sure what Gov. Haley Barbour is "running" for now--vice president? chief of staff?--but I was dismayed to read about his recent speech in which he focused on how churches and church leaders need to help stave off "illegitimacy" in Mississippi.
Can We Learn from the Hotel Morass?
As the city administration and the Jackson Development Authority scramble to close a convention-center hotel deal filled with "complexities" (as JRA member John Reeves put it), the situation should make the rest of us wonder: How can we avoid being in this place again?
[Kamikaze] The War Outside
"There's a war going on outside no man is safe from." —Prodigy of Mobb Deep
[Jones] A Lottery for 3-Year Olds
In 1962, 58 Michigan toddlers won a lottery. To pick up their prize, these 3-year-olds were dropped off at a row of buildings in Ypsilanti, a small town near Ann Arbor, on a September morning. All the children were from disadvantaged backgrounds, and expectations for them had not been particularly high.
Follow Lead of Powell, Barksdale
There are people who complain, seeing insurmountable problems everywhere, and there are people who take action infused by hope and informed by facts and evidence. We were thrilled to see people in the latter category, working for the future of the city's children, and thus all of us, honored this week by Colin and Alma Powell's America's Promise Alliance. The alliance named Jackson one of the country's 100 Best Communities for Young People.
[Stiggers] Stimulation to Occupation
Live from the Funky Ghetto Mall is the Ghetto Science Community Annual Holiday Parade, brought to you by Ghetto Science Team Public Television. With me is co-host, D.J. 'Loose Booty' McBride of the 'Loose Booty's Old School Funk Revue' on Ghetto Science Radio.
Finding Seagulls in the Grain
I crossed the street quickly and hurried under Interstate 55 to catch the bus. The gray, concrete columns stood silent, holding up tons of speeding commuters. The underpass space is pretty expansive. It is mostly clean and blank space with enough room for a parking lot. Right now, its only function is engineered bridge support.
Ring a Bell
At the end of September, I took my vacation in Batesville. Unbeknownst to many--including the majority of Mississippians, I imagine--Batesville is the home to the Magnolia Grove Buddhist Monastery and mindfulness meditation practice center. For five days, 850 participants shared living quarters, meals and the teachings--dharma talks--of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. The subject was cultivating the mind of love.
Council: Revisit Free Speech 101
The Jackson City Council voted Tuesday to extend a compromise to the Occupy Jackson protesters, allowing them a permit to stay in Smith Park until 11 p.m., rather than all night. That may or may not have been the right compromise between their right to assemble and the city's need to ensure nothing happens to them in the middle of the night.
[Stiggers] Bearable, Not Burdensome
Let the Clubb Chicken Wing Staff bring a little joy into your unemployed, foreclosed and repossessed world this Christmas holiday season. The 'new poor' (aka middle class) are welcome, too. Happy Holidays.
[Dennis] Happiness Is
How much of the information we exchange is worth communicating?
[Kamikaze] Just the Messenger
Mississippi, and Jackson particularly, suffers from "shoot the messenger" syndrome. You know: If you don't like the message, just attack the person(s) delivering it. If the message could possibly upset your gravy train, then you discredit the source.