[Sue Doh Nem] Waiting for (Pocket) Change
Big Roscoe: "As the rich get richer and the broke remain broke, a tiny ray of hope for the nation's financially challenged consumer appears in the form of $600 to $1,200 economic stimulus packages. Upon receipt of this monetary package, consumers are urged to shop until the money is gone, and stimulate the nation's economy.
[Hightower] Surrendering to the Terrorists
Good grief. With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?
[Hutchinson] Obama and Male Voters
This is an election with some strange things happening. One of the strangest is the penchant for so many white males to join with African American voters in a few primaries to back Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. It's strange not because of anything Obama has said or done to get so many white males behind him. It's strange because of the possible motive of many of the men that are voting for him.
Show Up and Be Counted
This weekend, the Jackson Free Press is proud to be sponsoring the Gulf States Music Conference, a day of panel discussions and performances arranged by JFP columnist and Best of Jackson award recipient Kamikaze. I call your attention to it not only because it's something you might consider attending if you have aspirations for the music business.
Riding the Needle
"I think I will go out and beat an old lady to death tonight. I don't have anything to worry about if I get caught. I won't even have to worry about being stuck with a needle because it might hurt too much."
Enact Campaign Finance Reform Now
The recent scandals surrounding political donors like Dickie Scruggs and Joey Langston, former elected officials like Ed Peters and judges like Bobby DeLaughter has brought a chronic problem in Mississippi front and center: Lax campaign-finance laws have left the state ripe for corruption.
[Sue Doh Nem] 'Barack Obama' Hope
Rev. Cletus: "Welcome back to the weekly radio broadcast of the Rev. Cletus Car Sales Church Show. I have a reminder for our financially and health-insurance-challenged, 80-plus senior citizens who are unable to vote because, in the old days, issues of race, class, poverty, and oppression produced improper documentation or certificate of birth: 'Tell your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to vote!'
[Kamikaze] Grammy Rehab
Amy Winehouse is a train wreck. She is rumored to use a variety of illegal substances. However, I've found that the music industry's tolerance level of addicts is directly proportionate to how hot their last single or album is. In fact, the music industry's tolerance of anything depends on how many records you've sold in the months prior. (Insert R. Kelly reference here).
[Schaefer] Get 'Em (Voting) While They're Young
As the buzz of eighth-graders swarming down the hall reached my classroom, I felt my stomach sink. I was definitely going to bore them. To start our lesson on persuasive writing, I was planning a discussion of presidential campaign ads. It had seemed brilliant the night before, but now, seeing students bicker and flirt their way to my door, I was positive they wouldn't care.
Let's (Health) Care For Ourselves
As the presidential race has become more competitive, media are starting to focus attention on specific issues that directly affect the American public. One of the more popular topics in presidential debates in the recent weeks has been health care. There is much need for reform in a severely broken system of inflated premiums and costly plans that doesn't even guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions who can afford it. But the question is, with whom should that reform begin?
Kill Telco Immunity Clause
It's odd, really, to hear Republicans on Capitol Hill extol the virtues of "original intent" doctrines for interpreting the U.S. Constitution. Especially when they're so busy subverting the original intent of our Founding Fathers this week in legislation.
[Sue Doh Nem] Love Connection in the Recession
Brett Starrchild: "I'm Brett Starrchild, the other token Caucasian TV host of the Ghetto Science Team Cable Network. Welcome to the final round of the new dating show, 'No Romance Without Finance During the Recession!' Bachelorette Shay-Shay Dupree must ask the three bachelors behind the wall two more questions before she makes her final decision. Which one will she pick?"
[Hightower] Listen Up, Eggheads
Economists have this to say to those of you who see your family's economic fortunes on the decline: "Don't be so glum, chum!"
[Braden] Conversations With (28-plus) Women
Conversations with my two best girlfriends occur while we wait in the drive-thru line for a Diet Coke, during our new baby girl's nap time (we have an 8-month-old in our mix now) or when we are rushing through our grocery shopping. We have accepted this reality, as we are now all older than 28, and have also submitted to the sad fact that our once-profound wisdom has been simplified into Forrest Gump-isms: Life is like a box of chocolates, and sometimes there is sh*t in them.
Things That Make You Go Boom
The band director walked in the door of the Mississippi Museum of Art.
Stop Removing Kids from School
On Jan. 21, young Mississippi students traveled across the state, converging in front of the state capitol. They arrived carrying their hopes, dreams, passions. They also carried the dreams of young people who could not be there, who could not publicly stake their claim on their education, and voice their demands for reform. These young people are lost in the system, their voices slowly shrinking back in insecurity and self-loathing. They are the product of an education system that lawmakers and caregivers have seriously handicapped in its effort to effectively discipline the students for whom it exists, while providing them with a free, quality education.
[Sue Doh Nem] Getting It Together
Cootie McBride: "On behalf of the McBride Family Center for Helping Everyone Get Their Act Together in the New Millennium, I want to thank everyone for attending the state of emergency conference titled 'Self Destructive Tendencies Within a Recessive World.'
[Kamikaze] Et Tu, Bill?
You were my favorite. Maybe you still are. I hailed you as the greatest president of all time. I didn't go so far as a lot of folks did in declaring you the county's first "black" president, but you were damn close. That's why I'm hurt that you have become so vicious, so "un-sportsmanlike" in your demeanor in recent days. You appear rattled. Why the venom?
[Mott] The Past is Now
The annual Jackson Free Press "Best of Jackson" party is always a blast. This year, as I looked around at the hundreds of faces in the crowd, the huge diversity touched me deeply. People were tall, short, white, black, Asian, Latino, old and young—a few folks even brought their kids—gay and straight, rich and poor … well, you get the picture. People were dressed in tiaras and furs, jeans and T-shirts, and everything in between.
The Best is (Also) Yet to Come
You hold in your hands the culmination of weeks worth of voting, counting, research, photography and writing—the Best of Jackson 2008 issue. It happens to be the biggest issue of the Jackson Free Press ever—and hopefully something you'll be proud to keep around the house or office and refer back to for the ensuing months of this nascent year.
Dare to Be the Best
This week, under a tribute post to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on jacksonfreepress.com, reader "justjess" shared a story about keeping his dream alive. She told the story of her friend in Chicago speaking to a group of young men and women. There was no victim stranglehold in her message, which was essentially a call to be the best.
[Sue Doh Nem] Dollar Store Refuge
Miss Doodle Mae: "Greetings, financially challenged shoppers! Welcome to a new year of savings at Jojo's Discount Dollar Store. Jojo still believes I am as articulate as Barack Obama, so he asked me to address loyal and potential customers in these troubled economic times with an encouraging advertisement.
[Hill] Tragedies Yet to Come
Latasha Norman was a promising, attractive young Jackson State University student who was stalked and killed late last year. The man arrested for her murder, Stanley Cole, was a fellow JSU student whom Norman had dated and broken up with. But he allegedly refused to take no for an answer, and continued to harass her for months after their break-up, even after she filed an assault charge against him in October 2007.
The Fierce Urgency of Now
A well-meaning friend from out of state asked me a puzzling question recently: "When will it be enough?" When will Mississippi have talked so much about race history that we don't have to anymore?
Justice Corrupted
While the state is mesmerized by the Scruggs saga, another type of judicial corruption is begging for attention. Arrested in 1992 for rape, a Sunflower County jury found Arthur Johnson guilty after a two-day trial in '93, where the victim's identification swayed the verdict despite a solid alibi. On Jan. 4, the Mississippi Supreme Court sent the case back to Sunflower County based on a DNA test showing conclusively that Johnson was not the perpetrator.
[Sue Doh Nem] Life Lends You a Poor Hand
Boneqweesha Jones: "It's 2008. Do you know where your money is? Things and people change—sometimes. And so does the name of my television show. The Ghetto Science media production staff suggested that I change the name of my show, 'Boneqweesha Live,' to a newer and sleeker name: 'Qweesha '08.' I like it!
[Kamikaze] Not So Sweet Sixteen
As a hip-hop artist, I often find myself defending rap music. To many, it's the grinch that stole society's soul, the scourge reducing our youth to mindless purveyors of evil. But champion it, I must. It is my chosen profession and one of the things I know how to do very well.
[Gregory] Truth or Dare
I have something to get off my chest. I'm frightened to admit it in such a public forum; I'm still only able to whisper it to myself. In fact, when I finally worked up enough courage to tell The Boyfriend about this previously undisclosed fact, I considered it immediate terms for break-up and instantaneous commencement of speaking very badly about me to everyone he knew.
One Nation Under Oprah
While playing a jolly game of inquiries recently, I was prompted to answer the question, "What is the biggest threat to humankind?" Hastily, and foolishly, I responded, "ignorance." But after further rumination over the question, I have arrived at what I know to be the most imminent, dangerous catalyst for utter self-destruction: Oprah Winfrey.
Melton: Time to Retire
Mayor Frank Melton's fainting session at Monday's county inaugural event was the latest warning he needs to heed: It is time for him to retire as mayor of Jackson. It would also be a good idea for him to return to Tyler, Texas, where his wife is an esteemed physicianpediatrician, but stillwho can look after him and help him do what he needs to doand stop doing what he shouldn'tin order to improve his health.