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You Own This Doghouse
However, if you're a Mississippian between the ages of 18 and 29, you are part of a powerful new voting constituency in the state—in this election, you turned out, and as a group, you made choices independent of the fogies in your lives. You thought independently and, according to CNN exit polls, you led the South and much of the U.S. in the percentage of you who voted for Kerry over Bush. Most of you also voted for the gay-marriage amendment.
[Ladd] Gentlemen, Tone It Down
Every day of the past week I've heard someone, usually a white progressive, ridicule City Councilman Kenneth I. Stokes. "He's crazy." "He's a lunatic." "He's a racist." The outspoken Ward 3 representative is disliked pretty much universally in the white community. In fact, moderates and liberals probably dislike him more than conservatives do; his brand of outrageous race-baiting gives some conservatives what they want: a reason to bash black leaders. It's counter-productive at best.
To Live and Die in Dixie
Sometimes the light comes from unexpected places. Last week, I sat down in front of my monitor and my e-mail blooped in. There was one from Jill Conner Browne, the Sweet Potato Queen author. I figured it was about her brand-new funny book, out next week. It wasn't.
[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."
Me and Willie Hoyt
Willie Hoyt was a character. My mom met him when I was in the fourth grade. My father had died a couple years earlier after a long illness, she was lonely, and Willie Hoyt, an enlisted man, was on leave from Vietnam. He was a smooth talker, extremely funny, and a heavy drinker and smoker who had been in the Army since before the Korean War where he had been on the front lines and been awarded a Silver Star. He'd watched his best friend die in Korea by his side. He'd had a tough childhood, never married, and never had kids of his own.
WIGGS: From Contrails to Commitment
In the two days before the shuttle Columbia disintegrated and traced that awful sparkling arc across the Texas sky, I'd already been thinking about space. On Thursday, I'd read a Harper's article about the unthinkable catastrophe a relatively small asteroid hitting the Earth would cause. On Friday, I'd finished a National Geographic piece about the incomprehensible mystery of countless galaxies speeding throughout an expanding universe. The asteroid essay warned of the unavoidability of humankind's eventual extinction. The galaxy story spoke of humankind's daily discovery of additional star systems out at the edges of infinity. And then …
‘Tis Time to Think and Drive
The JFP is joining Budweiser to present Alert Cab to offer Jacksonians free rides home this New Year's if you've had too much to drink. Please take advanage of this program. Click here to see a list of Jackson bars and restaurants participating in Alert Cab on New Year's Eve (you can also clip out the ad from page 29 of the current JFP.) Be sure to get your free voucher from a bartender at one of the participating establishments. Be safe out there, y'all, you hear? Oh, and have a wonderful time.
[Ladd] No More Wink-Wink Politics
Waaaa-powwww, right in the kisser! So, what was that loud explosion that hit the middle of last week? Certainly, it could have been me letting out 42 years of pent-up frustration at yet another act of stupidity by an elected official in Mississippi.
The Last Shall be First
Three mothers, two black and one white, came to the State Capitol Monday, July 19, to tearfully beg the state to stop abusing children. One question: Will the state listen? Another question: Do Mississippians care?
Dazed and Content
I'm sitting here, dazed and content, in front of my eMac, trying to reflect on what 2004 has meant to me. We're about to send the last issue of the year to the printer—the one that is on the streets for two weeks in order to give us a few days to rest and rekindle for the new year. At 40 pages, it's one of our biggest issues, yet, and it's filled with profiles of creative and influential Jacksonians, stocking-stuffer ideas, cool fashion, a breathtaking JFP interview and wonderfully designed ads for local businesses. It's got breaking news, hip-hop gossip, pages and pages of entertainment listings and details on where to celebrate on New Year's Eve.
The Future Is for the Passionate
Whew, that's over. Or maybe it is. As I type this, it is Election Day, and our blogs are on fire over this election. Jakob just showed up wearing his "voting shoes" (American flag Converses), and people are calling in voting problems from around the area. I just wrote on the blog that there is a special place in hell for anyone who would try to stop anyone else from voting. Apparently, that wing of hell will soon be standing room only.
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.
Zen and the Art of Optimism
I don't know about you, but this election season is damned stressful. Even as George Bush rolls out television ads with wolves lurking to terrify Americans into voting for him, it's the idea of a second Bush term that scares the crap out of me. I truly am worried about the future and what's happening to American freedoms during this arc of history.
[Ladd] A Fool by Any Other Party
Man, I can't stand Bill Clinton. It drives me crazy to see him all over the place, hawking his new book and his excuses for his bad behavior in the Oval Office. His reasons for lying to the American people. His rationale for using his power to screw around with the lives of a parade of vulnerable women, some barely old enough to drink.
LADD: Talk About Freedom
Join another vigil for peace and safety of the troops Sunday, March 23, at 7 p.m. in front of the Eastland Courthouse on West Capitol Street downtown. This column is dedicated to Todd Allen, who showed up one day to help distribute the Jackson Free Press because he believes in our mission. He is a peace-lover and an Army chaplain who is now en route to the Middle East. Godspeed.
For The Children
Myrlie Evers-Williams says she and her husband, Medgar, held each other and cried days before he died. They knew he was about to be killed for his tireless work to bring equality and dignity to blacks in Mississippi. "Promise me you will take care of my children," he told her as he held her.
[Ladd] Doing Mama's Business
This column was originally published in 2003. We feature it this week in honor of a very special mama. The first issue of the JFP was published on Sept. 22, 2002, Miss Katie's birthday.
The House That Racism Built
It's been another one of those weeks the media love in Jacktown: lots of screaming and finger-pointing and accusations of someone else, inevitably of a different race from the accuser, being "a racist."
Fear is a Four-Letter Word
Harvey Johnson is not the only one who lost the mayoral primary last week. So did fear. Yes: fear suffered a resounding loss in Jackson.
Don't Call Me Ma'am
"Yes, ma'am." "No, ma'am." "Ma'am this, ma'am that." If there is anything I absolutely despise, it is the tendency of people in my home state to call me "ma'am." I spend much of my early interactions with my new interns—and even sometimes with writers who are older than I am, or at least look and act older—trying to get them to stop using the M-word around me.