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Fear And Loathing In The Dirty South
I'm an opinionated chick, but every now and then, an issue comes a long that, no matter how much I ponder it, I can't quite firmly take a side on it. Choosing one side would be denying the reality of the other, when both are very real.
The Great American Experiment
Here's the column that drew the ire of Mr. Kim Wade, radio talk-show host, as reported in this week's issue.
The Weak Shall Inherit The State
A coalition of children's advocates are declaring 2005 the "Year of the Child" in Mississippi. It's about damned time. It's way past the point that we Mississippians must start standing up for our weakest residents. Young people have rights. They have needs. They make mistakes. It's not all about them respecting us; it's about us treating them with dignity and compassion and understanding, helping them instead of inflicting further harm.
Houston, We Have A Problem
As soon as the Best of Jackson 2005 issue was put to bed, the JFP turned our attention to the upcoming city elections. My personal mayoral bias was that Harvey Johnson Jr. had done a pretty good job as mayor, certainly in the last four years; our readers thought so, too. They had voted him Best Elected Official and Most Under-Appreciated Jacksonian in the Best of Jackson awards—largely, I suspect because his long-term visions had started coming to fruition in the last couple years, and because he has embraced the emerging diverse, determined creative class here. It didn't hurt any that crime was falling and private investment was returning to Jackson.
Keep Your Eyes On The Prize
When the message came Thursday that a grand jury in Neshoba County had indicted at least one conspirator in the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, I started screaming. Staffers bolted into my office to see what had happened to me. I could barely squeak out that the one thing I've wanted most in my adult life had come true. My hometown was facing its past that's not yet past.
[Ladd] Life in the Fast Lane
Not to be a drama queen here, but hanging out at the Mississippi Legislature can really shatter one's faith in humanity. After doing years of research on harmful youth policies (zero tolerance, adult sentencing, "superpredator" rhetoric, media demonization of youth), I'm already convinced that most people don't give a damn about young people they didn't raise. And too many don't really care enough about the ones they did.
Hush! Somebody's Calling Our Name
Never say things can't change. Sometimes remarkable change comes, and it seems so obvious that people barely notice. That was apparent recently when both the Mississippi House and the Senate voted to rename two stretches of highway after civil-rights martyrs: Highway 19-South out of Philadelphia after Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner and US-49 East would be renamed Emmett Till Memorial Highway, in honor of the black teenager beaten to death by white men in 1955 in Money, Miss.
[Ladd] Rest In Peace
When Dr. Monique Guillory called me and said she wanted to bring the "Without Sanctuary" exhibit to Jackson, I swallowed hard. I knew about the horrifying and controversial exhibit of lynching photographs, the images that sear themselves into your psyche and refuse to let go. I hadn't seen the actual exhibit; I lived across Central Park from it for a while in New York, but never quite got up the courage to go. But since returning home, I had looked at the 81 photos posted online; I knew this would be rough.
[Ladd] Haley's March to the Sea
On the JFP blog recently, someone asked me if I was willing to give Gov. Haley Barbour the benefit of the doubt. That question gave me pause. I think of myself as independent-minded, free of party affiliation, fair-but-tough and willing to consider many viewpoints, even as I refuse to defend any view blindly. The problem, of course, is that Barbour really pissed me off during this campaign. It wasn't because he's a Republican—duh, he gets to be, even if I don't care for today's prevailing corporate Republicanism—but because I believed he cleared a path of destructiveness through the state, a modern-day march to the sea, to get there.
The Next Generation
Those are six words I never expected to say. I grew up, like many restless kids, thinking my town was the most backward place on earth. That's normal. But when I was 14 and found out what occurred in Philadelphia, Miss., when I was 3, I was overwhelmed with shame. That's tragic
The Elephant In The Classroom
The governor and his loyal cabal of "Stepford senators" seem to believe that Mississippians are stupid. And they sure want to keep us that way.
[Ladd] Ask the $34,000-A-Day Questions
In January, I wrote an editor's note about the governor that miffed some Democrats around the city. They told me I went too easy on Barbour. I wrote then that although his wink-wink, race-tinged, nationally financed campaign tactics had really turned me off, I still hoped that he really wanted to come in and bridge gaps, not widen chasms. I wrote: "It's up to Barbour. This wasn't our game; the new governor needs to convince me, and other Mississippians, that he deserves the benefit of our doubt. Can he do that? Sure, if he will."
With or Without You, Haley
Well, Gov. Barbour, all us under-55 Mississippians got your message loud and clear last week. We don't matter. You don't care about us and what we think of you because, well, not enough of us are likely to vote for you.
Dean and the Elephants in Dixie
Charles Evers and I hit it off immediately the first time we met. We, after all, both have Neshoba County roots. My Daddy, it seems, used to drive him around in a taxi back when he did radio there. We have a common hero—his brother, Medgar. We both opposed the Iraqi War, as he wrote about in the JFP the week the war started. We both spent a fun evening at Jubilee! Jam chasing down Bob Dylan so he could thank him for a song he wrote for Medgar back in the '60s.
The Hope Sleeps Tonight
What a week of pure, unadulterated emotion. As we put out this issue—the first one with power and resources and staff fully restored—I am spent due to what I've seen, read and experienced in the last week.
This Is My Fault
Since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and thrust her spotlight on the abhorrent conditions of the poorest Americans, I have been pondering poverty. First, I got angry.
Thou Shalt Honor The F-Word
Read my lips. The Ten Commandments are not a toy. And the U.S. Constitution isn't an instrument to be manipulated as the political winds shift.But here we go again. On March 8, the Mississippi House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill to allow the Ten Commandments and "In God We Trust" to be placed on public buildings.
We Got A New At-ti-tude
Cue the Patti LaBelle, baby. As we prepare our third Best of Jackson issue, it strikes me that Jacksonians are starting to take for granted the idea that "best" is a superlative term that applies to their city. We got a new attitude.
[Ladd] Catching a Creative Wave
I've been thinking a lot about who's in charge lately. This first entered my brain because of Haley Barbour's half-hearted attempts at appointing a Cabinet that looks like Mississippi (for the record, that would be close to half black and just over half female. And a good percentage of them would be under 40. For the record). But, he tells us, there aren't enough "outstanding" women who are "qualified" for "leadership" positions in his administration. Ouch.
[Ladd] One for the Grrls
I was recently visiting a couple in Fondren who have two delightful little daughters with whom I love to hang out. They're loud, proud, colorful, confident. The oldest came up to me and told me about the bedtime story her dad had been reading her about a bored princess who didn't want to take her prim princess lessons and preferred to go live with the dragons and have adventures. After telling me the story in some detail, my little 5-year-old girlfriend, the most chic little thing I know, looked at me and said, "You can borrow the book sometimes if you want."