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Mississippi Deals Personhood Movement a Resounding Defeat
Nov. 8, 2011 -- Tonight was not a good night for the national Personhood USA movement that tried to push Initiative 26 in Mississippi. The opponents took some 60 percent of the vote by the time it was called as a loss. The JFP had a crazy busy night on Twitter (@jxnfreepress and #jxnfreepress) following the progress of 26, as well as voter ID (26) and the eminent domain limits (31). Voter ID passed as expected, and the eminent-domain limits passed. (The Jackson Free Press urged voters to reject personhood and voter ID and approve eminent domain limits—so we won two out of three.
McGowan Reveals New Lake Specifics
Jackson oilman John McGowan said Monday that his latest lake plan will cost about $150 million and require the use of eminent domain to "condemn" some property into a "public project."
Good Ideas
Families are at the heart of everything we do. They serve as a witness to our lives, support us when we fail and remind us of where we came from. Even if you have a nontraditional family, a strong family unit is essential to a vibrant community. In this Good Ideas issue, we focus on ways to build a family-friendly community, how to raise a genius child, alternatives to traditional families and styles of parenting.
Barbour's Cross to Bear
In 1968 in Yazoo City, Police Chief Ardis Russell Sr. arrested a black mother, LeBertha Owens, for trying to take her young daughter, Gloria, to the public library for materials to complete her school assignments. Her daughter was left behind, as she watched the sheriff take her mother to jail for trying to help her get a decent education.
The Rest of ... The Story
Back in 2005, a Canadian TV producer asked me if he could film Mississippians working for the Jackson Free Press investigating a civil-rights cold case in Franklin County for a documentary.
Lest Ye Be Judged
I ran into a woman Sunday at Broadmeadow United Methodist Church who remembered that my mother used to sell Avon. Apparently, Mama had gone to her family's house in Neshoba County and took me along. Somehow, she remembered.
Letter to a Young Jacksonian
This time each year, I start hearing from young people who want to intern at the JFP over the summer (last year we had 19) and from former interns who need a reference or career advice.
Growing Great Writers
I firmly believe that anyone can be a good writer. Writing leads to clear thinking, and reading and writing feed each other. Don't give up on yourself or your child, or think that you don't have writing "talent." Just like anything else, writing is a craft that needs to be developed and practiced.
Lagniappe To Your Health
Many folks jerk their Christmas décor down as soon as the turkey stupor wears off. Others, though, think it's bad luck to take it down before the evening of Jan. 5, also known as Twelfth Night in Christian traditions derived from the Old English.
Why Local Matters
A 2010 report by Michigan State University assessed the economic advantages of shopping at locally owned businesses and, like researchers around the nation, found immense benefit to keeping as many dollars as possible in the local economy.
Business Bookshelf
If you are considering starting your own business, or have already started one, get yourself a copy of the classic "The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It" by Michael Gerber (HarperCollins, 1995, $18.99) to learn how to sustain it.
Plunge Forward
It'll take a year to read Scott Ginsberg's newest book, "Ideas Are Free, Execution Is Priceless". By design. It's one of those motivational books with a suggestion a day for a year. I love these books because they're so easy to dig into it.
Coming Home
"Alligator Lake" is another in a string of roughly historic race novels by white people that claims to be another "The Help." I wasn't prepared to like Colorado nursing professor Lynne Bryant's novel about another white woman coming back home to Mississippi to confront our demons. But the book—about race conflicts in the 1980s—deals with mixed-race love and the response to it in a smart and revealing way.
Party of Lincoln?
Think it's strange that the now-lily-white Republican Party was the choice of freed slaves in the 19th century?
Dinner and a Movie
Last Saturday night, Todd and I sat at a small table next to the open kitchen at Parlor Market and were dazzled by the chefs' performance.
[Editor's Note] Aloha, Jackson
When we boarded our plane in Dallas bound to Honolulu in January, I'd had only had two hours' sleep. Inevitably, I tossed and turned in anticipation of getting up at 4 a.m.--and then traveling for more than 12 hours. So when I saw the large man I would have to share my other armrest with, I grimaced.
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.
[Editorial] Teach Kids About Safe Sex
Adecision by a Department of Education task force earlier this week confirmed what some of us have suspected for some time: Schools in Mississippi really don't have any legal way to teach comprehensive sex-education. A recent law gives school districts a choice between abstinence-only and "abstinence-plus" sex education in theory; in reality, they're just different names for the same policy.
Time to Swim, not Sink, Together
With evidence everywhere that good public education is key to our city and our state's economic future, not to mention public safety, it is time that to slay the dinosaurs of the past who don't want to fund or reform education in a way that makes sense for the most children.
[Editor's Note] A Romney Runs Through Us
Campaigning in Mississippi last week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney set off a mini-firestorm in our offices. Sometime between joking about grits and forking up some hay, down-south style, Romney uttered words that made us nearly sputter in response: "If the federal government were run more like here in Mississippi, the whole country would be a lot better off." Say what, Gov. Romney?!