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Poet's Progress
Plain spoken and impassioned, poet Nikki Giovanni's body of work is a testament to the power of words to fulfill and inspire.
Health Tips for Dudes
Men are often seen as individuals who ignore their health altogether. Here are some tips that, while not exclusive to men, appeal to my maleness.
LaRita Smith
LaRita Smith is exhausted. Not only has she been painting until 3 a.m. and cutting countless strips of paper for collages with glue-covered hands, she's been doing it at age 87.
Vicksburg: The River and The Civil War
As I pulled into Navy Circle in Vicksburg, my passengers, two female French engineering students, spoke politely and hesitantly in English. When the Mississippi River first came into view, their speech turned to a shrill, rapid-fire French. They scrambled for cameras and attempted to open the car doors while the car was still moving. All the while, their French was getting louder and more excitable.
Shine a Light
What if you could actually see your own pain and that of everyone around you? That is the question at the heart of "The Illumination" , best-selling author Kevin Brockmeier's latest work of fiction.
Keep The Fires Burning
Being romantic once you have children can be nearly impossible. Going on a date with your spouse can require so much preparation that it may seem easier to stay at home in your sweatpants and eat frozen pizza. But if you like your spouse (and I realize you might not), you need time away from the kids to unwind and reconnect.
Fun on the Road
This past weekend, I traveled with my son's Cub Scout troop to Louisiana for a tour of the Honey Island Swamp. As cliché as the phrase is, it doesn't stop kids from asking it. The swamp is 250 square miles (with 70,000 acres of wildlife nature preserve) that got its name from the honeybees found in the area.
Bringing Healthy Back
I have literally been working my butt off since the first of the year in an attempt to lose my "baby weight." The phrase is becoming less acceptable by the day, seeing as how my baby is 2 years old, speaks in complete sentences and has potty-trained herself.
Who's Fooling Whom?
No one likes to be fooled.
Rubye Forrest-Mickel
"As a traffic officer, every day brings something interesting," Rubye Forrest-Mickel says, sitting on her porch on Barrett Avenue, enjoying the early spring weather. As she reclines in her chair, her lips curve into a smile.
Fancy Feet
One of my personal style philosophies is "Let your shoes do the talking." When I go shoe shopping, it really doesn't matter much to me if I have anything to go with the shoe or not.
Etude of an Artist
When he was 5 years old, Lorenzo Gayden loved cars. He played with and drew them and, eventually, imagined designing them. But unlike most of us who abandon our childhood love for art, casting it off as simple doodling, Gayden, now 36, knew artistry was meant for him.
Sarah Welker
Sarah Welker understands the importance of a strong social network and role models within a community. A well-founded support structure brought the enthusiastic 23-year-old to Mississippi in March 2010 to become a policy analyst for the Mississippi Economic Policy Center.
[New Restaurant] Mr. Chen's Authentic Chinese Cooking
Opened as a part of the new Oriental Supermarket, Mr. Chen's Authentic Chinese Cooking brings a new style of Chinese cuisine to Jackson. Inside, you'll find well-known dishes such as Kung Pao Chicken and General Tso's Chicken, but there is a touch of the exotic to Mr. Chen's.
Roots of Utopia
When asked how a dietitian from Biloxi met and married an electrician from Brandon, Brittany Hammons Simmons, 26, and Geoffrey Simmons, 24, answer, "Club Fire." The reactions they receive from their answer still make them giggle and share a secret smile about that night in 2008.
Peter Zapletal, Puppeteer
The puppets Peter Zapletal makes are works of art, all unified by his craftsmanship. The sly smile on bunnies wearing striped suits in "Carnival of Animals" and the details in the construction of the robbers Fritz and Wolfgang that allows them to move in "The Breman Town Musicians" are just two examples of the way Zapletal uses art to bring stories to the stage.
Steps to Adoption
Choosing to adopt is a major decision that can reap rewarding and unfathomable benefits of giving an orphaned child a place to call home.
Creature Comforts
As I walked out of the office, a coworker said, "It's Monday, so you're going to Babalu, right?"
Integrating Nature
Neither could conceive of existence that doesn't include being active in nature and working with their hands. Gayle, a mixed-media artist, and Lee, a ceramics artist, spin wilderness into their work. But as children, neither of the two, thought they could shape anything more than mud piles.
Co-housing Now
The decrease in the number of Americans participating in bowling leagues since 1950 is just one example of America's movement toward isolated communities. Robert Putnam uses this example in the book "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community" (Simon and Schuster, 2001, $10.99) to demonstrate that American's decline in social activity is detrimental to a strong democratic society.