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Art Meets Politics

For the artist, these tense political times offer other perplexing questions: Do I stifle my creative voice to be politically correct? Can I provoke and titillate my audience without alienating them? Will I, like poet Amiri Baraka, be publicly chastised for my views?

Opinion: Iraq Attack Not a ‘Just' War

From my pew near the back of my church, I see the pastor in his black liturgical robe approach the center of the chancel to welcome everyone to morning worship. A prism of colors is visible from the sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows. Behind him on the left is the flag of the United States. On his right is the Christian flag. Standing midway between the two, the minister is a symbol of the Christian dilemma—dual citizenship. Christians are citizens of both the United States and the Kingdom of God and this can, as William H. Willimon, dean of the chapel at Duke University puts it, "cause some tension."

[Stiggers] Post-Saddam Clearance Sale!

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in jail. So it's time for a sale! Pookie Peterz, your international hustler, has capitalized on other people's property, and he is coming to your city with the greatest sale of 2003. Since the recent fall and capture of the totalitarian Iraqi leader, Pookie and his Hustler's international retail experts have smuggled—oops, I mean acquired—several valuable items from the headquarters and palaces of the former Iraqi dictator.

[Kinnison] Engage This

"One of the most patriotic things you can do in this country is protest." — Keith, 21

[Chick] These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

I am a bitter, vindictive bitch. And everybody knows it. "Says who?" Says my ex-husband Richard Cranium (we call him RC for short.) And he's right. Divorce has taught me a lot about myself, and I admit to being bitter. I admit to missing my split-plan suburban home and book club and goldfish pond and "Howdy neighbor!" neighbors and financial stability and a slower pace and, most of all, those moments with my child that just happened when I was not so stressed.

[Spann] Breaking through the Ice

So Vanilla Ice is a rock star these days? I heard that he even played a set at a club in the Jackson area not so long ago. Perhaps a heavy-metal version of "Ice Ice Baby" was at the core of his set. Well, maybe he's finally found his place in the music world. Sorry … was that too cold, too cold? White fans of hiphop and artists like Eminem have had to contend with comparisons and jokes since the dark days when Vanilla Ice donned those baggy Hammer pants and did that annoying neck-jerking dance on the Arsenio Hall Show. But a whole new generation of rappers and rap aficionados with a lot of heart and no pretensions of ghetto hardship has cropped up in the white community.

[Casey's Note] The Bubble Isn't Enough

My parents wouldn't let me have a car my freshman year of college. It only bothered me the first week. After that, I quickly found that college campuses are pretty autonomous. Even now, I hear the phrase "Millsaps bubble" tossed around more frequently than "homework" or "essay," but back then it didn't bother me. Seniors complain about getting trapped in this so-called bubble. They worry about never leaving and feeling too provincial.

[Jacobson] Free Higher Education for All

For the past two decades, the cost of college has skyrocketed to heights most lower- and many middle-income families cannot afford. In Mississippi, and all over the country, financial aid (both state and federal) and scholarships are not meeting the costs of college. Every year, some part of the cost of higher education increases, whether it's a state school or private school, and yet, no legislature, or governor or even really the president, has made any significant change in this growing problem. With a post-secondary education becoming mandatory for almost every career field, it is time the government stepped up before the American people fall behind.

Gun Violence: A Public Health Issue?

With the United States under violent assault since Sept. 11, 2001, American citizens have reeled from the size and scope of the assault and wondered whether ours really is a kind and gentle nation. We don't understand the reasons for the attack; in fact, we profess to abhor violence. Are we, at heart, a kind and gentle nation?

[Taylor] Giving Our Forefathers the Finger

Last year in the hot August sun, I stood at a five-way intersection in Yazoo City, passing out push cards for my mother. She was running for justice court judge in Yazoo County. As the day progressed, so did the traffic. As I busily distributed cards and bellowed, "Vote for Alva Payton Taylor," most of the response was superb. So many people gave me their word that they would take a stand and go to the polls. Some of them even put the icing on the cake saying that they would vote for Mama when they got there.

[Hightower] Fleecing America's Soldiers

It's been said that you don't know what hell is until you've had an insurance salesman in your living room, prattling on eternally about term life annuities.

South Toward Home

Coming of age in Neshoba County, I considered Jackson the big city. I loved standing in the seat of our long turquoise Chevrolet, my left hand curled around my Daddy's neck as we sped from Philadelphia to Jackson, either down the Trace or through Canton if he felt like driving faster. It was the 1960s, and Jackson was larger than I could imagine. We'd visit my brother's family on Queen Margaret Lane in West Jackson, a residential city street where I learned to ride a bicycle on pavement and chased the ice-cream man and splashed in a little above-ground pool. I loved going to the old Woolworth, amid the neon of Capitol Street, where my Daddy bought me a toy Santa one year that still sits on my mantle every December.

[Stiggers] What You Talkin' About?

"I'm sick and tired of hearin' your song tellin' us how you're gonna change right from wrong. Well, if you really want to hear my view, you haven't done nothin' "

[Hutchinson] Bush Had a Point About the Democrats

In a July speech to the National Urban League Convention, President Bush asked: "Does the Democratic Party take African-American voters for granted?" The answer: a resounding yes.

[Lott] Eliminating Bad, Brown Water

Recently I was pleased to join our Congressional delegation in announcing almost $6 million in federal assistance for water system upgrades throughout Mississippi. Every year I vigorously support water and waste water projects because they sustain and improve public health, and they lay the groundwork for new job growth. Any community's future will depend largely on the quality of public works they can provide. In the 21st century there's really no excuse for anybody to be drinking bad water or depending on a weak, undependable water system.

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.

Good Jobs and Outstanding People

<b>Web Exclusive</b>

In the midst of a Presidential election it's easy to get caught up in the event, to fixate on the media coverage and the seemingly infinite analysis and forget about all the other things. Regardless of the latest partisan rifts, elections highlight the fact that America will always endure. Mississippi endures, too. In fact, judging from what I saw this week while traveling around our state, I can tell you that Mississippi is not only enduring, we are prospering.

[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.

Life Lessons at the Honky Tonk

"Let's go to the redneck bar," Blondie exclaimed from the backseat of my car. Three of us had just enjoyed a girls' day out after feeding the cows and touring my friend's farm in Canton. A little window-shopping and some fine dining on the Square had rounded out the day when we decided to hightail it over to the honky-tonk on Highway 43. We threw inhibition to the wind as I accelerated and made a hard right toward the bar.

EDITORIAL: Tort Reform: Let's Punt

Nov. 7, 2002 -- The special legislative session to address tort-reform issues should have ended weeks ago. It's been expensive, ineffectual and has only added to a confusing debate that has lumped corporate responsibility and medical malpractice into the same discussion. And as The Clarion-Ledger reported Sept. 1, the "special session" status may take tort reform a step closer to being unconstitutional, because the Mississippi constitution forbids special laws that protect individual entities if that law could be handled in a more general fashion. Abridging trial-by-jury rights is also a constitutional no-no.