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Can We Learn from the Hotel Morass?

As the city administration and the Jackson Development Authority scramble to close a convention-center hotel deal filled with "complexities" (as JRA member John Reeves put it), the situation should make the rest of us wonder: How can we avoid being in this place again?

Council: Revisit Free Speech 101

The Jackson City Council voted Tuesday to extend a compromise to the Occupy Jackson protesters, allowing them a permit to stay in Smith Park until 11 p.m., rather than all night. That may or may not have been the right compromise between their right to assemble and the city's need to ensure nothing happens to them in the middle of the night.

[Jones] A Lottery for 3-Year Olds

In 1962, 58 Michigan toddlers won a lottery. To pick up their prize, these 3-year-olds were dropped off at a row of buildings in Ypsilanti, a small town near Ann Arbor, on a September morning. All the children were from disadvantaged backgrounds, and expectations for them had not been particularly high.

Love Thy Neighbor? Buy Local

The programs are called all sorts of things these days--Think Local First, Small Business Saturday, Shift Your Shopping, Keep Austin Weird, Keep Fondren Funky--but they all point to one thing: the need to shop local* during the holidays. (Not to mention all other times of the year.)

Follow Lead of Powell, Barksdale

There are people who complain, seeing insurmountable problems everywhere, and there are people who take action infused by hope and informed by facts and evidence. We were thrilled to see people in the latter category, working for the future of the city's children, and thus all of us, honored this week by Colin and Alma Powell's America's Promise Alliance. The alliance named Jackson one of the country's 100 Best Communities for Young People.

What the Mamas Taught Us

When I heard 40 days before Election Day that the "No on 26" folks were trying to hire a spokesperson, I just knew women didn't have a chance. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Vol. 10, No. 12

<b>'Not Your Church'</b>

Somewhere in the fight to stop Amendment 26 (Personhood), I went from just living in Mississippi, home of the entrenched conservative mindset to which I must surrender my hopes of progress and change, to understanding that this is MY Mississippi, home of diverse and often progressive souls longing for progress and change.

The Dems' Missed Chances

We've said it before: It's tough to be even marginally progressive in Mississippi. It's as if the DNA of old habits has gotten into our water, and it won't work itself out. Politicians in our state, right and (so-called) left, think the only way to win elections here is to play to the ridiculous-right on about every issue, the rest of us be damned.

Building Business

Gov. Haley Barbour has long been bullish on Mississippi's business environment, announcing every new business his administration brings into the state—large and small—and every new development with great fanfare.

[Dennis] Happiness Is

How much of the information we exchange is worth communicating?

[Stiggers] Spinning Your Favorites

Don't let the bad, sad and terrible news mess with your mood. Come on down to Clubb Chicken Wing's 'Mid-Week After Hours Job Fair, Networking Session and Disco' and do the 'loose booty' with me and the Unemployed Dee Jays. We'll spin your favorite old school tunes to help you get rid of the blues.

Barbour: Don't Marginalize Women

I'm not sure what Gov. Haley Barbour is "running" for now--vice president? chief of staff?--but I was dismayed to read about his recent speech in which he focused on how churches and church leaders need to help stave off "illegitimacy" in Mississippi.

[Queen] It's About Women's Rights

I find it laughable that the state of Mississippi is even considering asking us to vote yes on Initiative 26. Really? We are being asked to make a law to give up our constitutional right to choice. Really.

[Stiggers] Oh Lord Have Mercy

I realize that your current situation is hard to take, but do not be despondent. Remember that life is a period of adjustments. I suggest you adjust by becoming critical thinkers and challenging the motives of predatory capitalism. Also, think about acquiring the skills you need to get back to work and readjust your traumatized and stress-filled life.

[Stiggers] Shop Without Shame

Jojo's Discount Dollar Store is ready to have another entertaining and enlightening 'Post Thanksgiving (not Black Friday)' sale. Jojo has stocked the store with plenty of inexpensive gift items, and he invites the 'new poor' (aka the middle class) to shop without shame.

[Gregory] Don't Mess With Mamas

"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." —William Ross Wallace

Ring a Bell

At the end of September, I took my vacation in Batesville. Unbeknownst to many--including the majority of Mississippians, I imagine--Batesville is the home to the Magnolia Grove Buddhist Monastery and mindfulness meditation practice center. For five days, 850 participants shared living quarters, meals and the teachings--dharma talks--of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. The subject was cultivating the mind of love.

[Kamikaze] Parental Sanity

Our children are our greatest commodities. It is our responsibility as parents, as teachers and adults to protect and nurture them so they can grow to be productive citizens.

[Stiggers] Survive, Thrive, Stay Alive

Brother Hustle: "Newt the Ging-Grinch said this about poor people and children: 'Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of "I do this and you give me cash," unless it's illegal.'

Finding What's Right

It's easy to criticize. I know this intimately. In fact, I'm considering hiring a private detective to search for that half-full glass.