All results / Stories / Donna Ladd
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tis the Season to Stop Judging the Poor
Bare feet don't have bootstraps. You catapult from day-to-day, trying to stay ahead enough not to go hungry or have the lights turned off, even if you eat milk and cornbread for supper a lot.
Conceiving a Smarter Future
We're on an arc of history where too many of our lawmakers (and voters) aren't willing to address the disparities that our racist history created—unequal school funding due to forced, ingrained poverty—and aren't willing to say out loud what many of them actually know intellectually: that quality public education is key to Mississippi's future.
Mississippi: Clawing to the Top
As we've all been riding high in recent weeks over the Mississippi State football team's meteoric rise on the media radar, we've all seen those tweets. You know, the anti-Mississippi ones that we all know go deeper than football rivalries.
From Affleck to Baltimore: Sh*t Our Ancestors Did
Forget a "sagging feeling"—it's a gut-punch to discover you descend from a slave owner or plantation overseer, especially when your relatives have laughed off such a notion your whole life, always adding, "Our family was too poor to own slaves." Right.
Nothing Personal, Walmart, But Local Is Better
We don't mean to brag, but the Jackson Free Press has long been a proponent of the concept of shopping local first starting nearly 13 years ago when we published the words "Think Global, Shop Local" on the cover of our second issue.
Rwth Ashton
The unusual spelling of her first name is not the only thing compelling about the new Millsaps College chaplain, who comes to Jackson by way of Belzoni and Boston, among other places. Ashton, a United Methodist minister for the past 12 years, was most recently the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Belzoni, Miss. Before that, she served as associate pastor of Crossgates United Methodist Church in Brandon.
Temple for Talent, by Eric Stracener
Since the heyday of recording on Farish Street passed, the only local label with any real national name recognition has been Malaco Records, which has continued with a steady output of high-quality R&B and soul from the label and its in-house studio. Recently, though, other studios have started to surface here. One of them, Sonic Temple Recording Studio, has worked with artists from Cassandra Wilson to David Banner, Scott Litt of R.E.M. to Young Agent Jones.
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
Down a Southern Road
Monday, June 21, is the 40th anniversary of the deaths of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner.
Living the Dream in Post-1523 Mississippi
Progressive thinkers here are working to leave hate-drenched politics behind, to get enough people motivated to vote to use our purple demographics to send a strong message at the polls that we're not playing that old-time religion of hate any longer.
Trump’s Politically Correct Call for Bigotry, Hate
It's really hard to find a stronger sign that Donald Trump hopes to become a fascist dictator of people and thought in America, and he's playing to very ugly instincts of his followers to get there.
My Only Egg Bowl Regret
David Rae Morris and I both really wish our dads were here to witness this magical season—one in which both teams have helped take a lot of glory away from the usual football powerhouses and captured the country's imagination.
Mississippi Women: Time to ‘Personhood’ Donald Trump, Mike Pence
Mississippi women turned back Personhood in 2011. Now, we need to vote against two men likely to limit everything from the birth-control pill to in vitro fertilization, from affordable cancer screenings to abortions to save the life of the mother.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Of Breast Cancer and the Warrior’s Life
I feel like a warrior ready to turn the strength I’ve honed over my lifetime to my own health and spirit and that of my loved ones, especially my hero Todd Stauffer.
DOSSIER: GOP's Red-baiting Mailer Template, Campaign Lies, Bryant Miffed
Republicans are already sending out glossy mailers warming up the crowd in Mississippi and other southern states to the necessity of electing Trump apologists and enablers—that is pretty much what Reeves' whole campaign is about at this point.
Mr. Positive Headed into Second Divorce
I sure am glad I missed the days of Mr. Positive Mississippi into the governor's mansion, although it sure was entertaining enough from a distance. Why is it that people who like to talk about "family values" the most often seem to have the least?
The Scene of the Crime ... and a Klansman
After leaving Mt. Zion, I took the women reporters to Road 515, also known as Rock Cut Road, to show them where the three men were taken and killed.