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From Vacant to Vibrant

Many people in Mississippi put significant effort into successfully reviving downtown areas and making them welcoming places. But to get downtown, people often have to drive past worn-out, unoccupied strip malls overgrown with weeds.

Preparing for Battle

Twenty years ago, when Cristen Hemmins was a student at Millsaps College, two teenagers pulled out a gun and abducted her in the campus parking lot. The young men raped her and shot her twice as she fled to a gas station for safety.

Mississippi's Storm

Ask any Mississippian, and they'll tell you where they were the week of Aug. 29, 2005, the week Hurricane Katrina hit. They'll tell stories of the eerie silence waiting for the storm. For those who stayed on the Gulf Coast, they'll tell of the snarling and groaning as Katrina choked trees and reduced homes to cement foundations, and of devastation massive and humbling.

Ivan Rider

Ivan Rider returns to Jackson to direct "Driving Miss Daisy," opening tonight at New Stage Theatre.

"It's the theater of my heart," Rider told the Jackson Free Press this morning. "I'm delighted to be back."

Tired of empty strip malls? Me too.

Last week I spent some time learning about the Mississippi Development Authority's new plan to revitalize old, ugly strip malls, called the Retail Center Revitalization Program. (Read more here or in our print edition Wednesday.) MDA brings up a good point: While the Mississippi Main Street and others have made much-appreciated strides in making downtown areas beautiful places, many of the arterial roads leading into town are littered with drab concrete rectangles made even less attractive by the addition of for-sale signs that won't budge. The building's original owners and tenants have long ago moved on to a newer strip mall, leaving a stubborn suburban blight that diminishes the beauty of other parts of town that the community is rightfully proud of.

Advocates Gear up For Personhood Battle

Anti-abortion advocates celebrated a Mississippi Supreme Court ruling last week that OK'd a Nov. 8 ballot initiative asking voters whether the state Constitution should define when life begins, but the battles over the proposed amendment are far from over.

Community Events and Public Meetings

Fall Community Enrichment Series, at Millsaps College (1701 N. State St.). Most classes start the week of Sept. 19 and fall into the categories of arts and crafts, computer, dance, health and fitness, heritage and history, home and garden, language and literature, money and business, music, personal development and special offerings. Contact the Continuing Education office for a list of classes. Fees vary; call 601-974-1130.

JFP is Turning 9—What's Your Favorite JFP Memory?

I'll include a couple to get us going:

We need your help, JFP Nation. Our 9th birthday issue publishes this week, and we want to include favorite JFP-related moments (funny or serious) from staffers, readers, freelancers, etc. Please post below. We'll put what we can in the print edition. Thanks, all!

Capt. Ken Chapman

Capt. Ken Chapman claims he taught Aretha Franklin how to do the Bankhead bounce for a performance at the opening ceremony for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She was going to sing "Respect," and he thought the move would work great when she got to the "sock-it-me, sock-it-me, sock-it-me" part.

Rehabilitating Retail Space

The Mississippi Development Authority is testing a program to beautify old strip malls and make them useful again. The Retail Center Revitalization Program will award grants of up to $50,000 to help community developers turn concrete eyesores into welcoming spaces.

BOY is Back in Town

"We left Mississippi as men," the invitation teases. "We return as BOY."

City Urges Residents to Prepare for Pearl River Flooding

See earlier coverage of the rising Pearl River

Journalism and Ethics

If you take one point away from Valerie Wells' cover story this week, let it be this: Mainstream media have agendas that don't always serve the needs of the citizens who rely on it. As more and more news outlets fall under the control of media giants and entertainment networks, the need to seek out and tell hard truths often falls by the wayside in favor of double-digit profits.

News Wars: The Rise and Fall of The Clarion-Ledger

Orley Hood and Walter Philbin lugged their laundry bags into the laundromat near the Jitney 14 on Fortification Street. They sorted their clothes, put their coins in the slots and waited for the first wash cycle to begin. Then Philbin pulled out a stack of old Associated Press wire stories he'd been saving.

Newspaper Bites Self

Coincidentally, today's Editor & Publisher e-blast featured a story about USA Today's long-standing habit of padding their official "paid" subscriber numbers with the "freebie" newspapers they distribute through hotel chains. (If you've done much business travel, you may have seen a copy outside your door or in the lobby.) They do this by offering a low price to the hotels for those copies, and then convincing the hotels to put a disclaimer in small print, saying that the guest can request a 75 cent refund from the hotel if you don't want the paper. If you don't complain, USA Today interprets that to mean you "bought" the paper and counts it.

Festival Fall

As a teacher, I dread the beginning of school because of the whirlwind craziness. Thank goodness it only lasts for a couple of weeks. Then I'm in my routine, and everything is much more relaxed. On the plus side, I get so excited to know that fall—my favorite season—is just around the corner.

[Garrott] The ‘Other' Fan

Football gives us something better to chat about in elevators other than, 'It's hot' or 'It's really, really hot.'

The Football Fanatics Book Shelf

From Friday nights at small-town high schools to Monday evenings in NFL stadiums, fans around the country are ready for some football.

Rick Cleveland

Rick Cleveland steps out of the melting Mississippi heat and into Sneaky Beans in Fondren. "It was a mistake to walk here," he says. "I hate this heat, and I hate Yazoo clay."

Learning to Win

Near the end of August every year, I start getting jittery. Yes, I'm ready for cooler temperatures. I also like being a Libra and having an October birthday--the big 5-0 this time!--and I love the crispness and smell of Autumn air. Football weather, I call it, just like my daddy did.

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