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The Road Trip Issue

For some, a vacation just isn't a vacation unless they get on a plane, take a cab to a resort and spend their days baking at the pool. Putting aside the fact that I am the whitest human being on the planet—I turn a brilliant shade of cooked-crab red after 30 minutes in the sun—and bathing suits are my mortal enemies, that just sounds boring. Give me a good car, a good map and a convivial, adventurous traveling companion any time.

Beyond Bizarre

I was recently reminded of a dinner incident from when I was a kid. My mother, her friend Bill and I went to eat at my grandparents' house. In the middle of dinner, my Papaw noticed that Bill was cutting his English peas in half before he ate them and asked why. Bill looked up and slowly replied, "Sir, that way they won't roll off my fork."

JFP Chick Ball Raises $7,000 for Domestic Abuse Victims

A preliminary count shows that the 3rd annual JFP Chick Ball raised just over $7,000 for the Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl. This amount was raised through direct donations, a $5 cover charge, $5 raffle tickets for 25 door-prize packages donated by local businesses, the sale of t-shirts purchased by the Jackson alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theater sorority and a silent auction of art by dozens of artists and prize packages donated by businesses. Those prizes included diamond earrings donated by Carter Jewelers. The amount raised surpassed the total of the first two Chick Balls, which together raised about $5,000 for the center.

BREAKING: Melton Budget 'Smoke and Mirrors'

The City Council cut short a budget session today after the Melton administration failed to present detailed budget revisions.

Cheap Smokes, Empty Bellies

Legislative failures this year included the death of HB 247, which would have raised the tax on cigarettes and reduced the sales tax on Groceries. That bill died after Barbour told Appropriations Chairman Tommy Robertson to kill the bill, despite outcry from health advocacy groups and polls revealing the bill's popularity.

From Jackson to Broadway

Kit Williamson, is a young Jackson native pursuing acting in New York City. Williamson attended St. Andrews before leaving for Interlochen Arts Academy, a boarding school in Michigan. Williamson is now a sophomore at Fordham University, majoring in acting and playwriting and interned for the JFP for two summers. This interview came on the eve of his first Broadway role as an understudy in "Talk Radio," a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Eric Bogosian, based on the life of a radio shock-jock. Since then, however, Williamson is now co-starring as Spike, the protagonist's sound engineer.

Legislative Round-up—Week 6: Wasting Away

The Senate had another busy week, passing full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program Tuesday. With Gov. Haley Barbour finally onboard with fully funding MAEP—in an election year—the Senate got with the program and approved SB 238.

Some Thoughts on the 2007 Elections

With the March 1st filing deadline fast approaching, I don't see any evidence that any well-known Democrat has emerged to make a viable challenge to Haley Barbour. A channel surf to WJTV TV-13 a few minutes ago made this especially clear to me. The three announced D candidates are:

[Lott] The Oreck Challenge

Before this column takes on the big issues expected in the Senate this year, I want to address something all Mississippians should note. It's a lesson about corporate citizenship and corporate responsibility that our state should resolve to remember, particularly as we try to bring new jobs here.

Please Help With Presents for Katrina Kids

Dec. 4, 2006—Sweet Potato Queen Jill Conner Browne just forwarded us this e-mail. Everyone, please do what you can to help these children get presents this year; drop-off info in Jackson and Oxford is included at the bottom:

Gadget of The Week [11.15.06]

How can your life be truly full and rich when you don't have a personal digital projector? (I ask myself this kind of stuff all the time.) Two different companies—LumenLabs and Benq—are offering $500 projectors for the first time that might make our collective personal projector dream a reality. The LumenLab (http://www.lumenlab.com) PM Projector is the first full product from a company that focuses on do-it-yourself projector kits (PM stands for "pre-made"). It's $499 shipped, supports component and S-video input as well as VGA, has a built-in TV tuner, and it uses extremely inexpensive bulbs, unlike many professional projectors. It includes built-in speakers, a remote and picture rotation for mounting to the ceiling, if you're so inclined. The Benq model (http://www.benq.com) only offers 800x600 resolution for PC connections, but it's brighter and pre-configured for HD TV output. (It's also $100 pricier.) Hook it up to your theoretical Apple iTV device and you're in the home project theater business for just a few Cs. (Both are due for release in November, just in time for someone else to feel obliged to buy it for you. Yahtzee!)

The Fall Arts Preview: The Better Angels

I get so bored when I hear people say, "There's nothing to do in Jackson." What's even more annoying is when those same people make claims that if they were "in … [insert larger city name here] …" they would have plenty to do. There may be bigger venues and more famous artists elsewhere, but come on … there are plenty of things to do and see right here in Jackson.

Where The Streets Have No Name

I've flown to Chicago twice in a month to give writing workshops at Northwestern's journalism school, and each time I've been swept up in a wave of compassion and love. I like to think it's because so many Mississippians have made the city their home, but that may well be a bit egocentric of me.

Mississippi Organizations Prepare to Celebrate the "BEST" of the State

An upcoming awards ceremony/dinner will bring together movers and shakers from all walks of life: the Mississippi's Best Awards. "This was something that was a long time coming and months in the making," says Cyrus A. Webb, one of the event's founders and the Chief Coordinator. "We want to do all we can to highlight inclusiveness. It is our state's ability to be all things to all people that gave me the idea for the Mississippi's Best Awards (aka MBA)."

Bracelets for Cervical Cancer

Here's a novel idea: make your own cute little bracelet and fight against cervical cancer at the same time!

The Closed City

In November of last year, Jackson Free Press reporter Adam Lynch arrived at City Hall to cover a public meeting. Representatives of the sheriff's department and two county supervisors were meeting with Mayor Frank Melton in a room the mayor calls "the Oval Office," although it's really nothing but a conference room.

[In Memory] Florence Mars, 1923-2006

I didn't know Florence Mars growing up in Neshoba County. She was from a different part of town—the side that had old money. I don't have memories of her walking around town in her floppy hat like Sen. Gloria Williamson describes, or driving her little bug around town as former Neshoba Democrat editor Stanley Dearman does. I don't remember seeing her at the Neshoba County Fair. I certainly had no reason to visit the stockyard that she owned, the one that white folks boycotted for awhile.

Biden Buzzes, Bites and Brays

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware, will headline the April 22 Democratic Elected Officials Appreciation Dinner at the Jackson Trade Mart Building on the Mississippi Fairgrounds.

Who said pot dealers aren't creative?

The Smoking Gun is carrying an article concerning the busting of a "pot ring" in California

This is just for entertainment.

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