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This Fish Is Watching You
She's posed in a lime green beach chair wearing a hot pink net dress. She wears pearls, and on her head is a crown. A scepter graces her lap. Your typical Sweet Potato Queen? No, but a queen none the less. She is CleoCatra, Queen of the Pearl, a seven-foot-long fiberglass sculpture of a catfish by artist Miriam Weems. Along with 39 other sculptures, she will be on display in downtown Jackson from Thurs., May 1 through Sept. 30.
Education Under Attack
Anticipation stalked the halls of the Mississippi State Capitol. Agency heads showed up, educators camped out, advocates for children and families rallied. It was clearly crunch time. Lawmakers had only a few days to pass a budget, and they still had to fund the big-ticket items.
Farrah Gray
Farrah Gray's book "Reallionaire" (HCI, 2005, $12.95) starts off with a powerful couple of sentences: "I'm a nineteen-year-old African American male who grew up in a single-parent household. And if you believe in statistics, I'm supposed to be either in jail or dead."
We, the Dougla
The show was a wild mix. Act I: Afro-Hindu Caribbean Tribal Dance. Act II: Disco Grooves and Soul Train moves. Act III: Classic European ballet based on a Russian folktale. Watching the Dance Theatre of Harlem at Thalia Mara Hall on Thursday, Jan. 30, taught me, in vivid color, that to be American and to be human means that I am mixed. My family prides itself in not being "mixed." In the early '70s the members of the White Citizens Council hurriedly established a statewide private-school system. In fact, my 1976 diploma from a Council School contains the following words on the seal of the certificate: "States Rights and Racial Integrity."
TALK: Top 10 Things Mamas Regret at the End of the Day
1. Saying "I'll be right back, I've got to go tee tee" to my husband's childless co-workers at dinner.
Now, Where is Jackson?
"Now where exactly is Jackson?" was the response when we asked if anti-war cartoonist David Rees could stop by on his 30-cities-in-50-days book tour supporting his new book, "Get Your War On." He found us Nov. 14 when his Greyhound bus deposited him on Jefferson Street. Looking a little discombobulated and worn out from the 4 1/2 hour ride from New Orleans—and from sleeping on some punksters' sofa the night before—the North Carolinian-turned-New Yorker seemed ready for a meal and a bourbon on the rocks.
[Talk] Home to Roost
The chickens George W. Bush hatched in January 2001 when he signed the No Child Left Behind education bill are starting to come home to roost. Now in the second year of high-stakes federal testing requirements that treat every student just alike—regardless of background, special-ed status or need for remediation—public schools are beginning to feel the pressure of federally required but under-funded tests. The NCLB standards may cause them to shut their doors if they can't figure out how to bring every student up to "proficient" (next to highest out of four levels) with the sole determination being the outcomes of controversial tests.
Mass Firings and A Merry Christmas
Twelve days before Christmas, Jackson employees suddenly received a mass e-mail from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security stating that they were "registered with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security" and that they were, thus, "covered by unemployment insurance."
Let Them Braid Hair
Three African-American women from Tupelo joined an attorney from Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Aug. 5, in front of the James O. Eastland Federal Court Building downtown to demand the right to make a living. The women—an accomplished African hairbraider and two who would like to be—are filing a civil rights lawsuit in challenging the state's cosmetology laws, saying they discriminate against them because of burdensome licensing requirements that make it difficult to braid hair for a living or teach the skill of braiding to others.
A Stand-Up Guy
I used to attend public events because I felt obligated. Now that I am of a certain age, I attend only those that interest me—and, sadly, not even all of those. When I heard that Clarion-Ledger editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey would be speaking during the Millsaps Arts and Lecture Series Nov. 7, I knew immediately I wanted to be there. I've been a fan of Ramsey's cartoons since he joined the paper six or so years ago. My expectations did not, however, prepare me for his performance.
(Film/Performance) So Bad, It's Good
Scattered across the desolate solar system exist the bleary-eyed mining men of Jupiter who know nothing of women, and the sexually frustrated, all-female (Southern Belle no less) population of Venus. The surrealist noir B-movie landscape of a 1950s-style, campy black-and-white sci-fi odyssey "The American Astronaut" will be presented by director Cory McAbee—who also stars in, scored and wrote the film that began seven years ago at a Sundance Writer's Lab workshop.
Confusion, Chaos Increasing in Jackson
*Web Exclusive*
Car lines at the gas pumps can easily stretch for miles in the city of Jackson today. Stations regain their electricity, only to drain their pumps within a few hours as hungry vehicles buck and stamp for a turn at the pump. Tempers have risen and threats have been made, prompting police supervision at many pumps.
I Cannot Be Silent
"The van will leave about 5 a.m., Friday, January 17," said Landon Huey, vice chairman of the Jackson Greens and a political organizer extraordinaire. This time, he is speaking to a group of 13 people seated around the room of Computer Co-op in Rainbow Plaza. Huey is taking the show on the road, organizing a trip to the National March on Washington to demand "No War on Iraq" on Jan.18.
Chutzpah, Y'all
Then, she pursued Madonna, JFK Jr., the New York Yankees and the beautiful people at the Cannes Film Festival. Now, it's the Sweet Potato Queens and congressional candidates at the Neshoba County Fair. Photographer and New Yorker-turned-Jacksonian Suzi Altman knows who she wants to shoot and how to chase them down, sometimes wearing a "Girls Kick Ass" T-shirt. "I am quick, little and determined," said the 5-foot-3 Altman.
Silent No More
Early on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, a group of anti-abortion Mississippians gathered to erect 2,000 crosses on the lawn of the Mississippi State Capitol as a "A Memorial to the Unborn." Pro-Life Mississippi joined with the Knights of Columbus Council, a Catholic men's group, to place the crosses after getting permission from Gov. Haley Barbour's office, Pat Carterette, executive director of Pro-Life Mississippi, told the JFP. Last year, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's office approved the anti-abortion campaign, which was conceived by a national anti-abortion coalition, Silent No More, which has organized similar protests in cities throughout the United States.
Victory for HIV Inmates
On March 31, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry A. Davis ended a 15-year-long lawsuit between the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) over the treatment of HIV-positive inmates. Judge Davis' federal court order demanded an end to all sanctioned discrimination against prisoners with HIV/AIDS banned from participation in community-work programs because of their illness.
Ladies' Night
"Talking With" continues Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 29-31 at 7:30. Tickets are $10. Members and JFP readers get in for $8; just mention the JFP when you buy your ticket. Info: 982-2217.
Wanna Cig, Kid?
Gov. Haley Barbour, who was Big Tobacco's "go to" lobbyist when he was in Washington, D.C., is still maintaining that he'll veto any kind of tax bill that is laid on his desk, including a cigarette tax that most Mississippians support, according to a recent Stennis Institute of Government poll. Furthermore, Barbour thinks he has the perfect cure for Mississippi's impending Medicaid crisis—ransacking the state's health care/tobacco trust fund.
Jackson's Losses
Over the last couple weeks, Jackson lost several bright lights of our big city. We salute the memory of three who will be missed by many. Thalia Mara moved to Jackson in 1975 at the age of 64, the age when most of us are planning our retirement.
[Talk] Beauty and Mystery
September sunshine streamed through the Atrium windows at the Mississippi Arts Center as the small crowd waited. In truth, on that Friday, Sept. 26, the crowd looked like one anywhere; some members of the crowd are always seen as different, though. Why? They are disabled—some so that anyone can readily see it, with canine assistants or wheel chairs—some not so easily seen, with hearing aids or mental illnesses that have no outward physical manifestations. That day, though, they were the artists-in-residence. "The Mississippi Forum for Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities" was planned with them in mind.