Ruminating on maps
On road maps, Dad and I used to only buy these atlases that donate two pages to Mississippi. We Mississippians were, after about the ’70s-80s, relegated to a single atlas page, while Alabama (and just about every other state) got two pages per state. Indeed, in these maps, they even try to cram Mississippi’s “big cities” in the corners of the map. And more populated states, like New York, got two pages for the states, and then more pages for towns/counties.
Dad thought it was the Yankee conspiracy at first, until I pointed out Florida, Texas, Tennessee and the Carolinas (had multiple pages). Then we figured out what Deep Throat told us all was true — “follow the money.” There simply ain’t no money in poor Mississippi. Nevertheless, in spite of our puny single page, our pilgrim friends/visitors appear to have found us, and now need the map to Noah’s Ark.
Unlike our crazy former Governor Fordice pronounced on the Mississippi shore in Vicksburg a couple of decades ago, that we ought to “fleece the Yankees” with gambling, us prairie/hills folks are a bit warmer and gentler and want our visitors to look at the weather forecasts and realize that this rain will end, and yield and the flowers will light up, even more.
David Owen
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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