Articles by Jan Swoope
Loaves & Fishes soup kitchen announces move, needs list
The Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen will soon reach a goal it set when it was organized in the summer of 2008 to help feed those in need. The ministry, which has been serving meals on Mondays and Fridays at the Salvation Army at 2219 Main St., will soon be moving into a permanent home — just next door, in the former location of Cash Distributing.
Sterling starters: Quick, tasty appetizers are a holiday favorite for this great cook
Janey Stubbs of Starkville is a fan of delicious appetizers that can be made up in quick order.
Having a ball this New Year’s
Like its new globe, Columbus Block Party promises to be bigger and better.
So many Santas: The spirit of Father Christmas lives year-round in Fred Kinder’s Santa collection
As the days of December advance, thoughts of Santa Claus fill the minds of the young and young-at-heart the world over. Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Sinterklaas — whatever name he’s known by, the beloved figure symbolizes the thoughtful and generous nature of Christmas. He inspires a spirit of goodness that can soften even the grinchiest of us at this time of year.
Bes’ birthday boosts Toys for Tots Christmas drive
Bes Sumrall’s birthday party had all the usual trimmings. Friends to play with, colorful balloons, a special cake and gifts — plenty of gifts. But for this Columbus toddler, there was a twist to turning 2. All the new, brightly-packaged toys brought to this party were not for Bes; they were destined for Toys for Tots and children in need in this community.
Blade’s named Wassail-meister
Blade’s Hair Design took top honors for Wassail Fest 2009, announced Main Street Columbus Wednesday.
Treasured tribute
Brenda Caradine returned from New York bearing a hat box she handled with great care. Inside, lay a laurel wreaththat almost 27 years earlier, had lain on Tennessee Williams’ body, and later his coffin, on the day of his funeral in 1983.
Beck’s ‘Battle of Okolona: Defending the Mississippi Prairie’ debuts
Near the site of the historic Civil War conflict, Friends of the Battle of Okolona will host a book signing for Dr. Brandon H. Beck’s latest release, “The Battle of Okolona: Defending the Mississippi Prairie.
Teens get real with newest JA service project
Columbus High School juniors got a taste of the real world when Junior Auxiliary of Columbus hosted a Reality Fair recently for 253 students.
Holidays send this Lowndes County cook into candy-making mode
Few things inspire a bona fide candymaker like the holidays. For Jeanette Basson, the advent of Thanksgiving and Christmas sends her straight to the high-ceilinged kitchen of her family’s 1835 Lowndes County farmhouse near the Alabama state line.
Wreath auction to benefit CAC and Link’d Young Professionals
With glittering baubles, bows — and even a doggie bone or two — a four-day silent auction Dec. 1-4 at the Rosenzweig Arts Center should make it a snap to deck the halls this Christmas season. Twenty decorated wreaths will go to the highest bidder, and lend support to two good causes at the same time.
MUW’s ‘A Christmas Pudding’ makes merry with songs and readings
‘Tis the season for song and merriment. The Mississippi University for Women Department of Music and Theatre will deliver just that with “A Christmas Pudding,” by David Birney, Thursday and Friday, Dec. 3-4. This Christmas celebration told in songs, stories, poems and tales by Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, Shaw, Longfellow, St. Luke and others takes place at 7:30 p.m. nightly in Cromwell Theatre on campus.
Stop Hunger Now offers volunteer opportunity today
“As I try to sum up what I’ve seen, smelled, tasted and touched in the past two weeks here in Eburru, words fall short of describing the desperation of the situation here. The livelihoods of all living in this town and surrounding area are perilous, and if conditions do not improve, death is certain for many … ”
Operation Christmas Child heads into final weekend
Their shopping carts give them away. The plastic shoebox-sized containers, tiny toys, toothbrushes, school supplies and small, stuffed animals are sure signs of an Operation Christmas Child shopper. Golden Triangle stores have been filled with them.
49th annual Country Store Bake Sale transcends generations
As a young girl, Jean Wilder remembers her mother baking apple crunch pies for the Country Store Bake Sale. It was only one of the delicious homemade goodies Laura Pennington made to support the preservation of the historic Stephen D. Lee Home at 316 Seventh St. N.
Scrooge and company sing their way through classic holiday tale
It’s dusk on Christmas Eve. All is cold in London’s darkening streets. As gloom settles in the accounting office of Scrooge and Marley, old Ebenezer Scrooge, that bitter miser, sparingly lights a candle at his desk. Nearby, his shivering clerk, Bob Cratchit, copies accounts.
For Debbie Gibson’s extended family, Sundays at the dinner table strengthen the ties that bind
Once upon a time, big family-style Sunday meals were the rule rather than the exception. Aromas drifting from mom’s or grandmother’s kitchen promised delicious home-cooked dishes, hot from the oven. Children, changed out of their church clothes, romped and played, before being told to go wash up.
Tennessee Williams honored in New York with induction
The late Tennessee Williams, born in Columbus in 1911, is most often associated with the vivid plays and characters he created and twice winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. But it is the Mississippi native’s poetry which inspired his induction Thursday, and in a special service today, into the American Poets’ Corner at the magnificent Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.
Debut concert launches Choral Society
The newly-formed Columbus Choral Society will present its first concert Sunday, Nov. 15, in the First United Methodist Church Artz Fellowship Hall located at the corner of College Street and Sixth Street South in Columbus.
Musicians sought to resurrect that big band sound
Gill Harris freely admits he could talk all day about the big band era.
