Partial to Home: Transplanted
In 1961 when the U.S. cut diplomatic relations with Cuba, Archie Noy’s father phoned his son and told him to come home.
Ask Rufus: Barbecue sauce
As warm weather descends on the Black Prairie and the Columbus, Starkville, West Point area, it is hard not to think of barbecues.
Slimantics: Spare the rod, end the myth
Tomorrow, April 30, is International Day to End Corporal Punishment, known here in the U.S. as National Spank Out Day.
Sid Salter: A vital record: Journal article chronicles path to changing Mississippi’s state flag
In any given publication since 1939, The Journal of Mississippi History has been an invaluable record of the institutional memory of the state of Mississippi. But few editions of the scholarly journal have been more valuable to Mississippians than is the current Vol. 84, No. 1 and No. 2 for the Spring and Summer of 2022.
Possumhaw: The book people
Books are my life. Okay, maybe not all my life but I would be so lost without them. It all started when I was born into a family of booklovers. This was before Google and streaming and color television. My mother believed in libraries. Once a week we made a trip to the William Alexander Percy Memorial Library in the Delta. Mother deposited me in the children’s sections while she wandered over to the murder mysteries.
Namaste: Are we civilized?
In the ancient times, there were wars too, but it used to happen between soldiers against opposing soldiers, king or emperor against opposing king or emperor. The ordinary people were out of life and death situations during wars.
Rufus Ward: Luxapalila fossils
It’s springtime and my favorite time of the year. Last week I wrote about the flowers of spring, and this week I will look at something I enjoy seeing even more than flowers: fossils.
Jabe Nicholson: Where Jesus and atheists agree
In a recent column, I retold Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan.
Slimantics: No need to howl over proposed dog park
If you live long enough, not much will surprise you.
Sid Salter: Medicaid expansion vote fears linked to failure of ballot initiative fix by the Legislature
One of the state’s more mainstream conservative business groups last week unveiled an unanimous resolution endorsing Medicaid expansion in Mississippi — the venerable Delta Council. The resolution, adopted by the group’s Health and Education Committee, was clear and unequivocal in calling on lawmakers to act.
Possumhaw: Fearless friendly frog
We stepped inside the greenhouse to show our visitors the blooming flowers. I led the couple while Sam followed. The greenhouse is not large but contains a mountain of plants collected over the years.
Partial to Home: The past is not even past: talking history with Rufus Ward
You grow up in a place thick with history, the descendant of two families with deep roots in that place.
You were raised by relatives who spent long hours around dinner tables and on front porches telling stories.
Ask Rufus: Every flower tells a story
At Easter, I really feel like spring is in full bloom.
Slimantics: From Aunt Tatie to Andrew and, hopefully, far beyond
My father’s baby sister, affectionately known as “Tatie” was born in 1930.
Sid Salter: Entitlement program financial instability plus inflation equals an approaching disaster
As the midterm elections approach, why isn’t their more interest in the approaching U.S. Social Security and Medicare policy abyss?
Slimantics: Skeptical cameras would increase the number of insured
On Friday, Columbus mayor Keith Gaskin vetoed the city council’s decision to allow a private company to install cameras in the city that would be used to ticket uninsured drivers.
Possumhaw: Do you see what I see?
While sitting at the breakfast table I saw a hummingbird flitting around the porch where the hummingbird feeder hung last year. I had not put the feeder out, thinking it was a bit too early, but apparently it was not early enough. By the next day I had three feeders out and two hummingbirds feeding. Of course, they were fighting even though the placement of the feeders allowed them to “social distance.”
Ask Rufus: 200 years ago Columbus flooded while flowers covered the prairie
One of my favorite descriptions of the Black Prairie was in a letter written by William Goodell, a missionary visiting the Mayhew Choctaw Mission in April 1822.
Jabe Nicholson: The original first responder
I don’t know how they do it. The first responders, I mean. Hours of boredom interspersed with heart-pounding intensity. Screaming sirens. Twisted metal. Blood everywhere. Lives changed forever. Then silence again.
Slimantics: Compounding the error
Today, 18 years after the first discussions of building a soccer complex in Columbus started, 13 years after the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors voted to secure the site for the facility at Burns Bottom and 10 years after the park opened, it’s easy to think that the project had the enthusiastic support of the entire community.
