Ask Rufus: ‘Like a besom of destruction’
While watching the weather and storm reports Wednesday night, a tornado warning for Natchez and a tornado being reported just south of Natchez caught my attention.
Slimantics: Youth baseball has become a game of haves and have-nots
Mississippi has always had the annoying habit of making life better for the richer at the expense of the poorer.
Jiben Roy: The role of the brain: gender differences
A study has revealed that, from early childhood, girls tend to outperform boys in academic subjects, vocabulary and linguistic proficiency.
Bobby Harrison: Even after Supreme Court decision, eliminating Rep. Bennie Thompson’s district could be difficult
State Auditor Shad White and other Republican politicians gleefully boasted on social media that last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana vs. Callais could lead to the redrawing of Mississippi’s four U.S. House districts to eliminate the seatlong held by Rep. Bennie Thompson.
Possumhaw: Drought in the Prairie
This spring Mississippi, along with most of the country, is experiencing a highly unusual drought situation while starting the growing season.
Ask Rufus: Mint juleps: A southern tradition
It’s time for the Kentucky Derby, and it is time to again ponder over that traditional southern libation – the mint julep.
Slimantics: Supreme Court’s ruling is another step toward an American apartheid
Mississippians, especially — and, indeed, all Americans — should know better than to ignore the historical echoes found in recent efforts to dilute minority voting rights.
Possumhaw: Landlines and cell phones thank goodness
Mrs. Bardwell, I’m calling on behalf of the ABC Association, we are asking for donations to help support the families of the ABC. I answered thank you for calling but I’m not interested right now. I believe I’m on a no call list. Mrs. Bardwell, the no call list doesn’t cover charities. So, what does it cover?
Thom Caraccio: My friend was a teenage werewolf
When Burt Reynolds was starting out his career in the late 1950s, he met a lot of struggling actors who were in the same boat as him. Some of them eventually found their way into the big time, but most of the actors didn’t.
Ask Rufus: A story of floods and steamboats
The Tombigbee floods of 1847 and 1851 were devastating, but for two steamboats they could have been even more disastrous.
Possumhaw: Photogenic or not
A week or so ago I sat down at one of the small tables inside the coffee shop. Another lady joined me. There on the table laid out the Tuesday Dispatch.
Slimantics: Hard Times are here again for farmers
One of my favorite photographs of my mom’s side of the family shows my grandfather and grandmother with their six daughters, although you see only five of the girls because the youngest is still in grandmother’s womb.
Thom Caraccio: A dirty story for you
The United States of America is the cleanest country on Planet Earth. In all of world history. Hyper-clean. No one else is even close. You have to go to a national park or certain parts of New York City to take a break from it.
Ask Rufus: A 317-year-old Tombigbee River image
There are very few pre-1800 images of the Tombigbee River valley, or for that matter, what are now the inland parts of east Mississippi or west Alabama.
Possumhaw: Keep America Beautiful
The fisherman came in with his catch. He said the day was pretty but there was more wind than he needed. Then on the boat ramp he noticed a Styrofoam cup thrown out at the ramp.
Thom Caraccio: My years at the BR Ranch
When I went to work on my first T.V. show, B.L. Stryker, I never imagined that I would be spending many hours at what was then called Burt Reynolds Horse Ranch. I don’t even own a cowboy hat.
Ask Rufus: Lessons from a muckraker’s story
There is so much bitterness over politics in our country that an expanded version of a column I wrote five years ago is warranted.
Jiben Roy: Painting between war and peace
We are constantly amazed and inspired by the advancements in science, and we remain hopeful about its potential to improve the quality of life. However, the contribution of various art forms to the enjoyment of a truly fulfilling life is no less significant. Painting is one such art form that helps satisfy the yearnings of the human soul.
Slimantics: America’s status quo is war
According to President Trump, there may be no Iran as you drink your morning coffee.
Possumhaw: It’s coffee time
There’s nothing like a sip of coffee early in the morning, as well as another as the sun sinks in the west. My family was raised as coffee drinkers. Even as a child I was given a pretty little demitasse cup of coffee like a tea party.
