Possumhaw: Time of the season, his and hers
For weeks now Sam has been blowing the falling leaves back into the woods where they belong. It’s a time of “abscission” described as the natural detachment of parts of a plant and ripe fruit, though typically dead leaves.
Ask Rufus: Anna Burnham, pioneer Starkville teacher
I recently came across a map published in the December 1832 issue of the Missionary Herald that showed the location of all the Indian missions and schools that were in Mississippi.
Thom Caraccio: Little boxes of rocks
One of the funniest movies of the last couple of decades was the dark comedy “Idiocracy.”
Local Voices: Indoctrination or unindoctrination?
Since 2015, both Gallup and the Pew Research Center have documented a significant decline in Americans’ confidence in higher education. The most commonly cited reason for this decline is the perceived rise of liberal or political indoctrination in college classrooms.
Slimantics: Trump’s blunders can create a paradigm shift in farming
Like a lot of folks in a state where agriculture is a major economic engine, I’ve been following the struggles farmers are facing as a result of Donald Trump’s pointless and dangerously counterproductive trade war with China.
Possumhaw: Life and Times of Beauty Rieves
Last week rummaging through my files I came upon a folder with a letter I had written in 2003 to The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce Marketing Development Division. They had put out a call for interesting churches across the state.
Thom Caraccio: Remembering Ossie
A while back I was rummaging through my closet off the bedroom, probably to find something that wasn’t a black T-shirt to wear that day, when I came across a shirt that seemed familiar but it looked like it was sized for a teenager.
Local Voices: Education: Teaching versus promoting
Since giving my first lecture in a college classroom 18 years ago, I have noticed a gradual increase in the disconnect between what takes place in the classroom and public perception.
Possumhaw: Lost Art
Last Wednesday the family sat out on the porch in the cool of the morning. The family at home includes Sam, Wilhelmina the cat, and me. We enjoyed the awakening of the first day of October.
Thom Caraccio: Would I lie to you?
It usually just takes a word to trigger my dormant mind.
Ask Rufus: Rescuing the white horses
I recently watched the 1963 Disney movie “Miracle of the White Stallions.” The movie was a fascinating and fairly accurate though condensed depiction of the saving of the Lipizzaner horses from the German SS and the Red Army at the end of World War II. It was based on one of the strangest military operations of the war.
Possumhaw: Then and now
September used to be when we returned to school. By Labor Day we were wearing flannels and knee socks. Football was up and going. The stadium was full, the game was going well, we were jumping up and down shouting our cheerleader slogans and so on.
Slimantics: Wounded Knee: A Trump love story
When Dee Brown was a child growing up in the 1920s around the oilfields of Louisiana and Arkansas, many of his playmates were Native American children, whose fathers, like Brown’s, drifted over from Oklahoma to work in the oilfields.
Thom Caraccio: Tattoo who?
I’ve been around a long long time, and you wouldn’t think I could be surprised by much of anything. In an age of strange and sometimes bizarre stuff, it’s getting harder and harder for me to raise an eyebrow.
Kimberly Ross: It’s okay to trust some science
Our binary system of politics is frustrating for those who do not align with either major political party.
Ask Rufus: William Cocke and the founding of Columbus
The entire direction of William Cocke’s life changed with the outbreak of the War of 1812. A phase of that war in the South was the Creek Indian War of 1813-1814.
Daniel Gardner: God’s turning point for America
Charlie Kirk was assassinated two weeks ago by Tyler Robinson a resident of Utah. The mainstream media has used the assassination as a political football.
Slimantics: Remembering Kaila Morris
Kaila Morris’ Facebook page doesn’t get much traffic outside of September and December.
Possumhaw: This is the day
Summer seems to linger with temperatures reaching into the 90’s by midday. Wilhemina is twisting and turning at my feet while we sit on the porch as we do most mornings. Leaves are falling but I don’t think it is because of the advent of Fall.
Wyatt Emmerich: Freedom of speech needs protecting now more than ever
The end of September is a pleasant time on the Northside.
Four local soccer teams place at state and regional tournaments
June 25, 2025
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