Browsing: OurMSVoices

Nothing heralds the hope of Spring in Mississippi like those beautiful yellow daffodils bravely poking their heads through the cold (often frost-laden) bare ground of the highways and byways of our state. 

One cold evening about a year ago I was making an impromptu drive to see my oldest son who was, at the time, attending Mississippi College in Clinton.It had been a long day and adding an unexpected 7 hour round tripper from Mobile to Clinton and back that night did not go towards filling the deficit of joy I was currently experiencing, not even a little bit. 

It’s finally February again, the month for lovers – lovers of baseball. 

Yep! Over the next two weeks, every high school and college baseball field in Mississippi will fill up with players, coaches, and fans, eager to begin another season of America’s National Pastime.  

In the remote corners of rural northeastern Mississippi, where layers of ice still cover the roads, a sense of community shined through before the sun did. Friends and neighbors who were tired, cold, and restless rose to the challenge and exemplified hospitality and care at its finest.

Baseball wasn’t invented in Mississippi but that’s what my childhood was infused with, baseball, and lots of it. 

Can you believe we are at the end of the year? I will say— 2023 has been quite a year. It seems to have passed by with the blink of an eye! From belly laughter with loved ones to tears shed secretly, if I could describe 2023 in one word for the state of Mississippi, it would be “forward”. 

My Mama Katie was a true Mississippi woman. Born in 1904, she lived all 98 years of her life in this state, and she epitomized the Mississippi tradition of true hospitality.

The values and traditions that are engrained in me from growing up in rural America, more specifically, rural Southern Mississippi, are something I don’t think about every day but, they are never more apparent than when I travel back home to Lucedale, Mississippi for the annual family Christmas gathering.

There’s that great line in the final scene of “A Christmas Story” when Ralphie, clutching his Red Ryder b-b gun, says, “the greatest Christmas gift I had ever received, or would ever receive”. I’ve always liked that quote, as it speaks not only to the joy he had with the b-b gun, but also to how Christmas memories like that can stay with us forever.

Anyway, whether some of us like it or not, school IS back in session, so I thought it would be a good time to reflect  upon some of the best/favorite teachers I had throughout my educational process in the Pascagoula School System. I’ve decided to begin with a commentary about an instructor who was probably the most exceptional classroom educator I ever had, then give bullet point comments about several others, starting that group with grade school and going forward.

I grew up in Poplarville, Mississippi. A small town that got its first redlight after I moved away to college. 

Pascagoula and Jackson County are like a mosaic, a mish-mash of colorful irregular pieces held in place by a few applications of some common plasters. No doubt this can be said of all cities, but we’ve got a lot of parts here in the Lower Pascagoula River region that are not found in other Deep South locales.

Although my father left this Earth two decades ago, I can still hear his voice echoing words of wisdom. “A…

“So this is Christmas  And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun” – John…

Want to give someone a book for Christmas this year? I have an idea for you: 60: A Year of…

With Hurricane Ida fresh on our shorelines, there is a mixture of emotion, isn’t there? Relief that our beloved coast…