v11n15 - GOOD Ideas: Ending Poverty, How Can You Help?

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December 19 - 25, 2012

TRIP BURNS

JACKSONIAN REV. REDDIT ANDREWS III

R

ev. Reddit Andrews III believes all good theology should be practical.

“Lots of theology is abstract, but good theology doesn’t stop at that,” he says.

A Yankee by birth (he was born and reared in Hartford, Conn.), Andrews joined the Reformed Theological Seminary in west Jackson in May as an assistant professor of practical theology, focusing on how theology affects local churches.

Now 51, Andrews says he experienced an epiphany when he was 25.

“I was lost, as lost as can be,” he says.

Andrews comes from a long line of Baptist deacons, but his parents divorced when he was 11 and his mother raised him “outside the church.” Still, he was interested in spiritual things, even as a child. His reawakening occurred at the end of a 15-year search.

“Near the end of that period, the Lord really started drawing me,” he says. “I was resisting. I remember walking down the street one day and almost talking to the sky, saying, ‘I’m not interested!’”

He chuckles, remembering the day.

Things came to a head on New Year’s Eve in 1987. Within two weeks, his mother and his wife, Nadine, returned to the church as well.

Andrews earned an undergraduate degree in biblical studies at Trinity International University in Miami and a master’s of divinity from TIU’s Illinois campus. From there, he served as a pastor in Florida, Georgia and,

CONTENTS

most recently, Sacramento, Calif.

“Christianity really is a religion that calls forth the best, intellectually, when it’s understood properly,” he says. “It explains life from the top down and places us where we should be: under God and on equal footing with all other human beings.”

Recently, the church has been guilty of having a “selective prophetic voice” about political issues, Andrews says. Both conservatives and liberals take portions of God’s message and treat it as the whole thing, dividing and co-opting the church for political ends.

He believes the truth falls in the middle: Those on the left fall short when they don’t condemn what falls outside the will of God, he says, but those on the right could do with more compassion.

Andrews says he and his wife are in Mississippi for the long haul. The couple has two daughters: Felice, 21, and Shannon, 12.

The key to the church making a difference in the systemic issues that have plagued Mississippi for decades—racism and poverty—is to remind Christians that they have a new identity in Christ, and there, race becomes unimportant.

“We’re incredibly sinful,” he says. “Once we get off track, the tendency is to take the Bible and to interpret it to justify where we are. Freedom comes when we can no longer use the Bible to support something that is evil.”

—Ronni Mott

Cover graphic by Kristin Brenemen

10 Boosting Scholar-Athletes

Jackson State University will receive $900,000 over the next three years to support athletes and boost their likelihood of graduating with a degree on time.

30 Southern Humor

“Some of (the lines in ‘Sh*t Southern Women say) really hit home for me. A lot of them, like the ‘shi-yit’ crack me up. … For me, I’m a little bit girly, so the pageant thing was funny, the line, ‘Oh my God, I know her, we used to do pageants together.’ That’s so Mississippi, because I used to dance in the Miss Mississippi pageant for eight years. So that was my childhood before I went to college. I was never in the pageants, but I saw it, I lived it.” —Katherine Bailess, “Talking Southern Sh*t”

36 Slow Hobbitses

The first installment of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is a sumptuous sight, but sluggish to sit through.

jacksonfreepress.com

4 ............................. EDITOR’S NOTE 6 ................................................ YOU 8 ............................................ TALKS 12 ............ NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT 14 .................................. EDITORIAL 14 ................. EDITORIAL CARTOON 15 .................................... OPINION 16 ............................. GOOD IDEAS 30 .............................. DIVERSIONS 31 ....................................... 8 DAYS 32 ............................... JFP EVENTS 33 ....................................... MUSIC 35 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS 36 .......................................... FILM 36 ...................................... SPORTS 37 ................................. ORGANICS 38 ..........................................FOOD 39 ................... GIRL ABOUT TOWN 41 .............................. ASTROLOGY 42 ......................... FLY GIFT GUIDE

COURTESY NEW LINE CINEMA; XXXXX; JACOB FULLER

DECEMBER 19 - 25, 2012 | VOL. 11 NO. 15

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EDITOR’S note

by Donna Ladd, Editor-in-Chief

Where There’s A Will …

I

’ve had a lot of unusual stress dreams in the last week, and it wasn’t just the flu medicine. It wasn’t just the images of children escaping an elementary school leaving their massacred friends behind. It was also because I’ve been doing deep and sobering research for this special GOOD Ideas issue on poverty.

I already knew that poverty isn’t something one solves merely by getting a job. And I understand well that cycles of poverty originate from historic events that, if not equalized, create generations of people who cannot defeat the fate of their elders. I also am aware that wealth creation is very difficult when the playing field isn’t level; when so many people couldn’t get home or business loans into the 1990s because banks “redlined” them due only to their ethnicity; when some schools are so much better funded than others.

I know, like gun violence, poverty is complicated, and we cannot solve it by only focusing on one spoke of the wheel.

But in my research, I learned horrifying things I didn’t fully understand, at least more than anecdotally, about the reasons for poverty. Like this: The poor earn less today in absolute dollars then they did 40 years ago because American companies shut down manufacturing jobs in the United States, often moving them to other countries where they pay their workers barely a living wage and, in some cases, allow sweatshop conditions to exist, increasing poverty there, too.

Those manufacturing jobs usually were full-time with good hourly wages, regular schedules, health benefits and opportunity for advancement. People who dropped out of high school even could make a decent living and care for their families.

As we show in this issue, male highschool dropouts between ages 25 and 34 earned an average of $35,087 a year (in 2002 dollars) in 1971. Thirty years later, by 2002, the average had dropped 35 percent to $22,903 a year. And this drop affects African

American men but is bad for all men who don’t attend college. Female dropouts’ average earnings were only $19,888, but have dropped, too, to $17,114.

The Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty attributes this change directly to the jobs that are available now to replace the manufacturing jobs for the unskilled and low-educated: service jobs. These jobs are often part-time with low hourly pay and shifting hours (making family care dif-

We can’t ignore gun violence or poverty in the United States any longer. ficult and costly), little or no health benefits, and minimal room for growth. As a result, in the 21st century, high-school dropouts and even graduates who don’t attend college are much more likely to live in poverty than decades ago—based on sheer math and the jobs that are available. And this study was done before the recession started.

It also may surprise you to know that far more white Americans live in poverty than people of color—although non-whites are more likely to be pulled into it due to deep-rooted causes and factors more prevalent in their communities.

Availability of decent jobs is far from the only factor pulling and keeping people in poverty, but this manufacturing-to-service-jobs slide illustrates something very important: Opportunity is slipping in America even as the rich are getting richer and the

wealth-inequality gap is widening, including here in Mississippi. Put another way, poverty in America is not about a nation of moochers, as some fools would tell us: It is about the lack of opportunity and barriers to wealth creation. It is about not being able to earn enough to pay for child care. It is about not having adequate health care, leaving you unable to work because you’re sick too often and can’t afford to go to the doctor.

All of these factors, and more as you’ll see in this issue, cost society and taxpayers more resources than if we figured out intelligent ways to break the cycle of poverty, especially for all the children living in it.

Instead, many policy proposals would have the exact opposite effect, much as all the mental-health cuts since the Reagan era have left more mentally ill people without proper care or oversight.

That brings us to the other costs of poverty: innocent lives. The research about cycles of poverty show how interconnected poverty and crime are: One leads to the other leads to the other, and so on. The longer we ignore this and resort to overly simplistic responses such as “it’s up to the family,” we will all be hurt by the crime our denial brings.

It’s also important to understand that not everyone who lives in poverty is in what many consider to be a “bad” neighborhood.

Many households headed by women, especially, fall below the poverty line and are more likely to in the presence or aftermath of domestic abuse. In today’s U.S., where the new normal is companies saying they must move jobs offshore, young people of all backgrounds and races who aren’t ready for higher education have few job choices.

Add to that the “poverty of spirit” that breeds in many of our communities, from the inner cities to gated suburban subdivisions, with many young glued to their computers and TVs rather than interacting with and learning the experiences of a diverse group of peers, and we have a recipe for the kind of

disaster we saw last week in Connecticut.

I believe I was having stress dreams because these problems are so damn hard to deal with. I’m guilty myself: I’ve studied juvenile justice and isolation issues in-depth; I’ve done shelves full of research on gun violence and school shootings; and I’ve long been interested in poverty issues. But even here at the JFP, we shy away from tackling gun violence (and gun access) often enough, or calling for people to immediately address the growing poverty in our state and nation and helping create a roadmap for it.

Why? With guns, you get tired of being pecked to death by a lot of ducks quacking nonsensical analogies (and having to remind them over and over again that, yes, cars and buses are already regulated more than guns).

And with poverty, it can seem so damn daunting that it is easier to focus on corruption and mindless politics like voter ID. But here’s the thing: We can’t ignore gun violence or poverty in the United States any longer. Yes, they are difficult to solve, but so was ending Jim Crow in Mississippi, and that happened. And we can’t pick one over the other because one feeds the other in so many ways, directly and indirectly.

We also cannot believe that there is one answer to either of these crises. We will fail if we decide we must pick one of the factors to address, and ignore the others. We don’t have the luxury of dealing with access to assault weapons and not mental health, or vice versa. We don’t have the time to mull whether to focus on at-least adequate education for all kids or on reducing domestic abuse or on getting good health care to all citizens. It’s not either-or. We must get to work on all of those things at once for any to succeed.

This is a hard truth. But there has never been a better time to face hard truths. Babies are being blown away at school, and children are hungry at home. We must move past division, dumb analogies and divisive politics, and get busy healing our nation. Let’s roll.

December 19 - 25, 2012

CONTRIBUTORS

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Ronni Mott

R.L. Nave

Larry Morrisey

Briana Robinson

Mike Day

Bryan Flynn

Jane Flood

Trip Burns

Ronni Mott came to Jackson by way of D.C. in 1997. She’s an award-winning writer and the JFP’s news editor, where she practices her hobbies of herding cats. She teaches yoga in her spare time. She contributed to the GOOD package.

Reporter R.L. Nave grew up in St. Louis, graduated from Mizzou (the University of Missouri), and lived a bunch of other places before coming to Jackson.

Call him at 601-362-6121 ext. 12.

He wrote news stories.

Larry Morrisey is the director of grants programs for the Mississippi Arts Commission. He is a host for “Mississippi Arts Hour,” the agency’s arts interview radio show on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. He wrote a music feature.

Deputy Editor Briana Robinson’s hobbies include photography, ballet and ballroom dancing. She is a junior at Millsaps College. Briana wrote a music feature.

At the “Hindsonian” at Hinds Community College, Mike Day won top cartoonist awards from the Mississippi Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in New York.

Sports writer Bryan Flynn is a lifelong Mississippi native who lives in north Jackson. He also writes a national blog, playtowinthegame.com. He lives with his wife and their four cats.

Follow him @jfpsports. Bryan wrote the sports stories.

Jane Flood has led a full life. She has lived in, visited and tasted cuisine the world over. She has taught pilates to Saints, written a romance novel and fed Thai royalty. She currently lives in Fondren. Jane wrote a food feature.

Trip Burns is a graduate of the University of Mississippi where he studied English and sociology. He took many of the photos in this issue.

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December 19 - 25, 2012

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jacksonfreepress.com

Harvey Johnson, Jr. - Mayor

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12/5/12 1:08 PM

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Thursday, Dec. 13 Mississippi authorities investigate bomb threats to 29 county courthouses.

They find no bombs. â&#x20AC;Ś The U.S. Labor Department reports that applications for unemployment benefits fell to the second-lowest total this year.

Friday, Dec. 14 The Mississippi Development Authority names Malcolm White the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Director of Tourism. â&#x20AC;Ś A shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., leaves 28 dead, of which 20 are 6- and 7-year-old children.

Saturday, Dec. 15 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sustains a concussion after fainting because of dehydration.

Sunday, Dec. 16 Police in Alabama kill two suspects following separate shooting incidents that leave three others dead and several injured, including two officers. â&#x20AC;Ś President Barack Obama attends an interfaith memorial service in Newtown, Conn., for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.

December 19 - 25, 2012

Monday, Dec. 17 Hinds County supervisors discuss plans to improve the Jackson/Hinds library system, including upgrading internet service and having libraries open later. â&#x20AC;Ś Police arrest Kyle Bangayan, 24, of Pomona, Calif., for making threats against Los Angeles elementary schools.

Authorities confiscate nine weapons and ammunition from his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home, including rifles, a shotgun and handguns.

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Tuesday, Dec. 18 The Jackson City Council comes to an agreement with the mayor to approve contracts for a financial advisory team for a water-system improvement project. â&#x20AC;Ś President Obama says he will actively support efforts to reinstate an assault weapons ban and legislation to close the â&#x20AC;&#x153;gunshow loophole,â&#x20AC;? which allows people to buy guns without background checks.

Get news updates at jfpdaily.com.

Voter Exit Poll â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A Wasteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

by Ronni Mott

A

fter spending $34,000 in taxpayer approved the measure by 62 percent on a â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a very accurate measure,â&#x20AC;? said funds to poll Mississippi voters 2010 ballot initiativeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which Hosemann Joe Lenski, Edisonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s co-founder and execuNov. 6, Secretary of State Delbert pushed after lawmakers failed to pass a voter tive vice president, via streaming video at the Hosemannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new exit poll has con- ID law in the 2009 sessionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the state conference. Edisonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exit polls are highly refirmed what voter ID opgarded; a consortium of meponents have been saying dia including The New York all along: Those most at risk Times and the Associated for disenfranchisement unPress rely on their voter data. der voter ID laws are black, Brad Chism, a partner poor or young. in the Washington, D.C.â&#x20AC;&#x153;The overall finding based research firm Zata|3, is that more than 98 percalled the poll â&#x20AC;&#x153;a waste of cent of Mississippi voters taxpayer dollars.â&#x20AC;? He would reported having at least one never have used an exit poll of the eight forms of photo to ascertain how many peoidentification,â&#x20AC;? the report ple lack voter ID, he said. states, leaving 1.7 percent of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like asking people voters either without IDs or getting out of their cars at not answering the question. work if they have a driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Applying that percentage license,â&#x20AC;? Chism said. An acto Mississippians eligible to curate survey should have vote represents more than included potential votersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; 38,000 people. those who are registered Opponents say that Secretary of State Delbert Hosemannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voter The survey results but did not voteâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not only exit poll is the wrong way to determine numbers of potentially show that 97 percent of those who showed up, he disenfranchised voters. Hosemann is seated in the photo, above. white voters had IDs, as said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Regardless, the Concompared to 84 percent of black voters. Legislature passed the law last year. stitution says that every citizen has a right to Only 83 percent of those between 18- and Calling the poll â&#x20AC;&#x153;an historic effortâ&#x20AC;? dur- vote, not 98 percent have a right to vote.â&#x20AC;?

24-years-old and 80 percent of those with ing last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s news conference, Hosemann Chism said that the poll was self-serving incomes less than $15,000 had ID. said it was the largest Election Day survey on Hosemannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part, albeit a smart move.

The eight forms of ID referenced, from ever completed in Mississippi. New Jerseyâ&#x20AC;&#x153;The Constitution is not up for majordriverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s licenses to gun carry permits, are the based Edison Research randomly selected 30 ity vote,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trying to do is permissible types of identification under the polling places in the state, and drew from a justify something that is patently illegal and stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed voter ID law. Mississippians sample of 5,965 voters. unconstitutional, and no amount of COURTESY DELBERT_HOSEMAN

Wednesday, Dec. 12 Police conduct a manhunt for three inmates released by mistake from the Hinds County Detention Center. â&#x20AC;Ś A gunman opens fire on shoppers in a Portland, Ore., mall, killing two and wounding a third before killing himself.

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Poverty The causes, effects and solutions to poverty are complex. There are no easy answers.

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survey work can fix that.â&#x20AC;? Hosemann is wrong to push for voter ID, Chism said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We need to do everything we can to increase voter turnout, not suppress it.â&#x20AC;?

Opponents of voter ID laws point to already anemic voter participation, saying that voters donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need additional barriers at the polls. In the recent presidential elections, only 57.4 percent of eligible voters turned out nationwide, down from 62.3 percent in 2008 and 60.4 percent four years earlier, reported the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University.

Bear Atwood, legal director of the Mississippi ACLU, believes that just the confusion over whether IDs were necessary in November probably had a chilling effect on Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turnout. Of the roughly 2.3 million Mississippians eligible to vote in November, only 1.2 million cast ballots. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m surprised that (Hosemann) believes this survey is such an important piece of information,â&#x20AC;? she said. Atwood called the survey â&#x20AC;&#x153;an incredibly small sampleâ&#x20AC;? of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;selfselecting group.â&#x20AC;? If the survey has any value, she added, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that it proves what opponents have been saying all along. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People who are disproportionately impacted (by voter ID laws) are African American citizens, poor citizens, young citizens,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Looking at the survey in the best light, in terms of its effectiveness, it says exactly what we think.â&#x20AC;?

The survey also bears out results of a Brennan Center for Justice report issued this summer, a report Hosemann called â&#x20AC;&#x153;pur-

presents

LEON RUSSELL with SHANNON MCNALLY

posely inaccurate and misleading,â&#x20AC;?

Hosemann, however, said his exit poll gives his office an idea of the Mississippians who will need assistance getting proper IDs. Implementation plans â&#x20AC;&#x153;meet every state and constitutional guideline,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Ś We will now proceed in the process of finding this 1.7 percentâ&#x20AC;? to provide them with IDs. That leaves at least two unanswered questions: Is voter ID necessary and how much will it cost. Proponents say it will prevent voter fraud; however, the Mississippi attorney generalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office said it has handled 38 cases of voter fraud in the past five years, the majority of which involve absentee ballotsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; a problem voter ID wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t address. The cost of implementationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from providing transportation to installing cameras in all 82 county circuit-clerk officesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is unknown. Hosemann said his office has issued requests for proposals, but implementation funds were not included when lawmakers passed the law.

Federal law may prevent Mississippi from enacting voter ID. Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the U.S. Department of Justice must approve laws that change the rules for voters in several statesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;most in the Southâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with a history of voter suppresardenland_JFP1_4BLOCKbw_LeonRussell.indd sion. Congress enacted that process, called preclearance, to prevent discriminatory practices, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, in widespread use during the Jim Crow era to prevent African Americans from voting.

Comment at www.jfp.ms. Email Ronni Mott at ronni@jacksonfreepress.com. See more voter ID coverage at jfp.ms/voterID.

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TALK | education

NCAA Helping Athletes Earn Degrees

by Jacob D. Fuller

J

JACOB D. FULLER

ackson State University and the lion fund that a U.S. District judge ordered institutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NCAA infraction history and a NCAA are trying to help student- the NCAA to create in 2008 to help former demonstrated sustainability of the initiative athletes earn their degrees, even if student-athletes earn career development by the university. that means sticking around a little skills. The ruling came from a class-acThe university is required to match 25 longer than four years. tion lawsuit in which the plaintiffs claimed percent of the NCAA funds the first year, 50 Nationwide, only 55 percent of four- NCAA rules limiting grants-in-aid to percent the second and 75 percent the third year college entrants earned a degree year. For those matches, JSU is getin that time period, a study by the ting help from the SWAC, which University of Tennesseeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center for will provide $400,612 in matching Business and Economic Research funds. JSU will provide $50,000 to and the Tennessee Higher Educathe program. tion Commission revealed. At JSU, Meyers hopes the additional only 20 percent complete their defunding will further the recent posigree in four years; 40 percent comtive trend in athletesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance plete it within six years. in the classroom. Those improveAt Jackson State, 95 percent ments, Meyers said, are due in large of students receive some form of fipart to new initiatives for studentnancial aid to fund their educations. athletes that include a stricter class Many students, including studentattendance policy, extended studyThe NCAA is giving Jackson State University $900,000 athletes, rely on scholarships. When hall hours and immediate penalties to improve the academic performance of studentthose sports scholarships dry up, for students who do not attend, and athletes. Only 20 percent of JSU athletes complete a degree in four years. many are left without a degree and new tutoring resources. without the means to pay for furâ&#x20AC;&#x153;This grant will allow us to build ther school hours. tuition, room and board in certain sports on these (programs) and to institutionalize The NCAA, with the help of JSU and was a restriction of trade. these support measures,â&#x20AC;? Meyers said. five other pilot participants, is putting big A committee of NCAA representatives Under NCAA rules, athletic teams money into the 930 Initiative, which will chose JSU as one of six universities nation- must have a minimum average APR of 930 focus on trying to find out what universities wide to receive grants from the Limited- over the two most-recently completed years, can do to help those student-athletes earn Resource Institutions Grant Program Pilot. or 900 over the last four years to compete in their degrees in four years, or stay and com- The pilot will provide between $330,000 tournaments, championships or bowl games. plete their degree requirements after they ex- and $900,000 to the six institutions over the That is why JSU is calling its program the haust their athletic eligibility. next three years.

930 Initiative. All of JSUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teams meet this â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone here is committed to acaâ&#x20AC;&#x153;Jackson State University is thrilled to yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minimum requirements. demic success,â&#x20AC;? Athletics Director Vivian be selected by the NCAA for this innovative Comment at www.jfp.ms. Email Jacob Fuller said at a press conference Dec. 11. program,â&#x20AC;? JSU President Carolyn W. Mey- D. Fuller at jacob@jacksonfreepress.com. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jackson State will enhance and embrace this ers said at the press conference.

930 Initiative.â&#x20AC;?

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TALK | state

Enviros Warn of ‘Kemper Cliff’

by R.L. Nave

T

BGR Group approximately $2.6 million, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics.

The Sierra Club maintains that lignite is dirtier than other varieties of coal, which would harm the environment, and that the utility’s ratepayers will bear the burden of re-

tional electricity and that mining and burning lignite, a soft coal that is abundant in the state, is the cheapest way to do it. They also point to the creation of thousands of jobs associated with constructing and running the plant as a boon to the state’s economy.

In a Nov. 15 editorial that appeared in several Mississippi newspapers, without mentioning his firm’s involvement, Barbour faulted the Sierra Club’s legal wrangling for Kemper’s setbacks.

The Sierra Club has filed several lawsuits Kemper County residents held a rally this spring to voice their to block the opposition to Mississippi Power Co.’s building a coal-fired power plant Kemper plant in their backyard. and numerous other coal-fired paying cost overruns and delays. power plants around the country from goBut Barbour and other supporters of ing forward. the project say that Mississippi requires addiThe dueling public relations camR.L. NAVE

he Mississippi Sierra Club is warning about a controversial power project sending electricity ratepayers over the “Kemper Cliff.”

Drawing a comparison with the ongoing and potentially calamitous congressional budget deadlock, state Sierra Club Director Louie Miller believes going ahead with a 582-megawatt lignite-coal plant in Kemper County could also have dire consequences for customers of Mississippi Power Co. “It’s going to be the largest transfer of wealth in those 23 counties from the guy who’s got the meter on the side of his house to the skyscraper in Atlanta,” Miller said, referring to the headquarters of Southern Co., Mississippi Power’s parent company.

Debate over the plant has heated up in recent weeks with the Sierra Club accusing one of the project’s most high-profile backers, former Gov. Haley Barbour, of not telling the whole truth about his boosterism for the plant.

Specifically, the Sierra Club points to Southern Co.’s hiring of BGR Group, a lobbying firm founded in 1991 as Barbour, Griffith & Rogers.

Since 2000, Southern Co. has paid

paigns took another turn when Montgomery, Ala.-based Project for Affordable Clean Energy put out criticized Brandon Presley, the most vocal opponent on the Mississippi Public Service Commission, for shilling for the Sierra Club.

“Given an opportunity to support this exciting project, Commissioner Brandon Presley chose instead to advance the radical environmental agenda of a group with no vision for our energy future other than to make electricity beyond affordable,” PACE said, referring to the Sierra Club.

Presley shook off the charges that he’s a Sierra Club puppet, saying that he’s only concerned about the “kitchen-table economics” of the project.

Presley, a Democrat, also finds similarities between the Kemper County and the national economic debate in which Republicans have been reluctant to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

“There seems to be a lack of indignation and a lack of recognition that raising power rates hurts just as much as raising taxes,” Presley said.

Comment at www.jfp.ms. Email R.L. Nave at rlnave@jacksonfreepress.com.

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TALK | nonprofit spotlight

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hen the Jackson Free Clinic organization or cause for their contribu- A-Class. A grant from the Community wanted to expand its facili- tions, specify a category (such as educa- Fund of Greater Jackson funded the proties, the Community Fund tion or arts), or allow the CFGJ to make gram, which was one of five school-comof Greater Jackson helped grants as they are needed in Hinds, Madi- munity partnerships to receive a 2011 make it happen. son and Rankin counties.

Governor’s Award.

The clinic, staffed by medical stuAt Millsaps College, the fund allowed The fund also holds other nonprofits’ dents from the University of Mississippi endowments, such as those owned by the Medical Center under the supervision Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and the of UMMC’s doctors, aids underserved Greater Belhaven Foundation, growing patients, particularly the poor and and administering the funds. Typically, elderly. Since its inception more a set percentage of an endowment than a decade ago, the clinic remains untouched while the steadily increased the numorganization uses the interest bers of people it served, Hous it earns in its operations. t ing an men p o l and by last spring, it was Last year, the fund d She e Dev lter in desperate need to awarded more than n Youth e Te renovate and enlarge $2.2 million in grants He r o cy f its space. and scholarships for alt The ns nan h “The medical purposes as diverse as o i Ca Community Fund ut reg l re students got so endisaster relief and aniSo P of Greater Jackson ergized about raising mal shelters to eduProviding entry points the money. They saw cation and the arts. n to combat poverty a need,” says Jane In the past, much of o i at Alexander, president the grant funds have and inequality c u and CEO of the comgone into educational Ed munity fund (and a programs in Hinds and Nonp lifelong Jacksonian), but Madison counties, but re rofits u t l u C they didn’t know how to Alexander wants to expand d n Arts a go about setting things up. the CFGJ’s reach, especially “When they found out about into Rankin County. us, they said, ‘This is great.’”

“We connect people who The clinic turned to the CFGJ give with needs that matter,” Alexto manage the funds it raised in the ander says. “… There is a business of community, more than $300,000, which philanthropy. It’s not just about the cause; helped them double the clinic’s size. The it’s also about how you’re going to fund fund took care of the “back office” finanit. Because anybody can give away lots of cial aspects, leaving the doctors free to the school to make an impact in a local money at one time but then, there’s not continue their work. public school. Under Millsaps’ “1 Cam- any more (money). This idea of building CFGJ is a nonprofit financial insti- pus, 1 Community” umbrella, the “100% toward the future so that future generatution, founded in 1994, that matches Adopt-A-Class” program linked with tions … can benefit … is really what I like philanthropists with organizations in the Brown Elementary School to provide 600 best about my job.”

Jackson area doing beneficial work in the hours of volunteer service, such as tutorFor information on donating, grants community. The fund allows donors to ing, a science fair and field trips—and and more, visit cfgreaterjackson.org, call give “for good, forever,” by pooling and $15,000 in volunteer, academic and en- 601-974-6044, or email info@cfgj.org. The maximizing donors’ investments into the richment resources. Every Brown stu- Community Fund of Greater Jackson is locommunity. Donors can designate the dent received attention through Adopt- cated at 525 E. Capitol St., Suite 5B.

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Prayer, Preparation and Patience

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ev. Cletus: â&#x20AC;&#x153;God bless you, listening audience. This is your car sales pastor closing out another pre-Christmas holiday edition of the Rev. Cletus Car Sales Church radio broadcast. Before I end the show, I want to invite my listeners to the Rev. Cletus Car Sales Church Christmas Holiday Ecumenical Service. This special church service is dedicated to the newly disenfranchised middle class, working poor, long-term unemployed and anyone suffering during this great recession. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As we approach a new year preceded by events such as the Mayan prediction of end of the world, politicians arguing about the fiscal cliff, aftermath of a mall shooting, etc., I thought this would be a perfect time to bring people together in unity and diversity. Also, I believe this is a great opportunity to help people deal with economic and emotional uncertainty through prayer, preparation and patience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This Christmas Eve, 2012, in the big, large-car showroom of the church, I will lead a one-hour early morning prayer vigil for the people, politicians and corporate CEOs who just refuse to hire folk. I pray that the Creator will execute a miraculous master plan to bring peace, happiness, financial security, jobs and affordable health care in 2013. The prayer vigil will be followed by an ecumenical service featuring Chief Crazy Brotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Christmas gospel play titled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;All I Want For Christmas Is A Job.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Please come spend Christmas Eve at Rev. Cletus Car Sales Church, where you will ride off with a blessing.â&#x20AC;?

Hosemannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Data Prove Him Wrong

B â&#x20AC;&#x153;car nageâ&#x20AC;?

December 19 - 25, 2012

³:H DVN ZK\ WKHUH LV YLROHQFH LQ RXU VFKRROV EXW ZH KDYH V\VWHPDWLFDOO\ UHPRYHG *RG IURP RXU VFKRROV 6KRXOG ZH EH VR VXUSULVHG WKDW VFKRROV ZRXOG EHFRPH D SODFH RI FDUQDJH"´ °&ORMER !RKANSAS GOVERNOR AND CURRENT &OX .EWS PUNDIT -IKE (UCKABEE AFTER &RIDAY´S DEADLY SHOOTING IN #ONNECTICUT THAT LEFT DEAD

14

Why it stinks: Good grief. Huckabee is wrong on the law and wrong theologically.

First, the law hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x153;systematically removed Godâ&#x20AC;? from schools.

Christian studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and students of all faithsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;can pray any time as long as they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t disrupt classes. They can invite classmates and teachers to worship services; they can say grace before meals, and can organize and participate in after-school religious clubs. What the First Amendment restricts are public-school teachers and students putting their religions on the syllabus and forcing those with different beliefs to learn or conform to religious doctrine in the classroom. Those teachings belong in churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and homes. America is not a theocracy, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basic constitutional separation of church and state that guarantees religious freedom for all of us.

Second, from most theological points of view (including the majority of Christian sects), God is omnipresent. Believers know that people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the power to remove God from designated brick-and-mortar buildings. And few believe that God is so personally petty and spiteful that he would slaughter 6- and 7-year-olds because he is pissed off that our Constitution doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the government telling us how and when to pray.

ad public policy, like bad personal decisions, takes a lot of justification to get folks in your corner. So it is with Secretary of State Delbert Hosemannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voter exit poll, which he commissioned to find out who and how many Mississippians lack an ID. Few media sources have done more than parrot Hosemannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conclusion, that â&#x20AC;&#x153;onlyâ&#x20AC;?

1.7 percent of Mississippi voters (about 40,000 people) lack one of eight forms of acceptable voter ID, and that Hosemann has all the bases covered to ensure everyone who wants to vote will be able to do so. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one way of looking at it.

A quick look at the actual data, however, gives a different view. The pollâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s data prove exactly what voter ID opponents have been saying for years: The people most likely to be disenfranchised are the poor, minorities (African Americans, in Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case) and younger people.

We think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a remarkable conclusion given that Hosemann has accused reputable researchers of being intentionally misleading when they came to the same bottom line. Imagine his chagrin when the results came out.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot more that Hosemann isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t saying, of course, such as why heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pushing voter ID at all. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard it here before: Voter ID is a solution looking for a problem. But the state attorney generalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office has prosecuted only 38 cases of voter fraud in five years, and the majority of those involve absentee balloting, which

wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be resolved by voter IDs at the polls.

Hosemann, along with a cadre of likeminded Republicans across the nation, would love for their constituents to believe that voter ID is good for democracy. But the fact that at-the-polls voter fraud is virtually non-existent speaks volumes about a darker motive: voter suppression.

Voter ID isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t about protecting voters at all; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about winning elections. A few Republicans have publicly admitted as much, though none in Mississippi, yet.

Beyond the underhanded motivations, Mississippi taxpayers will be on the hook to pay the bill for implementing this unnecessary burden. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not upset by the civil-rights implications or if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not livid about how voter ID will disenfranchise voters instead of expanding the franchise, you should be furious over having to foot the bill for unneeded regulation.

Beyond what it will cost to ferry those without transportation to get IDs, the cost of cameras, card production and extending hours in many locationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and defending lawsuitsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the state could lose revenue from fees generated for non-driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license IDs. How much? No one knows.

We find it unconscionable that public officials want to add unnecessary costs to a state budget that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t manage either adequate education funding or health care for its citizens. Voter ID is the wrong priority for Mississippians. You may want to let Hosemann know.

Email letters to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019 or mail to P.O. Box 5067, Jackson, MS 39296. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Or write a 300-600-word â&#x20AC;&#x153;Your Turnâ&#x20AC;? and send it by email, fax or mail above with a daytime phone number. All submissions are subject to fact checks.

JOE ATKINS

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O

XFORD â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mr. Samâ&#x20AC;? said it best 20 years ago: â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the beginning, I was so chintzy. â&#x20AC;Ś I really didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pay my employees very well,â&#x20AC;?

Walmartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ounder wrote in his 1992 autobiography, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sam Walton: Made in Americaâ&#x20AC;?

(Bantam). â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was so obsessed with turning in a profit margin of 6 percent or higher that I ignored some of the basic needs of our people, and I feel bad about it.â&#x20AC;?

Not bad enough, however, to change the course or culture of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest retailer. Walmartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;chintzyâ&#x20AC;? attitude toward the wages and benefits of its workers isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t news. What may be news to many, however, is just how bad it is for workers at Walmart suppliers around the world.

This became clear Nov. 24 when a fire broke out in the Tazreen garment factory in Bangladesh, killing 112 workers.

They burned to death in a building without fire exits. The factory produced apparel for Walmart and Samâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club as well as for Sears, Disney, Sean Combsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Enyce and others.

Walmart was quick to distance itself from the tragedy. Spokesmen said the company had ended relations with the factory prior to the fire and even conducted an audit that indicated safety problems there.

Investigations by The New York Times, Bloomberg News and others have indicated, however, that a third of the factoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production lines were committed to Walmart and also, suppliers still used it this year.

In addition, Walmart apparently took a lead role in opposing a 2011 effort to have corporations fund improved safety measures within the South Asian garment industry. Bloomberg News reporters uncovered a document where one top Walmart official described funding such measures as â&#x20AC;&#x153;not financially feasible.â&#x20AC;?

The garment and textile industries that once were the cornerstone of the U.S. Southâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy are now spread throughout Asia. In Bangladesh alone, they are a $20 billion-a-year enterprise. Walmart is a $1 billion customer of Bangladeshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s garment factories.

At the Tazreen factory, 70 percent of the 1,400 workers are women, who make up most of the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce. Wages are minimal, benefits few, hours long and working conditions poor. An investigation

by Dhaka fire officials after the Tazreen tragedy showed that at least 64 of 232 nearby factories have safety problems.

In September, an even worse tragedy took place in Karachi, Pakistan, where 262 textile workers died in a horrible fire.

Three weeks earlier, the industry-backed nonprofit Social Accountability Interna-

tional gave the factory a thumbs-up in a safety inspection. Survivors told of workers trapped by locked exits and windows.

A larger story exists here. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a story with a long, sad history.

It goes back as far as 1911, when 146 workers, most of them young women, burned to death or jumped to their death in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City. The women worked 60 hours a week in a factory where the doors were impossible to openâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an anti-theft measure, some believe. When fire broke out, they faced the choice of a fiery death or jumping from as high as the ninth floor to the street below. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Down came the bodies in a shower, burning, smokingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;flaming bodies, with disheveled hair trailing upward,â&#x20AC;? wrote United Press reporter William G. Shepherd in his harrowing eyewitness account.

Eighty years later, in September 1991, a fire broke out in the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, N.C., killing 25 and injuring 40 or more. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Let me out!â&#x20AC;? passers-by heard the trapped workers scream. A subsequent investigation revealed the doors were locked to prevent employees from stealing chickens.

Last June a 20-year-old worker died in an explosion that also injured two others at the Pascagoula plant owned by the Madison-based Mississippi Phosphates Corp.

He was the second employee to die in an explosion at the plant in two weeks. Mississippi Phosphates has a dozen or more federal safety violations on its record and has faced some $20,000 in resulting fines.

The fire that killed three and injured three more workers on an oil platform in the Gulf Coast in November is a bigger story in the Philippines than here. The reason? The workers were all Filipino, and a class-action lawsuit claims such workers in Louisiana live in slave-like conditions, working as many as 100 hours a week and sleeping under lock and key in a crowded bunkhouse.

In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neo-liberal, global economy, workers are the cheapest commodities. Corporations spend millions on sophisticated public relations to create â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mr. Samâ&#x20AC;?-like images while overseeing a world of sweatshop labor that Charles Dickens would recognize. Meanwhile, we shoppers continue our merry search for sales, rarely, if ever, giving a thought to the hands that make the products we buy.

A veteran journalist who teaches at the University of Mississippi, Joe Atkins is author of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Covering for the Bosses: Labor and the Southern Press.â&#x20AC;? His blog is laborsouth.blogspot.com.

He can be reached at jbatkins@olemiss.edu.

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Editor-in-Chief Donna Ladd Publisher Todd Stauffer

Attention Walmart Shoppers

15

In the Midst of Plenty

by Donna Ladd

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Poverty in the Midst of Plenty is a paradox that must not go unchallenged in this country.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; John F. Kennedy

December 19 - 25, 2012

O

16

n April 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy wrote a letter about the poor to then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. He expressed concern that in this, one of the richest of nations, one-sixth of Americans lived in abject poverty: â&#x20AC;&#x153;below minimal levels of health, housing, food and educationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in the slums of cities, in migratory labor camps, in economically depressed areas, on Indian reservations.â&#x20AC;?

When Kennedy wrote that letter, the United States was a very unequal nation, with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of white Americans with people of color living under Jim Crow laws; dying for the right to vote or walk down the same sidewalks; being redlined out of home, business and car loans; and fighting not to be denied a decent education, wage or opportunity for a good job.

In other words, wealth inequality was rampant, and many people didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have bootstraps to pull themselves up by.

It was also true for a large swath of white America, especially in the Deep South. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to believe today, but Mississippi was one of the richest states in the 3HARE OF 0OOREST nation before the Civil #OUNTIES War. But it was due to 7H[DV the free labor of slaves .HQWXFN\ 0LVVLVVLSSL and, thus, the poverty of 6RXWK 'DNRWD slaves didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t count to the /RXLVLDQD people in power. $ODEDPD *HRUJLD But the devasta 1HZ 0H[LFR tion of the war, then 0RQWDQD Reconstruction, and later sharecropping and

0OOREST -ISSISSIPPI tenant farming trapped #OUNTIES 1R -HIIHUVRQ &RXQW\ poor whites in cycles 1R ,VVDTXHQD &RXQW\ of poverty as well as 1R +ROPHV &RXQW\ African Americans and 1R 7DOODKDWFKLH &RXQW\ 1R 4XLWPDQ &RXQW\ other non-whites. So 1R :LONLQVRQ &RXQW\ did emerging industry 1R +XPSKUH\V &RXQW\ in the U.S., which for 1R &ODLERUQH &RXQW\ years was under-regu1R 6XQĂ&#x20AC; RZHU &RXQW\ 1R 6KDUNH\ &RXQW\ lated and paid extreme1R *UHHQH &RXQW\ ly low wages to all races 1R -HIIHUVRQ &RXQW\ with minimal safety 1R 7XQLFD &RXQW\ 1R .HPSHU &RXQW\ regulations in place.

The New Georgia Encyclopedia reports that poor white southerners bore much hostility from upperclass whites in the decades following Reconstruction, with epithets like â&#x20AC;&#x153;cracker,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;hillbilly,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;clay eater,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;peckerwood,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;poor white trashâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;redneckâ&#x20AC;? entering the lexicon. The image was perpetuated in popular media, helping create conditions that made it difficult for poor whites, as well as poor

non-whites, to escape poverty. Powerful, rich people used fear of â&#x20AC;&#x153;the otherâ&#x20AC;? to keep the groups 1963-2008 divided, even as they TOP shared many economic 1% interests and challenges. â&#x20AC;˘ From 1963 to 2008, average incomes in All of these condithe U.S. grew by $19,966. tions made it difficult for â&#x20AC;˘ The richest 10 percent got 73 percent BOTTOM the poor in America, and of that growth. especially in the South, â&#x20AC;˘ The bottom 90 percent shared only to believe in their abili27 percent. ties to overcome povTOP erty and to access the resources they needed to TOP 5-10% change their conditions.

Feeding a hungry person AVERAGE INCOME is one thing, but feeding TOP OVER TIME 1-5% them and helping them SOURCE: STATEOFWORKINGAMERICA.ORG develop bootstraps to lift themselves out of poverty

is a larger challenge that requires will and focus.

Sadly, many of

those facts are still true today. Mississippi has

TOP never recovered from 1%

the devastation of postCivil War economic TOP

1-5% conditions and prejudice BOTTOM TOP 90% 5-10%

against the poor and has remained on the bottom of the American barrel

for many decades, even

as the richest Mississippians have followed the lead of the wealthiest Americans in increasing their share of the pie. perpetuate the cycle of poverty, even as they increase the Meantime, problems created by poverty (which are of- wealth of the top 10 percent. ten the same cyclical problems that lead to it) spill over into There is a better way. But before we can seriously tackle the entire society in the form of crime, poor health, decreased the poverty crisis in America, we need to understand it. We worker productivity and increased costs of basic needs that need to train ourselves to see its causes (without defensivedeplete funds that could be spent on more innovative pur- ness), understand its effects and then take actions to reverse poses than straight-up charity. both. The good news is that individual people do not have Poverty becomes the unaddressed elephant in the room to tackle the entire ef4HE 5 3 0OVERTY ,INE that ruins the party for everyone. Many Americans feel help- fect, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a mat,Q WKH 8 6 SRYHUW\ OHYHO less about it, so they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t talk about it. Others donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem ter of throwing money ZDV WRWDO \HDUO\ LQFRPH to care that they have so much while their neighbor has so at the poor.

IRU D IDPLO\ RI IRXU 0RVW $PHUL littleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and, yet, still end up paying the high costs of povPovertyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pieces are FDQV ZLOO VSHQG DW OHDVW RQH \HDU EHORZ WKH SRYHUW\ OLQH erty. They often excuse inaction, or support of policies that like a jigsaw puzzle. We EHWZHHQ DJHV DQG increase poverty, by blaming black families for doing too can choose one piece to littleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;despite the fact that more white children in America focus our efforts. If each live in poverty than any other group. It is also a fact that of us does that, we can start decreasing poverty in America higher percentages of people of color live in poverty. by systemically helping and empowering people to lift themBoth realities are bad, whether hard numbers or per- selves out of it. centages: Our nation is mired in practices and attitudes that The question is: Are we willing?

U.S. INCOME GROWTH

90%

10%

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How We Measure Poverty

by Ronni Mott

ertyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or falling deeper into povertyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in the future) for a more complete picture of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s well-being.

U.S. poverty guidelines are simplified versions of the poverty threshold used for administrative purposes, such as qualifying people for federal aid. The 2012 poverty guidelines for all states except Alaska and Hawaii are below.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

$11,170 15,130 19,090 23,050 27,010 30,970 34,930 38,890

7KH DYHUDJH GURS LQ LQFRPHV DPRQJ WKH ERWWRP SHUFHQW RI KRXVHKROGV RYHU WKH ODVW GHFDGH

Poorest 20%

Middle 20%

Richest 20%

A family of four with an income of $23,050 has a monthly income of $1,920, or about $443 per week. A single person with an income of $11,170 has a monthly income of $931, or about $215 per week.

A person earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour provides a person working 40 hours per week gross wages of $290 a week, or $15,080 per year.

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)NEQUALITY 7ORSENING 3INCE THE S

$JH

8QGHU DJH

8QGHU DJH

$JH $JH

8QGHU DJH 8QGHU DJH

SOURCE: STATEOFWORKINGAMERICA.ORG

SOURCES:WORLD BANK; U.S. DEPT. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES; FREAKONOMICS.COM

Who Is Poor in Mississippi?

0LVVLVVLSSLDQV ZLWK LQFRPHV EHORZ WKH IHGHUDO SRYHUW\ OHYHO RI WKH SRSXODWLRQ

&KDQJH LQ LQFRPH E\ KRXVHKROG LQFRPH JURXS ODWH V WR PLG V Poorest 20%

19.1% 12.7%

-17.3%

Middle 20%

32.7%

Richest 20%

75.3%

-5.4% :KLWH

Incomes of Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Richest Households Dwarf Those of Its Poorest After decades of widening inequality, Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest households have dramatically bigger incomes than its poorest households.

The richest 5 percent of households have average incomes 13.9 times as large as the bottom 20 percent of households and 4.9 times as large as the middle 20 percent of households.

Middle 20%

Richest 5%

2WKHU

SOURCE: KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION STATEHEALTHFACTS.ORG

%ODFN

Poorest 20%

COURTESY CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES

RI DOO :RPHQ

RI DOO 6HQLRUV

RI DOO &KLOGUHQ

SOURCES: SPOTLIGHTONPOVERTY.ORG; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

RI DOO )DPLOLHV

RI DOO 0DUULHG &RXSOH )DPLOLHV

RI DOO 6LQJOH 0RWKHUV ZLWK &KLOGUHQ SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

jacksonfreepress.com

-17.3%

&KDQJH LQ LQFRPH E\ KRXVHKROG LQFRPH JURXS ODWH V WR PLG V

SOURCE: STATEOFWORKINGAMERICA.ORG

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INCOME INEQUALITY HAS GROWN IN MISSISSIPPI ! ,OST $ECADE FOR -ISSISSIPPI´S ,OW AND -IDDLE )NCOME (OUSEHOLDS

6KDUH RI SRSXODWLRQ EHORZ WKH SRYHUW\ OLQH

FOR THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA POVERTY GUIDELINE

SOURCE: STATEOFWORKINGAMERICA.ORG

2012 POVERTY GUIDELINES PERSONS IN FAMILY/HOUSEHOLD

6KDUH RI SRSXODWLRQ EHORZ WKH SRYHUW\ OLQH

T

he federal poverty threshold is a calculation based on the cost of food in â&#x20AC;&#x153;nutritionally adequate dietsâ&#x20AC;? for a family of three, developed in the early 1960s

by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration. The baseline assumption is that a family of three will spend about a third of its income on food.

Although lots of folks have tinkered with the formula and the numbers have been updated in line with the Consumer Price Index, the baseline assumption has not changed since the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;60s.

Critics point out that the poverty threshold is, at best, outdated and inaccurate for many people. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t account for costs that have risen faster than food, such as housing, transportation, health care or child care, nor is it indexed for different parts of the country with widely varying costs of living (although the threshold is slightly higher for Alaska and Hawaii).

The World Bank suggests that only measuring poverty provides an incomplete picture of how people fare. In addition to poverty (which it defines as whether households or individuals have enough resources or abilities to meet their needs), the World Bank includes measurements of inequality (the distribution of income, consumption or other attributes across the population) and vulnerability (the probability or risk of being in pov-

17

December 19 - 25, 2012

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18

How It Happens

by Donna Ladd

I

f any societal issue is steeped in myth and misunderstanding, it is poverty.

Just walk down the street with someone who, when approached by a homeless man, shouts, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Get a job!â&#x20AC;? Or, hear someone spout rhetoric about how people who get public assistance are all moochers who â&#x20AC;&#x153;donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to work,â&#x20AC;? and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve witnessed prime examples of how misinformed many are about poverty and its causes.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one thing to lose your job and suddenly face possible eviction if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find a different one; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quite another to exist in a cycle of poverty surrounded by the factors likely to keep you there.

The Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty reports that poverty will touch most Americans at some point during their lives. Its report (see jfp.ms/heartland)

explains that the poor population is very diverse with a variety of triggers that can open a door to poverty. Some groups are more likely than others to encounter the triggers and go through the door. Many have a hard time leaving poverty once they enter it.

Those who are serious about ending poverty, and helping lift people out of it so that they can provide for themselves and their families, need to first study its causes and the factors that keep people mired in it. Put another way, before a homeless man can find a job that he can keep, some other things may need to change first. Same with a single mother on public assistance. What facts will help her break the cycle?

First, we must look at who lives in poverty and why. Then turn the page to figure out how to start helping them out of it.

WHO ARE THE POOR? Women Men Non-whites Whites Adults Children Immigrants Disabled Female-headed Homes

Greater Risk?

Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Greater Actual Numbers?

Yes No No Yes Yes No No No Yes

SOURCE: HEARTLAND ALLIANCE MID-AMERICA INSTITUTE ON POVERTY

Summary: If you are a woman, non-white, a child, an immigrant or a single mother, you are at a much higher risk of poverty. Still, more whites live in poverty than minorities.

7 Poverty Triggers

â&#x20AC;˘ Recessions â&#x20AC;˘ High unemployment â&#x20AC;˘ Decline in the manufacturing sector â&#x20AC;˘ Growth in the service sector â&#x20AC;˘ Depressed earnings due to declining unionization Note: All those conditions are currently present in the United States.

But a healthy economy does not by itself close all the doors to poverty. The Heartland Alliance lists seven circumstances, or triggers, that keep people out of the workforce or limits their wages or working hours:

1.

Growth in low-wage work: In the 2000s, the percent of the workforce in the U.S. earning poverty-level wages reached 25 percent, disparately affecting women and non-whites. A major reason is the decline in manufacturing

FACT:

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jobs (with many moving outside the U.S.) that paid better wages and provided health insuranceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been replaced with low-end service jobs, often part-time with no benefits.

income households that often have worse access to health services: 25.1 percent of low-income adults report fair/poor health, and 15.2 percent report poor mental health.

2.

6.

Discrimination: Research shows that discrimination against African American men reduces demand for their labor by a minimum of 10 to 13 percent.

3.

Dropping out of high school: High-school dropouts earn less, plus their wages have declined dramatically in recent years. They are much more likely to live in poverty: 22.9 percent, or more than 6 million people, of those without a high school diploma are poor versus only 3.6 percent, or 2 million people, with a college degree or higher. Dropouts are three to four times more likely to be unemployed.

4.

Teen births: Half of all out-of-wedlock pregnancies begin during the teenage years, leading to lower high school graduation rates and a 20 percent reduction in the motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adult income. If the mother ends up raising the child alone, she is three to four times more likely to live in poverty and to begin the poverty cycle for her children.

5.

Disabilities/Poor health: Single parents and people with disabilities or parents caring for children with disabilities often must work fewer hours to care for them.

Poor health and disabilities are much more common in low-

CHILD POVERTY:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nearly half of the children in the United States will become economically vulnerable at least once during their childhood; and about one third will actually fall below the poverty line. Long-term child poverty is unequally distributed: almost nine out of 10 long-term poor children are African American.â&#x20AC;?

SOURCE: HEARTLAND ALLIANCE

Incarceration: Those previously incarcerated earn 10 to 20 percent lower wages and are more likely to be unemployed, especially black men. Incarceration is at an all-time high, in no small part due to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;war on drugs.â&#x20AC;?

Black men are imprisoned more often and longer than others (often for the same or lesser crimes as whites). About one in three black men, one in six Hispanic men and one in 17 white men are likely to go to prison during their lifetimes.

Females of any race have a one in 56 chance in going.

7.

Violence: Those who have experienced violence face greater employment instability, especially women.

Leaving abusers often results in women without any income, and they are more likely to then live in poverty.

8.

High poverty neighborhoods: Segregation, discrimination, the decline in jobs and the loss of positive role models constrain current opportunities and future aspirations for poor minority residents.

FACT: ple with no high school degree are the most Those living in households headed by peo-

likely to enter povertyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and stay there.

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ABOUT OPPORTUNITY!

A black person living in a metropolitan area that suffers a 1-percentage point increase in the proportion of service-sector jobs is 27.4 percent more likely to exit poverty.

FACTORS THAT MAKE WORK EXPERIENCE HARDER TO GET: â&#x20AC;˘ Globalization of jobs â&#x20AC;˘ Technology that replaces people â&#x20AC;˘ Movement of jobs to suburbs from cities

SOURCE: HEARTLAND ALLIANCE

EXPERIENCE NEEDED

About 1 in 5 people with no work experience in the prior year live in poverty.

jacksonfreepress.com

T

here is a reason that blaming the poor for their plight is useless, not to mention offensive. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s usually not their fault, especially if they stay poor for long. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Forces largely seen as outside of the control of individuals have dramatic impacts on income, earnings and poverty,â&#x20AC;? The Heartland Alliance warns. The following facts can cause a person to fall into poverty:

19

DISTRIBUTION OF PEOPLE BY POVERTY STATUS, AND SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS: 2004â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2006 (Percent)

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POVERTY IN MISSISSIPPI 1999

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OUTSOURCING OUTCOME

SINCE 1970S, IN THE U.S. Manufacturing Jobs: Declining

â&#x20AC;¢ Higher wages â&#x20AC;¢ Health benefits â&#x20AC;¢ Union support â&#x20AC;¢ Full-time â&#x20AC;¢ Upward mobility â&#x20AC;¢ Regular schedules Service Jobs: Increasing

â&#x20AC;¢ Replaced better jobs â&#x20AC;¢ Often no health coverage â&#x20AC;¢ Often part-time â&#x20AC;¢ Often not unionized â&#x20AC;¢ Limited career potential â&#x20AC;¢ Fluctuating schedules

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ABUSE

POVERTY

SOURCE: HEARTLAND ALLIANCE

Women who experience domestic abuse are more likely to live in poverty because: â&#x20AC;¢ He didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow her to work or network. â&#x20AC;¢ Her skills atrophied.

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GETTING POORER:

â&#x20AC;¢ Poor confidence and self-image. â&#x20AC;¢ Little or no access to cash, credit or a car. â&#x20AC;¢ No personal assets or even no home. â&#x20AC;¢ Abusers often harass at work.

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1RWH 7KH SRYHUW\ XQLYHUVH H[FOXGHV XQUHODWHG FKLOGUHQ XQGHU \HDUV ROG )HGHUDO VXUYH\V LQFOXGLQJ WKH 6,33 3DQHO JLYH UHVSRQGHQWV WKH RSWLRQ RI UHSRUWLQJ PRUH WKDQ RQH UDFH 7KHVH GDWD FDQ EH VKRZQ LQ WZR ZD\V DV PXWXDOO\ H[FOXVLYH IURP RWKHU UDFH JURXSV ZKLFK PD\ EH GHQRWHG E\ ³DORQH´ RU QRW PXWXDOO\ H[FOXVLYH ZLWK RWKHU UDFH JURXSV GHQRWHG E\ ³DORQH RU LQ FRPELQDWLRQ ZLWK RWKHU UDFH JURXSV ´ 7KLV ¿ JXUH VKRZV UDFH XVLQJ WKH ¿ UVW PHWKRG %HFDXVH +LVSDQLFV PD\ EH RI DQ\ UDFH GDWD IRU +LVSDQLFV DUH QRW PXWXDOO\ H[FOXVLYH ZLWK UDFH )HPDOH KRXVHKROGHUV KDYH QR KXVEDQG SUHVHQW DQG PDOH KRXVHKROG HUV KDYH QR ZLIH SUHVHQW

SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, SURVEY OF INCOME AND PROGRAM PARTICIPATION, 2004 PANEL.

Costs of Prison:

People with criminal records have a much reduced prospect of stable employment and even adequate earnings over their life course.

They are much likely to enter the cycle of poverty and be unable to provide

for their families, thus creating a drain on public resources.

Why?

â&#x20AC;¢ People donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t trust them. â&#x20AC;¢ Fear of legal liability. â&#x20AC;¢ Skills depreciated. â&#x20AC;¢ Network atrophied. â&#x20AC;¢ Little info about working world.

WHY ARE SINGLE-MOTHER HOUSEHOLDS POORER? 1. Women earn lower wages.

2. Only one adult earner.

3. Child care limits work hours.

4. Too many deadbeat dads.

December 19 - 25, 2012

Winner of the 2011 Best of Jackson Chinese Food Category

20

Mr. Chenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

5465 Frontage Road I-55 North â&#x20AC;¢ Jackson, MS (Next to Cowboy Maloneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) Sun. - Thurs.: 11:00am - 9:00pm â&#x20AC;¢ Fri. & Sat.:11:00am - 9:30pm â&#x20AC;¢ 601-978-1865/1866

The only thing missing is YOU...

Gypsy Jazz... 6 courses of decadence... wine flights and champagne... at

Early seating at 6 PM | $70 per person Late seating at 9:30 PM | $90 per person (Late seating includes champagne, indoor fireworks, and party favors at midnight!) A special wine flight will be offered for the more adventurous diners and Swing de Paris will be performing all night!

COME BUY ART / DANCE / EAT / AND SEE PHOTAMERICA

For full details and menu, visit BravoBuzz.com/events.

Secure your spot by calling 601.982.8111.

jacksonfreepress.com

KICK ASS CHRISTMAS ART SHOW SUNDAY, DEC. 23RD, 5-12. 121 MILLSAPS AVE

21

Searching Out Solutions

by Ronni Mott

WEDNESDAY 12/19

Pub Quiz with Andrew

THURSDAY 12/20

Dead Irish Blues (Irish Folk)

FRIDAY 12/21

End of the World Party with Otis Lotus (Grateful Dead Tribute)

SATURDAY 12/22

The Juvenators (Blues)

MONDAY 12/24

Christmas Eve Karaoke w/ Matt TUESDAY 12/25

opens at 4pm Open Mic Christmas Showcase hosted by Santa

Try our new

A

pproaching solutions to poverty may seem like a daunting task.

With so much to overcome, some folks are paralyzed into doing nothing at all. But making a difference doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Here are some tips: • Remember that you don’t have to do everything, and you don’t have to do anything alone. Just like every drop of water adds to what’s in the bucket, small contributions of talent, time or money always add to the whole.

• Get better informed about the issue.

Question commonly held perceptions about who is poor and why. Learn about the history and roots of poverty in America. Try not to generalize; the reasons for poverty are complex, as are the solutions.

• Don’t ignore it. Be willing to talk about poverty, challenging yourself and others to break out of stereotypes and clichés.

• Volunteering doesn’t have to consume a lot of time or resources. Find an area you’re interested in (or, better yet, passionate about) and seek out volunteer opportunities that fit your abilities and schedule. Are you an artistic type? Check into local arts organizations and museums. Do you have a teachable skill?

Look into after-school pro-

HAPPY HOUR MENU

22

Available Monday - Friday 4pm - 7pm

more national & state

news than ever

www.jfp.ms

December 19 - 25, 2012

• Drink Specials • Limited Time Food Menu

grams or youth development organizations.

Can you wield a hammer or a paintbrush?

Join neighborhood organizations or programs building or fixing lowincome housing.

• Are you on the other side of poverty?

Your story can influence and change lives.

Volunteer to speak to groups at your place of worship, at schools and with organizations that work with the poor. Contact local papers to pitch your story.

• Write to your legislators about your concerns; write letters to the editor.

• Shop ethically. Know where your food, goods and services come from, and avoid companies and products that exploit people or resources. Buy fair-trade products whenever possible.

• Money is always welcome, and even small amounts can go a long way. Loan money with micro loans or donate to organizations working to eradicate poverty.

SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE (IBO.ORG)

New Blue Plate Special

$8.99

1 Meat, 3 Veggies, Bread and Drink

Reserve your spot for Donna Ladd’s popular creative non-fiction class series.

Six-class series begins Jan. 5 and meets every other Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (class decides 6th class date).

Half $150 fee reserves slot; gift certificates available.

Write class@jacksonfreepress.com or call 601-362-6121, ext. 15.

live music dec 19 - 25

wed | december 19 Jesse “Guitar” Smith 5:30-9:30p thu | december 20 Starving Artist 5:30-9:30p fri | december 21 Richard, Shawn & Kenny 6:30-10:30p sat | december 22 Guitar Charlie 6:30-10:30p sun | december 23 Lizz Strowd 4:00 - 8:00p mon | december 24 CLOSED tue | december 25 CLOSED 1060 E County Line Rd. in Ridgeland Open Sun‐Thurs 11am‐10pm Fri‐Sat 11am‐Midnight | 601‐899‐0038

Have yourself a

Merry Little

Christmas Let us smoke your Holiday Ham or Turkey.

We have everything you need for your holiday events at McDade’s Market! * Party Trays * Ham & Turkey * Cheeses * Milk & Cookies for Santa

Maywood Mart 1220 E. Northside Drive | 601-366-8486 Woodland Hills Shopping Center Fondren | 601-366-5273 English Village 904 E. Fortification Street | Belhaven | 601-355-9668 Westland Plaza 2526 Robinson Road | 601-353-0089

Now In Yazoo City

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Shut up and

23

Learn more about Central Mississippi Non-Profits and How You Can Get Involved! - Paid Advertising Section

What greater gift can you offer than the time to listen to a troubled person?

Train With Us! Training Begins Tuesday, February 5, 2013 1:30 - 4:30 PM (Total of 14 Tuesday Afternoons)

Fondren Presbyterian Church 3220 Old Canton Road Jackson, Mississippi

jacksonfreepress.com

For more information, call CONTACT the Crisis Line training office:

24

(601) 982-9888 or (601) 713-4099 or register online at:

Need A Last Minute Gift For The

MOVIE BUFF

In Your Life?

Crossroads Film Society memberships and film festival (April 12-14) passes are perfect!

Join us at our membership event at

The Yellow Scarf February 28, 2013 Get involved via our website!

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re always on the lookout for volunteers, screeners, sponsors and more

www.contactthecrisisline.org

24-7 Crisis Line: (601) 713-HELP (4357)!

Visit our website www.crossroadsfilmfestival.com or find us on facebook!

Learn more about Central Mississippi Non-Profits and How You Can Get Involved! - Paid Advertising Section

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE.

Stewpot is a home grown, home directed ministry whose assistance goes 100% to those homeless and in-need in the Metro area. With your support, Stewpot gives free services to over 650 people a day.

After-School Program Provides a daily after-school program to approximately 110 inner-city youth

YOU’RE HELPING UNITED WAY CREATE LASTING CHANGE BY SUPPORTING OUR WORK IN

EDUCATION, INCOME & HEALTH.

Opportunity Day Center -Provides day shelter and services (clothes washers and dryers, showers, phones to contact employers, Internet access) and access to other service providers) to about 125 people a day Billy Brumfield Men’s Shelter Provides an average of 50 men a night a bed, supper and breakfast Noon Feeding Program Averages about 165 dine-in meals a day and 55 daily meals on wheels Food Pantry Serves 25-30 people 5 days a week providing groceries for families and individuals

Sims Transitional Shelter Nightly, provides an average of 6 women and 12 children shelter and supper and breakfast. The Shelter also purchases school clothes and provides transportation to school and after-school programs Matt’s Emergency Shelter for Women Provides an average of 15-20 women a night with shelter, supper and breakfast

Fill Out This Form To Have A Christmas Card Sent To a Friend or Relative And Send It to Stewpot

OPEN YOUR HEART. LEND YOUR MUSCLE.

FIND YOUR VOICE.

GIVE 10% GIVE 100%

REACH OUT A HAND

Name:

Designee’s Name:

Address:

Address:

GIVE AN HOUR.

TO ONE AND

INFLUENCE

City/State/Zip:

City/State/Zip:

THE CONDITION OF ALL.

Amount of Gift:

GIVE 110%.

THINK OF WE BEFORE ME.

United Way of the Capital Area

WWW.MYUNITEDWAY.COM

LIVE UNITED

™

Attach Additional List of Names

Go to www.stewpot.org to donate with a credit card or your PayPal account.

1100 West Capitol St. • Jackson • 601.353.2759 • www.stewpot.org

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JOIN HANDS.

25

Building Assets: A Path Out

by Ronni Mott

H

BARRIERS TO CREATING WEALTH â&#x20AC;˘ Lack of inherited property or assets.

One of the most important ways families increase assets generationally is by passing them on to their children.

December 19 - 25, 2012

25

26

â&#x20AC;˘ Lack of understanding of the importance of saving or investing in liquid and long-term assets over short-term purchasing, especially on â&#x20AC;&#x153;easyâ&#x20AC;? credit plans. â&#x20AC;˘ Lack of competitive, low-interest lending. Predatory lending practices, such as those employed by payday check cashers and rent-to-own establishments, keep low-income people trapped through exorbitant interest rates and overpriced goods. â&#x20AC;˘ Being unaware of programs that allow low-income people to keep more of their money, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

In Mississippi, 70 percent of those eligible for EITC didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t file for it in 2009.

COMMUNITIES CAN HELP BUILD WEALTH â&#x20AC;˘ Introduce age-appropriate financial education in K-12 schools. Make adult financial education a priority; include businesses and other organizations as partners to provide such education in workplaces and community centers. â&#x20AC;˘ Provide options for low-income working people to bank and save money, and provide alternatives to high-cost financial services. Enhance incentives and accountability among banks to provide lending and development opportunities in low-income communities; expand and promote credit unions. â&#x20AC;˘ Strengthen consumer protection legislation by dropping payday lending fees and lowering interest rates on payday loans. â&#x20AC;˘ Adopt a state Earned Income Tax Credit to increase take-home pay for families.

WHAT IS EITC? EITC stands for Earned Income Tax Credit. Under the program, qualifying low

PERCENTAGE OF ELIGIBLE FAMILIES NOT FILING FOR EITC IN 2009 .!4)/.

-)33)33)00)

â&#x20AC;˘ Living in rural areas â&#x20AC;˘ Self-employed â&#x20AC;˘ Disabled â&#x20AC;˘ Childless â&#x20AC;˘ Not proficient in English

$80K

15

$60K

10

$40K

5

$20K

0

0

and moderate-income working people receive a refund that was originally intended to offset social security taxes and make work pay more. When EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit.

For the 2001 tax year, the range of qualifying incomes was between $13,600 (for individuals with no children) and $49,078 (for couples with three or more children).

Because working people get to keep more of the money they earn, the EITC â&#x20AC;&#x153;has become one of the most successful anti-poverty tools in the United States,â&#x20AC;? reports the Foundation of the Mid South in â&#x20AC;&#x153;EITC: Working Hands Getting a Hands Up.â&#x20AC;?

30 25 20 15 10 5 U.S.

Mississippi

â&#x20AC;˘ Older (grandparents) â&#x20AC;˘ Recently divorced, unemployed, or experienced other changes to their marital, financial or parental status

SOURCE: BROOKINGS INSTITUTE STATE REPORT CREATOR; FOUNDATION OF THE MID SOUTH;

35

20

Filers who are missing out include those who are:

40

$100K

0

U.S.

Mississippi SOURCE: FOUNDATION OF THE MID SOUTH;

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The boost provided by the EITC and other valuable federal tax credits provide many working families the opportunity to pay their household bills and meet their childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs even through salary cutbacks or FILE PHOTO

aving a job that pays a living wage is only one aspect of lifting oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self out of poverty. Even when people have jobs, many are just one paycheckâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or one medical emergencyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from financial disaster. The hand-to-mouth existence of many poor and low-income people keeps them from breaking their cycle of poverty when they have no resources to fall back on.

Building wealthâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that is, increasing assets and net worth (the difference between what you own and what you owe)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;is a vital link to ending poverty. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also one of the primary aims of the Foundation of the Mid South. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Without the ability to save, low-income individuals are unable to move forward and unable to reach the goals that make up the fabric of a self-reliant liveâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; owning a home, running a small business or obtaining an education,â&#x20AC;? the foundation states in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Changing Lives: An Investment in the Mid South.â&#x20AC;? The report highlights its individual development account initiative, which it characterizes as a long-term solution and an alternative to the traditional publicassistance model.

Under the IDA model, educating people to effectively manage even small amounts of money is the first step in the process. After completion of financial management programs, the foundation matches the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; deposits dollar-for-dollar. The funds can only be used to increase a saverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;allowable assetsâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;usually education, buying a home or starting a business.

periods of unemployment,â&#x20AC;? states the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In 2010, the EITC lifted about 6 million people out of poverty, including about 3 million children,â&#x20AC;? the CBPP site continues. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The poverty rate among children would have been nearly one-third higher without the EITC. The EITC lifts more children out of poverty than any other program.â&#x20AC;?

Each year since Congress enacted the EITC in 1975, millions who qualify do not file for it, either because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know about it all, or they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if they qualify or how to file for it. In 2009, 70 percent of eligible Mississippians did not claim the credit, which averaged $2,600 per return for those who claimed it.

Twenty-two states have enacted statelevel EITCs; Mississippi isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t one of them.

SOURCES: FOUNDATION OF THE MID SOUTH; CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES; IRS

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27

The X-Out Factor

DISEASE

by Donna Ladd

T

he poverty cycle is about much more than people being broke. It tends to be a deep wound, sociology professor Phil Bartle writes on his website. “It includes sustained low levels of income for members of a community,” he writes. “It includes a lack of access to services like education, markets, health care, lack of decision making ability, and lack of communal facilities like water, sanitation, roads, transportation and communications.”

It might mean that a family lives in a community with dilapidated homes, lots of broken windows, no safe playgrounds and no real grocery store (“food deserts,” these neighborhoods are often called).

They’re afraid to go outside and exercise, so they don’t.

There might be little of beauty on the street, litter and lots of junky cars parked where grass ought to be.

Bartle calls this a “poverty of spirit”—one “that allows members of that community to believe in and share despair, hopelessness, apathy and timidity.” He adds: “Poverty, especially the factors that contribute to it, is a social problem, and its solution is social.”

The solution to poverty isn’t just attacking its symptoms, or effects; it must be about tackling the “factors” that make it such a tough cycle, he advises. Put another way, giving food to the poor may help with short-term hunger—which is necessary—but it doesn’t help break the cycle of poverty in which the direct causes and effects are often the same (as in crime causing poverty leading to more crime).

“The simple transfer of funds, even if it is to the victims of poverty, will not eradicate or reduce poverty. It will merely alleviate the symptoms of poverty in the short run,” he writes. We must remove the factors to end the cycle.

The sociologist says that big “causes” created cycles of poverty (he names “colonialism, slavery, war and conquest” as the big four). But “factors” make it continue, meaning that we must focus on the factors. (It’s not like we can rewrite the history that created, say, the discrimination toward African Americans.)

Poverty based on historic causes, like war or slavery, will continue through the generations if the factors aren’t changed. And they can be.

December 19 - 25, 2012

28

H.O.T. G.I.R.L.S. Empowerment Program (Helping Our Teens Grow Into Responsible Leaders Successfully) Jackson, Miss.

Keisha S. Varnell reports that a new local agency, The Family Advocacy Group, is working to educate, prevent and reduce violence in the family and community. They want to empower youth to “see beyond their circumstance to achieve their dreams

SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM PHIL BARTLE, PH.D

Disease: Sick communities cannot produce well or create wealth due to high absenteeism and other factors. Prevention is key, as is good health information.

Apathy: Often people in poverty do not believe they can overcome poverty. They feel powerless to overcome challenges; it can even be rooted in their religion: heaven will come later. Bartles cites a Russian proverb, “Pray to God, but also row to shore,” as a guiding principle and urges

KEISHA VARNELL

The H.O.T. G.I.R.L.S. Empowerment Program is teaching teen girls how to budget and manage money.

and reach their full potential.”

The group is teaching budget/money management and encouraging young people to consider secondary education. Varnell describes the program: 1. We offer a realistic financial literacy course to youths between ages 11 and 16 based on experiential practices in the community. We try to keep every lesson realistic as it relates to their lives.

DEPENDENCY

The causes and effects of poverty can negatively affect each other, but don’t always.

2.

by Donna Ladd

I

DISHONESTY

Ignorance: Not stupidity or foolishness, but a lack of needed knowledge. It’s important to determine what information is needed in a community and then share it.

3.

APATHY POVERTY

1.

Idea Central t is vital to get food and necessities to the poor for basic day-to-day living. But to help people escape poverty, it takes the kind of programs that systemically enable people to make different and smarter decisions to change their own situation. There is room for a variety of strategies to tackle the many factors and causes of poverty; here are a few model programs that you can get involved with or borrow ideas from. Feel free to post more at jfp.ms/povertyideas.

IGNORANCE

mobilizers to both encourage and praise those in poverty so they believe and want to overcome their conditions. Help them believe in themselves by believing in them.

Dishonesty: Bartle points to corruption and greed, such as when a public official diverts money for community use into private pockets, as a major cause of poverty.

For instance, if a tutoring service paid to help public-school kids skims money, it takes it away from the families that need the help to learn to help themselves.

Dependency: Too much reliance on charity can rob one’s potential to help themselves. Sustained straight charity weakens, while community empowerment, well, empowers people to lift themselves out of poverty.

4.

5.

2. We are introducing young girls to “college life.” More often than not, most girls at risk of perpetuating poverty have only heard of or know of Jackson State University. We would like to show them other colleges both in and out of state— motivate them and pique their curiosity to life outside of Jackson.

Call 601-238-5034 or write kvarnell@ tfagroup.org to get involved. More information is at tfagroup.org.

Foundation for the Mid South Jackson, Miss., and beyond Chris Crothers reports that the foundation views wealth building in challenged communities as a priority for Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. It includes two main thrusts: increasing adult and youth financial competency (financial know-how as well as behavior change to actually use what is learned) and building assets (the basis of wealth).

Crothers writes: “On the asset building side, we promote tools like 1) Individual Development Accounts which provide financial education while match-

ing low-wealth families savings for an asset, like a home or a business and 2) the Earned Income Tax Credit that helps increase low-income working tax filers’ annual income.

The foundation is releasing a brand new financial competency toolkit this week for individuals to use. They are also starting to work with teachers and school districts, because teachers are a big user of predatory lending businesses that limit their wealthbuilding potential.

Visit fndmidsouth.org to find out more or make a donation.

Mississippi Center for Justice Jackson, Miss.

The Mississippi Center for Justice is based in Jackson and works to “advance racial and economic justice for hardworking Mississippians across the state.”

MCJ tackles many of the toughest factors that keep Mississippians and our neighbors in the cycle of poverty: health care, educational opportunities, affordable housing and fair lending.

Its year-end newsletter promoted

Making It Stick

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

by Donna Ladd

The “Living Without Enemies” authors give several theological ideas, using Jesus’ engagement as a model: 1. Spend time with people in need to both help them directly and empower them, and to improve your knowledge of the issues they face.

2. Make trouble for authorities who use religious and political power against the poor.

3. Remove obstacles and reshape loads, but let the needy their determine own direction and claim credit for progress.

4. Experience in your own body the challenges of the poor, as well as the sorrow and joy of family and community life.

5. Enjoy people for who they are, not who you want them to be. Really talk and listen. Tell them you enjoy their company because you do.

6. Treat people as if every day was their birthday.

7. Share meals with a variety of people. Cook with, not just for. Than really talk over the meal.

8. Enjoy the efforts to help without being attached to the outcome. For example, you can choose to give money to a homeless person without concern of what he will do with it.

SOURCE: “LIVING WITHOUT ENEMIES,” SAMUEL WELLS AND MARCIA A. OWEN

successes this year that include: building a statewide coalition of businesses, churches, financial institutions and others to develop and implement alternatives to payday lending; developing a four-state program to provide free legal services to low-wealth individuals and small business owners who lost wages and income as a result of the 2010 BP oil disaster; establishing a legal services program to provide representation to homeowners in mortgage foreclosure matters as a result of the National

youth of color, are sent to detention centers for relatively minor crimes or even mixed with adult detention populations.

This is probably dooming them to a life of poverty and, very likely, worsening crimes.

Society should think carefully about incarcerating youth rather than using community-based rehabilitation programs to help them overcome the violence. If not, their poverty cycles can last many years, resulting in more crime by them or their children, in turn creating more poverty and increases their burden on the rest of society, to boot.

But how to empower young people, and their families, to do what it takes to lift themselves out of poverty? There are several approaches, outlined in “Living Without Enemies: Being Present in the Midst of Violence,” by Samuel Wells and Marcia A. Owen (IVP Books, 2011, $15).

In this approach, the helper occupies one seat and seeks to empower people to discover their own solutions, while helping them along the way. An example would be giving small loans to poor women who want to start their own businesses or helping someone build a Habitat home.

3.

MODELS OF ENGAGEMENT

Being with: “That looks difficult. May I walk alongside you as you carry your burden?”

This means that the helper experiences what it is like to be oppressed, disempowered, low on self-esteem and stuck in a cycle of poverty in their own lives. In the Book of Job, his comforters “sat with him on the ground seven days and nights … for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Telling a disadvantaged person that you value them for who they are as a person rather than achievements is “extraordinary,” Wells and Owen write. There is no reason they should trust you if you can’t say that, they warn. They will likely believe you’re helping them for your own purposes.

1.

4.

IVP BOOKS

Working for: “Here, let me carry that burden for you.”

In this traditional approach, the helper has skills and assumes they need to use them to do something for the person in need. Think of a doctor, layer or dentist fixing you. Or becoming an elected official to fix your community’s problems for them. Other examples include philanthropy and relief organizations.

2.

Working with: “Here, let me carry some of your burden.”

Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement.

The MCJ says it is opening an office in Indianola to focus initially on improving the quality of the Delta’s failed public schools, expanding access to health care to the region’s poorest residents and providing access to legal representation for people living with HIV/AIDS who have faced housing, employment and privacy rights violations that keep them trapped.

Read more, donate or learn how to get involved at mscenterforjustice.org.

Being for: “I’m not helping you specifically, but my life and work are devoted to finding ways to help alleviate poverty.”

This is not direct action to help specific people, but it involves getting informed about social inequality and the cycles of poverty. It involves research, study, participating in conversations in person and online, even debating and intelligent argument. It might mean letters to the editor. It can help change public policy but also runs the risk of keeping you from actual involvement with the people you claim to want to help. It’s an inadequate model on its own, once you have the knowledge you need, the authors warn.

Education Services Foundation Jackson, Miss., and beyond The Education Services Foundation believes that it is necessary to get low-income young people into higher education as firstgeneration colleges students in order to systematically break the cycles of poverty in Mississippi and elsewhere. ESF travels the state, with a Jackson Get2College Center focused on the tri-county area, teaching students at the center and in the schools about how to apply to college and finance an education

(everything is free to the community).

Mississippi’s ACT scores are the lowest in the country, and ESP also has an extensive program to address this collegegoing barrier. But they need to reach more people in the community. “Press and word of mouth are the best way Jacksonians can help us get the word out about our free services,” writes Tait Kellogg of ESF. More information is at get2college. org. Write Ann Hendrick at info@get2col29 lege.org or call 601-321-5533. jacksonfreepress.com

I

t is easy to desire to help someone escape poverty, but it is harder than it might seem because they have to ultimately do it themselves. And the task is made all the more difficult because the very triggers into poverty can also be the effects of it, causing a vicious circle. Take crime: Young people growing up in an abusive or criminal home are more likely to end up in poverty long term; living in poverty also creates conditions that are conducive to crime.

Not to mention, people living in poverty already have the deck stacked against them. Poverty is not a fixed state, reports the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty; it is fluid. Families move in and out poverty at various times. Many periods of poverty are short: 45 percent ends within a year, 70 percent in three years; 12 percent lasts a decade or more. Research shows that the longer an individual has been poor, the less likely he or she will ever leave poverty behind. And it’s easy to return after getting out: Half leaving poverty within a year will return, the alliance reports.

So what to do? Just one thing won’t get and keep someone out of poverty. The alliance warns that poverty prevention, integration of immigrants, strong economic development in communities, income supports, asset development and human capital development all may be needed to reverse a poverty cycle. And that’s on top of tackling the direct causes, or triggers, discussed on page 19.

It’s a good idea to constantly ask yourself how factors and causes are connected and what can be done. For instance, teen pregnancy. Teens clearly need good sex education and access to birth control if they choose to have sex.

They need confidence to say no. They need positive activities that they are passionate about. They need adults who believe in them and will listen, not lecture.

Likewise, young people who are sent to correctional facilities are often then doomed to a life of poverty, and may likely pass the poverty torch into ensuring generations.

Youth detained in correctional facilities suffer higher unemployment rates and receive lower wages even more than 10 years after incarceration. The Heartland Alliance reports that youth incarceration reduces the kids’ future employment by about 5 percent, or three weeks per year.

This is especially true for black youth, many of whom come from communities already mired in a poverty cycle due to long-ago historic causes. They don’t know another life and, too often, communities indict them before they actually do anything wrong by assuming that they are “thugs” or hopeless due to where they’re growing up. It’s a vicious, and dangerous, cycle that is perpetuated when youth, most often

FILM p 30 | 8 DAYS p 31 | MUSIC p 33 | SPORTS p 36

Talking Southern Sh*t

by Kathleen M. Mitchell

December 19 - 25, 2012

How did you get started acting?

I went to school in Vicksburg and, when I graduated, I went to New York City, and I got a scholarship for dance and musical theater. I did shows and musicals there, and that led me to getting a manager, and then I started doing small independent student films and stuff like that.

I ended up doing some Broadway shows and some soaps, and I was like, OK, I’ve got to get to L.A. I can’t book jobs across the country, because everything is here, everything is in L.A. My first job that I booked was “Bring it On Again,” and then two months later I was shipped to Miami to film the “American Idol” movie with Kelly Clarkson, “From Justin to Kelly.” So that’s how my career started out here. And then once I did that, I got recognition from agencies and other people. It was hard, I’m not going to say it was easy—I was like, “Oh it’s going to be easy because I booked so fast,” but you’ve got to kind of pay your dues out here because people don’t know you.

30

Tell me about your new show.

I auditioned for VH1’s new scripted series called “Bounce,” for a professional basketball dancer—like a Laker girl—slash stripper. … So I went in for it and, seven callbacks later, I got the role.

It’s got a stellar cast. Dean Cain is playing the basketball coach, then Kimberly Elise, who is just an astounding actress. … They’ve got a solid older cast, and then the younger characters are newcomers, and it’s just amazing. The pilot is awesome, and there is tons of dancing, just tons and tons. It wore me out.

A pilot is a tough thing, because it has to be pretty perfect for people to pick it up and like it. But we got picked up in July, and we’re shooting in January. We’re going to shoot for four months, and they will air 10 episodes in late May on VH1.

How did you get involved in “Sh*t Southern Women Say?” I am a certified pilates instructor as well, and this girl at

COURTESY KATHERINE BAILESS

Name: Katherine Bailess Age: 32 Hometown: Vicksburg Occupation: actress, dancer, singer Perhaps you’ve seen her in: “Bring it On Again,” “From Justin to Kelly,” “Gilmore Girls,” “One Tree Hill,” “The Loop” Don’t Miss: The YouTube video, “Sh*t Southern Women Say,” Parts 1 & 2, with more than 3 million views combined

the studio, she works there as well, she’s southern, and she’s vibrant just like me, and we became like sisters. And she called me one day and said, “Listen, I’ve got this crazy idea. No one’s done it; no one’s hit the whole ‘Sh*t Southern Women Say’ part of this whole YouTube sensation.

I want to shoot it.”

Julia (Fowler) is from South Carolina, Sheila (Hawkins), she’s also from South Carolina, and (Delaine Yates), she’s from Louisiana. All of us are true southern belles. That’s the main thing, because we don’t want people thinking, “Oh, these girls are from L.A., they’re all actresses.” No. We are all true southern belles, and this is all what our moms and dads and whoever says.

Julia edited it and put it out, what, a month ago? And in two weeks we get 2 million views and I’m dying. … So it’s fun, its really cool. It really does take the right people, the right camera, the right editing, and Julia captured that.

Do you have a favorite line from the sketch?

Some of them really hit home for me. A lot of them, like the “shi-yit” crack me up. … For me, I’m a little bit girly, so the pageant thing was funny, the line, “Oh my God, I know her, we used to do pageants together.” That’s so Mississippi, because I used to dance in the Miss Mississippi pageant for eight years. So that was my childhood before I went to college. I was never in the pageants, but I saw it, I lived it. …

Oh, I’ll tell you a funny thing. So when we wrote the cheeseball thing, I was like, oh my God, my mom, her friends used to make it all the time! “You need me to make a cheeseball?” … So for Thanksgiving, I said I should make a cheeseball. And everyone was like, “Yes, make it!” So I made two, and people went crazy over it. I used my momma’s recipe, and people were dying over it.

Have you found it more or less difficult to get jobs with a southern accent?

I was a dancer when I moved to New York City. I wasn’t an actress. The southern accent thing wasn’t an issue, because I was a dancer, I didn’t plan on having lines. But when I started acting, this one agent, I will not name names, she was like,

Katherine Bailess has big things on the horizon—a pilot debuting in May and 3 millionYouTube views.

“Yeah, that was great and all, but you need to get rid of that southern twang.” I worked so hard at it because every role I was going out for was standard American.

So when I moved to L.A., I booked “Bring it On” and didn’t have the accent. And then when I was up for “From Justin to Kelly,” I wasn’t doing southern, they didn’t ask for southern even though the girls were from Texas. At the last callback, they asked if I could do it southern. And the casting director goes, “Oh Kat, Kat, you don’t have to do it right now if you don’t want to.” Because a lot of actresses, it would freak them out. And I go, “Oh God yeah, but I have to change a few words first, is that OK?” I found out later they hired me from when I said that.

THURSDAY 12/20

FRIDAY 12/21

Screen on the Green is at 7 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Rampage Extreme Park’s Christmas party is from 6-10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY 12/26 The Kwanzaa Celebration at Farish Street Park is at 3 p.m.

BEST BETS DEC. 19-26, 2012

THURSDAY 12/20

The “Gifts of the Season” Holiday Art Show at The Cedars Historic Home (4145 Old Canton Road) ends today. Open Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free; call 601-981-9606. … The Christmas Open House is from 6-8 p.m. at Township at Colony Park (1037 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland). Enjoy extended shopping hours, giveaways, music and a visit from Santa. Free; thetownship. com. … Christmas Family Movie Dec. 20, , Families enjoy a Christmas movie and hot chocolate from 4-6 p.m. at Pearl Public Library (2416 Old Brandon Road, Pearl). Free; call 601-932-2562. … The Third Thursday Art Reception is from 5-8 p.m. at View Gallery (Township at Colony Park, 1107 Highland Colony Parkway, Suite 105, Ridgeland).

Wine and cheese served. Free; call 601-856-2001; viewgalleryart.com. … Enjoy a cash bar, concessions and the movie “Gremlins” during Screen on the Green at 7 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.) in the Art Garden. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org. … circa. Urban Artisan Living (2771 Old Canton Road) is open until 7:30 p.m. for holiday shoppers. Call 601362-8484; circaliving.com. … A Baroque Christmas fea-

11 a.m. on the half-hour. Groups of 10 or more must RSVP. Free; call 601-359-6421. … The Winter Holidays Exhibit at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.) closes today. Open from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Free; call 601-576-6800. … The Christmas party at Rampage Extreme Park (931 Highway 80 W.) is from 6-10 p.m. and includes food, music, skateboarding, inline skating and indoor basketball. $6-$20; call 601-653-7267. … Skylar Laine and Southern Halo perform at 7:30 p.m. at Brandon

BY LATASHA WILLIS Civic Center (1000 Municipal Drive, Brandon). $15 in adJACKSONFREEPRESS.COM vance, $20 at the door; call 601292-7121 or 800-745-3000; FAX: 601-510-9019 ardenland.net. … Dr. Dee perDAILY UPDATES AT forms during Vicksburg’s Got JFPEVENTS.COM the Blues at 8 p.m. at Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar. Free; call 601-638-1000. … The End of the World Party is at 9 p.m. at Golf World (5124 N. State St.). Performers include DeeJ HollyDaze, Rob Roy, Grande Prize Winner, SubStatik and Monoxide. For ages 18 and up.

Must be 21 to drink; BYOB. $10 cover, $5 bottle fee; find “POUR – ‘The End of the World Party’” on Facebook.

EVENTS@

SATURDAY 12/22

FRIDAY 12/21

SUNDAY 12/23

COURTESY DARBY KELLUM

turing the Hattiesburg Chamber Orchestra is at 7:30 p.m. at Bay Street Presbyterian Church (204 Short Bay St., Hattiesburg). $10; call 800-844-8425 or 601-266-5418.

Just for Kids hosts the Christmas Festival from 10 a.m.2 p.m. at Jackson Medical Mall (350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.). Children enjoy games, food, prizes, photo shoots, a dance contest, vendors and toy distribution. Free; call 601503-3265; email arnitrahun@yahoo.com. … Esperanza Plantation’s 10th annual Holiday Showcase is at 7 p.m. at Capri-Pix Theatre (3021 N. State St.). Performers include Johnny Bertram and the Golden Bicycles, T.B. Ledford, El Obo, Bear Colony, Questions in Dialect and The Weeks.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. All-ages event. $15; email chaney@ esperanzaplantation.com. … Rosco Bandana performs at 9 p.m. at Duling Hall. Cocktails at 8 p.m. $5 in advance, $10 at the door; call 601-292-7121 or 800-745-3000; ardenland.net. … Lacee, Calvin Richardson and Shirley Jones perform at the Pre-Christmas Show at 9 p.m. at B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center (400 Second St., Indianola). Doors open at 8 p.m. $15 in advance, $20 at the door; call 662-887-9539; bbkingmuseum.org.

Rosco Bandana performs at Duling Hall Dec. 22 at 9 p.m.

The Christmas exhibit at the Governor’s Mansion (300 E. Capitol St.) ends today. Guided tours held from 9:30-

The Christmas in Canton Victorian Christmas Festival at Historic Canton Square (Courthouse Square, Can-

Jarekus Singleton gives a Christmas concert at The Penguin Dec. 25 at 8 p.m.

ton) ends today. $3 museums, $1 rides; call 601-859-5816; cantontourism.com.

MONDAY 12/24

Today is the last day for the Holiday Open House at Wolfe Studio (4308 Old Canton Road). Enjoy hot mulled cider and cookies while they last. Free; call 601-366-1844.

TUESDAY 12/25

Jarekus Singleton performs at The Penguin at 9 p.m. $20, $30 couples. … Martin’s hosts the annual Christmas Night Showcase at 10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY 12/26

The Farish Street/Main Street Project and Women For Progress host the Kwanzaa Celebration of Umoja (Unity) at 3 p.m. at Farish Street Park (Farish and Hamilton streets).

The program includes a kinara lighting, Karamu feast and entertainment. Free; call 601-941-3230 or 202-256-6021.

More at jfpevents.com and jfp.ms/musicvenues.

jacksonfreepress.com

HURT, Black Oxygen and Storage 24 perform at 7:30 p.m. at Duling Hall. Cocktails at 6 p.m. $10 in advance, $15 at the door; call 601-292-7121 or 800-7453000; ardenland.net.

COURTESY DARNELL JACKSON

WEDNESDAY 12/19

31

(420 Greymont Ave.). The Jackson Tougaloo Alumni Chapter hosts the event to raise money for the scholarship fund. This year’s honorees are Melvin and Gwendolyn Loper. $30, $325 tale of 10; call 601-324-5746 or 601-366-2629.

(/,)$!9 Christmas on Ice through Jan. 6, at Baptist Health Systems, Madison Campus (401 Baptist Drive, Madison). Enjoy an ice-skating rink and ice slide, a Christmas Story Trail, decorations, concessions and concerts. $15 skating and ice slide (rental skates included), concerts and Christmas Story Trail free; call 601-500-5970; christmasonice.com.

Welty Holiday Story Time Dec. 19, 3:304:30 p.m., at Eudora Welty House (1119 Pinehurst Place). Parents and children in grades K-3 listen to a story and make crafts. RSVP. Free; call 601-353-7762; email mbusbin@mdah.state.ms.us.

Dec. 22 The “Legendary” House Rockers

Christmas Open House at Hederman Cancer Center Dec. 20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at Baptist Medical Center (1225 N. State St.). Enjoy holiday music and refreshments, and place an ornament on the Christmas tree in honor or memory of a loved one. Free; call 601-948-6262 or 800-9486262; mbhs.org.

Telling Tales Dec. 20, 3:30 p.m., at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Come for story time and a craft with an ethical focus. Free; call 601-576-6920.

JPS Appreciation Days Dec. 22, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Dec. 23, 1-6 p.m., at Metrocenter Mall (3645 Highway 80 W.). JPS employees are invited to take photos with Santa. Free; call 601-960-8935.

OPEN LATE • SECURITY PROVIDED

Holiday Tree Design Showcase through Dec. 30, at Mississippi Children’s Museum (2145 Highland Drive). See trees decorated by local schools in the galleries. $8, children 12 months and under free; call 601-981-5469.

Holiday Shows, at Russell C. Davis Planetarium (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Films includes “George and Oatmeal” weekdays at 11 a.m., “The Alien Who Stole Christmas” Monday-Saturday at 1 p.m. and “Season of Light” Monday-Saturday at 3 p.m. $6.50, $5.50 seniors, $4 children, $3 students; call 601-960-1552; jacksonms.gov.

Dance Night with

DVDJ Reign Friday, December 21

Hairicane

December 19 - 25, 2012

Saturday, December 22

32

- Thursday Night: Ladies Night

with DJ Reign -Karaoke with Matt (Wed - Sat) 824 S. State St. Jackson, MS www.clubmagoos.com • 601.487.8710

#/--5.)49 JPS/Pepsi Basketball Tournament Dec. 26-28.

High school basketball teams compete, culminating with the championship games Dec. 28 at Forest Hill. Visit jackson.k12.ms.us for specifics. $8 Dec. 26-27, $10 Dec. 28; call 601-960-8825.

• At Murrah High School (1400 Murarh Drive), games begin Dec. 26 at 2:30 p.m. and Dec. 27 at 10 a.m.

• At Provine High School (2400 Robinson Road), games begin Dec. 26 at 2:30 p.m. and Dec. 27 at 2:30 p.m.

• At Wingfield High School (1985 Scanlon Drive), games begin Dec. 28 at 10 a.m.

• At Forest Hill High School (2607 Raymond Road), games begin Dec. 26 at 2 p.m., Dec. 27 at 2:30 p.m. and Dec. 28 at 10 a.m.

The championship games are Dec. 28 at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Precinct 3 COPS Meeting Dec. 20, 6 p.m., at Jackson Police Department, Precinct 3 (3925 W. Northside Drive). These monthly forums are designed to help resolve community issues. Free; call 601-960-0003.

Mississippi NOW Chapter Meeting Dec. 22, 2-3:30 p.m., at Sneaky Beans (2914 N. State St.).

Attendees cover several topics including reproductive rights, racism and gender discrimination.

Children welcome. Free; call 662-607-8868.

Thelma Sanders Scholarship Dance Dec. 26, 8 p.m., at Regency Hotel and Conference Center

,)4%2!29 !.$ 3)'.).'3 Welty Holiday Story Time Dec. 19, 3:30 p.m., at Eudora Welty House (1119 Pinehurst Place).

Parents and children in grades K-3 listen to a story and make crafts. RSVP. Free; call 601-353-7762.

FLICKR/BUNCHES AND BITS (KARINA)

Dec. 21 2Xtreme

Be sure to visit Christmas on Ice before the rink is taken down for the year.

Lemuria Story Time, at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202). Saturdays at 11 a.m., children enjoy a story and make a related craft. Free; call 601-366-7619.

#2%!4)6% #,!33%3 Events at Ridgeland Recreational Center (Old Trace Park, Post Road, Ridgeland). Call 601-8566876.

• Country Line Dancing Class. Held Mondays, classes for beginners are from 6-7 p.m. and advanced classes are from 7:15-8:45 p.m. $10 per class or $40 per month.

• Thread, Yarn, Crochet and Coffee Group.

Meets on second and fourth Mondays from 1:30-3 p.m. Bring supplies. Free.

• Painting with Pastels, Fridays from 9:30 a.mnoon. Registration required. $65 per month; call 601-856-1802.

Shut Up and Write! Reserve your spot for Donna Ladd’s popular creative non-fiction six-class series; begins Jan. 5 and meets every other Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (class decides sixth class date). Half $150 fee reserves slot; gift certificates available. Write class@jacksonfreepress.com or call 601-362-6121 ext. 15.

%8()")43 !.$ /0%.).'3 Events at Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Free; call 601-960-1557, ext. 224.

• Roz Roy Summer Camp Exhibit through Dec. 31, in the lower atrium.

• JSU Faculty Exhibit through Dec. 31, in the main galleries.

• Mississippi World Trade Commission Exhibit through Dec. 31, in the upper atrium.

• LEGO Jackson Exhibit through Jan. 18. See Dr. Scott Crawford’s exhibit of Jackson landmarks built from LEGO blocks.

Events at Brandon Public Library (1475 W. Government St, Brandon).

• World of Walter Anderson Art Exhibit through Jan. 31. The exhibit includes watercol-

ors and pencil drawings depicting Anderson’s Horn Island. Open Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free; call 601-825-2672; cmrls.lib.ms.us.

• Brandon Youth Art Contest. The theme is “The ABCs of Nature.” Children in grades K12 may compete using any medium, and entries must be no larger than 8.5”x11”. Submit by Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. Awards given Jan. 17 at 6 p.m.

Free; call 601-825-2672.

December Exhibit through Dec. 31, at Mississippi Craft Center (950 Rice Road, Ridgeland). See Alexander Brown’s wood sculptures in the small gallery. Free; call 601-856-7546; mscrafts.org.

Events at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Call 601-960-1515.

• Look and Learn with Hoot Dec. 21, 10:30 a.m. This educational opportunity for 4-5 year olds and their parents features a hands-on art activity and story time. Please dress for mess. Free.

• “Visionaries: The Legacy of the Mississippi Art Association” through Jan. 27, in the William B. and Isabel R. McCarty Foundation Gallery. See works from William P. Silva, Caroline Compton, Helen Jay Lotterhos, Eudora Welty, Karl Wolfe and more. Free.

• Mississippi Watercolor Society Grand National Watercolor Exhibition through Jan. 6. See watercolors from artists across the country. Free.

• Bethlehem Tree: Younger Foundation Crèche Collection through Jan. 6, in Trustmark Grand Hall. The installation includes more than 150 rare 18th-century figures. Free.

• “Choctaw Gardens: Photographs by Hilda Stuart” through Jan. 6, in the public corridor.

The exhibition of 15 photographs from Stuart’s book is a glimpse of southern life from the 1950s to the 1970s. Includes images of her son Marty Stuart. Free.

Events at Municipal Art Gallery (839 N. State St.). Free; call 601-960-1582.

• Mississippi Watercolor Society Art Exhibition through Jan. 31. See watercolor paintings from several artists.

• Yvette Sturgis and S. Kellum Art Exhibit through the spring of 2013. See Sturgis’ painting and Kellum’s hanging sculptures.

“Dinosaurs: Big, Bad, Bold and Back” through Jan. 6, at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). See more than 20 robotic dinosaurs, a rubbing station and a fossil dig site.

Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. $4-$6, children under 3 and members free; call 601-576-6000.

“The Fall of Dixie,” at Old Depot Museum (1010 Levee Street, Suite A, Vicksburg). The 250square-foot diorama with 2300 miniature soldiers depicts the Civil War battle for Vicksburg. Free; call 601-638-6500.

"% 4(% #(!.'% Christmas in the Park Dec. 23, 2-5 p.m., at Poindexter Park (1025 Central St.). Volunteer to help feed the homeless that day. Contact the facilitator to confirm. Free; call 601-953-5747.

Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings.

To add an event, email all details (phone number, start and end date, time, street address, cost, URL, etc.) to events@jacksonfreepress.com or fax to 601510-9019. The deadline is noon the Thursday prior to the week of publication. Or add the event online yourself; check out jfpevents.com for instructions.

DIVERSIONS | music

Alabama Loud and Proud

by Larry Morrisey

Fugazi, but that’s not who I am,” he says. “I guess I started trying to reconcile with my musical and cultural background.”

During his last year in college, Bains formed the band Arkadelphia, which had a more roots-based sound. When he

Stones,” he says. “I was determined to have my own band.”

Bains, now 27, joined the Dexateens as it was entering one of its busiest periods. When the group split up in 2010, he spent some downtime playing bluegrass, and then formed the Glory Fires in late 2010. He brought together a group of top-flight musicians (including drummer Blake Williamson, bass player Justin Colburn and guitarist Matt Wurtele), and they quickly made a name for themselves with highenergy shows.

“We play hard and take it seriously,” Bains explains. “It doesn’t matter if there are six or 600 people; these guys are going to play their asses off.”

The band came to Mississippi to record “There is a Bomb in Gilead” at Dial Back Studio in Water Valley. The record received critical acclaim since coming out in May, including a writeup in Rolling Stone magazine.

Despite their constant travel, Bains and Birmingham’s Lee Bains III (left) and the Glory Fires combine punk fury with southern rock and soul, bringing it all together in energetic live shows. his bandmates retain their native football allegiances. Bains is the sole Auburn supreturned to Birmingham after college, he got to know mem- porter amongst a pack of Alabama fans in both the Dexabers of the Dexateens, a Tuscaloosa-based band known for teens and now the Glory Fires. fusing punk with southern rock. Guitarist and bandleader “I don’t know what I did in a past life, but I’m payElliott McPherson asked him to join the group in 2008. Al- ing penance by being in all these bands with Bama fans,” though he was still working hard on Arkadelphia, Bains was a he says. big fan of the group and could not pass up the opportunity.

Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires bring their high-energy “At the time, I don’t know if I would have joined any show to Ole Tavern (416 George St., 601-960-2700) on Saturband in the world, other than the Dexateens or The Rolling day, Dec. 22. For more information, visit thegloryfires.com.

BRETT FALCON

L

ee Bains III and the Glory Fires bring together multiple strands of southern music to make a hard-charging, soulful sound. The Birmingham-based group is perfecting an emerging style of southern rock that acknowledges forbearers like the Allman Brothers, but adds punk energy and coats it with a heavy dose of soul. The group’s recently released debut album, “There Is a Bomb in Gilead,” showcases guitarist and lead vocalist Bains’ strong songwriting and the band’s high level of musicianship.

Like many southern musicians, Bains, a Birmingham native, got his initial musical training in church. His grandmother was the music director at the local Methodist church, and Bains sang in the choir with his grandfather.

The guitarist was also exposed to more expressive music in the Pentecostal church through his babysitter. As a teenager, Bains played guitar with the church band. This church’s looser approach to music made a big impression on him.

“You’re not reading out of a hymnal and singing these exact notes in time with everybody else,” he remembers. “If you didn’t hold that one note exactly as long as the person next to you, it didn’t mean you were doing it wrong, that’s just the way you were doing it.”

In addition to church music, Bains received a deep immersion in rock and classic soul from his father and two older brothers. He heard punk at a young age and, by the time he was a teenager, Bains was playing original songs in bands at punk shows around Birmingham.

He left Alabama to attend New York University. While there, he played in punk bands, but he began to question his connection to the music. The new environment allowed him to take stock of his relationship to his home region.

“I was basically trying to be (legendary hardcore band)

natalie’s notes

by Natalie Long

Holiday To-Do List

Between stuffing stockings and wrapping gifts, I’ve got some killer live music to see and hear this holiday season.

Lavandus in Space at the first annual Surfin’ Christmas Extravaganza at Hal and Mal’s.

The same night also has a gaggle of ladies nights’ events throughout the city, so after

work or a day of frazzled Christmas shopping, check jfp.ms/musiclistings and head to a local establishment for music and libations. Former Jacksonian Lizzie Wright has invited pals Laurel Isbister and Alex Pieschel to perform with her at Morningbell Records, so stop by and tell her hello!

On Friday, our very own American Idol, Skylar Laine, along with Southern Halo, performs at the Brandon Civic Center; The Capitol Grille has Fearless Four; and Soulshine’s new location on Lakeland Drive hosts Barry Leach.

Saturday night, check out the eccentrically awesome music at The Capri for Esperanza Plantation’s Showcase featuring The Weeks, Questions in Dialect, Johnny Bertram and The Golden Bicycles, El Obo, Bear Colony and TB Ledford. Head on up the street to Duling Hall to check out Jackson’s new favorite band, Rosco Bandana.

We also have Mississippi bluesman and blues legacy Gary Burnside performing at Martin’s Lounge, and if you missed

Grady Champion at Underground 119 on Friday, he performs again Saturday at the same location—so no excuses!

Add Lee Bains and the Glory Fires to your list of music to see Saturday night.

They perform at Ole Tavern with local indie band Liver Mousse. If your crew feels like cutting loose on the dance floor instead, make your way to the Capitol Grille in Deville Plaza for DoubleShotz; to Soul Wired Café for DJ C-Lecta, Reed Pierce for Snazz; Bottoms Up for dancing or Last Call Sports Grill for Time to Move Band.

I hope all of you have a great Christmas with family and friends. Please show your love for our city’s music scene by buying merchandise from local bands (for yourself or Christmas gifts), booking bands for private functions, attending concerts, throwing a dollar or two in the tip jar and spreading the word about bands and solo artists playing this holiday season.

Have a holly jolly Christmas!

Get music venue info at jfp.ms/venues. 33

jacksonfreepress.com

Christmas sweater, break out your Hawaiian shirts, straw hat and flip-flops for Jackson’s surf band, Buddy & The Squids with FLICKR/ANDREW MALONE

S

o, this is Christmas. The week before the biggest holiday of the year, and I’m in exactly the same place as I was at the beginning of the month—no presents bought, no Christmas cards mailed or even remotely addressed, no decorations hanging up anywhere, and no holiday cooking (now, that may be a good thing). In between everything from Christmas parties, last-minute shopping, and trying to see all of your friends and family who are home for the holidays, I hope all of you are planning to hear some wonderful local music in the City with Soul.

On Wednesday, Dec. 19, Sneaky Beans hosts bands Real Live Tigers from Fayetteville, Ark., Electrician from Oakland, Calif., and Jackson’s new breakout artist, Zach Lovett. If you feel like starting the preholiday weekend early, make your presence known at Pop’s Saloon for Ladies Night; Olga’s hosts Joseph LaSalla, and Burgers and Blues features Jesse “Guitar” Smith.

Thursday night, instead of a tacky

DIVERSIONS | music

Harmony at Home WEEKLY EVENT CALENDAR 12/19

LADIES NIGHT

1/2 OFF DRINKS FOR LADIES 5PM - UNTIL MUSIC STARTS AT 8PM THURSDAYS

12/20

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL & COLLEGE NIGHT 7PM - UNTIL • 9 FLAT SCREENS • $2.25 LONGNECKS • $3.25 WELL DRINKS

FRIDAY

12/21

Ribeye Steaks & Baked Potatoes

with live music by

Renegade 6-10 Robbie Peoples & Friends SATURDAY

10 p.m. until

12/22

THIS WEEK WEDNESDAY 12/19 Jesse Robinson’s Musicians Ball (Red Room) Barry Leech (Restaurant) THURSDAY 12/20 Buddy & the Squids with Lavandus in Space (Red Room) Brian Jones (Restaurant) FRIDAY 12/21

T

Here are some tidbits about the performers.

During “Happy Homecoming,” Wes Hughes will accompany Laurel Isbister Irby, and Lizzie Wright will play with Alex Pieschel.

Isbister Irby got her hands on a tape recorder when she was 4 and her first guitar when she was 9 years old.

Isbister Irby will play a new song called “Choices” that her younger sister, Holly Hollar, wrote the lyrics for.

1.

5.

SATURDAY 12/22

Blue Mountain (Red Room)

Coming Soon

TUESDAY

12/25

CHRISTMAS SHOWCASE

WITH JASON BAILEY, DJ VENOM,BRIK A BRAK MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, IRON FEATHERS, CHRIS WHEELER OF THE GILLS,THE PEOPLES, ZACK LOVETT + MORE

December 19 - 25, 2012

UPCOMING SHOWS

34

DEC. 29 KEYS N KRATES (CANADA) DEC. 31 NYE BLOWOUT W/ PARALLAX AND FRIENDS FREE CHAMPAGNE AT MIDNIGHT SEE OUR NEW MENU WWW.MARTINSLOUNGE.NET

214 S. STATE ST. 601.354.9712 DOWNTOWN JACKSON

6.

7.

Laurel Isbister Irby

8.

12/24-26-CLOSED MONDAY - FRIDAY

Blue Plate Lunch

$8

with corn bread and tea or coffee

9.

About a year ago, Wright deleted her Facebook account. She recently logged back in to reach out to her Jackson friends to set up a show here while on winter vacation from school.

Alex Pieschel and Wright played in the Jackson-based band called the Kevin Slater Family Band.

Lately, Pieschel has been listening to music that “fills the space in a room,” he says, like Brian Eno. Pieschel, 25, is a graduate student at the University of Alabama studying Shakespeare. He’s classically trained in violin, played the trumpet in high school and plays the guitar.

Pieschel makes music that combines folk with electronic sounds, such as those found in old video games. Give it a listen and download for free at soundcloud.com/apieschel.

25 10.

As well as the usual favorites! Seafood Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Burgers, Fried Pickles, Onion Rings and Homemade Soups made daily.Fridays: Catfish Plates are $9.75

$4.00 Happy Hour Well Drinks!

visit HalandMals.com for a full menu and concert schedule

601.948.0888

200 S. Commerce St. Downtown Jackson, Mississippi

COURTESY ALEX PIESCHEL

GARY BURNSIDE

12/27-Keneth Beanblossom Restaurant 12/28-Grits & Soul - Restaurant 12/29-Barry Leech Trio Restaurant 12/31-Hal and Mal’s New Year’s Eve Bash Private Event, need ticketif interested in being a host/hostess contact jane@halandmals.com

4.

Isbister Irby studied Bulgarian music at New College in Florida and lived in Bulgaria on a Fulbright grant after graduating.

Lizzie Wright, 29, had her first real performance at a school talent show when she was 16. At 17 years old, she and some friends raised money to make and sell CDs of original music and donated the proceeds to help children with cancer.

Wright’s live sets often include lots of audience participation. “Be ready to sing in your loudest voice and clap your joy out,” she says.

Wright makes “folk-tinged indie pop,” she says. “It’s basically me and my guitar, and I write a lot of fun, quirky songs.”

Wright moved away from Jackson to Columbia, Mo., for graduate school at the University of Missouri where she is earning a master’s degree in forestry.

Pavement Band with

Spirituals and AF the Naysayer (Red Room) Booker Walker (Restaurant)

Lizzie Wright

2.

3.

TOM BECK

WEDNESDAYS

his Thursday, Morningbell Records & Studios (622 Duling Ave., Suite 205A, 769-233-7468) hosts “Happy Homecoming,” a concert featuring Lizzie Wright, Laurel Isbister Irby and Alex Pieschel. The free concert starts at 7 p.m.

COURTESY LIZZIE WRIGHT

by Briana Robinson

11.

12.

13.

Alex Pieschel

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9.99

Weekly Lunch Specials

$

Open for dinner Sat. 4-10pm 2-for-1 House Wine 2-for-1 Bottled Domestic Beer Thursday

December 20

LADIES NIGHT

w/ DJ Stache LADIES DRINK FREE Friday NDecember 21

Scott Albert Johnson

Now offering a full dinner menu.

Now accepting reservations.

Wednesday, December 19th

EMMA WYNTERS

(Acoustic) 7-10, No Cover, Wine Specials All Night

Thursday, December 20th

CHALMERS & BABY JAN (Jazz) 8-11, No Cover Friday, December 21st

GRADY CHAMPION

(Americana) 9-1, $10 Cover

Saturday, December 22nd

GRADY CHAMPION

(Blues) 9-1, $10 Cover

Tuesday, December 25th

CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS

COMING SOON December 26, 2012

Taylor

Saturday

December 22

Lee Bains and The Glory Fires

Hildebrand

Boxing Day

Extravaganza

Tuesday

December 25

Highlife, Highlife Lite, PBR, Schlitz, Fatty Natty Open Mic w/ Jason Turner

Wednesday December 26 KARAOKE w/ DJ STACHE

HAPPY HOUR! TUESDAY ALL NIGHT LONG! Till 7 Wednesday -Friday

2-FOR-1

Open Mon-Sat, Restaurant open Mon-Fri

â&#x20AC;¢ DRAFT BEER â&#x20AC;¢ WELL DRINKS â&#x20AC;¢ APPETIZERS!

facebook.com/Ole Tavern

119 S. President Street 601.352.2322 www.Underground119.com

FREE WiFi 11 am-10 pm & Sat 4-10 pm

601-960-2700

jacksonfreepress.com

$%# 7%$.%3$!9

COURTESY STORAGE 24

MUSIC | live

35

DIVERSIONS | film

jfp sports

Are We There, Yet?

the best in sports over the next seven days

by Anita Modak-Truran

W

December 19 - 25, 2012

COURTESY NEW LINE CINEMA

One of the many issues presented in hat makes Peter Jacksonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s films different from the this film is the existential battle of art and work of other directors is an commerce. This movie, like so many, is extraordinary combination shaped by calculations about what will sell of visual richness and visual freedom. Jack- to its fan base. You can imagine Jackson sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s movies feature sweeping panoramas and studio executives debating the ways in of breathtaking battles, twisted creatures which â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hobbitâ&#x20AC;? can be shaped and and mysterious wooded lands. But like an manipulated into another billion-dollar adrenaline junkie searching for a new high, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lord of the Ringsâ&#x20AC;? trilogy.

Jackson keeps escalating his visual exploits.

But, while â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lord of the Ringsâ&#x20AC;? was a The director approaches his latest film, trilogy based on three separate books, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,â&#x20AC;? with Hobbitâ&#x20AC;? is a trilogy based on one. an obsession for nitty-gritty details. Jacksonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jacksonian Jeffrey Hess considers himchoice to shoot the picture at 48 frames per second, rather than at the film standard of 24 frames per second, makes his fixation even more evident. The effect is disorienting; it screams of animation on steroids, rather than a live action film.

For those who patiently sit through the nearly threehour filmâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which is only the first of a trilogy based on Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) joins forces with J.R.R. Tolkienâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rather short dwarves in â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.â&#x20AC;? fantasy novel â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hobbitâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Bilbo Bagginsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; great adventure bloats into a monstrous bore. self a stalwart Tolkien fan. When asked about â&#x20AC;&#x153;It began long ago,â&#x20AC;? writes Bilbo Bag- a trilogy based on â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hobbit,â&#x20AC;? he cangins (Martin Freeman) in a journal for his didly answered, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an insult to my freedom dearest kin Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). that they treat me like such a commodity.â&#x20AC;?

(Emphasis here is on â&#x20AC;&#x153;long,â&#x20AC;? a subtle harbinChange out Aragorn and his band ger of what is to come). The little hobbit of with dwarves, keep the hobbits and trek the noble lineage frames his once-in-a-lifetime wilds of New Zealand, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hobbitâ&#x20AC;? quest into its epic context. replicates part of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lord of the Ringsâ&#x20AC;? experiDecades before Bilbo puts pen to pa- ence. But something important is missing. per, a fire-breathing, gold-thieving, reptilian Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not pseudo psychology; this movie has dragon drives the swarthy, but courageous that in shovelfuls. Gandalf gets all the best dwarves out of their mountain kingdom. one-liners: â&#x20AC;&#x153;All good stories deserve embelThorin (Richard Armitage), the last mem- lishments,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Courage is not killing, but ber of the royal line, swears to reclaim the knowing when to spare lifeâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;The small homeland. Gandalf (Ian McKellen), friend things keep the bad things at bay.â&#x20AC;? to dwarves, hobbits and elves, knocks on The film doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lack imagination.

Bilboâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s little door.

Jackson and his talented team leave no detail â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m looking for someone to share an undone. Indeed, once Bilbo starts his advenadventure,â&#x20AC;? Gandalf says. Bilbo declines. ture, the film takes on a single, high-pitch A wizard cannot be denied, however; scale bordering on hysteria. that evening, thirteen dwarves and GanThe truth be told, I simply didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care dalf interrupt Bilboâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evening supper. They about what happened. The visual overload break bread, sing songs of Middle-earth and and Jacksonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s treatment of everything as imdiscuss doilies and china. When the merry portant swamped out any emotional controop abandons his home early the next nection I had with the material. Although morning, Bilbo reconsiders. this film is splendidly beautiful, well-acted â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going on an adventure,â&#x20AC;? Bilbo and, at times, entertaining (the high point shouts to his neighbors in the Shire. is Serkisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance), â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Hobbitâ&#x20AC;? is a This ordinary little hobbit with large sluggish journey that goes into oblivion. I hairy feet runs from home into the frying kept wondering, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Are we there, yet?â&#x20AC;? pan of the unknown. He finds himself with I may never get there, because I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a tiny sword, no bigger than a letter opener, imagine sitting through the next two Hobbit to combat ugly trolls, vile orcs and nasty pictures in the franchise: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Desolation of goblins. Somewhere in one of the moun- Smaugâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;There and Back Again.â&#x20AC;? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tains, he meets the blue-eyed Gollum (Andy too much work for a flight of fantasy. NothSerkis) and his â&#x20AC;&#x153;preciousâ&#x20AC;? ring. ing was left to my imagination.

36

SLATE

by Bryan Flynn

This time of the year we spend time with family, at parties, exchanging gifts and eating great food. Enjoy everything the holidays have offer and take in some sports as well.

THURSDAY, DEC 20 College football (7-10 p.m., ESPN): BYU and San Diego State face off in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. ... NBA (8:30-11 p.m., TNT): The Miami Heat tangle with the Dallas Mavericks in this 2011 NBA Finals rematch.

FRIDAY, DEC 21 College football (6:30-10 p.m., ESPN): A slow sports day does feature Ball State against Central Florida in the Beef â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Bradyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bowl.

SATURDAY, DEC 22 College basketball (3-5 p.m., ESPN U): A fully loaded day of sports features the NBA, NFL, college football bowl games and a full slate of college basketballâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Spend a couple of hours watching Ole Miss meet Indiana State in basketball.

SUNDAY, DEC 23 NFL (12-3 p.m., Fox): New Orleans blasted Tampa Bay to keep their playoff hopes alive and now they hit the road to face the red-hot Dallas Cowboys, who are trying to keep their own playoff bid alive.

MONDAY, DEC 24 College football (7-10 p.m., ESPN): Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it to Hawaii for Christmas? At least you can still watch Western Kentucky and SMU play there in the Hawaii Bowl.

TUESDAY, DEC 25 NBA (2-7 p.m., ABC): I recommend spending time with loved ones, but if you have to watch sports, this double header on ABC isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bad with the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the New York Knicks, followed by a rematch of the 2012 NBA Finals with the Miami Heat hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder.

WEDNESDAY, DEC 26 College football (6:30-10 p.m., ESPN): Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another slow sports day, but you can watch some MACtion as Central Michigan takes on Western Kentucky in the Little Caesars Bowl.

This is the time of year for peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind. Can we try to keep this ideal up for the whole year, even after the holidays pass?

bryanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rant "OUNTY 'ATE %XPOSED A -ESS

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The Skinny on Seeds

Jim PathFinder Ewingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new book titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Conscious Food: Sustainable Growing, Spiritual Eatingâ&#x20AC;? (Findhorn Press) should be in a bookstore near you. Find Jim on Facebook, follow him @edibleprayers or visit blueskywaters.com.

by Jim PathFinder Ewing

FLICKR/SATORU_KIKUCHI

Organic seeds can produce a hardier, tastier garden.

Organic growing, of course, rejects the use of such chemicals. Seeds labeled â&#x20AC;&#x153;certified organicâ&#x20AC;? are produced from plants grown in organic settings, without those conditions.

Moreover, many of the seeds that gardeners plant are used in broader agricultural settings: the vast acreages of monocultures that today constitute what we consider to be farming. They may have coatings on the seeds for faster germination or fungicides that are not allowed in organic farming, or they may be genetically engineered for certain traitsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including toxins produced within the plant to kill certain pests. These genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not allowed in organic farming.

In addition, certain conventional seeds are bred for produce that looks good or has a long shelf life to survive transportation over long distances and sitting in gro-

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cery bins, or are uniform in size so that a consistent price can be charged by the food distributor. But the primary concern for organic gardeners is that the plants will grow better. One big difference is early growth, where plants pop up out of the ground to get a head start on pests. They are bred for vigorous growth (that may not be uniform with other plants in size) and for taste (as opposed to shelf life or appearance in color or shape).

If you start with organic seedsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or heirloom seeds that have consistent desirable qualitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you could develop hardier strains uniquely suited for your growing conditions and preferences quicker than using varieties developed for other â&#x20AC;&#x153;conventionalâ&#x20AC;? settings.

Organic Growing Heals the Earth

by Jim PathFinder Ewing

I

FLICKR/ILOVEBUTTER

serve on a number of conservation and fields used in conventional agriculture must environmental boards of directors, and be idled for three years so that the toxins used a question that has been coming up a in chemical agriculture can break down. lot lately has regarded growing plants What many growersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and consumunder contaminated conditionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a topic of ersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;may not know is that we now live in interest to urban homesteada chemical-soup world and ers and those wanting to contamination is an onpractice urban agriculture. going concern. A farmer In one case, a wind may be growing perfectly drift inadvertently sprayed organic and inadvertently an organic growerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crops contaminate soil like these with chemicals that would instances, or the water itself render his crop worthless can be contaminated withorganically. In another, a out the growerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s knowledge. grower thought he was folIn addition, the act lowing organic guidelines of farming can bring unand fertilized his fields with known contaminants to the biosolids (human waste), a surface, such as heavy metpractice not allowed in orals and PCBs from previous ganics. land uses.

Planting certain organic These are serious issues vegetables and plants can Some lands are â&#x20AC;&#x153;confor organic growers. The rule actually improve the soil taminatedâ&#x20AC;? naturally. Anis that in order to be organic, by drawing toxins out. cient seabeds, for example,

can hold metals such as selenium, boron, molybdenum, mercury or arsenic, that can come to the surface. Where land is heavily irrigated, plants take up irrigation water, leaving salts to build up in the soil.

Moreover, when people plant in urban settings, such as parks, abandoned lots, etc., a host of contaminantsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from mechanical solvents to toxic wastes to household chemicalsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;can be built up in the soil.

Nature is a great housekeeper and provides the means for cleaning up even heavily contaminated soils. The process is generally called phytoremediationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;using plants themselves to clean the soil.

More specifically, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s called phytoextraction. Growers can use plants (and trees) to absorb contaminants through their root systems. Depending on the type of contaminant, the toxins are then either stored in the roots or by natural actions transported into the stems and/or leaves. After harvesting, the soil will have a lower level of contamination.

What about keeping seeds for growing the next year? Is seed saving better or worse than organic seeds? Seed saving can have the same effect, tailoring plants for your unique growing conditions. Organic seed gives you a leg up; you already have some of the qualities you want to develop. So, while seed saving is preferred over buying every year, buy organic seed and then save seeds to more efficiently develop the traits you want to keep.

Mind you, certified organic seeds are not readily available for some varieties of crops. Organic growing allows for some use of seeds that are unavailable in certified organic varieties; just make sure they are not GMO or coated.

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Plants especially good at removing toxins are called hyperaccumulators. Some plants can even be used for mining elements, called phytomining; and even sewer water can be reclaimed for drinking using plants.

These arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exotic plants, either.

Popular food plants like sunflowers and mustard plants (indeed, the entire brassica family) work, as well as legumes like alfalfa, alsike clover and peas. Trees include hybrid poplar, willow, cottonwood, aspen, mulberry, apple and osage orange. (Source: Ground Remediation, University of Iowa: jfp.ms/groundremediation) The lesson is that nature heals her own, even the mistakes and toxins humans introduce. By growing organically, without synthetic chemicals and poisons, we are healing 37 the earth.

jacksonfreepress.com

I

f you are already thinking about what you want to grow in your garden next year, start out right with organic seeds.

They can make a much better garden.

Conventional seedsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the kind normally found at seed stores and in catalogsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are from plants that are grown in what is considered a â&#x20AC;&#x153;conventionalâ&#x20AC;? setting: with the use of synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides.

LIFE&STYLE | food & drink

Sweet Carols

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD

by Jane Flood

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s Americans are sitting down to ham or roast beast (or perhaps even tofurkey) this Christmas, people around the world will enjoy a wide assortment of traditional holiday meals. Here are just some of the interesting foods gracing global Christmas tables. !RGENTINA²5RDVW SHDFRFN "RAZIL²&RXYH D 0LQHLUD RU NDOH VHDVRQHG ZLWK JDUOLF #ZECH 2EPUBLIC²&DUS $ENMARK²*RRVH RIWHQ ¿ OOHG ZLWK SUXQHV DSSOHV DQG OLQJRQEHUU\ VDXFH %GYPT² .DKN VZHHW FRRNLHV GHFR UDWHG ZLWK D FURVV WIKICOMMONS/JEBULON

In France, a BĂťche de NoĂŤl is traditional holiday nosh.

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SOURCES: MENTALFLOSS.COM, ESSORTMENT.COM

he idyllic neighborshe placed a hot cup of cocoa hood in which I grew with marshmallows in each of up in the early â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70s, in our hands and passed around a small town in Georplates of Christmas cookies, gia, was full of children of all toffee and fudge. ages. It provided a very fun and Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to host your happy existence, though not own caroling party, and a many surprises or glamour. To great way to get to know your be in such an ordinary place, neighbors better during the the lady across the street was holidays. Organize the chilas breathtaking as a movie star. dren and adults with song She wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t famous, but she was sheets and, whether doorlovelyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with a dark beehive to-door singing is performed hairdo and colorful, floaty outor just singing for the group, fits, except for when she mowed treats are always welcome. the lawn in tiny Marilyn MonWarm drinks like hot chocoroe shorts and high heels. And late and mulled cider fill the (besides my mother, of course) house with delicious aromas she was the most beautiful and can be spiked for adults, mom on the street. if desired. Christmas cookies, One December evening, toffee and cheese treats are my sister organized a holiday sure to delight all tastes. caroling night with all the chilDepending on the dren in the neighborhood, and crowd, consider cookie decowe ended our ragtag tour at rating as an activity or enjoy Miss Melbaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house. Melba was it on your own prior to the Warm up with hot mulled cider before a caroling party. late, I remember, but pulled in party. Pre-cut a simple butto the driveway as we were shivter-cookie recipe into holiday ering on the front lawn, stepshapes and have available ping from her car, wrapped in small dollar-store paintbrushglamorous faux fur with matching hat and trees, multi-colored lights and homemade es and colors for painting. To make vibrant arms full of packages. She quickly ran from decorations. Melbaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s was white with blue colors, place one egg yolk each in several her car to greet us with great excitement. and white lights and only blue and silver teacups, dash each with food coloring and Melba ushered us all in to her living ornaments and was covered in â&#x20AC;&#x153;angel hair.â&#x20AC;? paint on cookies. The yolk bakes in the room to sit under the treeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which we were We were all in awe of the lavish glamour. oven along with the cookies, and the colors all enamored with. Our homes had green After we sang for Melba and her husband, are vivid.

JANE FLOOD

by Kathleen M. Mitchell

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate

Mulled Cider

This hot chocolate is lovely topped with whipped cream and crushed peppermint candy. Adult versions can include the addition of peppermint schnapps, if desired.

The aroma alone is worth simmering this delicious, hot drink. Guests will appreciate the tangy and sweet taste.

12 cups milk 9 ounces good-quality white chocolate 1 cup red-and-white striped candy canes, crushed 1/4 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cups peppermint schnapps (optional) Whipped cream Additional red-and-white striped candy canes, crushed

Bring milk to a simmer in a heavy, large saucepan.

Reduce heat to medium low and add white chocolate, one cup of the crushed candy and salt; whisk until smooth. Add schnapps if desired and ladle hot chocolate into mugs. Top with whipped cream and additional candy.

Serves 12.

12 cups apple cider 1/4 cup orange juice Peel from one orange, cut into strips 1 bay leaf 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed 2 cinnamon sticks 3 whole cloves 3 whole allspice berries 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice Pinch of salt 1-1/2 cups applejack brandy (optional)

Mix all ingredients except brandy in a large saucepan.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer mixture for 30 minutes to blend flavors. Strain mulled cider into mugs. Pass brandy separately.

Serves 12.

LIFE&STYLE | girl about town

5A44 FX 5X

by Julie Skipper

T

JULIE SKIPPER

he holidays are a time of traditions, the tree and popping a bottle of prosecco as and of family. Some traditions stay Mike put on the topper, we sat down to a the same year after year; other new pasta dinner over good conversation. Lookones start as our lives—and the peo- ing around at the table full of friends of all ple in them—change over the years. I’m sure different ages, races and life experiences, I I’m not alone in reflecting on the blessings of was grateful that we could all come together. the people with whom I share my life as the And then there are friends who reapholiday party season descends. pear. For a number of years, downtown resiNot having any siblings makes me particularly appreciative of friendships and the people I consider the family I’ve made for myself as an adult. These are the friends who are like brothers and sisters to me, on whom I’ve relied through the years for unconditional support. They are my downtown neighbors who are like a sometimes dysfunctional, sometimes rowdy family (or fraternity). There are the folks with whom I work on efforts to make this city a place we can all enjoy and love to live, who inspire and challenge me. And there’s a Special Someone, too. Around the holidays, well, we all get together Over the past few years, helping decorate Mike and celebrate. A lot.

McRee’s Christmas tree has become an annual I suppose Thanksgiving event for my downtown family. serves as the jumping-off point to holiday traditions and celebration, but it’s never been a big deal in my family, particularly after my mom’s dents knew Raymond as the homeless man parents’ passing. Let’s face it: Three people who washed our car rims. Raymond was do not have any business cooking a whole always polite, and kept an eye out on things turkey. This is why I nodded with only- in the neighborhood, but like many of the child understanding when Toni Cooley told homeless population, he struggled with subme she and her parents ate sandwiches for stance addiction. Nonetheless, we did what Thanksgiving and said, “The last two years, we could to help him, and considered him a we ate at El Portrillo.” friend—he even helped me move from one This year, though, I decided some- downtown property to another. One memthing more traditional would be nice. My orable year, we invited him to join us for our downtown apartment is too small to accom- annual neighborhood Christmas party. He modate a dining-room table, but luckily, I dressed as Santa Claus and sang Christmas was able to use another downtown apart- carols with more gusto than I’ve ever heard. ment with more ample space. Thanksgiving Downtowner Michael Rejebian was this year included homemade soup, turkey always particularly fond of and good to breast, roasted vegetables and football watch- Raymond. About two years ago, Raymond ing with loved ones. It was simply lovely, and disappeared, and I know that Rejebian ofset the tone for what’s become a holiday sea- ten wondered about him. Last week, he was son of gratitude and love. standing outside his building when he saw The following night brought what’s be- a man pull up in a car with a woman and come another annual tradition—the deco- smile at him. After a moment, Rejebian realrating of Mike McRee’s Christmas tree at the ized that it was his old friend, Raymond. He’s apartment above Underground 119. Because married now and has completely turned his I have a secret love of stringing lights, three life around. I’m so happy for him, and grateyears ago I volunteered to assist with his. Now, ful that he serves as a reminder for why we it’s my annual job. Because I think every oc- shouldn’t give up on people. casion is better as a party, I invite a group And so, as the Christmas parties conof downtowners to join in the decorating. tinue and New Year’s plans are made, I hope As Christmas music played, a group that all of you take time during your tradiof Mike’s friends and several downtown tions to be grateful for the people you’re couples enjoyed each other’s company. This with—the family you were born into and year, there was even a child, which made the the friends and family that you’ve chosen. holiday spirit even brighter. After trimming I know I will.

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41

for the host/hostess

by Kathleen M. Mitchell

E

veryone has that friend who just loves to entertainâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;whether its grilling up burgers in the backyard, cooking a full sit-down meal or just pouring a wicked cocktail or two.

Treat the ones that treat you with culinary gadgets, interesting ingredients, cooking lessons or kitchen decor. (As a bonus, you both reap the benefits!)

FX]V Bc^_ on State Street

CdTbSPh =XVWc â&#x20AC;˘ 19 Beers On Tap â&#x20AC;˘ Live Music â&#x20AC;˘ 50¢ Boneless Wings â&#x20AC;˘ $10 Pitcher Abita â&#x20AC;˘ $2 Pint Abita

FTS]TbSPh =XVWc Yazoo Beer â&#x20AC;˘ $10 pitcher â&#x20AC;˘ $2 pint

December 19 - 25, 2012

CWdabSPh =XVWc

42

All-You-Can-Eat $20 wings & draft beer dine-in only, no sharing, no carry out

$2 Pints

% (%( %# ($! = BcPcT Bc 9PRZb^] <B

1 Bar10der, $55, The Everyday Gourmet 2 Caramel Sauce, $6.95, Nandyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Candy 3 Marble Mortar and Pestle, $19.99, Mr. Chenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 4 Alfresco Grill, $3,500-6,000, Kitchen Kreators 5 Square Table Cookbook, $35, Lemuria Books 6 Set of Four Le Creuset Mini Cocottes, $80, The Everyday Gourmet 7 Fish Grilling Rack, $5.99, Mr. Chenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 8 Individual Cutting/Serving Boards, $10.95, Cookinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Up a Storm 9 Ravioli Stamp, $3.99, The Everyday Gourmet 10 Hand-forged Mississippi Meat Branding Iron, $70, circa.

11 The Southern Foodie, $24.99, Lemuria Books 12 Viking University 6-week Culinary Course, $499, Viking Cooking School 13 Wine Bottle Holder, $40, circa.

14 Fleur de Lis Measuring Cups, $40.95, Cookinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Up a Storm 15 John Boos Kitchen Island, $1,469, Kitchen Kreators 16 Wok, $14.99, Mr. Chenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 17 Teriyaki Sauce, $10.95, Cookinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Up a Storm 18 Cathead-brand Liqueur, Honeysuckle Vodka, Gin and Classic Vodka, prices vary, Cathead

Where2Shop:

Cathead Vodka, sold at multiple locations around the metro, P.O. Box 4917, 601-667-3038, catheadvodka.com; circa. URBAN ARTISAN LIVING, 2771 Old Canton Road, 601-362-8484; Cookinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Up a Storm, 1491 Canton Mart Road, Suite 1, 601) 957-1166; Kitchen Kreators, 1625 East County Line Road, 601-368-8201; Lemuria Books, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202, 601-366-7619; Mr. Chenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Authentic Chinese Cooking, 5465 I-55 North, 601-978-1865; Nandyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Candy, 1220 E. Northside Drive, 601-362-9553; The Everyday Gourmet, 1625 E. County Line Road, 601-9779258; Viking Cooking School, 1052 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland, 601-898-2778.

(Visit our Facebook Page for Specials & Promotions)

398 Hwy. 51 • Ridgeland, MS (601) 853-3299 • www.villagebeads.com

2050 Treetops Blvd. Ste. 100 Flowood Cell # 601-213-6595 • Office # 601-939-5160

4500 I-55 North Suite 238 Jackson, MS 39211 601.366.1117 www.rustyrileydmd.com

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

• General & Cosmetic Dentistry • KöR Deep Whitening • Dental Implants • Porcelain Crowns & Veneers

Be charitable, spread some laughter and bring cheer to someone’s heart....It’s Christmas!

One Trusted Office For All Of Your Dental Needs.

“I make buying and selling FUN!” Broker Associate, GRI • CRYE-LEIKE REALTORS

Kim Goodson

Rusty Riley, DMD

Trace Station 500 Hwy 51 Suite L Ridegeland, MS 601.427.5163

• Pedicure & Manicure • Gel Acrylics • Shellac/Gel Polish • Dresses • Shoes • Formal Dresses for Homecoming • Accessories • Much more…

Nail services by appointment only.

Where fashion meets beauty…

Lunch Buffet • 11-2 Lunch Buffet: Mon - Fri • 11am - 2pm Sat & Sun • 11.30am - 2.30pm Dinner: Mon - Sun • 5 - 10pm

862 Avery Blvd • Ridgeland, MS 601-991-3110 • ruchiindia.com

GREAT SALES NOW THRU CHRISTMAS

10% MORE OFF ALL SALE ITEMS with this coupon. exclusions apply. expires 1/3/13

1461 Canton Mart Road | Jackson MS | 601.956.5102 Mon - Fri: 7:30 - 5:30 | Sat: 8:00 - 5:00 | find us on

Knock a few folks off the gift list at Urban Home, inside Garden Works. Our new shipment of Bed Head Pajamas is here just in time to cozy up in front of the fire. Never underestimate the power of a great pair of PJs. The ultimate Christmas gift.

650 Hwy 51, Ridgeland, MS 39157 | 60.856.3078 facebook.com/martinsonsms | www.martinsonsms.com mon - sat 8:30 am - 5:30 pm • sunday Closed

jacksonfreepress.com

Keep the paws black but change the coupon cut lines to blue.

43

Over 36,000 sq ft of antiques, collectibles, jewelry, furniture, crafts, glassware, & architectural salvage.

Yvette Brown Owner Stylist/Educator â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rejuventing the Mind, Body & Soul of Hair.â&#x20AC;?

1325 Flowood Dr. â&#x20AC;˘ www.ďŹ&#x201A;eamarketms.com

Cell: 601.624.0255 Salon: 769.233.8411

Sat: 9am-5pm â&#x20AC;˘ Sun: 12pm-5pm â&#x20AC;˘ $1 Admission

Mention This Ad For Free Admission!

ming Soon

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