Jackson Free Press Volume 19 Issue 16

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VOL 19 NO. 16 // JUNE 2 - 29, 2021 // SUBSCRIBE FREE FOR BREAKING NEWS AT JFPDAILY.COM

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Violence in the City: Families Seek Closure, Police Outreach Crown, pp 6-9

Summer Arts Preview 2021 pp 24-27

Father’s Day Gift Fix Smith, p 30

Guys We Love Hathorn, pp 14-17

CELEBRATING 18 YEARS OF THE JFP

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June 5 KENT BURNSIDE Band June 12 KEITH JOHNSON and BIG MUDDY Band June 19 CALVIN DUNCAN, Jr. Band June 26 The DELTA FLYERS Band

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JACKSONIAN

contents

of the month

June 2 - 29, 2021 Vol. 19 No. 16

Rob Hill

ON THE COVER Devin Winsett Photo courtesy Devin Winsett

3 jacksonian 4 editor’s Note 6 Talks

8 Special Session?

Following the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Initiative 65, Gov. Tate Reeves could call a special legislative session to remedy the issue. Or, maybe not.

12 Opinion Ryan McElveen

14 guys we love

up to the Delta and down to the Gulf Coast. It’s all different, but the one thing that unites us is that we are the hospitality state—and I think we do embody that nickname.”

Hill cites the numerous cities in Mississippi that have passed non-discrimination ordinances as evidence of the state’s willingness to change, although he believes there is much work yet to be done.

“We need the state to do something similar and say no matter who you are or who you love, you belong in this state,” Hill posits. “We want you to stay in this state and thrive in this state. That’s the message we need to send, and it can be sent by legislation.”

In spite of the mountains that Mississippi has yet to climb, Hill is glad that he and his partner, Ryan McElveen (and their cat Margot), decided to remain in the state.

“The main reason we chose to stay here is that Mississippi is home,” he concludes. “You shouldn’t have to leave your home because of who you are. A lot of people do, but I found in Mississippi—and in Jackson in particular—that a lot of people are very welcoming.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

The local cooperative bakes unleavened breads and pastries each week, with goods available for preorder.

19 music 20 do gooder 21 education

22 Shellheads Read about how and why metro natives Sergio Lugo II and Jeff Hubbard started a podcast on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

24 events 28 Puzzle 28 Sorensen 29 astro 29 Classifieds

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ob Hill spent 12 years as a United Methodist minister in Mississippi, passing 10 of those years behind the pulpit at Broadmeadow United Methodist Church at the top of Fondren before choosing to leave the pastoral ministry. “It was a great church, and they were very welcoming of me as a gay man, but it was hard for me to be a gay man in the larger United Methodist conference,” Hill says of his decision to leave the vocation.

“My partner and I wanted to find a place where we could be more authentic about who we are,” Hill reflects on their journey “We thought about moving to New York, but we decided to stay here to make Mississippi a safer place for the LGBT community.”

To aid in that work, Hill took a position with the Human Rights Campaign’s Mississippi outpost, which he admits felt “scary” at first. “I said it was a new ministry for me,” he recalls.

“I just got a larger congregation so that I could preach the message of love and inclusion to all of Mississippi.”

The Mississippi State University graduate insists that inclusion is nearer than some may think in the Magnolia State.

“I think a lot of lawmakers underestimate the acceptance in our state,” he says. “We’re a diverse state on so many levels. I can go

18 Sunflower Oven

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editor’s note

by Nate Schumann, Managing Editor

Mississippi, Stop Stacking the Deck.

Listen to Your Constituents.

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Our leadership held onto this ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card.

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process is outdated. For some, this rationale, while disappointing, may sound plausible. Those who did not want the initiative to pass at all may see this decision from the court as a victory and thereby defend the supposed reasoning behind such action.

But let’s frame this choice in its historical context. During the 1990s, Mississippi had five congressional districts.

Thus, when Section 273 amended the Mississippi Constitution to allow the public an initiative process, the language dictated that initiative proposals receive one-fifth of signatures from each district.

The Census in 2000 reduced Mississippi to four congressional districts, a mathematical technicality that attorneys latched onto when appealing to the state’s Supreme Court earlier this year.

I have two issues with the Supreme Court majority’s argument.

For one, in the two decades since Mississippi’s initiative process became “outdated,” legislators have proposed seven (seven!) bills to update the language of the Mississippi Constitution to accommodate the change in number.

That makes seven times the people that

Mississippians themselves voted into office refused let their voices carry weight.

Secondly, despite dissenters’ claim that Initiative 65’s passing would be unlawful because of the congressional numbers debacle, two voter-approved initiatives in 2011 went into effect without issue: one limiting the use of eminent domain and another requiring government-issued photo identification before voting.

Why, pray tell, did those petitionbased initiatives go unchecked while medical marijuana got nipped in the bud? If this numbers issue is such a big deal, is the court going to retroactively invalidate those previous initiatives? It would only be fair.

Except that’s just it. That’s the operative word: fair. No matter how the bigwigs try to spin it, “fairness” is not the reason Initiative 65 has been impeded.

Our leaders had the opportunity—make that seven opportunities—to remedy this situation before it became a problem.

Their choice to not do so and to instead wait until this specific moment to invoke this deus ex machina seems intentional.

Like a player in a game of Monopoly, our leadership held onto this “Get Out of Jail Free” card until they felt it most tactical—and then used it to halt a change in law that a majority of other states have implemented by this point, a law that could help many suffering from conditions that cannabis has routinely proven it can alleviate.

With one Supreme Court decision, the chain of dominos have begun their collapse. Without a functional ballotmeasure process, groups who have been campaigning to land other forward-

file photo

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ast fall, approximately 766,000 Mississippians voted to pass Initiative 65, which would have called for the Health Department to launch a medical-marijuana program in the Magnolia State by August 2021. With nearly two-thirds of the popular vote, the initiative marked a step toward progression in an otherwise socially stagnant state.

On Friday, May 14, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled to pull the rug out from underneath its constituents: It overturned Initiative 65, effectively nullifying the many emotional and financial investments people have already made in the medical cannabis endeavor.

If you weren’t aware, you may be asking yourself why?

Reports relay the message that the court’s justices circumvented the voice of the people because Mississippi’s initiative

The Mississippi Supreme Court used a technicality, which lawmakers knew about for two decades, to overturn an initiative that should be moving forward.

thinking possibilities to upcoming statewide ballots will be forced to redraw their plans until two-thirds of lawmakers can agree to a constitutional amendment.

Some officials like House Speaker Philip Gunn have suggested that an amendment could make it to the November 2022 state ballot, after which citizens can reignite their social efforts.

However, delaying the grassroots movements that Mississippi’s civilian leaders have boldly set forth feels intentional. I mean, Mississippi is known far and wide for its eagerness to evolve and change, isn’t it? Facetiousness aside, if lawmakers cannot settle on a renewed ballot measure, the citizen’s voice will continue to go unheard.

And that’s what this column is

contributors

Taylor McKay Hathorn Taylor McKay Hathorn enjoys binging TV shows, watching the sun set over the Mississippi River and tweeting her opinions @_youaremore_. She wrote the Guys We Love package, Jacksonian and music story.

Kayode Crown

Michele D. Baker

City Reporter Kayode Crown recently came to Mississippi from Nigeria where he as a journalist for 10 years.

He likes rock music and has fallen in love with the beautiful landscapes in Jackson. He wrote about parents losing children to gun violence.

Michele D. Baker lives in Belhaven in a restored 1920s bungalow with three cats and too many books. She enjoys world travel, reading and all kinds of bread. She wrote the food story on Sunflower Oven.

about—not medical marijuana, which has largely become a nonpartisan topic in recent years, but the will of the people.

No matter where you stand on the issue of medical marijuana, or Medicaid, or other divisive subjects, if we believe in democracy, if we believe that the people’s voice should carry weight, then we should push our leadership to tie up this loose end as swiftly as possible.

To the state’s credit, a handful among our leadership have voiced that they believe the court should reconsider its decision or that they would approve of Gov. Tate Reeves calling a special session so that the Legislature could set the wheels in motion for a medical marijuana program sooner rather than later.

But the proof of those convictions in our lawmakers as a whole will be in the pudding, as it were.

For the Mississippians who will play a role in the decisions ahead, I present a challenge in the form of a quote from H. Jackson Brown, Jr.: “Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.”

Leave the agendas at the door. Forget your individual opinions on political subjects. Respect your constituents and their constitutional right to propose ballot measures that reflect their often fervent wishes for this state that they choose to call home as much as you do. They want to make this state better, and they are willing to put in the efforts to build a stronger Mississippi. Are you?

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news,

storytelling & re, ir tu

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“Oren was a young child that was put on drugs by the government.”

@jxnfreepress

—Shannon Anderson on her son Oren’s social and learning difficulties in school

@jacksonfreepress

@jxnfreepress

ce eren rev

Violence in the City: Victims’ Families Seek Closure, Police Respect

by Kayode Crown

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How Police Should Respond

Oresa Napper-Williams was taken aback when she learned that a victim’s family may not know the detective in charge of their child’s murder case in Mississippi.

Napper-Williams, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., started the nonprofit Not Another Child Inc. in New York City after she lost her own son to a stray bullet there. Her own experiences with the New York Police Department weren’t ideal; she recalls the officer who first called her on Aug. 6, 2006, to tell her that her son, Andrell Daron Napper, was shot. He actually said to her: “We’ll let you know if he was innocent.”

Napper-Williams, now an expert on gun violence who works with both families who experience gun violence and the NYPD to help officers better help families, explained in a phone interview on Monday, May 31, what should happen after a family loses a loved one to violence:

“So ideally, what happens is when there is a shooting, 911 is called. The local police arrive there along with a detective.

Most of the time that detective, whoever’s on duty, is given the case at that time.”

“And so the detective contacts you.

They let you know that they are the detective with the case,” she added. “I have never heard in any other city or state that a person

doesn’t know who their detective is.”

Napper-Williams said the quiet part out loud about how families of color are too often treated when they lose a loved one, whether it is being ignored by police or a false implication that your deceased might have been at fault somehow.

Sheneika Green

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he tears kept rolling down the face of Shaneika Green, 42, as she spoke to the Jackson Free Press in her house on Colebrook Avenue in Jackson on April 30. She was talking about the July 17, 2020, murder of her son, Tramaine.

Green had participated in a gathering at Jackson City Hall on April 25 where families of gun-violence victims came together with city leaders and law enforcement officials to decry the spate of violence in the capital city, which has recorded more than 50 homicides in the first five months of 2021.

At the April event, the mother-of-six said people came to her son’s house, chased him from there around 3 a.m. and shot him seven times. He later died at about 3:30 p.m. that same day.

“It was several boys that chased him down. He was shot seven times,” she told the crowd at city hall. “All I want is for my son’s killers to be (caught) so that I can get justice, so that I can get peace, So my kids, his siblings could get peace. So his nephew could get peace. That’s all I want.”

“All I want is for them to find the killers. I want justice. It’s been almost a year; I have not had a good eight hours of sleep since this happened.”

The mother mentioned her disaffection with the police’s handling of the case and how the Jackson Police Department is not communicating with her about her son’s case. Green does not even know the name of the detective presently in charge of the case, and she has asked

Radio silence from local law enforcement is a common and historic complaint the Jackson Free Press has long heard from family members who lose their loved ones to gun violence in Jackson.

“It’s almost been a year. I hadn’t heard any update about what’s going on with his case; this was my firstborn. When they took my son away from me, they took a piece of my heart,” Green said.

Assailants gunned Tramaine Green down in the early morning of July 17, 2020, in Jackson.

“A lot of the lack of communication and no responsiveness with detectives and things of that nature is because of the stigma that comes along with Black and Brown gun violence,” she explained. “Any Black and Brown violence, they attribute it to what was that person doing? You know, were they in a gang? Were they selling drugs? You know, anything like that.”

“So that stigma that comes along with the lifestyle that’s lived in our communities is what makes detectives push back their hand, like, ‘we don’t have any information for you, nobody is saying anything,’” she added. “So it’s easy to sweep things under the rug and never have to really identify anything or any next steps or anything.”

Napper-Williams’ comments track with studies that show that law enforcement often treat both victims and suspects in a crime in Black and Brown communities like they are both guilty, thus inhibiting thorough investigations and resolution.

The Jackson Police Department, at 9:47 a.m. on the day of Tramaine’s murder, posted on Twitter: “#JPD is investigating a fatal shooting after an adult male was found just before 4 a.m., near the intersection of Belvedere Dr. and Freemont St. Victim suffered multiple wounds. No suspect info or motive currently known. Anyone

Black-Owned Business Spotlight With Juneteenth celebrations on the horizon within the metro area, let us take a peek at a handful of Black-owned businesses that call Jackson home.

I Got It MADE: This family-owned apparel brand seeks to promote selfawareness and community involvement. Find them on Twitter and Instagram @iGOTitMADEus.

Harris Home Improvement: Owner Timothy Harris’ company specializes in drywall hanging and finishing for both commercial and residential spaces. The business, which has operated out of Jackson for 20 years, also offers services in home repair, floor installation and carpentry.

Brice Media: Husband-and-wife duo Charles and Talamieka Brice run the full-service photography, graphic design and fine-art studio. Visit brice-media. com to learn more about the company’s services, which also include web design and social-media packages.

Find more Black-owned businesses in Mississippi at msblackpages.com.

Catering by Andrew: This Byrambased caterer offers services for wedding receptions, family reunions, baby showers, office parties and many other occasions. To browse their menu and package options, visit cateringbyandrewlee.com.

violence Shannon Anderson

with info, call #CrimeStoppers at 601355-TIPS(8477).”

‘Momma, I Love You’

Justin McNeal, 24, drove to Madison on March 26, 2021, to interview for a nursing-assistant position in a nursing home there. On his way back, a not-yetidentified person shot him on Interstate 220. One month later, Crime Stoppers announced $11,500 for tips on his killer.

“After the shooting, Justin McNeal’s car wrecked in the median between Medgar Evers Boulevard and Industrial Drive,” Central Mississippi Crime Stopper wrote

Oren Anderson had a welding certification from Hinds Community College. He died on Dec. 9, 2020, after suffering several gunshot wounds.

in an April 16 Facebook post. “It is believed that the shooter was possibly in a dark-colored sedan that fled the scene.”

McNeal, a 2016 graduate of Provine High School and a Hinds Community College electrical technology student, succumbed to his injury two days after being shot, and the family buried him on April 10. The Jackson Police Department is continuing the investigation.

Justin McNeal’s parents, Jermaine McNeal and Melinda Walton, wonder what could have caused such a tragedy.

In separate sit-down interviews with the Jackson Free Press on May 2, they tried to make sense of the sudden loss.

“March the 26th of 2021, when I woke up, I had three kids and two grandkids, and now I only have two (kids). Because they took a part of my heart away, that’s my firstborn, and it was wrong,” Walton said in an emotion-laden voice.

It was doubly painful because her son suffered gunshot wounds on her 45th birthday, days after his 24th birthday on March 18. Her son’s Madison interview (he got the job) was around 10:30 a.m. on March 26. He called Walton 30 minutes before that to wish her a happy birthday.

She had hoped he would take her out later in the day to celebrate.

“He said, ‘Momma, I love you,’” Walton recounted. “Justin called me; he was happy; he was trying to sing ‘happy birthday.’ I said, ‘Justin, you know you can’t sing.’”

That was the last conversation she had with him until the police came to her house hours later to tell her what happened to her son on his way back from his

‘What Did They Do It?’

Jermaine McNeal, Justin’s father, said he is struggling to understand the motive for the killing. “What happened? Why did they do it?” he said. “Because he wasn’t into anything that would’ve resulted in this.

We raised our children to go to school, to mind your own business, to work and try to have something (for yourself).”

The father said Justin had no criminal records except speeding tickets.

Melinda Walton, who also complained of police’s lack of responsiveness, said that grief counseling might help her to deal with her pain of loss. “I think it’s a good idea, but no amount of counseling in the world (is) going to bring my son back up alive; I’ll never get to see him walk into the door again, I’ll never get to see him say, ‘hey mama.’ I never get to hear him say, ‘hey, mama, how was your day.’ I’ll never get to hear any of that or see Justin’s face again. I’ll never get to hear Justin smile or laugh or any of that no more.”

She doesn’t know if her birthday will become sour from now on. “We’ll normally go out to eat or something, but I don’t know if I want to celebrate another birthday. I don’t know how I’m gonna feel,” Walton said.

Napper-Williams said Not Another Child conducts youth events, family retreats and parent workshops, helping not only those families who are victims of violence but those whose children are the perpetrators.

“We talk to siblings and the children that have lost parents and things of that nature,” she said. Her unconventional method transforms activities that seem familiar into successful therapy, she added.

“So even our youth services, they may be familiar services like outings and things

of that nature, but it’s the dialogue that we have with youth while doing it,” NapperWilliams added. “We have a basketball tournament where we allow the players to put up pictures of those that they have lost to gun violence, in the hopes that they would use that as a ‘retaliation,’ as opposed to actual gunfire.”

Her Second Son, Oren

Monday, Dec. 28, 2020, will not be the first time that Shannon Anderson will work on a deceased’s hair in preparation for burial. But on that day, it was her second son, Oren Anderson, whose hair she was cutting. Anderson died on Dec. 9, 2020, at 22 years of age, from gunshot wounds.

His murder remains unsolved.

“[I] cut my son’s hair, braid his deadlocks down and all of that myself,” she told the Jackson Free Press in an interview at her Jackson home on May 1. Anderson, 43, graduated in 2016 from Traxler’s School of Hair on Suncrest Drive the same year that Oren graduated from Wingfield High School before studying welding at Hinds Community College.

Crime Stoppers

‘My Son’s Case Will Go Cold’

Nine months later, Shaneika Green’s frustration is palpable about her son. His mother is particularly irked that those who killed his son “are still walking around.”

She explained that after the previous detective handling the case left the Jackson Police Department, nobody had informed her of who is on the case now.

“I wasn’t notified that the (previous) detective was no longer there,” Green said.

“The last time I talked to the (last) detective, he told me that my son’s case will go cold. Right now, I am afraid because nobody’s contacting me, and I don’t feel like they’re doing anything.”

Napper-Williams said her organization bridges the gap between victims’ families and New York law enforcement by facilitating a monthly meeting leveraging its relationship with the New York City political and law enforcement leaders.

“Now we have a monthly Zoom (meeting) with the chief of the detectives and the assistants, and you have to RSVP prior because they will make sure that the detective that is on your case is a part of that Zoom with an update,” she said.

Green said that since her son (was) murdered in Jackson, she is constantly monitoring her kids to see where they are, worrying about their safety as the impact of the loss continues to linger.

“Right now, I don’t trust anybody, and (my children) really don’t trust nobody,” Green said. In April, she successfully reached the police and spoke with a sergeant.

“I let him know that I haven’t been contacted about the detective (who is) no longer employed with them, and I want to know (the) detective on the case,” Green said. “And he told me that he was going to call me back at one o’clock that evening.

One o’clock came; I haven’t talked to him since. That was two weeks ago.”

The Jackson Free Press interview was on April 30.

job interview in Madison.

Walton described her son as a happy person who “always had a smile on his face whenever he came into the room,” and she expressed hope for a quick resolution of the murder. “Whoever did this, I want you to know that God sees everything. We are hoping that we get some answer soon and let the truth prevail,” she said.

“You may have thought that you have gotten away, but you haven’t gotten away, and the truth will prevail, and you will get what’s coming to you,” she added, to whoever killed her son.

“Some days, I feel like driving my car off a bridge,” Walton said. “You robbed me; you deprived me. I feel like I was violated, and should no parent had to go through this, should no parent had to bury their child.”

Justin McNeal died eight days after his 24th birthday. He was shot on March 26, 2021, as he drove back to Jackson from a job interview in Madison.

“When I was in trade school, the trade school had a contract with Westhaven Funeral Home. They used to send students over there. Like when people got killed, and the State was going to bury them, they used us over there to do their hair, and they pay the hair school, and the hair school will give us a percentage. So I had already been familiar around dead bodies before,” Anderson said. more violence, p 9

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state

Initiative Process Rests in Governor’s Hands

by Julian Mills

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Leadership Support

Since the ruling, State leadership has expressed varying degrees of support for a special session. House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said in a May 17 statement that the governor should take action.

“We 100% believe in the right of the people to use the initiative and referendum process to express their views on public policy, Gunn said. “If the Legislature does not act on an issue that the people of Mississippi want, then the people need a mechanism to change the law. I support the governor calling us into a special session to protect this important right of the people.”

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann also confirmed his support for not only the ballotinitiative process, but the state’s medicalmarijuana program. “Citizen-driven ballot initiatives are an important part of policymaking, and I support reenacting the ballotinitiative process,” Hosemann said on May 18. “I also support a medical-marijuana program, as evidenced by the Senate twice passing back-stop legislation which did not survive in the House. We are in the process of talking to Senators about the Supreme Court ruling as it relates to both issues and how to proceed.”

Hosemann stopped short of a call-toaction, however, supporting a more “organized” approach in order to reduce costs.

“If the governor chooses to call the Legislature back into special session, the Senate will be ready,” Hosemann said.

“Because special sessions are expensive, my preference is to approach this situation in an organized fashion so when we do return we can minimize costs to taxpayers.”

Watson has also called on Gov. Tate

whelming support from voters.”

Sole Arbiter of Session

Gov. Reeves himself is the sole arbiter of the decision to call a special session, and what the Legislature can do in it.

The governor has been slow to address the issue. “It’s certainly a possibility,” he told conservative blog Y’all Politics on May 18.

“There’s good reasons to do it … and reasons to consider it a not-so-good idea.”

on conservative SuperTalk radio to suggest that perhaps income tax could also be on the session menu. “(Income tax elimination) could be combined with a medical marijuana plan. It could help pay for some of the cuts ... all of those things could be addressed together if the governor chooses to call a special session,” Lamar said.

Killing Medicaid Expansion, Again

The Mississippi Supreme Court’s ruling endangers not only past initiatives, but Rogelio V Solis for ap

he deadline for Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson to petition the state Supreme Court for a rehearing regarding a popular votermandated medical marijuana program has come and gone. That left a legislative special session as the only option to restore not only the initiative to law, but the ballotinitiative process itself.

Seventy-four percent of Mississippians voted “yes” on Initiative 75 last November, but the Legislature declined to pass any statute that would keep the program alive in case the Court struck the initiative down.

In comparison, legislators did enact parallel legislation to change the state flag, ensuring that the process would be unhindered.

Watson declined to petition the Mississippi Supreme Court by May 28, stating that the petition would have only “delayed the inevitable.”

“While I strongly considered petitioning the Supreme Court for a rehearing of its decision, my team and I reached the conclusion doing so would simply delay the inevitable,” Watson said in a May 27 statement. “Based on previous case law and the 6-3 margin of the decision, we believe the request would be an unsuccessful effort.”

Protesters gathered outside the Mississippi Capitol and Supreme Court to demand that Gov. Tate Reeves call a legislative special session in order to bring back the medical-marijana initiative voters passed last November.

Reeves to call a special legislative session in order to restore Initiative 65 to law and, faced with a now-shaky legal foundation, ensuring past initiatives go unchallenged.

“Rather than giving a sense of false hope and spending taxpayer dollars to no avail, I strongly encourage the governor to reconvene the Legislature in an effort to quickly preserve the will of Mississippians on a few important issues,” Watson said.

“Not only should the Legislature address medical marijuana, but it should also take steps to make moot any possible legal challenges to Voter ID and Eminent Domain, both of which passed with over-

Reeves was insistent that his calling a special session was entirely predicated on the Legislature agreeing on their decision beforehand, saying he is concerned after the cost of previous, long special sessions.

Curiously, in discussing the special session, Reeves alluded to his plans to eliminate the state’s income tax. The governor did not suggest that a plan to eliminate the income tax was a precondition of a special session, but he is not the only political figure to invoke the idea.

Earlier in the month, Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, went

any that were underway at the time of the decision, such as Initiative 76, which sought to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of Mississippians had it succeeded.

Initiative 76 would have circumnavigated a Legislature and state leadership that have rejected the idea since it became budgetarily optional in 2012. In that year, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, and in its ruling struck down the mandate requiring states to accept Medicaid expansion in order to receive any program funding.

Since then, Mississippi has been

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STATE MISSISSIPPI HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION

one of 12 states that have yet to expand Medicaid, due in large part to lukewarm support or outright rejection by State leadership who have been historically reluctant to appear to support Obama-era health-care policies.

In light of the recent state Supreme Court ruling, Healthcare for Mississippi suspended its campaign, Yes on 76, to bring Medicaid expansion to a vote next year.

“Yes on 76 is reluctantly suspending our campaign to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot in the wake of Friday’s State Supreme Court decision—until there is once again a functional ballot measure process in Mississippi,” a statement from the campaign said after the ruling.

“We fully support the call for a special legislative session to restore the constitutional right of Mississippians to

Mississippi Hospital Association President and CEO Tim Moore and other health-care professionals started Healthcare for Mississippi to bypass a state Legislature that has been resistant to Medicaid expansion for over a decade.

vote directly on issues of importance, including Medicaid expansion, and we will pursue every avenue possible to restore the rights of voters in this state.”

‘Action That Is Long Overdue’ If successful, Ballot Initiative 76 would have expanded access to Medicaid for upward of 200,000 people across Mississippi. Medicaid already covers more than 750,000 Mississippians, almost a quarter of the state’s population.

“We are disappointed to once again face obstacles to providing working Mississippians access to care,” Moore said in a statement to the Jackson Free Press.

“With the strong support for expansion across the state, we encourage the Legislature to take action that is long overdue and address an issue that has been passed

over for a decade,” Moore said.

Moore insists political stances should not affect the state’s ability to help insure more Mississippians in need.

“This is not an entitlement program,” Moore said in an interview. “It is an insurance program. For those individuals that make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, and they don’t make enough money to be able to buy commercial insurance, whether that’s on an exchange or not.”

The fates of voter-led 2021 initiatives to tackle issues like medical marijuana and Medicaid expansion now lie in the hands of the governor, who will alone decide whether the Legislature gets a chance to revisit the initiative process this year.

Send story tips to Reporting Fellow Julian Mills at julian@jacksonfreepress.com.

VIOLENCE, from p 7

Mental Health Challenges At age 8, Oren was at Brentwood Behavioral Healthcare in April 2007 and transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center the following month. He was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder and put on a central-nervoussystem-stimulating drug. He was back in the UMMC child psychiatric unit on June 11, 2007, for aggression, and health officials added an antipsychotic drug to help him.

On his “discharge disposition,” the hospital wrote, “the patient is currently much improved with decreased impulsivity, decreased oppositionality and defiance, and has exhibited no physical aggression throughout hospitalization.”

When he was 11, the State of Mississippi ruled that Oren had emotional disability (EMD). “The psychologist observed the student, reviewed all data gathered during the comprehensive evaluation, reviewed

and interpreted all of the tests administered, reviewed the Mississippi Department of Education’s eligibility criteria for an emotional disability, determined that the student does meet all criteria for an emotional disability ruling,” the State document in December 2009 said about Oren.

Anderson has a prescription leaflet for her son dated Feb. 11, 2011, for another central-nervous-system-stimulating drug for ADHD treatment from a pharmacy in Magee, Miss. In the 2011-2012 school year, in grade 8, Oren was put on the Individualized Education Program at Millcreek School of Clinton, starting December 2011.

“The severity of Oren’s disability of emotional, mental disability impedes his ability to function in a regular classroom setting and affects his involvement in the general curriculum as evidence by the following behaviors: oppositional/defiant behaviors, noncompliance with rules, mood instability, problem concentrating and academic difficulties,” school officials wrote at the beginning of his stay there.

“He was at Mill Creek Clinton; Jackson Public Schools had to pay for him to go to (that) therapeutic school, a private school that was for children with special needs,” Shannon said in the May 1 interview. “(Before then) Oren was in a therapeutic facility down there at Pontotoc, Mississippi—Millcreek of Pontotoc—then he got switched to Millcreek of McGee. Then he got switched From the residential side to the therapeutic group home; he came home to the therapeutic group home. Then they sent him to school at Millcreek of Clinton over there on Fortification (Street).”

“When he came back from Millcreek

of Clinton, when they transitioned him to the house, they trained me how to get him the medicine.”

Police Contact, 39 Days Later Like other families, Shannon Anderson criticized the police handling of her son’s death, saying that it was 39 days after her son’s death that she spoke to someone from the police department.

“The first time I ever spoke with somebody (from JPD) was January the 17th, Martin Luther King’s birthday.” She said in the May 1 interview. “Why did you wait over almost a month and a half to reach out and contact me? And I had been calling, asking for my son’s property, where his car was located, and stuff. They just let his car get rained on and sat in the impound on four flats, just mildewed and molded.”

Not Another Child founder NapperWilliams said that having to wait for 39 days for a police contact after someone’s child is murdered is plain wrong. “That’s sad when you don’t know what happened to your child in 39 days, and that’s (the police’s) job, that’s what they’re paid to do, no matter what they feel the situation is or was, or anything to that degree,” she said.

“They get paid by the tax dollars of the citizens to find this information; that’s disheartening,” Napper-Williams added.

In April, Oren’s mother said a detective assigned to the case called her.

“She called around April 8 (and) told me that she was going to call me back, ‘give us some time.’ I wonder how much time you need?” Anderson said. “That detective has not called me back.”

“I know my son was not a perfect

person, but he did not deserve to die,” she added. “They told me that he was in a fight, and they said it looked like he was walking away, and they started shooting at him, and he got in the car and tried to drive away.”

“My tears that I shed are for justice for my son cause I just don’t want nobody to think that they got away with killing my son.”

Anyone with information about the cases can call Crime Stoppers at 601-355TIPS(8477) or submit a tip online at www.

P3tips.com.

Email story tips to city/county reporter Kayode Crown at kayode@jacksonfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @kayodecrown.

MOST VIRAL STORIES AT JFP.MS: 1. “Mother Died in Madison County Jail After Pot Arrest, Family Sues for Negligence” by Kayode Crown 2. “Hinds County Removes Public Works Director; Water Supply Disrupted in Jackson, Byram” by Kayode Crown 3. “‘Rebel’ Businessman Dumps Suburban Waste into Jackson Sewage System” by Kayode Crown 4. “Sewage Overflows in Jackson: A Lawsuit and an Emergency Cleanup Contract” by Kayode Crown 5. “All Businesses Prosper in Northpark Mall” by Dustin Cardon

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

The mother-of-four was proud that her son, born on July 26, 1998, had “two welding certifications” after a troubled K-12 education, marked by learning difficulties. He was on Attention Deficit Disorder drugs as early as 2007, documents Anderson shared with the Jackson Free Press revealed. “(He was) a child that had social difficulties, learning disabilities and all the stuff that everybody labeled as a bad kid because he had a learning disability, (but) he beat the odds and still graduated from high school,” the grieving mother said.

“Oren was a young child that was put on drugs by the government.”

9

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11

RichaRd L. conviLLe

W

e seem to be of two minds when it comes to the size of government in America. A recent example comes to mind: U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker introduced a restaurant revitalization amendment to the American Rescue Plan then making its way through the Senate. The measure passed with 90 votes and provided $28.6 billion “to support independent restaurants and small franchisees devastated from the coronavirus pandemic,” as The Hill reported on Feb. 5, 2021. Hattiesburg’s own Robert St. John was a leading figure in generating nationwide support for this measure.

Thank you, Robert!

Here’s where the debate gets interesting. Sen. Wicker did not vote for the overall American Rescue Plan that contained his amendment to aid the restaurants. He said it was not needed.

Nevertheless, he claimed credit for the much-needed assistance to restaurants provided within the bill.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy is a conservative, legislative lobbying group. Its weekly email on April 24 opened with this scary headline, “Big government is growing. Radical progressives are determined to expand the power of the administrative state.” And a little further down in the same issue, it announced,

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

We could just help people when they need it.

12

“The Mississippi Center for Public Policy is in the front line in the battle to preserve liberty and limited government.”

Sen. Wicker, conservative Republican that he is, also believes in “limited government,” except when he doesn’t: as when he successfully pushed spending $28.6 billion to aid all those struggling restaurants across the country. He is no “radical progressive;” he just saw a need and addressed it.

I agree with Sen. Wicker that such an expenditure was a good idea. I also believe that those $1,400 checks that millions of citizens received through the American Rescue Plan were also a good idea, but the senator did not.

So, there’s the debate, it seems. Help-

us senate

Size Matters: Mixed Conservative Messages Pervade Mississippi amid Pandemic

Publisher & President Todd Stauffer Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin Managing Editor Nate Schumann Art Director Zilpha Young Online & JFPDaily.com Editor Dustin Cardon REPORTERS AND WRITERS City Reporter Kayode Crown Reporting Fellow Julian Mills Contributing Writers Dustin Cardon, Bryan Flynn, Taylor McKay Hathorn, Jenna Gibson, Tunga Otis, Richard Coupe,Torsheta Jackson, Michele D. Baker, Mike McDonald, Kyle Hamrick EDITORS AND OPERATIONS Founding Editor Donna Ladd Editorial Assistant Shaye Smith Consulting Editor JoAnne Prichard Morris ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY Graphic Designer Kristin Brenemen Contributing Photographers Seyma Bayram, Acacia Clark, Nick Judin, Imani Khayyam, Ashton Pittman, Brandon Smith SALES, ONLINE & DIGITAL SERVICES Content Specialist Amber Cliett Marketing Consultant Chris Rudd Web Designer Montroe Headd Let’s Talk Jackson Editor Kourtney Moncure

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker believe in “limited government,” except when he doesn’t, columnist Richard Conville writes. Plus, he says, it hasn’t worked.

ing restaurants hurt by the pandemic is a good thing, according to Sen. Wicker, but directly helping individual American citizens is not a good thing. Is that it?

Individual citizens who had dropped out of the labor force to stay home with children not in school; individual citizens who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic; individual citizens who had put off needing medical care due to the pandemic. Instead of battling “to preserve liberty and limited government,” we could just help people when they need it.

Look around at your family, friends and neighbors whose lives were upended by the virus. All those of modest or meager means whom the pandemic pounded needed a leg up to get back on their feet.

So, what’s wrong with the government lending them a hand?

The unique nature of the restaurant industry made it especially vulnerable during the pandemic. However, many other kinds of work remain vulnerable even after the pandemic. The very nature of work is changing—robots are at work across the spectrum of the economy, from manufacturing to McDonald’s to medicine; online transactions are taking the place of person-to-person interaction; capital is chasing cheap labor overseas; the

electric vehicle market is booming; and the need for agricultural workers continues to decline.

We can expect continuing displacement of workers and therefore continuing, modest levels of unemployment as certain job sectors disappear, and it takes time for labor markets to adjust to such changes.

Since the nation has chosen capitalism as our default economic model, we owe it to those so displaced to support them financially when they need it and to support their retraining. Only governments at all levels have the resources to deal with such population-wide challenges.

So, by all means, let’s have a robust debate over the appropriate size of government. In Mississippi, we’ve tried “limited government” at least since 1980, and it has landed us at the bottom of just about every quality-of-life measure you can name.

Maybe it’s time to question some of our past decisions and take a different path.

Dick Conville is a retired college professor and long-time resident of Hattiesburg.

Email him at Rlconville@yahoo.com. This column was previously published in the Pine Belt News in Hattiesburg.

This column does not necessarily reflect the views of the JFP.

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Editorial and Sales (601) 362-6121 Fax (601) 510-9019 Daily updates at jacksonfreepress.com The Jackson Free Press is the city’s award-winning, locally owned news magazine, reaching more than 35,000 readers per issue via more than 600 distribution locations in the Jackson metro area—and an average of over 35,000 visitors per week at www.jacksonfreepress. com. The Jackson Free Press is free for pick-up by readers; one copy per person, please. First-class subscriptions are available to “gold level” and higher members of the JFP VIP Club (jfp.ms/vip). The views expressed in this magazine and at jacksonfreepress.com are not necessarily those of the publisher or management of Jackson Free Press Inc. © Copyright 2021 Jackson Free Press Inc.

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13

Guys We Love F

rom our fathers to our mentors and colleagues, we all have men in our lives whom we appreciate for being there when we need them. This month, the Jackson Free Press pays tribute to men from the metro who give back to their communities or otherwise have endeavored to better the city we call home through their arts, careers and service.

When Adrian J. Austin enlisted in the U.S. Navy shortly after his graduation from Callaway High School in 1994, he had his eye on the Montgomery Bill, a program that provides tuition assistance for GI’s. “I was in Army JROTC (in high school),” Austin recalls. “But it seemed like the Navy was a better fit because it offered money for college.”

Twenty-seven years and three mobilizations later, the U.S. Navy has given Austin a career and an education, as he studied at Hinds Community College before finishing his business-administration degree at Belhaven University. “It’s all been rewarding,” Austin says of his time in the armed forces. “I’ve seen the world, but I missed my family.”

Now part of the Naval Reserves, Austin makes it a point to prioritize his family and his hobbies, one of which is barbecuing on his new barrel grill. “I’ve been tinkering with it,” Austin admits. “The family enjoys it. I’ve put everything from baby-back ribs to asparagus in it, and it’s

acacia clark

Adrian J. Austin my relaxing time. I actually get a lot of pleasure out of it when I’m not having to smell chemicals and can smell cherry wood or mesquite.”

Austin’s family, which includes his wife, his 17-yearold and two stepchildren, enjoys sampling his slow-cooked offerings during their weekly Sunday lunch.

“We’re a blended family, but we get along very well and love each other hard,” he says. “We have a great support system, and we cherish the time we have together.”

The veteran also donates his time to his local faith community at New Horizon Church off Ellis Avenue in south Jackson.

“I’ve been blessed,” Austin says of his experience with the church. “One way is by giving and the other is by the camaraderie of the love I’ve received. It’s wholesome.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

14

Christian Vance studied criminal justice at Jackson State University, and he says that his time in the classroom taught him a vital lesson that he uses each day as a member of the Jackson Police Department: Creating an atmosphere of peace is essential.

“It’s a historical fact that countries and empires expand during turmoil,” Vance remarks. “But people thrive academically, economically, artistically and culturally in times of peace.”

This belief informs and transforms his work on the police force, as he notes that “arresting bad guys” is only a small part of his job description. “We do a whole lot, as far as settling disputes between neighbors and responding to alarm calls, and we respond to traffic accidents,” Vance says. “We’re the glue.

We don’t have job descriptions, so we do what needs to be done.”

The Murrah High School graduate tries to maintain his peace-building efforts when he’s off the clock as well, serving as a coach for

courtesy Christian Vance

Christian Vance the police department’s “Pals” basketball team and working with The Firm Foundation, a local nonprofit dedicated to mentoring young people in the metro area.

“We have community nights and put together career fairs for middle-school kids so they can meet people in the field they aspire to be in,” Vance says of his work with the foundation, which often partners with the John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club on Capitol Street.

“With COVID, we had to fall back a little bit with those activities, but most of our week-to-week work is character building,” Vance adds. “We want to change their perspective on themselves and their community and on what it means to be effective.”

Vance and his wife, Alla, who is a teacher at McWillie Elementary School, focus on character development in their own home, too, raising four children who all attend Jackson Public Schools.

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

Haywood Hannah

courtesy Kinoy Brown

Kinoy Brown

When Kinoy Brown suffered an injury that kept him away from his job at Nissan North America in Canton, he grew restless as he recovered at home.

“I started going live on Facebook,” Brown says of his attempts to curb his own boredom. “It was all for jokes and laughs to get everybody’s day started, but I looked back one day, and the crowd had grown, and people started taking the show seriously.”

Tired of the early-morning wakeup calls that his social-media shenanigans required, Brown attempted to end the show once he returned to work. The requests for more entertainment kept coming, however, and eventually, a state lobbyist contacted him to encourage him to continue.

Brown was still uncertain, but after his mother passed away from complications of COVID-19 in April 2020, he knew that the old adage was true: The show must go on.

“She was such a big giver,” Brown reflects.

“After she passed, I promised myself that I

would keep the show going in her memory.”

The show has now expanded to a fullscale talk show—dubbed KBRS—which Brown hosts from his car. The show is available on Facebook and YouTube and has also grown beyond its initial comedic scale, and the man who’s fondly known as the “Kenny Stokes of Canton” now uses his digital presence to promote community activism.

“I got a call from Blackburn Middle School, and they were having problems with kids’ hygiene,” Brown recalls. “I got thousands of donations of deodorant, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and we presented that school with two truckloads of items.

People know I’ll do the right thing with whatever they give me.”

Cantonians trust Brown with their economic success, too, as Brown currently serves as the chairman of the Canton Municipal Utilities Board and holds a seat on the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

acacia clark

Haywood Hannah’s lifelong love of music paved the way for his receipt of two college scholarships—first to Holmes Community College and then another to Jackson State University, where he travelled the country as part of Opera South and a performing choir, all while earning a degree in music education.

“The best part of my time there

was that I got to meet so many people,” Hannah recalls. “I met the news anchor Carole Simpson, and I also met (Olympic athlete) Jesse Owens. It really impacted me to meet a star like that before he passed.”

Hannah then decided to make it

his life’s mission to help develop rising stars in his own community, teaching music lessons and working as an educator and principal in Attala, Holmes and Leake counties.

While living in Attala County, Hannah organized the Attala County Youth Mass Choir, with whom he recorded the first of his three gospel albums. “I kept that going for about 10 years,” Hannah says of his involvement with the program.

“Once I accepted a call to the ministry, I fell away from that, but now that I’m retired from education, I’m writing music and recording again.”

That call to become a leader within the United Methodist church is what originally brought Hannah to the metro area, as he now pastors Greer Chapel in Flowood, although he acknowledges that he has done work within the larger denominational conference as well.

“I’ve been able to perform and be part of different activities,” he says.

Despite his continuing engagement with his music and his commitment to his parish, the JSU and Mississippi State University graduate does cherish his semi-retirement, which allows him to spend more time with his family. “Family is a priority for me,” Hannah concludes. “The thing that I enjoy most about being retired is being part of my grandchildren’s lives.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

Devin Winsett spent a year teaching English as a second language in Mexico after his graduation from Millsaps College in 2016, but watching the presidential election later that year brought him back to the United States by way of New Orleans. “I realized I didn’t belong in Mexico,” Winsett says of his cross-continental move.

“Everything I’d done before that was about working on socioeconomic inequality in the U.S., and I wanted to get back to that.”

During his time as a public charter-school teacher in the Crescent City, Winsett realized that he particularly enjoyed the “on the ground” aspect of his work with students, saying, “I was interested in what was getting in the way of kids learning in the classroom. I started asking questions like, ‘Why is a kid crying in the hallway?’”

After a stint as a case planner for a residential group home in Brooklyn, N.Y., Winsett was firmly convinced that his original dreams of academia were a thing of the past, and he enrolled in the Master of Social Work program at Jackson State

University and accepted a post in workforce development at Refill Jackson, which equips young people ages 18 to 24 to find meaningful employment.

“I didn’t plan to do social work in the context of workforce development, but the more I’m in this context, the more that I see it’s a good context,” Winsett reflects. “But it takes many contexts to make positive change in an area.”

Winsett believes, though, that Jackson is ripe for positive change.

“I think that Jackson’s greatest strength is its community and the people there. I think the best form of change that social workers can enact is to empower the folks that live here to become the best versions of themselves by erasing the barriers they face, whether through individual change, community organization or state-level policy changes.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

courtesy Devin Winsett

Devin Winsett

more GUYS WE LOVE, see page xx 15

courtesy Ryan Porter

Ryan Porter spent a large portion of his life as the owner and operator of Ranco Transmission Service, but he noticed that all of his customers were unhappy. “Nobody really wants to buy a transmission,” Porter says with a laugh. “But people are happy when they buy a home.”

Hoping to bring that same joy to metro-area residents in search of a home, Porter began investing in real estate. “I really fell in love with the industry,” he recalls.

“And from there, I realized that I really enjoyed watching people buy a house.”

The Florence High School graduate learned these early lessons at the knee of Billy McKee, the owner of McKee Realty in Flowood, but he eventually realized that he wanted to open his own brokerage.

Next Home Realty, a Californiabased real-estate company, helped make those dreams of an independent brokerage come true when Porter opened a Brandonbased branch of the nation-wide franchise.

However, his first month in business was March 2020, coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi. “It was kind of scary for a little bit,” Porter admits. “But we made it, and we have 20 agents right now with more coming on in the next few weeks.”

Porter attributes some of Next Home Realty’s success to its “fresh, exciting brand,” as the company works with firms who have designed for Tiffany & Co., Visa and the NFL, and he’s glad to bring such strong marketing to the metro area.

“Jackson is special to me for a lot of reasons,” he says. “It’s our hometown, and if you don’t take care of your surroundings, you won’t take care of anything. Overall, it’s easy to see the good in Jackson. We have a lot of cool and unique things here.”

He also believes that two of Jackson’s best features are his two daughters.

“I just thought I had the biggest heart, but their hearts swallow mine,” Porter concludes.

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

Jonathan Haynes

16

Jonathan Haynes got his start as a singer at 6 years old, and 12 years later, the young performer landed his first record deal. “Singing has always been a passion for me,” Haynes says of his early days in the entertainment industry.

“I grew up singing in the choir.”

Gospel music remained a primary focus for the Gulfport native even during a stint in the nursing program at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, and he realized upon his graduation that he was meant to pursue a career in the music field. “I loved (nursing school), and I always wanted to help people,” Haynes reflects now. “But I didn’t start nursing when I got out, because I knew there was something else for me.”

That “something else” was a career on the road, singing and sharing his talents with audiences around the country. Eventually, though, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic ground his travels to a halt. “It was very hard,” Haynes acknowledges. “I started losing money because I’m usually on the road making money.”

Haynes credits God for the inspiration to start other

When Bobby D. Brown started teaching at Lanier High School in 1996, he only expected to stay for two years— just enough time for his then-girlfriend

to finish college. “Needless to say, I fell in love with the profession and out of love with her,” Brown says with a laugh.

Twenty-five years later, his love for students in the Jackson Public School

District has remained true, as he is now the principal at Jim Hill High School.

Brown always refers to the thousand students at the south Jackson high school as “scholars,” which he says is a carefully selected term. “I think it’s significant because all of us have God-given talents that provide us with the ability to learn,” Brown states. “If you’re a person with a thirst for learning, you’re a scholar.”

He estimates that 95% of his student body would meet that criteria, which he believes bodes well for their futures.

“We foster an environment where students can look at things from an introspective standpoint to see how their lives can blossom and what they can do to create a future they desire,” he says. “If they empower themselves, it will move them from one place in life to the next.”

Watching students throughout the district advance into bright futures has been a key inspiration for Brown, who recently watched a child of his own graduate from the Jackson public school system.

“What’s made me stay in JPS is that the children you see once were me,” Brown reflects. “We have a population who were similarly situated as I was when I was growing up in a singleparent household living at or below the poverty line. I had a desire to do more, and a lot of scholars throughout the city come to school bright-eyed and ready to do more.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

courtesy Johnathan Haynes

Ryan Porter

Bobby D. Brown

jackson public school district

Guys We Love, from page 15

business ventures during the forced lapse in his musical career, and he started Songbird Productions to help other musical artists on their path to success. He also began Jonathan Haynes Ministry, LLC, which provides consulting services for those interested in investing in stocks and bonds.

“It was hard at first, but it’s all about social media and word of mouth,” Haynes says of his fledgling businesses.

“But after three or four months, business was booming,

and it’s still booming.”

The 25-year-old has no plans to slow down, as he says that he is planning to launch a fragrance and candle line in the coming months, along with putting out new music and penning a chapter in an upcoming inspirational novel. “I don’t stop,” Haynes concludes.

“There’s always more for me to do.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

Endre Matthews

Wesley S. Prater always knew that he wanted to work and live in his home state, but his pursuit of higher education—and his passion for public health—took him around the country before seeing him land in his hometown of Jackson.

After graduating from Jackson State University, Prater moved to New Haven, Conn., to seek a master’s in public health at Yale University, later working at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families in Washington, D.C. Prater would eventually earn his Ph.D in public health at Ohio State University before moving back to the Magnolia State and accepting a position here with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

“I grew up here, and I feel like I understand Mississippi and understand the disparities in health, education, employment and poverty,” Prater says. “My passion has always been improving the lives of others, and to do that, you have to address not only health disparities but disparities in early childhood education and race, and you have to create systemic and policy changes to do it.”

He sees Mississippi as fertile ground for making such sweeping changes, citing the recent change of the state flag as a positive example of successful local activism. “I’m encouraged by our youth,” Prater says. “And being a father of two Black daughters, everybody wants to make sure their children have the opportunity to succeed and thrive.”

The St. Andrew’s Episcopal School graduate believes that the work of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is vital for continued

Just as Endre Matthews wrapped up his career at Mississippi Valley State University, a recruiter from Life University visited the Itta Bena campus and changed his life trajectory, as the Indianola native had previously been applying to physical therapy programs.

“When I found out I could do physical therapy as a chiropractor and still be a business owner, it worked out for me,” Matthews says.

After spending four years earning his doctorate of chiropractic, Matthews returned to his home state and opened Matthews Chiropractic Clinic in the capital city in 2002. Two years later, he opened a second clinic in his hometown, and he divided the time between the pair of practices for 14 years, when he decided to give the Jackson location his undivided attention.

“It’s extremely meaningful to be able to help the Jacksonians who come through the clinic doors each and every day,” Matthews says of his daily work.

“It’s great to be able to help people with-

COURTESY WESLEY S. PRATER

change in the state, saying, “The Kellogg Foundation understands the issues and has been working for 90 years to address them.

It’s really all about working with folks on the ground who work in our communities.”

COVID-19 has not derailed these grassroots efforts, as Prater lauds the work

that community organizers have done over the last year. “It’s been inspirational for me,” he says. “Our partners have really doubled down to make sure that Mississippi is an equitable place to live.”

Visit wkkf.org for more information.

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

COURTESY ENDRE MATTHEWS

Wesley S. Prater

out drugs, medicine and surgery. A lot of patients weren’t getting any help anywhere or getting any type of relief for their ailments.”

Matthews is well acquainted with his patients’ suffering, as he experienced a health scare early last year.

“I found out I had a heart condition, and I had been healthy all my life, so the doctors at UMMC said it was something I never knew I had,” Matthews remarks.

“God sat me down and let me know he was in control, and I’m healed and back better than ever, and the plan continues to go forward.”

This grounding in faith is a motivating favor for Matthews’ entire family, which includes his wife and three young daughters. “We are a blessed family, and we are driven by what God has done for us and what God continues to do for us on a daily basis,” he says.

“I’m blessed all the way around, and I thank him for allowing me to be an outlet to the community.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

Although Paul “Trey” Jones and his wife, Missy, attended different high schools, their respective commencement speakers had a similar message: Mississippi raises some of the best and the brightest—only to watch them leave the state and never return. Jones did not want to become part of that unfortunate statistic, and he moved back to Mississippi after a stint in graduate school in Texas.

“We couldn’t get away from the fact that there was a need to take our callings back to Mississippi,” Jones says of his decision. Although he had earned a seminary degree while living in the Lone Star State, Jones says that he did not feel called to pastor a church and instead took a position as the director of the nonprofit arm at New Horizon Ministry. He would go on to become the executive director of The Mustard Seed before becoming the CEO of the state’s Make-a-Wish Foundation.

“I enjoyed it,” Jones says of his 18 years of leadership in the nonprofit world. “But honestly, I was tired of be-

ing an executive director. It’s exhausting to be the one responsible all the time, and I experienced some professional burnout.”

Jones remedied his own exhaustion by taking a position with Habitat for Humanity in Mississippi, providing support to all chapters in the state.

“About that same time, I felt the calling to return to a church,” Jones recalls. “It was an odd time, and I really didn’t know how to discern (that calling).”

A small church in south Jackson helped Jones through his period of contemplation, as he served as its pastor before accepting a post at a larger congregation in Brandon.

“It was an incredible ride of about two decades,” Jones observes. “I got ready to serve a church by learning what was going on in the community and seeing some of its great needs—and its great potential.”

—Taylor McKay Hathorn

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

COURTESY PAUL “TREY” JONES

Paul Griffin Jones III

17

FOOD&DRINK

Do You Get the

JFP Daily?

by Michele D. Baker COURTESY SUNFLOWER OVEN

UÊ ÝV Õà ÛiÊ Û ÌiÊÌ ÊÌ iÊÊ iÃÌÊ vÊ >V à Ê*>ÀÌÞt UÊ i>` ià UÊ Ûi ÌÃÊ> `Ê Õà V UÊ-«iV > Ê"vviÀà UÊ/ V iÌÊ Ûi>Ü>ÞÃ

Sign up @

Sunflower Oven: Proving Bread and Baking Bliss

JFPDaily.com

Wherever you’re going...

Sunflower Oven, a cooperative baking business, produces a variety of sourdough breads and pastries each week, available for preorder.

C Andria’s Career Destination: Welder

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

You Can Get THERE From HERE!

18

Register for Fall classes now!

hindscc.edu

In compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972 of the Higher Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other applicable Federal and State Acts, Hinds Community College offers equal education and employment opportunities and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability or veteran status in its educational programs and activities. The following have been designated to handle inquiries regarding these policies: EEOC Compliance: Sherry Franklin, Vice President of Instruction/Career & Technical Education, Box 1003, Utica, MS 39175; Phone: 601.885.7002 or Email: EEOC@hindscc.edu.

Title IX: DeAndre House, Associate Vice President Student Services, Title IX Coordinator, Box 1100 Raymond MS 39154; Phone: 601.857.3353 or Email: TitleIX@hindscc.edu.

hicago-born Jackson transplant Robert Raymond has been enriching the metro-baking scene with his artisanal bread since opening Sunflower Oven in 2017. “Although I’ve been baking and sharing my own bread for several years, I had never thought of doing it for a living,” he says. The business is a cooperative, meaning that each worker is a part-owner and shares in the profits. “Real, nutritious food is a basic human right.

With that as our ‘soil,’ we sell real bread to as many people as possible each week.”

Raymond sources ingredients from local and regional suppliers. His unbleached flour comes from non-GMO wheat grown and cold-stone milled in North Carolina at Carolina Ground, although he also buys flour from Bellegarde Bakery and Mill in New Orleans. “The flour comes from the older heritage strains of wheat, so it might even be more easily tolerated by people with gluten sensitivity,” Raymond suggests.

Sunflower Oven’s breads and pastries contain no commercial yeast and are naturally leavened in a style similar to sourdough. Dough prepared this way does not require kneading, just the occasional pulling and folding and a longer prove, a term that refers to its rising time.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Sunflower Oven has continued to produce bread for Jacksonians. “COVID really changed the scene,” Raymond says.

“For a while, we were the only ones with bread because we were able to consistently get flour from our small-mill supply.”

Each week, Raymond and his coworker Betsy Bruening bake nearly 250 loaves at The Beanery, the site of a former inn for railroad men traveling through Jackson.

The two-story Craftsman residence at the curve of Spengler and Madison streets in Belhaven Heights is also the pickup location for pre-ordered loaves and dozens of pastries available, subject to what ingredients are fresh and seasonal. Pickups occur every other Tuesday at 5 p.m.

On Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon, Sunflower Oven sells bread from its stall at the Mississippi Farmers Market on High Street. During June, July and August, Sunflower Oven will also have a stand at the Clinton Farmers Market on Tuesdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Customers are encouraged to pre-order their loves to ensure they receive precisely what they want.

Bruening loves baking bread and the deep sense of community that the Sunflower Oven ethos inspires. “It’s great working with friends. It feels healthy and balanced,” she says. “We create quite a selection each week.” Sunflower Oven breads include rustic round loaves, sandwich loaves, bagels, baguettes, pita bread, Iranian flatbreads, brioche, chocolate-almond babka (a Jewish filled pastry bread), cookies, scones, and even seasonal king cakes. She and Raymond also ferment vegetables for sale and craft stone-ground mustard from scratch.

For more details about Sunflower Oven or to place a pre-order, visit sunfloweroven. com or find the business on Facebook. Visit MicheleDBaker.com for more of her works.

MUSIC

An Examination of ‘The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story’

by Taylor McKay hathorn

Shorefire Media

“The Last Soul Company” debuted in March and retails for $39.95.

offerings of the day.

Still, the company enjoyed unabated success, employing nearly 200 at its peak.

Hard times eventually befell the Northside Drive edifice, as several of its premier performers eventually succumbed to poor health or the evolving music scene, which

Through the decades, Malaco Records has worked with top music artists such as Frederick Knight, “Bobby Blue” Bland and George Jackson.

larger media conglomerates overtook by purchasing independent radio stations.

Bowman laments this transition, noting that when smaller radio stations from Houston to Gulfport stopped being able to select their own music—often the lifesongs of their listeners, blues and soul and other undeniably Southern genres—the Mississippi record label suffered.

The overarching story of Malaco (at least in Bowman’s estimation) is one of resilience, as the company has pivoted to promoting its music via streaming services and has rebuilt its physical location after an F-2 tornado devastated its original studio.

And how could it be otherwise? The Black artists who put it on the map were and are well-acquainted with tenacity, with persisting in spite of seemingly overwhelming odds in the face of a larger mainstream culture that overlooks their talent at best and stifles them at worst.

Reading “The Last Soul Company:

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The Malaco Records Story” reminded me what a unique opportunity it is to build a life in Mississippi’s capital city, which has so often fostered the talents of artists— musical, literary, visual—that the rest of the nation would have allowed to fade into insignificance.

After all, the rest of the nation so often thinks of Ross Barnett’s dire warnings of “drinking from the cup of genocide” when confronted with forced integration when it thinks of Mississippi, but in Jackson, we know that while those aspects of our history are true and must be reckoned with (and are often not history at all, as they can unexpectedly rear their ugly heads and remind us that they still live with us in the present), so are the successes and talents of our citizens, who bravely sing a song of better times and a brighter future in the sharing of their gifts.

Purchase the book through malaco.com or at Lemuria Book Store.

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Malaco Records got its start in Oxford, Miss., signing Black artists to perform during the same decade that left two people dead and 300 injured on the campus of the state’s flagship university in the wake of the admission of James Meredith, the University of Mississippi’s first Black student.

The focus instead is often on the white proprietors of the label, who were gifted at plucking artists from obscurity and helping them select songs and records that would elevate them to the top of their corners of the music world. Bowman makes it clear that this corner of the music world was often a specific one, as he points out that Malaco’s only number-one records came on the gospel charts, a considerable distance from the more mainstream pop and rock

Shorefire Media

R

ob Bowman’s March 23, 2021, release, “The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story,” came to my doorstep in a pizza box-sized package that utterly bemused my poor postman, who is otherwise accustomed to dropping off the several deliveries I’ve received as part of my reviewing work with the Jackson Free Press. The reason for the bulky packaging was immediately apparent—the book itself is a coffee-table book, heavy, with a glossy black-and-white cover image of a Black man smoking the last few drags of a pale cigarette.

The inside of the manuscript is no different, with the academic writing punctuated by photographs, often stopping the text for pages at a time to include pictures taken at the Jackson recording company through its five decades of business, which the book commemorates. Stills of the artists that propelled Malaco’s rise to fame stud its pages, but it features just as many “behind-thescenes” looks at the company that is now the longest-standing independent record label in U.S. history.

A quick thumb-through of the wellresearched tome makes it evident, then, that Malaco Records’s success was synonymous with the success of its Black artists, who pioneered the stylings and sounds that helped the label stay afloat even during the rocky years when disco dominated the charts. Bowman does not ignore the contribution of Black artists to the last soul company’s success—indeed, their contributions are unignorable in the larger story of late-20th century blues-infused music.

Bowman does, however, seem to water down the Black experience that made such soulful stylings possible. After all,

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Graduating from the Jackson Public School District alongside the rest of his spring 2021 high-school class, Dillan Evans believes in giving back.

W

hen he was about 5 years old, Dillan Evan’s mother sat him down and talked to him about the importance of community

service.

“My mother (said), ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’” Evans recalls. “She always told me that it was important to give back to the community.”

His mother then took him to the local Salvation Army to volunteer with Toys for Tots, helping to distribute toys to needy children. He continued to volunteer there for the next few Christmas seasons.

Since that first year, Evans has given much of his free time to serving others. He has spent time at local shelters handing out blankets, clothing and food; parking cars and guiding traffic; preparing meals in a cafeteria ministry; and aiding KidsLife, a youth ministry at Word of Life church.

Alongside peers in the Central Mississippi Kappa League, he helped organize clothing and items at area Goodwill locations.

Evans, who is interested in science, technology, engineering and math, plans to attend Hinds Community College in Utica’s STEM-UP program as the first step towards a degree in software engineering.

He spent last summer working with a technology STEM camp for elementary and middle-school age students on the campus of Jackson State University teaching cod-

ing. Evans says that giving to others brings him joy.

“I feel like I am at my best and I am most excited when I get to help other people,” he declares. “I have always been a people person. I would provide for other people before I provided for myself. I’ve always wanted to help people in any way that I could. It makes me happy to be able to volunteer and help others.”

The Callaway High School 2021 graduate has recorded more than 2,000 volunteer hours for the Jackson Public School district. During the city’s recent water crisis, Evans collected cases of water to distribute to school district students and families. He has conducted a workshop at Michelle Obama Early College High School giving teachers one-on-one instruction on Microsoft Office, Zoom and other learning platforms.

The 18-year-old also recently helped at the school’s ACT Bootcamp helping to set up and sanitize the space and providing technology support.

His commitment to helping his school district stems from his belief that there is immense potential in the city.

“I believe that Jackson is a great place and that we really do have so much unused potential,” Evans says. “I believe that if one of us gets started that it will start a boomerang effect.”

EDUCATION

Mississippi College Is ‘Lit’ Over New National Chief Reader

by Torsheta Jackson COURTESY DAVID MILLER

A pRO h I BI T I O n E Xh I B I T I On

popping the coRk on pRohibition Experience stories of Prohibition, piety, and politics in “the wettest dry state” at this immersive new exhibit.

LAST CALL JUNE 26

Heralding from the same department at Mississippi College, Dr. Steve Price (right) has been able to learn the ropes of his new position as National Chief Reader from Dr. David Miller (left), who previously fulfilled the role, in person.

the hall from the other is unheard of.

“There was initially some resistance to hiring another chief reader from the same institution,” Miller says. “That had not been done before in the history of A.P. English Lit, but Dr. Price had such an impressive interest and love for the exam that it sort of overrode all of those hesitancies and the committee that hired him (did so) without hesitation.”

Price will officially adopt the position after this year’s reading concludes in June.

Miller will complete his service after the end of this year’s reading and reporting period this July. Miller started as a reader in 1993 and worked his way up through the leadership hierarchy, becoming the National Chief Reader five years ago. Price learned of the program from his department chair at Mississippi College, beginning as a reader in 2000 before serving in leadership roles.

“My mentor, James Barcus, had a saying, ‘A rising tide raises all the boats.’ What he meant by that was that just by having Advanced Placement courses in a high school, the overall academic conversation in that high school (goes) up,” Miller says.

The A.P. exam is one of a select few exams with national and international standards that create a commonality in scoring recognized by colleges and universities across the world. “If students in Iowa, Pennsylvania and Mississippi take the (A.P.) program, they may read different texts but there is a national standard to that,” Miller says. “If they receive a score on the English Literature exam, colleges understand that that score is not local. It’s not subjective. It’s objective.”

Visit apstudents.collegeboard.org.

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Discrimination isn’t always this obvious. But it is just as hurtful and illegal. Here are possible signs you might hear from a landlord: “There’s a lot of traffic. It isn’t safe for kids.”

“The apartment I told you about on the phone has already been rented.”

“My insurance won’t cover a ramp if you get hurt.”

“We only take English speaking people.”

“The ad is wrong. The rent is really $75 higher per month.”

“Steps are what we have. We can’t accommodate a walker.”

IF YOU SUSPECT HOUSING DISCRIMINATION, PLEASE REPORT IT. Visit

www.heedhousing.org or call 601-981-1960 Housing Education and Economic Development 3405 Medgar Evers Blvd.

Jackson, Mississippi 39213

Thefederal Fair HousingActprohibits discrimination because ofrace, color, religion, national origin, sex, family status ordisability. Formoreinformation,visit www.hud.gov/fairhousing.

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

D

r. Steve Price will soon make history by joining an elite group of educators across the world. The College Board has named him as the new national chief reader for the Advanced Placement Literature exam, replacing Price’s colleague Dr. David Miller. Both serve Mississippi College as English professors.

The A.P. program offers high-performing students an opportunity to begin college with placement in higher-level courses. Students who take the A.P. English Literature and Composition course in high school typically sit for the national AP examination administered each May. As national chief reader of the A.P. Literature exam, Price will be responsible for managing and organizing the reading of the essays students who take the exam generate.

Miller says that approximately 340,000 students take the exam each year. Each exam contains three essay prompts, meaning that the around 1,000 readers may potentially have to score more than 1 million essays.

The chief reader oversees the application process and training for these readers and develops the leadership hierarchy for the weeklong reading. Chief readers generally serve terms of four or five years, during which time they also serve on the examdevelopment committee and work to promote the A.P. exam and overall program.

“The more I’ve done with the A.P. exam, (the more) I see some of the nuances that make that happen,” Price says. “I see how teachers benefit, so I am excited to work more with teachers.”

The selection of two national chief readers from the same geographical area is very rare. The selection of one just down

21

PODCAST

Shellheads: Fans Talk on the Heroes in a Half-Shell

by Nate Schumann courtesy Shellheads

Hubbard grew up in Brandon and graduated from Brandon High School in 1997. He and his family own The Warp Zone, which would have celebrated its 10th year in business had COVID-19 not interrupted. Hubbard, however, hopes to reinvigorate the company’s celebratory plans this year as case numbers continue to decline.

Recently, both hosts spoke with the Jackson Free Press about their passion for the pizza-crazed heroes.

JFP: What was your experience with TMNT prior to starting Shellheads?

Sergio Lugo II also serves as a host for Reality Breached, a podcast that developed into a network for additional locally produced podcasts.

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

22

Sergio: It’s funny. The reason I threw that question for you to answer first, Jeff, is because Shellheads was primarily the only podcast that I consistently recorded in person. Most of the other things we do on Reality Breached is through Skype, so when the pandemic hit, Reality Breached wasn’t affected as much because it was mostly business as usual.

With Shellheads, though, you’re absolutely right. It was a huge change, and you can hear it in the episodes because we were so used to bouncing off of each other inperson, and the conversations flowed naturally. Over the phone, there were a good two or three episodes where we were stumbling over each other’s words, where we weren’t sure if what we were saying was heard on the other end. It was just a lot more clumsy to transition into it. Now, we’ve got it down, and the episodes are wonderful. courtesy Shellheads

W

hen driving through his new Brandon neighborhood, Sergio Lugo II noticed the likeness of a gaming controller on the logo of an unfamiliar business. Curious, he stepped through its door and began looking around, inspecting the vintage arcade cabinets and other video-game memorabilia, uncertain as to what services this storefront offered. From behind the counter, co-owner Jeff Hubbard knowingly said, “You want to know what this place is, don’t you?”

“Exactly! What am I looking at?” Lugo replied.

Hubbard gave Lugo the walkthrough of The Warp Zone’s offerings as a gaming arcade and repair shop, and the two continued to talk about their interest in “nerdy” fandoms, eventually hitting Lugo’s favorite: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. As it happened, Hubbard wrote for a TMNT blog called Go Green Machine (gogreenmachine.org), which Lubo excitedly said he read.

Years later, Lugo’s podcast Reality Breached, which he started in 2011 with co-founders Reid Walker and Josh Alcaraz, interviewed Hubbard for the podcast’s first local business spotlight. The interview went well, so when Lugo found himself yearning to start a new show about his favorite fandom, TMNT, he approached Hubbard with a proposition: “Hey, I’ve got a bunch of friends who really aren’t as into the Ninja Turtles at the level I am at,” Lubo said, pausing, “How about you?”

And thus, Shellheads came into being two-and-a-half years ago and has since produced 65 episodes and two specials, with more content continually in the works.

Lugo, a Jackson native, graduated from Murrah High School in 2001 and studied at the University of Southern Mississippi before starting a job with Comcast, which he has held for 12 years and counting, and getting into podcasting. He is presently married and has three children, the youngest of which is around a half-year old and was born during a hectic time of the pandemic.

Sergio: I was the right age for Ninja Turtles as a child. I was about 8 or 9 when they took over the entire planet, and I was kind of obsessed with them for quite a while— that included the TV series, the movies, the Archie comics series—but I didn’t do much of the backend work to see where they came from or who created them until I was in college (when) I started looking at my old comics and saying, “Oh man, I remember these. Let me try to fill in the holes of my collection.” And that had me diving deeper into their history. … When the 2003 TV show came out, that really jump-started my love for the characters again. I’ve been on a hot spree of collecting Turtle stuff since then.

person with the setup Sergio has. I’d either bring dinner to eat beforehand or drinks for the show because you have to stay hydrated. So having that disconnect (of recording remotely) definitely makes you sad, but I look forward to our next in-person recording, now that we’re both fully vaccinated.

JFP: Can you guys elaborate on the content of the show, the extent of what you cover?

Jeff: Shellheads is a huge melting pot of basically everything from all the different eras or iterations of the Ninja Turtles, from the original Mirage comics to Archie’s “TMNT Adventures” to IDW’s Turtles comics, to the video games, movies, TV series and fan-made projects. You name it, we pretty much cover it. Some of my favorite (episodes) cover the weird things that happened in the late ’80s and ’90s, like when the Turtles were onstage doing tours as a rock band in what was called The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour, which was (pauses) great?

Sergio: It was fantastic, Jeff.

Jeff: (Laughs) Well we have varying opinions, but there were some banging songs in that soundtrack. Others, not so much.

Sergio: To add to that explanation, we do have a specific theme for each episode, but we start off with a couple segments. First there’s What’s in Sergio’s Box, where I talk about the new Ninja Turtles stuff I got in the mail that week—and there hasn’t been a week yet that I didn’t have something that I got in the mail. Following that we have the News Section, which we keep populated with everything from movie to action-figure news.

JFP: How has recording Shellheads been affected by the pandemic?

Jeff: It’s been a little unusual not being able to see each other for over a year, but we’re still rocking and rolling with it via Skype and whatnot. We were so used to recording in-

Jeff Hubbard and his family own The Warp Zone in Brandon, an arcade with vintage gaming cabinets that also restores and cleans older consoles.

JFP: Do either of you have anything else you’d like to add?

Sergio: It has been quite an adventure digging back into these versions of Ninja Turtles that I had experienced once 10 or 15 years ago but am now able to dust off and look at with a modern, critical eye so that I can have an intelligent discussion about them. That’s a fascinating practice regardless of whatever property you are engaging in. Even if you don’t like Ninja Turtles, I strongly suggest people do that with their favorite fandoms, because it really helps you appreciate them more than you already do.

This article has been cut for space. For the full interview with additional questions and answers, find the online version on jacksonfreepress.com. Shellheads is available through realitybreached.com and on all major podcasting platforms.

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June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

3

23

June-August 2021

events@

jacksonfreepress.com Daily updates at jfpevents.com

BEST BETS

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

Rick Olivier

The Big Run begins at 6 p.m. at The Township at Colony Park (1107 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland). Fleet Feet Jackson hosts the celebration of Global Running Day, which features a 5k, a halfmile fun run, and a tot trot for the kids.

The fun run begins at 6 p.m., immediately followed by the tot trot. The 5k run/walk begins at 6:30. The staging area is in the green space behind Soulshine Pizza. Packet pickup is June 1, at the Ridgeland Fleet Feet store from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The race is timed by MS Race Timing, with results available at msracetiming.com immediately following the race. $25 5k registration, $10 fun run or tot trot registration; call 601899-9696; email lesley@fleetfeetjackson. com; find it on Facebook.

24

Mississippi History hosts the event exploring the history of Newt Knight and the legend of the Free State of Jones. Author and historian Victoria Bynum of Texas State University serves as guest lecturer. The inperson event is held in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium with a remote speaker. A livestream from the Museum of Mississippi History’s Facebook page is also available.

Free event; call 601-576-6946; email therron@mdah.ms.gov; find it on Facebook.

FRIDAY 6/4

Pepsi Pops: A Blast in the Park begins at 7:30 p.m. at Old Trace Park (118 Madison Landing Circle, Ridgeland). The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra presents its annual outdoor concert emceed by Maggie Wade, Dave Roberts and Marshall Ramsey and featuring movie themes, Broadway favorites and Pops hits. The evening finale features a fireworks display over the water.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Attendees may bring chairs, blankets and food. Social distancing between groups is requested, and masks are required when moving around.

Alcohol, tents and glass are not allowed.

Due to pandemic protocols, the park playground will be closed and there will be no bounce house or face painting this year.

Glowsticks will be available for purchase at the MSO tent for $2 each. $15 advance tickets, $20 at gate, $5 children ages 4-18; call 601-960-1565; email rroberts@msorchestra.com; find it on Facebook.

SATURDAY 6/5

Musical legend Bobby Rush will perform live alongside Sweetie Pie’s founder, Ms. Robbie.

THURSDAY 6/3

Many Stories Series: Newt Knight is from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Two Mississippi Museums (222 North St.). The Museum of

Bobby Rush Live Featuring Ms. Robbie begins at 8 p.m. at Sweetie Pies Live (110 E. South St.). The Grammy Award-winning artist performs at the Jackson restaurant, along with Sweetie Pies’ founder, Ms. Robbie. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Seating is first-come, firstserved unless otherwise noted. No refunds.

Unless full table is purchased, multiple parties will be seated together. Ages 21 and up.

Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash ; New Stage Theatre: public domain

WEDNESDAY 6/2

Snake expert Terry Vandeventer will present to natural science museum visitors on World Snake Day.

FRIDAY 6/4

Two Mississippi Museums offers Prohibition-era cocktails to visitors browsing the new special gallery on that period of history.

SATURDAY 6/5

New Stage Theatre welcomes back in-person audiences with a revue featuring a collection of musical-theater songs.

THURSDAY 6/10

Fresh Start Christian Church hosts a support group for adults who are rearing their grandchildren.

$100 reserved cocktail table for two, $200 VIP booth seating for four on first floor, $100 reserved seating for two on second floor, $150 VIP booth seating for three on second floor. $35 general admission; call 769-206-0977; eventbrite.com.

SUNDAY 6/6

Jackson Indie Music Weekend in the Park is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Fondren Park (3540 Northview Drive). Jackson Indie Music Weekend hosts the event featuring live music from local indie musicians.

Attendees are welcomed to bring tents, blankets and grills. Vendors will be onsite.

Free admission, vendors’ prices vary; email jxnindiemusic@gmail.com; find it on Facebook.

MONDAY 6/7

Farmer’s Table Kids & Teen Camps is from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., respectively, at Farmer’s Table Cooking School (1030 Market St., Flora). The cooking school in Livingston offers day camps that teach kids and teens (separate classes) to make their favorite foods. The

Mississippi Museum of Natural Science

Events Calendar

by Shaye Smith

course covers fundamentals of cooking such as basic knife skills, reading and following a recipe, measuring and mixing, and kitchen safety. The kids camp is from 9 a.m. to noon, while the teen camp is from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Additional dates: June 8-11. $299 fee; call 601-506-6821; farmerstableinlivingston.com.

WEDNESDAY 6/9

History Is Lunch: Digital History and Jewish Mississippi is from noon to 1 p.m. at Two Mississippi Museums (222 North St.). The Mississippi Department of Archives and History resumes in-person attendance at its “History Is Lunch” series, while continuing to provide livestreaming on the MDAH Facebook page, as well.

This week’s program features Dr. Josh Parshall of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life speaking on “Digital History and Jewish Mississippi.”

Free event; email info@mdah.ms.gov; find it on Facebook.

THURSDAY 6/10

Metro Jackson Go Red For Women Luncheon is from noon to 1 p.m. and is virtual.

The American Heart Association holds its annual Metro Jackson Go Red for Women Luncheon Digital Experience. The virtual event raises money and awareness about women’s number-one health threat: heart disease. The event offers educational opportunities, a personal testimony from a young survivor, and information about what is being done to improve the lives of people living in our community. Free event, donations welcomed; call 601-321-1209; email katherine.byrd@heart.org; metrojacksongored.heart.org.

FRIDAY 6/11

In Real Life Comedy Tour begins at 7 p.m. at Mississippi Coliseum (1207 Mississippi St.). The comedy tour that comedian Mike

Mississippi Pickle Fest is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum (1150 Lakeland Drive).

The Ag Museum hosts the event celebrating pickles and pickling. Activities include games, contests, music, vendors and more. $7 adults, $5 kids ages 3-17; call 601-4324500; email msagmuseum@mdac.ms.gov; msagmuseum.org.

MONDAY 6/14

13-18, June 21-25, June 28-30. $250 camp fee; call 601-259-7598; email info4nmhs@ gmail.com; blackhistoryplus.com.

TUESDAY 6/15

Anna Clare Memorial Golf Tournament begins at 11:15 a.m. at Deerfield Golf Club (264 Deerfield Club Dr., Canton).

The Mississippi SIDS and Infant Safety Alliance hosts the annual memorial golf tournament. Format is four-person scramble.

Registration begins at 11:15 a.m., lunch at 11:30 a.m.. Shot-gun start is at 1 p.m.

Mulligans may be purchased at the door.

Awards ceremony at 6 p.m. with gift certificates to first-, second- and third-place teams. Sponsorship opportunities are available. $250 per player, $1,000 per team, $200 hole sponsor; call 601-957-7437; email cathyfiles@gmail.com; ms-sids.org.

Digital Magic Film Camp is from 10 a.m.

Amber Helsel

WEDNESDAY 6/16

Thomas Jackson is from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Hal and Mal’s (200 Commerce St,). The Hattiesburg singer-songwriter performs at the restaurant and music venue.

Free admission, food and drink prices vary; call 601-948-0888; find it on Facebook.

THURSDAY 6/17

Gracey Zhang ; Photo by Sachin Mittal on Unsplash

to noon and is virtual. NMHS Unlimited Film Productions presents the virtual film camp that teaches kids and teens about documentary filmmaking using familiar technology such as smartphones and iPads.

Groups are sectioned by grade and are limited to 10 participants per group to ensure personal attention, instruction and guidance. The participants’ film projects premiere in a grand finale showcase, the “Digital Magic Summer Film Fest,” on June 30.

Additional dates: June 1-4, June 7-11, June

FRIDAY 6/25

The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science teaches children how changes in the weather affect reptiles.

TUESDAY 7/6

Authors Gracey Zhang and Sam Wedelich virtually read their new children’s books live on Lemuria Books’ Facebook page.

FRIDAY 6/18

Justin Whitehead begins at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Chuckles Comedy House (6479 Ridgewood Court Drive). ComeCity of Jackson; NPC

The Mississippi Book Festival returns to the Capitol’s lawn in August and will offer a variety of books, panels, interviews, signings and more.

Diamond Anniversary Gala Concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Jackson Yacht Club (700 Yacht Club Road, Ridgeland). Opera Mississippi celebrates its 75th Anniversary with a Gala Concert featuring six professional singers from around the United States and Europe and the Opera Mississippi Chamber Orchestra performing a program consisting of musical selections representing the best music performed by the company throughout its history. $100 general admission; call 601-960-2300; email info@operams.org; operams.org.

SATURDAY 7/17

National Physique Committee holds the Mississippi bodybuilding championship competition.

FRIDAY 7/23

The Jackson Department of Parks and Recreation screens a family film in the V.A. Legion Softball Complex parking lot.

The River City Toy Fest will showcase a multitude of collectibles for sale from vendors.

dian Justin Whitehead performs live at the local comedy club. Additional dates: June 19-20. $22.50 general admission, $45 VIP; call 769-257-5467; jackson.chucklescomedyhouse.com.

SATURDAY 6/19

Vicksburg Juneteenth Heritage Festival Poetry Contest begins at 10 a.m. at the Vicksburg City Pavilion (100 Army Navy Drive, Vicksburg). Categories for the competition are first and second grades, third and fourth grades, fifth and sixth grades, junior high school and high school. Email original poetry by June 11. All must be related to the history of Juneteenth and are judged according to creativity, originality, relativity and grammar. First-place winners in each category receive an age-appropriate Juneteenth book from Lorelei Books, gift certificates to local restaurants, and an invitation to read their poem at the event.

Second-place winners receive an age-appropriate Juneteenth book from Lorelei Books.

Free to enter; call 914-522-4692; email vicksburgjuneteenthhf@gmail.com; www. facebook.com.

MONDAY 6/21

The Summer Ballet Workshop (Madison Studio) is from 9 a.m. to noon at Madison Square Center for the Arts (2103 Main St., Madison). Ballet Mississippi offers the oneweek summer workshop for children ages 3-6. Participants are introduced to dance in a positive and creative environment. Focus is on developing strength, flexibility, musicality and joy of dance. A non-refundable deposit of $50 is required to reserve a space.

Additional dates: June 22-24. $250 tuition, $50 deposit goes toward tuition; call 601960-1560; balletms.com.

SATURDAY 6/26

Summer Fling with Blue Bell Ice Cream is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at The Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). The zoo hosts

the event featuring treats from Blue Bell Ice Cream, animal presentations, carousel rides, face painting, inflatables, crafts and more. $13 adult admission, $10 children ages 12 and under; call 601-352-2580; jacksonzoo.org.

MONDAY 6/28

Junior Naturalist Camp is from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). The museum offers the ecology-based camp focusing on identification, collection and conservation of Mississippi’s native species for students entering grades 7-9 in the fall.

Camp includes an overnight at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park on Thursday night, with campers being picked up by 9 a.m. on Friday. Campers should bring lunch, two snacks and reusable water bottle daily.

(All food brought from home must be nut-free.) Dinner on Thursday night and breakfast Friday morning are included. Safe COVID-19 practices are observed, and masks are required. Early drop-off begins at 7:30 a.m. Late pick-up fees of $10 per 10 minutes apply. Additional dates: June 29-July 2. $175 fee for MMNSF members, $200 fee for non-members; call 601-5766000; mdwfp.com.

FRIDAY 7/2

Dear Silas’ show begins at 9:30 p.m. at Martin’s Downtown (214 S. State St.).

The Jackson-based rapper and singer performs live at the local bar and music venue.

Doors open at 8:30 p.m., show starts at 9:30 p.m. $20 general admission; call 601354-9712; find it on Facebook.

THURSDAY 7/8

Downtown Madison Farmers Market is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at The Red Caboose (2103 Main St., Madison). The city of Madison hosts the farmers market on the grounds of Madison Square Center for more EVENTS p 26

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

SATURDAY 6/12

Dustin Cardon

Epps headlines comes to Jackson. Featured performers include Michael Blackson, DC Young Fly, Karlous Miller and Kountry Wayne. $59-$125 ticket prices, varing by location; call 601-961-4000; find it on Facebook.

25

June-August 2021

Justin Hardiman

Events Calendar

by Shaye Smith

events@

jacksonfreepress.com Daily updates at jfpevents.com

BEST BETS SATURDAY 7/10

Broadway Jr. Camp is from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). Jackson’s professional theater company offers the four-week theater instruction camp. Education Director Sharon Miles teaches participants lessons in acting, improvisation, stage movement, musical theater, dance, voice and diction, and auditioning. The culmination of camp is a fully-produced musical presented on the company’s main stage.

Participants choose between the 9 a.m. to noon or 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. sessions.

Additional dates: June 21-25, June 28-July 2, July 5-9, July 13-16. $450 registration; call 601-948-3533; email mail@newstagetheatre.com; newstagetheatre.com.

June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

Texas-based blues rock band ZZ Top takes the stage at the Brandon Amphitheater.

THURSDAY 8/9

Food trucks gather at Trustmark Park Stadium to sell their wares.

SATURDAY 7/17

River City Toy Fest is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation (1021 Crawford St., Vicksburg).

Mississippi ToyCon returns and comes to Vicksburg with toys, collectibles, cards and cosplay. $2-$5 admission, free for kids; call 601-580-7499; email momstrashcan@ gmail.com; find it on Facebook.

Mississippi Pickle Fest will be held at the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum and will include vendors, games, music, contests and more.

26

SUNDAY 8/1

distinguish venomous from non-venomous snakes. $6 adults, $4 kids ages 3 and up, free for museum members; call 601-5766000; email nicole.smith@mmns.ms.gov; mdwfp.com.

Monika Grabkowska on unsplash.com

18th Annual Jackson Black Rodeo & Southern Soul Live begins at 7:30 p.m. at Mississippi Coliseum (1207 Mississippi St.). The Real Cowboy Association presents the yearly rodeo event featuring African American cowboys and cowgirls competing in riding, roping and racing events. The

MONDAY 7/12

city of pearl; Brandon Amphitheater

the Arts, near the Red Caboose on Main Street every Tuesday in June and July. Local vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, baked goods and more. Additional dates: June 15, June 22, June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27. Free admission, vendors’ prices vary; call 601-856-7116; email bmayfield@madisonthecity.com; madisonthecity.com.

Local rap and hip-hop artist Dear Silas is set to perform this July at Martin’s Downtown.

two-day event is kicked off with “Southern Soul Live,” the concert featuring seven soul music acts. Tickets may be purchased for either night separately, or an all-access ticket may be purchased to include both nights’ programs. Southern Soul Live tickets are $35 pre-sale, $45 at the door. Additional date: July 9. Rodeo tickets are $18 pre-sale, $25 at the door. All-access tickets are $65 $65; call 903-235-3355; find more event info on Facebook.

FRIDAY 7/16

World Snake Day is from 10 a.m. to noon at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). The museum celebrates snakes with the hybrid virtual and on-site event. At the museum, visitors see a variety of snakes at exhibitor tables and learn about their habitats and lives. On the museum’s Facebook page, snake expert Terry Vandeventer gives a lecture on how to

MONDAY 7/19

Young Filmmakers Workshop is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Canton Library (102 Priestley St., Canton). The Canton Convention & Visitors Bureau partners with the Madison County Library in Canton to offer the day camp for aspiring young filmmakers. Two sessions are offered. Campers ages 8-12 attend the July 12-16 session, with a premier showing of their films on July 17. Campers ages 13-18 attend the July 19-23 session, with the premiere showing of their films on July 24. Lunch, snacks

and materials are included. Additional dates: July 12-16, July 20-23. $150 fee; call 601-859-1307 or 800-844-3369; cantontourism.com.

TUESDAY 7/20

“The Final Girl Support Group” Book Discussion begins at 5:30 p.m. on Facebook Live. In partnership with the Mississippi Book Festival, Grady Hendrix and Sarah Gailey discuss Grady’s new book through Lemuria Books’ Facebook Page. Signed, hardback books available for pre-order. $26 signed copy; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; you can visit lemuriabooks.com for more info.

FRIDAY 7/23

Fun Friday: Wondrous Storms is from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive).

The museum hosts a learning event for kids that teaches about different types of storms and how meteorologists monitor them. $6 adults, $4 kids ages 3 and up, free for museum members; call 601-576-6000; email nicole.smith@mmns.ms.gov; mdwfp.com.

TUESDAY 7/27

Summer Ballet Intensive is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mississippi Arts Center (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Ballet Mississippi offers the two-week program for participants with previous dance experience, ages 7-18. Dancers are divided into levels based on age and experience. The foundations workshop is for ages 7-10 and meets from 9 a.m. to noon.

The intermediate workshop is for ages 1018 and meets from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Curriculum includes ballet technique, pointe & classical variations for intermediate and advanced students, character, jazz, and Pi-

FRIDAY 7/30

Science at Sunset is from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). The museum hosts an evening of science demonstrations, trivia and games for the whole family. $6 adults, $4 kids ages 3 and up, free for museum members; call 601-5766000; email nicole.smith@mmns.ms.gov; mdwfp.com.

WEDNESDAY 8/4 JENNIFER GRIFFITH

Cereus Weeder “First Wednesday” Work-

KRISTIN BRENEMEN

lates. Guest instructors to be announced.

Participants may register for one or both weeks of the program. Additional dates: July 20-24, July 28-31. $400 foundations workshop, $650 intermediate workshop; call 601-960-1560; balletms.com.

SATURDAY 8/21

Artisans and local produce growers present their goods at the curated market.

pointments must be scheduled in advance.

Additional dates: June 12, July 10. Free admission; email angelyn@thebeanpath.org; thebeanpath.org.

SATURDAY 8/21

The Mississippi Book Festival is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mississippi State Capitol Complex Lawn (400 High Street). The event known as Mississippi’s literary lawn party features panel discussions, author interviews, book signings, a kids’ corner, on-site booksellers and more.

Free event, vendors’ prices vary; call 769717-2648; email info@msbookfestival. com; msbookfestival.com.

SATURDAY 8/28

day is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Eudora Welty House & Garden (1119 Pinehurst St.). The volunteer group of gardeners gather on the first Wednesday of each month to help with the upkeep of the Welty Garden. Monthly seasonal tasks may include weeding, seed saving, dividing and potting plants, sowing seeds, deadheading, pruning roses, and more. Gardeners of all levels are welcome. Volunteers meet at the upper garden arbor, behind the Welty house. Additional dates: June 2, July 7. Free event; call 601-353-7762; email info@eudoraweltyhouse.com; welty.mdah.ms.gov.

SATURDAY 8/14

The Bean Path Tech Office Hours | Featured Presentation is from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and is virtual. The non-profit organization promoting technical education in the community offers monthly presentations offering tech guidance. Following the presentation, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., individual appointments may be scheduled for participants requiring additional assistance. Individual ap-

SATURDAY 8/28

Old-School Hip Hop Reunion begins at 7:30 p.m. at Mississippi Coliseum (1207 Mississippi St.). The hip-hop concert event encouraging attendees to Stand Against Hate features Scarface, BunB, 8 Ball & MJG, Mystikal, Ying Yang Twins and Queen Boyz. $52-$82 ticket price varies by location of seat; call 678-322-8098; email xperiencejxn@gmail.com; find it on Facebook.

OLD SCHOOL

HIP HOP

SUNDAY 8/29

Luke Bryan’s show begins at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Amphitheater (8190 Rock Way, Brandon). The country music recording artist performs live at the Brandon music venue. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. $64-$104 tickets, prices vary by seat location; call 601-724-2726; find it on Facebook.

SAT AUG 28

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The Jackson Zoo hosts an ice cream event featuring animal presentations, carousel rides, face painting, inflatables, crafts and Blue Bell.

Enchanted Evening is from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). The Friends of Children’s Hospital hosts the annual end-of-summer fundraiser with a disco theme. Music from the ‘60s and ‘70s will be featured. Proceeds benefit Children’s of Mississippi. Ticket prices TBA; call 601-936-0034; email friends@foch.org; app.mobilecause.com.

27

Last Week’s Answers 45 Part of D.A. 46 “Exodus” author 49 Swiss capital 51 “Melancholia” star Dunst 52 5 to 2, e.g.

55 Tennis superstar, as nicknamed by his Serbian fans 60 Buffet bit 63 Like octuplets 64 “Blueprint for a Sunrise” artist 65 ___ and Guilder (rival nations in “The Princess Bride”) 66 More than enough, for some 67 The Lightning Seeds lead singer Broudie 68 Forewarning 69 Ardor 70 “Black-ish” father

BY MATT JONES

Down

“The Name Game” --maybe it’s a mean name, amen.

Across

1 ___ gow poker 4 “The Godfather” actor James 8 Highest peak in New Zealand 14 Twilight, poetically 15 “Clair de ___” (Debussy work) 16 “___ divided against itself, cannot stand”: Lincoln 17 Small complaint 18 “The Facts of Life” mentor ___ Garrett 19 Gossipy sorts 20 Comedian currently co-presenting “The Great British Bake Off”

23 Latvian currency 24 Pet lizards 28 “Downton Abbey” countess 31 SpaceX founder 32 “Evita” narrator 34 Go for a stroll 36 “What ___ can I say?”

37 With it, when “with it” meant something 38 Former late-night host 41 Evanescence vocalist Amy 42 Commedia dell’___ 44 Triglyceride, for one

1 Pasta in casseroles 2 “Wheel of Fortune” purchase options 3 Defense missile used against other missiles 4 F or G, e.g.

5 “Vorsprung durch Technik” automaker 6 Ben Stiller’s mom 7 Curly of the Harlem Globetrotters 8 Request to be excused 9 2018 horror movie and spin-off of “The Conjuring 2” 10 Swindle 11 Not closeted 12 Mama bear, in Madrid 13 Jennifer Lien’s “Star Trek: Voyager” role 21 Head of Hogwarts?

22 Actor Rao of “Drag Me to Hell” and “Avatar” 25 Invalid

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26 Money in the bank 27 Sport with clay pigeons 29 Literally, “reign” in Hindi 30 M.D.’s group 31 Island off Manhattan 32 Pool hall supply 33 “Ready or not, ___ come!”

35 Story credit 39 Calligrapher’s tip 40 Honorary poem 43 Suck in 47 Place of perfection 48 Give in

50 Hundred Acre Wood resident 53 Iranian coin 54 Pastry with some Earl Grey 56 Controversial TV health adviser 57 “Emma” novelist Austen 58 Marine predator 59 Ship’s bottom 60 Ozone layer pollutant, for short 61 Words with king or carte 62 NaNoWriMo, er, mo.

For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800 655-6548. Reference puzzle #955

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

A blogger named Valentine Cassius reports, “A tiny old woman came into the deli where I work and ordered a ‘wonderful turkey sandwich.’ When asked what she wanted on the sandwich other than turkey, she said ‘all of your most wonderful toppings.’” Here’s my response to that: The tiny old woman’s approach usually isn’t very effective. It’s almost always preferable to be very specific in knowing what you want and asking for it. But given the current astrological omens, I’ll make an exception for you in the next three weeks. I think you should be like the tiny old woman: Ask life, fate, people, spirits, and gods to bring you all of their most wonderful toppings.

“I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held,” testifies Cancerian novelist Erin Morgenstern. “Tired of trying to control what cannot be controlled.” Here’s good news for her and all Cancerians. You have cosmic permission to surrender—to no longer try to hold things together that can’t be held or try to control what can’t be controlled.

Maybe in a few weeks you will have gained so much relaxed new wisdom that you’ll be inspired to make fresh attempts at holding together and controlling. But that’s not for you to worry and wonder about right now. Your assignment is to nurture your psychological and spiritual health by letting go.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Philosopher Georges Bataille wrote, “The lesson of Wuthering Heights, of Greek tragedy and, ultimately, of all religions, is that there is an instinctive tendency towards divine intoxication which the rational world of calculation cannot bear. This tendency is the opposite of Good. Good is based on common interest, which entails consideration of the future.” I’m going to dissent from Bataille’s view. I agree that we all have an instinctive longing for divine intoxication, but I believe that the rational world needs us to periodically fulfill our longing for divine intoxication. In fact, the rational world grows stale and begins to decay without these interludes. So the truth is that divine intoxication is crucial for the common good. I’m telling you this, Leo, because I think the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to claim a healthy dose of divine intoxication.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Virgo actor Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) won the most prestigious awards possible for her work in films, TV, and theater: Oscars, Emmys, and a Tony. She was intelligent, talented, and beautiful. Life was a challenge when she was growing up, though. She testified, “I was the shyest human ever invented, but I had a lion inside me that wouldn’t shut up.” If you have a sleeping lion inside you, Virgo, I expect it to wake up soon. And if your inner lion is already wide awake and you have a decent relationship with it, I suspect it may soon begin to come into its fuller glory.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

Libran author Antonio Tabucchi described the frame of mind I recommend for you in the coming days. I hope you’ll be eager to embrace his far-reaching empathy. Like him, I trust you will expand your capacity to regard the whole world as your home. Here’s Tabucchi’s declaration: “Like a blazing comet, I’ve traversed infinite nights, interstellar spaces of the imagination, voluptuousness and fear. I’ve been a man, a woman, an old person, a little girl, I’ve been the crowds on the grand boulevards of the capital cities of the West, I’ve been the serene Buddha of the East. I’ve been the sun and the moon.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

Author James Frey writes, “I used to think I was tough, but then I realized I wasn’t. I was fragile and I wore thick armor.

And I hurt people so they couldn’t hurt me. And I thought that was what being tough was, but it isn’t.” I agree with Frey. The behavior he describes has nothing to do with being tough. So what does? That’s important for you to think about, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to be tough in the best senses of the word. Here are my definitions: Being tough means never letting people disrespect you or abuse you, even as you cultivate empathy for how wounded everyone is. Being tough means loving yourself with such unconditional grace that you never act unkind out of a neurotic need to over-defend yourself. Being tough means being a compassionate truth-teller.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Fragile intensity or intense fragility? Ferocious gentleness or gentle ferocity? Vulnerable strength or strong vulnerability?

I suspect these will be some of the paradoxical themes with which you’ll be delicately wrestling in the coming days.

Other possibilities: sensitive audacity or audacious sensitivity; fluidic fire or fiery fluidity; crazy wisdom or wise craziness; penetrating softness or soft penetration; shaky poise or poised shakiness. My advice is to regard rich complexities like these as blessings, not confusions or inconveniences.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Birds that live in cities have come up with an ingenious adaptation. They use humans’ abandoned cigarette butts to build their nests. Somehow they discovered that nicotine is an insectide that dispels pests like fleas, lice, and mites.

Given your current astrological aspects, I’m guessing you could make metaphorically comparable adjustments in your own life. Are there ways you could use scraps and discards to your benefit?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

A blogger named Raven testifies, “My heart is a toddler throwing a tantrum in a store and my brain is the parent who continues to shop.” I’m pleased to inform you, Aquarius, that your heart will NOT act like that toddler in the coming weeks. In fact, I believe your heart will be like a sage elder with growing wisdom in the arts intimacy and tenderness. In my vision of your life, your heart will guide you better than maybe it ever has. Now here’s a message to your brain: Listen to your heart!

EVENTS Public Contractor’s Auction Thursday | July 29th Canton, MS Auction Dates : Thursday | July 29th | 9am Location : 1813 Hwy 22 W, Canton, MS 39046 Preview : Wednesday | July 28th | 9am-4pm Questions? Call 800-8502252 or 225-686-2252 Second Auction is scheduled for our new location in Canton, MS. Construction equipment, tractor trucks, dump trucks, vehicles, large selection of welding equipment and farm equipment/tractors plus collector cars!! Call Jason Spence today to discuss our selling options 601-750-0201.

AUTOMOTIVE

Cash for Cars!

We buy all cars! Junk, highend, totaled – it doesn’t matter! Get free towing and same day cash! NEWER MODELS too! Call 866-5359689 (AAN CAN) HIRING

Marketing Representative Must be personable, outgoing, persistent, and willing to learn. Commission-driven position with a paid training period and access to benefits; potential $3,000-$5,000/mo and beyond!

Write todd@jacksonfreepress. com with cover letter and resume.

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD: Post an ad, call 601-362-6121, ext. 11 or fax to 601-510-9019.

Deadline: Mondays at Noon.

DENTAL

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

The Voyager 1 space probe, launched by NASA in 1977, is now more than 14 billion miles from Earth. In contrast, the farthest humans have ever penetrated into the ground is 7.62 miles. It’s the Kola Superdeep Borehole in northwest Russia. Metaphorically speaking, these facts provide an evocative metaphor for the following truth: Most humans feel more confident and expansive about exploring the outer world than their inner realms. But I hope that in the coming weeks you will buck that trend, as you break all previous records for curious and luxurious exploration into your deepest psychic depths.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

❝Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than silence,” declares an Arab proverb. That’s a high standard to aspire to. Even at our very best, when we’re soaring with articulate vitality, it’s hard to be more beautiful than silence for more than, say, 50 percent of the time. But here’s a nice surprise: You could exceed that benchmark during the next three weeks. You’re primed to be extra expressive and interesting. When you speak, you could be more beautiful than silence as much as 80 percent of the time.

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

Here’s the definition of an emotional support animal: “a companion animal that provides therapeutic benefit to a person with a mental or psychiatric disability.” I don’t mean to be flippant, but I think every one of us has at least one mental or psychiatric disability that would benefit from the company of an emotional support animal. If you were ever going to acquire such an ally, the coming weeks would be prime time to do so. I encourage you to also seek out other kinds of help and guidance and stimulation that you’d benefit from having. It’s the resource-gathering phase of your cycle. (PS: Cesar Chavez said: “You are never strong enough that you don’t need help.”)

Homework. What image or symbol represents the fulfillment of your noble desires? FreeWillAstrology.com

(601) 326-6070 3139 North State Street www.pigandpint.com

“Medicare & You,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2020 Includes the Participating (in GA: Designated) Providers and Preventive Benefits Rider. Product not available in all states. Acceptance guaranteed for one insurance policy/certificate of this type. Contact us for complete details about this insurance solicitation. This specific offer is not available in CO, LA, NY; call 1-800-969-4781 or respond for similar offer. Certificate C250A (ID: C250E; PA: C250Q); Insurance Policy P150 (GA: P150GA; NY: P150NY; OK: P150OK; TN: P150TN); Rider kinds B438/ B439 (GA: B439B).

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June 2 - 29, 2021 • jfp.ms

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

Classifieds as low as $35

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SHOPPING Lemuria Books (202 Banner Hall,

Father’s Day Gift Fix

4465 Interstate 55 N., 601-366-7619, lemuriabooks.com) 1. “Long Division” by Kiese Laymon $17 2. “Nick” by Michael Farris Smith $27 3. “A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey Through a Real and Imaginary Literary Landscape” by W. Ralph Eubanks $27.95 4. “Sooley” by John Grisham $28.99

Photos and story by Shaye Smith

Not every dad is the tie-wearing type, and a man only needs so many pairs of slippers. A little creativity goes a long way when it comes to Father’s Day shopping. Whether the dad in your life is a grill master, a skater dad or something in-between, you can find a gift to make his day at one of the Jackson area’s many local businesses. Check out these suggestions to get you started.

Revell Ace Hardware (5060B Interstate 55 N., 601-812-1400, revellhardware.com) 1. Big Green Egg Outdoor Cooker, Large $899 2. Big Green Egg Salt & Pepper Shakers $9.99, Sauces $7.99, Seasoning Mixes $9.99, Cookbook $49.95 3. “Handsome Man Travel Kit” by Duke Cannon Supply Co. $32.99

4. Artifact Frosty Beard Oil $20, Beard Soap $8 5. Yeti Hopper M30 Cooler Bag $299.99 6. Perky Pet Bird Feeder 2-in-1 $6.99, 2-in-1 XL $13.99

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5 6 2 Swell-O-Phonic (2906 N.State St., 601-981-3547, chane.com) 1. “Rise & Grind” Enamel Mug $25 2. Herschel Supply Co. Men’s Toiletry Bag $35 3. “Ski Mississippi” Baseball Cap $25 4. “Big Apple Inn” T-Shirt $20 5. “Sun-N-Sand Motor Hotel” Mug $10 6. Cult of Freedom Cruiser Skateboard $160

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Buffalo Peak Outfitters (4500 Interstate 55 N., Suite 115, 601-366-2557, buffalopeak.net) 1. Icemule Cooler Classic 10L $59.99 2. Eno SingleNest Hammock $49.99 3. Secrid Mini Dutch Martin Wallet $109.99 4. Ridge Titanium Matte Cobalt Wallet and Pen Gift Set $149.99 5. Buff Coolnet UV Multi-functional Headwear $24.99

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Patty Peck

Used Car Super Center Call 601-957-3400 to reach one of our used car specialists and mention these deals featured in the Jackson Free Press.

We strive to offer a large selection of quality used cars, SUV’s, Sedans, Coupes, Minivans and Trucks for our Jackson area shoppers. We work very hard to ensure our customer’s satisfaction, as well as making the car buying process as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

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Used 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport 4WD

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STOCK: P16388 | MILEAGE:61,258 FUEL EFFICIENCY: 17 CITY / 24 HWY

Used 2019 Honda Accord Sedan Touring 2.0T FWD STOCK: MA015580B | MILEAGE: 35,438 FUEL EFFICIENCY: 22 CITY / 32 HWY

SALE PRICE: $30,250

STOCK: P16320 | MILEAGE: 91,228 FUEL EFFICIENCY: 17 CITY / 20 HWY

STOCK: H557667C | MILEAGE: 51,952 FUEL EFFICIENCY: 31 CITY / 40 HWY

STOCK: P16355 | MILEAGE: 65,585 FUEL EFFICIENCY: 16 CITY / 20 HWY

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STOCK: A036279A | MILEAGE: 35,282 FUEL EFFICIENCY: 26 CITY / 33 HWY

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