Living in Yazoo-Mississippi Delta (Greenville, Greenwood: neighborhoods, school, gardens)

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by AppalachianAngler

If I were you, I would live in Cleveland or Greenwood and talk to folks about farming and laborers and culture. I am not sure where you are from internationally, but there are lots of South Africans that work as seasonal laborers the past several years. From there you can make some inroads and explore some of the small communities like Rosedale, Hollandale, Itta Bena, Morgan City, Money, Drew, Inverness, etc.

Why are there so many South Africans being brought in to work as laborers?

[InnerCitySoul]

Originally Posted by Seadory

Grant's most recent book, The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi will be released Sept. 1st 2020.

I knew Grant was working on/writing a book having to do with Natchez ( I LOVE that city!) I didn't know the title or release date. Thank-you Seadory! Looking forward with anticipation for his latest.

PS I'll most definitely look into "The Barber of Natchez." Thanks for the recommendation!

Paul

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by InnerCitySoul

I knew Grant was working on/writing a book having to do with Natchez ( I LOVE that city!) I didn't know the title or release date. Thank-you Seadory! Looking forward with anticipation for his latest.

PS I'll most definitely look into "The Barber of Natchez." Thanks for the recommendation!

Paul

Natchez is one of our favorite destinations. I hope we get a chance to go again this year.
I would suggest Natchez as a setting for our aspiring writer, but who can follow Greg Iles?


Everyone should read the story of Natchez's "barber who made good". Those who have not already visited should visit his home in Natchez.

[Seadory]

Originally Posted by Listener2307

Natchez is one of our favorite destinations. I hope we get a chance to go again this year.
I would suggest Natchez as a setting for our aspiring writer, but who can follow Greg Iles?


Everyone should read the story of Natchez's "barber who made good". Those who have not already visited should visit his home in Natchez.

I can't find anything with the title "barber who made good." Could that be The Barber of Natchez', William Johnson? Is is home on State St? If so, I'll bet that's the home of William Johnson, The Barber of Natchez. I've probably walked by the place a half a dozen times and didn't know. Until recently I didn't know there was a Barber of Natchez.

How lucky we all are that Johnson's family took such care of those diaries. Offers a peek into what this gentleman thought about - almost everything.

I love Natchez too. Iles was probably right when he said that there is no other place in the United States like Natchez.
https://www.nps.gov/natc/learn/histo...iamjohnson.htm

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by Seadory

I can't find anything with the title "barber who made good." Could that be The Barber of Natchez', William Johnson? Is is home on State St? If so, I'll bet that's the home of William Johnson, The Barber of Natchez. I've probably walked by the place a half a dozen times and didn't know. Until recently I didn't know there was a Barber of Natchez.

How lucky we all are that Johnson's family took such care of those diaries. Offers a peek into what this gentleman thought about - almost everything.

I love Natchez too. Iles was probably right when he said that there is no other place in the United States like Natchez.
https://www.nps.gov/natc/learn/histo...iamjohnson.htm

Yeah, I just coined the phrase "The Barber who made good". And his home is the one on State St. Visits are hosted by the Park Service as opposed to volunteers, and they are much more knowledgeable than some of the volunteers.
We learned a lot about actual conditions of slavery while touring that home.

[Delta-SSiPP]

Originally Posted by An Einnseanair

viverlibre's answers are very good.

I suggest reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both by Mark Twain, for a little background on the Mississippi River. Both are considered literary classics. The books are very old (slavery is still a thing, and the language is archaic), but the descriptions of the river itself are still accurate. Except replace paddlewheelers with tugboats and barges.

The only live oaks you'll find were intentionally planted. Their native range is much farther south along the Gulf coast.

There are Black bears; the original Teddy Roosevelt "Teddy Bear" story is from Mississippi. But currently they are somewhat rare and classified as endangered in the state. Maybe 150 or so in the entire state? They do mostly live in the Delta region, though.

The Mississippi River ranges in width from 0.5 mile to 1.5 mile. As mentioned, very dangerous for swimming unless in a protected area. About the only boat traffic is tugboats with barges and the occasional local fishing boat.

Whether or not you call the river polluted is debatable. It's filled with runoff from polluted rivers (and septic systems) from half the country, but there's a LOT of water to dilute it. It is most definitely filled with silt and mud, as is every other river in the Delta.

Racial tensions: Don't believe the stereotypes. There are more daily inter-racial interactions in Mississippi than in any other state, mainly because there are more minorities here than anywhere else, and the overwhelming majority are just as friendly as can be. One issue, though, is that the Delta is mostly "minority-majority" (i.e., white people are the minority). This changes interactions around from the rest of the country.

We're assuming that by "sweet southern ice" you meant "tea". As viverlibre said, if you order "tea" it will be sweet and iced. You have to specify unsweet and/or hot.


One more thing that hasn't been touched on... the Mississippi "Delta" region is flat. Pancake flat. Makes Kansas seem like a mountain range flat (I've lived in both areas). The only "hills" in the delta region are river levees and highway overpasses.

Pretty good breakdown. Have you been to the store in Onward, they have a picture of Teddy Roosevelt in there.

[dixie1207]

Dear Listener2307, sammyreynolds1977, gvillesux, viverlibre, An Einnseanar, InnerCitySoul, AppalachianAngler, Seadory, Ivory Lee Spurlock, Delta SSiPP, big thanks to you all (or should I say y'all ) for contributing to this subject, answering and helping me, your advices mean very much to me and you are a great source of valuable informations, I wrote them all down.


I've read Mark Twain a lot while I was a kid and now I'm thinking of rereading Huck Finn.



I'm ashamed to say, but I still have some questions:


1. Is it hard to be a gay person in this area?


2. I've got this feeling that blacks and whites in most cases only tolerate each others, but do not mix or hang around a lot together, is it true?


3. What kind of football do you play? Is it the way folks play it in Europe? (Messi, Ronaldo...)


4. Are there Confederate flags everywhere?


5. Is Civil War still a big deal?



6. What kind od vegetables is appropriate to plant in July in Mississippi Delta?


That's it for now, sorry for bugging you! I, of course, don't expect all answers from one person, just if anybody knows answer or two, I would be very grateful!

[dixie1207]

Thanks for book recommendation, Dispatches from Pluto are brilliant, book has a soul, Grant did a great job!

[jhadorn]

Originally Posted by dixie1207

Dear Listener2307, sammyreynolds1977, gvillesux, viverlibre, An Einnseanar, InnerCitySoul, AppalachianAngler, Seadory, Ivory Lee Spurlock, Delta SSiPP, big thanks to you all (or should I say y'all ) for contributing to this subject, answering and helping me, your advices mean very much to me and you are a great source of valuable informations, I wrote them all down.


I've read Mark Twain a lot while I was a kid and now I'm thinking of rereading Huck Finn.



I'm ashamed to say, but I still have some questions:


1. Is it hard to be a gay person in this area?


2. I've got this feeling that blacks and whites in most cases only tolerate each others, but do not mix or hang around a lot together, is it true?


3. What kind of football do you play? Is it the way folks play it in Europe? (Messi, Ronaldo...)


4. Are there Confederate flags everywhere?


5. Is Civil War still a big deal?



6. What kind od vegetables is appropriate to plant in July in Mississippi Delta?


That's it for now, sorry for bugging you! I, of course, don't expect all answers from one person, just if anybody knows answer or two, I would be very grateful!

I am not one of those people but will provide input anyway. These are only my perspective.

1. Hard to be gay? Not gay so I can't answer. I do not care if someone is gay or not, but can't speak for others.

2. In my experience, and maybe because I am not racist, I have many black friends as well as friends of other colors and nationalities. I am married to a woman from Belize who is a mix of East Indian, West Indian, and Spanish.

3. Good old NFL, SEC, and High School American Football.

4. I see them sometimes, but everywhere, no. You will see them sometimes depending on where you go.

5. Civil War is not a big deal to me and does not affect my life. I rarely hear anyone talk about it. The only time I talk about is ironically is to my Arizona friend DesertKid as he has an interest in Civil War history.

6. I don't know.

[sammyreynolds1977]

Originally Posted by dixie1207

Dear Listener2307, sammyreynolds1977, gvillesux, viverlibre, An Einnseanar, InnerCitySoul, AppalachianAngler, Seadory, Ivory Lee Spurlock, Delta SSiPP, big thanks to you all (or should I say y'all ) for contributing to this subject, answering and helping me, your advices mean very much to me and you are a great source of valuable informations, I wrote them all down.


I've read Mark Twain a lot while I was a kid and now I'm thinking of rereading Huck Finn.



I'm ashamed to say, but I still have some questions:


1. Is it hard to be a gay person in this area?


2. I've got this feeling that blacks and whites in most cases only tolerate each others, but do not mix or hang around a lot together, is it true?


3. What kind of football do you play? Is it the way folks play it in Europe? (Messi, Ronaldo...)


4. Are there Confederate flags everywhere?


5. Is Civil War still a big deal?



6. What kind od vegetables is appropriate to plant in July in Mississippi Delta?


That's it for now, sorry for bugging you! I, of course, don't expect all answers from one person, just if anybody knows answer or two, I would be very grateful!

1. I'm not gay so I can't tell you about how hard it is. But people here mostly want care.

2. In some places they tolerate each other and in some places they are more intertwined.

3. Football here is American football. Football in Europe is called soccer. It's actually become somewhat popular and more kids play it now than they used to.

4. Confederate flags aren't flown everywhere. To be honest I can't tell you the last time I saw a person flying a confederate flag. I do have to say the Mississippi State flag has the confederate emblem on it.

5. The only people that bring up the civil war are history buffs. Most people here don't even think about it.

6. Beans, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers.