How Mississippi got it's ugly reputation (Jackson, Madison: hotel, buying, private schools)

[Tama]

Concerning the original question about the bad rep--I think it depends on which rep you are talking about. Backward? Racist? Poverty stricken dump?

I am from Pa and have lived in Ms for four decades.

I have seen gigantic changes and basically the rep is lagging behind the reality. It is a mixed bag. Ms is changing rapidly and it is up and coming.

Some points: so what if you are asked about being a Yankee--don't you think someone with a southern drawl in, say, New England would be asked if they are southern? The driver given the assistance rings truer than the Charlie Daniels' song. Ms is not a beautiful state in my humble opinion--not compared to other states, including my beautiful home state.

But it has a mood and a mystique unlike any other. And it has a lovely coastal area and that fabulous river! It is sunny and cheerful and not the swampy hinterland so often depicted in film and books. There are charming towns and beautiful homes, lakes, and gardens. Flowers in bloom, children laughing, strangers waving, and greetings from all--

But it has the Delta and its poor illiterate population. It has a sad history of segregation distinct from the northern riots because it had public policy supporting its rascist configurations. It has a largely rural population that is slower to adapt to the modernity that is breaking forth in the cities, campuses, and business communities. And without enough modern urban centers, it indeed, lacks a quantity of significant progressive thought. Its people are proud of its being considered one of the most religious states, which to me is just another way of measuring a lockstep lack of wordliness. (That is not a popular view in Ms and I feel free to say it--to anyone--so that means one can live in Ms without accepting all of its religious tenets and conservative principles.) See--some good, some not so good stuff----like any other place.

In time--the rep will be more realistic and closer match the changing reality. And Hollywood will catch on--and the world will know our little secret paradise.

[mccarley]

[quote=Tama;12474219]I am from Pa and have lived in Ms for four decades.

IMs is not a beautiful state in my humble opinion--not compared to other states, including my beautiful home state. QUOTE

Perhaps 40 years has clouded your image. I lived in Mississippi a while and I have driven thru Pa. many times and that strech of interstate I81 North of Scranton is about the sorriest piece of land I have ever seen.

[Tama]

[quote=mccarley;12477149]

Originally Posted by Tama

I am from Pa and have lived in Ms for four decades.

IMs is not a beautiful state in my humble opinion--not compared to other states, including my beautiful home state. QUOTE

Perhaps 40 years has clouded your image. I lived in Mississippi a while and I have driven thru Pa. many times and that strech of interstate I81 North of Scranton is about the sorriest piece of land I have ever seen.

Now mccarley--you know one stretch of highway does not a state make--Pa is way more than north of Scranton and the other coal towns. That is like saying Ms is the Delta--Pa has coal areas that are old and rusting but that is only a fraction of the state. Even in these areas the natural beauty is superb or you weren't really looking. Mountains, hills, and valleys and vistas make for beauty--not flatland and scruff. Ms is not without its beauty spots but overal that is not its strong suite. And I have made many many posts in support of MS here--

[mccarley]

[quote=Tama;12477581]

Originally Posted by mccarley

not flatland and scruff. Ms is not without its beauty spots but overal that is not its strong suite. And I have made many many posts in support of MS her--

Some folks like flatlands and scruff and find them beautiful. Myself, I don't like mountains.

[Tama]

True enough--beauty is in the eye of the beholder--right? That is why I said "in my opinion" and we can let the readers of our posts decide whether scruff is lovelier than mountains.

[GrandviewGloria]

Originally Posted by OneJackson

blah..that bookstore has been there since I was a kid almost 40 years and nobody complained until some two-faced clown named Frank Melton became mayor, moved in and decided it was "undesirable". HELLO, I used to attend a KIDS Sports Camp that set up shop every year at Battlefield park RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. no complaints. the bookstore never had bums hanging out around it. no criminals either. various car lots and shops littered the street and no compliants. then that jerk(Frank) flexing power got them shut down.

You wanted some deep seeded weirdness. that's it. Jackson used to be weird but those days are long gone..these days Jackson is not ready for that type of crowd, or the Goth crowd, or the saggy jeans crowd, tattoo crowd, gay couples kissing in public crowd, and all the other "weirdos" you get when you have a weird town. and they're still giving the strip clubs hell to stay open. Jackson's not that. Jackson(for better or worse) has become a family oriented, slow living college town that's only "Alive" when schools in session. otherwise forget it. So be careful what you ask for on the weird tip.

That's why I say a 6 Flags or theme park because that's more Jackson's speed.

Jackson is a bland version of Atlanta. time for a facelift

I totally agree. Jackson's not going to be a mecca for any good kind of weirdness. You'd just get what New Orleans gets, these days: people too pitiful and disgusting to survive anywhere but there (and maybe the Salton Sea). Jackson could, however, be a mecca for middle-class, church-going, black families fleeing the disintegration of much of the rest of America. And the city has square-mile after square-mile of beautiful ranch houses, still landscaped with flowering shrubs and beautiful trees (except where meth dealers have moved in and replaced plants with Pit Bulls...but FNEJ is still largely devoid of those)....all at reduced prices, because Frank scared the bejesus out of everybody, and sent them fleeing to the exurbs.

And yes, the lack of an adult bookstore is a symptom of repression. But that can be a good thing. Imagine yourself an upper-middle-class Black, highly-educated, third-generation college grad, good values...having just sold your house in Southern California, because foreigners had moved into your neighborhood, and announced (one way or another) that you were no longer welcome (It's happening all over LA). For less than you got for your house in California, you can move to Jackson, and have a fine, huge 1980's home, on a half-acre lot, Heart-Pine floors, two-hundred-dollar-a-yard Williamsburg-licensed documentary linen curtains on every window...nice nearby mall...Highland Village...private schools for the kids...six-foot Azaleas popping into bloom every spring? Why would you want an adult bookstore?

Let's face it: the Jackson Metro is for people who love to go to church, go to Wal-Mart, go to the grocery, go to school...get married at the 'proper' time...have children at the proper intervals....buy nice furniture at the big, giant discount furniture store... Sit in Sunday School, and talk about Bible Times... AND THAT'S ALL.

And that's how folks like it. They like that the Dixie National is the only rodeo on the circuit where you can't get laid. They don't mind the lack of resort-like pools, with cabanas, and a see-and-be-seen dynamic. They don't mind the absence of a singles scene for anyone over 25. Apparently, they like all the little 'fests', that are about absolutely nothing, but hanging around in the sweltering heat in an ugly teeshirt, listening to lame old music, while the kids get their faces painted like bunny rabbits.

I recently witnessed a graphic demonstration of how hostile Jackson area folk are to anything outside the very narrow parameters of their narrow little worlds. And it gave me the little push I needed to consent to moving to a place where people think bigger thoughts. But that's OK. We didn't belong there. But there are plenty of people for whom the area is perfect. They might be happier in and around Jackson than anywhere else. And I think area 'planners' need to fine-tune things for those folks, and not throw away effort and money trying to make Jackson the next Prague.

Six Flags is precisely what Jackson needs. And it needs to happen in HINDS County, not Madison County. A Six Flags would draw from a hundred-mile-plus radius...an area populated with church-going Wal-Mart shoppers whose idea of a good time would be just such a venue.

Frank's motivation for shutting down the adult bookstore (are you talking about something down on that old highway in South Jackson where the German car mechanics used to be? Where is Battle Park? Google Maps puts it somewhere out there...) was no-doubt to impress his senile voter-base that he really was some sort of old-tyme preacher-man who liked spanking boys...and not the puppet/henchman of the local drug lords.

So, YES! Jackson needs a Six Flags!

[peppermint]

Oh, gosh, my husband and I lived in PA for six years. I grew up in Mississippi, and I think it's nice but Pennsylvania is beautiful IMO. The area outside Carbondale, PA (north of I-81) is very pretty. You can't judge any state by a few miles on the interstate. Doing so, you'd say every state was horrible.

I realize polls and surveys can be skewed and misconstrued, but Mississippi frequently being in the bottom 10 when it comes to major issues (education, job growth, teen pregnancy, etc) contributes to the image problem.

[MORPHEUS311]

I'm proud to be a native of this state for 50 years. Love it but would leave it in a minute if not for the people I love. And see, this is what makes this state so great regardless of a bad rap. Mississippi has produced some of the finest folks for many years. Even if they are not famous(and we have produced many), there is something here that helped create outstanding individuals who we work with, shop with, go to church with, see at the movies, talk to while we get our oil and tires changes, and so on.

I read about the recent Blues Marathon and how people from around the country looked forward to coming here because the people were so warm and friendly.

We have something that many states do not. We are blessed and I do not take it for granted.

[Tama]

Originally Posted by peppermint

I realize polls and surveys can be skewed and misconstrued, but Mississippi frequently being in the bottom 10 when it comes to major issues (education, job growth, teen pregnancy, etc) contributes to the image problem.

Exactly--and what to do about it with the budget woes--I don't know.

[oldenfatt]

Apparently, they like all the little 'fests', that are about absolutely nothing, but hanging around in the sweltering heat in an ugly teeshirt, listening to lame old music, while the kids get their faces painted like bunny rabbits.


That is rich- love the imagery and the honesty.