What we would be wearing in 2000 as predicted in 1930s

Check this video out. It was made in the 1930s to predict what we would be wearing in the year 2000. I would love to wear a glass dress, and wearing a flashlight on your head to search for an honest man seems like a good idea too.

Gotta Love the Natchez Life

Today I was reminded why I love the life in Natchez.

This afternoon I went to a magnificent duo piano concert at First Presbyterian Church, which is impressive in its own right. These two world class pianists were brought to Natchez through connections with a church member. It was truly awe inspiring.

I could have gone to a poetry reading at an art gallery or a opera presentation at an antebellum home. But instead I went to a neighbor's, who serves scrumptious homemade ice cream on her porch every Sunday evening in the summer. This was the opening night, and it was standing room only - all the porch rockers were full.

It's summertime - and the living is easy.

Demise of an Oak

I was walking my dog along the Natchez bluff this morning when I noticed an oak tree had recently been cut down. I know the city lost many trees during the recent storm, but I don't think this tree was a victim of that, other than possibly losing a few small rotten limbs. The tree trunk and limbs, that lay on the ground, appeared healthy, so was chopping it down absolutely necessary? Wouldn't a simple pruning of the rotten limbs be a more efficient solution to preserving this tree?








I noticed a few weeks ago someone parked under this particular tree, on a Saturday night (I guess while at Bowie's Tavern) and a limb fell through the sun roof, into the car, cracking the front windshield--oops! What bad timing. I hope this wasn't the reason for cutting down this large old oak tree; isn't parking on the bluff illegal?




I also noticed two Mockingbirds sitting on the branches, now laying on the ground, refusing to abandon the oak. If you look closely, you can see the Mockingbird sitting on the tip of the limb:


I know it's sometimes necessary to cut down trees, if severely damaged or rotten, so I hope the city had an appropriate reason. We need to preserve these beautiful oaks on the bluff whenever possible. Trees not only enhance our landscape and provide shade on these blistering summer days, but they help the environment as well. Trees absorb CO2 while emitting oxygen. Trees subdue noise pollution and reduce erosion by storing water and breaking the force of rain that falls. So I hope the city exhausted all options before chopping down this lovely oak.

Happy Equal Pay Day!

Today is Equal Pay Day, and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) has just released a new state by state earnings comparison by gender. And guess what? Mississippi is not last! In fact, we're ranked 40th in earnings ratio between male and female full time workers, age 16 and older, all educational levels . Since they consider DC in their results, that means we didn't even make the bottom 10. YEAH!

However, looking at the earnings ratio between male and female full time, college educated workers, age 25 and older, Mississippi moves into more familiar territory - a ranking of 49th. Hmmm. What does this mean? Should women in Mississippi not bother going to college since it won't benefit us much financially? On the other hand, it might motivate some of those sexist good ole boys to go to college, since they're virtually assured of earning more than those uppity women.

Along these same lines, did you know that the United Nations has had a Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women since 1979? Over 90% of the nations belonging to the UN have signed on. Guess who hasn't? The United States! Guess those guys in Washington are just too intimidated.

"Must Do" Events for the Weekend & More

Greetings All... Just taking an opportunity to do a little community broadcast for those of you who aren't traveling to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this weekend and are wringing your hands over what to do instead. Well, the Symphony of Gardens Tour is this weekend, rain or shine, and the highlight of the event takes place on Friday evening at 6 p.m. in the Natchez City Auditorium. HGTV's gardening guru, P. Allen Smith, will be giving a talk on How to get more from your garden than a backache. I don't know about you but I don't profess to have a green thumb, just maybe two left ones, so I plan to go find out what I can do with the flower bed I built in front of my house last year to make it work and not die. I love those brilliant colored snap dragons, but good grief, they're everywhere; give me variety or give me...oh you know the speech! Tickets are just $10 for P. Allen and are available at the Natchz Visitor Center (but you can also buy them at the door). Information about the rest of the weekend's garden extravaganza can be found on the tour's website at http://www.symphonyofgardenstour.com/. So that takes care of Friday night for you.
On Saturday, Shannon Brennan-Mayeaux will be sharing a compelling story over Grits & Grillades at Natchez Coffee Company on Franklin St. She is indeed a member of the infamous Brennan's that seem to own every dining establishment in the Crescent City, but she's coming to Natchez to share her life changing experience gained when she visited Medjugorje in 1987. To purchase tickets, learn more about Shannon or the event itself, please contact Hedy Boelte at 601-446-7700 or drop her an e-mail at hedykboelte@aol.com The event is being held to benefit the Natchez Festival of Music.
Jumping a tad ahead, on May 7th, bridge fans (the kind you play, not the kind you cross), are in for an all day treat as Monmouth Plantation hosts A Hand of Bridge and a Delightful Lunch. As you dine and play, you'll be treated to an array of Broadway hits as performed by some of this year's festival talent. Tickets are $60 for Lunch & Bridge, $50 for Senior Citizens, or $35.00 for just lunch and music. The proceeds for this event will also go to The Natchez Festival of Music. Please give Frances Trosclair a call for tickets and more information. If you'd like to learn more about what this year's Festival of Music has to offer throughout the month of May, logon to their newly refurbished website at http://www.natchezopera.com/ for showtimes, locations, and more. If you poker fans feel a little left out, don't fret because the NFoM is putting together a fund-raiser for you guys & gals too.
You can also call the Natchez Convention & Visitors Bureau for information on these events as well. Call 601-446-6345.

English pubs are dying

I read this article on a US website. It certainly romanticizes English pubs. The ones in London can be really nice but, lemme tell you, the ones near where I live are gross things, full of unhealthy people where fights break out and property is damaged.

In the old days, English men used pubs to avoid family life. You can still see them doing this today. On Saturday mornings when 'the wife' is shopping for the family, the husband will be in the pub, drinking pints and reading the paper or playing darts.

Here's the article, and you can see what you think:

LONDON -- Nothing can stay the same forever although Britain is one country where they try like the Dickens to fight that basic truth. The lyric of an old World War I song said it best:

There'll always be an England
While there's a country lane,
Wherever there's a cottage small
Beside a field of grain.

And down the lane from that cottage beside the field of grain there will always be a pub serving imperial pints (20 ounces) of beer. Well, that is changing rapidly.(Although you can still find some authentic pubs.)

Rural life is unrecognizable from 20 years ago and British drinking habits have undergone a sea change, as well. Both of these factors have led to a crisis for British pubs. Thirty-nine a week are going out of business forever.

Jogging our memories

You know you totally forget about something then someone else brings it up as a meaningful memory then you can suddenly recall a slice of your past life vividly?

That happened to me when I read about Kevin Sessum's memoir, Mississippi Sissy.

Here's a summary of the book from some literary website:

"...the stunning memoir from Kevin Sessums, a celebrity journalist who grew up scaring other children, hiding terrible secrets, pretending to be Arlene Frances and running wild in the South. As he grew up in Forest, Mississippi, befriended by the family maid, Mattie May, he became a young man who turned the word "sissy" on its head, just as his mother taught him. In Jackson, he is befriended by Eudora Welty and journalist Frank Hains, but when Hains is brutally murdered in his antebellum mansion, Kevin's long road north towards celebrity begins."


Here's an excerpt from the first chapter:

“Fuck,” said Frank Hains. “I knew I shouldn’t have given that last bourbon to Eudora.”

It had taken me almost a decade after that day of my mother’s funeral, but I had finally found the only equivalent that Mississippi offered to a What’s My Line? life. Frank — a John Daly–like presence in Jackson — was the arts editor of the state’s afternoon newspaper, for which he also wrote a column called “On Stage.” Eudora was writer Eudora Welty. We were at a cast party for New Stage Theatre’s latest production, Long Day’s Journey into Night, starring Geraldine Fitzgerald as Mary Tyrone. Frank and Miss Welty were active members of New Stage, and he was playing host that night at Bleak House, the name given facetiously to his antebellum home by the local literati of Jackson. The Dickensian nickname derived from the house’s outward appearance of haunted dilapidation where it sat, rather spookily, on a hill opposite Jackson’s lone Jewish cemetery....

Frank would often allude to his “dusky endeavors,” as they had come to refer politely to his interest in young African Americans, some of whom had touched him deeply with their aspirations and narratives of maternal love. Miss Welty welcomed these stories of nuanced carnality, as Frank was careful not to tell her the details.

I was in high school when Frank Hains was murdered, and he'd just directed a play in Vicksburg, Mississippi, that my brother and a friend were in. We used to sit there as he'd explain his inspired plans for the set, and we thought he was so sophisticated.

Then he was murdered. Everyone was shocked. My father, a forensic pathologist, told me that the crime scene indicated that it was a homosexual murder. I was additionally shocked by that news.

My brother then started a gag where some of us would go around confessing that we were the murderer of Frank Hains. (The crime was unsolved.)

A friend from high school recalls how my brother would "creep around muttering, 'I murdered Frank Hains.' It was SO funny because we'd be watching TV or making cookies, or whatever, and he would suddenly appear and say that, in a sepulchral voice, then just walk off."

Also a friend from Jackson recalls actually attending the party that Sessums writes about. She wrote: "Do you remember the very first page of the book, when he describes that party where Eudora Welty got drunk, and Frank Hains was oozing around hosting so urbanely? I wuz thar (as Tom Joad would say.) That very exact party, for the cast of Long Day's Journey into Night. I felt mighty sassy and grown-up, there among the big folks, rubbing shoulders with Geraldine Fitzgerald and all. It made me feel better to read that Miss Welty was so drunk that Kevin had to drive her home because she was horribly rude to me that night. It never occurred to me that she was full of bourbon---I was so naive I didn't think old ladies drank anything but coffee."

I enjoyed the whole experience of thinking about something again that I'd forgotten, and the memories of others from that time rounding out the story for me. Hope someone else is out there writing a memoir that will jog my memory again soon.

The sky's the soft blue of a work shirt

Isn't this a beautiful poem that my friend just sent me:

Today, the sky's the soft blue of a work shirt washed
a thousand times. The journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step. On the interstate listening
to NPR, I heard a Hubble scientist
say, "The universe is not only stranger than we
think, it's stranger than we can think." I think
I've driven into spring, as the woods revive
with a loud shout, redbud trees, their gaudy
scarves flung over bark's bare limbs. Barely doing
sixty, I pass a tractor trailer called Glory Bound,
and aren't we just? Just yesterday,
I read Li Po: "There is no end of things
in the heart," but it seems like things
are always ending—vacation or childhood,
relationships, stores going out of business,
like the one that sold jeans that really fit—
And where do we fit in? How can we get up
in the morning, knowing what we do? But we do,
put one foot after the other, open the window,
make coffee, watch the steam curl up
and disappear. At night, the scent of phlox curls
in the open window, while the sky turns red violet,
lavender, thistle, a box of spilled crayons.
The moon spills its milk on the black tabletop
for the thousandth time.


"Poem on a Line by Anne Sexton, 'We are All Writing God's Poem'" by Barbara Crooker

Have you ever put a lampshade on your head when tipsy?

In a speech to Irish leaders on St. Patrick's Day, Barack Obama jokingly urged the audience to go easy on the spirits. "Stay as long as you want, try to avoid putting any lampshades on your head, because there are a lot of photographers here," he said. When did putting a lampshade on your head become a universal symbol of drunkenness?

Probably in the 1910s or 1920s. While it's impossible to pinpoint the first instance of a man donning a lampshade at a party, the image most likely came out of vaudeville and was popularized in early silent films. In The Adventurer (1917), Charlie Chaplin plays a rich yachtsman who, pursued by the police, puts a lampshade over his head and stands still as the cops pass by. While that example is more about disguise than inebriation, the lampshade on the head had become a drunk gag by 1928, when the Baltimore Evening Sun ran a satirical piece called "The Life of the Party": "It is usually customary for the life of the party about the middle of the evening to put a lampshade on his head and give an impersonation of [Scottish soprano] Mary Garden, after which he tells a joke that is not meant for mixed company."

Me again: I think I have put a lampshade on my head once after too much champagne. Sort of embarrassing to recall, but I think I am guilty of this one. Are you?

Scanwiches

Check this site out, and be sure and scan your next sandwich for the site.

Scanwiches



My sandwiches are too boring to scan. I get a turkey, cheese and lettuce sandwich every day at the office. The deli staff at Nokia (I work for the cellphone maker in their European headquarters outside London) start making my sandwich when they see me come down the stairs (11:45, so I can get the sandwich before the line forms, then I wrap it up and leave it until I come back from the gym). I don't even have to speak to them, they just make it and hand it to me.

It's the same with my skinny lattes too. They see me come downstairs first thing in the morning, they start making my latte.

If only the rest of my life could be so simple.

They do say to me, "Don't you get bored having the same sandwich year in and year out?" But I say it's too much to ask me to choose a different sandwich every day. I can only handle so much excitement in my life.

Stuck at Rowan Oak

I made one of my mother's staple recipes recently, Salmon Cakes. They are easy, delicious and nutritious. My family fights over them -- they are that tasty. Here's how to make them:

Can of salmon, drained, and thrown into a mixing bowl. Add bread crumbs or crackers in a zip lock bag that you've whacked with a rolling pin so they are crumbly. Add an egg to bind it together, worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper and any other spices -- I put paprika or anything with a zippy flavor. Mix them up with your hands and shallow fry in a pan. Delish.

Now I know that my friend Brenda would say to add some mashed-up potato to this mix because William Faulkner's nephew told her to do that. But I say keep it pure.

My friend and I went to Faulkner's home Rowan Oak in Oxford one November day a few years ago for a nostalgia tour. It was there in 1979 that we first visited as students, and her car got stuck in the mud. I mean hopelessly stuck. We went asking people at Rowan Oak for help -- among them Shelby Foote and other Faulkner scholars who were there for a reception. Did they help? No. They left us to die out there while they drank mint juleps and talked about books.

So we went back to Rowan Oak in 2000 to remember those days. We went into the house, and surprisingly there was William Faulkner's nephew, Jim, and he was telling visitors interesting little-known facts about his uncle. (Jimmy Faulkner wrote a book about his uncle called Across the Creek .)

Anyway, I don't know how the subject got on to salmon cakes but Jimmy said William F loved them with potato in them, but I'm sure my mother's way is superior. Faulkner might have been a Nobel-Prize winning author but I'm sure my mother knew best about salmon.

Who's Buying Natchez Regional?

Around September, we learned that Natchez Regional was up for sale and towards the end of the year, we learned there was a secret buyer. In early January, we were supposed to hear who that was. Well, we're still waiting. In the meantime, NRMC has filed for bankruptcy - which was somehow a good thing. We recently learned that our secret buyer is also interested in buying Community Hospital, although they deny knowing anything about it. This whole thing is beyond bizarre.

Today I ran across a blog article that claimed Essent Healthcare in Nashville was planning to buy NRMC. This blog is written by some current or former employee of one of their hospitals, who is not fond of Essent, who has filed a lawsuit against the blog, which doesn't seem to be worried. I have no idea how reliable this information is, but it's worth looking into. Kevin Cooper, are you listening?

Beauty and terror

Natchez was a wonderful place to grow up -- full of interesting people and places. We loved participating in the spring pilgrimage every year -- photo above is of me and my brother Kevin, all dressed up for the pageant.

But there was a dark side to Natchez in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement. My father was the town's pathologist and coroner and every Saturday night, it seemed, he was called out to attend to some brutal murder scene. Because I was a small child, I thought these murders were a normal part of life. I had no idea that the era I was growing up in was an especially violent one.

My father would come home with pictures and tales of each slaying -- a bomb planted in a car, a man set on fire or shot. It was horrifying.

When we would drive past rural gas stations, my father would say, "That's one of their meeting places."

"Meeting place? Of who?" we would ask.

"The KKK," he'd reply.

I recently came across some additional photos of Natchez during my youth. I debated about putting these up, but if these guys decided it was OK to march in public in Natchez in the '60s, then they can march again in this blog. I'll make a concession and not put their names here, even though they are printed on the back of the photos.

International Tourist Impacts Projected

The Mississippi Development Authority's Division of Tourism held it's annual Governor's Conference on Tourism in Hattiesburg on February 15, 16, & 17. The purpose of the conference is to help tourism professionals keep up to date with travel trends, learn new marketing ideas and strategies, and a myriad of other helpful travel related subjects. One particular session I attended, focused on "The International Market", and I chose this particular session because of the wonderful influx of foreign travel writers that come through Natchez each year. David Nicholson of the UK and Wolfgang Streitberger of Germany, have been bringing European travel writers to the South for nearly a decade, and they work with professional tour planners from around Europe to assist them in putting together travel packages that are appealing and solid.

David began the presentation with some facts and figures, indicating some interesting travel statistics. For instance, Europeans spend an average of $154 per person, per day; they stayed an average of 3.8 nights (in Mississippi), and they come primarily from Ireland, UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, and France. David pointed out that Europeans like to "collect" states in that, even if they only drive across the corner of Southwestern Georgia, while crossing from Florida into Alabama, it counts as a state they can mark off their list as "having visited". I collect coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, and baseball caps when I travel.

There is a non-stop charter flight that is booked quite frequently, which travels directly between Memphis and Amsterdam. The reason? The King! Yes, after all these years, they are still flocking to Graceland, but it's truly because they have a deep passion for The Blues. The Mississippi Blues Highway is fast becoming a huge draw for Europeans, and as the trail approaches completion, not only will we see that market expand, we'll also see those trips expanded and extended. For now they've limited their time to Memphis and the Mississippi Delta, but, as they are taking longer vacations, and the value of the pound and euro are so strong against the dollar, we will begin to see more and more of those "groups" trickling further down Highway 61, ultimately completing their journey in Natchez. If you happen to be in London in the future, be sure to keep an eye out for those cute little taxi's driving down the wrong side of the street. They're almost completely wrapped in artwork depicting Mississippi scenes, with visitmississippi.org plastered down the sides, complete with a huge image of B.B. King laid out on the vehicle's roof with Lucille laying across his lap. And, once you step inside and sit down, you'll see Mississippi ads on the two jump seats that fold down for additional passengers.

Group tours from these European markets book well in advance, and even with the present state of the economy, Wolfgang and David both assured us that tour operator action is still going strong and they receive calls from planners and operators daily seeking assistance when planning itineraries. There were 20,000 European visitors to Mississippi in 2008, but both felt as though that number was extremely conservative as it does not account for Europeans who used the internet or other means to book their travel. It would be quite easy to overlook someone who flies into Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, or New Orleans, rents a car, then drive themselves to a variety of pre-selected destinations. There is simply no way to record their movement like you can when these vacations are set up through tour companies. Swedish and Dutch travelers tend to book their travels based on the best price, while Germans and Brits like to travel according to weather. You'll see many more of them during our "off" season, as that's when it's cold, wet, and dreary in their parts of the world; plus, David says they don't like the heat and humidity associated with our summers, and he thinks it has more to do with that than the other.

I'll write again in a few days and tell you about the Asian/Indian position on traveling to America. Sally D.

Arts Funding: Economic Stimulus or Joke?

The National Endowment for the Arts received $50 million in the Economic Stimulus bill. Unfortunately, it's become a joke on right wing blogs and talk radio. Do they think artists don't work? Is building a car intrinsically better than painting a picture? I just don't get it - maybe if a conservative happens to read this, he (I'm sure it will be a he) will enlighten me with a comment.

Let's look at the economic effects of art in Natchez. Many of you know that I was involved in founding ArtsNatchez Inc, a nonprofit with the mission of "promoting the arts in the greater Natchez area". We provide a Gallery where over 30 local artists can display and sell their art. While none of those artists can support themselves on what they earn from ArtsNatchez, it does help to make it possible for them to stay in Natchez and earn a living. Many of those artists came here from New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina. But they stayed because they discovered they could work here. That's a lot of wage earners living in Natchez and spending their money.

But even more important, artists bring money to a community. As I've written about previously (here and here), art is Big Business - and it feeds on itself. The more art a town has, the more money it attracts. Natchez is a growing arts community. In addition to ArtsNatchez, we also have other relatively new businesses - Burns Pottery, Natchez Clay, Natchez Artists Association, Natchez Art & Framing, Southern Interiors - to name a few.

So what does this have to do with the Economic Stimulus Bill? ArtsNatchez is supported entirely by donations from generous local patrons. However, like other nonprofits, we're suffering during this economic crisis, because many of our patrons have been affected. Although ArtsNatchez will probably survive, many art nonprofits will not. When they fail, all those economic benefits will disappear as well.

Fifty million dollars is a drop in the bucket considering the whole package, but this money can enable thousands and thousands of nonprofits all across the country to stay open - and maintain the economic benefits in their communities. This is exactly what the legislation is for. These organizations don't need lots of money, the money is only needed temporarily, and it produces major economic benefits. Fortunately, Congress agreed and kept the money in the package.

Being intimidated by British accents

I'm a Mississippi girl who married an English man and have lived in the UK for almost 20 years.

I've been noticing that Brits are starting to call each other 'Hon' or 'Honey' with abandon. Being a Mississippi girl, I used to be the only person in the UK who called people 'Hon' but now they are all doing it. There is nothing stranger than hearing British people use American slang, especially when they say something is 'way cool' or something similar that they heard from a Simpsons episode. It's just not right.

But just because Brits assume I am stupid because I have a thick Mississippi accent, I have learned to avoid the mistake of assuming that a person with a posh British accent is intelligent. In fact, it can often be the opposite -- the posher the accent, the dumber the person.

Americans, we have to stop being intimidated by their accents. One time I saw Jeffrey Archer (before he became a convicted criminal) intimidating an American interviewer on TV by speaking like he was a member of the Royal Family. (Brits exaggerate their accents when they feel the fear of an American being intimidated, I can tell you.) I was annoyed with her for displaying her Accent Insecurity like that.
Remember, a posh accent does not equal intelligence!

Worst Husband Competition

Which entry do you think wins the Worst Husband Competition?

This one from Ireland?


Or this one from Greece?


Or what about this guy from Scotland?


I vote for the last one from Scotland as the worst husband because he has the temerity to hold hands with his marital donkey.

Incarcerating teenaged mothers

My mother was a social worker and especially loved her job when we lived in Natchez, Mississippi, and she worked in an unwed mothers' home (called Kings' Daughters). It's so interesting to me how times have changed. In those days, parents sent their unmarried teenaged daughters to a maternity home to have the baby so no one would know she'd been pregnant. When the baby was born, the mother would sign adoption papers and the baby was taken away. My mother used to say that the girls who held and cuddled their babies after they were born suffered the most when they gave them up.

Now times have changed so much that these homes for unwed mothers are viewed as prisons for teenagers forced to give up their babies against their will. I saw a website to help women who have been in these types of maternity homes find each other. My mother would have been horrified to see the title of the website:

This is for Women who are searching for others who were incarcerated in the same Maternity Home at the same time.

Incarcerated!

I found the name of a woman whose mother had been in the home my mother worked in and wrote her. She wrote back:

"I have done some research on the home and have been there a few times. I have letters that my Mother and Grandmother wrote to each other while she stayed there and I can tell you ... my Mom loved your Mother and her help was invaluable. She even had my Grandmother bring her some pecans from home. I tried to find some information on your Mom but didn't have much luck. Maybe you can let me know more about her. Regretfully, I wished I could have found here sooner. Just so you will know, I was not put up for adoption, my Mom, with much prayer and guidance from people like your Mother decided to raise me."

This all happened two weeks after my mother died. She would have loved to have known about this woman but it just happened too late.

Why Mississippi Is Always Last and What We Can Do About It

You know how Mississippi is always ranked last in everything good and first in everything bad. It's embarrassing to be the laughing stock of the nation and also infuriating because we know what Mississippi really has to offer. Well, there may be something we can do about this - it's really easy and doesn't cost a thing.

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about my solution to the economic crisis. If you read it, you know that increased involvement of women in government leads to economic responsibility and prosperity.

After that post, I got to thinking (always dangerous!) about how Mississippi is ranked last in income and other economic indicators - and wondered how we do relative to other states in women's involvement in government. Guess what? We're last again.

We're one of only four states who has never elected a woman to the U S Senate or U S Congress. The others are Delaware, Iowa, and Vermont, but they beat us on other measures.

We've also never had a female governor, a dubious honor we share with Iowa. Ruth Ann Minner just retired last month as Governor of Delaware, the longest serving female governor in the US. Vermont had one of the first female governors, Madeleine Kunin, the only female governor to serve three terms.

However, Iowa has us beat on other measures. We've only had two women serve in statewide office - Evelyn Gandy and Amy Tuck, while Iowa has had eleven. Iowa also currently has a female Lt Governor, Patty Judge, who is interested in being Governor. So we may soon be the only state that has never had a female governor.

So how's our farm team - the state legislature? Not good. We're ranked 47th in the country in percentage of female legislators. - slightly better than Alabama, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. Iowa is 28th.

So, we're at the bottom of the country economically - and in terms of females in government. But my theory is that they're related. If we want to get off the bottom of the barrel, we must elect more women.

Electing women is not a Democratic/Republican or liberal/conservative thing - which you can tell by looking at this map. So all of us can get together on this effort to save Mississippi by electing women. Now, a few insecure men may have a problem with this strategy, but real men will realize that women's talents, skills, and opinions need to be represented in our state.

Save Mississippi - Vote for Women!

Tidbits from the News

Here are three stories I read today - the first made me laugh, the second made me angry, and the third was just interesting.

1. Do you know what Twitter is? It is a social networking and microblogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets or twits), which are text based posts of up to 140 characters in length. It is becoming a major source of news. For example, the first news of the plane landing in the Hudson River came from a passenger sending tweets. Today there was a story with the suggested headline: "Loose Twits Sink Shifts". You should read the original story, reported in successive twits, but here is the basic summary. A Virginia state senator was about to switch parties, which would shift control of the Senate. But it was all behind closed doors until it became public knowledge due to someone's tweets, which caused the whole deal to fall apart. I love the headline.
2. Today President Obama announced his choice for "Drug Czar". Why did this make me angry? First, it was a guy, and I'm getting tired of all these posts going to men. Secondly, the guy is a big city police chief and military veteran. This means Obama is going to continue the "war on drugs" and to treat drug abuse as a crime. We've been doing this for years, and it simply doesn't work. Drug abuse is a health problem - not a criminal one - and until our leaders realize this, we'll never make any progress.
3. Do you believe in evolution? That depends on your level of education, according to a recent Gallup poll, conducted in honor of Darwin's 200th birthday today. 21% of those with a high school education believe in evolution and 27% do not. The rest (52%) had no opinion - obviously not taught to think. 74% of those with a post graduate degree do and only 11% do not. Those with some college or a college degree fall in between. Whew, I'm sure glad you need a post graduate degree to be a doctor, because I certainly wouldn't want a doctor operating on me who didn't understand that evolution is the basis of all science.