AdreamAdria WalkerFunmi FranklinAladdin Alice Marie from 99 JamsAlvin Roland LoweAmber HelselAmerigoAmeristar Andi Sheril BedsworthAndy KingAnna WolfeAnthony DiFattaApache Rose PeacockAriss KingArts Center of MississippiAvantGarde StrategiesAyana KinnelBabaluBaker DonelsonBankPlusBeagle BagelBetsey LilesBilly PoweBlossman Gas, Appliance & ServiceBOOM JacksonBourbon’s BBQBrook EvansBuffalo Wild WingsBully’sCampbell’s BakeryCannon NissanCapital City BeveragesCarolyn Bogart DeLeoCarson Law GroupCarter JewelersCenter for Violence Prevention staffChante Chante from 99 JamsChimneyvilleChris OsborneChristiana from 99 Jams and Kixie 107 FMChristina Cannon, One Blu Wall GalleryChristina McFieldCookin Up A StormCornelius & ClarkeCorrine Williams-AndersonCourtney L. Rust PhotographyCoxwell & AssociatesCrazy Cat Bakers

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Did we miss anyone?Email us at director@jfpchickball.com

The Jackson Free Press and the Center for Violence Prevention thank all sponsors, auction donors, food vendors, performers, local media, volunteers and other friends who helped the 10th Annual JFP Chick Ball raise more

than $20,000 to fight interpersonal violence – and more than $8,500 on the silent auction alone!

Katie Robert Clothing, Tiffany and James Graves, Jan Mattiace, John and Tammy Cook, Sarah K. Reynolds

of Jackson

THANKS FOR THE BIGGEST JFP CHICK BALL EVER!

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JACKSONIAN AMANDA MCMILLAN

One late Saturday evening in 2013, Aman-da McMillan took a break from her job as a server at Table 100 in Flowood. She waits tables at night while attending

school at Hinds Community College’s Rankin campus during the day, pursuing a degree in sociology. She had received an email: “The First Lady of the United States would like to invite you to the State of the Union address.” By Tuesday, McMillan was in Washing-ton, D.C., shaking hands with the president and first lady. The White House became interested in McMillan because she had become an equal-pay crusader in recent years. A Jackson native, McMillan moved to Cleveland, Miss., when she got married in 1995. There, she found her-self in a company flagrantly guilty of job and pay disparities based on gender and race. Mc-Millan tried many times to apply for higher-paid positions in sales, only to be rejected. The company wouldn’t even allow her to fill out the form because of her gender. “When I asked about being paid equally to the men in my office, I was told, ‘They have families to take care of, and they need to be paid more,’” she says. This past April, the White House wanted her to address economic and political experts at the Center for American Progress, she says, “because I’ve lived it, not because I’ve studied it. It was the experience of my life.” Because she worked as a bookkeeper,

McMillan had access to much of the business’ accounting practices. “I documented every-thing—the time, the date, any thoughts that pertained to any incident,” she says. “I had concrete evidence of the pay discrepancy.” While in Washington, D.C., this year, McMillan, 44, also participated on a round-table panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and Cosmopolitan magazine featured her in June 2013. She hopes to write a book, and has con-nected with many amazing women advocates, including Lilly Ledbetter, namesake of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. She wants to share her story with anyone who will listen. “I’m no scholar. I’m no professor. I don’t have all the answers,” she says. “I just believe in the power of women.” McMillan’s two daughters, ages 7, 17 and her son, 25, motivate her to continue pushing for gender equality. “I don’t want them to have to deal with this issue in 10, 15 years,” she says. “My 7-year-old doesn’t understand—‘Why is mommy go-ing to see the president?’ Now that she is in sec-ond grade, As, Bs, (and) Cs mean a lot to her. She wants to get that A. And I said, ‘If Eli—the little boy in your class—gets all the answers right and gets an A, and you take the same test and get all the answers right and get a C, is that fair?’ She adamantly knew the answer was no. “And I said, ‘That’s what mommy is fight-ing for,’” McMillan says. —Kathleen M. Mitchell

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AUGUST 13 - 19, 2014 | VOL. 12 NO. 49

4 ............................. EDITOR’S NOTE6 ................................................ YOU8 ............................................ TALKS14 ................................ EDITORIAL15 .................................... OPINION17 ............................ COVER STORY24 ......................................... FOOD26 ................................. WELLNESS28 .............................. DIVERSIONS30 ....................................... 8 DAYS31 ...................................... EVENTS32 .......................................... ARTS33 .......................................... FILM34 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS35 ..................................... SPORTS35 .................................... PUZZLES37 ....................................... ASTRO

Cover photo of Evan Alvarez by Trip BurnsC O N T E N T S

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11 Farewell to WhitwellThe outspoken lone Republican on the Jackson City Council is calling it quits.

24 Master PastaWhit Ramsey shows us how to make pasta at La Finestra.

32 Whimsical Pottery“You could go to Walmart and buy a soulless piece of plastic for a lot less, but an artist puts so much time and energy into every piece. The customer inherits the labor.” —Sam Clark, “Personal Potter”

by R.L. Nave, News EditorEDITOR’S noteAu

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T o the best of my knowledge, I never met Michael Brown, but I know him well. On Aug. 9, Brown was shot mul-

tiple times by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., a working-class majority-black sub-urb of St. Louis. The circumstances of his death are as clear as they are important. What is clear is that Brown went to visit his grandmother in Ferguson and was confronted by police in the Canfield Green Apartments after visiting a nearby QuikTrip gas station and convenience store. He was unarmed and shot from about 35 feet away from a police car. Disputed is what interaction Brown, who was unarmed, had with police. Eye-witness reports appearing in local and na-tional media indicate that Brown was try-ing to surrender, arms raised. Police have said there was a struggle that involved Brown attempting to wrestle an officer’s service weapon away. In one of the first photos to circulate following the shoot-ing, Brown’s body lay uncovered on the steamy sidewalk for hours before it was taken away. Again, what happened doesn’t re-ally matter. No media have reported that Brown harmed anyone that day, so what-ever his actual or accused transgression, the people of Ferguson believe—and peo-ple around the world agree—that deadly force was unnecessary. The day after his death, supporters marched peacefully to call for justice. Lat-er that evening was less peaceful. After the rally, people vandalized and looted stores along West Florissant Avenue, a major ar-tery that starts in north St. Louis city and stretches northward into the county. The QuikTrip store, where everything started, burned to the ground. Despite social-media hysteria and

misreporting, no one was badly injured. At the end of both nights of protest—they reignited on Monday night—the only person who was killed was Brown, at the hands of police. I know Michael Brown because we

occupied the same world. Back in the day, when I got haircuts regularly, my barber-shop was right across the street. A few doors up from QuikTrip is Northland Chop Suey, one of the best Chinese food joints in the city. Growing up, my mother worked for the police chief of one of the tiny mu-nicipalities that dot St. Louis County. Sometimes during summers I went to work with my mom, and the guys would order Northland for lunch. I got to ride with them in a squad car to go pick up the food. It was always funny to see people stealthily fasten their seat belts when a police car pulled up next to them at a red light. Just north of the gas station is where my grandmother lives, in a qui-

et, all-black neighborhood. When I visit, I always make a point to fill up at the QuikTrip because the gas is usu-ally a few pennies cheaper than at the gas stations right off the interstate, and their fountain drinks are cheap in the summer. At 18 when he died, Michael Brown is the same age as my brother. Also, like my brother, Brown was scheduled to start college this month; the Monday after his death would have been his first day in trade school. Brown graduated from Nor-mandy High School, my high school’s longtime rival where I once interviewed for a job and is in the district where my great aunt taught for many years. I also had my share of casual run-ins with police in that area. During summers in high school and college, my friends and I used to hang out at a park at the other end of West Florissant. It’s a popular spot, and trouble sometimes breaks out. In or-der to gain entry to the park, we submitted to police pat-downs and vehicle searches. Police summoned us at their whim. Once, a police officer called me over to the patrol where he was sitting with his partner, maybe 100 yards away, to inspect the can of Arizona tea—the same brand Trayvon Martin had gone to the store to buy before he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer—presum-ably to make sure I, a minor at the time, wasn’t sipping on a tallboy of Bud Light. At the time, I thought if the cop was curious about the contents of my bever-age, he should have approached me in-stead of making me walk halfway up the street so he didn’t have to get up off his ass. But we were happy to forgo a few of our civil liberties to listen to music and look at girls. Another time, after a fight broke out

at a party I attended, a police officer sum-moned me to his squad car because the color of my shirt matched the color of the shirt of the alleged instigator of the fight. I wasn’t scared at the time, but in light of recent events, it occurs to me that one wrong, sudden move could have been the end of me. The night of the Ferguson protests, after I called to check on my grandmother, a friend who is white and was also follow-ing the news, sent a message on Facebook that said she worried about me because I am a black man in Mississippi and report-er covering things that powerful people would rather I did not write about. I don’t worry about these things. I can’t. And it’s not because I am fear-less, but because, like most black men in this country, I resigned myself long ago to the fact that hate could kill me at any moment. That hate could come in the form of any number of policemen I’ve encoun-tered in my life. Or it could come in the form of any white-supremacy-minded person who simply objects to my right to exist. It may, like it does for so many black men, come in the form of another black man who also challenges my right my right to life and for the same reasons white supremacy might. I have the personal cell phone num-bers of Jackson’s mayor, chief of police and the local sheriff, and I do not oper-ate under the assumption that any of that means a cop or anyone else can’t take my life whenever they feel like it. That sounds fatalistic, but it’s actu-ally pretty liberating. After all, if a quick trip to the store could mean the end of one’s life, what more is there left to fear? Comment at www.jfp.ms.

CONTRIBUTORS

If They Gunned Me Down

I know Michael Brown

because we occupied the same world.

Zack Orsborn, a senior at Mis-sissippi State University, hails from the tiny town of Amory, Miss. A budding journalist and designer, he likes to explore topics such as LGBT rights, race relations and politics. He wrote the cover story.

Zack OrsbornInvestigative Reporter Anna Wolfe studied at Mississippi State. In her spare time, she complains about not having enough spare time. Email her at anna@jacksonfreepress.com. She wrote news stories.

Anna WolfeStaff Photographer Trip Burns is a graduate of the Univer-sity of Mississippi, where he studied English and sociology. He enjoys the films of Stanley Kubrick. He took the cover photo and many photos for the issue.

Trip BurnsFeature Writer and Tishomingo County native Carmen Cristo studied journalism at Mis-sissippi State University and wrote for the Starkville Free Press. She likes Food Network, ’90s music and her husband. She wrote a food story.

Carmen Cristo Mike McDonald attended the University of Montana. He enjoys listening to rap music, writing short stories and read-ing books about American his-tory. He wrote an arts story.

Mike McDonald Greg Pigott teaches govern-ment and economics classes at Raymond High School. He’s an avid fan of all types of music and the guy who takes karaoke seriously. He wrote a music story.

Greg PigottEditorial intern Mary Spooner is a Jackson native who stud-ies English at the University of Southern Mississippi. She enjoys creative writing, cinema and vegetarian cooking. She factchecked for this issue.

Mary Spooner Melanie Collins is the book-keeper and collections guru for the Jackson Free Press. In what little spare time she has, she enjoys cooking and play-ing piano.

Melanie Collins

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7th Annual

the OUTLET at Country Original s

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Educational and games that encourage movement

G o to any large superstore, and the back-to-school displays, fi lled with paper, pencils and highlighters to equip stu-dents with everything they need for the next school year, greet you at the front door. But there is one very impor-

tant school resource that you can’t buy at your local supermarkets: school counselors, who are qualifi ed and prepared to deal with the social and emotional needs of high school students. High-school counselors have the power to lower suspension and discipline rates, reduce the number of fi ghts and create a culture of safety and well-being for an entire high school. Providing schools with enough counselors will decrease behavior issues and lead to higher academic achievement. When social and emotional needs go unmet, it may result in behavior problems and poor academic achievement. The Center for the Study of Social Pol-icy says that “there is not a specifi c identifi able cause of mental health disorders … there are, however, some factors that have been shown to have particular impact (on) children’s social, emotional and mental heath. They include pov-erty, trauma and inadequate treatment.” Students work to help their families put food on their tables, raise children and manage incarcerated parents, the deaths of loved ones and violent neighborhoods. These issues cause stress for adults, let alone teenagers who haven’t developed necessary coping skills. Schools in impoverished neighborhoods with few jobs, little ac-cess to resources and high crime open their doors to more students coping with stressful situations related to poverty and trauma than the average suburban school. As adults, we know how important it is to seek help from loved ones, counselors or our faith when dealing with stress. Teens often do not seek out the care they need and sometimes let their emotions build up until those emotions lead to behavior problems. We must provide adequate support to teenagers, so that their social and emotional needs don’t turn into behavior issues.

The American School Counselor Association recommends a ra-tio of 250 students to one counselor. During the 2010-2011 school year, Mississippi’s ratio was 448 students to every one counselor.

Since the Columbine school shooting in the late 1990s, schools have relied heavily on zero-tolerance policies to address behavior, forc-ing many students into the school-to-prison pipeline. Zero-tolerance policies have taken the place of preventive programs and evidence-based interventions. School administrators have used zero-tolerance policies to remove students with unsatisfactory behavior. Unfor-

tunately, many students in the school-to-prison pipeline enter youth detention centers for minor non-violent infractions. The Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP’s report Handcuff’s on Success from 2013 stated: “In the last few years in Meridian, a male student estimated that he went back and forth between school and the juvenile justice system 30 times. In eighth grade, he was put on probation by a youth court judge for getting into a fi ght. Since then, reportedly any infraction, even some as minor as being a few minutes late to class or wearing the wrong color socks in violation of the dress code, was counted as a violation of his

probation and resulted in immediate suspension and incarceration in the local juvenile detention center.” As the old saying goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Investing in preventative measures such as school counselors to help more of our students cope with life will help schools avoid sending students to youth detention centers. According to the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention’s National Center Brief from 2011 “students who suffer from personal or emotional problems are less likely to succeed academically, stay in school and develop a love of learning. These children and youth may act out in class, be truant or drop out, or not achieve academic success—which affects the entire school.” Students who have academic, social, and emotional support are less likely to have behavior problems and are more likely to gradu-ate high school and succeed in college and at work.

Jackson State graduate Shawna Davie is now a fellow at Baruch College in New York City.

A Non-Partisan Invite

A non-partisan invite certainly did peak your intrigue

A route to eliminate a thorn and have your guy succeed

Did see the problem and knew it was politically wrong

But a thumb in the eye of the Tea Party was really strong

And now being one of those people it is better to not crow

As you voted both parties’ primaries which they now know

You did vote for a Democrat in the June 3rd Primary election

And voted Republican on that June 24th non-partisan defection

Those ads declared Chris was clad in a KKK robe you believed

But a Democrat wonk admitted that dirty deed meant to deceive

May have a Childers for Senate planted in the front yard

But don’t want to take it down and then simply discard

Went to his rally and listened to what you wanted to hear

Now going to Cochran’s is supposed to bring you cheer

Know this may bring discomfort but getting into this mess

Violated State’s voting law doesn’t matter it was a request

Do not vote in the general or risk upping the fraud intent

No matter for which side you cast a vote up the intent is sent

Invitation has robbed you of your preference and more

And now please be aware it’s opened the prosecution door

True you may not have meant to break our State’s voting law

Intent can’t cancel intent but invite made you a vote-fraud star

Frank G. Ross Sr.,Lumberton

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[YOU & JFP]Name: Angela Oxendine

Age: 45

Occupation: Legal Assistant

Lived in Jackson: Since 2000

Favorite part of Jackson: I’m starting to like downtown more.

Favorite quotation: “God got you.”

Secret to Life: “Never give up.”

Shawna Davie

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On high-school counselors

YOUR TURNResponse to “McDaniel Campaign: Over 15,000 Votes Should Not Have Been Cast in GOP Runoff” by Anna Wolfe

> edinman This “challenge” is getting extremely silly. Even if all 3,500 crossover votes and 2,275 absentee votes were eliminated Cochran would still have won. So what are the 9,500 so called “irregular” votes? I assume these are simply “sus-pected” Democrats who they think voted for Cochran after voting in neither party’s fi rst primary. The trouble for Chris is that there is no law against it. If there was, you might as well argue Democrats should have declared Lumumba mayor of Jackson because of “irregular” votes by Republicans for Yarber. Comment at jfp.ms.

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C harles “Controversy” Johnson, as Tea Party member Tricia Raymond calls him, buddied up to radical con-servatives last night at Life Church

Jackson in Flowood at one of three of his speaking events here in Mississippi this week. Preaching to their cause and throwing in a little God talk, Johnson spoke to Tea Party members about his role in the recent U.S. Sen-ate election in Mississippi. Johnson made a splash in Mississippi this election cycle by exposing the allegedly corrupt election practices of the Cochran-McDaniel U.S. Senate race. Only, he didn’t just cover the controversy, he became it. By paying a Meridian preacher for text messages possibly implicating Sen. Thad Cochran’s campaign staffers in a vote-buying scheme, Johnson made the public and other media question his journalistic integrity. The Tea Party members ate up John-son’s words—oohing and aahing during his speech. They were less interested in the spe-cial guest’s unconventional reporting or the investigation for which he was subpoenaed days ago than they were in Cochran’s sex life. Most wanted to know about a specific el-ement of the Senate saga: that Cochran lives in the Washington, D.C., home of his executive assistant, Kay Webber. “It has a separate entrance? Is there a dif-ferent address for the basement? So that makes it one residence then, don’t it?” the audience asked, outraged. The crowd wasn’t as disgusted when the topic switched to the nursing home break-in, a plan conspired by McDaniel supporters to get a picture of Cochran’s bedridden wife. They all reveled in the fact that, accord-

ing to Johnson, what they did wasn’t illegal. “It may have been distasteful. It may have been the wrong thing to do, but it was not crimi-nal,” Johnson said. The crowd nodded. Johnson also explained his interview with Rev. Stevie Fielder of Meridian, whom John-son said many people referred him to. Attorney General Jim Hood’s spokes-woman Jan Schaefer said last week that Fielder said McDaniel campaign spokesman Noel Fritsch paid him to lie about the vote-buy-ing. Today, Mississippi Public Broadcasting reported that Fielder is now saying that Fritsch paid him to explain a hypothetical vote-buy-ing situation. Fritsch has not returned calls. At one point, an older man at the back of the room asked exactly what many people want to know. He acknowledged the fact that Fielder has changed his story, then said: “Which one of y’all are lying?” But the crowd erupted in laughter, allow-ing Johnson to avoid the question. “I think that they got to Fielder,” he said to explain why Fielder told Attorney General Jim Hood he was paid to lie. Johnson didn’t,

however, explain why Fielder told Hood that McDaniel campaign spokesman Noel Fritsch paid him for his story. In the Fielder interview, Fritsch is men-tioned. When asked why, Johnson said, “We mentioned Noel to send the text messages, to send them through Noel, so that they could be published, so we could ascertain that those were there.” When asked why the messages had to go through Fritsch, Johnson said, “We wanted to have the images sent to somebody in Missis-sippi who could then send them on to us.” The state issued Johnson a subpoena Sunday regarding his interview with Fielder and any of his interactions with Fritsch. He said he does not know who is being investi-gated and assures that he was never in cahoots with the McDaniel campaign. “I’m in a house of God. I can’t lie,” John-son said at the Tea Party meeting shortly after Raymond professed, “God gave us Charles Johnson.” Comment at jfp.ms. Email Anna Wolfe at anna@jacksonfreepress.com.

‘God Gave Us Charles Johnson’by Anna Wolfe

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California journalist-blogger Charles C. Johnson spoke at a Tea Party meeting Monday about the Mississippi U.S. Senate election and the state’s corruption.

Wednesday, August 6 Three judges of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati hear ar-guments in six gay marriage fights from four states—Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

Thursday, August 7 Russia bans most food imports from the West in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine. … A U.N.-backed tribunal convicts two of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge—the fanatical commu-nist movement responsible for 2 million deaths in Cambodia in the 1970s—of crimes against humanity.

Friday, August 8 General Motors issues six more recalls totaling more than 312,000 ve-hicles. With it, recalls in North America push GM’s total for the year to 66 recalls, covering just over 29 million cars and trucks.

Saturday, August 9 Alexander Zakharchenko, the new leader of the pro-Russian separatist movement in Ukraine, announces that Ukraine’s rebels are surrounded in their stronghold of Donetsk and ready to agree to a cease-fire to prevent a “humanitar-ian catastrophe.” … Nascar driver Tony Stewart accidentally strikes and kills driver Kevin Ward Jr. after Ward exits his vehicle and walks onto the track at a race in N.Y., attempting to confront Stewart, who had just caused Ward to crash.

Sunday, August 10 Israel and the Hamas militant group accept a new Egyptian cease-fire proposal in an attempt to clear the way for the re-sumption of talks on a long-term truce.

Monday, August 11 The Obama administration begins directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces, who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq. … Academy Award-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams is found dead in his California home in an appar-ent suicide. He was 63.

Tuesday, August 12 The New York-based Human Rights Watch calls for an international commission of inquiry into mass kill-ings by Egyptian security forces last sum-mer, saying they likely amount to crimes against humanity.

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Binders Full o’ Optimism

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T he two-inch-thick “Election Integ-rity Challenge” binder, compiled and released by the U.S. Senate campaign of state Sen. Chris Mc-

Daniel, documents everything from alleged vote-buying schemes to illegal crossover vot-ers to race-baiting tactics allegedly used by U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran’s campaign. Only thing, the presented evidence does not appear to add up to a pattern of election irregularities substantial enough to force a new election the McDaniel cam-paign hoped for. Not even the Mississippi Republican Party thinks the McDaniel camp’s claims warrant a hurried meeting of the state executive committee to review all the documents. On the night of Aug. 6, the state GOP punted and told McDaniel to take his issues to a state court instead. They

have until Aug. 14 to seek judicial review. McDaniel’s campaign distributed its 250 pages of evidence to members of the news media as well as the Republican Party officials. However, the evidence the McDan-iel campaign offers poses just as many ques-tions as it purports to answer. For example, Exhibit A of the complaint is a CD of, among other things, an interview a man named Patrick Frey conducted with a woman with knowledge of a vote-buying plan. Frey is a colleague of California blogger Charles C. Johnson, who has been covering the Senate race for conservative online news organizations (see previous page).

In the complaint to the state GOP, McDan-iel lawyers say the recording is Julie Patrick, a Republican poll worker in a predominantly Democratic precinct of Marshall County. “She describes her observations of vot-ers leaving her precinct discussing how to use the vouchers they were given to get paid for voting,” the complaint states. However, the recording is actually of a woman relaying what her mother told her about her experience at the Marshall Coun-ty polls. The woman in the recording indicates that her mother watched the bailiff leave the precinct several times to make phone calls and then heard the bailiff instructing vot-ers how to cash in vouchers that she handed out. “She was very upset and felt like they were buying votes,” the woman said. Frey did not return calls for this story. Another inconsistency arises out of the story of a Meridian minister who previous alleged that he was integral in a plan to buy African American votes on behalf of the Cochran campaign. The McDaniel CD includes Johnson’s interview with Rev. Steve Fielder, who said he agreed to solicit black votes for Cochran in a vote-buying scheme in Lauderdale County, The Clarion-Ledger reported last week that Attorney General Jim Hood said Fielder ad-mitted later he was paid by Charles Johnson to lie. Now, the AG’s office says Fielder impli-cated Noel Fritsch, McDaniel spokesman. On Thursday, Aug. 7, Hood spokes-woman Jan Schaefer told the Jackson Free Press that the AG’s office is still investigating the allegations but that “our investigators’ re-port shows that Mr. Fielder told them that Mr. Noel Fritsch paid him $2,000 for his recorded statement. We make no represen-tation as to Mr. Fielder’s veracity.” Initially, Johnson claimed he paid Field-er for text messages that implicated Cochran campaign managers of vote-buying. Now, Johnson said Hood has spouted off and the Attorney General’s office is protecting him.“I think what they’re trying to do is their try-ing to cover up for their boss. Because their boss has been put into an awkward position by Hall on camera … I called them myself and said, ‘Hey you’re boss has said that I’m being investigated. Am I being investigated?’

‘HOCUS POCUS’:McDaniel challenges votes, interprets election lawby Anna Wolfe

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State Sen. Chris McDaniel has vowed to fight for the GOP nomination until the bitter end.

FAMILY:Wife: Dr. Preselfannie McDanielsChildren: John Franklin, 14;

Jaylen Fitzgerald, 12

EDUCATION:Port Gibson High School

B.A., Political Science, Jackson State University

International Law & Politics Institute, Louisiana State University

Juris Doctorate, Southern University Law Center

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:Community/Senior Deputy City Prosecutor: City of Jackson, MS

Attorney: Law Offices of Johnnie McDaniels, PLLC:

Jackson & Port Gibson, MS

Deputy City Attorney: City of Jackson, MS

Legislative Assistant: U.S. House of Representatives (Capitol Hill),

Washington, DC

ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIPSAND AFILIATIONS:

New Hope Baptist ChurchNew Zion Lodge, #161

Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity, Inc.Mississippi Prosecutors’ AssociationAmerican, Magnolia & Missis-

sippi Bar Associations

601-940-6647johnnieforjudge@yahoo.com

Williamson Family Farms owner/operator Mike Williamson, located at 536 CR 95, Yalobusha

County, Water Valley, Mississippi is seeking twenty temporary farm workers and laborers for potato

crops; two days of training will be provided.

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contemplated will be performed in all weather conditions including extreme heat, will include labor performed by hand, extensive

walking, bending, stooping, and lifting crates of potato slips, use of hand tools such as shovels and hoes will be required. Required tools will be provided by employer at no cost to worker. Interested

workers may contact Mike Williamson at 662-473-6088 or by mail at: Williamson Family Farms, 536 CR 95, Water Valley, MS 38965, in order to schedule an interview, or your nearest State Workforce Agency. The Oxford WIN Job Center, 204 Colonnade Cove, Suite 1 Oxford, MS 38655. The job order number for this job is MS102416. If selected, you will be guaranteed three fourths of the work hours between the start date and the end date of the job as listed above.

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and they said no.” Fritsch reiterated to the JFP in a state-ment on Aug. 6 that Johnson paid for texts from Cochran staffers that suggested the Cochran campaign paid Democrats $15 to vote for him in the June 24 runoff. He said the texts are consistent with the interview in

which Fielder told Johnson about the vote-buying scheme. “(W)e wonder whether Attorney Gen-eral Hood will subpoena the emails and text messages,” Fritsch said. Johnson said many people questioned Fielder in the beginning and that Fielder ex-

pressed fear for his safety after he told John-son his story. “So first Fielder’s a fraud, and now Fielder must be telling the truth even though he’s changed his story a few times now. And what’s changed in the time from which he told this story? Oh, he got a lot of pressure and a lot of calls from various people intimi-dating him, as he said to me,” Johnson said. Ultimately, the McDaniel camp wants to show one thing: Cochran won because of

Democratic—or black—votes that shouldn’t have been cast. On the fifth page of the com-plaint, McDaniel lawyers cite an analysis showing that votes for Cochran increased from the June 3 primary to the June 24 run-off in each county in correlation with the percentage of blacks who live in that county.

“(T)he percentage of blacks and non-blacks who make up each county’s popula-tion shows that, without the predominantly Democrat (sic) voter participation in the Republican runoff, Cochran would have lost the runoff election by about 25,000,” the of-ficial complaint states. In other words, the McDaniel camp is not happy with the way presumably Demo-cratic black voters voted by crossing over into the Republican runoff—therefore, their votes should not be counted. But the laws that allow a challenge to Democratic votes in a Republican runoff are foggy and loosely applied, as long as the voter didn’t vote in the Democratic primary. Since the McDaniel in-vestigation only turned up an alleged 3,500 crossover votes, it would seem their numbers don’t support their claim. One Hinds County voter listed as a crossover voter in Precinct 34, Tripp Segars, is a proud Democrat, but he didn’t vote in the Republican runoff on June 24. “I voted in the Democratic primary only. I didn’t participate in any runoff,” Segars said. “After speaking with Mr. Mc-Daniel’s lawyer, Mitch Tyner, I understand there was a check mark by my name for June 24. Now what does that checkmark mean? I guess there’s no way to tell at this point.” The mix-up could call into question the validity of the 3,500 crossover votes the McDaniel campaign claims to have found, as well as the effectiveness of voter ID laws. Mississippi’s primary election statute not only prohibits crossover voting but also states that “no person shall be eligible to par-ticipate in any primary election unless he in-tends to support the nominations made in the primary in which he participates.” In the 2008, a federal court found that

a challenge could only be made, in this case, against Democratic votes cast in a Repub-lican primary if the voter “openly declares that he or she does not intend to support the nominees of the party,” once the challenge has been properly initiated. Otherwise, in-tent cannot be inferred. This is presumably why the election challenge binder is filled with Facebook posts documenting Cochran voters’ plans to vote for Childers in the general election. A woman named Cathy Clark writes, “Nothing I did today was corrupt…my vote was legal…no money…no bribe…just strat-egy!!!! I’m not pro Cochran…just anti Chris!!! #it’s politics #Childress (sic) in November!” Only six Facebook posts are included in the challenge binder that suggest voters for Cochran intend to vote Democratic in No-vember. Further, it is unclear what about the 9,500 “irregular votes” cited in the challenge makes them illegal, challengeable votes. Nick Mason, whose Facebook com-ment appeared in Exhibit E of the com-plaint, told the Jackson Free Press Thursday he was “just being a smartass.” “As a democrat, I voted for Thad 6 times so far today!” Mason wrote on June 24. Mason, from Ocean Springs, Miss., said he thought it was hilarious that McDaniel lawyers included his comment along with the complaint, and said he did indeed vote for Cochran in both the Republican primary and runoff. He does, however, plan to vote Democratic in November and knows that voting in one primary with the intent to cross party lines for the general election is prohibited in Mississippi election law, but said, “That’s Mississippi law and it won’t hold up in court.” “It’s just hocus pocus,” Mason said.

TALK | politics

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Sen. Chris McDaniel’s campaign lawyer, Mitch Tyner, holds up a binder containing evidence used to challenge the U.S. Senate election results on Aug. 4.

A nnie L. Figures, who shined a light on ongoing problems at her apartment complex to the Jackson City Council and the Jackson Free

Press, says she is facing eviction. In addition to the threat of having to leave the Golden Key Apartments, which the Jackson Housing Authority operates and where Figures has lived for 12 years, she says many of the maintenance and management problems she complained about remain. For a story published May 14, Figures told the JFP that the Golden Key’s common area and several apartment units were expe-riencing leaks that produced mold and mil-dew behind the walls and around the heat-ing and cooling vents. Since then, Figures says, maintenance crews have replaced some moldy portions of drywall. Sheila Jackson, executive director of the housing authority, which owns and manages

properties for the low-income residents, told the JFP that she could not speak at length about Figures’ claims because of ongoing litigation but says Figures’ claims about the poor conditions of the building are invalid. “It’s an old property but it’s well-main-tained,” Jackson said this week, adding that the authority is awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to make $6 million in repairs at the Golden Key. Figures has twice received eviction no-tices since April; both stated that she violated the housing complex’s rental agreement. Fig-ures appealed the evictions to Hinds County Court, where a hearing took place on June 10. Figures represented herself; Jackson-based firm Baker Donelson represented JHA. “All the big folks were at court,” Figures said of JHA officials, including Executive Director Sheila Jackson, who said that JHA

contracts with the firm for legal services. In court, where Judge Melvin Priester Sr. presided, JHA’s attorney Marlena Picker-ing questioned Vance about an argument that took place last winter when Figures, according to a court transcript, told Vance and another

man that if Figures had her gun, she would blow their brains out. Figures denies making the statement. In court, Vance later testified that she did not believe the threat to be cred-ible nor did she fear for her safety. Vance also said she declined to

Whistleblower Faces Evictionby R.L. Nave

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Annie Figures complained publicly about ongoing problems at the Jackson Housing Authority-run Golden Key Apartments. Now, she is facing eviction.

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TALK | politics

B y the time this year is over, it’s pos-sible that Jackson will have had two mayors, two police chiefs and, de-spite the fact that it is not an regu-

lar election, three new members of the city council. Last week, Ward 1 Councilman Quen-tin Whitwell made the surprise announcement that he would step down from his seat before fi nishing out his second term. Whitwell said he submitted a formal letter of resignation, ef-fective Oct. 31, to the Jackson city clerk’s offi ce. A statehouse lobbyist who joined the city council in 2009, Whitwell would be the third successive Ward 1 coun-cilman to resign in the middle of a term. Previous Council-man Jeff Weill left early to run for a county judge’s seat and, before that, Ben Allen re-signed suddenly, citing health issues for the decision before taking the president’s position at Down-town Jackson Partners. Whitwell told the Jackson Free Press this week that when he fi rst ran for the seat, it was a good time, but that in recent months other personal and professional pursuits had to take priority. Among those is the oppor-tunity for his son to be trained under tennis coaches at the University of Mississippi. “The job of city councilman is very time consuming but you’ll never hear me complain about that,” Whitwell said. In the coming months, Whitwell and the other members of the city council will busy themselves preparing Jackson’s half-bil-lion-dollar budget. Whitwell said he would like to continue making improvements to Parham Bridges Park, located in his ward, and help sort out “a few tedious legal mat-

ters” on several economic-development proj-ects he declined to name. Whitwell also declined to talk specifi cs about who might replace him as northeast Jackson’s representative on the city council, but said his replacement should have pa-tience, know how to build coalitions and

choose his or her battles carefully. “A lot of times, offl ine conversations to put things on the right track are better than public disputes,” he said. After Whitwell steps down, the city would have to hold a special election to fi ll his northeast Jackson seat. Ward 3 Council-woman LaRita Cooper-Stokes is also run-ning for Hinds County judge in the Novem-ber general election. Jackson has already held one special election this year to fi ll the Ward 6 council seat that Tony Yarber vacated when he won election to Jackson mayor. Tyrone Hendrix, who manages political campaigns for a liv-ing, took Yarber’s Ward 6 seat. After the retirement of Chief Lindsey Horton in mid-July, city offi cials announced a national search for a permanent replace-

ment. Longtime Assistant Chief Lee Vance was tapped as interim chief and has expressed interest in leading the department. Vance has helped helm JPD as it re-cently adopted a program developed in Lou-isiana’s capital city called Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination. Police fi rst deployed

the BRAVE program in a section of west Jackson from West Capi-tol Street to Interstate 20. Jackson’s approach to BRAVE is different than how it was conceived. Both are long-term strategies, but Baton Rouge’s program calls for more community-based policing, based on the Ceasefi re model used in some 50 cities around the country of building relationships with residents and, sometimes, gang leaders. What Jackson is doing is more shock-and-awe. “It gives people a choice — straighten out, or we well incarcerate you,” Vance told the Jackson

Free Press. Jackson’s BRAVE program, which JPD calls a long-term commitment, includes “quality of life” issues that residents often complain about, including dilapidated and abandoned homes, Vance said. The Yarber administration recently reorganized some city departments and moved building code enforcement to the police department to give the city more power to punish homeowners who do not maintain their properties. As of press time, the police-chief job posting was no longer on the city’s website. Shelia Byrd, city hall communications direc-tor, said Mayor Yarber was in the process of reviewing several applications the city has received.

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

Whitwell’s Exit Continues Leader Shakeupby R.L. Nave

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Ward 1 Councilman Quentin Whitwell shocked the Jackson political world by announcing his resignation last week.

call the police or alert the property manager, Theo Davis. Months later,

Vance testifi ed, Davis Vance that her life was in danger as a result of the altercation with Figures. Figures believes Davis is using the incident as a pretense for retaliation. Fig-ures recently furnished photos of what she says is mold growing on walls and HVAC vents that have gone unaddressed. In the back of the building, sewage appears to be backing up and fl ooding. Residents are also frustrated because JHA managers keep residents in the dark about the progress of repairs and other is-sues. Conversations with several residents indicate that although they realize the apartment has rules, managers keep infor-mation close to the vest. Annie Figures said her constant questioning of management is what has made her a persona non grata. “They treat us like little kids,” said Pru-id Dickson, Figures’ friend, who also lives in the apartments and has also complained about the conditions in the building. Lucas Williams echoes those senti-ments. Williams, a disabled veteran, was told that he violated the lease by having a friend, who also helps take care of him, stay over a few nights a week. After man-agement let themselves into his apartment, which the lease permits, Williams said he left the complex due to “harassment,” but continues paying rent there each month. “They should have come to talk to me like a human being,” Williams told the Jackson Free Press. Figures has again appealed her evic-tion, but said no hearing has been sched-uled. In recent weeks, she has also appeared on two local radio stations to discuss her case. Figures does not want to leave the Golden Key because she believes the ten-ants deserve a watchdog. Besides, she said: “I don’t have mon-ey to just up and move because they said move. I’m not moving based on what I’ve been accused of.”

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

CUPSESPRESSOCAFE.COM

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TALK | education

W hen most Hinds County School District employees stopped working for the day, DeSean Dyson was

only halfway done with his. Appointed the Head of School at The Redeemer’s School in January, Dyson was planning the open-ing and creation for The Redeemer’s School, which will welcome its first class of children Aug. 18. Dyson, 30, became involved in the creation of the school before accept-ing the position. He was one of 10 on the search committee with other educators and Redeemer Church, PCA members. “We needed to find the right person,” he said. But he really hoped he was the right person. Dyson, who has also taught at Clinton High School, said an urban, Christian school was Re-deemer Church’s goal for its ministry at its concep-tion, but they thought the process was going to be further down the road until a benefactor who was looking for places to invest in came along. Steve Lanier, Redeemer Church’s as-sistant to the pastor, said the benefactor wanted to invest in education in Mis-sissippi but did not know anyone in the state. He was then connected with Lani-er’s wife, Sherry, who is the facilitator for disaster response in the PCA Presbyterian denomination. After visiting Jackson and talking with the Laniers and Rev. Mike Camp-bell, he decided to invest in the school two years ago. “They put us in the position to say, ‘Let’s start this school now,’” Dyson said. Now, The Redeemer’s School is about to open with 38 spots out of 45 filled. “I’ve looked at different schools and different models that do this. On average for schools that start like this, they open the doors with 17 kids,” he said. ‘School’s Expensive’ Dyson graduated with a master’s in educational leadership from Mississippi College in 2011. The governing body consists of seven school board members. Three full-time teachers and three teacher assistants, all college graduates, will teach

the children the school’s curriculum in-cluding a regularly scheduled enrichment program including music, art, dance and drama. “I wanted to distinguish ourselves early on that we’re the real deal,” he said. Located at 640 East Northside Drive,

Dyson said the school’s tuition-scale scholarship system based on household income, which is part of being an urban, Christian school. “One of the things that we want to be really intentional about is providing an opportunity for students and families that if they have access to this quality of education, they will get it,” Dyson said. “School’s expensive when you find folks who do a great job and do it well. A lot of the private and independent schools are really expensive.” He said the vast majority of the stu-dents are on the lower end of the tuition bracket, and most are paying $25 a month for tuition. The school will be strongly donation driven. “We’ll have students who come from households and backgrounds that may be different, but when it comes to education, I believe that students will thrive. Every student is different, so you have to teach them differently individu-ally,” Dyson said. “We’re having to be re-ally creative, and we’re having to think of ways to be able to give them the private school experience without the cost that is such a barrier.”

Lanier said most students are from the Broadmoor area around the church, but some are coming from different areas of Jackson. “It gives parents a choice for the kind of school they want their children to go to. It provides the opportunity for excel-

lent academic education and also within the context of the Christian environ-ment,” Lanier said. The Mississippi Association of Inde-pendent Schools would accredit The Re-deemer’s School including its curriculum and facilities, including appropriate sink and desk heights. Shane Blanton, Mississippi Asso-ciation of Independent Schools executive director, said he thinks The Redeemer’s School is very close to that process and will be accredited this school year. “I know they’re working hard to get there, so I see no reason why they won’t be accredited in the near future,” Blan-ton said. God’s Eternal Kingdom Housed in the former Trinity Presby-terian Church building, in the Redeemer building complex, The Redeemer’s School will be intentional when it comes to spiri-tual and biblical instruction. Dyson said this instruction will be throughout the day and a designated class time. The school will expose children to various viewpoints and perspectives, in-cluding evolution, which they’ll need to

understand in later grades when they at-tend other schools. “When I went to find math and sci-ence curriculum, I went and found math and science curriculum. Now, if we see that’s rapid with inconsistencies, that’s something we deal with in a process,” he

said. “When our students go to any school in the world, they’re going to be prepared to engage that content.” Dyson said the calendar and school day is designed to accommodate parents who have younger children at the Redeemer’s School and older children who attend public schools. There will also be af-ter-school care one day a week, which is planned to grow to everyday over the years. “We’re constantly try-ing to figure out how we can be effective and efficient in spreading and living the gos-pel. Schools are a very natural context,” Dyson said. The master plan for The Redeemer’s School includes a growing facility and student body until the school contains K-8 by adding a grade every school year. “What I believe we’re going to do here will impact

students individually, and I even believe generationally,” Dyson said. “We have opportunity and blessing to raise a generation of students who are instructed on how to be successful and positive and engaging in not only this community and context but also that eternal sense that, to me, is so much more powerful.” Comment www.jfp.ms.

Building a School From the Ground Upby Mary Kate McGowan

DeSean Dyson, head of the Redeemer’s School, which opens its doors next week, describes building the institution as a community effort.

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Head of School: DeSean DysonStart date: Aug. 18, 2014Enrollment: 45 studentsTuition: $25 per child

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By Damian Wexler,Freelance Health Reporter

Recently, alternative medicine expert Bryce Wylde, a frequent guest on the

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Powerful Like Dynamite

M r. Teacher: “Ms. Superintendent asked me to close this year’s Cootie Creek County Schools Pre-Back to School Teacher Retreat with a brief moti-vational address. So, I want to share with my fellow teachers a

poem I wrote a while back titled ‘Tale of Two Teachers’:Once upon a time around 1968,A drum major for justice was assassinated.Angry and disillusioned peopleIn urban cities began to riotAfter that night of looting and destruction,Things got quiet.Then, the winds of changeSwirled like a tornado of transitionAnd prompted federal and state governmentTo re-think their positionAbout black and white peopleDivided into two nations.

The morning after the uprising,Army soldiers escorted children to their schools.As a little child, I noticed how the winds of change affected the wayTeachers taught urban students, too. I witnessed a teacher—who called poor kids dummies—fade away,To be replaced by another teacher—who said we powerful like dynamite—show us the way. And were it not for the uprisings and those people who fought for what is right,Mr. Teacher wouldn’t be here sharing his story tonight. This upcoming school year, Ms. Superintendent advises all Cootie Creek County School teachers to prepare for the potential new wave of students coming from south of the US border. Also, be forewarned that in today’s divided nation, the wind of change may come in the form of politi-cians, wealthy folk and frustrated poor people.”

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City’s Media Relations Must Be About Policy

I n a recent interview with The Clarion-Ledger, Mayor Tony Yarber said:“Honestly, I’ve only received media criticism from

one outlet,” he said without specifying which one. “I guess my response is the same response I give to people who simply want access to my life. And that is: ‘Show me that I can trust you with this information, and then it positions you to have access.’” A call to Mayor Yarber this week confi rmed he was talking about the Jackson Free Press. City spokeswoman Shelia Byrd has told us that the administration’s policy is not to allow inter-views with public offi cials, including Mayor Yarber, but to receive questions via email and answer them the same way. She indicated it was a policy being applied evenly to all media, although, based on Yarber’s C-L interview, that does not seem true. Sending all questions about city government through a PR-processing machine isn’t considered ethical in our business, nor is it a journalistic prac-tice that serves the interest of citizens. The results are pat, whitewashed answers that frequently say very little, with no follow-up questions allowed. The public deserves to hear directly from of-fi cials, and the media have an obligation to go be-yond “access journalism” to report facts of a story. Likewise, it’s unethical for the JFP to agree not to be critical in order to gain access to public offi cials. In a conversation with JFP Editor Donna Ladd this week, Yarber made it clear that he is upset with the JFP for reporting his (videotaped) statement during the campaign that he took “holy-ghost handshakes” as a personal income source. We

criticized then the use of the phrase because of the clearly unintended impression it gives off from a mayoral candidate. He also said we accused him of taking bribes, which we did not. “Sometimes I may be too transparent; I said that people may give me a holy-ghost handshake; that turned into me taking bribes,” he said this week. He said he must be able to “control my mes-sage” when he talks to media, and “not allow it to be mired by the words I use being used against me.” This is not a deal that a responsible media outlet can make. The role of any newspaper must transcend stenography. Scrutiny of government is the primary role of the media, and government has a responsibility to be straightforward, fair, and forthcoming with news outlets and citizens, even if we don’t always agree with what they say. We welcome comment and critique from Mayor Yarber and other city offi cials on anything we publish, including their own words. If we mis-report a fact, then the City is free to request a cor-rection; we run corrections, clarifi cations whenever necessary, and guest perspectives every week. And if a public servant is quoted using words that can be misinterpreted, the best answer is more follow-up to improve communications and explain those words. The answer is not freezing out the out-let that reported those on-the-record statements. To his credit, Mayor Yarber asked to sit down with the JFP to discuss this further later this week. We hope that meeting leads to a policy—fair, open, reasonable, factual—that will help us all see this city move forward.

Email letters and opinion to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019 or mail to 125 South Congress St., Suite 1324, Jackson, Mississippi 39201. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, as well as factchecked.

Why it Stinks: This is just plain mean. Johnson, who calls himself a journalist, shouldn’t want to open up this can of worms—because while journalism can certainly have great impact, it’s dangerous to link one’s journalist’s action or inac-tion to every event, and it’s just idiotic to make that link in a situation as complex as this. By his logic, wouldn’t he, too, have had a hand?

‘failure’the same way. She indicated it was a policy being applied evenly to all media, although, based on Yarber’s C-L interview, that does not seem true. Sending all questions about city government

OXFORD—I dragged my two young children to Memphis that night back in March 1997 with a promise: “Someday you’ll

thank me.” We went to see one of jazz’s great bass-ists, Charlie Haden, and his Quartet West. Rachel and Michael had never heard of him and had no interest in jazz, but they were go-ing. Daddy insisted. French berets, dark glasses, goatees and black outfits were everywhere among the crowd at the University of Memphis con-cert hall. After high school and university jazz bands warmed things up, Haden and his group—tenor sax man Ernie Watts, pia-nist Alan Broadbent, and drummer Larance Marable—walked onto the stage. “Dad, he’s so nor-mal looking,” 14-year-old Rachel said. That’s my gal. With just a few words, she went straight to the heart of the matter with Charlie Haden. With his short-cropped hair, thick glass-es, clean-shaven, cornfed, Iowa-and-Missouri-bred looks, Haden hardly seemed the revolutionary who helped change jazz forever or the political radical whose “Song for Ché” honoring Ché Guevara and liberation movements in Angola and Mozambique got him tossed in a Portuguese jail. Haden, who died at 76 in July from post-polio syndrome, was what writer David A. Graham described as “the least likely rev-olutionary” in sax great Ornette Coleman’s quartet, when they threw a bomb into the bebop establishment with their album “The Shape of Jazz to Come” in 1959. After all, Haden had started out as little “Cowboy Charlie” with the country music-crooning Haden Family on radio back in the 1940s. Yet it was Haden’s bass lines that held Coleman’s wild and soaring “free jazz” to-gether and then guided it into the strato-sphere. “His firm grounding in the roots seems to have been what enabled him to be such an effective radical,” Graham wrote in his tribute in The Atlantic. It’s the bass that provides the bottom, the foundation, on which jazz and other roots music stand. A long tradition of great bassists have made jazz what it is. It includes Charles Mingus, who bridged the worlds of big band and bebop, and Vicksburg native Milt Hinton, often called the “dean of jazz bass players.” With what record producer Jean-Philippe Allard has called his “huge, deep, dark tone, his perfect intonation and his melodic invention,” Haden is another gi-ant in that tradition.

Haden’s devotion to roots is evident in one of his most evocative albums, “Steal Away,” with another Vicksburg native, jazz pianist Hank Jones. The duet offers a collec-tion of ageless gospel and spiritual tunes that date back to pre-Civil War times and come out of African American as well as both white and black Protestant traditions. Leg-end has it that the title tune was written by Nat Turner, best known for leading a bloody rebellion against slavery in Virginia. Haden also contributed his own “Spiritual,” a trib-ute to Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers and fellow martyrs Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Haden teamed up with another Missis-sippian, Jackson native jazz and blues singer Cassandra Wilson, later in his career on “So-

phisticated Ladies,” a collec-tion of torch songs from the 1940s and 1950s. Haden so badly wanted Wilson to do Johnny Mercer’s “My Love and I” for the album that he sang the tune to her on the phone to convince her. Haden felt a life-long connection to the poor, the marginalized and their struggles. Polio nearly cost him his voice as a teenager and precipitated his switch from vocals to bass. He saw jazz, like country, as the

music of poor people fighting to make their way. His leftist politics were like his music, bold, revolutionary even, but always with an eye on roots, the basics. The rich body of work he left behind ranged from his renditions of Spanish Civil War songs in his “Liberation Music Or-chestra” album in 1970 to the ultimate film noir soundtrack that is his classic “Haunted Heart” in 1992. The latter was part of a tril-ogy devoted to Haden’s longtime home city, Los Angeles, and the noir world there that writer Raymond Chandler captured so well in his novels. On that night in 1997, Haden’s quar-tet played at least four tunes from “Haunted Heart,” my favorite of all his records. I re-member he would let out a “Whoop!” after a good solo by a fellow musician. It was the same whoop you hear on “Lonely Woman” back in 1959 with Ornette Coleman. On the day after I heard the news of his death, my wife, Suzanne, and I flew to Los Ange-les to visit Rachel, a social worker there. She took us to Vibrato, one of the city’s best jazz clubs, a perfect place to drink a silent toast to one cool cat whose cornfed looks belied the revolutionary fire that was behind them. Joe Atkins is a veteran journalist, col-umnist and professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi. He can be reached at jbatkins@olemiss.edu.

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Editor-in-Chief Donna LaddPublisher Todd Stauffer

EDITORIALNews Editor R.L. Nave

Assistant Editor Amber HelselInvestigative Reporter Anna WolfeFeatures Writer Carmen CristoJFP Daily Editor Dustin Cardon

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Song for Charlie

JOE ATKINS

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Evan Alvarez may be young, but he already fits the bill of a southern politico. On a recent visit to the Jackson Free Press of-fices, Alvarez, 21, wore a tweed blazer, polished loaf-

ers, gentlemanly round glasses, his hair swooping to the side. Alvarez’s fastidiousness drew several compliments, but it was his resignation from his position as chairman of the Mis-sissippi Federation of College Republicans and switch to the Democratic Party that has Mississippi and the nation buzzing. A 21-year-old senior studying politi-cal science at Mississippi State University, Alvarez is a graduate of Ridgeland High School who early on decided to dedicate his life to helping spread the Republican message. After some time at Delta State Uni-versity, he decided to transfer to MSU. Eventually, he began his campaign for the chairman of MFCR and won. The deeper Alvarez got into the Re-publican Party, the more he began notic-ing that it was a different world—espe-cially when a fellow party member threw out racial slurs about him and his Cuban father. He had enough. After he resigned and changed his political affiliation, a media frenzy en-sued. The Democrats welcomed him; the Tea Party criticized him. He sat down with us to talk about his life post-resigna-tion, his new career goals, having cancer at a young age and how a second-grade play changed his life.

How does it feel to be a Democrat? Do you feel any different? Oh yeah, I feel different. I feel re-laxed. I feel like I can be myself. When I was a Republican—especially when I was the chairman of College Republicans—I

had to be always on top: What’s my pub-lic image? I have to tweet this out, I have to do this. And now, I can just be myself. I had been a Republican my whole life. My family is Republican but not the idi-otic tea-party crazies. I always thought the Republicans were good, you know, they stand for morals. But then, I got into the position of leadership in the Republican Party, and I saw everything that happened behind the curtains. They say they are for all these morals, but yet, they’ll stab you in the back the first second they can. I haven’t said this too much, yet. One of the main reasons that pushed me to the brink of changing parties—besides the tea party, besides the immigration aspect—was never in my life, 21 (years), had I had a racial slur uttered to me until I was in a leadership position in the GOP. My father was from Cuba, and he came over in 1959 to get out of the Commu-nist regime that was going on. He was professional, went through college, got a bachelor’s (degree) and master’s at (Loui-siana State University). But I was called an un-American spic. I was told if my fa-ther would have never gotten in the boat from Cuba, we would have never have to deal with you. These were people that I was saying, “OK, they may be a little cra-zy, but those are my allies.” When I went home, I was like, “I’ve had enough—of all this. I did nothing to those people.” They don’t know my father, first of all. Second of all, my father passed away when I was 3 years old. I had never been adamant against racism, and I would say, “That’s how people are,” but when it happened to me, it got me to look and see that this is an issue. I told people at the GOP and they said, “Oh, you should just get over it.” I was like, no. It had been a long time coming since

Evan Alvarez:

Rocking the Boatby Zack Orsborn

Evan Alvarez made a media splash when he ditched his post as president of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans to join his former nemesis, the Democratic Party.

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more ALVAREZ, see page 19

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I wanted to make the change because classes at MSU with Whit Waide got me to open my damn mind, as he would say. I had begun to examine a lot of stuff. The platform of the GOP was not the way I thought stuff should be. Not saying I be-lieve everything on the Democratic plat-form: I believe more on the Democratic platform than the GOP by a long shot. The racial slurs were the final straw. They despise progress in anyway. If you aren’t like them, if you don’t dress like them, if you don’t come from a certain family or certain prestige, they don’t want to have anything to do with you. I used to say the Democrats were bad people, but they are the nicest people in the last month I have ever dealt with. Not in just Mississippi, but around the coun-try. I’m a Democrat, and it feels good. I’m more open to the issues, and I’m not so uptight. I went to a Mississippi Demo-cratic party at Hal & Mal’s last week, and everybody is just so relaxed. I can be a 21-year-old college student.

What got you interested in politics? When I moved here in ’99—moved from Baton Rouge to Jackson—I was in second grade at Ann Smith Elementary in Ridgeland. The second grade does a “God Bless America,” or some American pro-gram, and I was chosen to act as U.S. Sen. Trent Lott at the time. I didn’t want to do it, but my mom said it would be a great opportunity. Now, she regrets me getting into it. But I said, “OK, I got to play this act.” So, I did that, and about a month before, I wrote the senator as a second grader probably writing in Crayon and not spelling right, asking him to come. My mom was like, “He’s busy,” but sure enough, the day of the performance, I was in my classroom 30 minutes before we had to go, and I got paged over the intercom, and it said, “There’s a special guest here to see Evan.” Trent Lott, his chief of staff, his whole crew came. He stayed and gave my mom his business card. Ever since then, I had been all in with politics. My mom al-ways thought something was wrong with me when I was 10 years old and wanted to come home and watch C-SPAN.

What spurred your interest to be a part of the Republican Party? I looked around, and everyone was a Republican. I looked at family, and every-body was a Republican. Living in Missis-sippi, even at that young age, I could see that Democrats were not the cool thing to do. At a young age, I had always called myself a Republican more or less because my mom was, my dad was, everybody around me was, so I think it was more of less me saying: “I better do this. I better have these beliefs because the social norm around here.”

Whenever you resigned and switched over, you said that most of your family was Republican—how did they react? Some of them were like, “Oh no, what happened?” I had to explain to them

the whole situation. My family deserves to know everything. Once I told them every-thing that happened and what I was learn-ing in college, they said, “We respect your decision, and we will always have your back.” My mom admits that the Repub-licans have gone too far to the right; they weren’t standoffish. My mom still hits a few jokes every now and then. I didn’t get shunned from the family.

What was your role as the chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans?

I was kind of the face of the organiza-tion. There were a lot of people under me, and I kind of told them what I would like to happen and what needed to happen. I wasn’t in it for a long time, but most of the time, one person would panel the

stuff, and I would just approve it. My role was pretty much—because of the Senate election—dealing with tea party versus establishment drama. I was an adamant (Thad) Cochran supporter. I saw him as someone who truly cared about Mississip-

pi and served his constituents no matter what race or party ... I did not like Mc-Daniel. His views were way too far to the right. I kind of used my position to influ-ence what people thought who we were supporting. It was a much bigger role and much more serious role than I thought I was getting into at first. I don’t know if that was because of the election or not, but I thought it was going to be quarterly meet-ings, and I would come in and gavel, bang, this is what we are talking about. But it was very stressful because of the election, and I got a lot of experience. I found out that being in the political spotlight is not what I wanted.

How does that differ from what you do now?

I’m not told what to do by somebody in D.C. The College Republican National Committee really gave me a hard time. They were adamantly behind Chris Mc-Daniel because he was young and yadda yadda yadda. What I do now is I don’t have to be afraid of who is looking behind my back. I can say my opinions and voice them freely. That’s the best thing about the change: I am not controlled by any-body else but myself. I take my mom’s and friends’ opinions into account, but at the end of the day, I don’t have to make a decision just because somebody else had authority over told me to. As of right now, I’m a college student at MSU in political science and just a politico.

When you resigned, how did the media treat you? Democratic media are very nice—and some overly nice. MSNBC had me on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” The Daily Caller basically took why I left and made it look like junk and put the (College National Republican Committee) president’s opinion above mine. That wasn’t cool, but I developed a thick skin because of the job. The tea party, they’re going to rip me to shreds everyday, but I don’t give a sh*t about that. When I get ripped up by the tea party, I know I’m doing some-thing to destroy them. The tea party and the CRNC (College Republican National Committee) said, “Oh, this kid is nothing to worry about, don’t waste your time.” If I’m nothing to worry about, leave me the hell alone. That was the big thing, it kind of rocked their boat a little. I inspired a few others to do it.

Do you think you are something to worry about from a Republican’s perspective?

Yeah, I have some ill feelings, but I’m not going to go and attack them. Life is too short to focus on that. As of right now, I’m a senior in college, and I want to enjoy my senior year. My star career has changed from be-ing a politician. Now, I want to take the time, and instead of using my political experience, my policy and research expe-rience for politics, I want to be a lobbyist for either the American Cancer Society or St. Jude in Memphis because I did have cancer when I was 15 months old, and I was treated at St. Jude. I feel like I can could go and do some politics, do some public policy stuff and leave one of those organizations knowing that I did some-thing to help somebody versus to screw somebody like most of the professional D.C. politicians do. I’d love to be CEO of St. Jude someday. That’s my dream job.

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Evan Alvarez left the Republican Party because it panders too much to the far right—and because some fellow Republicans disparaged him because his father is of Cuban descent.

ALVAREZ, from page 17

more ALVAREZ, see page 20

Most people assume a correlation between age and political affi liation. “If you’re not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no brain,” the old saying goes. Socially liberal and fi s-

cally conservative is what you hear of the millennial generation now. What many people don’t take into account is the growing number of independents among younger generations—who reject both major parties. In 2014, over half of mil-lennials identifi ed as independents, showing the trend of a generation distancing itself from partisanship. As expected, more of the other 50 percent are Democrats, with the lowest percentage of Republicans in the millennial generation.

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On Twitter, you said some things about the Obama administration. It kind of seemed like you weren’t the biggest fan. Have your views changed since switching over to the Democratic Party?

I told somebody, maybe The Huff-ington Post, that my views started to change (in) mid-to-late January. Because of the position I was in and because I was running for that position—and then I won—I could tweet what I wanted to tweet. They were saying, “You need to hound Obama on Twitter.” I was doing it as a part of my job. Did I agree with it? No. The past couple of days have re-ally shown that the president is out for the better interest of America. You have the House of Republicans suing him for using too much executive

power, and then yesterday, asked him to use his executive power to do something about immigration. It doesn’t add up. You could tell that he’s trying to do something good while they are just trying to stomp their feet and cross their arms. My personal opinions, Evan Alvarez’s opinions, have been more so moderate Democrat to left Democrat since prob-ably March. Chairman Alvarez’s opin-ions were to hound Obama and hound every Democrat. If they have a D by their name, get out.

If you were to run for president, what kind of platforms would you run on?

First and foremost, I would run on ac-

ALVAREZ, from page 19

more ALVAREZ, see page 22

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There are 44 million eligible young voters in the United States, making up one-fifth of the voting-eligible population. Here are the demographics for young people aged 18-29.

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ceptance of immigrants. It seems like our country has a problem with that right now. I was watching MSNBC last night, and a commercial that Al Sharpton did that said something like, “At one point, the Irish weren’t welcome. At one point, the Chinese weren’t welcome. Civil Rights with African Americans in the ‘60s.” Every race has been told that they aren’t welcome, but we have seen our coun-try move past that point. If somebody wants to come into America and contribute to our country, if they want to take advantage of the freedoms we offer, let them do it. But we cannot have this idiotic racism and close-minded to other groups of people because they don’t look like us or speak the same language as us. I wouldn’t be here if my father didn’t come from Cuba. Something else would be health care. Obama has done a pretty decent job with the health-care system. There are some flaws, but they are working to fix them. Health care is a big thing especially with preexisting coverage conditions. Having a cancer when I was so young—even though my cancer was not going to come back, it was gone, bye, all I have is a scar to prove that I had it—my mom went to apply for regular insurance,

and nobody would give me insurance. Cancer, red flag. The CEO wrote a letter: “This kid is cancer free.” They said they didn’t want it. My mom had to work as an assistant teacher at Madison Avenue just for insurance through the state employee’s insurance. So, I would definitely do something to get health care for cancer patients and people with preexisting coverage. Definitely equal pay for everybody. You’re not going to make it on $7.25. My mom, like I said, worked as an assistant school teacher while she worked primarily for the insurance, she got paid a salary, but when did the math, she was getting paid $5 an hour. That’s unacceptable. People say, “$7.25 is perfect.” When you do the math, it’s not. Whit Waide (MSU instructor) was telling me about that. Pay people what they are worth. Nobody is better or less than somebody else. Encourage growth in the economy. If you raise the minimum wage three bucks, you’re going to have more people come out and apply for the job. The more people that are working could get off government assistance. I want to make life easier for people. Comment www.jfp.ms.

ALVAREZ, from page 20

SOURCE: COLLEGESTATS.ORG

The Institute of Politics at Harvard University studied the political attitudes of approximately 2,100 people ages 18 to 29. Their results, released in Dec. 2013, contained some surprising results. Among them:

—President Barack Obama’s job approval is at an all-time low and mirrors Obama’s national disapproval rate. Among millennials, Obama enjoyed an ap-proval ratings of 37 to 40 percent.

—Fewer than 25 percent believed our nation was headed in the right direction.

—Fourteen percent of young Americans in the IOP poll believed the country is headed in the right direction. Another 49 percent believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and 34 percent are unsure.

—Of the young people who voted for Obama in 2012, 17 percent said at the time they were polled that they would not support him if they could recast their vote. However, only 4 percent of disillusioned Obama supporters said they would vote for Republican Mitt Romney if they could revote.

—Millennials do not care for the Affordable Care Act. Fifty-six percent of young voters surveyed disapprove of the 2010 federal law, while only 39 percent ap-prove. Those are in line with other national surveys of older voters.

—Around 50 percent believe that the ACA will drive up the cost of health care; only 10 percent believe medical costs will go down as a result of the law.

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by Carmen Cristophotos by Trip Burns

1 First, he places a large aluminum bowl onto a scale. He pours in 1,000 grams (about 35 ounces) of flour, checking the screen on the

scale until the number is correct.

2 Ramsey uses his hands to hollow out the middle of the mound of flour, creating a volcano shape. 3

He then pours 460 grams (about 16 ounces) of egg yolks into the center, followed by 80 grams (about 3 ounces) of

milk, 35 grams of olive oil and half a tablespoon of salt.

4 Ramsey cracks two eggs into the batter. He explains that it is important to add the salt be-fore the eggs, so that his hands

aren’t sticky.

WELLNESS p 26

W hit Ramsey, the mad scientist behind La Finestra’s made-from-scratch pasta, likes being behind the scenes. He combines all the ingredients together artfully, like piecing together a puzzle. Ramsey, the son of La Finestra owner Tom Ramsey, is so familiar with the process that he doesn’t even have to measure the egg yolks or

milk, but he broke the process down into simple steps to teach us how he does it.

5 Using his hands, he breaks the yolks and stirs the ingredients to-gether, throwing the flour from the sides into the middle until the

dough forms a large lump.

6 He dumps it out on the table and pours the remaining flour on top and begins kneading, pressing the heel of his hand into the mound

and repeatedly folding it onto itself. “You knead it until the flour that’s stuck to your hands comes off,” he says.

7 When the flour is evenly incorporated in the ball of dough, Ramsey places it into a clear bag and puts it into the

vacuum sealer.

8 He leaves it in the machine for 45 seconds. “Pulling the air out makes the dough expand and then shrink back down,”

Ramsey says. For anyone who wants to make fresh pasta at home, he recommends wrapping the dough in plastic wrap, and storing it until it’s ready for use but will not keep. It is not a long-term storage solution. The dough sets in the refrigerator for three to four hours. When it’s removed, Ramsey cuts it into the appropriate shape, and then he cooks it.

Pasta Time

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If you’re out partying and on the road, remember that city, county 

and highway law enforcement are out, too. If you’re stopped, 

you’d better be sober, or have a designated driver who is.

Drive Sober, and you won’t have to worry if you Get Pulled Over.

The quickest wayto a jail cell

www.dps.state.ms.usVisit us on facebook

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Smoking. It’s one of those hidden costs that businesses might forget to factor into their yearly bud-get. Research shows that smokers

duck out of the office for a break for at least 45 additional minutes a day on aver-age, meaning that they work at least a week less a year than non-smoking co-workers. If your business has five smokers, that means five weeks of unscheduled absence a year, and so on. The Centers for Disease Control reports that the health-care costs and the lost productivity costs businesses $193 billion a year. Employees taking multiple smoking breaks a day often create tension with non-smokers who are left behind, and getting behind, due to the time smokers spend away from their desks. But, worse for busi-nesses, if left unchecked by clear company policy, that time adds up. In fact, the first comprehensive study

of the costs of workplace smoking, con-ducted by Ohio State University in 2013, found that the average employees’ smok-ing breaks cost employers $3,077 a year per smoker. That is a conservative estimate

based on a smoker who takes two 15-min-ute smoking breaks a day: Many will take

much more than that if employers don’t pay attention; some studies show that the average employee takes 18 days a year in smoke breaks. Other studies find that smoking em-

ployees, if left unchecked, will average six smoking breaks a day, which would increase the costs of lost work time dramatically—a smoker who is taking six 15-minute smok-ing breaks a day is getting an additional two weeks’ paid time off a year.

Nicotine Saps Productivity Those aren’t the only costs, though. The researchers also found that the in-creased number of days that smokers usually miss for health reasons cost $517 annually per smoker, and “presenteeism” (lower work productivity due to smok-ing-related health issues) costs the busi-ness an average of $462 per worker who smokes. The American Cancer Society re-ports that smokers, on average, must see a health-care provider six times more often than non-smokers.

“This is because nicotine is a power-fully addictive drug. Although cigarettes satisfy a smoker’s need for nicotine, the effect wears off quickly,” researcher Micah Berman wrote in the Ohio State study. “Within 30 minutes after finishing the last inhalation, the smoker may already be be-ginning to feel symptoms of both physical and psychological withdrawal. (Much of what smokers perceive as the relaxing and clarifying effect of nicotine is actually relief

from their acute withdrawal symptoms.)” Of course, excess health-care expenses, including higher premiums, cost $2,056 for every worker who smokes. This brings the average cost of each smoker to $5,816 a year, according to Ohio State’s conservative estimates—a huge amount for a small business. “Em-ployees who smoke impose significant ex-cess costs on private employers,” Berman told WebMD. The solution, he said, is for employers to think carefully about their smoking-re-lated policies. For instance, employees do not have the right to breaks specifically for smoking, so labor experts advise creating a formal break policy that treats everyone, smoker or non-smoker, exactly the same—say, a 10-minute break mid-morning and another mid-afternoon, in addition

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For businesses, smokers cost more than you think.

What Employers Can Do The American Cancer Society (cancer.org) offers many ways an employer can help employees stop smoking, while creating smoke-free work environments. The tips include:• Focus on smoking, not the smoker.• Ensure that restrictions and enforcement are equitable across job

categories.• Offer smoking-cessation resources to all employees and their

families before and after the policy change.• Do not differentiate between smoking breaks and other kinds of

breaks. All employees must follow the same break policy.• Provide continuous smoking-cessation educational opportuni-

ties and resources to support employees in their attempts to quit smoking and to prevent relapse.

• Explain that employees do not have a right to smoke; they choose to. Policies are to help both the health and productivity of work-ers, as well as to control the high cost of smoking.

• Provide the American Cancer Society toll-free number (1-800-ACS-2345) for information on telephone counseling services and local resources.

Why to Quit Smoking

• Earn more money (see page 27).• Live longer.• Within 24 hours of not smoking, your

chance of a heart attack decreases.• Within a year, chance of a heart attack

is cut in half.• Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue

and shortness of breath decrease in one to nine months.

• In 15 years, the risk of coronary heart disease is the same as that of a non-smoker.

How to Become a Smoke-Free Office Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi rewards companies that establish smoke-free workplaces, meaning you allow no tobacco use on your property by employees, customers, visitors or vendors. It can lower insurance premiums and provide 90 days of smoking cessation therapy for smokers, telephone counseling and office visits with a “be smoke-free” Network Provider. And it’s free. Call BCBS’s Healthier Mississippi Team at 601-664-4775 for more information. For additional help quitting or developing smoke-free workplaces and helping em-ployees quit, contact:American Cancer Society, 1-800-ACS-2345, cancer.orgAmerican Lung Association, 1-800-LUNG-USA, lung.orgCDC Office on Smoking and Health, 1-800-CDC-INFO, www.cdc.gov/tobacco/Mississippi Tobacco Quitline 1-800-QUIT-NOW Visit www.businesscaseroi.org/roi to calculate ROI of smoking-cessation programs.

The High Costs of Smoking at Workby Donna Ladd

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Beware the Smokers Wage Gap

Not only do smokers cost companies more, but research shows that they cost themselves. They get paid, on average, about 80 percent of what non-smok-ers earn—even if they’re just weekend social smokers. But once they kick

the habit, they can earn more than non-smokers. How does this make sense? Economists Julie Hotchkiss and Melinda Pitts of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta studied the smokers wage gap to figure out why smoking seems to hurt earnings potential. They attribute about 60 percent of the earnings gap to demographics—specifically the fact that non-smokers tend to be more educated than smokers. The researchers do not believe the gap is merely because employers reward them less because they smoke; they believe it’s deeper than that.

“We suggest that it is something about the persistent smoker’s lack of self-control and the in-ability to quit,” Stafford told NBC News. That is, they say that at least 24 percent of the wage differential is about “differences in characteristics between smokers and nonsmok-ers.” That is, the same characteristics that lead smokers to start in the first place can make it more difficult to excel and earn on the job. The fact that even weekend social smokers suffer the same wage gap supports that view, they say, adding that people who smoke on the job still earn 2 percent less than weekend smokers. “This suggests that smoking during work hours, which exposes the smoker’s behavior to the scrutiny of the employer, does make a differ-ence,” the paper said. The good news is that smokers who decide to quit and follow through are developing and

displaying discipline and willpower that can impress employers and bring them more money the researchers found. “That discipline is useful in the workplace as far as focus on projects and tasks, expectations of similar discipline from subordinates, or simply the discipline for good attendance,” George Boué, an expert with the Society for Human Resource Management, told NBC News about the study. The takeaway for smokers is to find the discipline to quit in order to become a higher earner. For business owners it is that employers can, and should, help smok-ing employees, by providing information about the wide negatives about smok-ing and finding ways to help them quit. Should they decide to, the employer can provide access to smoking-cessation programs and, perhaps, actual incentives for quitting. That’s a win-win for everyone.

to lunch. As a result, smokers may complain that they’re being picked

on, but in fact, the opposite is true; this brings their absenteeism in line with that of non-smokers.

Ban or Help Smokers? Other employers, CNBC reported, refuse to hire smokers at all because the costs are too high; Alaska Airlines, for instance, decided to ban workers who smoke. But instead of banning smokers altogether, many public-health advocates encourage businesses to help smokers quit and limit the time allowed for smoking. “We believe that employers should consider more constructive approaches than punishing smokers. In hiring deci-sions, they should focus on whether can-didates meet the job requirements; then

they should provide genuine support to employees who wish to quit smoking,” wrote Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health who is now at the University of Pennsylvania, in the New England Jour-nal of Medicine. Smoking education—about the health, the business and the wage costs—is important for both business owners and employees. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 19 percent of Americans smoke, and that 443,000 die prematurely every year due to smok-ing-related health issues. In fact, the Ohio State study in-cluded one “positive” effect of smoking: Pension costs were $296 less on average for each smoker—because they’re likely to die younger.

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MAKE YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!SHARE YOUR IDEAS AND INPUT!

I f you can’t tell from her raw, powerful voice, blues-soul singer Janiva Magness doesn’t take much stock in limitations. Throughout her long and illustrious career, Magness has put

herself through the proverbial wringer to improve her performance and songwriting. With her new album “Original,” however, she just couldn’t see that working out with a label. During the 2013 Blues Music Awards, Mag-ness, 57, received five nominations, winning both Best Contemporary Blues Female Artist and Best Song for the track “I Won’t Cry,” which she co-wrote with producer and longtime friend Dave Darling. That wasn’t the first time she’d noticed a reaction to her original music, though. “People seemed to really connect with those original songs, like ‘I Won’t Cry,’” Magness says. As she began to focus her attention on songwriting, she made the decision to cut ties with her record label Alligator Records. She signed with the label in 2008 and released her seventh record, “What Love Will Do,” that year, followed by 2010’s “The Devil Is an Angel Too” and 2012’s “Stronger for It.” “It was the next indicated action,” Magness says of the move. “In order to stay true to the vision, I re-ally needed to be free from anyone else’s agenda and input about the songs and the writing.” While Magness holds a positive opinion of Al-ligator Records, she hasn’t had any reason to regret her split from the Chicago-based label. “The recep-tion has been beautiful,” she says. “I was hopeful, but I didn’t have expectations.” Her lack of expectations was met with a wave

of public approval. “Original” debuted at No. 3 on Living Blues Magazine’s radio charts and No. 5 on the Billboard blues charts, and Magness’ online store sold out of physical copies during preorder.

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Janiva Magness: The Origin of ‘Original’by Micah Smith

With “Original,” blues singer Janiva Magness took big leaps and let the muses guide her landing.

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Friday, Aug. 15

City with Soul Music

Stage

6 p.m. Janiva Magness6:55 p.m. Special Presentation7:05 p.m. Marc Broussard8:15 p.m. Boney James9:20 p.m. Estelle10:45 p.m. Ziggy Marley

Downtown Divas Den

(Ethnic Heritage Center)6:30 p.m. Pam Confer8 p.m. Akami Graham9:30 p.m. Tonya Boyd-

Cannon

Highway 49 Blues Shack

(Forestry Auditorium)6:15 p.m. The Peterson

Brothers7:45 p.m. Southern Komfort

Brass Band9:15 p.m. The Delta Saints

Farish Street Stage

(Sparkman Auditorium)6:25 p.m. Coop D’Bell7:55 p.m. Denise LaSalle9:25 p.m. Mr. Sipp

Saturday, Aug. 16

City with Soul Music

Stage

4 p.m. Bobby Rush5 p.m. Joe Louis Walker6:10 p.m. Curtis Salgado7:15 p.m. B. Smyth8:15 p.m. Chrisette Michele9:30 p.m. Bell Biv Devoe10:50 p.m. Fantasia

Downtown Divas Den

(Ethnic Heritage Center)4 p.m. Angela Walls5:30 p.m. Tawanna Shaunte7 p.m. Shannon McNally8:30 p.m. Dorothy Moore

Highway 49 Blues Shack

(Forestry Auditorium)4:15 p.m. Lighnin’ Malcolm5:45 p.m. Gerome Durham7:15 p.m. Rebirth Brass Band9 p.m. Johnny Rawls

Farish Street Stage

(Sparkman Auditorium)4:30 p.m. Jonathon Boogie

Long6 p.m. Homemade Jamz7:30 p.m. John Primer9 p.m. The House Rockers

Jammin’ Jackson Acoustic

Stage

4 p.m. John Primer5:10 p.m. Box of Rox6:20 p.m. Terry “Harmonica”

Bean7:30 p.m. Sherman Lee Dillon

MS “Blues Trail” Depot

(Education Center – Panel Discussions)

4:15 p.m. Mississippi Blues Trail

5:30 p.m. Blues Insider: A Conversation with John Primer and Johnny Rawls

For more information and to see the final line-up, visit jackson rhythmandbluesfestival.com.

F rom Grammy-winning greats to jaw-dropping juniors, the biggest names in soul, blues and

R&B love Mississippi. Here’s a look at some of the national talent taking the stage for the

second-annual Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival.

Festival DivasJackson Rhythm

& Blues FestivalA R T I S T L I N E U P

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M ississippi native Tonya Boyd-Cannon never had much problem speaking her mind through her music. Through her lively performances and distinct melding of classical and current sound, she’s gained a reputa-

tion as a truly talented diva. Her soul-bearing new album, “Then and Now,” which she plans to release this fall, aims to earn her that title once again. A resident of New Or-leans, Cannon, 34, often instills her songwriting with the diver-sity of the city. She also includes artists like Bobby McFerrin, Jill Scott, Aretha Franklin, Mi-chael McDonald, Chaka Khan, Lalah Hathaway and Yo-Yo Ma among her influences. Howev-er, her reverence doesn’t hinder her from crafting original music that is solely “Tonya.” After studying classi-cal voice at Tougaloo College from 2005 to 2008, Cannon began developing a musical genre that she calls “souljafun-go,” a blend of soul, jazz, funk and gospel, intensified by her technique-tailored vocals. “I’ve grown a lot as a per-son and an artist,” Cannon says. “This album is my way of saying, ‘If I knew then what I know now,’ and really shows how I’ve evolved since my last album.” Her last full-length release was 2006’s “Rise My Child,” written after the loss of her home during Hurricane Katrina. Since that release, though, Can-non has performed at numerous festivals nationwide and opened for performers like Anthony Hamilton and EVE. “I’ve gotten more mature with my vocal ability and harmony,” Cannon says. “I was more artistically involved in this album and added African, Indian and Arabian influences. I’ve grown so much as a person, and it took that experience to make me what I am today.” Cannon wrote every song on “Then and Now” and says that writing them “came quickly this time.” While she did have to push

back the original release date, June 24, to the fall, the extended dead-line allowed Cannon to add a few new tracks to the album. “It was a blessing in disguise,” she says. “I was happy with the album, but now I will get to include more songs on it.” While not playing festivals or recording, Cannon teaches

music at Kipp McDonogh 15 School for the Creative Arts. Her students inspired several songs on the album, including the song “Music All Over the World” which Cannon says represents not only New Orleans but also the entire world. Besides her love for song-writing and teaching, Can-non is passionate about her live performances, hoping to offer an experience that stands out in concertgoers’ minds. She enjoys creating intimate moments that feel like she’s singing a duet with each audience member be-cause that could make a dif-ference in his or her life. “I like to give people a chance to show their talent,” Cannon says. “I may give someone the confidence to

get on stage or help someone get discovered. I’m always look-ing to help out other artists.” Cannon promises a dynamic and emotionally charged experi-ence with every show. “I’ll sing and write what I feel and will perform it the same way,” Cannon says. “If you don’t hear it in my music, I want you to feel it,. I like to show that I’m confident and show that no one can do what I can do. ‘Then and Now’ shows true transfor-mation to a new way of life.” Cannon performs at the Rhythm and Blues Festival at 9:30 p.m. on the Downtown Divas Den stage, Aug. 15. For more in-formation on Tonya Boyd-Cannon and “Then and Now,” visit TonyaBoydCannon.com.

Magness doesn’t measure success in ones and zeros but in the people that her music reaches. As she began writing for “Original,” she realized quickly that it would require her to let her guard down. She brought in Darling to produce the al-bum and assist in writing. Magness and Darling have been friends for around 30 years, and while she doesn’t trust easily, she certainly trusts him. She says their work together has raised the bar in what she looks for in collaborators. “There’s a deeper level of vulnerabil-ity,” Magness says. “The process of mak-ing a record is pretty intimate. It’s hard to find people you’d hand the baby over to.”

It’s fair to say that “Original” is her baby. Magness co-wrote seven of the 11 songs and handpicked the remaining four so they would feel just as much at home on the album as her personal creations. In many ways, the album’s release is a story of change, whether process, promotion or physical. Prior to work-ing on “Original,” Magness underwent a serious surgery on her neck, an invasive procedure that required intense vocal re-habilitation. A friend connected her with famed Hollywood vocal coach Nathan Lam. The road to recovery was long, but ultimately, she feels the experience has changed her voice for the better and praises Lam’s skill and compassion.

For Magness, “Original” is just as much universal as personal. “It’s about the encompassing scope of the human experi-ence,” she says. “It’s about loss and about surviving that and redemption.” Though past songwriters have tack-led that topic to varying degrees of suc-cess, Magness sees no need to compare herself to her predecessors. “It’s (about) serving a muse and being true to my experience rather than competing with someone else.” Janiva Magness performs at the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival at 6 p.m. on the City with Soul Music Stage, Aug. 15. For more information and to see the line-up, visit jacksonrhythmandbluesfestival.com.

DIVERSIONS | music

Soul singer Tonya Boyd Cannon delivers universal themes with a personal touch on her latest album, “Then and Now.”

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The Universal Soul of Tonya Boyd Cannonby Greg Pigott

119 S. President Street601.352.2322

www.Underground119.com

Wednesday, August 13th

J A Z Z T R I O P L U S O N E

6.30 No Cover

Thursday, August 14th

INDIGO MOOD

6.30 No Cover

Friday, August 15th

TIME TO MOVE

9:00, $10 Cover

Saturday, August 16th

MARK MASSEY

9:00, $10 Cover

Tuesday, August 19th

SHAUN PATTERSON

6:30, No Cover

JAREKUS SINGLETON

A U G U S T 22nd & 23rd

WEDNESDAY 8/13 The Jackson 2000 August Luncheon is from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). The topic is a review of this summer’s Free-dom Summer activities. Attire is casual or business casual. RSVP. $12, $10 members; call 960-1500; email bevelyn_branch@att.net; jackson2000.org.

THURSDAY 8/14 “Voices of Freedom Summer” starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). John Max-well’s Fish Tale Group Theatre presents this dramatic perfor-mance in conjunction with the exhibit “This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement.” $15 in advance, $18 at the door; students: $7 in advance, $10 at the door; call 601-714-1414; fishtalegroup.org.

FRIDAY 8/15 The Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival begins at 5 p.m. at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum (1150 Lakeland Drive). Soul, blues and R&B artists Ziggy Marley, Boney James, Fantasia, Bell Biv DeVoe and Chri-

sette Michele perform for this two-day event. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Mississippi Blues Commission’s Blues Musicians Benevolent Fund. $25 Aug. 15, $35 Aug. 16, $50 two-day pass; call 800-745-3000; jacksonrhyth-mandbluesfestival.com.

SATURDAY 8/16 Bright Lights, Belhaven Nights is from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Carlisle Street and Kenwood Place. Behind McDade’s. The annual street festival includes art and food for sale, music on five stages, chil-dren’s activities and a silent auc-tion. The Weeks, the Southern Komfort Brass Band, the Fearless Four and the Jackson Irish Danc-ers perform. $5; call 601-352-8850; email bsmithson@greater-belhaven.com; greaterbelhaven.com. … Enchanted Evening is at 7 p.m. at the Jackson Con-vention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). The fundraiser for Friends of Children’s Hospital includes a silent auction, refreshments and music from 2 Hipnotic. Casual white attire encouraged. Valet parking available. $100, $60 young profes-sionals (35 and under); call 601-984-5273.

SUNDAY 8/17 Bonny Doon Vineyard Wine Tasting is at 4 p.m. at BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar (Highland Village, 4500 Interstate 55 N.). Meet owner/vintner Randall Grahm and sample seven exceptional varieties of wine.

RSVP. Seating limited. $40 per person; call 601-982-8111; email tanyab@bravobuzz.com; bravobuzz.com.

MONDAY 8/18 “Marvel-ous Murder” Dinner Theater is from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Sombra Mexican Kitchen (Town-ship at Colony Park, 140 Township Ave, Suite 100, Ridgeland). The Detectives present the four-act interac-tive comedy, which includes a three-course meal. Reser-vations required. For ages 18 and up. $39; call 601-937-1752; thedetectives.biz.

TUESDAY 8/19 Unburied Treasures: Cover to Cover is at 6 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Art educator Jerry Jenkins talks about the artwork of Romare Bearden and the influence of west Africa on American culture. Other presenters include writers C. Liegh McIn-nis and Charlie Braxton. Cash bar at 5:30 p.m. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

WEDNESDAY 8/20 Contemporary Christian folk duo All Sons & Daughters performs at 6 p.m. at Christ United Meth-odist Church (6000 Old Canton Road). $12 in ad-vance, $15 at the door; call 956-6974; christunitedjxn.org. … History Is Lunch is at noon at the Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Author Stephen Enzwei-ler discusses his book, “Oxford in the Civil War.” Book sales and signing to follow. Free; call 601-576-6998.

TUESDAY 8/19Mississippi Culanthropy is at Table 100.

SUNDAY 8/17Hooping Against Violence is at CM&I College.

WEDNESDAY 8/20History Is Lunch at the Old Capitol Museum.

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NSBright Lights, Belhaven Nights returns,

offering food, crafts and music by The Weeks and Taylor Hildebrand on Aug. 16.

BY MICAH SMITH

EVENTS@JACKSONFREEPRESS.COM

FAX: 601-510-9019DAILY UPDATES AT

JFPEVENTS.COM

Reggae great Ziggy Marley performs with American Idol diva Fantasia for the second-annual Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival on Aug. 15 and 16.

Jackson 2000 August Luncheon Aug. 13, 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m., at Arts Center of Mississip-pi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). The topic is a review of this summer’s Freedom Summer activities. Attire is casual or business casual. RSVP. $12, $10 members; call 960-1500; email bevelyn_branch@att.net; jackson2000.org.

An Evening with the Sickle Stars Aug. 15, 7 p.m., at Country Club of Jackson (345 St. Andrews Drive). The Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation is the host. This year’s honoree is Order of Eastern Star Grand Matron Martha Ann B.L. Alford. Sponsorships available. $80 per person, $650 table of eight; call 601-366-5874; email mssicklecellfnd@yahoo.com.

Bright Lights, Belhaven Nights Aug. 16, 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., at Carlisle Street and Kenwood Place. Behind McDade’s. The annual street festival includes art and food for sale, music on five stages, children’s activities and a silent auc-tion. $5; call 601-352-8850; email bsmithson@greaterbelhaven.com; greaterbelhaven.com.

Magnolia Roller Vixens Roller Derby Aug. 16, 7 p.m., at Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). The team takes on the Cajun Rollergirls. Doors open at 6 p.m. $12 in advance, $15 at the door, $5 children; call 960-2321; magnoliarollervixens.com.

History Is Lunch Aug. 13, noon, at William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.). Joedda Gore discusses “Sugarman,” her book about the hero of the Clear Creek Bridge disaster of 1939. Book sales and signing to follow. Free; call 601-576-6998; mdah.state.ms.us.

Buzz 2014: The Little Conference for Big Thinkers in Small Business Aug. 15, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at The Manship Wood Fired Kitchen (The Belhaven, 1200 N. State St., Suite 100). Registra-tion required. Register by Aug. 1 for a discount. $100, $80 AAF Jackson members, $55 students; call 398-4562; aafjackson.org/buzz.

Events at Jackson Medical Mall (350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.)• Jackson Community Housing Expo Aug. 15,

9 a.m.-1 p.m. Activities include workshops on housing rights and financial planning, DIY proj-ect demonstrations, a vendor expo and a school supply giveaway. Free; call 982-8467; jackson-housingexpo.wordpress.com.

• JAM Alumni Reception Aug. 18, 5 p.m.-8 p.m. At Center Court. Local alumni chapters of Jackson State, Alcorn and Mississippi Valley State universities host the event that includes food, music and more. Free; call 601-260-6279, 601-372-3391 or 601-362-4341.

Coffee & Cars Aug. 16, 7 a.m.-10 a.m., at Primos Café and Bake Shop (2323 Lakeland Drive, Flowood). Car enthusiasts are welcome to view or display cars of all makes and models. Free; call 601-936-3398; email mike_marsh@bellsouth.net.

Shades of Elegance Beauty and Scholarship Pageant Aug. 16, 4 p.m., at Metrocenter Mall (1395 Metrocenter Drive). Beauty Direct Studios hosts the event at Center Court. Young women ages 17-21 participate in community service and self-image workshops, and then compete for a chance to win a scholarship. Registration required for contestants. $10 per spectator, donations welcome; call 601-955-9244; email dknight@beautydirectstudios.com.

Ladies Night Out Aug. 16, 9 p.m., at Mediter-ranean Fish and Grill (The Med) (6550 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland). Performers include

A1, Lou Writer and London Smith. Includes music from DJ Spre and treats from Jeromie “KakeKing” Jones.” For ages 21 and up. $10, ladies free before 10 p.m.; call 601-956-0082; email energizerent@gmail.com.

Leo Season Party Aug. 16, 10 p.m.-3 a.m., at Houston’s Bar & Grill (2440 Bailey Ave.). For ages 18 and up. $10, ladies free until 11 p.m., ladies with Leo sign free until midnight; call 601-291-6587.

Community Day Aug. 19, at Whole Foods (4500 Interstate 55 Frontage Rd.). Five percent of all sales benefits the Whole Cities Foundation’s efforts in Jackson and New Orleans; call 601-608-0405; wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-cities-foundation.

History Is Lunch Aug. 20, noon, at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Author Stephen Enz-weiler discusses “Oxford in the Civil War.” Free; call 601-576-6998.

Look and Learn with Hoot Aug. 15, 10:30 a.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). This educational opportunity ages 5 and under and their parents features a hands-on art activity and story time. Please dress for mess. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

Nature Nuts Preschool Program Aug. 19, 10 a.m., at Clinton Community Nature Center (617 Dunton Road, Clinton). The nature discovery program is for children ages 2-5. Adults must accompany children. A professional educator from the Mississippi Natural Science Museum teaches the class. $5, $3 members, $1 discount for each additional child; call 601-926-1104; email ccnatu-recenter@gmail.com; clintonnaturecenter.org.

No Boundaries I and II Interest Meeting Aug. 12, 7 p.m., Aug. 14, 7 p.m. Learn more about the training program for the upcoming Rudolph Race 5K and Rudolph Race 10K. The program is for inactive people, and new runners and walkers. Free; call 601-899-9696; email casey@fleetfeetjackson.com.

Bonny Doon Vineyard Wine Tasting Aug. 17, 4 p.m., at BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar (Highland Village, 4500 Interstate 55 N.). Meet owner/winemaker Randall Grahm and sample seven varieties. RSVP. Seating limited. $40 per person; call 601-982-8111; email tanyab@bra-vobuzz.com; bravobuzz.com.

TNT: Tacos & Tecate Aug. 19, 4 p.m.-9 p.m., at Sombra Mexican Kitchen (Township at Colony Park, 140 Township Ave, Suite 100, Ridgeland). Enjoy a flight of three tequilas, three tacos and a Tecate beer. $16 per person; call 601-707-7950; sombramexicankitchen.com.

Mississippi Culanthropy Aug. 19, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., at Table 100 (100 Ridge Way, Flowood). Meet celebrity chef and Mississippi native Cat Cora and local Jackson chefs, and enjoy food and wine tastings, a signature cocktail and live music. The event is a fundraiser for the UMMC School of Nursing’s scholarship program. $150, $250 couples; call 601-815-3302; umc.edu/giveto.

Young Business Leaders of Jackson Sporting Clays Shoot Aug. 15, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at Turcotte Shooting Range (506 Highway 43 S., Canton). Individuals and teams are welcome to participate in the annual event. Registra-tion required. Sponsorships available. $150 per person, $600 team of four; call 601-201-5489; email dowen@ybljackson.org; ybljackson.org.

Moman & Harris 5K Run/Walk Aug. 16, 7:30 a.m., at New Hope Baptist Church (5202 Wat-kins Drive). Includes a one-mile fun run and Tot Trot. Families and teams must pre-register. 5K: $15 in advance, $20 race day; fun run: $10 in advance, $15 race day; Tot Trot (ages 2-5): $10; family (up to five): $50; team: $60; call 601-366-7002; newhope-baptist.org.

Introduction to Hybrid Kickboxing Aug. 18, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., at Hinds Community College, Raymond Campus (501 E. Main St., P.O. Box 1100, Raymond). The boxing and self-defense class is held Mondays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. through Dec. 1. Registration required. Includes college credit. For ages 18 and up. $150 (approximate - call for details); call 601-857-3212; hindscc.edu.

Free ADHD Screening for Children Fridays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. through Oct. 31, at Office of Suzanne B. Russell, LPC (751 Avignon Drive, Ridgeland). Have your child evaluated for the disorder that has symptoms such as problems with focusing, defiance and hyperactivity. Free; call 601-707-7355; mindcares.net.

Events at Actor’s Playhouse (121 Paul Truitt Lane, Pearl)• "Company" Aug. 13, 7 p.m., Aug. 14, 7 p.m.,

Aug. 15, 7 p.m., Aug. 16, 2 p.m., Aug. 16, 7 p.m., Aug. 17, 2 p.m. Actor’s Playhouse and Fondren Theatre Workshop co-produce Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical. $20, $15 students, military and seniors; call 601-301-2281; brownpapertickets.com/event/739499.

• "Rumors" Auditions Aug. 19, 6:30 p.m., Aug. 20, 6:30 p.m. Men ages 17-60 and women ages 02-70 may audition. Includes a cold read from the script. Production dates are Sept. 25-28. Free; call 601-664-0930; actorsplayhouse.net.

“Voices of Freedom Summer” Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m., Aug. 15, 7:30 p.m., Aug. 16, 2 p.m., Aug. 16, 7:30 p.m., Aug. 17, 2 p.m., Aug. 17, 7:30 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). John Maxwell’s Fish Tale Group Theatre presents the drama in conjunction with the exhibit This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement. $15 in advance, $18 at the door; students: $7 in advance, $10 at the door; call 601-714-1414; fishtalegroup.org.

“Marvel-ous Murder” Dinner Theater Aug. 18, 6 p.m.-9 p.m., at Sombra Mexican Kitch-

en (Township at Colony Park, 140 Township Ave, Suite 100, Ridgeland). The Detectives present the four-act interactive comedy. Includes a three-course meal. Reservations required. For ages 18 and up. $39; call 601-937-1752; thedetectives.biz.

Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival Aug. 15, 5 p.m., Aug. 16, 3 p.m., at Mississippi Agri-culture and Forestry Museum (1150 Lakeland Drive). Ziggy Marley, Boney James, Fantasia, Bell Biv DeVoe, Chrisette Michele and more perform. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Mississippi Blues Commission’s Blues Musicians Benevolent Fund. $25 Aug. 15, $35 Aug. 16, $50 two-day pass; call 800-745-3000; jacksonrhythmandbluesfestival.com.

An Evening with Grady Champion Aug. 15, 8 p.m., at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). Champion is a vocalist and harmonica player from Canton. Includes a special guest lineup. Doors open at 7 p.m. All-ages show. Adults must accompany children. $15 in advance, $20 at the door; call 601-292-7999; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

Jesse Robinson Aug. 15, 9 p.m., at the Yellow Scarf (741 Harris St.). The Mississippi blues gui-tarist performs. $15 in advance, $20 at the door; call 347-754-0668; yellowscarf-jackson.net.

Thomas Grillo Aug. 17, 2:30 p.m., at St. Richard Catholic Church (1242 Lynwood Drive). Grillo performs original and classical music on the There-min. Free, donations welcome; call 601-366-2335.

All Sons & Daughters in Concert Aug. 20, 6 p.m.-9:30 p.m., at Christ United Methodist Church (6000 Old Canton Road). The con-temporary Christian acoustic duo performs. Doors open at 6 p.m. $12 in advance, $15 at the door; call 956-6974; christunitedjxn.org.

Merle Haggard Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m., at Mis-sissippi State University (Highway 12, Starkville). In Bettersworth Auditorium at Lee Hall. The country music legend is known for songs such as “Okie from Muskogee” and “If We Make It Through December.” $45-$80; call 662-325-2930; lyceum.msstate.edu.

Events at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202)• "The Forsaken" Aug. 13, 5 p.m. Ace

Atkins signs books. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $26.95 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

• "Southern Soul-Blues" Aug. 14, 5 p.m. David Whiteis signs books. Reading at 5:40 p.m. $24.95 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

• "Destiny's Anvil: A Tale of Politics, Pay-back and Pigs" Aug. 19, 5 p.m. Steven Wells Hicks signs books. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $14.95 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

• "Courage for Beginners" Aug. 19, 5 p.m. Karen Harrington signs books. $17 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

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Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings, or to add your own events online. You can also email event details to events@jacksonfreepress.com to be added to the calendar. The deadline is noon the Wednesday prior to the week of publication.

Enchanted Evening Aug. 16, 7 p.m., at Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). The fundraiser for Friends of Children’s Hospital includes a silent auction, refreshments and music from 2 Hipnotic. Casual white attire encouraged. Valet parking available. $100, $60 young professionals (35 and under); call 601-984-5273; foch.org.

Hooping Against Violence Charity Bas-ketball Game Aug. 17, 4 p.m.-8 p.m., at CM&I College (3910 Main St.). The event is hosted by domestic violence non-profit Butterflies by Grace Defined by Faith. $10, $5 students, children under 5 free; call 601-212-0906.

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DIVERSIONS | arts

I n his art work, Sam Clark, a local pot-ter, uses imagination and creativity to tell stories in the work he produces from a small studio in Madison. His

pieces, from frogs reading books to whim-sical dragons to robot mugs, invoke excite-ment and wonder in the viewer. Clark’s garage, his makeshift studio, contains clay objects drying on shelves, ob-jects in-process, and pottery wheels he’s not using. He spends hours in there, he says, much to the curiosity of his neighbors, since he operates with the garage door open. At night, it produces one of the only light sources on the block. Several finished piec-es line a shelf in the corner of his living room. A tall cup with painted flowers and trees sits on the top shelf. A similarly decorat-ed baking dish, highlighted with bold colors, rests on the bottom shelf. His favorite pieces right now are a collection of coffee cups with robots painted on them. Some robots have whimsical arms. One towers above cit-ies with an evil look on its face. One looks down on people standing on a rooftop. “You don’t know what the people are doing there,” Clark says. “Did they go up to the roof in order to see this giant robot? Or were they already on the roof by the time the thing arrived and are afraid to move?” The pieces epitomize Clark’s artistic philosophy: blend creativity and imagina-tion together to solve problems. He char-acterizes his process as “never losing sight of creating, always having fun, challenging my-self, and honing my skills.” It’s fairly simple: Sketch a rough drawing on paper and copy that picture to a piece of clay, adding or de-leting details as he sees fit. If he feels stuck on a drawing, several cups of coffee usually provide some sort of creative spark. He has drawn since childhood and, for the most part, never changed his goal as an

artist: to entertain people. “My background helps me because the South has a rich storytelling tradition. I picture my granddad in a small town, sit-ting around telling stories and embellish-ing facts when need be,” he says. “So much can be captured in a ges-ture or a facial expression. I love watching people and trying to capture that.” Clark sees his art as personal. He enjoys

talking to customers and forming relationships with them, but he also wants to make something that cre-ates memories, something that can be become part of his customers’ homes. “I like to make things people can use,” he says. You could go to Walmart and buy a soul-less piece of plastic for a lot less, but an artist puts so much time and energy

into every piece. The customer inherits the labor,” he says. “The world doesn’t need more coffee cups.” The artist says he likes to think he helps produce a connection between two people. The meaning behind each piece is ambigu-ous, and therein lies the beauty. Although Clark wants to stay local, primarily for the close connections he can form with custom-ers and the direct impact he sees at a local level compared to a national one, he admires other artists who sell their work nationally. Considering that Clark’s hometown is Louisville, Miss., a piece honoring the town’s history or symbolizing citizen brav-ery in light of the recent storms seems a possibility. But Clark is not interested in changing his artistic style for any type of larger social critique. “I don’t see my art identified as social commentary, even though there is a place for that kind of art within society,” he says. Find Sam Clark’s work on his Face-book page. Email him at contactsamhere@ yahoo.com.

Personal Potterby Mike McDonald

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Local pottery artist Sam Clark fuses imagination and creativity to create whimsical works of art.

Sam Clark says he likes being local because of the impact he can make in his community.

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U pon approaching the gates of hell, Dante encounters an inscription posted above the entrance that reads: “Abandon all hope, ye who

enter here.” “Gideon’s Army,” a documentary from director Dawn Porter released in January 2013, follows three young lawyers desper-ately clinging to hope as public defenders in the infernal criminal justice system of the American South. Jonathan Rapping, president and founder of Gideon’s Promise (formerly called the Southern Public Defender Train-ing Center), the nonprofit that inspired the film, calls it by another name—“hell.” “Gideon’s Army,” nominated for an Emmy award, shows why the South, with its unique brand of hard, racially tinged no-tions of justice, is the most difficult place in the country to represent the poorest crimi-nal defendants by taking viewers through Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, which has the nation’s second-highest incarcera-tion rate behind neighboring Louisiana. In Mississippi, we encounter a Hinds County assistant public defender named June Hardwick. A Bolton native, Hardwick attended Murrah High School and Missis-sippi College School of Law in Jackson be-fore becoming a public defender. Hardwick is passionate, energetic and committed to her work, but she juggles a caseload of 150 defendants while being a single mom—all on a paltry salary, much of which goes to paying off a six-figure educa-tion debt. By the end of the film, Hardwick starts her own practice, where she continues representing indigent clients. Hardwick ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Jackson City Council in 2013. Former Mayor Chokwe Lumumba appointed her to a municipal judgeship from which Mayor Tony Yarber dismissed her. Every state is required to provide indi-gent-defense services, the result of a 1963

U.S. Supreme Court decision, Gideon v. Wainwright, which said legal counsel is a fundamental right. In some states, courts divvy up the caseloads among private attor-neys and firms. In others, like Mississippi, each county is responsible for assigning public defenders. States comply with the law. The U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics says that the 50 states combined spent $2.2 billion on indigent defense in 2012, the most recent data available. Not only is that sum the lowest amount states spent in the five years the BJS studied, but it’s about one-third of the $6 billion that the states spent on prosecutors. As an example of where governments place their priorities, consider Hardwick’s former employer, Hinds County, whose jail is already bursting at the seams and is the target of a federal investigation. In May, county supervisors rejected a request from Hinds County Public De-fender Michele Purvis Harris for salary increases for assistant public defenders. Supervisors cited budgetary constraints despite the fact that weeks earlier, the same board gave a $24,800 pay raise to just one prosecutor in the Hinds County District Attorney’s office. In “Gideon’s Army,” Hardwick de-scribed the inequity as “disgusting.” “How dare this system treat public de-fenders this way?” Hardwick asks. In one of the film’s most wrenching scenes, Brandy Alexander counts out $3 in quarters at an Atlanta-area gas station, hop-ing the fuel will last two days, until payday. “Gideon’s Army,” now available on Netflix, is the most honest portrayal of American public defenders to date. But it’s what remains unsaid that offers the most compelling argument for criminal-justice system reform. Public defenders are hard-working and well-educated. If life is hard for them, if there aren’t changes to the system, how much hope can their clients have?

DIVERSIONS | film

Hell’s Warriorsby R.L. Nave

“Gideon’s Army” sheds light on issues that plague public defenders in the South.

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DIVERSIONS | jfp sports

First week of the NFL preseason is in the books, and college football is coming at a quick pace. Ready or not folks, football is back. by Bryan Flynn

SLATEthe best in sports over the next seven days

The NCAA Division I board of di-rectors voted to give the Power Five conferences plus the University of

Notre Dame the ability to start making their own rules in regard to offering more than just scholarships to athletes. This means teams from the SEC, Pac-12, Big 12, Big Ten and ACC with Notre Dame can give athletes full cost of admission insurance, health care after their playing days end, and more. This change will make the divide be-tween the Power Five and other Division I football schools, like Southern Miss, even wider. Compounded with the new play-off system, the rule change will basically shut out every team but the ones in the major conferences. The power conferences are also talking about moving to a nine-game conference schedule and only playing other schools from power conferences. If that happens, the smaller conferences will see less chance, or more likely none, to add games against the power schools for money. That will just put them in a deeper hole.

Right now, there are four NCAA football levels: Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Division, Divi-sion II and Division III. Unless one of the smaller conferences or a few schools from those conferences can get an invite from the big boys, there are few options for the other 63 schools. If the smaller conferences get totally squeezed out by the major ones, I see two realistic choices and playing football in the spring isn’t one of them. First, they can make own division by adding some top FCS schools and play-ing for their own national championship. This, to me, makes the most sense and could be more fi nancially benefi cial in the long term. The second choice is to drop to the FCS level. This would take some work because the FCS level already has a good size playoff and adding 63 more teams would be taxing to it. Most schools already lose money on bowl games and even if the current FBS Playoff expands to eight teams, it wouldn’t do much for the smaller conferences. That is why I think a new division works best.

bryan’s rant

The Death of Cinderella?

THURSDAY, AUG 14 NFL (7-10 p.m., ESPN): The Chi-cago Bears hope to be a playoff contender this year as they host the Jacksonville Jaguars, who seem to always be rebuilding their team.

FRIDAY, AUG 15 NFL (7-10 p.m., WLOO): The New Orleans Saints come home for their sec-ond preseason game against the Tennessee Titans as they watch the progress of Drew Brees health. … NFL (6:30 p.m.-12 a.m., NFL Network): Four playoff teams from last season meet on the NFL Network starting with Philadelphia at New Eng-land and then by San Diego at Seattle.

SATURDAY, AUG 16 NFL (3-9 p.m., NFL Network): See another double header with Green Bay at St Louis followed by the Baltimore Ra-vens at the Dallas Cowboys.

SUNDAY, AUG 17 NFL (3-6 p.m., NFL Network): Watch a potential Super Bowl matchup as the San Francisco 49ers host Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

MONDAY, AUG 18 NFL (7-10 p.m., ESPN): Here’s an-other chance to check out Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns as they travel to the nation’s capital to face Washington.

TUESDAY, AUG 19 Baseball (6:30-8:30 p.m., ESPN): Take a break from football to catch up on what is happening in the 2014 Little League World Series.

WEDNESDAY, AUG 20 Baseball (6:30-8:30 p.m., ESPN): Be-fore the NFL Preseason kicks off again the next night, take some more time to watch kids playing for the love the game in the 2014 Little League World Series. It is great that The Slate is nearly full with football. Just wait until we reach the point in the football season that every day features a different football game. I’m ready for some midweek MACtion.

Follow Bryan Flynn at jfpsports.com, @jfpsports and at facebook.com/jfpsports.

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Plan your Costume & Save the Date!

Saturday, November 1, 2014 At Hal & Mal’s200 S. Commerce St., Downtown Jackson

$5 Cover • Ages 18+ Live Music • Southern Fried Karaoke • Rooster Sports Pub

More Details Soon at jfpchickball.com

T h e F i r s t - E v e r

Combatting Family Violence Since 2004 PREVENT • PROTECT • EMPOWER

Proceeds from the JFP Chick Ball Masked Jam go to MCADV’s campaign to gather 1 million pledges from Mississippi men to be stand-up guys and not stand-by guys.

Men (and women): Sponsor the JFP Chick Ball Masked Jam for as little as $50.To sponsor, write: director@jfpchickball.com

Sponsorships start at $50.Make checks payable to MCADV.

MARKET PLACE 601.362.6121 x11advertise here starting at $75 a week

3139 N State St, Jackson, MS 39216WWW.PIGANDPINT.COM

(601 ) 326-6070

NOT YOUR AVERAGE

BARBECUE

AUTO CENTER• Full Service

• Financing on Major Repairs

Available

• Windshield Repair

• $30 Oil Change for New

Customers

601-362 -90702603 N. State Street

Across from UMC

RATES AS LOW AS

$12 A MONTH!

DO YOU HAVE RENTERS INSURANCE?

Landlords don’t cover your personal property!

Valarie Germanwww.insurewithval.com

(601)613-8100FREE ONLINE QUOTES!

FREEBANKRUPTCYCONSULTATION

OVER 20 YEARS EXPERIENCE

601-948-4878www.jacksonmsbankruptcy.com

POND LAW FIRM

KARDI OBY KIMBERLY

NOWEveryMondayat 6:30$30 for 8 WeeksOR $5 Drop In 605 Duling Ave.

Jackson, MS

601.884.0316

Kickboxing Fitness Class

BLOOD DONORS NEEDED!

Proper I.D. and SSN requiredMonday-Friday 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Interstate Blood Bank3505 Terry Road Suite 204

Behind WalgreensCall: 601-718-0986

Bring this ad for a $2 bonus!

Not just useful to the police.Handcuffs…(Try a pair and you’ll have so much fun, it should be a crime!)

175 Hwy 80 East in Pearl * 601.932.2811 M­Th: 10­10p F­Sa 10­Mid Su: 1­10p * www.shopromanticadventures.com

JFPmenus.com

Now you can access local restaurants’ menus any time,

day or night, on your computer, tablet or smartphone!

Plus, get maps, phone numbers, social media feeds and MUCH MORE!