I admit that this post is a bit out of character for me, but I do, in fact, watch some television, and I do, in fact, love all things to do with zombies, and for all its flaws that have emerged in the meandering first half of the second season,… Read full post »

As a native Mississippian, I seldom have good reason to be proud.  After all, you name the statistic, and Mississippi is either ranked first or fiftieth.  For example, Mississippi is first in teen pregnancy, fiftieth in states rates of infant mortality.  Conservatism and fundamentalism… Read full post »

One thing that continually amuses me is the twisted non-logic that people trot out in defense of the so-called religious right to circumsize infants.  A very good example of this may be found in Jonathan Wolfman's piece about how a circumcision ban would infringe upon the religious rights of Mus… Read full post »

First of all, I should come clean:  I feel like I'm committing some terrible sin by posting this recipe for potato salad for the general public.  Southerners didn't invent potato salad, but surely we've perfected it, raised it to the level of high art.  That's why this article… Read full post »

Author's Note:  the following essay was written for submission to the thisibelieve.org archive.  This is the full version of the essay.  Submissions to the archive must be much more concise at about 500 words.

I believe in reality, but it seems silly to st… Read full post »

This post by Joan H. got me thinking about the companies and businesses I refuse to give business.  What is different from Joan H. about my reasons for boycotting these companies is that politics plays no part in my decision to boycott them.  Instead, I boycott them because they have wronge… Read full post »

Back in 2008, in response to an open call, I wrote this piece I titled We Have It Backwards: Accountability vs. Responsibility.  The most read piece I've written for Open Salon, I make the point that the language of accountability, that teachers and students are held accountable to politicians,… Read full post »

One of the many joys of parenting is teaching.  As a parent to a preschool-age daughter, I am largely responsible for what she learns, and at that age, everything is new to her.  Every day is packed with new information, new connections, new ideas and discoveries, and I find much… Read full post »

 As a non-rich, heterosexual, almost-middle-aged white man, I've had it pretty good.  I've never thought to look over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being trailed by a potential rapist.  It has never even occurred to me.  I've never received rape threats from people who didn't… Read full post »

I was born and raised in the South, specifically that most southern of States, Mississippi, which means I grew up longing for Saturdays in the Fall when my Ole Miss Rebels took to the gridiron to battle the likes of Alabama, Auburn, and LSU.  The idea is bandied around… Read full post »

 Circumcision is all over the news lately, starting with the efforts to ban the procedure in San Francisco and most recently in Russell Crowe's twitter posts against the procedure.  Crowe, rightly, calls the procedure "barbaric" and predictably, the politically correct set has pilloried him… Read full post »

My profession, like the title of this blog, is that of compositionist, one who teaches and researches writing, so I was understandably excited to find Kim Brooks' “Death to High School English” as the lead story on Salon this morning. But that excitement wore off as soon as I got/… Read full post »

Danny Lampley, a North Mississippi attorney, caused a stir on October 7, 2010, when at the behest of judge Talmadge Littlejohn, he refused to recite the pledge of allegiance.  Littlejohn found Lampley in contempt of court and threw him in jail.  The story was picked up by the AP/… Read full post »

We in northern Mississippi’s 1^st congressional district, a district that had previously seen almost no competition while Roger Wicker held the seat, have been treated to a rarity: a lively political campaign, replete with spirited debate and prime-time commercials. 

By all accounts,… Read full post »

Background

I don’t remember exactly when I became interested, indeed passionate, about male genital mutilation (or circumcision), but at some point during my 20s I came across an article about the normal function of the human foreskin, how it was richly packed with nerve endings,… Read full post »

One has to admire the marketing saavy behind the much-discussed Double Down at KFC. The general consensus seemed to be: What the hell? In a culture obsessed, at least ostensibly, with healthy eating, the Double Down seems like a deliberate slap in the face to fat kids everywhere… Read full post »

Being that I can't justfiy paying for cable or satellite television, can't get around the nagging idea that they should be paying me to watch all the adverstisements, not the other way around, I put up an HDTV antenna to get free over-the-air broadcasts, and I get something like ten channels,… Read full post »

Doughburgers, Dudie burgers, Slugburgers, Cereal Burgers. 

Last summer I began my hamburger tour of my native North Mississippi, seeking out greasy goodness in the small, locally-owned hamburger shacks that proliferate in this area, but I should preface this by saying, I doubt my r… Read full post »

Barry Hannah, a world-class writer, teacher, and my reluctant mentor, died yesterday (March 1, 2010).  Today, I feel the lack. 

I first encountered Hannah's work when I was a junior in high school, when I holed up in the back corner of the school's library and read… Read full post »

My great friend David, who lives in Baton Rouge, was talking to a man during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He asked him, "Why don't you move your family to another area? This place has gone to hell."

To which… Read full post »

Accountability goes up.

Responsibility goes down.

If you want to understand why American schools are weak, you have to grasp the fundamental difference between the language we use and the language we should be using, between what we do, and what we should be doing. Accountability… Read full post »

If you didn't make it to the end of the debate, you missed what I think was Barrack Obama's finest moment, and I'm happy to say, the topic was education. Obama said this:

"But there's one last ingredient that I just want to mention, and that's parents. We can't… Read full post »