California nursing home incident brings to fore end-of-life issues

My last job before returning to Mississippi was a gig as a graveyard-shift janitor at a 55-plus living facility in Mesa, Ariz., called Venture Out. It was the sort of job you would expect a convicted felon who had gone from one minimum-wage job to another since being released from prison would have.

Ask Rufus: I Call Them Killdees

One day last week in a conversation with my friends Bert and Sharon Falkner, killdeers, a delightful spring and summer bird of area fields, came up. It is a bird that I have enjoyed watching since I was a child. You will remember them as the bird that acts like it has a broken wing to draw potential predators away from its nest.

Possumhaw: Smothered nutria, Cajun style

There on the bank of the lake lay a critter that looked a lot like a beaver. Its fur was long and wet; its teeth were curved and yellow. Its feet were webbed, but the tail was its undoing. The water rodent had a long round tail like a rat. The son-of-a gun was no doubt a Louisiana nutria.

Birney Imes: Pretty in Pink

Friday afternoon Earnestine Mobley took me for a ride in her Cadillac. The car is beautiful, black leather interior with wood trim, OnStar navigation, heated seats and steering wheel, the works. Near the automatic stick shift on the console is a small black plaque that reads, "This Cadillac exclusively built for Earnestine Nash Mobley." As it happens, the car is pink.

Slimantics: A guide to success and happiness

I was at lunch Thursday when an older gentleman managed to capture my attention. "Are you Slim Smith?" he asked. When confronted with this seemingly benign question, I always respond with a degree of trepidation and feel the urge to ask, instead, "Uh, why do you want to know?"

Possumhaw: A man and his dreams

Some days pass by so fast you don't even see them, but come Saturday the pace slows down around here. Saturdays start off quiet and slow, allowing time to catch up. Then there's strong coffee followed by a bowl of oatmeal topped with honey, golden nectar, a gracious gift.

Birney Imes; Wedding story on Page One causes furor

Earlier this month two women were married in Laurel. Since same-sex marriage is not legal in Mississippi, so they are not married, at least not in a legal sense. Still, there was a ceremony, cake and wedding gown. One of the women, Crystal Craven, has been battling brain cancer and has undergone three surgeries, the most recent just weeks before the wedding.

Slim Smith: An anniversary that is neither understood nor celebrated

The 1960s were turbulent times in our country. That is why every month, it seems, there is some official recognition of a milestone anniversary.

Ask Rufus:

It was 166 years ago this weekend that a die-hard group of Mississippians in red shirts and brandishing Bowie knives changed the course of a battle and history. The Battle of Buena Vista on Feb. 22-23, 1847, sealed the fate of Mexican General Santa Anna's army and ensured a United States victory in the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-48.

Slimantics: Turn out the lights, the Tea Party's over

The fever appears to be breaking. The Tea Party movement, much like the Know Nothing Party of 150 years ago, will soon have run its obstructionist course. As is the case with most national trends, that fever will break last in Mississippi, which seems to be on a perpetual two-year time-delay for most national trends.

Possumhaw: Miracle in the Prairie

It all started about three days before. The rains were torrential and the lake was so full that most of the center stumps were submerged. "Sam, I think the spillway is dammed up. The water is high." After work Sam took the gator to the spillway and sure enough a beaver had dammed the flow again. In drizzling rain Sam shoveled out the dam and checked the beaver trap. No beaver. "Did you see Leah?" I asked.

Birney Imes: Magnolia Bowl in her glory days

When reporter Carmen Sisson, whose story about Magnolia Bowl appears in today's Dispatch, asked me about the old stadium, she unleashed a flood of memories.

Ask Rufus: A.B. Meek and the Charge of the Light Brigade

Sometimes research and writing takes you in unexpected directions, and that is the case today. As I started writing this column, I stumbled into one of those poignant stories of long ago that touches a present-day nerve.

Best of the Triangle 2012

Home & Garden
Guide 2013

Dining Guide 2013