It’s no surprise that Mississippi isn’t exactly known as a cultural hotspot, so when an event of the significance of the Afterglow Film Festival in Grenadahits the scene, I would be remiss not to highlight it as one of the more prominent activities worth attending. In short:
At the Grenada Afterglow Film Festival, you’ll see 7 hours worth of feel-good, short, family friendly, independent films. Our spotlight category is for “Feel-Good” films – We want viewers to be moved to feel the “Afterglow” of the festival and of the small town atmosphere in Grenada.
Check their website for all the other family friendly activities! Of course there’ll be music and food galore! There’s no way you’ll want to miss the Sturgis movie after seeing this promo picture! The event is organized and run by a couple of independent young women who have gained broad support in the community. Here is a promotional picture taken at a local television station.
I did a best and worst of Iowa series while visiting my sister up north, so I figured I’d attempt to recapture that again in my final blog post from deep down in Dixie. I’ll be heading out of town next week to continue on my “Pike’s Peak or Bust” Mystery Tour. I’ll refrain from a “worst of” entry for Mississippi since there’s entirely too much of that on display in mainstream media already.
Special Thanks to Mike Parker
Bandit and I have been staying with a long-time and dear friend in the suburbs. We’ve been extremely well cared for by my good buddy Mike Parker. Mike is a successful restauranteur here in Jackson. Mike and his late partner Larry were highlighted in a local magazine article in 2012 as a Jackson area “Power Couple” and as the article above notes, their pizza business has received multiple awards since it’s opening in 2006. Sadly, Larry passed away of cancer a couple years before my wife Rita followed him to the great beyond. Mike has since found a new and loving partner to help him pick up the pieces of his life. I’m not ready for that kind of commitment again at this point in my life since I’m still mourning the more recent passing of my beloved mate (and best friend). Even though Mike has remarried, I know there’s still a void in his soul from the passing of Larry that will never be filled. It’s good to be staying in a house with such love and understanding of what I’ve been through in the last six months. I cannot say enough good things about the quality of support my friends here in the South have provided for both myself and my furry travel companion. Such blessings are hard to come by.
Fond Memories of Mississippi
Below is a slideshow of some of the highlights my hairy beast and I enjoyed here in Dixie during the last several months. Even as we make our way forward and on to new and exciting adventures, I will always cling to the pleasant memories of my stay here in Mississippi. There are others in my sphere who have also been essential in keeping our spirits high and our bellies full. I shall respect the anonymity I know they desire but I shall not fail to make note of them here in passing.
Bandit had his first visit to the vet since arriving back in America today. I didn’t expect there would be any problems (there weren’t) because he had been scanned, probed and microchipped for his international doggie passport just a few short months ago before we left Germany. The attentive and caring staff at the Jackson Animal Clinic are now engaged in buffing and scrubbing him up to make him even more adorable.
1740 South Gallatin Street Jackson, MS 39201
There’s a reason the Jackson Animal Clinic has been one of the most successful vet clinics in the Jackson Metro area for decades. Caring professionals and top quality service instills confidence in all who seek assistance here. Highly recommend you seek care for your pets at this location. Affordable ID chipping is available at this location. I was extremely impressed that they were able to read the ID chip Bandit had implanted before departing Germany.
My first glance out the window yesterday morning was a little hazy, but as I cracked the door to let Bandit outside to do his morning business, I noticed a tree trimming crew stalking the neighborhood. Eager to get a chance to flex my photojournalistic videography skills, I donned a jacket, grabbed my video gear and bounced out of the house just a couple steps behind my hairy four legged beast. The tree trimming crew only rolls through the neighborhood once every three years in order to keep the local forest from disabling the power lines, yet Providence saw fit for me to be in the right place at the right time yesterday morning! Just another example of the special blessings which continue to fall into my path even as the pains of life nips at my heels. Photo montage and video after the jump.
The lunatic fringe known as the Mississippi Tea Party is going bonkers over their loss to Senator Thad Cochran in the recent primary runoff. There is literally no tactic they haven’t considered (legal or illegal), in their attempts to seize power. It is their complete disregard for American jurisprudence and common standards of human decency that led a handful of them to conclude that sneaking into a nursing home and photographing Thad Cochran’s Alzheimer-afflicted wife would be some kind of political coup d’etat.
The Dean of Debauchery
With the dust not yet settled from either their illegal behaviors or the loss of the Republican primary, one of the masterminds behind the ill-advised break-in recently committed suicide (so we are told). His name was Mark Mayfield (seen above) and by offing himself in such a dramatic fashion, he has ensured that his legacy will always be “the McDaniels lieutenant who killed himself rather than face justice for his crimes”. He’s not the first Tea Party idiot that I’ve known named Mark who has bought the farm. It’s safe to say that given the choice of continued living in Mississippi, or killing yourself and burning in Hell, Mr. Mayfield is indeed “in a better place” now. Take from that what you will, but for the sake of your future male children, please have the decency not to name them Mark. Everybody knows the only good Christian name worth having is Timothy!! Why else would God name two books of the Bible after me?
The Fallout
Like a wounded tiger, the uncontrolled and artificially-created beast that is the Tea Party incarnation of Fox News is lashing out in Mississippi. The overt racism which always seethed just under the collar of a ‘reconstructed’ Mississippi is on full display. What Bush did with the twisting of the definition of torture is now being applied to the definition of voter fraud! How do you know if it’s voter fraud? According to Mississippi Tea Party activists, If the voter is Black, then it’s voter fraud!!. This is how the simple-minded Tea Party people operate in an attempt to keep things simple, but the tone-deafness of their racism is simply unbelievable!!
The Tea Party Constitution
Tea Partiers are quite content to use the second amendment as their favorite masturbatory aid, but don’t be fooled into thinking they give two wanks on a dead wallabies weenie about your right to free speech. How can I be so sure? Well, I’ve put them to the test. One thing that rightwing Christian movements have in common, whether they be mid-twentieth century Germans or early twenty first century Tea Party creationists is a proclivity towards banning that which they find offensive. Not at all dissimilar to what we see their fundamentalist Muslim counterparts doing to ‘ungodly’ art in their own neighborhoods.
Banning Critical Artworks
Not content in their efforts to dominate that media in which they can buy and control, the ‘liberty loving’ Tea Party folks are hard at work trying to keep my artistic Facebook creations out of the display of their sensitive and easily swayed flock of rubes. Shown above is a McDaniels parody campaign advertisement that the Tea Party fascists tried to get banned though their dishonest attempts at silencing me. This is in line with their true character of acting in the manner we have com tp expect from the Brownshirt Faction of US politics. Their latest attempt at silencing my creative #timremix works involves a report to Facebook that the following picture contains “graphic violence”! It’s definitely as tasteless as their politics, but violent? I only created it out of ‘self defense” when I read where some of the high ranking operatives in the Mississippi Tea Party were talking about building a memorial to the late Mark Mayfield!! Just thought you should all be aware. There’s entirely too little documentary evidence of their hooliganism and thuggery for people to point and click to. Here’s the ‘graphically violent” picture in question that they just flagged on Facebook:
Profits on the sale of the Mark Mayfield memorial t-shirt are going to improve nursing home security in Mississippi.
Isn’t there a Bible verse of some significance to this bunch of religious knuckle draggers that specifically forbids bearing false witness?
The event is organized and run by a couple of independent young women who have gained broad support in the community. Here is a promotional picture taken at a local television station.
My first glance out the window yesterday morning was a little hazy, but as I cracked the door to let Bandit outside to do his morning business, I noticed a tree trimming crew stalking the neighborhood. Eager to get a chance to flex my photojournalistic videography skills, I donned a jacket, 
The Tim Channel 