NMissCommentor » Oxford – Ole Miss Community

Mississippi Civil Rights Leader Cleve Donald has died

NMC — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:22:40 +0000

He was the second black student to graduate from Ole Miss in the 60s. He got his start as a student in the Jackson Movement led by Medgar Evers. Jerry Mitchell reports:

“Cleve was one of the student leaders,” [Leslie] McLemore said. “The movement gave Cleve the foundation for what he did later in life.”

He followed in the footsteps of his father, Cleveland Donald Sr., who although injured in World War II, helped to form a civil rights organization called the American Veterans Committee.

The younger Donald was among the young protesters that Jackson police put in the city garbage trucks and hauled to the stockyard buildings at the state fairgrounds in 1963.

After Evers was assassinated on June 12, 1963, Cleveland Donald made a vow to his family, his brother recalled. “He said, ‘They can have my life because I am not going to let this deter me from changing things in Mississippi.’ ”

He attended classes under the protection of federal marshals. Later asked how he reacted to those hostile to him, he was quoted as replying, “I was called to love them.”

After graduating from Ole Miss, he obtained degrees from Harvard University and Cornell University. He helped establish the first black studies program at Ole Miss and served as vice chancellor at the University of Massachusetts and chief administrator at the University of Connecticut at Waterbury.

The Miss. State billboard on West Jackson was taken down because it was a recruiting violation…

NMC — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:26:51 +0000

The Mississippi State billboard on West Jackson in Oxford went down ahead of schedule.

It turns out it’s a recruiting violation

Mississippi State freely admitted it was about recruiting:

WTVA-TV reports (http://bit.ly/woLIdJ) that an MSU billboard sits on a busy street in Oxford near the Ole Miss campus. It shows MSU football players holding up the Egg Bowl trophy next to the words “Play with the best.”

Rebel fans say they feel MSU is rubbing in last year’s win.

MSU officials said the billboard is only about recruitment.

“We do billboards for different reasons. In this particular instance this board is placed strategically to try to attract student athletes to our campus. We’ve done similar billboards elsewhere in the past,” said Mike Nemeth, senior associate athletic director at MSU.

And it turns out that State was targeting an Oxford recruit:

The biggest name on that [Miss. State recruiting wish-] list, especially to those inside the state, is Lafayette quarterback Jeremy Liggins. The Dandy Dozen quarterback led Lafayette to the Class 4A state championship, throwing for 1,678 yards and 16 touchdowns with six interceptions, and rushed for 953 yards and 18 touchdowns. He’ll decide between Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State on Jan. 30 during a ceremony on the Square in Oxford.

The Oxford (“Still Off the Web”) Eagle is reporting this directly violates an NCAA recruiting rule against advertising “designed to solicit a prospective student-athlete” (Didn’t Mississippi State virtually admit violating this rule in that first quote?) and thus, yesterday afternoon the billboard came down.

Thacker Mountain Christmas show on tomorrow and Saturday, locally and statewide

NMC — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:07:47 +0000

Thacker Mountain Radio’s Christmas show this year was excellent, both for music (BIll Perry, Effie Burt, the return of Duff Durrough) and readings (Theresa Starkey, Richard Howorth, Jack Pendarvis). A full two hour version will be broadcast in Oxford tomorrow and Saturday afternoon from 3 to 5, and then an hour version will be broadcast statewide and livestreamed to the internet on Mississippi Public Broadcasting at 7:00 on Saturday.

How Ole Miss picked a coach

NMC — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:27:54 +0000

There’s an interesting article I learned about from Ben in comments on Bleacher Report by Jeb Williamson about the coach selection process. He seems confident that several of the people thought leading candidates– Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart (who, Williamson reports, was interested enough to start talking to possible assistant coaches), Mike Leach and Rich Rodriguez were never even contacted. He is pretty damning about defects in the selection process.

So read the piece and I’d like to see some discussion in comments.

I will note that I don’t think a tirade about the mascot or “traditions” would have a thing to do with this topic.

Ole Miss to hire Hugh Freeze as head coach?

NMC — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:17:54 +0000

The Daily Journal and the Clarion Ledger sports blogs have gone with other online reports and are saying that Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze will be the next Ole Miss head football coach.

Rebelgrove.com reported that Freeze, the current Arkansas State coach and former Ole Miss assistant, will meet with Ole Mss officials today.

Freeze said Saturday following the Red Wolves’ 45-14 win over Troy that he would meet with Arkansas State officials today and discuss his future.

An official announcement is expected to come later today or Monday.

The Rebelgrove report that seems the source has a detail that folks citing it have not picked up:

Sources told RebelGrove.com Saturday Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora rejected an offer from Ole Miss. A source said late Saturday Ole Miss is expected to make one final pitch to Fedora before turning its full attention to Freeze.

There was also this report over the weekend:

Many of us upon receiving a new cell phone number have received unwanted calls and text messages from people trying to reach the person who previously had the digits. None of that, however, compares to Byron Guidry’s experience.

According to the (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, Guidry, a native of New Orleans now residing in Houston, received the old cell number of Ole Miss legend and former Saints quarterback Archie Manning. Manning is co-chair of the committee looking to hire the new head coach of the Rebels and many interested coaches have contacted Guidry instead of Manning.

“”A lot of these people who call and text,” Guidry told the Commercial Appeal, “I have no clue who they are. Here’s a text that says, ‘Archie, I have tremendous love for Ole Miss. I would love to serve as their next head coach. Any consideration would be greatly appreciated.’ It’s signed, ‘Hugh Freeze.’ Do you know who he is?”

Freeze more or less denied the text was his yesterday.

h/t Randy Yates on Facebook for the Freeze warning.

David Milch to adapt William Faulkner fiction for HBO

NMC — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:45:51 +0000

The announcement that David Milch (Deadwood, NYPD Blue) and HBO have acquired a first option to adapt any of 19 Faulkner novels and 125 short stories was met primarily with the question: Which ones should he adapt? Slate did a whole piece on it, asking authors Salman Rushdie, Francine Prose, and others which they would like to see. The New York Times focused on Milch’s literary credentials:

Mr. Milch made his literary bones as an undergraduate at Yale University and a graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop of the University of Iowa; he worked with Robert Penn Warren (who shared a biographer, Joseph Blotner, with Faulkner), Cleanth Brooks and R. W. B. Lewis on a history of American literature, and contributed fiction and criticism to publications like The Southern Review and The Atlantic Monthly.

Milch’s daughter, who just finished at Yale and wrote a thesis on Faulkner, is living in Oxford and will be involved in the production; word had been circulating that this might be coming since late Summer. The Los Angeles Times has an interview:

What was the first William Faulkner work you read?

I think it was [the short story] “The Bear,” when I was in high school. In college I started to get soaked in the materials. Subsequently I worked with R.W.B. Lewis, Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks on a history of American literature — I did that for seven or eight years. In the course of that work, my interest in Faulkner deepened, and has been sustained ever since.

Do you have a favorite Faulkner novel?

I guess if I had to pick one I’d pick “Absalom, Absalom!” but [laughs] a lot of them are pretty good.

People have said that he’s an unfilmmable writer.

I’ve never understood that. To me he seems enormously cinematic. But I’ve heard that, once or twice.

In “Deadwood,” you were known for coining a unique language, and Faulkner did that as well. What do you think of the texture of Faulkner’s prose, and of his dialogue?

They are superb, and compelling, and absolutely authentic. They’re so contemporary. You know, Faulkner wrote for film, and his ear is just impeccable.

What attracted you to Faulkner in particular?

For me, he is a distinctive voice in American literature in the last century. The variety of the work, and the richness of its perspectives on the great themes. Faulkner speaks to us on the questions of race, the challenges of modernity and modern man’s dilemma in all of its aspects. That he is able to specify among those and bring those themes alive is one of his great gifts. There are so many different kinds of pleasures one gets from encountering those materials. I remember when I was reading “The Bear,” I was reading as a kid. All these years later one returns to that for an entirely different reason. That’s true of so many of his works.

I guess my answer to “which ones” would probably be much like others– I see potential in Sanctuary (which has already been attempted twice, the most interestingly in The Story of Temple Drake), perhaps “Spotted Horses,” and Light in August.

All the articles note the bad adaptations (with special dishonorable mention for The Sound and the Fury, which starred Yul Brunner) but fail to mention the two good ones, Tomorrow and Intruder in the Dust.

The table with the best view of the Square

NMC — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:09:11 +0000

There may be a debate about which table, but one of several tables on the balcony and the upstairs room at John Currence’s new location for Bouré, in the old Downtown Grill space on the Square have the best view. The picture above (click to expand) is from the corner table on the balcony; if you want to see the courthouse up close and personal, tables to the East or just inside the east-most room would be your pick.

Bouré reopens in the new space tomorrow (a first full weekend of LSU in town!). The renovations, particularly downstairs, are really nice.

A place for the loved ones?– Ole Miss as a cemetery

NMC — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:16:50 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

This just in.

The Ole Miss Alumni Association
is exploring the idea…

…of establishing an “on campus” memorial to honor proud alumni and friends. Throughout our history, Ole Miss has touched many individuals and created a proud and vibrant extended community. And while our school has helped shape the lives of those in pursuit of knowledge, it’s the people themselves who have made Ole Miss truly special.

Inspired by the devotion of our alumni and friends, we are considering the establishment of a small, on-campus memorial garden that would feature a columbarium containing the cremated remains of interested individuals. This permanent memorial would honor those who hold our school so dear to their hearts and give them a special place on our campus. We envision a peaceful garden landscape, complete with strolling walkways and reflection benches. Space in the columbarium would be available for purchase in advance of an individual’s passing.

To help us determine the level of interest in this proposed project, please take a moment to complete this questionnaire by Dec. 20, 2011. Click here for the questionnaire.

I’m voting no.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Woodson Ridge Farms

NMC — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:24:26 +0000

The folks at Woodson Ridge Farms are still doing their Saturday Morning thing from 8-12 out at the farm. They are bringing stuff up from their farm in Louisiana too, along with $8 a pound fresh-from-the-boat Gulf shrimp, which you can have boiled or raw.

This would be a smart move for tailgating. You can call to arrange that if you want through the address at the website noted above, and you can find directions how to get there (it’s simple: Turn left at Littlejohn’s store on Highway 30, go about 1.5 miles to you see their sign on the right. You can get more specific directions on the web).

Here’s the kind of stuff they are having lately:

Bok choi, arugula, baby carrots, baby fennel, greens (mustard, turnip, kale, chard, collards), tomatoes (cherries in various colors and varieties, green and red zebras and other heirlooms, San Marzanos), various kinds of eggplants, peppers, and turnips).

From Louisiana: satsumas, navel oranges, snap beens, cabbage, winter squashes, creole tomatoes, brocoli.

It’s pretty great!

A list of possible coaches and athletic directors for Ole Miss

NMC — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:35:44 +0000

Parish Alford at the Daily Journal has a list with a punch line to it. The Clarion Ledger has a list (with more discussion), too, that share names with Alford’s list:

Kirby Smart. Hugh Freeze. Larry Fedora.

Mike Leach. Manny Diaz. Gus Malzahn.

Mark Hudspeth. Rich Rodriguez. …

There’s the high-profile assistants – Malzahn, the Auburn offensive coordinator and former Nutt assistant at Arkansas; Diaz, the Texas defensive coordinator and former Mississippi State assistant; and Smart, Alabama’s heralded defensive guru.

There’s the mid-level head coaches – Arkansas State’s Freeze, a former Ole Miss assistant; Fedora, the Southern Miss coach; and Hudspeth, the former Mississippi State assistant now leading Louisiana-Lafayette.

Then there’s the unemployed – Leach, the former Texas Tech coach who recently spoke in Jackson, and Rodriguez, the former Michigan and West Virginia coach.