ACCENT

S O U T H M I S S I S S I P P I
WINTER 2010

Paul Ott Carruth, ‘Country Royalty’

BRUCE BRADY’S BRONZES | TRAIN DEPOT’S 100TH BIRTHDAY | BALLROOM DANCING | MILO & MICKEY | CULINARY CAPERS
 w i n t e r 2 0 1 0 | ACC E N T S O U T H M I S S I S S I P P I | V O L . 2 , N O. 1

CONTENTS features
happy birthday
19

PHOTO BY BRENT WALLACE

11 SIMPLE PLEASURES
by Guest Writers
Five South Mississippi writers give new
19 MEET ME AT THE DEPOT
by Shannon Estes
Hattiesburg’s majestically restored train station
appreciation for life’s delights celebrates its centennial

14 BABY, OH BABY!
by Robyn Jackson
Families welcome the opening of the newly
25 JANIE’S PASTRY SHOP
by Trudy Berger
A sweet tradition in Brookhaven
renovated Labor and Delivery Suites at King’s
Daughters Medical Center

16 COLOR HIM PINK

by Trudy Berger
Paul Ott uses his voice to educate other
27 IN SEARCH OF TREASURE
by Charlotte Blom
Thanks to GPS devices, geocaching catches
men about breast cancer on in South Mississippi

2 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 CONTENTS W I N T E R 2 0 1 0 | ACC E N T S O U T H M I S S I S S I P P I

Guest Column
10 SOME FITNESS TIPS TO INSURE
A NEW YOU THIS YEAR
by James Welch

ART
29 RARE AFRICAN-AMERICAN
PHOTOGRAPIC EXHIBIT COMING
TO MUSEUM

31 MILO & MICKEY

Picayune’s Dynamic Duo
in every issue
8 Editor’s Notes
48 In the Kitchen
52 Life in South Mississippi
34 BRADY’S BRONZES
Sculptures in demand after
artist’s death

46 36 RISING LIKE A PHOENIX

Coast artist burns with creativity
36 after Katrina

38 BROADWAY VETERAN SHARES

LOVE OF DANCE WITH SOUTH
MISSISSIPPIANS

40 READ ANY GOOD BOOKS

LATELY?
Reba’s Reviews

42 “PUT SOME GOOD ON MY LIFE”

Author follows God’s will to
Honduras school

44 NEW CHILDREN’S COLORING

BOOK FEATURES AFRICAN-
AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY
MUSEUM

45 CULINARY CAPERS
William Carey University professor
publishes book with son

46 MUSIC MAN
Bluegrass/gospel legend Doyle
Lawson brings Quicksilver to
Hattiesburg

ON THE COVER
34 Paul Ott photographed by
Trudy W. Berger

4 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 CONTRIBUTORS
TRUDY BERGER, a retired business
consultant who moved to Southwest
Mississippi after a 30-year profes-
sional career in Houston, is an elec-
tion commissioner for Pike County
and a volunteer for the Summit
Historical Society, the McComb
Depot Railroad Museum and the
Preservation Commission in her cur-
rent hometown. She is a graduate
of the LSU School of Journalism.
KAREN BLAKENEY is an award-win-
ning writer who lives in Gulfport
with her husband and five children.
Before graduating from Millsaps
College, she studied art and poetry
at St. John's College at Oxford
University. Karen has recently com-
pleted a memoir about her young
son's struggle to overcome Scimitar
Syndrome and Congenital Kyphosis.
She maintains a congenital heart
defects Web site,
www.NathansPrayer.com.
CHARLOTTE BLOM has a bachelor
of arts degree from Vassar College.
She has been freelance copy editing
and writing for years, as well as
sampling unrelated professional
experiences. She enjoys exploring,
hunting and gathering in and around
her home in Hattiesburg.
LOUIS A. GALIANO owns an
antiques store with his wife Debbie
in Picayune. A graduate of
Louisiana State University with twin
degrees in English and business, his
career has been mostly in manage-
ment and in teaching college eco-
nomics. He is presently at work on
his second novel, a sequel to his
first, "Snorkel - Immersions in
Time." Born in New Orleans, he
moved to the Picayune area more
than 20 years ago.
CAROLYN HAINES is a Lucedale
native and author of 13 novels,
including the “Bones” mystery
6 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
series set in the Mississippi Delta.
She is a recipient of the Richard
Wright Award from the Mississippi
Arts Council and will receive the
Harper Lee Award this year from
the Alabama Writers Forum. Her
first anthology of mystery stories,
“Delta Blues,” will be published
May 1 by Tyrus Books, and includes
stories by John Grisham and James
Lee Burke and other Southern
authors, and a foreward by Morgan
Freeman.
REBA J. MCMELLON is a freelance
writer, photographer, columnist and
professional mental health consult-
ant. She reviews books written in or
about the South. Her Wit and
Wisdom column, book reviews and
feature articles have been pub-
lished in newspapers and magazines
nationally and internationally. She
lives in Hurley and is a graduate of
the University of Southern
Mississippi.
JAMES WELCH is a freelance writer
who grew up in the McComb area
and has lived in the Hattiesburg
area for the last six years, with his
high school sweetheart and wife,
Wendy. They have three children,
Ariana, Lauren and Braden. He likes
to treat every day as an adventure,
and with three children under the
age of seven, it usually is.
VALERIE WELLS is a freelance
writer who has covered all aspects
of community journalism for the
past 20 years. A military brat with
deep roots in South Mississippi, she
looks for stories about the shared
history and culture of the region
brought to life by everyday folk.
She has written for national and
regional magazines and has been
editor of several publications and
Web sites. She lives in Hattiesburg
with a patient husband and two
well-adjusted sons.
ACC E N T
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI
Volume 2, Number 1 • Winter 2010
www.accentsouthmississippi.com
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Robyn Jackson
theaccenteditor@aol.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Trudy Berger
Karen Blakeney
Charlotte Blom
Shannon Estes
Louie Galiano
Carolyn Haines
Valerie Wells
GUEST COLUMNISTS
Reba J. McMellon
James Welch
ADVERTISING
For advertising information
Kristi W. Gatlin
Brookhaven and McComb
kristiwgatlin@gmail.com
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Hattiesburg
charlotteblom1@gmail.com
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ACCENT South Mississippi is
published bimonthly by
SoMiss Publishing LLC
Post Office Box 19027
Hattiesburg, MS 39404-9027
SoMiss Publishing LLC.
All rights reserved. Contents of
this magazine may not be
reproduced in any manner without
written consent from Publisher.
ACCENT South Mississippi cannot
be held liable for errors
and omissions.
Printed in the U.S.A.
 EDITOR’S NOTES

SINCERELY SOUTHERN

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
WE WELCOMED A NEW YEAR AND A NEW DECADE ON JAN. 1.

W BASED ON THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 21ST CENTURY, WE

MIGHT NOT FEEL MUCH LIKE CELEBRATING. WHAT IF 2010 IS
JUST AS BAD, OR, GOD FORBID, EVEN WORSE, THAN 2009?
Whether we like it or not, we have started a new year, and we can choose to enter it with fear
and trepidation or hope and anticipation. I choose the latter.
While writing and editing stories for this issue, I was struck by how often the people profiled
had dealt with change and unexpected opportunities in their
lives and emerged the better for it.
Billie Buckley had never aspired to be a writer, but when a
member of her church, who just happened to be the
Hattiesburg American’s religion editor, needed a guest col-
umn, she soon found herself writing weekly, which she did
for 10 years or so. She’s cut back to once a month now, but
she has just self-published a collection of some of her favorite
columns. She titled her book “Put Some Good On My Life,”
and that’s what she tries to do for others.
Paul Ott shares that philosophy. The singer/songwriter and
radio/TV host found out he had breast cancer but instead of
curling up in a ball, he beat his disease and now is “on fire”
to share his faith with others, and to educate men and women
about breast cancer.
Sadako Lewis moved to Mississippi with her husband, who
was in the Air Force, then found herself far from her family in
Sadako Lewis
Japan when they divorced. She went to college and began a
career as an artist, something she had never had the courage
to pursue until she was more or less forced to.
Milo and Mickey Asche lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, and a knee injury disabled
Mickey, but it opened the door to careers for them as artists.
Then there’s Bruce Brady, who changed careers not once, but twice. He had a successful law
practice in Brookhaven when he gave that up to take a job as a field editor for a national maga-
zine. Then, on a whim, he sat down with a chunk of clay and some primitive tools and sculpted
a big horn sheep. Within a few years, he was creating limited edition bronze pieces that have
won awards and are in some prestigious collections, including the Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library.
The point is, we don’t know what the future holds, and with a recession, two wars and many
natural disasters plaguing us, it can be easy to give in to fear. But the examples these people set
show us that life is an adventure, and if we are open to opportunities, they will find us.
It may be a little late, but Happy New Year, and may 2010 be your best year yet.

Robyn Jackson

8 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 GUEST COLUMN | a brand new you
some Fitness Tips to
insure a NEW YOU
this New Year
TEXT BY JAMES WELCH
A wise man once said,
“A journey of a thousand
miles begins with just one
step.” The same is true of
fitness, our journey
begins with one little
step. Getting in shape
doesn’t necessarily
require that you devote
every moment to exercise,
it just requires that you
start taking the steps.
You don’t need to run a
marathon, you just need to start
moving. So let’s stop procrastinat-
ing and begin living healthier this
year, like so many of us resolved
to do. It’s not too late.
You can start by finding cre-
ative ways to get moving.
Anything that you do that causes
you to move will help. Start by
parking a couple of spaces further
from the grocery and walking
those few extra steps. Take the
stairs instead of the elevator, or
take the dog for an extra walk.
Even carrying in the groceries or
raking the leaves count as mov-
ing, and can be beneficial, so be
creative and find new ways to get
moving.
ATTITUDE
One of the most important
pieces of fitness equipment we
have is attitude, so be sure that
you have a good one. Depression
10 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
or stress from work can get in the
way of our positive outlook and
stop us from reaching our full fit-
ness potential. A bad attitude
toward fitness or a negative out-
look can conquer you before you
even get started, so it’s important
to stay on top of stress manage-
ment.
We are all surrounded by
stress, it looms over our lives like
a rain cloud ruining our sunny
day, but it can be controlled. Start
by learning how to see it coming.
One of the biggest mistakes that
we make when it comes to stress
is trying to ignore it, causing it to
build up and explode. But, if we
start paying attention to what our
bodies are telling us, we can catch
it early and deal with it before it
gets out of hand.
However, sometimes you just
need a break and in those situa-
tions I highly recommend an
opposite vacation. An opposite
vacation is a term that I have
coined. During the holidays, I had
nine days off in a row when I
intentionally tried to do the oppo-
site of what I do during my nor-
mal routine. On a work day I
shave, so for nine days I grew a
beard. On a work day, I check the
weather in order to know how to
dress, on opposite vacation I
refused to check on it at all. On
my normal schedule I keep up
with what day it is, so on my
opposite vacation I dodged every
calendar I saw. You get the idea,
and I assure you that it did won-
ders for my mood. Sometimes we
just need a change to get us back
on track.
EAT HEALTHIER
We all know how this one
goes and the sound of it makes us
cringe. But, it doesn’t have to be
that way. The important thing to
remember is to keep it simple.
Simple works and complicated
doesn’t. There are tons of expen-
sive diets out there that will have
you counting everything from
calories to carbohydrates, but
only one thing really counts when
it comes to eating healthier and
that’s keeping it simple.
You don’t need a fancy degree
to know that fatty foods aren’t
good for you or that you can’t get
away with eating that huge slice
of pie anymore. All you need to
do is be thinking about it as you
choose your meals. Maybe bake
some of the things that you used
to fry or swap them for something
a little healthier. And trading the
sweets for fresh fruits, at least
some of the time, will certainly
help as well. Remember, nothing
drastic has to be done, it’s the lit-
tle steps that add up to a spectac-
ular journey.
 SIMPLE
PLEASURES
WE ALL HAVE LITTLE THINGS WE LIKE TO DO THAT GIVE US JOY AND
THAT DON’T HAVE TO COST MUCH, IF ANYTHING.
FIVE SOUTH MISSISSIPPI WRITERS GIVE US A NEW APPRECIATION
FOR LIFE’S SMALL DELIGHTS, FROM PLAYING WITH DOGS TO FINDING
HIDDEN TREASURE IN A JUNK SHOP.

O NE M AN ’ S T REASURE Got to admit it - I’m a junk store junkie. Nothing I like

better than a good Salvation Army or Goodwill in which
to prowl about and await the joy that comes from an
unexpected and sometimes rare find.
Since I own an antiques shop (actually my wife’s but
I might put in a day a week to keep the old hand in)
there have been times when a fairly valuable item might
pop up, but that’s not the main attraction. As I pass the
shelves of plastic knick-knacks and mismatched dishes,
while working my way back to the electronics depart-
ment of Beta VCRs and Commodore 64 computers, I real-
ize that each piece has a history quite apart from its man-
ufacture, its original purchase primarily resulting from
the what “seemed to be a good idea at the time” art of
buying.
But not everything is a loss. Books are recyclable, giv-
ing pleasure to successive readers with each turnover. At
a “twenty books for a dollar” sale at the local Goodwill, I
once bought 60 or so. The clerk lent me a shopping cart
to push them over to my car. As I live in a small town,
my wife got innumerable phone calls all asking at what
point did Louie become a bag man.
Since I’m a little short fellow, the clothing does not
ordinarily fit me. However, there was one time when I
spotted a pretty good pair of Levi’s hanging on the rack
for two bucks that appeared to be tailor-made. When I
went in the dressing room to try them on, I stuck my
hand in the pocket and out popped two dollar bills.
There appearing to be some sort of prophecy at work
here, I brought the jeans up to the counter and paid for
them with the newly acquired pocket change.
Try doing that at Macy’s.
- Louie Galiano

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 11
 T HE W HIRLING
T REAT M ACHINE

When I first moved out to Semmes,

P AGE T URNERS
When I need a little comforting, I never fail to find
it in a book. I learned at an early age that reading
takes my mind from the concerns of the day and
allows a welcome escape. During times of transition
and uncertainty, the familiarity of a favorite author
always bolsters me.
I recall sitting in one of the expansive, sunlit wait-
ing areas of M.D. Anderson with my mom, waiting on
the kind of news no one wants to receive from a doc-
tor. I was reading “Marley and Me,” by John Grogan
and sharing tales of canine misadventures with her.
We giggled and howled, in spite of dire circum-
stances. The book was there to comfort us both, and
I’ll never forget how grateful we were to have that
release.
Words inspire and strengthen me, encourage and
enlighten me. Books offer an opportunity to remove
myself from worry and stress, and that alone provides
both a physical and mental cushion against the rav-
ages of the day. Whether the book is an historical
work, classic fiction or humor, I can always find com-
fort in the pages of a captivating read.
- Kristen Twedt
Ala., I had access to several hundred
acres to ride my horse. The area was won-
derfully unpopulated. While I trotted
Miss Scrapiron or Mirage through the
woods, my dogs ran along with me and
got plenty of exercise. They frolicked in
the underbrush and swam in the lake -
the best doggy life possible.
When the county paved my dead-end
dirt road (which I fought tooth and nail)
the area became prime development.
Everything changed. So today, instead of
woodland rides, the dogs get exercise via
the “whirling treat machine.”
It’s a simple game, but one the dogs
never tire of. I stand in the center of the
yard with a bag of chicken jerky strips.
As I slowly spin in a circle, I toss the
treats as far away as I can while the dogs
(there are six of them) run maniacally in
all directions after the treats.
I also bribe them to vault the horse
jumps, balance on barrels, and leap
through hoola hoops tied in trees in a
makeshift doggy gymkhana. It gives me
intense pleasure to see them play.
- Carolyn Haines

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY PHOTOXPRESS

12
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E YE ON THE S PARROW
About a year ago, I decided I was going to read
through the entire Bible by committing a little time
each morning to the task. I say task because initially,
my approach was more like a student attacking an
assignment instead of a reader seeking joy. Along
the way, a little divine intervention occurred.
Last summer, my husband installed a tubular
birdfeeder just outside our breakfast room window.
A couple of hummingbird feeders were already in
place. A few days after he filled the feeders with
seed and nectar, the birds took notice. As I sat at the
table reading my designated Bible chapters, God’s
creation began to put on a show! I’ve watched an
assortment of hungry visitors—blue jays, robins, car-
dinals, even an occasional ruby-throated humming-
bird.
My morning Bible study is now a simple pleasure.
I look forward to a cozy ritual of sipping hot coffee,
reading God’s word, and watching the birds. Ethel
Waters made a lovely gospel hymn famous. “His eye
is on the sparrow,” she sang. Every once in a while,
mine is, too.
- Karen Blakeney
S CREEN G EMS
Old movies are like comfort food
for me. I’ve been a classic films fan
since childhood, and an aficianado of
all things Warner Bros. since high
school, when I had a big poster of
Humphrey Bogart on the wall of my
bedroom, right next to Peter
Frampton.
I rediscovered the magic of those
old black and white movies seven
years ago, when my mother was
dying of cancer. Getting lost for a
couple of hours in “Casablanca,” or
laughing at the screwball comedy in
“Bringing Up Baby,” took my mind
off my grief for a while. Lucky for
me, Turner Classic Movies obliged
by filling its schedule during those
months with dozens of old favorites
as well as some movies I’d been
wanting to see for years, like “The
Philadelphia Story,” and “The Shop
Around the Corner,” that are now
also must-sees whenever they air.
Even now, I find myself turning to
a good old movie when I need a little
hug and there’s no one around to
give it to me. I love to watch new
movies, too, but when times are
tough and I need an escape, I can
always find it in those flickering
black and white images on my TV
screen. Bogey, Cary, Kate, the two
Jimmys (Stewart and Cagney), Fred
and Ginger and Bette are always
there for me.
- Robyn Jackson
 FEATURES | kdmc labor & delivery

Baby, oh baby!
Families welcome the opening
of King’s Daughters
Medical Center’s
Labor and Delivery Suites

A TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JOHNNY RAINER

Angie Williamson looks forward to the party when the newly

renovated Women’s Center at Brookhaven’s King’s Daughters
Medical Center holds its grand opening. The project to update
the labor and delivery suites and nursery will be something
worth celebrating.
“It’s been 18 months and we’re still not done with the nurs-
ery,” Williamson said. “Hopefully we’re going to be in our
completed nursery by the first of April. When I’m sure every-
thing is finished, we’re going to have a big blow-out.”
An average of 700 babies are born at King’s Daughters
Medical Center each year. The hospital serves Lincoln County,
as well as parts of Pike, Lawrence, Franklin and Copiah.
The update is part of a much larger renovation project at
the hospital, said Johnny Rainer, chief development officer.
“The entire hospital renovation project was in excess of $12
million.”
Williamson, a Registered Nurse, supervises the Labor,
Delivery, Recovery and Post-Partum unit, or LBRP, for short. It
has nine fully-functioning suites with all new bedding and
medical equipment, including electronic monitoring and chart-
ing. “That makes the nurse more accessible to the patient,”
she said.
Williamson said KDMC had the first LDRP in the state, and
while some hospitals have gotten away from the model of
keeping the mother in one room from start to finish, “We still
do it the old-timey way,” she said. “We keep them in the same
room so that they don’t have to pack up and move to another
room after the baby is born.”
Because the new mother and her family spend so much time
in the suites - they have to stay for 36 hours after delivery, to
make sure everything is OK with mother and baby - Williamson
wanted the newly renovated rooms to have a warm, homey
feeling.
“I wanted to make it like a really exclusive bedroom,” she
said. She chose a soothing palate of mossy green and beige

14 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
with maple hardwood floors and cabinetry. There’s a
comfortable rocker/recliner, as well as a sofa that
pulls out in case Dad wants to sleep there overnight.
There is also an LCD television in every room.
The attached bathrooms have also been renovated
and each has a garden tub. A lavatory has been
added to each room to make it handy for hand-wash-
ing without having to go into the bathroom.
“We have a place for everybody to come in and
wash their hands before they pick up your baby,”
she said.
Lighting is muted, so that it has more of a home
feeling, but there are also exam lights built into the
ceiling. “It has a really intense beam so the doctor
has enough light,” Williamson said.
There are also two observation rooms where
expectant moms can be watched prior to admission
to make sure they really are in labor.
“These are as well labor and delivery beds in case
we have to overflow,” Williamson said.
The babies can stay in the nursery down the hall,
which is staffed 24-hours a day, but King’s Daughters
also offers rooming-in, where the baby stays in the
same room with the mother, if that is preferred.
“We’re one of the last remaining 24-hour fully-
functional nurseries,” Williamson said. “We’ve got a
minimum of two nurses who are in there all night
long to do nothing but care for babies. In our new
nursery, once we get that construction completed,
we’ve enlarged it so we can have up to 20 well
babies in it.”
There is a fully-functioning operating room on the
floor, in case it’s needed. Doctors also administer
anesthesia themselves so they don’t have to wait for
an anesthesiologist to become available.
KDMC has four board-certified obstetrician/gyne-
cologists, a pediatric cardiologist and two board cer-
tified pediatricians, as well as a lactation consultant
to help mothers who are nursing.
The labor and delivery team had to move off their
floor during the 18-month renovation project, and
Williamson said they are glad to be home again.
“It’s so nice to be able to have our own showers
and tubs back,” Williamson said.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 15
 FEATURES | paul ott carruth

C OLOR H IM pink

P AUL O TT uses his voice to educate men about

t
breast cancer
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRUDY W. BERGER
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CARLA CARRUTH TIGNER
To some people in the multi-billion dollar tourism industry, he is known
as the “Voice of the South.” Still others in his five-state audience think of
him as the “Eagle,” from the title of his weekly radio and television show
“Listen to the Eagle.” But to fellow cancer survivors Paul Ott is a kindred
spirit and a beacon of hope in an often disconsolate and disheartening land-
scape of doctors and medical procedures.
Paul Ott Carruth’s journey began 76 years ago not many yards away from
the room in which he sits and reminisces this beautiful wintry afternoon on
Lake Dixie Springs, where Paul shares a lovely wooded lake home with his

16 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
wife, Linda. His first wife, Alberta, mother of three
of his children, died of ovarian cancer at the young
age of 44, after a two-year struggle with the dis-
ease. Paul’s daughter Carla Carruth Tigner, co-host
of his weekly program, shocked him with the news
that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer at
the age of 42 – the same age that her mother had
been diagnosed with cancer. Two years later, in
2007, Paul discovered a lump in his breast actually
during a taping of the show.
Although the outcomes of the father and daugh-
ter cancer stories are similar, the course of their
treatment varied. Carla’s cancer required a double
mastectomy and chemotherapy; in March she will
mark five years since initial diagnosis. She discov-
ered her lump through self-exam but treatment was
delayed when subsequent mammograms and ultra-
sound failed to confirm the presence of the lump.
Her advice to women and men alike: “Be proactive
and persistent in seeking medical attention; don’t
be put off or intimidated by doctors and don’t stop
until you get the attention you feel you need.”
Paul had a mammogram, was referred immedi-
ately for surgery and had a mastectomy; his cancer
required neither chemotherapy nor radiation.
During an appearance on NBC’s Today Show, his
cancer was described as “necrotic” – the tumor had
Paul’s daughter, Carla Carruth Tigner,
and his step-brothers are a big part
of his support team.
literally died from lack of blood supply. Paul
believes that the tumor died because the Lord
killed the blood supply. He does not require
lengthy medical explanations for what he considers
to be the Lord’s work.
The big “C” shakes people and changes people –
Paul’s “C” began when he was in the third grade
and became a Christian, joining First Baptist
Church in Summit. He graduated from high school
in Summit and from Southwest Mississippi
Community College before going on to obtain his
teaching degree at the University of Southern
Mississippi. He taught physical education in the
Hattiesburg schools and worked at the YMCA for
several years before returning to Pike County with
his young family. His passion for the outdoors and
wildlife conservation - often expressed in songs -
were kindled while living in Hattiesburg and there
is literally no recognition or award in that area
which has escaped him.
Paul’s calendar is filled with speaking engage-
ments and public appearance, church conferences
and rallies. At a time when many people his age are
slowing down, he seems to be hitting his stride. He
and wife Linda are frequently on the road to these
various engagements, and when home, nothing
pleases them more than having a house filled with
any number of their 13 grandchildren ranging in
age from two months to 20 years.
“There ought to be a law against a man being
this happy,” Paul says with a broad smile.
When asked what he regrets at this stage of his
life, Paul answers enthusiastically “I just wish that
I had used the first 65 years as well
as I have these last 10. Since having
cancer, I am on fire to give my testi-
mony and get the message about the
Lord out to people.”
Paul refers to himself as the poster
child for men with breast cancer but
taken together, he and Carla are truly
the dynamic duo. They served
together as co-chairs for the Susan G.
Komen Breast Cancer Campaign
statewide in Mississippi. So broad is
their appeal that Carla and Paul are
now on the radar screen for an inter-
national breast cancer campaign.
“When I’m gone, I just want peo-
ple to know that I left more behind
than I ever took away from any-
thing,” Paul says. “I think that’s how
the Lord intended for us to live our
lives and I think He left me here and
gave me all this energy for a really
good reason.”
And don’t you doubt for a minute
that Paul Ott would wear pink!

One of Paul’s greatest joys is time

spent with his family. Below are
five of his grandchildren.

LISTEN TO PAUL OTT

“Listen to the Eagle,” Paul Ott’s live

call-in radio show, can be heard at
6 p.m. Mondays on WAKH 105.7 FM
in McComb, KFNV 107.1 FM in
Natchez and WJDR, 98.3 FM in
Prentiss; and WMXI 98.1 FM in
Hattiesburg/Laurel, WXAB 98.9 FM
and WIGG 1240 AM in Wiggins,
WRJW 1320 AM in Picayune, WRBE
106.9 FM in Lucedale and WOSM
103.1 FM on the Gulf Coast.
You can also go to listentotheea-
gle.com. Call 1-800-251-5891 or
#444 on Cellular South.
His TV show airs at 6 a.m. Sundays
on WHLT in Hattiesburg and at 5:30
a.m. Sundays on WJTV in Jackson.
PHOTO BY BRENT WALLACE

MEET ME AT THE DEPOT

Hattiesburg’s majestically restored train station
celebrates its centennial

J TEXT BY SHANNON L. ESTES

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES
Just imagine downtown Hattiesburg a hundred
years ago. You can see the bustling little town of
several hundred people, mostly sawmill workers,
buzzing with excitement over the new addition to
an area now known as the Newman-Buschman
Historic District. The town built by railroads and
sawmills was now connected to the outside world
by a 14,900 square foot, Italian-Renaissance-style,
tile roofed train depot.
Adding to the pride felt by city residents that
day was the fact that the depot wasn’t designed by
just any architect. It was designed by Frank P.
Milburn.
The station was designed to reflect the booming
little lumber town’s attitudes and vision of a grand
future.
Through the years the depot has served the Hub
City as a transportation mode, contributed to music
legend, helped win two world wars and has been a
cornerstone of the revitalization of downtown.
Now, a few years after the completion of a $7.6 mil-
lion restoration, Hattiesburg residents are taking
pride in the building’s approaching 100th birthday.
“This depot is a real addition to historic
Hattiesburg,” said Graham Hale, 74, as he waited
for a train in mid January. “This building is a real
“Milburn was a pretty famous architect who was asset to the community.”
well known for his depot designs,” said Sarah
Newton of Albert and Associates Architects. “The A TIME TO CELEBRATE
Italian-Renaissance style was pretty popular As the depot’s birthday approaches, the impor-
(around the turn of the 20th century).” tance of that historic milestone will be celebrated

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 19
 with several planned events,
beginning Feb. 13.
“We will host an event in
the Grand Ball Room,” said
Glenn Sanders, president of
the Mississippi Great
Southern Chapter of the
National Railway Historical
Society. “There will be a
banquet and a swap meet.”
The city is planning an
open house during Spring
Art Walk on April 17 that
will highlight the history
and restoration process of
the train depot.
“The 100-year milestone is
an important one,” said
Betsy Rowell, executive
director of the Historic
Hattiesburg Downtown
PHOTO BY PAUL HOWELL

PHOTO BY BRENT WALLACE

PHOTO BY BRENT WALLACE
Association. “The depot is actu-
ally one of our cornerstone build-
ings.”
The downtown association has
planned events that are separate
from the official open house the
city is hosting.
“There will be a sculpture
exhibit during March and April
using elements from railroads,
such as rails, cross-tie beams,
spikes and so forth. It is really an
unusual art exhibit,” Rowell said.
“There will also be a Summer
Heritage Food Fest on June 18-
19.”
FROM THE START
In the beginning, Hattiesburg’s
train depot was the center of
transportation in this part of the
Pine Belt. Before the construction
of highways, the affordability of
the family car, and the advent of
commercial airlines, most long
distance overland journeys were
done via passenger train.
Not long after the train station
opened for business, Hattiesburg
became known as the “Hub City”
and the depot was its center.
“If you look at old railroad
maps from those days you’ll see
Hattiesburg in the middle of all
these different rail lines,”
Sanders said. “Hattiesburg was in
the hub of all these railroads.”
PEAKS AND VALLEYS
Commuter traffic at the site
probably reached its peak in the
early 1940s when more than
100,000 soldiers passed through
Camp Shelby on their way to
Africa, Europe and Asia to fight
the Axis powers.
“My parents told me of how
there used to be train after train
after train loaded down with sol-
diers coming into that station,”
PHOTO COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES
said Patti Mowery, a lifelong res-
ident of Hattiesburg. “There used
to be a Greyhound station down-
town. My parents said there
would be many, many buses
pulling out of there loaded down
with soldiers who had left the
train station.”
Traffic through the depot
dropped off during the 1950s.
The era of the family car and the
commercial jet had arrived. By
the 1960s the station was used as
a freight depot due to the declin-
ing number of passengers. As
usage fell, deterioration set in.
As the 21st century
approached, demolition of the
old hub of the Hub City was dis-
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 21
 cussed. However, the value of
the old depot was just too great
to let the building be destroyed.
And that value was more than
just financial, said Johnny
DuPree, mayor of Hattiesburg.
Due to the cultural and histori-
cal value of the depot, the
restoration project became one of
DuPree’s first projects as mayor.
After six years, that effort came
to fruition.
“It has been a long time com-
ing but the results are outstand-
ing,” the mayor said. “The train
station, in my opinion, is one of
the most beautiful buildings in
Hattiesburg and it was the begin-
ning of changing the look of
downtown.”
Amtrak passenger Saint
Missionary Beatrice Vaughn, 84,
agreed with DuPree and lauded
the city’s efforts to restore its
depot and downtown area.
“It’s so nice in here. It is so
clean and peaceful,” she said.
“Hattiesburg is such a clean city.
The way they have restored this
building and the way they keep
their city reminds me of
Canada.”
PART OF MUSIC LEGEND
Among the important events
surrounding this downtown cor-
nerstone is, according to legend,
the birth of rock and roll at the
depot. In 1936, Blind Roosevelt
Graves performed the first guitar
riff at the depot, according to
rock historian Robert Palmer.
“I don’t think Hattiesburg gets
enough credit for its role in
music history,” said Matthew
Curtis, who works at C&M Music
in Hattiesburg. “According to the
legend, this is the birthplace of
rock and roll. This is where it all
started.”
Legends, however, are stories
22 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
of events that are perceived to
have happened. That means they
may or may not be true. The lack
of evidence of Graves having
played- or not played - the first
guitar riff in the train depot
leaves the story open for debate,
said Adam McAdory, also with
C&M Music.
“There’s just not enough proof
that it actually happened,”
McAdory said. “If there was, it
would be on billboards. Proof
would make it a bigger deal.”
But proven or not, the story is
a good one.
“Hattiesburg definitely does
not promote that story enough,”
Curtis said.
THE LOVE OF A
COMMUNITY
A building such as this is
brought back from the brink of
destruction only when a commu-
nity loves it too much to let it go.
From citizens, to politicians, to
construction workers and archi-
tects, those involved in saving
this historic structure take pride
in their accomplishment.
The building was in very poor
shape when the reconstruction
efforts began and had to be com-
pletely gutted and refurbished,
said Newton, the lead architect
on the depot restoration project.
Its days as a freight depot had
destroyed the terrazzo tile floor
in the Grand Hall. Water poured
through the roof and the ceiling
had been destroyed. All of the
original doors and most of the
windows were either gone or
damaged. And all that was just
some of the damage that had to
be repaired.
“When we remodeled we tried
to keep it as close to its original
design as possible,” she said.
“The contractors did a good job
and we were very pleased with
the end result.”
A few modern amenities were
added, however, to make life
more convenient for Amtrak pas-
sengers, such as an air condition-
ing system and a clock tower.
“It’s nice to see it occupied
and full of life,” Newton said
with a smile. “It’s better to have
a building like this repaired and
utilized than to just sit there and
be an eyesore.”
Rowell agreed. “It gives peo-
ple an opportunity to come
downtown for event exposure to
what we are doing downtown.
Many times these are people who
wouldn’t necessarily come down-
town otherwise.”
Funding for the restoration
came from several sources,
including the federal govern-
ment, the Mississippi
Department of Transportation
and the city of Hattiesburg.
“Most of it was federal
money,” Newton said. “We origi-
nally intended to do the project
in phases, but by the time the
city was ready to begin the fund-
ing had come through. So we did
the whole project.”
Once the work was underway
in November 2004, there were
very few snags, Newton said.
“Everything went pretty smooth-
ly. We even had Hurricane
Katrina in the middle of it, and
yet there were still very few hic-
cups.”
While the old depot has had
its ups and downs, a century
later it is still being used.
“The building is a venue for
events, both large and small,”
Rowell said. “Weddings and
receptions are held there, as well
as large scale events.”
The city assumed ownership of
the building in 2000 and the ren-
PHOTO BY PAUL HOWELL
ovations were completed several
years later. A black tie gala
marked the rededication of the
old depot on April 21, 2007.
“Over the years investment
with public dollars has equaled
that of the private investment,”
Rowell said. “It is a very, very
positive thing to see our elected
officials help save important his-
toric buildings such as the
depot.”
The high level of investments
and involvement involved in sav-
ing the depot was well worth it,
she said. “The cost augments
what we are trying to do. It’s
always wonderful to save a build-
ing in the public domain.
Anytime we can save a landmark
building it is good for
Hattiesburg. Downtown is com-
ing of age”
The restoration project took on
a personal note for many Pine
Belt residents. Mowery, in partic-
ular, gets emotional when
recounting the many events from
her childhood that occurred at
the depot. The daughter of a rail-
road employee, the old station
has always been a part of her life.
“I grew up down there,” she
said. “I can remember the porters
rolling me out to the trains to
load the luggage. And the
(restored) depot is just as beauti-
PHOTO COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES
ful as I remember it.”
NOT JUST A LANDMARK
The old depot is a unique land-
mark that brings back fond mem-
ories for many Pine Belt residents
and is a show piece for a down-
town determined to revitalize.
But it is more than just those
things. It’s still a functioning
train station.
Vaughn, a New York resident,
said she has ridden trains all her
life and really enjoys the experi-
ence. For her, rails are the only
way to travel long distance.
“At my age, I don’t need to be
on the highway in a car. And
buses? Forget about them. They
ride rough and make too many
stops. Give me a train any day.”
In fiscal year 2009, more than
11,100 people boarded or
unboarded Amtrak trains at the
depot. These passengers generat-
ed roughly $625,000 in ticket
sales, according to a fact sheet on
Amtrak’s Web site.
A train known as the Crescent
takes passengers to or from New
Orleans, Birmingham, Ala.,
Atlanta, Ga., Charlotte, N.C.,
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia,
Pa., Baltimore, Md. and New
York. The train makes two daily
stops in Hattiesburg.
As Hale waited for his train to
take him to his granddaughter’s
wedding in Birmingham on that
nippy January morning, he
smiled proudly as he talked
about the improved conditions of
the facility.
“It’s a wonderful restoration.
They did a really good job,” Hale
said. “This is the first time in 25
years that I’ve taken a train. I
have a foot problem and I could-
n’t drive up there. So, I decided
to go by train.”
Although it’s been a while
since he boarded a passenger
train, Hale is no stranger to that
mode of transportation.
“I went to college in
Charlottesville, Va., and I rode
the train from Meridian to there
and back. My parents would pick
me up in Meridian and take me
to Jackson (where the family
lived),” he said. “My children
ride the train all the time and
when I hurt my foot, they said I
would enjoy it.”
A NATIONAL STAGE
For a short time on this very
spot, Hattiesburg became the cen-
ter of national attention and a
part of presidential history when
then-Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton arrived to stump for the
Democrat party’s nomination in
March of 2008.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 23
 Nearly 12,000 people turned
out to see the presidential candi-
date and former first lady as she
asked for their votes. Downtown
was so crowded that a line to get
into the station’s ballroom
snaked back and forth along the
train tracks and spilled into the
streets.
Mayor DuPree remembers that
chilly, misty morning as well. He
was the one who introduced the
Pine Belt to the woman who
would become secretary of state.
That day “was one of crazed
excitement and monumental
exposure for Hattiesburg,”
DuPree said. “As thousands
poured onto the premises of
Hattiesburg’s train depot it was
evident that the millions of dol-
lars that were used to renovate
this facility was worth it and
allowed the nation to peer into
the heart of one of America’s
most livable small cities.”
Although there were many
layers of security put in place by
the secret service, “it did not dis-
pel the surreal atmosphere that
gave way to an event that
changed the course of our
nation’s history,” he said.
LOOKING FORWARD
As its 100th birthday
approaches, the old depot still
PHOTO BY PAUL HOWELL
serves Hattiesburg as an inter-
modal transit facility, a show-
piece and a link to the days gone
by. But there is one other service
that the depot provides for the
Hub City. It serves as a majestic,
silent lure that keeps visitors
wanting to return.
“This place is so nice I could
just forget about New York,”
Vaughn said while awaiting her
train. “I will be back.”
AMENITIES
So that Grand Hall could serve
not only as a passenger hall but
also as a much needed event
space, the renovation program
called for an alternate passenger
waiting room that would provide
all of the modern amenities of
intermodal transit. The ticketing
area was designed to accommo-
date local and regional bus serv-
ice, rail service, and a welcome
center for visitors to the area.
An historic emblem celebrat-
ing Hattiesburg as the Hub City
was recreated with water jet cut
terrazzo on the floor.
PASSENGER PLATFORM
The Hattiesburg Train Depot
once boasted having one of the
longest covered passenger plat-
forms at 924 feet.
Over the years, 200 feet at
either end of the canopy was
removed, shortening the covered
portion of the platform to around
500 feet.
During the restoration, the
entire platform was demolished
and replaced. A raised platform
with ramp access created a grade
entry to Grand Hall. New canopy
extensions were added to com-
plement the historic canopy. The
restored canopy is slightly short-
er than the original.
AWARD WINNER
The depot restoration project
won a Mississippi American
Institute of Architects Honor
Award in 2009.
Source: Albert & Associates
Architects
FOUNDING
In August of 1880, during a
railroad survey trip from
Meridian to New Orleans, Capt.
William Hardy stopped to rest
and have lunch. He drew a line
through the virgin pine forest
and intersected the New Orleans
and North Eastern Railroad
where the city of Hattiesburg is
now located. Hardy decided to
locate a train station here and
named it “Hattiesburg” in honor
of his second wife, Hattie Lott
Hardy.
Source: Hattiesburg Historical
Society
DETAILS
Location: 308 Newman St.,
Hattiesburg
Building Area: 14,900 sq. ft.
Cost per Square Foot: $342
Construction Cost: $7,615,909*
Date of Completion: March 2007
 JANIE’S PASTRY SHOP
a sweet tradition in Brookhaven
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRUDY W. BERGER
W
Walk through the doors of
this Lincoln County bake
shop and you will imme-
diately sense a sugar rush
as well as the sense of nos-
talgia. Janie’s Pastry Shop
has operated continuously
since 1939, in the same
location since 1941, all but
eight years by members of one extended “family.”
Customers come from all around, surrounding
counties, Hattiesburg, Jackson, New Orleans, the
Delta, Alabama, California and all the other
states. What is the allure of this place filled with
cakes, pies, Mardi Gras king cakes, doughnuts,
and all manner of sweet rolls and cookies? It has
to be the rock-solid character and constancy of its
namesake, Janie Stogner.
Janie and husband Keith Stogner have owned
the pastry shop in its current format since
November of 1989, but Janie literally grew up in
the shop. Her parents, Walter and Lottie Moak,
worked for the shop’s founders, Janie and
Norman Traver. So close were the two families
that Janie was named for Mrs. Traver, who died
just one week prior to Janie’s birth.
“Some of my earliest memories are of toddling
around this store watching Mr. Traver and my
dad bake and my mom work the front counter,”
Janie recalls. “Then when Mr. Traver got older
and ready to retire, my parents gradually bought
him out. But as I grew up working in the shop, I
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 25

guess I resented everything hav-
ing to be done my dad’s way, so I
finally left and went to work dec-
orating cakes for Kroger in
McComb.”
That stint away from the shop
turned into an eight year sojourn
for Janie, during which time she
married Keith and expanded her
skill set and business experience.
Returning to Brookhaven, Janie
decided to buy the Pastry Shop
back from its current owners. It
had changed hands a couple of
times once her parents had
retired, but wisely Janie and her
brother had retained ownership
of the name and recipes. Janie set
about obtaining a bank loan and
purchasing the business she was
destined to own and operate.
Known far and wide for her
decorated cakes, Janie comments
“All of my cakes are made from
scratch with fresh ingredients.”
The afternoon of the interview
the front door opened and closed
with a constant stream of cus-
tomers. Morning business is
heavy as well with coffee
drinkers, doughnut and pastry
seekers. Lunchtime finds a steady
26 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
stream of customers seeking tasty
items from the lunch menu.
Although the hours she puts in
are still long, Janie says “I’ve cut
back - I don’t work 36 hours
straight the ways I used to.” Of
course when she gets ready for
Valentine’s Day and fills her dis-
play cases with hand-dipped
thousand strawberries in scrump-
tious melted chocolate by the
thousands she will doubtless pull
another 36 hour tour of duty.
Janie loves what she does and
she loves her shop – she has the
quiet assurance and confidence
that comes with experience and
faith, and she has both in abun-
dance.
As Brookhaven enjoys a rebirth
of its downtown area through
restoration, renovation and
preservation of older buildings,
Janie is particularly appreciative
of the fact that she was able to
retain the location of her shop.
“Sure, my customers would
have probably followed me to
another place,” she says with a
broad smile, “but I’m not so sure
about my dad.” You see, Walter
Moak still inhabits Janie’s Pastry
Janie’s Pastry Shop, 206 S.
Whitworth Ave., one block
south of the depot and across
from the log cabin in downtown
Brookhaven;
(601) 833-4321
Open 5:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday–Saturday
Shop. “I know whenever he’s
here; I can hear him whistling
sometimes. And I’m just not sure
he’d go with me to another build-
ing,” Janie says.
The shop is 71 years old now
and she looks forward to cele-
brating 75 years in business.
“I just think it would be so
neat to have a big 75th celebra-
tion. Another thing I think is neat
is that one of my customers
comes in once a month to fill up
a container of cookies to send to
his grandson who’s serving in
Iraq,” Janie says.
With customers like that, there
is no doubt Janie Stogner will
attain whatever goal she sets.
JANIE’S FAMOUS PECAN PIE
1 cup sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup pecans
Bake in unbaked pie shell at
350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
in search of
TR E A S U R E
E
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE BLOM
Euphoric from a four-mile walk
on Longleaf Trace in late
November, I neared the parking
lot alone with my thoughts, left to
appreciate the trees and silence
around me. Or so I thought, until
I heard my name. But no one was
there, so I ignored it. Then I
heard it again.
I spun around and saw a figure
about 100 feet away stepping out
of the woods. I waved and actual-
ly turned to walk away awkward-
Thanks to GPS devices, geocaching
catches on in South Mississippi
ly. “It’s Devon!” he shouted. This
further compounded my confu-
sion; I hadn’t known a Devon
since my high school days in New
York a million years ago.
Turns out it was my friend,
Evan Williamson, a 28-year-old
librarian at the Library of
Hattiesburg, Petal & Forrest
County. And he was on a mod-
ern-day treasure hunt.
Started by some folks in
Washington, Geocaching has been
around since 2000 when the
Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
became more accurate for the
usage of everyday people (the
selective availability caused by
scrambling was done away with).
Since then, the “sport” has made
its way to all seven continents.
This past November, it even
snuck onto the big screen, in the
indie flick “Splinterheads.”
A cache (container with a log
and goodies available for trade)
can vary in complexity. They can
be multi-stepped puzzles, and
some - called bugs - are even
implanted with tracking devices.
The “sport” also has a ton of spe-
cialized lingo, like, after caches
are found, users note that on its
corresponding Web page, often
ending with TFTC (thanks for the
cache). As of this January morn-
ing, www.geocaching.com reports
there are 978,648 active caches
hidden around the world. Last
time I punched in the
Hattiesburg-39401 zip code, 145
records pulled up in close range,
and 3,033 records appeared with-
in a 100-mile radius of the area.
But until Evan and I crossed
paths, I had only vaguely heard
of geocaching, so of course, I
wanted to see for myself.
Evan checked the GPS appli-
cation on his iPhone (a plausible
theory as to why geocaching has
regained popularity as of late) for
which he paid $10 to download.
He said the cache we were look-
ing for was about a mile away.
The air was getting chillier as the
sun went down, it being a regular
fall day, but the fact that I wasn’t
wearing proper coverage wasn’t
going to hinder this mission.
“It puts purpose in what I do
anyway,” Evan, who keeps a tent
and a sleeping bag in his trunk
and prefers comics and video
games to regular sports,
explained. “I like to travel, go on
road trips, and take walks out
here or downtown. This just gave
reason to it. I can walk aimlessly,
go get some groceries and stagger
back, or I can use my GPS to do
this.”
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 27
 When we’d walked the allotted
amount, Evan punched things in
his phone again and we jumped
off trail, slightly scrambling over
the small mound covered in dead
leaves and pine needles. The
iPhone GPS has about a 25-foot
radius of accuracy, meaning the
compass has lots of chances to
overshoot the actual location you
want. Most people who hide
caches also leave you cryptic clues
(via the Web site) which Evan
prefers. In general, he says he only
devotes 10 minutes to locate a hid-
ing spot.
But on this day, we must have
spent 20 minutes just looking for
the one cache. The clues were
vague and inaccurate, telling us to
look for a tree that wasn’t there,
for instance. And after kicking
through piles of pine needles
repeatedly, it turned out the ammo
box was hidden on the other side
of the path.
Despite occasional logistical
snags, Evan says he has taken to
geocaching because he “likes
crosswords better than word
searches.”
Caches can be made out of
anything, from as little as match
containers to the typical ammo
boxes or more unique objects.
Once Evan found a ceramic pump-
kin in Alabama, which is the far-
thest he has traveled to geocache.
Some people, though, go to much
greater lengths for the off-beat
sport, such as attending conven-
tions around the world, or going
to “GeoWoodstock” which meets
at different locations every year
(and will enjoy its eighth anniver-
sary in July in Carnation, Wash.).
Abbey Magruder, 50, Internet
publisher/consultant in
Ridgeland, is an avid duck hunter
and outdoorsman as well as very
active in the Boy Scouts, and has
geocached across the U.S. from
New Mexico to North Carolina.
“It’s actually more of an addic-
28 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
tion than anything else. It is a
tremendous about of fun,” Abbey
said. “And it’s a healthy thing
because it gets you out. It’s fun
going off to places in the woods.”
Evan found his first cache was
in downtown Hattiesburg. He says
they’re hidden everywhere,
including on University of
Southern Mississippi’s campus. In
fact, the geocaching world is often
intertwined with the “regular”
world, co-existing right under the
noses of “muggles” (a nod to J.K.
Rowling’s Harry Potter series).
One member of the geo-site has
hidden a cache in Hattiesburg’s
Town Square Park, but warns of
high “muggle” traffic during Live
at 5 performances and the Pine
Belt Farmers & Artisan’s Market.
Greg Bryant, 49, vice president
of Howard Industries, says the
creativity and adventure is pre-
cisely why he likes it.
“It takes you to places and
shows you things you never
would have known about other-
wise.” Greg said.
Like Evan, Greg also doesn’t
count regular sports as his main
thrill. In addition to geocaching,
his current preferred activities are
skydiving and race cars. He has
planted geocoins and travel bugs
that have made it to all 50 states,
and overseas to places like Japan,
Germany, Switzerland and
Czechoslovakia.
People of all ages and genders
can do geocaching. People com-
pete against each other in teams or
just go it alone. The site has “8th
Grade local culture class in
Purvis” as a registered user, and
I’ve been told of husband-and-
wife teams.
When Evan and I finally found
the cache box, my sneakers were
muddy, I had stray pine needles in
my hair, and I was beginning to
question the fuss. Yet, at the sight
of the ammo box, I found myself
geo-geeking-out over the loot, and
asking how far we were from the
next.
Since then, Evan has also
accompanied me on a minor excur-
sion to a cache at Veterans
Memorial Park in downtown
Hattiesburg. It’s a notably more
difficult hunt without an iPhone or
GPS, but Evan says it’s possible. I
hope to find out.
TFTC.
Rare African-American
photographic exhibit
coming to museum

TEXT BY LEIF MUNKEL

Rare pieces of Mississippi’s Civil War

history will be on display at the African-
American Military History Museum dur-
ing the month of February. A unique col-
lection of 13 seldom-seen photographs is
on loan from the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of
Art in Biloxi and features original Civil
War photography from the private collec-
tions of C.P. Kitty Weaver of
Massachusetts and Isiah Edwards of Long
Beach.
“It is an honor to have these rare photo-
graphs in our museum,” said Hattiesburg
Convention Commission Executive
Director Rick Taylor. “Most
Mississippians have never seen these pho-
tos or know the stories associated with
them.”
“The Native Guard: A Photographic
History of Ship Island’s African American
Regiment,” tells the history of the 2nd
Regiment of the Louisiana Native Guards
serving on Ship Island in the Mississippi
Sound during the Civil War. The
Louisiana Native Guard began as a
Confederate regiment of free black men,
but when New Orleans fell to Union
troops the regiment disbanded. In need of
reinforcements, the Union Army called for
all black Confederate soldiers to join. In
September of 1862, the 1st Regiment of the
Louisiana Native Guard was formed.
The photographs come from the per-
sonal diary of Col. Nathan W. Daniels, the
leader of the 2nd Regiment. Daniels
fought for African-American rights after
the war until his death in 1867. The photo-
graphs provide a rare look at the African
American regiment through the eyes of a
white officer. Each photograph is accom-
panied by Colonel Daniels’ captions and
descriptions along with the date.
The exhibit will be open to the public,
free of charge, during normal museum
hours. For more information about the
exhibit, call (601) 450-1942 or visit
www.HattiesburgUso.com.

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 29
The art of Milo and Mickey Asche can be seen at Galiano’s Antiques, Fine Arts,
and Baby Boutique, 101 N. Main St., Picayune, (601) 799-3929, or by appoint-
ment only at Asche Studios, www.aschestudios.com, (601) 799-3235.

MILO and MICKEY

M
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY LOUIE GALIANO

MICKEY ASCHE REMEMBERS THE DAY HIS LIFE CHANGED. IT HAP-

PENED WHEN HE AND A DATE WERE SITTING IN A RESTAURANT
GETTING READY TO EAT. THE WAITER CAME TO TAKE THE ORDER
AND MILO ASKED FOR THE DESSERT MENU.
“But we haven’t eaten anything yet,” Mickey said.
“I think I’ll have the chocolate pie first,” Milo said.
Enter Milo the free spirit, whom husband Mickey says has taught him that life was not structured
according to the standard methods of custom, and who gave him the courage and daring to become one of
the finest up-and-coming wildlife and landscape artists in the South.
Milo and Mickey Asche are a team, each complementing the other in ways that are subtle, unconcealed,
and endearing. Both come from different backgrounds, led different lives, and came together while surviv-
ing loss, yet turning it into a gain. Milo was born in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Mickey, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Early on, Mickey’s family moved to Picayune, whereas Milo followed a friend to Slidell, La. They met
there in a theater production, and it was there that they decided to put down roots.
But four months later, Hurricane Katrina put an end to that prospect, totally destroying their home and
most possessions. Mickey, an aircraft mechanic with Chevron, and Milo, a self-employed massage thera-
pist, moved to higher ground in Picayune, where Mickey’s company had set up a trailer park for displaced

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 31
 ART | milo & mickey

employees. But one morning on his way to work, a recur-

ring knee injury disabled Mickey. Still, the condition allowed
him and Milo the opportunity to pursue their original aspi-
rations - painting.
Milo started in acrylics, Mickey in watercolor and for
the next few months they painted constantly.
“We had so many paintings we didn’t know what to do
with them,” Mickey said. “So we decided to walk around
the streets of Picayune and see if anyone was interested in
buying them.”
Milo sold her first painting for $40,
Luck struck when the couple walked into Galiano’s
Antiques and met Debbie Galiano, who recognized the nas-
cent talent of the blossoming artists and who began to dis-
play whatever prints and paintings Milo and Mickey deliv-
ered.
“Debbie sold many of our works and gave us encourage-
ment,” Milo said. “We’ll always have a soft spot in our
hearts for her. She started us on our way.”
After surgery and recuperation, Mickey returned to his
original job, but within a few days he realized that in the
interim his life had veered toward a different course.

“People thought that I was crazy

for leaving a great job, but painting
was all I wanted to do.”
So how do things work out when one scraps it all to

32 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
follow the dream? Mickey’s oils now command
thousands of dollars. He is featured in Artists
magazine, where he placed in the wildlife division
of a competition, and his prints are published
through Live Oak Editions which sells his work
from the Carolinas to east Texas. Last year, he was
commissioned to do the official poster for the
Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival.
“I never doubted for a minute that Mickey
Asche would be a great artist,” said Milo.
With her own works, Milo attained “Best in
Show” at the Slidell Arts Evening and won the
“Best Landscape” division in the St. Bernard Art
Guild.
The Asches recently rented a house in which to
do nothing but paint and return to their home at
night.
“We found that there were too many distrac-
tions in our own place,” Mickey said, “particularly
with our four dogs. It was when I was working on
a painting and I noticed one of the dogs looking at
me and wagging his tail right across the wet can-
vas that we decided we needed a quieter spot.”
Milo says that her paintings range from child-
like whimsical images to what she calls chaos,
which is represented by the textures and structure
used in her work. Presently her mode is “softness”
suggested by misty angelic figures which appear
almost ephemeral in their gentle use of delicate
earthy colors. Wildlife art has become Mickey’s
genre. The couple recently spent three days
anchored in a houseboat in the Atchafalaya Basin
where Mickey took more than 2,000 photographs
of wildlife and swamp scenes to be later conveyed
to canvas, although Mickey is known to stop his
car upon seeing a bird beside the road in order to
take its picture for a subsequent transformation by
his brush.
“We are always growing,” Milo said, “always
on the verge of something great. We are now
exhibited in eight galleries between Louisiana and
Mississippi. We live the life we love, the way we
want to live it. It is our own life and belongs to no
one else.
“And, most of all, in our
version of things, there’s
absolutely no reason why the
chocolate pie can’t come
before the meal.”
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 33
 ART | bruce brady
B TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF AMANDA WARREN, ABLES ANTIQUES
Brookhaven sculptor Bruce Brady
died 10 years ago, on Feb. 8, 2000,
but demand for his limited edition
bronzes - and their value - just
keeps increasing.
His widow, Peggy Pierce, said
she gets calls from collectors who
are willing to pay any price for one
of Brady’s early pieces, but the col-
lectors who own them aren’t willing
to sell.
“A lot of the early pieces are sold
out,” Pierce said. “That’s the beauty
of having a limited edition, it makes
them more valuable. A Brady
bronze is a good investment.”
34 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
B RADY ’ S B RONZES
10 years after Bruce Brady’s death,
the Brookhaven artist’s sculptures
are more in demand than ever
To learn more about Bruce Brady’s limited
edition sculptures, go to www.bradybronze.com, or
call Ables Antiques at (601) 833-3555.
Brady, an avid hunter, outdoors-
man and writer, began sculpting as
a lark, around 1980. The youth
group at First Baptist Church of
Brookhaven was having a fundrais-
er to support a mission trip and son
Bruce Brady Jr., who was taking a
college pottery class, handed his
father a lump of clay and told him
he should sculpt something to sell
at the auction. And even though
Brady had never sculpted anything,
opener and a pocket knife and mod-
eled this big horn sheep,” Pierce
recalled. The piece sold for $350.
“We were amazed it would go for
that, but it was a very nice piece.”
Brady was an editor for Outdoor
Life magazine, and on a trip out
West for the magazine, the couple
visited galleries in Santa Fe, where
he was intrigued by the bronze
sculptures he saw there. They
looked in the phone book and called
he decided to do it, using a trophy a foundry. The owner, Dell Weston,
head hanging on his wall as the gave them a tour and showed them
model. a casting. Weston gave him some
“Bruce sat there with a letter sculpting materials and Brady went
home and sculpted a running bull elk.
“It was absolutely beautiful,” Pierce said. “That
summer, we took it back to the foundry and had it cast
just for us.”
Others soon began asking if they could buy a repro-
duction, so Brady created his first limited edition.
“The next thing we knew, we were well into the
bronze business,” Pierce said.
Brady’s subject matter ranged from bird dogs and
wild turkeys to busts of American leaders and writers,
including Mark Twain and William Faulkner. He creat-
ed 75 limited or open edition pieces, as well as several
one-of-a-kind editions. One of his bison sculptures,
“Tatanka,” is in the art collection of the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library, and his bust of Theodore
Roosevelt was purchased by the U.S. Senate as a retire-
ment gift for Sen. Robert Dole.
Brady was twice named Wildlife Artist of the Year
by the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, and his pieces
are in the collections of museums, corporations and
private collectors across the country. He also sculpted
the Conerly Trophy, presented each year by Cellular
South and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame to the
outstanding college football player in the state. The
original Conerly Trophy is on display at the Hall of
Fame in Jackson.
“He was so talented, and to just pick this up at mid-
dle age is amazing,” said Amanda Warren, owner of
Ables Antiques in Brookhaven, one of the few places
where you can still buy Brady’s limited editions, many
of which are just about sold out. Prices range from
around $100 for a feather that is part of an open edi-
tion, to $15,500 for a mountain man sculpture called
“The Far Horizon.”
“A lot of women buy them as gifts for their hus-
bands, but we have quite a few men who are collectors
and buy them for themselves,” Warren said. “Animals
are what tend to sell better.”
Brady had already given up a successful career as
an attorney in Brookhaven to accept a job as a field
editor for Outdoor Life magazine, after writing as a
freelancer for years, when he decided to become a full-
time sculptor, but his wife once again supported him
whole-heartedly.
“He had three successful careers,” Pierce said.
“When he gave up the law practice, that was a major
step. But I knew he really loved to write when he
made the decision. He was on staff for Outdoor Life
for 32 years when he passed away.”
The Bradys had three children - all of whom still
live in Brookhaven - along with 13 grandchildren and
one great-grandson. Peggy Brady remarried a few
years ago and now lives in Huntsville, Ala. She and
Jim Pierce, whom she had gone to high school with,
met again at their 48th class reunion.
“He has the greatest respect and appreciation for
Bruce, which makes me love him even more,” Pierce
said.
She is very proud that her late husband left such a
beautiful legacy, and that a decade after his death, he
has not been forgotten.
“For me, it was such a special blessing to watch him
work. He loved it. He was compelled to do it,” Pierce
said. “It was just a God-given talent.”
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 35
ART | sadako lewis

RISING
LIKE A PHOENIX
After losing everything in Katrina,
Coast artist Sadako Lewis
burns with creativity again

H TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHARLOTTE BLOM

Herbie Hancock blasts out when Sadako Lewis

answers the phone. When Lewis paints in her studio,
which is covered by magazine clippings and photos,
she likes her music loud enough to block everything
else out.
Lewis, 61, was born in Fukuoka, Japan with the
blood of her artist father pumping through her veins.
The youngest of four children, she was her father’s
sidekick. He took her to art shows or “sketching
trips” and she even knew the taste of sake at a very
young age.
Her father saw to it Lewis got as much exposure
Mississippi, “struggling to survive.” She wasn’t able
to do anything else but work, which she was doing as
a waitress. Until she became a citizen and decided to
go to night school, that is. For this she received a Pell
Grant and ended up earning two associate’s degrees,
one in business administration, (technically called
applied science). But she disliked this degree so
much it propelled her to get her second degree in art.
During that time, through a local Buddhist organ-
ization, she meet her second husband, David Lewis,
with whom she had her third child, a son.
When her father died of cancer, Lewis read his
to art as possible. He furnished her with private les- diary and found that he regretted not being able to
sons in high school, and she says she was “exhaust- have done more with art.
ed” from them. After spending 2-3 hours at them “I need to do this for him, carry it on,” she said.
she’d come home ready to But it wasn’t until about five years after her
drop, drained. father’s death that her creative fire was ignited.
“My sisters thought When Lewis’s daughter gave her a watercolor book
maybe he saw something for her birthday, Lewis had an epiphany, remember-
in me even though I ing the vow she made to her father’s spirit and mem-
showed no interest,” Lewis ory, and she switched her major in school at the jun-
said. “I never thought I ior college.
was enjoying it.” To her surprise, Lewis then experienced a typical
Her concern was more artist’s dream: she received a letter from William
about family. Lewis’ first Carey University asking for her portfolio, and was
husband was a GI in Japan subsequently offered a scholarship. Faced with the
but when he was stationed threat of failing a test if she didn’t study, Lewis took
at Keesler Air Force Base text books along on her honeymoon. She graduated
in Biloxi, they moved to in 2001 with high honors and an academic award for
the states with their two excellence, and set out into life with her BFA in
daughters. painting and ceramics.
But then fate took its In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit, the Lewises
course, and the couple got took refuge with family in Oklahoma, taking only
divorced, rendering Lewis their cat, some clothes, the computer, and a sketch
a single mother in pad and some art supplies. Their home in Long Beach
was completely destroyed. Only a concrete slab stood in its
wake; all their belongings, including most of Lewis’s paint-
ings and what she calls a “dream studio,” which had only
been completed that year, were obliterated.
Lewis was ready to leave Mississippi for good.
“We were staying in a beautiful town, and the Mississippi
coast was so dirty and nasty, the destruction just over-
whelmed the place,” she said.
However, her husband went back to work within a couple
of weeks, living in a FEMA trailer alone until they decided
what to do.
Because of their positions as area leaders in the Buddhist
SGI organization, Lewis decided to return and start over with
her husband, who asked her to return to “rise again and be
part of that history.” Lewis wanted to be there to see that.
The Lewises bought another house - furnished - in Long
Beach, and began picking up the pieces of their lives. In spite
of the hardships, or perhaps as a result, Lewis’ art flourished.
She wanted to paint more than ever; she experienced another
deepening of her resolve.
Like so many artists devastated by the loss of their work
after Katrina, Lewis knew there was only one option: to rise
like a phoenix.
“All I need is my two hands to create. I am growing and
evolving every day,” she said. “I can make new ones.”
When she still didn’t have enough supplies, she used fab-
ric abandoned in the house by the former owners. Slowly she
regained her studio supplies, made new books of inspiration
filled with images of artists such as Larry Rivers, Egon
Scheele, Willem De Kooning and John Miriam. Accordingly,
Lewis would describe her style as expressionistic. But her
method is as meticulous as she was with her studies. If she’s
not working from sketches of live models, she usually makes
them from photos or even Vogue’s layouts, and then jumps
to canvas.
Lewis just signed a contract with Negrotto’s Gallery in
Biloxi, making them her exclusive representative from
“bridge to bridge,” or basically the Mississippi coast. Romy
Simpson, Negrotto’s owner for six years, first saw Sadako’s
work at “Pinktober” where (mostly) women’s work was
donated for a breast cancer charity. Right now, she has seven
small paintings hanging for February’s Black History show
and three large paintings unrelated to that subject.
“We fell in love with her work,” Simpson said. “It was
rich, had a lot of movement. She uses oils and not a lot of
artists do that these days, especially with the thickness. She
uses non- traditional colors, her prices are really affordable.
She’s just fresh and different.”
Of her late father, Lewis said she’s making up for his lost
time, since he could only deeply delve into his art after
retirement.
“It was bubbling up inside him for many years,” she said.
“I can feel it through him. I think he’s really happy.”
 Broadway
of dance with South Mississippians
T
TEXT BY VALERIE WELLS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOB HUBBARD
Percell Rivere St. Thomass
moves constantly. He stands tall,
walks with purpose and uses his
arms to punctuate his speech.
He’s a peripatetic teacher who
travels from town to town in the
South teaching want-to-be
dancers how to glide gracefully
across a ballroom floor.
The joy of dancing can belong
to anyone open to the experience,
he insists. He brings that poten-
tial experience to as many
Mississippians as he can find.
This isn’t about training competi-
tors for the Olympics or making
a fortune quick. It’s about bring-
ing the general public into the
fold.
St. Thomass shrugs at his cos-
mopolitan history. Neither being
born in Paris, France, nor danc-
ing in Broadway hit shows seems
that impressive to him now. His
passion is teaching dance to
average folks.
“Dance is not the steps - it’s
38 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
veteran shares love
what happens in between. It’s the
feeling,” he said. “It’s a shame 80
percent of ballroom dancers and
competitors will dance the rest of
their lives not knowing what it
feels like.”
He empathizes with pioneers,
like his grandfather David
“Showboat” Thomas, the first
black player to try out for Major
League Baseball. By comparison,
St. Thomass contends his grand-
father was the more fascinating
person.
SHARING PASSION
St. Thomass moved to the
Hattiesburg area four years ago,
studios and clubs already exist-
right before Hurricane Katrina
ed, he saw a larger community
turned South Mississippi upside
yearning to dance and curious
down. He initially came to work
about getting caught up in the
with a studio that has since
romance, the physical exertion
closed.
and the expressive routines.
“Other places wanted me - a
Helping to rebuild a communi-
school in West Palm Beach, Fla.,
ty for ballroom dancing follow-
wanted me. But I was needed
ing Katrina has become his mis-
here,” he said. Although a few
sion. It’s not been without its
frustrations. One of the largest
challenges St. Thomass faces is a
notion that ballroom dancing is a
methodical science boiled to down
to a straightforward syllabus.
Another aspect that bugs him is
what he sees as an overemphasis
on competitions. Seeing newcomers
dance with confidence and laugh
on the floor thrills him.
Yet the technical aspects of his
exacting art don’t escape him. The
National Dance Council of America
lists St. Thomass as a professional
competitor and an adjudicator as
well as a teacher. He’s a choreogra-
pher, a performer, a coach, a judge
and a world traveler.
He also was a successful actor
and dancer. After spending years
in Paris and New York performing
in shows like “West Side Story,”
“Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Cats,”
he realized he wanted something
different. He had some good roles,
too - Simon in “Jesus Christ
Superstar” and the Scarecrow in
“The Wiz.” It just wasn’t what he
wanted in life.
“I was having fun performing,
but I wasn’t really excelling,” he
said.
He was one of the first blacks to
win ballroom competitions in the
early 1980s. He felt pulled during
that time to become a coach and a
teacher of dance teachers.
“At the time, people said to me,
‘You don’t win and quit. Blacks
aren’t making it in this business.
You are. Don’t quit.’”
Despite that pressure, St.
Thomass felt compelled to go to
new lands to learn and to teach.
He traveled to Argentina and
studied tango and Latin dance.
He visited a relative in Alaska in
the early 1990s and discovered the
huge state had practically no ball-
room dance community. He helped
create and nurture one. Some of it
was a business decision, some of it
was a personal desire to share his personally confronted the produc-
love of dance. Then, he and his ers of the film and asked why they
business partner started another ignored “Showboat,” the response
studio in Hawaii and nurtured was pretty simple. No information
another community of dancers. about him could be found.
He sees the same opportunities St. Thomass has spent time with
now in the Gulf South. While he’s cousins asking about pictures,
not interested in owning another newspaper clippings, mementoes
studio, he wants to spread the mes- of his grandfather’s contribution to
sage of dance to as many communi- civil rights and to baseball. For
ties as possible. He divides his time years, nothing was found. Then a
between Hattiesburg, Gulfport, cousin was doing some remodeling
Covington, La.; Baton Rouge, La.; in his Mobile home and discovered
and Fairhope, Ala. He stays in a treasure trove of documents long
motion. forgotten. “Showboat”’s brother
Jesse had kept the papers and the
‘SHOWBOAT’ ROOTS memories. The family wants Ken
While St. Thomass sees this Burns to do a follow up film about
region as new land for ballroom the baseball player from Mobile.
dancing, his roots run deep in the St. Thomass doesn’t know what
South. his next step will be. He still feels
His mother’s family is from needed in South Mississippi but
Mobile. He shrugs about being an can’t deny the desire to travel
international man of dance because again, to make new discoveries and
he feels the really fascinating fig- dance with the world.
ure in his family was his grandfa-
ther, David.
While sports fans and historians
remember Jackie Robinson as the
first black to join Major League
Baseball, his grandson wishes they
would remember David
“Showboat” Thomas. A baseball
player from Mobile, “Showboat”
played in the Negro League and in
1945 was the first black chosen for
the major leagues. He tried out for
the Dodgers one year before Jackie
Robinson made the majors.
“Showboat” went as far as training
camp before getting cut. St.
Thomass said it was because his
grandfather was ill. A 1977
Associated Press story suggests it
was “Showboat”’s age and not his
race that led to the end of his major
league career before it started.
St. Thomass was outraged when
award-winning documentary film
maker Ken Burns ignored his
grandfather’s existence in the PBS
series “Baseball: A Film.” When he
 ART | reba’s reviews

Read any GOOD BOOKS lately?

SNAPSHOTS IN TIME - PHOTOGRAPHY PLAYS ROLE IN 2 NEW BOOKS
TEXT BY REBA J. MCMELLON

“E UDORA W ELTY P HOTOGRAPHS ”

($40, U NIVERSITY P RESS OF M ISSISSIPPI )
Eudora Welty is one of the great American writers. She is
also a celebrated photographer. This book contains 226 black
and white fascinating photographs taken during the 1930s,
‘40s and ‘50s, many of them of rural Mississippi.
Miss Welty was a passionate observer in both her writing
and photography. Her photography career began with the
WPA program in the 1930s. This book has an excellent for-
ward by Reynolds Price and a candid introductory interview
with Eudora Welty conducted by Hunter Cole and Seetha
Srinivasan at Eudora Welty’s home in Jackson in January
1989.
In the interview, Welty refers to her pictures as snapshots
rather than photography because of the way they were taken.
“They were taken spontaneously - to catch something as I
came upon it, something that spoke of the life going on
around me. A
snapshot is now or never. A good snapshot stops a moment
from running away.”
“Eudora Welty Photographs” is a must-have for students
of photography, the short story and all things Welty.

“S OURCES OF L IGHT,” BY M ARGARET M C M ULLN

($16, H OUGHTON -M IFFLIN C HILDREN ’ S B OOKS )
Set in Jackson, “Sources of Light,” is in no way childish
or child-like but is written for ages 10 and up. The plot cen-
ters around a 14-year-old girl named Sam. She and her
mother move down to Jackson from Pittsburgh after her
father dies in the Vietnam War. It is Sam’s first year in high
school.
Set in 1962, Sam is confronted by racial tensions that
catch her off guard. Her mother is struggling with adjust-
ing the volume of her own life as Sam finds solace, clarity
and power behind the lens of a camera.
Sam’s mother has a photographer friend from New York

40 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
City who is also new to Mississippi. His name is Perry Walker.
Perry and Sam’s mother are both fans of Eudora Welty, whom they
run into at the local grocery store. “She takes great pictures of peo-
ple out in the country, dancing, or leaning on a front porch.” Perry
says. The character brings to mind real life photographer James
Perry Walker.
In the midst of some ugly violence, Perry teaches Samantha to
find the shadows first in order to recognize her source of light. As
with her previous books, Margaret McMullan proves to be a great
writer of young adult fiction.
Recommended for all Mississippi libraries, this would be an
excellent book to assign and read aloud.

“L ETTER TO M Y D AUGHTER ,” BY G EORGE B ISHOP ($20, R ANDOM H OUSE )

Set in Baton Rouge, La., this debut novel is an amazingly
authentic fast read. How George Bishop captures the intricate
nuances of the internal turmoil of a mother and daughter is noth-
ing short of prize-winning literature. If the reader picks one book
to take to the beach on spring break, this would be it. The role of
the father is also an
act of psychological
genius.
Written in letter
form, the book begins:
Dear Elizabeth,
It’s early morning
and I’m sitting here
wondering where you
are, hoping you’re all
right.
A fight, ended by a
slap, sends Elizabeth
out the door of her
home on the eve of her
15th birthday. Her
mother, Laura, is left
to fret and worry —
and remember.
Wracked with guilt as
she awaits Liz’s return, Laura begins a letter to her daughter, hop-
ing to convey “everything I’ve always meant to tell you but never
have.”
In her painfully candid confession, Laura shares memories of
her own troubled adolescence in rural Louisiana, growing up in an
intensely conservative household. She recounts her relationship
with a boy she loved despite her parents’ disapproval, the fateful
events that led to her being sent away to a strict Catholic boarding
school, the personal tragedy brought upon her by the Vietnam
War, and the significance of the tattoo below her right hip.
This is a small book that packs a punch in short order.
ART | billie buckley

“PUT SOME GOOD ON MY LIFE”

F OLLOWING G OD ’ S W ILL L EADS
A UTHOR B ILLIE B UCKLEY TO A S CHOOL IN H ONDURAS

B TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BILLIE BUCKLEY

Billie Buckley never set out to be a writer, but an

invitation from the religion editor of the Hattiesburg
American to write a guest column one week turned
her into one.
That was 24 years ago, and Buckley is still going
strong. She has been writing a personal column for the
newspaper since 1986, and she includes that first
essay in her first book, “Put Some Good On My Life
(CrossBooks, $13.99), a compilation of 51 columns that
she has revisited and revised. She found common
themes among the hundreds of columns she has writ-
ten and divided them into 10 chapters: Sharing
Secrets, Just Being Real ... Period, Celebrating
Ordinary Days, Meandering Through Marriage and
Other Relationships, Solving Pesky Problems of Life,
Growing Up Days, In the Classroom for 32 Years, My
Yo-Yo Emotions, Let’s Play Ball, and Listening to
Friends and Readers.
The selection process was long and hard, Buckley
said. “From over 1,500 columns, I chose 50 to rewrite
for the book.”
Buckley, a retired sixth-grade teacher who lives in
Petal, shares her faith and stories about her family in
her columns, whether she’s quoting from love letters
written by her father to her mother during World War
TO ORDER A BOOK
II, talking about her “Favorite Preacher,” as she calls
“Put Some Good On My Life” husband Gerald, pastor of Sunrise Baptist Church, or
is available for $13.99 from making fried okra for her grandchildrens’ breakfast.
CrossBooks.com and Her stories can be funny or heart-breaking, but the
Amazon.com. thread that ties them together is her faith, which cen-
Copies are also available at ters around these words of Jesus Christ: I am the Way,
Main Street Books in
the Truth and the Light. No one comes to the Father
downtown Hattiesburg.
To order an autographed but by Me.
copy from Billie Buckley, “As a nine-year-old little girl in Laurel,
send a check for $15 to Mississippi,” she writes in one column, an open letter
P.O. Box 1133, to a non-believer, “I heard these words and somehow
Petal, MS 39465. knew I needed a heavenly father. My earthly father
For more information on the
was killed in a foxhole in Germany during World War
Good Shepherd’s Children’s
Home and School, or to II. I have learned from his letters and life (as told to
sponsor a child, go to
http://thegsch.org/FR/Fund.
html.
me by others) that his faith was not a sham or
a crutch. What a waste his life would have
been if this were true. My hope is that your
life will not be wasted either.”
Buckley had two goals in self-publishing her
book. The first is to leave a legacy to her sons -
Steve, owner of Bucko’s Cleaners and head
football coach at Petal High School, and Stan,
pastor of First Baptist Church of Jackson - and
her five grandchildren - Adam, Neal, Anna,
Slade and Annaleigh - so they would know
who she is and what she stands for. The sec-
ond goal is to raise money for the Good
Shepherd’s Children’s Home and School in
Honduras. For the last 10 years, her paychecks
from the Hattiesburg American have gone to
support the children there, and the profits
from book sales will go to the school.
Buckley learned about the school in 1998,
when Gerald was interim pastor at the First
Baptist Church of Mount Olive. Billie was
teaching a Bible study class, which had
“adopted” a young girl at the school and was
sending financial support for her monthly.
Dwight and Margarette Carr, directors of the
Baptist Medical and Dental Mission
International, a Hattiesburg-based nonprofit,
were members of the church and invited the
Buckleys down to Honduras for Gerald to
preach and for them to see the work the min-
istry was doing there.
“I was moved to secure uniforms for the
children to wear to their school on the grounds
of the home,” she said. “They did not have a
feeling of belonging and all children wore uni-
forms to school in Honduras. They got their
uniforms. They now belong. That was the
beginning.”
Buckley continues to support the home, and
to let others know about the children and their
needs.
“It is what I am supposed to do,” she said.
“I really don’t have a choice. This is what my
Lord wants me to do for the 200 children.”

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 43
 ART | Ricky Nobile

N EW C HILDREN ’ S C OLORING B OOK F EATURES

The USO’s rich history leaps from the

A FRICAN -A MERICAN M ILITARY H ISTORY M USEUM

pages of a coloring book by acclaimed
Hattiesburg artist Ricky Nobile. His new
book allows children and adults to read and
color together, while learning about the
African-American Military History
Museum.
Every aspect of the museum is covered,
including its days as a USO. Also show-
cased are many of the museum’s exhibits
and famous African-Americans, such as
Gen. Colin Powell and local heroes Jesse L.
Brown, the first black naval aviator, and
Ruth Bailey Earl.
“The African-American Military History
Museum is such an important part of the
area’s history,” said Traci Rouse, communi-
cation and marketing manager. “This color-
ing book gives children a chance to learn
about African-American history in a fun
and exciting way.”
The old USO building on East Sixth
Street near downtown Hattiesburg was
built as a recreational facility for black serv-
ice men and women stationed at Camp
Shelby during World War II. The exhibits
cover the military history of the United States from a black perspective, beginning with Crispus Attucks,
W
who died during the Boston Massacre and was an inspiration during the Revolutionary War, and proceed-
ing through the Civil War, World War I and World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the current wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The book showcases Nobile’s natural talent through hand-drawn pictures and narrative. The coloring
book’s story details the museum through the eyes of three children and their museum guide. For Nobile,
this was a chance to learn and educate children and adults about an important part of Hattiesburg’s and
our nation’s history.
“While doing the coloring book, I really learned a lot about African-American history,” Nobile said. “I
had fun writing the story, and it gave me an opportunity to teach children and parents about the service
and sacrifice of these brave men and women.”
Nobile is known for his wide variety of artistic talents, ranging from political cartoons to children’s sto-
ries and coloring books. He has been drawing political cartoons since 1970 and is featured in 30 newspa-
pers across Mississippi. He also draws editorial cartoons for the Mississippi Business Journal.
For more information about the coloring book contact the African-American Military History Museum
at (601) 450-1942.
The African-American Military History Museum is a Hattiesburg Convention Commission Facility.
Since 1991, the Hattiesburg Convention Commission has been developing, operating and promoting
tourism-related facilities for the Hattiesburg area. The Museum is located at 305 E. Sixth St., Hattiesburg.
Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m, Tuesday-Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, call (601) 450-1942
or visit www.HattiesburgConventionCommission.com.

TEXT BY LEIF MUNKEL

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF THE HATTIESBURG CONVENTION COMMISSION

44 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
C ULINARY C APERS
William Carey University
professor publishes
children’s book with son
TEXT BY JEANNA GRAVES
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY JULIE SMITH-ROGERS
W William Carey University assistant professor of
biology Dr. Julie Smith-Rogers and her 10-year-
old son Brady recently published the children’s
book “The Culinary Capers of Canon & Lily:
Canon Grows a Garden.”
In “The Culinary Capers,” best friends Canon
the moose and Lily go on a culinary adventure.
Canon wants to eat foods that are not available
in the forest and Lily suggests he grow a garden
so that he can eat whatever he likes. Together
they plant a garden with their friends and make
many new animal friends by way of their stom-
achs.
“The idea for the book came from the two
babies in our home,” said Smith-Rogers. “Our 20-
month-old Canon eats the most unusual things.
He would rather eat Coq au Vin or Jamaican Jerk
Chicken than eat regular chicken nuggets. He
dips plain fried crawfish into spicy remoulade
sauce. We laugh all the time about his eating
preferences.”
Smith-Rogers also has Lily, who is about 9
months old.
Smith-Rogers has published scientific journal
articles and a chapter on the use of antioxidants
in Alzheimer’s Disease, but this is her first foray
into children’s books.
“After Lily was born, I was feeling guilty about
not having enough time to spend with my two
older boys,” Smith-Rogers said. “My oldest,
Nicholas, is involved with all kinds of sports and
is away from the house a lot. My 10-year-old,
Brady, needed some attention paid to him. One
day I suggested that we write a book together.”
Brady is a fourth grade student at Oak Grove
Upper Elementary School. His hobbies include
cooking, baseball, flag football, running 5K races
and scuba diving. Brady is the one who suggested
that the book be illustrated.
“Now let me clear about this,” Smith-Rogers
said. “I am not a trained artist by any means.”
Together she and Brady drew the pictures to
accompany the storyline.
Several people saw the project in their home
and suggested they publish it. Smith-Rogers felt
she owed it to Brady’s hard work to pursue the
possibility. Now they have a book that can be
purchased through Amazon.com, and they partici-
pated in a book signing and reading at Oak Grove
Primary and Lower Elementary Schools.
“Brady was a child who hated writing assign-
ments,” Smith-Rogers said. “It was a total joy
working with him. Come to find out, it isn’t the
writing process he dislikes at all, it’s the physical
act. He really enjoyed working on the manuscript
on the computer.”
The principals of the two Oak Grove schools
hope that by presenting the book writing process
to the students they will see that all authors are
not “seasoned” individuals with agents and fancy
book deals.
“Mississippi is full of bright, talented students
who just need to be encouraged in their endeav-
ors in the arts, sciences, humanities, and what-
ever fires their passions,” Smith-Rogers said. “As
my mother always told me, the surest way to fail
is to never try.”
Smith-Rogers is available for readings and book
signings. Contact her at
julie.smithrogers@wmcarey.edu.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 45
 ART | bluegrass concert
MUSIC MAN
Bluegrass/gospel legend Doyle Lawson brings his band
Quicksilver to Hattiesburg
O TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON
One of the legends of bluegrass
music is performing at Hattiesburg’s
Saenger Theater on Feb. 20, but Doyle
Lawson remains a humble Tennessee
boy at heart, despite all the Grammy
nominations and critical acclaim for
him and his band,
Quicksilver.
“We’re looking forward
to coming to the Saenger
Theater. I’ve got friends
that always come to see
me when I play in the
Hattiesburg area,”
Lawson said during a tele-
phone interview while
taking a break from
recording his new CD,
which should be out this
spring. Lawson estimates
it’s his 35th or 36th album.
Lawson grew up listening to the
Grand Ole Opry on the radio, but no
performers impressed him more than
the father of bluegrass music, Bill
Monroe, and his Blue Grass Boys.
“His music was different, more
intense,” Lawson said. “High lone-
some is the term we used for it. I
could hardly wait for Saturday nights
to arrive so I could listen. I decided
early on that I wanted to play that
kind of music.”
Lawson’s father, mother and sister
sang in gospel groups and when he
was 11 or 12, he expressed an interest
in learning to play the mandolin. His
father borrowed one from a musician
friend, and Lawson taught himself to
play by listening to the radio and
records, and watching musicians on
television occasionally. A couple of
46 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
years later, with his eyes set on a
musical career, he learned to play
banjo and guitar, too.
He got a job playing banjo with
Jimmy Martin when he was 18, in
1963. After playing in a few other
bluegrass bands, he started his own,
the Country Gentlemen, in 1971. He
wanted to put together his own
sound instead of just playing some-
one else’s. In 1979, he formed Doyle
Lawson & Foxfire, which soon was
renamed Quicksilver. His goal with
this band was to blend bluegrass and
gospel, acoustic music and four-part
harmony, like his father used to sing.
The band’s lineup has changed
many times over the past 31 years,
and Lawson jokingly refers to it as
“the farm team” for bluegrass.
Alumni have gone on to play for
Ricky Skaggs’ band Kentucky
Thunder, IIIrd Tyme Out and
Continental Divide, to name a few of
the top bluegrass bands.
Lawson said he tries to integrate
each new member’s unique talents
into the band, while retaining the
Quicksilver sound that fans expect.
“It’s the real deal,” Lawson said of
his bluegrass/gospel fusion. “We do
a lot of a capella and you really have
nothing to hide behind there.”
Bluegrass musicians don’t usually
earn the fame and fortune of
their country music cousins,
and Lawson said those who
choose a career in bluegrass do
it for the love of the genre,
although it has become more
popular over the last couple of
decades.
“There’s a lot of purity in it,”
Lawson said. “You’re laying
out your emotions on your
sleeve and hope people accept
it.”
Lawson doesn’t have to
worry much about that. His band’s
2002 album, “The Hard Game of
Love,” was nominated for a Grammy,
and Quicksilver has won multiple
awards from the International
Bluegrass Music Association, begin-
ning with song of the year honors in
1990 - the first year of the IBMA
awards - for “Little Mountain
Church,” and in 2003 for “Blue Train
(of the Heartbreak Line).”
Lawson, who plays more than 60
concerts and bluegrass festivals a
year, said he has no plans to give up
the road.
“As long as my health stays good,
my hands are good, and my voice
holds up, I won’t retire.”
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver will
perform at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at the
Saenger Theater in downtown
Hattiesburg. Tickets are $18-$23.
 IN THE KITCHEN | iwinter dishes

st retc h . . .
your food budget with
Nothing stretches the food budget
quite as well as a casserole. A couple
of chicken breasts cut into bite-size
pieces can feed a family of four when
mixed with rice, a can of condensed
CASSEROLES
mushroom soup and maybe some veg-
etables or sour cream.
But the reason we love casseroles
is because they taste so delicious. All
that meat, pasta or rice, vegetables
and cheese all melded together ...
yum! Just try one of the following
recipes and you’ll agree.

Mock Cabbage Rolls Salt and pepper

1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups cooked rice
1 3/4-pound head cabbage, coarsely shredded
1 26-ounce jar pasta sauce
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese,
optional
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large skillet, cook the meat, onion and garlic
over medium heat until the meat is done, about 7
minutes. Drain any excess liquid. Add the pepper
and cooked rice, mixing well. Spoon the meat mix-
ture into a 4-quart casserole dish coated with non-
stick cooking spray. Top with the shredded cabbage.
In a medium bowl, mix together the pasta sauce
and brown sugar. Pour the sauce over the cabbage.
Bake, covered, for 1 1/4 hours, or until the cabbage
is tender. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and continue
baking for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
Serve. Makes 6-8 servings, 307 calories each.
- The Holly Clegg Trim & Terrific Cookbook
Chicken Casserole
2 cups cooked chicken, deboned and chopped
1 pint sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 onion, chopped
Ritz crackers
Mix chicken, sour cream, cream of chicken soup,
milk, onions and salt and pepper together. Place in
a casserole dish. Sprinkle top with cracker crumbs.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until
the casserole bubbles.
- Recipes & Remembrances, Main Street Baptist
Church
Pizza-licious Casserole
1 pound ground chuck
1 15-ounce can chunky Italian-style tomato sauce
1 4-ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 10-ounce can refrigerated pizza crust dough
1 8-ounce package shredded mozzarella cheese,
divided
Brown meat in 10-inch skillet on medium-high
heat. Drain, if necessary. Add tomato sauce and
mushrooms and heat through.
Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick
spray. Press pizza crust into bottom and halfway up
sides of dish. Spread half of mozzarella cheese on
bottom of crust, then top with meat mixture. Bake
uncovered at 425 degrees for 12 minutes. Top with
remaining cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes, or
until crust is browned and cheese is melted. Makes
6 servings.
- Best of the Best 500 Fast & Fabulous Five-Star 5-
Ingredient Recipes

48 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 HEARTY
winter stews
TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON

There’s something very gratifying about cooking a meal from

scratch. All that chopping and stirring makes you feel like you’re really
accomplishing something. And when cold winter sets in, what could be
more satisfying to cook and eat than a rich, hearty stew?
Stews are also easy on the budget because you can buy cheaper,
tougher cuts of meat that become tender as they slow cook, and you
can stretch a small amount of meat to feed a family.
Nothing says “welcome to my home” more than a pot of something
delicious simmering on the stove, so give these stews a try this winter.

Chicken Chili Quick
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, broiled or
grilled, chopped
1 package white chili seasoning (or regular chili)
1 10-ounce can diced Ro-Tel tomatoes, undrained
2 16-ounce cans white beans, undrained
1 1/2 cups water
ture to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer until the
potato cubes are tender and the pork is done,
approximately 45 minutes. If the stew gets too thick,
add more chicken broth. Add the salt and pepper to
taste. Makes 8 servings, 273 calores each.
- The Holly Clegg Trim & Terrific Cookbook

Mix all of the above in a large stockpot, bring to a
boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer about an hour.
- Best of the Best 500 Fast & Fabulous Five-Star 5-
Ingredient Recipes
Southwestern Pork Stew
1 3/4 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and
cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped red onion
2 cups fat-free canned chicken broth
1 10-ounce can chopped tomatoes and green chilies
1 1/4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-
inch cubes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 4-ounce can diced green chilies, drained
1 16-ounce package frozen corn
Salt and pepper to taste
Toss the pork with the flour to coat. In a large
pot coated with nonstick cooking spray, brown the
pork over medium heat, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add
the onion, and cook until tender. Add the broth,
tomatoes and green chilies, sweet potato, chili pow-
der, cumin, green chilies and corn. Bring the mix-
Quick Beef Stew
2 pounds lean boneless top round steak, trimmed of
fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups sliced carrots (1-inch slices)
1 3/4 pounds red potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 14 1/2-ounce can beef broth
1 cup light beer
Combine the meat and flour in a plastic bag; close
the bag and shake.
Coat a large pot with nonstick cooking spray and
cook the meat over high heat until browned, about 7
minutes, stirring often. Add the carrot, potato,
onion, mushroom quarters, garlic, parsley, thyme,
salt, pepper, beef broth and beer. Cover, and cook
about 1 hour, or until the meat is tender and the
vegetables are done. Makes 6 servings, 391 calories
each.
- The Holly Clegg Trim & Terrific Cookbook

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 49
 T sweet TOOTH
IN THE KITCHEN | isweet treats

REATS FOR YOUR

TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GWEN MCKEE
I’ve got a shelf full of cookbooks, but lately, when I want to
try a new recipe, I turn to two or three favorites. One that
seems to be getting the most looks these days is “Best of the
Best 500 Fast and Fabulous Five-Star 5-Ingredient Recipes,” by
Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. The recipes are easy but
yummy.
This spiral-bound collection is published by McKee’s Quail
Ridge Press in Brandon and is available for $16.95 at book-
stores and online at www.quailridge.com.
If you’re craving some new desserts, try these recipes from
the book.

TINY KEY LIME PIES
2 Key limes
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
6 miniature graham cracker pie shells
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grate 1 teaspoon lime
zest into mixing bowl. Squeeze 3 tablespoons juice
into same mixing bowl. Add cream cheese and beat
until creamy. Stir in sugar and egg, beating until
fluffy. Evenly divide mixture between pie shells.
Bake 30 minutes, or until knife inserted in center
comes out clean. Cool slightly. then refrigerate until
ready to serve. Garnish with additional lime zest.
Makes 6 servings.
CINNAMON APPLE CRUMBLE
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup Bisquick
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 stick butter, melted
8-10 medium apples, peeled, sliced
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch
glass baking dish. Combine sugar, Bisquick, cinna-
mon and butter until crumbly. Layer apples in bot-
tom of baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar mixture.
Bake about 30 minutes. Makes 8 servings.
GERMAN CHOCOLATE
CARAMEL BROWNIES
1 14-ounce bag caramels, unwrapped
1 5-ounce can evaporated milk, divided
1 18 1/4-ounce box German chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup chocolate chips
In double boiler over simmering water, melt
caramels with 1/2 can evaporated millk. Preheat
oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix with butter,
remaining 1/2 can evaporated milk and chocolate
chips. Press 1/2 of dough into a greased 9-by-13-
inch pan; top with caramel mixture. Spread evenly
with remaining dough. Bake 30 minutes.
SPICE PUMPKIN CUPCAKES
1 16-ounce can solid-pack pumpkin
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup water
1 18 1/4-ounce box spice cake mix
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl,
beat pumpkin, eggs, oil and water until blended
well. Add cake mix, and blend 2 more minutes. Fill
24 paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake about 18
minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes
out clean. Top with cream cheese frosting, if desired.
POTATO CHIP COOKIES
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup finely crushed fresh potato chips
In large mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until
fluffy. Gradually add flour and beat again until
smooth. By hand, add vanilla and potato chips; mix
well. Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased
cookie sheet. Bake in 325-degree oven 15-20 min-
utes, until light brown. Allow to cool, then sprinkle
with softed confectioners’ sugar, if desired. Makes
about 5 dozen.

50 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 You Are Invited to Be a Part of Our

2010 Summer Wedding Issue

Share memories of your special day in ACCENT’s 2010 Summer Wedding Issue.
For more information, visit our Web site at www.accentsouthmississippi.com
or email theaccenteditor@aol.com.

ACCENT
S O U T H M I S S I S S I P P I
 LIFE IN SOUTH MISSISSIPPI | karen blakeney

X
New Year’s Resolutions
my 2010
good intentions

TEXT BY KAREN BLAKENEY

In an effort to make the year 2010 as positive and stress-free as

possible, I decided to unburden myself of the traditional New Year’s
Resolutions, opting instead for the more laid-back New Year’s Good
Intentions.
Psychologically, resolving to spend ridiculous chunks of time on exercise machines while
avoiding fattening foods feels like punishment. It’s time to repackage this product.
Instead of sentencing myself to torture and self-denial, I intend to treat myself to the best that
Mississippi has to offer. This year, I will not be swearing off any naughty foods. Whenever pos-
sible, however, I plan to supercharge my diet with six Mississippi-grown foods known for excel-
lent nutritional value.
Eggs, a great food to start the day, have taken a beating in the press (forgive me, I couldn’t
resist). Sure, eggs are high in cholesterol, but only a small amount passes into the bloodstream.
For a nearly perfect source of protein, nothing beats eggs - oops, I did it again.
Another Mississippi standout - blueberries. If you’re not growing your own, mark your cal-
endar to attend the Blueberry Jubilee in Poplarville, on June 12. When compared to 40 other
fruits and vegetables, blueberries rank number 1 in antioxidants. They are also high in fiber and
vitamins A and C.
Although I refuse to give up steak, this year, my baked potato will be a sweet potato. This
beta carotene powerhouse is ranked number 1 in nutrition by the Center for Science in the Public
Interest. In fact, these delectable orange spuds would also go well with grilled chicken, which is
low in fat and high in protein and B vitamins. With the right seasonings, chicken is delicious
enough to lure me away from that less healthy T-bone.
Between meals, I intend to reach past the bags of chips and candy to grab my favorite nuts.
Did you know that a handful of pecans a day lowers cholesterol according to a Loma Linda
study? Now, now … I don’t think that means we should eat pecan pie every day.
Instead of a slice of pie, how about a slice of watermelon? Researchers believe lycopene may
have significant potential for the prevention of some cancers. Watermelon is a lycopene super-
star, containing more than any other fruits and vegetables, even tomatoes.
So, there you have it - my New Year’s Good Intentions. Yes, I know which road is paved
with good intentions. In the South, though, when we say we intend to do something, by golly,
we do it!

52 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i