All results / Stories / Ronni Mott
City Offers to Settle With Cedric Willis
After 17 years, Cedric Willis may get some measure of compensation from the city of Jackson for a wrongful conviction that cost him 12 years of his life. In 1994, …
Ronni's Wild Ride
"Have you ever noticed? Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac."
Barbour: First, Do No Harm
Call us suspicious, but we don't believe for one minute that Gov. Haley Barbour thinks the Mississippi Legislature will vote to merge the state's three historically black universities, while not …
One Day In a Cause
Today has been an upsetting, disturbing, thought-provoking day. Six weeks ago, I discovered the Unitarian Universalists. I've never been a religious person; I'm convinced that organized religion is not my …
[Mott] ‘Bring On the Rest'
Driving away from Parchman Penitentiary on the night Mississippi executed Joseph Burns, I was having trouble putting my feelings into words. I had just watched a man die in front …
Happiness Worth Celebrating
In my own relationship with an abusive man, "You're the best" turned fairly quickly into "I'm the only one who loves you," along with overt attempts to demonize my friends …
Beyond the Blind Spots
Last Sunday after my yoga class, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few essentials like cat food and shampoo. The store wasn't crowded and I had …
Grokking New Beginnings
With Jackson State University naming Carolyn Meyers as its new president within the past week (see Ward Schaefer's interview), my thoughts naturally turned to Mississippi's educational system and the subject …
The Lies We Tell
Last Friday's email brought this little gem to my inbox: Super PACs spent $23 million on deceptive or misleading advertising in GOP primary races, more than half of all advertising …
[Mott] Blue Dog Dems and Health Care
The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition has announced its agenda for reforming American health care. Not surprisingly, heading the list is controlling costs in the current systems.
[Mott] The Cost of Executions
Quitman County, Miss., population 10,500, raised taxes for three years and borrowed $150,000 to provide legal counsel to Robert Simon and Anthony Carr, sentenced to death for the 1990 murders …
An Ache in Our Souls
A few years ago, I made what was, for me, a radical step: joining the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson. For a minute or two, I was on the board …
[Johnson] The Death of Birth
Biologist E.O. Wilson calls the stunning destruction of wildlife on our planet "the death of birth." We all must die in time, and there is a natural justice to the …
[Mott] Bearing Witness
I inherited my love of history from my dad, who had a passion for it. A genuine scholar, the true stories he told around the dinner table were more engaging …
A Good Woman Lives Here
John followed me out of the bar, yelling as I crossed the street, yelling when I got into my car, yelling as I started the engine. I don't remember what …
Covering Our Oily Tracks
We humans forget a lot, especially when remembering means we have to change. And there is the crux of the problem: We've spent decades demanding that the rest of the …
A ‘Local' Business Plan
The annual Best of Jackson reader's choice awards began in the very first issue of the Jackson Free Press.
Wisdom, Tibetan Style
With eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer, the monks of Drepung Loseling monastery consecrated the mandala of wisdom moments before dismantling the art they had spent four days creating …
Spend It to Make It
At the level of countries, economics can be a crapshoot, with future predictions playing as much of a role as hindsight. Micro-economics, the kind where you have to balance a …
Music, Fireworks, Bugs, Oh My
Sybil Cheesman expected to stay in Jackson only four or five years. "That's the longest I'd ever lived in one place," she says. Thirty-six years later, Cheesman has played her …
