It's not hate, it's heritage...

(For all of you Yankees, this is what many southerners say about the Confederate flag.)

This is a prom dress in the South, apparently.

I find it ironic that such a conservative Southern city has a street named Fortification. I mean, it sounds so much like fornication. (OK, I guess one does not need to even mention "conservative" when speaking about the South, as it is a given.)

I never really thought I would find myself visiting Jackson, MS, let alone twice in a matter of months. Alas, this is my life. For being the capital, Jackson is pretty boring. I still have hope, though, that as we continue to go here we will discover it's greatness. I'm certain it's there amongst the empty streets and strip malls.

I have the pleasure of visiting here because in the program for which I work, we have 60% of our service projects in the Gulf. For us, that's 22 teams working in the Gulf each project round. After each round of projects, the AmeriCorps Members have to report on their last projects and get ready for their next one. It's called "debriefing" and "briefing" and this is part of their service learning activities for the program.

If you have not been to the South, it's worth a visit. People are super nice. There's lots of fried stuff. It's pretty. However, it's also very hot and worse yet, humid. People in the south love their food. Not doubt it's why I gained weight when I lived there while in NCCC, even though I was very physically active. Vegetarianism just doesn't fit in there. So, you end up eating a lot of desserts, fried veggies, iceberg lettuce (known as "salad" in the South), and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (often provided as their "vegetarian option").

During visit to Jackson I was able to experience southerner's love of bread. We went to dinner at this random steak and fish joint ("joint" really describes it best). The waitresses looked like they had been working there since the Civil War (some of which took place in Jackson coincidentally), as did most of the customers. The accent was thick and most of the time I just nodded to whatever the waitress said due to my lack of understanding.

She brought out a giant basket of dinner rolls. Delicious dinner rolls. Then, when dinner came, she brought out TWO MORE baskets. There was about six of us, but really, who can eat that much bread while at the same time eating giants plates of fish, potatoes, greens, etc.? Probably a good ol' Southern boy, but we didn't have none of 'eam. So, I took them back to the hotel and ate about one a day. Even hard, they were delicious. I really do love the South, and hell, I love Jackson, MS.