#1 - Don't ever refer to yourself as "us Delta folk" until your family has lived here at least 3 generations. You just demeaned my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and a host of more family who spent their lives pulling themselves up from poverty, working to the bone to make life better for themselves and their families. My father retired as a manager of a major, local coop and when he finished his job there, he had more than quadrupled the yearly gross for that company. He was the son of a poor dirt farmer that gave him $5 to go to college on. My father ground out the rest with hard work and gave his family a future. My mother, sister and many aunts are accomplished teachers in many school systems with many awards.
#2 - Next time you go to a party, make sure it's not packed with your health services people that you so lovingly give priority to in this blog. Let me know where the party is so I can send some cheese to go with the whine.
There are a lot of other issues besides DRMC and Leland schools to go around.#3 - "catfish, fried chicken and grits". Don't you just love stereo-typing folks? Until today, I had some respect for you. But that letter takes the cake. You are nothing but a snotty pissant.
Take the next bus back to your northern Shangrila.
"one pissed ten cent"
Anonymous responds to "ten cent"
Dime, you just proved his point.
Small minds discuss other people; average minds discuss things and events. Great minds discuss ideas. Think about it, and move on from there.
My spouse's family is scattered all over the continent, coast to coast. I'd never had much contact with folks outside the Delta until I married. As I spent more and more time with the in-laws and extended family, I realized that as much as I loved the Delta, there was so much more of life to be experienced. I don't feel disloyal to my heritage or to my family when I say this, but we DO tend to talk about Uncle Bubba's thyroid too much; we make the neighbors' business our business too often.
And yes, we are as guilty of stereotyping people as anybody else, so pardon the reference to fried chicken and grits---you know you love 'em. I sure do.
I do believe that the Delta will not be reborn until we shed the mantle of past mistakes. Let's join the 21st century and broaden our thinking to include friends from the North and elsewhere. And for the record, I truly enjoy the few occasions that I have to leave the state and visit other areas. But I'm always so glad to get back home. Coming back into the Delta via Yazoo City, Vicksburg,or Winona at sunset offers a view that would put a lump in the throat of the most backward and hardened "redneck." Try it, and tell me if I'm wrong.
For the record, my family goes back 6 generations in Mississippi, so I do believe that entitles me to be a "Deltan".
My commentary was in no way intended to offend us Southerners; merely to point out some very noticeable differences between two subcultures within our country.
The beauty of this blog is that two people can read the same article and have totally different responses... as in the case of the anonymous writer who follows you, "ten cent".
You took my comments as a personal attack on the heritage of our forefathers, while the second author gleaned from the article its very basic message and put it quite succinctly:
"Small minds discuss other people, average minds discuss things and events, great minds discuss ideas".
Forthright... the "snotty pissant"
PS... Ten cent, please share with us the topics that you would like see discussed on the Scoop. Sure, there are many other issues up for discussion in our community and I am always open to all. Thanks
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9 comments:
Sorry Ten Cent, close your ears, I am about to start on DRMC and Humphreys! Beware, if you have an alternative, NOW is not the time to take a loved one or admit yourself to DRMC. With the recent lay-offs and overworked staff, there is NO way your loved one or yourself will get the care needed. It was told to me today that a friend's ill elderly parent would have to be restrained all night, if the family did not have a member or sitter stay over night with the patient. It was stated by a nurse stating that the recent lay offs has the staff totally limited in what care can be offered.
For those who have no family to depend on to fill in the gaps of personal care caused by this shortage....they are S.O.L!
Real Good Ray! Save those advertising dollars and extravagant salaries and hire some staff back to back up your promises of the best care in the region! No wonder Jackson, Little Rock and Memphis have so many Deltans admitted!
DRMC website:
http://www.deltaregional.com/about-us/mission/
We have recently committed ourselves to a new vision: to become the best hospital in the state of Mississippi at which to receive healthcare, practice medicine, and work
Our Mission
To improve the health of the citizens and the communities we serve.
Our Values
Accountability -Compassion -Respect (Golden Rule) -Excellence & Education
Our Vision
To be the best hospital in Mississippi in which to:
Receive Care - Practice - Medicine - Work
From Ray Humphreys:
We believe that there is always something greater to achieve. You can be assured that we will relentlessly pursue our commitment to excellence.
Ray Humphreys
Chief Executive Officer
Sorry Ray, but YOU get a big old F on your report card of promises! Do the Delta a BIG FAVOR and move on somewhere else to reek your havoc!
One "wreaks" havoc. To "reek" is to be strongly pervaded with something unpleasant or offensive. Although in this case, DRMC may be the offending odor.
The best thing that has ever come out of the DELTA is the Blues!
Gosh...that was random.
Forthright, bravo for recognizing a shortcoming to this area. The inability to recognize and embrace change is a tradition of the Delta that would be better given up. I freely admit that I am not a native Deltan, but that does not make me blind to the problems of this town. The state of education I blame strictly on the above mentioned plague. Had the families of those who started streaming into private schools embraced the desegregation of schools instead of backing themselves into a corner, things with Greenville Public Schools would have been different. The area would have gone through the natural process instead of holing up and keeping their tradition going. By turning the private and public schools into "ours" and "theirs", no changes for the better have been accomplished and only room for them to get worse over the passing years has been left. I hear so many people complaining about paying for private school tuition, but most of their parents (the generations of Deltans Ten Cent so proudly refers to) are those who share the responsibility for the poor educational system in the area. Their lack of challenging the system and want of keeping their kids where it is still mostly white was in essence the beginning of the downturn. So call yourself a Deltan proudly if you choose, there are a lot of tradions here to be proud of. But recognizing one's weakness is the only way to get stronger; pride greater than the knowledge that we all have those weaknesses will surely lead to one's downfall.
To Eyes Wide Open: As you stated, you are not a native Deltan. Did you move here before or after 1970? That was the year that the public schools began busing students across town and effectively ended the neighborhood schools. Yes, many parents put their children in private schools. The total white population was over 30% in the city at that time, a little greater than what it is now. But the current students at the private schools largely come from outside the city of Greenville, so their effect on a return to the public schools would be diluted and minimal at best. To blame the "failure" of the public schools on white families gives way too much credit to one race over the other, and is a back-sided insult to the blacks in the GPSD---and to the whites who stayed. My family was among them.
Have you made a similar choice for your children? Are you willing to sacrifice your child's education to support your cause? I wasn't. And there are weak links in every segment of society, but there are some very, very fine community-minded citizens who support the private and parochial schools, yet are actively and visibly giving their time and resources to making Greenville a better place, without regard to the color of anyone's skin.
Look at the OpEd page in tonight's DDT. There's a column by the editor of the Greenwood Commonwealth, titled "The Familiar RIng of Futility." In his comments about a 2008 report from a Task Force to Revitalize the Delta, he states: "It's well known that the 18-county Delta region has traditionally had some of the highest unemployment rates in the state. As a group, the jobless figure hovers around 10 percent, at least two points higher than the state average. Jobless figures, though, are based on the numbers of people who are actively looking for employment. They don't take into account those who, for whatever reason, have no interest in finding a job. In the Delta, that represents a startling 49 percent of the population between the ages of 18 and 64, compared to just 29 percent statewide. There is no easy way to gloss over that. Put bluntly, there are an awful lot of able-bodied Delta residents who would rather get by, however meager the existence, on public assistance than report to a job every day."
Now, the private schools don't have a big problem with unmotivated children who drop out and get on the public dole. Their parents WILL NOT ALLOW IT. The problems in the public schools are home-based, and no amount of taxpayers dollars and white folks' largesse is going to change that. They have to want to help themselves. Period.
Forthright, I am a native Deltan and was in NO WAY offended by your thoughts. I agree that the downfall of our Delta is close minded folks who are frightened by the idea of change. Keep up your blog and allow all of us a forum in which to express our opinions.
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