FALL, In The South , Means Fairs , Football and Beautiful Foliage

Yesterday was the first day of Fall. There is a joke that says the four seasons in Mississippi are Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer and Christmas . Although this is very close to the truth, because of our nearly tropical climate, we do acknowledge the traditional changing of the seasons. Contrary to what many believe , we do have beautiful changing of the leaves here , displaying fully all of the beautiful colors of Fall . . New England takes pride in it's awesome display of autumn leaves, but, we too, have some extraordinarily beautiful foliage this time of the year, especially along the Natchez Trace.

Fall Foliage along the Natchez Trace 

Here, in the south, everyone knows that Fall might not necessarily mean much cooler days ...Fall does mean Football ...and lots of it. College football is King and the SEC ( Southeastern Conference ) reigns supreme in the minds of most southerners. For some it is practically a religion. Another common saying pertaining to Southerners goes: "We Love God, Sweet Tea and the SEC".

Of course, along with any major function, southerners must have FOOD... and lots of it.  Southerners have perfected football tailgating into an art form.  For those above the Mason-Dixon Line who don't know what tailgating is, the Wikipedia definition says : A tailgate party is a social event held on and around the open tailgate of a vehicle.  (In the south, that means trucks...and lots of trucks) Tailgating, often involves consuming alcoholic beverages and grilling food.  Tailgate parties usually occur in the parking lots at stadiums and arenas, before and occasionally after games and concerts.  People attending such a party are said to be tailgating.  






Other people in other regions might tailgate, but southerners take it to a whole other level.
One author friend wrote in her blog about southerners:
We are not casual... Not in clothes, manners, or entertaining. All the rest of the world may go to the grocery store in pajama pants and big t-shirts, but we dress up for nearly everything. We say ma’am and sir. We don’t think being “ladylike” is something to be mocked. Tailgate parties in the Ole Miss Grove include tents equipped with chandeliers and chafing dishes.

Fall also means Fairs...and lots of them.  Around this time, fairs pop up in almost every little town and hollow around the south. The two major fairs in our area have always been the Mississippi Alabama Fair and Dairy Show and the Mid South Fair. We always went to the Mississippi Fair and Dairy Show. It was held at the Fairgrounds off of East Main Street ...which is now Fairpark, and the location of our City Hall. The Mid South Fair was a much bigger deal and meant traveling to Memphis. When I was growing up, school began after Labor Day and Fair Day followed very soon after . On Fair Day , all of the students were let out of the school for the day .It was like another holiday . My friends and I would make extensive plans about what we would wear, where and when we would meet, and what we would ride. I always have warm, fond memories of those joyous, carefree times.

MISSISSIPPI WELL REPRESENTED IN MISS AMERICA

The Miss America Pageant was held and televised last night.  This year's Miss Mississippi contestant was/is Chelsea Rick, who is from Fulton, MS.
Fulton is less than thirty minutes from Tupelo and where I live.  Although Miss Mississippi did not win, Mississippi was well represented.  Miss Mississippi did get into the top 15, which is still quite an accomplishment in itself.  She also won several preliminary awards and scholarship money.  Ricks was the only one of the 35 to win two of the five preliminary contests.  She was judged best in swimwear Thursday night and best in talent Friday night, when she sang “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” from the Broadway musical “Showboat.”. 
Chelsea Rick, 23, is a doctoral student at William Carey University studying osteopathic medicine.

Chelsea Rick - Miss Mississippi

DID YOU KNOW... Sam Haskell , who was raised in Amory , Mississippi is Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization . He is former Executive Vice President and Worldwide Head of Television for the venerable William Morris Agency,and was named in 2007 by TV Week as one of the 25 Most Innovative and Influential People in Television over the last quarter century. After living over 30 years living in Los Angeles he recently re-located to Oxford, MS, with his wife and Ole Miss college sweetheart Mary Donnelly Haskell, a former Miss Mississippi and current Martingale recording artist. They are both University of Mississippi graduates, and have two children, Sam, IV and Mary Lane.

Sam Haskell

I love watching pageants but have never really been a pageant girl. I have watched pageants with my mother since I was a little girl. Recently, when I was telling her about the upcoming pageant, she reminded me how, during the years that I lived in Memphis, we would call each other during commercial breaks to give each other our opinions and picks . I remember those times very fondly. I have never really been a "Pageant Girl", myself . I have only competed in two beauty contests/pageants in my life . The first was the Miss Northside Pageant when I was sixteen and the second was the Mrs. Mississippi Pageant thirty- one years later at the age of forty-seven.

My "Pageant Girl" picture for the 2012 Mrs. Mississippi Pageant

IN THE SOUTH, EVERYONE KNOWS OR WANTS TO KNOW WHO YOUR "PEOPLE" ARE

 









In the South, family ties are very important.  Everyone recognizes, identifies and acknowledges you in relation to your family.  Everyone wants to know who your "kin" or your "people " are.  In the past, when you were introduced to an older person, it was virtually assured and expected that the next thing you would hear would be the question: "Who are your people?" This was especially the case if you were being introduced as a new suitor, girlfriend or boyfriend.  They felt that they needed to know, right away, if you came from good stock or from the right kind of "people".  If by some remote chance a person was introduced and no one really knew who any of their "people" were, the customary question or more of a declaration was sure to follow:  "You not from around here, are you?"  And that was not necessarily seen as a very good thing. Of course, in a small town, that occurrence was very rare. In a small town, practically, everyone knew everyone and at least some of their "people". 

Times have changed dramatically and there are many more outsiders, even in small towns. But, even now, when we are trying to "place" someone and figure out who they are ? We often ask who their people are or who their mother or father is.  Most of my childhood, my first name was not required or deemed important or necessary at all, it seems. 
I was always introduced as Dr. Neely's daughter ...or Brian Neely's sister. 
It didn't bother me at all. it was just the way things were.  I am still often introduced as Dr. Neely's daughter when someone is trying to place the face after many years of not seeing me in the town. 

When we moved back to Tupelo, my husband soon found out that his name/title/identity, to many people, was/is Dr. Neely's son -in law.  Only during the years that I was in college in Boston and afterwards living in Memphis did I become accustomed to being primarily addressed by my given name. 
Now, that I have written two books and have a regular schedule of speaking engagements, I hear myself introduced repeatedly by my full name. I must admit that it has a very nice ring to it ....Patricia Neely-Dorsey (smile)  But, for a whole segment of older generation residents who knew me growing up, I am still very much ...and only ...Dr. Neely's daughter.  And, for a whole new group of acquaintances, who mostly only know me through my son, I am addressed as Henry's Mom ! 
It's OK...Really ...'cause I love my "people" ! 

ALL SOUTHERNERS KNOW ABOUT THE "LABOR DAY RULE"!

TODAY is Labor Day !

Traditionally, Labor Day has always been a sort of marker for the change of the seasons.

Summer is fast coming to an end and the fall months will soon make their arrival.

In times past, for Southerners, Labor Day signaled a definitive change in wardrobe.

Though staunch rules of etiquette and stiff dress codes have all but vanished in today's society, most older generation southerners remember when there was a very strict and strongly enforced rule involving Labor Day.

Everyone knew : NO WHITE AFTER LABOR DAY (Or Before Easter)

This meant no white dresses (except of course, white wedding dresses which were /are always in season) no white belts, shoes (especially shoes !!!) , purses ect.

No self respecting southerner would ever even think of breaking the rule or be caught dead wearing some white shoes after this appointed date !

It just wasn't done!

If someone did happen to break the rule, everyone, no doubt thought in their 
heads:  "Bless Their Hearts. They didn't have proper raisin' ! : )

Southerners are known for hospitality, sweet tea ...and a zillion rules !!!

We strongly believe in things being "decent and in order "

No one ever really notices those types of things much anymore , but this is one southerner who remembers ...and still abides by "The Labor Day Rule" .

AS A MISSISSIPPI MOM... I, TOO, HAVE A DREAM

August 28th 2013 marks the 50th Anniversary of the historic March On Washington (for Jobs and Freedom ) (August 28, 1963).
During this event Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous I Have a Dream Speech.  The march was attended by over 250,000 people.   At that time, it was the largest demonstration ever in the nation's capital, and one of the first to have extensive television coverage.
1963 was noted for racial unrest and civil rights demonstrations. Nationwide outrage was sparked by media coverage of police actions in Birmingham, Alabama, where attack dogs and fire hoses were turned against protestors. Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested and jailed during these protests, writing his famous "Letter From Birmingham City Jail," which advocates civil disobedience against unjust laws. Dozens of additional demonstrations took place across the country.  The March on Washington represented a coalition of several civil rights organizations.  The stated demands of the march were the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation; the elimination of racial segregation in public schools; protection for demonstrators against police brutality; a major public-works program to provide jobs; the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring; a $2 an hour minimum wage; and self-government for the District of Columbia, which had a black majority.

President Kennedy originally discouraged the march, for fear that it might make the legislature vote against civil rights laws in reaction to a perceived threat. Once it became clear that the march would go on, however, he supported it. 
On June 22, 1963,  just two months before the scheduled march, President John F. Kennedy met with civil rights leaders at the White House and expressed deep reservations about a mass rally in the nation’s capital. He told them he needed their help in getting his civil rights legislation passed, saying “we want success in the Congress, not a big show on the Capitol." 

The event at the Lincoln Memorial included musical performances by Marian Anderson; Joan Baez; Bob Dylan; Mahalia Jackson; Peter, Paul, and Mary; and Josh White. Charlton Heston—representing a contingent of artists, including Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando, Diahann Carroll, Ossie Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, Paul Newman, and Sidney Poitier—read a speech by James Baldwin. The only female speaker was Josephine Baker. 

Dr. King's speech remains one of the most famous speeches in American history. He started with prepared remarks, saying he was there to "cash a check" for "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," while warning fellow protesters not to "allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force." But then he departed from his script, shifting into the "I have a dream" theme he'd used on prior occasions, drawing on both "the American dream" and religious themes. speaking of an America where his children would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." 
I have a teenage son . As the mother of this son growing up in Mississippi...
growing up in America , I too have a dream .... that ONE DAY....

I SURELY HOPE THAT MY "LITTLE BOOKS OF SOUTHERN POEMS" FIT IN THE "GOOD POETRY" CATEGORY!

Yesterday, August eighteenth was National Bad Poetry Day ! I'll bet you didn't even know there was such a thing ! According to the creators, Bad Poetry Day was established as a sort of retaliation or rebellion ! They state: After all the “good” poetry you were forced to study in school, here’s a chance for a pay back. Invite some friends over, compose some really rotten verse, and send it to your old high school teacher. Others suggest that it might be a chance to appreciate good poetry more, by reading and/ or creating some bad.

Whatever the case, I do hope that when a reader runs across some PND poems the word bad will never come to mind !
I think that my poems can be enjoyed by all. 

I believe that poetry should be assessable, readable, and enjoyable for all ages. My poems, definitely, fit that description.
With simple language and relatable themes, they can be read ,enjoyed and understood by readers of all ages 8 to 80 (and beyond).  There is definitely something in them for everyone. Readers will laugh out loud at times, shake their heads in recognition and maybe even shed a crocodile tear or two. Whatever the case, I believe the poems will resonate in the deep recesses of the heart.  

My poems are a true celebration of the south and things southern. Using childhood memories, personal thoughts and dreams, I attempt to give a positive glimpse into the southern way of life. There are so many negative connotations associated with Mississippi and the south in general. I want to show a flip side of the coin. There is much to love about this much maligned and misunderstood part of our country. I would really love for readers to get to KNOW Mississippi (and the south) in a different light . I invite you to Meet Mississippi ( and the South) Through Poetry, Prose and the written word.  
Using poetic storytelling, I hope to, not only, entertain, but also, educate and enlighten, while helping to preserve the beautiful, rich southern culture, history and heritage that I know, along with promoting and fostering an appreciation and understanding of the importance of cultural diversity, individuality, self expression and regional pride.

One reader proclaimed : 
"YOU MAKE BEING SOUTHERN FUN AND INTERESTING FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD !!! THANK YOU MS AMBASSADOR "
Steve Kizer- Sevierville, Tennessee

             AVAILABLE ON AMAZON:

         http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd 
         http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem
 

ELVIS WEEK CELEBRATES A (Tupelo) MISSISSIPPI NATIVE SON

Each August, Elvis fans from around the world gather in Memphis for a celebration of the music, movies and legacy of Elvis Presley and mark his death, August 16, 1977. Elvis Week includes events such as the Elvis Fan Club Presidents Event, Elvis Insiders Event and Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest, plus special concerts, panel discussions, dances and more. 
The main event of Elvis Week each year is the Candlelight Vigil which always begins on the evening of August 15 and lasts into the morning of August 16. Fans walk up the driveway to Meditation Garden holding a candle in quiet remembrance of Elvis. Tens of thousands of participants gather on Elvis Presley Blvd. during the evening to listen to music, remember Elvis and enjoy memorials created by fans along the street.

After graduating from Boston University , I lived and worked in Tupelo for a few years before moving to Memphis in 1988.

My first apartment was on Winchester Road and less than a mile from Elvis Presley Boulevard and Graceland.

Several of my favorite stores and the church which I attended were on Elvis Presley Boulevard. But , during the night of the Candlelight Vigil, I would always take the long way around and travel on Shelby Drive or another street well past Graceland to get where I wanted or needed to go.

Living in Memphis for many years and in the Whitehaven area for the first several years,I knew ,as well as all of the locals not to even try to get ANYWHERE on the evening of August 15, traveling on Elvis Presley Boulevard between Winchester Road and Holmes Road.

It just was not worth the effort to try to tediously navigate through the throngs

GRACELAND- Memphis, TN

Though the main event of Elvis week for most fans is the Candlelight Vigil in Memphis, many Elvis fans and visitors start their celebration of Elvis Week in Tupelo.

You can find these poems and more in my books .....

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia -A Life In Poems
My Magnolia Memories and Musings -In Poems

BOOKS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON: 

http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd 
http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem



CLICK HERE FOR ELVIS WEEK ACTIVITIES IN MEMPHIS
http://www.elvis.com/elvisweek

I AM A MISSISSIPPI AUTHOR - POET AND - NOW...SONGWRITER

It's official ! I can now add the title of songwriter to my resume !

I am very excited ! Several months ago I was contacted by a musician /songwriter about using some of my words in a song...to be developed my him and his partner ! Well, now I can officially put SONGWRITER on my resume ! The song is done...well at least the words ! I am sure you will recognize some of the words from my "Southern Life '' poem. I can hardly wait to hear the finished version. with music. Here is the e-mail I received this week. Hi Patricia, I hope this email finds you doing well. It's been a hectic few months for us. We haven't forgotten about you and our Mississippi Magic song. We've come up with a contemporary, pretty melody and it sings pretty well. Cant wait to share the final product with you. Hope we make you proud! 

Here are the lyrics below:

MISSISSIPPI MAGIC
by Patricia Neely-Dorsey, Don Quinn, & Ron Ryan
@2013

VERSE 1

I've got river black mud coursing through my veins

Straight from the Mississippi

A soul stitched in Rock and Roll

and a heart full of Dixie

It's the laid back country soul in me

I take it day by day

I'm built for Southern hospitality

I wouldn't have it any other way

I need some..

CHORUS

Mississippi Magic

in the sweet molasses breeze

God, My Country and Family

that's what it means to me

Mockingbirds and bumblebees, Magnolia blossoms and dogwood trees

it's ice cold tea that tastes so sweet

and cool green grass beneath your feet

It's what I love, and the only way I'll have it

I want that Mississippi Magic

VERSE 2

It's rockin' chairs and front porch swings

hot cornbread, and turnip greens

Coleslaw and barbecue

Watermelons on the vine for me and you

It's fallin in love at the County Fair

It's inside me, it's in the air

It's who I am, through and through

It won't take long til gets to you, it's everywhere..

CHORUS

It's the laid back country soul in me

I take it day by day

FINAL CHORUS
 
I love it !

I surely hope that a lot of other people do to !

Let the good times...and royalties roll !!! LOL!!!

I am so grateful that the songwriting duo of Quinn Ryan decided to include me in this project.

Their website is :

http://www.quinnryanmusic.com

Quinn-Ryan

Check them out !

Info from the website :

      

  

Don Quinn, a Mississippi songwriter, and Ron Ryan, a south Florida writer, have joined forces - Two dreams, one vision with a razor sharp focus.

The songwriting duo is hard at work building the QRM catalog with several completed songs and many more currently in the studio.

Their impressive catalog of mostly country music has now grown to over 30 songs. Their music has captured the attention of Nashville A-List music insiders.

They've teamed up and created Quinn Ryan Music to showcase their songwriting talents as they relentlessly pursue their dream - to one day hear their songs being played on the radio by a major artist.

Here's my original poem :

The poem " Southern Life" can be found in both of my books of poems :

BOOKS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON:
http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd
http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem-pnd

....... ~*~ UPDATE ~*~ .......

 August 27, 2013

To hear the song go

to this link.....

 http://www.reverbnation.com/ronryan/song/18424581-mississippi-magic

~~~~~~

IN MISSISSIPPI ....Catfish Is King !

August is National Catfish Month 

Congress declared August National Catfish Month in the late 80s to recognize the contributions that the United States catfish industry makes in the economy.
Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi produce the majority of the nation's catfish
Mississippi catfish production accounts for more than 50 percent of all of the 
farm-raised catfish in the U.S.

Farm raised catfish are produced in controlled spring-fed ponds, and fed the best grade of feed - that's what gives them their consistently mild, sweet flavor and tender white texture.

Mississippi State University was the first institution to conduct research on the nutritional requirements of catfish. University researchers determined the correct protein, carbohydrate, energy, vitamin, and amino acid requirements for catfish and developed a well-balanced feed formula for catfish.

Here's a cute catfish cartoon on ad for 2012
New York, NY - Mississippi Picnic -

The first New York Mississippi Picnic took place in 1979, when a small group of native Mississippians living in New York had a strong desire to improve the perceptions of both regions in regard to one another. “I felt that people in New York had negative ideas about people from Mississippi, and people from outside New York had a terrible image of Central Park,” says Rachel McPherson, one of the founders of the event.

 

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: 

*Farm- raised catfish is the largest aquaculture industry in the United States. ... *Arkansas, in 1963, was the first state to produce farm-raised catfish on a commercial level and Mississippi was not far behind when it began its production in 1965. 
*After 1970, rapid expansion of catfish production in the Mississippi Delta occurred, and Mississippi has led the catfish industry ever since. 
*Today, more freshwater aquaculture is found in the Mississippi Delta than in any other region of the United States. 
 *Fried catfish remains a favorite in Southern cuisine.

THIS MISSISSIPPI GIRL IS FEELING (Very) NOSTALGIC !

Several recent events (very close together...within the past 6 months) have reminded me of how temporal things in life are and how one should never get overly attached to material things or even to circumstances.

Anything that we have..even our very lives can be taken away/be gone in the blink of an eye.

We should always be thankful and grateful for each day and it's blessings.

The things that happened are not really big things..but just tugged at a place inside of me that had nostalgic feelings for them.

I presently live in the house that I grew up in.

In the front yard, right in front of a very large "picture" window was ( I hate having to say it in past tense ) a most beautiful pink dogwood tree.

My Dad planted it for my Mom because it was her favorite.

The tree was almost as old as I am ..almost 50 years old .

So many days in my youth, my Dad and I would sit on the couch near that picture window and look at the various birds gathered under the dogwood tree.

He would point out all the different ones and tell me all about them.

Every spring when Mom and I would walk around in the yard , we marvel over it's beauty when it was in bloom.

We did that just a few months ago.

We all loved that tree!

Last week it was blown down by a very strong wind/rain storm;
Winds speeds were reported at over sixty miles an hour!

Now our beautiful tree is gone and I (we) will never enjoy it's blossoms in the spring again.

I'm glad that I took lots of pictures in front of it (It was one of my favorite backdrops) ,so that I can look back on it's beauty and why we loved it so much !

Several months ago ,another strong storm downed a huge pine tree in the front yard. That tree along with about about 10 or 12 others were planted at our home right after we moved in (1965)

It's gone.

Dad would always love to look at the picture of me and my brother standing by the trees when they were just tiny little things.

I was probably 4 and my brother 7.

The trees in the picture are not even as tall as we were.

Now , the others that are left standing are well over 20 feet!

A few months before or after that... Can't really remember ...

We woke up to find that one of the brick columns with lampposts at the entrance of the driveway was completely demolished by some drunk or crazy driver that plowed straight through it .

Sometime in the middle of the night , they ran right through it.

When I walked down to get the morning newspaper ,bricks were everywhere...along with various car parts.

I really don't even know how they drove away or how they got away alive

(You wouldn't believe how fast and crazy people drive on country roads these days!)

That post , along with it's twin had been there since the house was built.

Well, now it's gone.

Unbelievably, the very same day that our precious tree was uprooted and broken , the house across the road from us burned to the ground!

The house has been empty for many years but I have such fond memories of the family that lived there when I was a child.

The house and that family were there before we moved in....probably early 50's .

When I got up early this morning I went outside to see the last of the super moon .

It was beautiful!

Then I glanced over a bit and saw a red /orange glow through the trees.

I thought that I was just seeing things or thought that there was a reflection of something there.

I had hubby to go check it out.

He came back and said that the house had completely burned down...just the last bits burning

I learned later that it must have started about 1 or 2 am or so and the fire engines and police were out there around that time. I heard nothing ! Hubby says I sleep through anything ! Well, he did , too !!!

The coals and random pieces of wood continued to burn/smoke well into the afternoon,

Now, the house is gone!

Nothing (material) last forever.

I must always remember to enjoy the beauty and blessings of each day .

The Nature Lovers poem and many more can be found in my book Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia- A Life In Poems

Both of my "little books of southern poems
are available on Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd

http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem-pnd