Elvis Statue to Be Unveiled - Elvis Week 2012 - Tupelo, Mississippi

The statue's sculptor, William N. Beckwith,  was born in Greenville, Mississippi in 1952.
He graduated from The University of Mississippi and is now the
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Sculpture at The University of Mississippi.
He created the Elvis sculpture in his studio in Taylor Mississippi.

On September 26, 1956, a 21-year old Presley returned to Tupelo only a few years after leaving it to perform at the same fair he had performed at as a 10-year old. This time, as part of the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, Elvis performed two shows. A hundred National Guardsmen controlled the crowd that came out to see the biggest star to come from their hometown.

The statue is based on an iconic image of Elvis singing “Hound Dog,” as women raise their hands up to him with dreams they may brush his hand.   The image was taken that day in September of 1956 by photographer Roger Marshutz and is titled, 'The Hand'.

'The Hand'
Elvis performing in Tupelo Mississippi,
September 26, 1956.  Photo by Roger Marshutz

Gabrielle Douglas - USA Olympic Champion 2012

Women's Artistic Team All-Around Gymnastics Gold Medal – London Olympics 2012
Women’s Individual All-Around Gymnastics Gold Medal – London Olympics 2012

Gabrielle Douglas (born December 31, 1995), also commonly referred to as "Gabby,"'
is an American artistic gymnast.
She was a member of the gold medal-winning US Gymnastics team at the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Summer Olympics.    Martha Karolyi, the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics, nicknamed Douglas the "Flying Squirrel" for
her aerial performance on the uneven bars.

Douglas is the daughter of Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins.
She began training in gymnastics at age six.

At age 14 in October of 2010, Douglas moved from her home in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, to live with a host family, Travis and Missy Parton, in
West Des Moines, Iowa, so she could train with Liang Chow, who was the
coach of former world and Olympic champion Shawn Johnson.

Her host family, Travis and Missy Parton have 4 daughters ….
Hailey, 10; twins Leah and Lexi, 7½; and Elissa age 6.  
Gabby has bonded with them like a 5th daughter.

 

Gabby gets a big hug from her China-born coach, Liang Chow

August - National Catfish Month

Congress declared August National Catfish Month in the late 80s to recognize the contributions that the United States catfish industry made to the economy.  
Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi produce the majority of the nations catfish.

DID YOU KNOW...
Mississippi is the leading producer of farm raised catfish in the U.S., accounting
for 45-55 percent of ALL farm-raised catfish in the U.S.

DID YOU KNOW...
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.
* Mississippi is the largest producer of farm-raised catfish in the country
Mississippi State University Starkville , MS

 

CATFISH FUN FACTS

-It is illegal to lasso a fish in Tennessee.

-The walking catfish moves across land from one body of water to another.
It uses its pectoral fins like legs and has a modified gill chamber to get oxygen from the air.

-Texans eat more catfish than any other state in America.

-The catfish is the official fish of Missouri.

-Catfish don’t have scales.

-The electric catfish, native to Africa, is capable of generating up to 350 volts.

-The glass catfish is mostly transparent and often seen in home aquariums.

-The “whiskers” that make catfish look like cats are really barbels (bar-bulls), which are
covered with taste buds that allow the fish to find food in the murkiest of water.

-Belzoni, Miss., is known as the catfish capital of the world.
They have an annual festival and a catfish eating contest.

 

Elvis Week 2012 - Plans Underway -Tupelo MS

Elvis Week 2012
35th Anniversary
Tupelo Itinerary

Thursday, August 9, 2012
9 am – Shake Rag documentary at the Lyric with Q&A by Wsir Johnson

10:45 am – Fan Appreciation Day Ceremony at the Elvis Presley Birthplace, Ribbon Cutting and Dedication of the addition followed by music until 3 p.m. and storytellers in the chapel from 12:45 pm – 2:30 pm

6 pm – Down on Main concert/Community Celebration of Elvis with statue unveiling at 8 p.m. – Fairpark District

Friday, August 10, 2012
9 am – Conversation Panel with Roy Turner moderating featuring:

• Sara Patterson Gunter
Sara worked for Tupelo photographer Robert Kingsley.  He got her back stage in the tent to meet Elvis.  She placed one of the souvenir hats on him and he bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.  Her photo came out the next month in all the movie magazines and she received letters from all over the country asking, “What was it like to kiss Elvis?  Can you help me meet Elvis?  etc.”

• Gloria Wedgeworth Reasons
Gloria’s mother chauffeured 7 girls to Tupelo from Alamo, TN to see the concert.  One of whom was Judy Hopper, the girl that jumped up on stage and is in the Fox Movietone Newsreel.  Gloria was at the foot of the stage with her camera and took photos from a fan’s perspective that day.

• Sam Bell
Sam was Elvis’ childhood friend in Tupelo when he lived at 1010 N, Green (up on “the hill”).  He has interesting stories of growing up playing with Elvis.

• Barbara Mallory and Linda Hankins
Barbara started the Tupelo Elvis Fan Club in 1956 when she was 15 years old.  She and her cousin Linda were at the concert and have fun stories to tell about the day they saw Elvis perform.

• Allyson Adams
Her father Nick Adams accompanied Elvis from Hollywood to Memphis and on to Tupelo for the concert.  Allyson found a box marked “Nick’s Stuff” among his things.  In the box were the photos he made that day and a manuscript titled 8 Days with Elvis.  It is an account of his journey with Elvis to Tupelo for the Homecoming Concert.

11am – Fan Appreciation Day ceremony at Elvis Presley Birthplace followed by music until 3 p.m.

Special Exhibit at the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau
The “Embroidered Eagle” and “Black Vine” jumpsuits were both worn by Elvis in the early 1970’s and are on exhibit in the CVB lobby.  The CVB is open 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday and located at 399 East Main Street, next door to the Hilton Garden Inn. 
The exhibits are free.

The statue was sculpted by Mississippi native, William N. Beckwith based
on a September of 1956  photograph by Roger Marshutz, titled 'The Hand'.

 

Ole Miss at 2012 Olympics

University of Mississippi students 

past and present
Competing & involved in the
2012 Olympics London

 



The University of Mississippi was chartered on February 24, 1844.
It opened its doors to 80 students four years later, and for 23 years it was
Mississippi's only public institution of higher learning.
For 110 years, it was the state's only comprehensive university.

Known affectionately as Ole Miss, Mississippi's flagship university established the fourth state-supported law school in the nation (1854) and was one of the first in the nation to offer engineering education (1854). It was one of the first in the South to admit women (1882) and the first to hire a female faculty member (1885).

Olympic Equestrian Sport

The US horses traveled from Newark NJ in a FedEx cargo plane in specialized cargo boxes. The horses are accompanied on the 7 hour flight by a veterinarian and groomers.   They travel right beside the horses.  The horses travel in the same type of conditions as humans as far as temperature in the pressurized cabins. They are given hay and water while someone stays with them at all times.

Always, Always Celebrating the South and Promoting a Positive Mississippi

DID YOU KNOW... Fred Smith Founder of FED EX
(Federal Express)
is from Marks , Mississippi

Born: August 11, 1944, in Marks, Mississippi.

Education: Yale University, BA, 1966.


In 1971 Frederick Wallace (Fred) Smith came up with a revolutionary idea: delivering packages reliably overnight. With the creation of Federal Express Corporation, Smith not only offered an alternative to the mail and more traditional and slower delivery services, but he also created an industry that almost single-handedly changed the way business was conducted. In the process, Smith's company became the first American business to earn $10 billion in profits. By 2004 FedEx was delivering to 210 countries using over six hundred aircraft, 46,000 vehicles, and 141,000 employees.

Boyd Martin  & Horse  Otis Barbotiere

Martin had started out in the equestrian competition and had completed 2 parts riding Otis Barbotiere.  The final event came up and Otis Barbotiere had developed a swollen leg.  After Otis was sent to the holding box during inspection, Martin withdrew him from competition. Equestrian fans on twitter lauded Martin for his concern for his horses.
Last year, Martin saved Otis and several other horses from a barn fire in suburban Philadelphia. Several other horses perished in the fire that was thought  to have started from an electrical problem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can you spot something in this logo? The FedEx logo, designed in 1994 by Linden Leader & Landor Associates, at first appears simple and straightforward. However, if you look at the white space between the "E" and "x" you can see a right-facing arrow. This "hidden" arrow was intended to be a subliminal symbol for speed and precision.

Johnny Weissmuller ~ Olympic Champion

National Cheesecake Day

Praline-Crusted Cheesecake
(Pictured in the photo above)

Crumbled pralines and sugared shortbread make an out-of-this-world 

crust for classic cheesecake.

Ingredients

• 2 cups crushed shortbread cookies (about 28 cookies)
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 4 Pralines, coarsely crumbled
• 5 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 2 (8-ounce) containers sour cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Garnish: crumbled Pralines    Pralines, coarsely crumbled

Preparation

1. Combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press into bottom and up sides of a greased 10-inch springform pan.
2. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle coarsely crumbled Pralines over crust.
3. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add 1 3/4 cups sugar, flour, and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears. Stir in whipping cream and lemon rind. Pour in crust. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake at 350° on lower oven rack 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325,° and bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until almost set. Cool on wire rack 1 hour.
5. Stir together sour cream and 1/3 cup sugar; spread over cheesecake.
6. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill 8 hours. Remove sides of pan. Garnish, if desired.
   

Southern Living
NOVEMBER 1999

Olympics 2012 ~ Year of the Woman

My Mississippi by Robert St John

 

Olympic Poetry - 1912 Winner

                                     Ode To Sport

Georges Hohrod, & M. Eschbach

(Pseudonym Pierre de Coubertin)

Awarded a prize in the sports literature

competition in the V Olympiad - Stockholm 1912.

Ode to sport

Oh Sport, pleasure of the Gods essence of life, you appeared suddenly in the midst of the grey clearing which writhes with the drudgery of modern existence, like the radiant messenger of a past age, when mankind still smiled.

 And the glimmer of dawn lit up the mountain tops and flecks of light dotted the ground in the gloomy forests.

II.

O Sport, you are Beauty! You are the architect of that edifice which is the human body and which can become abject or sublime according to whether it is defiled by vile passions or improved through healthy exertion.

There can be no beauty without balance and proportion, and you are the peerless master of both, for you create harmony, you give movements rhythm, you make strength graceful and you endow suppleness with power.

Ill.

O Sport, you are Justice! The perfect equity for which men strive in vain in their social institutions is your constant companion. No one can jump a centimetre higher than the height he can jump, nor run a minute longer than the length he can run.

The limits of his success are determined solely by his own physical and moral strength.

IV.

O Sport, you are Audacity! The meaning of all muscular effort can be

summed up in the word ‘dare’. What good are muscles, what is the point of feeling strong and agile, and why work to improve one’s agility and strength, unless it is in order to dare? But the daring you inspire has nothing in common with the adventurer’s recklessness in staking everything on chance.

Yours is a prudent, well-considered audacity.

V.

O Sport, you are Honour! The laurels you bestow have no value unless

they have been won in absolute fairness and with perfect impartiality. He who, with some shameful trick, manages to deceive his fellow competitors feels guilt to his very core and lives in fear of the ignominious epithet which shall forever be attached to his name should his  trickery be discovered.

VI.

O Sport, you are Joy! At your behest, flesh dances and eyes smile; blood

races abundantly through the arteries.

Thoughts stretch out on a brighter, clearer horizon. To the sorrowful you can even bring salutary diversion from their distress, whilst the happy you enable fully to savour their joie de vivre.

VII.

O Sport, you are Fecundity! You strive directly and nobly towards perfection of the race, destroying unhealthy seed and correcting the flaws which threaten its essential purity.

And you fill the athlete with a desire to see his sons grow up agile and strong around him to take his place in the arena and, in their turn, carry off the most glorious trophies.

VIII.

O Sport, you are Progress! To serve you, a man must improve himself

both physically and spiritually.

You force him to abide by a greater discipline; you demand that he avoid all excess.

You teach him wise rules which allow him to exert himself with the maximum of intensity without compromising his good health.

IX.

O Sport, you are Peace! You promote happy relations between peoples,

bringing them together in their shared devotion to a strength which is controlled, organized and self-disciplined. From you, the young worldwide learn self-respect, and thus the diversity of national qualities becomes the source of a generous and friendly rivalry.

London Olympics