2026 – SGA Mostly Mississippi 2026

Petticoat Junction

Now You Know21 hours ago0Comments 0Likes

Oh, please. You do remember this one. Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, Betty Jo? While you are scratching your head, here are some of the zillions of water towers in Mississippi.

Extra credit for pix of other water towers.

Speaking of water towers, here is a story about a sign, not a water tower. We are not going to Hot Coffee, but it is close to Whynot which we are going near.

In the late 1870s some guy figured out that an inn would be a good thing at the intersection of popular north-south and east-west roads. Ya think? Anyhow, he built one with a store and hung a coffee pot over the door, advertising “the best hot coffee around”. His coffee was made from spring water and New Orleans beans, and molasses drippings for sweetener. He never served cream with his coffee, believing it ruined the taste. Note to self: look up molasses drippings.

You cannot get hot coffee in Hot Coffee. True that.

To play you out, the theme song. We knew you would remember.

Fighting Okra

Now You Know2 days ago0Comments 0Likes

The Fighting Okra is the mascot of Delta State University baseball or basketball, depending on who you ask. Really. Also Statesmen. Hey, it is the Delta, they can have as many mascots as they want.

Don’t you wish you had an okra instead of a knight, warrior, cougar or whatever?

In case you live under a rock (or in anyplace else but the Delta), okra is a funky vegetable with slimy seeded guts. It is used in gumbo. Also fried. Do not be scared.

You can buy a T shirt at the bookstore. We want one, don’t you?

You didn’t think we would leave you without a song, did you? This is okra blues. Yes, there is such a thing, even if we did just make it up.

Clown Car Cure

AutosJuly 21, 20260Comments 0Likes

The darling/courageous/who-knows-what Mrs. Lottie B. Ellison of Rawls Falls (say that ten time fast), Mississippi, was awarded a patent (#1,323,177, to be exact) in 1919 for her design of a passenger-side door that would accommodate a third front-seat rider without causing discomfort to other occupants. The door consisted of a retractable bottom section which, when flipped up, allowed an extra rider to sit on the floor while resting his/her feet on the outside running board.

Sounds like every teenager we know.

While we are on the subject, this 1943 cartoon was titled “You’re the man, Jones, who said car pooling wouldn’t work!”

Chocolate Is An Acceptable Breakfast Food

CultureJuly 20, 20260Comments 0Likes

Yup. You can get chocolate gravy for your biscuits in Mississippi.

Mrs. Terri gets up in the dark of night to make the biscuits at Abe’s Grill in Corinth. She has been doing that for 50 years. If you wanna go there before/after/during the battlefield stuff, know that they only take cash. Although the place is just pain too photogenic, it is popular with the locals.

You coulda gone to Mama 2’s Biscuits in Greenville, but you woulda been enjoying your marvelous free breakfast on the Alluvian’s rooftop terrace.

The Matrix

Now You KnowJuly 16, 20260Comments 0Likes

Out of which our dear Miss Rodhouse says our ticket procurement sprang (sprung? Anyone an English teacher?)

Your fearless leader has nubs for fingernails in anticipation of getting tickets to the Angola Prison Rodeo. Or not getting tickets to the Angola Prison Rodeo. Like any popular event, tickets are a bear to score. We have been up since midnight Wednesday doing autodial on two different phone numbers, and manual browser refresh. We finally went to sleep at two, but set alarm for every 15 minutes to check.

Having no luck and just seeing “Fall Tickets on Sale July 15” on the official website, we resorted to AI. After about a dozen frustrated back and forths with Claude, a real person with a real phone number was suggested. Having no other options we gave it a go.

Miss Smith was a delight. I explained that we had been up since midnight of the day before and wanted to know if we missed it. She told us that the tickets really were not on sale on the 15th. A phone call back was promised. Lo and behold, she did call back before the official sale time (!) Secured seats in the shade (think aluminum benches in sun as an alternative). Happy dance done.

While we are going to write about the rodeo in detail, a little on the events. These are professional animals and professional purses. The inmates are not professionals. Ambulances are on the scene.

There are normal events like bull riding (exhilarating), bronco riding (they don’t stay on for long), steer wrestling (what you’d expect), and barrel racing. The latter is done by beautiful girls, as is the opening ride out. This is sorta creepy because if you think about it these are a whole pile of men serving life sentences and no women behind bars with them. Ahem.

But there are lots of cool events you will see nowhere but here. A coupla of them involve dodging pissed off bulls. Our favorite is called Prisoner Pinball (we didn’t know it had a name), where inmates stand in hula hoops on the ground, and the last one standing (or squatting, you shall see) wins. The same few guys win it all the time. Another dodge-the-bull event is four guys playing poker and seeing who chickens out last. The best event is the last one, where a red tag is tied between the horns of, you guessed it, a bull, and the inmates try to grab it. There is a lot of money awarded. The same guy wins it every year. You have to be fast.

And did we say the participants are garbed in old-school black and white stripes?

P.S. We have been going down the rabbit hole, finding 1500 old photo negatives in an archive somewhere in Louisiana. Stay tuned to see our favorites. Remember, we went through 1500 photographs to pick the best ones so you don’t have to.