Jackson Jambalaya

Can anybody produce one iota of demonstrable evidence that the thing ever produced a nickle of return in the first place?

Yeah. Boo hoo. This is the organization that canceled last year in protest of HB 1523. It's like buying a ticket to a concert and then burning it publicly because you don't like the performer's politics. You're only hurting yourself.

Mississippi is more than a law or a government administration, and if such things define your hometown pride, then eff you.

Not really sure why this was such a big deal anyway.

Morons. Its what our legislature is comprised of. Morons.

Those videos showed EXACTLY what I've figured that event would be like: everything I hate about Mississippi, AMPLIFIED.

Those poor people were so depressing, especially the pageant queen, singing in exactly the same strained voice-coached voice you hear at pageants; the Elvis impersonator with the exaggerated 'y' sounds when he talks (I take it he's Baptist); the taking of G--'s name in vain; the awful food; the diabetes-water "Sweet Tea"; the enforced low-down, down-home, hang-dog Southern Celtic LOSERISM - all made WORSE by the fact that these seem to be a bunch of broke, desperate "creatives", totally lost in a city where you need a lot of money to live: that's what I got from those videos.

I couldn't watch the second half of the second video. The religion angle was really awful - the sort of thing that can turn you into an atheist, if you don't stay away from it. Did skip ahead and see 'Mal' - probably the only person there, who wasn't a broke loser.

Phil Bryant and his homophobic bill have destroyed a long-standing event in NYC that brought positive publicity to the state for decades

There is no point in continuing an event designed to disprove stereotypes about Mississippi when Gov. Feel and the rest of the clowns running our state are doing everything they can to reinforce those things.

Trump = Honey Boo Boo

Everything you leave Mississippi to get away from...

Who ever thought this would be a good idea? It's nice, though, that they had a good excuse for putting the wretched thing out of its misery.

57% of Democrats Want Trump to Succeed

The first video was just too fake. Glad it was short. The second video was just advertisements so I didn't watch much of it. I can understand why it was cancelled. I can't understand why it took this long for it to be cancelled.

8:45 ...failed his Dale Carnegie class.

It's a picnic. Not a political forum. If they were worried about mississippis reputation they wouldn't have told everybody Mississippi was having a picnic in the park in the first place. I'm sure it drew a lot of laughs even before the political stunt.

The totalitarianism of tolerance is a powerful force. The tolerant are the most intolerant in our society.

I'm ashamed to tell anyone I'm from Mississippi. We are the armpit of the nation and it will get much worse---soon we will be the b--- hole.

The African American community has taken this state to a new low and it is nothing that can be done to cure the problems.

10:39
Then, get the fuck out, you self-loathing prick.

Feel is such a backward idiot. I hope he will not try to replace Cochran after Cochran has served his three years with himself.

Thirty seconds into the first video and I don't see any obese Southern Baptists.

Funny, I don't see any state flags on display in these videos....

I've been to the picnic. It's fun. A good way for people in NYC to catch up with other home state people. Sure, they could do that anytime but often times a scheduled event makes that more likely to happen. They charged for a plate lunch that usually was Simmons catfish & McAllister's sweet tea. There were "program" things like the video shows but also very much just a picnic, with people sitting around on blankets eating and talking. It was a private event and they're free to cancel it for whatever reason. Someone else is free to start their own Mississippi picnic there if they want.

Some years MDA or MS Tourism would contribute to it and pay for some of the program, and of course in exchange get to do the programs they wanted. I wonder if that might be what happened: organizers canceled because of HB1523; gov tells MDA not to send them money; they had grown dependent on that funding so now can't put it on anymore.

I don't know if that's the case. I'm sure there are plenty of things for people to get angry about. I'm not going to get angry about people coming together to eat and have fun and celebrate Mississippi. And I'm not going to get angry if they decide not to do that anymore.

Anybody but Harper. Republicans wanted McDaniel.

Looks like the Northside Sun version of Mississippi...

@11.57, no not all republicans wanted or do want McDaniel. Take Harper any day over him. But you are entitled to your own opinion.

it is being moved to Smith Park after the renovations are completed.

But 11:40 sure as hell is going to take a conjectural swipe at Bryant~

"...but often times a scheduled event makes that more likely to happen..."

I certainly hope you didn't go to school in Mississippi, because by eighth grade, we'd learned not to say "often times" (or oftentimes). It was on the list of bad colloquialisms, along with things like "take and". Even kids in public schools had that list.

Most of the things on the list were new to us. "Who even SAYS that?" Teachers would answer, "Oh, those are in the book for Yankee factory workers and people like that. They don't know any better."

A majority of Republicans voted for McDaniel. A minority of Republicans plus black Democrats voted for Cochran.

@12:55, you're right it was totally conjecture, but it wasn't meant as a swipe. It doesn't bother me at all if he or his staff told MDA to stop funding it. It's a private event. They're free to express their opinion. The government is free not to fund it. I didn't mean to cast "blame" because there isn't a fault there.

@1:07, you, too, are correct. That was a "bad colloquialism." But that's how I speak and I'm OK with that.

PrezElect Cheeto hero and his orange minions to the rescue.

It's like the Trump's swearing in, no stars want to show up because they are afraid they will be embarrassed. Same thing with the Corporate sponsors of the picnic.

11:57 / 1:18 Do not speak for me. This Republican voted for Senator Cochran. McDaniel and his ego and immaturity are dangerous and would be ineffective. Also, I'm a huge fan of Congressman Harper.
For your information, Mississippi does not register voters by party. Voters - (even black ones! - that is for your mentality, not coming from me) can choose with each election cycle, which primary in which they wish to vote.

I hear they will have food trucks and everything at Smith Park.

Now you clowns are refighting the Senate race on a thread about the picnic in New York. Let it go, both of y'all. No more comments about the Senate race will be approved on this post.

The picnic was one of the very few positive media stories about this state every year. It took a lot of hard work and money to put together. I can see why the organizers decided - why even bother any more. Each year our legislature tries to see if they can out crazy the previous session with more unconstitutional hate bills and the current session will be no different. As long as hate is the primary product of this state nothing will ever change and young people will continue to leave as fast as they can. Some will even be fortunate enough to have enough education and skills to live in New York City

Those Talk Radio Wackos at it again!

I'm sure DeBlassio is disappointed.........

Again....can anybody point to any positive traction this has ever brought the state? I know some Mississippi State Employees got to go up and eat catfish and stay on the State's dime for three days, but.....

"...some will even have the skills to live in New York City"? And just what ARE those skills?

I'm more in hopes that New Yorkers will NEVER develop the skills to live in The South.

The original comment read:
"... As long as hate is the primary product of this state nothing will ever change and young people will continue to leave as fast as they can. Some will even be fortunate enough to have enough education and skills to live in New York City."
January 5, 2017 at 5:47 PM

The quotation of,and question (or snark) based on that comment was: " "...some will even have the skills to live in New York City"? And just what ARE those skills? ..."
January 7, 2017 at 11:55 AM

As you can see, 11:55 altered the quote a bit, omitting "education".

Some "creatives" can "make it" in NYC. Most can't. The creatives we saw in the above two videos, looked like the ones who COULDN'T make it in New York. For a creative to do well there, the person has to be a Vera Wang type (backed by big money, and considerable business savvy), be of the right ethnicity/religion (thus with links to capital and business savvy), or be both absolutely brilliant at producing some marketable variant of a product (song, dance, literature, clothing, art...) AND adept at schmoozing/sleeping-with/being-kept-by the right people AND have a fantastic grasp of business & self-promotion AND be gifted with unflagging energy/focus.

The creatives in that last category are one-in-a-million. Most everybody else, among the creatives, ends up utterly DESTROYED. Maybe you'll get lucky, and be able to limp back home, when you inherit your grandmother's bad 1955 Phoney Colonial knockoff of Monticello, with views from a bluff overlooking the Mississippi. You'll be able to say, "Rodrick and I had grown tired of the Manhattan rat race, and were looking for a simpler, slower pace - someplace ideal for raising our child - when we realized that we could apply our backgrounds in advertising and theater, in promoting all the wonderful things happening here in (insert name of dying river town). In our spare time, we're lovingly restoring Taranaught to its original Colonial-era charm."

On the other hand, people who can actually LIVE in NYC, tend to be those whose educations/degree programs position them for careers in Medicine (practice and/or research), Law, and the Financial Industry. Or, an MBA from a really good school, coupled with the right looks and soft skills, MAY allow a Southerner to become an executive in some other field.