I parked in front of the store and saw a man loading three cases of Pepsi in his car. I asked if it was on sale; he said yes, then went on to tell me it was a lot cheaper at Walmart etc. I said I detect a Northern accent, and he replied he was from Wisconsin. He had married a woman from here in deep south Mississippi, and they had to move here to take care of her elderly mother.

I asked with some trepidation "Well how do you like it here?" He said bitterly that he hates it here, and as soon as possible he can't wait to get out. He said the locals are shiftless and unlikeable etc. etc. and the good ole boy system rankles him. He didn't even mention the hot weather and hurricanes and bugs, but I know he doesn't like that either. Ah well, another Yankee who's gonna go back North and trash talk Mississippi to anybody who'll listen.

All I could think of is that as far as I know Mississippi hasn't produced a Jeffrey Dahmer--leave that to Wisconsin, huh?



Speaking of that, there's a church group from Michigan who comes to our town every spring to do "do-gooder" work, then they can write in their glossy brochures they've been to the dark interior of Mississippi to help people, as if we were Haiti or the African jungle or Central America or something. I resent that too.

susil