Midweek Musings: Extra! Extra!
a phone call from across the pond, a newspaper, and immortalizing Jessie Green
A couple of months ago, Rebecca from across the pond won a book giveaway in The August Collection, and let me tell you something—I am not as adept at packaging and shipping as I once was. Especially international parcels. In the end, though, I got it done and off it went. Satisfied that the task was complete, I promptly forgot I had even mailed the package until “United Kingdom” appeared as my phone rang one morning last week.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is this Holly?”
“Yes–this is Holly.”
“Hi Holly, um, I’ve just received a package, but I don’t know the recipient. And your number was on the form, so…”
“Oh gosh, let me check the address that she gave me. It’s 18 [redacted] Lane.”
“Oh, I’m 19. And I don’t really know my neighbours, but I’m just going to pop it over straightaway.”
I thanked her profusely and then wondered if I was losing my mind—did I really write the wrong address? Or is His Majesty’s Postal Service as bad at deliveries as the U.S. Postal Service?1
Not five minutes later a message landed in my inbox:
“HOLLY!!!!!!!!
I haven’t opened it yet - I’ve literally JUST closed the front door - a neighbour from across the way just rang my doorbell and delivered your parcel - thank you SO MUCH! She’s called Lynne - in fact I’d never met her before, so that was lovely - and she said she’d even called you!
Goodness me, this is so exciting!
I’m just going to grab some scissors……..”
Doesn’t that message just exude excitement?! I replied that getting a call from the UK first thing in the morning was pretty awesome, and Rebecca’s response made me LOL, too.
“She was excited too - LOL!!! I was like, ‘you rang AMERICA?!’ Very cool!”
I, of course, read all these emails in a British accent (which is its own kind of cool, I think), but it was what Rebecca said next that made me consider something I don’t often afford much thought.
“…the pages from ‘The Woodville Republican’ which you’d used as packing material are a wonderful snapshot into local life on your side of the pond. The stories are similar yet at the same time different to our own local news. I’m particularly taken with the ‘LOCALS’ column, in which the headline ‘Birthday Celebrated’ has grabbed my attention - it’s an almost ‘Court Circular’ style account of a three-year-old’s party, which is delightful.”2
Our local newspaper, The Woodville Republican, lands in our post office box weekly—every Wednesday, according to the publication dates, but you know small-town life doesn’t always operate on the reported schedule. Sometimes I find it in the box on Tuesday, but never on Thursday. I don’t spend much time pondering the existence of this periodical—it’s just something we receive, read, and recycle in some way after it shifts about the house for a couple of weeks.
I suppose, however, I should pay it proper respect. The publication proudly declares across the top:
“MISSISSIPPI’S OLDEST NEWSPAPER - Established 1824”
Current owner Andy Lewis and his wife, Lili, faithfully continue the work his family took over in 1879, and I wonder what will happen when they retire. While some of the content is frivolous (the details of a ladies’ book club meeting or a 3-year-old’s birthday party), the paper actually provides important reports, such as County, Town, and Board of Education meeting minutes and budgets, obituaries, court verdicts, and crime summaries. Last week’s headlines included:
“County Spent $1.4 Million On Asphalt Overlay Of County Roads”
“WCSD Test Scores Are Dismal; Third from Worst”
“Husband Arrested For Assault On Wife, Faces Three Charges”
“Safety Checkpoint Leads To Weapon Charge; 18 Citations”
“BOS Meets On Last Day Of Fiscal Year To Pay Claims Docket”
“Political Announcement”
“Minutes Of The Wilkinson County Board of Education”
“Mississippi Deer Season 2022-2023: What To Know Before You Go Hunting”
“Death Notices”
I appreciate the information about our town’s and county’s inner workings—we all need to be more cognizant of how our tax dollars are spent and what violent criminals are on the loose—but I confess that like Rebecca, I quite enjoy some of the fluff. Because some of the paper is digitally archived, the people, places, and events of this tiny corner of Mississippi (that may very well end up falling into the Mississippi River one day) will live on.3
For example, a quick search brings up a write-up on my grandmother’s 90th birthday. The feature included a photo of her with her three children, mentioned birthday guests, and ended with “Hamburgers with all the trimmings were enjoyed by all.”4
I also found an article that describes in detail how an inmate "fooled the jail clerk," broke the padlock on his cell, and walked out the front door. Said criminal had escaped just two months prior with the aid of a trustee. They imprisoned the jailer (my grandfather), stole two shotguns, and "fled in the jailer's car."5
Last week, I opened the paper and was delighted to see a photo of our friend Jessie and birthday wishes from his church.
Jessie is a familiar face in Woodville, Mississippi (and perhaps he’ll reach international infamy now?). He seeks odd jobs around town, especially window washing. I met him when he asked if he could clean the windows at our event venue. I’m solicited for work nearly every time I’m there and have been burned a couple of times by shoddy jobs. Jessie, however, is a superb window washer and reliably shows up on the agreed-upon day.
But Jessie is more than someone who cleans windows for us. He is a friend.
He stops by our house regularly to see how we’re doing, often bringing us vegetables from his garden.6 He came by last week, and I gave him a pile of pecans Mike had gathered from the yard. Every other visit he tells us if we need anything, we can find him "over in the apartments—in #2." Without exception, he follows that with: "#1 is the first one and you go on past that one. I'm in #2."
I’ve never actually made it to #2 because you will mostly find Jessie walking all over town. One afternoon I headed over to #2 to deliver some soup and cornbread. I encountered him a couple of blocks away, walking. He declined a ride home but gratefully took the soup, saying he was just wondering what he was going to cook for dinner.
Jessie doesn’t own much—as is the case with many community members—but he shares what he has and is most humble. When he greets you, you can count on a genuine smile and at least a five-minute chat, something I have learned to make time for because I always leave those conversations feeling a bit lighter and happier and seen.
The other night I came home from dinner with friends, and Mike handed me a yellow plastic dollar store bag that Jessie dropped off earlier in the evening. I peeked inside, pulled out the unexpected offering, and carefully unwrapped the lump of foil.
“He said he wanted you to have some of his birthday cake,” Mike explained.
I didn’t know birthday cake had the same effect as onions.
I checked my copies of the Customs form. My first attempt at the Post Office did, in fact, have “18.” My second attempt had “19.” I cannot be trusted with simple tasks.
Rebecca kindly included in her message the definition of Court Circular for context: “The daily Court Circular is the official listing of the previous day’s Royal events and is printed in The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Scotsman as well as online. The practice of the Royal Household or 'Court' circulating a report of the Sovereign's official daily engagements to the newspapers was reportedly begun by King George III in 1803, after he became frustrated at the inaccurate reporting of Royal events by the national press. Today it remains the definitive account of official Royal events.”
The history of Grand Gulf, Mississippi is fascinating, and the Mississippi River actually changed course and eroded 52 blocks of the town! (https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ms-grandgulf/)
I will never understand the point of including what was served, but maybe some people really want to know.
I’m not going to be embarrassed by this since he was 70ish.
Re: including what was served at an event. I LOVE this! I've been reading about Mark Twain (in preparation for a post in "Noted" 2weeks from now.) I've seen a few menus from his birthday parties -- and they are wild. For his 70th, guests enjoyed "Green Turtle," "Fried Hominy and Current Jelly," and "Fancy Ice Creams" among other things. Maybe one day "hamburger with all the fixings" will sound equally strange.
I admit at first I thought you were going to say Rebecca called you. Then I saw what had happened. I was going to comment on the USPS (is there anyone who hasn't had a problem) but I see it was operator error. ;) I can't remember when it was but I have received packages in the past with old newspapers. One time, they were old from 20 to 30 years ago. I don't know why someone held onto them that long but it was interesting reading back what happened on such and such day.
The Woodville seems to be getting a jump on the news. The first year posted is 2202.