Y'all reading this may have never even heard of Holmes County before. That's it marked out up there in the NW Central region of Mississippi, straight above the state capital of Jackson. If you're unsure of the map, I've screen captured the Miss River on the left with a bit of Louisiana, and the state line over to the east with Alabama. There's still a portion of Mississippi to the north and south (though I included my town of Hattiesburg for reference). I, myself, have heard of Holmes County, but wasn't exactly sure where it was. It was either somewhere in that band above Jackson from border to border (and it is, but I couldn't have marked exactly), or else west of me towards Natchez. I knew I'd passed through it before, but that one trip long ago up HWY 55.
I talked in one of my last posts about it being difficult for a resident of this state to know exactly where things are if they are not located within their general vicinity. I still stand by that. I also talked about Homochitto as being completely incorrect as it should be HomA. There you see the HomOchitto National Forest on the way to Natchez, you can check that last post I linked to as to the reasons why. But this post is not really about geography or etymology. It's about political office, I suppose. Today I was pointed towards this guy running for Beat 1 Supervisor of Holmes County. It has nothing to do with me, nor the person who directed me to it, because we can not vote in that county by a long shot (We can't even vote in the same counties, though we're in the same city, but I digress). But the additional text of the video said, "No need to vote... just give him the job!" I couldn't agree more. The person who directed me to it stated, "Sometimes I love this state!". There again, I also couldn't agree more. I can not link directly to the videos that this guy, Steve McClellan, has put up to gain political support, but I can link to a state news source that supplies the videos and a bit about them. >>Here<< Though I've seen another video where he wants more eating options than fast food, most of his videos focus on the poor road conditions; The Holes in the Roads, which he has a theme song to go along with that! In one video he's just showing you the poor roads in the other he's the super hero of getting the holes out of the roads. I think it's brilliant for several counts. In the super hero one he states that as a child he wanted to be a super hero, so he gets to be one for saving the roads (or more specifically peoples cars from the holes in the roads), and that though he's not really a super hero, he'd like people to vote for him so he can fix the holes in the roads and get a better super hero costume. He has his own, very catchy, theme song for the plight of the holes in the roads; and catchy music or jingles sell, or perhaps in this case, get people to remember your name and vote you into office. It's entertaining, imaginative, and one can really believe that he cares about his native county. I find this a very typically Mississippi thing. Not to say that other southern states, nor states elsewhere implement imagination and play, but I've seen more of it here. Most Mississippians aren't afraid to be who they really are. It doesn't mean they all do, as a lot of people will probably shun this as being child like and stupid, while inside they really do like it, or wish they could pretend to be someone else with their own theme music and make a video. I can't validate it, but it was once told to me that Mississippi is home to the greatest number of artistic people. I can believe there's at least some truth in it, though I have no idea the source of that statement. The videos are child like in essence, but not in a bad way. He's being the super hero he always wanted to be, though one hates that they have bad roads, the videos are fun and amusing and bring the viewer some joy. You want him to win. You want to hear his song again and you want him to have a better costume (not because his is terrible, but because he wants one), and you want him to fix the holes in the roads. Though I can see how some people might be laughing at him, his videos really are a laughing with him sort of scenario. He's not an idiot (as I'm sure somewhere some people will say. I just know they will, whether they really believe it or not, because there are always those people in the world), he's just creative and doesn't care to hide that away because other people might care. That's a lot of people that I have encountered in this state. We had a guy in downtown who would dress up in really stunning dresses and wave to people. He wasn't crazy, he just wanted to do this and bring people joy. There's a guy, who is from Pennsylvania, I believe, but lives here now. He's also not crazy. But he wears yellow-orange gloves and has outfitted his motorbike with an Ah-ROOOga horn, and on his way to and from work everyday, while passing people on the road, he'll use his horn and wave to people, just to make others happy. These are all strange and eccentric things, but in essence it is creativity and a desire to make others happy; to bring joy. Whether or not you see it as happy entertainment or someone playing the fool. I'm sure these people wouldn't equate themselves to Jim Henson, but really his goal through creativity and play was the bring joy to others, and to bring about a bit of change in the world. So neither example that I've supplied is really any different from the other.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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