Back in the South

Hi everyone! Hope y'all are doing well. Just wanted to report on the awesome football and music trip that I took last weekend riding shotgun to Rita. As y'all know, I love my summer camp in Mississippi and was there at the beginning of the summer. Well, my friends said they wanted me to come visit them at an Ole Miss game this fall, so without much convincing, I booked a flight a few weeks ago, and headed down for the game versus Arkansas on October 24th. I flew into Memphis, where I got to see the ducks at the Peabody hotel and Beale Street (just want y'all to know that it looks like a lame imitation of Bourbon Street), then Rita picked me up and we drove to Oxford, where Ole Miss is. We stayed with my friend and wandered around the gorgeous downtown square, and spent a while at the famous Square Books, an awesome bookstore. (However, I did not need to buy a book as I had brought Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, which I am still reading.) We went to bed early, since we knew we had a big day on Saturday.

Let's just say that Rita was in a dress and I was wearing a sportcoat at 9:30 in the morning - and we were both drinking Bloody Maries. Then we went over to the Grove, which is where the tailgating for the games takes place. It's a huge tree-shaded quad filled with tents overflowing with people eating good food and enjoying good drinks. As Rita aptly said, "I've never seen so many well-dressed white people in one place before in my life." I think I agree. So we spent time with my friends there, chatting, people watching, and soaking up a tailgating experience a little more elaborate than ever happens at Yale. Plenty of pretty girls to look at, but not all of them are great conversationalists, or well read, either. Unsurprising, but still unfortunate. Rita had a great time telling my camp friends and some folks I didn't know about my streaking activities and general nekkidnes. They were bemused, but not really shocked, I think. Then we headed into the game for an 11:30 kickoff, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching good football live in person. Rita and I were both intrigued by the halftime show put on by the Ole Miss band. There was no script and there appeared to be a large number of straight lines and complicated movements while playing. Very odd. And the band seemed to play maybe six songs during the game. I think we should sell Junta arrangements on the cheap to non-scatter bands, 'cuz Lord knows Ole Miss needed to be playing a greater variety of music. After the game, which Ole Miss won, we went back to the Grove for more food and drink.

Then, after dinner, we drove an hour and change (to the sounds of an awesome CD of blues rock music) to meet the one and only Dave DeAngelis in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in the heart of the Delta. It's a pretty rugged town where Dave and his band of fellow Delta TFAers practice on Saturdays. We met him and his friends at an epic hole in the wall called Red's Juke Joint. You have to see it to believe it. I don't think there's anything '09 has collectively seen that can compare, but I guess I can try by saying that it makes Rudy's look like the Ritz. Really. So at Red's the bar consists of a beat up old fridge behind the counter, from which you can get a 24 oz. Bud or Bud Light in a can for something like $3. And with a $5 cover, you are treated to seriously legit finger pickin blues. Rita and I were both blown away. So that was awesome. Afterwards Rita and I spent the night at the huge mansion in which Dave's Clarksdale friends live, which a big TFA supporter in town rents to them crazy cheap because he lives in his hunting lodge. No joke. So imagine six 24 year old young men living in an ornate 4,500 square foot house with a few Keystone cans and Nerf bullets in the grand hall. Rather surreal place to sleep after a long 18 hour day. And I was just a passenger to all of the driving Rita did on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Thanks again, Rita!). My only jobs during the trip were to clean up nice and drink, both of which I did with aplomb. And then on Sunday morning, we drove back to Memphis, where Rita dropped me off at the airport.

So that was the trip I took back down South with Rita as my Mississippian fellow-traveler. It was really awesome, and also an interesting cultural endeavor for us. I had never done anything quite so over-the-top Deep South, and I had never been to the Delta, either. The ghosts of the Old South are still there in Mississippi, and that's definitely not always a good thing (Case in point: hearing current Ole Miss students shout "The South will rise again!" at the end of a school song. I mean, where do you go from there? At least there weren't too many rebel flags.) But seeing the bulletholes in the main Ole Miss administration building dating from the siege which happened when James Meredith integrated the school in 1962 is compelling. They didn't fill the holes in. Still there. Undoubtedly I'm forgetting some good stories, but I'm sure Rita will post them or tell them soon enough. I look forward to seeing all of y'all at the Game in two and a half weeks! Take care everybody!
Ned
PS Big kid life is still treating me well in DC. Work is good, and Steve and I remain a happy domestic couple.