Tupelo, MS - The Re-Education of the South

"Look!" Tom crawled underneath the warm pancake. "Bed as breakfast!"

"Hey! Get out of there." I said, ready to pour the syrup.

"When you wake up, your breakfast is right there on top of you. You just eat it! You can sleep in an omelette, waffles, oatmeal..."

"A cup of boiling coffee," I offered.

Ignoring me, Tom went on. "Tom's Bed As Breakfast. I'm a genius! I'll make a million bucks! I'm so excited!!" Pause. "Uh oh. I think I wet myself."

I pulled Tom out of my stack of pancakes. So much for breakfast.

Tupelo, MS was the first city served by the Tennesee Valley Authority. It's the birthplace of Elvis. It's the namesake of the great alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. I first heard of Tupelo in a John Lee Hooker song way back in 1988, and I've wanted to go there ever since. Blues songs, more than any other, are really big on name-checking actually cities. So seeing Tupelo, Belzoni, Clarksdale, Rodelle, Vicksburg ... is really cool.

On Monday I biked 30 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway, Tuesday I did 20. It's the most perfect biking road I've seen. No trucks, therefore no potholes. Gentle slopes. Virtually no intersections. And beautiful pine trees and jonquils and budding lilacs on both sides. It's a popular destination for biking tourists.

Lois, the Innkeeper of the Mockingbird Inn, told me of a group of 15 ladies who biked the entire 440 mile parkway. They were all between 65 and 75 (!!!) "They were the most buff group of women I've ever seen," she noted. "And they all stopped here, broke out bottles of wine, and drank and played cards until 1 AM." I hope to be as lucky.

A side note on Southern education. Everyone seems to know the Crossroads myth. But there are signs of large educational gaps.

• I asked for a mint julep, and the server said, "What???" She asked the bar and twenty minutes later, returned with "we don't have any mint, sorry!"
• After the Garrison Keillor talk, I heard someone say. "Yeah, he was really good. I heard he does a radio show too!"
• On the Uptown Coffee menu board, underneath Espresso, it says "If you don't know what it is, you don't want it."

I know what I need to do. I need to stay here and become a teacher.

My stay at the Mockingbird Inn was extremely peaceful and lovely. When I dug out Tom for a picture with Lois, she gushed over him. "He's so cute! What a darling! How long have you had him?" When we checked out she said, "Take care of yourself. And Tom too!"

"Yeah, take care of me!" said Tom.

Oh, I'll take care of him all right.

From the Mailbag

Mike asked about my stint in Vista. Vista, Volunteers in Service to Americam was what eventually grew into Americorps. It was started in the late 60's, and aimed to be the domestic version of the Peace Corps. You sign up for a year and work on a dirt-poor stipend, forcing you to basically live like the people you're helping.

My stint in Vista was during the Reagan era, when funding was virtually nil. In the late 60's they used to ship people all over. When I joined, I was one of a handful of people who got a travel allowance to get from Lincoln to my home site in Utica.

Ideologically, MLK's writings really influenced me to join Vista. Practically, Wende Baker of the Lincoln Food Bank (where I did volunteer computer work) convinced me to go - she was an early Vista volunteer. She remains one of my favorite people on planet Earth - practical, generous, and a joy to be around.

That's probably more than you wanted, but I get gooshy about this time of my life. It was a blast.