On: The Jackson Fire Department Life Safety House

The Jackson Fire Department is in the process of constructing an important safety training tool for our community, the Life Safety House. The simulator, located on Conalco Drive, consists of three different rooms and will give community members tips and information on properly handling threatening situations in the home. As guests walk into the converted trailer, they will see a classroom where the instructors can give school groups a presentation on safety in the event of fire or natural disaster.

Lessons From the Sidelines

We live in a critical society. Social media is mostly to blame for that, along with twenty-four-hour “news” networks and talk radio. Everyone has a voice whether they have anything worth saying or not. If you have a bad experience at a restaurant, Tweet about it. If your hotel bed isn’t as comfortable as you think it should be, grab your phone and give it two stars on Google. I don’t exempt myself from taking part in the reactionary culture in which we find ourselves.

No Adult Left Behind

In 2005, Bruce Springsteen went on a tour with just himself, an acoustic guitar, a harmonica, and a pump organ. This tour was in support of his album entitled Devils and Dust. It was a follow up to The Ghost of Tom Joad, which was released in 1995, and was a sequel to Nebraska. On each of these albums Springsteen wasn’t backed by the E Street Band.

Stay 731: Roots

I got my first tattoo when I was twenty-three years old. I worked for it, too. I was married at the time, and it took me two years to convince my wife that I should have one. I guess the compromise was that it would be a cross, which was hard for her to argue against. I picked the cross off of a poster-sized print hanging in the tattoo shop. The design was “flash,” which is a stereotypical design of a tattoo, but I didn’t know that at the time. I knew I wanted a tattoo, so I picked one out.

Friday Night Teammates

Somewhere in my house there is a large photo album. Real, physical pictures fit into narrow plastic sleeves, telling my family’s story. If you look at one of the earlier pictures, you can see a small boy at a football game, wearing a much-too-big t-shirt and an oversized ball cap. It's Friday night, the lights are out. The boy stands at the rail, midfield, taking in the scope of the scene. His father stands beside him.