The power of friendship: In four days, Stella review becomes my most read blog post of all time

    People who love Oxford love good restaurants. My favorable review of Oxford’s newest restaurant, Stella, was published Wednesday morning. By midnight Saturday it had been directly accessed 7,160 times, making it the most read blog post I’ve ever written over the course of almost 10 years.
    I’m able to see how many people view my blog and I couldn’t figure out how or why so many people were reading the Stella review. Then I visited restaurant owner Johnny Kirk’s Facebook page and saw where he had not only posted it, but that it had been shared more than 40 times. It pays to have friends!
    Coming in second, with 7,102 direct page views, is a post I wrote several years ago about PSAT National Merit estimated cutoff scores. There is intense national interest in this, so I got a lot of hits from Google.
    My third most-read blog post of all time tells about Wild Bill Schneller thumbing nose, starting fight at 1938 Arkansas game. I wrote this post a number of years ago about the father of a friend, and each year before the Arkansas game it starts to get hits on its own. I made a point of posting it on Facebook this year, as did several others. It has 4,826 lifetime hits, but more than 3,000 of those are in the past month, again due to the fact that a number of young Bill Schneller's friends shared the blog post.
    Some of these “hits” may be from web “bots,” of course. On the other hand, quite a number of people access my blog directly. I still get one or two visits a day from people who click on the link on the late Tom Freeland’s old blog, NMissCommentor.com. At one time I got 15 or 20 visits a day from Tom’s blog.
    To put all of this in perspective, I sometimes write blog posts that get fewer than 100 direct hits (sometimes I don't post them on Facebook). But the hit numbers are really all over the place, from a few hundred to just over a thousand. Only a few posts have gotten over 2,000 direct page views.
    It’s interesting to see the power of social media. But it’s also interesting to see the power of friendship and the desire of people to share good news. Friendship is powerful stuff!

Stella, Oxford's newest restaurant, has the potential to be its very best

Stella's Caesar salad is art on a plate

    I’ve never been to a restaurant on opening night, but I read on Hottytoddy.com about the opening of Oxford’s newest restaurant, Stella, and decided to try it out. Stella is located where Smitty’s used to be, just off the Square on South Lamar; for old-timers, Grundy’s.
    Here’s my short review: If opening night is any indicator, Stella is an outstanding fine dining establishment. It has the potential to be the best restaurant in Oxford. Oh, and it’s fairly expensive, too.
    Now for the longer version, with one caveat: Stella is outstanding, but everyone likes and dislikes things. Any negative comment I make should be taken as a quibble and nothing more.
    After reading about the opening we tried to call to ask about availability. Stella doesn’t have a phone number on Google yet, and while they have a web page, about 50 percent of it is dummy copy. The mobile version of the website had no phone number (actually, it’s listed as 111-1234), so Jinny and I just decided to try to walk in.
    I was sure the restaurant would be packed with people wanting to be first in line for a new thing, but there were a number of empty tables visible as we drove by. We were able to get a table right away. Most tables were full, but I would guess that having a few empty tables was a blessing on opening night.
    When we arrived we were seated immediately in banquette seating on the north wall. I hate banquette seating, but they only had seven tables for two with plenty of space between the tables. I’ve been in restaurants where the tables were narrower and they would cram 10 tables into the same space, so all in all it was plenty roomy. If every place with banquette seating was like this I might learn to like it.
    At present Stella has a pretty limited menu. My understanding is that they plan to expand it once they get the place up and running on all cylinders. This is a wise choice; better to do a few things exceptionally well than a lot of things poorly.
    There were, as I recall, five starters, three salads, and five entrees on the menu. We didn’t get a starter, but they included a crab cake, fried oysters, stuffed quail, and two others. I’d love to see the crab cake and stuffed quail stuck on a plate as a main, but I don’t know enough about food to know if they would pair well.
    Entrees included salmon with a crust that included horseradish, a pork chop, a filet, scallops, and a semi-cheap chicken breast. Jinny loves scallops, but the description of all the other things on the plate, including capers and cauliflower puree,  scared her off. So Jinny got the filet and I got the pork chop. I kind of wanted to get the filet, too, but knew Jinny wouldn’t eat all of hers. I really regret not taking a photo of the menu so I could accurately describe the way these dishes are presented.
    We started with salads, which are priced high enough that we started not to order them. A Caesar Salad costs $11 and the cheapest salad was $9. We each ordered the Caesar’s though, and I have to say the Caesar Salads were a work of art. I love baked Parmesan, and there was a large arch of baked Parmesan over a salad of uncut romaine lettuce leaves, topped with a white anchovy (mine only, since Jinny asked that they keep her anchovy for another lucky customer). It was only after the salad arrived that I decided to take out my phone and snap a photo, because they really were beautiful. They tasted good, too.

My pork chop and peas, minus a few bites

    After the salads came the entrees. Jinny’s filet was closer to medium-well than the medium-rare ordered, but was nevertheless quite good. The filet was melt-in-your-mouth tender with a great flavor. It was served with a “Balsamic Demi Glace” on top and “Hoseradish-Lemon Aioli” on the side. I refer to this as a sumpin-sumpin sauce. I loved it, although I usually only like Lea & Perrins on my steak. My pork chop was served atop a bed of black-eyed peas mixed with chopped celery and other stuff, kind of a dry, crunchy relish. The pork chop was good, but I think I would order the black-eyed peas as a main course if I could.
    For desert we had coffees and split a molten lava cake with an anglais sauce. I don’t know what the rest of the desserts on offer were because when I heard “molten lava” the decision was made. Dessert was great. My second cup of coffee was cold, and when I asked the waiter to microwave it for me for 40 seconds he took it to the back and brewed more coffee. He said the restaurant doesn’t have a microwave, which I find odd, since sometimes things just need to be heated a bit. I’d rather have a microwaved cup of coffee in one minute than a freshly brewed cup in five. Only a quibble, as I promised above.
    Stella also offered a cheese plate for dessert, which is my usual dessert choice when offered. Cheese for dessert is kind of a European thing, but I hope they get enough demand for this to keep offering it. I plan on ordering it next time.
    Now to the wine list! Stella only had one “wine by the glass” of each type, which was a bit of a disappointment, although their one choice of each type was a quality wine. Their sparkling wine is Jaume Serra Cristalino Brut Cava, which Jinny had on a business trip and came home raving about, so that's what she got. I started with a glass of Pine Ridge white wine, a blend consisting of 80 percent chenin blanc and 20 percent viognier. The Pine Ridge white was very grape-fruity, which I usually hate, but I liked this wine. I also got a glass of Benton Lane pinot noir which was quite good; at $14 a glass it ought to be! Although Stella's wine prices are a little on the high side, they offer a generous 6.25 oz. wine pour; they bring the wine in a small carafe and pour it at the table. I call it the Disney World pour, since all of the Disney restaurants have a similar serving size, which is almost exactly one-fourth of a bottle. Many (most?) restaurants squeeze out five glasses to the bottle. The extra little dab is easy to see in the glass.
    In the future I’d love to see more wine-by-the-glass options, and perhaps wine flights. There are wine dispensing systems using argon as a preservative that will keep a bottle of wine fresh for 30 days, which allows restaurants the option of serving obscure or expensive wines by the glass. This would be a great thing to have.
    The worst part of every restaurant meal is the check, in our case $157, which is more than we usually spend on dinner. We knew it was coming; part of me wishes we hadn’t enjoyed the meal so much, because we are eager to go back but our budget is screaming “No!”
    I asked our waiter to tell the owner that we really enjoyed our meal and thought his restaurant would be a great success. I then added that he should tell the chef as well, at which point I was informed that the owner is the chef. That’s a good thing.
    I suspect Stella will soon be slammed with customers. New restaurants often have problems dealing with a full house, leaving first-time patrons with a bad impression. I hope the owners will keep their crowd down – removing some tables if necessary – for the first few weeks until they get their sea legs. Our meal was nearly perfect, but my gut feeling was that if every table in the place had been full there would have been some problems.
    In any event, I’m glad to see that Oxford has a new fine-dining establishment. Stella has the potential to be the best restaurant in Oxford. I wish them well and look forward to visiting again when my budget allows.

Record number and percentage of OHS seniors score 30 or higher on ACT test

     A record number and percentage of Oxford High School seniors scored a 30 or higher on the ACT this year.
    According to an ACT score report given to the Oxford School District board by the high school, 39 students from the Class of 2016 scored a 30 or above on the ACT. An additional 10 students scored a 29. This compares to 25 students with a 30 or higher from the Class of 2015, with an additional 10 members of that class scoring a 29.
    Some of the increase is due to a larger graduating class. The Class of 2016 had 247 students taking the test, versus 203 from the Class of 2015. But class size doesn't account for all of the increase. 15.8 percent of the Class of 2016 scored at least a 30, versus 12.3 percent for the Class of 2015 and 13.6 percent for the Class of 2014.

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    In any event, the Class of 2016 is the largest graduating class ever from OHS. Based on enrollment numbers from the state, the Class of 2017 will likely be even larger; and the Class of 2018 bigger still; the Class of 2019 even bigger. The Class of 2020 is likely to set another record, after which class size should drop by about 50 students for a few years.
    So why the sudden end to growth for the class of 2021? Well, my theory is that the housing and credit crisis slowed the massive movement of families with young children to Oxford. Subtract 13 from 2021 and you get 2008, the year Easy Money Died.
    I find looking at school enrollment numbers interesting, in that you can get a good idea of the overall health of various communities. You can review the Mississippi data for yourself by clicking here.

    Enrollment in the Oxford School District has increased from 3,320 in 2006 to 4,250 in 2016. That's an increase of 28 percent in 10 years. Schould this rate of growth continue for 20 more years the school district will have 7,000 students. Of course, it's got to end sometime, although that sometime doesn't appear to be in sight right now.
    There are a lot of ways to interpret data, but when a large enrollment increase is accompanied by an ever larger increase in high-end test scores, the most obvious conclusion is that an unusually high number of people moving to Oxford have very bright children. That's a sign of a robust and thriving community. I've referred to this trend in the past as "Brain Clustering."
    A score of 30 on the ACT is in the top five percent, so a nationally representative sample of 247 students would have 12 or 13 students with a 30 or higher. With 39 such students, Oxford has three times more very bright students than the national average.
    Congratulations are due to a lot of OHS students as well as the high school. May the numbers go ever higher

   

Jay Hughes is telegenic, well-spoken, and wrong on almost every issue

Elections have consequences, as they say, and the voters of my district have chosen to elect perhaps the most liberal Democratic member in the state to the legislature. Jay Hughes worked hard to get elected while Brad Mayo ran a lackluster campaign, and from the standpoint of hard work he deserves the job.

Hughes is telegenic and well-spoken, and I believe if he can temper his ultra-liberalism a bit he may become the frontman for the state’s few remaining Democrats. But that doesn’t mean he’s not dead wrong on virtually everything that comes out of his mouth.

Hughes recently posted a Youtube video, which he described as his response to Gov. Phil Bryant’s State of the State Address. Since the entire video is a criticism of Republican policies, I’m going to take the opportunity to respond to Hughes’ issues point by point (I actually agreed on him on one issue!). I’ve posted the video above; by all means view it and make your own judgements

Issue 1: Gov. Bryant has properly used the rainy day fund

Hughes takes issue with Gov. Bryant’s decision to tap into the “rainy day fund” to cover a shortfall in state revenue, since Bryant didn’t want to drain the fund completely dry to fund Initiative 42 or other Democratic spending proposals. Bryant used this fund exactly as it was meant to be used; revenue came up short, and thanks to this fund the state was able to deal with the problem. Perhaps Republicans were foolish in making overly optimistic projections, but they did not budget in advance for this fund to be spent. The Democrats have been chomping at the bit to spend every dime of this money as a general revenue fund. I assume if they have their way and the state comes up short we will just have to file for bankruptcy. This is not responsible government. Thank you Gov. Bryant for using the Rainy Day Fund exactly as it was intended to be used and not allowing it to be plundered by the Democrats.

Issue 2: Thanks to Republicans, there are lots of new jobs in our district

Asks Hughes: “Any new jobs around you?” Where have you been Jay Hughes? Thanks to various incentives, Winchester just opened a huge plant in Oxford, employing 1,000 people. Job growth in our district is robust. “Help Wanted” signs are all over town. Yes, there are new jobs around me!

Issue 3: Our state's franchise tax is among the nation's highest

Mississippi has one of the highest corporate franchise taxes in the nation. It’s is something that can keep businesses at bay. Believe it or not, corporations look at these things before deciding where to locate their businesses. Right now might or might not be a good time to eliminate this tax, but our goal, as a state, should always to be to have corporate taxes that are lower than any other state in the union. Quit trying to drive away jobs, Jay! Here’s a link that shows how high the Mississippi Franchise tax is in relation to other states. Of course, those states not listed on the attached link don't even have a franchise tax!

It should be noted that while some Republican legislators are pushing for a repeal of the franchise tax, Gov. Bryant apparently is not, at least for now. Bryant is pushing for a tax cut for people making under $52,000 a year; hardly the corporate fat-cats described in Hughes' video.

Issue 4: Corporate tax breaks are bringing new jobs and businesses to our state

All of this crap about corporate tax cuts being tax cuts for “their buddies” is just ridiculous. I dare say few state Republicans hang out with the top brass of Nissan, Toyota, Post, Volvo, etc. No tax breaks are provided to any of these people because they are “buddies.” They are provided because they benefit the people of Mississippi by bringing and keeping jobs in our state.

For example, in 2002 Mississippi enacted a Freeport Warehouse rule that exempted warehouses which shipped their goods out of state from the personal property inventory tax. This move was not without opposition, and I’m sure Hughes would have been opposed to this “tax break” if he had been in the legislature at that time. Since 2002 Warehouses have sprung up like mad in DeSoto and Marshall County, and the two counties have gone from having almost no warehouses to having more than 50 million square feet, with more coming almost monthly. Businessmen are actually building spec 500,000 sq. ft. warehouses. Volvo recently closed all four of their warehouses around the country and moved and consolidated them in Marshall County. Post Cereal has done the same. These are the types of “cronies” that Hughes wants to keep out of our state.

Well-tailored tax breaks for corporations don’t hurt Mississippians; they help them. We all know that Nissan, Toyota, and Winchester got tax breaks or incentives, and I’m glad they did. Hughes clearly doesn’t want any of this. I guess he wants us all to go back to an era of sharecropping. Well, just no!

Issue 5: Hughes is right, the Democrat should have been seated in District 79

Unless there is something I don’t know, Jay Hughes is absolutely right about House District 79. It seems to me that the Democrat was certified the winner in this race and should have been seated. If the Republican wanted to cite irregularities the proper venue is a circuit court, not through legislative shennanigans. See, everyone can find common ground!

Issue 6: As a practical matter we have no inflation; education funding increases are real

Hughes says record education funding doesn't matter due to inflation. This is just a crock! For the last four years the inflation rate has remained under two percent and for the past two has been under one percent. The inflation rate is negligible. Republicans have made real increases in education funding.

Issue 7: When properly used, testing is a vital part of the educational process

Hughes says time spent on testing is depriving our children of an education. Tests can certainly be misused and results unfairly used, but frequent testing is an absolute necessity if children are to be educated. Benchmark testing can tell teachers exactly who gets it and who doesn’t, so that children who need help can be identified. Children should be tested on a very regular basis, and every child should receive at least one nationally normed test per year. Testing is wonderful! I suspect Hughes is upset that test results don’t always come out the way ultra-liberal Democrats want them to, but that is no reason to deprive every child of a decent education. Make no mistake, those who attack educational testing are in reality attacking education accountability. Studies show that testing in general reinforces and solidifies learning. Leave our tests alone!

Issue 8: Transfering school taxing and spending to the local level is not a bad thing, particularly for Oxford

Hughes says state educational budget cuts may necessitate the raising of local taxes. Well, hallelujah! Anytime we can move taxation from the state to the local level, it’s a good thing. If the state were to cut taxes and quit funding education completely, forcing our local school districts to fund themselves entirely, most citizens would be far better off. The money the state spends is not produced by magic; it comes from taxing our local citizenry. The state funding formula is a complete rip-off for Oxford, and citizens could easily pay the added property taxes out of their savings from a state income tax cut. The lion’s share of local property taxes are paid by commercial businesses, industries, students through their apartment rent, and alumni with pied-à-terres, so shifting the tax burden would greatly benefit Hughes’ constituents at the expense of those rich fat-cats he hates so much.

Issue 9: If special needs vouchers help a single student, they are worthwhile

Hughes declares the special needs voucher program an “abject failure” because only 250 were approved and only 107 of these were actually accepted into private schools, which he accused of “cherry picking.” How if this a failure? One hundred seven students were able to get a better educational placement. Hughes wants to subject them to a life of slavery. If only one special needs student was helped the program is worthwhile. Why is it wrong to help people?

Issue 10: Americans and Mississippians deserve a say in how they receive their government-funded or subsidized education

I’m not gong to argue about school choice at length, save to say that there ought to be a way to allow citizens school choice while still protecting local school districts. Surely there has to be a way for everyone to come out a winner on this issue! Perhaps a student who opts out of a local school district should get a voucher for 60 or 70 percent of the funding that would be spent on him while the remainder would remain in his assigned district. And by the way, the government DOES give people a choice of where to spend tax dollars, whether it be through food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, Pell grants, or a host of other programs. The idea that students should be forced to attend a school not of their choosing is, quite plainly, un-American.

Issue 11: Hughes fails to recognize that Mississippi has some of the best schools in the nation

Hughes says that tax breaks don’t attract businesses, good schools do. Actually both play a role. But Hughes fails to recognize that Mississippi already has some of the best schools in the nation, one of which is in the very district he represents.

Oxford High School students annually post extraordinarily high ACT scores, with 12 to 14 percent of each class scoring 30 or higher, compared to a national average of about five to six percent. In 2013 and 2014 eight Oxford students, or about 3.5 percent of the class, scored a 35 or 36 on the ACT. The national average? About half of one percent. Oxford offers four foreign languages and a host of AP classes.

Of course, there’s more to life than academics. The Oxford school orchestra has made great strides in the past few years. I was really impressed at their last concert. You can view a couple of their numbers by clicking here (or here). A couple of years ago I was stunned by the beauty of a performance of “Mary Did You Know,” which was arranged and sung by several chorus members. My friend Ed Meek was kind enough to send someone to video them the next day. And while the Oxford football team lost the state championship for the third time in a row this year, it’s quite a feat to have made it to state three years in a row.

Oxford isn't alone; there are outstanding schools throughout the state. DeSoto County and Madison Central come immediately to mind. Mississippi already has what relocating companies need as far as schools are concerned. We just don’t need to chase them away by enacting a bunch of punitive taxes. And we need for Jay Hughes to stop po’-mouthing us and start telling the world that “We’re the best!”

_________

There, I’ve had my say. I’m sure Jay Hughes is a nice guy; clearly a lot of local residents like him. I don’t see the world as a zero-sum game as he does. But if it is a zero-sum game, the policies he is supporting will, after all is said and done, drain money from the Oxford community and deposit it elsewhere in the state. He ought to look after us instead.

If he really cares about our local community, he will start working to repeal MAEP and replace it with a per-student formula which treats every student and every school district exactly the same. This will dramatically increase funding for our local schools, which obviously will benefit the constituents that Hughes was elected to serve.

In short, I’m asking Hughes not to support the various liberal boondoggles of his friends and left-wing cronies on the backs of the hard-working citizens of Oxford and Lafayette County. Put us first!

Unpatriotic cities which ban our state flag shouldn't receive discretionary state funds

     A number of Mississippi cities, including Oxford, have decided to show their support for the Obama-donor-led effort to cram a new state flag down our throats by voting to remove our current state flag from city property.
    The idea is that our current flag is objectionable because it pays tribute to our Confederate forbears by incorporating the battle flag of Northern Virginia in its canton. And so cities with liberal boards of aldermen are voting to refuse to display our state flag to pressure the legislature into adopting another one.
    I happen to believe the Confederate flag is a wonderful symbol of our Southern heritage, and its inclusion in our state flag makes it unique. When people see it they know immediately that it represents a Southern state; most flags give no clue as to region. Every disparagement that can be made of the Confederate flag can also be made of the American flag, save that the American flag has represented far more evil.
    But I will leave the arguments over whether our current flag is a wonderful or evil thing to another day. Good or bad, it’s still our flag, and it’s the duty of our municipalities to display it.
    Suppose the Obama-donors were to be successful and the legislature were to adopt a new flag. Imagine the reaction of the same liberals if people like me refused to accept the new flag, or cities across Mississippi voted not to display it. I can just hear their sanctimonious sermonettes now!
    Mississippi is a sovereign state, and we as citizens have a duty of allegiance to our sovereign. This includes recognition of our state’s emblems, the most notable of which is our state flag. Municipalities incorporated under the laws of our state have an equal, if not greater, duty to recognize and display these emblems.
    As citizens we are welcome to seek changes in our state’s symbols. We the people are the sovereign together, but the decisions we make together must be respected by all. A refusal to display our state’s flag is, plain and simple, unpatriotic. It is a renunciation of citizenship.
    Mississippi’s various agencies distribute a great deal of discretionary money each year to counties and municipalities. If a city does not recognize its duty to show fealty to the sovereign through the display of our state flag, then the state should not provide these cities with any discretionary funding. The legislature should not advance any local bill for any of the municipalities, and if one should pass, Gov. Bryant should veto it.
    Certainly I will be contacting Gov. Bryant and other state officials and will ask them to end any discretionary funding for Oxford and other cities that have voted to ban our state flag. These aldermen can be just as unpatriotic as they wish, but if they have no allegiance to our state then our state owes them nothing, either.

___________________________

I have emailed the following to Gov. Bryant and will be sending similar messages to other state leaders. I urge everyone who disagrees with this nonsense to send a similar message to him and others.

Many cities are trying to pressure the legislature to change our state flag, despite the fact that the people voted overwhelming in favor of keeping the 1894 flag in 2001. This includes votes to ban the display of the Mississippi flag on municipal property.

I believe that municipalities have a duty of fealty to the sovereign, which includes the display of our state flag. Those municipalities which ban our state flag are effectively renouncing their state citizenship. I would ask that you, as governor, direct the executive agencies not to direct any discretionary spending to municipalities which have banned our state flag.

In the upcoming legislative session, I would also ask you to veto any local bill sponsored for the benefit of any municipality which has banned our state flag. Those who refuse to pay tribute to our state should not receive any special funding or favors from our state.

Thank you so much for standing up for the people and for the rule of law rather than the rule of the mob.

With flag decision Oxford's unpatriotic aldermen show lack of respect for democratic process

    In a rather disgusting attempt to curry favor with liberal elites, the Oxford board of aldermen voted unanimously to refuse to display the Mississippi flag on city property Tuesday night.
    The aldermen weren’t acting in response to a groundswell of citizen demand. In fact, 15 years ago Lafayette County voters decided in favor of keeping the 1894 flag, in the election where an overwhelming majority of Mississippi voters said “Leave Our Flag Alone!” The leftists who sought to change the flag 15 years ago are the same ones seeking to change it today. They just won’t quit.
    A recent newspaper ad calling for a new flag was signed by a number of "notable"Mississippians. A campaign donor search found most were either Obama donors or flunkies of ousted Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones. In other words, the people we should listen to the least!
    What has happened is that the Oxford city board has been filled for the most part with extremely liberal aldermen. Usually this doesn’t matter; after all, these people are running a city, not establishing national policy. But give them a chance to jump off the George-McGovern deep end, and they will.
    I happen to think we should keep our state flag. We’ve already voted on it, and by an overwhelming majority Mississippi voters made it clear they did not want a change. But if we have to argue this again, then the issue should again be presented to the voters. The city of Oxford shouldn’t be taking a position one way or the other.
    Suppose the left-wing fringe is successful in ram-rodding a new flag through the legislature. I’m sure they will immediately insist that it is the duty of all Mississippians to accept the flag which has been adopted through the democratic process. And yet, by refusing to display our state’s flag, Oxford’s city board has made it clear that it doesn’t respect the democratic process very much. Is every city henceforth to just display the state flag of its own choosing?
    I am a former Oxford resident, in that I now live a few hundred yards outside the city limits. So although I voted in the last election I can’t vote in the next one. But I still have an interest in what goes on in a city where I consider myself a resident. And what the Oxford City board has done is disgraceful. A refusal to display our state flag is unpatriotic, and in making this decision Oxford’s aldermen are not very different from the hippie flag burner’s of the 1960s. The hippies were wrong and so are Oxford’s elected officials.
    Unfortunately, Mississippi doesn’t have recall elections, but these are clearly power-hungry aldermen; most will be seeking re-election. Hopefully the citizens will turn them out en masse. Alderman Jay Hughes is seeking to oust Republican Rep. Brad Mayo in this fall’s legislative election. I hope the voters will send him – and the whole sorry lot – a loud and clear message.

Oxford Grillhouse has great steaks, but next time I'm going to try the Mr. Phat's Chinese menu

    I visited the Oxford Grillhouse the other night with my daughter Lucy. It was the first time I've visited since it opened on the Square.
    I give them a solid B, and the steak a solid A-plus. Others might not grade the steak so high, for reasons I'll explain in a moment. But I thought the steak was outstanding.
    I didn't order from the Chinese menu that the Grillhouse has on Thursday nights. They have arranged for Mr. Phat -- formerly of Two Stick and before that Ruby's Chinese Restaurant -- to prepare a few of his specialties on Thursday nights. Ruby's was one of my favorite Chinese restaurnts ever -- the other was in Cayce, South Carolina -- and I can't wait to make a Chinese night of it.
    Now for a couple of negatives, some of which can be cured with wiser ordering.
    First quibble: the Grillhouse has joined Boure' in using stemless wine glasses. These are nothing more than water tumblers, and I don't care for them. Fortunately I was able to get a stemmed glass for my second order. So if you prefer a stemmed wine glass, ask for it.
    Second quibble: I ordered the wedge salad, and was surprised that it had what appeared to be a good bit of French salad dressing. I pulled the menu up after I came home and found that the wedge salad comes with "a touch of sweet balsamic drizzle." I didn't get a touch; it was a slathering, and pretty much ruined the salad. In the end it was my partially my fault for not studying the menu more carefully. A wedge salad should have nothing but blue cheese (or preferably, Roquefort) dressing.
    My steak was outstanding and cooked a nice medium-rare. It was well seasoned, and might be a little too seasoned for some, but perfect for me. I always get a little Worcestershire Sauce for my steak, but mine really didn't need anything else. It had a good bit of coarse salt, which for me is a bonus; I love salt. But if something is salty enough for me that means it is too salty for most people. So salt-haters might request that they use an easy hand with the salt.
    Lucy ordered the Redfish Stuffed with Crawfish & Asparagus, served over risotto. The fish was outstanding, but Lucy hated the risotto. I took a taste and hated it, too. I realize some may say "hate" is a strong word, but the risotto remained uneaten.
    For dessert Lucy and I shared a molten lava cake with ice cream. We enjoyed it.
    Although I've mentioned a few things I didn't like, I'm looking forward to going back. Oxford Grillhouse does an amazing job with steaks, but next time I'm going to try the Chinese menu.

National Merit winners announced with five from Lafayette County; OHS 4, LHS1

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    National Merit Semifinalists have been notified and the state cutoff scores have seeped out. Mississippi's NMSF cutoff remained at 207 this year.
    Oxford High School has four National Merit Semifinalists. This is fewer than the 11 last year or the 12 the year before, but is still an outstanding performance. Lafayette County High School has one Semifinalist.
    Oxford High School's Semifinalists are William E. Anderson, David M. Dennis, Joonhee Jo, and William G. Tollison. Lafayette County's Semifinalist is Addison E. Roush. Congratulations to these winners, who are now automatically eligible for full-ride scholarships to many universities worth as much a quarter-million dollars!
    I'm surprised. I predicted that this year's cutoff would be 205, two points lower than last year. I based this on a two-point drop in the score for commended students, and on the substantial drop in Mississippi critical reading scores. Of course, math and writing scores were up.
    The Commended Student cutoff for this year is 201, and this info has been out for quite a while. In 2010 and 2011, and the Semifinalist cutoffs were 203 and 205 respectively, so this year has the largest gap between the Commended cutoff and the NMSF cutoff in Mississippi's testing history.
    Most states had a drop in their cutoff score. Alabama, for example, had a four-point drop to tie Mississippi at 207. Alabama's cutoff has tended to be five or six points higher than Mississippi's.

    While this is bad news for those of us hoping our children will make the cutoff in a year or two, it's good news for Mississippi. Semifinalists represent the top one-percent of graduates in each state. Commended students are made up of those scoring in the top three percent nationally who don't make Semifinalist. There were years in the past where Mississippi had no commended students; our top one percent was so far behind the rest of the nation that the Semifinalist cutoff was at or below the Commended cutoff.
    So a 207 Mississippi cutoff means that our state's best students are closing the gap with students from high-achievement states. A large gap still remains, though, as the chart reveals; the Massachusetts cutoff this year is 223.
______________

Source for state cutoff scores: www.collegeconfidential.com

Oxford High does it again with 27 graduates scoring 30 or higher on ACT; six score 35, two 36

    I wrote back in April that eight Oxford High School students had scored a 35 or 36 on the ACT and thus qualified to be STAR students.
    What I didn't report on was the number scoring 30 or higher. I asked for the information but never got it. The school board recently issued a report showing that 27 OHS students scored 30 or above out of a graduating class of 203.
    That comes out to more than 13 percent scoring a 30 or higher. On a statewide level, 931 students out of 28,481 students taking the ACT scored 30 or higher, or 3.25 percent of test-takers. As best I understand it, in Oxford almost every student took the ACT -- 198 out of 203, or 97.5 percent -- while on a statewide level participation rates were lower. So this makes the Oxford scores all the more impressive. (See state report, HERE. See national report, HERE).
    Here's the breakdown of the top ACT score distribution:

 2 - 36 composite score
 6 - 35 composite score
 1 - 34 composite score
 4 - 33 composite score
 5 - 32 composite score
 5 - 31 composite score
 4 - 30 composite score

     As you can see from the chart above, OHS doesn't have a normal "bell distribution curve." There ought to be a 50- to 60-percent increase in the number of students at each score point below 35, but there isn't. Of course, based on normal score distributions there ought to be a thousand students scoring below 30, but there are only 171. I'd love to have the chance to see the entire OHS score distribution, as I think it would be highly unusual. I suspect Oxford doesn't so much have a bell curve as it does a squiggly line curve.
    Also interesting is that Oxford's numbers for 2014 are almost identical to the numbers for 2013. In 2013 Oxford had 12 National Merit Finalists, eight students with 35 or 36 on the ACT, and 27 students with a 30 or higher on the ACT. The 2014 numbers were identical, except that there was one fewer National Merit Finalist.
    I've mentioned in the past that there is a lot of brain clustering going on around the nation as families with bright children seek out adequate school systems with other bright kids. A friend of mine calls it "bright-flight." And Oxford is adding a dozen or so of these super-bright kids every year.
    Other "bright-flight" clusters include the Madison County School system and St. Andrews School in Jackson. In 2013 11 of Oxford's approximately 225 juniors earned National Merit Semifinalist honors. At Madison Central High School it was about 23 out of 550. Mississippi's top brain-magnet is St. Andrews School in Jackson, where 15 out of about 85 students earned Semifinalist status last year. Of course St. Andrews is both private and selective, so it's not really fair to count them. The same goes for the Mississippi School for Math and Science, where 12 of 120 earned NMSF honors last year. But these kids don't arrive at MSMS until shortly before they take the PSAT.
    High ACT scores like Oxford has had the past two years may not happen annually, but more are in store for the future. My son is in 10th grade this year, and five or six students from his grade earned a 30 or higher on the ACT prior to the start of the school year. Given that many, if not most, Mississippi schools don't have a single student to break the ACT 30 barrier, I'd say that having half a dozen do so prior to their entering 10th grade is pretty impressive.

Ole Miss desperately needs a change, but it's not the name that needs changing

    I was glad to read the news that Coliseum Drive on the Ole Miss campus would be named in honor of Roy Lee “Chucky” Mullins, who was paralyzed and died a few years later following a tackle-gone-wrong in the 1989 Homecoming game against Vanderbilt.
    But how sad that Ole Miss Chancellor – oops, University of Mississippi Chancellor – Dan Jones made the announcement as part of a press release on plans to increase campus diversity. In other words, Jones’ message is that Mullins isn’t being honored for his sacrifice on the playing field, but because he’s black.
    I don’t believe in diversity just for the sake of diversity, but Jones does. But would it have hurt to have announced the renaming of the street a couple of months ago? The renaming could have still been mentioned in Jones’ press release.
    That’s one of the many problems with the “diversity” industry. Once in place there is no way to know whether favored groups have received honors on their own merits or merely because of a special status granted to them through their ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or whatever.
    Jones said the university now plans to create a new vice-chancellor position for diversity and inclusion. Such a post might as well be called Vice-chancellor for Grievances and Quota Demands. Throughout academia such posts invariably work to limit academic excellence, free speech, and just about everything that universities should strive to support.
    Once these diversity pot-stirrers become entrenched the list of grievances never ends. No complaint is too trivial, and no one is ever happy. Some people can’t be made to be happy: Give them buttermilk, they want sweet milk; give them sweet potato, they want white potato; give them white bread, they demand wheat bread.
    The University of Wisconsin faculty senate recently approved a diversity plan for that school which calls for “proportional participation of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups at all levels of an institution, including high-status special programs, high-demand majors, and in the distribution of grades.” You read that right: the distribution of grades.
    The university has now denied that it is ordering professors to implement race-based grading, and says that the diversity plan is merely a long-term goal, But since the Supreme Court outlawed racial quotas in the 1978 Bakke decision, we all have been able to observe that goals operate as de facto quotas. If there is a goal in place people are expected to meet that goal or suffer consequences. Goodbye academic integrity.
    An organization called Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) repeatedly goes to bat for students and professors who are persecuted for exercising their right to free speech or denied their due process rights. Some of these cases would be funny were they not so sad, such as Indiana University’s 2007 finding of racial harassment against a student seen reading Notre Dame Vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan, which celebrates the defeat of the Klan in a fight with Notre Dame students. But the cover featured a photo of a Klan rally, and thus reading it in public was considered an act of racial harassment. Goodbye freedom of inquiry.
    Jim Crow laws mandating legally enforced segregation came into being because people started voluntarily integrating when it served their interests, and lower-class whites felt threatened by this gradual integration. So they sought to prohibit it. Today it’s the reverse. Although there has been a progressive increase in racial integration based on shared interests, those who feel they have nothing to offer in the way of shared interests want to force diversity through law or regulation.
    Both forced segregation and forced “diversity” are wrong. If the university wants to increase social interaction among those from diverse backgrounds, the way to do it is to encourage or even require campus involvement in clubs, organizations, and committees having nothing to do with diversity. The wrong way is to create a Diversity Gestapo to try to micromanage student lives.
    Jones covered a lot of ground with his press release. He said he plans to change the name of the short lane leading to the Confederate cemetery from Confederate Drive to Chapel Lane. Apparently it’s not enough for Jones to irritate those of us who are living; he’s got to desecrate the memory of the dead as well. This would seem to be an area where the legislature should step in, as it has traditionally helped to ensure that our Confederate dead were properly memorialized.
    The university also plans to erect plaques at various locations around campus, such as next to the Confederate Statue on the Loop, explaining the complexities of Southern history. It’s great that the complexities of Southern history can be reduced to just a few sentences. Why not just create a plaque for each course offered by the university? People could get a degree in a day!
    I think it’s important to take a look back at Jones’ mis-administration over the past several years:
    ■ In the "From Dixie With Love" battle with the students over the shouting of the chant “The South Shall Rise Again,” Jones created a one-time showdown with the students to give himself the opportunity to demonstrate that he was the boss all at the expense of the school. He could have easily prevailed by working behind the scenes, yanking the song for one game, then two, then three, and so forth, until the chant simply would have gone away. But he has a character flaw that doesn’t allow him to behave rationally in this type of situation.
    ■ During the mass alumni protests seeking to have Pete Boone removed as athletic director, Jones shared a podium with two speakers who compared members of the Forward Rebels group to segregationists, Citizen Council members, and speech censors. Although Jones didn’t make these comments, he used their comments as talking points, thus ratifying their defamatory remarks. It was a stunning lack of civility and a violation of the Ole Miss Creed. Jones has not apologized.
    ■ Also during the Pete Boone protests Jones issued a letter to alumni in which he stated that there had been threats to expand the protests beyond the football program. The letter was so poorly worded that newspapers across the nation ran news stories based on the letter that Jones and Boone had been physically threatened, which apparently never happened. Jones never corrected the record, preferring to be known as a martyr than an incompetent communicator.
    ■ The poorly written letter cited above is not an isolated example. Jones seems to be unable to communicate effectively. When he sends a letter to alumni hoping to calm them down, he angers them. Despite months of preparation he was unable to effectively communicate exactly what the plans were for the use of the phrase “Ole Miss,” the delightful English phrase used to describe both our campus and the wife of a gentleman. We have an administrator who can neither communicate nor administrate effectively. But he certainly does a good job of sowing seeds of despair and dissension.
    Ole Miss doesn’t need a new name. It doesn’t need a Vice-Chancellor of Grievances and Quota Demands. It doesn’t need to rename the short road leading to the Confederate cemetery.
    What Ole Miss does need is a new chancellor. Soon.

Feds force Oxford Schools to make students pay more for lunches that they like less

    The Oxford School District is raising the price of full-pay lunches from $2.25 to $2.75 for the next school year, according to a memo from Nutrition Director Richmond Smith to the school board.
    The memo states that the increase is being mandated by Section 205 of the Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Essentially what the federal government has done is to force school districts to comply with all sorts of expensive federal directives in exchange for increased reimbursements for students on the free and reduced lunch program.
    Now the schools are being required by the federal government to raise prices on full-pay students to help pay for lunch changes that they did not want and do not like.
    Oxford is not alone in raising prices. Schools all over the country are increasing prices to comply with this new federal intrusion.  And some schools are just opting out of the federal school lunch program altogether. Almost 1,500 school have said "No thank you" to federal funding and regulation of school lunches since changes went into effect.
    Nationally about 1.6 million full-pay students have stopped buying their lunch at school since the federal government began micromanaging the program. That's about seven percent of the 25 million students who were buying their own lunch at school each day. With lunch prices increasing, expect this number to rise. Most people don't like to pay more and get less.
    I don't blame the Oxford School District for making these changes; it is just complying with federal law. But this is certainly an example of how an increase in federal spending can make the lives of the supposed beneficiaries worse instead of better.

I managed to resist the urge to cut the grass naked yesterday, but just barely

    My dad says when he was a boy there was a lot of excitement when someone came running into one of the little furnish groceries around Slayden or Mt. Pleasant and shouted, "Y'all come quick! Cousin [redacted] is plowing naked!
    I'm not sure what possessed my cousin to plow naked, but for the first time in my life I had the urge to cut the grass naked yesterday. Watch the 15-second video above and you'll understand why.

Robert Khayat sings 'Long Black Veil'

Robert Khayat

    This is old news, but hey, if you haven't read it, it's still news.
    Almost three years ago Ole Miss held a reunion of Mississippian staffers to celebrate the newspaper's 100th anniversary. The journalism department videotaped the many events, posted them on Youtube, where they were promptly forgotten.
    Former Chancellor Robert Khayat did a little singing for us, and I have to say he wasn't bad at all. Plus, I liked his choice of music. He sang "Long Black Veil," which I've taken the liberty of presenting it today for your viewing pleasure.
    In introducing the song, Khayat referenced "The Eternal Triangle" of two men and one woman that seems to be at the heart of much if not most music and literature. Occasionally one can find two women and one man. Think about the popular "Twilight" series, "The Hunger Games," or any Louis L'Amour western.
    According to Wikipedia, "Long Black Veil" was written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell.
    Wikipedia also reports that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals referred to the song in the case United States v. Dayton, 604 F.2d 931, 935 n.3 (5th Cir. 1979). This case concerned the proper procedures trial court judges must take when accepting a guilty plea, and identified "the two most dangerous" pitfalls of a guilty plea as coerced pleas and ignorant pleas. In describing a modification made to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which governs acceptance of pleas, the court explained that the changed required that "the defendant be made aware of what might happen as a result of his plea, and that the court be satisfied that a factual basis existed for it." It dropped a footnote at this point which stated, "This change was doubtless effected to avoid such circumstances as are recounted in 'The Long Black Veil.'"
    As good as Khayat's version of the song was, my favorite cover is the one done by Jason and the Scorchers. I still remember their concert in Fulton Chapel back around 1985-86 when they opened for The Fabulous Thunderbirds. As far as I'm concerned Jason should have had top billing.

Oxford School District orchestra holds end-of-year concert May 14

    The Oxford School District held its end-of-year orchestra concert May 14 at Nutt Auditorium on the Ole Miss campus. I thought they gave a fine performance.
    For the past several years I tried to record some of my daughter's orchestra concerts. Obviously there are a lot more children involved than just my daughter.
    I didn't take my video camera to the Christmas 2013 concert, which featured some choral music as well as orchestra tunes. I was simply blown away by five kids performing "Mary Did You Know" in a street-singing style. I called my friend Ed Meek and asked him to have someone from HottyToddy.com film these kids, and he did; and so I was able to include it on my blog.
    In past years I've recorded snippets of songs. Last year I made a separate video for each song. One of the things that I find interesting is the obvious improvement that takes place as these children get older.
    This year I decided to just record the entire performance of each group in full, without any editing. I did miss the first song performed by the high school, Furiant, by Elliot Del Borgo, as they started player before I got the "record" button pressed. I zoomed in once on each group to try to get video of each performer; however, many were in the back and out of the view of my camera. Oh well!
    Most people won't want to watch all of these videos in their entirety. But here it is for those who might have friends or family members in the orchestra. For the general public, I strongly urge you to listen to a few snippets, anyway. Oxford is lucky to have a quality orchestra program in its schools.
    The Oxford School District Orchestra is under the instruction of Tyler Kuntz. Kuntz said the high school orchestra had to cancel its plans earlier this year to participate in a rating competition earlier this year due to inclement weather, but that the middle school participated and received outstanding marks, with almost no negative comments.
    Kuntz said he would announce in the fall the fact that he had registered the orchestra to participate in a four-day competition in St. Louis next year. The trip will include a visit to Six Flags, of course. Readers of this blog won't have to wait for the announcement.
    And now for the videos:

Oxford High School and Middle School to start later next year; science says the later the better

    The Oxford School District is going to separate bus routes next year so that high school and middle school students will be served by different bus routes from elementary students, the Oxford Eagle reports from behind a pay wall. The change will also push back the start time at the high school and middle school by about 30 minutes.
    District Superintendent Brian Harvey said there haven't been any problems to date, but that having separate buses would create a more comfortable environment for younger children. The change is also designed to address serious traffic problems that have existed since the opening of  the new high school, which have made it difficult for the buses to go to all schools in a timely manner.
    “This is something that we have thought about for a number of years because we want our parents to feel safe that their kids can ride the buses,” OSD Superintendent Brian Harvey told the Eagle. “We haven’t had any issues that other school districts haven’t encountered, but the school bus climate is something we feel we can improve on.”
    This is great news for Oxford's students, even though it appears that the primary reason for the change is due to logistics and not as an aid to student performance. Numerous studies have shown that teens are biologically programmed to go to sleep later in the evening and that early school days deprive them of the sleep they need. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan supports later start times, and sent out a "Tweet" last year which said, "Common sense to improve student achievement that too few have implemented: let teens sleep more, start school later."
    And to Harvey's credit he did mention studies showing an increase in student performance with a later start time. “We’ve also looked at research that said that secondary students improve with student achievement and even ACT scores (by a later school start time),” Harvey told the Eagle.
    If you don't want to bother reading a study, just read this recent New York Times article, which reports on the benefits later school start times. Or check out the website of Start School Later, an organization that promotes reasonable and healthy school start times.
    When we first moved to Oxford we rented a condo that was the very first stop on the bus route. My recollection is that if the children wanted to ride the bus they needed to be at the bus stop at something like 6:25 a.m. The bus stop was at least a five minute walk away, so that meant they would have needed to be out the door by 6:20, and in order to do that the entire family would have had to get up at 5:30 a.m. Needless to say, the kids did not ride the bus.
    But enough of personal anecdote; let's go back to the study I cited above. The last sentence of the last page says it all: [T]he findings of this research study reveal that there are empirically-based positive outcomes for adolescents whenever the start time of their high school is moved to a later time — with the starting time of 8:30 AM or later clearly showing the most positive results.
    Students in the above survey were asked what time they thought school should start. Fewer than 10 percent wanted a start time before 8 a.m., which Oxford now has. Almost 51 percent wanted a start time of 9 a.m. or later, and 75 percent wanted a start time of 8:30 a.m. or later.
    Our schools exist to serve the students, and if they want and need a later start time that's what they ought to get. This is especially true when substantial empirical evidence shows that a later start will improve their academic, emotional, and physical health.
    The tardy bell at Oxford High School currently rings at 7:50 a.m. Superintendent Harvey mentioned a 8:20 or 8:30 a.m. start time for the middle and high schools next year. Eight-thirty would certainly be an improvement, and based on prior studies Oxford will see an improvement in student performance with these changes. I use the word "will" because I'm pretty confident that the later start time will produce measurable improvement.
    But if the school district really wants to improve academic performance and increase student health and well-being, the first tardy bell for the 2014-15 school year will ring at 9 a.m.

Oxford High School senior Zhao named one of 141 U.S. Presidential Scholars

    Hottytoddy.com reports that Oxford High School senior Yuqi "Mark" Zhao has been named of of 141 U.S. Presidential Scholars. These scholars will be honored in Washington June 22-25.
    The 2014 U.S. Presidential Scholars are comprised of one young man and one young woman from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and from U.S. families living abroad, as well as 15 chosen at-large and 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts.
    The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, appointed by President Obama, selects honored scholars annually based on their academic success, artistic excellence, essays, school evaluations and transcripts, as well as evidence of community service, leadership, and demonstrated commitment to high ideals. Of the three million students expected to graduate from high school this year, more than 3,900 candidates qualified for the 2014 awards determined by outstanding performance on the College Board SAT and ACT exams, and through nominations made by Chief State School Officers or the National YoungArts Foundation’s nationwide YoungArts™ competition.
    Zhao was one of Oxford's eight STAR Students this year, as a result of an ACT score of 35 or 36, and is one of Oxford's 11 National Merit Finalists in the Class of 2014. He is an AP Scholar with Distinction, an honor given to students with a 3.5 or higher grade-point-average who score 3 or higher on at least five AP exams.
    Zhao is the son of Mei Wang and Jianping Zhao. He is Captain of the Envirothon Team, Co-Captain of the Science Olympiad Team, Captain of the Math and Science Quiz Bowl Team, and a member of the Robotics Team. He plans to major in Electrical Engineering in college.

Article to claim Faulkner ledgers story a fabrication; but Holly Springs connection is remembered

The name "Ludie," etched into a
 glass pane at the McCarroll Place,
 which has been owned by the
Francisco family for many years.

    There is an interesting article in The Awl on a claim made and accepted by many in recent years that William Faulkner's writing was heavily influenced by his friendship with the Francisco family in Holly Springs.
    This theory was outlined in the book "Ledgers of History: William Faulkner, an Almost Forgotten Friendship, and an Antebellum Plantation Diary," by Emory University professor Sally Wolff-King. King recounts claims by Edgar Wiggin Francisco III that Faulkner was a hunting buddy of his father's and that he was fascinated by old, detailed plantation ledgers in the family's possession. A window pane in the home, which had been etched with a diamond by an earlier young resident of the house also was said to have caught Faulkner's eye and was later used as a detail in his writing.
    The Awl story says the Francisco claim simply doesn't hold water and cites work by Jack Elliott, a former archivist with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and a seasoned analyst of historical documents. Elliott has written an article to be released soon, called "Confabulations of History: William Faulkner, Edgar Francisco, and a Friendship that Never Was." The article has undergone peer review and will appear later this year in the Journal of Mississippi History.
    I don't have a dog in this hunt. I will share that in the early- to mid-1970s I served as a Pilgrimage guide when the McCarroll Place, owned by the Francisco family, was still on tour. The glass etched with Ludie Baugh's name was pointed out to us and it was stated then that Faulkner was a friend of the Franciscos and that he later incorporated the etched glass detail into one or more literary works.
    I called Bobby Mitchell, my high school history teacher and a true history buff, and asked him what he knew of the Faulkner connection. He told me that he had heard of the Francisco-Faulkner connection all of his life as it pertained to the etched glass. I would say Bobby is about 75, so his memory does go back further than mine.
    There seem to be claims by some that there is no evidence that Faulkner ever even spent time in Holly Springs or drew any stories from the town. Mitchell said this wasn't the case, citing a story about Robert McDermont, who was the owner of the cafe at the depot and had a reputation for being extremely cheap. Customers sitting around the cafe would often joke about him slicing a certain piece of lunch meat so thin you could see through it. Robert's son, Tippy McDermont, carried the book "The Reivers" around with him with a passage highlighted in which Faulkner also describes someone cutting a piece of lunchmeat so thin you could see through it, in such a fashion that the person described is clearly inspired by Robert McDermont. Tippy was clearly sure that Faulkner had picked up the story while sitting at the Depot Cafe, as he would share it with anyone willing to listen or look.
    Mitchell told me that he had heard many times that Faulkner had attended a party given by the Johnson family at the Walter Place in the 1930s. He told me that L.A. "Gus" Smith, Jr. was friends with Faulkner and that he had asked Gus's son, Gus III or Little Gus, whether he was there. Little Gus said he believed so, but had no details as to the other guests. My father was Gus Smith's law partner before he became a judge and he never mentioned the Walter Place party, but I'm not sure he would.
    Finally, Mitchell told me that he believed one of Faulkner's step-daughters, a Franklin, had attended the Mississippi Synodical College in Holly Springs. This would have given him ample reason to visit the town on occasion.
    I decided to contact another source, who told me that if I quoted her by name she would kill me. She echoed doubts raised by Dr. Hubert McAlexander, a Holly Springs native, Faulkner scholar, and University of Georgia English professor. Said my friend: "It would amaze me if Edgar and Faulkner were friends. He was just not the type that you would expect to hang out with a bohemian like Faulkner. He was a meek, mild little man; and Miss Ruth, she’s not the type that I would expect to allow any carrying-ons in that house."
    My friend described Francisco as being absent-minded as well as meek. It was said that he once drove to Memphis in his car, and unable to remember where he parked it, returned by train.
    With that said, my friend went on to say that Faulkner was known to have regularly visited Holly Springs, and she had heard years later that he dated a local girl, whom she cited by name. One of the characters in Sanctuary was said to have been inspired by a Holly Springs attorney. I'll omit his name as I have no idea how he was portrayed in the book. My friend remembers reading the book as a teen back in the day and being aware of the local connection at the time: "The book was considered kind of racy, and Mrs. Lizzie Craft (the librarian) wouldn't let us check it out, so we had to get it through other means."
    My friend did tell me that she had heard that Henry Fort Gholson used to go hunting with Faulkner. I called my friend Harris Gholson, who confirmed the friendship and passed me on to his older sister, Bea Greene, who said she remembers her father hunting a number of times with Faulkner and her parents getting together with the Faulkners for dinner. They first met in the mid- to late-1950s while Faulkner's nephew, Jimmy Faulkner, was building their house. She knew absolutely nothing of the Francisco friendship, however.
    There is really no hard evidence as to any of this, and some of the best sources have died in the past five to 10 years. The Francisco claims could be a complete fabrication. But there certainly is a long connection between Faulkner and Holly Springs, and insofar as the story of the etched glass is concerned, many of us have heard of it all our lives.

In 2013 OHS had almost 30 percent of Mississippi's 35-36 ACT scores, with eight out of 27

     I've made no secret that I'm impressed with the fact that Oxford High School has eight students with a 35 or 36 on the ACT this year, and that it had the same number last year.
    This is from a statistical standpoint, simply phenomenal.
    According to the official ACT report, in 2013 twenty-seven Mississippi seniors scored 35 or 36 on the ACT. Eight of that 27 were from Oxford High School. A total of 27,749 seniors took the ACT in 2013; 217 Oxford seniors took it. So Oxford seniors accounted for about eight-tenths of one percent of ACT test-takers and produced almost 30 percent of those making a 35 or 36.

Oxford High ties last year's record number of STAR Students, with eight who scored 35 or 36 on ACT

Oxford High School STAR Students are Brian Clancy, Matthew Forgette, Connor Goggins, Shreya Mathur, Joshua Redding, Cynthia Torma, Joelle Young, and Mark Zhao. 

    I wrote last year about how Oxford High set a state record with eight STAR Students. Now they've done it again! Oxford has eight STAR Students again for 2014. This is just unheard of.
    STAR Students are named each year by the Mississippi Economic Council. Recipients must be graduating seniors with a 93 average in core subjects, the highest ACT score in their class, and an ACT of at least 25. Students with a 35 or 36 on the ACT get STAR Student status whether their score is highest in the class or not.
    So in 2013 Oxford High School had eight out of roughly 225 students with a score of 35 or 36 on the ACT; and they've given us a repeat performance for 2014. Roughly 3.5 percent of the Oxford High School graduating class last year and this year had an ACT score of 35 or 36.
    In 2012 there were 5,238 students nationally with a 35 or 36 on the ACT out of 1,666,017 taking the test. So about three-tenths of one percent nationally made a 35 or 36 while 3.5 percent of Oxford seniors posted a 35 or 36.
    It's an amazing performance, and we shouldn't get too spoiled. It's unlikely to have these kinds of numbers every year, but I can sure enjoy them while they last!

    Here's the story from the Oxford High School website:

    Eight Oxford High School students have been named as STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Recognition) Students for the 2013-2014 school year by the Mississippi Economic Council’s (MEC) M.B. Swayze Foundation, sponsor of the STAR program.    Oxford High School STAR Students are Brian Clancy, Matthew Forgette, Connor Goggins, Shreya Mathur, Joshua Redding, Cynthia Torma, Joelle Young, and Mark Zhao. The Oxford High School students were honored during the annual Education Celebration at the MEC Annual Meeting on April 10 at the Jackson Convention Complex in downtown Jackson.
    According to Oxford school officials, this year Oxford High School had the highest number of STAR Students representing any school district in the state of Mississippi.
    As part of the STAR Program each STAR Student is asked to designate a STAR Teacher, the teacher who has made the greatest contribution to the student’s scholastic achievement. STAR Teachers are Chris Baughman, Dr. Barbara Lowe, James Reidy, Allyson Movitz, Stefanie Beam, Anne Steel, Renee Dayan, and Marni Herrington. The STAR Teacher can be one of the STAR Student’s elementary or secondary classroom teachers (active, former or retired).
    STAR Students are selected on the basis of academic excellence. Both American College Test (ACT) scores and scholastic averages are compared to determine the school's STAR Student. MEC and its M.B. Swayze Foundation sponsor the STAR Program to encourage and promote academic achievement among Mississippi’s high school seniors as well as recognize the teacher profession.

A Closer look at the STAR Students

Brian Clancy

Brian Clancy is the son of Sally and Thomas Clancy. Brian is a member of the Swim Team, the Math and Science Team, FIRST Robotics Team, Envirothon Team, Science Olympiad, and the Asian Heritage Club. He is active in his church youth group and is an AP Scholar. He plans on majoring in Business in college.

STAR Teacher is Chris Baughman.

Matthew Forgette

Matthew Forgette is the son of Karen and Rick Forgette. Matthew is the Debate Team Co-Captain and has twice been named a National Debate Tournament Qualifier. He is a state finalist Mock Trail Team member and a member of the State Champion Oxford Tennis Team. He is in the National Honor Society and is a National Merit Finalist. Matthew plans on majoring in International Studies and Economics.

STAR Teacher is Dr. Barbara Lowe.

Connor Goggins

Connor Goggins is the son of Patricia Krueger and Paul Goggins. He is a member of the FIRST Robotics Team, the Math and Science Team, Debate Team, Science Olympiad Team, and the Science Team. He has been active with the OHS Theatre and is an AP Scholar with Honor. Connor plans on majoring in Computer Engineering. 

STAR Teacher is James Reidy.

Shreya Mathur

Shreya Mathur is the daughter of Masisha and Dr. Sunil Mathur. Shreya is a member of the Robotics Team, Science Olympiad Team, Math and Science Team, Key Club, Anchor Club, and the National Honor Society. At the 2012 International Science Fair, Shreya placed 4th in Mathematics and 1st Place in American Statistical Association Awards. Shreya plans on studying Biostatistics in college.

STAR Teacher is Allyson Movitz.

Joshua Redding

Joshua Redding is the son of Melinda and Steve Redding. Joshua is a Robotics Team member, and a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Envirothon Team. Joshua is active with the youth group at his church. He is Science Olympiad Co-Captain and President of the German Club. Joshua plans on majoring in Computer Science in college.

STAR Teacher is Stefanie Beam.

Cynthia Torma

Cynthia Torma is the daughter of Eva Bodnar and Tibor Torma. Cynthia is a Poetry Out Loud State Semifinalist, Captain of the OHS Swim Team, and an Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Finalist. She is a National Merit Finalist and an AP Scholar with Distinction. Cynthia plans on majoring in Linguistics and Biochemistry.

STAR Teacher is Anne Steel.

Joelle Young

Joelle Young is the daughter of Shae Wang. Joelle is Treasurer of the German Club, a member of the Envirothon Team, a National Merit Finalist, and an AP Scholar. She is the Mississippi Music Teachers Association State Piano Competition winner and a state winner in the American Math Competition. Joelle plans on majoring in Molecular Biology and Psychology.

STAR Teacher is Renee Dayan.

Mark Zhao

Mark Zhao is the son of Mei Wang and Jianping Zhao. Mark is Captain of the Envirothon Team, Co-Captain of the Science Olympiad Team, Captain of the Math and Science Quiz Bowl Team, and a member of the Robotics Team. He is a National Merit Finalist and an AP Scholar with Distinction. Mark plans on majoring in Electrical Engineering in college.

STAR Teacher is Marni Herrington.

Oxford students all atwitter after discovery of new anonymous social media app

    The newest social media app, Yik Yak, has arrived in Oxford, or more precisely at Oxford High School. It was apparently unknown to most students before the school bell rang Tuesday morning, but by 3 p.m. virtually every student with a phone had downloaded it.
    The Twitter-like app, designed for college students, allows anonymous posts which are only visible to those in roughly a five-mile radius. Then high school students found out about it. What works okay for college students doesn't work so well for high schoolers trapped in the same building together all day. The app has been a nightmare for school administrators around the nation, who say that it has been used for bullying.
    Yik Yak's developers disabled the app at all Chicago schools earlier this month, and went on to apply a GPS block at all U.S. middle and high schools. Of course, Oxford High has only been in its current location a few months and it apparently isn't in the database. So Oxford students spent Tuesday anonymously spouting off about things or students they didn't like.
    Yik Yak is essentially a digital version of the "burn book" from the movie "Mean Girls." Hopefully school officials will contact the app's developers and request to be included in the school-exclusion database.
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    Below is the clip from the movie that shows the aftermath of a burn book gone viral.