TheDeltaDirt.com

Just in time for the holiday season, The Delta Dirt is launching its first and only Delta Dirt online store ! Featuring an original watercolor by Co-Editor Amy McCullough, these exclusive items are the perfect selection for that hard-to-buy-for person in your family. T-shirts, Caps, Aprons, Hoodies, Totes, Kitty Bowls, Coffee Mugs, Etc. You can get everything you need in various shades of earth tones (naturally). For an extra earthy feel, try one of the organic tees for yourself or someone you care about. Visit us on the Web: The Delta Dirt Online Store

Dear Loyal Readers, I want to thank you for your support of The Delta Dirt and let you know I probably won't be posting too frequently anymore due to the fact that I have moved to Jackson, MS to write for the Mississippi Business Journal. I also wanted to tell you Facebookers that you should definitely become fans of the MBJ . Also, I've recently become a twit who Twitters: http://twitter.com/mcculloughwrite If you'd like a guaranteed source of humor, check out Clarion-Ledger cartoonist Marshall Ramsey's Twitter page: http://twitter.com/MarshallRamsey Cheers! Amy

Just a week since the founding of The Delta Dirt's Fan page on Facebook, over 1,200 members have indicated their affection for this site. To me, that is amazing. The ability to network with people that have likely never heard of this website is an opportunity that did not exist just a few short years ago. Now, people all over the nation have signed up for the Dirt's Fan page and are discussing Dirt -related topics such as agriculture and uploading their own photos of Delta scenery. We too have uploaded photos to the Fan page, since Facebook makes it easy to upload photos to an album. Last week, I uploaded photos of an old fire engine and Delta water towers. More Delta shots will be uploaded soon. To all our Fans out there, we say thank you! If you like the blog and are looking for another way to experience The Delta Dirt and interact with others who either follow the site or like the concept of alluvial soil, check out our Facebook Fan page at www.facebook.com/thedeltad...

Marking what has become a Delta Dirt tradition, your favorite blog is returning from a 6 month hiatus. Although the back-and-forth doesn't necessarily bode well for a steady readership, the Co-Editors have recuperated thanks to an extended vacation and are ready to write once again. The Delta Dirt first went on leave back in September 2006, only to return six months later in February 2007. The most recent halt in publication happened in December 2008. Now, another six months later, the Dirt returns in July 2009. I know you must be thinking, "What a glorious occasion!" We couldn't agree more. The Dirt returns on the very same day that Carolyn McAdams takes office as the new mayor of the fair City of Greenwood. Expect us to follow her first 100 days as well as other summer happenings in Greenwood. We hope to still bring you "What's Great About Greenwood" from time to time, as well as various and sundry "Delta Roadtrips." Other random h...

Here's a shocker: The Dirt' s going on an indefinite hiatus. I know, I know. This is a huge blow to you, what with us throwing up 200 posts a minute these days -- but think how much time this will free in your schedule! Management has accepted the fact it has no time for remotely regular blogging now or in the foreseeable future. (Not that any future is really foreseeable -- unless of course you have a good crystal ball or can find one at a pawn shop, which I do not and have not.) We hope to publish on an extremely unreliable schedule in the future posts consisting of somewhat entertaining diatribes and stories on Delta life. No more attempts at fairly regular What's Good in the 'Woods or other informational blurbs. Sorry. We'll buy you a box of Kleenex later.

Whoa, it's been like three weeks since our last post here on the Dirt . No wonder we are averaging only 30 hits a day. I can't speak for Amy, but I have been a little tied up with school lately. I hope that I will be able to come up for air sometime soon and write a post or two (as if anyone would notice). In the meantime I'll just post a link to an interesting piece the Clarion-Ledger did on Greenwood as part of their "7 Cities in 7 Days" tour of Mississippi. It is entitled, " Greenwood, Viking Bound Together ." Make sure to view the video on the top right of the page and check out the photo gallery of pictures taken around Greenwood.

Our next poll is to find out what our readers think of The Delta Dirt's new look and focus. Two weeks ago, I posted about the Dirt's new look, tagline, and focus. We want to know what you think about it all. Readers have more than a week to answer our quick question, with the poll closing on Sunday, September 14th at midnight. We want to know if we're doing good, so please take a moment to vote in the poll in the sidebar at right.

In our most recent completely nonscientific poll, we at The Delta Dirt received confirmation that our weekly "What's Good in the 'Wood" feature is still somewhat relevant. We asked the question, "How much do you rely on The Dirt's "What's Good in the 'Wood" feature when planning your weekend activities?" The analysis of our skilled team of statistical analysts is as follows: 35 of you answered our call and most of you were marginally or completely dependent on it for making your precious weekend plans. 34% of you said that it was your lifeline and that you checked it every week without exception. 46% of you said that you sometimes check it when you have nothing better to do. 17% of you said that it was completely worthless and another 3% of you said that you didn't live in Greenwood so it wasn't relevant. After a long editorial meeting with top Dirt executives, we have reached an important conclusion. With about 80% of ...

As you should be able to discern, The Delta Dirt has an entirely new look. Gone are the archaic brown blocks of yore with simple lettering. Gone is the familiar tagline plagiarized from the pages of the New York Times . Gone are the days of struggling to be your one-stop-shop for social information and juicy gossip. A new day has arrived in the Mississippi Delta! With readership waning and the co-editors of this fine publication constantly under pressure to provide the " lowdown about town, " we have decided to take a more journalistic approach to the internet phenomenon that is The Delta Dirt . That means you will start to see a few changes around here. First, we are going to let the good folks at the Greenwood Commonwealth keep their jobs. They already do a fine enough job keeping you up-to-date on the latest newsworthy items in our fair city. There is no need for us to compete with that. I know Tim Kalich just breathed a big sigh of relief. Second, our posts will ...

Thomas and I have decided to commence writing our soon-to-be New York Times bestselling book on Greenwood and the Mississippi Delta. This work will take the form of a collection of short stories, many (if not most) of them Delta Dirt-inspired. Please send us your stories (or other people's stories) so we may consider them for publication. Don't worry, names can always be changed to protect the guilty. The idea is to record the Delta as-is -- not some weird LA- or Hollywood-version of the South, but to capture the nature of the people who really live in this unique place as we see them. Sure, there are many problems here -- and big ones. One can easily write "Confederacy of Silence" or other such volumes. Taking a long, sober look at a place to record an honest picture exhibiting good, bad, ugly and wonderful is a more difficult challenge. But it helps if you don't hate where you are. Quirky characters and friendly faces abound in the Delta. And that is why we love...

The poll featured on the right side of this blog has stirred up some serious traffic for The Delta Dirt . Not since last August have we received so many hits. There have been email campaigns and "get out the vote" efforts to influence our non-scientific poll. We have also been receiving more comments than ever before. That may be due, in part, to the new comment policy that we instated last week. Under the new policy, it is easier to comment. This is all a good thing for Greenwood and The Dirt . When this blog was formed, it was meant to be a public forum for whatever the hot button issue of the day was. Today's is clearly the smoking ban. And people have definitely been affected by this ordinance. Not since the last mayoral election have I seen such talk about an issue specifically related to Greenwood politics. Like it or not, in 20 days, Greenwood will be smoke-free. In the meantime, I assume that the conversation will continue. Feel free to leave comments a...

We have just opened up commenting for everyone since the old method didn't exactly work too well. You used to have to register with Blogger before you could comment; now you only have to type in your name. Please be aware, though, that we will be moderating the comments. We will approve them before they go online, so please use good taste. We're not going to be the comment Nazi by any means. All points of view will be accepted and welcomed if they remain clean and pithy. There are some rules, though. For example, one thing we will not allow is anonymous posting. If you feel the need to remain anonymous, at least use a pseudonymn. Also, no personal attacks, please. If this doesn't work, we will just go back to the old way of doing things...

As you may have noticed, The Delta Dirt has received some new life with the reports of Commonwealth writer and amateur blogger Amy McCullough. A new addition to the pages of The Delta Dirt , Amy brings to you the dry wit and tasteful humor that you once grew accustomed to, but have found lacking in your daily diet as of late. Also, with my slow-but-sure transition from Delta local to UNC grad student, my posts will only become more sporadic as time goes on. My hope is that with additional presswriters, The Delta Dirt will pick up new steam in the months ahead and offer a wider variety of insight from such locations as Greenwood and Oxford, Mississippi and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Yes, with more writers now on staff, we might be able to hold each other accountable for the work that we haven't been doing lately. At least that's my goal. If not, you won't missing out on anything except the thirty seconds it takes to click on this link from your favorites. I only ho...

Due to my not being in town over the past few weeks, The Delta Dirt has been lacking in front page news. I'm sorry. I have been burning up the road between Greenwood, Atlanta, and Chapel Hill, looking for an apartment to move into in the fall. Please accept my sincerest apologies for the lack of WGITW updates and Fellow Flatlander features. On a lighter note, after many months of attempting to recruit a contributing writer for the Dirt , I have finally found a worthy subject. Amy McCullough will be contributing her $.02 on life in the Delta and other general observations on Greenwood life. A Jackson native via Austin, Texas, Amy works full time for the Greenwood Commonwealth and now pro bono for The Delta Dirt . We are pleased to have a witty and overqualified writer join the ranks of Greenwood's one-time greatest work distraction, TheDeltaDirt.com.

Special thanks to Drew Snyder of the Snyder News Network for mentioning The Delta Dirt on his blog. Referrals from his site keeps the Dirt alive. Drew is a college friend of mine and a former Student Body President at Ole Miss. His site has been going strong for 7 years now and the recent bombshell announcement of his sites impending closure has been met with shock and awe throughout the blogosphere. His site includes the best of Saved By the Bell, wrestling news, pop culture references and political commentary among other topics. It is fair to say that his site is the one that all others try to emulate, as it was one of Mississippi's original blogs. Without it, there will be a certain void in the favorites list of Mississippians everywhere. With his upcoming graduation from law school at the University of Virginia this May, Drew will be moving on to bigger and better things. On a side note, my apologies for not posting over the weekend. I was in Chapel Hill all weekend a...

Lazy Magnolia Beer. Webster's Food and Drink. Music by Andy and Stephen. The Delta Dirt Kickoff Party. Thursday, March 1st at 8:00 p.m. Be there. The Delta Dirt is teaming up with corporate sponsor Webster's Food and Drink to host a relaunch party this Thursday, March 1 beginning at 8:00 p.m. All Dirt subscribers, Alluvian Happy Hour attendees and local citizens are encouraged to attend. For the celebration, Webster's will be offering a special on its supply of Lazy Magnolia beers. The Mississippi brew's Southern Pecan, Amberjaque and Blue Heron will all be in abundant supply and will be offered at a Dirt Discount of only $2.50 a pint. Similarly, Texas brew Shiner Bock will be offered at the same rate. Greenwood's favorite acoustic duo, Andy and Stephen, will be performing from their list of favorites and have promised to close the night with their extraordinary rendition of Son Volt's "Windfall." Show starts at 9:00 p.m. and should last until ...

It has been over five months since my last post on the Dirt . And I told you then that if if I ever got my tests taken, accepted to graduate school and my grant applications submitted, that I would start writing again. Well here I am. Over the course of my five month sabbatical, I passed the broker's exam and have started selling real estate with Bowie Realty in addition to my full-time job with my dad. I also recently found out that I have been accepted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for their two-year Master of Regional Planning (MRP) program beginning in August. So enjoy The Delta Dirt while you can, because once I leave the Delta, there won't be any dirt for me to write about. But in the meantime, I think I will have plenty or stories to tell. For starters, I intend to take care of some unfinished business from the fall. I also intend to continue with the "Fellow Flatlander" feature as well as Thursday's infamous "What's Good...

Everyone's favorite online time waster, TheDeltaDirt.com, will return to print on Sunday, February 25, 2007. After a long break and some much needed R&R, The Delta Dirt Duo will be back at work, bringing you extensive coverage of The 50th Anniversary Cotton Ball along with some unfinished business from Fall 2006. It also just so happens that the return of the Dirt will coincide with the resurrection of the GCC 3.0 "Bring It Boys" tennis team and the many roadtrips taken on their beloved Black Bullet bus. So stay tuned and in the meantime, help spread the word of the return of The Delta Dirt, home of "All the Dirt That's Fit to Blog in Greenwood, Mississippi."

The Delta Dirt Duo, Thomas Gregory and R.D. Seawright, pictured with William Faulkner's historical marker in Oxford. Unfortunately for our readers, we have moved on to greener pastures. It is no secret that my dedication to The Delta Dirt has fallen by the wayside. After a fizzle at a previous blog, I thought I could resurrect my passion with the help of another writer. Now that R.D. has moved to Oxford and/or Holly Springs, there is no one to help me fill the electronic pages of the Dirt . Combine that with a real job (that pays!), volunteer efforts with River to the Rails and local campaigns, preparation to take the GRE/GMAT/Broker's License Exam, application to graduate school, the arrival of grant application season, etc. and you can see that I am hard-pressed to find a spare moment of time to dedicate to the Dirt . And it does take time to write the good stuff. Hours. Days, even. These things don't just happen by themselves, you know. So, instead of leading my ...

First, let me say that I am sorry for at least two weeks of shoddy blogging. I am the first to admit that The Delta Dirt has been lacking in quality material as of late, all at the cost of a declining readership. I have a few reputable excuses, however, such as a week's worth of family vacation in Georgia and a gross infatuation with Dan Brown's The DaVinci Co de and Angels and Demons . I have spent countless hours engrossed in those two books and did not stop to breathe, much less to blog. I have just delved into The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, but I hope that I will be able to balance that with my blogging... The main problem seems to be a universal tenet held as truth among writers in the blogosphere. Summer is just a bad time for blogging. Period. First of all, it is hard to maintain a steady readership. People are on vacations, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, spending time outside, not reading blogs. I too have felt the full effects of this phenomenon. A...