For fun

The girls in the history department recently found a fun way to decompress and have some fun at the end of a long week - we go to a small shop in town and paint pottery!  I've been twice.  The first time I painted two coasters, and last week I painted a mug.  It is really nice to be able to do something that isn't reading or researching every so often!  This place is really neat too.  They have all kinds of paint and glazes - so you can experiment with different looks.  All the employees are really friendly and helpful.  And even though I'm not very artistic, it's still a lot of fun, and somehow it's pretty hard to mess up.  You do have to be careful though, sometimes the finished project looks completely different from how it looks before it's fired.  Anyway, everyone's Christmas gifts might be handmade by yours truly this year. :)

Fried Catfish & Banjo Music

Fried Catfish

This weekend the History department at Mississippi State is hosting a national conference honoring the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 - the federal grant that provided the money to start universities like MSU.  The department head, Dr. Marcus, invited all of the visiting professors as well as the entire history department, including grad students, to his house for a good old southern catfish fry.  I decided to go because, well, free food, and also because this summer several people asked me how the culture is different in Mississippi than it is in South Carolina, and I didn't know what to say.  I've been asking around about Mississippi culture, and I've been told that catfish is the local specialty.  So I had to give it a try.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Well, not only did we have freshly fried catfish, but we ate hush puppies, fried green tomatoes, and baked beans.  (Yes, all the food was the same color - so much for vegetables...)  It was all delicious, but I think I'll be okay waiting a while before I have it again.

Hush Puppies

While we were mingling and schmoozing with the visiting professors, one of the Ph.D. candidates, Alan Harrellson, provided the evening entertainment by playing the banjo.  And he is amazing!  He was part of a bluegrass gospel band, and they were nominated for an Emmy a couple years ago.  It's really fun to watch him play because he clearly loves it, and he has all his music memorized.

Baked Beans

Needless to say, it was a cultural evening.  Good local food, great southern music, lively history chatter.  It was a lot of fun!  I was hoping to have even more cultural experiences this week - the conference is taking a group of people to the Delta to go see a cotton gin, eat at a historical commissary, and visit a blues club.  I've heard the the Delta is quite an experience, and that it is unlike any other place in the USA.  Unfortunately, none of other grad students wanted to go/had time to go on the trip, and I didn't feel comfortable going by myself, so I'm foregoing the experience this time.  Hopefully I will make it out to the Delta before I graduate and leave  Mississippi.  We'll see!

It's terrible, but it made me smile...