I was remember when my new wife and I and our little baby boy moved to Kentucky in the summer of 1987, we were broke.
All we basically had was a small rented U-Haul truck with his baby bed, a small dresser, some clothes and some boxes of college books and papers. We had thrown the towel in and left Oxford, Miss., where I had been attending the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) for the last five years of my life before I got married and my wife gave birth to our child. We decided to move to her hometown of Russellville, Ky., to get a fresh start in life in order to get jobs and raise our son. I had some prior work experience in the hotel and restaurant industry and some work study jobs while on campus. Also, I had done some electrical contracting work with my brother's small business while I was in high school. However, my wife had quite of bit of office clerical experience and she was a super fast typist and a damn good speller. But still things were still tough when we first moved to Kentucky because we didn't know many people except her family and the economy was not that great in the late 80's in Southcentral Kentucky at the time. A lot of the factories around the area had been shut down or had downsized during that time period.
After six months of living in Russellville and working some temp jobs at a couple of factories (which was culture shock to me because I had never worked in a factory) we finally moved to Bowling Green, Ky., 30 miles east of Russellville where we able to obtain better jobs. I went to work as a salesman for a three years for two large life insurance companies and my wife worked for a doctor's office and then she was able to get on at a brand new Japanese factory in Bowling Green working on the front office staff. Eventually, I went on to work for the local newspaper in the newsroom for five years and was able to use my college journalism education. However, after five years in the newsroom, it was time for me to move on to something else in order to make more money so I could better provide for my family. I landed on my feet in a sales and service career where I have been working for the last 25 years and I am now looking forward to retirement in a few years. My wife is now a housewife with retirement and since we have moved to Kentucky, we have owned two homes and our son graduated from Western Kentucky University here in Bowing Green almost 12 years ago. He now he lives on his own in Nashville working in his profession of graphic arts and music. Life does get better if you keep working at is my point. Never give up and keep trying.
Also, don't give up hope amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Don't get down and depressed. Things will get better and we will get through this together. Keep a positive attitude. Turn off the television news for a while, stay busy and listen to some music that you really enjoy. Watch funny movies and TV shows while you're at home. Play with your doggies and kitty cats. Constantly create a safe space for your children and always reassure them that everything is going to be alright.
Most importantly, we have to be safe if we have to venture out for essentials or if you work an essential job. And we have to do what our government leaders and authories are asking us to do during the tough period in the history of our country. And remember, wash your hands constantly and sanitize everything. Wear gloves or masks if you have them while out in public.
And lastly, think back about the some of those tough periods in your life like I just did above that you have been through already in your life. Remember, we are tough and strong. And "God does not make no junk" as the old saying goes.
There's been a lot of controversy at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) lately over its history, culture, traditions and heritage at the famous Southern public college with a certain group on campus i.e. the progressive extreme leftist liberal socialists wanting to always do away with more of the school's symbols and representations of its controvrsial past.
Ole Miss is located about 80 miles south of Memphis and you could say it's basically in the heart of the Deep South. The university has been known as the Ole Miss Rebels for years but in the last 40 years or so, a lot of the school's symbols representing of who they are or they were have been slowly eroding away.
First, it was the Rebel flag in which the university quit allowing cheerleaders to wave during football games in the early 80's. Then the Rebel flag was banned altogether and then years later they changed the mascot from Col. Reb to eventually a silly looking Landshark. Then the univeristy took away the Dixie song that the Ole Miss Pride of the South marching band used to play at all sporting events. Also, the progressive extreme liberal socialists on campus banned the Mississippi state flag because it has a smaller rebel flag inside of it and now the now they are trying to move a Confederate statue off campus.
Mainly, it's obviously that the university has been catering to the minority populations on campus for awhile now or so and now it appears the school has put the LGBTQ+ community in the forefront too. Also, the extreme leftist liberal socialist professors have been cramming their liberal garbage and poisonous knowledge down the throats of the students in their classes and it appears to be happening at colleges all across the country these days. But unfortunately, Ole Miss is caught in the crosshairs of its past, present and future where the progressive extreme liberal socialists on campus are trying to whitewash the university's Southern history, traditions and heritage. However, since I was student there in the early 80's five years from 1982-1987, I was indoctrinated in the Ole Miss fraternity and "Preppy" scene early on. Our preppy history and culture should be honored and preserved too. The way we dressed and acted back in those days on campus, downtown Oxford or even on Bourbon Street, was who we were. We were Ole Miss. Being preppy was so much of the Ole Miss culture back then. And now it’s our history and a big part of the traditions and heritage of Ole Miss whether the school recognizes it or not. Our university cannot deny this fact and this history should not be excluded or failed to be recognized by the school either. It is just as much a part of the university’s history as African American or LGBTQ+ culture in my opinion. The Ole Miss preppy culture should be recognized and remembered by the university. Or even honored perhaps.
I remember one of my first overnight visits to the Ole Miss campus when I was a junior in high school in 1980, two of my classmates from Hernando, Miss., where roommates together. They had invited me down to spend a weekend with them in their dorm room. We went to go see the cult classic hit movie, "Caddyshack" at the old Ritz theater in downtown Oxford. The theater was filled with a bunch of older Ole Miss frat boys wearing khaki pants and white and blue button down shirts with penny loafers on. Practically, during every scene of the movie, the theater was filled with roaring laughter. This was when in my mind, I had been indoctrinated in to the Ole Miss preppy scene and I was determined after I graduated from high school that I was going to attend Ole Miss. Being a part of that scene was one reason that I wanted to attend Ole Miss. But there were others reasons too of course. My Hernando classmates said that National Lampoon's "Animal House," another classic cut movie starring John Belushi had been a big hit at the Ritz too and in college towns across the America a year or two earlier.
I found this YouTube video (right) of an interview with Lisa Birnbach, the author of “The Official Preppy Handbook” who visited Ole Miss in the early 80’s and she had written about our awesome college in her book. I think a lot of us who attended Ole Miss in the 70’s and 80’s were preppies and most of us still are at heart. And most of us remember hanging out at "The Warehouse," and "The Gin," a couple of local bars, on Friday afternoons and nights with our frat brothers or sorority sisters and fellow preppies with standing room only where the beer and mixed drinks seemed to flow like water. Those were the days.
