Real Mississippi

Mardi Gras is a tool used by a plethora of institutions to make money, but Mississippi Gulf Coast's Mardi Gras is special. While it is still capitalistically driven, the culture and traditions are celebrated differently. Our podcast draws attention to this and explains the cultural and family driven Mardi Gras experience.

What is belonging? How can you see it in your daily life. This episode of Real Mississippi explores what it’s like to be foreign in Mississippi and what it’s like to not belong. Mississippi is a unique place with a long and complex history, one that can reflect the struggles of those from Mississippi and those who came at a later point in their lives.

This episode of Real Mississippi is about the history of blues music and its ties to Mississippi. Throughout the history of Black Americans in the South, blues music has been intertwined with the Black American experience since the beginning. Starting out as field hollers and Negro spirituals then being developed into an entire genre of music, blues is the heart and soul of the South and the Black Americans who shaped it.

In today’s digital age, ideas and information can be shared and become widespread in hours. With an increased userbase, internet slang is bound to define the landscape with a wide variety of novel words coming in and out of usage. The impact of the rapidly growing and changing world of internet slang can be felt in online community spaces, shared common areas, and even in classroom settings. This podcast hopes to shed light on how slang changes vernacular speech and to leave listeners wondering about how the blur between online and real life language affects them.

This Real Mississippi episode was produced to expose the lack of proper maternal health care in Mississippi and the disparities throughout. Women of minority have a much higher rate of having a dangerous labor and delivery than any other state in the U.S.; further, Mississippi has the lowest infant mortality rate in the country. This sad truth can be remedied, but people must know what’s going on and how to make a change.

Drones are increasingly becoming more important to the great state of Mississippi. Through advancements in technology, they are affecting Mississippi's job market, economy, citizens, and more. In this episode of Real Mississippi, we dive into this new technology and interview an expert in the field to get a better understanding of just how these drones are changing our futures.

This episode of Real Mississippi explores the hidden rise of nicotine pouches among teenagers. While often marketed as safer tobacco-free alternatives, these discreet pouches carry the addictive nicotine that can damage the developing adolescent brain. This episode explores influence of social media (zynfluencers), rapidly doubling rates, and usage in schools. Mississippi's House Bill 1486 restricts sales near schools and parks but traditional enforcement  remains ineffective as the pouches are easy to hide and impossible to monitor. Ultimately, it discusses why educational awareness and new methods are essential to terminating this secretive trend before it leads to long-term nicotine addiction. 

The handling of immigration in the United States has been a topic of fierce debate since the country's founding. Recently, Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers (ICE agents) have received strong public backlash for their excessive use of force, inadequate training, and lack of accountability for damages, injury, or deaths caused. Immigrants are an important part of the American story and vital members of their communities, thus, these aggressive techniques harm every member of those communities. This episode looks at how aggressive anti-immigration enforcement disrupts communities, harms economies, breeds unjustifiable fear, and causes irreparable harm.

In this episode Real Mississippi, hosts speak with a former SEC football player to understand how this involvement influenced the player's future.

People love big cities. Why wouldn't they? Big cities are just bursting of opportunities and amenities. However, big cities are also stressful, loud, and often lack a sense of community. That's why people love small towns. Why wouldn't they? Small towns are full of peaceful, friendly communities. However, small towns often lack the amenities that big cities hold. What if there was a place that combined both together? Welcome to Tupelo, Mississippi, the town that did just that. In this episode of Real Mississippi, we'll explore how Tupelo combines big city amenities with that Southern small town charm.