Going,... going...

Tomorrow morning I fly to America. I think I’ve finished packing, a difficult task considering it’s currently 34’C (but apparently ‘feels’ more like 39’C) over there but a cold, partly clouded day with heights of 19’C here. It took a while to convince myself that a place existed in which I wouldn’t need several thick jumpers.

When I’ve told people I’m going to Mississippi I’ve received mixed reactions, the most common being ‘why Mississippi? What are you going to do there?’ amongst ‘what state is that in?’, ‘wow, that’s slap bang in the Bible belt isn’t it?’ and even ‘Oh right! Are you going there to teach English?’

Mississippi is perhaps more famous by word rather than association. A lot of people associate it with the land of Mark Twain adventures or maybe think of the name as a word that assists in counting seconds rather than a state in the Deep South of America.

Maybe one reason it’s remained quite unfamiliar is due to the fact that there aren’t any real landmarks associated with the place; just a difficult history and a gentle way of life. In terms of the arts it’s also remained quite faceless; there are a few books by John Grisham who is an alumni of Ole Miss, there was the Coen Brother’s Oh Brother Where Art Thou? and more recently, Kathryn Stockett’s The Help for which Mississippi provided the backdrop. Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Southern’ Django Unchained, which is currently in production, is also set in the plantations of slave era. 

It turns out finding more about Mississippi is harder than you’d expect. There are no travel guides on the state in publication and within a guide book to the whole of America it is covered within just a few pages, which does make me wonder, what is there in Mississippi?

Although I’ve read up on its history, I do rather feel I’m arriving slightly ignorant to what exists in the state I will be spending the next academic year but I am excited about finding out first hand.