Life in Cleveland, Mississippi

Refresher: For Community Summer the Robertson Program places you and other scholars in either Whitesburg- Kentucky, New Orleans - Louisiana or Cleveland- Mississippi to live together whilst working in different volunteer capacities eg: writing for the local newspaper or teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

With a week of sophomore year under my belt, I figure it was past time to tell y’all (only kidding) about my summer, specifically my time in Cleveland, Mississippi. I’ve had some time since leaving MS to process my two-month experience there. The combination of working and immersing myself in an entirely different culture while living with 7 people 24/7 for two months was what made this summer so unique and memorable. I may never do anything like this summer again and so I am so grateful for my 8 weeks of writing local interest stories, observing a distinctive culture and bonding with incredible people.

What I came to know, love and laugh about in Mississippi:

Weather: You know when you have a really hot shower and you step out into a steamy, sticky swirl of heat? That’s pretty much Mississippi summer weather.

I actually like humidity and heat though my hair does not (think Princess Diaries before the makeover). However, not everyone loved being sticky all the time and I have to admit there were some very hot days that made me extremely thankful for our air-conditioning!

Mississippi’s climate is a perfect incubus for mosquito and cockroach breeding. Luckily I managed to dodge the worst of the mozzie bites sharing a room with Charlotte whose blood must be the most delicious thing ever. The seven of us in the apartment became a mozzie and roach killing team… except for Seb who would just climb on top of furniture and scream “Murder it! Murder it!” There was definitely something to be said for the truck blasting a cloud of mosquito killing, possibly tumor inducing, chemicals over Cleveland every night.

People: The people in Cleveland epitomize the meaning of Southern Hospitality. They are warm, generous and social people who cherish the community they have built around them. However, as much as they love their town most of them would appreciate being able to go grocery shopping, go on a date or have a little bit of a whinge about their neighbor, without it being popular local gossip.

Food: Is fried. ‘Soul Food’ aka fried chicken, candied yams, biscuits, fried okra and fried catfish is in fact the heart and soul of Mississippi cuisine (at least in Cleveland). There are rare few international cuisine influences, apart from the odd Chinese-Japanese restaurant (because all Asain food is alike – right?) and a Mexican restaurant run by, and I quote, “real Mexicans!” In fact when I asked in Walmart where I could find pesto I only got blank looks. After spelling the word out, describing how it is made and what it is used for and receiving only “Ain’t got no idea what that is”…I gave up. That being said I am sure the Mississippians would have found my acute lack of knowledge of okra and how to eat a hot tamale, (note: you take off the inedible, tough corn husk before biting, persistently chewing and swallowing), highly amusing.

Expressions: Aside from the obvious, now familiar, “y’all”, I had to adjust to a much more Southern accent and way of speaking than I find in the largely heterogeneous community at Duke. My personal favourite was “finna” as in “I’m finna go to church”. An abbreviation of “fixing to” aka “about to do something” this one never stopped taking me by surprise. Also, when my editor said she could “carry” me home, she didn’t mean physically in her arms. To “carry” someone somewhere just means that you’ll give them a ride (or Aussie style: a lift). People in Mississippi seemed so kindly when they spoke about people in town, “Oh the girl who works downtown? Bless her heart!” they would exclaim. Turns out “Bless your heart” is a southern way of veiling insults, “She is so slow at packing those groceries, bless her heart”. So if somebody blesses your heart down in Mississippi you better figure out what ignorant, slow or out of place thing you’ve done.

I finna go now but I wanted to say how much I loved the friendly, easy-going atmosphere of Mississippi where the clock runs on Delta-time and everyone always has a minute and a smile to spare.