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"The morning began in Clarksdale. After leaving the Shack-Up Inn we stopped for breakfast at a BP and then headed towards Greenwood to the Dancing Rabbit Bookstore. Greenwood is the town where Richard Rueben spent his time in Mississippi writing for the Commonwealth. The bookstore was owned by a woman named Carol Ann, who offered us sausage balls, orange juice, milk, coffee, and -in the true spirit of southern hospitality- mimosas. We talked to Carol Ann about Greenwood and how it has or hasn’t changed in the past however many years she’s been there. She mentioned the city starting programs attempting to create social life downtown, but she didn’t really mention much about change in social improvements along the lines of racial or economic equality. From what we could tell, the schools were still segregated and she did mention that the Crystal Club, noted in Mr. Reuben’s book, had become the Crystal Grill, dropping the required membership that was needed to eat at the restaurant. The Crystal Club membership had been a loophole to avoiding segregation laws. This change apparently occurred not so long ago, as I noticed a sign in the parking lot designating it the parking for The Crystal Club. Even still, I don’t recall seeing any African American patrons in the restaurant besides the ones in our group. The grill didn’t look exactly as I expected it to, but Greenwood as a whole didn’t look exactly as I had expected. I think from Mr. Reuben’s descriptions I was expecting dirt streets and something a little more “redneck”, but I guess to a New Yorker, it would appear to be the epitome of southern. There has been about 15 years I think since Mr. Reuben had been there, but according to what Ms. Carol Ann said I don’t think it had changed very drastically. On the way to the Tunica we stopped back by Clarksdale to see Morgan Freeman’s blues club. The appearance of the place was in keeping with the rest of Clarksdale, but I sort of expected more out of a club owned by Morgan Freeman. I suppose that if the club had looked as I expected, it would not have fit into its’ surroundings. Blues are an important part of the southern culture, as the man at the gas station proudly reminded us. The evening ended with our arrival at the Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica, Mississippi. As Dr. Smith had mentioned earlier, a casino is the perfect example of society exploiting citizens. There were people inside sitting at machines and tables who stayed at those machines and tables throughout the evening, losing money and making money, but mostly losing money. The ironic part of this casino was its’ location. It seemed to me that in the midst of all the poverty we’d experienced throughout the week and all the statistics we’d found through the census reports for the state of Mississippi, here we were watching people drop money that statistics report they don’t have and this large industry is profiting from it. It doesn’t make much sense to me that this is the solution that the state found to improve the economic situation within the state, which unlike the lottery has no benefits for the state funds. How could our society justify setting a huge money consuming industry such as a casino in the middle of such destitution that literally miles down the road there were homes that couldn’t afford luxuries such as running water or electricity?? The discomforting part of this as well is that now that I know situations such as these exist, and yes, I reluctantly admit that I too contributed a small amount of money to this exploitative industry, I now feel that I have some kind of responsibility to do something besides be aware. It seems like an impossible task to level the playing field of opportunity when there is such a drastic gap in the different standards of living. It seems that money is always the issue. For example, the cities thinking that they are making city-wide improvements by restoring downtowns and improving the appearance of towns. So the city appears above the poverty level, but what good does that do the individuals who are well below the poverty level? Dr. Hattery mentioned the need for teachers and educational advances in towns such as Tunica, Mississippi, and I supposed when you get down to it that is the key to improving conditions, to change current conditions so that gradually the future will see improvement instead of maintaining an average of mediocrity." Drew Today we started out from the Shack Up Inn and headed towards Greenwood, MS. We met with Carol Ann Adams, who was the owner of a quaint bookstore called the Dancing Rabbit. I went to the store thinking that she had the only store that would sell Richard Rubin’s because no one else would carry his book. It turns out that the reason was because the town was so small and that was the only store in the area. After the group talked with Mrs. Adams for a while we went to lunch at the Crystal City Grill. The history behind the restaurant is that it was a segregated establishment that was only frequented by whites and one must have a membership to dine there. When we walked in the restaurant everyone was looking at us and I felt uncomfortable. I’m not sure if it was because we were a large group or the fact that there were African-Americans in our group.
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