Mississippi Today
Q&A: Growing Resilience in the South founder Sadé Meeks

Like so many good things, Growing Resilience In The South (GRITS) was born at Sadé Meeks’ grandmother’s kitchen table.
Several years ago, the South Jackson native, a registered dietitian, was working a traditional job in her field and realizing that there was a disconnect between the information she wanted and needed to provide to patients and their receptiveness to it.
One day she and her grandmother, who is now 101 years old, were eating grits at her grandmother’s kitchen table in Yazoo City when her grandmother began to fondly tell Meeks about her garden. Meeks’ grandmother grew everything she needed in her own garden and fed her eight children in the process.
Her grandmother’s story served as a contrast to the narrative she learned in school about Black people’s relationship with food, and it encouraged her to create GRITS. Instead of combating the rise in food-related chronic disease through opaque materials, Meeks realized she can do so by connecting people and their communities to “food, improving their food literacy skills and bridging the gap between culture and nutrition.”
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Mississippi Today: What led you to create GRITS?
Meeks: I was working a traditional role at the public health department, and I felt limited and boxed in, like I couldn’t really reach people in the way that I wanted to … My grandmother had eight kids, so they grew a lot of their foods. The thing that got me was how positively (my grandmother) talked about food — cultural foods, at that. In research and in the media, I always saw Black people associated with bad eating habits, and that’s not our story. That might be part of someone’s story, but that’s not our whole story.
I kept seeing this one-sided story about what Black foods are to us. Hearing her talk was a lightbulb moment because I felt so empowered by her story. It was like, ‘These stories that I’m hearing aren’t true because my grandmother is sitting here, almost 100 years old, telling me all these things about food.’ It was empowering and refreshing to hear her talk about food in that way. I wanted to continue to tell stories about Black food and Black foodways, but also have them connected to our health, as well. That’s why I started GRITS, Growing Resilience in the South, to connect people to these stories. I also say the South is a metaphor because … the South is the genesis of Black America. I really want to connect all Black people to help them connect to food in a different way, but also a way that helps them improve their health.
MT: What programming are you most excited by?
Meeks: The book club … The book club wasn’t something I had been planning to do for a while. I’ve been reading so much since I became a dietitian. Before I became a dietitian, I got interested in books about food and foodways, and that’s how I began to dismantle narratives about Black food stereotypes — it was by reading. I kind of built this library, and I posted some of my books on Instagram. Someone asked me if I was starting a book club. I was like no, but that’s a good idea and I went with it … I was surprised by the feedback and the response I got.
The first day I posted about it, I had 40 people sign up and I didn’t do much promotion. It’s (up to), like, 70 people now. I got the mini grant right before I made the announcement, so I was able to help purchase books for people who couldn’t afford it. It’s just been a really great experience, the response and also the conversations. Sometimes I’ll read books and just want to talk about these things, but I don’t have anybody to talk about it with. Now we’re having these discussions about food equity, food sovereignty and reconnecting with foods. These are really valuable conversations that are part of the work. Part of GRITS’ work is narrative change, so when we’re having these conversations about changing the narrative with food and helping people connect with food, that’s helping the community do the work for themselves as well.
MT: What has been the most interesting or exciting text you all have read so far?
Meeks: Our first book was called “Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America” by Psyche A. Williams-Forson. She recently won the James Beard Award for food issues and advocacy for that book. I’m glad we started the book club off with that book because it requires you to really unlearn some things about anti-Black racism, especially when it comes to what we eat. The book mentions how so many cultural foods have these ‘unhealthy’ parts of their food, but Black foods are the only foods that really get surveilled and criticized, and it’s not because of the food, it’s because of our race. It was really helping us unpack a lot of things about food and food shaming. Sometimes as Black people, we might food shame and not even realize it, so it was a very informative book that made you be more aware of how you think. Sometimes that can be hard conversations to have, so I’m happy GRITS was able to cultivate this safe space to have these hard conversations.
No one wants to think that the way they think is wrong or biased or anti-Black, but in reality, we all can fall victim to that in some sense. Creating a space where we can talk about that and unlearn some things has been really good. The next book is ‘Catfish Dream,’ about a farmer in the Mississippi Delta’s fight to save his family farm.
MT: Why do you think an organization like GRITS is important, specifically in Mississippi?
Meeks: I know we hear a lot about health sometimes. I didn’t want to just preach health because a lot of times when people hear health, the two things they may do are kind of shut down because they don’t feel like they can be or fit that idea of ‘healthy,’ or, two, they go to an extreme … I feel like health can look so many different ways, and GRITS’ approach to health and nutrition education is so different. Even though I am a dietitian and I do promote healthy ways, I don’t approach it with nutrition education; I approach it with stories and connecting people with culture. I think the way that I use stories and cultures as a bridge to understanding our health is unique, and I think that that’s important because of the connection it’s building.
I would be in the health department and sometimes I felt like what I was doing wasn’t as effective because the patient wasn’t connecting to what I was saying. You can preach and you can give someone all this nutrition information, but if they’re not connected to what you’re talking about, it’s not effective. Being in Mississippi is a powerful thing for me. I feel more connected to my state and to the people here than I ever have … and I think it’s because I built connections with people and there’s something powerful about that. Through GRITS, I want to help people not just build connections with food, but build connections with their community, with Mississippi, and be proud of their roots. There’s so much culture, there’s so much history, there are so many things about where we live that can empower us and I want people to feel that.
I want people to hear Mississippi and be proud because they know their history, they know how connected they are to this place. I can say I am proud. Growing up, I don’t know if I would’ve gone somewhere else and be proud to tell someone I’m from Mississippi. But I love telling people I’m from here because I know what this place has. I know how valuable Mississippi is, and I think GRITS is just another way to connect people to the state and connect them to different parts of their heritage and culture.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
New Stage’s ‘Little Women’ musical opens aptly in Women’s History Month
Ties that bind, not lines that divide, at the heart of “Little Women” are what make Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel such an enduring classic. More than a century and a half since its 1868 publication, the March sisters’ coming-of-age tale continues to resonate in fresh approaches, say cast and crew in a musical version opening this week at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi.
“Little Women, The Broadway Musical” adds songs to Alcott’s story of the four distinct March sisters — traditional, lovely Meg, spirited tomboy and writer Jo, quiet and gentle Beth, and artistic, pampered Amy. They are growing into young women under the watchful eye of mother Marmee as their father serves as an Army chaplain in the Civil War. “Little Women, The Broadway Musical” performances run March 25 through April 6 at New Stage Theatre.
In a serendipitous move, the production coincides with Women’s History Month in March, and has a female director at the helm — Malaika Quarterman, in her New Stage Theatre directing debut. Logistics and scheduling preferences landed the musical in March, to catch school matinees with the American classic.
The novel has inspired myriad adaptations in film, TV, stage and opera, plus literary retellings by other authors. This musical version debuted on Broadway in 2005, with music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and book (script) by Allan Knee.
“The music in this show brings out the heart of the characters in a way that a movie or a straight play, or even the book, can’t do,” said Cameron Vipperman, whose play-within-a-play role helps illustrate the writer Jo’s growth in the story. She read the book at age 10, and now embraces how the musical dramatizes, speeds up and reconstructs the timeline for more interest and engagement.
“What a great way to introduce kids that haven’t read the book,” director Quarterman said, hitting the highlights and sending them to the pages for a deeper dive on characters they fell in love with over the two-and-a-half-hour run time.

Joy, familial warmth, love, courage, loss, grief and resilience are all threads in a story that has captivated generations and continues to find new audiences and fresh acclaim (the 2019 film adaptation by Greta Gerwig earned six Academy Award nominations).
In current contentious times, when diversity, equity and inclusion programs are being ripped out or rolled back, the poignant, women-centered narrative maintains a power to reach deep and unite.
“Stories where females support each other, instead of rip each other apart to get to the finish line — which would be the goal of getting the man or something — are very few and far between sometimes,” Quarterman said. “It’s so special because it was written so long ago, with the writer being such a strong dreamer, and dreaming big for women.
“For us to actualize it, where a female artistic producer chooses this show and believes in a brand new female director and then this person gets to empower these great, local, awesome artists — It’s just really been special to see this story and its impact ripple through generations of dreamers.” For Quarterman, a 14-year drama teacher with Jackson Public Schools active in community theater and professional regional theater, “To be able to tell this story here, for New Stage, is pretty epic for me.”
Alcott’s story is often a touchstone for young girls, and this cast of grown women finds much in the source material that they still hold dear, and that resonates in new ways.

“I relate to Jo more than any other fictional character that exists,” Kristina Swearingen said of her character, the central figure Jo March. “At different parts of my life, I have related to her in different parts of hers.”
The Alabama native, more recently of New York, recalled her “energetic, crazy, running-around-having-a-grand-old-time” youth in high school and college, then a career-driven purpose that led her, like Jo, to move to New York.
Swearingen first did this show in college, before the loss of grandparents and a major move. Now, “I know what it’s like to grieve the loss of a loved one, and to live so far away from home, and wanting to go home and be with your family but also wanting to be in a place where your career can take off. .. It hits a lot closer to home.”
As one of four sisters in real life, Frannie Dean of Flora draws on a wealth of memories in playing Beth — including her own family position as next to the youngest of the girls. She and siblings read the story together in their homeschooled childhood, assigning each other roles.

“Omigosh, this is my life,” she said, chuckling. “We would play pretend all day. … ‘Little Women’ is really sweet in that aspect, to really be able to carry my own experience with my family and bring it into the show. … It’s timeless in its nature, its warmth and what it brings to people.”
Jennifer Smith of Clinton, as March family matriarch Marmee, found her way in through a song. First introduced to Marmee’s song “Here Alone” a decade ago when starting voice lessons as an adult, she made it her own. “It became an audition piece for me. It became a dream role for me. It’s been pivotal in opening up doors for me.”
She relishes aging into this role, countering a common fear of women in the entertainment field that they may “age out” of desirable parts. “It’s just a full-circle moment for me, and I’m grateful for it.”

Quarterman fell in love with the 1969 film version she watched with her sister when they were little, adoring the family’s playfulness and stability. Amid teenage angst, she identified with the inevitable growth and change that came with siblings growing up and moving on. Being a mom brings a whole different lens.
“Seeing these little people in your life just growing up, being their own unique versions, all going through their own arc — it’s just fun, and I think that’s why you can stay connected” to the story at any life juncture, she said.
Cast member Slade Haney pointed out the rarity of a story set on a Northeastern homestead during the Civil War.
“You’re getting to see what it was like for the women whose husbands were away at war — how moms struggled, how sisters struggled. You had to make your own means. … I think both men and women can see themselves in these characters, in wanting to be independent like Jo, or like Amy wanting to have something of value that belongs to you and not just just feel like you’re passed over all the time, and Meg, to be valuable to someone else, and in Beth, for everyone to be happy and content and love each other,” Haney said.
New Stage Theatre Artistic Director Francine Reynolds drew attention, too, to the rarity of an American classic for the stage offering an abundance of women’s roles that can showcase Jackson metro’s talent pool. “We just always have so many great women,” she said, and classics — “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Death of a Salesman,” for instance — often offer fewer parts for them, though contemporary dramas are more balanced.
Reynolds sees value in the musical’s timing and storyline. “Of course, we need to celebrate the contributions of women. This was a woman who was trying to be a writer in 1865, ’66, ’67. That’s, to me, a real trailblazing thing.
“It is important to show, this was a real person — Louisa May Alcott, personified as Jo. It’s important to hold these people up as role models for other young girls, to show that you can do this, too. You can dream your dream. You can strive to break boundaries.”
It is a key reminder of advancements that may be threatened. “We’ve made such strides,” Reynolds said, “and had so many great programs to open doors for people, that I feel like those doors are going to start closing, just because of things you are allowed to say and things you aren’t allowed.”
For tickets, $50 (discounts for seniors, students, military), visit www.newstagetheatre.com or the New Stage Theatre box office, or call 601-948-3533.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Rolling Fork – 2 Years Later

Tracy Harden stood outside her Chuck’s Dairy Bar in Rolling Fork, teary eyed, remembering not the EF-4 tornado that nearly wiped the town off the map two years before. Instead, she became emotional, “even after all this time,” she said, thinking of the overwhelming help people who’d come from all over selflessly offered.
“We’re back now, she said, smiling. “People have been so kind.”


“I stepped out of that cooler two years ago and saw everything, and I mean, everything was just… gone,” she said, her voice trailing off. “My God, I thought. What are we going to do now? But people came and were so giving. It’s remarkable, and such a blessing.”

“And to have another one come on almost the exact date the first came,” she said, shaking her head. “I got word from these young storm chasers I’d met. He told me they were tracking this one, and it looked like it was coming straight for us in Rolling Fork.”
“I got up and went outside.”
“And there it was!”
“I cannot tell you what went through me seeing that tornado form in the sky.”
The tornado that touched down in Rolling Fork last Sunday did minimal damage and claimed no lives.
Horns honk as people travel along U.S. 61. Harden smiles and waves.
She heads back into her restaurant after chatting with friends to resume grill duties as people, some local, some just passing through town, line up for burgers and ice cream treats.


Rolling Fork is mending, slowly. Although there is evidence of some rebuilding such as new homes under construction, many buildings like the library and post office remain boarded up and closed. A brutal reminder of that fateful evening two years ago.


















This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Remembering Big George Foreman and a poor guy named Pedro
George Foreman, surely one of the world’s most intriguing and transformative sports figures of the 20th century, died over the weekend at the age of 76. Please indulge me a few memories.
This was back when professional boxing was in its heyday. Muhammad Ali was heavyweight champion of the world for a second time. The lower weight divisions featured such skilled champions and future champs as Alex Arugello, Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran, Tommy “Hit Man” Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Boxing was front page news all over the globe. Indeed, Ali was said to be the most famous person in the world and had stunned the boxing world by stopping the previously undefeated Foreman in an eighth round knockout in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October of 1974. Foreman, once an Olympic gold medalist at age 19, had won his previous 40 professional fights and few had lasted past the second round. Big George, as he was known, packed a fearsome punch.
My dealings with Foreman began in January of 1977, roughly 27 months after his Ali debacle with Foreman in the middle of a boxing comeback. At the time, I was the sports editor of my hometown newspaper in Hattiesburg when the news came that Foreman was going to fight a Puerto Rican professional named Pedro Agosto in Pensacola, just three hours away.
Right away, I applied for press credentials and was rewarded with a ringside seats at the Pensacola Civic Center. I thought I was going to cover a boxing match. It turned out more like an execution.
The mismatch was evident from the pre-fight introductions. Foreman towered over the 5-foot, 11-inch Agosto. Foreman had muscles on top of muscles, Agosto not so much. When they announced Agosto weighed 205 pounds, the New York sports writer next to me wise-cracked, “Yeah, well what is he going to weigh without his head?”
It looked entirely possible we might learn.
Foreman toyed with the smaller man for three rounds, almost like a full-grown German shepherd dealing with a tiny, yapping Shih Tzu. By the fourth round, Big George had tired of the yapping. With punches that landed like claps of thunder, Foreman knocked Agosto down three times. Twice, Agosto struggled to his feet after the referee counted to nine. Nearly half a century later I have no idea why Agosto got up. Nobody present– or the national TV audience – would have blamed him for playing possum. But, no, he got up the second time and stumbled over into the corner of the ring right in front of me. And that’s where he was when Foreman hit him with an evil right uppercut to the jaw that lifted the smaller man a foot off the canvas and sprayed me and everyone in the vicinity with Agosto’s blood, sweat and snot – thankfully, no brains. That’s when the ref ended it.
It remains the only time in my sports writing career I had to buy a T-shirt at the event to wear home.
So, now, let’s move ahead 18 years to July of 1995. Foreman had long since completed his comeback by winning back the heavyweight championship. He had become a preacher. He also had become a pitch man for a an indoor grill that bore his name and would sell more than 100 million units. He was a millionaire many times over. He made far more for hawking that grill than he ever made as a fighter. He had become a beloved figure, known for his warm smile and his soothing voice. And now he was coming to Jackson to sign his biography. His publishing company called my office to ask if I’d like an interview. I said I surely would.
One day at the office, I answered my phone and the familiar voice on the other end said, “This is George Foreman and I heard you wanted to talk to me.”
I told him I wanted to talk to him about his book but first I wanted to tell him he owed me a shirt.
“A shirt?” he said. “How’s that?”
I asked him if remembered a guy named Pedro Agosto. He said he did. “Man, I really hit that poor guy,” he said.
I thought you had killed him, I said, and I then told him about all the blood and snot that ruined my shirt.
“Man, I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I’d never hit a guy like that now. I was an angry, angry man back then.”
We had a nice conversation. He told me about finding his Lord. He told me about his 12 children, including five boys, all of whom he named George.
I asked him why he would give five boys the same name.
“I never met my father until late in his life,” Big George told me. “My father never gave me nothing. So I decided I was going to give all my boys something to remember me by. I gave them all my name.”
Yes, and he named one of his girls Georgette.
We did get around to talking about his book, and you will not be surprised by its title: “By George.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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