My sixth grade Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church Jackson was an up-and-coming local attorney. He had a beautiful young family (wife / two elementary-age children), and they lived not too far from where we reside today.
Some veteran Jackson Mississippi Samson guys' musings, recommended resources, and Samson Society news / updates (all written by 100% Grade A - Human Intelligence)
Weekly meetings available to you are as follows:
Tuesday at 6:30 PM, Truitt Baptist Church - Pearl. Call Matt Flint at (601) 260-8518 or email him at matthewflint.makes@gmail.com.
Wednesday at 6:00 PM, First Baptist Church Jackson - Summit Counseling Suite - 431 North State St. Jackson. Call Don Waller at 601-946-1290 or email him at don@wallerbros.com.
Monday at 6:30 PM , Vertical Church - 521 Gluckstadt Road Madison, MS 39110. Mr. Roane Hunter, facilitator, LifeWorks Counseling.
Wednesday at 7:00 PM, Crossgates Baptist Church. Brandon Reach out to Matthew Lehman at (601)-214-4077 for further info.
Sunday night at 6:00 PM, Grace Crossing Baptist Church - 598 Yandell Rd. Canton. Call Joe McCalman at 601-201-5608 or email him at cookandnoonie@gmail.com.
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Dr. Addison's Reverse-Engineered (Holy Spirited) Catfishing
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Even When The Glass Partition Is Removed, It Can Take A Sizable Amount Of Time To Muster The Emotional Courage To Swim Outside Of Its Familiar Boundary.
Firstly, I want to encourage you, dear reader, to take a few minutes today to memorialize (those which you can recall) the men who've advocated for you in the past. Perhaps it was a peer or someone older / wiser, but in lieu of dismissing / looking down on you, they did the opposite.
Monday, November 13, 2023
Let's Not Forget To Consider The Unlevel Playing Field
Adam Young was our keynote speaker during the 2023 National Samson Society Retreat. I did not attend either of his sessions (I continued to man the registration table during Friday evening's session), but I did slip in at the tail end of the second one (Saturday morning). During those few minutes, a Q & A session was underway within the packed auditorium, and Adam was navigating those queries with answers that landed beautifully each and every time. Also, he was really humorous with many of his answers as he sveltely circled back to accentuate previous bullet points that were no doubt key to his talk.
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Do You Advocate For Your Children / Grandchildren, Or Are You A Militant Asshole / Absentee Father? Or, Is It Somewhere In Between?
Within the city of Jackson, Mississippi (Mississippi's capital), there resides three urban universities and one seminary (I believe I'm correct in my count). One of these universities is public while the other two are private. Understandably, the public university is much larger overall (more affordable tuition).
My two oldest daughters are university students within the largest south Mississippi city, Hattiesburg. There're two urban collegiate institutions there, one public and one private, the former of which is very close to the same size as the aforementioned public university in Jackson. Hattiesburg, MS is overall safe and thriving economically. It has a distinct character and strong sense of place.
This aforementioned public (& again, by far largest) university within the city of Jackson resides within the most unsafe / economically depressed region of the city. The institution itself is not walled off (security fencing) from the city as one of the two private institutions are, therefore like a traditional urban college, I'm fairly certain that it resides seamlessly within the urban fabric of the capital city of Mississippi. A city that's overall unsafe and floundering economically (Jackson is losing populace faster than any other city in America). This, in recent years, has led to an overall depressing character and undeniably hopeless sense of place relative to how the city of Jackson is perceived as a whole (think third world country).
My wife, Angie, graduated from Baylor University back in the early '90s. Baylor resides in Waco, TX. It's a city that, per my wife's commentary, combined with my own short stints visiting, is overall safe and thriving economically. It too had / has a distinct character and strong sense of place.
Taking all of that into consideration, under no circumstances would I allow a child of mine (no matter the gender) to enroll at the public university (the largest of the three institutions) within the city of Jackson. No. Matter. What.
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As a parent, seeing a child off - college bound - takes breathtaking courage. But it also requires parental guidance.
I can remember reading years ago of a Baylor University student who was killed via a hit & run there in Waco. He was riding his bike (alongside another student) after dark when it happened. The boy was a musician from the Midwest who'd chosen to attend Baylor in spite of no previous familial connection therein.
As you can imagine, the university was heartbroken, and the parents were devastated. Eventually, the driver was located and charged. From what I recall, the manslaughterer was a middle-aged white woman (educator within the local K-12 public school system) who was driving drunk.
This was tremendously out of character tragedy for the city of Waco, home to Baylor University.
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College students are within that "in-between" stage of life. No longer children but too, not exactly adults either. College provides a great petri dish experience for this age group to establish some independent work ethic via a semi-controlled environment.
This past week, a university student (from out of state) at the aforementioned public university in Jackson was murdered on campus (at a university-owned apartment complex). The suspects in this murder are also college students, but from other institutions outside of central MS.
What would you do / how would you react if your college student son / daughter was murdered on their college campus? Especially considering your child's supposed stellar track record as a student / human being.
Would you question the role that you played relative to agreeing to support your child's enrollment within that institution? Ultimately, how would you manage the emotional aftermath of seeing your child murdered not only during his most springboard season of life but at the very institution / within the very city where that springboarding was supposed to occur?
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This hits home with Rob.
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Hot Tub Time Machine / Reckoning With NOLA "Steve"
Our family (Angie & I and our middle schooler) just returned from a long weekend relative to my 8th grade daughter's fall break (coalescing with my beautiful wife's 53rd birthday). As such, NOLA was our getaway vacation city, and it offered some interesting developments regarding my recovery (whilst also being incredibly refreshing / relaxing as a fall weather getaway).
I have a number of NOLA vacation childhood memories. Mainly due to how easy it was to reach (3-hours) by car from Jackson.
During my senior year of high school, my parents and I took a trip to "The Big Easy" to see Ole Miss play Tulane in the Superdome. The year was 1990. At the time, the New Orleans Centre shopping mall was directly connected to the Superdome indoor arena. It's important to note that this 3-story, marble-floored, skylight-lit testament to free enterprise failed to survive 2005's Hurricane Katrina due to extensive flooding via the storm surge.
It was during this football game that I slipped away from Bob & Darlene in order to "kill some time" wandering the retail storefronts of New Orleans Centre. Nonetheless, (as most teenagers do) I had an ulterior motive.
Having made a beeline to Waldenbooks, I very nervously purchased a clear plastic sealed copy of Playgirl magazine. Immediately following, I took the escalators to the top floor of the mall, found as quiet of a corner as I could and began coolly perusing this naughty periodical.
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Monday, October 9, 2023
Refrain From Reverse Engineering (Then Overthinking) The "Attachment Theory"
Saturday, October 7, 2023
Reflections on a "Desiderata Life" pt. 1
Reflections on a "Desiderata" life, pt. 1
The word "Desiderata" can be traced back to the root word "Desidero" in Latin. Loosely translated, it simply means "desires of the heart."
The Latin Word dēsīdĕro
has several meanings. Of these several meanings, the most fitting one can be seen as:
To desire or to want, to long, to wish for, to request, to require, to need
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Should Samson Society Intensive Attendees Remain In Their 3-Day Huddle - Bare Chested (Weather Permitting) - In An Effort To Optimize These Relationally Rich / Affirming Weekends?
I had a feeling that blogpost title would catch your attention!
Firstly, it's important to note that -
Another Samson Society Intensive Weekend is fast approaching! You can find info regarding it here: Mens Intensive — Lifeworks Counseling. It is highly recommended, especially considering the fact that this Samson Society specific weekend has gained as much traction as it has.
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During Labor Day 2023, I found myself swimming in the Ross Barnett Reservoir (a sizable lake close to our home) with a new friend. His family joined my youngest daughter and me mid-morning there at the manmade "beach", and from there, we very much enjoyed the cool water through mid-afternoon. Throughout the majority of the day, he and I sat up on our knees beneath the muddy flow and chatted under the blazing sun. This was the third time we'd had the opportunity to do so since meeting providentially during one of our church's annual daylong mission endeavors. That early summer event required that we caravan to north Mississippi, and fortuitously, we ended up in the same vehicle for the +/-2-hour trek. This, I felt, was the perfect opportunity to interrogate.
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Recommended Reading - Let's Discuss Buttplay Sans Shame
The reason men are into buttplay is not necessarily because they're homosexual / have same sex attraction. That's a stereotypical generalization. The reason lies in individual guy's relationship to their anus / rectum.
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Is There Any More Hellacious Location To Consume Porn / Masturbate Than A Port-O-Potty In The Desert Sands Of The Middle East?
I can't think of any.
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Profound Sensitivity Whilst At "The Beach". (Childhood Past Overlapping With Present Experience.) Unintentionally Exhuming Teenage Trauma.
I requested of my parents that we take a beach vacation when I was a sophomore in high school. At the time, I was around the age of 16 (I'm an only child). My parents, concurrently, were in their mid-30s. The year would have been 1988. It's important to know that we'd never "beached trip" prior, though we had visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast (which has a less than picturesque beach).
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Advocating For Your Children (Including The Dunces / Queers)
What does it mean to be an advocate?