Many Mississippi Free Press readers previously subscribed to the Jackson Free Press’ long-time newsletter or picked up physical copies of our newspaper whenever they saw a newsstand supplying them. Our people-forward features were common in the JFP—known as our Jacksonian articles on page 3 in printed editions and as Person of the Day stories online. We featured thousands of people over two decades.
Everyone has a story. Everyone’s life can seem interesting when presented effectively in text. The JFP’s Person of the Day articles, or PODs (we say “P.O.D.”), exemplified these sentiments by spotlighting Jacksonians from various age brackets, professional fields, gender groups, ethnic backgrounds and spheres of influence. We strove to show that all Jacksonians mattered, whether their family had been in the metro for generations or whether they moved to the area for work just six months prior. Some of them got the call-out honor for doing something negative, too.
Now, the Mississippi Free Press wants to carry on that tradition. We have already published a number of stories focusing on individual Mississippians. Recent examples include Torsheta Jackson’s articles on Chef Nick Wallace of Jackson earning yet another accolade and solidifying plans for future goals and on 14-year-old singer-songwriter Scarlett Sullivan, who released a single she created to support her younger sister who had developed leukemia.
Our geographic scope, though, is much larger than the JFP’s. As a statewide publication, one of our goals is for Mississippians in every corner of the state to feel represented in our reporting. Mississippi contains 82 counties and more than 400 cities, towns and census-designated places. I certainly don’t know the names of all of them, but I strive to learn more about the areas sizable and small that comprise our home and the people who live in them.
To facilitate our expansion of coverage, though, we need your help.
Every one of you reading this editor’s note right now knows someone who would make a great POD. And we’re not just talking about well-known people. Most aren’t.
Maybe you know the chief of a volunteer fire department for an area with
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