• Eating: Who needs it? I’ve got class from 4:30-8:30 PM. So long, dinner! Bonjour, tough luck.
• Listening to: Ancestors by Gonjasufi.
• Wearing: Black jeans & a sweater. It feels something like spring in Tennessee today, and something a lot like Antarctica in all of my classes – is it still August somewhere?

Hello from Corinth, cheri!

Okay, so I’m not actually in Mississippi anymore. But I was! On our way from Tennessee to Birmingham for a mini break (see previous post) we decided to stretch the 4-hour drive to a ground-breaking 6 by making a thousand useless stops. The low point? A roadside junk sale in an abandoned old gas station, filled with visibly dirt-stained goods & zero price tags (if they aren’t making money selling literal trash, I don’t want to know what they are turning a profit on). The high? An extended stay in small-town Mississippi.

We started things off with some locally-owned coffee from a joint with rocking window light & high, detailed ceilings. I love how these fans just scream of the south.

And speaking of the south, I realized something about deep dixieland that day: The ladies love some sparkle. After spotting some eye-catching window displays, we decided to venture into a boutique in the classic, peanut butter & jelly of an American downtown.If an item could be accused of lacking anything, it was made up for in rhinestones. Anything that could or would be bedazzled, was.

I fell in love with these boots–not to actually wear, of course, but more the general idea of them. Shamelessly flashy. Almost exotic in the extent of their other-worldliness to my own spheres of influence. Absolute glamor, in the Las Vegas sense of the word. Very Dolly Parton.

I’ve always admired Dolly–her big blonde hair, her big high heels, her painfully-small looking waist. Some may say she’s over-the-top. I may agree. But I love to see a woman who knows what she wants, and goes against the grain so she can have it. In my book, the feminist in her safe-navy suit & bad loafers circa 1993 is no different, & no more successful in her pursuit of independence & individualism than good old Dolly, in her ultra-feminine frocks & sweet as sugar smiles (or Lady Gaga, for that matter). It’s all about developing your persona.

And if yours happens to include bull-blinding rodeo-wear, I forgot to mention one thing about the Mississippi boutique: they’ve got plenty of glitzed-out cowgirl hats to accompany the boots.