Page 22 - John Currence News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Wrong. it's about wanting to change or not. but people don't want to give up power. fear is still alive and well in mississippi. i think racism is one of those great things in the world that you'll never solve and that's why faulkner wrote about it. >> writers, as i know from looking in my own dark heart, are generally terrible people. put ten of them together and it's like putting your head in a bag full of snakes. i meet a bunch of them above city grocery, john currence's place on the square. there's the brilliant author tom franklin and his wife, the poet beth ann fennelly. grisham writers ...

So what we wanted to do is sort of take a look at barbecue that surrounds us and see if we could sort of frankenstein barbecue. >> there isn't really any fixed idea of mississippi barbecue, and other than this place, lamar lounge, john currence's not-for-profit bar-restaurant, there's no other pit-smoked whole hog barbecue in the entire state. a 175-pound pig will feed many mouths. about 250 people eat here a day. now, this is a not-for-profit establishment? >> yeah. >> is that right? >> yeah, it sure is. >> what sort of socialist communist stuff are you up to, currence? what's going on? this ...

Just plain mean and greedy enough to come here. >> julia reed: there's no way to make up for our bad racial past, but you do, you know, the sense of community that keeps people here is evidenced in this place. >> anthony: julia reed is greenville born and raised. the daughter of a political family. a writer, author, and as delta as it gets. how long you been in the city? >> john currence: 22 years. i came in 1992. >> anthony: john currence is a celebrated chef, who had left new orleans to come to mississippi. and opened first one, then many more restaurants and businesses in the town of oxford...

I mean, there was a lot going on. >> bill griffith: he's a middle-of-the-road democrat. that's what he said. he said you have to bring black education up with white education. and since the state of mississippi will not invest in black education, it's up to its citizens to do so. he said that segregation wasn't about being right or wrong, he said any sane, sober southerner knows that it's wrong. it's about wanting to change or not. but people don't want to give up power. fear is still alive and well in mississippi. i think racism is one of those great things in the world that you'll never solv...

Poet chiyuma elliott. wright thompson is a senior writer for espn. fellow writer on the series "treme", chris offutt. novelist ace atkins. poet derek harriell is originally from milwaukee. crime novelist billy boyle from brooklyn. downstairs, currence's restaurant city grocery cranks out many delicious things. the man known as big bad chef, aka "johnny snack", is sending some of those goodies upstairs as there's nothing professional writers like more than free food. usually you put five writers in a room it's a ugly hell broth of envy, hatred. >> writer: we all hate tommy. >> writer 2: no, tha...