WSJ covers Mississippi picnic in Central Park
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If you happened to be crossing Central Park on foot this weekend, you might have thought you were strolling in Tupelo or Biloxi. Catfish, caramel cake, hushpuppies and watermelon were served up in the sizzling sunlight at a Saturday picnic. And, if you listened closely, you might have heard a sprinkling of the southern phrase “y’all.”
“The picnic is wonderful,” the 64th Gov. of Mississippi, Phil Bryant, told Heard & Scene, “It’s more like a family reunion.” He’d attended a Yankees game on this trip. “For a kid in Mississippi,” the governor said, “Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle were all our heroes.”
Under a white tent, the governor had been speaking with the executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, John Marszalek, whose organization is based at the Mitchell Memorial Library at Mississippi State University. Mr. Marszalek said that the association has been at work on the first scholarly edition of Grant’s memoirs, which includes previously unused material. Mr. Marszalek said Grant, who once lived in New York, was once asked if he liked music: “I only know two songs,” President Grant replied, “One is ‘Yankee Doodle’ and the other is not.”
Wall Street Journal
6/11/12
Magnolia Tribune
