Personal Challenge 2018 - Week 20

This is the 20th week of the year... and the 20th blog post for my personal 50-week "States of the Union" challenge. Each week I research one of the 50 states (in the order they attained statehood) and I use some fact about that state as inspiration for a card.

This week's state is...

Mississippi

Date of Statehood: December 10, 1817

The first female rural mail carrier in the United States was Mrs. Mamie Thomas. She delivered mail by buggy to the area southeast of Vicksburg Mississippi in 1914.

The term “teddy bear” originated in Mississippi when President Theodore Roosevelt refused to kill a trapped bear during a hunting trip near Onward, Mississippi in 1902. A Brooklyn candy shop owner saw a political cartoon depicting Roosevelt and the bear and was inspired to create a stuffed animal that he called “Teddy’s Bear.”

Mississippi is the farm-raised catfish capital of the United States, with over 100,000 acres of catfish ponds.

In 2002, 48-year-old marathon swimmer Martin Strel swam the entire length of the Mississippi River. The 2,414-mile swim took a total of 68 days to complete.

Ridgeland, Mississippi, may be home to the country's most picturesque (not to mention patriotic) cell phone towers: a structure shaped like the Washington Monument. 

The University of Mississippi Medical Center was the site of not one but two extremely important surgical firsts. The world’s first human lung transplant was performed in 1963, followed by the world’s first heart transplant a year later.

In the 1940s, the town of Pascagoula had a hard time figuring out the mystery of the bizarre “Phantom Barber.” The serial hair-snipper would break into homes to steal locks of hair and then slip away into the night. When it was all said and done, a man named William Dolan was caught and charged with attempted murder. But after serving six years of his 10-year sentence, Dolan passed a lie detector test and was set free.

Barq’s Root Beer was created in Biloxi, Mississippi.

In the year 1884, Phil Gilbert’s Shoe Parlor, located in Vicksburg, was the first place ever to sell shoes in pairs and in boxes.

Blues music was born in the Mississippi Delta, the northwest section of the state between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. Iconic blues musicians who hail from the state include B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi John Hurt, Lead Belly, and Little Freddie King, just to name a few.

Mississippi has more churches per capita than any other state in the country, and they’re not just buildings taking up space; a 2009 Gallup poll found that people in the state actually go to church more frequently than residents of any other state. 

Legendary puppeteer Jim Henson was born in Greenville and spent his childhood in Leland, Mississippi. The town still honors Henson’s Mississippi roots with the Birthplace of Kermit the Frog Museum and the Rainbow Connection Bridge.

Mississippi also has its share of unusual laws:

If one is a parent to two illegitimate children, that person will go to jail for at least one month.

It is illegal to teach others what polygamy is.

Private citizens may personally arrest any person that disturbs a church service.

Cattle rustling is punishable by hanging.

Horses are not to be housed within 50 feet of any road.

According to one town’s laws, any groom-to-be must “prove himself manly” before marriage by hunting and killing either 6 blackbirds or 3 cows.

Drugstores in the state are not allowed to sell poison to children.

Sleeping with someone who isn’t your spouse is also illegal and carries a fine of $500 and/or 6 months in prison.

Oxford Mississippi has a law on the books that says it is “illegal to cheer unless there’s a reason to.”

I've decided to go with this bit of Mississippi information for my card's inspiration... Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo Mississippi on January 8, 1935.

Seriously, how could I choose any other fact? I've been a huge Elvis fan all of my life.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Supplies Used 

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms "Elvis" and "Thank You Very Much" stamped with Catherine Pooler Midnight Ink

Papers: Recollections 110# Black, Red, and 110# White CS and DP from the Recollections Black & White Paper Pad

Embellishments: Red Heart Brads from an unknown vendor

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