[ED: Rhodestar, you 'humper, how you make me laugh. Congrats on surviving Starkville for a year.]

So I took some classes in Starkville this past semester and learned a lot about myself and, in retrospect, my time at Ole Miss.  Mostly, that you guys are way too hung up on "tradition", and think you own it.  But if there's one thing that my time at Mississippi State University has taught me, it's that tradition belongs to all The People, not just a bunch of elitist pricks from cotton money. 

I now know that Mississippi State University has more going on that most of you would think in the way of tradition.  The Junction, for example, is something all of The People of Mississippi State University will always tell you they take pride in and associate with their fondest memories of their time on campus, and of great tailgating.

Sure, I mean, it was sad to see the train go out of operation, and I certainly bet you that if Kevin Fant could've just hopped a train to Moss Point he wouldn't have ended up needing new tires for his SUV, but The People can take just as much pride in the new things that are going on an Mississippi State University, which are so much better than the old things going on elsewhere that are outdated and antiquated and that no one cares about anymore.

Mississippi State University is leading the way in a lot of ways...

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[EDIT: HT Rhodestar for this. The picture work is mine, the words 'n' such are his with some Whiskey Wednesday sprinkled in.]

Oxford, MS— Hope once again turned to despair in Oxford, Mississippi, today, in accordance with Ole Miss’ long-standing commitment to uphold university traditions.

After weeks of infighting, students were allowed to vote on whether or not students would have a voice in replacing the retired school mascot, Colonel Reb, with a newer, less racially divisive figure.  Colonel Reb served as the school’s athletic mascot for nearly 25 years before his removal from the sideline of sporting events in 2003.

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JUST REST ASHURED PETE BOONE IS THE FORCE UNDERNEATH THISSSS!!!! Just anuther attempt of an example at how this university is stealing our tradishuns and replaceing them with politicly correctness!!  Well we wont stand up for it any longer!  I'll never give any of my money to this "school" agin!!  Dan Jones is being controled by the big man behind the curtan!!!  Wake up people!

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...and, apparently, remembering to take our Vioxx in the last five minutes.

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A decade after the establishment of Mississippi's first public university in 1848, in an unrelated event, a South Carolinian named William Steffe penned lyrics to the tune of a traditional camp-meeting spiritual.  His adaptation of the song, entitled "On Canaan's Happy Shore," soon became a popular marching tune for Union Army forces fighting in the American Civil War.  In November of 1861, a female American abolitionist, poet, and Free Soil Party activist named Julia Ward Howe happened to overhear troops singing the song during a military review in Washington, D.C.  Inspired by the tune, Howe lifted the melody and composed her own original lyrics.  Howe's interpretation of Steffe's music was subsequently published in "The Atlantic Monthly" (Volume 9, Issue 52), a popular magazine of literature, art, and politics of the day.  Howe's version, retitled "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", was the first to include the line "Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on!", which is today the most widely recognized refrain from the song.

Tradition.  "His truth is marching on!"  The one-hundred-fifty-year-old words of Julia Ward Howe, scripted to the music of William Steffe, incorporated a century later into the "An American Trilogy" melody for Elvis' live show, then re-scored by The Pride of the South's former band director into "From Dixie with Love" for us to [formerly] enjoy.