AUGUST 8, 2025 ON MY CORNER ASK YOUR VENDOR What's the best way to start the day? Pray and think positive thoughts for your day. — Brian Hargrove, #158 Get up and thank God first. Receive your check; what you receive on your check is your attitude. In order to cash it in, you need to be grateful and joyous! — Felicia Wilbert #234 Put your feet on the floor. — Ken Parks, #490 Coffee, water, yoga, meds. — Jim Clark, #139 Waking up with Folgers in your cup. — Rose Strickland, #25 Solitude. — Wayne Sparks, #615 Open your eyes and leap out of bed as if a bolt of lightning hit you! Yoga, Capoeira, breathing, a cigarette, breakfast, coffee, conversation. That's how I do it. — David Putman, #679 To let go of the past and forget about the future, because the present is always now. — Cindy Gere, #279 It was an unusually hot winter in Mississippi the year of 2012. The swimming season started early in April. The lake was crowded with small paddle boats and swimmers. Teressa and her family lived across Lake Wanna from her best friend Mariah. They would often swim together, meeting in the middle. They would race to the marker, the dock that was placed in the middle of the lake. Mariah was obsessed every summer trying to get tanned. You could find them sitting around the trees or laying out on the dock for hours talking and reading the latest “Glamour” magazine. The first weekend in May, Teressa’s family had a cookout at the lake. Her mom would always make fresh sushi; her dad would always fish from Lake Wanna. This year was no different. The lake offered fresh fish, shrimp and crab meat. Their families would cook out all summer long. Early Monday morning Teressa was feeling ill — her whole body ached, she could barely stand and walk. Her parents rushed her to St. Mary’s FELICIA WILBERT Groundcover vendor No. 234 GROUNDCOVER NEWS Truth or lies: The invader Mariah held Teressa’s hand, talking to her, anticipating her awakening. During the last week in June the doctors finally discovered what ailed Teressa. It was a bite from a lyme tick. Teressa had contracted it in the grass, maybe sitting by the trees. Her dad had the property exterminated immediately! Finally during the second week in July Teressa awakened. Hospital. After she arrived, her body started to convulse and she had a seizure. Teressa went into a coma. The doctor informed the family they did not find anything to warrant her illness. They charted every food Teressa ate and every activity she did during the weekend. There was nothing new. They ordered the fish at the lake to be tested. They found amoebas, small invading insects found in raw shellfish. However. Teressa never ate any raw shellfish, her mother explained to the doctor. June came and she was still in a coma. Her mother prayed all day everyday. Her dad felt helpless; however, he too prayed for a miracle. They spent hours at the hospital, and her best friend Mariah was there every day. She was weak and could not walk. The doctor ordered physical therapy, which would last eight weeks. Teressa realized she had been near death; she thanked God for her recovery. She thanked the doctors and everyone for their prayers. Teressa wrote a letter to the Mississippi press informing them of her situation. She wanted to warn everyone of the invasive ticks. Even after one year her body still aches and she still walks with a cane. However Teressa is grateful to be alive. Teressa often tells everyone about her experience, pleading with them to be careful,warning them to check their pets and themselves, and be aware of the invaders in the grass and amongst the trees. 3 The Scorpion and The Frog STEVEN Groundcover vendor No. 668 His enormous flayed toes knuckled the sand as he nictated his membranes at the foamy brown water. Just lazing away the day, distantly grateful he wasn’t being licked by some hominid. Someone was next to him. Someone somehow had snuck up on him. There that someone was though, just chillin’, looking at the water, his relaxed stinger a distant thought. “Sup?" asked the scorpion. “Sup,” answered the frog. They sat in silence for a long while watching the water. “Sup?" asked the scorpion. “Sup,” answered the frog. Loquaciously the scorpion made small talk at the frog then asked, “So, uh you gonna go across or what?” In answer the frog lazily blinked his huge eyelids. “No, but seriously I’m tryin’ to get across here,” said the scorpion to the silent frog, trying like hell to not sound like a scorpion. Image by Dark-Wayfarer More silence, then the frog belched loud and clear and spoke, “I mean, yeah, I’m gonna cross here at some point.” Scorpion nonchalantly responded, “Cool, cool.” In the same chill tone then asked, “So hey, no rush or anything or whatever but like when you do cross can I hitch a ride with you bro?” After several long slow blinks, the frog said, “Hitch a ride like on my back? What am I, new? You’ll sting me and eat me.” The scorpion, like he invented being offended, cried, "Whoa, whoa, whoa man, what like I’m gonna sting you while we’re out on the water? What am I, crazy? I’d drown too man.’” The frog, as ever slow to respond, sat a bit and said, “Yeah, okay, that makes sense. I’ll give you a lift.” “Great, fantastic. Thanks, frog!” Then they sat some more. Something roused the frog at some point and he was ready to move. “Alright bro, if we’re gonna do this, lets do this,” and he shifted his weight. Scorpion was like, “Cool, cool, let’s do this.” Now frog, you understand, is a hell of a swimmer. Top notch, but when the scorpion stung him in the back of the head midstream he faltered. He faltered hard. Even with that burning venom coursing through his simple little brain he still had the wherewithal to ask, “What did you stab me for bro? I thought we’re pals? I’m the one swimming here, like WTF?” The slick dying-ass scorpion said, "I’m a scorpion, you’re a frog bro.” This is a parable said to come out of Russian folklore in the early 20th century, though it may hearken back into Persian antiquity as The Scorpion and the Turtle.
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