You see, just finding the Poor Monkey Lounge isn't easy. I asked directions from an older gentleman wearing bib overalls and a straw hat as he walked down the shady side of First Street in tiny (pop 428), downtown Merigold, MS. "You ain't from around here are you," he responded, with a squint and just a bit of disdain. His face brightened slightly as he proceeded to give me directions. I got lost anyway.
Just a picture of a cute kid standing in a corn field in rural Tanzania. Right? Look closer. See his distended belly? The child is malnourished while surrounded by plenty. Poultry, goats, and pigs are being raised in the immediate area, as well as guinea pigs that many families grow for protein. Vegetable gardens, like the corn patch in the picture, are common. So what's the problem? Parasites are my guess. Clean drinking water and general hygiene are missing. Although there is plenty of food, intestinal parasites cause malnutrition and general poor health.
Long ago and far, far away, deep in a most distant solar system, scientists have discovered, what they believe to be, intelligent life on a tiny, strange-looking, reddish planet. Because…