a rt: mississippi hospital ity

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Well, bless her heart. Peopleare tracking down RhondaRayborn’s “How’s Ya Mama &‘Em” t-shirts all over the south.K.D. Townsend, Manager ofTropical Glamour in Petalexplains, “When I wear my‘Mess with this MississippiGirl… you will be messin’ withthe whole trailer park!’ t-shirt, Iliterally have people chasingme down to ask where I got it.”Tropical Glamour along with anadditional 103 locations acrossthe nation carry these southerncharmed shirts that are basedon sayings that are indigenousto our area. From “MississippiGirls & Iced Tea, Sweet! Sweet!Sweet!” to “Do You Believe inlove at first sight or do I needto walk back by?” to “Does MyLipstick Match My Four-Wheeler,” these colorful fastselling t-shirts complete withartwork, cover the gamut of

topics including spiritual andcustom designs for schools.“They all sell really well, par-ticularly those with Bible vers-es,” Townsend adds.

“How’s Ya Mama & ‘Em?” isthe registered trademark andbrainchild of Brookhaven’sRhonda Rayborn. Though her t-shirts are fairly new to the mar-ket, her trademark “MississippiHospitality” pottery has beenaround for several years andboth encompass the flavors andpersonality of our Magnoliastate. Rayborn attributes herpassion for Mississippi to herupbringing in the antebellumrich town of Natchez where sheand her family were part of theyearly Pilgrimage at which shedressed in period clothing andserved as a tour guide. “In myearly years I just fell in lovewith Mississippi, its charm,people, places, things, and say-

ings. I also had two closegrandmothers who throughtheir language, expressions, andwork ethics, taught me how tobe a southern lady. They hadsuch funny sayings and bothwere excellent cooks,” shes t a t e s .

In 1994, Rayborn’s bodybecame devastated with theeffects of Crohn’s diseaserequiring her to have extensivesurgeries and spend over 200days in the hospital. “I neverwas able to return to my previ-ous job because of the a m o u n to f travel and hours involved,”she states. It was during therecovery period in the hospitaland her motivation to get wellthat prompted some new appre-ciation and plans. She states“My aunt and mother were mycaregivers. They were bothstrong Mississippi women. Mysisters would read John

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STORY BY JAMIE O’QUINNPHOTOS COURTESY RHONDA RAYBORN

WE L L BL E S S YO U R HE A RT AN D

Grisham’s books to me; I’d watchOprah at 4 pm each afternoon; and I’dlisten to Faith Hill sing. Because theyhad the Mississippi connection, theyall had a very positive influence onme.” Rayborn also attributes theprayers and strong faith of her friendsto helping her get her life back.

After 2 1/2 years of recovery,Rayborn turned back to a craft shehad learned years earlier in college -creating pottery. “When I starteddoing the Mississippi Hospitality pat-terns on pasta bowls, I used food thatrepresented both my grandmothersmost delicious dishes. They are thingsour family grew up eating,” sheexplains. This includes chicken anddumplings, homemade biscuits,cheese grits and fried green tomatoes.In addition, she also draws from hertour guide days in Natchez to includefamous landmarks and people. “Ilearned to sell Mississippi to thetourist,” she explains. In addition toartists such as BB King, the BluesHighway, and numerous authors, shealso includes football legends such as

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Brett Favre and ArchieManning. “I include people I’vegrown up being proud ofbecause they are fromMississippi,” she adds. Sinceshe always gets a sparkle in hereye at this time of the yearwhen the azaleas and dog-woods start blooming, they areinfused into her creations aswell. “My pottery is a mixtureof Mississippi hospitality andwho we are,” she states.

The Mississippi Hospitalityseries pottery includes relative-

ly larger pieces that are justright for decorating. The pastabowls, cookie jar sets, oval andround patterns hang easily onplate racks and vases grace thetables. Rayborn personallymakes every piece and deco-rates it herself. “My orderskeep me busy. It’s labor inten-sive and each bowl is different,but I love doing it,” she adds.

Annyce Browning, owner ofDogwoods in the OakGrove/Hattiesburg area sellsboth the pottery and t-shirts.

“The Mississippi Hospitalitypottery are very much indemand,” Browning explains.“People love it all, particularlythe bowls and triangle plates.We sold her ornaments atChristmas-time and they werewonderful. Rhonda’s potteryand t-shirts were our number 1best sellers during the holidayseason.” She explains that lastyear, they got to know Rhondawhen she spent the day withthem signing her wares. “She’sreally an awesome person. The

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sayings on her t-shirts reallycapture her. We’ll have cus-tomers laugh out loud whenthey read her t-shirts and I’llsay ’Yeah, that’s Rhonda’.”Browning also states that theMississippi hospitality seriespottery is really popular for

those wanting to give visitorsmementos of our state and alsoas presents to former residentswho have moved off as areminder of home.

When someone takes home a‘How’s Ya Mama & ‘Em?’ t-shirt, they might not realize

they are taking Rhonda hometoo. That’s because the sassy lit-tle girl on the front of every t-shirt with the trademark sayingis actually a depiction of thecreator herself in 1975 as aninth grader when she complet-ed her first paying artist job.

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‘How’s Ya Mama and ‘Em?’ is just a southernway of asking about your family,” she explains.“It’s just a hospitable thing to do.” What startedout as just a saying she included on her potterypieces, eventually became the trademark for bothlines. “We would laugh when the reorder formswould come in requesting ’How’s Ya Mama &‘Em?’ instead of ‘Mississippi HospitabilityPottery,’ which was the original name of the pot-tery series.”

Rayborn’s ceramics are carried in select storesfrom Hattiesburg to Kosciusko to Brookhaven toLouisville. “Because they are ceramic, they arebreakable. We usually carry the items to the storeor they come to us to get the pieces,” she states.The t-shirts, however, sell not only inMississippi, but also Alabama, North Carolina,South Carolina, Missouri, Louisiana, andArkansas, with each tailored for that particularstate. “I’m in the process of creating a Tennesseegirls’ line too,” she adds.

With a list of forty sayings on her brightly col-ored shirts, here are just a few more. ‘MississippiGirls Love Their Flip Flops,’ ‘Mississippi Girlsknow that sometimes all you can say is… LordHave Mercy,’ ‘Mississippi Girls sweep the floor,load the dishwasher, make the bed, cook supper,and six months later… Dang! Gotta do it again!,’‘Oh Sugar!, Mississippi Girls never ever hate aman enough to give him diamonds back!,’‘Mississippi Girls follow the Son,’ ‘MississippiGirls are like purses… it’s what’s on the insidethat counts,’ and ‘Mississippi Girls are like allother girls, just prettier!’

Rayborn states she is always adding more toher collection. “In addition to things that wegrew up saying, my friends frequently send metext messages of new things they have heard.Mississippians are crazy about t-shirts, we wearthem everywhere. Creating them is such a funthing to do.”

For more information on Rayborn’s MississippiHospitability pottery and ‘How’s Ya Mama &‘Em?’ t-shirts, you may go to www.rhondaray-born.com or e-mail her atr h o n d a r a y b o r n @ c a b l e o n e . n e t .