This coming weekend, I’m honored to serve as one of the guest judges for the Hope for Hattiesburg chili cookoff and fundraiser at First Presbyterian Church in Hattiesburg. H4H, as volunteers call it, is an outreach program of a network of local churches that searches out and repairs damaged and derelict homes in the Hattiesburg area, focusing on several targeted efforts in the fall, spring, and summer. The fundraiser, which will also feature a silent auction (and other entrees besides just chili), will take place at FPC on Saturday, February 6 from 10am-2pm, with judging around 11am, and is open to all.

Pelican Bomb has a brief take on Aron Belka’s recent exhibition, “Working the Wetlands.” If you’re in the area, go.

Pelican Bomb has a brief take on LUNA Fête, New Orleans’ annual festival of lights, and one worth the visit if you’re in town.

Pelican Bomb has a review of a recent installation at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans — unfortunately now dismantled, but still worth considering in retrospect.

The Weekly Standard has a brief essay on the most benign of topics, the status of the Confederate Flag in Mississippi. Pace Jonathan Swift, the original subhead was “A modest proposal” — which it remains.