Rooted Re-Run: Noel Didla

"A sense of connection, rootedness, purpose, and love keeps me here. I don't have a tipping point."

What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? As the year draws to a close, we’re revisiting a couple of our favorite interviews from the beginning of 2024. Mississippi transplant Noel Didla is a “resource generator, cultural strategist, capacity builder and visual storyteller.” Noel first came to Mississippi as a Visiting Scholar with Jackson State University. She now lives in Jackson, where she advocates for food justice, sustainable innovation, and cultural production. “Mississippi has unschooled me,” Noel writes. Today we revisit Noel’s reflections on how her love for her chosen home has shaped her vocation, community, and career.

Noel Didla is from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, South India. She lives in Jackson, Mississippi.

Where are you from?

Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, South India is my birth place. It is in the eastern coastal plains, between a fresh water body (River Krishna) and a salt water …