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JACKSONIAN TIFFANY TURNER

F or Tiffany Turner, owner and stylist of T-Stylez Hair Studio (6969 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland, Suite D), everything is about being passionate and having faith.

Since leaving her job at Kroger and working in account management, customer service and retail in April 2010, she’s enjoyed being her own boss and helping others find their healthy hair happiness. A native of Ruston, La., Turner, 31, grad-uated from Magnolia Cosmetology School in December 2011, and began working as an extensionist at a natural-hair salon. Turner says her passion led her to opening her own salon in July 2013. She spent a year at her North State Street location before moving her business out to Ridgeland, where she’s been since Septem-ber 2014. “I always had a vision of myself and my brand and an idea of where I wanted to go,” she says. “I wanted to work on my craft, work-ing on different types of ethnicity. I didn’t want to be just an urban hairstylist. I didn’t want to do just one type of thing.” T-Stylez offers services such as colors and cuts, sew-in services, braiding, blowouts, dread-ing and natural-hair care. Turner has a profes-sional makeup artist on staff, Brandi Williams. She even works with people who have severe hair growth issues such as alopecia. She also has T-Stylez University, a hair maintenance and growth class, with tips and techniques for individuals or group sessions

and a YouTube page for tutorials. Turner’s business has already opened her up to many opportunities for growth. She’s worked on Rock the Runway, MegaFest and Essence Fest glam squads, as an assistant stylist on season one of the Lifetime hit show, “Bring It!”, as the personal hair stylist to gospel artist Kim Burrell during the 2012 Stellars Gospel Awards, and to Nicole Bolin, wife of celebrity stylist J. Bolin. The road toward being a successful busi-ness owner hasn’t been easy, she says. She’s dealt with things such as conflict between stylists and just had general entrepreneurial stresses. But through it all, she says she has pushed through. In 2016, Turner plans to release her own line of hair products, called T-Stylerz Col-lection, as well as a unisex clothing line, The Movement. She says her ultimate goal is to help others find their inner beauty, along with hav-ing a healthy hair journey. She hopes to inspire others, even outside of being a hairstylist, to be comfortable with themselves, which is present in her motto for T-Stylez: “Where inner beauty counts and healthy hair begins.” “I’m doing all of this because I know my purpose in life. I believe I am an encour-ager. I believe I am motivational, I believe I am inspirational,” she says. “He gave me the talent, through my hands, and a gift and a passion that he gave me to help and encour-age other people.” —Maya Miller

NOVEMBER 4 - 10, 2015 | VOL. 14 NO. 9

4 ............................. EDITOR’S NOTE6 ............................................ TALKS12 ................................ EDITORIAL13 .................................... OPINION15 ............................ COVER STORY20 .................................... HITCHED22 ......................................... FOOD24 ....... BEST OF JACKSON BALLOT25 ....................................... 8 DAYS27 ...................................... EVENTS28 ....................................... BOOKS28 ....................................... MUSIC29 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS30 ..................................... SPORTS31 .................................... PUZZLES33 ....................................... ASTRO

cover photo of Shinyera Johnson by Imani KhayyamC O N T E N T S

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6 Divorce CourtIf same-sex marriage is now legal in the U.S., why hasn’t Mississippi let two women get divorced?

20 “(My mother) asked if I remembered the way she would style my hair when I was younger. Three braids intertwined together, one braid is me, the other is my husband, and that third braid is God. It all makes sense.” —Lakeisha Marie Stewart, “First Comes Love”

22 Jacksonians can get a taste of New Orleans when they go to Drago’s Seafood Restaurant in Jackson.

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I t’s taken me 26 years to finally figure out my personal style. I think I’ve known for years what it is, but up until beginning my work at the

Jackson Free Press, I haven’t really had to worry about it. A couple of months ago as I was mak-ing the long drive back from my dad’s house in Louisiana, I asked myself what I thought my style was. An image of a woman in a recent NYLON Magazine spread popped up in my head: She had dark, choppy brown hair with fringe bangs and black eye-liner around her eyes, and she wore a white button-down shirt and black pants. She was edgy, cool. That’s when I realized it: That was my style. Or at least some form of that. Because of that particular realization, I spent the rest of my birthday Target gift card on makeup that night after coming back, and for about a week, I wore it pretty consistently. But with me having such sensi-tive skin and terrible allergies, it made me break out and made my eyes burn, so I de-cided to stop doing it. So makeup is a no-go, and since I have a round face and thin curly hair, fringe bangs also probably won’t happen. I can’t and won’t do much about my hair and makeup, but that doesn’t mean I gave up the vision entirely. Over the last couple of months, I have put more thought into my wardrobe than I ever have in my life. I’ve collected many pop culture T-shirts (mostly ones pertaining to superheroes such as the Flash or Iron Man), and I’ve found more creative ways to wear pieces in my wardrobe, such as pairing said Flash T-shirt with a multi-strand metal necklace, black pants, and my most favorite shoes in the world, my black Chuck Taylors. I’m still perfecting my style, but I like finally being able to walk into a store and know what I want and what works for me. It beats walking around aimlessly until

something strikes my eye (though I still oc-casionally do that). My mom doesn’t understand my style. She hates shopping with me because she knows we’ll get into arguments. She’ll try and make me buy something “normal” or “trendy,” and I immediately jet toward bold patterns and colors and leather and lace and cool T-shirts. She’s learned to live with me being the weird black sheep of the family. I don’t even

really believe any of the same things that she does anymore. My parents often call me a liberal, though I’m not sure that they realize that while I’m probably closer to that than conservative, I am by no means liberal. If I had to choose, I’m probably more moder-ate, though I’m still learning exactly what that means, as well. I’m still learning about much of the political world, because for the majority of my life, I’ve stayed away from it. But work-ing at a progressive alternative weekly in the middle of one of the most conservative states in the U.S. makes you rethink some of your own beliefs. I think the first time I realized just how vastly different mine and my fam-ily’s beliefs are is when Proposition 26 (the personhood amendment that said life begins at conception) got on the

ballot in 2011. At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to be-lieve. I wanted to call myself a pro-lifer, but some of those beliefs didn’t sit well with me. Then, I began to do research. I discovered that not only would it affect abortions; it would also affect women’s ability to easily get birth control or Plan B or even our abil-ity to get in vitro fertilization. So I voted no and now consider myself pro-choice. My mom agreed with me on the issue at that

point, but that was the last time we saw eye-to-eye on anything. My cousin and I got into an argument about it over Facebook. She argued that abortion killed innocent children; I argued that the government shouldn’t dictate what women can and can’t do with their bod-ies. I’d like to think I won, but I probably didn’t. I’ve learned that arguing about stuff like that with family is pointless and could cause more trouble than it’s worth. For a long time, I was so afraid to tell my family that I didn’t agree with them that when it came things like elections, I would do what-ever they told me. These days, I try to make an informed decision, and even if it’s an un-pleasant conversation, I’ll tell them who I voted for and against if they ask. But I don’t really call my political views progressive or conservative or liberal or even

moderate. I just call them common sense. Schools need more funding in Mississippi, so I voted for Initiative 42. I voted against the Proposition 26 because the state doesn’t have the right to tell me or any woman what we can and can’t do with our bodies. If it ever comes to a vote, I’ll vote down the Mississippi state flag because it’s a hateful symbol. Unlike many people in my life, I’ve never dropped an n-bomb, even though I’ve heard multiple people do it and have been told it was OK. Even as a child, I knew it really wasn’t. I try not to judge people based on their skin color or religion or anything like that, and I try to keep an open mind. My family calls me weird because of things like that (and also, just because I’m me). But that’s OK. I’ve learned that weird is a good thing to be, and I mean, we’re all a little weird, right? We all have different views of the world. We all like different things. We all have those moments that make us think, “I’m so strange.” I’d rather be “not normal” than stick with the status quo. I’d rather judge people based on the quality of their character, not by the way they look. I’m told by multiple people that when it comes to anything in life that’s uncom-fortable to me (such as dating), to act “nor-mal.” But the thing is, any time they say that, I automatically picture that scene in “SpongeBob SquarePants” where someone told him and Patrick to act normal, and they began eat seaweed like under-sea cows. Because that’s normal, right? What does normal even mean? Assistant Editor Amber Helsel graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bach-elor’s degree in journalism. She is short, always hungry, always thinking, and has been told multiple times that she looks like a fairy (or an elf, or hobbit). Email feature story ideas to amber@jacksonfreepress.com.

CONTRIBUTORS

Don’t Act Normal

Staff Photographer Imani Khayyam is an art lover and a native of Jackson. He loves to be behind the camera and capture the true essence of his subjects. He took the cover photo, “Street Style” photos and many others in the issue.

Editorial Assistant Adria Walker likes existentialism and astro-physics. She enjoys debating about “Star Wars,” reading Camus, Kafka and Kundera, and learning about people’s belief systems. She wrote a Best of Jackson blurb.

Web Editor Dustin Cardon is a graduate of the Univer-sity of Southern Mississippi. He enjoys reading fantasy novels and wants to write them him-self one day. He wrote a Best of Jackson blurb and contributed to the food page.

Editorial Assistant Maya Miller is a senior psychology major at Jackson State University. She’s learned that adulthood means choosing her own bedtime, and she’s not equipped for that responsibility yet.. She wrote a Best of Jackson blurb.

News Reporter Arielle Dreher is working on finding some new hobbies and adopting an otter from the Jackson Zoo. Email her story ideas at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com. She wrote about same-sex divorce cases.

News Editor R.L. Nave is a native Missourian who roots for St. Louis (and the Mizzou Tigers)—and for Jackson. Email him at rlnave@jackson freepress.com or call him at 601-362-6121 ext. 12. He wrote about the City of Jackson.

Music Editor Micah Smith is a fan of music, comedy and all things “nerd.” He is married to a great lady, has two dog-children named Kirby and Zelda, and plays in the band Empty Atlas. He wrote about “Riot” and the Belhaven Student Composer Concert.

Ad Designer Zilpha Young has dabbled in every medium she could get her hands on, from blacksmithing to crocheting. To see some of her extracurricular work (and lots of cephalopods), check out zilphatastic.tumblr.com. She designed many ads.

by Amber Helsel, Assistant EditorEDITOR’S note

We all have different views of the world. We all like different things. We all have those moments that make us think, “I’m so strange.”

Imani Khayyam Adria Walker Maya Miller Arielle Dreher

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L auren Beth Czekala-Chatham cannot put her past behind her, because a court

won’t let her. After the Obergefell v. Hodges de-cision this summer—the U.S. Supreme Court case that made history when it legalized gay marriage—marriage is supposed to be legal and recognized regardless of two partners’ genders. But while same-sex marriage in Mississippi is le-gal, same-sex divorce seems to be on hold—at least it is for Czekala-Chatham and any other couple in the state whose judge is awaiting the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision in her case. Czekala-Chatham fi led for a divorce from her wife, Dana Melancon, and is still waiting for the Missis-sippi Supreme Court to rec-ognize it. When she fi led for divorce in 2013, it was an uphill battle, asking a state where same-sex marriage was illegal at the time to recognize her marriage in order to end it. Following the June 26 U.S. Supreme Court decision, how-

ever, all states were forced to recognize same-sex marriages. The ruling did not, however, specifi cally address the issue of divorce. It’s been four months since Czekala-

Chatham’s attorney and Jim Hood’s offi ce both fi led motions for entry of judgment, asking the Mis-sissippi Supreme Court to reverse a previous DeSoto County chancery court’s ruling and grant the couple a divorce. But the Missis-sippi Supreme Court has still not ruled on Czekala-Chatham’s case—a silence that she says is hurting her in more ways than one. “We’re still not get-ting equal rights,” Czeka-la-Chatham said. “(They say) we got what we want, but it’s not true; we’re still fi ghting.” After she split with Melancon in 2010, Cze-kala-Chatham moved to Hernando, Miss., and continued to raise her two sons as a single mom. She did meet someone new and has been with her current partner, Dawn Miller, for

three and a half years. Czekala-Chatham said she wants to marry her partner, and they would like to become foster parents. Beyond these personal consider-

Wednesday, October 28 Thousands of offi cers attend the funeral of New York Police Department Offi cer Randolph Holder, who was shot while on patrol Oct. 20. … NASA astro-naut Scott Kelly completes his fi rst space-walk hours before breaking the American record for longest trip off the planet.

Thursday, October 29 House Republicans elect Rep. Paul Ryan to be the chamber’s 54th speaker. … The Chinese government announces that it will allow all married couples to have two children, ending a 35-year-old “one-child” policy.

Friday, October 30 Congress sends President Obama a bipartisan budget accord that staves off a destabilizing U.S. default and eases the threat of a federal shutdown. … President Obama deploys 50 U.S. special opera-tions troops into northern Syria to help fi ght against the Islamic State group.

Saturday, October 31 Protesters clash with police guard-ing a border fence in northern Greece following a series of sea accidents that killed dozens of migrants, demanding that Greece tear down the fence and al-low refugees to cross by land. … A Rus-sian jetliner breaks up at high altitude and crashes shortly after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing all 224 people aboard.

Sunday, November 1 The leaders of South Korea, China and Japan meet for summit talks con-cerning history and territorial disputes as well as North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. … The Islamic State group seizes control of a town near a highway leading to the Syrian capital of Damascus and attacks another.

Monday, November 2 Gov. Phil Bryant and other Repub-licans hold a rally at the state Agriculture and Forestry Museum while Bryant’s challenger, Robert Gray, holds a prayer vigil for fellow Democrats at a park near the Governor’s Mansion.

Tuesday, November 3 Mississippi opens voting for state-wide elections and the Initiative 42 ballot initiative. Get breaking news at jfpdaily.com.

After Same-Sex Marriage Victory, A Stall on LGBT Divorces in Stateby Arielle Dreher

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Lauren Czekala-Chatham (second from left) pictured with her partner, Dawn Miller, and two sons Aaron Chatham (far left) and Alec Chatham (far right) at DisneyWorld in Orlando in 2013.

A necklace with a Louis XIV statue charm for Thalia Mara Hall.

A bracelet with Socrates on one side and Moses on the other to symbolize the Hinds County Courthouse.

An eyeshadow palette based on various shades of Yazoo clay.

Pink hair dye made from the Thalia Mara Hall fountain water.

Gravel pumice stones made from pothole rubble.

A ring with asphalt as the stone to symbolize the many potholes in Jackson.

A plain white tee with word

“Standard” on its front for

the Standard Life building.

A necklace with a “Mary Asleep” (the

exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Art that comes out once a year) charm on it.

A charm bracelet with pieces that symbolize the different cuisines in Jackson.

LANDMARK FASHIONby JFP Staff

We all love fashion accessories—and Jackson. Here are some accessories based on city icons.

7

ations, the case has taken a financial and emotional toll on her as well. Czekala-Chatham lost her job in 2014, and she has yet to find a new one despite her 26 years working in accounts payable and business finance. She has surmised from questions in job interviews that as soon as employers search her name on Google, they learn about her case. “I know (it) when I’m in the interview, (and) they’ll say things like ‘We’re a family-owned corporation’ or ‘We have family values here,’” the implication being that be-cause she’s gay, family values don’t apply to her, she said. Czekala-Chatham said she recognizes how her case will hopefully help other LGBT couples in Mississippi get divorces quicker, but she admits this process has come at a high price. The LGBT community still faces sever-al obstacles for equal rights in the state; there is a pending lawsuit, Campaign for South-ern Equality v. Mississippi Department of Human Services, asking the Southern U.S. District Court to force Mississippi to allow same-sex couples to adopt children. “It’s not just about the divorce. We’re human beings, too, and we’re mothers, sis-ters, daughters,” Czekala-Chatham said. “We put our clothes on the same way as you do, and we have the same dreams.”

How it Started In 2008, Czekala-Chatham married Melancon in California. The couple settled in Mississippi, buying a house in DeSoto County. Czekala-Chatham moved to Bran-don from Chicago while she was in high

school and went to the University of Missis-sippi, so Mississippi was home after that. But like half the marriages in America—and Mississippi’s divorce rate is traditionally higher—theirs did not last. The couple sepa-rated in 2010, but were still married. This arrangement worked for a while until Cze-kala-Chatham realized she was losing money from taxes that the federal government took from them as a married couple—money she needed to help raise her two sons. In 2013, Czekala-Chatham filed for di-vorce in Mississippi. She said filing it in Mis-sissippi was the easiest and most convenient move since flying to California and hiring an out-of-state lawyer would have been time-consuming and expensive. Her two sons were in public schools in DeSoto County, and she was still living her life as a single mother. Early in the lawsuit, Czekala-Chatham and Melancon settled their division of property, but they were de-nied a divorce. Her divorce filing turned into national news when she appealed her case to the Mississippi Supreme Court, and prior to the Obergefell ruling, Attorney General Jim Hood and Gov. Phil Bryant had both filed notices to dismiss Czekala-Chatham’s case in 2014. Bryant’s amicus brief echoed his resis-tance to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. “Mississippi is free to define and recog-nize marriage only as the union of a man and a woman,” the 2014 brief states. “To declare otherwise would turn state sovereignty on its head, transforming licenses of every kind into interstate privileges that ignore the pub-lic policy of any other jurisdiction.”

Less than a year later, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nation-ally, and in Czekala-Chatham’s mind, the Obergefell ruling means her divorce should be granted, according to federal law. It’s been four months since those mo-tions were filed, and the Supreme Court has yet to hand down a ruling in Lauren’s case, holding up not only her life but potentially the lives of others in same-sex marriages in the state seeking divorces. Czekala-Chatham said she has received Facebook messages from other same-sex couples throughout the state whom judges have told that they are waiting on the Missis-sippi Supreme Court’s ruling before issuing divorces. (Supreme Court justices and staff do not comment on pending litigation.) Glen Gregory, a Madison County resi-dent, said his divorce has been put on hold because the Madison County judge in his case does not want to issue a ruling without the state Supreme Court ruling on it first. Gregory and his partner have been sep-arated since 2010 and had to file for divorce in Mississippi where they both live because they were married in Connecticut in 2009, a state that requires six months of residency to file for divorce. Gregory said he and his sepa-rated partner are on good terms, but both are ready to finalize the divorce. “We’ve both moved on, once we saw we could do this—we moved forward with it,” Gregory said. But they were stopped when the judge said he had reservations about rul-ing before the state supreme court had ruled on the issue. Carey R. Varnado, Czekala-

Chatham’s attorney, said he’d initially expected a short opinion or order a couple weeks after the Obergefell ruling. Varnado said the delay might mean that one or more members of the Mississippi Supreme Court are writing full opinions concerning the issues involved in the case. Czekala-Chatham has no other option but to wait for the court to rule, and she cannot file for divorce elsewhere. “She has no (other) way to get a di-vorce from the courts of Mississippi,” Var-nado said. Technically, the Mississippi Supreme Court has 270 days to issue a ruling from the filing of the final brief—so they are not late. The Supreme Court hands down rulings on Thursdays; as of press time, no orders had been issued in the case. Matt Steffey, a professor at the Missis-sippi College School of Law, said it is not unusual for cases to draw out this long but agrees with Varnado that this might mean the ruling will be more than one or two sen-tences long. Steffey said he would be alarmed if the Mississippi Supreme Court went against the Obergefell ruling, because that would go against their mandate and oath they take when sworn onto the court to follow the law of the land—in this case the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. “The only time that the rule of law matters is when it requires citizens and espe-cially judges to follow laws that they disagree with,” Steffey said. For more coverage of LGBT rights visit jfp.ms/lgbt. Email reporter Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com.

T he Jackson City Council again shot down a pro-posal to award a roughly $13.6 million contract to remove years worth of sludge from a City wastewa-ter treatment plant.

At the Nov. 3 city council meeting, Mayor Tony Yarber asked the council to again vote to award a contract to a joint venture between Russellville, Ark.-based Denali Water So-lutions and Socrates Garrett Enterprises to remove 304,000 wet tons of biosolids from the Savanna Street Wastewater Treatment plant. After minimal debate, approval of the contract failed by a 1-to-5 vote, with Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes as the only member voting in favor of the contract. A previ-ous vote also failed. Subsequently, the council agreed last month to send documents pertaining to “proposals related to biosolids screening, loading, transportation and disposal”

to the Mississippi offices of the attorney general, ethics com-mission and state auditor for opinions.

Yarber said he wanted the council to hold a straight up-or-down vote so that the request-for-proposals pro-cess could restart if necessary. “(The council’s) inaction puts the city at jeopardy to have to pay $30,000 a month,” Yarber said, referring to fines environmental regulators can charge if the Jan. 1, 2018, deadline to remove the sludge is not met. “It is my opinion that the best interests of the city was not held.” After the meeting, Yarber told the Jackson Free Press that if his administration restarts the RFP process, it would take at least year before the council votes on a contractor. Dorsey Carson, an attorney for the Denali-Garrett team, said immediately after the meeting that he had to talk with his clients about their next moves.

— R.L. Nave

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Jackson must remove 304,000 wet tons of biosolids from the Savanna Wastewater Treatment Plant by January 2018, but that deadline is now in question.

Council: ‘No’ on Sludge Deal

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TALK | education

I n 2006, when local voters approved a $150 million bond for Jackson Public Schools, a then-Jim Hill High School sophomore named Treshika Melvin

thought about how the money would help her former middle school. Proceeds from the bond would ulti-mately mean a new building for Peeples Middle School in south Jackson, where some classes had to be held in trailers when Melvin was a student there, because parts of the main structure were caving in. The new facility opened in September 2010. “I don’t think I thought about it so much about (the conditions) when I was in school because, unfortunately, it was nor-mal,” Melvin, now 24, told the Jackson Free Press. “What is that saying about your value and the value of your education?” Melvin, who graduated from Millsaps College in 2013 and completed a master’s degree in human development and psychol-ogy at Harvard Graduate School of Educa-tion in May, wonders about the psychologi-cal toll that unsafe and unsecure buildings take on student’s learning. Organizers of Operation Shoestring’s

annual Conversations About Community say that experiences such as Melvin’s can move public-school funding challenges from abstract concepts to realistic examples that show the effects of underfunding on young people in classrooms. Robert Langford, Operation Shoestring’s executive director, said the speakers at the an-

nual event and fundraiser, which prominent Mississippians typically keynote, are VIPs. However, the group has expanded its defi ni-tion to include some of the most important people in Mississippi—young people. “Rather than get a talking head to come and have a conversation that’s probably go-ing to be very political, why don’t we ask the people who are going to be the most directly affected by education in the state (to partici-pate)?” Langford told the Jackson Free Press. Even with the Initiative 42 and edu-cation funding consuming so many news headlines over the past year, Langford said the voices of young people haven’t always been heard. Five young people, ranging from high-school seniors to graduate students, have met informally with a facilitator to get warmed up for the Nov. 12 event. “Education is on everyone’s mind. It’s the best time for the youth to speak up. I think the only way education is going to be fi xed is if everyone in the community con-tributes,” Raveena Aggarwal, a senior at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, who will also participate on the panel, said. Langford said the conversation is likely

to include “big blue-sky opportunities and nuts-and-bolts ideas” about how to improve education in Mississippi, but the students have no scripts or talking points to follow. “Let’s not say we honor young people; we should listen to them,” Langford said. “Regardless of the vote (on Initiative 42), we’ve got to fi gure out a way forward that is better for Mississippi’s young people. And if it’s better for them, it’s better for all of us.” Aggarwal, who is considering out-of-state colleges but hopes to return to Missis-sippi, said although young people will be the focus of the event, she hopes that policymak-ers attending the talk pay close attention. “At the end of the day, it’s the people in Mississippi’s government who are going to make the big decisions about Mississippi education. I hope its a wake-up call (that) the youth does have a voice. Maybe they will lis-ten to the youth voice,” she said.

Operation Shoestring’s Conversation About Community takes place Nov. 12 at 11:30 a.m., at the Jackson Convention Com-plex (105 E. Pascagoula St., 601-960-2321, $50). For more information, visit operation-shoestring.org/conversation.

Fixing Schools: Big Blue Skies, Nuts and Bolts by R.L. Nave

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Treshika Melvin is among the participants in Operation Shoestring’s annual Conversation About Community on Nov. 12 in Jackson, which organizers say will get into the nuts and bolts of public-school underfunding.

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TALK | education

I t’s about teachers. Academic progress pri-marily comes from good instruction, and staffing schools, especially in south Jackson, has presented JPS recruiters with problems.

Dr. Freddrick Murray, high schools chief academic officer at JPS, said the percep-tion of trouble in south Jackson—often por-trayed on local newscasts—hurts the teach-ing opportunities in south Jackson schools, like Wingfield High School. “We have to do a better job of re-brand-ing the schools, so we can create more rea-sons for teachers (to stay),” Murray said. At a district level, funding and educa-tional attainment—and attracting the right teachers—are closely linked together. At a Ward 6 town-hall meeting in Jackson Oct. 29, a panel of Jackson Public Schools admin-istrators, education advocates and parents discussed education, primarily focusing on south Jackson schools. In south Jackson, spe-cifically, the district is scrambling to keep up with a growing population that means more students are overcrowding the area’s schools. Dr. Michelle King, elementary schools chief academic officer at JPS, said the swell-ing population makes “getting the academic piece up to par” a challenge. JPS superintendent Dr. Cedrick Gray has tasked his staff with the mandate to be-come an “A” district in three years. JPS ad-ministrators recognize the need to be com-petitive not only statewide but also within JPS itself, due to the recent introduction of charter schools into the district. Chinelo Evans, the middle schools chief academic officer, said JPS is re-brand-ing middle schools to compete—and beat—their competition. “We want to beat them (charter, parochial and private schools) and provide a service that’s so great that parents choose us,” she told the audience at the town-hall meeting. Unfortunately, progress can only be made in small steps due to tight budget re-straints. Murray said it all goes back to fund-ing and priorities in the district. South Jack-son schools are in need of expanded IB and gifted programs, but they also have 50-year-old buildings in need of repairs. All JPS high schools are certified to offer courses that en-able students to earn credits at Hinds Com-munity College, but they do not have the funds to fill all high schools (like Wingfield) with the staff to teach those courses. The challenge of selecting priorities in the face of underfunding is routine for JPS schools. “If the air conditioner is broken in the school, that takes priority over the cracked foundation,” Murray said. “It goes back to funding and if we have the opportunity.”

Teacher salaries were the primary focus of increased funding outside and inside the Mississippi Adequate Education Program

this year, but funding from MAEP is sup-posed to help with not only teacher salaries but also old buildings, textbooks, classroom offerings and technology—all things ne-glected when funding from the Legislature comes up short.

A Statewide Perspective School districts are graded on perfor-mance, and Mississippi’s educational attain-ment is measured and compared nationally. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, an educational assessment of fourth and eighth graders, had some good news for the state last week—Mississippi was the only state to improve in both fourth-grade read-ing and math scores.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress tested 9,100 fourth and eighth graders in Mississippi in 2015. Fourth-grade

scores improved in reading and math, but eighth-grade scores in Mississippi had no significant change compared to 2013 results. The state’s students are still scoring well be-low national averages on those assessments. So while celebration for progress may be in order, so is an intense focus on the future of education in this state. At a press conference at Eastside El-ementary in Clinton on Oct. 28, Dr. Carey Wright, the state superintendent of educa-tion, addressed the challenge. “We’ve got some work to do there, and we also know Mississippi is in the bot-tom tier,” she said. “We’re not trying to say we’re not, but we are headed in the right direction.”

In overall proficiency, Mississippi sits in the third tier of NAEP’s rankings—below “basic” and “proficient” standards and be-low the national averages. The NAEP assessment also evaluates student population demographics. In Mis-sissippi, white eighth graders outscored their black counterparts by 27 points, a slight im-provement in the score gap from 30 points in 2013. The gap between black and white students is smaller for the state’s fourth graders—white students outscored black students by 25 points in reading tests. Nationally, mathematics scores have de-clined since 2013. In reading, fourth-grade scores were not changed and eighth-grades scores declined. Wright told the Jackson Free Press that expanding AP classes and initiatives such as Rethink Literacy, a program that focuses on teaching literacy across all subject areas, were some of the ways she planned on combatting the stagnant eighth-grade results. Wright said the department will use the data to see if and when interventions are needed. Dr. John Kelly, chairman of the Mis-sissippi Board of Education, said Mississippi is in a new era of education, at the Oct. 28 press conference. Mississippi’s results on the NAEP as-sessment imply that the Mississippi College and Career Ready standards, which were phased into schools in the 2011-2012 school year, are working. However, long-term improvement and progress will take time, Kelly said. “Public education is in a marathon in the state of Mississippi. It’s not a sprint,” Kel-ly said. “Marathons are not won overnight. They take time, but we will get there.” Comment at www.jfp.ms. Email Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com.

by Arielle Dreher

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Dr. Carey Wright, the state superintendent, says Mississippi’s education system is headed in the right direction—despite mixed results and funding woes.

Enroll America, a national health care enrollment coalition, has tracked every county in the United States’ health care Mar-ketplace enrollment numbers using data from the U.S. De-

partment of Health and Human Services. Using the same data, The New York Times reported that the number of Mississippians without health insurance has grown over the past year. In all but six counties in the state, the number of un-insured people has increased. In Hinds County, 17 percent of Mississippians were uninsured in 2014—now that num-ber is 18 percent. In other parts of the state, low enrollment numbers in Affordable Care Act plans saw greater change. In Neshoba County, for example, the number of uninsured

residents jumped from 17 percent to 26 percent in the past year. Mississippi’s Republican leadership has opted to not expand Medicaid, and Medicaid enrollment has been on the decline since then, according to the state division’s report. In July, 737,854 Mississippians were enrolled in Medicaid; now, 730,354 Mississippians are enrolled. With more Mississippians rolling off insurance plans and the state not expanding Medicaid, many residents find themselves in what The New York Times calls the “Medicaid gap” since they can-not qualify for Affordable Care Act services due to their low in-comes. Medicaid expansion will likely be reconsidered in the 2016 Legislative session.

Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Enrollment Numbers Down in Mississippi by Arielle Dreher

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TALK | city

J ackson City Council members and citizens are growing impatient with the slow rate of progress and admin-istrative morass as the capital city

continues to collect funds for infrastructure improvements. Specifically, they’re asking why Jackson hasn’t started spending money from the 1-percent local option sales tax. To date, taxpayers have generated ap-proximately $21 million from the 1-percent tax that voters approved in early 2014. City records show that the first year of the tax added up to $15.1 million designat-ed to begin repairs on some 2,000 miles of roadway, 881 miles of water main and 1,000

miles of sewer pipe. The result of 2009 state legislation, the 1-percent tax is levied on certain retail sales within the city limits. A 10-member statewide commission oversees the collected funds; the Jackson City Council must ap-prove specific expenditures once the com-mission releases the money. In May, the sales-tax commission ap-proved spending from the first year of the tax, but so far, little heavy-duty work has started. “People are beating down the door telling us to spend the money,” said Ward 4 Councilman De’Keither Stamps, who serves as chairman of the Budget Committee. Mayor Tony Yarber, who sits on the commission and whose administration de-

veloped a Comprehensive Infrastructure Master Plan, told reporters recently that some “low-hanging fruit” issues, such as curb cuts for disability accessibility, have been completed. The first year of the master plan includes reconstruction projects for North State Street, Riverside Drive and J.R. Lynch Street, as well as $672,000 for repair work on five city bridges. None of those has begun. Recently, additional budget for repairs came in the form of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s acceptance of the City’s application for a TIGER grant for Jackson’s “Greening the Gateways” program. At an Oct. 28 press conference announcing the

$16.5 million award with Mississippi Trans-portation Commissioner Dick Hall, Yarber said the money would go toward improve-ments along North State Street, which is in year-one of the master plan. Additionally, a section of West County Line Road, where it intersects with North State near Tougaloo College, would also get upgraded. As a bonus, Hall threw in an addi-tional $3 million to help rebuild pothole-riddled Mill Street. Hall said he grew up in Fondren and wanted Mill, which runs from downtown to Fondren, to be restored to its heyday. The nearly $20 million extra, Yarber said, would free up cash for other projects in the sales-tax master plan that, eventually,

a program manager will supervise. “I think we’re about three to four weeks out from bringing that (recommendation) before the council,” Yarber told reporters.

The RFP Problem The hiring of a project manager could represent another set of hurdles before turn-ing dirt, however. In recent months, the Yarber admin-istration has come under fire from the city council for its handling of several RFP pro-cesses, including an approximately $13 mil-lion contract for hauling sludge away from the Savanna Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The city is required to remove the 305,000 wet tons of sludge by Jan. 1, 2018, or face heavy fines from environmental regulators, but the work is stalled amid legal fights be-tween the companies competing for the work along with state investigative reviews. The city council again voted against the controversial contract on Nov. 3. Before that vote, Yarber also faced criticism for his proposal to switch health-care plans for city employees and retirees to United HealthCare Services from BlueCross BlueShield, which administration officials say would save $8.6 million over three years. However, with the current policies end-ing on Dec. 31 and the changeover tak-ing three months, city council members

expressed frustration about being asked to vote on Oct. 20, past the deadline for a smooth transition. “I really want the administration to take heed that this is killing the city,” Ward 6 Councilman Tyrone Hendrix told officials representing Yarber, who was not present at the Oct. 20 meeting. Marshand Crisler, a deputy chief ad-ministrative officer and former Ward 6 councilman, said the Yarber administra-tion started the health-plan RFP in July and “put a lot of measures in place to make sure we get it right” although, admittedly, the process “could have been done faster, at the end of the day.” The City issued a request for propos-als for program-management services of the 1-percent sales tax projects in June, and council members say they haven’t received updates on the status of those proposals. Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote said the council’s recent frustration over other RFPs could come into play when Yarber presents his recommendation for a program manager for the 1-percent tax program. “There’s been little (information) given about what’s been going on with the program manager. My concern is that all these processes take a whole lot longer than they should to get the ball rolling,” Foote told the Jackson Free Press. In an interview with the JFP, Yarber said he has made department heads and chief administrative officers available for council members’ questions, but members often de-cline to take advantage of the opportunity. “At the end of the day, this whole idea about not knowing stuff and not getting stuff, that’s so disingenuous that it outright makes me mad,” he said after the biosolids vote. To help speed up the process, Coun-cilman Stamps said he would prefer that the City hire new personnel rather than award a potentially multimillion-dollar contract to a consulting firm. “With every problem, the solution ends up being people, supplies and equip-ment. Why don’t we hire the people, buy the supplies, and buy equipment? Every-body wants to contract everything out,” Stamps said. Discussion of new hiring often meets resistance from number crunchers because, in budget terms, employees will draw a yearly salary plus benefits over many years, possibly until they reach retirement age. “The argument is, well, the money is going to run out. Well, that’s 20 years from now,” Stamps said. “In the interim, let’s stand up an army.” Comment at www.jfp.ms. Email R.L. Nave at rlnave@jacksonfreepress.com

Slow-Moving RFPs and the 1-Percent Tax by R.L. Nave

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Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber (left) recently accepted $19.5 million from Mississippi Department of Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall (right) for infrastructure projects in Jackson, including those in the 1-percent sales tax master plan. Members of the Jackson City Council say constituents are already pressuring them to start spending the funds.

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The Next 12 Months Are Critical for Jackson

You Know the Routine

O ne election is behind us, but several others are on the horizon. In 2016, we vote for federal offi ces—including the president and members of

Congress—and state judiciary seats. Unless you’ve been living in a cave without a smartphone, you’re painfully aware of how the presidential campaign is already in swing. Then, some time next fall, we again gear up for municipal elections in the city of Jackson. Each of the City’s seven wards will draw a handful of hope-fuls, including incumbents, perennial standbys and fresh faces. These are important yet weary times. Often, elections are periods of rigorous and necessary debate on critical issues facing our soci-ety. But they can also have a paralyzing effect on government. We are hard-pressed to come up with a single substantive issue state leaders grappled with that didn’t also involve bumper stickers and cam-paign slogans. Running the day-to-day operations of govern-ment is hard enough; when candidates are jockeying for poll position, it becomes next to impossible. Thus, we hope that in these days following the Nov. 3 election, local offi cials will zero in on the is-sues that face us and make serious headway toward solving big problems. Although the City of Jackson faces enormous challenges, it also has a signifi cant opportunity if leaders just hunker down, slash the red tape, and get to work. Currently, the City has $35 million between collections from the 1-percent sales tax and

funds from state and federal transportation of-fi cials. We join members of the city council and citizens of Jackson in our growing impatience to see shovels in the ground. Mayor Tony Yarber’s administration, pre-sumably scarred by one of the biggest mistakes of the Siemens contract—the failure to have a proj-ect manager to look out for the city’s interest—says a program manager must be hired fi rst. Fair enough, but Yarber came into offi ce last April and fi nished the 1-percent master plan in February. To echo frustrated members of the city council, why did the request-for-proposals for pro-gram management services not go out until June? Given the experiences—and controversy—of what seems like every RFP Yarber brings to the council, it’s likely to spark a battle of wills and could muck up the works for many more weeks, if not longer. The next 12 months are critical. We call on elected leaders and policymakers to shut out the overlords of the campaign industrial complex—politicians, consultants, direct mail fi rms, Big Media—and put the next election out of your minds for the time being. Of course, leaders should engage in debate when necessary and ultimately vote their consciences. However, that debate should only be in service to the citizens, and not self-serving. In short, elected offi cials should focus on the important work that needs to get done and give people a reason to be excited about the next election.

R ev. Cletus: “This is your car-sales pastor broadcasting live from WGSR, Ghetto Science Radio, your friend at the end of the FM dial. I invited Earnest ‘Monday Night Football Head’ Walker, former third-string NFL player and owner of the beloved Pork-

N-Piggly Supermarket, to be my special pre-holiday guest. Earnest and I are good friends who do not allow our confl icting opinions to hinder our respect for each other. “I have noticed that my good friend has launched an anti-adver-tising campaign at Pork-N-Piggly Supermarket with the ‘You Know the Routine Holiday Sale.’ Earnest, do you really believe that the holidays are just a routine?” Earnest “Monday Night Football Head” Walker: “Pastor, yearly, weekly, monthly and daily, it is the same game with the same thing. I am not inclined to advertise and hype this holiday season because folks know the routine. As a food and goods supplier for the com-munity, the people know that around this time of the year, Pork-N-Piggly sells chitterlings, turkey, ham, Uncle Freddie’s Spiked Eggnog, Miss Ann’s Sugar-Free Fruit Cake and other items pertaining to the holiday season. “As a businessperson, I know this is my last opportunity to make a profi t for this year. I might sound a bit arrogant and sarcastic, but I, like my loyal customers who depend on my supermarket, know the routine. In the words of that great one-hit-wonder song, at Pork-N-Piggly Supermarkets, ‘This is how we do it.’” Rev. Cletus: “You just made us think, my brother. Happy holidays.”

Email letters and opinion to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019 or mail to 125 South Congress St., Suite 1324, Jackson, Mississippi 39201. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, as well as factchecked.

“Important”

Why it stinks: On Monday, Nov. 2, Delbert Hosemann told the Associ-ated Press that he predicted a light turnout in the Nov. 3 elections despite his role as the secretary of state. Hosemann said that because only a few of the top races are considered competitive, he worried voters would stay home on Tuesday. Hosemann could have used this interview to encourage all constitu-ents to show up to vote on Tuesday, rain or shine, instead of predicting a quiet turnout and, perhaps, tacitly encouraging people to stay home—and not vote for Initiative 42. The campaign against it, after all, was pushed from top levels of state government.

M EMPHIS—Tav Falco, enfant terrible of the 1980s, walked onto the stage at Lafayette’s Music Room here, dressed in

black, his hair a Nuevo-’50s coif, picked up his guitar and let loose. I listened from the balcony to an indictment of fascism and eth-nic arrogance: “These people don’t look like us—they don’t smell like us / We are the masters of their miserable fate / For mercy they get down on their knees to pray / But we’re supe-rior in every way—they’re insects baby—it’s doomsday baby” Falco was the Antonin Artaud of the Memphis punk and post-punk scene who, in his first performance in the late 1970s, took a chainsaw to his guitar and sliced it into pieces before passing out on stage. But no longer must he bear insults, such as when local TV host Marge Thrasher told him his band Panther Burns’ just-finished gonzo performance of Johnny Burnett’s “The Train Kept A Rollin’” “may be the worst sound I’ve heard come out on television.” Falco’s response to her in-sult was Tom Waits-precious: “Well, the best of the worst is what we’re after.” “The artist, he is never really on the inside,” the Ar-kansas native told me in one of two recent telephone in-terviews he gave me while on his just-ended cross-country tour, which included stops in Clarksdale and Memphis. “He can see what is hap-pening on the inside, but he moves around on the outside. … He’s never quite assimilated.” Falco today is an expatriate living in Vienna, Austria, a Memphis-like outpost on the Danube River where money and profits “are not the defining criteria” of the artist. Even when Falco was living in Mem-phis and performing with legends such as Jim Dickinson and Big Star leader Alex Chilton, he stood apart, a “torchbearer” of the city’s music at its post-Sun and post-Stax nadir, yet bringing to it what writer Robert Gordon called “country blues … with a punk aesthetic.” He named his band Panther Burns after the Mississippi Delta town, which got its name from a troublesome panther whose ungodly shrieks after being caught and burned alive are still supposed to haunt the nights there. The band played everything from rockabilly to tango. Along with his “Whistle Blower” tour, Falco has just released a new album, “Tav Falco: Command Performance,” and

a new book of his early black-and-white photographs, “An Iconography of Chance: 99 Photographs of the Evanescent South.” Some of these photographs also appeared in Falco’s 2011 book, “Ghosts Behind The Sun: Splendor, Enigma & Death,” a sur-real history of Memphis in which Falco, as alter-ego Eugene Baffle, travels through time alongside figures such as General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Machine Gun Kelly. A noted filmmaker and actor as well as musician, photographer, and author, Falco acknowledged his art has taken on a new edge, overtly socially conscious and acutely aware of injustices both here and abroad. “I’m all for art for art’s sake, but there comes a point where the artist, the rank-and-file artist citizen, can no longer remain silent, because silence is complicity,” he said. On his new album, the song “Whis-tle Blower” warns of a creeping fascism in American society, where figures like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning are hound-ed and punished for revealing the dark un-derbelly of the nation’s politics and policies.

Another song, “Doomsday Baby,” is a broadside against Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians. Falco said he’d like to return home someday, but things stand in the way. “Ar-kansas is so crazy, so benight-ed and so fascist, I find it dif-ficult to entertain that idea,” he said. “Arkansas used to be a marvelous place to live.” Yet, in some ways, he has never left. Along with its protest songs, “Tav Falco:

Command Performance” also includes paeans to Memphis and southern music: Memphis Minnie’s “Me and My Chauf-feur Blues,” Alex Chilton’s “Bangkok” and Charlie Feathers’ “Jungle Fever.” And his book of photographs, the first in a planned series of three, pays homage to an “evanes-cent South” that is always with him. “There is a landscape that draws people … a social fabric,” he said. He remembers his first trip from backwoods Arkansas to the big city of Memphis and hearing blues musicians such as the Memphis Jug Band, Napoleon Strickland, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Bukka White. “I was enthralled. … I saw how they mesmerized the audience and how the ladies and gentleman were throw-ing silver dollars at them,” he said. It’s not something an artist easily forgets. Joe Atkins is a veteran journalist, colum-nist and professor of journalism at the Univer-sity of Mississippi. Email him at jbatkins@olemiss.edu.

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Tav Falco’s Evanescent South

JOE ATKINS

Editor-in-Chief Donna LaddPublisher Todd Stauffer

EDITORIAL

News Editor R.L. NaveAssistant Editor Amber Helsel

Reporter Arielle DreherJFP Daily Editor Dustin Cardon

Music Editor Micah Smith Events Listings Editor Latasha Willis

Editorial Assistants Maya Miller, Adria Walker

Writers Bryan Flynn, Brian Gordon, Shameka Hamilton, Genevieve Legacy,

LaTonya Miller, Jordan Morrow, Greg Pigott, Julie Skipper,

Scott PratherConsulting Editor JoAnne Prichard Morris

ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Art Director Kristin BrenemenAdvertising Designer Zilpha YoungStaff Photographer Imani Khayyam

Contributing Photographer Tate K. Nations

ADVERTISING SALES

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BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS

Distribution Manager Richard Laswell Distribution Raymond Carmeans, Avery Cahee,

Clint Dear, Michael McDonald, Ruby ParksBookkeeper Melanie Collins

Assistant to the CEO Inga-Lill SjostromOperations Consultant David Joseph

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CONTACT US:

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Lauren Miltner calls herself a “jack of all trades, master of none.” Her Lo Lady Fashion studio, which is on the second floor of Fondren Corner, has wooden dis-plays that feature an array of her custom jewelry: necklaces with pendant designs such as silver tri-angles, geometric shapes and small feathers made

of mixed metals; ones with found objects such as lockets and charms and hand-done beading work; and pieces with gem-stones and minerals. A mid-century-modern room divider technically separates her display space from her workspace. She keeps most of her jewelry supplies in clear containers on either side of her studio, so she has inspiration all around. “Because I am a visual person, I get my inspiration by seeing certain things in front of me, and then I piece them together,” she said. “I try to keep half of it organized so people can come shop by appointment, but then the other side is kind of creative chaos.” To create her jewelry, she finds a focal piece and creates around it. For her vintage designs, the process starts in thrift stores. She’ll see an item and then have a vision of what she wants it to look like. The jewelry came out of her need to find pieces that match her style, which can be anything from ’50s to modern. “I couldn’t find (that style of jewelry) so I started mak-ing it,” she told the Jackson Free Press in an interview. “… I’m multifaceted in my tastes of fashion, so I started making things that I felt were eclectic like my style.” The business originally started with her mother, Patti Igoe, who, along with making pancake mixes for her business, MsPatticakes, is also an artist. They began making jewelry to-

gether almost two years ago, starting with what Miltner calls vintage-art pendants. They first took images, such as swal-lows, and Photoshopped them over backgrounds—vintage wallpaper or photos of things they liked—and sold them as prints. When Igoe discovered that those weren’t selling, they began transitioning to jewelry, at first trying things such as Photoshopping animal heads onto human bodies. “It didn’t get a whole lot of attention from either one of us (at first),” Miltner told the crowd at 1 Million Cups on Oct. 28. She was teaching improv and doing event design for Tulip Floral, and Igoe was traveling and training law firms across the country in information technology. “From there, I just started researching more and more jewelry tastes that I like because what I wear, I can’t find,” Miltner said. After seeing Miltner’s pieces, Igoe donated her chains, connectors and other jewelry-making supplies to her daugh-ter, and let her take the reins. “I could not make art fly,” Igoe said in an interview. “Art on pendants just wouldn’t fly. Then I started seeing Lauren’s designs, and I fell in love.” Miltner, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., studied mar-keting, journalism and psychology at Colorado Christian University and Davenport University in Grand Rapids. She moved to the Jackson area 11 years ago. She did visual mer-chandising for a department store and also taught at Drama Kids of Greater Jackson for three years. She began doing Lo Lady Fashion in 2013, but she decided work on the business full time in November 2014 when she was on bed rest after rotator-cuff surgery. She also helps run Tulip Floral and vol-unteers and sings at Fondren Church. While Lo Lady Fashion has had its ups and downs for Miltner, she says she is grateful that she doesn’t have to earn

her living in a typical office environment. “It’s just a really huge blessing that I’m not stuck at a desk somewhere, answering somebody else’s phone,” she said. “I pretty much do anything to avoid that like the plague, which can be stressful, but at the same time, it al-lows me the flexibility to get to really be involved in my son (Kayden’s) life and be the mom that gets to go to the fall festivals and field trips and that kind of stuff because I make my own schedule.” Along with her personally designed pieces, Miltner also does custom work. In the past, a grandmother asked her to create a piece for her granddaughter’s wedding day that included wallpaper from the bride’s nursery. Many other clients ask Miltner to make pieces based on mementos. In the past few years, she has collaborated with a num-ber of artists, such as Ginger Williams-Cook, with her vin-tage animal-human hybrid pieces, and Josh Hailey, and now she’s collaborating with Drew Landon of art, clothing and design company Chlorophyll Effect. Some of Landon’s cre-ations include floral-patterned flat-bill hats with geometric designs and space-themed bucket hats, so those aesthetics have crossed over to Miltner and Landon’s new set of jewelry pieces, which they will release this winter. Miltner and local artist Kelly Grantham are also work-ing together to make art pendants based on Grantham’s work. Miltner will show pieces at Priced to Move, which is Dec. 11 and 12 at the Russell C. Davis Planetarium (201 E. Pascagoula St., 601-960-1550). Lo Lady Fashion (2906 N. State St., 601-613-9334) is open by appointment only. For more information, find the busi-ness on Facebook or Instagram.

A JILL OF ALL TRADESby Amber Helsel

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STREET STYLEphotos and text by Imani Khayyam

If you don’t think the city of Jackson has style just like other big cities in the U.S., take a look around you. Many Jacksonians have great style, whether they’re at the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Museum After Hours, Fondren’s First Thursday or just walking around the city. A few

locals let the Jackson Free Press take photos of them, and they described their style in three words to us.

N o Shave November began in 2004 as a way to raise awareness for cancer—since many people with the disease often lose their hair— and men’s health issues. Keep in mind that

anyone can participate. For men who choose not to shave for the month of November, here are a few tips from locals to keep your beard healthy.

Liam Clements—I like the Simply Great Beard Oil brand. But keep it neat, and if you’re prone to acne, keep a good face wash handy. I’m not prone to acne, but it seems my skin will have acne that hurts when I have a beard.

Thomas Lambert—Shampoo and conditioner. And

don’t forget a beard comb as it grows fuller.

Joshua Tillman—1) Don’t shave Dec. 1. In fact, just don’t shave! 2) Use Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Wild Ginger

styling treatment oil. I’ve used every beard care product on the market but nothing works better than not shaving and Awapuhi oil! It can be found at any salon and is typically cheaper than most hipster-made beard oil that I’ve found. Do not use shampoo on your beard. A clean soap like Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap followed by a thorough oil treatment is all you need.

Ethan Grisham—Conditioner, but if you can find it, beard oil is great. Shampooing occasionally is fine, but if you have really oily skin, doing it on the regular will dry out your skin under the beard and the beard hair itself.

James Collette—Conditioner. 17

Best Place for a Facial; Best Overall Nail Salon: The Nail Bar (4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 20, 769-216-2152)

T he Nail Bar, which is the brainchild of co-owners Cathy Campbell and Melissa Harrison, recently celebrated its second year of operation on Oct. 8 of this year. Campbell and Harrison worked together at a nail

salon, and in 2013, they went into business for themselves. Though The Nail Bar has not been open for very long, it has already established itself as a prolific Jackson business. “We had a lady whose nails we did until she reached the age of 100,” Campbell says. “That was quite a milestone. She would come in and get her pedicure and, when she’d get through, she’d get up and do the pedicure dance. She was holding on to that walker, and she’d just dance. She was fabulous.” Campbell says that she and Harrison strive to make clients feel as if The Nail Bar is a place in which they can feel comfort-able and at home. “We genuinely just love each other,” Camp-bell says, “so it’s not like going to work each day. It’s more like going and being with friends.” The Nail Bar offers services such as manicures and pedicures, acrylic and gel nails, massage therapy and cosmetology. For more in-formation, find the business on Facebook.

—Adria WalkerBest Place for a FacialFinalists Aqua the Day Spa (1000 Highland Colony Pkwy., Suite 8001, Ridgeland, 601-898-9123) / Blackledge Face Cen-ter (1659 Lelia Drive, 601-981-3033) / Faces (1111 Highland Colony Pkwy., Suite G, Ridgeland, 601-607-3033)

Best Overall Nail SalonFinalists Cuticles Nail Studio (2947 Old Canton Road, 601-366-6999) / Fondren Nails (2906 N. State St., Suite B1, 601-362-6292) / Nail Envy (4612 Medgar Evers Blvd., 601-981-5113; 210 E. Capitol St., Suite M-114, 601-398-7186)

Best Nail Technician; Best Place for a Manicure; Best Place for a Pedicure: Victoria Walker, Cuticles Nail Studio (2947 Old Canton Road, 601-366-6999)

V ictoria Walker has been doing manicures, pedicures, shellac, acrylic and other nail services in the Fondren Village Shopping Center for more than 10 years. Walker, a 39-year-old Jackson resident, first

became interested in doing nails while an uncle who worked in the business in California visited her. She graduated from Warson Woods College of Cosmetology in 1997, and after taking a break from cosmetology, she began working at Nail Gallery. After 10 years, the salon decided to relocate, but the business closed shortly after that. Walker opened Cuticles Nail Studio in Nail Gal-lery’s former space in 2013. “It’s fun,” she says. “I meet someone new every

hour, and I get to be creative. It’s an honest job.” Cuticles offers manicures and pedicures, waxing services for brows and lips, and, Walker says, depending on the level of difficulty, she can create custom colors and simple designs for nails. While it may be pricier than some of the other local salons, Walker knows that the price is worth the service. With Cuticles, her clients grow stronger nails, which is why they keep coming back. “I really enjoy people,” she says. “I have a knack for the industry, and it’s constantly changing. It keeps me going.” Cuticles Nail Studio is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, find the business on Facebook.

—Dustin Cardon and Maya Miller

Best Nail TechnicianFinalists Cathy Campbell, The Nail Bar (4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 20, 769-216-2152) / Melissa Harrison, The Nail Bar (4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 20, 769-216-2152) / Youlanda Watkins, The Nail Bar (4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 20, 769-216-2152)

Best Place for a ManicureFinalists Fondren Nails (2906 N. State St., Suite B1, 601-362-6292) / The Nail Bar (4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 20, 769-216-2152) / Nail Envy (4612 Medgar Evers Blvd., 601-981-5113; 210 E. Capi-tol St., Suite M-114, 601-398-7186)

Best Place for a PedicureFinalists The Nail Bar (4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 20, 769-216-2152) / Nails Envy (4612 Medgar Evers Blvd., 601-981-5113; 210 E. Capitol St., Suite M-114, 601-398-7186) / The Skin District Esthetics & Massage (2629 Courthouse Circle, Suite B, Flowood, 601-981-7546)

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readers’ choice mini-ballot

bestofjackson.com

Best of Jackson: Nail and Skin Care

DON’T SHAVE

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Meredith and Ben Aldridge Deidra Bell Lauren Benner Crisler and Doug BooneSuzanne and Bill Boone Edna and John Bower Martha Love Mansell BradleyClaude BrunsonKelly and Thorne Butler Jean Butler Hope and Bill BynumAnn and Rick Calhoon Nancy and Roy Campbell Jessica and Ryan Cole Lynda Costas Magaret and Brett Cupples Inglish and Matt DeVossOuida and Wayne Drinkwater Susan and Frank Duke Honey EastLesly Murray and Steve EddsEvelyn EdwardsOleta FitzgeraldJane and Dean Gerber Nancy and Spencer Gilbert Tay and Guy Gillespie Susan Hart Oliva and Gerald Host Louisa Dixon and Jerry Johnson

Jennifer and Peder JohnsonMargaret Wodetzki and Richard

JohnsonElta and Jim Johnston Linda and Herky JordanStacey and Mitchell JordanHolly and Alan Lange Betsy Bradley and Robert LangfordMaetta and Ken Lefoldt Donna and Dale Marcum Amber May Frances and Cooper Morrison Wendy and Chuck Mullins Beth and Steven OrlanskyMary Lou Payne Anne and Alan PerryMary and Alex Purvis Carolyn and Chris Ray Robin and Norwood SmithJenn and Ed SivakKelly ScrivnerMary Ellen and Jeff StancillSally and Bill ThompsonMartha and Watts UeltscheyMargie and Chad VanMeterMalinda and Jim Warren Robin WalkerLaney and Jason WatkinsJay L. Wiener

Our Sponsors

Our Hosts

Sally Molpus

MISSISSIPPI CENTER FOR JUSTICE

Bill Geary

NORTHMINSTERBAPTIST CHURCH

Jackson State University

Anderson UnitedMethodist Church

If everybody cares, why are we 50th?

A Conversation About Community 2015Five bright young minds + Moderator Maggie Wade

Thursday, Nov. 12, 11:30 - 1 p.m. Jackson Convention Complex

Tickets $50 / www.operationshoestring.org / 601-353-6336 x27

FORWARD SAINTS

gosaints.org/admissions 601.853.6000

-Assata DeMyers, Merit Scholar, performing artist, Mandarin V, varsity basketball, student government

Apply for Merit Scholarships by December 5

FORWARD SAINTS

19TOWN

to 4th & Goal winner and Champion of the first ever JFP Wing Wars 2015!

In their honor, their charity, CARA, will receive a check

for over $1000 in prize money. Check out next week's JFP for

the check presentation!

SAVE THE DATES: NOV 13-14, 2015

FRIDAY NIGHT: History Channel UFO investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe will be honored with a Meet and Greet Reception at the Courtyard

SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Jerry Katz returns with his popular Actor’s

SATURDAY EVENING:

SATURDAY NIGHT:

PRESENTED BY JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY

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First Comes Loveby Déjà Harris

L akeisha Marie Stewart (then Lakeisha Marie Alexander) wanted a wedding that would be completely her own. She didn’t want to get married in front of hun-dreds of guests. Instead, she decided to make her

wedding as private as she wanted it to be. Stewart, 36, is a native of Jackson and the previous owner of Posh Boutique, which closed last year. She met her husband, Walter Stewart Jr., owner of Street Toyz Customs and Collision, on a blind date that a close friend set up. Wal-ter took one look at Stewart, swept her up into his arms and gave her a hug. That was only the first date, but Stewart says they’ve been in-separable ever since. With both of their spiritual family backgrounds, their family members always asked them the usual questions: “When are you two going to go ahead and get married?” and “What are you waiting on?” After five years of dating and having a set of twins in 2013, Wal-ter III and Wynter Dior, the couple decided it was time to make their family complete by getting mar-ried. Stewart also has a son, 19-year-old Kendravis Alexander. In July 2010, while vacationing in Los Angeles, the couple got matching tattoos, which Stewart says was a pre-wedding gesture for them to profess their com-mitment to one another. It wasn’t until a trip to their marriage counselor Valerie Jenkins’ office that Walter popped the question. It was a surprise, without the ac-tual surprise being included, and one to which Stewart happily agreed. “It was a blessing that we had our babies, and we wanted to go ahead and make our family complete,” she says. “It was a non-formal way of saying we wanted to make things official and get married.” On July 2, the day before her birthday, Stewart walked into the honeymoon suite at the Old Capitol Inn, only 15 minutes late, where she would soon marry the man she wanted to spend her life with. The suite was white with gold glitter and adornments on the tables and chairs. Tall, gold candelabra sat on top of the tables, holding all-white flowers with white crystals dangling from each one. Large, white drapes lined the walls and hung gracefully to the floor. With the scene set, Stewart’s eyes filled with tears as she thought about what would take place there in just a few short hours.

However, no wedding comes without a little pre-matrimonial chaos. “The violinist Tom Lowe’s car broke down on Lake-land Drive an hour before the wedding was set to start,” Stewart says. “Luckily, he made it there in time to play.”

While Lowe worked to make his way to the venue, Stewart’s team did not let her down. They ignored the temporary setback and quickly moved everything into place to help make her wedding day perfect. Her soon-to-be husband stood at the front of the room, in an all-white suit with a light pink necktie, awaiting the bride-to-be’s arrival down the aisle. As Stewart waited in the back room, her mother, Jacquelin Bolden-Smith, gave her what she calls “the three speech.” “She asked if I remembered the way she would style my hair when I was younger,” Stewart says. “Three braids inter-

twined together. One braid is me, the other is my hus-band, and that third braid is God. It all makes sense.” Stewart wore a backless halter dress with a beaded neckline and A-line waist, which flowed freely as she walked toward her the man who was about to become

her husband. She purchased the vin-tage dress from Ruby’s Alterations, and the shop altered it. Stewart opted out of the veil, instead handcrafting a headpiece out of lace and pearls that matched her dress. Stewart clutched her “something old” in the palm of her hand: a pearl necklace that her mother gave her. Her “something new” was a pair of diamond earrings, which matched the ring on her left hand, that her friend, Tracy Miller, gave her. With everything in place, Stew-art was ready to say “I do.” She stepped into the small room that seated all 12 of her guests of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and her wedding coordinators—no brides-maids and no groomsmen. Her fa-ther, Napoleon Alexander, walked her down the aisle, and she smiled as she saw the faces of her groom and children. “I knew all of the people in that

room loved me,” she says. “I knew I didn’t have to ques-tion that.” The couple stood in front of their guests and recited their traditional vows to one another. Soon after uttering their “I dos” they cut the cake and spent a few moments with their guests before heading out the door. Sticking to the privacy and intimate setting of their wedding, they had a small post-wedding meal in place of a reception. Stewart went home with her children, and Walter went off to handle some business at work. “It was different,” she says. “But that’s just us.”

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Lakeisha Marie Stewart (then Lakeisha Marie Alexander) married Walter Stewart Jr. in July 2015.

FOOD p 22

Floral Arrangements: Kelly Christian Floral Designs

Cake: Tayari Jones at Tayari Cake Studios (601-941-1367)

Makeup: LaDelrio Polk of

LaDelrio Studios (4436 N. State St., 601-566-3370)

Venue: Old Capitol Inn (226 N. State St., 601-460-4138)

Dress: Purchased at and altered by Ruby’s Alterations

(4147 Northview Drive, 601-713-1920)

Decor: Creations by Miss DP (P.O. Box 175, Tougaloo, 601-720-7214, creationsbymiss dp.com)

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Yoga & Wellness Center

www.joyflowyoga.com 601-613-4317

@JoyflowYogaWellness7048 Old Canton Rd, 2E-F

Ridgeland, MS

Do You Know What Drives & Motivates You?

Join Us Saturday November 7th @ 9am-1pm for a Special Enneagram

inner motivations & personality style. Lunch will be provided as well.

1 The Reformer 2 The Helper 3 The Achiever 4 The Individualist 5 The Investigator 6 The Loyalist 7 The Enthusiast 8 The Challenger 9 The Peacemaker

Early Bird Special $49.95 RSVP before 10/15/2015 - Call today!

as an Enneagram Specialist

Nominate Us

www.besto! ackson.comVoted Best Consignment Store Best of Jackson 2011-2015

242 Hwy 51, Ridgeland | 601.605.9393Facebook: Repeat Street Metro Jackson Twitter: @RepeatSt | www.repeatstreet.net

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W hile New Orleans may be nearly three hours away, it’s easy to find Cajun dishes reminiscent of the ones you’d find in the Crescent City at Drago’s Seafood Restaurant in Jackson.

When chief executive officer, manager and owner Tommy Cvitanovich, 56, was just 4 years old, his family uprooted from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and moved to New Orleans, where he cut his teeth in the restau-rant business at an early age. His family is of Croatian descent, and the close-knit community in New Orleans created relationships that still last today, as Cvitanovich himself still buys oysters from a large number of Croatian fisherman. His uncle, Drago Batinich, and his aunt, Gloria, owned the original Drago’s on Harrison Avenue in New Orleans. After it closed in the mid-1960s, Cvitanovich’s father, also named Drago, and his mother, Klara, opened up their own restaurant in Metairie, La., in 1969. Since then, Cvitanovich has worked every position from bartender to busboy, ultimately becoming owner, manager and CEO. “I remember the very first day I came to the res-taurant,” he says. “My dad put an apron on me, flipped a milk crate over, and I was standing there trying to peel shrimp. That was my very first job I worked in this restaurant, and since then, I’ve worked every single job.” The idea for expansion first came a decade ago after Hurricane Katrina, when a hotel approached Cvitanovich about bringing in a few of Drago’s dishes. Unfortunately, there were differences in the way it would be represented, and those plans fell through. Cvitanovich then struck a deal

with Hilton Hotel in downtown New Orleans; downtown Drago’s is the highest grossing restaurant in the Hilton chain. In 2014, Cvitanovich’s friend through the Louisiana Restaurant As-

sociation, Blake Brennan, came to him with an idea for a Jackson location. The Hilton on County Line Road was looking to revamp the old Huntington’s Grille restaurant, and Brennan felt like a seafood res-taurant would be the perfect fit. In December 2014, Cvitanovich opened Drago’s in Jackson. Since then, he has balanced life between the kitchen and the road,

traveling between Metairie and New Orleans locations often, while traveling to Jackson at least once a week. Tradition is important to Cvitanovich, and every Drago’s location features the same items on every menu, with varying wine listings due to Mississippi’s alcohol laws. Cvitanovich has complete reign over the food, as he doesn’t have executive chefs, but rather trained culinary chefs. He has a team of close friends that he brings in for ideas and advice, but says classics like Drago’s famous charbroiled oysters are there to stay. To keep things fresh and interesting, the Jackson loca-tion has a charbroiler in the dining room, where guests can watch chefs shuck and cook their oysters. Cvitanovich says he’s one of the few restaurateurs that has direct contact with fishermen, and for that, all of the seafood served at Drago’s is fresh, with trucks coming into Jackson nearly daily. Though oysters are the most popular item on the menu, Drago’s has other options such as seafood gumbo or a chicken and An-douille gumbo, oyster chowder or eggplant Romano, which has eggplant and cheese. For the winter season, he plans to introduce a barbecue shrimp pot pie to the menu. Though running a business of more than 450 employ-ees and spending time on the road can be a strain, Cvi-tanovich says he makes sure to spend time with his family. He has four children, Maddie, Josh, Carson and Callie, with his wife of 20 years, LeAnn. He says that he treats every one of his employees like family, and with a restaurant business steeped in New Or-leans culture and his family heritage, he attributes his suc-cess to his passion and vision for a high quality restaurant. “I love meeting people, I love talking to people, and I enjoy that aspect of it,” he says. “I love what I do. I’m just very, very lucky to be able to do some of things that we do. It’s just a neat job to have.” Drago’s Seafood Restaurant at the Hilton Jackson (1005 E. County Line Road) is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, visit dragosrestaurant.com or call 601-957-1515.

Community Coffee South Louisiana-based coffee chain CC’s Community Coffee House ar-rived in Mississippi about six weeks ago. Bobby Gill and Kirk Ladner of the law firm Gill, Ladner and Priest LLC wanted something new in the space un-derneath their office at 344 Highway 51 in Ridgeland, which previously housed a car-tag and tax-collection office. The two felt that a coffee shop would be perfect, and that CC’s would be the best shop to bring in. Their shop, which is the only CC’s in Mississippi and one of only two loca-tions outside Louisiana—the other be-

ing located on the University of Arizona campus—held its grand opening Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The Saurage family started the company in New Orleans 20 years ago, spinning off of Community Coffee from Baton Rouge, La., and has since opened numerous locations across Louisiana. Before opening CC’s in 1995, the Saurage family had been brewing coffee for the New Orleans area for 75 years, selling their products to local grocery stores and community cafes in the city. The family still roasts their own coffee beans to provide to all of their locations to this day. CC’s of Ridgeland offers a wide va-riety of coffee- and espresso-based drinks, including a signature drink called the

Mochasippi, a drink made with espresso that comes in flavors such as turtle, creme brulee, fudge mocha, and seasonal offer-ings such as pumpkin spice and frosted gingerbread peppermint bark. The Mo-chasippi is available either hot or frozen. CC’s Coffee House is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sat-urday from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sun-day from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The shop offers drive-through service and breakfast all day. For more informa-tion, call 601-707-3685. Send food & drink and other business tips to dustin@jacksonfreepress.com. For more food coverage, visit jfp.ms/food.

A Family Traditionby Maya Miller, photos by Imani Khayyam

Food Newsby Dustin Cardon, dustin@jacksonfreepress.com

LIFE&STYLE | food&drink

Blake Brennan (pictured), Drago’s Seafood Restaurant director of operations, came to owner Tommy Cvitanovich with the idea to open a Drago’s location in the old Huntington’s Grille space in Jackson.

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SECC’s Community Coffee House came to Jackson six weeks ago.

Lobster Marco

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Best Fried ChickenBest Place for Breakfast

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est of Jackson voting is divided into two stages—a nominations ballot and a final ballot! We must receive your nominations ballot postmarked by Nov. 19, 2015, or submit it online by midnight on Nov. 22, 2015. If you opt for the paper ballot, you must tear it from your copy of the Jackson Free

Press (no photocopies allowed). We will announce the finalists on Dec. 2, 2015, and then you can vote on the final ballot until midnight on Dec. 20, 2015. Remember that Best of Jackson honors our locally owned businesses and personalities who live and work in the Jackson metro currently. Please vote only for the best local, authentic choices (see jfp.ms/bojlocal/ for more info on the rules and who is qualified) and “new” means it opened or started Dec. 1, 2014, or later.

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You can also go to bestofjackson.com

to vote online.

N O M I N A T I O N B A L L O T

1 4 T H A N N U A L

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WEDNESDAY 11/4 Mistletoe Marketplace Preview Gala: A Carnival Ball is from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.) in the Mistletoe Special Events Pavilion. In-cludes food from Fresh Cut Catering and Floral, live and si-lent auctions, music from The Krackerjacks and a preview of products for sale at Mistletoe Marketplace. Black tie op-tional. $100 (includes admission to Mistletoe Marketplace Nov. 5-7); call 601-948-2357; mistletoemarketplace.com.

THURSDAY 11/5 Fondren’s First Thursday is from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. in Fondren. Studio Chane hosts the mostly monthly neigh-borhood event formerly known as Fondren After 5. Includes shopping, food vendors, live music, open houses, a pet adoption drive and more. Free; call 601-720-2426; fft.city. … The TAPS Fashion and Full Frames Model Showcase is at 7 p.m. at Russell C. Davis Planetarium (201 E. Pasca-goula St.). Doors open at 6 p.m., the Curves & Cocktails

VIP Lounge is from 6-7 p.m., and the show is at 7 p.m. A trunk show follows. Includes music from Kerry Thomas. A portion of the proceeds benefits Friends of Fallen Riders. $15 in advance, VIP: $25 in advance; call 601-960-1550; email hathor601@aol.com; eventbrite.com.

FRIDAY 11/6 Jackson Live is from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Jackson Con-vention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.). Includes an arts and entertainment competition for cash prizes, vendors, cooking demonstrations, live music and the comedy DVD release of “Rita B. Is The New Black.” $15 in advance, $20 day of event; call 960-2321; jxnlive.com. … “Shrek the Mu-sical” is 7:30 p.m. at the Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive) in Blackbox Theatre. The musical is based on the popular Dreamworks animation se-ries about an ogre’s relationship with a princess. Doors open 30 minutes prior. Additional dates: Nov. 7, 2 p.m., Nov. 11-13, 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 14, 2 p.m. $10, $5 seniors and students, free for Belhaven students, employees and their immediate family; call 601-965-7026; belhaven.edu.

SATURDAY 11/7 Flo Rida is at 7:30 p.m. at South Street Live (110 E. South St.). The hip-hop artist performs on the “G.D.F.R. World Tour.” Other acts include Natalie La Rose and Gorilla Zoe. $35, $65 VIP, $100 all-access pass; call 601-955-5285 or 601-291-3553; email mathislaw@imgstrongarm.com; soufside.com. … The Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music Concert is at 7:30 p.m. at St. James Episcopal Church (3921 Oakridge Drive). Heinavanker returns with a program of medieval chants and runic songs, mixed with some contemporary music in a similar style. $25; call 601-594-5584; email info@ancientmusic.org; ancientmusic.org.

SUNDAY 11/8 “A Time to Kill” is at 2 p.m. at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play about racial tensions in a small Southern town is based on John Grisham’s popular novel. Additional dates: Nov. 4-7, 7:30 p.m. $28, $22 seniors and students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222; newstagetheatre.com.

MONDAY 11/9 The Jackson Touchdown Club Meeting is at noon at River Hills Club (3600 Ridgewood Road). Club members with an interest in football meet on most Mondays through Nov. 30. The speaker is Ole Miss head football coach Hugh Freeze. Call for information on membership dues. $30 non-members; call 601-506-3186; jacksontouchdownclub.com.

TUESDAY 11/10 Galactic performs at 7:30 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). The New Orleans funk band’s latest album is entitled, “Into the Deep.” Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band also performs. $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $3 surcharge for patrons under 21; call 601-292-7121; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

WEDNESDAY 11/11 The Roberta Kaplan Lecture and Book Signing is from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Millsaps College Ford Aca-demic Complex (1701 N. State St.) in the recital hall. Litigator Roberta Kaplan is the author of “Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA.” Free lecture, $27.95 book; call 601-366-7619; millsaps.edu or lemuriabooks.com.

FRIDAY 11/6Shalanda Stanley signs copies of “Drowning Is Inevitable” at Lemuria Books.

THURSDAY 11/5The Mississippi Fine Arts Trio performs at the Millsaps College Ford Academic Complex.

SATURDAY 11/7Metro Jackson Heart Walk is at the Mississippi State Capitol.

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Hip-hop artist Flo Rida performs on his “G.D.F.R.” world tour on Saturday, Nov. 7, at South Street Live.

BY MICAH SMITH

EVENTS@JACKSONFREEPRESS.COM

FAX: 601-510-9019DAILY UPDATES AT

JFPEVENTS.COM

Same-sex marriage litigator Roberta Kaplan gives a lecture and signs copies of her new book, “Then Comes Marriage,” Wednesday, Nov. 11, at the Millsaps College Ford Academic Complex.

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MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM of ART

These exhibitions present nearly 150 works by beloved artist Marie Hull (1890-1980) – the most ever assembled – drawn from the Museum’s unsurpassed collection of Hull’s work as well as those found at Delta State University, the

Ogden Museum of Southern Art, The University of Mississippi Museum, and many private collections.

A M Y R A H A M I LT O N G R E E N A N D LY N N G R E E N R O O T M E M O R I A L E X H I B I T I O N

ON THE ROAD with MARIE HULL

AND

Bright Fields: The Mastery of Marie Hull is sponsored by

On the Road with Marie Hull is sponsored by Dea Dea and Dolph Baker.

MEREDITH & JIMMY CREEKMORE

BETSY & WADE CREEKMORE

Traveler. Trailblazer. Teacher. Mississippi Master.

The Mississippi Museum of Art and its programs are sponsored in part by the city of Jackson and the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau. Support is also provided in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N V I S I T MSMUSEUMART.ORG

ON VIEW THROUGH JANUARY 10, 2016

Marie Hull (1890-1980), Cuenca, Spain, circa 1930. watercolor and graphite on paper. Collection of Mississippi Museum of Art. 1981.294.

CELEBRATING THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARTIST’S BIRTH

380 SOUTH LAMAR STREET JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 39201 601.960.1515 1.866.VIEWART @MSMUSEUMART

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Events at Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.)

-ebration Nov. 4, 8:30 a.m. Includes GRACISM Summit at 8:30 a.m., a choir concert at 11 a.m. and fundraising luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Speakers include Dr. Ronnie Floyd and Dr. Jerry Young. $55 summit only, $65 luncheon only, $100 both; call 601-353-6477; missionmississippi.org.

Nov. 6, 4-8 p.m. Includes an arts and entertainment competition for cash prizes, vendors, cooking demonstrations, live music and the comedy DVD release of “Rita B. Is The New Black.” $15 in advance, $20 day of event; call 601-960-2321; jxnlive.com.

Nov. 4, noon, at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). Marty Wiseman, former director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development at Mississippi State University, discusses Mississippi politics. Free; call 576-6998; mdah.state.ms.us.

Nov. 5, 1-4 p.m., at Man-ship House Museum (420 E. Fortification St.). Jeff Klingfuss, H. Grady Howell Jr. and Cheryl Munyer Waldrep discuss the history of Thanks-giving in the 19th century through lectures and demonstrations. Reservations required. Free; call 601-961-4724; email info@manshiphouse.com.

Nov. 6, 7:30-11 p.m., at Mis-sissippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.). In the Mistletoe Special Events Pavilion. Includes food from Fresh Cut Catering, a full-service bar and 1980s music from U.S. The event is in conjunc-tion with Mistletoe Marketplace. $45; call 601-948-2357; mistletoemarketplace.com.

Nov. 7, 10 a.m., at Wild Birds Unlimited (Lefleur’s Gallery, 4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 19B). The speaker is Chester Martin, artist, naturalist and certified wildlife biologist. Includes refreshments from Chef Tom Ramsey. Free; call 601-366-9973.

Gala Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m., at Old Capitol Inn (226 N. State St.). Includes refreshments, a silent auc-tion, a 50/50 split pot raffle and live entertain-ment. Proceeds go toward renovations. $60, $100 couples; call 601-969-3125; email tavalon@cathe-dralsaintpeter.org; cathedralsaintpeter.org.

-ative Economy Nov. 10, 7 p.m., at Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.). Speakers include Nell Linton Knox and Ellen Rodgers Johnson, publishers of “Studio Jackson,” Malcolm White of the Mississippi Development Authority, and artists Tony Davenport, Jerrod Par-tridge and Elizabeth Robinson. $10, $5 students; call 601-974-1130; millsaps.edu/conted.

(380 S. Lamar St.)

Nov. 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Museum School teaching artist daniel johnson introduces students ages 11-14 to artist manifestos from his-tory. Includes creating artwork and writing artist statements. Registration required. Supplies includ-ed. $85; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

5-7 Nov. 8, 2-4 p.m. Museum School teacher Les-ley Collins guides families in conversations around works from the permanent collection and related studio projects in the classroom. $30 for one child and parents, $15 each additional child; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

Nov. 4-6, 6 a.m., Nov. 7-8, 7:30 a.m., at Country Club of Jackson (345 St. Andrews Drive). The golf tourna-ment is part of the FedEx Cup and is a fundraiser for Birdies for Charity. $15-$50; call 956-1411; sandersonfarmschampionship.com.

Nov. 7, 8 a.m., at Mississippi Coliseum (1207 Mississippi St.). The annual 5K run/walk is held in conjunction with the Junior League of Jackson’s Mistletoe Marketplace. Include a one-mile fun walk. $25 through Oct. 31, $30 Nov. 1-5, $35 after, $15 fun walk; call 353-0603; racesonline.com.

Nov. 9, noon, at River Hills Club (3600 Ridgewood Road). Club members with an interest in football meet on most Mondays through Nov. 30. The speaker is Ole Miss head football coach Hugh Freeze. $30 non-members; call 601-506-3186; jacksontouchdownclub.com.

Nov. 4-7, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 8, 2 p.m., at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play about racial tensions in a small Southern town is based on John Grisham’s popular novel. $28, $22 seniors and students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222; newstagetheatre.com.

Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 7, 2 p.m., Nov. 11-13, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 14, 2 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riv-erside Drive). In Blackbox Theatre. The musical is based on the popular Dreamworks animation series about an ogre’s relationship with a princess. $10, $5 seniors and students, free for Belhaven students, employees and their immediate family members; call 601-965-7026; belhaven.edu.

Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 7, 2 p.m., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 13-14, 7:30 p.m., at Belhaven University, Bitsy Irby Visual Arts and Dance Center (1500 Peachtree St.). In the Studio Theatre. Faculty and guest artists showcase cho-reography. $10, $5 seniors and students, free for Belhaven students, employees and immediate fam-ily; call 601-965-1400; belhaven.edu.

Mondays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. through Nov. 20, at Russell C. Davis Planetarium (201 E. Pascagoula St.). The film is about the planets of the Solar System, giant telescopes and other aspects of astronomy. $6.50; $5.50 seniors; $4 children (cash or check); call 601-960-1550; thedavisplanetarium.com.

Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m., at Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.). In the recital hall. Includes Marta Szlubowska on violin, Alejandro Encinas on viola and Taylis Fernandez on cello. Pianist Dr. Lynn Raley and violinist Julia Kirk accompany them. Free; call 601-974-1422.

(622 Duling Ave.)

Nov. 5, 8 p.m. The singer-songwriter and frontman for the band Cinderella performs. Doors open at 6 p.m. $30 general admission, $105 concert plus meet and greet (limited tickets), $3 surcharge for patrons under 21; call 601-292-7121; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

Nov. 6, 9 p.m. The Brooklyn-based indie pop trio performs. Della Memoria and And The Echo also perform. $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 292-7121; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m. The New Orleans funk band’s latest album is entitled, “Into the Deep.” Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band also performs. $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 601-292-7121; email arden@ardenland.net; ardenland.net.

Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., at South Street Live (110 E. South St.). The hip-hop artist performs with Natalie La Rose and Gorilla Zoe. $35, $65 VIP, $100 all-access pass; call 601-955-5285; email mathislaw@imgstrongarm.com.

-cert Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., at St. James Episcopal Church (3921 Oakridge Drive). Heinavanker returns with a program of medieval chants and runic songs, mixed with some contemporary music in a similar style. $25; call 601-594-5584; email info@ancientmusic.org; ancientmusic.org.

Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive). In the recital room. The Belhaven Composers’ Forum hosts the showcase of new works from Belhaven student composers. Free; call 601-974-6494; belhaven.edu.

(Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202)

Nov. 4, 5 p.m. Ash-ton Lee signs. $15 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 5, 5 p.m. Joe Ingle signs books. $22.95 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 6, 5 p.m. Marie Marquardt signs books. $18.95 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 6, 5 p.m. Shalanda Stanley signs books. $17.99 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 9, 5 p.m. Leigh Anne Tuohy, the inspiration for “The Blind Side,” signs books. $19.99 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 9, 5 p.m. Sara Foster signs books. $30 book; call 366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 10, 5 p.m. Illustrator and MPB radio host Marshall Ramsey signs books. $24.95 book; call 366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 10, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Iron Horse Grill (320 W. Pearl St.). The author signs copies of his book, “The Beginning of Forever.” $22.95 book; call 398-0151; pre-order books for $17.95 at anderecco.wix.com/anderecco.

Nov. 11, 5-9 p.m., at Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.). In the recital hall. Roberta Kaplan is the author of “Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA.” Free lecture, $27.95 book; call 601-366-7619; millsaps.edu or lemuriabooks.com.

Nov. 7-8, at Missis-sippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Jerrod Partridge instructs the class. Registration required. $165, $140.25 members; call 960-1515; email djohnson@msmuseumart.org.

(950 Rice Road, Ridgeland)

Nov. 10, 6-8:30 p.m. Lyle Wynn is the instructor. Learn the basics of black-smithing and create a project to take home. Reg-istration required. $35; call 601-856-7546; email education@mscrafts.org; craftsmensguildofms.org.

Nov. 10, 6-8:30 p.m. Learn to make a trivet or a set of coasters. Registration required. $35; call 601-856-7546; email education@mscrafts.org; craftsmensguildofms.org.

Nov. 7, 9 a.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). The theme is “Walkin’ off the Blues with NAMI Missis-sippi.” Check-in is at 8 a.m. The 5K run/walk is a fundraiser for NAMI Mississippi, a branch of the National Alliance of Mental Illness. Fundraising encouraged, donations welcome; call 899-9058; email walkmanager@namims.org; namiwalks.org.

Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings, or to add your own events online. You can also email event details to events@jacksonfreepress.com to be added to the calendar. The deadline is noon the Wednesday prior to the week of publication.

(1200 Mississippi St.)

-nival Ball Nov. 4, 7-11 p.m. In the Mistletoe Special Events Pavilion. Includes food from Fresh Cut Catering and Floral, live and silent auctions, music from The Krackerjacks and a preview of products for sale at Mistletoe Marketplace. Black tie optional. $100 (includes admission to Mistletoe Marketplace Nov. 5-7); call 601-948-2357; mistletoemarketplace.com.

Nov. 5-6, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Nov. 7, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. More than 100 vendors sell their wares at the 35th annual holi-day shopping event. Proceeds benefit the Junior League of Jackson. Visit the website for a list of signature events and special guests. No strollers

or rolling carts allowed. $10 online; $12 at the door; $5 seniors ages 60 and over, and children ages 6-12, children under 6 free; call 601-948-2357; mistletoemarketplace.com.

Nov. 5, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. in Fondren. Studio Chane hosts the neighborhood event formerly known as Fon-dren After 5. Includes shopping, food vendors, music, open houses, a pet adoption drive and more. Free; call 601-720-2426; fft.city.

Nov. 7, 8-11 a.m., at Walter Payton Recreation and Wellness Center (32 Walter Payton Drive). Events begin at 8 a.m. and the walk begins at 9:15 a.m. Includes a three-mile walk and a one-mile sur-vivor route. Fundraising encouraged; call 601-321-1208; metrojacksonheartwalk.org.

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O n the morning of Oct. 1, 1962, James Meredith walked to the regis-trar’s office at the University of Mis-sissippi with armed military police-

men and federal marshals flanking him on all sides. While this trek was much shorter than the 220-mile March Against Fear he undertook four years later, it was no less im-portant. By 9 a.m., Meredith became UM’s first African American student, and a cub reporter and part-time university employee named Edwin Meek was there, photograph-ing him every step of the way. Meek has served his alma mater in various capacities over the years, including as the associate professor of journalism and the assistant vice chancellor of public rela-tions and marketing, but no event affected him in the same way as being behind the lens in 1962. On Sept. 30, he released 120 pho-tos from the weeks surrounding Meredith’s historic first day of school in the form of his book, “Riot: Witness to Anger and Change” (Yoknapatawpha Press, 2015, $35.95). “I’m 75. I was 22 or so then, and it was a very troubling time for me, in that I came up in the Mississippi Delta,” he says. “I came to Ole Miss with the prejudices all of us had,

and that just changed my heart and my soul to this day. I’ve become very active in equal-ity and rights issues, but back at that time, I didn’t realize how important this was.” Unfortunately, as a professor, Meek saw

that many students weren’t aware of what happened in 1962, when white mobs tore Oxford, Miss., apart in response to rulings from the U.S. District Court for the South-ern District of Mississippi, the 5th U.S. Cir-cuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court that UM couldn’t deny Meredith ad-mission due to his race. It took 30,000 U.S. Army troops to keep the peace. Yet, most of Meek’s students were un-able to identify Meredith. “I was surprised how quickly important history passes from generation to generation and is lost,” he says. “[T]his book is providing insight to an ac-tivity that was very important in the history of our country and the Civil Rights Move-ment, and it really tickles me to see people understand how serious this was, how dumb this was and how critical this was.” Even after the teargas canisters and burned husks of cars were cleared, change came slowly to the campus, to the point that Oxford became “the bell cow of the South,” Meek says. Through reporting on the riots, he became acquainted with several now-fa-mous faces in news, including Dan Rather, who covered the 1962 riots in his first-ever national newscast. So later, when national news sources wanted to know the tempera-ture of the South, they called UM. “Riot” contains many rare images from Meek’s collection, juxtaposing normal go-ings-on, such as the crowning of the school

beauty queen, with the aggressive on-cam-pus rallies to shocking results. In one picture, for example, cheering co-eds hoist a student dressed in a full Confederate uniform, flash-ing a wide grin at the camera. At the same time, some inspirational photos are to be found, including the only in-class photos of Meredith, which Meek took despite Presi-dent John F. Kennedy warning press against “disrupting the academic process.” Meek admits that, in his youth, he was on the wrong side. He “bought the line of states rights from Governor Ross Barnett,” he says, and for a long time, he felt ashamed and alone in that. But in the process of put-ting “Riot” together, Meek worked closely with colleagues Curtis Wilkie and Gov. Wil-liam Winter, who provide most of the book’s text. At a recent panel where they spoke at UM’s Overby Center, Winter told the audi-ence something that lightened that weight Meek had shouldered for years. “He said, ‘All my friends drank the Kool-Aid. They were misled like Hitler mis-led the German public,’” Meek says. “That was a moment of freedom for me because I’d been so embarrassed. I thought maybe I was the only one that was so dumb and didn’t realize. … But there were a lot of us.” Edwin E. Meek’s “Riot: Witness to Anger and Change” is available at Lemuria Books (4465 Interstate 55 N., 601-366-7619). For more information, visit lemuriabooks.com.

DIVERSIONS | books

Photographer Ed Meek’s book, “Riot: Witness to Anger and Change,” looks back on the events surrounding University of Mississippi’s admission of James Meredith (pictured).

EDW

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F or many people, composers like Bach, Beethoven, Mo-zart and Chopin have become so synonymous with classical music that they don’t even require a first name. But while these legendary figures are all long gone, An-

drew Sauerwein, the associate professor of music at Belhaven University, is grooming the next generation of composers not to take those icons’ places, but to find their own. Sauerwein says people often think of classical music as something in history, not realizing that there are thousands of working composers today. That misinformation also brings unreasonable comparisons between modern composers and his-tory’s most celebrated names. Sauerwein argues that, no, the students aren’t yet at that level, but why should they be? “It’s not really fair to compare these students to the great composers of the past—the one or two people in a given generation out of hundreds or more that we remember for being the cream of the crop,” he says. “Here, our students are learning the craft. They have interesting things to say, and it’s often intriguing to see what they come up with, but some of them are still youthful in their specialties.” When students learn to drop the pretense of becoming the next musical luminary, he says, that’s the moment where things really get exciting. A native of Portland, Ore., Sauerwein received a bache-lor’s degree in composition from the University of Oregon in 1992 and earned a master’s degree in composition from the university in 1995. He graduated with a doctorate in com-position from Duke University in 2001 and taught there

part-time before taking a teaching position at the North-western College of Iowa in 2003. He moved to Jackson to teach music theory and help launch Belhaven’s composition program in 2005. One of Sauerwein’s first additions to the curriculum was the Composers’ Forum, a community designed to challenge and encourage collaboration between Belhaven’s compos-ers and performers with semester-long projects, such as the

current percussion-ensemble pieces, and presentations of works-in-progress. These elements culminate in the now-annual Student Composers Concert series, which will see its 15th iteration on Tues-day, Nov. 10. Sauerwein says the event is meant to foster experimentation, so listeners who come expecting easy enter-tainment might be a little disappointed. “The music often invites you to think about it and consider things,” he says.

“It’s an adventure. Part of it is that there’s always something new, so if you come with that kind of explorer’s mindset—‘Here’s a bunch of new territory to discover and new ideas to think about’—it opens doors to new ways of hearing music and perhaps new kinds of music.” The concert features pieces from four composers: seniors Trailand Eltzroth, Wil Murphy and Rachael McCartney and sophomore Tripp Stewart. Eltzroth is a guitarist-turned-composer who enjoys playing with different musical patterns to create rich, textured compositions. Murphy takes a some-what satirical look at classical styles, inserting funny or absurd changes to create a playful atmosphere. The more reserved personality of pianist McCartney contrasts with her complex

and energetic arrangements. Stewart is a relative newcomer to composition and often adapts elements of popular and alter-native-rock music into his pieces, though Sauerwein says the guitarist could go anywhere this early in his development “I think one thing that’s become evident is that when one gives individuals the right kind of support and guidance, their own particular ideas come to the fore,” he says. “Every student composer has something new and different and interesting to express, and no two of them are really alike.” Belhaven Student Composer Concert XV is at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive, 601-968-5930). The event is free. For more information, visit belhaven.edu.

music

Remembering ‘Riot’by Micah Smith

(Left to right) Trailand Eltzroth, Ellen Wise, Rachael McCartney, Libby Roberts and Wil Murphy presented works at Belhaven University’s Student Composer Concert last year, and many return for this year’s installment on Nov. 10.

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The New Class of Classicsby Micah Smith

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A bout a quarter of the college football season is left, and most teams are down to their final few games as this week’s

prepare to kickoff. Near the end of this month, the finalists for the Conerly Trophy will be announced. Each of the four-year colleges and universities in the state will select one player, and then me-dia representatives will help select the winner. After voting, the winner will be revealed around late Novem-ber or early December. This means that the players have few chances left to impress voters. Here are the play-ers I will be watching as the season comes down the stretch. My current leader is Nick Mul-lens, the University of Southern Mis-sissippi quarterback and one of the biggest reasons for USM’s return to winning. And his stats for this sea-son aren’t bad either. He has thrown for 2,890 yards with 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Mullens has spread the ball around with five receivers recording more than 200 yards total receiving so far this season. He is also completing 64.1 percent of his passes and averaging 321 passing yards per game. Close behind Mullens is La-quon Treadwell, University of Mis-sissippi wide receiver. The Rebels have plenty of stars, but Treadwell is the heart and soul of the team, and as he goes, so goes UM. This season, Treadwell has 870 receiving yards on 61 catches with six touchdowns. He is also two for two in passing this season for 89 yards and a touch-down. In my mind, not many other players mean more to their team than Treadwell. His recovery after last year’s broken leg has been noth-ing short of remarkable, as well. Returning Conerly winner Mis-sissippi State University quarterback Dak Prescott sits closely behind my top two choices. He currently leads the Bulldogs in passing and rushing,

and will likely end the season that way. Prescott has completed 66.5 percent of his passes while throwing for 2,048 yards with 14 touchdown passes and just one interception. He has also rushed 371 yards on 72 car-ries with seven touchdowns.

The final player on my list has dealt with a lot of off-the-field dis-tractions not of his making this sea-son. LaMontiez Ivy, Jackson State University quarterback, has played well, even after Head Coach Harold Jackson was fired during the team’s bye week this season. Ivy has thrown for 2,187 yards with 15 touchdowns and eight in-terceptions while completing 62.4 percent of his passes. He has added another 178 rushing yards, making him second on the team, with two touchdowns. Ivy won’t be able to lead his team to the SWAC Cham-

pionship Game because the Tigers are at 3-3 in conference play, but he has played a big part in helping JSU get off the mat after starting the sea-son 1-5. The team recently won two straight games and is at 3-5. In my mind, these are the top

four players currently in the state. That doesn’t mean that Mississippi’s schools will nominate those play-ers as their Conerly finalists. It also doesn’t mean these four players will win the award. Alcorn State Univer-sity, Mississippi Valley State Univer-sity, Delta State University, Millsaps College, Belhaven University and Mississippi College will all nominate players, as well. Feel free to tweet @JFPSports who you think are your top Conerly Finalists. I will retweet and discuss any Conerly favorites you might have this season.

Conerly Trophy Hopefuls, Part Two

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Jackson State University quarterback LaMontiez Ivy has played well

by Amber Helsel

The Buffalo Bills haven’t made the playoffs since Bill Clinton was president.Only 10 quarterbacks in NFL history have thrown half as many touchdown passes as Peyton Manning.

THURSDAY, NOV. 5 College football (8-11 p.m., ESPN): Mississippi State looks to improve its bowl standing as the Bulldogs take on Missouri out of the SEC East.

FRIDAY, NOV. 6 Golf (12:30-3:30 p.m., Golf Channel): Watch second-round coverage of the Sand-erson Farms Championship as the field gets cut down for the weekend champion-ship rounds.

SATURDAY, NOV. 7 College football (2:30-6 p.m., CBS): The University of Mississippi looks to keep pace in the SEC West as the Rebels host an up-and-down Arkansas squad. … College football (7-10 p.m., CBS): UM fans will want to keep track of LSU against Alabama with the Rebels taking on the Tigers soon.

SUNDAY, NOV. 8 NFL (noon-3 p.m., CBS): The New Or-leans Saints look to win their fourth game in a row as they host the Tennessee Titans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

MONDAY, NOV. 9 NFL (7:30-11 p.m., ESPN): Former MSU star Pernell McPhee leads the Chi-cago Bears to the west coast to take on the San Diego Chargers and former USM star Cordarro Law.

TUESDAY, NOV. 10 College football (7-10 p.m., ESPN2/ESPNU): Two MAC midweek showdowns feature undefeated Toledo against Central Michigan and Ohio against Kent State.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 11 NBA (9:30 p.m.-12 a.m., ESPN): This game should be worth staying up late to watch as the Portland Trail Blazers host the San Antonio Spurs. When Mississippi State faces Missouri, it will be the first time since 1984 that the Bulldogs and Tigers have met in Columbia, Mo. The Tigers won 47-30 in that meeting.

Drew Brees threw seven touchdowns against the Giants on Sunday, Nov. 1, but it was kicker Kai Forbath who propelled the Saints to a win with a 50-yard field goal. The win puts New Orleans at .500 with a 4-4 record.

by Bryan FlynnSLATE

the best in sports over the next seven days

Follow Bryan Flynn at jfpsports.com, @jfpsports and at facebook.com/jfpsports.

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CHECK THE JFP MUSIC LISTINGS FOR OUR LINEUP

HAPPY HOUR$1 off all Cocktails, Wine, and BeerMONDAY�  -�  SATURDAY�  

4PM�  -�  7�  PM

4PM-2AM MON-SATNEVER A COVER!

901�  E�  FORTIFICATION�  STREET601-948-0055WWW.FENIANSPUB.COM

4PM-2AM MON-SAT4PM-2AM MON-SAT4PM-2AM MON-SAT

Nominate Us!BESTOFJACKSON.COM

WEDNESDAY�  11/4�  

Pub QuizWITH�  ANDREW�  MCLARTY

THURSDAY�  11/5

EMERALD ACCENT FRIDAY�  11/6

JOE CARROL

SATURDAY�  11/7

SCOTT ALBERT JOHNSON

MONDAY�  11/9

KARAOKE WITH�  MATT�  COLLETTE

TUESDAY�  11/10

OPEN MICContest

WITH�  BROCK�  BAILEY

35

214 S. STATE ST.DOWNTOWN JACKSON

601.354.9712

See Our New MenuWWW.MARTINSLOUNGE.NET

THURSDAY 11/5

O Y S T E R S ON THE HALF SHELL

5-9 P.M.

FRIDAY 11/6

KHRIS ROYAL & DARK MATTER 10 P.M.

SATURDAY 11/7

LORD T & ELOISE 10 P.M.

SUNDAY 11/8

THE MAGIC BEANS9 P.M.

BEER BUCKET SPECIAL(5 Beers for $8.75)ALL DAY LONG!

MONDAY 11/9

OPEN MIC NIGHT

$5 APPETIZERS(DINE IN ONLY)

TUESDAY 11/10

SHRIMP B O I L

5 - 10 PM$1 PBR & HIGHLIFE

$2 MARGARITAS 10pm - 12am

UPCOMING SHOWS11/13 - European Theater w/ Special Guest

11/20 - Modern Measure ( 1320 Records/STS9 - On Tour Now With STS9)

11/21 - Earphunk11/25 - Cardinal Sons w/ Rooster Blues

12/4 - The Tombigbees w/ Fides and Cory Taylor Cox

12/5 - The Stolen Faces

12/19 - Mike Dillon Band

12/23 - Scott Albert Johnson

12/25 - Martins Annual Christmas Show w/ Robby Peoples & Friends

12/26 - Young Valley

NOMINATE US!BESTOFJACKSON.COM

Wednesday, November 4

ADIB’S JAZZ6:30 PM

Thursday, November 5

STEVIE CAIN5:30 PM

Friday, November 6

BRANDON SANTINI

9 PMSaturday, November 7

EDDIE COTTON9 PM

Tuesday, November 10

JESSE ROBINSON AND HIS

LEGENDARY FRIENDS

6:30 PM Upcoming Events

11-14 SOUTHERN KOMFORT BRASS BAND

11-20 GARY BURNSIDE 11-21 DEXTER ALLEN

11-27 SOUTHERN AVENUE 11-28 GHOST TOWN BLUES BAND

12-4 JJ THAMES 12-5 JAREKUS SINGLETON

12-11 SELWYN BIRCHWOOD BAND 12-12 MR. SIPP

12-18 TIME TO MOVE 12-26 SOUTHERN KOMFORT

BRASS BAND 12-31 SOUTHERN AVENUE

For Complete Listing visitwww.Underground119.com119 S. President Street

601.352.2322

ALL STADIUM SEATINGListings for Fri. 11/6 – Thurs. 11/12

Online Tickets, Birthday Parties, Group& Corporate Events @ www.malco.com

Movieline: 355-9311

DAILY BARGAINS UNTIL 6PM

Spectre PG13

The Peanuts Movie G

3-D The Peanuts Movie G

Man in 3B R

Our Brand is Crisis R

Burnt R

The Last Witch Hunter PG13

Bridge of Spies PG13

Goosebumps PG

Crimson Peak R

Woodlawn PG

Pan PG

The Martian PG13

The Intern PG13

Hotel Transylvania 2 PG

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials PG13

The Visit PG13

GIFT CARDSAVAILABLE

Interested? E-mail interns@jacksonfreepress.com,

telling us why you want to intern with us and what makes you the ideal candidate.

*College credit available to currently enrolled college students in select disciplines.

Hone your skills, gain valuable experience and college credit* by interning with the Jackson

Free Press. You set your hours, and attend free training workshops.

Intern at the JFP

Wednesday 11/4

4-9pm $12.99 SIRLOIN STRIPw/ twice baked potatoes, & salad

Karaoke w/DJ Stache @ 9pmBUD LIGHT BEER BUCKETS5 for $10 • 9pm-Close

Thursday 11/5TAMALE THURSDAY $9.99 4-9pm

Ladies Night w/ DJ Glenn Rogers

LADIES DRINK FREE! 9pm - Close

Friday 11/6MUSIC THERAPY DVDJ REIGN

w/ Special Guest DJ:violator ALL STAR DJ

Saturday 11/7

DELTA GET DOWN & DJ Glenn Rogers

Sunday 11/8BRUNCH 11AM -2 PM

$3 Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas

Monday 11/9

Pub Quizw/Daniel Keys @ 8pm

Tuesday 11/10

$9.99 ROYAL RED SHRIMP BOIL 4-9pm $2 TALLBOY TUESDAY

7pm-close

Open Mon-Fri 11am-2am

Sat 4pm-2am

601-960-2700 facebook.com/Ole Tavern

416 George St, Jackson, MS

HAPPY HOUR Daily 4-7pm

$2 Domestic & 2 For 1 On All Drinks Including Wine

Call to Book Your Party!

Are you ready to make a Lifestyle Change today?You don't have to swallow a hand full of pills multiple time s a day or give up

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Before - April 2014 After - September 2015 64lbs lost and maintaining

Call Webster Allen to start your THRIVE Experience!

601-497-9767www.ThriveMeUp.com

Before - April 2014 After - September 2015

Le-Vel Independent Brand PromoterLV-242467

Make More Money, Make a DifferenceAs a WoodmenLife Representative, you earn

what you’re worth. Our top Representatives

play hard, too.

Plus, we offer advancement opportunities,

bonuses and incentives, and competitive ben-

Why limit yourself? If you want a career

where you can make what you’re worth and

make a difference, contact me or visit

JoinUs.woodmen.org/banking.

Phillip Pace, CFP ChFC CLU Regional Director

A Careerwith Balance

getting it daily?

jfpda

ily.c

om

news as itoccurs

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NOMINATE US Plate Lunch

WWW.BESTOFJACKSON.COM

601-956-1116

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Mon-Sat 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 601.362.9553NANDY’S CANDY

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