StorytellingDiane Williams is a neo-griot, along the lines of the storytellers from times gone by when oral historians were crucial to maintaining black folks' history because book publishers didn't believe the history worth chronicling. Williams is also a quilter, an …
[West] More Than A FigmentCommunities that don't have vibrant arts scenes aren't healthy communities. Arts are essential.
Nails Through the Hands of GodThe problem with believing in a loving God is that the world doesn't function as if such a God exists. That problem is only made worse when we inherit a difficult theological tradition.
Words Not RequiredIf a picture is worth 1000 words, portraits lining the walls of the Mississippi Museum of Art tell story after story after story. For many of them, the Freedom Riders, Jackson was the final stop. Once they arrived in Jackson, …
Power APAC Student ExhibitPublic-school systems across the nation are making budget cuts that, in some cases, completely eliminate arts programs, be they large or small. Fortunately, Jackson Public Schools and its Academic and Performing Arts Complex share a unique vision.
Dancing FeetBallet Mississippi hosts its annual spring performance of "Sleeping Beauty, Act III" on May 1. Ballerinas Margaret Severin-Hansen, principal dancer with Carolina Ballet, and Nicole Graneiro of the American Ballet Theater and February's Dance Magazine cover girl, will undoubtedly awe …
Shine a LightWhat if you could actually see your own pain and that of everyone around you? That is the question at the heart of "The Illumination" , best-selling author Kevin Brockmeier's latest work of fiction.
Waiting for the HumanitiesHumanities Festival Week 2011 at Tougaloo College is a week-long cultural awareness event celebrates all things ethnic with its "The Power of the Arts and Letters" theme.
Watch and LearnIt's more than just films, says Film Threat critic Chris Gore about the annual Crossroads Film Festival.
Taking The StageKatrina Byrd makes it a point to get to the JATRAN bus stop early. The bus is supposed to come by at 3:30 p.m, so she gets there at 3:15 p.m. When the bus shows up late, at 3:40 p.m, …
And the Oscar Goes To ...Hollywood rolls out the red carpet Sunday, Feb. 27, to celebrate the achievements of the motion picture industry during the past year. Despite promises of something new and better, devoted Oscar fans know and expect a rather dull, drawn-out ceremony. …
Rip the Cypher: Phase OneBefore stepping foot inside the North Midtown Arts Center on Millsaps Avenue, it was obvious that something was going on. More than the cars parked along the sides of the street gave it away. The energy was palpable; the music …
Bridging the GapsBook selling was a profitable enterprise in the oft-mythicized but very real city of Timbuktu. In the late 15th century, after the emperor Aska Mohammed's reign, the city was at its most prosperous, its scholars widely celebrated.
Torn by TimeIt's one of the hallmarks of humanity: being torn between hope for the future and the familiarity of the past. The Prozorof family in Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" is especially human.
Maintaining FocusWhen I first saw the cover of "Ghost Light: A Novel" by Joseph O'Connor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011, $25), I didn't know quite what to expect from the woman dressed in early 1900s garb. Would I be bored or …
Katrina Byrd makes it a point to get to the JATRAN bus stop early. The bus is supposed to come by at 3:30 p.m, so she gets there at 3:15 p.m. When the bus shows up late, at 3:40 p.m, …