Kathryn RodenmeyerJackson native Kathryn Rodenmeyer, 37, was described to me as a filmmaker, so when I met her in her Fondren home, I first asked her about her work in film.
Mike PadillaMike Padilla, 20, a Millsaps College student—an actor, a director, a techie and an award-winning playwright—is involved in the theater at Millsaps on every possible level. Right now he's working backstage on "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr: Abridged," which …
Spit McGeeI had only known Willie Morris through his books. It was his words, read in faraway places like Colorado and Manhattan and Nantucket, that helped me realize how southern I really was, that I wasn't the only Mississippian to be …
Cheryl LasseterCheryl Lasseter, the weekend morning anchor at WLBT-TV3, was Cheryl Frazel when she arrived in Jackson, a Baltimore native who grew up in a suburb. While earning her communication degree at Towson University in 1992, she deejayed at the college …
Joecephus MartinJoecephus Martin, 24, is comfortable in his own skin. As I watch the time, he sits back in a black leather chair, and says, "I'm from the South, I don't rush." He is a teacher, a rapper, a student, a …
Ann WilliamsAnn Williams, 54, is a bit tough, a little hard to take in at first. But that's because she's passionate. And she speaks the truth.
Andy HiltonAndy Hilton, with his curly-blonde locks, seems like any 24-year-old—slightly laid-back and slightly restless, ever ready to talk about ideals. What surfaces, however, is a great sense of his unique vision: "I want to use design skills to benefit the …
Richard WeissBefore Richard Weiss, 36, got busy providing art house and other indie films to Jacksonians, he worked in the tech industry. After cutting his teeth renting foreign films at Video Library, Weiss started making databases of the movies he had …
David Dennis, Jr.Tall, slim, wearing his hair in neat, short braids, David Dennis Jr. looks like a high school basketball player, maybe on his way to play in college—if he's got the grades. That's the stereotype, anyway.
E. Willander Wells"Elegance" is a word that keeps surfacing in conversations with fashion designer E. Willander Wells as we sit outside Broad Street bakery.
Charles HookerCharles Hollingsworth Hooker Jr., 58, holds dear his faith, family, furniture—mid-century modern business furniture, that is—and jazz. After growing up in his father's downtown business, the Mississippi Stationery Company, the Jackson native now owns and operates its present incarnation—OffiSource on …
[Jacksonian] DJ PhingaprintTimothy Washington's dreads are not a fashion statement, but a cultural and spiritual move the 25-year-old undertook eight years ago. "I always had a little Afro," he says, "but I wanted a truthful cultural image for myself." The dreadlocks gave …
Denise HalbachWith an eyebrow arched and a gleam in her startlingly blue eyes, Denise Halbach captivates her audience immediately. The Louisiana-born, Jackson-raised dramatist begins our conversation with a surprising fact. "I got dragged kicking and screaming into theater," she says.
Earl Fyke IVSitting at the round corner table at Hal & Mal's—his team's Pub Quiz table—I realized that with young men like Earl Fyke IV around, there's reason to hope. This 24-year-old Jackson Prep graduate represents well the gamut of multi-talented 20-somethings, …
Margie ThompsonMargie Thompson's second-grade classroom blooms. Dancing bears proclaim the longness and shortness of vowels. Colors swirl, and pep-talk art tells children that they can excel in math, in literature, in social studies. This space at McWillie Elementary School is all …