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Lorenzo Miller

Lorenzo Miller sports a beard and a broad, engaging smile as he stands in front of his artwork inside the Eudora Welty Library. The walls of this otherwise dull white room pop with the brilliant colors and exquisite details in his paintings.

Kristi Hendrix

Upon arriving at Kristi Hendrix's office, it's hard to remember I'm not visiting her home. Inside the house, a collection of trophies from Good Samaritan's "Some Like It Hot" Chili Cook-off are displayed next to pictures of community and family members that sit on the top of the home's fire places.

Whitney Barkley

Growing up, Whitney Barkley never dreamed she would be a lawyer.

Angela Graves

It's obvious—Angela Graves is 6 feet tall with a megawatt smile book-ended by deep dimples. It's not obvious, unless you're standing outside her classroom listening, that she's one of the lucky ones. Eyes sparkling, Graves will tell anyone she's right where she should be—teaching eighth graders at a middle school—the Ramp Up reading literacy program at Morrison Academic Advancement Center, where I am the librarian. She has been at Morrison all five years that she's been a certified teacher.

Cheryl Lasseter

Cheryl 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 radio station. "I always had TV in the back of my mind, but I never thought I could do that; that was for really, really talented people," Lasseter said as we talked in the children's book section of Lemuria, while her 18-month-old son Sean played nearby.

Crystal Carter

One trip to Emory School University of Atlanta was a lifetime experience for 16-year-old Jacksonian Crystal Carter. The Jim Hill High School junior was qualified as an attendee for the 10-day National Forum on Medicine because of her high PSAT score.

Cyrus Webb

Read about Cyrus Webb's more recent activities and controversies here

Bruce Golden

During the day, he's Mr. Golden, the mild-mannered school librarian who dispenses copies of "Tuck Everlasting" and "Because of Winn-Dixie" to the book-loving kids at Peeples Middle School in South Jackson. Mr. Golden's library is a peaceful world of words, a refuge for literary-minded students from their hectic and often stressful school days. But on nights and weekends, he's Bruce, a jazz percussionist who trades in his Dewey decimals for complex polyrhythm and syncopated beats.

Nathan Glenn

When Nathan Glenn, now 29, was growing up, his parents would check him out of school to "help toast bread or wash dishes" at one of their restaurants. After graduating high school, he went to Hinds Community College for a few years to pursue a business degree, but quickly realized that the restaurant business is his calling.

Arthur Jones

Twice a month, Arthur Jones, 34, dons his overalls and gets down to business. With a pocket designated for his thermometer, and using tools he forged himself, he lights the grill.

Lucky Osborne

Lucky Osborne, 61, leads an artistic life steeped in history. When the native Mississippian isn't working on miniatures for exhibits at the Old Capitol Museum, he's working in pen-and-ink or pastels. Osborne didn't study art formally—he calls it self-inflicted—but it did run in the family. "My mother was quite artistic," he mused.

Elizabeth Robinson

Elizabeth Robinson did not take art classes while enrolled at the Mississippi University for Women. Until the school featured a 20-year retrospective of her work, she did not even know where the art department was located. In fact, glass sculpture wasn't located anywhere on her personal radar until, in 1980, she needed a job and went to work for Andy Young at the Pearl River Glass Studio, to help manage the place. "You couldn't work in that environment without developing a vocabulary for glass," says the auburn-haired glass artist and entrepreneur. And so, for the next 10 years, Robinson immersed herself in the world of glass, learning from Young and from Susan Ford, a local glassblower.

Edward Mclaurin

When you meet Edward McLaurin, one of the first things you notice, besides his neatness, is his reserved disposition. The 23-year-old Sharon, Miss. native looks you straight in the eye and doesn't look off. The Millsaps graduate is an artist, teacher and student.

Patti Carr Black

Patti Carr Black's Belhaven living room appears almost square, with built-in, wall-size bookshelves directly across from the front door. A quarter of the way down, surrounded by a portion of her collected books, hangs Walter Anderson's "Magic Carpet," opulent in color and design, breath-taking in its seven-foot width.

Betty Fortenberry

If anyone you know gave birth at Woman's Hospital at River Oaks over the past 25 years, chances are they crossed paths with Betty Fortenberry.

Nina Parikh

Nina Flaminiano Parikh isn't the sort of name you'd expect for the associate manager of the Mississippi Film Office, but that's what the 30-year-old answers to (even after April 10 when she says will also be honored to be called Mrs. Jerel Levanway). That exotic name fits her to a T. Her looks—her dad is Indian, and her mom is Filipino—might convince you she belongs in front of the camera, though.

Linda Mann

Linda Mann always thought she would leave Mississippi after she graduated from college and never return. She moved to Jackson from Birmingham when she was 3 and by the time she graduated from Provine High School in 1964, she was ready to leave the city.

Jamaal Jackson

This week, Jackson State University celebrates its homecoming, and one person who will be mixing business with pleasure is the university's Student Government Association President Jamaal Jackson. The 21-year old St. Louis native graduates in May from the state's only urban university, and couldn't be more proud of his soon-to-be alma mater. The thing that he is most proud of, however, is the legacy he expects to leave with the SGA for the next 10 years or so.

Parker Andrews

Parker Andrews is an intriguing enigma. At first glance, he is a typical 11-year-old fifth-grade student whose recent acquisition of Healy skate shoes has transformed him into a full-fledged speeding bullet. But beyond first impressions, Andrews is unlike many his age.

Monica Minter

Seated comfortably with perfect posture, Monica Jeany Minter calmly focuses on the photographer, her eyes never leaving his face until she thoroughly understands his instructions. Nothing about the busy Friday afternoon outside Banner Hall distracts her. The Murrah High graduate is a young lady with a new role—Mississippi's Miss Hospitality. Since being selected in July, 21-year-old Minter—a senior at Jackson State University where she is a political science major with a 3.4 GPA, the current Miss Jackson State and active in many campus organizations—has already been on the job.

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