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“Lovecraft Country” star Aunjanue Ellis has a busy acting career but chooses to live and work for change in her native Mississippi. The McComb native draws inspiration from Fannie Lou Hamer, who said, “Never forget where we came from and always remember the bridges that carried us over.”
When Mariam Ebeid arrived at the University of Mississippi Medical Center for her studies, she wondered what happened to food waste, considering how many patients, faculty and staff the institution feeds daily. “I figured there would probably be some excess food,” the Mississippi native says. She was right, and that led her to start a Food Recovery Network here in Mississippi to gather the leftover food and redistribute to those who need it.
“Black Boy” tells Wright’s story in the South across Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as his migration to Chicago where he began his writing career and got involved with the Communist Party.
A year’s postponement of the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson puts dreams on hold, but also puts the event in the best position to attract world-class dancers at the top of their game along with an audience of ballet fans hungry to see it, organizers say.
“Leonardo Drew: City in the Grass,” on view through Feb. 21, is a sculpture that beckons to be touched, sat on, walked around (even upon) and inspected up close and personal. Like a magic carpet ride, it can whisk the imagination off on a journey where viewers can roam, loom over, lounge around and hang out in the cityscape, interacting directly with it.
The professional theater’s new Solo Show Series finds a way, highlighting veteran New Stage actors and Mississippi stories, still selling tickets and staying mindful of pandemic-related precautions.
Jarrius Adams of Oxford and Taylor Turnage of Byram helped organize the 2020 BLM Sip anti-racism protest in Jackson; now they are organizing young voters to turn out to vote.
Fearless Messengers is using its resources to endorse Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the upcoming presidential election. Tik Tokers, like comedian and musician Rita Brent, has partnered with them this election cycle to support Biden’s campaign.
Hope for wholesome meals made with fresh fruits and vegetables has come in the form of the Dole Sunshine for All program, which is bringing fresh produce, meals and education to communities that need it the most in an effort to address the global food-insecurity crisis. The program officially launched in Jackson in August.
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The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).