By Courtney A. Smith

The city of Memphis is considered to be the home of delicious barbeque along with having some of the best talent in sports, especially basketball. With food and sports being the talk of the town, art is another great aspect of Memphis that should be in the conversation.

Take the Five in One Social Club for example. The establishment has been in Memphis for a year and has already made its mark in the art industry.

Michael and Alice Andrews, who celebrated the Five in One Social Club one year anniversary last week, are originally from Wisconsin and came to Memphis looking for a perfect location to start their business. They eventually found the perfect spot on 2535 Broad Ave.

“We moved to Memphis seven years ago and started an art space called Five in One and social club was part of that, like a component of that where artists can get together and hangout and draw on their sketch books,” Alice said.

"A year we heard about a program called MIM Shop. MIM Shop is a small business that the mayor’s innovation team is running and we heard of it like a grant. So we heard about that and thought well what if we turned social club into a business where we taught people how to do things and open a store where we sold things made by all of the awesome local artists that we know," she added. "So that’s how we got started. We applied for a grant and we won the grant and now it’s a year later and things are going pretty good over here.”

By: Dee Reneé

Juicy Jim’s Pizzeria on South Highland Street is the go-to place for open mic on Tuesday nights.

Jim Matson, owner of Juicy Jim’s Pizzeria, is originally from New Jersey, but moved to Memphis in 1992 and opened Juicy Jim’s in 2003.

Matson got the name Juicy Jim when he was 16 and working at a place called Greasy Tony’s, where he impressed two young ladies with his “juicy” burgers.

Toke Up Tuesday is the formal name for the open mic event hosted every Tuesday night, which started two years ago.

It started when University of Memphis student Kenneth Hall asked Matson for the opportunity to make some money and get the restaurant exposure though the open mic night.

Every Tuesday, Jim expects anywhere from 100 to 150 people to crowd his vintage bar for performances. 

“I love coming to Juicy Jim’s on Tuesdays. I love to hear the good and bad performers. Some of the bad ones come back every Tuesday to try and redeem themselves,” Jamon Harvell said a junior engineering major at the university

Throughout the night there are countless acts--some good, some bad. 

Some participants perform spoken word and others perform stand-up comedy.

“I’m here every Tuesday getting on stage showing off  my comedic talents,"said Darius Wilder, a junior at the U of M. "The first couple of times I was pretty nervous but now I’m something like a pro,”

By Darnesha Cotton

Instagram is no longer being used for just keeping up with celebrities and taking "selfies." A University of Memphis student is using it to build her new accessory line.

“I posted the earrings on Instagram and people responded saying ‘I want it, I want it,’” said Kristen Bowen, 21, a junior social work major at the University of Memphis.

Bowen's inspiration for the earrings developed from a love of fashion and a habit of rummaging through her grandmother's things.

“I was looking through my grandmother’s jewelry box. I picked up a button and said ‘This is a pretty earring.’ That’s when she told me it wasn't an earring, it went on her suit,” said Bowen.

Bowen said the conversation influenced her grandmother to give her a machine that helps her turn fabric and metal pieces into earrings.

After creating her first pair, she took to Instagram to show off her new hobby.

She received an overwhelming request on the photo, giving Bowen the idea to create Lend Me Your Ears. Bowen said the name was inspired by a monologue she had heard and felt it was catchy enough for her new business.

By Kirby Cheers

It takes a village to raise a child and it take hot wings to raise a college student.  

At least that's what one will find when they visit Ching's Hot Wings located at 1264 Getwell Road, one block away from South Campus on the corner of Park.  

On any given weekday, the hot wing restaurant is filled to capacity with standing room only. Placing an order for carry-out over the phone leaves the customer waiting for about 45 minutes on "Scandal Thursdays" and a solid hour for a night of March Madness. Yet, the various, mouth-watering flavors keep Ching's customers coming back and waiting for more each week.  

"It's a good problem to have," Stacey Jackson, one of the co-owners of the popular hot wing restaurant, said. "We talk about the parking. Even with our employees, they will call me and say, 'I'm here, but I can't find a parking space.' It's exciting to see the growth and see where the next level will take us."  

By Charles Gray

As Women's History Month comes to a close, it is important to reflect on the strong female characters that have played major roles in history.

Locally, it immediately suggests a few names, but none more so than recently retired University of Memphis President Shirley Raines. Though her tenure was very recent, it will continue to hold historic significance not only for its precedence of her being the first female president of the school, but also for the work that she accomplished while holding the chair.

“President Raines has made an indelible mark on the university and the entire Memphis community,” chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents John Morgan said. "She is a friend, and I appreciate the guidance and leadership she has provided for these 12 years.”

Raines began her career as a kindergarten teacher in Louisville, Ky. Over the next 30 years of her career, she would go on to write 14 books, most of which had a focus on child education and early development—a subject she has come to be regarded as an expert in according to a University of Memphis website post regarding Raines' retirement. 

As the millennium passed she had built her career past teaching, holding a position as the vice chancellor for academic services and dean of the College of Education at the University of Kentucky.

By Kirby Cheers

The next time you are on a campus tour at the University of Memphis, make sure to visit Smith Hall. After the tour guide showcases the exhibition dorm room, ask them to introduce the Assistant Area Coordinator (AAC) there. This may cause an eyebrow to raise, but the guides are more than accommodating. 

On the first floor in a small office hidden around the corner of the dormitory's desk and lounge area, sits Kanesha Johnson, the AAC for Rawls and Smith Halls—adjacent, all-women dormitories in the middle of campus off Patterson Street. Her credentials may not sound extraordinary, and when you meet her, she may not come off as important as one of the four candidates for university president.  

Nevertheless, she is an unsung, success story in Memphis. 

Johnson, 22, graduated from the university in the fall of 2013 with a B.A. in political science. She was the first in her family to graduate from college in addition to being the first in her maternal family to graduate from high school.  

A Raleigh-Egypt High School alumna, Johnson, was raised predominately in North Memphis, surrounded by poverty, drugs and gangs during her upbringing.  

"I grew up in a single parent home with my mom, brother and older brother," Johnson recalls. "The neighborhood was pretty rough. Frequently, there were gun shots and my mom did not allow me to go outside. My brother was also in a gang."  

Living in an unstable home and being engulfed by poverty and violence seemed normal to Johnson. However, what truly impacted her childhood was her mother's schizophrenia, something Johnson never understood, but could recognize the signs and symptoms.  

"I always knew something was wrong," Johnson said. "It wasn’t until I got older and went through counseling on my own that I knew that's what was going on with her. We tried to offer her help, but she would not accept it." 

By Akilah Speaks

WUMR The Jazz Lover is a non-commercial radio station located on the University of Memphis campus. The station, which has been operating since 1979, is the only jazz outlet in the Mid-South that plays jazz tracks, spotlights community events and broadcasts sports.

Malvin Massey, music director and former jazz musician, is the station's general manager and has been with the station for more than 25 years.  In a recent interview, he shared his love for jazz music, the changes in radio and how his job title has benefited him over the years.  

Known as Le Pilot, Massey is a pioneer in the jazz world and a great mentor to upcoming personalities.

“I love having the opportunity to listen to all the new music first and having a good reputation in the music industry with record promoters and different labels," Massey said. "I stay fresh in the jazz world by keeping up with music. It’s a reassuring job and a great gig.”

His passion for jazz music has earned him a reputation in the music industry, and he has been fortunate to interview some of the greatest legends. For many years, he has worked in the radio business gaining the knowledge of broadcasting, meeting famous musicians and working alongside promoters and other radio executives.

By Kirstin "Kirby" Cheers

As children, especially those who were raised in religious homes, Sunday school taught stories of Biblical heroines such as Esther, a young girl crowned queen in her youth who rescued her people, the Jews, from a brutal genocide planned and signed into law by her husband, King Ahasuerus (Xerses).  

Esther did not know that one day she would be queen, let alone know that she would have to preside and persuade the people who had cast her family into exile to spare her race from a massive killing. One can even assume, before becoming queen, Esther hated the place she lived and awaited the day that God would move her somewhere else--sharing a characteristic of many native Memphians. 

Memphis. A seemingly unpopular place to live that wrestles against crime, poverty and for many, a lack of opportunities. Such hindrances have been the bane of the city’s existence, especially during a period where recruiting young talent into Memphis is a tedious feat. 

 In 2013, the Memphis Business Journal noted that Memphis is not a strong competitor when it comes to recruiting new talent against cities such as Houston, Atlanta and Charlotte.  Some Memphians cannot go a full day without hearing another Memphian grumbling their loathe for living in the Bluff City, and how they are looking, hoping, wishing and/or praying to move.  

Such attitudes have influenced strategic organizations to strengthen their recruiting efforts to attract new talent to the city. The New Memphis Institute and the social media recruitment campaign, Choose 901, have been strong influences throughout the city, partnering with government officials, professionals and entrepreneurs in organizing to increase attracting and retaining new talent in Memphis.  

However, the talent born and bred in Memphis should not go unnoticed.  

London Lamar, 23, left Memphis for Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., after graduating from Central High School in 2009. After graduating from college with internships from Washington, D.C., to New York under her belt, she did not intend to return to Memphis.

By Erica Horton

As she sat answering questions for her citizenship test, Scovia Wilson was nervous.

“Lord knows I didn’t know anything,” she said. “He only asked me like, 10 questions. My whole interview was more so just talking to him. What does this mean to you? Why do you want to be a citizen?”

She told him how passionate she was about seeing her parents in Belgium.

“I’ve always wanted to spend Christmas with my mom and dad,” she said. “Now, I get to do that.”

Scovia experienced receiving her Green Card, getting her citizenship, and is currently waiting for her citizenship ceremony and on Nov. 13, she received her passport.

Now she, her grandparents and her brother are all U.S. citizens.

By Erica Horton

Don’t call her Nancy. 

She may have lost her birth certificate in her home country, but her real name is Scovia Wilson and as of Oct. 17, she is a citizen of the United States of America. 

The 19-year-old, University of Memphis sophomore nursing major, who hails from a war zone in Sudan, said Nancy is a nickname she inherited from a mission’s woman. 

The woman came from an organization called Catholic Charities, which has helped refugees escape war zones, religious and political persecution and resettle in the U.S. for approximately 73 years. 

“The mission lady called me Nancy as a nick name and it kind of got stuck. In the process of coming to America, they accidentally put Nancy instead of Scovia on my paperwork,” she said. “I couldn’t change it back to Scovia until my citizenship, which took eight years. Finally, I have my name back.”

Scovia was named by her grandmother. 

“Scovia means fruits of the spirit and my middle name, Dawa, is Swahili for medicine,” she said.