By Cormac Parker

The University of Memphis has had a number of performances on campus, but not many like the one held in the Rose Theatre on Tuesday, April 22.

They go by the name Golden Dragon Acrobats. These young adults are highly skilled and full of energy, as they woo the audience with their jaw dropping acrobatics.

Unlike the famous Cirque du Soleil, this event was free and open to the public. Take a look at what happened that night.

By Darnesha Cotton

Danielle Boothe was told jobs in her chosen field were difficult to find, so she created one to benefit not just herself, but youth as well.

Empress and Emperor Mentoring Inc. is a program designed to help middle school students gain confidence through sports and health education.

Boothe, 24, is the Chief Executive Officer and creator of the nonprofit organization. She said was inspired to create the mentoring program upon graduating from the University of Memphis.

“I was a sports and leisure management student,” Boothe said. “When I graduated, everyone kept telling me, ‘you know sports industry is such a hard field to break into.’ But before I entered my career, I wanted to give back to the community and our youth to share with them what I have learned.”

Boothe said she felt like today’s youth are labelled as troubled and many may not have proper guidance, so she created Empress and Emperor Mentoring Inc. to help with the need.

Her nonprofit uses sports and the students’ Physical Education class to address character, good sportsmanship and living an active healthy life.  

“We talk about team work, hygiene, sex, how to respect themselves, how to not let media depict how they act and self-love; the type of subjects pre-teens need to know about,”Boothe said. “We do three separate sports for the guys and three different sports for the guys.”

By L. Taylor Smith

Despite dreary weather, more than 100 runners turned out to the 16th annual Relic Run 5K at the C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa Saturday morning.

The C.H. Nash Museum is part of the University of Memphis and sits on the grounds of a Native American temple mound complex that dates back to the 15th century, according to Director Robert Connolly.

“We primarily interpret the Native American prehistory of the area,” Connolly said. “Most people think of it as being a Native American area primarily, but there was also a plantation at the bottom of the areas around the site as well as sharecroppers farming the area during the 1930s.”

By Paul Crum

A bright, brisk autumn morning provided visitors to the Let’s Grow Garden Expo with a perfect day for a stroll through the TIGUrS Urban Garden on the east side of the University of Memphis campus.

The Nov. 2 event cosponsored by the Memphis Area Master Gardeners and the U of M promised gardening enthusiasts a day filled with informative lectures, demonstrations, exhibits, music, food, art and more.

Plenty of Master Gardeners were on hand to offer advice and answer questions about their organization.

Student Garden Coordinator Art Johnson revealed that Dina Martin, wife of interim University President Brad Martin, is a Master Gardener and provided impetus for organizing the event.

“She came and saw our garden and got some crazy ideas about how we could really get this thing in the public eye,” Johnson explained. “She talked to the rest of the Master Gardeners and they all got on board and agreed to partner with us to pull this Let’s Grow event together.”

He said that although the garden had been there for almost four years, the TIGUrS (Tigers Initiative for Gardens in Urban Settings) had never undertaken anything of this magnitude.

“We do an earth day every year in April, but we’ve always wanted to do something much broader and bigger than that,” said Johnson, who also served as emcee for the event. “They helped steer us so we could do this as effectively as possible, because they know how to do this kind of thing.”

By Erica Holmes                                                                                           
On the corner of Highland and Park Avenue the Mediterranean Grocery, Inc. sells groceries and prepares Mediterranean food for people on-the-go and for those who crave the warming benefits of slow cooked food. 

The store, located at 3561 Park Ave., is owned by Sami Abdelfattah. 
 
On a typical morning, Abdelfattah sips his Arabic coffee while welcoming new customers and regulars into the store for their daily grocery runs and adventurous shopping experience, which is a bazaar-like scene. They have every spice and tea imaginable as well as ornate and decorative serving platters and kitchen tools. 

“We buy our chickens from Crescent Farms in Wisconsin and everything is fresh daily,” Abdelfattah said.

A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that women who slightly tweaked their meat and potatoes diet to allow room for more Mediterranean diet were 40 percent less likely to develop chronic diseases, memory loss or have as many mental health issues. They are also more likely to maintain their mobility well into retirement.

By Margot Pera           

Calorie conscious students at the University of Memphis may be able to have their cake and eat it too, or at least their popcorn.

Kay and Mike Gellar, “POPrietors” for the franchise Doc Popcorn, are looking to expand their client base, and U of M is one of their target locations.

“If I was a college student, I would love the idea of sitting down and studying while munching on a bag of yummy popcorn,” Kay said.

Doc Popcorn was started by Robert and Renee Israel in 2003 as a healthy snack alternative to the typical calorie-laden popcorn sold at festivals, concerts and other venues. The couple made the popcorn in the kitchen of their New York City apartment, and then moved to the more health conscious climate of Boulder, Colo., where they opened up stands in sports arenas, shopping malls and various Whole Foods Markets throughout the state.

“They both worked for Fortune 500 companies in New York and just got tired of the rat race,” Mike said. “When they moved to Boulder, they spent six years perfecting their flavoring formulas."

By Jasmine Deener 

With over 300 students and faculty in attendance, the University of Memphis made its way into The Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest amount of people doing sit-ups in one place for one minute.  

Gathered on the Alumni Mall, outside the University Center, participants joined in on a special edition of Midday Moves.  As people came through the entrance, they were given a plot number, as in burial plot which told them where to lie. Members of the Alumni Association and the Student Ambassador Board were dressed up in costumes and masks as the theme was "Dying to be Healthy."

“One of our coordinators who works with the Student Ambassadors Board said let’s do something cool, let’s get people out, let's break a world record… and now it has turned into a Halloween extravaganza,” said Holly Snyder, the Assistant Director for the university’s Alumni Association. 

By Margot Pera

The ancient college student adage--“I’m too busy to exercise”--is no longer valid thanks to an initiative started by Memphis Healthy U called, “Midday Moves.”

Every weekday at 12:30 p.m., students gather in the central courtyard near the University Center to exercise for 15 to 20 minutes.

“President Martin wanted an exercise program students could do daily so we came up with Midday Moves,” said Jasmine Ellis, student coordinator of Midday Moves and sports and leisure commerce graduate student. “The reason it is just a quick 15 to 20 minutes is so faculty and students can get lunch, change into their gym clothes, get a workout and run to class.”

Midday Moves has a motley assortment of exercise programs to fit every student’s preference. Monday and Tuesday can be anything from dancing to aerobics to intramural teams hosting a game. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the classes usually focus on workouts like Tai Chi, Yoga or a step show.

“Sometimes the different colleges or departments host exercise classes,” said Bianca Jackson, a public health graduate student and host of the Midday Moves event. “We are trying to get different companies and corporations to sponsor classes.”