By Jamesa Y. Alston

Memphis' favorite doughnut spot Gibson's Donuts
is now offering late night discounted prices. 

Every night starting at 11  p.m., Gibson’s offers a dozen doughnuts for $3 or a half dozen for $1.50. The discounted prices only last until the doughnuts sell out.

Gibson’s, located at 760 Mt. Moriah Road, has been serving the Memphis area since 1967. It is currently located in the Sea Isle community, near the University of Memphis and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“When I get off work late and I know I would be up until the early morning studying, I would stop by Gibson’s on the way home and grab a dozen of maple bacon donuts and orange
juice,” said Ashley McKinney, a sophomore business major. “Although the doughnuts are made hours early, they are still just as good as the fresh donuts.  I am winning with the discounted price.”

By Cormac Parker

Who would have thought that years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., that a multiethnic conference would be coming to town? Or that a university who at one point was only racially diverse because of eight bold and courageous African American students would have a number of students helping in the conference? 

Well, on April 16 and 17 all of this will be a reality. Kainos: A New Normal is a multiethnic equipping conference—the first of its kind in the city of Memphis. 

“The purpose of the Kainos 2014 is to gather leaders who either seek to start multiethnic ministries or churches or who aspire to transition their current homogenous ministries into a multiethnic trajectory,” according to Kainos’s mission statement. 

U of M students, primarily Campus Outreach members, will be a part of this movement.

“It's a great opportunity to take my serving outside of my campus body, and serve my diverse body of brothers and sisters,” Kelsie Carter, a junior journalism major, said.

By Charles Gray

The city of Memphis has international acclaim for a few different reasons.  Homebase of both the blues and FedEx, the town is known as a cultural and delivery hotspot. Medical research at St. Jude brings people in need across the world to benefit from the Bluff City.

But one of the most well known things about Memphis that still evades local importance is the research being done at the University of Memphis' FedEx Institute of Technology, according to the Center for the Study of Adult Literacy Program Coordinator, Whitney Bare.

The idea that computers will soon gain the ability to serve and interact with humans is fast approaching, and some key research is being done in our own school through Auto Tutor.

"Auto Tutor is a program that attempts to model a person's tutoring strategies in an effort to adapt to a student or learners learning style," said former research assistant John Myers. "It's purpose is to produce the most robust tutoring system."

By Darnesha Cotton

Fashion Moguls Memphis (FMM) hosted #reWERKd, their debut fashion on Monday, March 24, in the University of Memphis Ballroom.

The event showcased designs by Lena Evans-Ray, Christina Dang, Dyneesha Bradley and Jeromy Clear along with other pieces from local boutiques such as Crazy Beautiful, Langford Market, Wish and Plato's Closet.

The clothing featured are being sold on the #reWERKd website with the proceeds benefiting St. Jude's Children's Hospital Research. 

By Cormac Parker

Every Sunday morning in Memphis, pastors step to the pulpit and deliver sermons. Throughout the week, Memphians can see them giving back to the community, from feeding the homeless to counseling struggling individuals.

For Kenneth Whalum Jr., pastor of the New Olivet Baptist Church, his words are shared in the pulpit as well as politics. He is a candidate for Shelby County mayor.

Whalum is extremely proud to be a Memphian. He will unashamedly tell you that he is Memphis born, Memphis bred and when he dies, he will be Memphis dead.

This passion for his city is one of the many reasons he is running for office. Giving attention to the children of the city is what Whalum said is the base of changing the community for the better.

By L. Taylor Smith 

More than 40 volunteers showed up for the Memphis River Warriors’ first cleanup of the year Saturday.

During the cleanup, volunteers walked through the woods by McKellar Lake and collected Styrofoam, plastic and glass bottles, wrappers and other trash that had washed up on the banks.

In two hours, volunteers collected 580 pounds of recyclable materials.

The Memphis River Warriors, a registered student organization at the University of Memphis, works with other organizations like Memphis City Beautiful and the Sierra Club Chickasaw Group to clean up the area, which used to be a popular vacation spot.

Rachel Waters, a freshman psychology major at the U of M, got involved when she came to college because her older sister Grace Waters was part of the core group of initial volunteers.

“I started to go in support of her, but I very soon got hooked on the idea of making a change in the community and doing something for the greater good of millions of people,” Waters said. “Before coming to these cleanups, I had no idea of the magnitude of trash that could accumulate in one location.”

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 Dee Reneé

In the past, students have been only able to use their Tiger Funds to purchase things on campus. But recently, the University of Memphis expanded its dining system.

Students can now use their Tiger Funds at Garibaldi’s Pizza, Domino’s Pizza and Ubee’s for dine-in use only.

The program will branch out to other business once the University examines how well the initial launch works out for business because of the cost to the business for implementing a card reader.

“I think it will also help bring new businesses into the district. If businesses knew that students have the ability to use Tiger Funds at their location, they will have an opportunity to get more student money then they will be more inclined to open business in the district,” said Leah Dawkins, a community redevelopment liaison at the U of M.