By Akilah Speaks

The University of Memphis recently opened a Veterans Resource Center on campus to help military officials and their dependents benefit from a college experience.

Located in the Panhellenic Building, it is open daily to student veterans. The building offers access to a computer lab and lounge area.

There are more than 600 veterans, active duty and dependents, who attend the university in hopes of obtaining a degree in their chosen career paths.

By L. Taylor Smith

Wilma Davis, a Memphis Area Master Gardner, will lecture Monday on how to attract native birds as part of the TIGUrS’ Animal Conservation lecture series. 

Davis used to work at The Wild Bird Feeding Industry in Jackson Springs, Miss., until she retired nine years ago.

“I’ve always been interested in gardening and took the (Master Gardener) class,” Davis said. “It covers plants, soils, insects, turf, a little bit of everything. They say that if you take this class and try to get a bachelor’s in agriculture, you’ll just need English, history, things like that.”

Davis said the best way to attract wild birds to a garden or green space is to provide ample water, food, nesting habitats and protection habitats like trees and shrubs.

“Nesting habitats are for the cavity nesters like chickadees, titmice and nuthatches,” Davis said. “Other birds like robins, doves and cardinals build their nests primarily in nests in trees and shrubs.”

She also discourages letting cats outside.

By Kirstin Cheers

When cacophonic harmonies and tragic memories dance together in Memphis, they create a stage of epic proportion.  

In true Memphis fashion, the anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will traditionally consist of candlelight vigils, silent marches and rowdy sermons from preachers who remember holding conversations with the great civil rights leader.

This year, however, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will celebrate one of the world's greatest revolutionaries with melodic strands of harmony, storytelling the emotions evoked from the sanitation marches in downtown Memphis to that fretful day on April 4, 1968.   

"Rebirth of the Dream" was inspired by the legacy of King as he stood at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, leading a generation of people from his years as a young preacher, father, but most of all- a radical- towards racial and economic freedom in America.  

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra seeks to revitalize the history, pains and victories with the power of music surrounding King and his contributions. In an unprecedented effort to unite individuals and communities, experiencing such an event could be compared to revisiting that period of time, witnessing the relevance and resilience of the Memphis community as they stood near King.  

Even though they go unnoticed, women in the 1960s stood with King just as much as men, and today, women stand even stronger as they seek to honor his legacy.

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 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 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 Cormac Parker 

Could you imagine going six weeks without your favorite time filler, such as Facebook and Instagram or even giving up your morning Starbucks drink? How about not eating meat for 40 days?

For some people in the world, this is their reality and lasts for about six weeks in the month of March leading into April. This is because of the season called Lent.

Lent is a religious observance starting 40 days before Easter. Its original context calls for people to reflect on the sacrifice that Jesus made for the world and to draw them closer to God.

“I think that you are suppose to gain a closer relationship with Christ,” said Holly Hamby, a member of the Christian Student Center at the U of M. “If you are giving up fast food, the main point is that when you are yearning for that, you use that time to yearn for Christ.”

However, not everyone participates for the same reasons. Some view this as a new type of New Years resolution, hoping to only gain a physical benefit.

“In the past, I have started diets during the Lent Season, because, during Lent, there is an added support to not give in,” said Lenzy Hopkins, resident of the Orange Mound community.

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.

By L. Taylor Smith

For Americans, the typical Italian meal looks like pizzas piled high with toppings, pasta with thick alfredo sauce and hearty meatballs and never-ending garlic breadsticks.

The reality, though, is that the Italian stereotype is all-American.

When U of M student Faith Roane left the U.S. for a semester abroad in Florence, Italy, she knew that her diet would change dramatically, but said it's primarily been a positive experience. 

“I am always full after eating a decent meal in Italy, but I am never full of regret,” Roane said. “It’s a healthy full, and most of the foods aren’t so heavy that they’ll make you sick." 

Although Italian foods like pasta and pizza are high in carbohydrates, almost all the vegetables and fruits are fresh. At restaurants, menu items that have been frozen are marked. 

"Processed foods are few and far between in Italy," Roane said.

By Darnesha Cotton

Fashion Moguls Memphis (FMM), a newly formed University of Memphis organization, will host its debut fashion show, titled #reWERKd,  on Monday, March 24, in the University Center Theatre at 7 p.m.

“It’s a different approach to fashion; it’s not just able the labels. It’s about using what you’ve got and adding your flare to it,” said Christina Dang, Fashion Moguls Memphis president.

Members of FMM collaborated with each other to redesign and create new garments to be modeled and sold during the show. Lena Ray, one of the stylists for the show, said she is anticipating the response of the audience to the shows approach towards fashion.

“I look forward to seeing how the people react to the clothes that we created,” Ray said. “A lot of the clothing we reworked for the show were donated by students at the University of Memphis that they didn’t want.”

FMM hosted a clothing drive at the university in December 2013 and January 2014. The clothing donated during the clothing drive that was not used in the show was donated to Clothes4Souls.

Every model in the show will be wearing two #reWERKed garments partnered with clothing provided by local boutiques: Wish, Langford Market, Crazy Beautiful and Plato’s Closet.