By Cormac Parker Jr

When some people think of mission trips, the first couple locations that come to mind are deep in the jungles of Africa, parts of China or maybe even the local mission serving the homeless.

However, for more than 100 University of Memphis students, Orlando can be added to the list.

Affectionally called the Orlando Project, the 10-week program, starting May 25, sets out to “give students tools that would help them share their faith with their families and friends while growing closer to God,” said Denny Catalano, campus director of the Orlando Project.

Campus Outreach is an interdenominational organization whose "mission is to glorify God by rising up labors on the campus within a lost world." The organization reaches thousands of college students each year with eight college sites across the nation.

When asked why the city of Orlando was choosen, Catalano shines a light on the diversity that the city naturally possesses. 

“We go to Orlando because it is one of the most visited cities in the world, a melting pot of the nations,” he said.

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 Courtney A. Smith

University of Memphis Tigers basketball coach Josh Pastner expected a smooth transition into the off season, but it's already off to a rocky start. 

Pastner and his team were in danger of heading into next season without one of their 2013 signees, Pookie Powell. Powell, former Dr. Phillips High standout, had plans of transferring to another school after a disagreement with Pastner about wanting to train with Frank Matrisciano, a former conditioning coach at the U of M, in California over the summer.

Pastner was not on board with Powell's training with Matrisciano, which made the shoot-first point guard think twice about staying at Memphis. However, the player's father, RaShawn Powell, contacted local newspaper The Commercial Appeal on Thursday to inform them that Pookie will stay at the U of M.

Before the final decision was made on Powell’s future, RaShawn and the family talked Pookie's decision over on Wednesday, along with assistant coach Robert Kirby, who flew to Orlando to meet with them.

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 Courtney A. Smith

Basketball season at the University of Memphis is wrapping up, which means that the coaches are moving onto prepping for the next season.  Recruiting players is one thing, but there are other duties when it comes to being a head coach for a Division I basketball program.


Coach Josh Pastner of the Memphis Tigers is currently focused on the team’s structure for next season but will have to also focus on hiring a new assistant coach to his blemished coaching staff.

Hiring a new assistant coach is an old tune for Pastner as he has had to replace assistants for the past three seasons.

Athletes in college basketball are considered to be one-and-done, but coaches are following the same path.

A prime example would be assistant coach Jason Gardner, who has decided to take the head coaching job at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Gardner was brought in alongside Robert Kirby prior to the beginning of the 2013-14 basketball season.

Before Gardner came to Memphis, he was an assistant at Loyola University Chicago from 2011-13. He will replace Todd Howard, who went 26-70 in three seasons as the head coach.

Before Gardner’s career as a coach began, he was a star basketball player at North Central High School in Indianapolis, Ind., in the late 1990s and in Arizona from 1999-2003.

During a press conference, Pastner talked about the possibility of losing an assistant coach.

“I got great assistant coaches. I love my guys. I never want to hold anybody back,” Pastner said. “They obviously want to be head coaches so I would always fight for them to be a head coach. So obviously if they have an opportunity to be a head coach somewhere, then obviously they will take the opportunity.”

This will be the fourth straight season that Pastner will have to replace an assistant.

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 Dee Reneé

A four-year public college costs an estimated $18,391 per year for in-state students and an organization has found a way to help students get some relief from their increasing tuition and living expenses.

Walking into the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) on Free Food Friday, there's laughing and pool balls scraping against billiard tables.
 
Located just across the street from the University of Memphis at 469 Patterson St., the BCM has served food to college students for the past 10 years.

"I come to get free because I’m a broke student and I need food and I always ask my friends if they want free food to come with me on Fridays," said Rianna Sarmiento, a senior biology major.

Churches from the city come and serve students different meals and deliver a message. The event lasts from noon to 1 p.m. 

 Students must show their college IDs and non-students pay $2.

The $2 goes to the mission's foundation where students go on mission trips.Students go on varies mission trips in hopes of sharing the gospel and the love of Christ with people.

"I love being a part of this organization where I help serve my peers and just fellowshipping and getting to know other students," said Anna Joy Batchelor, a sophomore journalism major

This past Friday Whitehaven Baptist served hot dogs, chips and cookies.

"I haven’t brought anyone but people have brought me and this is my third time here," said Morgan Bell, a freshman music composition major.

Everyone is always welcomed to get seconds.

The meals vary on what the participating church brings to serve the students, which can differ from home cooked meals to barbecue and even pizza.

Late Night appetite is another free meal opportunity hosted by the BCM every third Monday of the month from 9 p.m. till midnight, and they serve breakfast food.