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THE DAILY
MISSISSIPPIAN
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Volume 105, No. 144
T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S I S S I P P I S E R V I N G O L E M I S S A N D OX F O R D S I N C E 1 9 1 1
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Grisham records writers podcast Ole Miss Horizons strives to better youth MADELINE WEINSTEIN ANNA GIBBS SHELICE BENSON mweinste@go.olemiss.edu
PHOTO BY JACQUELINE SCHLICK
John Grisham’s speaks about his new book “Camino Island” Tuesday evening at Off Square Books.
LYNDY BERRYHILL dmeditor@gmail.com
Ole Miss Law School alumnus and best-selling author John Grisham spent the afternoon signing first editions of his 30th novel “Camino Island” Tuesday afternoon before gathering in front of a packed house at Off Square Books. The line of attendees stretched out the door and down the sidewalk to see Grisham on his first book tour in 25 years. Grisham said he has had a special place for Square
Books ever since he became an author. “I’ve always considered Square Books my ‘home store,’” Grisham said. Grisham was a part of a panel discussion about writing along with local authors Ace Adkins and Tom Franklin, who both write about crime among other topics. The three talked about writer’s block, Oxford and their writing methods as well as their struggles. Grisham said he enjoys contributing to Oxford’s literary scene. “It is something that gives
me great joy to do,” Grisham said. He sponsors visiting authors programs who speak at Square Books. It is his way of supporting writers, but also booksellers. “It’s a great place for literary writers; bookstores play a big role in that,” Grisham said. Oxford is Grisham’s seventh stop on his 13-stop tour to 13 independent bookstores across the nation. Along the way, he is also recording local author discussions for a podcast aptly called “Book Tour with John Grisham.”
One Oxford summer camp is working to improve Mississippi’s education ratings, starting with youngest students. Located on the Ole Miss campus in Kinard hall, the Horizons summer camp focuses on overcoming poverty by building students’ confidence in areas such as reading comprehension, writing, physical education and swimming. Students can attend from kindergarten through the eighth grade, and are selected through a referral process that begins with teachers at their respective schools. The program has been striving to improve knowledge retention for the past five summers. “My favorite part of the program is forming relationships with students while working to prevent summer regression,” said Beth Parker, a teacher at the camp. Without programs like Horizons, the equivalent of one month of overall learning is lost during the summer months. It can take, on average, six weeks of schooling in the fall to recover these losses. Elizabeth Mulherin, a read-
ing specialist who teaches at the camp, says the students are tested at the beginning of the program to determine their reading level. From there, the instructors work one-on-one with students to ensure improvement. “We take small groups and work on things we saw lacking in their reading skills, spelling skills, fluency skills and speech production,” said Mulherin. “We do our best to improve them so over the summer they don’t lose any of the skills they’ve learned in their basic school year.” Goal-setting is also an important aspect of the Horizons program. Students are required to set personal goals for the summer, and in turn, instructors provide the group with attainable goals to reach. For Charlotte Lowe, a teacher at the camp, the biggest goal for the summer is improving her students’ reading skills. “This summer, I want them to improve on their reading, even if they’re at a different level than their best friend next to them,” said Lowe. “I want them to feel like they improved and they learned something and are more confident.” Through Horizons, stu-
SEE HORIZONS PAGE 3
Ole Miss alumni create kickball community DANIEL DUBUISSON
dadubuis@go.olemiss.edu
In less than a summer, two Ole Miss alumni have given locals a new pastime option. The Oxford Kickball Squad hosted their bi-weekly kickball tournament Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Pat Lamar Park, regardless of the rain. Organizers Chaning Green
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and Blake Summers have been hosting the event since its inception over a month ago in hopes of offering a healthy, active outlet for every Oxford resident. The pair of Ole Miss alumni first organized the group after witnessing the success local LGBTQ+ organization OutOxford had with their “Fun in the Sun” celebration in April.
“We spent that day playing outside and I was like ‘Hey, I want to do that again, but I want to play kickball,’” Green said. “Blake was like ‘Make a Facebook event and I’ll share it.’“ They spread the word and their first game caught the interest of about 15 participants through social me-
PHOTO BY: ARIEL COBBERT
Oxford kickball squad members Eloise Tyner, Blake Summers, Hunter Johnson SEE KICKBALL PAGE 3 and Cecelia Parks practices drills at Lamar Park Wednesday evening.
Uber CEO resigns in disgrace
NBA MVP Who will take home the title?
Ole Miss student experiences Shanghai
SEE OPINION PAGE 3
SEE SPORTS PAGE 7
SEE LIFESTYLES PAGE 5