Local grown-ups think back on their school years and appreciate teachers who inspired and influenced them along the way.
The North Mississippi Child Care Resource and Referral Center provides parents and teachers free training, tips and tools.
Northeast Mississippi artists are well represented in the Mississippi Invitational at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.
Oxford: A scene from the J.D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi, soon to be bustling with students.
Northeast: Evie Story from Tupelo Boys and Girls Clubs with a photograph of her favorite teacher, her uncle, Roger Cowan Jr.
Though another long, hot, humid Mississippi summer has not quite reached an end, ready or not, another school year has begun.
Welcome to our Back-to-School issue.
No matter how far back in our memories we might have to dig, we all will likely have no trouble coming up with the name of a special teacher or two whose influence has remained with us.
My first four elementary school teachers in my hometown of Grenada gave me a fun and firm foundation for the years of education that would follow. Though all are gone now, I remember them clearly: Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Hubbard, Mrs. Wooldridge and Mrs. Brevard.
But it was in high school that I was fortunate to have Charlene Leverette who made me fall madly in love with words and sentences and paragraphs and taught me to
use all these in a way that made sense. She was my English teacher in 9th, 10th and 11th grades, and she saw in me a tiny tidbit of talent for writing. When she saw it, she encouraged it, and for the past 50 years, her gentle pushing, witty humor, genuine love and friendship have made such an amazing difference in my life, both personally and professionally. Sadly, she is no longer physically with us, but when I sit and write, Charlene Leverette remains my muse.
Last year in our Back-to-School issue, we asked a handful of students to write about their most influential teachers. It seemed an appropriate way to honor all teachers. This year, we decided to ask a few adults. Sure, they had to reach back a bit deeper into their memories, but all six quickly came up with that special teacher whose positive influence still nudges them on today.
It’s Invitation Magazines’ way of
offering, through words, a much-deserved standing ovation, thunderous applause and many sincere thank-you’s to good teachers everywhere for jobs well done. Read about these beloved teachers on page 24.
Plus, on page 64, author Robert Kuehnle reminds us of the importance of libraries in all our lives. Read about a handful of northeast Mississippi artists featured in Mississippi Museum of Art’s Mississippi Invitational on page 36. And learn more about the important work of the North Mississippi Child Care and Resource and Referral Center on page 32.
We wish students, parents, teachers and administrators a safe, successful and sensational school year.
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Rachel West
EDITORIAL
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Emily Welly
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Leslie Criss
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Ashley Arthur
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Mary Kelley Zeleskey
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Hollie Hilliard
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MAIN OFFICE
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To subscribe to one year (10 issues) or to buy an announcement, visit invitationmag.com.
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Invitation Magazines respects the many diverse individuals and organizations that make up north Mississippi and strives to be inclusive and representative of all members of our community.
PLEASE RECYCLE THIS MAGAZINE
AUGUST 4-5
Water Valley’s biggest annual festival includes a Friday evening street party and fireworks in City Park and Saturday entertainment, food vendors, arts and crafts booths, contests, parades, an antique car show, a 3K run and more. watervalleychamber.com/watermeloncarnival
AUGUST 10
Lafayette Oxford Foundation for Tomorrow hosts a fundraiser to recognize local organizations. 6 p.m., the Powerhouse. loftms.org
AUGUST 11
Learn about and sample creative cocktails made by local bartenders vying for Best Cocktail and Crowd Favorite. Tickets $55. 7 p.m., the Powerhouse. oxfordarts.com/ironbartender
AUGUST 2023
AUGUST 15
Former NFL and Ole Miss football player Michael Oher, who inspired “The Blind Side,” signs “When Your Back’s Against the Wall.” 5 p.m., Off Square Books. squarebooks.com
AUGUST 11-12
Participate in a pickleball tournament with proceeds benefiting the Pregnancy Center of Oxford. Registration, $50-$75. Ulysses Coach Howell Activity Center, 396 Price Street. Register online. eventbrite.com
AUGUST 12
The fourth annual United Way Flashback Bash fundraiser, presented by CoreLogic, will be a battle of the decades. Come representing your favorite past decade. Music from Almost Famous and catering by Taylor Grocery. Tickets, $30, available online. 7 p.m., Oxford Conference Center. uwflashback.com
AUGUST 14-15
Students arrive on the University of Mississippi campus to settle into oncampus housing (sorority recruitment participants move in Aug 9-11, and Honors College freshmen move in Aug. 12.) Classes start Aug. 21.
studenthousing.olemiss.edu/move-in
AUGUST 17
A culinary tasting event celebrating Lafayette County’s food entrepreneurs sharing tastings and culinary stories. Tickets $25. 6 p.m., the Powerhouse. oxfordarts.com
AUGUST 25
Up-and-coming country music star Morgan Wade performs live in Oxford. General admission, $32; VIP tickets $112. Doors open at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., The Lyric. thelyricoxford.com
ONGOING THIS MONTH
Japanese Block Prints, on loan from the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, are displayed. Gumtree Museum of Art. gumtreemuseum.com
AUGUST 5
Local celebrities compete to raise funds for Boys and Girls Clubs of North Mississippi.
6:30 p.m., Cadence Bank Arena. bgcnms.org/dance-like-the-stars
AUGUST 5
A colorful fun run honors fallen officer Lt. Jeff Turner. Proceeds benefit Pontotoc Police Department and Turner’s family. 10 a.m., 130 W. Reynolds St. facebook.com/pontotocpolicecolorrun
AUGUST 15-17
Furniture industry experts from around the region gather at Tupelo Furniture Market for its 2023 Summer Market. tupelofurnituremarket.com
AUGUST 18
R&B artists Keith Sweat, K. Michelle and Lyfe Jennings come together in Tupelo for a memorable show. Tickets from $88.
7:30 p.m., Cadence Bank Arena. cb-arena.com
AUGUST 24-26
Tupelo Community Theatre opens its season with Tony Award-winning musical comedy about the ultimate spelling championship. 7:30 p.m. Aug. 24-26 and 2 p.m. Aug. 26. tct.ms
AUGUST 18-19
The Natchez Trace Council of Boy Scouts of America puts on its 29th annual Clay Classic and 15th annual Elite Eagle Shoot. Camp Yocona, Randolph. natcheztracecouncil.org/clayclassic
AUGUST 26
Lost + Found Coffee Co. hosts its third annual Latte Art Throwdown competition. Baristas from around the Southeast will compete for a huge prize package. 7 p.m. lostandfoundcoffee.co
BRING SOMETHING NEW TO YOUR LUNCH OR DINNER TABLE WITH THESE CREATIVE CHICKEN SALAD RECIPES.
RECIPES BY SARAH GODWIN | PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOE WORTHEM
These make-ahead chicken salads can be served as easy summer suppers or tasty school lunch sandwiches. All of the recipes make good use of leftover chicken, or simply boil chicken breasts over medium-low heat for about an hour in just enough water to cover the chicken. Pull the meat by hand, or beat with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until chicken is shredded, about 1 minute. Greek yogurt keeps the chicken salad lighter in fat and higher in protein, and the mix-ins can be adjusted according to personal preference. Serve chicken salad with bread, crackers, fresh vegetables or in lettuce cups.
3-4 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup mayonnaise, homemade or store-bought
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons curry powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ginger powder
½ lemon, juiced
2 bunches green onions, chopped
¾ cup dried cranberries
¾ cup diced Granny Smith apple
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, and stir until well combined.
3-4 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup Caesar dressing
¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
5-6 strips cooked, crumbled bacon strips or about ½ cup bacon bits)
½ cup chopped kalamata olives
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Black pepper, to taste
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, and stir until well combined.
3-4 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise, homemade or store-bought
¾ cup canned crushed pineapple (with juice)
½ cup toasted sweetened flaked coconut
¾ cup toasted pecan pieces
1 cup red grapes, halved
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, and stir until well combined.
Teachers have influence far beyond the walls of their classrooms. Their lessons, academic and otherwise, have the potential to be carried with their students for life. While school-aged children are often quick to identify their favorite teachers, grown-ups may have to reach farther back in their memories to recall those that left the biggest impression on them. But with a little thought, almost everyone can name one.
Six grown-ups from around northeast Mississippi — each of whom has had a big impact on their community —spoke with us about a teacher they remember as being among the most influential in their lives. We are happy to share their words of praise with our readers.
My uncle, Roger Cowan Jr., taught two generations of our family the amazing world of advanced sciences. He was my high school chemistry teacher and certainly didn’t allow me to be the “teacher’s pet.” He awarded me the only B average I received in high school and dismissed me from lab for being a bit rowdy. I still can’t balance equations, but because of his example, I am able to better balance the equations of life. A quiet-natured man, he taught his siblings, future in-laws, children and relatives, never making things easy; most would say they were more challenging. Study times at his home included him sitting in a nearby room smiling and offering quiet chuckles as he listened. He was and still is a wellrespected educator among his colleagues and former students. Today, he is retired, turning the reigns over to his beautiful daughters who carry his legacy in classrooms each day.
Continued on page 26
“Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society becausetheir
professional effortsaffect
the fate of the earth.” — Helen CaldicottEvie Storey with a photograph of her favorite teacher, her uncle, Roger Cowan Jr.
Continued from page 24
I’m fortunate to have had many great teachers in Amory: Mike Justice in eighth grade, Bill Miley in 11th grade and Jeffie Robinson in 12th grade. But perhaps the teacher who taught me the most about life was my fourth-grade teacher, Jane Camp. She’d actually been my mother’s teacher as well. I loved her, but in the spring of 1965, I was horrified when she gave me my very first B, and it was in reading and spelling. When my mother picked me up from school that day, I cried over that B, saying it was unfair and incorrect. I’d saved all my spelling tests and book reports and had made an A on each one. My mother encouraged me to go talk to Mrs. Camp and show her my papers from the previous six weeks. I very timidly entered Mrs. Camp’s school room the next afternoon with all my tests in my book satchel. I told her there might have been a mistake made on my report card in reading and spelling. She looked at her grade book, compared it to my test papers, sighed deeply and told me I was right. She immediately corrected my B to an A. And then we talked for a few minutes about the importance of standing up for yourself when you are right about something, and also being able to admit when you are wrong. I learned so much from Mrs. Camp that day. It was a lesson I’ve honored my whole life. By the way, my first B in school finally came in 10th grade in geometry!
I’ve had many great teachers and coaches, but probably the most influential is Coach Mickey Linder. Coach Linder was a small man in stature, but probably the most intimidating person one would ever meet. He went above and beyond his job as a coach and was a father figure to many kids and young adults who came through the Tupelo Public School District.
When I would get home from Church Street every day in the fall, I would put on my football uniform and walk to Milam to watch practice. Coach Linder and Travis Beard were both longtime coaches at Milam. I guess at some point they got tired of watching me watching them and started integrating me into the practices (on a limited basis, of course). I remember them asking me to go on an overnight game trip to Memphis. I still remember parts of that trip and always appreciated the opportunity to join the team. This was only the beginning of
a long relationship with Coach Linder. He later coached me on the basketball team at Milam and then football at Carver.
Coach Linder would pick up kids in the summer and take them to the gym because he wanted to keep the young people out of trouble. Coach had some past health issues I believe had to do with stomach ulcers. One day during summer workouts we were scorching hot, tired and feeling a little down. Well, Coach was fed up with our “sorriness,” a term he used often, and told us the doctors had taken out most of his stomach, but they didn’t take out any of his guts. A bit of motivation at the right time, I guess. We went on to go undefeated that fall. One of many for the Carver Blue Devils. He was one of a kind and a legend in the coaching ranks. But more importantly, he was a man of faith, and that was his proudest accomplishment.
Thinking back to my high school days, I recall more than one teacher who stands out, but there is one who was very special to me. She taught me as well as my older brother and sisters. So she was well seasoned and knew our family well. I grew up in the Thaxton community, and the late Mrs. O.O. Hale was the English teacher and librarian at Thaxton High School. She ruled the library with an iron hand. If you were not busy, she would sometimes notice, and she’d bring a book to the desk and say, “Read that and be ready to tell the class about it.”
That is how I was introduced to Longfellow and other writers. She expanded my reading list as well as taught me to be able to use the parts of speech and to diagram a sentence. Mrs. Hale was a tough teacher; you had the choice to learn or to learn the hard way. Since words, books and stories are a big part of my career and life, I credit her with giving me a good foundation and teaching me to be a part of the grammar police.
Continued on page 28
Continued from page 27
It brings a smile to my face to think of my high school guidance counselor Nicki Graham. Mrs. Graham was the most influential educator during my high school years in Florence, Alabama, where I grew up. She was compassionate and nononsense. She gave extremely wise counsel on navigating the challenges of high school, finding
the right college and obtaining scholarships. More importantly, she always had an open door, an open mind and an open heart. She genuinely loved her students, and we loved her back. Mrs. Graham touched so many young lives, and I am forever grateful for her guidance and friendship as I get older. She passed away in 2020.
During my time as a student in the South Panola School District, my most inspirational teacher was my band director, Mr. William McEwen. Mr. McEwen was my band director in grades 6 through 12. He was stern but loving. He held students accountable but admonished with a fatherly compassion. During band he not only taught music, but also applicable life lessons. He expected us to be our best selves at all times. As a student, I felt that he truly cared, and due to his high expectations, I did not want to disappoint him by not being my best self. Mr. McEwen was a role model who carried himself respectfully, and he demanded the same from his students.
WITH A FOCUS ON LEARNING THROUGH PLAY, THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL CENTER PROVIDES PARENTS AND TEACHERS FREE TRAINING, TIPS AND TOOLS FOR A SUCCESSFUL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.
WRITTEN BY SONIA THOMPSON | PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOE WORTHEM
Walking into the large, bright classroom inside the University of Mississippi’s Insight Park, there are cheerful bulletin boards, rows and rows of educational toys, blocks, dolls, musical instruments, and shelves and shelves of books — basically, a young child’s paradise.
But what looks like a fancy preschool setup is actually the North Mississippi Child Care Resource and Referral Center, a training and support facility for educators, parents and guardians. For anyone who has ever tried to educate or even entertain a 2-year-old for any extended amount of time, this is excellent news.
The center is grant-funded through the Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Kellogg Foundation, and it is partners with the North Mississippi Education Consortium and the UM Graduate Center for the Study of Early Learning. Its mission is to provide educational resources for parents and on- and off-site coaching and assistance to teachers and local child care workers.
“This is the state model. If you’re running or starting a child care center, you know what the best science says about how children learn and how the environment should be appropriately developed for that,” said Dr. Cathy Grace, co-director of the Graduate Center for the Study of Early Learning. “We also encourage parents when they’re making decisions about where their child is in child care, that they see their centers are set up somewhat like this.”
The model classroom is broken up into three age groups, nonmobile, 18-36 months, and 3 years and older. There are age-appropriate learning stations and toys found in each section.
“We rotate these materials often. We want it to look like a classroom as much as
we can,” program manager Hannah Sanders said. “Whenever a teacher or parent comes in, we want to help them know what to look for. So, if it’s December, you want to see winter scenes, you want to see snowflakes on a bulletin board, you want to see your center is moving along, that it’s not just stagnant.”
In addition to the mock classroom area, the center also offers a fully stocked library of toys and books available for check out. According to Sanders, they offer more than 3,000 resources ranging from coding, robots, STEM and STEAM, language and literacy, science, math, gross motor and fine motor activities. There is an emphasis placed on age-appropriate inclusive toys, which can look like a doll with a wheelchair, or building blocks that represent all the different types of dwellings children may live in, ranging from a house or apartment to a trailer or a hut.
“For example, we have books about differing abilities, we have books about culturally appropriate foods,” Sanders said. “If you have a new baby coming into your house, we have a book on that. Any book you can think of, we probably have that type of category here.”
But the dedicated staff at the center will also bring their resources directly to the people who need it, going into the Lafayette County community and working in eight surrounding counties to better educate
Mississippi’s early childhood educators.
Katie Mullins is the center’s coordinator of professional development, and she is a free resource for teachers and day cares.
“I go into child care centers and provide coaching to teachers who maybe need different approaches or some different strategies to use in their classrooms,” Mullins said. “Research shows that the first three years of a child’s life are the most crucial, because that’s when their brain is growing the most. They need experiences, they need hands-on learning that we don’t always see in our school systems or in our day cares.”
One instance stands out in Mullins’ mind from training out in the field.
“I went into a child care center once where there were 2- and 3-year-olds doing worksheets,” she said. “Now we know that’s not developmentally appropriate, and I was seeing a lot of behavior meltdowns. I worked with the teacher and the director to set up learning centers. I checked back in a few months later and all of the children were just glowing and happy, and they were doing hands-on, experiential learning. And the teacher just looked at me and said, ‘It works!’”
Visit northmsec.com/nmrr or follow @northms_ccrr on Instagram or Facebook for more information and updates. Make an appointment online to bring children to the supervised play area for one hour on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Earlier in 2023, as plans were being made for this year’s Mississippi Invitational, perhaps the biggest question to be answered was: What artists would be chosen for the exhibition? Enter Katie Pfohl, associate curator of contemporary art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Pfohl was the guest curator for the 2023 Mississippi Invitational.
The art — all created by contemporary artists living and working in Mississippi — features painting, sculpture, photography, installation and video. It is as diverse as the creators.
Of the 15 selected, six are from northeast Mississippi. The others are from Brandon, Jackson, Cleveland and Perkinston.
The theme for the exhibit is “Gulfs among Us,” relating to the social, political, cultural and geographic divisions in today’s world. The works of the 15 artists on display responds to gulfs between people and communities, humans and the environment and the interior and exterior selves of people.
Those selected were also eligible to apply for The Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship, a grant of up to $20,000 awarded to one artist. The 2023 recipient, announced during an opening reception at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, is Adrienne Brown-David of Water Valley. The fellowship provides a unique study-and-travel scholarship to support an individual artist in the development and creation of art over a period of two years.
“My current body of work is a conversation about the identity of Black girls and women in the American South, where race is a constant and pervasive thread woven into the daily fabric of life,” Brown-David said in her artist statement. “I would love to broaden the conversation to include people for whom that thread does not exist … where the concept of Blackness does not exist in the daily lives of its citizens.”
Brown-David will use her award to travel to Nigeria, Senegal and Liberia to broaden her perspective. She will spend time interviewing, photographing and painting the women and girls she meets during her trip and will explore the connection between West Africa and the American South.
Continued on page 38
Adrienne Brown-David is an artist living in Water Valley whose work is widely influenced by her four daughters. Her medium of choice has evolved through the years, from graphite and colored pencils to pen-and-ink to oil paintings. Of her work, Brown-David has said that it captures Black childhood that is pure and uninterrupted. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent a year at the School of Art Institute of Chicago.
Continued from page 37
New Hampshireborn Brooke White is a photographer and visual artist who has lived in Oxford since 2005. White is a professor of art and area head of Imaging Arts in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Mississippi. She also has served as affiliate faculty in the Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Expression at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. For two decades, White has made landscape and nature central in her art.
OXFORD starkville
Kariann Fuqua is an instructional assistant professor of art and director of Museum Studies at the University of Mississippi. The Oklahoma-born Fuqua is an abstract artist whose drawings, paintings and collage explore chaos and control. Her work is often about grief and climate change issues. She received her BFA in painting from Kansas State University and an MFA in painting from the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign.
Artist Caroline Hatfield lives in Starkville and is assistant professor and area coordinator of sculpture at Mississippi State University. Hatfield received her BFA in sculpture from the University of Tennessee, and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Art from Towson University in Maryland. The multidimensional artist mixes sculpture, installation, photography and drawing as she explores landscape, ecology and science fiction.
Water Valley resident James Kane received his BFA in painting and sculpting from Louisiana State University and his MFA in painting from Indiana University. Kane describes his artistic style as figurative. His medium leans heavily on oil, and through his art he likes to explore history, memory and intimacy as it relates to contemporary representations of queerness. Kane is originally from Louisiana.
Continued on page 40
Continued from page 39
Painter Taylor Loftin, who is originally from Jackson, today lives and works in Water Valley. He received his BFA from Memphis College of Art and his MFA from the University of Arkansas. Loftin has described his art as “bright, heavily textured and dreamy.”
The Mississippi Invitational exhibition is on display through Sept. 17 at the Mississippi Museum of Art, 308 South Lamar Street, in Jackson. The museum hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The 20th annual Blue Suede Cruise rolled into Tupelo in early May, providing a fun weekend for car enthusiasts of every age. Outside the Cadence Bank Arena were hundreds of classic cars, muscle cars and antique vehicles.
An impressive lineup of musicians took the stage in Baldwyn in early May for the seventh annual County Line Festival.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY LISA ROBERTS
The rebranded Gumtree Art & Wine Festival brought huge crowds of art and wine lovers to downtown Tupelo on Mother’s Day weekend for its 51st year. The was the second year that wine and spirits were added to the visual and performing arts.
Saltillo was the site of the Rails and Tails Rodeo and Crawfish Festival on May 12 and 13. On tap were crawfish aplenty, along with such events as barrel racing, bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling and more.
A spring-themed Three Blind Wines was held at the Powerhouse in early May. Teams enjoyed wine tasting, door prizes and small bites by Fox’s Pizza.
A children’s watercolor art camp was held in the backyard at Isom Place June 12-15. The camp was led by local artist Sarah Godwin.
SUBMITTED BY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce held its seventh annual Red Carpet Gala May 18 at Castle Hill Oxford. Cannon Motors was the presenting sponsor of the gala. The event took place the day after the chamber’s Annual Meeting.
The Oxford Juneteenth Festival, with music, food and fellowship, took place June 17 at Oxford Intermediate School. Businesses had an opportunity to sell their products, services or refreshments during the celebration.
INTERVIEWED BY LESLIE CRISS | PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOE WORTHEM
Even in the digital age, public and school libraries remain an institution in modern society. Mississippi writer and artist Rob Kuehnle has long loved and respected libraries. We asked him this: How important are public libraries and school libraries in the lives of students today?
Libraries are the repositories of the accumulated knowledge of human beings throughout history. Every subject a student must take in order to graduate will require research from time to time. Often, there is a book report or a term paper assigned by a teacher, and sometimes students need to probe deeper than merely typing something into a browser. Multiple cited sources for information gathering are frequently a requirement as well.
That’s where the brick-and-mortar library comes in, staffed by people who make their living as information specialists. Their profession requires a liberal arts view of the world in which we live; they are there to guide and open up lanes of learning. Never to censor and restrict.
Libraries help students prepare for the real world in which many different values compete for attention and loyalty.
EDUCATION IS A PROCESS OF EXPOSURE TO THE ECLECTIC UNIVERSE WE ALL SHARE, AND LIBRARIES ARE THE CAMERAS THAT HELP STUDENTS TAKE SNAPSHOTS, NOT ONLY OF THE PAST AND PRESENT BUT OF THE FUTURE AS WELL.”
Rob Kuehnle is a graduate of Sewanee (University of the South), a native of Natchez, now living in Oxford for the past 17 years. Kuehnle writes cozy mysteries with bridge as a background for Kensington (Bridge To Death Mysteries) under the pen name of R.J. Lee. He also does original art, using acrylics on corkboard as his unique medium. For many years, he represented several publishers to public libraries across the states of the Deep South and counts hundreds of librarians as his friends.
