An upcoming main-stage play at New Stage Theatre hits all the blues-music bullet points—the magical spell of its sound, its Mississippi Delta and field-worker roots, its musical flip side in spiritual communities, the crossroads myth, its “devil’s music” moniker and how British rockers rode its inspiration to riches.

British playwright Stephen Jeffreys completed “I Just Stopped By to See the Man” in 2000, and the play focuses on the humanity of those in its orbit. Salvation and sacrifice, redemption, reconciliation and temptation are threads in this character study of three people who must come to terms with their choices, their fears and the truth in their souls.

The play opens Feb. 2 and runs through Feb. 13. Set in the 1970s Mississippi Delta, Jesse “The Man” Davidson, last of the Delta bluesmen, lives in a shotgun house on a rural crossroads. Legends credit a devil’s deal behind his skill; the musician himself is reported to have died 14 years prior to the play’s start.

Even Jesse’s life in obscurity, with its outlook for trouble from any direction, cannot keep a determined interloper from stopping by to see him. Karl, a British rock star with a band on tour in the region, is determined to seek out the authentic source of the music he plays for a living, as if to sanctify his soul and secure his future. Jesse’s daughter, Della, stands with these two men at a crossroads, weighing what their choices—and sharing the truth about her own—will cost her.

In Jesse, Mark G. Henderson finds a fascinating personality: famous, talented and accustomed to the limelight, but now isolated from the recognition he once knew. “Oftentimes when I think of Jesse, I think of the concept of an Achilles heel,” Henderson, longtime speech/communications and theater professor at Jackson State University, says.

“With all great men, there’s something about them that’s their weakness, that could destroy them,” Henderson adds. “I’m still looking at Jesse. Is it his love for the blues? He loves the blues so much that he doesn’t want anyone else to play around with it. He feels like you have to have a right to sing the blues.”

DeShawn White of New York City, a Maryland native making her New Stage debut, has the nuanced role of Della, an activist and truth-teller. “She tells it like it is,” White says, “but at the same time, she’s hiding and she’s not living her own truth. The tug of war that’s going on within her, I think, is really compelling.”

As the larger-than-life English rock star in love with the blues, Austin Hohnke, also of New York, is struck by all the things Karl fears. “He’s scared of being alone, despite performing to these huge audiences. He seeks recognition, and needs to feel that there’s some legitimacy to what he’s doing,” Hohnke says. “It’s that fear of being a fraud.”

Hohnke was last seen at New Stage playing Carl Perkins in “Million Dollar Quartet,” an experience that gave him a great foundation and springboard for this production, he says.

“We went to Sun (Studio), and we went to Graceland, so we saw the adoption (of blues) in early rock ’n’ roll. … There are a lot of parallels I could draw,” he says. “As far as digging into legitimate blues, this has been just a great opportunity to dive headfirst into it.”

Not many plays focus on the blues, without being musicals, notes Francine Thomas Reynolds, New Stage Theatre artistic director who also sits in the director’s chair for this production. The play’s plunge into the culture, language and impact of the blues, and the three strong characters that drive its story drew Reynolds to this rich drama.

“They’re not stereotypes at all,” she says. “These are deep, multifaceted characters.”

“Everybody has a secret, and you find out what those secrets are. They’re revealed throughout the play, and how those secrets are driving them,” Reynolds says. “But on top of it all is layered this exploration of the blues. Who has the right to sing the blues? What is the blues?”

“I Just Stopped By to See the Man” folds into the theater’s Mississippi play initiative with its setting, recognition of music’s roots and the way Mississippi informs the Jesse character.

“There’s universality in their desires—keeping secrets, desiring relevance and legitimacy,” Reynolds says. “They could be anywhere, really, but it adds so much life to it, that it’s a Delta blues player.”

The stage play does include some music—guitar playing and singing—“but the whole idea is to get someone to sing and play the blues,” Reynolds emphasizes.

Mentions of real blues artists, messages coded in song, the strength and pull of the Black church, political context of race relations and more give the play an air of authenticity.

“Jesse’s character is kind of a meshing of all of these blues singers who are from MIssissippi or who are from the South,” Henderson says, and the playwright gets that right. “I think he speaks their thought process pretty well—how they felt or how they thought, being a blues singer in America against the backdrop of white supremacy.”

“Sometimes we see people who are famous or who are in the limelight, and you see their glory, and you don’t realize they still have a story,” Henderson adds. “There are some things that they’ve dealt with, that probably were the impetus for much of their success, because they were able to, as in Jesse’s character, overcome the status quo to leave the cotton fields, to make some leaps. And, he was able to use those experiences in his music.”

That, too, should connect directly with audiences here, he says. “Any Mississippian in that audience, if they haven’t experienced it, I guarantee you, it’s not even six degrees of separation, it’s two degrees of separation of someone they know who has a family member who has experienced everything that’s being talked about in this script.”

“I Just Stopped By to See the Man” runs from Feb. 2 to Feb. 13 at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.) in Jackson. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. General admission is $30, with discounts available for students, senior citizens, military and groups. Attendees may buy tickets at the theater box office, by phone at 601-948-3531 or online at newstagetheatre.com.

Fully vaccinated audience performances are Feb. 2, Feb. 4, Feb. 6, Feb. 8, Feb. 10 and Feb. 12, with proof of vaccination required, including for all children. A socially distanced performance will be on Feb. 9. A pay-what-you-can performance will be on Feb. 3. Artworks from H.C. Porter’s “Blues @ Home: Mississippi’s Living Blues Legends” series will be on exhibit in the Hewes Room at the theater throughout the show’s run, and Porter will be on hand to share insights on the project at 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 10, prior to that evening’s performance.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

Editor's Note: This story has been edited to account for events that have occurred since this article's original publication at the Mississippi Free Press.

Radale Brumfield, better known to most by his stage name RaDeazy Herrin Drive, steps through the back door of the auditorium. The lights dim as he begins dancing down the aisle, pausing to hug a fan and to high-five another. As he reaches the stage, he performs a few steps of the electric slide before turning to the band and cuing them to cut the music.

It’s showtime.

Moments later, the hip-hop artist introduces himself, the show and the opening performer—all while using his role as host to keep the audience engaged, which he describes as key for any show.

“I bring the energy,” Brumfield said. “When I come in, I make sure that even if you don’t want to stand up. You are going to stand up. It’s funny, and it’s all fun.”

“RaDeazy” brought laughter to the stage again on Saturday, Jan. 15, with the “We Back Laughing New Year’s Comedy Show” at The Grand Theatre (217 S. Curran Ave.) in Picayune. The show was the first that Brumfield’s company, Herrin Drive Entertainment, has put on since October 2021, when the artist and promoter opted to take some time off from organizing events to strategize and leave his fans wanting more.

“I called it the ‘We Back Laughing New Year’s Comedy Show’ because it’s been (since) Oct. 16 (that) we had one,” he said in an interview prior to the event. “I think the timing is perfect because New Year’s opened with a lot of drastic things that happened, and people are going to be looking for this laugh. People are going to need this laugh.”

Featured comedians included Whodi, Tekesha “TK” Fairley, Bumpy G and Spunky Robinson. Hip-hop artist MTB Kwik Cutta provided musical entertainment.

“These particular comedians on this roster are ones that have performed in my other shows over the six years,” Brumfield said. “I went back and selected ones that I knew were going to open the new year right.”

Robinson, the show’s headliner, has been a full-time comedian for nine years. Saturday was his third show with HDE. He says he returns each time because of the professionalism that both the show and its organizer exhibit.

“RaDeazy puts on a great comedy show,” Robinson said. “The crowd is great, and they receive me well. I have fun every time.”

The Miami native’s set focuses on real-life scenarios that borrow from romantic and familial relationships.

“You are going to have an exciting time,” he said. “I don’t just tell jokes. I am an entertainer, and I make sure everyone in the room has a great time with me. I’m going to bring you into my world for 45 minutes to an hour and make you see some things that you haven’t thought about.”

Picayune, the New Hollywood

Brumfield first came up with the idea of hosting comedy shows himself after another organizer invited him to host one in Jackson, Miss., in 2015. The recording artist had never attended a comedy show beforehand, but as he sang from his musical catalog, he realized that the atmosphere felt quite different from the concerts that he had been presenting.

“The guests were sitting down actually watching. When you perform at a club, everyone is walking around, talking, going to the bar, or on the phone,” he recalls. “At the comedy show the love was different. Everyone had a chance to sit down, and they just listened.”

Inspired, Brumfield spent the next year traveling to comedy shows, listening to different artists and recruiting a roster of talent, culminating in his first show, “The Experience,” in June 2016.

“That one performance was a life-changer for me. My dream always was to bring the lights to Picayune,” he says. “It was just about trying something, and ‘The Experience’ led to 40 more shows.”

In the nearly six years since “The Experience,” HDE’s shows have increased in popularity, with artists and comedians approaching the company rather than the other way around, which has opened the doors for bigger and more impressive events in areas like Hattiesburg, Miss.; Slidell, La.; Jackson, Miss.; and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

However, HDE continues to host the majority of its shows in Brumfield’s hometown of Picayune, bringing artists from Texas, Alabama, South Carolina and California to the small Mississippi town.

“I want to make Picayune the new Hollywood,” he says. “I don’t have to go anywhere else to make a name for myself. I’m going to have great shows right here (at home). I’m going to stay consistent and stay in Picayune.”

“We Back Laughing,” which marks HDE’s 42nd show, also took place in Picayune, adding to Brumfield’s goal of making Picayune a more prevalent location for talent to perform.

Brumfield grew up on Picayune’s Herrin Drive, a name he incorporated into his public persona as RaDeazy and into his entertainment company. His grandmother founded a gospel-music group with her 11 children called the Brumfield Gospel Singers. The group traveled across Mississippi to sing in churches and gospel programs, and they often held practices at Brumfield’s home, which he shared with his mother, father and four sisters.

“Growing up with a spiritual background is what makes me humble today,” he said. “The Lord has been blessing me through the journey to just meet people through laughter. I’ve met thousands of people.”

These years both introduced Brumfield to the music scene and taught him that entertainment carries power and can be a necessity.

“I feel like laughter can save lives,” he said. “I meet people after the comedy show who say, ‘Aww man. I was going through something, and I needed this laugh.’ Those comments right there are why I’m still doing it.”

To find more information on Herrin Drive Entertainment and upcoming shows, visit HDE.life. Videos of past shows can be found on RaDeazy Herrin Drive’s YouTube channel. Follow RaDeazy to keep up with his musical career or HDE’s upcoming shows on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

Jessie Daniels didn’t discover that she was fully white until she was in her mid-20s. Relatives had told her she was part-Cherokee, and she believed the common lie until college, when she realized that the set of moccasins passed through her very-white Texas family were not adequate proof of this supposed heritage.

In her 2021 book, “Nice White Ladies: The Truth about White Supremacy, Our Role in It, and How We Can Help Dismantle It,” the sociology professor at Hunter College, City University of New York demythologizes her family’s own fabrication of whiteness and what it means to be considered—at least in appearance—a “nice, white lady.”

In fact, Daniels contends that “nice, white ladies” have historically been responsible for perpetuating or directly causing a number of social injustices.

Daniels attended a meeting of the Association of Humanist Sociology in Jackson, Miss., organized by University of Mississippi sociology professor James Thomas on Saturday, Nov. 6. She joined Louwanda Evans, who serves as both an associate professor of sociology and the director of African American studies at Millsaps College, and Benjamin Saulsberry, the director of museum education at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, to discuss the insidious ways that white women can inadvertently or intentionally contribute to systems of racial injustice.

‘It’s Hard for Me to Trust White Women’

Louwanda Evans, who said she was one of two Black women on faculty at the private college in downtown Jackson, said her daily encounters with race complicated her reading of the book. “I’m surrounded by ‘nice, white ladies’ all the time,” Evans remarked. “I have a hard time making friends. It’s hard for me to trust white women.”

Her issues with forming bonds of trust across racial lines started early. “I didn’t grow up an activist,” Evans said of her upbringing in a predominantly Black parish in Louisiana. “Race wasn’t talked about because we didn’t have to talk about it.”

Saulsberry, Evans and Daniels, though, all agreed about the dangers of so-called “colorblindness.” Daniels pointed out an example she used in her book: Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who masqueraded as a Black woman and eventually rose to the presidency of the local NAACP in Spokane, Wash.

“We’ve talked about race as a social construct, and folks want to claim things they’re not (racist),” Daniels said. “We’ve given them room to do that. They’re seeing some kind of escape-hatch from being a white woman.”

Daniels argued that an escape from whiteness should not be the answer for white women hoping to undo the damage of white supremacy. “It covers a lot of evil if you constantly have to be ‘nice,’” she asserted. “We must confront systems.”

‘My Body Becomes a Missile’

The role of white women in the American justice system is one such system that Daniels decried both in her book and at the panel discussion. White women’s tendency to call upon a legal system that is three times more likely to kill a Black man than a white man has often resulted in rampant injustice, the professor said.

“One point of my finger, and my body becomes a missile,” Daniels said.

Carolyn Bryant Donham’s testimony against Emmett Till, to whose memory Daniels dedicated her book, was one such weaponization of the white female body, she argued. A band of white men kidnapped, tortured and eventually killed Till following Donham’s attestation that the 14-year-old whistled at her before making a sexual comment in Money, Miss., in 1955. When Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam stood trial for the lynching of Till, Donham testified about Till’s supposed misconduct, thus cementing the men’s not-guilty verdicts.

Bryant and Milam would confess to the murder six months later in an interview with Look magazine. But many people believe Donham was lying in that testimony, even as the Federal Bureau of Investigation closed a probe into her role this month due to lack of evidence.

‘She Still Had a Voice and Used It’

Benjamin Saulsberry agreed with Daniels’ opinion that Donham weaponized the legal system that already disproportionately favored white men, but he argued that Carolyn Bryant Donham’s testimony is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.

“Lying to the feds (would be) a crime,” Saulsberry acknowledged. “But we don’t know who (originally) told Roy about what happened at Bryant Grocery. He confronted Carolyn, and there was a lack of accountability.”

Daniels admitted that there had been rampant allegations of abuse in the Bryant marriage, but she still believes that Carolyn Bryant Donham is the South’s most haunting example of the privileges encompassed in white womanhood. “She has agency,” Daniels replied. “She must take responsibility for what her actions caused, not just to (Till) and his family, but to his entire community.”

Evans also cited the 2010 murder of James Craig Anderson, whom a group of white teenagers beat to death before running him over in the parking lot of the Metro Inn near Interstate 20. “When asked why she did this, one of the white women said, ‘My family taught me to do this,’” Evans said of the hate crime.

Daniels said the contemporary echoes of a decades-old crime proves that the work of dismantling racial injustice is still as fresh and vital as ever, particularly for white women.

“It’s not the identity you claim,” Daniels concluded simply. “It’s about who claims you.”

“Nice White Ladies” is available via Amazon and the book’s publisher, Seal Press.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

Even the standalone illustrations from Chuck Galey spark stories, igniting the imagination with a crackling warmth of character, narrative and action.

“Adventures in the Imagination: Chuck Galey,” a new exhibition available at The Music + Arts Experience (The MAX) in Meridian through March 12, puts a retrospective of the Jackson illustrator’s artwork on display. Its start, in particular, suits a storybook season often focused on children.

In the building Galey describes as a “cathedral to Mississippi talent,” Galey’s art injects a winsome note, as illustrations from children’s books “Jazz Cats” and “Rock ’n’ Roll Dogs” (Pelican Publishing, 2001 and 2006, respectively, author David Davis) dance across a rotunda wall with imaginary musical abandon.

“They’re not like your pets at home. They dress nicely, these cats,” Galey quips.

Galey’s “Kenzi at Christmas” embraces the holiday as tightly as little Kenzi hugs her big gift with a smile so contented, it must be the perfect present for a loved one. Sprung from his sketchbook, Kenzi has evolved over the past two years, and may not be done yet. “It surprises me how much people love Kenzi,” her creator says of the little girl in holly leggings and a big red beret. “She’s going to be in a story, I’ve got a feeling.”

In a different illustration, a pup gaily pulls another little girl past a door by its leash. The next depicts a slouching, soda-slurping boy keeping pace with his own pooch, and heading toward mischief by the look of it.

“I think it’s fun,” MAX curator Stacey Peralta says of the show. “It’s an opportunity to spend time with a child in a setting you don’t automatically think of.” It’s an invitation, too, for viewers to bring their own experiences and imaginations into play, fleshing out plots for the pictures at hand.

For Galey, a career illustrator, working more kids into his drawings is a new direction that’s evoking more responses and helping connect his art with friends and viewers, as well as an art director in a portfolio review. “I’m beginning to do more and more of those,” Galey says.

His other artworks elicit smiles, too, such as the whale with a tiny top hat and a big bouquet, which Galey created after visiting Saltillo Elementary School and seeing a student’s sketch; a rat tricked out in buccaneer’s gear and charmingly titled “Cheesebeard the Pirate”; and “Gerboa, the Australian Mouse,” whose guitar-in-hand, hoedown stance practically sings a bluegrass song on the spot.

The exhibition’s illustrations include acrylic, watercolor/pen and ink, and digital works. “I’ve moved back toward traditional watercolor, because … clearly, they have more appeal; they have more spontaneity,” Galey says. “They have more light to them, more energy to them.

“The authenticity of the art and the connectivity need to exude off that page,” he says. His characters on the pages on display at The MAX—even those loose from their published tales—carry that intended appeal and energy with them.

At 67, with 37 years of freelance illustrating experience under his belt, Galey is now at work crafting his own manuscripts to submit. “I began to edit another person’s manuscript while laying out a book, because the pacing wasn’t right,” he says, chuckling. His next thought: “I can do this.” While learning to write has been a challenging journey for the trained artist, his goal is clear—he wants to be “a complete package.”

“The breakout book has not come along, yet,” he notes. But he’s staying on the path, writing and sending manuscripts off, getting “really good (constructive) rejections,” and learning more with each. “So, it’s all worthwhile,” he surmises. His Kenzi illustration took on a life of her own, he says, gathering plenty of unsolicited compliments. “There may be something there,” he has heard.

Born in Greenwood, Galey gamely credits the flat landscape of the Delta as a canvas that begged for additional visual interest. Long-winded Sunday sermons from his Baptist preacher, too, provided room for ideas to blossom onto the church bulletin his dad handed him, along with a pencil, to keep him quiet in church.

He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1978 and worked as an art director at ad agencies and a state agency before venturing out on his own as a freelance illustrator in 1985.

Children’s books, devoured along with his son, Sean (now grown), captivated him. “I remember when Sean was 4, reading bedtime stories, and he looked up at me and said, ‘Will I know words when I grow up?’” Galey heard something profound in that sweet sentiment. He’d tired of advertising and the short shelf life of his creations in that field.

“I guess I wanted to do something a little more worthwhile,” he says. “What could be better than to illustrate and write for children? To encourage them to enjoy reading, which would mean, hopefully, that they would become lifelong readers—which, in my opinion, make them better citizens.”

He’s illustrated more than 50 books for educational publishers around the country and created covers for Beverly Cleary’s “Ribsy” and “Henry Huggins” books, as well as R.L. Stine’s “Fear Street” series for Recorded Books Inc. Illustrating picture books remains his favorite project. Among his books is “A Special Visitor Comes to Possum Ridge” (Mississippi Department of Archives & History), in which he adapted and illustrated an original story that Elizabeth Coleman wrote. Galey is also on the Mississippi Arts Commission’s artist and teaching artist rosters.

Galey traces a line of influences that travels from England’s Edward Lear and Beatrix Potter, through Meridian-born Edgar Parker, who moved to New York to study, taught at the School of Visual Arts there, and created detailed, whimsical graphite illustrations as a writer and illustrator of children’s literature that also engaged adults.

Connect the dots to the anthropomorphic fun in a Galey character such as that jamboree-juiced gerboa. “You can see this connection between whimsy and humor and just the imagination that you pump into these characters,” he says.

At the exhibition opening at The MAX on Nov. 23, dozens gathered in support and appreciation of the illustrator. The Coleman Warner family sponsored the exhibition “In trying to support the cause of children’s literature, it excited me that the museum could connect with this artist and that field,” Warner, development director at The MAX, says.

Galey’s Greenwood roots and his links with Pelican Publishing of New Orleans and children’s literature resonated with Warner. His wife, Cindy, is a retired public-school teacher. They spent most of their careers in New Orleans and are new grandparents. Their granddaughter Savannah, who lives in New Orleans, is the special “jazz cat” referenced in the exhibition intro on The MAX’s website.

“I’m so glad they did this,” Ellen Ruffin says. Curator of the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi and “a Chuck fan and friend,” Ruffin admires Galey’s changing color palettes, the characters and the “dreamy” quality in illustrations such as his “Wynken, Blynken & Nod,” based on a favorite nursery rhyme.

“What I love is that Chuck continues to grow,” Ruffin says. She stops at the city dog walk illustration, in which a little girl holds onto her small, excitable puppy’s leash, as the dog pulls her along as they move toward adventures yet to be detailed. “This tells a story,” she says. “He needs to develop that into a picture book.”

As part of the exhibition, Galey will lead a Book Illustration Workshop on Saturday, Dec. 4, at The MAX. Capacity is limited, and registration is required.

“Adventures in the Imagination” is available at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (2155 Front St., Meridian), also known as the Max, until March 12, 2022. The Max is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday and is closed on Sundays and Mondays. General admission is $14; discount rates apply. For more information about tickets, visit msarts.org. To learn more about Chuck Galey and his illustrations, visit chuckgaley.com.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write shaye@mississippifreepress.org for information.

The Center for Art & Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art recently announced the release of two new publications made through support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The publications are titled "CAPE Toolkit" and "Compassion, Art, People and Equity: The Story of the Center for Art and Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art."

CAPE Managing Director Monique Davis created CAPE Toolkit, which is a digital publication that offers a model intended to guide institutional transformation by investigating equity, transparency and truth in a community, a release from CAPE says. CAPE Toolkit is available on the Museum’s website.

Art critic and writer Seph Rodney wrote "Compassion, Art, People, and Equity: The Story of the Center for Art and Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art," which describes CAPE’s establishment, its partners and participants and its signature programs. The 21-page softcover book is available on the Museum’s website (https://www.msmuseumart.org/cape-resources/).

Meals That Heal, Plant-based Menu

Meals That Heal (612 N. Farish St.), a restaurant with an entirely plant-based menu, opened for business in Jackson on Aug. 29. Husband and wife Yasmin Gabriel and Eric Collins opened the restaurant together with their friend Detrice Roberts and chose Aug. 29 as the opening day because it coincides with the Haitian Revolution, a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in what is now Haiti.

"My husband and I are of Haitian descent and were even married there," Gabriel says. "The Hatian Revolution represents the first successful Black revolution and place of freedom in the Western Hemisphere, and we wanted to open our restaurant on a day that signified Black freedom."

Gabriel and her husband also own Herbal Blessings (614 N. Farish St.), an herb shop located right next door to their new restaurant. The spark to open a restaurant came when Roberts, who suffers from asthma, decided to switch to a plant-based diet.

"A plant-based diet is good for your health, but there aren't many options for that in Jackson," Gabriel says. "Some restaurants have a few vegan or vegetarian options, but they're often processed foods. Our goal is to bring fresh and healthy food to Jackson that tastes just as good as what people are used to."

The menu at Meals That Heal includes vegan tacos and burritos, beet burgers, black bean burgers, pecan meat spaghetti, plant-based gumbo, kale wraps, baked cauliflower wings, Creole greens, butternut squash macaroni and cheese, Berber cabbage, spring rolls and more. Meals that Heal does not use any white sugars, butter or heavily processed items in any of its dishes.

Meals That Heal is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. for dinner. For more information call 662-314-7739 or visit mealsthatheal601.com.

The Village at Livingston Under Construction in Jackson

Developers and City of Jackson officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new project called “The Village at Livingston” on Thursday, Oct. 21. Retail Specialists is overseeing the development, which is slated to bring 195 to 200 new homes to Jackson along with commercial and retail space for hotel and grocery users.

The Village at Livingston will feature traditional-styled homes and a common area greenspace within the neighborhood for resident’s use. The development, located off Livingston Road and Woodrow Wilson Avenue, is a redevelopment of the former Hood Furniture Manufacturing facility.

Retail Specialists is developing The Village at Livingston together with Prominence Homes, which is constructing the new homes. Benchmark Engineering is serving as the project engineer for the development, and Construction Services, LLC, will perform the site work for the project.

In Mississippi author Alfred Nicols’s “Lost Love’s Return,” the return is all the sweeter for the loss, as Nicols spins a tale of World War I sweethearts separated by illness, scheming lovers and the Atlantic Ocean. Peter Montgomery is a simple, down-home boy from a small town in southern Mississippi who meets London native Elizabeth Baker at Edmonton Hospital after his leg is filled with German shrapnel. The pair fall deeply in love, but when Peter is shipped back to America with no way to leave word of his whereabouts for Elizabeth, the two begin to chart very different courses for their lives.

These diverging paths are indelibly marked by their time in the Great War, and the novel probes these difficult questions of war without coming to any convenient (or preachy) conclusions. Peter agonizes about the fact that he, a boy who once cried on a squirrel hunt over the inhumanity of it all, killed countless men in the name of war, and Peter and Elizabeth both feel the burden of surviving the war when their loved ones did not. In this cycle of refusing easy answers, Nicols makes room to ask the axial question on which the novel cleverly pivots: What is a man’s duty?

When Peter returns home from the war, heartbroken over his perceived loss of Elizabeth, a young shopkeeper in his hometown sets her sights on Peter. Her wicked influence is the true unspooling of his relationship with Elizabeth, as she hides the letters marked “return to sender,” thereby depriving Peter of the knowledge that Elizabeth never knew that he tried to find her. The shopkeeper, however, does something far worse: She takes advantage of a drunk and sleeping Peter to have the necessary fodder for a believable lie of pregnancy. Had the same happened to Elizabeth, it certainly would have been decried as rape, since no consent was ever given (in fact, Peter protested).

Instead, Peter feels responsible, and the polite Southern culture of his Mississippi hometown feeds this sense of responsibility, with his parents telling him to do “the right thing,” despite the fact that he bore no responsibility for the act. Duty, then, becomes a construct that Peter dismantles throughout the novel. His duty to his country left him with mental and physical scars, and his duty to the mother of his child leads him into a loveless marriage that will eventually leave him penniless and alone, as the shopkeeper spends Peter’s working years spiriting away nearly every dollar he ever made.

The story rang true for me, since, like Peter, I’m a native of South Mississippi (his fictional hometown couldn’t have been far from my own, as it’s remarked that he lived an hour from Hattiesburg but nearly three hours from Jackson—those are the same geographical relationships I use to describe Wayne County to people who don’t know where it is). I’ve seen countless people decide to jump the broom when someone falls pregnant, even if there’s no love in sight. Duty harms men and women alike, the novel contends, keeping them from love and happiness and any real notion of who they actually are outside their ideas of “should do” and “ought to do.”

The novel’s conclusion is satisfying because, however belatedly, Peter is eventually able to answer the question of who he really is and what and who he really wants. It’s a privilege denied to many other Southern young people who feel the weight of the “right thing” when it doesn’t look or feel right to them in the context of their own lives and their own sense of being. Seeing Peter—at almost 50 years old—reclaim his life and provide his son an example of another way to live and another way to be a man was refreshing in the world of Southern literature.

Interested readers can purchase Nicols’s “Lost Love’s Return” on Amazon, at Target or from Barnes and Noble.

At 15 years old, Jackson native Essence Odomes finagled her way into an acting class that actress, director and producer Tasha Smith hosted in Atlanta. Smith offered the teenager a piece of advice: move out of her home state.

“She basically told me, ‘You are going to have to leave Mississippi if you want to (act) because there is nothing there,’” Odomes says. “So I spent the next couple years until graduation focusing on getting out of Mississippi.”

Odomes performed in her first play at age 7 and later honed her acting and theatrical skills in Jackson Public Schools’ Academic and Performing Arts program. After high school, she attended Spelman College for a semester before moving to California to attend the University of California, Los Angeles.

During a trip home, she met her now-husband Dezron Odomes, who soon joined her at UCLA and majored in music business. Essence completed her bachelor’s degree in acting for film and television. However, the pre- and post-production classes she took intrigued her the most.

“(Those courses) opened my eyes to the behind-the-scenes world that I never knew about,” she says. “I knew that if I could get a piece of the backend that I could then empower not only myself with the opportunities that I was looking for but I could also create them (for others) as well.”

Essence and Dezron moved to Atlanta in 2013, where the former worked several production jobs, including on the seventh installment of the “Fast & Furious” franchise. These experiences opened doors for both to land positions at Tyler Perry Studios. The couple married in 2018.

“We started working at Tyler Perry studios with the objective to one day soon do this type of work at home,” Essence says, and home they went, moving back to Mississippi in December 2020.

The Odomes founded their own production company, The Chosen Entertainment and Media, now The Chosen Productions, with a mission of using and creating a trained workforce for film and entertainment in the area, fulfilling a need that they noticed while growing up in Mississippi.

“Producers come from out of state and take advantage of our tax incentives. They may hire a few people in Jackson for a few weeks while they are in production, but most of them are bringing in crews because we don’t have the workforce here,” Essence says.

“(This) means when they yell ‘wrap,’ the city of Jackson is still left without the workforce and community of filmmakers here. It doesn’t really change what is happening in our city.”

By starting a Jackson-based production company, the Odomes hope to give aspiring actors and other Mississippians pursuing careers in film and television a means of using their skills without needing to leave the state.

“I always felt that there was so much talent here in Mississippi, and I felt so much frustration that I had to leave my family and the place that I know as home just to find opportunity,” Essence says.

Since forming the company, the Odomes have begun producing a pilot for a television series titled “Love Never Fails.” Modeled after Essence’s life, the script tells the story of a Black teenager growing up in Jackson, Miss., and struggling to find balance while pursuing her dreams and avoiding the pitfalls that she watches her own parents face.

Approximately 60% of the cast and crew used for the pilot call the Jackson metropolitan area home.

The power couple is also opening The Chosen Studios, an 8,000-square-foot facility on Northside Drive. Once complete, the space will feature a 5,000-square-foot soundstage with equipment, production offices, and rooms for wardrobe, hair and makeup. Their goal is to create a one-stop shop that can handle production from beginning to end, and they hope the first major production is their own.

“If all goes well and as we plan, then there will be a major television series about Jackson, Miss., shooting in Jackson, Miss., over the next few years,” Essence concludes.

To learn more about opportunities to become involved with The Chosen Productions, email Brand Manager Bianca Tatum at hello@biancatatum.com.

Jason Turner has long made a name for himself in Jackson and the southeast region as a music artist who performs in venues all over with the Jason Turner Band. This year, the music artist has tapped into his passion for visual art to collaborate with Michael “Ted” Burczynski, pen name Michael Ransom, to create a serialized comic of the latter’s debut novel, “The Ripper Gene.”

In the medical thriller, Burczynski uses his knowledge of cutting-edge genomics techniques to relay the story of Dr. Lucas Madden, a neurogeneticist-turned-FBI agent from Mississippi who applies a controversial genetic approach to behavioral profiling as he pursues the Snow White Killer in the Mississippi Delta following the disappearance of his former fiancée, which leads him to uncover a possible connection to the unsolved murder of the investigator’s own mother during his youth.

Over the summer, the pair produced an 11-page, black-and-white issue #0, which covers the prologue portion of the novel, with canonical bonus scenes to highlight events previously not depicted in the original story.

Turner grew up in Jackson, Miss., graduating from Forest Hill High School and enrolled in Hinds Community College in Raymond, first to study music before changing his major to graphic design. He lived in Nashville for a few years before returning to Mississippi around 10 years ago.

A native of Corinth, Miss., Bercynzski graduated from Corinth High School and then went on to Mississippi College in Clinton, where he studied chemistry. His educational pursuits led him to later study English literature at University College London, creative writing at the University of Idaho, and finally the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, from which he graduated with his doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology.

Both creatives, who each had shelvesstacked with statues of comic-book superheroes and other characters, behind them during the joint Zoom call, spoke with the Jackson Free Press about “The Ripper Gene” and their collaboration.

JFP (to Turner): Can you give more on your artistic background?

Turner: My dad, he was a comic collector. At 3 years old, he handed me Spider-Man and Batman (comics), and I was mainly hooked. I have artwork from when I was 4 or 5 drawing Spider-Man and Batman. My mom kept it. When I was in sixth or seventh grade, a kid from my class handed me Todd McFarlane’s “Spider-Man” and stuff from Jim Lee and Rob Liefield, who started Image Comics in the ’90s.

From there, I became obsessed with drawing. It’s something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. For a while I compared myself to those (comic-art) greats, but then I finally realized many artists, particularly indie artists, are doing their own thing and not even worrying about these guys. I was like, “Okay, I have my own thing.” So, about 10 years ago, I started promoting and putting my art out, and I’ve had a really good response.

JFP (to Burczynski): Can you tell me a bit about why you chose to set ‘The Ripper Gene’ in Mississippi, specifically?

Burczynski: For one thing, it’s what I know, where I grew up. But the germ of the novel—which is also in (issue #0), and Jason has done a beautiful job capturing it—is the prologue showing the background of the childhood of the main character.

A similar incident without a fatal outcome happened to me as a kid one Halloween night in northern Mississippi. So I knew that was where the backstory took place. I knew that I knew Mississippi and New Orleans pretty well, so I decided to set the story there and be familiar and comfortable describing the setting down there.

JFP: What intellectual ideas or themes do you present in the novel for your readers to ponder and think about?

Burczynski: I think the theme throughout the book is really the origin of good and evil. Are serial killers made, or are they born? I was really intrigued by the idea that if somebody is born with alterations in their DNA that predispose them to violence or flights of behavior, then they are kinda at a disadvantage from birth when it comes to choosing good or evil.

JFP: This book is set in Mississippi, which is a largely religious area. How much does religion play into that question of good and evil, nature versus nurture?

Burczynski: I am a pastor’s son, and in the novel you could argue that the protagonist is modeled after what I know. The protagonist, while an atheist at the onset of the novel, his father is a pastor, and they have a series of interactions and conversations comparing and contrasting a religious view of good and evil versus (Lucas’) more scientific view of good and evil.

JFP: Can you elaborate on which aspects of the novel were inspired by experiences from your own life?

Burczynski: I kind of stole my own thunder, but I’ll tell you a little bit of a funny story. In the prologue, there are some trick-or-treaters going down a country road who come across some scary-looking fellows. Up to that point, that’s exactly what happened to me and a bunch of kids that were trick or treating with my mother and another lady in the car. My mother, however, is a no-nonsense lady. She stepped on the gas. The prologue plays into what could have happened if the lady stepped out. The rest is all very much fiction.

JFP (to both): Can you tell me a bit about how you two became acquainted and how the idea of retelling “The Ripper Gene” as a serialized comic came about?

Turner: Ted’s brother and me were best friends for 25 or so years. He was the first bass player I had. It was actually his idea to start the Jason Turner Band. He recently passed away in January.

Ted knew I did comic-book art, so he reached out to me and said we should do this comic. For the lead character (Dr. Lucas Madden), I modeled the adult version after my friend Andy (Burczynski), Ted’s brother, and my brother, too, you know, the big brother I never had. So it is a special thing we are working on here creating this comic.

Burczynski: To add to that, after Andy passed away, I’d realized in the back of my mind that I always hoped Andy and I would collaborate on something like this. That wasn’t available anymore, but I thought to myself, “Jason is a talented artist.” I didn’t know if he was already pulled into a project, but I told him about “The Ripper Gene,” and he was interested, and I’m thrilled that he is the illustrator for this now.

JFP: The comic says that it is from Snakefarm Comics. Is Snakefarm something that you two created?

Turner: Andy’s (nick)name is Snakefarm. … (We knew) we needed to put out this prologue soon. I was working on the cover and just put Snakefarm Comics up there and asked Ted, “What do you think?”

Burczynski: I loved it. To keep him part of this project, that’s the name for the company we’re coming up with here. It’ll be founded on the “Ripper Gene” serialization, but hopefully there will be other comics to come.

One thing that’s really cool is that Jason and I are adding scenes that you don’t see in the novel but are canon. The novel is in first-person from the main characters’ perspective.

Jason is already illustrating a scene (in issue #0) that isn’t shown in the novel because the young detective could not have seen this scene happen off-screen. It’s hard to predict how many issues it’ll take to cover all the events of “The Ripper Gene” because there’s a lot we’re going to put into the comic that wasn’t on-screen in the novel.

I’ve always heard that everybody who reads (“The Ripper Gene” novel) thinks it’s very cinematic, so I think with Jason’s illustrations, letting people see events unfold in a storyboard fashion is only going to help.

Turner: To lead it back to Andy, we put this comic out ourselves, and my immediate thought at first was, “Oh man, we should send this to all these comic companies.”

But I remembered that Andy was always into the idea of DIY, even with music when he used to tell me, “Man, you should just put out music yourself. You’ve got the internet now; you don’t need companies.”

One day it just hit me in the car, and I texted Ted, “You know what, Andy always said ‘Do it yourself.’” So that’s where we went with this.

JFP: Is there anything else that either of you want to put out there before we close?

Burczynski: It’s been really amazing for me as a writer to have written the novel and know what’s in my head about that night (the scene depicted in the prologue issue) and then to see how Jason portrays it, and he’s done so well. His artistic illustrations really match the tone and theme in my writing, so I think it’s a nice match between him and me.

Turner: Andy had told me for years that his brother was a scientist and that he had written a novel, but I never had a copy. So in getting it (in preparation of illustrating the comic) and reading just the prologue, I didn’t even get beyond that before I was like, “This is so cool.”

Growing up and playing music in Mississippi, I have driven down nearly every Delta backroad in this state, so I could just see this scene of trees and bushes and these three kids in the middle of the road with blood on them. Now, drawing pages where this character resembles my friend and Ted’s brother, it just has a cool, thriller vibe, and it’s exciting to bring those things to life on the page.

The first full-length, fully colored issue of “The Ripper Gene” (comic) releases Oct. 31, 2021. Copies will be available for purchase online at either jasonturnerband.com or michaelransombooks.com, and in-person at Van’s Comics, Cards & Games (731 S. Pear Orchard Road, Ridgeland). Issue #0 is available at Van’s and through contacting either creator on social media. The novelization is available through Ransom’s website or other online retailers. For updates on the comic, which the pair estimate may publish for up to 12 issues, find The Ripper Gene Comic on Facebook.

Whether you’re new to the metro or are looking for something to do, the Jackson area features a number of vibrant public artworks you can soak in at your leisure.

View the full gallery here.

UPDATE: In-person events for the Mississippi Book Festival have been canceled. Executive Director Holly Lange has announced she hopes to transition as many panels and other guest presentations into a virtual format and create a new version of the event in the coming months. The following list of conversations and panels may change over time. To keep up with current news regarding the Mississippi Book Festival, visit msbookfestival.com or find the Mississippi Book Festival on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Mississippi is constantly faced with mockery and derision. “Fiftieth” has been the look-down-the-nose cry of its northern counterparts and even its fellow southerners, who refuse to see what’s long been known: Mississippi is a microcosm of America.

The land that national weather forecasters consistently refer to as “the area between New Orleans and Mobile” proves once again that it’s more than just the butt of a joke that was never true in the first place with its annual “literary lawn party” on the grounds of the Capitol. The event celebrates the history of a state that produced Eudora Welty, William Faulkner and Richard Wright while simultaneously saluting its modern voices, like Natasha Tretheway, Jesmyn Ward and John Grisham.

The single-day festival is on Aug. 21 this year, featuring dozens of panels, commemorative art and an extensive line-up of popular writers.

Former Congressman Gregg Harper will be on hand to discuss his new book, “A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama and Trump.” Editor of Time Magazine Walter Isaacson will be in attendance, as will recent Faulkner Award winner Deesha Philyaw.

Mississippi’s own will also stud the list of offerings, as Jacksonian Angie Thomas will promote her latest YA novel, “Concrete Rose,” alongside activist Kiese Laymon, who is rolling out his recent novel, “Long Division.” Catherine Pierce, the state’s newest Poet Laureate who recently published “Danger Days,” will also join the list of featured authors.

Visit msbookfestival.com or find the festival on Facebook and Twitter.

Three Conversations to Catch:

1 Mosquito Supper Club: Melissa M. Martin, chef of Mosquito Supper Club in New Orleans, will discuss Louisiana cuisine and bayou-living with Timothy Pakron, the author of “Mississippi Vegan.”

2 Personal Reflections: Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Lauren Hough will lay their lives bare as they consider their personal memoirs.

3 Afrofuturism: Tim Fielder and Jesse Holland continue the wonder of Black Panther with their contributions to the syfy-esque lore.

Five Panels Not to Miss:

1 All About Hub City Press: The Hattiesburg-based indie publisher will host a panel with three of its authors: Mark Barr, Anjali Enjeti and Gordy Sauer.

2 Meet Me in the Middle: Young readers will have the opportunity to meet New York Times Best-Selling author Nic Stone, along with Alda P. Dobbs, Carrie Seims and Gilbert Ford.

3 Rhythms of the Region: Regina Bradley, Bobby Rush and David Whiteis talk about their foray into writing about Mississippi’s musical past.

4 Book Club Picks: Those who prefer to read in groups with coworkers, neighbors or friends can find their next monthly selection by listening to Katherine St. John, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Karen White.

5 Southern Writers: With one of the largest panels on the docket, LeTanya McQueen, Lee Durkee, M.O. Walsh, Katy Simpson Smith and Gin Phillips will discuss the influence of their southern roots on their stories of the deep South.

Rob Bowman's March 23, 2021, release, "The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story," came to my doorstep in a pizza box-sized package that utterly bemused my poor postman, who is otherwise accustomed to dropping off the several deliveries I've received as part of my reviewing work with the Jackson Free Press. The reason for the bulky packaging was immediately apparent—the book itself is a coffee-table book, heavy, with a glossy black-and-white cover image of a Black man smoking the last few drags of a pale cigarette.

The inside of the manuscript is no different, with the academic writing punctuated by photographs, often stopping the text for pages at a time to include pictures taken at the Jackson recording company through its five decades of business, which the book commemorates. Stills of the artists that 
propelled Malaco's rise to fame stud its pages, but it features just as many "behind-the-scenes" looks at the company that is now the longest-standing independent record label in U.S. history.

A quick thumb-through of the well-researched tome makes it evident, then, that Malaco Records's success was synonymous with the success of its Black artists, who pioneered the stylings and sounds that helped the label stay afloat even during the rocky years when disco dominated the charts. Bowman does not ignore the contribution of Black artists to the last soul company's success—indeed, their contributions are unignorable in the larger story of late-20th century blues-infused music.

Bowman does, however, seem to 
water down the Black experience that made such soulful stylings possible. After all, 
Malaco Records got its start in Oxford, Miss., signing Black artists to perform during the same decade that left two people dead and 300 injured on the campus of the state's flagship university in the wake of the admission of James Meredith, the University of Mississippi's first Black student.

The focus instead is often on the white proprietors of the label, who were gifted at plucking artists from obscurity and helping them select songs and records that would 
elevate them to the top of their corners of the music world. Bowman makes it clear that this corner of the music world was often a specific one, as he points out that Malaco's only number-one records came on the gospel charts, a considerable distance from the more mainstream pop and rock offerings of the day.

Still, the company enjoyed unabated success, employing nearly 200 at its peak. Hard times eventually befell the Northside Drive edifice, as several of its premier performers eventually succumbed to poor health or the evolving music scene, which larger media conglomerates overtook by purchasing independent radio stations.

Bowman laments this transition, noting that when smaller radio stations from Houston to Gulfport stopped being able to select their own music—often the life-songs of their listeners, blues and soul and other undeniably Southern genres—the Mississippi record label suffered.

The overarching story of Malaco (at least in Bowman's estimation) is one of 
resilience, as the company has pivoted to promoting its music via streaming services and has rebuilt its physical location after an F-2 tornado devastated its original studio. And how could it be otherwise? The Black artists who put it on the map were and are well-acquainted with tenacity, with persisting in spite of seemingly overwhelming odds in the face of a larger mainstream culture that overlooks their talent at best and stifles them at worst.

Reading "The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story" reminded me what a unique opportunity it is to build a life in Mississippi's capital city, which has so often fostered the talents of artists—musical, literary, visual—that the rest of the nation would have allowed to fade into insignificance.

After all, the rest of the nation so often thinks of Ross Barnett's dire warnings of "drinking from the cup of genocide" when confronted with forced integration when it thinks of Mississippi, but in Jackson, we know that while those aspects of our history are true and must be reckoned with (and are often not history at all, as they can unexpectedly rear their ugly heads and remind us that they still live with us in the present), so are the successes and talents of our citizens, who bravely sing a song of better times and a brighter future in the sharing of their gifts.

Purchase the book through malaco.com or at Lemuria Book Store.

Susan Farris' debut novel, cleverly set over a period of three days, allows readers to witness the deaths and subsequent resurrections of the long-diseased relationships in the Matins family, which take center stage in "The Gravedigger's Guild" following the death of its matriarch, Alice Matins.

The book opens on the evening of Alice's wake, which causes quite the stir at the Chapel of the Cross in Madison, Miss. The titular gravedigger's guild has realized that Alice's burial plot is unsuitable for digging. Alice's older daughter, Maggy, is driving in from New York, full of sorrow over a recently ended relationship and her firing from her job as a fashion editor. Alice's younger daughter, Quinn, is raising five children and has a husband with a secret that might wreck their marriage and their finances.

All of this suffering, however, is compounded by the fact that Quinn and Maggy haven't spoken in 16 years, with each blaming the other for the shattering of the relationship. Alice has acted as the family's glue for the better part of two decades, ferrying messages between the sisters and making sure both Quinn and Maggy felt that they had a champion in their mother. The one thing she could not shield them from was the fallout from her death, which both sisters, despite being grown women with careers and families, seem ill-equipped to handle.

For me, this gave rise to the novel's dual weakness and strength: the unlikeability of the two protagonists. Both Maggy and Quinn are emotionally inept, fumbling through their personal relationships with a seeming inability to manage their familial affairs without coming to blows (mostly verbal, though one sister did actually hit the other near the end of the novel). The two women are steeped in a selfish stew of their own brewing from which they seem unable to escape, even when the parishioners of the Chapel of the Cross (and its attractive priest, whom the author and the townspeople were quick to pair with the freshly single Maggy) look on in dismay.

The sheer unpalatability of Maggy and Quinn allows the reader to focus on the novel's neatly structured plot and strong narration. At times, I felt like one of the clucking "church ladies" of the novel, shaking my head at the antics of the Matins sisters while still remaining wholly invested in their problems and how they intermingle. Maggy needs to overcome her resentment toward Quinn, who slept with Maggy's boyfriend while the duo were still in college. Quinn needs to bridle her bitterness toward Maggy, who moved away to New York rather than confront her sister with her feelings when Quinn became pregnant with Maggy's then-boyfriend's child.

This is further complicated by the fact that Maggy's old flame is still in the picture as Quinn's now-husband. He is as unlikeable as the sisters, refusing to confront his role in their feud while also scheming to cover up his mismanagement of the couple's finances.

Farris, however, does not allow any of her characters to remain irredeemable, often leaning on the inherent religiosity of the novel to support the characters' journey toward selflessness. None of them seem to ever totally arrive, which is satisfying in its own way, as readers are constantly reminded that there is too much "water under the bridge" for the characters and their relationships to emerge entirely unscathed.

Water is, after all, an important symbolic element in the novel, as the sky unleashes its fury throughout the weekend of Alice Matins' funeral, beginning with a midnight windstorm and concluding with an afternoon tornado. As a former English major, I loved seeing this plot device used continually throughout the novel in order to communicate the state of affairs: The worse the weather got, the worse the state of the Matins family became. It combined seamlessly with the novel's plot arc, and it strengthened the novel itself as it did so.

Despite this carefully structured narrative, Farris refuses any tidy endings, leaving readers with a message of the lasting regret imbued by words left unsaid and deeds left undone.

She also purposely fails to provide readers with clear answers, asking her audience to make an important and lasting judgment: What does forgiveness require you to mend, and what does it force you to let go?

"The Gravedigger's Guild" is available for purchase through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sources. Paperback copies cost $14.99, and digital copies cost $6.99.

Born in rural Sharkey County, Irma Mae Rogers—author of the recently released book "Mother Wit"—moved to Jackson, Miss., as a young child. Rogers became a mother at the age of 15, and she shares the lessons she learned along her journey (many of them the hard way) in her book, which local editor Meredith McGee published.

Q

You talk briefly in the book about your childhood. Could you talk a little bit about how those experiences formed the ideas you discuss in "Mother Wit"?

A

I'm the eighth of my parents' children. We're all about 11 months apart, and my older sisters and I helped my mom out. When we lived in Sharkey County, my brothers were out in the cotton fields, but we moved to Jackson when I was about 4. We lived in temporary housing for a while, and I knew how to see after a baby by the time I was 5. I was a mother for most of my childhood because I kept my siblings (who were) younger than me. I mostly stayed home (during that time). I'm very observant and quiet, but I pick up on things, so I was always watching and paying attention. My dad left when I was 6 or 7, and I was 15 when I had my first child.

Q

You discuss how you later felt led to forgive your father. What helped you see the importance of forgiveness in that particular relationship?

A I don't know what the man was thinking, to be honest. We were already poor, but when I looked back, I thought that maybe his parents didn't do a good job. He saw something like that (abandonment) growing up: have a woman with a lot of kids and leave. He was getting out of all that noise—it was all of us in one house. So it helped me understand (what he was thinking), and it helped me raise my own kids.

Q

Could you talk about what your experience with young motherhood was like?

A

(Becoming a young mother) was my fault, so I said, "I'm not gonna give him up." I did what I had to do, and my baby is 48 now. We're only 15 years apart, but I had a strong determination to hang in there with my kids. We played games and did puzzles, and I got up in the morning and got them ready for school. I got a GED when I was 17. My son was 2 (at the time), but I never stopped classes. I went every year. My health tried to keep me down, but I kept going. When my son got up into middle and high school, he would help me with my homework. I wasn't ashamed; I wanted to learn. Those children saved me—they kept me out of the streets.

Q

If you had to pick one topic from your book for the young people of today to read, which would it be and why?

A

I would pick the chapter on family and relationships. It's got a lot in it, and it's got my most important points. Family relationships start with the parents. A lot of families have a lot of complications, and there are dysfunctional families in the world today. I see a lot of that. The parents are how it got like that—the parents' parents' parents. Kids started having kids, but parents have to train kids. Every child should have a job, and families should get acquainted and talk more. They should get off their chests what they're keeping in their minds.

Q

Yes, you touch on the idea of families sharing more in "Mother Wit," especially regarding mental health. Why is that an important topic in today's society?

A

A lot of people throw their hands up on mental health, and a lot of people don't talk about it. My daughter was born with schizophrenia. She is disabled, and she was slow to develop. I was like a caretaker: I made sure everybody got to school, and I made sure everybody got to their doctor's appointments. I care about my daughter, and I love her, and people should feel like they can talk about (mental health) more.

Q

Near the end of the book, you ask, "Who is responsible for a young girl's future?" How would you answer that question?

A

Her parents are partly responsible—a baby doesn't know anything when it comes into the world. They learn how to do everything, and the parents have to teach them. It's layered, and it's a hard job. A lot of people don't have patience for that, but it's not the kid's fault. But in the end, you've got to be able to go out on your own.

It's hard, it's expensive. It's why you need to finish high school and go to college: 18 isn't ready; 21 isn't ready. Take your time, and you'll have a home when you get finished, and you won't wind up in these streets. When I think of a young girl's future, I think of my future. I was 50 when everyone had moved out, and I finally got my own apartment, but I'm still trying to go to school and still trying to go to work.

Readers interested in learning more about Rogers's book can visit her blog at https://meredithetc.com/mother-wit. Copies of "Mother Wit" may be purchased directly from the publisher (Meredith Etc) or from Barnes and Noble's online selection.

Warn Wilson Jr. has a deep desire to pass along the knowledge he did not learn when he was younger. "Brown Money," his first children's book, is his first attempt to share information with young people about careers in STEM areas—science, technology, engineering and math.

"This is everything I wish I'd known when I was young," he says. Now an electrical engineer living in Memphis, Wilson grew up in Jackson, attending Power APAC and Murrah High School before graduating with a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University.

The 52-page work was published in 2019 after a friend suggested Wilson stop just talking about it and take the plunge. "I wrote the book in two days, illustrated it in three weeks, and in another month, I had a printed copy," Wilson says.

As incredible as this turnaround may seem, Wilson takes it in stride, insisting that once he is interested in a topic, he works at an amazing pace. Those interests vary, as Wilson finds himself interested in everything, it seems, from real estate, to the stock market, to engineering and art.

"When I was writing my children's book, I thought, 'What would I want my future children to know?' I have younger siblings and cousins, and that helped me think about it," he explains.

"My idea is that you should learn about everything you're interested in," he adds. "Try it all. Even if you fail, you can still get valuable information."

"Brown Money" seems to be doing well: Wilson has done several readings to elementary students in the Memphis area over Zoom, with more scheduled. "I've tried to introduce these concepts in an easy-to-chew format," he says. "I've got relatives in real estate, landowners and managers, but not every child gets to see that as a job. If you don't even know it exists, there's no way to find out."

But the science-and-hard-facts side remains only one facet of Wilson, as the 
focused, young entrepreneur who hasn't even reached 30 yet is also an artist. He also created an illustration for every text page of the book,

"I've always loved drawing and painting," Wilson says. "For each page, I thought about what concept I was trying to get across. I sketched that out, and then created a painting for that page." The cover features a painting from a past series that fit the idea he was trying to convey.

To reinforce the concepts presented in his book, Wilson also created Brown Money: The Card Game. "It's a fun way for kids to remember the ideas in the book," Wilson claims. "There are occupation cards and penalty cards, and you earn or lose money depending on what you draw."

Wilson keeps himself busy, working a full-time job as an engineer and spending his nights and weekends writing and drawing. "I still love being an engineer and creating things," the artist says. "But I keep creating content for books, and drawing, and I want to keep turning that into motivational material."

In addition to his engineering job and budding career as a writer and artist, Wilson recently opened a consumer electronics business called Vondu Electronics (online at VonduElectronics.com/store)—keeping in line with his goal of having multiple, diverse income streams and continuing to learn more about the world around him so that he may pass that information to future leaders from his community and beyond.

"As an engineer and artist, I have always had a desire for creating new things. I love to see an idea manifest into a tangible object in the physical world," Wilson concludes. "I hope to use my academic insight and artwork to influence the next generation of Black thinkers and creators."

Find "Brown Money," its sequel "Brown Money 2"—set to release this spring—and the card game, as well as his second book, "Royal Counsel," and more at WarnWilson.com.

Nicole Wyatt Jenkins distinctly remembers the night that she met her husband. She was on a date with the manager of a local Mexican restaurant. Jason Jenkins was completing a live painting beside a band on the patio. During an intermission, he noticed her at the bar and struck up the nerve to introduce himself.

"I ended up talking to him all night," Nicole says. "He called me the next day, we went on a date, and we have literally spent every day together since."

The pair found that they had quite a bit in common. With no siblings, each of them had grown up in homes where they used their creativity to entertain themselves, as both of their mothers had molded their respective natural artistic abilities at an early age.

Jason, a Jackson native, holds a bachelor's degree in graphic design from the University of Southern Mississippi. His mother, Martha Ann Knight, was also a local artist who did traditional hand drawings and paintings. She passed all of her knowledge down to Jason.

As Nicole speaks, she fondly fingers a charm bracelet Jason gave to her. It was a prize that his mother won after placing second in a local art contest.

"It was one of the first gifts he gave me after we were together," Nicole says. "It was so meaningful."

Nicole grew up on a sheep farm in Bunker Hill, 
W. Va., where she learned the art of weaving from her mother, a fiber artist. Nicole helped her mother shear the sheep, clean it, spin it into yarn and use it for knitting. At age 9, Nicole and her family moved to the Jackson area. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in public relations from Mississippi State University.

Jason is well known for his live paintings, but he is also a muralist. He produced all of the murals at Martin's Downtown and the traffic box on the corner of Gallatin Street and Highway 80. In addition to his love of starscapes, he creates comic books and adult graphic novels. His art was recently featured at Designer Con in Los Angeles.

Nicole works in macrame and weaving, as well as hand lettering and calligraphy. She often creates videos for Instagram lettering her favorite sayings and quotes. Nearly four years ago, the couple decided to make their passions their career.

In 2017, the "couplerenuer" opened The Beacon. They secured the State Street space after noticing the 
Fondren Art Gallery vacating the building. The duo then spent time reinventing the space to fit their unique vision. Customers entering the Fondren building walk on the surface of the moon while surrounded by stars in the galaxy. Vintage bicycles hang from the ceiling.

"Jason covered the entire inside of the store with 
murals so you can come in and see all of his artwork and it be an immersive experience," Nicole says. "You can come in and share that kind of out-of-this-world experience that he created."

They call the business a "consciously curated general store for the modern creative." Visitors can browse ethically produced sustainable goods that are either fair trade, locally created or American-made. The couple is meticulous about ensuring that all the products offered in their store are either made sustainably or are offset. They even use post-consumer recycled shopping bags, ship using reused materials and plant-based home-compostable mailers, and recycle religiously.

The Beacon features basic art supplies in addition to an eclectic mix of unique merchandise, like handmade watercolors created by an indigenous maker in Canada who hand-harvests and grinds the stones before mixing them with local honey and water to create a vibrant paint. Nicole creates custom incense scents, while Jason's love of servicing and repairing typewriters and fountain pens helped birth the store's vintage section. His prints and illustrations are also available for purchase, as are signature enamel pins and stickers. Candles, jewelry, crystals, spices, skincare products and myriad other gifts fill the store.

Social responsibility and community service are important to the Jenkins duo, as they partner with One Tree Planted to ensure that a tree is planted in southern forests for each paper or pencil product sold. The business also donates full class packs of Crayola supplies to the Murrah and Forest Hill high schools, as well as Power APAC. Additionally, The Beacon donates 5% of all CBD sales to the Last Prisoner Project and The Equity Organization. Recently, the pair donated funds to Shower Power to help provide hygiene services for unhoused citizens, and they make regular donations to The Good Samaritan Center.

"When Jason and I established The Beacon, we wanted it to be a place that also gave back, not just to take and to sell. We make it a point to donate funds and products to organizations in need," Nicole says.

Like many local small businesses, the onset of the pandemic has strongly affected The Beacon. In January 2020, the couple finalized plans to convert a portion of their store into an art gallery. They planned to use the space to showcase Jason's artwork and to expand into more art ventures. The two had plans to curate gallery art shows and create more collaborative art projects as a couple. However, the plans had to be put on hold.

Because Nicole and Jason are immunocompromised, The Beacon's storefront remains shuttered, but the business is still meeting the needs of local creatives. Nicole has created a shoppable Instagram page and website, and they offer no-contact pickup, free same-day delivery in the local area, and shipping across the United States and Canada.

Feeling that it is more important now than ever to support local businesses, the couple features a "Mississippi Made" section on the shop's website, showcasing products from local vendors. The store's "Consciously Curated" Beacon Boxes contain a number of locally made goods, to offer another means of supporting local creators.

"All local businesses are really struggling, and we all need the support," Jason says. "If you wait until that business has to say we really need your support, it may be too late." Nicole adds: "It is very important to seek out local (businesses) first. Local businesses are members of your community. These people are your neighbors."

The Beacon's physical address (3030 N. State St.) is temporarily closed due to the pandemic. Patrons can shop online at thebeaconsupply.com or on Instagram at @beaconsupply.

In a narrative that smacks of privilege while also reckoning with its insidiousness, Ed Tarkington spins a southern yarn about manhood, family and desire in his latest book, "The Fortunate Ones."

The novel begins abruptly—Charlie Boykin is delivering the news of a fallen comrade to a heartbroken family when a news story stops him in his tracks: Arch Creigh, an affluent young politician, has committed suicide. While the entire group is horrified at such a revelation, the narrator's alarm is personal, and he tells the family that he once knew the deceased.

His relationship with Arch is the axis upon which "The Fortunate Ones" pivots, as the narrator rewinds his tale to its beginnings at a private, all-boys school in Nashville, and it soon becomes apparent that Charlie more than knew Arch Creigh. Arch was his assigned mentor at school, and the boys' bond deepened, with public professions of brotherhood and private confessions of desire.

This magnetism between Charlie, who grew up in near poverty in east Nashville, and Arch, who had known money and its pursuant privileges all his life, is the strongest feature of the novel, although its "moth to a flame" nature is evident from the outset. Charlie and Arch compete for the affections of a young woman who trusts Charlie with her secrets but Arch with her future, and the boys vye for the attentions of the adults of the novel, who are mired in scandals of their own doing (and undoing, to be sure).

Although the relationship between the two could certainly be classified as toxic, it also compels the reader, and the intrigue intensifies as the novel depicts the reflections of the now-grown Charlie interspersed throughout his own coming-of-age story.

The authorial decision to have an adult narrate a book that's largely about the antics of teenagers does eventually and unfortunately lend itself to the weakness of the novel, which I found to be the dialogue of the teenage protagonists.

Although an elevated vernacular is certainly expected for a group of wealthy Nashville teenagers, it comes across in many sections of the novel as stilted, with the adolescent characters sounding more like the elite adults they would become by the end of the novel and 
making decisions that seem far more socially aware than is entirely believable.

This backward-storytelling does, however, allow Charlie to recognize his own selfishness, and while we see him edge toward growth and progress throughout the novel, "The Fortunate Ones" is not a moral tale. Charlie, though he is raised more humbly than his privileged peers, is as utilitarian as they are, taking advantage of the wealth around him to forge opportunities and relationships that he might not otherwise have.

He even does this at the expense of his first friend, Terrence, a Black boy whose grandmother helped raise Charlie before his mother elevated their social status by finding work in a very different world than the one in which she had previously raised her son. Terrence believes in the best of Charlie—in the Charlie he first knew—and the novel finds its greatest victory when Charlie eventually recognizes this potential. He confronts the racism and the privilege he had once been so steeped in and comes to see the political machinations that work to oppress his friend and the ways that he himself had been complicit in those machinations.

The glimmers of this more receptive Charlie 
sustained both Terrence and me as a reader, as I found myself rooting for a character that made deeply flawed decisions while still seeming like a deeply human (and indeed, humane) person.

Despite Charlie's ability to win me over, I was not entirely convinced by Tarkington's portrayal of southern life—or perhaps the ritzy picture of life in Nashville simply did not ring true for me, a woman raised in a small town where many lived below the poverty line. I was, however, convinced by his portrayal of southern relationships, as I keenly recognized longing swathed in politeness, in feigned ignorance to spare another's feelings, in loyalty to the point that outsiders would consider senseless.

Therefore, for a southern reader, everyone in the novel behaves unforgivably but not inexplicably. Private pains lead to public decisions to choose, over and over again, to remain one of "the fortunate ones," proving the aptness of the novel's title.

Those interested in Tarkington's novel can tune in to a live chat with the author through Lemuria Books' Facebook page on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at noon, and hardcover, first-edition copies of the book are available for purchase at Lemuria.

Judy McNeil, the owner and manager of The Knit Studio, has recently entered her 13th year in service to local creatives. Setting up shop in Jackson was an easy choice for McNeil, who notes that the Jackson area already housed an established community of knitters and crocheters when her storefront opened in 2007.

"It was a shoo-in," McNeil says.

This sentiment particularly rang true given her long personal history in the profession. "I'm self-taught, but for me, it was more than a hobby—it was a passion," she says.

Operating The Knit Studio has allowed McNeil to tap into that passion by making beautiful things from unfinished fabrics, and it has also allowed her to help her customers pursue their own creative projects.

Some of these customers are novices, just beginning their foray into the crafting world, while others are more seasoned artisans, with distinct ideas about patterns and materials. Regardless of their preference, McNeil seeks to keep something in-store to help them along their journey, noting that the shop "carries everything from the most basic yarn for beginners all the way to hand-dyed yarn for those who have graduated into using more exquisite yarn."

Among these finer offerings are cashmere, silk and mohair, which all come in handy for customers aiming to make something special.

Valuing her experience and know-how, Knitters and crocheters across the spectrum come to McNeil for help with particularly tricky projects. "I never coveted my knowledge. If I could help, I would—but I'm the first to admit when I don't know," she quips.

The shop owner enjoys her work, even the more challenging projects. "It keeps me on my toes," McNeil remarks. "Reading patterns is almost like a second language. You always have it with you; you don't have to open a book every time someone has a problem."

Issues sometimes seemingly resolve themselves, though, once customers enter the shop, housed in Canton Mart Square in north Jackson.

"They'd think they had a problem with their knitting, but when they sat in the store, it was all right," McNeil recalls. The atmosphere fosters this sense of resolution and release that McNeil strives to create in her store. "Before COVID, we had a lot more socializing happening. We had several days that were known as 'social knitting days.'"

These "social knitting days" allowed customers to bring their knitting and their woes into The Knit Studio. "Everyone's story is interesting," McNeil says of the practice. "Many of the stories they told were absorbed by the fabric, which may sound silly, but it gives life to the yarn. It's like having friends come to your house—people tend to be a little more themselves."

For McNeil, this is an aspect of the business that she never expected but treasures all the same. "For me, success isn't in the projects. It's in how many people were initially customers but became friends. Those are the things that resonate, and that's in life, not just in business. It's the thing that makes it all worthwhile," she says.

To learn more about The Knit Studio or to make an online order, visit theknitstudio.com.

Felicia Hobson fixes herself a drink at the bar and takes a seat at a red table in the middle of the room. A candle burns, and '90s hits play softly in the background. A few friends gather on the couch to debate the best artists from their teenage years. Minutes later, Hobson picks up a microphone and introduces an upcoming local artist. Another episode of "The Fox Cave Chronicles" podcast has begun.

When the pandemic shut down businesses and offices in March, Hobson was in the middle of changing jobs. She found herself out of work and searching for something to do. One evening as she and a family member were sitting in her den listening to old music, Hobson realized that many of the songs they were enjoying were no longer in rotation.

"A lot of the music that I listen to is no longer around," Hobson says. "It's like the music is dying from the era that I love so much, which was the '90s."

The Jackson native decided to change that. "Foxy," as her friends call her, set up some recording equipment in her "woman cave" and started producing her podcast. Initially, Hobson used the show to catch up with older, popular musicians in the metro area.

"I didn't want the OGs to die out or become irrelevant, so the show was mainly about making Mississippi rappers relevant again," she says. "You know, the ones we don't hear about anymore."

The first show featured 
Bigelow and aired via Facebook Live on July 20. When she saw that the episode was viewed more than 800 times, Hobson realized that she would need to expand the platform. She extended invitations to both older and up-and-coming Mississippi artists of all genres—as well as entrepreneurs, community members and Black business owners—to give them a chance to introduce themselves to the area.

"There are so many artists here (who have) so much talent here that we don't know about," Hobson says. "A lot of times they get overlooked because people are so prone to shine the spotlight on the ones that are already popular. That is why my platform is here."

The show gained so much interest that Hobson expanded from recording once a week to twice a week, then three times a week. Soon, she found herself recording nearly every day of the week.

Additionally, the podcast's popularity combined with safety concerns caused her to move the recordings from her home to a local nightclub with more open space.

In the future, Hobson imagines the podcast broadening its scope even further to include artists from other states. She also hopes to attract the attention of television networks and higher-profile celebrities.

The second season of "The Fox Cave Chronicles" will begin airing in February on the podcast's business page on Facebook. To view past episodes, join the podcast's public Facebook group. Follow the podcast on Instagram at @thefoxcavechronicles.

With the number of positive COVID-19 cases rising in Mississippi, finding ways to safely entertain yourself and others at home has become even more crucial. Prissy Paintbrush Studios, a Ridgeland-based business that Hope "Prissy" Mallard opened in 2013, offers the increasingly popular Paint 2 Go kits that allow customers to unleash their inner artist within the safety of their homes.

Kits contain pre-drawn canvases featuring Mallard's own designs along with the paint and paintbrushes needed to complete the artworks. Mallard finds inspiration for her canvas drawings in all sorts of experiences, be it something she hears on the radio or sees day-to-day, and she notes that she enjoys drawing things she finds "bubbly and fun."

Customers can browse Prissy Paintbrush's website for art outlines they would like to fill in. After placing an order, patrons retrieve the Paint 2 Go kits via curbside pickup the following Saturday.

Before opening her business, Mallard worked as a dental assistant. All the while, however, art beckoned. When people started asking her to host paint parties, she realized an opportunity had presented itself, and she decided to start her own Paint and Sip studio, where people could enter, drink wine and paint.

During non-pandemic times, the studio's typical services and goods include Paint and Sip events, paint parties for kids, face painting and murals, along with custom canvases and door hangers. Shortly before the coronavirus landed in Mississippi, Mallard began selling party boxes, which evolved into the current Paint 2 Go program.

Like many businesses did during the mandatory quarantine period, Prissy Paintbrush closed its physical storefront, instead promoting the Paint 2 Go kits.

"I just recently opened back up a month ago, letting people come in and do socially distanced paint parties, and I can count on one hand how many parties I've actually had come into the studio, whereas the Paint 2 Go (service) is so popular," Mallard says. "That's what everybody wants to do. They want to paint from the comfort of their own home and get together with family."

With the current COVID-19 statistics, though, Mallard has once again temporarily closed the business' in-house studio, planning to reopen once cases decline. Until then, Prissy Paintbrush continues to sell a steady supply of Paint 2 Go kits.

"I have the same customers coming back to purchase kits," Mallard says. "They like to do it themselves—they have more time, and they don't feel rushed. They're in the luxury of their own home. It's been pretty awesome."

One of her most recent canvas drawings featured a nurse wearing a crown, which she created in honor of the health-care professionals serving on the frontline during this pandemic.

Other favorites include any of the pre-drawn canvas designed for kids, as well as her couples "Love" canvas, which features a simple and abstract outline.

To learn more or to purchase a Paint 2 Go kit, visit prissypaintbrushstudios.com.

You have decided to add a little art to your bodily canvas. You have researched and chosen a tattoo shop and artist, and you've decided on a design, style and placement. Once the paperwork is complete, you relax in an often dentist-style chair, and the artist sanitizes the area and transfers the stencil.

Tattoo machine in hand, the focused artist traces the design and fine-tunes the linework before adding shading and maybe a splash or two of color. A protective layer of ointment is applied to the completed tattoo to avoid bacterial infection, and a transparent bandage seals the area from the open air. Once the tattoo has healed, you're ready to show off the artist's hard work.

Azha Sanders has worked as a licensed tattoo artist for 11 years and currently works at Forged True Tattoo in Brookhaven. The Kosciusko, Miss., native moved to Jackson when she was 13 years old, and she has held a passion for art her whole life.

"I've been doing art for as long as I can remember," Sanders says. "It's always been my number-one hobby. It's my safe place. Fortunately, my family encouraged creating art. I just always loved to draw and paint on things, and when I started tattooing, it was really a lightning-bolt kind of moment."

At the onset of COVID-19 in Mississippi, Forged True Tattoo had to shut down, but it has since opened its doors, maintaining health-safety guidelines.

Beyond tattooing, Sanders creates murals, portraits and paintings, and she often enjoys using watercolor and markers.

Some of Sanders' more notable works include 7-foot-tall panels of Oprah Winfrey and Elvis Presley in the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport; two portraits for the characters Grizabella and Mungo Jerrie from "Cats the Musical, which were auctioned off at Thalia Mara Hall to benefit the Mississippi Spay and Neuter Clinic; a mural at Kirksey Middle School; and a mural for the recent "#ArtofVoting" series that Eli Childers organized.

"Art is a way for me to be able to speak my truth and to speak my language. I can show what I care about and put it out in the world and inspire someone," Sanders says. "And through tattooing, I get to help another person do that. I get to collaborate with someone else and tell their story. To me, that's so incredible. Being able to establish that connection is priceless."

Sanders manages an online store where patrons can purchase prints, stickers, magnets, clothes or accessories featuring her artwork, depicting both original and existing fictional characters.

The 32-year-old artist spends the bulk of her spare time with her husband, Josh, and their two cats, although she also enjoys going outdoors and patroning her local gym.

For more information or to view her artwork, visit azhatattoos.com, find her on Facebook, or follow her on Instagram at @azha.