Ellen Bourdeaux
Gallery 119 Director Ellen Bourdeaux wants to foster a place for Jackson artists and improve the community. She is combining those efforts for the "Luck of the Draw" fundraiser this Saturday at Gallery 119.
Young Gun: Toby Barker
At 28, Toby Barker first-term representative, looks closer in age to the blue-blazered pages ferrying bills across the House floor than he to some of the more grizzled legislators around him.
John Yu
When John Yu was a student at Jackson's Chastain Middle School, he witnessed firsthand the effects that bullying can have. A boy in one of his classes brought a revolver to school to defend himself from bullies who had threatened him consistently that year. Yu, now 28, still vividly remembers the fear he felt on that day.
Angela Stewart
Angela Stewart knows that preserving the past through sharing stories---especially about women and civil rights--is essential for changing the future.
Martha Bergmark
When Martha Bergmark left a turbulent Mississippi in the 1960s, she had no plans to return. But at the top of a successful law career in Washington, D.C., she decided to return to her home state and improve the lives of others.
Charly Abraham
Charly Abraham knows how to throw a party and for the past 22 years, he has proved just that as the main organizer for Mal's St. Patty's Parade.
Keisha Varnell
When Keisha Varnell walks down the hallways of Lanier High School, she remembers what it was like to face peer pressure but admits today's students have it a lot harder. "The issues now are so much more intense and severe," Varnell says. "When I was coming through, we were worried about which shoes matched what pants, but now you have technology, cyber stalking and venues on Web sites that make it hard for students."
Stan Leflore
When defining his role in the renaissance of downtown Jackson, Stan Leflore, 56, feels he is as much a pioneer as his great, great, great-grandfather, Louis LeFleur, the French-Canadian explorer who discovered the bluff that would later become Jackson.
Roderick Holmes
When Jackson Police Department Officer Roderick Holmes responded to an alarm call at Calvary Baptist Church in January, his training and skills came into play in apprehending a man who had broken into the church. As the intruder tried to flee the property, Holmes called for backup and with the help of other officers, he apprehended the suspect in a wooded area behind the church.
Evelyn Gandy
When Rep. Alyce Clarke, D-Jackson, considered running as the state's first female African American representative in the late 1980s, she received encouragement and advice from Evelyn Gandy.
Derek Emerson
Of all the dishes that Walker's Drive-In serves to its customers, Chef Derek Emerson says that tuna is his personal favorite. "It has to do with the way I created it," the James Beard Best Chef nominee says. "I like tuna, and I love working with it."
Shahid Buttar
As a college student in Chicago, Shahid Buttar sometimes would fish his next meal out of a trashcan. Often sleeping on the streets or couch surfing, Buttar found solace in the electronic rhythm of house music.
Colin Blanchard
Colin Blanchard loves cycling so much that despite being hit by a car twice, he rides his bike every morning from his Belhaven home to his job at The Bike Rack on Lakeland Drive where he does bike repair and maintenance. Blanchard, 23, says that cycling is a huge part of his everyday life.
Beau Phillips
A former Tupelo police officer, Beau Phillips knows how difficult it can be to support a family. After working a 12-hour night shift, he would often change his uniform and go straight to his second job as school security officer.
Daniel Fuller
Forest Hill High School teacher Daniel Fuller was teaching Advanced Placement literature last week, when Jackson Public Schools District Superintendent Lonnie Edwards, faculty members and several TV camera crews entered his classroom to deliver some unexpected news: The district named Fuller, 34, JPS teacher of the year.