2.1.23

Non-profit expands to solve community challenges

In 2023, Starkville Strong will continue to put forth effort in support of community needs.

Brandi Herrington, executive director of Starkville Strong, shared the goals of the nonprofit organization for the new year.

“For 2023, we are beginning to move beyond the typical asks of non-profits, and we are asking people to think outside of the box,” Herrington said.

Herrington spoke of the more unique issues that the community faces, such as the Ukrainian families who relocated to

Starkville following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Instead of the usual need for monetary

donations, Herrington said contributions, like a Rosetta Stone subscription, would assist Ukrainian families

Support group invites students to learn about intuitive eating

Mississippi State University’s Student Counseling Services and Department of Health Promotion and Wellness will be hosting sessions of Food Freedom throughout the spring semester.

The campus support group, Food Freedom, was created for students experiencing challenges with nutrition and eating behaviors. Meetings will be held throughout the semester at 4 p.m. in room 231 of the Colvard Student Union.

The group was formerly known as Lotus Group when the Department of Health Promotion and Wellness founded it in 2019, and it has been recently rebranded as Food Freedom since collaborating with Student Counseling Services.

Santee Ezell, Health Promotion and Wellness director, said the group was formed in response to students’ concerns about diet culture, self-

This semester, University Recreation at Mississippi State University will be hosting Outdoor Adventures (OA) trips to three scenic locations in Alabama

OA trips will include backpacking in the Sipsey Wilderness, caving the Tumbling Rock Cave and climbing Sand Rock.

Annie Bills, assistant director of Outdoor Adventures, member services and marketing at the Sanderson Center, said that OA’s goal is for students to connect with the outdoors and other students.

“It’s some good bonding time. Both in the car, on the drive there, as well as around a campfire making some s'mores,” Bills said. “It’s going to be a good time. (The students) can kind of

acceptance and body image. After conducting focus groups and surveys in 2018, Ezell said a need was identified.

“In 2019, the Registered Dietitian decided to incorporate a support group for women,” Ezell said.

Ezell said the reception of the Lotus Group was positive.

“When Lotus Group was established, we had diverse women from different walks of life that were passionate about

body image, self-love, acceptance and cultivating self-identity,” Ezell said.

What originally began as a women’s support group is now open to all MSU students.

“We’d like to see our group increase in attendance and encourage student feedback,” Ezell said.

Members of Food Freedom will walk through an intuitive eating workbook under the guidance of facilitators.

in their transition to life in the U.S. Amber Mullins, an intern for Starkville Strong, spoke of the

ongoing housing crisis across the Starkville community.

“There are housing complexes that are actually dangerous,” said

Mullins, a senior English major.

Herrington added to Mullins' comment and said many members of the Starkville community with fixed incomes struggle to find housing that is affordable, habitable and available. Starkville Strong is collaborating and working with locals to make change at a faster rate.

Rebekah Carruth, an active volunteer with Starkville Strong, said homelessness continues to be an issue for citizens. Misinformation interferes with the reality of the housing crisis in Starkville.

The Rumie app offers buy, sell and rent services exclusively to university students across the Southeastern Conference.

Tanner McCraney, cofounder of Rumie and graduate student at the University of Mississippi, said he created the app to give students a unified and safe platform to exchange used goods.

“What we noticed was that college students were using like Instagram and Snapchat as a means to buy, sell and rent on campus because Facebook Marketplace is scary for college students,” McCraney said. “People don't want to meet up with a stranger in strange places.”

McCraney in 2021. Phillips said the idea for the app came from his own experience with scams on Facebook Marketplace.

“I tried buying a Nintendo Switch, and as soon as I tried to buy it, this guy basically told me 'Oh, yeah, you can pay through PayPal' and like, basically ... everybody on Facebook Marketplace seems like they're trying to scam you,” Phillips said. NUTRITION, 2

Patrick Phillips, cofounder of Rumie and graduate student at Ole Miss, started Rumie with

trips explore outdoor activities in scenic locations

Tumbling Rock Cave features several unique rock formations like Topless Dome, Christmas Tree Stalagmite and Hall of the Gods. However, there is no lighting in the cave. The cave's staff members will give participants headlamps to use to navigate the cave’s interior.

Bills said prior experience is not necessary to cave at Tumbling Rock. However, the caving will involve lots of walking and maneuvering around rocks and obstacles the group may be encounter while caving.

talk, make those connections, make those friendships that that will kind of last beyond just the trip.”

OA’s first trip is Feb. 11 to the Sipsey Wilderness in northwest Alabama.

The trip involves a twoday, 12-mile hike through

the woods of Alabama’s largest designated wilderness. Backpackers will also get to view a very large poplar tree called “The Big Tree”.

Bryce Addy, a senior mechanical engineering major on the OA staff, said he is looking forward to

traversing the Sipsey.

Addy has been to the Sipsey with OA before. While the distance of the hike was challenging, he said the views made the trip rewarding.

On March 4 and 5, OA will travel to Monte Sano State Park and Tumbling

Rock Cave.

Bills said OA will leave the Sanderson Center the morning of March 4 and travel east of Huntsville, Alabama, to the Monte Sano State Park. The group will stay the night at the park, and then travel to Tumbling Rock Cave in the morning.

OA’s last trip of the semester will be to Sand Rock on April 22. Also known as Cherokee Rock Village, Sand Rock is located in the mountains of northern Alabama. The trip features a campout and the opportunity to climb Sand Rock.

HAnnAH RAe KenneDY STAFF WRITeR

BOWMAn STAFF WRITeR

Josh Herrington is the owner of Dunkington on South Lafayette Street and works as the pantry manager for Starkville Strong. Jacob Mitchell | The Reflector

This spring, sessions of Food Freedom will be hosted in the Colvard Student Union.

Anne Louise Phillips | The Reflector

Co-founders Tanner McCraney (right), Patrick Phillips (left) and team member Caki Field have been promoting the Rumie app.

Courtesy Photo | Tanner McCraney

Anne LOUISe PHILLIPS COnTRIBUTInG WRITeR RUMIE, 2

MSU’s University Recreation is hosting Outdoor Adventure trips across the state of Alabama. This semester, participants will visit the Sipsey Wilderness, the Tumbling Rock Cave and Sand Rock.

NON-PROFIT,

2

Courtesy Photo | Brandi Herrington

“There is a disbelief that Starkville has a homeless population that we are trying to counteract,” said Carruth, a junior philosophy major.

Carruth explained that residents do not think the city has people experiencing homelessness since the issue is not widely known.

As Starkville Strong continues to address these issues, it has been making strides with funding and internal growth, Herrington said.

In August 2022, Herrington created committees that work towards particular needs of the community. She said the volunteers would continue to progress during the new year.

Carruth is a member of the Community Advocacy Committee, which seeks to raise awareness and educate the community about city issues.

“These committees have given a lot of people an avenue where they can show up and do the work,” Carruth said.

Beyond the expansion of these committees, Starkville Strong partnered with Five

RUMIE

Phillips said scammers often use electronic money transferring apps like Venmo and PayPal to obtain money from customers without sending them the item they bought.

To avoid scammers, McCraney said students are required to sign up with their university email to access Rumie.

Since a university email is required, each user is bound by their school’s code of conduct.

“It's very easy to report any kind of misconduct that happens on the app, and that can

Suzanne Bowen, a registered dietician with the Department of Health Promotion and Wellness, will cofacilitate the group with Claire Griese. Bowen believed the philosophy of intuitive eating is powerful.

“I think people are worn out by all the diet culture messaging that’s around these days, so the intuitive eating philosophy can be very liberating,” Bowen said. “Once you remove those barriers, you have room to explore what your body needs.”

Bowen said the intuitive eating philosophy helped individuals with the guilt attached to taboo foods.

“It does not disregard nutrition, but gives you permission to drop the guilt over eating foods our culture has labeled as bad,”

Bills said OA will cater the climbing toward the experience level of the participants. Beginners will do less challenging levels, while more experienced climbers can do more difficult hikes.

OA recommends participants who are new to climbing visit the Sanderson Center climbing wall before attending the trip, Bills said.

Tanner Thurman, graduate assistant for Outdoor Adventures, said the pricing of the trips offered by OA is much lower than the prices for similar trips

Horizons Health Services, another nonprofit organization, to receive a second office space.

At the new location, Herrington said she hopes to have meetings with clients and add a second food pantry.

While the team continues to apply for more grants, Herrington said Starkville Strong has been officially accepted as a United Way Allocation Agency, which gives the non-profit federal funding to continue working towards its goals.

Even though it is growing, Starkville Strong continues to require community support, said the executive director.

“We always need funding, and we always need food donations,”

Herrington said.

Starkville Strong participants work alongside community members to show their potential and a hope for a more stable future.

Herrington said it seeks to provide real help for real problems instead of temporary solutions.

“We don’t do BandAids,” Herrington said.

get forwarded to upper management at the university. With your '.edu' email address, it's connected to your name, so there's full transparency,” McCraney said.

The app is home to a standard marketplace where students can purchase tickets, textbooks, furniture, clothing and more.

“Let’s say you're an average student who's looking for some sunglasses and you see someone at Ole Miss has the sunglasses you want. You can get them to ship it

to you,” McCraney said. Caki Field, senior majoring in management and entrepreneurship at Ole Miss, became involved with the app over the summer. Since then, Field

has overseen the rental feature of the app.

“After COVID, we were going to all these social events, date parties, formals, and I was buying a new dress for every single one of them, which obviously, as a college student, is not cost effective,” Field said.

According to Field, the rental feature can help students cut down on outfit spending for events.

“Girls across campus can rent from each other, you know, dresses that have been worn once or not even once or lightly worn,” Field said.

McCraney said the rental feature also allows students to rent out their own creative services to others.

Field said the app was especially useful for items that only students would be interested in buying.

“Like, the other day, I sold a hardcover card for a bar here in Oxford. I mean, that's something specifically only college students would really buy,” Field said.

Before launching to universities across the nation, McCraney said the objective is to allow students in the SEC to

become accustomed to the app first.

“Our objective is to get, you know, a couple thousand students at every school across the SEC, and then once we can help thousands of students across there, then we can expand across the actual country,” McCraney said.

Currently, McCraney said around 1,000 students at Mississippi State University have started using the app. Rumie is currently available in the App Store and the Google Play Store. For more information, visit rumieapp.com.

disorder treatment,” Mason-Peeples said. Bowen also recommended contacting the Longest Student Health Center for help regarding nutrition and food habits.

“I offer free nutrition counseling for MSU students,” Bowen said. “If you have any nutrition-related concern, you can call the Longest Student Health Center scheduling desk and set up an appointment. ” The Longest Student Health Center can be reached at 662-3252431 while the Student Counseling Center can be reached at 662-3252091.

Bowen said.

According to Bowen, research has shown the health benefits of intuitive eating, such as lower triglycerides,

offered by other schools in the region.

“I kind of compare us to (the University of) Alabama, UAB (University of AlabamaBirmingham) and Ole Miss,” Thurman said.

“We offer the lowest price possible to allow people to be able to go by having as low set of a price as we do. Ours is usually between $60 and $80 for a student.

Alabama’s is like $200.”

Those interested in going on an adventure trip can sign up on the UREC website. OA will provide transportation for up to eight participants.

lower body mass index and higher HDL. Food Freedom is just one resource available to help students with food and nutrition.

Kimberly MasonPeeples, assistant director of Student Counseling Services, said other alternatives were available through SCS.

“The Student Counseling Center offers counseling services included in students’ tuition that are inclusive of eating

Students interested in joining Food Freedom can join the email list at www.qrco.de/foodfreed omspr23.

Courtesy Photo | Tanner McCraney

The Rumie app is available on the App Store.

Food Freedom is a support group for individuals who have eating or nutrition challenges. The sessions are centered around the i ntuitive eating philosophy.

File Photo | The Reflector

A member of the community fills a grocery bag with canned food and other goods from Starkville Strong’s pantry. The non-profit’s director said she hoped to expand the service.

Jacob Mitchell | The Reflector

Feb. 11 and 12, Outdoor Adventures will be taking a backpacking trip to the Sipsey Wilderness in northwest Alabama. The trip will include a 12-mile hike through the woods.

BULLETIN BOARD 3

An In-Class Distraction

Libra - This week, you’ll find yourself shirtless, fanning smoke away from your detector with a recent edition of Southern Living that you stole from your dentist. Joanna Gaines is on the cover.

Hey, you can’t park there!

January 25 - An employee reported that a Visa gift card purchased by the department was fraudulently used at a nearby Walmart.

January 26 - A student was issued a post arrest citation and referral on Fraternity Row for simple assault and minor in possession of alcohol.

January 27 - A student reported she was being yelled at by another student over a parking space in the Hill Poultry Science parking lot. Referrals were issued to both students.

Taurus - Your aggressive, elderly dog Endymion will die this week while pushing you out of the way of a speeding bullet fired by some dude you cut in front of in the Two Bro’s bathroom line.

Gemini - While searching the backlogged channels of YouTube at 4 a.m., you will stumble upon a message from the Great Creator buried in a dash-cam video of the 2013 Chelyabinsk asteroid.

Pisces - You will accidentally kill an elderly dog while attempting to assassinate an age-old nemesis of yours for socio-political purposes. While you may not have hit your target, the message was received.

The Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge offers citizens of Starkville an easy escape to nature. While Mississippi’s public outdoor infrastructure does not garner much attention, trails and roads are there if you know where to look.

Holly Harrison staff writer

Hearing these questions made me wonder if people truly believe Mississippi has absolutely nothing to offer for travelers. However, after living here for 20 years, I can tell you that Mississippi has more to offer than meets the eye.

Mississippi is best known for being the birthplace of America’s music for influencing genres like rock and roll, gospel, country and the blues.

One museum located in Tupelo celebrates the most

famous Mississippi musician, allowing tourists to see the childhood home of Elvis Presley. According to the Elvis Presley Birthplace website, the home Presley was born and lived in for 13 years in Tupelo, Mississippi, was turned into a museum to show where it all started for him.

If travelers want to learn more about other Mississippi famous musicians, they can visit the Grammy Museum in Cleveland. According to its website, the Grammy Museum shows the impacts American music has made on culture and history by sharing famous artists and their impacts. It does not stop with music, though. Ask Mississippians their favorite thing about home, and many will

bring up the cuisine. According to Visit Mississippi, the foods people should try in Mississippi are soul food, barbecue and seafood. Any place can have its own local menus, but nothing compares to the comfort foods here.

Fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, fried okra, collard greens, cornbread, sweet potatoes, fried catfish and sweet tea come to mind when describing the Magnolia State’s comfort foods. Restaurants scattered across the state serve these dishes to much acclaim from residents and visitors. Families pass on recipes for generations. My great-grandmother’s cornbread recipe has been shared in my family since the 1930s or earlier, and it is superior

cornbread. (No Jiffy Quick Mix in this house.)

When it comes to food, barbecue is a Mississippi staple, if not the state favorite. Some of the best barbecue in the world comes from the Magnolia State.

While it may not be Mississippi’s most iconic specialty, locals know Mississippi’s seafood is nothing to be ignored. According to Visit Mississippi, an advantage Mississippi has being located on the Gulf of Mexico is the availability to catch plenty of fresh seafood such as shrimp, crab and oysters. Restaurants on the Mississippi Gulf Coast serve the freshly caught seafood. In the spring, crawfish season takes over the state. Despite the variety of popular foods in Missis-

sippi, sometimes even the best restaurants are overlooked because of their rundown or plain appearances. However, these restaurants, if still in business, are typically known for having some of the best foods around and a cult of loyal customers that know they offer more than meets the eye.

Along with the nationally famous food and music, Mississippi has some hidden sightseeing and hiking places for travelers. The Mississippi gulf offers a costal escape. While it may not be the Bahamas, the beach stretching from Biloxi to Henderson Point is 26 miles long, making it the longest man-made beach on Earth, according to an article by Zach Eady of Our Mississippi Home, which is

a weird record to hold, but a record we hold nonetheless.

Other sleeper-hits include Red Bluff in Foxwell (Mississippi’s Grand Canyon) and Ships Island located 11 miles south of Gulfport and Biloxi.

Through my research of the state, I have only scratched the surface of all the tourism opportunities Mississippi has to offer. Too often, Mississippi is ignored or written off for its public reputation. But — much like the beloved rundown barbecue shacks our state is so fond of — if you can get past preconceived notions about appearances, if you are willing to poke around a bit, there is gold here to be found. So goes my point, why not visit Mississippi?

Joylessly referred to as dinosaurs

rose Doyle staff writer

JoHn balaDi staff writer

It will forever make me laugh about how much we argue at what age we should allow citizens to poison themselves. That being said, it remains one of the most talked about issues in American life. The most often proposed ages for legal drinking remain to be 18 and 21, but I argue that neither of these solve the entire issue.

Sure, if you are old enough to fight in the military, it could be argued that you are old enough to drink a beer.

While a logical argument, it also would be irresponsible to give any 18-year-old a fifth of whiskey and let them go. The argument remains, at what age are you mature enough to drink wherever you go?

While age can correlate to maturity, to say that it is the only factor is just wrong. The question of the drinking age should be “At what point will

you make responsible decisions while intoxicated?”

This is different from person to person.

According to the CDC, six people died per day in America of alcohol poisoning in 2015. This is a number that has been steadily rising since 1984, when the age was changed from 18 to 21. Despite the age to drink being changed to a more mature age, the alcohol mortality rate has gone up. To those who grew up during the time, the answer to why is obvious.

Once again, according to the CDC, underage drinkers are more susceptible to alcohol poisoning. This is an interesting thing to think about, considering the fact that alcohol poisoning rates were much lower back in the 1980s, when current “underage” drinkers were drinking the most. To me, this states that the maturity level of those drinkers was higher, on top of them beginning to drink even

younger, at an age where it was not frowned upon to have a beer with parents.

All of this to say, the raising of the drinking age has put a stigma on drinking before a certain age, even with parents. This has led us to send kids to college with no experience with alcohol, leading to their first experiences being dangerous ones.

Finally, I propose this. 18 year olds are oftentimes immature and stupid, but just as often competent and mature. This, however, also goes for 21 year olds. With this, I say the drinking age should not exist. There should be no universal point to gauge a quality that is not universal. From there, I only see one solution.

There must be a way to measure an 18-year-old’s maturity not to consume beer after a few drinks due to an aversion to carbonation. There also must be a way to measure a 21-year-old’s immaturity to sit at a poker table for three hours and not

remember it the next day. With this, I say we make drinking a maturity level, not an age level. With an optional class and license test, not unlike driver's ed, new drinkers could learn about the dangers and pitfalls of drinking before going into the world with an informed knowledge of their legal and physical limits. A maturity level would keep those that would put themselves and others in danger from being able to do so. A maturity level also incentivizes smart behavior and safety while alcohol is in the picture. At the end of the day, I feel as though we can all agree a drinking age is not a perfect solution as is. I know 21year-old people far dumber than 14 year olds, and 18 year olds more mature than 25 year olds. It is time that we stop allowing irresponsible people to be able to drink based on age and allow only those that would be safe and responsible to do so.

Upon reading the title, I know you have probably already decided that I am a conspiracy-driven, theorizing dinosaur nerd with way too much time on her hands. Only part of that is true. I love dinosaurs, who could disagree? I also love a good dragon-slaying, which could be disagreed with, depending on your personal definition of animal cruelty. I would like to propose that our scaly predecessors may have more in common with dragons than you might want to think.

A dragon, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “a mythical monster, represented as a huge and terrible reptile, usually combining ophidian and crocodilian structure, with strong claws, like a beast or bird of prey, and a scaly skin; it is generally represented with wings, and sometimes as breathing out fire. The heraldic dragon combines reptilian and mammalian form with the addition of wings.”

University. Content is determined solely by the student editorial staff. The contents of The Reflector have not been approved by Mississippi State University.

If you were to create a checklist, dragons and dinosaurs are large, reptilian and scaly, and some even have wings. One specific type of dinosaur fits the definition of “dragons”: Pterodactyls. The majority of Pterodactyl skeletons have been found in Africa and Europe. Coincidentally (or not?), stories about dragons originated in Europe and China, independently.

The argument could be made that the first people to come across these remains believed they had found the remains of a dragon. If you had no context for the creature and had never seen anything like it, you could be convinced you found something truly terrifying in our world.

Between the location Pterodactyls have been discovered, their physical characteristics and our relativelylimited knowledge of what happened millions of years ago, the difference between the taxonomies is negligible. The only thing stopping dinosaurs from being dragons is semantics.

Reflector staff strives to maintain the integrity of this paper through accurate and honest reporting. If we publish an error, we will correct it. To report an error, email editor@reflector.msstate.edu or call 325-7905.

Dontae Ball

Drinking license should replace legal drinking age

Growing up in Mississippi, I have always heard, “What even is there to do in Mississippi, and who would ever want to go there?”

Hot take: Dragons do exist

Landon Scheel | The Reflector

LIFE & ENTERTAINMENT 5

Students jam out during music-themed nights at local bar

The atmosphere is like no other when stepping foot into Rick’s Cafe on one of its music-themed nights.

Rick’s Cafe, located off Highway 182 East, is providing fun for college students in Starkville. The bar has had several of these themed nights since the start of the school year including two Harry Styles/One Direction nights, two Taylor Swift nights and an emo night. Instead of live performers, DJs spin tracks from the artists or genre of music.

Madeline Cook, a junior Spanish major at Mississippi State University and Rick’s Cafe employee, shared how these themed nights came to fruition.

“We (the staff) noticed patterns in the music that people listen to. There were a lot of suggestions, so we started a kind of survey,” Cook said. “There were a lot of options to choose from and an option to write in something because we don’t work without people coming to the shows and the bar. So, we wanted to take into account what the people that come here want.”

Cook also said there are ways to still have fun

on these nights for someone who is not into big crowds.

“It’s kind of a 'choose your own participation' because you can sit and chat with your friends. You can get up on the stage and dance. It’s really your own comfort level what you do,” Cook said.

On Jan. 26, Rick’s hosted a Harry Styles/One Direction

theme night. Paige Loper, a senior elementary education major, said that even with a busy schedule, she was excited attend the events.

“I do have a really busy school schedule, and I kind of took a risk coming tonight. If it’s really good and passes my expectations, I just might have to take another risk and come

to the Taylor Swift night,” Loper said. Positive social media attention, word-ofmouth and another option for fun are all factors behind the success of Rick’s themed nights. Emily Anthony, a senior communication major from Starkville, Mississippi, said these events can be a great environment for friends.

“I think it’s very fun, even if I don’t enjoy everything they put out. It’s still a good environment to create, and I can go with my friends,” Anthony said.

Even though themed nights are usually hosted on Thursdays, some patrons, such as Anthony, said Friday would be a better time to host the events.

“Fridays would prob -

ably be the best day to have them because that’s when a lot of people go out, and it gives people the option to go to the District or not. So, I think a Friday night would be better than a Thursday night,” Anthony said.

Despite having them on a Thursday, the atmosphere and participation are electric. People gather around the room and on the stage, jumping and singing, while others sit in the booths and sing along. There is a spot for anyone to enjoy however they would like.

While the themed nights continue to be a success, Anthony said other artists would increase the variety of artists hosted.

“I think it would be really fun if they did a throwback theme, like the 2000s, the '70s or '80s. I also think a country night or a different boyband would also be really cool,” Anthony said.

The themed nights at Rick’s Cafe continue to be a hit, as patrons dance the night away, singing along to their favorite Taylor Swift and Harry Styles songs. The events allow for a carefree night and a good time to sing one’s favorite artists’ songs with an uplifting and inviting atmosphere.

MSU alumnus' work to kick off 2023 Art in Public Places exhibition

A new art installation, “New Beginnings” by Samuel Lawson Jr., opened Jan. 9 in the Starkville Area Arts Council’s downtown gallery.

Lawson, originally from Greenville, Mississippi, graduated from Mississippi State University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in painting. He shared the meaning behind his work.

“The 'New Beginnings' exhibition is a series of paintings that specifically represent a point in my life. I feel I have much more ahead in terms of living life and art endeavors. I feel I have more to achieve personally and give back to the world in general,” Lawson said.

“New Beginnings” is the first Art in Public Places (AiPP) exhibit of

2023. Juliette Reid, program director for the SAAC, said AiPP began around 2006 to "provide artists with a public space to display and potentially sell their works."

There are around six to eight shows a year as a part of this series. Submissions for the exhibits are made online; a committee of both professional artists and volunteers aid in the selection.

“The committee alternates between solo and group shows to create variety. They ensure quality, diversity and artistic excellence,” Reid said.

The exhibition series benefits artists in more than just exposure. According to a press release regarding “New Beginnings,” works from the series will be listed for sale.

“SAAC provides reception and publicity, handles the collecting

and reporting of MS State Sales Taxes on behalf of the artist for any works sold while taking a substantially reduced commission (20% instead of 50% usually charged by galleries),” the press release stated.

Lawson described his work as implying “actual and implied texture on the painted surface.”

“Color, texture and overlapping transparency through layering play a major role in my abstract and realistic work,” Lawson said. “I prefer to work in acrylic, oils and watercolor.”

After graduating from MSU, Lawson decided to stay in Starkville due to his love for the campus and city, thinking of it as his “second home after (his) hometown of Greenville, Mississippi,” he said. Lawson now serves as a member of the SAAC, and he is on the Magnolia Independent Film

Festival’s board of directors. He said living in Starkville has been an enjoyable experience.

“Starkville seemed like a perfect fit for me, not being a large city and the advantages of having a university here also. I’ve made lifelong friends, established

great contacts and have support for the community that supports the arts,” Lawson said.

After Lawson’s exhibit, there will be two group exhibits entitled “Spring Showcase” and “Starkville Sightings.”

Submissions are still open for this show until

Feb. 5 at midnight. Rules and guidelines for submissions are available on SAAC’s website.

“New Beginnings” will run until March 6 and is on display both online at starkvillearts.net and in person at 122 East Main Street.

MSU Riley Center brings renowned artists for 2023 season

The Riley Center at Mississippi State University’s Meridian campus is set to have a wide range of performances from world famous acts for their 2023 season.

The Riley Center is home to the 950-seat Grand Opera House that will host the events.

Morgan Dudley, the center's director of conferences, events and operations, said the team has a diverse lineup through July.

“From theater and comedy to a variety of musical acts, we’re providing something for a range of audiences,” Dudley said. “I think that’s the most important thing is providing an experience for everyone.”

Saturday, St. Paul and The Broken Bones will perform at the Grand Opera House before the season officially begins.

The Birmingham, Alabama, soul group are making a stop at the Riley Center during their tour following their 2022 album “The Alien Coast.”

Soon after, Londonbased Aquila Theatre Company, will officially open the season with Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice" Thursday, Feb. 9. The cast will hold a public performance and a school performance for students in the area.

With multiple Grammy wins under her belt, country singer Tanya Tucker will bring “Delta Dawn” to Meridian March 9.

British gospel group, The Kingdom Choir will offer its sound to the Grand Opera House stage March 18. Most notably, the group performed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding in 2018. Jennifer Haught manages the box office for

the Riley Center and said she is most excited for Tucker and The Kingdom Choir. She said she receives feedback sharing the audience's love of hearing

music at the center.

“Someone said, ‘I want the best seat for sound,’ and I said, ‘Welcome to the Riley Center,’” Haught said. Aside from music,

Mississippi native Tig Notaro will bring a sprinkle of comedy to the stage April 13.

In May, 1960s rock band The Beach Boys will abandon their surfboards for the Grand Opera House stage as summer quickly approaches.

The country singing “American Patriot” Lee Greenwood will take up the June performance.

Smokey Robinson will be the final act in the line-up for the season. Robinson is a Motown artist and producer who will be “Cruisin’” down to Meridian to fill the historic Grand Opera House with his soulful rhythm and blues sound.

Built in 1889, The Grand Opera House at the Riley Center sat vacant between 1927 and 2006. This season’s artists are just a few that bring the arts back to life in this building.

In the early 2000s,

Mississippi State University and the Riley Foundation came together to fund a full restoration of the historic performing arts center. The doors opened back up to the public in September 2006.

Benjamin Sills, a sophomore animal and dairy science and preveterinary major, is from Meridian. He said he looks forward to hearing a few artists this season in the historic venue he has visited many times before.

“Inside you walk in and you immediately step into this,” Sills said. “It’s like you’re transported to another world. I don’t know how to describe it other than that.”

The February performances and the season mini ticket packages are on sale now on the Riley Center’s website. All other tickets and packages will go on sale Feb. 6.

The Riley Center was built in 1889 and has been a center for entertainment for decades.

Courtesy Photo | MSU-Meridian

“New Beginnings” by Samuel Lawson Jr., a 2007 MSU alumnus, opened Jan. 9. It is the first Art in Public Places exhibit of 2023.

Landon Scheel | The Reflector

A crowd of people clustered on the floor danced and sang at Harry Styles/One Direction Night last Thursday. Rick’s Cafe has hosted themed nights since last semester with popular artists. Ivy Rose Ball | The Reflector

Flippo: Mississippi State softball is building foundation brick by brick

As you walk near Nusz Park on the campus of Mississippi State University, the sights and sounds of ongoing construction to the brand-new $7 million indoor facility can be heard ringing throughout the complex.

For graduate outfielder Chloe Malau’ulu, the park is a constant reminder of the NCAA Super Regional loss to the University of Arizona and a missed opportunity to make it to the College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

“We’ve definitely upped our standards. (Coach) Ricketts has set many standards for us on the field,

off the field, just making us not just a better athlete, but a better person overall,”

Malau’ulu said.

The 2022 season featured a historic run for the Mississippi State softball team. Bulldogs head coach Samantha Ricketts led her team to their first-ever NCAA Super Regional appearance where they hosted Arizona.

Catcher Mia Davidson and pitcher Annie Willis were two important keys to the Bulldogs’ success last season, but MSU softball has a good mixture of returning veterans and incoming freshmen looking to make an impact in 2023.

At the MSU softball media day, coach Ricketts discussed how the freshman class has progressed in the offseason.

“I’m excited for them; they’re a really athletic group,” Ricketts said.

“They’re hungry, definitely. I think they understand the change in the mindset, and they’ve really bought into that.”

Ricketts spoke highly of freshmen pitchers Josey Marron and Reis Beuerlein, stating they both could see the circle a lot this season.

Extra Innings Softball ranked Marron as the No. 39 recruit in the class and the No. 17 pitcher nationally, while ranking Beuerlein as the No. 68 recruit and the No. 25 pitcher nationally.

The Bulldogs are building a foundation and identity that the program has not seen before. There is a new culture and feeling surrounding

Mississippi State softball, which also includes a new indoor facility.

Coach Ricketts toured the media members around the facility as a part of the MSU softball media day, and we immediately recognized the vision. You could tell, this was long overdue for the program. The most interesting part of the facility was the many signatures and names of former players that helped build the foundation for the program for years to come. Although it is a work in progress, Ricketts gave a status report on the construction of the indoor facility.

“The construction, it’s construction. But, it is really going well,” Ricketts said.

“We’ve been lucky to have really great weather this fall and so far in January. We’re pretty much practicing outside as much as we can just not having any batting cages like we typically would.”

The new indoor facility is not only well-deserved, but it was earned. Last year’s team scratched and clawed for every opportunity to show off their talent. Even though MSU softball has the potential to make another postseason run, it will not come easy.

The Bulldogs have a brutal non-conference schedule in 2023 that includes the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational, where the Bulldogs face the likes of Indiana, Arizona, Michigan, South Florida and UCF. Before MSU enters the

SEC portion of their schedule, they also have to play the reigning national champion, the Oklahoma Sooners, in Starkville as part of the Bulldog Invitational.

Coach Ricketts discussed the non-conference scheduling and why it helps prepare her team for conference play and beyond.

“We know we are going to take lumps early on, but it’s for exactly the way it worked out last year when we started off early last season .500, and (we) were kind of nervous about the way the year was gonna shake out,” Ricketts said. “But when we got to Tallahassee and got to play Florida State and the Super Regional, you could just tell the shift in the mindset of the team.”

MSU track and field set program records at Bob Pollock Invite

Mississippi State University track and field set records at Clemson University this weekend as they competed in the Bob Pollock Invitational.

The Pollock Invite was a two-day event, and the Bulldogs started off strong on Friday with five firstplace finishes and seven personal best marks.

Rosealee Cooper won the women's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8:07. On the men's side, Peyton Bair took first in three out of the four events on day one of the heptathlon, which consisted of a 60-meter dash, high jump and shot put.

MSU recorded many

personal bests at the Bob Pollock Invite. Navasky Anderson completed the men’s mile with a time of 4:05.36. Jordan Barrow also achieved a new personal record in the men’s long jump with 6.9m (22-07.75).

Saturday, MSU started day two where they left off, as Bair broke the school record in the men’s heptathlon with 5,529 points. The record has not been broken since the 2017 indoor season when Jaquarius Wilson finished with 5,160 points. Bair’s new record put him sixth best in the nation in the seven-event athletic contest.

Along with Bair’s new record, Jhordyn Stallworth broke the Mississippi State's indoor school

record in the shot put with a throw of 15.36 meters (5004.75). Stallworth took sixth place overall with her new record.

The Bulldogs closed out the invitational on the track with the men's 4x400 meter relay. MSU took a second-place finish with the third-fastest indoor time in the school's history (3:05.97). Lee Eppie, Anthony Brodie, Sema’J Daniels and Gabriel Moronta are ranked eighth in the nation in the men’s 4x400 meters relay for their times.

Overall, Mississippi State had 15 top-five finishes and set many individual personal records. Mississippi State heads to Nashville Feb. 10 to compete in the Music City Challenge.

dylan flippo sports editor

Pictured above is a 3D model of what the new Mississippi State softball indoor facility will look like upon completion. The 12,000-square foot building is a $7 million project that features bullpens, a team meeting room, lockers and bathrooms.

Courtesy Photo | MSU Athletics

parker acosta staff Writer

Courtesy Photo | MSU Athletics

Courtesy Photo | MSU Athletics

Freshman Peyton Bair is making an impact for Mississippi State track and field. At the Bob Pollock Invite at Clemson University, Bair placed first in the men’s heptahlon and broke the program record with 5,529 points at the event.

Redshirt freshman Rosealee Cooper, who is from Barbican, St. Andrew, Jamaica, placed 11th in day two of the women’s 200 meter dash.