Ashley Athas Young's Strike-A-Pose Photography

Ashley Athas Young is another alumna with the business bug.  One of her businesses is Strike-A-Pose Photography.  We’ll learn about the other later in this series.  Ashley graduated from MUW in 2007 with a BFA in Graphic Design.  She was a member of the Mam’Selle Social Club and a #2 Jester.  

When asked why she decided to start this business, Ashley replied “My goal is to be able to stay at home with my son to get away from punching a time clock everyday. Although I love my Graphic Design job, my passion is to get my photography business up and running enough to where I don’t need my day job anymore. At the rate I’m going right now, I think I will be able to reach this goal in the next year or so. I really got into photography while at the W. I took 3 semesters of 35mm photography with Professor Shawn Dickey and FELL IN LOVE with dark room processing. I love the rawness of it. Although dark room photography is slowly dying, my love for photography just keeps growing. I have only been in business for a little over a year now and have exceeded my expectations with how fast it has progressed in such a short amount of time.  I also just took a huge leap and will be showcasing my business at the Mid-South Bridal Expo once each season next year, my first one being in January. This is a HUGE step in the right direction for me.” 

Ashley’s work is varied “I shoot weddings, engagements, bridals, family, maternity, newborn, seniors and trash the dress sessions.  I offer large poster prints, coffee table books in a variety of sizes and styles, proof portfolios, and I also design wedding, graduation, save the date, and shower invitations as well!”

Like other artist, photographers have their own styles.  Regarding her style, Ashley explained “What I love most, is shooting on location.  Studio portraits are so posed and so unreal to me. I have dozens of locations that I love to use for shoots and I find new locations to add to my growing list almost daily. Right now, I shoot with all natural lighting, which I LOVE!”  

While pictures in one form or another are all you can get from some photographers, Ashley has another talent.  “I also have a degree in Graphic Design.  I have a lot of people that come to me to design their birth announcements.  I  design wedding invitations as well as many other things. I love the fact that the two jobs work hand in hand and that I can do both things that I love.”  

As a photographer, Ashley’s goals are simple. “I want my clients to be themselves and have fun during their sessions. Most importantly, I want people to feel joy and satisfaction when they view their photos for the first time. I describe my photography as bold, fun, real, energetic, artistic and extremely edgy.”

Strike-a-Pose Photography is a family business.  Ashley is the photographer.  Her husband, Derrick does the website design and "helps support my outrageous spending habits on new photography equipment and props (Because almost daily I find a new prop that I CAN NOT live without)" says Ashely.  Her son, Chandler, she explains "is my practice model.  Any time I want to practice something new with lighting or a new prop , I use him as my guinea pig.  He is a great sport about it and LOVES being the center of attention just like his mom and dad." 

To see more of Ashley’s work and for contact information, see her website.  

All photos in this post were taken by Ashley.  Doesn’t she do beautiful work?  Isn't Chandler a handsome young man?

Read About MUW Alumna Jennifer Worthington

MUW Alumna Jennifer Worthington won the Accomplished Ceramics category in the 2010 Army Arts and Crafts Contest.  Her piece, titled “Ekolu,” which is Hawaiian for “three,” was so named because of the repetition of threes in the piece. She crafted the winning ceramic at the Army MWR Arts & Crafts Center at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.  

Jennifer has a BFA in 3-D design from Mississippi University for Women. Her work earned three first places and one runner-up finish in the past three years of the Army Arts and Crafts Contest. You can see a photo of her work here, and read the complete article about the 2010 Army Arts and Crafts Contest here.

Congratulations Jennifer!

Leah O'Gwynn Kackley, Mary Kay Independent Consultant

Leah O'Gwynn Kackley, who graduated from Mississippi University for Women in 1993, is an independent consultant with Mary Kay Cosmetics.  While at the W, Leah majored in Math and was a member of the Lockheart Social Club, the Ballet Company, the Honors Program, Interclub, Mortarboard and Hottentots.

When asked why she chose this business, Leah explained “The Direct Sales industry is infinitely accessible and flexible, which is important to me.  The cosmetic and skin care industry is recession-proof, because of the products that we sell.  Mary Kay, in particular, has a strong 45 year history of providing quality products at an affordable price.  And the name recognition alone was very valuable.  It all made good sense to me when thinking about a business that I could run from my home, in my own hours, at my own discretion!  Plus, the initial investment was minimal.  Financially, it was easy to start an honest-to-goodness business.  Mentally, knowing that each consultant has the "safety net" of a 90% Buyback Guarantee made it easy for me to take the chance.”

When asked about the time and effort she puts into her business, Leah replied “My business has evolved over the years from the time when I was single and had lots of time to now that I'm married, with three young children, and homeschooling.  The flexibility of the industry and the business is ideal!   As a single woman, I used to spend about 10 hours a week on Mary Kay business which included time spent selling the product as well as servicing customers.  Now, as a busy mom, I usually average only 1-2 hours a week.  My Mary Kay income allows us to eat out as a family when we just don’t feel like cooking.  It allows me to enjoy a mommy’s night out without reaching into the family budget.  The business itself has a number of tax advantages as well.  And, I’m able to keep myself in glamour and skin care products, as much as I want!, without it affecting our family budget.  While my MK income isn’t on par with the big money earners in our industry, it’s just right for me.  And that’s another reason why I enjoy the business.  I don’t have to make $200K a year to be successful with my business.  I simply have to make my business what I want it to be.  Because of my time constraints with young children and with homeschooling, I don’t want to spend a lot of time working.  So I don’t!  And, yet, I’m still able to be blessed with a little bit of income for that little bit of effort.”

Leah likes Mary Kay because it sells quality, effective skin care products and beautiful, on-trend glamour products.  “We have a brilliant anti-aging line called TimeWise and a host of complimentary skin care and body care products that support the TimeWise products.  Then, we have all the fun stuff like lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, and blush!  Our colors are updated periodically to keep them from looking dated, and our customers can depend on their makeup to be beautiful and current.” she told us.  When asked what product she would especially recommend to someone who had never used Mary Kay, Leah replied “The TimeWise Miracle Set  is the first thing I recommend to brand new customers.  The results they get from that collection of products are phenomenal and very much in demand.  I also highly recommend the Microdermabrasion Set because of the smoothness and softness that it supplies.  There is something so beautiful and youthful about skin that is smooth, even-toned, and soft!  I love our Mineral Powder Foundations also.  They give a beautiful, buildable coverage that feels so light.  It’s such an easy product to wear, and it’s good for your skin.”

 “You can shop online with me at www.marykay.com/leahkackley.  Contact me directly at leahkackley@marykay.com.  You can call or text at 601.668.4300.  If you want more direct information about the business opportunity, I would be glad to help you with that as well!  (Even if you're just curious, or don't actually want to start a business for yourself.  Or if you want information for someone else.  I take a zero-pressure position with supplying information).  If you do not already have a consultant of your own, and would like to chat or get some samples, I'd love to talk with you!”

If you are an MUW alumna or alumnus who is a business owner, we'd like you to participate in this series.  Fill out our form at and we'll get in touch for photos, logos, etc. We want to learn about you and about your business and to give alums a chance to support other alums. Please participate. Thanks

Back to School: Teacher Rebecca Gillon Ulrich

The final teacher we are meeting in this back-to-school series is Rebecca Gillon Ulrich, MUW Class of  2004, who is originally from Grenada, Mississippi.   While at MUW Rebecca was a Masker, and participated in Wesley Foundation activities.  She now teaches fifth grade math, science and social studies at Flowood Elementary .  

When asked how her MUW education prepared her for her career, Rebecca told us "All education classes, after the introduction class, required observation hours. From the get-go, we were in classrooms. As our classes progressed, our participation in the classrooms progressed as well. The grade-level varied, so I ended up with experience from Kindergarten, Second Grade, Pre-K, Third Grade, and Sixth-Eighth grade History.  I also was expected to create standards-based lesson plans and use appropriate classroom management which thoroughly prepared me for teaching."

As a teacher her greatest joy is "Seeing the 'light bulb' moments!  Getting students interested in the concepts and seeing them truly self-motivated to learn is outstanding."  Like most teachers, she finds it disheartening to see "a struggling student who, despite your striving them to excellence and helping them along the way, is not succeeding. That breaks your heart." 

Rebecca gives a lot of credit to her bosses "I know that I am a great teacher because of the support and accountability I receive from my superiors. My principals, Kathy Martin and Kevin Vance, are both Christians who live by their beliefs. It is an honor to come to work each day and be under their umbrella of support!"

Alumna Profile: Megan Stoner Morgan

Another student and teacher is Megan Stoner Morgan, MUW Class of 2008, who was originally from Caledonia, Mississippi.  While at the W, she was a member of  Mortarboard, and Sigma Tau Delta, editor of Dilettanti,  a member of the French Club and the College Democrats.  Megan served as President of the  Student Honors Council and was a member of Bukwyrms and Midnight Writers.

Megan is now in a Ph.D. program at the University of Georgia where she teaches First-Year Composition, a class that helps freshmen with their analytical writing skills. She told us "I was inspired by my teachers at the W. They are the reason I went to graduate school, and I still consider them my models for what teachers should be. At the W, I was always expected to be prepared to share my ideas and knowledge in class, but I also knew that my contributions were valued and welcomed. I try to foster that same environment in my classes. I also learned to not be easily intimidated, which helps when you're teaching basketball players! I love hearing what students think about the things we read and discuss. Often they'll approach an issue in a totally different way than I had planned, and the discussion ends up being richer than I ever imagined. Surprises like that are such a treat."

Every job has its challenges and Megan's biggest one is working with students whose education before college was not what it should have been. "It breaks my heart to see really smart students struggling with basic mechanics issues like spelling and grammar, and thinking that they're just stupid because they have problems. Trying to keep those students encouraged can be rough, but it's very worth it."

Welty Weekend at the W

The Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium attracts some of the most talented and entertaining Southern writers and scholars to the W every year. This year's Welty Weekend celebration is approaching quickly, so make plans now to attend! Events will be held October 21-23, 2010.

From the official press release:

Best-selling novelist Connie May Fowler will be joined by eleven other authors in honoring the legacy of Mississippi University for Women alumna Eudora Welty during the twenty-second annual Eudora Welty Writer’s Symposium, October 21–23, on the MUW campus, organized by the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy and College of Arts and Sciences. Admission to all Writers’ Symposium sessions is free, and all are open to the public. The weekend will also include an art exhibit hosted by the Department of Art and Design and a performance by the Department of Music and Theatre.

The theme of this year’s Symposium is “‘Never Think You’ve Seen the Last of Anything’: Of Optimists and Other Endangered Species,” and is inspired by Eudora Welty's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Optimist’s Daughter. According to symposium director Dr. Kendall Dunkelberg, “The theme of optimism seems particularly appropriate in a time of economic recession and the environmental crisis caused by the oil spill in the Gulf.”

A search for optimism figures prominently in How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, the latest novel by keynote speaker Connie May Fowler, which recounts the life of its title character, Clarissa Burden, as she confronts a loveless marriage and the ghosts of her own past and the past of her Florida home, on a day of magic and discovery that features an ancient oak tree, a one-armed angel, a one-eyed man, and the All-American Dynamite Dwarf Carnival. “Fowler lends magic and voice to the singular Florida landscape,” writes Annie Bostrom for Booklist, “… she blurs the line between the written and the writer as we witness Clarissa’s brave discovery that the real truth is often the most risky tale to tell.”

Ms. Fowler, who will read on Thursday, October 21st, at 7:30 p.m. in Nissan Auditorium of Parkinson Hall, returns for her second appearance at the Symposium. She has also published the memoir When Katie Wakes and five other novels, The Problem with Murmur Lee, Remembering Blue, River of Hidden Dreams, Sugar Cage, and Before Women Had Wings, which was made into an Oprah Winfrey Presents television movie. Her reading will be followed by a reception and book signing with all symposium authors.

The Symposium will resume at 9:00 a.m. Friday, October 22nd, with the work of North Carolina native, Wayne Caldwell, whose novels Cataloochee and Requiem by Fire recount the changes and difficult choices forced on a community that existed on land destined to become part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Publisher's Weekly praises Caldwell's fiction for its "rich historical background" and "unhurried story about resiliency and the unifying power of community."

Another North Carolinian, poet Shirlette Ammons, follows with a reading from Matching Skin. Ammons' latest book includes the 5-song CD John Anonymous, on which she collaborates with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and other artists. Indy Week praises her efforts, noting, "Her ability to move between disciplines and venues is rare, her hunger to try new things, intense." She has published one previous book of poetry, The Stumphole Aunthology of Backwoods Blood, and plays bass and sings vocals with her soul, funk, and hip-hop band Mosadi.

Next, Lorraine López will read from her recent short story collection, The Homicide Survivors Picnic, which was one of five finalists for this year's prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award. These ten stories, set in the South and portraying characters that live on the edge, "make an impact, bringing the reader face-to-face with situations that are realistic and gritty but never hopeless or pitiful," writes Alex Myers for New Pages Book Reviews. López teaches at Vanderbilt University and is a previous recipient of the International Latino Book Award and many other awards for her publications, which include Call Me Henri, The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters, and Soy La Avon Lady and Other Stories.

Concluding the morning program will be Alabama native Tom Franklin, who currently teaches creative writing at Ole Miss. His newly released novel Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter brings us the story of two friends from a small Mississippi town, who are torn apart by circumstance and reunited by tragedy. Washington Post Book World calls it "beautifully written and potent" and USA Today proclaims it "another literary knockout." Franklin has also published Smonk, Hell at the Breach, and Poachers: Stories.

After a break for lunch, the Symposium will resume at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 22nd, with the fiction of Barb Johnson, whose recent collection of short stories More of This World or Maybe Another portrays the lives of residents of a Mid-City New Orleans neighborhood who all frequent the Bubble Laundromat, where their stories at times intertwine. Johnson's debut collection has been dubbed "an insightful literary gem" by Booklist, and she is the recipient of an A Room of Her Own Foundation Freedom Award, which has allowed her to quit her day job as a carpenter and work on a new novel.

Affrilachian poet Mitchell L. H. Douglas follows with a reading from his collection Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem on the life and times of soul music legend Donny Hathaway. Playing on the conventions of vinyl music albums, Douglas has collected his poems on two "sides," one telling of Hathaway's rise to fame and the flipside portraying the struggles in his career. Both include "alternate takes" of original poems that introduce new information and competing interpretations of the events in this musical odyssey.

Becky Hagenston returns to the Symposium with a reading from her latest book of short fiction, Strange Weather, which won the 2009 Spokane Prize. A Starkville resident and Associate Professor of English at Mississippi State University, Hagenston has also published the story collection A Gram of Mars, and her work has appeared widely in magazines, been performed as part of Stories on Stage at the Sacramento Poetry Center, and selected for an O. Henry prize, a Great Lakes College Association New Writers Award, and many other prizes.

The afternoon session concludes with a Round-Table Discussion featuring all twelve authors. The theme of this year's discussion is "Optimists and Other Endangered Species," and the public is encouraged to come with questions about the authors' works, the theme, or the process of writing and publishing. This is a time for more informal discussion with the authors who have already appeared, as well as those who will be on the program on Saturday. Light refreshments will be served.

Friday evening, from 5:30-7:00 p.m., the Department of Art and Design will host an opening reception for an exhibit by Gulfport ceramics and fiber artist Lee Renninger in the Eugenia Summer Gallery of the Fine Arts Building. Known for her sculptures and mixed media installations, Renninger works with ceramics and textiles to explore the interweaving of politics and fashion. The exhibit will run from October 14th through Nov. 4th, and will be open during normal gallery hours of 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Later, starting at 7:30 p.m. in Cromwell Theatre, the Department of Music and Theatre will present a preview of selected scenes from the fall production 12 Angry Jurors, an adaptation of the play by Reginald Rose. The full production will be presented October 28-30.

The Symposium resumes at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, October 23rd, with a reading by Steve Yates from his debut novel Morkan's Quarry. Set in Civil War-era Missouri, Yates' novel explores the divided loyalties and impossible choices faced by two generations of Morkans as they try to hang onto the family legacy and are forced to contend with both Union and Confederate forces who battle for control of the Ozark hills and the resources at the quarry. A Springfield, Missouri native, Yates has lived for many years in Flowood, Mississippi, where he is Marketing Director for the University Press of Mississippi.

Georgia poet Sean Hill will read from his debut, Blood Ties & Brown Liquor, which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has called "an innovative collection of bluesy, meditative poems that is certain to mark Hill's emergence as a major new voice in American poetry." In a call and response across six generations of a family whose fictional forefather Silas Wright was born in 1907, Hill offers up a portrait of the complex and tenacious black community of Milledgeville, Georgia.

Essayist Ellis Anderson also describes the resilience of her community in Under Surge, Under Siege: The Odyssey of Bay St. Louis and Katrina. In this compelling narrative, Anderson chronicles the trauma of the storm and its immediate aftermath, as well as the challenges that faced the city as it regrouped in order to rebuild. Anderson is an active blogger, and her essays and articles have appeared in Salon, The Sun Herald, and South Mississippi Living. She is also a jewelry artist and owner of the Quarter Moon Gallery in Ocean Springs. As a community activist, Ms. Anderson is a co-founder of Coastal Community Watch and has become a spokesperson for the Bay St. Louis area, featured in recent interviews on NPR's Morning Edition with Scott Simon and Tom Sumner's Worldwide Webcast on Flint Talk Radio.

Poet Beth Ann Fennelly returns to the Symposium to round out the program with a reading from her most recent collection, Unmentionables, which Booklist has described as "insouciant, sexy, funny, and dead-on," saying, "Fennelly crafts perfectly metered lines and quick-turn stanzas steeped in the blues and rock and roll in which she riffs on sights, sounds, and moments at once ordinary and suffused with implication." The recipient of numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Award, Fennelly teaches poetry at the University of Mississippi.

Each day, doors will open half an hour before the morning sessions begin, and coffee will be served. Sessions will have a break at the midpoint, and the audience is free to come and go during the breaks or between readings, which last approximately 40 minutes. Books by all the authors will be on sale before and after each session, as well as during breaks; authors will be available for signing throughout the symposium. All sessions are free and open to the public, thanks to a generous grant from The Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation; funding is also provided by the Welty Series Endowment and MUW Foundation.
 

22nd Annual Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium Schedule

Thursday October 21, Parkinson Hall
7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Connie May Fowler — How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
Book Signing Reception with All Authors

Friday October 22, Cochran Hall
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Wayne Caldwell — Requiem by Fire
Shirlette Ammons — Matching Skin
Lorraine López — Homicide Survivor’s Picnic
Tom Franklin — Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Michael L.H. Douglas — Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem
Barb Johnson — More of this World or Maybe Another
Becky Hagenston — Strange Weather
Round-Table Discussion with the Authors

Saturday, Cochran Hall
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Steve Yates — Morkan’s Quarry
Ellis Anderson — Under Surge, Under Siege, Welty Prize Winner
Beth Ann Fennelly — Unmentionables
Sean Hill — Blood Ties & Brown Liquor

Of special interest for all MFAeA members and MUW alums:

On Friday evening, after the day's programming events and the fall theater preview, the MFAeA will sponsor a Champagne & Chocolates party at Lee Home; all Symposium participants and attendees, as well as interested alumni and current students, are welcome to attend.

The fall board meeting will take place on Saturday afternoon at the Wesley after the Symposium has adjourned. All alumni of MUW are welcome to attend.

For more information about MFAeA events, please contact us. For more information about the Welty Symposium, visit their website, Goodreads group, or Facebook page, or contact Symposium director Kendall Dunkelberg by email or telephone at 662-329-7169.

Photo of the Week

Jimmie Meese Moomaw entertains Chattanooga alums

 with a reading from her new book

Southern Fried Child

Back to School: Teacher and Student Julie Stephens James

Today we are visiting with Julie Stephens James, one of those teacher/students known as graduate assistants.  Julie, a 2000 graduate of Mississippi University for Women is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the University of Mississippi, where she plans to graduate in May, 2011.  

"MUW laid the foundation for my future as a lifelong learner.  The courses, field experiences, and people were all an integral part in my development as a mathematics teacher.  I am now moving forward with my Ph.D. in Mathematics Education in order to help other students become effective mathematics teachers.  Mississippi  students struggle in mathematics and our state is in great need of quality mathematics teachers from kindergarten through 12^th grade.  I hope to be able to contribute to the continuing education of current and future teachers." said Julie,when asked how MUW prepared her for future studies.  

About Ole Miss, she told us " I do get the opportunity to see what undergraduate life is like at the University.  The universities are similar in that they both have high academic expectations for their students, however the W has the unique characteristic of being a smaller university.  The class sizes are smaller and students get more one-on-one attention from their professors.  At Ole Miss, some classes are very large and students just become a number.  The personalized education that I received at MUW was something I have come to appreciate more and more."   Another difference she noted was "There is not as much singing at Ole Miss (and Hotty Toddy doesn’t count)."

While Julie's plans are still fluid, she hopes to secure a faculty position at a university and continue the work training teachers in effective ways of teaching mathematics and improving mathematics education in Mississippi through research and effective teaching practices.

Common Reading Initiative: Alum Version

Eight Habits of the Heart: Embracing the Values that Build Strong Families and Communities (African American History (Penguin)) is the book chosen for MUW's Common Reading Initiative this year.  Written by Clifton Taulbert, an African-American man raised on the Mississippi Delta in the early 1960's, during the segregation era, it gives eight habits Taulbert thinks we all need to adopt to create happy homes and families and to raise successful children.  In a short narrative, he recalls how friends and neighbors taught him these habits as much by action as by words.

Taulbert's fourth habit is friendship.  He tells how the friendship between those Delta field hands enriched their lives and provided support when times got tough.

Question:  Tell a story about how your friends got you through a rough spot in your lives.

From the Spectator: MFAeA establishes faculty grants and awards

Mississippi’s First Alumnae Association awarded three Faculty Enhancement Grants at the close of the 2010 Spring Semester. The recipients of these awards were Dr. Erin Kempker, Assistant Professor of History (who also received the New Faculty Award), Dr. Michelle Harmon, Professor of Speech-Language Pathology, and Dr. Ghanshyam D. Heda, Assistant Professor of Biology.

Photo credit: The Spectator

“We recognized that the faculty’s roles as teachers and mentors are what make Mississippi University for Women the outstanding institution of higher learning for which it has long been recognized. We wanted to thank them for all they do to enhance the learning experiences of W students and for the contributions they make beyond the classroom to the overall well being of our beloved alma mater,” said MFAeA President Lillian Wade.

You can find the link to the entire article here.

Congratulations to the very deserving winners of these awards!

Are Women's Colleges Passe'?

It is no secret that the past president of MUW was doing her best to move the W from being a women's college that admitted men to a fully-coed school.  It is also no secret that Mississippi's First Alumnae Association opposed that goal.  Because of that opposition, we were labeled as living in the past and being unwilling to move toward the only reasonable future for MUW.

Today's Washington Post had a column about women's colleges and I'm going to excerpt it below:

According to a multi-year study by Hardwick Day, alumni of women's colleges are more likely than all other graduates to serve in a leadership role within their undergraduate college or university.

What's more, while women's college graduates make up only a small minority of the college-educated population, one-third of the women board members of the Fortune 1000 companies are women's college graduates, and women's college graduates are twice as likely to earn Ph.D.s., more often going on to study the sciences and attend medical school. Of Business Week's list of rising women stars in corporate America, 30 percent are women's college graduates and of women members of Congress, 20 percent attended women's colleges. 

Colleges that have long catered to both genders are seeing the value in creating mini women's colleges internally. Just this spring, I presented a workshop to Duke University's Baldwin Scholars program, a 4-year initiative where 18 women are selected each year to be mentored, attend academic seminars, and are given the opportunity to live together as a group on campus....Many other schools have created women-centric programming, among them UCLA, Northwestern, and Babson College.

When one studies in an all female environment, there is less reliance on someone sailing in and fixing everything. Women are not waiting to be saved, believing that outer forces will help them, rather they are steering the ship, making cause and effect moves that actively sculpt their lives. Is it any wonder then that women's college graduates have developed a self reliance that serves them time and again in their careers?

If research continues to tell us that graduates of women's colleges outperform their co-educated peers in speaking their minds, achieving career goals, and attaining more happiness, tell me, where would you want your daughter to go? 

(You can read the Hardwick-Day study here)

Fur Baby Friday

Cotton Bernard, family feline of Michele Perry Bernard, Class of 1983, is getting a "cat scan." 

We'd love to feature your fur baby.  If you are a MUW alum, send a photo of your fur baby (with or without, but preferably with, YOU) to mfaeablog@gmail.com and see your fur baby right here!  

A Taste of Chattanooga

Report by Carrie Pate ('07)
Photos by Erin Gioia ('07)

The Chattanooga area MFAeA meeting (subtitled “A Taste of Chattanooga”) on Saturday, August 28, 2010 was a great success. Alumnae from several chapters attended the area meeting and greatly enjoyed the luncheon, the company, and the two readings on the program: an in-person reading by Jimmie Meese Moomaw from her memoir Southern Fried Child … in Home Seeker’s Paradise and a recorded reading from Golden Days by Dr. Bridget Smith Pieschel.

Jimmie Moomaw’s reading of Southern Fried Child consisted of pieces of her story as only Jimmie can tell them. Hearing her read her own work aloud added to the flair and mood of her stories that was both Southern, Mississippian, and, well, Jimmie. It was a treat to hear entertaining stories written and read by a very entertaining MUW alum.

Dr. Bridget Pieschel’s satellite reading of Golden Days illustrated her great passion for Southern women and MUW history. The stories from MUW’s Golden Girls came alive as Bridget read them to the group via CD.

Everyone enjoyed the program provided by two MUW alumnae treasures. Our MFAeA president Lillian Wade also attended the meeting and presented important information to the chapter about membership, new student recruiting, and the MFAeA.

Thank you to Mary Helen Hicks and the Chattanooga alumnae for their hospitality, and thank you to the presenters for an enjoyable program!