With the addition of a new mural on University Avenue and Oxford’s arts center, the Powerhouse, located there – this semester Oxford Stories is embarking on a small solutions journalism project. Our reporters are starting a community conversation about the possibility of a continued arts emphasis in the University Avenue area.
Portland, Oregon is a city with a population of about 647,000 people compared to Oxford’s 23,000. With the slogan “Keep Portland Weird,” the city focuses heavily on the arts, with hundreds of galleries, theaters and murals.
University Avenue is in an area that is transitioning with new business developments, and the street has experienced new business growth, but some also view it as the older part of town. Opinions are mixed on whether an arts district, or area of arts emphasis, would be beneficial.
Oxford, Mississippi is well known for its creative culture. Many renowned artists, writers, chefs, and other artistic people reside in the town. Travelers from all over visit. Some in the arts community envision an Oxford arts district with residential and studio artist spaces.
If you spend a lot of time on the west side of town, you may not have much of a reason to venture over to University Avenue for anything, which might lead you to believe business is declining in that area. However, according to two University Avenue business owners, business has been steady.
Arts, culture, and creativity can improve a community’s competitive edge, attract new visitors, and integrate the visions of both community and business leaders. That’s why some view public art as an investment.
To many outsiders, the South is racist, uneducated, country, and uninformed about events outside Mississippi. At first, these were my opinions too, but living here and experiencing it, the outside world has their views wrong.
One of the things that stood out to me most during class-time was one of our guest lecturers and his charge for us to think of six words or less to describe ourselves. One phrase he used that really stuck in my mind was “comfortably lost.” This is a good way to describe how I felt during my time in Ireland.
Everyone who knows me knows I love Disney Parks. Heck, I even run a Disney Parks news site. I love everything about it – from the sights and sounds of Main Street, to the thrills and chills of my favorite attraction, The Haunted Mansion. So, obviously, I was ecstatic to return last summer for a nine-day trip. Unfortunately, a week before I was scheduled to depart, my left eye began to malfunction.
If you would have asked me two years ago where I saw myself going to college, never in a million years would I have thought I would end up in Mississippi.
Later, I became obsessed with the idea that one day I could have a job that I could travel the world and just take pictures of everything that held beauty. I think it is a really beautiful thing when someone can look at a picture and feel something emotional towards it.
About nine miles west of the Ole Miss campus off of Highway 6 is a feature that Oxford alone can boast of – for the moment that is. The World’s Largest Cedar Bucket, at 979 MS-6 in Oxford, stands outside the Cedar Bucket Furniture Co., perched on a small hill overlooking the highway.
My first experience traveling across the Atlantic was in 2013 with a mother-daughter trip to London and Paris. After nine days in the most lively city of London with stops at Stonehenge, Bath, and ending in Paris, we fell in love with the cultures each city offered.
Have you ever thought it would be scary, or maybe fun, to study abroad? If you have, but you haven’t shared this idea with anyone, keep reading. If your destination is Europe, I can explain the whole process.
Making the decision to study abroad was one of the most rewarding decisions I have made in my college career thus far. Being in my third year at this university, I came to the decision to study abroad at the beginning of my spring semester of my sophomore year.
Alden Caroline Easter, popularly known as “Ace,” took a trip down under to fulfill a childhood dream of studying abroad. After spending six months across the globe in Sydney, Australia, she considers the place a third home. It was her nature to gravitate to the sand, sun and ocean, but these new beaches were nothing like those back in America.
Caroline Luckie Oxford Stories cgluckie@go.olemiss.edu When I was growing up, my dream vacation was anywhere in Europe. I had to wait until I was 18 for this dream to happen. A month […]
Rachel E. Anderson HottyToddy.com At 19 years old, most college sophomores are worried about declaring a major or passing the next big exam. I decided to move to Europe alone. Initially, I […]
Rebecca DeLuna Getting out your comfort zone is one of the most difficult experiences required on the trek to spiritual growth. Whether it is applying for your dream job and getting denied, […]
