Memphis showed out this week 👏🏾 LeMoyne-Owen had students talking AI and flying drones in Soulsville, UTHSC nursing held on to No. 1 in the state, and the Central Library opened a music lab in Tay Keith's name. Add a hometown poet, 58 painters on Marshall Avenue, and a new stadium for Tigers soccer, and that is a good week in the 901 ✨
1. LeMoyne-Owen College Hosts Next in Tech 💻
A GPM Drones demo gets the whole room looking up at Next in Tech on Walker Avenue.
LeMoyne-Owen held its second Next in Tech Conference on Friday, September 18, and the theme was The Future of Work. Students sat in on panels about AI, automation, and making a living in the creator economy, led by people doing that work right here in Memphis: Meka Egwuekwe of Code Crew, Terica Lamb of Electrify Me, Reginald Manning of Vista Data, and LOC's own CIO Kimberly Bailey.
GPM Drones flew live demos on the stage, and the Hustle & Heart pitch competition sent one student home with $500 for an idea. Soulsville has always turned out talent. Good to see LOC making sure the next wave is ready for whatever work looks like ten years from now 🙌🏿
Good News Source: LeMoyne-Owen College
2. UTHSC Nursing Is No. 1 in Tennessee Again 🩺
Hands on practice in the UTHSC College of Nursing skills lab.
U.S. News & World Report ranked the UT Health Science Center BSN program No. 1 in Tennessee for the second year running. Nationally it sits at No. 26 among public programs and No. 36 overall, which lands it in the top 6% of the 671 programs reviewed. The next Tennessee school on the list is Belmont, way down at No. 115.
The college welcomed 119 new BSN students this fall, one of its biggest classes in years, on either a 12 month accelerated track or the traditional four semesters. An online RN to BSN program starts in January, and applications are due November 1. Memphis needs nurses, and plenty of them get their start on this campus.
“This recognition is a testament to the hard work and achievements of our students and the unwavering commitment of our faculty.” Dean Wendy Likes
Good News Source: UTHSC News
3. Memphis Public Libraries Open the Tay Keith Music Lab 🎧
The Tay Keith Music Lab at Cloud901, ready for the next generation of Memphis producers.
Anybody who has been around a speaker in Memphis knows that tag. On Monday, September 21, Memphis Public Libraries and the Tay Keith Legacy Foundation dedicated the Tay Keith Music Lab inside Cloud901 at the Central Library on Poplar, a real production room where teens can come in, learn, and make beats.
The lab is one piece of a bigger plan. There is a Beat Making 101 class, the Tay Keith Collection of his photos, notes, and memorabilia, and the 901Voices Project, an oral history recorded with his family and the folks who worked alongside him. He was 29. The producer behind “Sicko Mode” and “First Person Shooter” came up right here, and now the next one has somewhere to start ❤️
Good News Source: Action News 5
4. Memphis Poet Maria Zoccola Wins the Tennessee Book Award 📚
Maria Zoccola, the Memphis poet behind 1993: Poems. Photo: Daily Memphian.
Maria Zoccola won the Tennessee Book Award for Poetry for 1993: Poems. One of the other books in the running came from Jack White. Beating a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer at a writing contest is a very Memphis thing to do 🎉
Good News Source: Daily Memphian
5. What Remains Visible Brings 58 Painters to Marshall Arts 🎨
Work by Paul Behnke and Lisa Williamson, the two Memphians who brought What Remains Visible home.
Marshall Avenue, a block from Sun Studio, is about to get a lot more color. What Remains Visible opens at Marshall Arts on October 3 and runs through the end of the month, with work from 58 abstract painters based in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Memphis.
The group started with a show called Cross Currents in New York, then moved on to London, Yorkshire, and LA. This is the first time the whole crew has hung together here. Lisa Williamson and Paul Behnke organized it with six international curators, and eleven Memphis painters are in the show, including Pinkney Herbert, Hamlett Dobbins, Jodi Hays, and Anthony Lee. Worth the trip to 639 Marshall.
Good News Source: Memphis Flyer
6. 139 Madison Avenue Gets a Second Act 🏙️
139 Madison, a 116 year old Downtown building with its next chapter on the way.
139 Madison Avenue has new owners. The 116 year old building sold for $1 million to a local group that includes Greg Gianis, George Sultani, and Curtis Braden, working with Office of Basic Architecture. The plan is mixed use, with several million more going into the work. Madison keeps coming back block by block, and this is one more old Downtown building getting another chapter.
Good News Source: Daily Memphian
7. Four Years Later, Liza Fletcher Is Still Sprinkling Hope 💛
An early look inside Liza Wellford Fletcher Stadium, the future home of Tigers women's soccer.
Four years after losing Liza Fletcher, Memphis is carrying her memory forward in three beautiful ways. This month the University of Memphis broke ground on Liza Wellford Fletcher Stadium, the new home of Tigers women's soccer. She played for that program twenty years ago, and coach Brooks Monaghan made sure her name would be on it.
Liza's Run is still going too, thanks to a group of Memphis women who would not let it stop. And at St. Mary's Episcopal School, Liza's Library gives students a renovated space built around her love of reading. As Geoff Calkins put it, she is still “sprinkling hope.”
Good News Source: Daily Memphian
That Is the Good Stuff
Seven stories, one thread ✨ Memphians building rooms, fields, classrooms, and galleries for whoever comes after them.
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