Stax Music Academy Launches Fundraiser #MusicMustContinue

Zalissa Stewart sings out some soul music to entertain the crowd during a vaccine incentive event outside the Stax Museum on Friday August 6, 2021. Free Moderna COVID vaccines were administered by Christ Community Health Services for those who qualified. Anyone who got a vaccine received two free guest passes to the Stax Museum.

The Stax Music Academy engages students through their music program, giving them the incentive to do well and stay in school. Students learn about the Stax Records and Memphis music legacy.

Since 2008, every high school senior has been accepted to a college or university, many on full scholarships

Stax has given us such artists as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Staples Singers, and many more.

The pandemic has affected the students and families.

~ Soulsville Foundation's Solid Gold Soulsville event was presented by the Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy on Aug. 6, 2021. The event featured live music by 926 (the Stax Music Academy Alumni Band).

The Stax Music Academy launched its #MusicMustContinue campaign to assist students with tuition funding. Since many of their families have been so negatively affected by the COVID pandemic, this year 90% of their students qualify for financial aid as opposed to 50-70 percent in recent years. Their goal is to raise $50,000 so that no student is turned away for financial reasons.

The donation link is here:https://soulsvillefoundation.networkforgood.com/projects/136155-musicmustcontinue2021

Source: Soulsville Foundation

Photojournalist Karen Pulfer Focht Wins First-Place National Award

  Karen Wins First Place in Catholic Press Awards 2021

       

Memphis Photojournalist Karen Pulfer Focht has won a first-place national award for the heartfelt story she both wrote and photographed on the closing of the Poor Clare Monastery in Frayser. Faith Magazine, published by the Catholic Diocese of West Tennessee, dedicated an entire issue to tell the compelling story in a special edition after the Vatican ordered the closing of some shrinking monasteries worldwide. Focht has covered the Poor Clare sisters throughout her career in Memphis.

 

Judges Comments: The article and photographs complement each other completely and provide a depth of coverage neither alone could produce. An excellent compilation that draws the reader along on the journey.


Best Story and Photo Package

First Place

Faith Magazine, Karen Pulfer Focht, Saying Goodbye To A House of Prayer

She also won:

Best Photo Story - Feature

Second Place

Faith Magazine, Karen Pulfer Focht, Saying Goodbye To A House of Prayer

Judges comments: The article's photographs paint a picture of the impactful history of the monastery and display the bittersweet emotions of love and loss.

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/poor-clares-leave-memphis

KAREN FOCHT_Page_00.jpg



B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center Expands

The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center recently expanded the B.B. King exhibit to include the last decade of his life and his funeral.

Read More

Memorial Day 2021- Remembering Our Veterans

Each year hundreds of volunteers set flags at the graves of veterans to honor the more than 18,000 vets buried at West Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Memphis for Memorial Day.

While I was out there this past memorial day, I was shown the grave of Brent Lee Morel who was killed in action in Fallujah in the second Gulf War. His grave was covered with mementos from people who had visited his grave. A former marine, James Lindsey, explained it to me.

When coins are left on the headstone of a military veteran’s grave it lets the deceased soldier's family know that somebody stopped by to pay their respects. If you leave a penny, it means you visited. A nickel means that you and the deceased soldier trained at boot camp together. If you served with the soldier, you leave a dime. A quarter is the most significant because it means you were with him when he died.