“Love is a Mix Tape” memoir brings love, grief, acceptance

Published by: The Daily Mississippian
Issue date: May 28, 2008
Section: Arts & Life

The New York Times bestseller, “Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time,” by Rob Sheffield goes above and beyond the expectations of an offering to the supreme power that is pop culture. With multiple references to indie rock bands like Souxsie, pop groups like Hanson and gangsta rap like Notorious B.I.G., this memoir of love, grief and acceptance will not fail to disappoint even the most critical music enthusiast.

Hemptones bring the groove back to Oxford

Published by: The Daily Mississippian
Issue date: September 19, 2008
Section: Arts & Life

With the right strobes and dimmers, any band can look good, but the musical goods are necessary to solidify the breast-beating machismo of an all-male band. Let’s just say The Hemptones have got the goods.

With members of both Zoogma and the Kudzu Kings, the music – psychedelic/acid rock, Rastafarian-style reggae, a splash of big band, rolled up with a touch of funk – seems an unlikely combination, even for Oxford, but The Hemptones have made a reality out of the imagined love child of The Doors, Bob Marley and George Gershwin.

Living the Aussie Atmosphere

Published by: The Daily Mississippian
Issue date: October 20, 2008
Section: Arts & Life

McAdams feeding a kangaroo at a wildlife park in the outskirts of Sydney, Australia.

As I boarded the Boeing-747 at LAX for a 14-hour flight to Sydney, Australia, my heart began to pound.

It hadn’t occurred to me beforehand that I would be gliding in the air above water for over half a day. I would cross the international dateline and transfer myself into another time zone, another world and another season.

It was summer here in Mississippi, but as I ambled off the plane and made my way into the terminal, all I could see were Aussie natives wrapped up in their winter wear.

Kenyan Multimedia Reporter for Presidential Debate Has Harvard Ties to Obama

OXFORD, Miss. – Africa Radio Group reporter and Harvard Law graduate Maina Kiai had an unusual day ahead of him when he woke up Friday morning, the day of the presidential debate at the University of Mississippi.

“The bus (for international journalists) was late in Memphis, and when I went to get some papers and came back, the bus had left,” said Kiai, who also reports for the Nairobi Star and the Web site AllAfrica.com. “I was frantically trying to figure out what to do, and the hotel put me in touch with a cab driver.”

Fraternity offers opportunity for spiritual growth

Published by: The Daily Mississippian
Issue Date: March 18, 2008
Section: News

Although fraternities in the U.S. are often associated with the stereotype of opulence and binge drinking, a small fraternity called Beta Upsilon Chi would rather strengthen their brotherly bonds.

Called BYX for short (pronounced “bucks”), the “Brothers Under Christ” are members of a social fraternity who abstain from drinking at BYX events and worship Christ during their weekly Monday night chapter meetings.

“We are firmly grounded in the Christian faith,” BYX Founding Father Andrew Alderman, who is also city news editor at The DM, said. “We are not evangelical. We do not go on mission trips, which is different from groups like the Baptist Student Union (BSU). We just give the guys a place for support.