Managing Editor Amber Helsel is a Gemini, feminist, writer, artist and otaku. She loves travelling, petting cats, hoarding craft supplies and more. Email story ideas to amber@jacksonfreepress.com. She attended Hinds Community College and the University of Mississippi.
Recent Commentary
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Making the Most of Jackson
If you look at a photo of downtown Jackson from 50 years ago, the neighborhood today is very different. Many of the businesses that used to be there are now ...
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Pride, from Detroit to Jackson
Jackson needs people who are willing to do the hard work—to attend city council meetings to see what's happening, to push back when the city's government isn't sticking to their ...
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Move ... Because Your Life Depends On It
Running is an intense exercise, so while it may be amazing for some people, it may be tough for others. But find a thing you can do, and do it.
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Midterm Madness Comes to Mississippi
Editor-in-Chief Donna Ladd and Publisher Todd Stauffer started Best of Jackson almost 16 years ago to uplift the city because back then it was in a bad place, much worse ...
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jackson, Get Your Community Together
Sure, if you come from a bigger city, there may be less to do here in Jackson, but you have many options, even if it's just going to the Mississippi ...
Art
EDITOR'S NOTE: Simple Ideas for Effecting Change
A study from the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association shows that 45 minutes of visual art-making can lower stress levels in adults, and other studies show that for ...
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: All Those Crazy Jackson Ideas
When Mississippi Arts Commission Executive Director Malcolm White first moved to Jackson in 1979, he said it was a fairly straight-laced city where people went to work, church, school and ...
Civil Rights
EDITOR'S NOTE: Creatives All In It Together
Artists need community. We need other people who will meet with us face to face, and give us helpful advice and tips, offer constructive criticism or answer our questions.
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Fresh Eyes on the Capital City
When dancers in the USA International Ballet Competition refer to the competition in Jackson (which, by the way, is the only one of its kind in the U.S.), they simply ...
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: #TIMESUP for Sexual Harassment
The women who wore black at the Golden Globes and called men out are right. It's time we stopped being OK with gender inequality and sexual harassment, and those micro-aggressions ...
Recent Stories
Food
Gumbo Greatness
In one year during the International Gumbo Festival's first iteration in the '90s, Hal White sought to make one of the world's largest pots of gumbo.
Business
A Space for Small Business
David Robertson opened Triad Business Centers in 2010 and made it an LLC in 2012. At the time of its opening, it was one of the only locally owned business ...
Jacksonian
Joshua Quinn
Joshua Quinn originally wanted to be a traveling psychologist, but overseas excursions changed his mind.
Food
The People’s Bakery
Kimberly Ruffin owns and operates local bakery Kimmiesweett, which she started as a home business around 2008 and expanded with a Northpark Mall storefront in 2017.
Art
Coffee and Prose
A building at the corner of West Street and Millsaps Avenue sits seemingly undisturbed, appearing like just another vacant one in midtown Jackson. However, there's more than immediately meets the ...
Art
A Galaxy in a Jar
I love to browse through images from the Hubble telescope. It gives such a cool view of space and all that happens in it. Those photos often inspire my work ...
Food
Tropical Vibes
Though Sal & Mookie's New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint was closed to the public on Monday, Aug. 6, it was filled with people and food all the same ...
Best of Jackson
Newcomers: Need to Know
If you are a newcomer to Jackson, you may not know things like how to get your water turned on or where the DMV locations are. Luckily, we're here to ...
Art
Inking Along
Art supplies do not always have to be pricey. Did you know you can make alcohol ink with just a few household supplies and things you probably have on hand? ...
Jacksonian
Tekeydra Lee
Tekeydra Lee was in California, "living her best life," she says, when she got a phone call from her father, Tim C. Lee, who is an alumnus of Jackson State ...
