MM 2003 // C. Thomas Bailey

 Greek life has always had a relevant presence on American campuses. Even our own campus isn't devoid of such organizations , ranging from Kappa Alpha Psi to Sigma Sigma Sigma. The reputation of fraternities and sororities alike tends to precede them, with a variety of stereotypes, cliches, and misconceptions circulating much of American pop culture. However, I am the son of two parents who were involved in Greek life as college students, and are still active in their respective chapters to this day. Of course, the expectation of me joining a frat was discussed often in my household. And while I ultimately decided against joining one, I still wanted to pay homage to the grains of Greek life I was exposed to by discussing one of my parents' chapters. Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) is an American sorority first established in 1908 at Howard University by founder Ethel Hedgemon. It is a historically Black sorority-- making up one of nine historically Black Greek life organizations in t...

 Magnolia is happy to announce that the Christmas parade will take place today (December 8th) at 5:30 p.m. in the Magnolia Square. Originally planned to occur last Thursday, the parade was delayed due to  poor weather conditions. However, complete omission of the event was out of the question, as the parade is a lively Magnolia tradition. Monday's weather was expected to be far more acceptable, with clearer and cooler skies as the the sun and temperature drops. (An advertisement for this year's Christmas Parade) The parade will make one cycle around the square , starting at Calhoun before heading down North Jackson to Southern Arkansas University's campus. The procession will complement SAU's own Celebration of Lights, which is the institution's own festive custom. In the spirit of giving, three awards are going to be given to a few lucky recipients. These awards include the Knock Your Socks Off, Christ in Christmas, and Sugar Plum Award. More information can be f...

 Currently, I am one of eight students in Southern Arkansas University's (SAU) 2025 "Reporting and Writing for the Mass Media" class. This class is somehow both solitary and cooperative in nature; while all of our work is done on our lonesome, we are exposed to each other's progress on a semiweekly basis. A lot of good work has gone into most of our blogs, but I wanted to highlight one in particular. Madisyn Morphew is sophomore at SAU, majoring in mass communication as well as being a member of the Phi Mu Fraternity. She has an evident eye for styling as well, if the the presentation, layout, and content of her blog is anything to go by. Her website is undoubtedly one of the more appealing in the class. (A poor screenshot of Morphew's blog) Aesthetically, Morphew utilizes a monochromatic theme for her blog, intermingling the likes of various whites, grays, and blacks (with a neutral sepia on occasion). This makes her website feel very classy, and probably the mo...

 San Franciscan app Reddit  doubles as both a social media app and a news app. Originally founded in 2005, the app was made by web developers and entrepreneurs Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, and Aaron Swartz. (The Reddit logo) The app essentially acts as streamlined forums dedicated to specific communities called "subreddits." These subreddits are the informational sources that make up Reddit's pages; these pages are categorized as: The " Home Page ," where users' subscribed subreddits appear The " Popular Page ," where trending posts and subreddits appear The " Answers Page ," where users can use the app's AI to search the its database and backlog of posts and information The " Explore Page ," where users can browse lists of subreddits (Screenshots of Reddit's 2025 layout of its Popular and Answers Page) The app was valued to be an relatively impressive $10B with its arrival on the stock market. Furthermore, its revenu...

 It shouldn't come as a surprise that the busiest day of the year for most retail chains is Black Friday, a corporate holiday signified by its discounted prices and frantic customers. This holiday has been a tradition since 1869, when it was originally used to describe an American financial crisis caused by a lack of gold.  It only gained the customs we associate with it now sometime in the 1950s. The day marked when companies expected their revenue to venture from the "red" (a net loss of money)" to the "black" (a profit); thus, the name "Black Friday" was made. (Image of a Rural King Black Friday ad. I would link to the original ad, but I'm not getting paid, am I?) As reported by the Cable News Network (CNN) , this Black Friday saw an increase of retail sales by nearly 4% from last year's report. However, economists claim this percentage is slightly exaggerated due to recent inflation.  Economist and Pinpoint Press writer Rick Newman est...