Dr. Sophia Yen with a patient (Photo courtesy Pandia Health)
Pandia Health, an online birth control delivery service, has just expanded to Tennessee. The women-founded, women-led, and doctor-led company offers free delivery for the patch, the pill, and the ring. All that’s needed is an active prescription, plus no copay with insurance or as low as $15 per pack without insurance.
For those who need a new prescription, Pandia also has a team of medical doctors, who can prescribe birth control and answer any follow-up questions for a $20 yearly fee. In this case, the patient provides a few documents (like a government ID and health insurance card) and fills out a 20-question questionnaire that asks about health history and concerns, and a doctor will prescribe the birth control that best fits the patient’s profile. (In Tennessee, anyone of any age, including minors, can consent to the prevention of pregnancy through contraception.)
While the prescription service is asynchronous, without a doctor-patient face-to-face interaction, CEO and founder Dr. Sophia Yen assures that it is safe, though it does not replace regular doctor visits and check-ups. As a doctor-led company, she says, Pandia is HIPAA-compliant, implements only evidence-based and science-backed practices, and keeps up with all the latest research. “American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which is the number-one trusted national organization of OB-GYNs, has stated that birth control is safe and should go over the counter, and women can decide if it’s okay for them, given these 20 questions,” she adds. “So we’ve taken these 20 questions, turned it into a questionnaire, and added a protective layer of a doctor’s oversight looking at your questionnaire plus your medical history.”
Dr. Sophia Yen(Photo courtesy Pandia Health)
Yen, who also lectures as a clinical associate professor at Stanford Medical School, says, “One of the top reasons that women don’t take their birth control is that they don’t have it in their hand.” And this fact inspired her to found Pandia in 2016 with friends Perla Ni and Elliott Blatt to combat what she has coined “pill anxiety,” the anxiety that arises when someone runs out of their birth control without the next packet in hand. “We thought, we’ll just ship women their birth control and keep shipping it until they tell us to stop.”
But birth control isn’t just about pregnancy prevention; it can also help with hormonal acne and regulate periods — two points that Pandia has expanded its mission to include. The company’s #PeriodsOptional campaign promotes awareness that periods can be intentionally skipped for an extended period of time through the use of birth control, as early as two years after a first period. “The number-one cause of missed school and work for women under age 25 is a bad, evil period,” Yen says, and so she views Pandia and its ability to regulate menstruation as an equalizer that can free those with uteri from menstrual pains and the inconveniences and worries that can come with a period. Also, according to Yen, going period-free can decrease the risk of endometriosis, PCOS, anemia, and ovarian and endometrial cancer among other positive side effects, although the effects of going period-free long-term have yet to be studied conclusively.
“We’re here to make women’s lives better,” Yen continues, “and we will only tell you what’s best for your health, even if it affects our bottom line.”
For more information, visit pandiahealth.com. Pandia Health also offers educational material that is free and accessible to anyone via their online blog, YouTube, and Facebook.
At Pose 901, guests become part of the art in each of the Memphis-curated sets. (Photo: Antoine Lever)
Pose 901, Memphis’ newest selfie studio, leaves no room to be camera-shy, with twelve uniquely Memphis sets, perfect for striking a pose and snapping a pic. The studio opened last month as a yearlong pop-up with sets that will rotate every three months or so.
Following the nationwide trend of selfie studios, co-owners Michalyn Easter-Thomas and Antoine Lever wanted to set their studio apart by incorporating Memphis culture and history in their set designs. “For example, we have our ‘Hustle and Flow’ set that is a tribute to all Black Memphis artists, throwback and current, so we have Black Moses and Isaac Hayes, all the way to Pooh Shiesty,” Easter-Thomas says. Other sets include a boxing ring with Memphis v. Errbody plastered on the wall, a recording studio complete with headphones and microphones to pose with, and a VIP booth that Lever claims as one of his favorites.
“We wanted to make sure it reflected Memphis through what it looked like but also through how it was curated,” Easter-Thomas adds. In fact, the co-owners, who met while at Christian Brothers University, commissioned Memphis-based designers for each of their sets. “Luxe Interiors by Keila V., Raphael Small [of RAPHDesignLLC], Evo’k Designs — those were the main three who designed over half of our sets,” she continues.
Photo: Dederick Blair
“Memphis tends to be behind in things that the rest of the nation is doing,” Lever says, so when Easter-Thomas presented him with the idea, “I was like hell yeah, I’m on board.” While Lever brings his experience as a photographer, Easter-Thomas, a Memphis City Council member, says, “I’m the one who just likes taking pictures, so I have the mindset of what Memphians might like.”
A self-proclaimed Millennial enthusiast, she assures, “This isn’t just a Millennial thing; we’re going all the way up to age 109.” As such, the studio plans to host family nights, so kids under the age of 10 can join in on the fun, and the studio will be available for party venues, hour-long group sessions, and professional photoshoots in addition to 45-minute individual sessions.
Plus, for those who plan to go solo, the studio has camera stands available, and employees are more than happy to snap a few shots. “We wouldn’t leave you out there,” Easter-Thomas says. “We’d even make sure you have the right angle.”
Photo: Malik tha Martian
“It’s a one-of-a-kind, dope, kind of like a hypnotizing experience,” she says of the new studio. “You can immerse yourself in the set and feel like you’re somewhere else. We have music in here, projectors, different things going on. You’re not gonna want to leave.”
Tickets are available to purchase online or at the door. The studio is open Thursdays-Sundays and is located in Whitehaven at the Southbrook Town Center. “A lot of good things are happening in Whitehaven,” Easter-Thomas says, “and we’re happy to add to it.”
For more information, visit pose901selfie.com and keep up with Pose’s Instagram page, where they will tease out future set designs.
“Divine Legacies in Black Jewelry” (Credit: Metal Museum)
Jewelry is about more than its aesthetic value or its monetary worth — it’s a form of expression, a form of empowerment; it carries an impact, a purpose. And “Divine Legacies in Black Jewelry,” one of the Metal Museum’s latest exhibits, captures that sentiment through its more than 80 jewelry pieces.
“‘Divine Legacies in Black Jewelry’ illustrates that Black identity is not a monolith but a collection of experiences,” says Brooke Garcia, collections and exhibitions manager. “This exhibition centers the works and lives of over 25 jewelry artists to explore the diverse histories of jewelry creation and production in the Black Diaspora of the Americas.”
The exhibition is an expansion upon Chicago-based curator LaMar R. Gayles Jr.’s “Conjuring Black Histories in Jewelry,” which Gayles curated as a student at St. Olaf in Northfield, Minnesota. At a young age, Gayles became enthralled with his great-grandmother’s collection of jewelry by Black artists. “She would explain to me different social, historical values and morals,” he says in an interview with the Metal Museum. “I see myself being represented in her collection; I see myself captured when she talks about her jewelry.”
So at 13, Gayles asked himself: Who was the first Black jeweler? From there, he fell into a rabbit hole where he found no simple answers in his research, so the search for answers continued into his college studies, where he faced a lack of documentation and scholarship. “I feel that oftentimes when we look at marginalized groups through art, it’s very anecdotal, … a throw-them-a-bone kind of thing,” he says. “[Black Diasporic jewelry] is not a homogenized institute entity; instead, it’s a pluralistic set of practices.”
Coreen Simpson, “The Black Cameo,” 1990. Jet, brass, enamel. (Credit: Houston Cofield)
“Divine Legacies,” in turn, serves as a catalyst for expanding the scholarship and the canon. More names and legacies are out there to uncover, Gayles says. To him, the word divine in the exhibition’s title adds “some level of mysticism to our legacy and history in this exhibition where it’s not just the history of Black jewelry,” he says, “it’s divining that history out.”
“This exhibition provides a lot of information about jewelers that aren’t documented otherwise,” Garcia adds. “We hope that visitors walk away from this exhibition understanding that these jewelers are not only expressing themselves and their identities, but they are also part of the broader history of American jewelry.”
The pieces range from the 1940s through the present day. “The pieces I’m most excited about are those by Winifred Mason-Chenet,” Garcia says. Known for using biomorphic, or nature-inspired, forms and Voodoo symbols, Mason-Chenet operated a transnational jewelry practice, likely the first African-American woman to do so.
Other artists include Arthur “Art” Smith, whom Mason-Chenet mentored and who is also often cited as the earliest practicing Black American jeweler; Russell Ferrell, who made his pieces out of found silver and spoons and forks in the ’80s and ’90s; Charnelle Holloway, the first Black woman to teach metalsmithing at a historically Black college; and Karen Joy, whose work is the most recent in the collection.
“The museum hasn’t featured a group exhibition of Black metalsmiths since 2015’s ‘A Kind of Confession,’” Garcia says, “and it felt like the appropriate time to both focus on this community of makers again and internally explore how the museum was prioritizing BIPOC artists and curators in our exhibitions program.”
Because of this collaboration with Gayles, the museum has received a Craft Research Fund grant from the Center for Craft to produce a catalog, which is still in production, and to film an interview with Gayles, which is now available on the museum’s YouTube channel.
“Divine Legacies in Black Jewelry” is on view at the Metal Museum until September 12th.
“Divine Legacies in Black Jewelry” (Credit: Metal Museum)
“Inside the Walt Disney Archives” at Graceland (Credit: Abigail Morici)
Today, Graceland celebrates the opening of “Inside the Walt Disney Archives.” The opening marks the second appearance of the traveling exhibit in the United States, after prior appearances in Santa Ana, California, and Japan. The 450 objects on display span the history of the archives, beginning with the man Walt Disney himself, all the way through more recent films, like Frozen and the live-action Beauty and the Beast.
“When you think of American pop culture and its pillars, there are very few names that rise to the top. Elvis and Disney are among the biggest names,” says Angie Marchese, Elvis Presley Enterprises vice president of archives and exhibits. “When we first built this exhibition center, our goal was to bring world-class exhibitions that represent the best of American pop culture. [This exhibit is] the merging of two icons.”
“Inside the Walt Disney Archives” at Graceland (Credit: Abigail Morici)
The exhibit contains original artwork, costumes, props, old ride animatronics, and even some of Walt Disney’s personal belongings. “We wanted to give people the opportunity to see what we do in the Walt Disney archives,” says Becky Cline, director of the Walt Disney Archives. “We’ve shared a way to actually look at the archives. We are open to studio tours in California, where you can come in and see the reading room and Walt’s office, but no one gets to go back into the warehouse where all the treasures are.”
This exhibit is a re-creation of that experience. Visitors begin their tour in the Reading Room, which is a re-creation of the actual room where the Disney team does their research, and then they make their way to the back where they can have a peek into some of the never-before-seen treasures that the warehouse typically holds.
“We wanted to explain what the archives actually does, explain that it’s not just beautiful props and costumes because the eye-candy, I tell ya, is really great,” Cline says. As such, labels throughout the rooms include stories from the staff members talking about what they do for their jobs — the research, proofreading, fact-checking that goes behind the scenes for every item on display. “We have wonderful treasures,” Cline continues, “and we want to share them with the people who love them the most, which are the fans.”
But as Marchese says, “It’s not all Mickey and Minnie.” After all, the exhibit is at Graceland. “Elvis is actually a part of the Disney archives,” she continues, “A few years ago, Disney acquired the 20th Century Fox archives. Elvis’ first movie, Love Me Tender, was filmed at 20th Century Fox; he actually had several movies filmed at 20th Century Fox.”
“Inside the Walt Disney Archives” at Graceland (Credit: Abigail Morici)
So the exhibit also contains a few Elvis Easter eggs, including movie posters and original artwork of Stitch, of Lilo & Stitch fame, dressed up as Elvis, Lilo’s favorite singer. “I like to say that Stitch wanted to come back to Graceland to say hi to Elvis,” Marchese says. “In 2002, Lilo and Stitch introduced Elvis’ music to a whole new generation of Elvis fans.”
The archives also include the Swan computer from Lost, Julia Roberts’ red dress from Pretty Woman, Wilson the Volleyball from Cast Away, and so much more. “There’s something in here for the whole family,” Marchese says.
The exhibit will remain open until January 2, 2022, and for the next six months, Graceland will host a wide array of Disney-themed events, including Tour & Tea parties, trivia nights, a Princess and Pirate Day, and movie screenings of Disney classics at the Soundstage, the first of which will be Alice in Wonderland on Sunday, July 25th at 2 p.m. Marchese says, “It’s gonna be so much fun for everybody.”
To keep up with upcoming events or to purchase tickets, visit graceland.com/exhibition-center. Tickets for self-guided tours are $15 (adults), $8 (children 5-10), and under 4 free. VIP tickets are $50 and include a professionally guided tour, special access to a VIP lounge, a commemorative lanyard and pin, and a $15 food voucher. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Inside the Walt Disney Archives” at Graceland (Credit: Abigail Morici)
If you were to zoom into a piece of metal — and I mean really zoom in, down to the atom, down to a billionth of a meter — you might get an image similar to those captured by Amir Hadadzadeh, whose microstructure images are now on display in his “Micro-Aesthetic” exhibition at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis.
An assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering, Hadadzadeh uses these images in his research on the nano- and micro-features of metals to evaluate the determining properties of the internal structures. “We find a connection between the properties and the features that we see on the very small-scale,” he says, “thinner than the thickness of a hair.”
While working with these images, taken through electron microscopy, Hadadzadeh realized that “whether I’m thinking about it or writing a scientific paper or trying to interpret all of the images, I have the same feeling as being high.” To him, this tiny science contained an unexpected beauty. “They are all scientific images,” he says, “but they have artistic features — colors, lines, patterns, and there’s similarity to what we see in our everyday life.”
Amir Hadadzadeh (Photo: Courtesy U of M)
So with the help of his wife, Sepideh Dashti, who is an artist working in both photography and performance art mediums, he selected a dozen or so images for his exhibition out of the hundreds stored on his computer from his time as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New Brunswick and CanmetMATERIALS in Canada. “I tried to pick images with some features that can have a connection to our everyday life,” Hadadzadeh says. He even titled the images of the zoomed-in fabricated aluminum or titanium as objects they resemble — “Hot Peppers,” “Hairy Back,” “Horse Head,” “Atomic Heart.”
“My purpose here was to engage the general public with what I have been doing during my research,” Hadadzadeh says. While to the average onlooker the “hairs” on “Hairy Back” might be just that, engineers like Hadadzadeh use the hair-like lines to characterize the strength of the metal. Though the colors on some of the pieces may appear abstract, engineers use them to understand and interpret the image according to a color-coding system.
All of these features are important to Hadadzadeh’s research, but, he says, “I don’t expect the general public to understand the science.” In fact, he encourages visitors just to look around and enjoy what they see. “People can know that scientists are doing something that has scientific value and artistic value,” he says. “I’m trying to combine them here. This is the first step for me, and I’m trying to explore how I can do more and use the adventurous world of art to promote science and engage people and encourage them to learn a little more.”
Before this exhibit, Hadadzadeh had never really experimented with art. “I’m from Iran, and in Iran, usually families really would like their children to go to engineering schools or medical schools,” he says. “Unfortunately, at least for my generation, they didn’t appreciate art or humanities.” Even so, the professor found his passion in material sciences and engineering and can’t imagine doing anything else. “I’m not an artist,” he says. “I’m an engineer.”
But under his wife’s artistic influence, he’s learned to engage with his creative side. “Let’s be honest,” he says. “Engineers and scientists usually do not understand the art in the proper way. … She changed that mindset in me.”
Now that Hadadzadeh has had a taste of his wife’s creative philosophy, he plans to pursue his art further and hopes to have more exhibitions that can simultaneously promote art and science. “It is very helpful to have an artist in your life,” he says, “and I’m very grateful for it.” “Micro-Aesthetic” is on view at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis until September 30th.
The McCoy Theatre (Photo: Courtesy Rhodes College)
On May 17th, Rhodes College announced its plans to phase out its theater major. Katherine Bassard, provost and vice president of academic affairs, wrote in an email to the student body and alumni that “interest in the theater major has dropped significantly over the last several years.” The college has offered to place tenured and tenure-track faculty members in other academic departments or programs, and in the upcoming years, it plans to offer curricular and co-curricular opportunities in the performing arts, in lieu of a theater major.
But many mourn the loss of the department that has earned numerous Ostrander Awards. “The McCoy Theatre is a special place to many,” says Katie Marburger, who graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s in theater. Marburger heard the news before Rhodes announced its decision to the public, and she started a Facebook group called Save the McCoy Theatre. “I couldn’t stand back,” she says. “If I could do something, I was going to try.” Her plan is to organize a letter-writing campaign to express why the theater department is necessary not only for theater majors and minors, but also for the college as a whole. “The decision doesn’t just affect majors and minors; it affects non-majors. And it’s not just about the Rhodes theater community; it’s about the Memphis community.”
Within a few days, the group has accrued nearly 500 members, including current students, alumni, and friends of the McCoy Theatre, all of whom express a deep sadness about the news. “There are a lot of people who wouldn’t have come to Rhodes if there was no theater department,” Marburger says, “not just people who intended to major in theater like myself, but also people who wanted to major in something else and still participate in theater.”
In fact, rising senior Annalee McConnell intended to major in English and pursue theater as an extracurricular when she came to Rhodes. “Since I did theater in high school, but was not sure if I wanted to major, I loved the fact that the Rhodes theater department was accessible to non-majors,” she says. But after becoming involved in the department her first year, she decided to double major in English and theater. “I felt so supported by the theater professors and staff and knew I wanted to learn as much as I could from them before graduating,” she says.
A week before Rhodes announced its plans to phase out the department, McConnell met with administration to create an individualized plan to ensure that she could complete her major. She says that she appreciates the personal and sympathetic support she’s received from the school, but she is still crushed and surprised by the news.
This most recent semester, McConnell participated in a theater class which culminated in a research project called “Proposals for the Future of Our Theatre.” “To spend so much time researching shows and planning for future seasons at the McCoy just to learn that the program was dissolving not even a week after our presentation left me feeling very discouraged,” she says, “especially since it seemed like the voices of those of us in the department were not being heard.”
Olivia Fox ’21 and Alex Forbes ’23 in Hand of God, directed by Juliet Mace ’20 (photo courtesy Olivia Fox)
Likewise, rising junior Eliana Mabe says that she feels unsupported as a student. “From a student’s perspective,” she says, “it does not feel like they have been clear and direct and willing to help.” Mabe is uncertain whether she will be able to finish her major, since Rhodes will stop offering theater classes after this fall; at this point, she has been told that she will only be able to minor in theater. “Before this decision, I was on the track to be a B.S. in biochemistry and a B.A. in theater, which is the prime example of the beauty of a liberal arts education.”
Upon enrollment at Rhodes, Mabe had planned on pursuing the sciences, but after becoming involved in the theater department, she now plans to attend graduate school for playwriting. In fact, her plays have already been featured in local festivals, and when she’s in those settings, she says, “I feel like I’m an ambassador for Rhodes.” But with Rhodes’ recent decision, she now hesitates to take the same pride in Rhodes at those events as she did before, and she now says, “I feel like I’ve been ill-prepared for graduate school.” She’s reached out to administration about her concerns but has yet to hear back from anyone since her first meeting when she found out about the decision. “I feel very privileged to be able to attend a college like Rhodes, and I want to continue reaping the benefits it has to offer,” Mabe says, “but I need the support of my peers, past alumni, and faculty to continue pursuing my future playwriting career.”
Mabe continues, “This choice [to eliminate the theater department] is perpetuating the stereotype that theater isn’t real work, that it’s just an extracurricular, that it doesn’t deserve to be seen in academic light, which it does.”
“Theater is not just about acting or putting on shows; it’s about fueling empathy, human connection, and creative innovation,” McConnell says. “My time in the Rhodes theater department has shown me all of these nuances and more and in the process has made me a more well-rounded and confident person both socially and professionally.”
Similarly, Marburger points to the theater department as being instrumental in developing her critical-thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills as well as her ability to have a dialogue with anyone she meets. “[Theater is] about storytelling and exploring humanity, being able to ask questions,” she says.
Mabe agrees, saying that through the theater department, she has learned that storytelling is an everyday experience. “Sometimes to understand a concept in my biochemistry classes, I have to create a story,” she says, “and that’s an innate human thing.”
“As one of my professors Dr. Dave Mason once said in class, everyone is performing every day of their lives,” she continues, “and when he said that, it really changed my perspective on moving forward as a genuine, good person. As you go through different experiences, how you behave and how you go forth to make good in this world all boils down to this idea of performance, and failing to include that [lesson in Rhodes’ curriculum] is not only a wrong-doing to the mission of the college but is also an error and a flaw that future students didn’t ask for.”
Olivia Fox ’21 (photo courtesy Olivia Fox)
Additionally, as recently-graduated theater major Olivia Fox points out, “Rhodes has always been a supplier of vital community members in the Memphis theater scene. Within the past five years that I have witnessed, there have been prominent actors and directors who have graduated from Rhodes and stayed in Memphis because of the connections they made here.” She also says that the McCoy Theatre has participated in multiple outreach programs in collaboration with places like Central High School and Crosstown Arts. “Since there are no more theater classes,” she says, “these programs will [likely] no longer happen.” It’s also unclear what will happen to student workers in the theater department — whether they will be placed in another department or whether they will lose their position as a student worker altogether.
Despite their disappointment, McConnell and Mabe, as president and vice-president of the Rhodes Theatre Guild, have hope that their student-run organization can “[uphold] the legacy of performing arts that the McCoy Theatre has expertly built over the years,” McConnell says. Since 2016, the group has provided supplementary theatrical opportunities, often student-written and student-directed, without the financial support of the academic department, but members could still go to professors for advice and guidance and utilize the departmental supplies and workers for building sets and making costumes. However, now that the organization will be providing the only theatrical opportunities without the support of an academic department, the productions will likely face limitations in the creative process and execution, especially in student-led shows since, as McConnell says, “none of us have the same experience or training of professionals.”
Bassard, in her email, wrote that Rhodes is “working to create an environment where our students have access to rich theater and performing arts experiences on campus and in the Memphis community,” but at the moment, it is reimagining and identifying what this may look like going forward. Even with this statement, many students, alumni, and supporters of the McCoy are worried about the future of the performing arts at the college.
“It’s kind of an open-ended promise at this point,” Mabe says. “However, the responsibility of trying to find other mentors, of reaching out to the community, of reaching out to alumni — that burden should not be placed on the students.”
Fox, who preceded McConnell as president of the Rhodes Theatre Guild, adds, “On top of this, putting all of the burden on students to now do all of the work themselves with no credits is a lot of pressure. Not to mention without classes, it is expected of the students to teach skills of acting and designing to one another.”
McConnell and Mabe have reached out to the Save the McCoy Theatre group, asking for mentors, directors, designers, or producers to help with future productions. So far, the two have received a plethora of texts and emails from alumni inside and outside of the Memphis area who are willing to offer their support. “These are people who, according to what we’ve been promised, will be paid through Rhodes for their work,” Mabe says.
“With the help of the institution to fund us and provide professional mentors from the community who can supplement the educational loss from not having an academic department,” McConnell adds, “I have high hopes that we will provide a space of education and creative growth for everyone on campus who loves theater.”
