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This was on the front page of our newspaper (Meridian, MS) today, Jan. 25, 2010!

Meridian Star

Star of The Week:

Wynne Huddleston Alexander

By Steve Gillespie

Wynne Huddleston Alexander, of Little Rock, was born in Texas.

She moved around a lot as a young child with her family before settling back in East Central Mississippi because her father owned Huddleston Construction Co., which put up telephone cables all across the country.

"When I was 4 years old I remember telling my mother I would play piano in church one day," Alexander said.

She has been a church musician/choir director most of her life. She is a member of Hopewell Baptist Church in Little Rock.

Alexander played tenor saxophone in the stage band at Meridian Community College, accompanied voice lessons, sang in the chorus and received the MCC Music Award.

An elementary music teacher for 21 years, Alexander works for the Newton County School District. She earned her Master of Music Education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.

While at USM she was a member of the USM Singers and Phi Theta Kappa.

"Music Education is vital to children because music is an outlet for feelings and ideas that would otherwise be left unexpressed," Alexander said. "Music encompasses all subject areas and, as recent brain scans show, uses all parts of the brain. Also, studies show that students who have studied music or played an instrument make better grades. My greatest reward is to hear a child say, 'I love music.'"

Each year her fourth-graders perform a Mississippi musical and her fifth-graders perform a Veteran's Day program. She has students in the State Honor Choir every year.

She has two sons, Nick and Jake, and two grandchildren — Jake and his wife Sarah's children — Jude and Julia.

Alexander enjoys ballroom dance, poetry readings, and concerts.

She is Past President of the Meridian Philharmonic Club, a member of the Music Educators National Conference and the Mississippi Writers Guild.

"I view poetry and music as sisters in the field of aesthetics," she said.

Her poem "Winter's Cackles And Kisses" was recently published in Emerald Tales Winter Solstice Special Edition. Her poem "Birthing An Idea" will be published soon in Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream.

She has read selections of her poetry at the Vicksburg Conference, Literary Artists On Stage, Espresyo Soul at The Gathering Place, and at Sage Coffee and Books in Meridian.