Jamecca Jones has enjoyed “making people look beautiful” since the days she fashioned ponytails and freeze curls for her Bailey High School classmates.

So when a gunshot wound put her in a wheelchair, the Jackson hairstylist was determined to keep the job she loves.

First, she balanced on stacked pillows to reach clients at Shades of Color in Jackson. But that rickety perch has now been replaced by the wizardry of a standing wheelchair.

With a push of a button, Jones can once again rise to her feet and let her fingers fly.

Beverly Brower of Jackson is one of nearly 9 million Americans affected by scoliosis, a condition that causes painful curvature of the spine. And in her early teens, her issues were severe enough to require surgery.

“I was pretty much problem free after that for a very long time,” said Brower, who is now 34. “But as I got older, I started to notice some changes and had more pain and just general discomfort.”

More than two years after a paralyzing car wreck, Nikosha Anderson’s life was finally coming back together.

She had returned to college, her 5-year-old son was starting school and she was finishing rehab.

“Everything was falling into place,” the Jackson resident said.

Candidates want to end speeches with a bang instead of a whisper.

So speech pathologist Heather Wise of Madison tells the vote-getters to practice vocal hygiene.

The term describes habits that promote a strong and healthy voice. And the strategy could save the loud and long-winded from committing vocal abuse. 

“Many candidates use their voices in ways that cause strain,” said the therapist for Methodist Outpatient Neurological Rehabilitation in Flowood, a division of Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson.

“Donald Trump is the biggest yeller of them all.”