BY TRISTA HAVNER
PHOTOS BY TRUNETTA ATWATER

I ran into a friend from college last week who was in town visiting her parents. We stood in the cool morning sun at the farmers market, marveling at the passage of time and how big our kids are. We reminisced about our late nights studying for tough exams and all of the change that has happened in our lives since, but mostly she could not believe how much Jackson had changed in the two years since she had visited. She was delighted that a local coffee shop opened downtown and that there were young entrepreneurs taking risks and making old things new, and she told me of the plans she had to go out with her husband to hear live music that night. Then she said the line I have heard over and over again in the last year from native Jacksonians and visitors alike: “Jackson feels like it has new life.” I agree, but that feeling of vitality and motion does not passively happen. It is a result of the work, creativity, and vulnerability of neighbors and community members willing to create spaces that feel like home and that match the collective values of our city. That feeling my friend was describing of life and movement, that feeling that so many of us have felt deep in our bones the last few years, is growth. It’s our city and our neighbors defining what Jackson’s culture is and will be, and there are few better examples of a Jackson culture maker than Ontoni Reedy.

I knew who Ontoni Reedy was long before I ever spoke to him. He is one of those people whose reputation precedes them, the kind of man who everyone can attribute something positive to even if they do not know him personally. It came as no shock to me that, when polled, our community chose to recognize him as someone who is contributing to building culture. He is always building something and the list of his contributions spans theater and education and cuisine. Ontoni and I met at Turntable on a muggy Monday afternoon to discuss some questions I had for him about culture in Jackson and his role there. He was, as I expected, humbled by the idea that so many neighbors would consider him a culture builder and his answers to my questions were deeply thoughtful and his perspective unique. I started as I always start, asking about family and upbringing. Ontoni grew up in Japan on a military base, the child of a Black American serviceman and a Filipino mother. He had ample exposure to various circles and communities and learned how to navigate different cultures while maintaining the pieces of himself that made him unique. According to Ontoni, he always believed that “people put themselves into a culture and they tell it where to go. The individual shapes culture, not the other way around.” So as Ontoni grew and eventually settled stateside in Memphis, Tennessee to attend the University of Memphis, he continued to find ways to contribute to what was happening while preserving his individuality.

Ontoni, in my house, is known as Mr. Reedy. He is my son’s teacher, and a really great one. He shapes young minds by weekday, attends rehearsals for local theater at night, serves as a board member for Ballet Arts Jackson, and somehow manages to capture and edit footage for the account he manages, “Eat731”, that highlights and promotes local restaurants and community events — a true local Renaissance man. Beyond that, he never fails to show up to arts events and student’s soccer games. I was genuinely curious about how he is able to do all of the things that he does and why he continues to show up. His response, in true Ontoni fashion, was sincere and thoughtful. He defined culture as “a community of people, willing to show up for themselves and each other, trying and risking and failing and learning in the direction of enjoying each other and the place they live”. People willing to share passion with each other and connect over shared experiences, and using those exposures to bridge racial and socioeconomic and cultural gaps. That is why he is such an advocate for shared cultural experiences because Ontoni knows that theater and ballet and food and art all share a common thread — vulnerability. Vulnerability, if we allow it to, begets community and together we can build a culture that includes and emboldens and lasts. I can see Ontoni Reedy’s fingerprints all over the culture that our city is building.

Ontoni was careful to point out that people have been building here for a long time. This new wave of business owners all over our city stand on the successes — and failures — of the entrepreneurs before them. Many Jacksonians have and will continue to contribute to the work of local theater and ballet and art organizations. He did, however, acknowledge that our community is providing more and more quality events and experiences of all kinds, which is a vital piece of building a rich and thriving community culture. When I asked him what he thought might have led to this shift, that familiar feeling of vitality growing in Jackson, Ontoni felt like it was a really simple explanation. “People are trying. It seems so simple, and it is, but our community is providing things to do that are unique to their specific experiences,whether that be food or music or dance, and they are inviting their neighbors to come along. The key really is just trying with intentionality.” What a beautifully simple concept. Building culture is really no more complicated than creating experiences that matter and inviting our neighbors to come along so that we can all benefit from the growth that will inevitably happen.

Ontoni and I talked over coffee for a little under an hour, but I could have listened to him talk about his community all night. It is clear from his measured resolve and his profound passion that he has no plans to stop building what he is building anytime soon. Ontoni mainly works in the shadows, creating space for other neighbors to shine, only emerging to blow us away with an acoustic set or wow us with a theater performance. He is a paramount example of showing up and facilitating experiences for his community to enjoy, and he never asks for credit or recognition.

So what a testament to his impact that his community chose him as a culture builder. One of the things that Ontoni said about culture and building a place for shared experiences has stuck with me and has reverberated in my brain for the last week or so. When I asked him if he could sum up his thoughts about where Jackson could fill in the cultural gaps and make sure that we make a space that includes and never excludes, that builds and never tears down, that lasts and won’t falter, he tenderly concluded that creating culture will never just be about what our community can see. The tangibles like art and music and performance arts, while important, won’t sustain on their own, but “extending a chance for people to enjoy being together and believing, hoping in a future that reflects all of us” will lead us home. Ontoni introduced me, via social media, to his favorite poet, Rudy Francisco, and I just can’t think of a more fitting line to encapsulate our conversation. From a poem titled Horizon:

I hope I haven't already driven

past my greatest moments.

I hope there is something

beautiful on the horizon

that's just as impatient as I am.

Something so eager,

it wants to meet me halfway.

With people like Ontoni Reedy to guide us, I have all the faith that there is, indeed, something beautiful on Jackson’s horizon, eager to meet us halfway if we will only try with intentionality.

TRUNETTA ATWATER is Owner of Trunetta Atwater photography and Founder of Soul Collective. Trunetta is a photographer, coach, and truth-teller. She specializes in challenging entrepreneurs to bring their creative ideas to life through photos. Her philosophy is to empower creatives to be fearless in their businesses, to be real with their audiences, and to maximize opportunities to promote their products and services. She believes creative businesses thrive as a tribe and it's her passion to lead entrepreneurs to their full potential through expressive photography.

Trista Havner is a born and raised Jackson girl, a mom, wife, and small business owner. She and her husband, Charlie, have a charming local family business and are passionate about the history there. Trista can be found putting together frames in her family’s shop or lettering anything that will hold still. Her love for home grows daily, and she is passionate about being an agent of growth and positive change in her beloved Hub City.

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