That I would have to come to Italy to be able to write about Indiana… says something deep and mysterious about proximity, separation, space to marinate. And the defects and peculiarities of this wandering scribbler. For I realize, theoretically … Read more

    The two formerly segregated high schools of Lincoln and Chapel Hill High Schools: above top, the former Lincoln High, at 750 S. Merritt Mill Rd., which has been repurposed into the present-day Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Central Office.  … Read more

  In my hand I hold a matchbox. The old school kind — wooden matches with cherry red tips inside. But that’s not all that’s in this matchbox, nor is setting a fire its function. For this matchbox, I just learned, … Read more

  When friends ask, what was my favorite thing about our month in Italy, my answer may be a surprise. For it’s not the stunning Tuscan countryside, the sumptuous food, the laid-back lifestyle. No, it’s not even the delectable Montepulciano … Read more

    Sunrise and moonset. At the same moment; precious and rare. Thus, the morning concert begins: A church bell peals. A rooster crows. A dove coos. A dog barks. And Franco trundles down the steep driveway with his dawn … Read more

    Writing from Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy, where we have returned for the fourth time.   The learning of names, the remembering of their weight, tone and heft, the who of the where — is not unlike learning new students’ … Read more

  Why anyone would come all the way to lovely Barcelona to write about semi-colons is lost on this writer; I didn’t set out to do this. Rather, I’m just responding to a challenge from a grammar-wonky friend who inquired: … Read more

  It’s never too late — to be a classmate!   The newly formed Lincoln High School-Chapel Hill High School Joint Alumni Association presented its first round of annual community service awards to three local recent high school graduates on … Read more

  With China on my arm… “Stay this moment.” –Sam Abel National Geographic photographer   An unfortunate nighttime encounter with a bathroom doorjamb has rendered me with a sizeable purplish bruise on the left inner forearm. Upon reflection, it strikes … Read more

(Dear reader: It is said that there’s no sound so precious as that of one’s own name. Then imagine my surprise and emotions when years ago I was introduced to a large audience of Chinese students as “Mr. Joke.”  Somehow, … Read more