The Lost Theatre of UNC
Dear Reader: This essay is excerpted from “Keeper: a Brother’ Restoration,” a work-in-progress book project — a photo-homage to my late brother, Nick, who died at 15 — physically from a biking accident, but emotionally from the loss of … Read more
On an Indiana Homecoming: Islands in a Stream
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
Lincoln High School and Chapel Hill High: So near and yet so far apart
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
Pocket shrines: Mom in a matchbox
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
Lost and found: a very old Italian cobbler
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
The face of the moon and the circle of life
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
The who of the where
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
From Barcelona with semi-colons
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
Alumni from formerly segregated Chapel Hill-Carrboro high schools join hands, honor three recent high school grads working for racial reconciliation
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
China Portfolio, a final view
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