I read in the paper recently that Abraham Lincoln was gay. As surprising as that may seem, it’s not exactly news. Lincoln’s sexuality has been hotly debated for years in academia. But now, a new book by C.A. Tripp, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, finds the issue being aired in none other than The […]
Barbara Solow
Posted inNews
Halfway house is former addict’s program, passion
It’s the season of hope, of lights in the darkness, of looking for small signs and wonders. Redemption comes later. Nobody knows that better than the small group gathered in the living room of this apartment house on a worn-out block of Angier Avenue in Durham. The building used to be a popular haunt for […]
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Urgent care
Dr. Harold Kudler began working with the Veterans Administration healthcare system two decades ago, before there was an official diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Over time, the Durham VA Medical Center psychiatrist has seen major advances in how the combat-related illness is recognized and treated–including strategies for prevention. As the VA braces for a […]
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Environmentalists to Bush: There’s no mandate for rolling back progress
Despite the Bush administration’s dismal record on the environment, issues like clean air, clean water and wetlands protection were largely ignored in the presidential campaign. Now that Bush has won a second term, environmental groups are bracing for more Republican-led efforts to weaken laws that protect natural resources and decrease pollution. But the picture’s not […]
Posted inGuides
Making history
Sitting on a couch in the student union at North Carolina Central University surrounded by members of the school’s Civic Engagement Task Force is like being at the center of a friendly vortex. Words and phrases swirl around like flyaway sparks. Big ideas flow from one to the next without pause. And there’s a current […]
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Why the Ganyards sold the farm
In his book About Looking, radical art critic John Berger describes how zoos ease our collective nostalgia for a period–long past–when people had essential relationships with animals through their daily work. At the zoo, we regard the living animals in their cages as dead symbols of that vanished connection, he says. It’s almost a form […]
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Marriage amendments vs. the lesbian mom
Just days after the election, Durham attorney Sharon Thompson was already experiencing fallout on gay marriage. “My e-mail lists are saying the Democrats lost because gay people pushed gay marriage in Massachusetts,” says Thompson, a former state legislator and gay rights activist. “We’re already blaming ourselves.” But Thompson and other gay rights leaders in the […]
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Fight back
The morning after Election Day 2004 dawned foggy and humid here in this “red state” of ours. It was hard to get out of bed. Fortunately, my mom called from New Hampshire and reminded me of a few things. “It’s still a great country,” she said, in her brightest League of Women Voters’ voice, and, […]
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Black women losing faith in voting?
In a presidential election with razor thin margins, it all could come down to women. With women now comprising 60 percent of “undecideds,” the scramble is on to find the subgroup with the biggest swing. A media briefing hosted by Planned Parenthood in Washington last week (and available by phone to the rest of us) […]
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Academic rights vs. academic freedom
Guess who’s coming to Raleigh? David Horowitz, a former left-wing writer turned right-wing think-tank founder, will speak Oct. 16 at the McKimmon Center at N.C. State. His appearance is part of the “Freedom and the American Campus” conference hosted by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. In recent years, Horowitz’s California-based Center […]
