Blair Pollock

Imagine there’s a man who’s lived in your community 30 years and has been a plumber, farmer, teacher, father, husband and homebuilder. He owns a company that advertises and does “ecologically friendly land development specializing in green building and energy-efficient homes.” He’s already developed three rural subdivisions. Now imagine that instead of building out in […]

After 29 years of playing music, 40-year-old Dexter Romweber is still a man on fire, and his musical fire has not burnt out. His show at Local 506 in Chapel Hill last Friday night in front of 50 enthusiastic fans, coupled with a screening of the intensely personal documentary Two-Headed Cow about Dex’s life and […]

Jewish wisdom texts refer to “the 36” righteous persons, or “tzaddiks,” hidden among us, quietly doing good deeds. The text portentously mentions that if there are not at least 36 of these saintly people living on earth at any one time, the world itself will perish. A local tzaddik came close to perishing last month. […]

North Carolina may or may not be the world’s barbecue capital, but we are definitely the hog capital–raising and selling over 42 million swine in 2002, up from 3.8 million in 1982. Last month, three young women from UNC’s newest environmental group, the Carolina Environmental Student Association, CESA, reminded me of that when they talked […]

On a chilly Friday evening following a gorgeous spring day last month, Sarah Lee Guthrie made me cry when she sang her grandfather, Woody Guthrie’s, alternative national anthem, “This Land is Your Land.” Holding a big acoustic guitar in her thin bare arms, she led the crowd on the chorus which everyone, including the 20-somethings, […]