New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, 2004 Edited by Shannon Ravenel Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 334 pp., $13.95 My copy of the 19th volume of Shannon Ravenel’s New Stories from the South is warped with the damp that comes from a much-loved beach read. With family and friends sprawled on towels and […]
Dawn Dreyer
Posted inArt
To remain an artist
Art classrooms are the coolest places in the world. First, there are all the supplies: oil pastels, magic markers, paints, brushes, clay, and crayons–containers overflowing with crayons, poured out of the box. Imagine all that potential messiness and glory within your reach. The walls are hidden under students’ work; paintings dry in racks; easels poised […]
Posted inNews
In perceiving “other”
How can future teachers explore their perceptions about race and identity and the ways their belief systems will impact their students? And how, then, do they extend these conversations to their own classrooms and create opportunities for students to engage in similar explorations? From March 5-28, the Regarding Race project at the Durham County Library […]
Posted inNews
In upstart art
On a recent trip to San Francisco, artist and NCCU professor Pamela George was inspired, by similar efforts, to return to Durham and found upstART Gallery with artist and Duke visiting professor Jim Lee. Their vision: to connect emerging artists with retail, restaurant and abandoned spaces, where work can be displayed and purchased. “We are […]
Posted inNews
The Indy Bookshelf
Enslaved by Ducks By Bob Tarte Algonquin Books, 320 pp., $23.95 It’s possible that I am the wrong reader for Enslaved by Ducks. Most of my thinking about animals as pets falls into the admittedly limited categories of dog people and cat people. I am a dog person. On a scale of exertion in proportion […]
Posted inGuides
Barbara Lau
I’ve worked at the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) with Barbara Lau, folklorist and the director of community programs, for the past three years. Over time, I’ve grown incredibly fond of her and frankly, sometimes have found her infuriating. She’s a dynamo who asks complicated questions of the people and projects that inhabit her world, […]
Posted inArt
Missing Amanda Davis
You are weaving through your life when a plane falls from the sky. You could not have prepared for this moment, but you approach it as you would any other: You walk slowly through it, trying hard to listen to what the world wants to tell you. –from Circling the Drain On Monday, March 10, […]