At White Rock Baptist Church on Dec. 13, William Marsh, the parliamentarian of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, read the slate of names put forth by the nominating committee, topped with Lavonia Allison for chair. He then called for additional nominations from the group of about 300 African Americans assembled in […]
Jennifer Strom
Email: [email protected]
Posted inNews
Economic dynamics
MEMORANDUM TO: WHOM IT MAY CONCERN FROM: WE THE PEOPLE RE: DURHAM’S STATE OF THE ECONOMY 2001 We listened with great interest as Mr. Consultant from Austin, Texas, plowed through his PowerPoint presentation at the Civic Center Marriott last week. He showed us nearly four dozen slides, each a tiny slice of information about our […]
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The conflicting agendas of Lavonia Allison
At a Durham school board work session on a recent weeknight, it’s politics as usual for Lavonia Allison. The well-known leader of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People strides confidently to a table at the front of the room, a sheaf of notes in her hand, her trademark black leather cap on […]
Posted inNews
A Campaign for Citizen Jane
Two years ago, when Pat Bocckino and her neighbors began to question plans for a new mega-mall in Southwest Durham, they sought help from their elected officials. Cynthia Brown, then a Durham City Council member, was the only one who responded in person. Brown walked through the neighborhood talking to people on doorsteps and porches, […]
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Tough to figure
Steve Hopkins’ campaign for the mayor of Durham is a study in contrasts. At the beginning of a conversation, he says with a chuckle that he doesn’t expect to win. By the end, he’s changing his mind. A longtime East Durham activist, affordable-housing advocate and general stirrer-up-of-things-political, Hopkins is running this year, he says, to […]
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In for a Pound?
Jake grew up on the streets of Durham, begging food from passers-by but never letting anyone close enough to touch him. Amy Darrah watched him out her window for six months while she worked at Tar Heel Linen Service on Club Boulevard. She talked softly to him, fed him, offered to bring him in out […]
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PAC Men
While lawmakers wrangle over painful cuts and tough tax increases in the state budget, consider this trivia question: What do Democrats James Black, Marc Basnight, Tony Rand and David Hoyle, and Republican Patrick Ballantine have in common? Answer: More than $100,000 (each) in political action committee money channeled last year into their campaign coffers. According […]
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House Rules
In the North Carolina General Assembly, there is an unwritten rule about first-term lawmakers: They should be seen and not heard– at least, not too often. Rep. Paul Miller doesn’t buy it. “I think the rule should be freshmen should speak intelligently about whatever topics they choose,” says the Democrat from Durham’s 23rd district. Miller, […]
Posted inGuides
Take the Cannoli (Stories from the New World)
Here’s the main thing you need to know before you park yourself in a beach chair with this book and an ice-cold Coke: The fizz coming out your nose may be painful. Vowell’s irreverent, wise and wise-cracking review of modern America (recently released in paperback)–from Disney’s faux frontiers, to the ironies of the Trail of […]
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Intermission
Silence reigns in the attic room. I flip the light switch, exposing Aaron’s life things: a Hank the Cow Dog tape ejected halfway through Chapter Seven; pajamas inside-out in a heap; scraps of cardboard, castaways from the great rocket-making of the previous morning; an upside-down coffee can, its shiny interior the last view a nosy […]
