The Triangle’s local literacy councils need you. Well, actually, their students, tutors, computer labs, and libraries need your yard sales. “Budget shortfall” is the ominous buzz phrase circulating among the board meetings of nonprofits this quarter. Every nonprofit is trying to be more visible in the public’s war-numbed consciousness. Everyone is trying to be more […]
John Valentine
Bio: John Valentine lives in Hillsborough, where he's written about life on and off the farm for more than two decades.Email: [email protected]
Posted inArt
Zine Stream
They’re coming at us in waves, all of a sudden. Little mags, digest-sized, very cool, short run, totally unique art forms, celebrating spring busting out all over. Especially in zine mansion.Here’s to turning heads and turning pages. Local talent gets noticed in the most recent issues of Heeb, Teen People, and mental_floss. Carrboro’s Michael Taeckens […]
Posted inNews
Finally Spring?
Longer days, evening light. Race home, to outdoor peace. Nature’s pre-game show. Looking for the faintest pinks, The tentative yellows, The shyest dogwood whites. Redbuds ready, yes! Day lily nubs huddled, yes! Irises leading the charge, yes! Wood heat romance waning, why yes. Chickens and roosters squallin’, Old news. The sky’s not fallin’! It’s the […]
Posted inNews
Dawn’s early light
The steady drone of the blades and the flashing landing lights of the helicopters above provided an Apocalypse Now feel to the Durham campus late last Wednesday night. Half a mile away, a child’s life hung in the balance at Duke Hospital. Half a world away, thousands of soldiers were poised for war, ready to […]
Posted inArt
Zine Stream
There isn’t a better time to look at conflict and strategies for peacemaking. There isn’t a better time to explore new techniques for understanding how we experience the built world around us. There isn’t a better time to witness the rise of a new force, a storm of unbridled and unbeholden creativity. Do-it-yourself zine energy […]
Posted inNews
Live Update
In their recent State of the Coop address, the chickens bared their feathers. They, too, are sick of winter. “We like the extra daylight. But what’s with all this snow?” was a commonly clucked chorus. “Yeah, show us the green,” they continued. “Yeah, dawg, you’re a little behind on the fresh-water-each-day deal that’s in our […]
Posted inNews
Christmases past on eBay
Hey. Happy holidays. My name is John. I’m an eBay addict. It started so slowly. It was so much fun. It got out of control a few Christmases ago. I’m recovering now, back with the family. I don’t get nearly as much e-mail. Here’s my story. It all started with a wonderful Wurlitzer jukebox, a […]
Posted inNews
Driving lesson
Riding with a learning-to-drive daughter is an education. I think I’m teaching her, with my knowing silences, my subtle hand signals and nods, for turns well taken, lanes well changed. When she’s in the passenger seat, she’s teaching me with her, “Dad, you’re crossing the yellow line,” and “Seat belt, Dad.” She does listen when […]
Posted inNews
Report from Highway 9
From the darkness he invited us. “Come on up for the rising.” And we did. In mini-vans, tricked-out four-by-fours, stretch limos, and beat-up Chevrolets, Bruce Springsteen fans made their way to Greensboro last Saturday night, graying dads and soccer moms. Informally called his 9/11 tour, this Springsteen tour, in support of his album The Rising […]
Posted inNews
Finding yourself lost in the cornfield
We’ve been there twice. Both times on a whim. Leaving after a hurried dinner. The mythical cornfield maze–the 12-acre cornfield maze down the windingest road in northern Orange County. The first time we got so lost and turned around, the McKee’s (it’s their farm) sent out their dog and two boys with walkie-talkies to help […]
