Children, I’ve noticed, are powerfully drawn to tribes, groups of others who are, if not like-minded, fitted out at least with the same colors, slogans, face paint, piercings, war whoops. The first tribe is the family, the “us” into which each child is born, but kids are quick to diversify, declare allegiances to other “us”es–teams, […]
Melinda Ruley
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Trumpets call, and sing
Through the months of speculation, anxious season of election fast we held to hope of what November Two would bring. Listened to the pundits talking, pollsters stalking, Cheney hawking as a jester, dug in, balking, dancing for his king. ‘Tis the end, we said of Bush, let every bell now ring. Trumpets call, and sing. […]
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A Nobel winner who represents a truly green peace
Early this month the Nobel Committee announced that Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai had won the prestigious Peace Prize, beating out, among others, weapons inspector Hans Blix and U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei. Maathai, a 64-year-old U.S.-educated biologist and assistant environment minister for Kenya, has made a name for herself promoting democracy and the rights of […]
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Hey, why don’t we call it the Scenic Hillsborough Crawfish Memorial Bypass?
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Why come do I always get stuck with Orange County? Ten years I been putting on this monkey suit, dishing out the party line like it was champagne and caviar, and still they give me Orange County. Why not Raleigh or Cary? Why not Johnston County? Now those are people with […]
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Free at last
They let Rhoda Bruington out of prison last month, 12 1/2 years after she was put there. When I talked with her on the phone, she invited me to come over to Raleigh to see the house where she’s living until she can get a job, get her feet under her. When I asked what […]
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Closing a bridge–and connecting two neighborhoods
Last month the Durham City Council voted to close the Apex Street bridge, a two-lane overpass connecting the neighborhoods of St. Theresa to the east and Forest Hills to the west. The 4-3 vote was a victory for the mostly white, mostly middle-class residents of Forest Hills who had watched the small neighborhood bridge become […]
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Drive your vegetables
Five minutes behind a school bus and you know pretty much what you need to know about diesel fuel. It’s dirty, it smells bad, and it’s right up there with coal-powered power plants in contributions to global pollution. All of which may be beginning to change, in fits and starts, thanks to the increasing popularity […]
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Bio-Kindness
In the end, the decision to open North Carolina’s first biodiesel refinery came neither as cosmic bolt nor avatar nor mystical epiphany; it came, rather, in an “oh shit” moment. Not exactly the sort of eureka moment you might expect from a nonprofit that calls itself Human Kindness Foundation. But then again, Human Kindness–and human […]
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School spirit
“There’s just one thing,” Royce says over the thump thump thump of the big rawhide drum. “If you write about me, don’t say I’m part Native American. I don’t like that word, that’s a bogus word. You can say I’m part Indian.” “Agreed,” I say. “Oh yeah,” he continues, a twinkle commencing in the depths […]
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Going out of style
Like a lot of women who’ve stitched together domestic life and work, I often wonder what it would’ve been like to follow just one thread: deadlines or baby bottles; notoriety in The New York Times Book Review or a lifetime of Mister Bubble. My friend Emily, who has three children, calls these imaginary systoles and […]
