Field Guide: A Different Kind of Library

Hi! Happy weekend.

First up: A different kind of library story. Writer Brian Howe details the ways that the nonprofit Marian Cheek Jackson Center, a “little brick house with white lacework columns on the Rosemary Street boundary between downtown and Northside,” serves as a living archive through its extensive oral history project.

As part of the feature, Brian interviews William Gattis, who serves as a community review board member for the oral history project and once worked as a bookmobile librarian for the Chapel Hill Public Library. Read the story here, alongside a beautiful recording of Mr. Gattis’s memories of Chapel Hill and stellar work from INDY photographer Angelica Edwards. 

And revisit some of our past library features—on Durham’s historic Stanford L. Warren Library, on a library housed inside a Wake County high school, on how Wake County libraries navigate the homelessness crisis—and please drop me a note if you have a suggestion for another library feature. 

Here are our recommendations for things to do this week. Thanks for reading! More below.

elsewhere in the culture section

Another story from Brian Howe: This one a fantastic interview with comics artist Kayla E., a Triad resident who swings through Durham this weekend—and whose new book, Precious Rubbish, is getting wild acclaim. 

The New York Times says it has such “an unexpected mixture of control and frankness that it is impossible to ignore,” and Brian describes it as a “stunning work of care.” Even if you’re not a comics fanatic, you’ll find this interview compelling for the way Kayla E. describes navigating trauma—the work takes on autobiographical material, “childhood abuse, from family dysfunction to incest, amid the pressures of poverty and Pentecostalism in rural Texas”—with art. Read!

Andrea Richards writes a beautiful essay on Reflections, a Nasher Museum of Art program for individuals with dementia and their families.  

Paperhand Puppets celebrates 25 years. A look at the cocktail menu at Boatman Spirits Co. (opening today!)—and the ways the new business is trying to be a good employer. How the Crunkleton’s third location, this one in Raleigh, is distinguishing itself. 

Finally, an interview with Ajja restaurant owner Cheetie Kumar (who holds many other titles to boot, including vice president of the Independent Restaurant Coalition) on the changes she’d like to see on the “No Tax on Tips” bill making its way through Congress. This is a good primer on a topic that can feel daunting. 

ICYMI: Lunch Money in Chapel Hill. A look at the Psychic Hotline “mailroom.” A Gawker editor goes analog.

— Sarah Edwards —
Send me an email | Find me on Twitter
If you’d like to sponsor the Field Guide,
please contact [email protected]

Want even more local arts and culture content? Support us by joining the INDY Press Club.