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Hi! Happy weekend.

Next week, we’ll have our first paper of the year out. There, in addition to the regular arts section, you’ll find an “editor’s picks” rundown of 5 things in the Triangle to do over the next week. These short blurbs will be a recurring weekly feature—one we used to run in the calendar, back in robust pre-pandemic years, and something that feels worth bringing back.

We are all, as you’ve probably noticed, entering the year in an acute crisis of national despair, loneliness, polarization, and attention deficit. It’s hard! Like exercise, getting more involved in the community is a muscle that requires flexing. The payoff is high, though, and maybe this is the year to start flexing. Maybe it’s time to start bowling? Attend silent book clubs? Practice naked yoga? Perform burlesque? Go back to school? 

So much is happening across the Triangle–readings, food pop-ups, weird art shows, dance parties, concerts, board game nights—and one need only take a short jaunt across local Reddit to see that people are having a hard time both finding and deciding on social activities.  

My hope is that this feature—with colorful, considered editorial writeups—can serve as a centralized place to find event recommendations. Less time clicking through Instagram stories to find Friday night plans, more time doing Friday night plans. A field guide to the Triangle, if you will.

We’ll need your help: If you’re a local artist, venue owner, or person around town with ideas, please always feel free to drop me a line with event ideas, this year, at [email protected].

Thanks for reading! Much more next week.

A still from Nickel Boys, coming soon to a theater near you. Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.

elsewhere in the culture section

INDY film critic Glenn McDonald would also like to see you get out of the house and at the movies. Here’s his monthly column tracking the best movies coming to local theaters. Among them: RaMell Ross’s experimental adaptation of Nickel Boys (find our 2019 interview with Ross here) and Adrian Brody in The Brutalist. Last month, Glenn recommended Babygirl, which I’m going to go see tonight. 

ICYMI: Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams wants you to give veganism a try. Our year in photos. Our favorite releases from the year. And, a few more days for Raleighites to follow the lights. 

— Sarah Edwards —
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Sarah Edwards is culture editor of the INDY, covering cultural institutions and the arts in the Triangle. She joined the staff in 2019 and assumed her current role in 2020.