Roses to the North Carolina Botanical Garden, whose new Education Center is expected to be the first public building in North Carolina to earn the highest level of certification for green architecture.

The Education Center, a new gateway to the garden's nature trails and display gardens, was designed as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum building.

The 29,656-square-foot center consists of three buildings designed to minimize environmental impact. Their features include photovoltaic panels, rainwater cisterns, storm water retention ponds, geothermal heating and air-conditioning, natural day-lighting and low-flow plumbing.

The center will allow the Botanical Garden, one of this town's under-appreciated treasures, to greatly expand its visibility and programs. And in its progressive design and architecture, it sets the standards for green building in the years to come.

Roses to the organizers and participants of both big literary events here last weekend.

The bigger of the two, the North Carolina Literary Festival, brought some 100 authors to the UNC campus for four days of readings, workshops, musical performances and more.

And on Sunday, the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation threw a shindig at Fearrington Village to celebrate the library's 50th anniversary.

Some of our best local authors -- Lee Smith, Daniel Wallace and Sarah Dessen, among others -- participated in that one.

Technological "advances" such as digital reading devices, video games and the Internet have led some to predict the imminent demise of the book. But judging by the authors and audiences at the events last weekend, rumors of literature's death are greatly exaggerated.

Reading will evolve, as everything evolves. But it's hard to imagine that an art form so deeply entrenched in the human experience will shrivel up and disappear. As novelist Michael Malone told us last week, "Humans will always love to hear stories."

The Literary Festival and Long Story Short were reminders of that. They were a celebration of what a joyful thing it is to be drawn into another world through the magic of the written word, to follow the adventures of characters you care about. To curl up with a good book.

Roses to the organizers of the Urban Farm Tour in Carrboro, for scheduling the slaughter of a few chickens as part of the tour, and also for amending that plan after it sparked concern.

Organizers said it's important that people understand where their food comes from. So they thought, reasonably enough, that a demonstration of just how that process begins was in keeping with the idea of urban farming.

But killing chickens near to the Weaver Street Market lawn downtown didn't set well with everyone. Some residents and officials expressed concern, and the organizers responded to those concerns and adjusted their plans. Rather than slaughtering chickens in public, they held a public discussion about slaughtering chickens.

It was a good response. The point was to educate, and that's what happened.