The Chapel Hill News Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Weaver Street West

About a year and a half ago I heard that a food co-op like Weaver Street Market had opened in downtown Burlington. Published: Mar. 2, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

The silence of men

Men can be full of silences. I grew up in a family of men who didn’t talk much. Published: Feb. 26, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

The bees’ needs

Every Tuesday night, I have a date with my 11-year-old daughter – and about 70 other people. Published: Feb. 23, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Clock ticking for timberdoodle

It’s twilight; a few minutes have passed since a pink-gold January sunset lit up the meadow. I am crouched by the side of the Mason Farm Reserve main trail, flashlight in hand, with camera set low on its tripod, waiting for the first “peents” to fill the air. Published: Feb. 19, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Kindness makes us a community

Today, Feb. 17, is Random Acts of Kindness Day. Surely one of the most fun days of the year, we should participate with abandon. Acts of kindness expand our capacity for creativity and nourish our souls. Published: Feb. 16, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

There’s no library like home

The first thing I did upon coming home from college for winter break was go to the library. I hugged my parents, slapped my sisters briefly upside the head, and, as David Foster Wallace put it, “(got) in a taxi and (said), ‘The library, and step on it.’” Walking into the Chapel Hill Public Library finalized my return home. Published: Feb. 12, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Shake, rattle and whoah!

During my youth I hadn’t met a person as prim and proper as Aunt Mary. As a matter of fact, it would take some thinking now to come up with someone as polished and proper as Julia Mary Francis Scarlett Jones. Published: Feb. 9, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

The long term will be Launch’s real challenge

The Town of Chapel Hill, once a beacon for anti-business sentiment, is trying a novel approach to attract entrepreneurs. It is becoming an entrepreneur itself. Published: Feb. 9, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

It could be worse

As I stare at the jagged stumps of once-towering pines and hardwoods – graceful trees that shaded the road from summer’s heat, offered privacy to the neighboring homes, and created a verdant barrier against the massive Ambulatory Care Center and its parking lots – I tell myself: Published: Feb. 5, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

These perfect moments

Sometimes I get a sort of rush of joy like this. I’m not talking about the all-around jubilation that comes with big events like weddings or the birth of a child; I’m referring to the whoosh of joy that comes with small moments. Published: Feb. 2, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Feeding 500 Children

One could say there is nothing more important than making sure our children are well fed. Every weekday at 7a.m. four “old guys” with about 100 years of food preparation experience between them arrive in the basement kitchen of the United Methodist Church downtown and prepare healthy meals for more than 500 kids in our community daycare system. Published: Jan. 29, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Bad Moon Rising

Throughout our history the state government and university leadership have locked horns many times. The place is after all a creature of the state, albeit a very old one, and policy makers have had a long-running tendency to want leave their mark. Published: Jan. 28, 2013 9:24 AM | Full story

Yes, you are creative

I’ve observed five types of responses to a question I frequently ask, “Do you think of yourself as creative?” Published: Jan. 26, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Police PR problem

Durham’s Police Department has a major problem due to claims of police brutality. The troubling accusation is made worse by the silence of Police Chief Jose Lopez. Published: Jan. 22, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Thinking about Newtown

I’ve been thinking about Newtown a lot. I’m a father. The greatest joy of my life. The thought of losing a child, like so many did in Newtown, in such a brutal manner, just feels incomprehensible. Published: Jan. 22, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Grandfather’s justice

In our family, card playing was how you learned to count. My grandfather’s favorite game was setback. The men who stopped off at his store often stayed for cards or checkers. The handmade checkerboard sat on a 10-penny nail keg; the checkers were Nehi Orange or NuGrape bottle caps. Published: Jan. 19, 2013 12:00 AM | Full story

Living on the edge: An ETJ resident’s perspective

Recently, I was in a meeting where new development opportunities were being discussed, specifically a proposed mega-development in Chapel Hill’s southern ETJ, or extra-territorial jurisdiction. Published: Jan. 19, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Pear poaching possum

Someone had invaded our garage. I made the discovery early one morning as I was bringing our daughter Julia to school. The once a year, quite perfect, tissue wrapped Skipsations pears were gone. Published: Jan. 15, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Me and my M-16

The M-16 is an assault rifle. It has one purpose, to kill other human being. Holding that rifle, I felt fear. Published: Jan. 14, 2013 12:32 PM | Full story

My Influencer

My mother, Marilyn Brown, is my role model. Published: Jan. 12, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Choosing a new pastor

I recently was given the opportunity to serve with six other people on New Hope Presbyterian Church’s committee to choose our next minister. There was far more to the process than I had expected. Published: Jan. 8, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Over plugged in, under connected

I spent New Year’s morning with a group of 20-somethings, and as they talked about their hopes and plans, I asked if they minded my taking notes and publishing some of their ideas. I said I wouldn’t use their names, but the first-person voices are theirs. Published: Jan. 5, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Interview with a middle-aged environmentalist

A neighbor contacted me not long ago for an assignment requiring him to ask an environmentalist a set of questions. Published: Jan. 1, 2013 7:00 PM | Full story

Eat, rock out and be local

My way with New Year’s resolutions, typically, is to forget about them – that is, if I’ve even bothered to make them. Published: Dec. 29, 2012 7:00 PM | Full story

The ‘Queen’ grows up

In third grade, kids dubbed me “queen of the class.” I took my intelligence for granted. I could skip school for weeks and still produce 100s. By the end of elementary school, however, school became synonymous with bullies and boredom. I spent a lot of time cutting classes and instead reading in the public library across the street from my house. Published: Dec. 15, 2012 7:00 PM | Full story

Romance blossoms underfoot

At the same time that the White-tailed deer start getting frisky in the fall, another creature looking for romance is heading for the low lying depressions of the forest. Published: Dec. 12, 2012 7:00 PM | Full story

Night out with Clarence

In the late ‘80s the roads leading to the house were composed of gravel, dirt, and a mixture of a mystery substance that held the two together. Along one of these roads, in a ramshackle-looking house that leaned southward, lived an old man. Clarence was 88. He was a wiry man with milky-colored eyes and a full head of bristly white hair that stood straight up like a Christopher Walken wannabe. Published: Dec. 9, 2012 4:21 PM | Full story

Carrboro battled with a lion’s heart

One minute less or one minute more and Carrboro probably would have won. Published: Dec. 5, 2012 3:39 PM | Full story

The secret nobody knows

This is the air we breathe, the water we swim in, the mound of dirt we dig through, and sometimes the manure in which we plant seeds of a different kind. Published: Dec. 4, 2012 11:22 AM | Full story

Christmas commercialism? Not the least bit bothered

Instead of imagining that the world has stolen our celebration of Christ, I prefer to see it as the time when our celebration of Jesus invades the world! Published: Nov. 27, 2012 7:00 PM | Full story

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