An article in the Jan. 17 issue of the Independent asserted that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had lost sight of its mission and that our quest for quality was only about the rankings.

Irony is an overused word and an oft-misunderstood concept. Still, what better term describes the juxtaposition found in local daily newspapers last week?

What once was an austere announcement to the world now seems something else—something, just possibly, with more than a trace of narcissism in it.

Monday. A day. I humped up into the BB&T, across from the PR, pulled around the building and had to stop short.

September 10 was a bad day for progressive politics in North Carolina. Triangle-area residents, in particular, witnessed three races providing an ominous barometer of the way political winds are blowing.In the Democratic primary to pick a nominee to replace U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, the message was simple: Money wins.

UNC Hospitals Platelet & Plasma Donor Program: Despite increased donations in the wake of Sept. 11, UNC hospitals may face a shortage of platelets supplies in coming months. UNC Hospitals are asking healthy individuals, between the ages of 17 and 76, to donate platelets and plasma for UNC patients suffering from cancer, blood disorders and trauma.

your turn Raleigh Budget Hearing, Tuesday, June 6: Raleigh's city council must approve a budget by July 1. Citizens are encouraged to look over the proposed budget and offer their comments at a public hearing Tuesday at the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex, 222 W. Hargett St., at 7 p.m.

It's all about having game--in this one, it has to be in the form of a question: Who is Heather Canipe? Answer: She's a North Carolina teaching fellow and senior at N.C. State from Newton, N.C., who was one of the last contestants to make it into the final invitation-only rounds of Jeopardy!

As I pulled up in front of the school, I looked at the clock on the dash. Tardy.

A couple of years ago, while going through some old books for a yard sale, I came across a to-do list tucked between the pages of What to Expect When You're Expecting. It was in my handwriting, but I had trouble recognizing the things on the list.

This, my 163rd column for The Independent, is my last. Yes, well, I know 163 isn't a round number.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): When I advise you to spend the Halloween season awakening and nurturing your wildness, I'm referring to the definition of that word offered by Robert Bly in his book The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart. To be wild is not to be crazy like a criminal or psychotic, but ³mad as the mist and snow.² It has nothing to do with being childish or primitive, nor does it manifest as manic rebellion or self-damaging alienation.

The intellectual who told us it was OK to like The Supremes, that you don't have to dig the De Kooning painting as long as you understand how it affects you, that each of our personal struggles to define who we are should not be open for discussions of their relative cultural worth, has written another fictionalized historical novel that vividly illuminates some very similar ideas. Susan Sontag, author of the seminal work On Photography, several essays on art criticism and more recently, The Volcano Lover, brings us In America, a story of a young Polish actress who immigrates to California in 1876 to begin a utopian society.

Weekly highlights for arts and entertainment in the Triangle.

If Dexter Romweber's music was ever about exorcism, this is proof it still is. Ten Bad Studs--the latest offering from our hero, justifiably recognized as an architect of backwoods garage rhythm 'n' blues--serves five live recordings from Romweber recorded between Chapel Hill and Chattanooga, offering a glimpse into the soul of a man who dances, sings and strums like a banshee in spite of, or, more exactly, because of it. For "Dreams Don't Cost a Thing," the former Flat Duo Jets frontman moans in a weary baritone: "When you smile, my heart goes wild, and I want you all the while/ You're not free, We'll never be/ But a dream, that don't cost a thing."

Surveying the latest national releases

Summer shed skeds revealed

Geezer indie rock stars wow the kids

Our critics' picks in new releases

Book capsules for this month's Indy Reader.

In T.R. Pearson's Blue Ridge, an old man named Lyle calls every night into the Virginia woods for his dog: "Queenie! Come on here, Queenie girl!"

What's hot in bookstores around The Triangle.

The Good: UNC-Chapel Hill religion professor Carl W. Ernst, who was smart and brave enough to recommend Approaching the Quran as UNC's summer reading book in 2002, has been awarded the Cairo-based Bashrahil Prize for his book Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World, published by UNC Press, which says the West is biased in its discussion of Islam. See Yonat Shimron's excellent profile of Ernst in the N&O's Aug. 6 "Life, etc." section for more.