Re: “The Great Undoing: Burning the bridge to the 21st century”

We have GOT to send these mean-spirited, small-minded men back home to their families. Organize, friends, and get out the vote!

Re: “The call from Pullen Baptist: Put Raleigh 2010 in the civil rights history books as the place school resegregation failed”

Thanks for the excellent article, and for printing the Open Letter! I was present at the mass meeting last Monday, and this is the best description of it that has appeared in print.

Those poor Yankees on the School Board just don't know what they're up against. In their ignorance and arrogance they have sown the wind, and they are about to harvest a whirlwind of righteous outrage.

Re: “Tim Tyson's celebrated memoir comes to the big screen”

Ebert likes the film, too:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100217/REVIEWS/100219977

Re: “Tim Tyson's celebrated memoir comes to the big screen”

What a mean-spirited and ill-informed review!

I've seen the film twice now(lucky me) and will attest that it's an excellent adaptation of the book, following each of the families -- Tyson, Teer, Morrow, and Chavis -- as the narrative warrants.

I can count on one hand the Hollywood films that accurately depict the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in their complexity, and BDSMN is to be celebrated as the newest and arguably the best so far of that select group. Please, folks, see the film for yourself and draw your own conclusions, or at least read Godfrey Cheshire's recent piece in the New York Times for another perspective on the film.

Sorry, Indy, you blew it this time.

Re: “Chapel Hill's incredible shrinking Halloween”

Okay, Zach, I've read your blog. There were two or three people supporting your position, and a couple more asking questions, and one directly opposing you. This is not exactly a landslide of support for your PASSION about this matter.

I like DSI and I am prepared to like you, if you'll let me. Can we talk like reasonable people, please ?

Apparently I've lived in Chapel Hill and Carrboro longer than you have, and have worked for more businesses there, though I am not yet a geriatric looking for the Early Bird Specials as your snarkiest supporter suggests. I've also lived in Durham for a decade and wish it well. Enough credentials, or do you want to arm-wrestle for the honor of who knows our towns and their interests best?

Zach, have you been to Franklin Street on Hallowe'en night in the past few years? I have, and it was not fun. It was much too crowded and the crowd felt ugly, like a fight could break out any minute. There have been fights, and nothing but a large and wildly expensive police presence has kept them from erupting into a general melee. Many cases of alcohol poisoning have been rushed to the emergency room. Vandalism -- not cute stuff like egging and toilet paper, but broken windows and slashed tires and busted beer bottles all over the street -- has been common all over town, and there have been lots of muggings and assaults as the night became morning. In recent years I've lived on Macauley Street and Hillsborough Street and experienced the crap doesn't get reported to the police: drunks yelling at 4 am and vomiting and pissing in residents' yards, car windows broken, stuff like that. Do you live close enough to Franklin Street to have to put up with that?

At our last public festival that grew to attract people from all over the state someone was shot and killed. Do you think that's good for business?

I love Chapel Hill, I love and support local businesses, and I love Hallowe'en. I'd love to support and enjoy a Franklin Street celebration that works happily for all involved. Wouldn't you, Zach?

Re: “Chapel Hill's incredible shrinking Halloween”

From your comments here and as quoted in the Indy, yeah, you sound about 10, and somewhat spoiled. I will check out your blog before I say anything stronger.

Re: “Chapel Hill's incredible shrinking Halloween”

Oh, for Pete's sake, have your own party! The Hallowe'en scene on Franklin Street had gotten so overgrown and unpleasant that locals avoided it. I applaud the town's decision to scale the party back to something less expensive and less dangerous.

Zach, I'm disappointed in you. Your comments come across as mean-spirited sour grapes.