Columns, Indy Week

Caution, Warriors

Jeremy M. Lange — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Jeremy M. Lange

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Herding chickens

John Valentine — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

I tiptoed up to the first one and bent down. Boom, she was off—looking over her shoulder, cackling, "Who the hell are you?" by John Valentine "Here, let the Chicken Whisperer handle this. Just hold the door open a crack," my wife calmly instructed.…

Re: Food waste

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"In 2012, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle recovered more than 7.1 million pounds of food from 365 food donors, including grocery stores, food distributors and North Carolina's State Farmers Market." Thank you for bringing attention to the problem of food waste in your article on June 12, "Lunch and the landfill." I wanted to bring your attention to another community resource not fully explained in your article.…

Dancing in the Dark

V.C. Rogers — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by V.C. Rogers

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What New Orleans can teach North Carolina

Bob Geary — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Eight years after Katrina, New Orleans is a case study of this country's political paralysis in the face of major challenges. by Bob Geary This dispatch comes to you from the city of New Orleans, where my wife and I have been visitors the last few days. I love New Orleans but it scares me too.…

Who will rein in the General Assembly?

Kirk Ross — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

As the session winds down and the fundraising for 2014 begins, the pressure to move to the right will increase. by Kirk Ross "Governor McCrory will be back out tomorrow throwing the baseball perhaps with children who share his All-American passion." —A statement from McCrory's press office…

Re: Moral Mondays

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"Class warfare as a part of racial oppression explains why most people who have the resources to demonstrate and be arrested happen to be white." In "White like me: Moral Monday is a class struggle, not a racial one" [June 5], Dick Reavis offered a compelling story of interracial organizing throughout an ongoing civil rights struggle whose strength has grown, luckily, in recent months. The article's main argument, however, elided the intimate connection in the Southern United States between racial oppression and class oppression.…

Consider the Lobsters

David Klein — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

I don't get back to New York all that often because of logistics, parental duties and other forms of reality. But this year, two of the NYC Popfest headliners made it a must-do proposition. by David Klein My first dose of jangle was The Beatles' version of Buddy Holly's "Words of Love," featuring the gloriously ringing, almost bagpipey licks of George Harrison's Gretsch Tennessean. It was on a record called Beatles VI, or "Beatles Vee Eye," as we pronounced it, and I've loved that trebly stuff ever since.…

June 10 Moral Monday

Jeremy M. Lange — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Thousands of supporters continued the demonstrations this week. by Jeremy M. Lange

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Harmful If Inhaled

V.C. Rogers — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by V.C. Rogers

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N.C. education chief Bill Cobey is on the right track—but his fellow Republicans are wrong

Bob Geary — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

I found myself nodding as Bill Cobey, Gov. Pat McCrory's choice to head the State Board of Education, talked the other day about a transformative time in education and the need to cultivate children's innate curiosity. by Bob Geary I find myself in an awkward position defending our public schools against the depredations of right-wing Republicans. I distinctly remember, as a restless public high school student years ago, outlining my new and improved method of teaching American history without boring everybody to death—a method that called for casting aside the textbook, with its maddening muddle of facts, and plunging instead into an in-depth study of critical events and issues.…

Human Deathbox 2013

Jeremy M. Lange — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Jeremy M. Lange

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Re: Slow Money; the film 42

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"Even though North Carolina has more than 200 farmers markets and 150 organic farms, less than 1 percent of food sold comes from local sources." Re: Slow Money As a college student and foodie living in Durham, I love the chance to go off campus and enjoy places such as Cocoa Cinnamon, because let's be honest, it tastes much better than dorm food and it's a great opportunity to support local farmers.…

Dissent in the ranks over N.C. Democratic Party Chairman Randy Voller

Bob Geary — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Voller has made a lot of mistakes since February. His critics may be right that he is temperamentally unsuited for his position. On the other hand, he may be justified in blaming his bad start on them. by Bob Geary When Randy Voller, the embattled state Democratic Party chairman, called to order a meeting of the party's executive council Sunday in Greensboro, he turned to Charles Johnson for a point of personal privilege. Johnson, 91, certainly qualifies as a veteran Democratic leader.…

Moral Monday is a class struggle, not a racial one

Dick J. Reavis — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Contesting the N.C. General Assembly's agenda is in the interest of all of those who cash or deposit paychecks signed by someone else. by Dick J. Reavis Like most of the 309 people who've been arrested at the Moral Monday protests at the state Legislature, I've gently mentioned the experience to friends and colleagues, all of them white like me, in the hopes that they'll join the campaign. Several have responded with enthusiasm and, I believe, will be behind bars one day soon.…

Four baby birds

Memsy Price — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

My daughter and her friend spent the better part of a recent winter afternoon assembling and painting two wooden birdhouses. by Memsy Price My daughter and her friend spent the better part of a recent winter afternoon assembling and painting two wooden birdhouses. We hung ours midway up the trunk of a maple tree by our front patio.…

The Umpire Strikes Back

V.C. Rogers — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by V.C. Rogers

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Dix Park: the daytime drama, starring Art Pope as the negotiator

Bob Geary — Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Raleigh Mayor McFarlane and her fellow park advocates have just 10 months to flesh out their vision for Dix Park and get Planner Pope to see it with them. by Bob Geary In the continuing daytime drama that is Dix Park, last week's episode featured Gov. Pat McCrory in a cameo appearance at the Capitol with his "good friend," Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane. The two were all smiles as McCrory announced a "further partnership" regarding the 325-acre Dix Hill property, one that begins—strangely—with the state ignoring Raleigh's contract for the land.…

Tandem bicycling

Jedidiah Gant — Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

People keep telling us that two kids means twice the work, but I've actually found that the correlation is not quite so direct. by Jedidiah Gant Four years ago, when my son, Oliver, was barely 3 months old, I quit my job as an architect to stay at home with him. Since that decision, Oliver has won a yearlong battle with cancer, I have finished two years of graduate school, I've worked a handful of freelance jobs, and my family has traveled from Boston to Austin.…

Thanks for looking

D.L. Anderson — Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

After eight years, INDY Week staff photographer D.L. Anderson is leaving to pursue filmmaking. by D.L. Anderson

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Why I'm protesting at the Legislature

Duncan Murrell — Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

I committed civil disobedience because I needed to act. Outrage that never spurs action inevitably turns inward to undermine the very idea that one could act. by Duncan Murrell I recently had some time to consider the peculiarities of my character while sitting in the Wake County Detention Center, shoelaces and belt gone, waiting to be booked, fingerprinted and charged after walking into the Legislative Building in Raleigh with 48 others, standing in front of the closed doors to the Senate chamber and singing hymns. That night we sat for hours on metal benches, moved from one holding area to another.…

Re: Slow Money; school vouchers

Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"In a time when government policy overwhelmingly favors giant, out-of-state agribusinesses, our farmers need all the help they can get." Re: Slow Money I want to thank Carol Peppe Hewitt and the folks behind Slow Money NC for how they are helping our local farmers keep their land and businesses thriving ["Radical finance," May 22].…

Birds Do It...

V.C. Rogers — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by V.C. Rogers

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Clear for departure

JP Trostle — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

My father is 83 now, and his health is declining. In mid-April, my brother called: "You need to get up here now." by JP Trostle In the fall of 1973, my parents got caught up in another conflict between Syria and Israel. My father's congregation in central Pennsylvania gave them a Mediterranean cruise and a trip to the Holy Land as a thank you for a decade of service.…

Re: The Legislature; climate change

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"Thank you many times over for posting the week's N.C. legislative bills passed. Also for the statistics page. Both are very helpful in keeping abreast of the insanity of the radical Republicans in our state government." Re: Legislature Thank you many times over for posting the week's N.C. legislative bills passed ["This week in disappointment," May 15].…