Archive for February, 2007
Carrboro scores high on mobility report card
Carrie Crespo
Staff Writer
Taking an extra minute to get to work isn’t such a bad thing — at least not to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
When presented the 2005 Carrboro Mobility Report Card, Board members felt that the slight increase in traffic since the previous study in 2003 was positive for the town because it might convince more people to walk, bike or use public transportation to get to their destinations.
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UNC-CH alumna seeks to expose hidden history of local communities
Justin Smith
Staff Writer
Commons Photo by Justin Smith
At 3 years old, Allison Garren had her first performance in a play about the history of her hometown of Rutherfordton, N.C. Twenty years and many plays later, Garren is organizing a performance about the history of Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s black communities.
The project, “Because We’re Still Here (and Moving),” will focus on two historically black neighborhoods — Pine Knolls and Northside.
“I think that part of town is either unknown or people have a lot of assumptions about it,” said Garren.
Garren, an AmeriCorps member, will recruit volunteers and sponsors for the project, but she will not write the play. Local high school students with connections to Pine Knolls and Northside will partner with sociology students at UNC-Chapel Hill to document the oral histories that will become the basis for the performance.
“I think we’re providing bridges that otherwise would not exist between these two communities,” said Garren.
During the next few months on four Saturdays, 10 teams — each with two UNC-CH students and one high school student — will interview residents and business owners.
Team members will share the roles of photographer, oral historian and producer, Garren said.
Oral historian Ann Kaplan and photojournalist Ellen Ozier Hayes will provide guidance to the students throughout the process.
Additional students will conduct interviews this summer, and their work will be compiled in the fall. Students then will produce a stage performance based on the interviews and photographs.
The first public performance, slated for next February, will coincide with Black History Month.
Garren graduated from the UNC-CH in 2005 with a degree in political science. While at the University, she choreographed several shows and even played the part of a tub of Crisco in “The Goodbye Girl.”
When Garren directed “The Vagina Monologues” her senior year, it allowed her to combine two passions — political activism and theater.
After graduation, Garren worked with the Orange County Literacy Council where she helped organize a stage performance that featured adult learners telling their stories called “Respect Has Seven Letters.”
“These are people who aren’t necessarily asked their opinions,” Garren said. “But they have the answers to the problems because they face them every day.”
The performance generated by “Because We’re Still Here (and Moving)” will be presented next year at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro. In addition, Garren said she hopes to perform the play at a UNC-CH venue such as the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.
UNC-CH alumna seeks to expose hidden history of local communities [2:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadNames for Carrboro residents are as quirky as the town itself
Meghan Cooke
Staff Writer
Commons Photos by Meghan Cooke
We here at the Carrboro Commons have a serious dilemma.
People who live in North Carolina are North Carolinians, but what should we call Carrboro residents? In a town that has often been referred to as the Paris of the Piedmont for its arts and culture, it seems essential to have an identifying noun to describe the residents.
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Fitch Lumber a part of Carrboro’s history
Dear Carrboro…
By Jock Lauterer
Carrboro Commons Advisor
With apologies to Bob Dylan: “The media they are a-changin’.”
Here we are, a student-produced Web-based e-zine that would have been impossible back in the ’80s when your columnist began teaching journalism.
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Locals flock to free-spirited market
Nick Sotolongo
Staff Writer
Commons Photo by Nick Sotolongo
There is such a thing as a free lunch.
The first Saturday of every month the Carrboro Town Commons hosts the Really Really Free Market, providing participants with free food as well as an array of other goods and services. About 150 people attended the February event Saturday, braving the cold weather to give and receive in an unconventional setting.
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Century Center hosts ‘Unexpected’ art
By Jordan Lawrence
Staff Writer
Commons Photo by Jordan Lawrence
Though art is never unexpected in Carrboro, an exhibit on display in the Century Center has been given just that title.
“The Unexpected Interlude,” a series of paintings by Chapel Hill resident Eileen Neacy, will be on display until the end of February.
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Guard it With Your Life
Guard It With Your Life
By Summer Saadah
Columnist
It was around this time last year, under the balmy blue sky of a Florida winter, that the official groundbreaking for Ave Maria took place. It’s just 5,000 acres of sunny soil–11,000 homes, a 100-foot high cathedral, a Roman Catholic university, a market, a pharmacy, a school and $400 million later and it’ll be finished. And what an accomplishment. It’ll be the first town that is a gated community! It’ll be the first gated community that is a town! It’ll be hard to tell the difference.
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Clay therapy
Liz Thomas
Co-Editor
Commons Photo by Liz Thomas
Handmade wind chimes and café tables adorn the central courtyard. Skylights offer natural lighting for private and class studios. Shelves in the glaze-mixing room hold recycled baby food jars with masking tape labels. For the last five years, The Clay Centre has been a refuge for artistic expression and therapy.
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