Local filmmaker contributes talent to community
Photo courtesy of Todd Tinkham
Photo by Mary Cates
By Hillary Vandewart
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
Todd Tinkham always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker, he just didn’t know the first thing about making films.
He grew up in a small fishing community in Massachusetts, and after graduating from high school, Tinkham worked on a commercial fishing boat for two years.
“I would write poetry on the fishing boat and dream of something else,” he said.
It would be years before Tinkham made his very first film, “And Then There Were Nun,” a four-minute-long dark comedy filmed in one weekend in Carrboro.
In between working on the fishing boat and becoming a successful filmmaker, Tinkham received an English degree from Long Island University and worked with at-risk children and incarcerated men in various outdoor and residential treatment programs.
After both his parents died when he was in his early forties, Tinkham realized that he wanted to pursue his dream before it was too late.
“I didn’t want to die without making at least one film,” he said.
Tinkham took various film classes in Maine and North Carolina before settling down in Carrboro in 2000. And though he recently moved to Chapel Hill, he still does much of his filmmaking work in Carrboro.
Since his first film in 2005, Tinkham has started his own production company, TinkhamTown Productions, and made 21 short films—about 10 of which he has sent to festivals. Those 10 films have been screened at more than 250 festivals worldwide.
For the most part, Tinkham works with a core group of people in the Carrboro film circuit—writers, directors, musicians and actors. This group, which includes Carrboro Film Festival founder Nic Beery, shares ideas, equipment and support.
At least every other weekend, Tinkham said, “We are shooting something for someone.”
He attributes his success to the local filmmaking community and his relationships with the people in it.
“I couldn’t do it without them,” he said.
Selena Lauterer, chair of this year’s Carrboro Film Festival, calls Tinkham “a force.”
2 commentsSociety must adjust to the “browning of America”
By Stefani Price
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
America is becoming a “majority of minorities,” said an award-winning investigative reporter and author.
Paul Cuadros, who is also an assistant professor of journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill, told a group at The Chapel Hill Institute for Cultural and Language Education (CHICLE) about the North Carolina Community College System’s changes in policy regarding the admission of undocumented immigrants.
Staff photo by Stefani Price
On the third floor of the Weaver Street Market is the office of CHICLE. The organization reserves its Sunday afternoons for introducing speakers to discuss key topics primarily on the issues of immigrants, language and cultures.
On Sunday, CHICLE hosted Cuadros, author, investigative reporter and assistant professor at the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication who lives in Pittsboro. Cuadros’s literary work focuses on the issues of Latinos while his day-to-day activities involve teaching journalism, mentoring and coaching both boys’ and girls’ soccer teams at Jordan-Matthews High School in Chatham County.
Cuadros has become very close to several of the Hispanic teenagers with whom he works; so when in June of this year some of those young students were denied acceptance into community colleges due to their lack of U.S. citizenship, Cuadros empathized with their feelings of rejection and exclusion.
The North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) has gone back and forth on the issue of enrolling undocumented immigrants into its institutions, according to Cuadros’s research and records on the NCCCS Web site.
Dr. Martin Lancaster, former president of the NCCCS until his retirement in 2007, supported the notion that the system should remain open and accessible to any and all students, including undocumented students.
No commentsEl Centro Latino hires new executive director
By Dioni L. Wise
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
El Centro Latino admits any new face who enters its doors. And on Sept. 2, the non-profit welcomed the new executive director, Victor Meléndez.
Meléndez, a 58-year-old native of Puerto Rico, is the fifth person to hold the post since El Centro Latino opened in July 2000. He replaced Ben Balderas who stepped down on July 11 after serving two years as executive director.
Staff photo by Dioni L. Wise
“(Balderas) has his master’s [degree] in social work,” said Paula Gildner, chairwoman of the board of directors. “He was really interested in getting back into a more direct path of social service.”
Gildner, of Chapel Hill, said the board posted the job opening on Web sites and received an “overwhelming response” from dozens of applicants. The board vetted applicants in a string of interviews and surveys before Meléndez was hired mid-August.
“It was a pretty heavy process,” Gildner said. “It was not something that was taken upon lightly.”
Meléndez said he is getting used to the rhythm of El Centro Latino, likening its operations to a moving train.
“Because the train is in movement, you have to do certain things to keep it moving,” he said of his work behind the desk thus far. “I’m kind of making sure things keep on a roll until I get acquainted.”
Meléndez emigrated from Puerto Rico to the United States 36 years ago. He has worked with non-profits that benefit both the Anglo and Latino communities in New York, Connecticut and Raleigh for all but two of those years.
No commentsInaugural Dog Show Expo free to public
By Brittany Jackson
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
There is something for every four-legged and two-legged creature – dogs and dog lovers, that is – at the first-ever Dog Show Expo of Carrboro at the Hank Anderson Park dog park.
Photo by Brittany Jackson
On Saturday, Sept. 27 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 15 vendors from around the Carrboro area will line up booths along the outside of the dog park fence to provide free exhibits, educational presentations and concessions to the public, as well as the chance to ask veterinarians questions.
Vendors for the expo, which started out years ago as a children’s dog show, will include Orange County Animal Shelter, Bayou Rescue and Blue Dog Creature Coaching, and Lucky, the Durham Bulls mascot, will make an appearance.
“I think it’s fantastic to live in an area that’s so pet and dog-friendly,” said Jenn Merritt, owner of Blue Dog Creature Coaching, a dog training organization based out of Efland. “It’s a great opportunity for those that are in a pet business to show people what our services are and what we offer.”
Dog Show Expo organizers Wendell Rogers and Robert Douglass, both of the Carrboro Recreation and Parks Department, recognized the dog owners in Carrboro could appreciate this type of informational event focused on helping them be better pet owners.
“We have quite a few dog owners in Carrboro – responsible dog owners,” said Rogers, recreation supervisor for CRPD.
Those responsible dog owners will find new ways to enact the task of pet caretaking. Representatives from Four Paws Animal Clinic of Carrboro will be at the expo taking questions and offering to microchip dogs.
No commentsCarrboro High principal enthusiastic to be a Jaguar
By Kelsey Hamilton
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
With the start of the second year at Carrboro High School, Carrboro students were not only the new excited faces. Carrboro High is the new high school in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
establish a lasting tradition at the new school.
Staff photo by Kelsey Hamilton
Students, faculty and parents at Carrboro High welcomed new principal, Kelly Batten, to the Jaguar community. Batten, former assistant principal at Leesville Road High School in Wake County, was selected in July as the new principal at Carrboro High to replace Jeffrey Thomas.
“It has been a really fun start. I would have to say that the students and faculty at Carrboro High School are great,” Batten said.
Batten says he has felt encouraged by the amount of enthusiasm displayed by the students, parents and faculty. According to Batten, the community has been very welcoming, considering the school has been under the direction of two different administrators in its short history.
“The students at Carrboro have to be some of the most energetic, friendly and conscientious students that I have ever come across,” Batten said. “I’m just very impressed with the student body.”
Batten has transitioned from working at a large school for seven years to a small school in Carrboro. But his favorite thing about Carrboro High is the small size of the school.
“I really think that the district and the community have made a wise choice. They have made an investment in the future of the students here because they are committed to a smaller school setting,” said Batten.
No commentsOrange County Social Club: like a second home
By Heather Mandelkehr
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
The Orange County Social Club, sandwiched between Friendly Barber Shop and ACME on East Main Street, seems to be an ordinary storefront with tinted windows and plants outside the doorway.
Staff Photo by Heather Mandelkehr
Enter, and find more plants from the Carrboro Farmers’ Market on the bar, a large portrait of Dean Smith on the back wall, and employees and members sitting at the bar, socializing and listening to the bartender’s music choices as DJ.
It’s formally a bar, yet the overall ease of the atmosphere blurs an official distinction.
Owner Tricia Mesigian said her vision of the Orange County Social Club (OCSC) was to be a place where people could come often and know they would get the same thing every time they came in. She cited great bars that were part of restaurant – where people would come just to socialize.
“There wasn’t a plain old bar in town,” Mesigian said of Carrboro.
Originally from Media, Pa., Mesigian studied business at Virginia Tech and moved in Carrboro in 1995. When she moved to North Carolina, she started at the Skylight Exchange and then worked at Merge Records in sales and tour promotion.
She joked that she knew that when she opened the OCSC, the people who she knew would come, but now her clientele is a mix of “extremely great people,” including students, professors, musicians, artists and former employees.
No commentsWeaver Street Market grows up with local sculptor
Staff photo by Clai Watkins
By Clai Watkins
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
A sand sculpture by Rik Hermanson sits in the front corner of the Weaver Street Market lawn. Hermanson has been displaying his unique art work at “the Weave” since it opened 20 years ago.
Whether the art is a parade float, a totem pole or a sand sculpture, Weaver Street Market customers always can plan to see something unexpected in Hermanson’s work. “My nature is to always get wilder,” explains Hermanson.
Hermanson, a Greensboro native, is a self-taught artist and painter who, before moving to Chatham County, lived in Carrboro for 36 years. He has become a familiar face for Weaver Street Market customers – and not just because of his distinguishing dreadlocks. Benjamin Brodey of Chapel Hill shops regularly at Weaver Street Market and has watched Hermanson construct art on the grocery’s lawn before. Brodey says diversity is one of the things that he enjoys so much at Weaver Street Market and that Hermanson’s work really “adds character to the area.”
The sand sculpture that celebrates Weaver Street Market’s 20th anniversary has two very different and distinct sides. Damian Hoffman carved the side that is Weaver Street Market’s birthday party. Hermanson carved the back side, which is a whole tribe of starving Africans. According to Hermanson, even though Weaver Street Market is celebrating its 20th anniversary, it is important not to forget about all of the people in the world who are starving to death.
The sand sculpture that is currently displayed on the lawn at Weaver Street Market is by no means the first of its kind. Hermanson has created numerous controversial sand sculptures that are all distinct and provoking. Among his collection are a Sept. 11 memorial, an angry developer bulldozing away a castle, and a tribe of starving Indians with one, what Hermanson calls, “bulimic” pilgrim.
When asked about her favorite piece done by Hermanson, Cat Moleski, who does public relations for Weaver Street Market, recalls how moving Hermanson’s Sept. 11 sand memorial was seven years ago. The sculpture showed the Statue of Liberty being knocked down by an airplane and nearby firemen and policemen supporting the flame of liberty.
No commentsCarrboro High School faces grief with collective effort
By Jasmina Nogo
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
Counselors at Carrboro High School assist their students in times of grief, crisis and confusion. Although there isn’t a formal grief counseling program yet, the first student support group will meet on Oct. 7.
Staff Photo by Jasmina Nogo
The tragic death of Chapel Hill High School’s defensive lineman, Atlas Fraley, only two weeks before school started, affected the lives of many students who went to school with Fraley before they transferred to Carrboro High.
“We started to have enough students suffering and decided that this would be appropriate for a group, if they’re interested,” said Linda Bos, student assistance program counselor at CHS.
With only 770 students and no formalized grief support, the counselors at CHS are not set up for such long-term treatment, Bos said. Students who require ongoing treatment are usually referred out.
However, this year Bos has been in contact with William Holloman, from the Duke Bereavement Community Center in Hillsborough, and the counselors are planning for him to offer a grief support group to students who are interested.
The group is due to start in early October and will meet for approximately six weeks, with availability for continued meetings if needed.
No commentsHi Mom! film fest holds tenth anniversary
By Danielle Verrilli
Carrboro Commons Photo Editor
The directors of Hi Mom! 10 decided not to award flaming trophies this year, as in the first short film festival of 1998, but rather distributed software and $904 in prizes to filmmakers.
Staff Photo by Danielle Verrilli
“The flaming trophies were not exactly the safest thing,” said Tom Laney, one of the core directors of the tenth “no-fi-too-lo-or-hi festival of short films” held at the Carrboro ArtsCenter on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5-6.
Screeners showed the films in four thematic blocks, including an 11 p.m. “rude and raunchy no-prudes-allowed” showing on Friday and a more thoughtful matinee block the following day. The first block on Friday, originally scheduled to be shown outdoors at the Wallace Parking Deck in Chapel Hill at 8 p.m., was moved indoors because of rain.
“Hi Mom! 10 was a pretty amazing success,” said head director Ian Krabacher, who co-founded the festival with other volunteers while president of the Carolina Production Guild student group at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1998.
Each block was filled to approximately 85 percent audience capacity, with tickets selling for $5 or less per block or $10 for the entire weekend. Saturday’s final primetime block was sold out with standing room only and featured films about such things as bubblewrap, Hiroshima and lost girlfriends.
The directors chose approximately 50 films to show from the more than 300 locally and internationally submitted entries. Submissions were free until the deadline, after which entrants paid a $15 “slacker fee.”
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