J'Espere

Fan-freakin'-tastic. Alice McDermott was the Morgan Writer in Residence for UNC this past year. She is Irish Catholic raised in Long Island, if that says anything. For those of you who thinks it says nothing, you're WRONG. And she has written fantastic novels, like That Night, Charming Billy, At Weddings and Wakes She has been nominated for Pulitzer Prizes galore and won a National Book Award. If THAT'S not enough to earn your respect, she was raised three children while writing all these fantastic novels. And she came to hang out in Chapel Hill. This is why I love Allen and Musette Morgan- they decided that money should be set aside specifically so that they could bring a writer to UNC every year. They live in Memphis and were unable to make the reading last night due to inclement weather, but that did not stop them from writing what I assume to be a pretty large check. Other Morgan writers include people like Richard Ford (whom I love love LOVE), Tobias Wolfe, and Joan ...

Last night marked the last lunar eclipse until December of 2010. Nearly three years away. But if you were around last night, and you were in a clear location you got to see a beautiful full lunar eclipse. It was fantastic. I sat on the backporch of a house with a large cup of tea and watched the moon slowly disappear. Some people believe that it doesn't look much different than when hte moon is not full but I can see a complete difference. When the moon was low last night it was almost a goldenrod shade, and as it rose and the shadows encompassed it it turned grayish navy. When the eclipse peaked and the sky darkened and it started to recede it became redder. It seemed that a smoky curtain was obscuring part of it. What is it about astronomy that continues to fascinate humanity? Why will we stare at the sky for hours watching one object become smaller before disappearing for the briefest of moments? Astronomy has always been an important part of history. Stonehenge is a great exam...

Last weekend I went to a beautiful wedding. It was a six o'clock candlelit service followed by a reception at a local country club. The reception was scheduled to last until midnight and would include a sit-down dinner. What it would not include, I later found out, was alcohol. In theory, I don't have a problem with dry weddings. Being from the South, I have been to plenty of afternoon cake and punch receptions that included just that. For many, it's a budget thing. Alcohol is expensive and usually prohibited in church fellowship halls. So I can understand wanting to save money and not serve alcohol. And I find it perfectly appropriate to have up to about a 4 o'clock wedding without alcohol. Usually those receptions will have different beverages and finger foods and last for a couple of hours. Where i draw the line is country club weddings. First of all, it's not about religion. If you're too religious to serve alcohol at your wedding- which I find ironic consid...

I'm flying to New York bright and early on Saturday morning. It will probably be my last weekend there for a while, which is definitely bittersweet. On one hand, i'm so thrilled JAM is moving down and will be close enough to see on a regular basis. On the other hand, I'm sad that I won't have an excuse to fly up there whenever. What are my plans? I have no idea right now. For me, being in New York is enough. Some of my favorite memories from there have stemmed from being in the right place at the right time. One Friday I was up there for job interviews and ended up having time to walk through the Gates exhibit and photograph people with their dogs with a Holga I picked up at the ICP. Another time, jon and I were up there over our spring break in college, and got up early enough on gray sunday morning to ice skate in Central Park with no one else out there. I remember randomly running into people I knew and having impromptu coffees, or meeting at Cosmic after work for wh...

My nieces are turning 4 next weekend. Every year since their birth, so for the last four years, my half-brother and his wife have thrown them huge parties, inviting the whole family and going somewhere like the Little Gym or waterparks to celebrate. My half-brothers. I spent a lot of time pretending they were my real brothers when I was little. Our relationship was fine when they were around, which was not a lot since they are much older than my younger brother and me. It wasn't until a few years ago that something changed. It could have started with a wedding. Their real mother was invited, after not speaking to her son for six years. It seemed like a good idea at the time. He had apparently forgiven her for her wrongs, he and his wife were beginning their own journey, etc, etc. It was the first or second time I had ever met her ( the first time I think being when he graduated from college). Fast forward nearly a decade and everything has changed. Since I have become an adult our ...

One of the most important basketball games of the season is underway tonight. In my opinion it's the most important, but I bet people from other states would have different ideas. One of the great things about being back in the South is the amount of understanding that comes from the Duke Carolina game. Teachers assign less or no homework, everyone's wearing a shade of blue, and bars are going to be full up long before tip-off. How long has the Duke Carolina Rivalry been around? We know that the game of basketball was invented in the latter part of the 19th century by Dr. James Naismith, who started it in Springfield Massachusetts. It originally began as a game called duck-on-a-rock in which balls were used to knock a decoy off a high place. In 1936 it was introduced in the Berlin Olympics as an Olympic level game but was in many YMCAs by 1893. What about college basketball? As early as 1895 there were women's championship games, specifically among Northern and Western Scho...

Remembering Mr. Wright - City One of the most important people in Chapel Hill died last week. Frank Taylor Wright was as much a fixture on Franklin Street as Sutton's Drug Store or the Varsity. He was an unbelievable 90 years old. While I was pretty sure that he was well on up there, I had no clue that he was approaching 100 years old. I remember his fabulous outfits, and I mean outfits that that would put any NYC designer to shame. He coordinated everything carefully. He was up at 5 a.m. every morning except Sunday, dressed in a suit that matched, and caught the 7 a.m. bus to Chapel Hill. Here he would walk the streets, parading in a way. Students would talk to him, and if you spoke to him long enough he would show you his portfolio. He had it done many years ago, by a student who wanted him to show off his collection. I loved speaking to Mr. Wright. I really did, and it's not just because I love talking to older people. He was a really nice man who remembered everything abou...