November 27, 2008
PLEASANT GARDEN - Sometimes, David Goltare is hard to understand. He lost his voice box to cancer in 1989. So, when he puts his fingers over the small hole in his throat, he speaks in a voice that sounds like snow tires against gravel. But really, you do...
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November 25, 2008
Harold Scott’s office is empty. He’ll retire Wednesday morning as assistant police chief, and during his retirement ceremony inside the City Council chambers, he’ll give his badge — No. 986 — to his son and his daughter and begin thinking about...
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November 22, 2008
Sometimes, Fern Russell can’t remember her age or the name of her husband. But give her a paintbrush and a few instructions, and she just blossoms. Check out “Fast Fern.” It doesn’t look like much. Just two green leaves and a brown dot. Yet, read...
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November 20, 2008
A week before Thanksgiving, when the phrase "these uncertain times" has become an unwanted cliche, you end up finding beauty in the simplest details of anyone's story. Let's look at three. Two sisters. One Santa. And one music teacher, with an old violin.
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November 18, 2008
GREENSBORO — Like many ink-stained refugees, I get my share of calls from readers. One of them came from Betty Ruffin. She had a doozie of a request. She wanted me to help her better understand her son. Her request came a few months back. She saw my col...
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GREENSBORO - Two hours into Bob Weir's show, when he started singing about ripples on still water, a handful of fans turned their Bic lighters into beacons Sunday night inside Greensboro's War Memorial Auditorium. It's an old-school concert move. But it s...
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November 15, 2008
Mitch McGee can tell a story. He’ll roll out some jaw-dropping detail about a person he’s worked with, and then he’ll let out this loud, long hiccup cackle that Brother Theodore used to hate. He heard that at Missionaries of the Holy Family, a Catho...
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November 13, 2008
GREENSBORO — Emily Edwards is one twisted sister. Check out her latest film, “Bone Creek.” It’s a cinematic tale about a college student with a camera who gets lost in the woods and finds a log cabin where she doesn’t need to be. But it’s more...
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November 11, 2008
Today, on Veterans Day, there's an N.C. A&T grad in Michigan smiling too much. Melvin Kearney walks the halls of the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, working with wounded soldiers from Iraq. He talks to them, cajoles them and reminds them about the motto...
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November 8, 2008
GREENSBORO -- Look at the lines. At least that's what Gary Lowell and David Young will tell you. They'll stand underneath the hull of that 51/2-ton beast and talk in hushed tones about the varnished wood, the polished bronze, the 70-year-old craftsmansh...
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November 6, 2008
Congrats, Barack Obama. You’ve made history. Now, the hard work starts. You’ve inherited two unpopular wars, a growing national debt and a weak economy. And you step into the White House to run a country that fights with itself over almost everything.
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November 4, 2008
Studs Terkel would love today. Particularly here in North Carolina. He’d see record numbers of people going to the polls to vote for our next president. He’d spot lines forming before the sun rises and lines snaking from front doors after the sun sets...
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November 1, 2008
GREENSBORO — Prick your finger on one of Frank Holder’s flame-red shards of aluminum, and you’d draw blood. But Holder wants that. He wants you to think of fire and broken glass. He wants you to see frozen flames rising Halloween-scary from his scu...
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October 30, 2008
GREENSBORO — It started for Beth Almy 18 months ago in a Walmart parking lot. There she was, in her red Ford Explorer, with her three kids in the back seat, when these words came tumbling all at once. Exotic. Explore. Hustle. Hush. A little odd, she kne...
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October 28, 2008
SUMMERFIELD — Every Sunday, right before church starts, Paul Scott pulls out his yard art. Then, he hangs on his front porch, cup of coffee in hand, and watches a traffic jam transpire right there where the town’s historic banners fly. Stand with him...
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October 25, 2008
This weekend, inside UNCG’s School of Music recital hall, you’ll find Charles Lynam — right side, half way up. Today, he’ll be in a sport coat. On Sunday, for the winner’s recital, he’ll be in his dark blue suit seated beside Faye, his high sc...
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October 23, 2008
GREENSBORO - In this converted classroom, where rows of church pews are pushed beside the wall, H Dang Aran writes everything down in a pink notebook. Sometimes, she scrunches her face. Other times, she repeats the words she hears to help make them st...
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October 21, 2008
GREENSBORO - They call him teacher, as in "TEEECH-er." Three mornings a week, Eugene Washington stands in a church classroom and tells his students about Patrick Henry, Richard Burr and the symbolism behind the American flag. But that's not all. He drive...
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October 18, 2008
GREENSBORO — There are six new brass plates on the Wall of Honor at War Memorial Auditorium, and at the very bottom, you’ll find his name: Kevin A. Lucas. Everybody knew him as Adam. He looked like actor Matt Damon, chiseled chin, brown eyes, hair c...
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October 16, 2008
GREENSBORO — Maital Guttman’s photos, held up by clothespins, hang from a thick rope that runs along an entire wall at the Green Bean. At first glance, her exhibit looks like a backyard clothesline. But look closer, and you’ll realize there’s some...
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October 14, 2008
GREENSBORO - Every Wednesday after school, they listen to spy music and slip into lime green T-shirts . Then, they're off. One time, they hit downtown to collect pennies. Another time, they descended on Washington Elementary to dig, get dirty, plant flowe...
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October 13, 2008
GREENSBORO - A minister who once acted as the unofficial chaplain for the blues scene along the Texas Gulf Coast won the Triad's amateur blues contest Sunday night. Landon Spradlin beat out five other bands in the 21st annual contest sponsored by the Pied...
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October 11, 2008
GREENSBORO — Most of them didn’t know much about the military. Maybe they knew of someone who had worn the uniform. Like their Uncle Junebug. But that was it. Any idea of an armed conflict, past or present, seemed distant and irrelevant to their busy...
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October 9, 2008
Whistle the tune "Dixie,'' and in some corners of the South, you're in for a scrap. For some, it's a heritage thing. For others, it's a racist thing. For Justin Robinson, a Gastonia native, it's simply a good thing. No argument there. But Robinson is blac...
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October 7, 2008
GREENSBORO - For six years, Michael Anthony Williams has relived three deadly days in our city's history from so long ago. He interviewed 42 people and read at least 50 books. He researched how to interview, how to film, how to raise money, how to find mo...
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