Drink: eggnog
by Charles Upchurch The converts, they say, are always the worst. A couple of years ago, my wife had never even tried eggnog. Then everything changed. Soon, there were telltale signs of a love affair. Once a week became once…
Author Archives: zonker
HEAT: Feeling the Burn in a World of Acronyms
by Charman Driver photograph by Scott Sharpe The evening before my exercise adventure at heat Studios, I got a membership card in the mail asking me to join the American Association of Retired Persons. Huh? Why on earth, I…
Chief Executive Collaborator: Jim Whitehurst leads Red Hat downtown and beyond
by Liza Roberts photographs by Missy Mclamb As Raleigh sparkles in the slanting light of a winter afternoon, Red Hat President and CEO Jim Whitehurst, eight stories above it all, looks dazzled. The view of America’s third-fastest-growing city from his company’s new…
Givers: Mary Susan Fulghum
In 1954, when she was 9, Mary Susan Fulghum was unconscious for a week and nearly died from polio. The experience simply reinforced her existing fascination with medicine. Even before her illness, Fulghum, 67, now a leading Raleigh doctor and…
Raleigh’s new techies: Entrepreneurs find a home in the center city
by Scott Huler photographs by Travis Dove Old Raleigh met New Raleigh, tech division, on Oct. 29, 2012. On that date The News & Observer ran a story about a successful local technology company, Deja Mi, in the process of hitting it…
Musical maverick: N.C. Opera’s Timothy Myers marches to his own beat
by Samantha Thompson Hatem photographs by Juli Leonard Don’t even attempt to think you know what Timothy Myers is going to be like before you meet him. You’ll be wrong on most counts. Myers, the principal conductor and artistic director…
Drink: The Manhattan – fall’s ultimate cocktail
by Charles Upchurch photographs by Juli Leonard Fall is woodsmoke. Football and oyster roasts. Leaves gone to gold. All of this nostalgia calls for a drink. Better yet, a cocktail. Something that captures the sublime and fleeting magic of the…
Summiting Everest: With Martin Middle School behind him
by Charles Upchurch photographs courtesy of Chip Popoviciu It’s called the Death Zone. The last thousand meters from Camp Four to the summit of Mount Everest is an oxygen-fueled ridgeline traverse at 28,000 feet over ice, rock and snow –…
Living with art: Young collectors Brooke and Will McDaniel
by Marjorie Hodges photographs by Missy McLamb Art is personal. Some prefer contemporary art or traditional art, while others favor an eclectic mix. Some develop a passion for a particular medium or artist and collect in great depth. Brooke and…
Ashley Christensen: A cultivated palate, a life of purpose
by Liza Roberts photographs by Lissa Gotwals Raleigh’s hottest chef has no back burner. Take one week in late July: Ashley Christensen’s cross-country commitments had her outside and up all night in Sonoma, Calif., cooking a pig for a…
My town: NOFO’s Jean Martin knows Five Points
photograph by Hide Tarada map by Jeff Poe When Jean Poe Martin, 70, talks about the Raleigh she knows, start listening. It’s a place steeped in yesteryear, yet vital today; it’s a place with a familiar landscape, old and friendly…
Just one plant: Stokes Aster
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson Though it grows wild from coastal North Carolina westward to Louisiana, gardeners in our area have traditionally found their Stokes’ Asters at the local nursery. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, all…
Hellebores: A rose is a rose, except when it’s a lenten rose
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson Most folks don’t typically think of winter as a great garden season, especially if they migrated here from the northern gardening hinterlands. In Raleigh, however, winter is usually filled with windows of good…
Tradition with a twist: N.C. State’s new chancellor’s residence embraces past and future
by Liza Roberts photographs by Dustin Peck and Mark Petko When he set out to design a new home for the chancellor of N.C. State University, Marvin Malecha knew the house had to serve many masters. It had to be…