Oysters
by Kaitlyn Goalen I am helpless when faced with a freshly shucked oyster. If the salty bivalves are featured on a restaurant menu, I will always order a dozen – or two. Part of my love affair is due to…
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Spotlight: Bark in the park
If your Shih Tzu is a superfan, get ready to celebrate. The Durham Bulls open their gates to canines of all stripes at Bark in the Park at the Aug. 12 game against the Norfolk Tides. This special event for the…
Father knows best
by Ann Brooke Raynal photographs by Eve Kakassy Hobgood “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blue-black cold then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No…
Labor of Light
by Andrew Kenney photographs by Missy McLamb Patrick Shanahan lives in the wrong city. He’s a movie maker. He shoots on film because he needs its grain and grit. He bought a ’57 Chevy Bel Air, matte black because it was the…
Smedes York: Growing up with Raleigh
by Liza Roberts photographs by Tierney Farrell If anyone’s memoir could be accurately called Growing up with Raleigh, it would be Smedes York’s. His life and work – in business and in public service – have spanned, and often spurred,…
Live music
photograph by Travis Long “I love live music, and May is full of it. I’m excited about Needtobreathe, Dave Matthews, and Kenny Chesney.” – Andrew Valkanoff, owner, Triangle Dairy Queen Entrepreneur Andrew Valkanoff has a pretty sweet gig: he owns and…
Essential ingredient: Rare and briny shad roe
by Kaitlyn Goalen photographs by Jillian Clark Ramps, truffles, Pappy van Winkle. Ingredients in short supply, whether by season, production, or fetish, are a double-edged sword. Exclusivity breeds interest – generally a good thing – but it can also engender a market…
Imani Abdullah-Lutes
by Todd Cohen photograph by Carla Williams Some would say the odds have been stacked against Imani Abdullah-Lutes from day she was born 18 years ago. Those people don’t know this young woman. When Imani’s biological mother went into labor,…
A teacher first: Lope Max Diaz
by Amber Nimocks photographs by Juli Leonard Bold, staring orbs, fractured picture frames, and bright geometric elements give the sculptural paintings of Raleigh’s own Lope Max Diaz a visceral presence. Through his signature use of shape and color, Diaz can…
Editor’s Letter: June/July
WALTER was delighted to welcome the author Frances Mayes to a special luncheon with 125 WALTER readers at the Umstead Hotel & Spa on a Sunday in late April. This latest in our series of WALTER EVENTS combined literary conversation with gourmet food…
Making music: Raleigh’s instrument restorers keep the town in tune
by Corbie Hill photographs by Lissa Gotwals Violins are made to be repaired. Their tops aren’t flush to their sides, like a guitar’s. Instead, those tops are designed to be removed, so violins can be tended to over multi-hundred-year lifespans….
The “norm” of the Berkeley: On being a regular
text and photographs by Scott Huler Playing barroom pool once, during one of the multi-hour lunches that define the life of a journalist, I heard my name called. “Huler!” cried the bartender. “Your editor called. She says get your butt…
That’s some asparagus: Rohdea japonica
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson I first became enamored with Rohdea japonica back around the time President Richard Nixon uttered that immortal line, “I am not a crook.” As I was always on the lookout for new plants…
A better ‘bot
photographs by Tim Lytvinenko At Dorton Arena one recent afternoon, groups of teenagers wearing kooky matching outfits huddled together, eyes fixed on an obstacle course of sorts – but machines were navigating it, not people. As the teenagers looked on, robots…