by Charman Driver What a fantastic year of fun and fitness adventures I’ve had with Walter. I’ve run, kicked, jumped, stretched, melted, boxed, danced, climbed – even joined the circus! People often ask me how I maintain the discipline and…
by Dean King Put an ear to a window of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church a little shy of midnight on a random Wednesday or Thursday night, and you might just hear music. Not sacred music, but roof-raising rock ’n’ roll….
by Liza Roberts photographs by Nick Pironio At 2 a.m., as liquored-up college kids are polishing off a game of cornhole outside the Back 9 Pub in Cary, master baker Lionel Vatinet is arriving at work next door. The yeasty…
by Maureen Sherbondy Place your hand in the fire imagine it is a river that can only burn the skin of one who fears and sees flame. Jump out of the plane. No parachute. Fall and grab what you need…
by Tracie Fellers “Why?” That’s what my mother says when I tell her, while we finish our Sunday dinner – post-Thanksgiving plates of turkey, oyster dressing, collard greens, and sweet potatoes. Mom and I had joked that my maternal grandmother and…
by Ann Brooke Raynal photographs by Lissa Gotwals As with most stories about art, this one begins with the human eye. In this case, the eye belongs not to an artist but to a leading laser pioneer, whose vision is…
text and photograph by John Rosenthal In 1996, Gibbons Ruark, Raleigh native and well respected poet, wrote a splendid poem called Swamp Mallows. It was inspired by the remarkably beautiful Ben Berns painting of the same name in the North…
by Settle Monroe The radio never worked and the air conditioning was shot in the 1968 Chevrolet Impala my father inherited from his grandmother. But when I was a 5-year-old girl riding to kindergarten with my dad, its run-down condition…
by Samantha Thompson Hatem The International Bluegrass Music Association and its members arrive in late September for the group’s annual conference, when they’ll turn downtown Raleigh into a bluegrass mecca with more than 150 bands, a street festival, and big-name…
by J. Peder Zane As the hot summer night embraced Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater, sweet smoke drifted through the air, propelling the sell-out crowd to the heights of ecstasy that happen when music meets dance. Gray-haired men in tie-died shirts boogied with…
by Liza Roberts photographs by Nick Pironio Artist Pete Sack, 37, has always been drawn to photographs of the human face. Strangers in yearbooks speak to him; archival snapshots of orphans, schoolchildren, and athletes hold unusual sway. One particular brunette…
The last 18 months have been a whirlwind for Stitch Golf founder and Raleigh resident Charlie Burgwyn. In that time, he and his partner Steve Pena have created a multi-million-dollar business, selling more than 200,000 hand-sewn leather golf club head…
by Wilton Barnhardt, author of the new novel Lookaway, Lookaway I suspect Sir Walter Raleigh, back in 1618, went to the executioner convinced of the utter failure of his ventures, having fallen out of favor with Queen Elizabeth as well…
by Kaitlyn Goalen photographs by Juli Leonard It may not have the juiciness of a tomato or the intoxicating perfume of a ripe peach, but the eggplant is among my favorite late summer ingredients. It wasn’t always so. Until fairly…