by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson I’ll never forget the day in June 1997 when I met Canna ‘Phasion’ in person. For normal people, it would be like meeting Elvis or Barbra Streisand. I had long been a fan…
by Charles Upchurch photograph by Juli Leonard Yes, I am drinking a Pimm’s Cup as I write this. OK, I’m finishing a Pimm’s Cup. I recommend that you enjoy one while reading this summer issue of Walter. Out in the…
by Todd Cohen photograph by Robert Willett Diane Chen knows only too well that a family’s financial well-being can change in a heartbeat. A native of China who was plunged from a privileged early upbringing into the impoverishing nightmare of the…
by Larry Wheeler Director, North Carolina Museum of Art Europe. That mass of civilizing geography, which lures us to its oldness and its coolness, seems to work a special magic during the rites of spring, summer, and fall. Spring, and…
by Charman Driver photograph by Mark Petko “Move as if your body is seaweed, and water is washing over you,” says Chelsea Jones. I close my eyes and imagine what it looks (and feels) like to move like washed-over-seaweed. Here…
by Peggy Payne photograph by Robert Willett We met in 1954 when I was 5 years old and went to visit – all by myself! – my twenty-something aunt, a single girl with a job in the big city. What I…
by Amber Nimocks photographs by Robert Willett Kazem Yahyapour,58, started running to keep his heart beating. He kept running because it feeds his soul. Yahyapour was 48 when he had a heart attack, five years younger than his father had…
by Andrea Wiegl photographs by Juli Leonard Summer is a time for backyard cook-outs, July Fourth picnics, and patio parties. It’s also when Southern cooks turn to their go-to sources for party food. If that’s a cookbook, it is likely a…
by Amber Nimocks photographs by Tim Lytvinenko Edge Barnes has always been “in beta,” long before always being “in beta” was cool. “If there’s not something new going on, there’s something wrong,” he says. It might seem incongruous for a gray-bearded potter…
by Liza Roberts photographs by Lissa Gotwals When Broadway star Lauren Kennedy was growing up in Raleigh, she put in her time doing wholesome-kid things like catching salamanders in the creek near her house, and playing games like freeze tag with her…
by Ann Brooke Raynal photographs by Juli Leonard As drivers whiz down I-40, heading into Raleigh, a glance to the right will reveal a green swath, vivid evidence that the region’s agricultural roots are alive and well. Thanks to miles of farmland…
by Samantha Thompson Hatem It all started in 2001 when Raleigh entrepreneur Danny Rosin and four enterprising young friends – Phil Gruber, Shellie Gruber, Tom Lyon, and Skip Mangum – were feeling helpless in the aftermath of 9/11 and wanted…
by Liza Roberts photographs by Mark Petko For Monica and Dalip Awasthi, art is the glue. It helped cement their relationship early on, and it links the two of them – and their three young children – to the Indian…
by J. Michael Welton photographs by Travis Dove In the 1950s, Raleigh’s visionary design community redefined the way we saw our city architecturally. Today, local designers are at it again, turning their attention not just to buildings, but to consumer…