Let's all give a big pat on the back to the Police Chief and Manager of the Town of Chapel Hill for an excellent public celebration on Monday night. I was among the approximately 45,000 people who came to Franklin Street to celebrate the men's basketball championship, and I saw a few of you readers there too.
I saw some things that I wouldn't brag about (like women climbing light poles in flip flops and men shouting "show us your t*ts"), but we certainly behaved ourselves better than the party in East Lansing which ended with tear gas and 43 arrests after Michigan State lost to UNC on Saturday. Wonder what they do if they win?
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday, April 02, 2005
The Carolina Women's Center's annual Women's Week, which concluded Saturday, covered a lot of topics: violence against women, gender-bending, women and war and mentoring, to pick but a few. The topic that stands out for its exclusion is abortion. This omission represents a significant decision by the Women's Center given the importance of reproductive freedom for college-age women.
Abortion has not always been kept off the program. In 2003, for example, there was a Women's Week forum on "The Abortion Pill: The Clash of Science and Politics."
This year, however, the desire to avoid controversy has left the issue entirely off the agenda.
The problem with this policy of avoidance was well-expressed by geography professor Altha Cravey: "Questions of choice should be front and center; women's control over their own bodies should be front and center.
The center should not alienate women, but the center should stand for something, and those two things are very different." Cravey also serves on the Women's Center's advisory board.
Guest Post by Theresa Champion
What: The Really REALLY Free Market, a celebration of alternative economics.
Where: Carrboro Town Commons
When: 1:00-5:00pm, Saturday, April 2nd.
Everyone is invited to arrive between 1:00 and 5:00 pm with goods, services, performances, stories, crafts, food, games, music, clothing, furniture, and resources to give and share (fully free of charge!) with others in the community. There is no buying, selling or exchanging involved - in this market, everything is strictly free. Better than a yard sale, the Really Really Free Market welcomes all items for giving and receiving, and has no price tags!
This event is approved by the Town of Carrboro and is organized by a small coalition of community members. This is a "self-organizing" event, in that it is not corporately sponsored or institutionally organized. The Carrboro Really Really Free Market is organized in the spirit of other free markets cropping up around the South, the U.S. and the world as ways for communities to come together, give, share and receive.
I've noticed a lot of people grumbling lately about the Town of Chapel Hill's "Percent for Art" Program, which designates 1% of the budget for new facilities toward public art. Some penny pinchers feel this expenditure is extravagant during our current budget squeeze. I disagree.
Creativity is a fundamental part of humanity. I picture a world without art as something between George Orwell's "1984" and Cary - in short, not a place I want to be. We live in a community that is uniquely expressive. For example look at Franklin Street on Halloween, you will see thousands of adults publicly expressing their creativity and humor. This is not something that happens in other towns.
On her blog, Council Member Sally Greene wrote a thoughtful response to the Chamber of Commerce Director Aaron Nelson's questions of why the new Town Operations Center should waste money on public art. According to the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission:
Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday, March 26, 2005
Last week I felt as if I'd climbed into Dr. Emmett Brown's souped-up DeLorean and ridden with Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly character back to 1985. The occasion was the annual State of the Local Economy Breakfast sponsored by the Orange County Economic Development Commission.
With a few exceptions, the report, as presented by EDC Director Dianne Reid, was a mundane and conventional affair. Despite stalwart efforts by past board members like Bob Hall, Mark Marcoplos and Bill Strom, the EDC seems to have missed out on the progressive trends that can be seen elsewhere in Orange County.
The event had its moments, however brief: celebrating the success of the recycling program, applauding open space preservation and lamenting the shrinking availability of modest-cost housing.
But, all in all, the presentation (56 slides in around 45 minutes) had little relevance to the lives of Orange County's working stiffs and much relevance to the business leaders who, along with a bevy of elected officials and government staffers, were on hand for the event.
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