At the very last session on our intercity visit to Lawrence, Kan., participants stood up, Quaker meeting style, to say thank you to someone or to commit to something. It had been a jam-packed, eye-opening, exhausting three days, and we were trying to synthesize all we had learned before climbing back aboard the bus and […]
All posts in category Lifestyle
What happens in Lawrence …
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 1, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/01/what-happens-in-lawrence/
One State Away
I took four flights last month, and from my vantage point of Zone 4 in the gate area, I watched all the high-mileage passengers board first. They were the dealmakers flown by their companies to move business forward and generate revenue. On all four flights, those in the privileged first-to-board line were almost exclusively white […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 13, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/08/13/one-state-away/
Affordable Leaves the Station
American philosopher Eric Hoffer would have celebrated his 120th birthday last week, had he not died just shy of 85. Among his memorable insights, he noted: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” His intuition came to mind as I read one sentence tucked neatly into […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 30, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/07/30/affordable-leaves-the-station/
Quintessential Chapel Hill Fan
When friends and I would go to baseball games at Yankee Stadium, we always scanned the crowd for nominees to our Quintessential Yankee Fan Hall of Fame. Yankee fans were quite different from Mets fans, I noticed on my very rare trips to Shea Stadium. Perusing crowds became a habit, and when I’m out and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 23, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/07/23/quintessential-chapel-hill-fan/
ICE on Ice?
An email circulated recently asking elected officials to sign a letter in support of abolishing ICE, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. I read it and sighed. Once again, pressure is on us to perform some gesture that maybe looks like we are doing something for a righteous cause but in reality would do […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 16, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/07/16/ice-on-ice/
Do We Want Diversity?
In an effort to improve our chances of recouping through tax revenue the $10 million taxpayers invested in infrastructure in the area now known as Blue Hill, Town Council members considered options for increasing the amount of commercial space in the district. At our June 27 council meeting, we talked about changing the form-based code […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 9, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/07/09/do-we-want-diversity/
DOLRT bills: woulda, coulda, shoulda
Think of the transformative impact $14.5 million could have had on Orange County if we had spent it on extending bus lines so the modestly paid could commute to work and fewer people would have to rely on cars. Instead, Orange County commissioners gambled it away on studies, design and engineering for a light rail […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 4, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/06/04/dolrt-bills-woulda-coulda-shoulda/
Mama Dip’s Legacy
Chapel Hill laid to rest one of its better-known and much-revered residents yesterday. Mildred Council died May 20 at age 89. Unexpectedly, perhaps because she was an icon, and we all thought that Mama Dip would always be there. She always was there, for anyone in the community who could use a meal or two […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 28, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/05/28/mama-dips-legacy/
Honor Council
Not long ago, a few members of Duke University’s Honor Council spoke with students at McDougle Middle School about the roles of morals and ethics in making good decisions. Honor Council members set up a scenario for the moral dilemma all of us have faced more than once in our lives — You see someone […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 21, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/05/21/honor-council/
The value of green
To hear business leaders and major investors speak in favor of the need for greenspace as density increases gave me hope. At the Eggs With Elected Officials gathering on April 18, sponsored by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, the topic of what to do with the 36 acres the town had purchased from American […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 7, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/05/07/the-value-of-green/