My husband and I gave each other matching colds for Christmas this year, not the gifts we had intended, but a result of getting out and into the community more than I have in years past. When it comes to germs, especially in the holiday season, I’ve tried not to give back. And that means […]
To a Healthy New Year
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 2, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/01/02/to-a-healthy-new-year/
Lights in the Darkness
The gifts have been unwrapped; the holiday feast reduced to leftovers. But I hope the warmth and joy and generosity of the season have stayed with you. If you need a booster shot of Christmas spirit — especially if the past several months of the presidential campaign and the past several days of the N.C. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 26, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/12/26/lights-in-the-darkness/
Giving back
When it comes to charitable giving, I wish “deep pockets” meant “bottomless resources.” But in reality, people and organizations have a finite amount of money they make available to donate to nonprofits. Competition for those dollars is fierce, as you may have guessed by the number of solicitations you have received in the past several […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 19, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/12/19/giving-back/
Free access or free money?
I’ve never been one to turn down free money, so when Chapel Hill Public Library director Susan Brown proposed changing the library’s Internet policy to block access to certain sites in exchange for becoming eligible for spending federal grants on technology, the tradeoff seemed reasonable. But she took ill the day she was to present […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 12, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/12/12/what-price-freedom/
Parking — It’s not just for cars anymore
Chapel Hill’s parking problem extends beyond where to put your car when you go downtown. A truly vibrant downtown needs spots for pedestrians to park their bodies when they are fatigued or simply want to people watch or absorb the ambience. Last Tuesday, University of Kentucky Professor Ned Crankshaw came to town and shared some […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 5, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/12/05/parking-its-not-just-for-cars-anymore/
Living Stronger Together
The racial equity workshop I signed up for couldn’t have come at a better time — two days after the American people elected a president who campaigned to deport a large chunk of the workforce because of their ethnicity and to close our borders to Muslims and non-white refugees. For the most part, the workshop […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 28, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/11/28/living-stronger-together/
Who does LRT railroad?
We saw on Nov. 8 the depth of the frustration of white working-class voters. Many feel left out of the nation’s economic recovery and are fed up with subsidizing the lifestyle of the upwardly mobile. What lessons did Orange County commissioners learn from the recent national election? We’ll see perhaps as early as Dec. 5, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 21, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/11/21/who-does-lrt-railroad/
How we can win
Heaven help us, we have elected a hatemonger as our next president. The day before the election, I accompanied some foreign journalists, many of them from the Asia Pacific, to a Donald Trump rally in Raleigh. It felt like we were on a movie set for a gladiator film. With lies and innuendo, Trump kept […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 14, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/11/14/how-we-can-win/
The modestly paid are people, too
Swiss novelist Max Frisch’s quip, “We asked for workers; we got people instead,” applies as much to affordable housing as it does to the immigration issue he addressed in his day. At a council work session on Oct. 19, town staff presented the findings of David Paul Rosen & Associates, a consulting firm that we […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 7, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/11/07/the-modestly-paid-are-people-too/
Talk, listen, change
Former UNC Police Officer Keith Edwards, the first black woman on the force, objected to a less-experienced white male officer getting a promotion and raise ahead of her. One day when she walked into the campus police office, she overheard two white male officers complaining about the ensuing court case. “I wish Keith had never […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 31, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/10/31/talk-listen-change/