Weekly Update, Aug. 14

Hello, there, Carrboro. Can you feel the winds of change? Being college town-adjacent, Carrboro feels a little emptier in the summer months, but come August, as UNC prepares for the first day of fall classes, we, too, are aswirl with new energy and fresh faces. We at The Carrborean welcome new residents and look forward to helping you plug into the happenings in our community. Please forward this newsletter to folks you meet who are new.

One great way to start exploring the community is to participate in tonight's Second Friday Art Walk, which happens in Carrboro and Chapel Hill, rain or shine, from 6 to 8 pm, with special exhibits at both Carrboro Town Hall and the Drakeford Library Complex. Check out the list of participating venues here and see our preview, from Arts Editor Pamir Kiciman, here.

I'd like to highlight the MATCH Repurpose Event at The ArtsCenter (400 Roberson St.) on Sunday from 5 to 7 pm. Take your old textiles there to be repurposed. Their fees are on a sliding scale (no more than $10). And get ready for the next Repair Day on August 30. We previewed their last repair event.

Online this week

Carrboro High School student Gem Marey Punongbayan tells of the community investments made this summer by members of the school's Poetic Justice League in this piece. And Pamir Kiciman wrote about his visit to Main St. Music.

On The Carrborean Radio Hour

On Monday, we interviewed Elizabeth Hambourger, a lawyer and a Restorative Justice Associate with Dialogue in Support of Community (DSC) about apologies--why they're important for accountability, restorative justice, and setting relationships right, and how to make a good one. DSC has a workshop on Meaningful Apologies coming up September 16.

Next Monday, August 17, Whitney Fry returns with Flame Tree Story. She'll be joined by Frédérique Yova, host of Building Stories on Air (Sundays, 4 - 5pm) on WCOM and owner of Giggles and Chisels. On the show, Frédérique will highlight the power of storytelling to unlock our imaginations. Tune in Monday at 4pm on WCOM-LP FM 103.5 or stream at wcomfm.org.

After each radio show, join us at a pop-up newsroom to discuss all things Carrboro and stories you'd like to see, hear, or write. In August, you'll find us at Weaver Street Market on Mondays from 5 to 6 pm.

News from CHCCS, Town, and County

The public schools resume a week from Monday, and in the coming week families can expect to learn about teacher assignments, student schedules, and bus routes. Parents who haven't yet signed up for Infinite Campus, the online portal for grades and schedules, can do so here. The next meeting of the CHCCS Board of Education will take place at 7 pm on Thursday at the Lincoln Center (750 S. Merritt Mill Road, Chapel Hill). You can learn about streaming this meeting here.

The Carrborean publishes the sports calendar for Carrboro High School, as well as concerts and theater performances each month. We're eager to publish schedules for Chapel Hill High School, too. Please reach out to us if you have them (info@thecarrborean.com).

The Town's improvement project for Westwood Cemetery, 405 Davie Road, is nearly the final stages. The old asphalt drive and the turnaround at the south end of the cemetery have been removed, as have select Bradford pear trees. The site has been graded, a new drainage swale and rain garden have been installed, a new circular drive paved, and disturbed areas restored with grass seed and straw. A few areas still need minor drainage adjustments, but the site is already better handling heavy rains.

Carrboro Town Council continues its summer hiatus and will resume regular meetings on Sept. 16.

Longtime homeowners in Orange County can apply for assistance with property taxes. Those who meet the criteria below must apply before November 6. For questions, contact the Housing Department at 919-245-2490 or email housing_email@orangecountync.gov.

Residents of Orange County now can bring confidential, unshredded paper to the new Shred Center at the Solid Waste Administration Office at 1207 Eubanks Road in Chapel Hill. Wednesdays are the day that residents can bring their personal, confidential material to shred, but only by appointment.

Orange County will also be sponsoring a series of Mental Health Trainings this fall. Those who'd like to participate can sign up at orangecountync.gov/MHT.
For details, contact Public Health Education Manager Marcy Williams at 919-245-2449 or at marcwilliams@orangecountync.gov.

Other Interesting Things

While we typically keep the news hyper-local, there's an opportunity in Hillsborough once a month that's so singular and invigorating it earns mention here. The monthly Sea Chantey Sing takes place tonight (and every second Friday of the month) at the Colonial Inn and attracts an enthusiastic crowd of maritime music lovers. For the history of this event, check out the story by the Orange County Arts Commission.

Back to Carrboro. The Find Your Own Voice Singers will be hosting its weekly Sing Along this Saturday in the Farmers' Market Pavilion from 3 to 5 pm. It's free and open to people of all ages.

Anyone who has crossed the Jones Ferry Road bridge towards the Rural Buffer this summer has likely noticed the changes the drought brought to University Lake. Remember back in May when there were still full bodies of water on both sides of the bridge? Here's how it looks now:

Final Notes

The Community Bulletin Board has announcements and opportunities for giving and civic engagement and is updated weekly.

There's so much going on in Carrboro! Check out The Events Calendar to see what's happening and help us keep it up-to-date.

Ways to support The Carrborean

1) Please consider a paid subscription to support community journalism (local news from the people living it). Subscribers at the "Angel" tier get the first-ever Carrborean T-shirt (courtesy of The Merch), along with other benefits and the knowledge that they're making it possible for us to keep bringing you grass-roots community news-telling. 2) Click here to purchase a gift subscription for your favorite people or here to throw some monetary love our way. 3) Ask your favorite businesses if they advertise in The Carrborean.

Poetry Moment

For this week's Poetry Moment, we turn to Carrboro poet Celisa Steele for a poem originally published earlier this year in The Los Angeles Review:

I FEEL I OWE YOU ALL AN APOLOGY

says God after several years of silence. Not
in so many words, but the air at nine a.m. is cool
though it’s July, there’s not one but five (five!)
stippled fawns high-stepping across the lawn like kids
who struck dress-up gold in a back-room closet, and the coffee
this morning, it tastes better. Not stronger, just better.
And, honestly, God, you’re right. We didn’t sign up for this ache—

though, to be fair, we should have planned
for parents to die, even expected a friend or two. But
the lung cancer that took Jodi (who never even looked
at a cigarette) before forty-eight? And Garett’s accidental
overdose in the middle of a pandemic? And, God,
Mindy the rescue mutt dead a month after she’d found
her forever home? Uncalled for. Mean-spirited.

Yes, I think we’re due an apology and a redo. Just don’t
get any diluvian ideas. No wiping the world clean
for a reboot. Pay us back a little at a time. A forgotten
twenty in a jacket pocket. Some infrared images
of deep-field galaxies and dying stars. A sip
of whiskey from a friend’s hip flask. The way
words written down still create sound.