Ruby Sinreich's blog
Many of you know that local civil rights activist and historian Yonni Chapman has been struggling with cancer. Last night he peacefully ended that battle. Here's part of the touching e-mail that his daughters Sandi and Joyce sent out last night:
Yonni lived his life for The Struggle but has spent the last 29
years with his own intense struggle to live with cancer. His struggle
is over, but our struggle continues and what he would want from all of
us is to use his passing to renew our commitment to justice, equality
and to each other as sisters and brothers. We'd like a few days just to
be on our own so we probably won't be answering the phone right away.
We'll be organizing a celebration of his life and will contact you all
as soon as that plan is made. For now, please just send him your best wishes to speed him on his way home.
Yonni gave so much of himself to this community, and I have no doubt
that we are a more just and equitable place because of it. I also think
I'm a better person for having been poked, prodded, enlightened, and
inspired by his work.
I read the Town Council candidates' responses to the
League of Women Voters' questionnaire in the Chapel Hill News this morning. (A valuable service, but shouldn't the CHN actually publish reporting on the front page?) I noticed that the candidates were unanimous in their support for putting increased density (if it happens) in transit corridors, but not a single one of them named an appropriate area or an example of how this should be done.
It's easy to be reactionary and rail against tall buildings and vague notions of density or against East 54 in particular. Where are the courageous candidates that can hammer out policies, make the hard decisions, and stand up to the inevitable complaints about change? Evolution of this community's landscape is not optional. We must put on our thinking caps and establish some direction for doing this in the best way for our collective future.
Just saw this message on Twitter:
WCHL has sold minority ownership in the company to Barry Leffler, currently the General Manager of NBC-17 (WNCN-TV).
More details are available on the WCHL site, including "Leffler will assume the roles of CEO and Managing Partner with Heavner continuing as Chairman." Leffler is leaving NBC17 and plans to buyout all of WCHL.
What does it mean for the community? More or less resources for WCHL? What about local coverage, Air America shows, and CBS headlines? (And do we care about all of those things?)
When I was interviewed by WCHL reporter Elizabeth Friend for this story, she told me about the new site Chapel Hill Watch started by journalists Don Evans and Nancy Oates. They've posted 17 stories so far, and gotten a smattering of comments. Their "Blogroll" only contains one local site: The Carrboro Citizen. In fact based on their comments to WCHL, I'm not sure that a blog is what they want to be. It sounds more like an online news site. Then again, the writing is quite opinionated, and they're getting corrected by commenters - pretty bloggy! Maybe the labels don't matter so much anymore.
In any case, I've always said "the more merrier" when it comes to local blogging, and it applies to local journalism, too! Whichever one they plan to be (or some hybrid), I welcome Don and Nancy's voices to the fray.
Today marks six years since I flipped the switch on this blog and started this community of progressive local politics bloggers (and commenters). I looked back at the entries from September 2003, and found some nostalgia (red light cameras) and some the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same (candidate forums and Carolina North). In recent years, the OP community has developed a tradition of raising money on the occasion of our birthday. However, last year's fund raising only generated $140 toward the $420 that I pay for our hosting annually. (This is high because I use a service that keeps Drupal up-to-date and running smoothly.)
I hope we can do better this year, and I'm open to suggestions. For example, should I thank the donors more publicly, or should I be more discreet? Would folks like t-shirts or other gifts to acknowledge their support?
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