The State of Things

Daniel Wallace is best known for his debut novel “Big Fish,” which became a Hollywood movie. But his latest novel, “The Kings and Queens of Roam” (Touchstone/2013), continues his tall tale tradition. It follows two sisters  -- one ugly and conniving, the other beautiful and blind - as they grow up in a former textile town.

Tanya Olson will tell you that being an eight-year-old child in the world allows you a lot of room to be whoever and whatever you want. You can be a whale, a man, a spaceship, and few will tell you otherwise. After that age though, the feeling doesn't necessarily go away. She explores that desire to transform in her first book of poems, "Boyishly" (YesYes Books, 2013). Tanya Olson is a poet and an English professor at Vance-Granville Community College.

Patricia McAnany had a moment of clarity when a young girl of Maya descent asked her why all the Maya people had to die. McAnany knew that the ancient Maya civilization collapsed in the 8th and 9th centuries, but she also knew that the Maya people continued to exist right up until the modern day.

Claudia Horwitz was a young political activist who worked to raise awareness around hunger and homelessness.  She found a high burn-out rate among activists she worked with it. Through her career, Claudia saw people drop out of political organizing for a variety of reasons, such as exhaustion, lack of progress, illness and addiction.  

The deadline for Crossover hit the North Carolina General Assembly yesterday, striking some bills dead for the session. The self-imposed deadline requires that legislation pass at least one chamber to stay under consideration.

A variety of legislation was pushed through this week, including measures that would reform the grievance process for fired state workers, allow health insurers in health exchanges to refuse coverage for abortion and a law that would ban the Muslim Sharia law in North Carolina.

After spending some time on instrumental projects, Triangle music scene fixture Ryan Gustafson decided it was time to write lyrics again.  His latest project is The Dead Tongues, which released an album earlier this year. 

  County School Boards have long since been in charge of school construction. However, the Senate recently passed a bill that would hand over school construction to county commissioners in 10 North Carolina counties. Many people who oppose the bill argue that county commissioners may have experience building prisons but not schools. This is one bill out of many that have been progressing through the Senate recently.

You may have noticed a DIY trend among young people these days. Some are getting into knitting sweaters; others are keeping backyard chicken coups. Otherwise, they are making cheese, canning, beekeeping and growing their own vegetables. These labor-intensive homemaking projects may not be just a trend towards rustic pleasures.

Emily Matchar calls this movement the New Domesticity.  And she documents this phenomenon in her new book, "Homeward Bound: Why Women are Embracing the New Domesticity." Generally, she is writing not about people who embrace DIY culture out of necessity, but rather as a voluntary lifestyle. 

  The Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina has been collecting the stories of the state's Jews for years. Now, those recorded interviews are part of an original musical composition - "Down Home: The Cantata."

It’s no secret that Raleigh and other parts of the Triangle have changed drastically in the past decades. But new linguistic research shows that along with social and industrial change, the Triangle is seeing its Southern accent fade.