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July 10, 2020 Greetings from Carrboro, Week after week he made the drive. All the way there and back. Lord knows how long it took. The van he drove was beleaguered and brown and the engine sounded as if just making it to Sanford would be a reach. But like clockwork he’d arrive. Late Friday […]

Greetings from Carrboro, We couldn’t order it for the restaurant. So I’d stop at the store and buy it, usually early in the morning or late at night after the shift. The “Valentina Salsa Picante” with the yellow label has a certain flavor that is a requirement for our summertime steak sauce. And for the longest […]

How cold could it really be? From my perspective the facts were pretty conclusive. #1, it was late July. #2, the sun was warm and bright. And #3, I was in a bathing suit. Therefore: go swimming. The day couldn’t be more beautiful. The floating dock that I was standing on rose and fell as […]

Greetings from Carrboro, It’s been nearly three months since we launched Carrboro United. As I’m sure is true for all of you, that morning in mid-March feels like a lifetime ago. Though we were terrified of what the pandemic might do to our businesses and community, Carrboro United was forged with a deep belief that we […]

Greetings from Carrboro, The handwritten signs didn’t help. I’d point and then pronunciate in awkward slowness, “chick – en?” Like that really helped. He always nodded encouragingly from the other side of the divide. And optimistically, I went along with our little practiced charade, mostly aware that I could have enunciated “wom-bat?” and received the same solicitous […]

Greetings from Carrboro, My daughter has a thing for Mamma Mia. And no, that’s not some familial nickname for a cherished maternal relative. Her fondness is for Mamma Mia! – that demon spawn of ABBA hits and sun-kissed Greek Isle fantasies. You know the one. With Meryl Streep. It’s basically a dreamy timeshare sales pitch […]

Greetings from Carrboro, God knows where he heard the rumor. This was Charlotte in the early 80s. So, yea, wildly pre-internet. And it wasn’t exactly the juicy stuff of office gossip. But somehow my father “learned” that Kroger was secretly discontinuing his favorite packaged salad dressing. And I’m not talking bottles here. It was a […]

Greetings from Carrboro, Some things transcend pandemics. And I’m not just talking about the, um, name of Elon Musk’s kid – though that is rather special. Or anything on TikTok. No. I’m talking about the oh-my-god, springtime deliciousness that is soft shell crab. It doesn’t get much better than that. Trust me. So, I figured […]

Greetings from Carrboro, He called all the family together. At least those close enough to make the drive. My friend’s grandfather knew that he was close to dying and wanted to say goodbye. The large family gathered in the small farm house and ate from the assembled platters and pyrex dishes that covered the entire […]

Greetings from Carrboro, In 3rd grade, Mrs. Steele got a gerbil. It was the classic boy gerbil that had like 8 babies the second week “he” was part of the class. Subsequently, Mike became Mika and those babies that survived were adopted by classmates. But Mika stayed with us the whole year. My clearest memory […]