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Greetings from Carrboro, Acme was always a high-wire act. I just didn’t know it – at first. The robust naivete and willfulness that got me to that point in my life provided the initial confidence to wander those first fateful strides out into the spotlight. After that, well, I didn’t know how to turn around […]

Greetings from Carrboro, I rationalize. All the time. Often with a heavy varnish of moral vanity. I buy bottled juices at the grocery store that cost seven dollars but do not taste delicious – at all – and look decidedly worse. Similarly, I’ll choose bags of various exotic root vegetable and/or corn chips that are made […]

Greetings from Carrboro, It’s a little creepy. They’re always just so chipper, so California. Part of me thinks that they should sound like some old school sci-fi robot or, you know, C3PO. Or even better – Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator. But when a Google Assistant calls the restaurant to make a reservation, the voice actually sounds like an overeducated […]

January 30th, 2020   Greetings from Carrboro, At least I’m lucky enough to have an excuse; I work on Valentine’s Day. And Night. The rest of you, not so much. You can try to deny it. Bluster all you want about a Hallmark holiday. Fight the man! But my 30-odd year run of working every […]

Greetings from Carrboro, Forgive me. I don’t usually wade this deep into pop culture. But I couldn’t help it. Watching all the drama unfold around Prince Harry, William, Meghan, et al reminded me how much we relegate all sorts of things to sibling rivalry. The eldest and the youngest. And the privileges, foibles, and responsibilities […]

Greetings from Carrboro, We’d inevitably bowl on my birthday. Late January sort of dramatically limited the at-home party possibilities for a dozen kids. Plus, Park Lanes had hot dogs and pinball and all my friends liked wearing the green & red shoes. Mom would buy a cake from the Federal Bake Shop for us to […]

Greetings from Carrboro, The winery was fairly busy for a Wednesday afternoon. Couples were arrayed at the bar next to me, sipping and nodding California-like as the peppy sales team regaled them with the virtues of the different wines. I had an appointment with the winemaker and tried to appear nonchalantly un-sketchy in my solo-ness […]

December 26th, 2019 Greetings from Carrboro, They appear like clockwork this time of year. So many in fact that they scare Carrboro’s rather large deer population back into the woods. Like some rare flower that blooms once each year, an inordinate number of awkward extended families suddenly blossom on the streets of my neighborhood the week after […]

December 19th, 2019 Greetings from Carrboro, There’s this thing I do. Case in point: whenever I’m at the grocery store and my spidey sense says that I may be out of mayonnaise, I buy a large container of Duke’s. Thoughtfully precautionary. Or, that’s my rationale when I get home and put that jar next to […]

December 13th, 2019 Greetings from Carrboro, There’s the initial panic phase. The manic, early December hopelessness that is quickly soothed by the calm-down-and-have-a-cookie phase. Then I slide into a frisky oooh-the-mall-will-be-fun phase. Only to be harshly and immediately chastised by the what-the-hell-were-you-thinking-run-away-now phase. Which, in turn, leads back to a more resonant and insistent panic phase […]