Off to China!

For the reader(s) still hanging on here - you might want to follow me on my 11- day journey to China at this new blog:  http://mrjtochina.blogspot.com/

  --Steve

Deer neighbor!

 Our neighborhood, located just south of West Point on the Eno, has seen a second baby fawn deposited in a neighbor's yard.

 This little guy?/gal? was spotted just down the road and yours truly wandered down the street to capture a few shots of a little brown blur (like last time) when suddenly it hopped up and began wandering around!

 My neighbor and I watched it run around a bit for about 15-20 minutes until it finally gave up and collapsed on his back patio.

And in case you are wondering - what does one do when one spots a tiny deer in one's neighborhood? - I've got the answer. It's this: NOTHING. Animal Control says that does often will "park" a newborn nearby while they go out and graze, then return to pick him/her up later.

These pictures were taken yesterday .... and I haven't seen my neighbor yet, so no update on the fawn's status. I'll post more here when I hear more.

Class of 2010 high school graduations in Durham

I'm creating this page as a central source for articles in the media and photo galleries for all Durham high school graduations. I'll continue to update this page as the graduations happen this week. If you have a link, please e-mail me.

Graduation articles
City of Medicine Academy
Durham Academy
Durham School of the Arts
Early College High School
Hillside
Jordan
Middle College High School
Northern 
Performance Learning Center (PLC)
Riverside
Southern
Teen Career Academy
Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill 

Photo galleries
City of Medicine Academy
Durham School of the Arts
Early College High School
Hillside
Jordan
Middle College High School
Northern
Performance Learning Center (PLC)
Riverside
Southern/Southern School of Engineering

Other stories
Class of 2010 celebrates
One graduations, six sets of twins at Northern High School 
Jared Zamora: The Army gives him a job right away (Riverside)

General Information
Graduation schedule for DPS schools

Remember

Last year the family and I were in DC for the Memorial Day weekend. Below are some of the photos I took at the Vietnam Memorial and along the Mall. Feel free to share these as you remember today the service of those who died.

Saturday morning at the Durham Farmers' Market

These photos were taken this morning at the DFM. Enjoy!

Life: an update

It's been a crazy few weeks. I had a great time in DC at the TOPSS/APA meeting but then learned that J's dad was hit by a car and suffered multiple broken bones and more. J then somehow managed to balance taking care of her parents' needs, their animals, our girls, our house and --oh yeah, her grad school classes -- while I basically went AWOL finishing up my national board portfolio and submitting that on March 30 (a day early - hurrah). And my mom has been so great as the girls have been on their three-week intersession and she's been able to take them for so many days and really have them feel so loved.

Then J's dad was able to come home after two weeks of quality hospital time and we enjoyed a very eventful Easter with both sides of the family. This morning I finished the last part of the NBPTS with a test of six 30 minute essays that were, uh, interesting. I did learn that when someone that you trust and who got his certification last year says -- "Oh, don't worry about the tests, you'll know it" -- that probably needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

So today is day 5 of my spring break but it really feels like the first one. And to celebrate I am going to highlight some things that have happened, interjecting them with lyrics from Regina Spektor's last album Far. I listened to this album somewhere between 35-45 times over the past month and it was a great inspiration and motivation.

And I count all my blessings, I have friends in high places
And I'm upgraded daily, all my wires without traces

1) "Fair condition" is not what I thought it was.

There's a meat market down the street
The boys and girls watch each other eat

2) NCAA basketball was a wonderful distraction; when I thought I couldn't type another word, somehow watching Northern Iowa or the Baylor women got me back on track.

It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song
You can't believe it
You were always singing along

3) I am losing my edge. My evidence is that I have found it harder to hate Duke as the season has gone on this year. But come on, I'm not that crazy, they still suck.

I have no wallet, I have no wallet
I keep my cards together with a blue rubber band
And with a free hand I search in my pocket
For pieces of, pieces of paper and change

4) I don't have any ideas about how Durham Public Schools should cut $20 million, but I hope they will stop asking me to choose between stupid option A and stupid option B.

No one’s laughing at God when they’re saying their goodbyes

5) I'm really bummed about the NCSSM senior who died last week in a car accident. I didn't know her but I have seen her photos lately and have heard stories, and I think she must have been a terrific person. To her friends: I'm sorry for your loss.

So we made our own computer out of macaroni pieces
And it did our thinking while we lived our lives

6) I am really proud of my niece who changed her major to computer science this week. I'd like to think she got it from me but I'm afraid she left me behind long ago.

Everyone takes turns, now it's yours to play the part
And they're sitting all around you holding copies of your chart
And the misery inside their eyes is synchronized and reflecting it to yours

7) Affordable health care -- so that your life isn't ruined financially by an accident -- should be a basic right for everyone.

And I'm downloaded daily, I am part of a composite
Hooked into machine, hooked into machine

8) I had to have my palm scanned five separate times today. And surrender my ID. And have my photo taken. And have my every movement captured on video for three hours today. No, not national security -- just taking that silly test.

He stumbled into faith and thought,
This is all there is
The pictures in his mind arose
And began to breathe
And no one saw and no one heard
They just followed lead
The pictures in his mind awoke
And began to breed

9) One of the main components of National Board Certification is reflection. I had to write at least 8 pages of my portfolio as a reflection on my teaching, how students achieved, etc. I may never reflect again in my entire life.

I'll believe it all
There's nothing I won't understand
I'll believe it all
I won't let go of your hand

10) My wife is the best. Without her belief in me I'd be lost. I think she even surprised herself with the amazing balancing act she's done in the past month. I love you J!

Blue lips
Blue veins
Blue, the color of the planet from far, far away

11) (Who said I had to stop at 10?) I had the best time hiking along the Eno River this past weekend with my daughters. Despite grumpiness and complaining -- and that was just from me -- we had a great time. Pictures to come on Facebook. Thanks for reading. Here's to a wonderful rest of Spring!

Durham BOE director injured in hit-and-run

UPDATE: The police are now reporting that this was not a hit-and-run. (They were happy to report this to BCR and to WRAL, but not to me.)


Wow, I'm gone out of town for a weekend, all hell (relatively speaking) breaks loose and no one bothers to report it?

This past Friday my father-in-law Mike Ashe, director of the Durham County Board of Elections, was running just before noon in the vicinity of Buchanan Boulevard near Duke's East Campus when he was struck by a car. I don't know the exact details of the collision except that the driver sped away. Police and EMS responded quickly and he was taken to Duke's ER where he was treated for a number of broken bones, skin abrasions and lots of pain. As I write this on Sunday night he's still in the hospital and doing about as well as can be expected.

But no one in the entire Durham news media caught a whiff of this? Now you have. C'mon, Kevin @ Bull City Rising, pick this up and run with it (pardon the pun) for your exclusive.

Eugene Brown - embarrassing!

I spotted this story on WRAL.com today: "Durham councilman: officers' arrest embarrassing." And even before I clicked on the link I thought -- gotta be councilman Eugene Brown.

Why? 'Cause EB was born to make the grandiose finger-wagging pronouncement of blame. Need someone to call out someone else in Durham? Eugene should be #1 on your virtual Rolodex.
But then I started wondering why I was so confident it was Eugene, and then I remembered: I've seen this before! Only I didn't realize how often I had. With a little help from the Google elves and LexisNexis I found ...

• "'This is ground zero in government failure,' City Councilman Eugene Brown said. 'It's really an embarrassment.'" (Durham keeps rolling with struggling development project -- WRAL, 10/5/09 and similar "embarrassing" comment two days later in the Independent Weekly)
• "'[...] Duke did not make their case very well,' Brown said. 'They didn't make it very well at all, and it's embarrassing, and they know it.'" (Spat with city over private streets nears resolution -- Duke Chronicle, 4/15/09)
• "Said Councilman Eugene Brown, 'I think it’s an embarrassment. How many times does it take for them to get things right?'” (Durham Housing Authority still troubled, Independent Weekly, 9/3/08)
• "'This is just embarrassing,' Durham City Councilman Eugene Brown said Monday." (Reports: Wake, Durham probation offices 'in crisis' -- WRAL, 8/25/08)
• "[...] Councilman Eugene Brown said Tuesday that the incident is 'embarrassing for the entire community.'" (Housing funds case unravels -- Herald-Sun, 5/25/08)
• "As Councilmember Eugene Brown said last week, 'It was an embarrassing chapter in the life of Durham. It's time to put it behind us.'" (Bitter end of the city loan scandal -- Herald-Sun (via LexisNexis), 2/19/08)
• "'It's really an embarrassment that we're going through this and that we have to do this process,' Durham City Councilman Eugene Brown said." (Durham PD Goes Under the Microscope for Lacrosse Case -- WRAL, 7/20/07)
• "'Right now, we're in a reactive mode and not a proactive mode,' Councilman Eugene Brown said Friday. 'We've got to put this sucker out, and that's why we're talking to people like that group out of Virginia. The longer it goes on, the more embarrassing it is to the city.'" (Fire foam gets green light -- Herald-Sun (via LexisNexis), 9/23/06
• "City Councilman Eugene Brown agreed. 'It's always problematic when you have those hired and paid for enforcing the law breaking the law,' he said. 'I want to withhold judgment, but so far, this is just embarrassing.'" (Two Durham officers charged with assault -- Herald-Sun, 7/28/06)
• "'That search was a primer on how not to hire a police chief,' Brown said. 'It was an embarrassment. We were the laughingstock for the state.'" (Durham police chief search set -- News & Observer, 7/18/06)
• "'I hope, folks, that we have learned from this very embarrassing episode,' Councilman Eugene Brown said." (Council accepts Canal Street audit -- Herald-Sun (via LexisNexis), 10/5/04)

Let's say it together as Eugene would -- EMBARRASSING!

What a (solid) waste

"We encourage those folks to call us to get that extra cart because we want our tonnage to go up as high as it can go," says Durham's Solid Waste Management director Donald Long. What's he talking about? Getting people to recycle as much as possible! Who are "those folks"? Residents who are recycling so much that they need a second 95-gallon cart!

WOW! They need a second cart because they are recycling so much! That's awesome! People are keeping more waste out of landfills and helping the planet. How can we reward them for this effort? Let's see how director Long chose to do it:

To accommodate people who find that their bins are overflowing with materials by the end of two weeks, the city has started renting out extra containers for $18 a year.

Nice! You're doing such a great job that we would like to make you PAY for it! Well done, Durham, pat yourself on the back for this one.

(Via WRAL.com)

Changes at Watts Grocery

Watts Grocery, the Broad Street haven for Durham foodies, has a few changes coming up. First there are the usual seasonal menu changes which include:

• Braised lamb shanks with Sea Island pea ragout
• Southern Fish and Chips (at lunch only) with catfish fingers and house cut fries
• Caramel Cake with cranberry compote
• Oyster, Shrimp, and Andouille Jambalaya with short grain rice
• Warm apples with Mas de Lavail ice cream and crisp walnut cookies
• Roast poulet rouge de Piedmont with Lee Brothers' pimento cheese potato gratin and pecan pan sauce

Mmmmm, pimento cheese anything sounds good to me, so I'm looking forward to the gratin. I wonder if it's offered as a side, though, since I doubt I'll order the chicken. And I love the Southern Fish and Chips idea -- hope there's the requisite Southern fried seafood condiments of cocktail sauce and tartar sauce too.

One other big change for WG is the axing of the late-night hours. I asked chef/owner Amy Tornquist about this by e-mail and she replied that it wasn't working as well as they would have hoped and that "it always seemed a little bit of a painful shift for the front of the house" because of the small WG staff. Amy's willing to reconsider in the future but only if there's a way to do it without taxing everyone. It'll surely be a loss for Durham's late-night offerings but will still remain a superb option for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.

Amy was also kind enough to share the full new menus (which haven't been posted on the WG site as of yet) so here they are: Lunch/Dinner and Brunch/Dessert. Enjoy!

(photo via http://blog.indienc.com/2009/03/watts-grocery-durham/)

KIng's Sandwich Shop -- still in progress

I noticed yesterday that the renovation of King's Sandwich Shop has moved forward one more step -- note the cool new logo on the east side of the building:

Here's an artist's rendering of how the new place will appear when complete:

(from August's Durham Magazine article)

Help students learn more about the Constitution!

A shameless request for you to jump in the fun and help 10th grade students in Durham learn more about the US Constitution in my Civics and Economics class. C&E is required for graduation in NC and there's also an End of Course test that the students need to pass to get credit for the class. I've created my first DonorsChoose project to get a class set of this graphic novel adaptation of the US Constitution.

It's a terrific new way to tell a 222 year old story: how can a document that old still be relevant to our lives and our government? Through amazing images and words Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell vividly describe not only that summer in 1787 but also important cases that have tested the Constitution in the years since. I'm hoping that this innovative method of storytelling will make learning more interesting and fun!

If you can, please click this link to give $ to my project so that my students can use these texts to be the best C&E students they can be! I thank you in advance and my students will thank you directly if you can help us. --Steve

Don't call us Durham, call us Raleigh-

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on the "next hot youth-magnet cities." The usual suspects of Washington DC and Seattle are tied at #1 but look down at what's tied at #7 .... it's, um "Raleigh-"? And that picture is um, Raleigh's Brightleaf Square? Nope, sorry, that's Durham people, and I'm assuming the "city" in the print version is Raleigh-Durham. Sigh. The depressing text of the "city" description is below as is the screen shot that shows both "Raleigh-" with the thumbnail of the same photo at the bottom identified as Durham.

I'm sending a note to the reporter for clarification. Stay tuned.

A relatively low cost of living and a highly educated population help make this Southern city appealing.
The smallest city on our panelists' list, with fewer than 400,000 people, Raleigh has job opportunities in tech and research and a strong university presence. It offers outdoor recreation and a lively music scene. Also, Fort Bragg is expanding, signaling more jobs and more spinoff employment. "Raleigh's future is so bright that it ought to wear shades," says one panelist.
Downside: Raleigh has few critics; the worst panelists could say is that it wouldn't be seen as the hippest locale on the list.

U2 conference looking for you, too to be a sponsor.

NCCU is the home for the first ever academic conference exploring the music, work and influence of U2 from October 2-4, 2009. The conference organizers just tweeted that they are looking for one more Gold ($5K) or Silver ($1K) sponsor for the conference and are promising to give away a free trip to Durham plus free tickets to the U2 show in Raleigh on October 3.

From the site, on how to find a sponsor:

The best way to connect to a business is by a personal connection. Do you work for someone who has a soft spot for U2? Or for arts and music education? Or for Africa? Or for AIDS treatments and research? Or cares about promoting Durham, North Carolina?

(How they know that Twitter-reader A is the person who connected them with Sponsor B is beyond me ... I'm just passing on the info. I don't need a free trip to Durham NC thank you very much nor am I likely to go to the concert.)

Sorry Herald-Sun but you're getting pwned

So whose idea was it to redesign the Herald-Sun's site so that the right side of the screen is a text message space where anyone can post comments? Tonight I logged on and saw this message:

Obama calls Kanye West a donkey rear - http://tiny.cc/IJo9j

followed a few hours later by this one:

your mama calls your daddy my name by mistake....get over it

Nice. Your writers and editors must be so proud. Screen shot is at the bottom.

And -- the N&O's new redesign is in beta these days. Maybe they'll also have another great feature like the Herald-Sun's?

Congratulations Joe!

Today's the day -- Durham's own Joe Liles is expected to summit Mount Katahdin in Maine some time today to complete his 2,175 mile thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail! Liles was one of the founding faculty members of the NC School of Science and Math and following his retirement in 2008 decided he wanted to take on the challenge of hiking the trail. He began in March -- back when hiking the Appalachian Trail only had one meaning -- and was a popular hiking companion (according to trail reports) with his singing and harmonica playing. As you may know thru-hikers pick up a nickname during their adventure and Joe became Braid for the last six months, a fitting moniker for Joe's extended ponytail.

A thorough web and Facebook presence has tracked Joe all the way, thanks to Colin Law (NCSSM '86). There you can find video, stories and of course, given Joe's immense talents in photography, some terrific photos. I'm looking forward to the coffee table book myself.

Way to go Joe!

A walk around downtown Durham

I spent an hour on Friday afternoon (9/11/09) walking around downtown Durham and taking pictures with my iPhone as I went. I was surprised by how well they turned out. Anyhow, the photos should appear as a slideshow below. Enjoy!

Man v. Food: "Durham" mini-review

Okay, since I mocked the social media marketing folks in the last post I figured I owed it to teh Internets around the globe to at least watch "Man v. Food: Durham" and give a review. And I must say that eh, it's not the show for me. For some reason a show about a chubby guy who has an enormous appetite and doesn't mind looking stupid seems a little too familiar. I hadn't seen an MvF episode before and I doubt I'll watch one again.


On the other hand, I definitely enjoyed the Durham parts. The owners of both Backyard BBQ Pit and Wimpy's were charming, enthusiastic and had a great sense of humor. It was also nice to see the Doughman competition as I'd only heard of it before but never attended. And you can never get enough of a charismatic host saying "I love Durham" several times.
On the MvF website there's also a nice piece on Ninth Street that features Native Threads, the Duck Shop, The Regulator and a fun mini-interview with Carol Anderson of Vaguely Reminiscent. Click on the photo of Carol and Adam above to see the clip. There's also a very gracious "vlog" (people still use that term?) in which Adam is shot sitting mostly in the dark in his hotel room (?) singing the praises of every one he met in Durham.

Finally, this: in the transition shots between segments there were two shots of Raleigh. I assume this was filmed when they were in Raleigh last year, but seriously. How hard is it to shoot ten more seconds of footage from the city you're in? As proof here's a screen shot from the website. Note the CAT (Capital Area Transit) bus in the picture.

All I can say is -- thanks, Allen. (Allen, Adam -- what's the difference?)

Man vs. Social Network Marketers

[Something tells me this is not going to go as planned.*]

The next stop on my new status as a member of the media elite (for those of you with wee memories visit my wayback machine for The Nasher, Picasso and Me): I got an e-mail today from someone named Wendy from Room 214 urging me to blog/tweet about the show "Man v. Food." Honest to Freud I've never seen this show before and only barely have some memory of this guy appearing in Raleigh last year to eat 3000 hot dogs or something like that.

Anyhow, the episode Wednesday night features this wild man's adventures in eating in Durham, or so that's what the release I got said. I'm sure it's going to be a fascinating show but today kids I'd like to talk about this press release-e-mail-thing. Here are some snippets that I really enjoyed:

Durham has been called the "Cradle of Cue", so Adam starts his journey with a search for some good ole Eastern Carolina BBQ.

Oh, where to start. To my knowledge Durham has NEVER been called the "Cradle of Cue." After Googling I found that North Carolina has at times been called the "Cradle of 'Cue" (note the apostrophe, Wendy!) but Durham? Locavore? Sure. Foodie? You bet? But I doubt we'd even make the top 20 in barbecue localities in the state. We certainly get no love from my new favorite food site BBQ Jew. Regardless, if you make it all the way to the Triangle, you pick Backyard BBQ Pit?

And "good ole?" C'mon, Wendy, y'all not frum 'round here, huh? And it's eastern, not Eastern. And it's eastern North Carolina, not eastern Carolina. Catching on?

They're known for their chopped BBQ pork, which btw isn't really chopped, it's stirred (that's how tender it is!). In Adam's own words, the pork "coats your tongue like velvet".

btw? Are we under Twitter length restraints now? And, um, if it's not chopped, it's not chopped. Find me some other NC barbecue restaurant that refers to their meat as stirred. Also, the last word you should ever use to describe eastern North Carolina barbecue is velvet -- that's for fine paintings, not food.

Next up, Adam heads to Wimpy's Grill which is known for big breakfasts and big burgers.

Okay, I've had a burger or two at Wimpy's, and I enjoyed them, but they weren't ecstasy-producing. In the YouTube clip Wendy sent along the focus at Wimpy's is far more on the toppings than the ground-at-Wimpy's hamburger. Look at all those toppings! And more toppings! They're messy.

Also, they serve breakfast at Wimpy's? Maybe they do, but never in my life have I heard of Wimpy's as being "known for big breakfasts." You?

And did you know Wimpy's ...

"is a hot spot for tailgating?"


View Larger Map

WHERE? In that incredibly narrow all-asphalt parking lot? Or does she mean the Dukies are all grabbing some burgers on their way to the big football games? (Insert your own Duke football joke here.)

This burger is so messy Adam says, "I feel I ned to eat it in the shower".

Ned? And proper use of quotation marks?

On a more personal note, I hope you do not find this email offensive. I try to reach out to people who would be interested to know that Man V. Food is coming!

No, Wendy, I don't find this offensive at all. I do worry that in the battle of good writing vs. social media that social media seems to have the upper hand at the moment. Good luck wherever the next episode takes you.

--Steve

P.S. Oooh, that Room 214 group seems a bit, I don't know, white, don't you think?


[*On the other hand, I'm writing about -- and you're reading about -- a show I knew nothing about mere hours ago, so perhaps their job is done. Someone at Room 214 is no doubt smiling and noting the irony ... while sending someone else to pull up the clip of "Reality Bites" where Ethan Hawke defines irony so everyone remembers what it is.]

Durham Bulls via Twitter

In the old days if you weren't at the ballpark the only way to follow a baseball game was to listen to the play-by-play on the radio. Then came the advent of television and later the Internet, so one could be anywhere in the world and keep up with each pitch and crack of the bat.

And now there's Twitter.

I've been following the Durham Bulls Twitter feed for the past couple of months, mostly out of curiosity as I'm just a casual fan. But this morning I work up to see the overnight feed from TweetDeck and was stunned to see 17 posts from last night's Durham v. Gwinnett game. It was so much fun to read them and see the final result that I decided to repost them all below. It's not quite like being there but I think it's a close approximation!

* Gwinnett scores a run in the top of the 1st with no hits. Lead 1-0 with the Bulls coming up.

* Riggans yard. Tied at 1.

* Gwinnett has taken a 3-1 lead thru 4.

* Bulls trying to get back into this game. Scored 2 in the 6th and now trail 6-3.

* Bulls are 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position so far tonight. Need to change that.

* Make that 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position. We need a clutch hit from Reid.

* Reid did come thru and the Gwinnett lead has been cut to 7-5. We still have runners on 1st and 2nd with only one out in the 7th.

* A comeback tonight is big because Syracuse swept a doubleheader tonight. The loser of the game will only be 3.5 games up for the wild card.

* Heading to the 9th and we are still trailing 7-5. Need another 9th inning rally.

* 2-outs, 2-strikes bottom of the 9th and Reid just crushed one into the RF stands. We are now tied at 7 and will head to extra innings.

* We head to the bottom of the 11th with the score still tied at 7.

* We now head to the 13th and we have run out of pitchers. Ray Olmedo is now our pitcher.

* We now head to the 14th. Crazy, but Ray Olmedo is back on the mound. Can he hold Gwinnett again?

* Timmons just hit a solo shot off Olmedo. Gwinnett leads 8-7.

* Need another 2-run miracle in the 14th. Olmedo did all he could, but Gwinnett scored two and now lead 9-7.

* Bottom of the 14th and the Bulls have runners on 1st and 3rd with one out trailing 9-7.

* Elliot Johnson has just struck out for the 5th time tonight, but this time the bases were loaded. We are down to our final out.

* Unbelievable. Weber did it again. Full count, 2-outs, bases loaded in the bottom of the 14th and Weber hit a walk-off double. Bulls win 10-9

Amazing! Check out the video of the late-game heroics on the Bulls' website. Go Bulls!