E-News: Blues Goldmine, Nicholas Nickleby, Chinese Lessons

In the latest edition of Carolina Arts and Sciences E-News:

• UNC historian and folklorist William Ferris spent the 1960s and 70s traveling the back roads of his native Mississippi tracing the roots of American blues music. He found them in church halls, prison fields and rural homes, where he recorded and filmed African American musicians and storytellers.
• Like everyone in PlayMakers Repertory Company, Jeff Meanza plays multiple characters in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. The company’s most ambitious undertaking ever runs on the Paul Green stage through Dec. 20.
• Wyatt Bruton ‘11 spent last summer in Beijing, where he worked at a public relations agency during the week and taught in a migrant village on the week-ends.

Learn more here.

HOPE Garden: Where homeless and neighbors grow together

David Baron — a UNC-Chapel Hill undergrad studying biology, ecology and social entrepreneurship – understands the importance of fresh whole food for human and environmental health. But it bothers him that not everyone has access to locally raised fruits and vegetables.

So last year he founded HOPE Garden, combining community garden plots with a small-scale urban farm and job training program for homeless people.

The project, part of UNC’s Campus Y Homeless Outreach Poverty Eradication (HOPE) project, will rent about 25 individual, 4×8-foot raised-bed plots to local residents for $100 annually. At the same time, the garden will provide transitional employment, skill-building, income and food for homeless people tending common space in nine adjacent 60-foot beds.

“We combined an urban farm with a community garden to bring the community in to help socialize the homeless and give them a support network,” Baron said. He explained that he and project volunteers would work with homeless individuals they know are ready for employment training.

The 5,000-plus square-foot garden is enclosed by deer fencing on publicly owned land at 2200 Homestead Road. Farmers have access to free public transportation via Chapel Hill Transit. The homeless gardeners will be able to sell produce at the local farmer’s markets and donate the rest of their harvest to a local homeless shelter and kitchen.

Baron received a $10,000 grant for the garden from philanthropist Kathryn Davis (Projects for Peace). He’s taking time off from his undergraduate studies this fall to develop the gardens with volunteers, including students from UNC and local public schools as well as homeless people. They have been working together to grow collards, kale, lettuce and turnip greens.

Saturday a group of volunteers showed up to plant mulberry trees and blueberry bushes, with guidance from expert garden installers and educators associated with Bountiful Backyards.

Last summer, Baron had an internship with Growing Power, run by urban farming guru and McArthur “Genius” Fellow Will Allen. Baron trained at Allen’s famous Milwaukee farm, helped run the project’s other farm in downtown Chicago and sold produce at local farmer’s markets there. Before that he apprenticed on a farm in Tanzania.

UNC’s APPLES Service Learning program is giving students academic credit for participating in HOPE Garden. Other partners are the Town of Chapel Hill, N.C. State University, Active Living by Design program , the NC Botanical Gardens, and several local nurseries and garden businesses.

Anyone interested in particpating in HOPE Garden can reach Baron at baronsdavid@gmail.com

Mark your calendars

Here’s a quick guide to special events involving UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences. Most events are free and on campus, except where noted.

Through Nov. 30: Photo exhibit from historian William Ferris’ new book, Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues. Thursdays, 1:30-4:30 pm at the Love House, 410 E. Franklin St. reidjohn@email.unc.edu

Oct. 27: Ram Loevy, leading Israeli filmmaker, will screen and discuss Bread (Lehem), about a laid-off bakery worker and his family. 6:30 pm, FedEx Global Education Center.
kgajewski@email.unc.edu

Oct. 28: Creative Writing Professor and author Marianne Gingher reads from Long Story Short: Flash Fiction by Sixty-Five of North Carolina’s Finest Writers. 3:30 pm, Bull’s Head Bookshop
bullshead@store.unc.edu

Oct. 28: Looking into the Nuclear Age: On Life, Art and the Bomb, a visual lecture by atomic photographer Robert Del Tredici. 5:30 pm, FedEx Global Education Center. Steve_wing@unc.edu

Oct. 29: Andrew Delbanco, award-winning social critic and director of American studies at Columbia University, discusses How Could Anyone Defend Slavery? Moral Crisis in Antebellum America. Lecture, book sale, signing and reception. 7 pm, Gerrard Hall
http://college.unc.edu

Oct. 29: Nobel Laureate F. Sherwood Rowland discusses Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change, 7:30 pm, Carroll Hall Auditorium. 966-4516.
http://www.geosci.unc.edu/

Oct. 30: Nobel Laureate F. Sherwood Rowland presents a technical talk on The CFC-Ozone Story, 11 am, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Auditorium. 966-4516.
http://www.geosci.unc.edu/

Nov. 2: Art Historian and UNC alum David Craven (University of New Mexico) discusses A Trans-Atlantic Interchange Involving Fri(e)da Kahlo, Tina Modotti and Hannah Hoch. 5:30 pm, Hanes Art Center Auditorium.
jpbowles@unc.edu

Nov. 2-13: Performance artist and photographer Clifford Owens, Hanes Visiting Artist, will exhibit, discuss and perform his work. Lecture and opening reception, Nov. 3 at 5:30 in Hanes Art Center, exhibit through Dec. 2; performances Nov. 6-7 at 8 p.m. in Gerrard Hall.
http://bit.ly/47bWEy

Nov. 5: National Book Award-winning author Andrea Barret (The Air We Breathe and Ship Fever), reads from her work. 5:30 pm, Hyde Hall/ University Room.
http://snipurl.com/sjy8h

Nov. 11: Blues historian William Ferris reads from his new book Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues. 3:30 pm, Bull’s Head Bookshop.
bullshead@store.unc.edu

Nov. 11-Dec. 20: PlayMakers presents The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, in two parts in rotating repertory, the largest production in PRC history. Tickets and information: http://www.playmakersrep.org
Related events: http://bit.ly/2AAYr8

Nov. 13-22: Solo Takes on Divas, Detentions and Diaspora, featuring UNC faculty and professional actors/writers from across the U.S. in a series of solo dramatic performances about AIDS, prisons, race, identity and more. Tickets $5-$15.
http://bit.ly/4vTmk8

Nov. 15: Carolina Wind Quintet with pianist Stefan Litwin performing Mozart, Mendelssohn and Brahms. $10-$15. 843-3333.
http://music.unc.edu/

Nov. 16: Former State Department diplomat Thomas Farr (UNC History Ph.D.) will discuss The Widow’s Torment: How Religious Liberty Can Increase Stability in the Middle East,” 4:30 pm, Pleasants Family Assembly/ Wilson Library.
Margarita7@unc.edu

Nov. 16: Medieval historian Miri Rubin (University of London) will explore the origins of ritual murder accusations against Jews in the Middle Ages. 7:30 pm, Friday Center.
http://www.unc.edu/ccjs/events.html

Nov. 17: Barry Popkin, UNC expert on nutrition and economics, discusses his book, The World is Fat: The fads, trends, policies and products that are fattening the human race.
7-9 p.m. George Watts Hill Alumni Center. Free, pre-register at: http://alumni.unc.edu/article.aspx?sid=6980

Nov. 17: Artist Oliver Herring discusses his work including sculptures, videos, performances and “tasks” involving the public. (He will be UNC Artist in Residence during the spring term.) 5:30 pm, Hanes Art Center Auditorium.
jpbowles@unc.edu

Nov. 20-21: StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performing Arts presents Downriver, about bluesman Lemonhead Harris. Screenplay by Dana Coen (Writing for Screen and Stage). 8 pm, Gerrard Hall.
http://eda.unc.edu/node/252

Nov. 20-21: UNC Opera performs Cavalli’s L’Egisto with UNC Baroque Ensemble. 8 pm Hill Hall. Tickets: 843-3333.
http://music.unc.edu

Dec. 3: Islam expert Omid Safi (Religious Studies) will read from his book, Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters. 3:30 pm, Bull’s Head Bookshop.
bullshead@store.unc.edu

Dec. 10: N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra: My Favorite Things: Holiday Jazz Concert. 7:30 Memorial. Tickets: 843-3333.
http://music.unc.edu

Red Clay Ramblers release Old North State

Jack Betts likes the Red Clay Ramblers’ new CD, “Old North State” with our very own Creative Writing Professor Bland Simpson, alum Jack Herrick, and company. Learn more.

‘How Could Anyone Defend Slavery?’

Award-winning literary scholar and social critic Andrew Delbanco will discuss “How Could Anyone Defend Slavery? Moral Crisis in Antebellum America” Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at UNC in Gerrard Hall. Free and open to the public, books for sale and signing at reception afterwards. Learn more.

Offensive Play

Malcolm Gladwell compares dogfighting and football, and discusses UNC research findings on the health consequences of football concussions by Kevin Guskiewicz (Exercise and Sport Science). Read all about it in the new New Yorker.

UNC’s living laboratory in the Galapagos

UNC and partners at the University of San Francisco – Quito, Ecuador, are developing a living laboratory to prevent ecological damage in the fragile Galapagos Islands. Learn more.

Carolina’s liberal arts advantage, on UNC You Tube

Check out the UNC You Tube video of Karen Gil, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, expressing her perspective on the importance of a liberal arts education for leadership in a fast-changing world.

Joe Klein reviews ‘The Clinton Tapes’ by Taylor Branch

UNC alum Taylor Branch ( ‘68 History) and former President Bill Clinton are friends and of course Branch is the acclaimed author of  Parting the Waters, the three-volume Martin Luther King biography. So when Clinton wanted to record his thoughts for posterity, he called on Branch.

Branch’s newest book, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, comes out Tues. Sept. 29. It doesn’t include actual excerpts from the tapes, for they are still under the control of Clinton.  The book is about Branch’s recollections about what was said during those extensive, often late-night White House sessions, with the kind of context an award-winning historian can provide. Branch took notes during their recorded conversations and dictated his own account of what was said into a tape recorder in his car on the way home. So we have a lively book based on notes, analysis and tapes about the tapes.

Branch is donating his tapes and papers associated with the making of The Clinton Tapes to UNC’s Southern Historical Collection, as part of the Taylor Branch Papers.

So who reviews The Clinton Tapes for the Sunday New York Times Book Review? Joe Klein, the journalist who made news himself by writing an anonymous, controversial, fictionalized account of the Clinton campaign, called Primary Colors, which was made into a movie. Klein, whose fiction surely helped shape public opinion about Clinton, then wrote a Clinton biography, The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton.

Branch’s book includes a “blue jillion” colorful anecdotes, Klein says, such as Senator Robert Byrd’s “gaseous disquisition” on homosexuality and Julius Caesar when Clinton was trying to decide what to do about policies concerning gays in the military (“don’t ask, don’t tell”), and Elizabeth Taylor’s question about whether Clinton checked out Sophia Loren’s breasts during a state dinner.

“Branch’s friendship with Clinton…makes possible a remarkable portrait of White House life,” Klein writes, including the revelation that Bill and Hillary Clinton seemed to have a strong relationship and that the President was an attentive father to Chelsea.

“In the end, though, The Clinton Tapes will stand as an important work about American political life because of two dominant themes that emerge gradually,” Klein continues, ” one about the man himself and the other about the nature of the current era. “

You can read Joe Klein’s New York Times review here.

Alum is new social-entrepreneur-in-residence

Micah C. Gilmer ‘03, a Morehead-Cain Scholar and UNC College alumnus, is Carolina’s new social entrepreneur-in-residence.

Gilmer is now directing Project Innovation, an initiative to examine the courses, programs and services needed to support students interested in social innovation and entrepreneurship. He will create a development and funding plan as well.

He is teaching a new course in public policy called Implementing Change: Barriers and Opportunities n Policy, Government and the Nonprofit Sector.

“UNC has a tremendous history and culture of public service and engagement,” says Gilmer, who has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Duke.

Click here to learn more about Gilmer and social entrepreneurship across the UNC campus.