Monica McDaniel didn't grow up with theater and hasn't seen much theater as an adult. So even she can't quite answer why she thought about writing her first play. "I was sitting at a family member's house, watching TV and I was like "What would you think if I did a play?' And she was like 'OK?" And I just went home and wrote a play," McDaniel recalled. "I feel like God gives me something and I go with it."

Monica McDaniel didn't grow up with theater and hasn't seen much theater as an adult. So even she can't quite answer why she thought about writing her first play. "I was sitting at a family member's house, watching TV and I was like "What would you think if I did a play?' And she was like 'OK?" And I just went home and wrote a play," McDaniel recalled. "I feel like God gives me something and I go with it."

Listen to the Asheville band Town Mountain , and you hear mandolin, banjo, the twang in the harmonies--all the markers of bluegrass. But listen a little more closely. There are socially conscious lyrics and, on the new album--gasp--a drummer. From early on, band members say Town Mountain never quite fit within the bounds of traditional bluegrass.

Listen to the Asheville band Town Mountain , and you hear mandolin, banjo, the twang in the harmonies--all the markers of bluegrass. But listen a little more closely. There are socially conscious lyrics and, on the new album--gasp--a drummer. From early on, band members say Town Mountain never quite fit within the bounds of traditional bluegrass.

Listen to the Asheville band Town Mountain , and you hear mandolin, banjo, the twang in the harmonies--all the markers of bluegrass. But listen a little more closely. There are socially conscious lyrics and, on the new album--gasp--a drummer. From early on, band members say Town Mountain never quite fit within the bounds of traditional bluegrass.

Listen to the Asheville band Town Mountain , and you hear mandolin, banjo, the twang in the harmonies--all the markers of bluegrass. But listen a little more closely. There are socially conscious lyrics and, on the new album--gasp--a drummer. From early on, band members say Town Mountain never quite fit within the bounds of traditional bluegrass.

Listen to the Asheville band Town Mountain , and you hear mandolin, banjo, the twang in the harmonies--all the markers of bluegrass. But listen a little more closely. There are socially conscious lyrics and, on the new album--gasp--a drummer. From early on, band members say Town Mountain never quite fit within the bounds of traditional bluegrass.

Susan Patrice can trace generations of violence and trauma against the women in her family. So in photographing people of the South, Patrice had to scale her own hurdles stemming from trauma. "Documentary photography is a deep relationship, and part of what makes my work so successful was the quality of connection with the place and the people," Patrice said. "One of the outcomes of trauma is it isolates you, it separates you."

Susan Patrice can trace generations of violence and trauma against the women in her family. So in photographing people of the South, Patrice had to scale her own hurdles stemming from trauma. "Documentary photography is a deep relationship, and part of what makes my work so successful was the quality of connection with the place and the people," Patrice said. "One of the outcomes of trauma is it isolates you, it separates you."

Susan Patrice can trace generations of violence and trauma against the women in her family. So in photographing people of the South, Patrice had to scale her own hurdles stemming from trauma. "Documentary photography is a deep relationship, and part of what makes my work so successful was the quality of connection with the place and the people," Patrice said. "One of the outcomes of trauma is it isolates you, it separates you."