Hark the Sounds

History, says UNC professor William Sturkey, isn’t necessarily what happened. “It’s what gets written down.”

Recent events like the renaming of Saunders Hall, and the national attention focused on the Silent Sam confederate monument, have forced Carolina to reckon with the unwritten parts of its racial history.

That’s the point of the “Race and Memory at UNC” class taught by Sturkey, an assistant professor of history. His class is one of 18 in the University’s shared learning initiative, titled “Reckoning: Race, Memory and Reimagining the Public University.” Over 800 students are taking courses. Sturkey's class is the only one designed specifically for the initiative. It is by far the largest, with over 100 students enrolled.

Sturkey doesn't want to reinvent the wheel. He just wants to teach history in a much more transparent and honest way. And if that makes some folks uncomfortable, well, that gives him fuel for the fire. Because he doesn't want his grandchildren to be having these same racial arguments 100 years from now.

More about William Sturkey: “Some Things That Are Just Wrong,” in the November/December 2019 Carolina Alumni Review. https://unc.live/2Oq4f7o

Danny Rosin '90 paid his way though college "leveraging my love for Carolina (and hatred for dook). I did this through a small business enterprise on campus, where I was the guy knocking on dorm doors." The business was selling T-shirts, which included the iconic '25 things you need to do before you graduate from UNC.'

Today, as the founder of promotional products company Brand Fuel, "we hold CLC licenses to manage the protection of UNC’s sacred marks versus the production of rogue that helped fund my education." Take a nostalgic trip down the Franklin Street of the 1980s as Danny tells his unlikely tale.

(See the shirt in question at http://bit.ly/unc-top-25-things, and share your Chapel Hill memories at http://bit.ly/unc-top-25-comments.)

The academic rigors and culture of college can trip up even the best-prepared. Jeff Powell ’15 fell back on his love of creating objects, and that eventually led him to Holden Mora. In this episode, Powell discusses the trials and tribulations he encountered while building his first prosthetic hand for the 5-year-old boy.

Find out more about Jeff Powell at https://alumni.unc.edu/news/a-hands-on-education/.

To the rest of the world, Alexander Julian '69 is a an internationally acclaimed designer who credits his style to his Chapel Hill upbringing. To the Tar Heel faithful, he's the man behind the iconic argyle on all of the Tar Heel sports uniforms. This is the story of how that came to be.

From a childhood bedroom in Greensboro gazing at National Geographic maps tacked to the walls to planting a Tar Heel flag on the North Pole, Dr. Ranjan Sharma ’82 has accomplished a feat most travelers can only dream about.

One day in the future, he might lose his ability to speak. So to Sam Anthony '91, each second counts. Every word matters. And every person he meets is important.

Step into the ropes with athletes from the Carolina Jump Rope club as they prepare to host and compete in the National Collegiate Jump Rope Championships.

Instead of our usual stories about Carolina, and Carolina alumni, our latest episode features a selection of a cappella holiday music courtesy of the UNC Loreleis and Clef Hangers. The session was recorded during a recent performance at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center.

Photographer Tyler Cunningham '97 believed that she could do more with her camera. A podcast introduced her to Through Our Eyes. The project distributes cameras to members of the homeless communities, allowing participants to tell the stories of their lives through images of their own creation. Cunningham decided to bring the project to Raleigh. With the help of her church and local organizations, she handed out over 100 cameras just days before Hurricane Florence battered the Triangle.

The text message read something like, “I have ALS. I need you to tell my story.” And just like that, a wildlife documentary about red wolves in eastern North Carolina became a documentary about life, and death, and friendship. So Jeff Mittelstadt ’07 (MBA) quit his day job and learned to cry quietly behind his camera as he filmed the final years of his friend Chris Lucash's life.