The State of Things

Ned Ferm was only 4 years old when he decided to pursue a career in music. He grew up on a farm on Mount Desert Island near the coast of Maine and says he is a country boy at heart. But his knack for playing almost any instrument would eventually lead him to perform in New York City alongside renowned jazz icons like Roswell Rudd. Later, Ferm would study jazz at William Paterson University and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Denmark, where he earned the equivalent to a doctoral degree in

In 2014, the LGBTQ community rallied around students at Duke Divinity School after former Dean Richard Hays warned incoming students that under the rules of the United Methodist Church openly gay individuals would not be ordained and gay marriage is not accepted. Though Dean Hays is long gone, some students continue to voice discontent. During the state-of-the-school speech last month, Dean Elaine Heath was interrupted by LGBTQ students carrying bullhorns and chanting “I am somebody, and I won’t

Playwright Tony Kushner subtitled his seminal work a “gay fantasia on national themes.” “ Angels in America ” is a two-part, seven-hour play that examines the politics and culture of 1980s America through the stories of eight characters living at the peak of the AIDS epidemic. From its debut in a small San Francisco theater in 1991 to its return to Broadway this year, the play has not only earned a Pulitzer Prize and several Tony awards, but it has also struck a chord with actors, activists and

North Carolina writer Sebastian Matthews was almost killed by a dead man. He and his family had a head-on collision on a North Carolina highway in 2011 when a driver in the oncoming lane passed away from a sudden heart attack. Matthews and his wife were left in wheelchairs with countless broken bones, bruised spirits and a healthy 8-year-old to manage.

For years, critics have contended that Hollywood films leave a lot to be desired when it comes to female representation. Analyses such as the Bechdel test suggest that too often the male-dominated screenwriting world puts women in passive, one-dimensional roles.

North Carolina law gives citizens the right to all sorts of government data, from state employee emails to the minutes of closed meetings. But how reliable are our state institutions when it comes to delivering that data? That is one question that North Carolina reporters hoped to answer this year for Sunshine Week , an annual nationwide event dedicated to holding government agencies accountable and making citizens aware of their rights to open government data.

When people gathered for the women’s marches of 2017 and 2018, they were joining a tradition that dates back more than a century. In 1913, thousands of women marched on Washington wearing purple and gold sashes instead of pink hats, and Rebecca Roberts says they were a lot more radical than today’s activists.

As a former English teacher and Ph.D. candidate, Whitney Wingate believes strongly that words, books and stories matter. So when she had her first child three years ago, it did not take long for her to realize that children’s literature left much to be desired.

Ron Stacker Thompson knew from a young age that he wanted to be a teacher. He grew up in Chicago, excelled in school, and loved his time in the classroom. He attended Illinois State University and went on to try his hand at teaching. But his work as a drama teacher quickly led to another career on stage.

North Carolina Rep. Duane Hall (D-Wake) was met with harsh criticism from other Democratic lawmakers, including Gov. Roy Cooper, when he refused to step down amid claims of sexual harassment by multiple women.