Charlotte’s westward expansion — beyond Uptown, Biddleville, Wesley Heights — was in full swing around 1924, when Julia Alexander and her family decided to subdivide and sell off her deceased father’s estate, called Enderly. The old farm would become the…
The folly of naming a place you don’t understand
I started getting calls and emails a few months ago from a couple of development companies that were introducing new plans down the street. Their reps were looking for some combination of buy-in, or solidarity, or absolution, all of which…
A few notes on Kenny G, the history of jazz and being tone deaf to how we got here
“John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, their technique was phenomenal, but that music was never heartfelt for me, so, when I went out and gigged, it wasn’t anything that I wanted to emulate.” So said Kenneth Gorelick, the much-beloved, and much-maligned,…
Seeing ghosts may cause us to settle accounts long overdue
I sent my children to Scarowinds last week, and I do not feel at all guilty about it. Scarowinds is the end-of-season hurrah for Charlotte’s theme park, Carowinds. Staff dress up in Halloween costumes, the park stays open late, and…
A lesson from 19th century North Carolina: Lost cause, lost opportunity
Sid Alexander had the option to choose against racism. He lived in a crucial moment. He had meaningful power. He had opportunity to break decisively and publicly with a resurgent white supremacy movement. But Sid could not rise to the…
Fasting, feasting and the meaning of Advent 2020
My annual Advent tradition is to stand in a pew and choke back tears while trying to sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. This year the location moved to the kitchen table, my trembling hand clutching my red coffee cup….
Rediscovering the songs of lament would wake us up
On a recent day in Washington, D.C., thousands of evangelicals, almost all of them white, gathered to a rally and to sing praise and worship music. One image that sticks in my head is a group surrounding Michael W. Smith,…
How the ‘Suburban Lifestyle Dream’ and suburban church created Suburban Jesus
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson visited Charlotte, N.C., in January 2020 to announce changes to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rules. AFFH was an Obama-era initiative that targeted ongoing racial segregation through exclusionary practices in the construction of affordable…
When we forget our history, institutions do the sinning for us
Eighth grade social studies class in North Carolina, in my school years, covered the history, geography and economy of our fair state. Mrs. Spivey was my very fine instructor, and I am confident she would confirm that I was an…