Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Coming Events: Summer Slumber? Not!

    Summer in Chapel Hill can be somewhat slow as far as community initiatives. Council is on hiatus. UNC downshifts. Most folks have their hands full dealing with the heat, their jobs, kids home from school, vacations. Summer, though, is not always a time for sluggish vigilance. For instance, I learned many years ago UNC’s favored […]

  • IFC Community House: Balanced Social Services?

    One of the common criticisms of the Inter-Faith Council’s (IFC) proposed Community House site is that the Homestead area of Chapel Hill already hosts more than it’s fair (“a four letter word for responsible growth”) share of social services. Is that the case? The IFC and UNC’s School of Social Work put together this map […]

  • Annual Rogers Road Community Back-to-School Bash

    The next couple weeks are going to be quite busy with events and community meetings coming fast and furious. Our neighbors, the Rogers Road community, is having their annual back-to-school bash this Saturday (Aug. 14th) at the Faith Tabernacle Oasis Church from 11:30am to 6:30pm. Oasis is located at 8005 Rogers Road (MAP). The annual […]

  • A Bit Older, Less Grayer

    I ended up talking about the troubling aspects of both East54 and the Lot $5 with a native Chapel Hillian after a recent community meeting. While introducing myself they exclaimed “you’re Will Raymond? I saw you speak several years ago about the Town’s Downtown project” but, they went on, I “looked different”, even younger than […]

  • A Special Request For A Special Cause

    Elaine and Lee are my next door neighbors. I’m usually hesitant to participate in these corporate campaigns but….the need is there and Elaine and Lee are working hard to address the growing demand for recreational opportunities for special needs folks in this community. That was enough to get me beyond my initial trepidation. Please consider […]

  • 140West: RAM Development’s Money Tree, Chapel Hill Taxpayers Moneypit

    Local commentator and involved citizen Fred Black invited me to do a WCHL1360 Who’s Talking segment last week. It airs this evening (Tues. Aug. 3rd, 2010) at 6PM. While the subject was supposed to be the Lot #5/140 West project, which is slated to finally get started later this month, Fred used this opportunity to […]

  • Ellie Reinhold: Dream Nature

    Ellie Reinhold, Chapel Hill artist and founding member of the Hillsborough Gallery of Art has a new show opening today (Fri. 7/30/2010). Ellie works in various mediums – this show features paintings and one assemblage. Her work draws heavily on both her vibrant inner nature and a deep appreciation of nature. Over the 27 years […]

  • Bus Stop #1409

    [UPDATE:] In researching another post I ran into this kudos from 2006 – Bus 734’s Act of Kindness A quick kudos to the N/S Express bus #1409 driver. At 8:32 this evening you waited for a passenger to hustle from roughly Town Hall south down MLK, Jr. 150 yards to catch the bus. The young […]

  • Internet Gambling: Laura Takes A Stroll

    Quick follow-up to my recent post on NC’s Internet gambling ban (Cognitive Dissonance? NC Legislature Bans Internet Sweepstakes). WUNC’s reporting treasure Laura Leslie (can you tell I am a fan?), made an informal personal survey of her community’s (Garner) “Parlor Games”. Ripping a page from the big boys (It’s Not A Spill), one “parlor” (sounds […]

  • Burr vs. Marshall: Let’s Start With A Little Credit

    I generally don’t say much on CitizenWill about Federal officeholders but since there’s been a lot of blather about Elaine Marshall’s chances of overcoming Richard Burr I thought I would submit one way she can challenge Burr’s reputation of supporting our troops. Elaine, as part of her Senate campaign, started a petition calling on Burr […]

  • Great SCoTS

    Chapel Hill’s Locally Grown Summer series kicks off this Thursday with a concert by Southern Culture on the Skids. I remember when SCoTS first formed (they were friends of friends) in 1983 (wow, that feels like a zillion years ago!). The Parks & Rec Locally Grown series features music and movies throughout the Summer and […]

  • Lucky #13: Vimala’s Curryblossom Café

    Local chef and stalwart activist Vimala Rajendran (Indy profile) opened her new Curryblossom Cafe today. Though Ellie, Elijah and I were her 13th customers, our luck was far from bad. Not a big surprise for anyone who has tasted Vimala’s take-home menu. By 5:30pm the small restaurant was bustling with activity. The kitchen was full, […]

  • June 22, 2010: I Voted, Again…

    [UPDATE:] Ellie, at 3:00pm, was #143. Analysis of turnout is coming in but it’s clear Elaine has won with apparently 2/3rds of the vote. Just back from the Library. I was #112 in one of the voting-est precincts in Town. Given the early voting trend this year, that doesn’t bode well for overall turnout. In […]

  • Cognitive Dissonance? NC Legislature Bans Internet Sweepstakes

    WUNC’s Laura Leslie (a reporting treasure) has a great post (Mon.: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before) on tonight’s 47 to 1 NC Senate vote “to ban video gambling – again – in North Carolina”. Republican Tom Apodaca didn’t mince words in urging his fellow senators to ban video gambling. “This is something […]

  • 2010 Final Spring Meeting Chapel Hill Council

    Over the year’s I’ve seen some rather jam packed final spring term Council meetings. This one was about average in length, light on content but big in setting the stage for two broad initiatives – siting an emergency shelter and legally mandating affordable housing – to move forward. I left prior to Council’s revisiting Laurin […]

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