Chad Bryant, UNC associate professor of history, will present “On the Train: Time, Space and the Modern World†on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. as part of the Ackland Art Museum’s ongoing series, Perspectives on Progress. The lecture series offers unique perspectives on the Ackland’s exhibition “At the Heart of Progress: Coal, Iron and Steel since 1750 – Industrial Imagery from the Collection of John P. Eckblad.†It will be at the Ackland Art Museum. General admission is $5. It’s free for Ackland members.
If you’ve wandered down Lloyd Street and done a little window-shopping of late, you may have done a double take when passing The Merch.
Lined up along the window in the printing and gear shop’s new retail sales room are several mannequin heads bedecked with Mexican wrestling masks. Look a little closer and you might notice that one does indeed have a UNC logo. Closer still, and you can read that it is an officially licensed product.
How it came to be that a small company in Carrboro produced the first Carolina wrestling mask is a long story, with action in China, Mexico and Asheboro. Here’s how The Merch’s co-owner Chip Hoppin boils it down:
Music fans around here may recall “Viva Del Santo!†a hit tune by Southern Culture on the Skids about the legendary Mexican wrestler and movie serial star El Santo (The Saint). Sometimes, SCOTS would perform the song while a figure in wrestling gear and mask posed Santo-like and cavorted with the band and/or crowd. That bit of cultural cross-pollination helped hasten the influx of Mexican wrestling kitsch, already big elsewhere, into local culture.
The Science of positive thinking
By Vicky Dickson
Like any newly published author, Barbara Fredrickson has done a lot of book signing lately. One instance in particular stands out for her: the elderly man at the Regulator Bookshop who said he’d been reading her book for six days when his family members remarked on the positive changes they’d noticed.
“You’re a whole new Jim,†they’d said.
Jim told her he was 88 years old.
And that, for Fredrickson, was validation for the effort and sacrifice she’s put into writing Positivity.
Fascinating Rhythms
By Alvis Dunn
â€I do believe in biorhythms. I think some days you’re in a little bit of a funk.â€
With those words back in 2000, Tar Heel coach Matt Doherty set my mind to celestial wandering and my most lasting Carolina basketball superstition was born. Birthdays in hand, I began to “run the rhythms.â€
When you say “Carolina…â€
By Frank Heath
I have an admission to make, a confession even.
On the night of January 4, 1971, I did not go directly to sleep when my mom turned off the lights, at my bedtime, 8:30 – nor did I even try.
And really, what self-respecting 8-year-old could have slept, given the fact that North Carolina was hosting the despised South Carolina Gamecocks at Carmichael Auditorium at that very instant, with early control of that year’s ACC regular season race at stake?
Huh uh. As soon as Mom was safely back downstairs, I located my battery-powered transistor radio and slid it under the pillow, turning the volume up just loud enough that I could make out the game call (I believe that may have been Bill Currie’s last year as the UNC sports “voiceâ€) – and got my fill of UNC whipping up on the undefeated and second-ranked Gamecocks.
An outsider moves in
Originally published February 26, 2008
By Steve Peha
I grew up in Seattle following the Washington Huskies during the John Wooden years. I saw UCLA play once: Bill Walton scored 24 points in the first half and drank Gatorade from the bench for the entirety of the second. (Man, the way he could lift that bottle was pure poetry in motion.) That about sums up my childhood as a college basketball fan. It all came down to how bad we were going to lose to UCLA.
Now, having married a native Chapel Hillian and moved to the South, I have been infected with Tar Heel Fever. Twice a week during the winter months, we raise the rafters here at home as my wife paces the floor, harangues the refs and makes sure we get back on D after a bucket. Up until last year, we even had a dog that would bark at Duke players when they went to the free-throw line.
I’ve been to the Dean Dome and even shaken the man’s hand. I’ve sat across from Roy Williams at Sutton’s. I’ve brushed by Tyler Hansbrough on Franklin Street. (Is he really 6’9�) Never has a team so dominated my life. True, there are nights when I secretly wish I could be watching “American Idol,†but just between you and me, I’m happy as could be with my little slice of Blue Heaven.
MILL intro: Jiminy Christmas
Originally published February 26, 2009.
Jiminy Christmas
Good golly, it must be nigh on March. You can tell because it is darn near impossible for some people to discuss the game of basketball without slipping in a flippin’ curse word. I mean, jeez, the season is heating up.
Even our very own Coach Williams had a lip malfunction on the radio after the Maryland game. The FCC might have stepped in, save the coach’s obvious embarrassment, rapid retraction and self-deprecation. He should be forgiven. He was, after all, talking about a defensive effort that had just inspired many, many expletives among the Carolina faithful.
We the basketball fans of this small patch of earth occupy a unique space during the coming of spring. As a focal point of the world of college hoops, we get to see ourselves depicted on numerous short highlight and b-roll montages documenting the basketball rivalries along Tobacco Road.
Greensboro blogger and Tar Heel fan Ed Cone recently commented about an HBO documentary: “It was OK, probably informative for auslanders, who will be forgiven if they come away thinking that the state of North Carolina consists of one farm, one road, two universities, and a barber shop.â€
In a way, though, the collective concentration of a sizeable percent of the local populace narrows down to what transpires over 90 or so minutes on the floor of Cameron or the Dean E. Smith Student Activity Center.
Many of us are just shy of religious about it. There is reverence and ritual and blasphemy. For some, there are strongly held beliefs about one’s personal adherence to ritual and how that translates into what transpires between the two teams on the floor. I’ll not question the faith of others except to say that unless you’re in the arena yelling your lungs out, you have no effect on the game. Sorry. That’s just how I feel about it. The beauty of basketball is that it’s such an interesting game — an active game, an intricate game, and one you can get lost in.
But don’t confuse yourself with the team. Woody Durham, who quite possibly does have the telekinetic power to cause perfectly good free-throw shooters to miss by overly praising them, often admonishes UNC fans to honor their rituals – to “go where you go; do what you do†– in those dire times when the game comes down to the wire. That’s nice. You do that if it makes you feel better. But the outcome will be decided by the young people on the floor. And they know perfectly well where they need to go and what they need to do. They need to play some frickin’ defense.
Go Heels. — Kirk Ross
TPM: 100 Sec
Sometimes, these thing are so right on target.
Acme hosts French wine dinner
Acme will host a five-course winemakers’ dinner with at 6:30pm on Wednesday, April 8. Burgandy-based vintners Alex and Marc Bachelet-Monnot (Domaine Bachelet-Monnot) in Puligny Montrachet, and Jean-Pierre Charlot (Domaine Joseph Viollot) in Pommard and Volnay will be in attendance. The dinner is reservation only. Price is $65 per person. Call 929-2263 to reserve your seats.
First Course
Blue Crab, Sweet Potato, and Coconut Bisque
Domaine Bachelet-Monnot Bourgogne Blanc 2006
Second Course
Low Country Oyster Pie with Local Bacon, Fennel and Corn
Domaine Bachelet-Monnot Puligny Montrachet 2006
Third Course
Grilled Quail with Spring Vidalia Onion and New Potato Hash
Domaine Joseph Viollot Bourgogne Rouge 2006
Fourth Course
Duck and Wild Boar Confit over Spring Mushroom Risotto with Fried Baby Arugula
Domaine Joseph Viollot Pommard ‘Vielles Vignes’ 2005
Fifth Course
Grilled Veal Chop with Creamed Corn and Preserved Rhubarb
Domaine Joseph Viollot Volnay ‘Vielles Vignes’ 2006 and Volnay Brouillards 2005
Obama, Heels oh man
You might have thought that we’d pretty much run out of the the improbabilities surrounding the idea of a young African American named Barack Obama as President of the United States.
Well, toss in this one: they guy has worked out with the Tar Heels, even got his way around Tyler Hansbrough for a layup that almost went in. (Obama claims Hansbrough went easy on him, but a photo of the moment was said to be one of the few mementos that graced his Spartan transition office.)
Now comes word that the Commander in Chief, whose love of the game is well-known, has filled out his brackets and has the Heels going all the way. Via Boston.com (h/t AD):
“Now, for all the Tar Heels who are watching, I picked you last year — you let me down,” Obama said. “This year, don’t embarrass me in front of the nation, all right? I’m counting on you. I still got those sneakers you guys gave me.”
As if they had enough on their shoulders.
At this point it should probably be noted that the president pulled out a win in North Carolina both in the primary and the general election. The general being won by a thin margin as the clock ran out.
Media literacy workshop planned
Dr. Jane Brown, a national expert on media and adolescents, will present a free session on the MAGIC (Media Analysis of Gender and Image Construction) Program on Tuesday, March 24, at 7:30pm at The Women’s Center in Chapel Hill. Recommended for parents of children ages 10 and over, MAGIC is designed to help adolescents develop critical thinking skills in regard to the images they see and the stories they hear. Seating is limited, and reservations are required by Friday, March 20. Contact Kristi Page at 968-4610 or kpage@womenspace.org.

