By Jane Porter,
p. 12
After losing their skate park to new development, Raleigh skateboarders are seeking a space to recapture some of Graveside DIY’s magic.
Raleigh W Durham W Chapel Hill
VOL. 42 NO. 9
NEWS
Contents
5 Durham is starting a loan program for homeowners who want to build accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, on their properties. BY JUSTIN LAIDLAW
6 Even in a crowd of thousands, the Raging Grannies are instantly recognizable: silver-haired women wearing colorful aprons and floppy hats, singing acerbic protest songs set to cheerful nursery tunes. BY CHLOE COURTNEY BOHL
8 A $4 million budget request seeks to expand Durham's alternative response program, HEART, to provide 24/7 coverage. BY JUSTIN LAIDLAW
10 The ripples caused by cuts to USAID funding are costing a Raleigh software engineer her job. BY JANE PORTER
12 Local skaters likened the now demolished Graveside DIY skatepark to a community garden, a second home, a place to freely fail. BY JANE PORTER
18 The Durham school board abruptly adopted a meet and confer policy. But who is meeting and what are they conferring about? BY CHASE PELLEGRINI DE PAUR
CULTURE
19 Is it possible to go out to lunch in Durham for less than $15? In a new column, we're on a mission to find out. BY LENA GELLER
20 "I think everyone knows what Mexican food is," says Oscar Diaz, who recently opened TaTaco in Durham. "What I want to introduce is the way I see it." BY NATION HAHN
21 A cut-to-order cheese shop opens anew in Carrboro. BY ELLIOTT HARRELL
23 Why did Raleigh's oldest professional theater company go bankrupt—and what does its closure mean for other regional theaters? BY JASMINE GALLUP
25 Historical drama We Were Dangerous, French arthouse import When Fall Is Coming, and more films coming to Triangle theaters. BY GLENN MCDONALD
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COVER Nick Day performs a judo tail block on the Punk Wall. PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
Izzy Sweere grills burgers at the Graveside DIY skatepark in Raleigh before it was demolished earlier this year. (From our cover story, p. 12) PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
Listen to the Kids
Student journalists are disappointed with how Durham Public Schools spent $18 million from billionaire MacKenzie Scott and say district leaders should have listened to students’ needs.
BY LANA MCILVAINE, SADIE IRBY, AND ISABELLE ABADIE backtalk@indyweek.com
In 2022, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gifted $18 million to Durham Public Schools (DPS)—no strings attached. At the time, Riverside High School student journalists wrote op-eds for the INDY sharing how they hoped the funds could be used to improve student transportation, modernize classrooms, and support low-income students and their families.
Three years later, we have a better idea of where that money is actually going: toward things like professional development, the “growing together” redistricting plan, and, potentially, the district’s $7 million budget shortfall, caused by overspending on payroll, charter schools, child nutrition, and more.
Below, three of those same Pirates’ Hook writers follow up on their original op-eds.
Lana McIlvaine: Infrastructure
When I first wrote how DPS should have allocated the $18 million grant towards infrastructure recovery two years ago, I was disappointed when the district ultimately did not listen to any students.
Looking back on my first INDY piece as a senior getting ready to graduate now, I realize that I didn’t have a clear understanding of how expensive running a school district is. In reality, $18 million is a lot, but also microscopic for a district with a $730 million operating budget. That said, I still believe that the way they decided to use the money was inefficient and disappointing. Infrastructure, by definition, encompasses all physical structures that support daily life. This includes roads, bridges, water, energy, telecommunications, and school buildings. In the context of this article, infrastructure translates to the physical structure of school buildings, the bathrooms, and HVAC systems.
The $18 million was spent on several categories, including $8.22 million on academics. That’s never a bad idea, but the specifics are questionable (e.g., half a million dollars spent on “adequate furnishings” to improve family engagement), and two years have barely produced any tangible results.
My stance remains the same today: good infrastructure improves quality of life and
community connection and demonstrates progress.
The bathroom stalls have been upgraded, but only because Student Government Association leaders Abby Cho and Kharmina Mitre ensured the work was getting done. Other improvements, like replacing the rotted trailer ramps, have occurred, but the repairs aren’t keeping up with the needs. At least infrastructure has been on the radar of DPS. Northern High School’s new building, along with plans for a new Durham School of the Arts and several other major projects, are exciting. However, the execution is as messy as always: Northern’s new three-story building did not provide adequate space for labs in science classrooms and made the soccer field too small (the team currently practices on their old field).
Most of Riverside’s structural issues come from its construction, too. More than 30 years later, the same mistakes are being made, and millions of dollars are spent on new buildings with the same old flaws. DPS needs to listen to their students. Time after time again, we have been left to fend for ourselves, whether it’s dealing with a bedbug infestation in our Chromebooks or renovating bathrooms. It is more than frustrating as a student to try to be a voice who can represent others, only to be completely ignored by adults.
Sadie Irby: Arts
I wrote my initial story about how, after completing a project in my art class, I was told to paint used canvases white so that we can reuse them for next year. I encouraged DPS to use the $18 million grant to boost funding for visual arts. That was nearly three years ago, and I have seen no visible difference here at Riverside.
A DPS Board of Education work session in 2023, during which they planned on how to use the $18 million grant, mentioned more art funding, but only for one high school in our entire district (Hillside received $150,000). That’s great for Hillside, but also disheartening for students like me, who plan to study visual arts in college. We are the ones most affected by budgeting shortfalls.
Art funding at Riverside has not experienced any substantial changes in the last few years, according to Maegan Fitzgerald, visual arts teacher at Riverside since 2020 and our current department chair.
Under the current model, each visual arts teacher in Durham receives $1,500 from the district yearly. They also receive a per diem, which is the average school enrollment divided by number of visual arts teachers (Riverside has three, which leaves them with around an extra $630). Riverside teachers receive an extra $1,000 taken from the school’s yearly budget, but only after it’s approved by the principal, school improvement team, and department chairs will it be available to teachers. On the other hand, this can be disapproved as well and the money can go to a different department or not taken from the budget at all.
Thirty-five hundred dollars goes away fast. Art supplies are expensive. One two-ounce bottle of Liquitex acrylic paint is $11.99 at my local Michaels, and as a school, we are lucky if that won’t be used up within a semester. Our art department offers five different levels of classes ranging from beginning to AP. Unless you bring your own supplies, all you get is the worn-out colored pencils classes have been using for years.
From left: Sadie Irby, Isabelle Abadie, Lana McIlvaine. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PIRATES’ HOOK
Skills and materials aside, visual arts have been scientifically proven to boost mental health, something DPS has made a priority. Whether you’re an experienced, longtime artist or a high schooler just looking for a creative outlet, supplies should be accessible for all, but until the district listens, they won’t be.
Isabelle Abadie: Bus
In the original 2023 plan for budgeting the $18 million grant, DPS allocated very little to transportation initiatives. The $1.5 million it did put towards transportation focused on adding activity buses to aid many magnet programs, including Northern’s Fire Technology track. However, none of the designated transportation money went to anything that would help DPS students get to and from school on time.
When I originally wrote about how my district should use the grant, I highlighted our busing inefficiencies and how a large chunk of money could help improve those problems. For example, increasing bus drivers’ salaries and adding more buses would allow bus routes to be shorter, which would allow students to get to bus stops later and improve crowding on buses.
The district has increased bus drivers’ salaries and encouraged job interest with signing bonuses, but this solution doesn’t fix the deeper problem. They might drive up interest in being a bus driver but do not account for anything after that, such as what happens when bus drivers get fed up with poor working conditions.
Even more urgently, the drivers we do have need to feel valued. In early 2024, due to budget discrepancies, many DPS classified staff got significant pay cuts. In protest, classified staff, including bus mechanics and drivers, called out sick for multiple days, leaving schools unable to run without them. These protests spanned months and demonstrated both the importance of our staff and large problems in many of the systems that are the backbone of our school district.
In the end, the school board did not use our suggestions. Due to mismanagement, $7 million could now be used to balance the budget.
How much do our leaders really know about this school system? How many of them are fully equipped to use these funds sensibly in the first place?
Next time, just listen to the kids. W
Lana McIlvaine is a senior at Riverside High School. Sadie Irby is a senior at Riverside High School. Isabelle Abadie is a junior at Riverside High School.
B A C K TA L K
Earlier this month, Justin Laidlaw and Chloe Courtney Bohl wrote about a conversation between Raleigh mayor Janet Cowell, Durham mayor Leonardo Williams, and Derek Thompson, the co-author, with Ezra Klein, of a new book called Abundance, about how bureaucracy, especially in blue cities, has stymied progress on things like housing and transit. Readers shared their thoughts:
From Instagram user LE_DREYER:
“Abundance” is simply the latest neoliberal repackaging of failed neoliberal trickle-down theory. It co-opts and colonizes the indigenous concept of abundance, which is one of wealth sharing, reciprocity and being in right relationship with the land and each other. YIMBY/neoliberal’s are using it for the opposite: funneling more land and wealth to the rich within an increasingly monopolized market. Klein and Thompson’s “abundance” = more vacant unaffordable units and private equity in our backyards. It is notable that IndyWeek authors are leaving out the fact that Durham already has an abundance of unaffordable units, literally thousands of them sitting vacant. We have a 12 percent vacancy rate according to Costar, which is considered an “oversupply”, and yet rentals are not becoming affordable. The new Durham housing needs assessment shows we have a massive shortage of affordable units and massive surplus of unaffordable ones. In the same time our vacancy rate doubled, homelessness more than doubled. Every legitimate study on unaffordable upzoning shows that it can worsen the affordability crisis, and the only longitudinal study on market rate upzoning (aka land and housing deregulation to produce an over abundance of market rate units) shows that it causes Black and Brown displacement. They’ll never admit it, but that is the impact of Mayor Williams and Cowell’s “abundance” agenda—a whiter and even more gentrified Durham and Raleigh. Also, everyone uses SF as an example, yet it has 60K vacant units and 40-50K already entitled units that developers simply won’t build because they don’t actually care about creating the housing cities need. Zoning and regulations aren’t stopping them. It’s simply not profitable enough to build more vacant unaffordable monstrosities, especially when they can simply sell the entitled upzoned land to the next highest bidder and make millions off speculation alone.
From Instagram user RELEEPSEVEER:
I find the notion that N.C. has stifled housing production by environmental, affordability, labor, or engagement regulations very dubious. N.C. is one of the most deregulated states in all these areas. And I find Derek Thompson’s quote about letting go of 10 trees near downtown to save 1,000 that might be cut down in a sprawl development particularly disingenuous when the two mayors sitting on stage with him over the last 1.5 years have championed thousands of acres of sprawl single family annexations/rezonings in both Raleigh and Durham which will clearcut many thousands of trees.
Chloe Courtney Bohl wrote about Raleigh’s plans for building affordable housing over the next five years (the city has a shortage of 60,000 affordable units, Chloe reports).
From reader JEFF MASON via email:
In your recent article, “Raleigh Aims to Create 1,345 Affordable Housing Units, Reduce Unsheltered Homelessness to ‘Functional Zero’ by 2030” Ms. Bohl describes the city council’s desire to have more affordable housing. She notes that the city says it is concentrating on creating and preserving affordable housing, but resources are limited. What the city neglected to tell her was they do nothing about preserving affordable housing and all of their current efforts and plans include removing restrictions on developers to do whatever they want. Developers and builders are busy tearing down entire neighborhoods of affordable housing to build towers and multi million dollar homes. The city plans to give the developers more money to build low income housing “projects” at the edge of town. With these plans, it’s clear who runs the city, and it’s not the council. I’d like to see more of the affordable homes in neighborhoods restored and used
for lower income housing. Tearing down historic homes to build million dollar apartments in an historic neighborhood shouldn’t be an option either. The city has allowed so much affordable housing to be demolished in the past several years and only gotten overly expensive housing in return. This policy direction will do nothing to create more affordable housing in Raleigh.
Sarah Edwards wrote about the closing of beloved artist dive bar Bowbarr—the latest Carrboro establishment to shut down. Readers shared their memories:
From Reddit user SARGENTD1191938:
Dang I moved here a couple of years and finally found this spot, went once, loved it and now poof, no more. It’s so hard to find places like that anymore. Raleigh had several but is down to just Slims, Neptunes and maybe Landmark. Where is an aging misfit such as myself supposed to get a drink anymore?
From Instagram user OJALA.POCO.A.POCO:
I remember the convos around the poured bar and coming in to get a warm beverage because I was in AmeriCorps and had no heat. Your bar felt like my second home. I’m so sad to hear it won’t be Bowbarr anymore …
From Instagram user VELARDE7171:
I’ve had some great—and not so great—memories there. That’s a college town bar for you! Bowbarr will be missed.
From Bluesky user PTAILS:
I moved to Chapel Hill in 2010 when Bowbarr opened. I went there on one of my first dates with my now wife of 10 years. It will be missed.
Home Advantage
A loan program that will help property owners build accessory dwelling units is “one tool in the toolbox” for making a dent in Durham’s housing shortage.
BY JUSTIN LAIDLAW jlaidlaw@indyweek.com
The City of Durham is piloting a new loan program to support the development of accessory dwelling units as part of its efforts to expand and diversify the city’s housing stock.
Housing is a central issue throughout the Triangle. A flood of new housing units is in the pipeline, but Durham is still woefully behind on meeting its housing needs. The number of residents who are “cost burdened” by housing is in the tens of thousands, says Reginald Johnson, the city’s director of community development. For the city to meet its goals, residents need a diversity of options when deciding where to live. Accessory dwelling units, also known as ADUs, are one such option.
“We need more different types of housing,” Johnson says, “and more availability of housing that’s smaller, in terms of their structure. [The ADU pilot] is just one tool in the toolbox that we’re exploring.”
The city has not set a benchmark for how many units it expects to get out of the pilot. The $1.75 million allocated to the program supports gap funding and administrative costs, so the amount of housing that gets built will depend largely on what other financing is pulled together for the initiative.
Interested homeowners have a few hurdles to clear should they choose to participate in the program. They must live in Durham, own the property where the ADU
Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.
is built, and cap rents at 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). In exchange, homeowners get a 30-year loan with a low interest rate to build the additional unit.
Amendments to the city’s unified development ordinance over the past few years by the Planning Department have opened the door for more construction of ADUs in Durham in the form of so-called mother-in-law suites on the top of a family garage, or tiny homes tucked into backyards. Topher Thomas, founder of Coram Houses, a local development firm focused on building ADUs, has been an advocate for Durham’s adoption of new design ordinances. He says the city’s pilot program could help serve more than one population in need.
“I’m excited about the potential of this program to increase awareness of the power of ADUs—as a tool for creating accessible housing for the people who live in them, and also as a way for homeowners to generate sustainable income by sharing their land,” Thomas says. “My hope is that this low-interest capital becomes a real pathway to capital access for folks who’ve traditionally been excluded from it.”
Bringing ADUs to other parts of Durham has been well received by the community, Johnson says. One of the goals for the pilot, which is part of the city’s “Forever Home, Durham” housing initiative, is to create a proof of concept that can be replicated across the different neighborhoods in Durham.
“The concept is very popular, particularly [for] those that may have land in their backyard but don’t have the financial capacity to build an ADU,” Johnson says. “We don’t have enough housing, and that pushes up the cost. So to the extent that you can create more and diverse housing, you have more opportunities for people to rent.”
But it’s not time for interested homeowners to sign up just yet. First, city staff have released a request for proposals (RFP) to hire an administrator who would oversee the $1.75 million set aside for the program and coordinate with homeowners. Possible applicants include individuals or groups like community development financial institutions and architecture firms.
The deadline to submit proposals for the RFP is May 16. Afterward, the proposals will be reviewed by staff before getting final sign-off from the city council before the end of the summer. W
“We Need a Gentle Anger”
The Triangle’s Raging Grannies are protesting injustice through music.
BY CHLOE COURTNEY BOHL chloe@indyweek.com
Even in a crowd of thousands, they’re instantly recognizable by sight and sound: silver-haired women wearing colorful aprons and floppy hats, brandishing cardboard signs and sheafs of lyrics, singing acerbic protest songs set to cheerful nursery tunes.
“We were angry when you raised all those taxes on the poor / We were outraged when you authorized those pipelines / Our infrastructure’s gone to pot, and our grandkids are getting shot / So we’re raging, ’cause now you’ve pissed off Grandma!”
The Raging Grannies originated in Canada in 1987, following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion the year prior.
The Grannies’ first-ever protest, staged on February 14 in Victoria, British Columbia, involved an umbrella punched through with holes—a dig at the idea of protection beneath a “nuclear umbrella”—and a broken-hearted “Un-Valentine” delivered to an unsympathetic member of parliament, accompanied by a satirical lullaby.
Today, there are more than 50 groups of Grannies (gaggles, in their vernacular) spread across Canada and the United States. They protest peacefully against injustices in their communities and farther afield, from war to political corruption and environmental degradation. The gaggles operate independently of each other but share song lyrics and a penchant for loud, gaudy outfits.
“We’re mocking the stereotype,” says Vicki Ryder, who joined the Triangle Raging Grannies more than a decade ago and is one of the group’s most prolific songwriters. “We’re gonna look like what you think grandmothers look like, but when we open our mouths, we’re gonna make you sit up
and take notice.”
Long before Ryder became a Raging Granny or moved to Durham, she was the school-aged daughter of activist parents in New York.
“When I was born in ’42, my parents named me Vicki for a quick victory over fascism,” she says. “From the day I was born, it was my job to fight fascism. And that’s what I’ve been doing. As I grew older and I had children and grandchildren, I wanted this world to be more welcoming to them, and more gentle.”
Ryder’s father, a member of the New York City teachers’ union, was blacklisted during the McCarthy period for his union organizing efforts.
It was a formative time for Ryder, who was only 10 years old. She recalls FBI agents following her and her brother around the city, throwing them up against cars, questioning them about their parents.
“This has not been, for me, a friendly country,” she says. “I’ve never perceived it as a country where the government was really working in the interests of the people.”
Thanks to her father’s labor organizing connections, Ryder grew up around musician-activists like Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson. She paid her way through college by giving guitar lessons, and spent her Sunday afternoons singing folk songs in Washington Square.
Decades later, she would channel her folk music background into writing lyrics for the Raging Grannies. Ryder founded a gaggle in Rochester, New York, in 2002. The first “Rage” she organized was against proposed cuts to the public library budget. The following week, when then–New York senator Hillary Clinton visited Rochester, Ryder and
her fellow grannies Raged outside of the federal building to protest Clinton’s support of the Iraq War. She hasn’t slowed down since.
As Ryder moved around, she started gaggles in South Florida and Central Florida before joining the Triangle gaggle. She’s written hundreds of songs since 2002, because “every week there seems to be something else to rage about.”
“Now You’ve Pissed Off Grandma”—which continues for six more verses, criticizing gerrymandering, book-banning, and Christian nationalism—is a Ryder original. Like all of her songs, she adjusts it depending on the cause and encourages other Grannies to make it their own.
For the Hands Off rally at the state capitol earlier this month, Ryder wrote two new songs: “Raging for Social Security” (“Social Security’s easily fixed. Hooray! Hooray! / Just lift the cap that protects the rich! Today! Today!”) and “D-E-M-O-C-R-A-C-Y” (“We have some news for our president: Monarchy’s simply passé!”).
You won’t hear Donald Trump’s name in Ryder’s lyrics.
“It didn’t start with Trump and it’s not going to end with him,” Ryder says. “Getting rid of Trump is not going to get rid of the problem. We will still have racism that is allowed. We still will have poverty that is allowed. We will still have environmental destruction that is allowed, and it’s allowed by the courts, it’s allowed by the Congress, and it’s allowed by the media.”
Ryder’s activism is a full-time commitment.
“What has suffered, I think, is time with my grandchildren,” she says. “They know what I do. They respect me for it. I have apologized to them over and over by saying, ‘I know I’m not spending as much time with you as we both would like, but I’m doing this for you. I’m 82 years old, but you’re the ones who are going to have to live with what we leave for you, and so this is my way of showing my love for you.’ And they understand that.”
Libby Johnson, another Triangle Raging Granny, also has decades’ of activism under her belt.
While working as a nurse practitioner and social worker in Alabama during the civil
PHOTO BY JENNY WARBURG
rights movement, Johnson met her husband, Erik, a Presbyterian minister. They were both politically active, committed to anti-nuclear and anti-imperialist causes. She and Erik frequently moved their five children between congregations and states.
(“We would last about six or seven years before they said, ‘You’re too radical.’”) She encouraged her kids to care about peace and justice, sending one to the Soviet Union for a “fellowship of reconciliation” and bringing them all to protests against the Gulf War.
While living in Tennessee in the 2000s, Johnson and her husband became heavily involved in protests against the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, which produced the uranium used in the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima. Each year on the anniversary of the bombing, the Johnsons helped to organize mass protests at Y-12. Thousands of people came, including Buddhist monks from Atlanta and Raging Grannies from Michigan.
“The Raging Grannies impressed me so much with their lyrics at these rallies that I
said, when I retire and when I have a chance, I’m going to join,” Johnson recalls.
The protesters carried coffins, lay down in the street, and chained themselves to the gates of the plant to keep it from opening. The Johnsons were both arrested several times for their nonviolent actions at Y-12. (The plant continues to enrich uranium and produce and store nuclear weapons to this day.)
In 2015, Johnson and her husband moved to Durham to be closer to two of their grandchildren, and she made good on
her promise to become a Raging Granny.
“I don’t believe that we have ever seen America this chaotic, this inhumane,” she says. I ask her how she feels about that, and why she’s continued to organize and protest for all these years.
“There’s a song I like by Holly Near,” she replies, and sings the opening line for me: “We are gentle, angry people / and we are singing, singing for our lives …”
“I think anger is necessary. And you will see me with my fist up,” she says. “We need a gentle anger.” W
The Triangle Raging Grannies at protests over the years. Vicki Ryder is pictured bottom right, in the center. PHOTOS BY JENNY WARBURG
HEART Beats
Durham’s popular alternative response program is asking for an extra $4 million in the upcoming city budget to provide overnight coverage. But the next frontier of HEART’s expansion may not be its last.
BY JUSTIN LAIDLAW jlaidlaw@indyweek.com
What started as a pilot program in Durham three years ago has grown into the heartbeat of the city’s public safety network.
HEART, the Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team, launched as a pilot in 2022 under the Community Safety Department and has since responded to more than 28,000 calls. The original team operated with 20 employees during standard work hours, but after an expansion the following year, the program more than doubled to 50-plus employees across four units—community response, co-response, crisis diversion, and care navigation—and covered all of Durham. Now, with budget season under way, advocates are pushing for city leadership to once again bolster HEART’s resources to allow the team to operate around the clock and serve more residents in need during operating hours.
This year, Community Safety has requested a $4 million funding increase to hire 44 additional full-time employees, which would expand the operating hours for HEART’s crisis response teams to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and provide some overnight coverage for crisis call diversion.
The increased funding would also allow the crisis response team to get to a majority of “eligible” calls that flow to HEART from the 911 dispatcher. Currently, HEART teams are only able to respond to 50 to 55 percent of eligible calls overall, says Ryan Smith, director of the Community Safety Department. Last year, the team missed 20,000 calls.
The co-response team, which currently operates from six a.m. to nine p.m. and pairs a mental health professional with a police officer, is able to respond to 12 percent of
eligible calls. Crisis call diversion, a small unit of mental health professionals in the 911 call center who support residents experiencing mental health crises, are now able to respond to about 75 percent of their eligible calls.
The next frontier—and the reason many advocates want to increase funding for HEART—is overnight service. From midnight to six a.m., no HEART team is available to any resident.
Durham’s 911 call center responds to roughly 1,500 different call natures, from trespassing to heart attacks and shootings. Dispatchers use a series of pre-coded questions to navigate the caller—and the city’s public safety staff— through the most appropriate response. Calls involving mental health crises, trespassing, welfare checks, intoxicated individuals and other categories may receive a response from HEART only, or both HEART and Durham police depending on the situation.
While out on patrol, HEART team members can also “self-initiate” a wellness check, or what Smith often refers to as a “HEART assist,” if they see a person in need. They might pass out a water bottle on a hot day or the occasional tent for those seeking shelter. But Smith says those detours don’t take available teams away from their top priority, which is still responding to calls.
Even if the city council awarded Community Safety with the additional resources requested in the upcoming budget, Smith says the department would still need time to hire staff and ramp up services.
“Even if they gave us every resource to get to every single call next year, it wouldn’t happen next year,” Smith says. At its core, HEART remains a response team, but their
daily interactions with some of Durham’s most vulnerable residents have stretched their reach into other areas.
For years, the city has contracted with Housing for New Hope, a Durham supportive housing nonprofit, to conduct street outreach with Durham’s homeless population. The group spearheads the city’s Point in Time (PIT) Count each year. In recent years, HEART has deployed team members to support the PIT program. But at a Homelessness Services Advisory Council meeting on March 10, Housing for New Hope executive director Russell Pierce suggested that HEART take on the city’s street outreach efforts.
“It’s not something we can’t do, it’s not something we don’t want to do,” Pierce said, “but sometimes, as an organization, you have to reflect on what the greatest needs are and where you can make the greatest contribution. We realized that supportive housing is the place where we can have the greatest impact.”
Street outreach is a natural evolution for the HEART team. They employ a variety of highly skilled clinicians and health-care professionals, and regularly come in contact with neighbors in need of housing. But that hasn’t come without growing pains. Pierce and Smith agree that some outreach efforts have become duplicative as HEART has stepped into new territory. As part of the shift away from Housing for New Hope, Pierce says the HEART team will need to do a better job of tracking its interactions with unhoused residents so that nonprofits like Housing for New Hope can remain informed on what services folks are already receiving.
“If it’s not going to be Housing for New Hope … I think we’re well-situated to do that work,” Smith says.
HEART program employees have a meeting in their office in downtown Durham, North Carolina.
PHOTO BY CORNELL WATSON FOR THE ASSEMBLY
Community Safety already has its hands full responding to calls. Even if they are equipped to perform street outreach, the department would need more staff and other resources— beyond even the requested budget increase—to fulfill this new role.
“That isn’t work that we can just easily pick up and do with the resources that we have because of the way our capacity is stretched, but is that something that we could do and do well? Yeah, I think so and I think it would make sense given how we’re positioned and given the hours that we cover,” Smith says.
Even without an influx of new funding, reinforcements could be on the horizon. On April 17, Durham city manager Bo Ferguson announced forthcoming changes to the city’s organizational chart. Starting in July, the Homelessness Services team, which is currently housed under Community Development, will move under Smith’s Community Safety Department.
“As Community Safety has grown, there’s been a focus on what I call stabilization: meeting people in crisis and trying to get them on a path toward stability,” Ferguson says. “[The HEART team] has really developed some skill sets—mental health connections, crisis intervention—and those skills and the understanding of the nonprofit networks in Durham felt very similar to the work we’ve been growing in homelessness response. We don’t lose any of the great resources we’ve built around housing, but we’re gaining some of the network support that we get from the nonprofit sectors who are doing work.”
HEART was formed following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, as protests proliferated nationwide and advocates across the country pushed their local leaders to reimagine policing and public safety. In Durham, a coalition of local organizers successfully advocated for the city to create the Community Safety and Wellness Task Force. The task force’s recommendations brought the HEART pilot program, the first of its kind in North Carolina, to the Bull City.
“Honestly, it’s revolutionary,” says Shanise Hamilton, a member of Durham Beyond Policing.
Durham Beyond Policing is one of a handful of organizations that have banded together as the “Have A Heart Coalition” to push the city council into providing more resources for Community Safety. Hamilton says that the group plans to continue pressuring local officials to expand HEART’s footprint beyond city limits into the county and the public school system. So far, the coalition’s efforts have been rewarded; HEART has seen significant growth each year since the pilot launched.
Three years later, HEART continues to be a beacon of hope for Durham residents.
“Whenever I see the HEART vans driving down the street and I’m with my kiddos, they’re like celebrities to us,” Hamilton says.
The city council will receive FY 2025-26 budget recommendations from Ferguson at the May 19 city council meeting. W
This story is part of an ongoing INDY series about the City of Durham budget process. Read additional coverage at indyweek.com.
Post-it notes of gratitude can be seen scattered across the walls of the HEART program office in downtown Durham, North Carolina.
PHOTO BY CORNELL WATSON FOR THE ASSEMBLY
Talent Drain
A Raleigh software engineer will lose her job in medical research due to USAID cuts.
BY JANE PORTER jporter@indyweek.com
After working for private sector companies like Cisco and IBM, Raleigh resident Paige Sullivan took a position as a software engineer on an orthopedic trauma research team at Johns Hopkins University five years ago. The job came with good benefits, including the option to work remotely, but also a $40,000 pay cut.
Sullivan felt it was worth it.
“I wanted to do something in my career for the greater good, bigger than me, not just working to make somebody else, some shareholder, more money,” she says. “I wanted to do something to give back. That’s just who I am.”
As a programmer analyst for the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sullivan oversees the operation of a software system where data for various studies from the Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (METRC) Coordinating Center, housed at Johns Hopkins, is entered and stored. Researchers then analyze that data with the goal
of publishing their findings. Most of the studies are funded with U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) grants, and METRC, founded in 2009 with funding from the DoD, works with more than 80 civilian and military trauma centers on research for orthopedic trauma studies.
One of the studies focused on how to prevent blood clots from forming following a broken leg. Another looked at using antibiotic powders in wounds to prevent infections. The studies were geared toward soldiers who sustain injuries in combat, Sullivan says, but the public nature of the research means that their findings also benefit civilians. Many of the studies’ findings are now practically applied.
But Sullivan doesn’t work on the medical side.
“My responsibility is, I maintain the computer system that all the research data goes into during the collection process,” Sullivan explains. “People log in, fill out a form. We ask them all these questions, about the patient, how
they’re healing, what kind of injury they had.”
On May 12, Sullivan’s position will end, one of the casualties of the federal government’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She’s not sure how the work will continue after she and some of her other team members are gone.
“I stay busy,” she says. “Every research study is a little different, so there’s a question about who’s gonna make those changes, add those modifications into the [software] system …. I’m just handing it off to my boss, spending the next four weeks just documenting everything.”
Sullivan’s expertise is with the REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) system, software that was created in 2004 at Vanderbilt University, and Sullivan says she wants to find a position where she can keep using it. But the National Institutes of Health provide funding for development and ongoing support of REDCap, so Sullivan wonders if that will eventually go away, too.
Sullivan is looking for a new job, but she says competition is steep and more federal government layoffs won’t help the situation. Once her position ends, Sullivan can file for unemployment, but those benefits are paltry at $350 per week for just 12 weeks. They won’t cover her monthly child support payment.
“It’s just one more thing,” Sullivan says. “It would be nice to have a break. I thought I did [have one], everything in work was going great, everything in my life was lining up. And then the rug gets pulled out from underneath me.”
While she’s looking for a new job, Sullivan, who is transgender, plans to channel her energy into advocacy work and opposing state-level attacks on LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, DEI, and free speech. When we meet, she’s on her way to a committee hearing at the legislature to speak out against House Bill 636, a book-banning bill named “Promoting Wholesome Content for Students.”
Sullivan says she plans on being at the General Assembly a lot this summer, as time allows.
“I’m looking for a job. It’s gonna take time. So why not?” Sullivan says. “I’ve been saying for years, if you want to make a change, you gotta go out and do it yourself. Get down there.” W
This story is part of an INDY series on the impacts of federal funding cuts on the lives of Triangle residents. Read additional coverage at indyweek.com.
Paige Sullivan photographed at the North Carolina Legislative Building. PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS
The Skaters of Graveside DIY
After losing their skate park to new development, Raleigh skateboarders are seeking a space to recapture some of Graveside DIY’s magic.
BY JANE PORTER jporter@indyweek.com
Before February, when the excavators came, Raleigh was home to a vibrant skate park.
Known as Graveside DIY, the park fostered a diverse community of skateboarders who raised thousands of dollars to pay for ramps that they built themselves. Local skaters likened the park—a concrete-and-asphalt expanse, surrounded by evergreen trees and tucked along a side street just south of Tryon Road—to a community garden, a second home, a place to freely fail. At Graveside, there was stacking and mortaring, carpentry and pouring. There was heel flipping and frontside grinding. There was hanging and grilling and general carousing.
“Just loud music, people tailgating every single day, cooking food every day,” recalls Aaron Collins, who runs the Graveside DIY Instagram account and helped build many of its ramps. “We’d go out there in the morning and stay all day long. We’d have bands play out there, stay the night there …. A city skate park is more for, like, a two-hour visit.
But a place like that, you spend your life there.”
On New Year’s Eve, the southwest Raleigh property— just over 13 acres in total located on Mid Pines Road— changed hands. North Carolina–based Blue Heel Development bought the parcel from the Islamic Association of Raleigh for $1.25 million and, in the third-fastest growing housing market in the nation, has plans for a new residential community. Eventually, more than a dozen townhomes will line the site of the space that’s now rubble, part of a 57-unit subdivision.
With its remote-feeling, picturesque situation on private property, Graveside DIY was too good to last, the skaters knew. But, they say, you can’t kill an idea. They’re looking for a new DIY space to recapture some of the magic.
The skaters have taken a request to the Raleigh City Council to help them find underutilized public land. A cast-off private lot would work, too, as long as they could make it theirs. They know how to build it out and can get
The sun sets on a peaceful Graveside. PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
“I’m just asking for permission,” says Collins. “Like a slab of concrete, like even a corner of the woods somewhere, we can make that work. All we want is permission.”
On a warm, windy afternoon at the end of March, the air yellow with pollen, the former Graveside site is serene. A bent metal patio heater, the kind you see outside of bars, stands at one end of the gravel open field; a pile of stacked, felled pine trees lies at the other.
While trespassing, I have the feeling of being the only person around for miles, though single-family homes are in my sight line and I hear traffic noise drifting up from Tryon Road over the sound of chirping birds. Facing away from the street, to the left of what was once the skate park, Miery Creek, filled with tadpoles, traverses a sliver of forest. To the right, up a little hill, an old family cemetery sunken into a forested ridge borders a sprawling green agricultural field that belongs to NC State University.
The cemetery belongs to Raleigh LaRoche III, according to Wake County property records, but it has long been a resting place for members of John Winters’s family. LaRoche is a descendant of Winters, a Raleigh businessman and developer, civil rights leader, Raleigh’s first Black city council member and one of North Carolina’s first Black state senators. Many of the graves are marked only with small signs or metal plaques, but a few larger gravestones bear names: Annie U. Kendrick, 1890–1963; Alphonso Rogers, 1884–1921; and Richard, who died at age six on Christmas Day 1922.
Graveside DIY started as a closely guarded secret back in 2016, Collins told me on a phone call a few weeks earlier. A group of older skaters “started building stuff there,” he says, “and if they caught you there, they’d make you leave. They wouldn’t let you film.” The Islamic Association of Raleigh was holding the land for eventual building or long-term investment, a spokesperson told the INDY, and likely wasn’t aware of the skaters’ use of the property until it was ready to sell. Occasionally, a cop would come by and ask some skaters to leave, Collins says, but there was no serious enforcement.
Eventually, word got out. The site became a free-for-all during the pandemic years, and “just kind of got overrun with, like, the second generation. Which is us, the younger guys, and then we just, like, full on went crazy and built a skate park there,” Collins says.
GoFundMes had historically paid for Graveside projects but at some point started seeing diminishing returns. Collins suggests I call his friend Jonathan Robbins, aka JRob, who was in charge of raising the money to pay for all the materials the skate park’s architects needed to build.
“Think of him [JRob] as a failed accountant,” Collins wrote in a text message. “He’s not very smart, but he certainly can tell a great story.”
When we speak, it’s clear that JRob is neither failed nor lacking in smarts. In June 2022, he started selling Graveside-branded merchandise—T-shirts, hoodies, and skateboards—and raised nearly $18,000.
“It was like six or seven graphics, so the different homies that were, like, involved with the space did a graphic for it,” JRob says. “And so, like, all the money we raised on the merch went to the spot.”
Everyone gave a little, JRob says, and they used the money to build the entire park and maintain it. They bought cinder
Skaters pass buckets of water up from the creek for mixing concrete. The creek behind the park was one of the things that made Graveside special. Water access is often the biggest hurdle to clear when building ramps, without open access to water, it’s extremely difficult to make large features.
PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
The excavator smashes the A-frame quarter on February 25. The punk wall can be seen in the background through the dust.
PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
blocks, mortar, concrete, two-by-fours, and plywood, plus the tools they needed to build ramps—drill bits, screws, shovels, brooms, a concrete mixer. They bought paint, epoxy, lacquer, and trash bags to maintain the concrete coping, which breaks down over time.
“Concrete coping offers a better grind, so we kept up the maintenance rather than say steel coping,” JRob wrote in an email. He sent me a spreadsheet that showed the costs broken down for Graveside’s dozen or so obstacles. “I guess it shows we went the extra mile to create a better park.”
One of the products of the skaters’ builds was the punk wall, a ramp over six feet tall that was built in 2022. JRob estimates it to have cost $900–$1,200. Another, built in 2023, was the rainbow coping quarter pipe; it cost around $500 to build. Also in 2023, the skaters built the loop, one of Graveside’s most memorable projects, out of concrete held in place with wood to dry. At a cost of just over $1,000, it was one of the only loops at a DIY skate park in the Southeast, and initially, the skaters weren’t even sure if it would be skateable.
But it was.
It’s a Saturday afternoon in mid-March and some of the Graveside crew are pouring concrete at the Conlon Family Skate Park, a $300,000 temporary space located along Capital Boulevard on the edge of downtown, familiarly known as Skate Raleigh. Against a backdrop of reggae music and harsh sunlight, skaters are building a small ramp. First, you stack a wall with cinder blocks and mortar, JRob had explained in his email, then you create a form from wood and pour in concrete.
I ask some of the crew about their memories from Graveside DIY, how it differed from a city-sanctioned skate park like this one.
“It’s just a lot more involved,” says Nate Mott. “It’s like, if you were to make yourself and your friends dinner or something. It’s more meaningful than, like, going out … somewhere. Like, you build it, you make the dinner all together.”
Mott and Collins reminisce about the “first annual shit-throwing competition,” with games such as Bucket in a Tree (throw a bucket into a tree and when it lands, throw things to knock it down again) and Shoes on a Light Pole (largely self-explanatory), and the natural culmination and amalgamation of these two games into one known as Shoes in a Tree.
“Very thought-out, intellectual-style games,” Collins observes.
Izzy Sweere, also at Skate Raleigh today, has known some of her Graveside friends for more than a decade, she says, from when they all lived close on Brent Road, and then Lundy Drive, and hung out together. Sweere would take her dog to Graveside, where the dog could roam around off leash. Sweere met her boyfriend at Graveside DIY.
“I loved every minute out there,” she says. “It was cool because we didn’t have to, like, text each other to hang out. I just knew everyone was gonna be there.”
Places like that are rare these days, I say. Sweere agrees.
“The only other places like that that I’ve experienced are, like, bars,” she says. “It’s a place you can actually, like, do an activity and hang out a little.”
The crew had caught wind of the upcoming development about two years ago, and followed the developer’s proposed plan for the property on its journey through the city’s bureaucratic machinery.
Skateboarders finish a ramp at Conlon Family Skatepark.
PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS
Bands play as the sun sets on the Graveside farewell party in December. People came from all over the state to pay tribute to the park, and skate it one last time. PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
“I’m surprised it took as long, because it’s such a good location for, like, any development,” says Sweere, noting the spot is located two minutes from I-40, 10 minutes from downtown, five minutes from NC State. “But we were there for a long time, and it ran its course perfectly.”
In mid-December, the skaters threw a farewell party for Graveside. They built a stage and a band played. Then, they destroyed the stage and the musicians destroyed their instruments.
“People came from, like, all over the place to go to the final party,” recalls JRob. “It’s like, everyone is together and having a really fun time.”
The party marked the end of an era. On December 31, the sale of the property officially closed. Blue Heel Development paid six times more than what the Islamic Association of Raleigh had paid for the same parcel a decade ago when it purchased it from the Raleigh Police Benevolent Association. The transaction was years in the making.
In the summer of 2023, Blue Heel Development submitted an application to the city to subdivide the site and annex it into Raleigh, giving any future residences on the property access to city utilities and services.
At a city Board of Adjustments meeting in January 2024, where the developer requested variances from the city’s unified development ordinance, neighbors raised concerns about flooding, water quality, and the potential for the townhomes’ sewer system to fail. The developer’s lawyer outlined a plan to provide paved street access to the old family cemetery on the site for people who visit the graveyard.
In sworn testimony before the quasi-judicial governing body, Elijah Cameron, one of the Graveside skaters, pleaded the case for the skate park.
“This park holds immense value, serving as more than just a recreational spot,” Cameron said. “It stands as a testament to our community’s resilience and unity …. It’s also the largest community park of its kind in North Carolina …. It represents our shared aspirations and dreams, a big community where diverse identities converge for a common purpose.”
On December 3, the annexation case went before the Raleigh City Council, where concerns about wastewater were raised again. The site, located in the Swift Creek Watershed, is upstream of the Yates Mill Aquatic Center, an NC State research lab that’s home to endangered species of freshwater mussels, fish, and salamanders that are reared in the water at Yates Mill County Park and released back into the wild.
An explanation of the proposed wastewater management system from the city’s water utilities staff seemed to assuage lingering concerns, and the council voted 7-1 to approve the annexation.
The bulldozers rolled up to Graveside two months later.
With Graveside DIY now destroyed, several of the skaters are taking their quest to find a new DIY spot to the city council chambers during evening public comment sessions. As they’ve asked the city’s leaders to help them identify new, permanent space they could use—potentially at Jaycee Park, Dix Park, or the upcoming Smoky Hollow Park—they’ve spoken about the inclusiveness of the local skating community and the lessons that come from building a community space.
The crew gathers around the fire for warmth.
PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
Aaron Collins looks over the rubble that was once Graveside. PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH
Nikki Knapp, who leads Skate Forward, a group dedicated to inclusion in skating and raising awareness around sexual violence and gender discrimination, spoke about feeling safe and comfortable to learn new tricks and practice while avoiding injury at Graveside.
“Skate Forward was born out of Graveside, the DIY,” Knapp said. “It was a place that many of us go to as women and femme skaters.”
Speaker Paul Thompson described the vitality of DIY skate spaces versus public skate parks.
“One unique characteristic of skateboarding is that the style and tricks are constantly evolving and the facilities for skateboarding need to evolve with the sport,” Thompson told the city council. “One solution to this issue is to allow skateboarders themselves to decide what features should be constructed at the dedicated space for skating.”
There are precedents, even local ones, for what the skaters are asking for. Asheville has a private DIY skate park, Foundation DIY. Both Statesville and Charlotte have DIY skate parks on public property.
In Charlotte, similar to Graveside, skaters lost their DIY spot at Eastland Mall to redevelopment. City planning and county parks and recreation staff were following their story, says Bert Lynn, Mecklenburg County’s capital planning division director, and they started working with the skaters to find a new space. The staff identified two underutilized tennis courts in a county park and looked to an existing partnership with a mountain biking group that maintained trails on county property for inspiration for how an agreement for Kilborne DIY could operate.
The county staff asked the skaters to formalize by forming a nonprofit and get insurance coverage.
“That allows them to not only utilize the space but also do some of their own construction work,” Lynn says. “They carry
their insurance, and then when they’re having events, when they’re doing build days … they coordinate with our staff.”
Lynn says the Kilborne DIY arrangement has been successful. Skaters submit plans for what they want to build to the county, and the skate park operates on the same hours as the county park.
“It took a bit of time in order to find the appropriate site for them, to get the funding that they needed,” Lynn says. “And they got some donations from the city, from the county, and from some other nonprofits, as well as just donations from skaters and other folks in the community to get their 501(c)(3) funded, and then to start the fundraise to get their insurance coverage.”
At a Raleigh City Council meeting last month, city council member Megan Patton asked for more information about the skaters’ request for space. City of Raleigh staff is looking into the matter, a spokesperson told the INDY, but declined to elaborate further.
For now, the skaters have a few other places to go. There’s Marsh Creek in North Raleigh and some family skate parks in Apex and Cary. There’s a site behind Kris Kringle’s Coins near the mall.
But even some of these spaces feel like they are on borrowed time. Skate Raleigh will be demolished in two years to make way for Smoky Hollow Park. The independently owned skate shop, Endless Grind, another hub for the skaters, is tangled up in a rezoning fight over a 30-story tower (the store has been in its Peace Street location since the 1980s, says manager Miguel Magallanes; he doesn’t know when they might start looking for a new space).
There’s a moment toward the end of a 10-minute demo-documentary on YouTube from 2023 featuring some of the Graveside skaters where JRob reflects on other
DIY sites that have come and gone and ponders a hypothetical time in the future when Graveside goes the same way. He has no regrets, he says, and “wouldn’t dream of giving up on pouring Graveside until the very last second.”
“You gotta live in the moment,” JRob tells the camera. “I can’t be thinking about ‘Oh, Graveside’s gonna get torn down, I should stop.’ I don’t really care. You gotta smoke ’em while you got ’em, strike while the iron’s hot. There’s not gonna be another Graveside, but there’s always going to be another DIY.”
The camera cuts away to some of the others, then JRob is back musing on the screen.
“You move on to the next thing,” he continues. “You keep going. Perseverance, you gotta persevere. You just, like, love doing it. I’ve accepted it internally that Graveside will die, and I also will someday die. You don’t want to be too attached. As much as you love the thing, nothing’s forever …. That’s why you gotta enjoy it while you got it.”
This is why they’re asking the city council, or some benevolent landholding private citizen, for a plot of unused land where they can rebuild.
On that Saturday at Skate Raleigh, Jack Gordon, another of the Graveside skaters, tells me he wishes the developer would hurry up and start construction on the townhomes, “so it’s like it didn’t get torn down for nothing.”
“It would be a bummer if they didn’t start building those things until, like, next year,” he says.
But the developers haven’t started building yet. Where Graveside DIY used to be, now, there is only the broken heater, the rubble, the graves, and the pines. There’s the pile of trees that were taken down, and the others, still standing, bearing witness to the past and whatever the future holds, their needly branches strung with skateboarders’ shoes. W
“There’s not gonna be another Graveside, but there’s always going to be another DIY.”
—Jonathan Robbins, aka JRob
A skateboarder performs a trick at Conlon Family Skatepark on Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Raleigh. PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS
Meet and Confer, Explained
More than a year of organizing by the Durham Association of Educators finally culminated in the state’s first meet and confer policy. What does the policy say, and how will it work?
BY CHASE PELLEGRINI DE PAUR chase@indyweek.com
F or over a year, the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) has been pushing for a so-called meet and confer policy, seeking to give workers more of a role in district-wide decisions. The DAE has argued that a lack of worker input on policy contributed to the district’s recent successive pay and transit crises.
North Carolina law bans public sector collective bargaining, but the DAE has pitched “meet and confer” as a way for workers to give input. Since December, Durham Public Schools (DPS) superintendent Anthony Lewis and the DAE have agreed on nearly everything in the policy but continued to haggle over a few small but key areas.
This month, the DPS board abruptly decided to adopt a version of the policy (which differed slightly from the DAE’s version), making Durham the first district in North Carolina to approve such a policy (Asheville City Schools gets an honorable mention for recently adopting a similar procedure, which lacks the permanence of policy).
But what even is meet and confer? Who is meeting and what are they conferring about? We dig into DPS board Policy 7215 and what it means for workers.
What is meet and confer?
The policy forms an advisory committee to the school board made up of workers (via employee representative organizations, or EROs) and district administration.
The meet and confer policy is designed to give workers some input on policy and the budget without violating the state’s ban on collective bargaining between government agencies and their public sector employees.
The committee will meet seven times a year, and each session will not exceed two hours. The meetings will be open to the public.
What power does the meet and confer committee have?
The committee will have no official power.
Durham voters elect members of the school board, which has ultimate legal responsibility for district policy and budget decisions. The board adopted the meet and confer policy, and could edit or undo it at basically any time.
A cynical viewer could certainly argue that the DAE has fought for a policy with no mechanism to directly affect change. But meet and confer effectively gives the largest ERO an opportunity to make policy recommendations to the superintendent. And, if the superintendent approves, the committee may present that recommendation to the board for consideration.
The policy may also solve some organizational issues—the DAE and Lewis have recently been playing telephone, disagreeing over who invited whom to meet when, and who said what when, and board members have missed DAE emails due to system security. The meetings will level the informational playing field, create a public record of conversations, and give EROs a forum to collaborate with, and perhaps occasionally challenge, the administration.
DAE has argued that “meet and confer would create a context for an employee representative organization, like DAE, to regularly collaborate with administration to improve our schools. It would allow union members to bring the combined wisdom of thousands of passionate, talented school staff into the conversation with district administration to better understand our students’ greatest needs and find solutions that are not possible when on-the-ground educators are left out of decision-making.”
Who is on the committee?
The superintendent or deputy superintendent will be the chair, and the president
or vice president of the largest ERO will be the vice chair.
An ERO with over 50 percent membership can appoint up to 13 workers to the committee. The policy says the superintendent “may” appoint up to 13 members, who “may” include five administrators, three site-level administrators (principals), and up to five other employees (including administrators, managers, and supervisors).
Previously, the DAE had argued that Lewis should be required to bring only administrators and managers—the use of “may” in the current policy could give the superintendent more discretion in whom he appoints.
Other EROs may win seats on the committee by reaching a 6 percent membership threshold, meaning they represent around 300 employees minimum. Six percent would get them two seats, 10 percent would get them four, all the way up to 13 seats with 50 percent membership. Currently, the DAE is the only organization with anything above 6 percent.
That membership threshold was the major difference between DAE’s preferred version of the policy and the one ultimately passed by board members. The DAE had pushed for a higher minimum threshold for recognition, arguing that 6 percent membership could allow for another organization to gain seats and then derail the meetings. Lewis, and some members of the board, have said that higher thresholds could exclude more groups and therefore violate the state’s law against giving any one employee group preferential treatment.
What could go wrong?
The policy leaves a lot of room for anyone,
whether worker or administrator, to ruin the purpose of the committee by grandstanding, boycotting, or just generally working in bad faith. The policy, for instance, doesn’t require the superintendent to bring the committee’s recommendations to the board, or even attend the meetings.
“Good faith” isn’t mentioned in the policy, but it will be an implicit tenet if anyone wants to get anything done and not just waste 14 hours a year.
What are the remaining issues to address?
The DAE has said they “will not stop fighting” until the 6 percent membership threshold is raised. The DAE is also hoping to change the mechanism of verifying union membership—the policy, as proposed by the superintendent and adopted by the board— would require EROs to “submit notarized certification of its member rolls to the Superintendent” for verification. That was a change from earlier drafts.
“This is a violation of employee privacy, and is not an accepted practice in the labor movement,” the DAE said in a statement. “Third-party verification of ERO membership is a common sense norm.”
Do we have to say “meet and confer committee” every time?
The full name of the committee would be the “Durham Public Schools Meet and Confer Committee on Employee Relations.” Yawn.
The policy, in just two spots, uses “M&C Committee.” How about MaCC? MCC?? We don’t have the answer to this one but if someone with authority coins a name, we’ll consider it.
ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE
FOOD & DRINK
In the Queue at QueDogs
Is it possible to find a satisfying meal for under $15 in Durham today? In our new Lunch Money column, we’re on a mission to find out.
BY LENA GELLER lgeller@indyweek.com
In December, I set myself a challenge inspired by a 20-year-old episode of a Rachael Ray Food Network show: Could I get three meals, a snack, and a drink in Durham for under $40?
That piece went over well enough that we’re launching a regular series focused on budget dining. What exactly does budget dining mean in 2025? This has been a subject of hot debate at the office. Depending on how the tariff situation shakes out in the future, the debate may be ongoing. Eventually, though, we landed on criteria for our ongoing Lunch Money column: one meal under $15, 20 percent tip included.
My goal is to secure a main dish, a side, and a drink whenever possible, though the modern lunchscape may make this traditional trio a challenge as restaurants increasingly focus on all-in-one entrées rather than separate components.
For my inaugural outing, I set my sights on Durham’s QueDogs, which opened its first brick-and-mortar spot in March. The charcoal-black shack stands in the middle of the Lakewood Shopping Center parking lot like a lighthouse in a sea of asphalt.
The family who owns QueDogs had been selling hot dogs and barbecue from a mobile cart for years before finally settling into this
permanent location—a spot with hot dog history, having previously housed Citi Dogs and the Dog House. It opened March 1.
QueDogs’ claim to fame is hot dogs topped with pulled-pork barbecue. But upon studying the black-and-red menu board, I realize the signature QueDog ($9) would push me close to my limit before even adding a side. I could go with the Plain Jane ($5), a naked dog awaiting customization, or the Chili Billie ($6) with their house chili, but they seem too straightforward for this mission. The Que Sandwich with barbecue and slaw ($7) seems most promising.
“I’m thinking maybe the sandwich?” I say to the cashier, who introduced himself to me as Alan when I walked up to the ordering window.
“It’s very flavorful and filling,” he confirms.
For a side, I want the potato salad with bacon ($3), but with a $2 can of Pepsi, I’d be at nearly $14, which wouldn’t leave enough for a 20 percent tip. I pivot to a bag of Lay’s ($2).
I’m feeling good. But when the payment screen appears, I freeze. The tip options are 15 percent, 18 percent, and 25 percent. I could ask Alan to return to the previous screen, with the pre-tip total, so I can calculate 20 percent on my phone and enter
a custom tip amount, but in the pressure of the moment, I panic and tap 25 percent. Grand total: $15.75.
Later, I realize that a 20 percent tip would have put me at $15.20, still over budget. Maybe this is why I became a writer instead of an accountant.
After a two-minute wait, Alan calls my name from the pickup window. There’s a napkin and some hot sauce in the bag, he tells me, before bidding me to “let us know what you think and leave a Google review.”
I walk to my car and set up a picnic on my trunk. Before I can take a bite, I notice two people sitting in the bed of a white pickup truck nearby, nodding enthusiastically as they eat. Their enjoyment is so animated it seems almost staged, like extras in a commercial who’ve been instructed to look delighted by every bite.
When I hear one of them say “I feel like this is the perfect amount of food,” I feel I have to approach them.
Their names are Lindsey and Nick, and they have a whole system worked out.
“We do splitsies,” Nick explains. One of them orders the #1 combo ($14)—two “all the way” dogs topped with chili, slaw, and red onions. The other gets the #3 combo ($18)—two QueDogs topped with barbecue
and slaw. Then they each get one hot dog from each combo.
They also split the potato salad with bacon (“It has whole grain mustard in it,” Lindsey notes).
Later, I run their meal numbers: roughly $22 per person. Back at my trunk, I unwrap my sandwich. It’s a good weight in my hand, and the bun is pillow-soft, yielding gently as I take my first bite. The flavor profile hits sweet-tart notes—the barbecue offering a molasses sweetness while the slaw provides a piquant counterpoint. Flecks of carrot and cabbage are visible in the mix, along with black pepper specks that add a nice kick.
The sandwich remains intact throughout the eating experience. Unlike some barbecue sandwiches that disintegrate halfway through, this one maintains its structural integrity, allowing the flavors to blend with each bite rather than land in my lap.
The Lay’s and Pepsi were—well, y’all know what those taste like.
I might have failed at staying under budget in my initial column, but QueDogs succeeds at what matters most: serving good food without pretense. I’ll be back in a few weeks with my calculator app primed and the courage to ask for a custom tip amount, social anxiety be damned. W
QueDogs opened on March 1 in Lakewood Shopping Center.
PHOTO BY LENA GELLER
F O O D & D R I N K
TATACO
620 Foster Street, Suite B, Durham | @nctataco
Family Meals
TaTaco, Oscar Diaz’s third Durham outpost, playfully draws on flavors and memories from the chef’s “melting pot” childhood.
BY NATION HAHN arts@indyweek.com
At TaTaco, Oscar Diaz has created more than just another restaurant in a growing empire. At his latest venture, located at 620 Foster Street in Durham, the menu brings forward something deeply personal. It represents a culinary adventure forged between cultures that will surprise and delight diners. I’ve visited TaTaco several times and I’ve found it to be accessible, delicious, and fun.
Diaz calls his food “pocho cuisine.”
“They’re saying I’m not from there. They’re saying I’m not from here. I decided I’m going to make a cuisine that is only something that someone in those parameters could make,” explains Diaz, recalling how he was called pocho as a child visiting Mexico. Pocho was, in effect, a name for a kid with Mexican roots who grew up in America. For Diaz, today as a chef, that means “a non-Mexican Mexican, non-American American is going to do the food that I feel represents me.”
TaTaco is the third outpost in Diaz’s growing Durham presence, following the success of Little Bull, which will celebrate its second anniversary soon, and Aaktun, a popular all-day café-meets-small-plates spot that has already expanded to Clayton. Each concept reflects Diaz’s distinctive approach to food, but TaTaco arguably appears most closely connected to the flavors of his background.
Born and raised in Chicago in a vibrant,
multicultural neighborhood, Diaz describes growing up in “a melting pot” surrounded by Polish, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Filipino families. This diversity of flavors from his childhood, combined with his culinary training in high-end kitchens, created a unique approach to how he designed the menu and experience at TaTaco.
Diaz smiles as he shares how, growing up, many of his favorite nights involved his dad telling him that he was about to grab a skirt steak and some shrimp, fire up the grill, pop open a cold beer, and make a delicious meal. One of his favorite things about visiting family back in Mexico, Diaz says, was pulling up to a food stand and grabbing some spicy shrimp and ceviche. You’ll find elements of these memories in all of his dishes at TaTaco.
“I’m not trying to introduce Mexican food to people,” Diaz says. “I think everyone knows what Mexican is. What I want to do is introduce it the way I see it. The way we ate at home.”
This vision translates into a restaurant featuring multiple stations: a seafood counter, a taqueria, and a soon-to-launch tortilla-making station. Diaz is particularly proud of the latter, with machinery arriving soon to help produce tortillas without preservatives for all his restaurants and eventually for retail sale.
TaTaco features a bar program featuring not just tequila and mezcal but lesser-known
Mexican spirits like sotol, raicilla, and bacanora. These spirits are often based on the familiar (such as agave) but are produced differently. Raicilla will often feature a blend of agaves, whereas tequila is made from only the Weber blue agave plant.
“I’m not trying to follow the trend,” Diaz says of the program. “I want to be more authentic to myself for the things that I like.”
The menu showcases what Diaz describes as “basic, mom-and-pop dishes” that reflect both his childhood flavors and dishes connected to his entire career. Standout items during my visits include enchilada stacks in guajillo sauce, a massive bowl of ceviche, and a whole roasted chicken served with fries and tortillas. Diaz described the latter as inspired by the family-style meals at his mother’s and aunt’s homes.
“I think it could be for everybody,” Diaz says of TaTaco’s appeal. “You can get tacos, but you can also come and just get drinks here. We can also have a friend that doesn’t like tacos—they can get vegetarian stuff, or I want to ball out and get some seafood and raw fish and oysters.”
The restaurant is currently open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and recently introduced brunch service. You can find a little bit of everything on the menu, including taco platters for $12.99, a heaping bowl of ceviche for $12, or, to spice it up a bit, a half dozen oysters. With patio seating and ample lighting, the restaurant
should become a gathering spot as the weather continues to warm up. Customers can even take palomas and margaritas to go in the designated “Bullpen” cups and walk around the Geer Street neighborhood. For Diaz, TaTaco represents not just another restaurant opening but another chance to share his unique perspective and approach to life through his food. His approach echoes one particular trait he admires from restaurants he has visited in Mexico: the willingness to accommodate and welcome everyone.
“I noticed how the service happens in Mexico when I visit. They are professional, and they’re just accommodating for everything. You ask for something they don’t have, they’re like, ‘I’ll be right back.’ They’ll run across the street, grab some fresh food, and make you a new drink,” Diaz says. “We designed TaTaco with that in mind, where it’s like, ‘Hey, this is like our house. We have all these things to offer.’”
As Diaz and his partners continue their expansion across the Triangle, TaTaco stands out. More than just a restaurant, it’s an expression of Diaz’s continued evolution. Every bite showcases a place where “pocho cuisine” celebrates the cultures that shaped him. In TaTaco, Diaz created not just another dining destination; he has created a space that celebrates a chef—and a person—who has embraced himself, his background, and his journey fully. W
A Tatatco spread. PHOTO BY LAUREN VIED ALLEN
WEDGEWOOD CHEESE BAR
100 Brewer Lane, Carrboro | cheeseshopnc.com
Cutting Up
Carrboro’s popular cut-to-order shop will open anew, next month, as Wedgewood Cheese Bar.
ELLIOTT HARRELL food@indyweek.com
Does the Triangle like cheese enough to have a cut-toorder cheese shop? That’s the question Michelle and Stevie Webb asked themselves when they moved to the Triangle in the fall of 2020.
While several local businesses made and sold cheese— Boxcarr Handmade Cheese, Chapel Hill Creamery, and Hillsborough Cheese Company, among others—there wasn’t a stand-alone shop where people could choose from a wide array of cut-to-order cheese products.
The Webbs decided to try to answer that question and fill the gap themselves, opening their own cheese business in 2022.
In just three years, the Cheese Shop has gone from selling six to eight cheese varieties at pop-ups and farmers’
markets to selling roughly 30 options inside a small counter at Carrboro restaurant and wine bar Glasshalfull and now opening what will soon be their own location with a new moniker to boot.
“When we first had the idea, I really wanted to try and re-create the feeling of going into a [cheese] shop when I was a little kid,” Stevie, who grew up in Great Britain, says. “It’s not going shopping, it’s an experience, and I think we’ve re-created that.”
Restaurant and shop Wedgewood Cheese Bar is slated to open in early May in the old Carolina Car Wash building in Carrboro, where Stevie estimates the shop will keep 75–100 cheeses available inside of its 18-foot cheese case. Wedgewood also has 15 seats around a U-shaped bar for
people to hang out at and have small plates, cured meats, or a glass of wine from a selection curated by sommelier Paula de Pano of Rocks + Acid Wine Shop. The shop’s interior, with its cerulean-blue bar, vintage food prints, and orderly rows of tinned fish, looks lifted from a Wes Anderson movie.
The Webbs have experienced their fair share of hurdles getting Wedgewood open. The shop’s original opening date was planned for the fall of 2024, then shifted to spring. In March, the couple experienced another setback: due to a major equipment malfunction, they lost 200 pounds of cheese.
Although they say it was hard to ask for help, the Webbs turned to social media and their community of customers to help recoup the loss. The goal was to raise $10,000 to cover the costs of the lost cheese, but Michelle says they ended up with $30,000 in gift card sales and donations.
The counter at the soon-to-open Wedgewood Cheese Bar. PHOTO COURTESY OF SUNDHOLM STUDIO
Stevie Webb PHOTO BY STACEY SPRENZ PHOTOGRAPHY
“It was the best day of the week because all I did was give people pieces of cheese and tell stories about them and see smiles on their faces.”
“The outpouring of support that we got from our customers and people that come to see us every week was just so heartwarming, so validating that we do know that we’ve built this great following because we are super passionate,” she says. “We want to acknowledge that it’s been a huge community effort to help us get here.”
While Stevie originally started out “in kitchens”—even receiving training from The Great British Bakeoff’s Prue Leith and knowing just enough about cheese to be dangerous—his true love for cheese blossomed when he was a paramedic in New York City.
Stevie, who worked in emergency medicine for a decade, says he decided that one day a week, he needed to do something completely different to keep his sanity. He found a job at a “fancy little grocery store” in Brooklyn as the cheesemonger.
“It was the best day of the week because all I did was give people pieces of cheese and tell stories about them and see smiles on their faces,” he says. “Nobody died, and nobody crashed into the cheese case, and nobody started a fight with me.”
And now, after taking what the two call lots of incremental steps over the past few years with the business, the Webbs are now on the precipice of opening Wedgewood.
Stevie says they initially started with a focus on local cheeses. While they still try to stock local varieties, he says, over time, customers have become more and more adventurous with what they want to see in the store.
“[People] want to try something new, they want to try something weird, they want to have something they’ve never had before,” he says. “They want to be challenged with their cheeses, which makes it difficult for us, because we have to keep upping the ante on the stuff that we find.”
The hardest question Stevie gets is what his favorite cheese is. And while he says it’s near impossible to answer, one of the ones he loves that he wishes people would try more of is the British cheese Appleby’s Cheshire, which he describes as a “really nice crumbly cheddar that’s not a cheddar, that’s light and refreshing as well.”
For Michelle, the answer is easy. “I like to say that my favorite cheese is butter,” she says, specifically the Isigny Ste Mere Beurre de Baratte kind, with its golden hue and crunchy, salty flakes.
Wedgewood will host its first of many cheese classes on Wednesday, May 14, so the Webbs are determined to have the shop doors open by then. W
The bar at the soon-to-open Wedgewood Cheese Bar.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SUNDHOLM STUDIO
started with a they still try over time, and more want to see new, they want to had before,” challenged with difficult for upping the gets is what he says one of the people would Appleby’s a “really cheddar, well.” “I like to butter,” she Mere Beurre hue and of many May 14, so the shop
S TA G E
Lights Out
North Carolina Theatre is closing for good. While the circumstances around its bankruptcy are unique, the shutdown hints at a larger crisis for regional theaters across the country.
BY JASMINE GALLUP arts@indyweek.com
Even before the COVID pandemic, North Carolina Theatre was struggling to survive.
In 2019, the year before nationwide shutdowns emptied theaters, Raleigh’s oldest professional theater company was already in the red, ending the year with a loss of about $670,000. Debts were piling up and starting to overtake North Carolina Theatre’s (NCT) assets. And philanthropic funding, including grants, company sponsorships, and individual donations, had nearly halved, dropping from about $2 million in 2016 to $1.1 million in 2019.
Then, the pandemic.
Like all theaters, NCT was hit hard. The arts organization, which could not be reached for comment, was forced to cancel all but one show in 2020, and ticket revenue plummeted. NCT got a brief reprieve in 2021 with an influx of more than $500,000 in emergency federal funding, but it was all too temporary. Even after lockdowns were lifted, NCT struggled to fill the 2,300 seats of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, a venue it had once rescued from obscurity.
In 1984, the year NCT was founded, it brought in thousands of patrons clamoring to see Broadway musicals—a major factor in the transformation of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium from a little-used, minimally functional stage into Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, now a major performing arts center. But by 2023, falling ticket sales had forced NCT to retreat into a smaller, 600-seat stage within the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.
And in the same way audiences were slow to return, sponsoring companies were slow to resume spending after the pandemic, adding yet another layer to NCT’s financial crisis.
“Corporate sponsorship is nonexistent, pretty much,” Michele Weathers, longtime arts manager and executive producer at Raleigh Little Theatre, told the INDY in early April. “Folks that we had counted on in years past, both at the [Carolina] Ballet and also at Raleigh Little Theatre, are not sponsoring at the same level or sponsoring at all.”
By early 2024, the situation was so desperate that NCT was forced to file for bankruptcy. Despite attempts to reorganize, secure millions in state funding, and put on more cost-effective productions, NCT couldn’t front enough cash to produce its next show, Rent.
Its last show before suspending the 2024 season was Elf, in January. It would turn out to be the last show ever put on by the theater, one of the main driving forces behind the growth of Raleigh’s local arts scene.
Steering an ocean liner
Despite its name, North Carolina Theatre is a regional company, albeit one with an ambitious mission that has extended beyond its hometown city.
Although it didn’t benefit from steady state funding, NCT has traditionally hired professional actors out of New York to put on national-scale Broadway musicals. Where Raleigh Little Theatre runs on volunteers, and Burning Coal puts on small, entirely local productions, NCT brought Times Square–level spectacle to the Triangle on its own dime.
“They punched above their weight,” says Nate McGaha, executive director of Arts NC, an advocacy and lobbying organization. “I’ve been to DPAC [the Durham Performing
Arts Center] to see the Broadway touring shows, and the shows NCT puts on are of a similar quality.”
As an equity theater, NCT paid actors union wages, significantly more money than the non-union wages other local theaters pay actors, as well as providing benefits like health care, retirement, and pension.
“They [the actors] had to be traveled, they had to be housed, they had to be given local transportation,” says Weathers, who worked as a producer for NCT from 1991 to 2005. “All of that was required by the union.”
In addition to hiring actors and backstage crew, sets and costumes had to be rented and often trucked across the country, Weathers adds. Like the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, or Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, NCT had a business model that “will never pay for itself,” Weathers says. “It always will be dependent on contributed income and that public and private support to make it successful.”
As the Triangle’s theater landscape grew and NCT faced more competition for audiences, its business model became less sustainable, Weathers argues. The size of NCT and the scale of its productions were as detrimental in 2024 as they were beneficial in 1984, when it was one of the only arts organizations in the Triangle.
The opening of DPAC in 2008 “was a huge kick in the gut for North Carolina Theatre, and one that was really hard to recover from,” Weathers says. “I don’t think they ever did.”
The Great Recession and, 12 years later, the COVID pandemic, didn’t help maintain NCT’s thin profit margins. And whether it was due to shifting leadership or simply the overwhelming difficulty of getting back in the black, NCT never pivoted to a more profitable system.
The Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, which housed the North Carolina Theatre (NCT). It will shutter its doors after a four-show run of Into the Woods by NCT’s Conservatory in May. PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS
Where smaller arts organizations like Raleigh Little Theatre are “pretty easy and nimble to turn,” Weathers says, “North Carolina Theatre is a little bit like the Queen Mary. It’s gonna take a lot longer to turn and make changes.”
Closing the curtain
The North Carolina Theatre has already halted its main stage performances, but it will close for good in May, after a fourshow run of Into the Woods by NCT’s Conservatory. As NCT moves out of its rented space at the Kennedy Space Center, off Old Wake Forest Road, Theatre Raleigh will be moving in.
Unlike NCT, Theatre Raleigh typically produces smaller musicals and niche Broadway or off-Broadway shows. The theater’s main stage season is always engaging, and often surprisingly delightful, but does not usually include attention-grabbing titles like Rent or Dreamgirls.
Executive director Lauren Kennedy Brady declined to comment on Theatre Raleigh’s plans for the space, which is in the same building as the theater’s studio and across the street from its main stage. But it may be a boost to Theatre Raleigh’s educational programs, as an additional space for rehearsals and classes. Theatre Raleigh’s takeover could also open up opportunities for smaller arts organizations around the Triangle if it opens up
the space for rental.
As many problems as NCT faced, the president and CEO of United Arts Wake County, Jenn McEwen, doesn’t chalk up its closure to a failure of leadership.
“A lot of it was very unlucky,” McEwen says. “NCT had a very active board of directors, and they were out there pounding the pavement, opening their own wallets.”
And although the Triangle now has an abundance of theaters, there’s no doubt that NCT, once the beating heart of Raleigh’s arts scene, will be seriously missed.
Aside from the economic impact, because people who once attended NCT shows will likely now travel to Durham, the cost of seeing a Broadway musical in the Triangle will be higher. With only steeper DPAC tickets available, low- or middle-income Raleighites might miss out on a transformative arts experience.
In addition, the closure of NCT’s conservatory means less arts education for Raleigh residents, says McEwen. Local actors will also miss out on a chance to gain experience, says Weathers.
“The sad thing about losing North Carolina Theatre is the opportunity for our young people to potentially share the stage with professional artists, who would then expand their view of what the world is like,” says Weathers.
“[For them] to get to interact with people who are different from them, that have a different life?” Weathers continues. “For me, that’s the biggest loss.” W
Michele Weathers, the executive producer of the Raleigh Little Theatre.
PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS
faced, the Arts Wake chalk up its McEwen of direcpounding the wallets.” now has an doubt that Raleigh’s missed. impact, because shows will the cost of the Triansteeper DPAC middle-income transfor-
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A MONTHLY FEATURE SPOTLIGHTING INTERESTING FILMS COMING TO LOCAL THEATERS
Incoming! Doomed Bromances, French Mystery, and Māori Defiance
Historical drama We Were Dangerous, French arthouse import When Fall Is Coming, Portuguese concert film Cornucopia, and more films coming to the Triangle.
BY GLENN MCDONALD arts@indyweek.com
One of the benefits of actively monitoring local theater calendars is the chance of spotting those relatively obscure international films that sometimes come to town. In a midsize market like the Triangle area, we don’t often see many of the imported films they get in theaters on the coasts. So it’s good to catch them when you can.
We’ve got a few good options in May, starting with We Were Dangerous, an intriguing historical drama that made some waves in New Zealand last year. Set in 1954, the film follows three teenage friends who meet under unfortunate circumstances at the Te Motu School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls. Located on a former leper colony island, the school is run with an iron fist by the Matron, who intends to transform her unruly wards into proper Christian housewives. Two of the girls are from a Māori background; the third is queer. It’s easy to see how the narrative setup serves as a microcosm for society and its systems, in that time and place.
Reviews suggest that the film is often funny and ultimately uplifting. Reform school movies have a traditional shape, and debut director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu adds era-specific elements concerning sex, colonialism, injustice, and even eugenics. Anyway, it’s good to get international perspectives on how courageous hearts can overcome autocratic oppression. It might come in handy these days—who knows?
For a more traditional kind of arthouse experience, consider the French import
When Fall Is Coming, a family drama dressed as a kind of cottagecore cozy mystery. In small-town Burgundy, a pair of retired Parisian women find their picturesque golden years disturbed by a most alarming incident.
French writer-director François Ozon is an old pro, and he’s clearly having fun here with the traditions of the bucolic melodrama. Among the autumnal comforts and knit sweaters, he introduces a few sharp objects—the son just home from prison, the possibly poisonous mushrooms, and the requisite Dark Family Secret. Ozon isn’t just playing Agatha Christie. He has genuine moral and psychological issues in play, everything pivoting off toxic filial dynamics.
Finally, just in from Portugal, the concert film Cornucopia is the latest gift to us mortals from the Icelandic musician and cosmic art-elf known as Björk. The buzz around Cornucopia is uncommonly strong, even considering that Björk has enjoyed alpha-critical-darling status for more than 30 years.
By all accounts, Cornucopia is a destination-type experience. It’s essentially the cinema transposition of the theatrical production that Björk toured around from 2019 through 2023. Recorded live from a performance in Lisbon, the show features Broadway-level choreography, costumes, art design, and collaborative spirit. Also in the mix: a flute ensemble, an Icelandic choir, several bespoke musical instruments, and something called the Soul Gown, embroidered with 97,000 Swarovski crystals.
The psychological thriller Hurry Up Tomorrow stars Abel Tesfaye (aka The Weeknd) as a pop star who undergoes some kind of existential ordeal after meeting an enigmatic stranger (Jenna Ortega). Very mysterious. Very hush-hush.
Cringe-comedy kingpin Tim Robinson (Detroiters) headlines the inverted rom-com Friendship, which chronicles a doomed platonic bromance between two suburban dad types. Paul Rudd is the other guy, and early reviews say this one is plenty funny, if you like Robinson’s extreme comedy techniques.
The indie documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted profiles influential cult musician Jerry “Swamp Dogg” Williams. The film earned good reviews and a lot of fans at last year’s SXSW festival.
Patricia Clarkson headlines the indie drama Lilly, a character portrait wrapped around a courtroom drama. The script is
based on the true story of Lilly Ledbetter, whose sex discrimination lawsuit against Goodyear Tire led to improved legal rights for American workers. Eventually.
Bring Her Back is the new film from Australian horror savants Danny and Michael Philippou, the twin brothers behind the 2022 hit Talk to Me. The great Sally Hawkins stars as a mom whose grief for her dead child leads to some reanimating impulses.
Titled with admirable candor, the horror-comedy Clown in a Cornfield tweaks 1980s teen slasher tropes with 21st-century twists and subversions.
Tom Cruise delivers the eighth and supposedly last installment of his action spy franchise with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Interesting casting note: Nick Offerman plays the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. W
QUICK PICKS
Still from We Were Dangerous PHOTO COURTESY OF PIKI FILMS
Still from When Fall Is Coming PHOTO COURTESY OF MUSIC BOX FILMS
CULTURE CALENDAR
WED 4/30
MUSIC
Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. American Tobacco Campus, Durham.
LAKE, John Davis (Folk Implosion), Joyero (Wye Oak) 7:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
Suzi Analogue and the Art of Electronic Music 6 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.
STAGE
All Smiles: Theatre for the Very Young April 3-May 4, various times. Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh.
Kimberly Akimbo April 29-May 4, various times. DPAC, Durham.
Theatre in the Park: The Book Club Play April 24-May 3, various times. Pullen Park, Raleigh.
PAGE
Bettina Judd: Patient 6 p.m. Letters Community Bookshop, Durham.
MUSIC
Evan Honer w/ Barrett 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
Pins and Needles w/ NobodyK, Nikias, Antion Scales, Joey Zen 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
Portico w/ Johnny Sunrise, Davie Circle 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
Slothrust ‘Of Course You Did’ 11 Year Anniversary w/ Weakened Friends 7 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.
Trousdale Growing Pains Tour 7 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro. THUR 5/1 FRI 5/2
MUSIC
Brass Transit: The Music of CHICAGO with the North Carolina Symphony May 2-3, various times. Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.
Chatham County Line 8 p.m. The Rialto Theatre, Raleigh.
Evening Elephants, Faze Wave 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
Horse Jumper of Love w/ Boo Boo Spoiler 7 p.m. Kings, Raleigh.
Lynne Arriale Trio 7:30 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.
Summer Body Loading Caribbean Music Dance Party! 10 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
Zoso, The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
STAGE
Big Red Dance Project May 2-4, various times. Durham Arts Council, Durham.
Mo Amer: El Oso Palestino Tour 8 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.
South Stream Productions: King Lear May 2-18, various times. The Ridge, Raleigh.
COMMUNITY
El Futuro Kermes, Community Fiesta 4 p.m. El Futuro, Durham.
5/3
MUSIC
An Evening with Hiss Golden Messenger 7 p.m. The Rialto Theatre, Raleigh.
Blue Cactus Album Release Concert w/ Alexa Rose 7 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
Chris Staples 7 p.m. perfect lovers, Durham.
Disciple of The Garden –Tribute to Chris Cornell, Soundgarden, Audioslave 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
Fontaines D.C. USA Tour 2025 7 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.
Jerusalem Quartet 7:30 p.m. Baldwin Auditorium, Durham.
John Moreland, Ramsey Thornton 7 p.m. Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw.
Kevin Atwater w/ Renny Conti 6:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
STAGE
Joshua Lozoff: Life is Magic 11 a.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.
Schoolhouse Rock Live! May 3-11, various times. Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh.
Shakespeare in the Parks: Othello May 3-June 15, various times. Various locations.
The Rialto hosts local bluegrass-folk-rock band Chatham County Line on May 2. PHOTO COURTESY THE RIALTO
Catch Trousdale at Cat’s Cradle on Thursday, May 1. PHOTO COURTESY CAT’S CRADLE
SUN 5/4
MUSIC
DeathbyRomy w/ heffy 7 p.m. Local 506, Chapel Hill.
Bluegrass Jam at Bond Brothers Eastside 4 p.m. Bond Brothers Eastside, Cary.
The Chamber Orchestra Of The Triangle Presents: Big Shoes to Fill 3 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham.
Durham Medical Orchestra: Virtuosity, Drama, and Delight 3 p.m. Baldwin Auditorium, Durham.
Grateful Shred 7:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
Hippie Sabotage: Echoes of Time Tour 7 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.
Jooselord 9 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.
Phoneboy, Inoha 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
Russell Lacy Music Showcase 1 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
Rosegarden Funeral Party, Trigger Discipline, Summore 7 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
STAGE
Big Shoes to Fill 3 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.
PAGE
Book Launch: The Lives Of Jewish Things 2 p.m. NCMA, Raleigh.
SCREEN
Movies Under the Stars: Star Wars, A New Hope 7:30 p.m. Carolina Square, Chapel Hill.
MON 5/5
MUSIC
Lea Michele Live 7:30 p.m. DPAC, Durham.
SCREEN
Stop Making Sense 7 p.m. The Rialto Theatre, Raleigh.
CULTURE CALENDAR
TUES 5/6 WED 5/7 THUR 5/8
MUSIC
Ernest Turner Trio 7 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.
Mamalarky w/ Kennedy Mann & Larry 7 p.m. Kings, Raleigh.
Queer Country Night 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
Smallpools 7 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.
STAGE
Stand-up Comedy Showcase 7 p.m. Bond Brothers Eastside, Cary.
PAGE
Erika J. Simpson: This is Your Mother 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh.
SCREEN
“Schindler Space Architect” 7 p.m. The Rialto Theatre, Raleigh.
MUSIC
Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Cor de Lux 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
David Townsend: Powernerd Tour! 6:30 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.
Florist w/ Allegra Krieger 7 p.m. Kings, Raleigh.
New Orthodox, Lightbulbs in the Trees, Michael Grigoni 8 p.m. Shadowbox Studio, Durham.
PAGE
Sarah Penner: The Amalfi Curse 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh.
Kate McGarry/Keith Ganz/ Gary Versace: Come and Get It Tour 7 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.
Larry 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
Pony Bradshaw w/ Will Overman 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
Satellite Dog w/ Chirp 8 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.
Sooflay, Hex Files, Gumhead 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
Teens In Trouble, Bat Boy, Long Relief 7 p.m. Kings, Raleigh.
New Dawn Starkestra 6 p.m. Lake Raleigh, Raleigh.
The Wilder Flower 7:30 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary.
STAGE
Anjelah Johnson-Reyes: The Family Reunion Tour 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.
Five Points Comedy Night 8 p.m. The Rialto Theatre, Raleigh.
See indie rock band Mamalarky at Kings on May 6. PHOTO COURTESY KINGS
MUSIC
Teens in Trouble plays Kings on Thursday, May 8. PHOTO COURTESY KINGS
CULTURE CALENDAR
FRI 5/9
MUSIC
Brent Cobb with Madison Hughes 8:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
Bridge of Songs: SONAM Spring Concert 7 p.m. Baldwin Auditorium, Durham.
George Huntley Band & The Vanguard 8 p.m. The Rialto Theatre, Raleigh.
High + Tight: A Lifetime of Soul, Funk, and Disco 8 p.m. Wolfe & Porter, Raleigh.
Hot In Herre: A 2000s Dance Party 8 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.
Jim Ketch Swingtet 7:30 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.
Kenny G 7:30 p.m. DPAC, Durham.
Nicotine Dolls 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.
Save Ferris, Keep Flying, Plastic Flamingos 7 p.m. Kings, Raleigh.
Stravinsky: The Firebird with the North Carolina Symphony May 9-11, various times. Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.
Them Coulee Boys 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
STAGE
VARIETOPIA with Paul F. Tompkins 8 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.
SAT 5/10
MUSIC
Alien Ant Farm w/ Narsick & Worthington’s Law 7 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham. Carmen Cusack 7:30 p.m. Theatre Raleigh Arts Center, Raleigh.
Christopher Owens 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.
Cold Brew Comedy Show 8:30 p.m. Lanza’s Cafe, Carrboro.
Curtis Eller’s American Circus at The Arts Center 7:30 p.m. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro.
El Club Dance Party with EK BALAM 10 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.
Electric Six 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.
Frankie Beverly Tribute World Tour 6 p.m. Dorton Arena, Raleigh.
HEALTH w/ Authors & Punisher 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
The Matrix Rave 10 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.
Peter Lamb & The Wolves w/ Sidecar Social Club 8 p.m. The Rialto Theatre, Raleigh.
Rodolfo Zuniga West East Quartet 7:30 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.
STAGE
Menopause The Musical 2 3 p.m. DPAC, Durham.
SUN 5/11
MUSIC
Bluegrass Jam at Bond Brothers Eastside 4 p.m. Bond Brothers Eastside, Cary.
Boywithuke: Burnout World Tour 7 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.
Brit Floyd 7:30 p.m. DPAC, Durham.
Hamilton Leithauser: This Side of the Island Tour 8 p.m. Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw.
STAGE
The Psychology of a Murderer 8 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.
MON 5/12
Silent Book Club 6 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.
TUES 5/13
MUSIC
The Crane Wives: Beyond Beyond Beyond Tour 7 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.
Hotspit, Spring Silver, This Man May Die, Bella Nona 7:30 p.m. the Pinhook, Durham.
Maribou State: Hallucinating Love Tour w/ Gaidaa 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.
STAGE
TommyInnit – The Survival Tour 8 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.
PAGE
Silent Book Club 6 p.m. Letters Community Bookshop, Durham.
Hamilton Leithauser brings his This Side of the Island Tour to the Haw River Ballroom on May 11. PHOTO COURTESY HAW RIVER BALLROOM
5/1 @ CAT'S CRADLE TROUSDALE
CAT'S CRADLE
MAY
5/1 TH: TROUSDALE
W/ BEANE, NIAH ASHLEIGH, BUFFCHICK
10/16 TH: SAM BURCHFIELD & THE SCOUNDRELS
6/25 WE: INSECT ARK & FÓRN W/ WAILIN STORMS
6/28 SA: KELSEY WALDON JULY
7/2 WE: MC CHRIS W/ SWELL RELL
5/2 FR: NAPALM DEATH SOLD OUT AND MELVINS W/ WEEDEATER, DARK SKY BURIAL
5/9 FR: NICOTINE DOLLS W/ LOSTBOYCROW
5/10 SA: ELECTRIC SIX W/ MESSUR CHUPS
10/18 SA: INFINITY SONG WORLD TOUR II CAT'S CRADLE BACK ROOM MAY
5/1 TH: PORTICO W/ JOHNNY SUNRISE, DAVIE CIRCLE
5/2 FR: EVENING ELEPHANTS W/FAZE WAVE
5/3 SA: BLUE CACTUS ALBUM RELEASE W/ ALEXA ROSE
7/13 SU: SAMATHA CRAIN W/ JESS NOLAN
7/22 TU: DIGGY GRAVES W/ RESENTVUL
7/25 FR: BIG RICHARD
7/26 SA: CHUCK PROPHET AND HIS CUMBIA SHOES
5/11 SU: JIMMY EAT WORLD SOLD OUT W/TIMMY SKELLY
5/13 TU: LEPROUS W/ WHEEL
5/16 FR: ARMS LENGTH W/ PRINCE DADDY & THE HYENA, RILEY!, BIKE ROUTES
5/17 SA: LUCIUS W/ VICTORIA CANAL
5/29 TH: THE LAST REVEL W/NOAH DANIEL AND THE NAKED COWBOYS JUNE
6/1 SU: THE SOUL REBELS
6/2 MO: PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT
6/7 SA: REVEREND HORTON HEAT W/ NATHAN & THE ZYDECO CHA CHAS
6/14 SA: THE LEMON TWIGS W / CHRIS STAMEY JULY
7/11 FR: WHITE DENIM
7/12 SA: ANDMOREAGAIN SOLD OUT PRESENTS WILL WOOD W/MOON WALKER
7/29 TU: HOT WATER MUSIC AUGUST
8/22 FR: BETH STELLING SEPTEMBER
9/3 WE: BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
9/5 FR: CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM
9/23 TU: BROOKS NIELSEN (OF THE GROWLERS)
9/27 SA: THE BASEBALL PROJECT W/ THE MINUS 5 OCTOBER
10/5 SU: ARCY DRIVE W/ FOXTIDE
10/15 WE: DESTROYER: DAN’S BOOGIE TOUR W/ CASS MCCOMBS
5/4 SU: PHONEBOY W/ INOHA
5/7 WE: BRIGITTE CALLS ME BABY W/ COR DE LUX
5/8 TH: LARRY W/ FAKE JR, BEN MILLION
5/9 FR: THEM COULEE BOYS W/ THE YARDARM
5/10 SA: CHRISTOPHER OWENS W/ THE TYDE
5/13 TU: L.A. WITCH W/ DAIISTAR
5/15 TH: BODIE W/ GRACE BINION
5/16 FR: ANDREW DUHON
5/17 SA: LOGAN HALSTEAD X WILLY TEA TAYLOR
5/20 TU: MELISSA CARPER W/ TODD DAY WAIT
5/21 FR: HOLY FAWN W//WISH QUEEN
5/22 TH: PET SYMMETRY
5/28 WE: THE RATTLETRAPS W/ OL' JOEY SCRUMS, JOHNNY SUNRISE
5/31 SA: MEI SEMONES W/ JON ROSEBORO JUNE
6/1 SU: SECRET MONKEY WEEKEND W/DOUG DAVIS AND RADIO SILENCE, NIKKI MEETS THE HIBACHI
6/3 TU: PROVOKER W/ RIP SWIRL, FAERYBABYY
6/5 TH: SIX FOOT BLONDE
6/7 SA: DAUGHTER OF SWORDS
6/9 MO: COURTING + SLOW FICTION
6/13 FR: THEO KANDEL
6/14 SA: THE ARCADIAN WILD W/ DALLAS UGLY
6/20 FR: LAUREN SANDERSON SOLD OUT W/ EMERYLD
6/22 SU: THE WILDWOODS
AUGUST
8/15 FR: HOTLINE TNT
8/23 SA: TIM BARRY W/JOSH SMALL, RYAN LOCKHART
8/26 TU: MOUNTAIN GRASS UNIT
SEPTEMBER
9/25 TH: ALMOST MONDAY
OCTOBER
10/19 SU: THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS
10/21 TU: BILLY RAFFOUL NOVEMBER
11/11 TU: POST ANIMAL HAW RIVER BALLROOM (SAX) MAY
5/3 SA: JOHN MORELAND W/ RAMSEY THORNTON
5/11 SU: HAMILTON LEITHAUSER W/ GREG FREEMAN JUNE
6/6 FR: PERFUME GENIUS W/ URIKA’S BEDROOM 6/22 SU: GODSPEED YOU! SOLD OUT BLACK EMPEROR
AUGUST
8/8 FR: THE CHURCH SEPTEMBER
9/19 FR: HAYES CARLL
9/21 SU: STEREOLAB SOLD OUT
OCTOBER
10/25 SA: JENSEN MCRAE
10/26 SU: S.G. GOODMAN W/ FUST DECEMBER
12/2 TU: BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY W/ DAWN LANDES AND MATT KIVEL
CROSSWORD
Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Patti Varol
SU | DO | KU
© Puzzles by Pappocom
There is really only one rule to Sudoku: Fill in the game board so that the numbers 1 through 9 occur exactly once in each row, column, and 3x3 box. The numbers can appear in any order and diagonals are not considered. Your initial game board will consist of several numbers that are already placed. Those numbers cannot be changed. Your goal is to fill in the empty squares following the simple rule above.
Bluefin and albacore
With 108-Across, instruction given to a barber, or how the answers to the starred clues were literally formed
Garage fig.
iPods that replaced Minis 124 In vogue DOWN
1 The “E” of ENT
2 Determining factor in playlist selection, perhaps 3 *Body art of a beloved’s silhouette?
4 Homecoming events
5 *Advisors on robe or wand selection?
6 Gather 7 Safeties in the NFL, briefly
8 *Beer that belongs in a museum?
9 Do a trial run on
Like some Summer Olympics events 11 *Faithful helpers who are less helpful after some time off? 12 “Amazing!” 13 Like some black diamond runs 14 *Practicing to be worthy of elite double Dutch equipment?
15 Ship in 1898 news
16 *Sumerian king’s image?
17 With 47-Across, “House” actor 18 Well-used pencil 28 “That __ true!” 30 Stern’s counterpart 32 Downwind 36 1990s
C L A S S I F I E D S
EMPLOYMENT
Configuration Management Specialist
Arrow International seeks a Configuration Management Specialist (IPN Mgt. Team) (CMS-DON) in Morrisville, NC. Provide logistical support & conduct impact analysis for all internal pt nos (IPNs) w/in our supply chain. Reqs MS+2 yrs rltd exp. Email resume to tfxjobs@teleflex.com. Must ref job title & code in the subj line.
Product Specialist
Product Specialist (Durham, NC) Prep the ServiceNow enhancement strategies/roadmap & ensure to deliver it w/in the timelines committed. Identify, measure, & analyze potential opportunities w/in ServiceNow. Coord w/ internal & external staff to ensure that incidents are resolved prior breach of service level targets. Lead the release/ enhancement track w/in Service Now on agile/ waterfall & later on Dev-Ops model following the SDLC process - gathering reqmts, solution dsgng & leading it to completion. Dsgn & dvlp RFP solution for ServiceNow engagements. Conduct internal process audits & process reviews to ensure strict adherence to the process parameters/systems as per defined guidelines. Mail resumes to Gait Solutions LLC, 4819 Emperor Blvd, Ste #418A, Durham, NC 27703.
Sous Chef
Sous Chef Chapel Hill (Orange County) Ensure food and service quality. Coordinate cook’s tasks. Implement hygiene policies. Design new recipes, plan menus. Ensure appropriate staffing levels. Apply culinary trends and recipes. Hire and train kitchen staff. Perform administrative tasks. Monitor staff. Obtain customer feedback. Requires at least two years of experience working as a Chef o Sous Chef in a Thai Restaurant. Send resume to parawee.srisornsak@gmail.com. Thai Table NC, LLC.
EMPLOYMENT
Software Development Engineer
Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET). Cary, NC. Develop and execute software tests to identify software problems. Test system modifications. Document software defects and report to software developers. Create and maintain databases. Participate in software design reviews to provide input on functional requirements and product designs. Reqd. U.S. Degree: Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Exp: Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET), 24 months. Salary: minimum $74006.00 (SeventyFour Thousand And Six) per year. Send resume in duplicate: Nisha Subedi Sharma, Manager, Unisoft Solutions Inc., 964 High House Rd., Suite#25, Cary, NC 27513.
Data Scientist
DATA SCIENTIST. CARY, NC. Develop and implement techniques to transform raw data with data-oriented programming languages and visualization software. Apply data mining, modeling, natural language processing, and machine learning to extract and analyze information from datasets. Visualize, interpret, and report data findings. Create data reports. Reqd U.S. Degree: Master of Science in Data Science. Exp: none; Salary: Min. $102918.00 (One Hundred two thousand, nine hundred eighteen U.S. dollars) per yr. Send resume in duplicate: Nisha Subedi Sharma, Manager, Unisoft Solutions Inc., 964 High House Rd., Suite#25, Cary, NC 27513.
Restaurant Administrative Supervisor
Restaurant Administrative Supervisor, Carrboro (Orange County) Oversee and support staff. Keep records of financial transactions, inventory, and staff schedules. Assist in management of budget. Keep appropriate inventories at all times. Organize special events, promotions, and marketing campaigns. Oversee social media presence. Requires a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Send resume to prasertdham@aol.com. Phochana, LLC.
Spring Member Drive
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