Category: Interviews

Interview: Mario T. Garcia on The Latino Generation

The stories of these young Latinos reveal them as ordinary young Americans with many of the same experiences and hopes and aspirations as other young Americans of other ethnic backgrounds. Latinos are no different and perhaps here is what I want to convey in this book. Latinos are us and we are they. There should be no basis for irrational fears or hysteria that Latinos will fundamentally change American life and culture. Yes, they will add to it and the country will become to some extent Latinized but not in a way that fundamentally changes the culture. All ethnic groups contribute to what we mean by being “American” and the same has been true of Latinos. They change and we change and that is the process of social life. Continue Reading Interview: Mario T. Garcia on The Latino Generation

Interviews/Latino Studies

Interview: Joe Miller on Adventure Sports in the Carolinas

I’m targeting the person who has dreamed of diving a sunken U-boat, or mountain biking a twisty trail in the Pisgah National Forest, or paddling his or her way down a mountain creek, but thought, “Nah. I could never do that.” My goal is to tell you that you can. All the reader needs is a spark of adventurous spirit. The book will, hopefully, ignite that spirit and push the reader into action. Continue Reading Interview: Joe Miller on Adventure Sports in the Carolinas

Interviews/North Carolina/Sports/Travel

Interview: Deirdre Clemente on Fashion Trends and College Students

College students were a primary part of the push towards casual dress—there were other factors, including Hollywood and the rise of California as a fashion trendsetter, for example. But college students had the critical mass to initiate widespread change. In many ways they were the foot soldiers of casual dress. In addition to having the numbers, college students lived in a largely self-regulated environment that allowed them to flout convention. Their fashion choices were not driven by social standards prescribed by parents or fashion editors. Rather, they chose clothing that was practical and comfortable—and those two qualities have come to define the modern American wardrobe. Continue Reading Interview: Deirdre Clemente on Fashion Trends and College Students

American Studies/Interviews

Interview: Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser on the Dialects of North Carolina

Language and dialects are culture, but like other aspects of our heritage, they have sometimes existed under the cultural radar. In part, this is due to the historical and political subordination of the South. Southern speech has become increasingly different from Northern speech since the Civil War, but it was interpreted as inferior due to the stereotypes of the South by outsiders. The effects of linguistic prejudice are just as harmful as other types of prejudicial attitudes, perhaps more so because their workings are often invisible. It takes time to raise linguistic awareness by countering myths and stereotypes with formal and informal education about the legacy of dialects. North Carolinians deserve to know and understand the truth about its distinct dialect and language legacy. Continue Reading Interview: Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser on the Dialects of North Carolina

Anthropology/Interviews/North Carolina

Interview: Johnny Molloy on Hiking North Carolina’s National Forests

As we continue to bind ourselves to the electronic universe it is more important than ever to reconnect with nature, and North Carolina’s national forests are an ideal destination to enjoy the the scenic splendor included within. So make some time to get back to nature on nature’s terms. Not only will it refresh your mind and exercise your body, it is a spiritually renewing experience to see the unimproved works of God laid out before us. Continue Reading Interview: Johnny Molloy on Hiking North Carolina’s National Forests

Hiking/Interviews/North Carolina/Travel

Interview: Jodi Helmer on Farming and Agritourism in Georgia

We’ve become so disconnected from the source of our food! While I was traveling through Georgia, several farmers told me that kids who visited their farms had no idea that chickens laid eggs and carrots came out of the soil. Agritourism provides a great opportunity to learn where our food comes from and meet the farmers who grow and raise it. Farmers work incredibly hard to put food on our tables; visiting farms shows that we value their dedication to growing fresh, local foods and want to support their work. If we want small farms to survive, we need to support the farmers. Continue Reading Interview: Jodi Helmer on Farming and Agritourism in Georgia

Cooking / Food/Interviews/Travel

January 31, 2014

Remembering Pete Seeger

Remembering Pete Seeger through interviews conducted by William Ferris in his book “The Storied South” and by Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr for their book “Wayfaring Strangers.” Continue Reading Remembering Pete Seeger

American Studies/Appalachian Studies/Interviews/Music

January 28, 2014

Video: Jonathan Holloway on Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940

A video of Jonathan Holloway’s talk about his book Jim Crow Wisdom, which was given at the Gilder Lehrman Institute in January 2014 in New York City. This video was made by the Gilder Lehrman Institute. Continue Reading Video: Jonathan Holloway on Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940

African American History/African American Studies/American Studies/Interviews/Video

January 6, 2014

Interview: Tom Eamon on North Carolina Politics

Today, there is a gap. Many metropolitan areas and university communities are booming and attract migrants from all over. But farming areas once reliant on tobacco and old textile towns are withering and face high unemployment. And textiles were a low wage industry to begin with. More recently, public employees have faced salary freezes. Economic problems are here to stay. Despite great progress in many areas, North Carolina is a captive of its past. Continue Reading Interview: Tom Eamon on North Carolina Politics

Interviews/North Carolina/Politics

November 13, 2013

Interview: Mical Raz on poverty, mental health, and U.S. social policy

Poverty is often seen as a personal failure, whereas success is a mark of hard work; thus economic status serves a surrogate for individual self-worth, and not an indicator of society’s structure and its limitations. Poor men and women are still often portrayed in stereotypical terms as being lazy and unmotivated. Continue Reading Interview: Mical Raz on poverty, mental health, and U.S. social policy

Health / Medicine/History/Interviews/Public Policy/Sociology

November 5, 2013

Interview: Lawrence S. Earley on The Workboats of Core Sound

More than anything else in a Core Sound fishing community, a workboat is a living social history of the people who have been connected to it. It was built by one person for another person and named after a third. This little web of names expands over time as the boat is sold to other people and renamed, is repaired, and rebuilt by others, or is relocated to another community. Fishermen seem to have little difficulty in remembering this web of connections, and so workboats function as memory banks that contain much of the social history of the community and carry it from one generation to the next. As boats disappear, it’s not clear what will happen to this history. Continue Reading Interview: Lawrence S. Earley on The Workboats of Core Sound

Interviews/North Carolina/Photography

September 30, 2013

Interview: Kathleen Purvis on Bourbon

Even after Prohibition was repealed, many areas of the South remained dry. So whiskey was hard to get and had a certain cache. Recipes that involved a little alcohol were not only tasty, they also implied a few things—they showed you had connections and maybe a bit of money to buy something. Continue Reading Interview: Kathleen Purvis on Bourbon

Cooking / Food/Interviews

September 16, 2013

Interview: Sandra A. Gutierrez on Latin American Street Food

I mean, what’s not fun about dressing a sandwich with all sorts of condiments, until it becomes a tower of goodness? You have to figure out how to eat it without wearing it, but that’s another story. One of my favorite things about street food is that so much of it can be prepared in advance—which not only makes it easy for entertaining but also makes it a cinch to put dinner on the table every day. Continue Reading Interview: Sandra A. Gutierrez on Latin American Street Food

Cooking / Food/Interviews

September 9, 2013

Interview: Belinda Ellis on Biscuits

There are many who say they can only make “hockey pucks,” “door stops,” or bread the dog wouldn’t eat. I learned that a whole lot of bakers give up on biscuits after a couple of attempts, when all they needed was a few simple tips and some practice. Continue Reading Interview: Belinda Ellis on Biscuits

Cooking / Food/Interviews

August 19, 2013

Interview: Adrian Miller on Soul Food

The deep-fried delights, the rich repasts, and the sugary triumphs fall in line with the time-immemorial tendency to show off one’s best dishes to those outside one’s group. That celebration food is not meant to be the sum of the cuisine. Soul food has a strong tradition of making delectable dishes featuring vegetables and unprocessed ingredients. In fact, many of the celebrated and faddish “superfoods” that are good for your body—dark, leafy green vegetables and sweet potatoes, for example—have been soul food staples for centuries. Continue Reading Interview: Adrian Miller on Soul Food

Cooking / Food/Interviews

Interview: Taylor Mathis on The Southern Tailgating Cookbook

Many tailgaters will “eat their competition” by serving the opposing mascot on the game’s menu. In The Southern Tailgating Cookbook, there are more suggestions and recipes that will show how to team-theme your tailgate and “eat the competition” on game day. Continue Reading Interview: Taylor Mathis on The Southern Tailgating Cookbook

Cooking / Food/Interviews

Video: Bland Simpson on NC Bookwatch

In Two Captains from Carolina, Bland Simpson twines together the lives of two accomplished nineteenth-century mariners from North Carolina–one African American, one Irish American. Though Moses Grandy (ca. 1791- ca. 1850) and John Newland Maffitt Jr. (1819-1886) never met, their stories bring to vivid life the saga of race and maritime culture in the antebellum and Civil War-era South. With his lyrical prose and inimitable voice, Bland Simpson offers readers a grand tale of the striving human spirit and the great divide that nearly sundered the nation.

In this interview on NC Bookwatch, Simpson speaks with host D.G. Martin about Two Captains from Carolina and the fascinating lives led by Grandy, former slave turned Boston abolitionist, and Maffit, a midshipman in the U.S. Navy at age thirteen turned legendary blockade runner. Simpson also explains his reasons for contrasting these two men with each other in this “nonfiction novel.” Continue Reading Video: Bland Simpson on NC Bookwatch

Civil War/History/Interviews/North Carolina/Southern Studies/Video

Interview: Kathleen Purvis on Pecans

I’m a fan of the slide-style of nut cracker: You place a nut in a trough, pull back a spring-loaded weight, and let it go. You tend to get more halves that way. There’s a bit of mess from all the shells, so I usually do it outside, spreading out newspaper to catch the shells. You also can use some of the shells to spread in a garden. Continue Reading Interview: Kathleen Purvis on Pecans

Cooking / Food/Interviews

Video: David Cecelski on NC Bookwatch

In an interview with North Carolina Bookwatch host D. G. Martin, Cecelski describes the many threads he followed to unlock the mystery of Abraham Galloway, now proudly identifying him as a part of the pantheon of North Caorlina’s greatest heroes. Cecelski delves into the leadership Galloway exerted before, during, and after the Civil War. Continue Reading Video: David Cecelski on NC Bookwatch

African American History/African American Studies/Civil War/History/Interviews/Video

Video: Stanley Riggs on NC Bookwatch

In an interview with North Carolina Bookwatch host D. G. Martin, Riggs talks about the richness of resources and the comparatively pristine state of North Carolina’s coastline and barrier islands. Continue Reading Video: Stanley Riggs on NC Bookwatch

Environmental Studies/Interviews/Nature/North Carolina/Video