Author: Monica Chen

Piedmont Health provides care to uninsured, part-timers

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CARRBORO – Kallie Norton moved to Carrboro from northern Illinois last fall to work at Youth Works, a nonprofit. She’s currently part-time, which means she’s not on the organization’s health insurance. But recently, through a program by Carrboro-based Piedmont Health Services and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, she paid just $60 out of pocket for a primary care physician appointment plus lab work, at Piedmont. “In previous companies where I was paying health insurance and out of pocket with a deductible, it wasn’t unusual to pay a few hundred for comprehensive bloodwork. I would’ve anticipated paying more,” Norton said on Tuesday. Piedmont’s program provides an alternative, and a safety net for people like Norton, who are part-time, new to the area, or plain uninsured. The program is offered to both full-time and part-time employees of chamber members, as well as their families. It’s also offered regardless of whether the patient has health insurance or is currently on another plan, and there is no extra fee to the chamber or the business. It’s a flat …

Lanterns for community “Light Up” Chapel Hill

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Chapel Hill – Every table to decorate lanterns was jam-packed on Saturday at the Light Up Festival, but Ying Zhao and her 3-year-old son, Jayden Ren, managed to find a spot. With Jayden in her lap, Zhao helped him put paper cut-outs on a lantern. “Are you enjoying this, Jayden?” she asked, and he nodded. She turned and smiled. “He means yes,” she said. “I know there’s a lantern tradition. We just came out because it sounded like something fun to do.” This was Light Up’s first year, and the event, which took place at University Place, drew far more people than organizers expected. By the looks of it, thousands of people had come through the mall and decorated lanterns, played games, watched performers, and eaten foods from the many vendors. Huina Chen, head of the organizers of the event, estimated 10,000 people attended. Chen is the vice-chairwoman of the PTA at the Chinese School of Chapel Hill, which hosted the event. She said the idea for the event actually came from Chapel Hill Mayor …

History in a time of change: Standing in Pauli Murray’s “Proud Shoes”

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There’s a moment in Pauli Murray’s book about her family, “Proud Shoes,” where she expresses shock at learning as she dug through genealogical records that one of her great-grandfathers, Thomas Fitzgerald, had indeed once been a slave. Fitzgerald lived most of his life as a free man, but his past had been carefully concealed from his descendants, it seemed, out of shame. At learning this, Murray wrote: “I would always be in rebellion… until people no longer needed legends about their ancestors to give them distinctiveness and self-respect.” Murray’s stories still provide ample material for the debates of our time on race, heritage and identity. Gone are the old iron-clad divisions when it comes to race. But the old battlegrounds have been scattered via pop culture to a larger world, resulting in new fights and possibly, new walls. For instance, if you have a black father and a white mother, are you black or are you white? That is apparently still a much-debated question. When Paris Jackson, daughter of pop icon Michael Jackson, said she …

Lessons from the life and work of Iris Chang

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Iris Chang’s life was many things to me. Even before I read her books, she was this wonderful figure among Asian-Americans. I remember seeing her face on the cover of Reader’s Digest in the Nineties and knowing and being proud of this rare instance of an Asian face being so prominent, and respected. I remember the excerpt of her book, “The Rape of Nanking,” in Newsweek and how much weight that carried. I also remember the feeling when news broke of her committing suicide in 2004, when she was just 36 years old: Horror. It felt like there was a dark void in what happened. What was it that drove her to suicide? That question has been probed many times in articles and books written by those close to her. This essay is not going to delve into that, but will be a reflection on the lessons that Chang’s life and work still carry for our time. Chang’s books and her experiences have been on my mind these past few years for many reasons. First, …

Creative Durham series: Swimming in imagination

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The imaginary world of Daphne Yap is a head-spinning swirl of creatures, geniuses and goddesses. Yap, an artist in the Golden Belt campus, has filled her studio with portraits of fantastical creatures of dynamic movement and intense meaning, peppered with moments of complete goofiness. One creation that has combined the two are her many, many drawings of jellyfish. Why jellyfish? “Well, I got these Gelly Roll pens and what glows in the dark? Jellyfish!” the 34-year-old artist exclaimed. Although Yap’s work often hints at a dark imagination, in person, she is cheerful, almost exuberant, and punctuates her speech with animated expressions that are much like the characters she used to draw as a concept artist for Hollywood. Yap, born in the U.S. to Chinese and Malaysian parents, grew up in San Jose, Calif., and studied toy design before working in the world of science fiction and fantasy blockbuster movies as a concept artist. From 2006 to 2012, she drew characters, costumes and sets for movies such as “Avatar,” “Thor,” “Alice in Wonderland” and J.J. Abrams’ …

“How you get there is the worthier part.” In remembrance of Ron Glass

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The good preacher of Firefly passed away this weekend at the age of 71. The death of Ron Glass, a veteran of some 50 television shows, follows the deaths of Prince, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and so many more this year. It seems we lost so many great artists this year, and there is a little less magic in the world. Glass was most remembered for his depiction of the gentle yet worldly preacher, Shepherd Book, on Firefly, the 2002 cult hit television show that lasted just a season, but which even now is ahead of the times for its easy camaraderie and a unique combination of a sense of freedom, rebellion and family all in one. In the midst of this family was Shepherd Book, the preacher who had been “out of the world for a spell, like to walk it a while.” He could be awkward at times, like that time he scared the bejeezus out of River. But the preacher also had a mysterious past that was never quite fleshed out, and …

Anna Edwards jokes with her sister, Destinee, as she works on the pattern for a friend’s wedding dress.

Creative Durham: Stitching together her future

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Introducing “Creative Durham,” a new feature profiling artists, artisans and intrepid hobbyists in the Triangle area, and beyond! Inspired by the creative spirit of the Aughts, rooted in the DIY culture of Durham, this feature is dedicated to the simple joy of doing, how we express ourselves and how the process of doing can even define and redefine who we are. I hope you will read and enjoy! – Monica Chen Hidden throughout Anna Edwards’ home in Durham are portraits she painted of her family, glassware she made, clothes and cards she has made. There are yards of delicate white lace, an old piano, and even a mannequin named Roxanne. Such is the home of someone who is interested in many forms of crafts and arts. Asked what she’s most interested in, and the words tumble out fast and with excitement, as if there are too many different pieces, all shining and soft and beautiful, that she’s anxious to stitch together. Edwards, 26, studied fashion at Meredith College. Since then, she has found her interests …