6/20/2012

Free Lecture, Women's Attitudes, Civil War, June 24

Women’s Attitudes
Toward Secession and the
Civil War Lecture
Mary Wayne Watson

Sunday, June 24, 2012
First Baptist Church
200 E. New York Avenue and May Street, Southern Pines
2:00 pm, No Admission Charge
The Moore County Historical Association invites you to a free lecture by Mary Wayne Watson on “Women’s Attitudes Toward Secession and the Civil War.” The lecture is Sunday, June 24 starting at 2 p.m. and is at the First Baptist Church of Southern Pines. Visitors should use the May Street Entrance.

Watson is no stranger to Moore County audiences. This noted English professor is sponsored by the N.C. Humanities Council as part of the Roads Scholar program. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her doctorate from the University of Virginia.

Her lecture focuses on unpublished manuscripts and correspondence by gifted North Carolina women whose perspectives of the Civil War period show the impact of Sherman’s scorched earth policy on the area, following the first period of idealism, followed by sadness and loss during the four years from 1861-1865, as North Carolina and the rest of the South continued to suffer loss and misery into the post-war period. Watson actually used as her basis letters her own great-grandmother in Scotland County wrote during that period to a family in Moore County, in the process revealing that North Carolina had a surprisingly literary heritage in years of hardship and loss.

Watson also has done presentations on her own great uncle, a North Carolina Poet Laureate named John Charles McNeill, and a cousin, Gerald White Johnson, a journalist and historian.

The lecturer has taught English at both middle and high school levels in public schools. She also taught at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., and is currently a professor of English and literature at Nash Community College in Rocky Mount.

For more information call (910) 692-2051 or email info@moorehistory.com

6/15/2012

Call Gov. Perdue re Fracking ASAP

Tell Governor Perdue to veto Senate Bill 820 and oppose this irresponsible rush to bring fracking to North Carolina!
http://action.ncconservationnetwork.org/VetoS820

During the floor debate, legislators were given a letter from Calvin Tillman, the former mayor of a small Texas town which is in a major fracking zone. He wrote:

"We’ve watched as fracking has turned our small rural town into an ugly industrial zone. We’ve also felt health impacts first hand as we have been overwhelmed at times with strong chemical odors. We’ve watched our roads be in a constant state of congestion and in need of repair due to the stress of relentless heavy truck traffic. This is the reality of life in a fracking state."
We shouldn’t rush into legalizing this controversial practice when so many questions remain regarding its safety, its practicality, and the potential impacts to our communities. Of particular concern is the Republican plan to create a new state commission to oversee fracking which will itself be dominated by fracking industry representatives.

Tell Governor Perdue to stand up against the rush to frack in North Carolina by vetoing Senate Bill 820 today!

6/12/2012

Will Allen with Colbert Report, June 12

Growing Power’s Will Allen to Make Guest Appearance on the Hit T.V. Show, The Colbert Report
MILWAUKEE [June 11, 2012] – Will Allen, Farmer, Founder, and CEO of Growing Power and newly published author of “The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities” (Gotham Books) will make a guest appearance on the popular T.V. show, The Colbert Report. The show will air at 11:30 PM ET/10:30 PM CT, Tuesday, June 12, 2012 on Comedy Central.