An illuminating and thought-provoking examination of the uniquely American institution of marriage, from the Colonial era through the #MeToo age Americans hold marriage in such high esteem that we push people toward it, reward them for taking part in it, and fetishize its benefits to the point that we routinely ignore or excuse bad behavior and societal ills in the name of protecting and promoting it. Laws have been designed to encourage people to marry so that certain societal benefits could be achieved: the population would increase, women would have financial security, children would be cared for, and immigrants would have familial connections. The widely overlooked problem with this tradition is that individuals and society have relied on marriage to address or dismiss a range of injustices and inequities, from gender- and race-based discrimination, sexual violence, and predation to unequal financial treatment. Through revealing storytelling, Zug builds a compelling case that when marriage is touted as “the solution” to such problems, it absolves the government, and society, of the responsibility for directly addressing them. Marcia Zug is a family law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and The Yale Law School. Her previous book, Buying A Bride, explored the history of mail order marriage in the United States. She lives in Columbia, SC with her husband and two daughters. Osamudia James joined the UNC School of Law faculty in 2021. Her writing and teaching interests include education law, race and the law, administrative law, and torts. James is the author of numerous articles, book chapters, and popular press commentary exploring the interaction of law and identity in the context of public education. Her work has appeared in the NYU Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Minnesota Law […]

Have you made your appointment yet? Just for January, Restorative IV Therapies is offering 2 Saturdays for you to come get a much-needed-IV infusion after the busy holidays!

Beloved author Jill McCorkle delivers a collection of masterful stories that are as complex as novels—deeply perceptive, funny, and tragic in equal measure—about crimes large and small. Jill McCorkle, author of the New York Times bestselling Life After Life and the widely acclaimed Hieroglyphics (“One of our wryest, warmest, wisest storytellers” —Rebecca Makkai), brings us a breathtaking collection of stories that offers an intimate look at the moments when a person’s life changes forever. Old Crimes delves into the lives of characters who hold their secrets and misdeeds close, even as the past continues to reverberate over time and across generations. And despite the characters’ yearnings for connection, they can’t seem to tell the whole truth. In “Low Tones,” a woman uses her hearing impairment as a way to guard herself from her husband’s commentary. In “Lineman,” a telephone lineman strains to connect to his family even as he feels pushed aside in a digital world. In “Confessional,” a young couple buys a confessional booth for fun, only to discover the cost of honesty. Profoundly moving and unforgettable, for fans of Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout, and Lily King, the stories in Old Crimes reveal why McCorkle has long been considered a master of the form, probing lives full of great intensity, longing and affection, and deep regret. Jill McCorkle has the distinction of having published her first two novels on the same day in 1984. Of these novels, the New York Times Book Review said: "one suspects the author of The Cheer Leader is a born novelist. With July 7th, she is also a full grown one." Since then she has published five other novels—most recently, Hieroglyphics—and four collections of short stories. Five of her books have been named New York Times notable books and four of her stories have […]

Check Havoc Brewing Events for more details about specific #HavocHappenings.

Check out the bmc brewing events page for more information about what's happening at BMC Brewing!

“One day I’ll work for myself.” Perhaps you’ve heard some version of that phrase from friends, colleagues, family members—perhaps you’ve said it yourself. If so, you’re not alone. The spirit of entrepreneurship runs deep in American culture and history, in the films we watch and the books we read, in our political rhetoric, and in the music piping through our speakers. What makes the dream of self-employment so alluring, so pervasive in today’s world? Benjamin C. Waterhouse offers a provocative argument: the modern cult of the hustle is a direct consequence of economic failures—bad jobs, stagnant wages, and inequality—since the 1970s. With original research, Waterhouse traces a new narrative history of business in America, populated with vivid characters—from the activists, academics, and work-from-home gurus who hailed business ownership as our economic salvation to the upstarts who took the plunge. We meet, among others, a consultant who quits his job and launches a wildly popular beer company, a department store saleswoman who founds a plus-size bra business on the Internet, and an Indian immigrant in Texas who flees the corporate world to open a motel. Some flourish; some squeak by. Some fail. As Waterhouse shows, the go-it-alone movement that began in the 1970s laid the political and cultural groundwork for today’s gig economy and its ethos: everyone should be their own boss. While some people find success in that world, countless others are left bouncing from gig to gig—exploited, underpaid, or conned by get-rich-quick scams. And our politics doesn’t know how to respond. Accessible, fast-paced, and eye-opening, One Day I’ll Work for Myself offers a fresh, insightful cultural history of the U.S. economy from the perspective of the people within it, asking urgent questions about why we’re clinging to old strategies for progress—and at what cost. Benjamin C. Waterhouse is the […]

Join us for our first ever Winemakers Dinner at The Sycamore on January 16th, featuring the renowned Margerum Wine Company. Enjoy a carefully curated four-course meal complete with pairings from the winery's top red and white selections. Winemaker Doug Margerum will be in attendance and is working with Chef Ingram to create a perfectly paired menu. Tickets are $125 per person. (tax and tip not included). You will also be able to purchase bottles of wine to take home at our wholesale cost. Doors open at 5:30pm with optional cocktail hour. First course will be served at 6:30pm. Make your reservation now using this link-https://order.toasttab.com/online/thesycamoreatchathammills A $50 deposit is required. Still looking for the perfect gift? We have also included the option to purchase 2 spots in full as well, on the link above. We will provide you with a printable certificate to use as your gift. This will be a very intimate event of around 25 people, so be sure to make your reservation right away if you want to join us for this memorable evening. Please note: no refunds will be offered, but deposit and/or pre-purchased spots will become a credit valid at The Sycamore for 12 months, if reservation is cancelled by 1/8/24.

Jazz nights are continuing on Wednesdays so don't miss out on the chance to hear some great holiday jazz this month, sprinkled in alongside your classic favorites. Here are our upcoming performers 1/17 – Lauren Meehan 1/24 – Combo Platter 1/31 – Dave Quick Jazz 2/7 – Lauren Meehan 2/14 – Piano Only – NO JAZZ 2/21 – Steve Hobbs Trio 2/28 – Dave Quick Jazz 3/6 – Lauren Meehan 3/13 – Tony Galiani Jazz Quartet 3/20 – Combo Platter 3/27 – Dave Quick Jazz

We're excited to annouce this fun activity coming up in January! 🧑‍🎨🍺🎨 Be sure to register as space it limited:

Get your tools ready for action! ✂️ They’re coming back after such great turnout in December. Tired of battling dull blades and ineffective tools? We're bringing Keen Edge Mobile Sharpening to Pittsboro Feed on Thursday, January 18th, 2024, from 2pm to 6pm! ⏰ Bring your old knives, scissors, gardening tools, and anything else needing a fresh edge. Keen Edge will sharpen them on-site while you shop! ️ Don't miss this chance to revive your tools and tackle any project with ease. See you there!

If you love bourbon or want to learn a bit more about it, bmc brewing has an evening for you! Advanced purchase of tickets suggested.

Come out and decorate a cookie using one of our rescue tigers as inspiration!! Tickets are still available for this event on January 4, but ticket sales end on January 13.

Check out the bmc brewing events page for more information about what's happening at BMC Brewing!

Check Havoc Brewing Events for more details about specific #HavocHappenings.

Please note this event will take place offsite at the Chapel Hill Public Library Meeting Room B. Get ready for an action-packed, inventive, and powerful take on the attack on Pearl Harbor, as only Alan Gratz can tell it. December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good. Their dads are Navy pilots stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the boys get a front-row view of the huge battleships and the sparkling water. Yes, World War II is raging in Europe and in Asia, but the US isn't involved in the war, and the boys are free to dream about becoming comic book creators. They've even invented a superhero of their own, in the style of Batman, Superman, Captain America, and other stars of the Golden Age of Comics. Maybe they'll even get their comic published someday. December 7th, 1941: Everything explodes. That morning, Frank and Stanley are aboard the battleship the USS Utah when Japanese planes zoom overhead and begin dropping bombs on the ships below. Chaos ensues as everyone scrambles to dive for safety. Frank and Stanley realize what's happening: Japan is attacking America! The war has come to them. As the boys fight to make their way home amidst the carnage, it's clear that everything has changed. Stanley's mother is Japanese American and he is suddenly facing a terrible prejudice that he's never known before--he's now seen as the "enemy," and Frank, who's white, cannot begin to understand what Stanley will now face. Can their friendship--and their dreams--survive this watershed moment in history? Told with the immediacy, high-stakes action, and meaningful twists that have made Alan Gratz one of today's biggest authors, this gripping novel tackles themes of bravery, prejudice, and what it means to stand up for what's right. Just as Gratz's Ground […]

A masterful hybrid of nature writing and cultural studies that investigates our connection with deer—from mythology to biology, from forests to cities, from coexistence to control and extermination—and invites readers to contemplate the paradoxes of how humans interact with and shape the natural world Deer have been an important part of the world that humans occupy for millennia. They’re one of the only large animals that can thrive in our presence. In the 21st century, our relationship is full of contradictions: We hunt and protect them, we cull them from suburbs while making them an icon of wilderness, we see them both as victims and as pests. But there is no doubt that we have a connection to deer: in mythology and story, in ecosystems biological and digital, in cities and in forests. Delving into the historical roots of these tangled attitudes and how they play out in the present, Erika Howsare observes scientists capture and collar fawns, hunters show off their trophies, a museum interpreter teaching American history while tanning a deer hide, an animal-control officer collecting the carcasses of deer killed by sharpshooters, and a woman bottle-raising orphaned fawns in her backyard. As she reports these stories, Howsare’s eye is always on the bigger picture: Why do we look at deer in the ways we do, and what do these animals reveal about human involvement in the natural world? For readers of H is for Hawk and Fox & I, The Age of Deer offers a unique and intimate perspective on a very human relationship. Erika Howsare holds an MFA in literary arts from Brown University and has published two books of poetry. She also worked in local journalism for twenty years, covering culture and environmental issues. She teaches writing and contributes reviews and essays to various national […]

Jazz nights are continuing on Wednesdays so don't miss out on the chance to hear some great holiday jazz this month, sprinkled in alongside your classic favorites. Here are our upcoming performers 1/24 – Combo Platter 1/31 – Dave Quick Jazz 2/7 – Lauren Meehan 2/14 – Piano Only – NO JAZZ 2/21 – Steve Hobbs Trio 2/28 – Dave Quick Jazz 3/6 – Lauren Meehan 3/13 – Tony Galiani Jazz Quartet 3/20 – Combo Platter 3/27 – Dave Quick Jazz

Pittsboro Presbyterian Church invites you to a chili dinner and games night!

For readers of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles, an evocative, morally complex novel set in rural 19th century North Carolina, as one woman fights to keep her family united, her farm running, and her convictions whole during the most devastating and divisive period in American history. Talk of impending war is a steady drumbeat throughout North Carolina, though Joetta McBride pays it little heed. She and her husband, Ennis, have built a modest but happy life for themselves, raising two sons, fifteen-year-old Henry, and eleven-year-old Robert, on their small subsistence farm. They do not support the Confederacy’s position on slavery, but Joetta considers her family to be neutral, believing this is simply not their fight. Her opinion is not favored by many in their community, including Joetta’s own father-in-law, Rudean. A staunch Confederate supporter, he fills his grandsons’ heads with stories about the glory of battle and the Southern cause until one night Henry runs off to join the war. At Joetta’s frantic insistence, Ennis leaves to find their son and bring him home. But soon weeks pass with no word from father or son and Joetta is battered by the strain of running a farm with so little help. As the country becomes further entangled in the ramifications of war, Joetta finds herself increasingly at odds with those around her – until one act of kindness brings her family to the edge of even greater disaster. Though shunned and struggling to survive, Joetta remains committed to her principles, and to her belief that her family will survive. But the greatest tests are still to come – for a fractured nation, for Joetta, and for those she loves... Donna Everhart is a USA Today bestselling author known for vividly evoking challenges of the heart […]