Housing easy to ?nd for summer sessions
For those wishing to stay in Chapel Hill or Carrboro for the summer, there is no shortage of on- and off-campus housing.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Daily Tar Heel's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
16 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
For those wishing to stay in Chapel Hill or Carrboro for the summer, there is no shortage of on- and off-campus housing.
He’s found them as far away as Norway and as local as the UNC soccer fields. He’s even discovered them down the road in Durham and then taken them to West Africa.
Despite the sobering topic of her talk — the struggle of entrepreneurs in rapidly changing times — Cheryl Dorsey spoke with an evident enthusiasm Monday for social change and entrepreneurship in the face of a bleak economic climate.
It’s often more difficult for history professors or English students to craft solutions to real-world problems than it is for doctors or scientists.
From the history of feminism to the blogosphere and, finally, to a slew of internet videos, audience members were treated to a lesson in “gender 101” on Wednesday.
A reading speed of 200 or 300 words per minute might seem like a lot.
Carolina blue is always the color people associate with UNC. The housing department is one of many campus organizations trying to paint Chapel Hill another color: green.
There’s nothing like shared bathrooms, broken elevators and floor activities to bring a group of people together. For the 560 students in the living-learning communities this year, they enter their dorms knowing they will have more in common with their neighbors than a UNC education.
The founder and owner of CakeLove served up some sweet career advice and cake Tuesday night as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
No one can prevent natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti or Hurricane Katrina, said Stephen Flynn.
Six of seven vacant seats in Student Congress were filled Tuesday through an online special election.
Computer science professor Gary Bishop is motivated by the 15-year-old students with cerebral palsy and debilitating motor impairment who can’t talk or use their hands.It’s those students, who are constantly dealing with people assuming they can’t understand the simplest of tasks, that inspired Bishop, the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies and the Department of Computer Science to develop the Tar Heel Reader.Tarheelreader.org provides reading material beyond the picture books of 3- or 4-year-olds for teens with developmental disabilities who are just learning to read.On March 3, the one millionth book was read on the site. Teachers and parents can access Tar Heel Reader and create books for their students or teach their students how to make online books themselves. Books are written using pictures under the creative commons license on Flickr, a photo-sharing site, and can be created and read online using a simple interface that requires clicking only one key.Before Tar Heel Reader, reading material for disabled teenagers was mostly created by individual teachers, Bishop said.“These students are reading on a 3- to 4-year-old reading level, but books about things 15-year-olds are interested in are not available.”The site receives slightly more than 100 books per week and has expanded internationally.Bishop believes that the large number of books read in Asia might be used to teach English as a second language and observed that foreign-language teachers might be using the site to teach languages to students. The site is particularly popular in Australia, where Karen Erickson, director of the UNC Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, traveled in June to work with teachers about literacy issues for disabled students.Bishop’s students at UNC often contribute books to the site and are continuing to expand the ever-growing network of books, teachers and students.Bishop is also working with local educators and his students to create more educational tools for disabled children — specifically computer games for the blind.After 10 years of collaborating with orientation and mobility specialist Diane Brauner, Bishop has also developed computer games such as “SamiSays” and “Hark the Sound,” auditory games for children with vision problems.“When Gary and I first connected, I was working with kindergarten kids, and my blind kids were basically sitting in the corner listening to books on tape while other kids on the computer were using games reinforcing skills learned in the classroom,” Brauner said. “We needed to come up with some games that will work for these kids so they’re not sitting in the corner.”All of the games produced at UNC are downloaded or given away for free. The games are used in classrooms, computer labs and the homes of blind students.As of last year, the games were used in more than 80 countries, through online downloads or CDs sent by request.The games focus on both educational aspects and real life lessons that are often more difficult for visually impaired students to learn.Bishop seeks to claim the time in the classroom that disabled students lose when teachers provide computer games and books that work primarily for students without disabilities. His long-term goal is a situation where mentally disabled students are no longer passively watching television during class time, but are instead working on computer games designed for their needs.“We’ve go to get people out there creating content, and we’ve got to make more game engines like that,” Bishop said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Almost a year after his appearance on the eighth season of American Idol, UNC alumnus Anoop Desai is back in the Osceola Recording Studios in Raleigh where he originally performed with the UNC Clef Hangers. After a national tour with his fellow Top 10 Idol contestants, a brief, disheartening stint in Los Angeles and a return to North Carolina, Desai is currently preparing for the March 23 release of his first original single, “My Name.” It comes off his EP “All Is Fair,” which will be released in May. Desai plans to release a new EP every few months. His newest musical endeavor is an effort growing from the ground up, motivated by his experience in Los Angeles and the distortion of the music industry there. “L.A. is all about grasping for things it can promote. The consequence is new artists come out who can’t sing — they’re models,” he said. “I never wanted to get into that. I wanted to make music, but good music.” When Desai was eliminated from the show in the spring of 2009 after reaching sixth place, he went on tour until September and moved to Los Angeles in October. He stayed for a few months before returning home to North Carolina, the state where he grew up and attended UNC. After returning to Los Angeles Monday, Desai will begin his promotional and press tour, followed by an international tour beginning in May that will include stops around the U.S., India, the U.K. and the Philippines. Desai hired his own public relations staff and manager, co-wrote and produced all of his songs and assembled a team that shared his goal of producing authentic, original music. “My approach to the music business is an organic one,” Desai said. Andrew Simpson, a member of the Clef Hangers, acknowledged Desai’s sense of individuality and dedication to his music. “Anoop was never one to go down a pre-prescribed track. He’s always enjoyed his sense of creativity,” Simpson said. Desai started working in November on “All Is Fair,” an EP with songs relating to the theme of love, he said. The styles of the songs represent some of the different facets of love — happy, sad, angry. His next EP will be about themes such as home, fame and anger. “I have so much faith, in the songs, to the people I’ve surrounded myself with. We’re making good art. I hope this is going to be the beginning of something big,” he said. Desai described “All Is Fair” as a pop record, despite the R&B presence he grew up with. The rhythm of the single, “My Name,” is influenced by Indian music, he said. “This gives it a different feel. It’s not generic by any means. I’m excited for people to hear this type of fusion,” Desai said. “With that Indian influence, I don’t think there’s anything like it on the radio.” The conglomeration of Indian rhythm, R&B influence and a pop style is what makes Desai appeal to audiences, Clef Hanger Hogan Medlin said. “His style of music is so interesting; it’s one of the things that appealed to people on American Idol,” Medlin said. “He’s an American Indian kid singing soulful R&B. He’s trying to market what makes Anoop, Anoop.” Despite his upcoming record release, international fame and the tendency to be stopped by people in cities across the country who voted for him, Desai, who only recently took himself off Student Central, said he maintains close ties to Chapel Hill and the University. “One thing I’m passionate about and will continue to be is supporting Chapel Hill and North Carolina, even when it comes time to do something big,” Desai said. “You can’t ‘rep’ N.C. and be in L.A. If you’re going to ‘rep’ N.C., you’ve got to be in N.C.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Senior Karen Bernstein has written four novels — and on Sunday, she’ll begin work on her fifth.And she plans to finish it by the end of the month.Bernstein is a participant in National Novel Writing Month, an annual event in which participants work to write 50,000 words, or 175 pages, in one month.Writers begin Sunday and submit their work to a system that checks solely for quantity, not quality, by midnight on Nov. 30.A kick-off party will be held Friday at the Franklin Street Caribou Coffee for the roughly 70 local writers currently signed up. The group will also meet on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the writing process.The event has no individual winner. Anyone who registers and meets the word count by the end time “wins.” In 2008, more than 119,000 people from around the world participated. Only about 18 percent finished.Bernstein said that being a creative writing minor draws her to the competition.“It’s always really fun to have one thing that I know is not going to be graded. That’s one of the reasons I keep doing it,” she said.The competition also relieves pressure for writers who are struggling with plot structure, Bernstein said.“It doesn’t have to be a continuous plot,” she said. “So I write what I want to write. And sometimes that means I don’t finish themes and don’t finish conversations, and I go back in December and fill in the holes.”Celeste Mitchell, a graduate student in the School of Information and Library Science, organizes events for local participants.“Having it as a social activity really helps people get the word count up. Peer pressure forces them to work,” she said.Mitchell will begin work on her third novel during November. But instead of starting on Sunday, she’ll wait until she turns in her master’s paper Tuesday to take on the challenge.“It’s pretty intense. You have to write about 1,667 words a day, which, for me, takes about two hours,” she said. “So long as you’re disciplined and actually spend the time on it, you can do it. And it’s not particularly difficult. You just have to stick with it.”For Mitchell, who describes herself as a “professional procrastinator,” the contest is motivation to stick to a schedule.“You get this really big adrenaline rush throughout the whole month, and having 175 pages of words that you didn’t have before is pretty cool,” she said. “That’s what keeps me coming back.”While neither Mitchell nor Bernstein have approached publishers regarding their products, in the 10 years since the event started, about 30 past participants have had their work published, Mitchell said.But Mitchell said even if a participant’s work is never read, let alone finished, National Novel Writing Month allows the opportunity to work toward finishing a goal.“Even if you don’t win, it’s still a really great experience because you still have more of a novel than you did at the beginning of the month,” she said. “Getting anything written is good.”Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
On Saturday, the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels gave up a season-high 10 penalty corners and allowed nine shots, the most since yielding 13 from Wake Forest more than a month ago. But for the tenth time this season, they did not surrender a goal, extending their year-long unbeaten streak to 12 with a 4-0 win over No. 9 Boston College at Henry Stadium.The shutout is the Tar Heels’ ninth in a row, which ties an ACC record last achieved by the 2007 squad, which went undefeated on the way to the school’s fifth national championship. While Coach Karen Shelton noted that this year’s team does not have a player of the same caliber as 2007 National Player of the Year Rachel Dawson, she believes it may be a better team overall. “We don’t have the lone superstar but I think the strength and depth of the team might be a little bit better,” she said.This depth was on display Saturday afternoon. With starting keeper Jackie Kintzer out due to injury, second-string goalie Brianna O’Donnell gave an impressive performance, keeping the Eagles off the scoresheet with four saves.“We compete with each other in such a way that drives us both to newer levels,” said O’Donnell of her friendly rivalry with Kintzer.“I think that was the coolest thing of the day, just to see how equally the trust is distributed amongst everyone.”While defense was the theme of the afternoon, the UNC attack had a nice day for itself as well. The Tar Heels were particularly potent on penalty corners, something they have had trouble with this season.The home side scored all three of its first half goals off penalty corners — two from Melanie Brill and one from Illse Davids, who would tack on a second goal early in the second half.“I’m delighted with our penalty corner execution,” Shelton said. “To get three out of four in the first half, I was ecstatic. I felt like that was the difference in the game.”Though her team had not allowed a goal in its last 671 minutes of play, senior back Brill expressed a desire on Saturday to further limit opponents’ scoring opportunities in UNC’s game against Duke on Sunday.“Today we were off a little bit defending from the front to the back, which is what our team is generally known for,” Brill said.“I think overall we were just a little slow today, and tomorrow we’re going to really work on stepping it up and making it even better so that they don’t get any corners and any shots.”The Tar Heels will need that defensive execution down the stretch, as their final four games are all against ranked opponents, including eagerly anticipated contests with No. 3 Virginia and first-ranked Maryland.“Virginia is capable of beating our team, James Madison is, Old Dominion, Maryland certainly,” Shelton said.Still, Shelton believes her players need to focus on their own progress and not get caught up in worrying about their upcoming opponents.“We just want to get better,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of room for improvement, and I just want to keep pushing the girls there. My job is to not let them think that they’re better than they are.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
Corey Waters is one of thousands of high school teachers in North Carolina. However, his recent involvement with the Freedom Writers Foundation put him in a much smaller pool.Waters, a history teacher at Chapel Hill High School, is one of three N.C. teachers featured in the new book, “Teaching Hope: Stories From the Freedom Writer Teachers and Erin Gruwell.”The book is a compilation of stories from 150 teachers who have attended the Freedom Writers Institute in Long Beach, Calif.Waters was the first teacher selected from North Carolina to become a Freedom Writer teacher. He first attended the institute in the summer of 2007, along with 25 teachers from around the country.The week-long session was designed by Erin Gruwell, the original Freedom Writer teacher who inspired the 1999 book, “The Freedom Writer’s Diary,” and the 2007 movie based on the novel.“We went out there for a week to learn a lot of teaching methods strategies,” Waters said. “A lot of her methods are to empower students — to make them feel like they have a voice. The ultimate theme is enforcing teachers to be agents of change, as well as students, through their writing and will to excel in education.”Each of the Freedom Writer teachers was invited to contribute a story to “Teaching Hope.”Waters’ piece is based on his experience with a student in a summer program for at-risk students.He was working with a student who had recently lost his twin brother to gang violence. Around the same time, Waters’ own brother was in the hospital recovering from life-threatening injuries from random violence.The story centers on his relationship with this student as his “honorary brother,” and the experience of mentoring a student suffering from a loss.“I linked the fact that he had lost his brother, and really, I could have lost my brother like he had lost his at the time,” Waters said.The story of loss and connection between teacher and student is one of 150 in “Teaching Hope,” which was released Aug. 18.The book was a collaboration of teacher representatives from all 50 states, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The publication also commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the original Freedom Writers book.The stories of the book are arranged into sections which reflect stages teachers often go through during their careers — inspiration and motivation in the beginning, challenges that sometimes discourage, then rejuvenation after finding inspiration from their students, said Lisa Smith, speakers program coordinator for the Freedom Writers Institute.“These are teachers that are in the trenches every day with students at risk in the most low socioeconomic areas and they just have amazing stories,” she said.The institute’s goal was to train 150 teachers nationwide to represent the 150 original Freedom Writers. As of this fall, the Institute has accepted and trained 210 teachers.“We look for teachers who have shown a real dedication to their students, especially in the areas of promoting tolerance and supporting diversity or if they’ve used our material in the classroom,” Smith said.Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.