Daily and Weekly Features Archives

On the Porch: Nora Gaskin – Conjuring Crime Stories

Posted by Aaron Johnson | Jun 21, 2026 | On The Porch

This Week:

Author Nora Gaskin is a lifelong resident of the Durham-Chapel Hill area. Her latest is novel is “Lammie Loves Cubby”. Nora has a bachelor’s degree in English with Honors in Creative Writing from UNC, and a Masters in English from the University of Washington in Seattle. She spent over 24 years as a stockbroker and financial advisor in the Durham office of a major investment firm. She retired in 2005 to focus on writing. She is the publisher at Lystra Books and Literary Services and the author of three novels and one nonfiction book. She lives and writes in Chatham County, inspired by her native landscape, her husband, and dogs. Her favorite word is “gratitude.”

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Judy Miller’s Not Ready for the Farm: All’s Well That “Endswell”

Posted by Staff | Jun 20, 2026 | Not Ready For The Farm

This week – Judy and Jess sit down with Hunter Beattie of Endswell Funeral Home to explore how a moment of reflection sparked by Desmond Tutu led him to a complete rethinking of modern death care. Hunter shares the origin story behind Endswell and what it means to be a “modern” funeral home, grounded in sustainability, transparency, and more human-centered practices.

Not Ready for the Farm is proudly presented by: Purple Puddle, Clarity Legal Group, Health Source Chiropractic, HOPE Renovations, and The 79°West Innovation Hub.

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Exploring Your Creative Genius: Refreshing and Boosting Your Creativity

Posted by Carl Nordgren | Jun 17, 2026 | Columns, Exploring Your Creative Genius, Town Square

This week’s show offered a collection of creativity tips you can leverage easily for a nice creative boost. At the end of the show I talked about open-endedness. Let’s revisit it with a focus on children in the 6 to 10 age range.

On the Porch: Steven Fenberg – What Funded America’s Infrastructure?

Posted by Aaron Johnson | Jun 14, 2026 | On The Porch

This Week:

Writer Steven Fenberg discovered Jesse Jones was reputedly the most powerful person in the nation next to President Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II. As chairman of the federal government’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)—the nation’s indispensable infrastructure bank—Jones initiated and managed massive New Deal agencies that saved and expanded the nation’s economy and then shifted the RFC’s priority from domestic economics to global defense to fight and win WWII. Fenberg told this remarkable story as executive producer and co-writer of the Emmy Award winning documentary film “Brother, Can You Spare a Billion?” that was narrated by Walter Cronkite and broadcast nationally on PBS. Fenberg then wrote the biography “Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good.”

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Judy Miller’s Not Ready for the Farm: Stop Senior Scams

Posted by Staff | Jun 13, 2026 | Not Ready For The Farm

This week – Scammers are getting smarter and increasingly targeting older adults — but you can stay one step ahead. In this episode, we sit down with Amy Nofziger from the AARP Fraud Watch Network, who brings 20+ years of experience helping victims and tracking emerging scams. She breaks down the most common schemes hitting seniors today, how criminals use emotional manipulation and even AI-generated voices, and how you can spot a scam before it happens. You’ll also learn exactly what to do if you or a loved one falls victim, plus the free resources available to help protect your family. This episode also includes bonus radio content, a compelling interview with Chapel Hill Police Chief Celisa Lehew weighing in on the topic. This is an essential conversation to share with anyone at risk.

Not Ready for the Farm is proudly presented by: Purple Puddle, Clarity Legal Group, Health Source Chiropractic, HOPE Renovations, and The 79°West Innovation Hub.

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Exploring Your Creative Genius: Back to The Beginning

Posted by Carl Nordgren | Jun 10, 2026 | Columns, Exploring Your Creative Genius, Town Square

I occasionally rerun shows and this week’s was the very first show I did for WCHL. I hadn’t listened to it since it was posted on Chapelboro.com over 4 years ago. Perhaps you’ll be able to tell that I wrote and read a script for this show.

On the Porch: Terri Mitchell – Mentoring Women in Tech

Posted by Aaron Johnson | Jun 7, 2026 | On The Porch

This Week:

Terri Mitchell is the founder of Accelerate Success, a program to help women develop the confidence, skills, and networks needed to thrive in STEM careers. She is a former IBM executive with more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry. Starting as a graduate of Le Moyne College with a degree in Computer Science, she held leadership roles across hardware, software, and systems businesses, culminating in her role as Vice President and IBM Integration Executive. Following her retirement from IBM in 2018, Terri became a founding member of Triangle Women in STEM and began the Accelerate Success program.

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Exploring Your Creative Genius: Ballads, Narratives and Power

Posted by Carl Nordgren | Jun 3, 2026 | Columns, Exploring Your Creative Genius, Town Square

In 1703 Andrew Fletcher, a Scottish politician and patriot, wrote “If a man were permitted to make the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.”

On the Porch: Carl Nordgren – Creativity Can Unite US

Posted by Aaron Johnson | May 31, 2026 | On The Porch

This Week:

Carl Nordgren is a best-selling novelist, a teacher, and an imaginal cell. After 25 years as an entrepreneur, he taught Creativity at Duke for 14 years. He’s a two-time TEDx speaker and hosts the weekly radio show ‘Exploring your Creative Genius’ on 97.9 The Hill. His calling is to help each of us and all of us grow our creative capacities and develop our entrepreneurial instincts and behaviors, a calling that informed his book “Becoming a Creative Genius (again)”. His new book, “Common Ground for US” continues that work and offers new perspectives on governance and policy making for political and community leaders. You can attend his book launch event at Golden Fig Books in Carrboro on June 4, by clicking the show title above.