Erik Beene

I’ve been thinking a lot the past couple of days about my own “end of the beginning.” I’m not referring to war or great struggle unless that’s how you view life itself. No, I’ve come to the end of my beginning as it were. Adulthood has finally reared its ugly head in full force.

Going to the University of Phoenix: UNC Edition has been an experience.

As I mentioned earlier this week, NSAC didn’t end for us on March 31st. We still had one major part of the project left to complete: the pitch. Usually, this is a big affair. There are weeks to prepare for the pitch, late-night rehearsals, practices in front of focus groups, the whole shebang. This year we have about 24 hours.

So, it’s been a minute since I last posted. I meant to come back on March 15th. Then the world decided to flip upside down on all of us. With the rise of COVID-19 life as we know it has been disrupted in ways almost none of us have experienced before. Yet, amid all the chaos, NSAC.

I love to travel. Seeing new places and meeting new people are some of my favorite things to do. But as anyone who has ever traveled can tell you, it’s exhausting. That’s why I’m excited I get to spend my spring break in one place – my couch. Traveling is one of the best and… Continue reading The Power of the Staycation

The 31 days which are lucky enough to be in the month are host to some of the greatest games of basketball all year. Dreams are realized and broken in equal measure. dominate teams crack early and Cinderella stories capture the public imagination.

Public transit is especially important for UNC students here in Chapel Hill. In 2015, over 50 percent of students reported they used Chapel Hill Transit buses to get to class. With such a large percentage of students depending on the buses, any change in service is a big deal.

Snow days as a kid were great. The whole experience was an adventure. You’d wait up watching the news with your parents to see if the school district had closed yet. You’d do a snow dance, hope, pray, anything to get you out of going to class the next day. And then finally – if you’d danced, hoped, or prayed hard enough – you’d get a phone call from the school district announcing they had canceled classes.

A year-long saga filled with scandals, resignations, and finger pointing didn’t have to exist. In fact, I’d counter most of the problems facing Johnston County Public Schools are due to the lack of quality journalism in the county.