For many people, having a cultural center named after you is a crowning achievement that nothing could come close to equaling. And while Harvey Gantt has received many accolades during his 66 years, he is certainly honored and humbled by this unique honor. (See sidebar.) Yet at the end of our long interview...

Although I adore breakfast food, I rarely eat an actual breakfast. In the morning I crave only the most inelegant, unappealing pairing a culinarian could ever conjure: coffee and cigarettes. Until my smoker’s rights have been finally annihilated, I will continue savoring them both in respectable quantities. As...

At 7:50 p.m. on a Friday night, I sat second-guessing myself at a Charlotte bar. I waited nervously, drinking a pint of ice water, and wondered how I had gotten into this mess. I had graduated high school in 2004, thinking that I’d never look back on what, at the time, I considered to be some sort...

You’re out partying somewhere in the QC, and the inevitable occurs – it’s time to break the seal. Making your way through the crowd, you enter the bathroom and hope the line goes quickly so you can get back to your night. You finish your business, come out to wash your hands, and before you can...

I have a confession to make. I’ve missed a couple sessions with Chris Frye. I know, it’s bad. The missed workouts were for good reasons, or at least, good enough. One was because we were going to the Clemson football game in Death Valley, and the other because I had this magazine to get out the door....

I’m teaching Ben how to drive in his spotless car. Dust-free plastic flowers hang from the rear-view mirror. Catholic Social Services in Charlotte gave Ben the 15-year-old Volvo, so he could drive the other men in his family around.  Only 23, he must guide his older nephew as well as the younger. Ben...