Charlotte Viewpoint - Archive No. 4 - Dec. 30, 2023

Letter from the Founder A new year is about to begin, and hope springs eternal in the world of sports. 'There's always next year' is an ancient rallying cry, surely going back to the Athenians and Spartans, and 2024 is days away.   Hope for success in the new year on the field or court is everywhere, even here in Charlotte. When it comes to the NFL and NBA, Charlotte hasn't exactly been TitleTown USA. In fact, you might say, Charlotte makes it possible for teams from other cities to become champions. We flirt with winning, but not for long. We have long stretches of misery and occasional moments of victory that give us joy.     In 2013, Ryan Pitkin, then a budding freelance journalist and now co-founder of Nerve Media and editor of Queen City Nerve, penned 'QC Sports: The Good, The Bad, The Unheard Of' for Charlotte Viewpoint. Pitkin wrote about the Hornets that had become the Bobcats becoming the Hornets again, the launch and promise of UNC Charlotte Niner football, and the fan-friendly Major League Lacrosse Charlotte Hounds (that ceased operating in 2018).     In this issue, you’ll also read an essay by Bobby Davis on love and basketball, a preview of a Charlotte Symphony Orchestra season by Corbie Hill, a poem about the memories we harbor by Ryan Scarberry, and see an artist gallery by Linda Louise Brown. In addition, as always in this newsletter, you’ll see links to four of our PDF magazines that showcase Op-Eds, photography, art, and poetry from past years.  Wishing you a happy new year, Mark Peres Charlotte Viewpoint Founder The Charlotte Center Founder & Executive Director From the Archive Photo by Charlotte Hornets QC Sports: The Good, the Bad, the Unheard of November 11, 2013 by Ryan Pitkin The dog days of summer in a city with no professional baseball team can make a sports fan feel sluggish. Panthers fans mark little red Xs on their calendars until training camp starts. Bobcats fans wander the streets, wondering when Michael Jordan will translate his on-the-court competitiveness into wins from the front office. This summer was different, however, and the effects of what took place will be felt around the Queen City for decades. Summer 2013 brought the culmination of a movement that grew from the grassroots of the long demolished Charlotte Coliseum, the biggest university in the city finally kicked off a long-awaited football season and a little-known team called The Hounds played in a lacrosse championship, the first professional sports team from Charlotte to do so since 2004. Keep Reading City Life From 2012: Of Love and Basketball by Bobby Davis Love is in the air. It’s basketball season, and two NBA players help define the complicated nature of love. Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic are the objects of public adulation, with the former embracing a new love and the other struggling with leaving one love for another. Read the Story Arts & Culture From 2016: Warren-Green Talks Symphony on Tap by Corbie Hill When a symphony says its upcoming season brings something new, that can be hard to quantify—"new" is subjective, right? When Charlotte Symphony Orchestra Music Director Christopher Warren-Green says that, however, he comes prepared with numbers. Read the Story Fiction & Poetry From 2013: Given by Ryan Scarberry It’s about The way the Riverbank Dances in the caves Of your nostrils Down in Southeastern Virginia And the feel Of the mountain air In Western North Carolina. It’s about the memories we harbor That still make us ache For something, Even if we don’t know what, Exactly. Read the Poem Artist Gallery From 2015: Linda Luise Brown by Linda Luise Brown Linda Luise Brown is a painter, writer and teacher, with more than 30 years experience as a professional artist and published writer in regional, national and international media. Linda is the author of four books, both fiction and nonfiction, which have been variously translated into Chinese, Japanese, and German. She holds an M.A. in Aesthetics from the University of Texas at Dallas and an M.F.A in Painting from the University of Oklahoma. Linda’s work hangs in private and corporate art collections across the nation, including Bank of America, the Federal Reserve, Commerzbank and IBM.  View the Gallery Read Past Issues October 2010 Issue May 2009 Issue November 2006 Issue December 2004 Issue About Charlotte Viewpoint Charlotte Viewpoint is a magazine about the city and culture of the Charlotte region that ran from 2003-2016. Charlotte Viewpoint published civic and cultural commentary and programmed events about Charlotte for engaged citizens to nurture creative capital, elevate civic discourse and promote intellectual and artistic excellence in the Charlotte region. Read More charlotteviewpoint.org brought to you by: You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the The Charlotte Center newsletter. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. We invite you to share this newsletter with a friend. Sign up for this newsletter here. Design by Maddy Stevens Charlotte Viewpoint has been archived by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room for its historical significance.