Pamir Kiciman

Discover how Kelariz Keshavarz and the NEFES Ensemble are championing multicultural music and expanding contemporary flute repertoire in a captivating performance at UNC-Chapel Hill and beyond. 🎶 My latest: dub.sh/KeshavarzNEFES

The Olympics are ditching PFAS waxes — and the ‘ridiculous’ speed they gave skiers A key source of speed is gone, as concerns over toxic “forever chemicals” reshape Olympic skiing and the science behind winning on snow.

This week's high octane ski races have a unique environmental backstory: They're the first Olympic races without fluoro waxes -- a source of speed, and of PFAS contamination https://bit.ly/4qeunSj

World-class music in small-town Carrboro, NC. My latest: dub.sh/ARTEMISArtsC... NASA’s Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the moon. It's also an inspiration for Pauchi Sasaki’s nontraditional opera, ARTEMIS, which had a one-night-only stellar showing on Saturday at the ArtsCenter.

Chapel Hill! Through Feb 15. Highly recommended! Excerpt from my latest review: "Despite weather interruptions, Wednesday’s rescheduled opening night at PlayMakers was a delightful display of naturalistic acting, flawless transitions on a set of clever, diminutive buildings. dub.sh/PrimaryTrust...

Happy to write about this and put a spotlight on the Carolina Prison Music Initiative from UNC's Mark Katz. dub.sh/CPMI The initiative utilizes music instruction, songwriting, and training in music-related skills to facilitate successful re-entry into society.

Photo of a Steinway piano at Moeser Auditorium for a presentation of Bartok's music at UNC-Chapel Hill

My latest review is about "Music of Bartók" in UNC-Chapel Hill Music Department's concert series. Opening the first half with Janáček’s Violin Sonata & Ginastera’s Pampeana No. 1 and presenting Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110 by Bartók in the second. dub.sh/BartokUNCMusic

Quilt design as branding for the Carrboro Film Fest by Izzy Nunez

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐦 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭 dub.sh/CFF2026preview JAN 23-25.

#localjournalism #artsjournalism #filmfest #indiefilms #southern #thesouth #trianglenc #carrboro #carrboronc #filmreviews #filmnews

Winter solitude —
In a world of one color
The sound of wind.

— Bashō

#haiku #haikuoftheday

My latest 🎸 𝐀 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥: 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐭𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞 🎄

👀 dub.sh/SCOTSCatsCra... 👀

Music review from Carrboro, North Carolina. 📸 Pamir Kiciman

In my latest, I visited with 4️⃣ artists on the annual Chatham Studio Tour 🎨. The open studio tour is the third in the state to have launched and this is its 33rd year. dub.sh/ChathamStudi...

woke to a dark mist
winter morning trees like ghosts—
coffee with no lights

Literally did not want it to get light. Now that it has, the mist is still gorgeous!

#haiku #haikuoftheday

My book review and author interview.

This is a compelling read. The poems tend to linger. The collection is a slow boil at the end of which, the reader gets a full picture of a life. These are personal poems and immediately, you want to read them again.

Link 🔗 dub.sh/SingingRipti...

Visited 4️⃣ artists last Saturday to write about this year's Open Studio Tour. One more weekend, this Saturday & Sunday in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough. dub.sh/StudioTour2025

My latest is a photo essay about the Hook & Line - Thompson Music & Arts Heritage Festival, last Saturday in Mebane, featuring Rhiannon Giddens. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐰, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐨, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐨𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐨𝐤 & 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 🪕 dub.sh/HookAndLine2... 🪕

My latest - a 📸 photo essay with artist descriptions and storytelling copy. dub.sh/CMF2025

#musicjournalism #localjournalism #photojournalism

My new piece is an interview with Joseph Megel about his 18 years founding and leading The Process Series: New Works in Development at UNC-Chapel Hill and a preview of its current season which opens Sept. 19! dub.sh/MegelProcess...

My latest 🎭review: "A Good Boy" by Lynden Harris at PlayMakers Repertory Company at UNC-Chapel Hill. dub.sh/AGoodBoy All about the suffering of everyone in the carceral system, not only those with sentences or on death row.

Some positive news for Orange County, NC which suffered substantial damage from the floods of Chantal. My update on this massive display of public art for 22 days in August! thelocalreporter.press/floodwaters-...

A Butterfly
Poised on a tender orchid,
How sweetly the incense
Burns on its wings.

— Bashō

Haiku from his "The Record of a Weather-exposed Skeleton" A haibun account of Bashō's first major journey in the final years of his life.

#haiku #haikuoftheday

📰 My sad scoop. Visited Orange County Arts Commission Tuesday for this photo essay, spoke with its director, and highlighted how valuable OCAC is and how much it represents the arts in Orange County, NC, with all the good that happens at Eno Arts Mill. thelocalreporter.press/orange-count...

They swallow clouds
and spit out blossoms—
the Yoshino Mountains.

—Buson

#haiku #haikuoftheday

Maybe because I miss the sea/ocean & it's summer, but this one hits hard today:

The spring sea rising
and falling, rising
and falling all day.

— Buson

#haiku #haikuoftheday

Along the shore
mixed with small shells,
petals of bush clover.

— Bashō

#haiku #haikuoftheday

Fresh, my latest! As I wrote at the end, "“Radical Clay” is unforgettable and a must-see. It’s on view through August 31 at Ackland Art Museum, UNC-Chapel Hill." This exhibition & writing about it took me on a whole journey that's only just begun! dub.sh/RadicalClay

For what does the writer have but some black markings on a blank page to imagine a world? Hence these lines from the splendid Florentine poet Guido Cavalcanti:

We are the poor, bewildered quills,
The little scissors and the grieving penknife.

— Edward Hirsch

A cicada shell;
it sang itself
utterly away.

— Bashō

#haiku

"... learn about poetry from the poem..."

— Edward Hirsch

Three Poems by Carla Sarett Unsent Postcard I own too many heirloom timepieces like the broken grandfather clock, it never strikes the hour properly, it lags a minute then longer so by mid- summer 9 a.m. it might be any hour.…

Some new poems of mine here, including one of my Dickens centos.
januaryhouselit.com/2025/05/29/t...

My latest review! Private Cathedral's self-titled debut album is a hit & 100% original! High level musicianship & songwriting/lyrics, danceable & catchy, yet complex & substantive. Art-pop/chamber pop. And a DIY miracle with a tiny label that signed them. Read the whole thing dub.sh/PCDebutAlbum...

The highlighted lines!!!