Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah officially began on Sunday night, and Cabarrus County's only Jewish congregation, Temple Or Olam, celebrated with a party. Below, 5-year-old Caleb Malin lights the menorah with help from his father Judah.

Estelle Wiley has been registering voters for about 50 years

Now the 89-year-old wants to get to Barack Obama's inauguration. Hear her talk about her experiences as an African-American in the South and her work to register Kannapolis' voters.

14-year-old cuts jazz album...

... and it's pretty good.

Steven Vaughn Ray is a freshman at Northwest Cabarrus High School and traveled to France for a weekend to cut his first jazz album. He had his CD release party at Midtown Sundries in Cornelius.

Brooklyn bridge

Cannon School students attempt to break Guinness record for stacking

This video was produced for IndependentTribune.com. Cannon school students participated in the World Sports Stacking Association's third annual Stack Up!, in which students stacked 12 cups in different formations against a clock or in a team relay. The event sought to win the "World's Largest Sports Stacking Event" title in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Obama campaigns in Charlotte the night before the election

Video: Barack Obama stops in Charlotte the day before the election

The day before being elected president, Sen. Barack Obama made a campaign stop in Charlotte, N.C. at UNC-Charlotte. The A.P. reported that 25,000 people attended Obama's second to last rally before election day. While N.C. has not been claimed either a red or blue state, Obama has claimed 62% to Sen. John McCain's 37.5% of Mecklenburg County's votes.

Kannapolis' last faces of segregation

photos by James Nix

"The Miss Kannapolis float is one of the firsts to pass in the Christmas parade. A short time later the A.L. Brown Marching Band will make its way down Main Street, blowing John Phillip Susa marches while keeping perfect form. It was the tradition.

George Washington Carver High School performed near the end of the cavalcade. Their presence was a crowd favorite and they practiced more than normal to keep expectations high. The low-hanging midmorning sun cast shadows as large as the egos of the drum lines.

Drummers riff on complex syncopated rhythms while the majorettes throw their batons higher than they ever did in practice and catch them without looking up.

Audience members bundled up in their wearing heavy winter coats move with the beats, applauding uproariously and cheering madly.

Moments later, cleaning crews hired by the Cannon Mills Company begin sweeping up the streets and the crowd dissolves. The all-black G.W. Carver band, wearing beaming smiles on top of their white and blue uniforms, puts away their equipment and push down the last remaining anxiety about their performance.

This will be the first and last time a white audience applauds them this year, because in 1960 Kannapolis, blacks sit in the backs of restaurants, enter through a separate door at the mill and go to black only dentists. The races rarely interact unless there’s a downbeat.

But that was 1960. "

-Josh Lanier, Independent Tribune

This was my first big multimedia project for the Independent Tribune. I'm really proud of it- in one week, we interviewed 9 alumni of Carver High, the last all-black school in Kannapolis, about their experiences during segregation, racism today and Barack Obama.

Spirit Talk

Amanda Greene, our religion reporter, and I have been working on a piece called Spirit Talk. The second part in the two-part series will be about unconscious moments of divine intervention: falling out (when some one falls to the ground uncontrollably), speaking in tongues, spontaneous crying, dancing, singing or prophesying.

Eddie Deaver

Chrissy's dad, Eddie, rockin' out with some classic rock at Open Mic night at 16 Taps. It's the second time in a week after a 5 year hiatus. Chrissy cajoled him into starting to play again.

East Coast Wahine Surf Tourney

Women of all ages were welcomed Sunday, August 17, 2008 to compete in the East Coast Wahine Surf Tournament at Wrightsville Beach.

Myrtle Grove All-Stars will represent N.C. at Little League Regionals

The Myrtle Grove All-Stars won the N.C. Little League Tournament and will represent the state this week in Florida for a chance at the Little League Southeast Region title.

Behind the Scenes at the N.C. Aquarium

Heather Gaunt does some coral maintenance in the Cape Fear Shoals Exhibit at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

Best of Boxing

Lateisha Darden is one of the few female boxers in Wilmington. She wakes up each morning during the summer to train and practices each evening during the school year.

Riding for Charity

Doris Eakes is the founder and president of Trinity Children Foundation and is organizing the third annual motorcycle ride to benefit the foundation.

Reef/Sweetwater Pro-Am Surf Fest

This 14-year-old was super intense... and from New Jersey- my very own home state!

Rugby

Washington-Irish Rugby Football Club's Andrew Kempe struggles to hold onto the ball while being tackled by Cherry Point Rugby's Tommy Anderson during the Social Second Flight final game Sunday, July 6, 2008 during the Cape Fear Sevens Tournament at Ogden Park. Cherry Point won the game.

Charleston holgas

NYC holgas

Kids Making It woodworking program

Kids Making It is a non-profit program that teaches local teens how to woodwork in an effort to keep them off the streets and teach them basic business principles.

Fort Fisher for fun

Lately, I love black and white

Teddy Burgh, a local jazz flutist/saxophonist.

Habitat's Builders' Blitz

Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity built 3 houses in one week.

Taxidermist video

Ahh, memories

I was looking through my China pictures and found this one- all of these bicycle rickshaws are lined up near Beijing's hutongs-- small neighborhood alleyways right on the river.

High school baseball

Wrightsville Beach

Circle of Blue

Yamdrok Lake, Tibet

published by Circle of Blue: http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/world/china-tibet-and-the-strategic-power-of-water/

Possible blueberry closing

The Castle Hayne Research Station creates 90 percent of the varieties of blueberries in the world. A legislative staff report recommends closing seven of the state-run stations, including the Castle Hayne station. These blueberries, shot May 7, 2008, will be ripe in June.

Aerials of the USS North Carolina

Hillary Clinton visits Wilmington

Skateboarding at Azalea Fest

I may or may not have fallen off the halfpipe, sliding down on my butt and stopping the whole show to a cheer of, "let's hear it for the Star-News lady!"

37th Frame

"The 37th Frame is an annual juried exhibition of Carolina student photojournalism. This year 500 submissions were received. The top 50 images and five photo stories will be exhibited in Carroll Hall, on the Garden Level, beginning April 9, and ending May 12. " Come see some of my pics!

Fire

Right when I was about to leave for the weekend on Thursday, there was a fire downtown. The house was abandoned, so no one was hurt.

Holgas!

From my first ever roll of Holga medium format film!