Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Random Fact About Me

I feel as if I've been AWOL from my blog for a while. I've just been trying to get over this nasty cold or whatever it is that I have. Beginning to get worried over the amount I've been sleeping, I decided to call my mother and ask her what was wrong with me. She said that when I was a baby, I was really easy to take care of because I was always sweet. (Of course!) Oh, and she also said that when I would get sick I would just sleep and sleep until I was well again. So I guess I've reverted to my childhood and am sleeping away the germs.

The other wierd thing about me and being sick is that whenever I am sick, everything smells bad. Really really bad! It's disgusting, and it drives me crazy. I'm tired of being sick, and just want things to be normal again. Okay, I'll stop talking about being sick now. Maybe that will be the first step toward normalness. Or using words that are really words.

The good news is that somehow in between naps on Sunday I wrote a 15-page paper! It was due today, and when I reread it this morning, it seemed to make sense. I hope my teacher thinks so. Now I've got another one due in about a week, so there's no rest for the weary.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's some news!

Art gallery to leave Eastgate after 18 years

BY DANIEL GOLDBERG : The Herald-Sun dgoldberg@heraldsun.com

Feb 27, 2008

CHAPEL HILL -- Somerhill Gallery, a mainstay of Eastgate Shopping Center for 18 years, is leaving the center, and possibly Chapel Hill.

Owner Joe Rowand received a notice that his lease was being terminated by center owner Federal Realty two weeks ago. "There was no rationale given," Rowand said Tuesday of the notice, which gave him 45 days to vacate the location. "It was a three-paragraph notice of termination. If you dig deeper, there are other merchants here that have been told they are not being renewed."

Attempts to confirm that other leases had been terminated were unsuccessful Tuesday. Calls to Rockville, Md.-based Federal Realty were not returned.

Eastgate recently underwent an extensive facelift that included a new façade, broadening of sidewalks and alterations to the parking lot. New stores have been added or are on the way, including Trader Joe's, Ace Town and Country Hardware and Starbucks.

In addition to the challenges presented by a relatively short timeline, Rowand said it would be difficult to find a replacement space for his gallery, which features two levels, five separate gallery spaces, maple floors and skylights.

Traditionally, art galleries around the country have moved into low-rent parts of town abandoned by industrial tenants, molding the space for new purposes and making the surrounding neighborhood more desirable, Rowand said. He added that Chapel Hill didn't have much space that fit that description.

Rowand noted that Durham had renovated several buildings for similar uses in recent years.

"Chapel Hill has been very good to me," Rowand said of the 35 years since he founded the gallery in the Straw Valley complex near Interstate 40. "I have been in this town for a long time, and it saddens me that I may have to leave just because there isn't the space that I need here. There have been many kindnesses of people who have called to say, 'What about this or what about that,' but art galleries through history cannot afford spaces in the best part of town."

Chapel Hill Economic Development Officer Dwight Bassett has been working with Rowand to keep the gallery in town. Bassett acknowledged that Somerhill Gallery was a tough fit; he said the list of available spaces had been narrowed to three.

"I have personally called everyone that has space, and I have presented [Rowand] with as many options as I can, and continue to work with him," Bassett said. "We're doing everything that we can within reason to maintain his interest here."

Bassett said Somerhill Gallery was "part of the Chapel Hill flavor that we need to retain."

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