Charleston Currents

Focus

FOCUS: A nourishing rain of books for Charleston County

By Patty Bennett-Uffelman | A recent article about urban “book deserts” in the New York Daily News highlighted a universal challenge for low-income families with young children: limited access to books.

The article focused on urban areas where concentrations of poverty and changes in technology have led to the closure of book stores, but in Charleston, some of our driest book deserts are rural areas, where families may live miles and miles from the closest book store or library.

According to authors Naomi Moland and Susan Neuman, “Book deserts are particularly detrimental for young children. Babies and toddlers (who do not yet have access to books in schools) need to be surrounded by books to develop preliteracy skills. …

by Charleston Currents · 01/09/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Making Emanuels out of us all

By Marjorie Wentworth, contributing editor | The relatives and friends of the nine people murdered on June 17, 2015, are facing a second New Year’s without their loved ones.

The strength and dignity the bereaved have displayed during the killer’s trial is an extension of the goodness of those who died at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. And we all must keep telling their stories — to remind us of who they were and all that we could be.

by Charleston Currents · 01/02/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FANNING: The power of minding your own business

By Ben Fanning, contributing editor | I heard someone say, “It’s probably something tantric,” as I walked with my family into a tightly-packed pizza restaurant in San Francisco.

There was a couple sitting right next to us involved in a kiss that was so long I was concerned they might suffocate. The longer the kiss went on, the more people around the restaurant stared. Minutes passed and tension built. Is this even sanitary?

by Ben Fanning · 12/19/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Careers, Focus, Views

FOCUS: Charleston artisans celebrate Smithsonian’s newest museum

By Janie Manning, special to Charleston Currents | Local sweetgrass basket artist Tonya White of Mount Pleasant joins local jewelry designers in celebrating the opening of the National Museum African American History and Culture. After six years, they were extended an offer to share jewelry collections with the Smithsonian’s newest museum gift store and provide actual sweetgrass basket displays created by Tonya and her Charleston family.

by Charleston Currents · 12/11/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Win a boat and have fun at a great party on Saturday

Staff reports | It’s only a few days until one of the most unique and fun parties of the year – the Rotary Club of Charleston’s annual Light Up the Night Parade Party. It will be held Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Charleston Maritime Center where festive attendees have a front row view for the 2016 Charleston Parade of Boats.

In fact, the party is a two-fer. Not only can you enjoy great food and drinks with hundreds of holiday-goers for an affordable price, but you can buy a chance to win a brand new 18-foot Commander Sea Fox boat being raffled by the club. Cost? $100 per ticket (and tickets are limited!)

Buy tickets to the party ($25 for adults; $5 for kids under 18)

Buy a $100 raffle ticket to win the boat

by Charleston Currents · 12/05/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: A Hamilton walking tour of Charleston

By Andra Watkins, special to Charleston Currents | Most people associate Alexander Hamilton with New York, but his influence reached far beyond his adopted home state. Couple his reach with other characters from Hamilton: An American Musical on a future visit to historic Charleston, South Carolina.

A powerhouse of early America, Charleston rivaled Manhattan in size, money and influence. Its busy port was the first point of entry for many travelers to America, from foreigners seeking a fortune in the new world to Africans wrongly enslaved. Given the flood of people and commerce, Charleston was a hub for anyone after prosperity and power.

by Charleston Currents · 11/28/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Demand specifics, accountability on new road, greenbelt projects

By Natalie Olson, special to Charleston Currents | On Election Day, Charleston County residents voted to approve the proposed half-cent sales tax increase.

Leading up to the election, the Coastal Conservation League opposed this referendum because it lacks adequate safeguards to ensure that accountability and transparency are at the forefront of spending our tax dollars. There is no guarantee that the $2.1 billion generated by this tax increase over the next 25 years will indeed go towards high priority transportation projects aimed at relieving congestion and improving the quality of life for all residents throughout the county.

by Charleston Currents · 11/21/2016 · 3 comments · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Save the Charleston Naval Hospital Historic District

By Don Campagna, special to Charleston Currents | Following the Spanish-American War, the United States found itself in need of a global navy that could serve its new, far-flung empire.

In 1901, the decision was made to locate an East Coast base in Charleston and several Cooper River plantations, The Retreat and Marshlands, were purchased for that purpose. Work began almost immediately on the construction of a drydock and supporting trade shops. Additionally, a large coal-fired power steam plant in the Beaux Art style was built to provide electricity.

by Charleston Currents · 11/14/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Love letter to Charleston

By Derek Berry, special to Charleston Currents

Charleston’s got a spine worthy of worship.
Her teeth are corner-stores, crooked
and jammed. A fluorescent light is buried in her throat
beckoning us down from second-story porches.
She wants us to hold her hand,
to slip into something less comfortable,
a cotton shawl in the sultry shudder of summer night.
There is beauty in how she undresses
us with her humid tongue, how we return
to childlike abandon in her mouth.

by Palmetto Poem · 11/07/2016 · 2 comments · Features, Focus, Palmetto Poem

FOCUS: Yes, Tom, kids think about sex

By Meg Wallace, special to Charleston Currents | When referring to how students are taught reproductive health education in schools, Tom Ducker, a Charleston County School Board member, recently said to The Post and Courier, “This is not ‘games’. I believe when we do that [teach sex education], in order to gain or keep their interest, you’re also increasing their interest in sex. And I don’t think most middle schoolers are even thinking about sex.”

He was disparaging a piece of an evidence-based sex education curriculum that would teach middle school students about healthy relationships and birth control options, including the use of condoms. To be clear, I do not agree with his intended message, but I do have to agree on one point: the need for medically accurate, evidence-based comprehensive health education in South Carolina schools is not a game.

by Charleston Currents · 10/31/2016 · 2 comments · Focus, Good news