Charleston Currents

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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

GOOD NEWS: 4 meetings on tap for input on regional walk/bike plan

Staff reports | The Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments is hosting four public meetings to gather input for Walk + Bike BCD, the regional pedestrian and bicycle master plan. Three meetings are this week with a new one just added for North Charleston on Dec. 13.

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

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

GOOD NEWS: Seats going fast for Charleston Stage’s “White Christmas”

Charleston Stage’s heartwarming musical adaptation of “White Christmas,” based on the classic film featuring 17 Irving Berlin hit songs, follows the romantic and hilarious adventures of Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis who have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. Also in Good News: Nuncrackers, Underneath the Lintel, 2016 Angels, Charleston Southern grant, Charleston Museum’s blizzard exhibit.

by Charleston Currents · 11/21/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

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

GOOD NEWS: YALLFest comes to Charleston this weekend

Staff reports | YALLFest, the world’s largest Young Adult Book Festival, hits Charleston this weekend with more than 30 authors in town to tell stories, sign books and have fun with readers. Also in Good News: Kendra Hamilton to give a poetry reading; Harold Koon award nominations being accepted.

by Charleston Currents · 11/07/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

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

GOOD NEWS: New mystery has S.C. political connection from 200 years ago

Staff reports | A new mystery novel with political and historical connections to Hamiltonian days gone by will be available Nov. 1 when Charleston author Andra Watkins’ “Hard to Die” hits national bookstores.

Watkins, who is a New York Times bestselling author for a book chronicling her walk of the Natchez Trace, will offer remarks on the new novel at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at the main library on Calhoun Street in Charleston. She’ll make local history come alive by answering questions like: Where did George Washington have a drink? Did Aaron Burr visit a favorite haunt?

by Charleston Currents · 10/31/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

FOCUS: Daffodils to be planted Nov. 13 to remember holocaust

Staff reports | College of Charleston sophomore honors student Samantha Krantz is hoping to beautify the Charleston Holocaust Memorial in Marion Square by working Nov. 13 with volunteers to plant 1,800 daffodil bulbs as a living memorial.

You can join the effort at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 13 to remember the 1.5 million children who perished in the holocaust. The garden will be planted at the memorial, which was erected in 1999, “to remember those who were murdered in the Holocaust and to honor the survivors who came to South Carolina to rebuild their lives,” according to the college.

Krantz felt empowered to launch a living garden after discovering her family’s history with the holocaust, and traveling to Eastern Europe over the summer with College of Charleston Zucker/Goldberg Professor of Holocaust Studies Theodore Rosengarten, a press release said. Krantz is the recipient of the Klaper Fellowship in Jewish Studies, which charges recipients with bettering the Lowcountry.

by Charleston Currents · 10/24/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news