Opinion
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OPINION: Why I’m Voting for Kamala Harris as a Small Business Owner
The past few years haven’t been easy. As a country, we emerged slowly and unevenly from a global pandemic. Wars rage overseas and tensions have been high here at home. On top of everything, a devastating natural disaster just ripped through the western part of our state. Through it all,…
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ESSAY: Project Safe Delivery and the Impacts of a Broken US Postal Service
As co-owner of a long-running Charlotte-based indie record label, Self Aware Records, what’s now known as “snail mail” still plays a critical role in my professional life. I tend to mail items on a near-daily basis and, over the last year, I noticed something about how my outgoing mail is…
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OPINION: We’re All Accountable for What’s Happening in Gaza
42,409. That is the number of people killed in Gaza as of Oct. 3, 2024. Forty-two thousand four hundred and nine. My third grader and her classmates are learning to write out large numbers in school, to help them develop what educators call number sense, an understanding for the scope…
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OPINION: There’s Still Time to Reverse Our Car Dependency
NASCAR. Daily traffic jams on Interstate 77. Getting stuck in school lines. Roads that intersect with roads of the same name. Charlotte is a car city. If you can afford a motor vehicle and are able to drive, it’s hard to imagine getting around without one. You may not be…
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OPINION: What’s at Stake for Marginalized Communities in the Coming Elections
As we prepare for another election where we will battle political powers that seek to undo so much of the progress of our forebears, with so many bills targeting LGBTQ rights in the United States, like the disciples of Jesus, there are many living in fear of unjust political powers.…
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Bojangles and the Threat Posed by Private Equity Pirates
Outside of the Charlotte Hornets, there is perhaps no local brand more revered than Bojangles, the regional fast food chain that opened its first location at the corner of West Boulevard and South Tryon Street in 1978. As local historians know, the restaurant was started by Jack Fulk in 1977.…
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Sam Ash, Gold Tone and the Importance of Neighborhood Music Shops
While perhaps expected in the wake of news about widespread closures up and down the East Coast, it was still jarring when confirmation came in May that Sam Ash Music would be closing all of its locations over the summer, with the Charlotte location expected to close by the end…
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OPINION: A Counterpoint to Andrew Walshver’s Recent Jewish Voice for Peace Op-Ed
Editor’s Note: The below op-ed was written by Queen City Nerve contributor Darrell Horwitz in response to another op-ed Queen City Nerve published that was written by Andrew Walshver of Jewish Voice for Peace Charlotte on May 24. Upon reading that op-ed, Horwitz reached out with his concerns. While we…
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OPINION: How I Went From the IDF to Jewish Voice for Peace
Andrew Walshver is a Charlotte resident and ex-Orthodox veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces who is now a member of the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. My name is Andrew Walshver, I’m 33 years old, and I’ve been living in Charlotte for the last eight years. I’m a…
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Paying Respects and Looking Forward on Workers Memorial Day
The following is an essay submitted by the local Charlotte-Metrolina Labor Council, one of nearly 500 state and local labor councils of the AFL-CIO, in the lead-up to this weekend’s Workers Memorial Day. April 28 is Workers Memorial Day, a day when working families, union members and labor leaders come…
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OPINION: Why a ‘Good Job’ Isn’t Good Enough
Imagine this: You’ve dedicated years to mastering a skill, building a career and providing for your family. Then, one day, you find yourself facing a layoff, uncertain about the future and what it holds. It’s a reality that many are grappling with in today’s ever-changing workforce landscape. The wave of…
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OPINION: NC Rep. Staton-Williams Says Her Abortion Wasn’t GOP’s Business
This week, the Supreme Court is hearing a case that could sharply curtail access to the abortion pill mifepristone. It is yet another example of judges and lawmakers making decisions about reproductive freedom, rather than medical professionals, women, and their families. Reproductive freedom is a deeply personal issue for me.…
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OPINION: Workers’ Compensation Should Cover CBD Oil
With hundreds of thousands of people dead and untold numbers of families destroyed in the wake of the opioid epidemic, cannabidiol (CBD) is proven as an “excellent alternative to an opioid in chronic pain” and is completely legal — yet it’s not clear if injured workers in North Carolina can access…
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OPINION: Do Not Nullify Charlotte’s Commitment to Vision Zero
The below is a letter from Sustain Charlotte executive director Shannon Binns to Charlotte City Council about discussions by the Transportation, Planning and Development Committee to potentially change the language in the city’s Vision Zero plan, offered for publication by Queen City Nerve as an open letter. Dear Council Members,…
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OPINION: Stop Calling Our Schools ‘Bad’
It’s lottery enrollment season for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) — that exceedingly fraught time of year when thousands of families cast lots as computers generate and spit out semi-random assignment lists that will determine their child’s educational fate. It is also the time of year when questions about schools pop up…
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ESSAY: How California Taught Me the Truth About Racism in the South
When I was 17 years old, my mother packed up a few belongings into my uncle’s Suburban and loaded me, my brother and sister into the car to drive the eight or so hours from upstate South Carolina to Washington, D.C. Having grown up a military brat, I’d spent my…
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