Enlarge Pastor Eason delivers a sermon to Grier Heights Presbyterian Church

Posted: March 29th, 2011 Carolyn Steeves

Last Sunday Pastor Steve Eason from Myers Park Presbyterian Church and Pastor Larry James from Grier Heights Presbyterian Church switched places as part of the Xchange Sermons program. While both churches are Presbyterian, their congregations could not be more different.

Myers Park Presbyterian has several outreach programs in the Grier Heights community. The two churches have crossed paths before, but this is the first time they have ever swapped pulpits. 

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Posted: March 29th, 2011 Greg Lacour

On an already gloomy Sunday afternoon, the lights inside the Lerner Center for Cultural Arts dimmed, and stories began unfolding on the big screen; stories of despair, encouragement, frustration and hope.

They were the four Crossroads Charlotte scenario movies that thousands across Charlotte have seen and pondered. On this day, March 27, they were finding a new audience – about 15 people at the Levine Jewish Community Center in South Charlotte, which showed the films and hosted a panel discussion afterward as an addendum to the Charlotte Jewish Film Festival.

“They did a really good job with the films – the production quality, the acting, making them come alive,” said Debby Block, the festival’s film curator. “They have a universal message that’s for everybody, whether you’re Jewish or not … ‘Help out your neighbors. Don’t be a bystander. It’s not about you, it’s about us.’ No one understands that better than the Jewish people.”

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Posted: March 26th, 2011 Lashawnda Becoats

On Wednesday, March 23, approximately 25 people gathered at UNC Charlotte's Student Union to talk about hair.

"Let’s Talk About It: I Am Not My Hair” was part of a series for students designed to discuss how different ethnicities deal with their hair. Hosted by slam poet and UNCC student Melissa Harris, the event featured panelists from different ethnic backgrounds: Jodi Turner and Katie Poff from UNCC's staff; students Melanie Rodriguez and Der Vang; and community member Trisha LeAnn.

The panelists talked about the challenges they’ve had with their hair, self-esteem and how misconceptions about their hair can affect how others view them. And that's really what the event was about -- not hairstyles alone but how they contribute to others' preconceptions about us and our preconceptions about each other. It was meant as a way to chip at those preconceptions.

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Posted: March 24th, 2011 Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman

What makes a person a friend instead of just an acquaintance? What do people in other countries think about friendship?

Those were just a couple of the questions covered in Crossroads' Bonds Across Ponds conversation about cross-cultural friendships on March 22. More than 30 people participated in the event, held at the McColl Center for Visual Arts.

The panelists were four well-traveled, knowledgeable multicultural experts: Dr. Roger Baumgarte, Lara Printz, Anthony Schrag and Loan Tran. (Read their bios here.)

During the conversation, it became clear that Americans and non-Americans have differing views of friendship. While Americans charm newcomers with our friendliness when they first arrive, after a while, said Baumgarte, a psychologist, people from other cultures find Americans "a little shallow" and "don't see us as being very friendly at all."

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