On this episode of CoastLine we talk with Sculptor Stephen Hayes about his mission: to make Black bodies more human in the eyes of the world. The Cameron Art Museum commissioned a work from Hayes to commemorate a group of unsung African-American heroes: the United States Colored Troops who fought the Battle of Forks Road on the current site of the CAM. It's a skirmish that led to the fall of Wilmington and ultimately, the end of the Civil War. Our conversation with Hayes can be hard to hear sometimes due to our remote Zoom recording, but it's worth fighting through.

As we head into the fall and winter with a pandemic still raging, local arts leaders are planning plenty of in-person entertainment and putting safety protocols in place. But some touring artists are demanding even stricter rules compared to the venues — requiring proof of vaccination only or shorter windows for negative Covid test results.

You might recognize the name Randy Sturgill from local news stories about offshore drilling and seismic testing. He is often credited with mobilizing the grassroots movement against such activities – causing hundreds of municipalities along the Eastern seaboard to sign resolutions opposing oil and gas exploration offshore. But Randy Sturgill didn't come from a family that engaged in environmental advocacy. Rather, he grew up in the living quarters of the Harnett County jail, and not because he broke any laws. His father was the Chief Deputy Sheriff and the Sturgill family lived on the grounds of the jailhouse. It was the prisoners that taught Randy how to play cards and lectured him about the importance of living a better life than the ones they had chosen.

Alonzo Bodden is known and loved by NPR listeners around the globe as a frequent panelist on the comedy news quiz show, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! But his own standup comedy lives in the tension between light jokes and the heavier, more depressing news of the day. He's a self-described news junkie who might be losing his tolerance for the same old storyline. And his jokes on letting the younger generation take over, well, that's where it goes dark... Listen to this episode for context.

In what the Southern Environmental Law Center calls “an abrupt reversal in decades of policy and practice,” the Corps now plans to allow hopper dredging year-round at Wilmington and Morehead City Harbors. That includes, according to the SELC, the height of turtle nesting season and times of year when many fish are in young sensitive life stages. So far, the decision has led to at least four sea turtle deaths in North Carolina. But the Corps argues year-round flexibility will offer efficiency, taxpayer cost-savings, and a more navigable channel.

More than 120 years after Wilmington's coup d'état targeting Black elected officials and citizens, historians, researchers, and genealogists are still piecing together what the 19th century port city was like, who the victims of 1898 were, and where their surviving family members migrated to rebuild their lives.

Live comedy is about to emerge from its period of brumation. The expanded Dead Crow Comedy Showroom is now part of Lush, a 7-day-a-week bar and beer garden, with a separate Comedy Showroom. Comedians are returning to the Wilmington area. Local comedians are stepping back on the stage. But how different will comedy be during what is still a worldwide pandemic? And how rusty are comedians?

Black bears, feral swine, alligators, and snakes — venomous and nonvenomous — are living in the Cape Fear region. There's nothing to fear from the local wildlife, say state biologists, but there's a lot to learn.

John Bare's wife, Betsy, was one of more than six-hundred-thousand Americans who lost their life to Covid-19. After her death in 2020, Bare finished his first novel, began making ceramic pieces of pie in honor of her, and decided to share his grief through art — and an exploration of vulnerability.

When we talk about LGBTQ issues, it’s the T that we often leave out of the discussion. That’s at least in part because the Ts are a minority even inside the community. But are they small in number because they’re small in number – or because it’s a much harder road to take? On this third edition of Queer in the Cape Fear, we’re seeking to do a better job of understanding the T. What does it really mean to be transgender?