Durham bon vivant and insider, Chris Vitiello, and I started sitting down for conversations at Cocoa Cinnamon a couple weeks ago. Vitiello is such a diverse, knowledgeable, fun guy to talk to — you will hear me struggle to give his bio herein– we decided to start taping these conversations.

We have set our “Sights on the City.” As we are just starting out we are unsure where our production will go. We both love Durham. We both have lived here for a combined more than thirty years. Our pal, filmmaker, Josh Hardt is shooting the production.

As we expand and expound on our idea, it is possible we will go on location to follow some of these Durham stories. Our town is at the center of a cultural whirlwind, change is coming, so many artists, so many thinkers, so many developers, diverse agents of change. What’s next and Where do we go from here are the questions on all our minds.

I have been pondering this kind of policy wonkery since I was a high school debater in New Jersey. I have been writing about it on these pages for over six years. Vitiello, with over twenty-years as a Durham denizen, is a poet, a teacher, a curator, and first-rate thinker who writes about art, music, hockey and more.

We hope you enjoy.

Special thanks to Cocoa Cinnamon for the delicious coffee and the terrific atmosphere.