“Poetry is a transformative art form that compels people to think, to reflect and to engage. ” More from Mohammad Moussa.

“It is an exploration of my life through the whirlwind of hip-hop and poetry. ” More from Kane Smego.

“Spoken word poetry and oral storytelling are at the core of what it means to be human.” More from Will McInerney.

Enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at the making of our magazine cover in this photo shoot for “Carolina’s Human Heart: Living the Arts and Humanities,” featuring assistant professor of music Cherie Ndaliko and spoken word poet Will McInerney.

“The South in Color” completes an informal trilogy that Bill Ferris began with “Give My Poor Heart Ease” and “The Storied South.” The earlier works featured his black-and-white photographs of Southern musicians and writers; this is his first book of color photographs.

The road to the White House is usually rocky. But this time the pavement has been split wide open by extreme polarization — and not just between Democrats and Republicans. The landscape within the parties has also fractured into the mainstream and the mavericks.

These stories show how creativity gets our gears going — how the art of making and creating is valuable to the work of faculty, students and alumni across the arts, humanities and sciences.

The Process Series, which just finished its eighth season, is a very different kind of performance series. Think of it as an arts laboratory, an incubator where works-in-progress are shown to an audience, often for the first time.

To see the stars, sometimes you have to start in the basement.

UNC public policy professor Ashu Handa learned an early lesson about poverty that inspires his research and field work around the world.