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John Hagerty is the creative type.

Though best known for his portrayal of the lovable yet miserly Ebenezer Scrooge in his own musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, David has plenty to be happy about.   For one “Hallo-Giving-Mas” is on the way.  “That’s what we – the cast and crew - celebrate once rehearsals start.”  And two; he’s not in heels.  “My hat’s off to women for walking around in those things.  I know how difficult it is.” <!--StartFragment-->

In his thirty year tenure at Theatre In The Park, David has sparked a resurgence in The Bard, been voted Best Local Actor in dozens of public opinion polls, presented three keys to the City of Raleigh and received The Order of The Long Leaf Pine (one of the highest honors this state can bestow on its citizens).  Those are pretty ambitious accolades for a man who’s most comfortable in tights and long knickers.

Le Tour de Femme is an all woman bicycle race riding out of Cycling Spoken Here in Cary on Oct. 10 this year.

The event, which raises funds for the Livestrong Foundation and the Rex Hospital Angel Fund was the brainchild of seven members of a cycling club: Ron Hamner, Liz Hamner, Dave Goodall, Jen Goodall, Adam Perez, Melissa Perez and Marcee Vanore. They wanted to make a difference in the community and they knew they could do it on their bicycles.

Four years ago, when it started, 70 women rode and raised $15,000. Last year, there were 205 women from 10 different states and they raised $50,0000.

Check the event out at www.letourdefemme.org.

Ron and Dave talk about the event and what it means to them in this Q&A with skirt!

“I am a feminist because women maintain life’s balance. While womanhood often seems contrary to manhood, life without women is like rhyme without reason, yin without yang, ebb without flow. Societies that are partial to one gender over the other are like a human balancing on one leg.”


Mike Wright Colopy is a bio-statistician with GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park. Every day, he reads numerical data, analyzing trends and finding patterns to assist in medical research for the pharmaceutical giant.
He also volunteers for Fit and Able Productions, the fitness-promoting nonprofit started by his energetic wife, Alisa, who describes him without hesitation as a feminist.

“I asked her, ‘Why do you say that?’ and she said to me that I support her in all her interests and pursuits as fully as I do my own,” he says. “And I guess I do.”

He runs down the list, just as Alisa has obviously done before he met with skirt! to talk about feminism and their lives.

“I support her in being an athlete, teacher, coach and community volunteer whose objective is excellence. She is an Iron Man triathlete. I don’t feel less of a man because she has achieved that,” he says.

“I’m a feminist because I want my daughter, Jacqueline, to have the same opportunities in life as her three brothers. I want all of my children to enjoy the type of equal partnership I have with their mom, my wife, Laura. I want them to enjoy equity.”

Dominick DiGirolamo is surrounded by women.

There’s the woman he married, Laura, his partner in life and business. The women who work with them at Forever Bridal and the Triangle Bridal Association. And there are the brides … the mothers of the brides … the mothers of the grooms … the attendants … the flower girls …

You get the idea. Dom is a guy in a woman’s world, and he’s perfectly comfortable with how that has all worked out for him.

“I am surrounded by women in our industry and I love what we do. Our job is to help educate the bride about services, to educate her about the difference between what something costs and what its real value is. This is a passion-driven industry and most of the people I know love what they do,” he says.

As the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh celebrates its 20th anniversary, David Reese, vp of food distribution and recovery, praises the work done by staff and volunteers to help redirect food destined for waste to the hungry.

In 1989, the agency, founded by Maxine Solomon and Jill Staton Bullard, recovered 624 pounds of food, served one agency with one donor and one truck.

In 2009, Inter-Faith recovered 5.8 million pounds of food, served 151 agencies with 233 major donors and 11 vehicles. They help people in seven counties – Edgecomb, Nash, Johnston, Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham.

“We do it with volunteers. We have 33 to 35 staff members, but we have 1,000 volunteers,” David says. “Good food doesn’t belong in landfills. We have a responsibility to get it to the people who need it most.”

The agency gives second chances to people from the federal prison system, teaching them cooking skills and hiring them as drivers and staff. They’ve even started farming.

“A lot of our drivers are from the federal prison system, through half-way houses. We work with them to get them back into responsible lives. Almost all of our staff started as volunteers,” he says.

An award-winning TV producer, Hal worked in New York with big dogs like Saatchi & Saatchi and the NFL. But life in the city eventually became “a struggle” for his growing family. He moved to Cary with his wife, Lindsey, and their young daughter in 1998. He has since opened his own agency, Goodtree & Co., which specializes in digital arts. Here, he says, he has time to play bass in a blues band and be a good dad to his now two daughters, as well as give back to his community by sitting on the News & Observer’s community panel and bringing Museum of Modern Art’s TV commercial showcase to the Tar Heel State. 

What’s your favorite thing about reading skirt?  “I like reading skirt! to keep us up-to-date on fashion trends for our web show, StreetStyleTV.com."

And wearing a skirt? “I like wearing a skirt because I like violating conventions.”

If you ever hang out at Bogart’s on Glenwood South, you probably recognize Johnny.  With his trademark dreadlocks and trademark smile, he’s unmistakable. Perhaps that’s why he was recently voted the Triangle’s Favorite Bartender at share.triangle.com. “The people have spoken,” Johnny says with that infectious grin. He started out at Bogart’s as a waiter, but one night filling in for an absent bartender, and he’d found his calling. His favorite drink is a Maker’s Mark and ginger ale, but he admits he can’t master the Manhattan.  Want his best creation?  “I nail martinis extremely well.”

What the best thing about wearing a skirt? “It’s even faster than putting on a pair of jeans.”

And reading skirt!? “I’m a Virgo, but I tend to be a bit moody.  There are enough encouraging articles that, after reading it, I usually feel better.”

As the son of a costumer and a novelist, Joel Haas was not destined to become an accountant.  In his twenties, he began a career writing paperback westerns, but, he says, in his family, it was the equivalent of flipping burgers.  At 30, he became a professional sculptor, and has made a career out of creating whimsical garden figures for 27 years.  His niche is making creatures like Trash Talkin’ Preacher from recycled objects (you guessed it: a garbage can).  Joel says his wife, Joy, doesn’t mind sculptures in their yard, but thought 13 dragons were a little much.  That’s how he thought up the Neighborhood Sculpture Walk, a sequence of his sculptures placed on the lawns of his neighbors in Raleigh’s Wilmont subdivision.  At first, Joel was concerned his idea wouldn’t fly.  “Who wants a 14-foot-long pterodactyl in their yard?”  Everyone, apparently.  Sixteen of Joel’s neighbors currently host creatures like Red Skeleton Overdoes it on a Nordic Track.

What’s the best thing about wearing a skirt?  When your mom has dressed you up as a cheeseburger for a Hardee’s commercial, anything goes.

And about reading skirt!?  I get it for the articles, not the centerfold.

A business trip to Charleston earlier this year took Clark’s artistic pursuits in a new direction.  “I didn’t know they had waves in Charleston,” says Clark, whose paintings have appeared on “Sex and the City,” “Dawson’s Creek,” and “One Tree Hill.”  A longtime surfer in need of a fix, Clark says he went out and bought “an ugly, piece-of-crap board.”  Back in Raleigh, he let loose his artistic abilities on the board, and realized he might just have something.  A show in Wilmington saw 14 of Clark’s surfboards go for upwards of $2,500 each, and artcosurf, his company, was born.  Now, his boards are in high demand: he just got back from Atlanta, where he dropped off a few – plus some artcosurf brand clothing – to appear in an upcoming movie starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny. 

What’s the best thing about wearing a skirt?  It’s surprisingly liberating.
What’s your favorite thing about reading skirt!? Besides all the great photography, and the cool layout, it’s learning about all these awesome women.

Like any good boyfriend, Victor was happy to hang out with Sarah Yarborough as she made clothes for her Fashion Design degree at NC State.  When he got bored, he asked Sarah to show him how to use the sewing machines.  “I started making some dress shirts and pants,” says Victor.  “They turned out well, but I don’t wear them a lot.  I do wear jeans every day, so I tried those.”  Six months later, Victor was the proud owner of a real, live fashion label: Verses Jeans.  He and Sarah have worked together to develop a line of European-inspired men’s deni

Before Dave speaks, you think he might be from New York, London, Los Angeles – some big city where guys wear tailored jeans and get their hair cut at Toni and Guy.  But then his mouth opens, and out comes a smooth, sweet, Beaufort County accent. Dave co-founded Deep South Entertainment in 1995.  He and his partner, Andy Martin, started by finding new talent and releasing compilation CDs.  Over a decade later, they’re known for the artists they’ve managed, including Marcy Playground, Five for Fighting, Allison Moorer, and Bruce Hornsby.

London-bred Connally didn’t choose soccer – it chose him.  “In England, that’s what everyone did.  Football players were pretty much your heroes, and that’s what you wanted to be – that type of superstar.”