Michael Graff

Charlotte

Founder and Editor at The Charlotte Optimist

Founder, The Charlotte Optimist (launching spring 2025). Most recent: Southern bureau chief, Axios. Also: Co-author, THE VOTE COLLECTORS.

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Articles

How waiting well transforms our lives

1 week ago | victoriaadvocate.com | Michael Graff

In 1962, authorities imprisoned Nelson Mandela for fighting apartheid—a system of institutionalized racial segregation. During his 27 years behind bars, he faced a choice: Let bitterness consume him or use the time for transformation. Mandela chose growth. He earned hislaw degree through correspondence, learned multiple languages, and built relationships that would later prove crucial. When released, Mandela emerged not broken but strengthened—ready to unify a divided nation.
Riding through Charlotte with Hugh McColl

1 week ago | charlotteoptimist.com | Michael Graff

The oak trees are gone. We’re riding down a street he once traveled every day, looking for the home where his kids took their first steps. But the trouble with growing old is you might outlive the shade trees in the front yard. “I don’t know where the hell I am,” Hugh McColl says on a late April morning. He’s in the passenger’s seat of my truck, and we’ve driven all around Charlotte, time traveling.
The Soul of a neighborhood: Lesa and Andy Kastanas move on from Plaza Midwood

3 weeks ago | charlotteoptimist.com | Michael Graff

In her final days in business in the neighborhood she helped shape, Lesa Kastanas sold everything. The jewelry. The candles. The kitschy buttons that said things like “I wanna rock and roll all night-ish, and party every third day.” Even the shelves and mannequins. Now she was packing up the vinyl records. Those were not for sale. They have 30,000 of them, and you read that right.
Charlotte Police Chief To Retire With $305,000 Severance

1 month ago | theassemblync.com | Michael Graff

This article is co-published with The Charlotte Optimist. Johnny Jennings has answered a great many questions about his recent challenges as Charlotte’s police chief, just not publicly. He can’t escape conversations about it. With his staff. With his wife and grown sons. With his mom, who is 84 years old and in Tennessee and calls whenever she sees a headline and asks, “Are they messing with you in Charlotte?”And especially with his fellow police chiefs around the country.
Planning your summer vacay? These are the best beaches in North Carolina.

1 month ago | axios.com | Katie Peralta Soloff |Michael Graff |Zachery Eanes |Laura Barrero |Ashley Mahoney |McKenzie Rankin

We've rounded up a dozen of North Carolina's best beaches — as decided by readers — from the northern Outer Banks to Sunset Beach. Why it matters: It's nearly summer, and we live in one of the finest states in the land for beach season. Of note: Beaches are listed in no particular order. Oak IslandOak Island. Photo: Zachery Eanes/AxiosLocated 30 minutes south of Wilmington, near the mouth of Cape Fear, Oak Island's small-scale charms have remained even as Brunswick County's population soars.
Charlotte's not an awkward teen anymore

1 month ago | charlotteoptimist.com | Michael Graff

Federico Rios made a quick stop for Lunchables at the Food Lion on Beatties Ford Road one morning a few years ago, when he noticed a woman sprinting across the parking lot. Ahead, he saw what she was chasing, in this city where people are always chasing something. The No. 7 city bus was pulling away. Rios had places to be — drop-off at Oaklawn Language Academy for the kids, then work for him — but he couldn’t keep his eyes off the runner.
Why we can trust God with our struggles

1 month ago | victoriaadvocate.com | Michael Graff

I love the Rocky movies. As hard as it is to watch my film hero get beaten almost to the point of death, I can handle it because I know how the story ends. So why is it so difficult to trust the Author of my story—especially when Scripture assures me it will end in victory? Romans 8:17b says, “. . . if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” This means struggles in life are not meaningless; they are part of God’s greater plan.
Why I’m launching The Charlotte Optimist

2 months ago | charlotteoptimist.com | Michael Graff

Hello. Maybe you’re here because you’ve followed my work over the years, or maybe you’re hungry for new ideas for local media, or maybe you arrived by mistake and you’re already trying to close the window. In any case, I’m grateful. Welcome to The Charlotte Optimist. More on what it is below. But first, a quick story:I was having lunch last month with Ric Elias, a longtime friend and trusted weathervane, when he mentioned that one of his dear friends died that morning.
A Charlotte Consumer Protection Regulator Gets DOGE'd

2 months ago | theassemblync.com | Michael Graff

Jack Cobb closed his work laptop at about 8 p.m. on a cold and drizzly February night in south Charlotte and stirred up an old fashioned. He settled into his couch with a book that stretched his understanding of faith and values, Dominion, which traces 2,000 years of Christianity’s command over the Western world. Cobb was somewhere around the turn of the first millennium when his phone buzzed. The caller was his colleague and close friend at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
What real love looks like

Mar 8, 2025 | victoriaadvocate.com | Michael Graff

When I was four years old, my parents surprised me with my first puppy, Pepper. Pepper quickly became my best friend. My dad often shares a story about watching me play with him. After witnessing my pure joy, he smiled and said, “I love you, buddy.” Without skipping a beat, I replied, “I love Pepper.”At four, I obviously didn’t understand the concept of love! I assumed I could only choose one person (or puppy) as the recipient of my affection.