Show up at any high school graduation ceremony this spring and a teenage speechmaker might tell you that time flies, heals all wounds, is money, is a flat circle, can’t be turned back. Show up at any Neil Young concert this summer and a 78-year-old carrying an electric guitar will remind you that time really is a river, and that his music is a huge granite boulder plunked square in the middle of it.

Name: Stevie Green

Age: 27

Residence: Washington

After his outstanding multi-sport career at Washington High School ended with graduation in 2014, Stevie Green wanted to leave and stay gone for a while. He played football, then coached it at Fayetteville State after starting at Elizabeth City State, then worked in Apex after leaving Fayetteville. He came home this fall to teach exceptional children at WHS and coach football, girls basketball and track.

1. What do you like most about being back home?

I’m either at school, on a field or in a gym or at my house, so I’d say the slower pace. I don’t get out much, but when I do, I like that there’s no traffic and that I usually don’t have to wait in line wherever I am. Washington’s pace fits me a lot better than the city pace did. I also enjoy being around when my family needs me.

2. What childhood memories of Washington stand out and why did you come back?

It seemed like I was always outside playing a sport or riding bikes with my friends when I was younger. I was busy with football or summer basketball and decided I wanted to go away to college to have a different experience. I didn’t come home much, maybe a day or two, but the challenge of building the girls basketball program drew me back.

3. You had an outstanding football career at Fayetteville State and were a Pam Pack assistant this past fall. Why basketball?

I played football because I was good at it and enjoyed it, but basketball has always been my favorite sport. I can’t play football anymore, but I can still get up and down a basketball court. 

4. What’s been the biggest challenge so far?

Teaching a majority of the team how to play. We have good numbers, but not much experience. I feel like I can build this program how I want to and it will be fun when success comes, because there hasn’t been any for a while. The best part is to watch their skills improve. We are so much better than we were three months ago and I know I made the right call coming home.

5. What are the positive things about Washington in your opinion?

Washington has more recreational offerings for kids than they used to. Rec sports is a great way to introduce sports to kids at a young age and having something to do keeps them out of trouble. I’ve grown to appreciate being near the water and the fact that it moves at the right pace. I don’t know who or where I would be without Washington. I have great memories of growing up here and am looking forward to being around as an adult.

Israel ordered more evacuations from parts of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, and from Jabalya and Beit Lahia in the north, as it widens operations in the besieged enclave, despite dire warnings from aid groups and allies.

In Rafah, the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced people for months, terrified residents packed up to flee once again. Western Rafah was “visibly emptying before our eyes,” Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said on X. A resident of the Al-Awda neighborhood, meters away from the evacuation zone, told The Washington Post that the streets were emptying out.