Though not a Tar Heel born, I will always love good ol’ N.C.

Throwback: This is one of my favorite columns I wrote when I was a back-page columnist for The Daily Tar Heel, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Pacemaker Award-winning daily newspaper.

There are few times that I recommend policy changes in the state or even dream of drafting legislation for the N.C. General Assembly. But I’m ready to drive over to Raleigh and beg for Sen. Ellie Kinnaird to sponsor an important bill for me. I want lawmakers to make me a real North Carolinian.

Although I’ve lived in Chapel Hill for three years, volunteered in the community, worked in town and voted here in the last election, I’m not considered a real Tar Heel because I’m an out-of-state student.

I’m doomed to be considered a second-rate citizen and an outsider, but I’d like to consider N.C. my home — not for a break on the $17,000 tuition bill, but because a lot of N.C. students take this University and this great state for granted.

I can’t count every time I’ve heard an in-state student express shame for being from here or comment how it’s not really an accomplishment to get into UNC unless you’re from another place. They apologize for Silent Sam, tobacco, cross burnings and Mike Krzyzewski, and understandably so.

But even though this state has its problems, all of its residents should keep in mind that things could be much worse — they could have been raised in Alabama, like me.

Sure, this state may have continuously elected Jesse Helms to the U.S. Senate, but Alabamians elected Governor George Wallace, a more public and outspoken bigot, four times. Plus, there are three Wallace Community Colleges in his honor, and he’s considered a hero.

Recently, Alabama slam-dunked in the backward contest by electing nut-job Judge Roy Moore as the state’s chief justice. Moore was removed from office because he defied a federal court order to remove a 5,300-pound granite monument to the Ten Commandments he put in the rotunda of the state judicial building.

Christian or not, you’d have to agree that it’s a crying shame when your chief justice doesn’t know enough about the law to realize he shouldn’t disobey a higher court. However, Moore is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to the Governor’s Mansion, and I bet he’ll win it all.

Sure, the N.C. General Assembly has its problems — the fact that there’s no budget weeks before the fiscal year starts is proof of that, but Alabama runs on a 1901 constitution designed to disfranchise blacks, poor whites and women.

It is the longest known constitution in the world with 743 amendments including provisions on bingo, catfish, soybeans, dead farm animals, mosquitoes, prostitution and beaver tails. It also places the tax burden on the poorest families, instead of the rich.

North Carolina should be thankful that it has mostly fair laws, pretty good legislators, and a strong Institute of Government on the UNC campus to help it along.

Sure, we may joke that Tar Heel lawmakers hiccupped in establishing N.C. State University, but Alabama lacks a prestigious, unified public system of higher education. There are three separate college systems with at least two campuses each and nine independent universities that fight tooth-and-nail for limited funding and resources.

As a result, there is a large duplication of programs, and there are only a handful of nationally competitive programs in the state of Alabama.

North Carolinians should thank President Emeritus Bill Friday and others for establishing the UNC system, the model for Southern higher education.

Each N.C. resident is guaranteed a quality education at a low cost, but I had to pack my bags and drive 15 hours up Interstate 85 and pay an arm and a leg just to get a taste of it.

Even sports in Alabama can’t touch North Carolina. Yes, Matt Doherty’s departure was messy, and our football team might have a hard time beating Auburn High School’s squad.

Yes, ’Bama’s “Bear” Bryant was a coaching god, and the Iron Bowl is the most watched regular-season football game in the nation.

However, N.C. has the powerhouses of ACC basketball, the genius of Dean Smith, two pro sports teams that include Julius Peppers — and now the duo of Sean May and Raymond Felton with the Charlotte Bobcats — a womens’ soccer dynasty, Roy Williams and Woody Durham.

These are a few reasons why I thank God for the great state of North Carolina and embrace it more than many resident students do. I realize it’s not a perfect state — I wouldn’t drive alone through Albemarle if you paid me; however, I appreciate it, and I’m not the only one.

Trudier Harris-Lopez, Sitterson Professor of English and columnist for the Chapel Hill News, and Daniel Wallace, author of the novel “Big Fish,” are both native Alabamians who have found their way to this state by way of the Hill. Two acclaimed writers — or three, if you include me — can’t be wrong.

Even though I will probably leave the state once I get that sheepskin stamped with James Moeser and Molly Broad’s signatures, I will never forget the Old North State and particularly Chapel Hill for showing me there’s a world outside of Alabama, opening doors for me, and teaching me Thomas Wolfe’s lesson that I can’t go home again.

In-staters, embrace the magic that surrounds this place. It’s so good you may enjoy life not taking Wolfe’s sage advice.

June 30, 2005 | Filed Under Columns

 

Comments

Leave a Reply