"Tar Heel blues" : Thinking Out Loud : Blogs : News-Record.com : Greensboro, North Carolina

Tar Heel blues

You can't go home again.

Or more precisely, for some reason, I rarely choose to.

Home in this case is UNC-Chapel Hill, where I attended undegraduate and grad school, and where I overcame first-semester home sickness during my freshman year to fall absolutely in love with the place.

I spent my summers there and even some holidays. I resented it when the great unwashed masses returned in the fall , spoiling the peace and tranquility and crowding the best restaurants.

I thought about my infrequent returns to Blue Heaven during a conversation this week with a UNC-CH schoolmate, Vanessa Gallman, editorial page editor of the Herald-Leader in Lexington, Ky. Vanessa asked if I was attending a reunion in October.

Well, possibly, I said, but I almost never go to those things.

Maybe it's because the place barely resembles the school I remember. It's too cramped, like a living room with too much furniture.

They've plopped a new building onto every open space. Let no patch of green go unbuilt upon. Let no blade of grass go uncovered.

In my day there were lawns and trees. And we walked to class 10 miles, barefoot in the snow -- in the wintertime. And we liked it.

Posted by Allen Johnson on June 22, 2005 12:13 AM | Permalink

Comments (15)

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Joe Schmoe said:

Ah, class reunions. It's an instant time machine that spreads the sickness of nostalgia. If you go just be prepared for the inevitable questions that start with, "Do you remember when....?"

College will be a bit different, but high school is the worse. My twenty-fifth was a reminder of the clique mindset that prevailed and how much people still label you as that person you were back then. "I can't believe you're a professor. You used to be the one to....."

It's like you couldn't or shouldn't have grown up. We all do it. We try to hold on to those things of our youth. I think it's because we all want the fountain of youth and this is a way to do so. Keep your friends young and you will stay there too.

The thing is people change. They move forward in their mentality and appearance. The class clown becomes a politician (I know the two are not too far apart). The girl with the loose morals becomes the church lady. And, everyone ages and swells.

Posted on June 22, 2005 9:35 AM

Chris Coletta said:

Heeeeeeeeeey now. Sure, the construction can be annoying, but Carolina still has its charms. It might be cramped, but it's giving the sons and daughters of our state a good, cheap education.

As for the part about trudging to class -- tell the freshmen who'll be stuck on South Campus next year that their 25-minute walk to Graham Memorial (for an honors class!) in the 90-degree heat is a good time. My freshman year, I lived in Craige and had class on Franklin Street every day. Sheer torture -- especially that first August, one of the hottest on record, without air conditioning. It's still drudgery to be an underclassman.

Posted on June 22, 2005 11:37 AM

truth said:

Chapel Hill pride is enough to make most sane people barf.

Posted on June 22, 2005 2:02 PM

Harry Blair said:

Awww, go on back. Get a GAMBLER at the RAT. Get a cherry coke at Sutton's; and If you want some company, call me ( class of '67. ) I love that place.

Posted on June 22, 2005 7:19 PM

Allen Johnson said:

You're on, Harry .. if we could only find somewhere to park.

Posted on June 22, 2005 7:21 PM

Billy The Blogging Poet said:

Sorry, I'm partly at fault for that, I hauled many a load of brick, block, lumber, and steel beams to the campus when they were building many of those buildings including the Dean Dome.

Posted on June 22, 2005 8:03 PM

Lilly said:

*gets my Duke Blue paint out* hahahahhahaha..
Duke THE university of North Carolina, ok? ;)

Posted on June 26, 2005 1:28 PM

Sarah said:

Isn't funny how those who aren't Duke alumnist are the first to throw the crap out. Sorry Lilly, Duke can't be THE University of NC because it is private and too damn expensive for North Carolinians to attend. Have you ever seen who goes to Duke? A vast majority of the students are a bunch of rich yankees. Why do you think they use Yankee Blue instead of Carolina Blue? Ever wonder why they call themselves Dookies and are proud of it? They don't even know what that means. Get off the Dookie (and I mean that in the worst sense of the word) bandwagon and realize most of the students there wouldn't have a thing to do with ya honey.

UNC-CH The First University of North Carolina and First Public University of the Nation!!!!!!

Go 'Heels, Beat a mudhole in Duke and then Stomp it dry!!!

Posted on June 26, 2005 5:59 PM

hahaha.
Typical UNC response, Sarah.
Your statements represent all my UNC fan-friends just perfectly. :)

Posted on June 27, 2005 11:10 AM

What university did you attend Lilly?

Oh yeah, none that were in the ACC I'll bet.

Class of '85 here from THE University of North Carolina.

Typical Dookie Fan, but not Alumist response.
Don't jump on the bandwagon too quick honey, ya may break ya tailbone.

Bite my Tarheel baby!!!!

Posted on June 28, 2005 7:22 PM

Sarah, don't hate ok. You aren't representing UNC in a very positive manner. :)