Get on the Bus

Today was the first day of the Bus Tour around North Carolina. This is a week-long program that the University runs to introduce new faculty to the state. There are 36 of us plus the organizers, cruising the highways. It's a really amazing opportunity to meet other people from around the University, and see the world beyond Chapel Hill.

It's been a long day, so here are just some brief notes about what we did.

We hit the road bright and early, and on the way to the first stop, we heard about the history of the University from one of our own history professors.

The first stop was Halifax, a tiny town whose claim to fame is the Halifax Resolves, the first official call for independence from a colony. Perhaps more importantly for our purposes, Halifax was also the home of William R. Davie, the founder of the University. We had a "birthday celebration" for Davie (whose 250th birthday will be in June), complete with cake and Davie himself (on the horse, played with aplomb by English Professor Christopher Armitage).


Our next stop was Rocky Mount, which, contrary to popular belief (that is, my belief), is not in the moutains. We visited an area of Rocky Mount that is struggling -- struggling with poverty, with HIV, with homelessness. This part of the tour illustrated "The Two North Carolinas". As one of our guides told us, the Research Triangle Area has the highest concentration of PhDs per capita in the country; this part of eastern Carolina has the highest percentage of homes without indoor plumbing in the country.

We had lunch with a group called Opportunities Industrialization Center. This group reaches out to people in the community to help them in a variety of ways. They have founded a health clinic which serves people regardless of their ability to pay. That health clinic has two doctors and 12000 patients. That's not a typo. It says volumes about health disparities in this country, though. Two doctors. Twelve thousand patients. Our speakers were a truly inspiring set of people: they're attacking enormous social problems with intelligence and energy and spirit, and they're down in the trenches every single day.

We ended the day in Beaufort (pronounced Bo-fort). It's a beautiful seaside community. We had a wonderful meal at the Beafort Grocery Company (although apparently another place to go for local color is the "Sanitary Restaurant." It sounds revolting -- the name dates from the time when much seafood was considered dirty -- but is supposed to be yummy.) Our entertainment was provided by the head of our creative writing program, who read one of his short stories and performed a couple of songs from his musical, King Mackeral and the Blues are Running.