The Buie Knife

Meeting Clyde Edgerton

I spent a delightful morning at McIntyre's Bookstore in Fearrington Village listening to Southern author Clyde Edgerton read from his latest comic novel, The Bible Salesman, and singing songs with his bango. I particularly enjoyed his explanation for North Carolina's history and rural culture of gentle, if not genteel community bartering because the state had small farms in which people depended on each other for survival. This was in contrast to the bustling capitalism of Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, with their big plantations. NC was less populated in the early centuries because, if you were a ship captain and you asked your crew to choose navigating through the Chesapeake Bay, Charleston Bay, or CAPE FEAR and "the graveyard of the Atlantic," they inevitably chose the Chesapeake or Charleston. I made a similar observation on this blog ("Why Did NC Have Fewer Plantations Than Neighboring States?").

A personal note: My late mother, Lillian Secrest Buie, North Carolina English Teacher of the Year, was a student of Edgerton's in the 1980s when he taught a creative writing class at St. Andrews Presbyterian College. In 2006, when I published a book of her writings, he graciously wrote a blurb praising it. He and I had corresponded, but hadn't met until today. What a warm and charming fellow he is.

Secret Cold War Bunker Near Fearrington No Longer Secret, No Longer Operational

When I first learned about the secret cold war bunker next to Fearrington Village off of Big Hole Road while walking my dog, I and my neighbors joked that we had discovered the "undisclosed location" that Vice President Dick Cheney was holed up in after 9/11. And/or the spot from which the U.S. Army was launching and testing flying saucers. Now we learn from the News and Observer that the bunker, built in the early 1960s to protect the nation's leaders in the event of nuclear attack from the Soviets, has been shut down.

More Fun Photos of Fearrington Village on Flickr

Many different photographers share their perspectives of Fearrington Village on Flickr.

Open Thread for Discussing Fearrington Village and Chatham County Issues

Not for announcements that would best go on the Fearrington Village Bulletin Board, but for reports,  discussions and debates of local issues (and advocacy of particular positions) or anything you'd like to discuss. This is an experiment. Feel free to introduce yourself first.

Chatham County Development Slows; Poverty, Unemployment Are Too High; Many Lack Affordable Housing

http://www.carrborocitizen.com/main/2008/03/13/development-stutters-in-chatham-county/

Related: Tom Glendinning discussed local poverty, unemployment and long-range economic planning for the county on the Chatham Chat list.

Many in the county lack affordable housing.

Silk Hope Winery

Just discovered that the Silk Hope Winery is in Chatham County, with a Pittsboro address. Is it worth a visit?  How are the wines?

Chatham Journal's Online Videos

The Chatham County (NC) Journal provides a real community service with its online video clips from community events. I learned about proposed solutions to the over-crowding at North Chatham School, as well as other interesting stuff.

Renee Fink Joins NC Council on the Holocaust

Fearrington Village resident Renee Fink has been appointed to the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust by NC House Speaker Joe Hackney. Chatham Journal story. 

Black Men As the Standard Suspects

That's the headline of an op-ed piece I wrote, published in The News and Observer of Raleigh. The op-ed started simply as a blog post, "A Teachable Moment About 'Witnesses' to Crime, Right in My Own Neighborhood?" The op-ed is not available in the online edition of the newspaper yet.

A 'Teachable Moment' About 'Witnesses' to Crime, Right in My Own Neigborhood?

When I took on a communications consulting project with the North Carolina NAACP to dramatize how black men are too frequently and almost automatically assumed to be suspects in crimes the preponderance of the evidence indicates they did not commit, I never imagined that there would be an example in my very own neighborhood. But Wednesday was a shocking day in normally peaceful and bucolic Fearrington Village, located halfway between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro, North Carolina.