I'm Roberta Morris. Maybe you've met me, but don't recognize me. No one does these days, because I keep making rather dramatic changes to my hair.
I've recently given up blonde and reverted to my natural brunette in what I'm calling my So who's a TarHeel?
I moved here three years ago, one of those "damned Yankees" who comes here to visit and stays. Slowly I'm learning to become southern - to slow down, quiet down, watch college basketball games. Basketball qualifies as a religion in Chapel Hill. One doesn't schedule a dinner party without checking to see if there's a game. All normal social life ceases during the ACC tournament. The Super Bowl is largely ignored.
Last year I was back home in Rhode Island and ran into someone who hadn't seen me for a while. This was the ensuing conversation:
"Where are you living now?"
"Chapel Hill"
Blank expression.
"Chapel Hill, North Carolina"
Still no sigh of recognition.
"Chapel Hill, North Carolina, home of the Tarheels, the best basketball team in the United States!"
The moment was an epiphany - not for him, but for me. Something had surely changed. I was still New England born, still New York sophisticated. But I'd also become a southerner of sorts.
Tonight, I tired of watching Olympic lady athletes in shiny tights leaping from great heights into the snow, so I watched the game instead. The Baby Tarheels (mostly fresh-faced freshmen) did just fine for themselves. They won, too.
Last year I was back home in Rhode Island and ran into someone who hadn't seen me for a while. This was the ensuing conversation:
"Where are you living now?"
"Chapel Hill"
Blank expression.
"Chapel Hill, North Carolina"
Still no sigh of recognition.
"Chapel Hill, North Carolina, home of the Tarheels, the best basketball team in the United States!"
The moment was an epiphany - not for him, but for me. Something had surely changed. I was still New England born, still New York sophisticated. But I'd also become a southerner of sorts.
Tonight, I tired of watching Olympic lady athletes in shiny tights leaping from great heights into the snow, so I watched the game instead. The Baby Tarheels (mostly fresh-faced freshmen) did just fine for themselves. They won, too.
posted by Roberta at 11:33 PM
2 Comments:
I came across your blog quite by accident and enjoyed reading, esp. the Tarheel item. My late husband moved from NY to NC and talked about transforming himself from a Yankee to a Southerner. As I read that, I gave a wistful sigh of recognition. He died all too soon. What a guy. None other out there like him, I've found. He was a man of honor and truth. Must be that Tarheel transformation, huh?
I'm wondering how one can come across my strange little blog "by accident." It's not like I'm famous or anything. At any rate, I don't think that you can get to be an honorable or truthful person by living in North Carolina, although I will say that Chapel Hill encourages appropriate behavior. (Recycling is a religion here.) Thanks for your note.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home