This Just In— Once again, the town is ours. The sidewalks are not slammed with wide-eyed young adults marching along with earbuds and backpacks, streaming out into the crosswalks, forcing traffic to its sloth-like crawl through the center of town. For a few months, it will be ghostly and wonderfully quiet, save for the few delightful summer session-goers, who attend in numbers tiny compared to fall and spring semesters.
We arrived in Chapel Hill in mid-October of 1978. Too late in the cycle (but perhaps young enough) to be mistaken for students, the clerk at the Holiday Inn (near Eastgate …now gone) asked my husband what brought us here.
”New job,” he answered. No worries, assured the clerk. “We’re a university town. After six months you’re a local.” He was right, of course. Very unlike New England in this regard, we’re a community of people from everywhere else. It’s a big part of our charm.
I was blessed to become a student here in the early 1990s, a decade and a half after my high school graduation. I had dropped out of Emerson College in Boston to marry that guy with the job that brought us here. After our kids arrived, I felt the pull to go back to school.
In my early 30s, I was going to do this thing and do it right. I made my way to the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, then housed at Howell Hall. I had a kid in diapers and one in elementary school, so I was up early every day. I took 8:00am classes when it came to my core studies — newswriting, reporting and editorial writing.
This is when I could get into those classes with the only person I wanted to learn the craft from — Professor Jim Shumaker, the inspiration for Jeff MacNelly’s “Shoe” editorial cartoons.
Shu taught us (especially in Editorial Writing) a level of efficiency of purpose that I found unforgettable. I enjoyed him immensely as he reminded me very much of my then-recently passed away grandfather, also a gifted educator.
Some examples:
On one of our first days of Newswriting class, Shu came into the classroom, checked the clock and when it said 8:00, he walked over to the classroom door and locked it. He called the roll, several names not answering. Then came the quiet knocks at the door.
”Do you hear those knocks at the door?” He asked. “Those are people who will be working for you. Don’t be late. It’s unprofessional. I’m going to let them in, but they will not know what we discussed in these first five minutes of class. Journalism is a fiercely competitive business. You can tell them or not tell them. That’s up to you, but you’re here. They’re not. That’s the story.”
We studied the commencement speech recently delivered by Ted Turner, who was quite the big deal in that timeframe. Big … but not smart enough to, you know, actually prepare written remarks for a university commencement speech. There are people who can speak extemporaneously with great depth and engaging style. Ted Turner, for all of his talent, was not one of them. I wish I had a nickel for every time he said “uh.”
Using this cautionary tale, Shu explained what a commencement speech, or really any speech, should have as its structure. Visualize this on a chalkboard:
”Say what you’re going to say.
[MESSAGE]
Say what you said.”
This translates well in editorial writing. Have a message. One message. Don’t wander.
As glorious as it is to go to school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it’s a cherry on the sundae to appreciate the calming effect of the students’ departure. It’s a renewal all its own to see that most of the folks walking on Franklin Street between now and mid-August are people who live here, drinking in Summer’s refreshing pause.
(featured image via Town of Chapel Hill)
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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