If you go to George Willard’s house, not the west side and pretend to be a great bronze bear, you may see the last of my attempts to revive tradition on the UNC campus. It’s a trip.. for sure. All the way from California to steep myself one last time in my fading past. Why worry about twenty first century traditions when you can’t really get folks excited about the last hundred years?
Art is so subjective. That some parents viewing the Ghost Memory Totem would have balked at it is not surprising. Xenophobia being what it is.
What’s that line from the movie? “I ain’t afraid o’ no ghosts!”
So Greeley, dry and gray; with green budding through in springtime promise, you are my home… but as Thomas Wolfe has said…
My hope for my alma mater is that it may thrive and that the fearless will prevail. The fearless few whom I met may make a difference, but there’s so much other stuff to do.
Back to California.. Not a word from DeWitt. I wonder why the VP of Alumni Affairs can't just own up to what amounts to a dumb mistake and apologize? Or does this mean that as he perceives me as a person who may not contribute money to UNC that being courteous really doesn't matter? An apology, like the one he gave me on the phone, are so simple.. unless, of course, they are sincere.
On an educational note: The $120,000 bronze that sits up by the UC was not paid for by the college, evidently. The artist recoups her investment by selling the smaller versions of the image and enough of them have now been sold to cover the investment. More of them bought by CU folks than folks from UNC.
As Garrison Keillor says: Do good work.
As Joseph Campbell said many times: Follow your bliss.
Much love,
m
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