A College and a Home

This weekend as the air is chilled with the early taste of fall, students, faculty, and alumni will come together to celebrate the many things that make Guilford College uniquely enduring, and endearing, College and "home."

Many many years ago it was a location for the Underground Railroad. Before the Civil War Guilford was a leader in educating both girls and boys. The College stood firm in support of social, racial, ethnic, religious differences, justice, and equality, many years before the phrase "politically correct" was ever spoken.    

This weekend alums will return to campus and marvel at how young the students look. We will roam the hallways and classrooms of buildings we once planned our days around. We will do a double take when a woman says she lives in a dorm that was all male (mostly) when we were on campus.

For some of us it will have been many years since we were on campus. Others were there in the Spring for class reunions. Some alums back on campus this weekend drive past the College daily on their way to work. A few lucky ones have the privilege of working there. No matter how long it has been since we last were there, Guilford leaves an indelible mark on each student lucky enough to call it "my College."

The values and the principals the College has stood on so firmly were woven into our time there and remain with us daily. There is a kinship among Guilfordians that I have never seen experienced among  alums from other schools. We are forever connected to the College and to each other.

There will be new faces, and familiar faces worn with time. The older buildings will stretch wide to welcome us down their hallways again. We will marvel at how the campus is the same and yet so much better. Perhaps it is all crisper in our eyes now because we know what we took away with us left us connected to one another, and will always bring us back.  


      

Speaking out is risky. Not speaking out can be riskier.

In the middle of July between work and my mother's health crisis, someone in my community asked me if I had read the weekly column written by the owner of "The Sandersville Progress." When I got a copy my hair stood up.

The column, which appeared in the July 19 edition in my hometown, was run in all Trib Publications
(approximately 40) and is online via a Fayette County paper Tribble owns. Read the full column here.

I sent the column to some friends to make sure I wasn't just experiencing a knee jerk response. Their responses were thoughtful but in agreement; name calling and intolerance of the very things that make our country unique merited more than a letter to the editor.

With their help, I launched a petition asking Tribble to apologize for name calling and narrow-mindedness. A few folks have suggested asking advertisers to boycott the paper until an apology is issued. In the end, these small town merchants need to use what they can to promote their businesses in a tight economy.

My response is intended to encourage others to speak up and say that they also disagree with Tribble's narrow-minded bullying language. Folks in my community are used to me speaking up, and I have won friends and made enemies as a result.

I hope that you will sign the petition and share it. If you want to send a full letter please send it to me and I will get it delivered. Tribble doesn't use email, but I am willing to work a little harder to share your response if you help.

Please check back. This isn't over. If we don't speak up, the name calling and verbal bullying won't end. Ever.