In a couple weeks, Bland and Ann are coming over for supper and Bland is going to read a. chapter or two of their latest book. Mom doesn’t see well enough anymore to read a regular print book and I asked Bland if he was going to do an audio version; but, the recent audio book they recorded didn’t sell well enough to warrant another audio book. So, we’ll get an “audio book;” it just won’t be a recorded one!
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UNC, Chapel Hill, and Carborro History
- Thread starter donbosco
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I likely have all of Bland’s books.
One thing I like about Bland’s books is that I can pick one up and read (or re-read) a chapter. Set it down for a time and pick it up and read another chapter - doesn’t matter where I left off and where I re-started. I mentioned this to Bland one evening and his comment, “That’s how they were written and meant to be read.”
“The Great Dismal” and “Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals” are also wonderful books (“Ghost Ship” might best be read cover-to-cover - a lot of the book’s details involve the ship being built at a Deering Shipyard in Maine’s Kennebec River).
One little detail about Bland - he’s a tenured professor; a Kenan Professor to boot.
No Ph.D.
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That one letter mentioned the debut of North Carolina Gazetteer, which was in every news writing classroom in the Journalism school during my time. It categorized every formal and informal spot in the state. Truly a large task aimed at a niche audience.Carolina lost that game 25-41 as well as 7 more, going 2-8 (1-4, beating only state college in conference). We also beat #8 Michigan ‘up there’ for probably the biggest upset in the 1966 season.
There were reverberations about the parade by the way…
From 11/23/66
Also that day…
An interesting aside is the letter to the editor captured in that screen shot from William Powell...he did publish his North Carolina Gazeteer and it is a fine work of history. "Dr." Powell taught North Carolina History at UNC for decades and also edited the North Carolina Encyclopedia.
donbosco
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I’ve given copies of Dr. Powell’s ‘Gazetteer’ as Christmas gifts several times. He had all of that stuff committed to memory. Someone mentioned that Bland Simpson has no PHD but is a professor - the same is true for Powell, though everyone called him Dr. and i never heard him correct a soul (he had a Masters in Library Science and in History - Simpson has a BA).
“Dr” Powell was very kind to me and i had dinner at his home a couple of times. He taught the two semester NC History survey for years until Jim Leloudis took it up and influenced a lot of us, including school teachers who in turn influenced their Tar Heel students. Powell stayed far from controversy and taught a very sanitized version of NC History. Still, he did foundational archival work upon which many have built.
His daughter was a Baptist missionary and many years ago she and her Baptist preacher husband put me up for a few days in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Known as a nest of pirates and smugglers I can hardly imagine a tougher place to evangelize short of Sodom.
“Dr” Powell was very kind to me and i had dinner at his home a couple of times. He taught the two semester NC History survey for years until Jim Leloudis took it up and influenced a lot of us, including school teachers who in turn influenced their Tar Heel students. Powell stayed far from controversy and taught a very sanitized version of NC History. Still, he did foundational archival work upon which many have built.
His daughter was a Baptist missionary and many years ago she and her Baptist preacher husband put me up for a few days in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Known as a nest of pirates and smugglers I can hardly imagine a tougher place to evangelize short of Sodom.
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I mentioned somewhere I took two of his classes. Both were phenominal. Not a class you ever wanted to miss.
donbosco
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Curious. When you took that class do remember if he assigned his own book, arguably the best in those days?
donbosco
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Yep. History of the South & NC classes.Curious. When you took that class do remember if he assigned his own book, arguably the best in those days?
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I was fortunate enough to take a few classes with Bland Simpson. He was really great to me when I needed someone to speak to about the suicide attempt of a relative. Fantastic person.
donbosco
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I do a quite sacrilegious thing and assign a textbook for North Carolina History that is published by the University of South Carolina Press. I suspect there was some resistance to publishing one that was written by a University of Georgia PHD. He's also kind of prickly. Nevertheless, I think it is the best NC History textbook 'out there' and in particular one in which the western part of the state is not just an afterthought.
SmilingJack
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Joel Williamson's Introduction to Race Relations changed my life in a good way.
www.historians.org
Joel Williamson (1929–2019) – AHA
Joel Williamson died on November 9, 2019, at the age of 90, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
www.historians.org
donbosco
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Craig ‘Gus’ Gustafson - Carolina student and noted short order cook around town. I think he probably showed up as a freshman and moved into Stacy about 1972. Dropped out and in multiple times. Eventually stayed out but worked lunch shifts all over then retired to drink the evening away at He’s Not Here.
He was the cook at a frat house and one morning the boys came in to find him dead on the couch. He had Lupus. 1996. He was only 42 but seemed ancient.
He was a smart guy like a Carolina Man can be but he had some of the best hand-eye coordination I’ve ever seen. A Darter extraordinaire.
Another Chapel Hill character.
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Had a few beers with Gus over the years. Great pic.
Craig ‘Gus’ Gustafson - Carolina student and noted short order cook around town. I think he probably showed up as a freshman and moved into Stacy about 1972. Dropped out and in multiple times. Eventually stayed out but worked lunch shifts all over then retired to drink the evening away at He’s Not Here.
He was the cook at a frat house and one morning the boys came in to find him dead on the couch. He had Lupus. 1996. He was only 42 but seemed ancient.
He was a smart guy like a Carolina Man can be but he had some of the best hand-eye coordination I’ve ever seen. A Darter extraordinaire.
Another Chapel Hill character.
Hunter and Susannah, his first two children, went to my wife's home day care when they were kids. Bland's a nice guy.
Another local writer who writes a lot about the NC coast, especially Carteret County is David Celceski over in Durham. He also has a food blog worth checking out.
I was living in the far end of that building above the bicycle shop when I got married . That was in 1976 when the only thing where Wendy's is was a dirt lot and a phone booth.
Cliff’s Meat Market - Ground Zero in The Paris of The Piedmont.
Above The Clean Machine.