Month: March 2011

Health care reform, circa 1910

“At North Carolina Medical College [educational researcher Abraham] Flexner quoted a faculty member: ‘It is idle to talk of real laboratory work for students so ignorant and clumsy. Many of them, gotten through advertising, would make better farmers.”

— From “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” by John M. Barry (2004)

The Flexner Report, published in 1910 by the Carnegie Foundation, brought about epochal reforms in medical education in the U.S. and Canada — and led to the end of N.C. Medical College in Charlotte, which was judged “thoroughly wretched.” In 1914 college officials, unwilling or unable to spend the money needed for compliance with Carnegie standards, closed shop and enrolled their students at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.

Link dump stuns cocktail party with 19-point rally

— Other than the first appearance of the Miscellany link dump, what are the 10 “most significant events in North Carolina history”?

— What, you thought Wilbur and Orville flew to Kitty Hawk?

— John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Nina Simone, Max Roach and Billy Taylor born here, Dizzy Gillespie educated here,  Billy Strayhorn inspired here — but all had to leave to shine.

– At last, a school named for McNair — might Murrow be next?

Alexander clan clustered in Catawba County?

“It was common for Scots-Irish extended families and even large segments of clans to settle in the same region. In Catawba County, North Carolina, over 300 Alexander families were identified in the first census of the United States in 1790.”

–– From “Southern Culture: An Introduction” by John Beck, Wendy Jean Frandsen and Aaron Randall (2009)

Update puzzler: I notice belatedly that Catawba County wasn’t created from Lincoln County until 1842.

One possible explanation: Mecklenburg County not only dates to 1762, but also included Hezekiah and numerous other Alexanders among its early residents. Even today among U.S. cities Charlotte is second only to Brooklyn (!) in  Alexanders per capita.

One generation’s graffiti, another’s history lesson

“Civil War soldiers often signed their names at mustering sites before heading off to fight. Countless signatures have been painted over. But on a plaster wall at the courthouse in Gates County, N.C., you can still see signatures dated June 12, 1861. One signer was 18-year-old John Gatling, who survived the war and returned to the courthouse in 1915, at age 72, to speak at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the war’s conclusion.

” ‘Those signatures are a momentary record, captured in time,’ says Josh Howard, research historian with the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. ‘If you touch their names, you’re literally touching history.’ ”

— From “Erasing Signatures from History” in the Wall Street Journal (March 2) — fascinating and far-reaching.

Andrew Jackson’s Home State?

In one of his songs, Eminem raps:

Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy

I’ll take these words to heart and point out a recent news article that covers a controversy that we don’t seem to have blogged about since 2007. Well! We need a little controversy every now and then…so, just where was Andrew Jackson born?

NC, SC politely fight over presidential birthplace

Opinions? Arguments?

Gallup-ing Jehosaphat! A happiness recession?

Unsettling news indeed: The “well-being” of North Carolinians reportedly ranks 36th in the nation. Gallup’s composite index weighs 20 factors, such as stress, obesity, job satisfaction, nighttime safety, happiness…. Happiness? Tar Heels come up short in happiness?

Why, it hasn’t been that long ago — the ’70s, actually — that John Shelton Reed was explaining why no less than 90 percent of North Carolinians considered their state “the best, all things considered.” In sum: nice neighbors, nice weather. (Among the dozen other states studied, Massachusetts came in last at 40 percent.)

Mt. Airy native Donna Fargo even claimed the title of  “Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.”

So what happened? In the intervening four decades, have newcomers from Massachusetts been stealthily U-Hauling their  gloom and naysaying past the interstate welcome centers? Or are 21st century North Carolinians simply unhappy, for whatever reason, in a state they may still consider the best?

Gallup asked, “Did you experience feelings of happiness during a lot of the day yesterday?” For reasons I’m sure make sense in the opinion-harvesting community, the results are presented by congressional district. Thus, North Carolina’s happiest districts are Four (Durham, Chapel Hill) and Nine (Charlotte region minus Charlotte), both at 90 percent “yes.” Its unhappiest district: Seven (Wilmington, part of Fayetteville) at 84 percent.

Finally, this caught my eye: In response to “Are you satisfied with the city or area where you live?” the 94 percent yes in North Carolina’s District Four was topped only by the 95 percent yes in California’s District 48.

Curse you, Laguna Beach.

North Carolina’s “Moon Trees”

I noticed the following article in a clipping (from an issue of USA Today) posted at my local coffee shop:

NASA launches search for ‘moon trees’

Of course, this led me to wonder where North Carolina’s “moon trees” are located. According to NASA’s Moon Tree web page, we have two known trees (both sycamores), one in the Botanical Gardens at Asheville and one at the Cradle of Forestry in Pisgah Forest. I wonder if there are any others?

‘I’ll take the heel — um, on second thought….’

Pin back featuring Mickey Mouse for Tar Heel Bread

The Mickey Mouse watch made a memorable, Macy’s-jamming debut in 1933, but it wasn’t the only Depression-era consumer product calling on the mouse’s clout. Pinback buttons such as this one promoted dozens of  bread and milk brands (as well as “undies,” “hose,” radios,  peanut butter and dental hygiene). This postcard suggests how kids played the Globe Trotters game.

Hard to imagine Tar Heel Bread holding any appeal beyond North Carolina. Does anyone know who baked it — or maybe even ate it?