A Visit to UNC and an Old Friend

Ah, real libraries. They appear to be endangered species the way people are reading less and less real books, as in the kinds that sit on shelves in libraries. The kind where you have actual knowledgeable librarians, and don’t assume you know everything because you can browse it on the internet. Well the picture above is the Louis Round Wilson library on the campus of UNC, and I am proud to say, he was a relative of mine— we called him Uncle Louie, and he single-handedly brought that library into major library status in the 20th century. Some of the rare books in that library will make your jaw drop if you care anything about history and our heritage. For example, check this out—

Yes, that belong to one of our Presidents. Here’s me with the current curator of the Wilson library. her name is Carol—

You may also notice that I had been sweating like a pig, as it was very hot in Chapel Hill that day in August and the students were swarming around like flies. Here are a couple of shots to show you what a proper library should look like—-

By the way— no food, or beverages or noisy cellphone chats in here. It’s quiet so people can read and study and reflect— as should be the case in a proper library. Sadly, most of the undergrads were more interested in going to the nearest watering hole—- but there were cautionary signs posted in some places—

But my second main mission in going from Wake Forest N.C. where I was lecturing to UNC was not merely to take a trip down memory lane but to see ‘the venerable Armitage’ otherwise known at Christopher M. Armitage— my Shakespeare and Donne and Herbert teacher, who amazingly at 86 is still going strong as a teacher in the English department.

Here’s a poster in his office.

Here below he is playing the role of Mr. Davies, one of our founders of the oldest state university in the country (sorry Georgia, you get second place— we had students first)—- and you might just recognize who he is shaking hands with— the dean of college basketball coaches— Dean Smith

And here finally we are together— two old teachers, not prepared to give up the good fight just yet….

We once wrote a good book together— The Poetry of Piety. I commend it to you. I sure do miss my learning from Chris, and my times to chat with him. He is the last of my teachers still teaching at UNC. May he still be doing it at 100!