is published each month except July and August. It is distributed to residents, members of the Priority List, and other interested persons. Vol. MMXXIV, No. 7 Chapel Hill, North Carolina September 2024
Who knew when Carol Clark approached us this spring and said she would like to do an article on trees that it would grow into a wonderful series for the first four issues of the Carol Woods News this fall. She has interviews with Ryan Talley, Carol Woods arborist, and Tommy Best on redlining and how Carol Woods is trying to bring young trees to surrounding neighborhoods who are lacking canopy cover. Norm Budnitz will be providing an in-depth update on the Carol Woods Tree Seedling Survival Study, Maggie Sachs has written about “Trees as Environmental
Persons,” and an article in December will report on a tree inventory of Carol Woods and how our environment will be factored in as we go forward with the Master Plan in coming months and years.
We have asked residents to send us 300-word stories about trees that have meant something to them — whether here at Carol Woods or elsewhere. These will be interspersed in the upcoming issues. We want to thank everyone for their enthusiastic response.
– Sindy Barker and Nancy Martin, Co-Editors
The Trees of Carol Woods
Like many of us, I came to Carol Woods in part because of the trees. The four beautiful white oaks at the entrance are a symbol of the hardwood and evergreen canopy that is a defining feature of this campus. But as I listened to
the early discussions of the Master Plan and recalled the tensions my Building 2 neighbors and I experienced when trees were removed during the plumbing renovations, I realized that I knew little about how the trees so many of us value came to be here or how decisions are made about their maintenance and preservation.
To find out, I talked with Ryan Talley, Carol Woods’ Certified Arborist, about his training, his role in managing our urban forest, and how decisions are made about planting, maintaining, and protecting our trees to ensure they thrive even after we are gone. The following is an overview of the conversation. The complete interview is available on CWOL under Carol Woods News/ September Addendum.
Carol Woods broke ground in 1977 and the first photo was taken a couple of years later. The photo on the right is one we see every day. Thank goodness for the preservation of these oaks.
("The Trees of Carol Woods" continued on Page 4)
WELCOME NEW RESIDENTS
Jim and Melissa Bullard, Apt. 243, had been Early Acceptance residents for two and a half years before moving to Carol Woods this spring. They came to Chapel Hill in 1977. Melissa’s hometown was Berkeley CA, and Jim grew up in Marietta GA. Melissa received a BA in history from Duke University and earned both an MA and PhD in history from Cornell University. Jim received his BA in religion and art from Princeton and a Master of Divinity from Duke University. They met at Duke.
Melissa taught Early Modern European History with a specialty in Italian Renaissance at UNC-Chapel Hill for over 42 years. She has published many articles and five books, including volumes X and XI in Italian of the critical edition and historical commentary on the Letters of Lorenzo de’ Medici, il Magnifico. She spent many summers and fellowship years doing archival research in Italy. Her latest book, Brooklyn’s Renaissance, extended the meaning of Renaissance to the Atlantic World. In it she examined the close connections between Atlantic commerce, culture, and fostering community ties in 19th-century Brooklyn NY.
After Duke, Jim continued graduate school at Stanford, but was called into the US Army as an officer, serving in Germany in 1969–70 and Vietnam in 1970–71. Subsequently, after returning to NC, Jim gravitated toward computer programming and operations, working in Durham for Nello Teer and Durham County government.
Jim was on the Chapel Hill Board of Adjustment for eight years and the Chapel Hill Planning Board for three years. He belongs to the Triangle Computer Association. He enjoys reading, playing board games, and studying languages.
Melissa is a member of the Renaissance Society of America, the American Historical Association, and the Society for Italian Historical Studies. She has a special interest in orchids and other tropical plants and belongs to both the Triangle and American Orchid Societies. She also enjoys swimming.
They have a son, Ed Bullard; daughter-in-law, Ga Hyun Kim; and grandson, James, who live in Kansas City KS.
Lena Gallitano, Apt. 123, lived in Raleigh for 30 years before coming to Carol Woods in December of last year. Lena was born in Chapel Hill and grew up on Homestead Road. She graduated from Chapel Hill High School and UNC-Greensboro, and later received a master’s degree in Horticultural Science from NC State University. She feels that she has come full circle by becoming part of the Carol Woods community.
Lena served in the US Air Force from 1967 to 1971 at Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas. She was the Food Service Officer and Base Services Officer during her four-year tenure.
“Food continued in my work experience after moving to the Chicago Regional Office of the US Department of Agriculture School Lunch Program. Despite my objections, this was the time when ketchup was moved from a condiment to the vegetable component of school lunches.”
After graduate school Lena worked as a research assistant at NC State in the Department of Horticultural Science, focusing on conditions to force flowering of various bulb species as well as other research projects. Lena brought to her Carol Woods cottage many plants from her Raleigh garden and will be adding native plants to the green spaces around her home.
Her interests are birding, gardening, and traveling. After four decades of bird-watching and as an active member of the Audubon Society, she helped promote the Lights Out Wake initiative during spring and fall bird migration, making Raleigh the first Lights Out city in the state.
Lena’s brother and his wife, her niece and her partner, and her nephew and his son all live in Durham. She enjoys being close enough for family gatherings. Although she has no family connection to Carol Woods, she often brought her mother to visit friends here. She says that connection “definitely influenced my decision to move here.”
Sharon Sullivan Mujica, Apt. 1106, moved from Chapel Hill last December. She grew up in Chapel Hill when it was a village. She received a BA in English Literature and Sociology from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Master’s Degree in in Latin American Studies at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM).
After college graduation she went to Boston, where she first worked in publishing and then switched careers to become a social worker. In 1965, Sharon went to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for a two-week intensive Spanish course and ended up staying in San Miguel for three months. Not really wanting to leave Mexico, she then went to Mexico City to take a position at the UNAM in the Language Department.
The following year she married Sergio Mujica Montoya. They spent a year and a half in Madrid, Spain, where her husband completed postgraduate work in law. Upon their return to Mexico City, Sharon worked with The New York Times during the 1968 Olympics. They had two daughters, Samantha in 1969 and Tanya in 1973.
Besides being an involved mother, she worked for the Mexican government teaching and translating documents into English. For fun she sold art out of a gallery owned by friends and was the speech coach on various movie sets. One of her last positions was as a community organizer in a working-class neighborhood outside Mexico City.
Sharon, with her two daughters, moved back to Chapel Hill in 1985 to work at UNC. When Latin American Studies at UNC and Duke became a Consortium, she became the Director of Educational Outreach. She developed a summer fellowship program in Yucatec Maya in Yucatan where Maya was still the predominant language.
In addition, she created the successful annual NC Latin American Film Festival. She organized teacher workshops in North Carolina, Mexico, and Cuba. After she retired, she devoted her time to the Chapel Hill Institute of Culture and Language Education (CHICLE) which she, Jane Stein, and four other women co-founded in 1999.
Sharon married fellow “Chapel Hillian” George Shepard in 2000. They traveled extensively and were very active in community and statewide organizations. George died in 2021.
She spends time with her two daughters, Samantha
Mujica Marquez in San Diego and Tanya Keenan in Hoboken NJ, and her four grandchildren. Sharon continues to use her language skills to interpret and guide asylum-seekers who arrive in the Triangle area.
Trish Rafalow, Apt. 170, became an Early Acceptance resident in 2017 and moved to campus earlier this year.
“I'm originally from Cupertino CA, which was a small town with orchards of plums, apricots and cherries before transforming into Silicon Valley. After living in San Francisco for several years, my husband, Lee, and I moved to San Luis Obispo CA. Afterward, we spent two winters in Montana, then in 1978 moved to Chapel Hill for Lee to complete his Master's degree in Computer Science. In 1985, we bought 10 acres in Chapel Hill where we raised horses, cows and chickens. I received my BA from San Francisco State University and did postgraduate work at Cal Poly and UNC-CH. My private psychotherapy practice of 35 years, treating mostly couples and adults, was one of the biggest joys of my life.
“My hobbies include issues of animal welfare, making stained glass artwork, painting with pastels and acrylics, doing fiber crafts, hosting international students at UNC-CH, advocating for the environment, and traveling. I am especially interested in using horses for therapeutic purposes in equine-assisted psychotherapy. I take pleasure in trying out different activities including starting a travel agency that sold various travel items and books, establishing a retail store whose profits went to animals in need, and buying and selling real estate.
“My wonderful husband and I were married for 50 years before his death in 2023.”
EARLY ACCEPTANCE RESIDENTS
Tom Englund and Chuck Roser
Ginny Fox
("The Trees of Carol Woods" continued from Page 1)
Ryan is “home grown.” Raised in Mebane, he attended high school in Alamance County, majored in history, minored in education at UNC-Charlotte, and became a high school social studies teacher. He soon realized his heart was not in teaching, and that to continue was unfair to his students. He left his degree behind and took a job at the McDowell Nature Preserve on Lake Wylie SC, where he developed a deepening appreciation of trees. Following a stint with the UNC-Chapel Hill Grounds Department, he was offered a full-time job at Carol Woods in 2021. When Tommy Best (Manager of Landscaping and Grounds at the time) asked him if he
was interested in becoming an arborist, he responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” Tommy facilitated his taking the required classes. Since he had the necessary work experience, Ryan quickly earned certification by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and has since also received TRAQ (Tree Risk Assessment Qualification) certification.
Ryan’s responsibility is to manage our urban forest, a canopy covering sixty percent of Carol Woods’ 120-acre campus. When I asked if we had any trees that were here before the land was cleared for farming, he said we have very little older forest. However, one can see remnants in the land between our campus and Coventry and at the front of the campus, in “the valley between the Dining Hall and the Main building. I figure it was too wet for the farmer to do anything there, so it never got logged.” He noted that a few other old trees can be seen behind the Middle Loop, but what we treasure most is the four white oaks in front. “They are close to 300 years old. We’re really lucky to have them.” He explained that white oaks adapt well, but he wonders if they can adapt quickly enough to the current rate of climate change.
Ryan repeatedly emphasized the importance of trees, not only for people but for the environment. They are beautiful and they cool the air around them by providing shade and giving off water through transpiration – an especially important benefit in an urban environment. They also amend the soil, capture storm water, sequester carbon, and provide habitat for wildlife and beneficial insects. Caring for the trees, however, requires “constant monitoring and acting quickly when there is drought, an invasion of harmful bugs, or changes related to construction or renovations. When it boils down to it, we want to keep every tree as long as the risk of having that tree is at an acceptable level. If we remove a tree, we could plant another tree, but there is not a fair oneto-one tradeoff.” It takes many years for a new tree to provide the canopy of the one that was removed.
While we were sitting under a Japanese Maple, he touched the tip of a branch and said, “All trees have risk. This tree has inherent risk. If it were to fall on us right now it would hurt a little. It is improbable and the damage would be minimal, but the risk exists.”
“When I approach a tree, I try to balance the risks and rewards of the tree.” He first considers its benefits; then looks at the factors increasing the likelihood of failure
Carol Clark, left, and Ryan Talley pose in front of a European Weeping Beech. With its purple leaves and resistance to heat, it is a unique parking lot tree for Building 1.
such as “roots ripped up by machinery, cracked branches, dead or missing bark, evidence of decay.” Finally, he looks at the likely impact of the tree’s failure. “If a tree, even a very large one, is failing and will fall in an area where it will do no damage, we leave it alone because it is still providing benefits such as carbon sequestration. It always goes back to the question: does this tree’s risk outweigh its benefits? If the risk gets to a threshold, then it might need to be removed. Or sometimes I can mitigate risk by removing only a portion of the tree. It doesn’t always come down to removal.”
I asked Ryan about his role and how he makes decisions about preserving and/or planting trees when there is planned construction or expansion, as in the Master Plan. He replied, “You have to be wise about what gets preserved and protected. What you don’t want to do is make major efforts to save a tree when it has little chance of surviving in place. The effort should be spent on protecting other trees nearby.” For example, fencing keeps people and machinery out of the vicinity of the trees.
Once construction is complete, his role is to replant trees appropriate for the space. This involves considering many variables: not just what looks good, but the size and kind of tree that will thrive in that environment (sun, shade, wet, dry, protected or exposed); the preferred role for that tree (e.g., shade, color, privacy, flowers, fruit); and how well it will perform its role in the future. For example, a resident may want a maple tree planted by a new deck, which would be fine now. However, in 40 years, the tree would be up against the foundation and a threat to the building and its own survival. Thus, Ryan might say to the resident, “Hey, I know we want red colors in the fall, but let’s find our red color with something appropriate to the space. That’s a Service Berry. It’s never big enough to fall on anything and hurt anybody, it’s got beautiful fall colors, leafs out white in the spring, and is a great pollinator.”
When I commented that he seemed to be thinking about 100 years ahead, he said that was about right. “We can’t prevent the loss of some trees and have to plan for the future. We plant around 600 to 700 shadetolerant seedlings in the woods every year (provided by the N. C. Forest Service). They are mostly hickory and oaks, which are native, grow well in the shade of the pines, and will provide good canopy. “We don’t tend them but hope that 400-500 seedlings will survive and
This stump of a tree looked healthy enough from the outside, but a trained eye can see the telltale signs of inner decay.
be in place when the established trees age out.”
Ryan encourages residents to come to him with questions. I asked about some of the more common ones. A big concern is sweet gum balls, which are hard to walk on — a risk that is greater for an aging population. The risk is mitigated by the daily clearing of sidewalks, but he said that no such trees should be planted near sidewalks, only at the edge of the woods. Another frequent worry of residents is whether a big tree in their yard might fall on their cottage in a storm. He is always willing to do risk assessments on such trees. Often the benefits of keeping the tree outweigh the risks.
He also gets many questions about pruning. “I prune to accomplish an objective. You never prune just to prune and rarely for aesthetic reasons. Pruning opens a space for disease to get into the tree and we don’t want to subject the tree to future problems.”
Then there are questions about a specific tree, such as the European Beech in the Building 1 parking lot. Some think it is ugly and/or dead. According to Ryan it is a “unique parking lot tree,” a purple tree that can survive in the sun, where water is scarce, and the pavement around it is hot. “That is why it is there.”
We concluded our conversation by sharing thoughts about the growing interest in “mother trees” and communication between trees, and referencing Suzanne Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree and The Overstory by Richard Powers. When I noted that we anthropomorphize trees, Ryan replied, “We do, but that’s a good thing. We take care of things we associate with ourselves. You give a tree a name, and people are going to look after it a lot better. But scientifically, they do communicate. They know to send resources from here to there when they are needed. They are doing it right now.”
– Carol Clark
Carol Woods Retirement Community is Named 2024 Large Business of the Year
Carol Woods was named by the Chamber of Commerce as the 2024 Large Business of the Year. The recipient must have 50 or more employees and demonstrate the following criteria: 1) growth, 2) innovation of product, 3) exemplary customer service, 4) response to adversity, and 5) contribution to the community. The press release introduction follows:
“Nonprofit continuing care retirement community Carol Woods is dedicated to fostering an inclusive community that promotes an active lifestyle supported by the region's educational, cultural, and medical resources. Their commitment to well-being empowers residents to pursue fulfilling activities and a sense of purpose.”
In 1999, recognizing trends within North Carolina’s Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), Carol Woods began to expand its campus by introducing the Early Acceptance program. Since this was a new concept, one of the first steps was to define the parameters of the program and get it incorporated into North Carolina Statute. The first Early Acceptance residents were admitted in 2013. They have the same rights and privileges as the on-campus residents, including access to health care. This was the first such
program within the state and has served as a model for other CCRCs.
Since 1988, Carol Woods has received continuous recognition from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), and since 2011 has received the OSHA Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) designation for maintaining a safe and healthy work environment.
Carol Woods has been one of the major nonprofit contributors to schools and area organizations within the town of Chapel Hill and Orange County, as well as neighboring Durham and Chatham counties. Each year, Carol Woods provides monetary support to more than 20 organizations including schools, local governments, and nonprofit organizations — each making our area of the state a better place to live. In addition, resident volunteers provide more than 25,000 hours of service annually while Carol Woods staff serve as volunteer consultants to many government advisory groups.
“For their innovation, commitment to safety, and contribution to community, we are proud to name Carol Woods the 2024 Large Business of the Year.”
– Ann Bradford
Residents in the Memoirs Group shared their stories at the Summer Festival in June. From left to right, seated: Sandy Woodward, Ellen Davis, Linda Ide, Biermann, Neal Bushoven. From left to right, standing: Kevin Cadigan, Sunny Ladd, Ruth Whitsel, Sharon Mujica, Nancy Martin.
New Exhibit by Seasoned Artists
The two newest local artists to display at Carol Woods noted the generous amount of display space they were able to use — one wall of the Social Lounge and the large cabinet in The Carvery. They said that often they had to select far fewer weavings and ceramic pieces in other spaces, but our space allowed them to show the wide range of their work.
Rose Warner grew up in Wisconsin with five siblings. Early on her mother taught them to sew their own clothes. This was a useful skill, but as she grew up Rose wanted to create more decorative pieces. She took a weaving class and loved it. However, she decided that tapestry weaving was not a good fit for her; she wanted to do something that would combine painting and weaving. She bought a book on abstract painting and began to paint. After creating a big stack of paintings (which she said were dreadful, but colorful), she cut them into strips and wove them back together on her loom.
Eventually she decided to study painting — color, design value, composition, organic versus geometric, etc. She realized that in order to use her paintings as an integral part of her weaving, she was going to need to exaggerate the colors and shapes. Each weaving starts with strips made from her paintings; these strips are interspersed with a combination of light cotton thread, ribbons, and various types of yarn. She can be working on up to five weavings at a time.
Pat Saling’s first career lasted 25 years as a professor at the Duke Medical School. After retiring 20 years ago, one of the first things she did was to take a sixweek pottery class. She
time.
was fascinated with transforming clay into something beautiful and realized right away that the technical side of ceramics is chemistry.
Pat uses her chemistry in formulating new glazes. For translucent glazes she adds copper for a turquoise aqua and chrome for an apple green. The glazes move a little when firing and will pool in small areas. Her lichen glazes shrink at the peak of firing, and will emerge as small islands of color. The crystalline glazes are more fluid and require that fluidity for the components to collide and form crystals during firing. To create a crystalline vase, she often plans a big “belly” on her finished pot with a small foot beneath to allow the glaze to flow in the direction she has chosen.
She has all these glazes on display. You will see that lately she has been drawn to larger pieces that almost serve as a 3D canvas.
Pat Saling, left, and Rose Warner speak about how their artistry developed over
Trees As "Environmental Persons"
Should courts recognize the rights of trees? In a famous article published in 1972 that remains controversial to this day, the late law professor Christopher Stone, son of the leftist journalist I. F. Stone, responded with a resounding “yes.”1 Central to Stone’s proposal is “environmental personhood,” a concept embracing not only trees but also other components of the natural world such as forests, oceans, rivers, and lakes. In Stone’s view, an at-risk environmental person should receive a courtappointed guardian of the sort employed to protect young children and incompetent adults. The court would then take account of the guardian’s arguments along with those of the human (or corporate) person whose actions constituted the threat, and strive to reach a just result.
To illustrate, assume that an environmental advocacy group learns of a farmer’s plans to demolish a healthy tree in the course of building a barn. The group thereupon shares this information with the court, which appoints a guardian (perhaps the environmental advocacy group
itself). The guardian argues that the farmer should spare the tree by building the barn elsewhere. But the farmer rejects that idea for inscrutable reasons and insists on being allowed to build where he sees fit.
In confronting this dispute, the court would face numerous questions. For example, when should the rights of an environmental person give way to those of a human person? Can the court condition the farmer’s right to build where he pleases on his making a donation to an environmental fund in an amount equal to the value of the tree (however that value would be calculated)?
In seeking answers to these questions, the court would find itself in essentially uncharted territory. The federal environmental laws, enacted beginning in the 1960s and continuing into the 1980s, did not establish environmental personhood, much less provide principles by which disputes involving environmental persons should be resolved.
That said, environmental personhood has been
1 “Do Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects,” 45 S.Cal. L. Rev. 450 (1972).
Yoga With Lois
Lois Howlett, Carol Woods resident and yoga instructor, tutored fellow residents on the relaxing properties of trees. Seated, they all firmly planted their feet on the floor and pressed down to assure that their root system was strong. Then they straightened their trunks by making their crown as tall as possible. After several minutes of waving their limbs in the air and bending them from side to side, they stood to practice standing as tall as a tree. The class moved into a circle of trees and showed the power of bracing their limbs against each other to become stronger together. Finally, some returned to their chairs and again planted their root system while others stood behind them, becoming taller and waving their limbs with a few branches that
Lois had brought with her. Throughout, Lois, in a gentle voice, reminded them of their deep roots and strong core, the permanence of trees, and that without green plants there would be no life on our planet. What a soothing way to start a Friday morning.
Yes, we coupled the yoga class of “persons as tress” with the article by Maggie
Sachs on “Trees as environmental persons.”
embraced in numerous city and town ordinances across the United States. Spawned by a rights-to-nature movement that has also taken root in various foreign countries (e.g., Canada, Ecuador, India, New Zealand), these cities and towns have upheld environmental personhood in a variety of forms, diverging on matters such as whether guardians can be appointed (and by whom) and, if so, whether they have the right to sue or merely to advocate informally.
Such an ordinance may not offer firm ground for an environmental person, however. Consider the fate of the one adopted in 2021 by the Board of Trustees of Nederland, Colorado, which conferred rights on environmental persons and authorized the Board to appoint guardians to advocate informally on their behalf (but not to sue). In January 2024, the Board appointed two guardians to speak for a creek — apparently the first instance of a guardian’s being appointed to act for an environmental person anywhere in the United States. The victory was short-lived. In May 2024, the Trustees rescinded the ordinance, along with the appointments
2 Utah Legal Personhood Amendments (2024).
made pursuant to it, in order to prevent potential interference with the development of a reservoir.
Sometimes the threat to these local ordinances comes from state legislatures, seemingly wary that environmental personhood poses a threat to commercial development. In 2024, the Utah legislature prohibited state courts, cities, and towns from granting rights to, among other things, “a body of water,” “a plant,” or “any other member of a taxonomic domain not a human being.” 2 The legislatures of Florida and Ohio have acted similarly.
Where does this leave us? For now, at least, Professor Stone’s environmental personhood concept has captured the imagination of at least some city and town managers anxious about environmental deterioration. Insofar as additional deterioration causes their anxieties to grow, the ordinances that they adopt may have more teeth. To be sure, pushback from states and commercial interests presents cause for concern, while likely being inevitable. As with so many things, environmental personhood has a future that has yet to be written.
– Maggie Sachs
Seated (left to right): Al Howlett, Martha Hamilton, Lois Howlett, Maggie McFadden
Standing (left to right): Mary Eldridge, Margaret Brill, Betsy Brinson, Maggie Sachs, Carol Clark
Carol Woods Resident Artist — Carole Stevens
I was born near Richmond, Virginia in the small rural community of Varina. My father was a Baptist minister and my mother kept the home running smoothly for my older brother and myself. She also tended to the unsaid but expected duties of a minister’s wife.
The church parsonage where I grew up was about an hour out of Williamsburg. Several grand James River plantations were nearby; closer to my home were two large commercial farms, which I would sometimes visit with my father. Wellloved and nurtured, I experienced the best of the country with occasional trips to nearby Richmond.
Growing up, I loved the world of nature: watching thunderstorms from our screen porch, climbing the gum tree by the house, and helping tend the family garden. This laid the groundwork for a lifelong, close attention to the natural world.
Our young family traveled to California and visited several national parks out west; when I was twelve we went to Europe for a month. My birthday gift that year was a stamp album purchased in London. My Dad and I were the stamp collectors in the family. I came to think of stamps as miniature pieces of art.
Bitten by the travel bug, I joined the Peace Corps in 1969. I taught medical laboratory testing in Ethiopia, and in my spare time traveled the game parks of East Africa. I bought
a good camera during those years and would say that photography was my first try at practicing an art form. Workshops at the NC Botanical Garden and John Campbell Folk Art School broadened my scope. But more than anything, my eye is trained by an insatiable curiosity and wonder at the world. Hastening clouds, a bird’s wing, intricate flowers, cicada exoskeletons, seasonal changes — these are the sources of artistic inspiration for me.
– Carole Stevens
MUSINGS: Taking Care
Most Mondays, I work with the Garden Gophers. I often get to trim the abelias out front. My good-natured fellow workers know I like to do that and they indulge my preference. I realize that I’ve come to think of those bushes as “my abelias.” I’ve become proprietary about them. This set me to wondering, do we take care of things because we’re attached to them or do we become attached to things by caring for them? The answer is probably, ”Both.” But I think that I tend toward the latter.
When I’ve moved to a new abode, I’ve enjoyed settling in. I’ve hung the pictures, arranged the knickknacks, found homes for the pots and pans. All my belongings are stowed. Yet the house still doesn’t feel like mine. What’s missing? Ah, yes! I haven’t cleaned it yet. Not until I have mopped or dusted or wiped is it really my home.
I’m kinda embarrassed to admit this further example. When my stepsons came into my life at ages six and seven, I liked and respected them immediately. We got along and, even more important, they got along with my two kids. But it was only after I first supervised their bath-time that I felt they were really mine. Not, of course, that I owned them in any way. I was just the “Jeanette” in their lives. But having a hand in keeping them clean firmly established them in the realm of my affection.
“To care for something” can have two meanings: a) to look after it, and b) to be fond of it. When I fuss with something, whether it’s to water the begonias, dust the lampshade or bathe the baby, the two meanings come together.
– Jeanette Pfaff
The Enduring Nature of Trees
Every once in a while, a book appears that sears itself into my brain. Over time, it is easy to forget so many books, but the ones I refer to here are rare, profound, and unforgettable. They are stimulating in both thought and emotion, and I want to run and tell everyone about them. The Overstory, by Richard Powers, is one of those books. Here are a few of the quotes from the book that enlarged my thinking and touched my emotions.
• “That tree and you share half of your genes.”
• “This is not our world with trees in it. It’s a world of trees where humans have just arrived.”
• “Deforestation is a bigger changer of climate than all of transportation put together.”
• “A forest deserves protection regardless of its value to humans.”
• “Until the rightless thing receives its rights, we cannot see it as anything but a thing for the use of us.”
• “Earth will be monetized.”
• “The most wondrous products of four billion years of life need help. Not them; us.”
• “A culture is no better than its woods.” W. H. Auden, quoted by Powers.
– Ruth Whitsel
Hawaiian Shirt Day: Any excuse to celebrate and this party commemorated Hawaii becoming the 50th state in 1959. “Aloha shirts” were initially worn by locals to celebrate the culture, landscape, and heritage of the islands. Amazing how many residents had an Hawaiian shirt tucked away for just such an occasion. Above left are Phyllis Swank (at left) and Barbara Rowan. Above right is Bob Hellwig.
COMING EVENTS
The Assembly Hall, 7:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY EVENING CONCERTS
09/04/24 Bonnie Thron, cello
09/11/24 Qi Cao, violin; Jean Park, piano
09/18/24 Calichi Trio
09/25/24 Jeanine Wynton, violin; and colleagues
THURSDAY EVENING PROGRAMS
09/05/24 Chris Holaday, author of Cracks in the Outfield Wall: The History of Baseball Integration in the Carolinas
09/19/24 Kathleen DuVal, Professor of History, UNC-CH; and author of Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
A rectangle of sunlight and a round opening frame a pink crepe myrtle in full bloom on campus.
THE CAROL WOODS NEWS
Carol Woods News Committee
Co-Chairs: Sindy Barker and Nancy Martin
Editorial Team: Linda Brooks, Lucinda Glover, Carol Hoppe, Susan Marston, Jane Misch, Jeanette Pfaff, Harriet Solomon, Sally Walker Council Liaison
Shirley Geissinger
Proofreaders (Round 1)
Jan Dodds, Gail McKinnis, Claire Miller, Harriet Solomon
Proofreaders (Round 2)
Jeffery Beam, Susan Bendlin, Janet Campbell, Anne Cooper-Chen, Gail McKinnis, Julie McVaugh
Layout
Linda Graham Design
Distribution
Linda Blumner, Marty Broda, Carol Candler, Ann Crawford, Frances de Usabel, Sue Goodman, Lois Howlett, Donna Kavee, Ilene Nelson, Anne O’Connor
Photographers
Sindy Barker, Hailey Boone, Norm Budnitz, Peter Filene, Nancy Martin, Jordan Medlin, Vicki Moran, Carole Stevens
