Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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4 UCW NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 6, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Isaiah Jones graphics@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Kathleen Ramsey Jason Brady Chayenne Burns Laura Browne Katrina Wilson Jyl Barlow INTERN R. Elgin Zeiber CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Margaret Dickson, Pitt Dickey, Dr. Shanessa Fenner, John Hood COVER Design by Isaiah Jones Front and back photos by Isaiah Jones MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Vacant Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Published weekly on Wednesdays, Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Association of Community Publishers JOHN HOOD, Board Member, John Locke Foundation. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200 North Carolina has an official state bird (the Northern Cardi- nal), an official state reptile (the Eastern Box Turtle), an official state insect (the honeybee), an official state mammal (the Gray Squirrel), an official saltwater fish (the Channel Bass), an of- ficial freshwater fish (the South- ern Appalachian Brook Trout), an official state marsupial (the Virginia Opossum, which seems awfully unpatriotic), and two official state amphibians, the Pine Barrens Treefrog and the Marbled Salamander. We have something like an official philosopher, as well, although no legislation has con- firmed it. North Carolina's state motto is esse quam videri, which translates as "to be rather than to seem." You can find the motto on the state seal, among many other places. While the underlying idea didn't originate with him, this specific Latin phrasing came from the pen of the Roman orator and statesman Ci- cero, who was a contemporary (and enemy) of Julius Caesar and a hero to the founders of North Carolina and the United States as a whole. As a stylist in Latin, a practitioner of Roman law, an advocate of repub- lican virtues over imperial ambitions, a translator and teacher of classical Greek ideas, and a philosopher of metaphysics, politics, and ethics, Ci- cero had an outsized influence on the world we still inhabit many centuries later. He is also very quotable. You will find his sayings sprinkled throughout Western literature, law codes, and even inspirational websites. Unfor- tunately, these quotes aren't always placed in context, which can some- times drain them of their intended force and meaning. For example, North Carolina's motto is taken from a treatise Cicero wrote on the subject of friendship. He noted that real relationships must be based on honesty, not pretense. "e man to open his ears widest to flatter- ers is he who first flatters himself and is fondest of himself," Cicero wrote, and the result isn't a real relationship of two mature human beings. "Fewer people are endowed with virtue than wish to be thought to be so," he pointed out. "It is such people that take delight in flattery. When they are addressed in language expressly adapted to flatter their vanity, they look upon such empty persiflage as a testimony to the truth of their own praises." Can you think of anyone in public life today to whom Cicero's argument applies? I can, too. But that hardly exhausts the potential applications of Cicero's wisdom to modern poli- tics. Here are some other lessons that North Carolina leaders ought to take to heart. In his treatise on moral duties, ad- dressed to his son, Cicero argued that "while there are two ways of contending, one by discussion, the other by force, the former belonging properly to man, the latter to beasts, recourse must be had to the latter if there be no opportunity for employing the former." In other words, force may be necessary to resolve certain kinds of disputes, but it ought to be a rare and last resort. In the political context, this is an argu- ment for letting people make their own decisions and work out their own voluntary arrange- ments as much as possible, keep- ing government intervention to a minimum. In another work, Cicero wrote that "we denounce with righteous in- dignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they can- not foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue." Leaders should always look before they leap — and think about the long run, not just the short-term effects of their decisions. at's a point about the future. "To be ignorant of the past," Cicero also wrote, "is to be forever a child." To study history is to recognize that past generations with the greatest of intel- lects and best of intentions have often faced similar problems and attempt- ed solutions. Some succeeded. Many failed. All yielded useful lessons. If North Carolina leaders want truly to be rather than to seem, they could do far worse than heed the philoso- pher who wrote our motto. PUBLISHER'S PEN Carolina leaders should heed Cicero by JOHN HOOD Cicero Denounces Catiline (Artist: Cesare Maccari, public domain) Letters to the Editor Do YOU have something to say? We want YOU to be heard! We want EVERYONE to be able to voice their opinions on current community events. Let us be a place to start much needed conversations. ALL VOICES WELCOMED! EMAIL: editor@upandcomingweekly.com CALL: 910-484-6200