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.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/15265
THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET This, That and the Other — Wacky Style by MARGARET DICKSON What a difference only a few years can make. If you have not seen them already, brace yourself for the annual newspaper photos of fl edgling kindergarten students with thumbs in their mouths clinging to Mommy or Daddy while a kindly teacher tries to entice them into the classroom with a book or a toy, or failing that, attempts to peel junior off mom’s leg. Rarely do we see such images with older children, and by the time middle school arrives, we hear tales, even if we do not see the pictures, of students who ask Mom or Dad to drop them off a block or so from school so that none of their friends see the family car or some other “uncool” aspect of their otherwise thoroughly cool lives. Then comes college. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp, a proud Fayetteville native, made it his business recently to be out meeting arriving students on what is known as “move in day.” Thorp greeted students and their families, asking where they were from, had their roommates arrived yet, what they plan to study and other questions of riveting interest to incoming freshmen. Thorp, a youthful chancellor in only his mid-40s and the father of two adolescents, was also overhead asking several students, “Have you gotten rid of your parents yet? I say try to get one more meal out of them.” • • • • We all know politics can often be a bruising contact sport, but I have never taken that literally. A political campaign in southeastern North Carolina has proved me wrong, however. A fellow named Tristan Patterson is challenging the incumbent for a North Carolina House seat representing Columbus and Brunswick Counties. Somehow, Patterson found himself on a radio talk show debating the merits and authenticity of professional wrestling with one Donald Brower from New Jersey, a wrestling promoter and United Pro Wrestling Association owner. Brower, at 325 pounds and with 10 years of experience in the ring, challenged Patterson, who weighs a more modest 185, to a match. Patterson agreed and promised that he would drop out of his political campaign if he lost the wrestling contest. Following matches between Big Dog and Crazy Ivan and then Djinn and Cold Cash, Brower and Patterson hit the mat, with Patterson attired in a gray dress shirt, blue tie and a campaign sticker. In true professional wrestling fashion, both combatants were joined by friends, both outside the ring and in. Folding chairs were fl ying and in a particularly charming touch, Brower shoved Patterson’s head through his own campaign poster. Patterson was declared the WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM winner after one of his supporters whacked Brower on the head with a chair, allowing Patterson to pin him and take the match. Patterson said he would take a day off and then hit the trail again. Remind me never to discuss wrestling on the radio with anyone. • • • • And, fi nally, from the weird and nutty news department, which would not be possible without the gifts brought to us by the Internet. The privacy of that ultimately private man has been invaded, and by a North Carolinian no less! J.D. Salinger, author of the Baby Boomers’ quintessential novel of teenage angst, The Catcher in the Rye, long ago put Greta Garbo’s heart’s desire “I vant to be alone” into practice by retiring to Cornish, N.H., population 1,700 or so, at the height of his literary fame. For decades and until his death in January of this year, town residents shielded the reclusive author from fans who continue to come to Cornish from as far away as Japan hoping for something Salinger. That is, until Kernersville-based Rick Kohl, a collector of celebrity possessions as varied as Kurt Cobain’s guitar and Lyndon Johnson’s inaugural day overcoat, got his hands on Salinger’s former toilet. Kohl bought the toilet from Joan and James Littlefi eld, a couple who bought a house from Salinger in the 1980s. Suspecting they might have a gold mine on their hands, the Littlefi elds saved a number of items after remodeling the former Salinger abode, including the above toilet and long sections of Salinger’s privacy fence, just in case. Even the Littlefi elds, however, were stunned by Kohl’s asking price on Ebay — a whopping $1 million! Said toilet is a 1962 simple white Crane model, which comes with a certifi cate of authenticity issued by Joan Littlefi eld. Yuck! It is uncleaned and missing both seat and lid. The sales pitch for this universal symbol of personal privacy? While Salinger had mostly quit publishing by the time he actually owned this toilet, there have long been rumors of signifi cant unpublished works yet to surface, and certainly he must have conceived of some of them while atop this particular throne. I dare you to click on the “Buy It Now!” button. MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com. AUGUST 25-31, 2010 UCW 5 PAUL PAPADEAS LOCAL FILM PRODUCER AND NATIVE OF GRAHAM, NC PRESENT THEIR HEATH MICHAELS WRITER/DIRECTOR 6 TIME AWARD WINNING PROVOCATIVE FILM ABOUT A MARRIED NARCISSIST COMING UNHINGED DURING THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN.