Up & Coming Weekly

April 26, 2016

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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APRIL 27 - MAY 3, 2016 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM I have a quest ion for you. I f you a r e a wom a n , h ave you e ver me t a m a n d r e s s e d a s a wom a n i n a publ ic r e s t r o om a nd , i f s o, d id he g i ve you a ny pr oblem s? If you are a man, have you ever encountered a woman dressed as a man in a public rest room, and, if so, did she jump your bones? A s a woman of a cer t ain age who has checked more t han a few pivot al life experiences of f her list, I have not experienced any such sit uat ion in a public rest room — or in a private one-— any where in Nor t h Carolina or in any ot her st ate or nat ion I have ever v isited. Sanit at ion issues — yes, yes, yes and ever y where! But a man dressed as a woman behav ing badly in t he ladies' room — never! The closest I ever came to any thing like that was in northern Canada. A teenaged girl cousin and I emerged from our cubicles to wash our hands in the ladies' room lavatories of a fast-food establishment at the same time a fellow in coveralls did. Turns out he had been painting the walls and was too embarrassed to mention his presence when we trooped in, chat ting so animatedly that he was loathe to interrupt. A t ad disconcer t ing but no harm done. The Nor t h Woods of Canada is a land unto it self. But back to Nor t h Carolina. HB2, legislat ion addressing men dressed as women in ladies' rooms and women dressed as men in men's rooms, was passed by our General A ssembly in a lightening fast special session and immediately signed into law by our Governor. In addit ion, t he legislat ion cont ained prov isions rest rict ing local government aut horit y and limit ing employee right s to sue, prov isions t hat have not hing at all to do w it h who uses which bat hroom. A huge f irestorm prompt ly erupted and spread and spread and spread. Ever yone f rom NASC AR to President Obama has crit icized Nor t h Carolina for t his highly discriminator y legislat ion, and t he Brit ish government has issued a t ravel adv isor y for it s LGBT cit izens who might want to t ravel to Nor t h Carolina. More hit s to our collect ive pocketbook s keep coming f rom convent ions t hat have cancelled or declined to come to our st ate, businesses t hat have decided not to locate here, and enter t ainers have said t hey w ill not perform in such a discriminator y st ate. Economic interest s are scrambling to determine t he cost of all t his, but t here is no quest ion it is in t he millions in bot h lost revenue and jobs t hat are not coming here. These are just t he react ions we k now about . No one k nows who and how many oppor t unit ies are quiet ly passing on t he Tar Heel st ate. Nor t h Carolina faces a long road to dig out f rom t he legac y of HB2, t he world's latest and perhaps most blat ant example of a legislat ive solut ion in search of a problem. • • • Jerr y Cummings died earlier t his mont h in Raleigh of nat ural causes. Cummings, 76, was one of about 150 people, 10 f rom Cumberland Count y, liv ing out t heir days on Nor t h Carolina's Deat h Row for a Robeson Count y murder. Cummings was not t he f irst and w ill not be t he last condemned murderer to fade away as prison populat ions t hroughout t he nat ion are gray ing. The News and Obser ver repor ted last week t hat our average Deat h Row age is now 48, compared to 37 in t he general prison populat ion. Our oldest Deat h Row inmate, a woman, is now 83. Our last execut ion took place 10 years ago, and an ongoing st alemate bet ween st ate law and medical et hics coupled w it h a nat ional debate over t he deat h penalt y make an execut ion any t ime soon unlikely. Even so, t he prospect of an oc togenarian being st rapped dow n on t he deat h g urney is a bit unset t ling. • • • For her book, South Toward Home, Margaret Eby roamed t he Sout h to experience t he habit at s of our famous, somet imes infamous, aut hors. In Monroev ille, A labama, home to bot h Truman Capote and Harper Lee, she unsuccessf ully hoped to encounter Lee, aut hor of an iconic American novel and sy mbol of t he nat ion we want to be, To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee, bot h a Sout hern lady and private person ex t raordinaire, gave t his inter v iew to Britain's Daily Mail, whose repor ter had t raveled to Monroev ille for t he 50t h anniversar y of t he publicat ion of Mockingbird, also hoping for an inter v iew. Eby quotes t he ever-gracious Lee as t hank ing t he repor ter and say ing , " We are just going to feed t he duck s, but call me nex t t ime you are here. We have a lot of histor y here. You w ill enjoy it ." Eby 's t ranslat ion of what she calls Lee's "Sout hern politesse? " "Don't let t he door hit you on your way out ." So t here! This, That and the Other by MARGARET DICKSON OPINION MARGARET DICKSON. Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910.484.6200.

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