Jeff Danner's blog

When Spring finally does arrive, the grass will grow, the dandelions will bloom, the chirps and tweets of our song birds will be drowned out by the roar of lawnmowers, and my friends and family will have to suffer through by grousing about lawns.  When there is a noteworthy and immediate threat to the health of our environment, such as the coal ash spill in Eden, environmetally-minded citizens band together to demand justice and reform, as well we should.  However, when the threat is less immediate or has become familiar we can't see it.

With the election of Mayor Lavelle and the re-election of Mayor Kleinschmidt, every news report I hear or read about them includes the terms "openly gay" or "openly lesbian."  Having not gone through the experience of keeping key elements of myself private and then navigating the landscape of revealing these to family members, friends, coworkers and the like, I don't have the grounding necessary to comment.  Nevertheless, the use of the word "openly" gives me some unease.  It seems to suggest that the public still harkens back to some sort of unspoken compact with gay and lesbian polticians that the cost of being elected was silence.

 As we in Chapel Hill and Carrboro strive to continue to lead in the progress toward a fairer and more tolerant society, maybe we can move from "openly gay mayor" and "openly lesbian mayor" to just "gay mayor" and "lesbian mayor".  Then, who knows, maybe just "mayor."

As I have posted over the years, I love this town with the fervor of a convert.  Prior to coming here 11 years ago we moved around, travelled, made new friends as we did and were generally unmoored. Now we are part of a community with whom we are completely and happily intertwined.  When you meet people around the country and around the world and tell them you live in Chapel Hill, their faces light up with interest and a hint of envy.  The question you get is, "how do you like it there?"  My answer is always, "I love it, we'll never leave."

 As one can see from the 2020 visioning project, there are diverse opinions about what makes the town special and how to keep it going.  But whatever the individual opinions, the simple fact that so many people in our town will commit their time and energy to learning about and advocating for the issues that will shape our future, is part of the soul of this town that I love.