Category: Uncategorized

#OnThisDay: 2nd Anniversary of Hurricane Helene Status Report

Since western North Carolina was so severely damaged by Hurricane Helene beginning on September 26, 2024, I am blogging about it today. I don’t want people to forget, and I want people to know that the people in the region are still recovering from the storm.

Trouble came on a scale no one could have predicted.

You can find thousands of photographs from the disaster online. I just did not have permission to post any of them.

Summary of Hurricane Helene Damages in North Carolina (Data gathered from various online sources, some not in agreement, of course. This is my best effort as a regular citizen.)

Lives lost: 106

Total estimated damages: Nearly $60 billion

Federal funds received to date: $14.4 billion

Highest recorded rainfall, September 25-27, 2024: 30.78 inches in Busick, a community near Mount Mitchell in Yancey County

Landslides: More than 2,000

Dams that failed or were severely damaged: 40

Tornadoes spawned: 8

Housing units destroyed or severely damaged: 3,800

Housing units damaged: 125,000

Timberland damaged: 822,000 acres

Trees downed in national forests in NC: Millions

State-maintained roads destroyed or heavily damaged: 5,000 miles

State-maintained bridges destroyed or damaged: 700

State-maintained culverts destroyed or damaged: 700

Privately-owned roads, bridges, and culverts severely damaged: 7,000

Water and sewer systems damaged: More than 160

Jobs lost in western NC in the month after the hurricane: 19,000

Examples of Assistance western NC has received:

Search and Rescue members sent from California: 151

Starlink internet terminals sent from a Kentucky storm chaser: 30

Starlink internet terminals contributed by SpaceX: 500

Line crews sent from T&T Line Construction of Hornwell, New Brunswick, Canada: 11

Additional line crews from Quebec, Canada: several

Line crews from across the US: multiple

Helicopters sent in to transport and set power poles: Duke Energy

Disaster relief assistance: 1st Battalion of the 169th Aviation Regiment of the Connecticut Army National Guard

Volunteer private helicopters in rescue efforts: Operation AirDrop and the Carolina Emergency Response Team

Meals provided by World Central Kitchen: More than 64,000

Affordable microhomes built by Beloved Asheville: 12 so far, with another village planned in nearby Swannanoa

New housing units built by Blue Haven, Inc. (a 501(c)(3) organization which is part of singer Eric Church and his wife, Katherine’s Chief Cares Foundation: 37 (Please visit https://chiefcares.org/ and https://wataugaonline.com/eric-churchs-chief-cares-expanding-in-western-nc/ to learn how this endeavor works and is being expanded.)

Value of pizzas donated to Asheville residents by Mellow Mushroom: $5,000

Liters of water distributed by FEMA: 6.5 million

Meals distributed by FEMA: 7.1 million

Cajun Navy arrived from Louisiana immediately with search-and-rescue teams. They stayed for weeks, if not months.

Heavy equipment work donated by Precision Grading of Tryon, NC (a small excavating and grading company that now includes a 501(c)(3) division to handle donations whose name is now Precision Grading & Disaster Relief.) Basically, their disaster relief work is free-of-charge, but individuals receiving insurance benefits for damages are requested to pay the company for work done.): More than 500 days of very hard work and counting. Visit https://myfox8.com/video/north-carolina-nonprofit-owner-worked-500-days-straight-helping-hurricane-helene-victims-rebuild/12197331/ for a recent report.

Mountain Mule Packers Ranch’s nonprofit Mission Mules (in Mount Ulla, NC) carried tons of food, water, insulin, building supplies to areas inaccessible by other means in North Carolina.

Books collected and distributed by 21st Century Packhorse Librarian: 9,000

PVC pipes cleaned out of the French Broad River due to the flooding of the IPEX plastics manufacturing plant in Woodfin, NC by volunteers from the environmental nonprofit MountainTrue: 6 million pounds. (IPEX has agreed to pay MountainTrue $500,000 for their efforts.)

Amish people from Pennsylvania and Ohio came and built tiny homes for people who had lost their home to the hurricane, but I could not find the exact number.

Rebuilding projects completed or underway in Yancey and Mitchell counties by Rebuilding Hollers, a 501(c)(3) organization: 585 (Visit https://rebuildinghollers.org/Projects for more details.)

Looking to the Future

Landslides:  The State of North Carolina is remapping western NC using new LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scans that show the actual damage and waterway channel shifts as a result of Hurricane Helene. That data will continue to be processed for updated flood-hazard maps. That information will be shared with FEMA.

Information I found indicates that FEMA flood zone maps concentrate on rivers and coastal storm surge. Western NC is 300 to 400 miles from the coast. The steep terrain and 30-inch rainfall associated with the hurricane turned tiny streams into raging rivers that were not accounted for on FEMA flood maps. Therefore, fewer than 3% of the properties in western NC that were most damaged by Hurricane Helene are included in FEMA’s mapped flood zone areas.

LiDAR scans that have been superimposed over older maps that predicted potential landslide locations have lined up very well and have identified many additional landslide-prone locations. This information will be used to restrict future development.

Water, Wastewater, and Sewer Systems:  Water, wastewater, and sewer systems receiving State funds for repairs and reconstruction are required to repair/reconstruct to a higher, storm-resilient standard and not merely rebuilding to the pre-Helene standards. The NC Department of Environmental Quality has awarded grants totaling more than $1 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure in western NC counties. Another $750 million is needed.

Dam Repair/Reconstruction:  After not having a state budget for a couple of years, the NC General Assembly finally adopted a budget this summer. It includes $20 million toward the repairing and reconstruction of failing dams. Government officials and environmentalists will hopefully work together to implement work to be done. Reports indicate that some of the dams were constructed to supply water to textile mills that no longer exist and those dams – at least one of which dates back to 1905 – were not built for flood control. This, no doubt, will be a contentious issue over the coming years as removal of a dam is not a simple undertaking.

Brother Wolf Animal Rescue

If you’ve been following my blog for the last two years, you will remember that I have written a number of times about Brother Wolf Animal Rescue in Asheville, North Carolina. Staff and others did an amazing job of evacuating all the animals before the facility was wiped out by Helene’s flood waters.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Asheville stepped up and provided temporary quarters for Brother Wolf, and a campaign was held to raise money for a land and building(s) in a less vulnerable location. Having temporary space provided by the local ASPCA made it possible for Brother Wolf to find homes for more than 900 animals in 2025 and many more were given medical care.

In 2026, the ASPCA awarded Brother Wolf a $1 million grant toward its rebuilding!

Brother Wolf Animal Rescue is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, visit https://www.bwar.org/.

Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina

If you follow my blog, you know that the Blue Ridge Parkway is near and dear to my heart. Portions of the parkway are still closed, but it is predicted to be fully-reopened in NC by the end of 2026; however, not all hiking trails, picnic areas, or other recreation areas will be fully restored by then.

Please visit https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm if you want more information or are planning a trip. That website is updated weekly.

Keep in mind that the North Carolina portion of the parkway runs from Milepost 216.9 at the Virginia state line to its terminus at Milepost 469.1, so most of the parkway is open now. Motorists just need to check maps of the parkway and plan accordingly.

If you’re planning a trip to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage in the Blue Ridge Mountains, be sure to get off the parkway occasionally to support restaurants and small businesses because they took a big hit in multiple ways since September 26, 2024.

Interstate 40 in Pigeon River Gorge

For months after the hurricane, I gave updates from the North Carolina Department of Transportation on I-40, US highways, state highways, and state roads as they were reopened – and in many cases – rebuilt. That story continues two years later and will not soon end.

I invite you to watch a two-minute video at https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2026/2026-09-02-i-40-reconstruction-update.aspx, which is part of a September 2, 2026 update from the NC DOT. (Note the size of the Pigeon River under normal times in the right portion of the photo.) The numbers are staggering and the ultimate estimated completion date for the 5.5 miles of I-40 that were destroyed or severely damaged by the hurricane is now the end of 2029.

As is indicated in the referenced video, the state hopes to have three lanes open by the end of 2028. Currently, only two lanes (one eastbound and one westbound) are open with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit.

US-176 in North Pacolet River Gorge

A 1.1-mile stretch of this federal highway between Tryon and Saluda, NC has been closed since Hurricane Helene. It has received little publicity, and I’m afraid I have failed to mention it in my earlier hurricane recovery blog posts.

A month ago, Blythe Construction of Charlotte was awarded the contract for this $32 million highway reconstruction project. The work is projected to be completed late in 2029. The project faces many of the same challenges as the reconstruction of I-40, as the highway is/was wedged between a river and steep terrain.

The flooding of the North Pacolet River during the hurricane washed out portions of the highway and all the soil underneath it. Some of the slopes where the highway was now drop as much as 60 feet down to the river.

Engineering for such a reconstruction project usually takes five to seven years but was fast-tracked and completed in less than two years. For more details, visit https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2026/2026-08-17-us-176-helene-contract-awarded.aspx.

In Closing

I look forward to the day I don’t need to give Hurricane Helene updates! Perhaps on the storm’s fifth anniversary, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue will be settled in its new facility, the Blue Ridge Parkway will be fully restored to its former glory, I-40 will almost be rebuilt through the Pigeon River Gorge, and US-176 through the North Pacolet River Gorge between Tryon and Saluda will almost be rebuilt.

I apologize to the countless individuals, organization, and companies that I have failed to name that have and will continue to work tirelessly to help the residents of western NC recover from Hurricane Helene.

Janet

All history is local, but no history is just local.

An Opportunity for Me to Speak

Last Tuesday, I was one of the presenters for the “history day” meeting of the 2026 Class of Leadership Cabarrus. (Cabarrus is the name of our county.)

Leadership Cabarrus is described as follows on the Cabarrus County Chamber of Commerce website (https://cabarrusncchamber.org/leadership-cabarrus/):

“Through a series of monthly class days from September through May, participants are introduced to and examine how leadership in the historical, geographical, educational, economic, governmental, and cultural segments work together to perpetuate and advance the Cabarrus County region and its citizens.

“The program is also designed to nurture and develop the leadership skills of current and potential leaders, offering a stimulating atmosphere that fosters diverse viewpoints and yields innovative solutions to the critical questions facing our community. The program’s focus is creating awareness and connecting leaders to the issues; it is not an academic leadership training program, but an excellent professional development opportunity to communicate with the Cabarrus County community. Furthermore, the program is non-partisan and does not recommend or advocate for partisan positions on public matters.”

Since the 1980s, Leadership Cabarrus has hosted more than 700 participants from 200 companies.

This was the third time I’ve been invited to be a presenter for Leadership Cabarrus. I spoke to the 2024 Leadership Cabarrus Class about the history of Harrisburg. I was invited back last year but had to cancel at the last minute due to illness.

After cancelling at the last minute in 2025, I was pleasantly surprised to be invited back this year.

The venue is not always the same. I spoke at the county office building in Concord in 2024. This year, I was scheduled to speak at Southern Grace Distilleries at Whiskey Prison in Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina.

Say what?

Yes, I was scheduled to speak in the chapel of the former prison, which is now a distillery. I thought this would make an interesting blog post, so I arrived a few minutes early and took some pictures.

Guard Tower, I assume was only in operation while it was a prison.

Southern Grace Distilleries, Mt. Pleasant, NC
A sign I assume is left from the property’s former use as a prison.

Things soon went off the rails because the motorcoach (is that still the proper term for a bus?) transporting the 36-member Leadership Cabarrus Class had massive electronic issues and a replacement bus had to be requested from Winston-Salem – some 60 miles away.

Since the class members were stranded at the Eastern Cabarrus Museum, it was decided that I should leave the prison and drive back into Mt. Pleasant and meet the class members at 73 & Main Restaurant. When I arrived at 73 & Main, I could see the class members in the distance as they walked from the museum to the restaurant.

73 & Main Restaurant, Mt. Pleasant, NC

I must say that the people in charge of Leadership Cabarrus showed phenomenal leadership as they juggled the schedule on the fly and dealt with the disruption of the rest of the day’s schedule – which was planned down to the minute for the next six hours. The whole experience turned out to be an unexpected lesson in going with the flow.

The group was congenial. I only noticed one member who was visibly bored out of her mind as I spoke as fast as I could about the history of Harrisburg. Perhaps she was there under duress.

The presentation gave me an opportunity to briefly hold up my two local history books: Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 and Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2 – in case any participants were so enamored by my speech that they wanted to learn more. (By the way, they are available at Second Look Books in Harrisburg and on Amazon in paperback and ebook: https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus-ebook/dp/B0BNK84LK1/ and https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus-ebook/dp/B0BXBQ1F79.)

Unbeknownst to me, one of the class members was the daughter of a school classmate of mine whom I’ve known for 65 years. Meeting Stephanie’s daughter was a great surprise! Coming full circle, I expect to see Stephanie at our high school class reunion this weekend.

I must have done an okay job because after I spoke, I was asked to present again in 2027. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get another chance to speak in a former prison. I finished speaking as the replacement motorcoach arrived, so everything worked out great for me. I have no idea how the rest of the day’s schedule went for the group. Fortunately, I got to go home.

I’m glad we still have freedom of speech in the United States, although Trump continues to attack the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Case in point: banning news agencies who report the truth about his evil deeds get banned from the White House. It’s not his house. It’s not his constitution. The White House and the U.S. Constitution belong to the people. Only a dictator attempts to control or silence a free press.

A meme with the words of the First Amendment with the American flag in the background
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Janet

The First Amendment guarantees our right to religion, speech, the press, assembly, and our right to complain to and about the government. Don’t take one word of that Amendment for granted!

#OnThisDay: 19th Amendment, 1920

I have heard it said that the 19th Amendment “gave” women the right to vote. The verb “gave” or “gives” is a slap in the face of all the women (and men) who risked their lives to have the right to vote.

Photo by LSE Library on Unsplash

It would be tantamount to saying that black people in the United States were “given” civil rights in the 1960s. No, they earned every one of those rights. The word “give” in all its tenses and forms insinuates that rights were bestowed as a gift. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In July, I read an excellent little book, Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote, by Susan Zimet. I told you a little bit about it in my August 4, 2026 blog post, Books I read (or attempted to read) in July 2026. I urge you to read that book.

Photo of front cover of Roses and Radicals with the head of the Statue of Liberty under the title.
Roses and Radicals, by Susan Zimet

The road to women securing the right to vote in the United States started before the nation’s founding. In 1776, Abigail Adams famously told her husband, John Adams, to “remember the ladies” as the Declaration of Independence was being contemplated and written.

Of course, John Adams did not take her pleas to heart (and probably paid for his foolishness in various ways for the rest of his life.) The Declaration of Independence states that “all men were created equal.” Today, we (well, most of us) take that to mean “all people were created equal,” but women were technically and deliberately left out of the Declaration. But I digress

As is told in Roses and Radicals, it took women down a very long and winding road to secure the right to vote. There were women’s rights conventions and campaigns throughout the decades from 1840 until the 19th Amendment was finally made part of the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

Women were beaten and arrested for marching in the streets and simply for standing beside streets to protest the lawful discrimination that was holding them back from being all they could be. They had to fight for education, not just the right to vote.

That story cannot be condensed into a blog post. There’s just too much history – too much history that was never included in a single history textbook I ever read – for me to do it justice here.

It is an unbelievable story, akin to the story of how many centuries it took for people of color to get rights equal to their white counterparts in the United States. There is still racial discrimination that flies under the radar of the law. We see it every day. We also still see blatant racism in Trump wanting to plaster his name (no doubt, in giant gold letters) on the aircraft carrier that was already designated to be named in honor of World War II hero Mr. Doris Miller. Mr. Miller just happened to be black. His story of heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is extraordinary. Trump, on the other hand, dodged the draft because he claimed to have bone spurs.

Back to the 19th Amendment…

Those of us born after 1920 cannot fully appreciate the sacrifices made by women (and by people of color) to try to get the right to vote in this country.

Photo by LSE Library on Unsplash

It astounds me to think that when my mother was born in 1912, women did not have the right to vote! The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was not ratified until 1920. That’s just 33 years before I was born! I simply cannot get my head around that fact. To put that 33 years in perspective, 33 years ago today it was 1993!

And now, in 2026 in the U.S. we have people in positions of power, including the U.S. President, who are pushing for a so-called SAVE America Act which will make it more difficult for married women in our country to vote. It goes well beyond “voter ID.” A married woman – or anyone whose name today does not match their birth certificate – will be required to produce documentation of every name change they’ve had.

This is primarily targeting married women, regardless of what supporters of the Act claim. It is an alleged solution to a problem that does not exist: voter fraud.

Don’t be fooled! The real crime is voter suppression.

Janet

Never take your right to vote for granted!

#OnThisDay: Dr. Anna Julia Cooper

Today’s blog post is about a North Carolinian most North Carolinians have never heard of. Such is the way that women and people of color have been left out of our history books.

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was born in slavery in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 10, 1858. She never knew who her father was. This wonderful photograph of her can be found at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016702852/.

Dr. Anna Julia Cooper
Photo from Library of Congress website.

After the slaves were emancipated, she enrolled in St. Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh. The school was supported by the Freedmen’s Bureau and was created to educate black people to become teachers. A local pastor made it financially possible for her to attend the school.

She was not just any student. She went to school at St. Augustine’s for 14 years and took every course offered, including the ones that had only been open to male students.

She graduated in 1877 and married George A.C. Cooper, a theology student at St. Augustine’s from the Bahamas. Unfortunately, George died in 1879.

Cooper taught at St. Augustine’s for two more years after her husband’s death until she was accepted for study at Oberlin College in Ohio. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from Oberlin in 1884 and an honorary Master’s degree there in 1887.

She started teaching at the M Street Washington High School in Washington, D.C. in 1887, and became more involved in social activism after moving to the nation’s capital. She was an advocate for black students to have college opportunities.

Cooper’s book, A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, was published in 1892. It is acclaimed as the first book-length work about black feminism. She put forth the theory that black women were in the unique position of having to face discrimination due to their gender and the color of their skin. (I’m sure Dr. Cooper would be distressed to know that they are still in that position in 2026!)

Cooper helped found the Colored Women’s League of Washington, D.C. in 1892 and served as the corresponding secretary. At the First National Conference of Colored Women of America in Boston in 1895, Cooper was a delegate. She delivered a paper calling for organization of black people at the conference. The National Federation of Afro-American Women no doubt came about in response to the Boston conference. Cooper took an active role in that organization.

In 1900, Cooper spoke at the Pan-African Conference in London, but she focused her efforts in her own community in Washington, D.C. where she became the principal of the M Street High School.

She and W.E.B. DuBois had similar theories about race, but DuBois and Booker T. Washington locked horns. Cooper moved to Missouri for a while to get away from their political differences. She returned to M Street High School in 1911.

In case you aren’t sufficiently impressed by Anna Julia Haywood Cooper…

In 1912, she went to Paris and finished translating Le Pèleringae de Charlemagne. She studied at Columbia University for several summers and then completed her Ph.D. at the Sorbonne in Paris, thus becoming the fourth black American woman to earn a Ph.D. Her doctoral thesis about slavery and the French Revolution was translated into English in 1988.

Dr. Cooper became president of Frelinghuysen University in Washington, D.C. in 1929. She gave the university her home for its permanent site. The “Hannah Stanley Opportunity School” at the university was named for Dr. Cooper’s mother.

Dr. Cooper died at the age of 105 on February 27, 1964. She and her husband were buried in City Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.

My March 20, 2026 blog post

When I posted a blog titled “Puzzling Banners at Dept. of Education” on March 20, 2026, Ni of ShiraDestProjectDoBetter (shiradest.wordpress.com) reminded me that Dr. Anna Julia Haywood Cooper’s image should have been on one of the banners hanging on the U.S. Department of Education headquarters building in Washington, D.C.

(To jog your memory, in my post I questioned why in the world Charlie Kirk’s image was on one of the banners. I never did figure that one out!)

Ni was exactly right. Dr. Anna Julia Haywood Cooper’s image should have been honored there alongside Booker T. Washington and Catharine Beecher.

Janet

Never take access to higher education for granted.

15 things I learned while taking a break from blogging in June

I took a three- or four-week break from blogging in June. While I disappeared from the blogosphere, I learned some things. Here are 15 of them:

  • I learned that I can still get lost in reading a book when I’m not trying to blog five or six days a week. I hadn’t read a complete novel in months!
Cover of Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
  • I learned that it was time for me to take a step back and work to get my life under control.
  • I learned that depression is not an unusual occurrence in writers and other creative people, and I learned why I am the way I am.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
  • I learned that depression can be addressed when you have a caring primary care physician who truly wants the best for you.
  • I learned that people are very forgiving when they know you have a problem.
  • I learned that I’m a happier person now that I don’t dwell on what Donald Trump is doing. I’m still keeping up, but I’m limiting how much TV news I watch.
  • I learned that there is a support group for former Trump supporters who leave MAGA. It’s a real thing. Who knew? If you are finally seeing Trump for what he is, you can find a support community at leavingmaga.org.
  • I was reminded that Trump doesn’t know the difference between socialism and communism.
Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash
  • I was reminded to be thankful I don’t live in Texas. That state legislature is trying to out-do ours in North Carolina. Tell me again, Texas, where Jesus said the government should beat school children over the head with the Bible. I can’t find that verse.
  • I think we all learned that hydrogen peroxide kills ducks and can strip American Flag Blue paint off the bottom of a reflecting pool.
Photo of the Washington Monument reflected in the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC
Photo by Sydnie Sellers on Unsplash
  • I think we all learned that it’s foolish, short-sighted, and illegal to give someone a $13 million government contract without going out for competitive bids. (As a former government employee, I already knew that, of course. That’s Public Administration 101 – in addition to being common sense. This is what you get when you put “a businessman” with no experience in government, no knowledge of government, and a total disregard for the rule of law in the White House.)
  • I learned that listening to music is better than watching TV late at night – and most anytime, for that matter.
  • I learned that a buck can be mean to a pregnant doe and prevent her from eating the corn you put in the backyard for them to eat so they’d stop eating the shrubbery. That buck doesn’t want any does to eat. I’ve named him Bucky Trump.
  • I learned that rabbits are brave little creatures who are not afraid to eat at the feet of deer. They obviously know that North Carolina is a “stand your ground” state.
Photo of a rabbit and deer eating a few feet from each other.
Rabbit eating near a deer. (Sometimes they eat under a deer or at a deer’s feet, but I haven’t gotten a good photo. Taking photos through a window screen is a challenge!)
  • I learned that when four rabbits organize themselves, they can scare Bucky Trump away from the corn! (Members of Congress, take note!)

I learned a lot in June!

Last week I learned that when a fawn runs away from its mother, Mama Deer will look for her fawn 24/7 to the point of exhaustion. I’m happy to report that a couple of days later, they had reunited and came into our backyard again.

Photo of a fawn surrounded by does.
Reunited fawn under the watchful eyes of three does after it learned it’s not a good idea to run away from Mom!

Between the World Cup (¡Muchas felicitaciones, España!) and the wildlife, it has been an entertaining summer so far. It has been sprinkled with thunderstorms, power outages, fried computer speakers, and a fried modem.

There are also daily prayers for our U.S. military personnel in harm’s way in the Middle East and prayers for the people of Ukraine.

Janet

Hurricane Helene Recovery Update

Heavy rain in the Fairview, Bat Cave, Gerton area in North Carolina on Memorial Day resulted in flooding and several roads were washed out, including US-74 Alt. near Fairview. NC-9 had to be closed due to flooding at Bat Cave. The people in the Bat Cave area (between Chimney Rock and Asheville) just can’t get a break.

It must be frightening when it rains now in the areas that were severely damaged by the flooding caused by up to 30 inches of rain that Hurricane Helene brought in September 2024. I imagine the residents will have flashbacks and feel panicky, especially during a downpour, for the rest of their lives.

Lake Lure was opened to the public just in time for the Memorial Day weekend. The lake was full of debris after the hurricane. If not for the hard and tedious work of the Army Corp of Engineers, local companies, and local volunteers, the lake could not have been drained, cleaned up, and refilled. The tourist Town of Lake Lure is now open for business!

Visitors are welcome to return to Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, Bat Cave, and all the other little towns and nooks and crannies in the mountains of North Carolina. All the businesses have not been rebuilt, and thousands of residents are still living in temporary homes, but the region is sorely in need of the tourist dollars it heavily depends on. So, if you can afford the gasoline, plan a trip to western North Carolina.

Valley #cloud in #GSMNP

In Asheville…

I received an exciting email on May 20 from Brother Wolf Animal Rescue in Asheville. Its buildings were wiped out by Hurricane Helene, but its work has continued nonstop as the organization has looked for a new location. The May 20 email read in part: “Brother Wolf Animal Rescue has officially purchased a building to renovate into our rebuilt Adoption Center! We’ve been waiting a long time to say that sentence, and it feels AMAZING to share it with YOU, our caring community who have gotten us here!

“Located on Tunnel Road, near downtown Asheville and known as the former home of Black Dome Mountain Sports, the building will become a vibrant, high-impact space dedicated to saving lives and connecting animals with the people who love them….

“While Brother Wolf has continued to operate as a foster-based organization after the loss of our campus to floodwaters, this rebuilt Adoption Center will expand our ability to serve at a larger scale.”

In Morganton…

A large supermarket in Morganton, NC was in the news again last week because it is still sitting empty and closed since it was flooded during the hurricane.

I-40 and other roads…

Just a reminder… I-40 near the Tennessee border is still just one lane in each direction with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit until reconstruction can be completed through the Pigeon River Gorge in 2028.

The NCDOT Helene Recovery Dashboard can be accessed at https://www.ncdot.gov/helene-recovery/helene-dashboard/Pages/default.aspx. There, you can find total cost of damages, how much has been spent, and how much has been reimbursed by the U.S. Government. (This just reflects damages to roads and bridges.)

The Blue Ridge Parkway…

Also, sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway remain closed. Check for frequent updates online at https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm.

Janet

All history is local, but no history is just local

Insidious tactics of politicians – Part II

If you missed Part I, here’s a link to it: https://janetswritingblog.com/2026/05/27/insidious-tactics-of-politicians-part-i/.

If you are a woman, you have been subjected to unwanted comments in a work environment and/or in public. You have had a man you did not know press himself up against you in an elevator. You have experienced other unwanted touching by a man.

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

If you are a woman of a certain age… say 73 … you have probably experienced a man saying to you in a job interview, “I don’t think a woman can handle this job” even though you held a master’s degree in the field in which you were being interviewed.

Carefully read the words of Project 2025. Look at the policies being pushed by The Heritage Foundation. They are anti-female. In the Trump Era, it is becoming increasingly acceptable for men in high positions or those seeking positions of influence and responsibility to say that they don’t think women should have the right to vote.

Before you cast a vote in November for a U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator… or a Governor… or a city council member… or a county commissioner… or a school board member, find out where they stand on gender equality and racial equality.

Don’t blindly vote for a state’s constitutional amendment or for anyone of any political party without knowing their opinions on these things. Your future and the future of your descendants hang in the balance.

I hate to throw North Carolina under the bus again, but here we go.

Keith Kidwell represents the 79th State House District in eastern North Carolina. He is out to imprison a lot of women in the state.

Kidwell, who will be 65 years old in June, was born in Passaic, New Jersey. (I don’t want North Carolina to take all the blame for his existence.) He has represented the 79th State House District since January 1, 2019

Kidwell is a member of the Oath Keepers. Need I say more?

Even if that’s all you need to know about him, I’m going to tell you more.

He is a health and life insurance salesman. That seems a strange occupation for a member of the Oath Keepers but, for all I know, that’s what they all claim to do for a living. You know… taking care of people.

On May 14, 2026, Kidwell filed House Bill 1232 in Raleigh. It proposes an amendment to the North Carolina Constitution that states that human life begins at the moment of fertilization – and that microscopic embryo is a person under the law.

Anyone doing anything to stop that embryo in its tracks will be charged with murder

It doesn’t stop there.

It goes on to legalize the “use of deadly force” against the woman or the person performing an abortion.

The wording is, “Any person has the right to defend… the life of another person, even by the use of deadly force… from willful destruction by another person. The State has an interest and a duty to defend innocent persons from willful destruction of their lives and to punish those who take the lives of persons, born or unborn, who have not committed any crime punishable by death.”

The bill makes no allowances for rape, incest, ectopic pregnancy, profound deformity of a fetus, or the mother’s age or health. The mother is fair game for anyone who wants to kill her.

Bottom line: The embryo has the right to live, but the mother does not have the right to live. In the split-second of its inception, an embryo has more rights than the woman carrying that embryo, regardless of the circumstances under which that embryo came into existence.

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

If this bill is approved, it will be effective as of January 1, 2027, and an amendment to the Constitution of the State of North Carolina will be on the ballot on November 3, 2026.

Kidwell was defeated in the Republican Primary in March; however, he will serve in the North Carolina House of Representatives until his term expires in January 2027.

The State of North Carolina might soon codify that a one-second-old embryo is a person with all the rights of a person. The United States Supreme Court has already ruled that a business is a person.

The people making such laws and rulings apparently only see the world in terms of black or white. It must be nice to not be bothered by any gray areas or “spirit of the law” considerations. Or common sense. Or humanity.

It must be nice to be a defeated old white man in the state legislature proposing laws that have nothing to do with you or your body.

I’m merely advocating for women’s rights. The trend I’m seeing in America in 2025 and 2026 is a serious widespread effort to take our rights away from us. Men don’t seem to understand that women were also made in God’s image, and Jesus Christ never belittled or pushed women and their concerns off into a corner. So don’t start quoting the Bible to me to try to prove me wrong.

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

If you would like to read NC House Bill 1232, here’s a link to it: https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewBillDocument/2025/9070/0/DRH10579-NJy-55.

Trump brags that Republicans won in the Republican primaries

Did you catch it?

In yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump bragged that lots of Republicans won in the Republican primaries on Tuesday.

I guess he didn’t see that coming.

I have five questions

Why do we have to keep paying for new baseball caps for all the Cabinet members?

Why is Mount Rushmore gold on yesterday’s new baseball caps for the Cabinet members?

Does Trump plan to pour gold paint all over Mount Rushmore?

Why does a baseball cap sell for $55?

Who gets the money?

In what country were these caps made?

Asking for a friend. Nothing says redneck quite like a Trump baseball cap.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

P.S.   My life would be so much simpler if I didn’t care.

Revisiting Julian Francis Abele, Black Architect of Duke University’s West Campus

In honor of one of my great-nieces, who is graduating this weekend from Duke University, I am reblogging (with some different photographs and an updating of the reference to a birthday anniversary) my post from April 25, 2022 about Julian Francis Abele, the black architect who never got the recognition he deserved for designing the university’s iconic West Campus.

Everyone reading my blog has probably heard of Duke University. It’s a world-renowned university located in Durham, North Carolina. You might not know of its meager beginnings, and you might not know that the architect responsible for its magnificent West Campus was a black man.

I’ve lived in North Carolina my entire life, and I only recently l learned who Julian Francis Abele was.

First, here’s a very brief early history of the university.

In 1838, a subscription-supported school called Brown’s Schoolhouse was established in the Randolph County community of Trinity. The school’s name changed a couple of times over the years but was settled as Trinity College in 1859.

In 1892, Trinity College moved to Durham, North Carolina. With heavy financial support from Washington Duke and Julian S. Carr – both Methodists – the name was changed to Duke in December 1924. That was then James B. Duke, son of Washington Duke, established The Duke Endowment. It was a $40 million trust fund set up for its interest to be divided between various hospitals, orphanages, the Methodist Church, three colleges, and the university to be built around Trinity College. In today’s dollars, the $40 million endowment would be equivalent to more than $630 million.

But what did Julian Francis Abele have to do with this?

Julian Francis Abele was born April 30, 1881 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – so Thursday of last week would have been the 145th anniversary of his birth. In 1902, Abele was the first black graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. All four years of undergraduate school there, Abele worked in the mornings as a designer at the Louis Hickman Architectural Firm and took afternoon and evening classes at the university.

Horace Trumbauer, a nationally-recognized Philadelphia architect, hired Abele. He sent Abele to study abroad for three years. Upon returning from Europe in 1906, Abele joined Trumbauer’s firm and by 1909 had become the company’s chief designer. When Trumbauer died in 1938, Abele became head of the company.

The company designed numerous buildings in Philadelphia, a number of mansions in Newport and New York, and the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University.

But my interest in writing about Julian Francis Abele today is his contributions to the gorgeous English Gothic and Georgian buildings at Duke University. Over the 30-year period of 1924 to 1954, he was the primary designer of the university’s West Campus.

Photo by Zamir Karimov on Unsplash

If you’ve not had the pleasure of visiting Duke University…

Photographs of the buildings on the Duke University campus don’t do justice to the beauty of the architecture. The centerpiece of the campus and grandest example of Julian Francis Abele’s work is Duke Chapel.

Duke Chapel.
Photo by Charles Givens on Unsplash

“Chapel” in this case is an understatement, for the chapel is more of a cathedral than a chapel in the common sense of the word. The chapel interior is 63 feet wide, 291 feet long, and the nave proper is 73 feet tall.

Inside Duke Chapel.
Photo by Charles Givens on Unsplash

Standing on the highest point on the planned campus in 1925, James B. Duke said that it was on that place that the chapel should be built. It would be the highest point and the center of the campus. The cornerstone was laid in 1930, and it is said that students enjoyed watching the stone cutters and the progression of construction of the chapel over the next two years. Little did those white students know that the chief designer of the edifice was a black man.

In fact, it wasn’t until Julian Francis Abele’s granddaughter, Susan Cook, brought to public light in 1986 that a person of color had designed the magnificent focal point of the Duke campus. While students protested apartheid in South Africa, Susan Cook wrote a letter to the student newspaper to make it known that her grandfather had designed their beloved West Campus.

Portraits of Abele now hang in the main administration building on campus and in the Gothic Reading Room in Rubenstein Library alongside those of former Duke presidents and board chairs. In 2016, and the main quadrangle on campus, which stretches from the Clocktower Quad to the Davison Quad – and to the Chapel Quad – was named the Abele Quad.

As quoted from https://today.duke.edu/2016/03/abele, upon the naming of the Abele Quad in 2016, Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead said, “Julian Abele brought the idea of Duke University to life. It is an astonishing face that, in the deepest days of racial segregation, a black architect designed the beauty of this campus. Now, everyone who lives, works, studies and visits the heart of Duke’s campus will be reminded of Abele’s role in its creation.”

Shocking to our 21st century minds, is the fact that the racial prejudices of the early- and mid-20th century deterred Mr. Abele from visiting the Duke University campus to see his designs come to fruition and caused him not to be admitted to the American Institute of Architects until 1942.

Mr. Abele died in Philadelphia on April 23, 1950, which was 72 years ago this past Saturday.

Visit Duke University in person or virtually

If you’re ever zipping along on Interstates 40 or 85 in Durham, take several hours to leave the hustle and bustle behind and visit the Duke University campus. Duke Chapel is open every day from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Stroll around the campus and be sure to visit the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. (Visit https://gardens.duke.edu/ for information about parking and what’s in bloom.)

Photo by Charles Givens on Unsplash

Visit https://chapel.duke.edu/about-chapel/history-architecture/ to take a virtual tour of the Duke University campus and to watch a tour of Duke Chapel. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the links to various aspects of the chapel to learn more about the 77 stained-glass windows, the portal, the carillon, and the four pipe organs (including the diminutive 2014 153-wooden pipe positive organ that can be moved about within the chapel for small concerts.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Books I Finished Reading in April 2026

May is Get Caught Reading Month, Mystery Month, National Share a Story Month, and Latino Book Month, so I wish you a happy May in all those ways and the other ways you celebrate it.

Here in the northern hemisphere, it is truly the month when we transition into summer. What’s not to love about that? (I know… humidity, snakes, and mosquitoes, but let’s not go there.)

As has been my practice (some months and years more so than others), I like to blog early in the month about some of the books I read the previous month.

I will point out (again) that I am not a book reviewer. There are people who do that as a profession, and I am not one of them. Occasionally, I receive an email from a stranger asking me to review their book. I don’t do that. My reading time is precious and I only read the books I choose to read.

My fiction reading has been sparse for several months now due to the brain fog that is part of ME/CFS, which I have lived with for 39 years.

This is frustrating, to say the least. I used to love to read and, as a fiction writer, it is especially difficult for me to admit that I have difficulty reading a novel and remembering what I’ve read on a page – much less to try to remember the plot of a story.

This makes for embarrassing times at book club, where I feel like an intruder in a group where everyone else knows the minute details of novels. All I can do is marvel at what extraordinary memories they have as I sit quietly and listen to the discussion.

You may wonder how and why I’m trying to write novels. I have spent years working on two novels, and I have no idea when either of them will be completed. It is only because I have worked with this story and these characters for so long that I am able to believe I can finish writing the book. It is challenging work, but writing brings me joy and a sense of accomplishment.

That said, I will share a little of what I read, or more accurately, finished reading in April.

40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger, A Different Kind of Fast, by Alicia Britt Chole

40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger, A Different Kind of Fast, by Alicia Britt Chole

I’ve been a Presbyterian all my life, so fasting for Lent has never been a thing for me. There has been a growing emphasis on Lent in the Presbyterian Church USA in recent decades, but fasting or “giving up something for Lent” is not part of that emphasis. 

I was drawn to the title of this book several years ago. I finally purchased a used copy of it and looked forward to reading it in the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter this year.

I am a flawed human being and a flawed Christian. I read it “religiously” (pardon the pun) for the first 20 days. Then, I got distracted. I lost my focus and read the last 20 chapters on a hit-and-miss basis. That is not a reflection of the book. It is merely a reflection on me and my failings.

This book is excellent! If you want to give up eating chocolate or something for Lent, that’s quite all right, but this book takes a different approach. I believe it takes a deeper approach.

For each day during Lent, the book encourages the reader to give up something in their lives.

For instance, on Day 1, we are encouraged to give up Lent “as a project” with a beginning and ending date. On Day 2, we are encouraged to give up regrets. That is a huge one! Especially if you are in your later years. Another day we are encouraged to not speed up sorrow. Give yourself and others time to grieve. Don’t rush it.

As you can see, this book is packed with baggage we all have. Each day gave me something to ponder and to try to get rid of.

I highly recommend 40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger, A Different Kind of Fast, by Alicia Britt Chole. I don’t plan to wait until Lent 2027 to re-read it. Most of the topics in the book are things that I need to work on constantly. I think many of us could benefit from reading it throughout the year. Some of the daily topics could be dwelt on for a week.

Even though the book was designed to be read in daily increments during Lent, I refuse to feel guilty for taking several extra weeks to finish reading it. In fact, I think that’s perfectly okay.

It takes some of us longer than 40 days to get our lives straightened out. I’m a work in progress.

Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy,by Nathaniel Philbrick

Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, by Nathaniel Philbrick

I wanted to read the entire book, but I was unable to devote the time necessary to do that. My reading for pleasure tends to just be for the pleasure in the moment of reading a well-written, interesting novel. This book is not a novel but a retracing of George Washington’s 1791 tour of the southern states. I was especially interested in his travels in South Carolina and North Carolina in light of the novel I’m writing.

I enjoyed that part of the book and took some notes for future reference. I was disappointed, though, that the book jumped from Washington’s time with the Catawba Indians to “his next stop in Salisbury.”

Washington’s next stop was not Salisbury. He traveled to Charlotte, and spent the next night (May 29, 1791) as a personal guest of Red Hill Tavern owner Martin Phifer, Jr. near the present-day intersection of US-29 and Poplar Tent Road in Concord, Cabarrus County.

Mr. Phifer had served with Washington at Valley Forge, so they were more than acquaintances.

I’m puzzled over why the author skipped over Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties and went directly to Rowan County.

Otherwise, what he covered that I got to read was very interesting and easy to follow. I think anyone interested in George Washington or his tour of The South in 1791 would enjoy this book.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have one or more good books that you’re reading! I’m reading The Mad Wife, by Meagan Church and Brawler: Stories, by Lauren Groff.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.