Well, another year is over; graduation is a sure sign of this, but for me one of the key markers of the end of the year is my dinner with the winners of my package for the public interest auction. For years now it's been barbeque dinner, followed by karaoke. For like 1o years, running back to my days in Alabama.
We began the evening in Joe's Famous BBQ. Long time readers of the faculty lounge may recall that BBQ has loomed large in my life, especially in Oklahoma and Alabama -- where I may very well owe my job to BBQ (and, oddly, OU football). I was a little worried walking in there. I was thinking "if they have to call it famous, that's probably a bad sign." (Dreamland isn't called famous. It is famous. For example, Senator Santorum went there when he was in Alabama campaigning for the primary.) But I have to say Joe's is actually pretty good. It's in the same shopping center as Whole Foods, which means it's a little too upscale for me. As I've said before if they hand you a napkin with your can of soda, they're too high fallutin' for my down home taste. Still, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality.
Let's face it: Chapel Hill is not the place to go for good bbq. Upscale food, yes. My recent visit to The Lantern -- the well-known hang-out for cool people like Krawiec and Gulati -- confirms this. BBQ, not as much. Even the "southern" place on Franklin street, Crook's Corner, confirms this. (Little vignette here -- Crook's Corner is where I went for my interview dinner when I came to town back in like September 2007; Senator Edwards was there having dinner with a fabulously attractive -- fabulously attractive -- woman. Putting two and two (or maybe it's one and one) together post hoc, I think that must have been Rielle Hunter who was with him.)
Students are, I think, very into leveling of faculty -- and there are few things in which I have less talent (or am more out of my comfort zone) than music. So, from the students' perspective, this is ideal! Thus, while my law professor friends in Chapel Hill were off working on their trusts and estate treatises or resting up for another day of work, there I was in Bub O'Malley's pouring over their book of songs, looking for what required the least amount of talent possible. To make matters worse, there were students from the library school there that evening, so this became a competition between the UNC law school and the library school. I have to admit they have some pretty talented students over there. One should never underestimate the power of people who control access to knowledge. I didn't see their faculty advisor there -- another sign that librarians are smarter than lawyers (or at least all UNC library school faculty are smarter than this law professor).
Anyway, to complete the leveling: I promised the students that I'd post a picture of me. Here it is -- a reminder perhaps for next year of what not to offer for the auction? Or maybe, as one of my students said, this should be titled, "what was I thinking?"
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