the tropical, islamic state

there is a place that will seemingly stop at nothing until its symbol covers every manmade thing as far as the eye can see. until every man, woman and child is draped in it and parades it around proudly for all the world to see. this is all likely for no other reason than to make every human being ponder that place and what it stands for when you are awake, when you are asleep, when you are dead. i, of course, am talking about our delightful neighbor that we sit overtop-- the fine state of south carolina. i don't know who came up with the whole palmetto-crescent moon thing, but whoever he/she was, was a pure genius. i come into contact with few symbols that pop up into my vision during my daily life with as much zest and zeal as the good ole s.c. standby. no, friends, it's not syria or indonesia, it is the state with spanish moss, "smiling faces, beautiful places," myrtle beach and barbeque with mustard (yark). and if you are fortunate enough to visit the carolina cup in the quaint hamlet of camden, you will know what it is like to swim amongst a symbol, and eat and drink of it.

maybe this is too harsh. perhaps i am just jealous. while the university of north carolina has the only symbol of worth that could cover our entire state (the tar on the heel of the foot), our flag gives us no help. red, white, and blue? how original. a star? unthinkable. two dates that mean nothing but to north carolina history scholars and 8th grade social studies classes? astounding. and someone even had the bright idea to slap a big "n" and a big "c" on it, so we can't even try to pass it off as someone else's. and it looks too eerily like a certain other state's flag that we have been told not to mess with.

so maybe i just wish we had a cool symbol we could slap on the back of every car, dye onto every belt, sew onto every hat and print onto every t-shirt. i wish someone would create a symbol that even residents of neighboring states would feel naked without ("oh, we live quite close enough, i do believe the symbol of their state is appropriate for our automobile"). or maybe, north carolina should realize we have it good enough. we stood too long in the shadows of the "tall mountains" of south carolina and virginia and following their direction today just wouldn't do. yes, i believe north carolina cannot be reduced to mere flora and a vanishing satellite shining on the back of a chevy pickup. north carolina's strength lies in its hard-working families, its rich history, its humble nature yet progressive spirit, and its diversity of landscape, people and ideas (guess who employs me). but, if that's not marketable enough, we can always use a lighthouse.