Don’t ever let people tell you the idea of the Great State of Mecklenburg is dead. If it was, it was just raised from the dead by Anita Brown-Graham of the Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State. In introducing state Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, who’s moderating a panel, she (of course!) said:
“He is from the Great State of Mecklenburg, then he moved to the Great State of North Carolina.”
I spent the first 20 years of living in Charlotte just chuckling at the term. After all, Charlotteans do tend to be a bit more self-absorbed. But 20 years is enough. Now I think it’s demeaning.
I mean, is any part of North Carolina more self-absorbed than the Triangle? In Charlotte, not being the state government center or higher education center, you ALWAYS have to think about what’s happening in Raleigh. In Raleigh, unless you’re thinking about finance, you may well never have a need to think about Charlotte.