The people who wanted to punish Charlotte because of HB2 never took the time to understand the culture of Charlotte and North Carolina. Because Charlotte’s economy is largely based on banking and insurance, and we have a world class airport, Charlotte is full of immigrants (many of whom are not from New Jersey)
Saturday, the Countess and I ventured to Plaza Midwood to visit a bakery that was a result of serendipity.
Nova’s Bakery was founded by a Serbian immigrant who moved to Charlotte in the 1990s to fulfill his dream of running his own wholesale bread business in America. Word spread, and customers encouraged him to start a retail outlet in front of the factory. Nova’s bakery now has five retail locations in addition to their wholesale business
After stocking up on our high gluten bread, we ventured down the street to an Asian (mostly Thai and Korean) supermarket to stock up on our prepper supplies
Then it was across the street to the Vietnamese fresh fish store, the Ethiopian restaurant and the Mexican bodega.
Charlotte and the rest of North Carolina live in different universes. HB2 was less about transgender bathrooms and more about which group of people would run the state. Charlotte was put in its place by rural NC.
Boycotting NCAA basketball or PayPal backing out of subletting office space in Charlotte did nothing to harm Denton or Washington (NC), so outsiders striking out at Charlotte were playing right into the hands of the forces in rural North Carolina who resent the economic prosperity and more secular city of Charlotte.
Shazam! Mayberry is not seeing the recent economic growth of Charlotte. Surprise, surprise, surprise. 😉
after seven months here, what i conclude is that charlotte isn’t about who uses what bathroom. it’s about who’s making a good buck — and how other people who want to do the same can get on with it.
and there is plenty of cross-cultural/cross-racial and (i think) cross-sexual orientation interaction going on. two examples: when we were at the bakery, another customer — a beautiful young black woman — called out to us from a nearby table and said she recognized us from the day before when we visited the ballantyne hotel. (she had helped us find our way around so we could see the gingerbread houses on display.) she was sweet and gracious and classy to two annoying old white people at the hotel where she works AND at the bakery the next day. didn’t have to be. just was.
second example: as we were standing in the parking lot near the ethiopian restaurant, a baby boomer white woman (very southern lady-ish with a “born-and-raised-here” north carolina accent) stopped us and asked if we were going in to eat at the vietnamese restaurant across the street. she said she always wanted to try it and was looking for a first-hand review of the place. (evidently she and her husband are regulars at the dim sum chinese place down the block.)
people here work at getting along by elbowing aside dumb barriers, constraints and stereotypes. then they move on.
Thats cool. You know, whenever I spoke to anyone in ‘Philly’ ‘fireman, guys at the cigar shoppe, the security guard at the Federal reserve bank, his AR was Smith & Wesson’ (very nice) the nice lady in china town, and everyone at the reading terminal market, Franklin institute and the Rodin museum, the Amtrak station, hell they were all nice. Most all asked, ‘where you from’?
Hey, Charlotte Panthers is up for sale. Supposedly it makes money .
That Richardson (owner) fellow supposedly did some strange things to some of the nice cheerleaders. ( Maybe this should be back on the ‘The List’ page) ?
Mr. rogers and ‘King Friday’ will be on a new stamp.
best parrott