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Mike Mulligan Rides Again?

Posted on August 4, 2011August 4, 2011 by Staff

A Thousand Words
By Jock Lauterer

So Carrboro is about to embark on the long-awaited 300 East Main construction project, forever changing our beloved community’s face and its sense of place. If the construction zone at Chapel Hill’s 140 West Franklin project is any indication, we’re in for a very long spell of noise, dust and traffic congestion. When I made this photograph (from Walker’s Funeral Home parking lot looking west toward University Square and Aveda Institute), I couldn’t help but think of a favorite childhood picture book: Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (1939, by Virginia Lee Burton) in which Mary Anne, the heroic little steam shovel, digs the basement for the new town hall so deep she can’t get out. So to solve the problem, Mary Anne becomes the boiler for the town hall, while Mike takes a job as the town hall janitor and boiler-tender.

A THOUSAND WORDS
Do you have an important old photo that you value? Email your photo to jock@email.unc.edu and include the story behind the picture. Because every picture tells a story. And its worth? A thousand words.
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