[Editor’s Note: This summer, CaryCitizen is rich in talented, smart interns. We sent Austin Cooper, a rising senior at UNC Chapel Hill, to cover the opening of Fire Station #8, a “climate showcase” building designed with environmental sustainability in mind.
“How was it?” I asked Austin on the phone. Long silence. I could sense his disapproval. Read more
Raleigh, NC – Divya Juneja of Cary, a student at Raleigh Charter High School, recently served as a Page for the North Carolina House of Representatives. Read more
Story and historical picture courtesy of Lori Balmer for First United Methodist Church Cary.
Cary, NC – Early Methodists worshipped east of Cary in an area called Asbury. You can still find it on a map, though there are no signs. There is an ancient cemetery, but with no tombstones. When Frank Page built his sawmill and the academy, the Cary community started to form. The worshippers from Asbury moved to meet in the academy building. Read more
Lindsey Chester edits the CaryCitizen Calendar of Events.
Cary, NC – There’s plenty to do this weekend in Cary, according to Calendar of Events, with music of all sorts and entertainments for many tastes. Read more
Story by Lindsey Chester, associate publisher of CaryCitizen. Photo by Paula Bailey.
Cary, NC- The 4th Annual Cary Scavenger Hunt is gearing up. Here are a few sample questions to whet your appetite. See how many you can answer. Read more
Story by Jamie Berger, CaryCitizen’s summer writing intern. Photo by Brian Speice, CaryCitizen’s summer photo intern.
Cary, NC – The deceptively innocent question, “So, what’s next?” becomes somewhat of a cruel cliché when asked of soon-to-be college graduates or recent grads. We hear it so many times that our responses start to sound scripted. In many cases—at least when the answers are less than promising—they actually are, because “I don’t know” never satisfies. At least for me, directing this question inwards provoked a series of existential crises that eventually escalated into a full-blown quarter life crisis. Yes, that’s really a thing. Google it.
Until a couple weeks ago, my answer was “I’m going to gain some professional experience for a year or two before returning to law school or grad school.” In other words, “I have no idea.” In other other words, “I’m going back home ‘til I can figure it all out.”
It wasn’t just my uncertain future, the scary headlines about unemployment rates among college graduates, my impending eviction from academia’s comfy cradle, or the prospect of an endless cycle of internships that generated my final-semester panic. I was also horrified of ending up back at home. In Cary.
There has been a bit of hubbub lately surrounding Cary’s lack of “Millennials,” also known as Generation Y. I was one of this age group’s few representatives at the recent Imagine Cary Summit, where I learned that Cary has a significantly smaller percentage of residents between the ages of 20 and 29 than Raleigh, Wake County, and North Carolina. Most of us who grew up in Cary in the late 1980s and early 1990s leave for college… and don’t come back.
Nevertheless, I did end up there after graduation, and found myself savoring my time in my hometown. Few other places are as serene as my own backyard in one of Cary’s “older” neighborhoods – though not beautifully manicured like other lots in town, its lovely wildness and quiet, scurrying life dazzle on late afternoons in summer. Creeping ivy and half-foot saplings are slowly reclaiming the shady, forest-bound yard where I used to play badminton on bare feet. My house, now over twenty three years old, shows its age in well-worn carpet and dated wallpaper. Timeworn photos of middle school friends have faded on a sunlit wall. This place has grown up with me.
I was beginning to look forward to spending more time in Cary—realizing my nightmare of “ending up” there was more like a dream—when I was offered an internship in Washington, DC that I couldn’t refuse. I haven’t spent more than several weeks at a time in Cary since I left for college four years ago, and this summer will be no different.
Sometimes I don’t even fully unpack my bags; I live out of a suitcase in my own house.
Now that I’m living in DC, I couldn’t be happier. It has everything a person of my generation could want: the freedom of not needing a car, dense, walkable neighborhoods, a plethora of (often free) cultural offerings, restaurants serving almost every type of cuisine, and immense opportunity to explore many possible answers to the question, “So, what’s next?” After only a week here, I’ve already caught the bug of urban life.
But my ephemeral Cary summers—and Christmases and Thanksgivings—will still be some of my favorite parts of the year. Cary is not only a calming escape from college or, now, professional life; it’s also where the people (and animals!) I love are most concentrated. After living in rental after rental after rental, Cary is still the only place in the world where my bed, my room, my backyard, my town exist. As a transient twenty something, I treasure the sights, smells, and comforts of my one and only home, and I’ll always go back there, if only for a couple weeks at a time.
Here are a few of our favorite stories from previous CaryCitizen interns and student-contributors.
Story and photo by Lindsey Chester.
Cary, NC – This past week, Koka Booth Amphitheartre played host to two of the best concerts you are likely to see here in the Triangle: Passion Pit and The Lumineers. Read more
Cary, NC – The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) has announced that Cary-based solar energy firm Yes! Solar Solutions has achieved NABCEP Company Accreditation. Read more
