The Raleigh Amtrak station, where Trey met me in June 1993.
went to Chapel Hill in June of 1993, following jaw surgery to correct a massive overbite I had had since childhood. I had been planning to go there anyway, on the principal grounds that it was somewhere I had never been. But then at the March on Washington in April of that year, I met Archie Langston Harris III... more commonly known as Trey Harris... and fell head-over-heels into relationship with him. He was attending UNC Chapel Hill at the time. My fate seemed set.

Our relationship lasted for seven months; I stayed there for nine, before leaving to through-hike the Appalachian Trail and heal the bitter feelings from the split. I returned in October 1994 after completing the Trail to collect things I had left behind, then again in March 1995 to get information I needed for an application to Peace Corps.

Over the July 4th weekend 2002, I took the train back to Durham and Chapel Hill, to see my friend Brenda (an old college friend from Northwestern days) and renew our ties. I was happy to find that the bitterness of the past seemed gone and the town, in some incorporeal yet essential way, was happy to have me back.

229 East Franklin Street: The frat house where I first lived in Chapel Hill, from June through August 1993. For eight weeks of this time my mouth was wired shut, and I had to "eat" everything through a straw.
The meeting hall on campus... I forget its name... where, completely by accident, I ran into Brenda in June 1993, at a meeting of B-Glad: Bisexuals, Gay Men, Lesbians and Allies for Diversity. I had not seen her for six years and had no idea of her whereabouts. The last I'd seen her she was studying in Germany.
The dormitory on campus where I "unofficially" lived with Trey from late September through January. My legal residence was on Milton Avenue.
Oops! Memory serves poorly. That was Old East. Trey lived next door in Old West. Trey had won a lottery for the right to live there; both buildings had been beautifully restored. Trey's room was (I think) the second along from the near end on the second floor.
The grassy commons that I crossed each day walking from Franklin Street (the main business street of town) to campus. Old East and Old West are out of sight through the trees.
The post office where I rented a P.O. box, directly opposite the commons and a few doors down from the frat house.
Brenda, at work in her study. The cats are lurking somewhere nearby.
A friend from the old days, Akira. We went out to lunch and played catch-up.
Another shot of Brenda in her study. The quality is poor; guess this is what you get for a free digital camera! Clearly it doesn't do so well with indoor shots....
Signs of the past: An old "Negro cemetery" along West Main Street in Carrboro. I passed it on my walks between Carrboro (where I was staying) and Chapel Hill.