May 2003

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This is graduation day at Carolina. Early this afternoon I read something about a stalker that reminded me of another Carolina graduation day, over ten years ago now. It has to do with a stalker-type, and was one of the few times I've ever really been afraid.

It was a lovely May Sunday morning, and I was going to the graduation exercises with the family of one of the grads. This was during my time at Non-Profit Agency #2, and the graduate was associated with the agency. He and his family had become good friends of mine. We agreed to meet at the agency to walk together across campus to the stadium where graduations are held.

I had parked in one of the Chapel Hill municipal lots, to allow someone else to use my space at the agency. You'd think that there would be plenty of people walking on the sidewalks in downtown Chapel Hill on such a day, but at the time I was there (around 9:00 a.m.), there weren't many at all. And therein was my problem. I wound up being alone on the sidewalk near a shall we say unstable man who was very angry at the agency and all of us who worked there.

We had had to have him trespassed off the agency property, after he made unpleasant comments and decided that relieving himself in agency rooms (in more ways than one; I don't want to get search engine hits for this!) was the proper way to behave. "Trespassing off," in case the phrase is new to you, involves having the police come and instruct the person that he/she is no longer welcome on the property.

He wasn't happy at this, and made his displeasure known every time he saw one of the agency staff members. And when he saw me that morning, he started grumbling, loudly. I can't tell you what he said since words weren't involved. But I knew he was looking at me, and that the grumbles were not those of someone wishing me a pleasant day.

Since I was reasonably sure he was trying to get a reaction from me, I chose to deny him the fun. I crossed the street and merely kept walking toward my destination. After a few more grumbles, he finally decided to be quiet. I was keeping him in sight, out of the corner of my eye, and could see that he was not trying to follow me. As soon as I got where I was going, I was with a crowd of people, so the fear went away. But for a few moments there, I was afraid I was going to be the headline in the next day's newspaper.

Oh---the rest of the day was wonderful. I hope the graduates and their friends and families today had as good a time as we did.