Rocky Mount’s ‘Troubles’ Foremost On Our Minds

The last two posts about the outcry over the recent City Council meeting have drawn a larger readership than usual. I pay attention to these patterns because they tell me something about what people are interested in or trying to make sense of.

Rocky Mount is carrying more than one burden right now. Questions about the conduct of elected officials. Public frustration surrounding the utility billing situation. (I have two late charges for an Automatic Pay bill. Think about that.) And, of course, the forensic audit.

These are not abstract concerns. They affect daily life, trust, and confidence in how the city is being governed.

Over the holidays, I was happily immersed in research and writing. There are posts ready to publish twice a week through January; several about Rocky Mount’s art scene and the promise of places like Howard Street and more.

But moving forward with those postings as if nothing else were happening did not feel right.

The unease people are feeling cannot simply be set aside. Turning your attention to the Main Street posts, however worthy the subjects may be, seems a little trivial.

It feels like a pivot without acknowledging what is upper most on our minds.

Mainstreetrockymount.com has 1,994 followers. I’m hoping for 2000 soon. I love the process, learning about the spirit of a place that is not my home. I find it full of decent, faithful, wonderful people. Raised in the North I don’t carry the baggage of race. People to me are people wanting the same things, worshiping the same God, trying to live a good life.

Writing about preservation, learning the language of Main Street, has been deeply important to me. By writing the blog, a friend suggested I could help people ‘see the painting on the wall differently.’ But I know these conversations are not foremost on people’s minds while the city works through issues that are unresolved and unsettling.

Publishing my prepared posts as scheduled now feels out of step with where we are. For now, I have put them on hold while we see how things go.

This pause is not a retreat, nor is it a loss of faith in this city. I have spent too much time on Main Street, and too much time paying attention to what endures, to believe that Rocky Mount is defined only by its troubles.

I am choosing to hold the work I have prepared, recognizing that the crisis Rocky Mount is living through deserves our full attention. There will be time to return to conversations about honoring the past and building a future.

Hope, at least the kind I believe in, is not the refusal to see trouble. It is the decision to stay present within it, confident that we are taking steps toward repair. We wait for the forensic audit impatiently, but believing it will repair our losses and save us from ourselves.

For now, this is where we are. I will continue to watch what unfolds at City Council and beyond for the next few weeks. If it needs writing about I will do that.

Do hold the thought of the blog posts in the queue because they highlight our blessings, our possibilities, our progress, our revitalization.
— Stepheny Houghtlin