The first column, “Christmas ghosts issue a warning,” was published Dec. 23, 2007, and used the “ghosts” of Greensboro Christmas past, present and future to remember what makes the city great and warn against harmful impediments to future progress. Noer modeled his examples off the ghosts from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” story.
“Whether it be Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, Pongal or Eid al-Adha, the time around the winter solstice is cause for celebration, feasting and reflection for many religions,” Noer wrote in the December column. “Let’s give ourselves and Greensboro a gift and, just as each post-solstice day provides more light, with a little courage and a lot of determination we can emulate Scrooge, create an increasingly brighter future and finally conquer ‘ignorance’ and ‘want.’”
The second column, “Four community resolutions for 2008,” was published Jan. 6, 2008, and suggests ways for readers to make Greensboro a better place.
“As citizens of this community we need to find ways to move out of our comfort zone and reach out to others,” he writes. “This requires the courage to take the risk to engage others where they are, not where we want them to be.”
Read the full columns by clicking on the links below.