Drove from Tennessee to North Carolina on Tuesday morning to land on the campus of Western Carolina University, where Lori Davis took Kalin and I under her wing. The campus is beautiful surrounded by mountains. Almost 75 people attended the screening--the diverse audience of students, faculty and community members enjoyed the film and most stayed behind to participate in the question and answer session. One student asked me about the Little Rock Nine suffering from post traumatic Stress Syndrome. That question continues to resonate with me because during the course of my research on the film and after meeting many of the Little Rock Nine I had come to the same conclusion. At the end of the Q&A an older woman walked up to me with her son. In a very quiet and sad voice she told me that she attended Central High School and she handed me her graduation ring. She said that I deserved it after working on the film for so long and so hard. I tried to return the ring but she wouldn't accept it--we hugged as I thanked her profusely and promised to take good care of it.
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