06/11/14  I’ve just spent a week in North Carolina and was floored by the openness of the people I met. A simple question I asked a baker became a warm animated conversation about making sourdough bread and an offer to bake me a loaf the following day—even though it wasn’t her baking day. I wonder if there is something about rural living that acts like Teflon against all of the defensive layers we acquire in large cities.