Esse Quam Videri

Esse Quam Videri, Latin from the treatise on Friendship by the Roman statesman Cicero, means “To Be Rather Than to Seem.” It is a reminder of the beauty and power of being true to oneself. It is also the motto of the State of North Carolina.¹

This spring, many years after I began my journey at Emory, I left to join the tenured faculty as Chair of Neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine at Chapel Hill.

First, my thanks to all at Emory for the countless opportunities and support, but also for hosting the journal since 2009-we could not have done it without you. Second, to our authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and partners-please be assured that the journal will not skip a beat, and everything will continue seamlessly, efficiently, and effectively as you have come to expect.

To commemorate the transition (as we did in 2009 for the transition of the journal to Atlanta from Los Angeles), we have dedicated the cover to an icon of the new station of the Editor-in-Chief. Fittingly, and that iconic image is the “Old Well.” The Well has been a focal point of the UNC campus since the University opened in 1793. On January 21, 1795, the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina resolved “that the Commissionary for carrying on the buildings of the University be authorized to cause a Well to be sunk, and erect such necessary buildings as they conceive useful for the Institution.” For most of the next century, students, faculty, and staff of the University relied on this Well for their drinking and bathing water. In 1897, the University president proposed the building of a new structure over the Old Well, based on the Temple of Love at Versailles. The structure was designed by Eugene Lewis Harris, a portrait artist and registrar for the University, and is now the most recognizable symbol of the University. In 1900, a pump was installed at the Well, which was replaced by a drinking fountain in 1925. In 1954, the original structure was razed and replaced with a sturdier replica. Legend has it that a sip from it brings students luck in the form of good grades.²

To be sure, the unfolding of my transition has been gradual, but the action has been decisive-and seemingly a true reflection of the observations of the Scottish writer, William H. Murray (1913-1996):

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back—concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.³

They say it is The Southern Part of Heaven⁴; we shall soon find out.

Notes

This Registrar has been simultaneously published in Neurosurgery, Operative Neurosurgery, and Neurosurgery Open