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GREENSBORO — I usually dig into the corners of our community to find those quirky stories that make us laugh, cry and think.

But for the past month, I did something different. I dug into the psyche of Greensboro and the distrust that hurts our city. I talked to dozens of people. Then, in a four-part series that ended Saturday, I showed what I found that could help our city climb out of its funk.

It struck a chord. Big time.

I heard from more people about this series than anything else I've written in 22 years. More than four dozen people called me, e-mailed me or stopped me around town to tell me what they thought.

Some of it was funny.

A blogger accused me of peddling a "Rowian purple pill," and a good friend of mine stopped me in an elementary school hallway and said, "Jeri, you sound like a street preacher with all the stuff you're writing."

But most of it was serious.

I heard people talk about race, class and poverty, about what they see in their own world.

It's really no different than what we see in any other American city. This issue of trust. But the best part? At least we were talking.

Take David Tate. He's 61, a father of two, a retired salesman who lives in Julian. He says that we at the News & Record had done little to unite our community.

He says we harp too much on race and the negative. Such as Nov. 3, 1979, when five Communist Workers Party members were killed in a clash with Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan in a poor black neighborhood in east Greensboro.

"I tell my sons about the positive things waiting for them in Greensboro," he said. "Look at all the good things here for kids. There used to be cotton mills and furniture factories. We have a first-class city, but we're still talking about the Klan, the Nazis and how unfair life is."

There were many, many more.

Such as David Colin, 71, a retired engineer: "We're talking about cultural problems, and we miss the point. People need jobs."

And Ryan Shell, 28, a public relations professional who runs http://www.greensboropolitics.com: "We need to move on. It's not that we have to abandon the old issues, but don't make them the forefront. I mean, you go to a Mexican restaurant, and you have to worry about a gang member killing you. Those are the issues."

And Kevin Jacobs, 21, a UNCG senior: "It hurts me to see the city I still call my home to be in such a disastrous state."

Jacobs lives in a two-bedroom apartment near High Point Road. He's had his bicycle stolen and his license plate stolen off his car. A shooting took place across the parking lot from where he lives.

He's also seen firsthand the unspoken distrust over the color of someone's skin: in grocery store lines, outside downtown clubs, and in the reaction he gets when he's with his best friend. Jacobs is white; his best friend is black.

Two weekends ago, two men were killed in a gang-related shooting in a Mexican restaurant a few minutes away from where he lives. He's now had enough. Today, he's moving in with his grandparents in Asheboro.

He knows he'll come back. He loves this place he calls The 'Boro. But not right now.

"I think people can change, and the city can change as long as people are willing to raise a little hell," he said Monday from his kitchen. "I know I'm young, but I'm not too young to see these severe problems. Something has to be done before it's too late."

It's never too late. Look at what's happening at the Elon University School of Law in downtown Greensboro.

In February, a community activist and six professors from six local colleges and universities will begin teaching a class called "Reclaiming Democracy: Dialogue, Decision-Making and Community Action."

It'll run through late April, involve frank discussions about Greensboro's struggle with civil rights and social justice, and it'll be open to anyone who's interested. That includes an undergrad at Elon or a grandmother off Huffman Street near U.S. 29. It's intended to get people talking about what divides us, and ultimately what can bring us together.

"Now is a very vibrant time to change this city in important ways," said Stephen Schulman, a philosophy professor at Elon who helped craft the course. "This has been deferred for too long."

Stephen Schulman, you speak my mind.

Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jrowe@news-record.com