TCB Sept. 30, 2022 — Human

EDITOR’S

In memory of Robert Paquette, our most metal employee ever

went to a bar to write

Rob would have the art director position that Jorge Maturino, our first, had just vacated.

until he emerged out the other side in plenty of time to make last call.

His skills became rock solid, a metronome, like I imagine his guitar riffs would be if I ever saw any of his bands, which I regretfully did not.

As with a lot of my lost friends, I always thought I had more time.

Sept. 10 to Oct. 15

showed up for the interview. This job was a stretch for his abilities at that time — Rob became a skilled artist

, but he was less polished

I have seen many an art director melt down on the eve of their first issue. It happens when they’re just a few hours shy of deadline and starting to realize they need to step it up if they’re going to make it. That’s when they all get real quiet. Sometimes their faces get all red. Sometimes they cry.

Rob just grunted his way through it, like a wild boar caught in a tangle,

2 UP FRONT | SEPT. 29OCT. 5, 2022 He lived hard, drank like a longshoreman, smoked hot cigarettes, flatly refused to have smoothies for lunch and would sometimes score a little weed to bring to his dad in Lexington.

And Rob was my friend. I drove him home most days after work, we had lunch together at least once a week. I turned him on to James Booker. He, in turn, helped me main tain my connection to nightlife, the bar scene, the tribulations of working musicians who are actively play ing shows.

Rob was the most metal of us all, man aging… usually… to keep his angsty rage in his pocket, pulling it out only when he needed it, like a fancy Zippo with a roaring flame. He lived hard, drank like a longshore man, smoked hot cigarettes, flatly refused to have smoothies for lunch and would sometimes score a little weed to bring to his dad in Lexing ton.

We lost our fathers around the same time. We were supposed to get together and talk about it. We ran out of time.

I surely will miss Rob, who died too soon, as I know will his band mates and fans, his ex-girlfriends and former roommates, every door man in town and all the afternoon drinkers on Tate Street. He left his mark on this paper; he left his mark on Greensboro; and he left his mark on me.

CITY

by MICHAELA RATLIFF

THURSDAY Sept. 29

Fall Into Fitness @ Country Park (GSO) 6 p.m

to manipulate its owner. Find more information and purchase tickets at highpointtheatre.com

SATURDAY Oct. 1

Trash to Treasure Community Art Project @ High Point Farmers Market (HP)

SEPT. 29-OCT. 4

SUNDAY Oct. 2

High Point Autumn Rowing Festival @ Oak Hollow Lake (HP) 9 a.m.

Greensboro Parks and Recreation has partnered with YMCA of Greensboro to bring you six weeks of free yoga classes in Country Park. All you need to bring is your own mat. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

The Spanish Dancer @ a/perture cinema (W-S) 7:30 p.m.

High Point X Design needs your help painting and decorating wood shapes created from local furniture waste which will be used to decorate the city. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

Hiring Fair @ Kimpton Cardinal Hotel (W-S) 10 a.m.

Enjoy a day of international boat racing with music and food trucks as rowing crews from Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and England’s University of Cambridge compete for the Lenny Peters Cup as part of the Bethany Medical North Car olina Rowing Championships. For more information, head to the Facebook event page.

Celebrate National Silent Movie Day with a/perture cinema during this screening of The Spanish Dancer, an action-packed romance film featuring golden era movie star Pola Negri. Pur chase tickets at aperturecinema.com

FRIDAY Sept. 30

Acrylic Galaxy Splatter Painting @ Creative Aging Network (GSO) 9:30 a.m. Creative Aging Network invites aging adults to unleash creativity during this art class hosted by Sachi. You’ll use the splatter method to create your own vi sion of a galaxy. Admission fee includes supplies. Find more info and register on the event page on Facebook.

Little Shop of Horrors @ High Point Community Theatre (HP) 7:30 p.m.

High Point Theatre invites you to productions of Little Shop of Horrors, a horror comedy rock musical that follows a blood-thirsty plant owned by a floral assistant and how it uses music

Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, a “human rights movement disguised as a coffee shop,” is opening a new location soon at 411 W. Fourth St. Those aged 14 and older with intellectual and developmental disabilities are invited to a hiring fair at Kimpton Cardinal Hotel. No experience is necessary to interview. Slots are at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Visit Bitty & Beau’s Facebook page to register.

Southern Guitar Festival & Competition @ UNCSA (W-S) 10 a.m.

The 10th annual Southern Guitar Fes tival & Competition returns this year with featured performers Badi Assad and Derek Gripper. The festival includes musical competitions, workshops, pre sentations about stringed instruments and more. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit southerngui tarfest.com

Oktoberfest @ SouthEnd Brewing Co. (GSO) 12 p.m. SouthEnd Brewing Co. is throwing an Oktoberfest celebration with food trucks, live music, cold lagers and more for you to enjoy. Click ‘Going’ on the Facebook event page for updates.

Bricksboro @ Greensboro Science Center (GSO) 9 a.m. Greensboro Science Center in part nership with the North Carolina LEGO Users Group is hosting Bricksboro, an exhibition of LEGO creations includ ing cityscapes, animals, mechanical machines and more. NC LUG will also speak to guests about LEGO building techniques and give other helpful tips. Visit the event page on Facebook for additional info.

TUESDAY Oct. 4

Shop & Dine for Paws @ Reynolda Village Shops & Restaurants (W-S) 8 a.m.

Participate in the first ever Shop & Dine for paws event where various shops and restaurants in Reynolda Village will donate a percentage of proceeds to Forsyth Humane Society. Visit the event page on Facebook for a list of participating businesses.

Send your events to calendar@triad-city-beat.com for consideration in City Life and the Weekender.

‘We’re all human:’ Greensboro’s homeless community says new city council ordinances threaten their survival

by Sayaka Matsuoka

Editor’s note: At TCB we care deeply about language and the impact that words can have. As such, we understand that many who work with homeless people use the term “unhoused” or “houselessness” in lieu of “homeless.”

As a team, we discussed the use of the term and decided that we would use whatever term was used by those who were interviewed for this story. That language choice has been reflected in this piece. For questions, feel free to reach out to Managing Editor Sayaka Matsuoka at sayaka@triad-city-beat.com.

Shelly Brannon gets up every morning around six or so and goes for a walk. She gets some breakfast at the place down the street and then takes a shower, gets dressed and charges her phone. In the afternoons, she spends time applying for jobs or going to job interviews. Then, when she’s done with most of her duties, she heads to the park. And waits.

Brannon’s morning routine may not sound that different from most people’s dayto-day schedules. But when the sun goes down and the temperatures drop, Bran non is faced with the ongoing challenge of finding a place to sleep.

“We don’t want to be in the city,” said Brannon, a 44-year-old Black woman. “We don’t want to lay on the sidewalks. We don’t want to be in areas we shouldn’t be. We don’t want to interrupt people who come in with their children. We don’t want to do that. We have nowhere else to go.”

Brannon is one of hundreds of people experiencing homelessness in the city of Greensboro. According to data collected by Continuums of Care to the US De partment of Housing and Urban Development, as of January 2020, North Caroli na had an estimated 9,280 people who were homeless. According to data collected by Guilford County, there were 426 homeless people in the county as of Feb. 23. That includes both sheltered and unsheltered people. Compared to past years, the total number of people experiencing homeless is decreasing but the number of those who are unsheltered is on the rise from 2021.

City council cracks down on homelessness

In the last few months, Greensboro city council has cracked down on city ordinances that activists and those experiencing homelessness say criminalize poverty.

During a Sept. 1 work session, members of city council discussed topics such as the installation of signs that prohibit standing on traffic islands, con fiscating items left in public spaces and requiring charity organizations to obtain licenses to serve food. Meanwhile, the homeless people that TCB spoke to all said that what they really need is shelter.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, a small group of volunteers distributed food and other supplies behind the large brick building that is the Greensboro Urban Ministry off of South Elm-Eugene Street. People in cars and on foot, of all ages and races, approached the fold-out table manned by members of Greensboro Working-Class and Houseless Organizing Alliance, otherwise known as GSO WHOA. In addition to pre-made turkey or ham sandwiches, the group passed out bars of soap, razors, COVID-19 masks, testing kits and bottled water. Several of the people who came to the table were on a first-name basis with volunteers who have been distributing supplies for low-income and homeless people for years.

Many of the individuals went to the Urban Ministry first, where they got hot meals, one of a few places in the city that serves those in need on a daily basis. That’s where Shelly Brannon usually goes to get her breakfast. As they passed out supplies, members of GSO WHOA didn’t ask people’s status or question them about their living situation. They understood that the need is high in the city, and

Shelly Brannon, pictured here in Center City Park, has been homeless for the last three months since leaving an abusive relationship.

PHOTO BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA

they’re doing what they can to bridge the gap. Since they started this work in 2018, the group has not met much resistance from the city. But that could soon change.

As part of its recent crackdown on homelessness, members of Greensboro City Council discussed requiring groups like GSO WHOA to obtain licenses to distribute food.

At the Sept. 1 work session, District 3 representative Zack Matheny stated that the city needed to “hold accountable,” the “folks that think they are giving help.”

“You have some folks that… show up on any given day and time and think they are giving help by giving food that doesn’t go through the health department and leave significant trash lying around,” Matheny said. “So what is our goal in educat ing those that think they are helping and cleaning up their own stuff?”

Matheny was re-elected to city council this past July after his opponent, Chip Roth, pulled out of the race due to a cancer diagnosis and the incumbent, Justin Outling, ran for mayor. Matheny is a registered Republican who formerly served four terms in District 3 from 2007-15, when he retired to become the president of Downtown Greensboro, Inc. At the time, Matheny cited his role with DGI as a po tential conflict of interest and stepped down from council. However, Matheny is still the president of the organization, which provides services to downtown businesses, and told TCB during the election campaign that neither he, nor City Attorney Chuck Watts, found a conflict of interest with him maintaining his position at DGI and being on council.

Now, those who work directly with homeless individuals in the community say that Matheny is using his ties to DGI to further an agenda against poor people.

“Having DGI take a seat directly is a sign,” said Billy Belcher, a volunteer with GSO WHOA. “But Nancy Vaughan is on board with this. It’s not like Zack is com ing in and pushing an agenda on an unwilling city council.”

It’s true that Matheny isn’t the only one suggesting ordinances that could affect homeless people. During the Sept. 1 work session, Greensboro Police Attorney Angela Harrell presented city council with “solutions” including installing signs on traffic medians as well as signs that threaten to dispose of personal belongings left in public spaces.

“We don’t want to enforce these ordinances by way of any criminal violation,” said Harrell. “Our hope is that an educational campaign and voluntary compliance is really going to help with some of the problems that we’re seeing.”

Mayor Nancy Vaughan suggested a change in the wording of Sec. 16-10 of the city ordinances that would make it easier for the city to remove items left in public spaces. The ordinance, as it currently is written, states the following: “It shall be unlawful to put any object or substance on a street which is likely to cause injury to a person, animal, or vehicle. Any person who accidentally drops any such substance on a street must immediately remove it, or cause it to be removed.”

The punishment for leaving items behind is a Class 3 misdemeanor with a maxi mum fine of $50.

Vaughan then asked Harrell if the word “injurious,” which appears later in the ordinance, can be removed.

“Do we have to have that word ‘injurious’ because I think people will debate that you know, a bag full of clothes, or other items especially items that we see, they’re not injurious,” Vaughan argued. “Is that necessary?”

Harrell responded by stating that the word could be removed.

It’s not like Zack is coming in and pushing an agenda on an unwilling city council.

Billy Belcher, GSO WHOA

Other city council members then debated whether or not the fine or a crimi nal charge is necessary, especially when targeted at people who are experiencing homelessness.

“If the person is experiencing homelessness, and they can’t get housing because they already have a record, putting a misdemeanor on top of that is something I really can’t support,” said District 1 council member Sharon Hightower.

In addition to the change in wording for Sec. 16-10, other suggested ordinances include changes to Sec. 18-44 and Se.c 18-50 which relate to blocking sidewalks and unlawful noise. There is also a suggested change to an ordinance relating to abandoned shopping carts.

All of the suggested changes will be voted on by city council during the Oct. 3 meeting. The public has the opportunity to voice their opinion about the changes at the same meeting.

‘Everybody out here gets look at like they’re trash’

While those who advocate on behalf of the homeless population find the new ordinances concerning, perhaps the most damaging and effective one is the change suggested by Matheny related to groups who give away food.

As members of GSO WHOA made their way from the Urban Ministries to Center City Park in downtown, familiar faces as well as new ones approached to receive help. Shelly Brannon was one of them.

She told Triad City Beat that help from organizations like GSO WHOA is how she currently survives. Brannon has been homeless for the last three months, after leaving an abusive relationship, she said. And besides Urban Ministries and the In teractive Resource Center, she said there aren’t that many places for people like her to turn to. The possibility of organizations like GSO WHOA having to become licensed and potentially being shut down is scary for her, Brannon said.

“It made me upset because those people and those organizations help out the community a lot,” she said. “I rely on every organization that is going to feed me, give me clothing, shoes, anything about housing, I’m going to accept those. I love that; it’s a resource because when I first came here, there weren’t any resources that I knew of, so I was happy.”

GSO WHOA is an all-volunteer organization that relies heavily on donations

to do its work. Every Thursday, members of the group spend a few hours making about 120 sandwiches and care bags to distribute on Saturday mornings. They rarely have leftovers.

“We anticipate that they’ll use these ordinances to come after us and make us stop or make us work for the city, neither of which we like,” said Belcher.

Nearby, Ethan, a white, 25-year-old man from Illinois, told TCB that he’s been homeless for about three months. When asked about the new signs and the potential changes in the ordi nances, Ethan said it was upsetting.

“What the city is trying to do is really negative,” he said. “It makes me upset because it’s hard enough for people in this situ ation to get something to eat, and now you’re going to regulate who can and can’t serve food.”

Ethan, who also spends time in Center City Park, said that just the other day, he saw another homeless man fishing food out of the garbage cans. Ethan and others portioned out food they had received from nearby churches to give to him.

“Would you rather feed people or do you want to have them eating out of trash cans?” he asked.

As an agoraphobic and antisocial person, Ethan said he mostly tries to stay away from the crowds downtown. He also doesn’t panhandle and just makes do with what he can get from organizations like GSO WHOA to eat.

That’s another misconception that he and others that TCB spoke to said many people have about those experiencing homelessness. Of the six people TCB spoke to, none of them said they ask people for money on the street. Many of them cited shame on top of the already negative misconceptions people tend to have about homeless people as a deterrent.

“Nobody would really know what it’s like until they spend a day or a week,” Ethan said. “If someone from one of these nice buildings would just spend a month out there, they would see how hard it is for anybody out here…. Everybody out here gets looked at like they’re trash just because we’re in the situation we’re in. Right now it feels like we’re barely getting enough help as it is and now it’s just going to make it even more difficult for the rest of us.”

YES! Weekly previously reported about another group that feeds homeless people regularly and how they always pick up trash and take it to the dumpsters them selves. One of the volunteers, Kriste Clodfelter, said that the moves by city council are a way to push people out of downtown.

“There’s nowhere else for them to charge their phones on Sundays, or even go to the bathroom,” Clodfelter told YES! Weekly. “The city is trying to take away their right to basic human needs.”

‘I’m going to lay here and die’

At the Interactive Resource Center, the only dedicated day shelter for homeless people in the city, people gathered to receive what was left of GSO WHOA’s supplies. They ran out of sandwiches earlier at Center City Park and handed out bottles of water and soap. Some people, who waited for the group to come, expressed anger at the lack of food.

“We’ve never run out this early before,” said Luis Medina, a member of GSO WHOA. “This means that the population is growing.”

Tucked under a tarp that hung neatly between the branches of a sturdy tree, 60-year-old Dwayne Chapman sought shelter from the drizzling rain. He told TCB that he’s been homeless for a few years and has gotten into the routine of putting up the tarp at the spot next to the IRC on the weekends because during the week, staff won’t let him. When they leave at night however, he finds his way back to the spot to sleep.

Members of GSO WHOA have been handing out food and supplies to the homeless community for four years.

COURTESY PHOTO

“Everything I own is right here,” Chapman said as he pointed to the belongings around him. A few backpacks, some blankets, a sleeping bag and some snacks surrounded him.

“I don’t want a lot of stuff because I don’t want to carry it,” he said as he munched on a bag of Doritos.

Chapman, who served in the US Army from 1980-87, isn’t as mobile as some of the other homeless folks downtown. He’s currently suffering from collapsed arter ies, which prevent him from walking too much. It’s something he’s been addressing with case workers and a nurse at the IRC, seeking treatment. Because of his condition, Chapman can’t work; he said he relies on the IRC as well as organizations like GSO WHOA for his needs.

“The kindness of others is what I’m living on right now,” said Chapman, who said he doesn’t panhandle. When asked about the influx of signs concerning possessions and standing on medians in recent weeks, Chapman said he’s noticed them. One time, not long ago, when Chapman had set up his tarp across the street from the IRC, he said police came and took his ID and said if they caught him again, they would write him a ticket and take him to jail. That’s when he moved over to the area next to the building.

solving the issue completely, it’s a good first step, advocates say.

“During the last decade, Houston…has moved more than 25,000 homeless people directly into apartments and houses,” the New York Times reported. “The overwhelming majority of them have remained housed after two years.”

The number of homeless people was cut by 63 percent since 2011.

While the model in Houston is complex, the results act as a beacon of hope for advocates who have been doing this work for years.

“We want to see people support organizations that provide direct support,” said Del Stone, an organizer with GSO WHOA. “Something like Tiny Houses that actually provides housing.”

The kindness of others is what I’m living off of right now.

Dwayne Chapman

Shelly Brannon said that most homeless folks like herself are just trying to survive. She said that she’s looking forward to a job interview at Gabe’s, set to take place this week and will keep applying for jobs to try and make the best of her situation.

“At the end of the day, we’re all human,” she said. “Give us a break. We need to work together, all of us. We got to live here in this community. We have to find some type of resolution so everybody can be hap py. It’s not just about us, it’s about everybody, because we all make up this city. We have opinions too, we just don’t know how to voice them or where to voice them.”

“I’m just trying to keep my stuff clean and I don’t throw trash around,” Chap man said. “But yeah, they come on over a lot now.”

As for the end of organizations like GSO WHOA, Chapman said it amounts to a death sentence for him and others like him.

“I can’t walk out and hustle and do all that, so instead of having people bring me food, they can cremate me or burn me because I’m going to be dead,” Chapman said. “That’s just the bottom line. I have no other choice. I’m not gonna steal and all of that shit, so I’m going to lay here and die, and I want them to know that, and tell them thank you because at least I’ll be out of pain.”

The need for housing

When asked what they need most from people in positions of power like members of city council, the answer from every person TCB talked to was the same: shelter.

Currently, the IRC doesn’t provide shelter at night and there are a limited number of places for people to go, including the Weaver House, operated by the Greensboro Urban Ministry and an emergency shelter run by the YWCA for families. However, seeking shelter at these places often takes time, with an in volved process that can be prohibitive for people. Once inside, there are strict rules for when people can come and go, what they can bring. Still, Shelly Brannon said she wants to see more shelters in the city to help those like her.

“I would love for them to find a building for shelter,” she said. “Something that holds at least 200 beds. Yeah, that would be the No. 1 priority to meet. That’s my No. 1 concern. A lot of homeless people that I speak to, that’s the thing. That’s our main concern.”

In 2021, due to COVID-19, the city temporarily converted an old motel into emergency shelter during the coldest months of the year. Now, as the temperature drops, many who are currently sleeping on the streets will inevitably turn towards emergency shelters to stay warm.

In the past, the IRC and the YWCA have opened winter shelters once the tem peratures drop below 25 degrees for longer than two hours. No information has yet been released about plans for winter shelters this year.

In June, the New York Times reported that Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, was tackling homelessness from a new angle — not one rooted in penalties or policing, but one that centered housing as the main solution. Those who advocate for this approach have called it the “housing first” method and although it’s not

The next city council will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 3 in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber at 300 W. Washington St. in down town Greensboro. Those wishing to voice their opinions about the new ordinances can do so by signing up to speak in person or submit public comments virtually on the city website.

paid for by the committee to elect Derek Mobley

Donald Trump, Ted Budd and the N-word

Yeah, he said it.

Trump’s Wilming ton rally last week was ostensibly for the MAGA movement, but was actually a rally for Rep. Ted Budd, who has avoided the spotlight in our state even as he runs for what may be the most important open Senate seat in the country right now, right here, in North Carolina.

The rally was all kinds of awful, with thousands of assholes ap proaching near ecstasy as Trump railed against the New York attorney general who is suing him for fraud while creepy, QA non music washed over their out stretched arms — which they insist, was definitely not a Nazi salute.

But the worst of it — which is saying a lot when it comes to Trump — was his allusion to the “N-word” during his comments. He insisted that he meant “nucle ar,” though that didn’t stop many in attendance from shouting the other N-word at that point in his 90-minute speech.

The N-word. At a political rally for a white guy who is running against a woman of color for a seat that could upend the balance of the Senate.

This is Budd’s game plan: a race to the bottom.

Budd has unapologetically reaffirmed his alliance with the disgraced former president, even as other candidates have backed off amid mounting lawsuits, the

Congressional investigation and growing distaste for the man who believes he can declassify documents just by thinking about them.

Remember, as a House rep, Budd voted to overturn the 2020 election, claiming “irregularities and Constitutional violations” in NC, even after Trump won the state. And he’s sticking to his guns, hoping to tap into the cyni cism that has bubbled up from the depths of our national psyche like an infection.

Just last week, he signed on as co-sponsor for a House bill that would criminalize all abortions after 15 weeks, nation wide.

A reminder: These are extremely unpopular positions. More than 60 percent of Americans think abortion should be legal in just about all cases. More than half of Ameri cans have an unfavorable opinion of Trump — 54 percent, compared to 43 percent who favor him. And nobody we know would even stand in the same room as some one who likes to throw around the N-word.

More than half — 50.12 percent — of NC voters are women. Just about 20 percent are Black. How does Budd expect to win these voters over?

He probably doesn’t. The man who voted to overturn the 2020 election has already shown that he may not accept the election results this time, either.

The N-word. At a political rally for a white guy who is running against a woman of color....

Greensboro native Michael McMillan keeps Aggie Pride alive in alumni Facebook group

by Michaela Ratliff

Greensboro businessman Michael McMillan is the definition of “Aggie born, Aggie bred.” His parents met at North Carolina A&T State University, so it was only right he earned his Bachelor’s of Business Administration from A&T in 1991. He served a stint in the U.S. Marines Corps and later worked in pharmaceutical sales be fore returning to A&T in 2003 for his Master’s in Adult Education. Go-getter McMillan owns several businesses including a beard hair care line and public relations firm, but his humble demeanor during an interview signals that he’d rather shed light on his alma mater and HBCUs.

On July 3, 2022, he made his first post in Aggie Pride, a Facebook group he created in August of last year where alumni can discuss the university and its happenings in Reddit-like threads. The group has grown to have more than 5000 members.

QThere’s a few NCAT Alumni groups out there like NCAT Alumni and Ladies of NC A&T, so what inspired you to create your own? Did you feel like something was missing from the ones already established or did you just want to do something different?

Any plans for the group to meet up for GHOE?

A A A

No, I just wanted to do something different. Our lane is a little different. In the Aggie Pride group; we try to highlight all the positive things that are taking place around A&T and its campus, athletics or anything that happens socially and economically. We want to keep those things in the loop because we don’t have a lot of communicating threads like you have a lot of times where people can just chime in and go on a long tangent. We might ask a controversial question every now and then to spark interest, but we try to keep it along the lines of a news outlet. We keep updated information and don’t let things stay up for a long period of time. For example, if we have a football game, we want to pump up all the way to the game. Once the game is over we’re gonna leave the results for a couple of days, but then we’re gonna take it down because now we got another game coming up. That’s the only difference I think that I try to do is stay constant and current.

We’ll just post the information about different events and activities for GHOE. There’s so many activities and if you think about it realistically, the activities are based on your class. I’m in the ’90s, so everything that’s going on that I may attend is going to be all the ’90s-era people. So we’ll just post information where various people are meeting up and having activities, but it won’t be a group thing because the age range in the group is a tremendous disparity. We posted a thread once saying, “Post when you graduated,” and we had people that graduated in the ’60s then we had some that graduated in 2020 so that’s not the same meet, mix and mingle.

Why did you choose to attend an HBCU?

I come from a family of Aggies. My mom and dad actually met at A&T. You know, you just have those exposures to HBCUs because I had aunts and uncles that graduated from A&T. It was kind of a family thing. I had opportunities to visit other schools when I came out of high school but I chose A&T. I was on a football scholarship so that was one

CULTURE

of the driving factors. Plus, the culture, the education, the environ ment, things of that nature.

What importance do you think HBCUs play in the academic landscape today?

The role of an opportunity is what they play. You have to look at what the majors are. With A&T specifically, our engineering pro gram offers tons of opportunities to young people as it relates to wanting to pursue degrees in engineering. Our school of business is excellent, one of the top not just in the state but in the country also. You just have so many opportunities that individuals can take advantage of. The one thing the HBCU environment does give you is an opportunity to — you don’t really have the extremely large classroom setting that you might have at other institutions. You have small classroom settings, intimate relationships with your professors. You’re gonna still have that small, homely feel within that HBCU community because of the people you deal with on a day-to-day basis. Kids come from everywhere. A lot of times it’s about exposure and what you might not have been exposed to or relationships you might not have had. This at the minimum gives you an opportunity to feel linked in with your culture if you’ve never had those experiences.

This powerful World Premiere production follows four Bennett Belles through the Sit-in Movement.

As they work to define who they are in this crucial moment in time, they must decide if and how they will take a stand and be REBELLIOUS.

BY MIKE WILEY

Bitchcraft is on its way to Greensboro

by Kevin Six

Sunlight streams through the doors of the Carolina Theatre, illuminat ing a giant pencil and spiral notebook that’s set on the stage. A violin and piano wait in the wings to take their part as the fans line up outside. On the way is the performer who’s ready to share their inventive new album featuring what they call “feminist rock,” Bitchcraft.

On Friday, Bitch, a queer mu sic icon and activist, will play at the venue, infusing the space with their witchy poet pop, which focuses on storytelling that utilizes themes of queer identiy and feminism.

First gaining popularity through their part in the music duo Bitch and Animal, the mu sician broke off and went solo in the mid-2000s. In February, Bitch released Bitchcraft, their ninth studio album.

“I’m excited for people to see me experiment with new material and find empower ment in the electric-driven poet pop,” said Bitch in an interview. “I’ve crafted my performance around violin and an autobiographical play about my past experiences to go along with my song.”

The show in Greensboro is one of Bitch’s first stops on the southern music tour, which will also include Richmond, Asheville, Atlanta, Nashville, Knoxville and Charleston where they will be joined by fellow queer folk rocker Ani DiFranco.

The paramount themes and inspiration for Bitch’s new al bum comes from their activism in LGBTQ+ and women’s rights. Bitch, who chose their stage name as a way to reclaim the insult against women, has remained a staunch advocate for social justice and uses their music as a way to help spread their message.

“I believe in the rights of people to identify as who they are,” Bitch said. “And they need to be celebrated for it. Most issues of social justice I feel very strongly about, and I want to make space for them on stage. I particularly feel agi tated about the abortion issue with the new not-so-Supreme Court.”

One of the songs that will be performed from their new album, “You’re the man, too,” deals directly with toxic mas culinity culture.

“The song is about toxic bro dudes and how we live in a masculine society,” Bitch said. “You never hear the phrase ‘You’re the woman,’ and that has underlying sexism, which this song makes a statement on. I would say it is definitely a feminist anthem.”

In another song, “Pages,” Bitch shares their personal story of enduring a breakup. It conveys the message of overcoming grief through the use of synthy violin and upbeat drums. In “Easy Target” Bitch drives the point of inclusion home through lyrics that talk about overcoming bullying and the

I believe in the rights of people to identify as who they are.

ELENA DORFMAN

importance of representation for being who you are.

“‘Easy Target’ is about anyone who has been made to feel like an outcast,” Bitch said. “But fighting against that bullying by knowing who they are and feeling good about it anyway.”

Bitch performs at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro this Friday at 8 p.m. Find out more and get tickets at carolinatheatre.com.

DANA LYNN PLEASANT

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

BY CAROLYN DE BERRY North Greene Street, Greensboro

Vivian Morris, a student at the Boyle School of Irish Dance in Alexandria, Virginia , reads during downtime at the Carolina Championship and Feis in downtown Greensboro.

‘Stateside’

and the rest will follow.

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:

by Matt Jones