TCB Sept. 21, 2016 — We're not flawless

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com September 21 – 27, 2016

Bodypainting blitz McCrory’s shart

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Fighting drink houses PAGE 10

FREE

Black women’s mental health in the era of #blackgirlmagic

by Sayaka Matsuoka

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Sept. 21 — 27, 2016

The danger button

by Brian Clarey

JERRY WOLFORD AND SCOTT MUTHERSBAUGH OF PERFECTA VISUALS

UP FRONT 3 Editor’s Notebook 4 City Life 6 The List 6 Barometer 6 Unsolicited Endorsement

NEWS 7 Clinton speaks in Greensboro 8 Grassroots effort tackles drink houses, violence 10 HPJ: County commission candidates jockey in District 6

OPINION 12 Editorial: A misunderstanding of leverage

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12 Citizen Green: Say Yes and undocumented immigrants It Just Might Work: A downtown 13 ice-cream shop 13 Fresh Eyes: Pride is always political

FUN & GAMES

COVER

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

14 We’re not flawless

23 GRAWL’s slamming satire

CROSSWORD 24 Jonesin’ Crossword 25 South Elm Street, Greensboro

CULTURE 18 Food: Try the buffet or dosas 19 Barstool: High Point’s connection to a South African winery 20 Music: Improv from a transplant 22 Art: Bodypainting time

ALL SHE WROTE 26 Nicole Crews does it again

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

There’s a lot of drinkers here, mate. Which is good!

— Andy Woolgar, Rickety Bridge Winery CEO, in Barstool on page 19

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 • Office: 336-256-9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey

ART ART DIRECTOR Jorge Maturino

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach

SALES DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Dick Gray

brian@triad-city-beat.com allen@triad-city-beat.com

jorge@triad-city-beat.com

dick@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Eric Ginsburg

SALES EXECUTIVE Stephen Cuccio

SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green

lamar@triad-city-beat.com

eric@triad-city-beat.com

jordan@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL INTERNS Naari Honor

Jesse Morales intern@triad-city-beat.com

steve@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn de Berry Nicole Crews Stallone Frazier Anthony Harrison Matt Jones Alex Klein Amanda Salter

Cover photography of Tory Jackson by Stallone Frazier for Sayaka Matsuoka’s cover story

SALES EXECUTIVE Lamar Gibson SALES EXECUTIVE Cheryl Green cheryl@triad-city-beat.com

TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. ©2015 Beat Media Inc.

Early Monday morning I stopped for gas outside the city — not out of any sense of panic, though panic, indeed, had begun to set in on many of those close to me.

And not because I feared any sort of Carter era rationing, which I actually lived through. It takes a lot more than a busted pipeline to wipe out the gas supply of the 46th largest media market in the country.

No, I filled up because I was running out of gas, and I feared that the rest of these morons out there would buy it all up before I had to deliver papers on Wednesday.

The story broke just as the weekend hit — late, and almost exclusively on the TV news — that the ruptured segment of pipeline in Alabama would affect our supply in the Triad. And over the course of a weekend this hiccup in the supply of our national vice got spun by the infotainment industry into a full-blown scare, because the only device television journalism has left in its toolbox, apparently, is the danger button.

Here on the ground, as of Monday only a single gas station in my neighborhood ran out of gas after the hoarders wiped out the weekend’s supply. I heard about — and saw on teevee! — plenty of closed pumps and grumbling motorists, but my own eyes told me different.

It looks to me like a pinch in the supply, followed by a run on the merchandise — the same thing happens to an ATM when a street vendor sets up next to it on a Saturday night selling delicious brownies for cash.

And the whole thing got exacerbated by a breathless, mindless media — which became obligated to cover this thing as a genuine crisis after people responded exactly the way they were supposed to. Because, manufactured or not, this very real increase in demand cuts deep into the inventory.

Media scholars call this type of thing a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” like when Voldemort tried to kill HarIt looks to me like a ry Potter and subsequently gave the boy enough powpinch in the gasoline er to take on the Death supply, followed by Eaters and whatnot. a run on the It’s a boon to the TV merchandise. networks, which have stayed relentlessly on top of the story they helped create, and to the petroleum industry, which gets a chance to remind gasoline junkies where their juice comes from just as pipelines are being protested in other parts of the country. It doesn’t hurt the governor’s office, which got to issue a state of emergency and can thus take credit when everything goes back to normal by the end of the week, either.

But it’s particularly biting to those of us who saw through the hype but have to live with the consequences anyway.

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

CONTENTS

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Sept. 21 — 27, 2016

CITY LIFE September 21 – 27 ALL WEEKEND Greensboro Fashion Week @ the Empire Room (GSO) Following the jetstream of fashion that was New York Fashion Week, Greensboro’s own style extravaganza delivers diverse Southern chic for the local crowd. With events running through Sunday, the schedule provides enough flex for busy fashion mavens to catch the new season’s silhouettes. DGAF about the sartorial vogue? Go Friday, if only to support up-and-coming local designers. Visit greensborofashionweek.com for full details.

WEDNESDAY

Bird walk @ Bicentennial Greenway (HP), 8:30 a.m.

As autumn migrations bring unusual varieties of wild birds through the Piedmont Triad, ornithophile Liz Schmid turns her binoculars on High Point’s backyard. Accompany her on this greenway excursion for the chance to brush up against some fleeting natural beauty — or just log steps on your Fitbit. Aesthetics and exercise counts as an option, too. Search the event on Facebook to sign up.

THURSDAY

Magpie Thief @ Foothills’ tasting room (W-S), 7 p.m.

If you’ve been pining for more inter-city collaboration in the Triad (like we have), viewing a Greensboro acoustic indie band at one of Winston-Salem’s best breweries will hit you right in the feels. With wistful lyrics (“Bruce Springsteen is walking on the moon”) and a gritty, bare-bones sound, the musical duo pumps out smoky tunes as if exhaling from a cigarette drag. Nervy first date or umpteenth outing? Musically medicating the laid-off blues? Seek a possible remedy at magpiethief.bandcamp.com.

FRIDAY Fall equinox yoga for peace @ Lindley Park (GSO), 6 p.m.

Following from the yogic axiom that peace starts beneath your own feet, Greensboro’s “mindbodyfitness” yoga offers this outdoor class at no cost to participants. Bring a canned food donation for Greensboro Urban Ministry if you have one to spare. Have a disability or two left feet?

Deep breathing and company also foster peace. Head to Facebook to find out more.

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by Jesse Morales

Greensboro Mini Maker Faire @ the Forge (GSO), 11 a.m.

Greensboro’s makerspace hosts a fair bringing together a wide array of people who create, including “artists, artisans, inventors, science enthusiasts, techies and tinkerers of all ages.” Given what we’ve seen come out of the Forge in the past, this promises to be an interesting affair, appropriately dubbed by the hosts as “the greatest Show & Tell on Earth!” Visit greensboromakerfaire.com for deets.

triad-city-beat.com

SATURDAY

Hi-Fest @ Mendenhall Transportation Terminal (HP), 11 a.m.

A festival celebrating diversity in High Point on the same week as High Point University hosts a Donald Trump rally? Yes, please! This festival features food, music, and connections to community services for festivalgoers. Look up the event on Facebook for more details.

SUNDAY

Sowing Seeds Children’s Festival and Food Drive @ Bailey Park (W-S), 1 p.m.

For a smorgasbord of child-friendly arts and culture opportunities — from magic and ventriloquism to yoga and beekeeping demos— plus a food drive for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, check out this entertaining event with a social-justice heart. (Insane clowns aren’t allowed!) Find the event on Facebook for schedule and lineup.

MONDAY Decorate a Bra opening reception @ Hoots Roller Bar & Beer Co. (W-S), 5:30 p.m.

Who says serious health topics couldn’t use a little humor? Celebrate the joy of tatas at this community art reception for breast reconstruction awareness. Local artists will honor breast cancer sufferers and survivors by creating unique bra art pieces for exhibition. Bra-dazzling, anyone? Search the event on Facebook for info on attending — or putting your own crafty bra on show.

TUESDAY Palo! Afro-Cuban Funk @ NC A&T’s Harrison Auditorium (GSO), 7:30 p.m.

Rock out to celebrate Hispanic heritage at this concert evening chock-full of syncopation and style. Bring your cultural-appreciation glasses, and leave your janky Capoeira moves at home. Feeling brave but not overly brave? The Facebook event has all the details you’ll need.

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Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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Best Triad college football team?

Brian Clarey: I’d like to bring some weighted math into this. The Aggies are 2-1, with a 62-0 blowout against St. Aug at their home opener. Guilford College is undefeated at 3-0, with a 62-0 trouncing of Greensboro College in Week 1, which knocks the Pride out of the running. Winston-Salem State barely ranks with a 1-2 record thus far. But Wake Forest is also undefeated, tied for First Place in the ACC, which is a real conference. Sorry Guilford College, but I have to go with the Deacons.

Eric Ginsburg: Call me a partisan hack, but I’m pulling for my alma mater on this one (especially considering Anthony and Brian hit the other two big teams). Guilford College is crushing it so far this year, 3-0, including an embarrassing (and arguably excessive) 62-0 destruction of Greensboro College during the Soup Bowl. I never went to a game during my four-year tenure and I’m not headed to campus anytime soon, but I’m still casting my vote for the other crimson tide. Let’s go Fighting Quakers!

Anthony Harrison: NC A&T. I admit this was not the easiest decision in the world; my alma mater Guilford College’s dominance in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference looms large. But the Aggies won a legit bowl game in Hotlanta last season against Alcorn State University, and though they’ve suffered a tough road loss against Tulsa University, I predict a healthy rebound.

Readers: The Guilford College ran away with this one, thanks to a healthy push on some of the school’s social media pages. The Quakers garnered 77 percent of the vote, while NC A&T came in a very distant second with

12 percent. Wake Forest wasn’t far behind with 9 percent, and true to their stats, WSSU and Greensboro College didn’t really compete, with 1 percent each.

New question: Who is the best brewmaster in the Triad? Vote at triad-city-beat.com!

77% Quakers 12% NC A&T 9% Wake Forest 1% WSSU 1% Greensboro College 10

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Here are all the reasons not to repeal HB 2

by Eric Ginsburg

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Autumn

by Brian Clarey It’s cooler now in the mornings, still dark when I wake up, load the coffee machine and have my first smoke of the day.

We’ve settled into the routine of school, dinner and homework like an old, comfortable sweatshirt. The net productivity of the household has increased dramatically as a result of all this regularity.

The weekends are better now, too: Football season has commenced; the lawn has tapered off; and soup season is just about upon us. Soon there will be woodsmoke in the air, and the noble rot of the summer’s greenery as it surrenders to the inevitable.

Now, I’m not one of those pumpkin-spice freaks who’s been planning his Halloween costume since January, but I do love the fall. I don’t mind the heat of summer, though I detest cold winters. And the break of spring cheers me up some.

But in the fall, it seems, I come alive. It’s like somewhere inside I know winter is coming, and it’s time to get down to it.

In the fall I’ve got a full appointment book and packed social calendar. There’s always an election on the horizon — this year’s is sort of a big deal, if you haven’t noticed — and the newsgathering public, similarly tapped into the current, responds with a surge in readership.

The coffee tastes better; the stars seem brighter; the air feels fresher. And fall is the context for pretty much my entire wardrobe.

We’ll celebrate its peak in a couple weeks with a hike up a mountain, a look at the autumn tapestry laid out before us, and take a sip of that cool, clean air. I suggest you do the same.

Clinton returns to campaign trail with energetic stop at UNCG

by Eric Ginsburg

News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

astrophic” for many families just trying to get by. “Some things should be in reach for everyone.”

But after the Democratic presidential nominee’s opening remarks, her speech mostly remained within the bounds of her usual talking points, reciting portions of canned speeches that avid election observers have heard over and over. She returned over and over to healthcare access and her legacy of fighting for families, particularly children.

Clinton took a few ERIC GINSBURG Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks to an enthusiastic crowd at UNCG last week, shortly after returning from a short battle with pneumonia. swings at her opponent, including critifor everyone to share in its promise,” district that heavily favors Democrats. cizing Donald Trump for lacking real Clinton said towards the end of her Robinson threw a little shade towards policy plans, but she declined to dig into speech before calling on the crowd to Wade and Gov. Pat McCrory in her any of her own, instead directing people volunteer for the election effort across remarks, and Vaughan urged people to to her website for greater details.

North Carolina. vote for Ross and Democratic guberna“Like a lot of women, I have a tenClinton briefly plugged early voting torial candidate Roy Cooper in addition dency to over-prepare,” Clinton said, and encouraged people to support Debto Clinton. But for the most part, the explaining that there are 38 in-depth orah Ross’ campaign for US Senate, but big-ticket contests in the state were policy positions on her website before didn’t mention any other North Carooverlooked. quickly mentioning several key economlina Democrats running in tight races Clinton and her openers — all of ic issues including raising the minimum this season. Ross aims to unseat Rethem women, and most of them white wage and equal pay for women. publican Sen. Richard Burr, but there — focused their energy on rallying the Clinton did use her Greensboro are several other close contests relevant base through a combination of personspeech on Sept. 15 as an opportunity to a Greensboro audience, namely for al stories, facts and broader political to talk about HB 2, saying that she is governor and Michael Garrett’s attempt narratives about healthcare, unity and running for the LGBT teens that feel to unseat arch-conservative Trudy Wade economic inequality. And the crowd, like second-class citizens after the law’s from state Senate. many of them too young to have voted passage. Referencing the recent deciUnlike the Trump campaign, which in past presidential elections, ate it up, sions by the NCAA and ACC to pull has invited local candidates such as repeatedly breaking into chants. But sports championships out of the state newcomer Ted Budd who is running the real question is whether the call and over the law, Clinton said the state and for Congress onto the stage as openers, response of “Fired up, ready to go” is nation can’t afford the economic cost of Clinton’s team didn’t use the Greensmore than a tagline, as Clinton and her bigotry. boro rally as an opportunity to share the supporters gear up for what she called Later in her speech, she referenced microphone with down-ticket Demo“the most consequential vote of our North Carolina’s former voter ID crats. lifetimes” in one of the most hotly conlaw, though not by name, saying that While Greensboro Mayor Nancy tested swing states. As the presidential Republican lawmakers had tried to curb Vaughan and state Sen. Gladys Robinhopeful noted in her remarks, Sept. 15 voting rights in the state and that this son were among the openers, Vaughan marked just 54 days left until the results fact alone should be enough to motivate doesn’t have an election this year and are in. people to turn out to vote.

Robinson faces gadfly Devin King in a “The American Dream is big enough

Up Front

When Hillary Clinton walked onto the floor of the former UNCG recreation center on Sept. 15 and the crowd erupted, she beamed bigger than she likely has in days. Fresh off a break after her battle with pneumonia became public, Clinton authoritatively took the stage in Greensboro as James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” blared from the speakers and quickly acknowledged her brief absence from the public eye.

“It’s great to be back on the campaign trail,” she said, surrounded by thousands of cheering fans, many of them high school and college-age students.

Striking a conversational tone, Clinton said she tried to power through at first and said she isn’t great “at taking it easy,” but said ultimately she appreciated the break as a time to reflect.

It wouldn’t be until a day later that Clinton would quip that her sickness “finally got some Republicans to care about women’s health,” according to several reports on her remarks at the Black Women’s Agenda Symposium in Washington, DC. As the former secretary of state and New York senator continued, saying she used the time off to catch up with old friends and play with the family’s dogs, two greasy-haired young men in white T-shirts, likely in their twenties, began heckling her from the left side of the stage, holding up signs that read “Puppet race/ voting is a scam” and “Hillary for prison 2016” as well as something vulgar referencing Monica Lewinsky.

After the brief interruption and the two men being escorted out, Clinton continued by talking about how for many Americans, taking a few days off to recuperate from being sick is a luxury they can’t afford. While a few demonstrators stood outside — some on the right with signs such as “Proud to be one of Donald’s deplorables” and others on the left with a banner reading “KKKlinton does not care about black people” — there wouldn’t be any more interruptions in Clinton’s remarks.

“Some things shouldn’t come down to luck,” Clinton said, condemning the fact that small health issues could be “cat-

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NEWS

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Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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Grassroots effort tackles drink houses, violence head on

by Jordan Green

A neighborhood leader is working with the police and the Nation of Islam to rid her block of drugs and violence, while calling on a city council member to take responsibility for criminal behavior at one of her properties.

Two men have been killed in the neighborhood in the past five months, with the most recent Well-tended lawns slope down to the homicide taking street in front of craftsman bungalows place at dusk and modest dormers, with aluminum on Sept. 16 just awnings, topiary and flowerboxes as a two blocks from testimonial to the residents’ pride and Brown’s house. Polimited resources on the block of Camlice reported that eron Avenue where Estella Brown lives. officers located the The street runs through the heart victim, 25-year-old of the neighborhood built by tobacco Karodd Revon baron RJ Reynolds for managers and Nash, in the supervisors — and so named Reynolddriver’s seat of a stown — who were later supplanted by vehicle that had doctors, teachers and other members come to a stop at of Winston-Salem’s black professional the intersection of class.

East 9th Street and Cameron Avenue ascends a marked North Graham JORDAN GREEN Estalla Brown is determined to battle the drug and drink houses in her Reynoldstown incline over four blocks as it runs northAvenue, and that neighborhood in Winston-Salem. ward from New Walkertown Road, he had suffered before leveling out at 12th Street and multiple gunshot “The landlords ought to be made to violence. continuing past the magisterial Atkins wounds. Detectives with the criminal come here and clean up,” Brown said.

In January 2014, Chief Barry RounHigh School, now shuttered but once investigations division could not be “Come out of your cushion zone. Help tree provided a report on homicides that the crown jewel of the community. reached for comment about possible your folk get it back to normalcy. If you occurred the previous year to memThe presence of drink and drug motives for the shooting. don’t clean up, it’s going to fester. bers of the public safety committee. houses are a near constant source of In late April, police were dispatched “Take that mess to Cumberland,” she In one case, a dispute took place at a aggravation for Brown, who chairs the to 848 N. Cameron Ave., a house added, referencing Cumberland Road, drink house, and the suspect left and Reynoldstown Neighborhood Associowned by Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke the street where Burke lives in the more then came back and shot the victim. ation. She estimates that there are five that is on Brown’s block, in response upscale Monticello Park neighborhood.

In another case, a man was shot while such establishments on her block alone, to a reported shooting. The body of Burke could not be reached for this walking to a house where a card game and double that throughout the neighthe victim, 27-year-old Joshua Bernard story. was taking place. borhood.

Brown (no relation), was found about 10 Capt. Michael Weaver, who leads the “When you have these drink houses “It’s all times of night car doors blocks away on East Fifth Street. Estella patrol division responsible for the area, and things like that happen, do you let slamming, car horns going on, people Brown said she believes the body was said Brown brought the problem of them continue to be drink houses?” throwing trash in the street, folks drink and drug houses in ReynoldBurke asked. talking loud, total disrespect,” she stown to his attention about two Rountree responded that the police Winston-Salem residents who are said. weeks ago. work with the state Alcohol Law EnShe works a job in the medical in need of confidential mediation to “We’re still actively gathering forcement agency to shut them down. field until 1 p.m., and on a recent data so we can assess the proper “Are you really successful in bringing prevent violence are encouraged Thursday she took a few minutes course of action,” he said. “We are them to a close, or do they move to to call the “Stop the Beef” hotline at to pick up trash in the street before in the infancy stages of the entire another place?” Burke asked. heading to work. effort.”

Rountree acknowledged that “some336.934.4456.

“It was drugs; they sold liquor; Brown said overall her experitimes they will relocate to a different they played cards,” Brown said of ence with the police is positive. location and they’ll start back up again the kind of establishments she’s “Most of the time whenever they are — some of the same owners, time and trying to get the police to shut down. “It moved to reduce the chances that the out, if it’s not a busy night and they’re time again. would be after-hours places for people police would discover illegal activity at not stretched thin, they respond in a “A lot of times they’re pretty much after the clubs closed down who wanted the house. timely and professional manner,” she underground until something happens, a place to go. Nobody’s paying taxes.

In Brown’s view, Burke and other said. and then we learn later that it’s actually That draws in the criminal element. landlords need to be held accountable Command-level officers and mema functioning drink house,” the chief You get people in your house you don’t for the criminal activity that occurs on bers of city council are well aware of added. even know who they are.” their properties. the linkage between drink houses and While actively engaging the police

Up Front News COURTESY PHOTO A photo of a peace walk shows Effrainguan Muhammad and two other volunteers talking with three men who appear to be drug spotters.

might feel — I get up in the morning and go to work to pay these bills. I just pray and move forward.”

Cover Story

the lawbreakers, and they have some kind of code of silence. I say, ‘I don’t owe ’em s***.’ Regardless of how I feel — how my hip might feel or my throat

Opinion

of love to share with the young men that there is hope and alternatives to criminal lifestyles. We want to encourage them to become a part of making the community a safe and decent place.

Sometimes it’s a case that they don’t know. No one has come to tell them that there’s another way.”

A photo from one of the peace walks shows Muhammad and two other volunteers walking up to an apartment building and speaking with three young men in white T-shirts who appear to be drug spotters.

“We shared with the individuals: ‘Here’s the service we’re offering’ — the mediation service,” Muhammad recounted. “They seemed pretty receptive.”

Before she met Muhammad, Brown felt like she was fighting on her own to save her neighborhood. She said many of her neighbors are good, decent people, but they’re afraid to call the police to report problems.

“I say, ‘I’m strong,’” Brown said. “I pray the Lord’ll take care of me. It is what it is. Right in this here block they’re friends to the people who are

triad-city-beat.com

and city administration, Estella Brown has also turned to Effrainguan Muhammad, whom she met at a community meeting hosted by US Rep. Alma Adams, for help.

Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam, has led two peace walks through the neighborhood at Brown’s instigation. The purpose of the peace walks is to both encourage residents who are fighting to maintain public safety and to let people who are involved in criminal activity know that they’re being monitored. The volunteers also hand out a flier with a phone number for a “Stop the Beef ” hotline where people can receive confidential mediation to prevent violence.

“Our initiative, in terms of the peace walk came from a directive from Minister Farrakhan on the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March,” Muhammad said. “He called for 10,000 fearless men to go back into the community and stand between the guns and the violence. Some of the work we do we have to shed fear to go out in a hostile environment. We’re not going in a spirit of vigilantism; we’re going there in a spirit

Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games

County commission candidates jockey in District 6 race

by Jordan Green

The Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger in the District 6 Guilford County Commission race differ on the future of Rich Fork Preserve, with slightly different points of emphasis in governing philosophies.

In 2012, a new Guilford County Commission district map imposed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in Raleigh upset the Democratic advantage on the local board and gave the GOP an edge.

Hank Henning, an Iraq war veteran who is employed by the heating and air company Brady Services, prevailed over a tea party opponent in the primary and went on to defeat his Democratic adversary to win the District 6 seat as a first-time candidate.

Now, Rick Forrester, a lawyer with a practice in downtown Greensboro, is looking for a chance to bring a new perspective to the county commission by challenging Henning for the post.

While insisting that representing constituents comes before party affiliation, Henning trumpeted the progress of the current commission, which took office in late 2012. As part of the new Republican majority, Henning served as chairman in 2015.

“We’ve lowered the tax rate because we have a lot of people on fixed incomes,” Henning said. “We’ve got to have an attractive tax rate to attract business. We also increased funding to schools. We released over a hundred million in bond products. The previous five years the schools got zero increases

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Rick Forrester

Hank Henning

in funding.”

Henning acknowledged that the county benefited from a rebound in real-estate values and increased tax revenues in 2012 when he took office, but said the current commission should get credit for working together in a productive manner.

“I think what a lot of people can agree on is that the county board didn’t have the best reputation in the state, with a lot of name calling and a lot of screaming on TV,” he said. “From a starting point, that’s what we’ve created.

The nine of us on the board seem to work together well. We don’t always agree, but I think the public expects us to act professionally, and that’s what we do.”

Forrester, the Democratic challenger, said the county commission needs to make schools a higher priority, and he criticized the county’s policy of downsizing through attrition while the local population has grown.

“We need sensible growth and jobs that will attract people to come to this county and state,” he said. “Companies don’t come just because taxes are low.

They come because of a quality of life for their people. They come for solid schools. We need to be good stewards of our infrastructure.”

Forrester said the county revenues lost through tax cuts in 2013 and 2015 could have funded more positions for teacher assistants in public schools and the repair or replacement of a deteriorating parking garage at the county

courthouse in High Point.

The issue that most dramatically separates the two candidates is the future of the Rich Fork Preserve, a 114-acre tract of undeveloped land on the west side of High Point that was acquired under the county’s open-space program.

For nearly two years, mountain bikers and conservationists have butted heads on whether mountain biking should be allowed in the preserve, with the parks and recreation commission and the county governing board dragging out a decision.

Forrester said he opposes mountain biking in the preserve, both because it violates the trust of citizens who sold their property to the county at a discount and because he says it’s unsafe.

“I think the county should honor the original premise that they acquired the property under,” he said. “They acquired it at reduced value under the premise that it would be preserved. It’s a critical watershed for the Yadkin and Pee-Dee rivers and its preservation will prevent flooding downstream.”

Henning said that with more than 100 acres, there’s enough room to meet the needs of both parties.

“I believe there’s enough acres to have a compromise between the younger folks who want to have outdoor activities and the older folks who want to preserve the homestead,” he said.

“There are two groups that are both environmentally sensitive.

“I want our young people to be active,” he added. “If riding a bike is

going to get them off the couch, I think that’s great.”

Henning said the current commission deserves credit for forging partnerships with local city governments, including creating the Family Resource Center with the city of Greensboro, which he credited as an initiative of Commissioner Kay Cashion, a Democrat, as well as the Guilford County Economic Development Partnership and the Say Yes to Education campaign.

Forrester faults Henning for his handling of a crisis at the Guilford County Animal Shelter in the aftermath of revelations about widespread neglect and abuse, calling the episode a “failure of oversight” on his campaign website.

Ironically, Henning as a self-described conservative participated in a decision to bring the animal shelter back under the control of county government after it had been privatized.

“We inherited a contract with [United Animal Coalition] that was flawed,” Henning said. “They hid the evidence quite well. We appointed [Commissioners] Jeff Phillips and Ray Trapp to sit on their board, and they saw the smoke and eventually the fire. We did the right thing, and we brought it all in house.”

Both Henning and Forrester live on the affluent north side of High Point on either side of Oak Hollow Lake. Republican-leaning District 6 forms a wedge at the western end of the county, collecting several northerly precincts in High Point, along with the rural but voter-rich areas flanking Interstate 40 surrounding Sandy Ridge Road and Colfax. The disparate constituencies in the gerrymandered district include Quaker Village Shopping Center in Greensboro and half of the Adams Farm neighborhood, along with Oak View Recreation Center and Forest Hills Presbyterian Church in High Point. As a first-time candidate with limited name recognition, Henning won with 53.1 percent of the vote in 2012.

“My guy that I hired to look at the numbers said, ‘It looks like an uphill fight,’” Forrester said. “I said, ‘Yeah it does, but someone’s gotta fight it.’”

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OPINION EDITORIAL

A misunderstanding of leverage It takes a special kind of gall to attempt to convince everyone that you’re winning the fight when in actuality you’re wrapped up in the ropes and about to go down.

But that’s our reading of the offer from the architects of HB 2 to all in the state who wish they’d never heard of the damn thing: Have Charlotte City Council repeal their ordinance that treats all of its citizens with dignity, privacy and respect, and maybe we’ll take a look a retooling HB 2.

Because they started it!

Charlotte’s not going for it, Mayor Jennifer Roberts announced on Monday, recognizing the offer for what it is: a conditional surrender, and a way out for a party so entrenched on this issue that it’s performed the political equivalent of a public shart.

The irony, of It’s the political course, is that HB equivalent of a 2 was dreamed up — mostly by the shart. state Chamber of Commerce, if you believe our governor — as a political catalyst, a slate of restrictive labor laws hidden inside the Trojan horse of the bathroom issue that was supposed to energize the conservative bedrock in North Carolina.

And it sorta did… until Bruce Springsteen pulled out of his show at the Greensboro Coliseum and forced everyone to pick a side.

The rest — PayPal, the NBA All-Star Game and, last week, the NCAA and the ACC — were just dominoes.

Now, almost half of North Carolina residents — 49.5 percent — who responded to an Elon poll released this week were against HB 2, while 39.5 percent supported it. Almost 60 percent felt that HB 2 had damaged the state’s reputation.

And so after blaming the media, our cities, Obama, the left-leaning cabal of American universities and McCrory’s political opponent, state Attorney General Roy Cooper, for the ostracism of our state, McCrory’s team once again points to Charlotte as the root of HB 2 and the only obstacle to its repeal.

Let’s hope they have another clean pair of pants lying around somewhere.

CITIZEN GREEN

North Carolina says no to undocumented students For Dafne Cruz, who was born North Carolina. According to the National Conference of in Mexico but raised in North State Legislatures, 18 states — including Connecticut, New Carolina, the promise held out York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida and Texas — allow by one of her teachers at the end undocumented students to attend public universities at inof her junior year was tantalizing, state levels. Virginia started offering in-state tuition to those but her hopes were soon dashed. covered by Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals in 2014.

The Say Yes program, Donnie Turlington, a spokesperson for Say Yes, granted launched this year with the supthat the message promoted at the outset could have been

by Jordan Green port of Guilford County and the more calibrated, adding that people shouldn’t look at the cities of Greensboro and High Point, was sold to the public scholarship program as a “silver bullet.” He said Say Yes is on the premise that it would provide “last dollar” financial trying to find other ways to help undocumented students. aid so that every student in Guilford County Schools could “Maybe we should focus our message to say, ‘Don’t give attend college. up; there’s schools we know of that maybe you don’t know “When she told us about Say Yes, I was so excited, so about that might be able to help you out,’” he said. “We can’t full of hope,” said Cruz, a senior at Western Guilford High change the scholarship model overnight.”

School who holds a 3.9 GPA. “I know I can’t pay all of my Among the 44 private colleges represented at the fair, college costs. This was my opportunity to make a successful Turlington said there were 10 to 12 “that would love to talk start at life. No one else in my family has attended college. to” the undocumented students “if the scholarship is not a I will be the first in my family to go to fit.” The dozen institutions, including Trinity college.”

College, accept undocumented young Cruz joined three other young women people under the rubric of “international ‘When she told us on Sept. 12 as hundreds of their peers students.” streamed past for a college fair sponsored “The majority of our undocumented about Say Yes, I was

by Say Yes to Education Guilford at the students are on full financial aid and can’t so excited, so full of Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Cenqualify for federal loans,” said Angel B. hope.’ ter to highlight the fact that they are not Perez, vice president of enrollment and eligible for the program. To qualify for the student services at Trinity. “We work – Dafne Cruz Say Yes scholarship, they must use the Free really hard to support our undocumented Application for Federal Student Aid, which students in other ways, too. They can’t do is out of the question because as undocuinternships, they can’t study abroad and mented persons they don’t hold Social Security numbers. they can’t do work study because we can’t pay them federal “Everybody in my school — teachers, principals — said, funds. So we find other ways to make it work for them.”

‘Seniors, this is your opportunity to go to college,’” Cruz Perez said educating undocumented students falls well recalled. “That’s not true. I had to inform my counselor that within Trinity College’s values. because I’m undocumented I can’t take advantage of that “A big part of our mission is a global education,” he said. opportunity.

“I think we would be irresponsible if we did not expose all “You think it’s for everyone,” she added. “Say Yes is lying to students to different types of people — from international you, saying, ‘We’re going to help all students go to college.’” students and undocumented students to low-income stuGuilford County School Board Chairman Alan Duncan dents and wealthy students. We’re in Hartford, and there are caught the tail-end of the protest, and listened with sympaa lot of undocumented students in our community. We want thy to the students’ testimonials. to give back to our backyard, so we accept a lot of undocu“Their message is important,” he said. “I hope the legislamented students from Hartford.” tors are listening.”

The idea of the state setting up barriers to prevent young He noted that the school board passed a resolution two people from receiving an education is curious, and Perez said years ago taking the position that students who obtain Dehe was surprised to learn that North Carolina does not offer ferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status from the federal in-state tuition to undocumented students. government ought to be able to attend public universities “When they told us that, you should have heard the gasp in North Carolina at in-state tuition rates. The difference is in the room,” he said. “Many of the colleges here are giving significant — $8,834 for North Carolina residents, compared out scholarships to undocumented students. And all of us to $33,916 for their out-of-state peers. Under both Demosupport education for students of all backgrounds.” cratic and Republican leadership, the state General Assembly has refused to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students, many of whom have never known life outside of

A downtown ice-cream shop

Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games

Foundation, our Equality NC or our Pride celebrations represent all of our community, we feel offended when people even say the word racism.

We want our community to be united. But we hold that community is not possible until white LGBTQ+ people recognize that we must do more. Our queerness demands more of us. Our community demands more of us. Our queer and trans people of color kindred demand more of us.

We write as white queer and trans folks committed to anti-racism, who do not have near enough answers for how to end racism, or even how to be accountable to LGBTQ+ people of color in our anti-racist work. We are and always will be learning how to be bolder and truer to that commitment and to our kindred. Recently, some of us were silent when members of the Greensboro Pride board yelled at and threatened our kindred of color for speaking up about racism. We are sorry we were silent then, and we refuse to be silent now.

When disrupting Pride across the state last year, leaders of QPOCC and NCTROUBLMakers Network lifted up Miss Major, Storme DeLarverie, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, “who actively demonstrated what resistance meant by putting their bodies and their lives on the line for our collective survival.” Honoring this legacy, ancestry and the courageous queer and trans people of color continuing this work for all of our survival, we must commit to doing our part.

As our kindred teach us, Pride is about celebrating our brilliance, beauty and survival. For that reason we cannot do so in ways that silence, erase, marginalize and threaten LGBTQ+ people of color. Pride is about committing as LGBTQ+ people to be in community with each other — this looks like ending white silence and ending racism. It is committing to a Greensboro where all of us have a home, none of us are incarcerated, everyone has an affirming job and healthcare, police do not brutalize us and LGBTQ+ people of color are centered and celebrated.

In the words of our QPOCC leadership, “Pride is always political.” It’s high time we committed to that.

News

With pride and love,

All She Wrote

Alex Rae, Bayard P. Love, Cristina Dominguez, Isabell Moore, Julia Singley, Kari Thatcher, Kate Keeton, Kiki Hatzudis, Emma Gunn and Nikki Mintz collaborated on writing this piece. All are members of the Queer People of Color Collective’s anti-racist white committee. In many ways we are working to echo and uplift the work and words that our leaders and comrades spoke when they interrupted Pride events in their cities last year, and we would not have written this statement without the labor and leadership of queer people of color. More info about QPOCC and the white anti-racist committee can be found at queerpoccollective.com, and on Facebook.

Shot in the Triad

Dear fellow white LGBTQ+ people in Greensboro, We are thankful for you, your pride and your existence. We celebrate our shared survival in the face of transphobia and homophobia. We celebrate surviving in the midst of HB 2 — one of the most pernicious anti-trans pieces of legislation in our country. We know what transphobia and homophobia do to our hearts and souls, and we are grateful for a community that helps us survive and celebrate who we are.

We are writing this open letter as white LGBTQ+ people, because queer and trans people of color in our city, in our community, who are our friends and family, have been telling for years what racism does to their quality of life, and what we need to be doing to uplift their experiences and address our own racism.

Structural racism is real and it exists in our LGBTQ+ community in Greensboro. It causes disproportionate unemployment, homelessness, incarceration, murder and suicide rates for queer and trans people of color, and black trans women and femmes in particular.

Queer and trans people of color are a fundamental part of our community who cannot be erased, silenced or marginalized, or else we are not truly about community. Their lived experiences, needs, beauty, power and humanity are central to our queerness because black and brown people are queer, too!

Greensboro Pride’s theme this year is “Unity through Diversity.” If we are truly about a unified LGBTQ+ community in our city, then we have to be about the lived experiences of queer and trans people of color who are our community leaders, who move us all forward and who have been on the frontlines for LGBTQ+ rights and liberation for decades. From Stonewall to the March on Washington, from Black Lives Matter to HB 2, queer and trans people of color in Greensboro, statewide and across our nation have been and are fighting for liberation for all of us. If we love our LGBTQ+ community, then we must be about ending racism, and all forms of oppression that affect any of us as LGBTQ+ people.

This looks like supporting the transformative and revolutionary work of the Queer People of Color Collective (QPOCC), the NC TROUBLMakers Network and NC Trans Pride, who have been leading queer liberation in our city and state for years. But as it stands we don’t ask why QPOCC exists here — why there is a need for QPOCC, or Visions of Pride or NC Trans Pride, all of which center people of color and black trans women in particular. We don’t ask how we can support our kindred of color in meaningful ways.

We don’t support their organizations materially and we resist when they suggest that our white organizations need to better address racism. In fact, we threaten to call the police on queer black femme organizers for speaking up. Instead of opening our ears and hearts and honestly questioning if our Guilford Green

Up Front

It’s been tried, at least a couple times that I can remember in recent years, and each time the concept has unraveled rather quickly. But I still see no reason that it can’t be done.

Downtown Greensboro needs an ice-cream shop. As

by Eric Ginsburg in, a place that focuses on ice cream, frozen yogurt and maybe gelato to boot, not just an existing business that offers it as a tertiary option.

A cynic could make arguments about it being a seasonal business that can’t afford the rents year-round based off summer sales alone. Besides the fact that peak summer temperatures are currently reaching into what should be the tail end of the season, I’m confident that if it can be done in downtown Durham, someone could sort it out in the Triad.

The business would likely need to diversify its offerings to give people more reason to come in during colder months, but there are countless dessert dishes to choose from. If a candy store and chocolate factory can make it in downtown Winston-Salem, what’s the excuse for the absence of a similar business in the heart of the Gate City?

Crib some of what works elsewhere, do a little market research and execute.

I don’t care much if it’s strictly ice cream or the healthier or Italian variants, or if it’s a new or existing business.

Anything from Feeney’s to Gnam Gnam Gelato & Bistro would be welcome. But we’re talking beyond cakes here — the Sweet Shop Maybe there’s and Crawford’s Creations do that — and more than frozen custard, or Cheesecakes by Alex too, Japanese mochi though the dessertery ice cream or Mexideserves much credit.

Maybe an ice cream bar can paletas. that also sells booze to keep customers coming.

1618 Downtown has been serving boozy slushies, Wet Willie’s is imminent and I think some people would pay for alcoholic Popsicles. Maybe keep it more kid-friendly with a more retail-oriented space with packaged candy. Maybe there’s frozen custard, or Japanese mochi ice cream or Mexican paletas. I’d pay for those ice cream-esque frozen fruit treats I’ve bought for like a dime in a plastic bag in Central America, but maybe selling coffee and tea would be more financially viable.

Whatever the combination is, I’m convinced it wouldn’t be that hard. And I’m hoping one of you out there with some capital agrees with me.

Pride is always political

triad-city-beat.com

IT JUST MIGHT WORK

FRESH EYES

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Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Cover Story

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Black women’s mental health in the era of #blackgirlmagic

by Sayaka Matsuoka

Tory Jackson, 15, has hints of blue and red in her dreads, wears glasses and shows a bubbly, talkative personality within the first couple minutes of meeting someone. What she doesn’t show so readily are the years of social anxiety, panic attacks and depression that she’s coped with both in and out of school.

Tory, a sophomore at Western Guilford High School and the middle child of three, lost her grandmother Ettra Jackson in March 2015.

Ettra had been battling multiple sclerosis for years and over the last 18 months of her life, her health had started to decline drastically. Tory was 13 and an eighth grader at Guilford Middle School when her grandmother died, and it greatly affected her. Tory’s single mom, Lavinia Jackson, said the two were close.

“They used to play games on my mother’s back porch and when Tory was younger, she would always sleep in my mother’s bed when we visited her,” Lavinia said. “This was the closest that death had ever been to [Tory].”

And while Ettra’s passing was also hard on Lavinia’s eldest daughter Tyler Smith and her youngest daughter Tabytha Jackson, Tory’s history of anxiety came to a head when she fell into a sudden depression and began exhibiting signs that went beyond the normal grieving process.

“She became suicidal because she wanted to be with my mother,” Lavinia said.

The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has brought the killing of unarmed black men at the hands of police to the forefront, but recent studies show that black women and girls experience a considerable amount of discrimination — if not more than their male counterparts — because of their dual identity of being both women and being black.

And it’s affecting their mental health. A 2011 report by researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that compounding factors such as poverty, parenting and racial and gender discrimination put black women at greater risk for mental illness.

Anna Lee, an associate professor of psychology at NC A&T University in Greensboro, has been studying this trend.

“There is a psychological impact of experiencing dual identities,” Lee said. “Being both women and a racial minority can lead to stress and affect not just physical health but mental health as well.”

Recent studies have shown that black women face a variety of physical health problems in addition to the myriad of mental health illnesses they live with. A new study put out this July by the Department of Health in Texas has found that black women bear the greatest risk for pregnancy-related deaths in the state and that factors such as heart conditions, legal or illegal drug use and high

blood pressure are the leading causes of deaths. Another report by the Center for Disease Control from 2012 found black women to be the population with the highest rate of obesity in the United States with four out of five women being diagnosed as obese or overweight. According to the study, any number of factors can contribute to this statistics including genes, diet, socioeconomic status and the environment. The study also found that women who reported more experience of racism were more likely to be obese. Additionally, the 2011 report by the researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that a combination of factors such as poverty, child rearing responsibilities, and an increased likelihood of racial and gender discrimination led to higher levels of major depressive disorders in black women. And for some girls like Tory, these factors can come into play from an early age.

After grieving through the summer and entering Western as a freshman that fall, Tory had begun to feel better emotionally. Her life was returning to normal until one morning in November. Ettra’s birthday, which fell that month, triggered a flood of emotions.

“I didn’t want her to be at school when all she wanted to do was call my mother and say, ‘Happy Birthday,’” Lavinia said. She urged Tory to stay home and recuperate but the eager teenager had already decided to go to school.

That’s when things went south.

triad-city-beat.com

Tory Jackson, center, and her family including her mom Lavinia and sisters Tyler and Tabytha are stronger together.

After going through first, second and third periods in an emotional cloud that left her numb and disconnected, Tory walked into her fourth-period earth science class.

The lethargy that had persisted for the first half of the day broke suddenly in a flood of grief that overwhelmed her.

“I started shaking and crying and my anxiety got really bad,” Tory recalled. “I started having a breakdown. My friend tried to calm me down but nothing was working; I had to leave.”

Frantic and emotional, Tory approached her teacher, a white woman, and asked her for permission to leave to go to the bathroom.

“She told me to stop overreacting and that she wasn’t letting me leave,” Tory said. “She told me to sit back down and threatened to call the administrator’s office and the school officer if I didn’t go back to my seat.”

The teacher accused Tory of asking to go to the bathroom too many times, though Tory said that she had only asked to go three times all year before this incident.

In contrast, Tory recalls a white student getting to leave class early on a regular basis to go to lunch before other students.

And though this may sound like the stuff dramas are made of, for girls dealing with any number of stressors

STALLONE FRAZIER

including school and family, current research suggests that stress associated with everyday micro-aggressive gender- and race-related events can relate to depression and anxiety.

A groundbreaking 2011 study by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, in partnership with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University showed trends of discrimination by teachers against black students and those with educational disabilities in schools.

The study followed close to a million seventh-graders in Texas over the course of six years, and found that black students, both male and female, were disproportionately

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within the school system.

Her presentation outlined startling results that showed African-American girls as the second lowest in test scores, second highest in number of suspensions and as exhibiting low numbers in student success measures like reading and math proficiency.

Walker said in an interview that the No. 1 way to combat implicit bias is to have teachers admit that they have it. The county is currently offering sessions and workshops for teachers on how to interact with students of all races and cultures, Walker said.

“These discriminatory practices can have long lasting effects on the mental health of students,” she said. “A lot of times, there are different expectations for students of color. The tendency is to not call on them as much and so the kids end up feeling like the teachers don’t care about them.”

Tory recalls feeling this way in her fourth period class. “[The teacher] didn’t make any effort to call my mom or anything and I just started to feel worse and worse,” Tory said.

Rejected by her teacher and now humiliated, Tory returned to her seat, fearing a trip to the principal’s STALLONE FRAZIER office or, worse, a visit by “[The teacher] didn’t make any effort to call my mom or anything and I just started to feel worse and worse,” Tory remembered. the school-resource officer. She slumped into her likely to be removed from the classroom for disciplinary chair at the back of the room next to the wall and pulled reasons that stemmed from inherent bias rather than misher hood down over her head, ignoring both her teacher conduct. A presentation by members of Guilford County and her concerned friends.

Schools including then-Superintendent Maurice Green to As soon as class ended, Tory retreated to her one place the school board reported data from 2014 that showed an of solace within Western’s walls — the counselor’s office. equivalent level of disproportionality in discipline referrals Ron Dargan, who is one of four counselors at the high and suspensions. The data showed that while black males school, had become a good friend to her over the past only made up 20.5 percent of students, they constituted couple of months. To cope with bouts of depression and 48.8 percent of the referrals while black females, who social anxiety, Tory had started going to the counselor’s made up 20.3 percent of the demographic, received 21.5 office two to three times a week. percent of the referrals.

Prior to the incident in her fourth-period class, Tory had Monica Walker, the diversity officer for Guilford experienced other panic attacks including a severe one in County Schools, gave a talk last month at the YWCA in the school cafeteria.

Greensboro that focused on how black girls are faring

“All of a sudden I felt too crowded and freaked out,” Tory said. “I started crying and screaming and then hyperventilating. I accidentally kicked someone and then I couldn’t breathe or see or walk straight.”

That time school administrators called her mother.

To try and prevent incidents like this and the one in her classroom, Dargan helped her by teaching her breathing techniques and even coaxed her through periods of selfharm.

And while it is uncertain whether the interaction between Tory and her fourth-period teacher was one bred from racial bias, Dargan said he has witnessed firsthand, subconscious bias against students of color during his time as both a school counselor as well as a court counselor.

“They used to give harsher punishments to minority kids for similar crimes,” Dargan said. “Whether they were targeted, I can’t say but I witnessed longer service hours and longer sentences for many of the minority kids that came to court.”

Dargan said that if the children of color had witnessed this discrepancy, it could have affected their mental health too.

That year, Tory failed her fourth period earth science class.

“A lot of times I would come into that class mad because of the teacher or because of other students and I couldn’t focus on the work,” Tory said.

A report by the National Center for Education Statistics’ Education Longitudinal Study, or ELS, tracked results from 2002 to 2012 in a nationally-representative sample of 10th graders. The study showed that on average, teachers thought that black students were 47 percent less likely to graduate college than white students, and that these very expectations were more predictive of student success than other factors such as student motivation. And while black male students are still the most affected by these inherent biases, the long established “strong black woman myth” coupled with the taboo of mental illness within black communities compounds to make these realities uniquely difficult for black girls and black women.

Kimya N. Dennis, a sociologist and criminologist at Salem College in Winston-Salem, has researched this topic for the past 12 years.

“The strong black woman phenomenon is a mental health issue,” said Dennis, who is herself African American. “Even if we suffer from depression or anxiety, many black women don’t report it because culturally, the African diaspora is raised in a traditional, conservative, religious environment. We’re told to hide aspects of ourselves and that if we’re feeling weak or emotional, that we should pray about it and hope it goes away.”

Dennis also said that this trend for teaching black women to always portray themselves as strong starts at a young age.

“Black girls are taught that if they’re sad, they aren’t praying hard enough,” Dennis said. “Some families teach girls to be strong from a young age and teach them about deferring to men and to observe how women in their families act and interact.”

Tyler Smith, Tory’s sister, is 19 and grew up under her mother’s influence of understanding her dual identity. She

Fifteen minutes later, one of Lavinia’s roommates deferred and opened the door, letting the man in. He began kicking Lavinia, who was laying in the bed closest to the entrance. The next day she went to the authorities but nothing was done except an internal trial and a few game suspensions, she said.

“They said they didn’t want me to press charges because it would ruin his basketball career,” Lavinia said.

Eight years later, when she was stationed in Boston, she was attacked once again. Lavinia had decided to go to a nearby bar by herself, she said, and a man that had been pursuing her all night drugged her drink. The next morning, she woke up in a stranger’s apartment with her clothes torn off, she said.

“I knew I had had sex,” she said. “There were signs of struggle but I couldn’t remember anything.”

The next day, Lavinia remembers sitting on the floor of her apartment, staring into space. She called a friend who asked her if she was sure she had been raped. Two days after the assault, Jackson decided to go to her commanding officer, who took her to the emergency room to do a

As soon as class ended, Tory retreated to her one place of solace within Western High School’s walls — the counselor’s office.

rape kit but was told that the results would be inconclusive because it had been more than 24 hours after the assault.

Lavinia also remembers the head of medical staff at the base being dismissive of her situation.

“There was this sort of attitude that I should be able to get over it, being both in the service and being a black woman,” she said.

According to a 2010 study by the psychology department at Wayne State University in Detroit, African-American female survivors of sexual assault received significantly less regard and affirmation than did white survivors when they disclosed their assault to a formal healthcare provider. This type of medical racism is just another example of the kind of embedded bias that black women can face on a daily basis. At this point, Lavinia had a decision to make: to press charges against her assailant or not.

“As an African-American female you have a serious weight on your shoulders, especially when your rapist is black,” she said. “I had to think about whether I wanted to be responsible for locking up a brother in a system that locks black men up more than any other person.”

In the end, Lavinia decided not to report her attacker.

This notion, she said, feeds back into the damaging expectations that society has for black girls and women. She said she regrets her decision not to report her assailant.

“Black women are expected to be strong and to take whatever is thrown at us,” she said. “We are expected to support black men in anything that we do. Black men might get cut down but they get support from black women; we don’t get support from anyone.”

L. Niajallah Hendrix-Wilson, who is the executive director of the Indigo Cultural Arts Center in Greensboro and has a master’s in mental health rehabilitation counseling from NC A&T, said there are few people who understand black women simply because there are so few black women in the private sector who own mental health practices.

She also pointed out the lack of research that focuses specifically on the health and needs of black women.

And like Tory, who was able to get help from her school counselor, for many students who suffer from mental health issues, the school can be the only source of aid. Based on numbers released at the end of last year, Guilford County Schools employs 243 guidance and psychological staff, an average of two per school. Research put out by the local Moses Cone Wesley Long Community Health Foundation in 2010 shows that the number of mental health clinics in the county has also dwindled significantly. Many people are forced to see regular physicians or seek out non-profit organizations such as the National Alliance of Mental Illness or the Greensboro Mental Health Association that provide counseling. But that’s only short term. Others forgo trying to receive help because they lack insurance or can’t afford the high prices of private practices.

Dennis, the Salem College professor, also notes the lack of funding that these organizations receive from the state due to increasing budget cuts as being one of the main problems adding to the shortage of care and accessibility.

“One of four people have issues but many are having trouble getting the care they need,” Dennis said.

“Think about how that affects women in minorities.”

This year, Hendrix-Wilson and about 30 other black women in Greensboro came together to host the first Healing Wheel Conference, which was held on September 17 at the YWCA and focused on the health and vitality of black women. According to the website, the conference aimed to create a place of healing for women with trauma. For Lavinia, who attended the event as a poet, it was a key gathering that left her feeling supported by other black women.

“I found out that I can step out of my comfort zone and be me,” Lavinia said. “I needed that particular space to make sure that I was valid and doing everything I could to be healthy.”

For families like Lavinia Jackson’s, which exhibit a thread of trauma within different generations, the conference may have been a small, yet hopeful start.

“I found that there is a community, a tribe, of women who are supporting me in my journey, especially as a black woman,” Lavinia said. “I know that if something happens to me, these women will step up and be there for me, and that’s new.”

triad-city-beat.com

describes herself as artsy and said she always felt different and was seen as the eclectic kid throughout her years in school. As the eldest, Tyler was a mentor to Tory and her sister Tabytha. And while she has embraced her blackness in recent years, she said it has taken her a while to fully accept it.

“My mom always taught me that because I’m black, people are going to look at me differently,” Tyler said. “I understood it but I was younger so I didn’t quite get it.”

She remembers battling anxiety and depression when she was Tory’s age and feeling like she wasn’t loved or wanted.

“I used to lock myself away in my room and once in a while, I would cut my arms and legs,” Tyler said. “I felt like I needed an escape.”

She also recalls years later, during her freshman year at UNCG, a similar incident to the one Tory experienced after she had been hit by a car while crossing the street on campus. The accident didn’t result in any major injuries but left Tyler with a wounded right rotator cuff, which made completing some of her school work harder, especially in her design class.

“I started to fall behind on projects and tried to explain my situation to my professor,” Tyler said. “But he didn’t help me out and said that it was policy even when I said that I had done everything I could.”

Tyler recalls thinking that she had been discriminated against because of her race.

“If someone else had a problem, he seemed to be pretty cool about it,” she said.

After missing two to three weeks of school because of the accident, Tyler’s grades began to fall and her battle with depression and anxiety worsened. And then her grandmother passed away.

“It was the worst thing ever for me,” Tyler said. “I stopped going to class and didn’t do anything. She was an art teacher and the reason why I’m an artist.”

When she tried going back to school the next year, Tyler said everything fell apart. She explained that she didn’t go to class because she was grieving and it was around this time that she began to accept the fact that she was living with mental illness. Now, Tyler is attending GTCC and pursuing a biology degree. Looking forward, she understands the challenges that she was born into.

“Because I’m a black woman, I feel like I have to work three times as hard,” she said.

Her mother Lavinia, who is now 44, has known this struggle for a long time. She’s a single mother, and has lived in Greensboro with her three daughters for the past eight years. She too, lives with anxiety and PTSD from both physical and sexual assault that she experienced years ago while in college and during her time stationed with the Coast Guard in Boston.

The first incident took place back in 1991 while Lavinia was attending Loyola University in Maryland. She had just had a fight with a male friend who also happened to be one of the school’s star basketball players.

“We had an argument in the dorm hallway so I ran into my room and closed the door,” she said. “I told my roommates not to open the door for any reason and soon enough, he was banging on the door because he left his hat in the room.”

17

Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

18

CULTURE Dosas, buffets and rich flavors at Triad’s newest Indian establishment

by Eric Ginsburg

T

here’s a new Indian food player on the Greensboro scene, coming direct from Burlington, NC, of all places. And you need to try it.

I can’t say I’ve ever treated Burlington as much more than a place to stop for gas on my way to the Triangle, dismissing it out of hand as a forgettable pass-through town between the Triad and points east.

Much, I expect, the way Durhamites and Raleighers assume Greensboro is a downtrodden, underwhelming, blue-collar city without much to offer. I’ve known those nose-up Triangleophiles were wrong for more than a decade now, but I didn’t question my presumptions about Burlington until a friend moved out that way and started posting colorful photos on Instagram of the Indian food she and her husband have come to love.

Where, I demanded to know in the comments, is this food?

With the opening of Taaza Indian Bistro’s second location, the answer now is West Wendover Avenue out by Bridford Parkway.

Located in one of those remarkably bland shopping centers — save for the tasty food next door at my favorite Greensboro fast-Chinese joints, Golden Wok — the inside of Taaza II is dazzlingly attractive compared to its surroundings. Though the façade gives nothing away, the interior projects the vibe of a fancy dinner spot thanks to high ceilings and an investment in the bar, seating and décor.

Despite a lunchtime throng that had already discovered it, Taaza remained relatively quiet during a recent lunch buffet, though the sounds of a cricket match on a solo television played in the corner by the bar.

ERIC GINSBURG A buffet plate allows for diverse sampling, including various chicken dishes, a handful of For those who remember the lunch buffet at India vegetarian options, snacks and desserts such as gulab jamun (back right).

Palace on Tate Street, this is an entirely different experience, like riding business class on an international es than the buffet, including nattu kozhi varuval — I’ll gladly vouch for the ones at Vimala’s Curryblossom flight instead of flying on a cargo liner. The variety is roasted Cornish hen sautéed with south Indian spices Café in Chapel Hill. remarkable, dwarfing most local competitors with an — lamb chops masala, spiced coconut curry fish dish That’s part of what makes Taaza’s presence in assortment of vegetarian and meat-filled items (mostmeen moilee and any one of the dozen vegetarian Greensboro so exciting. It’s not just the Insta-worly chicken). Naan is brought directly and automatically entrees including Peshwari koft — potato croquettes thiness of the food, or the satisfying taste, but also to the table, and service is attentive and swift. with cottage cheese, nuts and dried fruits braised in a the genuine addition of something new to the area’s If you come for the buffet, make it a point to experich cream sauce. culinary scene. rience an array of options, from small-bite snacks like Taaza provides 10 charcoal clay-oven specials, inthe onion bonda — similar to a fried veggie fritter — to Pick of the Week cluding Lucknowi lamb chops marinated with yogurt, the chicken biryani mixed-rice dish. tandoor spices and papaya. LucAutumn mushrooms with Anna McHugh @ Try gulab jamun, a popular Indian know is the capital of the northern Forsyth County Cooperative Extension (W-S), dessert ball — sort of like a donut Visit Taaza Indian Bistro at Indian state Uttar Pradesh, but Monday, 7 p.m. hole — that’s fried yet soft and gooTaaza actually highlights its south 1216 Bridford Pkwy.

(GSO) Have that mad cool Seattle friend who won’t ey thanks to a sugary syrup. Skip Indian cuisine on the menu, espeshut up about his mushroom foraging and funor at taazabistro.com. the salt & pepper chicken in favor cially a lineup of dosas. Never had gus-driven culinary adventures? Here’s your chance of the chicken tikka masala or the one? Imagine the most delicious sato be (or seem) equally rugged and trendy by curry chicken. Check out the kadai vory crepe you’ve ever had, but often bigger and with a learning about seasonal wild mushrooms right here paneer and the chickpea-based and heavily seasoned tougher, fermented casing often stuffed with potatoes, in the Triad. Mushroom maven Anna McHugh of chana masala, especially if you’re a vegetarian. Sample spices and other veggies. crazyaboutmushrooms.com brings the talk. Check the tomato chutney, and throw a bite of whatever else I haven’t found dosas on the menu at other Indian out her website for a bio and search Facebook for looks good on a plate, too. restaurants in the Triad – that goes for Saffron, Tanevent specifics.

The regular menu at Taaza brags even more choicdoor, Agni, Nawab, Golden India and Masala — though

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High Point’s connection to a South African winery

News Opinion

North Carolina is Rickey Bridge Winery’s largest market outside of South Africa, bigger than China, Belgium and other nations.

Saturday 10am – 12pm

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Bagel klatsch

ERIC GINSBURG

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1212 Grove Street, Greensboro, NC 27403

336-609-6168 • glenwoodbooks.com facebook.com/glenwoodbooks/

Classical Guitar Program’s

Fall Concert

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$

300 S. Spring Street • Greensboro, NC

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Thursday, September 22nd @ 7p.m.

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The American Revolution had been over for only 14 years when a group of Huguenots — or French Protestants — fled their homeland and sailed to Cape Town, establishing a vineyard and winery not too far away in what is now Franschhoek, South Africa. That enterprise still exists nearly 220 years later, and less than two years ago, it established a strong foothold in the United States.

In High Point of all places.

by Eric Ginsburg Rickety Bridge Winery, founded in 1797, put down roots in High Point a little over a year ago thanks to owner Duncan Spence and CEO Andy Woolgar. The two Brits opened a hub in the Triad in part due to love — Spence’s girlfriend is from Reidsville and he has a home in Kernersville while Woolgar’s wife is from Lexington and now works for a neurology doctor in the Third City. But it’s also a practical move, Woolgar said, given High Point’s prime location as a distribution hub.

Rickety Bridge does have minimal distribution in Baltimore — a private importer, Woolgar said — but North Carolina is the company’s focus in the United States. As well it should be; the Old North State is Rickety Bridge’s largest market outside of South Africa, Woolgar said, more than Belgium, China, Scandinavia or the UK, he added.

“There’s a lot of drinkers here, mate,” he said, laughing. “Which is good!”

Rickety Bridge is self distributed, operating out of a former furniture showroom and connecting with clients such as Mozelle’s and Wine Merchants Gourmet in Winston-Salem and the W on Elm and Undercurrent in Greensboro. The wines, made by hand Contact CEO Andy Woolgar at in “a very old world French andy@ricketybridgewineryusa.com style” vary wildly in price, from or visit ricketybridgewineryusa.com about $15 to about $200 a for more info. bottle, and number close to 20 in style, Woolgar said. Rickety Bridge is best known for its cabernet sauvignon and its shiraz, but it also puts out a pinotage South African-style wine, chenin blanc, blends and a brut rosé, among others.

Woolgar is continuously busy with wine tastings, dinners and promoting their product locally almost every night, he said. And while the vineyard and winery are still based halfway across the globe in South Africa, Rickety Bridge’s commitment to High Point is solid; in addition to the building and business and familial ties to the area, Woolgar — who has a 336 area code — lives in the Third City as well. If anything, expect to see Rickety Bridge Winery’s local reputation and footprint grow.

19

Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

20

CULTURE A transplant makes an improvisational music scene in Greensboro

by Jordan Green

G

ary Heidt trained a small video camera on the two musicians hunched over their instruments — James Gilmore, a self-taught jazz guitarist from Durham, and Vattel Cherry, a free jazz bassist who lives in Burlington — during a late-afternoon session at Glenwood Community Bookshop on a recent Saturday.

Gilmore plucked out an atonal melody of delicate beauty and strength that was quiet almost to the point of imperceptibility as Cherry tapped his bow against the neck and then joined with a mournful reverie. The improvised piece gradually shifted into something more swinging. At one point, Gilmore responded to Cherry by modulating guitar notes to make squibs of sound that managed to be both tremulous and intrepid.

A veteran of New York’s improvised music scene and a native Texan, Heidt is an improbable ringleader.

Having lived in Greensboro for less than a year, he hosts the monthly Perceiver of Sound League performance series at the bookstore and a weekly show with the same name on UNCG’s campus radio station. As a student at Columbia University in New York City, Heidt hosted country and soul music shows. He co-founded Mammals of Zod, whose 1994 album Kill the Humans was pronounced a “masterpiece” by the Village Voice, performed with former Sun Ra sidemen Sabir Mateen and Daniel Carter, and established the annual free music festival Lovesphere. Heidt continued to perform with Mammals of Zod and Fist of Kindness, which also includes his common-law wife, Cassandra Chopourian.

The need to be closer to Chopourian’s mother necesJORDAN GREEN Gary Heidt, an avant-garde musician with country leanings, relocated with his common-law wife from New Jersey to North Carolina last October. sitated the couple’s move from New Jersey to Greensboro in October 2015. It was an easy transition profescountry-inflected ensemble that defies convention by house,” Heidt recalled. “They had a quartet playing this sionally: Chopourian works remotely as a bookkeeper throwing in the odd fifth note into its arrangements, interesting avant-garde music. It felt really welcomfor a building in New York City that leases space to released two albums in 2015; the lyrics for all 16 songs ing.” artists and Heidt works from home as a literary agent. on Electric Objects are adapted from the writings of Perceiver of Sound League came about as an effort But cultivating a musical life in Greensboro required Gertrude Stein, while Chopourian wrote the songs to incorporate a legal entity for Lovesphere long after more intention. on The Beast Within. Since moving to Greensboro, the annual festival was founded.

“I was culturally active,” the 45-year-old Heidt said.

Heidt has earned a place with F-Art Ensemble playing “We incorporated it as a religious organization “I really did not want to feel like I was missing out or guitarron, a short, six-string bass used in mariachi. And under the laws of Hudson County, New Jersey,” Heidt that I had given up when I moved down here. I did my next month Heidt will perform at Perceiver of Sound said. “To qualify for nonprofit research to find musicians to League with Dave Doyle of F-Art and Bryan Crott as status, a lot of arts organizaplay with. If this city had an the BryDaGar Trio. tions tack on an educational improvisational series, I would The next Perceiver of Sound In North Carolina, Heidt reconnected with Vatmission. I see art as being have gone to it. Since it didn’t, League concert features vocalist tel Cherry, a bassist who had played with free jazz a fundamentally spiritual I thought it was imperative to luminaries Cecil Taylor and Charles Gayle in New York. activity. I think it makes sense start one.”

Anita Woodley and the BryDaGar Cherry had similarly relocated to Burlington so his wife to go to a more fundamental He knew about Eugene Trio at Glenwood Community nonprofit status. You don’t Chadbourne, an avant-garBookshop, located at 1212 Grove see any religious organizations de multi-instrumentalist in Pick of the Week without music, so I see music Greensboro with an affinity St. (GSO) on Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. The Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra’s “The Chairman as preceding religion. At the for country music, and made a Perceiver of Sound League radio same time, we thought it was point to go see Crystal Bright & the Count” @ Centennial Station (HP), Saturimportant to make it non-dog& the Silver Hands at a concert show airs every Sunday from 1 to day, 7 p.m. matic. You don’t need to get in New York.

This mashup of Sinatra and Count Basie music 4 p.m. on WUAG 103.1 FM. into cosmological or metaShortly after Heidt and promises to deliver big band tunes with a smallphysical questions. Music is Chopourian moved to town feel. Between grandma’s memories and really fundamental to our being.”

Greensboro, they met Laurent Estoppey, a Swiss-born the kids’ sense of beat, this show could weave an Both Mammals of Zod and Fist of Kindness, whose saxophonist who founded the experimental collective intergenerational melody. Facebook holds the key other members are based in the New York area, Colapss. to weekend swing — search the event for info. released new music last year. Fist of Kindness, a “We went to a house party at Laurent Estoppey’s

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performance at Carrack Modern Art in Durham in July. Heidt recalls James Gilmore as being the only one in the audience at that show.

When Heidt asked Gilmore to perform at Perceiver of Sound League in

The Andrew Beach Trio, featuring Andrew Beach on bass, Chris Miller on xylophone and James Schultz on percussion.

Greensboro on Sept. 17, Gilmore turned to Cherry for accompaniment. The two had never so much as rehearsed together.

“It’s like abstract art — it is abstract art,” Cherry said after their set. “It’s not

JORDAN GREEN

for everybody. You have to be careful who you play with. It’s important that you know the same vocabulary.”

Cover Story

could be close to her mother.

“He was one of my favorite people to play with in New York in the ’90s,” Heidt said of Cherry.

Heidt and Cherry joined McLeansville percussionist Sandy Blocker for a

JORDAN GREEN

Opinion

Heidt videotapes a performance by James Gilmore (right) and Vattel Cherry at Glenwood Community Bookshop.

Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

21

Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

22

CULTURE Bodypainting championship draws Indian artists to Greensboro

by Naari Honor

M

odel Taylor Ridge stood quietly in the middle sale,” Ridge said. of the kitchen floor offering up her barely “Thattagirl,” Greco replied. clad body as living canvas to four artists who The session was going as smooth danced their own personal waltz around her, while as if it was a regular occurring Monsomehow managing not to step on one another’s toes. day night gathering. Tarp on the “Many people have objections because it is a body,” floor. The house cat checked the painter Panchali Banerjee said. “You can paint sculpprogress of the humans every so tures or paint on walls. Why do you want to paint on a often. Paintbrush pouches strewn body?” across counter tops amidst spongBeth Barr and her husband, fellow painter Frank es, travel cases, refreshments and Orthel, have opened their home to five-time world a numerous amount of bodypaint bodypainting champions Scott Fray and Madelyn compacts. And an epic ’70s mix Greco and current world bodypainting champions playing on the radio. But not every Sanatan Dinda and Panchali Banerjee, here from India, session goes as effortlessly. to demonstrate their process and art.

“We had a practice model once This is Dinda and Banerjee’s first trip to the United who got food poisoning from fast States, and they are beyond excited to be in North Carfood or something on the way to olina. That’s because Wednesday marks the beginning us,” Greco said. “And she comof the Living Art America North America Bodypainting mences to have food poisoning Championship in Greensboro, produced by Fray and while we were painting her. She Greco. was faint and just had a rough day, “That’s Madelyn Greco, she is half of the five-time however, she didn’t quit.” world bodypainting champions,” said Orthel. “That’s The paints that cloaked Ridge’s never happened before and will probably never happen skin had slowly fused with the again.” more permanent art inked on her COURTESY PHOTO Model Taylor Ridge sports a face staring out from the center of her back after a bodypainting session on Monday.

Greco took a moment to shoot a smile across the flesh. A tree tattoo, doubled in room but didn’t stop coating model Taylor Ridge’s size with bodypaint, appears to we did it” torso in a blanket of white paint. be missing its leaves due to a cold Fray credits the move of the competition from “This couple competed last year and placed second,” winter. Her torso had grown blue wings with white Atlanta to Greensboro to the “goodwill and faith of said Orthel. “And then this year they won so now they accents and lace filigree. And the tape that covered the Arts Council of Greensboro and a few select people are world champions.” her breasts was now lost amongst fire-engine reds and that had the vision and willingness to take a chance on Banerjee leaned against the counter watching Greco burnt oranges. something that may have been out of the box but felt add gold lining along Ridge’s ribcage while Dinda “What we are doing, instead of creating art that that it was a beautiful, expressive and viable art form.” simultaneously worked on a face breaking through the is an illusion on a flat surface,” Fray said, “we are creat“You guys near done?” asked Orthel. skin of the model’s back. Orthel had become fixated ing art on the form itself. It’s the only form of art that “I’m ready to send her off,” Fray said. on blending blues and purples into Ridge’s skin. The that can look back at you as you look back [at] it. It is Fray walked away from his subject, ending his temperature of the space felt warmer by the minute as the only form of art that has a soul.” participation.

Until something caught his eye. He then their pace steadied, however, on the model chill bumps Ridge mentioned that she generally embodies a headed toward Ridge’s face with his brush in tow. started to make their appearance from underneath the character when she is in full make-up. Although this “Okay,” Fray said. body paint. was more of a quick practice He picked up a case of blue paint and fixeed a blue “It’s not about the nudity,” session, taking two hours to The North American Body line on the letter A on her chest.

Banerjee said. “No one is worried complete versus some sessions “I’m done.”

Painting Championship will be about the nudity. The main thing that can take up to a whole is why are we painting on a body. day, a fluidity could be seen in held Saturday at Greensboro That is the main question. I think the model’s movements that is Coliseum Special Events Center. more in synch with the art that Pick of the Week that that is the challenge for us.

Visit greensborocoliseum.com Bodypainting film festival @ the Crown at CaroFor me, if you are painting on a incased her body. lina Theatre (GSO), Friday, 7 p.m. canvas or sculpture it doesn’t “Nobody was doing this or livingartamerica.com for Living Art America brings hardcore bodypainting react. This is a moving surface. here,” Greco said. “There are more info. and surrounding cultural forms to Greensboro all She has her own identity and she face-painter conventions and weekend. This kickoff event explores bodypainting can react.” there’s some different things imagery and memory through the medium of film.

Every so often one of the here and there but nobody Don’t expect live painting in the theater, but the artists asked a question or two of Ridge like whether was really doing anything close to what the World featured films should deliver hella sensuousness all she was holding up okay, if she needed a snack break, Bodypainting Festival was doing. There was nothing on their own. The event’s Facebook page also touts or if it’s okay to paint her underwear an intense shade for American artists who wanted to get their feet wet “a music video world premiere by a Piedmont Triad of purple. or to get international artist the impetus to come to area artist.” Check out Facebook for the full story.

“I bought a bunch of pairs because they were on America. So we thought somebody has got to do it and

C

GRAWL’s slamming satire

Up Front News Opinion

Members of the Greensboro Arm Wrestling League staged a battle between Donna Tramp and Hellary Rotten Clinton.

Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

Falwell that ends well Liberty University Flames @ High Point University Panthers (HP), Friday, 7 p.m.

Panthers volleyball keeps building on a good thing. They’re 9-4 as of the time of this writing, and they’ve logged impressive wins against UNCG, Wake Forest University and NC State University. It should be fun to watch them dominate the Flames.

For more information, visit highpointpanthers.com.

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rage and frustration at this living effigy — this caricature of caricatures of a caricature, this kitsch pastiche of the most reviled presidential candidate of all time — booing and jeering directly at Donna Tramp.

“I can’t even bring myself to laugh at her,” I admitted to GRAWL co-founder Amanda Lehmert, a former News & Record reporter and current city spokesperson.

“She’s really a very nice person,” Lehmert said.

Indeed, Rachel Scott, co-founder of GRAWL and co-owner of Geeksboro, entertained me while in character after the tournament wrapped. “[Hellary] tried to fight dirty, but I’m dirtier — the dirtiest,” Tramp boasted. “It’s not true what they say about my hands.”

I finally chuckled.

Scott didn’t think I was alone in my electoral anxiety.

“This election is already so much of a joke,” she said.

“People are already disenchanted about the political system already, and they aren’t really taking the election seriously, unfortunately. So we’re in familiar territory.”

True, to an extent. This is an election the likes of which we’ve never seen.

And it’s only September.

Culture

skirt. They were clear nods to Clinton’s career politicking, with MIA’s anthem winking to Clinton’s shady, technocratic backroom deals.

“Donna and Hellary are a satire of the worst parts of both characters,” Kitty Lowrance, who played Clinton, said about the wrestlers’ roles.

“Could someone bring me a PBR?” she asked in character before the match.

“That’s not how it works,” Cravey said. “There’s a line, and —” “It’s okay,” Clinton said, waving over one of her security detail, who cracked open a tall boy and poured it into a fancy goblet. “I have my own private server.”

Loving groans from the audience.

Of course, then came Donna Tramp.

Tramp’s entrance was as brash as the real-life candidate: She came down the aisle tongue out as the Beast Boys’ “Sabotage” blasted from the PA system, decked in American flag Kanye shades, backed up by a sycophant holding a sign reading “Make America Hate Again” and — what else? — a big ol’ wall.

In maybe the most fitting gag of the whole night, Tramp put the wall up to arm-wrestle Hellary instead of fighting for herself.

“You’re gonna actually have to do some work if you wanna move forward,” Cravey told her.

Donna did eventually take her spot and handily beat Clinton in a 2-0 decision.

I consider myself a person with a keen sense of humor, but I found it difficult to take any joy in the charade. Maybe I’m too close to the election, after registering voters for the Democratic Party and taking a day job telling people to vote for Clinton and other liberals, but even while swept up in the cacophony flooding Geeksboro, I couldn’t help but fret over the prospect of a Trump presidency. Instead, I focused my

JERRY WOLFORD AND SCOTT MUTHERSBAUGH OF PERFECTA VISUALS

Cover Story

linton lost. And it wasn’t even close.

Relax — it’s still September. Absentee ballots became available in to North Carolinians two weeks ago.

When you look at it that way, the election’s only just begun.

by Anthony Harrison Ugh. Anxieties run high in North Carolina, maybe the swingiest of battleground states, with leads fluctuating constantly — Hillary Clinton one week, Donald Trump the next. Greensboro Arm Wrestling League elected to provide an opportunity to ease some of the tension.

Geeksboro Coffeehouse Cinema hosted GRAWL Brawl III: Battle Before the Ballot on Sept. 17, and the people showed up. Attendees filled the top coffeehouse half of Geeksboro, while wrestlers crowded the theater downstairs, temporarily converted into an impromptu green room. Above the steady conversational drone, DJ84 spun rock classics like Blur’s “Song 2” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle,” all adding to the atmosphere of hype.

The crowd was rambunctious, and they maintained that energy throughout the evening.

Later in the night, WFDD reporter/producer Eddie Garcia stood towards the back of the room near the sugar and cream table, microphone high in the air in one hand, high-zoot recorder in the other.

“I was trying to get crowd reaction, but it’s too crazy in here,” he lamented.

Like I said earlier, Battle Before the Ballot served to ease some of the apprehension over the election. Satire provides an excellent release for this kind of stress: Both audience and performer get to pick fun at the problems that so frighten them, or even just bug and bother them. And the satirical hits landed from the moment emcee Matt Cravey took the mic to welcome all to Geeksboro.

“We were considering holding the event in the TD Center parking lot in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but trying to figure out the logistics wasn’t worth the trouble,” Cravey riffed, bringing to light the recent decisions by both the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference to pull all tournament events from North Carolina due to HB 2.

It was a sly jab, but when talking about HB 2, you can count anything as punching up.

Owing to its tournament format, GRAWL upended things in a way: The title bout came first. Hellary Rotten Clinton faced off against Donna Tramp.

GRAWL blends serious competition with live theatrics. It’s kind of like professional wrestling without the rigged outcomes and toxic masculinity. But it retains all the rivalry building and campy showmanship.

Clinton emerged to MIA’s “Bad Girls” accompanied by red, white and blue balloons and a Secret Service security detail, all business in black blazer and pencil

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FUN & GAMES

23

Sept. 21 — 27, 2016

EVENTS

Thursday, September 22 @ 8pm

Open Mic Night

Friday, September 23 @ 8pm

Magpie Thief and Bob Fleming

Up Front

Saturday, September 24 @ 8pm

Tony Low

Monday, September 26 @ 7pm

Mystery Movie Monday Morgan Miller

Culture

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Opinion

News

Tuesday, September 27 @ 8pm

602 S Elam Ave • Greensboro

(336) 698-3888

CROSSWORD

‘It’s the Five-O!’ and I’m nowhere near Hawaii

by Matt Jones Across

1 Made some brownies 6 Alert heard in the night, maybe 11 Fire dept. ranks 14 GE competitor 15 Former emperor Selassie 16 Granola granule 17 First #1 hit for the Black Eyed Peas 19 “___ gotta go now ...”

20 “Fatal Instinct” actor Armand 21 It’s not worth a dime 23 Charges 26 6 or 9, but not 69 27 Big-headed?

30 Can’t help but 32 Healing plant 33 Peninsula in the news 35 Big galoot 38 “I’ll take that as ___” 39 Cocktails with umbrellas 40 Like borrowed library books, eventually 41 Limbo prop 42 Favorable trend 43 M’s associate 44 Certain Sooner Stater 46 Pipsqueaks 47 Canine complaint 49 Gives lip 52 Arrive by horse 54 Hypothetical questions 58 Abbr. on military mail

59 Band with the 1998 #1 hit “Iris” 62 Co. big shot 63 Item dropped in Road Runner cartoons 64 Disney film set in China 65 Go awry 66 Author Zora ___ Hurston 67 French parts of the U.S.?

Down

1 Rum-soaked cake 2 ___ Lee (singer with the album “Mission Bell”) 3 “Get Smart” enemy org.

4 All together 5 Coleman of “Boardwalk Empire” and “9 to 5” 6 Kicks 7 Words before “Spock” and “Not Spock,” in autobiography titles 8 Tombstone inscription 9 Musk of Tesla Motors 10 What traditionalists may be averse to 11 Befit, like clothes 12 “Star Trek” actor who came out in 2005 13 Long-legged marsh bird 18 12-time All-Star Mel 22 Op. ___ (footnote abbr.)

24 Yellowfin, alternatively 25 Singer/TV personality Braxton 27 “Born From Jets” car company 28 Forearm component

29 Salesman’s selling style, way back when 31 Mineral deposit 33 Salary maximums 34 Awards presented by the Romance Writers of America 36 Patty or Selma, to Maggie 37 Government agents 39 Do-over shot 43 Make a prison break 45 Much-maligned director ___ Boll 46 File with software instructions 47 2016 “America’s Got Talent” winner VanderWaal 48 More ready to be picked 50 Massively ripped 51 “Dexter” airer, for short 53 Fourth piggy’s portion 55 ___ J (rapper/producer and brother of the late J Dilla) 56 Like a pancake 57 IDs with two hyphens 60 Fertility clinic specimens 61 Hodges of baseball fame

Playing September 23 – 29

Fun & Games

Ultimate Comics Challenge Presented by The Idiot Box Who is the best local comedian? You decide!

8:30 p.m. Friday, September 23. $8 tickets!

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Answers from previous publication.

24

--OTHER EVENTS & SCREENINGS--

Improv Comedy Presented by the Idiot Box

4 p.m., 8:30 p.m., & 10 p.m. Saturday, September 24. $8 Tickets!

TV Club Presents Fear The Walking Dead New episode 9 p.m. Sunday, September 25. Free Admission With Drink Purchase!

Totally Rad Trivia 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 27 $3 Buy In! Up to Six Player Teams! Winners get CASH PRIZE!

Open Mic Comedy

Presented by The Idiot Box. 8:30 p.m. Thursday, September 29.

Beer! Wine! Amazing Coffee!

2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro geeksboro.com •

336-355-7180

©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

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South Elm Street, Greensboro

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08 Dodge Caravan

SXT, Auto, FWD

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Everyone loves a ferris wheel. Thanks, Elsewhere!

25

Sept. 21 — 27, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story

Death and basketball

A

few years ago I wrote about North Carolina’s sacred cows and basketball was one of them. But it wasn’t until the Atlantic Coast Conference’s recent final-straw move to relocate neutral-site championships (including its football

by Nicole Crews title game in December and its women’s basketball tournament in March) out of North Carolina in reaction to state law HB 2 that I realized that NC Gov. Pat McCrory had finally dug the last shovelful of his own grave.

The decision came a few days after the NCAA pulled the plug on championship games for this academic year — including several in the Division 1 basketball tournament scheduled for Greensboro — and in the wake of the NBA’s decision to relocate the 2017 All-Star Game.

It took sports to do it, but just in case McCrory is looking for a few more casket nails, here are a few more Tarheel taboos that ain’t nothing to f*&^% wit.

2. James Taylor — The troubadour of the Tarheel State — and an unarguably talented musician — has achieved cult status worldwide but never as much as within the 200-mile radius circling Chapel Hill. Yes his career has seen both Fire and Rain — but don’t mention this anywhere near Crook’s Corner unless you want a plate of shrimp & grits flung at your head.

3. Carolina — Speaking of Carolina on my mind, the baby blue badinage of the UNC-Chapel Hill is swathed across this state like a beauty queen’s sash. Most of the perpetrators of this pastel assault have never even been to Chapel Hill, let alone attend the university. So watch out if you run into one of these rams — they’re stubborn and will even argue that God took a cue from Carolina when he was shopping for sky colors.

All She Wrote

Shot in the Triad

Fun & Games

1. Lighthouses — If states had their own phallic symbols — like birds or flowers or trees — the lighthouse would surely qualify as North Carolina’s. Oh, the books that have been written, the terrible paintings painted, the beach-house gee-gaws crafted and the Our State photos published! Yes, they’ve saved many a vessel from the Graveyard of the Atlantic — but how many of their likenesses have clogged the landfills and Wings stores of our home state?

Games

Culture

ALL SHE WROTE

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4. Barbecue — Much like the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop rivalry of the 1990s, the ongoing East vs. West barbecue war in North Carolina is full of piss and vinegar (well, vinegar anyway in the East) and goes whole hog (also in the East). This makes the boys in the West see red (must be the tomatoes) and really put their shoulder into the rivalry. Steer clear of this debate.

5. NASCAR — Never in the history of man has so much time, money, blood, sweat, advertising dollars and fossil fuel been spent on guys running around in circles

(with the possible exception of baseball). In a state where Richard Petty is king and Dale Earnhardt a saint, it is wise to avoid bringing this up lest ye wind up imprisoned in a lighthouse and forced to listen to endless James Taylor songs.

6. Beach music — In yet another case of the white man ruining the culture of people of color, beach music is essentially responsible for the honkification of rhythm & blues, pop and rock variations of the 1950s and 1960s. Its origins may be from the Ocean Drive area of North Myrtle Beach, SC, but North Carolinians consider it to be the soundtrack of the state.

Gate City Vineyard is a modern, Christian church that exists to serve the community around us. Our desire is to help people of all ages and backgrounds grow in their understanding of God. At the Vineyard you can come as you are and be yourself.

Whatever your thoughts about church, whatever your beliefs about God … you are welcome here.

7. Calabash — The town itself prides itself on being known as the Seafood Capital of the World, when in truth, the word “fried” has been omitted. Ask any North Carolinian if they like seafood and you’ll likely hear, “yep, if it’s fried.”

8. Pottery — Much like NASCAR’s origins in whiskey running, North Carolina’s pottery tradition has roots in hooch (they don’t call it ‘Jugtown’ for nothing). And while the wet clay wanderers (the tradition extends far beyond Seagrove) have transformed function into a historically significant art form, you’re probably still not safe discussing it within plate-breaking distance of Moore County.

9. Skiing — Yes, the wellhoned hills and mountains of North Carolina have carved out a living making ski resorts out of molehills over the years, but whatever you do, don’t compare them to West Virginia or you may have to find a new home there.

And while North Carolina has produced more snow than the Medellin Cartel, serious lovers of the white stuff usually have to venture outside of state lines to get the high they are looking for.

10. Basketball — Basketball is to North Carolina as oxygen is to man, as Spanx are to a Kardashian, as Tyler Perry is to box office grosses. But you already figured that out, didn’t you Pat?

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