Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com December 21 – 28, 2016
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Welcome to the struggle against Trumpism PAGE 12
Christmas with a bullet
PAGE 23
Coliseum karting
PAGE 20
Calling BS
PAGE 5
Dec. 21 — 28, 2016
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The business of Christmas The business of Christmas — which starts around the end of August and wraps up right about by Brian Clarey now — must end before the actual holiday can begin. By “the business,” I mean the generation of the largest spike in consumer spending all year and all the attendant efforts to capture as much of that stream as corporate-humanly possible, and also the logistics of the demand side: a spider web of social events, gift lists, cooking responsibilities, travel routes, youth performances and such, the planning of which, for a family like mine, is enormously complicated and changes almost daily. And then, of course, there’s the actual business of gathering and disseminating news, more important than ever now, though rarely have I felt so inadequate to the task. My heroes have always been journalists, but lately the ones I admire most are the folks on the ground in Raleigh, reading the bills before they come to vote — Kirk
Ross and Joe Killian and the rest have kept alive my enduring hope that journalism can be worth a damn. A Christmas miracle. Outside of original documents and the work of reporters I personally know and trust, I’m sourcing my own information diet these days from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Hill and a few other choice outlets. I stay within the news section these days, and even then I’m reading for spin. As Dec. 25 approaches, I am running short on faith. For Christmas this year I’m hoping that the news cycle takes a break, just for a few days, so that I can spend some time with my family without worrying about an impromptu special session of the General Assembly or another surreal appointment from Trump Tower. I’m wishing, not for something as lofty as peace on Earth, but a couple of days where everyone just shuts the hell up, opens some presents and eats some cookies. Because there’s the business of Christmas, which I’m hoping to finish up in a couple days, and then there’s Christmas itself, which is immensely more enjoyable.
We’re hiring! TCB is looking for a freelance music writer. If you’ve always dreamed of being Cameron Crowe and enjoy listening to disparate types of music, this job’s for you. Send a resume and writing samples to brian@triad-city-beat.com to apply.
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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
QUOTE OF THE WEEK We need to find ways to be in solidarity. People who work to build power in an electoral context and those who do active resistance are not in conflict. What’s lacking is a unifying strategy, and we need to build onto each other’s work and find points of leverage instead of draining each other’s resources. — Valerie Warren, in the Cover, page 12 1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey
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Dec. 21 — 28, 2016
CITY LIFE Dec. 21 – 28
by Joel Sronce
WEDNESDAY
White Folks Winter Meander — Black Lives Matter Holiday Sing-In @ Irving Park Elementary (GSO), 6 p.m. In service to the ideas of Black Lives Matter Gate City Leadership, white anti-racists unite against racial injustice. It is a call for creative resistance that emphasizes the need for all white people to commit to solidarity and the fight against white supremacy. All are welcome. More information at the Facebook event page. An Old-Time Christmas Evening @ Old Salem Museums & Gardens (W-S), 6 p.m. Candlelit buildings, carol singing, wagon rides and warm apple cider fill the streets of Old Salem for this year’s Moravian Christmas festivity. Costumed interpreters provide tours of 18th and 19th century traditions, along with crafts, games and tales of Christmases long ago. More information at oldsalem.org.
THURSDAY
Dance From Above Holiday Party 2016 @ the Crown at Carolina Theatre (GSO), 9 p.m. Sweat out the hottest and worst year in recent memory by dancing for joy! The resident DJs have this theme in mind as Dance From Above continues its celebration of underground dance music. The event is free but donations are appreciated. More information at dancefromabove.com.
FRIDAY
Gingerbread House Workshop @ Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem (W-S), 10 a.m. Bring the little ones to the Children’s Museum to make and take a mini-gingerbread house. Building materials include a small milk carton, graham crackers, icing, and an array of sweet treats. Museum admission required. More info at childrensmuseumofws.org
Photo by Gary Taylor Photography
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The Nutcracker — Land of the Sweets (Special Children’s Performance) @ High Point Theatre (HP), 2 p.m. High Point Ballet presents a one-hour Nutcracker performance designed especially for children. Come one hour early to meet the characters, take pictures and join in Nutcracker-themed activities. More information at highpointballet.org.
SATURDAY
Jazz Nomads with Neill Craig @ O. Henry Hotel (GSO), 6:30 p.m. Escape, impress or imbibe with relatives at this Saturday’s addition to the hotel’s weekly jazz series. With no cover, enjoy three hours of free contemporary jazz (not to be confused with contemporary free jazz). Vintage classic cocktails and seasonal tapas to boot. More info can be found at ohenryhotel.com.
SUNDAY
Christmas Night Celebration @ the Blind Tiger (GSO), doors 8:30 p.m. Crystal Bright’s haunting, carnivalesque sound rises from her eclectic musical experience — mariachi, Chinese, Ugandan, samba and more. During one set she plays accordion, musical saw, piano, adungu (a Ugandan harp), concertina and bombo (an Argentine drum). The Silver Hands by her side now include Sandy Blocker, who adds African, Middle Eastern and South American rhythms with the riqq, djembe and congas, and former Urban Sophisticates’ trumpeter Jeremy Denman. The show includes Joey Barnes & the Nasty Bits, and Christmas Burlesque Extravaganza. Find more info at theblindtiger.com.
ALL WEEK
LGBT Democrats of Guilford County food drive (GSO) The LGBT Dems ask for either food or money donations for the Triad Health Project’s Food Pantry. THP assists those in the community who are unable to find resources due to their HIV status. The food drive runs through New Year’s Day. Contact facebook.com/LGBTDemsGuilford/ for more details on what items are needed and where to deliver.
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The last legislative special session gave North Carolinians an awful lot to unpack, with sweeping bills that make dramatic changes to the way our state is governed. But forgetting for a moment the substance of SB 4 and its attendant legislation, I want to focus instead on the way the whole thing went down: in a special session, with short notice, urgently tucked into the calendar before the changing of the guard. On social media over the weekend, state legislators including Sen. Phil Berger, Rep. John Hardister and Rep. John Blust defended the action by saying that this sort of thing happens all the time — notably when Republican Lt. Gov. Jim Gardner was stripped of much of his authority by Democratic leadership. Where, they ask, was the media outcry when this happened — though in fact it was condemned in the editorial pages of every daily newspaper in the state. Discrediting the media is part of the playbook here. For my part, I’ll say that I was a college freshman in 1989, the year Gardner’s office was… realigned. Ginsburg had just turned 1, and Jordan Green fell in between. That’s why we didn’t write about it, though you can consider it retroactively condemned by us. Hardister was in first grade, which is a pretty long time to hold a grudge. But back in 1989, the Democrats had the courage not to hold a special session for their dirty work; they, at least, waited until after Gardner was elected before they cut him off at the knees. No one from the right has adequately explained the urgency in passing these laws, which I suppose is fine because we all know why. Most unprecedented, though, is that Gov. Pat McCrory signed this legislation that drastically reduces the power of the seat he’s about to vacate. I don’t think an American politician has ever consciously acted to limit his own power since George Washington declined to be the king of America way back in the beginning. Is McCrory admitting that he held far too much power during his time as governor? Is the GOP enacting an emergency course correction almost 30 years after the fact? Are we really supposed to believe all this crap? We are. But it sounds like BS to me.
Got that? Competition from China could threaten production in the US and Mexico. But wait, ITG has a hedge against competition from China — locating some of its production in China. “The company has strategically located certain of its operations in China in order to, among other things, more effectively compete with lower cost producers, and believes that its geographic manufacturing diversity provides certain competitive benefits including the ability to increase lower cost production based on industry conditions,” the report continues. To give Ross his due, many observers credit him with at least allowing Cone Mills and other besieged companies to maintain some of their domestic production capacity and operate on a smaller scale instead of closing altogether. Bruce S. Raynor, the former president of the UNITE HERE union once told New York magazine: “I really think the future of domestic manufacturing is people like Wilbur Ross.” Based on a computation of plant floor area recorded in ITG’s 2016 annual report, 63.8 percent of the company’s production capacity remains in the United States. And yet its largest facility, Cone Mill’s White Oak plant in Greensboro, is only a shadow of its former self, with Bloomberg reporting that its employment dropped from 2,800 in the 1970s to 300 in 2012. The names of ITG’s plants in Mexico and China attest to the company’s offshoring activity by leaving the signatures of the legacy companies sprouted from the North Carolina Piedmont: Cone Denim Jiaxing Plant and Jiaxing Burlington Textile Co. in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China, and Parras Cone Plant in Parras de Fuentes, Coahuila, Mexico. And while Trump routinely lambasted the North American Free Trade Agreement and threatened to withdraw from it, the trade deal is viewed positively by the company recently unloaded by Ross. “Because the company is an apparel fabrics manufacturer and a resident, diversified textile product manufacturer in Mexico, the company believes that NAFTA is generally advantageous to the company,” ITG said in its most recent annual report. “Generally, trade agreements such as NAFTA affect the company’s business by reducing or eliminating the duties and/or quotas assessed on products manufactured in a particular country.” And in contrast to Trump railing against China for devaluing its currency, ITG salutes the “devaluation of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar” as having “a net positive effect on the company’s operating expenses.” If what Ross did for Cone Mills as an investor is any indication of what he’s likely to do for American manufacturing as commerce secretary, Trump’s supporters might be underwhelmed.
Up Front
by Brian Clarey
by Jordan Green The billionaire real-estate developer and reality TV star Donald Trump famously wooed white, working-class voters in the Rust Belt, frustrated by economic stagnation and resentful of perceived gains made by racial minorities, by promising to reverse bad trade deals and bring home jobs. “Our workers’ loyalty was repaid, you know it better than anybody, with total betrayal,” Trump said during a typically populist jeremiad in Monessen, Pa. in late June. “Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization, moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas. Globalization has made the financial elite, who donate to politicians, very, very wealthy.” The then-candidate promised: “I am going to direct the secretary of commerce to identify every violation of trade agreements a foreign country is using to harm you, the American worker.” Those Trump voters in Pennsylvania might be surprised to know that Wilbur Ross, Trump’s pick for secretary of commerce, has been called, variously “a billionaire corporate raider” (Foreign Policy), “the bottom feeder king” (New York magazine) and “the king of bankruptcy” (Politico). Then again, this is a president-elect forming a plutocrat cabinet that includes the CEO of ExxonMobil for secretary of state and a fast-food magnate for secretary of labor. The normally voluble Trump has had little to say about Ross, who actually has a track record of running businesses in distressed industries like steel, coal and textiles that form the economic backbone of his constituency. A former banker, Ross snapped up Cone Mills and Burlington Industries, two once-mighty Greensboro firms facing bankruptcy, at fire-sale prices in 2004, and operated them through International Textile Group until he sold them to Platinum Equity two weeks before the election. He performed a similar function in steel and coal by buying up distressed properties and consolidating them. The last annual report filed earlier this year by Greensboro-based International Textile Group with the US Securities & Exchange Commission before it was taken private has some interesting things to say about global competition. “While imports of textile and apparel garments from Asia have leveled off in recent periods, the company cannot predict the level of future imports from China, Vietnam and similar countries that may have price advantages as a result of lower labor costs and improving production and distributing facilities,” the report reads. “Any future growth of imports could place additional competitive pressure on the company’s US and Mexico manufacturing locations.”
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This kind of thing happens all the time
Wilbur Ross’ local tie
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Dec. 21 — 28, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment
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NEWS
NC has experienced episodic power grabs over past 40 years by Jordan Green
Did the North Carolina GOP undermine democracy last week, or were they just playing a game of power politics whose rules were established by Democrats over the previous four decades? All eyes are on North Carolina again as Republican state lawmakers consummate a power grab and consider a deal in yet another special session, this one on Wednesday to repeal the controversial HB 2, a response to Charlotte City Council striking an anti-discrimination ordinance from its books. The North Carolina GOP’s successful efforts to clip the powers of incoming Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper have been framed by some as a test-run for Republicans to consolidate power in the new Trump era. An opinion piece published in the Washington Post on Dec. 16 by American Prospect senior writer Paul Waldman captures some of the anxiety: “There’s a kind of coup going on in North Carolina, one that tells us a
lot about just how far Republicans are willing to go to hold on to power and undercut Democrats.” Republican leaders countered that the party’s hardball legislative tactics are a continuation of political practices well established by lawmakers when the Democrats held the reins of power. The complaint was articulated by NC GOP Party Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse when he crashed a press conference held by the NC NAACP at the Capitol last week. After NAACP attorney Al McSurely mocked Woodhouse by saying, “I know this is the last meeting he’s been in in the last two or three days that hasn’t been composed of all white people,” the party leader shot back: “Hey Alan, since you’re calling me out, how about when Jim Hunt tried to fire all the Republicans in the ‘Christmas massacre’?... And what about the Democrats stripping the Republican lieutenant governor of all his power? Was that right? Or stripping Gov. Jim
Outgoing Gov. Pat McCrory
COURTESY PHOTO
Martin of his hiring authority?” Ferrel Guillory, a longtime observer of North Carolina politics who directs the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill, said there’s some truth to claims that Democratic lawmakers used their control of the legislature to limit executive power when a Republican was in the Governor’s Mansion, but they didn’t completely succeed and they didn’t do it in the blitz fashion carried out the Republicans last week. “When Jim Holshouser, the first Republican governor, came in [in the early 1970s], there were a number of what were called ‘stripping bills’ that were introduced by Democrats in the House,” Guillory said. “It created quite a ruckus. Those bills tended to fall away when they reached the Senate, where [Democrat] Jim Hunt had a lot of power as lieutenant governor. Hunt was already thinking about a run for governor and he didn’t want to be subject to those limitations when he won the office.” As to Woodhouse’s reference to Hunt’s “Christmas massacre,” News & Observer political columnist Rob Christensen wrote on Dec. 17 that after Hunt was elected governor in 1976 he asked for the resignation of 169 state policymakers in the Holshouser administration and ultimately pushed out 75. The power exercised by Hunt as lieutenant governor to prevent his fellow Democrats from pruning the authority of the executive branch during the Hol-
shouser administration was lost about 15 years later when a Republican, Jim Gardner, won the lieutenant-governor post for the first time since Reconstruction. Up to that point, the lieutenant governor held the authority to appoint committees and assign bills in the state Senate, but on his first day in office on Jan. 11, 1989, Democratic senators voted to strip him of those powers. The lieutenant governor still serves as president of the Senate with the ability to cast tie-breaking votes (not much of a factor now, considering that Republicans holds a supermajority in both houses), but the real power is now wielded by the senate president pro tem — a position currently held by Phil Berger, a Rockingham County lawmaker who represents part of Guilford. On Monday, departing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed HB 17, a broad-ranging bill that requires Senate confirmation of the governor’s appointees cabinet-level positions, shifts the power to appoint members of the UNC boards of trustees from the governor to the legislature, strips the governor of the power to make appointments to the NC Charter Schools Advisory Board, reduces the number of political hires set aside for the governor from 1,500 to 425, and shifts power from the state Board of Education to the state superintendent of public schools, a post that will be held by Mark Johnson, a Republican from Winston-Salem who defeated Democratic incumbent June Atkinson in the Nov. 8 election. McCrory, who previously won a legal battle to preserve executive authority, said in a prepared statement on Monday that during the recent special session he was “working as your governor to protect the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government… including discouraging proposed legislation moving major departments including information technology and commerce outside of the governor’s authority” and that he “worked to deter any efforts to expand the composition of our Supreme Court.” The possible judicial measure was
Tim Moore assured me that as a result of Charlotte’s vote, a special session will be called for Tuesday to repeal HB 2 in full,” Cooper said in a statement on Monday. “I hope they will keep their word to me and with the help of Democrats in the legislature, HB 2 will be repealed in full.”
Up Front News
crimination ordinance, McCrory blamed Cooper, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and “other Democratic activists” for the failure to broker a deal, adding, “This sudden reversal with little notice after the gubernatorial election has ended sadly proves this entire issue, originated by the political left, was all about politics at the expense of Charlotte and the entire state of North Carolina.” (The repeal ordinance includes language stipulating that the measure is only binding if HB 2 is repealed.) Guillory said the recent turn of events suggests that the incoming Democratic governor may yet have a measure of “informal power,” even as he faces a veto-proof legislature with diminished executive authority. “Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker
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widely feared by Democratic groups after the recent election of Judge Mike Morgan gave the party control of the court, but Republican lawmakers had refused to say whether they were considering such a move. Although judicial elections are nominally nonpartisan, Morgan is a registered Democrat and was backed by the party. McCrory concluded by saying, “My major disagreement with this bill is requiring confirmation of cabinet secretaries. This is wrong and short-sighted and needs to be resolved through the leadership skills of the governor-elect working with the legislature in January.” Guillory said the timing of the bill, coming soon after McCrory conceded the governor’s race, and the way it was rammed through without warning or deliberation “smacked of trying to shave away what the voters intended in the Nov. 8 election.” The actions of Republicans in the special session at the very least strain democratic traditions, Guillory said. “In North Carolina, I think that the actions of the Republican legislature with a veto-proof majority certainly put a strain on the representative nature of our democracy,” he said. “Our democracy is a competitive place, and so it shouldn’t surprise people there is jockeying for power. Democracy is fragile, too. If our system of checks and balances gets too far out of balance, there is going to be strain. We have a long tradition of accepting the results of elections even when our side loses. What do you do? You learn from your loss. You get back in the game and argue your position and try to work back towards the majority. The overreach of the Republican lawmakers had to do with their seeming to not respect the will of the people.” On Monday, just as McCrory was preparing to sign a bill that radically reduced his successor’s powers, the lame-duck governor called another special session to consider the repeal of HB 2. Reacting to news that Charlotte City Council had unanimously repealed its anti-dis-
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Everything you need to know about the #WakeyLeaks scandal by Jordan Green
Revelations that a radio analyst with inside access associated with Wake Forest University provided confidential information to opposing football teams results in the ACC levying fines against the University of Louisville and Virginia Tech. A member of Louisville’s athletics department staff has been suspended for one game because of his involvement in the matter. The contrast in responses from two schools that received confidential information on game plays from a mole within the Wake Forest University football program was striking. Whit Babcock, athletics director at Virginia Tech, confirmed that a former assistant coach had received game plan information from Wake Forest University’s football program on Dec. 16, two days after Wake Forest University issued a report that Tommy Elrod, a radio analyst and former assistant coach, had been leaking confidential information since 2014. Without naming the former assistant coach, Babcock took responsibility and apologized. “We hold ourselves to a higher standard at Virginia Tech,” he said the statement. “We are disappointed and embarrassed that this type of information was distributed to, and apparently received by one of our former assistant coaches. The distribution of this type of information among peers or rivals is wrong and not in the vein of sportsmanship and integrity that we demand and expect, and for this, I personally apologize to the coaches, student-athletes, alumni, students and fans at Wake Forest University.” Tom Jurich, the athletics director at
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COURTESY PHOTO Head Coach Dave Clawson chose not to retain assistant football coach Tommy Elrod — who later leaked confidential information — in 2014.
the University of Louisville acknowledged that Lonnie Galloway, the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator, received a phone call from Elrod around the time of the Nov. 12 match with Wake, and discussed “a few plays.” Jurich said the plays were also “sent and then shared with our defensive staff,” while downplaying the significance of the breach. “None of the special plays were run during the course of the game,” he said. “Our defense regularly prepares for similar formations every week in their normal game plan. Any other information that may have been discussed was nothing that our staff had not already seen while studying Wake Forest in their preparations for the game.” He ended by saying, “I’m disappointed that this issue has brought undue attention to our football staff as we prepare for our upcoming bowl game.” Louisville has now suspended Galloway — the offensive coordinator who took Elrod’s call — for the upcoming Citrus Bowl, where Louisville meets LSU on New Year’s Eve. A more contrite statement from Jurich on Dec. 17 at least acknowledged the puzzling question of why the recipients of the leaked information didn’t immediately report it to Wake. “It is clear to me that the information should not have been shared by anyone at Wake Forest, and it should not have been received by anyone at the University of Louisville,” Jurich said, according to the Courier-Journal. “Although no
one from Louisville sought the information, once it was provided, we did not do what should have been done. The information should not have been accepted. It should have been rejected, and officials at Wake Forest should have been alerted to the inappropriate action taken by Mr. Elrod. “This is an unusual situation,” Jurich added. “When someone receives information they should not be given, it is important that they do the right thing. Even in a competitive atmosphere, the right and ethical thing would have been for us to not accept the information. I regret very much that this took place.” By the end of the week, the Greensboro-based Atlantic Coast Conference had announced that it was issuing fines of $25,000 each to Louisville and Virginia Tech, following its review of Wake Forest’s findings. The conference said in a prepared statement on Dec. 17 that game plan information was provided to three institutions over the course of three seasons, including once to Virginia Tech in 2014, once to Louisville in 2016, and twice to Army in 2014 and 2016. Army, which did not receive a fine, is the only one of the teams that is not a member of the conference. “I am deeply disturbed something like this would occur and regardless of the degree of involvement, the protection of the competitive integrity of our games is fundamental to any athletic contest,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford
said. “Sportsmanship and ethical values are at the core of competitive integrity and in these instances, those were missing. The expectation, regardless of the sport, is that any athletics department staff members would immediately communicate with their supervisor if they are approached by someone from another institution with proprietary information.” Amy Yakola, a spokesperson for the commission, declined to comment on if the body looked into whether money exchanged hands in return for the information, and said questions about Elrod’s motives were best left to Elrod himself. Elrod could not be reached for comment for this story. Suspicions about the leaks were initially raised when a member Wake Forest University’s “official travel party found a number of documents pertaining to our Louisville game plan” while the team was in Louisville for the Nov. 12 game, Athletics Director Ron Wellman said in a prepared statement. Elrod is a former Wake football player and assistant coach. When the university hired Coach Dave Clawson in December 2014, Clawson chose not to retain Elrod. The former assistant coach was subsequently hired as a radio commentator by IMG, a Winston-Salem-based sports marketing company, and continued to receive inside access to the team. When the university released the findings of its investigation on Dec. 13, it announced that Elrod had been fired from his position at IMG and would no longer broadcast Wake football games. He has been banned from university athletics programs and facilities. “I am extremely disappointed that our confidential and proprietary game preparations were compromised,” Coach Clawson said. “It’s incomprehensible that a former Wake Forest student-athlete, graduate-assistant, fulltime football coach, and current radio analyst for the school, would betray his alma mater. We allowed him to have full access to our players, team functions, film room and practices. He violated our trust which negatively impacted our entire program.”
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OPINION
EDITORIAL
A diamond in the feces
CITIZEN GREEN
Learning to say goodbye
The reckoning with my grandmother’s It’s nonsense, of course, that an emergency session of the state mortality came about legislature could result in so much pettiness, payback, hypocrisy and through a series of straight-up face-slapping — all in the name, ironically, of disaster relief. increasingly dire But here we are. Facebook posts by my As of press time, the most egregious example of GOP overreach is aunt, hasty phone calls enshrined in SB 4, “Bi-Partisan Ethics, Elections & Court Reform.” Bear to my mom and uncle by Jordan Green in mind, though, that another special session has already been called to assess the situation. for Wednesday, ostensibly to repeal parts of HB 2, though at this point Then, three days later, I was making the haul to it wouldn’t be all that surprising to find language in the text of that bill south Florida, covering the Carolinas before lunchgiving the General Assembly the power to appoint city mayors. time, hitting Jacksonville in the late afternoon, It’s easy to be cynical after our latest legislative coup; but nestled Orlando by 7 p.m., followed by a grim late-night in the mounds of excrement that comprise SB 4 is a new entity that charge down Interstate 75 along the Caribbean might be of real value, like a thing you’ve accidentally swallowed and coastline and arriving at the hospice in Fort Myers decided is worth fishing out of the toilet after all. around 11 p.m. That’s where I am now. In more than a decade of covering North Carolina elections, our I’ve kissed my grandmother’s forehead, and told news team realized early on that the state elections apparatus is her I’m here and that I love her, enacting a ritual woefully inadequate to the task of investigating real election fraud. established by my aunt and two uncles, along with We’re not talking about people voting without ID or trying to vote multiple cousins. twice, but actual election fraud, which happens through absentee Her eyelids quiver in the barest sign that she’s ballots, strategic targeting of precincts on Election Day, dirty tricks by aware of our presence. Her breathing is growing candidates, falsified campaign finance reports, vote-buying and other shallower. We all know that this is goodbye. Her established methods of disenfranchisement or, as the case may be, deterioration has been “exponential,” as my aunt’s super-enfranchisement. husband put it, and it quickly became clear that For most of this century, the State Board of Elections has employed any radical medical intervention would have little but a single investigator, and he without teeth, to cover all 100 counchance of success and in any case wouldn’t give ties. her much quality of life. We’re relieved that her SB 4 seeks to create an independent, nonpartisan state elections pain has subsided and she seems to be more board, the slim margin of which alternates every year — it’s tilted comfortable. The newcomers to the death vigil, against the party in power by giving them authority only on odd-year myself included, react with shock and discomfort, elections. It has subpoena power, and the authority to open investigabut those who have settled in have come to see tions formerly ceded to county district attorneys. these last moments, these last days with our beIt’s not involved in redistricting — in fact it’s specifically barred from loved grandmother and mama as a blessing. Now, having any input into the drawing of districts. That might be too bad, surreally, we’re talking about funeral arrangements, considering that our legislators seem incapable of carving up our state booking flights and bringing together great-grandin a way that won’t get thrown out by a court. children. It may not seem like much, but as of press time it’s all we’ve got. If there’s a way a person is supposed to go out, Now, on to the next special session! If we push it, we could probably fit this is it. My grandmother has lived a long life three more in before Roy Cooper is sworn in as governor next month. and witnessed a lot of history. Born abroad to an American tobacco salesman, she lived in China before the Japanese occupation. As a young woman, she made machine parts for cargo ships in California during World War II and married a handsome Navy seaman. As a testament to the close relationship between the former combatants, my grandmother lived long enough to see a grandson enlist in the Navy, marry a Japanese woman and raise two boys with her in Japan. My grandmother grieved the loss of triad-city-beat.com
Due to the holidays, next week’s paper will be published on Thursday, Dec. 29
a child to smallpox and raised five other children through the tumult of the Vietnam war, as the family moved from one academic post to the next over the course of my grandfather’s career as an English professor — from Princeton University in New Jersey to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and finally to the University of Florida. My grandfather, who preceded my grandmother in death by more than two decades, said in a professional exit interview that Florida seemed like a frontier when he accepted his final post in the early 1970s, and the university was what was next. It does seem that way to me when I scan the Google map on my iPhone, and observe Interstate 75 push another 45 miles southward and then make a lateral cross to Miami on the Atlantic coast. Below that line, the rest is the Everglades, a netherworld where the land gradually recedes into the sea. The fantastic geography of the state that my grandparents claimed as home is conflating in my mind with my grandmother’s transitory state. The in-betweenness of her being — still breathing and present with her loved ones, moaning but no longer verbal, perhaps hearing our soft voices and feeling our hands stroking her arm — makes me think of the swamps that I saw from Interstate 95 along the Georgia coastline, and how much of their abundant biological life lies below the water’s surface. These are sacred moments of honoring the mystery of life as it courses into the unknown. I’m learning to let go of my grandmother who counseled me on what it means to move forward in the face of loss. I’m thinking of letter she wrote to me only two years ago describing how she dealt with losing her youngest child to cancer, along with three other children, including my father, from accident and illness prior to that. My mother and father have also entered this sacred space by ministering to friends dying of cancer: My father, before his own passing, went to find a priest to offer last rites in the middle of the night; my mother and some other women gathered to sing hymns to their friend as she drifted in and out of consciousness, and then washed her body after she expired. When my dad died 24 years ago, one of his friends counseled me that in times like these we can express ourselves through music when words aren’t up to the task. So, barreling down the interstate through the Florida night, I sang at the top of my lungs with the Victoria Williams song on the car stereo: “What kinda song would you give/ If you had a song to give? What kind of life would you live/ If you had a life to live?”
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Opinion Cover Story
Negotiating with Trump on regs President-elect Trump says he wants to repeal two corporate regulations for every one created. Many conservative
Way to shove it What a fantastic description of a truly awful experience [“Triaditude Adjustment: Take this job…”; by Jelisa Castrodale; Dec. 7, 2016]. I love that you calmly walked away and out the door. Becky Medlin, via triad-city-beat.com
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Thanks, Scrooge In case anyone wants to duplicate this footage [“You’ve never seen Greensboro’s lighted tree balls like this — from above”; by Eric Ginsburg; Dec. 15, 2015], be aware that this neighborhood is within the five-mile exclusion zone for the Greensboro airport, and requires a waiver to fly a drone in this airspace. Also commercial use of drone footage
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End of an era This is so sad that this house is closing [“Holly Haven, a family care home for people with HIV, closes”; by Jordan Green, Dec. 14, 2016]. It’s good that it’s not needed as a hospice type place but sad because it special place in a lot of hearts. I volunteered there and worked there. It was a very special place and will truly be missed. Sebastion, via triad-city-beat.com
Hashing on Hush I wasn’t super impressed by the chatty bartenders who clearly don’t know that a speakeasy you speak privately and only when spoken to [“Barstool: Let’s talk about Hush speakeasy”; by Kat Bodrie; Nov. 30, 2016]. Bartending was very subpar, having to review lists before making anything, uncertainty of what spirits were stocked, and above all the employees dress code was further subpar [than] their bartending skills. Good idea, but seriously needs to take some hints from Little Branch in Manhattan. This place would be amazing if it was refined and tuned a bit better, so I’ll give it another chance as I bought a membership for a year. Recent Hush Visitor, via triad-city-beat. com
Republicans want to get rid of corporate regulations but for some reason they don’t want to get rid of regulations on individual American citizens. Why is that? Many politicians say that corporations are people but they don’t think that people should be treated like corporations. Donald Trump and the Republican Congress can really change the status quo by creating one law. We should have a national law, or constitutional amendment that states that all laws, taxes and regulations are temporary. If these regulations work, and are supported by the people, they can be renewed. If they don’t work, or aren’t supported by the people they can go away. Imagine if all government was temporary. Chuck Mann, Greensboro
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without licensing carries hefty fines. Jonathan Faw, via triad-city-beat.com
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Dec. 21 — 28, 2016
a link to get on the bus to DC for the inauguration protests, some more general reading and a well-sourced guide about how to organize against Trump. Hopefully something in here speaks to you. I’m sure parts of it won’t. Write your own guide, or send us an 800-word guest column about what should be done. Continue the conversation with us, or with your friends or comrades. The important thing is to take action. Check out the list of 10 things to do right now, especially if you’d consider yourself new to the resistance. Then, read on.
Cover Story
For beginners
Welcome to the struggle against Trumpism by Eric Ginsburg his is Donald Trump’s America.
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With the ceremonial Electoral College decision behind us, now is the time to face the reality of a Trump regime head-on. That is the first step. Now it’s time to do something about it. You’ve come here for different reasons — some of you were politically awakened for the first time during this election, some reawakened and others are just more enraged. You might be here because of Trump’s comments about sexual assault and the women who came forward to confirm he acted on his claims. Or maybe it’s Steve Bannon’s appointment as “chief strategist” and the rise of explicit white supremacy and nationalism all the way to the cabinet that set you off. While it matters what brought you to this point, what’s more important is that you’re here, and you’re ready to sign up for the resistance. So welcome. Trump, his cabinet and his platform catalyzed outrage across the country. You don’t need to be told how terrifying his statements about a Muslim registry are, or convinced that his attacks on the press and private citizens alike are unacceptable. What you want to know is what the hell to do about it. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t even have most of
them. And you’re bound to disagree with some, or even a lot, of what I’ll lay out. I do have some insights, gleaned from years of experience as an organizer — both paid and volunteer — in widely divergent efforts. Some were much more successful than others. I studied history and minored in community & justice studies as an undergrad, focusing on social movements whenever possible, ranging from local organizing around public schools to armed coal-miner uprisings almost 100 years ago in West Virginia. I once managed a city council campaign. I’ve spent years covering protests of different stripes and many hours interviewing organizers and participants. I talked to a few more after Trump’s election about what can be done. All of that is to say, I have some experience but it is by no means authoritative. In my quest to understand what’s happening in our country right now and what can be done, I’ve been reading vociferously. I’ve yet to find one great piece that says it all. And that’s why I’m pulling this together — not to be any sort of definitive guide, but to try to pass along the best advice from what I’ve found. You can find links to some of the best readings in the online version of this article. It includes an incredibly detailed guide filled with lessons from the tea party’s success that could prove very useful. There are tips for journalists,
The resistance will take many forms, and that’s a good thing. Regardless of your skill level, familiarity with organizing, or how comfortable you are in different settings, there is a place for you here. You belong, and you can help. You’ve already taken the first steps, by coming to terms with our political reality and resolving to do something about it. The next move is to figure out where you want to start. Assess the existing organizations in the area. When I first got involved in activism, I spent a while just going to different groups’ meetings and checking them out, learning more about how they did things, what they believed, and where I thought I could fit. Juan Miranda, a labor organizer and a member of the International Socialist Organization in Greensboro, agreed. He suggested that people find a group that fits with them, join it and be open to learning. Miranda, who is helping to organize the bus from Greensboro to the DC inauguration protests, suggested other ideas too, including more forums, public assemblies and other ways to demonstrate resistance such as yard signs. Being public about your resistance can be uncomfortable, and it’s not for everyone. But there are such varied ways to do it that it is worth thinking about how you might be more public. My grandmother who lives in small town Ohio is wearing a safety pin as a signal that she wants to be an ally. Around the time of North Carolina’s so-called Amendment One against gay marriage, signs of inclusion popped up all over the place in people’s yards and windows. Being more public could mean wearing a shirt with a slogan or speaking up when a coworker says something racist. (If there’s a particular coworker who’s said offensive or oppressive things already, consider talking to them privately before something else happens.) Being more public could also mean convincing your place of worship to vocally condemn religious persecution of Muslims or giving part of your business’ profits to a grassroots organization. Whatever it looks like, consider the risks and encourage yourself and others to speak up more when possible. It’s necessary to understand that this isn’t just about Donald Trump. It’s not just about his regime, or the white nationalists he’s emboldened. Opposing his agenda can be done on local, state or national levels, but regardless of your target, it probably makes the most sense to start at home. That doesn’t mean you have to focus on the Winston-Salem City Council, but it does mean connecting with neighbors, friends and strangers to
One of the most important lessons of organizing is to avoid over-committing yourself. It’s easy to be energized by a new issue or fight and throw everything you have into it, both for first-timers and movement veterans. But this is a huge mistake — it isn’t sustainable, and when you inevitably pull back, there’s a good chance that you’ve committed to doing specific tasks and that people are counting on you. Burnout destroys momentum. It is paramount to ease into something and gradually increase your involvement (think of any healthy relationship) rather than sprinting into something new. Do that for yourself, and to avoid causing harm to the very causes and organizations you are trying to breathe life into. Instead, find a way to increase your involvement over time. Organizations like World Relief High Point, which resettles refugees from places like Syria,
10 things you can do right now, today 1. Identify an organization Connecting with an organization is an important first step. Maybe you already have a relationship with one, but you’re choosing to deepen it. Then think about what you want your involvement to look like. This could mean all sorts of different things, but find something you’re comfortable with to start, like attending a public meeting. Sign up for their email lists.
6. Find a protest If you’ve never been to a protest, maybe start by showing up and watching one from a distance. If you’re well versed, bring someone who isn’t. It will likely be easy to find a local protest on Facebook, especially around the inauguration. You may decide that protests aren’t your thing, but attend at least one before making up your mind.
2. Make a plan What can you reasonably commit to doing? Maybe it’s spending one day a month with your partner and/or kids volunteering. Maybe it’s an hour every Monday making calls to your elected officials. Maybe it’s forming a book group that specifically focuses on better understanding autocratic regimes or historical examples of resistance. Figure out something you can do with some regularity, and commit to that plan.
7. Download Signal Signal is a free messaging app that is much more secure than texting or other apps. Considering what we know about the massive NSA surveillance of everyday folks, and that it already looks like Trump is pursuing a witch hunt against government employees who’ve been involved in climate change talks, it’s worth taking the simple step to communicate more securely when possible.
3. Start small Whatever your level of activism or advocacy, take it up a notch. That doesn’t mean if you’ve been pretty apolitical to turn it up to 11 — it means give yourself an achievable target and then meet it. You can always take it up from there, but if you aim too high and fail, you will only demoralize yourself (and maybe let others down).
8. Call your representatives It may not feel like they’re listening, but it’s an easy place to get started. Call their local offices (rather than DC or Raleigh) and focus on a specific issue. Call to thank them for a particular stance or to urge them to oppose a proposal. Call your representatives and call often. Better yet, show up to the office or to an in-person event! If you decide this is a waste of time, call other leaders you know and urge them to take action — maybe your pastor, imam or rabbi. Call your friends and check on them in these trying times, too.
4. Donate Ask friends and family to give to a specific organization on your behalf instead of presents this holiday season. Or give in someone else’s name. Ideally set up recurring, automatic (monthly) donations to an organization. Set aside money to donate and ask your kids to help you decide where it should go. Start a change jar for the resistance. Or find other things you can donate including furniture, time, canned food and the like. 5. Invite a friend Find a friend who you trust and can discuss these issues with comfortably. Agree to get involved together. You can share the same level of involvement and learn together, or maybe one of you is helping the other feel comfortable taking greater action. Both are valuable. Having someone to talk to about everything is priceless, but be careful not to make the other person solely responsible for your emotional wellbeing.
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work together for a common cause. There is bound to be tension around where to draw the line, because chances are you care about more than just a single issue. Consider where you can have the most impact — winnable goals aren’t great just because they accomplish something concrete, but also because they prove to you and others that success is possible. Find some specific, small things you can change and do that. Build from there. If your goal is to prevent a Muslim registry — a weighty challenge that is one of the most important targets — you need to think about strategy and tactics. In fact, any good campaign or effort takes both into consideration. Tactics are the small stuff that further the strategy. For example: Activists once held a sit-in at then-Sen. Kay Hagan’s office — a tactic — as part of a strategy to get her to be more supportive of the Dream Act and immigration reform (with comprehensive reform as the goal). Some people and groups are all tactics — Let’s protest without a specific goal in mind! — with no strategy, while others have great theories about their goals but don’t figure out the steps to execute a plan. Those meetings are filled with lots of hot air. The key thing to remember is that no one tactic or strategy will win on its own. Street protests or the 2018 midterm elections by themselves will not save us. That doesn’t mean that either isn’t worth it. What it does mean is that it will take all of us, in all kinds of ways, to win. (Keep that in mind before you condemn someone else’s approach.) Want more tactics? Google “198 Methods of Nonviolent Action” and read the list by famous writer Gene Sharp that includes everything from “humorous skits and pranks” to strikes. Want more strategies? Here are a few specific ones. • Disrupt and boycott all of Trump’s businesses. If he’s going to keep his hands in his companies, that makes them easy leverage points that can draw his focus away from devising horrifying and authoritarian new laws. • Sue to stop new laws from taking effect. You could potentially be a plaintiff in a case. • Don’t overly focus on his personality. Instead, target the things that will erode his support, such as his inability to bring back manufacturing jobs or his corruption and nepotism. (And don’t get too distracted by his media sideshows.) • If a Muslim registry were created, come up with tactics to interfere with it and a strategy of making the registry unworkable, whether that’s signing up non-Muslims, occupying any registry office or accepting the legal consequences of destroying such a list (much like anti-draft protesters did during the war in Vietnam after removing the rolls from a local draft office). • Convince local city councils to adopt stances similar to those taken by the mayor of New York or the San Francisco City Council about noncompliance with deportations or hateful, unconstitutional legislation.
9. Read real news Be careful to rely only on trustworthy news sources. Don’t repost something that seems outrageous without checking the veracity of the source. Find two reputable news organizations (preferably print media outlets) and go directly to their sites on a regular basis rather than relying on social media feeds to put the news in front of you. Staying informed is important. Better yet, get a print or digital subscription. 10. Take care of yourself We need you in this fight. Prevent burnout by taking time to care for yourself, to relax. Don’t feel like this is on your shoulders alone. Do not feel guilty for continuing to enjoy a mindless TV show or for missing an event. Be ready and willing to give up some of your routine and comfortability to the resistance, but do not lose yourself. Your joy is important and so is your health.
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offer a really wide range of ways you can help. At a basic level, World Relief needs toiletries like soap and shampoo, Office Director Jennifer Foy said. But you can also volunteer, and plug in to help set up an arriving family’s home, meet them at the airport and share their first meal in the US with them. People can volunteer once or repeatedly, Foy said, doing everything from driving a parent without transportation to their kid’s school to meet a teacher, taking different families to a partnering thrift store or doing something less interpersonal but nevertheless valuable such as data entry. Foy also said people can call their representatives and express their support for refugees and the resettlement agency. Gov.-elect Roy Cooper has been supportive in the past, the state legislature less so, Foy said. She doesn’t know what to expect from a Trump administration. Most of the people who they help are Syrian and Congolese families, many with young children, she said. And all of them arrive with a path to citizenship and the intention to stay, which makes welcoming them all the more important.
You’ll find out quickly, if you don’t already know, that most groups and causes are fractured. There’s a divide between organizations seeking to meet immediate needs and those focused on longer-term objectives. There’s a gap between those doing electoral work and those organizing street protests or sit-ins. And there’s often no communication between reformists and revolutionaries. Don’t feel obligated to pick a lane and stay in it. Just because things frequently happen in silos — something people routinely gripe about in Greensboro in particular — doesn’t mean they should stay in them. Look for opportunities to build coalitions and alliances. Get to know all different sorts of people. Find ways to connect the dots. There’s a real need for a unifying strategy that bridges the individual tactics, parent organizer Valerie Warren said. Warren was arrested last week while protesting the state legislature’s emergency session aimed at limiting the governor-elect’s powers, and she spent considerable energy on the United Against Hate campaign to stop Trump’s election. She argued that there’s a deep need for electoral strategies that are built out of power organized on a local level first, with grassroots activism tying into electoral politics rather than being separated from them. “Every moment, our compliance with this system is a choice,” she said, “and we don’t feel like it’s a choice. There’s real reasons people feel they can’t get arrested or miss a day of work, but it’s still a choice.” As you go forward, maybe you’ll find that you fit best in a political party. It would be hard to deny after this election that there’s plenty of work to be done there. Regardless of party, there’s plenty to do to reclaim or improve local parties from factions that don’t serve the needs of their constituents or don’t boldly stand up to Trumpian politics. You can be a part of changing that.
Find a mentor and other people you can look up to. For journalists, it might be someone like New York Times’ columnist Charles Blow. For Valerie Warren, its Civil Rights Movement icon Ella Baker. Study their words and actions. Find a flesh-and-blood person who’s been doing this for a while and ask for help understanding a term or an organizational strategy. Connect with people more experienced than you and learn from their successes and failures. To that end, study history. Read books like A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn for inspiration. Feed your thirst for knowledge and don’t accept terse answers to big questions. One friend recently read the Quran to gain a deeper understanding. Another is consuming Hannah Arendt’s book The Origins of Totalitarianism. Broaden your scope beyond our national borders and learn about how people are reacting to similar situations around the world. Study some bigger ideas — not the obvious stuff like the Communist Manifesto, though you can read that if you really want to (I’ve tried and didn’t get very far), but rather theories of social movements or change. Look up everything from human-centered design to relative deprivation theory. If something doesn’t work for you, don’t get hung up on it — move on. The same could be said about any of this. If something doesn’t resonate with you, or you try something and feel you’ve failed, do something else. What’s important is that you keep thinking, then acting, then reflecting on how the action went and then taking modified action. That’s a praxis put forward by Paulo Freire who wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and maybe it will stick with you. Or maybe you’ll find you prefer anti-colonialist Franz Fanon, or the writings of Saul Alinsky. Maybe you’ll reject all three, and send me a list of some rad women theorists I should’ve put here instead. I’d love that. The important thing is that you stay engaged, that you don’t burn out and that you find ways to deepen and grow your participation in the resistance. Because we need everyone we can get to turn this around, and you’ve already taken the first steps. Hell, if you’ve survived this long through my ramblings, you’re ready for your first activist meeting!
For the more seasoned participants
Plenty of you have been doing this work for a long time. Some for longer than I’ve been alive. Chances are you could articulate this section better than I can, but here are some things to consider. Now is a time when people can become depressed or give in to fear. As organizer Juan Miranda put it, the alterative is to mobilize them, and it’s the job of folks who have been involved in the struggle for longer to help with that. Do we turn people away because of assumptions we make about their experiences and intentions, he asked, or do we help them become agents of change?
To that end, do not demand ideological purity. This doesn’t mean accepting toxic behavior or allowing someone’s racism to go unchecked. But it does mean seeking to find common ground with people, trying to grow together and staying focused. There’s a tremendous opportunity for Muslims and Jews to come together to resist religious persecution (be it a Muslim registry, Islamophobic or anti-Semitic platforms), but if they demand an agreement on Israel/Palestine as a precursor to working together, the alliance will crumble. Take this a step further. Try to welcome anyone who shows up in good faith and wants to be involved. You do not have the luxury of turning these folks away. Having various opportunities for people to get involved and plug in immediately is key. But so is hanging in with folks through the tough conversations. Maybe you’re not the one to have that talk with them, but if you’re part of an organization, someone needs to be ready to do that. This may mean that your organization will have different sets of meetings, say one designed to welcome new members and teach them about what you do and another for the vets to make decisions. This can be really productive because you intentionally think about how to welcome new people but you also don’t spend half of a business meeting catching folks up. From Jesse Singal’s recent New York magazine article on why some protests succeed while others fail: “Other than wanting to help, there should be almost zero prerequisites. If someone doesn’t speak the lingo, or doesn’t know what intersectionality is, or anything else — it doesn’t matter — they can still contribute. And the more you can make activism part of their social life, the more of a meaningful role you can give them, the more likely they will be to stick around and to spread the word.” Failing to do this is one of the single greatest reasons that people drop out of movements. They don’t feel welcome, and it could be as simple as the fact that everyone at the meeting already knows each other and nobody is talking to them. This isn’t to say that creating safe spaces isn’t worthwhile. Not every group is designed to welcome all comers, and that’s fine. But at the very least, be ready to redirect folks to other resources and organizations so that they don’t feel entirely rejected and unwelcome. Some of you no doubt are at a loss for what to do, scoffing at some of the ideas laid out already as too basic or reformist to have the kind of impact needed at this historic juncture. Here are some things that might help you figure out a way forward. A meaningful resistance movement builds relational power between individuals and organizations to meet a larger aim. It’s perfectly possible to work on disparate subjects as long as there’s an ability to unite on certain issues, or at the very least stand by each other and avoid being picked off one by one. Figuring out a way to create and strengthen those connections is no easy task, which is no doubt why Miranda, Warren and others spoke who about the need for it don’t have all the answers for how to make that happen.
For everyone
No matter where you fall on the experience or ideological spectrum, there are some lessons that are worth emphasizing for everyone. Consider this the TL;DR for the article: • The resistance must be a sustained effort. It cannot succeed if it’s sporadic and occasional. Several smart folks have argued that the Moral Monday movement deserves credit for creating the context in which Gov. Pat McCrory would lose by applying regular pressure and tarnishing his image. The concerted boycott against North Carolina after HB 2 built on that foundation. How else could McCrory have lost statewide while Trump won? • Regardless of where you stand, what’s required of you is deeper, more routine participation. You’ll need to be
willing to give up some things if your resistance is going to have a real impact. • Many of us failed to fully imagine a Trump presidency, assuring ourselves first that he’d disappear during the primaries and later that he didn’t have a path to the White House. We must not again fail to imagine the scope of what a Trump presidency could mean. Stop talking about Republicans impeaching Trump and start formulating a real strategy and tactics. • That means preparing for the worst. Even if you don’t think it’s going to happen, and even if it doesn’t, we must think and talk about what that looks like. You have one month to get ready. • Things might feel bleak. “The level of authoritarianism we’re facing now is one I’ve feared my whole life, and I hoped we’d have more time before it was here,” Warren said. But she and organizer Juan Miranda agreed there’s
a “new wave of energy” to fight back against Trump’s agenda and what he represents, making this a potent time to increase the scope of who is part of the resistance beyond the regular players. Trump is polarizing, Miranda argued, which could mean a broader possible pool of who might be interested in some sort of pushback. • Read things written on this and related subjects by people who are smarter than me, people like Toni Morrison and Ta-Nehisi Coates. Comment on the online version of this article with links to other helpful readings. Discuss this stuff offline with people. • Get comfortable with the word “comrade.” It doesn’t have to be a communist thing — and I’m no commie — but thinking about camaraderie and solidarity with people who aren’t your kin or friends is going to be essential. This is not about unifying punk subcultures or just getting feelgood nonprofits together — this is about all of us. • Take care of yourself, and work on yourself, too. That means taking a break, and it can also mean things like going through an anti-racism training or taking a self-defense class (there are occasionally free women’s self-defense classes taught around here). • Take care of each other. There’s a reason the message of “Be careful with each other so you can be dangerous together” is popular. • Do not dismiss or idolize groups of people. There is no proletarian working class anymore. The white working class is not a uniform “other.” You do not have the luxury of refusing to form alliances with the liberal do-gooders or the militant antifascists. You cannot tell trans people (or anyone) to sideline their struggle because “class is more important,” or some other such garbage. • I know normally the idea of ranking people is pretty gross, but consider this union organizing technique: Rank people or organizations from 1 to 5, with 1 being strong resistance supporter, 2 being mild/casual supporter, 3 being neutral, 4 being mildly opposed and 5 being staunchly opposed. The goal is to always move people up the ladder, convincing mild opponents to be neutral or encouraging somewhat passive supporters to be more engaged. (This piece is aimed primarily at making 2s into 1s and 3s into 2s, for example.) But don’t worry about trying to win over the hardened 5s — it’s a waste of your time and you will probably just inflame them. Your time is better spent elsewhere. As Warren put it, “Make an assessment about people’s willingness to be moved. Find common values that they’re willing to do work around and basically understand that the way we’re able to meet those mutual goals is working together.” • There is no tactic that will win on its own, no one group that can succeed alone. Be open to trying new things and to respecting other approaches. Fail and learn, and then get back out there. • Do not give up. You are not alone. You can take breaks, but we need you with us. Channel your anger, your fear, your sorrow, your hope into the resistance. No hero is coming, and there is no time to waste. We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.
triad-city-beat.com
In addition to thinking about ways to build relational power (as opposed to hierarchical power — think power with rather than power over), also think about the various fronts that the resistance requires. Some people frame it as offensive versus defensive. The guide outlining the lessons from the tea party (linked in the online version of this piece) is primarily defensive. That’s also what many folks are focused on when thinking about reacting to Trump and Trumpist policies. Defense is crucial, of course — “Obviously we have to react,” Miranda said. Without it, the resistance most certainly loses. But it isn’t enough on its own, he said. What does offense look like, and what falls in between? If there is a more concerted campaign to take down Breitbart, one that targets its advertisers to decrease its revenue, that could be considered defensive — defending against a white nationalist megaphone — or an offensive against a clear threat. The ambiguity about where it belongs likely underscores the need for strategies that encompass both, but it could also highlight the shortcomings of an offensive/defensive framework. Consider the concept of dual power. Here’s a crude definition — picture two types of resistance, one that is focused on creating an alternative outside the confines of the current system and a second that defends the alternative and aims to weaken the opposition. For some people in the resistance, the goal is likely a return to “normalcy,” the type of life that they anticipated under a Hillary Clinton presidency. That requires a very different strategy — one that aims to minimize damage and then wrestles control of Congress and then the presidency — than one that doesn’t just pontificate about an alternative, but builds it. If you fall into the latter camp and are considering writing off the more liberal or moderate folks, consider organizer Valerie Warren’s argument. “I don’t see the different things that groups are doing as in conflict with one another,” she said. “We need to find ways to be in solidarity. People who work to build power in an electoral context and those who do active resistance are not in conflict. What’s lacking is a unifying strategy, and we need to build onto each other’s work and find points of leverage instead of draining each other’s resources.”
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Dec. 21 — 28, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball
Cheap and easy, Japanese food delivers as winter sets in by Eric Ginsburg
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ainy days call for lazy lunches. But I’ve eaten more delivery pizza and drive-thru menu options lately than I’d like to admit, so when my friend Lamar and I decided to grab lunch on this dreary and unseasonably warm Sunday, we hit the road. We didn’t know exactly where we were headed when he hopped in my car, him searching places on his phone while I drove. He’s been trying to get me to try this restaurant on Randleman Road, but this would be the second time I’ve agreed only to pull up in the parking lot and find it closed. Lamar called ahead to a soul food joint, but nobody answered and we couldn’t find a website. We elected to drive down the nearby Gate City Boulevard, knowing there would be more than enough options on the city’s so-called International Restaurant Row to please us. But we wanted to try somewhere new, and for a food writer and his Greensboro native and food enthusiast friend, that’s no easy task. We pulled up to a taqueria attached to a small market, way out towards Jamestown, but it appeared that the adjoining eatery might be out of business. I say all this not to whine, but to set the scene (it was a bleak, gray day and we were increasingly hungry) ERIC GINSBURG The udon noodle soup with chicken is a great companion for a rainy day. and to make a point (that at times Greensboro’s dining options are depressingly lackluster). I’ve never heard anyone mention Ginza, a Japanese udon dish arrived, because the server clarified when I vegetarian combo options as low at $4.25 — or sesame restaurant that’s right alongside the road in an area ordered it that I knew I’d be getting a soup. That’s fair, chicken for just $5.15 — Ginza is a huge trade up from where many are set back in shopping centers, right at considering it’s under the noodle heading on the menu the normal fast-food feast you could lock down for the the intersection of Groometown and Gate City by the and there isn’t much in the way of a description, but same amount. $1.50 theater. But despite the late lunch hour, patrons that might give you a little insight into what Ginza is The other lunch choices remain filled almost half of the rather plain like. mostly straightforward, but there restaurant, with others popping in There are other Japanese restaurants in this area of are combinations with scallop, the to pick up takeout orders. Visit Ginza at 2807 southwest Greensboro, most notably Kiha II of Japan. fish is flounder we were told, there’s If we lived closer and were apGroometown Road (GSO). steak and then there’s yakiniku Ginza doesn’t quite reach that bar, instead ranking proaching this lazy lunch properly, above small but busy dives such as Midori Express on (grilled) steak, and there are four that’s what we would’ve done, too Randleman Road. soba noodle options. When it comes — a bowl of udon noodle soup so But the appeal here is the price point and conveto appetizers, popular items including edamame, hot it’s almost scalding is the perfect rainy day couch nience. For our gloomy Sunday, Ginza felt perfect. gyozas (fried, and pretty tasty but not remarkable), food. It may not be as good as the pork cutlet udon at one shumai, cheese wontons and shrimp and spring Grill N’ Pho U inside of Super G Mart, but at $6.50 for Post script: Two days later around noon, Lamar textrolls. chicken & udon, I’m certainly not complaining. ed me with a simple proposition — “Ginza?” I’m guessing that a whole lot of uninitiated GreensCheap, no frills food is perfect for days like these, borians have come here and been pissed when their or casual lunches in general. With teriyaki or hibachi
Triaditude Adjustment
16
Pick of the Week
PIZZERIA
L’ITALIANO
Shot in the Triad
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Large 1-topping pizza
11
$
99 Good through 12/27/16
Monday – Thursday
Order online at pizzerialitaliano.net
219 S Elm Street, Greensboro • 336
WE ! DELIVER 274 4810
ary’s Gourmet Diner
(336) 723-7239
breakfastofcourse.com
Christmas Breakfast for the Homeless @ West Market Street United Methodist Church (GSO), Dec. 25, 7:30 a.m. The United Methodist Church holds their seventh annual Christmas breakfast the morning of Christmas. Volunteers and donations are welcome to help friends who may not have a family or a home. More information at wmsumc.org.
triad-city-beat.com
Two nerds walk into Beer Geeks
Up Front News Opinion Cover Story
The flat-screen TV and fireplace draw patrons inside the toasty garage-barn.
KAT BODRIE
gatecityvineyard.com • 336.323.1288 • 204 S. Westgate Dr., Greensboro
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We would love for you to join us on Saturday, December 24th for one of our favorite Christmas traditions: the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Bring all of your family and friends and experience an inspiring message about the power, wonder, and hope of Christmas, complete with your favorite Christmas songs and an inspiring time of lighting candles together. Childcare is provided for children 5 and under.
Shot in the Triad
Saturday, December 24th at 5pm
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Candlelight Service
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imagine them rolled up in summer, picnic tables warmth comes primarily from heaters hung from the moved out onto the concrete patio, the lights strung ceiling. If you’re lucky, snag the faux leather seats and between buildings shining like lightning couch, and you’ll feel like you’re in your bugs. own living room. Visit Beer Geeks at For now, I’ll take a slow Sunday, a pint Most of the customers that day of something dark and the hope that were intent on scarfing burgers from 1620 Foxtrot Court the Panthers can crawl out of the hole Food Freaks, which they ordered at the in Winston-Salem. they’ve dug themselves into. outdoor walk-up. It’s a step up from the former Kernel Kustard, a frozen custard shop, thanks to menu variety and the Kat loves red wine, Milan Kundera, and the Shins. She new indoor seating in the barn/garage. wears scarves at katbodrie.com. Three of the walls are garage doors, and I could
Culture
The word “geek” has never been correlated with beer in my mind, but Beer Geeks has such a nice ring to it — and rhymes with the adjacent Food Freaks burger establishment — that my husband and I, geeks ourselves, had to try it. Located on Hanes by Kat Bodrie Mall Boulevard in west Winston-Salem, it’s a step removed from holiday traffic, although you’ll want to take Jonestown Road to get there this time of year. When we visited on Dec. 11, the place was quiet — just the way we like our bars. Allagash White, a Belgian-style wheat from Allagash Brewing Co. in Maine, headlined the draught list. The bartender said it’s always on tap, and a keg typically disappears within two days; others last around five. I was impressed that half the beer list — four of the eight taps — hailed from Four Saints Brewery, located in Asheboro, and they were only $5 each for a 13-ounce pour. I opted for the homegrown Hoots Morning Stout, a kick-in-your-mouth delight that’s double local, as it’s brewed with espresso beans from Krankies Coffee in Winston-Salem, too. I’d like to try the Sonoma bourbon-barrel cider sometime, as well as the cans and bottles from throughout the state, including Bombshell’s black ale and Granite Falls’ Scottish brew. My husband caved for the Foothills Frostbite IPA — dark-roasted and delicious on tap, although it can also be found at other bars in the Triad, including the company’s own brewpub and taproom. Later, he switched to the Four Saints’ Belgian-style dubbel, which had no heft and was disappointing, but not nearly as much as the un-remodeled bar area. A few years ago, this building housed Brew Nerds, a coffee shop with lots of windows and such a stark, white interior that it felt like an episode of “The Jetsons.” We like dark bars where we can disappear into a corner, and that seemed impossible here. That is until we took our drinks to the adjacent building that feels part barn and part garage. A wood-burning fireplace flanks one wall, as does a giant flat-screen TV. The fire gives a homey effect, but the
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Dec. 21 — 28, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment
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CULTURE Jim Avett regales High Point with tall tales by Anthony Harrison
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andles burned softly in Mason jars, occupying the centers of tables where middle-aged patrons of High Point’s Centennial Arts Center sipped wine from stemmed glasses and murmured quietly before the show on Dec. 15. After a short introduction, Jim Avett rose from the wings of the audience. He ambled up to the short, skirted stage, dressed simply in a hunter-green flannel shirt, burnt-orange leather vest, brown dungarees and brown work boots. He plucked his brownish-gray fedora off the headstock of the acoustic guitar standing onstage — a Martin signature model made to his son Seth’s specifications — and, placing it on his head to cover his shock of white hair and to shield his eyes from the spotlight, settled into his chair to play. Most recognize Jim Avett’s sons before they’d recognize him. His family’s name precedes him, as the Avett Brothers represent North Carolina’s latest favorite natives in a long history of musicians hailing from the Old North State. And Jim happily referenced his famous sons. But Jim, the patriarch, is his own breed of performer. ANTHONY Jim Avett, the less famous dad of the Avett Brothers, is an “About two months ago, Seth, Scott and I HARRISON excellent songwriter in his own right. were sitting in the front room, and I said, ‘I play guitar to sing the songs people don’t hear,’” Jim “This old guitar taught me to sing a love song/ It showed Avett said in an interview. “Well, then Seth said, ‘No, you play me how to laugh and how to cry,” he sang, doing Denver guitar to tell people stories.’” justice. And he did tell stories — dozens of stories, rolling from the Avett grew up around music. His mother was a concert back of his mind to the tip of his tongue, forming long and pianist. winding segues between his numbers, medleys connecting “She was the kind of person who’d be fixin’ supper, and I’d medleys. Aside from those about his family, there were others be playing violin in another room, and I’d hit a sour note, and he’d picked up sporadically in his 69 years of living. she’d say, ‘You’re lookin’ for a B-flat,’” Avett said following “I knew a guy who’d lived through the Depression,” Avett the show. said at the beginning of his set. “His daddy once fell out of He learned how to play guitar — after four years on piano a persimmon tree, broke his arm. People asked him, ‘What and three on violin — when he was 13 years old. His father, a were you doin’ up in that persimmon tree?’ He said, ‘Getting Methodist minister, bought him a guitar for $5. breakfast.’” “The guitar was completely perfect in my eyes,” Avett told A smattering of laughs. his listeners. “It didn’t have a soundhole; it had two F-holes, “Y’all’re gonna be a tough crowd,” Avett chuckled to clearer like a fiddle, and cracks in the finish. It looked like it’d been appreciation. painted with a pine limb and tar. But it was mine, so it was Perhaps he’d misread his audience, because they couldn’t perfect.” help but hang on his every word. His older brother showed him how to play a simple, threeHe paused and suddenly embarked on what would soon be chord blues progression out of C, the same way many others understood as a characteristic tangent. begin their journey on the instrument. “I’ve been kicked outta two colleges — rightfully so,” Avett “There are over 1,600 chords on this fretboard, and I knew told the crowd. “I made a 9 once on a physics test. How do three of ’em, and I was too young to be afraid,” Avett said. you score a 9 on a physics test and become anything?” Many of Avett’s songs were covers — classic country, The crowd really started laughing then. gospel, Christmas tunes, some rock-and-roll and even Sam Avett practiced this Groucho-esque self-deprecation Cooke’s soul standard, “You Send Me.” throughout his performance. “That’s the one that got Susie,” Avett said, referring to his “I got my sense of humor from my uncles, my dad, my wife. mother,” Avett said after the room cleared. “My relatives He made a quick point of delineating eras in music. were very open people. If you don’t laugh at yourself, you “[I’m playing] country music before 1980, when country don’t get to laugh at anybody. And I laugh at everybody.” music went… bad,” he said to laughs. “I’m not against new After a few minutes on stage, he proved he wasn’t just an music — I’m against bad music.” amateur comedian. Between the jokes and the songs, Avett would philosophize He opened with John Denver’s “This Old Guitar,” fingerpickon the state of modern life. ing and serenading in a weathered yet dulcet baritone voice. “Only 10 percent of the population supports creativity,”
Avett estimated. “The rest of the people don’t care what’s playing in the elevator, in the grocery store. You gotta keep putting things in the pipeline or it all gets old.” After his set concluded, couples fell upon him, gushing that he should write a book or record a CD of his philosophies. Avett laughed off the idea. “I don’t think I say much of anything worth remembering,” Avett told them.
All Showtimes @ 9:00pm 12/20 Laura Jane Vincent, Private Sun 12/21 Comedy and Burlesque Night
ft. Hellcat Harlowe and Ivory Queen 12/22 Crow’s Nest Presents The Night-
mare Before Christmas Toys for Tots Benefit 12/23 Francois & Bjorn, Paddy Kaye
701 N Trade Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101
(336)955-1888 Pick of the Week Last Minute @ Muddy Creek Cafe (W-S), Friday, 7 p.m. Virginia-based bluegrass band Last Minute plays a multi-genre set with traditional bluegrass instruments. Their humorous take on Americana, as well as surprise guests, will entertain audiences wherever the band roams. For more info visit muddycreekcafeandmusichall.com.
Baby bird lands in Winston Square park by Jordan Green
EVENTS
Wednesday, December 21 @ 7pm
Caroling & Cocoa
Thursday, December 22 @ 8pm
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Open Mic Night
Friday, December 23 @ 8pm
Food Drive Show feat. Douglas Moore Jr. & DC Carter
News
Monday, December 26 @ 7pm
Mystery Movie Monday
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602 S Elam Ave • Greensboro
(336) 698-3888
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Pick of the Week Drunk-Prov @ The Idiot Box (GSO), Friday, 10 p.m. Fast-paced improv comedians must have their wits about this week, when vodka joins them on stage. No script, no rehearsal… no chaser? More information at idiotboxers.com.
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When the mayor rides it, he shouldn’t be disappointed that it doesn’t fly,” joked Carroll Leggett. “The Wright brothers didn’t fly at first either.” Waiting for Mayor Allen Joines and other political and arts dignitaries to show up at the presentation of a new public art piece at Winston Square in downtown Winston-Salem on Tuesday morning, Leggett, a local freelance publicist, fired off another bon mot. “I feel like we’re in the eye of the biddy,” he said. Then he explained to Brian Kubecki, a local architect, that biddy is another word for chick, adding that one of the highlights of his rural North Carolina childhood was the arrival of mail-order chicks that would grow into chickens and eventually become dinner. The oversized baby bird, constructed from a metal pipes painted in primary colors and assembled Architect Brian Kubecki manipulates “Interactive Bird” as fellow JORDAN GREEN in a geometric configuration, by architect Brad Rucker and artist Aaron Gibbons look on. artist Aaron Gibbons features large googly eyes encased with clear, es will occupy the same space at Winston Square over time. hard plastic bowls extending over watermelon-sized black pu“We want to promote emerging talent and existing talent in pils that create a mirror effect. The sculpture’s frame encloses the city,” Kubecki said. “The idea is to get it off paper and into a red antique tractor seat. A wheel facing the seat is attached the world.” to a series of pulleys to manipulate the bird’s beak and wings. The bird might not be ready for flight, either conceptually or The piece retains the working title Gibbons gave it when he mechanically, considering that its wings are relatively small in started drafting plans: “Interactive Bird.” proportion to its fulsome trunk. Gibbons received the commission for “Interactive Bird” “That just goes back to that it’s a baby bird,” Gibbons exwhen his design was selected by a jury in the “Unruly” design plained. “That’s the way I designed it. It’s possible that it’s just competition sponsored by the Winston-Salem section of the now getting its wings to fly. There is a scale restraint, too.” American Institute of Architects, or AIA. And yet the piece, which is located at a convergence of Kubecki and Brad Rucker, both AIA Winston-Salem mempathways leading to an arena flanked by a system of fountains bers, conceived the competition in late 2012. Kubecki said and artificial boulders in the park, is already doing its job of the project was an outgrowth of architects’ love of design firing imaginations, if Leggett’s musings are any indication. competitions, coupled with AIA Winston-Salem’s sponsorship “One of the overall themes I try to bring back is that childthat year of a design study by Virginia Tech for the emerging like mindset,” said Gibbons, who splits his time as an art Theater District, which includes Winston Square, the Milton teacher between two schools in Mount Airy. “If we can get Rhodes Arts Center, the Sawtooth School and the Stevens back to that as adults we’ve succeeded. Childlike creativity is Center. so raw. I really stress that every child is an artist. Whether they “We thought, This stuff is really good, but we want to bring it choose to pursue that as an adult is really not the point.” into the physical realm and make it tangible,” Kubecki said. Gibbons said he doesn’t know why he’s attracted to geoTaking as their inspiration a similar program at MoMA PS1 metric art, although he certainly has the ability to fashion delin New York City, AIA Winston-Salem issued a request for proicate curves through the forging technique at his home metal posals in 2015. The Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth shop in King, a town outside Winston-Salem. He also works County agreed to fund the competition. with wood, although this piece strictly uses metal. The project takes a kind of tactical approach to animating The result is an accessible piece of art that might engage a public space, and Kubecki said “Interactive Bird” is intentionalsmall child’s imagination more profoundly than a faithful reply a temporary installation. The idea is that the piece will stay resentation of a bird, or help a teenager or young adult grasp up for three months although Kubecki said it could actually engineering concepts by thinking about lengths and angles. be as long as a year. It will be up to Gibbons to decide what “I guess I’d have to go back to that minimalistic thing of happens to the piece after that. AIA Winston-Salem plans breaking it down to its basic elements,” Gibbons said. “It’s just to sponsor another “Unruly” design competition in about 18 natural to me.” months, although Kubecki said he doesn’t want to nail down a precise a timeframe. The idea is that a series of public art piec-
triad-city-beat.com
CULTURE
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Dec. 21 — 28, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment-
20
SPORTSBALL Kart kings battle at the Greensboro Coliseum
T
by Anthony Harrison
he Special Events Center at the Greensboro Coliseum wore the sharp, acrid cologne of burnt rubber and gasoline, despite the enormous white floor fan keeping the audience crowded into the cavernous chamber from succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning during the King of the Concrete go-
kart race on Dec. 17. Part of me — that sickly green serpent named Resentment, curled up in the back of my mind, intermittently hissing deep anxieties with the flicking of its forked tongue — despised being there. My introduction to go-karts came back in the mid’90s. I was an awkward, chubby bookworm living at the end of a gravel road in the northwest corner of Greensboro. I had few friends. The kids populating the new cookie-cutter subdivision up the street were more acquaintances than chums, and we hung out only infrequently. One of them — a buzzcut kid I’ll call Sid — received a go-kart as a gift, I think for his birthday, if memory serves. The go-kart captured the super-rad, Xtreme ’90s zeitgeist more than any toy, a graduation from Power Wheels to something more infinitely badass. I asked Sid if I could take it for a spin sometime. Sid told me if I came around again, he’d stab me. I dashed down the gritty road back home, blubbering tears of horror coated with the sting of social rejection. This led inevitably to a dramatic confrontation between parents, and Sid presumably received some punishment for his threat. I never really hung out with Sid after that, partly because I was afraid, but largely because I realized he was a jackass. Fast-forwarding to the night of Dec. 17 — did my prepubescent experience of being bullied color my perception of the event? I’m no Carl Jung, but I’d say so. Because to me, the crowd represented a bunch of Sids: Adult Sids, lady Sids, screaming-kid Sids, all amped up anticipating the thrill of watching men the size of horse jockeys — good lord, racer Sids — careen around a tiny oval in souped-up versions of the kart Sid Proper threatened to kill me over. What happened right before the crews hauled on the engines’ cords uncoiled Resentment and sent it spitting venom. First off, the emcee bizarrely prompted the crowd to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, that jingoistic creed I hadn’t heard in public since fifth grade. I did not add my voice to the throng. Call me contrarian. Then — as if to further underline the “under God” addition to the pledge — an explicitly, almost aggressively Christian prayer, recounting Jesus’ death on Calvary and thanking Him for bestowing upon us the great sport of kart racing. Call me skeptical. Finally, a prerecorded country version of “The
Cameron Carter needled Bob Baker a few laps after halftime, bumping Baker’s rear. Star-Spangled Banner,” complete with dobro, fiddle and dusty-voiced, baritone twang. Call me elitist. Call me insecure. But I felt like I didn’t belong. Regardless of my feelings, once the races were underway, to my surprise, all those negative vibes melted away with the caterwauling howl of four-stroke engines. The 50-lap race went by quick, despite occasional crashes ushering in caution periods, including one within the first lap. Considering the arena, these were 50 short laps. A mandatory, 10-minute pit stop to tweak and modify the karts occurred halfway through the race, evening the field a bit. It seemed like no one could beat Bob Baker that night. Baker had won eight previous King of the Concrete titles, including five in a row. He was quoted before the race as saying, “If I can win this race right here, I’m gonna retire from racing.” Through most of the race, Baker and his bright red No. 31 held a wide lead over all the competition. But if anyone could catch him, it would be Cameron Carter of Belews Creek in the white No. 171. Carter needled Baker a few laps after halftime, bumping Baker’s rear, trying to work his way to the inside of the curve. But Baker maintained his lead. The No. 16 kart wiped out on the back straightaway towards the tail end of the race, and with seven laps to go and the green flag waving, Carter kept making moves towards Baker’s inside, while Baker shook him off for a time. But three laps to go, and Carter took the lead, working his way inside on the last turn, and even I couldn’t help but cheer.
ANTHONY HARRISON
The checkered flag flew, and Carter rode his victory lap, fists pumping in the air, a new King of the Concrete. “We’ve come here so many times for this race, and we finally got it,” Carter said to the emcee. His family huddled around him — Dad in a wheelchair, infant daughter in his arms, “Baby Mama” beaming beside him. Then Carter, ever full of surprises, added a final twist. “I got one last question I wanted to ask,” Carter told the crowd. Handing off his daughter, Carter dropped to one knee and turned to Baby Mama. “Baby Mama, I want you to marry me,” he proposed. Women gasped. Baby Mama accepted to riotous applause. The love exuded by this country kid for his sport and significant other, culminating in maybe the greatest moment of his life, sent Resentment slithering back into its crevice. Since go-karts led directly to this instant, I found myself forgetting old wounded pride. In the light of love, I could even forgive.
Pick of the Week It’s the hap-happiest season of all Louisiana State University Tigers @ Wake Forest University Demon Deacons (W-S), Thursday, 9 p.m. Basketball season is thick upon us. The Deacs (8-3) have one more game to play before beginning conference play in Tallahassee, Fla. next week, and they’re hosting the LSU Tigers at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. For more info and to buy tickets, visit wakeforestsports.com.
triad-city-beat.com
CROSSWORD
‘Four on the Floor’ putting your order down. by Matt Jones
Drunken Improv by the Idiot Boxers that is both UNSCRIPTED and UNINHIBITED! 10 p.m. FRIDAY, December 23! Tickets: $9 at the door & $5 online! OTHER SHOWS Open Mic 8:30 p.m. Thurs., Dec. 22. $5 tickets!
2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro idiotboxers.com • 336-274-2699
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Friday Night Standup! Featuring Evan Williams! 8:30 p.m. Fri., Dec. 23. Tickets: $12 at the door & $9 online!
Opinion Culture
Playing Dec. 23 – Jan. 1
2016 Doctor Who Christmas Special!
A Geeksboro Tradition! 8 p.m. Sunday, December 25 (Doors open at 6 p.m.) Reservations available at geeksboro.com/drwhochristmas16/
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--OTHER EVENTS & SCREENINGS--
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Board Game Night More than 100 Board & Card Games -- FREE TO PLAY! 7 p.m. Friday, December 23rd!
Saturday Morning Cartoons
Featuring Rudolph, Peanuts Christmas, Emmett Otter & More! 10 a.m. & 12 p.m. Saturday, December 24th. Free Admission & $2 bowls of cereal!
Totally Rad Trivia 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 27 $3 Buy In! Up to Six Player Teams! Winners get CASH PRIZE!
Shot in the Triad
Drink N Draw Meet other artists! All ages & skill levels welcome! 6 p.m. Wednesday, December 28. FREE ADMISSION! COMING SOON Sherlock! Final Series Premiere! 8 p.m. Sunday, January 1st! Reservations available at geeksboro.com/sherlock2017/
Beer! Wine! Amazing Coffee! 2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro geeksboro.com •
336-355-7180
Triaditude Adjustment
Item that plays “Soul Meets Body,” for short? Catch a whiff of “___ of Two Cities” Smooth quality Clue hunter, informally Political org. from 962 to 1806 Mr. Kringle “Get outta here!” Soybean soup 3/5, for example Avocado shape Soft toy substance Literature Nobelist Dylan Burning anger Box on a calendar
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Down 1 Caesar’s “And you?” 2 “___ Torino” (Clint Eastwood film) 3 Strange sport? 4 Splenda, mainly 5 “I’m here so I can greet you ... not!”? 6 Declare one’s view 7 It may have a fork 8 Shade caster 9 “You really think zen master is on my list of attributes?!”? 10 Chrysalides 11 “Birdman” director’s Beetle, e.g.? 12 “Attack, dog!” 13 Finished off
30 31 35 36 44 46 48 49 51 52 53 54 55 56 58
Playing December 22 – 23
Up Front
Across 1 Pound cake ingredients 5 Like apples ready to bake 10 Torre pendente di ___ (European landmark, to locals) 14 Short pants? 15 Speed skater ___ Anton Ohno 16 “SVU” part 17 Diamond’s diametric opposite on the Mohs scale 18 Former Orange Bowl site 19 Walk back and forth 20 Cut ties with, on social media 22 I’d be lion if I said it 24 Lane who sang with Xavier Cugat 25 Title for several Trump cabinet picks 28 Musical miscellany 31 Indeterminate quantity 32 Corp.’s stock market debut ©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 33 Nondairy dairy case item 34 Buccaneers’ bay 36 Pack away 37 1040 filers 38 Cheri once of “SNL” 39 Olympic vehicle 40 Find loathsome 41 Clip joint? 42 Like eight 43 Pokemon protagonist 44 Like some trees or tales 45 Like old rawhide bones 47 Pacific salmon variety 49 Cutty ___ (Scotch whisky) 50 Keystone’s place 51 Wendi ___-Covey of “The Goldbergs” 55 Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname Answers from previous publication. 57 Non-literal expression 59 Christmas lights location 21 “May ___ excused?” 60 Menaces to hobbits 23 “Lit” binary digit 61 Bourne of “The Bourne Ultimatum” 25 Camera used in extreme sports 62 It has its points 26 Farthest orbital point from earth 63 Hotel counts 27 Bottom-of-the-line 64 1997 environmental treaty site 28 Coffee orders 65 “Note to ___ ...” 29 Ciudad Juarez neighbor
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Dec. 21 — 28, 2016 Triaditude Adjustment
Shot in the Triad
Crossword
Sportsball
Culture
Cover Story
Opinion
News
Up Front
SHOT IN THE TRIAD East Greenway Drive
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Greensboro’s happy holidays to all.
PHOTO BY CAROLYN DE BERRY
taylorsautosales.com • 2010 E Cone Blvd. Greensboro, NC • 336-375-1880 08 Ford Mustang
$9,888 4.0L V6 Deluxe, Auto 5-Speed, RWD
08 Lincoln MKX
09 Mercedes-Benz
$10,888
$14,888
3.5L V6, Auto 6-Speed, AWD Leather,
C-Class C300, 3.0L V6, Auto 7-Speed, RWD, Leather
07 Ford F-150 Lariat
$17,988 5.4L V8, Auto 4-Speed, 4x4, Leather
10 Jeep Wrangler
$27,888 3.8L V6, Manual 6-Speed, 4x4
T
Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment
revolutioncyclesnc.com • 336.852.3972
Sportsball
/risegreensboro
Culture
Rise Greensboro The Friendly Center risebiscuitsdonuts.com
Revolutionary bikes, gear and service. And the only bike shop/bar in town. Holiday shopping just got palatable.
Cover Story
BISCUITS & DONUTS
Jelisa Castrodale is a freelance writer who lives in Winston-Salem. She enjoys pizza, obscure power-pop records and will probably die alone. Follow her on Twitter @gordonshumway.
Opinion
best dang
“Open the next one,” my uncle encouraged. “It’s a purse holster.” “Way to ruin the surprise,” I said, secretly hoping he hadn’t hidden some surface-to-air missiles or a well-sedated hostage somewhere deep in his shopping bag. My uncle is an interesting guy, if you consider people who give handguns as gifts to be interesting. He’s a borderline survivalist, the kind of person you rarely see outside of Discovery Channel shows or Eddie Bauer ads. We’ve never quite established what he does for a living, since he goes off the radar for months at a time, most likely making a nest for himself in some rarely traveled national park, living on rhododendron leaves and his own fingernail clippings. “You need to get started too,” he said, passing a present to my dad. Dad did as he was told, running the fingers underneath the edges of the wrapping paper. “Bullets,” he said. “Huh.” He was reaching for another of my uncle’s carefully wrapped packages when I grabbed my new pajama pants and a stack of biscotti and quietly slipped out of the room.
News
the carton and held it up for us to see, before quickly dropping the box on the coffee table. The bullet casings clinked against each other as they landed, Christmas quickly transitioning from Frank Capra to Full Metal Jacket. Mom reached for a second identically papered package, and if you see where this is going, you terrify me. You may also be familiar with the finer points of restraining orders. She dug into the wrappings and found — yes — the gun that matched the ammo. She hesitantly opened its hard plastic case and immediately recoiled like she’d been given either an incinerated animal or one of my senior prom pictures. She gathered herself, re-opening the box and pulling the gun out of the soft foam surrounding it. It was a .38 revolver, I later learned, and immediately texted a picture of it to my sister. She called me within seconds. “Our mom is packing heat? What the f***!” “No s***,” I said, both of us rubbing profanity all over the floor. “This will not end well, she said, undoubtedly punctuating the sentence with a shake of her head. “She’s gonna be like ‘Give me my Ann Taylor discount or else!’” “Shut up and point me toward the petite department!” I shouted back. “Get on the floor and show me the casual knit separates!” Our mother — still holding her new firearm — turned around and said, loud enough for my sister to hear through the earpiece, “I kept the receipts for all of your presents.” “And she has a gun,” I added. We hung up. There’s something offthe-charts unsettling about seeing your mother with a handgun, even if she’s wearing an appliqued Christmas sweatshirt and calmly sipping from a coffee mug with the Cascade-faded logo from our elementary school. I stared at her, feeling like John Connor in Terminator 2 right after his mom started open firing. Then I wondered when she’d drop her biscotti and just start doing pullups.
Up Front
I’m currently counting the minutes until I can pack my car, press play on that Phil Spector Christmas album and head north for the holidays. My family will be spending the weekend at my sister’s house, which is four hours, three by Jelisa Castrodale toll booths and at least two Sheetz stops from Winston-Salem, give or take a pretzel Shmelt. My sister and I have spent every Christmas together, save for one, when our West Virginia hometown was decorated with 70 mph winds, ice storms and intermittent blackouts. Six years ago, that weather forecast kept her confined to her house which, at the time, was on one of Cleveland’s more photogenic sides. It was the first time we’d been separated for the holidays, the first time we wouldn’t wake up in our matching pajamas and immediately try to embarrass each other by exchanging the most squirm-worthy things you could possibly slide into a gift bag. The year before, she was delighted when I untied a ribbon and peeled back the wrapping paper to discover a box of industrial-strength douches, the kind that could also be used to pressure-wash your vinyl siding. That off year, instead of getting the festive-looking pubic lice treatment kit I’d purchased for her, she was stuck in the state next door, getting text-by-text accounts of everything happening in our parents’ living room. The morning got off to a perfect start, unfolding just as Norman Rockwell would’ve sketched it, assuming he would’ve ignored my hubcap-sized pores. The other details were pulled straight from a magazine spread, from the handmade stockings to the carefully arranged packages to the flickering evergreen-scented candles, the ones that helped us all pretend that the tree hadn’t spent the summer months in a cardboard box behind the weed killer and wood varnish. (Confidential to my mother: The tree was beautiful. It’s always beautiful. I’m just being descriptive for the people who weren’t there on the sofa with us. Yes, I’m sure they’d take their shoes off before stepping on the rug). I quickly tore through every package with my name on the “To” tag, leaving scraps of wrapping paper fluttering to the carpet and bits of tape clinging to my forearms. Christmas morning is always the most frenzied 30 seconds of my calendar year, not counting the two or three times I have sex. With another person. I was already thumbing through my new running log and upending the last of the eggnog-flavored creamer into my coffee mug when my mother began pulling at the ribbons on her first gift. She peeled the paper from the small, rectangular box and gave an audible gasp. “Bullets?” she asked, incredulous. “Bullets?!” She turned her head to my uncle, who was pulling presents out of a shopping bag at his feet. He grinned. She opened
triad-city-beat.com
TRIADITUDE ADJUSTMENT Christmas, with a bullet
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