TCB Jan. 4, 2018 — Closing time at the Garage

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point January 4 - 10, 2018 triad-city-beat.com

FREE

CLOSING TIME

LIGHTS OUT AT THE GARAGE

Portrait of a community

page 11

Failure to protect

page 10

Storytellers

page 12

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK January 4 - 10, 2018

Ryan Saunders, disconnected

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

What I want to tell artists who are local, Harry, is it’s not like you should have to do things here. There’s a town called Greensboro that’s only 20 minutes away that does a lot more public art than we do. You should be applying for stuff there and everywhere else, too.

— Sculptor David Finn, in News, page 9

BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

ART ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette robert@triad-city-beat.com

allen@triad-city-beat.com

SALES SALES EXECUTIVE Andrew Alzare

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Eric Ginsburg

andrew@triad-city-beat.com

SALES EXECUTIVE Cheryl Green

SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green

CONTRIBUTORS

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach

eric@triad-city-beat.com

jordan@triad-city-beat.com

2

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 Cover Photo by Tucker Tharpe

cheryl@triad-city-beat.com

Lauren Barber, Carolyn de Berry Spencer KM Brown, Matt Jones

TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. ©2017 Beat Media Inc.

He officially reAnd then Saunders turned 30, headed signed from Kotis to Peru to celebrate and, on a jungle Properties at the retreat, had a moment of insight that end of the fall, he changed the trajectory of his life. tells me, and his “I felt like I still had a lot to learn,” he last day was Dec. says, “and that if I stayed with Marty for 10 22, just a couple or 15 years, I would be good at it….” days before And here he pauses, his eyes set on…

by Brian Clarey Christmas. something else.

And now, Ryan Saunders — whose “I don’t know if I would have completed appellations have included “new urbanist,” my journey,” he says. “placemaker,” “event planner” and, most And so he walked away from a multirecently, “real estate agent” — makes a million-dollar real estate company, where pivot. he had just become the most senior We’re on the couches at the back of member of the team, and the enormous Common Grounds, which for a hot minresources of Kotis Properties, no hard ute in 2014 wore a mural by Charleston feelings. artist Patch Whisky. Whisky was in town In a few weeks he’ll hit the road, headed because Saunders and the 512 Collecto Austin to volunteer at SXSW and see tive had brought him in to paint a mural if its cool factor might be an exportable in High Point, Saunders’ hometown and good. Like his real estate license, it’s a where he first got in the game. continuation of his education.

He launched Create Your City there “I still believe in the connection in 2010, perpetrating a series of guerillabetween music and art and culture and style stunts of urban activism — building a business and real estate,” he says. temporary parklet in an on-street parking And he says he still believes in Greensspace, for example — that culminated in boro. He wants to start a new festival a series of events in the Pit, basically a here, along the lines of SXSW. And he is construction sinkhole in the center of the seriously considering a run for mayor in city that may be the coolest thing about 2021. Seriously.

High Point.

“People here are so dead-set on avoidThe Pit became something to fight ing failure they’re afraid to take chances,” over, and Saunders found himself on the he says. “The threat of failure should be a outside. driver, not a deterrent.”

“There’s this locking-arms thing that happens,” he says. “In Greensboro, too. It’s very difficult for young people to break through.”

He pivoted to Greensboro in 2014, moving his HopFest here after a single year in High Point and contributing to the arts landscape through murals and events, not enough to get the sort of traction he had hoped — still hopes — to achieve, but enough to catch the eye of Marty Kotis, who hired him on for his real estate division. There he shepherded the murals that began to fill the Tracks, an open property in downtown Greensboro, and tried to curate unique businesses for others.

With that sort of muscle, some of those locked arms BRIAN Ryan Saunders, formerly with Kotis were beginning to give.

CLAREY Properties, is a free agent again.

YOU NEED

triad-city-beat.com

US WE NEED

YOU Support Free Press.

Read us, follow us, advertise with us.

The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship...

Serious About Your Business?

PROVE IT

Office Space starting at $180 per month Businesses of any size or age...

It is never too late to ask for help.

336-379-5001

www.nussbaumcfe.com

3

January 4 - 10, 2018

CITY LIFE JAN. 4 – 10

by Lauren Barber

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Carrie Paz @ GreenHill (GSO), 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

Pop-up yoga class @ A&K’s Cafe (GSO), 8:30 a.m.

Opinion

News

Up Front

Open Bike Night @ Beersngears (W-S), 7 p.m.

Bring your own beer and seize an opportunity to learn more about bicycles and socialize with other enthusiasts.

Bring your own bike for repairs and learn everything from the basics to emergency roadside repairs. Find the event on Facebook.

Culture

Emily Stewart & Kasey Horton@ Smith & Edge (GSO), 9 p.m.

Stop by the cash bar and peruse GreenHill’s galleries during your First Friday stroll. Greensboro musician Carrie Paz performs her signature bluesy Americana. Learn more at greenhillnc.org.

Ray Morrison & Jeffrey Dean Foster @ Bookmarks Bookstore (W-S), 7 p.m.

Listen to readings from local fiction writer Ray Morrison, author of In a World of Small Truths, and live folk, rock and roots music from Jeffrey Dean Foster as you weave through the monthly Gallery Hop. Learn more at bookmarksnc.org.

Rave @ Krave Kava Bar & Tea Lounge (GSO), 11 p.m.

Bring a mat and work up an appetite for A&K’s lunch menu, desserts and coffee during SoulFlower Yoga’s all levels flow class. Find the event on Facebook.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Grand re-opening @ Colony Urban Farm Store (W-S), 10 a.m.

4

Sip on cocktails, beer or wine while Emily Stewart delivers original and cover songs based in the folk, country and blues traditions of the Deep South. Kasey Horton harmonizes on the viola. Find the event on Facebook.

DJ FM spins trip-hop, downtempo and deep house tracks with special guest James Primitive Tools from Burning Down the Triad, running into the early morning. Find the event on Facebook.

This indoor, year-round honey bar and food market reopens in the West End Historic District, offering coffee, tea, pimento cheese and honey tastings. Shop for baked good, fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products from regional vendors. Find the event on Facebook.

triad-city-beat.com

Weissenohe Franconian Lager tapping @ the Brewer’s Kettle (HP), 1 p.m.

SUNDAY

News

Follies @ Hanesbrands Theatre (W-S), 2 p.m.

Stephen Sondheim’s celebrated musical is staged at the National Theatre and broadcast live to cinemas across the country.

Ex-Follies performers gather in the crumbling theatre for drinks, musical performances and rosecolored reminiscing before the building’s destruction, set in 1971. Learn more at rhodesartscenter.org.

Orion Weiss @ Stevens Center (W-S), 3 p.m.

Up Front

Kids terrarium class @ Sophisticated Florals by Stephanie (W-S), 1 p.m.

Enjoy light snacks while you and your child select from a myriad of small plants and accessories to create a unique terrarium to take home. Find the event on Facebook.

Guest pianist Orion Weiss returns to the Stevens Center stage bringing playful Mozart melodies and Shostakovich’s “Tenth Symphony,” written following Joseph Stalin’s death.

Learn more at wssymphony.org.

Join the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society for a fundraiser to help Blues Challenge Winners meet travel and lodging expenses as they prepare to compete at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis later this month.

The soon-to-be competitors provide live music in addition to raffles and a silent auction. Find the event on Facebook.

Ol’ Sport @ New York Pizza (GSO), 8:30 p.m.

Puzzles

On the last day of Ol’ Sport’s tour, support them and fellow North Carolina-based bands Dollhands, Placeholder and the Stayhomes. If you have a taste for lo-fi garage rock and budget-friendly brews, this concert is for you. Find the event on Facebook.

Health fair @ Griffin Center Park & Recreation Center (GSO), 2 p.m.

Deep Roots and Skin & Inspiration provide education sessions and Zumba Strong, Mixxed Fit and SoulFlower Yoga lead fitness demonstrations. Donate blood, shop with local vendors and participate in a prize raffle. Find the event on Facebook.

Shot in the Triad

Recycle this paper.

Culture

Experience a pint or the liter of Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe’s Franconian Lager from a traditional German gravity keg. Find the event on Facebook.

Opinion

Memphis or Bust @ the Blind Tiger (GSO), 4 p.m.

5

January 4 - 10, 2018 Up Front

6 body-focused resolutions that aren’t dieting

by Lauren Barber 1. I will cultivate gratitude toward my body.

It took a long time to come to the understanding that my body deserves care beyond basic maintenance. Treating the vessel that carries me through life with kindness is one more way I can practice self-respect, though, and it’s helpful to think about how amazing my lungs are when I don’t like how I look.

News

2. I will stop associating my self-worth with the food I eat.

For me, it’s difficult not to conflate certain foods with success or failure. If I’m eating something “bad,” I will forgive myself, enjoy it and consider whether I need to address an underlying stressor or if I simply enjoyed a treat I like (which is great!).

3. I will listen to my body when it tells me to slow down, rest and recuperate.

Capitalism insinuates that my productivity determines my worth, but this is a lie.

Calling a timeout is not a sign of weakness. I want to create more as a writer, but that won’t happen if I spend downtime shaming myself instead of letting go and reflecting. Let’s allow ourselves to breathe.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

4. I will not shame myself for showing signs of aging.

My forehead shows more wrinkles than most other 26-year-olds I’ve met. I’ll remind myself that these lines are symbols of persistence and think about the ways ageism contributes to gendered beauty expectations. As for my perpetual under-eye dark circles? Purple is my favorite color, anyway.

6

5. I will avoid consuming media that triggers hateful thoughts about my body.

We live in the age of the airbrush, making this affirmation particularly difficult — I often choose self-checkout to avoid eye contact with women on the covers of glossy magazines. There are social media accounts I could unfollow, though, and I could be more intentional about divesting from companies Playing Jan. 4-10 that promote harmful mesStar Trek Discovery Mid Season Premiere! 9 p.m. Sunday, January 7th Free Admission With Drink Purhcase! sages about which bodies are good and which are bad.

6. I will contemplate my privileges as a young, white and able-bodied ciswoman.

2017 was a tough year for my relationship to my body, but I must remember that I benefit from my proximity to Eurocentric beauty standards and from living in an able body that matches my gender --OTHER EVENTS & SCREENINGS-identity. I must speak up if Board Game Night 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5th. More than 100 Games FREE TO PLAY I hear someone denigrate Sit n’ Stitch 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8th. Make Crafts TOGETHER! a marginalized person’s Totally Rad Trivia 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9th. $3 Buy-In! Up to Six Player Teams! body and think about how Super Smash Bros Melee Tournament I might contribute to body 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9th $5 Venue Fee! $5 Entry Fee! or food shaming myself.

Drink n’ Draw 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10th Because we all deserve to Meet Our Community of Artists! All Skill Levels Welcome! feel good and safe and joyful in our bodies.

Beer! Wine! Amazing Coffee!

2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro geeksboro.com •

336-355-7180

Drug treatment

by Jordan Green

We should all be in favor of increasing access to drug treatment instead of locking up addicts. Yet, despite near unanimity on that point, as a society we seem to be stuck pouring massive resources into arresting, prosecuting and locking up drug offenders instead of increasing funding for treatment.

At least we’re beginning to recognize that the people who need help are part of our community — our family members, our friends. Kudos to Winston-Salem for coming together on Tuesday evening, even if in a small way, to increase treatment options. And by Winston-Salem, I mean city council, the Gateway YWCA and the West Salem neighborhood.

The YWCA came before city council with a rezoning request to allow Hawley House, a women’s substance abuse residential recovery facility in West Salem, to increase from six to 10 beds. Incredibly, not one neighbor appeared before city council arguing that it would undermine their property values or put their families’ safety at risk. And the West Salem Neighborhood Association, which has maintained a rocky relationship with a free needle exchange at a local church, even came out in support of the rezoning request.

“The increase in the opioid epidemic and the number of phone calls that we get, we just have had a tremendous amount of disappointment to those women that are really trying to seek help,” Director Kristin O’Leary told city council. “I have another program called Project New Start, where I go in the Forsyth County Detention Center and do a Bible study with the ladies in the jail. And a lot of those women are in jail for a drug-related crime, and would like an opportunity to come to the Hawley House as well.” She added that the women will be able to take advantage of an abbreviated version of Hawley House’s regular 9-12-month residential program.

City council members are usually loath to go against neighborhood associations in their wards, so South Ward Councilman John Larson must have taken pleasure in talking up Hawley House.

“We hear a lot in this city of concerns of, ‘We don’t want it in my neighborhood.’

— these various programs that are designed to assist clients, people in need, special needs,” he said. “And everybody gets concerned: ‘They’re gonna come in my neighborhood, devalue property, they’re gonna bring in crime, they’re gonna do all these things.’ And I think Hawley House is an example of how an organization such as yours works within the neighborhood fabric, is a contributing element, and has in fact has strengthened the diversity of neighborhood, providing a valuable service for the community.”

Take charge of your mind, body and spirit Test pH balance, allergies, hormones Balance diet, lifestyle and emotions Create a personalized health and nutrition plan

(336) 456-4743 • jillclarey3@gmail.com

3723 West Market St., Unit–B, Greensboro, NC 27403

www.thenaturalpathwithjillclarey.com

NEWS

Juana Luz Tobar Ortega, a Guatemalan woman who came to North Carolina in 1993, is marking seven months as the first person to take sanctuary in a North Carolina church to avoid a deportation order.

Up Front News

Juana Luz Tobar Ortega works on her sewing machine at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church as her daughter, Lesvi Molina, watches.

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

to allow young people who came to the United States as minors to obtain legal status if they overcome a rigorous set of hurdles, but the bill doesn’t address the plight of unauthorized migrants like Ortega, who otherwise abide by the law. On Dec. 28, Tillis’ office released a statement touting the senator as “a bipartisan leader on immigration reform.”

The statement said Tillis is “working on common-sense solutions to secure our borders, provide long-term certainty for undocumented children, and reform temporary worker visa programs that small businesses across the nation depend on to survive and support American jobs.”

Ortega said Tillis has remained silent on her plight.

“To this day, he’s never responded,” she said. “He’s never come. He’s never sent anyone.”

Tillis’ office did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

Although ICE’s shift from targeted to blanket enforcement occurred under President Trump’s orders, Ortega directed her plea to the agency rather than the president.

“To ICE, I would really tell them to leave me alone,” she said. “There’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to go back to my home.”

Culture

depends on her strong faith. She cleans, she cooks, she sews, not just for us but for others.”

Volunteers coordinated by Bland stay in the church with Ortega 24 hours a day and seven days a week to protect her from an ICE raid in case the agency suddenly changes or departs from its policy.

“We have somebody here to be watchful and to be available if someone comes to the door,” Bland said. “ICE isn’t supposed to come here. They haven’t and they probably won’t.”

The monitors include members of St. Barnabas and other congregations, along with volunteers from the American Friends Service Committee and FaithAction International House, UNCG students and educators.

The beginning of the new year marks seven months that Ortega has been in sanctuary. She was the first of four people to take sanctuary in North Carolina churches; one, Minerva Garcia, has already come out of sanctuary after an immigration judge vacated her deportation order.

Ortega’s supporters have continuously pleaded with US Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to intervene on her behalf with ICE, so far to no avail. In September, Tillis and Sen. James Lankford (ROkla.), introduced the SUCCEED Act

JORDAN GREEN

Opinion

Up until April 20, 2017, Juana Luz Tobar Ortega had gone to work every day in a garment factory in High Point.

The Randolph County resident had raised her family and played an active role in her church, Iglesia Avivamiento Poder y Fuego in Asheboro.

A native of Guatemala, Ortega fled the country in 1992 after receiving death threats because of her refusal to join rebel forces that sought to overthrow the government — a conflict that was a legacy of a 1954 CIA-backed coup that precipitated nearly half a century of civil war. After settling in North Carolina in 1993, Ortega returned to Guatemala in late ’90s to care for her ailing daughter.

Her decision to purchase a fraudulent visa in 1999 to return to North Carolina constituted the violation that would lead to her arrest by US Immigration & Customs Enforcement 12 years later. But after about a week in detention, Ortega was released without explanation, and the otherwise law-abiding mother, wife and breadwinner was allowed to resume life as usual.

Until April 20, that is, when under a new zero-tolerance policy by the Trump administration, ICE ordered her to leave the country.

“It was like everything disappeared,” Ortega said, as she wiped tears from her cheek during a recent interview in the fellowship hall at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro. “Everything ended. That’s when 25 years of work ended.”

Three days before her May 31 deadline for leaving the country, Ortega moved into St. Barnabas to take sanctuary. The centuries-old custom of churches providing protection for vulnerable persons against oppressive civil authority has been a recognized through a policy formalized by ICE in 2011 to refrain from taking enforcement action in churches, along with other sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.

When the American Friends Service Committee approached St. Barnabas

with the proposal to host Ortega, it didn’t take the church long to agree. The congregation had already undergone a process of discernment and prayer after receiving a request from another family seeking sanctuary. Due to the first family’s particular circumstances, the church wasn’t able to accommodate them, but members felt prepared when the American Friends Service Committee brought Ortega’s plight to them.

“We didn’t think so much in political terms,” recalled Leslie Bland, a deacon at St. Barnabas. “We thought in terms of, how do we see the whole person and the family being able to stay together.

With the current political scene, families are torn apart. Families are separated from each other and aren’t able to see each other again. That’s not part of God’s plan. God is a loving God, and wants to build up rather than break down people.”

With her husband and two youngest children maintaining their home in Randolph County, Ortega has taken up residence in a former nursery in the church.

Her family members frequently visit with food. On New Year’s Eve, members of Ortega’s home church held a service at St. Barnabas, as they frequently do.

Even with family and church friends visiting often, Ortega said it’s been tough having to spend the holidays away from home.

“It’s been especially difficult these days with Christmas,” she said, “because last year I could run around outside going shopping, and talking about what we’re going to cook at home.”

Since Ortega was forced to give up her job at San-Gar Enterprises in High Point, her daughter, Lesvi Molina, said the family’s income has been cut in half.

Two supporters pitched in to buy sewing machines, which occupy the anteroom adjacent to her living quarters. Ortega sews pillows, and has learned to make purses and to crochet. Her family sells the products to bring in additional income.

Bland said the St. Barnabas congregation has been enriched by Ortega’s presence.

“Juana does a tremendous amount for us,” Bland said. “We don’t ask her to.

She’s a wonderful, caring person. She

triad-city-beat.com

First woman to go into sanctuary in NC marks seven months

by Jordan Green

7

January 4 - 10, 2018 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

8

High Point NAACP mourns homicide victims, urges action against violence

by Lauren Barber The High Point NAACP held its last community meeting of the year on Thursday evening to memorialize 2017’s homicide victims and called on themselves and fellow community members to combat mounting violence with a renewed sense of urgency and creativity in 2018.

Roughly two dozen people — overwhelmingly middle-aged and elderly black men — convened at Temple Memorial Baptist Church, including an assortment of clergymen and city council members Jeff Golden, Don Scarborough and Chris Williams.

In response to the homicide epidemic, the High Point NAACP began holding monthly meetings at various churches around the city earlier this year with the intention of resolving the problem of violence by cultivating discussion between community members and police.

As 2017 comes to a close, 20 homicides are on record in High Point, almost triple the numbers in 2015 and 2016.

“We have to work together to give our support to High Point Police Department, to other entities within our community because it’s a challenge that we all have to answer,” Pastor Brad Lilley, community coordinator for the NAACP, said. “We can’t sit back and say, ‘They’re gonna do it,’ because it’s not going to get done.”

Chief Kenneth Shultz — who has largely avoided the NAACP-sponsored community meetings — and Assistant

Chief Travis Stroud attended Thursday’s meeting. Shultz added another name to this year’s list: 16-year-old Na’kayla Bynes, murdered the evening of Dec. 24. Though several of 2017’s cases remain unresolved, police arrested Bynes’ alleged killer.

Lilley appealed to Shultz, requesting guidance on how leaders can engage the issue of community violence in ways the police cannot. Shultz said his evaluation is that most of the violence is retaliatory in nature and suggested that the community can step in with “love…and come up with a higher power than the police chief to alter some of these individuals’ lives and get them pointed in the right direction.”

Shultz reported that his department is focused on young men they understand to be driving most of the violence, though, and indicated the success of call-ins during which police department officials confront young men most at-risk for committing violence or otherwise illegal acts in front of family members and others in the community in a formal setting like City Hall.

“They’re told two things,” Shultz said.

“One, that if you need support from the community, we’ve got the organizations that are put together [and] that we can do everything possible to help keep them on the right path. The other, though, is that… if they do something wrong we’re gonna come after them and keep our community safe.”

T’Yawn Chisem and Milton Grady lit 20 candles behind Pastor Brad Lilley as he read aloud the names and ages of homicide victims.

Rather than discuss solutions to systemic drivers of community violence, the meeting’s participants focused on cultural issues like a perceived dearth of personal responsibility among young men and boys.

Henry “Hank” Wall, founder and executive director of Brothers Organized to Serve Others (BOTSO), is known for this approach. His nonprofit has a 25-year track record of mentoring young men and boys with a mission to teach personal responsibility, respect and character. Wall’s son and BOTSO’s lead mentor Chi Wall suggested that adult men go to at-risk boys and young men in a similar fashion to police call-ins.

Jimmy Scott contended that a oneway, top-down approach isn’t enough to foster meaningful change in young people’s lives.

“We tend to do a lot of the talking instead of listening,” Scott said. “We need to hear their points of view. If we want to change their behavior, we gotta try to understand what’s causing that behavior.

We can’t do that by just telling them what we think.”

Several men aired frustration about attempts to collaborate with local schools, but Mayor Pro Tem Chris Williams

LAUREN BARBER

encouraged leaders to continue with their endeavors given that schools offer a captive audience and that older students, in particular, can talk to age-peers who are no longer in school.

Shultz agreed that mentorship in schools can be highly effective but many participants pointed to the success of summer programs such as one New Bethel Baptist Church developed last year to provide a safe place for boys and facilitate educational field trips. The program also brought in retired teachers to expose boys to information they might not pick up in school. Williams also commended the High Point Housing Authority’s similar Summer Success program and advised that both are excellent models for those discerning next steps.

“When 2018 comes around, the count starts all over, but it’s not a new beginning — it’s a continuation unless we put the brakes on, unless we stop it,” Lilley said. “Every time we pick up a newspaper or turn on the news, every time we hear of a shooting or a killing, most of us probably say the same thing I say: ‘Not another one.’ I would like to end this year out saying, ‘Not another one to have to lose their life.’”

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Arts Commission is extending the deadline on applications for an ambitious project to create collective portrait of Winston-Salem.

SPREADING JOY ONE PINT AT A TIME Culture Shot in the Triad

Monday Geeks Who Drink Pub Quiz 7:30 Tuesday Appetuesdays: Free small bites to pair with your beer.

Wednesday Live music with J Timber and Joel Henry with special guests 8:30

Thursday Joymongers Band aka Levon Zevon aka Average Height Band 8:30

Puzzles

argued for Owens Daniels, a photographer based in Winston-Salem.

“This is city and county tax money,” Knabb said, “and I think we should exhaust every Winston-Salem/Forsyth County regional artist before we go out of state, number one. Number two, Owens Daniels knows the National Black Theatre Festival; he’s covered it. He’s taken tons of photographs. He knew Larry. He knew the flow and the energy of what’s going on and I think we’ll get much more bang for our buck if we have somebody who’s familiar with the festival, that’s been there, that’s been a part of the community.”

Endia Beal, a nationally renowned photographer who serves as director of the Diggs Gallery on the campus of Winston-Salem State University, noted that Larry Leon Hamlin’s widow, Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, expressed a preference for Belka.

“I think if Sylva liked Belka, then we should go with the person she liked,” Beal said. “It’s her husband, it’s his memory.” Other members said they thought it was appropriate to hire an artist from outside of Winston-Salem considering that the theater festival draws a national audience.

Opinion

production from the winter to spring of 2019, with a public rollout in the summer of 2019.

The budget for the project is $200,000, with $60,000 designated for artist fees. The project also calls for a local coordinator to be hired with the lead artist’s approval.

The public arts commission has been in place for about 18 months, and has overseen about two projects per year, said Project Planner Kelly Bennett, the city-county employee assigned to work with the commission.

At its meeting on Tuesday the commission also approved a commissioned portrait of the late Larry Leon Hamlin, the celebrated actor, director and playwright who founded the National Black Theatre Festival, to be displayed in the Benton Convention Center, and reviewed applications from four semifinalists to paint a mural on a water tank on the south side of Winston-Salem.

The commission voted to hire New Orleans painter Aron Belka to paint Hamlin’s portrait, with members expressing admiration for the arresting quality of his work. There was one dissenting vote.

Harry Knabb of Art For Art’s Sake

JORDAN GREEN

News

Project Planner Kelly Bennett (right) speaks with members of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Art Commission.

Up Front

The call to artists to create an ambitious photographic portrayal of the varied communities that make up Winston-Salem paints a picture of an overall appealing city, albeit one with some conspicuous blemishes.

“Downtown Winston-Salem is resurgent with condos, restaurants, breweries and the best examples of a creative economy,” the request for qualification states. “Yet, despite our community’s efforts, the transition from industrial to postindustrial city has not ended the problems of segregation, inequality and poverty.”

David Finn, a sculptor and professor at Wake Forest University who chairs the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Art Commission, said the project creates a challenge of representation.

“If you’re making a portrait of me, you’re going to show not just the idealized version of me,” he said. “I want you to portray the way I am. We call it realism. We put ‘portrait’ in quotations.”

The Public Art Commission voted unanimously to extend the deadline for applications by at least 30 days during its meeting on Tuesday. To date, the commission has received seven applications — significantly below expectations — and commissioners speculated that a crush of grant deadlines before Christmas may have depressed participation.

The request for qualifications describes the project as “a photographic portrayal of our community: a portrait made of our many faces, displayed where we come together and where we’re divided.”

Finn said the project should explore the intersections of neighborhoods and different kinds of communities. Teams may include artists from a range of disciplines including visual arts, performing arts and urban design, with a suggestion that teams might leverage the expertise of architects, community organizers and entrepreneurs.

Following the selection of an artist team, the project timeline calls for planning from the spring to fall, and then

Knabb said he was “digging my heels in for future fights” with his dissenting vote.

“There’s gonna be a constant tension from now until doomsday,” Finn said.

“There’s always gonna be that tension between local artists and people that are coming in from outside. It’s something we’re always going to have to be thinking about, if not negotiating. But thank you for sticking to your guns.”

Later the discussion turned to applying for grant funding to train local artists to market themselves and effectively apply for public art projects.

“What I want to tell artists who are local, Harry, is it’s not like you should have to do things here,” said Finn, who was commissioned to create a mobile at the Benjamin Branch Library in Greensboro. “There’s a town called Greensboro that’s only 20 minutes away that does a lot more public art than we do. You should be applying for stuff there and everywhere else, too.”

triad-city-beat.com

Public art commission extends deadline for city portrait project

by Jordan Green

Friday, Saturday & Sunday BEER! joymongers.com | 336-763-5255 576 N. Eugene St. | Greensboro

9

January 4 - 10, 2018 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

10

OPINION

EDITORIAL

Green shoots in local news It’s impossible to track the newspaper layoffs perpetrated in 2017 — we know McClatchy and Gannett have been trimming staff at its daily papers nationwide. A little closer to home, BH Media staffers felt the pains of consolidation between two city dailies, the Greensboro News & Record and the Winston-Salem Journal.

On our own little band of the print-journalism spectrum, the Baltimore City Paper and Knoxville, Tenn.’s Mercury shut down this year, and two California altweeklies, Orange County’s OC Weekly and LA Weekly, suffered critical hits on staff. Even the granddaddy of all altweeklies, New York City’s Village Voice, ceased its print edition in 2017.

The reason for all of this is dollars, and they are easy to track. Of the $148.8 billion spent on advertising in 2017, print newspapers captured just 8.3 percent, with another 2.5 percent coming from online advertising at newspaper websites. Since 2011, overall newspaper advertising dollars have dropped $4.6 billion, most if not all of it going to digital.

And yet, Americans are consuming — and rely upon — quality journalism more than ever. In the Age of Trump, this is the great dilemma of our industry: Everybody needs to know what’s going on, but no one wants to pay for it.

Nowhere is the vacuum felt more profoundly than in local news. The dailies, now overseen largely by MBAs and marketers, continue to lay off staff, like starving men amputating their own body parts and consuming them to stay alive. And their efforts are just enough to keep smaller players from rising to the occasion.

The future of local news, though, is small and independent. And through the detritus of the newspaper massacre, which began in earnest in 2007, some green shoots are emerging. Nonprofits have taken up the cause where newspapers have failed. The laid-off Baltimore City Paper staff banded together to start the Baltimore Beat, a genuine print newspaper. And just this week longtime North Carolina journalist (and former TCB columnist) Kirk Ross has started the Orange County Citizen, a one-man operation begun, he says, to help him understand his hometown.

“What I want to do with The Orange County Citizen for now is post original stories and essays, curate the existing coverage of Orange County, add to the accessibility and transparency of public policy making and whatever other stuff makes sense,” he writes at the site, orangecountycitizen.com. “Feel free to follow along. It might get interesting.”

It doesn’t get more local and independent than that.

CITIZEN GREEN

Losing faith in police in Charlottesville and beyond

There are many startling details in an independent report commissioned by the city of Charlottesville that detailed the city’s disastrous failure to protect counter-protesters and citizens during the Aug. 12 Unite the Right rally, but one stands out.

by Jordan Green Tammy Shifflett, a school resource officer stationed alone at 4th Street NE and Market Street with no protective gear, started to feel unsafe as bands of alt-right demonstrators and counter-protesters streamed past her in the wake of the police declaring the rally an unlawful assembly, as the report, released in late November, recounts. She was relieved of her post, but commanders didn’t see fit to replace her. The oversight would have tragic consequences.

“A single wooden sawhorse was all that impeded traffic down 4th Street as large groups of people continued to roam the streets,” the report by the Hunton & Williams law firm states. “This vulnerability was exposed when James Fields drove his vehicle down the unprotected street in a large crowd of counter-protesters at the intersection of 4th Street SE and Water Street, killing Ms. [Heather] Heyer.”

Earlier in the day, as alt-right demonstrators and antiracist counter-protesters pummeled each other in the middle of Market Street, Charlottesville police and Virginia State Troopers remained behind barricades, with one documented exception, following a plan based on the apparent assumption that counter-protesters would go to a designated area, and then paralyzed in fear as order broke down.

At one point, as detailed in the Hunton & Williams report, people attacked each other in plain view of the police after alt-right demonstrators jabbed flagpoles and then rammed through a crowd after deploying pepper spray. A woman observing the brawl turned back towards the police, as if waiting to see how they would react. Then, as noted in the report, she shouted, “This is shameful! I am a teacher, I am a community member, take care of your people. What the f*** are you doing? I am the wife of a priest, I am a teacher, I love this city! Take care of your people!”

As a consequence of multiple breakdowns, including but not limited to the failure to coordinate radio communication between Charlottesville Police Department and the Virginia State Troopers, and neglecting station officers at points where opposing demonstrators were likely to encounter each other, the report noted that “many individuals described to us a diminished confidence in law enforcement which has potentially lasting consequences for this and other communities.”

Although Charlottesville is now almost five months in the past, it stands as a profound example of the test faced

by American liberal democracy.

The legitimacy of American government rests on the fragile assumption that institutions accountable to the people are capable and willing to provide protection for public safety and free speech. We already live in a country without any guarantee of protection against catastrophic illness or injury and a public education system with starkly

different outcomes depending on wealth and race. When democratic institutions fail, people turn to their own devices, either through healthy impulses towards mutual aid or, fearfully, towards an authoritarian state that guarantees privileges to a favored few.

Notably, after the declaration of unlawful assembly, police in Charlottesville continued to refrain from interfering in fights, but the report notes that two Virginia State Police mobile field forces donned riot gear and took up positions to protect the Downtown Mall, a gracious pedestrian thoroughfare stuffed full of cafes, restaurants and desserteries.

The message is impossible to miss.

The effective absence of coordination between law enforcement agencies tasked with protecting citizens in Charlottesville stands in marked contrast to the federally coordinated, multi-state law enforcement response to the protest movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline in late 2016. In one of the overlooked stories of 2017, the Intercept revealed that law enforcement agencies consumed intelligence on the protest movement generated by a counterterrorism firm hired to oversee security by Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline. (Incidentally, the firm, TigerSwan, was formed by a retired Army colonel and former commander in the elite Delta special operations unit and is based in Apex, NC, according to the Intercept.)

The alt-right and antiracist fight in the middle of Market Street.

JORDAN GREEN

The mercenary counterterrorism firm, which quickly established an information-sharing agreement with Sheriff Dean Danzeisen in Mercer County, and placed a liaison inside the law enforcement “joint operation center” in North Dakota, perfectly exemplifies the neoliberal private security model of enhanced law enforcement at the service of oligarchy.

Most disturbingly, the TigerSwan situation reports leaked to the Intercept use language that presents supporters as enemy combatants rather than citizens. A March 1, 2017 report, according to the Intercept, stated that protesters’ “operational weakness allows TS elements to further develop and dictate the battlespace.”

Another report, a couple weeks later, made the counterinsurgency analogy even more explicit: “Much like Afghanistan and Iraq, the ‘Fighting Season’ will soon be here with the coming warming temperatures.”

P

News Opinion Culture

Winston-Salem, opened the night with a grand display of ambient, new wave music. Members played an array of instruments, from keyboards and drums, to cello and tasteful synths.

Gunnar Nagle’s trio featured two musicians from North Carolina folk band, the Collection: Josh Dorsett on bass and Tim Joel on drums. Nagle’s music flows in the vein of Bon Iver and indie, ambient sounds, with Nagle’s warm baritone voice riding just above the melodies.

The flow of bands was continuous and organic, each act almost building off the previous. And like the bands that would follow for the rest of the show, Companyon and Nagle featured numerous local musicians who collaborated with each other on stage for the evening.

From Victoria Victoria and Tyler Nail, to the Genuine singing the crowd into the first moments of the New Year, the night was a reflection of music and bands that have built a major part of the music scene in Winston. But it was no COREY GROSS Companyon opened the night as fans said goodbye at the final simple coincidence that all these acts show at the Garage. should come together for one final night. song, each performer who took the stage.

The Garage has long been a helping As the speakers bellowed the last songs, the entire room hand for up-and-coming bands to find their footing. Since it seemed alive with the music of not only this final night, but opened its doors in the late ’90s, the club has been a staple in of all the nights that had come before. It was a farewell show the Triad, one that will leave a large gap in the music commuthat won’t soon be forgotten as the music and memory of the nity. club lives on in the numerous artists who once took the stage.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time now,” owner Tucker What comes next for the Garage remains to be seen, but Tharpe said. “And I’ve been thinking about this decision for a just as the community came together for such a grand farelong time, but sometimes to find joy, you need to take a step well, there is hope that perhaps others may pick up the pieces, back. One thing has to die in order for something else to live.” and music will continue to sound from within the Garage.

The club was filled long before the show started and the line was constant through the long corridor leading inside. Eyes lingered on the mosaic of poster and fliers of bygone shows.

The crowd screamed forth their cheers and praise with each

Up Front

ale, blue lights cast a solemn glow on the myriad of instruments scattered across the stage, a stage that has felt the necks of a thousand guitars, the wood of a thousand bass drums, quaked under the thousand soles of feet stomping out a rhythm. The stage, a passive observer to the musicians who have trekked across its worn wood for nearly two decades.

And on the last day of a cold year, it held the last band of musicians for one final performance.

When the announcement was made in November that the Garage, WinstonSalem’s beloved music venue, would be closing its doors in 2018, the reaction gave birth to an array of feelings, sadness, disappointment and shock among them. And yet, the communal response of music lovers, local bands and longtime show-goers resounded in a wild yawp of celebration.

The annual New Year’s Eve show at the Garage on Sunday was the club’s last show. The bill carried a stellar line-up of local musicians and bands who all came together to close the venue.

“We’re going to miss this stage,” singer Gunnar Nagle said from behind his keyboard. “It’s the last one, so let’s make it a beautiful funeral.”

And though it was the last time the stage would hold performers, the room was alive and pulsing with celebration.

The crowd ranged from young fans who came to see their favorite acts, to longtime patrons of the Garage who showed up to say goodbye.

Companyon, an emerging band from

triad-city-beat.com

CULTURE A last waltz at the Garage

by Spencer KM Brown

This month Triad City Beat answers the question, “Where should we go to eat?”

Shot in the Triad

For more info e-mail or call: brian@triad-city-beat.com 336.681.0704 andrew@triad-city-beat.com 336.210.5094

Puzzles

For local, independent, restaurants, breweries, bars and food trucks only!

11

January 4 - 10, 2018 Up Front News Opinion

I

t’s about old friends,” Meg Ryan’s Sally tells Billy Crystal’s Harry in the 1989 classic When Harry Met Sally. It’s New Year’s Eve, they’ve just confessed their love for each other and shared their first deep kiss as the clock wound down. And in the awkward silence that follows Harry wonders aloud about the meaning of the song, the one that’s trotted out every New Year’s Eve and then tucked away again for next year.

It’s actually an old Scottish folk song, a 1788 poem by Robert Burns set to music.

And the words literally mean “long ago.”

Somewhere along the line, the modern version became a New Year’s Eve standard and the broad theme of an unassuming story slam on Dec. 29.

Triad Storytellers Exchange gathered on the cold winter’s night, a couple days before the turning of the calendar, for their monthly storytelling contest in the back room of Scuppernong Books.

Amidst bricks walls and shelves of used books, seven people told 5-minute stories about old friends and New Year’s memories to a dozen listeners.

Some stories focused on ordinary challenges that, when solved, bring the kind of deep relief that sticks in a mother’s memory decades later. Charlotte Hamlin asked what others in the audience typically do the first day of the new year, demonstrating the conversational ease of a professional storyteller

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

CULTURE Tales, and those who tell them, at Scuppernong story slam

by Lauren Barber

12

Jeanne VanBuren shares her Auld Land Syne story.

LAUREN BARBER

of more than 15 years. Hamlin gave birth to a son on Jan. 1, 1970, and on the first day of 1978 she found herself entertain-

Charlotte Hamlin shares a story at Scuppernong Books on Dec. 29.

LAUREN BARBER

ing eight 8-year-old boys with more energy than she could Jeanne VanBuren’s chauvinistic brother couldn’t love other muster. When the birthday games ended far too early, her people less and has a nasty habit of proving so on Facebook. husband’s light went off: a screaming contest. One-by-one in A few weeks ago, VanBuren wrote a sarcastic post about her their basement, he and the boys yelled as loud as they possibly flooded basement. It didn’t take long for Art to ruin the fun could, exhausting themselves. with a misogynistic comment.

“Who would’ve thought it would be one of the best New “I wasn’t going to air my dirty laundry on Facebook,” VanBuYear’s Eve presents I’ve ever had?” Hamlin said. ren said. “So, I did the next best thing: I private messaged my Laksmi Devi delivered something of an elegy for her high ex-sister-in-law… I was like, ‘You know what? You deserve a school friend George Lehman, a brilliant and popular man. trophy for bein’ married to him for as many years as you were.”

“Our chemistry teacher geared the test for George,” she Art’s ex-wife, who works at Home Depot, joked about not said. “There were 153 points on a given chemistry test and killing him because she knows orange doesn’t suit her.

I’d get them back with about 23. I’m thinking, Oh, Lord. But “I decided I had to find a trophy for her for Christmas,” George would say, ‘23? Well, that’s a C!’” VanBuren said.

Devi drew an arc in the air with a She couldn’t find any trophies in giggle as she described how she came thrift stores but she did find a silver ice to understand the concept of grading bucket, similar to the one her mother Join the Triad Storytellers Exon the curve. willed to her in honor of their chamchange at their next slam on “My brother was a doctorate in pagne-drinking memories. VanBuren Jan. 27 at Scuppernong Books chemistry and I thought, Surely some filled the ice bucket with knickknacks of this has rubbed off, but it must alluding to Art’s “episodes” on Face(GSO). have been on my shoe because it book, like hand sanitizer for the time he certainly wasn’t in my pen or my mistook personal lubricant for an offthoughts,” Devi said. “My Auld Lang brand Purell and “some chalk for when Syne? I’m remembering George.” she does kill him.”

Stories were built with quips and turns of phrases, with VanBuren received before-and-after photos of a now-polrough ideas of where to begin and where to end. The rules of ished ice bucket a few days before the slam, along with a story the slam prohibit rehearsals, notes or props. from one of her mother’s visits to Art and his then-wife.

The magic lies in the remembering.

“My mom’s comment to her was, ‘You get to have silver so In the days before dear George died, he crafted a crossword you have something to do when you don’t want to talk to anypuzzle where the first letter of each word spelled out a birthbody,’” Van Buren said. “Now on New Year’s we can both have day message from his hospital bed. our champagne bucket and say cheers to each other.”

“Never lorded over anyone,” Devi said. “He just really loved people, and felt that each of us was such a gift in his life.

T

Up Front News Opinion Culture

Truly a clean, well-lighted place, the bar at the Katherine provides a vintage, art-deco experience.

SPENCER KM BROWN

Puzzles

The suggestion of a rye Manhattan from the bartender passersby or a gaze at the evening sky are all seen from a seat at the bar. Unlike many establishments, the room is a fresh pushed the coldness from my bones for a short while. The change for diners in the Triad. Truly a clean, well-lighted place, openness and quite atmosphere make for a perfectly contemplative evening over a drink – a the bar at the Katharine is not far scene most fitting for a bar such as from the art-deco, vintage restauTo see full menus or make reservathis. rants one might have always wished tions, visit katharinebrasserie.com to go. But now, such a destination is There is much to be admired for much closer at hand. The ability to the Katharine’s reaching for unique dishes, including their raw bar situtransport guests and customers into ated at the end of the bar. Dishes a new and different world is somesuch as Le Grand Plat Katharine, thing truly remarkable. To walk in complete with 1/2 Maine lobster, oysters, jumbo shrimp and from the sidewalk and to be transported into an entirely new snow crab claws heighten this feature of the restaurant. experience is a quality coveted by restaurants and hotels alike.

To enter a new realm of dining experience is something in high A last view from the bar give a grand visage of the downdemand, and it is here that the Katharine succeeds. town streets just through the windows. A quick look at

Shot in the Triad

he tobacco-toasted sky waned in the west through the small glimpse of evening between downtown buildings. Freezing December gales crept around street corners like criminals, stealing through warm coats. It’s a strange walk we do in winter, one with chins tucked down into our collars, eyes fixed statically on the sidewalks in mindless concentration, hoping to meditate our bodies out of the cold. My hands found the massive gold revolving doors of the Kimpton Cardinal Hotel and the cold was exchanged for a gust of warm air. Suddenly, I could forget where I was. What city is this again?

What time and what place?

The Katharine Brasserie & Bar rests on the ground floor of the Cardinal hotel on Main Street in Winston-Salem.

Named after the wife of tobacco pioneer RJ Reynolds, the Katharine is beneath 20 floors of the historic Reynolds Building, built in 1929, but renovated in 2016 into a hotel, office spaces and condos.

Every minute detail of the restaurant’s interior benefited from close attention in its design. From the detailed patterns on the tiled floor and floor-to-ceiling windows to the steel-top bar and dark wooded liquor shelves, the bar at the Katharine luxuriates in classic French style, while still holding a modern, industrial vibe.

Walking down the marble steps into the sunken bar, there is a clear sensation of being transported through time and into a restaurant that seems unlikely to exist in the Triad. And yet, even though the elegant room is enough to make you feel high class for an evening, it is not as far away as it seems.

Much thought went into the cocktail and dinner menus, with items such as steak tartare, baked escargot, Pâté Grand-Mère and Cotelette De Porc emphasizing the restaurant’s classic French pedigree.

Yet while it might be easy to become overwhelmed by the vintage elegance of the restaurant, one can take solace in the brasserie aspect of the bar. Modeled on the traditional French bar, a vast array of bourbons, scotches, vodkas and gins allow for the Katharine’s signature and classic drinks to become something beyond the ordinary. The view from the bar allows diners a close-up of mixology as the bartenders shake and stir.

triad-city-beat.com

CULTURE The bar at the Katherine Brasserie transcends time and place

by Spencer KM Brown

13

January 4 - 10, 2018

Chestnut Street, Greensboro

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Good day to stay inside.

CAROLYN DE BERRY

PIZZERIA

Puzzles

L’ITALIANO

14

Large 1-topping pizza

11

$

Monday – Thursday

4-cheese pizza

10

99 Good through 9/27/17 $

WE !

DELIVER

99

Order online at pizzerialitaliano.net

every Tuesday, all day

219 S Elm Street, Greensboro • 336-274-4810

(336) 723-7239

breakfastofcourse.com

“The Somethingest of 2017”--not good, not bad, just... something. by Matt Jones 54

58 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68

Major 2017 event that required special glasses Parrot’s cousin 1998 baseball MVP Sammy Fasten, in a way Got up Unrestrained way to run RR stops Tropicana’s locale Cartoon skunk Le Pew Go with ___ grain

Up Front

Answers from previous publication.

42 6’11”, say 43 Dessert made with pecans or almonds, maybe 47 Bear-ly?

48 Clementine coats 50 Industrial city of Japan 51 Home Depot competitor 52 “The Ant and the Grasshopper” storyteller 55 “Get on it!”

56 Setting for “Julius Caesar” 57 Part of MIT 58 Dallas player, briefly 59 Overwhelming wonder 60 Gearwheel tooth

Opinion

Down 1 Kristen of “The Last Man on Earth” 2 Common eight-legged pest 3 Suffixes after “twenti-”, “thirti-,” etc.

4 There were “A Few” in a 1992 film title 5 Boredom ©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 6 Util. measured in kWh 7 Part of DOS, for short 26 “Dear ___ Hansen” 8 Charlie Parker’s genre 27 Pirate executed in 1701 9 Menzel who sang in “Frozen” 29 “I think somebody needs ___” 10 Soviet org. dissolved in 1991 30 Turtle-ish enemy in Super Mario Bros.

11 Sushi selection 31 Prefix meaning “all” 12 Beats by ___ (headphones brand) 34 John of “Entertainment Tonight” and new age music 13 ___ cum laude (with highest honors) 35 He followed a trail of breadcrumbs 20 Protect, as with plastic 36 First South Korean president Syngman ___ 21 Ceases to exist 37 Certain GIs 25 Scythes through the underbrush, perhaps 38 Laugh-out-loud type

News

Across 1 ”___ Drives Me Crazy” (1989 hit) 4 Curvy letters 8 Took off on two wheels 13 Edinburgh resident 14 And nothing more 15 Lawn straightener 16 “No way” 17 Binary digits 18 Oath-taker’s prop 19 St. Vincent album on a lot of “Best of 2017” lists 22 Whitman of TV’s “Parenthood” 23 Abbr. for someone who has just a first and last name 24 Actress Sissy of “The Help” 28 ___-Lorraine (area in northeast France) 30 Thor Heyerdahl’s “___-Tiki” 32 Half of CXII 33 2017 movie that could be Daniel Day-Lewis’s last, if he sticks with retirement 37 Fuel-efficient Toyota 39 365 billion days, in astronomy 40 “Can you give me ___?”

41 Toy fad that caught on in 2017 44 Olympic gold medalist Sebastian 45 ___ moment (epiphany) 46 Depletes 49 Casual walk 52 Took in dinner (but not a movie) 53 “There ___ no words ...”

triad-city-beat.com

CROSSWORD

SODUKO Culture Shot in the Triad

©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

Puzzles

Answers from previous publication.

15