Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point June 6-12, 2019 triad-city-beat.com
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HATCHET JOB PAGE 14
Axe-throwing storms the Triad Map mischief PAGE 12
Milkshaking PAGE 6
10-minute drama PAGE 17
June 6-12, 2019
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
Tales from the emptying nest: We can’t sit with them
She’s been roaming the empty rooms of the house these past couple weeks, loosening audible sighs as she leans in the by Brian Clarey doorjambs. She’s pitched bowling and rollerskating, movies, concerts and weekend trips to no avail. She’s been checking the doorbell-camera on her phone to monitor their ingress and egress from the house. And I think, finally, she’s coming to realize what I’ve known for about a year now: These teenagers are just not that into us. Really, it’s been coming for some time. The oldest has been ditching us in public for about three years now. Our middle child has been lukewarm about the whole “parents” thing since about the age of 12. And now it’s our daughter, who’s been hard-rolling her eyes at me for a long time but is just now starting to distance herself from the both of us. These days they’ll tolerate us in short bursts, like when we peer into their rooms — but not, ever, without knocking. They
can sometimes endure an entire restaurant meal with us, though they prefer to order in and eat in their rooms. And there is the frequent necessity of riding with us in cars — which must be infuriating to them, as interaction is inevitable when all their friends live out in Summerfield. But summer’s just about here, and the oldest can drive, and sometimes now the three of them get in the car and just… drive off… leaving my wife and I sitting there like a couple of wallflowers unable to fill our dance cards. My wife teared up a bit when she heard Ani DiFranco, onstage with Rhiannon Giddens at last month’s Greensboro Bound festival, talk about what happened when her daughter turned 12. “The earbuds went in,” she said, “and nothing else could get through.” The famed folk singer, activist and author said she was reduced to following her own daughter around like a stalker, asking, “Do you want me to watch you do something?” It helped. A little. Unlike myself, my wife is not accustomed to being barely tolerated by the people around her.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK And where else are you going to see women having a great time with an axe when there’re not police involved? - Stephanie Meletti, Pg.14
BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com
PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com
EDITORIAL SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green
ART ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette
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ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sayaka Matsuoka SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR Nikki Miller-Ka niksnacksblog@gmail.com
STAFF WRITER Lauren Barber lauren@triad-city-beat.com
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1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 COVER: Axe-throwing bars STAFF WRITER Savi Ettinger appeal to hipsterts, lumberjacks savi@triad-city-beat.com and everything in between. EDITORIAL INTERN Cason Ragland [Design by Robert Paquette]
KEY ACCOUNTS Gayla Price CONTRIBUTORS
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June 6-12, 2019
CITY LIFE June 6-12, 2019 by Cason Ragland
THURSDAY June 6
Meet Susannah Ravenswing @ 18 Springs (W-S), 6:30 p.m.
Culture
Opinion
News
Up Front
Food Truck Blitz @ Ferguson WinstonSalem Showroom (W-S), 4:30 p.m.
SATURDAY June 8
48 Hour FF open call for cast and crew @ Stephen D Hyers Studio Theater (GSO), 10 a.m.
The Home Builders Association will host a food truck fair this evening for the public. Part of the proceeds will go to the Forsyth County branch of Habitat for Humanity. If you’d like to find out more, check out the event’s page on Facebook. Postcard Party @ High Point Public Library (HP), 6 p.m. Municipal elections may not be as exciting as the midterm or general varieties, but they’re certainly just as important. Indivisible Guilford County will host a small occasion at the High Point Public Library where members of the community are invited to write postcards in order to encourage their neighbors to vote in the upcoming elections. You can learn more via Facebook.
FRIDAY June 7
Sew Your Own: Retro Gym Shorts @ Forge Greensboro: Community Makerspace (GSO), 6 p.m.
The 18 Springs Community Healing Center will host a talk by Susannah Ravenswing, a shamanic elder, this weekend in WinstonSalem. This event is part of 18 Spring’s Hear My Voice series where local wisdom keepers and local elders share the stories of their spiritual journeys. Discover more details on Facebook.
End of the Year Celebration @ City Lake Park (HP), 11 a.m.
Puzzles
Shot in the Triad
Strictly Social w/ DJ Darkcyde @ the Mill Entertainment Complex Silo (GSO), 10 p.m.
If you’re going to make a movie in just 48 hours, you’re going to need as much help as you can get. That’s why those behind the Greensboro 48 Hour Film Project are making a call to any and all who wish to lend a helping hand for this year’s 48HFP. For more information, take a look at the Facebook page for the event.
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Thought bench-pressing and deadlifting were the only ways to get attention at the gym? Well, you’re wrong! This weekend, you can join the folks down at Forge Greensboro to create your own gym shorts. Bejewel some activewear and bedazzle gym rats everywhere with your creation. Take a look at the event’s Facebook page for more info.
It may not be Chicago, Detroit or Berlin, but Greensboro has something to say when it comes to house and techno music. If you’ve got the hankerin’ to shake your dairy air on the dancefloor then look no further than Strictly Social’s event at the Mill Entertainment Complex this weekend. Check out the event’s page on Facebook to learn more.
The Guilford County Association of Educators will host a party to celebrate the end of the school year. While you’re there, you can have some food and listen to live music. If you’re interested, you can find out more and RSVP through the event’s Facebook page.
June 6-12, 2019
Industry Hill block party @ Mixxer (W-S), 12 p.m.
I Am Not My Hair @ Wellspring Healing (W-S), 4 p.m. Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad
The neighborhood of Industry Hills is home to many creative entrepreneurs and innovators in Winston-Salem. This weekend, Mixxer will host a variety of events for the public to enjoy. The 9th Street Shut Down will feature 20 food trucks and five breweries and there’ll be a craft show at Krankies. Tickets are free and you can find them on Facebook.
SUNDAY Jun 9
This workshop aims to tackle the complex dichotomy of one’s inner feelings and their outer appearance through the lens of beauty and body image. The discussion will primarily focus on how white or European aesthetics are often overvalued compared to black or African aesthetics. Tickets are available via Facebook.
Puzzles
Rockin’ in Rhythym: The Music of Duke Ellington @ the Carolina Theatre (GSO), 3 p.m. The Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra will present a retrospective on some of Duke Ellington’s finest work from the mid-20th Century. The performance will cover everything from Ellington’s work during the swing era to the more experimental genre of jazz-rock fusion. Tickets can be purchased through the Carolina Theatre’s website.
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June 6-12, 2019 Puzzles
Shot in the Triad
Culture
Opinion
News
Up Front
Milkshaking in the US by Brian Clarey
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US Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) became the forst US politician to get milkshaked on Saturday, at a town hall in the Brew Ha Ha in Pensacola.
President Donald Trump is in Great Britain this week, and I’ve been taking great pleasure at seeing his discomfort with the whole deal. I saw a photo of him standing next to the queen in a white tie and tails, and he looked like a little kid who was pissed off because he had to get dressed up. Also, a bit like a 6-foot ventriloquist’s dummy. But what I’m really waiting for is someone to milkshake him. Milkshaking, friends, is a method of voicing displeasure with another human by purchasing a commercially available milkshake — vanilla is the preferred flavor, though I assume it’s been done with chocolate and perhaps even strawberry — and then flinging it like an icy, delicious grenade at the target, preferably on camera. The kids call it “de-platforming.” I call it hilarious. It’s so hot in the UK right now. It started just last month, coinciding with the European
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT PAQUETTE.
Parliament election, when British right-wing activist Tommy Robinson got milkshaked on both May 1 and 2. Another far-right candidate, Carl Benjamin, got milkshaked four times in May. Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party, got milkshaked on May 20. It became so common that constables asked a McDonalds in Scotland to stop selling milkshakes during Farage’s campaign stop. Naturally, there’s YouTubes of all of this. Like all great British trends, it’s coming to the US. The flouncy hate machine Milo Yiannopoulis has been recently milkshaked. And on Saturday, US Rep. Matt Gaetz (RFlorida) got milkshaked after leaving a town hall at the Brew Ha Ha in Pensacola. Maybe that’s why Trump looked so uncomfortable in his stupid, ill-fitting morning suit: He knows there’s a milkshake out there with his name on it.
News Opinion
Of course, being Asian is an individual and varied experience; we’re not all the same. But the particular ways in which Wong, Park and Khan imbued their lived Asian-American experiences without having to smash the audience over the head is refreshing and a welcome departure from the decades of racist, stereotypical portrayals of Asians that we’ve gotten. And that’s if we’re depicted at all. With the increased awareness of the importance of diversity and representation in media, I look forward to seeing more characters that look like me living complicated, regular lives whether it’s in a romance or drama or horror. It’s about damn time.
Up Front
As an Asian child, I was always told to remove my shoes when entering a household; I still do. It was only when I began visiting my white friends’ homes in elementary and middle school that I realized that this wasn’t necessarily the norm for every family. In a scene from the recently released Netflix movie Always Be My Maybe, director Nahnatchka Khan (creator of “Fresh Off the Boat”) purposefully crafts a shot where two young Asian girls run through a house during a birthday party, but only after removing their shoes prior to entering and then carrying them through the house so they can slip them back on once on the back patio. The film, which debuted last Wednesday is notable because, like Crazy Rich Asians from last year, it features an almost all-Asian cast with stand-up comedian Ali Wong and “Fresh Off the Boat” star Randall Park as its leads. The film plays like a traditional rom-com by following Wong and Park from their childhood as best friends into adulthood when they reconnect. At a passing glance, the film seems like just another fun but relatable romantic comedy. However, like Shirley Li of the Atlantic pointed out in her article on June 2, Always Be My Maybe is significant in so many ways because of the deliberate choices made by the cast and crew in how the story is told. For example, to those with no connection to Asian culture, the scene with the girls might very well be overshadowed by all of the other notable scenes in the film. I mean, it only lasts a few seconds. But to those who know, the shot is a call back to our own childhoods, to our own cultures. “I spent more time on that shot than I think a director would have if that wasn’t an important detail,” says Khan in the Atlantic piece. “We had to get that timing right. You could get into [that scene] in any number of ways, but I liked showing that.… It’s a part of this world.” In so many other little ways, Always Be My Maybe — which is written by three Asian writers including Park and Wong — makes important efforts to subtly ground the characters in their respective Asian cultures and identities without pigeonholing them. As kids, Wong and Park can be seen riding a trolley (the film is set in San Francisco) while eating Pocky, or wrapping dumplings with Park’s mom. And yet, they are also still just normal kids. They dress up as Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World for Halloween and they play music in a band. The parents don’t have thick accents. They don’t have to be good at math or play the violin or do karate. They look, think, and feel like us.
June 6-12, 2019
‘byASayaka lways Be My Maybe’ Matsuoka
Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
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Puzzles
Shot in the Triad
Culture
Opinion
News
Up Front
June 6-12, 2019
NEWS
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No more glass recycling says city of Greensboro, starting July 1 by Sayaka Matsuoka Due to changing demand in the global market for recyclable materials, the city of Greensboro will no longer be accepting certain items for recycling including glass, gabled cartons and large plastic items starting July 1. The city will also be getting rid of their 20 recycling drop-off locations. Starting July 1, Greensboro residents will no longer be able to recycle glass in residential recycling cans. Other items that will no longer be recyclable include gabled cartons — the triangular-roof shaped cartons often used for milk and juice — and large plastic items like lawn furniture and buckets, pots and pans, and shredded paper. The new restrictions are a direct result of changing global markets for recycled goods, according to the city. “There’s been a downturn in global economy for these particular items,” said Chris Marriott, the deputy director of field operations for Greensboro. “A lot of our stuff is resold and reused locally but [recycling companies] use a global exchange rate.” Greensboro’s contracts with Republic Services, a publicly-traded company, to handle its recycling. The main reason why companies like Republic are cutting down on the types of recycling they accept is largely because overseas countries, mainly China, have begun to limit the amount of recyclable materials that they buy. For decades, has China been the main consumer of most of the world’s recyclables, using the materials to create new goods like shoes, bags and plastic products. But in 2018 the country implemented restrictions on what recyclables it would import, citing pollution issues. The move, which some called the “National Sword,” banned the importation of several types of recyclables including low-grade plastics and unsorted paper. The regulation also aimed to increase the quality of the materials by reducing the allowed amount of contamination in imported recyclables from 1.5 to 0.5 percent. This stricter contamination rate has raised the cost of processing for many recycling companies like Republic Services. According to Marriott, they have increased the number of workers needed to maintain a better product and added more shifts. They’ve also had to slow the rate of the assembly line, which workers
Starting July 1, the city of Greensboro will no longer be accepting glass in its residential recycling program.
use to sort the materials. shredded paper sticks to surfaces easily “Cutting back on the amount of and also causes contamination. contamination has limited what we can Starting in July, the city is requiring sell to [Republic] under our current residents to put these materials in their practices,” Marriott said. “It causes their garbage can instead of in the recycling. processing costs to go up because they Tori Carle, the waste reduction superhave to have a purer visor for city, also product.” suggests that residents Glass causes a lot try to consume less of contamination beof these products or To learn more about cause it gets crushed donate items to places the city’s recent reto be recycled, and like Goodwill. If they then the tiny particles continue to put them cycling changes, visit get into other types of in their recycling bins, recycling like plastic or greensboro-nc.gov/ they could be fined paper, Marriott said. and have their recydepartments/field-opAs for the gabled cling can taken away. erations/recycle/resetcartons, Marriott In addition to said there’s just not cutting down on the recycle or download as much demand for types of materials they the GSO Collects app on are collecting, the city them. The material currently gets sorted will also be getting rid your smartphone. with mixed paper of the 20 recycling because there isn’t as drop-off locations that much gabled product are located around in the city’s stream and mixed paper is town. These are the large blue dumpa low-value commodity. Large plastic sters where residents can take extra items as well as pots and pans tend to recyclables, including ones too large jam up the recycling machinery and to fit in household bins. This is due to
FILE PHOTO
increased contamination of the dropoff locations says Marriott. Because of the new overseas regulations, Republic Services will be charging the city for any contaminated recyclables they bring to the company. “These sites have been historically highly contaminated,” he said. “People dump mattresses and things like that. When you get that in there, or things like regular household trash or liquid, it ruins the whole load, especially liquid. It makes the cardboard and paper nonusable.” For now, Marriott says residents who have excess recycling they would otherwise take to one of the drop-off sites can purchase an extra recycling cart from the city for $50. He also recommends squishing and breaking down all materials before putting them in the cans. To help offset the new changes, Marriott says the city plans on adding two or three new recycling drop-off locations specifically for glass that will be regulated to avoid contamination. He says he understands that the changes will be significant for many residents who are used to recycling.
News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
“Our hope is that this change in recycling can help us spark a deeper look into our purchasing choices and continue to reduce our waste,” Cox said. “Recycling waste is a commodity, and without the demand, the supply is not going to go away. So, we as a community will need to think creatively and help each other find viable solutions. Recycling has been our environmental Band-Aid for years, and the reality is that it’s about to change worldwide, and not just for Greensboro.” But the new international regulations haven’t made an impact on nearby cities like Winston-Salem and High Point. Melanie Bruton, the superintendent of material recovery for High Point, says because the city handles its own recycling, they’ve been able to come up with creative ways to continue to accept most types of recycling. “There have been a lot of changes nationally and globally because of economics and environmental issues,” Bruton said. “But we’re kind of in a good position because we are in charge of our own destiny and landfill.” Bruton acknowledges the shifting global landscape and how it’s affected recycling everywhere. “It’s been a tough recycling year,” she said. “But it looks like it’s gonna turn around. It could take one to three years. There’s just gonna be a change. The material needs to be cleaner.” Helen Peplowski, Winston-Salem’s sustainability manager, also told TCB via email that the city’s recycling practices will not be changing. “We do not have any plans currently to remove glass from our recycling program,” Peplowski said. “The recent market changes will also not immediately impact our recycling program in Winston-Salem as it pertains to residents.” Marriott says he’s not sure if Greensboro will ever collect glass in the residential curbside recycling cans again. He hopes the changes prod residents to reflect on the impact of their consumption patterns. “Each individual’s action does affect everyone else,” he said. “I urge residents to understand that their individual actions matter to the whole. Everyone’s behavior matters in this thing.”
Up Front
Paige Cox is the director at Reconsidered Goods, a store that takes in and resells art supplies and other usable materials. She says that since the city’s announcement, her employees have received questions about how it will affect the store’s intake or what they should do about certain materials. In an email, Cox explained that Reconsidered Goods currently accepts clean, unlabeled mason jars but not beer or wine bottles. Still, she said the store plans on inspiring customers with re-use projects for unwanted glass containers.
June 6-12, 2019
“There’s gonna be a sacrifice for residents that wanna do good,” Marriott said. “But we will continue to re-evaluate to make sure we’re offering the best service we can.” The plans to change the way the city handles recycling has caused some residents to think more creatively about what to do with their materials like glass.
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June 6-12, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
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NC Republicans choose party leader in run-up to 2020 election by Jordan Green With the last North Carolina GOP party chair under indictment for bribery and conspiracy, the party’s next leader will have to find a way to reassure high-dollar donors. Reeling from a bribery scandal that resulted in the indictment of its chairman and a major donor, the North Carolina Republican Party meets in Concord this weekend to choose among three men who want to lead the state GOP through a banner election next year with the national convention in Charlotte, and major elections for governor and US Senate. During a debate at Covenant of Grace Church in Winston-Salem on Monday, the three candidates directly addressed how they plan on courting major donors to open a cash sluice adequate to finance races up and down the ballot, including what one predicted will be the most expensive Senate race in the country. “What’s happened in the scandals of late is that people have lost confidence in the party,” said Jim Womack, who currently serves as the chair of the Lee County Republican Party. “That’s why you don’t have donors at the lowest levels of the party. That’s why you don’t have the business class trusting us with their money and their investments, and the big-money donors sitting on the sidelines because they don’t believe in our brand. They don’t believe that their money’s going to be well spent. In fact, they might even end up in a federal indictment.” Womack, who worked as director of health information services for the NC Department of Health and Human Services and then joined a private company that supplied the state’s health information system, touted his sales ability. “Our value proposition to the business class of the party — the second tier — is that we’re the party of limited government and lower regulations,” Womack said. “And we’ve got to convince them that when they’re investing in our candidates and our party that they’re going to get value out of that investment. And we can do that: We’ll build a pipeline, and we’ll go to the business class, especially in the districts and down at the county level.” Michael Whatley, a partner with the national energy lobbying firm HBW Resources and former chief of staff to Sen. Elizabeth Dole, said he’s already cultivating potential donors. “We do have the donor class,” he said. “And it’s very important that we do have
folks who are able to contribute high dollars, whether that’s $25,000 or $50,000 or whatever to the party to support their ideas of economic freedom and where they want to go as a class — extremely important that we keep those guys on board. I’ve had a number of discussions with folks there. They have said that they will re-engage with the party if I’m chair.” John Lewis, who currently serves as general counsel for the state party, was the only candidate who didn’t reference the indictments during the debate. As a party insider who helped strategize the 2014 election as a member of the central committee, Lewis has campaigned on an appeal for continuity. He didn’t mention the current chairman during the debate on Monday, but in an April 1 Facebook post announcing the launch of his campaign, Lewis wrote, “No one person can replace our party’s senior statesman, Robin Hayes. He has been a great friend and mentor to me over the years.” On Monday, Lewis simply said, “We are fortunate that the big donors haven’t abandoned the North Carolina Republican Party.” Noting that North Carolina, along with Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, is a must-win state for Donald Trump, and that the national spotlight will be on Charlotte in August 2020, Whatley said if elected chair, his first act will be to go to the executive committee meeting on June 10 “and demand that we conduct an audit and that we’re going to operate ethically moving forward.” The candidates spoke at length about different fundraising strategies. Whatley said the state party needs to implement an online small-donation program similar to the lucrative efforts pioneered by Trump and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election. “There’s no excuse for us as a party to not have that in place right now,” Whatley said. Whatley and Womack both said they would work to bring high-profile guests
to the state — Womack named President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence — for fundraisers to benefit the state party. And he suggested two ideas for “strategic partnering.” “We are going to work on a NASCAR partnership because that’s mutually beneficial both for NASCAR and the Republican Party,” he said. “It’s a party that most of the race teams identify with. “Another area is in the wine tasting,” he added. “I mean, Eric Trump is big into vineyards and wine tasting. Why don’t we work with the Trump campaign with some of the wine-tasting tours here, which are big-dollar fundraisers…. I think it would be great to have the Trump family come down here and raise some money, and we get a cut of that.” Beyond funneling money to support candidates and campaigns, the party chair hopefuls talked about different ways they want to spend the funds. Lewis said he would hire a full-time coordinator for judicial candidates. He described the position as “someone that can coordinate between all of the egos of the consultants of the campaigns” and farm candidates out across the state so they aren’t holding competing fundraisers in the same markets. “These candidates don’t raise as much as say a US Senate race, so every dollar they get matters,” Lewis said. Alluding to the Democrat-dominated court’s ability to act as final arbiter on controversial legislation, Lewis added, “So we have to make sure that we win these judicial seats. And that is one of the biggest things that I want to spend money on next year so that we can protect the courts and start bringing them back to our side.” Womack suggested that the state party could help its county-level counterparts open well-appointed headquarters in the state’s most populous counties to strengthen voter engagement. “We have the largest Republican headquarters in the state in Lee County,
Jim Womack, Michael Whatley and John Lewis are vying for the position of chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. The party will select the new chairman on June 9.
in little ol’ Lee County,” Womack said. “8,000 square feet, and almost every room is occupied. We got a bar. We got a dancefloor. We got a barbershop. We got a prayer room. Folks, we got it all. And we’re right in the middle of downtown Sanford. A year-round presence, we keep the headquarters open. We got Democrats coming in there and they’re converting to our party. “Look, that’s what I want to do statewide,” Womack said, adding that he could help county-level parties find local property owners to donate space or to lease at discounted rate. In the only attack of the debate, Lewis assailed the idea as unrealistic. “I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that we’re gonna pay for headquarters in all metropolitan areas,” he said. “I’m not gonna say that that’s the goal to do it. Because, realistically folks, we’ve had great fundraisers over the last 15, 20 years around the state. And they never could come close to raising money that would be required to run headquarters and permanent presences in Mecklenburg County, in Forsyth County, Buncombe County, New Hanover County. Telling you that’s what I’m gonna do is just not truthful.” Whatley said he wants to build a TV studio in the party headquarters in Raleigh. “We need to be able to have videos that we will create, content that we will create and also commercials that we will do for the General Assembly and other candidates,” he said, “and to be able to get that messaging out in a visual way, not just in terms of writing and social media.” Whatley and Womack presented the biggest contrasts in media strategy, with Whatley emphasizing a more traditional approach. “The key is what are the overall messages that we as a party need to deliver to voters over the 18 months that we’re gonna have coming out of this election for chair?” Whatley asked. “And how many times do we have to drive those messages home for ’em? That is going to be able to utilize traditional media, press releases, interviews with reporters, planting stories, doing radio shows, being on TV when that’s warranted.” He also said that he anticipates the Trump campaign sending out weekly talking points, and that the state party would synthesize those with talking points from the gubernatorial nominee
June 6-12, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
and legislative caucuses into a unified “package.” Womack said the state party needs to utilize virtually every social-media platform, specifically mentioning Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. “Our president, Donald J. Trump, changed the way media operates,” Womack said. “He drives the news cycle now, and he does it through Twitter. He reinvented communications, and God bless him for doing that because he showed us that there’s a better way of doing it. We don’t just have to take a back seat to the news media. We’ve got the ability now to create our own channels of communications. And that’s something that the Republican Party of North Carolina just hasn’t taken advantage of.” Urban counties like Forsyth and Guilford have steadily become more favorable toward Democrats with each presidential election, but the three candidates for state GOP chair gamely proposed ideas for reaching voters of color. “We have a great message,” Whatley said. “President Trump has done a fantastic job unleashing the economy. We have record low unemployment among Hispanics. We have record low unemployment for African Americans.” Womack said the state party is missing an opportunity by not buying radio advertising that targets African-American voters. “We haven’t been buying black urban radio,” he said. “And let me tell you something: In urban radio you can reach a lot of folks, and we just haven’t been doing the ad buys and hitting them with hard-hitting messages which really convey where we are and the values that those folks align with.” He said he’s also a fan of pamphlets. “There’s a pamphlet I’ve got here with me tonight called ‘Make Black America Great Again,’” Womack said. “It’s from the Black Americans to Elect the President. Those pamphlets are really good, very effective at trying to communicate Republican values, the party that black Americans used to belong to many years ago. The same sort of thing with the Latin crowd. We’ve got Latin fliers printed in Spanish that will help Latin voters understand what our values are.” Lewis said the party should identify “stakeholders” in urban communities to try to get a sympathetic hearing. “We sit down and talk with them and find out what’s important with them,” he said. “When they start talking to us about what’s important with them, we then explain how that fits into the Republican mold. We get them to buy into the Republican brand. We get them to buy into what we’re doing. And we lead them down the path of realization that they realize that they’re Republicans.”
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June 6-12, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
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CITIZEN GREEN
OPINION
Dear Texas, North Carolina feels your pain
The line connecting efforts to lock in white, Republican control of the US political system runs from North Carolina to Texas, and through a federal courtroom in New York City. The revelation that US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross’ plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Deby Jordan Green cennial Census grew out of an effort to maximize partisan advantage for Republican legislators, and emerged in a trove of documents obtained by plaintiffs opposing North Carolina’s extreme gerrymandering scheme. In a surreal turn of events, the daughter of the late Republican consultant Thomas Hofeller who was evidently sympathetic to those who want to undo her father’s political handiwork, turned over his papers to lawyers challenging the Republican redistricting scheme. Much as Barack Obama’s 2008 victory in North Carolina SCREEN The line runs from North Carolina to Texas, and prompted a wave of voter-suppression efforts by Republicans to SHOT through a federal courtroom in New York City. ensure legislative majorities in Raleigh and in the state’s congressional delegation, Republicans have cause to worry that the ments simple outside of the expert court witness work I do.” growing diversity of the Texas electorate will weaken their hold on The reasons for Hofeller’s secrecy aren’t hard to divine. The final that crucial state. A redistricting consultant who worked closely conclusion of his unsigned report spells it out: “A proposal to use with the National Republican Congressional Committee, Hofeller CVAP can be expected to provoke a high degree of resistance almost singlehandedly held back a blue tide in North Carolina by from Democrats and the major minority groups in the nation.” drawing maps after the 2010 Census, ensuring that a state divided So, when the Trump Justice Department sent a letter to right down the middle politically would reliably elect 10 RepubliCommerce in December 2017 formally requesting that a citizencans and three Democrats to Congress. ship question be added to the Census questionnaire, a different Documents filed by the ACLU in the US District Court for the rationale was cited. Southern District of New York show that as early as 2015, Hofeller “This data is critical to the department’s enforcement of Section proposed adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census to 2 of the Voting Rights Act and its important protections against allow legislative districts to be drawn by measuring citizen votingracial discrimination in voting,” wrote Arthur E. age population as opposed to total population. In Gary, general counsel for the Justice Management a secret report commissioned by billionaire hedgeDivision. Hofeller almost fund manager Paul Singer, Hofeller reflected that “a On May 30, the ACLU submitted Hofeller’s switch to the use of citizen voting-age population singlehandedly 2015 report to US District Judge Jesse Freeman as the numerical basis for redistricting would be evidence in its lawsuit attempting to block the held back a blue as advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic Trump administration from adding the citizenship whites.” The report used Texas state House districts tide in NC by question. The ACLU requested “an order to show as a case study. cause whether sanctions or other appropriate relief drawing maps By removing non-citizens from the redistrictare warranted in light of new evidence that contraing base, the population of heavily Latino and dicts the sworn testimony of Secretary Ross’s expert after the 2010 Democrat-leaning districts would shrink. Hofeller advisor A. Mark Neuman and senior DOJ official Census. reflected that “the greatest loss would be in South John Gore.” The ACLU contends that Neuman, Texas, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley,” which he a longtime friend of Hofeller who served on the found would lose 2.6 state House districts overall, Trump transition team, and Gore “falsely testified along with the population bases in the Democrat-leaning areas about the genesis of DOJ’s request to Commerce in ways that surrounding Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. As a result, Hofeller obscured the pretextual character of the request.” said, “Democratic districts could geographically expand to absorb The Justice Department responded on Monday, asking Judge additional high Democratic precincts from adjacent Republican Furman to deny the ACLU’s motion for sanctions. Furman has districts, strengthening the adjoining GOP districts.” already ruled that the citizenship question cannot be included in Hofeller was paid for his work through the Washington Free the 2020 Census questionnaire, and federal judges in California Beacon, a conservative website financially backed by Singer. The and Maryland have reached the same conclusion in separate lawpurpose of the secret report was not journalistic, but rather to help suits. The DOJ charged on Monday that the ACLU’s release of Singer decide whether to fund the Evenwel lawsuit, which sought Hofeller’s study amounts to an attempt “to drag this court” into an to force Texas to use citizen voting-age population in place of “eleventh-hour campaign to derail the Supreme Court’s resolution total population to determine district lines. In his email corresponof the government’s appeal.” dence with one of Singer’s representatives, Hofeller wrote, “My Lawyers for the ACLU and the government were scheduled to position is that the report would not be attributed either directly or appear before Judge Furman on Wednesday to argue the matter. indirectly.” He added, “It’s just that I have to keep my public state-
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Sen. Thom Tillis is coming to the end tor Robert Mueller from presidential of his first term in Washington, DC, and interference. And just this week he it looks like he’s about to blow it. offered protection to Attorney GenRemember that after coasting his way eral Robert Barr, who faces a vote next from the Cornelius Town Council to the week whether Congress will hold him in NC House, where he became speaker in contempt. 2011, Tillis won his Senate seat from Kay But it was too late for mad political Hagan in 2014 by just 1.6 points. thrashings. By May 6, Tillis had already It turns out a guy can get pretty far by attracted a primary challenger, Garland properly filling a suit, occasionally toeing Tucker, a Raleigh businessman and the party line and otherwise keeping his author of conservative books who is not mouth shut. letting a complete lack of government But the game has changed since Tillis experience stop him from setting his yes-sirred his way to Capitol Hill. And sights on the US Senate. with no real ideological Though Tucker has underpinning other than not yet filed a campaignthe cause of furthering finance report, the News his own career, he’s get& Observer reported that Tillis has always ting himself spun. he’s luring away some of been all over the Tillis has always been Tillis’ big donors. And all over the map in terms former Jesse Helms map in terms or of words vs. deeds, but advisor Carter Wrenn, words vs. deeds. this year has been a one of the more powerbanner one. In February, ful GOP operatives in remember, he penned an North Carolina, is runop-ed for the Washingning his campaign. ton Post pledging to vote And this has got to against Trump’s declaration of a national be driving Tillis mad. Both Tucker and emergency in regards to immigration at Wrenn have made anti-Trump statethe southern border. Not three weeks ments in the past, curated lovingly in a later, he voted in favor of the emergency hit piece by the Washington Examiner, declaration, telling the same paper that and yet Tucker is running as the proran his editorial: “A lot has changed in Trump candidate. the last three weeks.” And anyone who can out flip-flop In April he co-sponsored a bill Thom Tillis has a real future in politics. that would protect Special Investiga-
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June 6-12, 2019
Our man in the Senate
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June 6-12, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
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CULTURE Hatchet job: Axe-throwing comes to the Triad by Lauren Barber
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t’s nothing new. Think back to the donkey on the wall, the spiked tail in hand and the near impossible target — replace blindfolded spins with a beer buzz, the donkey ass for a wood-crafted scoreboard and the tail for a hand axe, one of the first tools our species made back in the early Stone Age. On a late-spring evening 2.5 million years later, Stephanie Meletti of Greensboro is throwing for the first time outside Dram and Draught. “We’re always looking for something other than going to a bar, but we want to go to a place where we can meet other people and relive all the energy we’ve got,” Meletti says of the over-40 social meetup group that got her here tonight. “We came for a stress relief, but the drinks are a bonus. And where else are you going to see women having a great time with an axe,” adding with a whisper, “when there’re not police involved.” Unlike in weight rooms, none of the men could be heard grunting, at least not in this crowd, whereas some women let out full roars from the Flying Hatchet’s mobile throwing lanes. The brand-new business parks outside Dram & Draught in Greensboro every Thursday and Pig Pounder every Friday. They’ll also set up shop for private events like birthdays, wedding and corporate “team building” events. Coowners Chase Strange and Banks Baker, both in their twenties, decided to take a chance on the idea after wandering into an axe-throwing bar in Georgia about two months ago. They tracked down an old motorhome camper, stripped it and added the wooden targets so that throwers step inside an enclosed, openair “cage.” Axe Throwing Insurance, a company that specializes in insurance for this niche market, doesn’t yet quote for mobile operations because it’s such a new concept. The Flying Hatchet did find a company willing to extend a milliondollar liability insurance deal, though, which also shelters host bars. Six weeks into their venture, armed with financial investment from local powerbrokers like Marty Kotis, they’re already aiming to construct 15 additions to their fleet over the next few months and they’ve already drafted blueprints for a 1,000-square-foot facility near the corner of South Eugene Street and Gate
The Flying Hatchet mobile posts up outside the Dram and Draught in Greensboro every Thursday.
City Boulevard. Long-empty warehouses in bygone industrial districts make for excellent locales, both in blueprint and rustic authenticity. The concept is a social lounge, but with axes — an edgy, athletic cousin to novelty social spaces like escape rooms and cat cafés. “Bowling alleys aren’t just for bowling — you go there to socialize,” Strange says. “Our main goal is to get more people to come out and socialize with their friends.” But axe-throwing is more viscerally satisfying than bowling a strike, particularly for urban and suburban dwellers removed from the necessary labor of splitting wood. A bit of a modern departure from the francisca axes the Franks hurled during combat in the early Middle Ages, the hand-axe phenomenon is a more obvious descendant of timbersports competitions
LAUREN BARBER
in Canada, but in the US translates as an evolution of vaguely athletic social activities like darts and bowling with a lumberjack-fantasy twist. As a competitive sport, axe-throwing has been gaining popularity for more than a decade in Canada, boasting several national and international governing bodies and a world championship. The trend, as both competition and leisure, took off in major US cities in 2016. Serena Williams delivered a decisive blow to the abdomen of an outlined person on the wooden scoreboard on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon in late 2018, just as the trend trickled down to North Carolina. Strange says his mobile operation is one of three on the East Coast, with the others based in Tennessee and Florida, but that brick-and-mortars with multiple throwing lanes are
June 6-12, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
quickly popping up in NC cities like Asheville, Archdale, Durham, Charlotte, Raleigh, Fayetteville and Wilmington, and smaller towns like Clemmons. A new branch of Charlotte-based Axe Club of America just opened in Winston-Salem. In addition to pay-to-throw hours on Thursday through Sunday, the indoor throwing venue hosts a competitive league on Monday and Tuesday nights in the Winston Junction building. It’s not a bar, but they serve local craft beer. All venues train staff to instruct newcomers how to throw before anyone picks up a surprisingly light (typically 1.5 lbs.) hand axe. The throw is more of a chop from the elbow than from the shoulder, following one forward step with the nondominant leg. Ideally, the hand axe should make one rotation before hitting the target of concentric circles painted on pine planks, the top corner of the blade sinking into soft wood. Aside from its novelty appeal, it’s reason to let out a holler, to strut, to pose for a photo. It’s an opportunity to assert control, to unburden oneself, to experience elation, however fleeting. And despite everything that can be said about the trend’s diminishing novelty and some of these venues’ complicity in gentrification, there’s something to be said for, or at least be curious about, the rise of a sociallyacceptable outlet for rage, weaponry and the endorphin rush; something poignant about the song of a brass bell rung after bullseye landings and for the whiff of sweet pine the thrower might notice upon yanking an ancient hand tool loose from a splintered scoreboard. It still satisfies, even 2.5 million years later.
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June 6-12, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
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CULTURE Sweet tooth: Greenhill tempts visitors with snacks as art By Sayaka Matsuoka
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rystalline orange granules interrupt thin concentric rings of white that border the circular canvas. Delicate bubbles form on shades of orange, starting as a saturated clementine, then blend into a bright, neon amber as the observer’s eye moves from top to bottom. A glance at the work’s description reveals that the large, blown-up photograph by Durham artist Kristen Baumlier-Faber, is titled “Tang,” and is an up-close portrait of the brand-name orange drink mix that was popularized in the ’60s after NASA astronauts like John Glenn consumed it in space. The piece is part of Sweet, a new eight-artist exhibition on display at the Greenhill Center for North Carolina Art in downtown Greensboro that portrays food as art. “You get the experience of the food but… you try and figure it out, like what exactly it is,” explains Edie Carpenter, the direct of artistic and curatorial programs for Greenhill. “You have this kind of wonderful texture of the bubbly.” The photo is part of a series of works that Baumlier-Faber calls Bliss, which is inspired by Michael Moss’s 2013 bestselling book, Salt, Sugar, Fat, which uncovered the ways that food corporations make their product irresistible to consumers. Nearby, a row of three large, clear bowls are filled to the brim with Tang drink, Doritos chips and cheese balls. Each has a corresponding photograph behind it that captures the food on a molecular level. And while it’s tempting to eat the food — Carpenter says that some people have been snacking on the pieces — that’s not the point. “I think she wants people to see them,” she says. “Actually look at them. Because when you consume them in the bag, you don’t see what they are.” Carpenter says that she had been wanting to do a multisensory exhibition for a while (there’s a table of provided snacks in the gallery) and landed on the idea of sweet foods because of the universality of the taste. “There’s a whole tradition and there’s a whole art of baking and homemade sweets,” Carpenter says. “As soon as [sugar] became available in the 16th Century, it’s had this exponential rise in market value and it’s the one food that universally has increased in terms of demand.”
In Sweet, on display at the Greenhill Center, there is overlap between the snacks and the art.
SAYAKA MATSUOKA
Towards the entrance of the exhibit, a row of beautifully Filling out the rest of the gallery are works that continue rendered watercolor paintings of creatures grace the wall. A to touch on the overwhelming allure of sweets and how they fierce and majestic tiger peers out of its frame next to a regal affect people’s lives. vampire while a group of white rabbits huddle together on an Artist Bethany Pierce’s dramatic vanitas paintings depict opposite wall. decadent cakes that look like as if they are melting before In front of each painting sits a bowl of the viewer’s eyes while Rachel Campcereal that corresponds with its mascot. bell’s paintings take ordinary snacks like On the wall, artist Jillian Ohl describes Krispy Kreme donuts and M&M vending Sweet will be on display at her series of paintings, Sugar Coated, as machines to create large, vibrant snapa way of portraying popular children’s shots. Three-dimensional works like Ed Greenhill through July 14. cereal mascots “in a dignified manner Bing Lee’s fiber sculptures of cupcakes On Friday, the gallery will without exploiting them for their fame or and an ice-cream cone offer a more host an artist-led tour of notoriety.” tangible experience while Paul Rousso’s Around the corner, New York-based artacrylic, blown-up installations of popular the exhibit starting at 6 ist Robin Frohardt’s cakes draw attendcandy wrappers immortalize the disposp.m. Visit GreenHillNC.org ees in with realistic frosting and vibrant able packaging that consumers take for for additional programs fondant. In reality, most of her works are granted. and events. created with cardboard and plastic bags. Perfect for the summer and at first An excerpt from her larger 2016 installaglance an easily digestible show, “Sweet” tion, Plastic Bag Store, in which Frohardt challenges viewers in more ways than created an entire storefront with consumone, pitting consumer against producer, er goods molded from plastic bags, the pieces aim to show the personal desires against self-control, and companies against detrimental impact of human consumption and waste on the the environment. environment. “It’s so universally experienced by everyone,” Carpenter “It’s a real critique of the horrible impact of plastic on the says. “I think everyone to a certain degree has some sort of a environment that we’re learning more and more about,” Carsweet tooth.” penter explains.
CULTURE Comedy, drama and absurdism in 10 minutes or less by Savi Ettinger
June 6-12, 2019
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A scene from “The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat”
BRITT STONE
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experience.” shirt and dark jeans. They face away from one another, their Actor Ryan Howard says the festival gave him a chance to shoes strewn beside them. The somewhat absurdist piece, jump back onstage after college, playing roles in both the first “After Before” written by Wake Forest University student and last play. Emma Szuba, follows four people at the apocalypse. They walk “It’s kind of reignited my appetite to get into theater again,” aimlessly barefoot as they contemplate the possibility of any Howard says. of the Earth remaining, and whether or not their souls should Stone hoped to use the length move on or find a way back. of the plays to draw upon new or One man does jumping jacks to Learn more about the Winston-Salem emerging talent — like Howard or keep his eternal mind sharp, hopWriters at wswriters.org, and the Little Turner — whether they worked as ing to be the last one standing in actors, directors or stagehands. the face of nothingness. Another Theatre of Winston-Salem at ltofws.org. Stone delighted in working with man seems nervous. A woman those who may not have the time lays on the floor, her curly hair or ability to commit to the schedule required of a full-length spread over the dark wood. A second woman stands on the musical, or a dense two-act play. edge of an exit, looking off into the distance. “Our whole goal” she says, “was to invite people into theShe decides there must be something left on Earth and to ater.” go back, a decision that — for her — took over three thousand The invite reaches the audience. As the set hits its minimalyears. ist peak, four actors stand on stage in the same outfit white But for us, it lasts only ten minutes.
Shot in the Triad
t’s kind of like writing a short story,” Britt Stone says, “versus a novel.” As the festival coordinator of the Ten-Minute Play Festival, Stone describes the night like a buffet of theater. As people walk to their seats before the show, she readies the cast and crew for a night of brief tales and quick trips into other worlds. The collaboration between the Winston-Salem Writers and the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem highlights comedy, absurdism and drama in less time than it takes to have a pizza delivered. The Hanesbrands Theatre shifts and morphs again and again, stopping on each setting for less time than it takes to have a pizza delivered. A writing competition determined the performances. From more than two dozen entries, seven were selected from North Carolina writers, four of which come from Winston-Salem. Stone revels in watching the different genres unfold. “What I love most about it is seeing each of the plays is so, so different,” Stone says. As the lights go up, the stage becomes a coffee shop stalked by a serial laptop thief looking for tables left unattended. He preys on those who ask someone, usually a stranger, to watch their stuff while they take a bathroom break. Not a quarter hour later, the same stage transforms an antique-looking den, where a child’s stuffed animal plans a runaway marriage with another. Quickly, the romance between patterned cat and dog morphs into a tale of heartbreak and betrayal. Later on, Marilynn Barner Anselmi’s “The Assaults” sets a heavy fog of unspoken words and implications over the audience, as the audience eavesdrops on a discussion in a university office. In only 10 minutes, tension heightens between two students asking an administrator for help. The plot culminates with a twist line from the administrator, leaving audience members gasping though they met these characters less than a handful of minutes before. The play is Tenesia Turner’s debut directing experience. She balances offstage work with acting as the administrator. She mentions the duality challenged her, but the short format of the work allowed her to step in and out of the scene to stay objective. “Directing,” Turner says, “is a growth
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West Florida Street, Greensboro
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Beloved by Greensboro residents for more than 20 years at Tri-City Market at the corner of West Lee and South Elm Streets, this mural was moved in one piece by six men to its current location in 2008 when the fish market relocated. It was painted by Wayne Fulcher in 1983.
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1 Photo session 6 Flame followers 11 Current measure 14 Barbera’s animation partner 15 “So long” 16 “Come Get It ___” (2014 Pharrell Williams single) 17 Snacks in sleeves 18 Fred who directed “High Noon” and “From Here to Eternity” 20 Baseball arbiter 21 Really cold temperature range 23 Quickly 24 False cover? 26 John of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” 28 “Walking on Broken Glass” singer ©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 32 Singer Lana ___ Rey 33 Involuntary movements 34 “___ kidding, right?” 35 Transportation link between Folkestone, Kent and Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais 41 “___ of many colors” 42 Words of confession 44 Prominent NASCAR sponsor 47 Role revived in “Fuller House” 50 Second-smallest Teletubby 52 Apprehensive 53 Geneva girlfriend 54 Polecat Answers from last issue 57 Sch. week start 58 Super Bowl X MVP 25 Galileo Galilei Airport locale 61 Ranking higher than 26 Ancient Irish king Brian ___ (anagram of O, 63 Raw metal source RUB) 64 Pestered 27 Yoked team 65 Lyft transactions, e.g. 29 “___ Springfield” (Kent Brockman show) 66 Magazine with “Spy vs. Spy” 30 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Ryan 67 Bisected 31 Wacky 68 Alleges as fact 36 Zip 37 “March Madness” hoops org. Down 38 Billiard ball with a yellow stripe 1 Scold loudly 39 Designer in “The Incredibles” 2 Consonant, musically 40 Is on top of 3 ___ Man (anime series about an extremely 43 Chardonnay feature powerful hero) 44 Skiing event with gates 4 “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” cowriter 45 Singer/actress Gray who was on Season 1 5 ___-Freez (soft-serve chain mentioned in of “American Idol” “Jack and Diane”) 46 Like a wincer’s expression 6 Activity on a placemat 48 Large wine cask 7 Slayer of Ymir, in myth 49 World capital that lent its name to a type of 8 Baking pans goat or rabbit 9 One with a nest egg? 51 “Dancing With the Stars” judge Goodman 10 Take legal action 54 It’s often iodized 11 Put down 55 Had more than a feeling 12 Be in charge of 56 Edit menu option 13 Long-distance letter writer 59 ___ Lanka 19 Theresa who announced she’ll resign in 60 Score an upset, say June 2019 62 1990s R&B group Bell ___ DeVoe 22 Wriggly animal
EVENTS
June 6-12, 2019
CROSSWORD ‘Pairin’ Up’—they both come together. SUDOKU
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