TCB Aug. 15, 2019 — Of Heroes and Heels

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point August 15-21, 2019 triad-city-beat.com

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HP City Council race and more...

August 15-21, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Rise of my machines My old MacBook Pro went down in spectacular fashion: a burst of sparks from the motherboard that erupted after I had taken

by Brian Clarey the back off the machine and disconnected, then reconnected, the battery in the hardest of hard restarts.

Best we can tell, a cat urinated on it.

And so last week, for the first time this century, I put out a newspaper without the benefit of a computer in front of me.

It actually went faster, I think, because I wasn’t on board to gum up the works.

Within 12 hours of receipt through the mail of my emergency replacement machine, I put my cell phone into my back pocket and then sat down on a hard bench in a Charlotte coffeeshop, spiderwebbing the screen into splintery smithereens.

I replaced the phone later that day, and within four hours I found I had used up all my data for the next two weeks, halving the efficiency of the new device and, in turn, the pleasure I derive from it.

There’s more.

On Monday morning I discovered a

problem with the header on our website, then spent half a day down the WordPress rabbit hole fixing it, which required I learn to use an entirely new editing tool and also smoke about half a pack of cigarettes.

By the next morning, the problem had returned — but not on my computer, just on everyone else’s.

In the midst of all this, a blinker bulb on my car went out and the driver-side door handle snapped off in my hand. I was able to fix one of them, while the other awaits a new part.

Now, I am not a technophobe. Even after everything I’ve been through over the years, I still believe computers make things easier. And I’ve got skills: I know why your email doesn’t work; I can update the PHP on my server through the cPanel; I can take off the back of my Mac and work on it, often without destroying it in a shower of sparks and flame.

I’m… a techie!

But now I’m reduced to a troglodyte, rolling down my car window so I can open the door from the outside, holding my phone in the air to keep a wifi signal, calling people and asking them to look at my website for me and tell me what they see.

My machines have revolted. And they’re kicking my ass.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

When I changed my hair, it changed everything around me from dating, how people perceived what I was saying and my own perceptions of myself.

—Ashley Johnson pg. 5

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

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August 15-21, 2019

August 17th

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221 Summit Ave. Greensboro, North Carolina

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August 15-21, 2019

CITY LIFE Aug. 15-18, 2019

by Savi Ettinger

THURSDAY Aug. 15

Up Front

Resistdance: Opening Reception @ SECCA (W-S), 6 p.m.

FRIDAY Aug. 16

Sunset Paddle @ High Point City Lake (HP), 7:30 p.m.

As the sun goes down and the sky gets colorful, grab a kayak with the High Point Parks and Rec. Department.

Bring a friend and row out onto the lake to watch the view.

Find out how to register and more on Facebook.

Sound Minds 2 @ Monstercade (W-S), 7 p.m.

News

The Greatest Show @ Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts (W-S), 7:30 p.m.

The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem fills the evening with a lineup of singing and dance acts. The performers take the stage to reveal Reynolds Place, a new drama venue, and to raise funds for the Little Theatre’s 85th season. Find the event on Facebook.

Bill & the Belles @ Muddy Creek Cafe & Music Hall (W-S), 8 p.m.

Culture

Opinion

Monstercade, with a partnership from the Ramkat, hosts the second annual Sound Minds. Bands including Graves of Gods, Severed Skies and Mortimer come together in an eccentric mesh of genres to benefit the Mental Health Association in Forsyth County. Find the event on Facebook.

As part of SECCA’s Southern Idioms series, local artist Marianne DiNapoli-Mylet unveils her exhibit, Resistdance.

The works revolve around womanhood, sexuality and spirituality — topics DiNapoli-Mylet was struck to explore after the 2016 election. Find out more at secca.org.

Carolina Crossing @ the Ramkat (W-S), 7 p.m.

Winston-Salem funk-rock band Carolina Crossing takes the stage, alongside Shiloh Hill and Reliably Bad. The three blend their sounds for a night of rock, indie and dance music. Learn more on Facebook.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Stand By Me @ the Carolina Theatre (GSO), 7 p.m.

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For fans of whimsy, Bill and the Belles visit Muddy Creek to show off the theatrical twists they’ve put on old-time country traditions. The band balances harmony with an instinctive spirit that keeps the songs flowing. Find the event on Facebook.

SATURDAY Aug. 17

Unity Walk and Festival @ LeBauer Park (GSO), 10:30 a.m.

This festival encourages people from all cultures and backgrounds to come out and learn from one another.

The day begins with the Unity Walk from the FaithAction International House to LeBauer Park, where the celebration of diversity and multiculturalism kicks off. Learn more on Facebook.

Eyes Up Here Comedy Showcase @ Scuppernong Books (GSO), 7 p.m.

Eyes Up Here, an all women’s comedy group, heads to Greensboro to raise some laughs. Grab a seat at Scuppernong for a night of jokes, gaffs and running gags hosted by Erin Terry. Find the event on Facebook.

SUNDAY Aug. 18

A Boy Named Charlie Brown @ a/peture cinama (W-S), 10 a.m.

Kick off your Sunday with some classic Charlie Brown. For the 50th anniversary of the movie’s release, see the first animated film starring Charles Shultz’s characters on screen.

Catch the 10 a.m. showing, or a/peture’s second showing at 3:30. Find the event on Facebook.

August Drag Brunch @ Chemistry Nightclub (GSO), 11 a.m.

National Clear the Shelter Day @ Guilford County Animal Shelter (GSO), 12 p.m.

The Guilford County Animal Shelter takes part in National Clear the Shelter Day, an all-day adoption fair spanning coast-to-coast. This year marks the fifth year of the initiative, with hundreds of thousands of animals having already found their homes. Learn more on Facebook.

As its 12th annual Summer Film Fest winds down, the Carolina Theatre screens the 1986 film Stand By Me. Grab some popcorn and watch the coming of age that four Oregon boys experience when they find a dead body in the forest.

Find the event on Facebook.

Woodstock 50th anniversary tent party @ Rody’s Tavern (GSO), 12 p.m.

Rody’s Tavern time-travels back to 1969 to create their own Woodstock. Camp out all day to hear Brothers Pearl, Abe Reid and the Spikedrivers and Radio Revolver. Find the event on Facebook.

Sip on a mimosa, pile up your brunch plate and get ready for a killer drag performance. This month, Kahanna Montrese, seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11, brings the talent. Find the event on Facebook.

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

What about photography captured your attention?

I really like what it feels like when people look at an image of themselves years from now and they can’t recognize themselves or can’t believe where they were then. Like the way we used to document when we were young with a 35 mm camera and would get them developed but now with technology we don’t have that so much. We have selfies but we don’t that have photos of you in your horrible pajamas in the middle of a dirty room. Now everything has to be staged and poised and perfect. Back then you would get a roll developed and you would be like, ‘What?!’

I love seeing [people’s] faces when they see photos of them as kids. A lot of the time I don’t show [my family] photos right away, I show them years later. I get that feeling when I look at old letters, old collections of old papers. Photography is an extension of a way for me to canonize different aspects of my life. I chase that feel-good feeling of what time looks like.

Culture

What inspires or informs your art?

Definitely myself. I began experimenting with photography through hair identity. I made significant change to my hair when I was 24 years old and it was really jarring for me.

When I changed my hair, it changed everything around COURTESY Artist and photographer Ashley Johnson is the IMAGE documentarian for her family. me from dating, how people perceived what I was saying and my own perceptions of myself, and then those stories moved out of that. I take that and I’ll ask models like my nieces what their life is like and what sense of identity they have to their hair and how that changes everything around them.

My sister has three kids so sometimes they’ll come over and we have a day where we do hair. We were just having one of those days where we’re braiding, and I said, ‘Well let me just pause and take photos of them as they are.’ The photos [in Bloom Too] show what it’s like to get your hair done by your mom and those feelings of memories of that very specific experience. Some of the best moments I spent with my mom was when I was getting my hair done. There’s this trust that you have with your mom to make you beautiful, and that practice gets passed down. Braiding isn’t just what you did to your hair, it’s what your mom did to your hair and what her mom did to her hair. It’s very engrained in culture and very engrained in black feminine culture.

Opinion

How would you describe your style?

I would say that it’s very honest — honest and resourceful.

I don’t do a lot of editing. I really love to trust that whatever happens when I took the picture is what was meant to happen. I don’t overedit or remove texture from skin or make things look less than or more than when they came in front of my camera. I may try to change the tone of the image but I try to capture the most honest images that I can take.

News

When and why did you get into photography?

I’ve been shooting for about 10 years, or a little over 10 years, but I didn’t really start out as a photographer. I’m kind of like the family documenter. In essence, my different practices of keeping and collecting things has been like a photographic practice for a while. Then people started hiring me for weddings and lifestyle shoots. About three years ago, I decided to put some of that lifestyle stuff aside and take the things I’d see in my head and shoot them. My first series was called Woven and it was me trying out new things and using a lot of textiles and those kinds of materials to make portraits.

I never really classified myself as a photographer until recently. It was a natural progression of how I define myself.

In the last few years, I’ve been more keen on sharing.

Up Front

Winston-Salem-based photographer and artist Ashley Johnson’s most recent exhibit, Portraits, will be on display at Hanesbrand Theatre in Winston-Salem through Aug. 31.

For more information about Johnson, including ways to get donation-based portraits shot by her, visit hiaj.co.

August 15-21, 2019

Four questions for photographer and artist Ashley Johnson

by Sayaka Matsuoka

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August 15-21, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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NEWS

Candidates for at-large High Point City Council seats vie for votes

by Jordan Green The five candidates for two at-large seats on High Point City Council offer voters a range of views on important issues.

One of the two at-large members of High Point City Council is stepping off, but the five contenders for the two seats don’t diverge significantly on the major issues facing the city, including shepherding downtown redevelopment, addressing gun violence and promoting affordable housing.

One candidate is no stranger to city voters. Britt Moore, the only incumbent, served at large from 2010 through 2014.

After losing his 2014 reelection bid, the politically unaffiliated candidate returned to the council in 2017.

Don Scarborough, the other at-large member on the council, is retiring after one term, and has endorsed Mason Garner, an unaffiliated candidate who owns a store store that supplies floor coverings for showrooms during the biannual furniture market.

Patrick Harman, also unaffiliated, is a philanthropist who has been active in efforts to revive the Washington Street business district and promote urban agriculture throughout across the southcentral urban core.

Joshua (Fox) Brown is a locksmith apprentice who has held various leadership positions in the county and state Democratic Party.

The Rev. Tyrone Johnson, also a Democrat, is the founder and senior pastor of Greater Praise of Deliverance Church of Worship.

The Oct. 8 primary will eliminate one contender while advancing the remaining four to the Nov. 6 general election.

Early voting for the primary begins on Sept. 18 at Washington Terrace Park and Deep River Recreation Center in High Point, along with the Old Courthouse in downtown Greensboro.

Independent school system?

Mayor Jay Wagner’s recent proposal to study the possibility of returning High Point to an independent school system more than 25 years after it merged into a countywide system might be the most provocative issue in the campaign.

At least two candidates strongly support the study, while others are less enthusiastic.

“It’s been a coffee-shop discussion and home discussion for a long time,”

Britt Moore

Josh Brown

Catalyst Project and beyond Moore said. “I have grown children now, The at-large candidates unanimously but over the past decades it was a much support the Catalyst Project, in which talked about thing across our kitchen the city leveraged public funds to build table.” He added that the quality of the a downtown stadium that has already schools affects the city’s ability to recruit triggered pledges of private investment business. to build apartments and a hotel. By the Garner echoed Moore’s sentiments. same token, many of the candidates are “I am just shocked that anyone would interested in reframing the conversanot want to support a study of our curtion to focus beyond the central business rent school system that Mayor Wagner district. has proposed,” she said. “That would “I support the downtown initiative mean that our school system is in good because it will attract more businesses to shape, and it is not. A study will give us High Point, which will add job,” Johnson some valuable information. It will tell us said. “It will also increase revenue, which in black and white where our schools are will support the initiatives in lacking.” my platform. When we add Brown said that while more jobs, our city grows.

The primary he has no problem with a When we have a healthy study, he opposes reverting election will downtown that is vibrant to an independent school and alive, then we can have take place on system. a healthy neighborhood…

“I don’t favor the focus Oct. 8.

The additional tax revenue on divorcing our school syscan be invested in our tems,” he said. “I don’t see neighborhoods to assist our the benefit for the children. senior citizens who are homeowners to I fear we would have less funding for repair and renovate property.” each child.”

While proclaiming her support for Johnson said he does not believe a the Catalyst Project, Garner quickly study is needed. “If we were to separate, added, “I want to see it move all over can we afford that?” he asked. “And High Point, not just downtown. With the more than likely at this point we cancontracts to have buildings built, that will not.” cause more development to happen with Harman said, “I have some trepidamanufacturing and warehousing, and it tion about the wisdom of splitting it will create more jobs.” apart from Guilford County. If they For Moore, the most important feature want to study it, that’s okay.” of the Catalyst Project is the promise

Mason Garner

that it will increase real estate values, and spin off additional tax revenue to support city services.

“The Catalyst Project is a concept and a work in progress that is showing early success on its original mission,” Moore said. “It’s an economic generator for our tax base. High Point has had a growing tax base; most has been outside of our central business area, which has shown decreases. We are seeing great energy, seeing values rising, so it’s certainly not a short-term project. It feels like it’s off to a great start, and we look forward to it continuing to be a generator of economic growth for the city.”

Brown said he’s skeptical of the assumption that the downtown stadium and surrounding development will automatically translate into gains for the rest of the city. He said the city may need to use other tools for areas outside of downtown. In particular, Brown said he wants to focus on enhancing bus service so that it does a better job of connecting people to employment and education opportunities.

Brown also said he supports mandating a “living wage” for all city employees. “I mean this for part-timers, seasonal, teenagers — I mean for everybody,” he said. He added, “It may have to be phased in. The part I’ll negotiate is the exact amount and how fast we get there.”

Harman said the success of the new downtown stadium proves that if people

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Safe and affordable housing — pushing forward Addressing blighted housing was one of three planning goals (along with the Catalyst Project and attracting millennials) adopted by the council in 2017, Moore noted. Moore gave Councilman Jeff Golden, who will relinquish his seat representing Ward 1 this year, credit for leading the initiative.

“The record would indicate he and the council have done an excellent job of attacking blight,” Moore said. “We’ve

Culture

Gun violence — difficult but critical With the number of homicides on track to meet or exceed totals from the past two years, candidates almost to a one have said city leaders must work in partnership with the community and nonprofits to mitigate gun violence.

“Government has a role to try to set a standard that’s going to take a total community effort, and High Point just recently had community meetings on that,” Moore said. “Nobody in the vast majority is happy with gun violence. It is perpetrated by a select few from within our community and some transients.

We’re going to have to come together and work within our laws to address it.”

Garner said she supports an initiative

by Ward 2 Councilman Chris Williams and Mayor Wagner to curb violence by offering mentoring opportunities to teenagers.

“I support our police department wholeheartedly,” Garner said. “I support Mayor Wagner and Councilman Williams’ program on mentoring of our youth. It’s starting with kids at such a young age to address the violence and the gangs and helping them make some

Opinion

positive changes.”

Harman said he wants to look at a model that’s being implemented in Greensboro called “Cure Violence,” which treats gun violence as a public health issue, while qualifying that he’s not fully committed to the idea. Harman also said that he’s involved with a community group that is working to build resilience among young people who experience toxic stress through their exposure to violence.

Johnson said he would recommend that the police establish a substation in a vacant house located in the area with the highest concentration of violent crime to proactively address shootings.

Echoing other candidates’ statements that the city needs to work in partnership with other levels of government and the community to address violence, Brown added, “We’re already doing what we can through the criminal justice system.

I appreciated the efforts of the police, but I don’t think increasing the jailing of the citizens is going to address the problem.”

News

come together and make something a priority, it’s possible to reach a goal through creativity. “I’ve been a real supportive of the Catalyst Project,” he said. “What’s next? Some of the social issues are thornier. You can go look at the ballpark and see something tangible.

With gun violence, we can make some headway, but there’s still going to be gun violence. It’s murkier.”

Up Front

Tyrone Johnson

city to invest in housing in areas with relatively low crime levels.

During a candidate forum hosted by the Democrat-aligned group Indivisible Guilford County earlier this month, former Mayor Bernita Sims challenged candidates to support an affordable housing bond.

Garner said, without reservation: “I would support a bond for low-income housing.”

Johnson also said he would support an affordable housing bond.

Brown said he would support a housing bond, or using some of the $50 million bond on the ballot this fall for housing. Mayor Wagner has previously said that $6 million from the bond will be used to tear down the Daniel Brooks public housing community and replace it with affordable housing.

Harman said he would have to look into the proposal for an affordable housing bond.

So far, Moore is taking a similarly noncommittal stance.

“I haven’t thought of that one to give you a quick off-the-cuff answer,” he said.

“I am a pretty open-minded person. I’ll have to give that a little more thought.

It’s certainly a tool that could be considered.”

August 15-21, 2019

Patrick Harman

been studying and looking to create more affordable housing. We are seeing the results of that today, and I think we’ll continue to make progress.”

Garner expressed support for the city’s current strategy of applying tough code enforcement coupled with demolition of houses owned by derelict landlords.

“I like what the council is doing at this time with the cleaning, and if the homeowners and property owners are not working with the city, I’m for demolishing the buildings, and hopefully something new and affordable can be built there,” she said.

Harman said the city should consider redeveloping a three-block area on the eastern edge of downtown between Commerce Avenue and Leonard Avenue. The area is familiar to him because he started a hops farm there, and several of the blocks have become vacant through housing demolition.

While acknowledging that a redevelopment project would require significant grant money, Harman said the city accomplished something similar with the Macedonia neighborhood about 12 years ago.

While focusing public safety resources on the areas with the highest levels of violent crime, Johnson said he wants the

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August 15-21, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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Council will vote on dropping ‘Dixie’ from fair name on Monday

by Jordan Green A panel of the Winston-Salem City Council has unanimously recommended ditching the name “Dixie” from the city’s annual fair.

The vote by the Community Development/Housing/General Government Committee, chaired by Councilwoman DD Adams, means the resolution to remove the name will come before the full city council for a vote on Aug. 19, accompanied by a second resolution to task staff with developing a process to come up with a new name for the fair. Joining Adams, a Democrat who represents the North Ward, in today’s vote to recommend the change were Annette Scippio, a Democrat who represents the East Ward; Dan Besse, a Democrat who represents the Southwest Ward; and Robert Clark, a Republican who represents the West Ward.

Committee members balked at a recommendation by staff to hire a consultant for $60,000 to bring back a recommendation for a name change, which would have delayed city council action until the summer of 2020 and would have meant that any name change would not take effect until the fall of 2021.

After Bishop Sir Walter Mack Jr., pastor of Union Baptist Church, brought a group to request the name change in the spring, the General Government Committee referred the proposal to the Fair Committee [ck], which hosted a contentious public input meeting in May, and the Facilities Committee. Both citizen committees ultimately determined they needed more input, and sent the issue back to staff.

Adams and other council members acknowledged on Tuesday that it was unfair to place such a controversial decision on the shoulders of the citizen committees.

“Council member Besse’s correct: We put them on a hot seat,” Adams said.

“This is a decision to me — it always has been — that the council should make.

“It’s not difficult,” she added. “It’s either yes or no — that’s the first step. Because if the council out of eight people and a [tie-breaking] vote from the mayor decide that they don’t want to change the name, then we’ll move on from that point and let the people be happy or the people be a little upset or whatever.”

Adams and Scippio, who are black, both recalled growing up in WinstonSalem and attending the Carolina Fair, which was designated for black residents, highlighting the segregationist history of

the Dixie Classic Fair, which received its name in 1956.

“We had two fairs because it was the time in our nation when there was segregation. In that system, African Americans always got less than the majority culture. We got less. In that system we couldn’t be together.

“I’m not trying to deny anybody’s history,” Scippio continue. “But our history in America is not a wonderful history.

And sometimes we have to own up to that. Things that are offensive we tolerated it for many, many years.”

Besse, a white Democrat, said during the committee meeting that he was “comfortable to say I am in favor of changing the name.”

But two other white Democrats — Jeffrey MacIntosh and John Larson, who respectively represent the Northwest and South wards — expressed wariness towards the proposal.

MacIntosh, a New Jersey native, described himself as “name agnostic,” but added, “The amount of feedback that I’ve gotten from people that I know live JORDAN GREEN Winston-Salem council members discuss a proposal to drop the in Winston, that I know live in my ward word “Dixie” from the annual fair on Tuesday. has been to not change the name.”

Adams said she believes it’s time for bers “that we not demonize the word, know what week it is….. I don’t think council to make a decision one way or and when we give reasons for approving people are going to say, ‘Wait a minute, the other. our presentation to the public at large this is the Twin City or the Winston-Salem “It’s either that you’re in or you’re that we get away from that one issue that or whatever, and therefore I’m not going out,” she said. “You gotta declare. You seems so critical. I understand it’s imbecause I don’t like the name.’ They go can abstain; you can do what you want, portant, but we can accomplish this in a because they like the rides, they like the but the people look to us to make a deciway that will pull this city back together. animals, the food. They like to give the sion. Let’s not get caught like those other I would like us not to demonize the word money to the guy to get the little teddy places. Let’s just make a decision for the Dixie because that seems to be the rock bear and all that.” people of this city. And if the people that upon which this whole thing is crushing Mayor Allen Joines, a Democrat, did you represent feel as though you should itself.” not attend the General Government vote one way or the other, Larson and MacIntosh Committee meeting, but indicated in an let that be. It’s okay.” are not members of the interview with Triad City Beat that he’s inComments by Larson, General Government clined to support the proposal to remove A resolution to who is the retired vice Committee, and did not the name “Dixie” from the fair when the president of restoration at matter comes up for a vote on Aug. 19. remove the name get a vote on the resoluOld Salem Museum and tion during the meeting on The mayor only gets a vote in the event will come before Gardens, during the meetTuesday. Non-members that the other eight members split down ing framed the word “Dithe middle and a tie needs to be broken. the full city coun- are typically invited to xie” as a regional identifier make comments during Joines likened the issue to the Confedcil for a vote on as opposed to a signifier of committee meetings. erate monument, which he took the iniracial oppression.

Clark, the sole Repubtiative to remove from a location outside Aug. 19.

“The removal of the lican on the city council, the Old Courthouse in downtown earlier word Dixie from Dixie indicated he doesn’t hold this year.

Classic Fair is not going to change the any particular attachment to the word “I’ve had individuals, black and presence of that word in Southern Dixie. white, saying the name does not reflect lexicon,” he said. “We will continue to “I don’t think the world’s gonna — the progressive nature of the city, and have the Dixie Chicks, Dixie cups and the biggest thing that affects attendance it’s hurtful to our residents to have that Dixieland music. It will remain a part of of the fair is rain,” he said. “And if it name out there so prominently,” Joines the Southern landscape…. What we’re doesn’t rain we can have about 340,000 said. “Much like removing the Confederfacing is a time to reinvent ourselves as a people. That’s the second biggest fair ate statue, you try to be respectful where city and present ourselves in a new way.” in the state after the state fair…. We do something like this is hurtful to them.”

Larson requested of his council memneed to publicize it each year so people

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OPINION

3723 West Market Street, Unit–B, Greensboro, NC 27403 jillclarey3@gmail.com www.thenaturalpathwithjillclarey.com

The economy is going fullsteam and unemployment is down.

Wages have even risen since President Trump took office.

As Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, recently noted, wage growth (adjusted for inflation)

by Jordan Green steadily increased by about 2 percent in the years following the Great Recession, but then accelerated in 2018, rising from 2.8 percent to 3.3 percent, although it’s lost momentum in the past six months — down to 3.1 percent.

Still, have the fundamentals of a rising wealth gap and increased precarity at the bottom and middle of the economic ladder really changed since Trump took office? For that matter, have the fundamentals really changed at any time since the steady march of neoliberalism began with Reagan in the 1980s? The “forgotten men and women” in the working-class flank of Trump’s base, drunk on identity politics and hatred of liberals, seem to not be too bent out of shape if they’re feeling any economic pain.

For that matter, Trump is himself more focused on stoking division by questioning the patriotism of the Democratic freshman “squad” while amplifying his 2018 “invasion” theme with a vigorous Facebook ad campaign, expending minimal rhetoric on jobs and the economy in contrast.

The prospects of coal — to pick one traditional industry championed by then-candidate Trump — have played out in a less than winning fashion.

“And you watch what happens,” Trump crowed as he was sewing up the Republican nomination during a May 2016 visit to Charleston, W.Va. “If I win, we’re gonna bring those miners back.

You’re gonna be so proud of your president. You’re gonna be so proud of your country.”

For the third week, coalminers in Kentucky are blocking a rail line to prevent their former employer, Blackjewel LLC, from moving their product after learning that the company had declared bankruptcy and had cut off their pay. The company cited “a combination of declining commodity prices, reduced demand for thermal and metallurgical coal, and increased oversight and costs associated with regulatory compliance” as factors in its bankruptcy filing, according to a recent report by Time. The statement continues, “The entire US mining complex has been impacted by these events. A growing number of peers have filed for bankruptcy over the course of the past 5+ years. The entire industry either has gone through, or is currently going through, a period of financial distress and reorganization.”

Responding to appeals from the coalminers in Kentucky, the Trump administration ironically turned to an Obamaera provision known as “hot goods” to ensure that the em-

ployer pays off its employees first, as Newsweek reported on Aug. 9.

While deploying a stop-gap measure to prevent the Blackjewel miners from financial hemorrhage, Trump’s labor philosophy can be seen in his choice to fill the top position at the Department of Labor. The position was vacant after the resignation of Alex Acosta, who was forced out in mid-July amid concerns that in his former position as a US attorney he approved a sweetheart deal for the multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The man Trump is appointing to replace Acosta is Eugene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. As described

by Nicholas Kristof in the Sunday New York Times, Scalia “has fought unions on behalf of Walmart and other companies,” and “is a talented and experienced litigator who upon assuming office will be in a position to disembowel labor.”

And yet, for all his many faults, Trump has complicated the path for Democratic challengers in 2020 by tacking to the left on trade while veering to the hard right through white-nationalist appeals to racial, xenophobic and religious bigotry. For decades, progressive Democratic politicians like Ohio’s Sherrod Brown have pleaded for fair trade deals to protect US workers while the party’s leadership worked across the aisle with Republican counterparts to promote corporate-led globalization. The Democratic Party’s failure after two decades to look after the interests of its working-class base opened a door that Trump walked through in 2016.

Trump’s tariff war with China, Ana Swanson reports on the front page of the Sunday New York Times, “has put Democrats in an awkward spot. They are trying to differentiate themselves from Mr. Trump — without ceding their position as the party that will do the most to defend workers against the downsides of globalization.”

The article goes on to say that Trump’s renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement is largely an update of the original pact, but does include “some provisions that Democrats have long favored, like higher requirements for using American materials to make cars and rollback of a special system of arbitration for corporations.”

The Democratic Party is still fighting a civil war between free traders — embodied by Joe Biden, who voted for the original NAFTA — and fair traders, whose banner is now held aloft by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

Maybe there’s an opening for Democrats in supporting policies that limit trade agreements to countries with strong labor and environmental protections.

“Unlike the insiders,” Warren said during a recent debate, “I don’t think ‘free trade’ deals that benefit big multinational corporations and international capital at the expense of American workers are good simply because they open up markets.”

Have the fundamentals of a rising wealth gap really changed since Trump took office?

Epstein suicide: This is fine

by Clay Jones

Up Front News

claytoonz.com

Opinion Culture

Not too many tears were shed for the confident that the FBI’s raid this week on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein afEpstein’s private Caribbean sex island ter news of his apparent jail-cell suicide. might bring us closer to the truth. If you Very few people, mind you, believe think Barr might be a plant to protect that a narcissist like Epstein would take the president and his friends, his own life; and everyone who’s seen the Then is surely must seem like the fix HBO show “Oz” know how easy it is to is in. gin up a prison-suicide scene in a place Cynicism is the price we pay for where people die all the time. fire-hosing steady streams of spin, PR And yet, questions remain. and propaganda through every available Was anyone surprised to learn that channel. And in the Epstein case, there standard procedure was not followed in is much to be cynical about. taking Epstein off of suicide watch in the Remember, this is a hedge-fund manNew York federal prison ager without a hedge where he was being held, fund; a college profesor that the guards hadn’t sor without a degree; a laid eyes on him for hours registered sex offender Is it possible our before they discovered convicted in 2008 who his corpse? served the softest time president has Does anyone bein a deal cut with the anything to do lieve Attorney General man who eventually rose Bill Barr — who, it was to become Trump’s labor with this? established in Congressecretary. sional hearings, tried to Alex Acosta resigned submarine the Mueller last week after this apReport before it became pearance of impropriety, public — truly wants to “get to the botanother piece of the puzzle taken off the tom of what happened,” as he told the board.

New York Times this week?

Even a lazy conspiracy theorist has Is it possible that our president has enough here to make a pretty crazy diaanything to do with this, other than gram of photos and formulas and string being a guest at Epstein’s creepy little on a lonely motel-room wall. parties like many (many) other powerful And even the most rational among us and rich white men? are starting to believe that something Is anyone ever going to tell us what strange is afoot, that perhaps, by design, the hell is going on? we are not getting the full picture.

If you believe in Barr and the Justice Department, then you’re probably

Claytoonz

August 15-21, 2019

EDITORIAL

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

13

August 15-21, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

14

Nik Snacks At Lambstock, a Woodstock for chefs

T

he afternoon sun beams down through a grove of trees; blue smoke filters, dancing through each stream of light. It wafts out from pits of fire, wood and

by Nikki Miller-Ka glowing gray ash. A pig’s head roasts on a grill. Its teeth and jawbone jut from its mouth, like in Lord Of The Flies. One hand douses it with a thick red sauce and the lid closes down. A row of ducks hanging by wires jiggle, twirl and drip on a spit until they burst open above glowing coals and an earthen vessel filled to the brim with leafy greens. Someone pays homage to a whole dressed lamb by kissing its hindquarters before breaking it down with a boning knife and a hacksaw. The soundtrack to this scene is a funk/soul band whose electric guitars and rhythmic grooves echo throughout the valley and rise up to the top of the hill where guests in tents rest and await their next move.

This is Lambstock. Woodstock for chefs. And it’s invite-only.

At Lambstock, there’s no such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. The annual festival devoted to food, friends and fun has become a favorite summer getaway for chefs from all over the Southeast and from points north to rolling hills on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, right on the North Carolina/Virginia state line, but everyone who is supposed to know, knows where it is.

As an attendee, you have two options: cook or clean. It’s a working vacation.

Shepherd Craig Rogers of Border Springs Farm in Patrick Springs, Va. has been hosting this event for almost a decade as a way to connect chefs to his pasture-raised product, lamb. In its early years, Lambstock started small — word is that the first one began when Top Chef alum Bryan Voltaggio asked if he could bring some of his chefs down to visit the farm and camp in the pasture for the night. Other chefs heard and converged on the farm, and thus Lambstock was born. Rogers used to be a regular at both Cobblestone and Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Farmers Markets to sell his wares. This is much better, and more.

As chefs start to arrive, each will claim a spot among the day’s meals: lunch, supper, dinner, and late night. Of course, someone will throw together breakfast and surprise snacks make regular appearances throughout the day. As food finds it way to the serving table, it’s fair game. “Get it while it’s hot” is relative here. If you miss it, that’s okay; more of something else will be up soon.

This is Lambstock, Woodstock for chefs.

The event brings together foodservice professionals from chefs to meat distributors to wineries and craft breweries in the sheep pasture just off Rogers’ back deck. He provides lamb from his flock, while beef, pork and seafood are brought in by like-minded companies and the chefs themselves. A nearly unlimited supply of beer, wine and spirits graces an open bar and hundreds of guests will spend three days camping, cooking and communing in similar fashion to the event’s namesake in Woodstock.

“I don’t even know what I’m standing in line for,” comments one woman waiting in a line that ends with a prize of tables full of food. Long rows of tables covered from head to toe with local produce, meats, cheeses, fruits, fish; the legs of the tables and each participant groan from the weight of each dish. Reed Gordon, chef de cuisine at Greensboro Country Club, came through with jars of sweet and hot pickled watermelon rind. A 5-gallon bucket filled to the brim with watermelon gazpacho followed behind.

Jars of ’shine, pickles, jams and liqueurs are exchanged at a high rate of speed amongst friends here. Every 25 minutes

NIKKI MILLER-KA

a new pot, pan, dish or bottle of a mixed drink appears in order to be consumed.

A cast-iron cauldron swings over a pit of flowing coals while oil bubbles violently, washing over double-battered fried chicken. A smoker the size of a small foreign car sits on a plateau above the pavilion.

It’s all about relationships at Lambstock. There are no brochures. There are no business cards. It’s just a good ol’ fashioned time to be eating and drinking with friends.

Lambstock is sharing Southern foodways and traditions and wild new culinary innovations, too.

Lambstock is fresh, hot cornbread stuffed oysters appearing at just the right time. Lambstock is singing and guitars echoing in the valleys until the wee morning hours and 4 a.m. philosophical discussions. Lambstock is emerging from a damp tent in the morning to find Greensboro personal chef Lynn Wells, putting together buttermilk biscuits with bacon pepper jam, liver pudding and pimento cheese, with slices of Cherokee Purple tomatoes.

Lambstock is life.

August 15-21, 2019 Up Front News Opinion NIKKI MILLER-KA

Booze flows freely at Lambstock.

NIKKI MILLER-KA

Culture

Food is never in short supply at Lambstock.

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

A pig’s head roasts on a grill, its teeth and jawbone jut from its mouth like in Lord of the Flies.

NIKKI MILLER-KA

15

August 15-21, 2019 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

16

CULTURE Luchadores serve up churros, ice cream and more at Lucha Libre

by Sayaka Matsuoka

M

artin Ortega’s favorite luchador was always El Santo. Dressed all in silver, the famous Mexican wrestler became a symbol of justice in Mexican popular culture in the 1950s and ’60s and was buried with his mask 1984.

“When [we] were kids, all of us wanted to be superheroes,” says Ortega, translated by his daughter, Kimberly. “If a Hispanic person thinks about a superhero, they think about a luchador.”

The iconic silver mask sits on a shelf with more than a dozen other masks for sale in the Lucha Libre ice cream shop in Greensboro.

“You have no idea how many Americans come in just to buy the masks,” Ortega says.

Ortega’s ice cream shop off West Market Street in the FantaCity shopping center is a slice of Mexican culture blended with bits of Spanish and Columbian products. Here, it’s not just about the sweets. Ortega says he’s creating a kind of wonderland experience for those who walk through the doors.

“First it’s our sweet experience but then it’s our themed walls,” Ortega says.

Ortega immigrated to the United States in the early 1990s and opened what he says was one of the first Hispanic businesses in the city — a grocery store and restaurant called Barrio Latino on East Market Street that closed in 2005. Now, the family man operates an advertising agency which serves as his main job. Lucha Libre, which opened about a month ago, is owned by his son, Chris, and co-run by his daughter Kimberly. He says he opened the business to give his kids a better life.

On the back wall of the shop, a group of six mini luchadors, drawn in cartoon style, stand in a square ring, each wearing a different mask and outfit. The characters represent each of Ortega’s kids. On a nearby wall, a large image of a half-completed luchador floats on a purple background, beckoning customers to take a picture with him. Ortega encourages customers to snap photos in front of the backdrops and have a little fun, masked or not.

“People can take a picture along the wall like luchadors take pictures after matches,” he says.

Behind the counter, an assortment of delectable ice creams and popsicles — or paletas — fill the tubs and line the glass case with flavors such as coconut, cook-

Martin Ortega (left) opened Lucha Libre a month ago to highlight Hispanic treats like ice cream, paletas, churros and more.

SAYAKA MATSUOKA

ies and cream, strawberry and mango. Fresh fried churros, “For us, it’s like candy,” says Chris. mangonadas and esquite make appearances on the menu as For those who want to start small, there’s the DIY option of well. Everything in the shop comes from Ortega’s love of food. ice cream with toppings or paletas with a drizzled sauce. Cus“These are things I ate mostly in my teenage years or when tomers can also add “adrenaline” — what look like little plastic I was a child,” Ortega says. “I mean, who syringes filled with caramel or Nutella or hasn’t eaten a churro? Who hasn’t eaten ice chocolate — to their ice cream to give it a cream?” “boost.”

Ortega’s favorite product and one of the “It’s like from Popeye,” says Ortega. “The Lucha Libre is located at most popular the shop has to offer is the kids eat the ice cream but if you put the 4925 West Market Street mangonada, a kind of ice cream sundae adrenaline, you can be stronger or bigger.” in Greensboro. Follow the that starts with a base of pure, blended Ortega says he wanted to create a shop shop on social media for mango. No added ingredients like dairy. Just that helps customers let loose as soon as a bit of water and sugar to make sure the they walk through the doors. more info. ice cream stays together.

“Americans work a lot,” he says as he A single paleta gets shoved in next to watches a group of kids pose in front of the the bright orange scoops in a clear plastic floating luchador. “The stress is very big. cup so each layer of sauce and sweet can be inspected from all We want you to come here and forget it once you walk in and angles. Then, cubes of chewy, salty pieces of tamarind and a we ask you, ‘How are you doing?’ We want to create a connecheap of chopped mango joins the concoction and gets finished tion. Here, the saying ‘Mi casa es tu casa,’ happens. When you off with a drizzle of chamoy sauce and dried chili powder. come here, we want you to feel like family.”

The end result is a marriage of sweet and spicy, salt and tang.

August 15-21, 2019

CULTURE Winston-Salem wrestlers grapple with storyline

by Savi Ettinger

I

Up Front News Opinion

Josh Gerry invited pro-wrestler aspirants to a daylong character and story-building workshop in WinstonSalem.

SAVI ETTINGER

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

drew him to the sport in the first place.

“I attended the first class in April,” she says. “So I wanted to “When I was in high school,” he says. “I was a theater geek, do the follow-up.” but I also played football.”

When it comes time to share, Rachel Green holds her hand He explains that watching wrestling around that age, he slightly up, volunteering to share next. From the back row, she realized it combined the athleticism and the drama he loved explains her imaginary wrestler, creating a whole persona out from both. The element of improv based off of audience reacof different tropes and ideas. tions, however, is what sets it apart “He’s a former Italian supermodel, from other forms of live entertainpossessed by a demon, made to ment to Gerry. wrestle,” she explains.

For more information on the AML “Create what you like, what you The character, while a hodgepodge Pro Wrestling Training Center and want,” he instructs the group, “but of wild thoughts, fit in with the cast.

Coach Josh Gerry, visit amlwreskeep the fans in mind.”

Among them, a mathematician magiThe class falls silent as they begin cian, a fallen angel split between the tling.com/training/ or find their to prep for workshop. They each sides of good and evil, and stereotypipage on Facebook. scramble to write in their notepads, cal dad complete with jorts. Another bullet pointing out ideas as they each classmate raises their hand to share create their own character, complete and add his character to the wacky with their own storyline. assortment. He describes a principal of a school who wrestles, Gerry mentions that the August afternoon is the second named Simon Apple. Coach Gerry grins, jumping off from his creative writing session he has held here. The first focused seat on the ring and walking up. primarily on the creative writing process as a whole, and how He points to his elbow, laughing, ready to help take the to recognize inspiration and generate full ideas. One class character further. member and wrestling fan, Rachel Green, felt it natural to “I can see him,” he says, “with the tweed jacket, the ones continue learning more. with the patches.”

Culture

t sounds like something out of a drama.

Two costumed characters enter to the applause and cheers of the audience. They pose, outstretching arms and pausing for the reaction of the crowd to settle. Then they turn to one another and begin the scene, battling over betrayal, or money or status.

For Coach Josh Gerry, wrestling is its own form of theater.

On a Sunday afternoon, Gerry invites professional wrestling fans from all over the state and beyond for a day-long workshop inside the AML Pro Wrestling Training Center in Winston-Salem.

Rather than teaching them moves or how to pile-drive their opponent, the class focuses on the character and storybuilding that goes on behind-the-scenes in the wrestling world.

Three rows of chairs face the ring inside the back room of the center, full of people watching as Gerry begins speaking. He hops up onto the outside of the ring, sitting down and facing everyone.

His back leans against the blue ropes that outline the edges and addresses the small crowd.

The class begins to go around, discussing what got each of them into pro wrestling. As people list off the first performer whose rise they followed, what they’ve done within the sport or what matches they saw, Gerry nods.

“These moments you described,” he says, “they made you feel something.”

Gerry himself has been involved with wrestling both inside and outside the ring for around 20 years, with experience in everything from commentary to taking on opponents. He explains that the class in creative writing is another way for him to be involved with a step he sees as vital to the sport.

“The three most important things in professional wrestling,” he explains to the class, “are character, story and emotion. All of that other stuff is just filler.”

From the way a wrestler acts as they walk out to the moment they hit the mat, they must embody roles throughout the entire event. He stands up, stepping into the ring and striking a pose with his arms out to either side of him.

Even in a simple outfit of a tee shirt and shorts, Gerry illustrates how athlete becomes actor from the second the audience sees them. The match becomes a conflict in a story; the moves become plot devices. Gerry mentions this is what

17

August 15-21, 2019

Guilford Avenue, Greensboro

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Summer afternoon.

CAROLYN DE BERRY

PIZZERIA

Puzzles

L’ITALIANO

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Across

by Matt Jones

Tuesday Aug. 20th Jon Walters at Common Grounds with Worrells Davis and Allen Wednesday Aug. 21st Laura Jane Vincent Every Thursday

Up Front

Open Mic Friday Aug. 23rd William Hinson ©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords

(editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

News

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

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Answers from last issue

Puzzles

30 “Do unto others ...” principle 31 Beginning 33 ___-country (genre including Florida Georgia Line) 34 Comedian Schumer 35 Univ. application figures 36 Trump son played by Alex Moffat on “SNL” 37 Writer/director Ephron 38 Fair tradeoff 39 Part of WWI 43 “Paper Planes” rapper 44 Target of some shots 45 Harden or Westbrook, e.g.

46 Turkish capital 47 Placed one within another 49 Like old donuts 50 Better trained 52 “Yoshi’s Island” platform 53 Elephantlike machine seen in “The Empire Strikes Back” 54 Sagacious 55 Anatomical eggs 56 Change direction 57 Parseghian of Notre Dame fame

Shot in the Triad

1 Robert who created Triumph the Insult Comic Dog 2 It may be on the tip of your tongue 3 Shortened, as a sail 4 “It’s ___ Unusual Day” 5 Enforcer Brasi of “The Godfather” 6 Spent frivolously 7 Bryce Canyon locale 8 A to A without any sharps or flats, e.g.

9 Pizza option 10 Reading group?

11 Porridge tidbit 12 Off-roading truck, briefly 13 “___ Baby” (1981 Toni Morrison novel) 21 Endeavor 22 “Go team!”

25 Jump in an ice rink 26 Frosty the Snowman’s eyes 27 Head experts?

29 Maidenform purchase

Answers from previous publication.

Culture

Down

602 S Elam Ave • Greensboro

Opinion

1 Georgia, once 4 Spotify release, maybe 9 Powerful influence 14 Whitman of “Good Girls” 15 Way more than one, in prefixes 16 Calf roper’s rope 17 Tahiti, par exemple 18 Arctic, e.g.

19 Out-and-out 20 Wrapped-up A-shaped beam in the garage?

23 1976 Wimbledon winner 24 Day-to-day grind 28 Tramp’s companion 29 OshKosh ___ (clothing brand) 32 Nerve cell impulse transmitter 33 Bucking animal, informally 34 Bothered 35 Your average places to create wooden boards?

40 City in 7-Down 41 Video chat problem 42 Suffix for gazillion 43 It’s fed at a curb 44 “The Nanny” portrayer Drescher 48 Enters, as a bar code 50 Solitary 51 High-achieving $10 bills?

55 Seiji with 2019’s “The Tokyo Gala Concert (Live)” 58 Not after 59 Kit ___ (candy bar) 60 All over the interwebs 61 Housing contract 62 Previously, on Shakespeare’s stage 63 Slack-jawed 64 Poly follower 65 Lincoln’s son

EVENTS

August 15-21, 2019

CROSSWORD ‘Cutting Through’—it takes the right tool. SUDOKU

19