TCB Oct. 22, 2020 — All Natural by Triad City Beat

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point Oct. 22-28, 2020 triad-city-beat.com

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PAGE 14 Intimidation at the polls PAGE 8

Vintage for keeps PAGE 16

Black coffee PAGE 17

Oct. 22-28, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Tough love, coronavirus edition I can’t believe how many people don’t get it. I can’t believe how many people still roll their eyes when asked to wear a mask, by Brian Clarey how many are still throwing weddings and dinners and birthday parties, how many are framing humanity’s fight against the coronavirus as a beef between business owners and the governor, or the president and the CDC. All this, even as cases once again begin to skyrocket in North Carolina and elsewhere in the country. I can’t believe how many people are unable or unwilling to swallow the awful truth: It is the coronavirus alone that is out to get us — not shop owners, not rogue doctors, not politicians, not even Trump, though he doesn’t seem to care if it takes us. It’s been seven months, and more than 225,000 Americans are dead from this thing. That is an absolute shitload of people, nearly the entire population of Winston-Salem, which is about 250,000. Don’t worry, though — we’ll be there in a few weeks. But hey! the dopes will say. That’s just a tiny percentage of the people who get it! And this is true! The US death rate from coronavirus currently stands at 2.66 percent — exponentially larger than that of the flu. Just 59,120 Americans died from the flu last year. Stop saying it’s like the flu.

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 jordan@triad-city-beat.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

That 2.66 percent rate means almost 8.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19. In seven months! And remember that death is not the only outcome: About 20 percent need hospitalization, and long-term effects include nerve, heart and lung damage. We don’t even know what else because the coronavirus is barely a year old. And remember, too: This is a disaster unfolding in slow motion. It’s taken seven months for 8.5 million Americans to catch the virus, but that’s only like 2.5 percent of the US population. For us to reach what people are calling “herd immunity,” at least 60 percent of Americans would need to have had it — that’s just about 197 million people. How long do you think that would take? Math tells us how many lives it will cost: more than 5.2 million. Stop talking about herd immunity. And stop talking about a vaccine, which will take perhaps another year to prepare. Stop talking about mind control, and the “plandemic,” and “media manipulation,” and the notion that the whole thing will go away once the election is over. It won’t. I get it: It sucks. There’s nothing to do. It’s getting harder to make money as entire sectors of our economy atrophy and die. Our kids are going crazy, and our leaders have no real plan except to slow down the spread, buying time for a vaccine and stemming the flow of inevitable hospitalizations. But I promise you that the solution to the pandemic is not to ignore it — or, even worse, deny its very existence.

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 COVER: SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR Nikki Miller-Ka Stock Illustration niksnacksblog@gmail.com Layout by Robert Paquette EDITORIAL INTERN Michaela Ratliff ART ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette robert@triad-city-beat.com SALES

KEY ACCOUNTS Gayla Price gayla@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, Matt Jones

Oct. 22-28, 2020

CITY LIFE Oct. 22-25 by Michaela Ratliff

THURSDAY Oct. 22

FRIDAY Oct. 23

Mama Crockett’s Cider Donuts @ Goodwill (GSO) 8 a.m.

Late-Night Vendor Market @ Hempress Farms (W-S) 7 p.m.

Opinion

News

Up Front

Halloween Hoopla at Home @ Greensboro Parks and Recreation (GSO) 4 p.m.

Culture

Each Thursday this month on Facebook Live, Liz Lennon, Director of Brown Recreation Center will be showing you how to create Halloween games, treats and decorations from your home! To view a list of supplies you’ll need, visit the event page. Wreak Havoc Horror Film Festival @ Marketplace Cinemas (W-S) 7:30 p.m.

Doughnut lovers, pull up to the West Market Goodwill to catch your donuts from Mama Crockett’s chute. Click “going” on the event page for your chance to win a free dozen. BUY BLACK! Holiday Market @ Enterprise Center (W-S) 10 a.m.

Shot in the Triad

SATURDAY Oct. 24

Fall Paw Fest @ Oak Hollow Festival Park (HP) 11 a.m.

Puzzles

Join Hempress Farms and other vendors each Friday at this rooftop, spa-like shopping experience. Product tastings and samples will be available and attendance is free. Vendors, CashApp $40 to $HempressFarms to reserve your table space. Masks are required at this event.

Marketplace Cinemas presents a spooky screening of local and international short films and more during the sixth annual Wreak Havoc Horror Film Festival. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit Marketplace Cinemas’ website.

To encourage people to support Black-owned businesses, SG Atkins Community Development Corporation in partnership with the Green House Village Market is hosting a holiday market every Friday and Saturday until Dec. 19. The market will feature various products created by Black entrepreneurs from jewelry to clothing. For more information and vendor opportunities, call Patricia Degraffinreaidt at 336-734-6916 or email sgatkinscdc2@gmail.com.

Ruff Love Rescue invites you an afternoon of fun, featuring other dog groups and local vendors.

Oct. 22-28, 2020

The Remarkable Susan @ Creative Greensboro (GSO) 7:30 p.m.

Monster Mask Drag Show @ the Katharine Brasserie and Bar (W-S) 10 p.m.

Halloween Market @ Incendiary Brewing (W-S) 12 p.m.

Up Front

Wine Tasting @ the Vino Shoppe (HP) 5 p.m.

Opinion

Mrz. Ivy Carter, the reigning Miss. Katherine 2019, hosts this spooky drag show. Decorate your mask the best way you know how. There’s a grand prize of a $100 gift card to the Katharine and a complimentary night stay at the Cardinal for the person with the best mask. To purchase tickets, visit the event page.

News

Stop by Incendiary Brewing for free, family-friendly market that will feature crafts from local vendors. Trunk or treat will be available for the kids. Children and dogs are also invited to participate in a fun costume contest.

SUNDAY Oct. 25

Described by the Vino Shoppe as an “adult trick-or-treat,” this wine tasting event has a variety of wines, ciders, beers and spiked coffee to taste. Stop by and try Werewolf Pinot Noir, Cafe Agave salted caramel spiked coffee and more. To view more available beverages, check out the event page.

Culture

Creative Greensboro presents a livestreamed teen production of The Remarkable Susan, the story of the 1873 trial of Susan B. Anthony after she was arrested for voting. It will also air on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased on BookTix.

Made 4 the Market @ Greensboro Farmers Curb Market (GSO) 11 a.m. Handcrafted products — jewelry, clothing, artwork and more — will be available at this seasonal market. Proceeds made from the market will directly benefit the artists selling their products in an effort to keep dollars in the community. For more information, visit the event page.

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Oct. 22-28, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

TRUTH IS POWER

Hard news at no cost to you, and no matter the cost to us.

Coronavirus in the Triad:

(as of Wednesday, Oct. 21, compared to last week)

Documented COVID-19 diagnoses NC

248,756 (+12,341)

Forsyth

8,201 (+388)

Guilford County

10,571 (+483)

COVID-19 deaths NC

4,003 (+141)

Forsyth

114 (+8)

Guilford

195 (+4)

Documented recoveries NC

218,541 (+12,070)

Forsyth

7,173 (+298)

Guilford

5,974 (+293)

Current cases NC

26,212 (+130)

Forsyth

914 (+152)

Guilford

4,231 (+292)

Hospitalizations (right now) NC

1,219 (+67)

Forsyth

30 (+3)

Guilford

88 (-4)

Oct. 22-28, 2020 Up Front News

Opinion

Culture

Shot in the Triad

Puzzles

Guilford election officials cite complaints about GOP poll observers by Jordan Green

Shot in the Triad

Culture

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Oct. 22-28, 2020

NEWS

Puzzles

Voters wait at the Brown Recreation Center polling place in Greensboro on the first day of early voting.

President Trump has repeatedly urged his supporters to monitor polling places to detect fraud during the election, and concerns are mounting about aggressive conduct by designated Republican poll observers towards voters and election officials as early voting goes into its seventh day in Guilford County. The Rev. Anthony Spearman, a Democratic member of the Guilford County Board of Elections who is also the presi-

dent of the North Carolina NAACP, said that he has received multiple complaints about Republican poll observers failing to wear masks, raising concern among voters and election workers about exposure to coronavirus. He also said he received complaints about poll observers taking photos of poll books and telling voters how to vote. “We have been concerned that there are going to be uprisings of intimidation,

and that is occurring in the early-voting sites,” Spearman told his colleagues on the five-member elections board during a meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Spearman said he received a report that two Republican poll observers at Brown Recreation Center, an earlyvoting site in a predominantly AfricanAmerican area of southeast Greensboro, were not wearing masks on Oct. 16, the second day of early voting, and he said

JORDAN GREEN

the election workers told him they were reluctant to return to work “because they felt their lives were in danger by the unmasked observers.” Numbered Memo 2020-30, issued by North Carolina Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell on Oct. 9, clearly states in bold type: “To reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 at the polls, all observers shall wear masks when inside the voting enclosure.” Num-

News Opinion

‘I’ve got more calls about observers in this election than the entire 17 years I’ve been doing elections.’

Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

voters who discover through the online BallotTrax tool that their absentee ballots have not been counted to just vote in person during early voting if at all possible. Absentee ballots are shaping up to become the focal point of partisan litigation if the result of the presidential contest and other important races are at all close in North Carolina. On Oct. 16, the North Carolina Republican Party formally issued a request to the Guilford County Board of Elections for the opportunity to inspect all absentee ballot container-return envelopes, which include voter names and other vital information, as well as the total number of “double-ballots” encountered by elections staff from absentee votes. The State Board of Elections has issued an additional piece of guidance that is galling to Republican officials. Numbered Memo 2020-22 extends the deadline for county boards to receive absentee ballots up to nine days after Election Day as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day. President Trump has repeatedly suggested in tweets and other statements that the vote count should be halted after Election Day, and North Carolina Republicans have already fought the nine-day extension in the courts. Numbered Memo 2020-22 was originally issued by state Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell on Sept. 22, and then was reissued on Monday. Republican lawyers have previously argued that the State Board of Elections is usurping the role of the legislature through the numbered memos. Collicutt said that in previous elections absentee ballots have only been accepted three days after Election Day and acknowledged that’s the deadline currently set by statute. Kathryn Lindley, a Republican member of the Guilford County Board of Elections, pointedly noted the issue. “So, the State Board changed the statute?” she asked. “The statute says three days.” But late Tuesday, a federal court issued an order backing the State Board of Elections’ decision. The order from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals says “everyone must submit their ballot by the same date,” adding that “the extension merely allows more lawfully cast ballots to be counted, in the event there are any delays precipitated by an avalanche of mail-in ballots.”

Up Front

scribed as a kind of “voter intimidation,” of deficiencies. The State Board of albeit on the level of “amateur hour.” Elections just gave local elections offices “I am infuriated at some of the things permission to tackle the deficient ballots that are happening at these polling sites,” on Monday, following a recent court said Spearman, who is the sole Black decision resolving disputes between person on the five-member board. “And the Republican-controlled legislature, I think that we need to step up the pace Democrat-controlled executive branch or have some persons to show up there and voting rights groups. on a regular basis to monitor what is “What we’ve been waiting for has truly going on, and report truly what is occurred and we’ve got the memo from going on. I’m going to be out there, and the State Board of Elections on how to I’m going to report freely and truly.” handle the ballots that had deficiencies,” Despite the reports of intimidation Collicutt said. “I think it’s fairly clear and harassment, turnout for early voting what the state is telling us to do. If a in Guilford County and across the state ballot is missing the witness or assistant has wildly exceeded expectations. signature, then that is one that we will On Tuesday, the number of people in spoil and reissue a new ballot to with Guilford County — the state’s third most some correspondence. Anything else populous — voting by absentee ballot or really that can go wrong on this envelope early voting crossed the 100,000 mark. we’re told to send the cure certification.” “That’s pretty significant,” Collicutt Guilford County has 659 deficient said. “With 380,000 registered voters, absentee ballots — the highest of any to already have 100,000 voting, it’s like county in the state — according to data nothing we’ve ever seen before.” maintained by Michael McDonald, a Guilford County political science saw the heaviest professor at the turnout on the University of Florfirst day of early ida. McDonald’s voting, with about research shows that 17,000 voters, African-American but volume has voters in Guilford remained steady, County are more with daily totals than three times through Monday more likely to have ranging from 9,000 deficiencies in their to 15,000. absentee ballots “If we keep up than white voters. the pace of what The disparity is we’ve done for even wider state– Guilford County Board of these five days, it’ll wide, with Black Elections Director Charlie Colicutt be hard because voters almost four we’ll run out of times more likely to voters eventually, have deficiencies. when you combine Collicutt said what we’re doing with the absentee by his staff has already sorted the deficient mail,” Collicutt said. “I don’t know what absentees between those that must this week is going to look like or next be spoiled because they are missing a week, but we have really shot out hard signature from a witness or assistant, and with our voters.” those that can be “cured” by sending Elections staff fed absentee ballots an affidavit to the voter. In the case of into two tabulating machines in an ad spoiled ballots, elections staff will send hoc workspace commandeered from a out a new ballot with the notification, former register of deeds vault on the first while voters will be able to fix less serious floor of the new Guilford County Courtdeficiencies by signing and returning house on Tuesday. The board approved affidavits. Collicutt said he plans to start 8,134 civilian new civilian absentee balsending out the letters on Wednesday lots and 105 overseas and military ballots and will bring in an evening crew with for processing. The machines counted the expectation of completing the task the ballots, Collicutt said, and would be by Friday. able to provide an immediate result on Still, the clock is ticking, with only 14 election night. days for voters to receive notification and While local election staffs across the return new ballots or affidavits through state scramble to administer early voting, the mail. Carolyn Bunker, a Democratic they’re also having to address a backlog member of the Guilford County Board of absentee ballots set aside because of Elections, said she is personally telling

Oct. 22-28, 2020

bered memos are how the State Board of Elections communicates ground rules to local election staff in North Carolina’s 100 counties, but have become a point of contention with the Republican-controlled legislature. Guilford County Elections Director Charlie Collicutt said he received reports about mask-less poll observers at Brown Recreation Center, along with Lewis Recreation Center on the north side of the city. Collicutt said he brought the issue to the attention of the Guilford County Republican Party chairman and was assured that it would be addressed. But Collicutt said no poll observers have been ejected from polling places or asked to not come back. “I’ve got more calls about observers in this election than the entire 17 years I’ve been doing elections,” Collicutt told board members during the meeting on Tuesday. Spearman also said he received a report that a Republican poll observer was standing behind poll workers at the check-in table and taking photos of the poll book, a roster of voters viewable on a laptop computer, at an early-voting site at NC A&T University, which is the largest historically Black university in the country. Among a list of prohibited activities in Numbered Memo 2020-30 is “interfering with the privacy of the voters, including positioning themselves in such a way that they can view confidential voter information on poll books or laptops or standing in such a way that they can view the contents of ballots inserted into a tabulator.” Collicutt told Triad City Beat in at least one instance he personally ordered a poll observer to move from behind a check-in table after receiving a complaint, after driving to the polling place and discretely letting himself in through a backdoor. Spearman said the same poll observer who was taking photos of poll books at A&T was also observed intimidating voters at the curbside voting station and “telling them to vote ‘the right way.’” Spearman said volunteers with the voter engagement organization You Can Vote described the poll observer as “quite a bully.” David Gleeson, the chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party, could not be reached for comment for this story. TCB has previously reported on a Republican poll observer who scrutinized an 18-year-old Latinx voter at the UNCG polling place on the first day of early voting in what Siembra NC de-

Oct. 22-28, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

nd Pre-K through 2 grade in-person learning delayed by coronavirus by Sayaka Matsuoka Guilford County Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras announced on Monday that most pre-K through second grade students will not be returning to in-person learning on Oct. 20 as had been originally planned. Contreras, who spoke at a press conference on Monday afternoon, said that county health metrics, including risk of transmission, are too high to allow students to return to in-person learning. She added that the school board and school staff will meet on Friday, Oct. 23 to discuss whether students will be able to return on Monday, Oct. 26. “We understand that this is frustrating for parents, students and staff,” Contreras said at the press conference. “We rely on public health partners and when public health says community spread has reached the highest category of transmission without signs of improvement, as educators we are going to listen.” According to Dr. Iulia Vann, the director of the Guilford County Health Department, the number of cases per 100,000 persons as well as the number of new cases per 100,000 persons within the last two weeks in the county have signaled higher levels of community spread. The county’s daily COVID-19 positivity rates and hospitalization rates are also worsening. As of Monday, there were 10,304 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Guilford county. Parents who were hoping to send their kids back to school tomorrow have the option to enroll their children in the virtual academies, a separate school where kids can learn virtually, or opt for remote learning at their children’s assigned schools. At this point, Contreras said that 64 of the 69 elementary schools will be able to offer remote learning for students. Five schools — Shadybrook, Gillespie, Southern, Madison and Vandalia elementary schools — did not have enough students express interest in remote learning to have that as an option, according to Contreras. Three out of the five schools — Gillespie, Madison and Vandalia — are majority minority schools. The other two are schools with a very small student population. “We had to have enough for a full classroom,” Contreras said. “We don’t have additional dollars to add any teachers…. It wouldn’t work if only nine students said they wanted to participate; they would have to attend the virtual school.” Parent and community organizer

Adrienne Spinner said that she’s frustrated at the school board and the superintendent’s miscommunication in the past several weeks. Spinner said she was initially told that her daughter’s school would not have remote learning as an option. “We never have gotten a complete answer from Guilford county schools administration whether my daughter’s school was going to be in the boat of no remote or not,” Spinner said. Spinner enrolled her daughter in virtual academies for this semester and has another child in pre-K who is currently being homeschooled. She said she doesn’t blame school administrators, who she believes get changing information on a daily basis. “If you’re expecting SAYAKA MATSUOKA Guilford County Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras reported the amended school administrators to schedule at a press conference on Monday. communicate to parents, they have to give them more severely. that are falling apart,” Spinner said. “We clear info,” she said. “Guilford County “For these so-called vulnerable stumight have stood a chance at having leadership is not being clear.” dents, you’re forced to go back in the some resources to make re-entry posShe also said that she believes that a building,” she said. sible.” more coherent, clear plan could have According to CDC data from August, In May, Guilford county commissioncome to fruition if school officials had of 576 hospitalized children across the ers voted to put forth a $300 million spent more time listening to teachers and country, almost half were Latinx and 30 bond on the Nov. 3 ballot as opposed parents. percent were Black. CDC studies also to a $1.6 billion bond requested by “If more consideration had been given found that Latinx children were hospitalthe school board. Voters can vote on to a complete voluntary re-entry since ized with COwhether to pass the $300 million bond, the beginning, then VID-19 were eight which would be used to fix old buildings they could develop times more likely and build new school facilities, this eleca process to reach than white children tion cycle. For more information on vulnerable students to require intensive For now, Spinner said she’s waiting to without forcing this care and Black chilhear how her daughter will be attending school reopening, visit on everyone,” she dren were five times the virtual academy starting tomorrow. gcsnc.com/Domain/18867. more likely. said. “We need to do better by [our teachCounty officials Spinner said that ers] and our students,” Spinner said. have repeatedly degrading school “Guilford county schools can do a lot pointed to a widenfacilities with outbetter, and I hope they will stop passing ing achievement gap for students who dated HVAC systems, leaking roofs and the buck and do it.” don’t return to in-person learning, and mold are also concerning when thinkAll third through fifth grade students the fact that teaching kids at home is a ing about sending kids back amidst a are still scheduled to return to in-person privilege only afforded to families whose pandemic. learning on Nov. 4 or 5. Middle school parents can stay at home with their kids. “If our county commissioners fully kids are slated to return on Nov. 12. However, Spinner also noted that a funded budget requests instead of spitHigh school students would return on disproportionate amount of kids who are ting on public education for the past Jan. 20. contracting COVID-19 are Black and decade, we might not be arguing over Brown and they are also being affected whether to send students into buildings

OPINION Coronavirus in NC: The third wave

Up Front News Opinion Culture

We see the numbers rising. The peak between July 11 and 17, adding a cases are getting closer and closer — a couple thousand a day. That’s when we spouse’s friend, a co-worker, someone extended Phase 2, and things started you went to high school with. Maybe to drop. Next peak was in late August, you’ve had it yourself. right after the college students went You’ve noticed that we’ve had outback, but this one saw only about 1,500 breaks in local restaurants and bars just new cases a day. this week, and an acceleration in cases And now we’re back: an average of statewide that you might find troubling. more than 2,000 new cases a day for Perhaps you still think the whole the last week. It’s interfering with the thing is bullshit, but even reopening of our public then, you’ve got to have schools. It’s affecting the There are two a creeping doubt in your election both in process sides to the global and outcome. It’s pushing convictions after a portion of the White House pandemic: people the end-of-the-pandemic staff, numerous celebrigoalposts further and who respect the ties and other boldfaced further into the future. names, and like half the At this point, we’ve got virus and those people who went to to what’s wrong with who think the rest us ask Sturgis came down with that we can’t seem the disease caused by the of us are making to get this right. But coronavirus. everybody knows what’s it up. But most of us by now wrong with us: We don’t recognize the prevalence currently share the same of COVID-19 and we’re just trying reality, evidenced by the fact that there to do our best while the coronavirus are two sides to the global pandemic: circulates among the plague rats, which people who respect the virus and those of course increases the likelihood that it who think the rest of us are making it will reach us. up. We saw our first case in North But it seems there are fewer and Carolina on March 6; by April 1 we fewer people who subscribe to the were averaging almost 150 new cases a latter philosophy. Because those are the day. By the end of April, we saw more people who have been getting it. than 400 a day. New cases hit our first

Oct. 22-28, 2020

EDITORIAL

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Oct. 22-28, 2020

CULTURE

Kinks, coils and beady beads: Black women embrace natural beauty through their hair

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Up Front

by Michaela Ratliff

trands of stringy, limp hair sat at my feet as I stared in the mirror at my three-inch afro. It was 2015, and after 14 years of feeding my addiction to the “creamy crack” — chemical relaxers used to permanently straighten hair — I decided to go natural, finally embracing the way my hair naturally grew from my head. Gone were the days of Mama insisting on “bumping the ends” of my straight hair, only to spend Easter Sundays looking like James Brown. No more being asked to hold my ear while getting unrelaxed new growth touched up with the hot comb. During the Civil Rights Movement, the afro became a political symbol of pride as Black people embraced their African ancestry. Angela Davis, political activist, rocked a picked-out afro and inspired others to do the same. “When I came to A&T in like, ‘99, 2000 they called me Angela Davis because my ’fro was so big,” says Tiffany Roacher, lead loctician and owner of Naturally Free Natural Hair Lounge. Roacher is on her second set of dreadlocks and has been growing them since 2010. She spends less time on her own locks than she does one client, whose microlocks took 22 hours to complete. After getting her first relaxer in seventh grade, Roacher experimented with a shoulder-length bob and singer T-Bozinspired haircut. She decided to go natural after experiencing breakage at the line of demarcation — the point at which new growth and relaxed hair meet. “As long as you get your relaxer for your senior pictures,” Roacher’s mom told her, “we’re good.” But Roacher had other plans. “I didn’t get my relaxer for my senior pictures,” she says. “I absolutely fell in love with my natural hair.” When I first went natural, I had no idea how to style my hair or what products to use. I wish I’d had Ciara Johnson, natural hair stylist and co-owner of Face Café High Point Glam and Wellness Bar, to help me, as her favorite part of her work is educating her clients about how to care for their hair. “When you shampoo and condition your hair there’s certain ways of how to do it,” Johnson says. “A lot of people cause breakage when

Tiffany Roacher is the lead loctician and owner of Naturally Free Natural Hair Lounge.

COURTESY PHOTO

they take their braids out because they don’t take them out properly. They don’t properly detangle their hair and they don’t start from the ends and work up to the roots.” She’s been natural for seven years, alternating between a short cut and longer hair, but she plans to lock her hair at the end of this year. “I love being natural,” she says. “Everything about it and embracing who you are.” Johnson infuses Doterra essential oils into butters she uses for her hair. I’ve found butters too heavy and the LOC method works best for my hair, which involves applying a liquid such as water or leave-in conditioner, sealing the moisture with an oil like coconut or Jamaican black castor and finishing with a cream for styling or curl-defining. Some women consult the hair-typing system — a chart used to determine hair texture — in search of products that work for their hair, a system

Writer Michaela Ratliff showing off her natural hair.

COURTESY PHOTO

detested by Roacher. She believes it leads women to seek styles unrealistic for their hair. Roacher also dislikes the phrase “good hair,” a phrase used by Black people insinuating looser, textured hair is better. “Good hair is the hair that you have regardless of the texture,” she says. The ongoing natural hair movement is important. It’s teaching Black women that what grows from their heads, in all its kinky glory, is perfectly fine. In February, Matthew A. Cherry’s animated short, “Hair Love,” won an Oscar, further cement-

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Oct. 22-28, 2020

with Dr. Blair Wisco at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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Test pH balance, allergies, hormones Balance diet, lifestyle and emotions Create a personalized health and nutrition plan Shot in the Triad

Ciara Johnson, the co-owner of Face Café High Point Glam and Wellness Bar.

the nape — isn’t being burned by hot styling tools to achieve an unnaturally straight texture. Roacher lets her new growth show unapologetically when she needs her locks retwisted. “I like to look like a lion,” she says. “I’m good.”

(336) 456-4743

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

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ing the idea that Black hair is more than just about aesthetics. “I have a 12-year-old daughter and I’m trying to get her to understand: Your hair is who you are,” Johnson says. “You don’t have to be nobody but you.” Naps and “beady beads” — tufts of uncombed hair — are no longer being hidden by damaging products and painful styles. The “kitchen” — the coily hair at

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Oct. 22-28, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

CULTURE Digging for gold: Thrifting lover peddles finds on Instagram by Sayaka Matsuoka

une Pointer’s mezzo-soprano stores, but says she stopped as a high schooler voice cuts through the synth and and college kid. Now, she’s doing it as a stress the drumbeats as the record turns reliever. And even though coronavirus woron the table, the needle picking ries may keep others from actively buying used up the sound captured in the vinyl. goods, Clark says she has the antibodies to “He’s so shy,” sings Pointer and her prevent her from getting sick. She thinks she got sisters. “That sweet little boy who COVID-19 back in late February when she was caught my eye.” still in Grenada for med school. Her cat caught a Amanda Clark and her parents slide bat and dragged it into the house, still alive. Her around on their black and white kitchen roommates all found the winged creature adortile, dancing to the post-disco sound able and spent the next few hours hanging out that emanates from the living room. with it, and then let it go. The following week, Their socks provide buttery traction, all of them got horribly sick. perfect for gliding. Just another Tuesday. “We all thought it was like a really bad flu,” “All of my memories are surrounded Clark says. by having a record player,” Clark says of Later, Clark got tested for COVID-19 antibodthe flashback from her childhood. “Havies and tested positive. So now, she uses it kind ing a vintage record player and listenof like a superpower, freely going to estate sales, ing to great music. I was raised on the while still wearing a mask, and shopping around Pointer Sisters and music from the ’60s, for treasures. ’70s, ’80s. My mom is Black, and my dad Sometimes she’ll buy things that she thinks is white; it was like all rock versus soul.” people will be interested in, like mugs or vintage Clark wears a baby-blue Western glasses, but most of the time she snags things blouse with a prominent embroidered that catch her eye, things she’d like to keep butterfly that spreads across her chest herself. and tortoiseshell earrings during a “I sell things that I want to keep all the time,” recent interview. She’s 27 and bubbly as Clark says. “My fiancé is my driving force for hell, but lives and breathes the air of an getting rid of things. I think he would leave me if era that unfolded decades before she I kept everything.” was born. Clark says she can sometimes find items at “I grew up in a very vintage housea local Goodwill or Freedom House Thrift, but hold,” Clark says. “My parents never says estate sales are like gold mines for one-ofreally wanted to pay full price for stuff.” a-kind pieces. Clark’s love of oldies and antiques was “I go to these sales and they tell me stories fully realized in July when she started to of these treasures and I just can’t leave them resell on Instagram many of the lovingly behind,” she says. collected items she had lying around She once bought a piece of handmade metal her house. Now, the account has close art, a sculpted cactus that a man crafted for his to 2,000 followers, as Clark curates and wife. The woman, who was from Arizona, told peddles trinkets she finds at thrift stores Clark she was selling it because her husband or estate sales. had passed away years ago and she just had too COURTESY PHOTO Clark grew up loving art and aesthetmuch stuff. Amanda Clark got her start thrifting as a child. ics but knew she had to find a practical “Items like that are like, Come on, my heart,” career. She went into medicine after Clark says. Clark repeatedly explains how she started the venture out finishing college with three different Her favorite find of all time is an original painting of flowof pure selfishness but says that as she’s been selling more majors, including art and math. While ers bursting against a beige background in a warm, wooden items, she realized that objects she’s found can change anshe was studying for frame. Clark says she got the piece for a other person’s day-to-day life. med school, she felt she whopping $4. It hangs in her living room and “It was something that made me feel good,” she says. “It’s needed an escape from it still makes her light up every time she sees fun and really cool that you can affect people’s lives like that.” Follow Clark’s vintage the hours of cramming it, she says. Most of the items on Clark’s account are brass or come notes and memorizing Another time, Clark found a set of vintage shop on Instagram at in shades of brown and orange. She says her whole house is body parts. pillows, including one that had a cluster of @the.dusty.gem. tinted in these warm hues. It wasn’t until she was asked that “I needed a new outmushrooms embroidered on it. As soon as she realized that the aesthetic she was creating mirrored the let,” she says. “Someshe put it up on her page, a woman mesone from her childhood. thing that wasn’t going saged her to buy it. A few weeks later, Clark “Honestly, when I look back,” she says, “it’s like a blur of to take up a lot of my time. That’s how got a message back from the buyer letting her know how warmth and sunshine.” I found thrifting again. It’s so nostalgic much she loved the piece. And that’s what she unwittingly creates for others through and it makes me so happy.” “She told me that the only memories she had of her grandher online shop. Clark recalls thrifting as a child with mother were these mushrooms that spread across her lawn “It’s nice knowing that I can make a tiny little change and her mother, carefully combing through and how every time she sees the pillow, it reminds her of her,” make someone’s day a little brighter,” she says. shelves and displays at secondhand Clark says. “I felt that it was amazing and beautiful.”

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Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Black entrepreneurs feel compelled to conceal the fact that their businesses are Black-owned for fear they will lose patronage — either to misperceptions that the product or services are only for Black folks, or to racial biases on the part of potential customers. But when they arrived in Winston-Salem, the family fell in love. After conducting extensive market research about the Triad, the area’s specialty coffee market and quality of life in North Carolina, they were sold. Darrell noted Winston-Salem’s ranking on lists such as “Best Places to Live” and “Best Places To Retire” in Forbes and U.S. News & World Report magazines. Not only is ByGood a coffee shop, they have an in-house coffee roaster and offer pastries and cakes from 3 Layers Cakery in Downtown Winston-Salem. “Now is our time, even though it’s in the middle of a pandemic,” says ByGood Coffee co-owner Abbey Garner. “Nobody is trying to take risks right now. We decided to take on this challenge and see.” If someone wants a good cup of coffee, Garner says that she will still find a way to get into customers homes whether it’s online, through delivery or something more creative. “It’s tiring on my part, but I love what I do,” she says. “I get up every morning and I look forward to coming in here and doing what I do.” Black is beautiful. Whether it’s coffee, one’s soul or one’s joy, the Black coffee business is here to stay.

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don’t even like coffee. I do, however, appreciate its complexity and diversity, and I recognize quality beans. I dipped a compostable stirrer into the world of coffee in my early twenties as an employee at Starbucks. Before I started there, I knew nothing about coffee except how to spell it. Over a five-year period, I climbed the ladder from barista to shift supervisor and assistant store manager very quickly. Earning a living wage gave me financial freedom, health insurance, stock options, a 401(k) and savings for retirement in order to support myself. I’m not the only person to make coffee a stepping-stone to my financial future. Starting as a pop-up shop, Cam’s Coffee in WinstonSalem sold whole-bean coffee, coffee beverages and created employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities. Owner Cam Myers is the 12-year-old entrepreneur behind the company and is the face of the brand. As protests for racial justice sprang up across the country in late May following the death of George Cam’s Coffee Co. is operating exclusively online these days. Floyd, the push to support Black-owned businesses was fueled by massive civil rights movements, accelerated if we could create 100 jobs?,’” Lewis says. “We really through technology and embodied by the protests. The took that to heart. Could we have 100 employees?” says swell of support took the form of widely shared lists, Lewis. databases and resource guides for customers to show The company has a new initiative called One Kid, One support for the Black business community. And with Mission, 100 jobs. the crescendo of support has come a surge of popular“It’s a big goal, but it’s something I think that can be ity in Black-owned business directories and new ways to done because we’ve changed how we look at employsupport small Black-owned businesses. ment,” Lewis says. “Instead of focusing on how we can “People were intentionally shopping Black and lohave local impact, it’s like, how can we have national cally, specifically shopping Black coffee,” says Latasha impact?” Lewis, co-owner and Cam’s mother. In August, ByGood Coffee opened in the former Twin “We saw a huge increase in City Hive space on Brookstown the numbers we were doAvenue. While the company ing online,” Lewis adds. “We is new to Winston-Salem, it Learn more about Cam’s Coffee at started thinking about what was founded in 2016 by Abbey we look like, how we show up shop.camscoffeeco.com. ByGood and Darrell Garner in Long and how to continue to serve Coffee is located at 301 BrookIsland, NY. For nearly 10 years, our community.” the couple attempted to open stown Ave Ste 300. Learn more at Cam’s Coffee’s focus is no in North Carolina. They offer longer going to be the cofbygoodcoffee.com. retail coffee and teas, a loosefeeshop model. The new leaf tea program and coffee business model is going to be beverages crafted with housee-commerce driven. Leading made syrups. the charge is an expanded line of coffee, coffee prod“I did my undergraduate at North Carolina Central ucts and online sales of ground coffee, whole bean, University in Durham, my dad is from Northampton K-cups, instant coffee, loose tea and coffee-based skin County and my mom is from Danville, Virginia,” Darrell care products. Garner says noting his family’s Southern roots. “In a casual conversation, we were trying to figure In NY, the couple was afraid to broadcast the fact out what this new thing looks like and he said, ‘What that they are a Black, family-owned business. Some

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by Nikki Miller-Ka

like my coffee black. Black, no sugar, no cream. I like for the coffee to wash over my tongue so I can pay special attention to its mouthfeel and viscosity. The edges of acidity lick at my palate while the sweet, bitter and bright notes play out in the cup. And I

Oct. 22-28, 2020

Nik Snacks Strong, Black coffee retailers own the black coffee market in the Triad

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Oct. 22-28, 2020 Shot in the Triad

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‘Rhymes at the Zoo’—a group effort for Take Your Kids to Work Day. (#831, May 2017)

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Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

(I created this puzzle for Take Your Kids To Work Day in collaboration with my then-nine-year-old twins. Clues followed by an [S] were written by Sid, and clues followed by an [E] were written by Ella.) 1 Sound of a punch [E] 5 Green paper that you pay with [E] 9 They make up stairs [E] 14 Make goo-goo eyes at 15 Tennis’s Arthur ___ Stadium 16 Like some dirt bike tracks [S] 17 Fearsome cat that spends moolah on Lamborghinis and mansions? [S] 19 Former “Come on down!” announcer Johnny 20 “I ___ open this jar. Can you help, Daddy?” [E] 21 Monkey that eats curtains? [E] 23 “Gimme ___! ... What’s that spell? Ella!” [E] ©2017, 2020 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 24 There are 100 in a century (abbr.) [S] 26 Something a toy poodle says [E] 27 Rat-a-___ [E] 28 Something that people say in awe [E] 30 Pookums [E] 35 Scaly creature that likes to eat frosted sweets? [S] 37 Ninja Turtle that wears red, to his friends [S] 40 Getting from ___ B 41 Kid that can have a cellphone [S] 42 Bird that smokes and does vandalism? [E] Answers from last issue 47 Sneaky little animal [E] 48 ___ gin fizz 11 Queen in Arendelle [E] 49 Kid who is “epic!” [S] 12 Water drop sound [E] 52 The ___ on the Shelf [S] 13 “Auld Lang ___” 54 Sid: “I’m not ___ years old anymore.” Me: 18 Something said in an “argument party” [S] “No, I mean ___ as in ‘I ___ some food.’” 22 Teacher’s helper [E] 55 Palindromic Turkish title 25 Region with Legoland, informally [S] 56 Water animal with flippers that makes barters 29 Dislikes [S] 24/7? [S] 31 Poker money 61 Wants really badly [S] 32 “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly ___ Jepsen [E] 63 Go off-script (sorry, Ella, it doesn’t mean “get 33 “I Like ___” (‘50s political slogan) more pounds”) 34 “Hallow” ending 64 Slow animal that grows wings and gets in your 35 Someone who might cook meatballs for you [S] clothes? [E] 36 Animal that’s cute, fuzzy, lazy and gray [E] 66 She was a princess “long ago” [E] 37 ___ for “Ricky Bubwick” (apparently a name 67 “The coolest kid in the universe” [E] that Sid just made up) 68 Lake that sounds scary [E] 38 Everyone [S] 69 Me: “How about the clue ‘Used needles,’ 39 Toilet paper layer Ella?” Ella: “No, new needles. You have to use 43 Turns evil or moldy [E] them because it affects the fabric more than 44 Remote control car part [S] you expect.” 45 Tag situations? [S] 70 Martens and McStuffins, for instance [S] 46 Looks rudely 71 Air France fliers, once 49 Enjoys, as food [S] Down 50 “Understood” [S] 1 Type of wild “kitty-kitty” :) [E] 51 Marks that are lines [S] 2 Type of lizard in “Sing” [E] 53 Popular [E] 3 Horse’s mesh protection against pests, maybe 56 Parents “who do puzzled goodness” [S] 4 Sinn ___ (Irish political movement) 57 Brickell whose band is the New Bohemians 5 Spike thrown in the road to stop robbers [S] 58 “There ought to be ___” 6 “___ was saying ...” [E] 59 It may be parallel [E] 7 Like show horses’ feet 60 Olympic hurdler/bobsledder Jones 8 “___ Danger” (Nickelodeon show) [E] 62 Drinks that are alcoholic [S] 9 Quaint stores (you’d think, based on how 65 “Waterfalls” trio they’re spelled) 10 Piece that goes on the floor [S]

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