Northwest Guilford alum Liz Kitley leads the Virginia Tech Hokies to their first ACC Women’s Tournament Championship
THURSDAY MARCH 9
UNMET: North Carolina’s Two Developmental Disability Crises @ UNCSA (W-S) 7 p.m.
UNMET: North Carolina’s Two Developmental Disability Crises is a 25-minute documentary that shows the difficulties individuals with developmental disabilities face when their needs are unmet. A panel discussion will follow. The viewing is free, but RSVP on Eventbrite is suggested.
FRIDAY MARCH 10
Triad Orchid Society Sale & Show @ Reynolda Gardens (W-S) 1 p.m.
Regional orchid societies and individual hobbyists will teach attendees more about exclusive orchids in bloom, unusual genera and recent hybrids. There will also be plants available for purchase. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
Mirabel’s Birthday Bash @ Reserving Royalty (HP) 4 p.m.
Join Isabela from Encanto as she throws her sister Mirabel a surprise birthday party. Event highlights include birthday treats, royal portraits and more to enjoy. Purchase tickets at reservingroyalty.com
by MICHAELA RATLIFFSATURDAY
Collaboration in Craft opening reception @ GreenHill Center for NC Art (GSO) 6 p.m.
Enjoy refreshments and jazz music by Fair Sound during this opening reception of Collaboration in Craft which highlights collaborative works from artists using clay, wood, metals and fibers. Find more information at greenhillnc.org/collaboration-in-craft
Crafty Women Market @ Winston Junction Market (W-S) 11 a.m.
In honor of Women’s History Month and National Craft Month (Who knew?), Winston Junction Market invites you to shop with local artists and makers for handmade items, sweets and more. Food trucks will be on site with live music provided by Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs. More info on the Facebook event page
Lifted Voices: Women’s History @ Greensboro History Museum (GSO) 12 p.m.
Visit the Greensboro History Museum for their living museum, this month featuring prominent women from local history including Mary Mendenhall Hobbs, Quaker educator and writer, Educator and civil rights activist Dr. Willa B. Player, the first president of Bennett College and Dr. Josephine Boyd Bradley, the first Black student to attend Greensboro (today Grimsley) Senior High School in 1957. Learn more at greensborohistory.org
Outdoor Movie Night: The Lorax @ Deep River Recreation Center (HP) 7 p.m.
Deep River Recreation Center invites you and your family to enjoy The Lorax under the stars. The animated musical comedy film is based on the book by Dr. Seuss and follows 12-year-old Ted as he seeks the help of the Lorax and the Once-ler to locate a Truffula tree he needs to impress his love, all while teaching those that watch the film to be kind to the planet.
SUNDAY MARCH 12
Curiosities at the Curb @ Greensboro Farmers Curb Market (GSO) 12 p.m.
Curiosities at the Curb features vintage finds, unique art items and more goodies. Enjoy lunch from Sur Chilean Inspired food truck and live music by The Glenwood Choppers while you shop. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
Laser Express: A Blast to the Past Laser Light Show @ McLaurin Farms (GSO) 6:45 p.m.
Laser Express is a weekend-long drive-in experience with colorful laser lights choreographed to throwback songs that can be enjoyed by all. Head to the Facebook event page to purchase tickets.
Winston-Salem International Women’s Legacy Parade @ W. 4th St. (W-S) 1 p.m.
The Legacy Foundation for Women is hosting this parade to promote local economic growth and “encourage others to buy, sell, and support women owned businesses.” Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
Cigar + Whiskey Tasting @ Stock + Grain Assembly (HP) 2 p.m.
Find the best pairing of cigars and whiskey during this tasting hosted by Cahoots, located inside Stock + Grain. Purchase tickets on Eventbrite
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ART
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COVER:
#33 for Virginia Tech Elizabeth
Kitley scores a goal during the ACC Women’s Championship in Greensboro on March 6.
[Photo by Todd Turner]
Design by Aiden Siobhan
by Sayaka Matsuoka“The list of those Southern newspapers that were on the wrong side of history is long.”
So begins the second part of Poynter’s four-part investigation into how Southern newspapers perpetuated harm against marginalized communities for much of history. And at TCB, it’s something we think a lot about in terms of our responsibility to our community.
During a recent talk at Elon University, I was asked by a professor how I handle the perception of political bias within my work. And the answer that we’ve landed on is simple: We want to report and tell stories in a way that in 50, 60, 100 years time, we can look back and say: We were on the right side of history
Even before Poynter’s investigation, we knew the harm that many legacy news organizations have and continue to enact on our most vulnerable communities. Spending about an hour on the UNCG Gateway archives, I found multiple instances in which our local daily paper, the News & Record — then named the Greensboro Daily News — perpetrated harm against the Black community during desegregation, student boycotts, the Black Power movement and in the aftermath of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre
More recently, a local Black, queer activist was doxxed during a livestream by a News & Record employee during the 2020 protests. In response, the managing editor of the N&R at the time met with the activist, who made demands of the paper after white supremacists threatened to harm her and her child.
The meeting didn’t end well.
A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak on a panel with the activist in an event titled, “Building Solidarity Between Organizers and Journalists,” because of my work during that same year.
During that event and during my talk at Elon University, I reiterated our view at TCB about the myth of objectivity. In essence, to be purely objective as a journalist is impossible. We are not robots. We all exist in a society and come with our own baggage, experiences and identities that help us navigate the world. And I think that’s a great tool as a journalist.
We also don’t believe in telling both sides of the story for the sake of “objectivity.” In many of the stories published in the N&R that I gave as examples, the issue was with the framing. For example, allowing a Black student protester to say their piece but also letting a white person argue against integration. Or saying that the Greensboro Massacre was “senseless and brutal” while running a concurrent piece that “both factions… represented fanatical, distorted views of humanity.”
That’s not objectivity; it’s the view from nowhere and it only exists to maintain the unjust structures within our society. What we instead strive to be is fair.
It’s through this lens that we view the Black Lives Matter movement (which is just the Civil Rights Movement of our time isn’t it?), transgender rights, refugee rights and the right to bodily autonomy. Our inkling is that the Overton window of the acceptability of these issues will have shifted in a few decades, and hopefully sooner than that. And looking back on our reporting then, we want to proudly be able to say we reported from a place of justice, not harm, now.
We want to report and tell stories in a way that in 50, 60, 100 years time, we can look back and say: We were on the right side of history.
How not to be racist and other lessons from the past
know...
Who artist laura iseley is
During Greensboro’s city council meeting on Tuesday, the city approved a plan that will allow the city to spend $6.6 million to combat homelessness and a lack of affordable housing.
As a part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated $4.925 billion in funds to communities throughout the country to address homelessness and support communities who are extremely low-income or very low-income and at risk of becoming homeless.
Funds can also be used to assist populations who are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence situations, as well as other populations where providing supportive services or assistance would prevent the family’s homelessness or would help serve those who are at greater risk of homelessness, such as veterans or families that include a veteran.
The city of Greensboro, which was awarded $6,601,747, must spend the funds by Sept. 30, 2030.
As a condition of receiving the funds, the city is required to analyze the needs and gaps related to homelessness and supportive housing in the community and create a plan as to how they will spend the funds. The development of this plan has been in the works for the past several months, and the plans to be submitted to HUD were presented on Tuesday night to council The plan was subsequently approved 8-0 by council with Councilperson Goldie Wells absent from the vote.
To pinpoint the areas of need, the city used the 2023 Draft Guilford County Gaps Analysis and the 2022 Point-In-Time Count — a data collection of persons experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness on one night — as
well as the Housing Inventory Count which is a count of the available shelter beds and supportive housing units.
Caitlin Bowers, the city’s neighborhood investment manager, said that the city also got anecdotal feedback from community stakeholders such as Cone Health Hospital, Family Services of the Piedmont, Greensboro Housing Authority and the Interactive Resource Center to make their assessments. The feedback included comments from unhoused persons in the community, and Housing and Neighborhood Development hosted an all-day community collaborative event on Dec. 5 which included discussions and interviews with persons with lived experience.
After conducting extensive research, the city will be investing $2,500,000 into supportive services, $2,300,000 into affordable rental housing, $1,471,660 into tenant-based rental assistance, and $330,087 into administration and planning.
Activities that will be eligible to receive funding from HOME-ARP will be the production or preservation of affordable housing, tenant-based rental assistance. Other eligible services include supportive services, homeless prevention services, and housing counseling, as well as the purchase and development of non-congregate shelter.
The 19-page report by the city includes a breadth of data that led to the breakdown of services. According to the 2022 Point-in-Time Count, there were 426 individuals who were experiencing homelessness in Greensboro, though the report notes that the number is “likely an undercount.”
The city’s PIT Count trends also showed an average of 102 unsheltered persons without children, “demonstrating a consistent need for permanent
affordable housing for unsheltered residents. Additional available units would allow Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) programs to more efficiently leverage existing resources, coordinate services, and effectively house residents in permanent housing.”
To combat the issue of homelessness, the city includes the need for per manent affordable housing in Greensboro. According to the city’s GSO, a 10-year plan for affordable housing released in 2020, there is a 3,700 gap in available units for households under $20,000 and a 4,100 gap for households under $30,000.
“If current trends continue, in 10 years the affordability gap will almost tri ple for all households earning less than $30,000,” the report states. “This gap is largely driven by substantial loss of affordable units due to rising rents.”
Given that lack of affordable units, the 2023 Guilford County Gaps Analy sis recommends to “increase investments in permanent housing.”
In August 2022, Rent.com published a report that listed Greensboro as the top city in the country with the biggest increase in rent for one-bedroom apartments over the previous year. The study looked at the 100 largest cities in the country based on U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. Accord ing to the report, Greensboro topped the list with a 74.2 percent increase for one-bedroom apartment rent. One other North Carolina city — Raleigh — made the top ten, coming in fifth with a 42.1 percent increase.
“Anything will help with housing,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Yvonne Johnson at the Tuesday city council meeting. “We need it.”
The deadline to submit the plan is March 31. Once HUD approves the city’s plan, the funding will be awarded to the city. The timeline for approval was not listed on the HUD site or in city documents.
Robert Dietrich started skateboarding around a year ago and has been practicing at the skatepark at Winston-Salem Fairgrounds for several months.
Scattered with a variety of ramps ranging in difficulty, the construction and installation of the skatepark that includes 15,200 square feet of ramps, quarter pipes, grinding rails, bank ramps and more received city council approval in August 2015.
Headed by William Royston, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department conducts annual inspections of the skatepark equipment, and in 2022 the pump track began to deteriorate as it took on water — Dietrich and other high schoolers told TCB in an interview that the pump track had developed some holes. Ordinarily, normal dips and banks of a pump track help bikers, skateboarders and roller skaters improve their balance.
During the Finance Committee meeting on Feb. 14 Royston told the council that the “hazardous piece of equipment” had been removed,” and that they were working with American Ramp Company and the skaters that frequent the facility “to get the equipment in there that they truly need.”
Stains left behind on the park’s concrete reveal where the 325-foot-long pump track used to run, snaking around the other pieces of equipment in a pattern of curves and bends.
Purchase of new equipment through a contract with the American Ramp company in the amount of $123,883.57 was recommended for Council approval on Feb. 14 by the Finance Committee and the item was approved by the city council via consent vote on Feb. 20
During the committee meeting Mayor Pro Tem Denise D. Adams men-
tioned that the skatepark is frequently used, adding that residents of all ages enjoy the park’s facilities.
“Old people, young people, kids, families up there skateboarding — it’s a very good thing,” Adams said.
Another skateboarder, Gabriel, said he was there on the day the deteriorating pump track was taken away.
“They’ve been talking about it for months, though,” added Gabriel, who has been practicing at the skatepark for three years.
In an interview with TCB, Royston said that the skatepark will have new equipment in “12-16 weeks…late spring,” depending on the time it takes for the company to ship it and set it up.
Royston said that the renovations will include a large ramp, and that some of the current equipment will be repositioned around the skatepark. However, a new pump track will not be purchased for the park. Royston said that because a lot of the skaters like using rails for grinding, the updated park will include features that are well-suited for street skating so that the skaters can “feel like [they’re] skating in a downtown street center.”
“They’re trying to clear the gap,” Gabriel said, pointing toward the metal ramps that Dietrich and the other skateboarders were attempting to jump over.
“It’s really hard to do, though,” he noted before cheering Dietrich on as he attempted the trick, “You’ve got it bro, you got it!”
Open enrollment for Habitat Greensboro’s Homeownership program opened on Feb. 15. Applications are available online at habitatgreensboro.org or at the Gate City ReStore, with applications considered on a rolling basis.
This is not a giveaway. The Homeownership Program helps traditionally marginalized families buy affordable houses in the city. Applicants must meet minimum household income requirements — between $25-$35,000 a year, depending on size — and provide documents such as a current lease, Social Security cards for all household members and statements of income for all household members along with the application. Homes are custom built, one-story single-family homes and one and two-story townhomes with 2-5 bedrooms and 2-3 bathrooms.
Applicants are selected on three criteria: a need for adequate housing, a willingness to partner with Habitat Greensboro and the ability to pay an affordable mortgage. The program is open to all households who meet these guidelines — Habitat does not discriminate for any reasons related to race, sex, national origin, religion, familial status, handicap, or color.
“Last year, out of more than 400 applicants, only 10 people met the guidelines,” said Christine Byrd, Director of Development and Communications of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro. “Many applicants either didn’t answer all the questions in the application or include all the attachments.”
She said, “we want to walk alongside them on their journey.”
The process can be daunting — after being accepted, applicants must take required homeownership courses on budgeting and financial literacy, household maintenance and simple repairs. The families must also put in 250 hours of “sweat equity” that could include pitching in on the construction of the house or helping out with other Habitat Greensboro projects. All classes count towards the required 250 hours, and every adult in the household can contribute.
But in the end, they are able to purchase a new or refurbished home with a mortgage not to exceed 30 percent of household income.
It’s an important program, Byrd said, because “very few builders build starter homes anymore, and starter homes in Greensboro do not come at starter home prices; $200,000 is not a starter home.”
And she reminded that there has been historic discrimination in the real estate and finance industries against people of color, non-English speakers and other marginalized communities.
More details, instructions, FAQs and the application itself can be found at Habitat Greensboro’s website, habitatgreensboro.org.
“I know there are a lot of people in Greensboro who have interest in this, who probably don’t think they qualify,” Byrd said. “But chances are, we can help.”
The Republican majority in the North Carolina Legislature, established in 2010, could not have happened without Barack Obama. It was his election two years earlier that sufficiently frightened white folks in the Old North State enough to elect more Republicans to state government than it had in 100 years.
Apparently they feel enough time has passed that they won’t look like hypocrites for adopting one of Obama’s signature policies as president: the ability to expand Medicaid to the states, which would allow people to qualify for free healthcare based on income alone, as opposed to individual state requirements like disability, household size and other somewhat arbitrary factors.
That’s a joke: The modern GOP does not recognize the concept of hypocrisy.
This becomes important when we realize that, though the House and Senate have agreed in theory to a compromise, it will exist inside the confines of the state budget, which then must be passed by the legislature. Anyone who has
been watching these last 10 years knows that the budget has become a political football in state politics, and so must understand that this compromise will come with a lot of goodies for right-wingers that won’t necessarily represent the will of the majority.
And so Medicaid expansion, which will bring in almost $10 billion a year in federal funds for individual coverage, behavioral health and rural healthcare, among other things, could come at the cost of teacher raises, which the Republicans have been against, as well as funding for clinics that provide abortions as well as funding for public schools, and could be tied to the elimination of corporate income taxes, all of which can be articulated in the budget.
It would be highly ironic if one of the bedrock provisions of Obamacare — which NC Republicans have been branding as “socialized medicine” since its inception — would be the thing that allows for 0 percent corporate income tax in NC. Of course, irony is another one of those concepts that Republicans in our state do not acknowledge.
John ColeThe modern GOP does not recognize the concept of hypocrisy.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons came into the ACC Tournament as a 12seed after a lackluster season, and they weren’t expected to last more than a couple days. They took out 13-seed Virginia on the first day 68-57 with 19 points and three rebounds from junior guard Jewel Spear, and a ridiculous 11 rebounds from junior forward Demeara Hinds. On Day 2 against powerhouse 5-seed Florida State, they started the second half 18 points behind after scoring just 2 points in the second quarter. But a third-quarter rally led by Spear, senior forward Olivia Summiel and senior forward Demeara Hinds gave Wake the second-largest comeback in ACC Women’s history. They took a beating against Louisville the next day, but their point was made. I’ll be a fan of this team for life; I even started following some of them on Instagram.
The ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament has been held in Greensboro 23 of the past 24 years, skipping only 2017 because of the notorious NC Bathroom Bill, which was repealed and replaced after costing the state $3.76 billion in lost opportunities from film shoots, tourism, economic development, gay weddings and, yes, sports tournaments. That contract is up this year; a new one has not been signed. It’s possible that the women’s tournament might go the way of the men’s, for which Greensboro had been the default location for generations but now jumps around the country like the monster truck show. The Men’s ACC Basketball Tournament comes back to Greensboro this week. But it’s possible this could be the last we see of the women for a while.
To my shame, this is the first time I have covered women’s college basketball after decades of covering the men. So I quickly had to learn the differences. For one, there are four 10-minute quarters rather than two 20-minute halves. These game breaks can kill momentum, but also give players and coaches opportunities to change strategies or even just rest for a few minutes. The ball in the women’s game is one inch smaller in circumference, as well. But the biggest difference is the way the game is played. When there is no 7-footer holding the low post and no threat of a posterizing dunk at any given moment, fundamentals like ball-handling, set plays and shooting become more important. The women’s game is more about teamwork than individual play. Another big difference: The women put their Instagram handles on the roster.
During quarterfinals of the women’s tournament I covered my first-ever DukeUNC game, just a day before the Duke men’s team delivered a heartbreaking loss to the UNC men in the ACC season finale. On the women’s side, Carolina beat Duke twice during the regular season, the last time just a week before. They don’t often meet in postseason play, and the Greensboro Coliseum teemed with the various shades of blue, the biggest crowd of the tournament yet. Duke, a 2-seed, ended up handling Carolina, a 7-seed, but it took all four quarters and more than a little bit of grit. It was a low-scoring affair, the most physical I’ve seen, with players scrabbling on the floor for loose balls and
Louisville’s Marissah Russell edges past Virginia Tech’s D’Asia Gregg in the ACC Women’s Tournament Championship.really knocking each other around. It was a great competition, but not such a great basketball game, except for the fact that it was Duke and Carolina, and they both played incredibly hard. Here’s hoping the men can match their intensity this week.
One of the more interesting angles to the tourney was the story of the Cavinder twins, Haley and Hannah, sophomore guards for Miami. Haley is the best player on the team, leading Miami in regular season scoring with 372 and assists at 73. Hannah’s stats are a bit less impressive, but together the two have amassed more than 4.3 million TikTok followers with dance videos, makeup tutorials and glimpses into their personal lives that have already earned them more than $1 million in endorsements
Though none of the North Carolina ACC teams made it to the final, there was a strong local connection on eventual tournament winner Virginia Tech: Two Northwest Guilford High grads who played there during their back-toback championship seasons, 2017-18. Senior forward Cayla King and senior center Liz Kitley both contributed mightily on their team’s road to the championship. Kitley, who stands 6-foot-6, among the tallest in the conference, is a two-time ACC Player of the Year, is on every watchlist for the sport’s highest honors and will almost certainly be drafted to the WNBA in the first round. But, like all COVID-era players, she had an extra year of eligibility, so we shall see.
The adolescent girl stares out at the viewer as a camera flashes and captures the historical moment in progress. She stands out amongst the small group that has gathered, dressed in a bright yellow two-piece suit that hangs limply off her small frame. A monarch butterfly finds purchase on her left shoulder. The soft, black curls of her bangs kiss her forehead as she lightly places her left fingers over her right, just tight enough to grip the American flag that balances against her right shoulder. She doesn’t smile.
“A New Generation” by Stephen Towns was painted in 2021 but depicts a scene from just after the banning of segregation in the mid-1950s. The girl, unnamed, and two Black boys stand in the front row of the painting as five white men in suits position themselves behind them, and one Black man stands off center in the back row. The painting is one of the last presented to viewers in Stephen Towns: Declaration and Resistance currently on display at Reynolda House.
A mile away, another young woman dressed in yellow captures the attention of visitors. This time she’s wearing a sleeveless tank dress that’s bisected by a light blue shirt tied around her waist. Gone is the American flag and the butterfly, replaced by a pair of white doves that flank the girl in the background. Instead of meeting the viewers’ eyes this time, she looks off into the distance to her right but maintains a reserved posture, her right hand gripping her left wrist. Neither does she smile.
This girl, also unnamed, appears in Vitus Shell: ‘Bout It ‘Bout It, The Political
Power of Just Being at SECCA which opened just two weeks before the show at Reynolda.
The shows didn’t open in the same time frame for any reason except that maybe the curators wanted to have exhibits featuring Black artists for the month of February. And the artists’ styles diverge, with Towns opting to use large, traditional canvases and quilting while Shell prefers freeform canvases that hang off of grommets to create slightly curled edges. But then again, both artists hail from the South and through their work, tackle issues of race, deeply rooted in their birthplaces. Shell, born in Monroe, LA, in 1978 predates Towns’ birth by just two years, the latter being born in Lincolnville, SC in 1980. And upon viewing the exhibitions in tandem, repeating motifs and a continued conversation about the story of survival, joy and the simple existence of Black people in America rises to the surface.
In Stephen Towns’ show, the artist follows a linear timeline of the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans starting from enslavement to the Black Codes during the post-Civil War era through Jim Crow and finally in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement.
Literature like the 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson are displayed on a wall within the show. And in a world in which governors seek to ban African-American studies from schools and Black people continue to be victimized by the police state, Towns’ exhibit connects history to the recent present.
Images of men working on chain gangs in intricately sewn quilts give
way to lush, painted portraits of notable individuals like Susie King Taylor, a nurse and educator who served in the Union military without pay. Painted in 2021, the work places Taylor in a verdant swamp as she stands amongst reeds that reach up to her waist. The sky behind her is painted in gold and like Byzantine saints of old, Towns sanctifies Taylor with a golden, studded halo. As with the girl from “A New Generation,” monarch butterflies converge on Taylor, acting as symbolic visualizations of hope. Other paintings depict nurses, crossing guards and coal miners who influenced American society in the next 100 years.
With the ending of Towns’ show after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, viewers may be left wondering what happens to the individuals depicted in his paintings and their descendants for the next 60 years. And across the street in Vitus Shell’s exhibit, viewers may find their answer.
On the main wall as viewers enter the main gallery, Larry Little, dressed in all black, raises his right fist up in the air in a power salute. He wears glasses and his signature Black Panther hat atop his head as golden rays and white stripes with stars sprout from behind him.
The mural, which is temporary and unable to be saved because it was painted directly on the wall, highlights Winston-Salem’s most famous Black Panther. The work is Shell’s most recent piece in the exhibition and is part of the artist’s motivations to give Black people their flowers in life, rather than in death.
Not unlike the works of Kehinde Wiley, whom Shell himself notes as an influence, the artist’s pieces at SECCA depict ordinary people, often ones that make appearances in Shell’s life in Lafayette, LA.
Like Towns, who uses metallic paint and adornment to recalibrate Black figures as holy, so too does Shell in his depictions of members of his own
community. In “Like It’s Hot,” Shell paints a beautiful young Black woman with long wavy hair in a cropped jean jacket and low rise jeans on top of muted advertisements peddling cigarettes, drugs and hair care. Behind her he adds a white, seven-pointed star and frames her with an oval, golden frame complete with flying cupids and a Baroque-like embellishment on the bottom. In one of the wall placards, Shell explains his approach to portraiture.
“I often ask people to be models for my work, and this does several things: It highlights the importance of people and encourages them to see themselves in a different light; it gives them a sense of importance and the possibility of seeing themselves in a different way,” Shell says. “There is a sense of freedom that can come from this.”
And indeed, part of the title of Shell’s exhibit, “The Political Power of Just Being,” further explains his motivations behind his work — his desire to separate the Black body from limiting narratives of pain and even defiance and survival, in the way that Towns’ exhibit does. As such, the two exhibits could read like opposites, with one telling the story of “Resistance” while the other argues for the mundane, the simple life for Black people.
But together, the shows work to tell a more complete and nuanced story of the Black-American experience — one in which the pained history of subjugation and survival in this country, to this day has deadly repercussions for many, which in turn, prompts the increasing need to create space for people to just be, to simply exist.
Stephen Towns: Declaration and Resistance is on display at the Reynolda House until May 14. Learn more at reynolda.org. Vitus Shell: ‘Bout It ‘Bout It, The Political Power of Just Being is on display at SECCA until June 18. Learn more at secca.org.
Stacy Lynn Waddell has made gold leaf a mainstay of her artistic practice, turning to the medium time and again in works that explore American history as it relates specifically to her identity as a Black woman living in the South. From seascapes of ships carrying cotton to a portrait of acclaimed author Octavia Butler, Waddell has deployed the precious metal and used its luminous surface to connote honor and worthiness. In 2021, she began a series of works based on 17th Century Dutch flower paintings, works of art that symbolically captured the wealth and abundance of the region’s so-called “Golden Age.”
These still lifes reflected the urbanization of Dutch and Flemish society and an increasing emphasis — among those of means — on commerce, trade, learning and domestic material possessions. Floral paintings were particularly popular and touched on all these areas of interest. Arrangements frequently depicted blooms from multiple geographic locations that would have flowered in different seasons. Impossible to assemble in real life, they were imaginatively combined based on specimens from carefully tended gardens and studiously amassed libraries of botanical books and prints. Those gardens and books, and the vast realm of imported goods of which they were a part, were a direct result of the expanding Dutch trade. The country’s global colonies brought great benefits, but relied on the exploitation of both human and natural resources.
Waddell translates the historical images’ intense variety of colors and array of implied textures into a monochrome field of gold and a singular, physical presence of line. She first covers her paper with acrylic medium, then uses more of this base material to create her images in relief — a process known as pastiglia. Relying on line rather than color, she leaves the blooms looking like dried rather than fresh flowers — a shift that suggests contemporary concerns with ecological fragility in the face of a warming planet. She then gilds the image so that the reflective layer of gold leaf makes the blooms even more difficult to see. These artworks demand viewers’ time, patience, and physical shifts to capture their totality from multiple points of view. When talking about them, she returns frequently to the gold leaf, noting not just its associations with wealth and power, but also its role as a symbol of desire, which is always twofold: desire, if pursued blindly, can lead to actions that hurt others or the world, but desire can also, as Waddell puts it, “create the capacity to change circumstances for the better.”
Gilded: Contemporary Artists Explore Value and Worth is on view at the Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNCG through April 8.
BY CAROLYN DE BERRY
Afternoon train watchers.
by Matt Jones
LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:
Across
1. Cacique garment
4. Finnish Olympic runner Nurmi
9. “Be on the lookout” alerts, for short
13. Slipshod
14. “Gimme a sec”
15. Karate stroke
16. Annual fashion-based New York fundraiser
18. Ancient harplike instrument
19. Shadowy locale?
20. “Under the Sign of Saturn” writer Sontag
21. He helps reveal RSTLN and E
24. Foe
26. Cousin that may appear in future seasons of “Wednesday”
27. Muscat denizens
29. Holding accompaniment
31. Jan. 6 Committee vice chair Cheney
32. One who’s in the hole
35. Initialism of urgency
38. Granular pasta
40. Bay of Naples isle
41. Pre-verbal Jodie Foster character
42. Coffeehouse connection
43. Like “Cocaine Bear”
45. Org. that 2K Sports creates games for
46. Sore subject?
48. Make rise, as bread
50. Rental hauler
52. 2600 maker
55. “It’s coming to me now”
56. Open-eyed
58. Beagle, e.g.
60. “Legal” attachment
61. Japanese-manufactured photography equipment, perhaps
65. Vizquel of baseball
66. Timeworn truisms
67. Sawmill input
68. Job for an actor
69. Resort lake near Reno
70. Entry price Down
1. Three-layer sandwich
2. Retro shout of support
3. It may get thrown at trendy pubs
4. Cat food form
5. It might be obtuse
6. “Encore!”
7. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (conveniently created by She-Who-MustNot-Be-Mentioned)
8. Out ___ limb
9. Org. that fights voter suppression
10. Scoffing term used to criticize research of “softer sciences” (such as with the Nobel Prize in Economics)
11. Sacha Baron Cohen journalist
12. Burnt out
14. Millennial’s call to a Gen Z-er, maybe (which makes me feel ancient by now)
17. Math average
20. ___ admin
21. “How could you stoop ___?”
22. Late poet Baraka
23. Traditional New Orleans procession with band accompaniment
25. Toni Collette title character
28. Hush-hush
30. Actor McDiarmid
33. Heart song with that guitar hook
34. Gulf Coast airport luggage code
36. “Seascape” Pulitzer-winning
playwright Edward
37. Maps out
39. Dashboard gauge
44. “Strawberry Wine” singer Carter and crooner’s daughter Martin, for two
47. Pet it’d make sense to call something like “Sir Meowington”
49. “May I interrupt?”
50. Smoke, fog, or mist
51. “King of the Hill” beer brand
53. Princess Jasmine’s tiger
54. “The Princess Bride” character Montoya
57. It’s not not unusual
59. Slurpee alternative
61. Polyunsaturated stuff
62. North Pole toymaker
63. Fish eggs
64. Mellow
“Them Apples”-- if I had four apples and you took one...© 2023 Matt Jones © 2022 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)
Dr. Sellars Educate was founded in 2021 by Dr. Bridgett Sellars, a Registered Nurse for more than 27 years with a passion for teaching others how to be excellent nurses and teachers. The mission of Dr. Sellars Educate is to provide Nursing Faculty with Professional Development Programs that will enrich and advance their educator skills, and help them achieve Certification as a Nurse Educator.
We are in dire need of more good nurses, and Nursing Faculty are a key contributor to fixing the nursing shortage. With an expected one-third of the current Nurse Faculty workforce expected to retire by 2025, there is a critical need to develop and retain Nursing Faculty.
Dr. Sellars Educate promotes nurse educator excellence through evidencebased teaching practices, and currently supports more than 5,000 Nurse Educators on their journey to achieve excellence in their role, and to achieve certification by the National League for Nursing. They provide development sessions for small and large groups of Nursing Faculty, as well as one-on-one private coaching. Dr. Sellars Educate can be reached at info@drsellarseducate. com and programs are listed on their website www.drsellarseducate.com 415 Pisgah Church Road #107, Greensboro | 336.543.0332
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The travel-bug got me when I was in High School, I planned a group travel to Japan from my school and it was a huge success. I loved every aspect about excecuting and planning for a trip. I treat your vacation like my own.
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