TCB Feb. 22, 2017 — Birth of a Union

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point February 22 – 28, 2017

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Birth of a union UNCG professor’s documentary traces the 16-year unionization of the Smithfield’s Tar Heel hog plant.

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Islamophobia PAGE 6 Beers for pets PAGE 17 Not your Negro PAGE 19

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February 22 – 28, 2017

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK I’m pulling my usual Monday evening shift at Dusty’s coffeeshop, knocking out the last of my writing for the week and keeping

by Brian Clarey up my end of the editing loop. I’ve found that a double Americano or two suffices as fuel for my weekly column, which since the dawn of Triad City Beat has hovered at around 400 words.

I pulled the cover story this week — checkitout on page 12 — and so I spent Sunday in the office with Jordan Green, each of us making sentences at his own pace, with varying degrees of success.

On a day like that, knocking out copy and sipping on coffee with Jordan Green at my side and my editorial and sales staff out on the streets making it happen, it’s an easy thing to convince myself that it’s always been like this.

And in some ways, it has.

But really, it’s only been three years — exactly three, this week — since Green, Eric Ginsburg, Allen Broach and I set out to make the best freakin’ weekly newspaper the Triad has ever seen. Many have joined us in this journey, with serious

gratitude going out to Jorge Maturino and Dick Gray, who for some reason have stuck around, even though I know they both suspect I am insane.

For me, the time at TCB has been measured in weekly editorial manifests and distribution routes, payrolls met and missed, new skills and habits with an eye towards the ultimate goal, turbocharged by the exhilaration of creating something out of thin air and enticing it finally, slowly, draw breath.

It’s fitting, I think, that on the occasion of our third anniversary we break a huge story. Green’s piece on local troublemakers got picked up by both the N&R and the Journal, as well as WFDD, the Charlotte Observer, littlegreenfootballs.com, a few Reddit threads and some others described in our inbound-link stats. He’s on page 6 this week.

The yahoos who met in Kernersville now have a federal investigation on their hands, which is as good a reminder as any of this true thing: If a publication like ours does not have an effect on the world around it, then it might as well not even exist.

I believed when we started that there was a real need for TCB in the cities of the Triad. Exactly 157 issues later, I still believe.

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Three years in…

# DT WS

DOWNTOWN

restaurant week F E B R U A R Y

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

This is not a human job. This is like an animal’s job.

– Smithfield plant worker Ronnie Simmons, speaking about job conditions before the union, from the film Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights, in this week’s cover story beginning on page 12.

# DT WS

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey

ART ART DIRECTOR Jorge Maturino

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach

SALES DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Dick Gray

brian@triad-city-beat.com allen@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Eric Ginsburg

jorge@triad-city-beat.com

dick@triad-city-beat.com

SALES EXECUTIVE Cheryl Green cheryl@triad-city-beat.com

eric@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn de Berry Kat Bodrie Spencer KM Brown

Jelisa Castrodale Stallone Frazier Matt Jones

Cover illustration by Alexis Rodriguez

SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green jordan@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL INTERN Joel Sronce intern@triad-city-beat.com

TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com

Whatever hunger craving you have, you can satisfy during Restaurant Week. Enjoy prix fixe meals at participating downtown restaurants. $20 - $30. Great food? Memorable evenings? Find it here. fo r

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February 22 – 28, 2017

CITY LIFE Feb. 22 – 28

by Joel Sronce

THURSDAY Arlo Guthrie @ Carolina Theatre (GSO), 8 p.m.

For the Running Down the Road tour, Guthrie hits the circuit with his band to showcase the best of his music from the ’60s and ’70s. The show promises to take the audience back to a remarkable era several decades ago. More info at carolinatheatre. com.

FRIDAY The hidden legacy of African-American craftsmen @ Frank L. Horton Center (W-S), 2 p.m.

Join Jane Sutton, the manager of museum interpretation at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, for a behind-the-scenes tour of objects crafted by free and enslaved African American craftsmen in the antebellum South.

More info at mesda.org.

Gate City Vineyard is a modern, Christian church that exists to serve the community around us. Our desire is to help people of all ages and backgrounds grow in their understanding of God. At the Vineyard you can come as you are and be yourself.

Whatever your thoughts about church, whatever your beliefs about God … you are welcome here.

Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights @ Bennett College (GSO), 7 p.m.

This documentary screening tells the story of the successful fight to organize a union at a Smithfield Foods slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, NC. Matthew Barr, professor in the department of media studies at UNCG, spent nine years making the film, which Danny Glover narrates. More info at bennett.edu. See this week’s cover story, “Birth of a union,” beginning on page 12, for more.

Batman roast @ Idiot Box (GSO), 10 p.m.

The citizens of Gotham and a few special guests roast Batman at a show sponsored by Acme Comics. Door prizes are included. More info on the Facebook event page.

SATURDAY I Am Not Your Negro @ Aperture Cinema (W-S), 1 p.m.

Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro presents the life of James Baldwin through his own words. The screening of the film is followed by a discussion of the James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time. More info on the Facebook event page. (Read a review of the film on page 19.)

Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 @ High Point Theatre, 8 p.m.

Two acclaimed, award-winning pop vocal groups combine forces for the first time. The all-ages show includes jazz, swing, gospel and R&B. Each group performs a set, followed by a duet. More info at highpointtheatre.com.

TUESDAY

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336.323.1288 204 S. Westgate Dr., Greensboro

Mardi Gras celebration @ the Regional Visitors Center (HP), 5 p.m.

Participants gather to celebrate Mardi Gras and can tour the Regional Visitors Center while engaging in a scavenger hunt.

Network opportunities as well as complimentary refreshments including beer and wine provided by the Brewer’s Kettle, light snacks from PepperMill Café, and local band EyeCon, playing soft rock music. More info at highpoint.org.

by Jordan Green

News Opinion Cover Story Culture

— no federal funds?”

Bill Maher seemed to be on the verge of legitimizing Yiannopoulos with a slot on his show on Feb. 18. Attempting flattery as tack to rein in Yiannopoulos’ insults against the show’s other guests, Maher said, “You remind me of a young, gay, alive Christopher Hitchens.” He reminds me a lot more of Michael Alig, the enfant terrible party promoter in the 1990s New York City club scene who eventually murdered a fellow party kid and drug dealer.

When Yiannopoulos insisted that transgenderism is a psychiatric disorder and tried to brush aside comedian Larry Wilmore’s reasoned arguments to the contrary, Wilmore finally let him have it, saying, “You can go f*** yourself, all right?”

Only three days after Yiannopoulos argued on Maher’s show that women and children need to be protected from trans women, amid outrage over recordings of the media provocateur seeming to endorse pedophilia, Simon & Schuster yanked plans to release Yiannopoulos’ book. And by Tuesday afternoon, Breitbart had forced out its conservative flamethrower.

Ain’t karma sweet!

Up Front

In Trump’s America, Triad City Beat Editor-in-Chief Brian Clarey and others have observed, the news cycle has accelerated into overdrive. By the same law of physics, careers seem be soaring and imploding in the blink of an eye.

It’s safe to say that outside of the alt-right, if most people knew anything about media provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, it’s probably that he was banned from Twitter for participating in a vile campaign of harassment against Ghostbusters star and “Saturday Night Live” cast member Leslie Jones.

But the Breitbart News senior editor suddenly became someone people paid attention to when Donald Trump took office and the chairman of the right-wing propaganda site was appointed chief strategist to the president. If anything made Yiannopoulos famous, it was the University of Berkeley canceling his appearance on campus as protesters reportedly set fires, tore down barricades and destroyed a construction site. The president himself gave Yiannopoulos the seal of approval, tweeting, “If UC Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view

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Milo Yiannopoulos

Sportsball

Flat Earth truthers

by Joel Sronce

Triaditude Adjustment

societal conditioning. Right?

I’m not sure what Irving’s up to. Is he being a joker?

Stirring up the sports media into an anxious confusion?

Daring them to question an athlete of color? Is he actually suspicious? Radically suspicious? A conspiracy theorist? Or is he beginning to start a greater conversation about what we’re taught in schools? Is he exposing the stupidity of global warming deniers? Of Betsy DeVos? Or fake news? Or alternative facts?

As likely as anything else, it wasn’t intentional at all.

Whatever the case, I did enjoy seeing reporters squirm and debate uncomfortably. I’m sure the players did, too.

Besides, as an NBA’s all-star, capable of inhuman feats with a basketball, he’s certainly more familiar with spherical principles than the rest of us.

Shot in the Triad

Green extended Irving’s skepticism: “I can make a round picture with my iPhone today, on the panoramic camera, and make it look round.”

Even the NBA commissioner Adam Silver chimed in.

“Kyrie and I went to the same college,” he said, referring to Duke.

“He may have taken some different courses than I did,” he added.

When confronted by reporters, Kyrie elaborated, suppressing a smile: “I think it’s interesting for people to find out on their own. I’ve seen a lot of things that my educational system said was real and turned out to be completely fake. I don’t mind going against the grain in terms of my thoughts and what I believe.”

Aha! Now it makes sense, right? Social commentary.

It was all a grand scheme to start a conversation on

Crossword

Heading into the NBA’s All-Star weekend, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard and former injured Duke star Kyrie Irving made some (#extra) news.

On a podcast with teammates Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson, Irving emphatically stated, “This is not even a conspiracy theory. The Earth is flat.”

Right on cue, his statement led to a media firestorm.

Reddit exposed him quickly. Soon Irving was trending on Twitter. And then the suspicious news headlines started rolling out. (A personal favorite, the Washington Post’s “Kyrie Irving believes the Earth is flat. It is not.”)

Irving’s teammate LeBron James and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green both came to his aid, big grins on their faces.

“If he decides he wants to say the Earth is flat, then so be it,” James told a reporter.

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February 22 – 28, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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NEWS

Local activists prepare for violent confrontation with Muslims

by Jordan Green

A Winston-Salem man says he’s ready to kill Muslims during a meeting of conservative activists in Kernersville in which local mosques are characterized as “recruitment centers for jihad” and a Muslim congressman with local ties is impugned as a sinister agent of radical Islam.

A consortium of tea partiers, patriot groups and other conservative activists gathered in a private dining room at a seafood restaurant in Kernersville on Feb. 16 for a presentation on a supposed Muslim plot to conquer the United States.

The 20 or so people who attended the meeting at Captain Tom’s Seafood needed little convincing from presenter Tom Jones, who soldiered through frequent interruptions about supposed Muslim treachery paired with testimonials about preparedness for violent confrontation and even expressions of readiness to kill Muslims.

“Do you have any recommendations as to how we could stop this?” asked Frank del Valle, a Cuban immigrant and staunch anticommunist who lives in Winston-Salem, near the end of the hour-long presentation. “Because my only recommendation is to start killing the hell out them.”

Del Valle’s outburst spurred a variety of responses from the group.

One man, who did not identify himself, said, “I want to start doing something instead of talking about it all the time.” He added, “I’m in a group. I’m not going to tell you what group I’m in.”

Robert Goodwill, who identified himself as a member of the group Act for America — described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “the largest grassroots anti-Muslim group in America” — counseled patience, noting Donald Trump’s election as a promising sign.

“There’s a huge pushback coming,” Goodwill argued. “Political correctness is being thrown away. A lot of people are meeting like this. We’re making progress in the positive direction.”

“I am beyond that point,” del Valle replied. “I’m ready to start taking people out.”

Tom Jones (left) gave a presentation on radical Islam that prompted an outburst from one guest about killing Muslims.

“I can understand that,” Goodwill said. “But we’re not there yet.”

Revelations about del Valle’s statements, first published online by Triad City Beat on Feb. 18, sent shockwaves through the Muslim community in North Carolina.

“The community is completely traumatized,” said Abdullah Antepli, the Muslim chaplain at Duke University.

“When they hear someone talk about killing Muslims, they know that could happen to any of their loved ones.

When they hear about that meeting it just brings up the maximum level of fear.”

Antepli said Muslims in North Carolina are talking about looking for employment in other states so they can move to areas like the Northeast that are perceived as more hospitable.

Antepli planned to meet with members of the Muslim community in the Triangle on Sunday evening.

“I don’t know what I will tell them,” he said. “I don’t know what the comforting message is. This needs to be taken absolutely seriously. The response from law enforcement has been very disappointing, to say the least.”

In response to the violent talk, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent US civil liberties and advocacy organization, requested a federal and state investigation.

JORDAN GREEN

“Calls to violence against members of any minority group warrant a criminal investigation by state law enforcement authorities and the FBI,” National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said. “We call on President Trump to repudiate the growing bigotry in our nation targeting Muslims, Hispanics, refugees and other minority groups.”

The FBI responded, “We are working with our local law enforcement partners to determine if a federal violation involving threats of violence that is not speech protected under the First Amendment has occurred. The safety and security of our citizens is a priority for the FBI and we have been in touch with local community leaders to assure them we take potential threats of violence very seriously.”

A percussionist, del Valle is a founding member of West End Mambo, a renowned Latin jazz and dance group based in Winston-Salem, but is no longer listed as an official member of the group.

Del Valle’s conservative views and irascible nature are well known among the musicians, artists and restaurateurs who make up the tightknit community of downtown Winston-Salem. In late January, del Valle was blocked from a local reporter’s Facebook page after telling another commenter: “I didn’t insult

you or call you names, and so help me, if you continue with your stupidity and insults I will track you down and beat the f***ing s*** out of you.”

Frank del Valle is the father of Pablo del Valle an artisanal baker and longtime fixture on Winston-Salem’s Trade Street.

Frank Del Valle’s comments at the Kernersville meeting about “killing the hell” out of Muslims were preceded by a warning from Jones about that the true danger to the United States is not necessarily al-Qaida, ISIS and other outwardly extremist groups that carry out spectacular acts of violence and garner widespread media coverage.

People should be more concerned about Muslims who appear to be moderate and integrated into American society, he suggested.

The focus of his presentation centered on the Muslim Brotherhood, a culturally conservative organization founded in Egypt in 1928 that has established branches throughout the Middle East and North Africa, with members also emigrating to Europe and the United States. One of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood’s international organization, known as the Tanzeem, an Egyptian named Youssef Nada, established a bank that was accused of financing al-Qaida by the US Treasury.

The focal point of suspicion against the organization is the discovery during a 2001 police raid in Switzerland of a 1982 document known as “The Project,” which was the subject of 2012 documentary by the same name produced by conservative media personality Glenn Beck.

“Some commentators have portrayed this document as evidence of the Brotherhood’s sinister project to take over the Western world,” Alison Pargeter, an expert in North Africa and the Middle East, wrote in her book The Muslim Brotherhood: The Burden of Tradition.

The 12 points in the document include the pledges: “To use diverse and varied surveillance systems, in several places, to gather information and adopt a single effective warning system serving the worldwide Islamic movement,” and

Waughtown Street in Winston-Salem, referencing the Community Mosque of Winston-Salem.

“There’s mosques being built all over the place,” Jones said, attempting to get the presentation back on track. “We’ve got to keep our eye on them.”

Jones repeatedly chided the audience to get serious.

“I don’t know how you say ‘deep doodoo’ in Arabic, but we’re in it,” Jones concluded. “We’re in deep doo-doo, ya’ll. This is serious stuff. This is not games. These people do not play.”

Up Front

(336) 723-7239

breakfastofcourse.com

News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

former North Carolina field director for the Koch brothers-backed Americans For Prosperity. “All those women who showed up in DC who appear to be mainstream and supported her, raved about how she’s so great don’t realize that she’s the same one who agrees with sharia law and will be person who stands beside ’em and also the same person who slices their neck,” Watkins said.

Watkins went on to suggest that US Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of US Congress who is a candidate to lead the Democratic National Committee, is part of a sinister effort to Islamize the United States.

“He is trying to assimilate others to the culture,” Watkins said. “That’s what Keith Ellison is doing. That’s why he didn’t take an Arabic name.”

Michael Owens, a former Republican candidate for Winston-Salem City Council, chimed in: “Just as an aside, Keith Ellison’s brother is the chair of the Forsyth County Democratic Party.”

“Wow!” another man exclaimed. “Are you serious?”

“It’s here,” Jones said. “It’s in this town.”

Eric Ellison, the local Democratic Party chair, said he wasn’t surprised to learn there was a group in the local area that was so violently opposed to Islam.

“It’s a little bit scary that they speak of violence and committing murder in open forums,” he said. “I guess we realize that terrorists come in all forms and fashions.”

During his presentation at the seafood restaurant, Tom Jones made assertions about “training centers” operated by the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States since the early 1980s digressed into an open discussion about mosques in Winston-Salem and the surrounding area, including Annoor Islamic Center in Clemmons.

“They’re already operating a madrassah there,” Jones said. “That all happened under the radar. The way I understand that that mosque happened is they had an American guy, a white guy buy that property. It was supposed to be a church. Guess what? He sold it to some Muslims to build a mosque there. Now they’re operating a madrassah.”

Another guest, who is unidentified, noted that there is a mosque on

triad-city-beat.com

“To reconcile international engagement with flexibility at the local level.”

Pargeter wrote, “In spite of the allegations, this document is a fairly mundane wish list and would appear to be largely an expression of intent that reflects the ambitions and optimism of the time.”

The author told Triad City Beat in an email: “For my part, this document has been completely overblown and the idea that the [Muslim Brotherhood] has some sort of plan to Islamicize and take over the West is ridiculous in the extreme.”

Reading from notes on a yellow legal pad in the dining hall at Captain Tom’s, Tom Jones outlined a set of charges that wove mundane day-to-day happenstance with unsubstantiated claims about Muslim subversion of the American court system.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is behind all that terrorism and violent acts, but they’re also here operating in America in a very stealthy mode,” he said.

“They’ve infiltrated the judiciary. They have judges that are elected to the bench. These judges are expected to make rulings from the bench here in America according to sharia law even though it’s not a sharia court. If you’ve got a Muslim judge he’s required to try you under sharia law. These people are in high positions of influence often behind the scenes in government, academia, medicine, the media. How many of you have been to a hospital and seen the doctors that are running around in the hospital?”

“Yeah,” one of the guests at Captain Tom’s Seafood replied. “They’re not American.”

“These people start Islamic organizations,” Jones continued. “They build mosques. They build Islamic schools.

They work with the progressive left in this country to advance their own agenda. And the progressive left like Obama and Hillary Clinton and that ilk, they’re all tied into this Brotherhood stuff. The Brotherhood helps them and they help the Brotherhood.”

Midway through his talk about so-called “cultural jihad” or “stealth jihad,” Jones was interrupted by a cascade of commentary from the group.

“I don’t know if everyone knows this, but the person who organized the Women’s March is Muslim — believes in sharia law,” said Robert Watkins, a

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February 22 – 28, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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Immigrants in Greensboro: ‘Listen up, Trump, we’re in the struggle’

by Jordan Green

Latinx immigrants skipped work, kept their children out of school and refrained from spending money while holding an impromptu march in Greensboro to observe a national “Day Without Immigrants” to protest President Trump’s deportation orders.

Chanting Trump escucha, estamos en la lucha — “Listen up, Trump, we’re in the struggle” — about 100 Latino immigrants marched from the Central Carolina Worker Justice Center to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in downtown Greensboro to observe the Day Without Immigrants.

Immigrants stayed home from work and kept their kids out of school while numerous businesses closed across Greensboro, Winston-Salem and other parts of the Triad as part of the nationwide action on Feb. 16 to protest President Trump’s immigration orders.

Immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador carried signs reading, “We are immigrants, not criminals,” “I’m a proud daughter of an immigrant — no more separations,” and “Immigrants make America great” while marching through downtown Greensboro. They chanted in Spanish and English, “The people united will never be divided,” “No ban, no registry, stop white supremacy” and “Si se puede.”

Fernando Jimenez, an undocumented student at Guilford College, was one of the speakers at the civil rights museum.

“I am here to show President Donald Trump that the Latinx community will stand united because unity creates strength,” he said.

At one point, the protesters chanted in English: “Hey, let’s be clear, immigrants are welcome here,” with two variations, substituting the words “refugees” and “Muslims” for “immigrants.”

Immediately afterwards, they chanted, “Black lives matter.”

Marching back from the museum, Andrew Willis Garcés, a community organizer who works with undocumented high school students, remarked on a Facebook Live stream: “Not bad. I put this on Facebook two days ago.”

Several businesses that employ immigrants workers, including the grocery chain Compare Foods, closed to honor

Latinx immigrants rallied in front of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in downtown Greensboro.

the work stoppage. Other businesses closed included both San Luis restaurants in Greensboro, Villa Del Mar, Zapateria El Potro, La Deliciosa Michoacan and Mundo Soccer Sports.

A sign posted in the door of San Luis announced that the restaurant was closed as “a protest against an unfair attack on our people.” The sign urged immigrants not to open their businesses, not to go to work, not to spend money and not to send their children to school.

While quoting the Emma Lazarus poem, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free,” posted at the Statue of Liberty, the sign concluded, “America was created as a destination for people who want more out of life. America was built by the immigrants of Europe running from an unjust king and unjust religion that killed its people! America has forgotten its roots but today we will march for the right to live in a nation that is made ‘stronger together.’”

Nora Murray, a spokesperson for Guilford County Schools, said absenteeism jumped by about 2,000 students across the district — a change likely attributable to observation of the “Day Without Immigrants.” Murray said the district leadership has instructed teachers to mark the absences as unexcused.

“Our board passed a resolution where we support our understanding of what’s happening, and we care deeply about what’s happening,” Murray said. “We

JORDAN GREEN

want them to know they are welcome in our schools. We want them in our schools so we can them with a good education.”

Underscoring the district’s desire to reassure immigrant children that they are valued, Superintendent Sharon Contreras said, “When we (as educators) look at children in their classrooms, what we see are future scientists, doctors, lawyers and teachers. We see children full of potential, and we cannot begin to imagine why anyone would want to deny them the promise of hope and a future.”

Murray confirmed that the confidentiality of information about individual students’ attendance is protected under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and indicated she is aware of a concern among some advocates about the potential of sensitive information to be inadvertently shared with immigration authorities.

“Our schools and principals are receiving guidance,” she said. “We’re making sure that principals and schools understand students’ rights and schools’ obligations, and we’re working to provide resources for families so they can understand their rights.”

Elizabeth Acevedo, a middle school librarian who works in the Alamance-Burlington School System, left work around 11 a.m. on Feb. 16 to demonstrate solidarity with the immigrant students at her school. While

the principal and staff at her school are supportive of her action, Acevedo asked that the name of the school not be disclosed because of concern about repercussions from county-level administration considering how divided the population of Alamance County is over the issue of immigration.

Before leaving school, Acevedo posted a sign on the door reading: “Library closed: No human being is illegal.”

Acevedo said Latinx and black students each make up about 45 percent of the population of the Title I school where she works. She said some of the immigrant students, who she works with after school, have told her they are worried about their safety.

“I went to school today, thinking it was important to serve the other students,” said Acevedo, who is Puerto Rican and was born in New Jersey. “I realized what I really need to do is go home and show support for my immigrant students. I did do some translation work this morning.”

She said she doesn’t anticipate any adverse reaction from her principal.

“I think there is a lot of support from the school because of how ingrained the students’ lives are with us,” said Acevedo, who lives in Greensboro. “I chose this school because I had something to share with them, because I had something unique and they could relate to me.”

Erika Hernandez and her family, who live in Winston-Salem, observed the Day Without Immigrants by staying out of work, keeping their children out of school and not spending any money.

“For my immediate family, there’s no concern,” Hernandez said. “For our fellow Hispanic immigrants, I think it’s sad [the administration is] dividing families, and they want to divide families.”

Her husband, Jose, wasn’t scheduled to work anyway, but Erika stayed home from her job at the North Carolina Eye Bank.

“I didn’t go,” she said. “They have to deal with it, right?”

Hernandez said she and her husband explained to their children why they were keeping them out of school.

“We think unity is important,” she said. “It’s one step forward.”

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February 22 – 28, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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OPINION

EDITORIAL

Twisting in the wind What’s most remarkable about Jordan Green’s story about local citizens casually discussing the murder of Muslims and sacking of mosques in Forsyth County (“Local conservative activists prepare for violent confrontation with Muslims” on page 6) is not the appalling nature of the symposium: a low-information, fear-laced fantasy besmirching all 3.3 million US citizens who practice Islam. And it’s not in the lack of reaction among those gathered in the party room at Captain Tom’s Seafood Restaurant in Kernersville. Short version: When Frank Del Valle said: “[M]y only recommendation is to start killing the hell out them,” nobody flinched.

No, what’s most remarkable are the contortions that people — mostly from the right side of the political aisle — have been going through to either discredit or downplay this story, which has rippled across all 50 states since it broke over the weekend and out into the world. To put it into perspective, 205 people in Malaysia read Green’s story.

In this age of fake news, our editorial team anticipated strong pushback from those who would not or could not believe the report. So Green made it clear to the people at Captain Tom’s that he was a reporter before he began taking notes. Twice, actually. And he recorded the entire meeting so that when people either denied what they said or claimed their quotes were taken out of context, we would have an unimpeachable record. For transparency’s sake, we posted the complete audio with the article at triad-city-beat.com.

And the writing approach was completely agnostic, relying only on the words of the people at the event, with some fact-checking to give the meeting an underpinning in reality.

Still, on our website and social-media comment threads the initial tactic against this piece was the familiar cry of, “Fake news!” Pointing out the audio recording and transcript of the event did not dissuade everyone.

Personal attacks against Green’s professionalism and character came next; anyone who knows Green or his work can vouch for the lack of merit in these charges.

Eventually, most of our critics landed, ironically, on the First Amendment, which does indeed protect the speech of every American citizen, including those who sit in seafood restaurants talking about killing Muslims.

But these people — who, by the way, chose to learn about the Islamic faith not by visiting a mosque and asking questions, not by finding out more about the Koran and its message, not even by checking Wikipedia, but by going to this ridiculous class in a Calabash joint — will not be protected from the consequences of this speech.

In this case, that looks like a federal investigation.

CITIZEN GREEN

Sen. Richard Burr: Patriot or partisan?

by Jordan Green

If the legislative branch produces any heroes in the effort to uncover the truth about President Trump’s possible collusion with Russia in undermining the US election and assisting a foreign adversary, they will likely not be progressive icons like Sens. Elizabeth Warren or Bernie

Sanders.

No, it’s members of Trump’s own party, who hold control of Congress, who have the opportunity to answer the call of history, including influential and independent lawmakers like Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), or maybe FBI Director James Comey.

But most political observers see the Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, as the primary driver of an investigation into the matter. How Burr handles this monumental responsibility will ultimately determine whether history judges him to be a patriot or a partisan.

Burr has been keeping a low profile lately, and like many of his GOP colleagues has decided to duck public appearances during the Congressional break. In addition to Burr’s key role in holding the president accountable, constituents are eager to talk to their senator about the fate of the Affordable Care Act. Over the weekend, as the Journal reported, someone chalked the parking lot behind Burr’s Winston-Salem office with the message: “Senator Burr, time to town-hall.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson declined an interview request from Triad City Beat, noting that Burr is “traveling this week in his intel committee capacity.”

Let’s review the extraordinary events of the previous week.

On Monday, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned, following revelations that he had misled Vice President Pence about the nature of a pre-inauguration phone call with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Pressure for Flynn’s resignation had been building in the wake of a report from the Washington Post that Flynn had talked to Kislyak about US sanctions with Russia, which, if true, would have violated the Logan Act, prohibiting interference in foreign diplomacy by non-governmental officials.

Only one day after Flynn’s resignation, on Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the Trump campaign had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence officials in the 12 months leading up to the election.

The following Friday, Burr and other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee met in a secure room for a three-hour discussion with FBI Director Comey. Senators leaving the meeting evaded questions about the details of the discussion, with Burr calling it “just a normal classified briefing,” according to The Hill. Then, Burr and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democratic member, sent out letters to federal agencies asking them

to preserve all materials that could potentially tie into the intelligence committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the election.

It remains unclear whether the investigation led by Burr will be narrowly focused on Russian malfeasance in the election or will also explore Trump’s possible collusion with Russia and the extent that it might rise to the level of treason.

Consider the timeline: • Flynn, who recently resigned as national security advisor, sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a dinner in Moscow in December 2015 to celebrate Russia Today’s 10th anniversary, according to a report published

by Mother Jones.

• Also in December 2015, then-candidate Trump declared that it was “a great honor” to be complimented

by Putin.

• Throughout the campaign, Trump said he would consider lifting sanctions against Moscow and recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, while warning that his commitment to defending the Baltic states against aggression from Russia would hinge on whether they met their financial commitments to NATO. • In July 2016, according to multiple sources, the Republican National Committee softened its stance toward Russia in the party platform prior to Trump’s nomination.

• Also in July 2016, Trump encouraged Russia to locate missing emails from Hillary Clinton’s State Department server and leak them to the press.

• In September 2016, Trump told NBC News’ Matt Lauer that Putin “has been a leader more than our president has been,” adding that he has “great control over his country.”

• In December 2016, President-elect Trump disparaged reports by US intelligence agencies unanimously finding that Russia interfered in the election by “intrusion” into the Democratic Party through hacking into senior party members’ email accounts and leaking damaging information to the press.

• In early January, only days before the inauguration, CNN and other outlets reported that Trump and then-President Obama received an intelligence briefing about a possible dossier compiled by Russian intelligence with embarrassing information that could potentially blackmail the new president.

The explosive revelations of the past two months are clearly the product of leaks from concerned members of the intelligence community.

Burr’s committee has received a total of nine intelligence briefing since the beginning of the year, and it’s a fair assessment that he already knows a good deal more than what has been published by the press.

Connect the dots, Sen. Burr.

Cover Story Culture Sportsball

As a resident of Kernersville this scares the hell out of me that these racist and xenophobic morons can get together in a public place and put out a call to violence?! And not one resident inside that restaurant called them out for it? Called the police? Nothing?

Mike Barnes, Kernersville

Opinion

I agree with doing away with political correctness!

But the imbeciles involved in the above meeting (and any who agree with these Islamophobes) have also chosen that simply being correct be damned! Nothing that they stated about Islam and/or Muslims is true and, based on their statements on said topic, they’re as ignorant as hell!

Deuce Prez, via triad-city-beat.com

News

Some innocent people, Muslim or otherwise, are going to get murdered because of s*** like this. And Trump just directed the FBI to worry less about white right-wing nutjob terror and more about “radical Islamic terror” even though the former is the predominant kind in this country.

Lex Alexander, Greensboro

Misusing Hannah Arendt I also enjoyed parts of your cover story that focused in on Why Trump? Why America? Why now? [“The first four weeks: Trump and the path to autocracy”;

by Jordan Green; Feb. 15, 2017] In other words the parts that hone in on trying understand our situation organically. While I am always excited when I see/hear people reading Hannah Arendt, I am of the opinion that your quotations from her Origins by and large do not work at all. You take them out of the historical context in which they were meant to be read and juxtapose them with events happening today, and then expect those quotes to be somehow transparent.

On occasion those juxtapositions offer up interesting resonances or correspondences that encourage the reader to pause and think. But most of them are simply superficially resonant, bypassing the hard work of thinking, which would have meant paraphrasing the original historical context, and then querying what similarities/differences may exist with today’s time/ place.

Take the quote on antisemitism. The Ashkenasi Jewish history Arendt references date back to the enlightenment, when Jews in Germany and France, for example, had come out of their religious ghettos and were fast becoming assimilated into growing secular societies. Over a number of generations, many Jews had only a peripheral connection to their Jewishness.

Yet they held an odd place in their respective mainstream societies, which Arendt speculates on in detail in the first volume of her Origins.

By contrast, Muslims are fairly recent immigrants to the US and by and large still identify with their

Up Front

These people are dangerous I’m sorry you had to write this piece, Jordan [“Local conservative activists prepare for violent confrontation with Islam”; by Jordan Green; Feb. 18, 2017] I’m also grateful you wrote it. You ventured into a hate-filled room and exposed the haters. That, my friend, is an act of courage. Thank you!

Lynn Byrd, Winston-Salem

religion. Their position in US society is also related to the “war on terror” as well as developments in countries with majority Muslim populations which further complicates and differentiates things. The superficial connection here is discrimination against a religious minority.

I think the better text to reference when it comes to understanding the tropes and prejudices used against Muslims and Arabs is Edward Said’s seminal book on Orientalism. While orientalism includes antisemitism, in his book Said hones in on the origins of the tropes of Arabs and Muslims in Western discourses. Finally, Arendt was an immigrant to the US who became a keen observer of the American political system... in other words, there is much else to read by her which would be more relevant to understanding the phenomenon of Trump. A great overview of this part of her work can be found in Richard King’s Arendt and America.

Her writing on the position of refugees between the two world wars is also probably relevant because she teaches that once you become a refugee and have no nation to which you belong, under whose rights you are protected, you become especially vulnerable to crimes against humanity. I believe there is a chapter or two in her Origins which addresses this situation.

Hannah Arendt, neither a liberal/progressive nor a conservative, was critical both of the left and the right.

There are a growing number of books looking closely at what has happened not only with the Democratic Party, but also with the left. I as a reader of your paper would like to see more commentary along those lines.

Danny Bayer’s articles are a good start but we need more of that from left/progressive leaning people who have different experiences, thus occupying different positions inside movements. You can’t change the times if you can’t reflect on what has happened in the past.

Audrey Berlowitz, Greensboro

triad-city-beat.com

I wanted to send you a quick note to say how much I appreciate you writing this disturbing article. It’s important to know that potentially violent Islamophobia is reaching deeper and deeper into American society.

I’m hoping the FBI reads Triad City Beat.

Mark Kenaston, Iowa City, Iowa

Crossword Shot in the Triad

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11

February 22 – 28, 2017

Birth of a union: The long game UNCG professor’s documentary traces the 16-year unionization of the Smithfield’s Tar Heel hog plant.

Smithfield is granted authority by Bladen County to form its own private police force, armed and with weapons and arrest power.

The UFCW takes its case to the National Labor Relations Board citing unfair labor practices and an unfair election. The NLRB sustains the charges and moves them on to an administrative law judge. The judge finds multiple examples of worker abuse. Smithfield moves the case into a lengthy appeals process.

2003

After complaints about working conditions including injuries, low pay and abuse from management, the United Food and Commercial Workers hold a union vote and lost.

2000

Another UFCW vote is arranged and once again the workers vote against the union. The election was marked by violence and arrests, Bladen County sheriff’s officers in riot gear and a power outage during the counting of the votes.

1998

1997

1993

Smithfield Foods opens the world’s largest slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, NC, capable of harvesting up to 32,000 hogs a day and employing more than 5,000 people.

1994

12

SMITHFIELD FOODS TIMELINE

It was 2007, and the UNCG film professor had just finished playing out his latest documentary: Wild Caught: The Life and Struggles

2004

It’s safe to say Mathew Barr did not know what he was getting into.

of an American Fishing Town, a story of four fishing families in and around Sneads Ferry, on the North Carolina coast. Battered by waves of industrialization, regulation, pollution and time, these fishing families faced extinction not just of their businesses, but a culture and a way of life.

The film had done well on the worldwide festival circuit, with a local screening at RiverRun in 2007, and

had became the cornerstone for a larger concept: the American Voices Project, which would seek to document the struggles of working people against the forces of modernity.

He had started work on another piece, With These Hands: The Story of an American Furniture Company, which eventually chronicled the last days of a furniture factory in Martinsville, Va. after 80 years of operation. In talking to labor organizers for that story, Teamsters Local 391 President Jack Cipriani tipped Barr off to the situation at the Smithfield hog-processing plant in Tar Heel, NC, which at that time was 12 years into its storyline.

“Our intent was to do the film

The UFCW sets up shop at the factory, recruiting members in the parking lots and cafeteria.

2005

Cover Story

by Brian Clarey

Human Rights Wat Fear: Workers’ Righ the union aligns wit like the state NAAC and Jobs 4 Justice.

Teeter grocery stor spokesperson Paula

In November, 25-year-old Glenn Birdsong, a worker at the plant, dies after falling into a vat filled with chemicals and pig mucus. Because Birdsong had not received any training or safety equipment before tending to the vat, Smithfield is fined $4,323 by the US Division of Occupational Safety and Health, for which the company eventually received a 35 percent discount.

Nelson Johnson deepened that certainty.

The connection between civil rights and workers’ rights, he knew, could forge a

In May, the US Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia makes a final ruling in the 1998 NLRB case: that Smithfield workers must hold another union vote, and that management must not use tactics of intimidation and fear. The company is fined $1.25 million and forced to hire back everyone who had been fired for union activity, with back pay.

The Smithfield chapter of the UFCW is founded in July.

In February, Smithfield files a lawsuit against the UFCW using racketeering law, or RICO, claiming that they were conspiring with workers to deprive the company of business. The lawsuit is settled in October. In between, Barack Obama is elected president, and the plight of Smithfield workers becomes an issue on the campaign trail. In December, workers from the Smithfield plant in Tar Heel vote to unionize.

2016

The Smithfield police force asks Latinx workers for their legal documents.

More than 1,000 of them walk off the job in a wildcat strike. Six weeks later, the company police force arrests 20 workers and hands them over to Immigration and Customs enforcement for deportation. In August, 700 workers take over a company shareholders meeting in Colonial Williamsburg demanding that management meets with the union. This is when filmmaker Matthew Barr begins gathering footage for Union Time.

COURTESY IMAGE

An iIllustration by Alexis Rodriguez (UNCG Class of 2016) depicts armed police at the Smithfield hog-processing pland in Tar Heel, NC the day of the second union election in 1997.

2009

organizers from the state NAACP, Jobs 4 Justice and Greensboro’s Beloved Community Center, intended to disrupt a Smithfield shareholders meeting. When he saw another documentary crew on the scene making what would turn out to be Food, Inc. — with, he says, much better equipment — he suspected he might be onto something. His encounters with the Rev. William Barber of the NC NAACP and the Rev.

2008

2006

tch issues a report: Blood, Sweat, and hts in US Meat & Poultry Plants. And th North Carolina civil rights groups CP, the Beloved Community Center . Demonstrations, like one at Harris res and a campaign against Smithfield a Deen, add weight to the issue.

2007

about union organizers,” he says from his office in UNCG’s Brown Building, a corner spot at the end of a labyrinthine hall. “These guys…. The money is bad.

They get sent into towns like Lumberton to try to get a union going. It’s sort of exciting — like Norma Rae, one of my favorites, you know, you get in there, try to bring people together. And there’s so much hostility to unions down here.

From workers, even!

“It’s like a mission,” he continues.

“Like being a minister. They come out of the plants themselves; they become stewards and then organizers.

“They are relentless.”

So he grabbed his rig and hitched a ride on the bus to Colonial Williamsburg, where 700 workers from the Smithfield Tar Heel plant, along with

triad-city-beat.com

e in Smithfield

Matthew Barr completes Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights.

13

February 22 – 28, 2017 Cover Story Workers at the Smithfield hog-processing plant endured a 16-year fight to become unionized, encountering strong pushback that included lawsuits, unfair labor COURTESY IMAGE practices and a private, Pinkerton-like police force that quashed enthusiasm for the movement.

powerful coalition, as it did in the protests leading up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And he began to see how the Smithfield story could be fleshed out as a feature.

Meanwhile, he had to jockey for space on the bus with the Food, Inc. crew.

“I had to fight my way in to make this film,” he likes to say, “and I had to fight my way out.”

The result, Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights, is finally ready to be seen.

14

By the time Barr checked in, the saga of the Smithfield plant at Tar Heel had been plodding along for almost 13 years. Opened in 1993 as the largest slaughterhouse and processing plant in the world in the flats between Wilmington and Fayetteville, one of the poorest parts of the state.

A large operation like that commits myriad offenses, including animal cruelty, environmental damage, and health issues associated with the products of factory farming.

But more than anything, work at Smithfield was dangerous: More than 30,000 hogs, almost 300 pounds each, moved daily through the gauntlet at Smithfield, where thousands of workers, many making just a single knife cut on each carcass, broke down each animal.

Some places of the plant were freezing cold; others men destroyed the headquarters of the National Textiles unbearably hot. Blades were everywhere. A montage of Workers Union at the site, and in an altercation between missing digits and limbs, puncture wounds and broken Gastonia police and striking workers in June, police Chief bones fills the opening scenes of Union Time, along with OF Alderholt was murdered. descriptions of musculoskeletal An editorial about the incidisorders, all of which the comdent in the Greensboro Daily pany inadequately addressed.

News read, in part: “Gaston Matthew Barr screens Union Though most of Smithfield’s County is desperately near the Time: Fighting for Workers’ workers around the state had mood to try a dozen or more Rights at the Global Learning been unionized, the Tar Heel malcontents for murder and plant, in right-to-work North condemn them for what they Center Lecture Hall of Bennett Carolina, was not. The United think of God, marriage and the College at 7 p.m. as part of the Food and Commercial Workers Bible.”

Union came to town in 1994 In 1997, the year of the sec2017 Black Media Festival. It is and were able to schedule a ond union vote at the Tar Heel free and open to the public. union vote for the workers. In plant, attitudes towards union in For more on Barr and his films, advance of the vote, Smithfield North Carolina had not evolved hired anti-union consultants much. The second vote was see unheardvoicesproject.org. and ran their playbook to marked by the presence of discourage their workers from Gaston County sheriff’s officers organizing: intimidation, physiin riot gear, threats to union cal violence, one-on-one inquisitions and more. organizers and plant workers and a moment during the Union talk had always been dangerous in North Carocounting of the votes when the power at the plant went lina. In April 1929, Gov. O. Max Gardner responded to a out. strike in Gastonia by sending 250 National Guard troops The union lost that election, too, but the UFCW reto the Loray Mill to break it up. One hundred masked sponded to Smithfield’s bad behavior with a lawsuit, heard

Barr began in film inauspiciously, shooting 16mm with a wind-up camera when he was just 13. He got his undergrad degree from San Francisco State University and then bounced around UCLA’s film school for a few terms until he got his MFA in 1989. The idea had been to go into features then, and he wrote two successful scripts before matriculating at UCLA: the 1981 Wes Craven film Deadly Blessing, starring a young Sharon Stone, and “The Forgotten,” a made-for-TV movie starring Keith Carradine and Stacy Keach.

But as a product of his time and place, Barr had been involved politically as well. His first arrest came while at San Francisco State, at a protest demanding the school establish a Black Studies Department. That was where he met Danny Glover who would go on to become a bigname actor and then, later, would narrate Union Time.

“Danny was always very politically active,“ Barr says now.

Barr’s last arrest, he says, came at a Moral Monday march in Raleigh, in support of Rev. Barber.

In 1990, he made a film about hate crimes used as a training tool for police departments His own big break came from a documentary called Carnival Train, made during five years spent with a trav-

eling carnival troupe, working as a “jointy” at one of the games of skill, sleeping in the game kiosk and shooting still photography of the performers.

The film, which came out in 1999, almost didn’t happen.

But when it did, he says, it got him his tenure at UNCG, where he has been since 1994.

Union Time, he knew, would have to be different than all his previous work. Without using the point of view of activism, as he had done in earlier films, or the tools of narration that he had applied in the past, this film must be a work of journalism.

“I knew from the get-go, in 2007, that this was a really complicated case,” he says, “and that there would be no point in doing a film that was overtly pro-union. I’m not anti-union, I’m pro-union. I’ve been in unions.

“It was important to make a story about the union that was essentially bulletproof,” he continues, “this way it would not be attacked legally, or be attached to the legacy of the RICO lawsuit [Smithfield] launched against

at a moment of crisis in this country, and here’s this story about people who hang in there. I’ve never had such a great response to a documentary before. It took 14 years to show you how f***ed up the system is.

“I had to draw from the courage of the workers who were in there being bullied and intimidated,” he continues.

“Just a bunch of gutsy people who fought it out for 16 years.”

At his desk, Barr is planning the screenings for Union Time. There’s one this week at Bennett College, where the Rev. Johnson will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening. He just showed the film to the National Labor Relations Board last week in Washington, DC, and is organizing other screenings at Cornell University, UCLA and Wake Forest University.

He’s on the phone now with Ronnie Simmons, one of

The labor organizers built a coalition with civil rights groups, churches and nonprofits that kept up the struggle.

the union, which I was very aware of. I had to worry about my own liability. We had to clear the film with [our lawyer], because they could still sue us. Everything had to be as bulletproof as possible.”

The result is a sort of oral history, with horrifying anecdotes from factory workers and organizers peppered with weighty analysis from academics, historians and labor lawyers. Some of the most inspirational moments come from the Revs. Barber and Johnson, emphasizing the connection between workers’ rights and civil rights.

“The struggle for workers’ rights implodes at the issue of race in the South,” Barber says early on in the film.

Among the film’s other chilling moments are the description of an ICE raid held at the plant in 2007, and still photos of the more gruesome injuries.

But the overarching theme is one of determination and endurance — from the opening of the plant to the establishment of the union, this organizing process took 16 years, and things didn’t always look so rosy.

“That’s the point of the movie!” Barr explains. “We’re

triad-city-beat.com

before the National Labor Relations Board and referred to the courts for judgment.

That conflict lasted until 2006, when Smithfield, after years of appeals, finally lost the case. An appeals court forced the company to hire back everyone who had been fired for union activity, with back pay, and to allow for another union election, this time without the hijinks.

The story, Barr saw, already had everything: a big corporate enemy, a slew of hardworking underdogs fighting for better lives, a big-name product in every supermarket.

There was a Pinkerton-like private police force deployed

by Smithfield. There were heroes like Keith Ludlum, the war veteran who was the only fired worker to take his old job back after 12 years, just so he could help build support for the union; and Ronnie Simmons, who suffered through the plant’s earliest years.

Simmons, in later interviews, delivers what may be the most poignant line in Barr’s film. After seeing a worker become injured by a stampede of hogs, she noted that the worker was pushed aside while the hogs were tended to. She came to a stark realization.

“This is not a human job,” she said. “This is like an animal’s job.”

But this was before, when all Barr knew was that he had a story and a cause he could believe in. And he was unsure how it would turn out.

Wild Caught, he notes, was kind of a sad film. And With These Hands, was “really downbeat. We were in a closing factory covering its death knell.”

And he didn’t have high hopes for the union at Smithfield, either.

“They’re trying to destroy the unions in this country,” he says now in his office. “And they very likely will.”

COURTESY IMAGE

the workers who became a steward and, later, an organizer for the UFCW, trying to entice her to come to the WFY screening.

“I know it’s a long ride from Lumberton,” he’s saying, “but maybe we’ll go out to get a bite to eat afterward, and they’ll put you up in a nice hotel room.”

He pauses.

“I’ll tell you,” he says, “the people in DC ate it up.”

Pause.

“They want to destroy everything!” he says. “This is the fight we’re into now with this movie. It’s like, look at what these guys did. It’s a huge achievement.”

Another pause.

“I think they got caught up in the story,” he says. “They wanted the good guys to win. And they did win.”

After the call, he thinks for a moment.

“The coalition built for that fight,” he says, is the coalition coming together now for the fight.”

15

February 22 – 28, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

16

CULTURE Trinidadian fare, hiding in plain sight

by Eric Ginsburg

C

alypso Mama isn’t the sort of restaurant you’d ever walk into by accident. Positioned in the middle of a short strip of storefronts, it’d be easy to drive right by without even noticing it.

Veering right from Summit Avenue onto Phillips Avenue in northeast Greensboro, the stores come up quickly.

By the time you looked back up from Google Maps on your phone, you would’ve missed it even if you’d plugged Calypso Mama Caribbean Café in as your destination.

I’ve passed by this Caribbean restaurant across the street from WFMY News 2’s complex maybe a dozen times without ever realizing it was there, and I’m the type to keep my eyes peeled for such holes in the wall.

But recently, after stumbling across it by accident in one of my periodic Google searches — this one being “Caribbean food Greensboro” — I wheeled my car around after the Phillips Avenue off-ramp and pulled into the lot.

Loud, dancey music bumped from the speakers as at least two incense sticks perfumed the room. Bright red and yellow walls quickly reminded me of several Jamaican restaurants I’ve enjoyed, but while the food may be similar, Calypso Mama is a Trinidadian joint.

Calypso is a type of Afro-Caribbean music hailing from Trinidad and Tobago, two islands just off the Venezuelan coast. If you picture the main Caribbean islands as a semicircle, with Cuba and then Haiti and the Dominican Republic at the northernmost end and Jamaica an outlier beneath, Trinidad and Tobago are at the far, southeastern-most side, past Puerto Rico, Barbados, Grenada and several other well-known islands.

There’s a steel drum on display, with

Pick of the Week Pancake breakfast @ GreenTree Church (W-S), Saturday, 8:30 a.m.

Hoops4LYFE, a nonprofit that stands for Low-Income Youth and their Families Everywhere, hosts its first pancake breakfast in an effort to raise money and promote awareness about the services the organization offers. More info on the Facebook event page.

The curry, which was already prepared, ranked above the jerk, which was made to order. The curried goat would have taken an additional hour.

ERIC GINSBURG

mallets at the ready, but even if you didn’t know the instruby a slice of baked mac & cheese pie — a favorite, he said. ment or music style hailed from Trinidad, the restaurant I’d get both again, especially the red beans, and favored sports the nation’s flag as a more obvious giveaway. the curry to the jerk. The server had given Sam a bone of The menu at Calypso Mama rotates, like many small, the stewed chicken too, which my friend approved of while takeout-oriented restaurants of its kind, putting it somewhere preferring the jerk. I wished later that I hadn’t skipped over the between Quisqueya Dominican restaurant on Gate City Boulelast menu item of the day: roti, which I only knew as a sort of vard in Greensboro and Uncle Desi’s Jamaican in Winston-Saflatbread from the Indian subcontinent. lem. The day I walked in, the chalkboard menu said curry, stew It turns out roti is popular in many countries, not just Pakior jerk chicken; oxtail; goat; pepper shrimp; and roti. stan, Nepal, Bangladesh and other nations in the region, but I immediately asked after the goat — “Is it curry goat?” I also Trinidad and Tobago. It took its own shape on the islands wondered. Indeed, but it would take maybe an hour to be after being brought over hundreds of years ago by indentured ready, I was told, and as it was already noon, I workers from India, according to Public Radio jumped to my second choice of curry chicken.

International, where it mixed with culinary That proved to be much quicker; along with traditions from West Africa, China and several Visit Calypso rice & beans and cabbage, the chicken waited in European countries into something all its own.

Mama Thursday a cafeteria-style lineup, hot and easily spooned Later that night, I was talking with a friend into a carryout tray even though I intended to who’s lived his whole life in Greensboro and through Sunday at sit at the lone unoccupied table. his girlfriend who’s from Haiti, and they were 1600 Phillips Ave. My friend Sam, strolling in a couple minutes joking that everyone knows everyone here and (GSO) or find it on later, decided he was more than happy to wait that there’s not much new to see. Channeling what would end up being about 20 minutes for my inner know-it-all, I said something like, Facebook. the made-to-order jerk chicken. The somewhat “I bet you didn’t know there’s a Trinidadian sweet sauce is made the day before and then restaurant here,” to which my food-loving applied to the freshly grilled chicken, the man behind the friends promptly flipped out and demanded details. counter said.

I showed up at Calypso Mama looking for Caribbean food, Sam and I tried each other’s food, both remarking on how as advertised online. I was greeted by something much deeper flavorful our meals were, and how the jerk chicken just fell and more interesting. And still, in my excitement about curry, off the bone. We stood out clearly as newcomers, not just as I overlooked the roti, which arguably would’ve been more eye the two white dudes in the neighborhood joint in northeast opening. The lesson? There’s always more to learn, and food is Greensboro, but also because nobody else asked any quesa great place to start. Especially when it’s made with as much tions about the setup, suggesting returning rather than new care and contains as much flavor as Calypso Mama offers. business. Our server, excited by our enthusiasm, brought out ramekins with spicy, delicious red beans for us to try, followed

Tuesday Live music with Piedmont Old Time Society Old Time music and Bluegrass 7:30 Wednesday Live music with J Timber and Joel Henry with special guests 7:30

Thursday

Friday, Saturday, Sunday BEER

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Special bottle release La Grande Saison Rouge 4:00 Live music with The Joymongers Band 8:30

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EVENTS

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Thursday, February 23 @ 7pm

Laurelyn Dossett & Alan Peterson Friday, February 24

Reiki & More 9am-5pm Dave Cecil Band 8pm

Sportsball

Saturday, February 25 @ 8pm

Kevin Putnam

Sunday, February 26 @ 6pm

Weaver Academy Monthly Talent Show

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Monday, February 27 @ 7pm

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COURTESY RAY Foothills’ Craft Happiness IPA for February, GOODRICH Haven, supports rescue animals and contributes to local nonprofit organizations.

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Kat loves red wine, Milan Kundera, and the Shins.

She wears scarves at katbodrie.com.

Up Front

stumbled across Rita in a bright, sterile hallway in the Forsyth County Animal Shelter a few years ago. Then a 3-year-old grey tabby, she had an ear-splitting, pitiful yowl (she was deaf, come to find out) that pierced my heart, and I couldn’t say no.

Adopting a pet is an enormous responsibility, and not everyone can afford the time or effort. But contributing to the welfare of our community doesn’t

by Kat Bodrie have to take much of each — especially for those of us who love Foothills IPAs. The brewery’s new Craft Happiness IPA series draws attention to animal, human and environmental needs, with proceeds donated to area charities and other nonprofits.

Released on Jan. 20, Domicile, the first in the series, focuses on homelessness and affordable housing. Thanks to Cascade hops, its flavor divides the mouth between floral and fruity, like splitting boards at a build site.

As part of the initiative, Foothills has teamed with Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County on the House that Beer Built, a project that intends to raise $100,000 for the construction of a home and associated costs in Forsyth County. From June to August, local bottleshops, brew-themed restaurants and breweries will hold promotional parties, including Foothills, Wise Man Brewing, Small Batch Brewing and the Beer Growler.

“People don’t have to make a huge investment to make a big difference,” says Ray Goodrich, marketing director of Foothills.

Past IPA of the Month series saw breezy vintage pin-up girls in 2014 and Foothills followers’ beloved pet dogs in 2015, including the pub’s own golden retriever, Barley, and actor Wil Wheaton’s rescue pit bulls.

In 2016, the brewery switched to Hop of the Month, which rotated among different hop varieties and beer styles. Brewmaster TL Adkisson says the hop series was “the Bowie of beer.”

“It was ahead of its time,” he says, because it didn’t catch on with predominantly IPA drinkers.

In the midst of a return to IPAs, Adkisson — who has so much experience brewing IPAs for Foothills that he doesn’t test his recipes before brewing them large-scale — is in the process of “chasing several varieties [of hops] right now,” getting his hands on experimental types. He also plans to experiment with different malts, centrifuge techniques and dry-hopping times — all of which could improve Foothills’ core beers.

The response to the new series has been “overwhelming,” says Goodrich, and another year is already in the works.

Upcoming themes run the gamut from trail maintenance and natural water resources to children’s charities and healthy lifestyles. The next IPA in the series, Haven, which was tapped at Foothills on Feb. 17, supports rescue animals and uses Citra hops.

Craft Happiness IPAs are currently on draft in much of Foothills’ usual distribution area, and bottles will be sold throughout North Carolina. Some will be included in new Hop Box IPA variety packs.

Although the Craft Happiness series will allow Foothills to financially contribute to communities within the distribution range, Goodrich, a former SeaWorld trainer, mentions other ways people can give back, such as donating wish list items to Samaritan Ministries and pet food to the Forsyth Humane Society.

“The monetary number is a sidebar,” he says. “Awareness and changing people’s behaviors are the true win.”

SPREADING JOY ONE PINT AT A TIME

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Foothills Craft Happiness IPAs inspire change

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February 22 – 28, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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CULTURE Knoxville poet laureate soothes listeners at Muddy Creek

by Spencer KM Brown

R

B Morris took the stage with a beer in hand and a country boy’s charm, the pale lights illuminating a few more bottles set on the stool behind him. He swung the strap of his vintage, tobacco-fade guitar over his head then humbly and coolly slid into his popular opening song, “Old Copper Penny.” Morris picked the strings and sang as if to a packed house, though the crowd barely filled the few tables up front by the stage, setting the tone for a soothing night of folk and country.

It’s the last stop on RB Morris’ tour which began in January. Muddy Creek opened its doors in 2011 in a renovated historical building, once a working grist mill, tucked away in the wooded outskirts of Winston-Salem in Bethania. With only a few years of bluegrass, country, folk and Americana shows under their belt, they’ve booked award-winning and legendary musicians such as Albert Lee, John Gorka, Jim Avett and Don Flemons.

Based out of his hometown in Knoxville, Tenn., RB Morris has produced six studio albums and extensively toured both America and Europe, but there’s a literary element to his live show that veers away from the country paradigm.

Mid-set, Morris let his guitar hang loose on his shoulder and began reciting the title poem from one of his poetry collections, The Mockingbird Poems.

Morris has published three volumes of poetry to date; Mockingbird, probably his most successful, earned a Pushcart Prize nomination in 2013. He wrote and produced a short film in the mid-1980s about the life of writer James Agee titled The Man Who Lives Here is Loony, a story he brought it to the live stage in

LOCAL BANDS!

Want your album reviewed?

Send a copy to:

Spencer KM Brown c/o Triad City Beat 1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24 Greensboro NC 27406 or email links to spencer@triad-city-beat.com

RB Morris (right) and Hector Qirko pluck a poetic selection of folk songs at historic music hall.

2016. In 2009, Morris was named Knoxville’s first-ever poet laureate.

He calls it “Appalachian beat poetry,” this blend of storytelling and lyricism, bringing to mind Leonard Cohen or Bonnie “Prince” Billy, delivered in a voice like Clapton. A storyteller at heart, Morris gave the backstory behind his lyrics, while also filling pauses between songs with tales of the small towns of Appalachia and his time touring in Europe.

Hector Qirko, a guitarist from Johnson City, Tenn., joined Morris for the night. Qirko has performed on two of Morris’ albums while also heading up

Pick of the Week Side by Side by Sondheim @ the Elberson Fine Arts Center (W-S), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

The Salem College School of Music vocal studio sings a concert that includes Sondheim compositions from West Side Story, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Dick Tracy and more. Cristy Lynn Brown, mezzo soprano, and Kristin Schwecke, soprano, join their voice students in this concert. More info at salem.edu.

his main project the Hector Qirko Band.

Qirko provided ambient lead guitar behind Morris’ acoustic picking, and the road-tested duo proved smoothly compatible on stage, nailing harmonies in perfect syncopation and picking up on each other’s subtle cues.

Halfway through the two-hour set, Morris paid homage to the country and folk idols we lost this past year, playing a song he wrote in tribute to Merle Haggard and reciting Leonard Cohen’s “Paper Thin Hotel” in a touching monologue.

While the tone of the evening was calming and soothing for the seated crowd, Morris knew when to pick up the mood and got feet tapping and the crowd singing along to his songs “Distillery” and “Hell On a Poor Boy.” A melodic and poetic break from the bustle of life, Morris and Qirko gave pause to the crowd, which then responded with happy cheers and a standing ovation.

Towards the end of the show, Morris took a beer in his hand, announcing, “We need a good drinking song, ya’ll,” and let his fingers pick at the strings as hands clapped in rhythm. Morris let his voice bellow through the hall, calling forth the song of the mountains with every note.

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CULTURE I Am Not Your Negro bangs against and past and present

Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

by Joel Sronce he incident outside of a high school in North Carolina is what finally provoked James Baldwin to return to the horror he’d left in the United States. When he encountered photographs of the episode in newspapers at every kiosk on a Paris boulevard, they devastated him.

Baldwin, the influential African-American author and social critic, once said on “The Dick Cavett Show” that he had left the United States to release himself “from that particular social terror, which was not the paranoia of my own mind, but a real social danger visible in the face of every cop, every boss, everybody.”

When Baldwin saw these images, he later wrote: “It made me furious. It filled me with both hatred and pity, and it made me ashamed.”

The photographs showed Dorothy Counts, a 15 year-old black student, as she approached the doors of Charlotte’s Harding High School. She was one of four black students to integrate the city schools in Sept. of 1957, less than 60 years ago.

All around her, pressing in on three sides, was a mob of white people — aggressive, reviling and dangerous — tormenting the young girl. Reports say that the long, red-and-yellow dress that her grandmother had made for Counts’ first day of school was covered in spit.

COURTESY PHOTO Author James Baldwin (center) is the subject of the new documentary I Am Not Your Negro.

“Some one of us should have been there with her,” Baldwin wrote, ruminating on his mindset in France.

“I could simply no longer sit around Paris discussing around you, not from anything they have done — they were While this choice celebrates Lamar, one the Algerian and the black American problem. Everybody else too young to have done anything!” Baldwin cries, while the of the great artists of a new generation, was paying their dues. And it was time I went home and paid images and the birth and death dates of Tamir Rice, Aiyana the song’s contents — segregation and mine.”

Jones, Darius Simmons and so many more pass by silently, one sabotage; gentrification, generational I Am Not Your Negro, an Oscar-nominated documentary by after the other. hatred and genocide; institutionalism, Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, begins with a surprising openUnderstandably, there is more to unpack in the life of James Trayvon Martin and much more — suging credit: “Written by James Baldwin.” Though the writer has Baldwin than even this profound documentary can undertake. gest that the filmmakers don’t shy from been dead for nearly 30 years, his television appearances, reNotably absent is any substantial conversation of Baldwin’s the persistence of oppression, even at corded speeches and his writings — brought to life by Samuel gay identity. the film’s conclusion.

L. Jackson — compose nearly all of the film’s spoken content.

Peck succeeds in exhibiting the persistence of the oppresThe lives of Baldwin and Lamar meet Most prominent of Baldwin’s work in the documentary is his sion towards African Americans in the United States. But in the expression of similar and endurunfinished manuscript “RememBaldwin’s sexual orientation ing persecution. Their experiences bang ber this House,” only 30 pages played too important a role in his against and reveal each other, as, in long by the time of his death. philosophy and in the triangulatruth, the lives of so many in the black I Am Not Your Negro runs at Aperture The incomplete memoir tells tion of his life with others in the community continue to do, year after Cinema in Winston-Salem from Friday the story of Baldwin’s personal Civil Rights Movement to nearly year, one after the other. recollections of and friendships through March 2. A special screening on wholly exclude it from the film. with civil rights leaders Medgar Baldwin’s writing and social Saturday at 1 p.m. includes a discussion Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Pick of the Week critique extend beyond racial of Baldwin’s book The Fire Next Time Luther King Jr. as he considered oppression to all of the oppresented by Scuppernong Books. their lives and mourned their Our Time, Our Legacy @ the Caldpression imposed by dominant assassinations. cleugh Multicultural Arts Center American society, and even to “I want these three lives to (GSO) the disapproval and persecution bang against and reveal each othIn honor of Black History Month, within oppressed communities. Some theorize that Baldwin’s er, as, in truth, they did,” Baldwin wrote to his literary agent. the Drama Center presents a tribute sexual orientation created distance between himself and King.

Throughout the film, Peck intercuts footage of racist vioto African American history through Whether or not there’s truth to that theory, the documentary lence, protest and police brutality in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, music, including jazz, blues, folk and barely addresses Baldwin’s sexuality — a regrettable absence some indistinguishable from acts from the past few years. rap. The all ages shows happen at 8 regarding the life of a man whose insight played an important Viewers hear Baldwin’s eloquent contention — often half a p.m. on Friday and Saturday as well role in the intersection of black and LGBT existence. century old — as the contemporary images and videos roll. as 2 p.m. on Sunday. More info at As the film’s credits roll, viewers hear contemporary hip“You watch the corpses of your brothers and sisters pile up thedramacenter.com. hop artist Kendrick Lamar’s track, “The Blacker the Berry.”

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February 22 – 28, 2017 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

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SPORTSBALL

‘The Saucy Seven’ take the state

L

evi Henry West threw open the door to Suite 109 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

“Hey guys, I brought the press!” he yelled out. His declaration was both triumphant and cautionary.

by Joel Sronce Everyone in the room looked up for a second, then turned their attention back to the card game.

It was the last break before the final matches, the calm before the storm.

Out on the coliseum floor, seen through the suite’s wide, glass window, the crew switched out the mats; four new ones spanned the length of the basketball court while the 10 sweaty used ones that had covered the entire stadium floor were rolled up and taken away.

JOEL SRONCE Southeast Guilford High School wrestlers Evan Surgeon (left), Austin Robinson, Michael Johnson The once-sizeable audience, now whittled down to and Levi West relax before the final matches. several hundred supporters, sought out restrooms and the first few classes — 106, 113, 120, 126 — but the interout the shirts.” nacho stands. Debate, predictions and memories filled vals lengthen on the other end — 182, 195, 220, 285.)

Indeed, fellow wrestler Michael Johnson wore a the arena.

A weight class signifies the maximum weight — T-shirt labeled “The Saucy Seven” along with logos Feb. 18 was the final day of the North Carolina High meaning, for example, no more than 106 pounds, no representing the school, the year and a tall bottle of School Athletic Association’s 80th annual wrestling more than 182 pounds, or 220 pounds, and so on. This sauce. state championships, a three-day tournament coming indicates the need to “maintain weight,” as a wrestler Still competing in the tournament were Johnson, to its peak. might mention.

Evan Surgeon and Austin Robinson — all of whom were A half hour earlier the Coliseum brimmed with the And the necessity makes sense. Say someone weighs playing cards carelessly in the team’s suite — as well as cries of battle. At any moment 10 matches raged at in at 219 pounds. He’s in luck: He’ll be facing off against Carson Smith, who wasn’t present at the time. once: 20 young men fighting their hearts out in short wrestlers from 196 to 220 lbs.

But if instead he weighs The young men kept each other calm, it seemed. bursts of struggle at the highest intensity — a contest in at 221, he might be up against someone who weighs They’d been through it all together. as old as sport itself.

64 pounds more than him, coming in at a terrifying “Practice is hard,” West said. “You have to constantly All around the stands, pockets of supporters 285. pull everyone up with you.” adorned in school colors exploded in unexpected The conditioning required to maintain weight is part Later that evening, Johnson and Robinson would ovation. Barrel-chested coaches bear-hugged one of the reason, West both fall to their opponents. another at the blow asssured, that wresSmith and Surgeon, however, emerged victorious. of a whistle. Young Other Triad high schools participated in tling is the toughest They led the Falcons to the 4A championship with a men up to 285 pounds sport there is.

115-98 margin over second place West Forsyth. picked each other the NCHSAA state championships: “I might have a few Back in the suite, West had been confident of a completely off the crackers,” he said. “I championship, though it all seemed overshadowed by ground, slammed • In the 1A classification, Atkins placed 34th. might eat a piece of the teammates’ camaraderie. one another onto • In 2A, Carver tied for 52nd. chicken, half a breast, “It’s been one heck of a season, and we all did it the mats, grasped • In 3A, Northern Guilford placed 22nd, Southern and have eight ounces together,” he remarked. for each others’ legs of water and that’s it “There is no white and black on our team — it’s all and arms and torsos.

Guilford 38th and Eastern Guilford 47th. all day.” orange,” he ventured, referring to the school colors.

They summoned every • In 4A, West Forsyth placed 2nd, Smith 3rd, SouthSince football Then he paused. ounce of themselves: west Guilford 11th, Ragsdale 12th, High Point season in the fall, he “You’re gonna put that part in there, right?” he For air and escape, for th has lost nearly 60 added smiling. an upper hand, for a Central 30 , Northwest Guilford and Glenn tied pounds to make the key piece of leverage, th nd at 34 and Page 52 .

220 weight class. for victory.

Pick of the Week West, 17, is a junior By the time West at Southeast Guilford burst into Suite 109, Wake Forest University vs. USC baseball @ David High School. His tournament run was over by this only the final four wrestlers from each school size clasF. Couch ballpark point, though he did defeat his final opponent in the sification (1A, 2A, 3A and 4A) and from each weight The WFU baseball team takes on the University last seconds to make fifth place. class took the floor. But with 14 weight classes for each of Southern California in a three game series this “I’m winning next year,” he promised. classification, this meant 56 matches remained. weekend. Games are played at 4 p.m. on Friday and The Southeast Guilford Falcons brought seven memWeight classes range from 106 to 285 pounds, and Saturday as well as 1 p.m. on Sunday. More info at bers of their varsity team to the state championships. the 12 classes in between vary in distance from one anwakeforestsports.com.

“We’re the Saucy Seven,” West said proudly. “Check other. (For example, only six or seven pounds separate

‘When Words Collide’ you can do it.

by Matt Jones

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Unlikely to win most golf tournaments Admit defeat Explain 8 1/2” x 11” size, briefly ___ knot (difficult problem) Two-___ (movie shorts) Be present Sandcastle spot Avid Norse god of indecision that helped create humans (RHINO anag.)

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Crossword

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Cover Story

Totally Rad Trivia 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 28 Drink N’ Draw 6 p.m. Wednesday, February 29.

OTHER SHOWS Open Mic 8:30 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 23. $5 tickets Friday Night Standup Presents Alex Stone The Psychedelic Slacker Comedian of the South 8:30 p.m. Fri., Feb. 24. (Netflix, Conan, The Late Show with Seth Meyers). Tickets $10 at the door & $9 Online.

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Opinion

Geeksboro Anime Club Free Admission. 1 p.m. Sat., Feb. 25 Free Video Game Tournament: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Answers from previous publication.

Down 1 Type of dish at brunch 2 Feels hurt by 3 “In the event it’s for real ...”

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13 Cartoonish villains 14 Quake 15 Heavy curtain 20 Gem State resident 21 “Billion Dollar Brain” novelist Deighton 23 “Reclining Nude” painter 24 Water___ (dental brand) 26 Annual Vegas trade show full of tech debuts 27 “The Italian Job” actor ___ Def

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Up Front

Across 1 Fast food sandwich option 14 Kids’ game played on a higher level?

15 They’re called for in extreme cases 16 Mention 17 Bankable vacation hrs., in some workplaces 18 Black or red insect 19 It’s slightly higher than B 20 Hairy cousin of Morticia 21 Like muffled sound recordings, slangily 22 Bridge, in Brindisi 23 Labor Day Telethon org.

24 Orange tea that’s really black 25 Parts of joules 26 They get their picks in dark matter 28 Seattle-based craft beer brand ©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 29 Bite matchups, in dental X-rays 33 Mardi ___ 37 Battery count 38 React with disgust 39 “Pride ___ before destruction” 40 Cabinet dept. since 1977 41 “Primetime Justice wtih Ashleigh Banfield” network 42 Definitely gonna 43 Elvis Presley’s record label 44 Mock-stunned “Me?” 45 Coca-Cola Company founder Asa 46 You’ll want to keep it clean 49 “Ugh, so many responsibilities!”

50 Transfers of people (or profits) to their home countries

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News Opinion Cover Story Culture Sportsball Crossword Shot in the Triad Triaditude Adjustment

er-walked past at least two dozen middle-aged women wearing T-shirts about menopause so I could snag a seat close enough to see Blanche Devereaux’s caftan fluttering in real life.

She was here to promote her autobiography, My First Five Husbands… and the Ones Who Got Away, and read several excerpts about her early acting jobs — she made $2 an hour working as a nude model for art classes — before slipping into Blanche’s familiar syrupy accent to share some stories about the show. Afterwards, she asked for questions from the crowd and I raised my profusely sweating hand, debating whether to tell her about COURTESY PHOTO The author (right) dripping sweat on Golden Girl Rue that drinking game or to offer McLanahan. her two bucks to take her clothes off. Instead, I asked whether she She didn’t flinch. I kept talking. “When I was a kid, had any idea that the show would still resonate in the my parents were super strict with what I could watch (then) 20-plus years since it first aired. on TV. I was allowed to watch ‘The Golden Girls’ but “We had no idea that people who weren’t even born they’d change the channel any time Blanche was when we started taping the show [in 1985] would still talking.” be watching it today,” she said, shaking her head. She A drop of sweat rolled down my nose and dropped talked about how the jokes were timeless (they are), squarely on the slice of cake in front of her. that the idea that of women of “a certain age” could “Oh my,” she said, looking around, perhaps for still be sexually attractive was timeless (okay, sure) and Bookmarks security. “That’s one of the worst things that the clothes were timeless (aaaand you lost me).

I’ve ever heard.”

“I kept all of Blanche’s clothes. In fact, I’m wearing She signed my book, addressing it to my former Blanche today,” she said, gesturing toward an overroommate who was, at the time, pregnant with her sized yellow smock that made her look a little like she first child. (“Name the baby Blanche,” she wrote.) was wrestling Colonel Mustard.

I shook her hand again and thanked her, but stopped She said she would take one more question before before I walked away. “Ms. McClanahan? One more she started signing everyone’s recently purchased thing?” paperbacks.

“Yes?” she asked, already signing the next person’s “What’s the secret to a short, happy marriage,” a book. fiftysomething man shouted from the back.

“Could you say lanai?”

“Honestly, honey, I don’t know,” she quipped. “I She paused, her Sharpie suspended in midair. She sat never had one.” up straight, cocked her head to the side and said, with All of us bolted from our folding chairs and arranged just a hint of a southern accent, “Lanaaaiiii.” ourselves into a line in front of the long, plastic table Rue McClanahan died two years later, having been where she’d be Sharpie-ing our books. McClanahan preceded by Estelle Getty and Bea Arthur, respectively. was the undisputed star of the festival, and I remem(National treasure Betty White is the Highlander and ber looking over at award-winning poet Nikki Giovanni will walk this earth forever, don’t you dare question who was sitting by herself, picking at a plate of kiwi this). But I will always love that these characters — and and wondering whether she wished she’d had a recurthe very real issues they confronted and the ideas that ring role on “Night Court” instead. they stood for — will live on. So yeah, I have time for After almost an hour, McClanahan’s handlers said one more episode today. And maybe a slice of cheeseshe would only be signing four or five more books, cake. probably because her polyester Blanche-wear wasn’t super-breathable. I was the last person to push my Jelisa Castrodale is a freelance writer who lives in paperback into her impeccably manicured hands.

Winston-Salem.

She enjoys pizza, obscure power-pop “Holy crap,” I said, respectful as ever. “It is a pleasure records and will probably die alone. Follow her on Twitter to meet you.” @gordonshumway.

“Well, thank you very much,” she said, as a drop of sweat fell from my face onto her forearm.

Up Front

ver the past eight or nine years, I’ve learned that freelance writing is feast or ramen. Either you have too much work to do, with a calendar that is decorated with increasingly frantic looking deadline reminders, or you’re

by Jelisa Castrodale staring at an empty inbox, wondering whether anyone is ever going to hire you again.

I’m fortunate enough to have a number of projects right now, which means that I spend most days staring at a blinking cursor and panicking while I try to coax full sentences out of my increasingly reluctant frontal lobes.

My crowded calendar is also why I’m currently procrastinating, watching my fifth straight episode of “The Golden Girls” on Hulu. The streaming service just added all 180 episodes of the show, starting with the very first time that Bea Arthur bites her fist in the opening credits to the final show, the two-parter where her Dorothy Zbornak gets married and leaves the girls’ floral-and-rattan living room for the last time.

So yeah, the Golden Girls are back, but they never really went away. You could still find a rerun if you really wanted to (and if you were really procrastinating, because that 2,500-word feature wasn’t due for another five minutes) and the show has been celebrated with Lego tributes, a series of hard-to-find action figures and, as of this weekend, a Rue McClanahan-themed restaurant in New York that celebrates All Things Blanche and serves a slice of cheesecake in honor of each Girl.

I never stopped watching the show. In college, my roommate and I had a Golden Girls drinking game that involved downing something every time Rose mentioned St. Olaf, Blanche said something sexual or Sophia called Dorothy “Pussycat.” (This game, along with the fact that the show came on, like, eight times a day, may or may not be the reason that I failed economics).

Despite the fact that it originally premiered 32 years ago, the only outdated aspects are the shoulder pads in Dorothy’s pajamas. (Apparently there was a time when post-menopausal women could only sleep if they were dressed like New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor). The show remains one of the most progressive series that ever aired, addressing everything from gay marriage, AIDS, domestic violence, Alzheimer’s, drug addiction, poverty and racism with episodes that would still seem relevant and forward-thinking today —and it’s still funnier than the majority of sitcoms that currently air on network tee-vee.

My only real-life interaction with any of the Girls happened, weirdly enough, in Bethabara Park, when Rue McClanahan came to Winston-Salem for the annual Bookmarks festival in 2008. (This event was also notable, since it was one of the two or three times in my life that I’ve actually been on time for something).

Picture it: a sweltering September day, when I pow-

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TRIADITUDE ADJUSTMENT

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