TCB June 29, 2023 — Well/Versed

BY MICHAELA RATLIFF | PG. 10

CITY LIFE

THURSDAY JUNE 29

Nashville Nights @ Steel Hands Brewing (GSO) 6 p.m.

Steel Hands had partnered with Silver Airways and Piedmont Triad International Airport for Nashville Nights. Each Thursday until Aug. 10, enjoy live music by a Nashville-based artist and the chance to win a set of round-trip flight tickets to Nashville. See the full lineup at steelhandsbrewing.com/ nashville-nights-greensboro

by MICHAELA RATLIFF

FRIDAY JUNE 30

JUNE 29 - JULY 1

SATURDAY JULY 1

Social Saturday @ High Point Rockers Stadium (HP) 4 p.m.

Social Saturday is the place for you to enjoy fun, food and shopping with others. Then, head to the Catalyst Social District for drink specials. Visit the event page on Facebook for more info.

Asteroid Day @ Kaleideum (W-S) 1:30 p.m.

Asteroid Day is the United Nation’s effort to raise awareness about the risks of asteroid impacts. Celebrate at Kaleideum and discover asteroids, comets, meteorites and other astronomical bodies. Free with museum admission. More information on the event page on Facebook.

Beer & Cheese Pairing @ Brewer’s Kettle (HP) 6 p.m.

This week’s beer event includes a beer and cheese pairing. Try three beers paired with three cheeses,

Summer Night Market @ LeBauer Park (GSO) 6 p.m.

GDPI is hosting a summer night market featuring local artists, crafters and makers with a special performance by The Collective GSO. Don’t miss

Rock Out at the Quarry @ the Quarry at Grant Park (W-S) 7 p.m.

Join Recreation and Parks for a pre-Fourth of July experience with live music, food trucks and fireworks. Follow the City of Winston-Salem on Facebook for updates.

Find more events and add your own to our

BUSINESS

PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

PUBLISHER EMERITUS

Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com

OF COUNSEL

Jonathan Jones

EDITORIAL

MANAGING EDITOR

Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

CITYBEAT REPORTER

Gale Melcher gale@triad-city-beat.com

TCB

Why we don’t trust law enforcement narratives

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336.681.0704

SALES

KEY ACCOUNTS

Chris Rudd chris@triad-city-beat.com

AD MANAGER

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CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, John Cole, Owens Daniels, James Douglas, Michelle Everette, Luis H. Garay, Destiniee Jaram, Kaitlynn

Havens, Jordan Howse, Matt Jones, Autumn Karen, Michaela Ratliff, Jen Sorensen, Todd Turner

WEBMASTER

Sam LeBlanc

ART

ART DIRECTOR

Aiden Siobhan aiden@triad-city-beat.com

COVER: Josephus Thompson III was recently named Greensboro’s first honorary poet laureate.

t’s been all over the news. Another person was shot and killed by a Greensboro police officer on June 22. The victim’s name was Graham Thomas Roberson.

by Sayaka Matsuoka

When the shooting initially happened, the police department put out a press release announcing that a death had occurred. There wasn’t a lot of information in that release and much of the narrative sounded familiar.

According to the department, a police officer, who has yet to be named, was driving around Tuscaloosa Street around midnight on June 22 looking for a suspicious vehicle. That’s when the officer noticed Roberson, a 51-yearold white man, walking on the street. The officer approached him.

“As the officer approached, the subject displayed a firearm. The officer fired their weapon from inside their police vehicle, striking the subject.”

That’s what was in the initial release.

No mention of Roberson pointing the gun at the officer. No mention of Roberson being aggressive with the officer. Nothing to explain why Roberson was shot dead on sight.

(In North Carolina, open carry is permissible without a permit if you legally own a firearm.)

Here’s an interesting detail.

In the aftermath, the N&R reported

Ithat “Roberson did not fire at the officer.” But that wasn’t explicitly stated in the police department’s press release. So when TCB reached out to Josie Cambareri, the department’s spokesperson for more details, Cambareri explained that the daily “asked [her] to clarify that the word display within the release did not mean fire. And [she] confirmed, yes, that the word display does not mean fire.”

So, why not just say so plainly in the initial release?

Now, we at TCB know that it’s dubious to take a law enforcement agency — especially this police department — at their word. This is the same entity that said that Marcus Smith became combative and then collapsed and died when in fact he died from being hogtied. This is the same department that said an officer shot Nasanto Crenshaw because he was driving “toward where Corporal Sletten [was] standing.”

But too often, the narratives put out by the police don’t bear out when compared to the facts revealed later. According to Josie Cambareri, the department’s spokesperson, the police department plans to petition the courts to release all video recordings of the incident.

And so, we must wait.

Rather than blindly taking the police department at its word, we owe it to Roberson, whose family described him as “a natural DJ” who more than anything, “loved time with his family and friends,” to see for ourselves what actually happened.

Because as we know by now, what they tell us and what is true, is hardly ever the same.

Photo by Carolyn de Berry Design by Aiden Siobhan

We know that it’s dubious to take a law enforcement agency at their word.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Having your voice validated changes your character and how you see yourself in the world.

Josephus Thompson III, pg. 10

Celebrating

62 seasons of unmatched classical experiences in Greensboro!

Gerard Schwarz Music Director

by Riley Sullivan

veryone knows someone,” said Michael Thull, program director of Guilford County Solution to the Opioid Problem, when he discussed how xylazine — a tranquilizer that is increasingly found laced in illicit substances — impacts the community. “That’s someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, friend or anyone else who is loved.”

Many have never heard of xylazine (pronounced zai-luh-zeen). But like its predecessor fentanyl, there is increasing evidence that this lesser-known drug is making its way through the country and may eventually become as widespread as fentanyl is today.

Xylazine is a veterinary tranquilizer primarily used to sedate large animals. The FDA has not approved it for human use, so little is known about its long-term effects on humans. As a tranquilizer, it falls under the category of a depressant or downer. It is what’s called an “alpha-2 adrenergic agonist,” which distinguishes it from other depressants like opioids, based on how it works in the brain and affects the body.

On its website, the US Drug Enforcement Agency says it “seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states” and makes the alarming claim that “xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier.”

The overdose epidemic is a public health issue that continues to harm communities. Nationally, 50 percent of Americans have a close friend or family member with a substance use disorder according to the Pew Research Center. Now, it appears that a new drug is complicating matters even more for communities who are already harmed by a constantly changing drug supply.

‘I’ve seen it everywhere’

Often, reporting on drug use focuses on the criminal aspects of the issue, rather than the human cost. This can lead to people who use drugs being stigmatized and dehumanized. However, the first step to understanding the rising cases of xylazine use is to understand its origins, prevalence, and the impact on the community.

“It’s difficult to quantify it, but I suspect we have a lot of xylazine here,” Thull said.

While difficult to understand the whole reality of this situation, the North Carolina Department of Health and Humans Services released a document on May 12 stating that, “xylazine was first introduced into the NC drug supply nearly two years ago and has become highly prevalent in the illicit opioid supply.”

NCDHHS also stated that “in a February 2023 report from UNC’s Street Drug Analysis Lab, their in-depth testing of street-acquired drug samples from 30 NC counties confirmed the presence of xylazine in approximately 27 percent of those samples.”

While some academic reports suggest people are not actively seeking out xylazine, the drug still poses a danger because it is often mixed with other drugs, primarily other depressants like heroin or fentanyl.

BR, an individual who preferred to use just his initials for this story, uses drugs in Greensboro and shared his experience with “tranq dope,” a combination of xylazine and fentanyl. He described it as “a peculiar, lightheaded rush” that differed from the “warm and relaxing sensations associated with opioids.” Shortly after using it, he noticed unusual changes in his vision and an “overwhelming sense of sleepiness.”

According to BR, the high induced by xylazine wasn’t “pleasant or euphoric, unlike fentanyl.”

Thull, who has seen an increase in xylazine in Greensboro, said the usage of the drug restricts blood vessels and circulation, which causes these wounds which can take months to heal.

‘Highly prevalent’: Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, is making the opioid epidemic even deadlier

Marella Farrington, MSW with GCSTOP

PHOTO BY SEAN NORONA

Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadliner.

“The wounds we’re seeing are particularly concerning,” he said. “They’re showing up on different parts of the body, regardless of injection sight.”

The DEA Laboratory System reported that in 2022, “approximately 23 percent of fentanyl powder and 7 percent of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.”

The drug can also be found in meth, cocaine, and other stimulants, which Thull finds concerning because “people are less likely to expect it to be in a drug like cocaine or meth because they are less likely to expect a depressant mixed with a stimulant.”

When asked about the first time he noticed xylazine, BR said, “About a year ago, I thought I was purchasing heroin — well, with fentanyl in it — but then I got the worst bag of my life. Since then, I’ve seen it everywhere and in any drug that comes as a powder or pill.”

Now what?

Xylazine is another complication to the overdose epidemic and Greensboro’s already tainted drug supply. However, there are many in the community that are taking to address the growing issue.

GCSTOP started in 2018 as a joint partnership between Guilford County and UNCG to take an approach to address the broader epidemic, harm reduction. A few of the organization’s approaches include increasing com munity access to naloxone (Narcan) — an overdose-reversing drug, and providing testing strips to detect the presence of unwanted substances and syringe exchange services to prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases like HIV and Hep-C.

Recently, the organization acquired a van to bring health care directly to affected people.

“People who use drugs might hesitate to seek medical care or feel the cost is too burdensome,” Thull said.

“Now, the organization has a nurse practitioner who can provide testing for hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases and suboxone, a medication to treat opioid dependence, Thull said.

“The county provides us with good support [financially],” he added.

However, he also said, “sustainable funding for Narcan nasal sprays is our biggest challenge because they cost us about $30 to $60,” as opposed to its generic injectable counterpart, which costs about $4 a kit.

Unfortunately, naloxone only works on opioids and not xylazine. But Thull said that “naloxone continues to be a crucial tool” for addressing overdoses. And that’s because “even if xylazine is present with fentanyl, the naloxone can reverse enough of the opioid to bring someone back,” he said. There is also a medication to reverse xylazine (tolazine), but it is currently only approved for veterinary use.

More than anything, the best thing allies can do to address this is, as BR said, “see me as another human.”

If you or a loved one is suffering from an addiction, contact GCSTOP at gcstop.org.

Proposed changes to downtown W-S bus station target homeless population

by Gale Melcher

lark Campbell Transportation Center’s covered bus parking bays and indoor waiting area see a lot of traffic. Located downtown at the corners of Fifth, Trade and Liberty streets, the central hub for the Winston-Salem Transit Authority is enveloped in a constant hum from bus engines, interspersed with occasional chatter between passengers and hubbub from bordering city streets. It’s also where many of the city’s houseless population congregate. Offering protection from the elements, the center is equipped with restrooms, vending machines and seating areas. According to previous reporting by Triad City Beat, as of Jan. 23 there are 468 houseless individuals — 301 sheltered, 167 unsheltered — in the city.

During a June 12 public safety committee meeting, WSTA’s General Manager Donna Woodson brought up “complaints and concerns,” not just from transportation center staff, but from “citizens who want to utilize the bus services… and are not able to because they don’t feel safe.” During the meeting, Councilmember Annette Scippio asked if “riders” or “non-riders” have been the source of the issues Woodson talked about. Woodson responded that the “majority of the time they are non-riders” who are “there for hours and hours.”

Because of that, they are proposing an increase in security personnel, a metal detector and a change in operating hours. The public safety committee includes city councilmembers John Larson, Kevin Mundy, Barbara Hanes Burke and James Taylor Jr.

The move by municipalities to criminalize or make it harder to exist in public spaces — which makes it difficult for people who are unhoused to find refuge — is not a new tactic.

Last year, Greensboro’s city council adopted amendments to existing ordinances that critics said directly targeted the houseless community. One

included charging anyone who leaves objects on the street or in a public space with a Class 3 misdemeanor and a maximum fine of $50. Another amendment specified that any person or object who prevented 36 inches of clear access “to freely pass through a sidewalk, public passageway or entrance or exit to a building” would be charged with a misdemeanor and fined up to $50.

Problems exist, but what’s the solution?

During the June 12 meeting, Woodson said that there has been an increase in non-transit activities such as loitering, long-term stay, use of illegal substances, restroom facility abuse and verbal and physical altercations.

“About twice a month we have to shut down the restrooms,” Woodson said, adding that the malfunctions are often due to “needles and things that have been disposed of in the restrooms.”

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, substance abuse is more prevalent in people who are homeless than in those who are not. In many instances, substance abuse is the result of the stress of homelessness, rather than the other way around. Many people begin using drugs or alcohol as a way of coping with the pressures of homelessness.

According to research analyzed by the American Addiction Centers, “around 1/3 of people who are homeless have problems with alcohol and/or drugs, and around 2/3 of these people have lifetime histories of drug or alcohol use disorders.”

Councilmember Kevin Mundy expressed concern for the houseless individuals spending time at the center.

“While we need to do this, we still have an entire group of people who need help and those are the people who are sleeping in front of the facility. I would love to see our Continuum of Care involved in this,” Mundy said, citing a lack of day activities for people after they leave homeless shelters in the morning.

“I challenge our local nonprofits to come up with something to help these folks during the day,” Mundy said.

Woodson replied that they had “talked about that in depth” and “rallied around some different ideas” as far as having agencies on site who can help people in need.

“Once we come back we’ll have a more detailed list once we confirm agencies or nonprofits that are willing to come into the transportation center and offer those services,” Woodson stated.

Damian Newman, a rider who had been waiting at the center for a Greyhound bus to New York on a recent afternoon, said he, too, was concerned for the houseless people at the transportation center. “Some people, they just need to get back on their feet. And they need help,” Newman said.

One houseless individual, Robert White, acknowledged that there were problems at the station.

“I live at the shelter,” Robert White told Triad City Beat while waiting for his ride at the center. White is currently houseless and takes the bus almost every day.

“Some changes are needed. Loitering, yeah. Security, yeah — they do need it,” White said. “Things are not like they used to be. At some point it has gotten a little out of control.”

White is currently looking for housing because his previous landlord wouldn’t accept Section 8 housing vouchers — rental assistance from the

The bus station in downtown Winston-Salem is where a lot of the city’s homeless population congregates.

PHOTO BY GALE MELCHER

This piece is part of our CityBeat that covers Greensboro and Winston-Salem city council business, made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. To learn how, visit triad-city-beat.com/republish.

federal government that can be obtained from a local housing authority for families with low incomes, seniors and people with disabilities.

What is the city planning?

Woodson said that they’ve conferred with surrounding transit agencies about the problems they’re facing.

“Some of the agencies, rather than using security, they’re using their own police department,” she said. “We know we don’t have the resources here in Winston-Salem, so we’re proposing to increase our security officers.”

Like many law enforcement agencies across the country, the Winston-Salem Police Department has been facing staffing shortages. According to the city’s budget, there are more than 152 vacant sworn law enforcement positions. Woodson said that they have requested increased WSPD presence and that they’ve seen the “positive effects” of that already, noting that when the K-9 unit comes around, people tend to leave the area.

“When they show up, people show out,” Woodson said. “Now they know that the city of Winston-Salem will not tolerate those types of behaviors at the transportation center,” adding that they’re sending a message that they need the center “to be used for the purpose — which is for transportation.”

Woodson mentioned during the presentation that employees heading into work often stepped over people who were sleeping in front of the center.

But reporting has shown that punitive policies, particularly ones involving the police or law enforcement, have been found to promote cycles of homelessness. Studies have shown that they do little to solve the issue of homelessness and instead, sows distrust between those who are most impacted and city services that are meant to help them.

“Police interactions can also lead to arrests and convictions, and many landlords don’t accept prospective tenants with criminal records,” as reported in a NextCity article. “This makes it more difficult to get housing and leads to what’s referred to as the prison-to-homelessness pipeline.”

Despite the data, a new report by Boston University found that 76 percent of homeless outreach teams in the nation’s 100 largest cities involve the police, and 59 percent of the outreach teams studied are designed to enforce civil or criminal infractions. Forty-three percent of outreach teams state that their objective includes removing encampments.

Further south of the Triad, New Hanover County commissioners voted 4-1 in February to approve an ordinance change that makes it unlawful to sleep overnight, camp or store belongings on county-owned property. Some say the change targets the houseless population that takes shelter around the public library and parking deck, including the commissioner who cast the sole dissenting vote — Jonathan Barfield. In an article by Port City Daily, Barfield is quoted as saying, “[F]or me, the move was all about downtown, was all about money — the downtown business trying to protect resources there as opposed to looking out for people.”

In Anaheim, Ca., to prevent homeless individuals from congregating at bus stops, the city removed benches a few years ago.

In Winston-Salem, Woodson said that they are proposing the installation of a metal detector at the public entrance and that they are preparing to bring a revised version of their Code of Conduct to the City Council in August. They are also looking into revising their operating hours. Woodson said that the center is currently open from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and that they are considering reducing that window.

The next city council meeting takes place on Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. The next public safety committee meeting will be held on Aug. 14 at 2 p.m. Learn more at winston-salem.legistar.com/calendar.aspx.

live music on the blue ridge parkway

JUly 1

Sam Bush band

JUly 8

Jeff Little Trio

+ DaShawn & wendy hickman

July 15

rissi palmer

+ martha bassett

saturday evening concerts at 7 p.m.

Galax Smokehouse serving BBQ on site

Free Midday Mountain Music

Daily noon - 4 p.m.

Free Roots of American Music Exhibit

Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

TICKETS at b lue r idge m usic c enter.org

EDITORIAL

Mark Robinson’s crusade of hate

Greensboro’s Mark Robinson, one-time Papa John’s employee and current lieutenant governor of North Carolina, comes to the end of his term this year. And he refuses to go away.

He is currently the front-runner for the 2024 governor’s race on the Republican ticket. And that is really saying something, as he’s running for the nomination against two seasoned GOP politicos: current NC Treasurer Dale Folwell — who started his career in the NC House in 2011, and former congressman Mark Walker — who has been involved in politics since 2012, when the local tea party group, Conservatives for Guilford County, was formed at Lawndale Baptist Church ,where he served as assistant pastor, and catapulted him into Congress.

This stint as lieutenant governor is Robinson’s first foray into electoral politics, cruising into the seat on momentum from his infamously pugnacious 3-minute comment from the floor at a Greensboro City Council meeting in 2018 and the slew of right-wind media appearances that followed.

Does anyone remember what Robinson was complaining about that day five years ago? He was angry because city leaders had decided to cancel the gun show at the city-owned Greensboro Coliseum in the wake of the Parkland shooting, which had happened just a couple months prior.

Since then his popularity among gun fetishists has risen almost as quickly as the rates of gun violence in this country.

He’s doubled down on the gun stuff since then, but backed off the abortion issue — probably because it is one thing, besides the fact that he is Black, that separates him policy-wise from Folwell and Walker. And he’s leaning hard into anti-LBGTQIA2S+ rhetoric, which he’s hoping will be enough to get him through the primary.

Some examples:

“There’s no reason anybody, any-

where in America should be telling children about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. And yes, I called it filth.” — Fayetteville Observer

“We have pushed homosexuality over the top. Mark my words PEDOPHILIA is next, which will be closely followed by the END of civilization as we know it.” — Facebook

“No one, not a famous actor, powerful politician, nor ‘mega’ Pastor, can change my mind or, more importantly, change THE WORD OF GOD. That word calls the behavior of this satanic cult of sexual perversion an ABOMINATION... and that’s what I call it as well.” — Facebook

“Makes me sick every time I see it, when I pass a church that flies that rainbow flag, which is a direct spit in the face to God Almighty.” — WSOC

“The transgender movement in this country, if there’s a movement in this country that is demonic and that is full of spirit of the antichrist, it is the transgender movement.” — WGHP

“Everything that God made from the foul odor of what the cow left behind, to the decaying body of every live living creature, to the maggots that eat those dead bodies, to the flies that fly around what the cow left. God made all those things for a purpose. Will somebody please explain to me the purpose of homosexuality? […] What is the purpose of homosexuality? What does it create?”

— WRAL

The bad news is: It’s working. As of May, he was polling 5 points ahead of Walker and 8 points ahead of Folwell, according to a Civitas poll, and the only one projected to beat likely Democrat candidate Josh Stein, currently the state’s attorney general.

And while it’s difficult for reasonable people to see Robinson as the next governor of NC, we’re here to tell you that not only is it possible, he’s actually got a pretty good shot. Yes, he’s loathsome, belligerent, uninformed and cartoonish. But then, we said the same things about Trump, and look where that got us.

Policy

Josephus Thompson III has a way with words. That’s why — during their June 6 meeting — the Greensboro City Council appointed him as the city’s first honorary poet laureate for the next year.

“It feels great,” Thompson says, when asked how he feels.

In this position, Thompson aims to sustain the craft of poetry, create more spaces dedicated to the artform and initiate more programs.

“I’m basically an ambassador for the poetic artform,” he says.

Thompson’s poetry career began with a high school English poetry class. Students were introduced to some of the greats: Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. Thompson mimicked what he learned and wrote his first poem, “The Color,” his interpretation of the color black as it relates to his race.

“Life I live is not simply a color. It cannot be compared to any other. Black is not simply a color to me, Black is so simply an everlasting reality,” he recites.

“The Color” was well-received by his teacher, and like a child getting a cookie as a reward for good work, Thompson kept writing, hoping to get more props.

“If you do something well,” he says, “you want to do it again.”

Eventually, word of Thompson’s talent spread across the school, landing him a performance spot during the school’s Multicultural Day celebration. To this day, that poem hangs on the wall at his mother’s house.

Despite the accolades, Thompson didn’t realize poetry was something that could be pursued as a job.

“I knew I had a gift in writing,” he says, “I just didn’t know it could be a career.”

That would change.

His craft created more opportunities for him, especially during his undergraduate days at NC A&T State University. He made a name for himself on the yard, performing at campus open-mic nights and other events. When the 2004 Aggie Fest concert needed a show opener, Thompson was recommended; he opened for Kanye West and Floetry, artists known for incorporating poetry into their music.

It didn’t stop there.

After collaborating with the theater department to include poetry into performances at Bennett College, Thompson and the poetry troupe were invited to perform during a fundraiser headlined by Oprah Winfrey in 2006.

Through the years, Thompson has perfected his craft, solidifying himself as an educator, poetry coach and event host.

As poet laureate, Thompson plans to expand programs already in motion and implement new ones. The Poetry Project, founded around 2009, is his effort to “use poetry to teach, inspire and build the communities that we call

home.” The organization stems from his work with the Artist’s Responsibility Movement, a collective of mentors for the public school system. When he realized poetry was included in the seventh grade curriculum, he incorporated what he knew into mentoring sessions. Teachers caught on and asked him to stop by their classes and instruct, something Thompson couldn’t pass up.

“You want to pay me to come to your classroom? Say less!” he replied. In these classes, Thompson tried a different approach, using popular songs as classroom material rather than poems from notable writers like Edgar Allen Poe or Emily Dickinson.

“They’re great and wonderful, but they’re classics,” he says. “Having a poet that looks like you, talks like you and sounds like you in front of you makes you identify with it a lot quicker.”

In the Poetry Project workshops, open to all ages, students focus on poetic devices, vocabulary and personal development. It doesn’t take long for Thompson to notice a change in his students after attending a few classes. Typically, students are expected to soak in material with little to no chances to provide their own commentary, but Thompson makes it a priority to ask students about their thoughts and ideas.

“Having your voice validated changes your character and how you see yourself in the world,” he says.

Other programs Thompson is organizing include The Laureate Series: From the Page to the Stage, an 8-week interactive workshop fusing creative writing and performance that begins August 2. Poet for a Day, set for October 4-5, is described as a “poetry field trip” for fourth to twelfth graders. Following a workshop focusing on voice, critical thinking and other skills important to poetry, the students will flex what they learned during a cypher. Thompson will also continue his Poetry in the Park series in LeBauer Park, the next of which takes place on July 15. Each Sunday, Thompson hosts “The Poetry

‘Full circle’: Josephus Thompson III is Greensboro’s first honorary poet laureate

by Michaela Ratliff

Josephus Thompson III’s poetry career began with a high school poetry class.

PHOTO BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

Cafe,” a radio show dedicated to showcasing international poets and hip-hop and R&B artists.

At his core, Thompson believes art imitates life, tackling subjects like the power of poetry and his identity as a Black man in his work. Most recently, he wrote a poem about the birth of his 7-week-old son Josephus Thompson IV. One poem he’s particularly proud of is “Breathe,” an ode to the act of filling and emptying one’s lungs. In it, he emphasizes something seemingly small being major and encourages listeners to value the small things in life.

“Breathe like your life depends on it. Cherish the intention, the moment,” he says in a YouTube video of the performance.

Thompson, to the right of the stage, gestures boldly with his hands as he orates the spoken word. He pauses intentionally, urging listeners to really take in his words. At times, he closes his eyes as he feels the emotion of the performance. The set is fused with live music by a singer Jha’Mai.

“Once it’s gone, there’s no coming back. No second chances, no romance, so commit to it now ‘til death do us part,” he recites.

Thompson’s commitment to poetry has now been recognized by city leaders with his new designation. Thompson says he’s grateful to be Greensboro’s first poet laureate and a Black man at that. He’s elated to not only serve as a point of representation for young poets, but to follow in the footsteps of renowned Black poets. He compares his success to George Moses Horton, a formerly enslaved man and the first Black author to be published in the United States in 1829.

“It puts me in the mindset of [James E.] McGirt and [George] Horton who are both Black poets who were able to create words that are still on the street,” he says. “It reminds me of where we started and how far we’ve come.”

In 2010, McGirt-Horton Branch Library in Greensboro became the first to adopt the Poetry Project, allowing Thompson to lecture there. As he teaches in the building that bears the names of a poet he idolizes, Thompson realizes the poet laureate position is exactly where he was meant to be.

“This all comes full circle to me.”

Learn more about Josephus Thompson III and The Poetry Project at josephusiii.com. Email info@thepoetryproject.com to learn more about The Laureate Series. The Poetry Cafe airs every Sunday from 6-7 p.m. on WUNC 91.5.

Thompson tackles subjects like the power of poetry and his identity as a Black man in his work.

PHOTO BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

CULTURE

Ava’s Cuisine, a new Black, woman-owned food business, is moving into the old Iron Hen location

by Sayaka Matsuoka

Anew business will soon be opening at the old Iron Hen location in Greensboro.

For the last two years, the once-popular restaurant located off of Cridland Road near Latham Park, had been closed in the wake of the pandemic. Now, a new restaurant and catering business owned by a Black woman is moving in.

Alexis Hefney has been in the food business for around four years now after attending UNCG for a biology degree. For a short while afterwards, Hefney taught at Dudley High School but says she eventually decided to follow her passion for cooking.

“I’ve always hosted family dinners, and I started to branch out,” Hefney says.

After Hefney had her daughter Ava, she started a food business that she named after her only child and Ava’s Cuisine and Catering was born. Initially Hefney started with a food truck and then ventured into catering events for local businesses and weddings. She had waitressed through college so knew how to work customer service and run a seamless front-of-house operation.

Right now, Hefney is based out of City Kitch, a local community kitchen, but soon, she’ll be moving Ava’s Cuisine into the old Iron Hen location.

“We have a lot of people walking by,” Hefney says. “Everyone in the area has been supportive.”

Using some family recipes, Hefney focuses on creating well-crafted, delicious soul food. Some signature items include fried chicken, mac and cheese — a recipe passed down from her Grandmother Rose, collard greens and yams; all things that she’s used to cooking for her family. She’ll have vegan and vegetarian options too, something she’s learned to add to her repertoire after getting requests through catering.

“I’m not vegan, but the only reason why we decided to offer vegan options is we do a lot of wedding and corporate events, and more people are moving vegetarian.”

Some plant-based options include a lasagna, “hamburger” steak and macaroni and cheese.

“People can’t even tell that they’re vegan,” Hefney says.

To come up with her recipes, Hefney says she draws inspiration from ideas she sees on the Food Channel as well as trying to create her own version of popular restaurant meals. For example, she offers her own version of the Ruth’s Chris stuffed chicken.

“A lot of those recipes are like chemistry,” Hefney says. “Food is like chemistry because you have to add a lot of seasoning, water to make it right. A lot of it ends up being off the top of my head.”

Her favorite item on the menu is the pulled pork.

“It’s hard to find pulled pork,” Hefney says. “It’s smoky, it has a good texture. We make our own barbecue sauce; it’s kind of vinegar based, but it has a sweet tangy side to it as well.”

Ava, now five, also helps out around the kitchen.

“She is essentially a boss baby,” Hefney says. “She takes pride in knowing that something is named after her. She’s a big inspiration for me; she’s the reason why I started Ava’s Cuisine to give her a better quality of life after teaching. She definitely is hands on when I cook at home.”

In terms of the location, Hefney says it’s been a process but the logistics fell into place towards the end of last year.

“I think the biggest thing I tell myself is that when something is for you, it’s for you,” Hefney says. “We found [the location] in November online. I wasn’t really looking for it, but I decided to follow up on it. It really just fell in my lap.”

Since then, she’s been at the location almost every day working on adding her own touches to the interior. The plan, she says, is to open in August.

While the brick-and-mortar location won’t have table service, customers will be able to walk in and order food to-go, kind of like a deli. She’ll also continue catering, using the space’s kitchen to fulfill orders.

Once the business is open, Hefney says she’d like to give back by partnering with local homeless-advocacy organizations as well as connecting with both UNCG and NC A&T State University so students can access her food.

“Me being an alumni, I definitely want to accept SpartanCash and Aggie Dollars so students can come get good food too,” Hefney says. “A lot of times these students miss home-cooked food.”

As the grand opening date grows nearer, Hefney says she’s excited to grow her business.

“Everybody has been very welcoming,” she says. “We’re looking forward to the great things we can bring to the neighborhood and surrounding area.”

What happened to the Iron Hen?

As Triad City Beat reported in the past, the owner of Iron Hen, Lee Comer, has faced allegations of racism and financial incompetence in the last few years.

In 2018 and 2019, TCB reported that the “restaurateur recently became the target of wide-ranging allegations of racial discrimination and other labor violations in the wake of a mass staff exodus.”

Comer opened the Iron Hen and her catering company in 2010.

In addition to being the owner of Iron Hen, Comer was also briefly the owner of the Morehead Foundry, located near the southwest corner of the Downtown Greenway. Comer opened the foundry in 2016. The refurbished building included kitchen space for Fresh. Local. Good Food Group’s catering service, along with Four Flocks and Larder, Revolution Burger, the Baker & the Bean and Hush speakeasy. The whole complex has been vacant for the last several years, much like Iron Hen.

As reported by TCB, Comer had secured a $375,000 loan from the city of Greensboro in 2015 after Comer agreed to invest $3.2 million to and to create 29 new fulltime jobs and 61 part-time jobs paying at or above Guilford County’s living wage of $9.12 per hour. However, follow-up reporting in 2019 found that Comer owed more than $260,000 in payments for an economic parking lot loan for the foundry.

According to Comer’s Facebook posts, she now runs an online catering business called Sirvve. An email to the city asking about Comer’s outstanding loan payments went unanswered.

Learn more at avascuisineandcatering.com or follow them on social media @avas.cuisine.ll

BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

North Church Street, Greensboro

Former home of the Greensboro News & Record. The 6.6 acre lot in downtown Greensboro, owned by BH Media, has been empty since the paper moved to a smaller location in 2020. Developer Ryan Companies US has secured the option to purchase and develop the expansive property.

CROSSWORD SUDOKU

by Matt Jones

Across

1. Haydn’s nickname

5. The Big ___ (“Chantilly Lace” singer)

11. Drain of energy

14. River that passes by Essen, Germany

15. European country, to its residents

16. Boxing victory, for short

17. Nucleus locale

18. Aggressive handshaker’s quality

20. Isle of ___ (Irish Sea land)

21. Nuts

22. 15-Across’s capital, to us

23. Frankincense, e.g.

25. Amorphous (or creepy U.K. TV character Mr. ___... yeah, go look it up)

27. ___ Bell (Anne Bronte pseudonym)

28. Protagonist in “Racing Stripes,” e.g.

31. Nondiscrimination hiring letters

32. Sudden good fortune, for example

35. Prefix with “allergenic”

36. A complete buzzkill

37. “Buyer beware” phrase

41. Shade enhanced by a diet of shrimp

44. Musical tool

47. “All good, thanks”

48. 1980s TV character Brewster

49. Home of the world’s tallest building for about six years

51. Like Rembrandt

52. “Alice’s Restaurant” singer Guthrie

53. Pop-up breakfast food?

56. Director Ang

58. Betty White’s character on “The Golden Girls”

61. Indian restaurant basketful

62. “Another Green World” composer Brian

63. School poster paper

64. Celtic great Larry

65. Tax form ID

66. “Why am I included in this?”

67. A&E component

Down

1. Baby buggy, to Brits

2. Absolute sovereignty

3. Espionage device, pre-digital era

4. Triceps spot

5. Yellowstone grazers

6. Palindromic name

7. Gearshift position

8. Bit of strategy

9. One at Oktoberfest

10. Dryer at a car wash, sometimes

11. Flash light?

12. “Kimberly ___” (2023 Best Musical

Tony winner)

13. Olive’s guy

19. Miracle-___ (plant food brand)

21. Charles, now

24. “___ Flubber” (movie sequel)

25. Carried along, colloquially

26. Fond du ___, Wisconsin

27. Koln complaint

28. Goes fast

29. ___ Trinket (Elizabeth Banks, in “The Hunger Games”)

30. Straightforward

33. As a friend, in Paris

34. Completely broken

38. Author Upton

39. German Y.A. fantasy series adapted into a 2008 movie

40. Blue, in jigsaw puzzles, often

42. Two Truths and a ___ (icebreaker game)

43. Orchestral work

44. Disconcerting looks

45. Producer Spelling and others

46. Subject of the article “How Tom Hanks Made Us Cry Over a Volleyball”

50. “The Raven” author

51. Ram maker

53. City northeast of Reno

54. Chutzpah

55. Eat away (at)

57. Remnants

59. On the double

60. “Boo-___!”

61. Hawks’ and Bucks’ org.

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:

‘Another Steak Out’ — they all make the cut.

© 2023 Matt Jones

Community Table 2023

Join Triad Local First on Sunday, October 8th for Blue Jeans, Bourbon, and the Blues!

Sunday, October 8th from 4:30pm to 9:30pm at The Gardens at Gray Gables

Dancing | Food | Silent Auction

Cigars | Bourbon Tastings

Music by Mama and the Ruckus, Chef is Brian Dicey of Starmount Country Club, Cigars by Silver Smoke

Join us as we celebrate local chefs, farmers, breweries, wineries, distilleries and all things food and drink! In addition to partaking in some delicious, seasonal, fresh, local foods and beverages you will be supporting those in the Triad food-beverage industry.

Tickets on sale now at triadlocalfirst.org