TCB Aug. 3, 2023 — New Kids on the Block

New Kids Block Block on the

Neighbors touts good drinks, good food and good times for all

BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA | PG. 10

CITY LIFE

THURSDAY AUG. 3

Classic Beer Tasting @ the Brewer’s Kettle (HP) 6 p.m.

Join Dave Armstrong for a free tasting of five classic beers from five different breweries! Visit the brewery’s Facebook page for updates.

Sunset Salutations @ Bailey Park (WS) 6 p.m.

Grab your water, mat and towel and head to Bailey Park the first Thursday of each month until October for this free, all-levels community yoga series. This session will be with Lotus Yoga. Check the event page on Facebook for more information.

by MICHAELA RATLIFF

FRIDAY AUG. 4

Mo’Empanadas @ Nomad Wine Works

(HP) 5 p.m.

Pair your wine with authentic Colombian street food as Mo’Empanadas serves up three varieties of empanadas including beef, chicken or vegan. More info at the event page on Facebook.

AUGUST 3 - 5

chase tickets at tangercenter.com

SATURDAY AUG. 5

Summer Block Party @ Church Ave. (HP) 11 a.m.

Riders in the Sky @ Steven Tanger Center (GSO) 8 p.m.

“America’s Favorite Cowboys” Riders in the Sky have solidified themselves as modern-day icons of Western music. Join the Grammy Award-winning group for a concert full of cowboy-inspired country music and “way-out Western wit.” Pur-

The Blooming Board and HP Trousers invite you to a block party to enjoy treats by the Blooming Board and other food trucks, drink specials, exciting activities and more. Live music starts at 3. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

Find more events and add your own to our calendar at triad-city-beat.com/local-events

BUSINESS IS BUILT HERE

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

Mitch McConnell doesn’t deserve your empathy

The memes came fast, and they were furious.

there was Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

This is the man who actively pushed for the Keystone XL pipeline, which cut through native lands and could lead to environmental contamination.

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

Noah Kirby noah@triad-city-beat.com

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

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

First copy is free, all additional copies are $1. ©2022 Beat Media Inc.

WEBMASTER

Sam LeBlanc

ART

ART DIRECTOR

Aiden Siobhan aiden@triad-city-beat.com

COVER:

Design by Aiden Siobhan

by Sayaka Matsuoka

Even before I had seen the actual footage of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suffering a health episode last week in which he froze and stopped speaking in the middle of a press conference, I saw the numerous clips on Instagram and TikTok making fun of the incident.

Various users, many of them millennials and zoomers, clipped the scene and added captions like, “Me when the Olive Garden server asks me, ‘Let me know when,’ as they grate the parmesan.”

But then the backlash to the reactions

Headlines like “Glitch McConnell? Senator’s frightening health moment shouldn’t be TikTok fodder,” and “Mitch McConnell memes are another sign of the internet at its worst,” started flooding Facebook feeds.

And I’m here to tell you that it’s bullshit.

Sure, there’s an argument for having sympathy, for not making light of people’s medical scares. But this isn’t just any old Joe that we’re talking about. This is about Mitch McConnell — the man who voted against providing medical treatment for 9/11 first responders, not once, but twice

This is the man who opposed stricter campaign finance laws, which ultimately led to a little Supreme Court case called Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the reason why the wealthy and corporations are able to wield incredible influence on our elections.

This is the man who introduced legislation to eliminate the estate tax (which died in committee).

This is the man who blocked bills that would have increased election security after Mueller’s investigation found that

This is the man who told former President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Paris Agreement

This is the man who led efforts against the Affordable Care Act time and time again.

But perhaps most importantly, this is the man who led the action to block former President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court after Justice Antonin Scalia died, leading to Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch.

He is one of the primary reasons why people’s access to reproductive health has been stripped away in this country.

Mitch McConnell doesn’t care about people. This is not a man who deserves sympathy or empathy.

Hundreds of thousands of people have suffered under his inhumane actions.

So when McConnell glitched last week, many of us smirked. We made memes. We made jokes.

It’s the least we can do in a system that has left many of us feeling powerless and voiceless.

Because under his watch, he has taken away free and fair elections, he has taken away access to healthcare, he has taken away constitutional rights.

You can’t extend empathy to someone who doesn’t acknowledge the humanity of others. It doesn’t work that way.

Imagine if people made memes of Hitler when he was around, and then people clapped back to say, “Well, he’s still human.”

So yeah, if you don’t want people to cheer, make memes or dance on your grave when you’re dead, try not being a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, hollowed out, turtle shell of a human being.

Because we don’t empathize with tyrants.

It’s a more welcoming environment, and that’s maybe historically because people weren’t welcome anywhere else. But instead of being bitter about it, they would welcome people who came there.

Jerry Cooper, pg. 13

INTERNET

A CityBeat story

by Gale Melcher

On July 17, mayor of Greensboro Nancy Vaughan held a meeting to discuss the possibility of a countywide 1-percent prepared food and beverage tax with local restaurateurs after requesting their presence in a July 10 email

A slide from the July 17 presentation obtained by Triad City Beat states that the purpose of a 1-percent prepared food and beverage tax is to “fund new capital investments for the arts, entertainment, sports and tourism in an equitable manner that will benefit all residents of Greensboro and Guilford County.”

Vaughan told Triad City Beat that this tax money could go toward “improvements” and “maintenance” for the city’s assets like Bryan Park Soccer Complex which, according to the mayor, is “beginning to show an awful lot of age.” Greensboro’s share of the tax’s revenue could also go toward an exterior renovation for the Greensboro Coliseum, the Grasshopper Stadium, International Civil Rights Center & Museum and more, according to Vaughan’s presentation.

However, many local food business owners remain skeptical at best about the proposal.

TCB spoke to restaurant owner and attendee Tal Blevins, who helms Machete’s fine dining experience as well as the forthcoming Yokai. Machete was a James Beard semifinalist in the category for Best New Restaurant last year.

According to Blevins, Vaughan’s presentation was informative. Blevins also

said that while he thinks encouraging people to visit Greensboro is a good thing, he doesn’t believe the ends justify the means.

“I was glad to get some information about it, but things are still very cloudy for me,” Blevins said. “It just seems odd to me to focus on the one industry that’s been hit the hardest over the past three years to try to bolster another industry, especially for a lot of city-run, government-run facilities.”

The Bodega — a sandwich shop, bar and convenience-store hybrid — opened its doors downtown right before the pandemic hit. Co-owner Daniel Leonard said he doesn’t feel like it’s been clearly explained enough to consumers “what’s really going on and why they’re imposing this tax.”

“All they see is a 1-percent added tax on the check, and of course since we’re the ones who print the check and give you the service, we’re the ones who seem like we’re charging you this tax,” he said. “It makes it look like we’re the ones imposing the tax on all the consumers when it’s really the city.”

During the meeting, Vaughan made an argument about the tourists that contribute to the city’s restaurants.

“They’re using our facilities,” she said. “They’re coming into our restaurants. Why shouldn’t they help — just like in Raleigh and Charlotte and Cumberland — why shouldn’t they help us pay for some of those events?”

Vaughan’s claim that the tax will mainly affect the pockets of tourists doesn’t sit well with Blevins.

“It’s ludicrous to me to say something like, ‘This is going to be funded by

Machete owner Tal Blevins poses for a photo during the pandemic.

PHOTO BY TODD TURNER

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.

‘It’s a burden’: Local food business owners push back against idea of 1-percent food tax

people coming from the outside.’”

Instead, Blevins described the service and food industries as a pyramid.

“The base of that pyramid are your quick-service restaurants like Bojangles, Biscuitville, Cookout, McDonalds, Chick-fil-A, those are the restaurants that get the most traffic and get the most people,” he said.

He argued that the tax could affect Greensboro’s residents who are just trying to make ends meet.

“A vast majority of those are going to be locals, people grabbing a quick bite to eat, people getting off work trying to get some food for their family,” he said. “Especially for the poor and working class who are looking for inexpensive food, just to be able to get something on the table after they’ve been working an 8-12 hour day. It’s by far a bigger majority of the local residents that are going to be paying this tax to then fund event centers and arenas that oftentimes these working-class folks can’t even afford to go to. They can’t afford a $300 concert ticket.”

It’s different at a place like Machete, Blevins said.

When people visit Machete, they’re prepared to pay a higher price, Blevins said, noting, “We’re a fine dining destination restaurant. When people come in from out of town for sporting events, concerts, we’re a destination for them.”

Veneé Pawlowski, pastry chef and owner of Black Magnolia Southern Patisserie, told TCB that she’s stayed up to date on the possibility of the tax since word got out about it.

“I don’t think it’s in any way fair to small business owners who are already having to deal with increasing food costs,” Pawlowski said, adding that she tries to price her goods affordably, “while still focusing on maintaining quality and turning a profit to stay operational.”

What’s next?

While city officials have called these meetings preliminary, several meetings already occurred last year between city and county officials as well as major power players and business moguls.

“If you’re doing this in secrecy, man, that’s gonna be some bad blood,” Blevins said.

Vaughan has stated that there will be a number of meetings over the next couple of months, asserting, “I think saying it was done in secrecy is kind of ludicrous.”

Emails between power players and government officials show interest in passing the prepared-food tax without a voter referendum.

In one of the emails analyzed by TCB, Greensboro Coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown wrote, “We are compiling information to present to our

Committee such as: a listing of Cities/Counties within the State who have enacted this tax (WITHOUT THE NECESSITY OF A VOTER REFERRENDUM [sic]), the legislation models used by Wake County and Mecklenburg County/ Charlotte; and the intended limited purposes of the benefits of this funding source.”

Vaughan’s presentation also noted competition with the facilities in Wake and Mecklenburg counties.

“If we want to compare ourselves to Charlotte… to Raleigh,” Blevins said, “Then you’re going to have to be as competitive with your tax policies as you are with the expediency and cooperation and partnership of government,” adding that while it took the city 15 weeks to approve his building permit, his friend in Charlotte got theirs approved in one.

“There are a lot of small-business owners that are very frustrated with how slow and lacking governmental resources [are]. And I’m not just talking about money, I just mean access to people getting permits approved, even to start construction, getting inspectors out,” Blevins said. “It’s a burden on small business owners, and especially on underserved communities and minority business owners to have to deal with a government that is so slow. Because time is money.”

Blevins doesn’t think that a referendum will work. Durham County made the adoption of a prepared-foods tax in 2008 contingent upon voter approval in a referendum, but voters rejected the imposition of the tax. When asked in June if a voter referendum would be used to pass the tax, Vaughan didn’t give a clear answer.

“I would say everything’s on the table, but again it’s gotta be right for the city, for the county,” she said. “There are just a lot of moving parts, and we’re just not there yet.”

For local businesses like Blevins’ and Pawlowski’s, the tax isn’t right for them.

“As a very new business owner, this makes me very uneasy,” Pawlowski said. “It doesn’t seem at all supportive of the many small local businesses that help make Greensboro an ideal place to live.”

Blevins also stated that he doesn’t see how placing the burden of a prepared food tax on the service industry is an “effective way and a fair way” to support Greensboro’s facilities and amenities.

“It really is your local businesses and especially restaurants and bars that give — sorry for the pun — that little old flavor to any area,” Blevins said.

THE

For more information, scan the QR code or email chris@triad-city-beat.com.

TRIAD’S LOCAL EVENT TICKETING PLATFORM POWERED BY TRIAD CITY BEAT

is the local ticketing platform created exclusively for Triad-area community events. It’s free, easy to use, and fully customizable with all-access ticketing features to meet your event’s unique needs.

City of Greensboro looks to conduct a pay equity study for the first time in history

by Gale Melcher

For the first time in its history, the city of Greensboro has partnered with a public accounting and consulting firm to take a closer look at how much employees get paid through a pay equity study.

During a July 27 work session, the city’s People & Culture Director Jamiah Waterman told council members that they are working toward making the city “internally equitable” with the accountancy and advisory firm Baker Tilly. The People & Culture Department was previously known as the Human Resources Department.

In an email to Triad City Beat, Waterman wrote that the city has “not discovered any equity issues in regard to age, race or gender,” but that the study will help them uncover if there are any pay discrepancies between employees. Waterman added that the city is committed to paying employees “fairly and transparently.”

“If those differences cannot be explained by legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reasons the study will recommend appropriate corrective actions,” Waterman wrote. “The study will also help us to identify and remedy any compensation policies or practices that may have contributed to the pay discrepancies in the first place.” Waterman stated that it will also help the city prevent and mitigate legal risks, adding, “Most importantly, this pay equity study supports the city’s commitment to equity principles.”

Jada Kent, a representative for Baker Tilly, described the outline of the team’s project as they work to determine inequities in compensation during a presentation to council members and city officials. The team will work “handin-hand with the city,” Kent said, and collect a “whole bunch of documentation” in terms of what positions the city has, how those positions are defined, how they are compensated and who is in those positions, as well as policy handbooks and organizational charts.

The team will analyze employee and pay data — both current and historical

— compiled by the city with regard to starting pay, reclassification pay, merit/ step increases and promotional pay. Kent said that they will examine how that pay is distributed relative to demographic information like gender, race and age, “to determine if we’ve got any disparities in how those policies have been administered.”

The team will collect “every piece of data that we can get our hands on, and that includes some of that demographic data which is sensitive information,” Kent said during the presentation.

Kent added that this information would be collected from the city through a secure website and that they will not document or publish any employee specific information.

The current minimum wage for city workers is $18 per hour. The highest paid government employee is Greensboro Coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown, who racks up a $418,615 yearly salary according to data from Open Gate City, which includes current city employee salaries as of the close of the last pay period.

Kent said that they are looking at an August start date and estimate wrapping the project up and making their recommendations toward the end of the year, likely in November.

What could change?

Kent said that when they bring their recommendations back to the city, they may include adjustments to the city’s pay policies or pay practices, “maybe just in the way that they’re framed or the way that they’re applied.”

It may also include a clarification in the city’s compensation philosophy, Kent said, adding, “What do you believe about how employees should be compensated?”

Kent also said that they may suggest one-time pay adjustments to make

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.

corrections.

An excerpt from Kent’s presentation reads: “While immediate adjustments can help achieve equity in the short-term, it’s critical to investigate and fix the root causes as well so you can ensure inequities don’t creep back in over time.”

“Doing a pay equity study speaks to the city’s commitment to pay equity of the person, and so these adjustments to your pay policies and practices are gonna really lend itself towards the long-term insurance of making sure you keep pace with that,” Kent said.

District 3 council member Zack Matheny inquired how much will be spent on the study, to which Waterman replied that the amount has not been set yet.

“We know this is important work and so we’re committed to actually performing the work, but I don’t have a total cost or a not-to-exceed amount,” Waterman said. “If at any point in time we’re not getting our money for the value, then we’ll certainly make adjustments.” In an email to TCB, Waterman said that while they do not know the final costs, they believe that $50,000 is a reasonable estimate.

Assistant City Manager Larry Davis said that this project has been estimated to take 150 hours. “The highest hourly charge for the various consultants who will be working on this is $375 an hour, so the top end of this will be approximately $56,000,” Davis said, adding that this range would only happen if every hour of work was done by the highest-paid consultant, “which won’t be the case.”

In response to a question from District 5 representative Tammi Thurm, Davis confirmed that receiving the study’s results in November would allow sufficient time to build it into the following year’s budget.

Why we can’t believe the NC GOP

We hate it when the NY Times parachutes into North Carolina and acts like they know everything. But this week’s NYT piece on the election — and defection — of Rep. Tricia Cotham (R-Mecklenberg) hits a lot of solid notes, and uncovers some facts that reporters on the ground in NC missed.

From the piece: “[W]hat was unusual — and not publicly known at the time — was that the influential people who had privately encouraged Ms. Cotham to run were Republicans, not Democrats.”

Sure, we all suspected that this was a GOP scheme from the beginning. But now we know she and her cronies likely planned this the whole time.

And it underscores the fact that these are untrustworthy people. There is a legal term known as “bad faith” used to describe such actions. Black’s Law Dictionary defines it as “generally implying or involving actual or constructive fraud, or a design to mislead or deceive another, or a neglect or refusal to fulfill some duty or some contractual obligation, not prompted by an honest mistake as to one’s rights or duties, but by some interested or sinister motive.”

There is little question as to whether Cotham acted in bad faith

by raising campaign funds to fight abortion restrictions and by accepting the Democrat nomination for the very blue District 112. Her very first act as a Republican was casting the deciding vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of an abortion ban in the state.

According to the NY Times, Cotham is willing to return campaign contributions made on the basis of her since-detracted stance on abortion in NC. But that’s not enough. In contract law, bad faith alone is not enough to void a contract but it is considered a breach of contract, exposing the bad actor to legal action in the form of a lawsuit. That means her contributors could likely sue her for the return of their funds if she had not pledged to return them.

But what of the people who voted for her on that basis? Can they sue to reclaim their votes — both in the primary, where she defeated two other Democrats, and in the general election, which she won by almost 20 points?

Probably not. She’ll have to face those voters again, though, if she decides to run for re-election. That is, unless her new Republican friends cut her a new, GOP-friendly district, where bad faith is seen as virtue and not vice.

We all suspected that this was a GOP scheme from the beginning.

Dr. Sellars Educate

e hear a lot about the nursing shortage in this country. The  United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast predicted in the September/October 2019 issue of the  American Journal of Medical Quality that a shortage of registered nurses will spread across the country through 2030.

COVID-19 brought waves of pandemic fatigue across an already stressed profession. Data shows that the total number of nurses in this country decreased by more than 100,000 between 2020-21. There’s a health emergency brewing, but also an opportunity — nurses have ample opportunities for employment, and many are considering joining their ranks.

But there is also an acute shortage of nurse educators in the United States. And as demand rises for new nurses, nursing schools are finding themselves understaffed and not up to meet the coming crisis.

That’s the problem Dr. Bridgett Byrd Sellars addresses at its source.

“We are on a mission to help every single nurse educator achieve certification,” Dr. Sellars says.

After a 28-year career both as a nurse and a nurse educator, Dr. Sellars has created a program that helps Nurse Educators pass their certification exam, and advance their skills and competencies in nursing education. And she can help experienced nurses complete their training to become Nurse Educators in as little as 6-Months.

There are courses designed specifically for each exam, with resources like a review course, a study guide and 1-on-1 coaching. For those who need accountability in their journey to success, Dr. Sellars hosts a monthly boot camp to review exam materials and to offer encouragement throughout the process.

Dr. Sellars’ newest program, Novice Nurse Educator (NNE), promises a transition from nurse to nurse educator, a 6-month course that equips all candidates with the training and skills they need to move forward in their careers The NNE program starts Oct. 30 — scholarships are available for those who qualify — and the application deadline is Oct. 1. Applications are now available at:  https://forms.gle/CkCMuyQRzZi6bNBw9, and you can find more information at the website, drsellarsedicate.com.

New kids on the block: Neighbors

They stare out blankly at the viewer, their mouth turned into a slight frown. The warm pink background behind them and the colorful parrot that hangs nearby juxtapose the figure’s lifeless expression.

“We’ve been asked, ‘Is that someone’s grandma or is that Mitch McConnell? Or Bernie?’” explains Ellen Moore, one of the co-owners of Neighbors in Greensboro. “It was actually like $2 at a thrift store.”

The painting of the androgynous figure lives on the side of a refrigerator behind the counter at Greensboro’s new bartender-owned cocktail bar and barbecue joint. Around the corner, framed paintings of horses, a unicorn and a hissing panther add to the absurdity of the space. The vibe is like a cross between the inside of your grandma’s sitting room and the pages of I-Spy, the millennial version. And that’s exactly how the owners want it.

“It’s cluttered and cozy,” says co-owner Max Bar-

wick. “I can’t talk enough about how sterile a lot of places are.”

Despite the goofy atmosphere, the co-owners of Neighbors tout some of the best drinks in town. And that’s because they’re all industry veterans. They don’t look it, but they’ve got 75 years of experience between them.

The group includes Barwick, Moore, Jake Skinner, Ryan Hill and Emma Smith. Many worked in the 1618 restaurant group and at Dram & Draught, both of which are known for their impressive cocktail programs. But they didn’t all start there. Barwick worked at Subway and Applebee’s for a time, while Moore sang songs and served cones from behind a Cold Stone counter. Others have pulled stints at Westerwood Tavern, Mellow Mushroom, local sushi bars and at Quantaince Weaver locations, which include Green Valley Grill and Lucky 32.

Having worked for so many businesses over the

What is your favorite drink at Neighbors?

Max: Piña colada. “I think it’s one of the best ones that people don’t do correctly.”

Ryan: Yachts on the Reg. “It’s a nostalgia bomb.”

Ellen: Titi Mai Tai

Jake: Blue Hawaiian. “I just think it’s hilarious to see blue drinks floating around the bar.”

Emma: Yachts on the Reg. “It really embodies who we are as a bar.”

The five co-owners collectively have 75 years of experience in the service industry.

touts good drinks, good food and good times for all

by Sayaka Matsuoka

[E]veryone can be here to have a good time.

“ “

years, the group often fantasized about what it would be like to open and run their own place — the kind of place where bartenders call the shots (pun intended), create their own menus and, yeah, decorate the space with flamingos or paintings of people who look vaguely like politicians.

On May 31, the crew opened their doors and the business has been popping ever since.

“I think that in Greensboro there hasn’t really been an in-between like us,” Hill says. “There are dive bars, but also places that are more high-end where you’re seated by hostess…. We wanted to do something in the middle.”

The name came as easily as the idea.

“We wanted to be a neighborhood bar,” Hill says, “because we’re butted up to Fisher Park.”

That’s where many of the group have lived, oftentimes with each other or right next door.

“All of us have been neighbors at some point,” Moore says.

The building, painted a fitting millennial pink, is easily recognizable even though it’s tucked behind Joymongers and Deep Roots Market.

“The color makes us a landmark,” Barwick says. It reminds Hill of the old-school buildings in Little Havana.

“Now, it’s like you can’t miss it,” Skinner says.

The name of the bar, lovingly painted on the side of the building in a retro font, recalls the Cheers sitcom logo, and adds to the inviting mood.

“People go out to have fun,” Barwick says, “so we’re making it more fun with decor, making it feel welcoming. A lot of places you walk in and feel priced out of, but we wanted to make sure to have things for everyone. No pretension, have it be casual. So everyone can be here to have a good time.”

The group also wanted to make sure to price the menu — which includes 21 drinks and hot dogs and sandwiches — affordably so virtually anyone could enjoy a visit. For example, all of the cocktails are $13 with the exception of highballs. And that was intentional because Barwick says oftentimes people order drinks based on price rather than what they actually want to drink. But at Neighbors, patrons can come in and “choose their own destiny,” Moore says.

“You can spend $40-50 if you want to get a couple of cocktails or you can get in and spend like $8 for food and a beer or shot,” she says.

The food menu focuses on comfort eats like barbecue and hot dogs, which include a Chicago dog, courtesy of Hill who helms from the Windy City.

“My grandpa always thought the world’s problems could be solved over a meal with a hot dog,” he says.

Because the bar stays open until 2 a.m., the group says they wanted to look out for their fellow industry workers who want a delicious, affordable bite to eat that isn’t Taco Bell.

“No one fed us,” Barwick says of coming up in the service industry. “So we’re looking out for our own.”

Part of being bartender-owned includes an attention to pay. The owners make the same as their staff, with front-of-house starting at $7.50/ hour plus tips and back-of-house getting $17/hour. And that’s to show how working in the service industry can be a viable career path for people.

“This is a real career and real job, this is not just a side job,” Moore says. “We want to pay people appropriately so they can do this as a career.”

The drinks at Neighbors include takes on classics like the Titi Mai Tai which includes tangerine and tamarind to the more ridiculous Yachts on

the Reg, a strawberry Nesquick milk-washed daiquiri.

“It’s a nostalgia bomb,” Hill says.

It’s pink, it’s delicious, it’s fun, but don’t let the charm fool you. It takes 36 hours to make.

“The punch and milk have to sit together at least overnight,” Barwick explains. “Then the straining process takes 9-10 hours, and you have to wait for the citrus to separate from the milk. You get like one drop every four seconds.”

The drink kind of epitomizes Neighbors as a whole, says Smith.

“It’s very thought out and a ton of prep goes into making it, but it’s still silly and approachable and doesn’t take itself seriously,” she says. “It’s an easy, effortless good time that is very well-curated behind the scenes.”

The rest of the group agrees.

“Like our overly involved sangria,” Moore says. “That’s how everything we do is: overly involved.”

For the owners, everything on the customer experience side is meant to be careless, but behind the pink walls, the crew is using their septuagenarian knowledge to create that effortless quality so that anyone who walks through the doors feels at home.

“We wanted to make a place where we love to hang out,” Moore says.

“It makes it hard to take a day off,” Skinner adds.

To which Barwick sums up, “Yeah, I love hanging out here.”

Neighbors is located at 507 Simpson St. They’re open 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Follow them on Instagram at @neighbors_gso.

Authoring Action’s fundraiser at Winston-Salem’s historically Black golf course empowers youth

by Sayaka Matsuoka

They almost seem like they don’t go together. That’s what the board at Authoring Action thought when Audra Byers, the marketing and development director for the organization, brought up the idea of a golf fundraiser to support their youth programs.

Authoring Action, founded in 2003, started off as a program for “at-risk” youth and has evolved over the years into a creative nonprofit that seeks to empower the community through writing, arts and filmmaking. The idea of a stuffy golf fundraiser seemed a bit off-brand.

“Our mission at Authoring Action is about equity and justice and lifting up voices,” Byers says. “And golf is like this hoity-toity thing and you think of mostly white people. Tiger Woods is an anomaly.”

That is until Executive Director Lynn Rhoades suggested they host it at Winston Lake Golf Course.

Those who know anything about golf in the area call it one of the hardest courses around. It’s also on the east side of town, and was founded in 1956 as the city’s first Black course.

“The difference in the course across town and Winston Lake is like night and day,” says Jerry Cooper, a photographer for TCB and a local golfer. Cooper is on the committee that helped put together the upcoming fundraiser for Authoring Action, which will take place this Saturday. “The location itself is challenging. Reynolds Park is flat, wide open with some hills. But Winston Lake is an extremely difficult course.”

The reason why?

“They allotted the land somewhere it was not pleasurable for a casual golfer,” Cooper explains. “There’s lots of turns and lots of trees. I love it, but it’s one of the most advanced courses I’ve played on, especially as far as public courses go.”

This weekend, dozens of golfers will take to the green at Winston Lake

with the hopes of conquering the hostile terrain. All of the proceeds from the fundraiser will go to Authoring Action’s Just Us program which helps court-involved teens through participation in the arts.

The point, Byers says, is to raise awareness for the organization, of course, but also to shed light on the historical golf course at the same time.

“The other idea was to get as many Black people out in the same place playing golf,” Byers says.

Since Winston Lake was established in 1956, it’s been a safe haven for Black golfers, not just in Winston-Salem but across the country.

“There used to be this thing called the ‘Chitlin Circuit,’” explains Julius Reese, Winston Lake’s general manager and golf professional of 15 years. “It consisted of minority golf courses up and down the East Coast, and Winston Lake was on that circuit.”

Officially known as the United Golfers Association, the circuit was a group of Black golfers who operated a series of professional tournaments during the years of segregation.

“It was the only place for minorities to play golf at,” Reese says.

According to Winston Lake’s website, the first nine holes were installed on the course in 1956. It wasn’t until eight years later, in 1964, that the other half of the course was constructed.

These days, the clientele is still majority Black but diversity has increased.

“I welcome everybody,” Reese says. “I don’t want to say it’s predominantly a Black golf course.”

Cooper, who still plays holes at Winston Lake regularly, says that when they closed Reynolds Park for a time, the attendance at Winston Lake shot up.

“Now, people love the course,” he says.

And that’s despite the difficulty of play itself.

“I’ve been going there my whole life so I’m very comfortable there,” Cooper

Corey Matthews playing at the Winston Lake Golf Course

PHOTO BY JERRY COOPER

says. “And anyone who has ever played there is like, ‘This is awesome, the vibe is awesome.’ It’s a more welcoming environment, and that’s maybe historically because people weren’t welcome anywhere else. But instead of being bitter about it, they would welcome people who came there.”

Part of being a welcoming course includes teaching kids how to play golf from a young age. Reese, who used to play football, says that getting involved in sports, especially a nontraditional one like golf, can drastically impact a young Black child’s life.

“If we can teach a kid to play golf, that’s a quick ticket to college,” he says. “Especially being minorities in a low-income area that we are located in.”

And that comes from the other kinds of soft skills that are taught through sports, Reese says.

“We don’t only teach them to play golf,” he says. “You use that athletic platform to be a good human, be able to deal with people, to learn perseverance.”

What Winston Lake does through clubs and green, Authoring Action does through pen and paper.

“Adolescence is such a pivotal point in development and it can go one way or another,” Byers says of why Authoring Action works with youth. “It’s looking at the power of words. Not just teaching how to write, but helping people to write with their voices, tell their stories.”

So, they do, in fact, go together.

Learn more and register for Authoring Action’s Winston Lake golf fundraiser at authoringaction.org/events.

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

Bellemeade Street, Greensboro

Summer evening with the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

by Matt Jones

Across

1. Anti-apartheid org.

4. Originated

9. Fabric (which is underneath the grid, in this puzzle)

14. Fan noise?

15. Concert venue

16. Repeated cry in the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop”

17. Goal of some start-ups

18. Poker player’s wear, maybe

20. “Rubber Capital of the World”

22. Pad kee mao cuisine

23. “Cats” monogram

24. Stoller’s musical partner

26. Stir-fry vegetable

29. “Make love” follower

31. Diner shout

33. Graphic often including insets of AK and HI

35. Dog of Hagar the Horrible

36. “The X-Files” sightings

39. Armadillo feature

42. “Me and Bobby McGee” writer Kristofferson

43. Maroon 5’s “___ Like Jagger”

45. “Werewolves of London” singer Warren

47. Install beforehand, as software

50. Philosophy of oneness

53. Inert gaseous element

55. Delay

57. Caltech degs.

58. Just ___ (minimal amount)

60. “I Will Be” singer Lewis

61. Uncaging (also, kinda the opposite of what this puzzle is)

65. Spheroid

66. “Buy U a Drank” rapper

67. Chopin composition

68. 1970s Cambodian leader Lon ___

69. To this point

70. Royal ___ (butter cookie brand with those reusable blue tins)

71. “What’d I tell ya?”

Down

2. Laptop item (which should go underneath the circled answer in the same column)

3. Dance design, informally

4. It may be presented first

5. “It’s the end of an ___!”

6. Columbia Sportswear president

Boyle who starred in their “One Tough Mother” ads

7. Goth necklace designs

8. 1998 Olympics city

9. One-third of a three-step

10. Primus singer/bassist Claypool

11. Someone who gathers and sells shellfish

12. Reference books that can expand your vocabulary, quaintly

13. Garden equipment

19. One of two guards in a classic logic problem, e.g.

21. With a not-too-bright approach

25. Interstate access

27. Law enforcement orgs.

28. Whittling tool

30. N.C. capital, for short

32. Quart divs.

34. 1990 Literature Nobelist Octavio ___

36. Diamond expert

37. How serious players play

38. Wear out, as a welcome

40. President pro ___

41. Acronym popularized by Rachael

Ray

44. Absorb, with “up”

46. Like the eyebrows in a 2014 viral video

48. “Pictures ___ Exhibition” (Mussorgsky work)

49. Completely avoided

51. Finite units of energy during the day, in a coping mechanism theory

52. Randall ___, creator of XKCD

54. ‘90s treaty acronym

56. Postpone indefinitely (or where you’d see what this puzzle represents)

57. This one, in Spain

59. Brown, in Bordeaux

62. 50-50, for instance

63. 1099-___ (bank tax form)

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:

15

‘That Can Be Arranged’ — there’s a time and place.

© 2022 Jonesin’

CROSSWORD SUDOKU

FROM TO ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATE