CITY LIFE
THURSDAY
Scan the QR code to find more events at triad-citybeat.com/local-events AUGUST 22 - 24
23
Social Media & Politics @ High Point Library (HP) 10 a.m.
Join the Guilford County NC Cooperative Extension to learn about the different ways social media and other news outlets help or hinder your awareness of current events. Learn more and register on Eventbrite
Turpentine
Shine @ Joymongers (GSO)
8 p.m.
Turpentine Shine is back in Greensboro and invites you to this lively performance of a newgrass take on pop tunes as well as traditional mountain music. Find more information on Facebook
FRIDAY
Rhythm & Funk Fest @ Boxcar Bar + Arcade (GSO) 4 p.m.
Boxcar invites you to get on down with funky town during this rhythm and funk fest with “one bad mama jama of a live music line-up.” You’re in for drink specials, good music and a great time. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
Virginia Distillery Co. Whisky Barrel
Aged Sexual Chocolate Release @ Foothills Brewing (W-S) 5 p.m.
Don’t miss the release of this variant of whisky-barrel aged sexual chocolate. Featuring live music by Jim Mayberry. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
24
SATURDAY
Founder’s Vision: The Private Collection of Barbara Babcock Millhouse @ Reynolda House Museum of American Art (W-S) 9:30 a.m.
This exhibition features works of art from the personal collection of the founder of Reynolda. Audiences will be able to view more than 50 objects “reflecting the best of American modernism from artists including Romare Bearden, Alex Katz, Edward Hopper, Joseph Cornell, Georgia O’Keeffe and John Singer Sargent among 40 other artists from the 20th century—all under one roof.” Purchase tickets at reynolda.org
Faces 2: Gallery of Human Emotion @ The Brewer’s Kettle (HP) 7 p.m.
It’s an artsy August! The Brewer’s Kettle invites you to the artist reception of its August gallery: Faces 2. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
25
SUNDAY
End of Summer Foam Party @ Tucker’s Tap Yard (W-S) 3 p.m.
End summer with a bang at Tucker’s Tap Yard during this foam party with an appearance by Sunset Slush. This foam is pup-friendly! Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.
Greensboro Food Truck Festival @ Church Street & Friendly Avenue (GSO) 3 p.m.
The Greensboro Food Truck Festival is back with another go-round with a new location, dazzling entertainment and delicious food in a variety of cuisines. More information at greensborofoodtruckfestivals.com
TUESDAY
Tuesdays at the Trailhead @ 475 Spring
Garden Street (GSO) 6 p.m.
Stop by the Trailhead for this free outdoor fitness class hosted in partnership with the YMCA of Greensboro. All ages and fitness abilities are welcome to enjoy a different type of class and fitness instructor every week. Visit Facebook for more information.
27 29
THURSDAY
Celebration of our Voices @ High Point Country Club (HP) 5:30 p.m.
Women in Motion presents this celebration of women’s voices and their impact. Shared Radiance will perform “Sisters of Mine,” which “celebrates resilience and determination of women suffragists who paved the way for our voices to be heard.” The event is free, but space is limited. Register at womeninmotionhp.org
Pops on the Plaza @ Daniels Plaza (W-S) 6 p.m.
Join the UNCSA wind ensemble for this free concert of music from famous movie soundtracks, musicals and light classical works. Visit uncsa.edu for more information.
OPINION
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
Everything is y2k
SALES
PUBLISHER
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
KEY ACCOUNTS
Chris Rudd chris@triad-city-beat.com
AD MANAGER
Heather Schutz
heather@triad-city-beat.com
TCBTIX
Nathaniel Thomas nathaniel@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
WEBMASTER
Sam LeBlanc
ART
ART DIRECTOR
Aiden Siobhan
aiden@triad-city-beat.com
COVER:
This past weekend, I found myself sifting through the racks at nearby Goodwills in search of just the right top. It had to be neon-adjacent, preferably like a bright pink or chartreuse, maybe with some bejeweled butterflies. If it had ruffle sleeves and was cropped, all the better.
Next, on to the bottoms: I needed a denim miniskirt maybe. Or how about some cargo shorts? Would bright orange basketball shorts work? I pushed past skinny jeans, stretchy leggings and maxi skirts until I spied the answer to my call: Black baggy cargo pants. Bingo. I am, of course, talking about the search for a y2k aesthetic.
You see, I’m going to a y2k party in a few weekends, and I need the right fit.
A few of the things I have in my closet could potentially work, but I really wanted to go all in. Get the elastic choker. Wear the butterfly clips. Adorn the blue eyeshadow. Become brat, if you will.
It’s honestly been so much fun and also exhausting and also hilarious.
Because we all know that what goes around comes back around, in terms of fashion and trends.
When I was in college — which was now about 15 years ago (*cries in early onset back pain*) — I was endlessly chasing the
’80s aesthetic by buying Members Only jackets, dad sweaters and vinyl records. But now, Gen Z has made it so that some of what I consider to be the cringiest trends from my past are somehow the lewk. The vibe. The drip. And I wholly intend on eating up at this damn party. (Editor’s note: Don’t come after me Zoomers for the use of your language. I’m old, and I’m trying. Let me have this.) So there I was, on a Sunday afternoon trying on crop top after halter top after ruched top with drawstrings. And on the way home, I blasted Motion City Soundtrack and JoJo (whatever happened to her?!) through my car’s speakers.
If you had asked 12-year-old me if this is what I was going to be doing in two decades, I would have laughed in my face and called now-32-year-old me “an epic fail.”
But alas, everything these days is y2k. And honestly, I’m not mad about it.
by Sayaka Matsuoka
Samba dancer Courtney Feliz will be teaching classes during Festa next month.
Photo by Shamika Sonia Photography Design by Aiden Siobhan
Me, circa 2008.
PHOTO FROM THE DEPTHS OF FACEBOOK
Winston-Salem to spend over $720,000 on tree removal at the historic Winston Lake Golf Course
by Gale Melcher | gale@triad-city-beat.com
Revitalization efforts for Winston Lake Golf Course are underway, inching the historic playing field closer and closer to the 18th hole in a months-long process to renovate the course.
Located in Winston-Salem’s East Ward, the historic golf course opened in 1956 for Black golfers, who were once restricted to playing at the city-owned Reynolds Park Golf Course and private country clubs after courses had closed.
The site has long held historical significance in the community, and now it’s nationally recognized as such. In October, city councilmembers approved listing the golf course on the National Register of Historic Places; it was officially placed on the registry on Dec. 12.
In 2022, city officials signed off on using nearly $1.72 million for improvements to the course.
One root of the course’s problem lies with its abundance of trees, so the city will spend $720,657 of the funding on tree removal.
The money was originally intended for smoothing fairways and adding grassy areas impacted by erosion and invasive vegetation, according to the city’s Recreation and Parks Director William Royston during a city council finance committee meeting on Aug. 12.
After several meetings with the golfing community and city staff, they decided to remove several trees that were impacting play, Royston explained.
The work will be completed in phases, according to Royston. They plan on closing nine holes, completing work on half of the course, and then moving on to the other nine holes.
The excessive tree cover has been causing limited visibility for golfers as well as drainage problems that negatively affect the health of the greens.
The upcoming work on the golf course comes after a course analysis by Richard Mandell, an “award-winning golf course architect” who also helped renovate Tanglewood Park’s championship course in Clemmons. Mandell was awarded $175,000 for design and construction oversight on the project.
“The tree canopy around the golf course had not had any substantial maintenance over the past 30-40 years, and it was the No. 1 contributing factor to many of the aesthetic as well as the maintenance issues that we had to address there at the course,” Royston said.
City staff had originally expected to begin the work in the early spring, but a series of delays during the bidding process held up the work.
According to city records, close to 50 acres of trees will be removed as part of the city’s plan to improve the golf course. Ninety-eight will be individually removed as well.
“I know you’re happy to see some of those trees moved out,” Mayor Allen Joines joked to Councilmember Robert C. Clark.
“Oh boy, I’ve hit at least that many,” Clark responded.
In total, the city plans on redesigning bunkers, tee box renovation and replacement, designing drainage and irrigation systems renovations, tree removal, fairway improvements and other miscellaneous improvements to the course.
An evaluation panel of staff members from the Vegetation Management and Recreation and Parks departments, as well as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department, reviewed the proposals and selected W Brown Construction, LLC of East Bend, NC for the job.
As part of their work, W Brown Construction will clear and dispose of trees, stumps, roots, brush and shrubs.
The companies were selected via a scoring process with five categories. While W Brown Construction had the most points out of the five eligible companies, A1 Forestry was the only entity to receive any points in the Minority and/or Women-owned Business Enterprise commitment category. However, W Brown Construction scored the highest in terms of price and value.
Mayor Pro Tempore DD Adams, who has been playing golf since the mid-1990s, has been advocating to revamp this course for years.
“I am so happy to see this, this has been a long journey,” she said during the Aug. 12 meeting.
When Adams plays golf at other municipalities’ courses, she said she notices a big difference between the improvements they’ve made on their courses compared to Winston-Salem’s.
“We haven’t done that,” she noted.
“I am hoping that this initiative will kick off us bringing the lake back to its greatness that it was when I first started playing almost 30 years ago,” she added.
People play at the Winston Lake Golf Course on a weekend afternoon in 2023.
PHOTO BY JERRY COOPER
Statewide organization Down Home
NC buys historic Double Oaks B&B in Greensboro as part of their larger mission for poor and working people’s rights
by Sayaka Matsuoka | sayaka@triad-city-beat.com
Situated in an unassuming strip mall with red roofing in Burlington, buttressed by a hair salon and a spa, Down Home NC’s first office is easy to miss. But that’s after the previous tenant’s sign was taken down.
“Before we had it, it was a Dixie Outfitters, a Confederate apparel store,” explains Down Home NC’s co-founder and co-director Todd Zimmer inside the office. “They used to have a flag up on the masthead and everything. They sold shirts that said things like, ‘Robert E. Lee did nothing wrong.’”
That was eight years ago. The replacement of a white-supremacist apparel shop with a statewide coalition that works to increase engagement in rural areas of the state is almost too perfectly symbolic. Since starting their work in 2017, Down Home NC has grown to nine chapters and organizes in 25 counties — all of them in rural parts of North Carolina. They’re as far west as Transylvania and Watauga County, as far east as Pitt County. Their goal? To bring poor and working people in forgotten parts of the state to come together to fight for everything from voting rights to housing affordability to funding for public schools to abortion access.
“Part of our vision has always been that we need to organize in all of rural North Carolina to win the changes that we all need,” Zimmer explains.
That’s why when the organization bought a nationally registered mansion built in 1909, known to locals as the Double Oaks Bed and Breakfast, at a $1.5 million price tag, it caught some community members by surprise.
On Facebook, locals like Tal Blevins, owner of Machete and Yokai and Westerwood neighbor, defended the move as others, like former Greensboro City Council member and current city Neighborhood Development Director Michelle Kennedy, argued against it. That prompted the organization to eventually publish a blog post on its website explaining the reasons behind the purchase of the location, which will be called the Reclaim Carolina Center.
One of the biggest reasons for buying the property, according to Zimmer, is that the location is perfect. Due to being in the center of the state, Greensboro acts as a halfway point between many of the organization’s chapters. Then there’s the layout of the property itself.
Since 2016, the historic Harden Thomas Martin House has been operating as a bed and breakfast after being bought by James and Amanda Keith. In 2021, a local coffee business, Borough Coffee, partnered with the house to offer coffee and eventually breakfast options. (Disclosure: TCB webmaster and Managing Editor Sayaka Matsuoka’s husband, Sam LeBlanc, has worked at Borough in the past). A few years later, Borough
Members of Down Home NC’s staff pose in front of the Double Oaks B&B in Greensboro.
COURTESY PHOTO
opened a permanent coffeeshop inside the house’s sunroom. According to Zimmer, the plan is to keep Borough Coffee in the house as a business partner and tenant. In October, they’ll stop taking reservations for the bed and breakfast and turn the rooms into offices. Downstairs, in the small library, they’ll expand the book selection to include books related to movement work, Zimmer says. The outdoor space, where several weddings and other events have been held in the past, was also a selling point. The plan is to gather staff from Down Home’s chapters across the state to meet at the house to organize and to also host events.
“It’s very common actually, for base-building organizations to do this,” Zimmer says, “to find a movement center to anchor our work.”
And while many people may not know, the organization already had a temporary office inside Transform GSO downtown. Now, it will have its own headquarters.
“We know that we’re going to need to organize probably 30 years, 50 years, really forever right?” Zimmer says. “To actually win and secure and defend the changes that Down Home envisions. And for that we have to have a center that anchors that work where we can bring in the history of what we’ve done, the history of what other movements have done.”
Prior to buying Double Oaks, Zimmer says they looked at other locations across the state. From old farms to church buildings, Down Home staff had been searching for the right place since during the pandemic. And when the bed and breakfast was listed for sale in 2022, they felt they had found the right fit.
“Bringing people together over and over again in the same space provides a ton of value for the organizing itself,” Zimmer says.
‘At
the forefront for the fight for justice’
Rev. CJ Brinson has been busy. On Aug. 14, the Greensboro native drove out to Raleigh to speak at a press conference warning against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s campaign for governor. By noon, he was still driving around looking for somewhere to sit for an interview.
“I think it was rooted in the desire to be in connection with Greensboro’s civil and human rights culture of activism,” Brinson explained on the phone about Down Home’s purchase.
Brinson has worked for Down Home NC for the last three and a half years, first as a regional organizer manager and now as the Black constituency organizer. As an activist and faith leader, Brinson says that Down Home’s creation of a movement center in Greensboro makes a lot of sense.
“Greensboro has always been at the forefront for the fight for justice,” Brinson says.
He lists off the city’s history: how Battleground Avenue is named after events of the Revolutionary War; how downtown was Confederate territory; how stops on the Underground Railroad ran through the city including Guilford College’s campus; how some of the first public golf courses and hospitals to be integrated were in Greensboro; the Woolworth sit-ins; the A&T Four; the 1969 A&T revolt; the 1979 Greensboro Massacre; the creation of the Beloved Community Center where he and others found their calling for justice work.
“If not Greensboro, where would you do it?” he asked.
As the new organizer for Black constituents, Brinson says his focus is on getting Black communities engaged in politics. This year, that’s looked like engaging with Black men and “ensuring their politics is in alignment with working-class struggles,” he explained. He noted how candidates like Robinson and former President Donald Trump have been reaching out to Black men through issues like economics.
“We are doing programming that speaks to the needs of the Black communities that we’re serving,” Brinson says.
And it’s not just Brinson who’s doing the work.
‘The human part of it’
In Down Home’s Burlington office, Jaynna Sims, Ebony Pinnix and Faith Cook sit around a table to discuss the organization’s plans for action. They mention deep canvassing, boot camps and trainings happening across the state.
The model that Down Home uses is fairly straightforward: Each chapter has an organizer who meets with members of that chapter to determine what efforts they’ll focus on for the next six to seven months. The chapters’ members, who pay anywhere from $1 to $20 per month to have a say in how they organize, choose an issue like public education, transportation or housing, and work to campaign on those issues at meetings by city and town councils, county commissions and school boards.
According to Zimmer, last year, the organization helped members in 16 counties get more than $34 million in public investment into their priorities.
The organization also puts together political endorsements for candidates who align with their work and campaign for them during election years. Some of the organization’s
Parris Patterson has been working for Down Home for the last six months as a canvasser.
PHOTO BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA
Leroy Smith told Down Home’s Parris Patterson that he’s not voting for Mark Robinson for governor this fall.
PHOTO BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA
biggest wins include working towards the passage of Medicaid Expansion, getting Cabarrus County commissioners to fund an anti-eviction program and working to elect former Rep. Ricky Hurtado, the first Latino to serve in the state legislature back in 2020.
And while the goals can often seem lofty when first conceived, the work itself is of the simple pavement-pounding and door-knocking variety.
On a hot Monday afternoon, paid canvassers stream out of Down Home’s Burlington office as staff see them off with lines of support.
“Good luck out there!”
“Stay safe!”
“Stay hydrated!”
Twenty-year-old Parris Patterson, who wears a Carolinablue Down Home T-shirt, black basketball shorts and black Crocs, walks out the door and into his car. He then drives three minutes down the road and turns into an apartment complex.
He looks at the list on his phone and approaches the first door. An older black woman answers after Patterson knocks on the door and tells her who he is.
“Hi, I wanted to see if I could talk to you about your vote for governor?”
She cracks the door open and tells him that she’s busy cleaning.
“Sorry to bother you,” Patterson says with an easy smile and wave. On to the next door.
Patterson, who used to sell solar panels door-to-door, says that he’s been working for Down Home for the last six months.
Down Home staff members Jaynna Sims, Todd Zimmer, Ebony Pinnix and Faith Cook sit at a table in the Burlington office.
PHOTO BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA
His favorite part of the job is talking to people.
“This is my favorite job I’ve ever had,” he offers.
Today, Patterson’s script includes asking identified voters who they’re planning on voting for in the gubernatorial race — Republican Mark Robinson or Democrat Josh Stein. He carries postcards that let voters write down their intentions and little cards that explain when the election is.
This work, which Down Home calls “voter mobilization,” is the more streamlined, straightforward kind of door-knocking that staffers engage in. The other kind, called “deep canvassing,” can be a little trickier.
But it’s also Alamance County Board Chair Faith Cook’s favorite kind of work. Cook got involved with Down Home years ago when her daughter’s father had been charged with a felony for attempting to vote. She learned about the organization’s efforts to help defend those who became known as the Alamance 12. Since then, Cook has engaged in canvassing efforts during her time with the organization.
“I love being out on the grounds doing the work,” Cook says. “Boots on the ground.”
With deep canvassing, staff go out and talk to people about one specific issue, usually something a bit controversial like abortion. They approach people by having an honest conversation.
“I know that I’m going into a conversation already with somebody who may not agree with what my beliefs may be,” Cook explains. “So you have to understand that, and you have to be ready to expect some pushback. But then you have to listen. It’s important to listen to why they care or don’t care, or why they feel like that.”
The conversations aren’t party-based or race-based, she says.
Part of the work of canvassers is to share their own personal experiences and ties to the topic. When they do that, they find that people are more willing to open up and share their own.
“When you give people your story, you make them really vulnerable, and they feel safe,” Ebony Pinnix, an Alamance County organizer says. “They feel like they can tell you about their story.”
“It disarms the political rhetoric on these issues and really takes it back down to the human part of it,” adds Jaynna Sims, a Piedmont regional organizing manager.
Zimmer explains that the work of canvassers isn’t to debate the people they encounter. Rather it’s about deep listening and establishing connections.
“We’ve found that that’s a really effective way to reach folks who wouldn’t be reachable any other way, because honestly, even if they disagree with us, we care about them,” Zimmer says. “We want people to have rights. We want them to have healthcare, even if they disagree with us on some issues.”
So far, members and staff of the organization have knocked on more than 100,000 doors this year, Zimmer says.
At the apartments, Patterson continues to knock on residents’ doors. Some people don’t answer, others say they’re too busy to talk. But at the fifth apartment, a Black man wearing a biker shirt answers the door.
Patterson goes through his script, asking Leroy Smith who he’s planning to vote on for governor.
“I’m not voting for no Robinson,” Smith replies quickly.
Wearing a silver chain and a black veterans cap, Smith starts up a conversation with Patterson who asks him more questions about his voting location, whether he’s registered and is aware of the election dates.
Smith explains how he used to be a registered Democrat, but for the last several years, he’s been an independent. Even so, he says he tends to lean Democratic in his politics and this year, he sees Robinson and other right-wing candidates as dangerous. That’s why he’s telling his inner circle to vote.
“I tell my kids, grandkids, that people died for this,” Smith says as he fills out one of Down Home’s cards. “So get up off your butt and go vote.”
After leaving Smith’s doorstop, Patterson reflects on his work over the last several months. He reflects on how he’s spoken at length with people — like older white men — he would typically not strike up a conversation with.
“I’m talking to different people, getting different views,” he says. “It’s so cool.”
And at the end of the day, that’s the simple goal of Down Home, Zimmer says, wherever they are.
“Our project is about building a bigger ‘we’ that can include everyone for the benefit of all.”
Jen Sorensen jensorensen.com
The Ignoramus Ticket wants to cripple NC schools
by Brian Clarey
How much longer must we put up with these fools, these pretenders, these ridiculous candidates for high and important offices who flout their practiced ignorance of the responsibilities of the very seas they wish to attain?
I’m asking! How much longer?
I’m speaking specifically about Lt. Gov Mark Robinson, who is the Republican nominee for NC governor, and Michelle Morrow, who somehow arose from the depths of QAnon to defeat incumbent NC Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt in the Republican primary earlier this year. But these qualifications could apply to any number of candidates this year who just want to watch everything burn.
thinks we should abolish the federal Dept. of Education. Project 2025 shit.
Like a lot of conservatives who don’t understand money, Robinson failed to address the immediate consequences of this move: a $1.67 billion hole in the education budget , which itself accounts for more than a third of the state’s total expenditures every year — we’re talking teacher’s salaries, early childhood education, sports teams, gas for the buses… it’s expensive to educate children, and remember, too, that the system is underfunded by almost $800 million anyway.
How much longer must we endure these fools?
Everyone in North Carolina should be ashamed that Robinson and Morrow have risen to such heights, and we should all be alarmed by the specter of them attaining their goals.
Robinson’s sins against decency, justice and the actual law — he’s most recently been accused of falsifying paperwork for his wife’s nonprofit — are well documented. We’re used to his culture war hot takes, like he’s the heel at a wrestling match. But last week the current lieutenant governor of NC decided to say something about policy that gives a clue to the depths of his ignorance as to how government works.
At a private event, Robinson promised that, once elected, he would reject federal funding for our public schools… on principle? Robinson is one of those who
If turning down free money from the government — for the children! — sounds stupid, get a load of Michelle Morrow, who wants to be in charge of public schools in our state. She defeated an entrenched incumbent despite the fact that she has never interacted with the public school system — her own kids are homeschooled — save for a failed 2022 campaign for Wake County School Board during which she referred to her own cousins, both of whom have disabilities, as “mentally retarded.”
“I know we don’t use that term very often anymore,” she added.
And yes, she’s the candidate who called for former President Barack Obama’s public execution, and was also at the Capitol on Jan. 6
Hard to believe it has come to this, but here we are.
And I need to know: How much longer must we endure these fools, watch the media play it straight when interviewing these reactionaries, pretend that they’re not intent on destroying something vital to our state and upon which more than 1.5 million students and their families rely?
Because I’ve had enough. Haven’t you?
Courtesy of NC Policy Watch
Greensboro prepares for its celebration of all things Folk
In the heart of Downtown Greensboro, museums and shop owners will open their doors to the sounds of electrifying piano keys and soulful voices. Restaurants along Elm Street, concocting on-theme cocktails and their September dinner specials, will harmonize with the smells of local food trucks that line the streets surrounding Center City and LeBauer Parks. The Amtrak brakes will melodize to the strums of bluesy guitars, and the sound of congas will beat as locals and patrons from across the state and region make their way from houses and hotels throughout the city.
In its 10th Anniversary year, the North Carolina Folk Festival is planning Greensboro’s most vibrant block party yet.
The NC Folk Festival, which runs Sept. 6-8, showcases a diverse range of traditional cultures through music, craft, dance, and food. This year’s music headliners include Grammy award winning “Texican Rock-n-Roll” group Los Lonely Boys, two-time Grammy nominee War and Treaty, and North Carolina’s own Bluegrass quartet, Mipso.
Both the festival and the city of Greensboro are eager for visitors to know how encompassing folk really is.
“The definition of ‘folk’ is so broad. It’s not just people with banjos, although the festival definitely brings that,” laughs Sarah Lanse, the Director of Marketing for the Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“The festival’s website describes folk as, ‘The creative expression of communities of people and the ways in which their traditions are shared or communicated,’” she continues.
“It means community. All communities. For the longest time, I thought of folk as Bluegrass, and it’s so much more than that. It’s our cultural history, Greensboro’s history.”
The free, three-day event features more than 300 artists on multiple stages, continuous performances, local and international food trucks, a makers and artists marketplace and, this year, incorporating an even wider footprint of downtown Greensboro, pre- and post-festival party stages.
In the 10 years since Greensboro began hosting, NC Folk Festival reports bringing over 1 million people to downtown, with an economic impact of over $200 million for the city and its residents.
“It’s such an experience for everyone who comes,” Lanse says, “and it generates so much revenue for our city and for our local business owners.”
The festival not only highlights its national talent headliners, it also embraces a theme of community and diverse tradition by collaborating with vendors and businesses from across the Greensboro area.
Festival attendees can begin their weekend of cultural exploration by learning about some of Greensboro’s history at the center of the struggle for individual rights and freedoms. Both the International Civil Rights Center and Museum and the Greensboro History Museum are within the festival grounds.
“Several years ago, the Greensboro History Museum set up a booth with antique wooden toys and crafts that kids could play with and explore,” Lanse says of the history museum’s previous festival displays. “My kids were fascinated; I couldn’t pull them away.”
Encouraging festival attendees to bring their families for the weekend, an area in LeBauer Park will be set up with educational and engaging hands-on activities for children and families, with games and crafts from partner organizations across Greensboro, conveniently located within walking distance of the Miriam P. Brenner
Children’s Museum.
“We want people to come for the festival and to stay because of all of the wonderful ways you can enjoy different cultures in Greensboro,” Lanse explains.
The NC Folk Festival is encouraging attendees to immerse themselves in the city’s attractions for the weekend, offering discounted hotels with free transport to and from the festival, and free bus fare on all Greensboro city bus routes for three days. Festival-goers can also enter a giveaway that offers a two-night luxury stay, Amtrak tickets, VIP access to the festival, and more.
“It’s such a great opportunity for both the community and region to see what amazing things Greensboro has to offer.” Lanse says. “A free event with Grammy winners and Grand Ole Opry performers, dancing, history, incredible food at the festival and throughout the city. There really is something here for everyone to enjoy.”
CULTURE
hen Suzy McCalley is in Brazil, many people see her as a “gringo,” or a non-Hispanic or Latino person. But when she’s back in the US, she feels differently.
“I feel very Brazilian sometimes,” says McCalley on a video call from her family’s home just outside of Rio de Janeiro. “My identity is multilayered. Sometimes I get that feeling of, Where do I really belong? Where is home?”
McCalley — who owns and operates the Breathing Room in Winston-Salem and is married to Mayor Allen Joines — was born and raised in Brazil to a Brazilian mother and American father until she was 9 years old. That’s when her family moved to the US, first by way of Miami, then stints in Texas. Eventually she found herself in Winston-Salem, the city she’s called home for the last 11 years.
Having been in the US for more than two decades, McCalley says that staying connected to Brazil is important to her; she travels back a few times a year to get her fix.
“I’m very much Brazilian American,” she explains. “I love the US, and I love Brazil. I’m one of those folks in a unique position to comment on both and share both.” This year, McCalley is using that unique perspective to host a series of events in
by Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com
Winston-Salem that share parts of Brazilian culture. During four Saturdays in September, multiple organizations across the city will be collaborating to host free events as part of Brazilian Festa featuring Samba music, dance and Brazilian food.
“We have Fiesta every year, but this is the first that is for Brazilian culture specifically,” McCalley explains.
On Sept. 14, the city’s Hispanic League will be putting on their 32nd Fiesta Festival showcasing Hispanic heritage and culture.
“I think a lot of people in the Triad don’t know a lot about Brazilian culture,” she says. “I think it’s such a rich culture that I wanted to share it.”
Part of the effort is to teach people about some of the nuances that make Brazilian culture different from other Hispanic or Latin communities. For example, in Brazil, people don’t speak Spanish as the primary language. Instead, they speak Portuguese. And there’s so much else to share, she says.
“There’s a large emphasis on joy and celebration,” McCalley says. “In Brazil, people are often singing, dancing in the streets. It’s just a part of life.”
As a musician and performer, she says she misses that vibrancy when she’s back stateside.
Samba dancer Courtney Feliz will be teaching classes during next month’s Festa events.
PHOTO BY VYZION PHOTOGRAPHY
A large aspect of Brazilian culture that McCalley hopes will captivate attendees is samba, a kind of music and dance born from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Brazil. With roots in African music, samba is marked by its percussive patterns and eventually helped spawn subgenres like bossa nova which took on more elements from jazz. A fusion of indigenous Brazilian music with African influence and Portuguese flair, the genre is seen as one of Brazil’s most recognizable and important cultural touchstones.
“The music, along with the style of dance, was a form of resistance,” McCalley says. “It was an opportunity to make social commentary on social issues like racism, classism, lack of opportunities for people of color, the conditions of poverty that people lived in. For that reason, it was persecuted and went underground for a while. They said it was just for vagabonds and no-good, low-life, street people.”
In that way, McCalley says she sees samba as similar to hip-hop for its roots in resistance.
“The movement in samba was to legitimize itself through things like the Samba school and then Carnival where samba is the focus,” she says.
During the Festa, attendees will have a chance to take a samba dance class with dancer Courtney Feliz, hear a live samba band and even make their own Carnival headdress. A local husband-wife catering business, the Brazzo Experience, will be offering Brazilian food at the events as well. The vision is to bring a little bit of Brazil 4,000 miles back to Winston-Salem with her. The event is for everyone, she says.
“They’re going to get a little taste,” McCalley says. “A little appetizer.”
Brazilian native Suzy McCalley travels back to Brazil multiple times a year to visit family. Now, she wants to bring back a piece of home to WinstonSalem.
PHOTO BY DANIEL SEUNG PUGLIESE
S CULTURE
Q&A
SECCA Curator Jared Ledesma talks about Allana Clarke’s exhibit, Tender
by Sayaka Matsuoka | sayaka@triad-city-beat.com
ince mid-June, SECCA has displayed Allana Clarke’s Tender, a sculpture exhibit exploring the complex layers of Black identity, hope and history. The show, which runs through Sept. 15 is a ticketed exhibit.
On Aug. 22, curator Jared Ledesma, who works as the Curator of 20th-Century Art and Contemporary Art at SECCA, which is also known as the NC Museum of Art, Winston-Salem, will walk visitors through the exhibit on a guided tour. In the last few years, the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh and SECCA have deepened their relationship and now share curatorial staff who work across both museums. Learn more at secca.org
QTell me about how this exhibit came together.
QAI worked with Allana Clarke in 2021 while I was a curator at the Akron Art Museum [in Ohio]. I had such a fantastic experience with her that when I moved on to the North Carolina Museum of Art, I contacted her almost immediately with the opportunity of a solo exhibition.
Our initial discussions for the exhibition began in December 2022. Allana and I met and discussed the show, thinking that it would be a combination of former work and brand-new work. She drafted a proposal for the exhibition which I reviewed, and from there we both sprang into action.
Q A
What are the major themes that run through the exhibit?
There are three major themes that can be pulled from the exhibition: body ownership, the slipperiness of language and resilience.
Clarke performs with hair-bonding glue to create absorbing sculptures that respond to the pressures of beauty standards within the African diaspora. Her work also challenges the negative connotations and associations surrounding natural Black hair, perpetuated by media and society. Ultimately, her work is about reclaiming control over one’s own body, free from external pressures and prejudice. In the cocoa butter text poems, Clarke explores the slipperiness of language, particularly how words like “survive” can take on different meanings when removed from context and viewed by different communities. She emphasizes this fluidity by presenting singular word poems that highlight subtly powerful terms, such as “tender.” Clarke’s performance and practice embody resilience and are enacted to reconcile with trauma. Her work also offers hope for a future where restrictions on beauty, especially concerning Black bodies, are a relic of the past.
How does the exhibit fit into SECCA’s larger mission?
A
Part of the curatorial vision at NCMA W-S [aka SECCA] is to produce bold, thoughtprovoking exhibitions guided and motivated by the current political and aesthetic climate. Through her performative interrogations of Black beauty standards and its associated trauma, Clarke’s work accomplishes this, especially at our fraught moment. My curatorial colleagues and I also hope to exhibit artwork that challenges artistic conventions and broadens our visitors’ definition of contemporary art. This is something that NCMA W-S (and SECCA as it has been known for several decades) has achieved in the past and will continue to do.
Q A Q A
What is your favorite piece in the show?
That’s so hard! I really like the concrete cocoa butter poem “Did You Listen” — the way it’s displayed, where the words are separated and singled out is quite commanding and really resonates with Clarke’s aim to ask viewers to pause and reflect on the power of words.
While the large-scale, hair-bonding glue sculpture is impressive, I find myself more drawn to the intimate ones, especially “So am I.” Seeing the work at a nearly human scale creates a deeper connection between the viewer, the sculpture, and the artist — a synergy that can evoke a powerful, emotional response.
Other things on the horizon you’d like to share?
This fall at NCMA W-S we have three exciting exhibitions coming up, one that my colleague Linda Dougherty is working on featuring the work of photographer Tyler Mitchell, and two I’m organizing: Tell me if the Lovers Are Losers, featuring the expressionist paintings of John Brooks (who is a native of Kentucky, a graduate of the College of Charleston, and is now in LA), and THERE, featuring the gorgeous embroidery work of Palestinian American artist Jordan Nassar
Allana Clarke’s Tender exhibit is on display at SECCA through Sept. 15. COURTESY PHOTO
Wake Forest Law offers a unique degree that helps professionals navigate the complexities of law
With a University motto like Pro Humanitate (for humanity), it comes as no surprise that Wake Forest University School of Law offers a program for professionals who are passionate about understanding and advocating for the law in the workplace — even if they don’t plan to practice it.
A program that was innovatively designed based on market analysis research for non-lawyer professionals, the Master of Studies in Law, MSL, is a uniquely flexible and online program that focuses on the complex legal framework of today’s changing work environments. With three Master’s degree tracks (as well as certificate programs) — Business Law and Compliance, Health Law and Policy, and Human Resources — each path addresses needs specific to those industries.
Many of the students currently enrolled in the program are working professionals who participate on their own time, from across the country. Through online coursework, interaction with professors and classmates, and interesting assignments, students gain a better understanding of the legal framework of industries often clouded in regulation, compliance, and contracting.
Through the MSL program, Wake Forest Law is striving to create an opportunity for professionals who aren’t interested in earning a JD to learn the skills and knowledge to address some of the legal issues that arise in their workplace.
“It’s for people to increase their knowledge of the law,” explains Wake Forest Law Adjunct Assistant Professor Aaron Longo. “We have people in all different career paths. I have hospital workers who are in the healthcare track, and human resource professionals who take my classes.”
Non-lawyer professionals regularly navigate the law without realizing it, whether it’s in the field of cybersecurity, healthcare billing, virtual communications, or many others. Longo wants to emphasize the benefits of enrolling in a program like this.
“These students are here to increase their knowledge and to advance their careers. I have business owners who take my Wage and Hour class simply because how you pay people matters.”
The classes are completely online and asynchronous (except for an optional residential weekend where students can come to Wake Forest’s campus and learn face-to-face).
Learn more about Wake Forest Law’s Master of Studies in Law at msl.law.wfu.edu
“For the most part, it’s all online,” explains Longo. “Classes open up one day during the week and students have that week to take the classes, review the lectures, and complete their assignments. Classes are either 7 or 14 weeks, but we really tailor it to the students’ lives.”
The flexibility of the program, Longo believes, is what creates that level of accessibility that is so crucial to working adults’ busy schedules.
“We want students to succeed and we understand that life comes up,” says Longo. “We work around their lives so that they can successfully complete these classes.”
The foundational core curriculum prepares students with classes such as Legal Foundations, an overview of the United States legal system and how it translates to today’s business environments. The track and elective courses, however, are where students can customize their learning, and are able to use their knowledge right away.
“It’s funny, a lot of people take my Wage and Hour class that are not in the HR track, or have anything to do with it, but they want the knowledge base,” Longo laughs. “Why? Because everyone wants to know that they’re paid fairly.”
Each course incorporates current cases to create timely and engaging conversation, with topics that participants can use in their various workplaces. For example, the Human Resources track covers topics including employment law, labor law, discrimination law, compensation, and more — concepts that are highly relevant in today’s ever-evolving workplace.
“This program is such an accessible format,” Longo says. “I think because of the practical nature of these classes, any professional can immediately apply this knowledge directly to what they’re doing and where they want to go. It’s going to help them today and it’s going to help them tomorrow.”
SHOT IN THE TRIAD
BY CAROLYN DE BERRY
Cypress Street, Greensboro
Scene from Swann Middle School which will not be welcoming students through its doors at the beginning of this school year for the first time (excluding the pandemic) in over 100 years. The school, which opened in 1922 as Charles B. Aycock Elementary, will undergo major renovations and eventually become a performing-arts magnet school for grades 6-12.
DOWNTOWN JAZZ
AUGUST 30
MARCUS ANDERSON
CORPENING PLAZA
SUMMER ON FOURTH
AUGUST 31
SOULJAM
4TH ST. IN FRONT OF FOOTHILLS BREWING
PUZZLES & GAMES
by Matt Jones
CROSSWORD SUDOKU
by Matt Jones
2022 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)
Across
1. Like some mixed drinks
6. Tree goo
9. Airline based in Sweden
12. Orange, e.g.
14. A.L. Central team, on a scoreboard
15. Sicilian volcano
16. Xenomorph leader of sci-fi filmdom, for instance
18. Depilatory brand with “short shorts” ads
19. Offer temporarily
20. Coffeehouse dispenser
21. ___ Online (long-running MMORPG)
23. “Black-ish” dad
24. She’s portrayed both Queens Elizabeth (I on TV and II on film)
26. Rakish cads
28. Listen to
29. Work in a haunted house, say
31. Lot purchase
32. Do some sums
35. Type of incandescent headlamp bulb
40. Up to now
41. Stimpy’s costar
42. “Norma,” for instance
43. ___ dire (court examination)
45. Fortnite dance or action
47. Greeting in Gelsenkirchen
51. Director Jean-___ Godard
54. “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)” rapper
55. Title for a judge, for short
56. AZ city
57. 1949 mil. alliance
58. All tied up
61. Certain prayer leader
62. Rodent in a maze
63. Twelve-book Trojan tale
64. “Ich bin ___ Berliner” (JFK quote that’s a misquote on his part)
65. Pull up a chair
66. Family nickname
Down
1. Burn
2. Bathroom floor worker
3. Wandering
4. Vanmate of Daphne and Velma
5. Good times
6. Play segment
7. Pub purchase
8. Shadow effect from a partial eclipse
9. Flight unit?
10. Crunchyroll offering
11. Clear plastic wrap
13. “So excited!” noise
15. Bookkeeping record
17. Addresses in a browser
22. Bend the truth
24. Color subtleties
25. Trevor who video-interviewed
Kamala Harris in October 2020
27. Part of OPEC, for short
29. Barnyard pen
30. Kind of stick or ball
31. Network getting a U.S. remake of U.K. panel show “Have I Got News
For You”
32. When most children begin sixth grade
33. James Van ___ Beek
34. Coded strands
36. Nose hair tools
37. Architect Saarinen
38. Minnesota state bird
39. Choose
43. Snake’s secretion
44. Number of one-syllable U.S. state
names
45. “Ghostbusters” character Dr. ___ Spengler
46. High-IQ group, supposedly
47. Bottled-up type?
48. Taste found in mushrooms
49. Mythical giant like Atlas
50. Half of “Good Mythical Morning”
52. Start of a gym motto
53. Drug store aisle
56. Dish list
59. Grammy-winning guitarist Steve
60. Mid-afternoon drink
© 2023 Matt Jones
Thu 8/22
Summer Brunch
@ 6pm / $63.04
Reto's Kitchen, 600 South Elam, Greensboro
Davy Williamson
@ 7pm Hangar 1819, 1819 Spring Garden St, Greensboro
The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs
@ 7pm 1889 Taphouse, 310 N Main St, Walnut Cove
Fri 8/23
George Porter Jr.: Green Street Funk Jam
@ 6pm
Second & Green Tavern, 207 N Green St, WinstonSalem
Matt Dylan: West Bend Bar & Grill
@ 7pm
Westbend Winery and Brewery, 5395 Williams Rd, Lewisville
Sat 8/24
Unity Walk and Festival
@ 10am
Join us this year to support our local immigrant and refugee communities. Uplift the voices of our immi‐grant and refugee neighbors while celebrating the rich diversity of our community. LeBauer Park @ Greensboro Downtown Parks, Inc., 208 North Davie Street, Greensboro. jasiel@faithaction.org, 336-3790037
Greensboro True Crime Tour
@ 5pm / $12
Explore the dark side of Greensboro's history with this guided tour sites related to Greensboro's history of crime Scuppernong Books, 304 S Elm St, Greens‐boro. andrew@nason.net, 206-914-9492
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns at The Den @ 7pm The Den, 3756 Ogburn Ave, Winston-Salem
Sun 8/25
Greensboro Food Truck Festival
@ 3pm
Semi-Annual Greensboro Food Truck Festival fea‐turing over 50 food trucks, beer, music and kids ac‐tivities. Downtown, Greensboro. winston2865@ gmail.com, 336-601-7225
The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs @ 3pm Pig Pounder Brewery, 1107 Grecade St, Greensboro
Sunday Yoga @ SouthEnd Brewing Co.
@ 10am / $5 SouthEnd Brewing Co, 117b West Lewis Street, Greensboro
Bobcat, Cutthroat Freak Show, Swamp Rats and Dumpster Service live at Monstercade, Winston Salem NC @ 8pm Monstercade, 204 W Acadia Ave, Winston-Salem
Mon 8/26
HarmHouse: MondayMic with Jay Benjamin @ 6pm High Point Bistro, 3793 Samet Dr # 165, High Point
Tue 8/27
Cashavelly: Songbird Supper Club @ 6pm West Salem Public House, 400 S Green St, Win‐ston-Salem
Tanner Bingaman's Pretty Big Garden: Tanner Bingaman // Abigail Dowd // Dustin Dale Gaspard at the Flat Iron @ 7:30pm Flat Iron, 221 Summit Ave, Greensboro
Grupo Frontera @ 8pm Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W Gate City Blvd, Greensboro
Wed 8/28
Greek Night @ 6pm / $63.04
Reto's Kitchen, 600 South Elam, Greensboro
Moonbear - Eugene, OR: Old Nick's @ 7pm
Old Nick's Pub Arcadia, 206 Millers Creek Dr Suite A, Winston-Salem
Brooklyn Cyclones at Winston-Salem Dash @ 7pm Truist Stadium, 951 Ballpark Way, Winston-Salem
Thu 8/29
Pony Bradshaw @ 7pm
The Ramkat & Gas Hill Drinking Room, 170 W 9th St, Winston-Salem
Dee Jay Silver @ 7:30pm
Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W Gate City Blvd, Greensboro
Fri 8/30
Joyce Kennedy: RESCHEDULED for Aug 30th: Mothers Finest at The FunkSoulFood Festival @ 6pm
Winston Salem Fairgrounds, 421 27th St NW, Win‐ston-Salem
Russell Henderson @ 6pm
Steel Hands Brewing, 1918 W Gate City Blvd, Greensboro
Lemon Sparks | The Trick Threat | GOryanGO @ 8pm
The Ramkat & Gas Hill Drinking Room, 170 W 9th St, Winston-Salem
Sat 8/31
William Nesmith @ 7pm Joymongers Barrel Hall, 480 W End Blvd, WinstonSalem
Abbey Road LIVE! evening show @ 8pm
The Ramkat & Gas Hill Drinking Room, 170 W 9th St, Winston-Salem
Sun 9/01
Sunday Yoga @ SouthEnd Brewing Co. @ 10am / $5
SouthEnd Brewing Co, 117b West Lewis Street, Greensboro
Munyungo Jackson @ 3pm
Oak Hollow Festival Park, 1841 Eastchester Dr, High Point
Bill Charlap Trio: John Coltrane
International Jazz & Blues Festival 2024 @ 3pm
Oak Hollow Festival Park, 1841 Eastchester Dr, High Point
Mon 9/02
Momma Molasses @ 3pm
Summer�eld Farms, 3203 Pleasant Ridge Rd, Sum‐mer�eld
HarmHouse: MondayMic with Jay Benjamin @ 6pm
High Point Bistro, 3793 Samet Dr # 165, High Point
Tue 9/03
Greensboro Grasshoppers vs. Bowling Green Hot Rods @ 6:30pm First National Bank Field, Greensboro
Wed 9/04
Homemade Ravioli @ 6pm / $63.04
Reto's Kitchen, 600 South Elam, Greensboro
Fires in the Distance @ 6pm
Hangar 1819, 1819 Spring Garden St, Greensboro
Hiding Places: Greensboro, NC @ 8pm
Greensboro, 236 E Washington St # C
Calendar information is provided by event organiz‐ers. All events are subject to change or cancellation. This publication is not responsible for the accuracy of the information contained in this calendar.
Campbell means Business
Master of Business Administration [ MBA]
n Options to focus on Entrepreneurship, Financial Services, Global Business, and Risk Management
n Flexible 37-hour program that can be completed in 1 year
n Raleigh Founded co-working space for networking with entrepreneurs
Master of Accountancy [ MAcc]
n Enhanced curriculum that aligns with CPA Exam evolution
n Flexible 30-hour program that can be completed in 1 year
n Concentration options (7 core + 3 electives)
Master of Trust & Wealth Management [ MTWM ]
n Nation’s only graduate program in Trust & Wealth Management
n 95% placement rate nationwide
n Graduates are eligible to sit for the CFP Exam
n National alumni network provides extensive networking opportunities
YOUR CAREER, YOUR CALLING. Campbell University invests in each student. We prepare each one to make a life, to make a living, and to make a difference. Our students are welcomed into an inclusive community of family, and mentored to become leaders who will impact the world. Inspired by our faith and belief in the power of education, we encourage each student to grow academically, spiritually and socially through the world of opportunities that surround them. Go beyond the expected. Learn more at: business.campbell.edu/graduate-programs
campbell.edu