JUL 29-AUG 4, 2020 NEWS, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY CONNECTSAVANNAH.COM
Javonte s story ’
PHOTO OF JAVONTE BLACK BY JOHN ALEXANDER
Thank you to all of the frontline workers for risking their lives to protect ours.
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
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Markets:
facebook.com/frontporchimprov/
Forsyth Farmers Market Enhanced social distancing between vendors. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays facebook.com/forsythfarmersmarket
Front Porch Improv: Zoomerang Game Show Live improv “game show.” July 31 8 p.m. facebook.com/frontporchimprov/
Islands Farmers Market Enhanced social distancing between vendors. Saturdays 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. , 401 Quarterman Dr. facebook.com/islandsfarmersmarket/
Front Porch Improv: A Complete History of Savannah for Morons Use your imagination. Aug. 1 8 p.m. facebook.com/frontporchimprov/
Tybee Island Farmers Market Mondays, 4-7 p.m. 30 Meddin Dr. facebook.com/tybeeislandfarmersmarket
Site Reopenings: Davenport House Museum Daily tours begin 10 a.m., last tour 4 p.m. except Sundays when hours are 1-4 p.m. Georgia State Railroad Museum Wed.-Sun. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Harper-Fowlkes House Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Guided tours will be offered every half hour, with the first tour starting at 10 am and the last tour starting at 3:30 pm. Old Fort Jackson Wed.-Sun 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mars Theatre Friday/Saturday night movies at 7 p.m.
National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Pin Point Heritage Museum Thu.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. American Prohibition Museum Daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m., last entry 4:15 p.m. Savannah History Museum Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telfair Museums 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays-Mondays. During initial reopening phase, they closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Admission to all sites $20 inclusive.
Events: Savannah Bananas vs. Macon College summer league ball in a historic ballpark. Thu. July 30, 7 p.m., Grayson Stadium thesavannahbananas.com
Mercer-Williams House Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m., closed Tuesday and Wednesday
Savannah Bananas vs. Macon (Fireworks Night) College summer league ball in a historic ballpark. Sat. Aug. 1, 7 p.m., Grayson Stadium thesavannahbananas.com
National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Tue.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m.
Savannah Bananas vs. Macon College summer league ball in a historic ballpark.
Wed. Aug. 5, 7 p.m., Grayson Stadium thesavannahbananas.com Downtown Savannah Community Blood Drive To schedule an appointment, please visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter sponsor code: SAV. Donors will be tested for COVID antibodies with results available through the ARC App in 7-10 days. Charles H. Morris Center at Trustees’ Garden, 10 E. Broad St. Wed., July 29, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Live Concerts: Beer for My Horses: The Toby Keith Tribute at Coach’s Corner Live performance in a courtyard setting. Sat. Aug. 1, 7 p.m. facebook.com/coachscorner/ Savannah Songwriters Series at Coach’s Corner Live performance in a courtyard setting. Sun. Aug. 2, 7 p.m. facebook.com/coachscorner/
Livestreams: Front Porch Improv: Top Secret Comedy Live improv comedy sessions. July 31 8 p.m.
Friday Night Live with Mayor Van Johnson Savannah Mayor Van Johnson’s “fireside chat” about the state of the city. Fridays, 8 p.m. facebook.com/MayorJohnsonSAV/ Psychotronic Film Society Viewing Parties To receive the secret link to these hidden streaming playlists, people MUST join the PFS of SAV’s Private Facebook Group, at the link below. Each week, anyone who chooses to donate at least $5 via PayPal or Venmo receives a free high quality digital download of a movie from the archive, and is entered into a drawing to win a limited edition T-shirt. Wednesdays, Sundays, 8 p.m. facebook.com/ groups/2519522234807695/ Quarantine Concert: Whaleboat Live show streamed from the Tybee Post Theatre. Aug. 8, 9 p.m. facebook.com/quarantineconcerts/ Seldom Sober Savannah’s only Irish music ensemble, Seldom Sober (Michael Corbett and Colleen Settle) perform a set spanning Trad Irish to American folk. Tuesdays, 8 p.m. facebook.com/seldomsober/
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NEWS & OPINION EDITOR’S NOTE The Eastern Wharf blaze five months ago, and Eastern Wharf today, being rebuilt.
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Signs of optimism amid the chaos
EDITORIAL Jim Morekis, Editor-in-Chief jim@connectsavannah.com Rachael Flora, Community/Events Editor rachael@connectsavannah.com Sean Kelly, A&E Editor sean@connectsavannah.com Josephine Beisel, Editorial Intern CONTRIBUTORS John Bennett, Matt Brunson, Brittany Curry, Kristy Edenfield, Geoff L. Johnson, Lindy Moody, Orlando Montoya, Jim Reed ADVERTISING Information: (912) 721-4378 sales@connectsavannah.com Bucky Bryant, Senior Account Executive bucky@connectsavannah.com (912) 721-4381 DESIGN & PRODUCTION
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BY JIM MOREKIS
jim@connectsavannah.com
FIVE MONTHS AGO this week, part of the new development at Eastern Wharf burned in a massive and horrifying blaze. Seems more like five years ago, right? At the time, most of us thought that was probably the weirdest thing we’d see all year. Instead it turned out to be just a harbinger of sorts, a grimly symbolic hint of what the rest of 2020 had in store for us all. When the fire was still fresh, the most prevalent reaction was that perhaps that site, just to the east of the Historic District, was under some sort of curse – its former incarnation, Savannah River Landing, falling victim to the last national recession. However, if you drive by Eastern Wharf today, the signs are a bit more sanguine. Restoration has begun on the residential portion destroyed in the fire. I’m no construction expert, but it appears to be at about the same point as before the blaze. In addition, the new hotel planned for the site – a Hyatt – is rising very quickly. It might be the height of optimism, pun intended: A new hotel being built, in the middle of all this (gestures around at
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everything going on). Perhaps counterintuitively, you can find lots of optimism in Savannah these days. City finances, of course, look quite different than what we expected a year ago. That said, the forecast is perhaps not as dire as you’d think. Last week, Savannah City Council was briefed on the potential downturn in tax revenue. The hit to the General Fund is “only” expected to be about $13 million through the end of the year – about a 6.5 percent decrease in revenue. While I find the figures perhaps a bit optimistic, let’s compare to what we know is going on elsewhere. Cincinnatti, Ohio, a city roughly twice Savannah’s size, had already temporarily laid off a quarter of its City employees at the start of the pandemic. Savannah hasn’t instituted any employee layoffs. Cincinnatti will have to close a $70 million hole over the next year, more than five times the size of Savannah’s hole. Savannah City Manager Pat Monahan has a five-tier plan to address our, much smaller, shortfall. Hopefully, Tier One will be all he has to mobilize: A 1-3 percent cut in operations, combined with eliminating City positions through attrition. The tiers get more severe of course; the
furloughs would come in Tier Four. Tier Five would involve layoffs, a large tax increase, and privatization of services. While the national situation seems tenuous at best, the local situation seems to be in better hands, as Savannah strives to rise from the ashes. IN OTHER NEWS, Savannah has lost another of its true originals: Joe Holmen, who through force of personality helped form the quirky, creative, and individualistic cultural milieu that has come to be our city’s calling card to the outside world. While most of the widely shared obits in town involve elderly philanthropists or preservationists, Joe was more at home behind a bar, or on a stage playing and singing rock ‘n’ roll. Joe was the textbook definition of the word “irascible,” and his combination of blunt truth-telling, laidback personality, and ability to bring people together over tunes and fellowship will be sorely missed. His personality and talent helped forge the classic culture of downtown Savannah that the city has traded on, long after most of that culture was priced out, and cast out, of downtown itself. We raise a bottle of Bud to Joe — his like will not be seen again. CS
LETTERS@CONNECTSAVANNAH.COM
Thanks for story on the immunocompromised and the elderly during COVID-19
Editor, I just wanted to reach out and say thank you for the article on the COVID toll for
immunocompromised and the elderly. (“Stolen Independence,” by Rachael Flora.) My husband is immunocompromised from a kidney transplant. He is 36. We also have a newborn. We haven’t left the house except for three well
baby checkups since the baby was born on February 14. It can make you have a lot of pent up anger and emotions towards people going about their day and even worse, their vacations!
Thank you for having empathy and sharing this story. Maggie Ward
Left: Javonte Black. PHOTO BY RACHAEL FLORA Above: Javonte and the TLP Crew. PHOTO COURTESY OF PARK PLACE
BY RACHAEL FLORA
rachael@connectsavannah.com
JAVONTE BLACK is shy at first. The soft-spoken 19 year old considers each word before saying it. But ask him about things he loves and he comes to life. His landscaping job? “I love it. It gets dirty though. It’s like finishing a painting, especially after hard work. When you’re dirty and sweating and dirt running on your face, you can look back at it and feel good.” His vegan diet? “I really like a vegan burger—that’s my favorite food. I’ve been on and off for two or three years. It was the hardest.” His morning routine? “When I get out of bed, I don’t make it right then and there. I get up and do my yoga and would meditate.
I like the child’s pose.” The sparkle in Javonte’s eyes is unmistakable. You’d never know, just from looking, that this exuberant young man is still on probation for an armed robbery. A few years ago, Javonte was living in a Bayview apartment with his mom and seven siblings. “You’ve probably never seen it; it’s way back in the cut,” he explains. “Bayview is not talked about, but it’s the lowest of the lowest of the low. I’m talking rats and roaches. Your house is built like a shack.” Around this time, Javonte and his friends found a BB gun. They needed some cash, so they went downtown and held up a few places. He shakes his head: “A stupid decision.” Javonte was arrested on armed robbery charges, which carries an automatic 10-year sentence. He was only 15 years old.
In juvenile court, Javonte changed. “I used to be this calm person, and I was an animal,” he remembers. “I was in the cell most of the time, fighting and bucking.” Despite that, Javonte spent just 11 months at the Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center. How did that happen? “I don’t know,” he admits. “You had someone praying for you,” Kevin Ford told him. Kevin is the Case Manager for Park Place Outreach, a youth emergency shelter that has served Chatham County since 1984. They provide a stable living situation to runaway and homeless youth, a chronically underserved population here in Savannah. After his release, Javonte went to live with his grandmother, but the living arrangement didn’t work out. So his probation officer, who was familiar with Park
Place, referred him to the shelter’s Transitional Living Program. At TLP, boys between 18 and 21 live in a safe, stable environment while working towards becoming independent and selfsufficient. They’re provided a safe place to live with decreasing levels of supervision, and the program prioritizes education and employment to help set the boys on the right path. Since arriving last September, Javonte has earned his GED and started school at Savannah Tech for business management. He plans on owning a landscaping business, inspired by former Mayor Eddie DeLoach and his company. Landscaping hasn’t always been Javonte’s thing, aside from taking a push mower out on the lawn as a kid. But the opportunity presented itself in the form of a helpful board member. “One of our board members came to us and said that her husband owned a landscaping business, and they wondered if anyone needed a job because they had opportunities for employment,” says Cheri Dean, program director for TLP. “She introduced them, and he’s been great.” These days, Javonte gets up at 6 a.m. to make it to work by 7. He works until 5 or 6 p.m., and when he gets home, he takes an hour break before diving into his studies for school. Cheri says she’s known him to stay up until 10 p.m. reading. That’s another passion of Javonte’s that bloomed while at TLP. He’s actively involved in the group’s book club, which recently read “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom” by Don Miguel Ruiz. Javonte easily recaps the book and its titular four agreements: be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best. At first, Javonte wasn’t into the book club, but now he loves leading others in CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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NEWS & OPINION COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
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CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
discussion, which Cheri says he did with the four or five other members. “I like everybody’s perspective,” he says. “I get to know people every day. Every time they talk, I get to know them more and more.” It’s taken a while for Javonte to warm up to people and break out of his shell. That happened while he was part of Deep’s Block by Block program, which works with high school-age kids to conduct street-level research and document stories of their community. Javonte was recommended for the program by his former PO, but he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first. “I just didn’t want to go,” he remembers. “My grandma was like, ‘Just go for the first day and see how it is.’ Everyone was introducing themselves and I was like, I didn’t know this world existed.’” Javonte was so quiet the first day that the rest of the group thought he didn’t like them. Eventually, with encouragement from his partner Elijah, he began speaking up more in the group. Now, Javonte is an Assistant Teaching Artist with Block by Block, but that’s currently on hold because of the pandemic. Part of Javonte’s job with Deep is to work with kids who used to be just like him: young men in the juvenile court
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system who are behind academically, says Kevin, who also used to work with WREP and would do workshops at Javonte’s school. “Because he was there once, he knows
how to handle them,” says Kevin. “There was one opportunity for me to put a kid out, and he told me, ‘No, keep the kid in— let me work with him.’ He has the ability to work with those guys in ways that we can’t
because he’s been there.” “He’s just a young man,” adds Javonte. “I think his issue was he plays too much, so I feel like, no need for him to leave. When I was in school, that was my specialty. I was the worst kid in the classroom.” Now, Javonte is able to do for younger kids what Park Place and Deep have done for him, but that’s not quite how he sees it. “I don’t feel any special type of way about it. I don’t see it as, ‘Oh, I’m helping them.’ They already got it,” he confides. Both Cheri and Kevin sing Javonte’s praises—he’s driven, he’s appreciative, he’s a natural leader. Kevin tells Javonte that he’s heard some of the conversations between other boys in the house and that they look up to him. “I don’t think you know it, but you lead a lot more than you believe,” Kevin says. “They do look up to you.” But Javonte, who can more than put himself in their shoes, finds the inspiration reciprocal. “I gotta get like them,” he confides. “They inspire me.” CS For more information about Park Place, visit parkplaceyes.org.
NEWS & OPINION CITY NOTEBOOK
SINCE 2001 BREWING COFFEE & COMMUNITY
Students of Georgia Southern, Savannah State sound off on USG reopening policy in-person classes is carried through.
WHEN THE University System of Georgia made their decision to resume classes in the fall, they did so with very little input from anyone who would be affected by that decision. They also failed to consider the opinions of the group they purport to care most about: the students. Two universities in our area—Savannah State University and the Armstrong campus of Georgia Southern—are nestled in the USG system. The plan for both schools is a return to campus in the fall, though as of this writing there has been no decision made for when, exactly, that will happen. Often, decisions like these are made
Kaleigh Lamont, Georgia Southern To be honest, I have no idea how to feel about Georgia Southern’s plan to return to campus. Nothing remotely close to this situation has ever happened before, so I have no precedent for all of this. I haven’t seen any of my friends and acquaintances from school since March, and I miss them all dearly and am excited to see them, but at the same time, I’m worried that we don’t have any way to return to campus in true safety. There is no way to enforce masks on campus, or to truly social distance (due to restraints regarding number of classrooms and teachers), and it seems that all of these proposed precautions have been very rushed.
Malachi Stewart, Savannah State I would love for us to go back to school. Our health is the number one important thing, plus our education as well. That’s what I keep telling the students: they want to have campus life, want to have parties, want to have events. I get that. But we live in a time right now that’s unpredictable. Do I think we should go back? I’m 50/50 on it, but if I could give you a definite answer, I would say no because you never know what’s going to happen. Classes will be spread out so everyone can be six feet apart. People will be encouraged to wear masks. It’s not going to be mandated because that would be a state thing, but there’s going to be a big push for the students to be safe. We’ll be leaving in
Nothing remotely close to this situation has ever happened before, so I have no precedent for all of this. I haven’t seen any of my friends and acquaintances from school since March, and I miss them all dearly ... with the students’ wellbeing in mind, though by many accounts there was no real attempt at reaching out to this population. So, we did that for them. We reached out to current students of both SSU and GSU to learn more about how, exactly, they feel about going back to school. The results, we learned, were fairly mixed. Morgan Barry, Georgia Southern My university has done an adequate job of keeping us informed about what’s going to happen. Some people have begun to petition in person classes. I, however, am beyond excited to go back to school. I miss my friends and social interaction. I am completely okay with wearing a mask and making additional adjustments if it means going back. When COVID-19 shut down schools back in March, I missed out on a lot especially from my sorority. I was a new member who did not get initiation, big little reveal, or a formal. All of these things are planned to continue in the Fall, and I would be very disappointed if they were cancelled again. More importantly, it is much harder for me to learn sufficiently in online classes. I learn material much better when I am physically in the classroom. For these reasons I really hope the plan for
I am a biology major, and I would very much like to know how they intend to have us social distance in a lab. I would love nothing more than for everyone to safely return to campus, but it just doesn’t seem feasible to me at this time.
November after Thanksgiving. The main thing I can tell you is to wear a mask. Be safe. Pray. We’re just waiting to see what’s happening. Everyone’s waiting on the vaccine and we’re just taking it day by day.
Kristin Campbell, Georgia Southern As an immunocompromised student, I am excited for GSU to open back up. Not too much anxiety here because I have been by campus and have seen changes that have been made. Though I am worried about students going home for breaks and coming back. MSU will be ending the semester at Thanksgiving so that students don’t leave to go home and come back.
Zak Davis, Georgia Southern It’s a weird pretend that the fall semester is going to be normal, when it is anything but. From my friends and family who are teachers, it’s all going to get shut down sometime after Labor Day anyway. I’m not a fan and don’t work well with online studies. Online is a nonstarter for me. Putting people in close proximity like this, even with social distancing and masks, is a Band-Aid, and college students are not going to participate in the measures fully because they’re young, and many can’t either because they have to work. The perfect solution would be to just can the semester and do online only, but allow caveats that this semester is not a normal semester. Teachers and professors shouldn’t be required to do both online and physical education, and the students and educators need more of a say in administrative decisions. CS
Nora Cook, Georgia Southern I’m scared because frankly, I don’t trust that the best decisions will be made. There is supposedly a plan for the SARC (student accommodation resource center) office to give immune compromised people attendance accommodations for in person classes. However, I’ve had the experience of being denied this accommodation in the past despite my doctor’s recommendation. So, I probably will not bother applying for this one. I don’t have the time, money, or energy to see my doctor just to be denied by a non-medical personnel.
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BY RACHAEL FLORA
rachael@connectsavannah.com
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NEWS & OPINION THE NEWS CYCLE Morning in Daffin Park. PHOTO BY BRANDON BLATCHER
A RIGHT TO RECREATION BY JOHN BENNETT
john@georgiabikes.org
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
AS I write this, I still have a full-time job. (I still have one of my part-time jobs, too). I am privileged. I can do both of these jobs from home, so I don’t have to interact with people who refuse to wear masks. I am privileged. I can walk around my neighborhood at any time of day or night and despite my increasingly bizarre appearance — my last haircut was on Jan. 13 — I don’t have to worry about people posting alerts on Nextdoor or worse, calling the police. I am privileged. Morning walks around my neighborhood, a habit I started after I was laid off during the Great Recession, was a coping strategy for me then. And it has become so again. When Mayor Van Johnson issued an emergency shelter at home order in March, he wisely and specifically included an exemption that permitted Savannahians to “engage in outdoor activity, provided the individuals comply with social distancing 8 requirements … such as, by way of example
and without limitation, walking, hiking, or running.” Even after the order was superseded by Gov. Kemp, the walking, biking, rolling, and running renaissance has continued in Savannah. These days I walk in the morning before reporting to work in my home office. I don’t go far. My typical route is less than two miles, but walking in the morning and often again in the evening has become essential for staving off cabin fever. My daily walks allow me to interact with my neighbors from a safe distance. And they allow me to meaningfully connect with the natural and built environment during a time when nearly all my daily activities, both professionally and socially, have become virtual. “Get out now,” writes John R. Stilgoe in his prescient 1998 book, Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History in Everyday Places. “Not just outside, but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic age so gently closing around so many people at the end of the century. Go outside, move deliberately, then relax, slow down, and look around.” I’ve stood in the middle of the street watching Mississippi kites execute amazing aerobatics as they target insects on the wing. I’ve stopped and stared at different
paving surfaces on front walks. I’ve paused on the sidewalk for minutes at a time to study the architectural details of historic homes and admire well-tended gardens. I’ve lingered in a park after dark trying to triangulate the location of an owl based on its hoots. Again, I am privileged. I’m able to engage in these behaviors without arousing suspicion because of the color of my skin. And I’m able to gaze at the soaring birds, the precisely laid pavers, the handsome houses, and the pretty flowers without much fear of being injured or killed by someone driving a car. The streets in my neighborhood are generally calm and unlike more than 70 percent of streets in Savannah, most of them have sidewalks. And there are plenty of parks. I am privileged. Almost half of Savannah residents, and more than 100 million people across the country, live in park deserts: places without access to nearby green spaces. According to ParkServe, an online tool developed by The Trust for Urban Land, 53 percent of Savannahians live within a 10-minute walk from a park. Contrast that with Atlanta where 73 percent of residents can walk to a park within 10 minutes. The availability of parks, trails and other greenspaces, coupled with the ability to
walk to them, is a powerful combination. In his book, In Praise of Walking: The New Science of How We Walk and Why It’s Good for Us, Shane O’Mara writes, “walking is hugely beneficial to our minds, our bodies and our communities.” What’s more, he asserts, “Walking is so vitally, centrally, important to us, at both individual and collective levels, that it should be reflected in the ways that we organize our lives and societies.” Walking there is an important part of going to a park. So is what happens after we arrive. “Scientists are quantifying nature’s effects not only on mood and well-being, but also on our ability to think — to remember things, to plan, to create, to daydream and to focus — and also on our social skills,” writes Florence Williams in The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier and More Creative. She quotes Frederick Law Olmstead on the importance of parks: “A sense of enlarged freedom is to all, at all times, the most certain and the most valuable gratification afforded by a park.” All Savannahians should have safe places to walk, whether for recreation or transportation. And all neighborhoods should have natural spaces to enjoy. These should be rights, not privileges. CS
NEWS & OPINION BLOTTER
HOMICIDES
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Dog owner cited after Animal Services welfare check
After opening investigations on two separate animal welfare cases, on Windsor Road and one in East Savannah, Chatham County Animal Services performed a welfare check of the dog on Windsor Road. “Officers felt it was necessary to remove both dogs from the residence. The dogs have been taken to Animal Services and the owner has been cited,” an Animal Services spokesperson says. “The case will now move through the court system for a resolution. Animal Services will not be able to make further comment on the case until it is adjudicated. On Monday July 21, 2020, Chatham County Animal Services opened investigations on two alleged animal neglect cases. Both cases were reported via Facebook, one in the Windsor Forest area and the other in East Savannah. “ Neither dog is in imminent danger,” Animal Services said. Animal Services officers have made repeated visits to both residences since
becoming aware of the situations on Monday. “The owner of the dog at the East Savannah location has worked with Animal Services to become compliant with the code and the dog is safe,” Animal Services said. Animal Services offers this advice for dogs outdoors. “When dogs are outside, they need access to fresh water and food as well as shelter from direct sunlight or inclement weather. Additionally, areas where they are kept need to be well-ventilated to allow for the dissipation of heat.” “In the Windsor Road case, Animal Services did not receive a complaint on Saturday when the video that was on Facebook was taken. It wasn’t until Monday that we were notified about the issue. We need our community to call us or use the complaint form on our website when they see a problem”, said Animal Services Director Dr. Jake Harper. “Additionally, if anyone has direct evidence, like video or pictures that they have taken of possible animal neglect or abuse, and are willing to be a witness, please call us and we will get that evidence from you to add to the case file.” Call (912) 652-6575 daily from 8 AM5PM. For after-hours emergency, dial 911. Use the FILE A COMPLAINT link at the bottom of animalservices.
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On July23 police charged 34-year-old Christopher Hall with felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of an aggravated assault in the death of 34-yearold Samantha Sams. Hall was charged with one count of aggravated battery in connection with the incident. Chatham County Police were called to the 100 block of Forestay Court in the Battery Point subdivision just after 4 a.m. on July 22. When they arrived, they found Sams deceased with an apparent gunshot wound. Witnesses on the scene told detectives there was an altercation between Hall and Sams. Hall and Sams knew each other, and detectives say this was not a random crime. Hall was taken into custody yesterday and remains in the Chatham County Detention Center. CS
Christopher Hall
chathamcountyga.gov Use the Contact Us button on the Facebook page to access the FILE A COMPLAINT form found on the website.
Additional charges in Battery Point fatal shooting
The Chatham County Police Department has filed additional charges in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman early Wednesday morning.
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-- Commuters in Berlin, Germany, are required to wear masks on public transportation, and are subject to fines if they don’t. Despite that, reports Deutsche Welle, so many people wear their masks incorrectly (covering the mouth but not the nose) that Berlin’s transport company, BVG, is now suggesting that riders skip deodorant when they’re getting ready for the day, in hopes that the body odor on crowded trains will keep those masks in place. “Given that so many people think they can wear their masks under their noses, we’re getting tough,” read a bright yellow posting from July 1 on Twitter. “The BVG is calling for a general deodorant waiver. So now do you still want to have your nose out?” -- Farm families in Botswana living beside the Chobe River have long battled herds of elephants that often pass through their fields at night, trampling crops as they move toward the river. Barking dogs and fences have failed to stop the elephants, the BBC reported on July 7, but farmers are having remarkable success with a new weapon: disco lights. Scientists from Elephants Without Borders placed solar-powered strobe lights that flash color patterns along the sides of fields elephants are known to walk through, frightening the elephants away. One farmer reported that before he had lights, “I had more elephants raid ... but in these two seasons with lights I have harvested successfully.”
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A man attempting to elude police in a stolen Toyota Land Cruiser on July 5 in Newberg, Oregon, crashed into a woman driving a Buick Regal that had been reported stolen three weeks before, giving police a two-fer. Newberg-Dundee police said they arrested the driver of the Toyota, Randy Lee Cooper, 27, and then found the driver of the Buick, Kristin Nicole Begue, 25, to be under the influence of intoxicants and arrested her, too, KOIN reported. Neither driver was injured
Suspicious
Liberty County (Georgia) sheriff ’s officers who found a body lying next to a railroad track in Allenhurst on July 14 followed protocol by covering the body with a sheet and waiting for the coroner. When the coroner arrived, detectives looked for injuries and quickly discovered the body was a female sex doll. WSAV reported that the doll was fully clothed and was anatomically correct. Officials think they may have been victims of a prank.
Least Competent Criminal
Wendy Wein, 51, of South Rockwood, Michigan, was arrested July 17 after offering an undercover state trooper $5,000 to kill her ex-husband and giving him money for travel expenses, WXYZ reported. Wein met the trooper after allegedly visiting the fake website rentahitman.com, where she completed a form requesting a consultation and named her ex-husband as the target. The owner of the website contacted Michigan State Police, who sent the undercover officer. “I’m very surprised that someone thought this website was a true website,” said state police spokesman Lt. Brian Oleksyk. The website owner said over the last 15 years he’s been contacted a number of times by people wanting someone killed, and he turns all of those requests over to law enforcement.
Wait, What?
Iceland is offering a stressed-out world a unique way to blow off some steam, reports Sky News -- scream therapy. The country’s tourist board is inviting people worldwide to record their screams to be played over loudspeakers in one of seven remote locations. “You’ve been through a lot this year,” says the project website, “and it looks like you need the perfect place to let your frustrations out. Somewhere big, vast and untouched. It looks like you need Iceland.” Psychotherapist Zoe Aston approves: “Using a scream as a way to release pent-up emotion allows you to ... reclaim the power that is inside you.” Iceland has suffered
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Compelling Explanation
What started as a report of a naked man running down a road hitting cars in Owensboro, Kentucky, on July 16, soon turned into a home burglary in progress, reports WFIE. Daviess County Sheriff ’s deputies said they arrived at the home around 1:30 a.m. to find John Stefanopoulos, 41, standing inside, naked and covered with mud and blood. Authorities said the suspect rushed the officers while repeatedly telling them he had used “mushrooms with Jesus and that they were playing a virtual reality video game together.” Stefanopoulos was eventually tased and taken into custody.
“Incorrigibel”
Robert Berger, 25, of Huntington, New York, was scheduled to be sentenced last October after pleading guilty to possession of a stolen Lexus and attempting to steal a truck, but in an effort to avoid jail, he tried faking his own death, prosecutors charged on July 21. The scheme, they said, unraveled when authorities discovered a spelling error and inconsistencies in the font styles and sizes on the fake death certificate submitted by his lawyer. Further, The Associated Press reports, while Berger was “dead,” he was arrested in Philadelphia for providing a false identity to police and stealing from a Catholic college. “It will never cease to amaze me the lengths some people will go to to avoid being held accountable on criminal charges,” Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said. “It’s never a good idea to submit phony documents to the district attorney.”
Suspicions Confirmed
Andrea Balbi, president of the Gondola Association in Venice, Italy, announced on July 22 that the organization is reducing the maximum capacity allowed on the iconic boats from six persons to five, CNN reported. The change comes not because of social distancing, but because “over the last 10 years or so, tourists weigh more,” Balbi said. He noted that heavier loads often mean the boats take on water, which makes it harder for the gondoliers to navigate in heavy traffic. “Going forward with over half a ton of meat on board is dangerous,” remarked Raoul Roveratto, president of an association for substitute gondoliers.
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MUSIC WRUU SPOTLIGHT
Emanuela Curtale:
Community radio is a ‘passion project’
LIVE MUSIC IN THE SOUNDGARDEN SAT, AUG 1
BY JIM MOREKIS
jim@connectsavannah.com
What in your background or interests led you to wanting to curate a radio show? Have you worked in radio before?
and the artists who reinvent it. With freeform radio stations like WRUU, I prefer to use that freedom to play artists who don’t In college I was a student DJ for WPCZ in North Georgia. I’ve always loved radio, and get airtime, and invite listeners to explore weird or forgotten music with me. wanted to continue being part of it once I moved to Savannah. How specifically did you get involved with WRUU and what has it been like Tell us about your shows at WRUU. working there? What are you trying to accomplish with the content -- what are your goals I first found out about WRUU when I came each week, both for yourself and for across Nervous Energy, which was a punk the listeners? show that aired on Friday nights. I became My first show, Shadowlines, was an explo- curious about WRUU because it was playing the kind of music that I couldn’t find on ration of music from the 1980s. I started any other station in Savannah. I joined as a with post-punk and new wave, eventually delving into 80s experimental music—DIY, music host in 2019, and this year I’ve been leading the Media and Marketing team. noise, early industrial. The goal was to In both roles, the atmosphere is open explore the decade’s darker, more political and collaborative. People who follow or underbelly, playing artists who rejected and deconstructed mainstream genres and support WRUU all love the spirit of the station, which is rooted in teamwork: the notions of music production. station volunteers, with all their differAt the same time, following artists like ent interests or backgrounds, somehow Alexander Tucker, and radio shows like all coexist and appreciate each other’s Psych Out on WXNA, I realized there was contributions. a very similar spirit of experimentation As Media and Marketing team leader, I and reinvention in contemporary psychehave the chance to witness the outpouring delic folk. of support from around Savannah—from I decided to put Shadowlines on hiatus until the fall, and in June I started Strange listeners, the art community, to local businesses—who are always willing to collaboFolk. While the show revolves predominantly around folk and psychedelic music, rate, join us on the air, or help us out in any way. from the 60s to today, I’d like to explore the fluidity of those genres. What have you learned so far doing the My approach to curating a radio show, in both cases, is about exploring traditions show that you didn’t expect to?
Emanuela Curtale
I’ve developed a much deeper appreciation for independent record labels, and the work they do. Like music DJs, their aim is to give an artist’s work a home, and provide exposure. You have labels like Mississippi Records and Death Is Not The End, with the aim of saving and preserving music that would otherwise be forgotten or lost. With Shadowlines, I explored 80s and 90s labels like Nettwerk, 4AD, and Trance Syndicate, understanding how record labels can influence or contribute to the development of musical genres. Mostly what I learned since joining WRUU is the importance of freeform and community radio. When radio is driven by service to the community, rather than commercial profit, the goal is to celebrate individuality, rather than stifle it. In a way, every music show on WRUU is a passion project, and the host’s relationship with the music they share is always deeply personal. In turn, when listeners are not treated as consumers, this allows music hosts to develop a relationship with their audience that is honest and intimate. CS WRUU Savannah Soundings radio focus is on celebrating Savannah’s creative depth and diversity, and providing programming to unserved or underserved community groups. WRUU is an all-volunteer station. Find them at 107.5 FM or wruu.org
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WE’RE KICKING OFF a new series profiling show hosts on WRUU “Savannah Soundings,” Savannah’s nonprofit community radio station. Leading off the series is Emanuela Curtale, host of the ‘Strange Folk’ show and head of Media & Marketing at WRUU, which you can find at 107.5 FM or streaming at wruu.org.
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MUSIC FEATURE
High Fidelity Wars v. 2020 BY BILL FORMAN
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
BY THE time CD sales eclipsed vinyl in the late ’80s, the rivalry between digital and analog music fans was in full swing. Compact disc advocates welcomed them as a technological leap in the quest for perfect sound, while analog enthusiasts extolled the warmth of vinyl LPs and dismissed the headache-inducing, highend frequencies that could, and probably should, only be heard by a dog. Musicians who fell squarely into the digital camp included the iconoclastic Frank Zappa. A revered artist whose music had previously been released on LPs, cassettes and 8-tracks, he dismissed the idea that vinyl’s limited frequency range was somehow a virtue. “What the fuck is warmth?” Zappa once told this music writer. “Does warmth mean a lack of top end, or an extra bunch of frequency bulge at 300 cycles? How do you quantify that in audio terms?”
12
Neil Young (photo by DH Lovelife)
And besides, he argued, you can just use a broadband equalizer to get the sound you want. “You roll off the top end a little bit, and things start to sound, you know, warm,” said Zappa with a hint of disdain,
Frank Zappa
“if that’s the kind of sound that you like. I don’t particularly care for that sound.” Compact discs weren’t the first audio format to come under fire when they were first introduced. Back in the 1970s, while people were littering their car seats with clunky 8-tracks and killing the record industry by recording cassette mixtapes for their friends, serious audiophiles were vilifying both formats for their substandard audio quality. Before that, portable record players, long-playing albums, wax cylinders and even player pianos were all greeted with varying degrees of derision. But no format can match the sheer persistence of contempt that continues to plague the lowly MP3. Introduced more than two decades ago, these highly compressed music files began spreading across the internet, as vinyl and CD advocates finally found common ground in their mutual hatred for the new medium. With their paltry bit rate of 320 kilobits per second — compared to the compact disc’s 1,410 kilobits per second — the high infidelity of streaming MP3s has been variously dismissed as lossy, swirly, murky and distorted. The fact that artists were receiving little to no compensation for their work didn’t help. Soon, compressed formats like Ogg Vorbis and FLAC were being embraced by high-end audio enthusiasts, but largely ignored by everyone else. Still, the battle is not over. Earlier this month, the studio-quality digital music app BluOS announced a deal with Neil Young to make tracks from his extensive catalog available to their subscribers. Young,
whose own Pono streaming music service and devices met with only limited success, has been a longtime critic of MP3s, arguing that the quality of the format misrepresents the intent of artists, producers and engineers. The classic-rock icon has been no less critical of the laptops that fans often use to access music, railing against the MacBook Pro in a recent interview with “The Verge.” “That’s Fisher-Price quality; that’s like Captain Kangaroo, your new engineer,” said Young. “You can’t get anything out of that thing. The only way you can get it out is if you put it in. And if you put it in, you can’t get it out because the DAC (digital to analog converter) is no good.” BluOS is not alone. Digital streaming services like Tidal, Qobuz, Primephonic and Amazon’s Ultra HD are all competing for their share of the high-end market, with bit rates that, in some cases, are more than six times greater than CDs. But while even the most undiscerning music consumer will recognize the role that audio fidelity plays in our appreciation and enjoyment of music — I have yet to hear a Kendrick Lamar or Tame Impala album that sounds great on a vintage RCA Victrola — those factors aren’t necessarily what matters most. The bottom line, when it comes down to it, is that you can hear the music and that the artists are getting paid for it. In fact, that’s a really great thing to say any time you want to bond with the high-fidelity purists in your social network, because it will show them just how much you’re interested in the same things they are. Try it and see! CS
CULTURE RECREATION
BY JESSICA FARTHING WHEN THE COVID-19 pandemic forced closures across the hospitality industry, Chris Waters saw her job as a Savannah event planner disappear. “My calendar went from completely booked to everything cancelled in an instant,” she recalls. She was also struggling with the new norm of empty nesting, her children Victoria, 24, and Will, 21 recently moving out of the house. Chris decided to take her time off as a reboot, a time to reset her goals and pay attention to herself. Her friends Nicole Casino and Arra Riggs had planned to join her on a trip to Italy, but travel was cancelled as well.
Instead, they decided on a different kind of adventure, an RV drive around the United States. Chris attributes the speed that their trip was put together to her friend Nicole. “I always wanted to go out West. Next thing I know there’s an RV purchased and a Facebook page. We call Nicole ‘Turbo’ for a reason.” All three women are single and love active adventures. Though they’ve traveled together before, this trip seemed intimidating and the RV a mystery. Nicole wanted to support her friend, and thought social media might become an environment that could help other women as well. “There are probably so many other women who don’t go on adventures
CONTINUES ON P. 14
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
For these local women, rebooting during the pandemic involves crosscountry adventure
13
RECREATION
CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
because they’re nervous. We decided to show other people that we are trying and we’re learning and figuring it out and that they could too.” Followers of the Facebook, YouTube and Instagram account have watched as the group bought the RV in Myrtle Beach - and when the ‘check engine’ light came on that night at the very first campground. They brought it back to Savannah and had it fixed, taking a quick trip to CreekFire RV Resort & Campground for a test run. The light came on again, and they had it fixed. Finally after the third attempt, it was settled that it was just a faulty sensor, but it bothered them when they drove. So instead of continuing to fight against the warning, they put a sticker over it, with a motto, “You can do it.” Now, the light doesn’t bother them. When it came time to start on their big trip, the three friends swung through the Savannah Airport to pick up Nicole’s friend Tammy Gibson who flew in to join them from Portland. They left at 7:30 at night, able to make it to a truck stop in Alabama as their first stop, their 31-foot Winnebago sandwiched in between huge semi trucks. The next day, they traveled to the Ozarks for trout fishing and then to the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. Everyone in the group had input in the schedule. Nicole explained, “some of us prefer to wing it and some like to plan exact routes. We all had a different idea of what we wanted to do and we brainstormed the best stops to go for each thing. Now we are making the loop.” Plans have included yoga at Red Rocks in Boulder, Colorado and touring a CBD/ Hemp farm. Plans are in place to visit a cattle ranch, go fly fishing, bowhunting and take a white water rafting excursion. They also plan on going on a blind date in Colorado, the Facebook group polled on the best candidate for Chris to pick for a night out on the town. The trip hasn’t been all fun and games. When traveling into New Mexico, they ignored emails and warnings on the campground’s website. It told travelers to follow written directions rather than a GPS, cautioning that technology would send them straight up the highest part of the mountain on a one-lane, winding road. Arra started off driving, but then traded with Nicole, stressed by the cars flying down the mountain without any regard of the danger. Nicole, true to her nickname, put the pedal down and made it to the other side. When they arrived, the campground was out of toilet paper and all the stores were closed, but there were families enjoying the natural area and river rafting nearby. No one seemed to mind. 14 The women feel safe about their travel.
Follow the ladies’ Glamping Adventures on social media.
The people they’ve encountered on the road have been helpful and friendly, allowing them to ask questions about RV hookup problems or the area they are visiting. They are able to have their own food, sleep on their own sheets and stay away from others, often finding that campgrounds prefer to have touchless check-in, working over the phone and taping receipts outside of the door. They have rules for their travel together that sound like their mantra for life. First, there is no complaining. It’s a requirement to always be sexy. To respect each other, they should always be ready with what they’ve promised to bring and be on time. And finally, always bring snacks. When asked about future plans, they readily admit that this adventure won’t be the last. Nicole puts it simply, “We like to have fun all the time.” CS https://www.facebook.com/groups/glampingadventures Insta: @glamping.adventures https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2SFo6Kq36_JpkoCTRZ_6nA
CULTURE VISUAL ARTS
‘Of Liberty’
QUESTIONS WITH Nancey B. Price
BY RACHAEL FLORA
rachael@connectsavannah.com
BORN AND raised in Girard, Ga., to a family full of storytellers, Nancey B. Price honors her family tradition through the creative work she does. From writing to collage art to performance art, Price is a storyteller above all else. Her collage work centers the Black body and reimagines what that representation looks like. Though she resisted placing her collage art on Etsy at first, Price was discovered there by a team at O Magazine, owned by Oprah Winfrey. Since then, Price’s work has evolved. Price lives and works in Statesboro, about an hour away from where she grew up. We talked with Price last week.
1. Where are you from?
I always like to throw out Girard, Ga. as
my hometown. It’s very small, very rural, but I can trace my lineage for generations in Girard. It’s mostly through oral history, because being Black out here in rural Georgia, you’re kind of limited as far as how much you understand about your story and your family. For me, I can trace my history by name back to slavery. We grew up in the same area for five or six generations with both my mom’s side and my dad’s side. People say that growing up in a rural community has its limitations, but it’s also a privilege for me. I was able to grow up with, and up the street from, heritage. I was born when both my parents were pretty young, and I was raised while my parents were going off to school or working. It was my grandparents and great aunts and uncles who were taking care of me while I was growing up. Sitting around on the front porch, listening to them talk and tell stories, that’s a part of my upbringing. I always identify myself, regardless of whatever sort of art I do—I’m a collage
2. When did you begin your collage work?
I feel like being in first grade was very pivotal for me! I remember playing with paper dolls a lot during that time. I had a whole collection: I drew the dolls, I cut them out, I had clothes for them. I’d tell myself stories with my paper dolls. For whatever reason, I grew up and forgot all about that. Years passed and I was a very avid Etsy shopper. There was this collage artist, this black woman named Mirlande Jean-Gilles, and she makes very beautiful art. I was just looking at it like, “You know, I feel I can do this.” Not one of those things where you’re like, “This is easy. Even I can do it.” Something in me was telling me, “You’ve done this before and you can do it again. This is you.” One day when I was home during Hurricane Hermine, I was like, “You know what, I’m going to make something today.” I didn’t know what I was doing, but I went downstairs and got magazines and scissors
and started cutting stuff out. I cut out a picture of this woman I found in a photography book. It was a Black woman crying and the story under the photo said she had just lost her son to the Vietnam War. I was like, I need to cut this out. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I wanted to highlight her. Then I started cutting out flowers. That piece eventually became Blooming Grief, which was the very first piece I ever made.
3. Your work was featured in Oprah Magazine. How did that happen?
They found me on my Etsy page. I was reluctant to start an Etsy, but that’s how they found me. They were just like, “Yeah, we like this. Could you add this? Make it more detailed?” I was like, huh, okay! When I did the Oprah piece, after that, my world of collage expanded and I started getting more interested, adding little details here and there, cutting out smaller pieces and building more intricate scenes.
4.How do you choose what to feature in the collages?
I choose what looks best and what’s available to me. As a Black woman, there is a lot of imagery that doesn’t reflect who I am and what I look like. When I started off collaging, it was never my intent to center Blackness and Black bodies. I was just creating art that I wanted to see. I wanted to create art that was important to me and something I could connect with, and I connect with Black bodies because I am one. If you Google collage art right now, you’re not going to see many Black people
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
‘Come Home’
artist, I’m a glider, I love performance storytelling—but storytelling is how I identify. It’s a direction connection to my heritage and my roots. I come from a family full of storytellers. I don’t think I realized where the basis of my storytelling came from until most recently, when I realized that everybody in my family is a storyteller, so it makes sense that I am, too. I’ve always written stories. I still consider myself a writer before a collage artist, even though everything I do is telling a story. I can remember being in first grade and winning first place for a story about a haunted house.
CONTINUES ON P. 16 15
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Portrait of the artist.
unless you search Romare Bearden or something like that. My intention was to include, in as many of my images as possible, I wanted Blackness. I wanted to highlight all the beauties of it, the whimsical nature of Black people in different situations and having their bodies centered, being in worlds that people don’t typically view them in. Make them larger than life. It can help change how Black people view themselves. As I was growing up, I dealt with my own internalized colorism issues as a little Black girl, even though Brandy was out and popping. I adored Brandy—I had the Cinderella movie, I had the Barbie doll, Brandy was key for me. She was this gorgeous dark-skin pop icon. I had Brandy, but I still had my own internalized colorism issues. I was the darkest of my siblings; my mom is lighter than my dad, and I took on the darker complexion from his side. [I was] internalizing those images that the media displays of not just Black women, but then you add dark Black women on top of them—we’re always the evil person in the movies and stuff like that. It took me a long time to grow out of that and to really embrace and appreciate the color of my skin and how beautiful it is, to center that in my work. I do admire the growth and development of my work. I guess that’s a shameless plug! Everything was flat pieces and the canvas works only came about maybe two years ago.
this age, I want to do this and this.” But that leaves no room for life to happen. With me, after I decided not to go to medical school, I was just like, “Okay, life, what you got for ya girl?” Life brought me to Statesboro and introduced me to the world of collage art. I had a solo art show. None of that was really in the plan for me, but I want to keep doing what I’m doing. Five years now, I want to keep doing what I’m doing. I don’t think it’s laziness because I’m doing a lot. One thing I’ve realized about myself within the past few years is that I credit all this to therapy. I have been going to therapy since 2015 because I was a hot mess before. I just want to shout out to therapy and the beauty that can come from it. It took a lot of work. One of the things was recognizing my ebbs and flows in creativity, whether that’s in writing or collaging or storytelling or anything like that. I have a peak season and I have a dry season. Giving myself that space to do it, that space to sit down on the sofa and not do anything for hours that’s creative or productive, understanding I just came off six months of hard work preparing for this art show. Right now, I will say that I am coming off an ebb and am feeling creative. I feel that spark to start cutting stuff out and making stuff again. I made my first piece in like six months. I want to keep riding my waves and relishing my downtime. As far as creativity is concerned, I want to keep creating Where do you see yourself and your but not feel like I’m obligated to do so for creative career in five years? somebody else. That takes the fun out of it. Before Oprah, I was actually feeling like I Honestly, I have no idea. I really don’t. I wasn’t ever going to collage again. But the will say that I feel okay saying that; I used folks from Oprah emailed me and the creto not feel that way. I grew up very type A. I ativity came back. was premed for the first three years of colHopefully, in five years I’ll have this lege, so I grew up knowing exactly what’s mastered as far as my creativity and my the next step. When I came to the realizaability to navigate this art space, this art tion that being a doctor was not for me, I world, navigate it while staying true to think that broke me down. Ever since then, myself. CS I’ve learned to be less harsh on myself and not as timeline-focused. I used to be, “At Follow Nancey on Instagram at @nanceybprice.
5.
CULTURE FASHION
Ashton Cordisco, on tape SCAD student wins Stuck At Prom Scholarship Contest
LAST WEEK, when Ashton Cordisco found out that he had won the Stuck At Prom Scholarship Contest, attending SCAD became $10,000 easier. His artistic couture fashion tuxedo was designed solely of 27 rolls of Duck Tape brand adhesive tape, and an investment of 80 hours of labor. “I first heard about the Duck Tape scholarship from my art teacher. She was the reason I wanted to participate” says Cordisco. “Also because of the super expensive SCAD price tag.” For the past 20 years, Duck Tape has sponsored the Stuck At Prom Scholarship Contest. “My inspiration was my art teacher, so I decided to design my tux with paintings by famous artists that she had introduced me to,” remembers Cordisco. “The process consisted of overlapping the duct tape and creating a sheet of duct tape. Then I would cut out the designs.” In his contest essay, Cordisco wrote, “For my tuxedo, I wanted to use as many colors as possible and create my own piece of wearable modern art. I used all deceased Masterpiece Artists as my inspiration because I wanted my creation to be classy, fun and unique while paying respect to the great artists who have influenced so many!” Contestants had to create and wear their original and unique prom wear using Duck brand duct tape and/or Duck brand crafting tape. A panel of judges narrowed it down from 355 entries to ten finalists, and then the public had two weeks to vote to determine the winners. CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
Ashton Cordisco PHOTO COURTESY OF SCAD
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
BY KRISTY EDENFIELD
17
FASHION
CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
Cordisco continues, “It was hard, sometimes very frustrating and tedious, but I kept pushing to not compromise the vision I had and I am so glad I did. One of the hardest and scariest parts was making my own pattern, cutting the intricate pieces and then making all of the final adjustments so the tux would fit just right. It was such a huge relief, and so exciting when it all came together.” Ashton is looking forward to attending SCAD where he will pursue a major in fashion design and a minor in business management, “I chose SCAD because of the commitment and drive I have, and I know that SCAD will help me sprout into my career.” CS
The designer at work.
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CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
Candidates must have local business contacts and a verifiable successful record of print, digital or broadcast sales.
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FASHION
CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
The many sides of Ashton.
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCAD
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CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
CULTURE MAGIC MAKERS
Legal Lemonade BY BRITTANY CURRY
Inkybrittany.com
TWO 7-year-old Savannah twins have been getting mega media attention after branding their business “Twin-Monade.” Instead of admiring the young girls’ entrepreneurial spirit, a negative Nancy on social media tried to rain on their parade by questioning whether they had a permit 20 to be selling lemonade – a rite of passage
for children in Savannah. Their dad, Quentin Lawyer, said that the woman’s complaint prompted him to reconsider the girls’ having a lemonade stand just “for fun,” and begin to see it as an opportunity to hone their business skills. With the help of a family friend, they filed the paperwork, paid the $85 fee, and made it official. Since the story broke in June, founders Kamari and Kamera have seen their
sales skyrocket. With customers coming from all over Savannah and surrounding areas, people are standing in line for up to an hour to try their creations and support their enterprise. They offer twenty flavor varieties of lemonade, sell by the cup, bottle, and gallon, and on some days go mobile, popping up in different locations across the city. Twin-Monade has been featured on every local news media outlet, covered by CBS, Upworthy.com, numerous online
publications, and shared thousands of times on social media. It’s pretty exciting to think about where they’ll go from here, as well as how many other children and families they will inspire to turn what they’re doing “for fun” into a legitimate startup. That’s why they are this week’s Magic Makers. Support the twins with your business on Tuesdays—Saturdays from 1-6 PM at 1935 Skidaway Road and follow them on Instagram @twinmonade_a. CS
Monumental mistake BY WALTER HUSSMAN EVERY time a president gets a few years under his belt, he’s named The Worst President Ever. Happens every time. Remember when Barack Obama was the worst ever? And before him George W. Bush? And before him Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter . . . . It’s a tradition going back to the first president, when a secretary of state named Jefferson was writing letters about President Washington’s betrayal of the “spirit of ‘76.” But doubtless when it comes to the worst chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, we’d bet that 99 percent of historians have their man: Roger Taney. You can’t tell the story of the United States of America without Roger Taney. Because the story of the USA isn’t always a good one. It has dark chapters. And the worst might have come when the United States Supreme Court issued its Dred Scott decision. The ruling—issued just before the Civil War and pushed through the process by then-president James Buchanan—said that all people of African descent aren’t, and can’t be, citizens of the United States. It would take four years of Civil War and more political work to amend the Constitution (more than once) before that decision could be overruled. Overruled, but not forgotten. For schools and colleges still teach the Dred Scott decision every semester, and should. Along with other mistakes like slavery and Jim Crow. Some of us don’t want to tear down statues of past leaders in this country because we think the whole story of America should be told. Even when we can point to one and say, “That man was wrong.” The House of Representatives in Washington voted this week to remove a bust of Roger Taney outside a room at the Capitol where the Supreme Court used to meet before it got its own digs. Removal of this bust was part of a larger bill that would remove many other statues as well. But one voice opposing removal of Mr. Taney’s likeness comes from a surprising corner: Lynne Jackson, the great-greatgranddaughter of Dred Scott himself. She said if it were up to her, she’d leave Taney’s bust right where it is, but add another: a bust of Dred Scott. (“I’m not really a fan of wiping things out,” she told the press.) That’s exactly what should be done. Leave Roger Taney’s bust where it is,
outside that room in the Capitol building. And next to it, put up a bust of Dred Scott. And maybe put up a carving, or a plaque, between them, saying something like: “In this room, in 1857, a case came before the United States Supreme Court: Dred Scott v. Sandford. Mr. Scott, a slave, argued that he and his wife had lived in free states for several years before being returned to a slave state by their owner, therefore they should be granted freedom under the laws of those free states. They took their case to court in Missouri first, then appealed eventually to the United States Supreme Court. “The high court decided, in one of the worst episodes in American jurisprudence, that not only would Mr. Scott remain a slave, but extended the breadth of the case to say that African Americans “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” Instead of putting the slavery issue to rest, as Mr. Justice Taney and then-President James Buchanan believed, this decision outraged many Americans and helped lead to the outbreak of the United States Civil War four years later. Later, the “Civil War Amendments” would overturn the ruling.” This would explain a dark part of American history, instead of erasing it. A body can’t tell the story of the United States without telling the story of the Civil War and slavery. A body can’t tell the story of the Civil War and slavery without Dred Scott. And a body can’t tell the story of Dred Scott without Roger Taney and the decision that will haunt his shade throughout history. It would be better, many of us think, to confront our past rather than forget it. And—who knows?—perhaps learn from it and make the country a better place. Add a bust of Dred Scott. Let’s not be afraid to tell the story. The whole story— the whole, awful, bloody story. CS Walter Hussman is president and publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, Arkansas. This column is published in Connect by special request.
JONESIN’ CROSSWORD BY MATT JONES ©2020 Answers on page 23
“R-ATIONING” -IT’S THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE.
ACROSS
1 “RuPaul’s ___ Race” 5 Twitch streamer, often 10 Ride around town 13 Drink brand with a lizard logo 14 San Antonio mission, with “the” 15 Rescue team, briefly 17 Pictures of surrealist Joan’s work? 19 Fortnite company 20 One way to sit by 21 “And here’s to you, ___ Robinson ...” 22 Arrange alphabetically 23 Mountaineer’s vocalization 25 Manzarek of The Doors 26 Stereotypical person who might demand to speak to the manager of this puzzle 27 End of Wikipedia’s URL 28 Sound from a meadow 30 “Hansel and Gretel” setting 31 Villain who only wears his purple suspenders and “W” hat two days at a time? 35 California city near Stockton 36 Muralist Rivera 37 “Won’t do it” 41 Comedy duo of scientist Marie and singer Burl? 44 It may be served in a spear 47 Bonding words
48 Sixth sense, supposedly 49 Got up 50 Baha ___ (“Who Let the Dogs Out” group) 52 Element #5 54 Cruise destination 55 Die maximum, usually 56 Rapidly disappearing storage medium 57 Actress Kendrick of the Quibi series “Dummy” 58 Program again onto an antiquated computer storage format? 62 Bank’s property claim 63 Last letter in the Greek alphabet 64 Rival of Visa or MC 65 Dishonorable guy 66 Intro show 67 Budget allocation
DOWN
1 Psychiatric reference book, for short 2 French monarch 3 Like smaller dictionaries 4 Crystal-filled cavity 5 No longer fresh, as venison 6 Pie ___ mode 7 Igneous rock, once 8 Abrasive manicure substance 9 Monica’s brother on “Friends” 10 Chef Boyardee product that had to be renamed for a “Seinfeld” episode
11 Ballpark figure? 12 “Whose Line ...” comic Ryan 16 What some dryer sheets have 18 “Well ___!” (“Fancy that!”) 23 Feline wail 24 Cookie that released an egg-shaped version for Easter 2019 25 Projections from a hub 26 Backyard pond fish 29 Tennis’s Agassi 30 Palm leaf 32 It does a hold-up job in the parking lot 33 Teensy 34 “Teletubbies” shout 38 Defeat 39 Chilean cash 40 “Pardon the Interruption” network 42 Glob or nod ending 43 “The Many Loves of ___ Gillis” 44 Vatican-related 45 Like some twists of fate 46 Pupil protector 50 Home of the Dolphins 51 Throw out 53 NATO alphabet vowel 55 Octagonal road sign 56 “Aw, fiddlesticks!” 59 Cause of conflict, maybe 60 Hang-out room 61 Abbr. after a telephone number
CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
NEWS & OPINION FREE SPEECH
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ASTROLOGY
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Aries poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is renowned for his buoyancy. In one of his famous lines, he wrote, “I am awaiting, perpetually and forever, a renaissance of wonder.” Here’s what I have to say in response to that thought: Your assignment, as an Aries, is NOT to sit there and wait, perpetually and forever, for a renaissance of wonder. Rather, it’s your job to embody and actualize and express, perpetually and forever, a renaissance of wonder. The coming weeks will be an especially favorable time for you to rise to new heights in fulfilling this aspect of your life-long assignment.
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
The Italian word *nottivago* refers to “night roamers”: people who wander around after dark. Why do they do it? What do they want to accomplish? Maybe their ramblings have the effect of dissolving stuck thoughts that have been plaguing them. Maybe it’s a healing relief to indulge in the luxury of having nowhere in particular to go and nothing in particular to do: to declare their independence from the obsessive drive to get things done. Meandering after sundown may stir up a sense of wild freedom that inspires them to outflank or outgrow their problems. I bring these possibilities to your attention,
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
I live in Northern California on land that once belonged to the indigenous Coast Miwok people. They were animists who believed that soul and sentience animate all animals and plants as well as rocks, rivers, mountains—everything, really. Their food came from hunting and gathering, and they lived in small bands without centralized political authority. According to one of their creation stories, Coyote and Silver Fox made the world by singing and dancing it into existence. Now I invite you to do what I just illustrated: Find out about and celebrate the history of the people and the place where you live. From an astrological perspective, it’s a favorable time to get in touch with roots and foundations. CONNECT SAVANNAH | JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2020
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get a lucid grasp of the big picture—and cultivate a more intelligent approach than those who are focused on the small picture and the comfortable delusions.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else,” wrote playwright Tom Stoppard. That’s ripe advice for you to meditate on during the coming weeks. You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when every exit can indeed be an entrance somewhere else—but only if you believe in that possibility and are alert for it. So please dissolve your current assumptions about the current chapter of your life story so that you can be fully open to new possibilities that could become available.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
“One must think with the body and the soul or not think at all,” wrote Libran author and historian Hannah Arendt. She implied that thinking only with the head may spawn monsters and demons. Mere conceptualization is arid and sterile if not interwoven with the wisdom of the soul and the body’s earthy intuitions. Ideas that are untempered by feelings and physical awareness can produce poor maps of reality. In accordance with astrological omens, I ask you to meditate on these empowering suggestions. Make sure that as you seek to understand what’s going on, you draw on all your different kinds of intelligence.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
“When I look down, I miss all the good stuff, and when I look up, I just trip over things,” says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. I wonder if she has tried an alternate approach: looking straight ahead. That’s what I advise for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. In other words, adopt a perspective that will enable you to detect regular glimpses of what’s above you and what’s below you—as well as what’s in front of you. In fact, I suggest you avoid all extremes that might distract you from the big picture. The truth will be most available to you if you occupy the middle ground.
BY ROB BREZSNY
beautyandtruth@freewillastrology.com
Cancerian, because the coming days will be an excellent time to try them out.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
“Notice what no one else notices and you’ll know what no one else knows,” says actor Tim Robbins. That’s perfect counsel for you right now, Leo. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, your perceptiveness will be at a peak in the coming weeks. You’ll have an ability to discern half-hidden truths that are invisible to everyone else. You’ll be aggressive in scoping out what most people don’t even want to become aware of. Take advantage of your temporary superpower! Use it to
“I always wanted to be commanderin-chief of my one-woman army,” says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco. I think that goal is within sight for you, Scorpio. Your power over yourself has been increasing lately. Your ability to manage your own moods and create your own sweet spots and define your own fate is as robust as I have seen it in a while. What do you plan to do with your enhanced dominion? What special feats might you attempt? Are there any previously impossible accomplishments that may now be possible?
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Your meditation for the coming weeks comes to you courtesy of author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. “We can never have enough of nature,” he wrote. “We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and
titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.” Oh, how I hope you will heed Thoreau’s counsel, Sagittarius. You would really benefit from an extended healing session amidst natural wonders. Give yourself the deep pleasure of exploring what wildness means to you.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Author and activist bell hooks (who doesn’t capitalize her name) has taught classes at numerous American universities. She sometimes writes about her experiences there, as in the following passage. “My students tell me, ‘we don’t want to love! We’re tired of being loving!’ And I say to them, if you’re tired of being loving, then you haven’t really been loving, because when you are loving you have more strength.” I wanted you to know her thoughts, Capricorn, because I think you’re in a favorable position to demonstrate how correct she is: to dramatically boost your own strength through the invigorating power of your love.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Aquarian author Langston Hughes (1902–1967) was a pioneering and prolific African American author and activist who wrote in four different genres and was influential in boosting other Black writers. One of his big breaks as a young man came when he was working as a waiter at a banquet featuring the famous poet Vachel Lindsay. Hughes managed to leave three of his poems on Lindsay’s table. The great poet loved them and later lent his clout to boosting Hughes’ career. I suspect you might have an opening like that sometime soon, Aquarius—even if it won’t be quite as literal and hands-on. Be ready to take advantage. Cultivate every connection that may become available.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
Author Faith Baldwin has renounced the “forgive and forget” policy. She writes, “I think one should forgive and remember. If you forgive and forget, you’re just driving what you remember into the subconscious; it stays there and festers. But to look upon what you remember and know you’ve forgiven is achievement.” That’s the approach I recommend for you right now, Pisces. Get the relief you need, yes: Forgive those who have trespassed against you. But also: Hold fast to the lessons you learned through those people so you won’t repeat them again later.
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TOM ANDERSON • 912.433.4340 KW Coastal Area Partners Keller Williams REALTY • 912.356.5001
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