FP211006 by Flagpole Magazine

COLORBEARER OF ATHENS FRONT PORCH PICKIN’

LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1987

OCTOBER 6, 2021 · VOL. 35 · NO. 40 · FREE

p. 16

flagpole Scary Story Contest It’s flagpole Scary Stories time again. Send yours in and win valuable prizes!

Length: 750 words TOPIC: Athens-based Deadline: 5 p.m., Wed. Oct. 20th

SAT. OCT. 23 | THE ATHFEST EDUCATES 5K SUN. OCT. 24 | THE ATHENS, GA HALF MARATHON

Prizes: $50 First, $25 Second, $15 Third Also accepting Scary ArtworK

Winners published in Oct. 27th issue of flagpole. Send stories or artwork to editorial@flagpole.com

“#1 College Town Race”

Scary Stories Editor flagpole, 220 Prince Ave, Athens 30601

halfmarathon.net

“A Must-Run Half Marathon” Shape Magazine

VOLUNTEER @ ATHHALF SAT. OCT. 23 THE ATHFEST EDUCATES 5K SUN. OCT. 24 THE ATHENS, GA HALF MARATHON Scan the QR code to view the volunteer opportunities and to register.

ATHENS, GEORGIA’S

Haley Paulk, Realtor 706-201-7047

SECOND-FAVORITE REALTOR

Jarrett Martin, Realtor 229-869-5734

Carol Bitner, Associate Broker 706-202-9358

WE’RE #2 IN A #1 TYPE OF BUSINESS ATHENSGEORGIAHOMES.com 706-316-2900

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

contents

this week’s issue

Lauren Desberg

UGA THEATRE

ather+ Celebrate

TIME FOR THREE “This remarkable group is not to be missed, and its members play (and sing) with joy, mastery, creativity and supreme artistry in all that they do; truly, no one else is like Time For Three.” – The Strad

Thurs., Oct. 14, 7:30 PM

Hodgson Concert Hall | UGA Performing Arts Center

UGA Theatre presents Alcestis by Euripides, utilizing digital masks and actor-driven technology to breathe life into this original adaptation. Opening Oct. 7 in the MLC Amphitheater, tickets can be purchased at ugatheatre.com.

This Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 NEWS: City Dope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Redistricting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Election Obsession

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

ARTS & CULTURE: Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Flag Football . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Remembering Carter Gillies

Grub Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Supply Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

50 Years of Athens Choral Society

Porchfest Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Threats & Promises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

MUSIC: Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

In the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Historic Athens Porchfest Returns

Live Music Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Art Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Adopt Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, violin YUJA WANG, piano “Kavakos ranks among the greatest instrumentalists of our time.” – Seattle Times “Quite simply the most dazzlingly, uncannily gifted pianist in the concert world today.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Mon., Nov. 1, 7:30 PM

Hodgson Concert Hall | UGA Performing Arts Center

KELSEY FREDRIKSEN

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles PUBLISHER Pete McCommons PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner ADVERTISING SALES Landon Bubb, Jessica Pritchard Mangum CITY EDITOR Blake Aued ARTS & MUSIC EDITOR Jessica Smith EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Sam Lipkin OFFICE MANAGER & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Zaria Gholston CLASSIFIEDS Zaria Gholston AD DESIGNERS Chris McNeal, Cody Robinson CARTOONISTS Lee Gatlin, Missy Kulik, Jeremy Long, David Mack PHOTOGRAPHER Sarah Ann White CONTRIBUTORS Bonita Applebum, Cy Brown, Hillary Brown, Stephen Fowler, Jill Hartmann-Roberts, Gordon Lamb, Anna Lau, Rebecca McCarthy, Darren Mitton, Lee Shearer, Michael Smith, Suzanne Sperling, Jessica & Rob Sutherland, Paul Van Valkenburg, Marci Mendel White CIRCULATION Charles Greenleaf, Carrie Harden, Mike Merva, Taylor Ross EDITORIAL INTERN Violet Calkin

Kirk Edwards

Curb Your Appetite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Marco Borggreve

Hey, Bonita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 MUSIC: Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

( 706) 542- 4400 | pac.uga.edu

COVER ILLUSTRATION by Eli Saragoussi (see story on p. 16) STREET ADDRESS: 220 Prince Ave., Athens, GA 30601 MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603 EDITORIAL: 706-549-9523 · ADVERTISING: 706-549-0301 · FAX: 706-548-8981 CLASSIFIED ADS: class@flagpole.com ADVERTISING: ads@flagpole.com CALENDAR: calendar@flagpole.com EDITORIAL: editorial@flagpole.com

LETTERS: letters@flagpole.com MUSIC: music@flagpole.com NEWS: news@flagpole.com ADVICE: advice@flagpole.com

Flagpole, Inc. publishes Flagpole Magazine weekly and distributes 8,500 copies free at over 275 locations around Athens, Georgia. Subscriptions cost $90 a year, $50 for six months. © 2021 Flagpole, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOLUME 35 ISSUE NUMBER 40

PLEASE VAX UP SO WE DON’T NEED TO

Association of Alternative Newsmedia

MASK UP AGAIN

comments section “Parking has always been a problem for downtown shoppers. And now the crime is out of control…Downtown Athens needs a plan and fast.” — Jeannie Griffin Carter From “Clayton Street Construction Has Downtown Businesses Struggling” at flagpole.com.

Contactless Rentals! Locally Owned!

1006 Virgil Langford Rd. EppsBridgeStorage.com

OCTOBER 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM

news

city dope

Election Obsession REPUBLICANS JUST CAN’T LET 2020 GO, AND MORE LOCAL NEWS By Blake Aued and Rebecca McCarthy news@flagpole.com The governor’s race and Sen. Raphael Warnock’s bid for a full term will be at the top of the ticket in 2022, but the most important contest might be further down the ballot: secretary of state. That’s the person who runs Georgia elections, and it’s been a lightning rod for two straight cycles. In 2018, Democrats accused Brian Kemp, then the secretary of state, of putting his thumb on the scale by disqualifying Democratic voters, leading to his narrow election as governor. Last year, Donald Trump tried and failed to bully Kemp and current Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger into overturning Joe Biden’s win in Georgia. That “Big Lie” has now become an article of faith among conservatives, with candidates tripping over each other to promote the widely debunked notion that Biden cheated his way to the White House. A statewide hand recount, a statewide machine recount, an audit of paper ballots and a signature audit in Cobb County all confirmed Biden’s 12,000-vote victory and turned up no signs of fraud. Bee Nguyen knows the stakes better than Vernon Jones anyone—her family fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and settled in Augusta, as she recounted during a recent fundraiser in Athens. Elected to the state legislature to represent Stacey Abrams’ old Atlanta district in 2018, the Democrat had a brief moment of national prominence when she challenged Rudy Guiliani and other Trump witnesses during Georgia House hearings on the 2020 election. Now, she’s running for secretary of state. “I think, and I don’t exaggerate, that our democracy is in peril,” Nguyen told a group of local supporters last month. “And we have a few opportunities before we go down a road we can’t come back from.” Republicans, meanwhile, want to go further down that road. They passed a voting law last year restricting absentee voting and drop boxes, and allowing the state to take over local boards of elections, among other things. Republican legislators have already started the process of taking over elections in Fulton County, the largest trove of Democratic votes in the state. A few days after Nguyen visited Athens, our congressman, Jody Hice, was in Perry speaking at a Trump rally. Hice—an ultraconservative former pastor and talk radio host—has embraced the Big Lie, as well as the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to topple Biden’s Electoral College victory. Hice is running for secretary of state, too, in the GOP primary against Raffensperger. A third Republican in the race is David Belle Isle, a former mayor of Alpharetta, who lost to Raffensperger three years ago.

Instead of alleging election fraud like Hice, Belle Isle argued when he spoke to the Oconee County GOP last week that decisions Raffensperger made lost Republicans the election well before November. One of Raffensperger’s mistakes, according to Belle Isle, was agreeing to a consent decree with Abrams’ voting rights group Fair Fight that changed the way the state verified signatures on absentee ballots, resulting in fewer ballots being rejected. Another was mailing every registered voter an absentee ballot application during the pandemic and allowing counties to set up drop boxes, which he falsely claimed were unsecured. (They were all monitored by surveillance cameras 24/7. And, by the way, the unsolicited applications were sent out before the primary, not the general.) “Brad Raffensperger certified the wrong result,” Belle Isle said. “Donald Trump should’ve gotten Georgia’s electoral votes.” Ironically, Belle Isle also called for ditching Dominion, the company that manufactured Georgia’s new voting machines, and replacing them with hand-marked paper ballots. That’s what Democrats wanted to do prior to 2020, but Republican legislators instead decided to go with Dominion machines that spit out a paper receipt similar to a QR code. At the same meeting, Kemp challenger Vernon Jones went even further, accusing Democrats and establishment Republicans of a vague conspiracy to oust Trump and calling for an audit like the one recently conducted in Maricopa County, Arizona, where Phoenix is located. Despite being highly irregular and set up to produce a pro-Trump result, according to elections experts, that audit actually wound up adding to Biden’s margin of victory. The election was “riddled with fraud,” Jones told Oconee Republicans. “There’s a coverup going on here…There’s a dead cat on the end of this line.” Perhaps in deference to being in Kemp’s backyard, Jones went easy on the Athens native. “I like Brian Kemp,” he said at one point. “I like his family. But his heart wasn’t in the heartbeat bill, because life doesn’t start at six weeks. Life starts at conception.” Until last year, Jones was a Democrat who served as DeKalb County CEO and did two stints in the legislature, but he switched parties last year and went full MAGA. It wasn’t Jones’ first flirtation with the GOP—he copped to voting for George W. Bush twice during his 2008 run for U.S. Senate. But he has a lot of explaining to do about his voting record. He told the Oconee crowd that he voted against the Kempbacked abortion restrictions (later thrown

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

To become a CCSD bus driver, you need out in court) because they weren’t strong to be able to pass a physical, hold a commerenough. Jones does, however, have the cial driver’s license and pass a background backing of Trump, who spent much of his Perry speech attacking Kemp, even going so check. In addition to receiving benefits, bus drivers have a starting pay of $16.29 far as to say he’d rather have Abrams. an hour, with a guarantee of four hours of Jones hit other hard-right talking work a day. If they want to earn more, they points, too, accusing the Democratic Party can also work as custodians or paraprofesof pandering to Black voters, comparing sionals, said Blankenship. Drivers can also COVID-19 restrictions to Nazi Germany and railing against the transgender commu- earn money by driving for field trips or athletic events. nity, with applause lines like: “Every time I “Without question, our drivers are see Rachel Maddow attack white Republican unsung heroes who are dedicated to getting men, I say, ‘Why are you attacking them students to and from schools safely,” said when you’re trying to look like one?’” Transportation Director Mark Weaver. Such rhetoric can be dangerous. Nguyen “They are likely the first CCSD employee recalled how she and other women who students see in spoke out against the morning and Trump’s attempt to We are working on trying to the last one after steal the election became targets of recruit more drivers, but in school.” The students on threats. But even if a pandemic—well, it’s difficult. buses are required comparatively reato wear masks and, sonable candidates said one bus driver, they do so without like Kemp and Raffensperger survive their protest. Elementary students usually board primaries, they still supported Senate Bill wearing masks, he said, while middle school 202. “We shouldn’t be in a position where students take one when he offers it. Buses we breathe a sigh of relief when somebody upholds the law,” Nguyen said. [Blake Aued] that transport special education students have bus monitors who help maintain decorum, but other buses, generally, don’t have monitors, Blankenship said. Like many school districts around One driver, who asked that his name not the country, Clarke County doesn’t have be used, said he doesn’t understand why enough bus drivers to cover its routes adeCCSD offers the CDL training without manquately. This shortage means sometimes dating the trained drivers work for CCSD children aren’t picked up at the usual time, for at least a year or two. Although training which means they get to school or back for a CDL costs $2,500 to $3,000, if an indihome late. It also may mean bus drivers are vidual pays for it, the district has on staff handling multiple routes, driving back-tostate-certified trainers who teach, monitor back routes or consolidating routes, and and certify new bus driver candidates. children are sometimes sitting three to a District officials said that it’s rare for seat or even standing in the bus aisle. those who finish training and pass the “We just don’t have any additional drivphysical and background checks not to work ers right now,” said Selina Blankenship, for CCSD. This year, the school district is CCSD’s director of human resources. The giving $2,000 in appreciation to drivers district has 119 routes and 119 drivers, who stay with the district the entire acaand when a few people get sick, the whole demic year, paying $1,000 in December and system has to shift gears. “We are working another $1,000 in May. on trying to recruit more drivers, but in a “I encourage everyone to consider the pandemic—well, it’s difficult. We recognize personal and societal benefits of driving these are trying times. And we are working children to school,” the driver said. “Both on what we might be able to do with bus the needs and the rewards are great.” drivers.” [Rebecca McCarthy] f

“

Bus Driver Shortage at CCSD

news

feature

A First Glimpse at Redistricting PROPOSED MAP UNITES ATHENS IN ONE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT By Stephen Fowler news@flagpole.com

draft proposal of Georgia’s new congressional boundaries, released by two top Senate Republicans, would make one Democratic metro Atlanta swing seat safer while drawing the other into more GOP-friendly exurbs. The plan, unveiled last week by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and redistricting committee chair Sen. John Kennedy, will not likely be the final version that lawmakers will vote on in November’s special session, but it gives a good starting point to see potential changes.

While the map was not initially released with accompanying data, a GPB News analysis of the proposed lines imported into Dave’s Redistricting App shows few incumbents would see a dramatic boost in the safety of their districts, except Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux in Georgia’s 7th. Under this proposal, the new 7th voted for President Joe Biden by about 24 points last year, as opposed to about six points under the current lines. The 7th would sit almost completely within Gwinnett County, appearing to run mostly south of Interstate 85 and including portions of Johns Creek in Fulton County. But Rep. Lucy McBath in the 6th Congressional District would face a tougher road to reelection, with her district swinging from Biden +12 to Trump +6 in last year’s election. This is accomplished by removing parts of East Cobb and all the DeKalb County portions of the district, while adding in Sandy Springs and Buckhead, and including Republicanfriendly Forsyth County to the mix. Data released later by the reapportionment office shows the 2nd District in Southwest Georgia might no longer be majority Black after adding in the rest of Muscogee County, parts of Harris County and a sliver of Centerville in Houston County, while losing some of

Macon-Bibb. That district, represented by Sanford Bishop, would become slightly less Democratic. Georgia’s other three Democratic districts would keep roughly their same partisan breakdown but have slightly different shapes. Georgia’s 5th Congressional District would have fewer DeKalb and Clayton voters and slightly more in Southwest Atlanta down into College Park and East Point. The 4th District would no longer include part of Gwinnett, and instead cover almost all of DeKalb in addition to existing voters in Rockdale and part of Newton. The 13th District boundaries would cede half of Douglas County to the 3rd and take more of Clayton County. For Republicans, the 3rd, 9th, 11th and 12th appear to be slightly weaker districts than before, while the 1st, 8th and 14th would keep the same overall margins. The 8th in South Georgia grows slightly stronger. Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s district in particular would continue its leftward shift by keeping much of Cobb County’s Democratic core along I-75, while ceding parts of Bartow County and all of the previous precincts in Fulton County. Rep. Andrew Clyde would no longer live in the 9th District, though you don’t have to live in your congressional district to run or represent it. The 9th would dip into Gwinnett County, and all of Athens-Clarke County would be in the 10th. There are still weeks before the beginning of the special session when lawmakers will meet to approve new maps for Congress, state House and state Senate, and it is likely that several other drafts will appear before getting close to final boundaries. We don’t know how current representatives feel about the map, we don’t know the exact political and demographic breakdowns of the map, and we don’t know what legal or logistical challenges the map would raise without the data. Politically speaking, this map faces several hurdles to becoming reality. Committee hearings over the summer were done with the joint House and Senate committees, but this was solely released by Duncan and the Senate redistricting chair. Duncan, who is the lame-duck president of the Senate and has become a pariah in his party, will oversee a caucus that is bitterly divided over a primary to replace him. Plus, several U.S. House Republicans who have less safe districts were not shored up to potentially counteract the state’s demographic and political shifts over the next decade. f

Experienced advocate for individuals in criminal, juvenile, and probate matters

Tomlinson-lawfirm.com

706-200-1777

... just listen WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

OPEN MIC THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7TH THE PROUD PORCHFEST SPONSOR OF THE BUENA VISTA NEIGHBORHOOD JOIN US FOR A DAY OF MUSIC AND BEER!

TRIBE OF THREE (WORLD MUSIC) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8TH

JAYDEN RICHARDSON JAZZ ENSEMBLE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9TH

CLASSICAL REVOLUTION ATHENS’ INTIMATE LIVE MUSIC VENUE

hendershotsathens.com

237 prince ave. • 706.353.3050

This story comes to Flagpole through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a nonprofit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.

OCTOBER 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM

news

letters

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO P. O. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603 OR EMAIL US AT LETTERS@FLAGPOLE.COM

Remembering 9/11 At 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, I turned on the TV. I was nearly late to work, unable to tear myself away from the shocking news on the screen. When I arrived at the elementary school at 7, I was told to head directly to the teacher’s lounge for an emergency staff meeting. Surrounded by my colleagues, I felt no comfort. No one did. Our faces spoke volumes. We were in shock, saddened and uncertain how to proceed with our students. Our instructions depended on the grade level. I taught kindergarten that year. My students were 4 or 5 years old. Most of my children were just beginning to learn English as their second language. In my case, I could not say anything. I had to go on teaching as if the course of history had not drastically changed forever. Two decades have passed since that morning. My students were not born yet. A full generation inherited the aftermath without any memory of what happened. Much like my parents tried to describe what they felt hearing that President Kennedy had been shot, I find it impossible to recreate what I experienced on 9/11 to children that were not here to live through it. It is my dream to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum one day. It would be particularly meaningful to be there in person this year. The pandemic has overshadowed all other major life events. I still remember the world’s response the day after, Sept. 12, 2001. All of the teachers met before the first school bus arrived filled with our students. We held hands in a circle of solidarity on the main playground, chanting, “We Shall Never Forget.” Let us all never forget. Jill Hartmann-Roberts Athens

Get Vaccinated You’ve heard the story before: The Haves get to go places and do things that the Have Nots can’t. The Haves can win cash and prizes. The Haves avoid sickness and survive the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I’m talking about those who Have vaccinated and those who Have Not. Actually, it’s more like the Haves and the Could Haves, because everyone could have a vaccination. COVID vaccinations are free and available at your local pharmacy to anyone 12 years and older, even if you have no insurance. The suffering and deaths of the Could Haves (and the heartache of their family and friends) is entirely avoidable and within our control to eliminate. But the vaccination rate in AthensClarke County remains low. Although 75% of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated, only 47% of adults in Georgia and 43% of all county residents are. This is far from the 70% vaccination rate needed for herd immunity against COVID-19—what we must achieve to end this pandemic. “But I’m waiting for more data on the vaccines.” After 1.7 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, we have learned that the vaccines are remarkably protective against infection, including the highly

contagious Delta variant that is now the dominant variant in the U.S. Variants will continue to emerge as long as the coronavirus remains in circulation. Immunity appears to be lasting with the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. Most importantly, the vaccines are safe: There have been about 1.3 anaphylaxis events per million doses, and 3.5 to 10 blood clot events per million doses. For perspective, there were 115 motor vehicle deaths and 121 firearm deaths per million people in the U.S. in 2019. You’re far more likely to die in a car crash or by a gunshot wound than to have a serious side effect from the COVID vaccines. “But I survived COVID-19, so I have immunity.” If you survived one coronavirus variant, you’re likely to survive that variant again. But there is no telling how natural immunity to one variant will stand up against other variants, or how long natural immunity will last. Growing evidence suggests the benefit of vaccinations for people who have survived COVID-19, essentially by boosting natural immunity. Vaccinations are our best shot at ending this pandemic. Many in our community can’t be vaccinated, like our children under 12. And many others may not benefit from vaccination, like people who are immunocompromised, undergoing cancer treatment or living with a donated organ. These vulnerable people in our families, schools, workplaces and communities have no choice but to hope for herd immunity to be safe. For the sake of those we love, let’s get vaccinated. Let’s change the script from “I could have…” to “I have gotten vaccinated to end the pandemic!” Anna Lau Athens

The Filibuster Must Go I don’t want to name names, but there are a few Democratic senators in Congress who clearly care more about protecting the filibuster, an antiquated procedural norm that lets a minority of senators stop any bill, than making progress for the American people. It’s hard to understand why, especially when this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pass bold, sweeping legislation that could dramatically change American life for the better. Without the filibuster, legislation like raising the minimum wage, comprehensive climate action and voting rights actually has a chance of passing the Senate with Democrats in control of Congress and the White House. I hope that they see this moment for what it is—a rare opportunity to make government work for the American people—and act before it’s too late. What is power for if not to help people? I’m calling on the Senate to step up and get rid of the filibuster so lawmakers can do what they were elected to do: improve the lives of regular Americans. Darren Mitton Danielsville

Texas Law Encourages Vigilantes The recently passed Texas abortion law promotes vigilante action, turning citizens

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

into bounty hunters to carry out public policy. This law replaces government involvement, allowing large organizations like Texas Right to Live to police other citizens. If successful, similar laws could be passed to enforce legislated social policies. There is no justice in this law, a law that allows one person to sue another without having been harmed nor have any relationship to the person being sued. It does this in such a way that the person being sued may be sued multiple times for a single event until they lose. If the person being sued wins, they cannot be reimbursed for their legal fees, and they may have to travel anywhere in the state to have their day in court for each suit. The person who sues and wins receives $10,000 in damages and attorney’s fees. This law makes a mockery of justice. Anyone may be sued based on hearsay. This totalitarian law asks us to report our neighbor’s suspected act. The secret operation of a large nonprofit corporation can orchestrate the filing of multiple suits to enforce the law’s social control. Since court filings are public record, there is no privacy for the person being sued nor, in this law, the person who may have had an abortion. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor stated that this law’s cash reward effectively “deputized the State’s citizens as bounty hunters.” Let your legislators know vigilante laws are not acceptable. Paul Van Valkenburg Bogart

Ex-Auditor Was Smeared by ACC On Sept. 24, Stephanie Maddox Johnson, internal auditor, was fired by the Athens-Clarke County mayor and commission, under the cloud of discrimination and abuse of power that just now is coming to light, ending the tenure of an innovative, ethical, public servant here in our city. Earlier that afternoon, I personally informed the county attorney that in 2016-17, Nancy Denson, the now-former mayor of Athens, suggested to Allison Wright, a county commissioner serving the 4th District, that steps be taken for the commissioner to stop contributing to the hostile work environment emerging in the auditor’s office. Specifically, for persistent, adversarial communications and actions directed toward Maddox. Wright eventually resigned from the committee. Two years later, Wright was reassigned to the audit committee after Mayor Kelly Girtz took office for his current term. In my opinion, Commissioner Wright was actively colluding with the county manager’s office and by extension other departments, including the human resource office, to discredit the auditor and eliminate the charter office in favor of privatization at the time of Wright’s reappointment to the committee. I do not know if Mayor Girtz was aware of Wright’s prior actions and reason for resignation from the audit committee. I also informed the county attorney during our short conversation that the county manager, Blaine Williams, had Maddox removed from a 2018 criminal investigation on the water reclamation facility after the police department asked the auditor to participate when strong indicators of purchase card fraud and other activity was found in multiple county departments, independent of the actions and charges faced by the defendants, both

of whom are presumed innocent, stemming from the original investigation. Denson had approved the auditor’s participation in the investigation, but hours later, Maddox was removed from it before the audit committee knew about any of it. The county manager successfully used a type of communication that excluded Maddox from being aware of the manager’s extraordinary action. Like the resignation and reappointment of Wright to the audit committee, I do not know if Mayor Girtz knew of the removal of the auditor from the criminal investigation, since it happened before he was elected and took office. The removal of Maddox by Williams from the criminal investigation is the moment, in my opinion, when he took away the auditor’s independence and put it squarely in the realm of mostly unelected, overtly biased decision makers, where it remains today. Maddox had a big red X put on her back by several powerful people inside our local government from nearly the time of her appointment in 2015, and that X was kept fresh by at least one elected official. Amazingly, to my knowledge, the former mayor was never interviewed by the county attorney’s office or the independent investigators hired by the county government to find clarity and resolution about the just recently reported conflict, ending with the unjust firing, from what I know. What resulted was the smearing and termination of Maddox. All for some twisted notion of political power engineered by folks that betrayed the public trust. As a volunteer community advocate who spent many hours learning about the auditor’s office and advocating for it over the past three years, I hope the mayor and commission do the right things, including whatever it takes to give justice and meaning to public servants like Maddox and the offices they lead as representatives not only of the unified government, but also to the people of Athens-Clarke County. Michael Smith Athens

Keep Cities Intact During Redistricting Do you wonder why it is so difficult to have your Georgia state senator or representative pay attention to your needs if you are living in a small- to medium-size city? During the last redistricting, over 23 cities were divided, which meant that their citizens no longer had one Georgia legislator in each chamber of the General Assembly to represent their community’s interests, but two or three. The same problem of cities being broken up exists on the federal level in the House of Representatives. That means that these representatives are less beholden to you and have less concern for your city’s needs. One example on the federal level is Athens, which was split from one congressional district into two in 2011. Another example is Gainesville, which is represented by State House Districts 29 and 30. Each state district needs to have about 65,000 to 70,000 people. Gainesville’s population is 37,906, so it could easily be represented in one district. Now is the time to look at your district boundaries and talk to your state representatives about how they can best represent your interests. Suzanne Sperling Athens

news

feature

A Broken Chain BUSINESSES IN ATHENS AND EVERYWHERE STRUGGLE TO FIND SUPPLIES By Lee Shearer news@flagpole.com

a 2,000-square-foot house jumped from $7,000 pre-pandemic to $27,000 this spring, although lumber prices fell somewhat since May, according to a June 17 White House report. SARAH ANN WHITE

hop early, don’t get bent out of shape if what you want isn’t available, and try to buy local—that’s the advice of Athens business owners trying to cope with a tangled global supply chain. “This is the first of many times we’ll ask you to please shop early for your holiday gifts (and to be flexible when we suggest alternative options if the first book you’re seeking is impossible for your neighborhood bookstore to get),” wrote Avid Bookshop owner Janet Geddis on the store’s Facebook page. “We thought the supply chain hiccups last year were bad, but this year it’s far, far worse.” Lori Lord, owner of Promotional Marketing Services, is also advising customers to plan as much as a year ahead. Her company sells custom branded corporate marketing products—swag such as the pens and magnets handed out at company events or large family gatherings, and the umbrella you might get at a golf tournament. Lord’s entire industry is experiencing “severe” product shortages, she said. Production times, once seven to 10 days, are now three to four weeks. The supply chain meltdown isn’t affecting just delivery times, but prices, she said. Shipping costs from China, where many of the items Lord markets are made (as are many of the books in U.S. bookstores), have skyrocketed, and the prices of some raw materials have also climbed because of real or artificial scarcities. “Plan for six to 12 months ahead,” Lord said. “Be patient, and be flexible,” Avid and Promotional Marketing Services are far from the only businesses caught in the broken global trade web. Restaurants have had to deal with sporadic shortages of hot sauce, pickles and chicken wings, the New York Times reported last month. The cost of the lumber needed for

ting it,” he said. To compensate, Cortese puts in bigger orders to ensure he won’t run out waiting for the next shipment. He’s also paying more for boxes, for plastic cups and other supplies. “Everything’s doubled in price,” he said. “It’s affecting everyone, that’s for sure.” Cortese, a vintage car hobbyist, had to wait a month and a half to get a carburetor for his 1968 Chevelle, he said. Some kinds of auto parts have become hard to find, said Masters Garage owner Bryan Berrong. That’s especially true if the part involves a computer chip. Car manufacturers and some other kinds of businesses cut back on

Pizza boxes are among the many items local businesses are having a hard time acquiring.

Thanks in part to the surge in online shopping that accompanied the spread of COVID-19 and the COVID lockdowns that made Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos even richer, there’s a shortage of corrugated containerboard—the stuff liquor boxes and Amazon shipping boxes are made of. That means Little Italy owner Frank Cortese can no longer count on speedy delivery when he orders more pizza boxes, which are also made of containerboard. “When you place your order, you don’t know when you’re get-

their orders of chips last year, anticipating an economic downturn as COVID spread. Thanks in large part to expanded federal unemployment benefits and aid to business, U.S. consumer demand didn’t wane, but increased. Car sales showed the largest year-over-year increase since 1974, and by the beginning of summer, inventory at car dealerships was half what it was pre-pandemic, according to a June 17 report on whitehouse.gov announcing the formation of a “Supply Chain Disruption Task Force.”

But without enough chips, automakers can’t build cars. That’s led to higher newcar prices and unprecedented price tags on used cars. The price for a one-year-old used car has now “reached parity” with new-car prices, according to Consumer Reports: You’ll pay just as much for a year-old vehicle as for a new one. Meanwhile, car manufacturers are reducing output. Toyota announced last month it would cut production by 40% in September. Though “significant,” the supply issues “are likely to be transitory,” according to the June White House report. Three months later, no one is predicting a quick turnaround, however. The crisis may actually be deepening. Some analysts believe the snarl will continue not just into next year but into 2023, Bloomberg reported last week. Multiple factors have combined to create “a perfect storm,” said Athens Area Chamber of Commerce Director of Sales Marissa Chastain. “A shortage of truck drivers that was building long before COVID has left Chicago warehouses full, for example, and because Chicago is a central hub for railroad transport, there’s no room for the goods still arriving at busy ports, such as the Long Beach-Los Angeles complex, where there’s not enough dock workers to cope with a record volume of incoming ships,” she said. Greed has also played a part. Container shippers are on track to haul in $100 billion in net profits this year, up from about $15 billion in 2020, Bloomberg reported. According to one report, shipping from China has become so lucrative that shippers are actually returning from U.S. ports with a cargo of empty containers rather than waiting to fill them up with U.S. goods for export—one of the factors creating a global shortage of shipping containers. Some economists say the disruption could lead to diminished global trade, less reliance on “just-in-time” manufacturing, more reliance on local or regional supply networks and more domestic production of vital goods. The Biden administration has promised to boost domestic production of computer chips. Lord is one who’s looking to rely less on international trade. “We’ve made a lot of effort finding USA products,” she said. f

Come see

N O O S N O M on Flagpole’s porCh!!! Sunday, Oct. 10th at 1:00pm 220 prinCe Ave. See the rest of the historic AthenS porChFest lineup on page 17

OCTOBER 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM

arts & culture

feature

Remembering Carter Gillies LOCAL POTTER AND PHILOSOPHER WAS A TREASURED TEACHER AND FRIEND By Jessica Sutherland, Rob Sutherland and Marci Mendel White arts@flagpole.com

When I first started teaching at Good Dirt, I (Jess) would often sit right outside the door of Carter’s class when he was teaching, hidden from sight, and just listen. His classes were little communities—pockets of love and support that inspired me as a teacher, and showed me what I wanted to try to become in my own classroom. He had the devotion of his students for a reason, and it had very little to do with the end product on the wheel, although he always helped people to find what was possible within themselves, and that often resulted in something uniquely them and therefore something uniquely beautiful. He had a way of teaching you how to be a better human on the way to learning how to make a better pot. So much of what I (Rob) do when I sit at the potter’s wheel is informed by Carter’s philosophy of making, and when I teach, I try to emulate what I saw in his teaching. Carter always emphasized exploration and practice. His les-

JUANA GNECCO

ast month, Athens lost a kind, artistic, gentle soul. Carter Gillies died on Sunday night, Sept. 6, after a long battle with colon cancer. Good Dirt was lucky enough to have Carter teach with us for a decade, and he made us all better in the process. During that time, he introduced so many people to the joy of creating functional art. He was a teacher in every bone and every cell of his body: patient, kind, encouraging, creative, loving. He knew when to push and when to comfort, how to inspire and how to give space for your growth. He challenged you to find your voice, to find your approach to clay (and to life), and to find yourself in the messy process of it all. He valued people and their individual voices, and was a philosopher, artist, teacher and friend. When I (Rob) found out that Carter was a serious student of philosophy before discovering pottery, it made so much sense. Carter didn’t just make pots to sell. He cared deeply about what he was creating and what place it would occupy in the daily lives of people all over Athens and beyond. Every gesture in his fluid forms was practiced and refined to be the best it could be. Every detail was considered because he wanted to put pieces of himself into the world. Art lived in his hands, and he viewed himself only as a co-creator to the process and the happening. He embraced the surprise and serendipity of the clay having a voice, and you see it in the freedom and magic of his work. He lived his beliefs in ways that were rare and truly special. He was the kindest, most thoughtful and gentlest man I’ve ever met. He practiced vegetarianism to do his part to care for other creatures and the planet. He traveled around Athens by bicycle because he couldn’t stand the thought that an error behind the wheel could harm someone else. As a teacher and mentor, he gave his students his best in every class so that they could find their own connection to art and develop their own personal voice. As an artist of the community, he taught children that they were makers, too, and that what they created was important and magical. He traded his work for theirs, “for a song” and, for years, children in Athens created memories when they went to Carter’s sales, when they worked up the courage to sing or play an instrument, when they saw that their drawing was “good enough” to trade for “real” pottery, when they were able to see themselves and their creativity as valuable. He wasn’t just a teacher, he was a believer in people. We find ourselves going through our collection and using all of his pieces this week, holding on to him in the only way that we know how. Anyone who is lucky enough to have his pieces knows that Carter was an accomplished potter who made dynamic, lyrical, magical work. But, even more beautiful than the work was the man behind it. We’ll remember him best for his heart, for his kindness, for his love of humans and his ability to nurture their creative journey. He set hearts aflame for art all across town, listening to and valuing the art of children in ways that we should all hope to emulate.

sons weren’t “how-to’s” for a specific form, they were exercises to build skills that applied to the whole process. His timed handle-pulling warm-up exercises were legendary, and often feared. He would pass his wet demo pots around the class just to show that it’s okay to touch the clay, even fresh off the wheel. His fearless approach to clay inspired so many of us at Good Dirt. I’ll be digesting a lot of his lessons for as long as I make pots, and I think that’s how he would have wanted it. He didn’t believe in easy answers, just a series of steps in the direction of greater understanding, deeper connection to the work, and generosity with the time and skill that goes into each piece. It’s been remarkable to read the stories about Carter and to see the photos of his work scattered across the homes in Athens, knowing that his reach was far, and that his memory and his work will be in our lives, reminding and inspiring us, for years and years to come. We thought the best way to honor Carter was to keep his mission of valuing and encouraging the art and creativity of children alive. While we can certainly never fill the void he’s left in our community, we will carve out a space to honor what was important to his heart. Even though our December sale will most likely be canceled again for COVID safety concerns, at every future Good Dirt Holiday Sale

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

(with the the hope of enlisting the Good Dirt community and Carter’s former students), we’ll be setting up a children’s table in his honor, accepting drawings, songs, paintings, dances and any other form of creative expression from children as payment for a child’s-sized piece of pottery. Good Dirt was better with you. Athens was better with you. Thank you for being a teacher to us all. [Jessica & Rob Sutherland]

first met Carter Gillies in the UGA ceramics department in 1990. At the time, he was a philosophy grad student and had signed up for a ceramics elective. I remember he immediately fell in love with all of it—the clay itself; the whole process of making pots; the generous, unpretentious, community feeling among ceramicists. Pretty soon he’d decided that clay was his true calling and drop out of the philosophy program to get a BFA, then a Masters in ceramics. He pursued his vocation with passion, and over time became an excellent potter. He taught ceramics classes at Good Dirt, our local community clay center, for many years. He built a studio behind his house on Nantahala Avenue, and held pottery sales there which were regular, anticipated town events. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people own and use his beautiful pots, and he took a lot of joy and pride in that. Though he lived alone, and like any visual artist could be very solitary, he was also quite social and loved how his pottery sales were community happenings. He was always ready and willing to offer help and advice, especially when it came to pots and art. He was so encouraging to me when I started doing ceramics again in 2015, after a long hiatus. I was nervous about my kiln set-up, and he came over several times to make sure I wasn’t going to accidentally burn my house down, and to do the post-firing rundown with me. I’d say a couple of Carter’s main passions were cultivating an appreciation for handcrafted objects in everyone he met, and encouraging children to express themselves creatively. He felt it was so important to be kind to children, to show an interest in their ideas and to help them feel empowered to be creative. Carter truly benefited his community and enriched many lives, including mine. He was sad to have his life cut short by cancer. He regretted not going to a doctor sooner when he was feeling crummy for a long period of time. He’d tell everyone to not neglect your health; don’t take your health for granted. Go get regular check-ups, get a colonoscopy when it’s time, and do all the preventative health screenings. These last few years his life, by necessity, revolved around caring for his health. He had to give up pottery, and many other things. But he still loved seeing his friends and family, enjoyed discussing matters both big and small with everyone who came into his sphere, being with his cats, reading books, watching his garden grow and just being outside. He loved life and would have liked to have stuck around a lot longer, contributing to this grand dance. In his own words: “When I was diagnosed with terminal cancer it would have been so easy to turn to a dark place. Somehow I didn’t. I knew I couldn’t be my old self any longer. But I also understood that this tragedy of a shortened life was a gift in some ways. It was a wake up call to the need to be my best self to the best of my ability. Crisis can break us, make us small and petty, or it can help us aspire to values that really matter.” [Marci Mendel White] f Visit flagpole.com to read more tributes to Carter Gillies.

flag football

Georgia Whomped Arkansas THE DAWGS PROVE THEY CAN STILL RUN THE DANG BALL By Cy Brown news@flagpole.com I expected a lot of what went down when Georgia played Arkansas last weekend in Athens. I expected Sanford Stadium would be as hype as it’s ever been for a noon kickoff. I expected we’d attempt to establish the run against the Hogs’ six-man defensive backfield. I expected the defense would come out with a fire lit under its ass following a week of the national media talking about how they might not actually be as good as they look. I expected a win.

big plays. Manball got us through the bulk of most of the seasons under Smart. It was that inability to make explosive plays in just a few games that necessitated a change in offensive identity. Hence, hiring Todd Monken to run the offense. But the circumstances of the Arkansas game gave us every reason to do an aboutface and try to Manball our way to victory. JT Daniels sat out the game with a lat strain, and Arkansas’s defense and its six

ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER

Zamir White Manballed his way to two touchdowns on Saturday.

I did not expect 37-0. But that’s what happened in the Dawgs’ biggest game of the season to date. Georgia opened the week as an 18.5-point favorite, dropping to 17 closer to game time. It was a spread most in the college football world and betting public thought was absurd, as more than 80% of the money came in on Arkansas. There’s a reason there are a bunch of big casinos out in the desert. I learned some important lessons during the 37-0 whompin’ of the Hogs. The first and most obvious lesson: The house always wins. The second lesson: There is a time and a place for Manball. For most of Kirby Smart’s tenure, Georgia has been denigrated for its inability to keep up with the times offensively. And I’m guilty of being one of those doing the denigrating. For the first several years in Athens, the Dawgs became over-reliant on Manball. For those unfamiliar with the term, Manball is an offensive strategy in which you dominate the line of scrimmage, let your quarterback manage the game by keeping him out of difficult situations, and run the ball down the opponent’s throat come hell or high water. If you’re still confused, just think of everything Georgia did offensively until last season. After a handful of high-profile losses over the last few years in which we were simply outscored, it became clear Manball wasn’t tenable, at least not as our only strategy. If you want to win a national championship in this day and age, you eventually have to go to the air and make

defensive backs are built to prevent explosive passing plays. So we ran the ball and ran the ball and ran the ball. And when we were tired of running the ball, we ran the ball some more. As a team, Georgia ran 56 times for 273 yards and three touchdowns. James Cook ended the day as the feature back, with a gamehigh 87 yards on 12 carries to his name. It also proved to Georgia’s detractors that we can run the ball when we choose. Georgia’s lack of an established running game through four games this season was something that was latched onto by those looking to find weaknesses in the Georgia juggernaut. How a running back room that goes five-deep with five- and four-stars behind a physical offensive line would ever be construed as a weakness, I don’t know. But then again, I’m not out here looking for reasons Georgia might suck when clearly none exist. The reliance on Manball to beat Arkansas did mean our passing game took a step back, but that doesn’t worry me at the moment. I’ve seen enough from Monken and Daniels to believe that we can make those explosive plays through the air when the time comes. In this case, playing Manball wasn’t a regression. It was a strategy. With Florida suffering a loss at Kentucky, its second SEC loss of the season, Georgia has a path to the SEC Championship Game big enough to drive a Mack truck through. We’re about to embark on a two-month-long exercise in sticking the landing. And if you want to keep your money in your pocket, don’t bet against the Dawgs to do it. f

FLAGPOLE.COM

arts & culture

All of us at Epting invite you to support our Neighborhood Leaders through Family Connection - Communities in Schools of Athens and suggest/ask/invite you to check out AGoodStoryFoods.com

Dog Spa

TAME THE BEAST!

Voted Athens’ Favorite Pet Groomer AKC Safety-Certified Salon

1850 Epps Bridge Pkwy • 706-353-1065 barkdogspa.com

OCTOBER 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM

food & drink

grub notes

advice

hey, bonita…

Mama Ning’s Brings Thai to Watkinsville Balancing Life and Long-term Friendships PLUS, INTERNATIONAL GROCERY SHOPPING ON MILLEDGE AVENUE

ADVICE FOR ATHENS’ LOOSE AND LOVELORN

By Hillary Brown food@flagpole.com

By Bonita Applebum advice@flagpole.com

MAMA NING’S THAI (2 S. Main St., Watkinsville, 706-705-1012): You wouldn’t think that a Thai restaurant in Watkinsville would be good, even though the town does have some bright spots, and dining options have expanded. Even Athens only has limited Asian options whether east, west, north, south or central. Sure, there are plenty of places where you can get an SARAH ANN WHITE

Mama Ning’s Thai

OK curry or a simply executed stir-fry, but there’s not a ton beyond that. Mama Ning’s isn’t exactly uncalibrated to the Western European palate, but it is far better than it needs to be. Occupying the former Mirko Pasta space in the Town Center complex in downtown Watkinsville, it has a patio for outdoor dining, an acceptable if not amazing mask policy (a sign on the door asks the unvaxxed to mask up, pretty good for Oconee County), and a solid online ordering platform for take-out. You can pick your spice level from mild to very hot for most dishes, and medium is plenty adequate. The best stuff on the menu is under “Mama Ning’s Favorites,” where you’ll find catfish in basil sauce (lightly fried and served with bell pepper, onions, green beans, green peppercorns, fingerroot and mushrooms in a chili basil sauce; it unsurprisingly collapses in a take-out container, but still has plenty of flavor), a bunch of duck dishes, Thai-style chicken and rice (also available in a smaller portion on the kids menu and basically the Thai version of chicken soup, steamed with plenty of aromatics, served with a hearty broth and comfortingly bland in many ways), and khao soi/chiang mai noodles (a delicious curry dish focusing on coconut milk and turmeric with egg noodles, your choice of protein, onions, lime, scallions, cilantro and wonderfully good and surprising pickled mustard greens, to be topped with fried wontons for a satisfying crunch). The vegetables and the fish seem to be the best offerings, although

there’s also larb, a cold ground-meat salad most often made with pork but here available as chicken, shrimp or tofu, all tossed with lime juice, fish sauce, onions, celery, cilantro, mint and scallions. Tofu and the chicken massaman are fine but not exciting. The green papaya salad is a little wilted. The idea of the Thai-style scrambled egg, packed with vegetables, is a bit more exciting than the reality, in which the result is a chewy pancake studded with stuff that doesn’t assert itself. Still, on the whole, the place deserves credit for using fresh ingredients and not relying on sugar to carry its dishes. Even the tom yum, a hot-andsour-type soup that’s a standard in many Thai restaurants, has more panache than at most places. The aforementioned kids menu has multiple options, none of which is chicken fingers, and there is makgeolli (Korean rice beer) among the beer and wine options, plus cake from Sweetie Pie by Savie for dessert. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday–Sunday, with a break in between the meals.

Hey Bonita, Over the summer, I reconnected with two separate friends (must have been something in the air) that I used to be extremely close with in my early 20s. In the past, both friendships just kind of fizzled out due to life being busy, etc. So it was really nice to catch up and jump right back into the friendship like no time passed—it was this way for both of them. We still had a genuine connection, talking about real things, not just your youthful “party” friends. It felt so nice to have these people back in my life that I kind of silently promised myself not to let life get between things again and to keep the friendships alive. Well, a couple months later and BOTH friends are unresponsive. We don’t exactly live close, so it was mostly an online/texting friendship anyway. It just seems so strange to me that it wasn’t just

ACHACHI INTERNATIONAL MARKET (2024 S Milledge Ave., Athens, 706-8509800): This place isn’t a restaurant at all, but a market. It’s worth a note nonetheless, as it has been a minute since Athens had a place where you could get Indian, Pakistani, Arabic and West African groceries. The store, right by the Islamic Center on Milledge Avenue, is fairly teeny, but it packs in a lot, especially in the second room that would be easy to miss, where coolers hold whole frozen fish (pomfret, rohu, etc.), halal meats, butter made from water buffalo milk, lassis, tofu, roti (cooked and uncooked) and interesting sodas. There are fresh vegetables, too, and gigantic bags of rice. The main room has copious packets of various curries, well-priced whole spices, nuts, loads of snacks (potato chips in an array of flavors, including mint; bags of spicy fried lentils), poori, mango drinks, soaps, loads of pickles, Cadbury Milk chocolates and much more. If you’re looking for excellent COVID precautions, you won’t find them here, and some things are still better found at Fooks Foods, just down the block, but it’s a fun place to browse and discover new things, and a valuable resource for the many international students who live in the area. It’s open 11 a.m.–9 p.m. every day, and more than willing to do special orders for folks who ask. f

one but TWO friendships following the exact same pattern. What did I do? Or not do? I’m not sure, but after just a couple of spread-out, “How are you?”’s, I figured it was best to leave them alone. Keeping long-term friendships alive seems so hard, how do you keep these people in your life? Confused Friend

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

Hey Confused, I heavily relate to this. I’m no spring chicken either, but I am still in touch with my besties from elementary, middle and high school. I see my middle and high school besties at least once a year, but it’s not without some effort on everyone’s part. You’re right, it takes a lot of work to keep long-term friendships going, but that work shouldn’t feel like work. If it does, then maybe you’re forcing something that isn’t meant to be. When I think of my relationships with my oldest friends, they really do just kind of ebb and flow in a way that doesn’t feel particularly orchestrated. On Monday, I got a text from my 3rd grade bestie, just some general well-wishes and platonic love declarations, but I hadn’t seen or spoken to her since my dad’s funeral at the end

of May. Before then, we hadn’t had direct contact beyond social media likes since Christmas. And I don’t get offended by that lack of contact, because we’re both grown, you know? We live states apart and both have careers and educations that we’re managing, and it’s natural for those things to take up a big slice of anyone’s daily attention span. So, one of us will reach out when the other is on their mind, and we’ll make plans for when we’re both going to be in our hometown or in the same area. One of our mutual ride-or-die best friends lives in Colorado, and we intend to take a trip there in the near future, but none of us feel pressure to get anything on the books just yet because hey, we’re all busy, but life will calm down eventually, and we’ll all Facetime about it sooner or later. No biggie.

This is all to say that I recommend extending some grace to your friends in the same way that you’d want grace extended to yourself when you need to play catch-up on your contacts. This recent lack of communication does not seem like an indication that they are choosing to pull away from you or anything like that, unless you know something that you haven’t shared with me. You know whether or not these friends are shady types, so you can judge their intentions best. But I don’t recommend letting your thoughts about this snowball into, “They hate me and don’t want to talk to me,” unless they’ve given you direct indications of such. Two months of no contact can really sting, but that’s normal for me and my rideor-dies. Someone has to leave someone else on “read” eventually for the conversation to end, so keep that in mind. Manage your expectations around regular contact with busy adults, but also feel free to let any relationship come to its natural conclusion. There are plenty of old “best friends” that I no longer talk to, and that is perfectly fine. f Need advice? Email advice@flagpole.com, or use our online form at flagpole.com/get-advice.

OCT. 23rd–30th

Toys * Lingerie Costumes * Fetish Hookah * CBD Movies & MORE!

A TOUR OF SPIRITED HOMES AROUND BOOLEVARD Flagpole would like to raise some Halloween spirits this year by presenting a driving tour of the best haunts in the Boolevard neighborhood. We have chosen this area for our 2nd annual tour because this neighborhood is full of Halloween enthusiasts who spook up their homes every year.

HAUNTS WILL BE ON DISPLAY FROM

SATURDAY, 10/23–SATURDAY, 10/30 FROM 6:30–9:00 P.M. Think your home could be the most ghastly in the ’hood? Just register your house by Oct. 10th to be on the map. There will be prizes for the Scariest, Most Original, Humorous, Best DIY Display and Most Traditional house.

Go to flagpole.com for details. • Creepin’ it safe this season!

Fall Into Pleasure at Elations Of Athens 4100 Lexington Rd, Athens, GA 30605 10 AM-2 AM 7 Days A Week (706) 552-1492

Mention Flagpole @ the register for a 10% discount. SHOPSTARSHIP.COM

Connect with us...

OCTOBER 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM

We love you, Marti!

r t i s at m i d d a

At h

y. c

ORDER ONLINE! Flagpole Favorite Lunch for 6 years!

PULASKI HEIGHTS

SALTADO • WINGS • EMPANADAS • SHAKES • MADUROS • CUBAN SANDWICH • TOSTONES • QUESADILLAS • TACOS • BURRITOS

CUBAN SANDWICH • TOSTONES • QUESADILLAS • TACOS • BURRITOS •

Nor

LOMO

Here are restaurants that are open and waiting for your order!

CURB YOUR APPETITE

, ns

lumpkin & cedar shoals Cali-N-Tito’s NOW HIRING lumpkin & La Puerta del Sol

AMAZINGeastside PEOPLE!

NOW HIRING LOOKING FOR amazing people!

NOW OPEN FOR BREAKFAST

cnt@lapuertadelsol.net

Burritos, Biscuits, Pastries, Espresso drinks and more!

looking STAFF for bilingual KITCHEN cashiers & food runners. AND callSERVERS to make appointment Monday–Friday 8 am–11am 706-255-4393 or email resume to

CALL TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT 706-255-4393

www.pulaskiheightsbbq.com

cuisine

Noodle · Seafood · Curry · Vegetarian · Thai BBQ · Dessert

INDOOR AND PATIO SEATING 420 MACON HIGHWAY 706-548-3359

daily updates

iri

House of Kabob

4PM–9PM T–TH • 4PM–10PM FRI • 2PM–10PM SAT 11AM–3PM SUNDAY BRUNCH 3PM–9PM SUNDAY

Indoor dining is back Online ordering available for take out Delivery through Bulldawg food Follow on Facebook and Instagram for

PERSIAN CUISINE

TRY OUR NEW MENU ITEMS!

LIVE MUSIC ON WEEKENDS

WEEKDAY WEEKLY SPECIALS

AS A THANK YOU WE ARE OFFERING YOU 20% OFF (DINE-IN, TAKEOUT, AND DELIVERY) ONLINE DELIVERY CODE: FLAGPOLE 1155 MITCHELL BRIDGE ROAD

706-850-1509

Lunch, Dinner & Weekend Brunch

Indoor and Outdoor Dining and Contact free Pick-up for Lunch Tues-Fri 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Dinner Wed-Sat 5 p.m.–9 p.m. Brunch Sat & Sun 9:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

706.354.7901 Corner of Chase and Boulevard

heirloomathens.com

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

TAKE OUT CURBSIDE PICKUP SOCIAL DISTANCED SEATING PATIO SEATING 1040 Gaines School Rd. (Ansonborough) (706) 850-3500•SiriThaiAthens.com

PIZZA SANDWICHES

CALL US FOR TAKE-OUT!

Rooftop Patio · Full Bar · Margaritas · Tacos Burritos · Tortas · Fajitas · Choripan · Empanadas

2ND LOCATION NOW OPEN! 1550 Oglethorpe Ave • 706-850-8299

MON-SAT 8AM–9PM

SUN 10AM–9PM

COUNTER SERVICE • ONLINE ORDER CURBSIDE BY REQUEST

DELIVERY AVAILABLE VIA ALL SERVICES FIVE POINTS • 706-613-2600

DELIVERY THROUGH BULLDAWG FOOD

SUN-THURS 11AM-8PM FRI & SAT 11AM-9PM BEER • WINE • DESSERTS

254 W. Washington St. 706.543.1523

tedsmostbest.com

Five Points Bottle Shop BEER

WINE

LIQUOR

CIGARS

B E S T S E L E C T I O N • E V E R Y D AY L O W P R I C E S . F R I E N D LY , K N O W L E D G E A B L E S T A F F

download our app Shopping for your Fall Events Has Never Been Easier!

• Order Online • Contactless Pickup! • Delivery in Athens-Clarke County!

Fivepointsbottleshop.com @5pointsbottleshop • 1655 S. Lumpkin

westside & northside BOTTLE SHOP ATHENS • GEORGIA Best Cigar Selection with walk in Humidor, Liquor, Wine and Beer

STOCK UP to

watch the game! download the app to ORDER ONLINE AND SKIP THE LINE • Order Online • Curbside Pickup • Delivery in Athens-Clarke County!

BOTTLESHOPATHENS.COM 3685 Atlanta Hwy 706-316-2337

@bottleshopathens 950 US 29 706-395-7110

OCTOBER 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM

Five Points • Eastside • Prince Avenue

KICKOFF YOUR TAILGATE with Barberitos Catering!

Cool Weather Soreness Has Met Its Match! Whether it’s arthritis or muscle pain, inflammation or burning sensations, this Healing Salve has you covered! (literally)

DISABILITY LAW SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY Workers’ Compensation Long Term Disability Veterans’ Disability PHONE APPOINTMENTS CBD &

products available

Scan the QR Code to Sign up for our Strain of the Month 706-244-9505 • frannysfarmacyathens.com • 2361 w. broad st.

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

•

WEB

•

706-548-6869 • 877-526-6281 (toll free) 225 Hill Street, Athens, GA 30601

silverandarchibald.com

LET US HELP

SERVING NORTHEAST GEORGIA FOR 35 YEARS

music

feature

Athens Choral Society Celebrates Golden Anniversary 50 YEARS OF COMING TOGETHER THROUGH SONG By Sam Lipkin editorial@flagpole.com

MARY HUTCHERSON

uch about Athens—and life in general—looked free to the public, these performances are usually accompavery different 50 years ago. Clarke Central High nied by a full orchestra of hired UGA students. Then, there School, formed from the merger of Burney-Harris is a summer show featuring lighter, Broadway-type music High School and Athens High, had just opened its doors that serves as a fundraiser to support the free seasonal after the desegregation of Clarke County schools. Apollo 14 concerts. Beginning as a penniless group of volunteers, the orbited the moon carrying loblolly pine seeds, one of which society is now able to afford to pay its director and accomwould be planted in downtown Athens and still stands tall panist, although at a reduced rate well below market value. today as the “Moon Tree.” “We have been blessed with some wonderful accomAmong these events bringing humanity together physpanists. They’re so important to our group. They are the ically and symbolically were five Athenians, most of whom foundation walls, the director is the building on top,” says were university professors connected to the UGA School Hutcherson. of Music, who saw the need for a community chorus. After putting up some posters and having a surprising crowd of 75 show up for rehearsal, the Athens Choral Society performed its first concert at Mell Auditorium, in the aforementioned Athens High, on May 18, 1971. How has this group withstood the test of time? According to Mary Hutcherson, one of two remaining charter members, it is simply a “love to sing.” The society has maintained its original vision as a non-audition, community chorus open to everyone, boasting a unique membership spanning from seniors in high school to those in their early 90s. Director Stephen Mitchell agrees that the key to their success is “everyone there just loves to sing. When you’re in a singing community, you almost become like family. We’ve had so many best friendships develop from the choir, we even have a couple that met (l-r) Stephen Mitchell, director; Henry Hinnant, guest composer; Sara Lorusso, accompanist. and married because of choral society. So, I think it’s the relationships they build, and the In recent years, the group has expanded their involvefact that the common goal is they’re there because they love ment with the community and created a more diverse to sing.” image of the Athens Choral Society. They have partnered The Athens Choral Society typically has three concerts with Dancefx dancers, the UGA Opera Theatre singers and a year—a fall concert, a Christmas concert and a spring local bluegrass bands. concert—held in recent years at Hodgson Hall on the “Even though we give back to the community through University of Georgia campus. More classical in nature and music, one of the really important things for us is to give

back through our summer show. In addition to charging money for a ticket, we also do a collection for an Athensbased non-profit each summer,” says Mitchell. “We have collected just over $38,000 for all those organizations since 2008. We try to keep them all in Athens so the money stays in Athens. So, we’re really proud of that.” Unfortunately, COVID has had a profound impact on the group, including delaying their 50th anniversary plans. Unable to celebrate this past May, the society has big plans for an official anniversary concert in May of 2022. For the first time in its history, according to Hutcherson, the society had to miss performances and did not meet for a full year, from March 2020 to April 2021. However, the society received an ACAC Arts in the Community Resilience grant, which allowed Mitchell to commission a piece of music for the anniversary called “If Music Be the Food of Love,” composed by Henry Hinnant. Set from text by William Shakespeare, the piece will be performed live at the May 2022 concert. “I’m really proud of what we did with the 50th anniversary commission. It may not be sung 200 years from now, but I think it’s a very good piece,” says Hutcherson. As COVID numbers began to go down in the spring and a majority of the society members were eligible for early vaccinations, the group came back together to rehearse outdoors. “I thought we needed to be together. So our first rehearsal in the middle of April 2021, we had over 60 people show up, which just said that they really wanted to sing,” says Mitchell. “Masks make it hard to sing. Then, it’s just really hard to blend the sound and make it real unified when you’re in a mask and you’re outside without any acoustics. So, we were basically singing to sing and be together more than we were for the final product.” This gave them the opportunity to rehearse “If Music Be the Food of Love” and record a video of their performance while waiting to return to a live audience. Thankfully, the Athens Choral Society was able to put together an outdoor summer show for a boost of community morale. Postponing rehearsals once again for the month of September, to wait out the COVID surge, the Athens Choral Society will soon begin preparing for a “kick-off” anniversary show on Dec. 7 at Hodgson Hall. If rehearsals continue to be pushed back due to safety, then Mitchell will assess having an abbreviated concert elsewhere. For more information and updates on upcoming performances, visit athenschoralsociety.com. f

flagpole

needs your support! flagpole is fighting to continue bringing you the most up-to-date news, but the financial ripple effect of this pandemic is unprecedented and we can’t continue without your support.

DONATE It’s as easy as your Netflix subscription! Just set up a recurring donation through PayPal (https://flagpole.com/home/donations https://flagpole.com/home/donations)) or mail in a check. F lagpole, P O Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603

OCTOBER 6, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM

feature

MIKE WHITE · DEADLYDESIGNS.COM

music

Historic Athens Porchfest 2021 COMMUNITY EFFORT IN CELEBRATING HERITAGE By Sam Lipkin editorial@flagpole.com

hile many festivals and events are getting canceled or downsized, Historic Athens Porchfest is luckily flourishing and back even bigger for year three due to the nature of this outdoor event. After going virtual last year—and being voted the 2021 Flagpole Athens Favorites Virtual Event—the festival has expanded from the first year’s 67 performers in four neighborhoods to 108 performers in six, adding Cobbham and Normaltown to the original Boulevard, Buena Vista, Newtown and Pulaski Heights. “I think that this is the event every year that always shatters, again and again, the myth that musicians aren’t reliable, because if musicians weren’t reliable, you couldn’t do this,” says Tommy Valentine, executive director of Historic Athens. “What makes it work is really just the generosity of the artists and the hosts.” The catalyst for this event was the Historic Athens members examining their mission statement—”to be a proactive force in developing community-wide understanding of the value of historic buildings, neighborhoods and heritage,” according to the website—and realizing they did not have an anchor event celebrating the historic

neighborhoods. One member introduced the idea of porch festivals, which perfectly suited the culture of Athens with the added benefit of also celebrating the musical community’s heritage. Valentine uncovered a very fitting history of porch performances in the under-appreciated Newtown area. Longtime Newtown residents Irene Gilree and Lucy Blair shared that during the Chitlin’ Circuit era, Little Richard had a cousin who lived in the neighborhood whom he would visit when nearby. They would pull a piano onto the porch, and the whole neighborhood would gather to listen. For Valentine, this anecdote illuminates how much older and more diverse Athens music history is than many know. Community interest and artists/hosts willing to contribute will be responsible for how large this festival grows in the future. “It really became a priority to us to not base our booking decisions on prestige. If somebody was generous enough to want to contribute a performance to this event, we wanted to find a place for them to play,” says Valentine. One of the biggest challenges in geographic growth is maintaining a pedestrian-friendly, interconnected event. However, the fact that the performances are

Monsoon will play Flagpole’s front porch at 220 Prince Ave. Sunday at 1 p.m.

on private property spread out over such a large outdoor area is exactly what saved this year’s festival from the fate of its peers. Historic Athens has paid close attention to the ACC and CDC guidelines, collected feedback from both hosts and performers, consulted local elected officials and spoke with local health professionals to ensure that the event will not be detrimental to the larger community. The average single event drew a crowd of 20–30 people previously, and unsafe levels of clustering are not expected. All hosts have been encouraged to take any safety precautions on their property that they feel necessary, including requiring masks or limiting the number of attendees.

For those planning ahead with the help of Porchfest’s printed schedule and mobilefriendly Google map, you have to embrace that you will miss out on bands. With an average of 18–20 artists playing every hour, Valentine recommends choosing one or two bands of interest, and then wandering from there. Unlike other festivals, it is not safe to assume the more popular acts will be headlining at the end of the night—time slots were assigned by a random number generator. This year’s lineup is the most diverse yet, and a great way to explore everything the music community has to offer. “I think that this is a day to kind of just luxuriate in the music, culture, architecture and history of Athens,” says Valentine. f

EVENING

SERVICE accgov.com/transit

RETURNS!

Routes 8, 30 & all Sat/Sun routes provide evening on-demand only. Call (706) 613-3430 to schedule. Flagepole-9-2020_4D.indd 1

FLAGPOLE.COM | OCTOBER 6, 2021

10/4/21 12:55 PM

PORCHFEST 2021 SCHEDULE ✺ Sunday, Oct. 10 3:00

Beast Mode

675 Pulaski St., STE100