FP240117

COLORBEARER OF ATHENS ARCHIVING OUR CLASSIFIEDS

JANUARY 17, 2024 · VOL. 38 · NO. 2 · FREE

LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1987

Project Censored Top Stories Ignored by Mainstream Media p. 10

Contest Theme: “Dreams of Harmony and Peace” K-2 Art Winners

K-2 Writing Winners

1st - Jade Thomas, 1st Grade, Fowler Drive Elementary 2nd - Yaritzi Gonzalez, 1st Grade, Gaines Elementary 3rd - Dorsey Crowe, Kindergarten, Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary Honorable Mention - Kenji Funato, 1st Grade, Timothy Road Elementary

1st - Faeren French, 2nd Grade, Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary 2nd - Cailyn Pass, 1st Grade, Fowler Drive Elementary 3rd - Bianca Linares-Chagolla, 1st Grade, J.J. Harris Elementary Honorable Mention - Jakylie Tory, 2nd Grade, Gaines Elementary

3-5 Art Winners

3-5 Writing Winners

1st - Melvie Hudson, 4th Grade, Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary 2nd - Vada Lanham, 4th Grade, Barnett Shoals Elementary 3rd - Max Selleck, 5th Grade, Barrow Elementary Honorable Mention - Katarina Hancock, 5th Grade, Winterville Elementary

1st - Nora Cooper, 5th Grade, Winterville Elementary 2nd - Noah Edwards, 5th Grade, Timothy Road Elementary 3rd - Sadie Smith, 4th Grade, Barrow Elementary Honorable Mention - Jade Jackson, 5th Grade, Gaines Elementary

Middle School Art Winners

Middle School Writing Winners

High School Art Winners

High School Writing Winners

1st - Derionna Looney, 6th Grade, Burney-Harris-Lyons 1st - Treylon Johnson, 8th Grade, Hilsman Middle Middle 2nd - Olivia Trimble, 7th Grade, Clarke Middle 2nd - Jaden Davis, 8th Grade, Hilsman Middle 3rd - Kenia Gonzalez-Chavez, 8th Grade, Coile Middle 3rd - Ollie Cook, 6th Grade, Clarke Middle Honorable Mention - Kaydon Jones, 8th Grade, BurneyHonorable Mention - Melvin Ramirez Calderon, 8th Harris-Lyons Middle Grade, Coile Middle

1st - Michelle LeBlanc, 12th Grade, Cedar Shoals High 2nd - Eva Lucero, 11th Grade, Cedar Shoals High 3rd - Isaiah Moore, 12th Grade, Cedar Shoals High Honorable Mention - Davion Hampton, 12th Grade, Cedar Shoals High

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

1st - Aniyah Warner, 9th Grade, Cedar Shoals High 2nd - Percy Thompson, 11th Grade, Cedar Shoals High 3rd - Jada Hunter, 12th Grade, Cedar Shoals High Honorable Mention - Nikia Johnson, 11th Grade, Cedar Shoals High

this week’s issue

contents

MIKE WHITE · DEADLYDESIGNS.COM

Old-school outlaw country band The Howdies will be playing at Hendershot’s on Jan. 19 with psych-tinged folk act Dim Watts and alt-country group The Wydelles. For more events, see the Live Music Calendar on p. 17.

This Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 NEWS: City Dope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Project Censored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Library Denies Book Reclassifications

Calendar Picks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

One Chocolate Chip Cookie Per coupon

Event Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

NEWS: Pub Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Tribute to John W. English

Live Music Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Art Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

FOOD & DRINK: Grub Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Last Year’s Food News

Adopt Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

MUSIC: Threats & Promises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Sudoku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Hey, You! Hoedown

Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Comic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Curb Your Appetite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 ADVERTISING DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner ADVERTISING SALES Fabienne Mack, Jessica Pritchard Mangum CITY EDITOR Blake Aued ARTS & MUSIC EDITOR Jessica Smith EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Sam Lipkin OFFICE MANAGER & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Jennifer Keene CLASSIFIEDS Jennifer Keene AD DESIGNERS Chris McNeal, Cody Robinson CONTRIBUTORS Hillary Brown, John W. English, Gordon Lamb, Rebecca McCarthy, Lee Shearer CARTOONISTS Missy Kulik, Klon Waldrip CIRCULATION Jennifer Bray, Charles Greenleaf, Joe Rowe EDITORIAL INTERNS Xinge Lei PHOTOGRAPHERS Mason Pearson, Jake Zerkel SPECIAL AGENT Pete McCommons COVER ART by Anson Stevens-Bollen (see Project Censored on p. 10) 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 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 $110 a year, $55 for six months. © 2024 Flagpole, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOLUME 38 ISSUE NUMBER 2

PLEASE VAX UP SO WE DON’T NEED TO

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MASK UP AGAIN

online exclusive Athens Democratic State Rep. Spencer Frye told Oconee County Democrats that he expects the legislative session that starts in Atlanta on Monday will include renewed discussion of school vouchers, which he opposes. He also expects the consideration of plans to deal with what he said is a housing shortage in the state.

See “Rep. Frye Expects Legislature to Take Up School Vouchers, Hospital Reform” at flagpole.com.

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

news

city dope

map this summer, and planners move on into amending the zoning code to match the map.

But one exchange between commissioners Melissa Link and Allison Wright illustrated why adding density might be difficult politically. While residents may want it generally, it’s rarely a popular idea in one’s own neighborhood.

Link complained that all of the UGArelated growth is happening downtown, in her district, and suggested that it should be funneled to other UGA-adjacent areas with less density, like Five Points. “I really think we should focus some more student-ori-

the university,” Wright said.

Density in appropriate areas will create a more vibrant city, with more support for locally owned small businesses and restaurants, Mayor Kelly Girtz said. That density should be focused on areas that already have the infrastructure, but Girtz said he is open to expanding sewer in the Sandy

By Blake Aued, Rebecca McCarthy and Lee Shearer news@flagpole.com Creek basin—something past commissions long resisted because of the potential enviAthens is projected to add 30,000 residents The object is to bring residents closer ronmental impact of sewer spills. But the by 2045—maybe more, depending on how to jobs and services, reducing the need neighborhoods around Sandy Creek are full much UGA enrollment grows. Athensfor crosstown trips. Planners said that’s of homes with failing septic systems, also Clarke County officials are currently in the something that came up frequently in their an environmental hazard. Some sort of process of deciding where to put all those interactions with residents. The department septic tank utility could be another option people as they move toward adopting a new received more than 2,000 if the commission opts not land-use map for the first time in more than comments from several to encourage development 20 years. hundred individuals at 26 in the basin, as sewers are “We’re not a small college town anyevents to gather feedback expensive and generally not more,” Bruce Lonnee, assistant director of on the growth concept map. cost-effective for low-denthe ACC Planning Department, told county Other frequent comsity areas. commissioners at a Jan. 9 work session. ments included “senior The Trail Creek area, “We’re a mid-size city.” housing, more housing, near Space Kroger on Commissioners got their first look at affordability over and Highway 29, already has the a draft of the new growth concept map at over again,” Beechuk said. infrastructure and room the work session. Downtown and Georgia Protecting greenspace was to grow. (In Athens’ gravSquare Mall—which will be redeveloped also important to residents. ity-driven system, sewer for mixed use in the coming years—are “It wasn’t just trees, it was mains are usually named for designated for the highest density. The trees, trees, trees—trees the creeks and rivers they map focuses on growth at “nodes” at major everywhere, as many as we run alongside.) Another Athens-Clarke County’s proposed growth concept map would focus development in intersections, creating a dozen mini-towns can get,” he said. spot planners want to look “nodes” and along corridors that have the infrastructure to handle it. within the city. But all neighborhoods with Since population growth at is the old reservoir off sewer service can expect some incremental is inevitable, to avoid Highway 441 near the Loop, growth, with the “green belt” of agricultural sprawl, Athens will have to grow upward. ented growth on that side of town,” Link the site of a failed amphitheater developland on the northern and eastern edges of That will mean more density—redevelopsaid. ment. County officials are also cognizant of the county continuing to be protected. ing aging low-slung apartment complexes Wright, who represents part of Five the need to protect gentrifying East Athens “They [residents] want to see growth, into taller ones, for example, or allowing Points, objected. Five Points already has from spillover development in the downbut they want that growth to go to targeted duplexes and townhouses in single-family its fair share of multifamily properties, she town “river district,” where the new Classic areas, and they want a certain type,” planzones. The details will be hashed out later, said. “I think we can spread that university Center arena is sure to spur growth. ➤ continued on p. 7 ner Marc Beechuk said. once the commission adopts the land-use densifying in more places than just around

Athens Is Growing Up

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• Only one vote per person • Please vote in at least FIVE CATEGORIES to have your ballot counted VOTING DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 9 TH AT MIDNIGHT & THE FAVORITES WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN THE MARCH 6ST ISSUE OF flagpole.

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

City Dope

continued from p. 5

Commissioners also heard an update on a Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful surveillance program to stop illegal dumping.

After the commission funded the program in 2021, 27 cameras were placed at eight frequent dumping sites and have caught 97 violations. Police issued warning letters or $300 fines to those caught on tape.

And the commission learned about the process for collective bargaining negotiations with ACC firefighters’ new union.

The commission agreed to allow the fire department to unionize last June, and in December local firefighters voted to join the International Association of Firefighters.

Under a Jimmy Carter-era state law, firefighters are the only government employees who are allowed to collectively bargain.

[Blake Aued]

School Board Approves Bonuses The Clarke County Board of Education approved $1,250 retention bonuses for full-time employees and $650 for parttime employees last week, expanding on the $1,000 bonuses for teachers and other state employees that Gov. Brian Kemp announced last month.

The Clarke County School District received $1.5 million from the Georgia Department of Education to cover Kemp’s pledge, but it does not extend to all CCSD employees. The district added another $1.8 million, which will be covered by reserves and funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Superintendent Robbie

Hooker said the bonus is $1,250 because that will come out to around $1,000 once taxes are taken out.

The BOE also elected Mumbi Anderson as its new president and Mark Evans as vice president at the Jan. 11 meeting.

Anderson, elected in 2020, is a professor at the UGA College of Public Health and represents District 6 on the Westside. She was unopposed.

Evans, an education professor at Piedmont College, was elected in 2022 to represent District 9, the Winterville area.

He received six votes to succeed Linda Davis: himself, Anderson, Davis, LaKeisha Gantt, Nicole Hull and Heidi Hensley.

Patricia Yager and Claudia Butts backed Tim Denson for the position. Yager was also nominated, but her name did not come up for a vote once Evans received a majority.

New president Anderson replaces Gantt, who guided a starkly divided board through the tumultuous Demond Means years and an accreditation investigation, then led the search that resulted in Hooker’s hiring once Means departed. [BA]

OCAF Criticized by Members Last September, the board of the nonprofit Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation fired its director and administrative assistant with no explanation. The next few weeks saw the resignation of the board chair, Cyndee Perdue Moore, the public relations director for the Clarke County School District.

Remaining and new board members met face-to-face Jan. 11 with about 100 of OCAF’s 700 members for the first time

in months. They held the meeting because there was a “general sense of unrest” among members, board chair Brock Toole said.

Before hearing from members, the board told the attendees a little about themselves.

Toole, an Oconee County School District employee, said he wanted “to serve.” Abbey Duhe, an attorney with health care company McKesson, said she has “always loved the arts.” Mike Hamby, an Athens Clarke County commissioner, said he was there “as a spy” to learn what goes on in Watkinsville and how he can replicate it in Athens. He later said he had been trying to compliment the people in attendance for their strong volunteerism. OCAF receives no government funding, unlike Athens’ Lyndon House Arts Center.

Toole said many times that the board was going to take its time before hiring a permanent director in order to hire the right person. And they are trying to address the many issues members have raised during the past many weeks.

The board has not explained the firing of Wendy Cooper, who, as director, had secured grants for the organization, or Sherry Woodruff, who worked for OCAF for 12 years, and they didn’t do so last Thursday. A steady stream of members spoke to the board in three-minute increments. “Let’s just keep it top notch from a respect standpoint,” Toole said before the attendees took the podium.

Ceramic artist Alice Woodruff wondered who, if anyone, was meeting required reporting and renewal deadlines for grants.

She also said that the Marable Gardens, which are on the OCAF campus, will be on the Piedmont Gardeners tour this spring.

Weaver Bonnie Montgomery said the organization needs to return to holding its annual thrift sale, which was a good fundraiser. Janet Rodekohr encouraged the board to hire a new director as soon as possible, saying the two women holding down the fort in the OCAF office are doing the job of four people. Lawrence Stueck, who helped found OCAF in 1994, faulted the process for nominating and electing board members. Sylvia Dawe wondered why space is being used for storage when patrons need a metalsmithing studio.

Sarajane Love told the board OCAF was in danger of losing its strong corps of volunteers, and that it is taking the volunteers for granted. Bob Clements criticized board treatment of Sherry Woodruff.

Cindy Lou Farley served as both assistant and executive director of OCAF. She said that those who had donated to the capital campaign needed to receive what was promised to them. She worried about how pieces of art are being treated, especially a Harold Rittenberry bench and work by Ron Myers. A piece of OCAF’s permanent collection was given to a thrift store, she said.

Mary Lillie Watson, who said she had worked in human resources for much of her career, said the board could hire an interim director before settling on a permanent director.

John Kirschner resigned from the board when Moore was chairing it “because we weren’t relevant.” He said OCAF had always felt like a family and that during the past few years, the soul of the organization had been lost. The only way forward is to have the members be a part of everything, he said. ➤ continued on next page

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continued from p. 7

Board members plan to have a work session to discuss concerns raised during the meeting. [Rebecca McCarthy]

Library Rejects Request to Move Books The Oconee County Library Board of Trustees has denied its latest wave of requests to reclassify books with LGBTQ, inclusive and related themes from “young adult” or “juvenile” into the adult section of the library.

Meeting Jan. 8 for the first time in the library’s new location in the Wire Park mixed use development (though the library at the former Anaconda Wire and Cable factory site won’t be open to the public until about Feb. 3), board members denied the four reshelving requests without discussion in near-unanimous votes.

Board member Matt Stephens, principal of Oconee Middle School, was the only dissenting vote on three of the books, but joined the others in deciding not to put Tomboy by Liz Prince in the library’s adult section. According to one reviewer, the book is an “entertaining, clever and genuinely funny memoir of growing up with gender identity confusion.”

Three other challenged books also won’t be moving: Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff, a story built around a sixth-grader’s learning that her father is trans, according to a publisher’s blurb; Cory McCarthy’s Man o’War, an “achingly honest and frequently

hilarious coming-of-age novel about an Arab American trans teen fighting to keep their head above water in a landlocked Midwestern town,” according to its publisher; and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, a graphic novel that “[touches] gently but powerfully on topics of bullying, homophobia and toxic relationships,” according to a Booklist review; Kirkus called it “a triumphant queer coming-of-age story that will make your heart ache and soar.”

The four removal requests brought to 10 the number of such requests the library board, appointed by local governments and the school board, has ruled on in its past three meetings. The board approved one request in a July meeting and two more (of five requests) in October, in each case going against the recommendations of librarians that the books not be reclassified to adult.

Athens Regional Library System Executive Director Valerie Bell said the system can only handle five such requests per quarter system-wide because of time and staffing limitations.

The Oconee County Library and its branch in Bogart are part of the regional system, which also includes public libraries in Oglethorpe, Madison and Clarke counties and the towns of Royston and Lavonia.

About three dozen people watched Monday’s proceedings, and about a third of them spoke for or against the removal requests during a public input period that lasted about half an hour. It was a much smaller crowd than the 200 who packed an Oconee Library Board meeting last July, when the group Moms for Liberty brought

its right-wing campaign to the library.

That organization was founded in 2021 to oppose COVID measures such as mask and vaccine mandates. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, it is a “farright extremist group” that advocates banning books about people of color and the LGBTQ community in a “narrative that children are being indoctrinated and sexualized through a radical ‘Marxist’ agenda.”

Julie Mauck, chair of the Oconee Moms for Liberty chapter, was the last to speak in Monday’s meeting, and said the requests were not part of an anti-LGBTQ campaign, despite the nature of the challenged books. “Nobody here is challenging LGBTQ content. It’s not about that,” Mauck said.

“We’re debating sexually explicit material, whether it’s heterosexual or homosexual does not matter.” [Lee Shearer] f

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‘I Had a Great Run’ JOHN W. ENGLISH 1940–2024

By John W. English editorial@flagpole.com Editor’s Note: John W. English, who died Jan. 3, was, among his many accomplishments, a consummate writer of obituaries. Here is his own, mostly in his own words.

John W. English was an art lover, a University of Georgia journalism professor, a wallower in the world of ideas (his words), a freelance journalist, a global citizen, a part-time conceptual artist, a father, husband, friend and neighbor.

He lived a life out of sync with his peers. He traveled all the way around the world at age 24. He became a father at 53.

His most fulfilling job was his first one, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sabah, Malaysia from 1962–1964, and on the Peace Corps’ staff in Washington from 1964–1966.

John reveled in being a bundle of contradictions. Though named English, he identified strongly with his Italian mother’s gene pool. An Oklahoma native, he considered himself a part of the local landscape of Athens, where he made his home in 1970. He was a rabid consumer of both local history and avant garde global culture. He loved Victorian houses and contemporary art. He became a family man in his 50s, refuting a reputation as a confirmed bachelor.

John was born on Oct. 5, 1940, in Junction City, KS. His father, Raymond Wesley English, worked for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad, and his mother, June Mourglia English, was a homemaker. His early years were spent in Monett, MO, amid an Italian protestant community, which sparked his life-long affinity for “the old country,” as his grandfather Giovanni Mourglia called Italy.

In 1962, John got his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tulsa. During college, he became an editor of a suburban weekly newspaper.

After his stint in the Peace Corps, John earned a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1966. He later began doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he held a teaching assistantship and worked as a pop music and film critic and copy editor for the Wisconsin State Journal.

From 1970–2000, John taught magazine writing and arts journalism at UGA’s Grady College. During that time, he held three visiting professorships in Asia at Hong Kong Baptist University, Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang and the National Institute for Multi-Media Education in Tokyo.

He received a doctorate in cultural communication at Union Graduate School (Antioch College), and his dissertation (“Criticizing the Critics”) was published as a book of scholarship. In the mid-1990s he and UGA business professor Gerald Horton received a grant to launch the National Arts Journalism Program, which helped mentor mid-career arts critics. For 16 summers, he and drama professor Stanley Longman conducted a six-week program in Parma, Italy and London, England. He also taught several summers in Avignon, France and Paderno del Grappa, Italy.

A prolific writer, John wrote or edited six books, three feature film scripts, multiple cultural documentaries and Asian media studies for academic journals, and several hundred articles for magazines and newspapers. He authored three Fodor’s Travel Guides—Georgia, Cayman Islands and

Malaysia. He was the first UGA faculty member to go to China in 1975, about which he wrote a series of articles and made a documentary for Georgia public television. He also wrote travel pieces about both Asian and European destinations for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The New York Times Travel section.

In 1978, John moved to the Cobbham Historic District, and under the tutelage of historian Phinizy Spalding became involved in the Athens historic preservation movement. He renovated eight houses and, as the president of the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, spearheaded the passage of local ordinances to protect historic properties and neighborhoods. He was very knowledgeable about Athens history and loved to serve as tour guide for visiting out-of-towners. He would often say how remarkable the people he met in the Athens community were.

John was a lifetime lover of the arts. Among the cultural experiences he treasured were Paolo Conte in Italy, the Bolshoi in Moscow, butoh in Tokyo, Pavarotti at the Met, La Scala in Milan, Cecil Taylor on piano and Richard Foreman theater in New York, the Chinese Orchestra in Hong Kong, Robert Wilson theater in Berlin, Grateful Dead in the Haight, Pink Martini at Atlanta’s Chastain, R.E.M. in Athens and new music at the Ojai and Big Ears festivals. He loved attending the Biennale Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy, which he said often worked as inspiration for his own art, which was always both whimsical and political.

John never made a bucket list of things to do.

His range of activities was broad. Outdoors, he scaled the highest mountain in Southeast Asia, Kinabalu, hiked 90 miles across Borneo, water-skied barefoot on Grand Lake, rafted the Chattooga in North Georgia, skied in the Italian Alps and ran a zipline in Chiapas, Mexico. Among the world attractions he visited were Jerusalem’s holy sites, the pyramids at Giza, the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall before and after its fall, the Taj Mahal in India and Patpong in Bangkok. In his dotage (his words), he switched from khaki pants to black Levi jeans, drank Lavazza coffee, read The New York Times daily, listened to National Public Radio and contemporary classical music and jazz. Even though he preferred the arts to sports, he liked to watch the Atlanta Braves and Georgia Bulldogs. He also wrote obituaries, including much of this one.

After three episodes of cancer and several tough battles with aspiration pneumonia, at age 83 John died peacefully in the hospital, surrounded by his loving family on Jan. 3, 2024. He is survived by his wife, Karen, and two children, Evan and Gemma. His sister, JoNelle Ralls, predeceased him in 2023. The love and joy of his family, he said, sustained him for the final portion of his life.

John was a lover of life, and he will be missed dearly by many people all around the world. “I’m grateful for the good fortune of being able to indulge in my passions and through journalism to share those experiences,” he said. “I had a great run.”

A celebration of his life will be planned for later in the spring. f

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J A NU A R Y 17, 2024· F L A GP OL E .C OM

9

news

feature

Project Censored

TOP STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IGNORED IN 2023

By Paul Rosenberg

“We

have made the planet inhospitable to human life.” That’s what the lead researcher in Project Censored’s No. 1 story this year said. He wasn’t talking about the climate catastrophe. He was talking about so-called “forever chemicals,” per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), linked to prostate, kidney and testicular cancer and additional health risks, and the study he led found unsafe levels in rainwater worldwide.

Even though this story received some corporate media attention—in USA Today and on the Discovery Channel— the starkly shocking bottom line clearly didn’t come through to the general public. Have you heard it before?

Has it been the subject of any conversation you’ve had? No? Well, that, my friend, is the very essence of what Project Censored’s signature Top 10 list is all about: exposing the suppression (active or passive) of vitally important information from the public, which renders the public unable to act in the way that a healthy democratic public is supposed to. They’ve been doing it since Carl Jensen began it with a single college class in 1976, inspired in part by the way the Watergate story got this same sort of treatment until well after the election cycle it was part of.

But there’s a second story intertwined with the “forever chemicals” pervasive presence: the revelation that companies responsible for them have known about their dangers for decades, but kept those dangers hidden—just like fossil fuel companies and the climate catastrophe. The intersection of environmental/public health and corporate criminality is typical of how certain long-standing patterns of censored news weave together across the years, even decades, and how the spotlight Project Censored shines on them helps to make sense of much more than the individual stories it highlights, as vitally important as they are in themselves.

In previous years, I’ve highlighted the multiplicity of patterns of censorship that can be seen. In their introduction to the larger 25-story list in their annual book, The State of the Free Press, Andy Lee Roth and Steve Macek describe these patterns at two levels. First, invoking the metaphor that “exemplary reporting is praised for ‘shining light’ on a subject or ‘bringing to light’ crucial facts and original perspectives,” they say: “The news reports featured in this chapter are rays of light shining through a heavily slatted window. Each of these independent news reports highlights a social issue that has otherwise been dimly lit or altogether obscured by corporate news outlets. The shading slats are built from the corporate media’s concentrated ownership, reliance on advertising, relationship to political power and narrow definitions of who and what count as ‘newsworthy.’ Censorship, whether overt or subtle, establishes the angle of the slats, admitting more or less light from outside.”

But in addition, they say, it’s important to see the “list as the latest installment in an ongoing effort to identify systemic gaps in so-called ‘mainstream’ (i.e., corporate) news coverage.” They go on to say, “Examining public issues that independent journalists and outlets have reported but which fall outside the scope of corporate news coverage makes it possible to document in specific detail how corporate news media leave the public in the dark by marginalizing or blockading crucial issues, limiting political debate, and promoting corporate views and interests.”

On the one hand, all that is as true as it’s ever been.

But on the other hand, the two-story themes in the No. 1 story—environmental harm and corporate abuse—so dominate the Top 10 story list that they send another message as well, a message about the fundamental mismatch between our needs as a species living on a finite planet and a rapacious economic system conceived in ignorance of that fact. The climate catastrophe is just the most extreme symptom of this mismatch—but it’s far from the only one. Corporate abuse figures into every story in the list— though sometimes deep in the background, as with their

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

decades-long efforts to destroy unions in story number six.

Environmental harms “only” show up in seven of the 10 stories.

There are still other patterns here, to be sure—and I encourage you to look for them yourself, because seeing those patterns enriches your understanding of the world as it is, and as it’s being hidden from you. But this dominant pattern touches us all. The evidence is right there, in the stories themselves.

‘Forever Chemicals’ Are a Global Threat to Human Health Rainwater is “no longer safe to drink anywhere on Earth,” Morgan McFall-Johnsen reported in Insider in August 2022, summing up the results of a global study of so-called “forever chemicals,” polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers from Stockholm University and the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics at ETH Zurich concluded that “in many areas inhabited by humans,” PFAS contamination levels in rainwater, surface water and soil “often greatly exceed” the strictest international guidelines for acceptable levels of perfluoroalkyl acids.

They’re called “forever chemicals” because they take so long to break down, “allowing them to build up in people, animals, and environments,” Insider reported. Project Censored notes, “Prior research has linked these chemicals to prostate, kidney and testicular cancer and additional health risks, including developmental delays in children, decreased fertility in women and men, reduced vaccine efficacy and high cholesterol.”

“PFAS were now ‘so persistent’ and ubiquitous that they will never disappear from the planet,” lead researcher Ian Cousins told Agence France-Presse. “We have made the planet inhospitable to human life by irreversibly contaminating it now so that nothing is clean anymore. And to the point that it’s not clean enough to be safe,” he said, adding that “we have crossed a planetary boundary,” a paradigm for evaluating Earth’s capacity to absorb harmful impacts of human activity.

The “good news” is that PFAS levels aren’t increasing in the environment. “What’s changed is the guidelines,” he said. “They’ve gone down millions of times since the early 2000s, because we’ve learned more about the toxicity of these substances.”

All the more reason the second strand of this story is important: “The same month,” Project Censored writes, “researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, published a study in the Annals of Global Health using internal industry documents to show that the companies responsible for ‘forever chemicals’ have known for decades that these substances pose significant threats to human health and the environment.”

The Blurred Line Between Big Tech and Big Brother “Google—one of the largest and most influential organizations in the modern world—is filled with ex-CIA agents,”

Alan MacLeod reported for MintPress News in July 2022.

“An inordinate number of these recruits work in highly politically sensitive fields, wielding considerable control over how its products work and what the world sees on its screens and in its search results.”

“Chief amongst these is the trust and safety department, whose staff, in the words of the Google trust and safety vice president Kristie Canegallo, ‘[d]ecide what content is allowed on our platform’—in other words, setting the rules of the internet, determining what billions see and what they do not see.”

And more broadly, “a former CIA employee is working in almost every department at Google,” Project Censored noted.

But Google isn’t alone. Nor is the CIA. “Former employees of U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies now hold senior positions at Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other tech giants,” Project Censored wrote. A second report focused on employees from Israel’s Unit 8200, its equivalent of the CIA, which is “infamous for surveilling the indigenous Palestinian population,” MacLeod wrote. Using LinkedIn, he identified hundreds of such individuals from both agencies, providing specific information about dozens of them.

“The problem with former CIA agents becoming the arbiters of what is true and what is false, and what should be promoted and what should be deleted, is that they cut their teeth at a notorious organization whose job it was to inject lies and false information into the public discourse to further the goals of the national security state,” MacLeod wrote, citing the 1983 testimony of former CIA task force head John Stockwell, author of In Search of Enemies, in which he described the dissemination of propaganda as a “major function” of the agency.

“I had propagandists all over the world,” Stockwell wrote, adding: “We pumped dozens of stories about Cuban atrocities, Cuban rapists [to the media]… We ran [faked] photographs that made almost every newspaper in the country … We didn’t know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists eating babies for breakfast.”

“None of this means that all or even any of the individuals are moles—or even anything but model employees today,” MacLeod noted later. But the sheer number of them “certainly causes concern.”

Reinforcing that concern is big tech’s history. “As journalist Nafeez Ahmed’s investigation found, the CIA and the NSA were bankrolling Stanford Ph.D. student Sergey Brin’s research—work that would later produce Google,” MacLeod wrote. “Not only that but, in Ahmed’s words, ‘senior U.S. intelligence representatives, including a CIA official, oversaw the evolution of Google in this pre-launch phase, all the way until the company was ready to be officially founded.’”

This fits neatly within the larger framework of Silicon Valley’s origin as a supplier of defense department technology.

“A May 2022 review found no major newspaper coverage of Big Tech companies hiring former U.S. or Israeli intelligence officers as employees,” Project Censored noted. “The most prominent U.S. newspapers have not covered Google, Meta, Microsoft and other Big Tech companies hiring former U.S. and Israeli intelligence officers.”

Toxic Chemicals Go Unregulated in the U.S. The United States is “a global laggard in chemical regulation,” ProPublica reported in December 2022, a result of chemical industry influence and acquiescence by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a period of decades, according to reporters Neil Bedi, Sharon Lerner and Kathleen McGrory. A headline example: Asbestos, one of the most widely-recognized toxic substances, is still legal ➤ continued on p. 12

EXPERIENCE MUSIC AT UGA CONNECTION SERIES: FREE CONCERTS, NO TICKETS NEEDED

Dance Theatre of Harlem

1/22-23 and

1/29-30

7:30 p.m.

Celebrating the music of Stevie Wonder.

EDGE HALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC BUILDING

TUES 1/23 7:30 p.m.

RAMSEY HALL UGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

THURS 1/25 5 p.m.

EDGE HALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC BUILDING

FRI 1/26 6 p.m.

DANCZ CENTER SCHOOL OF MUSIC BUILDING

“Claiming the language and beauty of ballet for Black dancers.”—The New York Times

Jan

27

SAT 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Fine Arts Theatre

Over the course of four recitals, students of Levon Ambartsumian, violin, and Evgeny Rivkin, piano, will perform all ten Beethoven violin sonatas. 1/22: Sonatas 1, 2, 3; 1/23: sonatas 4, 5, 8; 1/29: Sonatas 6, 7; 1/30: sonatas 9, 10. Free performances.

Faculty & Guest Artist Chamber Recital Michael Heald, violin, and visiting guest artist Timothy Lovelace, piano present works by Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, and Doreen Carwithen. Free performance.

Guest Artist Sonya Baker, Soprano “For Thee We Sing: The Historical Implications of Marian Anderson’s 1939 Easter Concert” explores the famous concert this Black singer gave in 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Free performance.

Short Stories Vol. 1 Guest composers David Kirkland Garner and Greg Stuart present their original work “Short Stories, Vol. 1” in the Dancz Center for New Music black box performance space.

Free performance.

TICKETED PERFORMANCES $15-20; $3 with UGA student ID THURS 1/25 7:30 p.m.

HODGSON HALL

255 Baldwin St

Tickets start at $25 with promo code PAC25. UGA students $10. Free parking.

Buy tickets now: pac.uga.edu or (706) 542-4400 Scan for info and tickets Theik Smith

Beethoven Festival: 10 Violin Sonatas

Concerto Winners with UGA Symphony The soloists performing in this concert are selected after advancing through a rigorous competition process judged by faculty within the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

The five soloists include piano, clarinet, and violin in concert with the UGA Symphony. $20-adults, $3 - UGA student ID

FOR TICKETS: Scan the QR code | music.uga.edu | 706-542-4400 230 River Road, Athens

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Project Censored

continued from p. 10

in the U.S., more than 30 years after the EPA tried to have it banned.

“Through interviews with environmental experts and analysis of a half century’s worth of legislation, lawsuits, EPA documents, oral histories, chemical databases and regulatory records, ProPublica uncovered the longstanding institutional failure to protect Americans from toxic chemicals,” Project Censored reported. ProPublica identified five main reasons for failure: • The chemical industry helped write the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). A top EPA official “joked the law was ‘written by industry’ and should have been named after the DuPont executive who went over the text line by line,” ProPublica reported. The law “allowed more than 60,000 chemicals to stay on the market without a review of their health risks” and required the EPA to always choose the “least burdensome” regulations. “These two words would doom American chemical regulation for decades.”

• Following early failures, the EPA lost its resolve. In 1989, after 10 years of work, the EPA was banning asbestos.

But companies that used asbestos sued and won in 1991, based on a court ruling they’d failed to prove it was the “least burdensome” option. However, “the judge did provide a road map for future bans, which would require the agency to do an analysis of other regulatory options… to prove they wouldn’t be adequate,” but rather than follow through, the EPA simply gave up.

• Chemicals are considered innocent until proven guilty.

For decades, the U.S. and EU used a “risk-based” approach to regulation, requiring the government to prove a chemical poses unreasonable health risks before restricting it—which can take years. In 2007, the EU switched to a “hazard-based” approach, putting the burden on companies when there’s evidence of significant harm. As a result, ProPublica explained, “the EU has successfully banned or restricted more than a thousand chemicals.”

A similar approach was proposed in the U.S in 2005

by New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, but it was soundly defeated.

• The EPA mostly regulates chemicals one by one. In 2016, a new law amended the TSCA to cut the “least burdensome” language, and created a schedule “where a small list of high-priority chemicals would be reviewed every few years; in 2016, the first 10 were selected, including asbestos,” ProPublica reported. “The EPA would then have about three years to assess the chemicals and another two years to finalize regulations on them.” But six years later, “the agency is behind on all such rules. So far, it has only proposed one ban, on asbestos, and the agency told ProPublica it would still be almost a year before that is finalized.” Industry fights the process at every step.

“Meanwhile, the EU has authored a new plan to regulate chemicals even faster by targeting large groups of dangerous substances,” which “would lead to bans of another 5,000 chemicals by 2030.”

• The EPA employs industry-friendly scientists as regulators. “The EPA has a long history of hiring scientists and top officials from the companies they are supposed to regulate, allowing industry to sway the agency’s science from the inside,” ProPublica wrote. A prime example is Todd Stedeford. “A lawyer and toxicologist, Stedeford has been hired by the EPA on three separate occasions,” ProPublica noted. “During his two most recent periods of employment at the agency—from 2011 to 2017 and from 2019 to 2021—he was hired by corporate employers who use or manufacture chemicals the EPA regulates.”

“A handful of corporate outlets have reported on the EPA’s slowness to regulate certain toxic chemicals,” Project Censored noted, citing stories in the Washington Post and the New York Times. “However, none have highlighted the systemic failures wrought by the EPA and the chemical industry.”

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

Stalkerware Could Be Used to Spy on Abortion Seekers Stalkerware—consisting of up to 200 surveillance apps and services that provide secret access to people’s phones for a monthly fee—“could become a significant legal threat to people seeking abortions, according to a pair of articles published in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion,” Project Censored reports.

“Abortion medication is safe. But now that Roe is overturned, your data isn’t,” Rae Hodge wrote for the tech news site CNET just two days after the Dobbs decision. “Already, the digital trails of abortion seekers can become criminal evidence against them in some states where abortion[s] were previously prosecuted. And the legal dangers may extend to abortion seekers in even more states.”

The next month, writing for Slate, University of Virginia law professor Danielle Keats Citron warned that “surveillance accomplished by individual privacy invaders will be a gold mine for prosecutors targeting both medical workers and pregnant people seeking abortions.”

Invaders only need a few minutes to access phones and passwords.

“Once installed, cyberstalking apps silently record and upload phones’ activities to their servers,” Citron explained.

“They enable privacy invaders to see our photos, videos, texts, calls, voice mails, searches, social media activities, locations—nothing is out of reach. From anywhere, individuals can activate a phone’s mic to listen to conversations within 15 feet of the phone,” even “conversations that pregnant people have with their health care providers—nurses, doctors and insurance company employees,” she warned. As a result, Hodge cautioned, “Those who aid abortion seekers could be charged as accomplices in some cases,” under some state laws.

It’s not just abortion, she explained, “Your phone’s data, your social media accounts, your browsing and geolocation history, and your ISP’s detailed records of your internet activity may all be used as evidence if you face state criminal or civil charges for a miscarriage.”

“Often marketed as a tool to monitor children’s online safety or as device trackers, stalkerware is technically illegal to sell for the purpose of monitoring adults,” Project Censored noted, but that’s hardly a deterrent. “Stalkerware and other forms of electronic surveillance have been closely associated with domestic violence and sexual assault, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence,” Citron noted.

In addition, Hodge explained, “third-party data brokers sell sensitive geolocation data—culled through a vast web of personal tracking tech found in apps, browsers, and devices—to law enforcement without oversight.”

And, “abortion bounty hunter” provisions adopted by states like Texas and Oklahoma, add a financial incentive.

“Given the inexpensive cost of readily available stores of personal data and how easily they can be de-anonymized, savvy informants could use the information to identify abortion seekers and turn a profit,” she noted.

“The law’s response to intimate privacy violations is inadequate, lacking a clear conception of what intimate privacy is, why its violation is wrongful, and how it inflicts serious harm upon individuals, groups, and society,” Citron explained.

“Until federal regulations and legislation establish a set of digital privacy laws, abortion seekers are caught in the position of having to create their own patchwork of digital defenses, from often complicated and expensive privacy tools,” Hodge warned. While the bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act is still “slowly inching through Congress” it “is widely thought toothless,” she wrote.

The Biden administration has proposed a new rule protecting “certain health data from being used to prosecute both clinicians and patients,” STAT reported in May 2023, but the current draft only applies “in states where abortion is legal.”

Certified Rainforest Carbon Offsets Are Mostly Worthless “The forest carbon offsets approved by the world’s leading certifier and used by Disney, Shell, Gucci and other big corporations are largely worthless and could make global heating worse, according to a new investigation,” The Guardian reported on Jan. 23, 2023, as part of a joint ninemonth reporting project with SourceMaterial and Die Zeit.

“The analysis raises questions over the credits bought by a number of internationally renowned companies—some of them have labeled their products ‘carbon neutral’ or have told their consumers they can fly, buy new clothes or eat certain foods without making the climate crisis worse.”

“About 90% of rainforest carbon offsets certified by Verra, the world’s largest offset certifier, do not reflect real reductions in emissions,” Project Censored summed up.

Verra, “has issued more than one billion metric tons worth of carbon offsets, certifies three-fourths of all voluntary carbon offsets.” While “Verra claimed to have certified 94.9 million credits” the actual benefits “amounted to a much more modest 5.5 million credits.” This was based on an analysis of “the only three scientific studies to use robust, scientifically sound methods to assess the impact of carbon offsets on deforestation,” Project Censored explained. “The journalists also consulted with indigenous communities, industry insiders, and scientists.”

“The studies used different methods and time periods, looked at different ranges of projects, and the researchers said no modeling approach is ever perfect,” the Guardian wrote. “However, the data showed broad agreement on the lack of effectiveness of the projects compared with the Verra-approved predictions.”

Specifically, “The investigation of 29 Verra rainforest offset projects found that 21 had no climate benefit, seven had significantly less climate benefit than claimed (by margins of 52–98% less benefit than claimed), while one project yielded 80% more climate benefit than claimed. Overall, the study concluded that 94% of the credits approved by these projects were ‘worthless’ and never should have been approved.”

“Another study conducted by a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge found that in 32 of the 40 forest offset projects investigated, the claims concerning forest protection and emission reductions were overstated by an average of 400%,” Project Censored reported. “Despite claims that these 32 projects together protected an area of rainforest the size of Italy, they only protected an area the size of Venice.”

While Verra criticized the studies’ methods and conclusions, an outside expert, Oxford ecoscience professor Yadvinder Singh Malhi had two PhD students check for errors, and they found none. “I wish it were otherwise, but this report is pretty compelling,” he told the Guardian.

“Rainforest protection credits are the most common type on the market at the moment. And it’s exploding, so these findings really matter,” said Barbara Haya, director of the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project, who’s researched carbon credits for 20 years. “But these problems are not just limited to this credit type. These problems exist with nearly every kind of credit,” she told the Guardian. “We need an alternative process. The offset market is broken.”

“The investigations by the Guardian, Die Zeit and SourceMaterial appear to have made a difference. In March 2023, Verra announced that it would phase out its flawed rainforest offset program by mid-2025,” Project Censored reported. But they could only find one brief mention of the joint investigation in major U.S. newspapers, a Chicago Tribune op-ed. f Paul Rosenberg is a senior editor with Random Lengths News. All illustrations by Anson Stevens-Bollen. This article is reprinted with permission. For more of Project Censored’s top stories, visit flagpole.com.

food & drink

grub notes

2023 Restaurant Roundup HIGHLIGHTS AND LOSSES FROM THE LOCAL FOOD SCENE

By Hillary Brown food@flagpole.com new location (in Watkinsville), and is continuing to serve up birria in every manner possible with good cheer. Homero Elizalde, longtime chef at home.made, started his own Homy’s Food Truck, serving at home. made’s Bar Sober and popping up various other places around town, doing tacos, quesabirria, tamales and more. Cantaritos Cafe, in the Homewood Shopping Center, offers not only Mexican food but Colombian, Peruvian and Salvadoran specialties for breakfast and lunch, including

VIA FACEBOOK

We have a tendency to catastrophize each year lately. It’s understandable. We continue to live in interesting times. Late capitalism keeps thrashing around, making things worse for almost everyone. It remains very hard to run a restaurant, a business that was never easy.

Yet, looking back at the Athens food scene over all of 2023 reveals some real highlights as well as some losses. It wasn’t as good a year for new places as 2022.

We lost our oldest restaurant when the Mayflower closed, its owners having decided that they wanted to retire and to make some money off the building they owned. I, too, am bummed that the space will become a Chipotle in 2024, part of downtown’s generally Chadfocused dining scene, but nothing lasts forever.

Our only Argentinean restaurant (Viva!), one of our two legitimate traditional Chinese restaurants (Wok Star), our only Persian restaurant (International Grill and Bar), our only two Uruguayan restaurants (both locations of Sabor Latino) and my beloved Sidecar (one of my favorite dining experiences) all closed, it’s true, but we also got some delightful new places.

I’m tired of hearing you complain that there are too many Mexican restaurants in the area, and you’re probably tired of me saying that Birdie’s there definitely aren’t, but I’ll keep on with my hobbyhorse, and you feel free to keep on with yours. Taqueria Morros, a second coming of the much appreciated Taqueria Juaritos, opened out on Danielsville Road with rich soups, all kinds of meaty fillings, a huge array of quite hot salsas and more.

The review proper ran last week, so read it online and know that you should absolutely find this family-run place. Lalo’s Tacos and Cantina, in Watkinsville’s Wire Park development, is more upscale and has things like octopus tacos on the menu. It also makes really tasty aguachiles, and has a serious bar that makes cocktails with fresh ingredients. El Paso Tacos and Tequila downtown, where Iron Factory was until the Korean barbecue place closed this year, is a different kind of pleasant Mexican restaurant, heavy on frozen margaritas and with guacamole made tableside to your specifications. It’s not trying to make you push yourself with new flavors and ingredients, but it does what it does very well.

Kique’s Kitchen got a new spelling and a

possibly the best chilaquiles in Athens. All different. All special in their own way.

The Eastside continued to grow as a location for more diverse food offerings, with Bon de Paris (a chain but a small one) making banh mi right next door to the Crab Hut, cooking up really good pho.

Mochinut, just across the parking lot, added an array of Indonesian dishes to its menu, including breakfast. Fingers crossed that less expensive rent and an audience with a broader palate will continue to foster growth over there.

Athens Cooks, in the 100 Prince building, turned out to have a fantastic breakfast and lunch counter, with soups and sandwiches made by a guy who trained at Five and Ten and has a real eye for quality ingredients and pretty presentation. Birdie’s, just down the road and across the street, has its own fancy hot food, plus cheeses that we haven’t seen the likes of in a while and

all kinds of swanky ingredients, including caviar. Prince Market also opened up nearby, with a deli counter for fresh-made sandwiches.

Cafe Racer’s Broad Street location finally opened and pretty much recaptured the magic of its original space, minus the countryside. Work on a third location, on Oak Street by the Greenway, is underway.

Mama’s Boy added its own third location, a scaled-back stand in Wire Park as part of a food hall that’s still coming together (Scoops, retailing ice cream and candy, opened nearby; Gekko Kitchen, doing quick sushi and hibachi, opened at the end of the year; Apotheos Roastery, the Original Hot Dog Factory and Southern Prospect are yet to come).

The bar scene deepened and diversified, with Bain Mattox and Sam Frigard’s Hidden Gem and Jerry and Krista Slater’s Nighthawks Lounge opening in the Chase Street warehouse district north of Boulevard, Oak House Distillery getting going in a historic house on Macon Highway, and even Comer getting into the scene with Soldier of the Sea Distillery.

Loving Botanicals opened a CBD coffee and mocktail bar downtown.

Old favorites underwent some changes. Daily Groceries moved into its new location in the “flying saucer” building on Prince Avenue, with way more space and cakes from the folks who used to make them for The Grit. Home.made stopped doing dinner but found a way to thrive with lunch and some new projects. Independent Baking Co. added sandwiches, and they are excellent. Bar Bruno expanded its hours and got closer to a restaurant than a pure wine bar.

Puma Yu’s added lunch (Tuesday through Thursday). Five and Ten got a new executive chef, Fausto Zamorano, who is firing on all cylinders. Big City Bread added dinner back on Friday nights. The Grill reopened (!). Baddie’s and Square One both added food trucks, and the latter sold to new owners who plan to expand its hours and do some new things. Tamez BBQ sold when its namesake, Alejandro Tamez, decamped for Atlanta to run the kitchen at Chicheria MX Kitchen with his former coworker Whitney Otawka. The Graduate Hotel downtown added breakfast and lunch at its coffee spot, Poindexter. And Ru San’s moved to Watkinsville and changed its name to Sushi One & Bobalicious Café.

We added a bunch of chains, no surprise: a branch of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in Five Points; Emmy Squared doing fancy, pricey pizza in what had been The Grit; Elliano’s Coffee on Highway 29 North; another Flying Biscuit in Oconee County’s

Epps Bridge area as well as another Maepole (still local, but also franchising) and a Jim N Nick’s barbecue; a Paris Banh Mi, a Taco Mama, an Effin’ Egg, a Cheba Hut and a Bruxie, all downtown; a location of Another Broken Egg Cafe on Broad near Cafe Racer; and a Whataburger on Atlanta Highway, with another on the way on the Eastside.

But we also got independent businesses, some of which were second or third locations, but none of which was part of a massive corporate structure: Sunroof Coffee on Tracy Street, run out of a tiny kiosk by two BFFs; Garfia’s Mexican Restaurant in Winterville, in the space vacated by Wok Star, providing much-needed dinner options in that small town; Frank & Sons, a steakhouse on the Eastside run by the folks behind Punta Cana. Treehouse Kid and Craft, the magical toy store, moved to Barber Street and added Treathouse, an area of the store open slightly different days/hours that has cool candies, popsicles and soft serve (unless the machine is broken). Flama Brazilian Steakhouse replaced the Oglethorpe Avenue Sabor Latino, and Costa Alegre Seafood and Grill moved into the Sabor Latino in front of the Watkinsville Publix. Philanthropy Fresh moved from Loganville to downtown Athens, doing breakfast, lunch and dinner that lets customers vote on which local charity will receive a portion of the restaurant’s proceeds each month. @local, a ’90s-esque coffeehouse based in Covington, also opened a location downtown.

RIP the Carriage House of Athens, Slutty Vegan (even though the sign remains), Zombie Coffee and Donuts, Doughby’s in Watkinsville (soon to be the location of a third Winghouse Grill), C & C Cafe and Produce in Winterville, Four Fat Cows ice cream on Baxter, the Eastside’s BBQ Shack and Burger King, all remaining Hardee’s in Athens, Charlie Grainger’s hot doggery, OK Coffee downtown and Mandarin Express at the Georgia Square Mall, almost the last eatery left in that space.

Here’s what’s coming down the pike: Entangled Cat Cafe and Market in Watkinsville, Guthrie’s (both on Jefferson Road and elsewhere, making a return to the Athens area), Pretty Boy in the Bottleworks, San Angel Cocina from the folks behind Lalo’s and Los Primos (on Broad in the former Applebee’s), Preacher Green’s doing a chef-crafted meat and three on the Eastside, Bruno Rubio’s Peruvian rotisserie chicken joint Pollo Criollo in the former Heirloom in Boulevard, a steakhouse from Bahmin Ghavimi (inventor of a catfish loaf and developer of various “flavor systems” sold to restaurants) in the former Synovus Bank on Prince Avenue, a new location for Normaltown Brewing (in the previous Jittery Joe’s Roastery spot on Barber), a second taproom for Southern Brewing Co. downtown, more bubble tea (Shake Tea in the new Publix shopping center at Oak Grove, Happy Lemon in The William downtown), a Korean fried chicken chain in The William, a Playa Bowls in Beechwood as well as a bizarro La Parrilla restaurant unrelated to our local chain and a First Watch breakfast franchise replacing Jason’s Deli, a location of Dave’s Hot Chicken (location TBD) and, supposedly, the long anticipated return of Athens Bagel Co. f

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100 Prince Avenue Athens, GA 30601 Princemarketathens.com @princemarketathens Instagram and Facebook 706-850-0711 • Locally owned grocery store • Free Parking – Parking deck located directly behind the building • Full grocery selection with local vendors and organic produce • Beer and Wine • Prince Coffee: Serving the full Starbucks menu • Prince Deli: Offering fresh pizzas, sandwiches and soups • Prince Ice Cream: Serving 12 flavors of Hershey’s ice cream

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

arts & culture

calendar picks

LECTURES & LIT | FRI, JAN. 19

Jennine Capó Crucet and Brian Truong Author Talk ACC Library • 7 p.m. • FREE!

The Georgia Review and Avid Bookshop present an author talk and book signing with Jennine Capó Crucet and Brian Truong. Each author will read from their passionate, funny and inspiring works that explore both the difficulties and blessings of living in immigrant communities. Crucet is an award-winning novelist, essayist and screenwriter living in North Carolina, originally born and raised in Miami to Cuban parents. Her novel Make Your Home Among Strangers won the International Latino Book Award, among others, and is now an all-campus read at over 40 U.S. universities.

Truong is a Vietnamese-American writer living in Brooklyn who grew up in Texas.

One of his essays won the 2023 Georgia Review Prose Prize, judged by Crucet, and he’s currently working on a memoir and essay collection. [Sam Lipkin] ART | SAT, JAN. 20

‘Memory Worker’ Artist Talk

Lyndon House Arts Center • 2 p.m. • FREE!

Atlanta-based artist and educator Kelly Taylor Mitchell will discuss her exhibition, “Memory Worker,” a collection of

Kelly Taylor Mitchell

suspended mixed media assemblages that reference the African Diaspora. Mitchell is a multidisciplinary artist who gravitates towards labor-intensive and homespun processes passed down between generations, allowing time for contemplation and connection to ancestors. Her practice weaves together oral history, ancestral memory, mythology and ritual, resulting in meticulously crafted works that incorporate printmaking, papermaking, textiles and installation. In addition to being the recipient of the BIPOC Fellowship supported by the Lyndon House Arts Foundation, Mitchell is currently a Midtown Alliance Artist-in-Residence, Arts & Social Justice Fellow at Emory University and assistant professor of art and visual culture at Spelman College. Her exhibition, which opened in mid-November, will remain on view through Mar. 12. [Jessica Smith] THEATER | SAT, JAN. 20

Friend of the Groom

Flicker Theatre & Bar • 4 p.m. (doors) • $10

Award-winning music journalist, radio producer and performer Mark Mobley presents Friend of the Groom, a full-length

autobiographical monologue that centers around an ill-fated wedding in the early 1990s between a gay white New York architect, fresh out of a breakup with his long-term partner, and a Japanese dancer who wants to marry an American so she can stay in the U.S. What should have otherwise been a simple ceremony explodes into an elaborate, chaotic production with over 100 guests. Throughout his one-man show, Mobley weaves in other tales of wedding disasters, Miami nightlife and personal anecdotes for a lighthearted and empathetic night of storytelling. Making its Athens debut, Friend of the Groom has been performed in Virginia, Florida and Maryland, and was a featured part of the Macon Pride Week in 2022. Tonight’s performance will be dedicated to the late John W. English (see Pub Notes on p. 9 for obituary). [JS] PERFORMANCE | SAT, JAN. 20

Classic City Wrestling 40 Watt Club • 7 p.m. (doors) • $12

A theatrical spectacle of slamming bodies and strumming guitars, Classic City Wrestling combines live wrestling in the ring with live music on stage for a distinct twist on the sport. Ghana-influenced group TaxiCab Verses will keep the audience and athletes amped up with live songs in between matches. This month’s lineup includes both new and returning wrestlers from across the Southeast, such as Alex Kane vs. Robert Martyr, Reka Tehaka vs. Rose Gold, Najasism vs. Rico Gonzalez and Austin Towers vs. Sean Legacy. Representing the tag team division, CREEPS, Vanderbilt/Oceans, Midnight Premiere and Nawfside Heroes will take turns in a chaotic four-corner match. CCW reigning champion Owen Knight, who appeared on the cover of Flagpole last November ahead of the inaugural Thanksgiving Classic, will team up with Suge D and Cody Fluffman to take on the No Good Bastards during a six-man elimination tag team war.

Reserved ringside seats have already sold out, but general admission standing room tickets are still available. [JS] LECTURES & LIT | THU, JAN. 25

Visiting Author: Suchitra Vijayan

UGA Main Library • 5 p.m. • FREE!

Suchitra Vijayan is a widely published writer, essayist, lawyer and photographer who works across the disciplines of oral history, state violence and visual storytelling. Her critically acclaimed non-fiction book Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India includes 40 original photographs in addition to stories, encounters and vignettes about home, belonging and displacement. The visiting author will be discussing her second book, How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners, which was co-authored with Francesca Recchia. It uses essays, interviews and photographs to explore authoritarian India through the experiences of political prisoners. The talk will be taking place in the Graduate Reading Room on the third floor of the UGA Main Library. [SL] f

music

threats & promises

Info Dump’s Self-Titled Album PLUS, MORE MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP

By Gordon Lamb threatsandpromises@flagpole.com WELL, HEY, Y’ALL: Athens composer and musician Grant Evans (Quiet Evenings, Modern Lamps, et al) is starting the New Year off right by lending a helping hand.

Specifically, he helped put together a showcase for Nashville-based ambient artist Nicholas Maloney, who performs and records under the name Blanket Swimming. The show happens at Buvez on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. Evans himself will appear on this bill as well as John Fernandes. There’s an astounding amount of material available to get you familiarized with these artists before you head out, so please see blanketswimming.bandcamp. com, hookervision.bandcamp.com and cloudrecordings.bandcamp.com for more information.

THE RACE IS ON: The nomination season is open for the 2024 Vic Chesnutt Songwriter of the Year Award. This annual event, which had its inaugural year in 2017, has gained more attention each year, with 110 songs nominated last year alone. Any song released in 2023 by an Athens-area artist is eligible for nomination. In this specific case “Athens-area” means Athens-Clarke, Barrow, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Madison or Jackson counties.

The nomination process is very simple, and anyone may make a nomination. However, while the process is simple, it is also specific, so please read the instructions carefully. This process is open until Mar. 20, and this year’s awards ceremony and show happens at the 40 Watt Club on May 2.

The Vic Chesnutt Songwriter of the Year Awards were created by, and are hosted and maintained by, the Rotary Club of the Classic City of Athens. To make a nomination, please see vicchesnuttaward.com/ nominations.

clear descendant. There are no barnburners here, but rather five songs of varying intensity and a decidedly introspective slant.

Specific highlights are the lyrically minimal “Nobody” and “Place Without A Name.”

Also, Hatch wins the prize for performing the only Fleetwood Mac cover I’ve ever been bothered to pay attention to with his nearly prayer-like version of “Dreams.” Find this at garetthatch.bandcamp.com, and catch Hatch live at Flicker Theatre & Bar on Thursday, Jan. 18.

RISE UP, GATHER ’ROUND: Athens punk faithfuls Beat Up released a live recording last month while we were bedded down for our long winter’s nap. It’s titled as obnoxiously as possible, No Fucks Given Fucksgiving ’23 LIVE at Munsoon House, but it’s a solid rocker of a collection. As its title belies, it was recorded at Atlanta’s Munsoon House on Thanksgiving Day and mastered by Cowboy Kerouac. The band is particularly strong on “Scream and Shout,” “The Olds” and opening song “Jerks.” They even managed to squeeze in a cover “Dayo (Banana Boat Song),” which was popularized in the mid-20th century by Harry Belafonte.

Beat Up makes it its own and substantially increases the plea of the song. Find this at beatup.bandcamp.com.

DO-RE-MI: Any number of local bands can tell you that, with almost zero exception, I’m not a fan of comedy in music. However, I’m often drawn to absurdity in music.

CARRY SOME CASH: The Athens Area Community Foundation and Athentic Brewing Company will host the second annual Hey, You! Hoedown at Athentic Saturday, Jan. 20 from 2–8 p.m. Featured artists performing are 38 Strings, Wolf Pup, Marker Dog, Red Oak and The Vassar Blondes. Admission is free, but organizers are encouraging donations because Info Dump this is a benefit, after all. For whom?

Well, punky, it’s for the Carrie Fischer Siegmund Grant for Classroom Innovation Sometimes the difference is virtually imperceptible, but it’s powerful. So, I’m here to which, according to a press release, is “an tell you that this thing that crossed my annual award that goes to a local educator desk, the eight-song self-titled album by who seeks to inspire through innovative, Info Dump, is right up my alley. Musically interdisciplinary, and meaningful learning speaking, this is all keyboard presets or that results in a long-lasting impact on compositions that are incredibly close to students.” The award’s namesake was an a manufacturer’s presets. But lyrically, oh, accomplished Clarke County teacher who boy. Dig these lines: “Shopping at the mall/ sadly passed away in 2021. For more inforshopping at the mall/drinking alcohol/ mation, you can follow @teamsiegmund on drinking alcohol”; “Look in the mirror/See Instagram or simply head to athensareacf. a pile of crap/crawling around like a greyorg. hound/wasting your time on the internet/ LISTEN CAREFULLY: Garett Hatch has a new You’re pathetic”; and “Have you ever conEP out as we speak. This five song release sidered letting your freak flag fly?/ I have.” is named Stories and, while not an entirely Some of this gets pretty old by the second different animal, it’s more accurately related time around, but that first spin is a blast. to his other work as opposed to being a Find it at clown4haha.bandcamp.com. f

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event calendar

Wednesday 17

ART: Tour At Two (Georgia Museum of Art) These drop-­in public tours feature highlights of the permanent collection. 2 p.m. FREE! www.georgiamuseum.org CLASSES: Warm Up With a Chili Taste-­Off (Rocksprings Park & Community Center) Part of the Culinary Masters series, a cooking program for adults with developmental disabilities, experiment with recipes and taste the results. Registration required. 1 p.m. $5 (ACC residents), $7.50 (non-­residents). www.accgovga.myrec.com CLASSES: Salsa Dancing (Starland Lounge & Lanes) Join SALSAthens for Cuban salsa lessons that meet a variety of dance abilities. Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. (advanced), 7:30 p.m. (beginner/intermediate). $10.

SALSAthensDancing@gmail.com COMEDY: Gorgeous George’s Improv League (Buvez) Townie improv that invites you to bring suggestions to help create improv magic. Wednesdays, 7 p.m. $5 suggested donation. www.flying squidcomedy.com COMEDY: Hendershot’s Comedy (Hendershot’s) Featuring comics from Athens and Atlanta as well as newcomers. Hosted by Noell Appling. Third Wednesdays, 8 p.m. www.hendershotsathens.com EVENTS: Wine Tasting (Tapped Athens Wine Market) Wines from Obsidian Wine Co. will be served along with small bites. 6:30 p.m. $40. www.tappedathens.com/ upcomingevents EVENTS: Whiskies of Mainland Europe (J’s Bottle Shop) Experience the rich and diverse flavors of mainland Europe’s finest whiskies by sampling. 7–9 p.m. $25. www. eventbrite.com/cc/whiskies-­of-­the-­ world-­2578279 FILM: Pachinko Pop (Flicker Theatre & Bar) Screening of the 1975 Japanese film The Great Chase. 7 p.m.

FREE! www.flickertheatreandbar.com GAMES: Shadowfist Power Lunch (Tyche’s Games) Come down with your lunch and play Shadowfist.

New players welcome. 12 p.m.

FREE! www.tychesgames.com GAMES: Classic City Trivia (The Local 706) Test your trivia knowledge with host Garrett Lennox. 7 p.m. FREE! www.facebook.com/ ClassicCityTriviaCo KIDSTUFF: Busy Bee Toddler Time (Bogart Library) Join Ms. Donna for rhymes, songs, puppets and a story. 10 a.m. & 11 a.m. FREE! www.athenslibrary.org/bogart KIDSTUFF: LEGO & Builder’s Club (Bogart Library) Drop in to use LEGOs and other building materials.

All ages. 3:30–5:30 p.m. FREE! www.athenslibrary.org/bogart MEETINGS: Athens Reparations Action (Athentic Brewing Co.) Learn about Athens Reparations Action’s mission to promote recognition of the financial impact of urban renewal and other racist policies. 7–9 p.m. FREE! www. athenticbrewing.com

Thursday 18 ART: 3rd Annual Clean Your Closet Pop-­Up (tiny ATH gallery) This art sale features a variety of local

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artists selling pieces for $200 and under on the spot. 6–9 p.m. www. tinyathgallery.com CLASSES: Yoga in the Galleries (Georgia Museum of Art) Enjoy a yoga class in the art galleries led by instructors from Five Points Yoga.

Open to all skill levels. Attend in person (first come, first served) or via Zoom. 6 p.m. FREE! www.georgiamuseum.org COMEDY: Open Improv Jam (work. shop) An improv comedy practice open to the community hosted by The 1992 Honda Civics. 8​​–9:30 p.m. Donations encouraged. www. flyingsquidcomedy.com COMEDY: Comedy In The Cellar (Onward Reserve) Athens Comedy presents headlining comedian Daniel Dellanno with Patrick O’Malley and Laura Garner. Thursdays, 8:30–10:30 p.m. $7–12. www. facebook.com/athenscomedy EVENTS: American Red Cross Blood Drive (Athens Academy) Donors of all blood types are encouraged to contribute. Registration required. 1–6 p.m. FREE! www. redcrossblood.org EVENTS: Diamond Hill Farm Stand (Athentic Brewing Co.) Vegetables and fresh flowers are available on hand and pre-­ordered. Every Thursday, 4–6 p.m. www.diamondhill farmathens.com FILM: Club Ned Anime Society (ACC Library) Join club members to watch and discuss episodes of “Future Boy Conan,” “Crossing Time” and more. 6:30–8:30 p.m.

FREE! www.animefandom.org GAMES: Teen Dungeons & Dragons (Bogart Library) Volunteer-­led gaming session for teens of all skill levels. Grades 6–12. 6–7:45 p.m.

FREE! www.athenslibrary.org/bogart GAMES: Thursday Trivia (Johnny’s New York Style Pizza) Test your trivia knowledge with host Jon Head. 6:30 p.m. www.johnnyspizza. com GAMES: Bad Dog Trivia (The Foundry) Test your trivia knowledge with host TJ Wayt. Thursdays, 7 p.m. www.facebook.com/baddog athens GAMES: Rock ’n Roll Trivia (Athentic Brewing Co.) Test your trivia knowledge with host The Music Man. 7 p.m. FREE! www.athentic brewing.com KIDSTUFF: Read to Rover (Bogart Library) Reading aloud to a dog helps children develop their reading skills and build confidence. Ages 4 & up. 4–5 p.m. FREE! www.athens library.org/bogart MEETINGS: KnitLits Knitting Group (Bogart Library) Knitters of all levels are invited to have fun, share craft ideas and knit to their hearts’ content. Thursdays, 6 p.m. FREE! www. athenslibrary.org/bogart SPORTS: Classic City Pétanque Club (Lay Park) New players welcome. Scheduled days are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. www.athenspetanque.org

Friday 19 EVENTS: Terrapin Mobile Food Pantry (Terrapin Beer Co.) First come, first serve rain or shine food distribution for those in need who meet income eligibility requirements. Third Fridays, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. FREE! www.terrapinbeer.com

F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

EVENTS: Beloved Apothecary’s Sacred Space (1001 Winterville Rd.) This week’s gathering serving alcohol alternative beverages will highlight a vocal workshop with Rin Gun. Fridays, 6 p.m. $20 suggested donation. www.instagram.com/ beloved_apothecary GAMES: Mahjong Club (Winterville Cultural Center) Learn to play the ancient Chinese game of Mahjong.

Tuesdays & Fridays, 1​​–4 p.m. $1. www.wintervillecenter.com GAMES: Chess Club (Winterville Cultural Center) Join others for a weekly chess competition. Every Friday, 6–10 p.m. FREE! www. wintervillecenter.com GAMES: Friday Night Initiative (Online: Tyche’s Games) Learn how to play a RPG game with others on Discord. New players welcome. 7 p.m. FREE! www.tychesgames.com KIDSTUFF: Meet & Play (Bogart Library) Drop in for facilitated open play with age-­appropriate toys. Best for ages 6 & under. Every Friday, 10:30 a.m. FREE! www.athens library.org/bogart LECTURES & LIT: Author Talk & Book Signing (ACC Library) Authors Jennine Capó Crucet and Brian Truong will read from their works that address living in immigrant communities. 7 p.m. FREE! www.avidbookshop.com/event/ crucet-­truong MEETINGS: Help I Yarned (Bogart Library) Learn new patterns and techniques for knitting and crochet.

1–2 p.m. FREE! www.athenslibrary. org/bogart SPORTS: UGA Men’s Hockey vs.

High Point University (The Classic Center) Cheer on the Ice Dawgs Division III hockey team. 5 p.m. $10. www.classiccenter.com SPORTS: UGA Men’s Hockey vs.

Clemson (The Classic Center) Cheer on the Ice Dawgs against the Clemson Tigers. 7:30 p.m. SOLD OUT! www.classiccenter.com

Saturday 20 ART: Closing Reception (Lamar Dodd School of Art) The annual UGA Cortona “Mostra” exhibition will have a reunion and celebrate 2023’s participants. 3 p.m. FREE! art.uga.edu CLASSES: Community Yoga Weekend (Fuel Hot Yoga) Try out yoga classes with giveaways and post-​class refreshments. Registration required. 8 a.m.–5 p.m. FREE! www.fuelhotyoga.com/free-​yoga-​ weekend COMEDY: Brandon Wardell (Georgia Theatre) The Filipino-­American comedian, actor and podcaster is known for his work on Comedy Central and appearances in Curb Your Enthusiasm and more. 8 p.m. $20–25. www.georgiatheatre.com EVENTS: Hey, You! Hoedown (Athentic Brewing Co.) This second annual music festival and fundraiser will feature an art auction and collab beer release benefitting the Carrie Fischer Siegmund Grant for Classroom Innovation. 2–8 p.m. Donations encouraged. www.instagram. com/teamsiegmund EVENTS: Athens Folk Music and Dance Society Contra Dance (Memorial Park Administration Building) This community dance features caller Charlotte Crittenden

and live music by The F-­holes. No partner required. 6:30 p.m. (intro session), 7 p.m. (dance). $12 (adults), $10 (students w/ ID), 17 & under FREE! www.athensfolk.org EVENTS: Boybutante’s Season 35 Theme Release Party (Hendershot’s) There will be a brief drag show before the theme release, plus mingling with performers and dancing the night away. 8–11 p.m. FREE! www.facebook.com/ boybutante GAMES: Pathfinder Society RPG (Tyche’s Games) Come and adventure with the Pathfinder Society. 12 p.m. FREE! www.tychesgames.com KIDSTUFF: Saturday Busy Bees (Bogart Library) Join Ms. Donna for movement, songs, stories, puppets and more. 12–36 months. 10:30 a.m. FREE! www.athenslibrary.org/ bogart KIDSTUFF: LEGO & Builder’s Club (Bogart Library) Drop in to use LEGOs and other building materials.

All ages. 2–4 p.m. FREE! www. athenslibrary.org/bogart KIDSTUFF: Frog Watch Training (Sandy Creek Nature Center) Learn to identify and count frogs as part of this citizen science program. Ages 13 & up. Registration required. 3 p.m. FREE! www.accgovga.myrec. com SPORTS: UGA Men’s Hockey vs.

High Point University (The Classic Center) Cheer on the Ice Dawgs Division III hockey team. 5 p.m. $10. www.classiccenter.com SPORTS: UGA Men’s Hockey vs.

Alabama (The Classic Center) Cheer on the Ice Dawgs against Alabama. 7:30 p.m. SOLD OUT! www.classiccenter.com THEATER: Friend of the Groom (Flicker Theatre & Bar) A full-­length autobiographical monologue about an ill-­fated green card wedding in the early 1990s delivered by Mark Mobley who weaves in tales from his own life. 5 p.m. $10. www. flickertheatreandbar.com

Sunday 21 ART: Sunday Spotlight Tour (Georgia Museum of Art) This drop-­in public tour features highlights of the permanent collection. 3 p.m. FREE! www.georgiamuseum.org CLASSES: Community Yoga Weekend (Fuel Hot Yoga) Try out yoga classes with giveaways and post-​class refreshments. Registration required. 8 a.m.–5 p.m. FREE! www.fuelhotyoga.com/free-​yoga-​ weekend CLASSES: Athens YOGA Collective (Athentic Brewing Co.) Enjoy a yoga class on the patio. First and third Sundays, 12 p.m. FREE! www. athenticbrewing.com CLASSES: UGA Salsa Club (UGA Memorial Hall) Learn foundational movements of salsa with no partner or experience required. 3:30 p.m.

FREE! Experienced salsa dancers will learn a new style and more advanced techniques. 4 p.m. $5. www.ugasalsaclub.com/sunday-­ class COMEDY: Off The Clock Comedy (The Globe) Athens Comedy presents headlining comedian Ngozi with Krystle Pierce and Laura Garner hosted by Colton Stokowski.

Sundays, 9–10:30 p.m. $5. www. facebook.com/athenscomedy

EVENTS: Pups & Pints (Athentic Brewing Co.) The patio will be full of adoptable dogs with a free pour for every adoption. Third Sundays, 3–6 p.m. www.athenticbrewing.com GAMES: Bad Dog Trivia (Southern Brewing Co.) Test your knowledge with host TJ Wayt. Sundays, 4 p.m. www.facebook.com/baddogathens MEETINGS: Madison County Library General Meeting (Madison County Library) Attend a short business meeting of the Friends of the Madison County Library, followed by a panel program “New Year, New You.” 3 p.m. FREE! www. athenslibrary.org/madison SPORTS: UGA Men’s Hockey vs.

Kennesaw State (The Classic Center) Cheer on the Ice Dawgs Division III hockey team. 11 a.m. $10. www.classiccenter.com SPORTS: Classic City Pétanque Club (Lay Park) New players welcome. Scheduled days are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. www.athenspetanque.org

Monday 22

GAMES: General Trivia with Erin (Athentic Brewing Co.) Test your trivia knowledge with host Erin.

Mondays, 7–9 p.m. FREE! www. athenticbrewing.com GAMES: Classic City Trivia (Dooley’s Bar and Grill) Test your trivia knowledge with host Garrett Lennox.

7 p.m. FREE! www.facebook.com/ ClassicCityTriviaCo KIDSTUFF: Monday Funday (Bogart Library) Join Ms. Donna for songs, fingerplays, storytelling and STEAM activities. Ages 3–7 years. Registration suggested. 10:30 a.m. FREE! www.athenslibrary.org/bogart MEETINGS: Classic City Rotary (Athentic Brewing Co.) The local chapter meets weekly. Mondays, 11:30 a.m. FREE! www.athentic brewing.com

Tuesday 23 CLASSES: Zumba (Winterville Cultural Center) Start to the path to better health this year with Zumba.

5:30 p.m. $10. www.winterville center.com GAMES: Lunch and Learn New Games (Tyche’s Games) Come down with your lunch and try out some new games. 12 p.m. FREE! www.tychesgames.com GAMES: Mahjong Club (Winterville Cultural Center) Learn to play the ancient Chinese game of Mahjong.

Tuesdays & Fridays, 1​​–4 p.m. $1. www.wintervillecenter.com GAMES: Bad Dog Trivia (Amici Athens) Test your trivia knowledge with host TJ Wayt. Tuesdays, 7 p.m. www.facebook.com/baddogathens GAMES: Classic City Trivia (Akademia Brewing Co.) Test your trivia knowledge with host Garrett Lennox.

7 p.m. FREE! www.facebook.com/ ClassicCityTriviaCo KIDSTUFF: Toddler Tuesday: Imagination and Creation (Georgia Museum of Art) Enjoy art and storytime in the galleries, then complete an art activity. Ages 18 months to 3 years. RSVP by email.

10 a.m. FREE! gmoa-­tours@uga. edu LECTURES & LIT: Lunchtime Time Machine (101 LeConte Hall) Dr. Andrew Walgren will discuss the

question “How did the bandleader of the Harlem Hellfighters become the ‘Martin Luther King’ of Jazz?”

12:45 p.m. FREE! history.uga.edu LECTURES & LIT: AGAS Lecture Series (Lamar Dodd School of Art) Rachel Silveri will examine the painter Sonia Delaunay’s commercial fashion house, Atelier Simultané, opened in 1924. 5:30 p.m. FREE! art.uga.edu LECTURES & LIT: Mystery Book Club (Bogart Library) Join Dr. Penny Mills to discuss James Lee Burke’s novel Dixie City Jam. 5:30​​ –6:30 p.m. FREE! www.athens library.org/bogart MEETINGS: Veterans Coffee Hour (Winterville Cultural Center) Sit down with a veteran and have coffee and conversation. Tuesdays, 9 a.m.

FREE! www.wintervillecenter.com PERFORMANCE: Rabbit Box Storytelling: Food for Thought (VFW Post 2872) This month’s storytelling theme is “Food for Thought,” discussing how food is ingrained in our heritage, hearts and hopes. 7–9 p.m. $10. www.rabbitbox.org SPORTS: Classic City Pétanque Club (Lay Park) New players welcome. Scheduled days are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. www.athenspetanque.org

Wednesday 24 ART: Artful Conversation: George Tooker (Georgia Museum of Art) Mallory Lind, associate curator of education, will lead a discussion on Tooker’s “Laundress.” 2 p.m. FREE! www.georgiamuseum.org CLASSES: Salsa Dancing (Starland Lounge & Lanes) Join SALSAthens for Cuban salsa lessons that meet a variety of dance abilities, including beginners. Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. (advanced), 7:30 p.m. (beginner/ intermediate). $10. SALSAthens Dancing@gmail.com COMEDY: Gorgeous George’s Improv League (Buvez) Townie improv that invites you to bring suggestions to help create improv magic. Wednesdays, 7 p.m. $5 suggested donation. www.flying squidcomedy.com FILM: Three Star Cinema (Flicker Theatre & Bar) Screening of the 1977 Italian poliziottesco film Highway Racer. 7 p.m. FREE! www. flickertheatreandbar.com GAMES: Shadowfist Power Lunch (Tyche’s Games) Come down with your lunch and play Shadowfist.

New players welcome. 12 p.m.

FREE! www.tychesgames.com GAMES: Classic City Trivia (The Local 706) Test your trivia knowledge with host Garrett Lennox. 7 p.m. FREE! www.facebook.com/ ClassicCityTriviaCo KIDSTUFF: Busy Bee Toddler Time (Bogart Library) Join Ms. Donna for rhymes, songs, puppets and a story. 10 a.m. & 11 a.m. FREE! www.athenslibrary.org/bogart KIDSTUFF: LEGO & Builder’s Club (Bogart Library) Drop in to use LEGOs and other building materials.

All ages. 3:30–5:30 p.m. FREE! www.athenslibrary.org/bogart OUTDOORS: ‘Normal’ Run (Athentic Brewing Co.) Join the Athens Road Runners for a 1–3 mile run that starts and ends at Athentic Brewing.

Every other Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

FREE! www.athenticbrewing.com f

live music calendar Tuesday 16

Wednesday 17 Flicker Theatre & Bar 9 p.m. FREE! www.flickertheatreand bar.com DR. FRED’S KARAOKE Featuring pop, rock, indie and more.

Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall 7:30 p.m. $35–55. pac.uga.edu DOVER QUARTET Grammy-­ nominated string ensemble performs a quartet by Florence Price along with selections by Haydn and Shostakovich.

Hugh Hodgson School of Music Edge Hall. 7:30 p.m. music.uga.edu BRASS CHAMBER RECITAL Students of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s brass department perform.

Porterhouse Grill 6–8:30 p.m. www.porterhousegrill athens.com JAZZ NIGHT Captained by drummer Mason Davis performing American songbook, bossa nova classics and crossover hits.

Thursday 18 40 Watt Club 7 p.m. (doors). $10 (adv.), $12. www.40watt.com

Friday 19 Buvez 7–10 p.m. FREE! www.facebook.com/ darkentriesathens DARK ENTRIES KARAOKE Sing your favorite song from a curated catalog of classic to modern goth, post-­punk, punk and industrial.

Flicker Theatre & Bar 8 p.m. (doors). $10. www.flickertheatreandbar.com SPIDERHOUSE No info available.

OLIVE HOOVER Atlanta alternative group influenced by folk and emo.

HAMBEAR Athens-­based emo band.

Georgia Theatre 8:30 p.m. (doors), 9 p.m. (show). $25. www.georgiatheatre.com

WESTERN DREAMLAND A country western and disco pop dance party.

Hendershot’s 8 p.m. www.hendershotsathens.com THE HOWDIES Local old-­school outlaw country act featuring vocalists Austin Darnell and Shoni Rancher.

DIM WATTS Psych-­tinged folk group led by Jim Willingham (Old Smokey, Ham 1).

THE WYDELLES Local alt-­country band fronted by songwriter Bo Bedingfield.

Nowhere Bar Fusco’s 50th. 8 p.m. $10. www.facebook.com/NowhereBarAthens SHEHEHE Local band that draws from old-­school punk and arena rock to create a fist-­pumping atmosphere. Tonight’s event celebrates

COUNTRY RIVER BAND Classic western and country band. Line dancing held during the breaks.

Saturday 20 40 Watt Club Classic City Wrestling. 7 p.m. (doors). $12–25. www.40watt.com TAXICAB VERSES Local group fronted by Jim Wilson and inspired by the traditional sounds of Ghana.

The band will play in between wrestling matches.

Athentic Brewing Co. Hey, You! Hoedown. 2–8 p.m. www. athenticbrewing.com 38 STRINGS Multi-­generational acoustic folk music with 38 strings between them.

WOLF PUP No info available.

DAVID WELLS

Ciné 8 p.m. FREE! www.athenscine.com KARAOKE WITH THE KING Show off your pipes to the world. Every first, third and fifth Tuesday.

Hendershot’s No Phone Party. 7 p.m. www.hendershotsathens.com KENOSHA KID Instrumental adventure-jazz group centered around the rollicking compositions of Dan Nettles and featuring Josh Allen, Seth Hendershot and various guests.

Ramsey Hall 7:30 p.m. $3 (w/ UGA ID), $15. pac. uga.edu ANATOLY SHELUDYAKOV Russian pianist and composer whose repertoire includes works of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary periods. Tonight’s performance features three Beethoven “Bagatelles.”

SAM KNIGHT BAND Local country and Southern rock band.

JW GRIFFIN Country singer-­ songwriter with a rock and roll edge.

Flicker Theatre & Bar 8 p.m. (doors), 9 p.m. (show). $10. www.flickertheatreandbar.com GARETT HATCH Garage rock with psychedelic tones. EP release show for Stories!

GEORGE TROUBLE Singer-­ songwriter and frontman of Asheville Americana act The Zealots.

SUTURE SELF A distillation of art rock, funky jazz and Latin-­infused disco. First show!

Georgia Theatre 6:30 p.m. (doors), 7:30 p.m. (show). $30. www.georgiatheatre.com SHANE SMITH & THE SAINTS Red dirt country band from Austin, TX offering a hard-­hitting version of American roots music influenced by country, folk and roadhouse rock and roll.

JOHNATHAN TERRELL Austin, TX country musician weaving tales of loneliness, struggle and survival.

Hendershot’s 7 p.m. (doors), 8 p.m. (show). $15– 20. www.hendershotsathens.com BRENDAN ABERNATHY Traveling singer-­songwriter with contemplative, relatable lyrics.

DYLAN OWEN New York-­based alternative rap artist with his own brand of confessional, heartfelt storytelling.

Southern Brewing Co. 6–10 p.m. www.sobrewco.com KARAOKE NIGHT Every Thursday evening.

and Christian Gerner-­Smidt.

RAE & THE RAGDOLLS Atlanta rock and rollers blending folky psychedelia and room rattling rock.

TATTOO LOGIC Five-­piece funk punk band from Athens frotned by Mía Hill and Swathi Ramaswamy.

The Foundry 7 p.m. (doors), 8 p.m. (show). $12 (adv.), $15. bit.ly/3Rg3UWs CARPOOL A tribute to The Cars that recreates the sound that made the Boston-­based quintet iconic.

No. 3 Railroad Street 7 p.m. www.3railroad.org MARION MONTGOMERY & GLYN DENHAM Bluesy local acoustic folk duo.

Memorial Park AFMDS Contra Dance. 7 p.m. $10– 12. www.athensfolk.org THE F-HOLES Live music to accompany a community contra dance.

Sunday 21

Shane Smith & The Saints will play at the Georgia Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 18. drummer Jason Fusco’s 50th birthday!

ULTRA LIGHTS Punk rock and roll from Atlanta.

HUNGER ANTHEM Indie garage rock trio from Athens with head banging energy.

WYLD STALEYZ Self-­described hot blooded, ball clenching power rock band from Athens.

The Root 9 p.m. FREE! www.instagram.com/ the_bearcat_collective THE BEARCATS Alternative rock group playing a mix of originals and classic covers.

VFW Post 2872 7 p.m. (doors), 8 p.m. (show). $10. www.facebook.com/vfw2872 CHRIS HAMPTON BAND Athens-­ based band performing a variety of country, western and rock dance music.

VFW Post 2872 7 p.m. (doors), 8 p.m. (show). $10. www.facebook.com/vfwpost2872

MARKER DOG Young musicians playing alternative ad hard rock covers.

RED OAK Local band playing a feel-­good blend of bluegrass, blues, folk, rock and classic country.

THE VASSAR BLONDES Local indie-­pop four-­piece.

Ciné 8 p.m. (doors), 9 p.m. (show). $10. www.athenscine.com GOD TONGUE Brutal death metal from Atlanta.

PARATHION Local death metal band formed by brothers Jackson and Jacob Whitmire.

THRONES Atlanta hardcore.

HARBINGER’S DESCENT Heavy death metal.

Flicker Theatre & Bar 8 p.m. $10. www.flickertheatreandbar. com RED DAKOTA Athens-­based indie rock group consisting of Alyssa Terry, Derek Terry, Lauren Leathers

Buvez 8 p.m. $10. www.facebook.com/ buvezathens BLANKET SWIMMING Since 2015, sound artist Nicholas Maloney has produced ambient music under the moniker Blanket Swimming, focusing on spontaneity, fluidity, texture and presence.

JOHN KIRAN FERNANDES Multi-­ instrumentalist works his improvisational magic on the clarinet.

GRANT EVANS Local artist using tape loops and electronics to create expansive, rumbling soundscapes.

Monday 22 Hugh Hodgson School of Music Edge Hall. Jan. 22–23 & Jan. 29–30, 7:30 p.m. FREE! music.uga.edu BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL All 10 of Beethoven’s violin sonatas will be performed over the course of four evenings by students of violin professor Levon Ambartsumian and piano professor Evgeny Rivkin.

Tuesday 23 Flicker Theatre & Bar 8 p.m. $12. www.flickertheatreandbar. com

JEREMIAH CYMERMAN New York City-­based composer, multi-­ instrumentalist and producer creating apocalyptic electroacoustic chamber music.

JOHN KIRAN FERNANDES Ambient/minimalist looped clarinet inspired by birdsong and the looped-­reed work of Terry Riley & Ariel Kalma. Tonight’s show will include solo sets followed by an improvised duo performance.

Hendershot’s No Phone Party. 7 p.m. www.hendershotsathens.com KENOSHA KID Instrumental adventure-­jazz group centered around the rollicking compositions of Dan Nettles and featuring Josh Allen, Seth Hendershot and various guests.

Hugh Hodgson School of Music Edge Hall. Jan. 22–23 & Jan. 29–30, 7:30 p.m. FREE! music.uga.edu BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL All 10 of Beethoven’s violin sonatas will be performed over the course of four evenings by students of violin professor Levon Ambartsumian and piano professor Evgeny Rivkin.

Ramsey Hall 7:30 p.m. FREE! music.uga.edu MICHAEL HEALD AND TIMOTHY LOVELACE Pianist Lovelace joins UGA violin faculty Heald for a recital that includes “Sonatensatz in C minor” by Johannes Brahms, “Violin Sonata” by Doreen Carwithen and “Sonata in E-­flat major”

by Richard Strauss.

Wednesday 24 Flicker Theatre & Bar 9 p.m. FREE! www.flickertheatreandbar.com DR. FRED’S KARAOKE Featuring a large assortment of pop, rock, indie and more.

The World Famous 9 p.m. $10. www.facebook.com/theworldfamousathens HONEYPUPPY Four-­piece indie rock band self-­described as a “menace to society.” Album release show!

SUNSET HONOR UNIT Sentimental pop from Atlanta comprised of dueling songwriters Drew Kirby (Mothers, CDSM) and Jake Chisenhall (Delorean Gray).

NEAT FREAK New Athens band. f

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bulletin board Deadline for getting listed in Bulletin Board is every THURSDAY at 5 p.m. for the print issue that comes out the following Wednesday. Online listings are updated daily. Email calendar@flagpole.com.

Art AAAC QUARTERLY GRANT (Athens, GA) The Athens Area Arts Council offers $500 grants to visual and performing artists in any medium to support specific projects that enrich the culture of Athens. Rolling deadlines are Mar. 15, June 15, Sept.

15 and Dec. 15. Apply online. www. athensarts.org/support CALL FOR ART (Dudley Park) The ACC Leisure Services Arts Division invites artists to submit proposals for temporary light sculptures to display during the Flight of the Fireflies Lantern Parade on Mar. 16.

Four artists/teams will receive $500 each for their work. Application deadline Jan. 19, 5 p.m. www. accgov.com/10862/Call-​for-​Art-​ Flight-​of-​the-​Fireflies CALL FOR ENTRIES (ATHICA) All new and returning 2024 members can exhibit an artwork of their choice in ATHICA’s annual Members’ Showcase. New members welcome. Deadline Feb. 11. Drop-​ off Feb. 12, 4–6 p.m. Exhibition runs Feb. 15–Mar. 17. www.athica. org/calls CALL FOR ENTRIES (Lyndon House Arts Center) This year’s 49th Juried Exhibition at the LHAC will be juried

by Jen Sudul Edwards, chief curator at The Mint Museum. A drop-​in clinic to receive help applying will be held Jan. 23, 12–3 p.m. The exhibition runs Mar. 12-​May 4. Up to three works can be submitted.

Submission deadline Jan. 26, 5 p.m. $35/entry fee. www.accgov. com/lyndonhouse IN CASE (Lyndon House Arts Center) A new program, “IN CASE,” will invite an artist each winter to utilize the lobby case as an art installation environment by creating a site-​ specific work that responds to the case’s specific dimensions. Area artists can submit proposals online.

Proposals are reviewed following the deadlines of Apr. 20 and Sept.

20 at 11:59 p.m. www.accgov.com/ exhibits JOKERJOKERTV CALL FOR ARTISTS (Online) JOKERJOKERtv is actively accepting proposals for collaboration from visual, musical and video artists and curators living in Athens. Artists worldwide can also submit music videos, short films, skits and ideas to share with a weekly livestream audience. www. jokerjokertv.com/submit OPEN STUDIOS (Lyndon House Arts Center) Studio members have access to spaces for painting, printmaking, photography, ceramics, jewelry, fiber and woodworking.

Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. $65/month. www. accgov.com/7350/Open-​Studio-​ Membership VALEN-TINY MARKET (tiny ATH gallery) Seeking artist vendors to participate in a Valentine’s Daythemed artist market. Pieces should be 5”x5” or smaller. Artists will share a six-foot table. Email for vendor form. Market held Feb. 10, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. $35/fee. tinyath gallery@gmail.com

Auditions LINNENTOWN (Classic Center, Olympia Room) Seeking actors of all ages for a musical. Auditions held Jan. 20, 10 a.m. (ages 12 and under), 1 p.m. (ages 13 and older).

Callbacks on Jan. 21. Performance held in April. www.classiccenter. com/linnentown OH, KAY! IN CONCERT (Memorial Park, Quinn Hall) The Athens Musical Theatre Orchestra Program brings together instrumentalists, singers and actors for a Prohibition story of bootleggers, society matrons and new love. Contact to schedule an audition. Auditions held Feb. 5–6, 6–9 p.m. Performances held Apr. 5–6 at the Morton Theatre. 706-​613-​3628, act@ accgov.com

art around town 1055 BARBER (1055 Barber St.) Stephen Humphreys presents “Ukraine: Photos from the Front Line,” a collection of wartime photographs taken during the last year.

ATHENS INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART: ATHICA (675 Pulaski St.) “Onodera & Pearse: Contrasts & Correlations” combines the works of Masako Onodera and Mary Pearse, two artists who share backgrounds in craft while embracing sculptural applications of metal, paper, gravity and motion. Through Feb. 11.

ATHICA@CINÉ GALLERY (234 W. Hancock Ave.) “Skitterings: New Works by Don Chambers” presents works on paper that rely on coincidence and chance while playing with mark-making, space, color and texture. Through Feb. 25.

AURUM STUDIOS (125 E. Clayton St.) Greg Benson presents “Next Places,” a collection of oil paintings. Through January.

CLASSIC CENTER (300 N. Thomas St.) In Classic Gallery I, “Wild Thing” features animals, plants and people intermingling through the works of Margo Rosenbaum, Shelby Little, Carolyn Suzanne Schew and Amanda Burk.

• In Classic Gallery II, “LOVE.CRAFT Athens” features works by Melanie Jackson, Hannah Jo, Norman Austin Junior and Brittany Wortham.

DODD GALLERIES (270 River Rd.) “Mostra” is an annual exhibition showcasing artwork made by students and faculty of all programs held at the Office of Global Engagement International Center in Cortona, Italy. Closing reception Jan. 20, 3 p.m.

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

Classes ACCA CLASSES (Athens Community Council on Aging Center for Active Learning) “Qigong for Vitality with Anna DiBella” includes gentle movements to help improve balance, coordination and the mind-​body connection. Mondays, 11 a.m.-​12 p.m. $20–25/five week series. “Feel Better Yoga with Elizabeth Alder, CYT” is a slow-​going yoga class for all abilities. Tuesdays, 2:30–3:30 p.m. $20–25/five week series. abarefoot@accaging.org BLACKSMITHING CLASSES (Greenhow Handmade Ironworks, Washington) A variety of classes include “Basic Tong Making” (Jan. 20 or Mar. 30), “Two-​Day Railroad Spike Knife and Tomahawk” (Jan. 26–27 or Mar. 15–16), “Art of Chain Making” (Feb. 3), “Crash Course in Artistic Blacksmithing” (Feb. 9), “First Time at the Forge” (Feb. 17), “Forge a Spear” (Feb. 24), “Forge a Tomahawk” (Mar. 2) and “Railroad Spike Knife” (Mar. 9). Classes run 10 a.m.–5 p.m. www.greenhow handmade.com/blacksmith-​classes CLASSES (Winterville Cultural Center) “Upcycling Workshop” guides participants on how to repurpose clothes into new creations. Mondays beginning Jan. 22, 6–8 p.m. $12/drop in, $60/6 weeks. “Zumba” combines dancing and exercise.

Jan. 23, 5:30–6:30 p.m. $10. “Oil Painting” with Dortha Jacobson.

Jan. 24, 1–3 p.m. $10. “Chair Yoga” promotes deep breathing, mindfulness and inward listening.

Mondays beginning Jan. 29, 9:10– 10:10 a.m. $12/drop in, $120/12 classes. “Botanical Sketchbook” explores drawing techniques like shading, perspective and light.

Mondays beginning Jan. 29, 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. $12/drop in, $120/12 classes. wintervillecampus@gmail. com, www.wintervillecenter.com COOKING CLASSES (Athens Cooks) “Indian Buffet Favorites” is held

Feb. 3, 6–8 p.m. $100.

“Asian Noodle Bowl Mastery” is held Feb. 23, 6–8 p.m. $100. Register online. www. athenscooks.com FELDENKRAIS CLASSES (Sangha Yoga Studio) Gentle lessons for the brain and body. Thursdays, 2 p.m. $15– 18. www.healingartscentre.

“Novel Art Chapter Two,” a group exhibition featuring artwork by members of the net/sangha-​yoga-​studio Wonders of Watercolor group, is currently on view at the Oconee Cultural Arts PÉTANQUE CLUB OF ATHFoundation through Feb. 10. Featured above is a painting by Diane Powelson.

ENS (5 Alumni Dr.) Learn to play Pétanque. RSVP for a free Wednesday introduction. of dramatization, improvisation athenspetanqueclub@gmail.com, and acting fundamentals. For ages www.athenspetanqueclub.wixsite.

8–12. Fridays, Jan. 19–Feb. 9, ADOPT AN ANIMAL (Bear Hollow com/play 4:30–5:30 p.m. $83 (ACC resiZoo) Different sponsorship levels QPR SUICIDE PREVENTION dents), $125 (non-​residents). www. are available to “adopt” a zoo resiTRAINING (Nuçi’s Space) Nuçi’s accgov.com/act dent. Donations are used for exhibhosts free monthly QPR (Question, ATHENS FOREST KINDERGARTEN its, food and wildlife education.

Persuade, Refer) suicide prevention (Sandy Creek Park) Now enrolling 706-​613-​3580 sessions for anyone interested, not children ages 3-​6. AFK is a cooperBLING YOUR PROM (ACC Library) just mental health professionals. ative preschool that aims to develop Seeking donations of formalwear Nuçi’s also offers free training for initiative, persistence, interdepenthat will be given to local teens for businesses and organizations. dence, and empathy. www.athens prom. Items can include men and qpr@nuci.org, www.nuci.org/qpr forestkindergarten.org women’s formalwear, jewelry and SPANISH CLASSES (Multiple CCCF SCHOLARSHIPS (Athens, GA) accessories, shoes, unused cosLocations) Casa de Amistad offers The Classic Center Cultural Founmetics and hair products, service/ beginning and intermediate GED dation is now accepting applicastore coupons and paper shopping and ESL classes in-​person and tions for performing arts and visual bags. Donations accepted until Feb. online. An eight-​week course to arts scholarships. Applications 29. ehood@athenslibrary.org learn Spanish meets Mondays and are open to 9th–12th grade high SEEKING MENTORS (Athens, GA) Wednesdays, 12:30–1:30 p.m. school students living in Northeast The Athens Anti-​Discrimination $60. www.athensamistad.com Georgia. Deadline Mar. 1. www.

Movement’s End School to Prison TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS classiccenter.com/scholarships Pipeline Program seeks community CLASSES (Live Oak Martial Arts) GROUPS AT REBLOSSOM (ReBlosmembers to support and mentor Traditional and modern-​style Taesom) New Parents, Infants and students who are experiencing kwondo, self-​defense, grappling Crawlers Play Group is for babies bullying, have been suspended/ and weapons classes are offered ages 0-​12 months and their expelled, or need to complete for all ages. Classes in Jodo, the caregivers to discuss parenthood. court-​ordered service hours. www. art of the Japanese staff and sword, Tuesdays, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Afteraadmovement.org are held Mondays, Wednesdays noon Play Group is for children and Fridays at 7 p.m. Visit the web1–4 years old and their caregivers site for a full schedule. www.live to meet each other and build relaoakmartialarts.com tionships. Wednesdays, 3–5 p.m.

YOGA AND MORE (Revolution TherAll Ages Play Group is for children apy and Yoga) Revolution is a multi- ACCOUNTING 101: BE AUDIT YOU 1–5 years old and their caregivCAN BE (UGA Terry College of purpose mind-​body wellness studio ers to play inside and outdoors.

Business) Youth Programs at UGA offering yoga and therapy with an Fridays, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Sunday and UGA’s J.M. Tull School of emphasis on trauma-​informed pracSupport and Ply Group is held for Accounting offer a two-​day worktices. Check website for upcoming ages 1–4 and their families. Sunshop for ages 15–17. Feb. 24-​25, classes and programs. www.revoludays, 1–3 p.m. www.reblossom 10 a.m.–4 p.m. $20. www.georgia tiontherapyandyoga.com athens.com center.uga.edu/youth/spark YOGA CLASSES (Let It Be Yoga LIBRARY STORYTIMES (ACC ACTING 101: TIME MACHINE Studio, Watkinsville) Classes are Library) Storytime for pre-​school (Memorial Park, Quinn Hall) Athens offered in Hatha, Vinyasa, Kundalini, aged children and their caregivCreative Theatre presents a theater beginner, gentle and other styles. ers is offered every Tuesday and course and brief introduction to Check online calendar for weekly Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. www.athens theater history exploring the basics offerings. www.letitbeyoga.org library.org

FLICKER THEATRE & BAR (263 W. Washington St.) Artwork by Mark Dalling. Through January.

FOYER (135 Park Ave.) New York City-based multidisciplinary artist Amelia Briggs shares a collection of oil paintings on paper that imagine interior landscapes. On view by appointment through Mar. 16.

GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART (90 Carlton St.) “In Dialogue: Power Couple: Pierre and Louise Daura in Paris” features paintings by Louise, engravings

by Pierre and several objects that appear in their images. Through Feb. 11.

• “Nancy Baker Cahill: Through Lines” is a mid-career survey demonstrating the artist’s progression from drawing into digital works of art in augmented reality. Through May 19. • “Decade of Tradition: Highlights from the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection.” Through July 3, 2024.

GLASSCUBE@INDIGO (500 College Ave.) Zane Cochran presents “Aurora,” a sculptural interpretation of the aurora borealis using 3D geometric figures and lights.

LYNDON HOUSE ARTS CENTER (211 Hoyt St.) Abraham Tesser presents “Maquettes,” a collection of small-scale works in wood used as drafts for larger pieces. Artist talk Feb. 8, 6 p.m. Through Mar. 1. • “Memory Worker: Kelly Taylor Mitchell” explores ancestral seeking through hand-sewn stitches and handmade paper. Artist Talk Jan. 20, 2 p.m. Through Mar. 12.

• “Tell Me A Story: Jasmine Best” presents narrative works combining fabric, yarn and digital sewing to reflect on memories and Black female identity. Through Mar. 12. • Collections from our Community presents Ikla McConnell’s collection of Pyrex casseroles and dishware. Collector Talk and Casserole Bakeoff Feb. 15, 6 p.m. On view Jan. 18–Apr. 9.

OCONEE CULTURAL ARTS FOUNDATION (34 School St., Watkinsville)

Help Out

Kidstuff

Celebrating the release of Gail Karwoski’s new book, Skeleton in the Art Closet, “Novel Art Chapter Two” features artwork by over a dozen members of the Wonders of Watercolor group. Through Feb. 10.

REPUBLIC SALON (312 E. Broad St.) Jacob Wenzka presents a collection of paintings and drawings of robots, futuristic floating cities, and various other sci-fi and fantasy inspired scenes.

STEFFEN THOMAS MUSEUM OF ART (4200 Bethany Rd., Buckhead) “Peace in Our Time: Steffen Thomas Meisterwerke from the Lowrance Collection” shares works collected by Marjorie and Richard Lowrance over the span of 60 years. Jan. 23–July 23.

TIF SIGFRIDS (393 N. Finley St.) Brooklyn-based artist Margaux Ogden presents “Tidal Locking,” a series of new paintings iterating upon each other.

Through Feb. 24.

UGA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIES (300 S. Hull St.) “HBO at 50: The Rise of Prestige Television” highlights some of the groundbreaking programming created by and aired on HBO with items selected from the Peabody Awards Archive. Through May 2024. • “Legacy: Vince Dooley, 1932-2022” celebrates the life and career of the late UGA football head coach and athletic director through photographs and artifacts. Tours held before home games on Fridays at 3 p.m. Through spring 2024. • “Paving the Road to Progress: Georgia Interstate Highways” traverses the rocky path of the interstate system’s development through maps, reports, correspondence and legislation. Through Apr. 24.

WINTERVILLE CULTURAL CENTER (371 N. Church St., Winterville) The Athens Plein Air organization presents 50 works by 17 different artists.

Through Jan .19.

TREEHOUSE ACTIVITIES (Treehouse Kid & Craft) A variety of crafting and playtime activities are offered for various age groups. Popular activities include Crafterday Saturdays, Storytime with Mr. Doodles and Craft Inc. Kid Business. Visit the website for details and to register. www.treehousekidandcraft.com

Support Groups ACA ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS AND DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES (Holy Cross Lutheran Church) This support group meets weekly. Tuesdays, 6:30–7:30 p.m. annetteanelson@gmail.com AL-​ANON 12 STEP (Multiple Locations) Recovery for people affected by someone else’s drinking. Free meetings at lunchtime and evenings throughout the week in Athens and Watkinsville. www.ga-​al-​anon.org ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (Athens, GA) If you think you have a problem with alcohol, call the AA hotline or visit the website for a schedule of meetings in Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee Counties. 706-​389-​4164, www. athensaa.org ATHENS COUNCIL OF THE BLIND (Athens, GA) Open to people of all ages with vision impairments, their families and friends. Topics include adaptive equipment, recreational and social opportunities, and advocacy. 706-​424-​2794, dlwahlers@ gmail.com MENTAL HEALTH PEER RECOVERY GROUP (Nuçi’s Space) Participants support each other through life’s challenges by sharing from their skills, experiences and proven coping mechanisms. Newcomers welcome. First Tuesday of the month, 4–6 p.m. pr@nuci.org, www.nuci.org NAMI FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP (Oconee Presbyterian Church) Peer-​led support group for any adult with a loved one who has experienced symptoms of a mental health condition. Second Monday of the month, 6:30–8 p.m. FREE! joannehnamihallga@gmail.com NEW PARENTS AND INFANT FEEDING SUPPORT GROUP (BYL Family Resource Center) Come as you are for community, snacks and feeding advice from professionals.

Babies and children of all ages are welcome. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. FREE! www.byyourleave.org OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS (24th Street Clubhouse) Learn to stop eating compulsively or curb other unwanted food-​related behaviors.

Tuesdays, 12 p.m. Text: 678-​736-​ 3697 PARKINSON’S SUPPORT GROUP (First Baptist Church) This group is to encourage, support and share information with fellow sojourners who manage the challenges of Parkinson’s disease or other movement disorders. Second Friday of the month, 1 p.m. gpnoblet@ bellsouth.net PROJECT SAFE (Family Protection Center) Project Safe hosts a support group for survivors of domestic violence. Mondays, 6:30–8 p.m. www. project-​safe.org RECREATE JOY (Sunny Days Therapeutics) Nuçi’s Space hosts a recreational therapy support group.

Improve coping skills and self esteem while reducing depression and anxiety through adaptive yoga, games and leisure education. Six-​ week sessions. Wednesdays, 5–6 p.m. tinyurl.com/rnvuhesa RECOVERY DHARMA (Athens Addiction Recovery Center) This peer-​led support group offers a Buddhist-​inspired path to recovery

from any addiction. Visit the website for details. Thursdays, 7 p.m. www.athensrecoverydharma.org SEX ADDICTS ANONYMOUS (Athens, GA) Athens Downtown SAA offers a message of hope to anyone who suffers from a compulsive sexual behavior. Contact for location. athensdowntownsaa@gmail.com SUPPORT GROUPS (Integrity Counseling & Personal Development) ICPD offers several support groups. “LGBTQIA+ Young Adults Group” is offered for ages 18–30.

“Survivors of Suicide Loss Group” is offered the first Wednesday of every month, 7–8 p.m. “Veterans, Dependents & Caregivers Benefits Resource & Claim Assistance Group” is offered the first Saturday of every month, 9–10 a.m. www. integrityofjefferson.com

Word on the Street ATHENS ON ICE (Classic Center, 440 Foundry Pavilion) Public ice skating is currently available Feb. 19. Check website for schedule of skating sessions. $15. www.classic center.com BIKE REPAIR STATIONS (Multiple Locations) Over 15 free bike repair stations are located across Athens with tools, an air pump and a QR code for quick guides on basic bike repairs. Visit the website for participating locations. www.accgov. com/10584/Bike-​Repair-​Stations COMPOST TRIAL (Athens, GA) The ACC Solid Waste Department and UGA New Materials Institute are seeking up to 400 local households to test their new Residential Compost Pilot Project that runs February to early May. Residents in the Normaltown and Boulevard neighborhoods are eligible to register. www. accgov.com/composttrial RABBIT BOX THEMES (Athens, GA) Seeking storytellers to share true short stories on stage. Upcoming themes include “Duets” on Feb. 27, “Better Late Than Never” on Mar. 26, “The Story of Your Name” on Apr. 23 and “With This Ring” on May 28. Visit website to apply. www.rabbitbox.org/tell RABBIT HOLE EVENTS (Rabbit Hole Studios) Weekly events include Open Mic (Tuesdays, 7–11 p.m.), Acoustic Song Circle (Thursdays, 7–11 p.m.), Seventh Generation Native American Church services and community potlucks (Sundays, 11 a.m.), and Drumming and Song Circle (Sundays, 3–5 p.m.).

Wednesday Yoga (5 p.m.) is followed by Meditation and Integration (6 p.m.). Events are free or donation based. www.rabbitholestudios.org STORMWATER CALENDARS (Athens, GA) The Stormwater Management Program produces educational wall calendars each winter to show off water and nature scenes from around town. Request a calendar while supplies last. www. accgov.com/stormwatercalendar VHS DIGITIZATION (Athens, GA) Brad Staples (of the Athens GA Live Music crew) is seeking previously recorded concerts and events on VHS, VHSC or DVDs to digitize and archive on his YouTube channel, vhsordie (@vhsordie3030). Original recordings will be returned, and credits and dates will be included in the online video description. Digitization services are free. Contact for details and to coordinate shipping. bradley.staples88@gmail.com WINTER ACTIVITIES (Athens, GA) ACC Leisure Services will offer a variety of arts, environmental science, recreation, sports and holiday events this winter. Now registering. www.accgov.com/myrec f

CORD SIBILSKY GROUP

CORD O:706-510-5189

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C:706-363-0803

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CSG-GAP.COM

2024 flagpole

Athens Favorites

VOTE VOTE VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES! See the ballot for the 2024 flagpole Athens Favorites on page 6.

VOTE AT FAVORITES.FLAGPOLE.COM J A NU A R Y 17, 2024· F L A GP OL E .C OM

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classifieds Place an ad anytime, email class@flagpole.com or call 706-549-0301



BASIC RATES: Individual $10/week • Real Estate $14/week • Business $16/week • Online Only $5/week Indicates images available at classifieds.flagpole.com • Deadline to place ads is 11 a.m. every Monday for the following Wednesday issue

REAL ESTATE

MUSIC

JOBS

NOTICES

HOUSES FOR RENT

INSTRUCTION

FULL-TIME

MESSAGES

House, 3BR/2BA in Normaltown. Central heat/air.

Apartment, 2BR/1BA. Furnished. Washer/dryer. Wi-Fi. No smokers, pets. Calls only! 706-372-1505

Athens School of Music.

Now offering in-person and online instruction in guitar, bass, drums, piano, voice, brass, woodwinds, strings, banjo, mandolin and more.

From beginner to expert, all styles. Visit www.athens schoolofmusic.com. 706543-5800

El Paso Tacos & Tequila Now Hiring for Servers and Bartenders. We offer flexible hours and scheduling for students. No experience is required as training is provided! Stop by in person to fill out an application! 255 W. Washington St.

All Georgians ages 6 months & up are eligible for COVID vaccines, and ages 5+ are eligible for boosters! Call 706-3400996 or visit www.publichealthathens.com for more information.

Nuçi’s Space is hiring for a full-time Musician Services Project Manager. For more information, please visit nuci.org/hiring. Join our team and apply today!

COVID self-testing kiosk available in West Athens (3500 Atlanta Hwy. At the old Fire Station on the corner of Atlanta Hwy. & Mitchell Bridge Rd. near Aldi and Publix.) Pre-registration is required! Visit www. register.testandgo.com for more information.

HOUSES FOR SALE Looking for a house or a home? Condo or land? Call Daniel Peiken. REALTOR 5Market Realty. Selling in and around Athens for over 20 years. 706-296-2941 Sell or rent your property in the Flagpole Classifieds.

Call 706-549-0301 or email class@flagpole.com.

FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS Business Water Solutions offers the cleanest drinking water available through innovative bottle-less water coolers and ice machines.

Call 706-248-6761 or visit www.businesswatersolutions.com to set up a consultation.

MUSIC SERVICES Instant cash is now being paid for good vinyl records & CDs in fine condition. Wuxtry Records at corner of Clayton & College Dwntn. 706-369-9428

SERVICES HOME AND GARDEN Woman-Run Gardening Services: Prep for spring!

We offer garden clean-up/ maintenance, invasive plant removal, raised beds, personalized native/edible gardens for home/business and more! Call/Text: 706395-5321.

PART-TIME Join a diverse, inclusive workplace and get paid to type! 16–40 hours, Mon–Fri. NEVER be called in for a shift you didn’t sign up for.

Must type 55+ wpm. Make your own schedule and work independently with no customer interaction.

Starts at $13 with automatic increases. www.ctscribes. com Find employees by advertising in the Flagpole Classifieds! Call 706-549-0301.

ADOPT ME!

Visit www.accgov.com/257/Available-Pets to view all the cats and dogs available at the shelter

Sugar (50653171)

How is Sugar still the shelter?

Completely housetrained, crate trained, good on a leash, loves car rides and is friendly with other dogs. Sadly, Sugar isn’t so sweet on cats.

Coco Puff (54853965) Did you know that rabbits are generally friendly and social?

They’ve even been known to form bonds with other household pets. Coco Puff is ready for adoption and new friends!

Oreo (54963071)

Who loves scratches and pets?

Oreo, that’s who! This sweet cookies-n-cream coat cutie has been gentle with volunteers and is happier than she appears in the shelter photos.

These pets and many others are available for adoption at:

Athens-Clarke County Animal Services 125 Buddy Christian Way · 706-613-3540 Call for appointment

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

Get Flagpole delivered straight to your mailbox! Weekly delivery straight from the source.

Makes a great gift!

Only $55 for six months or $100 for one year. Purchase online at www.flagpole.bigcartel.com, call 706-5490301 or email frontdesk@ flagpole.com.

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JOURNALISM flagpole is fighting to

continue bringing you the most up-to-date news. Help us keep our weekly print and online versions FREE by donating.

DONATE It’s as easy as your Spotify subscription!

Just set up a recurring donation through PayPal (https://flagpole.com/home/donations) or mail in a check.

F lagpole, P O Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603

SUDOKU

Edited by Margie E. Burke

Difficulty: Easy

1

2 9

Selling In-Town Athens for Over 23 Years UGA Graduate / Loving Athens since 1987 Voted one of Athens Favorite Realtors by Flagpole Readers more than a few times!

7 3 2 2 5 4 8 6 1

9 5 8 2

9 3

6

2 5 1 4

4 9

LET PEIKEN HELP!

HAVE A GREAT 2024 Daniel Peiken Daniel@Athenshome.com 706 296 2941 • 5Market Realty 824 South Milledge Ave., Ste 200

Copyright 2024 by The Puzzle Syndicate

HOW TO SOLVE:

Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9; and each set of 3 by 3 boxes must contain the numbers 1 to 9.

Week of 1/15/24 - 1/21/24

The Weekly Crossword

by Margie E. Burke

Solution to Sudoku:

5 1 6 7 2 9 4 3 8 4 8 9 3 1 5 7 6 2 7 3 2 4 8 6 1 9 5 1 4 7 2 5 3 9 8 6 6 2 8 9 4 7 3 5 1 9 5 3 8 6 1 2 7 4 3 6 5 1 7 4 8 2 9 8 9 4 6 3 2 5 1 7 2 7 1 5 9 8 6 4 3

Copyright 2024 by The Puzzle Syndicate

BIRTH CONTROL MADE EASY visit an

ATHENS AREA HEALTH DEPARTMENT NortheastHealthDistrict.org

Puzzle answers are available at www.flagpole.com/puzzles

J A NU A R Y 17, 2024· F L A GP OL E .C OM

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3.1875" X 3.125"

JRB I AD for Flagpole

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

Athens

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Today, 11:10 PM

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JOIN US FOR

FRIDAY DINNERS

Inside or On the Patio

Do it Yours is the best This is why we keep going, your words are priceless.

God bless you brother!!!

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I’m Making this a bill board in ATL!!!

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We love you, Marti!

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Just ate at the most famous cuban restaurant in Miami and it sucked compared to Cali n Tito’s

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VOTE FOR US FOR

FAVORITE LUNCH, SANDWICH, AND CATERING!

You rock Bruno!!!

Thank you so much!!! You just made my new 2024 year present, brother!

Again, priceless...

CASUAL & SOCIAL • BEER & WINE FAMILY FRIENDLY • NEW KIDS MENU Locally Sourced Goodness Every Day !! OPEN ‘TIL 9PM ON FRIDAYS !!

hoals Dr 1245 Cedar S 087 (706)-355-7 -ORkin St 1427 S Lump 979 (706) 227-9

Online Ordering • Curb-side pick-up • Box catering Homemade Soups, Salads, Sandwiches, and Desserts

Treat yourself to some Em’s Kitchen this New Year and experience our delicious, healthy lunches.

975 Hawthorne Ave • 706-206-9322 emskitchenathawthorne.com

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F L A GP OL E .C OM · J A NU A R Y 17, 2024

Tue & Wed Lunch Special $19.99 12 Meat Selections! Filet Mignon, Picanha, Picanha w/Garlic, Beef Ribs, Top Sirloin, Brisket, Lamb, Pork Loin, Sausage, Chicken w/Bacon, Chicken Wings, Chicken Hearts

706-850-8299 1550 OGLETHORPE AVENUE

FAST, FRIENDLY, AND LOCALLY OWNED An Athens Institution Since 1977 EASTSIDE

2230 Barnett Shoal Rd. • 706-549-5481

HAPPY NEW YEAR Love,

Connect the dots below and spice up your new year.

Scan the QR code, follow us on Instagram & comment on our January puzzle post for a chance to win a $100 gift card!

@BedsideManners_Blog

Discover the products that turn you on, then take 10% off with code: FP2024 in-store or online!

4100 Lexington Road - ShopStarship.com J A NU A R Y 17, 2024· F L A GP OL E .C OM

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