5.11 Indy Week

Raleigh | Durham | Chapel Hill May 11, 2022

What will happen to abortion access in North Carolina if Roe v. Wade falls?

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Abortion Issue

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"It’s really important to pull out and digest the joy, even through turmoil," Blend of Soul owner Kiera Gardner says, p. 12.

VOL. 38 NO. 19

PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA

CONTENTS NEWS 4

Candidate Maria Jocys has enough signatures from Durham voters to challenge Sheriff Clarence Birkhead for his seat this fall.

BY THOMASI MCDONALD

FEATURE 7

Supporters of reproductive rights are worried about what a leaked draft opinion from the US Supreme Court could mean for abortion access in North Carolina. BY JASMINE GALLUP

10 Here's how you can support abortion access in North Carolina, and where to find abortion services if you need them. BY LENA GELLER

ARTS & CULTURE 12

A Durham juice company serves up fresh perspectives on identity and health. BY JASMINE GALLUP

15 An interview with Cornell Watson about his exhibition, Tarred Healing, on display at the Chapel Hill Public Library. BY JADE WILSON 16 Art Access celebrates six years of the A Series of Fortunate Events Festival.

BY ALLISON KIRKLAND

17

An interview with author Erica Plouffe Lazure.

18

Raleigh author Erin S. Lane issues an invitation to rewrite cultural scripts around motherhood. BY SARAH EDWARDS

BY SHELBI POLK

WE M A DE THIS P U B L I S H E RS

John Hurld

Contributors Madeline Crone, Grant Golden, Spencer Griffith, Lucas Hubbard, Brian Howe, Lewis Kendall, Kyesha Jennings, Glenn McDonald, Gabi Mendick, Anna Mudd, Dan Ruccia, Rachel Simon, Harris Wheless

E D I TO RI A L

C R E AT I V E

Wake County

MaryAnn Kearns Durham/Orange/ Chatham Counties

Editor in Chief Jane Porter Managing Editor Geoff West Arts & Culture Editor Sarah Edwards Staff Writers Jasmine Gallup Thomasi McDonald Lena Geller

THE REGULARS 3 Letter/15 minutes

Copy Editor Iza Wojciechowska

20 Culture Calendar

COVER Photo by Brett Villena

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INDYweek.com

Creative Director

Annie Maynard Graphic Designer

Jon Fuller Staff Photographer

Brett Villena

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L E T TE R NC-4 Jews for Democracy Sign On Right now, we are witnessing unprecedented attacks on our democracy and basic rights across the country. As proud North Carolinians, registered Democrats, and Jews, we believe our elected officials have a responsibility to defend our democracy and fight for free and fair elections.

In the race for the safe Democratic seat NC-4, two outside super PACs have spent over $2.8 million to try and choose Representative Price’s successor, without allowing us—the residents of this district—to make our voices heard. This primary is now the most expensive Congressional primary in North Carolina history.

One of these super PACs, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), endorsed 109 Republican insurrectionists who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has a history of Islamophobic rhetoric. The other super PAC, Protect Our Future, is majority-funded by one billionaire who lives in the Bahamas and may have never set foot in the state of North Carolina. Why have these groups spent over $2.8 million (almost three times as much as all of the other candidates combined) to support one candidate in this race?

As registered Democrats, we need to work together to build a multi-racial coalition to flip our state and defend our basic rights in November, and billionaires and conservative super PACs have no place in that coalition. A Democrat who is being pushed to victory by a billionaire living in the Bahamas and a conservative super PAC cannot be a part of our pro-democracy movement.

As Jewish constituents of NC-4, we are also terrified of the rise in antisemitism that usually follows the erosion of democracy in a country. We call on AIPAC and Sam Bankman-Fried to stop trying to buy this Congressional seat, and we ask all candidates in this race to refuse to accept their support. North Carolinians, and our democracy, deserve better. W This letter is signed by nearly 70 members of the local Jewish community. For the full list of signatories, read the letter at indyweek.com.

Raleigh

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15 MINUTES Kaya Hassell, 19 Self-taught seamstress who recreates her favorite costumes inspired by books

BY BROOKE DOUGHERTY backtalk@indyweek.com

When and what inspired you to first get into sewing?

When [my older sisters] and I were all little, my grandma decided it was something all of us should know, so she taught us basic embroidery and cross-stitch. My older sisters never did anything with it, but I just found it really interesting and decided to keep playing around with it. I was probably five or six at the time.

What inspired you to turn that into recreating outfits from your favorite books?

I have always had a hard time picturing things in my mind. I need a physical object, a drawing, or something to point to to organize my thoughts. With having sewed my own clothes for so long and practiced all this stuff, it occurred to me one day when I was having trouble picturing something from a book that I could make it.

From there, I kept making stuff and there have been times when I have made a costume multiple times because even after I finish a project, it may not look how I wanted it to, so I just start over to get a better grasp of it and have it turn out closer to my idea of it.

What is your favorite part about being able to picture an outfit from a book and then recreate it?

I like the fact that I’m not the only person doing it. I try to stay pretty close to my own idea and my own concepts before I go looking for other people who have done similar costumes or taken similar inspiration, just because I don’t want my mental picture to get messed up with theirs. But I really do enjoy, after a project is finished and posted, going through all the hashtags and finding similar accounts and seeing other people’s interpretation of the same thing. Because most of the time, it will be completely different, but as soon as I see it, I’ll be like, “Oh OK, that makes sense, too.”

PHOTO BY VICTORIA WALCOTT

What types of things do you like to sew and how long do projects typically take?

My favorite thing to make is corsets, and they usually only take a day or two depending on the complexity. The longest I’ve ever spent on a project was about nine months on a ball gown one time.

The book [from the Cruel Prince series] had a really intricate description. So I made the dress and I hand-dyed the fabric and had to cut out the overlays and the entire skirt was beaded. I made an entire set of accessories and jewelry to go with it.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a line of original corsets designed with repurposed fabric and trying to fine-tune some cosplays for competitions.

What would you tell someone who is interested in sewing but doesn’t know where to start?

The most important thing to do is get a sewing encyclopedia because that is where the bulk of my knowledge comes from. Of course, a lot of it is also watching tutorials and taking classes and learning as you go, but it is having something that you can sit down and read to get that knowledge before you need it and you can always go back to it and relook at the details and everything later. W INDYweek.com

May 11, 2022

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Durham

Challenge Accepted Maria Jocys has signatures from enough Durham voters to challenege Sheriff Clarence Birkhead for his seat in the fall.

She has a different vision of leadership for the county.

BY THOMASI MCDONALD tmcdonald@indyweek.com

O

ne of the more interesting candidacies to emerge during this election cycle is the campaign of retired law enforcement veteran Maria Jocys, who expects to challenge incumbent Durham County sheriff Clarence Birkhead in November’s general election.

Birkhead recently updated his campaign website to tout endorsements from the city’s most influential political action committees: the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, the People’s Alliance, and the Friends of Durham, along with endorsements from the Progressive Caucus of the NC Democratic Party and the INDY. On his website, the incumbent, who was one of seven Black men elected in 2019 to serve as sheriff in the state’s largest counties (and also the first African American elected sheriff in Durham), lists first-term accomplishments. They include serving on Gov. Roy Cooper’s Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, rejecting ICE detainers that “target marginalized communities,” banning “no-knock warrants,” and implementing “Eight Can’t Wait” polices to reduce police violence following George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

“We’re making progress,” Birkhead states on the website. “There is still much to do.”

Jocys told the INDY this week that Durham needs a different vision of leadership.

“Durham needs a sheriff for all of Durham County,” Jocys says. “Durham needs someone who will partner with the Durham Police Department and the district attorney’s office and rebuild trust in law enforcement.”

Jocys notes that, even after Durham endured a record number of shootings in 2020 and a record number of homicides in 2021 and is currently on pace to surpass 4

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INDYweek.com

both records in 2022, Birkhead said his office is not responsible for violence that takes place inside the city.

Jocys is referring to comments Birkhead made at a virtual event, the Leesville Road Coalition candidate forum, that took place on March 22.

During the forum, Birkhead asserted that he is “not responsible for the violent crime that occurs inside the Durham city.”

“This is my county,” he says. “This is my city. I have citywide jurisdiction, but I do not carry the stats.”

“A city resident is a county resident, a city taxpayer is a county taxpayer,” Jocys counters. “It’s an admission that he’s not focused on the city’s gun violence. The current sheriff, for all of his tough talk, is just talk, and not leadership.”

Birkhead is expected to win in next week’s Democratic Party primary against challenger Paul Martin. He declined comment this week about the March 22 forum.

Jocys, pronounced “JO-cees,” is a Durham native who retired from the FBI in December. Soon after retiring, she says she has contacted local media and political action committees, talked with friends, reached out to community members, and set up a website in a quest to persuade 4 percent of Durham’s registered voters to sign a petition that would allow her to run as an unaffiliated sheriff’s candidate in November.

Late last week, Jocys announced that the Durham County Board of Elections (BOE) validated 9,599 signatures from the county’s registered voters in support of her campaign and certified her as a candidate.

Jocys handily surpassed the 9,248 signatures needed before the May 17 deadline.

“I am humbled by the overwhelming support from Durham County voters for

Sheriff Clarence Birkhead (l) and Maria Jocys our campaign,” Jocys said in a Friday press release.

“Durham County deserves a sheriff who can focus and lead on both the urgent need to bring down Durham’s gun violence AND advance meaningful police reforms,” Jocys added.

In addition to focusing on the near-unprecedented gun violence that’s taking place in Durham, Jocys has introduced a “six-point reform agenda” that includes a “total ban” on no-knock warrants.

Jocys graduated from Southern High School and worked in East Durham’s Wellons Village as a teen. After graduating from East Carolina University, she began a 32-year law enforcement career that started with the Greenville Police Department followed by 24 years with the FBI. While working for the FBI, Jocys led counterterrorism investigations around the globe and was the first woman to lead the FBI’s Raleigh office.

Before retiring, Jocys worked for five years with the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, which focuses on criminal street gangs in Durham.

The INDY this month endorsed Birkhead for reelection, but with several caveats owing to misfires during his term. The most recent was last month when the INDY reported that the sheriff’s office has a mutual aid agreement with Alamance County that enables deputies from that county to patrol Bull City streets; Alamance County is one of the most conservative counties

in the state and its deputies are led by a sheriff who is known for his anti-immigration trash talk and pro–Confederate monument values.

Sheriff office spokesman David Bowser this week told the INDY that the sheriff will hold a press conference late Wednesday morning with the other strike team sheriffs to discuss the strike team’s accomplishments.

There are also questions of transparency following the mysterious death of J’Mauri Bumpass, the 18-year-old who died in late 2019 during a sheriff’s deputies’ traffic stop. The deputies first said Bumpass died as a result of crashing his car into a power pole but later said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The teen’s family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that accuses the two deputies who pulled over Bumpass of killing him and conspiring to cover it up. Birkhead was among those named in the complaint for his role in the alleged conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Jocys this week displayed her own brand of transparency and disclosed what’s actually fueling the gun killings in Durham.

While working as a member of the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force here in Durham, which included city police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and the state’s Department of Public Safety, Jocys says the group took a “retrospective look” at Bull City shootings in recent years.

The task force’s assessment?

“There’s a gang feud that started in 2017 between the 8 Trey Gangsta Crips in Braggtown and the nontraditional O Block 8 AM gang,” Jocys says. “We’re seeing shootings involving these two entities that started with the shooting death of Kyle Fisher, whose alias is the letter O.” Jocys says Fisher was an influential gang member in an apartment complex near Horton and Guess Roads. Fisher, 30, of Durham was mortally wounded on August 7, 2017, in the 900 block of Chalk Level Road west of North Duke Street.

Police were not immediately available for comment about the five-year-old shooting.

“The O Block folks believe the 8 Trey Gangsta Crips were responsible for Mr. Fisher’s death,” Jocys explains.

Jocys says that the feud between the two gangs was behind a shooting just outside the county courthouse on April 3, 2019.

“What occurred was a number of rival gang members were all going to the courthouse after hearing that a member of O Block 8 AM was on Instagram the night before bragging about all of the gang members he had shot and that he was going to court the next morning,” Jocys says.

Jocys says the gang feud also led to the tragic death of nine-year-old Z’yon Person, who was killed in 2018 when a burgundy Honda rolled alongside the SUV he was riding in and opened fire at the intersection of Duke and Leon Streets.

“The vehicle [the victims were in] was misidentified,” Jocys explains. “Three members of the 8 Trey Gangsta Crips from Braggtown thought the vehicle was occupied by O Block 8 AM.” Jocys also offered a sobering and insightful perspective of the gang members who have been charged with serious gun crimes, especially when they realize they are going to be held accountable.

“That’s when you have a really honest conversation with that person. They drop the street persona,” she explains. “I’ve had gang members say they were heartbroken by what they had done that destroyed families and destroyed their own life, and how they wish they had just one single intervention early in their life.”

“The Durham sheriff’s office is in a position to help by partnering with the Durham Police Department that’s underwater with so many shootings,” Jocys says. “They could assist by partnering with the police and going after the people committing the violence and helping out in other ways. There are so many shootings, the Durham Police Department is reactive. The sheriff’s office could help them be proactive.”

Meanwhile, Birkhead on his campaign website says his office “increased efforts to rid our communities of drugs and remove guns from our neighborhoods” when he “developed a regional strike team of highly trained Sheriff’s deputies cooperating across four counties to carry out high-risk operations to remove violent offenders from our streets.”

As the INDY previously reported, the “strike team” came to the public’s attention on April 9 when an unmarked SUV Jeep belonging to the Alamance Sheriff’s Office was the target of gunfire while patrolling a public housing complex in North Durham.

Days later, on April 13 during a sheriff’s candidates forum, Birkhead said Durham County had a “strike team” together with Alamance, Orange, and Guilford Counties.

He described the strike team as a regional partnership aimed at picking up gun and drug runners and stopping gang activity in the areas of Interstates 40 and 85, which he called “a delivery pipeline for weapons and drugs.”

“Alamance is overrun with drugs and guns … so we’re working together [with the other counties and federal agencies] because we know what’s coming up and down 85 and I-40,” Birkhead said.

For Durham’s activist community, and the city’s solid-blue brand of inclusive, equity-driven politics, it’s problematic that the sheriff’s office has a mutual aid agreement with Alamance County and Sheriff Terry Johnson’s deputies.

Birkhead didn’t develop the strike team.

Johnson did, at the behest of Matthew Martin, the former Trump-appointed US attorney for the Middle District. The Durham Sheriff’s Office signed a memorandum of understanding with Alamance in March of last year.

Before Durham signed the MOU with Alamance, Johnson stood before Alamance County commissioners and told them he started the strike team in Alamance County to go after gangs in Durham and Guilford Counties. He didn’t mention guns and drugs on the interstate freeways.

“I tell you, a lot of our problems are coming out of these places,” Johnson said about Durham and Guilford. “It’s not our citizens …. Our court systems are failing us in other counties.”

While Johnson tells Alamance County commissioners how he really feels about Durham’s brand of criminal justice, Jocys wonders why Birkhead doesn’t assist the law enforcement resources here in the Bull City.

“The sheriff’s office would be more effective partnering with the Durham Police Department and the district attorney’s office,” she says. W

Durham County Board of Elections

RESOLUTION TO ADOPT TIME FOR COUNTING OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS May 17, 2022 ELECTION At a meeting duly called and held on the 17th day of February 2022, at 2445 S. Alston Avenue in Durham, North Carolina, the Durham County Board of Elections passed the following resolution: WHEREAS the county board of elections is authorized upon adoption of a resolution to begin counting all absentee ballots between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Election Day; WHEREAS such resolution also may provide for an additional meeting following the day of the election and prior to the day of canvass to count absentee ballots received pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. §163-231(b)(1) or (2); WHEREAS the times for these meetings will be at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17th and Thursday, May 26th for the purpose of counting absentee ballots;

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WHEREAS the location of these meetings shall be held at the BOE warehouse, located at 2445 S. Alston Avenue, Durham, NC 27713; WHEREAS the Board shall not announce the results of the count before 7:30 p.m. on Election Day; WHEREAS these meetings are open to all who may want to attend; and, WHEREAS the adoption of this resolution is in compliance with N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 163-234 (2) and (11) and will be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county within the statutory time frame.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Durham County Board of Elections hereby unanimously approves the time for Counting of Absentee Ballots as set forth above.

This the 17th day of February 2022.

—Dawn Y. Baxton, Chairman INDYweek.com

May 11, 2022

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INDY WEEK

Voter Guide State & Federal U.S. Senate D Primary: Cheri Beasley R Primary: No endorsement US House: Congressional District 4 D Primary: Nida Allam R Primary: No endorsement US House Congressional District 13

Supreme Court, Seat 5

NC House District 35

R Primary: No endorsement

R Primary: No endorsement

NC Senate District 13

NC House District 37

D Primary: Lisa Grafstein

D Primary: Elizabeth Parent

R Primary: No endorsement

NC House District 40

NC Senate District 18

D Primary: Joe John

R Primary: No endorsement

NC House District 50

NC Senate District 22

D Primary: Renee Price

R Primary: No endorsement

NC House District 56 (Vote for one)

D Primary: Sam Searcy

NC Senate District 23

R Primary: No endorsement

D Primary: Graig Meyer

NC Court of Appeals, Seat 9

R Primary:

R Primary: No endorsement

NC House District 33

NC Court of Appeals, Seat 11

D Primary: Rosa Gill

R Primary: No endorsement

NC House District 34

NC District Court 14, Seat 3

R Primary: No endorsement

Kevin Jones

No endorsement

Jonah Garson Allen Buansi NC House District 66 D Primary: Sarah Crawford NC District Court 14, Seat 1 Dave Hall

Wake County

Durham County

Wake County Board of Commissioners, District 1 (Vote for one)

Durham District Attorney

Donald Mial Shaun Pollenz Wake County Board of Commissioners, District 3 Cindy Sinkez Wake County Sheriff D Primary: Willie Rowe R Primary: No endorsement Wake County District Attorney Damon Chetson Cary Town Council At-Large Not endorsing Cary Town Council District A Not endorsing Cary Town Council District C Not endorsing

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THE INDY T ENDORSEMEN ISSUE

Satana Deberry Durham Clerk of Court (Vote for one) Archie Smith Aminah Thompson Durham Sheriff Clarence Birkhead Durham Board of Education, District 1 Emily Chávez

Durham Board of Education, District B Millicent Rogers NC Superior Court District 15B, Seat 1 No endorsement

Orange County Orange/Chatham County District Attorney (Vote for one) Jeff Nieman

Durham Board of Education, District 2

Kayley Taber

Bettina Umstead

Mark Chilton

Durham Board of Education, District 3 Matt Sears Durham Board of Education, District 4 Natalie Beyer

Orange County Register of Deeds Orange County Board of Education (Four seats open, we endorsed two candidates) Sarah Smylie Ashley Wheeler

Carrboro Town Council Eliazar Posada

Pro-choice demonstrators in downtown Raleigh PHOTOS BY BRETT VILLENA

Uncertain Future With the overturning of Roe v. Wade all but assured this summer, it’s not clear what will happen to abortion access in North Carolina— but supporters of reproductive rights are worried.

BY JASMINE GALLUP jgallup@indyweek.com

A

short woman wearing oversized sunglasses, her dirtyblond hair pulled up in a half bun, stands on the sidewalk in downtown Raleigh. Her colorful sign, written in pink and yellow marker and adorned with flowers, has a blunt but straightforward message: “My BFF & I Do NOT Regret Our Abortions.”

Lauren Youngman, 41, had her abortion eight years ago after she started experiencing complications in a planned pregnancy with her husband. Youngman had already named her baby boy—Kai—when the doctors told her something was wrong. Five months into pregnancy, more than halfway to the finish line, she had a choice: abort her baby now or watch him likely die in her arms.

“It was hard, but I have never regretted it,” Youngman told the INDY. “My husband and I were just really thankful for that choice.”

For now, abortion is still legal in North Carolina. But access to that choice is on the line as the US Supreme Court considers its decision in a landmark case, to be released later this year.

Roe v. Wade A rare glimpse into the future of abortion rights came last week when a draft opinion from the US Supreme Court, on a case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, leaked to Politico. The draft, penned by staunchly conservative Justice Samuel Alito and supported by the court’s four other Republican appointees, completely overturns the national constitutional right to abortion, wiping out the 50-year precedent set by Roe v. Wade.

In short, it’s the worst-case scenario. It would leave the choices of women in the hands of state legislators who, in North Carolina for years, have been trying to restrict and ban abortions.

“North Carolina won’t be the first [to ban abortion], but we could very well be second or third,” says Molly Rivera, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “[It depends] on what the state legislature decides to do and the results of this year’s election.”

Unlike other Southern states, North Carolina doesn’t have a “trigger law” that would immediately ban abortion if federal protection ends. But the state has long been hostile toward abortion and reproductive rights.

“There have been extreme abortion bans introduced,” says Tara Romano, the executive director of Pro-Choice North Carolina, a grassroots advocacy organization. “They never got anywhere, they didn’t get into committee. But there have been ‘personhood’ bans, six-week bans.

“So we are expecting anti-abortion lawmakers will want to figure out how they can introduce something [that will pass]. Whether or not they do it in the short [legislative] session [this year], we don’t know.”

In the past few years, Democratic governor Roy Cooper has staved off attempts at restricting abortion, vetoing bills approved by the majority-Republican state legislature.

Whether Cooper can continue to effectively use his veto to protect reproductive rights will depend on the results of this fall’s midterm election. If Republicans win a supermajority—they need just two more seats in the state Senate and three in the House—they can override Cooper’s veto.

It’s also possible that a state law banning abortion after 20 weeks could be revived. The law, which was previously ruled unconstitutional, would have to be revisited by the courts.

“That’s one of the things we think potentially could quickly come back into place,” Romano says. “Certainly if the Supreme Court hands down a ruling that is similar or exactly like the draft that was leaked earlier this week, [state lawmakers] could easily go back and say, ‘Well, the court said this 20-week ban was unconstitutional, but based on this new ruling, it’s clear we should revisit that.’”

So far, abortion advocates have been able to “hold the line” against abortion restrictions, Romano says. But everything depends on the upcoming elections. Not only are state legislative seats up for grabs, but there are also judicial races on the ballot, which will decide who sits on district courts and the state Supreme Court. Those judges could eventually weigh in on cases of doctors and patients being prosecuted for abortions, says Romano.

Ashley Reynolds’s story If laws like this had been in effect 25 years ago, Ashley Reynolds, then 17, would never have been able to get her abortion. Reynolds, Youngman’s “BFF,” had her abortion in St. Louis, in a clinic that no longer exists, in a state where abortion has now been banned, she says.

“I feel fortunate. My parents supported me, my mom went with me. And I don’t regret it, I never have,” Reynolds says. “It’s weird being 40-something, and we had more rights in our teens than we do now. I feel so bad for these young generations.”

Reynolds and Youngman were just two among hundreds of women (and men) who gathered in downtown Raleigh last week to protest the potential overturning of Roe v.

Wade. The mood in the crowd was fearful but also angry and determined.

Cars and trucks honked to show support as they drove through the intersection of Wilmington and Hargett INDYweek.com

May 11, 2022

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May 3, 2022 Emergency Rally in Raleigh, N.C.

Streets. They were met with thundering cheers from protestors.

“I’m not necessarily scared for myself, but I’m scared for my girls,” said Lacey Thomas, a protestor accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter Brynnlee, both carrying pink, glittery signs. “And angry. It’s the same sort of enraged feeling I’ve sort of been feeling since 2016. It just comes and goes in waves.”

As the crowd marched up to the state capitol, chants filled the air. “No forced pregnancy,” protestors shouted. “Abortion is health care!” “My body, my choice!”

“My body is not for political battles!” shouted one young woman as she stood in front of a TV camera.

Alissa Ellis’s story People who get abortions are often shamed, harrassed, or threatened by anti-choice zealots for their decision. But abortion is a safe and common medical procedure.

“One of the things we try to help people understand is that abortion is on the spectrum of reproductive health care, [along with] preventing an unplanned pregnancy, sexual health care, [and] carrying a pregnancy safely to term,” Romano says.

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“It’s been pulled out and isolated as part of a political movement. Because it’s been so politicized, it becomes very theoretical for a lot of people. But it’s not. These restrictions aren’t just there in theory, they really are harming people who are trying to access care they’ve decided they need.”

In 2019, about 16 percent of pregnancies in North Carolina were terminated through abortion, according to the NC State Center for Health Statistics. The majority of those abortions were by people 20–34 years old.

More than half were by people who already had at least one child.

That was the case for Alissa Ellis, who already had a nine-year-old son when she elected to have a second abortion at age 30. Ellis is also a volunteer board member for Carolina Abortion Fund, a nonprofit that gives financial, practical, and emotional support to people trying to access abortion care.

“I was very clear I wanted to terminate the pregnancy as soon as possible,” Ellis says. “[But] accessing abortion was challenging even with health [insurance]. The original quote was $1,500 and then I was crying on the phone and they said they could do it for $1,000. But I had to finance that through a payment plan because it is a huge out-of-pocket expense.”

The high price tag of abortions is one of the biggest barriers to care, says Ellis.

Not only do people often have to pay for abortion out of pocket—because North Carolina has prohibited public and some private insurers from including abortion coverage in their health plans—but people are also often forced to take unpaid time off work, pay for childcare, and travel long distances to get an abortion, paying for airfare, gas, and lodging.

Ellis’s abortion was a little more expensive because she got it at a hospital instead of a clinic. The average cost of abortion in North Carolina is $300– $600. But prices can reach into the thousands, depending on when the abortion is performed.

North Carolina’s restrictive laws make accessing abortion care even more difficult.

In a state of 10.5 million people, there are only 14 clinics, all clustered in urban areas.

People who want an abortion are required to wait three days and undergo mandatory, biased counseling. Doctors are banned from prescribing pills for medical abortions via telehealth appointments.

People under the age of 18 also have to get permission from a parent or guardian to seek an abortion, a law that would have prevented Ellis’s first abortion had her mother not been supportive.

“I had my first abortion at 17 because I wanted to go to college,” Ellis says. “My

high school sweetheart at the time was like, ‘We can just not go to college. My parents can help us get a trailer and live together.’ I was like, ‘No. I want to go to college.’ I was getting ready to go to Meredith. It was my senior year of high school.”

Today, in addition to advocating for access to abortion, Ellis is a senior director at American Oversight, a Washington, DC, nonprofit that works to uncover public records and promote transparency and accountability in government.

An uncertain future At the moment, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, it looks like North Carolina may be one of the southernmost states where people can access abortion, at least for a time.

If that happens, abortion clinics in North Carolina could be flooded with people from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Our state could see up to a 4,672 percent increase in women seeking abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

With such high demand, resources would be scarce. Waiting times for appointments would likely skyrocket, and money for abortion assistance would be short.

The Carolina Abortion Fund already has to shut down its call line after about two or

to Neil Siegel, a professor of law and political science at Duke University and former clerk of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

When the US Supreme Court releases its definitive decision later this year, it’s possible the opinions of some on the court will have changed, Seigel said in a news release.

“When I clerked at the court, the draft main dissent in a case eventually became the final majority opinion,” Siegel said in the release. “I am not suggesting that anything like that will happen now, but it’s not over until the opinions are handed down.”

Siegel added that if the opinion shifts from majority to plurality, it could be rewrit-

ten to take a softer stance on Roe v. Wade, lessening the impact on abortion rights and future cases.

“At other times, a tentative bare majority opinion can lose a fifth vote and become a plurality opinion,” he said. “This would mean not a different outcome in Dobbs, but different reasoning that could have less severe implications for future cases.”

What effects the Supreme Court’s decision will have on abortion rights remains to be seen. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the decision will have also implications for the right to privacy, a right on which birth control access, same-sex marriage,

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and health care for transgender people also rest.

In the meantime, women statewide are holding their breath, hoping that somehow, some way, the Republican-appointed justices of the US Supreme Court will change their minds.

One of those women is 20-year-old Izzy Jackson, a rising senior at NC State who joined last week’s Raleigh protest. Jackson has never needed an abortion, but if Roe v.

Wade is overturned, her needs won’t matter.

“I just hope they don’t overturn it,” Jackson said with a strained laugh. “I’m just praying and hoping.” W

ake up wit W h

three weeks each month, simply because it runs out of funding, says Ellis. Fortunately, after the Roe v. Wade news broke this week, the fund received an outpouring of support, raising close to $100,000 in donations.

“This funding will make abortion care a reality and practical support a reality for so many more people. A lot of times we’re not funding the full cost of abortion, we are subsidizing it,” Ellis says. “This influx is incredibly, incredibly meaningful.”

Although abortion rights activists nationwide are preparing themselves for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the draft opinion released last week is far from final, according

us

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www.homeairsolutionsnc.com 919-599-1393

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Abortion Resources Where you can get an abortion in North Carolina, or get financial assistance, donate, or volunteer.

BY LENA GELLER lgeller@indyweek.com

Where You Can Get an Abortion in North Carolina Raleigh

Greensboro Winston-Salem

Durham

A Preferred Women’s Health Center, Raleigh

Chapel Hill Raleigh

TEL: (919)

854-7888 Jones Franklin Road; Raleigh, NC 27606 ADDRESS: 1604

Asheville

A Woman’s Choice of Raleigh

Charlotte Fayetteville

TEL: (919)

781-6811 Drake Circle; Raleigh, NC 27607 ADDRESS: 3305

Wilmington

Wilmington

Asheville Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Asheville Health Center TEL: (828)

252-7298 ADDRESS: 68 McDowell Street; Asheville, NC 28801

Chapel Hill Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Chapel Hill Health Center TEL: (919)

942-7762 Dobbins Drive; Chapel Hill, NC 27514 ADDRESS: 1765

Charlotte A Preferred Women’s Health Center, Charlotte

North Durham Women’s Health

TEL: (888)

TEL: (919) 908-6449 or (855) 443-4892 ADDRESS: 400-B Crutchfield Street; Durham, NC 27704

562-7415 Latrobe Drive; Charlotte, NC 28211 ADDRESS: 3220

A Woman’s Choice of Charlotte TEL: (704)

367-2255 421 North Wendover Road; Charlotte, NC 28211 ADDRESS:

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Charlotte Health Center TEL: (704)

536-7233 South Torrence Street; Charlotte, NC 28204 ADDRESS: 700

10

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Durham

Fayetteville Hallmark Women’s Clinic TEL: (910)

323-3792 or (800) 682-8677 (24-hour appointment line) ADDRESS: 1919 Gillespie Street; Fayetteville, NC 28306

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Fayetteville Health Center TEL: (866)

942-7762 4551 Yadkin Road; Fayetteville, NC 28303 ADDRESS:

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Wilmington Health Center TEL: (910)

762-5566 Tradd Court; Wilmington, NC 28410 ADDRESS: 1925

Winston-Salem Hallmark Women’s Clinic

Greensboro A Woman’s Choice of Greensboro TEL: (336)

273-9485 Randleman Road; Greensboro, NC 27406 ADDRESS: 2425

TEL: (336) 725-4924 or (888) 775-8524 (24-hour appointment line) ADDRESS: 491 North Cleveland Avenue; Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Winston-Salem Health Center TEL: (336)

768-2980 3000 Maple Wood Avenue, Suite 112; Winston-Salem, NC 27103 ADDRESS:

Where to Donate and/ or Volunteer Triangle Abortion Access Coalition WEBSITE: linktr.ee/triangleaccess

Sister Song WEBSITE: sistersong.net

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic WEBSITE: plannedparenthood.org. planned-parenthood-south-atlantic

Pro-Choice North Carolina WEBSITE:

prochoicenc.org

Keep Our Clinics WEBSITE: keepourclinics.org

Misscarriage & Abortion Hotline WEBSITE: mahotline.org

Where to Request Financial Assistance for Abortion Services Carolina Abortion Fund WEBSITE: carolinaabortionfund.org

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic

WEBSITE: plannedparenthood.org. planned-parenthood-south-atlantic

National Abortion Federation Hotline HOTLINE: 1-800-772-9100

1881 North Carolina passes a law criminalizing abortion. Abortions are permissible only if physicians determine that a pregnancy could be fatal.

1967 North Carolina is one of a handful of states to legalize abortion in the case of rape and incest or severe fetal abnormalities.

1973 Several months after the Roe v. Wade decision protects the right to abortion across the country, North Carolina passes a law effectively banning abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. (If a pregnancy is deemed life-threatening, abortions are permitted in hospital settings.)

1978 The state abortion fund is created to help low-income populations pay for abortion services. By 1995, lawmakers have imposed so many financial limitations on the fund— and added so many requirements to its accessibility—that it is essentially defunct.

1995 State lawmakers enact a parental consent law, making it a misdemeanor for medical providers to perform abortions on minors who don’t have permission from their guardians.

2013 Lawmakers pass the Woman’s Right to Know Act, imposing broad limitations on abortion access across the state.

Restrictions include a 24-hour waiting period during which abortion seekers receive both counseling to discourage the procedure and ultrasounds that are described to them in detail. The law also allows individuals to sue providers who they believe have failed to adequately adhere to the act.

The North Carolina General Assembly allocates $250,000 of taxpayer money to fund anti-abortion organizations; this number increases with each subsequent budget cycle.

Timeline of Abortion-Related Legislation in NC 2014 North Carolina largely prohibits all Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, as well as all state, city, and county insurance plans, from covering abortions.

2015 Building on the Women’s Right to Know Act, lawmakers enact another bill—the Women and Children’s Protection Act— which triples the waiting period from 24 to 72 hours, prevents people younger than 18 from working in abortion clinics, and requires medical professionals to send the ultrasounds of many abortion seekers to the Department of Health and Human Services, raising concerns about patient privacy from the federal government.

Lawmakers pass a law prohibiting “sexselective” abortions, despite there being no evidence that Americans have abortions based on the sex of the fetus.

North Carolina devises a “conscience clause” for medical professionals, which states that providers with moral, ethical, or religious objections to abortions are not required to participate in the procedure.

2019–present A federal court strikes down North Carolina’s 20-week ban on abortion as unconstitutional. The decision is later upheld by a federal appeals court in 2021.

Governor Roy Cooper vetoes a number of Republican-backed anti-abortion bills, including one that would require doctors to care for babies born during failed lateterm abortions—which Cooper described as criminalization of a nonexistent problem— and another that would ban abortions for the reason of race, sex, or the presence of Down syndrome, which Cooper condemned as an example of excessive government interference in private medical affairs.

REFERRAL LINE: 1-877-257-0012

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FO O D & D R I N K

BLEND OF SOUL 919-338-6281 | blendofsoul.com

Body and Soul A Durham juice company celebrates love and identity, with a shot of Vitamin C.

BY JASMINE GALLUP jgallup@indyweek.com

O

n a gray, cloudy day at the Apex Farmers Market, a rainbow of juices shines at the Blend of Soul booth, bringing a spot of color into the lives of everyone who walks by.

The cold-pressed juices—healthy blends of fresh fruits and veggies—are the creation of Margo Newkirk, a tall woman with a deep, quiet voice. Standing by her side, as always, is Kiera Gardner, her partner in life and in business.

“She made me laugh,” Gardner says, describing her first meeting with Newkirk over social media. “For us, it just created this amazing, blossoming friendship. Then from the friendship, we turned into, well, we call it ‘our love supreme.’”

Gardner and Newkirk’s “love supreme” started four years ago, while they were living in different states. They’ve since moved to Durham together with their dog, Marley, where Gardner works parttime as a traveling nurse, and Newkirk, retired from the military, works full-time in the juice business.

The couple started Blend of Soul, which delivers juice around town, about two and a half years ago. Newkirk, who was still in the military at the time, had an upcoming physical fitness test and was struggling with weight gain after an injury. Unable to work out as much or as hard, Newkirk looked for a new strategy to manage her health. She found juicing.

“I did it with small meals [at first],” Newkirk says. “Like oatmeal in the morning or maybe a bowl of fruit or something like that. From there, it eventually spread.”

Newkirk started creating her own juice recipes and sharing them at work. People began asking her to bring bottles in more often. Then, people in the office next door began asking about the juice. Eventually, 12

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people throughout her entire office building were craving it.

Over time, building a business started seeming like a better and better idea, Newkirk says. She could handle the ingredients and recipes, and Gardner could deal with the retail side of things—branding the product, answering emails, doing client outreach.

“The recipes are all her,” Gardner says.

“The branding, the funky names—that’s me, because that’s just what I like to do.”

One of the couple’s best-seller’s is “Mango Me Crazy,” a tropical, bright yellow blend of mango and pineapple. The juice’s natural sugars put it on the sweet side, making it an easy drink. The $10 bottle is also near zero in total fat and contains no cholesterol or sodium. Meanwhile, vitamin C levels are through the roof.

Gardner, who has a nose ring and a wide, easy smile, is the more outgoing of the two.

Her infectious energy is counterbalanced by Newkirk’s calm—a laid-back vibe she keeps even when laughing and joking around with her partner.

Building the business has been a tough uphill climb for the couple, but their different approaches make it easier, Gardner says. While she’s focused on the details, organizing, scheduling, and overseeing orders, Newkirk is experimenting in the kitchen. “Honey do” lists are pinned up all around their house.

“Trust me, there have been some days where I’m like, ‘Oh, I can’t do it, Kiera, Kiera, hurry up, answer the phone!’”

Newkirk laughs. “But she can’t because she’s with a patient. She’s trying to save the world, and I’m over here crying about juice spilling everywhere.”

Newkirk and Gardner’s business isn’t just about blending juice—it’s also about creating a blended community.

Margo Newkirk and Kiera Gardner, partners and cofounders of Blend of Soul at Apex Farmers Market PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA “We wanted [our business] to be a safe space for people to talk to us, to converse.

A blending of souls,” Gardner says. “We’re not all the same. We don’t look the same, we don’t speak the same. So it’s important to bring everybody together … to let people know that, yes, you may be different from me, but we value your opinion, we value your voice.”

That’s what Blend of Soul means to her, Gardner says.

“It’s a melting pot of love, of inclusivity, of joy,” she says. “That’s the key. Especially with what we have going on in life, the pandemic, systemic racism. It’s really important to pull out and digest the joy, even through turmoil.”

Everything about Blend of Soul—the bright labels, the colorful juices, the name— comes down to celebrating identity. On social media, Gardner posts about juice but also about the Black Lives Matter movement, social injustice, and the first Black woman on the US Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Some juices are even inspired by Black icons, like “Lemon Crush Lemonade,” a lemon, ginger, and agave juice named after a Prince song. “Rim Shot,” a $4 green minijuice made from lemon, celery, and apple, is inspired by neo-soul singer-songwriter Erykah Badu, according to the Blend of Soul website. It’s a nice complement to a full-sized green juice made of kiwi, celery, apple, and pear.

Newkirk and Gardner, two Black women in a same-sex relationship, want to encourage people to embrace who they are, Gardner says.

“We love our identity,” she says. “We are not ashamed of it. We embrace it. And we stand in it. We stand in our Blackness.”

As the business grows, Gardner wants to keep reaching out to the community, inviting everyone to become part of what she calls the “soul tribe.”

“I don’t want anybody to feel left out,” she says. “It’s for all of us. That’s the fun part.

Everybody’s invited. I want to be a vessel in the community where people know us beyond the juices. They know us for the love we have for [our community] and the love we have for our environment.”

Gardner and Newkirk have dreams of donating juice to local high schools, starting a community garden, partnering with nearby farmers, eliminating food deserts, giving fresh produce to the elderly, and hiring teenagers to intern with the business.

Gardner says she wants to mentor and inspire, showing people they can create their own seats at the table. “[We want to] take those disparities that we see within the environment and really try to knock down some of these barriers.

That’s the goal,” Gardner says. “It’s beyond saying, ‘Oh, we got some cold-pressed juices.’ It’s knocking down these barriers that we see and creating a platform that can allow the next person to pay it forward.”

Earlier this year, Gardner and Newkirk’s hard work paid off—literally. In February, the couple won a $10,000 grant from the BOSS Network, an organization that supports Black women entrepreneurs with financing, training, and networking. The couple was one of just 35 grant recipients, chosen from roughly 12,000 applicants nationwide. “[The grant] is a huge, huge win for us because we’re a self-funded, Black-owned business,” Gardner says. “We don’t have any investors. It’s just us.”

The money will help Gardner and Newkirk develop and grow the business, Gardner says. They hope to eventually sell their

juice in local grocery stores. They also hope to eventually establish a brick-and-mortar storefront where people can just hang out, Gardner says.

While the two are sticking to juice for now, they foresee a future selling food— specifically, healthy, delicious soul food. Like Newkirk, Gardner has also struggled with her weight, she says.

“I’m always trying these crazy diets, and it doesn’t work,” Gardner says. “Some healthy foods, I’m like, ‘This is not good, I don’t like it. It’s bland, there’s no taste.’ I’m a country girl. I’m used to soul food, the salt and pepper, and seasonings.”

Gardner wants to reimagine healthy food, putting her own spin on health and wellness alongside Newkirk, who typically takes charge of the kitchen.

“I want to create a revamped version of healthy food where it’s delicious, it’s good.

Because that was my problem,” Gardner says. “I want to kind of do a revamped, soulful version of acai bowls. It’s healthy, it’s good for you, but it tastes absolutely phenomenal, and it leaves you wanting more.”

There’s already a hint of spice in Blend of Soul’s current products. “Hot Girl,” another $4 mini-juice, is made with lemon, ginger, and cayenne pepper, giving it a hit of heat.

Love the

For now, the couple is in the midst of both farmers market season and wedding planning. After getting engaged in January, Newkirk and Gardner plan to get married next October. They’re busy—so busy they both often work 10- or 11-hour days. But they have a rule: no work talk after seven p.m.

“Our favorite thing is naps. Marley, all of us, we have family naps. And then we’ll get up and then Margo will be like, ‘Let’s go to dinner, let’s dress up, look cute, go to dinner,’” Gardner says. “It’s a balance. It sounds crazy to everybody else, but I think for us, it works. It fits.” W

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CORNELL WATSON: TARRRED HEALING

Through Thursday, June 30 | Chapel Hill Public Library, Chapel Hill | chapelhillpubliclibrary.org

Bearing Witness Talking with Cornell Watson, whose powerful photography exhibit, Tarred Healing, is on display at the Chapel Hill Public Library.

BY JADE WILSON arts@indyweek.com

T

arred Healing, a photo exhibition by the Durham photographer Cornell Watson about Black healing and Black spaces in and around UNC’s campus, was originally supposed to be on view at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at UNC-Chapel Hill in February—a culmination of Watson’s artist residency, at the center. There had already been building tension between Watson and the Stone Center over which photographs could be included in the exhibit, when The Washington Post published work from the exhibition, a week before the Stone Center exhibit was scheduled to open. Alleging that Watson had broken his exclusivity contract, Stone Center director Joseph Jordan canceled the exhibition entirely. (Watson says he did not violate any agreements.)

In the original exhibit, Jordan had wanted to drop three photos, which depict students demonstrating on campus about the Board of Trustees’ handling of Nikole Hannah-Jones’s tenure decision. The NAACP paid for these three photos to be printed and included in a new exhibit, this one put on by the Chapel Hill Public Library. On April 30, Tarred Healing opened.

Photographers document and share the vantage point from which they bear witness. Watson wanted to tell part of this story through the lens of Black students; following along with them on campus led him to their demonstrations. As the exhibit celebrates two weeks of being open, the INDY Week spoke to Watson about the photo series being on display as originally envisioned and centering the Chapel Hill community.

necessarily related in a blood way, but family, in general, is how we as Black people survive.

And then with the Rogers-Eubanks [photo], I feel very connected to that in some way because it’s our story. We always rise up above whatever that situation is and for them, they literally rose above a trash situation.

What was your internal dialogue when you were told some photos wouldn’t be displayed by the UNC Stone Center?

I followed these students for a reason. They threaded the story really well. The story that I was trying to tell as it related to the Unsung Founders Memorial and James Cates [a Black man who was stabbed to death by white supremacists on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus on 1970] and some of these other bigger issues that are preventing Black healing—why wouldn’t this be a part of the story?

When you see those students’ demonstration photos juxtaposed to the stories that they were talking about, it’s really hard to deny why they don’t fit into the story.

I was in the room with these students and saw what was happening and what they were talking about. I saw the connection to everything else. Even with the illustration of the Unsung Founders Memorial—when you look at that, and see how the fingers at the bottom [of the memorial] are really pushing up despite all this weight on them, and then you look at the Black students and how they’re still pushing through even despite all this weight of white supremacy from the Board of Trustees—there are a lot of similarities. If you were to put this image [Clayton Somers looking at the camera] on top of that image [demonstrators holding signs], it would look just like the Unsung Founders Memorial image.

INDY WEEK: What image do you feel most connected to?

WATSON: There are two that I’m the most connected to.

What did you take away from your residency with UNC?

One is definitely the Rogers-Eubanks photo. The other one is the photo of the Strayhorn family. It really just makes you think about all that we’ve gone through, especially them. The Strayhorn family came to Carrboro after they were emancipated from slavery. And at the time—if you really think about Carrboro and how violent it was during Reconstruction and Jim Crow—it’s almost like winning the lottery to be able to still own land and own a home, coming out of that era. I really have a lot of value around family because I came from a big family. Family is how we survive—and that could be talking about family that’s not

Trust your gut. I started the residency trying to tap into the feelings, the energy of the university from the Black student perspective. That led me to follow them to their demonstrations, and then that led me to hearing all their concerns about all the other places that I was supposed to interrogate and look at through the residency.

We all know the story about what happened with the photo series, and I was really convicted about those student demonstrations being a part of this photo story. When you have like, that type of power coming at you, they try to make you believe that it doesn’t belong in your story.

“Untitled” by Cornell Watson; a photo of the Unsung Founders Memorial (created by artist Do Ho Suh), which was installed a few yards from Silent Sam, a Confederate statue, in 2018.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CORNELL WATSON

What do you want the audience to walk away with?

This is very much centered around the Black community of Chapel Hill. These are their stories. Most important, I want them to feel seen and feel like their stories are heard. I hope the broader community feels moved to do something.

We have come a long way, but there’s still so much work left to be done. As you can see through the photos, there’s no memorialization for James Cates. There’s still a lack of diversity on the Board of Trustees. The Strayhorn home in Carrboro has lots of work that needs to be done. The plaque over at the Rizzo Center doesn’t even acknowledge the enslaved people that are buried out there and the unmarked graves.

I hope people feel moved to do something. That could be that they donate to help restore the Strayhorn family home, which is part of the historical homes in Carrboro.

People vote to ensure that we have a more diverse Board of Trustees that’s representative of the broader community and can make decisions to influence some of these other things. I hope people feel moved to go visit the center at Rogers-Eubanks and see all the work that they’ve done and see how close the landfill is to their community. But most importantly, my hope is that Black Chapel Hill can feel a sense of pride. The name of the series is called Tarred Healing and I think a huge part of the healing process is acknowledging our stories, even the painful stories. I hope this moves that healing process in the right direction. W INDYweek.com

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A SERIES OF FORTUNATE EVENTS

Events throughout the Triangle through August 30 | sofe.artsaccessinc.org

Open Access The sixth annual A Series of Fortunate Events festival explores the many definitions of “movement.”

BY ALLISON KIRKLAND arts@indyweek.com

Y

ou probably didn’t read about Camp Jened in your high school history textbooks. A summer camp for disabled teens in operation from 1951 to 1977, the New York Catskills camp paved the way for activists who are still living and working today. Each magical summer, a group of campers, some of whom had come from government-run institutions, experienced a kind of autonomy and community they didn’t have access to in their daily lives.

It changed them.

“What we saw at that camp is that our lives could be better,” James LeBrecht, former camper and the cowriter and codirector of the 2020 Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp, says in the film. “You don’t know what to strive for if you don’t know it exists.”

Ignited by their ability to create change, many campers as well as counselors, led by disability rights pioneer and Crip Camp star Judy Heumann, became activists and launched a disability civil rights movement that continues to this day. Movement is the inspiration behind the upcoming sixth annual A Series of Fortunate Events festival organized by Arts Access, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that bridges disability and the arts by providing advocacy, training, outreach, and accessibility. As the organization defines it, movement can refer either to the act of changing physical location or to a group of people working together to advance their ideas. The festival provides ample opportunities to explore both definitions of the word.

“Twenty-five percent of the population has a disability,” says Eileen Bagnall, executive director of Arts Access.

“We hope the festival gives the community a chance to see incredible art-making from members of the disability community and how their work isn’t any different than any other working artist’s.”

The summerlong festival kicks off on May 14 at the North Carolina Museum of Art with two showings of the bold and rollicking Crip Camp, which is as relevant and boundary-pushing today as it was when it debuted in 2020. Each of these showings will be preceded by a never-before-seen virtual panel with Heumann and Virginia Knowlton Marcus, CEO of Disability Rights NC. The pair 16

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Festival speakers Judy Heumann and Virginia Knowlton Marcus of Disability Rights NC PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTS ACCESS

are longtime friends as well as colleagues and will discuss how Heumann navigated a nascent movement.

The relevance of the film’s themes extends well beyond the camp itself.

“Crip Camp is an example of collaboration where disabled people were significant drivers of the discussion and the format,” Heumann says, “but the messages [within the film] have impacted disabled people and nondisabled people alike in different ways.”

Heumann expresses her hope that the film will pave the way for other narratives about disability. “I want [Crip Camp] to be one of many,” she says. “ It is obviously a fantastic film and is one that should be utilized forever, really, because it tells a very powerful story. But it is not the totality of the [disability] stories.”

When I asked her to name a few of her favorite disabled artists, she pointed to the works of composer Gaelynn Lea, producer and animator Kaitlyn Yang, and writer Alice Wong, among others. Series events will continue throughout the summer.On June 4, in partnership with the Durham County Main Library, Arts Access will host visual art and movement activities inspired by the 2021 children’s picture book We Move Together (recommended for ages six through nine). Written by two disabled educators and illustrated by a multimedia artist, this joyful and inclusive book celebrates the inherently creative and innovative ways that disabled bodies move through the world and create community. This event will also feature two short performances by ComMotion, a local dance company that

provides low-cost dance and movement classes to people of all abilities. Each participant will receive a free copy of We Move Together.

The festival culminates with a juried art exhibition, Movement, on display July 1–August 30 at the Hall Gallery in Raleigh’s Sertoma Arts Center, with a reception held on Sunday, July 24. Kim Tyler, an acrylic landscape painter and ink artist who also happens to be legally blind, will serve as a juror. North Carolina–based disabled artists who want to submit their work may apply through the Arts Access website through May 16. As with all of its offerings, Arts Access has taken great care to make the entire festival accessible, providing live ASL interpretation and audio descriptions for both Crip Camp showings, as well as ways to participate in all three festival events from home. And in the spirit of accessibility, the entire festival is free to the public.

“When we think about accessibility in the literal sense, we think of ramps, handlebars, curb cuts, sign language interpreters, captioning, audio description,” Heumann says. “All those things allow access. But we also need to be looking at the barriers that are currently in place that restrict people from feeling welcome and valued in whatever it is they’re doing.”

The conversation around disability is getting more mainstream, but we still have a long way to go toward recognizing all of the essential contributions of this diverse community. The Series of Fortunate Events festival offers one easy but impactful opportunity to celebrate local disabled artists. W

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ERICA PLOUFFE LAZURE: PROOF OF ME & OTHER STORIES

[New American Press; March 24, 2022]

A Stitch in Time Erica Plouffe Lazure’s intimate short stories in her new collection are threaded together by their shared setting in the semifictional town of Mewborn, NC.

BY SHELBI POLK arts@indyweek.com

E

rica Plouffe Lazure isn’t a Southerner by birth—but, she says, the South and its tradition of writers are what turned her from a journalist into a fiction writer.

Proof of Me, Lazure’s new, North Carolina–based short story collection, won the New American Fiction Prize and praise from authors like Jill McCorkle and David Gates.

Each section of the book is organized around a verb that is also a noun. Record, stitch, vacuum, and a few other words each get their own set of stories that are loosely connected to the word; each story, in turn, is connected to the semifictional town of Mewborn, NC. The overlapping geography and characters turn the collection into an intimate study of a small-town community. There actually is a real Mewborn (which, as Jill McCorkle pointed out, conjures up the idea of newborn kittens), but it’s just a crossroads between Greenville and Kinston. This reference gives this collection fantastic flexibility: the town feels real, but it could be just about anywhere in North Carolina.

In a recent Zoom-based event hosted by Birch Bark Editing, McCorkle and Plouffe Lazure read stories back to back, and McCorkle praised the individuality of the interconnected characters and the tangible details of Mewborn.

There are a few quiet stories, but many involve something dangerous, like a drummer falling through a window on Nashville’s Broadway, or deadly, as when an alcoholic father freezes to death in the snow. Even with all of that drama, these stories feel real because many of the most poignant or flammable pieces of them are steeped in real experiences. Plouffe Lazure pulls story points and mechanics out of her own experiences as a reporter here and in New England: preparations for a demolition derby, a fatal weld-

ing accident, a symphony of trout mating calls, making the neighbors angry by mowing during church hours. That veracity, she says, comes from “a lifetime of paying attention.”

INDY WEEK: So why here? Why are most of your stories connected to North Carolina?

PLOUFFE LAZURE: I don’t claim to be a

Southerner at all. But a lot of my introduction to literature is very much steeped in the Southern tradition—William Faulkner, Barry Hannah, Jill McCorkle, Mark Richard, for example. Those writers really helped with transitioning from being a reader of fiction to becoming a writer of fiction. I’m used to being a reporter! If someone didn’t say something, it didn’t happen.

We all live in the United States, but also there’s some definite cultural differences and adjustments. And so I think whenever you travel anywhere, live anywhere that’s a little bit different, you’re gonna start being attuned to those differences. You know, if you’re an artist or a writer, you’re gonna want to get that down and get that sense of difference. If I just never went to North Carolina and spent my life as a newspaper reporter in Massachusetts, I’m not sure if I ever would have shifted into fiction.

I loved how careful you were to interweave everything. Where on the line between short story collection and novel do you feel like this collection falls?

I wouldn’t ever pin the term novel on this collection, but they’re certainly geographically and thematically linked. The characters you see in the beginning of the book do show up a little bit here and there.

You get a sense of life’s arc, but it’s all told in patchwork, like in little pieces. I think the stories are certainly linked, and I think if anything, the geography of the imagined

Erica Plouffe Lazure and her new short story collection town of Mewborn brings everybody together in a way. If there is a novel element, it’s the novel of a community in a certain era.

I enjoyed untangling the stories—I think the interconnectedness of it really emphasizes the themes of home.

Yeah, the home element. I mean, you can see that with the Cassidy Penelope and Juniper pieces. Those young women definitely aren’t at home in the spaces they’re supposed to be calling home for a range of reasons.

Some of them are good reasons. Some of them are less than good.

I think a couple of the themes are “How do we find a sense of home?” and “How do we make peace with people we’re supposed to love?” Sometimes you’re like, “Oh, this is my sister. I am supposed to love her, but how does that happen?” How do you make peace with somebody who you may not always feel completely in sync with? So there are all these people we’re supposed to love. That sometimes doesn’t come through how we treat each other, how we talk to each other, the choices we make. I think that feels like a very real thing that happens every day.

I feel like the section markers added to that domesticity too. Where did you find these quotes?

Oh, yeah. All the little drawings I do myself. I was really trying to think

PHOTO COURTESY OF AUTHOR

about an operating object for each story, but then for each section. One of the epigrams is from a Reader’s Digest sewing book. So the very front of the book has that, and then I was like, “What if I did that with each of the sections?”

Like some kind of instructional guide that could be read on different levels.

You can make anything you want with a sewing machine. It’s on you to stitch the story together the way you want it to get together.

There’s a constellation of geography and themes and people, and there are so many different ways to look at the connections here.

That was my hope! I am kind of a scavenger.

Someone called me a very effective curator.

It’s a very nice way of saying pack rat. I like vintage shops, I like old things, and I love the potential for storytelling for those older things. And I love to draw, and I love music.

So this book is a work of fiction, but in many ways, I feel myself in the book.

I feel like there’s no way to escape that completely.

Whatever your personal preoccupations are, they’re definitely going to show up in a way that you don’t necessarily maybe want it to? But it’s all going to be on the page no matter what. W INDYweek.com

May 11, 2022

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PAGE

ERIN S. LANE: SOMEONE OTHER THAN A MOTHER

[TarcherPerigee; April 26]

Outside the Lines In Someone Other Than a Mother, Raleigh author Erin S. Lane suggests that it’s time to rewrite the cultural scripts around motherhood.

BY SARAH EDWARDS sedwards@indyweek.com

S

everal months ago, Maggie Gyllenhaal released her adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel The Lost Daughter. The film follows Leda (played by Olivia Coleman), a translator on a solo vacation who becomes fixated on a young mother, her daughter, and the daughter’s doll—which Leda steals for reasons she doesn’t even fully seem to understand. The story then touches on Leda’s own experience parenting and being, as she describes, an “unnatural mother.”

The film, a radical, elliptical portrayal of a woman at odds with motherhood, is also often uncomfortable—partially because of Leda’s prickly loner persona, and partially because ambivalence about parenthood is not a story often told, even as it’s often felt.

Someone Other Than a Mother, a new book blending research and memoir by Raleigh author Erin S. Lane, is one welcome contribution to that particular canon.

Weaving in stories about people who fall outside of the dominant family narrative— people who don’t have children, people who can’t have children, people who come into parenthood unexpectedly—Lane (who is now an adoptive parent of three daughters) issues an invitation to to broaden our ideas, not just about womanhood, but about personhood.

Lane, a graduate of Duke Divinity School, writes from a Christian perspective, but the book’s reach feels farther than that. This interview, which has been edited for clarity and length, was originally timed to Mother’s Day but was postponed. Coincidentally, its timing now—with a leaked Supreme Court document, several days ago, suggesting that Roe v. Wade may be overturned— feels more relevant than ever, with the book’s blunt considerations of choice, purpose, parenthood, and what it means to make decisions outside of the patriarchy.

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INDYweek.com

INDY WEEK: You talk about wanting to rewrite the kind of social script around motherhood. What do you see that script looking like now?

ERIN S. LANE: In the book, I talked about

the mother scripts and this idea that women have gotten the message that their reproductive role is supposed to be the ultimate expression of a life well lived. What I tried to do in the book is set out all of these pervasive cultural sayings that push women or society at large into believing that “mother love” is a superior love. So even if it’s not women’s “only purpose,” it still feels like we are getting the message that if you mother, it should be the thing that colors everything else in your life. And if you don’t mother, you’re not living in Technicolor. I think that’s the central mother script—the mother of all mothers scripts—that you don’t know love until you become a mother.

Can you talk about the book structure?

There are nine cultural scripts that felt the most pervasive in my life and in my social location, and every chapter lays out that script—from “Your biological clock is ticking” to “But you’d make a great mom” to “You’ll regret not having kids”—that often women who aren’t parenting hear the loudest. I also wanted to explore them as someone that used to be child-free and then found herself unexpectedly parenting.

Like, how are these messages about the before and after of a woman’s life really detrimental to mothers—and really rude— about the kinds of people and the kinds of meaning and fulfillment and calling we led before we became someone’s parent?

And so every chapter is a pervasive cultural saying that I’m a little suspect of, and then every chapter is my suggestion for an alternative rewrite.

Author Erin S. Lane and her book, Someone Other Than a Mother PHOTO COURTESY OF PENGUIN RANDOMHOUSE

There’s an awkwardness people seem to feel around women who have chosen not to have children.

family, or what a legacy looks like, are still the waters many of us swim in.

Yeah, I was the recipient of a lot of that awkwardness, which I describe as “blank stares, long pauses.” People seemed to have a feeling that they had nothing in common with me once they learned that that was not the trajectory that my life was on. A lot of people also wanted to convince me that I wasn’t seeing the full picture—that it was a lack of confidence rather than conviction that made me count myself out of biological mothering.

The book also seems to be a bit about relationships, and how our culture doesn’t put as much emphasis on adult friendships as it does familial relationships.

Religion is a clear through line in the book, though I imagine not everyone drawn to it will be coming from a faith background.

Who do you see as your audience?

I am a theologian by training, or a theological anthropologist, and my background is in anthropology, theology, and gender studies. So this is always the lens that I bring. I wanted to parse both how I had received certain messages from American Christianity about what a life well lived look like [and] also, because American Christianity is very dominant and loud and pervasive in a lot of cultural conversations, I wanted to explore how, even if you are not Christian or coming from a different faith background, these messages about the purpose or the primacy of

As I get older, I realize the complexity of my own family system and have friends that are doing that same work with adult parents and siblings and sometimes children. And, why don’t we talk about family like friends, right?

Friendship is often the love that people express as giving them the most joy and the most wellness. There have been a lot of studies about older people in friendships and how that really is one of the defining factors of healthy old age. Like why don’t we lift up friends love as the ultimate expression of love rather than mother or family love? It seems like that would be a lot more generous and democratic, because you don’t have to have certain body parts to practice it. You don’t have to have a certain family system, but it really is a love of intention, you know, rather than inevitability And I think it has gotten lost in culture writ large, because we don’t have a lot of rituals around it. We don’t have, like, sacraments of friendship or legal ways of recognizing friendship that we do for biological families. I think we’re missing out on a really big, expansive love. W

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CULTURE CALENDAR

Please check with local venues for their health and safety protocols.

Aly & AJ perform at Lincoln Theatre on Friday, May 13.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LINCOLN THEATRE

Leonid & Friends $35+. Sat, May 14, 8 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Carolina Cutups & Friends Sun, May 15, 7 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

Mallarme Chamber Players: Heartland Baroque $10+. Sat, May 14, 7:30 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church, Durham.

The Dead South: Served Cold Tour $25+. Sun, May 15, 8 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.

NC Symphony: Renée Fleming $137+. Sat, May 14, 8 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Nightrain: Guns N’ Roses Tribute $13+. Sat, May 14, 8:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

music A Place to Bury Strangers $15. Wed, May 11, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Lucius $28. Wed, May 11, 8 p.m.

Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

Slingshot Music Festival $35+. May 13-15, various times.

The Fruit, Durham.

Allan Rayman $20.

Sat, May 14, 8 p.m.

Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Triangle Rising Stars $20+. Wed, May 11, 7:30 p.m.

DPAC, Durham.

Aly & AJ: A Touch of the Beat Tour $43. Fri, May 13, 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

Dance Gavin Dance SOLD OUT. Sat, May 14, 7 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.

Blends with Friends (Open Decks) Wed, May 11, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Get the Lead Out $30+. Thurs, May 12, 8 p.m. DPAC, Durham.

Eptic $20. Wed, May 11, 8 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Jantsen: Gutter til I Die Tour $35. Thurs, May 12, 9:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

DJ Bagaceiro: Carnaval Constante $5. Fri, May 13, 9 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

Joe Troop & Larry Bellorín Duo $20.

Thurs, May 12, 7:30 p.m. Nightlight Bar & Club, Chapel Hill.

Jim Ketch Swingtet $15+. Fri, May 13, 8 p.m. Sharp Nine Gallery, Durham.

Jewish Community in Concert Wed, May 11, 6:30 p.m.

Down Yonder Farm, Hillsborough.

Joe Jackson: The “Sing, You Sinners!”

Tour $50+. Wed, May 11, 8 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Live Jazz with Marc Puricelli and Friends Wed, May 11, 7 p.m. Imbibe, Chapel Hill.

Mellow Swells Thurs, May 12, 7:30 p.m.

Imbibe, Chapel Hill.

Piedmont $10.

Thurs, May 12, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Daniel Donato Fri, May 13, 7 p.m. Smoky Hollow, Raleigh.

Toothsome $10. Fri, May 13, 9 p.m. Local 506, Chapel Hill.

YOLO Karaoke Fri, May 13, 9 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Zach Wynne Fri, May 13, 7:30 p.m. The Oak House, Durham.

Ethan Iverson $25.

Sat, May 14, 8 p.m.

Sharp Nine Gallery, Durham.

Folk Punk 101 $10.

Sat, May 14, 9 p.m.

Local 506, Chapel Hill.

FRESH Sounds with Joe Troop & Larry Bellorín $45.

Sat, May 14, 7 p.m.

Artspace, Raleigh.

Queer Agenda! $5.

Sat, May 14, 11:55 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Severed Fingers / C. Albert Blomquist Band $10. Sat, May 14, 9 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

Yoke Lore $15. Sat, May 14, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Earleine $10. Sun, May 15, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Palmyra / Emma Geiger $20. Sun, May 15, 5 p.m.

Down Yonder Farm, Hillsborough.

Philharmonic Association Spring Concert $20+. Sun, May 15, 2 and 5 p.m.

Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Sights and Sounds Concert Series: Marinus Ensemble $28+. Sun, May 15, 1 and 3 p.m. NCMA, Raleigh.

Injury Reserve / Armand Hammer $23. Mon, May 16, 8 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Brian Horton Trio Tues, May 17, 9 p.m.

Kingfisher, Durham.

Grouper SOLD OUT. Tues, May 17, 8 p.m.

The ArtsCenter, Carrboro.

Jon Camp Mon, May 16, 7 p.m. Shadowbox Studio, Durham.

Kiss: End of the Road Tour $30+.

Tues, May 17, 7:30 p.m. Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, Raleigh.

Lauren Sanderson $18. Mon, May 16, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

The Muslims $12.

Tues, May 17, 9 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Live Jazz with Danny Grewen & Griffanzo Mon, May 16, 6 p.m. Imbibe, Chapel Hill.

Mystery Skulls: Beam Me Up Tour $18. Tues, May 17, 8 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Rex Orange County: The Who Cares?

Tour $60+. Mon, May 16, 8:30 p.m. Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh.

Tyler Ramsey $15.

Tues, May 17, 8 p.m.

Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Yoke Lore performs at Cat’s Cradle on Saturday, May 14.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAT’S CRADLE

Ace Enders: Acoustic Tour 2022 $18. Sun, May 15, 8 p.m. Local 506, Chapel Hill.

The Afghan Whigs $38. Sun, May 15, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

The House of Coxx Presents: The Kings of Coxx $15. Sat, May 14, 10 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Black Angels: Levitation Livestream Sun, May 15, 8 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

J Pavone String Ensemble / Polyorchard Sat, May 14, 7:30 p.m.

Shadowbox Studio, Durham.

Blue Steele Band $5. Sun, May 15, 3 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

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May 11, 2022

INDYweek.com

CULTURE CALENDAR Hamilton runs Tuesday, May 17 through Sunday, June 5 at DPAC. PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

art Art Show Opening and Wine Catalog Release Party Wed, May 11, 4 p.m.

Westgate Wine Store, Raleigh.

Drop-In Printmaking Workshop with Raj Bunnag Fri, May 13, 6 p.m. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.

Wine & Design: Spring Succulents $39. Wed, May 11, 6:30 p.m. Durham Food Hall, Durham.

Art Adventures: Myth & Memory Sat, May 14, 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.

Guided Tour: Modern Black Culture: The Art of Aaron Douglas May 12-13, 1:30 p.m.

Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.

Gallery Talk: Stephen L. Hayes Sun, May 15, 2 p.m.

The Nasher, Durham.

Lunchtime Lecture: Creating an Altered Environment Thurs, May 12, 12 p.m.

NCMA, Raleigh.

Louis Landry, Artist in Residence Sun, May 15, 8 p.m.

Arcana, Durham.

page

Green for Danger $8. Wed, May 11, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Katey Zeh: A Complicated Choice Thurs, May 12, 7 p.m.

Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh.

ABBA: The Movie— Fan Event $10+.

May 12 and 14, various times. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Raleigh.

The Magical Realism of Henryk Fantazos Reception Sat, May 14, 4 p.m. PS118 Gallery, Durham.

Gallery Talk: Juan Logan Thurs, May 12, 6 p.m. The Nasher, Durham.

screen

stage How I Learned What I Learned $20+. Apr. 27– May 15, various times. Playmakers Repertory Company, Chapel Hill.

Emma $22. May 5-21, various times.

Leggett Theater at William Peace University, Raleigh.

An R-Rated Magic Show $28+. Wed, May 11, 8 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Joe List $18+.

May 12-14, various times. Goodnights & Factory Restaurant, Raleigh.

Peerless $20. May 13-29, various times.

Walltown Children’s Theatre, Durham.

On the Banks of the Eno $15+.

May 13-15, various times. Old Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough.

Chris Gethard: Beautiful/ Anonymous Podcast $20. Fri, May 13, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Comedy Night: Tommy Mcnamara / Casey James Salengo $15. Fri, May 13, 8 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary.

John Crist: Fresh Cuts Comedy Tour $27+. Fri, May 13, 7 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Peppa Pig’s Adventure $30+.

Sat, May 14, 2 p.m.

DPAC, Durham.

Raleigh Dance Theatre: Spring Repertoire $17. Sat, May 14, 2 and 6 p.m.

Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Theresa Caputo Live! $39+. Sat, May 14, 7:30 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Main Street Dance Company Showcase $15. May 15-16, various times.

Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

DanceArt Recital $16+. Sun, May 15, 1 and 4:30 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Power, Money and Sex … Oh Yeah, and Love Sun, May 15, 2 p.m. Old Murphey School— Shared Visions Retreat Center, Durham.

Sam Peterson: Sugar: A Memoir of Craving Thurs, May 12, 5:30 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.

The Conversation $6. May 12 and 14, various times. The Cary Theater, Cary.

E. C. Hanes: The Bus to Beulah Sat, May 14, 3 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh.

Summer Stock $6. Thurs, May 12, 2 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary.

Poetry Readings from Kakalak Contributors Sun, May 15, 2 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh.

This Much I Know to Be True $15.

Thurs, May 12, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Inland Empire $10.

May 13-19, various times. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Manhunter & Cruising $10. Fri, May 13, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Dancing with the Carolina Stars $100. Mon, May 16, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Crazy Rich Asians Brunch $10. Sat, May 14, 11:45 a.m.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Raleigh.

Hamilton $109+.

May 17-June 5, various times. DPAC, Durham.

Special Film Event—Arts Access Presents A Series of Fortunate Events: Crip Camp Sat, May 14, 2 and 8 p.m. NCMA, Raleigh.

Writers for Readers 2022 Sun, May 15, 4 p.m. The Forest Theatre, Chapel Hill.

Richard Butner: The Adventurist Tues, May 17, 5:30 p.m.

Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.

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May 11, 2022

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P U Z Z L ES

NEWDED AN S! EXPO R H U

If you just can’t wait, check out the current week’s answer key at www.indyweek.com, and click “puzzle pages” at the bottom of our webpage.

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this week’s puzzle level:

© Puzzles by Pappocom

There is really only one rule to Sudoku: Fill in the game board so that the numbers 1 through 9 occur exactly once in each row, column, and 3x3 box.

The numbers can appear in any order and diagonals are not considered.

Your initial game board will consist of several numbers that are already placed. Those numbers cannot be changed. Your goal is to fill in the empty squares following the simple rule above.

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Best of luck, and have fun! www.sudoku.com solution to last week’s puzzle

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EMPLOYMENT Director of Pricing Strategy (Morrisville, N.C.) Director of Pricing Strategy (Morrisville, NC) - Subject matter expert on pricing strategy responsible for developing, implementing and managing pricing programs. Reqs: Bachelor’s + 5 yrs. exp. Mail resume to: Affordable Care Dentures & Implants, 629 Davis Dr, Ste 300, Morrisville NC 27560, Attn: Y. Gonzalez.

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