July O.Henry 2022

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July 2022 DEPARTMENTS 9 Simple Life

By Jim Dodson

12 Short Stories 14 Tea Leaf Astrologer

By Zora Stellanova

19 Life’s Funny

By Maria Johnson

22 The Omnivorous Reader

By Stephen E. Smith

25 Bookshelf 27 The Creators of N.C.

By Wiley Cash

32 Art of the State

By Liza Roberts

37 The Pleasures of Life Dept.

By Lindsay Moore

39 Home by Design

By Cynthia Adams

41 Birdwatch

By Susan Campbell

43 Wandering Billy

By Billy Ingram

82 Events Calendar 112 O.Henry Ending

By Barbara Rosson Davis

FEATURES 47

Evensong Poetry by Joseph Bathanti

49 Chicken 101 By David Claude Bailey With a wing and a prayer, you too can become a chicken tender 52

Man, Dog & Photog By Cassie Bustamante A 17-year-old uses a Nikon to explore the connection between people and pups

60

Love in Bloom By Ross Howell Jr.

65

Jasmine Joy and Big Puff By Ross Howell Jr.

68

Billy and Lynne Lee’s Collaboration

77

Almanac By Ashley Walshe

Dewberry Farm, a beautiful place for new beginnings Acupuncturist Heather Grant’s journey

By Cynthia Adams A Fisher Park fixer-upper serves as a canvas to a world-renowned sculptor and his creative wife

Cover photograph and photograph this page

by A my Freeman Our cover features charming chicken coop keepers, sisters Aimory and Fletcher.

4 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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Volume 12, No. 7 “I have a fancy that every city has a voice.”

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6 O.Henry

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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When your dollars remain local, you make a local impact – strengthening the businesses, schools, attractions and infrastructure in your community. Keep your most important investment local and reach out to Tyler Redhead & McAlister Real Estate when you’re ready to buy or sell a home.

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Simple Life

“The Cocktail Cat” The spirit of a roaming feline

By Jim Dodson

I have a friend

ILLUSTRATION BY GERRY O'NEILL

who never fails to show up at cocktail time.

Wherever he’s been, whatever he’s been up to all day, he appears like clockwork as I settle into my favorite Adirondack chair under the trees to enjoy a sip of fine bourbon and observe the passing scenes of evening life.

Fortunately, he doesn’t drink bourbon. He doesn’t do much of anything, near as I can tell, except annoy the dogs and pester me well before dawn for his breakfast after a night out carousing the neighborhood, before snoozing all day on the sunny guest room bed like a house guest who won’t leave.

We call him Boo Radley after the peculiar character who saves Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Our Boo, an old, gray tomcat who would rather watch birds than chase them, hasn’t caught a bird of any sort in years.

At cocktail hour, rain or shine, you can set your watch by Boo’s punctuality. Hopping up on the arm of my chair or the small table where I set my whiskey while I reflect on the day’s events and find pleasure in watching birds at the feeders, Boo is either too fat or too old to bother trying to catch them. Even in his salad days he was never much of a killer, though he would leave the occasional mouse on a discreet lower step of our back porch.

Like his cinematic namesake, Boo’s an oddly friendly fellow once he gets to know you, though he generally doesn’t cotton quickly to strangers. Curiously, we’re half convinced several folks in the neighborhood are secretly feeding him, because he’s beginning to resemble a bowling pin. Perhaps he has them fooled into believing that he’s actually homeless. Nothing is further from the truth. He’s managed to ditch every expensive collar and bell we’ve put on him over the past 10 years in order to keep his dining ruse going.

In fact, Boo Radley has had at least three very nice homes.

The first was in Southern Pines when No. 2 son brought him The Art & Soul of Greensboro

home on a cold winter evening.

He was just a small gray foundling you could hold in the palm of your hand, a friendly little cuss who appeared halfstarved and very grateful.

Second Son named him “Nikko,” which means “daylight” in Japanese, and planned to take him off to Boston, where his new job in the hospitality industry awaited.

His mom wisely interceded, pointing out that the last place a homeless kitten needed to live was with a single career guy working long and impossible hours.

So we inherited Nikko. The first thing I did was give him a new name and identity.

He seemed to like the name Boo Radley, though who can ever say what a cat is really thinking.

I suppose that’s part of that peculiar feline charm. Dogs occupy space, someone said. Cats occupy time. They act like you’re on this planet to serve them and should be damn grateful to do so. Another friend who has several cats informs me that cats know the secret of the universe. They just won’t tell anybody.

During our many years in Maine, we had a succession of barn cats who wormed their way into our affections. As a lifelong dog lover who occupies more space than time, even I came to admire their independence and pluck, somehow surviving the fierce Maine winters and coyotes.

Boo grew up with our three dogs, sometimes sleeping with them, often stealing their food, giving them a passing swat now and then as a friendly reminder of who was really in charge.

Bringing up Boo was like raising a problem child.

We eventually moved to a house that had 2 acres of overgrown gardens. Boo didn’t miss a beat. He was always out in the garden, night and day, either following me around or snoozing in the shade on hot summer afternoons. A neighbor warned us there were foxes in the area.

One evening around dusk, I saw Boo sprint across the yard, chased by a young gray fox. Moments later, I saw the young fox O.Henry 9

Simple Life run the opposite way, chased by Boo Radley. This game of catand-fox tag went on for weeks. Nature will always surprise you.

Not long after that, we moved to the Piedmont city where I grew up and Boo found a new pal in the neighborhood, a large, brown, wild rabbit that comes out every evening around cocktail time to feed on clover and seeds from our busy bird feeders.

I named him “Homer” after the author of the epic Greek poem about a fellow who wanders for 10 years trying to get home. Our Homer seems very much at home in our yard, keeping a burrow beneath my hydrangea hedge.

Boo is highly territorial about our yard — woe to any other cat that sets foot on the property — but has no issue whatsoever about sharing space with a large wild rabbit. I’ve seen the two nose-to-nose many times over the years.

Such are so many sweet mysteries in this world that we cannot explain.

But maybe we don’t always need to. Perhaps it’s enough to simply notice them.

In his splendid essay, “A Philosopher Needs a Cat,” NYU religion professor James Carse writes: “It is not accidental that the word animal comes from the Latin anima, soul. The primitive practice of representing the gods as animals may not be so primitive after all. Soul is not only the small ‘still point of the Tao’ where there is no more separation between ‘this’ and ‘that,’

it is also the presence of the unutterable within.”

A mystic would probably say it’s enough to simply pay attention as different worlds intersect when we least expect it, revealing the presence of the unutterable within.

I have no idea what Boo Radley would say about such matters, being a cat of few — or actually no — words. He’s not one for small talk.

But after so many years and miles together in each other’s company, it’s enough that Cocktail Cat never fails to sit with me as the evening fades, season after season, displaying the kind of timeless nonjudgment and spiritual detachment a Buddhist monk might envy. Boo is perfectly companionable while betraying absolutely no opinion on — or apparent interest in — the trivial matters I present to him as we watch birds feed and I sip my expensive bourbon. At the end of the day, there doesn’t seem to be much separation between his “this” and my “that.”

It also occurs that maybe I have the philosophical proposition plum backwards. Perhaps this aging, well-traveled tom cat simply needs an armchair philosopher to sit with in silence at the end of the day.

Only the Cocktail Cat knows for sure, and he ain’t telling, a perfect presence of the unutterable within. OH Jim Dodson is the founding editor of O.Henry.

smile

Let your

light up this 4TH OF JULY

10 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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Stories An Exhibit After Your Own Art Kickstart your day with a trip down to GreenHill’s latest exhibit, PRESENCE: A Figurative Art Survey (“Figurative” is academic speak for Modern art that retains references to the real world).

Leading N.C. artists invite you to Bruce Shores, Audrey Putting explore the human on Her Shoes, 1989, oil on condition through canvas, 48 x 66 inches their survey of sculpture, paintings, fiber art and works on paper. Immerse yourself in a space committed to making the mundane of everyday beautiful, such as the simple task of lacing up your shoes. A culmination of realistic and symbolic works contribute to a distinctly Carolinian feel sure to pull at your art-strings. The only thing better than the chance to explore the minds of talented artists through their work is the chance to do so for free! This exhibit can be easel-y accessed just inside the front doors of the Greensboro Cultural Center, and will be open for viewing July 23 through November 5. We’re counting on you to Gogh! Info: greenhillnc.org.

12 O.Henry

Fav School Subject: Recess “This used to be your sprayground, this used to be your childhood dream . . .” And for one night only it can be all yours again. In honor of National Park & Recreation Month, Greensboro Parks & Recreation invites you and all your besties 21 and over to act like kids again at Adult Recess at the Barber Park Sprayground from 6–9 p.m. on Friday, July 8. Miss Mary Mack will be there with all of your other favorite nostalgic childhood playground games. Plus, bring back moves like “the sprinkler” — did it ever leave? — as you groove to classic jams and soak in full access to the sprayground. Admission is free, but bring cash for the food and beverage vendors that’ll be on site, dishing up meals much better than your lukewarm school lunches of yore. Info: greensboro-nc. gov (click on “events”). To subscribe to receive weekly happenings in the O.Hey voice, visit oheygreensboro.com.

Living in Harmony Throughout the entire month of July, beat the heat with the Eastern Music Festival, Greensboro’s premiere classical music festival and summer educational program. EMF is instrumental in the lives of over 265 young students, teaching and encouraging them far beyond bass-ic skills. Catch these budding artists — plus faculty players and maestros — showing off their talent and learned skills in orchestra, opera, chamber, piano, brass and percussion. Over the course of the festival, more than 30 ticketed concerts and several free events are available to the public, hosted at Guilford College, UNCG and other local venues. Info: easternmusicfestival.org.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

COURTESY OF GREENSBORO PARKS & RECREATION

Short

Ogi Sez Ogi Overman

Pass the Popcorn Stay cool this month with a favorite outdoor activity: going back inside where there’s air-conditioning. At 7 p.m. on July 11, The Carolina Theatre kicks off its month-long Summer Film Fest. Each week, the schedule is filled with nostalgic blockbuster hits that take you back. On Mondays, you’ll find Hitchcock classics like The Man Who Knew Too Much and Strangers on a Train. Tuesdays are perfect for date night, featuring rom-coms such as Dirty Dancing and When Harry Met Sally. Wednesdays honor banned books with classics like The Great Gatsby and From Here to Eternity. Lastly, Thursdays are reserved for summer hits: Think Grease and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off . . . “bow bow, oh yeah, chicka chicka chicka”. Plus, don’t miss the Carolina Kids Club movies in July and August. Info: carolinatheatre.com.

Cruise in for a Brews-ing Too hot? Just grin and beer it. On Saturday, July 16, the Summertime Brews Festival hops into the Greensboro Coliseum, serving up samples of over 150 craft brews. What’s the buzz? This party is packed with cornhole, food truck grub and live music. With general admission, doors open at 2 p.m., but get yourself a VIP — Very Important Pubgoer — pass and crack open the floodgates at noon. Ale, yeah! Closing time: 6 p.m. This event is for the 21-and-over crowd only. Please catch a ride and drink responsibly. Info: summertimebrews.com.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

I’ve reached the stage of life where I don’t take anything for granted, where I try to find enjoyment in each day, where I try to celebrate the beauty around me. And July is one of those months with plenty to celebrate. Besides the Fourth, there are festivals galore — street, bluegrass, beach, neighborhood, Sunday afternoon, lakeside, etc. Plus, the ’Hoppers have 15 home games, including fireworks on the Fourth, and multiple venues have live music every night of the week.

• July 7, Tanger Center: I’ve been blessed to interview the Gill-Grant family five times (Vince twice, Amy thrice). They’re my favorite musical couple on Earth. Touring separately, this month it’s Vince’s turn. His sweet, mellifluous tenor, heartfelt lyrical delivery, and stylish, perfectly placed guitar work put him in a class by himself.

• July 8, The Crown: I’ve said it a million times: How lucky

Greensboro is to have a genuine blues legend like Bob Margolin in our midst who gives back to the community every chance he gets. With this show he is not only supporting The Crown, but also the Fiddle & Bow Society. So get there early and support him in return.

• July 8, Ziggy’s.Space: A savvy friend traveled a state away to see Cracker recently. He told me flat-out that it was the best live show he’s ever seen. They debuted in 1992 with “Teen Angst,” which went to No. 1 on the Modern Rock chart, and, 30 years later, haven’t slowed down a lick.

• July 22, Ramkat: There was an internet (where else?)

rumor going around that a member of Los Lobos had died and the band was going on hiatus. While it is true that founding member Francisco Gonzalez died at 68 on March 31, he left the band long before — in 1976. So, yes, the beloved band that made Tex-Mex and Chicano rock a thing will be at the Ramkat this month, and so should you

• July 29, High Point Theatre: I almost never hype tribute

bands. The one exception is Beatles tribute acts, and then only rarely. There are a handful of them on tour at any given time, but the one (aside from Rain) that stands out is Yesterday. I’ve seen them twice and, trust me: You will not be disappointed.

O.Henry 13

w r i g h t svi l l e

bea c h

BEACH DAYS are the BEST DAYS

Tea Leaf Astrologer

Cancer

(June 21 – July 22)

If ever you’ve ridden a drop tower — one of those gut-in-yourthroat “free fall” rides at the carnival — then you can imagine what it feels like to know and love a Cancer. But only those born under the influence of this cardinal water sign know what it’s like to be perpetually at the whim of such sensational pinnacles and descents. This month will be no different, especially with that full supermoon on July 13. May as well enjoy the ride.

Tea leaf “fortunes” for the rest of you: Leo (July 23 – August 22)

Something needs watering. Hint: It’s not a plant.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

You can’t see the signs if your eyes are closed.

Libra (September 23 – October 22)

Let the tea steep.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

You already know the answer.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

Keep moving. They’ll come around or they won’t.

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

You’re thinking the fun out of it.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

The prize is never inside the box.

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14 O.Henry

Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

Tell it to your dream journal.

Aries (March 21 – April 19)

Best to get it straight from the source.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Leave your phone. Forget the umbrella. Let life happen.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

The invitation will be obvious. OH Zora Stellanova has been divining with tea leaves since Game of Thrones’ Starbucks cup mishap of 2019. While she’s not exactly a medium, she’s far from average. She lives in the N.C. foothills with her Sphynx cat, Lyla.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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Life's Funny

Finding Tia How a lost dog helped humans locate their kindness

By Maria Johnson

It had just stopped raining, but the sky was still

rumbling when I saw her that Sunday afternoon.

She was a little bigger than a bread box. Her black-and-white fur was soaked, and her tail was tucked between her legs as she crept out from between some townhouses about 40 yards away.

She looked like a purebred spaniel, a dog someone would be missing. She also looked scared, just like my foxhound must’ve looked when he slipped out of the yard during a thunderstorm last summer. I remembered how my heart sank when I realized he was gone.

I called to the little spaniel.

She turned and ran the other way. I jumped in the car and drove around the neighborhood hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but she’d seemingly vanished.

So I did what I had done last summer. I sent up a flare on NextDoor, a social media app that connects people in neighborhoods.

“Black and white spaniel pup on the loose … Whitehall neighborhood off Lake Jeanette Road just now . . . ” Within seconds, people responded with sympathetic emojis.

One woman connected the dots, linking my post to a fresh “lost dog” notice from another neighborhood that she also followed.

Soon, I heard from one of the dog’s owners, Virginia Masius.

“I think that’s my dog, Tia,” she wrote.

A little more than an hour earlier, Virginia had let Tia out to relieve herself just before the storm hit. In the time it took Virginia, a professional musician, to fetch her coffee cup from upstairs, the sky opened and thunder shook the house. When she stuck her head outside and called Tia, there was no response.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Virginia looked under the deck. No Tia. Then she saw a gap under the chain-link fence.

Fear grabbed her.

She tried to calm herself. Four-year-old Tia had wandered off before, but she’d always come back shortly, usually muddy and happy, wagging her thumb-like tail.

Virginia walked her neighborhood of Bellwood Village calling Tia’s name as she went. Nothing.

She texted the news to her partner, Margo Freibott, a professional dog groomer who was driving back from a grooming competition in West Virginia.

In her car, Margo listened to Virginia’s text and dictated a reply: “She’ll come back. Leave the basement door open.”

She suggested that Virginia check the neighborhood retention pond, where wildlife often gathered. Tia, nicknamed Bird Dog, often followed her nose down to the pond.

Then Margo roused the employees at her business, A Becoming Pet in Greensboro. One of them, Brianna Davis, blasted out more social media alerts and left the dinner table to join the hunt as bulletins flashed across NextDoor and the Facebook pages of individuals and animal-related groups.

Text chains lit up among friends: Be on the lookout for a black-and-white cocker spaniel.

Into the evening, people in the Lake Jeanette area scanned their surroundings as they walked, jogged, and exercised their own dogs.

Others searched as they drove, tacking extra miles onto their normal routes in hopes of spotting Tia. It was getting dark when a woman called Margo.

She’d seen a black-and-white cocker spaniel running up an exit ramp for I-840.

Oh, no, Margo thought. More than anything, she feared Tia trying to cross the partially finished interstate loop.

She and Virginia drove up and down the highway until 9:30 p.m.

They went home dejected.

Margo left voice messages at veterinarian offices. She posted Tia’s information on PawBoost, a site devoted to lost-and-found pets.

Virginia put a venison roast on the gas grill outside, hoping that Tia’s nose, sharpened by hunger, would pick up the molecules of sizzling fat.

O.Henry 19

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Life's Funny They left the gate and the back door standing open, just in case.

They couldn’t sleep.

Where was Tia right now? Was she safe? Was she scared?

The next morning brought a glimmer of hope.

A woman who lived on Cottage Place, about a mile away as the crow flies, posted that her doorbell camera had captured an image of Tia at about 11:30 the night before.

Margo and Virginia chucked their Monday routines and combed the area. Nothing.

They studied Google Earth to guess Tia’s most likely path, figuring the shy dog would stick to easements and creeks.

Margo focused on the neighborhoods that hugged those spaces, retracing streets and parking her car to walk behind developments and call Tia’s name.

Virginia concentrated on distributing “REWARD” flyers bearing Tia’s picture. She stuck the pages to utility poles and stop signs. She dropped off copies at a branch library, a fire station and nearby pet stores.

Everyone she talked to promised to help.

On Monday night, someone on NextDoor posted a picture of Tia taken on Bluff Run Drive.

Indeed, Tia had crossed the interstate, perhaps by going through a culvert that channeled a creek under the road.

A handful of searchers descended on the area, hollering Tia’s name until 10 p.m.

That night, Virginia and Margo felt hope slipping.

Would they see Tia again?

They clung to a lifesaver they’d never expected: The knowledge that dozens — if not hundreds of people — had Tia on their minds, too.

That day, they had run across people walking with treats and leashes in hand.

“Are you looking for the cocker spaniel?” people had asked them, not realizing who Margo and Virginia were.

“Yeah,” they answered.

“We are, too,” the strangers said.

Tuesday morning, when Margo made a brief appearance at work across town, a client commented that she didn’t look well.

Margo explained that her dog was missing.

“The cocker spaniel?” the woman replied.

Tuesday afternoon pinged with more sightings in the Bluff Run Drive area.

A house painter had seen her. A dentist had seen her. A couple of women who were walking had seen her.

The tips were promising — and maddening. Margo, Virginia and friends drove from sighting to sighting, literally moving in circles.

Finally, they zeroed in on a swath of woods where they believed Tia was hunkered down. No one had seen her for a couple of hours.

Margo decided to use a live trap loaned to her by retired local wildlife trapper Bobby Farrington. He’d advised her to bait the cage with fried chicken.

Virginia ran to Bojangles.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Life's Funny Margo set the pressure-sensitive trap just inside the woods and sent everyone home. She sat in her car and watched for three hours. At dusk, she saw a family of deer enter the woods. They looked like the herd that had frequented her neighborhood retention pond before construction had driven them away.

Had Tia followed her nose to familiar animals and bedded down near them at night?

Was she overnighting with friends?

That night, Margo left for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to pick up her 25-year-old son Cody, who was flying home from Oregon to get his car. On the way home, they stopped to check the trap. It was 1 a.m.

They shined a flashlight into the woods.

Two yellow eyes reflected back at them.

“I’m going down there,” said Cody.

A few seconds later, he spoke again.

“Mom, it’s Tia.” Sitting on a sofa in the family’s living room, Margo continuously runs her fingers through Tia’s wavy fur.

Every few minutes, her fingers feel a bump, and Margo checks to see if it’s a scab where a tick was removed. They found 26 ticks on Tia when they got her home.

Tia stank, too. Margo figured that she had been eating the

remains of dead animals in the woods. Margo’s employees bathed Tia repeatedly to get the smell out.

The fence where Tia slipped out? It’s more secure than Fort Knox now.

And Tia? She crawls all over a visitor on the other end of the sofa.

“Oh, now you come to me, huh?” I tease.

It’s mid-May, a couple of weeks since Tia returned from her twoand-a-half-day holiday, and she seems as happy-go-lucky as ever.

Her humans, though, are forever stamped by the experience, especially the feeling of community that Tia’s disappearance prompted.

“It makes me get goosebumps,” Margo says.

“We were amazed at the outpouring of support,” adds Virginia, who had recently considered quitting Facebook because of the divisive tone that has run rampant in the last several years.

This time, though, social media — and the feelings awakened by an 18-pound pup — led people to reveal their better sides.

“Just when you think you’re losing faith in humanity, your little dog goes out and shows you otherwise,” says Margo. OH Maria Johnson is a contributing editor of O.Henry magazine. You can reach her at ohenrymaria@gmail.com.

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

O.Henry 21

Omnivorous Reader

Follow the Money Ben Franklin’s blueprint for America

By Stephen E. Smith

How is it possible that Ken Burns’ recent four-

hour Ben Franklin documentary received ho-hum reviews? Have PBS devotees grown too familiar with Burns’ still-life voice-over production style? Maybe.

But the lackluster reviews are more likely the fault of the kite-flying, bifocaled purveyor of the bon mot, old Ben Franklin himself. He’s every American’s everyman, the most human of our Founding Fathers.

We grew up learning about Franklin, and most of us believe we know what needs to be known about the archetypal American Renaissance man. Historian Michael Meyer’s Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet: The Favorite Founder’s Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife, and Blueprint for American Prosperity is a timely reminder that there is still much to learn about the influence Franklin continues to wield in 21st century America.

When he died in 1790 at the age of 84, Franklin was not universally mourned by his countrymen. Meyer reminds readers that George Washington and the Congress refused to acknowledge attempts by the French to express their condolences at Franklin’s passing, and John Adams had little good to say about his former diplomatic partner. Among his later detractors were Mark Twain, who wrote that Franklin “early prostituted his talents to the invention of maxims and aphorisms calculated to inflict suffering upon the rising generation of all subsequent ages”, and D.H. Lawrence reveled in revising and ridiculing Franklin’s 13 virtues.

Meyer’s primary focus is on the influence of Franklin’s last will and testament. William, Franklin’s first-born son who had sided with the British during the Revolution, was left worthless property and ephemera, and his daughter and grandchildren received gifts commensurate with the esteem in which he held them. But it was his “Codicil to Last Will and Testament,” a wordy but straightforward document, that morphed into a hydra-headed legal instrument that would vex administrators, the courts and politicians who attempted to oversee and control its ongoing disbursements.

Franklin established endowments for the cities of Philadelphia and Boston. “Having myself been bred to a manual art, printing, in my native town,” Franklin dictated, “and afterwards assisted to set up my business in Philadelphia by kind loans of money from two friends there, which was the foundation of my fortune,

22 O.Henry

and of all the utility in life that may be ascribed to me, I wish to be useful even after my death, if possible, in forming and advancing other young men . . . .”

Franklin left each city £1,000, or about $133,000 in today’s dollars. The funds were intended to provide small loans to manual and industrial workers — cobblers, coopers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, etc. — to be repaid at 5 percent interest over a 10-year period. In addition to offering a helping hand for the socioeconomic class employed in manual labor, the funds’ underlying intention was to promote good citizenship. (“I have considered, that, among artisans, good apprentices are most likely to make good citizens,” Franklin wrote.) If the principal from the bequests were properly administered, the initial investment should have yielded billions in today’s dollars, making Franklin our first billionaire philanthropist.

So, what became of Franklin’s fortune, and where did his generosity lead us? Meyer follows the money, providing a decade-by-decade accounting of the funds’ expenditures while factoring in economic trends, poor oversight by fund managers, legal squabbles, political infighting, and losses incurred during national recessions and depressions.

All of which sounds incredibly boring. But be assured there’s nothing tedious about Meyer’s chronicle. What emerges is a lively and thoroughly researched social history of the country viewed through our evolving economic affluence and the increasingly litigious nature of American society.

The early ledgers read much like a personalized history of the country: “Turning the musty pages of each loan agreement can feel like reading an old swashbuckling story,” Meyer writes, “bringing the same sense of relief when the last line reveals that a character has made it through. Three cheers for the cabinetmaker Christopher Pigeon, who repaid his debt on time. And a compassionate wag of the head for Paul Revere’s son-in-law, one of only two Boston defaulters.”

Unfortunately, there was skullduggery aplenty in the management and disbursement of Franklin’s gifts. In 1838, Philadelphia’s Franklin Legacy treasurer John Thomason purchased Philadelphia The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Omnivorous Reader Gas Works stock with Franklin’s bequest, thus impeding the money’s growth and transforming the fund into a tool of corruption and patronage. In 1890, Franklin’s descendants were so aggrieved they felt compelled to file a suit claiming that his bequests should revert to their control.

Boston did not suffer a similar level of financial chicanery. In 1827, William Minot, who administered the fund for 50 years, deposited much of Franklin’s principal into Nathaniel Bowditch’s Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company to acquire interest, thus enabling Boston’s fund balance to surpass Philadelphia’s for the first time. Beantown never trailed again.

In the final analysis, Franklin’s bequests accomplished very little of their original intent. In the days before central banking, loans were difficult to administer in an equitable manner, and many of the later loans suffered default or were not repaid on time. By 1882, Philadelphia had only about $10,000 left in its fund. Franklin had failed to factor in even a single default, and he had no way of foretelling the emergence of liberal credit terms and the growing availability of loans charging less than 5 percent interest. In 1994, the entirety of Boston’s Franklin fund went to the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. The Philadelphia Foundation continues to manage its Franklin Trust Funds for its original purpose.

At this moment of intense political division and national soul searching, Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet is a timely reminder that we remain a generous people, and that philanthropy lives on in the hearts of ordinary Americans. The popularity of GoFundMe pages is the latest manifestation of our desire to help those in need, an example of the civic-mindedness exercised by the “good citizens” Franklin hoped to encourage. OH Stephen E. Smith is a retired professor and the author of seven books of poetry and prose.

He’s the recipient of the Poetry Northwest Young Poet’s Prize, the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Prize for poetry and four North Carolina Press Awards.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Art

of Living

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Around here, how we evolve our environment is how we renew the vitality of our mission, which means that a splendid home of comfort, convenience, and thoughtful amenities—with lovely views and spacious rooms—is just the start.

Because living well is one thing, but living with purpose and passion, among friends in a rare and picturesque setting—this is life in all its shining brilliance. Arbor Acres is forever in a state of becoming—a place where creativity shines, where generosity thrives, where the art of living blooms.

For more information on Aldersgate Square and other independent living options, please call (336) 724-7921.

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1240 Arbor Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27104 arboracres.org • (336) 724-7921

O.Henry 23

ONE IN FOUR SENIORS LIVE ALONE AND HAVING A PET CAN MAKE THEM FEEL LESS LONELY. A pet provides companionship and comfort, but the cost of providing for the pet can be challenging with limited money and mobility.

At Meals on Wheels, we want to help - help our human neighbors not go hungry and help feed their furry friends who mean so much to them!

Many of our Meals on Wheels community members receiving pet assistance say that is the only reason they can keep their loving companion is because we help with food and veterinary care.

Want to know more? Contact Christy Collum at ccollum@senior-resources-guilford.org 1401 Benjamin Parkway • Greensboro, NC 27408 336-373-4816 Fax: 336-373-4922 921 Eastchester Drive Suite 1230 • High Point, NC 27262 336-883-3586 Fax: 336-883-3179

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Serving older adults since 1977

Senior Resources of Guilford is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization eligible to receive tax deductible donations. Your support enables the agency to respond to requests for information and services which assist seniors continue to live independently.

24 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Bookshelf

July Books

Compiled by Shannon Purdy Jones

Flying the COOP by Lucinda Roy

It comes out of nowhere. You’re shuffling

Lucinda Roy continues The Dreambird Chronicles, her explosive first foray into speculative fiction, with this sequel to The Freedom Race.

In the Disunited states, no person of color — especially not a girl whose body reimagines flight — is safe. A quest for Freedom has brought former Muleseed Jellybean “Ji-ji” Silapu to D.C., where, long ago, the most famous Dreamer of all time marched for the same cause.

Tiro and Afarra battle formidable ghosts of their own as the former U.S. capital controls the fate of all dreamers. The journeys the three friends take toward liberation will challenge the nature of reality itself.

through the workday. Doing the dishes. In general, life is going well. But still there’s that tug. It pulls at the back corners of your mind — the urge to be somewhere else, someone else. That primal need for escape.

So we’re bringing you the summer’s best sci-fi releases to escape into. Some stand alone while others are continuations of series you’ll wish you’d started yesterday. All are guaranteed to transport you worlds away.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers From one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful sci-fi comes a story of kindness and love, the second volume of the USA Today–bestselling Monk and Robot series.

After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex and robot Mosscap turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.

They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe. But in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?

The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta A lyrical mystery wrapped in a love story that bends space, time, myth and science, it’s perfect for fans of Octavia Butler and Emily St. John Mandel.

Sol has disappeared. Their Earth-born wife, Lumi, sets out to find them. Told through letters and extracts, her search leads to underground environmental groups and a web of mystery.

Lumi’s journey also takes her into Sol’s hidden past and longforgotten secrets of her own. In the end, The Moonday Letters is a love story between two individuals from very different worlds.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Upgrade by Blake Crouch An ordinary man undergoes a startling transformation in the mind-blowing new thriller from The New York Times–bestselling author of Dark Matter.

Logan Ramsay can feel his brain . . . changing. His body, too.

He’s becoming something other than himself. His DNA has been rewritten with a genetic-engineering breakthrough — one that could change the very definitions of humanity. And the battle to control this unfathomable power has already begun.

Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse Return to The Meridian with New York Times–bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse’s sequel to Black Sun — finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Lambda and Locus awards.

The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent.

Sea captain Xiala, swept up in currents of change, finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For Tova Clan Matriarchs, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens reflects upon the Earth. OH Shannon Purdy Jones is co-owner of Scuppernong Books.

O.Henry 25

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26 O.Henry

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Creators of N.C.

From Loft to Launch Mark Bayne sends his works to sea

By Wiley Cash Photographs by Mallory Cash

Master shipwright Mark Bayne is

standing in an open bay at the workshop where he has been teaching wooden boat building at Cape Fear Community College in downtown Wilmington for the past 10 years. Over his shoulder, the murky brown Cape Fear River plods slowly eastward, where it will meet the Atlantic Ocean in just a few miles. It’s not quite summer yet, but the day is hot and bright. A stiff, warm breeze rolls in off the river, adding to the late morning’s warmth.

All around us, people are working on a half-dozen wooden boats in various stages of construction. There’s a flats boat that was specially designed so fishermen can stand with stability and cast a line from the broad deck; beside it is a beautiful, narrow melon seed just waiting for a sail; in the far corner of the workshop is a Jersey speed skiff that, as soon as it’s complete, will move next door (to the engine program) for the fall semester, The Art & Soul of Greensboro

where the team who built it will fit it with an inboard motor.

After decades building boats on his own and another decade of teaching people to do the same, Mark is accustomed to being surrounded by the sounds of saws and routers, the fine mist of sawdust floating through the air. He’s also accustomed to teaching others to build a variety of different kinds of wooden boats because that’s what he made a career doing before he found himself in the classroom.

“I’ve specialized in not specializing,” he says.

Mark is tall and handsome in the way that capable people often are. It’s as easy to picture him captaining a boat as it is to picture him building one. He’s quick to smile, and he’s still carrying the glow of holding a new granddaughter who was born down in Charleston, South Carolina, just a few nights before.

That’s where Mark was raised, and his whole family, including his wife and their four grown children, live there now.

He splits his time between the low country and the Cape Fear, teaching at the college during the week and heading home to Isle of Palms on the weekend. His wife used to make the trips with him, but now that she’s surrounded by grandchildren she’s less likely to leave home. Bayne understands. He hears the call to home. For that reason, this is the last course he’ll teach for Cape Fear Community College’s wooden boat building program.

But in order to understand how his time at the college is endO.Henry 27

The Creators of N.C.

ing, you have to understand how it began.

He grew up on “the backside” of Isle of Palms, South Carolina, in the marsh, sailing small boats, swimming, and crabbing with his younger brother and kids from the neighborhood.

When I ask if they were ever so bold as to round the island and head for the open water, he smiles and pauses as if his mother and father are within earshot. “Officially, we did not do that,” he says, meaning, of course they did.

After a brief stint in college, Mark dropped out and worked at Mount Pleasant Boatbuilding Company as a helper in the joinery shop, where he learned to build and fit small, intricate parts to

boats. He already loved boats, and he found that he also loved building and working on them. A welder in the boatyard mentioned that he’d heard about a new wooden boat building program beginning up the coast at Cape Fear Community College.

Mark enrolled in 1978 and was a member of the program’s first class. With his classmates and instructors, he literally helped build the program: They put down the hardwood floor in the workshop, and they built the workbenches from old bowling alley lanes that had been stored in a chicken coop in Southern Pines.

After completing the program and getting his degree, Mark went back to the Mount Pleasant Boatbuilding Company with

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28 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Creators of N.C. the knowledge of how to loft boats, which is the process of drawing out plans on the floor, cutting and fitting the pieces, and constructing the boats using hand tools. On the weekends, he worked for himself, meaning he built boats apart from his work at the boatyard. He found that he could make more money on his own while also building boats that interested and challenged him. In the late 1980s, he opened Sawdust Boatworks, and then he opened Sea Island Boatworks.

“No one has to have a boat,” Mark says, “so when someone hires you to build one, it’s a very special relationship.”

He can still remember the earliest boats he built. The first boat he built after opening Sawdust is still around; it’s a 14-foot marsh hen hunting boat. “That guy turned into a good customer,” Mark says. “I built multiple boats for him.”

“I enjoy building things,” he adds, “and boat building allows you to be creative. Sometimes you build a boat to a plan that somebody else drew, and sometimes you build a boat by eye.

You’ve got to know a lot. I worked with a guy in Panama City, Florida, once, and we built a 68-foot shrimp boat, just him and me. He was the master and I was the apprentice, but there was no plan, so you have to know all the construction details. When you’re doing it by hand with no plan it’s called rack of eye. It’s fun, it’s rewarding.”

Over the decades, Mark traveled up and down the East Coast, building boats from the Gulf of Mexico to the Chesapeake Bay, including the iconic Spirit of South Carolina, a tall ship that was constructed and ported in Charleston. The keel was laid in the summer of 2001, and the final plank was installed in the summer of 2006.

In 2012, Mark left the boatyards of South Carolina, as well as

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O.Henry 29

The Creators of N.C. his life as a far-ranging boatbuilder, and returned “home” to Cape Fear Community College as head of the Wooden Boat Building program, where his professional career had started over three decades earlier. When he arrived, he found that he wanted to bring his vast experience to bear on the program’s curriculum.

“They had a good program going, but it wasn’t the way I wanted to do it,” he says. For years, the program had focused on moving students through stages of instruction on several different boats at various levels of completion. The students learned piecemeal, but that meant that they never completed a whole boat from start to finish. “I wanted students to work from lofting to launching,” he says.

“Mark has done a great job of giving this program a shot of momentum,” says Walter Atkins, an instructor in the boat building program who has decades of experience as a boatwright, his specialty building custom boat interiors. “I’ve learned a ton from Mark. It’s been awesome. We don’t use software where everything is designed on a screen. This is 1,000 percent old school.”

Over three semesters, including a summer term, students begin working with hand tools before graduating to power tools. Soon, the class moves up to the loft above the shop floor where they draw life-sized plans for the various boats they want to build.

“People slowly pair up,” Walter says. “You see the groups start to clump together.”

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30 O.Henry

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The Creators of N.C. Recent high school graduates partner with retirees. Often, service veterans find one another, bonding over their shared experiences and their interest in boat building. It’s clear that both Walter and Mark find relationships with student-veterans important and endearing.

“I don’t ask about their service,” Mark says, “but I listen when they talk about it.”

Soon, the class moves to the shop floor, building the forms, fairing the hulls, and fitting the interior cabinetry. By the end of the program, as many as six complete boats are ready for the water. Once the boats are proven seaworthy, they’re auctioned off on a public website, where eager buyers are already lying in wait.

The boats are purchased by people up and down the East Coast.

It’s clear that Mark takes pride in his students’ work, and he admits that if not for his wife, four children and growing number of grandchildren living down in the low country that he’d continue to work in the boat building program at Cape Fear.

But he’s not really retiring. He’ll work some with his oldest son, Coulson, who is now building boats on his own while making good use of the family name: He decided to call his company Son of Bayne Boatworks. And there’s a 145-year-old historic schooner down in Panama City that was destroyed by Hurricane Michael that Mark wants to get his hands on. He’ll be busy, but

according to him, he won’t be working.

“Boat building has never been a job,” he says. “I’ve never felt like I had a job a single day in my life.” OH Wiley Cash is the Alumni Author-in-Residence at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. His new novel, When Ghosts Come Home, is available wherever books are sold.

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O.Henry 31

Art of the State

Super-Natural

Pamlico Sound Bank

Davidson artist Elizabeth Bradford celebrates the beauty of the wild

By Liza Roberts

In a former cotton shed in

Mecklenburg County, Elizabeth Bradford paints the natural world around her. With extraordinary, saturated colors and meticulous, zoomed-in details, her landscapes can be exotic, surprising, even strange. They are also poetic: meditative celebrations of the beauty, interconnectedness and geometry of the natural world.

On canvases nearly as tall as she is, Bradford takes countless hours over many weeks to paint the magic she finds in nature.

32 O.Henry

Sometimes it’s an eddy of water. Sometimes it’s the messy bank of a receded river, where roots protrude and collide. Trees, fields, ponds, creeks: Bradford finds wonderlands in them all.

Representational, but with deep, twisting tentacles into abstraction, her canvases beg the viewer to look hard.

In January 2023, Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte plans a solo exhibition of her art. Wilmington’s Cameron Art Museum exhibited a powerful one-woman show of Bradford’s work, entitled A House of One Room, in 2021. Her paintings are also in the permanent collections of the Mint Museum in Charlotte, the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, as well as in many top corporate collections.

This University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Art of the State

Cumberland Island Swamp (left), Float Dream (right)

Water’s Edge

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

O.Henry 33

considers herself largely self-taught as an artist, but she also studied painting and lithography at Davidson College and worked as an art teacher before devoting herself full time to her craft.

Bradford says her work began to “develop a power” when she started backpacking in the mountains of North Carolina about nine years ago. With two friends, she started “going into a lot of obscure places, wild places, where the world is crazy,” she says. Now armed with a polemounted camera, she takes photos as she goes, hundreds of them in the space of a few days’ hike. These images become her inspiration when she returns to the studio. “Truth is stranger than fiction,” she says. “The wild is stranger than anything I can dream up.”

The truth is also more meaningful.

The wilder the land, the more Bradford says she finds to care about. “I’m on a mission to sensitize people to the beauty

of the earth,” she says. To take things “that aren’t obviously beautiful and to render them beautiful.” She does that in large part with unexpected, vibrant oil and sometimes embedded shards of glass, something she once eschewed as a “cheap trick.” But after a number of years of hewing as close to the actual color of the natural world as possible, she decided she was selling herself short. “Why are you being this ascetic?” she says she asked herself. “Why are you denying yourself access to something you love so much? And so I started pumping up the color. And as a result I’ve gotten more imaginative, more intuitive. More soulful.”

She brings all of that to every one of her subjects, most recently weeds. “Weed studies have introduced me to some really cool forms,” she says. “Arabesques and extravagant curves. I’ve been playing with a lot of that . . . I’m always trying to keep moving outward, not just repeating the

PHOTOGRAPH BY LISSA GOTWALS

Art of the State

same things. I keep looking for newness.”

Actively challenging herself has become an ingrained habit, one that began the year

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Weeds at the Treadwell Bradford turned 40 and made a promise to herself: “Instead of getting bummed out about getting old, every year for my birthday I would pick something I didn’t think I could do, and I would spend a year trying to do it.” That first year, she decided she would paint a painting every day. A few years ago, she made the commitment to learn French. Lately, she’s begun renovating an 1890s farmhouse, one she discovered deep in the woods on the bank of a creek, far from roads and traffic and noise.

A two-hour drive from her (also 1890s-era) Davidson home, it will serve as Bradford’s summer residence and studio. “It’s my dream,” she says.

And so as she ages, Bradford’s world gets more and more interesting — not that boring is an option. “The world is just so complicated and fascinating,” she says.

“There are just not enough years of life to do everything you want to do.” OH This is an excerpt from the forthcoming book Art of the State: Celebrating the Art of North Carolina, to be published by UNC Press this fall.

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The Pleasures of Life Dept.

The Eagle’s Gift A wondrous sighting awakens the belief in magic

By Lindsay Moore

When I returned to my childhood home to

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHAD JOYCE

live several years ago, I tempered my expectations.

It was here I had befriended towering oak trees and written plays among the river rocks adorned with wildflowers, and where my worries had been enveloped by the pawpaws and mountain laurels.

I served as protector of this sacred and magic realm. In return, it offered me an imaginative and joy-filled childhood. It was my own Terabithia, Narnia, Fangorn Forest or Hundred Acre Wood.

Regrettably, as adults we leave our mystical lands of childhood behind and the magic fades.

Waking early one brisk fall morning, I made the short trek to the steep steps made of large rocks just below my home. Without my consent and unannounced, tears fell in a steady stream as I stared out over the rippling water.

As I pondered whether to allow myself this moment of vulnerability, through my wet lashes, my eyes came upon the majesty of a winged creature. Gloriously on display as it silently soared just inches above the river’s surface, there it was — a harbinger of hope in the 7-foot wingspan of our nation’s emblem: a bald eagle.

At once, I was transported back to the magic of my youth. As it made its way downstream, I wondered if it was just a figment of my imagination.

I held this moment close, fearing that if I shared it, the magic would evaporate. And my soul yearned for magic, longing to experience it once again. Not less than a month later, it happened again. This time, the sound of its calls preceded it. For such a majestic bird, it emitted surprisingly weak-sounding calls that resembled a series of high-pitched whistling or piping notes.

Throughout the winter, my interest in the bald eagle only The Art & Soul of Greensboro

heightened. I wondered where it lived. Did it have a companion, and, if by chance it did, was there a nest? In my spare time, I read about eagles to better understand their behavior. I considered the eagle my friend and was certain it was mutual. In early spring, I began hiking the ridge line of the neighboring state park in hopes of catching a closer glimpse.

One evening, my eagle finally revealed itself to me, but it was not alone. In my studies I had learned that male eagles were smaller than their female counterparts and I could now discern that my eagle, in fact, was the male. Looking down, my eyes were drawn nearly 300 feet to the top of a sycamore tree situated along the river. There, I noticed an enormous nest that was easily 8 feet in diameter. With my camera and binoculars in hand, I formulated a plan to trailblaze through the woods below the very next day.

Before I could even see the nest in its entirety, I saw the white head of the female perched on top of a large branch. As I approached the edge of the tree line, my eagle arrived circling above with great prowess. I knew that he had seen me, even though my form was barely visible. As he proudly orbited, I noticed a small eaglet flapping its wings inside the nest. At once, I recognized the gift my friend was offering me. I smiled and stood in silence, extending to him my gratitude and respect.

I knew then that magic could still be elicited, regardless of age — we only need to be vulnerable enough to experience it. OH Though living alongside the Mayo River in Rockingham County, Lindsay Moore is connected to Greensboro through the spirit of Howard Coble and her love of the local arts scene.

O.Henry 37

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38 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Home by Design

The Stuff That Really Matters When one closet door closes, another kind of door opens

By Cynthia Adams

Meet The Minimalists: Two

childhood pals named Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus.

They took Marie Kondo and her sparkling mantra about the joy of clearing and cleaning straight to the trash bin.

Millburn and Nicodemus upped the ante. They want you to quit stuffing your life with, well, stuff and heal your stockpilingshiny-baubles-like-a-magpie miserable life.

The Minimalists know Kondo beat them to the movement, but their message is different. Organizing and streamlining is not enough.

Nor do they want to sell you nifty organizing bins and accessories, like Real Simple magazine or Kondo.

A nice reorg misses the point. Millburn and Nicodemus say most of us need a life reboot. A new way to make and find meaning — and, spoiler, it won’t come in an Amazon package. It is derived through community and connection.

Tucked into their minimalist philosophy is a scary warning from neuroscientists. It’s the message we’ve been avoiding since we began earning a paycheck. Whenever we troll for goods, whether the perfect white shirt, wine glass or running shoe, we are responding to an ancient evolutionary drive to hunt and gather. Except, this biological imperative no longer serves a purpose; famine is not at the door. Nor is the saber tooth tiger, but you wouldn’t know it by the way shoppers trample others during a Black Friday melee.

That stampede to be first inside Target’s doors? It has never been about the bargain TV. It is about our biology.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon, MIT and Stanford used fMRI to study the brains of test subjects while clothes shopping.

There were two interesting takeaways. The nucleus accumbens — aka the pleasure center of the brain — lights up when a subject is shown something they desire. The greater the desire, the The Art & Soul of Greensboro

greater the brain activity.

The greater the prospect of pleasure.

The Minimalists insist our biology is not our destiny. “If poisoned by excess, more poison will not save you.”

Perhaps you’ve discovered The Minimalists on Netflix. Or heard their podcast and began rooting out nearly identical jean jackets, purses and t-shirts stuffed in the closet. Maybe you couldn’t give a happy hoot about minimizing.

But thousands do relate to Millburn and Nicodemus, whose shared quest began with crisis.

In the same month, Milburn lost both his marriage and his mother. (He was reared by a single mother who wrestled with alcoholism.)

Nicodemus, however, who rejected the family business to chase corporate success, successfully navigated the corporate labyrinth. In fact, he was promoted again and again. Yet his victory felt hollow. He was miserable. Meanwhile, Millburn, who had lost everything and ought to have been miserable, was strangely exuberant. Why? He told Nicodemus he had lost touch with himself, while chasing after shiny, sparkly, things.

He began sorting and evaluating his possessions, wanting fewer possessions and more joy. Remember Marie Kondo’s advice that your belongings must “spark joy”?

Well, have you ever wandered through your home, evaluating an object with that in mind?

Our 1926 house has tiny closets, whose doors the Realtor avoided opening.

A century later, closets tell the story of modern life — repositories for pleasures that flickered briefly before dying in the nucleus accumbens.

My jammed full closets seem to reproach me for my magpie ways.

The Minimalists are opening an entirely different door. OH Cynthia Adams is a contributing editor to O.Henry.

O.Henry 39

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Birdwatch

Rare Bird Alert Keep an eye out for the roseate spoonbill

By Susan Campbell

With its bright pink body, the roseate

spoonbill is certainly the most distinctive and garishly colored bird in North America. And what about that odd bill? Although their typical range does not include North Carolina, spoonbills do stray into the extreme southeastern part of our state in late summer into early fall. So, if you keep your eyes peeled at this time of year, you may be lucky enough to spot one.

Research indicates that breeding colonies are found in parts of Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Unfortunately, the birds there are not widespread, even where they are regular. Loss of foraging habitat has restricted roseate spoonbills to protected areas such as wildlife refuges. Water quality has also reduced prey, as sedimentation and chemical pollution have inundated bays and estuaries in the Southeast.

There are several species of spoonbills worldwide, but roseate is the only one found on this continent. Their name comes from the birds’ bright red-pink plumage and spoon-shaped bill tip.

Their extremely sensitive mandibles snap shut around food items such as small fish, crustaceans and insects found in the shallow The Art & Soul of Greensboro

waters they probe. Roseate spoonbills swing their heads side to side as they slowly walk though brackish or saltwater. The types of foods they capture result in their bright feathers.

Those amazing pink feathers put the birds at risk of extinction during the 19th century when many spectacularly colored birds were hunted for their plumes. The wings of roseate spoonbills were, unbelievably, actually sold as fans as well as for hats and other adornments.

When these amazing birds are spotted in our state, they are almost always mixed in with other waterbirds such as herons and egrets. They are extremely gregarious year-round.

The best place to scan along the coast beginning in mid-July is Twin Lakes, in the Sunset Beach area. However, individual roseate spoonbills have also been found at Ocean Isle and North Topsail, as well as in the mouth of the Cape Fear in recent years.

Last summer, there were many reports of roseate spoonbills, not only inland in North Carolina but well to our north, including immature birds with their size and unusual bill as well as their pale pink plumage. One roseate spoonbills was sighted in Pinehurst and up to four in Woodlake. If you catch sight of one of these distinctive birds anywhere in the Sandhills or Piedmont, please let me know. OH Susan Campbell would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. Contact her at susan@ncaves.com.

O.Henry 41

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42 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Wandering Billy

True Kid Rock The band that even makes the mamas and papas very happy

By Billy [Eye] Ingram

What is a home without children? Quiet.” — Henry Youngman

Eye had the distinct pleasure to talk

music the other day with Chuck Folds who, along with Steve Willard, and Eddie Walker, constitute North Carolina’s most popular children’s act, Big Bang Boom. This whirlwind trio possesses the ability to whip toddlers and grade school youngsters — and even their parents — into a grand mal frenzy: Everyone go-go-ing, pogo-ing and slow mo-ing from the moment this band takes the stage with their almost criminally infectious lyrical concoctions.

Big Bang Boom taps into that frenetic Greensboro sound epitomized by Bus Stop in the 90s. Small wonder, it was Folds, Eddie Walker, Britt “Snuzz” Uzzell and Evan Olson who formed arguably the city’s most successful pop band around 1991. Not much more than a year later, Bus Stop entered and won Dick Clark’s USA Music Challenge — the American Idol of that decade — broadcast on national television.

Bus Stop split up in the mid-’90s. That’s when Folds, along with guitarist/vocalist Steve Willard, concentrated on their touring cover band, Rubberband. All the while, in the back of his mind, Folds was toying with the idea of forming a combo called Big Bang Boom, for no other reason than he liked the name.

“Anybody with kids in the last 20 years knows, when you have small class sizes, like 11 or 12 kids, everybody has to invite everyone in the class to their birthday party.” Attending and/or throwing a dozen birthday parties a year, it’s not long before bouncy castles, The Little Gym, even our spectacular Science Center would fail to jumpstart the youngsters or bored parents, for that matter.

“When my oldest son was about to turn 7,” Folds says, “we were like, oh my God, what are we gonna do this time?” Folds asked long-time collaborator Steve Willard to join him and, “We The Art & Soul of Greensboro

cleared out the living room, put up a bunch of lights, then played a rock show as a made-up band called Big Bang Boom.” The rug rats went Richter scale nuts, their parents just as enthusiastic.

After that electrifying 30 minute set, the adults were inquiring if Folds could perform at their offspring’s next soirée. “Well that’s funny,” he thought. “Because this isn’t really even a thing.”

Chuck Folds was scribbling down children’s songs as an aside, giving little thought to actually recording them, merely musings he noodled around with solely because he had little ones of his own. “I was hired to play bass at a recording session,” he tells me. “The producer, Ralph Covert, had a Disney children’s music show called Ralph’s World. This was around 2002.”

Covert handed Folds his latest preschooler oriented CD. That got him thinking about his own roughhewn kiddie compositions and about actually finishing them.

Since forming in 2007, all three Big Bang Boom bandmates compose the songs. They also switch off on lead vocals, backed

by Chuck Folds’ buoyantly bumping bass, Steve Willard’s kaleidoscopic guitar riffs and the action punctuated by Bus Stop alumnus Eddie Walker’s pop punk, rat-a-tat-tat, rimshot heavy riffs.

The result is an effervescent explosion of irreverent (but respectful) melodic mashups spoofing life’s most basic conundrums.

Folds and his bandmates grew up in the ’70s, were teenagers in the ’80s, before becoming parents in the ’90s. “When they were little, our kids were listening to pop bands like Cake, They O.Henry 43

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Might Be Giants and Weezer,” Folds says.

“They liked it. So we approached the arrangement, the production, the instrumentation, the melody, everything, no differently than if we were going to record a song for regular pop radio. We just adjusted the lyrical content to address kids’ and their parents’ point of view.”

Honing their craft, they’d jam on Friday afternoons at the Greensboro Children’s Museum. “One of the ladies working there loved to have us play,” Folds says. “We’d just do it for free practice space. Then we started getting paid, playing for birthday parties.”

There’s a tonal groove you may not be aware of that Big Bang Boom neatly plugged into: Kindie. That is, indie music geared for kindergarteners that won’t drive grown-ups up the bloody wall. “It’s only been in the last decade or so that parent-friendly kindie artists emerged from an underground movement to become more mainstream,” Folds tells me.

“It’s all very organic. It’s not run through major labels or record companies. This is all independent.”

You might not be surprised to learn that the kiddos today are so plugged in they have their own music festivals. “We played Lollapalooza in 2012,” Folds says.

“You have people going to Lollapalooza that attended when they were in their 20s but now they have kids. So there’s a family stage called Kidsapalooza.” (Even if such a thing had existed when I was growing up, no way my parents would have taken us!)

Can an artist really be taken seriously if their core demographic pedals around on three wheels? In 2013, a band

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Wandering Billy called the Okee Dokee Brothers won the Grammy for Best Children’s Album of the Year for their fourth disc, Can You Canoe? They subsequently garnered three more Grammy nominations. “These guys were like our heroes. That’s what really turned the corner for kindie music,” Folds says. “Because here’s a really freaking good musical group that recorded a great album and they won the Grammy.”

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, a kindie band out of Asheville, hip hopped their way to a Grammy of their own in 2017. “It’s one of the few areas in the music world that’s evolved the way it has,” Folds says. “Kind of like the way rock ’n’ roll came about.”

Word spread rapidly about Big Bang Boom. With their first album, Why Can’t I Have Ice Cream, planting aerosonic earworms into young minds around the world, Parenting magazine raved: “These former rocker dads are creating kids’ music you won’t be embarrassed to blast in the carpool line.” A great example is “Hippie Mom” from the CD Because I Said So!, with jaunty lyrics like, “With pretty flowers in her hair, she’ll let me pick the clothes I wear.” Then it ends with, “You’re so much fun I scream and shout, I want to tell the world about my hippie mom.” Check it out on YouTube.

A song the band opens their live shows with, “Big Bang Boom,” blasts out word salads like, “We’re gonna jump and shout, your underwear is inside out, don’t put boogers in your mouth, someone’s gonna throw you out!” I mean, that’s good advice no matter what your age!

Your chance to experience Big Bang Boom will come during this year’s NC Folk Festival, September 10 and 11. “How many people actually make a decent living off of music? It doesn’t happen very often,” says Folds. As a side gig, he and Steve Willard formed a cover band called SNAP! that entertains at weddings and other private events. OH

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O.Henry 45

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46 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

July ���� Evensong At opposite ends of the feeder, dangling from the buckeye by a sliver of jute, a cardinal and indigo bunting feed, seemingly oblivious to the blue and scarlet other, their self-absorption an ongoing evolutionary tick completed this very instant.

Birdseed falls into the tall grass under the tree.

The cardinal flies off, upsetting the feeder’s ballast.

It sways, wildly at first, then less and then less until less, like a hypnotist’s gold watch, while the bunting, fading by degrees into the falling blue spell of evening remains perfectly still.

— Joseph Bathanti Joseph Bathanti served as North Carolina’s poet laureate 2012-2014.

His most recent book is Light at the Seam.

48 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Chicken 101

With a wing and a prayer, you too can become a chicken tender

By David Claude Bailey Photographs by Amy Freeman & R andall Dawson

S

o you think you want chickens?

So did we years ago when we left Chapel Hill to become hippie farmers on an acre of land in Pfafftown, a bump in the road north of WinstonSalem. Just as I had realized I wasn’t cut out to be a Greek professor, I quickly figured out I wasn’t very good at being either a hippie or a farmer. Still, our little acre was soon home to way too many chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits and one goat by the name of Lucy, named after John Donne’s patroness, the Countess of Bedford. Oh, and innumerable mice. My wife, Anne, remembers our having 59 different (domestic) animals. Or maybe 59 animals had us.

So here’s Chicken 101, lesson learned No. 1: A few chickens, maybe even a pair, are plenty to begin with.

Mind you, my history with chickens goes back to when I was 5 or 6 and my daddy, who was raised on a farm, would inevitably bring home baby chicks at Easter. I loved my roosters and they seemed to love me as they came running up as soon as I sprang out the screen door to spend another day terrorizing the neighborhood. So what if I didn’t notice they really wanted to fight instead of being cuddled? And, yes, inexplicably to me at the time, the roosters would disappear, one by one, as soon as they started crowing and, lo and behold, about the same time they vanished, my mom would cook up some of her ineffable chicken and dumplings.

“Sex Link Hens, $1 a piece,” the hand-painted sign on the road to Pfafftown said, and soon my wife, Anne, and I were tending half a dozen chickens in an advanced state of molt, which is why the farmer had sold them in the first place. Duh! Yes, we were dumb clucks when it came to chickens, and there was no purinamills.com to tell us: “Birds may stop laying farm fresh eggs, lose old feathers and experience feather regrowth. This annual vacaThe Art & Soul of Greensboro

tion from egg laying is called molt.” Picture a chicken who has weathered a tornado only to be struck by lightning.

So here’s the lesson No. 2 of Chicken 101: Don’t buy molting hens, and don’t panic when three-quarters of your chickens’ feathers fall out and your kids stop wanting to have anything to do with them. The feathers will grow back and the hens will start laying eggs again — until they become broody.

What is a broody hen? “You know you have a broody hen,” say the Purina chicken-chow people, “when she decides to sit on a clutch of eggs day and night. Hens go broody because hormones drive them to hatch chicks, even when the eggs are not fertilized.”

Hormones must have driven our Old English game fowl and the golden Sebright bantams to hide their nests in the woods.

They also flew up into tall cedar trees each night to roost. I still itch all over whenever I recall shinnying up the skinny cedar as needles rained down into my clothes. But how else was I going to nab several of the hens to confine them for their laying-in?

Chicken 101, lesson learned No. 3: Making a hen house so chickens can’t get out doesn’t mean snakes, possums, raccoons and, worst of all, skunks won’t get in, eating first the eggs followed by the hens. And while I’ve got your attention, lesson learned No. 4: Never use a Havahart trap if you have skunks.

We took a break from chickens while we raised our own young’uns, and, if you omit poulet à la diable, pollo alla cacciatora and cock-a-leekie, our next encounter with chickens was decades later in Sunset Hills.

In order for our daughters to attend Kiser and Grimsley, we bought the lowest-priced house we could find in the neighborhood.

Some houses are fixer-uppers. Ours was a tearer-downer, but we had great neighbors on all sides. Back when the urban chicken thing was just gaining momentum, our very next door neighbors converted their very nice garage into an even nicer chicken coop. The O.Henry 49

next week, a shipment from MyPetChicken.com arrived — a little FedEx box that cheeped loudly and from which three of the cutest balls of fluff you’ve ever seen emerged. They blinked. They peeped.

They walked funny. They tried to fly with wings way too small. Our neighbors’ children loved them and spent quality time cuddling them — until they didn’t. Which, in my humble opinion, is the way most PetChicken experiences end. Chickens, after all, “are descended from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods, the members of which included the powerful predator Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller velociraptors.” That, according to a British poultry paleontologist.

Chicken 101, lesson learned No. 4: It’s not for nothing that people use the term “bird brain.” Keep in mind that a chicken’s brain is a tad bit larger than its eyeball. Baby chicks are cuddly and cute and lovable. Adult chickens? Not so much. Chickens are not like dogs or cats or even hamsters in the way they bond with people — or don’t.

Fowl defenders say chickens are as smart (in some ways) as a 4-yearold child. I say that depends on the 4-year-old.

Thoughts of chickens never entered my brain until COVID came along, but Anne had been yearning to return to chicken wrangling for ages. We were both retired by then and had moved to a place in the country near Alamance that had a number of outbuildings, one of which was a smokehouse. I had visions of country ham and sides of bacon hanging from the rafters. Anne saw live chickens roosting on perches. You can guess who prevailed.

What may have triggered her decision was what I call Dandy Dawson’s Chicken Ranch and Spa in Asheboro, owned and operated by my hiking buddy, Randall Dawson. Randall caught the chicken bug decades ago, read everything he could get his hands on about show chickens and ordered pedigreed stock that, over the years, took home a number of blue ribbons from local shows.

He’d built several coops for these beauties, while others of his

50 O.Henry

chickens and guineas free-ranged over his property. Fearing Anne would soon build a flock of 50-some chickens à la Pfafftown, I negotiated with Randall the “rental” of three iridescent French black copper maran hens, which were, as Randall insisted, the layers of James Bond’s favorite eggs. They were magnificent birds. They strutted and preened and laid eggs regularly, but “they gave me the stink eye,” Anne told Randall. “They don’t like me and I don’t like them. I want friendly chickens,” she said.

Our chicken whisperer suggested that Anne order some cochin bantam eggs. He’d put them under his own cochin bantam, which had just turned broody and has since assumed the role of Mamma Cochin chez nous. If Anne wanted friendly pet chickens, cochins would be ideal, our poultry consultant told us, but they needed to be hand-raised and hand-fed; picked up and fussed over.

That’s how we found ourselves near Sanford one afternoon driving down Round Fish Drive to the home of the Crazy Glamorous Chickens Farm. From the online CGCF egg store, we mooned over photos of some very strange chickens, some of which looked as if they’d been hatched on another planet: magnificent bobtail bantams, showy mille fleurs (aka millies), buff silkies and handsome calico cochins. We ended up with six calico eggs, which we had to pick up in person because a heat wave made shipping perilous. We took the eggs straight to Dandy Dawson’s, where Pappa Randall tucked them under Mamma Cochin. In three weeks, we brought Mama Cochin and her brood of only two chicks to the Smokehouse Chicken-and-So-MuchMore Compound. (The other eggs didn’t hatch, maybe because of the heat wave.) Six chickens seemed ideal to me but when I made the mistake of going sailing one weekend, I came home to a flock supplemented with two mille fleurs acquired from Happily Feathered Farm in Mooresville.

At this point I exercised my money-back guarantee and took the The Art & Soul of Greensboro

marans back to the ranch. “No fowl,” Randall said. (In fact, no money was ever exchanged. I paid for the chickens with bottles of gin and scotch.) Inevitably our tiny flock of five was hit by tragedy: For no apparent reason one of Mamma Cochin’s brood, a cockerel named Zorro, just up and died, as chickens will. He was a handsome lad whose portrait was painted by no less than Chip Holton, O.Henry Hotel’s artist in residence. But as we all know, the good die young.

Chicken 101, lesson learned No. 5: It’s best not to name your pet chickens, but how can you resist as their buffoonery and misdemeanors mirror those of your friends and colleagues?

Over the next year, Goldilocks and Mamma Cochin raised six new chicks, which Anne also hand-patted, hand-fed and, yes, named — Dotty, a mottled blue-black pullet, and her tall sister without spots, Cher. There was also Serenissima, the runt, sweet but a little dumb. Finally a hen that pecked the others and was perpetually disgruntled. We called her alternately Karen or Cruella.

Anne doted on her hens and they doted on her. To this day, Goldilocks, Anne’s favorite, refuses to fly up onto her perch at night, waiting for Anne to pick her up, whisper sweet nothings into her ears and put her in her accustomed spot.

Chicken 101, lesson learned No. 6: If you want chickens to love you, you have to love them.

And then there were the roosters — Dapper Dan, Vlad, Gray Bar and Silver Neck. Although Dapper Dan, who had developed a really long and sharp set of spurs, was definitely the alpha male, that didn’t keep the other cocks-of-the-walk from hourly challenging him and each other. They will fight to the death if you don’t separate them, though our chicken expert insists that they’ll establish a pecking order if you just leave them alone. Easy to say.

Hard to do. Two of the new cockerels suddenly decided humans needed to be put in their place. We remembered that our friends The Art & Soul of Greensboro

in Chapel Hill incurred hundreds of dollars worth of medical bills when their rooster attacked a friend, so we knew we had to thin the flock, which numbered ten chickens. Oh, by the way, by then two hens were sitting on — wait for it — 19 eggs.

So how do you eliminate three roosters that look at you as if you’re their momma and eat out of your hand? Cook them?

“Heavens, no!” said Anne. (Besides, I never, ever want to pluck another chicken.) Sell them? No way, since anyone else with chickens has a rooster surplus. Give them to city slickers? Nope, roosters are unlawful in Greensboro and a lot of other cities. We discovered that what savvy chicken farmers do is sell pairs. If someone wants a hen, great, but each hen comes with a rooster. Once we realized we would have to part with some of our hens, we were able to find a nice buyer for two of our pairs.

So the Chicken 101, lesson learned No. 7 is the toughest yet: Sooner or later you will have more chickens than you want or can keep. It’s a sticky situation once you get there, so make a plan ahead of time and stick to it.

Epilogue: Of the 19 eggs under the two hens, eight hatched.

Immediately Goldilocks and Karen started fighting over whose chicks were whose, abandoning, Deo gratias, the other eggs.

One of the baby chicks had to be “re-lived” as our neighbor in Pfafftown called it. And on Mother’s Day, Anne fed her ailing little chick with an eye dropper, cuddling it and warming it up in a shoe box. Now it struts with the best of them.

Dapper Dan had a recent close encounter with a coyote, but survived. The flock size, admittedly, has swollen to 14. Karen and Graybar are currently being marketed. Others will follow.

So you think you want chickens?

We got ’em. $10 a pair! OH David Claude Bailey, a contributing editor to O.Henry, spends his days growing tomatoes, counting chickens and fixing other people’s grammar.

O.Henry 51

Man, Dog &

Phot g

A 17-year-old uses a Nikon to explore the connection between people and pups

By Cassie Bustamante • Photographs by Evan Harris

O

ver the years, 17-year-old Evan Harris has received gifts from his father that have sparked new interests and hobbies, including a guitar and a hiking backpack. But it was the Nikon D750 his dad gave him just over two years ago that opened up the door to a creative foray into photography. Armed with his brand-new SLR equipment plus a vast library of online tutorials and YouTube videos, Harris began shooting friends and family, discovering a passion for portraiture. It wasn’t long before he found that he had a knack for capturing people with pups.

Of course, any new hobby comes with new hobby needs, and Harris soon found himself buying new lenses, off-camera flashes and speedlights, purchased with earnings from working at Lowes Foods. After investing so much time and money into honing his craft, he was ready to make the leap into entrepreneurship. Harris’ warm and vibrant work focuses mainly on senior photos, including high school events such as High Point Christian Academy’s formal, and he shares it on Instagram at @evanharrisphotography.

“I have no artistic background. I never took any art classes,” says Harris, “but I’d read about AP Studio Art.” He approached the Advance Placement art teacher and asked about using photography as his medium. Harris didn’t quite meet the prerequisite of having taken two art classes, but because he’d shared his work on social media, the teacher told him he’d “seen his stuff” and allowed him to join the small class.

It was this class that prompted Harris to explore a subject, layers deep. He opted to consider the connection between humans and man’s best friend. “It’s kinda hard to fail someone taking pictures of dogs and people,” he laughs, his dark brown eyes gleaming. “The class has helped me go from just taking portraits of people to telling more in-depth stories.”

What started with the gift of a camera has turned into a potential pathway to Harris’ dreams. As he makes his way to Wake Forest University next month, he hopes to continue on his photo-journalistic journey, writing and shooting for the student newspaper, the Old Gold & Black, with an ultimate goal of one day being “a foreign correspondent somewhere or maybe a geeky columnist for The New York Times.” Being a guest contributor to O.Henry seems to us like a good start? OH

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Natural Born Model Pet adoptions across the country peaked during the pandemic. While many of Harris’ friends have had their pups for a while, Marlee’s family brought their American bulldog, Chyna, home in 2020. While still very young, Harris says she was the best behaved dog he photographed: “She just padded around and sat for the camera.” Some dogs are just born with it. Chyna and Marlee are pictured during sunset at Price Park.

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Wait for It What’s the trick to getting these fourlegged clients to pose for the camera? “A lot of patience is the key,” says Harris.

And, of course, he is sure to bring treats.

These man-and-dog shoots can be as quick as 20–30 minutes or last up to three hours. Pictured here is Emory with her dog, Gracie, at Lindley Park.

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Who Owns Whom?

“They have us,” says Harris of the family’s own two dogs, a Belgian Malinois named Tuco, and Fluffy, who is a Bichon Frise.

“She’s 6 and still has a super-high drive.

They call it the ‘Bichon blitz,’” Harris says, explaining the rare opportunity he happened upon when his 12-year-old brother, Carson, sat with a relatively calm Fluffy on a park bench in Charleston, South Carolina.

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Home Is Where the Dog Is Camila, who worked with Harris at Lowes Foods, left Columbia to come to the United States — as did her dog, Tina.

Because of their origin-story connection, Camila has a tattoo on her forearm, featuring her shaggy companion, mouth open, perhaps in a smile. Harris captured Tina with the same expression, nuzzled in the crook of her owner’s tattooed arm.

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Getting to Know the Person Behind the Dog

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Harris’ mission throughout shooting this series was to bring out the owners’ personalities as well as that of their dogs. He went into Ssalefish Comics in Greensboro to take photos of Stephen and his French bulldog, Lois, who is known to wander leisurely around the shop. Harris knew where to find a good story, but he was still surprised to get to know people he already knew on a much more intimate level. “You could have the toughest guy ever, and he’s making baby voices,” says Harris. “People are really vulnerable around their dogs.”

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Trending While most of the photos in his series exploring the connection between humans and dogs feature friends who volunteered to be subjects, others asked Harris to try to capture their special bond with their own fur balls.

Kendall, a student at UNCG, reached out to Harris to be part of this series with her black-and-white pal, Pluto.

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Snip Snap Harris’ latest image captures man-andbest-friend at work together. On a recent trip to Swivel Barbershop for a haircut, he happened to notice his stylist’s dog, Gordo, nearby and asked to snap a photo.

Gordo and his human, Chase, were happy to oblige — don’t be fooled by Gordo’s look of indifference. Harris says, “I’m getting better every time I take photos.” OH

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

O.Henry 59

L ve in Bl m Dewberry Farm, a beautiful place for new beginnings

By Ross Howell Jr. Photographs by Lynn Donovan

W

endi and Art Johnson are the owners of Dewberry Farm, a private farmhouse in Kernersville that hosts weddings, receptions and rehearsal dinners, along with three public events — a spring, you-pick, tulip festival, a summer, you-pick, sunflower festival and a Mother’s Day traditional British tea and flower buffet.

Wendi is originally from Alta Loma, California, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, and moved to this area 31 years ago. Art, an electrician by trade, worked with Starr Electric in Greensboro before starting his own electrical business — which he still runs.

The two became acquainted when Wendi and her husband joined Pine Grove United Methodist Church in Kernersville, where Art was also a congregant. Sadly, Wendi’s husband passed away, leaving her a widow and leaving Art…interested. So he phoned her.

But Wendi — still shaken by the loss of her husband — wasn’t ready for companionship.

“Art was very kind and very patient,” Wendi says. “But he was persistent!”

Art’s parents, who’d attended Pine Grove Methodist since the 1930s, had also become attached to the young widow.

“One day,” Wendi continues, “Art’s Dad said to me, ‘I’m going to adopt you as one of my children.’”

“I think they felt sorry for me,” she says.

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Art says he quickly took his father aside.

“I said, ‘Dad, you can’t adopt her. I’m trying to date her!’”

Then one day, Wendi decided if Art phoned again, she’d talk with him.

Art being Art, he called, suggesting that Wendi come out to the farm to have a look at his horses.

“I love horses,” Wendi says.

As they drove into the property, she saw Art’s house for the first time.

“Funny thing is, I always wanted to live in a big yellow farmhouse,” Wendi says. “And here it stands!”

She explains that the relationship “just went from there, from friends, to being there for each other.” In time, romance blossomed.

“By January 2007, Wendi and I pretty much knew we were getting married,” Art says. He gestures toward a window.

“The lawn there at that time was a riding ring that my daughter used to work her horses for showing,” he says. Since his daughter had lost her interest in horses, he decided to take the riding ring down and sow grass.

That spring, he built a pergola and installed a fountain.

“No landscaping,” Wendi says.

“No landscaping — just grass, the pergola and the fountain,” Art laughs.

Wendi and Art were married at that spot — the first couple to exchange vows on the property.

Soon after, when close friends asked if they could have a wedding there, the Johnsons talked it over and agreed.

“After the ceremony, we thought, ‘You know, this is not too

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

bad,’” Art says. “The property works well for it, so we decided to see if we could do weddings here.”

Dewberry Farm is a 20-acre parcel in a larger tract of some 100 acres purchased by Art’s grandfather, Ash Johnson, in 1925. Most of the information Art has about the land comes from his 98-yearold father, Don, who lives just up the farm lane.

“You probably saw him out on his mower when you drove in,” Art chuckles.

Tobacco was the main crop of the original farm. Art remembers two dilapidated tobacco barns still standing when he was a boy.

“They were pole barns on the point of collapsing,” Art says. “By the time I was 18, we wound up taking them down completely.”

Ash Johnson also grew sorghum and had a mule-driven press used to crush sap from the stalks that was cooked down to make molasses. Neighbors would also bring their sorghum to be pressed.

“We’ve run across people who remember coming here on pressing day,” Art says. “It’d be a big gathering, with people bringing covered dishes and hanging out for the evening.”

After his grandfather died in 1957, Art’s grandmother remarried and moved to Colfax. The farm sat vacant, and the original house burned down in 1961. Today’s yellow farmhouse was built near the old home place site in 1989.

Art and Wendi began to make improvements to the property, speaking with neighbors and county officials about their hopes and plans.

“There were issues, of course,” says Art. He explains that a piece of state legislation enacted in 2010 supporting North Carolina agritourism helped facilitate the process.

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When it came time to name the road accessing the property, Art and Wendi thought of the nickname Art’s father had been given when he worked at Piedmont Airlines.

“He still won’t tell us how he got the nickname ‘Dewberry,’” Wendi laughs.

And so Dewberry Farm Lane became a county road. And Art and Wendi have been hosting weddings at Dewberry Farm for 11 years.

They tell me about the farm’s four-footed attractions.

“We have three quarter horses, a pony, a miniature horse, a miniature donkey, two Babydoll sheep, four Nubian goats . . . and a bunny!” Wendi says.

Mention of the animals reminds Art to tell me about the horse barn.

“Back in 2008, with the recession, business was waning,” Art says. Since he’d always wanted to build a horse barn on the property and had more time on his hands, he decided to get one of the men who worked for him to help harvest trees on the farm.

“So we dropped the trees, got them all stacked in piles, then figured out what we needed as far as lumber size,” Art says. When the site was ready in the summer of 2010, a friend of his who owns a portable sawmill brought it over.

For a month on weekends they milled lumber, stickering and stacking it to cure. In the spring of 2011, they began construction.

The plan was to make four stalls, with windows in front. “I love seeing horses poke their head out a stall,” Wendi says.

The project was nearly finished in June, right around the time they had their first bride scheduled.

“Oh, she was so sweet,” says Wendi. And it was raining cats and dogs on her big day.

So the Johnsons called family, who spent hours helping them get the new barn cleaned up and presentable for a wedding.

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“Art begged me not to post a picture of her getting married in that barn,” Wendi adds. “But of course, I did.” The next day Dewberry Farm’s phone was ringing off the hook with brides asking if they could use the barn.

“So there went my horse barn,” Art says.

“We never stalled it and there are church pews now,” Wendi says. “The only animals ever in it were our first litter of piglets.”

She laughs. “But we do use it for hay!”

The signature of Dewberry Farms?

“I love flowers,” Wendi says. Some time ago she was doing research and saw an article about Burnside Farms in Virginia, a huge tulip grower. Wendi was intrigued. Networking with other North Carolina agritourism farms, she’d seen that many had youpick events, mainly for fruit.

“I asked Art, ‘What do you think about this? Could we do this?’”

The couple reached out to Burnside Farms and traveled up to talk with them. Burnside also produces sunflowers — a summer crop that’s much easier to plant.

Sunflowers became Dewberry Farm’s first crop.

“We feel if we’re going to ask people to pay to come in and pick flowers, we have to give them access to see the flowers,” Wendi says. So the Johnsons plant their sunflowers in beds, five rows to each bed, all sown with a hand-operated seeder.“It’s more labor intensive,” Wendi adds, “but that’s how we think it looks pretty.”

Between the beds are grass walkways for customers. Wendi plants only bouquet sunflowers — 19 different varieties.

After the first you-pick event with sunflowers, Art and Wendi decided to give tulips a try the following spring. It was a project that would put the perseverance Art had demonstrated in his courtship of Wendi to another test.

Through a local hardware store, they discovered Rooteveel Bulb Company in Holland as a direct supplier.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

“They’re fantastic!” Art says. “The first year they came out to our property and checked our soil and inspected the bulbs.” Now, they come every year right before the tulips are ready bloom.

“We started with 40,000 bulbs,” Wendi says. “Art made this board that had pegs in it.”

Two workers would put the board on the ground with the pegs down and jump on it, driving the pegs into the soil. When the board was pulled up, other workers would place the bulbs in the holes by hand. Then repeat.

It was hard, slow work.

“The guys who did the planting were in my electrical business,” Art says. “Fortunately, they’re healthy, strapping guys who don’t mind being punished. It worked out well, but it was tough.”

It took the Johnsons two weeks to get the first crop of tulips in the ground.

The second year they planted 50,000 bulbs, using the same process.

When they decided they wanted to try 100,000 bulbs, they knew they’d have to find another method. Art put on his research cap.

“We figured the only way we could plant anything over 50,000 was to have some type of machine,” Art says.

Unfortunately, the bulb planting machines made in Holland are massive — designed for big, level fields, not small farms in the North Carolina Piedmont. The tractors needed to pull these machines are equally massive — and tremendously expensive to buy and transport.

Then Art came across a garlic-planting machine online that was manufactured in Poland. He found a representative for the company who was located just outside Ottawa, Canada.

“So we show up there and the rep has this plot of land where he uses this machine himself for planting garlic,” Art says. The machine was about four feet wide and six feet long with a hopper to hold bulbs. It was drawn by a tractor with a three-point hitch.

“The planter has two seats, you know, like the old tobacco setters,” Art says. He gave the rig a test run and decided — with modifications — the machine would work for planting tulip bulbs at Dewberry Farm.

“I thought, ‘This is going to be great,’” he says. “I never even thought about spending time trying the planter out before it was time to use it.”

“We just ran into all kinds of issues,” Wendi says. “And it was a super wet year. It just wouldn’t quit raining.”

“And the planter doesn’t like wet,” Art adds.

With mechanical challenges and the wet season, it was December before all 100,000 bulbs were in the ground.

While some additional changes to the planter were made at a friend’s machine shop that spring, most of the issues were resolved by finding a tractor with a lower gear ratio so it could pull at a slower ground speed.

“The next year it worked much better,” Art says. “And we found what we needed to do with the soil. It needs to be thoroughly tilled, but then recompacted, so it’s not so fluffy.”

Tulip planting this season went even better.

“This year in three-and-a-half days we put in 105,000 bulbs,” The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Art says. He reflects for a moment.

“My favorite thing is the tulips,” Art says. “It’s like . . . spring is here. And you see how many people have come and are enjoying what they’re doing. And this was our best tulip crop ever.”

“It was stunning,” he concludes.

Wendi agrees this spring’s tulips were the prettiest.

“For me, the Mother’s Day tea . . . that’s fun!” she says. She tells me the caterer is the same person who catered her own wedding on the farm.

“I used to work with her years ago,” Wendi says. “Her husband is British, so her father-in-law makes the clotted cream for the meal. It’s all china and pretty linens.”

After tea, Art takes the mothers on a garden tour.

“In the barn, there’s a buffet of fresh cut flowers that we grew in the garden,” Wendi says. “Roses and peonies and more.”

When the garden tour is finished, the mothers go through a line in the barn, making themselves bouquets of Dewberry Farms’ lovingly grown flowers to take home.

For more information about weddings and events at Dewberry Farm, go to www.dewberrymanor.com.

Ross Howell Jr. is an O. Henry contributor. Contact him at ross.howell1@gmail.com.

O.Henry 63

By Ross Howell Jr. 64 O.Henry

. Photographs By Lynn Donovan The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Jasmine Joy

&

Big Puff Acupuncturist Heather Grant’s journey

O

n walks with Sprinkles, I’d often noted a business sign for Paradox Wellness in front of a two-story brick building on Bessemer Avenue, just around the block from where we live.

What both Sprinkles and I especially remarked as we passed was a black-and-white dog about the size of a Shetland pony poking his head between the balusters of the upstairs patio.

Turns out he’s a 1-year-old puppy named Big Puff. He’s in training as a service dog and patient greeter.

His person is Heather Grant, DACM (Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine), the owner of Paradox Wellness.

And like many dog stories, this one is about a journey.

Heather moved to Greensboro from northern New Jersey when she was a teenager. Her father, an engineer, had taken a new job and was building a house for the family in Lake Jeanette. Heather first attended high school in McLeansville, then transferred to Page High School.

Since she’d taken extra classes as a student in New Jersey, “I had a lot of flexibility my senior year,” Heather says. “It was neat, because I took four art classes and AP chemistry.”

Accepted to North Carolina State University, Heather enrolled in chemical engineering.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do,” she says, “but my Dad’s an engineer, and since I’m really good in math and science, everybody in the family would say, ‘Heather’s going to be an engineer.’”

But an elective class in cultural anthropology at NCSU opened a path quite different from traditional chemical engineering — though it still involved chemistry.

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“I wanted to go live with the Yanomami tribe in the rainforest of Brazil,” Heather says, “and learn about their natural medicines.”

So her sophomore year, Heather changed her major to anthropology. She applied to participate in the NCSU ethnographic field school program in Costa Rica.

Not long after she arrived in Costa Rica, a man broke through Heather’s window and assaulted her. To this day she copes with posttraumatic stress disorder.

“I tried to stay in the program but I just couldn’t sleep,” she says.

“I decided I didn’t want to be an ethnographer anymore.”

So Heather returned to North Carolina, deciding the Outer Banks might be a good place to heal. She wound up staying there for five years, mostly in Corolla. She found a roommate to share expenses, a woman who had lived on the Outer Banks for more than 40 years.

“My roommate was really neat,” Heather says. Importantly, her roomie taught her a good trade — bartending.

“But I didn’t want to spend my whole life tending bar on the Outer Banks,” she continues. “I wanted to do more.”

Heather describes waking up one night from a dream. “I just felt like I had to go back and finish school,” she says.

As she was leaving the Outer Banks, Heather stopped at

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Sanderling Resort to get a massage.

“The therapist told me that if I liked what he did, I would love what his wife did with her needles,” Heather says. “That’s how I discovered acupuncture.”

A few months after returning to Greensboro to be near her family, she came across a stray puppy at a gas station off Bessemer Avenue.

It was life changing.

“That was Jasmine Joy,” Heather says. She brought the puppy home: “She was my companion.”

The two lived together in an apartment on Hendrix Street, very near the location of her business today. When Heather found she needed to move out of her apartment, she decided to take an even bigger step.

She loaded puppy Jasmine in her car and traveled cross country to study at Yo San University of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Los Angeles.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

“My study was really intense,” Heather says. Typically, a Master’s degree requires four years of year-round, full-time study.

Not only did Heather have to work in order to pay for school and support herself, but she also lost stability function in her left ear in reaction to a medication.

“The spinning was so bad,” she comments, “I was hardly able to open my eyes.”

“That’s when I trained Jasmine to be a service dog,” Heather says. “She just saved me.”

It took Heather five-and-a-half years to complete her degree.

After a decade in California, degree and license in hand, she returned to Greensboro.

“I flew on travel miles and Jasmine flew first class so she’d have enough leg room,” she laughs.

Heather opened Paradox Wellness at the corner of Bessemer Avenue and Elm Street on January 4, 2017. Her residence was an upstairs apartment in downtown Greensboro.

Then Jasmine became paralyzed in her hips.

The dog weighed 65 pounds, too heavy for Heather to carry up and down steps.

“I moved into my business because it was on ground level,” she says. “I got her a wheelchair.” And she treated Jasmine with acupuncture every day.

“People thought I should’ve put her down,” Heather adds, “but I see this medicine do miracles all the time.”

Jasmine finally was able to walk again and enjoyed her last few months.

“When she died, I just sat on my couch and stared,” Heather says. “She was a great dog.”

Heather whispers, “I pray about her every day.”

She had no plans to get another dog.

But after moving into her current location, Heather kept having what she calls an “intuition.”

“It was Jasmine, really, saying, ‘Look for a dog, look for a dog,’” Heather recalls.

“And I would say, ‘I’m not ready!’” she continues.

Eventually Heather Googled, and up popped a 25-pound, 10-week-old, last-of-the-litter son of a Newfoundland mother and Great Pyrenees father. Both breeds are heralded for their strength, calm demeanor and size — adults can weigh 150 pounds.

Heather drove out to visit the couple who owned the puppy.

“I told them my heart’s not attached to this,” Heather explains, “but I want to see if we choose each other, you know? So I went over and sat next to him.”

“And he chose me,” Heather says. “When I was first beside him, he was kind of reserved and then he was panting and doing his big smile and the woman said to her husband, ‘I feel good about that, do you feel good about that?’ And he said, ‘I feel good about that,’ and I said, ‘I feel good about that,’ and that was that.”

Almost. Heather, at the time, drove a Fiat. When a friend saw Big Puff in the car, the friend told her, “You’re going to need a new car.”

So she changed her lease to a Ford Ecosport, and realized that vehicle also was too small. Now Heather has a Honda Pilot.

“Having a dog, that’s a lifestyle, that’s a huge commitment,” Heather says.

“I love Puff so much,” she continues. “He brings me so much joy, but he’s not a replacement for Jasmine. I love him in his own special way.”

Then there’s his job. Heather tells me how he loves to greet the patients. He likes to lie outside their treatment rooms, guarding them. When treatment is finished, he likes to accompany patients to the door.

“I have a lot of people I’m treating with acupuncture for anxiety,” Heather says. “When they come in for the first time, some of them aren’t real excited about the idea of needles, right? But having Puff here helps calm them. They’ll say, ‘I’m so happy he’s here.’”

“Everybody loves Puff,” Heather says.

“I’ve learned in life you can’t plan a lot of things,” she continues. “You have to stay flexible and keep moving forward. I always ask myself, ‘How can I make my dream workable for Puff?’”

We’re sitting in Heather’s office, another point in her journey. The room is painted a dark, soothing color. I see glittering glass jars of Chinese herbs — her apothecary — in an adjoining room.

Big Puff lies on the floor by my chair, resting his big head on his paws.

“I found Jasmine right up the street,” Heather says. “I don’t know what the significance of this little block of Fisher Park is, but for some reason, there’s something here that has always pulled me back.”

The windows behind her are decorated with jasmine flowers.

Heather explains how patients come to her thinking they have all sorts of individual things wrong with them, while Chinese medicine looks at diagnoses in terms of patterns.

“It’s awesome,” she says. “I treat a lot of difficult cases — Bell’s palsy, Ramsay Hunt syndrome, stroke patients, insomniacs — and I get to watch this medicine create joy in people’s lives.”

“I have what I wanted,” Heather continues. “It just didn’t come to me the way I thought it would. All these beautiful things happen, but it can be hard roads to get there.”

She pauses, reflecting.

“And Puff makes everything so much better,” Heather concludes. Then smiles. OH

Having a dog, that’s a lifestyle, that’s a huge commitment.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Ross Howell Jr.’s novel, Forsaken, was nominated for the 2017 Southern Book Prize in Historical Fiction. It’s available wherever books are sold.

O.Henry 67

Billy and Lynne Lee’s Collaboration

A Fisher Park fixer-upper serves as a canvas to a world-renowned sculptor and his creative wife

By Cynthia Adams Photographs by Amy Freeman

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C

ertain houses, even sadly neglected ones, possess a transcendent something or other.

And some people can sense when a house possesses good bones and can be coaxed back from an insidious decline to a miraculous resurrection.

Billy and Lynn Lee are like that, visionaries who are equal parts artist and restorationist. Billy is a renowned sculptor and UNCG professor emeritus of art, while Lynne is a former textile designer. Together, this formidable duo possess the eye and the dogged tenacity to take on the seven deadly sins of ailing houses — dropped ceilings, peeling walls and moldering floors just for starters — plus issues beyond the visible.

Having spent years in Britain immersed in art and architecture, the Lees acquired a weakness for ailing houses, particularly charming older ones.

Across town from the Lee’s former home, a languishing Fisher Park bungalow awaited restoration. House rehab, even CPR. Having suffered a serious drubbing from neglect, it somehow, despite all, conveyed possibilities.

The red brick house with, of course, an inviting front porch sat close to the street, one defined by the district’s signature granite curbing.

Yet the bungalow’s best qualities were hidden. For most potential buyers in 1994, the listing sent off-putting distress signals. (I know, having seen the house while house hunting that year.) Not for Lynne.

“I like the feeling of the house,” Lynne says. “From the outside, it looks like a modest, unassuming house. People walk by and don’t even notice it. Inside, it’s a surprise.

The rooms are lovely, big.”

Nonetheless, it was besieged with a host of challenges, but none beyond the Lees’ combined talents.

Inside were layers of paint, unsightly sprayed ceilings and the remnants of its The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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student rental past. Clunky dead bolt locks defaced interior doors, and some of the original interior French doors had been removed.

Like a lot of bungalows, it had only two bedrooms, one full-sized bathroom in need of repair and another half bath — stranded all the way out on the back porch. The kitchen was woefully dreary and, like everything else, needed attention.

Yet when Lynne was shown the house by her real estate agent, she picked up on something ineffable.

She loved the location. Even as an avid gardener, Lynne was not put off by the tiny front garden, nor by the rear garden, lacking privacy, which had a ramshackle garage and old iron swing.

And yet . . . this was a place she could love.

The bungalow was everything their former house was not.

It had possibilities and history.

According to the National Register nomination and city directories, the house was originally built between 1920–24.

Additionally, records shared by Mike Cowhig, a neighbor of the Lees who works in historic preservation, indicate the original occupant was Harry Marks, a merchant who owned the Fashion Hat Store and O.Henry Shirt Company. (In 1939, Marks got into hot water, facing the Federal Trade Commission over accusations his shirts were not preshrunk as advertised.)

Great history. “Great house!” Cowhig adds.

Also, the nomination noted that bungalows were the most The Art & Soul of Greensboro

popular and prevalent house style in Fisher Park, where 145 were built. The half-mile-square district also featured 60 foursquares, the next most popular style — but bungalows dominated.

The Lees were ready to ditch their home — “A new build. A small house,” according to Lynn — and go.

That “new” home, convenient to daughter Chloe’s school, was too new.

Worse, the deck had revealed a disconcerting problem — rot!

The Lees were disillusioned that such a new house was sprouting old house problems.

With Chloe soon to finish school, there was no reason not to look elsewhere, preferably in established neighborhoods.

Lynne recalls beginning their search in earnest. “Our real estate agent took us to four or five houses that day.”

Finally, their agent showed Lynne the bungalow. “When she showed me this house, I said, ‘This is it!’ I knew that, even though it was in a horrible state,” she says.

When she later returned with Billy, he agreed with her assessment.

They saw the same underlying potential: a good interior layout, good light and good bones, in an ideal location.

Where anyone else might have bolted, seeing only problems, they felt a pull. This house needed them.

Billy and Lynne Lee. O.Henry 71

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Born on opposite sides of the world, they both arrived as undergraduate art students at Birmingham College of Art and Design in Great Britain with ambitions to excel in the arts.

Billy was from Uitenhage, South Africa, while Lynne was born in the U.K. Billy completed graduate school at the Royal College of Art in London.

“We got married in London before we came over,” says Lynne with a still perceptible, plummy British accent. Billy earned a prestigious Kennedy scholarship to MIT, bringing the couple to the United States.

The Lees formed a creative and artful lifelong partnership.

When Billy joined the art faculty at UNCG, they got to know the Gate City.

“Chloe was a little girl, age 7, when we came here to Greensboro,” says Lynne. “We used to go to Fisher Park, taking a picnic, and she would play in a stream.” The fixer-upper was within walking distance of that stream.

“We bought in 1994. Moved in September,” she says. Damage control began.

“We moved in, redoing downstairs first.” Chloe, now a teen, had the upstairs floor.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Lynne recalls redoing the full bathroom as an early project: “There were only one-and-a-half baths,” she recalls. “It was awful!”

Give-and-take ensued. Initially, Lynne wanted to paint over the exterior red brick, but Billy disagreed. Lynne disliked the living room fireplace, but removal would have cost thousands. So, they whitewashed it.

Stonemason Andrew Leopold Schlosser probably did the stonework, Lynne confides. (And, yes, that was the great-grandfather of O.Henry’s former contributing editor Jim Schlosser.)

Whereas Lynne originally wanted it banished, she’s now glad it stayed. “There were other things we needed. And I like it now.”

She enumerates stages of renovation. “We started work on it, putting in four new ceilings downstairs because somebody had done that textured stuff,” says Lynne, cringing.

“We replaced all the ceiling moldings. We did it all ourselves.”

Painstakingly.

“We wanted to make changes but in keeping with the original house,” says Lynne. Once you start major changes such as knocking out multiple walls, she says, it’s easy to “lose the original feeling of the house. And that’s a shame.”

Scraping, planing, priming, even plugging holes left by the many dead bolts, a vestige of the rental years.

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74 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

“The woodwork in this house had about 12 layers of paint on it. We did it room-by-room.”

“Billy even took out the window frames and planed them down to restore them.” Every cabinet and feature in the course of renovation was the duo’s design and handiwork.

They kept the footprint. Originally, “the kitchen was formerly a pantry, small dining nook and a small kitchen.” It didn’t make sense, says Lynne, to have three separate, very small places.

“Billy couldn’t work during school time,” says Lynne. He worked during summers when he had a block of time. “So, we did the kitchen in two parts,” says Lynne.

“The first year, we knocked the wall down. The second year, we redid the other half of the kitchen.”

Billy built new kitchen cabinets that extend to the ceiling. He poured concrete countertops, which emulated stone. Despite really liking them, “Eventually, though, they broke down — perhaps because they required sealing.” They replaced them with quartz.

She would sketch out her ideas, and Billy would execute them. As a sculptor, he was adept at creating and building structures, including custom cabinets in the dining room.

“We redid the utility room, raising the porch roof,” Lynne says. A downstairs half bath beyond the kitchen received a makeover.

They never regretted buying their little bungalow, even as the projects expanded and demanded Billy’s summers and free time. Step by step, the Lees redid everything themselves, “except the electrical wiring and plumbing.”

Was there a moment when they thought, We can’t do this?

“No. I don’t think so. Never,” says Lynne firmly. Their home and garden became their canvas.

And there was enough affection and excitement to see it through.

As time allowed, they planned an en suite bath for Chloe’s upstairs’ aerie, which ran the width of the house.

They had taken care to orient the bed and canopy on the slanting ceiling

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

O.Henry 75

in such a way that light could still flood the room. Building a standard wall and door for the new bath might block incoming light, which Lynne considered to be the space’s best feature.

“Billy sandblasted the glass in the door to allow for light,” Lynne says.

They “already had a clawfoot tub we had found in Raleigh,” says Lynne, who sometimes goes upstairs to read, now that Chloe is married and living in the Triangle.

The radiant home of two artists, its magic has been completely revealed.

The interiors, replete with custom built-ins, cabinetry, radiator covers and even original crystal door knobs, are like an art installation.

Unable to resist them when Lynne goes to the grocery, there are always fresh-cut white flowers out, lilies or roses, in creamware or crystal.

Then there are the garden’s outdoor rooms. Billy created a unifying structure of elevations, pathways and beds. A decade later, he added impressive hardscaping: fencing, trellises, arbors, a pergola and table, even steel tuteurs for the roses, all made by Billy’s two hands.

The plantings mean a constant blooming palate, from roses and tree peonies in spring giving way to plumbago, hydrangea and annuals in the summer. Lynne masses plantings of bearded irises, garden phlox and lilies. Potted citrus trees — which winter indoors — grow lush outside over summer.

In 2004, their garden was featured in Garden Homes and Outdoor Living. “By placing tall plants and structures strategically, it became a three-dimensional space — like a home without a

76 O.Henry

ceiling,” the writer enthused. “Billy’s forte is structure with the garden; Lynne is the planter.”

For all her gardening devotion, Lynne isn’t a purist. She doesn’t care about the Latin names for flowers. Instead, she cares about the flowers’ colors, favoring whites and pastels, scent and blooming season. (“Nothing lasts long here,” she says ruefully.)

The Lees have “before” pictures, before the present-day vision was realized, when the back garden was neither private nor lovely.

In time, Billy placed three of his own sculptures outdoors, where they can enjoy them while having coffee or drinks.

Greensboro’s Public Art Endowment’s first work is his Guardian II, a large sculpture at 201 South Eugene St., donated by Jane and Richard Levy. One of his pieces was recently acquired by Bill Sherrill for his art collection at Red Oak Brewery.

With an international following, Billy recently published a book of his works, entitled simply Billy Lee. Trevor Richardson, director of Herter Art Gallery at the University of Amherst, brings Billy’s astonishing body of work into focus, commenting that, “Billy Lee’s work could be said to be part of our experience . . .

His tenacious way of dealing with it through his art offers — at the very least — a profound source of encouragement to us all.””

Now the house and garden to which Lynne and Billy Lee have given so much of their time and effort is reciprocating. When peonies bloomed in May, Lynne frequently found Billy in the garden with his camera. He was shooting the peonies for their figurative qualities, she explained. And they will inspire new work: sculpture he is considering. OH Cynthia Adams is a contributing editor to O.Henry Magazine.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

A L M A N A C

July

By Ashley Walshe

All Ears, Baby

J

uly is the great melon harvest, a bellyful of sweetness, the mother lode of summer.

In the sun-soaked garden, swollen fruit ripens on tangled vines. A green-striped wonder steals the show. One hundred days ago, when the Earth was newly soft, a flat, dark seed journeyed from palm to soil — a token from last summer. A tiny stem rose from the dirt. Leaves emerged. Vines ran in all directions. After an explosion of tiny yellow flowers: an explosion of tiny green fruits.

Today, a whopper.

The watermelon tells you when it’s ready. Sort of sings out, sending a signal through its smooth, thick rind. You give it a thwack, close your eyes and listen. The sound is rich and resonant — pitch perfect — like the beat of a primal drum.

The tendril closest to the fruit is shriveled and brown, just as it should be. And when you roll the melon over, another telltale sign: the yellow field spot on its underside.

Its aroma is the final giveaway. Not too strong. But even through the rind, the sweetness is undeniable.

You gently twist the melon from the stem, carry it in your arms like a sacred offering. Everyone knows that a watermelon isn’t just a watermelon. It’s an entire cosmos, the culmination of summer. Inside, a vibrant pink world is studded with hundreds of tiny black seeds. When you sink your teeth into that half-moon slice, the flavor hits you at once. You taste spring rains and summer days; bee tongue and butterfly kisses; the nectar of the journey and the freshness of the right-now.

As pink rivulets run down your chin and fingers, you want for nothing more. Because in this moment — wet, sticky and sweet — summer is everything.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Nothing says Fourth of July like bread and butter pickles.

Blueberry picking. Watermelon ice cream. And did someone mention sweet corn?

Platinum Lady or Bodacious?

Regardless, fresh is best.

Make shucking a family thing (the kids still think it’s fun).

Bring out the salt and pepper. Loads of butter. And if you’re the one behind the grill, you can’t go wrong with pure and simple.

The best memories always are.

Watermelon — it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.

— Enrico Caruso

Super Buck Moon Native Americans called this month’s moon the Buck Moon since male deer antlers, which were velvety nubs back in the spring, have reached full maturation by July. Also called the Thunder Moon and the Hay Moon, this month’s full moon rises on Wednesday, July 13 — the second and final super moon of the year. No matter what you call it, you can expect totally dreamy. OH

O.Henry 77

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 81

July 2022

Social at the Stacks

7/

7/

8

Although a conscientious effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, all events are subject to change and errors can occur. Please call to verify times, costs, status and location before planning or attending an event.

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS TUESDAYS PILATES IN THE PARK. 4:30–5:30 p.m. Join Axis Pilates for a low-impact core workout appropriate for all fitness levels. Free. LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: greensborodowntownparks.org/calendar.

TUESDAY TUNE-UP. 5:30–6:30 p.m. Enjoy different fitness classes each week, hosted by Lawn Service.

Free. LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info:

82 O.Henry

Family Art Night

greensborodowntownparks. org/calendar.

WEDNESDAYS CRAFTERNOON. 6–6:30 p.m. Children ages 6–12 are invited to join in an evening of arts and crafts. Free. Vance Chavis Branch Library, 900 S. Benbow Road, Greensboro.

Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

MUSIC IN A BOTTLE. 7–9 p.m. Stop in at Lawn Service to eat, drink and take in the sweet sounds of summer with free live music and weekly wine specials. Free admission. LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: greensborodowntownparks. org/calendar.

THURSDAYS CYCLING CLUB. 6–8:30

Drag Queen Storytime

13 p.m. Cyclists meet weekly for an easy ride. Free. LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: greensborodowntownparks.org/calendar.

FRIDAYS TUNES @ NOON. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Enjoy live music and food truck grub in Market Square.

Free admission. LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro.

Info: greensborodowntownparks.org/calendar.

SATURDAYS CITY SUNSET CONCERT SERIES. 7–9 p.m. Bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket for a night of live entertainment. Free. LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro.

Info: greensborodowntownparks.org/calendar.

7/

30

SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS BATTLEFIELD TOURS. 1:30–2:30 p.m. & 3–4 p.m.

Summer guided battlefield tours from the park’s visitor center continue weekly until September 4. Free. Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, 2332 New Garden Road, Greensboro. Info: nps.gov.

SUNDAYS KARAOKE & LINE DANCING. 4–7 p.m. DJ Energizer lays down tracks for a fun evening of singing and dancing. Free. Center City Park, 200 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: greensborodowntownparks.org/calendar.

EVENING IN THE PARK. 6 p.m. MUSEP (Music Sunday Evening in the Park) The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Calendar continues its summer full of in-person concerts. Free.

LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Schedule and Info: creativegreensboro.com.

performances all month long, some free. Full schedule and info: easternmusicfestival.org.

St., Greensboro. Info: greensborodowntownparks. org/calendar.

July 1

JULY EVENTS

FIRST FRIDAY ART PARK. 6:30–8:30 p.m. Artistinstructors from Art Alliance lead demos and handson projects. Free. Center City Park, 200 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: greensborodowntownparks.org/calendar.

GREEN QUEEN BINGO. 7 p.m. Join the Green Queen and her girls for a night of bingo, comedy and drag. Tickets: $20/advance; $25. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensborocoliseum.com/ events.

NOCHE LATINA. 6:30–10 p.m. Join Maria Gonzales for a Latin night social; learn dance moves from popular styles such Bachata, Salsa, Merengue and more. Free.

LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie

DEMEANOR. 8 p.m.

Greensboro-born artist Justin “Demeanor” Harrington performs alongside Antion Scales and 7Bil. Tickets: $10/advance; $15. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St.,

July 1–31 WE ART GSO. The Center for Visual Artists presents We Art Greensboro, a community exhibition showcasing the artists of Greensboro, through August 14th. Free.

Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro.

Info: mycvagreensboro.org.

EMF. The 61st Eastern Music Festival hosts a variety of

Greensboro. Info: carolinatheatre.com/events.

July 2 POETRY WORKSHOP. 4–5:30 p.m. Benjamin Bards leads a workshop for poets of all ages and skill levels every first Saturday of the month.

Free; registration required.

Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

July 2 & 8 RESIDENCY WORKSHOP. 3–5 p.m. (7/2) & 6–9 p.m.

(7/8) Collaborate with resident artists and engage in the Urban Exchange Fellowship 2022: New Orleans collection.

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O.Henry 83

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Calendar Admission: $5; members free.

Elsewhere Museum, 606 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: elsewheremuseum.org.

July 4

Perceiver of Sound session, a program for anyone who makes or listens to sounds.

Admission: $5; members free.

Elsewhere Museum, 606 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: elsewheremuseum.org.

TAIL-WAGGING TUTORS. 5–6 p.m. Friendly (and appreciative) dogs are the audience for children learning to read aloud. Free; registration required. Central Library, 219 N. Church St., Greensboro.

Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

MASKED SINGER. 7:30 p.m. Natasha Bedingfield hosts The Masked Singer on its first-ever North American tour. Tickets: $35.75+. Steven Tanger Center, 300 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events.

July 5

July 7

PERCEIVER OF SOUND. 7–8:30 p.m. Join the Sound Research Studio for the

ZINE WORKSHOP. 6–7 p.m.

Learn how to create and publish your own zine, a short, self-made and published work;

kits provided. Free. McGirtHorton Branch Library, 2501 Phillips Ave., Greensboro.

Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

VINCE GIL. 7:30 p.m. Spend an evening with country music star Vince Gill and special guest Wendy Moten. Tickets: $35+. Steven Tanger Center, 300 N. Elm St., Greensboro.

Info: tangercenter.com/events.

July 8 SOCIAL AT THE STACKS. 5:30–7:30 p.m. Enjoy live outdoor music, vendors, food and libations hosted

by Unheard Project GSO. Free admission. Revolution Mills, 2003 Yanceyville St.,

Greensboro. Info: revolutionmillgreensboro.com.

BOB MARGOLIN. 7:30 p.m. Fiddle & Bow presents Bob Margolin in The Crown.

Tickets: $22/advance; $25.

Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: carolinatheatre.com/events.

July 9 FIRST LADY. 7 p.m.

Audience members will enjoy the stage play First Lady, a true story about domestic violence and mental health.

Tickets: $30+. High Point Theatre, 220 E. Commerce Ave., High Point. Info: highpointtheatre.com/events.

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 85

Arts & Culture

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Calendar MOONLIGHT BOOTLEGGER 5K. 8:45 p.m. Run an evening 5K on the trails, then celebrate your accomplishment with moonshine cocktails at the finish.

Registration: $48; spectator: $20. Haw River State Park, Iron Ore Entrance, 6068 N. Church St., Greensboro.

Info: bootlegger5k.com/ greensboro2022.

July 10 MUSEP CONCERT. 6–7:30 p.m. Enjoy a soul and rock performance with SunQueen Kelcey and the Soular Flares. Free; donations accepted. Latham Park, West Wendover Avenue

at Latham and Cridland Roads, Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

July 11, 18 & 25 ADULT NATURE CREATIONS. 6–7 p.m. An opportunity for adults to de-stress via creative activities and crafts. Free; registration required. Xperience @ Caldcleugh, 1700 Orchard St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

July 11–14, 18–21 & 25–28 SUMMER FILM FEST. 7

p.m. Spend your summer with Harry, Sally, Batman and Ferris at the theater with an all-star lineup of classic films.

Tickets: $7. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro.

Info and schedule: carolinatheatre.com/events.

July 13 SUMMER READING FESTIVAL. 2–4 p.m.

Celebrate the book Oceans of Possibilities during this year’s family-friendly mini-festival full of crafts and activities.

Free. Kathleen Clay Edwards Library, 1420 Price Park Road, Greensboro. Info: g reensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

FAMILY ART NIGHT. 5:30– 7:30 p.m. Enjoy hands-on family-friendly projects and demos led by Art Alliance members. Free. Xperience @ Caldcleugh, 1700 Orchard St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

POETRY CAFÉ. 6–8 p.m.

Joshephus hosts a monthly open mic night for children 10–18. Free; registration required. Xperience @ Caldcleugh, 1700 Orchard St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

July 13, 20 & 27 CAROLINA KIDS CLUB.

Arts & Culture

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

O.Henry 87

Calendar 9:30 a.m. Spend Saturday mornings at the movies!

Lineup: Raya and the Last Dragon (7/13), Trolls World Tour (7/20) and Sing 2 (7/27).

Tickets: $5; includes kids’ snack pack. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro.

Info and schedule: carolinatheatre.com/events.

July 15 EBY & POCOCK. 7:30 p.m.

See musical duo Chad Eby and Ariel Pocock in The Crown.

Tickets: $12. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro.

Info and schedule: carolinatheatre.com/events.

July 16

July 17

July 19

PERCY JACKSON ESCAPE ROOM. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sign up for an Escape Room inspired by the adventures of Percy Jackson. Free; registration required. Glenn McNairy Library, 4860 Lake Jeanette Road, Greensboro.

Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

TYPEWRITER POETRY. 2–3 p.m. Stop in, give an idea (and a few minutes) to resident poet Holly, then pick up your poem!

Free. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: scuppernongbooks.com/event.

ART IN THE PARK. 1–2 p.m. Children ages 2–12 will enjoy hands-on visual arts projects and activities hosted

by GreenHill Center for NC Art. Free. LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St., Greensboro.

Info: intunegso.com.

SUMMERTIME BREWS FEST. Noon–6 p.m. Bottoms up at Summertime Brews Festival. Tickets: $40; $70 VIP. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensborocoliseum.com/ events.

EAST OF NASHVILLE. 7 p.m. The third installment of the East of Nashville Songwriters in the Round series, featuring Night Teacher, Walking Medicine and Justin Reid; hosted by Colin Cutler.

Tickets: $12/advance; $15.

Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info and schedule: carolinatheatre.com/events.

July 21 CURATOR’S TALK. Noon.

Curator Elaine D. Gustafson, and WAM Spring 2022 Intern Rebekah Maupin discuss art curation of the sculptures in the exhibition Ostensibly So. Free. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: weatherspoonart.org/events.

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Calendar NCWN OPEN MIC. 6–7 p.m.

The North Carolina Writers’ Network invites writers of all genres to participate in this open mic and social event.

Free. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: scuppernongbooks.com/event.

July 22 UNCSA DANCE PERFORMANCE. 2–4 p.m.

The N.C. School of the Arts’ Choreographic Institute’s Summer Dance 2022 finale features a fully produced summer performance designed by this year’s four resident choreographers. Tickets: $12.

Stevens Center, 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem. Info:

uncsa.edu/performances.

EDDIE B. 8 p.m. Comedian Eddie B. stops in the ’Boro for his Teachers Only Comedy Tour. Tickets: $21+. Steven Tanger Center, 300 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events.

July 23 LIFTED VOICES. 1–4 p.m.

Costumed interpreters in the museum galleries share stories from the exhibition NC Democracy: Eleven Elections.

Free. Greensboro History Museum, 130 Summit Ave., Greensboro. Info: greensborohistory.org/events.

CREATIVE WRITING

WORKSHOP. 2–3 p.m.

Writers are invited to join a virtual workshop to discuss world building, character and plot development and more.

Free; registration required.

Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).

ists in the exhibit PRESENCE: A Figurative Art Survey through November 5. Free. GreenHill Center for NC Art, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: greenhillnc.org.

JEEZY & K. MICHELLE. 8 p.m. Trap and hip-hop heavyweights Jeezy and K. Michelle take the stage. Tickets: $65+.

Steven Tanger Center, 300 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events.

CIVIL RIGHTS GALA. 6 p.m. The International Civil Rights Center & Museum hosts its Annual Civil Rights Gala. Tickets: $150; $50/virtual. Koury Convention Center, 2100 Koury Blvd., Greensboro.

Info: sitinmovement.org.

July 23–31 PRESENCE. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Enjoy sculpture, paintings, fiber art and works on paper by leading N.C. figurative art-

July 25

July 29 STEVE-O. 7 p.m. Jackass star, stand-up comedian and bestselling author Steve-O

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O.Henry 89

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336-854-9222 • www.HartApplianceCenter.com

90 O.Henry

2201 Patterson Street, Greensboro, NC (2 Blocks from the Coliseum) Mon. - Fri.: 9:30am - 5:30 pm Sat. 10 am - 2 pm • Closed Sunday

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Business & Services

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Bringing you the intel you need about happenings in and around Greensboro every Tuesday morning.

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Summer Means Cookout Season

HOPKINS POULTRY Proudly family owned & operated since 1929.

Doggett Rd, Browns Summit, NC, United States, 27214

336.656.3361 The Art & Soul of Greensboro

3821 West Gate City Blvd. , Greensboro, NC 27407

www.chiksly.com O.Henry 91

Calendar performs (for adult audiences) The Bucket List Tour. Tickets: $35+. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro.

Info and schedule: carolinatheatre.com/events.

YESTERDAY. 7:30 p.m. The Las Vegas Beatles Show is for fans and music lovers of all ages. Tickets: $30+. High Point Theatre, 220 E. Commerce Ave., High Point. Info: highpointtheatre.com/event.

SHELBY J. 8 p.m. Greensboro native Shelby J., known as the “bald beauty” and powerhouse vocalist for Prince, brings her energy to The Crown. Tickets: $25/advance; $30. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St.,

Greensboro. Info and schedule: carolinatheatre.com/event.

Elm St., Greensboro. Info: scuppernongbooks.com/event.

nc-greensboro.gov (click on “events”).

July 30

AUTHOR CELEBRATION & FESTIVAL. 1–5 p.m. Meet local authors, participate in writing workshops and discuss writing-related topics. Free; registration required. Central Library, 219 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: nc-greensboro.gov (click on “events”).

July 31

FAMILY HIKE SERIES. 10 a.m.–Noon. Enjoy a leisurely family-friendly hike while learning about local flora, fauna and folklore.

Free; registration required.

Chimney Run Trail, 6309 SW Park Dr., Greensboro.

Info: nc-greensboro.gov (click on “events”).

DRAG QUEEN STORYTIME. 11 a.m. A local Drag Queen reads banned books including Antiracist Baby, And Tango Makes Three and I Am Jazz. Free.

Scuppernong Books, 304 S.

LAWNDALE SHOPPING CENTER • IRVING PARK

MOVIES IN THE PARK. 8:15–10 p.m. Bring a chair and your own refreshments to the Barber Park Amphitheater for a special showing of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Free. Lake Townsend Marina, 6332 Townsend Road, Brown Summit. Info:

MUSEP CONCERT. 6–7:30 p.m. Enjoy an evening set to the bluegrass tunes of Nu Blu. Free; donations accepted.

Country Park Shelter #7, 3802 Jaycee Park Dr., Greensboro.

Info: nc-greensboro.gov (click on “events”). OH

To add an event, email us at ohenrymagcalendar@ gmail.com

by the first of the month

ONE MONTH PRIOR TO THE EVENT.

DOVER SQUARE • WESTOVER GALLERY OF SHOPS

LADIES CLOTHING, GIFTS, BABY, JEWELRY, GIFTS FOR THE HOME, TABLEWARE, DELICIOUS FOOD

1738 Battleground Ave • Irving Park Plaza Shopping Center • Greensboro, NC • (336) 273-3566

92 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

LAWNDALE SHOPPING CENTER • IRVING PARK

DOVER SQUARE • WESTOVER GALLERY OF SHOPS

SweetTreats

ABOUND

A small batch bakery with fresh batches every day. From cake pops, brownies, cupcakes, and much more, we’re happy to satisfy your sweet tooth.

1616 Battleground Ave, Greensboro, NC (336)306-2827 Order by email! easypeasydnd@gmail.com

Please visit our retail shop!

336.691.0051

shop@randymcmanusdesigns.com

www.randymcmanusdesigns.com @randymcmanusdesigns @randymcmanusevents 1616 Battleground Avenue, Suite D-1 • Greensboro, NC 27408 The Art & Soul of Greensboro

O.Henry 93

shops • service • food • farms

support locally owned businesses

Sometimes it’s smarter to lease than to sell your home.

Call us when you think you’re there!

I will be pleased to discuss how Burkley Rental Homes can help you.

“I couldn’t be happier with my renters, or my rental income” Tom Arevian

VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO FIND ALL YOUR LOCALLY OWNED SHOPS TO PAMPER YOUR PET

Burkely Rental Homes client

Please support your local shops TRIADLOCALFIRS.ORG

Lodge Blacklock Blacklock blends heritage cast iron with a new triple seasoned™ finish and lightweight design.

Made in the USA Locally Owned at Friendly Center in Greensboro, NC M ̶ F 10 AM ̶ 8 PM | Sat 10 AM ̶ 6 PM | Sun 12 Noon ̶ 6 PM (336) 299-9767 | info@extraingredient.com | Curbside Service | Telephone Orders | www.extraingredient.com

94 O.Henry

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Join the effort. Visit www.triadlocalfirst.com.

OH PROfiles The People & Businesses That Make the Triad a More Vibrant Place to Live and Work!

SPONSORED SECTION JULY 2022 P h o t o g r a p h s b y B e r t Va n d e r Ve e n

PRESTON YOUNG CRAIG MCINTOSH REALTOR™

REALTOR™

Tyler Redhead & McAlister Real Estate is a boutique firm utilizing the latest technologies and cutting-edge marketing while still providing old-fashioned customer service through experienced realtors. Their approach has led to an annual sales volume of more than $168 million dollars. Preston Young (left) and Craig McIntosh (right) are the dynamic duo behind their best agent combo, Team PY. Preston Young began her career in finance at Goldman Sachs and later transitioned to banking and mortgage with Wells Fargo. Since entering real estate 12 years ago, she continues to leverage that financial background in negotiations. Today’s real estate transactions are more complicated than ever. Being able to simplify the process for her clients is a tremendous value.

Craig, a Greensboro native, joined the team in 2020. It’s more than just her local roots that makes Craig a great realtor – she’s honest, loyal, hardworking, and over-delivers on her clients’ expectations. Craig’s attentiveness when working with her customers, buyers or sellers, truly makes them feel like they are her one and only client.

Preston and Craig believe Greensboro is “vibrant, friendly, beautiful, and just the perfect size,” and they love helping others discover their own place in this unique and charming community. The personal time they devote to their customers is rare to find in a realtor in today’s hectic market. As a team they check all the boxes of what you should be looking for in real estate agents.

360 Lawndale Drive Greensboro, NC 27408 336-210-5337 336-420-1478 prestoncraig.trmrealestate.com

NICOLE BERGEMANN OWNER & HEAD COACH

Nicole Bergemann, owner of Training For Warriors Greensboro, has a creed in training and life: Strive to be 1% BETTER every day at something. After years of private training and working for other fitness centers, Nicole started her own fitness business in 2006. She knew the group format was crucial to building accountability through community, but that individualized coaching was necessary to ensure growth. It was this philosophy that led her to rebrand as a TFW affiliate in 2014.

TFW is a global training program founded more than 20 years ago, using the approach designed by and for elite athletes to offer training methods that can help anyone lose fat, build muscle and feel good. A motivational community is a key pillar to the TFW training method.

Nicole believes the #1 health crisis is a lack of emphasis on health through real food and an active lifestyle. Good health doesn’t come from a pill. It’s an investment. You will spend money either way, but an initial investment in your health is far more beneficial in the end.

Her mission is simple: to save lives, whether that’s getting you healthy enough to ditch excess medications, helping you lose weight and avoid health concerns, or building up your mental health through physical strength.

Nicole and her team at TFW GSO offer adult group-training, nutrition consulting, and private or semi-private training.

Everyone, not just high-level athletes, should be able to move better, feel better and live longer, pain-free lives — regardless of your age or fitness level.

2116 Enterprise Road, Greensboro, NC 27408 336-324-1140 tfwgreensboro.com

JENNIFER K. HARMON OWNER

“If eyes are the window to our souls, then windows are the eyes into the soul of a house.” – Rose Tarlow. Treat them well with the help of Jennifer K. Harmon at A Shade Better.

Jennifer has a degree in Textile Design and Technology from NC State and she went on to earn her MBA at Montreat College. Formal education complemented with a passion for life-long learning has served her well through a rewarding corporate career in the furnishings industry developing innate curiosity in the relationship between form and function. As the new owner of A Shade Better, she’s able to blend her strong business acumen and design sensibility.

A Shade Better was founded over 30 years ago and has been recognized as one of the Top 3 Best Window Treatment providers in the area for multiple years in a row, with over 100 years combined industry expertise on the team.

As a Hunter Douglas Gallery, they are the premier source for the newest product advancements. And they recently became our region’s only dealer to provide Insolroll exterior patio shades, desired due to its superior commercial grade quality and Made in the USA certification.

At A Shade Better, Jenny and the team take their work seriously but not themselves, having fun at work with a joyous outlook and grateful hearts.

Their best award is the positive reviews from their clients and their referrals.

3912 Battleground Ave, Greensboro, NC 27410 336- 282-8880 ashadebetterblinds.com

KIM MATHIS BROKER/OWNER

Kim Mathis originally entered the world of Real Estate to follow her passion for new home construction and design. While working with area builders to choose plan selections, she realized she could easily sell the homes that she was exceptionally familiar with. She took her 20 years of experience in interior design and her eye for architecture and began a career in real estate. Her new venture blossomed in the Triad and now expands to the NC Crystal Coast.

Since 2006, the Kim Mathis & Associates (KMA) team has been proudly helping families every step of the way with a full-service staff ensuring a seamless transaction. A lifelong resident of Greensboro, Kim’s attention to detail and client-first attitude is at the forefront of every transaction, be it for a first-time homebuyer or the sale of a million dollar property.

Kim’s design background enables her to assist sellers who need to declutter, reorganize and stage their homes for maximum salability and price. The KMA team’s ability to take a property from drab to fab before going on the market is what separates them from the competition.

When Kim isn’t helping clients buy or sell homes, she volunteers and serves on the board of Hannah’s Haven, a Christ-centered addiction recovery program for women. Kim’s passion for helping others spills over at Hannah’s Haven while she walks alongside ladies in the program who are seeking to transform their lives.

Kim knows the importance of home and family. She says her greatest accomplishment is her children — daughter Taylor and twin sons Cameron and Jordan. Cameron and Taylor have followed their mother into real estate, with Cameron serving alongside mom on the KMA team.

Whether it’s your starter home or your dream home, Kim Mathis & Associates will get you right where you need to be.

Unlocking your dreams from the Triad to the Coast.

336-339-7757 kmahomes.com

C’SAR

AFRICAN ELEPHANT When C’sar, (that’s pronounced C-zar), entered the world of wildlife protection and education, he wasn’t chasing a career – just following his passion for conservation, teaching the world about elephants and advocating for his species’ protection...That, and unlimited sweet potatoes.

At 48 years old this year, C’sar is the oldest male African elephant in North America, and often feels the weighty responsibility of the role; he’s been a species ambassador at the Zoo since 1974, and has grown up on the Asheboro Watani Grasslands. C’sar manages several employees, including seven Zookeepers, a team manager, and veterinarian staff.

When he’s looking to escape work pressures, C’sar makes time for his favorite pastimes, which include swimming, yoga, and watermelon mocktails. He ensures mani/pedis, back scratches and long walks on habitat with his favorite girls are part of the regular routine. At his age he’s almost blind, so you’ll find him using his trunk as a cane to navigate his surroundings.

With a PhD in expert nap-taking, he outweighs the competition by several tons, with awesome tusks and good looks to differentiate him in the industry. Additional skills include mud wallowing and problem solving for food.

C’sar’s home is the North Carolina Zoo. He hopes that a visit to his habitat will inspire humans to protect our planet’s endangered species. The rest is irr-elephant.

4401 Zoo Pkwy, Asheboro, NC 27205 NCZoo.org PHOTO: NC ZOO

DR. COREY HILLMAN, PT, DPT OWNER

Dr. Corey Hillman’s mission is clear: “We help individuals eliminate pain, optimize movement and feel confident in their bodies in order to live the flourishing life they desire.” Opening a clinic focused on such humanizing care was what led him home to the Triad after earning his Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Baylor University.

Opened in January 2021, Gate City Physio is a boutique clinic specializing in dynamic physical therapy designed to tackle painful movement at its source and empower clients to build back healthier than before. Each session is one-on-one and focused exclusively on patient goals,with a unique model that reinvigorates the central importance of the Doctor/Patient relationship.

Dr. Hillman is an expert in addressing musculoskeletal pain or injury, using a holistic approach through a combination of skilled manual therapy, (dry needling, direct myofascial release, joint mobilization/manipulation), with functional rehab and lifestyle approaches. While capable of treating any condition, he has a special interest in TMJ/headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain and low back pain.

In addition, he is excited to announce new services for the performing arts community. Musicians, dancers, gymnasts, and artistic athletes must use their bodies in finely tuned ways – focusing on precise performance metrics. As a musician and performer himself, Dr. Hillman understands these demands and tailors specific treatment to our performing artists.

Dr. Hillman has Advanced Manual Therapy Training from the American Academy of Manipulative Therapy, is a member of the Performing Arts Medicine Association and was recognized in 2022 as a Top Physical Therapist in Greensboro.

515 South Elm St. Suite E, Greensboro, NC 27406 gborophysio.com

KELLI STENNETT

PRESIDENT OF TEAMLOGIC IT

PAUL STENNETT CEO

Paul and Kelli Stennett have loved the IT world and its diverse challenges since they were children programming Christmas cards and managing their grade school library’s computer systems.

From those humble beginnings, the two have become technical experts with over 50+ combined years of IT experience and technical support.

Their company, TeamLogic IT is locally owned and operated, providing IT solutions for companies of all sizes that rely on their complete spectrum of managed IT services and solutions to address IT challenges. Teamlogic IT helps your business stay safe, productive and profitable through the smart use of technology.

TeamLogic IT is cut from a different cloth than their competitors. They are a local, hands on business. People first, technology next; Paul and Kelli understand the importance of small businesses securely doing business locally and internationally. Recently nominated for a Greensboro Chamber of Commerce People’s Choice award, they pride themselves on offering Best In Class services.

Put their confidence to work on yours. Give them a call today.

336-218-9599

KATHY HAINES BROKER/OWNER

“There are many good agents out there,” Kathy Haines says. “The great ones place empathy, a good listening ear, and their clients’ goals ahead of everything else.” By those standards or any other, Broker / Owner Kathy is one of the Greats.

The Greensboro native has a long history of caring for others; you might say it’s in her blood. As the oldest of ten children, she’s spent her whole life helping souls find their place in the world. This service as coach and mentor in the guise of a “bossy big sister” made her transition to real estate 23 years ago a natural evolution. “I was in the telecom industry for years,” she says, “but my interest was waning.

Friends encouraged me to look into real estate, and it was good advice!” Advice that spoke to a lifelong passion for bringing people home. She still remembers the responsibility of a high school job driving the school bus route, getting students safely home each day.

It’s a role she never took lightly, and an affinity she’s brought to her home-sales.

Kathy is a Senior Real Estate Specialist, Certified International Property Specialist, At Home with Diversity and Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist, all of which bolster a flourishing resume of years of real estate experience in the Triad. In 2021, Kathy brought that experience to fruition when she founded Kathy Haines Homes, powered by eXp Realty. With ten teammates and more on the way, Kathy and her agency utilize their expertise to help everyone from seniors to first time home buyers purchase luxury homes, new construction, and everything in between.

In her spare time, you’ll find Kathy hanging out with her family and pets, enjoying foodie events and gardening. If there is a dance floor, she will be on it! She likes to travel but is always glad to be home as soon as she returns to Greensboro. It’s a feeling she wants you to share, helping you find your home in our growing Triad community.

results@kathyhaines.com 336-339-2000 kathyhaines.com

CHRIS GORHAM CEO

Triad Goodwill is a powerful force for good in the community, employing over 450 employees in a business which uses 85% of every dollar made to help individuals overcome the barriers that separate them from gainful, long-term employment. Their vision is to provide more than $50 million in yearly economic impact across their five-county territory. It’s a lofty goal, one CEO Chris Gorham champions every day.

At 14 years of age, Chris began his first job with Goodwill Industries as a donation center attendant. He gained a better understanding and appreciation for people from all walks of life. Over the next 30 years, Chris worked at various organizations, but none were more fulfilling than the mission at Goodwill Industries!

Today, Chris has the same aspirations he learned at Goodwill as a young man, to improve lives and enrich communities through the power of hard work. To that end, he’s working to build a new Retail Operations Facility to streamline Triad Goodwill operations, orchestrating a remodel of the home office and building a campus which will help his team provide more holistic services to those seeking help. He’s also focusing on improving workforce development programs.

It’s a full load for the Triad team.

Good thing they have a leader whose high school superlative was “Overachiever.”

1235 S. Eugene St., Greensboro, NC 336.275.9801 triadgoodwill.org PHOTO: JONATHAN MCCARDELL

CHUCK AND MARTHA UHLIR

BROKERS /CO-OWNERS /CERTIFIED SENIOR ADVISORS Chuck and Martha Uhlir worked as ‘captive’ agents for several national insurance companies over the years but as Medicare choices multiplied they became aware of the misinformation and challenges seniors faced, so they decided to build their own agency.

Rather than selling their clients a plan, they wanted to help them choose a plan, as they believe every individual deserves Medicare and health insurance plans best suited for their unique lifestyle, financial and health care goals. Based around this simple strategy, The Health Insurance Shoppe began in 2011, moving to its present location at Greensboro’s historic Revolution Mill in 2016. They continue to add professionally trained agents and Certified Senior Advisors, serving clients with health and life insurance plans and Medicare help.

In 2020, The Shoppe was recognized as a premier partner of the Triad HealthCare Network and “Physicians Partnering with Cone Health.”

Licensed with NC for a combined 58 years, Chuck, Martha & company host complimentary monthly Medicare educational seminars to help seniors better understand Medicare, and guide them in unbiased choices.

Today there are over one million people on Medicare paying late enrollment fees, simply because they did not understand the Medicare Rules of the Road.

Not you – Chuck, Martha and company are here to be your road map.

1175 Revolution Mill Drive, Studio 4 Greensboro, NC 27405 336-763-0775 healthshoppeNC.com

DR. BILLY SUMMERS OWNER

Dr. Billy Summers has a trio of higher level degrees in music, but he ultimately found his passion in another arena of conducting.

After enjoying a lifetime of family travel he and his wife of 32 years, Elaine, turned their skill advising friends into a career and founded Trade Winds Travel. Now, Billy coordinates vacation plans not concertos, working to keep your travel plans smoothly orchestrated so you can sit back, relax and enjoy the experience.

Billy and his team specialize in cruises, tours, destination weddings and honeymoons, all-inclusive resorts and business travel.

As certified specialists with all major cruise lines, tour companies, and resorts, they can arrange trips for special interest groups, and are a Disney Authorized Travel Agent. Trade Winds Travel is also a certified Autism Travel Agency.

The best part? Trade Winds Travel provides professional travel services at no cost to you, as their payment comes from the suppliers.

After a lifetime living in Greensboro, Billy knows there’s no place like home – but it’s always nice to balance home-life with a little wanderlust. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; yours is calling Trade Winds Travel to plan your next adventure.

336-603-8419 tradewindstravel.com

STEVEN SUTTON BROKER IN CHARGE

In today’s market, you need an agent with drive and local knowledge.

Mitchell Prime Properties’ new location in Burlington has you covered, under the leadership of Broker in Charge, Steven Sutton.

Steven so enjoyed the process of buying his own home that 18 months later he was selling real estate. Steven followed his passion and became an agent at Mitchell Prime Properties in July of 2020 and later was named Broker in Charge of Mitchell Prime Properties Burlington.

The UNCG graduate puts his expertise in Information Systems Operations Management to use, enabling sellers to make the most of their marketing via Search Engine Optimization and social media advertising. His skilled approach ensures your property is viewed on every available platform.

Steven has the singular mission of selling luxury homes in all price ranges, and places his focus on the client’s experience - from the very first meeting, all the way to the closing table. He works with first-time homebuyers as well as those looking to move up or downsize. Like all Mitchell Prime Properties’ brokers, luxury real estate is his specialty.

Real estate keeps him moving quickly, so it’s a good thing he has constant access to coffee - he and his wife, Chelsea, own HarperBelles Coffee Truck, named for their daughters, and he enjoys supporting their community through both ventures.

John-Mark Mitchell founded Mitchell Prime Properties in 2012 to be “a lion in their corner” for his clients – one with proven success and plenty of accolades. He is building a firm of brokers who are marketing and selling multi-million dollar homes across the entire state of North Carolina.

The Burlington office is a recent expansion.

3132 Commerce Place Suite B2 Burlington, NC 27215 336-260-2289 gomitch.com

TERESA KELLER OWNER/DESIGNER

Armed with a degree in Interior Design from Meredith College and years of experience in commercial design, Teresa Keller established Teresa Keller Interiors in 2014 to craft modern spaces infused with southern charm and beachy palettes. She likes to combine classic and current trends and design rooms that encourage you to sit and stay awhile.

At Teresa Keller Interiors, the homeowner’s lifestyle and tastes are taken into account, blending the client’s personality, existing heirlooms and their favorite pieces with new inspiration for their home. Making your home a sanctuary that is timeless, elegant and intimate is paramount.

Teresa and her team take on everything from new construction, both residential and commercial, to historic renovation. She’ll even travel to the coast or the mountains to help you with your second home.

Every project she completes helps her give back to the community through a portion of the profits. As the mom of teenagers, she realizes how important their own rooms are to them. She works with underprivileged teens through foster care to provide room kits, so they can personalize their own spaces and feel more at home.

Ultimately, Teresa’s skill lies in her approachability as a designer, stressing relatable and reliable customer service for a great experience. The door at Teresa Keller Interiors is always open, with Teresa ready to meet your unique needs with open ears and a kind heart.

1175 Revolution Mill Drive Suite 26 Greensboro, NC 27405 336-345-8970 teresakellerinteriors.com

DR. GINGER GARNER FOUNDER/OWNER

Dr. Ginger Garner is a pioneer in the field of integrative physical therapy and lifestyle medicine. While her work as an international speaker, educator, and author has taken her across the globe, local roots brought her home. She’s proud to serve the community as founder and CEO of Living Well, Inc., providing comprehensive, integrative pelvic health care, performing arts therapy, and orthopedic physical therapy services via her two businesses, Living Well Institute and Garner Pelvic Health.

Dr. Garner is a two-time graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, where she earned Master and Doctorate degrees in Physical Therapy, and completed graduate studies at the UNC School of Public Health.

She has advanced training in pelvic health for all genders, board certification in Lifestyle Medicine, and post-professional certification in Dry Needling, Visceral Mobilization, Manual Therapy, Yoga Therapy, Ayurveda, Pilates, Rehab Lumbopelvic Ultrasound Imaging, & Pessary Fitting.

Over 20 years ago, Ginger opened one of the first integrative physical therapy clinics in the U.S., when it was unusual to offer physical therapy and a yoga studio under one roof. Today, she has mentored therapists and doctors across six continents and is the author of two textbooks.

GPH is one of the only clinics in the United States to offer advanced pelvic health services, and includes lumbopelvic rehabilitative ultrasound for imaging, which allows for targeted, prescriptive treatment, as well as pessary fitting for pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence. GPH is also a training center via Living Well Institute, where Dr. Garner offers virtual Medical Therapeutic Yoga, Pilates, and wellness classes online, and scholarships for those who cannot afford care. All services use a blended approach of Functional, Integrative, and Lifestyle Medicine.

Dr. Garner literally wrote the book on using Therapeutic Yoga and Lifestyle Medicine in healthcare, but her greatest accomplishment is helping others heal and get their life back, while staying busy on the homefront raising three sons.

1175-L Revolution Mill, Ste 34 Greensboro NC 27408 336.707.9951 garnerpelvichealth.com

MORGAN BUTLER

DIRECTOR OF PRIVATE BANKING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Morgan Butler knows the value of relationships. He is a proud graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. During his time in Tennessee, he was part of various teams playing football, played semi-pro rugby, and was a reserve police officer. He’s brought that same team mentality with him to Triad Business Bank.

Connecting people and businesses through community involvement are where his passion truly lies. He believes a bank’s culture must encourage employees to be active and invested in the community to build authentic connections.

In 2019, Ramsey Hamadi set out to found TBB, a Triad-based bank narrowly focused on serving commercial and private banking needs.

TBB offers commercial, treasury, and private banking services, including lending and deposits. Proudly headquartered in Greensboro, NC, the bank is unique with local decision-making while having a team of industry veterans, like Morgan.

As Director of Private Banking and High Point Market President for TBB, Morgan’s passion for developing relationships with clients goes far beyond transactional business. He creates opportunities to build partnerships, connecting the client with the solution to their problems while standing by the TBB motto, “Financial Success Begins with Integrity.” Just the thing you look for in a bank and a teammate.

2485 Penny Road, Ste. 120 High Point, NC 27265 615-418-4583 triadbusinessbank.com

FAST FORWARD YOUR FINANCIAL FREEDOM INTRODUCING FAST FORWARD CHECKING COMPETITIVE INTEREST RATES

Our Fast Forward Checking Account allows you to enjoy the conveniences of a checking account with the high-interest rates of a money market account. Those who qualify will receive unlimited transactions, no ATM surcharge fees, and minimal maintenance fees.

For more details, contact Morgan Butler at (336)889-0029, visit triadbusinessbank.com/FastForward or SCAN the QR code *No minimum to open an account but if a $5,000 balance is not maintained, a $25 service fee is assessed. Interest is calculated on a daily collected balance and compounded. All fees and benefits are subject to change at any time without notice. Fees could reduce earnings.

SCAN HERE

A Catalyst for Our Community

Triad Business Bank.

Member FDIC.

O.Henry Ending

All That Glitters Is Not Gold

By Barbara Rosson Davis

Dogwoods and Azaleas were in full

bloom. Robins tweaked worms from my just-tilled garden plot. As my son hurried off to school, I heard him yell, “Mom! Heads up — there’s a big goose in the bathroom!” I thought he was joking.

We didn’t have a pet goose and this wasn’t some kind of secret “emergency-code.” I went inside to investigate the situation. We had previously dealt with a black snake in the toilet bowl, a bat in the fireplace and a rabbit in the carport, but a goose in the bathroom?

As I opened our guest bathroom door, I discovered not the Golden Goose, but a large Canada goose, staring into the toilet bowl. I decided he must have gotten in through the slit in the patio-screen, wandered through the open kitchen door and, curiously, ended up in the bathroom, where Matt, as boys will do, had left the toilet seat up.

I wanted to lure this wild fowl out of the house, but our “guest goose” was fierce and attacked me with each attempt. After a tumultuous evening of Mr. Goose’s distress signals coming from the bathroom, Matt tried feeding him couscous. I feebly attempted coaxing our feathered guest out of the bathroom with my ridiculous imitation goose calls. No luck. Flustered and terrified, the goose continued squawking, honking and flapping. The next day, we noticed that “guest goose” grew agitated at certain times — near dusk and in the early morning.

I thought about calling animal rescue, but the sounds of geese flying over the house gave me a better idea. I noticed that local geese flew early in the morning from their nesting area to feed

112 O.Henry

at Sedgefield golf course, returning to their roost at the end of the day, after grazing. I thought: Just maybe, Mr. Goose wants to rejoin his flock. If I could get him outside at those times, he might then join his fellow geese. The following morning, before sunrise, and protected by Matt’s trusty Lacrosse helmet, armguards and gloves, I managed to open the bathroom window from the outside. I peered in. The goose seemed calm.

I went back inside the house to find “guest goose” had instantly transformed itself into a boisterous beast, flapping and crashing around the bathroom, seeking escape through the open window.

After several attempts, he finally launched his feathered frame airborne, honking loudly as he flew off in pursuit of the flock.

Free at last! His victory was not without consequences for us earthbound mortals. I entered the bathroom to find total chaos: a sprawling, stinking mess! The bathtub was littered with grain, feathers, shampoo and the foulest greenish “goose-goo,” as was the tile floor, counter, sink, and toilet. Where to start?? I held my nose and considered replacing the entire bathtub.

Jars of creams, bottles of cologne, mouthwash and the contents of a spray can of glitter were everywhere. The toilet seat, shower curtain, tub and tile floor sparkled with glitter. Too exhausted after two days of dealing with this rambunctious and uninvited guest, I couldn’t begin to fathom the clean-up campaign for this fowl’s foul-aftermath.

Later that evening, returning from playing golf, my neighbor told me about the most extraordinary phenomenon he had witnessed on the golf course: “I saw this glittering goose grazing the greens, shimmering in the sunlight! Amazing!” OH Barbara Rosson Davis is a freelance writer, living in Greensboro.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR

An unexpected visitor leaves a lasting impression

336-852-7107

2222 Patterson St, Suite A, Greensboro, NC 27407 Serving the Triad’s eyewear needs for over 40 years

From your phone into your locket...

GREENSBORO Friendly Center • 336-294-4885 WINSTON-SALEM 137 South Stratford Road • 336-725-1911 www.schiffmans.com