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6808 Polo Farms Drive Summerfield
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Adams Farm 336 – 854 –1333 • Elm Street 336 –272– 0151 • Friendly Center 336 –370 – 4000 ©2019 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.
Tues.-Fri. 10-6pm Sat. 10-3pm www.StateStJewelers.com
211 A State St. Greensboro, NC (336) 273-5872
Let Katie welcome you home 2202 Lafayette Avenue
3504 Waldron Drive
705 Blair Street
1104 Sunset Drive
203 Sunset Drive
815 Woodland Drive
701 Sunset Drive
1904 Huntington Road
603 Kimberly Dr.
1321 Latham Road
7 Ashton Square
3215 Rockingham Road
607 Woodland Dr.
Katie L. Redhead
GRI, CRS
Broker/Owner/REALTOR® 336.430.0219 mobile 336.274.1717 office
3215 N Rockingham Road $2,900,000
700 Woodland Drive $1,950,000
2108 Berkshire Lane $1,795,000
815 Woodland Drive $1,700,000
2302 Princess Ann Street $1,609,392
701 Sunset Drive $1,595,000
203 Sunset Drive $699,000
537 Woodland Drive $699,000
7744 Chesterbrooke Drive $675,900
7071 Toscana Trace $674,900
7070 Toscana Trace $630,000
7709 Chesterbrooke Drive $615,000
3303 Sutton Oaks Lane $547,500
2511 Rivers Edge Road $539,900
1100 Double Oaks Road $529,000
315 Winrow Drive $519,000
0 US Highway 158 $499,000
2504 Rivers Edge Road $489,900
1113 Buckingham Road $465,000
7 Ashton Square $459,500
2602 Turner Grove Dr S $449,900
3504 Waldron Drive $445,000
2506 Rivers Edge Road $439,900
2321 Lafayette Avenue $416,500
1109 Latham Road $410,000
1107 Latham Road $405,000
3621 Summit Lakes Drive $399,999
2316 Lafayette Avenue $399,000
1321 Latham Road $319,900
3915 W. Friendly Avenue $299,900
468 NC Highway 62 $285,900
149 Hash Lane $285,500
614 Kimberly Drive $285,000
4001 Windlestraw Lane $254,900
5204 Michaux Road $235,000
1056 NC Highway 150 $225,000
522 Willowbrook Drive $210,000
5829 Cardinal Way $189,900
5909 W Gate Cuty Blvd $125,000
2525 Rivers Edge Road $92,000
19 Carlson Terrace $90,000
21 Carlson Terrace $90,000
2800 Lake Forest Drive $1,279,000
10 Clubview Court $1,000,000
5 Wynnewood Court $939,000
2202 Lafayette Ave $899,000
1508 Edgedale Road $775,000
4810 Starmount Drive $739,000
24 Elm Ridge Lane $609,000
1012 Sunset Drive $595,000
1904 Huntington Road $587,000
1 Hatteras Court $585,900
201 N Elm Street 587k-263k
402 Willoughby Blvd $565,000
SEE ONE YOU LIKE? 1820 Carmel Road $475,000
To arrange a showing or get more information on one of these charming homes, call one of our agents or visit trmhomes.com today.
trmhomes.com / 336.274.1717
Marti Tyler 336.210.7503
Jessica Haverland Sally Millikin 336.312.8491 336.337.7230
Leslie Stainback 336.508.5634
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Elizabeth Pell 336.447.5516
Karen Bolyard 336.202.4477
Libba LaFave 336.317.9311
Helen Richardson 336.402.4527
Frank Slate Brooks 336.708.0479
Maggie Marston 336.253.2467
Lori Richardson 336.549.4414
Joanna Harris 336.707.2828
Hilburn Michel 336.207.7100
Beth Sherrill 336.456.2211
Patty Yow 336.255.9369
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April 2019 DEPARTMENTS 19 Simple Life By Jim Dodson 24 Short Stories 27 Doodad By Maria Johnson 29 Life’s Funny By Maria Johnson 31 Omnivorous Reader By D.G. Martin 35 Scuppernong Bookshelf 37 Drinking with Writers By Wiley Cash
43 Food For Thought By Jane Lear
47 True South By Susan Kelly 49 Papadaddy’s Mindfield By Clyde Edgerton 51 Birdwatch By Susan Campbell 53 Wandering Billy By Billy Eye 84 Arts Calendar 104 GreenScene 111 The Accidental Astrologer By Astrid Stellanova 112 O.Henry Ending By Bill McConnell
FEATURES 57 The Heaven of Lost Umbrellas Poetry by Ruth Moose
58 To the Max
By Cynthia Adams For designer and avid collector Terry Lowdermilk, nothing succeeds like excess
64 Return of the Birds
By Jim Moriarty John James Audubon on exhibit again
68 One Tract Mind
By Maria Johnson With ingenuity and a homegrown talent for doing it yourself, a Greensboro designer and her husband make their subdivision home a one-of-a-kind gem
72 The House & Garden of Earthly Delights By Jim Dodson Lee and Bill Britt’s Japanese-inspired retreat echoes with the cycles of life
80 Birds of Spring
Photography by Lynn Donovan
83 Almanac
By Ash Alder
Cover Photograph By Amy Freeman Photograph This Page By Lynn Donovan (Cedar Waxwing)
10 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Fine Eyewear, Artwork and Jewelry 327 South Elm | Greensboro 336.274.1278 | TheViewOnElm.com Becky Causey, Licensed Optician Find us on Facebook
M A G A Z I N E
Volume 9, No. 4 “I have a fancy that every city has a voice.” 336.617.0090 1848 Banking Street, Greensboro, NC 27408 www.ohenrymag.com PUBLISHER
David Woronoff Jim Dodson, Editor • jim@thepilot.com Andie Stuart Rose, Art Director • andie@thepilot.com Nancy Oakley, Senior Editor • nancy@ohenrymag.com Alyssa Rocherolle, Graphic Designer CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Cynthia Adams, David Claude Bailey, Harry Blair, Maria Johnson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Mallory Cash, Lynn Donovan, Amy Freeman, Sam Froelich, John Koob Gessner, Bert VanderVeen, Mark Wagoner
A custom-fit investment plan is just a conversation away Done right, a financial advisor works with you to develop an investment plan designed to help you meet your unique goals. We can help you create your personalized plan, and we’ll review it with you on a regular basis to help keep you on track. Working together is all about you. Call for a complimentary portfolio consultation.
CONTRIBUTORS Ash Alder, Jane Borden, Grant Britt, Susan Campbell, Wiley Cash, Tony Cross, Clyde Edgerton, Billy Eye, Ross Howell Jr., Billy Ingram, Susan Kelly, Sara King, Brian Lampkin, Meridith Martens, D.G. Martin, Ogi Overman, Romey Petite, Angela Sanchez, Stephen E. Smith, Astrid Stellanova
O.H
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Ginny Trigg, Advertising Director 910.693.2481, ginny@thepilot.com Hattie Aderholdt, Advertising Manager 336.601.1188, hattie@ohenrymag.com
Amy Grove, 336.456.0827 • amy@ohenrymag.com Glenn McVicker, 336.804.0131 • glenn@ohenrymag.com Brad Beard, Graphic Designer Lisa Bobbitt, Advertising Assistant 336.617.0090, ohenrymag@ohenrymag.com
O.H
Darlene Stark, Circulation Director • 910.693.2488 Steve Anderson, Finance Director 910.693.2497
Private Client Group Alex Sigmon Branch Manager 806 Green Valley Rd. Greensboro, NC 27408 Phone: 336-545-7100 www.wellsfargoadvisors.com Investment and Insurance Products:
Wealth Brokerage Services Greg Costello Regional Brokerage Manager 100 N. Main St. Winston-Salem, NC 27150 Phone: 336-842-7309 www.wellsfargoadvisors.com NOT FDIC Insured
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Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank ailiate of Wells Fargo & Company. © 2016 Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC. All rights reserved. 0518-03180 [99914-v1] A2062 (4327503_521508)
12 O.Henry
April 2019
©Copyright 2019. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. O.Henry Magazine is published by The Pilot LLC
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
The PROBLEM with Back Problems Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010. Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work and experts estimate that as much as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some point in their lives. So back pain is a common, yet potentially disabling condition. The problem is that most places simply do not understand the cause and therefore, do not properly treat it.
What causes back pain? The back is a team of bones, ligaments, muscles, and nerves. Most cases of back pain are mechanical in nature, which means the MOVEMENT is often dysfunctional. Some of the simplest movements- for example getting out of a car or picking up a piece of paper of the floor- can cause painful irritation and inflammation of the structures of the spine. POOR POSTURE over a period of time is the most common cause that we see that leads to improper alignment and faulty movement of the spine. The muscles over a period of time become ropey and tight and it gets to the point where you can no longer selfcorrect the posture.
The problem with traditional back pain treatment Traditional back pain treatment does not make sense in the majority of cases. If the problem is with the posture and the movement of the spine, then what is pain medication going to do to solve this problem? Pain medications, steroids, and shots do a good job of temporarily covering up your body’s “smoke detector” telling you there is a fire! Meanwhile, the problem continues to deteriorate and the spinal joints continue to decay. The epidemic of prescription opioid overuse starts right here. If someone tells you that you have arthritis and there is nothing you can do besides take medications, THEY ARE WRONG! These folks tend to just stop doing the things they love. They skip their grandkid’s basketball game because they cannot sit on the bleachers. They avoid going on vacation because they cannot ride in the car. They start to suffer side effects from the medications and become inactive. Weight goes up and blood pressure goes up since they can no longer exercise. Does this sound like you or someone you know? This is the typical person we see who has been through the traditional pain medication route.
Lasera has helped thousands with natural pain relief.
CALL NOW TO GET YOUR LIFE BACK! Dr. Aaron Williams D.C.
3831 W. Market St in Greensboro, NC 336-553-BACK (2225) www.greensborolaser.com
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LAKEFRONT IN LAKE JEANETTE 819 Bass Landing Place $1,500,000
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SUNSET HILLS 2200 W Market Street $755,000
DISTINCTIVE HOMES. DESIRABLE NEIGHBORHOODS.
FISHER PARK 108 Fisher Park Circle $695,000
From the high-end to the historic, Greensboro’s most impressive homes and most sought-after neighborhoods tell an inspiring
OWL’S ROOST 3007 Steepleton Colony $709,000
story about the place we call home. Will your next chapter take place in one of these luxurious gems? Contact me for a viewing and let’s find out!
Home means everything. Let’s find yours.
STARMOUNT 204 Manchester Place $775,000
THE GATES AT BRASSFIELD 2502 Duck Club Road $648,000
MELISSA GREER REALTOR / BROKER, GRI, CRS
Chairman’s Circle Diamond Award 2014, 2017, 2018 Chairman’s Circle Platinum Award 2013, 2015, 2016 Chairman’s Circle Gold Award 2010, 2011, 2012
336.337.5233
M E L IS S A @ M E LIS S A G R E E R . CO M
The City of Greensboro provides dependable water, wastewater and stormwater services. Greensboro residents have been provided safe, clean water for nearly 100 years. Certified water treatment operators, maintenance specialists, and lab technicians accomplish this by working around the clock, performing more than 250,000 water quality tests annually to ensure the water delivered to you continues to be of the highest quality.
Learn more about the City of Greensboro’s Water Resources Department at www.greensboro-nc.gov/water.
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Howard Upchurch & John Hoemann Wells Fargo WiFi Wine Bar & Shoppe VanderVeen Photographers BRONZE Jim Baulding & Gene Simpson BB&T BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Allen Broach & Robert Weston Tom Campbell Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro Jerry Cunningham & Terry Brown Mark Darnell & Peter Mountcastle Downtown Greensboro, Inc.
Justin Ervin & Matthew Antonio Bosch Estate of Lee Huggins Equality NC Massimo Fantechi and Rodney Ouzts Mark File & David Soyars Dale Frederiksen Greensboro Pride Marshand Hager & Teresa Bonstetter Amy Holcombe & Cile Johnson Bill Johnston & Tom Fitzgerald Susan Lowe Kimrey Millar & Lynn Brady NC AIDS Action Network Jerri Linn Phillips Plants & Answers
Proximity Hotel Rosemary Ireland, CPA, PLLC Andrew Spainhour Tree of Life Counseling Triad City Beat Yosuke & Kathie Yamamori
Simple Life
Life and Limb My cabins in the sky
By Jim Dodson
One of my secret pleasures is a mind-candy house program on Animal Planet called Treehouse Masters, in which an infectiously enthusiastic house designer and self-described “tree whisperer” named Pete Nelson and his merry band of workers create mind-boggling treehouse retreats for clients. His stated mission is to help customers get back to nature and in touch with their inner kid.
It’s a pure fantasy show that combines three of my favorite things — houses, trees and memories of climbing them during my childhood. It was probably inevitable for a kid who grew up on a diet of adventure books, and camping and hiking forests all over the western portions of this state and neighboring Virginia, that I would eventually get around to building a treehouse, especially after I saw Disney’s 1960 version of Swiss Family Robinson. The shipwrecked but enterprising Robinson clan lashed together a furnished treehouse palace that featured running water from a turning wheel, thatch-roofed bedrooms, a full-service kitchen and salvaged ship’s wheel that raised the ladder each evening to protect against wild animals or unwelcome visitors. They lived with a pair of large friendly dogs and a parrot, and even had a piano that somehow survived the shipwreck. In my opinion, those lucky Robinsons had the perfect life. Of course, I was only 7, a kid who’d had a happy but fairly solitary life building forts in the woods and reading adventure books, the son of a The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Southern newspaperman who hauled his young family across the Deep South to his various posts before coming permanently home to Greensboro in 1959 — shortly before the shipwrecked Robinsons showed up in Cinemascope on the big screen. My first treehouse was a distinctly modest platform affair — more lookout stand that actual shelter. Perched in a patch of hardwoods in a public park across the street from the apartment we rented while our first house was being built in a rural subdivision, it was probably illegal. But so were the Robinsons. You reached the platform by inching up a thick-knotted rope. The platform was probably only 10 feet off the ground but it felt amazingly close to heaven in the trees, the ideal place for me to sit and read and keep an eye out for wild animals or unwanted visitors. At the rear of our new property, my father knocked together an impressive one-room treehouse he furnished with a second-hand dining room table, four mismatched chairs and an old rickety bookcase. I spent a year furnishing that rustic pied-à-terre in the sky with my favorite childhood books and “interesting” stuff I found all over creation until one regrettable summer afternoon I found three girls from the neighborhood having an unauthorized tea party with their dolls in my cherished aerie. Without thinking of the consequences, I fetched a garden hose to cool off the party and quickly felt the wrath of several outraged mothers, hastening the demise of my beloved place on high. That’s why, when I stumbled across Treehouse Masters, my inner child was set loose from detention. The New Age treehouses Pete Nelson and his crew create are elaborate affairs that make the industrious Robinsons look like rank beginners. They typically include all the creature comforts of the modern Earth-bound home and then some: fancy woodstoves and electric lights; flush toilets and April 2019
O.Henry 19
Simple Life TRUNK SHOW FRIDAY APRIL 26TH 11 AM - 6 PM Shoes available in quads, narrow, and medium widths.
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20 O.Henry
April 2019
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outdoor showers; kitted-out gourmet kitchens and decks with breathtaking views from high in the trees, rivaling anything you would find in a swanky vacation home. My favorite segment of the show, however, is when the host calls on fellow treehouse nuts who have created their own unique handcrafted cabins in the sky, retreats that display incredible craftsmanship, artistry and ecological harmony. One I particularly enjoyed involved a bearded chap who built himself a gorgeous treehouse that was more like a storybook chapel over a stony brook in the Connecticut woods. It was essentially a meditation and reading room with large windows, a simple desk, woodstove, small functioning kitchen and a room where he could sit for hours watching nature through the seasons, forgetting the rest of the world. His was a slightly more elaborate version of the treehouse I fully intended to someday create above a vernal pool in the forest behind the postand-beam house I helped build with my own hands on a forested hill in Maine. The spot — on a beautiful hillside deep among hemlock and birch and proximate to geologic kettles left by the receding ice age — overlooked a seasonal stream and vernal pool dominated by a large lichen-covered stone that I named my “Thinking Rock.” This is where the transcendental kid in me often escaped with my dogs to read, think, smoke a pipe and get right with God and nature. The bittersweet irony is that the forested retreat I long had in mind never got off the ground, so to speak, because, in the blink of an eye, my own kids were grown and heading off to college, and I was feeling an unexpected gravitational pull of my old Carolina home. Impossible as it once seemed, I said goodbye to the rugged timbered house and English garden-in-the-woods that I spent nearly two decades building and cultivating, a place where I fully expected to end my days and eventually become part of the landscape when who I am moved on, leaving only a trail of ashes behind. But life, to paraphrase Emerson, is full of compensations. A few years back, my wife and I purchased a lovely old bungalow that once upon a time was my favorite house in the heavily forested neighborhood where I grew up — two doors away, in fact, from the house where my family lived for almost 40 years. I joke that I’ve all but completed the Sacred Redneck Circle of Life. A large part of the place’s allure, I must admit, was the two-car and workshop garage in back that featured a funky little second-floor apartment you reach by climbing a set of rickety The Art & Soul of Greensboro
6 Lake Bluff Ct. Greensboro, NC $609,900
6097 Mountain Brook Rd. Greensboro, NC $800,000
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22 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Simple Life wooden steps that take you to rooftop height amidst century-old white oak trees. Because the house sits on perhaps the highest point in the entire neighborhood, the first time I climbed those steps and turned around to check out the view, my heart leapt like a kid up a tree. From just under the white oak canopy that reminded me of the arched ceiling of a Medieval cathedral — providing wonderful cooling shade all summer — I could see the world with a bird’seye-view: vaulting trees and rooftops across the neighborhood, not to mention birds and squirrels galore, passing clouds, a huge patch of sky by day, a glorious quilt of stars by night. Suddenly I had the treehouse I’d always dreamed of owning, this one equipped with electric power and heat, small kitchenette and bathroom with fully functioning toilet and shower. The cheap dark-wood paneling gives it a perfect rustic air and a couple of overhead fans keeps the place cool in summer. If it isn’t quite worthy of Treehouse Masters, it fits me like lichens on a thinking rock. Just outside the door, I hung a large set of Canterbury chimes from a stout limb of the massive white oak at the foot of the steps. When the wind blows a certain way, I swear I hear the first five notes of “Amazing Grace.” These days, if you visit my “treehouse,” you will find a pair of comfortable reading chairs (one of which my dog Mulligan occupies when she’s officially on duty), several bookcases filled with favorite books, a French baker’s table where I write, a wicker daybed where I sometimes seek horizontal inspiration on late afternoons, various vintage posters and prints I’ve collected from four decades of journalism and travel, a cabinet case filled with some of my own books and a few awards, a second cabinet that holds “Uncle Jimmy’s Genuine Real Stuff Museum,” framed photos of my children and a pair of large rare portraits of Walter Hagen and young Fidel Castro, themed lamps (a blue coat soldier, a Bengali elephant, a monkey climbing a palm tree), several busts (Ben Franklin, Alexander the Great, a Templar knight), three sets of old golf clubs, a full golf library, several checkered golf flags, and a large replica of the first American flag with thirteen stars in a circle of blue. Nobody in their right mind would want all this stuff in their real house. But like the Swiss Family Robinson, this oddball collection from a long journey home has finally found the perfect place in my cabin in the sky. OH Contact Editor Jim Dodson at jim@thepilot.com.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
COMING SOON We’re renovating our office to improve our space and offer exciting new technologies.
Call today to schedule an appointment (336) 282-2868 MEET GRAHAM E. FARLESS, D.D.S.
Dr. Farless was born and raised in northeastern North Carolina on a family farm in Merry Hill. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving his B.A. in Biology, and later attended UNC School of Dentistry where he earned his Doctorate of Dental Surgery. Dr. Farless is very involved in many professional organizations, from the Guilford County Dental Society to the American Dental Association. Dr. Farless and his team are committed to technology, continuous education and providing the best care one can get! Outside the office, he enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 boys, playing sports, F3 workouts, hunting, fishing and just enjoying the outdoors.
2511 Oakcrest Ave, Greensboro, NC 27408 www.gsodentist.com
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April 2019
O.Henry 23
Short Stories Book Covers of Darkness
It might have caught the corner of your eye at Polliwog’s, or Scuppernong Books: a slim volume vaguely reminiscent of the children’s classic, Goodnight, Moon. But on closer inspection, you’ll discover a familiar landscape on the book’s cover: darkness falling over an illuminated Gate City skyline under the title, Good Night Greensboro: A Charming Bedtime Story About Our Beloved City. Written by Dana Hall, a former schoolteacher, and beautifully illustrated by local painter C.P. Logan, the book bids good night to Greensboro icons — the Grasshoppers and Miss Babe Ruth, Woolworth’s lunch counter, Nathanael Greene’s statue presiding over a verdant Guilford Battlefield, an autumnal Bog Garden. The simple text and colorful paintings are sure to soothe any reader (or insomniac) of any age . . . and offer a good reason to wake up in the morning. Info: goodnightgreensboro.com.
Fresh Paint(ings)
Behold new visions at O’Brien Gallery (307 State Street) with the April 12 launch of Uncovering the Layers, featuring the works of painter Jenny Fuller. It’s a homecoming of sorts for the Gate City artist who now resides in Charlotte and whose artistic mission is to “understand the radiance, color, shadow and wonder that surrounds each of us in nature.” Before meeting the artist at a reception at 6 p.m., get to know a new talent, colorist Carolyn Blaylock, at a lunch-and-learn at 11:30 a.m. Info: (336) 379-1124 or kathylovesart@aol.com.
Begging His Pardon
And no, we’re not referring to a certain soon-to-be resident of Club Fed, but none other than our magazine’s namesake, O. Henry. In a letter that landed on our desks recently, a one Jonathan Paris pleads the case for a full presidential pardon for William Sydney Porter, who served time in the Ohio State Penitentiary on charges of bank fraud. As we detailed in the pages of our September 2017 issue, Porter once worked as a teller for First National Bank in Austin, Texas, notorious for its lax recordkeeping, such as employees’ dipping into the till without leaving IOUs. So when the hammer fell on Porter, “he essentially became the fall guy for years of malfeasance,” writes Paris in his letter. “I know that posthumous pardons are rare but there is always a first for something,” he continues. “Having read his short stories and recalling many of them now, it is time to think of all the good this American did instead of a small amount of bad. Please send your votes to overturn the embezzlement charges to the Office of the Pardon Attorney in Washington, D.C.” It’s up to you, faithful readers; if you want to help clear the name of O.Henry, please send your plea in an email to: USPardon.Attorney@usdoj.gov.
24 O.Henry
April 2019
Speaking of O.Henry . . .
We’re pleased to announce a new partnership with Center for Visual Artists, the Greensboro nonprofit dedicated to promoting local artists of all levels, from novices who’ve quietly been realizing their dreams from the privacy of home to established veterans who want to take their calling to the next level. Starting this month, CVA will designate the front lobby area in its perch inside the Greensoro Cultural Center (200 North Davie Street) as the O.Henry Featured Artists Space. There you will see works on view by artists featured in our magazine. We thought it apropos to launch the endeavor with our own Lynn Donovan, whose photographs of spring birds appear on page 80 of this issue. In addition to some of the original shots reproduced among these pages, you’ll also see some of her photos of exotic birds of Costa Rica. So stop by CVA’s galleries and have a, well, gander. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
JAM Slam
Meaning Jazz Appreciation Month, as observed by the city of High Point, starting with a proclamation by Mayor Jay Wagner at City Hall on April 1. As the childhood home of jazz legend John Coltrane, High Point has dreamed up all kinds of jazz-related events throughout the month: On April 9th, Guilford County Schools All-County Jazz Ensemble, and Lunch and Jazz at the High Point Museum (which also hosts a Coltrane exhibit); Kids Night Out Jazz Painting on the 14th; a jazz poetry slam on the 26th. Of course, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to swing and groove to the sounds of local jazz cats, such as Gary Woodard, Melvin Holland Quartet, Brandon Vaughan and Wally West & Friends. And while you’re in town, drop by Sunrise Books to check out a selection of jazz-related tomes, before paying homage to the statue of ’Trane downtown, where you can give thanks for such a vibrant and truly original American art form. Info: highpointarts.org.
Bom-Bard-ment
“To be or not to be, that is the question.” “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” “Lord what fools these mortals be!” Well, yeah, baby, fools for Shakespeare. At 7 p.m. on April 15th, The Greensboro Public Library hosts Shakespeare (and Poetry) in the Park at LeBauer Park (208 North Davie Street), as an early celebration for the Bard of Avon’s 455th birthday. Shared Radiance Performing Arts Company will deliver a fast-paced, interactive montage that will include monologues, soliloquys, speeches and sonnets from Shakespeare’s greatest works, and audience members are invited to step up to the mic and recite their own Bard-inspired verse. Can’t make the poetry slam? Then hoist an elbow on Will’s actual date of birth, April 23, at Gibb’s Hundred (504 State Street), while Shared Radiance revives its act. As Popeye the Sailor might say: “Iamb what iamb what iamb.” Info: Contact Beth Sheffield at (336) 373-3617.
Ham, Eggs and Greens
But not just any ol’ ham, but glazed ham, carved to your liking. And not just any ol’ eggs, but eggs Benedict or baked in a quiche with spinach, mushroom and Emmentaler cheese. And not just any ol’ greens but French green beans, or an orange, fennel and hazelnut spinach salad. But wait! There’s more! Lots more to choose from at the Easter Buffet served up on April 21 at Proximity Hotel’s Weaver Room (704 Green Valley Road). Think: shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit, homemade pastries, grilled salmon, prime rib . . . We could go on and on, but the mere thought of such a feast is making us swoon. Reserve now, before the hungry hordes fill up all the spaces, by calling the hotel’s Happenings Hotline: (336) 215-2868.
Question! Question!
Who’s got the answer? The Extension Master Gardener Volunteers, of course! From 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 27, these past masters of planting host their annual spring gardening open house at the N.C. Cooperative Extension Guilford County Center (3309 Burlington Road). Pop into the Ask a Master Gardener booth with questions about cultivating — well, anything. Get advice on landscaping and gardening, take a garden tour, check out a demo on soil preparation or garden tool sharpening. Learn the ins and outs of pond care, gardening with worms, growing vegetables, herbs and things in small spaces, and how to care for fussy roses. And bring some, uh, cabbage, too, because plants and gardening supplies will be on sale, ya dig? Info: (336) 341-2400.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Ogi Sez Ogi Overman
We’re going to ignore the old saying about April showers — we’ve had quite enough of those, thank you — and go straight to the things that make this a charming month. As we wave buhbye to a yucky winter, we concurrently wave hello to baseball season, warm breezes, barbecues and later sunsets. And, lest we forget, an uptick in the live concert season. Trust me, there are some good ones coming up.
• April 5, Greensboro Coliseum: Say what
you will, but Alabama singlehandedly changed the face of country music. They were the first to legitimize bands, rather than solo artists, and importantly — to me, at least — brought threepart harmony to the forefront. Plus, they really did record some good tunes, and I’m happy to see them reunite for this tour.
• April 6, The Crown: I’m a bit prejudiced
here because Abigail Dowd is a dear friend. But, friendship aside, she has finished her second album and will hold the release party here. I’ve heard her live at least a dozen times, including listening to some cuts off this project, and predict she’s ready for some much bigger stages.
• April 12, Ramkat: Anytime Robert Earl
Keen is this close to home, a 26-mile drive to Winston is nothing. He has practically become the voice of Americana music, and his writing seems destined to eventually put him in the Guy Clark/Townes Van Zandt stratosphere. And his live shows are a party from the first note to the last.
• April 13, Blue Note Grill: I am hesitant
to send anyone to Durham, but when the Subdudes are playing, I would be remiss by leaving them out. I’ve loved these guys for 20 years but was afraid they’d broken up. Thankfully, they haven’t. N’awleans funk, killer harmony, slide guitar, horns, clever lyrics — that’s where I live.
• April 17, LJVM Coliseum: Did you, like
me, get caught up in what appeared at first to be a silly TV show, The Masked Singer? Well, it was silly, but the caliber of talent was exceptional. The eventual winner, T-Pain, beat out the likes of Gladys Knight, Latoya Jackson and Donny Osmond. A full-on rapper no more, this guy is a crooner of the Donny Hathaway order. And that, my friends, is a high compliment. April 2019
O.Henry 25
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Doodad
Girls’ Club Two young Piedmont golfers make the finals of Drive, Chip & Putt
W R I G H T S V I L L E
B E A C H
GOOD TIMES ON
THE ISLAND
Check it out, Wyndham Championship.
You aren’t the only reason the Piedmont gets national TV attention for its golf chops.
This month, for the first time, the Triad will be represented at Drive, Chip & Putt, a youth golf competition held on the eve of the hallowed Masters Tournament — and not by one but by two local golfers: 9-year-old Gabriella “Gabbie” Moorehead of Burlington and 11-year-old Ellen Yu of High Point. The Golf Channel will televise the competition on Sunday, April 7, the day before practice rounds begin at Augusta National Golf Club. Started in 2013, Drive, Chip & Putt culls 80 of the country’s top male and female golfers, ages 7 to 15, for the contest every year. Competitors accumulate points based on three drives, three chips and three putts. To make the finals, Gabbie bested 7-to-9-year-old girls in the regional round at The Honors Course near Chattanooga. Ellen topped the 10- and 11-year-olds at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. Both girls were introduced to golf by their parents. Ellen, the daughter of Kale and Julia Yu, started playing at age 7. “I saw athletic gifts in her that I thought would translate well to golf. She has good eye-hand coordination, good attention to detail and a lot of power for a girl her age,” says Kale Yu, Ellen’s dad. Ellen is home schooled and plays every day, weather permitting, sometimes for seven hours at a stretch. She carries a 4.9 handicap, and her best score on nine holes is 30 strokes. “She’s totally focused on her golf,” says former PGA player Mike O’Briant, who coaches Ellen at Thomasville’s Colonial Country Club. “She enjoys playing and practicing as much as any youngster I’ve been around.” Gabbie, who can be seen on the greens at Stoney Creek Golf Club and Starmount Forest Country Club, picked up toy clubs about age 4 and quickly cottoned to the game, often playing with her parents, Erin and Matt, and with her grandmother, Barbara Fry of Greensboro. Her instructor, Precision Golf School’s Ted Bonham, says Gabbie’s strength is putting. Her drives — she can tag it 160 yards; not bad for someone who weighs 55 pounds — will get better with time because she naturally has the lifting finish that’s the cornerstone of the modern drive, he says, and because she picks up on his pointers quickly. “She understands what I’m telling her, and she accomplishes it,” he says. Aside from golf, Gabbie enjoys playing violin, taking dance classes, doing taekwondo and Girl Scouts, and hanging out with her new baby sister, Madilyn. In a questionnaire for DC&P, she said her ideal Champions Dinner after the junior competition would be Kraft macaroni and cheese, grapes and chocolate cake. We say, dig in! — Maria Johnson OH
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O.Henry 27
Are We Having Fun Yeti?
Life’s Funny
Putting Greensboro’s biggest foot forward
By Maria Johnson
Hanging out in the baggage claim area at
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIA JOHNSON
Piedmont Triad International Airport, waiting for my son, I had the feeling that I was being watched, not an altogether unjustified feeling in an airport. Bully for keen security. But the surveillance felt immediate, as if someone were staring at me from close range, so I turned around and . . .
WHAA?! It was Bigfoot, hulking beside the escalator. I’d heard reports of Sasquatch sightings in the area over the years, mostly in the Uwharrie Mountains south of Greensboro. But I never expected to see the big guy at the airport, much less at baggage claim, even though airports are great melting pots. He was a hirsute chap — about 7 feet tall — with sympathetic eyes and a friendly, bemused expression. Not at all what I expected. “Yeah, I fly only when I have to,” he seemed to say. Honestly, I was charmed by this fiberglass fellow, but I was puzzled by his presence at the airport, especially when I realized he was part of an advertisement for a furniture showroom, International Manufacturers Showroom in High Point. Presumably Biggie was one of many, um, home accessories available in the showroom; he was accompanied by a giant mirrored bass fiddle, a metal sculpture of two wading birds taking flight and a live-edge bar table with leathertopped stools. Standing in a slight crouch, Biggie appeared to be resting one cheek on a barstool. In a way, he fit right in. I mean, hairy dudes on barstools aren’t exactly rare in airports, and neither is eye-catching art. Airports use all kinds of mosaics, fountains, mobiles, sculptures, and light-and-sound effects to entertain travelers and dress up the fact that they’re basically camping around a big driveway. Advertisers — especially furniture manufacturers — get into the eyeball game, too, often putting their edgiest pieces on concourses. Around here, you can bet those displays are aimed at retailers, who stride by on their way to High Point Market, a twice-a-year event that’s rolling out the spring offerings this month. Was I missing a Sasquatch trend for home and garden? For answers, I turned to Ikea — and by that I mean a woman named Ikea, who works in the American Airlines baggage claim office, with a clear view to Biggie. She didn’t want to tell me her last name, but she didn’t mind sharing that, yes, she was there when the showroom installed Biggie about a year and a half ago. “I was like, ‘Well . . . OK,” she says. Since then, Biggie has become the star of baggage claim. “People take pictures of it all the time, every day. They love that Sasquatch,” she says. Some people take selfies with the beast, but more often, they snap group pics. People love to mug with Biggie. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
“They’ll hug it or put their finger in its belly button — it’s an innie — or they’ll touch its nipples,” reports Ikea. “It’s got nipples.” Indeed it does. And Ikea is not being disrespectful by referring to Biggie as “it.” Thanks to careful sculpting, Biggie’s gender is not clear. Still, the creature exudes an undeniable animal magnetism, which is why, Ikea guesses, the showroom set up a velvet rope around Biggie not long ago — to cut down on intimate encounters. Bingo, says George Eouse, the CEO of International Manufacturers Showroom. “The airport was concerned we were getting a little too much interaction with our stuff,” says Eouse, who brainstormed with his team to create attentiongetting displays at PTI. That’s when they settled on “the Yeti,” as Eouse calls it. An Australian artist carved the original, he says. Weatherproof reproductions, like the one at the airport, are fabricated in the Philippines and imported by another of Eouse’s companies, one of more than 30 manufacturers represented in IMS showroom, across the road from Furnitureland South. During furniture market, IMS is closed to the public. But outside of market dates, the public is welcome to buy market samples of exotic furniture, rugs and trophy pieces similar to Biggie. “It’s actually a very popular item,” Eouse says, guessing that he has sold about 100 Biggies, at a wholesale price of $750 each, mostly to retailers. Who ends up owning them? You name it: Bigfoot groupies, clubs, people with a quirky sense of humor. “We see people put them out in the tree lines,” Eouse says. “It’s not for everybody, but for someone with a unique sense of fun . . . I’ve had people to go berserk when they find out they’re able to own one.” So don’t be surprised if you hear more reports of Biggie sightings, never mind a shrinking natural habitat. Whether in the flesh or in fiberglass, it seems, the legend has legs. “He sells enough that he’s going to be around,” says Eouse. “He’s going to survive.” OH Maria Johnson is a contributing editor of O.Henry magazine. Contact her at ohenrymaria@gmail.com. April 2019
O.Henry 29
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April 2019
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The Omnivorous Reader
Exploring the Carolinas Early settlers and the Tuscarora War
By D.G. Martin
“In the middle of a dark September
night in 1711 in Carolina, John Lawson found himself captive, tied up and flung in the center of the council ring of the Tuscarora Indian town of Catechna,” writes Scott Huler on the opening page of his book, A Delicious Country: Rediscovering the Carolinas along the Route of John Lawson’s 1700 Expedition, recently published by the University of North Carolina Press.
Lawson did not survive. Tradition says he was tortured to death, with wooden splinters pushed into his skin and set afire. On earlier visits to American Indian villages, Lawson had witnessed and described this type of torture. Who was this Lawson, and why did the Tuscarora put him to death? In 1700, English-born John Lawson was a newcomer to North America. Almost immediately upon arriving, he set out on foot from Charleston to explore the endless forests of the backcountry Carolinas. The notes he took became the basis of a book, A New Voyage to Carolina, first published in 1709 and still a classic for its rich descriptions of flora and fauna and the conditions of the native peoples. Huler wanted to follow in Lawson’s footsteps. He looked for a modern book that explained where Lawson went and described what is there today. When he found that no such book had been written and that no one had even retraced Lawson’s journey, he thought, “That’s for me!” Huler could have made the trip of several hundred miles in a day or two in a car. But he wanted to go slow, seeing today’s landscapes and peoples at the pace Lawson traveled. He shares his travels in his new book. Like most other readers of Lawson, Huler is impressed with his descriptions and attitudes about the native populations. Lawson visited Sewee, Santee, Sugeree, Wateree, Catawba, Waxhaw, Occaneechi and Tuscarora Indians. Huler writes, “He stayed in their wigwams, ate their food, trusted their guides. And he emerged with their stories, for some of which he is the only source in the world.” Lawson, Huler continues, “documented native communities, buildings, agriculture, hunting, dance, trade, and culture through eyes clear, thorough, and respectful. Lawson depicts the natives as fully human — not some subspecies perceived only in comparison to European settlers.” Lawson’s words were, “They are really better to us than we are to them.” But Lawson found the native populations to be in a precarious situation. “The Small-Pox and Rum have made such a Destruction amongst them, that, on good grounds, I do believe, there is not the sixth Savage living within two hundred Miles of all our Settlements, as there were fifty Years ago.” Traveling Lawson’s route through the rural Carolinas, Huler found a discouraging similarity. Contemporary rural and small town landscapes are littered with
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
empty manufacturing plants, corporate farms and forests, empty main streets and deserted houses. Three centuries after Lawson, Huler found that “our world would teeter: a way of life dying in the countryside, implacable new forces once again balancing an entire civilization on a knife edge.” Setting aside this discouraging report, Huler’s adventures and misadventures on the road entertain and inform. He is the best type of tour guide, one who is well-informed but not at all pompous. His wry, self-deprecating sense of humor helps his serious medicine go down smoothly. For Lawson, his explorations and the reports about them opened the door to prominence and high positions in the young colony. That success came to a sudden end in 1711 when he was captured and executed by the Tuscarora Indians he had so greatly admired and praised. Why did they kill him? To find out, I turned to University of North Carolina-Wilmington professor David La Vere’s The Tuscarora War: Indians, Settlers, and the Fight for the Carolina Colonies. Lawson is one of the main characters of La Vere’s book. La Vere sets out in detail the background for the Tuscarora War that began in 1711 with Lawson’s execution and a series of attacks by the Tuscarora on the thinly populated and, for the most part, recently arrived settlers in the New Bern area. Earlier, in the late 1600s and early 1700s, North Carolina was only sparsely settled, mainly by Virginians moving south into the lands around the Albemarle Sound. They encountered small groups of Indians and were generally able to subdue them. However, to the south and west, the mighty Tuscarora Indian strongholds stood as a barrier. Meanwhile, Lawson’s glowing descriptions about his travels in the colony sparked the interest of the Lords Proprietors, who were looking for ways to encourage settlement. Lawson met a minor Swiss noble, Christoph de Graffenried, who worked out a plan with the Lords Proprietors to transport groups of German refugees and Swiss paupers to lands along the Neuse River near today’s New Bern. These lands overlapped with the territories of the Tuscarora, who became increasingly threatened by the growing European presence. La Vere writes that after overcoming odds, “de Graffenried’s colony of Swiss and German Palatines at the mouth of the Neuse River was thriving.” Therefore, he continues, “expansion up the Neuse seemed a real possibility.” Lawson and de Graffenried made a trip up the Neuse, through Tuscarora lands, to scout sites for future settlements. “All the while, the Indians grew more worried and angry as the abuses against them escalated and their complaints fell on deaf ears. That spark came in midSeptember 1711,” according to La Vere, with this trip up the Neuse. The local Tuscarora king, or chief, offended and threatened that his territory had been invaded, captured Lawson and de Graffenried and put them on trial for their lives. When one of the more radical Indian leaders berated him, April 2019
O.Henry 31
Mother’sIDEAS Day May 2-June 6 Aging Mastery Program for Caregivers
This 6 week program will be conducted on Thursdays from 4:30pm-8:00pm in conjunction with Mount Zion Baptist Church’s Caregiver Connect Program. The class educates caregivers about the impacts of caregiving and also provides them with the tools they need to stay healthier and happier in the caregiving journey. Topics covered include healthy eating and hydration, sleep, exercise, advance planning, financial fitness, and more. Call 336.373.4816 for information and to register.
Mother’s Day honor cards are available for a donation of $10 or more
1401 Benjamin Parkway • Greensboro, NC 27408 336-373-4816 Fax: 336-373-4922 600 North Hamilton Street • High Point, NC 27260 336-883-3586 Fax: 336-883-3179
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32 O.Henry
April 2019
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by sending a check to Senior Resources of Guilford, 1401 Benjamin Pkwy, Greensboro NC 27408.
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Omnivorous Reader Lawson lost his temper. “He argued back, his anger and sarcasm apparent to all.” Lawson, of course, was doomed and shortly executed. His companion, de Graffenried, remained in custody while the Indians planned and carried out their first attacks on September 22, 1711, appearing at first as friendly visitors to the settlers’ farms and then striking suddenly from ambush when the defenses were down. North Carolina’s efforts to beat back the Tuscarora were unsuccessful. The colony didn’t have enough manpower, firepower, or money. Help finally came from the wealthy sister colony to the south. South Carolina sent two expeditions to relieve its northern neighbor. The first expedition, led by John Barnwell, set out with a force of about 700 men. Only 35 were regular militia. The rest were Indian allies. The results were mixed, and the Tuscarora remained a threat. The second expedition, led by James Moore and made up of 113 militia and 760 Indians, wiped out the Tuscarora at their stronghold at Neoheroka, near present day Snow Hill in Greene County, and opened the door to settlement in the interior of North Carolina. What explains why South Carolina so enthusiastically aided its neighbor and how the South Carolina Indians were persuaded to provide the critical manpower? “Above all,” La Vere writes,“it was a chance to enrich oneself by looting the Tuscarora towns and taking slaves, which they could sell to waiting South Carolina traders for guns and merchandise.” This sad footnote to North Carolina’s early history shows that the colonists secured their victory in the Tuscarora War only by facilitating and participating in the enslavement and sale of captured Tuscarora.
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endless entertainment at The Well•Spring Theatre.
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Scott Huler’s route through today’s Carolinas following Lawson’s path
In South Carolina: Charleston, Intracoastal Waterway, Buck Hall Recreation Area, Mouth of the Santee River, Hampton Plantation, McClellanville, Jamestown, Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, Congaree National Park, Pack’s Landing Rimini, Mill Creek County Park, Poinsett State Park, Horatio, Boykin, Camden, Hanging Rock Battleground, and Lancaster. In North Carolina: Pineville, Charlotte, Concord, Kannapolis, Salisbury-East Spencer, High Rock Lake, Denton, Asheboro, Burlington, Saxapahaw, Hillsborough, Durham, Morrisville, Raleigh, Garner, Clayton, Flowers Crossroads, Wilson, Greenville, Washington, and Bath. OH D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV.
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April 2019
O.Henry 33
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April 2019
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Scuppernong Bookshelf
Greensboro Bound: Year Two! The local literary festival extends its reach far beyond the Gate City
Compiled by Brian Lampkin
In May of 2018, the Greensboro
Bound Literary Festival turned the Gate City into the destination for writers and readers across North Carolina. This year, from May 16 to 19, Greensboro Bound will reach across the ocean and around the country to bring more than 70 writers to locations throughout downtown. Our profound thanks to all of them that are accommodating the Festival’s events.
Our keynote speaker for Saturday evening, May 18, from London is literary sensation Zadie Smith, author of Michelle Obama’s favorite novel, White Teeth. Her other works include Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time. Her recent collection of essays, Feel Free, is a nominee for a 2019 PEN Literary Award, and she has been shortlisted for the Man Booker, had a novel named one of the 100 best in the English language (among those published between 1923 and 2005), and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. We thank the UNCG Libraries — and its dean Martin Halbert’s generous partnership with the Festival —for Smith’s appearance in the Cone Ballroom on the UNCG campus at 7 p.m. To ensure a seat to this event, you must RSVP here: www.eventbrite.com/e/ an-evening-with-zadie-smith-tickets-54371396310. A lineup of children’s and young adult authors will charm and delight families from our city’s diverse neighborhoods. Our partnership with the City of Greensboro and the Greensboro Public Libraries means the downtown library will host: Bill Konigsberg (The Music of What Happens), Lamar Giles, (Fresh Ink, Black Enough), plus 18 more amazing children’s writers. On the adult side, 2018 National Book Award finalist Rebecca Makkai will be here to talk about her novel, The Great Believers, and 2016 National Book Award Finalist Ross Gay will talk about his new collection of essays, The Book of Delights. We’ll have an all-day tract of writing on Appalachia with a diverse group of scribes: Wiley Cash, Mesha Maren, Robert Gipe, Carter Sickels, Michael Croley, Val Nieman, and Meredith McCarroll (editor of Appalachian Reckoning, in which many of these writers appear). The Art & Soul of Greensboro
For some, the highlight of the Festival will be the conversation between Heath Lee, author of The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home, and Claire Gibson, author of the novel Beyond the Point, which centers on the lives of women at West Point. Others will come primarily to see the fabulous Lee Brothers! Yes, Matt and Ted Lee will be at the Van Dyke Performance Space to talk about Southern cooking and their new book Hotbox: Inside Catering, the Food World’s Riskiest Business. Permeating the Festival will be engaging, ongoing conversation on social justice, climate change and civil rights. Adam Parker, author of Outside Agitator: The Civil Rights Struggle of Cleveland Sellers Jr., will be here as will Cleveland Sellers himself as they discuss the Orangeburg Massacre and the ongoing movement in its wake. Sudden Spring: Stories of Adaptation in a Climate-Changed South, by Rick Van Noy, reflects on the loss of some of our most cherished landscapes. Van Noy will be on panel with Susan Hand Shetterly. She’s the author of Seaweed Chronicles: A World at the Water’s Edge and the mother-in-law of Margot Shetterly, who wrote Hidden Figures. The weekend kicks off with an Opening Night celebration on Thursday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m at the Weatherspoon Art Museum with the multitalented Astra Taylor. Formerly with the influential indie band Neutral Milk Hotel, but she has moved on to become one of the leading voices on what’s failing in our democracy. Greensboro Bound will screen her film What Is Democracy? Taylor will talk about the film and her knew book Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone. Face plant! I didn’t mention the Greensboro Opera, the Greensboro Symphony’s OrKIDStra, puppets with Fred Chappell and puppets of Fred Chappell in my race to the finish: the Festival’s closing Extravaganza on May 19 at A&T State’s Harrison Auditorium. This year, the Righteous Babe herself, Ani DiFranco, will preside over the event in tandem with the May release of her memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream. We’re one of 10 cities across the country on her initial book tour. DiFranco’s music has empowered several generations and her commitment to making music on her own terms is a significant contribution to the “art of business.” A true American tour-de-force. As if that weren’t enough, she will be in conversation with Greensboro’s own tour-de-force, Rhiannon Giddens. Expect more surprises when we publish the full schedule in the May issue of O.Henry. OH Brian Lampkin is one of the proprietors of Scuppernong Books. April 2019
O.Henry 35
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36 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Drinking with Writers
With the Author Himself An internal dialog
By Wiley Cash • Photographs by Mallory Cash
Wiley Cash and I have known one an-
other for almost 42 years, but I do not see him very often. Work as writer-in-residence at the state university in Asheville has him driving back and forth across the state quite a bit, and if you are to believe his social media accounts, he is usually sprinting through one airport or another, behind on a writing deadline and struggling to find Wi-Fi to return students’ emails. That’s what he gets for giving up his smartphone.
Life has been pretty busy since Wiley’s first novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, was released in the spring of 2012. Since then he has published The Art & Soul of Greensboro
two more novels, taken a few teaching positions, and moved a couple times. He and his wife, Mallory, who is a photographer, are also the parents of two young daughters. A few weeks ago I sent him a text. (He can still text with a flip phone. It just takes him longer.) Me: let’s get a beer Wiley: high cholesterol. Been jogging. Coffee? Me: does beer give you high cholesterol? Wiley: beer makes it harder to jog Me: where should we meet for coffee? Prefer a place that also serves beer. Wiley: our house Thursday morning Mallory meets me at the door when I arrive at their home near Carolina Beach. “His majesty is still in his robe,” she says. April 2019
O.Henry 37
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Drinking with Writers “Late night?” I ask. “No,” she says. “He just works from home. His robe is like his employee uniform.” “You work from home too,” I say. “You’re not wearing your pajamas.” “Maybe the robe life is the exclusive lifestyle of authors.” I look up and see Wiley coming down the stairs in a bright red robe and gray bedroom slippers. We shake hands. “It’s been a while,” Wiley says. “When did you get glasses?” “Last year,” I say. He strokes his white beard and tucks his (graying?!) hair behind his ear. “We’re getting old,” he says. He smiles. “At least you are.” “I guess that means we’re having coffee instead of beer.” He smiles and leads me down the hallway, past the kitchen, and into a sitting room that has recently been converted into his daughters’ playroom. He offers me a seat in one of two tattered yellow armchairs.
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38 O.Henry
April 2019
“When we bought this house we thought it would be a great place to host parties,” he says. He smiles and looks around the room. “Turns out it’s been a great place to host children’s books and games and toys.” While Wiley makes coffee in a French press, we discuss what has kept him busy since his most recent novel, The Last Ballad, was published in the fall of 2017. He tells me about the Open Canon Book Club, an online book club he founded to introduce readers to diverse books by diverse authors, and the Land More Kind Appalachian Artists’ Residency, a retreat he and Mallory and two friends founded in West Virginia. He is also teaching, a lot: Aside from his work as writer-inresidence at the University of North CarolinaAsheville, he also teaches in the Mountainview Low-Residency MFA Program. In his spare time he is trying to work on a new novel, one that is already behind deadline. “How are you finding the time and space to write?” I ask. He pours me a cup of black coffee, pours one for himself, and then sits back in his chair. “It’s hard,” he said. “I’m really busy, but The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Drinking with Writers everything I do is about writing in one way or another. When I teach, I teach writing. When I give a talk at a library or university, I’m talking about writing. When I’m reading books for the book club or reading through applications for the artists’ residency, I’m thinking about the written word and how it works to achieve an author’s intentions. Literally everything I do pertains to writing. My life is one huge literary conversation that never stops.” “It all sounds like a lot of work,” I say. “Are there many rewards?” “Aside from my mom constantly asking if my editor’s mad at me because my novel is late? Sure. There are a lot of rewards,” he says. “I’m so lucky that my one-time hobby has become my full-time occupation, or occupations.” He looks over his shoulder at a wall of glassed-in bookshelves in the living room. “Speaking of rewards,” he says, “you want to see a really cool one?” He gets up and walks into the other room. When he returns he is carrying a small statue on a pedestal. “Meet Sir Walter Raleigh,” he says. He slides one of his girl’s chairs away from a children’s table and sets the statue on the chair. He makes a show of polishing it. “I received this a few weeks ago from the North Carolina Historical Book Club. I love it.” “You seem like a proud father,” I say. “Speaking of fatherhood, how has it changed your writing?” “Being a parent has deepened the experience of storytelling in ways that have really surprised me,” he says. “Our oldest, who’s 4, is obsessed with narrative. I probably tell six or seven stories a day about saber tooth tigers and early people and ghosts and pirates. A few nights ago I heard her telling Mallory about how telling stories can cause them to feel true. That left a huge impression on me because that’s what I want to do as a writer. I want to tell my readers fictional stories that they believe nonetheless. “And our 3-year-old is really interested in telling stories. A few days ago, she told Mallory a story that began It was the first day of school. His mother came to get him. He was not sad, but quiet. Are you kidding me? I don’t write opening lines that beautiful.” “If your girls told a story about you, what would it be?” I ask. Wiley takes a sip of his coffee and looks toward the window. “It was the first day of writing a new novel,” he says. “His mother had already called to check on his progress. He was not sad, but tired.” “Pretty good lines,” I say. “Thanks,” he says. “They’re yours if you write my biography.” OH Wiley Cash lives in Wilmington with his wife and their two daughters. His latest novel, The Last Ballad, is available wherever books are sold. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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42 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Food for Thought
Greens, Eggs and Ham The Devil in the details
By Jane Lear
Something about April makes me
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES STEFIUK
nostalgic for — well, I’m not sure what, exactly. The first young vegetables are juicy, tender and exquisite; they are what spring tastes like. Farmers and home gardeners alike have earth-caked hands and knees. They are working hard, being patient. Waiting for the world to wake up and warm up.
As a child, my Aprils were often spent chasing after my mother, who was intent on foraging wild watercress before it flowered and then disappeared until the following year. She’d picked up the knowledge that the plant had been used both culinarily and medicinally during ancient times, and as we waded in frigid creeks and teetered on rocks midstream, she’d treat me to a homily on how brilliant the Greeks were and how exceptional watercress was. (Watercress is indeed rich in vitamins K, A, C, E and B6, as well as phosphorus, magnesium and calcium. Ounce for ounce it contains more antioxidants than broccoli.) For Easter and other spring occasions, we might be treated to watercress soup served in my grandmother’s thinnest porcelain cups. For the most part, though, we enjoyed the peppery, pungent sprigs fresh in a salad, dressed with nothing more than salt, lemon juice and olive oil — back then, not all that easy to find down South, and thus one of my mother’s most valued condiments. These days, I avoid wild cress unless I know for sure that the stream it comes from is pristine; instead, I go for the cultivated stuff at the supermarket. It wilts beautifully under a steak, roast chicken or seared piece of fish. And it makes a wonderful bed for deviled, or stuffed, eggs — the quintessential springtime hors d’oeuvre. I’m crazy about them, especially those made by my longtime friend Rick Ellis. He’s a noted food stylist and culinary historian who is never afraid to serve stuffed eggs at the fanciest dinner party. “They’re always the first thing to disappear,” he said, and he’s right. What gives Rick’s eggs their rich, round flavor is butter, and he credits Julia The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Child with the idea. One of the things you learn from someone like Rick (or Julia) is that simplicity doesn’t necessarily mean ease of preparation, but instead perfection and balance in a dish. That’s why it’s important, for instance, to push the cooked egg yolks through a fine-mesh sieve rather than mash them with a fork. It’s what gives the filling such great body. Another great spring favorite is deviled ham — reason alone for serving a tender, juicy baked ham at Easter. The use of the culinary term “deviled” to mean highly seasoned with spices or condiments dates from at least the early 19th century, but the kind of deviling most Southerners come across isn’t fiery at all, but instead gets a sharp nip from Dijon mustard, often with an assist from a pinch of cayenne. And if you spoon it onto toast points, you have lovely little canapés, which were, Rick told me, one of the first types of hors d’oeuvre served with drinks. My mind leapt immediately to Jack Benny, who once defined an hors d’oeuvre as a ham sandwich cut into 40 pieces. Rick, however, was thinking about another icon, Fannie Farmer, and after a quick search in his library, read aloud from his 1918 edition of Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cook Book, which laid out the newfangled concept of canapés. “Canapés are made by cutting bread in slices one fourth inch thick, and cutting the slices in strips . . . or circular pieces. The bread is toasted, fried in deep fat, or buttered and browned in the oven, and covered with a seasoned mixture of eggs, cheese, fish, or meat.” As for the deviled ham, Rick found a recipe for ham sandwich spread seasoned with mustard, salt, pepper and vinegar in the original (1931) edition of The Joy of Cooking. It rightly belongs to the far older category of potted meats, of course. Two centuries ago, I would have had to pound the cooked ham (or partridge, ox tongue, hare, etc.) to a smooth paste with butter in a stone mortar, then season it with salt, pepper and perhaps mace or cayenne. Pressed into small crocks and sealed with clarified butter, my potted ham would have kept about two weeks in a cool, dry place. No recipe re-enactments for me: I’ll take my food processor and refrigerator and be grateful, thank you. The recipe for deviled ham, which is based on Marion Cunningham’s reborn classic, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (published in 1979), is simple and delicious. No way it’ll last two weeks. April 2019
O.Henry 43
Food for Thought Rick Ellis’ Stuffed Eggs Makes 24
1 dozen large eggs 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon cayenne Coarse salt and ground white pepper Finely snipped fresh chives for garnish 1. Place the eggs in a pan large enough to hold them in 1 layer and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, cover the pot, and let sit 15 minutes. Drain and run under cold water until eggs are completely cool. 2. Peel the eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and rub through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Add the mayo, mustard and butter, and mix until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice, cayenne, and a generous amount of salt and white pepper. Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip (or jury-rig out of a plastic zip-top bag with a corner snipped off). 3. Pipe the filling into the egg white halves and sprinkle with chives.
Deviled Ham with Toast Points Makes 2 cups
About 8 slices best-quality white sandwich bread 2 cups (about 1/2 pound) chopped cooked city-cured (baked) ham 1 tablespoon minced onion 2 to 3 teaspoons Dijon mustard A small pinch cayenne An even smaller pinch ground mace (optional) 1 tablespoon minced sweet pickle 2 tablespoons mayonnaise or unsalted butter, softened to room temperature Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1. Heat oven to broil and set rack about 6 inches from heat. Put the bread slices on a baking sheet and broil until pale golden and crisp on top, about 1 minute or so. Flip the slices and broil until pale golden on other side, about 1 minute. While bread is still hot, trim crusts and cut into triangles or strips. Once cool, the toast points will keep in an airtight container up to 1 day. 2. Purée the ham until smooth in a food processor. Scrape it into a bowl, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Pack the deviled ham into a small crock and refrigerate, covered. OH Jane Lear was the senior articles editor at Gourmet and features director at Martha Stewart Living.
44 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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April 2019
O.Henry 45
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April 2019
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True South
All Pumped Up Or just wait until the urge passes
By Susan S. Kelly
And now, a few concise words about exercis-
ing: I loathe it.
I was never on a sports team. No one wanted to double-Dutch jump rope with me as a partner. I’m so uncoordinated that I tend to fall down just putting on my underwear. In high school, while I kind of coveted the flippy kilts my field-hockey playing classmates got to wear, I preferred the passive, less-participatory exercise of wearing a weighted belt Velcroed around my waist under clothes. Worked just fine until you drank a glass of water. After study hall, we’d “walk” down the long dorm hall linoleum on our butt cheeks while listening to Cat Stevens singing “Wild World” from the Tea for the Tillerman album. An effort, in retrospect, that would have probably been a lot more effective if we’d just ceased and desisted with toast-eating contests at breakfast. Despite years of sitting in stadiums, I never understood football until I watched Friday Night Lights on Netflix and had to figure out first downs to follow the plot. As for tennis or golf, why would anyone do anything that requires putting on sunscreen, much less sweating? I’d be perfectly content never to put on sneakers again — and I realize they’re not called sneakers anymore. In my opinion, anyone who changes the sheets on a king bed has had ample exercise for the day, what with all that walking around from one side of the bed to the other. In defense of all this inactivity, I’d like to point out that I wear no ace bandages anywhere, have no joint, tendon, muscle, back, knee or other issues, and have no idea what an ACL or meniscus is or where they’re located; all of which I attribute to the fact that for five decades I never engaged in anything competitive or, well, physical, when you come right down to it. Just sayin’. And I do like to think that balancing on one foot while brushing my teeth counts for something. At least it beats my friend who’s figured out that she can set the treadmill speed at 3.8 before the wine starts sloshing out of the cup holder. Never mind my friend who’s eating Big Macs because the people at Weight Watchers told her she’s not fat enough to qualify. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Still, when a fitness facility opened up practically in my own backyard the year I turned 50, I decided it was Time To Get With The Program, as my father would say. Not that I would even consider walking the one-eighth mile over there when I could drive. Please. It quickly became clear that I don’t have the personality for yoga. The first time the instructor told me to quit wearing baggy tops — so she could correct my position — was the last time I went to yoga class. Besides, the whole time we were supposed to be clearing our minds or assuming the Savasana pose or whatever you’re meant to Om, I was thinking about all the things I needed to be doing and wishing the session would just end so I could get on with it. One friend’s husband wanted to go to yoga class with her, so she gave him a set of sessions for Christmas. Unfortunately, his first class became his last class, because, as is often the case with yoga, he publicly pooted. There’s no namaste for that. Somewhat similar to my sister’s issue with a chocolate power bar in her back pocket that melted and squished and looked — well, let’s just say it’s best to always wear black exercise clothes. Beware of classes disguised as cults, in which Fitness Barbies and Kens are demoralizingly superior to you. I’m sorry, but if you have makeup on at the gym, I don’t care how long you can plank; you’ve lost all credibility. But I do like the way, in a class, the teacher will run down the quick-quick chop-chop single-syllable system checklist of to-dos or have-dones: quads, pecs, lats, delts, abs, glutes, biceps, etc. They come in handy for doing crosswords. (While sitting down.) The main argument for classes with scary titles like Pump It Up, Power Flex, yada yada, is the punch line to that old joke about why the guy keeps hitting himself on the head with a hammer: Because it feels so good when you quit. Best, then, to stick with the treadmill, where you can multitask otherwise sedentary activities like online bridge and Netflix. At 79, a friend’s father began memorizing T. S. Eliot to pass time on the stationary bike. He’d repeatedly take a laminated card from his pocket, consult it, put it back, and pedal on. The discipline proved so popular to fellow cyclers that he formed a club with seven other men who meet three times a week to recite. In case you’re wondering, “The Waste Land” takes 40 minutes to recite. Me, I’m reveling in a smaller triumph: The nurse who administered my flu shot asked, “Do you work out?” “How did you know?” I returned. “Your arm muscle,” she replied. Score! OH Susan S. Kelly is a blithe spirit, author of several novels, and proud grandmother. April 2019
O.Henry 47
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April 2019
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Getaway
Papadaddy’s Mindfield
Or, how to start your own Vacation Club By Clyde Edgerton
When my wife,
ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR
Kristina, was told we could get four days and three nights in a Marriott hotel luxury suite with two bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, three or four TVs in Myrtle Beach for $9 (OK: $134) if we’d sit together for a one-and-a-halfhour lecture about time-shares, I said: Goodness. Why not?
Excuse me — not time-share, but some other name, like: Marriott Vacation Worldwide Club Getaway. “Time-share” is out of fashion in some quarters . . . the name, not the concept. There’s a guy who comes on cable radio and says, “I’m a lawyer, not very smart, but mean, and I’ll get you out of your time-share contract by suing the hell out of the time-share company, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll burn down your time-share and we will split the insurance.” But with the Marriott Vacation Worldwide Club Getaway, rather than buying a two-weeks-a-year stay at one hotel suite, apartment, small closet or room (after which other people use it for the rest of the year, and get it dirty), you — in this new kind of setup — buy the possibility of staying in a luxury hotel about anywhere in the world when you go on vacation, and you use up a certain number of points each time that happens, depending on how big your abode is. You buy so many points a year for the rest of your life. If you don’t like the deal, that’s OK because you will die and leave it to your heirs, and they can do the same, like a home. Resale value? I don’t know. Let’s jump ahead about one hour and 15 minutes into our lecture. I asked: “What’s your return rate?” “Excuse me?” “How many couples out of 10 buy in?” “Three.” “Wow, I’m surprised it’s that high. That’s pretty good.” Now mind you, Kristina and I had decided that there was no way we could buy in. I mean there was the very slightest chance, but we vowed we would not be swayed. The luxury hotel was, well, luxurious. The January weather was nice, there were several football-field-size heated pools, a Jacuzzi. Our suite was two big bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, living room, all that. We just kind of relaxed. Our kids did what they do at home: They sat on a bed and looked into a cellphone. Well, that’s not fair — they do other things. Perceptions are sometimes a product of fear. We got there on a Friday, and on Saturday morning, while the kids sit on their beds looking into their cellphones, Kristina and I head for the lecture. On the way, we walk around, out onto the beach and back. I mean, who needs the beach The Art & Soul of Greensboro
when you are at a luxury hotel? There is this bevy of nice grills near the beach area (inside the gate to the beach), these big cabinets of dark wooden cubbyholes for your beach paraphernalia (inside the gate to the beach). There are beach chairs, ping-pong tables, a gym (inside the gate to the beach). Suddenly, I realized the thing you go to the beach for, the beach, was not central to a Marriott Worldwide Vacation Club Getaway. Why? A guess: Nobody makes money when you go for a walk on the beach. And the gate keeps out the undesirables who might be walking by on the beach. Just before the lecture, we enter a large room with bar, snacks, drinks, many couches, big green plants and lamps. I’d thought other folks would be coming in. Nope. It ended up, at first, being just three of us. A nice young man, very relaxed, open collar, sports jacket, sits down with us and says, “This is definitely going to be low key. No high-pressure stuff.” We talk about where he’s from, his brothers and sisters, where he went to school. I like him. Surely he thinks we’re not interested, I think. It is very low pressure . . . for about 40 minutes. After about 45 minutes we have taken a little stroll past beautiful, large 3-D photos of resort areas around the world, and we are now in a very small room. A guy who looks like Pancho Villa comes in. He wears two belts of ammo, crossed on his chest. He starts putting numbers on a white board with a blue felt-tipped pen — what our payments will be for a certain number of points a year. He’s good. I will later admit to Kristina that I was almost swayed. Then I think to ask, “Is there a maintenance fee?” Well, there is. Two grand a year for the moderate package we’re examining, and I think to myself: If we get away for only four nights in a certain year, that’s $500 a night out the gate. We say to Pancho: “We are not doing this, sir. The end.” He changes tactics, halves all the numbers on the board, unclicks the safety-guard strap on his pistol. We persist. Pancho gives up, and they run a woman in on us. No ammo belts. She says if we call her by 1 p.m. that day, we can get three nights and four days at any Marriott luxury hotel for $199 if we promise to come together for a 1-hour, 30-minute lecture. This is true. I realize that it’s the three out of 10 that’s driving the bus. I say, no thanks. She says $149. I say no. She gives us a business card and says, “Call me if you change your mind.” We return to our suite, relax, enjoy our stay for another day, talk about how lucky we are to be one of the seven in 10. We gather our kids and their cellphones off their beds, return to Wilmington a day early, and have a family meeting. We’re going to start spending time at the beach, and in the yard, and walking, and going to state parks. We’re going to start our own Vacation Nature Getaway Club. Features? Yard, beach, state parks. Cost: Nada OH Clyde Edgerton is the author of 10 novels, a memoir and most recently, Papadaddy’s Book for New Fathers. He is the Thomas S. Keenan III Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at UNCW. April 2019
O.Henry 49
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Birdwatch
Carolina Bird Club Come join the flock
By Susan Campbell
So, are there any bird nerds (like me!)
out there wondering where you just might find others of a like mind? Then check out the Carolina Bird Club (CBC). This 82-year-old organization is a very active club with members of all ages from all walks of life who have one thing in common: They love birds. Although some in the club may be termed “birdwatchers,” those who passively enjoy the birds they see at their feeders or around their neighborhoods, are, in fact, full-fledged “birders.” The term has only been in use since about the early 1980s, just about the time I myself became a birdcrazy teenager. “Birders” have a real passion for their fine-feathered friends — some might say an addiction.
Our club (yes, I have been an active member since I moved to the Sandhills 30 years ago) has more than 1,200 members, many of whom spend hours in the field not just satisfying their own curiosity about things bird-related but gathering details that further our knowledge collectively of the region’s avifauna. Started in 1937 as the North Carolina Bird Club, it has been the one and only ornithological organizations of both North and South Carolina for well over 50 years. The results of countless hours of birding by literally thousands of Carolinabirders (not surprisingly, that’s what we call ourselves) can be found in The Chat, the club’s journal, published quarterly. There is also a quarterly newsletter
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
that keeps members up to speed on the group’s activities, and documents interesting bird sightings and other assorted news items. Although academics and other professionals doing scientific work in the Carolinas do share their findings through the club’s publications, much of what we know has been documented by the large cadre of very serious but amateur birders. They always seem to be out there, looking for any and all birds they can find from dawn to dusk (and some even at night, for we do have a number of nocturnal species regardless of the time of year). Three weekends a year, one in September (fall), January (winter) and late April or early May (spring), a meeting is planned somewhere particularly birdy. More than a hundred members descend to eat, drink, socialize and — wait for it! — go birding. And, as I type this, ambitious plans are well underway for the spring meeting which will be headquartered in Southern Pines. It has been 10 years since the last CBC gathering in the Sandhills — so the excitement is building among the local volunteers involved. By meeting time in early May, dozens of species will have just arrived. Spring migration will have just peaked. All of the singing and displaying will be hard to miss. And many of our year-round avian residents will be scurrying around as they care for newly hatched nestlings. There will be more than enough activity for us birders to take in one short weekend. So, should you spot a group of us on the trails at Weymouth Woods, along Nick’s Creek Greenway or poking around at Reservoir Park with binoculars in hand and eyes to the sky, feel free to join us. You, too, can become a CBC birder. OH For more information on the Carolina Bird Club, visit our website: www.carolinabirdclub.org Susan would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. She can be contacted by email at susan@ncaves.com. April 2019
O.Henry 51
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Relax Tresure the MomentsThe Art & Soul of Greensboro
Wandering Billy
Goys and Dills
Remembrance of jobs past, a new New York–style deli and fresh flicks
By Billy Eye
“Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” — Confucius
One warm evening recently I found myself
standing outside Rioja! A Wine Bar with some much younger friends, reminiscing about my first two jobs that were located just steps away. You know how the young’uns love it when we old-timers start pontificating!
Anyone reading this knows the difference between a job and a profession. I’ve been fortunate to have blundered into several amazing professional careers but can’t recall any satisfying J-O-Bs I’ve suffered through. As a busy 16-year old, I resented the idea of having to venture out into the workforce to begin with. After school, I could be found up in my room writing and drawing, or acting in stage productions at Page High and First Presbyterian. During the summer, there were hours poolside at Greensboro Country Club, swimming being the best exercise after all, not to mention that a guy has an obligation to maintain his tan. Additionally, there was the laborintensive hunting down of that week’s comic books — with such a whirlwind existence, where was there any time for a job, I ask you? My father, on the other hand, felt it unseemly that a teenage son of his wasn’t working — having lived through the Depression, walking 12 miles back and forth, uphill both ways, to school, the two weeks he drove a diaper truck, blah, blah, blah — so Dad resorted to blackmail. No job, no car. That my father didn’t appreciate my artistic gifts was one thing, but to resort to such cruelty?!? My one major vice at the time was eating ice cream sodas (very few people know what those are today) from the Baskin-Robbins where Northwood and Battleground intersect, so I ended up getting hired on there. Boy, would that The Art & Soul of Greensboro
place get swarmed on weekends when movies let out at the Janus Theatre. It was a short-lived affair, fired just a few months later after I slipped Brian Lachlen a free ice cream cone and one of my co-workers ratted me out. Despite being coldly spat out of the capitalist machinery on my first outing, dear ol’ Dad put his foot down again, I still needed to be earning. Driving around one afternoon in that sweet ’68 Cutlass V8 convertible Mom and I shared, I made up my mind to seek employment at the next place I heard mentioned over WCOG radio. Tragically, up popped the jingle “Hurry on down to Hardee’s, where the burgers are charcoal broiled. . .” Hardee’s, in 1972, was right across the street from my former employer, next door to Krispy Kreme, which stood where Rioja! is today. It was an awful experience, the atmosphere set by a married manager who attracted the kind of women you’d see leaning over second floor balconies at cheap motels. I was so embarrassed about working there I devised a way, if anyone I recognized walked through the door, to cook and deliver a burger without my face being seen. The only other job I had as a teenager in Greensboro was a short stint at Ellman’s jewelry store at Carolina Circle Mall where I beat the lie detector test required for employment. Not that I had anything to hide, I didn’t, I just wanted to see if I could. It wasn’t long before I began making a pretty decent living as an actor, determined not to be so capricious about how I made a living in the future.
***
Longtime readers of this column won’t under any circumstances recall, but I am on a never-ending quest for the perfect roast beef sandwich. Sadly, the eateries I’ve recommended in past columns are both closed now. That’s why I was so excited to try Greenfield’s N.Y. Deli and Bagels at Battlefield Shopping Center on New Garden Road, just west of North Elm. An honest-to-goodness kosher deli with homemade chopped liver, bagels, crispy fried knishes, reuben and pastrami sandwiches folks are raving about. Everyone in the place seemed genuinely excited about their meals when I dipped in. April 2019
O.Henry 53
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54 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Wandering Billy I spoke briefly with Tom Cassano who, with his father Anthony, opened Greenfield’s last September, partly because they felt the New York deli experience was missing in Greensboro. “I grew up on this type of food, especially the desserts and baked goods,” Tom tells me. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ve got great places, but nothing like up North.” While father Anthony is a Philly native, Tom was born here in the Gate City. “Bagels are like our babies,” Tom points out. “Our everything bagel, cheese bagel, we have a Black Russian which is like a pumpernickel with an onion seed on it. Sandwiches, that’s a key thing too.” Curb Your Enthusiasm fans may want to dive into their Larry David special, constructed with Nova and Whitefish on a bagel with lettuce, tomato capers, and cream cheese. Wash it down with a Dr. Brown’s soda, natch. Eye’ll be returning shortly for that truly superior roast beef sandwich I enjoyed, garnished simply with thin layers of lettuce, tomato and onion on a Kaiser roll (the way I prefer, customize away). I recommend the quarter-pound version, I don’t know how anyone could wrap their lips around a half-pounder but apparently it’s possible. And I thought I had a big mouth! Take my word for it? Immediately after lunch, entirely by happenstance, I bumped into my old pal, Brooklyn-bred Pete “The Greek” Arata, who was equally effusive about Greenfield’s authentically New York fare. *** If you have a Greensboro Public Library card there’s a free Netflix-like subscription movie service, Kanopy, I’ll bet you didn’t know is at your fingertips. Kanopy is heavily into documentaries, you get 10 flicks a month (resetting back to 10 on the first of every month) but one of the best parts is a documentary series like Eyes On the Prize, which runs 14 episodes, only counts as one play. Other great docs and motion pictures you can access: Billy Wilder Speaks, Los Angeles Plays Itself, She’s the Best Thing In It: Portrait of a Character Actress, Can We Take a Joke?, The Last Movie Star (Burt Reynolds’ last movie and it’s quite tragic-funny), Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Trumbo, Save the Tiger, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, I Am Chris Farley, Girls in the Band, Mickey Mouse Monopoly, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The story of the National Lampoon; you can even learn a foreign language. It’s easy. Go to Kanopy.com, enter your library card number, create a password, begin bingewatching. OH Mr. O.G. — Original Greensboro — aka Billy Eye would love to hear from you. Email billy@tvparty.com. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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O.Henry 55
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
The Heaven of Lost Umbrellas They have to be somewhere; those ribbed and fabric servants who have held off storms so grandly, quietly, and with such solemn unassuming elegance.
They come to us in colors but mostly that ubiquitous black. Plaid, polka dots, birds, butterflies, Monet’s water lilies . . . he must be laughing at the irony. Van Gogh’s sunflowers, one grand, glorious sun of yellow. We have monograms, advertisements, golf ones big enough to cover a room of golfers . . . except it never rains on a golf course. Nor in this way out of the way heaven of lost things.
Here umbrellas lie folded in resting pose. They hold their own handles, their work for the moment completed. Yet they wait to be unfurled and walked wherever they need to go.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
— Ruth Moose
April 2019
O.Henry 57
To the Max
For designer and avid collector Terry Lowdermilk, nothing succeeds like excess By Cynthia Adams • Photographs by Amy Freeman
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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O.Henry 59
I
t is so 21st-century to be a collector. When Country Living profiled collectors last year, their prized possessions sometimes numbered in the hundreds. And, the chosen objects ran the gamut: from highbrow to low, from cutting boards to stamps. But amassing and curating specific items didn’t begin in this day and age. As far back as the Renaissance, Europeans created cabinets of curiosities, or “wonder rooms,” a pastime elevated to an art form by acquisitive Victorians. According to neuroscientists, groupings of objects give us a pleasurable sensation, a little jolt of joy, even. This point was underscored by no less than famed designer of the Greenbrier Resort, Dorothy Draper, an affirmed “anti-minimalist.” In her 1960s Good Housekeeping column, she advised her followers to group objects in a pleasing arrangement. Groupings elevate lesser collections, she explained: “Notice how groups of small objects, when they are well-arranged, become important and effective.” For serious collectors, (many of whom admit to having a plan of action to scoop up their collections first in the event of a house fire), the oft-repeated mantra, “less is more,” appalls. Consider Tony Duquette, the artist, film and stage designer who penned the hefty tome, More is More. Interior designer and avid collector Terry Lowdermilk displays Duquette’s book in his living room . . . along with a whole lot more, by the way. As a neighbor and fellow collector says, Lowdermilk is a maximalist, placing him firmly in Duquette’s and Draper’s camp. His collectibles cover tabletops and chests, fill decorative cabinets, and are displayed on walls, brackets and surfaces throughout his two-story townhouse. The namesake of Terry Lowdermilk Interiors, he spends six days a week working with varied, farflung residential clients. He also keeps a home office, which he confesses, requires him to religiously dust his many collections. (He does so with pleasure, weekly.) And if his clients don’t have a collection, Lowdermilk says he’ll offer “to start something for them,” the designer laughs — and not ironically. Collections, he maintains, make a house exceptional. Collected objects whisper of history, of meaning, of a backstory worth sharing. For Lowdermilk, chinoiserie accomplishes this feat. The French word (pronounced sheen-WAHZ-uh-ree) encompasses everything Chinese and East Asian, from furniture to wallpaper, china, porcelains, objets d’art, textiles and papier mâché. It became wildly popular, thanks to the Dutch East India Company, which included the collectibles in their haul back to eager Europeans. The popularity of chinoiserie never abates — and if it does, it resurfaces in a heartbeat or two. It expresses Europeans’ version of Chinese and East Asian décor, extending into gardens, architecture and even the performing arts. (Think: Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta, The Mikado.) King Louis XIV admired the style, as did others to follow. The beau monde loved it as well; pagodas and pavilions interpreted the style in
60 O.Henry
April 2019
gardens of the well-heeled. A chinoiserie cabinet takes pride of place in Lowdermilk’s dining room. The knockout statement piece was formerly in a relative’s Lynchburg house. “My cousin found one in another color he liked.” Lowdermilk couldn’t buy the cabinet fast enough, and uses it as storage for table linens, charger plates and cloth napkins. A remnant from a chinoiserie opium bed graces the foyer wall. A Japanned (lacquered) screen is in the living room. One of his most beloved collections is the assortment of French and English chinoiserie papier mâché items, many of them utilitarian objects like holders for matches and calling cards. The papier mâché imitations were inspired by more exclusive and costlier Chinese and Japanese lacquer ware. Decorated in gilt they depict various fanciful scenes in Asian landscapes. “There are also several pieces that were gifts from close friends and clients. Along the way, in more recent years, I have become enthralled with antique cinnabar [fiery red pieces carved from mercury sulfite], as well as Japanned papier mâché and tole pieces,” Lowdermilk says. “I only have a couple of the tole, or commonly known as tin ware, which have gold Asian-styled paintings on a black background.” He admits that his papier mâché collection with gold-on-black paintings has perhaps run away with him: “I truly love the Asian feeling as well as the gold-on-black decoration. Also, the many beautiful shapes and sizes.” As he shows his collections — with nary a dust mote in sight — Lowdermilk explains the origin of his love of luxe interiors with hand-selected collections: ChinquaPenn, the Betsy and Jeff Penn manse in Reidsville. “The muted colors. My love for painted murals,” the designer explains, can be traced back to this touchstone. From his earliest memory, Lowdermilk’s family had an inside connection to the estate. Their entrée was a close family friend and personal secretary to Jeff Penn, whose family started Penn Tobacco Co. in Reidsville, which was ultimately purchased by American Tobacco Co. The secretary received frequent calls to be available when the famously globetrotting Penns shipped back antiquities and art from their travels, filling the 30-room mansion they built in 1925. “So, when we were kids — Mrs. Penn had died by then in the early ’60’s — we would go over to ChinquaPenn, because it had been given to the foundation at UNCG,” Lowdermilk recalls. “There were pictures of us outside, by the fountains. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. All the things! It was incredible!” he says, pausing thoughtfully. “I think that was my beginning [as a collector].” With a particular fondness for the Penns’ extensive collection of Asian artifacts and artwork, he visited the estate on numerous occasions, eventually serving on the board of the foundation. “I learned so much about their collections, their origins and also value,” he says. “I even had the pleasure of helping to oversee the decorating of the home for Christmas for the last three or so years that it was open to the public.” Notice a theme? Many of the items Lowdermilk collects echo a time The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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O.Henry 61
when the Bohemian elite obsessed over exotic Asian wares. Even if you couldn’t actually visit Asia with the resources of a tobacco baron or the Vanderbilt railroad heirs in Asheville, you could still possess the sort of treasures they were fond of amassing. But Lowdermilk explains it wasn’t solely Chinqua-Penn’s riches that revealed collected opulence to his eager eyes. They were opened at an early age, while glimpsing interiors and antiques tagging along with his father, a Realtor. “I’d go with him to sign a listing agreement, and I’d ask why didn’t we have beautiful old furnishings,” Lowdermilk remembers. His father’s retort? “I grew up with all that dusty old stuff. I don’t want it.” Neither did he keep many family pieces. Lowdermilk’s dad wanted what so many postwar families wanted: everything brand-spanking new, with modern conveniences. Even this twist had a silver lining. His parents’ modernity led him to the world of interior design. When Lowdermilk’s parents became engaged, they first built and furnished a house on Cornwallis Drive and hired a decorator, to impart the latest 1940’s design. “Growing up in a home, where my parents had design help, was one aspect that enticed me into the design field,” says Lowdermilk. “I liked seeing my Mom work with the decorator, looking at fabrics, wallpapers, accessories, etc. “They wanted to go on their honeymoon and come back to a house all ready.” The young couple consulted Morrison-Neese Furniture Company and chose Vi Cothran, a member of their large staff. (A firm so notable they helped establish the home furnishings industry in the Triad.) Later, Cothran worked with Cashion’s Furniture and Decorating. “She helped my parents with their three homes. I always grew up in a house done by her.” No question, he knew from early days that the profession lent proximity to beautiful objects and homes. And collections. “Antiques were something we did not have at home, since my parents chose to leave behind older pieces from their childhood and enjoy the new home décor of the late ’40’s through the ’60’s and ’70’s.” Sure, they retained a couple of family antique pieces, “but most of the furnishings were new of the day. I realized then, that my future had antiques in it, possibly furniture pieces, and more than likely small, interesting pieces,” Lowdermilk recalls. It was fortuitous that Lowdermilk’s father was a friend to the late Otto Zenke, Greensboro’s premier designer of that era. Ironically, Morrison-Neese was the store who brought Otto Zenke to Greensboro in 1937, according to a 2005 article by Jim Schlosser in the News & Record. “On Saturday mornings, I would sometimes accompany my Dad to his office, which was down the street from Otto Zenke’s studio and residence,” Lowdermilk remembers. “I would ask Dad if I could go down and walk through his shop.” With Zenke’s permission, the impressionable Lowdermilk would enjoy, he recalls, “seeing many beautiful things which were inspiring. Mind you, I was around 11 to 13 at this time.” On an outing with his mother, a teenaged Lowdermilk noticed a reproduction, French-styled plaster-on-metal, large wall bracket. “I told her I was going to buy it, and she asked why, and where would I use it? I quickly said, ‘In my bedroom!’” he
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
smiles at the memory. “I purchased it with my own money, and today, it is still something I love, in my living room. Now, I suppose I could say it is well on its way to being an antique! At least vintage!” From one purchase a collection was launched. “Now I have collected quite a few older wall brackets, which hold many antique items I have collected.” One collection spawns another, for collectors, are, if nothing else, a passionate lot, hunter and gatherer types who know where the best stuff is. Bringing it home is an irresistible impulse. In Lowdermilk’s case, that would also include Old Paris sugar boxes, European lithographs, books, clocks, and the visually stunning majolica and cinnabar. He recalls the spark that ignited his admiration of majolica, a term for painted earthenware originating from Moorish Spain by way of Renaissance Italy. “My first antique purchase was a green majolica plate, found at Byerly’s Antiques, one of my all-time favorite places to find great things,” Lowdermilk says of the massive Triad store overlooking I-85 that closed 15 years ago. “From that time, I found many more majolica pieces there, as well as in shops all over.” He prizes a green majolica clock that was used on the film set for The Color Purple. The cinnabar he collects is alluring both for its beauty and for its potential danger. “Of course, the fact that red cinnabar comes from mercury sulfide — and is The Art & Soul of Greensboro
toxic — is one reason we do not see the genuine material used today. And, I am hoping my love for it won’t be a threat to my life! But there must be some vices in life that we enjoy that are not always healthy for us!” The rarity and the detail of cinnabar also affects Lowdermilk. “The carving, which is so detailed, is fascinating to me in the cinnabar pieces I have, and have lusted over,” he muses. Is there any limit to his visual curiosity and passion for collecting? Or to the idea of more always being more? Probably not. He admits to eyeing oil landscape paintings and checking out silver lusterware as avenues for his next collecting passion. “I enjoy having these collections around me. They are my friends. Each time I have packed pieces up to move to a new home, I enjoy unpacking each and every one of them,” Lowedermilk reflects. “As with all of my antiques, I like knowing there is a story behind each and every piece. I just wish they could talk, and let me know where they have been, what they have seen, and the places where they have been allowed to reside.” OH Cynthia Adams is a contributing editor to O.Henry. She once lugged a Scottish marble clock home in her hand luggage, and checked a suitcase filled with brass door knobs. She perfectly understands antique addictions. April 2019
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Return of the Birds
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t is such a small space to hold the passion of a lifetime. In a corner on Level B of the North Carolina Museum of Art, John James Audubon’s four bound volumes of The Birds of America are back on exhibit, joined by instructive videos and an immersive wilderness experience. There are roughly 200 extant copies of the so-called doubleelephant folio version, comprised of 435 hand-colored, life-size prints. North Carolina’s copy — minus two pages that were added later — was acquired in 1846 from Joseph Green Cogswell, a book dealer in New York, as part of a larger purchase by North Carolina’s then-governor, William Alexander Graham, who was intent on expanding the state’s library. It was transferred from the N.C. State Library to the museum in 1974. The last time the four volumes, each enclosed in its own specially constructed case, were on exhibit was July of 2016. The engravings will be shown one page per volume — so, naturally, four at a time — for three months before changing them in the open-ended exhibit. The four on exhibit now include a wild turkey looking back as it crosses a Louisiana canebrake — the first plate produced in the project that consumed near the entirety of Audubon’s life. “The hand-coloring is light sensitive so we don’t want to expose it too long,” says John W. Coffey, the museum’s deputy director for Collections and Research. “People approach any art exhibit with different expectations. You have people that just stumble into the exhibition and, hopefully, they’re engaged by the story of Audubon. And then there are people who are
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John James Audubon on exhibit again By Jim Moriarty
bird lovers. There are lots of those who venerate Audubon as a naturalist. There are people who just like fine art. What Audubon created were not just accurate renditions of the birds of America but also quite beautiful compositions. They held their own as works of art in their own right.” John James Audubon was born Jean Rabin, the “backstairs” child of the sea captain Jean Audubon and a French chambermaid, Jeanne Rabin, on Audubon’s sugar plantation in Les Cayes, Saint-Domingue. The child’s mother passed away from an infection mere months after the boy’s birth. The sea captain had his son and the boy’s half-sister (the daughter of a second mistress) transported to his home in Nantes, France, in advance of the revolution that engulfed SaintDomingue, eventually establishing the Republic of Haiti. His lineage a closely held secret to preserve his inheritance, the boy grew up in Nantes as Jacques Fougère Audubon during the Vendéan counterrevolution and the terror that accompanied it. “Losing his mother in infancy, separated from whoever mothered him afterward on Saint-Domingue when he was shipped off to France at six, just months ahead of a bloody revolution, enduring dreadful days as a young boy in Nantes when Carrier [Jean-Baptiste Carrier] was emptying the prisons with slaughter and his family feared for its life, was a full burden of trauma for a child,” writes Pulitzer Prize-winning Audubon biographer Richard Rhodes. “In maturity Audubon would expunge the stigma and the trauma from his family story by relocating his The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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the day to finance costly reproductions) to his own book, American Ornithology, but Audubon’s work was already vastly superior to Wilson’s. Like any artist, Audubon’s style matured. One of the earliest innovations was the creation of his “board,” allowing him to pose the birds he killed — alas, it wasn’t as though he could hire them as models; besides, some made excellent eating — in the positions he observed in life. By May of 1812, he was drawing birds in flight. “Unlike birds posed on branches or standing on the ground, birds in flight required foreshortening to create the illusion of depth across the span of their wings or down the length of their bodies,” writes Rhodes. “Since Audubon’s limited formal art training had not progressed to foreshortening, he had to learn that complicated technique on his own by trial and error.” Another breakthrough came when he added color chalk. “I resorted to a piece that matched the tint intended for the part, applied the pigment, rubbed the place with a cork stump and at once produced the desired effect!” he wrote. Then, in 1821 and ’22, he revamped his style again. “He already knew the traditional French medium of pastel very well; he had been perfecting it since he was a young man. Now he added to his repertoire a crystal-clear watercolor technique, the ability to use gouache effectively, and an extraordinary varied use of the pencil, together with the talent for combining all of these graphic means to render a single bird,” writes art critic Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. “No one in America equaled him for graphic inventiveness until Winslow Homer some sixty years later; as for European parallels, one can only think of the great English watercolorists, both contemporaries of Audubon: J.M.W. Turner and Samuel Palmer.” The original watercolors for The Birds of America are in the collection of the New-York Historical Society and rarely seen because of their sensitivity to light. Having run financially aground in the Panic of 1819, Audubon journeyed to New Orleans to collect a debt from Samuel Bowen that involved the ownership of a steamboat. Things didn’t go well. Bowen had already given the boat over to settle debts of his own. One thing led to another and Bowen attacked
birth to Louisiana and to ‘a lady of Spanish extraction . . . as beautiful as she was wealthy’ when he knew full well that he was the bastard son of the chambermaid Jeanne Rabin.” And, if in the fullness of time, he found his résumé in need of further padding, Audubon would sometimes claim to have studied under JacquesLouis David, Napoleon Bonaparte’s favorite neoclassicist painter. Sent to America by his father to avoid conscription into Napoleon’s army, Jacques Fougère Audubon became John James Audubon on his transatlantic journey, settling on his father’s Pennsylvania farm, Mill Grove. “He had begun drawing birds in France,” writes Rhodes. “Now, ‘prompted by an innate desire to acquire a thorough knowledge of the birds of this happy country, I formed the resolution, immediately on my landing, to spend, if not all my time in that study, at least all that portion generally called leisure, and to draw each individual of its natural size and coloring.’ This is retrospect, of course, but it catches the eighteenyear-old’s excitement and bravado.” Audubon cut a dashing figure. The wife of a physician friend would describe the 30-something ornithologist and painter this way: “Audubon was one of the handsomest men I ever saw. In person he was tall and slender, his blue eyes were an eagle’s in brightness, his teeth were white and even, his hair a beautiful chestnut brown, very glossy and curly. His bearing was courteous and refined, simple and unassuming. Added to these personal advantages he was a natural sportsman and natural artist.” While at Mill Grove, Audubon met his wife, Lucy Bakewell. He would begin a career as a merchant, floating down the Ohio River to Louisville and Henderson, Kentucky, and eventual bankruptcy. It was in Louisville that Audubon met Alexander Wilson, who was selling subscriptions (the method of
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Audubon. As it turned out, he brought a cudgel to a knife fight, and Audubon stabbed him with his dagger. Later, appearing in front of Judge Henry P. Broadnax, Audubon defended himself before the court and was acquitted by reason of self-defense. “Mr. Audubon,” the judge added, “you committed a serious offense — an exceedingly serious offense, sir — in failing to kill the damned rascal.” Having lost everything in Henderson, Audubon turned to portrait painting to make a living. Then, envisioning himself as “a one-man ornithological expeditionary force,” as Rhodes put it, he went back down the Mississippi, returning to New Orleans in 1821 with his assistant, Joseph Mason (one of several assistants who painted the backgrounds in Audubon’s works). His commercial portraits included the nude of a woman, Mrs. André, a mysterious client requiring his absolute discretion and to whom he referred as “The Fair Incognito” in his diaries. Eventually, he was joined in New Orleans by his wife, Lucy, living at what is now 505 Dauphine Street. Audubon was producing his ornithological paintings at a dizzying pace. After New Orleans it was up to Natchez, Mississippi, then Louisville and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and on and on. His sources of income weren’t confined to portraits. He taught dancing, drawing, even fencing. Knowing that obtaining engravings of the number and quality necessary to produce The Birds of America could only be done in Europe, Audubon sailed from New Orleans on the Delos on May 18th, 1826. The ship was carrying 924 bales of cotton and a seasick John James Audubon with more than 300 drawings in tin-lined wooden portfolios. An American backwoodsman with crates full of art proved a topic of considerable novelty in an Old World keen for knowledge of the new one. Audubon was well received. The first engraver to take on his project was William Lizars in Edinburgh. Lizars did approximately 10 engravings before a strike by his colorists forced Audubon to turn to Robert Havell Sr. and his son in London. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
“Robert Havell Jr. was a more painstaking engraver than William Lizars and his father supervised the London colorers perhaps more carefully but there was a qualitative difference between the technologies Lizars and the Havells used to make Audubon’s colored plates,” writes Rhodes. “The Havells used a process known as aquatint, which allowed them to print shadows and shadings in a range from light gray to black, leaving the colorists only the more limited task of applying a uniform wash of color over the aquatinted area: the shading made the color appear darker.” Havell retouched the early Lizars plates, something that’s noted in the lower right-hand corner of the wild turkey engraving currently on view. While even the Havells had their ups and downs satisfying Audubon’s very specific instructions and expectations, it proved a match made in artistic heaven. The last plate of The Birds of America was completed in June of 1838. Audubon was 53. His estimate of the project’s cost, monies he raised himself, was “$115,640 — in today’s dollars, about $2,141,000,” reckons Rhodes. He began work on the octavo edition (a smaller and, hence, more profitable version) two years later. Audubon would suffer a stroke in 1848, and begin slipping into dementia. “His vivid personality faded into vacancy,” says Rhodes. He passed away in January of 1851. “What’s beautiful about Audubon is that these birds are so dynamic and alive, it feels like they’re almost jumping out of the page,” says Silvia Fantoni, the director of Audience Engagement and Public Programs who put together the immersive exhibit comprised of 19 of Audubon’s birds in varied habitats over a 24 hour period. “That’s what we wanted to do. I find his work fascinating, how driven he was by this project. It’s always interesting to see when an artist has this kind of obsession and vision and dedicated his life to do that. That’s why we still celebrate him almost 200 years later.” OH Jim Moriarty is senior editor for PineStraw magazine. April 2019
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One Tract Mind
With ingenuity and a homegrown talent for doing it yourself, a Greensboro designer and her husband make their subdivision home a one-of-a-kind gem By Maria Johnson • Photographs by Amy Freeman
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inda and John Oskam, who slept in a ground-floor master suite, knew it was time to move from their estate home near WinstonSalem when they smelled a foul odor coming from upstairs. No one used the second floor any more, and the water in one of the toilets had evaporated, allowing sewer gas to escape into the home. Another sign that it was time for a change: John, an electrical engineer retired from an oil company, was yoked to outdoor projects from sunup to sundown. It was time to pare down and settle into one level, but unlike the last time they “downsized” — from a 5,200 square-foot behemoth in Greensboro to their Lewisville manse, which weighed in at a mere 4,700 square feet — this time they meant it. Returning to Greensboro, where Linda had lived after her first marriage, seemed the right thing to do. Her son and daughter still lived in the Gate City, and her daughter soon would deliver Linda’s first grandchild. Plus, Linda, a native of Winston-Salem who’d lived for several years in Reidsville, liked the vibe of Greensboro better than any Piedmont city she’d lived in. “Greensboro was very, very good to me when I was single,” says Linda, who worked at both Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and First Union National Bank in Greensboro. She met John, a native of Holland, on a blind date. He was living in Durham, where he and his first wife had moved so she could get treatment at Duke University Hospital. After John’s wife died, his landlord fixed him up with
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Linda, who worked with the landlord’s wife. “I was about as interested in a blind date as I was in a piece of dust on the floor,” Linda says. She changed her mind after meeting John, especially after he volunteered to accompany her on decorating jobs. His learning curve was steep. At one client’s home, he gasped when she lifted a brush, heavy with black paint, to a piece of pretty white furniture she intended to base-coat then marbleize. We don’t gasp on the job, she told him later. Point taken, he said. They lived in Greensboro’s Brassfield area for awhile, then shipped out to Lewisville. When they were ready to return to Greensboro, their real estate agent, the late Tom Chitty, showed them a patio home in The Grande, a development built in the early aughts in the Lake Jeanette area. At 2,000 square feet, the home was much smaller than any place the Oskams had lived, but it ticked several of their “must haves,” including three bedrooms (one master, one guest and one for an office), a two-car garage, and a sliver of outdoor work, the rest being covered by homeowners fees. The home was freestanding, too, which meant no noise coming from neighbors above, below or beside. Moving into a development — the kind built by a single builder with slightly different plans and elevations — would be a sharp departure from the high-end custom homes they’d lived in. “We’d had two really fine homes, and here we were, living in a tract home,” Linda says. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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Did they have a problem with that? “No,” they say in unison. “This is where we should have been all along,” says John. But Linda was determined that, while their home’s exterior might not be unique, the interior would be. The result: an English-flavored nest that glows with gilt and antiques but feels more “sit a spell” than stuffy. “We have neighbors come in here and say, ‘We have this plan. How come ours doesn’t look like this?’” says Linda. To achieve the wow factor, she applied skills gleaned from more than 30 years of interior designing and faux finishing, first for herself and then, after her divorce, as a sideline to her full-time jobs. She never has advertised her design work, but she stays busy. “It’s all word of mouth,” she says. Part showplace, part petri dish, the Oskams’ home shows what clever designers — and do-it-yourselfers with imagination and patience — can do on a budget. “There are a lot of things you can do inexpensively and have it look great,” Linda says. The best example is their living area, which anchors the back of the home and answers to a central fireplace. Above the fireplace hangs what looks to be a nice reproduction of a Mary Cassatt painting. Truth be told, it’s a poster that Linda mounted on a canvas and brushed with clear acrylic gel using the same size brushes that she imagined Cassatt used. Linda bought a sculpted gold frame — “The frame cost more than the poster and other materials” — and small lamp for the frame. Another bit of ingenuity: She goosed an antique secretary by cutting up a remnant of coral-and-beige damask and using double-sided tape to stick the rectangles to the back of compartments in the hutch. She points to a tiered end table she snared at a local consignment shop for about $40. The traylike top, made of yew wood, was badly marked by water. “You couldn’t have sanded it out,” Linda recalls. Her solution: Trace a template of the top, buy a square of dark vinyl tile at a home improvement store, use the template and a utility knife to cut the tile, and presto, a fresh top that stands up to cups of hot coffee and
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glasses of chilled wine, no coasters needed. Nearby is another victory: a lozenge-shaped wicker lamp. Linda paid $19.99 for the busted base at a consignment store. She took it to her favorite lamp shop, where they repaired the base. Linda bought a new shade and hot-glued trim around the top and bottom edges. The lamp sings on pitch with its backdrop, an expensive gold-leaf mirror flanked by a pair of skinny, rustic shutters. “There’s still dirt on those shutters,” Linda notes, pleased at the harmony of disparate styles and finishes. “I like things that are different.” And things that are used in ways not originally intended. Mind you, this is a woman who once dragged a highboy from a client’s bedroom, down the stairs and into the living room, where she pronounced it the room’s new focal point. “I tell people, ‘You gotta get out of your box and use things in different ways,’” she says. “Ideas are everywhere.” You can start by imagining new places and uses for pieces you already own, she says. “I tell my clients, ‘Before we go shopping, let’s go shopping in your house and see what you got.’ I’ll say, ‘What are you married to? What do you really love?’ and I’ll spin off that. If you love something, you can find a place for it.” Another Linda tenet: Invest in a few well-made pieces, then fill in around the edges with less costly finds. People will notice the expensive pieces, and the halo effect will spread to surrounding items. She gives the example of her Ethan Allen sofa, which she bought new when she was single, paying $25 a month. She has recovered it three times. A high-end, glass-topped LaBarge coffee table sits before the sofa, near a massive Century Furniture bookcase that has been reincarnated as an entertainment center. The Oskams hired a carpenter to reconfigure the shelves for a flatscreen TV, then Linda got to work. She lightened the dark wood finish — and therefore the visual weight — with eggshell blue chalk paint, coats of brown and clear wax, and gold leaf accents. According to Linda, people who are downsizing often goof by tossing all of their big furniture. “If you put small furniture in a small room, it’s gonna look small,” she says. Hang on to a few linebackers, she advises, and use them sparingly. They create the illusion of space. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
She employs other visual tricks in their home: In John’s office, the smallest bedroom, she hung the curtains high and painted the crown molding the same deep teal as the walls, lifting the eye and making the room look taller. For truly tight spaces, she suggests built-in furniture, such as the china cabinet that she and John commissioned for the niche once filled by washer and dryer. When a carpenter was done with the boxes, Linda distressed the raw wood and painted it. “I beat the you-know-what out of it,” she says. They slid the washer and dryer to another side of the utility room, where John built a wall-to-wall desk for Linda in front of a south-facing window. “If I have to draw a floor plan bigger than this desk, I have to go the kitchen,” Linda confesses. She turned loose in the kitchen, too, making sure no one would mistake it for a tract-house galley. She faux-painted the white fiberboard cabinets, slathered the walls with sand paint and troweled it for texture, and created faux brick walls by taping off rectangles, brushing them with joint compound, then removing the tape and painting the “bricks.” More faux shows up in John’s office, where Linda cribbed the wainscoting from the social lobby of Greensboro’s O.Henry Hotel. John bought some unfinished wood molding, used a router to shape the edges, and tacked it to the drywall. Linda distressed the molding by stabbing it with a screwdriver, then she painted the whole thing to resemble knotty wood. The knotholes are her thumbprints in brown glaze. Her passion for paint spilled into the foyer, where she covered every wall with a mural inspired by trips to the North Carolina mountains? Rows of Christmas trees, hay bales, and undulating blue horizons mix with hounds, horses, cows and streams. Linda stands ready to amend the murals, as she did when her grandson pointed out that the cows did not have tails. Dab-dab, stroke-stroke. Tails. Need to see more creativity? Follow Linda to the master bathroom, where old door knockers serve as towel holders. An iron hand pins a towel next to the shower. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Another knocker, by the vanity, wears the face of a soul who looks none too happy about his stint in the linen department. “My son says it looks like Jacob Marley’s face in the door knocker in that scene in A Christmas Carol,” Linda allows. She sweeps by a favorite antique on her way out of the bedroom: a curvy chair with a solid, polished maple back and a wooden arm on one side. It’s a hoop chair, made for women wearing hoop skirts. “People say, ‘Linda, I want that chair.’ I say, ‘I don’t think so,’ “she says merrily. Time to go outside. One tough thing about downsizing was losing space for entertaining, Linda says, so she and John created a huge outdoor living space dotted with iron patio sets. Using lumber he ordered from a home improvement store, and working from the garage, John built a 60-foot-by-20-foot arbor over a concrete patio stamped and painted to look like Pennsylvania bluestone. John also built freestanding wooden closets — onto which Linda painted a couple of topiaries — to store garden supplies. To block the sun, he raised a wall of shutters and lattice — and wired the wall for 110-volt current. We see you, electrical engineer. Next, they trained English ivy onto the lattice. The ivy fanned into a plush green wall. For sparkle, Linda set a mirror and lanterns into the foliage. A contractor stacked fieldstone for a pool and fountain next to the patio. Standing in this botanical room, enveloped by gurgle and green, you’d never guess that you were visiting a “tract house.” Mission accomplished, Linda says, but only with the help of her secret weapon, who stands nearby, hands clasped behind him, a proper gentleman. “I want her to succeed,” says John, who stands ramrod straight at age 89, thanks to daily walks and calisthenics. “He’s very supportive,” says Linda, a relative puppy, who turns 74 this month. John basks in the appreciation. “That’s how she gets me,” he says. “And it works every time.” “And I don’t mind.” OH Maria Johnson is a contributing editor of O.Henry. She can be reached at ohenrymaria@gmail.com. April 2019
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The House & Garden of Earthly Delights Lee and Bill Britt’s Japanese-inspired retreat echoes with the cycles of life By Jim Dodson • Photographs by Amy Freeman
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affodils are in bloom but snowflakes dance in the air on the chilly mid-March afternoon Lee Britt greets a visitor at her front door facing Green Valley Road. “It’s always like this in March, isn’t it?” Britt says with a musical laugh. “It’s like we are between seasons!” Discreetly hidden from street view behind two longleaf pines and a trio of magnificent Cryptomeria (Japanese cedars), the charming mid-century, bungalow-style wood and stone house the Britts built in 1968 from plans Lee clipped from the News and Record’s lifestyle pages, is the result of a half century of thoughtful living and Lee Britt’s evolving fascination with — and spiritual connection to — Asian culture. This becomes even more apparent in the tidy foyer of the house, where slate underfoot, a silk wall hanging from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the handiwork of Seagrove master potter Ben Owen III, among others, make the entry feel a bit like stepping into a Kyoto teahouse — complete with a view of the garden. The hues are earth-toned, muted and invitingly intimate. Light seems to stream from several sources; straight ahead an elegant Asian-style window frames a vignette of Britt’s spectacular backyard, inviting the eye up a meandering pebble and stone pathway that symbolizes a tranquil stream. It winds to the rear of the property to a focal
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
point, an earthen red torii gate commonly found at the entrances to Shinto shrines in Japan. The effect is remarkable: a spacious sense of life flowing into nature, a sudden feeling of peace and unity one feels even before seeing the rest of a modestly sized house that seems much larger than its 2,200 square feet. When her visitor comments on this fact, she smiles and confirms, “That’s nice to know. I’ve had people say that before — especially my garden club, which likes to hold meetings here.” Britt breaks the spell “That [window] was originally supposed to be a large circular window like you find throughout the Far East. But when our builder was doing the big renovation here in 2006, he drew a peace symbol in the circle I’d placed on the wall, causing me to think that might be a little too pretentious.” In the next breath, she is quick to point out that both the house and garden, with their unmistakable references to Eastern simplicity and style, are not specifically Japanese. “I prefer to think of [them] as Asian, featuring elements that are common to many Japanese gardens and houses — my interpretation of them, at least. It’s been a fun evolution for me, to see it all come together and change over time.” At the time Bill and Lee Britt purchased the last lot available on Green April 2019
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Valley Road and began building in 1968, most of the houses around the Britts in Starmount Forest — still newlyweds — were traditional brick affairs with classic Southern details. “But I wanted something different, something very contemporary, clean and simple,” she explains. “At that time I really didn’t know much about Asian design principles of home and garden. I just knew what I liked,” Lee explains. “They more I learned about the importance and care the Japanese put into sense of home and place, and certainly their gardens, the more I was drawn to their concepts. I’m really self-taught. Nature is all about evolution, isn’t it?” For the Britts, this process began in earnest when they expanded their garage into a sunroom in the early 1980s. “We had two teenager girls and needed the room for them to have their friends over. Teenage boys have large feet,” she says with her ever-ready laugh. “They needed somewhere to place their feet.” About that same time, Lee joined the Tar Heel Garden Club, the Guilford County Horticultural Society and Greensboro Beautiful, volunteering for projects that enabled her to absorb knowledge and ideas from local gardening icons like Irene McIver, Jeannette Windham and Dr. Graham Ray. “Jeannette and Mrs. McIver knew everything about gardening. They were really the first of many mentors I’ve had in Greensboro. I knew so little, to begin with. But I was fortunate to have the opportunity to listen and learn directly from them,” Lee says. “That’s where it all really took off for me — the desire to create my own house and garden in Asian style. That’s what gardeners do. They share plants and knowledge and learn from each other, and each other’s gardens.” It was during this period that Bill Britt, who ran the Gate City’s sports programs for Parks and Recreation for 33 years, collaborated with McIver, Windham and others to create the Greensboro Arboretum and Bicentennial Garden, ultimately
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overseeing the creation of three major public gardens that came to define Greensboro’s love affair with the natural world. Lee Britt had a hand in creating the city’s fourth public garden — Gateway — following Bill’s retirement. Something of a Greensboro icon for transforming the city’s various sports programs into a national model, Bill Britt joined Parks and Recreation straight out of NC State in 1959. At that time Greensboro boasted 66 youth teams in four sports. By the time he retired in 1992, there were more than 1,200 teams representing 11 different sports. Among his many notable accomplishments, Britt played a major role in creating the Spencer Love Tennis Complex and the golf courses at Bryan Park. He also served on the national board of directors of Pony League Baseball, a post that carried him to Japan to represent the organization in 2004, allowing Lee — newly elected chair of Greensboro Beautiful — to tag along and explore some of the finest pubic and sacred gardens of Tokyo and Kyoto, the country’s fabled garden city. “One of the pluses of spending my married life sitting on bleachers,” she says half in jest, “is that wherever we went to see games, I was able to see gardens and meet gardeners. We did this all over America. The trip to Japan, however, was very special, really the culmination of things I’d been learning and picking up on my own study of Japanese culture and gardens for years. I picked up lots of ideas and inspiration.” “I don’t think she missed a garden,” Bill chips in with a chuckle. “That’s true,” Lee allows. “But it’s the peaceful quality and strong connection to nature that I find so appealing in their traditional houses and gardens. If it’s authentic, that sort of thing just comes to you. It’s all about natural elements found in nature — stone, water, trees and shrubs.” She catches herself and smiles. “I love tree bark.” As she says this, music with an unmistakable Asian influThe Art & Soul of Greensboro
ence filters gently through the Britts’ great room. An invitingly calm and open space done in soothing tones of muted browns and grays, it is the result of a significant house renovation the Britt’s undertook upon their return from Japan. In 2006, father-son builders Bob and Scott Richardson incorporated Lee’s ideas into reality by flipping the traditional living spaces, removing a major wall and creating the great room that “flowed” beautifully into the kitchen and small dining area overlooking the garden. Where their sunroom and former garage formerly existed, the great room took shape with oversized windows overlooking the back garden. Anchoring the south end of the room, a wall of custom-built birch cabinetry by local craftsman Pete Williams, stained a rich burgundy red, provided shelves for displaying books, artwork, pottery and other Asian treasures the Britts have collected from their many journeys. Tucked discreetly around a corner, meanwhile, sits perhaps the only laundry room in the Triad that features an Asian shoji screen door. “We actually found that at Home Depot,” Lee explains with her beguiling laugh. Simplicity and practicality also shaped their expanded dining room, a beautiful gathering place done in the same soothing tones of earth and sky, with a formidable Hurtado table, handcrafted in Spain, as a centerpiece, and Henredon buffet with
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Asian screens. At the south end of the room is a reading nook with a cozy leather chair. “Our family is rather large and everyone comes at Thanksgiving, at least 30 people,” Lee explains. “The larger dining room really solved a problem for us.”
T
hree basic design principals anchor the foundation of traditional Japanese gardens. The first has to do with intimacy with nature, a connection that copies rather than creates something new. Or as famed Japanese garden designer Shiro Nakane once told Architectural Digest, his goal is “not to make a new nature but to make a copy of existing, desirable nature.” Since most Japanese gardens are traditionally contained in smaller spaces, the landscape becomes a living metaphor for the world beyond, its natural elements scaled to reflect this symbolism. Streams replicate rivers, rocks stand in for mountain ranges, and winding gravel pathways are roads through a peaceful world in miniature. Finally, quite often one finds Asian gardens enclosed by fences or conifer surrounds, becoming sanctuaries meant to inspire one to step away from the hubbub of daily life, a spiritual retreat that is never complete and forever changing, a reflection of nature itself. These are some the ideas Lee Britt had in mind when she began her garden and half a lifetime ago,
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
eventually growing it into a cozy paradise that is Asian in influence that is hers alone. On a walking tour as the snowflakes still dance, she relates intimate stories of how her garden took shape — how the twin longleaf giants out front have somehow survived years of winter storms, reciting both the Latin and common names of mugo pines, Japanese hollies, yews, camellias and ground covers that are just awakening to Carolina spring. At the top of her driveway, where a trio of large cherry trees, pink azaleas and hostas are about to rise and burst into bloom, a small iron Eastern symbol stands guard. “What does that mean?” asks her visitor. “I believe it simply means good luck.” On the nearby deck stands a collection of garden gnomes, a congregation of tiny figurines that represent a beautiful story of remembrance and continuity in this peaceful household. In 2011, the Britt’s son-in-law, Will Caviness, a Greensboro firefighter, collapsed and died while running in the Chicago Marathon on behalf of the International Association of Fire Fighters Burn Foundation that helps burn victims. “It was devastating. Will was such a vibrant young man, seemingly in the peak of good health,” Lee relates, smiling at the gnomes. “He loved to tease me by placing gnomes in my garden where I’d find them in the oddest places. Once, while we were attending the Christmas Eve services, he put an illuminated Santa on our roof. That was Will. Such a wonderful guy.” The city of Greensboro, she adds, as the garden tour continues, The Art & Soul of Greensboro
“wrapped their arms around our daughter Jenny and their children, Jack and Caroline, who continue this tradition today. They love to show up when we’re not here and hide these gnomes in the garden. It’s such a lovely way to remember their father.” At a young age, their third grandchild, Elizabeth, announced that someday she planned to buy this house and garden of earthly delights. Following the pebble and stone “stream” that winds serenely around and through her Asian garden, the story of life and death and rebirth flows on. One learns about the large sweet gum that a storm toppled onto a 40-yearold wax myrtle, requiring the garden keeper to change out shade plants for sun-loving perennials; about the benches and stone borders she built herself; the old fashioned “Pink Perfection” japonica she took from her mother’s garden on a tobacco farm in Creedmoor, and so forth. Every planting has its own life story, including the twin crab apple trees, the false yews and a large summer perennial bed that will achieve its glory in mid summer. “You’ll have to come in June to see it because it has everything — phlox, salvias, rosemary, sedums. . .” she pauses and laughs again. “Goodness, everything. It’s always changing. Come see.” And at the end of the day, that is the beauty of the house and garden that the family Britt has made, a personal sanctuary from the madding world beyond the trees, a loving balance between east and west, sunrise and sunset, death and rebirth and endless new beginnings in the natural world that is their home. OH The peace of Jim Dodson’s own Asian-inspired garden has been disrupted by the rapacious Star of Bethlehem that has overrun his garden beds. April 2019
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Birds of Spring
The reason birds can fly, to paraphrase Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, is because they make faith look effortless. One of the best things about springtime’s return to Carolina is the array of birds that populate our yards and feeders this time of year. As the winged visitors to Contributing Photographer Lynn Donovan’s own yard effortlessly prove, faith comes in many shapes and colors.
Lynn Donovan’s photographs of birds inaugurate the new O.Henry Featured Artists Space at Center for Visual Artists (see page 24)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Indigo Bunting
Male & Female Northern Cardinal 80 O.Henry
April 2019
Male & Female American Goldfinch The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Cooper's Hawk
Tree Swallow
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Robin
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker Northern Mockingbird House Finch
Eastern Bluebird Tufted Titmouse
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Brown Thrasher
White-throated Sparrow April 2019
O.Henry 81
APRIL
EVENTS 4/3 Midtown Goes Italian Wine Dinner 1618 Midtown 7:00 pm
4/4 Adult Cooking Class: Bagels Cooking Class Greensboro Children’s Museum 6:00 pm
4/5 First Friday Dinner Dinner Chez Genese 5:30 pm
4/6 Tour of Fine Spaces Home Tour Junior League of Winston-Salem 10:00 am
4/6
Adult Cooking: Eat to Defeat Diabetes Cooking Class 1618 Midtown 7:00 pm
4/8
4/11
4/18
Cooking Class Greensboro Children’s Museum 6:30 pm
Cocktail Class Greensboro Children’s Museum 6:00 pm
4/12
4/24
Adult Cooking: 20th Century Cooking
Adult Cooking Class: Spring Cocktails
MSG presents the Kevin McDonald Jazz Trio
Four Saints Patio Party
Concert Christ United Methodist Church 7:30 pm
1618 Seafood Grille 6:00 pm
4/13 Sonoma Culture Class Wine Tasting 1618 Downtown 3:00 pm
Beer party
4/25
What Really Matters: Changing Priorities Near End of Life Lunch & Learn The Lusk Center 12:00 pm
4/25
4/14 Go Green Garden Show
Italian Pasta!
Garden Show Greensboro Farmers Curb Market 9:00 am
Cooking Class Reto’s Kitchen 6:00 pm
4/16
4/27
Crepe Breakfast with Chef Reto Riaggi
Paella! Cooking Class Reto’s Kitchen 6:00 pm
Fundraiser Greensboro Farmers Curb Market 8:00 am
Adult Cooking: Indian Cooking for Beginners Cooking Class Greensboro Children’s Museum 5:30 pm
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A L M A N A C
April n
By Ash Alder
April is a procession of wonder. Flowering redbud. Rising asparagus. Row after row of tulips and daffodils. When the earliest strawberries arrive, childhood memories of roadside stands and pick-your-own patches follow. The first time your grandma took you strawberry picking, you’d never seen berries so plump or vivid. Two, three, four buckets later, you’re back in the car, eyes twinkling, belly full of fruit made sweeter because you picked it. Easter conjures memories of Sunday hats and wicker baskets, and a grade-school field trip to a house down the street from the church. There, a classmate’s yard is dotted with dozens of colorful eggs — some painted, some plastic, all filled with candy — but all hearts are set on the coveted silver one, a super-sized treasure found in the low branches of a climbing tree when the sun hits the foil just right. Maybe next year. Or perhaps the true magic is discovering what you aren’t trying to find, like the robin’s nest in one of the hanging baskets. In my early 20s (read, coin laundry days), on a visit home for Easter, my folks planted a basketful of plastic eggs in the backyard, each one filled with quarters. Sometimes the great surprise is the wonder that grows with age.
Scope It Out
According to National Geographic, one of the top sky-watching events of the year will occur on Tuesday, April 23. On this dreamy spring morning, at dawn, watch as the waning gibbous moon approaches brilliant Jupiter as if they were forbidden lovers. Use binoculars if you’ve got them.
Devilish Alternative
My younger brother has single-handedly cleared a tray of deviled eggs at more than one Easter supper. That’s why I was particularly stunned when he told me that he was adapting a vegan diet. No more deviled eggs? Well, not exactly. But when he told me about Thug Kitchen, a vegan cookbook peppered with language that would make our granny’s draw drop, I understood. Inside: a recipe for deviled chick-pea bites. Although we can’t print that here without heavy-handed edits, check out this equally scrumptious vegan recipe from Whole Foods Market: tender roasted baby potatoes topped with spicy yolk-free filling. Brother approved.
Deviled Potatoes
Ingredients: 12 baby potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds) 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise 1/3 cup drained silken tofu 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon sweet paprika 1 teaspoon turmeric 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper Method: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut each potato in half crosswise. In a large bowl, toss potatoes with oil and place cut-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast until tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Let cool. Using a melon baller, scoop out center of each potato half. Combine potato flesh, mayonnaise, tofu, mustard, paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse just until smooth. Scoop filling into potato halves. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (and up to 2 days) before serving. (Want to take this deviled egg alternative to the next level? Sprinkle with finely chopped fresh parsley before serving.)
If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Last Frost
The Old Farmer’s Almanac speculates that a full moon in April brings frost. Cue the Full Pink Moon on Good Friday, April 19. While it’s not actually pink, Algonquin tribes likely named this month’s full moon for the wild ground phlox that blooms with the arrival of spring. Consider it a signal that it’s time to plan your summer garden. Plant now, and enjoy fresh tomatoes and cukes right off the vine.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
O.Henry 83
April 2019 Meet novelist Anna Jean Mayhew
A Year in the Garden
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April 3
THE WRIGHT STUFF. Aspiring playwrights still have time to submit their works to North Carolina New Play Project, hosted by Drama Center at City Arts. Info: thedramacenter.com or email todd.fisher@ greenboro-nc.gov.
AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet novelist Anna Jean Mayhew, author of Tomorrow’s Bread. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
PULP FICTION. Catch Art On Paper 2019: The 45th Exhibition. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 or weatherspoon. uncg.edu.
April 1–May 9 TEE PARTY. 11 a.m. Register now for Spring Swing Golf Tournament (5/9) and Rose Gala silent auction and raffle (5/10), benefiting Room at the Inn. Starmount Forest Country Club, One Sam Snead Drive, Greensboro. To register: roominn.org/ event/2019spring-swing.
April 1–October 20 THE BOD SQUAD. Admire figures rendered in various media at Here We Are: Sculpting and Drawing the Human Form. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 or weatherspoon. uncg.edu.
April 2 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 5:30 p.m. Meet Mary Flinn at the launch of her historical novel, Lumina. St. Francis Episcopal Church, 3506 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro. Info: theonenovel.com.
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April 1–12
April 1–May 5
Cobbler Gobbler
April 4 SCHMEAR CAMPAIGN. 6 p.m. Learn how to make your own bagels and schmears (spreads) using ingredients from the garden at Adult Cooking: Bagels. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: ticketmetriad.com. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Here?. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
April 4 & 5 MUSIC MEDS. 8 p.m. Greensboro Symphony performs “Three Meditations,” a program of Saint-Saëns, Bernstein and Dvorák comprising the latest of the Tanger Outlets Masterworks series. Dana Auditorium, 5800 Friendly Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 3355456, ext. 224 or greensborsymphony.org.
April 4–10 HOPPERS HERE. The Greensboro Grasshoppers are home again. First National Bank Field, 408 Bellemeade St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 268-2255 or milb.com.
April 5 BAREFOOT IN THE ’GRASS. 8 p.m. Listen to some
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bluegrass courtesy of The Barefoot Movement. The Crown, Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 5–7 JUNE IN APRIL. Or rather, Junie B. Jones, performed by The Drama Center Children’s Theatre. Performance times vary. Odell Auditorium, Greensboro College, 815 W. Market St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2729 or thedramacenter.com.
April 6 HOUSE PARTY. 10 a.m. Catch the latest trends in homebuilding and décor with a peek inside some of Forsyth County’s most distinctive homes at the Tour of Fine Spaces, courtesy of the Junior League of WinstonSalem. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com. SUGARBUSTERS. 11 a.m. Learn healthy eating tips from Mickey Davis, RD, at Adult Cooking: Eat to Defeat Diabetes. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: ticketmetriad.com. BLUE PLANET BLOWOUT. 1 p.m. Celebrate at the Earth Day Festival, featuring live music, animals, games and more than 50 eco-related exhibits. Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch Library, 1420 Price Park Road, Greensboro. Info: library.greensboro-nc.gov. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 2 p.m. Meet Ihsan Rajab, author of The Beehive. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Arts Calendar BOOK TALK. 2 p.m. Join the WFDD Book Club for a discussion of Diana Nyad’s Find A Way. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. STRICTLY BALLROOM. 7 p.m. Watch ’em swirl and twirl, step and skip to waltzes, foxtrots, polkas and more. The Fred Astaire Dance Studio’s Greatest Show takes the stage. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com. STRING MASTERS. 8 p.m. That would be violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky, cellist Andres Diaz and Scott Rawls on viola, who team up with pianist Inara Zandmane for a chamber music concert of Kodály and Dvorák. Recital Hall at UNCG School of Music, 100 McIver St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 335-5456, ext. 224 or greensborosymphony.org. DOWD AND PROUD. 8 p.m. Local songstress Abigail Dowd croons cuts from latest album, Not What I Seem, along with Sam Frazier and The Side Effects. The Crown, Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 7 LILY-PUTIAN. 2 p.m. You, too, can create a display daylily garden, with tips from Mary and Steven Edwards, speakers at Triad Daylily Fans meeting. Earthfare, 2965 Battleground Ave., Greensboro. Info: (336) 456-4509 or triadnc.weebly.com. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 2 p.m. Meet Jane Gabin, author of The Paris Photo. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 4 p.m. Meet Steve Miller, author of North Carolina Unionists and the Fight Over Secession. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. !QUE LINDA! 5 p.m. The revered Ballet Folklórico performs Fiestas y Bodas de Mexico. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 8 HIYA, DAL! 5:30 p.m. Learn to make saag paneer, aloo gobi, bhindi masala, and yes, red lentil dal at Adult Cooking: Indian Cooking for Beginners. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: ticketmetriad.com.
April 9 NOTES ’N’ NIBBLES. 11:45 a.m. Bring your lunchbox to a livestream of Jazz at Lincoln Center, featuring Wynton Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass. High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: highpointmuseum.org. BEAUTIES AND BEASTS. 7 p.m. Better known as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 10
April 13
AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Jean Willoughby, author of Nature’s Remedies. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
FLORA SHOW. 8 a.m. Be ready to shell out some greenbacks for some greenery at the Spring Plant Sale. Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. Info: (336) 996-7888 cienerbotanicalgarden.org.
April 11
TIME TRAVELS. 8 a.m. Historian Glenn Chavis conducts a walking tour of Historic Washington Street. Changing Tides Cultural Center, 613 Washington St., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.
SO LAST CENTURY. 6:30 p.m. Learn how to make culinary faves from 1900 to 1999 — deviled eggs, victory garden salad — at Adult Cooking: 20th-Century Cooking. (What? No tuna casserole?!). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: ticketmetriad.com. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Pierre Jarawan, author of The Storyteller. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. SWIMMINGLY. 7:30 p.m. Diana Nyad discusses her 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida at a Guilford College Bryan Series lecture. Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com. KEYED UP. 8 p.m. The sounds of Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio ring throughout The Crown. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 12 FULLER BRUSH GIRL. 6 p.m. As in, paintbrush. Greensboro-bred artist-turned-Charlotte-transplant Jenny Fuller reveals new works at Uncovering the Layers. Stop by for a lunch and learn at 11:30 a.m. and see works by a new addition to the stable of artists, Carolyn Blaylock, who leads a workshop on 4/13. O’Brien Gallery, 307 State St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 379-1124 or kathylovesart@aol.com
REPURPOSED. 9 a.m. Rummage through rustic finds, reused items, reclaimed wood and handcrafted objets at Preservation Greensboro’s Semi-Annual Vintage Market. Architectural Salvage of Greensboro, 1028-B Huffman St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 389-9118 or preservationgreensboro.org. BLOOMSDAY 10 a.m. Everything’s comin’ up, not roses, but tulips — thousands of ’em — at the Spectacular Spring Tulip Bloom. Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. Info: (336) 996-7888 cienerbotanicalgarden.org. STRETCHED THIN. 11. a.m. Do downward dog and other poses with your kiddies, then learn to make a garden-fresh smoothie and granola at Family Cooking: Yoga for Littles and Bigs. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: gcmuseum.com. VERSE-A-TILE. 2 p.m. Join poets Ashley Lumpkin and Petra Salazar for a celebration of multicultural poetry. Glenwood Branch Library, 1901 W. Florida St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 297-5000. ROOTS AND BRANCHES. 3 p.m. Linda Allred Cooper discusses the advantage of pooling information when conducting genealogical research. Morgan Room, High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.
THE SKINNY ON KENNY. 7 p.m. Country legend Kenny Chesney brings his “Songs for Saints” Tour to town. Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.
AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 3 p.m. Meet poet Diana Engel, author of Excavating Light. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
MONK SHOW. 7:30 p.m. Listen to the tunes of Thelonious Monk performed by the Kevin McDonald Jazz Trio at Music for a Great Space. Christ United Methodist Church, 410 Holden Road, Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.
RAISING THE BARRE. 6:30 p.m. Everyone’s invited to a reverse raffle to help raise money for Greensboro Ballet. A $100 ticket will get you food, drink, live entertainment, fun and maybe the chance to win 5 grand or prizes donated by the likes of Kriegsman Furs, State Street Jewelers, 1618 and more. Greensboro Cultural Center, 2nd Floor, Greensboro. Info: (336) 333-7480.
TARHEEL TROUBADOURS. 8:30 p.m. Porch 40 and Maj Deeka, a pair of N.C. acts, bring their sounds to The Crown. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 12–21 KING OF KINGS. Catch the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical hit, Jesus Christ Superstar. Performance times vary. Community Theatre of Greensboro, 520 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-7469 or ctgso.org/tickets.
SISTER ACT. 7 p.m. And brothers, too. See Touring Theatre of North Carolina’s latest production of Dr. Claribel, Miss Etta and the Brothers Cone. Theater at WellSpring Retirement Community, 4100 Wellspring Drive, Greensboro. Tickets: abroach@earthlink.net. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Tony Reevy, author of The Railroad Photography of Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
April 2019
O.Henry 85
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April 2019
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
DYNAMIC DUO. 8:30 p.m. Charlie Hunter and Lucy Woodward sing and strum at The Crown. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 13 & 27 IRON MAN. 10 a.m. Who’s the mac daddy of the hammer and tong? You got it: The Blacksmith! High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.
April 14 GREEN SCENES. 9 a.m. Get your green fix at the Go Green Garden Show, featuring growers, regional plants, birdhouses and more. Then chow down on a spring crepe breakfast, courtesy of Chef Reto. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: ticketmetriad.com. WEB FOOT. 2 p.m. Join Reading Connections for an event centered around the book and Vietnamese folk tale, Why Ducks Sleep on One Leg. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 3 p.m. Wilton Barnhardt discusses his anthology, Every True Pleasure: LGBTQ Tales of North Carolina. Central Library, 219 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-3617.
Arts Calendar
April 15
cienerbotanicalgarden.org.
THE PREZ OF PRES PRESENTS. 10 a.m. Benjamin Briggs, executive director of Preservation Greensboro discusses “the mysteries and future of historic preservation at the lecture, “Priorities and Process.” Greensboro History Museum, 130 Summit Ave., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2043 or greensborohistory.org.
ELIXER MIXER 6 p.m. Dan Lis of GIA teaches you how to make seasonal beverages, using ingredients from the garden at Adult Cooking: Cocktails (for ages 21 and up) Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: ticketmetriad.com.
April 16
April 18–20
THE GRAIN IN SPAIN. 6 p.m. Learn how to make paella and Spanish tapas. Reto’s Kitchen, 900 S. Elam Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.
HOPPERS HERE. The Greensboro Grasshoppers are home again. First National Bank Field, 408 Bellemeade St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 268-2255 or milb.com.
April 17 CLASS ACT. 8:30 a.m. Listen to HPU students’ presentations at a Historical Guild Meeting. High Poing Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Scott Huler, author of A Delicious Country: Rediscovering the Carolinas Along the Route of John Lawson’s 1700 Expedition. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
April 18 ANUM OF ANNUALS. Noon. And perennials. Adrienne Roethling leads a lunch and learn, “A Year in the Garden.” Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. Info: (336) 996-7888
April 19 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Randon Billings Noble, author of Be With Me Always. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. BADLANDS. 8 p.m. Chuckle, snicker and guffaw at the wisecracks of standup comic Sinbad. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 20 EGGS-CEL PROGRAM. 11 a.m. Families of local yoke-als can dye Easter eggs, eat ’em for lunch and hunt for them outside at Family Cooking: Easter Egging (ages 3 and up). Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: gcmuseum.com.
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April 2019
O.Henry 87
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April 19 RICE IS NICE. 5 p.m. Kids ages 11 to 14 can learn to make Korean-style rice bowls at Tween Cooking: Bibimbap. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: gcmuseum.com.
April 23 SHAKES-BEER. 7 p.m. Celebrate Shakespeare’s 455th birthday with Radiance Performance Arts Company, who will deliver a mashup of the Bard’s soliloquys, speeches and sonnets. Gibb’s Hundred Brewing Company, 504 State St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-3617.
April 25 POPS ARE TOPS. 5 p.m. Pop tarts, that is. Kids age 8 to 11 learn to make their own at Kids Cooking. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: gcmuseum.com. NOODLIN’ AROUND. 6 p.m. Learn how to make your own pasta and cook Italian-style. Reto’s Kitchen, 900 S. Elam Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.
April 24 OMIEGOSH! 6 p.m. Or rather, Omie Blonde, one of the standouts of Asheboro’s Four Saints Brewing Company. Try some, among other brews and appetizers
Arts Calendar
at a Four Saints Patio Party that bids N.C. Beer Month farewell. 1618 Seafood Grille, 1618 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.
yeah, fruits and vegetables, and a whole lot more. High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.
April 25
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE. 9 a.m. The gardening universe, that is. Get advice from Master Gardeners on growing just about anything at “Spring into Gardening,” an open house and demo. N.C. Cooperative Extension, Guilford County Center, 3309 Burlington Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 641-2400.
THE MEANING OF LIFE. Noon. Bring significance to the last stages of the journey at a lunch and learn, “What Really Matters: Changing Priorities Near End of Life.” Lusk Center, Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro, 2501 Summit Ave., Greensboro. To register: ticketmetriad.com.
April 25–27 LOTSA LAFFS. Standups will have you on the floor laughing at the NC Comedy Festival. Performance times vary. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 26 COBBLER GOBBLER. 4:30 p.m. Berry season is here and that means one thing: cobblers! Kids age 8 to 11 learn how to make this seasonal favorite. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: gcmuseum.com.
April 27 PRODUCE PARTY. 8:30 a.m. Kick off growing season at the Opening Day Hoopla at High Point Farmers Market, which includes a petting zoo, photo booth, live music from Big Bang Boom and a jazz band — and oh
Comfort, Style & Location 801 Cornwallis Drive 4 Bedrooms/2.5 Bathrooms 2490 Square Feet $335,000.
GOOD VIBRATIONS. 8 p.m. A selection of Beach Boys tunes comprises the Tanger Outlets Pops concert, courtesy of Greensboro Symphony. Westover Church, 505 Muirs Chapel Road, Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 3355456, ext. 224 or greensborosymphony.org.
April 27–May 28 STUDENT MASTERS. Don’t miss 2019 UNCG M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 or weatherspoon.uncg.edu.
April 28 OPUS CONCERT. 3 p.m. Greensboro Youth Jazz Ensemble and conductor Wally West swing it out. Westover Church, 5200 Friendly Ave., Greensboro. Info: gsomusiccenter.com. AUTHORS, AUTHORS. 3 p.m. Meet poets Rob Merritt (View from Jade-Blue to Mountain) and Terry Kennedy (New River Breakdown). Scuppernong Books,
Help Create
SUMMER
MEMORIES You have the opportunity and now is the time to support local children to attend our Summer Camps! Scholarships are waiting to be filled - help create amazing memories that will last a lifetime!
SUMMER CAMP:
JUNE 12-AUGUST 9
Waban Carter REALTOR, Broker, GRI, ABR 336-601-6363 The Art & Soul of Greensboro
For those interested in donating toward a scholarship, call Paula at 336-235-0374.
April 2019
O.Henry 89
Arts Calendar 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
April 30 LLOYD FEST. 7 p.m. Harold Lloyd, comic great of the silent screen, dangles from the hands of a giant clock in the classic Safety Last! Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
April 28–May 26 WINDMILLS OF HIS MIND. Dream the impossible dream at Man of La Mancha. Triad Stage, 232 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 272-0160 or triadstage.org.
April 30–May 6 HOPPERS HERE. The Greensboro Grasshoppers are home again. First National Bank Field, 408 Bellemeade St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 268-2255 or milb.com.
WEEKLY HAPPENINGS Mondays BUZZING. 10 a.m. Your busy little bees engage in a Busy Bees preschool program focusing on music, movement, garden exploration and fun in the kitchen. (Members only). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. PreTo register: (336) 5742898 or gcmuseum.com. CHAT-EAU. Noon. French leave? Au contraire! Join
French Table, a conversation group. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.
Tuesdays READ ALL ABOUT IT. Treat your little ones to story times: BookWorms (ages 12–24 months) meets at 10 a.m.; Time for Twos meets at 11 a.m. Storyroom; Family Storytime for all ages meets at 6:30 p.m. High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3666 or highpointpubliclibrary.com. ONCE UPON A TIME. 2 p.m. Afterschool Storytime convenes for children of all ages. Storyroom, High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3666 or highpointpubliclibrary.com.
Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: gsofarmersmarket.org. MUSSELS, WINE & MUSIC. 7 until 10 p.m. Mussels with house-cut fries for $15, wines from $10–15 a bottle and live music by AM rOdeO — at Print Works Bistro, 702 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 3790699 or printworksbistro.com/live_music.htm.
Thursdays TWICE UPON A TIME. 11 a.m. Preschool Storytime convenes for children ages 3–5. Storyroom, High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3666 or highpointpubliclibrary.com.
CREATIVE KIDDIES. 3:30 p.m. Art Explorers encourages children ages 3 to 5 to release their creativity through a variety of artistic media and techniques (through 5/21). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: gcmuseum.com.
ALL THAT JAZZ. 5:30 until 8 p.m. Hear live, local jazz with Dave Fox, Neill Clegg and Matt Kendrick (aka the O.Henry Trio) and featured artists Joey Barnes (4/4), Tanya Ross (4/11), Jessica Mashburn (4/18), and Sheila Duell (4/25). All performances are at the O.Henry Hotel Social Lobby Bar. No cover. 624 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 854-2000 or www.ohenryhotel. com/jazz.htm.
PICKIN’ AND GRINNIN’ 6 until 9 p.m. Y’all come for Songs from a Southern Kitchen. Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, 1421 W. Westover Terrace, Greensboro. Info: (336) 370-0707 or lucky32.com/fried_chicken.htm.
JAZZ NIGHT. 7 p.m. Fresh-ground, fresh-brewed coffee is served with a side of jazz at Tate Street Coffee House, 334 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 275-2754 or www. tatestreetcoffeehouse.com.
Wednesdays
OPEN MIC COMEDY. 8–9:35 p.m. Local pros and amateurs take the mic at the Idiot Box, 2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro. Info: (336) 274-2699 or idiotboxers.com.
TO MARKET, TO MARKET. 8 a.m. until noon. Starting April 17, the produce is fresh and the cut fleurs belles. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501
Be your own kind of beautiful ...
APRIL 5TH-6TH APRIL 11TH-13TH
Irving Park
15% off regular priced jewelry 15% off Joseph Ribkoff plus free gift with purchase APRIL 12TH Kentucky Derby Hat Day APRIL 18TH-20TH 15% off Sympli plus free gift with purchase APRIL 27TH & 29TH $5-$25 sidewalk sale (rain or shine) CLOTHING, ACCESSORIES 1804 Pembroke Rd. Greensboro, NC 27408 (Behind Irving Park Plaza)
90 O.Henry
April 2019
GIFTS & MORE! 336.763.7908 www.serendipitybyceleste.com M - F 11am - 5:30pm • Sat. 11am - 4pm
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Irving Park
PERSONALIZED EGGS
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
Teaching
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Family Owned Serving Greensboro for over 36 year
s.
1710 Battleground Ave. • Greensboro, NC
336.274.6793 • www.mckinneysewandvac.com Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri 10:00am-5:30pm Wed 10:00am-1:00pm • Sat 10:00am-3:00pm
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
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shops • service • food • farms
Arts Calendar Fridays
THE HALF OF IT. 5 p.m. Enjoy the hands-on exhibits and activities for half the cost of admission at $5 Fun Fridays ($3 on First Fridays). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com.
Fridays & Saturdays NIGHTMARES ON ELM STREET. 8 p.m. A 90-minute, historical, candlelit ghost walking tour of Downtown Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 905-4060 or carolinahistoryandhaunts.com/information.
Saturdays TO MARKET, TO MARKET. 7 a.m. until noon. The produce is still fresh and the cut fleurs still belles. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: gsofarmersmarket.org. THRICE UPON A TIME. 11 a.m. Hear a good yarn at Children’s Storytime. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. GENIUS AND JAVA. 11:15 a.m. With a cup of Joe as inspiration, create that masterpiece at Coffee and Canvas, which pairs painting and sipping. Cost is $5 and includes art supplies and bean. Griffin Recreation Center, 5301 Hilltop Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 3732928 or email Latrisha.Carmon@greensboro-nc.gov.
92 O.Henry
support locally owned businesses
WRITE IS MIGHT. 3 p.m. Avoid writer’s block by joining a block of writers at Come Write In, a confab of scribes who discuss their literary projects. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. JAZZ ENCORE. 6:30 p.m. Hear contemporary jazz cats, Diana Tuffin (4/6); Nishah DiMeo, Ariel Pocock, Annalise Stalls, Sinclair Palmer, Ruby Prescott (4/13); Jacqui Haggerty and Band (4/20); and Sarah Whittemore & The O.Henry Trio (4/27), while noshing on seasonal tapas at O.Henry Jazz series for Select Saturdays. O.Henry Hotel, 624 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 854-2000 or ohenryhotel.com. IMPROV COMEDY. 10 p.m. on Saturday, plus an 8 p.m. show appropriate for the whole family. The Idiot Boxers create scenes on the spot and build upon the ideas of others, creating shows that are one-of-a-kind — at the Idiot Box, 2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro. Info: (336) 274-2699 or idiotboxers.com.
Saturdays & Sundays KIDS’ CRAFTS. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop — unless you enroll Junior in one of three structured activities at Greensboro Children’s Museum: Art Studio encourages making art in all kinds of media; at Music Makers kids can shake, rattle and roll with percussion instruments; while Get Moving! inspires physical activities. Times and dates vary. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or send an email mailto: marketing@gcmuseum.com.
Sundays GROOVE AND GRUB. 11 a.m. Chow down on mouth-watering Southern brunch fare (biscuits, anyone?), courtesy of Chef Irvin J. Williams, while students from the Miles Davis Jazz Program serenade you with smooth jazz. The Historic Magnolia House, 442 Gorrell St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 617-3382 or thehistoricmagnoliahouse.com. HALF FOR HALF-PINTS. 1 p.m. And grown-ups, too. A $5 admission, as opposed to the usual $10, will allow you entry to exhibits and more. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com. MISSING YOUR GRANDMA? 3 p.m. until it’s gone: Tuck into Chef Felicia’s skillet-fried chicken, and mop that cornbread in, your choice, giblet gravy or potlikker. Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, 1421 W. Westover Terrace, Greensboro. Info: (336) 370-0707 or lucky32.com/ fried_chicken.htm.
To add an event, email us at
ohenrymagcalendar@gmail.com
by the first of the month
ONE MONTH PRIOR TO THE EVENT.
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Join the effort. Visit www.triadlocalfirst.com.
shops • service • food • farms
support locally owned businesses
“I couldn’t be happier with my renters, or my rental income” Brantley White
Burkely Rental Homes client
There are times when it’s smarter to lease than to sell your home. Call me when you think you’re there! I’ll be pleased to discuss how Burkely Rental Homes can help you.
Our customers are young and the young at heart. They are the classic American beauty or those looking for Threads that are uniquely on trend.
boutique boutique 8 0 9 G R E E N VA L L E Y ROAD SUI TE 101
| 33 6 -9 4 4 -5 3 3 5
TUES- FRI • 11- 5 : 3 0 | SAT • 11-3
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
Join the effort. Visit www.triadlocalfirst.com.
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“Your kindness and compassion in the care of my father are so greatly appreciated. I don’t know what we would do without you. Thank you for being such a critical part of his recovery. We are so very grateful for you.”
Life & Home
— With love, Alexandra
Quality Care, Kindness & Affordability. All While Staying at Home.
Kathy Nevil, RN • Janet McGoldrick, RN (Owner) Angelia Cox, RN (Owner) • Cathy Propst, RN
1515 W Cornwallis Drive, Suite 100 Greensboro, NC 27408
Phone: 336.285.9107 Fax: 336.285.9109
email: info@1stChoiceHomeCareInc.com
Everyday is a beautiful day at Dirty Dogs!
Boutique
• Dog Treats and Antlers • Shampoos, Conditioners and Fragrances • Dog Toys • Collars and Leashes
Our Services
• Self-Service Dog Wash • Premium Dog Wash • Grooming Introducing Heather Richardson, Pet Stylist • 336-587-0195
2511 BATTLEGROUND AVENUE, GREENSBORO, NC K9CRZY7@aol.com • www.dirtydogsgso.com (336) 617-7191 • Like us on Facebook
Visit our website for hours, services and other information.
94 O.Henry
April 2019
Unrivalled Quality & SUPERIOR WORKMANSHIP I N I RV I N G PA R K
1604 BIRCH LANE 5 Beds/4.2 Baths Over 6,000 Sq Ft • Gorgeous Walnut Flooring Walnut Paneled Office • Energy Efficient Harry Boody HVAC Extensive Heated & Cooled Storage • Third Floor Bonus Veranda & Custom Putting Green!
REALTOR®, BROKER, MBA, ABR, CSP, GRI, CRS, SFR, CPM • homes@michelleporter.com www.michelleporter.com ©2017 BHH Affiiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
24 ELM RIDGE LANE
2 6 0 0 N O RT H E L M N E I G H BO RH O O D
61ST ANNIVERSARY
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MORE THAN 60,000 VOLUMES
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A great buy at $609,000
THURSDAY, MAY 9 • 9AM-8PM FRIDAY, MAY 10 • 9AM-8PM SATURDAY, MAY 11 • 9AM-1PM THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!
Platinum Sponsors: Best Logistics Group and Triad Freightliner of Greensboro Gold Sponsors: Plybon & Associates • Brown Gardiner Drug Co. Jim and Martha Kaley for Earlier.Org
3506 Lawndale, Greensboro, NC (between Cone Blvd. and Pisgah Church Rd.) 336-288-4721 • www.stfrancisgreensboro.org
Sally Millikin
336.337.7230 Sally.millikin@trmhomes.com
Neurofeedback is training the brain waves or EEG to assist the brain in learning to function normally.
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save 15 $
on your 1st 60 or 90 Minute Custom Massage w/any therapist New Clients only. Not valid with any other specials or discounts
PIPTRIAD.COM BURLINGTON
825 South Main Street Burlington, NC 27215 336-222-0717
GREENSBORO
1840 Pembroke Road, Suite 1 Greensboro, NC 27408 336-315-2331
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Welcome Silvia Durango, LMBT, Shalae Walker, LMBT & Mary Stewart, LMBT to our Massage Team!
336.334.0044
5 2 3 S ta te S t, G reen sbo ro , N C
www.AtoZenMassage.com Massage services provided by NC Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapists.
Neurofeedback training reduces the symptoms of many issues in children, teens and adults including: • ADD/ADHD • Depression • Anxiety • Memory Decline • Head Injury • Addiction • PTSD and more
Neurofeedback Associates Inc. ENHANCING BRAIN PERFORMANCE FOR DAILY LIFE
Gail Sanders Durgin, Ph.D., BCN-Fellow, QEEG 2309 West Cone Blvd, Suite 210 | Greensboro
336.540.1972 | www.EnhancedBrain.org
April 2019
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Photo: Aesthetic Images
SAVVY STYLE. PURELY PERSONAL.
1616-H Battleground Ave Dover Square 336.272.2555 10am-5:30pm-Mon.-Sat. www.simplymegsboutique.com
Business & Services
Dover Square
Simply Meg’s 1616-G Battleground Ave Dover Square 336.617.7941 10am-5:30pm-Mon.-Sat. www.bibsandkidsboutique.com
Floral Design Delivery Service Home Décor & Gifts Weddings & Special Events Come visit our retail shop! 1616 Battleground Avenue, Suite D-1 Greensboro, NC 27408
336.691.0051
shop@randymcmanusdesigns.com w w w. r a n d y m c m a n u s d e s i g n s . c o m
STYLE SHOWN: CASTLES
The view’s better from here. PolarizedPlus2® Sunglasses
2222 Patterson St. #A Greensboro, NC 27407 336.852.7107 www.houseofeyes.com Only one block from the coliseum.
MJ-13209 House of Eyes Spring 2019 Ad.indd 1
96 O.Henry
April 2019
3/14/19 3:53 PM
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
COME TEST DRIVE YOUR NEW OFFICE CHAIR FOR ALL YOUR OFFICE PRODUCT AND FURNITURE NEEDS YOUR LOCALLY OWNED OFFICE PRODUCTS DEALER
Free Next Day Delivery in the triad area on over 30,000 office products 3402-C W. Wendover Ave. | Greensboro, NC 336.275.2871 | www.carolinaofficemachines.com
Practicing Commercial Real Estate by the Golden Rule 1614-C WEST FRIENDLY AVENUE GREENSBORO, NC 27403 336-272-2032 stitchpoint@att.net MONDAY-FRIDAY: 10:00-6:00 SATURDAY: 10:00-4:00
Bill Strickland, CCIM Commercial Real Estate Broker/REALTOR 336.369.5974 | bstrickland@bipinc.com
www.bipinc.com
Sherlock Roof Cleaning
Prep your patio for spring
Soft Wash Roof Cleaning Exterior House Wash Driveway Cleaning Patios and Decks Solving the crime of ugly www.sherlockroofcleaning.com dark roof stains sherlockroofcleaning@gmail.com
336-346-8682
If it’s broken glass, we can replace it. Window & door panes | Screens | Glass Top Tables for furniture Mirrors | Storm windows & doors | Tempered glass Windshield Glass is your one-stop glass shop. We service the Triad and surrounding counties for all types of residential and commercial glass repairs.
510 N. SPRING ST. | GREENSBORO, N.C. 27401 336-273-1791 | www.windshieldglass.com
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
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Business & Services
Turn your dreams into reality with 3D drawings and renderings before you ever begin!
SHOES CLOTHING ACCESSORIES
Call today to learn more!
KERSTIN LEIGH
336.542.3231 | reddinteriors.com
SHOPPES on PATTERSON Antiques & Interiors Furniture Collectibles Consignment
1329 North Main Street High Point, NC . 27262 336-882-0636
2804 Patterson St. | (336) 856-2171
@monkeesofhighpoint
Voted Best Menswear Store 2015, 2016, 2017, & 2018
LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1963 JACK VICTOR HART SCHAFFNER MARX
www.shoppesonpatterson.com
ASHMORE RARE COinS & MEtAlS Since 1987
• 30+ years as a major dealer of Gold, Silver, and Coins • Most respected local dealer for appraising and buying Coin Collections, Gold, Silver, Diamond Jewelry and Sterling Flatware • Investment Gold, Silver, & Platinum Bullion
Visit us: www.ashmore.com or call 336-617-7537
BALLIN TROUSERS
5725 W. Friendly Ave. Ste 112 • Greensboro, NC 27410 Across the street from the entrance to Guilford College
BILL’S KHAKIS BERLE TROUSERS
what is your
REMY LEATHERS GITMAN BROTHERS
home worth?
BARONI CLOTHING
Contact me for a market report
34 HERITAGE JEANS CUSTOM SUITS & SHIRTS
JACK VICTOR
the HUB ltd 2921-D Battleground Ave. • Greensboro 336.545.6535 | TheHubLtd.com
MONDAY-SATURDAY: 11 AM - 5 PM OR BY APPOINTMENT
98 O.Henry
April 2019
Yvonne Stockard Willard Realtor™, Broker, GRI
allentate.com
336.509.6139 Mobile 336.217.8561 Fax
yvonne.stockard@allentate.com www.allentate.com/YvonneStockard
717 Green Valley Road, Suite 300 • Greensboro NC • 27408
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
GREENSBORO, NC 27410 Located in Popular Friendly Acres Area! 5 Bed/3.5 Bath 2 Car Attached Garage
You won’t find them in ordinary kitchens. Or at ordinary stores. Sub-Zero, the preservation specialist. Wolf, the cooking specialist. You’ll find them only at your local kitchen specialist.
OFFERED AT $439,000
SHOP LOCAL FOR BEST PRICES
ANGIE WILKIE Broker/Realtor (336) 451-9519
®
We Service What We Sell & Offer Personal Attention
angie.wilkie@allentate.com
www.allentate.com/AngieWilkie
Allen Tate Company’s Top 5% | 2018 Allen Tate Company’s Legends Club
336-854-9222 • www.HartApplianceCenter.com
2201 Patterson Street, Greensboro, NC (2 Blocks from the Coliseum) Mon. - Fri.: 9:30am - 5:30 pm Sat. 10 am - 2 pm • Closed Sunday
Business & Services
4001 Hobbs Road
fair trade
Rug Event
April 25–28
Persian, Tribal and Bokhara rugs Classic to Contemporary
from 2’x3’ to 10’x14’ & runners.
Greensboro 1564-A Highwoods Blvd
336-834-4606 The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Thusday, April 25 at 7 pm The History and Stories behind Bunyaad Fair Trade Rugs.
rugs.tenthousandvillages.com April 2019
O.Henry 99
AnnuAl luncheon
Friends oF the Greensboro Public library Tuesday, April 16, 2019 • Twelve O’clock Noon The Colonnade at Revolution Mill 900 Revolution Mill Drive, Greensboro
Join us for a conversation with Patricia Bell-Scott, Author, The Firebrand and the First Lady,
Arts & Culture
Moderated by Author & Educator Dr. Lea E. Williams.
Please RSVP by April 5, 2019 by sending a check ($35 per person) to: Friends of the Greensboro Public Library PO Box 3178 • Greensboro, NC 27402
Please indicate if you would like a vegetarian selection. For questions please call 336-373-2714.
APRIL 28-MAY 26 Hear the wild winds of fortune. Your destiny calls and adventure awaits. A poet, thrown into prison, fears the Inquisitor, but the inmates demand their own kind of justice. The poet begins to tell a story of a mad Knight determined to achieve his impossible dreams. JOIN THE QUEST AND REACH THE UNREACHABLE STAR.
BUY TICKETS TODAY! 232 SOUTH ELM STREET | GREENSBORO | 336.272.0160 | TRIADSTAGE.ORG 100 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
KEVIN RUTAN’S ANNUAL ART SHOW MAY 3 & 4 • 11 AM - 4 PM OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
NEW PIECES/NEW ABSTRACTS T H E S T U D I O - 6 1 2 J OY N E R S T, G R E E N S B O R O, N C
336 .31 2.0 0 9 9 | K R U TAN@ TR I AD. R R .CO M
Arts & Culture
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
O.Henry 101
SUNDAY MAY 5 • 11 AM-4 PM Artisan Gifts Food Trucks
Arts & Culture
Free Parking & Admission
501 Yanceyville St • Greensboro
gsofarmersmarket.org
KEVIN MCDONALD JAZZ TRIO
This program also features Bassist David Baron and Pianist Reuben Allen.
Christ United Methodist Church
Sponsored by the MGS Board of Directors
APRIL 12 - 7:30PM
For tickets or call 336-638-7624 or visit ticketmetriad.com
102 O.Henry
April 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Arts & Culture
ARTIST’S RECEPTION UNCOVERING THE LAYERS OF JENNY FULLER FRIDAY, APRIL 12TH, 6-8PM
& INTRODUCING CAROLYN BLAYLOCK Lunch & Learn with Carolyn Blaylock, Friday, April 12th at 11:30am Workshop with Carolyn Saturday, April 13th at 10:00am
307 State Street, Greensboro (336) 279-1124 • www.tylerwhitegallery.com
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
O.Henry 103
GreenScene Ribbon Cutting — Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women Barber Park Event Center Friday, January 25, 2019
Photographs by Lynn Donovan
Florence Gatten, Liz Seymour, Ashley Brooks
Carolyn Coleman, Grace Carmen
Nnamdi Onyiliogwu, Gladys Robinson, Adaoro & Ladisa Onyiliogwu
Larry Davis, Adrienne Sabir, Phil Fleischman Jeanelle Lindsay, Bettye Jenkins Virginia Summey, Tiffany Jones
Bob Poole, Goldie Byrd Carl Brower, Pamela Tonkins, Ron Rogers
Cecelia Thompson, Candace Martin, Lizzy Tashuda, Sarah McGuire Pam MacAdoo-Rogers, Stephanie Johnson
Cadence Wilmoth, Erin Blackledge
Sandra Hughes, Michael Day
104 O.Henry
April 2019
Betty Cone, Willie Taylor
Rochelle & Jasmyn Harper
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
GreenScene
Mirinda & Red Maxwell, Mike Wolfert, Derek Rapp
Karly Sachs, Reagan Piland
JDRF Piedmont Triad Hope Gala Honoring Linda & Ron Wellman Saturday, February 2, 2019 Photographs by Lynn Donovan
Jason & Beth Sandberg, Spenser Beasley, Jennifer Schultz, Jennifer Badik
Susanna Allred, Elyssa Emerick, Anna Grace Starkey
Greg Cox, Demon Deacon, Diane Cox
Sheila & Derek Ellington, Jason Bush, Eleanor Schaffner-Mosh Back Row: Angie & Tim Lynde, Melissa & Ben Norman, Patty West
Front Row: Kevin Rice & Nicole Wellman Rice, Linda & Ron Wellman, Ken West
Emily Mock, Jim Christian
Buff Perry, Stephanie Stokes, Becky Cross, Betsy Saye Brittany Carroll, Eleanor Schaffner-Mosh
Barry & Beth Faircloth
Hope Kelly, Maddie Heyden, Gus Dossett, Emma Hackney, Cassie & Miller Maxwell
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
O.Henry 105
O UTDOOR D INING AT ITS F INEST “Top 100 Restaurant Views in America” Open Table
O FF
THE B LUE R IDGE P ARKWAY IN F LOYD , V IRGINIA
THEDOGS.COM W I N E RY TA STING R O O M O P E N DAILY
Greensboro’s first all encompassing Restaurant, Butcher, and Bar 2003 Yanceyville Street | Greensboro, NC 27405
336-656-2410
introducing
GLYCOLIC 10 RENEW OVERNIGHT
NIGHTLY CORRECTIVE CREAM DELIVERS A TRU 10% GLYCOLIC ACID TO SKIN FOR A QUAINTIFIABLE GLOW
Now Available at
Get your glow on | ACCELERATES cellular turnover | REFINES texture | REVEALS a refined radiance
Enjoy life at your own pace
SEPTEMBER 15, 2018
W W W. S P R I N G A R B O R L I V I N G . C O M
Visit us online or call today to schedule a tour
Located at Friendly Center next door to Barnes and Noble Mon-Fri 10-8 | Sat 10-6 | Sun 1-6 • 336-294-3223 Visit our new website… shereesinatural.com for special discounts on SkinCeuticals and brow waxing.
106 O.Henry
April 2019
5125 Michaux Road • Greensboro • 336.286.6404
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
GreenScene
Matthew Walworth, Shannon Cotner, David & Virginia Adams
Hands for Hearts Casino Night Supporting Congenital Heart Research & Awareness Saturday, February 23, 2019 Photographs by Lynn Donovan
McKenzie Stevenson, Robert & Carolyn Haskin, Jon Stevenson
Anne Crutchfield, Kamron Moody Jaclyn Casey, Chan & Jenny Badger
Trevor & Meghann Mollerus
Amy Lawrence, Laine Rendleman, Korey Hickling, Courtney Crabtree, Amber Atkinson
Faye & Tom Mundy, Lyndy Welker
Sue & Joe Pedaline
Lauren Bodhaine, Jeremy Deaver, Katelyn Ray
Carmen & Skotty Wannamaker
Megan Kesler, Melissa Lehman
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Dean & Kathleen Little
Julia Soles, Tony Craft
April 2019
O.Henry 107
GreenScene
Tori Brock, Jules Jones, Sherry Pollock
Delena Welch, Kathy Flack
The Gallery of Grandover Grand Opening Thursday, March 7, 2019
Photographs by Lynn Donovan Beverly Moody, Suellen Milton, Sylvia Vanore, Karen Jacobs
Betsy Craft, Ashley Vanore, Daniela Helms
Ralph Jones, Adam Preyer, Dawne & Dan Deuterman
Scott & Jane Gissendanner Anne Givan, Scott Knox, Lynne Fly
Minta Phillips, Lisa Simpson, Gigi Renaud
Joseph & Amanda Sand Tammy Milani, Pam Sink
108 O.Henry
April 2019
Cindy & Flake Koury
Nikki Kepley, Jay Murphy, Jan Galloni
Ben Owen
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Old World Style & Modern Living
1816 SAINT ANDREWS ROAD, GREENSBORO, NC 27408 Irving Park home with European charm and floor plan for modern living . Master on main • 5BRs, 6.5 baths • Chefs Kitchen • Guest cottage and garages
Chesnutt - Tisdale Team
Xan Tisdale 336-601-2337
Kay Chesnutt 336-202-9687
Xan.Tisdale@bhhsyostandlittle.com Kay.Chesnutt@bhhsyostandlittle.com Lea.Beuchler@bhhsyostandlittle.com
Lea Beuchler 336-207-4859
©2019 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.
Key Dates:
Is Your Innovative North Carolina-Based Company Growing?
2019
Celebrate the success of your thriving & cutting-edge, middle-market company. We want to recognize the fastest growing middle-market companies in North Carolina and celebrate their entrepreneurial spirit, innovative business strategies, and skyrocketing revenue growth. Expansion of North Carolina’s economy is vital to job creation and continuing to innovate business around the state. To honor these pacesetters with rapidly increasing revenue and employment growth across the state, Business North Carolina
and Cherry Bekaert LLP, in conjunction with Regions Bank, are proud to host the 9th annual NC Mid-Market Fast 40 program. The top Fast 40 innovators will be honored at Pinehurst Resort in Fall 2019, and featured in the November issue of Business North Carolina magazine. Do you know a potential NC Mid-Market Fast 40 company? Is your company a catalyst for growth?
Nominations & Applications Open April 1, 2019 Nominations Close May 31, 2019 Applications Close June 14, 2019 Winners Selected July 22, 2019 Gala & Golf Event Fall 2019
Eligible Companies Must: Be headquartered in the state of North Carolina Be a commercial enterprise, not a nonprofit Be either privately owned or publicly traded Have net annual revenue in the range of $10 million to $500 million Demonstrate sustained revenue and employment growth over the past 3 years
See a list of last year’s honorees at cbh.com/nc40/winners
APPLY ONLINE cbh.com/nc40
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
April 2019
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BEDSTU GABOR
THINK! LIOR PARIS
JUDY P MILLA Unique Shoes! Beautiful Clothes!! Artisan Jewelry!!! Shoes Sizes 6 - 11 • Clothes Sizes S - XXL
507 State Street, Greensboro NC 27405 336-275-7645 • Mon - Sat 11am - 6pm www.LilloBella.com
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
C’mon Baby, Light My Fire!
The Accidental Astrologer
For Aries, the astrological arsonists, this month brings magic and stardust
By Astrid Stellanova
April brings us showers, sunshine and duckies, Star Children.
Some famous Aries creatives and legends like Maya Angelou, Booker T. Washington and Charlie Chaplin have transitioned to the great beyond. Others are still with us: Emma Watson, Alec Baldwin, Pharrell Williams, Francis Ford Coppola, Robin Wright. Arians are like astrological arsonists, knowing how to make fire and stir it in others. Antagonists and protagonists. Blazing a trail, always leaving a fiery glow — even if you didn’t make it to the 1979 clogging championships with the Smoking Hot Feet of Lizard Lick — you sure know how to make a memorable exit.
Aries (March 21–April 19) The sages all say this is a big year for you, starting now. You feel like you’ve been in a drought and are parched for a drink of water. Sugarbritches, get ready to guzzle. As much as the beginning of the year was not exactly epic in your opinion, this month is made of stardust and magic. Plain old well water will taste like sweet tea and a Saltine, like a mouthful of happiness. Taurus (April 20–May 20) You came out swinging, like somebody stole your buggy at the Piggly Wiggly. The wheels were wonky anyway, and sometimes karma takes over. Forget the little stuff and try and concentrate on the fact that the daisies are popping up and good things are coming. Gemini (May 21–June 20) Kindness is demanding that you learn to share, bless your heart, if it’s nothing more than the remote control with dead batteries, or a dried-up, day-old biscuit. You love your toys, but by your age, Darlin’, it’s time to share. Cancer (June 21–July 22) Measure twice and cut once. Shine your shoes. Don’t leave the house wearing ripped pantyhose or old sweat pants. You are going to have to figure and refigure to get ahead of a wily competitor. But it can happen. Leo (July 23–August 22) It is touching how much small things count with you. Nobody knows that. They think you are difficult to impress, but you love a dive as much as a gourmet bistro. Reveal who you really are, and take a pal to Waffle House. Virgo (August 23–September 22) How come you can’t make anyone who enters your door feel at home? Maybe because you really wish they were at their home instead. Expand your heart and open your arms to some very big happiness, Sugar.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Libra (September 23–October 22) If you faked any more enthusiasm, you’d get sugar diabetes. It’s a good thing to be enthused, but your charm is turned one degree too high. A smile is your best accessory, Darling, but so is keeping it real. Scorpio (October 23–November 21) No selfies. No cries for attention, Honey. I don’t care how bored you get, the best thing for you right now is to focus on finishing something you started a long time ago and refuse to tie up. Finish. It. Sagittarius (November 22–December 21) You got caught talking with your mouth full of bull, Sugar. Sometimes, the best cure for lying is quiet contemplation. Stick to your knitting, bowling or fishing. Thank your friends for calling you out. Capricorn (December 22–January 19) It was mainly a symbolic dogfight, but there you were, right in the middle of it. They headed home looking like they got chewed up by the lawnmower. You walked away with a smile. Throw your shoulders back and show some humility in victory. Aquarius (January 20–February 18) You put all your business out there on the showroom floor. We see it. Everybody gets it. You are open for business, Sugar. There will surely be plenty who want what you are selling, but don’t give it away for free. Pisces (February 19–March 20) Honey, there is raw ambition, and then, sometimes, it is just a teensy bit undercooked. The cornbread ain’t quite done in the center. You are on the right track but your ideas need a little time and effort to succeed. OH For years, Astrid Stellanova owned and operated Curl Up and Dye Beauty Salon in the boondocks of North Carolina until arthritic fingers and her popular astrological readings provoked a new career path. April 2019
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O.Henry Ending
Hammered
The nuts and bolts of hardware therapy
By Bill McConnell
Let’s be brutally honest: We all desperately
Don’t laugh, it’s a real thing. I’ve seen it, lived it, in fact. One minute you are kind of down, a little depressed. Not to the point of being suicidal, but not quite ready for prime time. Hmmm, you think, What are my options? You could quell the funk with an ice-cold adult beverage. Lots of folks do and far be it from me to be a buzzkill. But just for the sake of silly argument, let’s say you’re not in the mood for booze. You could resort to one of the fine mood-altering pharmaceuticals advertised incessantly, if you can manage to ignore the pesky side effects the fast-talker spends half the commercial warning us about. Or, option 3 — trumpet fanfare — hardware therapy. Surely, you’ve heard of it. It typically starts with a hardware store shopper in the loosest sense of the word. These shoppers, women as well as men, normally have no shopping cart or basket, no friend or business acquaintance to interrupt the dream-state. They have no real intention of buying . . . well, anything. Therapy is serious stuff, and thus must be done with a singular mindset. You wouldn’t want to compromise any gains with idle chitchat or — an actual purchase. Instead, the dreamer ambles along the aisles of the local hardware store, perhaps munching some free popcorn, stopping occasionally, carefully inspecting a New Age glue guaranteed to fix a boat or stick your fingers permanently together. The shopper-turned-dreamer may wander down the aisle of death where all manner of potent pesticides and traps await. The happily illustrated label of a fire-ant poison looks inviting. A plastic owl with a rotating head watches every move. One might wonder why the fire ants haven’t figured out why everyone’s suddenly dropping dead. Pushing on, our patient of hardware inevitably runs into the Pinewood Derby display, a sure trigger of lost youth. The 7-inch-long wooden blocks call out, beckoning to be transformed into Indy racers. The display has weights,
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shaping tools, body skins and polishing compound that promises to make the axles spin faster. Wind tunnel testing would be a nice touch, the dreamer muses. Finally, like a hammer drawn to a sixpenny nail, the dreamer comes to the tool aisle, a must-stop on the therapy tour. This is where hardware therapy truly taps into the gray matter twixt our ears. Souls are soothed by the anticipation of the gentle buzz of the palm sander and the quiet whir of a compound miter saw. Problems fade away like sawdust in the breeze. The tool aisle is the retail equivalent of an old-fashioned river baptism. Here, the sins of past projects are washed away. Dreamers know this and immerse themselves shamelessly in a sea of router bits and wrench sockets. About this time, a beautiful thing happens: Tranquility sets in like a slowdrying caulk and real hardware healing takes place. It starts with a quiet self-confession: “I’m not sure I can do this.” This is the ground zero confession of all do-it-yourselfers. We know the deck has to be rebuilt and the sink isn’t going to stop dripping on its own, but are we worthy? Jesus was a carpenter and he didn’t have a set of modern tools, so maybe there’s hope, the dreamer reasons. Slowly but surely, hardware therapy works its magic. It illuminates the possibilities. Before you know it, the clouds of doubt are parting. The time to hesitate is over. A plan begins to take shape. Boom! Just like that, our dreamer transforms into a do-it-yourselfer. So next time you need a little lift, consider a session with the nuts at your local hardware store. Where the next project is but a dream away. Oh, and don’t forget the popcorn. OH Bill McConnell is an award-winning freelance writer and reluctant DIYer. You can shoot the nuts and bolts with him at mcconnell@carolina.rr.com. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR
need it. It can transform a moment from mundane to memorable, capture our imagination, fuel our inspiration and send us gleefully tripping down memory lane. Of course, I can only be talking about one thing — hardware therapy.
OPEN HOUSE & GARDEN PARTY
Light Bites • Drinks • Music • Resort Tours
Thursday May 30, 2019 4-7 p.m. Join us for an island experience celebrating 55 years at Blockade Runner Beach Resort, established 1964. This event is free and open to the public, but space will be limited. Reservations open May 1. READ MORE ABOUT THE HOTEL IN SALT’S JUNE ISSUE