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December 2021 FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS 11 Simple Life
35 Home by Design
14 Short Stories 17 Tea Leaf Astrologer
37 Artist Spotlight
By Jim Dodson
By Zora Stellanova
19 Life’s Funny
By Maria Johnson
23 The Creators of N.C. By Wiley Cash
27 The Omnivorous Reader By Anne Blythe
31 Scuppernong Bookshelf
By Cynthia Adams By Maria Johnson
41 The Pleasures of Life Dept. By Ruth Moose
43 Birdwatch
By Susan Campbell
45 Wandering Billy By Billy Eye
84 Events Calendar 96 O.Henry Ending By James Colasanti Jr.
49 Wet Christmas
Poetry by Shelby Stephenson
50 Charmed, I'm Sure
By Katherine Snow Smith For five local women, their jewelry tells the story of their lives
54 'Twas The Night Before Christmas By Romey Petite
60 Quirky Holidays
By Cynthia Adams At the Harwood home, more is more
69 Almanac
By Ashley Walshe
Cover photograph by Amy Freeman
6 O.Henry
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
The most beautiful View is the View we share with you!
Cheers to a New Year!
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M A G A Z I N E
Volume 11, No. 12 “I have a fancy that every city has a voice.” 336.617.0090 111 Bain Street, Suite 334, Greensboro, NC 27406 www.ohenrymag.com PUBLISHER
David Woronoff Mary Best, Editor mary@ohenrymag.com Jim Dodson, Santa-at-Large Andie Rose, Creative Director andie@thepilot.com Lauren M. Coffey, Art Director Alyssa Kennedy, Graphic Designer DIGITAL CONTENT
Cassie Bustamante, cassie@ohenrymag.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Cynthia Adams, David Claude Bailey, Harry Blair, Amy Freeman, Maria Johnson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Mallory Cash, Lynn Donovan, John Gessner, Bert VanderVeen, Mark Wagoner CONTRIBUTORS
Anne Blythe, Susan Campbell, Wiley Cash, Jason Cooke, James Colasanti Jr., Billy Eye, Ross Howell Jr., Billy Ingram, Meridith Martens, Ruth Moose, Gerry O’Neill, Ogi Overman, Corrinne Rosquillo, Stephen E. Smith, Shelby Stephenson, Katherine Snow Smith, Zora Stellanova, Ashley Walshe ADVERTISING SALES
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Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels Jr., Frank Daniels III, Lee Dirks, David Woronoff © Copyright 2021. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. O.Henry Magazine is published by The Pilot LLC
8 O.Henry
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH
LIVE ARTS
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Simple Life
Meaningful Happiness When you think about it, the ordinary becomes extraordinary
By Jim Dodson
I bumped into
ILLUSTRATION BY GERRY O'NEILL
a friend in the produce section at the market. We had not seen each other since the start of the pandemic — well over a year ago, if not longer — long enough for me to briefly forget her name, though maybe I was just having the proverbial senior moment.
In any case, when I asked how she’d been, she simply smiled. “Like everyone, it’s been pretty challenging. But, also kind of revealing. It may sound funny, but I discovered that picking beautiful vegetables to cook for my family makes me really happy. Previously, shopping seemed more like a necessary chore than a privilege. I guess I’ve learned that the ordinary things provide the most meaningful happiness.” We wished each other safe and happy holidays and said goodbye. She went off to the organic onions and I went in search of the special spiced apple cider that only comes round during the autumn holidays — an ordinary thing, it suddenly struck me, that provides “meaningful” happiness to my taste buds. For what it’s worth, though too late to count, I also suddenly remembered my friend’s name: Donna. Quite honestly, in all the years I’ve steeped my tin-cup soul into the works of great spiritual teachers, classical philosophers, transcendental thinkers, Lake District poets and street-corner cranks, I’d never come across the phrase meaningful happiness. But suddenly — like an ear-burrowing TV jingle or a favorite song from the 1970s — I couldn’t get the idea of it out of my head. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Mankind’s search for happiness and meaning, of course, probably constitutes the oldest quest on Earth, beginning with a fabled naked couple in a heavenly garden, though as any ancient sage worthy of his or her plinth will tell you, true happiness is not something you can acquire from the outside world. Even a fashionable fig leaf can only cover so much. Objects and possessions can certainly provide a shot of pleasure, but they invariably lose their power to possess us somewhere down the line as rust and dust prevail. At the end of the day, as our wise old grandmothers patiently advised, true happiness can only come from the way you think about who you are and what you choose to do. As a famous old Presbyterian preacher once remarked to me as we sat together on his porch on a golden Vermont afternoon: “What we choose to worship, dear boy, is what we eventually become.” This curious idea of meaningful happiness, in any case, struck me as a highly useful tool — a way of defining or, better, refining — what kinds of people, things and moments in life are worthy of our close attention in a world that always seems to be beyond our control and on the verge of coming apart at the seams. For most of us, like my friend Donna’s awakening among the vegetables, the art of discovering meaningful happiness simply lies in recognizing the ordinary people, things and moments that fill up and grace an average day. My gardening hero, Thomas Jefferson — “I’m an old man but a new gardener,” as he once wrote to a friend — was an inveterate listmaker. And so am I. So, naturally, I began taking mental inventory of the blessedly small and ordinary people, things and moments that provide meaningful happiness in a time like no other I can recall. I’m sure — or simply hope — you have you own list. Here’s a brief sampling of mine: O.Henry 11
Simple Life Rainy Sundays give me meaningful happiness. The heavens replenishing my private patch of Eden. No fig leaf needed. Speaking of which, I’ve spent most of the pandemic building an ambitious Asian-inspired shade garden in my backyard, though probably more Bubba than Buddha if you want to know the Gospel. Even so, it’s granted me great peace and purpose, untold hours of pondering and planning, no small amount of dreaming while digging in the soil, delving in the soul, bringing an artist who works in red clay a little bit closer to God’s heart. Unexpected phone calls from his far-flung children provide this papa serious meaningful happiness. They grew up in a beautiful beech forest in Maine, assured by their old man that kindness and imagination could take them anywhere in the world. Today, one lives in Los Angeles and works in film, the other is a working journalist in the Middle East. They are telling the stories of our time. This gives the old man simple joy from two directions, East and West. Courteous strangers also make me uncommonly happy these days — people who smile, open doors for others, wear the world with an unhurried grace. Ditto people who use turn signals and don’t speed to make the light, saving lives instead of time; those who realize the journey is really the point. For this reason, I always take the back road home. Mowing the lawn for the first time in spring makes me surprisingly happy, as does mowing it for the final time in autumn, bedding
12 O.Henry
down the yard. In summer, I love nothing better than an afternoon nap with the windows wide open; or watching the birds feed at sunset with an excellent bourbon in hand, evidence of a growing appreciation for what our Italian friends call Dolce far niente — “The sweetness of doing nothing.” Ditto golf with new friends and lunch with old ones, early church, old Baptist hymns and well-worn jeans. My late Baptist granny would be appalled. Let me be clear, eating anything in Italy makes me wondrously happy — for a few blessed hours, at least. Watching the winter stars before dawn makes me blessedly happy, too, along with wool blankets, the first snow, homemade eggnog, the deep quiet of Christmas Eve, the mystery of certain presents, long walks with the dogs, writing notes by hand and my wife’s incredible cinnamon crumb apple pie. This list could go on for a while, dear friends. It’s as unfinished as its owner. But time is precious, and you have better things to do this month — like shop, eat and be merry with the friends and family you may not have been with in years. Let me just say that I hope December brings you true meaningful happiness. Whatever that means to you. OH Jim Dodson is the founding editor of O.Henry.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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Short Stories Happy Holidays, Untapped
Since opening in November 2019 in the Oden family’s historic (circa 1930–1940) soft drink bottling plant, Oden Brewing Co., owned by Bill Oden, has grown into a thriving business — and contributor to the community. And the holidays are no exception. First, on Friday night, December 10, the brewery on Gate City Boulevard will host a release party for a beer brewed in partnership with Ales for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Ales for ALS provides hops. Proceeds go to the ALS Therapy Development Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to developing drug treatments for ALS patients. Then on December 12, Oden will host Carols & Ale from 3–5 p.m. Sponsored by Greensboro Beer & Hymns — an ecumenical organization that fosters a sense of community among diverse groups by sharing a drink and singing hymns — attendees will be belting out a variety of holiday favorites. Post your favorite carol on the Carols & Ale Facebook page for possible inclusion. It’s outdoors, so dress warmly and soak up your suds at one of their picnic tables or feel free to bring your own lawn chair.
DIMEJI ONAFUWA, OMOLOMO (SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILDREN), 2020, OIL ON CANVAS, 48 X 48 X 0.5 INCHES. IMAGE COURTESY OF DIMEJI ONAFUWA AND SOZO GALLERY
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Ah, winter! What better way to celebrate than to visit the GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art, which presents its 42nd annual WINTER SHOW December 5 through February 16, 2022. The two-month exhibition exemplifies GreenHill’s focus on cultural diversity, illustrating high levels of creative expression throughout the state. The show features wide-ranging contemporary works in multiple mediums — including paintings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, jewelry, wood and fiber works. The museum’s extensive digital catalog and curated visits for small groups complement the sheer artistry on view. “WINTER SHOW inspires connection and openness to new perspectives,” explains Barbara Richter, executive director and chief executive officer of GreenHill. “The exhibition offers coveted access to many of our state’s most innovative and thoughtful creators both online and in-person. More than 400 works by emerging and established artists showcase the resilience of our multi-faceted, cultural community.” GreenHill offers a touch of warmth and connection on cold winter days.
14 O.Henry
“I Made My Family Disappear” The Carolina Theatre continues its Carolina Classic Holiday Movies series this month. Here’s a sampling of the festive flicks with spoiler alerts: December 4 — It’s a Wonderful Life, 7 p.m. George changes his mind, Clarence works to get his wings and a bell on the tree rings itself. December 5 — White Christmas, 7 p.m. Not the same old song-and-dance when Bing Crosby and friends help save an inn. December 15 — Home Alone, 7 p.m. Latchkey kid becomes man of the house and repeatedly wards off a pair bumbling burglars. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
A Well-Deserved Honor
Since 1963, North Carolina has recognized more than 21,000 Tar Heel stalwarts with the state’s highest accolade — the Order of the Long Leaf Pine (O.Henry’s Jim Dodson among them). Celebrated are those “who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities through exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments.” So, it’s no surprise that UNCG’s former director of the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Nancy Doll, has been honored with the prestigious distinction. During her 22-year tenure, her steadfast leadership served as a model for communityengaged art and active promotion of the inclusion of female artists and artists of color. On October 19, UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam Jr. presented the visionary leader with the award at a university event. Congratulations, Nancy, we can’t think of a more worthy recipient.
Merry and Bright
PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN DONOVAN
This month one of Greensboro’s loveliest neighborhoods is proving its beauty radiates inside and out. For more than 20 years, the residents of Sunset Hills have celebrated the holiday season by hanging glowing Christmas balls on the towering oaks that line its streets — hundreds and hundreds of glimmering orbs. Onlookers drive from miles away to gaze at the balls-of-light displays. So much traffic, in fact, Sunset Hillers decided some years ago to use its popularity to help others by asking visitors to contribute nonperishable food to help feed residents of the Triad. The goods go to Second Harvest Food Bank. The tradition not only bestows light and color on dark winter nights, but it also illuminates the community’s gift of comfort and hope. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Ogi Sez Ogi Overman
I love the holiday season, I really do. I shop yearround but intentionally wait until the eve before Christmas Eve to finish. I intentionally wrap presents on Christmas Eve while It’s a Wonderful Life is playing; unlike anyone I know, I intentionally eat a full Claxton fruit cake every year. And, adding to all that, I intentionally hit as many concerts as possible. After the 2020 famine, this year there are some good ’uns.
• December 2, Carolina Theatre: Anytime of the
year is a good time to hit a Robert Earl Keen show. But, while most touring acts are shutting down in December, REK plans tours around it. And if you know anything, you know why. Hint: bring a bag of lemons and some Diet Sprites, a box of tampons and some Salem Lights.
• December 4, Ramkat: I have a special place in my heart for the Waybacks. I did my annual MerleFest story on band leader James Nash a couple of years ago. And Jessica and I saw their last Ramkat show before the shutdown. So, there’s a good chance that anytime they’re in the vicinity, I’m going to include them here. You can thank me later. • December 9, Greensboro Coliseum: For me,
the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show marks the unofficial start of the Christmas season. There is literally nothing like it on the planet . . . well, except the other, identical touring show. Yep, they have to cram so many shows into December that it takes two of them. You get extra eggnog if you knew that.
• December 18, Greensboro Coliseum: I almost never double-down on a venue in the same month but had to make an exception for Eric Church. He is, after all, the biggest name in country music right now, and, even better, you don’t have to love C&W to love him. I’m living proof — I’ve had a man-crush on him for several years. • December 18, Tanger Center: When I saw Music of Queen listed on the Tanger program, I rather dismissed it, thinking it was a tribute act, which I never recommend in this space. Reading on, however, I discovered that it is being performed by the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. Wha? Wrap your mind around that and give it a shot. O.Henry 15
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Tea Leaf Astrologer
Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)
When a Sagittarius plays with fire, it’s wonderfully innocent. Sort of. But this bold and short-fused fire sign has a reputation for being more than a little reckless — especially when it comes to affairs of the heart. Pause and reflect during the solar eclipse on the 4th. Who are you? Who do you want to be? Should you splurge for that positively extravagant vegan leather coat? Fortunately, things are looking a bit more auspicious this month. But don’t leave the candle burning unattended.
Tea leaf “fortunes” for the rest of you: Capricorn (December 22 – January 19) Two words: humble pie. Aquarius (January 20 – February 18) Ask for a sign. You’ll know it when you see it. Pisces (February 19 – March 20) Save the smothering for the bread and butter. Aries (March 21 – April 19) You are the Perfect Storm. Don’t hold back. Taurus (April 20 – May 20) Best not to wait for an invitation. Gemini (May 21 – June 20) Ask again later. Cancer (June 21 – July 22) No matter how hot things get, play it cool. Leo (July 23 – August 22) The quest for perfection doesn’t end well. Virgo (August 23 – September 22) That smile on your face says it all. Libra (September 23 – October 22) Sometimes the obstacle is the path. Scorpio (October 23 – November 21) When the popcorn is ready, the truffle oil will appear. OH
Zora Stellanova has been divining with tea leaves since Game of Thrones’ Starbucks cup mishap of 2019. While she’s not exactly a medium, she’s far from average. She lives in the N.C. foothills with her Sphynx cat, Lyla. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
O.Henry 17
…
Life's Funny
Ted Talk
A few serious words about humor
By Maria Johnson
To: Ted Koppel From: Me
Re: Stay in your lane
Dear Mr. Koppel: “How do you do, Mrs. Wile-y?” Do these words mean anything to you? Didn’t think so. I’ll explain them later. As you might have guessed by now, I’m writing to you about your piece for CBS News Sunday Morning, the one you reported from the city of Mount Airy, N.C., which was the hometown of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for Mayberry, the fictional setting of the The Andy Griffith Show. Some people have called your story a hit piece on the show. I don’t think it was a hit piece. ’Cause I think you missed the point entirely. But first, I’ll give you kudos you deserve. You’re awesome at crises. Really. When Iranian militants took 52 American hostages in 1979, you rightly dogged that story every night for 302 of the 444 days they were in captivity. Your show, Nightline, ushered in an era of 24/7 news channels. So, um . . . thank you? Also, a few years ago, you wrote a helluva book, which warned about the vulnerability of U.S. power grids to other countries. You did this country a service in writing the book. In fact, I stood in line so you could autograph my copy after your Bryan Series lecture here in 2018. I gotta hand it to you. You’re a newshound’s newshound, with a deep understanding of foreign actors. But your understanding of comic actors? Bro. Stay home. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
In your piece for Sunday Morning, you made an airtight case that Mayberry was an idealized place, a fantasy island that failed to recognize political and racial tensions in the years the series was shot, 1960–’68. Very true. In fact, the spirit of the series was rooted even farther back in time — in the
1930s and ’40s. How do I know this? Opie told me. Ron Howard, the actor who played Opie Taylor on the show — and who has gone on to become one of Hollywood’s most respected directors — recently teamed up with his brother, Clint, to tell the story of their growing up in Hollywood. The book is called The Boys, and, as you might expect, it spills a decent amount of ink on The Andy Griffith Show, which launched little red-headed Ronny to stardom. As adult Ron tells it, Griffith, who died in 2012, was at the height of his power when he created the show that bore his name. He was coming off a successful radio career — “What It Was Was Football”— and a stint on Broadway. He’d just scored a major hit film, A Face in the Crowd, in which he played Lonesome Rhodes, a two-bit radio host who gains a following and “transforms into a lusty, egomaniacal demagogue.” Interesting, huh? “Elia Kazan was a brilliant director,” Howard writes. “But he had manipulated and provoked Andy to summon his darkest, ugliest thoughts and impulses, and the process about wrecked him. ‘I don’t ever want to do that again,’ Andy said. ‘I like to laugh when I’m working.’” Howard continues. “Andy, born in 1926, consciously set out to evoke the atmosphere of his youth in the 1930s and ’40s. People are nostalgic for The Andy Griffith Show now, but it’s important to realize that, even then, it was O.Henry 19
Life's Funny
an evocation of a bygone era, and an idealized evocation at that.” Still, Griffith showed that he felt the pinch of discrimination — in maybe the only way that he, a handsome, successful white man, could have. He was eager to dispel the myth that all Southerners are stupid hayseeds. “One of his major motivations for the sitcom was to portray his world with humanity and depth,” Howard writes. And Griffith did so, brilliantly, using humor. Against the backdrop of innocence, Mayberry’s stories unfold, time after time, with fools and their foibles. No character is spared. Sheriff Andy Taylor himself falls short in several episodes. Because the stories are made up — and the writers could make them end with fairy tale precision — compassion and understanding always prevail. Humility is usually the lesson. Laughing at our own shortcomings, as acted out by others, delivers the goods. Which brings us to a character named Ernest T. Bass. If he existed today — which he does, in many forms — he might be called developmentally challenged. He’s rude and crude, and he throws rocks through windows to get attention. In one episode, “My Fair Ernest T. Bass,” a riff on My Fair Lady, Sheriff Taylor and his bumbling sidekick, Deputy Barney Fife — one of the funniest TV characters of all time — try to remake Bass into a well-dressed, well-spoken gentleman so he might snare a girlfriend at a
society function. Are they condescending to presume that they could, or should, change Ernest T.? You bet. But they press on. They coach him on how to greet his hostess properly — “How do you do, Mrs. Wiley?” Ernest T. labors mightily to learn the greeting and a few other pleasantries. At the party, he struggles to make his well-rehearsed lines fit mismatched moments. And we laugh. Because we feel the prickly heat of his discomfort. Because who among us hasn’t been caught flat-footed? The episode has a happy ending, of course. At the party, Ernest T. finds another sow’s ear pretending to be a silk purse — a woman who’s just as unpolished as he is — and they literally leapfrog into the sunset together. Who’s the fool here? I dare say anyone who watches the reruns could tell you, regardless of their political party. You made a serious misstep, Ted, in bringing presidential politics into your Sunday Morning piece. Here’s my best Mayberry-esque arm-round-your-shoulder advice: Stick to hostages and power outages. And leave us Mayberry fans alone, on our couches, with the laughter that takes us to places a news story can’t. Best Always, MJ OH Maria Johnson is a contributing editor of O.Henry. Email her at ohenrymaria@gmail.com. By Maria Johnson
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CHAPTER 12
One Swell Holiday But of course. The annual holiday card photo shoot had turned into a circus.
How many tries would it take before all eyes were wide open, smiles were bright and nature behaved? The challenge had become the best part of it all. Now this, this was family bonding at its merriest.
CrystalCoastNC.org The Art & Soul of Greensboro
O.Henry 21
MEETING AMONG THE PINES SINCE 1895 Leave distractions behind at our quaint village and historic resort. Nestled in the Sandhills of North Carolina, Pinehurst is the perfect place to retreat and refocus. We’ve been hosting successful meetings and events for companies large and small since 1895, and we’d love to host yours. Consider Pinehurst for your next corporate gathering.
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The Creators of N.C.
Cultivating Community Caroline Stephenson steps out from behind the camera
By Wiley Cash • Photographs by Mallory Cash
According to
filmmaker Caroline Stephenson, “It’s all about storytelling.” She should know. She was born and raised in rural Murfreesboro, North Carolina, where she grew up surrounded by stories and storytellers. Despite the rich culture around her, as a young person, Stephenson believed that real art could only be found outside Hertford County. Her father, a retired professor and writer, and her late mother, an architectural historian, regularly traveled with the family to places like Norfolk, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and metropolitan New York, where they would visit museums and view films in art house theatres. “That made a big impression,” says Stephenson, especially the films. “I wanted to do that.” The restlessness that Stephenson felt as a coming-of-age artist in rural eastern North Carolina manifested itself not only in her desire to create, but also in an all-too-familiar angst-driven urge to leave home. Like so many young people who think opportunity
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
and adventure are waiting somewhere else, Stephenson says that she “couldn’t wait to get out of there.” First, she spent two years at St. Mary’s School in Raleigh, and then two years at Boston University before transferring to Columbia College Chicago, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in film. Soon, she was living in Los Angeles, beginning a career that would carry her to places such as Prague, Vienna, Athens and Budapest, working as an assistant director on sets for films and television shows like Empire, House and, currently, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.
O.Henry 23
Give the gift of gear.
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24 O.Henry
The Creators of N.C. After marrying fellow filmmaker Jochen Kunstler and having two children, Stephenson felt a call to home. She and her young family moved back to Murfreesboro in 2010, where Stephenson came to terms with Hertford County’s rich cultural heritage as well as its incredible challenges. The county is 60 percent Black, and historical inequities in everything from education to home ownership serve to compound a poverty rate of 22 percent, much higher than the state average. The county’s struggles also have resulted in a dogged spirit of determination that immediately inspired Stephenson and her family to dedicate themselves to supporting the community. “I’m driven by the incredible people where I’m from,” Stephenson says. “They created beauty, and, above all, they persevered and were proud.” To tell the stories of the people of her region, Stephenson stepped behind the camera and relied on the talents that had taken her around the world. She made documentary films about Rosenwald Schools, which educated rural Black children during segregation, as well as a documentary about women who work in chicken processing plants in eastern North Carolina. Other documentaries and screenplays are in the works, all of them highlighting challenges that have either been overcome or are still being faced. Like any successful director looking for the best angles and working to make a production as seamless as possible, Stephenson is most comfortable being off camera, outside the glare of the lights. “I like to be behind the scenes,” she says. “I want other people to shine.” She also wants to make connections between the people and the organizations of Hertford County so they can support one another. In 2016, Stephenson opened Cultivator, an independent bookstore that quickly became a community hub. “We also sold local art and pottery, screened movies, held meetings and educational workshops,” she says. The store was the only bookstore within an hour’s drive in any direction but, as is the case with so many independent bookstores, it was tough to make ends meet. The pandemic made the venture even more difficult, and Cultivator closed its doors in April 2020, but the books — most of which were either donated or left behind after Stephenson’s mother, a voracious reader and book collector, passed away in 2014 — remained. Stephenson quickly realized that not having a storefront did not have to stop the work of Cultivator, and so she converted her minivan into a bookmobile. “It’s just a folding table, personal protective equipment, and boxes and boxes of free books,” she says. “But we now serve more people than we served with the bookstore.” The Cultivator bookmobile regularly sets up in front of libraries, grocery stores, big box stores and churches. Sitting behind a table in the parking lot of Murfreesboro United Methodist Church one chilly night in late October, a volunteer named Christina is handing out books at the church-sponsored monthly bilingual dinner. Young children, many of them Spanish speakers, tote armfuls of children’s books, some written in Spanish. When Stephenson’s name comes up, Christina, who has been a volunteer for 10 years, pauses. “Caroline is who inspired me to get involved in the commuThe Art & Soul of Greensboro
The Creators of N.C. nity,” she says. “She does for others.” Andrew Brown owns a family farm with his daughter, Sharonda, and has partnered with Cultivator to address food insecurity in the community. Sharonda is the evening’s featured speaker. The family has also been the subject of one of Stephenson’s documentaries. “Caroline got things going when she came back home,” Brown says. “You need someone like her to bring people together.” Inside the church’s fellowship hall, tostadas and accompanying fixings are being placed on long serving tables as a line of hungry diners forms. A woman named Alejandra announces that dinner is ready. Pastor Jason Villegas greets everyone, moving quickly between English and Spanish. “I met Alejandra at an ESL (English as Second Language) class at Cultivator,” Pastor Villegas says. When Alejandra joined
Villegas’ congregation, she encouraged him to preach in Spanish to reach more people in the community. The community dinners began not long after. When Pastor Villegas says the blessing, he prays first in English, then translates it to Spanish. “Thank you that we have connection and unity here,” he says. He keeps his eyes closed, but he lifts his hands as if gesturing toward the people around him. “And thank you to Caroline Stephenson for
bringing so many of us together.” Of course, Stephenson is not there to hear this prayer or witness her community’s gratitude. She is overseas on a film set, operating where she is most comfortable, behind the scenes. OH Wiley Cash is the Alumni Author-in-Residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. His new novel, When Ghosts Come Home, is available wherever books are sold.
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O.Henry 25
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Smile 26 O.Henry
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Hell of a Read
Omnivorous Reader
A dizzying journey of the imagination
By Anne Blythe
The adage that you can’t judge a book by its cover is not one that works for the fourth novel written by Jason Mott, a writer and poet who lives in southeastern North Carolina. The title of Mott’s latest work of fiction, Hell of a Book, is in large, bold capital letters at the top of a black and yellow cover. Go ahead, judge it.
It is a hell of a book, one that explores racism, police violence and being Black in America. It’s a novel — and a mystery, too — about a novelist with a vivid imagination. It’s difficult to know what’s real and what the writer is imagining. It’s also challenging to see how the main characters are connected, until the very end. Even then, there’s no certainty as to whether they’re truly bound in anything other than the novelist’s mind. Mott pulls readers through a difficult and sometimes overwhelming conversation about “The Altogether Factual, Wholly Bona Fide Story of a Big Dreams, Hard Luck, American-Made Mad Kid” — his subtitle — with madcap humor, painfully poignant prose and a showme-don’t-tell-me contemplative style. The protagonist is a Black fiction writer on a dizzying book promotion tour, an unnamed bestselling writer who is whisked through a blur of airports, hotels and cities by a quirky cast of drivers, and a profit-driven agent. We first meet him at 3 a.m. in the hallway of a Midwestern hotel, where he’s naked, locked out of his room and being chased by an angry husband who has caught the author with his wife. He runs after him, flailing at him with a large coat hanger. As the protagonist is about to be caught, the elevator doors open, and he escapes into a new scene with his savior of the moment, an elderly woman bringing home groceries in the wee hours of the morning. As the naked novelist and woman watch the hotel floors counted off in the elevator, Mott introduces readers to a sobering reality that becomes a central theme as the writer moves through his chaotic, alcohol-infused tour. Another Black male has been shot and killed by police, but Mott doesn’t give him a name. The old woman asks the novelist a question: “Did you hear about that boy?” “Which boy?” “The one on TV.” She shakes her head and her blue hair sways gently like the hair of some sea nymph who’s seen the tides rise and fall one too many times. “Terrible, terrible.” The Art & Soul of Greensboro
The novelist tries initially to go on with his celebrity life without fleshing out his feelings about “the boy.” He tries to push the latest outrage blaring on TVs and pulling Black Lives Matter advocates into the streets with signs and chants into that place deep inside himself where injustices stew without boiling over. This time, though, the world is outraged, and the protagonist can’t tune out the calls to stop the madness or the cries to confront centuries of oppression and brutality. The morning after the naked ride in the elevator, we meet The Kid, a mysterious but thought-provoking boy who might, or might not, be a figment of the author’s imagination. He looks to be about 10 years old, “impossibly dark-skinned,” and might, or might not, represent the all too many Black children lost to police violence. We also get to know Soot, another Black boy in rural North Carolina, whose father tries to teach the power of invisibility, picking up on a theme in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man about not wanting to be seen by oppressors. We’re left to wonder how these boys are connected to the protagonist. Early on, it becomes clear that the touring novelist has what he describes as “a condition,” an unnamed affliction through which he can blend an imaginary world with reality. His storytelling style, almost a stream of consciousness, can be disorienting but riveting, mind-numbing but thought-provoking. On one trip from an airport to a book event, The Kid appears in the backseat of a limousine. He’s aware that the driver up front can’t see him, and he’s ready to test the author’s assertion that he’s just a character made up in his mind. “Why am I not real?” The Kid laughs. “Because I have a condition,” the protagonist says. “I see things. People too. They say it’s some sort of escape valve for pressure on the mind, probably caused by some sort of trauma. But I don’t go in on that. I haven’t had any type of trauma in my life . . . Nothing worthy of a Lifetime network movie or anything like that.” Trauma eventually takes readers from the misadventures of the book tour to the dirt roads of Bolton, the hometown of Soot — and Mott as well, raising yet another conundrum. Is Mott’s Hell of a Book a novel, or is it more fact than fiction about a Black novelist from the South? “Nestled in the sweaty armpit of Carolina swampland, the town of Bolton is the land that time forgot,” he writes. “The main exports of O.Henry 27
Omnivorous Reader
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Bolton are lumber and black manual labor. The wood comes from the forests and swamplands — all of which are owned by the local paper mill — and the labor comes from the town’s seven-hundred-odd residents. I wish I could tell you that there’s something more than those two chief exports that comes out of Bolton, but there’s nothing else. Bolton isn’t a town that gives, but neither is it a town that takes. It’s the type of place that keeps to itself. It’s self-sustaining, the way the past always is.” The past and the present need to confront, and reckon with, what generations of Black Americans have endured. “Down in this part of the world, we got it all: fifty-four Confederate flags planted along the Interstate, statues put up by the daughters of the Confederacy, plantations where you can have wedding pictures taken of the way things used to be, we got lynchings, riots, bombings, shrimp and grits, and even muscadine grapes,” the novelist writes. “Yeah, the South is America’s longestrunning crime scene. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. But the thing is, if you’re born into a meat grinder, you grow up around the gears, so eventually you don’t even see them anymore. You just see the beauty of the sausage. Maybe that’s why, in spite of everything I know about it, I’ve always loved the South.” It’s also the place where the protagonist, The Kid and Soot converge — without fully solving the air of mystery that surrounds them throughout the book. The enigmatic threads Mott so adroitly weaves together become more tightly stitched toward the end. Hell of a Book will make you think while also entertaining you on a helluva journey. “Laugh all you want,” the protagonist writes as he and The Kid come to the end of the journey, “but I think learning to love yourself in a country where you’re told that you’re a plague on the economy, that you’re nothing but a prisoner in the making, that your life can be taken away from you at any moment and there’s nothing you can do about it — learning to love yourself in the middle of all that? Hell, that’s a goddamn miracle.” OH Anne Blythe has been a reporter in North Carolina for more than three decades covering city halls, higher education, the courts, crime, hurricanes, ice storms, droughts, floods, college sports, health care and many characters who make this state such an interesting place. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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O.Henry 29
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Scuppernong Bookshelf
Holiday Treasures Some old, some new. All bursting with magic
Compiled by Shannon Purdy Jones
Growing up, one of the things I most
looked forward to about the holiday season was rediscovering the Christmas books my mother had packed up with the decorations in the attic. Stored out of sight for most of the year made them fascinating, almost otherworldly. They weren’t like all the other books on the shelf; they were special. Dreamy, snow-dusted illustrations and gentle rhymes worked their magic on me back then, and years on, they haven’t let go.
Now, with kids of my own, I realize that part of what made those books so special was the memories attached to them: the time my brother and I stained the page of a family heirloom with red frosting (because who can be bothered to wash up while decorating cookies?). Or reading ’Twas the Night Before Christmas before bed every Christmas Eve. (The very same edition I now read to my children.) We still have some of my most treasured childhood holiday books, and each year my kids add to the collection, creating their own memories of cookies and reindeer and snow. Below, you’ll find my favorite holiday books of 2021 — some brand-new, some re-releases of old favorites. No matter what holidays you celebrate, you can start — or grow — your own we-keep-these-forever stack of threadbare but well-loved books. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
The Star Tree by Gisela Colle (Northsouth Books, $17.95) A timeless classic back in print with a fresh, new look. In a little house in a big city, an old man remembers Christmases long ago: when friends and family gathered to tell stories and sing carols, and children made gold paper stars to welcome visitors. Now the city is filled with skyscrapers, bright lights and flashy signs. Who would even notice old-fashioned paper stars hanging in a window? But when the old man decorates a park tree with his basket full of paper stars, the whole community rediscovers the simple power and beauty of the Christmas spirit. Santa in the City by Tiffany D. Jackson, illustrated by Reggie Brown (Dial Books, $17.99) It’s two weeks before Christmas, and young Deja is worried that Santa might not come to her house. After all, as a city kid, she doesn’t have a chimney for him to shimmy down and none of the parking spots on her block could fit a sleigh, let alone eight reindeer! But with a little help from her family, community and Santa himself, Deja discovers that the Christmas spirit can find its way into any corner of the world. With bold, colorful illustrations that capture the joy of the holidays, this picture book from awardwinning author Tiffany D. Jackson and illustrator Reggie Brown is a holiday gift to be treasured for years to come. The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper, illustrated by Carson Ellis (Candlewick, $17.99) As the sun set on the shortest day of the year, early people would gather to prepare for the long night ahead. They built fires and lit candles. They played music, bringing their own light to the darkness while wondering if the sun would ever rise again. Written for a theatrical production that has become a ritual in itself, Cooper’s poem captures the magic behind the returning of the light, O.Henry 31
holiday season
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Scuppernong Bookshelf the yearning for traditions that connect us with generations that have gone before — and the hope for peace that we carry into the future: So the shortest day came, and the year died. Richly illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Carson Ellis, this beautiful book evokes the joy, universality and community found in honoring and celebrating the ongoing mystery of life. Welcome, Yule! The Christmas Owl by Ellen Kalish & Gideon Sterer, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki (Little Brown, $17.99) When Little Owl’s home is cut down by people saying it will make a beautiful Christmas tree, she’s not sure she wants anything to do with Christmas, whatever that means. But then she is saved by a woman named Ellen, whose house is merrily decorated for the holiday — and filled with birds who need someone to care for them. Surrounded by kindness and helpful new friends, Little Owl begins to wonder if Christmas might not be such a bad thing after all. Cowritten by Ellen Kalish, caretaker of the real owl found inside the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, The Christmas Owl is a charming story of friendship, compassion and the true meaning of this special time of year. Red and Green and Blue and White by Lee Wind, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Levine Querido, $17.99) It’s a holiday season that both Isaac, whose family is Jewish, and Teresa, whose family is Christian, have looked forward to for months! They’ve been counting down the days, playing in the snow, making cookies, drawing (Teresa) and writing poems (Isaac). They enjoy all the things they
share, as well as the things that make them different. But when Isaac’s window is smashed in the middle of the night, it seems like maybe not everyone appreciates difference. Inspired by a true story, this is a tale of a community that banded together to spread light. The Snowflake by Benji Davies (Harper Collins, $17.99) From Benji Davies, the award-winning creator of Tad and The Storm Whale, comes a dazzling wintry tale about trust and serendipity. Exquisitely written and beautifully illustrated, The Snowflake tells the separate stories of one snowflake and one little girl. Both longing for their own special place in the world, they spin together into a magical ending. The snowflake and Noelle discover that, wherever we go — and however we fall — in the end, we all find a way to shine. Perfect for fans of The Night Before Christmas (illustrated by Loren Long) and Dasher by Matt Tavares. Jan Brett’s The Nutcracker by Jan Brett (GP Putnam’s Sons, $18.99) Jan Brett’s striking illustrations and the Christmas classic, The Nutcracker, are a match made in picture book heaven. Brett makes this classic her own by setting it in snowy Russia and adding whimsical touches to favorite elements of the traditional ballet. Enjoying this book will be an instant Christmas tradition for families who love the ballet or for those new to the story. As perfect a gift as Brett’s classics, The Mitten and The Night Before Christmas. OH Shannon Purdy Jones is store manager and children’s book buyer at Scuppernong Books.
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O.Henry 33
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Home by Design
Fruitcake Weather It’s here. And so are the memories
By Cynthia Adams
Truman Capote’s “A Christmas
Memory,” a paean to love, is Capote at his best.
The tale centers on young Buddy, Truman’s alter ego, and his elderly cousin Sook, celebrating the arrival of “fruitcake weather.” Thus, preparations begin for 30 fruitcakes, one earmarked for FDR’s White House. The glowing wood stove and ambrosial smells remind me of those who baked joyfully: my Great-Grandmother Loretta McClellan and my own grandma, Mama Patty. They were equally enthusiastic about both fruitcake and the Roosevelts. Their fruitcakes — nut-filled and flawless — kick-started my affection for the holiday confection. Loretta and Pat baked holiday cakes with effortless ease: fresh coconut and chocolate or vanilla pound cakes. Our mother, Jonni Louise, did not. She inherited few cake-baking talents from her elders and her infamous fruitcakes became the stuff of family legend. She compensated for disappointing dryness with a liberal dousing of brandy. Marinating until Christmastime, her fruitcakes disintegrated in a pool of liquor. On Christmas Eve, we picked around the alcoholic mush, patting our stomachs and claiming we were too stuffed. Mom, skeptical but unfazed, was nothing if not an improviser. Occasionally, her improvisations succeeded. With our father away for work, for instance, she once bought the Christmas tree without him. That night, it looked like a tinseled Tower of Pisa. When crashing to the living room floor for the second time, shattering more ornaments, we heaved it upright. Limbs scratched our arms and ruined orbs crunched beneath our feet. Snatching up a hammer, Mom nailed the stand to the newly waxed and buffed oak floor. We watched in shock and awe. Mom embraced the expedient. When a hem fell out of my holiday dress before the school pageant, she grabbed tape and a stapler. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Yet there was no compromising on one thing: Hallmark (Who, by the way, invented gift wrap). Hallmark’s tagline — “When you care enough to send the very best” — was coined in 1944. It so compelled her that, for the rest of her life, whenever she received a card, she searched for their imprimatur before reading it. The unspoken was: Had the sender cared? Jonni Louise indeed cared, driving to a Monroe Hallmark shop, where she gorged on themed paper goods and the tour de force: centerpieces with honeycomb pleats — trees, snowmen or Santas. Hallmark’s sentimental ploy was peerless; its sappy commercials could make a grown man cry. Only Folgers’ 1984 Christmas jingle matched Hallmark tear for tear. We wept when the prodigal son, usually a serviceman, snuck into the kitchen to surprise Mom on Christmas morn as — what else? — coffee brewed. The best part of waking up . . . We smelled it! Lifelong, Mom easily spent more on Hallmark swag than on food — though plenty was spent on holiday feasts. (Not to mention liquors required for fruitcakes, bourbon balls and other desserts.) “A Christmas Memory” offers this O. Henry ending: Having spent their savings on fruitcakes for others, Buddy and Sook spend Christmas flying kites made for one another. A joyful Sook exclaims, “I could leave the world with today in my eyes.” It was, in fact, their last Christmas together. Two years ago, not long before Jonni Louise departed from this realm — and just before the holidays — we shared Claxton’s storebought fruitcake and a cup of (Folgers’) coffee. “It will do,” she declared. I fear Hallmark’s bottom line plunged that Christmas. But, perhaps not, given the many sympathy cards from those who knew Jonni Louise well. They had, indeed, cared enough to send the very best. OH Contributing editor Cynthia Adams may or may not prefer her fruitcake soaked in brandy. O.Henry 35
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Your health is ALWAYS a priority. Schedule your annual screening! The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Featured Artist
Rock On
Artist Viktoriya Saltzman’s painted path to freedom
By Maria Johnson
Viktoriya Saltzman touches
PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN DONOVAN
time-worn river rock with a needle-sharp brush, transferring beads of glistening color.
Forms emerge slowly, dot by tedious dot. Later, the stones speak with jeweled urgency to the people who pass her table at farmers’ markets and craft fairs. They lean in and smile at the cobbled path of life and ideas: flowers, animals, mandalas, Nativity scenes, peace signs, chakras, the ancient eye-in-hand Hamsa and others. “I accept different cultures,” says Viktoriya, a native of Ukraine. “I don’t like mandatory lifestyle. I think each person deserves respect and love. If you’re an artist, you have to understand, you have to accept anything that’s coming to you.” A few weeks ago, at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, a woman with three grade-schoolchildren stopped to admire the sugar skulls that paved Viktoriya’s table with some 150 flat stones, ranging in size from buttons to bricks. Viktoriya doesn’t usually paint sugar skulls — a symbol of Día de los Muertos, the Mexican holiday honoring dead loved ones — but a bag of river rocks she bought at Lowe’s included three triangular stones, so she made them into grinning, crazy-eyed skulls. The woman bought all three, for $85, for her children’s teachers. Viktoriya slipped the stones into a small unicorn-covered gift bag — the kind you stuff with children’s party favors — then pressed a fourth stone into the woman’s hand. A butterfly, for free. “Some customers have gifting hearts, but they don’t think about themselves,” Viktoriya says after the woman and her children walked away. “I want them to have a gift, too.”
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
For as long as she can remember, Viktoriya has understood what art can do for the artist and for the consumer of art. Her father’s family bristled with painters. Her mother’s family, singers. In Viktoriya, the musical genes surfaced first. Growing up, she was a gifted accordionist in her hometown of Mariupol near the Sea of Azov. “My technique was enormous. I played an average of 4 to 5 hours a day. My arpeggio was amazing,” she says. She was crushed when she was rejected from a music conservatory. Plan B was to attend a teachers’ college in the frigid Ural Mountains in neighboring Russia. “My pantyhose froze to my legs,” she says. “I had to peel them with alcohol.” Outside of class, she played at academic gatherings, hauling home leftover beef stroganoff and potatoes to her dorm mates. After college, she sang for a Russian folk dance troupe that toured Europe and the United States. “Half the band stayed in America, never came back,” she says. “Crazy.” She followed an American husband to North Carolina in 1999. She summarizes their brief union: “I left my husband. I took the accordion.” She moved to Greensboro for jobs. Babysitter. House cleaner. Waitress. Singer. Accordion player. Lingerie saleswoman. Seller of makeup at a department store beauty counter. “I love selling, but not all for money — for presentation,” says Viktoriya, who wears her curly brown hair in a spray atop her head. “I tell a story. You gonna buy.” The idea for painting rocks came in 2015, when she was planning her daughter’s 9th birthday party. She needed a fun, cheap activity for the kids. She bought acrylic paints and stones and led a demO.Henry 37
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online @ www.ohenrymag.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Featured Artist
PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN DONOVAN
onstration. The results, Viktoriya says, blew everyone’s minds. “Parents said, ‘Why you don’t try to do this as a job?’” she remembers. Two years later, she unpacked a box of rocks at the Gibsonville farmers market. She found other venues. It was an important trickle of income for a single parent. “When I start painting, I wasn’t, of course, fantastic. People liked it, but I’m picky, and I know when I’m good and when I’m not good,” she says. “Most important, the hours of practice. Dance, art, anything. You have to be super patient.” Now, she’s confident enough to branch out. She paints wooden jewelry boxes, wooden trays, wooden ornaments for Christmas and Easter. She takes custom orders — a set of rocks for a Jewish woman to put on her son’s grave; a turtle composed of seven rocks — shell, head, legs, tail — for a co-worker (“Best turtle you’ve ever seen.”); an end table painted with African masks. She incorporated the face of her customer and the woman’s boyfriend into the masks. (“He said, ‘I want to scream, it’s so pretty.’”) Viktoriya has a steady job, in the silverbuying department at Replacements Ltd. But she keeps painting, at night, at her dining room table. “Art lets me do anything,” she explains. “It’s my freedom. My freedom of mind. My freedom of time. Freedom of picking colors. When you do art or music, your own stuff, it makes you free. Your soul works different, your mind works different.” The loop closes, she says, when customers delight in the fruit of her freedom. “When people go, ‘Oh, my God! I like that!,’ I get that feeling, too.” OH
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Trust Service Performance — Robert Frost
“And I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost
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Th way There ere is is a a better better way
Saltzman’s upcoming shows include Dec. 3, The Market at Festival of Lights, LeBauer Park, Greensboro; Dec. 4, Greensboro Farmers Curb Market; Dec. 5, MADE 4 the Holidays Marketplace, Greensboro Farmers Curb Market; Dec. 11, Eno River Farmers Market; Dec. 18, Winston Junction Market, Winston-Salem. Email her at bayanistka@ icloud.com.
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There is a better way There is a better way
Contact contributing editor Maria Johnson at ohenrymaria@gmail.com.
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The Pleasures of Life Dept.
O Christmas Tree Poor, rusted Christmas tree
By Ruth Moose
When water
ILLUSTRATED BY MERIDITH MARTENS
is up to your waist, the last thing you think about is Christmas. And certainly not Christmas trees. You rescue what you can at hand. You bless sump pumps and those who make them. Same goes for wet vacuums. You are amazed that sofas can swim, but armchairs cannot. And you cry over books. Thousands of pages, sodden wads of pages, glued together, their backs forever warped and bucked in humps and waves. How heavy they are as you cart them to the curb. How wasted their lives.
Hurricane Florence got all the publicity, but the hurricane after got us. In Albemarle, our usually sunny (and the site of my artist husband’s studio) daylight basement ended up with nearly 3 feet of water. At least it was clear, cold and clean water, but still a frightening sight. Here were my husband’s sketches and paintings, art books, art supplies and frames. His working easels and drawing board, paints and brushes. It’s a sickening feeling to pull open a drawer of paint tubes and water pours out. Not to mention a lifetime collection of art books with glorious color reproductions of paintings he’d used for study and inspiration. In other sections of the basement he also had a woodworking shop furnished with years of accumulated equipment and tools. Then there was the household part of the basement with the water heater, furnace and 35-year-old food freezer, all standing in water. Plus various assorted items we’d stored over the years. Never had water, four sump pumps going simultaneously, receded so slowly. You can only haul furniture out to dry, watch the skies and wait. Pray. And when the water is gone, you wet vac and wet vac and wet vac. You hear the roar of the motor in your sleep. Then you begin to dry out sketches and wipe off oil paintings and cry over lost watercolors who went to meet their medium. You open cabinet doors, and drawers and water pours out. Somewhere in the flood I heard my librarian aunt’s voice when she said, more than once, she never trusted basements. Neither did she
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like attics. “Basements are too wet,” she said, “and attics are too dry.” At least I thought what we had stored in the attic was dry and better dry any day than wet, wet and wetter. But, miracle of miracles, after the water went, the air conditioner came back on, the water heater began to purr and the ancient food freezer hummed its heart out. So, I emptied and cleaned it and began all over again. Thirty-five years old, hauled through four complete household moves, the freezer kept going and going and going. Gave one heart and hope. In all that water and wetness, nobody thought about the Christmas tree until months later. We were too busy mopping and drying out and saving what could be saved. When it came time to do the tree, we remember what had been in some of those sodden boxes in the basement. That artificial tree I’d argued and fought against and finally been persuaded (for ecological reasons) to tolerate. Not accept. All our married life my husband and I had fought the real vs. artificial Christmas tree fight. And for years I’d won. Real was a cedar tree that permeated the whole house with the smell of Christmas. No artificial tree had ever come close to that. For years we’d had the advantage of family land to tromp as a family, choose and cut a tree. We never found the perfect tree. Just ones that could be trimmed or branches spliced to suffice. It didn’t matter, as long as they were real. All Christmas trees when trimmed and lighted are beautiful. When family lands were no longer available, I had no choice but an artificial tree. Somehow the picture of my husband assembling those branches that still look and feel — to me — like giant green bottle brushes, never matched the one in my memory of tramping through the woods on a winter Sunday, kids and dog ahead, ax and saw in hand, to bring home bundled and tied atop the station wagon, this year’s Christmas tree. Thankfully, the tree ornaments and decorations were in the attic. The tree itself had been stored in boxes too big to go through the crawl space and had to go to the basement. The basement flooded. So we had dry ornaments and a rusty tree. We dried out the branches, shook the rust out, stuck them back into a shape that still looked like a pyramid of green bottle brushes and said, “Merry Christmas to all and to all a working sump pump.” OH Ruth Moose taught creative writing at the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill for 15 years and tacked on 10 more at Chatham County Community College. O.Henry 41
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Birdwatch
A Tree of Delights Decorating can be for the birds, too
By Susan Campbell
This season, why not create a gift
ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR
for your feathered friends and consider “decorating” a holiday tree just for them? Although a hearty evergreen would be best, anything from a leafless sapling to a young longleaf pine will work. Better yet, a younger American holly or other berry-laden variety would be a terrific choice!
Consider this a project for the whole family, just like hanging ornaments or setting up lights in the yard. Keep in mind that, especially when using an evergreen, you are providing not one, but two, basic needs that all our wintering birds have: food and shelter. To “decorate” your tree: — Drape with traditional strings of popcorn and cranberries or other dried fruits for the bluebirds and the blue jays. — Hang homemade suet on pine cones for the chickadees and nuthatches. — Nestle shallow cups with sunflower seed or millet on the
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thickest branches for the cardinals and titmice. — Smear peanut butter on the bark to attract woodpeckers and wintering warblers. Last, but certainly not least, your tree will invariably attract natural food in the form of tiny insects. It will take no time for Carolina wrens or ruby-crowned kinglets to find them between the leaves or needles, or under the bark. It may be that you create your gift to the birds just after Christmas — when your indoor tree is finished providing joy for the family. This is about the time that natural foods are waning and the birds are foraging in earnest. No doubt, bird species large and small will find your arboreal creation before long. Keep track of which ones you see using the tree. It may be a longer list than you might think. Of course, other wildlife will love this holiday gift, too. In addition to gray squirrels and perhaps a fox squirrel, southern flying squirrels may glide in at night for a snack. A raccoon or opossum may sniff it out. Even a white-tailed deer or two will probably take a nibble. But then, who doesn’t appreciate a treat during this special season? OH Susan Campbell would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. She can be contacted at susan@ncaves.com. O.Henry 43
Happy Holidays Your home means everything to me. 336.337.5233 Melissa@MelissaGreer.com MelissaGreer.com
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Wandering Billy
Jewels at The Crown
Do you hear what I hear? A night of live music sure to spellbind
By Billy Eye Without music, life would be a mistake. — Friedrich Nietzsche
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TOM TROYER
Hey, I love Christmas
as much as the next guy — if the next guy happens to be Santa Claus — but there’s a night I’m just as excited about: an evening featuring a powerhouse lineup of local musicians headlined by Laura Jane Vincent, a modernday troubadour with a voice like champagne and caviar. It’s happening on December 11 at The Crown, located above the Carolina Theatre. The Crown, by the way, has undergone major renovations, including the conversion of the former projection room — now dressing rooms and a green room — plus new bathrooms and a concession stand.
Laura Jane Vincent is a country girl both at heart and literally, as reflected in her down-home, introspective songwriting. “I grew up in Raeford, North Carolina, about an hour south,” Vincent says. “I now live in a little town called Glendon, right on the border of Moore County and Chatham County.” Warbling in high cotton with red-clay-’tween-the-toes lyrics, small wonder her compositions are deeply rooted in Southern musical traditions. “My stepfather [Al Simmons] taught me a lot of everything I
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know at a young age,” she says. “He’s a great guitar player. Coming up in that national songwriting tradition, he was very heavily influenced by his best friend, Mike Gaffney.” Gaffney, BTW, has been a mainstay of the Asheville music scene for around four decades. “Those two guys exposed me to all sorts of wonderful musicians,” Vincent continues. Among them: Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Fiona Apple, Bonnie Laura Jane Vincent Raitt and Gillian Welch. “A lot of female artists,” Vincent says. “That representation was so important to me as a young person. Like, ‘Oh, I could maybe do this myself.’” Her stepfather also introduced her to open mic nights when she was 15 years old. “I was a little bit younger than most people,” Vincent remembers of those early days, tagging along behind her musical mentor. “So, I had to kind of — not sneak in or anything — but walk in with authority and act like I belonged there.” Vincent has been honing her craft at open mic nights in Southern Pines, located near Glendon, and Greensboro, where audiences have witnessed her blossom into a dynamic showstopper at Cup A Joe, Westerwood Tavern and The Green Bean. I first encountered her at the Double Oaks Inn on one of its live music nights, where the finest performers in the area do their thang in a relaxed, living room setting. Vincent’s transportive, revelatory album, All These Machines, was released in March of 2020, just as everything shut down. “I’m very, very proud of it,” she admits. “I got to collaborate with my most favorite people.” O.Henry 45
Wandering Billy
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The album is imbued with a style harkening back to 1970s singer-songwriters like Janis Ian, Joan Armatrading and Phoebe Snow — but with a Carolina flavor. While some tunes track solely on Vincent and her guitar, others feature a number of folks she’s performed alongside over the years, well-known locals like Emily Stewart, Pete Pawsey, the ubiquitous Matty Sheets, longtime musical partner Danny Infinger on bass, and her husband, Dave Tippetts, on drums. Another contributor is her friend Brian Kennedy, a Broadway musical conductor and director who tours with Something Rotten! and Wicked. “He happened to be in town,” Vincent says. “I asked, ‘Can you come over right now?’ And he put a crazy organ solo on ‘Shoes,’ one of the songs on the album.” Vincent is mostly known around the nightclub circuit as a solo artist, her infectious, tangy-twangy crooning winning over a legion of fans as she slugged her way up through the dive bars into widespread acceptance. Last time Eye saw her strumming and singing in her mellifluous tones, she held an audience spellbound at Natty Greene’s, where she was accompanied by bass and drums. “I have a full band now,” Vincent says. Her ensemble is comprised of Tom Troyer (guitar) and Jared Zehmer (bass), who frequently jams with local rock group Viva la Muerte and a couple of other regional groups. “Aaron Cummings is a fantastic drummer,” Vincent adds. “He’s going to play on a few songs at The Crown, as will my husband. We’re probably going to have a couple guest spots as well.” Winston-Salem-based Cactus Black is also on the bill at The Crown that night. I spoke with guitarist and vocalist Mike Tyson, aka Cactus Black, about the band’s roughhewn, arid desert style. “First and foremost, we’re storytellers rooted in the old country tradition,” Tyson says. “But it’s delivered in more of an indie-rock, garage-rock style, and has kind of a folk influence as well.” Before coming together as Cactus Black The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Wandering Billy in 2012, Tyson and bandmates Matt Pickard (aka Sunday the Drifter) on drums and Mike Bright (aka Randy Heck) on bass were in a “whiskey rock band” called Tusker. Bright was lead singer. Cactus Black’s third album, The Marrow of Our Truth, released in August, has quickly become one of my favorites for the sheer exuberance, and inherent intelligence, as well as for being what used to be called a “concept album” — not just anecdotal singles thrown together, but thematic. In this instance: fevered dreams steeped in Old West lore. The opening tune, “All Things Pass, All Things Change,” is a romantically tragic coming-of-age lamentation reminiscent of Leonard Cohen. It’s a splendid party record, superbly paced and deeply enveloping, one that commands (but does not demand) your attention. “We did a record release show at the Ramkat in Winston back in September,” Tyson says. “There, we played the new record in full. [Sorry I missed that!] This show at the Carolina Crown is going to be a mix of all three records.” Besides three LPs, the band has a number of singles, one of which
is “Live in Greensboro,” a punk-esque jump-and-jive recorded at On Pop of the World Studios and pressed on multicolored vinyl in 2017. Vinyl collectors take note: All of Cactus Black’s releases are beautifully designed and packaged right down to the imaginatively colored discs. Opening act is local folk rocker Ashley Virginia. Her debut album, And Life Just Goes On Living, plumbs the depths associated with heartbreak and healing. Vincent admits to being somewhat intimidated. “I can’t believe I have these two great bands on the same bill as me,” she says. Eye can. And with this amount of talent and superior songwriting on the stage, December 11 should be a night to remember. See you at The Crown, friends. OH All of the aforementioned artists can be found on bandcamp.com and other digital platforms where you can listen to their entire albums before you buy. Billy Eye covered the downtown/East L.A. punk and underground music scene from 1980-83 for Data Boy magazine.
WISHING YOU & YOUR FAMILY
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
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O.Henry 47
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
December 2021
WET CHRISTMAS
for Richard Hood
I’m cooking a pizza in the oven. Every bit of steam’s frolicking. Snug on my high bed, the sheets listen. From dawn to dusk the barnyard lights glisten When I crease my covers whiter than snow, For I am loving no flakes this Christmas. With every yellow daisy popping up, The meadow turning even more golden, And the full moon, coming up now, blossoms To let the elephants and flocks go by. They flop out of sight like exclamations, Arriving in wonder, McGee’s Crossroads, To prep and string popcorn in rows of clouds. There is no snow on Paul’s Hill this Christmas, Just dollops of dewy lichens on posts. May sweaters spring red, blue, white, brown, lacey, Minds lift away from neutrally racy Swears to mark the weather this morn. I put suet out for the woodpeckers. Not a one in sight will leave me undone. All my button-holes I keep unbuttoned For breezes to make my lashes whistle, This merry Christmas day, Cricket snores. The front door’s purposefully half-open, My heart singing a sprig in awe of spring.
— Shelby Stephenson
Shelby Stephenson was North Carolina’s poet laureate from 2015-2018. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
O.Henry 49
For five local women, their jewelry tells the story of their lives By K atherine Snow Smith • Photographs by Mark Wagoner baby boy. A chance meeting. A summer job. A new home. A family trip. Long before life’s momentous events were aired on Zoom, posted on Instagram or even forced on unsuspecting dinner guests via old-school Kodak slide carousels, they were embedded in charm bracelets. A family history dangling from a woman’s wrist, making a beautiful conversation piece for sharing special stories. Charm bracelets were in their heyday in the 1950s and ’60s. But plenty of women have kept up the tradition or are proudly wearing their mother’s or grandmother’s. Though most of the traditional charms aren’t custom, they
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can be — and some are — handmade. Many have intricate moving pieces. A lever moves can-can dancers’ legs on a charm from Paris. A tiny letter engraved with “I love you” slides out of a gold envelope. The keys of a typewriter go up and down. These are not the mass marketed charms sold at thousands of malls and airports across the world today. Some jewelry stores still carry traditional charms, but many “old fashioned” pieces are only found on vintage bracelets passed through generations, at antique shops, estate sales and trunk shows specializing in this unique collectible. Here are the stories of five charm bracelets dangling and jingling in the Triad. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
“You never stop collecting charms, that’s the beauty of it,” says Katie Redhead, co-founder of Tyler Redhead & McAlister Real Estate in Greensboro. “You think I’m done with this necklace? Wrong.” Several bracelets and necklaces chain together the history of her life and clearly reveal how much Redhead loves charms. (See one of her necklaces on page 50.) She tells the story of each charm in rapid fire. The boat with the turquoise hull is from Barcelona, a prime spot for collecting charms. The little house with a roof that opens revealing a little bed was her mother’s. The gold lion reclining on a turquoise base is because she’s a Leo. The tiny cowbell that actually rings is from Switzerland. The coins — some as big as a gold watch, some as small as a pencil eraser — all dangling on one bracelet are from her grandfather’s coin collection from around the world. Her parents bought the tiny gold Coke bottle while visiting Atlanta. “When my parents went on a trip, they’d bring me something. Sometimes it was a doll, but I always hoped it was a charm and usually it was,” Redhead says. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
While charms were popular with many young girls in the 1950s and ’60s, Redhead never gave up her appreciation for them as an adult. “I used to haunt Schiffman’s downtown for an estate sale,” she says. “They would call me and say: ‘I got something down here you really ought to see.’” Sometimes when family members inherit a charm bracelet, they want the bracelet but not the charms — so they dismantle it, Redhead explains. “They lose, I win,” she adds. Glen Lavinder, president of The Pink Door antiques, always keeps an eye out for her as well. One of her loves, or perhaps addictions, is finding distinctive charms. “If you are a true charm lover, you don’t get them all at one place. It is a search-and-seek,” she says. She also loves the stories behind each charm. “People say, ‘Katie, does this one open? Where’d you get this one? What does this one mean?’” she says. “Lay down your charm bracelet and it will tell the story of your life.” O.Henry 51
Judith Williams thumbs through the charms on a treasured gold bracelet. “They tell the story of us,” the longtime Greensboro resident says. One of her favorite charms is a little gold house with a tiny car attached to a chain that allows it to go in and out of the garage. “This was my mother’s. My father gave it to her when they built their house,” Williams says. Another really special one: the gold hand that represents her summer in college when she was a secretary at a camp — the Children’s Fresh Air Farm — in her native Birmingham, Alabama. “Children from the inner city came to the top of Red Mountain for a month. Each one planted their own garden. Dental students came and fixed their teeth, doctors took care of their medical needs,” Williams recounts. “We all were in the great outdoors together. It was a great way to spend a summer.” Her bracelet also includes a childhood locket and a lion for her alma mater, Shade Valley High School. Adjacent is a tiny Omicron Delta Kappa key, the service fraternity her husband, Craven Williams, joined at Wake Forest. Also, a disk from when he was president of Greensboro College in the 1990s. Williams also has a necklace with special charms, including her grandfather’s watch fob and a sun with the words “Good Juju” engraved on it. Her grandchildren call her Juju. She also has books on charms picturing exceptional pieces of jewelry. There’s a gold heart with an internal ticking to mimic a heartbeat given to Michael DeBakey, a pioneer in heart surgery, and a cross of Cartier diamonds that Edward VIII bestowed on Wallis Simpson. Williams happily admits she’s a charm nut. She used to lead talks on charm bracelets for various women’s groups in Greensboro. “I told everyone to bring their charm bracelets. It was amazing. Very few people came without one,” she says. “So many little girls in the ’50s had one. They’d buy a charm when they went on a trip or get one for a special birthday. Like I said, they Susan Boydoh’s husband, Bob, gave her a charm bracelet tell the stories of our lives.” after they were married. The Raleigh native who lives in Greensboro has filled it with symbols of family times together. She found a silver historic house in Charleston because that’s where they got engaged. There are silver baby boots engraved with the birthdates of her son and daughter. The sea turtle is from Cabo, Mexico, in honor of earning her scuba diving certification there. The Mickey Mouse ears mark a Disney cruise her family took with her parents when her son was 5. “I look at this charm and I remember how he had no interest in seeing all the Disney characters,” she says. “He wanted to go up on the bridge and see the harbor master or who drove the ship. My dad loved that because he wanted to talk to him about how the ship worked.” Since her father died 10 years ago, Boydoh especially appreciates having a special reminder of this family time together. Much better than a T-shirt or other souvenir that’s long gone. As an agent with Tyler Redhead & McAlister, she’s a colleague and friend of Redhead and caught her contagious love for charms. “I saw how Katie has all these different things that aren’t actual charms that she made into charms,” Boydoh says. “Now I have made my high school class ring into a charm and this beautiful little floating heart from a necklace.”
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
The silver charm engraved with a globe came from the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. It stirred 57-year-old memories that resurfaced in vivid detail for Frann White, who lives in High Point. She got the charm in 10th grade when she was there on a trip with her mom and a group of friends. “We ate waffles in the Belgium pavilion. In the Japanese pavilion we took off our shoes and sat on the floor,” White recalls. They rode in a car through buildings highlighting General Motors’ and Ford’s latest innovations. The miniature silver model of Mount Vernon took her back to a gift shop with rows of old, wooden windows and creaky hardwood floors. “The senior class of Trinity High School always went to Washington, D.C., and Virginia,” she says. “This cross is from the National Cathedral. Wherever I went, I always looked for charms.” She knows her bracelet dates back to at least eighth grade because it includes a charm given to her by an early sweetheart. “My love I give to you my heart,” is engraved onto a small heart. A replica of a birth certificate is engraved with the date and time of her birth, as well as her newborn weight. The whistle with chipped red, white and blue paint represents the year High Point was named an All-American City. Looking back at her time in high school, she says, “I loved wearing my charm bracelet. I loved the noise,” remembering the sound it made when she sat at her desk writing. “We must have driven the teachers crazy, all the girls wearing charm bracelets.” She has another bracelet with more charms from her adult years, including a piece of actual lava from Hawaii and a miniature sombrero from Mexico. “When I wear these it really is like going down memory lane,” White says. “I have three nieces. One already has my mother’s and the other two will get mine.”
When Ellen Bassett of Winston-Salem celebrated her 50th birthday at the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia., another friend planned quite the charming group gift. She asked the guests to each bring a charm representing something from their friendship with Bassett. Throughout the night, the birthday girl received individually wrapped charms from her closest friends from various stages of life. “It was so touching. All of them were so personal,” Bassett says. She received an apple from someone she lived with in New York, a motorboat from a longtime friend who worked with her at Camp Seafarer, an airplane from a traveling buddy, a charm with her birthday engraved on it from her parents, and e ven a little silver swimsuit from a dear friend who signified their first chance meeting at a Belk’s dressing room. Now, 50 charms fill a very special bracelet. “This was the most incredible gift. It’s stuffed with so many great memories,” Bassett says. “It makes me feel loved whenever I wear it.” OH Katherine Snow Smith is a North Carolina native who has worked as a journalist throughout the Carolinas. She owns two charm bracelets — one silver, one gold — her favorite jewelry for any wardrobe. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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Quirky Holidays At the Harwood home, more is more
By Cynthia Adams • Photographs By Amy Freeman
B
efore the first hint of the holiday season — and yes, even before Thanksgiving — collector and antique reseller Brooke Harwood’s condo begins shimmering and shining for what will be a protracted and festive season, with trinkets and valuables she has acquired over 30 years. Soon, the space transforms, as if a fairy godmother waved a magic wand, indulging a child’s most whimsical winter fantasies. Perhaps you recall meeting Harwood inside her French-inspired condo in the pages of this magazine in July 2016. But you’ve never seen her home like this. Eight trees — two full-sized and six tabletops, all festooned with sparkles, twinkling lights, baubles and plumes — consume the 1,300-square-foot space. The tallest sweep the ceiling. With visions of sugarplums, decorative cakes — and even potato-chip cookies — dancing in her head, Harwood fluffs her nest. She pulls boxes of vintage treasures from storage. These include ornaments, toys, signage, plumage in all colors, crèches and tabletop ceramic trees, her favorites? White and studded with aqua. (“I have so many ceramic trees — maybe one hundred.”) Snugly they nestle among eclectic accents, artwork, porcelains and furniture. “I have a full attic,” she notes, “and it is filled with Christmas decorations.” She jokes. Is her The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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unbridled passion: hoarding or collecting? Harwood has a special weakness for Asian-inspired art (chinoiserie in design-speak) and knows from years of reselling vintage and antique pieces that the quirky is equally prized. Often, there is an initial color theme — or themes. Remember, she reminds me, “I love aqua.” Harwood’s exuberant holiday décor is completely unrestrained and a showcase for her eclectic Christmas collectibles, mostly tinged with silver and gold, sparkle, shine and chic. Once sprung out of attic storage, it matters little if a chosen object is valuable or not; she isn’t pretending to do anything so much as to dazzle and have a wink-winknod-nod bit of fun, indulging her love of color, twinkle and panache. Her style channels Iris Apfel, the NYC design maven who famously said, “more is more and less is a bore.” Like Apfel, Harwood also resists packing up the sparkly bits until after the New Year has dawned, but it isn’t practical to resist. (Apfel, however, keeps her holiday décor up year-round in her Palm Beach condo.) A frenzy of annual effort is inversely timed with a longstanding Harwood family tradition. Her decorating kicks off in mid-November as college football winds down. “I always have people over for the last weekend of college football for turkey chili and have all my Christmas up by then.”
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When she’s done, kitschy collectibles mix and mingle with finery, keeping the décor light and jolly. Antique pickers like Harwood with an eye for the quirky, exceptional and valuable, understand the deft mix of high- and low-style. In the end, Harwood’s home radiates like a kaleidoscope (“I love those vintage color wheels!”). Some rooms are kept mostly traditional, like the den, where she decorated a tree in red-and-green (with pops of blue accents.) Other trees feature nontraditional colors, especially jolts of pink and aqua. Aqua? As mentioned, it’s a personal favorite — and what a cheerful and unexpected holiday touch. Gourmet cakes by DeeDee Williams are freewheeling, too, and Harwood cannot stop at merely one. “They are just so visual and fun!” she says. Vintage collectibles, however, usually dominate: Signage and toys and religious figures find a place on every shelf, table and nook, spilling outside to the porch and balcony. “How did the Christmas vintage collecting happen?” Harwood wonders aloud. She surveys the living room, where silver trays are topped with antique figurines and a corner cupboard is filled with antique toys. “Well, the love of vintage carolers, the japanned things I collect, The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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for instance? I got that from my grandmother.” Sentimental favorites always make the cut. Her grandmother’s collection of Christmas decorations and ceramic trees are dear to her. Make no mistake, she does not focus on Christmas décor exclusively. Harwood prizes Herend china, porcelain figurines, antique boxes (she owns more than 100), artwork of every ilk, antique papier mâché pieces and widely varied curiosities. She is driven to search out finds, all part of “the thrill of the hunt.” Even as a college student, Harwood scoured for treasures. (She still uses a desk she bought for $100 as a UNC-Chapel Hill coed. For Christmas, the desk features a vintage crèche.) Following graduation from Carolina, Harwood entered the corporate world in Columbia, South Carolina. In early 2000, she returned to Greensboro, where parents, Rocky and Brenda Harwood, live in Starmount Forest. She “left her corporate self behind” and went to work for Anne Carlson at Carlson Antiques. Here she educated herself further. Harwood now considers it the highest compliment when praised for her buying skills, “for her eye.” In 2002, she moved into Kings Arms in New Irving Park. For a short while, her grandmother also kept a home in the quaintly brickwalled community with its own French crest. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Former resident Harvey Lineberry wrote about businessman and congressman Eugene “Gene” Johnston building the French-inspired units (designed by A.D. Woodruff Jr.) in 1965 as luxury apartments, which were later converted to condos. The Kings Arms project was Johnston’s first real estate endeavor. The design may have been a nod to Montbéliard, Greensboro’s sister city in France. According to Guilford College’s Guilfordian, President Eisenhower created the sister cities program in 1956. In addition to Montbéliard, Greensboro has two others: Buiucani in Moldova, and Yingkou in China. Montbéliard happened to be home to the Lorillard family, who owned Lorillard Tobacco in Greensboro. Although Harwood agrees that the interior design at Kings Arms should probably bear this French influence in mind, she is not constricted by that idea. Her style is far more freewheeling. She often drives as far as Charleston for auctions and estate sales, and Christmas is always in her thoughts, even in the heat of summer, while on the hunt in the Low Country. If she spies it and loves it, then Harwood snags it. “Vintage Christmas things are very hot,” she says. “Even things like vintage calendars.” Toys, pastel and metallic ornaments, vintage Santas and signage, O.Henry 65
porcelain créches and figurines all go into her black SUV. Some are destined for resale. Others? She’ll make room in the condo. Her collecting enthusiasm never dims, even after many years. Harwood still requests a Herend porcelain every Christmas. “I’m bad,” she grimaces, pausing to open — what else? — a crisp French Chenin Blanc to toast the holidays. “I’m still addicted.” But the porcelains do seem right at home. OH
Brooke Harwood Christmas Décor and Entertaining Tips Harwood allows décor to spill out from the indoors to the outdoors balcony, which is fully furnished with vintage iron furniture, foo dogs, Chinese stools and lamps. Toy mice are poised in a gazebo. (The mice were once displayed in the now defunct Thalhimer’s Department Store in downtown Greensboro.) She advises: “Group vintage Christmas figurines together on large silver or faux bamboo trays.” “Entertain with a vintage twist, too! Serve eggnog — the real deal — not imitations!” “Serve trays of old-school cookies and treats. Think pecan tassies, cheese straws and potato-chip cookies with a Christmas twist!” “Stock coolers of sodas and beers in red and green cans — ginger ale, Coca Cola, hard cider in green bottles, Budweiser, etc.” “I’ve used local baker DeeDee Williams at My Sweet Little Bake Shop for Christmas cakes, and placed them throughout the house for parties. One favorite of mine is on the balcony outside, a cheery penguin cake! I placed four cakes in various rooms — some topped with Christmas trees, and another is a candy cane tree.” “Vintage ceramic Christmas trees can be grouped together on a sideboard in a dining room or console table in a foyer, which really adds a ‘wow’ factor to a room. I particularly look for ones that are unique colors and ones of different sizes.” “Antique and vintage toys are great to decorate under the tree with. And don’t save Christmas presents for under the tree. Stacks of presents on chairs, or in corners or on shelves around the house add color and interest.” "Vintage advent calendars make great conversation pieces. My favorites are handcrafted felt ones, and wooden ones with little drawers.” “If you must go artificial, like me, I do love an artificial flocked tree! But nothing says vintage like a white or even pink tabletop tree from the ’50s or ’60s. And vintage color wheels are a must.
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Join the effort. Visit www.triadlocalfirst.com.
A L M A N A C
December By Ashley Walshe
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ecember is a bed of ash and embers, an ancient ritual, a deep and permeating warmth. The songbirds are stirring. You slip on your work gloves, slip out the back door, fade into the arms of the dark and wintry morning. On the walk to the woodshed, the cold air stings your lungs. You gather the kindling and hardwood. You gather yourself for the long journey inward. The leaves crunch gently underfoot. Back inside, where the sleeping cat resembles a furled frond, the hearth becomes a sacred alter. You kneel down, offer the gifts of summer’s storms: walnut, oak and maple limbs. In a moment of deep silence, the wood speaks. The fire keeper listens close. Once the kindling catches, time slows. And as the logs begin to pop and crackle, the dancing flames transport you to every fire you have ever known. You are transfixed — enchanted. Here and many places, as if all timelines have merged. At once, something breaks you from your trance: a primal knowing. It’s time again to feed the fire. You add another log, shift your focus from the flames to the glowing embers, the source of true and lasting warmth. The sleepy cat unfurls. Soon, you’ll slip on your gloves to return to the woodshed. Back and forth you will go, all winter. The cold air will sting your lungs, but you’ll be ready for it. You’ll embrace it. An ancient fire will glow within you, will guide you through the darkest days of winter.
Gift from the Magi
Gold? We get it. But frankincense? Because the trees that produce this fragrant resin flourish only on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, in India and the Horn of Africa, there was a time when, like myrrh, this sap was as valuable as gold. Used for perfumes and incense, as well as for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, frankincense has a heavenly (yet earthy) aroma that has long made it a coveted offering for religious ceremony. Its scent is believed to reduce anxiety and stimulate the immune and respiratory systems. And did you know that, when burned, its smoke repels insects? A wise gift indeed.
Peppermint Tea
Eggnog and wassail have their place. But peppermint tea requires no hubbub. It’s sweet, but not too sweet. Caffeine-free. And unlike nog, which doesn’t exactly leave you feeling light and airy, peppermint tea promotes healthy digestion. For a ritual for one, bring a cup of purified water to a boil. Place seven peppermint leaves into a favorite teacup, then add hot water and steep with fresh tarragon leaves and a quarter-inch slice of vanilla bean. Stir in a spoonful of local honey. Ritual for two? Double it up.
Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. – Edith Sitwell
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WELCOME TO
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We’ve lined up 12 of the most wonderful businesses for this most wonderful time of the year. When planning your holiday shopping, please remember to Buy Local!
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KATIE REDHEAD • BROKER 3601 LAWNDALE DR, GREENSBORO, NC 27408 WWW.TRMREALESTATE.COM 336-430-0219
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Every home is a dream home filled with the love and memories of family, friends and loved ones. Never is that more meaningful than during the holiday season. Katie Redhead is grateful for the homes and families she has helped to make that dream home come true. Holiday Love to all!!!
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This pair of sisters, Anna and Emily of Threads Boutique have fashions for you and gifts for all the ladies on your list! Threads Boutique is a must visit for your holiday shopping! Their customers are young and the young at heart. They have Threads for the classic American beauty and those looking for something uniquely on trend. Stop by and fill out your wish list for Santa. The sisters will make sure your favorites are under the tree on Christmas morning!
809 GREEN VALLEY ROAD SUITE 101 • 336-944-5335 Tuesday-Friday • 11-5:30 Saturday • 11-3 The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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Easy Peasy is a small batch bakery located in Midtown. We specialize in cupcakes, French Macarons, pastries and custom cakes designed by our talented cake artists. We bake fresh daily and never cold store our cakes. Call us to help you with your holiday baking and sweet treats.
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1616 BATTLEGROUND AVE., GREENSBORO, NC • 336-306-2827 Order by email! easypeasydnd@gmail.com
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Foreign Cars Italia has been granting Christmas wishes to North Carolinians for over 45 years. The Prancing Horse symbolizes the Italian tradition of timeless style and design excellence with every bespoke automobile. Owning a Ferrari provides entry to an exclusive community of drivers with a shared spirit for the heritage and mystique of the Ferrari brand. Visit our showroom in Greensboro, and together we can build the perfect Christmas present for you.
5603 ROANNE WAY, GREENSBORO, NC 27409 • 855-400-2632 sales@foreigncarsitalia.com • greensboro.ferraridealers.com
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Generations of Piedmont Triad families have trusted Schiffman’s Jewelers to help celebrate life’s special moments. Schiffman’s takes great pride in its long-standing partnerships with the finest jewelry, watch and giftware brands in the world. We treasure being part of your celebrations and welcome the opportunity to assist you in selecting the perfect gift to honor those who bring special meaning to your life.
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WINSTON-SALEM - 336-725-1911 • FRIENDLY CENTER - 336-294-4885 DOWNTOWN GREENSBORO - 336-272-5146 schiffmans.com
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So many skillets to choose from: Non-Stick, Cast Iron, Stainless Steel, Carbon Steel, the list goes on & on. The Extra Ingredient carries the TOP Quality Brands: Le Creuset, Swiss Diamond, Heritage Steel, De Buyer, Smithey, Lodge, Zwilling, Staub, Frieling, Fissler, Chantal and a NEW ULTRA-PREMIUM brand: Hestan Nanobond. The Holidays are a great time to upgrade your sizzling sensations with the latest cooking technology. One skillet is never enough… how about Six? Shop in our store or on-line at our new, revamped website: www.extraingredient.com.
LOCATED IN FRIENDLY CENTER | 336.299.9767 | EXTRAINGREDIENT.COM
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With antique treasures from humble to grand and gifts galore, come and enjoy a one of a kind shopping experience at Boxwood Antique Market. Wishing everyone a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year. Warmest Regards, Joey & Jana, Owners of Boxwood Antique Market
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520 NORTH HAMILTON STREET, HIGH POINT, NC 27262 • 336-781-3111 Open Tuesday-Saturday 10-6, Sun 1-6
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As we enter into the Greatest Season of Generosity, we at Salt and Soul would like to extend our best wishes to all of you and yours. In addition to our Salt Room and Wellness Spa located in the Irving Park Shopping District, we are the fortunate caregivers of 8+ lovely goats at our mini urban farm. Because of our love for our goats, we also offer an award-winning line of goat milk soaps and lotions at Salt and Soul, in addition to our own line of luxurious bath salts and scrubs. We are delighted to be number 8, as 8 is a symbol of balance. In Chinese culture, 8 is the luckiest number of all. Here’s wishing you luck and balance and health in 2022 and beyond. Chris and Ronda Szymanski
1819 PEMBROKE ROAD, GREENSBORO, NC 27408 • 336-763-4666 saltandsoulgso.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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GreenHill celebrates the holidays with WINTER SHOW! Browse the Gallery and Shop to find the perfect works of art for your true love. Featuring wide-ranging objects in glass, wood, ceramics, metal and fiber as well as paintings, sculpture, and photography. WINTER SHOW offers coveted opportunities to view and purchase more than 400 unique, hand-crafted gifts. Extended public hours in December. Explore the digital catalog. Visit GreenHillNC.Org for details.
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ADRIAN BOGGS
PAM BREWER
REGINA BURCHETT
THORYN ZIEMBA
DIMEJI ONAFUWA
JOHN SHOEMAKER
SARAH WILKINSON
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JUDE STUECKER,
200 N. DAVIE STREET • GREENSBORO, NC 27401 www.GreenHillNC.org
PHIL HARALAM
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Shadow GLISTENI s NG
We have makeup and skin care to suit everyone’s style and budget. Our Made-in-America brand is celebrating 90 years of beauty business and we remain as relevant now as we were then, receiving accolades from top beauty and style publications such as “Allure” and “In Style”. We provide skin care products, makeup applications and spa services. We practice “Try Before You Buy” always using strict sanitary standards.
BATTLE CROSSING 3741-E • BATTLEGROUND AVENUE | 336-292-9396 • 336-288-8011 The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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PHOTOGRAPH BY BERT VANDERVEEN
Eleven is just the beginning. With thousands of frames in the store from an eclectic range of designers, we have eyewear for everyone’s style and budget. Family owned and operated since 1980, we pride ourselves on the quality and craftsmanship of the products we sell and produce. Our customers are our billboards: a perfectly fitted frame that showcases your style and features. In the frame are some of the highest quality HD lenses on the market. With this combo you will see the world in a whole new way!
82 O.Henry 2222 PATTERSON ST, SUITE A, GREENSBORO, NC | 336.852.7107 | HOUSEOFEYES.COM The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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Victory Junction celebrates childhood and the magic of camp by providing fully-accessible year-round on-site and off-site programming. Camp is hope, acceptance, and opportunity for kids with complicated medical conditions. These incredible experiences are always free to the families served because of the generosity of donors. Join us as – together – we make the impossible accessible for all children! To make a donation, visit victoryjunction.org/winter.
VICTORY JUNCTION 4500 ADAM’S WAY RANDLEMAN, NC 27317
December 2021 Christmas on the Farm
12/2–26
Disney on Ice
12/3–5
Although conscientious effort is made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, all events are subject to change and errors can occur! Please call to verify times, costs, status and location before planning or attending an event.
December 1 READING THE WORLD. 7–8:30 p.m. Join in a reading and virtual discussion of Silence is My Mother Tongue by author Sulaiman Addonia. Free; registration required. Info: scuppernongbooks.com/event. SUDS’N’FLICK 7–9:30 p.m. Bring a blanket and watch a movie in the Beer Garden. Free admission. Oden Brewing Co. 804 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: odenbrewing.com/upcoming events. MESSIAH. 7–9:30 p.m. Handel and COVID protocols prevail at the Choral Society of Greensboro Messiah. Free; donations appreciated. The Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov.
December 1–3 SANTA’S HELPERS. The Greensboro Youth Council wants new and used holiday toys for families in need. Drop-off locations and info: greensboro-nc.gov.
December 1–4 MASTERS DEPARTING. See the Seven Masters: 20th-Century Japanese Woodblock Prints before they’re gone! Free. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: weatherspoonart.org.
December 1–6 LIGHT A LIGHT. All day. View Hanukkah displays and take home a craft kit to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights. Free. Central Library, 219 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov.
December 1–24 MERRY MADNESS. Spend $25 downtown and register with the Downtown Greensboro App for a $500 weekly drawing. Info: downtowngreensboro.org.
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December 1–31 PIEDMONT WINTERFEST. Ice skating, curling and winter fun at the rink between Southend Brewing and Fat Tuesday. Tickets: $12, including skate rental. 123 W. Lewis St. parking lot, Greensboro. Info: piedmontwinterfest.com.
December 1–Jan. 1, 2022 TANGLEWOOD. 6–11 p.m. Behold! A drive-thru winter wonderland with more than 80 light displays. Tickets: $20+.Tanglewood Park, 4061 Clemmons Road, Clemmons. Info: forsyth.cc/parks/tanglewood/fol.
December 1–Jan. 2, 2022 MORE LIGHTS. Walk with light, lots of them, during an expanded Winter Wonderlights. Tickets: $16.50+. Greensboro Science Center, 4301 Lawndale Dr., Greensboro. Info: greensboroscience.org/ winterwonderlights.
December 2 KEEN FOR CHRISTMAS. 8 p.m. Robert Earl Keen delights fans with his Christmas show. Tickets: $30+. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: carolinatheatre.com/events.
December 2–26 CHRISTMAS ON THE FARM. 6–8 p.m. (Open until 8:30 p.m. on 12/4, 12/11 and 12/18.) Enjoy a hayride through Christmas lights, family-friendly activities and photo opportunities with Santa. Tickets: $15+. McLaurin Farms, 5601 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: mclaurinfarms.com.
December 3 FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. 6–9 p.m. Celebrate the lighting of the Christmas tree in Center City Park. Free. Info: greensborodowntownparks.org/calendar. OPERA IN THE VINES. 7–9 p.m. Enjoy vino, the Greensboro Opera company opera and a meal in
Greensboro Nutcracker
12/11–12 & 17–19
the vineyard. Tickets: $149. JOLO Winery Pavilion & End Posts Restaurant, 219 JOLO Winery Lane, Pilot Mountain. Info: greensboroopera.org/event/ opera-in-the-vines.
December 3–5 DISNEY ON ICE. Join Mickey Mouse, Captain Hook and Tinker Bell. Tickets: $20+. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensborocoliseum.com/events.
Dec 3–5, 9–12 & 14–23 ALL ABOARD! 4–8 p.m. Enjoy The Polar Express soundtrack, along with cookies and cocoa on a trip to the “North Pole.” N.C. Transportation Museum, 411 S. Salisbury Ave., Spencer. Tickets: $32+. Info: nctransportationmuseum.org.
December 3–23 ST. NICK’S FLIX. Coming to the Carolina: Muppet Christmas Carol, It’s A Wonderful Life, Elf, Home Alone and A Christmas Story. Tickets: $7. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Full schedule and info: carolinatheatre.com/events.
December 3–31 PEPPERMINT ALLEY. Take a walk through the holiday-decorated alley beside Boxcar Arcade and snap a picture or two. 120 W. Lewis St., Greensboro. Info: downtowngreensboro.org.
December 4 MISTLETOE RUN. How fast (or slow) can you go running or walking in Winston-Salem: 7:30 a.m. (Fun Run); 8 a.m. (Half); 8:15 a.m. (5K). Registration: $15+. Virtual options available. William G. White, Jr. Family YMCA, 775 West End Blvd., Winston-Salem. Info: ymcanwnc.org/mistletoe. SATURDAYS ARE FOR ART. 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Children can create art while enjoying music and snacks. $5 registration required. Windsor Recreation The Art & Soul of Greensboro
Calendar Center, 1601 E. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov. HOLIDAY PARADE. Noon–2 p.m. Floats, dance, drill teams and bands big, Macy’s-sized balloons move through downtown. Free. Parade starts at N. Greene St. and E. Lindsay St. Info: downtowngreensboro.org. DO THE TANGO. 7–8:30 p.m. Join the Lorena Guillen Tango Ensemble and ALLL for an evening Opus Concert. COVID protocols required. Free; donations accepted. Greensboro Cultural Center, Van Dyke Performance Space, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”).
Dec 4–5 DANCE CENTER NUTCRACKER. The Dance Center of Greensboro presents The Nutcracker Ballet. Tickets: $20. High Point Theatre, 220 E. Commerce Ave., High Point. Info: highpointtheatre.com/events.
December 4 & 6 CHRISTMAS AT CANTERBURY. 8 p.m. (12/4) & 7:30 p.m. (12/6). Bel Canto performs its annual holiday concert at the Canterbury School. Tickets: $5+. Phillips Chapel, 5400 Old Lake Jeanette Rd., Greensboro. Info: belcantocompany.com.
December 4, 11–12 & 18–19 KRINGLES AT THE ORCHARD. 5–9 p.m. Professional photography, hayrides, Santa and Mrs. Claus, cookie decorating, and more! Tickets: $17.95. Millstone Creek Orchards, 506 Parks Crossroads Church Rd., Ramseur. Info: millstonecreekorchards.com.
December 4–5 COMFORT AND JOY. 7 p.m. (12/4) & 4 p.m. (12/5). Triad Pride Men’s and Women’s choruses LIVE for the first time since December 2019. COVID protocols required. Tickets: $15+. Greensboro Cultural Center, Van Dyke Performance Space, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: triadprideperformingarts.org.
December 4–5, 11–12 BELIEVE. The North Carolina Zoo will be decorated for the holidays and Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus will be on site. Tickets: $15+. 4401 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro. Info: nczoo.org.
December 5 NUTCRACKER TEA. 11 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. Enjoy short Nutcracker selections, tea and treats as cast members mingle with guests. Photo opportunities and take-home treats. Tickets: $25+. Canterbury School, Berry Hall, 5400 Old Lake Jeanette Rd., Greensboro. Info: https://dancestudio-pro.com/tickets/gdt\h dancestudio-pro.com/tickets/gdt. UNITY CHRISTMAS FAIR. 12:30–4:30 p.m. Features musical talent, Christmas cheer, holiday vendor booths and pictures with Santa. Free. Center City Park, 200 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: unityingreensboro.org/unityfestival. HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE. 1–4 p.m. Kick off the holidays with Santa at the Little Red Schoolhouse, The Art & Soul of Greensboro
craft kits, the High Point University brass quartet and the Memorial Handbells of First Presbyterian Church, blacksmith demonstrations, candle dipping and more! Free. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: highpointnc.gov/calendar. THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 3 p.m. Attend cookies and a special family-friendly holiday concert. Free (reservation required). Greensboro Cultural Center, Van Dyke Performance Space, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: belcantocompany.com. ADVENT FOR ALL. 5:30–7 p.m. À la carte presents an Advent Concert for All, featuring seasonal music from a wide variety of cultures, faiths, genres and traditions. Free. Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro. 607 N. Green St., Greensboro. Info: alcgreensboro.com.
Dec 5, 10–12, 17–19 SANTA AT BILTMORE. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Secure a 10-minute timeslot to visit Santa and take pictures! Free; reservations required. The Biltmore Hotel, 111 W. Washington St., Greensboro. Info: downtowngreensboro.org.
December 6–9 SANTA AT ADAUMONT. 4–8 p.m. Secure a photo opp with Santa, a DIY cookie-decorating kit for four and digital photos by photographer Yasmine Leonard. Tickets: $45/family. Adaumont Farms, 4941 Finch Farm Rd., Trinity. Info: adaumontfarm.com.
December 7–12 DEAR EVAN HANSEN. “A gorgeous musical for anyone with a beating heart,” The New York Times. Tickets: $44+. Steven Tanger Center, 300 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events.
December 8 POETRY CAFE. 6–8 p.m. Josephus Thompson III facilitates an open mic for children ages 10–18 to share poetry, music and art. Free (registration required). Xperience @ Caldcleugh, 1700 Orchard St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov.
December 9
Dec 10–12, 16–19 MISS BENNET. Enjoy The Little Theatre’s production of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, the sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Tickets: $12+. Reynolds Place Theatre, 251 N. Spruce St., WinstonSalem. Info: ltofws.org.
December 11 SANTACON CRAWL. 3–9 p.m. Join Otis & Wawa’s 6th annual SantaCon and bar (and business) crawl wearing your ugliest sweater to benefit. Kidsmas Miracle. Registration: $7+. Stumble Stilskins, 202 W. Market St., Greensboro. Info: facebook.com/ OtisAndWawa. RUNNING OF THE BALLS. 6 p.m. Run or walk and be dazzled by Sunset Hills hanging Christmas balls, benefiting Proceeds go to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Registration: $25+. Greensboro. Info: therunningoftheballs.com. WE’RE WITH THE BAND. 7–9 p.m. The Greensboro Concert Band takes center stage in this Opus Concert. COVID protocols required. Free; donations accepted. Greensboro College, Gail Brower Huggins Performance Center, 815 W. Market St., Greensboro. Info: greensboro-nc.gov (click on “events”). LAURA JANE TAKES THE CROWN. 8 p.m. Singer-songwriter Laura Jane Vincent performs; Ashley Virginia and Cactus Black open. Tickets: $15; advance, $20. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: carolinatheatre.com/events. UNPLUGGED. 8 p.m. Breaking Benjamin stops in the Triad on their Unplugged tour. Tickets: $37.50; advance, $40. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensborocoliseum. com/events.
December 11–12 & 17–19. GREENSBORO NUTCRACKER. Greensboro Ballet’s Nutcracker returns to the stage live. Tickets: $20+. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: greensboroballet.org/the-nutcracker.
December 12
TSO CHRISTMAS. 7:30 p.m. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra presents Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Tickets: $47+. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensborocoliseum.com/events.
ROYAL GALA. 1 p.m. & 3:30 p.m. Sing-along, dance and enjoy refreshments with 10 different Disney princesses. Tickets: $25/adult, $37/child. Grandville Ballroom, Grandover Resort & Spa, 1000 Club Road, Greensboro. Info: reservingroyalty.com/christmasgala.
December 10
CAROLS & ALE. 3 p.m. Greensboro Beer & Hymns invites people of all faiths to join together for brews and Christmas carols. Free admission. Oden Brewing Co., 804 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: odenbrewing.com/upcoming events.
ALES FOR ALS RELEASE PARTY. Oden Brewing Co. opens the tap with Ales for ALS to create a new brew! Proceeds will be donated to the ALS Therapy Development Institute, Free. Oden Brewing Co. 804 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: odenbrewing. com/upcoming events.
Dec 10–12 A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The classic holiday tale returns to the stage. Tickets: $22+. High Point Theatre, 220 E. Commerce Ave, High Point. Info: highpointtheatre.com.
December 13 BEL CANTO CHRISTMAS. 7:30 p.m. Enjoy seasonal classics at Bel Canto’s 39th annual holiday concert, Christmas at Canterbury. Free; donations accepted. First Presbyterian Church, 918 N. Main St., High Point.
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86 O.Henry
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
December 16 BIG BANG. 7:30 p.m. The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Tickets: $35+. Steven Tanger Center, 300 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events.
December 17 THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE CROWN. 7:30 p.m. This “anti-meta, neo-beat, electronic garage gospel quartet” brings laptop wizardly and colorful performers. Tickets: $10. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: carolinatheatre.com/events. MAGICAL CIRQUE CHRISTMAS. 8 p.m. Hostess Lucy Darling guides the audience through an evening of performances by Cirque artists, accompanied by live holiday music. Tickets: $25+. Steven Tanger Center, N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events.
December 17–18 FORT NIGHT II. Noon to noon. Set up a home pillow fort and join community members via Zoom for this 24-hour event. Cost: $10, members; free. Info: elsewheremuseum.org.
Dec 17–19 THE NUTCRACKER BALLET. The High Point Ballet
Calendar
Spencer Love Tennis Center. Pre-registration: $20+. Info: runnerdudesfitness.com/scavenger-hunt-run.
performs The Nutcracker. Tickets: $30+. High Point Theatre, 220 E. Commerce Ave., High Point. Info: highpointtheatre.com/events.
December 28
December 18 SCOTTISH FAIRE. 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. See how early North Carolina Scots families celebrated New Year’s Eve (Hogmanay) and the Yule season. Free. High Point Museum Historical Park, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: highpointnc.gov/calendar. CHURCH GATHERING. 8 p.m. Eric Church performs The Gather Again Tour. Tickets: $39+. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensborocoliseum.com/events. THEY WILL ROCK YOU. 8 p.m. Music of Queen, featuring “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” “We are the Champions,” “Another One Bites the Dust” and more. Tickets: $35+. Steven Tanger Center, N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events. SIDEPONY. 8 p.m. MacKenzie Craig and Stephanie Coolbaugh of Sidepony perform; Debbie the Artist opens. Tickets: $15. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: carolinatheatre.com/events.
December 18–26 WHAT THE ELF! Join in a holiday scavenger hunt at
PAWS FOR A CAUSE. Noon–4 p.m. Discounted entry to see the animals with a donation of gently used goods. Animal Park at the Conservator’s Center, 676 E. Hughes Mill Rd., Burlington. Info: animalparknc. org/events.
December 28–Jan. 2, 2022 COME FROM AWAY. A musical that tells the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded airline passengers and the town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Tickets: $25+. Steven Tanger Center, 300 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: tangercenter.com/events. December 31. 8:30 p.m. North Carolina’s own The Avett Brothers return to the Coliseum for a New Year’s Eve concert. Tickets: $49.50+. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Info: greensborocoliseum.com/events.
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O.Henry 87
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Arts & Culture
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94 O.Henry
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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The Art & Soul of Greensboro
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O.Henry Ending
Listening with Your Heart
By James Colasanti Jr.
Christmas is my
favorite time of the year, largely because of my childhood memories involving dogs.
I have always slept with dogs, my unconditional loving companions. From a few days after my birth, I slept with Butchy, the dog who taught me to have empathy for all. And now, 71 years later, with a 21-year-old Chihuahua named Minnie. It all began with my father, James Sr. In 1949, my pregnant mother was busy preparing the evening meal when my father entered the room holding a small black-whiteand-tan terrier in his big Italian hands. Of course, she heard the sharp, high-pitched yipping before she saw him. “Look, Mary, look!” he exclaimed, holding out the frisky, wriggling pup he would name Butchy. “She is just too feisty to have a girl’s name. Butchy will make a great companion for our son.” (Although gender reveal was a thing of the future, my father knew in his heart that my mother was having a boy.) Following my birth, my parents put Butchy in my cradle every night to keep me warm and to alert them to my needs. When I graduated from my crib, guess who snuggled in the bed with me? Well into my teenage years, Butchy slept alongside me. And every night, one of my parents would visit my room to check on me. I recall one particular Yuletide evening being very special. I was 15. As the hall light cast its glow into my bedroom, Butchy looked up toward the door as my father entered. As dad sat on the edge of my bed, Butchy raised her head from my chest. He patted her head as he spoke. My father — who was 50 when I was born — was a gentle man, a philosopher and an animal whisperer in the truest sense. If he were to sit on a tree stump in the middle of the woods with an ear of dried
96 O.Henry
corn, a deer would be eating out of his hands within minutes. He was the one who taught me my understanding of dogs and the meaning of Christmas. “James,” he began, “the best gifts I can give you this Christmas are the little lessons I have learned over the years.” What followed was the wisdom of a man who barely got past the eighth grade. I can still hear the cadence of his voice. “The love of a dog is the magic that binds you together,” he told me. “And it only takes one dog to change your life forever.” (For me, that was Butchy.) “When I come into your room at night, she always has her head on your chest. It’s her way of making sure you’re OK. And because she loves you, she also listens to you with her heart when you talk to her.” My dad had a lot more to say about the heart. “Your heart is the center of your life. It is the source from which all of your love flows. Whenever someone is speaking to you, you will never go wrong if you listen with your heart.” And then he shared something that his father — my grandfather — once told him. “Remember, son, that you were loved by a man who loved dogs — who loved dogs more than he loved people. And do you know why he told me this?” “Why?” I asked, yawning. “Because he knew that — unlike people — the only time a dog will break your heart is when it dies.” As the hall light faded, I heard my father whisper, as he had so many times before, “Son, if you follow your heart, you can make every day feel like Christmas.” OH James Colasanti Jr. is a Maxwell Medallion award-winning author and member of the Dog Writers Association of America. A past president of the Animal Rescue & Foster Program of Greensboro, he shares his home with four rescue dogs. The Art & Soul of Greensboro
ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR
What my dad — and my dog — taught me
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