Community Calendar Scenes from Senior Walk

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REGISTER for CHILDREN’S BUSINESS FAIR

Children’s business fair | Young entrepreneurs ages 6 to 14 are invited to set up shop for a children’s business fair on Saturday, June 18, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Oak Ridge Town Park, 6231 Lisa Drive. Register at www.childrensbusinessfair.org/stokesdale. More info: Meredith Carlton, (703) 599-4931 or meredith@beaconacademync.org. JUNE 14–17

Vacation Bible School | Living Water Baptist Church at 9516 W. Market St. in Colfax will host Vacation Bible School for kids age 3+ and adults, too, from Tuesday, June 14, to Friday, June 17, 6 to 8 p.m. each night, with a light dinner provided. Visit www.lwbctriad.org to learn more or register. JUNE 9, 14 & 16

Senior Programs | Senior Resources of Guilford County will sponsor a senior program including activities and a take-home lunch from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Stokesdale UMC (8305 Loyola Drive) on June 9; at Center United Methodist Church (6142 Lake Brandt Road in northwest Greensboro) and at Shady Grove Wesleyan Church (119 N. Bunker Hill Road in Colfax) on June 14; and at Summerfield First Baptist Church (2300 Scalesville Road) on June 16. To learn more and/or RSVP at Center UMC, contact the church at (336) 643-7765; for the others, contact Marsha McDaniel, (336) 373-4816, ext. 265. THURSDAY, JUNE 2

Town Council meeting | Oak Ridge Town Council will meet June 2, starting 7 p.m. at Oak Ridge Town Hall, 8315 Linville Road. See News Briefs in this issue

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FRIDAY, JUNE 3

Community movie night | The Summit Church in Oak Ridge will sponsor a movie night June 3 at Oak Ridge Town Park, 6231 Lisa Drive. Food trucks will be on site at 6:30 p.m., games start at 7 p.m. and the movie “Encanto” begins at dark. Free admission and concessions. Bring a lawn chair or blanket. More info: www.thesummitchurch.net and see ad on p. 4. SATURDAY, JUNE 4

Gem, mineral & jewelry show | The Greensboro Gem & Mineral Club, a nonprofit promoting interest and knowledge of gemstones, fossils, etc., will sponsor its ninth annual gem, mineral & jewelry show on June 4, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, 2914 Sandy Ridge Road in Colfax. This is a family-friendly event, with vendors and hourly door prizes. Free admission and parking. More info: www.ggmc-rockhounds.com or email edeckert@triad.rr.com.

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

Merchants Association | Summerfield Merchants Association invites business professionals who live in or operate a business in Summerfield to be their guest at a meeting June 7, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Southern Exposure Landscape Management, 1000 N.C. 150 W. Learn more and RSVP at www.summerfieldmerchant.com.

THURSDAY, JUNE 9

Town Council meeting | Stokesdale Town Council will meet June 9, starting 7 p.m. at Stokesdale Town Hall, 8325 Angel Pardue Road. Visit www.stokesdale.org for a meeting agenda and/or a link to join the meeting via Zoom. More info: (336) 643-4011. SATURDAY, JUNE 11

Music in the Park | The Town of Oak Ridge invites the community to a Music in the Park event June 11 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Oak Ridge Town Park Amphitheater, 6231 Lisa Drive, for a performance by the Never Too Late bluegrass band. Bring a lawn chair or blanket; food will be available for purchase. No alcohol allowed. Event is free, but donations for the band are appreciated. MONDAY, JUNE 13

Northwest Guilford Woman’s Club | Northwest Guilford Woman’s Club (NGWC), a nonprofit whose members share a commitment to community service, will meet June 13, starting 7 p.m. To learn more about NGWC or to attend the meeting as a guest, contact Tiffany Hansen, president, at (336) 404-8038 or tiffanykhansen96@gmail.com. TUESDAY, JUNE 14

Town Council meeting | Summerfield Town Council will meet June 14, starting 6:30 p.m. at Summerfield Community Center, 5404 Centerfield Road. Visit www.summerfieldnc.gov for a meeting agenda or more info.

CRIME/INCIDENT REPORT

...continued from p. 18

report of a suspicious person in the 3900 block of Lewiston Road/Shoreline Drive in northwest Greensboro. May 19 | Officers responded to an incident report at a construction site in the 6800 block of U.S. 158 in Stokesdale. May 22 | Officers responded to a report of a possible breaking and entering in the 8300 block of W. Harrell Road in Oak Ridge. VANDALISM

May 17 | A resident of the 8400 block of Shilling Street in Stokesdale (off U.S. 158) reported a known suspect used a firearm to vandalize two windows and three sections of vinyl siding, causing $1,300 worth of damage. May 23 | A resident of the 1400 block of U.S. 220 N in Summerfield reported a known suspect vandalized his vehicle.

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Saturday, June 18, 6:30p–9:00p

Summerfield Community Park Amphitheater (5404 Centerfield Rd.) Special Occasion Band

beach, oldies, top 40 ... free concert free concert brought to you by:

The Pearl Kitchen food truck and Kona Ice on site! truck and Kona Ice on site! Free parking. Bring your blankets, chairs, friends.

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Check the town’s Facebook page for weather updates.

Graduates of Oak Ridge UMC Families

Abbie Almstead

Noble Academy Plans to attend Haywood Community College and study fishing and wildlife management

Emma Church

Northern Guilford High Plans to attend the University of Alabama Garrett Austin

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Guilford Technical Community College and enter the engineering program

Will Clayton

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Appalachian State University and study computer science Grace Austin

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of Central Arkansas and play beach volleyball Annie Badger

Northern Guilford High Plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Ben Baker

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Appalachian State University and be part of the marching band Spencer Brown

Starmount High Plans to attend Campbell University to study business marketing

Patrick Cullinan

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend North Carolina State University and study sports management Ila Deese

Penn-Griffin School for the Arts Plans to pursue a degree in acting/directing Garret Eichlin

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Boston College and study biochemistry Lauren Farrelly

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Virgina Tech and study architecture/urban studies

Cameron Gantert

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and study mechanical engineering Allison Guild

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend North Carolina State University Kaitlyn Guild

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of South Carolina Jed Hampton

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Hampden-Sydney College David Hoover

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend North Carolina State University and study nutrition science Julia Humphrey

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the United States Naval Academy and play volleyball

We love and celebrate you!

Autumn Jackson

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and study architecture/design

Sy Odendaal

Caldwell Academy Plans to attend Guilford Technical Community College

Johnny Van Kemp

Northern Guilford High Plans to attend High Point University Dylan Kesselring

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Catawba College to study business and play lacrosse

Mina Piazza

UNC School of the Arts Plans to attend High Point University and study psychology and dance Morgan Kibble

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and study elementary education

Ella Reitmeier

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Virginia Tech and study psychology Anna Manry

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend West Virgina University and study forensic chemistry and psychology

Jack Roberts

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Colin Vess

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Vanderbilt University Aidan Walker

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend North Carolina State University and study chemistry Sydney Wentz

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and study film Avery Miller

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Appalachian State University Logan Monday

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and study nursing

Conley Stone

Northern Guilford High Plans to attend the University of Tampa and play lacrosse Kaitlyn Sumner

Northwest Guilford High Plans to attend Elon University and study exercise science and public health

oakridgeumc.org/youth

expected the AP literature class to help teach her son to read and write better.

“Even if you took the trash out of (the book), it didn’t teach him to read and write well,” she said in an interview after the committee’s vote.

“ ey talked about all the students who loved the book,” Wachendorfer said. “What they didn’t do is nd any of the students who didn’t read the book because they thought it was trash.”

Photos by Chris Burritt/NWO Northern Guilford teacher Holly Weaver (left) speaks during a May 19 meeting held in the high school’s media center to hear views on the selection of “Salvage the Bones” as an optional assigned reading book for her AP literature students. Also speaking at the meeting, Parent Elena Wachendorfer said the selected book includes sexually explicit scenes that are obscene and inappropriate for high school students.

Nearby in the school’s library, students and fellow teachers congratulated and hugged Holly Weaver after the committee affirmed her view that “Salvage the Bones” has literary merit. She also argued in the committee’s initial meeting May 19 that the book teaches core skills to prepare students for AP exams.

The winner of the 2011 National Book Award for fiction, “Salvage the Bones” depicts a poor Black teenage girl coming of age in rural Mississippi in the days before and after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Fifteen and pregnant, a character named Esch and her three brothers are “stocking food, but there isn’t much to save,” the National Book Foundation said in its description of the story.

The description goes on: “As the twelve days that make up the novel’s framework yield to a dramatic conclusion, the unforgettable family at the novel’s core – motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce – pulls itself up to face another day.”

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“ is novel contains scenes that will always be relevant,” Weaver told more than 50 students, parents and teachers during the advisory committee’s rst meeting. “Teens will have to navigate that world. And, yes, that world does involve uncomfortable topics like statutory rape and teenage pregnancy.”

she “is proud of the Nighthawk community for standing up for the freedom to read.”

Weaver’s view reflected many – but certainly not all – of the roughly 1,500 comments on the Northwest Observer’s Facebook page over the past two weeks. Many criticized what they saw as efforts to ban the book when sexual explicit materials are available on social media to an extent unimaginable a generation ago.

“If some parents bothered to take a look at all the social media their kids watch, they would never leave them alone to look at anything!” Jane Hartman posted on the newspaper’s Facebook page.

On the other hand, some lamented the assignment of such books as an overreach by educators deciding what’s suitable for students without alerting parents.

The committee’s vote “doesn’t surprise me,” Lynn Taylor wrote. “Too many parents knuckling under. They should want better for their children. This is one example of many how it’s got(ten) to be a rotten world to raise them in. We’ve thrown our children to the wolves!”

In a post, Clinton Brendle offered a different view.

“Imagine having nothing better to do than complain a book is unacceptable for a high schooler to read on the grounds that it bothered you as an adult,” Brendle wrote. “Your children hear far worse in the hallways between classes than any book they could read.”

David Crowther wrote that “banning books from school is so dumb. It’s like trying to ban a certain style of beer from a brewery because you don’t like how it tastes. You don’t have to agree with everything you read.”

Weaver drew praise from some former students and parents.

Carolyn Haines said her daughter read the book in Weaver’s class last year.

“We had long conversations about it,” the mother wrote. “We all need to

remember this is a college-level course.”

“I hate that this amazing teacher was put through this nonsense,” wrote Kristina Coon, explaining that she discussed the book with her daughter after she read it in Weaver’s class.

During its initial meeting May 19, the committee heard from Weaver, as well as the two parents who sought the book’s removal from the reading list.

Wachendorfer and Magnussen read sexually graphic excerpts to the audience and described the scenes as obscene and inappropriate for high school students.

“How on earth is this appropriate…and suitable for our kids to be reading and discussing in their AP English class?” Magnussen asked.

Citing state law that prohibits the distribution of obscene literature, the parents criticized the teacher for selecting the novel for AP literature students. Even though students had the option to read alternate books, Wachendorder said she believes some students wouldn’t want to risk “ridicule, backlash or potential retribution because they choose not to read the teacher-recommended choice.”

“There are hundreds of other books to choose from that are far more uplifting and challenging to their young minds,” Magnussen said. “Ms. Weaver, I’m not here to undermine your authority, but to remind you that you are a role model as well as a teacher. And you should be held to a higher standard.”

Following remarks by the parents and the teacher, each of the 13 committee members offered their views about the book during the May 19 and May 26 meetings. Annie Harris, the school’s librarian and chair of the committee, said the book’s sexually graphic scenes didn’t meet the definition of “obscene” because the author didn’t intend for them to cause arousal.

“It seems to me the reader is meant to feel disgust,” Harris said. “The scenes are not meant to be enjoyable.”

At the end of the second meeting, committee members voted on paper ballots whether to retain the book, remove it from the reading list and/or the school’s library or impose restrictions on its availability.

Aside from the 12 members who voted to keep the book, one member favored placing restrictions on it. How the members voted wasn’t disclosed.

“ is story is inspired by real events,” teacher Andrea Martin said during the rst meeting. “ ough it may be uncomfortable, someone is living this.”

“It is my opinion that the goal of literature is always education,” NHS student and committee member Savannah Tuhro said during last week’s meeting. “That’s what I believe Jesmyn Ward’s purpose was in writing ‘Salvage the Bones.’ This book is meant to spark a conversation, which it certainly has.”

The scenes of predatory sexual behavior by an older teenage boy “are supposed to make you uncomfortable and even outraged,” Tuhro said. “When I started to read the novel, I was taken aback by its graphic details and story line. That didn’t keep me from reading. I was able to find artistry in Jesmyn’s heart-wrenching story.”

Weaver and the students didn’t discuss the book’s sexually graphic scenes or themes in the classroom, according to Tuhro. The teacher didn’t require students to read those sections.

Hearing some of the scenes read aloud by the parents during the May 19 meeting “wasn’t the best thing” for students who had skipped such scenes or hadn’t read the book at all, Tuhro said. “Those were read to them forcibly.’’