VOLUME 2, ISSUE 23; OCTOBER 7 - OCTOBER 20, 2020; WWW.QCNERVE.COM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NEWS& OPINION 8
5 EDITOR’S NOTE BY RYAN PITKIN 6 VOTER GUIDE 2020 BY RYAN PITKIN
Everything you need to know about Mecklenburg County races KEEPING A ‘FRAGILE DEMOCRACY’ TOGETHER BY PAMELA GRUNDY New book tells of struggle for voting rights in North Carolina
9 THE SUFFRAGIST BY RHIANNON FIONN Democracy needs our help, and your vote is just the beginning 10 OPINION: DO THE DEBATES MATTER? BY PAT MORAN A presidency on the precipice, a nation on the brink 11 LIFEWAVE A dose of reality
ARTS
12 WHAT DO YOU WISH TO SAY? BY PAT MORAN UNC Charlotte exhibit empowers free speech
MUSIC
14 DYLAN GILBERT’S VISION QUEST BY PAT MORAN Hectorina frontman premieres visual album ‘I’ll be the Lakebed’
16 FOOD TO FALL FOR BY LEA BEKELE A preview of the most intriguing items added to local menus this autumn
LIFESTYLE
FOOD& DRINK
26 PUZZLES 28 THE SEEKER BY KATIE GRANT 29 HOROSCOPE 30 SAVAGE LOVE
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THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS: PAT MORAN, PAMELA GRUNDY, RHIANNON FIONN, GRANT BALDWIN, AMY HERMAN, JONATHAN COOPER, KAY HERSCHELMANN, GRAYSON BARRETTE, AERIN SPRUILL AND DAN SAVAGE.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
THE MASKS COME OFF
Politicians behaving badly
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BY RYAN PITKIN
In the Talk of the Town section of Queen City Nerve’s Sept. 16 email newsletter, I wrapped a segment on recent COVID-19 numbers by stating, “All you folks out there showing your mouth are showing your ass.” It’s been less than a month since I wrote that and I’ve been seeing way too much ass. The most bewildering part about all this assshowing is that it’s coming from our so-called leaders — and I mean all of them! From the White House to the Senate campaign trail to a local dive bar full of elected officials, it seems that every which way I look these days I’m being let down by leadership. Let’s start local. On Monday, Oct. 5, Mayor Vi Lyles and a group of four city council members — Larken Egleston, Julie Eiselt, Malcolm Graham and Tariq Bokhari — along with a few other folks on the city’s payroll, wound down after a day-long meeting by heading to Hattie’s Tap & Tavern. The idea was to show support for a business that had struggled through seven months without being able to open their doors. Not a bad idea. We at Queen City Nerve make no secret of our love for Hattie’s, and we recently had owner Jackie DeLoach onto our Nooze Hounds podcast to discuss the struggles she’s faced while having to watch so many other establishments around town open for business. So it’s no surprise that someone from our team was there on Monday — Q.C. Nerve publisher and Nooze Hounds cohost Justin LaFrancois — to witness how this good idea wasn’t implemented all that well. It began with Mayor Lyles showing up to the front door without a mask, then having to return to her vehicle to grab one when the doorman told her that she couldn’t come in without a face covering, which she certainly should have known already. Once inside, Bokhari began cracking condescending jokes about the bar that he had allegedly come to show his support for, stating that he could surely buy drugs in the establishment but not a “bougie drink,” according to the group’s bartender, who also later stated that the group had to be told repeatedly to put their masks on while
they were up and moving around the space. Even upon leaving the bar that night, Mayor Lyles got up to say her goodbyes and walk out, still without a mask. A table full of people yelled at her from across the patio to please put her mask on. DeLoach had only opened her bar for the first
were reportedly good about their mask usage. I’m not writing this piece to “cancel” any elected officials for how they acted that night, but to remind them that their actions in this time matter. This is something we all get through together or not at all, and if we can’t depend on city leaders
ceremony in the Rose Garden on Sept. 26. It’s suspected that this is where both President Donald Trump and our own U.S. Senator Thom Tillis contracted COVID-19. To his credit, Tillis has been a relatively ardent supporter of wearing masks — for a Republican, anyway — but he’s repeatedly slipped up on practicing what he preaches in public. He was seen sitting in a crowd at an indoor Republican National Convention event without one, and publicly apologized after those pictures were published. At the Rose Garden ceremony, Tillis sat stubbornly in his mask among a hundred or so others around him who refused to wear one. Good for him, right? Not so much. Other photos from that day show that, as soon as he got inside, where the risk was exponentially higher, the mask came off. And now as I write this, he’s in quarantine due to a positive COVID-19 test, like so many others who attended the Sept. 26 event. Masks have been repeatedly proven to contain the spread of COVID-19, so PHOTO BY JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS one would think this should not be CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS AND OTHER STAFFERS AT HATTIE’S ON OCT. 5. a difficult thing to do. It’s not all that time two nights before this visit, and she and to set that example, who can we depend on? uncomfortable. It’s the most minor inconvenience, her team were diligent about enforcing the rules Certainly not the elected officials further up in the without which we would still be stuck in lockdown. throughout the weekend and on that Monday night. governmental hierarchy. So I beg of you, those in positions of power and Yet still, imagine the blowback on her team if this By now, we’re all familiar with the superspreader those not in the spotlight, stop showing your ass. RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM well-intentioned trip to The Plaza led to an outbreak event that was the Amy Coney Barrett nomination among council members and other city staffers. The blame would be placed on Hattie’s and Gov. Cooper’s hasty reopening plan, and DeLoach would surely have to shut down again — quite possibly for good. Our city leaders should be the ones setting an example. I have no problem with council members showing their public support for a small business like Hattie’s, but the mayor should be more aware than anyone of the rules regarding how to move through public spaces. To their credit, council members Egleston and Eiselt POSING WITH THE MASKS...
PHOTO BY JACKIE DELOACH
THE OUTBREAK OF CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) MAY BE STRESSFUL FOR PEOPLE. FEAR AND ANXIETY ABOUT A DISEASE CAN BE OVERWHELMING AND CAUSE STRONG EMOTIONS IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN. COPING WITH STRESS WILL MAKE YOU, THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT, AND YOUR COMMUNITY STRONGER. EVERYONE REACTS DIFFERENTLY TO STRESSFUL SITUATIONS. HOW YOU RESPOND TO THE OUTBREAK CAN DEPEND ON YOUR BACKGROUND, THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PEOPLE, AND THE COMMUNITY YOU LIVE IN.
 -Fear and worry about your own health and the health of your loved ones -Changes in sleep or eating patterns -Difficulty sleeping or concentrating -Worsening of chronic health problems -Increased use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs  �
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ONLINE THERAPY OPTIONS Â?
OPEN PATH COLLECTIVE
A nonprofit that connects people with private practice therapists that choose to participate. Digital therapy is available for a $59 membership tinyurl.com/opcollective
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PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
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A look at 40 contests on Mecklenburg County ballots BY RYAN PITKIN
You may have heard that there’s a big election coming up, but there’s actually a ton of big elections coming up! While some of you have already cast your absentee ballots — nearly 48,000 Mecklenburg County residents had done so at the time of this writing — those who have waited for in-person voting can do so beginning with the launch of early voting on Oct. 15 (visit vt.ncsbe.gov/ossite for a full list of locations). Beyond the presidential race (you’ve heard enough about that by now), there are 40 contested races on the ballot in Mecklenburg County, though how many you have on your own ballot will depend on where you live. We’ve got a lot to cover here, so let’s get into it. R-Republican, D-Democrat, L-Libertarian
U.S. Senate: Thom Tillis (R) vs. Cal reopening the state too quickly. His challenger of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners” Dan Forest has gone full science-denier in not only as reason to run for his old seat, showing the Cunningham (D) On Sept. 26, a New York Times headline read, “The White House, Senate and Supreme Court Could All Hinge On North Carolina,” and the article went into why the close race between incumbent Thom Tillis and challenger Cal Cunningham is critical to Democrats who hope to win back the Senate and may use Tillis’ deciding Supreme Court vote to rouse the support to do so. (See page 10 for staff writer Pat Moran’s thoughts on the race after three debates between the two.)
Mecklenburg Board County Commissioners (BOCC)
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CAL CUNNINGHAM PHOTO BY GRAYSON BARRETTE
(R)
Governor: Roy Cooper (D) vs. Dan Forest
Gov. Roy Cooper has found himself in as tough a spot as a politician can find themselves during the pandemic, with people either pissed that he isn’t fully reopening the state or claiming that he’s
U.S. House of Representatives District
pushing to fully reopen the state but refusing to controversial Puckett still has a knack for hyperbole. 9: Dan Bishop (R) vs. Cynthia Wallace (D) wear a mask and encouraging his followers to do Bishop is no stranger to controversy. As the the same. BOCC District 3: George Dunlap (D) vs. author of the notorious HB2 law and winner of the Friday Paul Okure (R) never-ending 2018-19 District 9 race that ended in Lieutenant Governor: Mark Robinson Dunlap has served five terms on the BOCC and charges for Republican operatives and two failed (R) vs. Yvonne Lewis Holley (D) currently serves as the chair. Okure is a Nigerian bids by Democratic Dan McCready, Bishop wears his Robinson has caught flak for Facebook posts immigrant who is big on Christianity and says infamy like a well-fitting jacket. Challenger Wallace in which he claimed that systemic racism doesn’t he’s running on “governmental responsibility and led Democratic efforts throughout McCready’s exist, climate change isn’t real, and former President accountability, family values, human dignity, double campaign, so she’s no stranger to this fight. Barack Obama is a “worthless, anti-American protection of the unborn children, and the Let’s just hope it only takes one vote this time. atheist,” but the sentiment seems right celebrated uniqueness and distinctions between on par with talking points from his man and woman.” Oh boy. running mate Dan Forest.
BOCC District 5: Matthew Ridenhour of (R) vs. Laura Meier (D)
Like Puckett, Ridenhour is back to fight for the seat he lost in 2018. The difference here is that he is not challenging the person who took his seat two years ago; Democrat Susan Harden is not running for reelection. New candidate Laura Meier is co-founder of the Charlotte Women’s March and prioritizes “excellent, safe schools, first-class mental health services, green spaces, and affordable housing for all, including our teachers, firefighters, and other public servants.”
Leigh Altman will fill Trevor Fuller’s at-large seat, as she and incumbents Pat Cotham and Ella Scarborough are the only ones running for three available seats. There will technically be no losers here, and the top votegetter is no longer guaranteed the chair position, but who doesn’t love a good popularity contest? There are also three contested races taking place as Republicans try to break back into a 9-0 BOCC District 6: Susan RodriguezDemocrat majority. McDowell (D) vs. Joel Levy (R) Along with Powell winning north Mecklenburg BOCC District 1: Elaine Powell (D) vs. towns like Cornelius, Huntersville and Davidson, Jim Puckett (R) Rodriguez-McDowell’s win in south Mecklenburg Powell beat out Puckett in 2018, and though the towns like Matthews, Pineville and Mint Hill was a former commissioner had been exploring a run at big upset for incumbent Bill James. Now attorney Joel Lieutenant Governor or Commissioner of Labor, he Levy is running on an anti-crime and homelessness cited the “recent irrational and indefensible actions platform to try to get the seat back to the Republicans.
JOSH STEIN
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSH STEIN
N.C. Attorney General: Josh Stein (D) vs. Jim O’Neill (R)
O’Neill is a three-term AG out in Forsyth County, looking to move up in the world as he challenges Stein, who was sworn in alongside Gov. Cooper in 2017.
N.C. Secretary of State: Elaine Marshall State Auditor: Beth Wood (D) vs. MCDC District 1: Kimberly Best (D) vs. (D) vs. E.C. Sykes (R) Anthony Street (R) Pat Finn (R)
Mecklenburg County Superior Court Marshall has held the seat now for 24 years and Four-term incumbent Wood faces a challenger Best has sat on the Mecklenburg County District shows no signs of giving it up now to newcomer with a troubled past who describes himself as a Court bench for 12 years. Her challenger Finn has District 26: Casey Viser (R) vs. Alicia Brooks (D) Sykes, who’s running on a shrink-the-government fiscal, moral and social conservative. experience as an assistant district attorney in N.C. State Senate District 37: Jeff Jackson platform. Catawba County and on the defense side in private (D) vs. Sonja Nichols (R) and Jeff Scott (L) N.C. Commissioner of Insurance: Mike practice.
N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture: Causey (R) vs. Wayne Goodwin (D) Steve Troxler (R) vs. Jenna Wadsworth (D) Former insurance commish and current head of
N.C. State Senate District 38: Mujtaba
MCDC District 9: Rex Marvel (D) vs. Mohammed (D) vs. Jack Brosch (R) The young TikTok-adept Wadsworth has brought the state Democratic Party Goodwin wants his seat Sunny Panyanouvong-Rubeck (R)
fresh blood into a race that’s not been much of a race at all in recent years, as Troxler has held the seat for 15 years and enjoys the support of some of the state’s more powerful farming lobbies. While Wadsworth is passionate about progressive issues like climate change and marijuana legalization, this race is important for the simple fact that these folks oversee the inspection of our food.
N.C. Commissioner of Labor: Jessica Holmes (D) vs. Josh Dobson (R)
Everyone knew Cherie Berry, who served as the labor commissioner since 2000 and put her name and picture in every elevator. Name recognition aside, she was pretty awful on workers’ rights. It will be interesting to see how her replacement does. A complaint filed on Oct. 5 claims Dobson received more than $90,000 in government payments for housing, meals, and travel since 2017 for expenses he never incurred because he used campaign funds to pay for them.
State Treasurer: Dale Folwell (R) vs. Ronnie Chatterji (D)
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Who would you trust with holding $100 billion of your money for safekeeping? Challenger Chatterji is an economist and professor of business and public policy at Duke University and a former economic adviser to President Obama.
N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction: Jen Mangrum (D) vs. Catherine Truitt (R)
Mangrum applauded Gov. Cooper’s school reopening plan, while Truitt wanted more freedom of choice for individual districts.
back, and is going up against incumbent Causey, Judging by names alone, this is the best race on N.C. State Senate District 39: Joshua Niday who’s doubled the amount of fraud and abuse the ballot. Appointed by Gov. Cooper, Marvel works (R) vs. DeAndrea Salvador (D) investigators in the Department of Insurance since in Family and Domestic Court, while also holding taking office. down a job teaching legal research and writing at N.C. State Senate District 40: Joyce CPCC. Challenger Panyanouvong-Rubeck is a Laotian Waddell (D) vs. Bobbie Shields (R) North Carolina Supreme Court Chief refugee who began her legal career as an intern Justice: Cheri Beasley (D) vs. Paul Newby with the Mecklenburg County Public Defender’s N.C. State Senate District 41: Natasha Office in 2009. (R) Marcus (D) vs. Christopher Cole (R) Beasley was at the forefront of the fight against Referenda (For Charlotte residents COVID-19 this year, putting a halt to evictions N.C. State House District 88: Mary Belk (D) only) and making other proactive decisions in a rapidly vs. David Tondreau (R) evolving situation. Appointed by Gov. Cooper, she’s running her first campaign now against a challenger Housing Bond: Funding from this $50-million N.C. State House District 92: Terry Brown who’s no newbie; he’s served on the N.C. Supreme bond would go to affordable housing projects such Jr. (D) vs. Jerry Munden (R) Court for 16 years. as the Tall Oaks redevelopment; renovation and expansion at the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte; and N.C. State House District 98: Christy Clark Mecklenburg County District Court finally opening the $17-million, 112-unit affordable (D) vs. John R. Bradford III (R) (MCDC): Thanks to a challenge in the courts housing Centra Square development in the Belmont N.C. State House District 99: Nasif Majeed about the courts, folks will vote for all 12 districts neighborhood. (D) vs. Russell Rowe (R) in this year’s district court races, but only two are Neighborhood Improvement Bond: contested. Those are as follows. This $44.5 million bond would aim to improve N.C. State House District 100: John Autry infrastructure in established neighborhoods that (D) vs. Kalle Thompson (R) are showing signs of distress and emerging highgrowth areas in need of connectivity. N.C. State House District 101: Carolyn Logan (D) vs. Steve Mauney (R) Transportation Bond: This bond is worth N.C. State House District 102: Becky $102.7 million and would go toward improving Carney (D) vs. Kyle Kirby (R) walkability and pedestrian safety, street and intersection projects, improved Americans with N.C. State House District 103: Rachel Hunt Disabilities Act infrastructure, and repairs and construction of bridges, sidewalks and bike (D) vs. Bill Brawley (R) paths. This includes a collection of projects on N.C. State House District 104: Brandon the northeast corridor, on Bryant Farms Road in south Charlotte and Idlewild and Monroe roads in Lofton (D) vs. Don Pomeroy (R) southeast Charlotte. N.C. State House District 105: Wesley Visit tinyurl.com/FindMeckDistrict to see which Harris (D) vs. Amy Bynum (R) district you’re voting in for the following races. N.C. State House District 107: Kelly Incumbents are listed first where applicable. Alexander (D) vs. Richard Rivette (R) RONNIE CHATTERJI
PHOTO COURTESY OF RONNIE CHATTERJI
RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM
NEWS & OPINION FEATURE
KEEPING A ‘FRAGILE DEMOCRACY’ TOGETHER
New book tells of struggle for voting rights in North Carolina
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BY PAMELA GRUNDY
In the fall of 1936, Franklin Roosevelt was running for his second term as president, and Elizabeth Randolph could not wait to vote. The young schoolteacher, who would go on to a long, distinguished career in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, had just started teaching in rural Rutherford County, west of Shelby. “I was just all excited,” she explained many years later. “I said, ‘Oh I’m going to get a chance to vote for President Roosevelt.’” She was in for a rude surprise. “When I talked about it at school, the teachers were saying ‘You’re going to do what?’” she continued. “I said ‘I’m going to vote for President Roosevelt.’ They said ‘You aren’t going to vote for anybody. They don’t let Black people vote up here.’” “Well, I didn’t believe them so I went to register. They would not allow me to register and told me that I could not vote, that they could not allow Black people to vote.” Legally, Rutherford County officials could not block Randolph from voting simply because she was Black. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1870, made that clear: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” But the elite white men who dominated North Carolina politics had devised a way around that mandate: a strategically applied “literacy test” that allowed them to suppress Black voters and thus control state government for most of the 20th century. Voting restrictions such as literacy tests have historically been justified by the claim that only certain people “deserve” to participate in democracy. As Triangle-area professors James Leloudis and Bob
Korstad ably document in their new book, Fragile days later by the Wilmington Massacre, in which an Democracy: The Struggle over Race and Voting Rights armed group of white supremacists overthrew the in North Carolina (UNC Press, 2020) arguments over city’s elected government in the only coup d’etat in who “deserves” to vote are closely tied to struggles American history. over whose interests government should serve. Once back in power, wealthy whites pushed Early in U.S. history, restrictions were economic through an amendment to the state constitution — most states limited full political participation to that included the statement: “Every person men who owned significant amounts of property. presenting himself for [voter] registration shall As a result, both state and national governments be able to read and write any section of the remained in the hands of small groups of wealthy Constitution in the English language.” Although the white men who used government to support their amendment did not mention race, the local officials own political and economic interests. responsible for enforcing it gave easy tests to whites Expanding democracy jeopardized that and far more difficult tests to Blacks. Black voting endeavor. After the Civil War, for example, North levels plummeted. In 1903, for example, African Carolina’s white elites sought to resurrect their Americans made up 39% of Charlotte’s population, fortunes and reshape but only 2% of their defeated registered voters. state by using Elites bolstered government to help the idea of white expand commercial supremacy by agriculture and erecting an elaborate promote industrial web of discriminatory growth. The Black “Jim Crow” laws that voters who had not only kept African emerged from Americans separate slavery threatened and unequal but also this hold on power. promoted an illusion Following of white solidarity Emancipation, that discouraged African Americans white workers from moved straight into challenging the racial politics, eager to or economic status challenge racial and quo. economic privilege “Most Americans through measures — certainly most such as funding for white Americans public schools, caps — think of Jim on interest rates, Crow simply as ‘FRAGILE DEMOCRACY’ WAS RELEASED IN SEPTEMBER. and strong support an expression for voting rights. of prejudice and When Black folks joined forces with like-minded discrimination,” Korstad and Leloudis write. “But it whites — the cotton mill workers and small-scale was much more than that: Jim Crow was a system farmers who were getting the short end of the stick of power and plunder that concentrated wealth and in the South’s economic reconfiguration — the opportunity in the hands of the few and mobilized combination created a transformative political force. racial animosity in defense of that accumulation.” One such alliance formed in the 1890s — This new order did not go unchallenged. a “Fusion” coalition that won control of state African Americans watched and waited, seizing government in 1896. White elites lashed back with opportunities where they could. In 1920, when a violent white supremacy campaign that sought to women won the right to vote, a well-organized break the Black-white alliance by smearing African group of Black women showed up to register at Americans as foolish, vicious, and dangerous — courthouses across the state, taking local officials especially where white women were concerned. by surprise. Heartened by the New Deal, thousands In 1898 that campaign won white elites a of other Black North Carolinians registered to vote, narrow victory, a dominance underscored a few especially in the state’s larger cities.
In 1947, newly unionized tobacco workers in Winston-Salem helped elect Kenneth Williams to the city’s Board of Alderman, making him the state’s first Black elected official since the 1890s. More tentatively, liberal whites such as UNC President Frank Porter Graham began to advocate for improving opportunities for African Americans and working-class whites. Defenders of the status quo pushed back, most dramatically in 1950, when Frank Porter Graham and conservative lawyer Willis Smith contended for a Senate seat. Graham was well ahead until a group of Smith supporters, which included future Senator Jesse Helms, launched an updated version of the white supremacy campaign, claiming that the federal government was on the verge of taking jobs from white workers and giving them to Blacks. “White People Wake Up Before It’s Too Late!” one campaign flyer read. “Frank Graham Favors Mingling of the Races.” Smith won. As the civil rights movement unfolded, racial struggle also produced a dramatic shift in party loyalty. The hard work of civil rights activists built Black voting strength and solidified Black ties to the Democratic Party. In response, Jesse Helms led an exodus of “New Right” white conservatives from the Democrats to the Republicans. North Carolina’s Democratic Party, once the domain of white elites, became the party of white liberals and African Americans. The Republican Party, once the party of Abraham Lincoln, became a stronghold of white conservatives. This new political era saw less violence and fewer overt appeals to white supremacy. But efforts to preserve old hierarchies continued. A series of legislative maneuvers ensured that rural counties would maintain their outsized influence in the legislature, at the expense of the rapidly growing cities of the Piedmont region. In a contentious Senate race between Jesse Helms and Black Charlottean Harvey Gantt, Helms set white against Black workers with an ad that featured a white man’s hands crumpling a job rejection letter. “You needed that job and you were the best qualified,” the ad stated. “But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota.” Once again, the strategy worked. Fragile Democracy extends into the present, detailing the past decade of efforts by the Republican-dominated North Carolina General Assembly to minimize Black voting strength and magnify the power of white conservatives. One such endeavor was House Bill 589, which carried on the old tradition of limiting who could vote.
NEWS & OPINION HB 589 required voters to present a stateapproved piece of identification before voting, reduced opportunities for early voting, and allowed counties to reduce the number of early voting sites and the hours they would be open. Although it never mentioned race, a court decision would later conclude that the bill targeted Black voters “with almost surgical precision.” These efforts were cloaked by the old implication Democracy needs our help, that only certain people “deserved” to vote — that and your vote is just the North Carolina residents who had trouble obtaining beginning the required identification or reaching a far-off polling place simply lacked the initiative required of BY RHIANNON FIONN responsible citizens. At base, HB 589 also had the same, old goal — As we close out “The Suffragist” — can you protecting the powerful. believe it’s been a year already?! — I want to thank you for delving into the history of the women’s suffrage movement and our current voting process with us. As we’ve discovered, our right to vote is not something we should take for granted. Many people fought long and hard, some suffering and dying, so we can vote today. Maybe you’ve already voted by mail, like I have. Or maybe you’re planning to vote in person during early voting, from Oct. 15-31, or on Election Day, Nov. 3. However you vote, just make it happen, and make it happen as soon as possible, both to avoid the lines and, if our president has his way, dodge whatever shenanigans his radical sycophants are planning to pull at the polls. (Note: Per state law, only certain individuals are allowed inside the polls.) Finally, JAMES LELOUDIS (LEFT) AND ROBERT KORSTAD and I can’t believe I must say this: Only vote once PHOTO BY JACQUELYN DOWD HALL because voting twice is a felony. “Republican lawmakers did not seek to Then, I beg you, please don’t stop your civic disenfranchise Black and Hispanic voters simply engagement with voting. Consider becoming more because of their skin color,” Korstad and Leloudis involved in our democracy because it needs you to write. “They understood that those voters are — care more than ever. Perhaps it’s too soon to make now, as in the past — crucial to the formation of this plea, since we’ve all been through so much progressive alliances that cut across racial, ethnic, already and the final days of Election 2020 seem set and class divisions and promote an expansive vision to be absolutely cray cray, but since this is my last of what democracy looks like . . . The problem on chance to appeal to you through this column, I must Election Day is not that these people will commit plant the seed. voter fraud but that they will use the ballot box I realize it may be overwhelming to try to figure and the machinery of government to make claims out where you fit into the big picture right now, but against the private hoarding of wealth and privilege.” at least think about it because your contribution History matters. Elections matter. Read the matters. If you want change, sometimes you’ve got book. Cast your vote. to push for it from the inside.
THE SUFFRAGIST
Pg. 9 OCT 7 - OCT 20, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
IT DOESN’T END WITH VOTING
INFO@QCNERVE.COM
Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg Board of County Commission. You can do that online even when we’re not enmeshed in a global pandemic. And there are local journalists who live-tweet the meetings too, like The Charlotte Observer’s local government reporter Alison Kuznitz, who does such an excellent job you can literally read the meetings on your phone. If you’ve got a scheduling conflict, there’s no reason why you can’t catch up on the meetings at your leisure via the city’s website (charlottenc.gov), where you can find agendas, audio and video from city council meetings dating back to 2006. So if there’s a particular topic that you’d like to focus on, use the search bar to find what our city’s elected leaders have done about it historically, and that way when you sign up to speak during the city council’s public forums, held the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m., you can show up armed with facts. You can register to speak at county commission meetings, too. Local elected officials are not mind readers, so speak up! (Or email them if public speaking makes you queasy.) I encourage you to spend time on both the city and county websites to learn about how your government works for you and how you can serve our community. Sign up for email alerts. Sign up to volunteer for county or city boards and commissions focused on numerous topics from environmental stewardship to domestic violence to budgetary issues and everything in between. If you’re not sure where you’d like to begin, start by connecting with local branches of political parties. Perhaps you’ll find your path to civic engagement through them.
Tune in to state government Just as you can sign up for email alerts from city and county government, you can also tune into our state government in the same way. Spend some time on NCLeg.gov looking up your representatives and the bills they propose, sponsor and vote on. Find out when the next session begins and how you can listen in real time. Many nonprofit groups have lobby days in which Tune in to local government There are many ways to become more involved. they take a field trip to Raleigh and spend time with A good place to start is to tune into meetings of the their legislators educating them on whatever the topic du jour is. I’m not being sassy when I say that
legislators aren’t all knowing; sometimes they need someone like you to show up in their office — or to call or send a letter — to educate them. Let them know your expectations. There are too many state agencies to list here, but if you’d like to get involved at the state level consider your interests, then learn about the agencies that regulate those interests. There are all sorts of boards and commissions, public meetings and other ways to get involved and help shape the decisions being made that affect your life. Galvanize! Whatever you do, don’t allow this one election — this critically important and draining election — get you down. Instead, use all of this angst as fuel to make our little corner of the world a better place. If COVID-19 has taught us anything it may be this: Our actions, or inactions, can have major effects on our fellow citizens. Never doubt that your vote, your voice and your contributions are important. Please, take some time after you vote and once we make it through the counting process, which might take a little longer than we’re used to, to get some rest. But also spend time reflecting on how you can help push our society forward in a way that is meaningful to you. The time for assuming “they” have got things covered is long over, because “they” clearly only have their own backs. The time for revamping our political system, our institutions and our willingness to focus on “we” instead of only “me” is here. INFO@QCNERVE.COM
Register to vote, then, if you want to vote with an absentee ballot via mail, request your ballot. The deadline to register is Oct. 9 (unless you register at an early voting site), and the deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 27. Your absentee ballot must be postmarked — not mailed, postmarked — by Election Day to be counted. Though, please return your absentee ballot as quickly as you’re able. You can drop it off at the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections office if you don’t want to mail it.
NEWS & OPINION OP-ED
DO THE DEBATES MATTER?
A presidency on the precipice, a nation on the brink
Pg. 10 OCT 7 - OCT 20, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
BY PAT MORAN
Within hours of the conclusion of the third and final debate between Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and his Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, the debates suddenly seemed obsolete, a quaint vestige of Democracy outstripped by the onrush of events. Within two days, Tillis tested positive for the coronavirus, Cunningham was caught in a “sexting” scandal (quotes because the texts were more flirtatious than anything), President Trump had checked into Walter Reed hospital after contracting COVID-19, and the virus had swept through the Republican Party after a ceremony for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett turned into a super-spreader circle jerk. It’s an almost biblical string of disasters, fraught with irony: Plague and pestilence is presided over by an afflicted president who had previously called the virus a hoax while deriding safety measures like masks and social distancing. Throw in the fire and brimstone of the forest conflagrations out west, and you have an apocalyptic trifecta. So did the three Tillis v. Cunningham debates beginning on Sept. 14 and concluding on Oct. 1 even matter in this whiplash-inducing political environment? The answer is yes, because unlike the Proud Boys’ masturbatory fantasy of the first, and most likely only, presidential debate, these three matchups told voters exactly where the two major parties stand in a time of sustained crisis. Remember that this contest is vitally important, not just for North Carolina’s future but for the country’s as well. A Cunningham win could give Democrats control of the Senate, which a Biden administration will need if it hopes to turn campaign promises into policy. Starting with the first debate, each candidate painted their opponent as a party apparatchik, a rubber-stamping yes man. Tillis claimed
Cunningham supported the Green New Deal, defunding the police and Medicare for All — scary “socialist” policies that would acknowledge climate change, police brutality and the fact that 11.3% of North Carolina’s population do not have health insurance. Tillis’ charges proved untrue. Cunningham presented himself as a moderate who opposes parts of the Green New Deal, supports strengthening the Affordable Care Act and wants police departments held accountable for their actions. Cunningham came closer to hitting a bullseye when he criticized Tillis’ refusal to expand Medicaid in North Carolina while voting repeatedly in the Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Both of these charges are true. Throughout all three debates, Cunningham painted Tillis as an example of systemic corruption and big-money influence that is crippling the government’s ability to function. Cunningham’s claims were on target. Tillis ranked first in Congress for 2019 campaign donations from political action committees tied to drug corporations, and he has opposed his own party’s proposal to bring drug costs down. Tillis claimed that Cunningham was an opportunist who would say anything to get elected, but Cunningham’s supposed opportunism came across more as accepting nuance. When asked in the first debate, held at Raleigh TV station WRAL, why he opposed a Republican COVID-19 relief package that was defeated by a 5247 vote, he said it didn’t go far enough to help the people of North Carolina. When debate moderator David Crabtree asked why the Democrats didn’t accept a stripped down relief plan instead of nothing, Cunningham patiently explained that bills frequently come to the Senate dead on arrival. Each party shoots for more than they want, so that Republicans and Democrats are forced to compromise to pass legislation. (That democratic process no longer happens with Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell in charge of the chamber. He simply refuses to bring bills to the floor for debate.) Here the mainstream media debate moderators seemed to be carrying water for the Republican Party. It fell to Cunningham to explain how a bill becomes a law to a professional journalist who should be familiar with the process. Similarly, in the second debate, held at CBS 17’s Raleigh studio, an opening montage included shots of demonstrations to depict the issue of police
brutality and overreach, but the narrator’s voiceover cast the issue as “keeping streets safe.” One of the starkest differences between the two candidates concerned the use of force to stifle protest. Chillingly, Tillis said he fully supports Trump’s recommendation to use federal forces to quell demonstrations in American cities. Cunningham, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve, opposed the plan. “Our troops are trained to fight and win the nation’s wars, and the American people are not the enemy,” Cunningham said. Over the course of the three debates, Tillis gradually walked back his support of voting rights. In the first debate, he advocated vote-by-mail, saying he had cast his ballot that way himself. But then Tillis seemed to be parroting unfounded claims by Trump when he made a distinction between “good” voting by mail (North Carolina’s cumbersome absentee ballet system, which requires a witness to sign) and bad voting-by-mail (when blue states like Washington mail ballots to every registered voter). By the third debate, Tillis was voicing concerns about changes the North Carolina State Board of Elections had unanimously approved that would make it easier for people to fix their ballots while granting an extension for ballots to arrive after Election Day. But the biggest difference between the candidates and their parties emerged in the first debate when the candidates were asked about health care. Cunningham told the story of cancer survivor Bev Veals of Carolina Beach, who called Tillis’ office because she was worried about losing her health insurance. An office staffer told Veals she would have to figure out her problems herself, likening acquiring health insurance to shopping for a dress shirt. He essentially told Veals to drop dead. Tillis replied that the staffer had been disciplined, but not fired. When it came time to outline the Republican health-care plan, it became apparent why the staffer was still on Tillis’ payroll; the callous employee was simply telling the truth. Tillis backtracked to the rejected Republican COVID-19 relief package, saying it would have addressed the needs of uninsured people by simply putting them back to work. “The more people we get back to work, the more people go back to the health care they like from their jobs,” he said.
That’s it. That’s the entire Republican heath-care policy. After the Republicans successfully strike down the Affordable Care Act in the U.S. Supreme Court, people will be free to go back to work in a teetering economy with record unemployment. Once they’re back at those jobs, many of which no longer exist, they can risk their health amid a second wave of coronavirus, projected to be more deadly than the first. The self-employed, or people who work for employers who do not provide health insurance plans, will be faced with the choice many of them had before the ACA was passed — untreated illness or medical bankruptcy. “Sen. Tillis is standing here on this stage tonight attacking my position because he has none,” Cunningham said, summing up the Republican Party’s policy. The revelation takes on a bitter irony, because conservative politicians and officials like Tillis and Trump are getting access to the best taxpayer-funded health care after getting infected at a tightly packed, mostly mask-fee ceremony for a Supreme Court nominee who will almost certainly vote to overturn the ACA. That Sept. 26 Rose Garden gathering was a celebration of Republicans’ imminent denial of basic health care for the rest of us. It’s right to extend well wishes to anyone afflicted with COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also call out the Republican Party for acting like soulless bastards. With pundits pondering what might happen should Trump die, the future of America hangs in the balance. Staged photo ops showing the president doing official paperwork failed to stifle talk about presidential succession, especially after a close inspection of the photos revealed that Trump was signing blank pieces of paper with a sharpie. Even the video of him leaving the hospital was not convincing, as he looked to be gasping for air. Given the grave threat to Americans’ access to affordable health care should the Republicans prevail, it’s quite likely that by next week few will remember that Cunningham texted anybody anything. But Cunningham’s three debates with Tillis have provided a vital public service. They have given even the most jaded and cynical viewers a laser-sharp look at what’s at stake in November’s election. One political party is committed to putting out our national dumpster fire, the other is content to watch it burn. INFO@QCNERVE.COM
We’re kind of opening, kind of not, so not all of these are virtual events as we were highlighting at the beginning of the lockdown, but plenty are. COVID is still going strong, so party at your own risk. SOUL FOOD SESSIONS
What: Soul Food Sessions, the Charlotte nonprofit dedicated to acknowledging and supporting people of color in the culinary arts and hospitality industry, is back. The founding members, who last worked together on a dinner at the James Beard House in New York City in September 2019, headline a dinner and block party at Camp North End. The event features two distinct dining experiences, including an intimate dinner (with social distancing) and an outdoor block party. The SFS chefs, a mixologist and a guest chef will collaborate to create a multicourse dinner at Leah & Louise. Simultaneously, the outdoor block party features stations with dishes from chefs Daryl Cooper and Oscar Johnson of Jimmy Pearls, chef Brandon Stanton of Bao Down, pastry chef Jasmine Macon of Leah & Louise and chef Anthony Denning of Another!? Food Truck. More: Block party: $65, dinner: $85, both: $125; Oct. 18, 5:30 p.m. at The Mount at Camp North End, 7 p.m. at Leah & Louise, 1824 Statesville Ave.; tinyurl.com/SoulFoodSesh
ON TAP LIVE @ NODA
Pg. 11 OCT 7 - OCT 20, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
What: The Charlotte Symphony’s On Tap series presents concerts in NoDa Brewing Company’s beer garden. These intimate orchestra experiences can be enjoyed in-person or streamed live from your own living room. Each concert features a different chamber group comprised of Charlotte Symphony musicians performing works by a diverse range of composers from Haydn and Jacques Ibert, to Amy Beach and Florence. The Oct. 20 concert is still being finalized, but the Oct. 6 show featured top-flight musicians like flautist Victor Wang, clarinetist Taylor Marino and basoonist Olivia Oh. More: In-person: $15, live-stream, $10; Oct. 20, 7 p.m.; NoDa Brewing, 2921 N Tryon St.; charlottesymphony.org/ontap/
characters that reminds us of better, albeit seedier, movies like Frank Henenlotter’s 1982 grindshow horror flick Basket Case. With all dialog screamed at ear-splitting volume, and a one-damn-thingafter-another plot line ripped off from a 1930’s Little Rascals short called Mama’s Little Pirate, this Steven Spielberg production is incomprehensible, but it certainly isn’t dull. More: $25 per car; Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Central Square; 1322 Central Ave.; tinyurl.com/CentralSquareGoons
MINI-CAMP: PASSPORT TO WIZARDRY SCHOOL
What: Theatre magic brews as students mix their potions and search for fantastic beasts! Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s new week-long mini-camps provide a resource for families looking for creative solutions this school year. Combining supervised time for school curriculum and fun theatre activities led by teaching artists, these camps take your students to places they wouldn’t dream possible. Each week explores a new theme. Camps include flexible drop-off as early as 7:30 a.m., supervised independent schoolwork opportunities, educational group activities and casual movie screenings during pick-up as late as 5:30 p.m. More: $70 a day, $28 a week, Oct. 12-16, 7:30 a.m.; Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, 300 E 7th St.; ctcharlotte.org/online/
CATALYST: DANNY GLOVER
What: In response to the pandemic, Levine Museum of the New South launches this year’s CataLysT fundraiser in a virtual edition with a presentation by actor, director and activist Danny Glover. A highly sought-after public speaker, Glover passionately champions education, equity, and social justice while illuminating how the arts can lead the way for community activism around the world. Expect a compelling, thought-provoking virtual discussion DRIVE IN NIGHT: ‘THE GOONIES’ between Glover and Levine Museum’s staff historian, What: The Plaza Midwood neighborhood hosts a Dr. Willie Griffin. safe tailgate drive-in located in a big-ass parking More: $150-175; Oct. 17, 7 p.m.; lot in the middle of the neighborhood. As for the museumofthenewsouth.org/catalyst2020 1985 kid caper The Goonies, we’ve long since made our peace with the inexplicable popularity of this overstuffed and overproduced monstrosity. There is literally a hunchbacked monster in the cast of
OPEN STUDIO SATURDAY
What: Make time for art and creativity with the McColl Center’s virtually re-imagined Open Studio Saturday. You’ll get to take part in two hands-on experiences, wherever you are, with supplies McColl provides. Pick up your free Open Studio Saturday kit at McColl Center on Oct. 16-17, noon-6 p.m., until supplies last. With “Mini-Sculptures,” you’ll mold mini air-drying sculptures with local ceramics artist Grace Stott. Learning how to work with the beginner-friendly medium, Model Magic, you’ll explore techniques for mixing colors and adding playful details to make your own realistic or abstract creations. Best for ages 5 and up. With “Hanging Mobiles,” you’ll construct a hanging cascade of household objects with local artist Blaine Hurdle, learning to bend wire into tiers and create levels that, together, will form a basic kinetic mobile sculpture. Best for ages 10 and up. More: Free; Oct. 17, mccollcenter.org
PHILLIP HOWE: THE CLASSICS OF CHOPIN MEET THE WORLD OF JAZZ
tunes that tackle subjects like raising a family in an uncertain world and a stinging yet rollicking commentary on the music industry, “Satan Take The Wheel.” Since shutting down his acclaimed band Noises 10, Charlotte native Jason Scavone has producing hundreds of artists at Charlotte’s Sioux Sioux Studios, released a debut solo album Finding Today and collaborated with Grammy Awardwinning Americana star Brandi Carlile. More: Donations accepted; Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m.; facebook.com/eveningmuseclt/live
UNMASKED: KNOW YOUR VOTE
What: The third installment of the Unmasked voting series will detail the significance of the offices up for election this November. This virtual discussion will review the North Carolina ballot in its entirety, highlighting the impact of local offices, with particular focus on the three referenda on the ballot. Going beyond the legalese, city representatives from each of the referendums’ respective departments will explain what is being proposed in more general language, as well as the ramifications if these bonds were to be passed. The discussion will be accompanied by voter guide resources with information on each of the ballot’s candidates. By including the voices of city leaders past and present, the discussion offers insight into the influence these offices have on our everyday lives, in hopes of fostering a nuanced understanding of the ballot, and thus an informed vote. More: Free; Oct. 13, 7 p.m.; ganttcenter.org
What: After starting his musical journey at the age of four, Charlotte area pianist, saxophonist, and trumpeter Phillip Howe has constantly pushed his quest for a further understanding of music. After 10 years of classical piano study, he shifted his horizons toward jazz. After years of showing up to the weekly jazz jam session at the Double Door Inn, Howe is now drawing inspiration from the classical masters, this time through the lens of an improviser. He’s accompanied by Al Sergel on drums, Ron Brendle on TOBY MAC bass, and Troy Conn on guitar. More: $30; Oct. 16, 9:15 p.m.; Middle C Jazz, 300 S. What: Toby McKeehan, better known as Christian alternative artist and rapper Toby Mac, first made Brevard St.; middlecjazz.com a splash with Grammy-winning, platinum-selling A MUSE BENEFIT: MICHAEL FLYNN & Christian pop group DC Talk before going solo in 2001 with Momentum. That album’s blend of hipJASON SCAVONE hop, rock, rap, pop, and R&B, set the template for What: Singer-songwriter Michael Flynn, the Contemporary Christian hitmaker. Subsequent celebrating the release of his new album Survive releases have not strayed far from McKeehan’s With Me, teams up with longtime friend and upbeat, earnest, and spiritually charged radio-ready Charlotte native Scavone for an evening of music hip-hop and EDM-influenced pop confections. and laughs. Boasting a musical mix that Flynn More: $100-175 per car; Oct. 11, 6:30 p.m.; describes as Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me” Hounds Drive-In, 114 Raven Circle, Kings Mountain; meets Lord of the Flies, Survive With Me offers jaunty houndsdrivein.com love songs laced with anxiety about climate change,
ARTS FEATURE
WHAT DO YOU WISH TO SAY? UNC Charlotte exhibit empowers free speech
Pg. 12 OCT 7 - OCT 20, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
BY PAT MORAN
You might see the messages as you’re driving into Uptown from the University City area, or driving north on I-85, or rounding the I-277 loop. “I wish to say … please represent all Americans,” reads one billboard. “I wish to say … make healthcare affordable,” says another. If you happened to be on UNC Charlotte’s campus back in March, before the world came to a screeching halt, you may have seen Sheryl Oring, dressed like a 1960s secretary, tapping out dictation from passing students and university personnel on an old fashioned typewriter. Those messages eventually made it to the aforementioned billboards, and now they’re being featured as the core of I Wish to Say, a mix of performance, public service and art exhibit that gives average Americans the chance to deliver their thoughts and concerns to the Oval Office. Oring is an artist, educator and former journalist who devised the I Wish to Say project in 2004. Since then, she has been setting up in public spaces around the country and asking passersby if they want to dictate a postcard to the president. This year, in the midst of a rancorous and wildly unpredictable campaign, Oring has made a few tweaks to the interviews she conducts. “I’m framing it so people are writing to the next president,” Oring says. “I’m trying to make it less political, and more idealistic.” The ongoing project has come to Charlotte in two successive stages. In March, right before COVID-19 changed the way the world operates, Oring set up shop in her vintage secretary’s costume on UNC-Charlotte’s campus for the performance piece, soliciting responses from passersby and
typing up their answers on postcards. Prints made from those postcards have become the core of Oring’s exhibit, which opened to the public at the university’s Projective Eye Gallery on Oct.1. With help from UNC Charlotte’s Director of Galleries Adam Justice, I Wish to Say acquired a new wrinkle, exclusive to Charlotte. Sixteen of the postcard’s messages are currently being displayed on five digital billboards throughout Charlotte. Pulling this multipronged project together has been a challenge, complicated by the fact that all interviews after March had to be conducted virtually on Zoom. Once Oring’s artistic canvassing and transcription is complete, she’ll gather up all the postcards she’s collected and send them to the White House following the inauguration. It’s a massive undertaking that she juggles with her day job as professor and chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
A Case of Writer’s Block
In a roundabout way, Oring’s project — a confluence of journalism, art and education — began in Berlin, she says. She was working at the San Francisco Chronicle as an editor when she was accepted for an Arthur F. Burns fellowship for journalists in Berlin, Germany. The two-month long fellowship turned into a sixmonth leave from The Chronicle, at the end of which she decided not to go back.
of typewriters fused to a cage made of rusted metal rebar (pictured above). “I placed them on the site of the Nazi book burning,” Oring says. “It was a pretty ambitious undertaking.” After six years in Berlin, Oring came back to the states to exhibit her work in New York and Boston. She was invited to San Francisco by The First Amendment Project, a group of lawyers that support constitutional rights for journalists, to talk about the knotty logistics of displaying and transporting Writer’s Block to the Bay Area. As an aside, she was asked if she had another idea that might be easier to present. With that, I Wish to Say sprang to life, but its seeds had already been sewn in Europe. In September 2001, Oring was traveling and showing her art in Europe when two passenger planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. She witnessed an outpouring of empathy for Americans gradually curdle into incomprehension and anger as the Bush administration blundered into senseless and unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I got a lot of questions from Europeans about what regular Americans thought,” Oring remembers. Europeans wondered if all Americans thought alike and supported President Bush’s ham-fisted wars of choice. The questions prompted Oring to think regular people are rarely represented in the news. She brought that line of inquiry back with her to America. “I felt so disconnected from this country because I’d been away for six years,” Oring says. “I had this idea — a sort of person-in-the-street interview but with a twist.”
Inspired by a Secretary, Becoming a Teacher
DESPITE ALL MY RAGE... PHOTO BY KAY HERSCHELMANN
She had fallen in love with Berlin, so she quit her job and dove into the city’s art world. In the course of a year, Oring collected over 600 old-fashioned manual typewriters and devised a sculptural project called Writer’s Block, comprised
The twist was Oring’s secretary costume and her old fashioned typewriter. The same kind she’d utilized for Writer’s Block, the typewriter is a tribute to her career as a journalist. The costume was inspired by Oring’s grandmother, who had always gone well-dressed to her job as a university secretary. Central Station, a 1998 Brazilian drama about a woman who types other people’s letters for a living, also contributed to Oring’s characterization for I Wish to Say.
After a show at a San Francisco café, and another one at an Oakland arts space, I Wish to Say took off. Oring spent the election year of 2004 traversing the country and typing people’s postcards to thenPresident George W. Bush. As the project drew more and more media attention, Oring started getting grant funding. “It just kept evolving and now has continued over the years,” Oring says. “I’ve typically gotten very busy during election years.” During that time, Oring also pursued a career in academia. In 2008 she went back to graduate school at the University of California, San Diego. She earned an MFA in art and took a teaching job at UNC Greensboro. After eight years there, she decamped for Wayne State in the fall of 2019. Conducting the I Wish to Say project is now part of Oring’s job as an academic artist, and she even published a book about it. Activating Democracy: The “I Wish to Say” Project was released by the University of Chicago Press and Intellect Books in the fall of 2016.
The Charlotte Show Comes Together as COVID Arrives
To set up the Charlotte show last spring, Oring first connected with Justice. The two have been discussing bringing the project to UNC Charlotte for about a year and a half, he says. “I find Sheryl’s work very democratic and … and sensitive to this idea that not all voices are equal, and also not all Americans share the same perspective,” Justice offers. Justice joined Oring in developing both the performance and exhibition stages of the project. He says the participation of the UNC Charlotte students is a particularly attractive and synergistic aspect of the project. “We were directing students to have their voices heard, [and] that helped create the content of the exhibition.” The on-campus interviews and transcriptions were done on the cusp of COVID-19, Oring remembers. There had been no announcement of anything shutting down yet, she says, but there was a sense that it was imminent. Oring says she had sanitizer on her typewriting desk, but no one was wearing face masks yet. The severity of the pandemic didn’t sink in for her until she boarded a flight from Charlotte to Detroit. Everybody was sanitizing the seats, she remembers. “It just felt like people were nervous,” she offers. “It all just changed overnight.” The Charlotte interviews were the last ones
ARTS FEATURE
one as they’re traveling north on the interstate and “I felt a deep responsibility to share it because approaching exit 43 at University City Boulevard, or I’ve encountered experiences with suicide on the south going into Uptown. campuses where I’ve worked, and I felt like it’s such conducted in-person, right before the virus closed The other three billboards are closer to the a taboo subject that nobody talks about it when it everything down, Oring says. Now she works Uptown area, Justice says. There are two along the happens,” she says. “It was not dealt with in a way virtually, collaborating with a crew of typists who I-277 loop and another one on I-85 coming into that I felt was helpful for the students.” interview people through a series of Zoom calls. Uptown from the south. Now as a department head and academic Oring says the interviews she’s leader, Oring feels been conducting are a reflection of compelled to say what’s happening in the country. it’s long past time She cites the composition of the to start talking Supreme Court, and Justice Ruth Bader about the topic Ginsburg’s death, as an example. and acknowledge But sometimes personal issues what is happening come up. Oring relates that she was on campuses across just reading some cards that she typed the country. earlier this year and found one that Sadly, with was particularly poignant from an current tensions Iranian student who wrote that she and rising felt trapped in the U.S. uncertainty, Oring “She couldn’t leave or she would feels suicide will lose her visa, and she hadn’t seen become an even her family for five years,” Oring says, bigger issue in the I WISH TO SAY IS CURRENTLY SHOWING AT UNCC’S PROJECTIVE EYE GALLERY illustrating how personal stories can near future. PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN often reflect larger issues. That’s not the
upcoming election. “The biggest thing is making sure we can pull off a fair and accurate election,” Oring says, a message that resonates as Nov. 3 draws nearer. With the Trump administration casting doubt on the validity of the vote and calling on white supremacist followers to police the polling places, an explosive stand-off between democracy and authoritarianism seems more and more likely. Given Oring’s staunch support of the First Amendment, she’s also concerned about the diminishing vitality of the press in America. Oring offers North Carolina, with so many communities lacking a strong and an independent news source, as a perfect example of her thesis. “We’ve lost so many journalists and so many newspapers, and so much balance [due to] the decline of the industry,” Oring says. “We’re missing investigative journalism and the time, money and dedication that it takes to do things that are a check and balance to the government. It’s a problem for democracy.” PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM
“I’m glad we did it,” Justice offers. “It has only grave issue facing our fractious and fragile definitely impacted the exhibition and helped get it democracy, Oring says. There’s much at stake in the The most innovative aspect of the Charlotte out to people who haven’t visited the gallery.” iteration of I Wish to Say is the addition of billboards to augment the gallery show. Private Messages “I always wanted to do billboards with some Those who venture to the Projective Eye Gallery quotes from the postcards,” Oring says. “It seems like at UNC Charlotte Center City in Uptown, also called a great format to present the art and messages in a the DuBois Center, will do so safely, Justice says. different way.” Masks are required, sanitizer will be on hand She told Justice her idea and he quickly came and occupancy is limited to 10 people during the on board to make it happen. Justice feels the gallery’s hours of operation, which are Monday, billboards are an effective way to make the work Wednesday and Friday from 8:30a.m. to 5 p.m., and -Offering Whole Family Dentistry & Oral Surgery specialty care on an extended schedule more accessible to the general public by allowing Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30a.m. to 2 p.m. -Locally owned 7am-7pm and select Saturdays interviewees’ words to have a bigger life beyond the The exhibit includes prints of the postcards, Projective Eye Gallery walls. photos of the billboards and on one wall, the fruits Getting the postcard messages out into the of Word of the Day, another project Oring undertook community would also help offset any loss of foot concurrent with I Wish to Say. traffic to the gallery engendered by the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, she started typing Fortunately, the university had a longstanding a word each day, as a kind of snapshot trying to and positive relationship with Charlotte-based capture the mood of the period from last April to Adams Outdoor Advertising, the largest privately June. held outdoor advertising firm in the U.S., which “It was … a private reflection, but I also posted also supports the Charlotte-born arts organization it on Instagram,” Oring offers. “So, I had this tension ArtPop Street Gallery. No Insurance? No Problem! Ask about our in-house Dental Savings Plan between public and private.” Justice met with an Adams representative, and Her last message in the series was perhaps the www.StellarDentalCLT.com they jumped at the chance to extend the reach of I most private of all. Oring typed “suicide,” to mark the Wish to Say throughout Charlotte. anniversary of the day her brother took his own life. University Noda Two of the digital billboards are located along She says she thought long and hard before posting 9010 Glenwater Drive 2100 North Davidson I-85 heading toward the university. Travelers can spy that word on Instagram.
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MUSIC FEATURE
DYLAN GILBERT’S VISION QUEST
Hectorina frontman premieres visual album ‘I’ll be the Lakebed’
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BY PAT MORAN
In early 2017, singer/songwriter Dylan Gilbert was at a crossroads. For the past few years, he’d poured his focus and energy into his genre-bending art punk band Hectorina, but he was feeling the pull to do a solo side project that reflected our times. He didn’t want to be just another angry white guy strumming an acoustic guitar and shouting, however. “I wanted to do … something that had its own momentum, its own life, a different kind of feel,” Gilbert says. With his tenth solo album, I’ll Be the Lakebed, he accomplishes those goals and so much more. The 40-minute album, which premiered at qcnerve.com on Oct. 2, combines each of Gilbert’s 10 new compositions with an accompanying video in a kind of visual record. It traces Gilbert’s personal journey to find balance in today’s fractious world, but does it in such a way that Gilbert’s vision quest resonates with viewers and listeners. Entwining personal and universal strands is not the only instance of opposites attracting in I’ll Be the Lakebed. It’s Gilbert’s first electronic album, but it’s grounded in organic sounds. Gilbert’s songs are coupled with diverse videos where eight different directors bring their own visions to the tunes, yet each video aligns seamlessly with Gilbert’s central concept that our peace of mind is invaded by our obsession with technology and our news feeds. I’ll Be the Lakebed is a solo project, but it draws inspiration from collaboration. Its music is a complex blend of genres and techniques, but it can also be simple. “I was going for how much can I do with a whole lot less, with a lot of space and a very minimalist attitude about it,” Gilbert says. The seeds for I’ll Be the Lakebed started germinating in November and December 2016 when Gilbert began a residency at Goodyear Arts,
where he created an interactive sound installation called The Forest. Inspired by the poetry, plays and dance performances going on around him, Gilbert decided he wanted to incorporate performance art into the live shows that were going to accompany his forthcoming solo album. But the conceptual stage shows never happened. Dylan canceled his solo tour this year when COVID-19 swept through America, shutting down performance venues. But instead of entirely scrapping the visual portion of the aborted I’ll Be the Lakebed tour; Gilbert and his collaborators rolled their scenic experimentation into a series of videos. “We said, there’s not going to be a tour or anything, so why don’t we just keep making videos,” Gilbert offers. Gilbert’s stagecraft has now been fed into a visual album that can nourish music and theater fans until live performances return. It’s perhaps the most important of the weave of complimentary contradictions that characterize I’ll Be the Lakebed.
DYLAN GILBERT, ALWAYS THE PERFORMER.
“I was where I could spin this as its own world,” Gilbert says. “It’s not just a record. It expands out into its own little universe, instead of just being a collection of songs.” Before video could be added, Gilbert first had to compose and record the songs. In keeping with the project’s cutting edge yet minimalist approach, recording and production was for the most part mobile. Gilbert drew on his experience recording a mixtape called Sweet Sweet Utopia Baby on his
cellphone then piecing it together on the phone’s GarageBand app. “That was a liberating experience,” Gilbert offers. “I didn’t have to pay for studio time. I could go out and meet my friends and we could record right there.” With that in mind, Gilbert recorded some of the new project by phone, and some of it just sitting in bed in his pajamas at his laptop. Still more material was cut at Goodyear Art’s rehearsal room. “It’s this big open brick and concrete room,” Gilbert offers. “Many times, in this process, I would go back there with a couple of beers, blast music really loud and record in the middle of the night.” As much as he loved the DIY aesthetic, at the end of the recording process Gilbert had over 30 tracks, and he was tasked with narrowing it down. “I thought it would be great to have another set of ears,” Gilbert says. His criteria was that he wanted someone he had never worked with before who was also adept at electronic music. Justin Aswell was the first name that came up, Gilbert says. In fact, it was
“I talked to each individual director about this idea of [the] natural and organic, whether it was a nature trail, water or a beautiful sky,” Gilbert says, “and how these little pleasures of our real life are obstructed by these digital things that are happening.”
The Songs
With dulcet tones and the glitchy image of Gilbert singing emotively on an old school black and white TV, “Stacked Howls” opens the album. Gilbert says he feels the song is one of a handful of tracks on the record that play like prayers or meditations. Gilbert says his vocals were influenced by the soaring, almost sacred singing of Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis, who passed away last year. “I did [the performance] without any sort of loop or metronome,” Gilbert offers. The tune was an organic performance, he says, that tapped into the concept of leaving space in a composition. “Stacked Howls” was also the first video made for the project. The shoot kicked off in March when quarantine first began. With his partner Sarah Ingel running camera, the pair shot footage of Gilbert singing. Then he recruited his friend Toby Shearer to direct the video. Shearer subsequently edited the entire project, including all 10 videos, together. “[Toby] wrangled with it and created something completely beautiful,” Gilbert says. “I teared up when I first saw it.” The initial spark for the album’s second tune, the electro swamp blues “Moving Forward,” reaches back furthest in time, Gilbert maintains. He had recorded a demo drum pattern years ago and didn’t know what to do with it. “It’s a bare bones track,” Gilbert says, “a kick drum and a snare and a little bit of bass winding around. That’s pretty much it.” For a director to complement the strippeddown track, Gilbert called on one of his oldest PHOTO BY AMY HERMAN friends, Jordan Parker Hoban. “We ended up shooting hours of footage all over the only name on his list. the place — in fields, forests and Goodyear,” Gilbert With Aswell on board as co-producer, and the remembers. “We had this surplus of footage.” first of the project’s many collaborators, Gilbert Hoban took the raw footage and zeroed in on toiled to whip the songs into shape. a single uninterrupted take of Gilbert performing “I got a fresh perspective from Justin,” Gilbert the song. The shot became the bedrock of the video, says. Gilbert says, which is otherwise dominated by dark Then Gilbert dove into the process of producing digital shapes. videos for I’ll Be the Lakebed. Drawing directors from “Arlington Hotel,” directed by Jeremy Arrington, a pool of familiar friends or challenging himself takes the rock ‘n’ roll cliché of the road song and by picking strangers, Gilbert decided how best to turns it on its head. illustrate his 10-song cycle. Instead of footage of rockers hitting the
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MUSIC FEATURE highway, Arrington shows viewers a landscape of sea and marshes, colorized with psychedelic hues. “I thought it was more appropriate to do a band-on-the-road song [without showing] the band,” Gilbert says. He did not know Arrington well when they jumped into the project together, but Gilbert maintains that he wanted to work with somebody he didn’t know so he could get an outsider’s perspective. “Jeremy is a little more experimental,” Gilbert offers. “I love his idea of natural and beautiful visuals that are being distorted and warped. He took that idea and came up with something incredible for us.” The song that follows, “Boneyard,” hits viewers and listeners like a punch in the gut. Clad in an oversized blue suit, Gilbert steps slowly and unsteadily across cracked blacktop like a shell-shocked man navigating a mine field. As a whirring siren, like an electric drill, punctuates a thudding zombie stomp, Gilbert’s slurred guttural street preacher vocals match the unsettling visuals. “The flag’s always at half-mast now/I don’t know why.” Gilbert says the song’s opening is drawn from personal observation. “Driving around for a good year or so, it felt like every flag was at half-mast,” he says. “I couldn’t keep up with it — this tragedy or that tragedy or this school shooting or that crime.” While he was workshopping the song, Gilbert ripped out newspaper headlines from each week’s papers and shouted them out. “I don’t have to imagine horrible things that are happening. They are happening every day,” Gilbert says of the song’s harrowing lyrics. He offers that the 2016 Charlotte Uprising, sparked by the police killing of Keith Lamont Scott, inspired the song. Gilbert was giving a friend a ride home at the time, and they started talking about Justin Carr, a 26-year-old man that CMPD officers say was shot and killed by a fellow protesters in Uptown. Though Raymond Borum was tried and convicted for the killing, many folks in the crowd that night maintain that the police fired the shot that took Carr’s life. “My friend said something along the lines of, ‘I’ll never be able to trust our local government again because I saw the cops kill that person,’” Gilbert says. To illustrate someone going from a zen state to panic, Gilbert and director Reuben Bloom had
developed a highly conceptual idea with several different shots. They even planned to use a wind machine. But with the sun going down and light fading, the two decided they liked a crumbling patch of blacktop surrounding a flagpole flying the stars and stripes, so they decided to do a pickup shot there and have fun with it. “It ended up being the only footage that we really liked,” Gilbert says. “[People are] essentially tranquil but we’re still terrified about what’s happening,” Gilbert says of the song’s and video’s message. He offers that he likes how the tune shifts the record’s dynamics; a few quiet meditative tunes are followed by frightening ones. It was one of the fastest songs written for the record. The beleaguered American flag continues to fly in the stark piano-led tone poem “New Prayer” which follows. “Again, I was thinking about how much can I do with almost nothing,” Gilbert says of the track that reunited him with Hoban. The song is so minimal that the prominent piano is not even a piano. It’s actually Gilbert tapping on his laptop keyboard and using various effects to make the laptop sound like a piano. Hoban manipulated the flag footage so that it morphs into abstract and suggestive shapes, like faces emerging from a campfire. “Good News” brings back Gilbert’s blue-suited character from “Boneyard,” but this time the protagonist is played by Ingel, who also directs. As she watches a TV, Ingel performs a slow, abstract dance in front of a blue curtain that suggests a pensive and serene counterpart to the red room in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. “Sarah and I are painfully nerdy about David Lynch,” Gilbert offers. He says the sleek and soulful sounds of Motown artists like Marvin Gaye also influenced the tune and its accompanying visuals, which were shot in a backyard garden shed. “We thought it would be cool to slowly zoom into this pocket universe where … the ‘Boneyard’ character is less angry and a little more emotional.” The lyrics sound sweetly optimistic, but couplets like, “Ice caps refreezing/War ending across our planet” are not news at all, Gilbert says, but a beautiful dream. “What’s so sad about it is that it’s very much out of reach.” Bloom returns with his wife Kathleen to direct the video for “Scrolling.”
The Blooms, who run a production company called Basic Cable, had strung together visual elements for the album, including blue sky, clouds and ocean waves. Sifting through the footage, Gilbert was struck by the image of a kitschy framed waterfall lamp hanging on a red wall. It turns out that Reuben had bought the lamp at a thrift store and was displaying it in his home. As a result, the video for “Scrolling” may be the most minimal of the project’s handful of minimalist visuals. The camera slowly pushes into the framed waterfall lamp as the song’s lyrics scroll across the screen like in a karaoke stream. As coils of rebounding guitar snake through the tune’s dubstep pop, Gilbert sings about scrolling through the news feed on his phone. It’s a topic that came up from talking with other artists about how much time they were spending on their phones, Gilbert says. “How much time am I spending trying to get my social media engaged and active, promoting an event, or my work?” Gilbert queries. “Most creative people I know would love to go off-grid and live in the woods to make their art. But everybody is on their phones right now.” Speaking of artists going off grid into the woods, director Dennissa Young’s dance performance in the “Untethered” video depicts exactly that. In a bucolic forest littered with pink technological artifacts like phones and laptops, a pink-suited Young follows a ritualistic choreography strikingly similar to dance moves made by Gilbert and Ingel in I’ll Be the Lakebed’s other videos. It’s serendipity, says Gilbert. He explains that Young had been developing a project, previewed in her Ladyfest performance at Goodyear Arts early this year, that tapped into imagery and performances that are in sync with Gilbert’s vision. He says Young had more autonomy that the other I’ll Be the Lakebed directors. “Dennissa took this and ran with it,” Gilbert says. “She had her own team, her own cinematographer, Josiah Blevins, and her own wardrobe crew.” The music for “Untethered” supports the disconnected quality of the visuals. Gilbert found an old drum loop, and then warped, stretched and reverberated it beyond recognition. “It’s a completely different rhythm over the top of what was there originally,” Gilbert offers. “It’s unfettered to the beat, unfettered to the key of the song, [and] very free floating. The video for “Epochs,” directed by Ingel, returns to the water imagery and Gilbert’s blue suit, although now the pants have been replaced
with cut-offs as Gilberts submerges himself in a swimming pool. The baptism parallel is intentional, he says. “It’s the same character from ‘Boneyard,’ but he’s burned out and exhausted,” Gilbert says. For the music, he turned to the “take your notebook, chop it up and rearrange it” methodology of dada. The approach makes the tune lighter than others on the album, Gilbert offers, because it’s a little scatterbrained. “[The song] feels like a proper ending, because it has a little bit of the ambient qualities from some of the more prayer-like tracks,” Gilbert maintains. “But it has the big drums and scary monster vocals that link it to “Boneyard.” I think it’s the best combination of all the [album’s] ideas in one single track.” If “Epochs” is culmination, then the final song on the album, “Adrift,” is coda. When Gilbert met with director Kadey Ballard and videographer Matt Cosper, a husband-and-wife duo who are both members of experimental theater troupe XOXO, he told them the song related to the Frank Capra film It’s a Wonderful Life. The blue-suited character’s journey is at the same point reached by George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1946 cinema classic. He’s at the end of his rope and at the very last minute he realizes maybe he’s been on the right track all along. Maybe he had to slog through the shit in order to attain enlightenment and a kind of peace. Ballard and Cosper came back with a beautiful compendium of nature footage, shot in a raw DIY style. The music, combined with the elemental montage of sea, storms and clouds represents letting go, Gilbert says. But it’s not saying, “Fuck it,” he offers. It’s coming to acceptance. “Adrift” is the hard-won tranquil end point to the often perilous journey depicted by I’ll Be the Lakebed in both sound and vision. In a world shot through with racism, unrest, economic stress, rising authoritarianism and climate change, it’s a personal process Gilbert had to undertake himself. “I wanted to make a piece of art that talks about the time period that we’re living in, but in a way that portrays hope and humility,” he says. “Maybe whenever somebody listens to the record in full, they can feel that trajectory.” PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM
FOOD & DRINK FEATURE
FOOD TO FALL FOR
A preview of the most intriguing items added to local menus this autumn
Inspired by Asian fusion cuisine, the Tallarín Saltado is a stir-fry dish designed by Peruvian founder Chef Bruno Machiavello that uses authentic ingredients combined with Asian influences, a style of food called Chifa. Check out Viva Chicken’s ode to fall at one of their four locations in Charlotte: Waverly, Ballantyne, Elizabeth and Park Road.
Wooden Robot Samoa Donut Good Morning Vietnam: Blonde ale brewed with locally roasted Ethiopian coffee beans from Enderly Coffee Roasters and Madagascar vanilla beans
Cocktails
Lincoln’s Haberdashery Brown Buttered Maple Latte Black Sesame Caramel Latte Lincoln’s Haberdashery in South End answers the question: What if you could have it all? Along with coffee, guests can grab to-go beer, handmade bread, or food off their lunch and breakfast menus. They’ve created a cozy atmosphere perfect for sipping on a warm latte and pretending to be productive while you people-watch from 6 feet apart. Lincoln’s Haberdashery is located in Factory South at 1300 South Blvd. and is open Monday through Friday 7 a.m.-5 p.m. and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Coffee & Espresso
Dot Dot Dot North Carolina Apple Cider: Old Forester single barrel bourbon, topo spiced rum, apple cider, fall The second the weather drops below 80 degrees syrup, and lemon in Charlotte, it can only mean one thing: fall of 2020 If you’re looking for a way to stay warm this fall, is here — or at least our idea of it. It may not be Dot Dot Dot owner and mixologist Stefan Huebner sweater weather just yet, but the mood still calls for has you covered with the newest addition to the sopumpkin, apple cider, and any kind of local comfort called speakeasy’s seasonal cocktail menu. food you can cozy up with. Here The Prohibition-style dining room and are some standout seasonal craft cocktail bar are open Thursday through menu changes from Charlotte Saturday from 5-11 p.m. Make sure to hunt for restaurants, breweries, bars the Dot Dot Dot logo from the back lot of Park and bakeries hitting menus this Road Shopping Center at 4237 Park Road. fall. Reservations and walk-ins are welcomed, Undercurrent Black Forest Latte: Espresso, a house-made dark though reservations are encouraged Brunch due to current capacity restrictions. chocolate sauce with a hint of cherry and spice, your choice of milk, and a cherry on top. Easy Like Sunday Beer Releases Undercurrent currently has two locations: in Pumpkin pancakes served Plaza Midwood across from Common Market at with maple cinnamon butter Noda Brewing 2012 Commonwealth Avenue and in Optimist Hall and candied pecans. Gordgeous: Pumpkin ale brewed with at 1115 N. Brevard St. Both coffee bars offer an array My idea for the perfect allspice, cardamom, cloves and freshly of espresso drinks, loose-leaf teas, and pastries. autumn brunch is double shaved whole ginger root Stop in at their Plaza location Monday through fisting pumpkin pancakes and PHOTO BY JONATHAN COOPER EL BEAUX AT LEAH & LOUISE Roaring Riot: Rye Pale Ale brewed with Friday 7 a.m.-5 p.m. and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday a pumpkin chai latte from Easy rye malt and Sunday. While you wander the stalls of Optimist Like Sunday. This brunch spot Viva Chicken Hall to grab your caffeine fix every day 8 a.m.-5 p.m. opened its doors in the ParkTowne Village across from Tallarín Saltado: sauteed chicken breast, red Sycamore Brewing Park Road Shopping Center in February. They are Pumpkin Latte Blonde: Blonde ale brewed with Seasonal Pastries & Fall pepper, Aji pepper slices, red onion, tomato slices, located at 1600 E. Woodlawn Road, in suite #100, and fresh spices, real vanilla, and house-roasted coffee Flavors are open for takeout and inside dining Wednesday linguine, soy sauce, ginger and green onion. through Sunday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Suarez Bakery Pumpkin Spice cupcake topped with cream Lunch & Dinner cheese icing and dusted with pumpkin spice. Fall is in full swing in the form of a cupcake Leah & Louise at Suarez Bakery. It goes without saying that El Beaux: Pork shank cajun boudin pumpkin spice is the quintessential addition breading in chicken skin, corn butter, to any seasonal menu. Suarez Bakery offers sun-dried tomato gravy and a pickled online ordering and curbside pickup at 4245 okra chow-chow made in-house. Park Road for indulging in all of your pastry Full disclosure: I’ve held a needs. Stop by Monday through Saturday from serving job at Leah & Louise since it opened in March, so I’m comfortable TALLARIN SALTADO AT VIVA CHICKEN PHOTO COURTESY OF BLACK WEDNESDAY 9 a.m.-5 p.m. or Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. BY LEA BEKELE
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recommending the right menu items here in print, as I would if you were to come to the restaurant and ask me. Traditionally, boudin features pork liver and/or pork heart along with scraps of pork meat from just about any part of the hog combined with vegetables such as onions, celery and bell peppers, plus cooked rice to produce the filling. Chef Greg Collier opted for using pork shank, a.k.a pig elbow, to bring the newest dish for this Memphis-style juke joint to fruition. Leah & Louise is located in Camp North End at 301 Camp Road and is open for dine-in and takeout on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5-10 p.m, and 6-10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. They welcome walk-ins every Wednesday and Thursday evening. Planning to come during the weekend? Make sure to make a reservation first via Resy.
FOOD & DRINK FEATURE
recognition they deserve. Pepperbox Donuts opened their first brick-and-mortar location in South End last year and specialize in creating yeastraised, sometimes vegan donuts that are the perfect Pepperbox Donuts balance of light, airy, and savory. Olive Oil & Tangerine donut; Apple Fritter; Pepperbox is located at 1010 W. Worthington Cinnamon Maple Bourbon donut; Malted Maple Ave., Suite 150, and is open Sunday toThursday 7a.m.Twist; Blueberry Pancake donut 4 p.m. and 7 a.m.-9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Hot-baked take: Maple donuts don’t get the
Sunflour Baking Company Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pie; Apple Turnovers; Sweet Potato Cranberry Muffins; Assorted French Macarons, including Apple Pie, Créme Brulee, Pumpkin Pumpkin spice, apple pie, and sweet potato — that’s like a fall triple threat. The familyowned bakery offers a selection of traditional and gluten-free pastries, coffee, and sandwiches for dine-in, takeout, or delivery. Sunflour Baking Company is open daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Get your sweet tooth fix at one of their three bakeries in Charlotte: Ballantyne, Elizabeth and Dilworth.
Stay tuned to qcnerve.com as this piece will be updated as necessary throughout the fall. LBEKELE@QCNERVE.COM
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BLACK FOREST LATTE AT UNDERCURRENT
PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON
Charlotte’s Favorite Gift Shop for Over 30 Years! 330 East Boulevard, Charlotte NC 704-333-7130
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PUMPKIN SPICE CUPCAKE PHOTO COURTESY OF SUAREZ BAKERY
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LIFESTYLE PUZZLES
LIFESTYLE PUZZLES SUDOKU
BY LINDA THISTLE
PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE. ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.
TRIVIA TEST BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ
1. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Where was the ancient kingdom of Numidia located? 2. LANGUAGE: What is the opposite of the word convex? 3. GEOGRAPHY: In which body of water is the island of St. Vincent found? 4. COMICS: What was the name of Superman’s pet monkey? 5. HISTORY: Who was the king of England at the time of the American Revolution? 6. LITERATURE: Which 20th-century novel featured a character called Atticus Finch? 7. MEDICAL TERMS: What does the term “idiopathic” mean in diagnosis of a condition? 8. U.S. STATES: Which state’s resident might be nicknamed a Jayhawker? 9. GAMES: How much money does each player start with in the board game Monopoly? 10. AD SLOGANS: Which auto company adopted the slogan “Fahrvergnugen”?
CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Snagged gold, silver or bronze 8 One phoning 14 Away from the shore 20 Typically 21 Get dressed 22 “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper 23 Nation south of Chad 26 Money unit of Japan 27 -- Grande 28 Jekyll’s other side 29 Gotten on one’s feet 30 Health facility 33 Showiness 35 Many people born in August 37 Popular hangover remedy 47 Hullabaloos 48 Noel hanging 49 Bylaw, for short 50 Revered Fr. woman 51 Bro’s sib 54 Part of a roof 55 Slop over 57 Like short tykes 63 Stylist’s stuff 64 Blue Ribbon brewer 65 Prefix with compliance 66 Almost certainly, in legal cases 77 -- tai 78 1985 Kate Nelligan film 79 Past 80 1973 #1 hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips 90 PC letters 91 17th state 92 Pince- -- (gripping glasses) 93 City in south Germany 94 Zippo
95 Shower units 97 Like Mali’s desert 101 School with the Bearcats 107 Pal of Garfield 108 Neck-to-waist area 109 Sigh of relief 110 Ravioli, e.g. 113 Bellicose Greek god 117 Regular grind 118 Undecided, on a sched. 121 Pilot’s guess 128 Used a razor 129 Blue-purple 130 Truckers’ medium 131 Nobelist “Mother” 132 Some waste conduits 133 Apt word formed by this puzzle’s missing letters DOWN 1 Bro 2 Suffix with Peking 3 Ex-veep Quayle 4 Too-too 5 Draw in 6 Personal flair 7 Pop singer Lana -- Rey 8 Make corrupt 9 Sudden raid 10 Mogul Onassis 11 Scotland’s Ness, e.g. 12 PayPal’s parent, once 13 Rip up 14 Hail, mainly 15 “Sure can!” 16 Ninth-century emperor called “the Pious” 17 Priestly robes 18 Giza’s river
19 Injure gravely 24 Foot curve 25 Pertains 30 Mu -- shrimp 31 Soft food for infants 32 Smog soils it 33 UFO pilots 34 Common job for 99-Down 36 Numerical suffix 38 Wooing gift 39 Solemn vow 40 Liberated, in Germany 41 Kinnear of “Sabrina” 42 Rip up 43 “-- Nagila” 44 Outing 45 Bark of pain 46 Stare at creepily 51 -- -Pei 52 “Let -- known ...” 53 Ex-Cub Sammy 55 Foot coverer 56 Duck locale 57 Old CIA foe 58 Previously named 59 Actor Ron in a loincloth 60 College transcript no. 61 Perplexed 62 Skit show since ‘75 67 Upscale hotel chain 68 Toe part 69 Use a trowel 70 Actor Ken 71 Hawaii’s bird 72 Animated bug film 73 Life sketch, for short 74 Scull, e.g. 75 Fleece-lined boot brand
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PG.18 PUZZLE ANSWERS
ONE TOO MANY ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.
76 “Sk8er --” (Avril Lavigne hit) 80 Clickable list 81 “Sign me up” 82 Artist Salvador 83 Position of stressful responsibility 84 Like some spicy food 85 Slope 86 -- -poly 87 Tex-Mex dip, informally 88 K thru 12 89 Gulf nation 95 -- Lanka 96 Boozing sort 97 -- -cone 98 Protein-making stuff 99 Car club inits. 100 Utmost degree 102 Like many a prayer candle 103 Mingo player on “Daniel Boone” 104 Past 105 Oil or vinegar bottles 106 What “:” means in analogies 110 Irksome type 111 Racket-raising Arthur 112 Nova, e.g. 114 Gives it some gas 115 Falco with four Emmys 116 Store away 118 Classic perfume brand 119 “I’m c-c-cold” 120 “I smell --!” 122 Tooth doctor’s org. 123 Land in eau 124 Govt. media monitor 125 Boise’s state: Abbr. 126 Roman 7 127 EarthLink or MSN rival
LIFESTYLE COLUMN
THE SEEKER WHAT’S IN THE CARDS?
An oracle card reading helps me look inward
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BY KATIE GRANT
If I were to go back and brand the decades of my life, my thirties would appropriately be titled “Confused but seeking clarity.” Even after crossing the threshold of my mid-thirties, I’m no less adrift. But perhaps as they say, not all who wander are lost. I recently noticed that Charlottean LeAnne “Little Big Thunder” Feliciano, owner of Sacred Wild Woman, offers virtual intuitive readings with oracle cards — a type of divination tool. According to Astrology Answers, “Divination tools can help you to understand yourself and get a glimpse of what’s yet to come in your future. These tools can be used to find out information that isn’t readily obtainable by the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.” LeAnne is a certified master hypnotherapist, certified shamanic practitioner from Otter Dance School of Earth Medicine, integrative healing arts practitioner from Southwest Institute of Healing Arts and has a degree in Occupational Psychology. She uses these skills, along with knowledge gained from her continued, relentless personal development work to help her clients regain their personal power and rekindle their inner light. What I really want to ask her is: “Can you please just fix me?” Often feeling misaligned and confused on “my path”, an Oracle Card reading will hopefully provide clarity around some existential question patterns: Do I want children? What do I want to be when I grow up? Realizing my oracle card experience was more or less non-existent (yoga teachers sometimes reference them when “theming” a class) I booked a 30-minute weekend session with LeAnne. The first card drawn during the reading is “Renewal of Peace”, which I view as a wake-up call. According to the card pulled from the Nature’s Whispers deck, “It is important to maintain peace with all aspects of your life, mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. Inner imbalances can often manifest in your daily life if you don’t make time to take care of yourself.” Viewing quarantine as a time of self-reflection, I’m starting to understand why I always feel annoyed with work. In my tiny world, annoyance is the antithesis of peace. The thief of bliss. I used the “Renewal of Peace” card to dig a little deeper. Feelings associated with annoyance
are worry, powerlessness, past trauma and grief. In other words, I’ve got some inner work to do! When I first met my husband, I was brazenly upfront with not wanting children. However, as I get older I find myself revisiting this resolve often — a paradox I’m learning isn’t uncommon. Am I making the right choice to not have children? Will Future Me regret this decision? Am I destined to live a life of loneliness and destitution? Armed with so many dramatic questions no one can answer for me, a little metaphysical help along the journey inward is always a welcomed friend. During my reading, LeAnne helps me uncover that I might just be bored. A new adventure sounds promising, but an 18-year minimum commitment to a human may not be the best choice at the moment. I can seek my “Renewal of Peace” elsewhere, like my upcoming vacation out west. Sounds much more affordable, too! The next card I pulled was “Clear Out the Old.” This message resonates deeply from a work perspective. In my experience, personnel turnover at work leads to fear of the unknown: Will I like my new boss? Will
departmental restructuring pile more tasks on my plate? As I contemplate these questions, I see these worries as completely rational. I hereby resolve that my upcoming vacation is a reset. I intend to use my time away to “Clear Out the Old” worrisome thought patterns and return to the office anew. I vow to meet workspace turmoil with grit and grace — two characteristics that have carried me thus far. The final card LeAnne pulls during our session is “Shift Your Energy.” I translate this message as “I’m a Negative Nancy and the creator of my own problems.” Remember those feelings of general annoyance I mentioned? A lot of it has to do with personal boundaries being crossed. But that’s the catch — these intangible boundaries have only been constructed by my ego. An institution of my own design. As we conclude our oracle card session, I gather by my own note taking that I’m somewhat of a shithead human with a lot of room for growth — like acreage of raw, untapped land. And upon reflection of my first official oracle card reading, I even view this modality as a type of therapy — an unbiased third party which prompts me to take a deeper look inward. I’ll be the first one to admit the labyrinth of life is complicated, and honestly, it can be difficult to navigate alone. Embracing oracle cards can help us tap into our inner intuition, especially when we may just need a bit of divine guidance. After all, don’t the answers we seek already reside within us? INFO@QCNERVE.COM
By Lucie Winborne • Along with henna, old-fashioned hair dye ingredients included the blood of black cows and crushed tadpoles in warm oil. • While filming “Jailhouse Rock” in 1957, Elvis Presley inhaled his tooth cap as he slid down a pole in the opening dance number. It lodged in his lung and required surgical removal, but aside from a little hoarseness for a few days, the King made a fairly easy recovery. • Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter getting stuck to the roof of your mouth. • That little white paper strip coming out of the top of Hershey’s Kisses is called a plume and was originally introduced by the company to distinguish the product from phony knock-off candies. • The popular kids’ game “Operation” was invented by John Spinello, a sophomore at the University of Illinois in 1962, as part of a class assignment. Sadly, he only made $500 off the game after selling the prototype. • By the way, in case you’ve ever wondered, the “patient” in “Operation” is named Cavity Sam. • “Gigi” author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette could only write after she had plucked all the fleas off her cat. • Many inventions and discoveries have come about through the medium of dreams, including the alternating current generator, the sewing machine, Google, the periodic table and DNA’s double helix spiral form. • If you had to pick a “standard” pencil color, you’d probably think of a yellow-gold shade — and that’s no accident. When pencils went into mass production in the 1890s, the finest available graphite fillings came from China. Manufacturers wanted everyone to know that they used only the best Chinese graphite, so they painted their pencils yellow, the traditional color of Chinese royalty. *** Thought for the Day: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. © 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.
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LIFESTYLE
HOROSCOPE OCTOBER 7 - OCTOBER 13
OCTOBER 14 - OCTOBER 20
ARIES (March 21 to April 19) A workplace change LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Trying to ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your moodier side LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A suggestion
doesn’t seem to have turned out quite as you’d hoped. Never mind: Just treat yourself to a healthy dollop of that Aries self-confidence, and you’ll soon view things differently.
resolve a workplace problem with a longtime associate can be difficult. Consider bringing in an impartial third party to help you both reach a mutually acceptable solution.
might emerge this week. But the dark period should pass in time for the party-loving Lamb to go on a happy gambol with some very special people this weekend.
about a policy change could create heated reactions. Keep your mind open and resist joining in with naysayers unless they can show a real basis for their position.
TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Some of the support SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) This is a TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Yet again, you show you might have hoped for in a difficult situation good time to assess your current career situation. your skill at being able to indulge in your love of might not be there. But you have the strength to Consider whether you have a chance to move up the arts this week while still taking care of practical rely on your own capabilities if you must. Good luck. where you are now, or if you should look elsewhere. matters, including some still-unfinished business matters.
SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) While potential career changes warrant your interest, don’t ignore current job responsibilities. A personal relationship also can benefit from more of your attention.
GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A disagreement with SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21)
a longtime friend can be painful, but it also can be a With education being a dominant part of this week’s GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A potential change learning lesson. Insist on a full and complete airing aspect, one of the things you might want to think might appear to be what you’ve been looking for. of views. You’ll both come away the better for it. about is taking courses to enhance your career In any event, consider both the negative as well as opportunities. the positive possibilities before making any sort of decision. CANCER (June 21 to July 22) A stalled relationship can be restarted with some give and take on both CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) You sides. And while it could take more time than you might have a problem trying to stay focused on a CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Relationships expect, don’t rush it. Be patient, and let it happen matter you’d rather not deal with. But the sooner continue to dominate your aspect this week on a naturally. you do, the sooner it will be resolved and out of the mostly positive level, with just a few problem areas you can smooth over. Also, try to be flexible about way. travel plans. LEO (July 23 to August 22) An opportunity to move
a long-stalled project from concept to construction AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) An might be opening up for the Big Cat. Meanwhile, be unforeseen complication creates a difficult problem. LEO (July 23 to August 22) You love being on center prepared to spend more time dealing with family But things get resolved once you use your ability to stage, and while you absolutely purr at the sound of matters. turn negative situations into positive experiences. all that praise, be careful not to take on too many commitments at the expense of time spent with VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Use your PISCES (February 19 to March 20) The Pisces loved ones.
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Virgo organizational skills to line up support to help you deal with a sticky workplace problem. A personal matter also might be helped with friendly intervention.
penchant for doing the right thing at the right time helps you deal with a particularly troublesome VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) You might situation. Consider your best option, and act feel that you need to get involved in a matter accordingly. concerning a friend or relative. But while the issues appear to be cut and dried, they might not be. Get more facts before you act.
BORN THIS WEEK: Although you might sometimes seem rigid in your views, your love of justice makes you a trusted friend everyone can rely on.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Don’t guess at what the facts might be if you hope to make the best decision possible. The wise course is to ask direct questions and act on the answers you get. CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Your
efforts involving that pesky problem should soon show positive signs of being resolved. This would allow you to shift some of your focus in another direction.
AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) While you enjoy well-deserved praise for getting a difficult job done, there’s no time to relax. A new challenge looms. Expect more support from a once-strong critic. PISCES
(February 19 to March 20) You might still have explaining to do about your decision, but support grows as you continue to make your case. You also might want to start making plans for the upcoming holidays.
BORN THIS WEEK: You insist on making decisions based on facts, not on popular opinions. Have you considered a career in science?
2020 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.
LIFESTYLE COLUMN
PG.19 PUZZLE ANSWERS
SAVAGE LOVE QUICKIES
Obligations and mistaken identities BY DAN SAVAGE
I was dumped in August by a guy I was seeing for 10 months. He told me that he wants to work on himself and “needs to be selfish” right now. Since then, we have spoken every day, shared numerous dinners, and gone on hikes. Our friendship is killing me. With him I hold it together. Away from him I cry all the time. I’ve started seeing a therapist and I’m on medication. I’m trying to be mature about the breakup and match his level of “coolness” but it’s destroying me. My friends tell me that I should stay away from him, allow some time to pass, and reassess. But the thought of losing him is almost has bad as the thought of keeping him in my life. SIMPLY HEARTBROKEN AND TALKING TO EX REALLY EXTENDING DEPRESSION
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P.S. I should also mention that I ended a 10year relationship for the opportunity to date him. “Hey, Dan, what I’m doing is making me miserable — should I stop?” Yes, SHATTERED, you should stop. Your friends are giving you excellent advice: stay away from this guy for at least a year — don’t talk on the phone (with him), don’t share meals (with him), don’t go on hikes (with him) — and then see how you feel after you’ve talked, shared meals, and gone on hikes with other people. It’s always nice when exes are friends, MTP, but it’s not an easy pivot and it can’t be executed instantly. And transition to friendship is always much harder for the person who was dumped — because of course it is — and it’s even harder when a selfish dumper accepts or demands the kind of attention and emotional support from the dumpee that the dumper is no longer entitled to. P.S. If you ended a 10-year relationship to date someone — if you ended it for a romantic prospect, not a romantic certainty (and there’s no such thing as a romantic certainty) — then that 10-year relationship needed to end. If your ex-boyfriend implored you to end that 10-year relationship and 10 months later dumped you to “work on himself” and then did everything in his power to keep you all to himself even after dumping you, then that “friendship” needs to end too. At least for the time being.
My name is a variation on “John Smith.” I met a woman and she liked me but then she did a cheapo background check on me and found a “John Smith” who had committed felonies — including assaulting a high school principal — and ended things with me. I am not that “John Smith” and I am innocent of these crimes! She had every reason to trust me: We met at my house and she viewed the premises without incident. What do I do? NOT THAT GUY
You had this woman over to yours, NTG, and she viewed the premises without incident. Okay … so you didn’t rape or kill her when she dropped in and that speaks well — though absolute bare fucking minimum — of your character. But it doesn’t obligate her to keep seeing you. If you can prove you’re not John Smith, High School Principal Assaulter, and she doesn’t care, NTG, then there’s some other reason doesn’t want to see you again. (Was there a MAGA hat on the premises?) But whatever her real reason is/real reasons are, you’ve been given a “no.” And like everyone else, NTG, you have to take “no” for an answer even when it feels unfair or arbitrary. I’ve been with my boyfriend for almost five years and everything is amazing except that he sees his ex-girlfriend when I’m not around. He says she wants to meet me but he never wants to meet up with her when I’m with him. Their “dates” are becoming more frequent. She’s a single mom and he has expressed to me that he wants to be in her son’s life. My feelings of discomfort are escalating and I’m having trouble believing him when he says he wants me to meet her. When I bring this up, he gets angry and says I’m being too emotional. Am I being a crazy jealous girlfriend? I need some help. I want to be a better person. Should I reach out to his ex-girlfriend directly since my boyfriend refuses to make it happen? Or do I bail on the relationship? I feel that uncomfortable.
TRIVIA ANSWERS: 1. North Africa 2. Concave 3. Caribbean Sea
4. Beppo 5. George III 6. “To Kill a Mockingbird” 7. Of unknown cause
relationship that isn’t poly. Lately I have been finding that I have been getting approached a lot by people who want a romantic/sexual connection. It seems like the only people who want me around lately want in my pants and they assume because I’m queer I’m also poly without asking directly. So people ask me if I want to “hangout” and I’m often unsure if they mean “hangout” in a date context or a friend context. I’ve ended up on dates I didn’t know I was going on! My biggest issue is that I don’t understand why people want to date/fuck me but don’t want to be my friend. I’m pretty average looking and I am not overly flirty. So why is this happening?
8. Kansas 9. $1,500 10. Volkswagen. The slogan means “driving enjoyment.”
conscious about them. Do people notice this sort of thing on men? Is their reaction negative? Am I being ridiculed behind my back? Mind you, folks universally treat me with kindness and respect, probably because that’s how I approach everyone else, but a little voice in my head keeps telling me there’s this shameful part of my body that’s being made fun of by everyone. Well, everyone except the guys who helped get me to this point. Your thoughts? TORTURED IN TORMENTING SITUATIONS
Only a small percentage of the people you meet will notice your nipples, TITS, and the thought processes for NOODLING ON THIS PROBLEM OVER LATTES, YEAH? 99.9% of the people who do will go something like this: “Big nips. Eh, whatever.” The noticers will immediately There’s nothing stopping you from asking — asking file this useless-to-them information about your tits directly — for a little clarity: “Hangout? I’d love to! away and never give it/them another thought. (Unless But do you mean ‘hangout’ as in ‘spend time together you’re Andrew Cuomo.) I think you’re self-conscious as friends’ or ‘hangout’ as in ‘let’s-go-on-a-date?’ I ask about your tits because you know why they’re so because I’ve wound up on a couple of dates that I didn’t prominent: extensive and, I assume, highly enjoyable know were dates and it was awkward.” As for why this is BDSM play. You worry other people — straight people, happening … well, either the poly people in your social vanilla people, judgy gays — will take one look and circle assume — incorrectly — that all queer people are realize you’re a kinky motherfucker. But most people won’t make that leap and the ones who do are either poly or you’re much more attractive than you’re giving kinky themselves or, if not, they aren’t going to dwell yourself credit for, NOTPOLY, or some combo of both. on your tits are or hold them against you. Stop kinkshaming yourself. You earned those tits — you suffered I’m a gay man who, due to extensive BDSM EX-GIRLFRIEND LOOMS OVER EVERYTHING for them — and you should be proud of them! play, has developed very prominent nipples. They’re always erect and very visible through my Bail. clothing unless I wear outrageous patterns or mail@savagelove.net; Follow Dan on Twitter tape them down. Yes, I’m somewhat embarrassed @FakeDanSavage; savagelovecast.com I’m in my early 30’s and I’ve been struggling by them. I don’t have gynecomastia (moobs), just to make new friends. A lot of the people in my really, really, really noticeable nipples. While they extended social circle are polyamorous/queer, and are a definite boon between the sheets, they’re while I identify as queer, I’m in a monogamish a bane on the streets because I’m very self-
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