Queen City Nerve - August 12, 2020 by Queen City Nerve

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 19; AUGUST 12 - AUGUST 25, 2020; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

T � O � E � R

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Food: Counter- cooks up a mixtape menu pg. 16 Music: Art house cinema returns to CLT pg. 12

Eviction hearings resume as unemployment benefits decrease, throwing more people into Charlotte’s housing crisis by Ryan Pitkin & Kayla Berenson

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS& OPINION

4 EDITOR’S NOTE BY RYAN PITKIN 6 LIVING OR SURVIVING BY RYAN PITKIN & KAYLA

BERENSON As evictions resume and unemployment aid is cut, a growing number of Charlotteans join the housing crisis

8 BLACK HISTORY OF CHARLOTTE PART 2 BY PAMELA

GRUNDY Building a base in Brooklyn for beyond

10 THERE IF YOU NEED IT BY LEA BEKELE Da Village Pop-Up Shop’s free food fridge offers access to necessities 5 LIFEWAVE A dose of reality

ARTS

CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS FOR CONTRACTORS Affordable. No hardware needed. Safe. Fast. Fleet ready. Scan QR code and try for free !

12 WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES BY PAT MORAN

COVID and the Manor closure open opportunity for NoDa art house

MUSIC Out of this world dentistry finally in your neighborhood!

-Offering Whole Family Dentistry & Oral Surgery specialty care on an extended schedule

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-Locally owned

7am-7pm and select Saturdays

No Insurance? No Problem! Ask about our in-house Dental Savings Plan

www.StellarDentalCLT.com

University

9010 Glenwater Drive 704-547-1199

Noda

2100 North Davidson 704-688-7120

14 THE BET THAT BECAME A BAND BY PAT MORAN Accidental roots rockers Southside Watt make a serious go of it

16 PASSION, AMBITION, AND HART BY JONATHAN GARRETT Chef Sam Hart is using music to counterprogram the fine-dining experience

LIFESTYLE T R�E� O�

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Food: Counter- cooks up a mixtape menu pg. 16

FOOD& DRINK

18 PUZZLES 20 THE SEEKER BY KATIE GRANT 20 STRANGE FACTS 21 HOROSCOPE 22 SAVAGE LOVE

THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS: PAT MORAN, PAMELA GRUNDY, KAYLA BERENSON, JONATHAN GARRETT, JON MULLEN, GRANT BALDWIN, SHEILA BUMGARNER,

Music: Art house cinema returns to CLT pg. 12

SAM HART, KATIE GRANT AND DAN SAVAGE. Eviction hearings resume as unemployment benefits decrease, throwing more people into Charlotte’s housing crisis by Ryan Pitkin & Kayla Berenson

COVER DESIGN BY: JAYME JOHNSON

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RECYCLE RIGHT! Please just recycle the basic materials listed here. Nothing else. Just because you wish it to be recycled, does not make it recyclable.

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EDITOR’S NOTE Join Queen City Nerve in discussions about local news topics over cocktails with featured guests on the Queen City Podcast Network.

DIGGING THE HOLE DEEPER

Conspiracy theorists and science deniers keep us bogged down in a pandemic

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BY RYAN PITKIN

www.queencitypodcastnetwork.com/noozehounds

Looking back now on an Editor’s Note I wrote for our March 25 issue, which in COVID time was five years ago, I can’t help but shake my head at the naïveté of my younger, more hopeful self. In that column, I wrote: “When [crisis] happens, the cliché that many people cling to is the potential for chaos — that the strings of society will unravel and we will eventually reach a place where it’s every person for themself. That’s a narrative built on watching too many movies, in my opinion. Sure, you see the greed and self-centered behavior of some folks come out in a time like this, hoarding groceries unnecessarily or ignoring orders to practice social distancing because it’s inconvenient or boring. “History shows, however, that these are anomalies. In times of crisis, a vast majority of humans want to help. It’s our nature, once we believe our own families and loved ones to be safe and secure, to want to reach out and see who else needs a hand.” As we approach the five-month mark since the time that column was published, I don’t feel as much faith in humanity as I did when I wrote it. Back in March, it was thought that reaching 50,000 deaths in the United States would be a tragic milestone, to be avoided at all costs. We’ve now surpassed 160,000 people dead. Videos of privileged white people throwing fits in grocery stores are constant on social media, and President Donald Trump has not only fail to take action, but added fuel to the fire by raising doubts about the science around coronavirus. He has publicly trashed the lead doctor in his own Coronavirus Task Force but showed support for a group calling itself “America’s Frontline Doctors” that held a press conference in Washington D.C. floating unproven conspiracy theories not based in science at all. And as the death toll continues to rise, Americans have continued to do what they’re best at: point fingers. They blame Dr. Anthony Fauci, they blame Black Lives Matter protesters, they blame Gov. Cooper, they blame anyone but the folks who had the ability to prevent all of this. They especially

blame their favorite scapegoat: the media. One of my favorite tropes to watch from sciencedeniers during this pandemic revolves around a theme as illogical as it is desperate: that the media is rooting for the virus. This idea seems to be borne of the notion that the media thrives on chaos and unrest, so they want to see it all burn down; it’s good for their ratings. As the co-owner of a media company who saw ad revenues virtually disappear right at the onset of the pandemic, I can assure you that’s an asinine theory to push. The irrationality of this postulation is perfectly played out in the discussion around the potential cancellation of the 2020 college football season. Out from the woodwork came this sea of idiots spouting nonsense about how all of mainstream sports media was rooting for the cancellation of the season. To what end, I’m not sure, but I saw the word “Corona bros” tossed around a few times and ejected myself from the rabbit hole. The idea that sports journalists — or journalists in general — have an endgame in mind that would effectively take their job away is one of the more foolish theories I’ve heard, and there have been some real contenders this year. As my friend and former Carolina Panthers reporter Jourdan Rodrigue succinctly stated in response to an actual Fox Sports analyst theorizing that much of the college media landscape had “worked hard to push panic and fear” on Twitter: “I am honestly and genuinely curious...why do people tweet this shit? What is the point...you’re so *brave* to take a stand against...logic, precaution and empathy? Meanwhile people are dying and people are indeed frightened because of a literal pandemic, but cool likes I guess.” Ahhh, I’ll miss her. In the meantime, on a local level, eviction proceedings have resumed, the Tent City on 12th Street continues to grow as property owners prepare to kick people off the land, and dozens of popular bars and venues like Abari Game Bar have shut down for good. Oh yeah, and people continue to die. You may not know any of them yet — and if that’s the case, you’re lucky — but lots of people are dying. I promise you, nobody wants this coronavirus to continue. But as you should have learned at some point in your childhood, the way to confront a problem is not to ignore it. The cure for COVID-19 does not include flouting the restrictions designed by health officials using the most recent science to help curb its spread. Get your mind right, or we’re not getting out of this Phase 2, on-the-fence hellscape anytime soon. RPITKIN@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. DISCOVERY PLACE SCHOOL CAMPS

What: School Camp is a full-day program designed to help children get through the virtual school day while caregivers get through their workday. Children in grades K-5 can attend school virtually from Discovery Place Science or Discovery Place Nature. The day includes participation in virtual classes and science enrichment activities. Weekly Science and School Camps run 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., beginning with the virtual school day. When live lessons are over, science takes center stage with a grade-appropriate enrichment program featuring engaging activities that align with CharlotteMecklenburg Schools curriculum More: Registration opens August 13, 10 a.m.; science.discoveryplace.org/programs-and-classes/ school-camps

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HUNTERSVILLE SUMMER DRIVE-IN

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE: A CONVERSATION WITH BAKARI SELLERS

What: Sellers made history in 2006 when, at just 22 years old, he defeated a 26-year incumbent state representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African-American elected official in the nation. As we move to a more equitable future, we cannot only focus on the major cities and urban settings, and Bakari Sellers’ book My Vanishing Country offers insights into an oft-forgotten area, the rural Black Belt, once a reference to fertile soil, but now known as the chain of the nation’s most impoverished states. My Vanishing Country is Sellers’ poignant ode to his father, a significant figure of the Civil Rights movement; a roaring ballad to the abandoned rural South; and a moving reflection on fatherhood. “What is it Going to Take” is a timely conversation, moderated by W. Teddy McDaniel, III, President and CEO of the Urban League of Central Carolinas More: RSVP Required; August 13, 7 p.m.; www. museumofthenewsouth.org/programs-eventscalendar/2020/8/13/what-is-it-going-to-take-anauthor-talk-with-bakari-sellers

What: Set in a universe where elves, dragons and wizards once ruled, Pixar’s animated family flick Onward plays like a Middle-Earth adventure shorn of magic. It’s a world where unicorns fight over trash like raccoons. A manticore runs a theme restaurant and worries about lawsuits, and elves have the same hopes and anxieties of high school-age humans. It’s a one-joke premise, albeit a clever one. But the plot, about two brothers embarking on a quest to conjure up their missing father, seems like an afterthought. SY SMITH What: Smith started her career as a backing vocalist More: $5 a car; August 15, 7 p.m.; for Whitney Houston, Sheila E., Meshell Ndegeocello Historic Rural Hill, 4431 Neck Road, Huntersville; and Chaka Khan. She has long since solidified her tinyurl.com/HVilleDriveIn place in the world of underground soul music. The Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and producer MINI ART LAB: DRAWING BASICS helped cultivate the nu-soul scene in that city more What: Presented by McColl Center for than 10 years ago, paving the way for some of the Art+Innovation, Drawing Basics is a quick, stepmost progressive soul jazz artists. Some, including by-step tutorial on the fundamentals of drawing Thundercat and Kamasi Washington, came directly and sketching, from holding the pencil to shading from Smith’s own band line-ups. Her vocal range and mark-making techniques. This 30-minute art moves effortlessly from a speakeasy, gritty alto lesson, led by McColl Center alumna artist Allison all the way to a stratospheric soprano register Luce, is a jump-start for anyone who wants to learn reminiscent of the late Minnie Riperton basic drawing skills or keep a sketchbook. Check out More: $28, Free-$39; August 20, 7 p.m., August McColl’s other Mini-Art Lab: Superhero Self-Portraits 21 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., August 22 7 p.m. and 9:15 with Chris Clamp p.m.; Middle C Jazz, 300 S. Brevard St.: More: Free, tinyurl.com/MiniArtLab tinyurl.com/SySmithMiddleC

CHARLOTTE FILM SOCIETY’S VIRTUAL SCREENING ROOM

fundamentals to help you improve your wildlife photography skills to capture that perfect shot. All skill levels are welcome. What: Once again the Charlotte Film Society says, More: Donations encouraged; August 12, 12 p.m.; “Out with the old, and in with the new,” culling and Register: tinyurl.com/ShootWildlife rejuvenating their collection of foreign and indie art films that you can’t see anywhere else. The newest additions to CFS’s super cool slate include a comedy NO CONTACT CONCERT SERIES by Onur Turkel called Black Magic for White Boys. What: Midwood Entertainment’s collaboration Turkel weaves the tale of a struggling theater owner with Codex Sound continues, offering livestreamed who turns to black magic to save his business. In full band performances. Shot at Codex Sounds’ the process, he creates a web of trickery to divert 14,000-square-foot warehouse in Hickory, the No others from exploiting his powers. In Out Stealing Contact Concert Series trades iPhones and living Horses, 67-year old Trond (Stellan Skarsgard) breaks rooms for a professional stage and lighting rig, out of self-imposed isolation and rekindles an concert hall quality audio inputs and 12 video acquaintance with a forgotten friend from decades cameras. It’s almost like going in person to a live ago. Immediately following the film, there is a show — remember those? — if you had managed pre-recorded conversation between Skarsgard and to buy out the entire hall and you’re the only audience member there. About Aug. 15 artist Chatham director Hans Peter Moller. More: $10-12 for 72 hours; charlottefilmsociety.com County Line we once said: “Ostensibly a traditional bluegrass combo with all-acoustic instruments, the band has tethered the upbeat tempos and VIRTUAL BILINGUAL STORIES & rapid-fire instrumental runs of their chosen genre MUSIC to compassionate, conflicted narratives about the What: Bilingual Stories & Music is a program for cares, concerns — and joys — of adulthood.” children ages up to 6 and their families, held bi- Aug. 22 features transcendent roots singermonthly on Saturday morning. Special guests Criss songwriter Amythyst Kiah. Cross Mangosauce are an edutainment venture More: $10 and up; Aug. 15, 8 p.m. Aug. 22, 8 p.m.; founded in 2007 to foster children’s love for www.crowd-less.com languages, cultures and performing arts, comprised of Irania Patterson (children’s author, storyteller and ALEXA JENSEN & THE NEW educator) and Ana Lucia Divins (singer-songwriter and multicultural marketer). Inspired by their own CREATURES experience of raising bilingual children and working What: Join Evening Muse virtually for Alexa’s late with bilingual audiences for many years, these Latina birthday celebration. From the vulnerable lyrics moms, performing artists and educators share with like “I love you just the same when you tear apart others their Hispanic heritage and Spanish language my brain” to the empowering “No you won’t fuck with my mental health / You’re only doing this to in a bilingual, fun and educational way. yourself,” Alexa’s songs cover a wide variety of raw More: Free; August 15, 11 a.m.; emotions taken from her own personal experiences. tinyurl.com/MangoSauce The New Creatures, a five-piece rock combo from McAdenville, fill the bill. Both bands ask that NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY viewers consider donating to The Evening Muse in What: Hosted by the South Carolina Wildlife order to support the Charlotte staple and in turn, Federation, this free class will open your eyes to the countless performers that call it home. Any little the world around you. Simply seeing wildlife in the bit helps! field can be challenging. Taking pictures to capture More: Donations encouraged; August 21, 7:30 p.m.; that magical moment can be even tougher. Join tinyurl.com/AlexaJensen Vance Solseth as he teaches you how to photograph nature and wildlife in the field. He’ll include the

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

LIVING OR SURVIVING

As evictions resume and unemployment aid is cut, a growing number of Charlotteans join the housing crisis

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BY RYAN PITKIN & KAYLA BERENSON

of the tunnel and then this happened, and I was like, ‘OK, what am I going to do? There’s no money coming in.’” She filed for unemployment, but with so many people doing the same, she knew it wouldn’t come in time to help her pay rent in April. Williams and her InTown neighbors were scared they would lose their rooms, so Williams did something she was too prideful to do in the past: She called Crisis Assistance Ministry. She ended up speaking with Bonnie Tiernan from the organization, which helps folks facing financial crisis in the Charlotte area. Tiernan told her that on the previous day, March 30, Gov. Roy Cooper had signed Executive Order No. 142,

and the eventual arrival of unemployment insurance, she was able to get back on her feet for the time being. However, with North Carolina’s eviction moratorium ending on June 20, unemployment extension benefits drying up, and countless employers still unable to rehire employees, a new wave of people are now facing the same situation Williams found herself in back in April. Unemployment Issues According to the North Carolina Division of Employment Security (DES), 1,223,589 people in North Carolina applied for unemployment benefits between March 15 and Aug. 10. Of those, only 69% have been approved for benefits.

Ethiopia Williams finally saw an end to the constant struggle, a future in which she could start living and stop surviving, as she puts it. Coming into March, she had been living in a room in the InTown Suites with her 9-year-old daughter Haleigha for two years when she finally got a shot at stability. Williams had spent much of those two years driving for Uber, Lyft and Postmates to make ends meet, sometimes barely making the $1,200 a month for the room she and her daughter lived in, sometimes needing to switch to weekly or daily pay, which raised the total cost more than 50% from around $40 a night to $67. She was never without work, but couldn’t get an apartment because of an eviction on her record from 2018. She and Haleigha had been put out of Southgate Apartments because Ethiopia was ACTIVISTS IN JULY CALL FOR A CANCELLATION OF BACK RENT IN FRONT OF THE MECKLENBURG COUNTY COURTHOUSE. late on her rent three times in a temporarily prohibiting residential and commercial “So many of our clients have not received 12-month period. landlords from evicting tenants for late payment or unemployment after they applied, and trying to get After someone crashed into her car in July 2019, information can be so difficult,” said Sandra Conway, ending her driving gigs, Williams found a temp job nonpayment of rent. “It’s 5:30, they’re putting people out at 7,” executive director of Matthews HELP Center, another in the fulfillment department with LSG Sky Chef, Williams recalls. “Ms. Bonnie called me and said, crisis assistance organization in Mecklenburg which caters food and drink for American Airlines. After nine months of that, she was offered a full- ‘You don’t have anything to worry about.’ She was County. “The [DES] wasn’t prepared to handle the time job with the company. She started on March 2. the one that informed me that they can’t put people volume of this, but we’re still hearing people say After COVID-19 effectively ended all air travel later out at this point. We ended up being on the phone they have not received their unemployment.” for two hours, and she was like, ‘You know what, I Between mid-March and June, Matthews HELP that month, Williams was laid off on March 20. want to work with you.’” Center assisted 365 households in its coverage “For me it was really just, it was literally like The governor’ s order gave Williams some area with rent and utility bills, which added up to someone taking the breath out of my lungs,” breathing room, and with the help of Crisis Assistance $125,000 in assistance; $69,000 of which went out Williams recalls. “I finally saw the light at the end

in June alone, according to Conway. The organization also provides food pantry services to local families in need, which totaled $65,720 in costs from mid-March to June. Since the moratorium on eviction hearings was lifted on June 20, Conway expects to see an increase in the demand for help. “The sheer demand of what’s needed and the resources that we have, it’s really tough,” Conway said. “That June number is two-and-a-half times the volume of what we normally do. We have some extra money; our community has been sending us money and we’ve applied for some grants. We just need to help as many people as possible. It’s the demand versus the resources that are out there. As much money comes in that we can possibly put back out into our community, that’s what we’re going to do.” While the Matthews HELP Center only serves a select group of zip codes, its social workers receive inquiries from the whole county. When an inquiry comes from outside the service area, the first place they refer to is Crisis Assistance Ministry, which serves all of Mecklenburg County. It is often the one organization that can help when others cannot. According to Liana Humphrey, chief marketing officer for Crisis Assistance Ministry, many in the county are going through similar experiences, waiting on their unemployment benefits, PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN while some are still awaiting the $1,200 stimulus check that was supposed to arrive in March. “We hear stories about the challenges of navigating the unemployment system, or from people who don’t qualify for unemployment for a variety of reasons,” Humphrey said. Those who did qualify and have been receiving unemployment benefits saw the end of a $600 bonus that kept many people afloat through the crisis but expired in July. On Aug. 8, President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending the extra aid, cutting it to $400 and adding in so many caveats that most won’t see any of it.

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NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

A New Wave of Evictions Tenants in Mecklenburg County got a bit of a buffer period, as eviction courts here didn’t open until July 20, and cases resulting from COVID-19 didn’t hit the docket until the first week of August. That’s when Gurrier began to see courtrooms fill up, with landlords and tenants there to exercise their due-process rights made to wait in the hallway to comply with social-distancing protocols. It’s unclear just how many local residents are currently facing eviction, but at one point in the crisis the courts were looking at a backlog of nearly 2,000 cases. Gurrier and her team have seen success in working out settlements, including payment plans and the like, for many of their clients, but due to

Relief in a Crisis At the start of the pandemic, Crisis Assistance Ministry immediately shifted its priorities to assist those like Williams who live in hotels and motels, putting $800,000 toward that effort alone, Humphrey said. The organization then returned to helping families who live in apartments and need help with rent and utilities. But as the volume of cases increased, so did the amount of money each individual needed. “What we’ve seen with the families that we’ve assisted is that the amount of money it takes to resolve their financial crisis has doubled and, in some cases, tripled,” Humphrey said. “Prior to COVID-19, on average, it would take $400 to solve someone’s financial crisis. Oftentimes, they would bring some money to the table and be able to put some money toward their rent and utility bills and then $400 is what it would take to ensure they remained stably housed. That number has significantly increased.” Through the end of June, Crisis Assistance Ministry provided more than $1 million in rent and utility assistance for 781 families in Mecklenburg County. Charlotte’s unemployment rate hit 13.6% as we entered August, and many families are once again scrambling to pay rent, reaching out to organizations like Matthews HELP Center and Crisis Assistance Ministry, and with eviction proceedings moving forward in Mecklenburg County, many of those families are in more urgent situations than they’ve ever been in. ETHIOPIA WILLIAMS WITH HER DAUGHTER, HALEIGHA. Hannah Guerrier, supervising attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina’s (LANC) housing limited funding, LANC can only help so many people. unit, has been working with clients on the ground, She estimates that the need is about 10 times the trying to negotiate settlements between tenants workload they’re currently able to take on. and landlords so as not to leave people to fend for “It is overwhelming to see the number of people themselves in what for many is a first-time ordeal. at court fighting for their homes in these already “We have a lot of tenants currently facing uncertain times,” Gurrier says. “The eviction process eviction or who will be facing eviction who this is is a stressful and frustrating and looming process a brand-new experience for them because this has and that stress is only exacerbated by the fact that thrown the economy into a tailspin and limited you can’t stay at home unless you have a home to people’s incomes across socioeconomic levels,” she stay at. said. “In the cases that have reached out to LANC, I Gurrier and the LANC team give legal advice, do feel hopeful,” she continues, “We’ve had great connect tenants with organizations like Crisis Assistance success in obtaining beneficial outcomes for our Ministry and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing clients. On the grand scale, it’s still scary for renters Partnership, and help mediate negotiations between in our community, because these renters often tenants and landlords in or out of court if that’s needed.

represent very vulnerable populations, and our community at large is as vulnerable as its most vulnerable member.” What LANC and their clients are fighting for is bigger than just what happens in the coming months. A single eviction on your record can make it far more difficult to find follow-up housing, Gurrier points out. “One eviction can lend itself to irreparable consequences and housing instability for individuals and families, and I think a lot of people know that maybe intuitively but don’t recognize the extent of those consequences until they are there themselves,” she says. For her part, Williams, never put much thought into the issue until it happened to her. She spent

optimistic she’ll find a way to make ends meet. She always has. Williams is paid up on her rent until the census job begins, as she put all of her unemployment money toward up-front payment for her motel room, against the advice of friends who told her to save it for some other urgent matter during the eviction moratorium. A roof over her child’s head comes first, she says.

‘A Fair Chance’ While we talk in a McDonald’s next to the InTown Suites where she’s been living for nearly 30 months, Ethiopia looks down at her bubbly daughter Haleigha. She tears up as she discusses how this experience has turned her into an activist of sorts. Williams remembers when she was ashamed to let even close friends know about her living situation. Since COVID-19 hit, however, she wants people to know what folks like her are going through. “I’m ready to talk about it. I love my baby, she needs to be able to run, have fun, be able to expand her mind, that’s not going to happen here. I’m not asking for lavish conditions, I’m not asking for nothing, I’m just asking for a shot, a fair chance, just to break even,” she says, holding back tears as she speaks, gradually growing more emotional. “What happens now affects her in the future ... You don’t want to have a whole generation of kids that have dealt with stuff that didn’t need to happen. Can it build character? Maybe. Will it hurt anyone? Maybe not. But does it actually need to be like that? Not when I’m going to work every day, not when I’m PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN paying my taxes, not when I’m trying my hardest.” more than a year applying for apartments every She gathers herself and continues. chance she got, spending untold thousands of “There’s more than one reason a person can dollars on application fees over time until someone find themselves in that situation. It can be anyone. suggested that the eviction on her record was COVID, if nothing else came out of that issue, it making her efforts moot. taught people that it can end for anyone,” she says. She said she called an affordable housing “You think you have it made, or you think everything complex that she heard had openings in Ashley Park is cool, and then something like this happens. People in west Charlotte only to be told that the waiting list panicked and bought toilet paper like crazy, but was so backed up they were just getting to people imagine if you had to worry about the roof over your who had signed up in 2013. head. People started getting a taste of it a little bit Williams recently landed a part-time job as a and got nervous. They’re like, ‘What’s going on, why 2020 Census worker, canvassing for people who is this happening?’ But this is life for some people all haven’t filled out the census by the Aug. 14 deadline. the time, every day. We’re surviving.” That job is only expected to last through October, And soon, she hopes to start living. when the canvassing efforts are set to end, but she’s RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

They could not succeed without African Americans, who continued to fill the low-status but essential jobs at the bottom rungs of the economy. By the 1910s, Charlotte’s white business elite had grown anxious about that workforce. Barred from the ballot box, Black southerners were increasingly voting with their feet in the Great Migration to northern cities. In an effort to stem that tide, some of North Carolina’s white leaders began to respond to African-American concerns — Building a base in Brooklyn especially regarding schools. In the fall of 1923 came a victory. Second Ward for beyond High School opened its doors at the corner of East 1st and South Alexander streets. The handsome BY PAMELA GRUNDY brick structure with its imposing front stairway The following is the second in a five-part history of became the heart of the Brooklyn neighborhood. Black culture in Charlotte. Visit qcnerve.com for Part 1 and stay tuned for the continuation of the series.

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A BLACK HISTORY OF CHARLOTTE: PART 2

For a stretch of time in the mid 1910s, anyone who took a late-night ramble past Johnson C. Smith University and onto Martin Street could see the darkened silhouette of Samuel Banks Pride as he sat on his porch, shotgun close to hand, watching for potential trouble. Born into slavery in 1857, Pride had risen rapidly after the Civil War. He trained as a barber and used his earnings to finance a college education. He then became a mathematics professor, postmaster, active Republican, prominent Presbyterian, and board member of the Black-owned Coleman Cotton Mill. After the violent white supremacy campaign of 1898 pushed Black North Carolinians out of politics and dashed hopes for equality, many of Charlotte’s African Americans left for the North. Samuel and his wife Jessie stayed to rebuild. They both took teaching jobs at the Myers Street School, founded in 1882 as Charlotte’s first public school for African Americans. In 1906 Samuel succeeded Isabella Wyche as principal. Charlotte opened its first public high school for whites in 1908, and Samuel began to lobby for a Black high school as well. In their pursuit of racial uplift, Samuel and Jessie Pride walked a fine line between opportunity and peril. Many white southerners saw any hint of Black advance as an insult to white supremacy. Violence remained common. The Prides’ prominence made them the target of periodic threats — hence the need for Samuel’s armed vigil on the family porch. But the Prides and their compatriots also found white allies. Charlotte’s business leaders — then as now — were obsessed with building up their city.

and businessman Thad Tate. A long-running tent revival run by evangelist “Sweet Daddy” Grace made Charlotte a center for the United House of Prayer for All People, a charismatic denomination that would eventually count 3 million adherents around the world. The House of Prayer’s exuberant annual parade, accompanied by the church’s jazzy trombone “shout band,” became a Brooklyn institution. “It never rained on the Sunday when Daddy was in town and had his parade,” longtime resident Vermelle Ely recalled. Social organizations also thrived. Caesar Blake, Jr., who lived on East 1st Street, headed the nation’s Prince Hall Masons from 1919 to 1931, and in 1929 won a Supreme Court case that prevented white Masons from expelling Black organizations from the order. Mary McCrorey, wife of Johnson C. Smith president, H.L. McCrorey, started the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA on South Davidson Street, became an influential figure in the national black club women’s movement, and played a key role in integrating the YWCA’s national leadership. All this activity meant that despite the racism and hostility that suffused the outside world, Brooklyn felt like home. “Brooklyn was the best place in the world to live. I’m telling you the truth,” Connie Patton told an interviewer in 2007. “You really didn’t have to go out of Brooklyn for anything. Everything was right there. Social life, everything. Right there . . . They didn’t have many businesses way out, so we could walk to work. Everything was downtown.” “We never had keys to our houses, everybody left their doors open, a skeleton key would fit BOARD MEMBERS OF THE AFRO-AMERICAN MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY. THAD TATE IS STANDING; SAMUEL PRIDE IS everybody’s door in Brooklyn,” Barbara Steele SEATED AT FAR LEFT; HENRY HOUSTON, FOUNDER OF THE CHARLOTTE POST, IS AT CENTER, STARING AT THE CAMERA. recalled. “And everybody knew everybody and we went to each other’s homes and if you were PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ROBINSON-SPANGLER CAROLINA ROOM, CHARLOTTE MECKLENBURG LIBRARY at my house when we got ready to eat my momma best to maintain an upright position. Occasionally, sat a place on the table for you to eat, I went to your Communities and Institutions an unfortunate person would lose his balance and house to eat your mom would do the same thing Like most African-American communities, fall screaming into the gooey mixture. Sometimes, . . . Everybody knew everybody and everybody Charlotte’s Brooklyn encompassed a rich mix of a lonely overshoe was left sticking up in the mud, was somebody and God was for all, right there in hardship, ambition and achievement. Charlotte’s a sign that there had been a struggle between its Brooklyn.” white residents had sorted themselves by income, owner and the mud.” separating into wealthy suburbs such as Myers Park, Civility Still, Brooklyn quickly filled with a growing and working-class enclaves such as the mill villages range of independent institutions, from churches African Americans also began to step cautiously around North Davidson Street. The constraints to dance halls to funeral homes. At the Black-run back into politics. The Negro Citizens League, of segregation, which sharply limited where AME Zion Publishing House, a handsome three- founded in 1917, took a more public role in civic African Americans could live, meant that Black story brick building on Brevard Street, African- affairs, holding monthly meetings and regularly communities were far more varied, with janitors and American editors and printers pumped out hymnals, presenting Black community concerns to elected housekeepers often living just down the street from newsletters and other materials for a worldwide officials. doctors and professors. The League’s interactions with white officials audience. Just across the street sat the branch office Brooklyn encompassed nearly 50 city blocks in of the Afro-American Insurance Company, designed followed a code that historian William Chafe the southeast quadrant of the center city, bounded by Black builder W.W. Smith and headed by barber would later term “civility.” If Black leaders politely by 4th, Brevard, and Morehead streets, with the southeastern border defined by the now-vanished Long Street, just east of McDowell, where I-277 now runs. Like Black communities across the South, it was located in one of the less desirable parts of town — parts of it low-lying and swampy. Sugar Creek ran along its eastern boundary. A railroad yard marked the western end. Fine homes and substantial churches sat near ramshackle rental shotgun houses. Amenities such as paved streets were few and far between. “After a heavy rain or snow, the sidewalks often became almost impassable because of the deep sticky mud,” Rose Leary Love wrote in a memoir of Brooklyn’s early years. “Grown-ups and children would slip and slide along the street trying their

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presented modest requests, white leaders would politely listen, and probably grant some of them. Any sign of anger or rudeness, however, brought the negotiations to an end. The strategy allowed whites to appear reasonable and magnanimous while staying fully in control. When, for example, League members called on the city to rebuild the dilapidated Myers Street School, the editors of the Observer judged the request “within bounds” and predicted “that the council will proceed to meet their requirements to the best of its ability under existing circumstances.” The editorial, titled “Negro Citizenship,” went on to remind readers that the Observer had frequently praised the city’s African-American population “as among the most orderly and the most intelligent of any city in the South.” When, however, the League asked the city school board to create a separate Black board that would select teachers for and manage the Black schools, the Observer tone shifted to condescending dismissal. “It would seem to be a case of the leaders of this race seeking a desirable objective and mistakenly concluding that the only way to secure such an objective is to have placed racial rulership in this matter in their hands,” editors wrote. Still, they added, since the group’s goal of improving Black schools was “altogether reasonable and valid,” the request would serve to remind white school board members of their “duty to be more alert and scrupulous and conscientious in their official management of the matters appertaining to negro school administration.” Police and Prisons Black leaders also targeted police and prisons, a prominent arena of abuse. Police harassment and beatings were routine, and courts often handed down harsh sentences on flimsy evidence. Men could be sentenced to death for burglary. Between 1910 and 1930 North Carolina executed 15 white men and 93 Black men, 24 of whom had been convicted of crimes other than murder. Chain gangs were still in use, and a 1935 scandal at a Mecklenburg prison camp revealed such brutality that an all-white state inspection team, which had come to Charlotte “in a rather skeptical mood,” emerged shaken from the hearings and announced, “We cannot see how human beings could do things that we are forced to believe have been done.”

A 1929 shooting illustrates the harassment Black residents endured. On Jan. 22, the Observer reported, detectives Ed Correll and W.H. Cousar “invaded” a house on Long Street to search for “stolen stuff.” Correll headed to a back room, where Clive Fowler and Rosalee White were in bed. Fowler shot Correll twice in the chest and fled. Correll died on the scene. Police blocked off highways, isolated Black neighborhoods and searched dozens of homes. Over the next three weeks, “scores of city policemen, detectives and rural officers, augmented by several hundred armed citizens” scoured the area for Fowler, accosting and arresting many innocent men along the way. Officials jailed Rosalee White and beat her until she agreed to testify for the prosecution. South Carolina deputies captured Fowler on Feb. 10, following a late-night chase through the woods outside Grier, South Carolina. He was taken to the Spartanburg jail, where he maintained he did not know that the man who burst into his bedroom was a police officer. North Carolina officers quickly whisked him off to the state prison in Raleigh “for safe keeping.” They put him in a cell on death row. In Charlotte, however, the situation proved a bit more complicated. Black Charlotteans were fed up with having officers burst into their homes unannounced, and they made their dissatisfaction known to public officials. In response, former mayor Thomas LeRoy Kirkpatrick accepted the NAACP’s request to defend Fowler. At the trial, Kirkpatrick argued that Fowler did not realize Correll was a police officer, and that he was “protecting the sanctity of his home” when he pulled out his gun and shot. If the jury members did not give Fowler “even-handed justice,” he concluded, “you are cringing cowards.” The argument did not get Fowler acquitted. The jury convicted him of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to 20 years in jail. But it marked the first time in North Carolina history that a Black man accused of killing a white police officer was not sentenced to death. It also held other lessons, for both whites and African Americans. “The trial without question will have a tremendous effect upon the Negroes of the southland,” wrote local Black journalist Trezzvant Anderson. “White policemen were told publicly to cease rushing into Negro homes without giving warning. White policemen saw one of their members shot down and another wounded by a southern black man who [had] the courage to protect his

Resources home against white officers who forget the law. And Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, Gender & Jim Crow: white policemen saw this Negro murderer perform another unusual feat — he escaped the electric Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920 (University of North chair.” Carolina Press, 1996, new edition 2019). Thomas Hanchett, Sorting out the New South Voting African Americans continued to make slow, City: Race, Class, and Urban Development in cautious moves into the public arena. By the late Charlotte, 1875-1975 (University of North Carolina 1930s, the growth of independent Black institutions Press, 1998, new edition 2020). Rose Leary Love, Plum Thickets and Field meant that a few people could even run for office without risking white retaliation. In 1937, Mary Daisies: A Memoir (Public Library of Charlotte and McCrorey of JCSU entered the race for the Charlotte Mecklenburg County, 1996). Vann R. Newkirk, “The Development of the Board of Education, making her North Carolina’s first-ever black female candidate. That same year, National Association for the Advancement of Colored A.E. Spears of the North Carolina Mutual Insurance People in Metropolitan Charlotte, North Carolina Company and Zechariah Alexander of the Alexander 1919-1965 (Ph.D. diss., Howard University, 2002) Funeral Home vied unsuccessfully for city council Sarah Thuesen, Greater than Equal: African American Struggles for Schools and Citizenship seats. The Black vote remained small — a mere 625 of in North Carolina, 1919-1965 (University of North Charlotte’s 35,000 African-American residents had Carolina Press, 2013). William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: successfully registered to vote in 1936, compared to nearly 10,000 white registrants. No African American Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle would win a Charlotte election until Zechariah for Freedom (Oxford University Press, 1980, 1981). Brooklyn Oral History Project: brooklyn-oralAlexander’s son, Fredrick Douglas Alexander, was history.uncc.edu/ elected to the city council in 1965. Still, the groundwork was being laid. INFO@QCNERVE.COM

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NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

THERE IF YOU NEED IT

Da Village Pop-Up Shop’s free food fridge offers access to necessities

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BY LEA BEKELE

If you recently passed by a now-empty, graybrick building on East 7th Street that used to serve as the offices of CMPD’s Metro Division, you may have seen something that looked out of place: a refrigerator adorned with colorful spray-painted floral artwork and the words “Da Village, Free H20 and Food.” The bright free food fridge stood out among the backdrop of the plain building across from Spirit Square in Uptown. Shamelle Jackson, founder of local nonprofit Da Village Pop-Up Shop, which hosts free pop-up markets for those dealing with food insecurity and homelessness, put the free food fridge there on July 13 to help provide food and water to the large population of homeless neighbors in the area. Just a few blocks away, a large homeless encampment that’s become known as Tent City has continued to grow throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Operating similarly to the “little free libraries” that have become popular in Charlotte and around the country, the fridge was put there to supply anyone walking by who might need a snack or hydration in the summer heat. Just weeks after placing the fridge at the location on East 7th Street, Jackson posted on Da Village’s Instagram feed on Aug. 9 that it had been vandalized and needed to be removed. Jackson stated in the post that she had been restocking the fridge twice a day, but found it damaged beyond repair during a visit over the weekend. “When I pulled up with my children to see that mess I was so hurt and upset,” Jackson wrote. “All I do is for the GOOD!” Most people recognize that, however, and thanks to donations from her supporters, Jackson won’t let the speed bump stop her. Over the last month, community members donated five more refrigerators to the cause. Not only will Jackson replace the Uptown fridge, she plans to place free fridges across the city. Jackson told Queen City Nerve she plans to put a free fridge in NoDa by Wednesday or

Thursday, and in the coming weeks will place refrigerator in an area where folks can really use new ones in Uptown and on West Boulevard, it, and continue to stock it as needed, with help Albemarle Road and South Boulevard. from community supporters who donate directly to Jackson or stock the fridges themselves. A Market for Those Who Need It Most The community fridge concept didn’t start with Jackson, a mother of four, launched Da Village Da Village Pop-Up; Jackson was inspired by similar Pop-Up Shop last year. She is a survivor of domestic programs in other cities across the country. When abuse and had dealt with homelessness herself. she went to Minnesota in May for the George Floyd “I’ve lived in a shelter before while being protests, she found a community-based garden that pregnant and I used to always think, like, dang, why offered produce, water and perishable foods for are people just not helping?” Jackson told Queen free. Jackson came home and scoured social media City Nerve. for similar concepts, coming across a free food fridge From the start, the organization’s mission was in New York. After hours spent researching how these fridges were set up, what the upkeep looked like, and where to begin, she got to work on Charlotte’s first food fridge. Amazingly, from the initial call to action to the actual implementation of the fridge, everything came to fruition in the span of one day. Jackson shared a post on her personal social media account and within 24 hours received her first donation: the fridge itself. “It was that quick,” Jackson affirmed. What followed was a flurry of donations, kind messages, and volunteer offers. At its core, Da Village Pop-Up Shop strives to show love and appreciation for Charlotte and Charlotte has SHAMELLE JACKSON WITH THE FIRST FREE FOOD FRIDGE ON EAST 7TH STREET. returned that love tenfold, PHOTO COURTESY OF DA VILLAGE POP UP SHOP Jackson maintained. Since the free food fridge to provide clothing, hygiene, and cosmetic items program began in July, Jackson has received pounds for homeless and low-income citizens in Charlotte. of fresh food, cases of bottled water, as well as a Jackson hosted events across the city to raise money donation of four new fridges from one eager follower. and collect donations, including pop-up clothing markets with free food vendors and music playing, Free Food Fridges Offer Relief Without the giving them a block party vibe. Those in need could Stigma shop without worrying about the cost of each item, With the help of community members, Da as everything was donated and being offered for Village Pop-Up Shop is battling food insecurity in free. Charlotte through direct action. According to the Then came the idea for a community fridge, USDA, food security is defined as, “access by all which operates similar to the “little free libraries” people at all times to enough food for an active, that have become popular in Charlotte and around healthy life.” the country. The idea is simple enough: Stock a Food fridges offer a service that curbs the

stigma often associated with food pantries. Though both are donation-based, community fridges allow patrons anonymity, offering a sense of dignity — no paperwork to fill out or arbitrary criteria to meet — while not forcing people to ask for favors from organizations or passersby. It’s simply a resource that’s there for whomever needs it. “The fridges aren’t just for the homeless,” Jackson shared, “it’s for anybody that just wants to get anything out of there.” When we spoke to Jackson in early August, she told the story of a man who, in need of hydration, picked up a half-empty bottle of water off of the ground as if he was about to drink it. Jackson’s heart broke at the sight, and she grew concerned for the risks of such behaviors during a pandemic. She let him know that he didn’t have to drink that water and gave him a fresh water bottle from the free food fridge. “We’re not responsible to a certain extent,” Jackson continued, “but to a certain extent, we are responsible for each other.” Anyone can give and anyone can take from the fridge without the fear of judgment or the stigma that comes with asking for help. Community fridges also make fresh food more accessible to people in our community that may not have the resources to shop at traditional grocery stores. Da Village Meets a Growing Need In the coming months, as the end of the eviction moratorium becomes a growing issue for lowerincome residents of Charlotte, so does the need for community support. Ongoing evictions paired with the end of pandemic unemployment assistance is a recipe for disaster as we navigate the new normal brought on by COVID-19. More and more people are at risk of losing their homes and entire livelihoods every single day — though having a home doesn’t necessarily mean that people have the means to get their needs met. Jackson’s free fridge plan started where the needs are currently most urgent, but she plans to install more community fridges throughout the city — two in NoDa and two in Uptown to start. She hopes to connect with local businesses and launch more fridges to expand the reach of Da Village’s services. Da Village Pop-Up Shop is always looking for folks to volunteer their time, money, or resources to help the community. You can find the organization’s first free food fridge at 119 E. 7th St., with more to follow as the organization grows. LBEKELE@QCNERVE.COM

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.

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ARTS FEATURE

Like the Manor, the Charlotte Film Society’s upfitting the auditorium for projection and the community cinema will screen major independent sound, Ritter says. The remaining $50,000 has been and foreign art house fare like Jojo Rabbit and tacked on to the quote to cover labor, rounding up Parasite, two of the last films to play the Manor. the tally to $150,00. Like the Charlotte Film Society’s Back Alley Film As great as it is to receive seed money, Ritter Series, the new theater will feature cult films like and Morong are paying far more attention to the The Lure, a carnivorous mermaid rock ‘n’ roll musical number of donors, 401 people at this point. Small COVID and the Manor from Poland. contributors are far more desirable than a few big closure open opportunity for The facility will also host Q&A sessions with investors, both men stress. If the Charlotte Film NoDa art house filmmakers and educational lectures, similar to the Society needs to approach big donors down the Charlotte Film Society’s educational Charlotte Film road, they need to show them that their community BY PAT MORAN Lab series. And that’s just the beginning. cinema has community support. “We’ll be able to bring filmmakers in to talk “A lot of people were very sad that the Manor Brad Ritter remembers the first thought that about their movies,” says Morong, who is also open closed, and a lot of them were very vocal about popped into his head when he heard that the Manor Twin, Charlotte’s last remaining art house cinema that he had managed since 1999, was closing its doors forever. “My reaction was, ‘This is my freedom!’” Ritter says. It’s a take that runs counter to the spate of heartfelt eulogies Charlotte residents delivered when the 73-year-old theater’s dual screens faded to black one last time in May, but it’s not because Ritter didn’t love the theater. It’s because he also knew that the Manor, under corporate ownership since 2005, had its limitations. As sad as the cinema’s closure was to Queen City cineastes, the Manor’s demise has cleared the deck for a new screening facility for lovers of art house, indie and foreign films. Ritter, who is also president of the Charlotte Film Society, has been planning JAY MORONG (LEFT) AND BRAD RITTER SAID GOODBYE TO MANOR IN MAY. for over a decade to launch a nonprofit community PHOTO BY NICK DE LA CANAL/WFAE movie theater, a cinema committed to movies, film festivals and cinema education. It would be a venue to partnering with UNC Charlotte, organizations like it,” Morong says “Now is their opportunity to do answerable only to Charlotte film lovers, not to any the Unconventional Film School and local filmmakers something and to support their own Manor which outside corporate owners. who have no place to screen their movies. will also be nonprofit.” That dream is set to become reality next year “[Charlotte has] over a dozen film festivals and when the Charlotte Film Society’s Community screening series outside of the Charlotte Film Society, Projecting Plans Cinema opens its doors at 4237 Raleigh Street and they have trouble finding space,” Morong offers. Ritter started working as a projectionist at just north of NoDa. The three-screen theater will “We want to be a place for those festivals to come the Manor in 1994. He was then employed at the be the linchpin of the Trailhead District, a major and be able to educate the community. We also theater off and on until becoming full-time general redevelopment by the Flywheel Group that will want to get back to the time when the Manor as a manager in 1999. include music venues, restaurants, retail, office business would actually be part of the community Morong was a projectionist at the Somerville space, art galleries and residential units, all just a and not just be an outside entity.” Theater in the Boston area in the early 2000s. stone’s throw away from the Lynx Blue Line at Sugar That point is important to Ritter and Morong. When he moved to Charlotte, he signed on as a Creek Station. They say they can’t have a proper community theater projectionist at the Manor. The two projectionists “We’re bringing back the spirit of the Manor without community involvement. To that end, the became friends. and keeping it alive,” says Jay Morong, a senior Charlotte Film Society has launched a GoFundMe to “We used to sit around the lobby all the time and lecturer in theater and film at UNC Charlotte and the raise what Morong calls a financial “buffer” for the say, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have our own theater?’” program director for the Charlotte Film Society. He’s theater. Morong remembers. partnering with Ritter to launch the new theater, As of Aug. 10, the Charlotte Film Society has Eventually Ritter’s and Morong’s shared love of which he describes as an interwoven tapestry with raised $51, 087 of its $150,000 goal. cinema prompted each of them to join the Charlotte the major strands being the Manor, the Charlotte The first $100, 000 of that figure will go toward Film Society. Film Society and the Charlotte community.

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WHEN A DOOR CLOSES

The non-profit cinema group was founded in 1982 as an all-volunteer organization with no paid board members, initially offering a subscription series that featured 10 to 12 foreign, classic and independent films. For years, the Society had no real home, bouncing around from place to place until settling at the Manor in 1988. At the time, the Manor, which was launched by H.B. Meiselman of Eastern Federal Corp. in 1947, enthusiastically supported the Charlotte Film Society and its slate of films. The theater also partnered with the Charlotte Art League, which is currently located near the site of the new Charlotte Film Society’s community cinema. The League would display new artwork every month in the Manor’s lobby. “The history of the Film Society and the history of The Manor became intertwined,” Morong says. “It all became part of one tapestry.” That all changed in 2005 when Regal acquired the theater. No longer run as a familyowned Charlotte business, the Manor ousted the Art League and the Charlotte Film Society. “The Manor let the Film Society in, and then outside corporate interest threw the Film Society out,” Morong asserts. “[Before Regal] the Manor was part of the community and felt like part of that community. It didn’t feel like a soulless corporate chain.” After 2005, with the Charlotte Film Society one again without a home, and the Manor owned by an out-of-town entity, Morong began to see the limitations a corporate theater chain imposed on creative film programming. “At some point between 2010 and 2012, Brad and I and the Film Society started talking about how we could [launch a theater],”Morong offers. The one thing holding them back was something they both loved – the Manor. Despite the fact that the new theater ownership was colder, more calculating and focused on the bottom line, Charlotteans remembered all the goodwill the Manor disseminated when it had been owned by the Meiselman family. “Talk to anybody who has been in Charlotte 10 years and they understand the Manor is the benchmark for having a special evening at the movie theater,” Ritter says. “The Manor is woven into the fabric of the Charlotte community. Nobody has special memories of Regal Stonecrest.” Even though Regal had recently taken it over, for most of its history the Manor was run, owned and operated by a Charlotte company, Morong

ARTS FEATURE

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here.” Flywheel Group understood that the Charlotte Film Society wanted to do much more than bring maintains. Ritter and Morong say they wanted to back the Manor. They wanted to preserve what the keep that local feel for their projected Charlotte Film theater meant to the community, Ritter asserts. For Society theater. Morong holds the history of the Manor dear, having launched a Manor Theater Facebook group that posts vintage newspaper ads for the twin theater on Providence Road. (On Aug. 7, 1949, the theater was screening W.C Fields and Mae West in My Little Chickadee. On Aug. 6, 1958, you could have caught David Niven and an all-star cast in the Oscar-winning Around the World in 80 Days.) The fact that the venue was in business for so long, is by itself an anomaly in a city with scant regard for its history, Morong says. A Pandemic Spawns a Movie Palace In the meantime, Ritter had looked at prospective theater spaces around town on three different occasions. But with the Manor still open, it just didn’t feel right to launch an art house cinema, he says. Then in mid-May, Ritter’s boss at the Manor called him into the office. He told Ritter that their landlord had given them notice that they needed to vacate the property. Instead of being devastated, Ritter saw his opportunity to launch a theater that would be entwined with the community the way the old Manor had been. “Now I don’t have the Manor hanging over me,” Ritter remembers thinking. “Now we’re going to go out and see if we can make this happen.” The subsequent search for a suitable location for the Charlotte Film Society’s community theater proved fruitless for weeks, until a friend put Ritter onto The Flywheel Group, and its president Tony Kuhn. One day, Ritter and Morong were scouting across the street from an industrial warehouse slated for redevelopment. They wanted to see inside the building, but they had no key to get in. Instead, they arranged to meet Kuhn at the venue the following week. When Ritter and Morong walked into the meeting, the Flywheel Group had already drafted a plan that envisioned a movie theater occupying the space. “They were on board before they had even met with us,” Ritter says of Flywheel. “Tony understood what the Manor meant to the Charlotte community. [He] believed in the project we are trying to fulfill

The Charlotte Film Society has signed a letter of intent with the developer but they haven’t officially started negotiating the lease. Flywheel Group has already mentioned there is going to be a clause in the lease about pandemic. Ritter says such

control, there could be another pandemic six months from now,” Ritter posits. “That’s the way the world is these days. You’re going to see leases coming out now, when in event of a pandemic, tenants are going to get relief on the rent.” The Charlotte Film Society is looking to open the cinema’s doors in mid-summer 2021, but they won’t make a move until they are certain that the premises are safe. They’re willing to push the opening to next September, October or later if need be. “The beauty of our position right now is we have no overhead costs,” Ritter offers. “We’re just raising money.” While the big corporate theater chains are struggling to figure out when and how they’re going to open, Ritter and Morong say they will watch and wait to see what does and doesn’t work for the theater chains, then adapt accordingly. In the meantime, fostering community support is the most important mission right now, Morong asserts: “We want to be able to A RENDERING OF THE NEW CHARLOTTE FILM SOCIETY COMMUNITY CINEMA. get moving, and the best way to get moving good measure, the society wanted to expound on considerations will soon be standard under the post- is for the community to tell us, ‘Yes, we want this to the concept of a community theater by getting the pandemic new normal. happen.’” people of Charlotte involved as well. “Just because we might [get] COVID-19 under INFO@QCNERVE.COM While Ritter and Morong talk a lot about maintaining the spirit of the Manor, Ritter has done his part to preserve some physical aspects of the theater as well. While he was looking for a location for the new theater, Ritter and his co-workers spent six weeks cleaning out the Manor. The task turned into a de facto salvage operation. For example, the Manor’s old seats and the curtains will find a new home in the Trailhead District theater’s three screening rooms — two 100-seat auditoriums, and a more intimate 30-seat facility. As the cleanup commenced, Ritter’s boss told the soon-to-be ex-employees to claim anything they wanted before it went into the dumpster. “I pointed to the popcorn popper and said I would like that,” Ritter remembers. “My boss looked at me kind of strange [and asked] why I would want that. I said I was sentimentally attached to it.” Charlotte movie patrons may want to keep their eyes peeled for the vintage popper at the Charlotte Film Society’s community theater. Ritter admits that the uncertainty of launching a community cinema amid the COVID-19 pandemic can be daunting, but time is on their side. For now, Find virtual experiences at Ritter says he enjoying developing plans with the ArtsAndScience.org/Virtual Flywheel Group.

Connect with free arts, science and history experiences for all ages, virtually.

CULTURE

BLOCKS

MUSIC FEATURE

at LeRoy Fox in Cotswold. Since Wilfong was still learning to play, he recruited a professional musician to join him onstage, his friend Caleb Davis, a multiinstrumentalist who trained at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Wilfong’s younger brother Stephen, a singer who was learning to play guitar, asked if he could join the ad-hoc combo. Another friend, Patrick Faulkner, volunteered to play bass. Bolstered by his buddies, Wilfong joined them in concert, secure in the knowledge that with all the sound onstage, he wouldn’t stick out like a sore

her next charity event. Wilfong objected. He could barely play and the guys onstage weren’t even a proper band. Undaunted, Watt booked the group for their first paying gig, for which they earned $350. She even gave the unnamed band a moniker befitting their origins, The Accidentals. “Then the craziest thing happened,” Wilfong says. Accidental roots rockers The band, comprised of Wilfong on banjo and Southside Watt make a mandolin, his brother Stephen on lead vocals and serious go of it guitar, bassist Patrick Faulkner, guitarist Caleb Davis and drummer Dillon Blythe, BY PAT MORAN just kept getting booked. Their acquaintance with Forget about music theory, Gross led to a gig for the Shawn Wilfong is talking chaos Panthers. Then the Leukemia theory. Foundation booked them. “It’s the butterfly effect,” says They eventually booked a banjo player and mandolinist bi-weekly residency at Sugar Wilfong, trying to explain the Creek Brewing on Southside serendipitous sequence of events Drive. that launched his music career with Sadly, Watt could not a circle of friends who somehow accompany the band she became roots rock combo Southside loved and helped launch Watt. through their full journey. He turns to chaos theory’s notion On June 22, 2014, Watt died that one chance decision can set off from metastatic breast cancer a rippling chain reaction with the at the age of 37. Wilfong power to change the world, that the holds cherished memories flapping of a butterfly’s wings can of his former schoolmate set off permutations in air currents and childhood friend. He that trigger a tornado weeks later. remembers that he and But in Wilfong’s case, the Sabrina, who were both born flapping butterfly wing is a goodin August, often celebrated natured trash-talking session with shared birthday parties as family, and the resulting tornado kids. is Charlotte’s most accomplished “[The band] would have FROM LEFT: BOB PARKER, CALEB DAVIS, SHAWN AND STEPHEN WILFONG, DILLON BLYTHE AND PATRICK FAULKNER. PHOTO COURTESY OF SHAWN WILFONG “accidental” band. never taken this course One night 11 years ago, Wilfong together as a unit and produced was at a family gathering talking to his father-in- he started out, they wouldn’t be daunted in tackling thumb. But he didn’t realize his bandmates were these songs and had these opportunities to play in law, Terry Dalton, who plays the clawhammer banjo. the instrument. plotting an ambush. front of people if she hadn’t taken that initial step Clawhammer playing, also called frailing, differs “I read all these studies about [how] music is “Six or seven bars into a song, my buddy Patrick to set us sailing down this river,” Wilfong says. “I’m from standard up-and-down picking. Instead, the good for cognitive development … and how it’s leans into his microphone and says, ‘Banjo solo.’” forever grateful to her.” banjo player shapes their hand like a claw and good for children,” Wilfong offers. “I wanted to get Wilfong says. “Everyone in the band drops out. Its Along the way, the band got tighter and its swipes down, striking the strings percussively. them interested on their own, so that they could realty quiet [and] I was sweating, and nervous.” grooves grew deeper. “I picked up [the banjo] and asked him how take up music without it being forced on them.” Wilfong remembers his live debut as horrible, Wilfong, who had paid music scant attention to make my hands do what he was doing — the Word got around to Wilfong’s friends that he was but people in the audience loved it. One of those throughout high school and college, started digging clawhammer way,”Wilfong remembers. “Then I said, learning to play the banjo. As a partner in Maverick people was Wilfong’s childhood friend, the late into country music, roots rock like the Rolling Stones ‘If I practice, I can be better than you.’” Hospitality Group, Wilfong co-owns four restaurants: Sabrina Watt, who was in the audience with former and the classic blues of Robert Johnson and Son Later that week, Dalton showed up at his son-in- Mortimer’s Café & Pub, Cowbell Burger & Whiskey, Carolina Panther Jordan Gross. Watt, then the House. law’s door with a banjo and a book, Wayne Erbsen’s and two Leroy Fox locations, one in Cotswold and executive director of the Charlotte Chapter of the One evening, Wilfong and his wife Shelley Clawhammer Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus. one in South End. With live music sometimes on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, asked Wilfong and his watched a Netflix documentary on Fame studios in “He told me to put my money where my mouth menu, Wilfong’s friends urged him to play the banjo one-off group to play the after-event celebration at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a roots music mecca where was,” Wilfong says.

THE BET THAT BECAME A BAND

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For the next two weeks, Wilfong practiced like crazy. The next time he saw Dalton, Wilfong got out that banjo and reeled off a note-perfect rendition of an old time tune named “Old Joe Clark.” “I said, ‘Listen, I love this. I told you I’m going to be better than you,” Wilfong recounts. “And that is how this boat was launched.” In the meager amount of free time he had between being a hedge-fund manager, restaurateur, husband and father of three boys, Wilfong practiced. He encouraged his sons to start playing too, figuring that if they could see that their father sucked when

MUSIC FEATURE

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artists like Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin had recorded. Shelley Wilfong took note of her husband’s interest. On his 40th birthday, Wilfong woke up to a surprise. Shelley had booked a road trip for the band to a recording studio — and not just any studio. “She said, ‘The whole band is going to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Fame Studios, and you’re going to record some original songs,’” Wilfong remembers. There was just one problem. At the time, the band had no original songs. So, on the bus ride from Charlotte to Muscle Shoals they started writing tunes and working on grooves. Wilfong recalls going into the studio and encountering absolute mayhem. But amid the whirlwind two-day session, Wilfong got to cherish working with engineer Don Srygley, the man who mixed Greg Allman’s very last album, Southern Blood, which was tracked at Fame. The Accidentals jammed out eight tunes, which became their first EP 8 Track, a 2018 collection that includes the quicksilver bluegrass of “Head High,” the chugging, black-as-a-locomotive stack “Ghost Train,” the rattling, high-spirited “Girl From Tampa” and the rolling gospel soul of “Lonesome Drive

Blues.” Though their debut was rough around the edges, the band discovered that despite their moniker, their talent was no accident. But the name had to go. The group found out that there already was another band named The Accidentals that was signed to Sony. “We decided to take Sabrina’s last name and the first part of the street where we had our first resident gig and we became Southside Watt,” Wilfong offers. The following year, the recently christened Southside Watt brought a brand new set of songs to Grammy-winning engineer and producer Glenn Tabor, who had mastered several tracks for DaBaby’s recent album Blame It on Baby. At Tabor’s Charlottebased Gat3 Studios, Southside Watt laid down five cuts that became the EP For Willie, Waylon & Cash. Wilfong’s favorite memory of that session is recording the chugging “Down the Line,” a hardscrabble country ramble in which Stephon’s vocals channel the man in black, Johnny Cash. “We did that song around the condenser mic in one take, just the four of us [Davis, Faulkner and the Wilfongs]. There are no drums on it,” Wilfong says. “I play clawhammer banjo on that, and the song has a lot of Appalachian influence. Naturally, the music from North Carolina’s mountains inspire us.” Other highlights on the EP include the lilting

barstool lament “Been Smokin’,” the honky-tonk swagger of “Tonight I’m Drinkin’” and “Chugger,” which recreates the swooping country swing of Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys. Wilfong is particularly pleased that his uncle Bob Parker was able to sit in with his nephews on “Chugger.” Parker, a professional musician who has played Carnegie Hall and tunes pianos for UNC-Charlotte and the Charlotte Symphony, played boogie-woogie piano on Gat3 Studios’ grand piano. “It was really a special recording for our family, two generations recording for all time in one song,” Wilfong says. Parker also played “Chugger” live at the EP release show at the Visulite Theatre last December. Wilfong played the gig seated because he had just undergone surgery for a torn Achilles tendon a week before the show. “Better showing up in a chair than not showing up at all,” Wilfong offers. In July, Southside Watt went back into Gat3 Studios to record five new songs with Glenn Tabor, laying down the tracks while retaining suitable social distancing. “My brother Stephen and I have written almost all the songs,” Wilfong says. “Caleb helped on two of them. We’re so excited to have the opportunity to

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share these songs with people.” In addition to cherishing playing with his brother, an experience that Wilfong describes as a gift, the unlikely musician who became a banjo player through a bet says he looks forward to getting in front of people again and seeing them smile. The prospect of playing onstage again someday brings Wilfong’s thoughts back to Sabrina Watt and how her belief in a ragtag ad hoc collection of musicians became the butterfly wings buffeting and transforming Wilfong’s life. “I’ve found passion in this thing that I didn’t take note of as a kid,” he says. “I picked [music] up as an adult, and it’s given me opportunities to engage with people, impact their lives and bring them together to celebrate.” Recently, the band got booked to play a gig on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown in Charleston for almost 800 people, Wilfong offers. Another group of fans recently flew Southside Watt to Beaver Creek, Colorado, to play a single show. “These are just great life experiences,” Wilfong says. “And we would never have contemplated [them] if just one person hadn’t given us a gentle nudge in that direction.” INFO@QCNERVE.COM

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

PASSION, AMBITION, AND HART

the chefs and the guests — and no menu. Counter- offers two seatings per night: 10 courses for $110 per person. But what truly sets the restaurant apart is Hart’s idea to have music take center stage. A single, omnidirectional pendant speaker hangs above the counter to both

Chef Sam Hart is using music to counterprogram the fine-dining experience

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BY JONATHAN GARRETT

Sam Hart has had his share of doubters — and there are few things he relishes more than proving them wrong. “I remember when I was in middle school, I got suspended for two days and the principal told me that I was going to wind up flipping burgers at Wendy’s. So when we started hosting our pop-up [restaurants in Charlotte] last year, I sent her an invitation and told her I’d make her a burger for one of the courses.” He lets out a soft sigh of mock disappointment. “She never responded.” Hart has made something of a career of risktaking and defying the odds with puckish aplomb. His culinary journey began a mere five years ago when, at the age of 23 and after watching his sister graduate with her culinary degree, he abruptly quit his lucrative gig selling radio spots for iHeartMedia. He began working at local restaurant Heirloom, enrolled in the culinary arts program at CPCC, and became the only graduate from his class — and one of very few in school history — to earn an apprenticeship position with a Michelin 3-star restaurant — in his case landing at the Mecca of new American molecular gastronomy, Alinea, in Chicago. But the imminent venture from the nativeborn, iconoclastic chef ups the ante considerably and has him facing perhaps his longest odds yet. At the age of 28, Hart is not only stepping into the role of head chef for the very first time — he’s doing so at an absurdly ambitious restaurant, the concept for which he dreamed up nearly three years ago. It has few if any precedents anywhere in the world, let alone here in North Carolina. Counter-, as its name suggests, aims to redefine the term “fine dining.” Rather than white tablecloths or even tables at all, Counter- instead features a single u-shaped counter. There is no waitstaff — no buffer between

CHEF SAM HART

offer an aural accompaniment for each course and choreograph the movements of the chefs, who carefully time the presentation of each course to sync up to the soundtrack. Each seating lasts precisely as long as the

need to make the connection between sound and taste.” Because he’s convinced of music’s importance in delivering the ultimate sensory experience, Hart obsesses over the music selection as much as he does over each ingredient. Each menu starts with the goal of telling a story. The one for this autumn, “Terroir,” goes deep on pre-colonial North Carolina, mining the art, culture and flavors of our state’s indigenous people with the goal of excavating a history that has been largely overlooked. To convey the story through the music, Hart works in stages, whittling thousands of songs down to 150 and then locking in the final playlist based on the composition and flow of each course. Hart claims Terroir has been in development for the better part of two years. Similar to the cuisine at Counter-, which whimsically mixes styles and traditions, Hart’s approach to building playlists is refreshingly irreverent and unbound by genre. He focuses on finding songs that explicitly or implicitly speak to the menu theme and strike an emotional chord, which he believes every musical genre is capable of doing, “even country.” Hart’s playlist from one of his pop-ups (a proof of concept for the brick-and-mortar Counter-) veered from Kanye West to Boone alt-pop outfit Rainbow Kitten Surprise to classical composer Vivaldi, underscoring his omnivorous musical palate. Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the obvious question: How much overlap is there really between the fine dining crowd and music fanatics? Are people who are in the market for a lavish meal looking for this kind of fully immersive experience? Hart thinks so based on his interactions during the pop ups. Initially, he was concerned that some might find it all to be a bit too much, but “we learned that people like for us to get in their bubble, to see the plating, and they like to PHOTO BY JON MULLEN know the story behind the food and why we’re choosing certain music.” He believes people who are adventurous eaters He had always intended to incorporate music into his restaurant concept, but the Gambino- are naturally curious and open to many types of new backed dessert was the light-bulb moment. “I experiences, not just to the plate of food in front of thought that’s exactly what I want to do but it needs them. Nick Kokonas, co-founder of Alinea with chef to be done with every single course. That’s how we playlist. Think of it as a culinary spin on the classic mixtape. Hart recalls the inspiration struck while he was staging at Alinea. It was there that he witnessed and helped execute a dessert course set to Childish Gambino’s “Me and Your Momma.”

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

overall experience. conventional gatekeepers. He wants Counter- to be For as much as Hart rebels against the stuffy a true destination restaurant, a spot to put Charlotte confines of traditional fine dining, he also makes on the culinary map and draw foodies from all over. Grant Achatz, generally concurs: “Music is intimately no secret of his desire for recognition from the “Charlotte is the largest market in the country tied to emotion and to never win a James so combining music, Beard [award], and sound, and food can it’s never had one significantly alter the restaurant on the top dining experience.” 100 [Opinionated Though he About Dining] report,” is quick to add a explains Hart. “I’m note of caution. setting out to prove “It’s only when it’s that Charlotte does done poorly that it want this and desires a becomes obtrusive restaurant to push the and takes away from boundaries.” the experience. I’ve It’s not lost certainly seen both.” on Hart that he’s While Hart is picked an especially committed to his inopportune moment concept, he is clear to put the city he calls that his commitment home to the test. stems from his belief With the fallout that music will from COVID ravaging PHOTO BY SAM HART complement the SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE the restaurant food and enhance the industry and the fine-

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dining sector in particular, many restaurateurs have delayed their openings or scrapped plans entirely. Hart, however, remains undaunted. Like many other restaurants, he’s planning to take a number of extra precautions, including reducing capacity for the foreseeable future, performing temperature checks on staff and guests, and ensuring that all staff don appropriate personal protective equipment. He’s also installed what he refers to as a “state of the art filtration system.” With about a month to go, Hart admits that the restaurant he first dreamed up years ago is starting to feel very real. “Anyone opening a restaurant or any business for that matter who says they’re not anxious or nervous is lying,” he says with characteristic bluntness. “[But] similar to a boxer walking out to the ring, it’s time to show our hard work and leave it all out there.” The stakes are impossibly high, and without a doubt, that’s just the way Hart likes them. Counter- is located at 2200 Thrift Rd. and opens to the public on Wednesday, September 9th. INFO@QCNERVE.COM

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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. GEOGRAPHY: Which country is the only one whose name ends with the letter “Q”? 2. COMICS: What was the name of Dennis the Menace’s dog? 3. GOVERNMENT: Which Cabinet department oversees the National Park Service? 4. ANATOMY: What is a common name for metacarpophalangeal joint? 5. SCIENCE: What is absolute zero? 6. MUSIC: Which famous musician’s nickname was Bocephus? 7. MOVIES: What was the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s film “The Birds”? 8. ASTRONOMY: Which moon is the largest in our solar system? 9. LANGUAGE: What does the Latin word “veritas” mean? 10. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Who was the only U.S. president who also served later as chief justice of the Supreme Court?

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Sheep kin 5 Rick Blaine’s love, in film 9 Certain vacuum tube 16 Crunches work them 19 Item added, as to a library 21 Decks out 22 Statute 23 Start of a riddle 25 Certain Ivy Leaguer 26 Split nation 27 10% of XXX 28 “-- smile be your umbrella” 29 SAT, for one 30 Not taut 34 List-curtailing abbr. 36 Solo, in a way 38 Brick-hauling trough 41 Riddle, part 2 46 -- Plus (razor brand) 48 Off-road vehicles, informally 49 Egypt, once: Abbr. 50 Aged person 51 Riddle, part 3 57 Pal of Pooh 58 Nebraska city on the Platte River 59 Never, in Germany 60 Batman player Kilmer 61 Any of 12 popes 62 Blew it 63 “Got it, dude” 65 Maiden 66 Pace 67 Riddle, part 4 72 The impish Simpson 75 Daredevil Knievel

76 Neap, e.g. 77 Bay State sch. 81 Regrets bitterly 82 It’s looked up in a dict. 83 Tall, graceful tree 84 Resort with snowy trails 86 “Ooky” TV cousin 87 Riddle, part 5 91 Satellite-tracking prog. 93 Cereal grain 94 Scuttle stuff 95 Mitigate 96 End of the riddle 102 The, in Nice 103 Certain book page size 104 Ramp (up) 105 Start 107 Some are unsaturated 108 Guesses at SFO 111 Create a hem, e.g. 113 Actor Sam 117 Exiled Amin 118 Riddle’s answer 123 TV room 124 Painter Manet 125 Fully informed 126 Assn. 127 TV talk great Phil 128 Reassuring touches 129 Earring type DOWN 1 Stare openly and stupidly 2 Eight, in Lima 3 Rent- -- (Hertz’s business) 4 Heads, in France 5 Prefix with thermal 6 “Charlie’s Angels” co-star Lucy

7 Pine- -8 “You -- both know ...” 9 Papeete’s island 10 Summer, in France 11 Texter’s “bye now” 12 Cereal grain 13 Gifted speaker 14 Franklin -- Roosevelt 15 Subj. for U.S. newcomers 16 Chief port of Egypt 17 Become even 18 Take a dip 20 Milan’s La -24 Knotted 29 Actor Jannings 31 Sharp 32 Actress -- Lee Crosby 33 Leg joint 35 Lead to 37 Preholiday nights 38 “Gattaca” actor Ethan 39 Additional 40 Gloomy, in verse 42 Pack-toting equine 43 “Prob’ly not” 44 Nonpublic 45 Uneven, as leaf edges 47 Collars 52 Prefix with thermal 53 Military group 54 Each evening 55 Ogden with funny poetry 56 Additional 61 Created in advance 63 Frozen sheet in the sea 64 FedEx alternative 65 English “Inc.”

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PG.18 PUZZLE ANSWERS

68 Healing drugs, briefly 69 Eye layer 70 Goals 71 Destroy 72 Lead to 73 Luger pistol, e.g. 74 Drawing back in 78 Sans-serif typeface 79 Intuit 80 Wise sorts 83 One dining 84 Done in, as a dragon 85 Brick bakers 87 Concept 88 Extension for PC music files 89 Statute 90 -- -chic (fashion style) 92 Part of B.A. 97 Go too far on 98 Concept 99 Live (at) 100 YSL part 101 Subdivision in taxonomy 106 Short-term staffers 107 Pal of Rover 109 Water, in Spanish 110 Old ruler of Iran 112 Larrup 114 “Oh, ri-i-ight” 115 “In -- of flowers ...” 116 “Charlie’s Angels” co-star Cheryl 118 Napping spot 119 Mr. Capote, to his pals 120 W-2 pro 121 Ex-Giant Mel 122 Part of L.A.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

THE SEEKER THE SELF-CARE TOOLKIT Take care of yourself so you can take care of others

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BY KATIE GRANT

Looking back a decade, it’s strange to imagine my life before yoga. There’s almost a tangible division between the previous version of me and the most current version; like those inspirational before-and-after life-altering weight-loss stories. My story isn’t around body weight, but more about the weight of my soul suffering from not living up to its fullest potential. I remember having a conversation with my best friend during our college days, audibly wondering why all of my dorm room sidekicks were meeting their soulmates; why everyone but me seemed to be the other half of a relationship in bloom. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say, and now I clearly see why I was the odd one out: Who would want to claim dating the messiest shit show on campus? It takes experience, years of self-reflection and a lot of yoga to successfully interpret that I hadn’t been living up to my fullest potential during those years. However, it is through my yoga practice that I have rediscovered myself, and continue to grasp a little more every day. In the words of Michelangelo, “I’m still learning”. I was at an unfamiliar crossroads when my roommate at the time introduced me to what is now my yoga practice. Though we are no longer in touch, I can’t help but wonder if she was strategically placed in my life at that specific time to show me a better way. In the yoga world we view the universe as giving us what we need, not what we want. Apparently I needed yoga. The now-defunct Yoga One on Hawthorne Avenue quickly became my studio of choice for a few reasons: I could easily walk there from my apartment, and just as easily sweat out the booze from the night before. (I bartended my way through college and can’t help but wonder how I graduated

after spending more time socializing than studying.) Fast forward 10 years ... I am now a RYT® 200 and working towards becoming a RYT® 500 (yoga industry terms for different levels of teaching experience). It is during this pandemic that I find myself lumbering towards the finish line. I only need 26 hours to complete my training, but how is a yoginiin-training ever going to complete a program when 2020 has basically been canceled? I remain cautiously optimistic. After all, energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it simply changes states, which is why virtual yoga is growing in popularity. I was lucky enough to come across the sixweek virtual yoga teacher training group, The Art of Holding Space with Annie Clarke, a London-based yoga teacher. I’m even luckier that my teacher here in the U.S. approved of applying this coursework toward my 300 hours! One of our class prompts includes building and exploring our own self-care toolkits. The expression “You can’t pour from an empty cup” is completely applicable in this context. How do we take care of ourselves so that we can take care of others? Taking this and running with it, I thought it might be a fun exercise to share what’s currently in my toolkit, and list them in order of how often I use them. (Socially distant) sharing is caring, so hopefully this list will spark you to share what tools you use as well! Yoga If you were expecting something else you clearly don’t know me very well.

appreciative to have modern medicine in my toolkit. After feeling trapped by negative mental loops for so long, I only wish I had explored this option sooner. Sharing Meals When I first heard about The 5 Love Languages, I assumed (incorrectly) that food would be considered as such. It may not have made it to the official list, but it’s definitely on mine. The experience of sharing a meal with my husband or my group of girls is irreplaceable. Bonus points for a perfectly paired bottle (or more) or wine. Sleep Considering we spend about a third of our lives asleep, let’s make it count. My bedtime ritual typically involves a book, some sort of nighttime tea, and melatonin. If my reference to Xanax above didn’t clue you into my mental state, it’s really difficult for me to “shut down,” so a solid, restful sleep is imperative to keep me going full psycho. Whether you’re obsessed with the concept of self-care or just need some inspiration, know that everyone’s approach is different. For example, you may notice weed and journaling are not in my top five. Nothing against those outlets, but they simply don’t work for me. My hope is that by sharing these personal experiences you’ll feel inspired to discover what works best for you! INFO@QCNERVE.COM

NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS

Physical Exercise of Any Kind This is a main component of self-care since it helps on a few different levels. It creates the feelgood chemicals in my brain, which in turn act as antidepressants. Working out also makes me feel more comfortable about ingesting non-essential calories like the flourless chocolate cake I very much enjoyed last night.

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Xanax While I don’t take pleasure in seeing prescribed medication towards the top of my list, I am

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By Lucie Winborne • A Florida waitress was promised a new Toyota after winning a sales contest at her restaurant, but was given a toy Yoda, a “Star Wars” doll, instead. She sued the company, and received more than enough to buy herself a new Toyota. • Fear of dolls is called “pediophobia.” • Alchemist Hennig Brand is thought to have used upwards of 1,500 gallons of human urine in his quest to make gold. After he evaporated, boiled and distilled it multiple times, it started to glow in the dark and burst into flames. He had instead discovered the element phosphorus. • “Phantom Vibration Syndrome” is the name for when someone thinks their phone is vibrating, but it isn’t. • Cats have more than 100 vocal sounds, while dogs only have about 10. • Astronaut John Young caused a small scandal in 1965 when he smuggled a corned beef sandwich aboard Gemini 3. When he took it out in zero gravity and tried to eat it, it broke up, sending crumbs flying around the cabin. No harm was done, but the incident sparked a safety review by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations and a statement from NASA assuring that steps had been taken “to prevent recurrence of corned beef sandwiches in future flights.” • Jim Carrey’s make-up routine for “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was so intense and his costume was so uncomfortable that he underwent training from the CIA’s torture experts! • Take a good look at Disney princesses and you’ll notice that they’re all essentially attired in typical princess garb of gown, tiara, etc. But here’s a small difference you might not have picked up on — some wear gloves, and some don’t. What’s up with that? The ladies without gloves are commoners who married into royalty. *** Thought for the Day: “In a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb © 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.

LIFESTYLE

HOROSCOPE AUGUST 12 - AUGUST 18

AUGUST 19 - AUGUST 25

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Avoid adding to the LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Your sense

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) A previous

tension around you. Even a well-meant reaction against something you perceive as unfair could be misunderstood. Let things calm down, and then talk about it.

of humor can brighten any dark period, and your laughter can dispel those gray clouds swirling around you. The weekend presents a surprising but welcome change.

misunderstanding continues to taint the atmosphere to some extent in the early part of the week. But cooler heads prevail, and the situation eases by week’s end.

matter could cause some friction among your colleagues. But once again, that logical mind of yours comes to the rescue. And the sooner it does, the better!

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) It’s a good time for romance for unattached Bovines, and a good time for reinforcing the bonds between partners. Children’s needs are important during the latter part of the week.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Be careful about the words you use, especially in touchy situations. The old Chinese saying that the spoken word is silver, but the unspoken gold could well apply here.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) While the artistic aspect of the Divine Bovine is well-served this week, that practical side is also getting the sort of recognition that could lead to a new and welldeserved opportunity.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) There might still be some heated temper flare-ups out there. But your sensible self should advise you to stay out of these situations until things cool down and calm is restored.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) With home-related matters taking on more importance this week, now could be the time to make some long-deferred purchases. But shop carefully for the best quality at the best price.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Changing your mind could be the right thing to do if you can’t resolve your doubts. You might want to discuss the matter with someone whose advice you trust.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A compliment from SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December a surprising source sends you wafting way up into the clouds, where — sorry to say — your view of what’s going on is obscured. Come on down and face some reality.

21) Some facts could emerge to shed light on unresolved past problems. What you learn also might help explain why a once-warm relationship suddenly cooled down.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Even a family-loving CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Don’t CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Congratulations.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19)

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A health problem in the family might have other relatives LEO (July 23 to August 22) The Big Cat’s energy LEO (July 23 to August 22) A job-related move assuming that, as before, you’ll take over the levels should be rather high these days, and you might hold more positive surprises than you’d health-care duties. Surprise them and insist they might do well to tackle any tasks that still need expected. Go into it with confidence, and look for share in the caretaking. doing. This will clear the way for those upcoming all the advantages it offers. Then decide what you’ll projects. do with what you find.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) An educational opportunity could lead to something other than what you had planned. But keep an open mind, and before you decide to turn it down, check it out.

person like you sometimes can feel you’re at the end of the line with contentious kinfolk. But things can work out. Remember that it’s better to talk than walk.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Driving Pg. 21 AUG 12 - AUG 25, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A business

yourself too hard to get something done on a deadline you set up can backfire. Ease into a more realistic finish date, and add more breaks to your work schedule.

let your pride get in the way of checking into what While that family problem might still rankle, it could be a great new opportunity. Get the facts should be easing thanks to your efforts to calm the first, and worry about procedure and protocol later. waters. Also, a workplace situation seems to be moving in your favor.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) A series of

changes can be unsettling, but in the long run, it VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Someone’s can pay off with new perspectives on what you plan criticism might not be as negative as you perceive. to do. Keep your mind open to the possibilities that Actually, it could be helpful. Discuss the matter with might well lie ahead. your critic, and you both could learn something valuable.

BORN THIS WEEK: You might be under a “royal” sign, but you have a wonderful way of embracing everyone as an equal.

You still need to demand those answers to your questions. Remember, your wise counseling earns you respect, but it’s your search for truth that gives you wisdom.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) The Piscean

wit and wisdom helps you work through a situation that might have been accidentally or even deliberately obscured. What you unravel could prove to be very revealing.

BORN THIS WEEK: Loyalty is important to you. You demand it, but you also give it generously and lovingly.

2020 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

PG.19 PUZZLE ANSWERS

SAVAGE LOVE MARRIED PEOPLE

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BY DAN SAVAGE

to accept his terms. You can only see Dr. Married during office hours, you can’t call or text him, and you’re on your own if you have an emergency outside office hours. But agreeing to his terms at the outset doesn’t obligate you to stick to his terms forever. Terms can be renegotiated. But unless you’re willing to issue an ultimatum, OTHER, Dr. Married has no incentive to renegotiate the terms of your relationship. Zooming out for a second: I get letters all the time from women who ask me how to issue an ultimatum without seeming like they’re issuing an ultimatum. I don’t get many letters from men like that for good and not-so-good reasons: Men are socialized to feel entitled to what they want, men are praised when they ask for what they want, and consequently men are likelier to get what they want. To get what you want, OTHER, you’re gonna have to man up: feel entitled, act entitled, make demands. And you gotta be willing to walk. You have to go in fully prepared to use the leverage you actually have here — your presence in Dr. Married’s life — or nothing will change. His circumstances have required you to live in the shadows if you wanted to see him and maybe that worked for you once. But it doesn’t work for you anymore and Dr. Married needs to understand that if his circumstances don’t change — if he doesn’t change them — then he’s going to lose you. There’s a middle ground between divorce, your preferred circumstance, and things staying exactly as they are. Dr. Married’s wife is surely aware that her marriage is sexless and non-romantic — assuming he’s told you the truth — and if his wife’s actually a lesbian, well, perhaps she’d like the freedom to date other women too. (Or date them openly, I should say; for all we know she’s been getting some pussy on the side herself.) If they want to stay together for the kids, if they have a constructive, functional, low-conflict loving partnership, and it would be possible to daylight you without anyone having to get divorced, maybe you could settle for those terms.

I’m a 38-year-old bi woman who has been sleeping with a married male coworker for the last eight months. We’re a walking cliché: I’m a nurse, he’s a doctor, and one night he ended up spilling a lot of personal information about his marriage to me (sexless, non-romantic, she might be a lesbian) before asking if he could kiss me. I declined. Three months and many text messages later, I met him for drinks. The next thing I know we are falling in love and spending as much time together as we can manage. Even though he is married and has kids, this has been one of the best relationships of my adult life. He loves me in ways I never thought possible. (He even savors my COVID-19 curves.) The obvious problem here is that he is married and his wife allegedly doesn’t know about his unhappiness in their marriage. We have to arrange our dates around his work schedule and his lies to his wife. I find myself becoming increasingly jealous of the time he spends with his wife and his inability to spend more time with me. I want him to confront the issues in his marriage and I want him to at least attempt being honest with her so we can figure out if it’s even possible for us to move forward. My question is this: How do I have this conversation with him without it seeming like an ultimatum? I adore him and I don’t think he’s lying to me about his marriage. But I long to have more freedom in our relationship. I love that I finally found someone who treats me so well when we are together but my heart is breaking because our love exists in the shadows. It’s a win/win for him; he gets his marriage, his kids, his “real life,” and me too. But I can’t even text or even call him freely and I certainly couldn’t rely on him in an emergency. I want this to work. I don’t necessarily want him to get divorced, Dan, as I’m a bi man in a straight marriage. We have I fear it would cause him to resent me, but that would two young children. My wife and I have been honestly be my preference. What should I do? working through some relationship issues. OUTSIDE THE HOME EXISTS ROMANCE Because of these, she has not been open to sex with me and for 18 months our marriage has been What are you willing to settle for, OTHER? If you can’t live without Dr. Married and you can only essentially sexless. I’m not happy with this, but we have him on his terms — terms he set at the start, terms are working on things. Since we stopped having sex, I have been using designed to keep his wife in the dark — then you’ll have my wife’s used panties to masturbate. I work from

TRIVIA ANSWERS: 5. The lowest temperature 8. Jupiter’s Ganymede 1. Iraq theoretically possible. -273.15 Centigrade 9. Truth 2. Ruff or -459.67 Fahrenheit 10. William Howard Taft 3. Interior 6. Hank Williams Jr. 4. Knuckle 7. Bodega Bay, California home and do a lot of the household work, including respect her opinions, her boundaries, her autonomy, etc. laundry. Every couple of weeks, I will take a couple — then the risk of further damaging your marriage has of her panties from the laundry. I rub myself with to outweigh the rewards of momentarily draining your one pair and sniff the other one. I enjoy the way sack. the fabric feels and am turned on by knowing that That said, WANK, if perving on your wife’s panties they’ve been rubbing up against her pussy. — without damaging or staining them — is helping It makes me feel very close to her. I finish by you remain faithful during this sexless period of your ejaculating into her panties and then I rinse them marriage… and sustaining your attraction to your out and wash them. I’m very careful not to stain or wife though this difficult time… well, an argument/ damage them. rationalization could be made that your wife benefits This is something I do to feel more connected from this perving. with her sexually. I don’t get hard thinking that And these aren’t stolen panties — these aren’t a she’s wearing panties I came in; I get hard thinking stranger’s panties or a roommate’s panties — these are about coming in panties she’s worn. But I worry panties your wife hands over to you for laundering. That that I’m violating her — which is not something I you derive a moment’s pleasure from them on their way want to do. I know that if I were doing this with a from laundry basket to washing machine could be selfstranger’s panties, or with the panties of someone servingly filed, I guess, under “what she doesn’t know I knew but was not in an intimate relationship won’t hurt her.” with, it would be at best creepy and at worst a sex But if you feel like your wife would regard this as a crime. violation — and I’m guessing you feel that way, WANK, But she’s my wife, and although we are in a since you’re asking me about it and not her — then you hard place right now, we’re trying to find our way might wanna knock it off. back to each other. So, is this an acceptable way for me to get off while we work on our relationship? Or is it a violation? mail@savagelove.net; Follow Dan on Twitter @ WONDERS ABOUT NUZZLING KNICKERS FakeDanSavage; On the Lovecast, it’s Millennial vs Boomer with Jill Filipovic. savagelovecast.com I’m torn, WANK. If you and the wife were fucking, she might enjoy knowing that; however many years and two kids later, you’re still so crazy about her that you’re down in the laundry room perving on her dirty panties. But you aren’t fucking and things are strained for reasons you didn’t share. So you need to ask yourself whether this perving would set you two back if your wife were to find out about it. If you think it would — if, say, your wife isn’t fucking you because she feels like you don’t

Be a Brisket Snob

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Photo by Grant Baldwin