Evince1 15 4web

Two Sisters Trying Something Different Page 6

Jose & Danya Zuniga Dancing Through Life Page 3

Page 2

January 2015

Editor’s Note

Photo by Lona Kokinda

2

Even though it sounds tempting at times, hibernation is not appropriate for humans. We need mental stimulation, social interaction and physical activity to be cheerful and happy. Look at the joyful glow on the faces of Jose and Danya Zuniga in the cover picture.

You will never find these two sitting still. Read their story, Dancing Through Life (page 3). Then, sign up for a dance class and literally follow in their footsteps.

An easy way to motivate your mind is to try something different.

The Mongkhonkham sisters from Thailand suggest dining at the Moon River Thai Bistro. Their home-cooked meals are almost guaranteed to dispel winter doldrums (page 6). Then walk next door to the grand reopening of the Carrington Gallery followed by a magic show at The Historic North Theatre (page 7). Ready for more?

Read the calendar on page 16 and Calendar Clips on page 14 for dates of concerts, art exhibits, classes, shows and volunteer training.

Perhaps you want some company while making resolutions for 2015. Read No More Smoking

by Mack Williams (page 21); Ciji Moore’s A Better You in 2015 (page 5); Around the Table by Annelle Williams (page 25); and She Said He Said by Dena Hill and Larry Oldham (page 4). They all have unique ways of staying healthy and active. Let us know what you think.

Write a letter/email for The Voice of Readers (page 5).

Don’t allow winter weather to determine your mood or become an excuse for missing the wonderful entertainment opportunities available this month. Show up.

Shine (even when the sun doesn’t) and let it go (if the experience wasn’t what you expected). It’s going to be a great month and an even better year. I promise.

January Contents Editor’s Note

3

Jose & Danya Zuniga / Dancing Through Life

by Joyce Wilburn

4

She Said He Said / New Year’s Resolutions

by Dena Hill & Larry Oldham

5

The Voice of Readers

Two Sisters Trying Something Different

by Joyce Wilburn

7

Carrington Gallery Reopens / You’re Invited

by Cathy Farley

8

Spotting Exceptional Customer Service

by Alexis Ehrhardt

9

Second Thoughts / Snowed Under

by Kim Clifton

Associate Editors Larry G. Aaron (434.792.8695) larry.aaron@gmail.com Jeanette Taylor Contributing Writers

12 Finding in France a New Way of Looking at Danville

by Joyce Wilburn 13 An Early Morning (Noisy) Blessing

by Anne Cockrell

Diane Adkins, Janet Aponte, Kim Clifton, Anne Cockrell, Cathy Cole, Patsi Compton, Alexis Ehrhardt, Cathy Farley, Dena Hill, Telisha Moore Leigg, Ciji Moore, Linda Lemery, Pat Maurakis, Larry Oldham, Susan Paynter, Ann Smithwick, Melanie Vaughan, Joyce Wilburn, Annelle Williams, Mack Williams

Business Manager Paul Seiple(1.877.638.8685) paul@evincemagazine.com Marketing Consultants Kim Demont (434.792.0612) demontdesign@verizon.net

14 Calendar Clips

Lee Vogler (434.548.5335) lee@showcasemagazine.com

16 Calendar 18 Book Clubbing Life Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism a review by Diane Adkins 21 No More Smoking by Mack Williams 23 Why Attend a Horticultural Symposium?

by Janet Aponte 24 Reflecting Forward / At the Movies

by Linda Lemery

Art & Production Director Demont Design (Kim Demont) evince\i-’vin(t)s\ 1: to constitute outward evidence of 2: to display clearly: reveal syn see SHOW

Deadline for submission of February stories, articles, and ads is 5 p.m. on Monday, January 19.

Submit stories and articles to: joycewilburn@gmail.com.

Submit calendar items by Monday, January 12, at 5 p.m. to www.showcasemagazine.com for Evince and Showcase.

For ad information contact a sales associate or sales manager above.

25 Around the Table / Cubano Sandwich

by Annelle Williams 26 Photo Finish

Photos of Jose & Danya Zuniga and Jung Mongkhonkham

by Michelle Dalton Photography

CEO / Publisher Andrew Scott Brooks

Editor Joyce Wilburn (434.799.3160) joycewilburn@gmail.com

10 Ballad of the Lighthouse / Fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg

On the Cover:

OICE OF ENTERTAINMENT

President Director of Sales & Marketing Larry Oldham (434.728.3713) larry@evincemagazine.com

A Better You in 2015 by Ciji Moore 6

THE

Don’t Forget to Pick Up the January Rave Award Edition of Showcase Magazine

Editorial Policies:

Meet Some of Our Contributors

eVince is a monthly news magazine covering the arts, entertainment, education, economic development, and lifestyle in Danville and the surrounding areas. We print and distribute eVince free of charge due entirely to the generosity of our advertisers. In our pages appear views from across the social spectrum.

They do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. We reserve the right to accept, reject, and edit all submissions and advertisements.

EVINCE MAGAZINE 753 Main St. Suite 3, Danville, VA 24541 www.evincemagazine.com © 2015 All rights reserved.

Reproduction or use in whole or in part in any medium without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Sincerely,

Credits: Hair: Amber Wilson; Skin Care & Makeup: Catherine Saunders; Nails: Janelle Gammon; Genesis Day Spa & Salon, 695 Park Avenue, Danville

Ann Smithwick, the Director of Project Literacy of Danville, is always seeking volunteer tutors for the program.

Alexis Ehrhardt is the Executive Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Career Competitiveness at Averett University.

Cathy Cole of Halifax serves as Secretary on the Parsons-Bruce Art Association Board and is Co-Chairman of Publicity.

Anne Cockrell is a registered nurse in the Danville area.

We now accept Visa, MC, and Discover for ad payments

For Subscriptions, call 1.877.638.8685 ext. 6.

Evince Magazine

E

very time Danya Zuniga hikes up the two dozen steps to the New City Dance Space on the upper level of the renovated 1894 brick building in North Danville, she is reminded of Broadway. “When I was at Old Dominion University, we would go to New York City on the weekends for classes and the studios looked like this,” says the 1994 ODU cum laude graduate.

She smiles and surveys the spacious wooden dance floor bathed with natural light from five elongated windows overlooking busy North Main Street. Danya and husband Jose cut the ribbon last November on the newest location of their business in an area once known as Neapolis or New City. When they moved, the couple brought skills, talent, and many years of experience with them and, of course, a passion for dancing.

Danya and Jose encourage all to join them at New City Dance Space, whether one is an experienced dancer or a wannabe. “Everybody can dance. I love meeting new people and learning about them” says Danya. Their students range from professional fighters, clergy, and corporate presidents to couples looking for a fun date night, and singles.

With that in mind, the duo offers private lessons, group lessons, and dance parties where dancers can practice in a relaxed comfortable atmosphere—in a setting that feels like NYC. • The New City Dance Space, 616 North Main Street, is located across from the North Theatre and the Moon River Thai Restaurant. See page 6.

• Private lessons offer individual attention for maximum learning.

“I love dancing,” Jose states emphatically and lists his reasons, “I love the music, the creative expression that’s possible, the connection to music and to a partner while dancing, and I love to teach.”

It’s obvious now, but that wasn’t always true for the man who lived in Madrid, Spain, for his first 18 years, studied at a San Juan, Puerto Rico, college and later majored in English and journalism at the University of Richmond. He tells what happened next, “After graduating in 1979, I was highly underemployed and had plenty of time. A friend suggested I work at Arthur Murray Dance Studio.”

He applied, took the training, and within six months became the teacher/manager of an Arthur Murray Studio in Greensboro and stayed there until 1986.

In 1987, Jose was planning to return to New York where family lived, but an unfortunate trip over a puppy and the subsequent fall off a porch, left him with a broken foot—not a good scenario for a dance instructor.

Danya continues the story, “Opening a school in Danville was supposed to be a part-time, short-term operation.” Referring to ZL’s School of Dance that operated from 1987 to 1999, Jose interjects, “The school did a lot better than anyone expected for a small community.”

Meanwhile, in 1994, Danya was busy as the director/instructor at the Dance Arts Center, a

Page 3

• Adult beginner belly dancing is held on Tuesdays from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

• Adult beginner ballet is offered on Tuesdays from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

• Adult group ballroom lessons/ dance parties are held on Tuesdays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

• Adult beginning zumba is taught on Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

• Intermediate ballroom group instruction is offered on Thursdays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Photo by Michelle Dalton Photography.

Danya & Jose Zuniga

Dancing Through Life

by Joyce Wilburn business she bought from Vikki Rimmer in 1994. During this time, both Jose and Danya were invited separately to perform at a community event and that is where they met. Jose remembers his reaction to seeing her dance.

He said to himself, “Wow, there is a real pro. That was a beautiful performance.” That chance encounter led to more meetings and eventually to the creation of The Dance Space in 1999 and marriage in 2006.

• Dance parties are held on the fourth Friday of the month.

They are open to the public and attendees do not need to know how to dance.

• For more information, call 434.799.5521 or visit www.newcitydancespace.com or www.facebook.com.

• The building where the New City Dance Space is located is the former home of the local Order of Red Men Lodge and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in the designated North Danville Historic District.

Page 4

January 2015 I have a house to keep, a job to go to every day, and a babysitting job watching my husband.

SHE SAID

by Dena Hill

New Year’s Resolutions It is time once again for us to make our annual New Year’s resolutions.

I thought I would write mine first, because you like to procrastinate and may not get yours done until February or March.

1. I resolve not to hold you to your New Year’s resolutions (no need).

2. I resolve not to pick on you about your bad habits again this year.

(I’ll look for good ones instead.)

3. I resolve to spend more quality time with you.

4. I resolve to show you more attention than the dog.

(The dog doesn’t talk.)

5. I resolve to be more understanding of your feelings.

6. I resolve to tell you where your clothes are after I pick them up off of the floor.

7. I resolve to make your dinner and wash the dishes more quickly to give us more time together (TV dinners? Hmmm).

8. I resolve to let you choose what TV channels we watch at night (after I’m asleep).

9. I resolve not to chide you about your weight, exercise or eating habits this year. (I’m still the food Nazi though.)

10.I resolve to build my whole life around you and forget all of my friends and acquaintances (?).

Happy New Year to you and to all of our friends. May 2015 be your best year ever--and that is no fantasy.

HE SAID

by Larry Oldham After about the second or third resolution, I figured either one of your friends at school was writing for you or that you had early onset dementia.

I personally do not believe in resolutions anymore because I have never been able to keep them past the first month.

She said He Said

Before you become too excited I just wanted you to know that if men can play fantasy football, I don’t see why women can’t play fantasy New Year’s Resolutions. So you could consider these your goals all year and it may make me into the kind of fantasy wife that you want. Just keep in mind that

This year my plans are to make you happy every day and to see that you keep me happy.

I don’t want to be too aggressive in my thinking or doing because it puts too Photo by much stress Michelle Dalton in my life.

Photography.

I promised you when we were married that life would be simple, that we would grow poor together, and that in the end, love would have been the most important thing in our lives. I think I have lived up to my part of the bargain. I learned early in life not to make promises that I can’t keep. In 2015 I won’t make any wild predictions or make any big New Year’s resolutions that I can’t keep. I will plan to keep on living my life for you and cater to your every whim.

After all, isn’t this the real reason you married me so that I could keep you warm at night, rub your back after you finish mowing the lawn or raking leaves, take you out to eat at nice restaurants and occasionally buy gifts for you?

2015 should be pretty much a carbon copy of 2014. What more could a woman ask for in the new year? And this is no fantasy, at least not to me.

Happy New Year, darling.

He Said / She Said can be found in Showcase Magazine.

Evince Magazine

The Voice of Readers To the editor: I am new to the Danville area and while visiting the library, I picked up your news magazine. I thought it would be just something to read, something to glance through. To my surprise, I was very impressed with the contents and found it very enjoyable reading with much news and information. Needless to say, I look forward to picking up one on a regular basis.

Everything I read was right on time and lifted my spirits in a way I can’t describe. I thoroughly enjoyed everything from the contributing writers to the advertisements. Jon Carter’s welcoming was very inviting and I will one day take him up on his invite (Welcoming All to the Ten Ten House of Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, November page 3). Celeste

Lynn’s insight on getting through a difficult Thanksgiving really touched my heart as I too find this time of year a very trying time.

(How to Enjoy Thanksgiving in Difficult Times, November page 6). And I cannot praise Kim Clifton enough about her story on Second Thoughts (He Read Me Like a Book, November page 11). Thank you all for such a delightful reading.

Sincerely yours, Peggy Coleman Scantlebury Thank you for this wonderful letter and for making time to write. It is an inspiration to all Evince contributors.

Letters must contain the writer’s name, address and phone number.

Letters may be edited for space or style. Submission constitutes permission to use.

Tell us what you think.

Email your comments to joycewilburn@gmail.com or send mail to Evince Editor, 753 Main Sreet, Suite 3, Danville, VA 24541.

To read past issues of Evince, visit www.evincemagazine.com.

Page 5

A Better You in 2015

by Ciji Moore Education & Outreach Coordinator, Get Fit Dan River Region

W

e’ve all decided in our minds that we are starting fresh in 2015, right? If you haven’t, then you’ve probably heard the new-yearnew-me-resolution speeches from family and friends. My question is-- what was so bad about the old you that made you want to become a new person? Instead, how about being a better you?

We all strive to challenge ourselves and become better at something and I know there are probably a number of things you would like to do differently in 2015. I’m guessing that making time for physical activity and eating healthier are somewhere on the list.

• First, find the reason why you didn’t commit to staying active or eating healthier last year.

Then find solutions as to how you can do better this year.

Spice it up by adding a group of friends to the mix and make it an event where you can work out and have time to socialize and enjoy some laughs with friends. My workouts are always better when I have someone to laugh with and talk to.

• Second, don’t take your workouts too seriously. Give it your best effort but don’t become so serious that you are not enjoying yourself and meeting new people along the way. You can learn a lot from people who are on the same journey as you. Be open to new suggestions.

• Finally, always challenge yourself and do something outside the box. Try hiking, kickboxing, spin, CrossFit, lifting weights or hot yoga.

Make 2015 your best year yet!

Page 6

January 2015

O

n June 20, 2014, the Mongkhonkham sisters from Thailand opened Moon River Thai Bistro in a historic building adjacent to the 1940’s North Theatre on North Main Street in Danville.

Six months later on a chilly December afternoon, Parichat “Jung” and Palinda “Nong”, natives of Ubon Ratchatani, sit under a portrait of their parents in the front dining room of the white-tablecloth restaurant. They tell the story of their journey from a major city on the Mun River in Southeast Asia to a small city on the Dan River in Virginia.

Two Sisters

Trying Something Different

by Joyce Wilburn

Nong begins, “My sister was a nurse for 25 years and when she retired four years ago, she moved to the United States. We have a friend, Danny Doby, who lives in Burlington, North Carolina.

He told us we’d like Danville.”

Danny had explained to them that Danville was experiencing a rebirth and it would be a great place to start a new business.

Deciding what that business should be was an easy task.

“We like to cook,” Nong says succinctly. Opening a restaurant was a logical choice based on a lifetime of experience. She continues, “In our culture, the women have to cook because families can’t afford to eat away from home. It’s too expensive.”

Augmenting the skills they both learned at home, Nong added her knowledge of running a restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the same time, Jung studied international cuisine and graduated with honors from Suan Dusit University in Thailand.

Combining their knowledge and experiences, they worked together to create a four-page dinner menu and a two-page lunch menu and opened Moon River Thai Bistro.

“We use family recipes but change them a little for Danville’s tastes.

Most of the time we present food in the Thai tradition, but we want to make people happy,” Nong says and then explains that they mingle foods from both cultures.

With amusement in her voice, she offers an example, “I will make chicken wings for American people, but serve it with Thai sauce.” Listening to customer feedback, the pair might add new dishes or remove others that aren’t as popular. “We try to make our food close to the Asian tradition and we hope our customers will like it,” she says.

Nong then offers encouragement to those who haven’t eaten in a Thai restaurant, “Try something different.”

It’s advice that Nong and Jung have followed for several decades. Reflecting on her 14 years in the United States and the 8,000-mile move from one culture to another, Nong adds, “Danville people are really nice.

I like it here in the United States.

This is like my second home.”

Soon, Nong will be returning to Thailand to learn about the bakery business and Jung will be the lone chef in the kitchen.

She won’t be without help for long, however, because her two teenage children will join her at the restaurant when they finish school for the year and move from Burlington to Danville.

Feeding the family has always been a tradition for the Mongkhonkhams. Now that Danville has become like a second home for them, their family has expanded to include anyone who walks through the front door of their restaurant.

They welcome you and encourage you to “try something different.”

Top: Parichat “Jung” Mongkhonkham, owner and chef of Moon River Thai Restaurant, prepares the dining room for dinner. Bottom: The Moon River Thai Bistro, the Historic North Theatre, and the Carrington Gallery (upper level of Moon River) offer delightful entertainment and dining. They are located across from the New City Dance Space (see page 3). Photos by Michelle Dalton Photography.

• Moon River Thai Bistro, 627 North Main Street, is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is open every day for dinner from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Off-street parking is available.

• For more information, phone 434.791.2939.

Evince Magazine

Carrington Gallery Reopens You’re Invited

by Cathy Farley Lee Farley will be the featured artist at the reception for the grand reopening of the Carrington Gallery in The Historic North Theatre on Saturday, January 10, at 6:00 p.m.

Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar in the renovated upper level of this historic building before attending the Concert of Sleight of Hand close-up magic at 8:00 p.m. in the balcony mini-theatre. The reception is free.

Tickets for the magic show are $15.

Lee Farley’s work is done on scratchboard and clayboard. The scratchboard technique came into popularity at the turn of the 20th century as a more economical way to illustrate textbooks than the use of etchings or engravings. Old texts contain scratchboards that more closely resemble woodcuts. The technique begins with a special board coated with a thin layer of porcelain.

Student-grade boards are coated with coarser materials, making them less forgiving of mistakes and more difficult to work with. It is also possible to do scratchboard on the newer clayboard product which is pre-inked all over with black.

Lee explains, “Since I use a lot of airbrush in my skies and other smooth areas, I prefer the white

board. This method renders the finished product with a less scratchboardy appearance and at first glance one may not think it is a real scratchboard. Once the drawing is sketched in, whole areas of color are blocked in, either with a brush or with a masking material called frisket and an airbrush. After the color has dried, details are scraped or scratched off with razor sharp tools. Scratchboard technique is very apparent in tree bark, grasses, foliage and hair. My style is very realistic in detailing and rather surrealistic in my use of color. “ Lee Farley has been featured twice in American Artist magazine and in Folk Art Treasures magazine. His scratchboard original, Cabin Fever, is now in the permanent collection of the University of Virginia’s Health Science Center. He has designed brochure covers, annual report covers and posters and has illustrated articles for national magazines such as Law Practice Management.

• For more information, visit www.TheNorthThreatre.com or call 434.793.7469.

• The box office of the Historic North Theatre, 629 North Main Street, opens at 3:00 p.m. on performance dates.

Wayne Alan, owner of the Historic North Theatre talks with artist Lee Farley.

Photos by Michelle Dalton Photography.

Page 7

Page 8

January 2015

Spotting Exceptional Customer Service

Angel Keys & Ashley Harper

Evince and the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce want to encourage and recognize exception customer service. When someone gives you exceptional service, please let us know. In 300 words or less, tell us what happened. Email your story to joycewilburn@gmail. com or visit www.dpchamber.org. Under Business Development, click Customer Service Nomination. It’s a nice way to show appreciation for a job well done. We look forward to hearing from you.

by Alexis Ehrhardt

For two months, The Center for Community Engagement and Career Competitiveness at Averett University has been working with Maddyzack, Inc., a marketing services company at 406 Main Street, to create a logo and design letterhead, business cards, pens, and other materials. From day one, Angel Keys and Ashley Harper have provided excellent customer service.

Within 24 hours of a brainstorming session, Angel produced the perfect logo.

She and Ashley thought of everything we might need to get started. They delivered all of our merchandise personally, working evenings and weekends to ďŹ nish everything even though we did not have a hard deadline. Not only was everything done quickly, but was high quality and error free. Angel and Ashley are a joy to work with and we are so appreciative of their hard work.

Evince Magazine

Second Thoughts

by Kim Clifton ©2015

Snowed Under

Talk about good intentions. If the road to you-know-where is paved with them, then I have a highway that rivals Interstate 95 in length. Knowing that you should do something and actually doing it is not the same thing. For me, the discrepancy is the greatest when snow is in the forecast. Lord, help me this year, since we’re supposedly doomed for a doozy of a winter.

It only takes the prediction of snow to make everybody a little crazy. Take a look at the grocery stores when the “s” word is uttered by meteorologists. Herds of frantic people storm these places as if needing to hunker down for the duration.

The odd part is only items best suited for breakfast disappear first.

If you’re truly going to prepare for life indoors, I’d skip the perishables and make a beeline for stuff that doesn’t need to be refrigerated or cooked. I can’t see Ma Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie hitching up the wagon for milk, eggs, and bread. I think she’d stuff her sack with Beanee Weenees and potted meat.

When Pa is out battling the elements for a load of firewood, she knows he needs real fortification, not ingredients best combined to make French toast.

Then again, it’s all relative. When I grocery shop, I don’t buy the things normal people do. My essentials are coffee, chili beans, and cat food. I’m also big on stocking up on toilet paper.

I think necessities should always include planning for food to stick to your ribs as well as planning for the times that it doesn’t.

That’s enough yapping about what people do when snow is predicted. Let’s talk about what they do after it falls. Or what they don’t do, if they’re like me...which best explains why my good intentions

are going to end up with me wielding a pitchfork in the next life.

It’s not that my snow-day intentions are too ambitious. It’s really because they’re full of chores that I hate. For years, I’ve begged off so many dreaded projects by vowing to do them on a good snow day.

I’ve made more good-faith promises than Bill Clinton ever made to Hillary about not having relations with “that woman.”

Here are the things I’ve sworn to do when it snows: clean out my closets, wipe down the baseboards, move all photos from shoeboxes to albums, dump out pens that don’t write from the junk drawer, paint over scuff marks on the walls, read War and Peace, wash both the wedding china and crystal, type my mother’s handwritten recipes, polish the silverware, and dust the bookshelves.

Here are the things that I actually do when it snows: Make coffee. See what I can find in the fridge. Check email.

Update my Facebook status. Refill my coffee. Watch it snow. Wander back to the refrigerator to see what I can eat next.

Send lives to Candy Crush friends. Turn on the TV. Nap. Wake up and convince myself I needed the rest. Pledge to do better next time.

Hopefully the winter will be kinder than expected and the grocery stores will never run out of milk, eggs and bread or any of the essentials people need. I don’t hold out the same optimism for my other household list, though. The one that gets longer and longer with each passing winter. The one that lists all the things I need to do and are exactly the things I don’t want to do. Even I don’t believe myself when I hear the guarantees of getting it all done coming out of my mouth. I don’t know who I’m kidding. We all know that list is just another snow job.

Page 9

Page 10

January 2015 touched me because I now knew something and you can’t not know...once you know...even if it’s something that you don’t really know, you know?

All the leaves of September are dying...

Ballad of the Lighthouse fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg

N

ow, that she’s....that she’s dying...my mama...

When I was seven, I saw a dirty magazine that a bad “uncle” pulled from under a broke- down bed the next room over from the motel room we had been staying in for five months. Mama and me we lived there until...just until we could save, until we could get on our feet, you know, do better, Mama and me. Mama had gone downstairs to the motel’s coin laundry in the basement. He knocked on my motel room door and invited me in his room and I went. I remember his room had a crooked picture hanging on the wall of a sea scene with this lighthouse that our motel room didn’t have; we didn’t live near water, and the picture was pretty.

He didn’t touch me, just looked at me with his sad eyes, stained fingers, sitting there in an unclean undershirt and wilted black dress pants among beer cans and loose Juicy Fruit wrappers; strewn throughout were several almostempty 40 ounce bottles.

The room door he kept slightly cracked. Five minutes later, my mama found me sitting there on brown shag carpet, looking at that magazine and him looking at me and became a righteous fury; liquid detergent and quarters hit the bed and the man. She hit me by accident as she threw

everything in her arms, and she crashed into the room beating at him and screaming. There hadn’t been time for him to touch me.

Now, that her cancer’s back...

People came, but bad uncle and I sat still while the world moved.

There was Ms. Teresa, five doors down, with two girls herself, crossing herself, and waving a kitchen knife. The fat guy, Mike, who managed the place puffing up the metal stairs at his nighttime girl Starlight’s urging. He had a faded, red-chipped bat and sirens were coming, and that man’s sad eyes moved over me as different people grabbed him, punched him, ripped at him with “Get up, now” and “You sick....”

By now even more poor families were in the doorway turning their children’s faces away, from him, from me, from the obscene magazine still open on the floor, turning from my now sad eyes and Mama with her tears and kicking and howling and, “What did he do, baby? Tell me, Fallon? Shhh...tell me, tell Mama.”

Now, that summer’s gone...

The fresh summer laundry now shoved in a brown cracked-leather suitcase, trash bags holding our shoes and winter coats, we moved again...that day...didn’t matter... that we moved...or that he never

We peeled out of the parking lot in Mama’s old grey Honda Accord. Skidding and scraping curbs, Mama held the steering wheel with one hand and forced my head to lean into her side, jerked my chin to the right side of her trembling breasts, getting us temporarily away from the memory of the motel’s people’s heaving and panting as the police pulled bad uncle down the metal steps, handcuffed and not resisting while people still struck him, Mama’s still spitting abuse to the man from the driver side window that won’t roll up, and Mama was crying in the wind and catching her hair in her teeth.

Now, I’m scared and now I’m scarred...

That was seven. I’m 14 now, but now, now I got this thing for lighthouses, the ones with the broken beams, cracked windows, ones about to be torn down because otherwise they will wreck ships. I collect any kind I can find in stickers, little figurines from the thrift store, and Mama always throws them away. Calls them junk.

Now, when she can’t stay, can’t come back if she goes...

At 14, I look sad old men in the eyes and spit at them and don’t know why. And he never touched me, but he would have wrecked me if he could; he didn’t, but not because he didn’t want to.

It’s his picture I remember, his lighthouse, those oil-paint stained fingers, that’s what I remember, the grief of evil.

I guess I’m just wondering... whose gonna be compass...

Those people took rough justice, beat bad uncle, that soul-sadeyed man, and he kept looking away at me even as Mama and I sped away in our car with a quarter tank of gas.

Mama, you got to go, and I can’t come. Mama, you got to go, and I can’t follow.

Our leaving was an illusion; we didn’t get far. Who’s gonna save me now?

Evince Magazine

Page 11

Page 12

January 2015

When the tour guide said, “This used to be a poor, dirty part of town known for its pollution, drugs, violence, and traffic congestion; now it is the most visited tourist attraction in the area,” my scattered thoughts became undivided and I craned for a better look.

My fellow travelers and I disembarked from the tour bus onto a busy street in Lyon, France, and followed other groups for a better look at the trompe l’oeil (fool the eye) mural covering the entire side of a seven-story building. What had once been a blank windowless wall now pictured 31 famous people from the area looking out of windows, standing on balconies, working in stores and restaurants, or strolling on the street. An eye-level legend listed the names of notable people from Lyon’s present and past who were depicted.

This wall and the other 149 murals around the city are not just for decoration. They tell of Lyon’s history, help residents rediscover their local identity and make art accessible to everyone. Michel Noir, the Mayor of Lyon (19891995), launched various programs to rejuvenate the city and this outdoor museum has become one

has to subtly alter the perspective, tricking the eye so it looks in perfect proportion.

Finding in France a

One of the muralists at CiteCreation, the student cooperative movement in Lyon, says that most outdoor muralists at the school are women because they have patience. “It’s hard work,” says Halim Bensaïd. “For a start you can be 200 feet up, on scaffolding, wearing a helmet, in the wind, with noise and pollution for hours on end.” Our guide said that graduates of the school have no problem finding jobs.

New Way of Looking at Danville

by Joyce Wilburn

of the most popular. (Of course, the minute I saw the mural, I thought of Danville’s transportation mural on North Union Street facing Spring Street and the Wreck of the Old 97 mural at the intersection of Main Street and Memorial Drive.)

When the French guide told us that the world’s first school for outdoor mural art was founded in 2012 near

Lyon, I immediately said to myself, “Which Danville artist should enroll and then return to Danville to paint murals all over our city?” It’s a pricey three-year program where students learn how to work outside on a vertical canvas and to create optical illusions. While most paintings are viewed at eye level, murals that are hundreds of feet high are seen from street level, meaning the artist

Sending a Danville area artist to learn how to create murals might be a crazy idea, but I’m sure that’s what a lot of Lyon’s residents said when Mayor Noir suggested an outdoor museum. (Maybe there’s a grant for this?) I believe, however, that the city in France between two rivers and its nearby school could help this River City find a new way of looking at things.

• To see more images of the mural described, search lyon france mural la fresque des lyonnais images.

• To learn more about the world’s first school for outdoor mural art, visit www.ecohlcite.com.

Evince Magazine

An Early Morning (Noisy) Blessing

by Anne Cockrell Early one morning, I awoke to a twirrr-twirrr-twirrr sound emanating from my slightly open bedroom window. It was loud.

Constant. Irritatingly happysounding. A Carolina Wren was proclaiming to the world that it was a great morning to be alive and wanted the rest of the world to know of its blissful existence. This I surmised in my still-half-asleep state of consciousness.

Oh, please, I thought, do shut up, Mr. Wren. This aging nurse’s body and mind is so tired. I don’t have to work today and I just want to keep on sleeping. Can’t you find another window on someone else’s house to greet the day so loudly? The noise went on and on, and, at long last, I smiled and mused how Edgar Allan Poe would have dealt with a twirrr-twirrr-twirrr racket at his chamber door.

I turned, faced the window, and said to the unseen creature, “All right, I’m up. I know you’re happy.

Happy that the feeders are full at the back of my house. Happy it’s a cool morning. Happy, happy-- for whatever reason-- in your own little bird world.” I continued to listen to its twirrr-twirrr-twirrr racket. I couldn’t and wouldn’t have called it a song, for its voice was pecking a

hole in my brain by way of my ear canals. Yes, a racket it was. But, as I lay there, I began to think of all I had to be content about: My bed was warm. I had a family that loved me, who had already risen and gone to work, leaving me to sleep. I had many friends and loved ones, those still living and those in heaven, with whom I had been blessed to share life’s past paths.

My house, when clean and orderly- not so often now-- was pretty and substantial. I knew God had blessed me in so many ways.

I decided I, too, was happy, like my very-alive alarm clock, blissful and very blessed. The twirrring continued as I lay there. Presently, the bed sheets stirred, and up popped my sleepy little dachshund, Charlie. He walked over, glanced toward the window and then looked at me and seemed to ask, with thoughtful pools of brown eyes, What’s all the racket about? I said aloud, “He’s a happy bird. Very, very happy-- that’s all.” With that explanation delivered and received, Charlie looked into my eyes again and seemed to say, Well, happy or not, I could eat. I hugged my little dog closely, all the while thanking God for sending me Charlie. I finally rose and went downstairs to greet the day.

Page 13

Page 14

January 2015

Calendar Clips Clip it. Post it. Do it.

For more activities, see the calendar on page 16.

Saturdays in January

Through the Years: The Biography of a House

The current exhibit at the Langhorne House tells the story of the house that once was on Main Street and now is on Broad Street. A main feature of the exhibit is a model of the house built by Patrick Woodard. It has detachable parts to illustrate the conversion of the house from a single-family residence to a four-apartment multiplex. It also shows how the house was moved to its present location at 117 Broad Street in1921, when the Main Street property was sold to a developer who wanted to build the Caswell Apartments. Also included are recently discovered photographs, an early map showing the Main Street location, and various memorabilia to illuminate the theme.

The house was built in 1873 on a Main Street lot purchased by Chiswell Dabney Langhorne (Chillie), the popular tobacco auctioneer at Neal’s Warehouse. The Langhornes with their three children, including toddler Irene (the future Gibson Girl), settled in just in time to welcome another baby. Two others would be born there, one named Nannie—better known in later years as Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to serve in the British Parliament.

The exhibit will remain at the Langhorne House through mid-April and can be viewed on Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. There is no admission charge. For a small fee, group tours are available at other times. For more information, call 434.791.2256. (submitted by Pat Maurakis)

Friday, January 9

Lots of Happy People Exhibit Opening Reception

The Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, 975 Main Street, will open its 2015 exhibition year with Jane Carter’s Lots of Happy People. Both the Jennings and Schoolfield Galleries will come alive with all the colors of her palette. Chinese take-out cartons, flower stalls, street musicians, and Harrods shoppers are all fodder for her bold canvases, some so impressionistic as to verge on the abstract. Her signature ladies with umbrellas are present too.

Perhaps best known for her watercolors, Carter has ventured into oil paintings because she says, “They are so joyous!” However, she continues to work in water, pastels, and acrylics. “She’s not afraid of taking risks or of using colors,” says one of her students. In addition, she encourages others to take risks, to “think and paint out of their box.”

Carter’s expertise has earned her numerous awards in juried art shows throughout the East, as well as signature memberships in the Watercolor Societies of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

A meet-the-artist reception on January 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. is free and open to the public. The exhibition will run through Sunday, March 8. (submitted by Patsi Compton)

Sunday, January 11

Betsy Evans Holt Art Exhibit Opening Reception

Parsons-Bruce Art Association is sponsoring this art exhibit featuring watercolorist Betsy Evans Holt of Richmond. The public is invited to the opening reception from 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. in the Bob Cage Gallery at The Prizery in South

Boston. A native of the town of Halifax, Betsy attended Parsons School of Design in New York City and returned to her art after raising a family in Orange, Virginia. Painting landscapes of her native Piedmont and the Tidewater regions of Virginia is her favorite pastime. She has developed a soft, delicate use of light and color and uses her distinctive style to depict the varied scenes of her home state. The exhibit will be on display until the end of February and will be available for viewing and purchasing during The Prizery’s regular operating hours. For more information, visit www.prizery.com. (submitted by Cathy Cole)

Sunday, January 11

Opening Reception for The Studio Group Exhibit

From 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the public is invited to the free reception for the opening of an exhibition of work by member-artists of The Studio Group of Rockingham County in the lobby/gallery of the Caswell County Civic Center at the intersection of NC62 and US 158 in Yanceyville, North Carolina. Founded in 1947, the Studio Group of Rockingham County promotes area artists and their work through various competitions and workshops and currently has 22 member-artists. The lobby gallery of the Civic Center is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on evenings and weekends when the facility is booked for special events. Most of the works exhibited will be for sale through February 11. For more information, call 336.694.4591.

Tuesday, January 13

Slaying the Dragon – Dealing with Stress in Your Life

This extended program from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at Ballou Recreation Center, 760 West Main Street, offers a variety of topics. The workshops include: Breathing – One Minute Stress Management; Knowing Your Family History; Your Medicine Chest; and The Five Wishes.

During lunch, Connie Fletcher, PhD and wellknown clinical psychologist, will present information on knowing your family’s medical history, organizing your prescriptions and preparing your medical directive—all of which will reduce stress. This program is appropriate for everyone and all ages. Registration is required and lunch is provided for the first 75 people who register. Contact the Cancer Research and Resource Center 434.421.3060 or email cllitzenberg@vcu. edu. This kicks off for the Cancer Research and Resource Center’s free 2015 Keeping Well Series: for those concerned with cancer prevention and survivorship. The Cancer Research and Resource Center of Southern Virginia is funded by VCU Massey Cancer Center and the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. (submitted by Melanie Vaughan)

Friday, January 23

Chamber Orchestra in Chatham

The Chatham Concert Series continues with Baroque Masters: Concertos by Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach. The program, which includes Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, features the chamber orchestra of Kevin and Bryan Matheson on violin and viola, Lisa Liske-Doorandish on cello and keyboardist Brenda Wittwer.

Linger for the post-concert reception to visit with the artists and fellow music lovers. Concert begins at 7:00 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 66 North Main Street, Chatham. Admission is by donation for the artists. For more information contact kstrings1@hotmail.com. (submitted by Susan Paynter)

Monday, January 26 Project Literacy of Danville Training This non-profit community-based literacy program, which helps adults 18 years and older learn to read or improve their reading skills, is seeking volunteers to tutor these individuals. If you have an hour or two a week to give, you can help others learn to read and change their lives. Training and all materials are free. The next training session will be held from 9:00 a.m. until noon at West Main Baptist Church, 450 West Main Street. Call Ann Smithwick at 434.489.1339 to register or request an alternate training time. (submitted by Ann Smithwick)

Evince Magazine

MODEL

You... RedeďŹ ned.

Centra Medical Group is pleased to announce that Plastic Surgery Associates has joined our network of primary care providers and medical and surgical specialists.

Centra Medical Group Plastic Surgery Center provides the latest in plastic, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.

Doctors Timothy Silvester, Simon Hatin, Keith Pitzer and Henry Wilson have more than 50 years of combined surgical experience.

434.797.1383

Call for all your skin care needs or to schedule a confidential consultation

Patients can look forward to gaining self confidence and a sense of well-being from looking and feeling their best.

LynchburgPlasticSurgery.com

CentraFan

173 Executive Drive Danville Centra

CentraHealth

Page 15

Page 16

January 2015

January Calendar Ongoing

Guided Walking Tour – Millionaires Row & Holbrook Street. 434.770.1974. www.danvillehistory.org. See Photo Finish page 27.

Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History (DMFAH) self-guided audiovisual tours.

Danville Science Center Digital Dome Theater - Open for guests to fully explore the known universe as well as some fascinating phenomena right here on Earth. The immersive dome setting showcases the scientific wonders of space, engages visitors with live astronomers, and offers large format films. Danville Science Center (DSC).

434.791.5160.

Estlow’s Trains Exhibit - John “Jack” Estlow, Jr. originally constructed this “N” Scale Train layout which was donated by his daughters and grandson so visitors can enjoy trains running in the train station. DSC. 434.791.5160.

Bingo – Bring a gift to exchange and have blood pressure and body index checked. Location/times vary.

434.799.5216.

Tai-Chi Day Classes - Increase strength, balance, flexibility and progress at your own pace.

M 11:15am-12:15pm; W 3:30-4:30pm.

Ballou Rec. Center. 434.799.5216.

Let’s Dance – Formerly Boogie Mondays. Learn new dances, make new friends and have loads of fun. 7-8:30pm.

Ballou Rec. Center. 434.799.5216.

Art with Judie – Learn how to paint with acrylic, oil or watercolor.

M/TU - Times vary. Ballou Annex.

434.799.5216.

Ladies, It’s Time to Work It Out. MW 8:30-10am. City Auditorium.

434.797.8848.

Kuumba African Dance – Live drumming and energetic dancing that helps raise cultural awareness, uplift and provides a great workout. Kids M 6-6:30pm; M 6-7:30pm. Stonewall Youth Center. 434.797.8848.

Prime Time Fitness - Low-impact aerobics workout with a mix of various fun dance steps. TUTH 9:30-11am or 5:30-7pm. Coates Rec. Center.

434.797.8848.

Get Moving with Chair Exercises – Low-impact class ideal for adults 50+.

TUTH 11:30am-12:30pm. Coates Rec. Center. 434.797.8848.

Zumba Classes - Hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves create a one-of-a-kind interval training fitness program with fun routines that tone and sculpt the body while burning fat. W 5:15-6pm/TH 5:30-6:30pm Pepsi Building. TH 7-8pm. Coates Rec. Center.

434.797.8848.

Art with Flo – Wet on wet technique of oil painting. Ages 18+. W 9:3011:30am, Glenwood Community Center; 6-8pm, Ballou Annex. 434.799.5216.

African Cardio Blast - A unique workout that includes dance movements from various regions of the African continent. W 6-7pm. City Auditorium.

434.797.8848.

African Rhythms by Nguzo Saba – Learn West African dance to live drumming. W 6-7pm. City Auditorium.

434.797.8848.

Cardio Step Class – Up-tempo, high energy class. TTH 8:30-9:30am. City Auditorium. 434.797.8848.

Baby Boomer Style Work Out – Walking, cardio activity & weight training designed for older adults.

TTH 9-10:30am. City Auditorium.

434.797.8848.

Ballou Jammers - Acoustic musical jamboree. Bring a stringed instrument or just listen. TH 3-5pm. Ballou Rec. Center. 434.799.5216.

Ballou Book Swap - Take a book or two to read and leave a book or two to share. F 9am-5pm. Ballou Rec. Center.

434.799.5216.

Friday Night Fun and Dance – Enjoy a night of dancing with live music

by City Limits Band or Country Pride Band. Ages 50+. F 7:30-10:30pm.

Ballou Rec. Center. 434.799.5216.

January 1

Job Corps Information Session Job Corps helps young adults learn a career, earn a high school diploma, and gain the real world skills needed to succeed.10:30am-12:30pm. Workforce Development Center. 434.455.2521.

January 2

AU Men’s Basketball versus Maryville College. 5:30-8:30pm. 707 Mount Cross Road. AU Women’s Basketball versus Maryville College. 7:30-10pm. Averett University’s North Campus - Grant Center.

First Friday Art Walk - Enjoy art, food, music and fun along Martinsville’s historic streets. Over 20 galleries, restaurants and shops are open with live music and other events happening on select First Fridays. 5-7pm. Uptown Martinsville.

January 3 (thru 31)

Through the Years –The Biography of a House See page 14.

January 3

AU Men’s Basketball versus Covenant College. 2-5pm. 707 Mount Cross Road. AU Women’s Basketball versus Covenant College. 6-8:30pm. Averett University’s North Campus - Grant Center.

Artfelt Expressions of Bob Ross Learn to paint the Bob Ross way. Ed Gowen, certified instructor, will help you complete a beautiful painting in one day. Adults 18+. 10:30am-3:30pm.

Ballou Annex Building. 434.799.5216.

January 4

Christmas Section of Handel’s Messiah. Danville Area Choral Arts Society. 3pm St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 3090 North Main Street.

January 6

Deco Mesh Wreath Making - Learn to make a seasonal wreath. Materials included. 3-5pm and 6-8pm. Ballou Recreation Center. 434.799.5216.

Toastmasters - Toastmasters members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills. 6-7pm.

National University.

January 7

Harlem Globe Trotters Averett University. See page 21.

January 8

Around the World Travel Series Enhance your cultural knowledge with this monthly series. Learn about history, traditions, language and culture from native and long-term residents of different countries. A traditional dish will be served. 12pm-1:30pm. Ballou Recreation Center. 434.799.5216.

2nd Thursday Science Talks - Dr. Noel Boaz, president of Integrative Center for Science and Medicine speaks. 6-7pm.

Virginia Museum of Natural History (VNMH). Martinsville, VA. 276.634.4141.

January 8 (thru 29)

Boost Your Health and Improve Movement - Jump on board with movement therapy as a way to supplement all of your health goals.

TH 6-7pm. Coates Recreation Center.

434.797.8848.

January 9

Comedy Night – An evening of laughs and clean fun with three different entertainers. The Historic North Theatre. 434.793.7469.

Lots of Happy People Exhibit Opening Reception. See page 14.

January 10

Grand Re-opening of the Carrington Gallery. See page 7.

Close-up Magic. The Historic North Theatre. See page 7.

Soul Train Costume Party - Wear your best costume from the 1970s as we revisit the most memorable years of soulful music. The DJ will be spinning hits from classic artists like Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight, Earth, Wind and Fire, Natalie Cole, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and many more.

7-10:30pm. Ballou Recreation Center.

434.799.5216.

Zip Line - Brave the cold and ride the zip line in Dan Daniel Memorial Park . This 400-foot ride has become a popular and exciting attraction in Danville. Ages 8+. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. 12:30pm. Skate Park at Dan Daniel Park.

434.799.5215.

Pickers and Fiddlers Bluegrass Gospel & Mountain Music Songfest free. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided. 10am-12pm. Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church. Bassett, VA. 276.629.5395.

January 11

Betsy Evans Holt Art Exhibit Opening Reception. See page 14.

January 2015 S

M

4 11 18 25

5 12 19 26

T

W

6 7 13 14 20 21 27 28

T 1 8 15 22 29

F 2 9 16 23 30

S 3 10 17 24 31

Opening Reception for The Studio Group Exhibit. See page 14

January 13

Throw Paint at Cancer – a free peer-to-peer support group for cancer patients and survivors to express themselves through art brought by The Cancer Research & Resouce Center of Sother Virginia. 8-week sssions on thuesadys from 3pm-5pm at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History.

To register 434.421.3060.

Slaying the Dragon – Dealing with Stress in Your Life See page 14.

January 16

Corks & Forks – Heavy hors d’oeuvres, fine wines, and specialty beers.

Proceeds benefit the Danville Science Center. 434.791.5160 Painting in a Day - After three hours in this acrylic painting class, you will have created a piece of art you can treasure. All materials included and light refreshments will be served.

Whether you have painted before or this is new to you, artist Pepper Martin will guide your artistic talents. Ages 13+.

1-4pm, 6-9pm. Ballou Recreation Center. 434.799.5216.

Pooches on Parade - Calling all canine lovers. Enjoy an afternoon of the area’s cutest pooches, strutting on the catwalk.

Categories include: best dressed, most talented and greatest inspirational underdog story. Cosponsored by the Danville Area Humane Society.2-4pm.

Ballou Recreation Center. 434.799.5216

January 19

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Luncheon - Averett University. See page 21.

January 20

Art Classes with Kathy - Certified art instructor, Kathy Anthony, teaches how to paint on everyday items to make them beautiful. Impress your friends and family with your creations. Bring a cake carrier.1-4pm and 6-9pm. Ballou Recreation Center. 434.799.5216.

January 21

AU Men’s Basketball versus Greensboro College. 5:30-8:30pm.

Averett University North Campus Grant Center.

January 22 & 29

Getting Your Life on Track...Living with Diabetes - Are you tired of diabetes controlling your life? Find it hard to communicate with family and friends about your diabetes? Wish there was an easier way to talk to your doctor about your condition? Would you like to know someone who is going through the same problems as you? If you have answered yes to some or all of these questions, this is for you. All participants must pre-register. 12:30-2pm. Coates Recreation Center. 434.797.8848.

If you’d like to submit an item for the Evince calendar, visit www.showcasemagazine.com. The deadline for the February issue is Monday, January 12, at 5:00 p.m. Please send just the basic information following the format on these pages.

Evince Magazine Healthy All Over - Lifestyle coach Karen Pickeral and Brenda Kilgore share their excitement about a healthy lifestyle through quick sessions covering: vegetarian cooking, dealing with diet restrictions, old-fashionedhome remedies that really work and motivational health segments. 6-7pm.

Ballou Recreation Center. 434.799.5216.

January 23

Chamber Orchestra in Chatham.

See page 14.

January 24

Dino Day Festival - A festival of Jurassic proportions. Dinosaur skeletons, fossils and animatronics, dino-themed games, crafts and presentations will make this an event not to be missed for the dino-lover.

10am-4pm. VMNH. Martinsville, VA. 276.634.4141.

Winter Waterfowl Hike - Hike and learn about both resident and migratory birds and the impact they have on our environment. Starts at 9am. Mayo Park.

Roxboro, NC. 336.597.7806.

fitness. You will hear success stories from women who will encourage you to commit to fit. 12-1:30pm. Ballou Recreation Center. 434.799.5216.

January 28

AU Women’s Basketball versus Greensboro College. 7-9:30pm. 707 Mount Cross Road.

Doodle Bugs! - Earth Sciences: Water The hour-long programs include imaginative stories, fun activities, games and crafts that spark creativity and curiosity. Children must be accompanied by an adult. 3-4pm. VMNH. Martinsville, VA. 276.634.4141.

January 30

Bingo - Vera Bradley Bingo. Twenty games, two coveralls, and one door prize. Doors open at 6pm. Spencer-Penn Centre. 276.957.5757.

January 31

January 25

The Spring to Green Horticultural Symposium – See page 23.

Whole and Healthy Bread Baking Learn how to prepare home-style breads fresh from the oven. Join Janet Darby of Wild Thyme Herbs Catering and receive hands-on experience in making different kinds of bread. Plan on enjoying samples. 10am-12pm. Stonewall Recreation Center. 434.797.8848.

January 26

Upcoming

AU Men’s Basketball versus Piedmont College. 1-4pm. 707 Mount Cross Road. AU Women’s Basketball versus Piedmont College. 3-5:30pm. 707 Mount Cross Road.

Project Literacy of Danville Training See page 14.

January 27

Transformation Tuesday - Long after fad diets fade, dedication to a healthier lifestyle begins to take root.

Celebrate women who have transformed their lifestyles to promote health and

February 3

Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico. Danville Concert Association AUPritchett Auditorium. www.danvilleconcert.org. See page 18.

February 5

AndJam jazz Trio. Averett. See page 21

Page 17

Page 18

January 2015

Book Clubbing A review by Diane Adkins

Life Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism

by Ron Suskind

Owen Suskind was a normal two-year old, learning language, laughing and singing, exploring his world.

By the time he was three, he had retreated inward. The words he had acquired simply disappeared. His parents took him to specialists, where they first heard the diagnosis, regressive autism.

Ron Suskind is a Pulitzer prize-winning writer and author of many books about American politics, but he will be remembered for this book about his family, autism, and the remarkable power of Disney animated films in helping them all connect with the youngest family member, Owen. It was those films that brought Owen back to them, gave him some way to interpret the world and regain a way to speak.

There is the first extraordinary moment when they hear Owen utter words from a Disney movie. That’s followed by the day when his brother cries at his own birthday party and they hear Owen say, “Walter doesn’t want to grow up, like Mowgli or Peter Pan.” It was the first full sentence Owen had uttered since the age of three. At that point, the Suskind family begins to live a double life. In the daytime, they do their ordinary tasks. In the evening, they become animated characters, watching Disney movies and voicing their parts, all as a way to give Owen a language by which he can reach out to them.

The Suskinds, of course, had the advantages of families with means.

That helped, but they had other tools as well. They had the strength of their sheer grit, determination, and love; they never stopped in their search for the best for Owen. Ron’s wife, Cornelia, was as much a hero here as Ariel the mermaid, or Captain Hook, or Pinocchio. When Owen’s options at schools became non-existent, Cornelia set up a home school for him, renting a space, buying lockers and desks, and becoming his teacher for part of the day. Ron rattled the doors of doctors and therapists, finding truly gifted practitioners to help Owen and to lead them all to find ways to Owen’s interior world.

The power of the Disney narratives in Owen’s life elicit from him an artistic gift, an ability to draw, which eventually leads them to Burbank and the Disney animation studios. Owen’s joy in meeting many artists connected with the movies, including one particular narrator—and the graciousness of the Disney animators—are enough to make this book an extraordinary reading experience.

Owen is now a young adult. His story—that of the self-styled “Protektor of Sidekicks”—is valuable both as an investigation of the mysteries of autism and as a truly remarkable narrative of the power of love. Don’t miss it.

Diane S. Adkins is the Director of the Pittsylvania County Public Library System (Chatham, Brosville, Gretna, Mt. Hermon), the History Research Center and a bookmobile.

Send information about what you or your book club is reading to joycewilburn@gmail.com.

Evince Magazine

Page 19

Page 20

January 2015

Evince Magazine

T

Spanish or otherwise; however, the rum was real.

his circa1955 picture shows my brother, Joe, (right) and first cousin Troy (left) with me in the middle. The cigarette is real, but unlit at least as far as a magnifier can tell.

This snapshot was only a lark engineered by my brother and cousin; my first real cigarette came in high school, a Salem 100, enjoyed on break during a summer job at a hamburger restaurant. After inhaling deeply, I became dizzy, my sinuses and possibly brain becoming mentholated.

I remember another morning at a high school assembly where we saw preserved tissue from dead smokers’ lungs, a grim lesson in pathology, but one that didn’t make me change my habits. Later, for a biology class project, I rigged up a waterpowered smoking robot. Each beaker of water contained an increasing number of cigarettes.

The greatest number approached swamp murkiness.

Not having learned from this, I added cigars to my smoking menu, particularly Spanish Maid Rum-Soaked Crooks. The curvature only alluded to maids,

HAPPY

NEW

I lit up one of those sweet crooks at high school graduation practice. The supervising teacher announced, “Mack Williams, please put out the cigar!” on the press box loudspeaker. Today, local authorities and perhaps some not-so-local would be brought in. I extinguished the cigar, watching its vapor disappear into a blue, cloudless sky.

No More Smoking!

by Mack Williams

Although never a heavy smoker, I later attempted quitting by using such brands as Doral and Vantage. Vantage has a hole in its filter to let more air in.

These brands approximated the smoking of air (the “smoking” of air is also hard to give up, and best postponed for as long as possible). Pain succeeded where anemic cigarettes with Swiss cheese filters didn’t, particularly the pain of a sinus/throat irritated with tobacco smoke, making me remark, “This is stupid!” In my decades-long mimicry of my biology class smoking robot, I had been just as robotic, but unlike that machine, I was finally thinking on my own.

Want something to perk you up after the excitement of the holidays is over?

The Harlem Globetrotters return to Averett’s Grant Center on January 7th at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $26 each and may be purchased at the door or in advance at www.harlemglobetrotters.com or www.ticketweb.com or by calling 866-468-7630. Parking for this event is $5 per vehicle (cash only).

2 15

YEAR

Page 21

January 19 marks the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Averett celebrates across our region with a community luncheon starting at 11:30 a.m. at the Grant Center and day of service for the region. This event is free to the public and reservations are required. Call 434-836-6990 to register by January 12, 2015.

Averett offerings in early February include: • AndJam Jazz Trio, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Pritchett Auditorium (free and open to the public) • “How Colors Influence Our Minds,” presentation by Diane Kendrick, Multipurpose Room of Averett Student Center, Feb. 10 at 7:00 p.m. (free and open to the public) Averett has officially opened its new Center for Community Engagement and Career Competitiveness. Generously sponsored by a grant from the Danville Regional Foundation, the Center’s purpose is to coordinate opportunities across our region between businesses, non-profit organizations, students, faculty and higher education with Danville Community College, Piedmont Community College and Averett for internships, volunteering, and service-learning projects.

If your business or organization has an idea for collaboration, please stop by the Center at 204 Woodland Drive or contact Alexis Ehrhardt at (434) 791-7212.

Page 22

January 2015

You can spend hours online searching for the right hotel or reviews of a great vacation spot – But how do you choose your doctor?

Finally a tool that guides you in finding the right doctor . Routine mammograms, controlling seasonal allergies, the risk of heart disease… when you need a doctor, where do you start? Finding the right doctor is one of the most important things you will do for yourself and your family. Don’t leave such an important decision to chance or a random GoogleTM search. Call today and our our experts will help you find the right services to fit your needs perfectly.

When an apple a day isn’t enough!

Call 1-800-424-DOCS (3627) today for a personal consultation.

For additional information, please visit our website:

www.DanvilleRegional.com

Evince Magazine and master’s degrees from NC State University, Raleigh.

The cold month of January is the perfect time to start preparations for a beautiful spring garden. I hope you will join me at the horticultural symposium and we’ll Spring to Green together.

Why Attend a Horticultural Symposium?

by Janet Aponte

I am a relative newcomer to gardening, having grown up with brothers who were responsible for the family garden, while my outdoor chores were to mow the lawn and wash the family car for church on Sunday. Over a half-century later upon retirement, I wanted to learn about gardening, so I took the course sponsored by the Virginia Cooperative Extension and became a Danville Master Gardener in 2008.

To the uninformed, growing plants may seem like a no-brainer; plants and soil are natural companions.

There is a nugget of truth in their being natural buddies; however, to grow plants and I mean healthy plants, it takes know-how and effort. There are so many factors to consider whether gardening for pleasure or for feeding people.

For example, my thinking outsidethe-box solution to the brick-hard clay alongside my house was to dig holes intermittently into which I set containers filled with potting soil. The pots gave my periwinkle a healthy home in which to root and a thin layer of topsoil was added to the bed where the spreading shallow roots could take hold. It is pleasing to see green where nothing ever grew before.

Coping with nature’s elements is the beyond-my-control factor in gardening. My early gardening attempts included beautiful, colorful, exotic plants. The small plot that I call my garden is mostly shade.

Fuchsia, supposedly a shade plant, truly was beautiful and colorful, but too much shade meant it had a very short life. Most gardeners plan for color, consider shade/sun tolerance and environmental quirks like the above-ground tree roots in my garden. The large parallel mulberry

tree roots have now been converted to a set of pebble-filled steps; a creative solution to what had been a drawback.

Coping with such elements is one of the beautiful challenges in doing a garden. The most important element of any garden is the fundamental foundation; the quality of its soil. This is so basic, it is often overlooked until we see that plants do not respond as they have done in past seasons.

I learn about my garden through trial and error, but there is a better way. A multitude of gardening information is available from the experts at the Fifth Annual Spring to Green Horticultural Symposium. Bryce Lane, an expert in gardening soils, will share his knowledge in building soils for maximum plant health, preparing garden beds, reducing fertilizer, and conserving water. He is both a professor and lecturer emeritus and host of UNC-TV’s In the Garden with Bryce Lane plus spokesperson for Waterwise Works.

Clare Robertson will address the landscaping challenge we have in the Piedmont—an abundance of clay--along with specific solutions for individual site requirements. Successful perennial propagation requires specific skills that Clare will share. She has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from Virginia Tech with many years of teaching experience. She is the owner of New Leaf Farms, Inc a nursery in Bedford.

Vertical gardening, an exciting forwardlooking concept, will be addressed by Lisa Sanderson. More can be grown in less space by growing vertically. This topic ties in nicely with the building of garden soils to promote the healthiest of plants. Growing heirloom vegetables including tomatoes will be discussed.

Lisa is an extension agent for Henrico County and holds both a bachelor’s

• The Spring to Green Horticultural Symposium, hosted by the Danville Master Gardeners and Virginia Cooperative Extension, will be held on Saturday, January 31, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (snow date February 7) at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research, 150 Slayton Avenue.

• Each speaker’s presentation will be accompanied by a largescreen slide show.

• Cost is $45 which includes morning coffee, assorted Danishes and fruits followed by lunch.

• Registrations must be postmarked by Monday, January 19.

Make checks payable to Virginia Cooperative Extension, (VCE) 128 Third Avenue, Danville, VA 24540. For more information, call 434.799.6558 or visit www. danvillemastergardeners.org.

• Gardening supplies and ornaments will be sold in the Institute’s atrium. Time for shopping is scheduled during lunch and break periods.

Page 23

Page 24

January 2015

I

love a good movie. The good ones take me away, suspend my disbelief, immerse me in story time such that I experience story and characters as if I were embroiled in the plot with them.

I enjoy watching action I’d never experience in my own life. Here are some personal notables I saw in 2014. The number after each title indicates my rating.* Interstellar (5) is about a former pilot and his family struggling to survive as farmers on an Earth whose resources are exhausted.

The population’s only real, longterm survival choice is to migrate away from Earth to a new home, but only a minority recognizes that. Several possible destination planets have been identified ... near a black hole.

Gravity (4) is about a rookie woman astronaut whose ship is destroyed by an orbiting space debris field. Problem: there’s no air in space. Second problem: Without a ship, how can she possibly get back to Earth?

I saw Edge of Tomorrow (5) twice, read the book (which I liked far

�����

������������ ������ ����� ������ � ������ ����� �����

��������������� ��������������

����������������������������������������

��������������������� ������������������� ��������������������

�������������������������� WE’RE SELLING HOUSESSM

Reflecting Forward At The Movies

by Linda Lemery

less than the movie), and bought the DVD. The plot: aliens invade Earth.

Humans fight back but the aliens’ ability to reset time (with knowledge of human fighting strategies) tips the odds in favor of aliens with whom there’s no negotiating. Tom Cruise plays Major William Cage, an inept fighter who works in marketing, who’s never seen combat and who wants to serve his country far away from the front lines. This role is such a departure for Cruise, who normally plays a supremely trained protagonist. Cage’s growth arc is fascinating to watch and Cruise plays him masterfully. Emily Blunt plays the strong female lead as Rita Vrataski, Cage’s mentor, who teaches him how to survive.

Divergent (4) is a young adult film about a dystopian society in which youth are raised in factions -Candor, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, and Abnegation. At age 16, these youth must choose their own or another faction; if they don’t pass initiation, they become factionless, the equivalent of homeless. Some youth don’t fit into just one faction.

They are divergent, a label that constitutes a death sentence in a society built on tidy, single-faction existences. I enjoyed the first film enough that I bought the book trilogy, and enjoyed the first book as much as the film, the second book not so much, and the last, a distant third.

I enjoyed reading the young adult book trilogy, The Hunger Games, long before I saw the movies (5, 4, 4). The stories are compelling; the characters, intriguing. There are clear story and growth arcs for each lead character in all three movies and I’ll be in the audience for the fourth one.

Limitless (4) is a story about using a special drug to access the full capacity of one’s mind, as opposed

to the tiny fraction we can normally access. Though I missed the movie in theatres, I found watching it on network television to be thoughtprovoking and gripping, though I can’t say I came away with warm feelings about it.

I enjoyed Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (5), the charming, unlikely story of a man hired to bring to fruition a sheik’s impossible dream: To be able to fish for salmon in a river in the middle of a desert.

Two very good independent short films we saw at a recent film festival were Verbatim (5), a hysterically funny deposition that explores whether an employee has ever used a photocopier, and Can We Autocorrect Humanity (5), an artfully-crafted rap that asks whether Facebook is actually an anti-social network and whether using smartphones promotes selfisolation. *I adapted a film-rating system from the Web and then assigned my own values . Using the rating system puts my husband and me on common ground so that we can more effectively argue over a film’s merits (or lack thereof) over dinner afterward.

Criterion/Rating

5

4

Satisfaction level? Loved

Liked

See it again?

Would

Might

Recommend it?

Highly Probably

Happy New Year, dear readers!

Hope to see you in 2015 at the movies.

About the Author: When she’s not mesmerized by image and story, Linda Lemery llemery@averett.edu works as Circulation Manager at Averett University’s Mary B. Blount Library in Danville. She welcomes your comments.

Evince Magazine

Page 25

Cubano Sandwich

by Annelle Williams The new year brings thoughts of new beginnings and commitments to healthier, happier lives.

That’s what I’m focusing on by taking advantage of all the fresh, local food products I can find.

Over the holidays we watched the movie Chef.

When it was over, all I wanted was my own food truck and a Cubano sandwich. While the magic of Christmas didn’t deliver the food truck, we did get busy planning the sandwich. My first move was calling my friend at Sandy River Pork and ordering a fresh pork shoulder. It was delivered to Sandy River Pork, Inc. in Axton (it’s the old post office building) that afternoon.

In addition to fresh pork products, they sell local eggs, poultry, beef, Homestead Dairy ice cream and milk and many other local products. (www.sandyriverpork.com) After eating a dip of ice cream, I left with pinto beans, a ham hock, pork chops, sausage, cheese biscuits, eggs, my pork shoulder—I can’t even remember everything. I’m just saying, if you’re thinking of becoming more particular about where your food is coming from, this is a really good place to begin. Make it a year for fresh, local food and begin with the Cubano.

Cubano Sandwich Mojo Pork Cubanos (adapted from www.zagat.com/b/how-to-make-the-perfect-cubano-sandwich) 6 oz. thinly sliced boiled ham softened butter, for brushing six 6-inch soft baguettes or heroes, split lengthwise yellow mustard, for brushing

3⁄4 lb. thinly sliced Mojo-Marinated Pork Shoulder* (recipe follows), 1⁄2 lb. thinly sliced Swiss cheese 3 dill pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise

Heat a large cast-iron griddle or panini press. Add the ham slices to the griddle and cook over moderate heat, turning once, until browned in spots, about 1 minute.

Transfer the ham to a plate. Generously butter the cut sides of each baguette and toast on the griddle over moderate heat until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes.

Transfer the baguettes to a work surface and generously brush the cut sides with mustard. Layer the ham, pork, Swiss cheese and pickles on the baguette and close the sandwiches.

Generously brush the outside of the sandwiches with butter and set them on the griddle or press; if using a griddle, top the sandwiches with a large baking sheet and weigh it down with heavy cans or a cast-iron skillet. Cook the sandwiches over moderate heat until browned and crisp on the outside and cheese is melted, about three minutes per side on a griddle or three minutes total in a press.

*Mojo-Marinated Pork Shoulder 3⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup lightly packed cilantro, finely chopped 1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest 3⁄4 cup fresh orange juice 1⁄4 cup lightly packed mint leaves, finely chopped

(Serves 6-8)

1⁄2 cup fresh lime juice 8 garlic cloves, minced 1 Tbsp. minced oregano 2 tsp. ground cumin kosher salt and pepper 31⁄2 lbs. boneless pork shoulder, in one piece

In a bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients except salt, pepper and the pork. Whisk in 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Transfer the marinade to a large resealable plastic bag and add the pork. Seal the bag and turn to coat; set in a baking dish and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425° and set a rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer the pork to a work surface; discard the marinade. Fold the pork under itself, into thirds if necessary, and tie with string to form a neat roll. Season all over with salt and pepper and set it on the rack. Roast the pork for 30 minutes, until lightly browned. Reduce the oven temperature to 375° and roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes longer, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 160°. Transfer to a carving board and let rest for 30 minutes.

Discard the string before slicing across the grain.

Questions or comments?

Email me: AnnelleWilliams@comcast.net I look forward to hearing from you!

Page 26

January 2015

Photo Finish On December 5, 2014, the rich images and stories of Danville’s Holbrook-Ross District were captured through a partnership between a community coalition for public history, History United, and a youth photography group, Well Works Visual Arts.

When young students of Well Works were led through the neighborhood by Paula Smith, who played in the neighborhood as a child, and Danville Historical Society walking tour guide, Joyce Wilburn, the group snapped photos of the houses, schools and businesses that were the cornerstones of this African-American professional community. The stills from this photo shoot will be compiled and featured in a Sounds Around Virginia audio tour of the neighborhood and houses on the Visit Danville, VA YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/ user/visitdanvilleva). Look for it starting February 1. This project was organized by Evince photographer Von Wellington at the Boys Club Girls Club of Danville. He is the president and executive director of Well Works Visual Arts.

For more information on the Holbrook-Ross walking tour, There’s a Story Here, call 434.770.1974 and leave your name, number in your party, and your phone number including area code. Cost is $8 per person; free for children under 12 years. Brochures outlining the walking tour may be found on the Danville Historical Society website: www.danvillehistory.org/tours or at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, 975 Main Street, and the Danville Visitors’ Center, 645 River Park Drive.

Akyia Muldrow-Wilson snaps a shot while Delana Ross listens to Paula Martin Smith talk about her childhood memories on Holbrook Street. (photo by Ina Dixon)

Caevon Wilson, Jalen Spratt, and Bryson Dixon learn the finer points of photo composition. (photo by Ina Dixon)

Dr. Andrew Canady, Assistant Professor of History at Averett University; Justin Ferrell, Fellow at the Danville Regional Foundation; and Jamie Williford, Averett University Chaplain, Secretary of Well Works Visual Arts/minister at West Main Baptist Church walk with the group on the tour. (photo by Ina Dixon)

Volunteer instructor Michael Lewis works with Jaysarr Williamson to take the perfect picture. (photo by Ina Dixon) Ina Dixon, Fellow with the Danville Regional Foundation, takes pictures of the youth from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Danville and others. (photo

by Von Wellington)

Brass tobacco leaves mark the walking tour route between the intersection of Holbrook and Ross Streets and Holbrook and Gay Streets. (photo by Von Wellington) For more info about Von Wellington Photography, visit www.vonwellingtonphotography.com or call 434.770.3553. See more pictures on Facebook.

Ashleigh Thorpe points to an interesting house as friends listen to her remarks. Front: Aniya MuldrowWilson, Delana Ross, Tamia Ross, Back: Kamari Pritchet (with camera), Akyia Muldrow-Wilson, Alexis Kimber. (photo by Von Wellington)

Evince Magazine

Page 27