Activists, researchers say a ‘tidal wave’ of evictions is coming soon — Part 1
MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT
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DECEMBER 16-22, 2020 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 51
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EDITORIAL Editor KATIE MURAWSKI katie@yesweekly.com Contributors IAN MCDOWELL KATEI CRANFORD MARK BURGER JIM LONGWORTH PRODUCTION
On Dec. 11 around 2:30 p.m., the sound of Christmas music filled the air outside the Forsyth County Government Center as 10 activists from Housing Justice Now, Hate Out of Winston, and Triad Abolition Project protested the EVICTION HEARINGS of over 60 people in less than two weeks before the Christmas holiday.
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DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT KYLE MUNRO SHANE MERRIMAN ANDREW WOMACK We at YES! Weekly realize that the interest of our readers goes well beyond the boundaries of the Piedmont Triad. Therefore we are dedicated to informing and entertaining with thought-provoking, debate-spurring, in-depth investigative news stories and features of local, national and international scope, and opinion grounded in reason, as well as providing the most comprehensive entertainment and arts coverage in the Triad. YES! Weekly welcomes submissions of all kinds. Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however YES! Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. YES! Weekly is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. Copyright 2020 Womack Newspapers, Inc.
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At the Dec. 1 meeting of the Greensboro City Council, community activist and Bridging the Gap radio host Latasha McCorkle asked the mayor and council members to consider a city ordinance to DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA. After a brief discussion, City Attorney Chuck Watts told council, “let me do some research and get back to you on that point.” 5 Party-going restrictions notwithstanding, this holiday season is still the perfect time to remind folks not to drink and drive. Unfortunately, it’s A REMINDER that needs to be uttered in every season. 6 At long last, a comprehensive biography covering the personal and professional life of the much-missed HARRY DEAN STANTON, and it’s a winner – so thorough and engaging that it can easily be knocked out in one sitting. Stanton was one of those actors whom every moviegoer recognized, even if they didn’t know his name.
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The Ghostlight shines as MOLLY MCGINN and friends join Quilla at the Carolina Theatre on Dec 19. The latest installment of the Carolina’s Ghostlight Concert series blends Americana with electro-beats as McGinn and friends bring her rootsy storytelling to life, while electronic artist and producer, Quilla, will parley a live rendition of her latest album, The Handbook of Vivid Moments, with accompaniment from violinist Kate Tobey. 11 Adams Farm Shopping Center will soon be rocking when BLUE ROCK PIZZA AND TAP opens in the space formerly occupied by McPherson’s. Owner Paul Riggan hopes to open Dec. 18 but - fingers crossed – definitely before Christmas. “We’ve passed all the inspections and now we just have to wait for the ABC [license],” Riggan said.
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Greensboro City Attorney to ‘get back to’ council on ‘easing up on marijuana enforcement’
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t the Dec. 1 meeting of the Greensboro City Council, community activist and Bridging the Gap radio host Latasha McCorkle asked the mayor and council Ian McDowell members to consider a city ordinance to decriminalize mariContributor juana. After a brief discussion, City Attorney Chuck Watts told council, “let me do some research and get back to you on that point.” McCorkle began her three-minute segment of the public comments section of the agenda by referencing a recommendation made at the Sept. 17 meeting of the Greensboro Criminal Justice Advisory Commission (GCJAC). That commission, which reports directly to the City Council and the City Manager’s Office, is tasked with monitoring and providing recommendations on issues involving the public’s interaction with the Greensboro Police Department. The Police Community Review Board (PCRB) is a subcommittee of GCJAC. A frequent criticism made by activists, including some former members of the commission, is that the Greensboro City Council rarely adopts GCJAC recommendations. This complaint was most recently voiced after the city council voted 5-4 against GCJAC’s recommendation requiring signed written consent for police searches. GCJAC’s Sept. 17 recommendation on marijuana deprioritization stated: As marijuana and hemp are indistinguishable from each other by field tests, the presence of the odor of hemp or marijuana should not be used as a reason for probable cause to search. Marijuana should be deprioritized within the City of Greensboro and the Greensboro Police Department. Due to the indistinguishable nature of hemp and marijuana, the GCJAC is recommending that marijuana be deprioritized and to immediately cease possession charges for marijuana, unless possession can be determined by other means. Speaking at the city council’s virtual YES! WEEKLY
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meeting on Dec. 1, McCorkle made the following statement: “I wanted to address the recommendation given by the GCJAC for the decriminalization of marijuana through city ordinance. I know you guys have heard and have had discussions about how it effects the African-American community. We make up 40% of the population of Greensboro, yet we make up 82% of arrests in those matters. We have had publicly our police chief, District Attorney Avery Crump, and others admit that they cannot distinguish marijuana from the legalized cannabis known as hemp that is for sale on the market in the state of North Carolina. But what I am wondering is what is the holdup with addressing this issue, because it does conflict with new state law. It also conflicts with federal law, and I’m hoping that the city of Greensboro will actually do something to accommodate the situation in an effort to assist the African-American community that is disproportionately being affected by this issue. I know this has been looked at as a matter that’s not a priority to the Greensboro police, as not that serious, as something tongue-in-cheek. But it is very serious to the citizens that are affected by such allegations.” “We appreciate your comments,” Mayor Nancy Vaughan responded. “I know that the attorney general has put together and has, I believe, a recommendation pending. We hope that it’s something the legislature will take up this year.” Mayor Vaughan was referring the recommendations adopted on Nov. 18 by
the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. On that date, Attorney General Josh Stein (who, with Justice Anita Earls, is co-chair of the task force) issued the following statement: You cannot talk about improving racial equity in our criminal justice system without talking about marijuana. White and Black North Carolinians use marijuana at similar rates, yet Black people are disproportionately arrested and sentenced. Additionally, it is time for North Carolina to start having real conversations about a safe, measured, public health approach to potentially legalizing marijuana. That same media release from Stein’s office quoted Justice Earls as stating: Data made available to the Task Force shows that 63 percent of the more than 10,000 convictions for simple possession of marijuana last year in North Carolina are people of color even though they are only 30 percent of the population and research documents that marijuana use is at roughly equal percentages among Black and white populations. This recommendation is intended to help alleviate racial disparities in North Carolina’s criminal justice system. In response to Vaughan’s comment about the task force, McCorkle stated that “I do recognize the power that the City of Greensboro has to address this matter, and we would become the first city to address it,” adding “you guys do have the power to do so,” and “I just hope we don’t keep pushing things off to the state level.” In response, Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne
Johnson called on City Attorney Watts to comment. “If we wanted to do something in the area of easing up on marijuana enforcement, can we do that without the state legislature’s endorsement?” “I am not aware of any city in the state that has done that,” Watts replied, “[But] I am aware of [county] District Attorneys who have indicated publicly that they are not going to pursue actions involving small amounts of marijuana.” “I know that,” Johnson said, “but I’m asking you, if we wanted to do that, could we? I’m not saying we do or don’t, I’m just asking.” That was when Watts said he would research the issue and get back to council members on his findings. District 3’s Justin Outling, an attorney with Brooks Pierce, said that he wanted to clarify GCJAC’s recommendation. “Just to be clear, I think the nature of the recommendation from the GCJAC is a little bit different. It doesn’t go to decriminalizing marijuana; it goes to the basis that are used to find probable cause by officers. It’s somewhat related, but it is a different point. I’m sure Attorney Watts will advise us on it.” Shortly after the meeting, McCorkle gave the following statement to YES! Weekly: “I have stated to city council members that they are not adhering to new state and Federal laws around cannabis consumption and possession. In Greensboro, 82% of arrests are of members of the Black community, even though we only make up 40% of population. As of right now, the state of North Carolina has legalized hemp, which looks, smells and is consumed exactly like marijuana. A recommendation from Greensboro Criminal Justice Advisory Commission has been issued to accommodate this matter by changing how we implement the law through city ordinance. I believe that they are trying to deflect my attention to state level, l but the city has the power to fix it. They don’t deny having the power to fix it and they openly admit to not having a legal leg to stand on.” ! IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.
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Booze and students don’t mix
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artygoing restrictions of COVID-19 notwithstanding, this holiday season is still the perfect time to remind folks not to drink and Jim Longworth drive. Unfortunately, it’s a reminder that Longworth needs to be uttered in at Large every season. That’s because, according to the Centers for Disease Control, intoxicated drivers get behind the wheel no less than 112 million times per year, and cause the deaths of 30 people each day. The CDC also reports that one person dies every 48 minutes due to an alcohol-related crash, while the National Highway Safety Administration says 16,000 people die each year in such crashes. No doubt, making it illegal for kids under 21 to buy booze has helped to keep these statistics from growing at a faster rate. However, the number of young people who drink and abuse spirits is still a major problem, and that brings me to the recent hare-brained scheme by New Mexico State University. Last month, New Mexico State became the first university in America to launch its own brand of booze: Pistol Pete’s Six Shooter Rye Whiskey, as it is called, is bottled by Dry Point Distillers in Las Cruces, who is also a partner in the venture. But hold on— Pistol Pete Rye is not NMSU’s only foray into spirit making. The University began offering golden ale in 2017, and this October, added wine to its roster of drinks. Speaking of which, the Associated Press reports that over 20 colleges now license their own brand of craft beer, while several others (including Wake Forest) have entered the wine market. The question is, Why? The answer, according to NMSU athletic director Mario Moccia, is simple— money. “For us to be the first, I think it’s a source of pride…because in today’s day and age when the budgets are being reduced, it’s incumbent upon us to do things to generate our own revenue,” Moccia told the AP’s Susan Bryan. Moccia justifies the new business by blaming pandemic-related cutbacks, but how does he justify saying that making whiskey is a source of pride? Hey, I get that a growing number of colleges have ties to the wine industry, but that’s usually because they are located in an area replete with local wineries, and can better offer courses to students who seek employment in that field. But licensing your own brand WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
of hard liquor is something no university should be engaged in, especially given what’s going on today with binge-drinking. In fact, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) published a report in which college presidents say binge-drinking is the “most serious problem on campus.” Together, CSPI and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism offer us a litany of statistics and consequences to ponder, among them: * 7.2 million students are binge drinkers * 44% of students attending a four-year college drink at binge levels * 600,000 college students receive unintentional injuries while under the influence of alcohol, and each year over 1,800 of them die from those injuries * Nearly 700,000 college age students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking * Nearly 100,000 college students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault * 30,000 college students require medical attention after binge drinking * About 25% of all college students have academic problems due to alcohol use, including missing class and poor grades * Each year, more than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem The CDC concurs, adding high-blood pressure, stroke, heart and liver disease, and cancer to the list. Meanwhile, the CDC reports that more than 95,000 Americans die each year from excessive alcohol use, and that binge-drinking specifically is most common among younger adults. Maybe I’m missing something here, but given these statistics, I just don’t get the whole “source of pride” thing that New Mexico State University officials espouse when describing their involvement in a whiskey-making venture. To my way of thinking, any college president who claims to oppose binge drinking while being involved with a distillery, is guilty of and is engaged in a dangerous hypocrisy. It’s akin to Melania Trump excoriating bullies while being married to one, only worse. I dare say that every college in America now has a stated or implied zero-tolerance policy when it comes to things like sexual harassment and racism, and most have also taken a stand against drinking on campus. Therefore, licensing and selling your own brand of whiskey is, at best, inconsistent with those and other moral prohibitions, and is, at worst, an enabler of deadly behavior. !
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JIM LONGWORTH is the host of Triad Today airing on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on ABC45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15). DECEMBER 16-22, 2020
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Literary stocking stuffer celebrates Stanton HARRY DEAN STANTON: HOLLYWOOD’S ZEN REBEL by Joseph B. Atkins. Published by University Press of Kentucky. 256 pages. $34.95 retail.
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t long last, a comprehensive Contributor biography covering the personal and professional life of the much-missed Harry Dean Stanton (1926-2017), and it’s a winner – so thorough and engaging that it can easily be knocked out in one sitting. Stanton was one of those actors whom every moviegoer recognized, even if they didn’t know his name. His list of credits is too lengthy to mention – even the book doesn’t cover all of them – but the directors he worked with included some of the best and brightest: Coppola, Altman, Scorsese, Peckinpah, Huston, Frankenheimer, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Wim Wenders, Bertrand Tavernier, John Carpenter, Arthur Penn. He was a long-time friend and one-time roommate of Jack Nicholson, a long-time friend and acting mentor of Kris Kristofferson. He inspired a feature documentary (2012’s Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction) and the annual Harry Dean Stanton festival in Lexington, Kentucky, as well as serving as unofficial guru to such younger stars as Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, and Johnny Depp. With a distinctive hangdog look and unmistakable Kentucky accent that made him ideal for Western roles, the “New Hollywood” movement of the 1970s proved a boon for the actor. He brought a little something extra to every role he played, whatever the overall quality of the project. He played a wide variety of characters in a wide variety of genres, and although his sometimes
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played heavies, more often than not he played lovable losers, yet with an innate, almost indefinable dignity. In short, Harry Dean Stanton was a one of a kind. Stanton’s upbringing was pure Americana, although more John Steinbeck than Norman Rockwell, with a dose of Tennessee Williams added to the mix. It was a hard life sometimes, but one well lived. Stanton was the quintessential “every-man:” an actor whose characters were easy to identify with, whether as cynical Otto of Repo Man (1984), the ill-fated, interstellar working stiff Brett in Alien (1979), or Molly Ringwald’s downtrodden dad in Pretty in Pink (1986). To say that author Joseph B. Atkins gets to the heart of the matter would be an understatement. “Harry Dean Stanton: Hollywood’s Zen Rebel” is an unabashed tribute, yet it also encompasses the quirks and eccentricities that made Stanton the actor he was and, more importantly, the man he was. A drinker, a smoker and, yes, a midnight toker, Stanton was a lifelong bachelor – although he certainly loved the ladies – and something of a Renaissance man. In addition to acting, Stanton was also a talented musician, even cutting an album and embarking on a concert tour late in his life. Artistic expression was the name of Stanton’s game, and he gave right up until the end. He was also something of a de-facto, off-center philosopher, shaped in part by Zen Buddhism and the Beat Generation – with a bit of good, old-fashioned actor’s ego and perhaps a martini or two thrown in for good measure. Hats off to you, Harry, wherever you are. You done good, and “Harry Dean Stanton: Hollywood’s Zen Rebel” does right by you. Not that you care, of course. The official University Press of Kentucky website is www.kentuckypress. com. ! See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.
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[KING Crossword]
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Dreamworld Pa Incline Big — whale Person copying another Straight-ahead view Dandy sort “That raving guy is lying!”? [1958, 1999, 1983] Regret a lot Mythical ship Plane-related Compass dir. Growing field Franklin brought a certain continent’s nations back together? [1972, 1979, 1983] Very reactive element Actor Ely Inflexible Assist an unwise fugitive? [1965, 2002, 1961] Like cold fish Muscular jerk Organic compound Castle encirclers Join others in the attack Poetic foot — long way Effortless progress with zero snags? [2017, 1999, 1980] Certain scroll key on PC — Dhabi (emirate) Mr. — (“Fantasy Island” host) Kings and queens hold agave liquor dear? [2013, 1966, 1958]
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High peak Revered sort Directs Cantata kin Dirt clump Ph.D. or MBA Allergic reaction? City’s main business section during a tornado? [1982, 1967, 1965] The Everly Brothers’ “— Clown” Bovine cry Old Fords Rigg made Rooney go “Wow!”? [1957, 2000, 1982] Many a seized car Honest prez Revered sort Messy stack Bitter brew This puzzle’s long answers each consist of three of these Actor Gulager Extolling Analgesics “Keystone” lawman Move upward Heckling cry Fresh beginning
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Mother of Helen of Troy Love deity Chest organ Choir voice Test facility Gobbled up Actor Lloyd Less sweet, as wine
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Gobbles up In-favor vote JFK, e.g. High-strung Vine-covered Grassy area Mom’s skill, in brief Fright-filled Wellspring Epithet for Tarzan Most recent Before Sorbet alternative, for short Shine up Broody rock genre Japanese dance-drama Concerning “So cute!” Beer bubbles “— -ching!” Slim fish — -Blo fuse NYSE debut Of ears Jaunty tune Frosts Modular part Ark-itect? Charity Katy Perry’s “I Kissed —” Toy truck maker Wise guy Cola biggie Actor Epps of “Shooter” “Ora pro —” (“Pray for us”) Root beer brand Filmmaker Pier — Pasolini Nile’s home Stephen of “Ondine” Suffix with play or faith
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Kick out Debt slip Chou En- — Soho stroller Roman 350 Consecrated Sufficient, in poetry Lamarr of “Comrade X” Ticked (off) Accordingly Prefix with botany or biology “— Little Tenderness” Lightest coin Actor Griffith Dol. parts Farming tool Barn percher Slip- — (mules, e.g.) D.C.’s land Silent “OK” Santo — Diminutive Audiophile’s storage item Danny of “Ruby” Wrap, as a weak wrist Papas’ partners Activist Hoffman Final letters Chemical suffix “Over There” composer Kevin of “Silverado” Pitcher — Wilhelm Central Sicilian city Golden — (senior) “Hey ... over this way!” “Car Talk” network “Mystifier” Geller Chest bone Artist Yoko Job for AAA 1960s univ. radicals
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[BARTENDERS OF THE WEEK | BY NATALIE GARCIA] Check out videos on our Facebook!
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BARTENDER: Yoz BAR: Dram & Draught AGE: 26 WHERE ARE YOU FROM? Richmond, VA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BARTENDING? Around six years or so HOW DID YOU BECOME A BARTENDER? It all started at a donut shop. My friend said they wanted to start bartending, and I wanted to keep working with them. After getting my first bartending job, I instantly fell in love with it. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT BARTENDING? There is so much to enjoy with bartending, but I think the thing I enjoy the most about it is the fact that I never stop learning. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t realize. Then there are the people I meet through this career, whether it be regulars or others in the industry. I can honestly say I’ve made lifelong friends and connections through bartending.
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WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DRINK TO MAKE? I get this question a lot, and I never really know how to answer cause it really depends on the day. An Old Fashioned is a simple and delicious drink to make. Then there is the whiskey sour that takes a bit more work, but the result is smooth and delicious.
[NEWS OF THE WEIRD]
Kazakh bodybuilder, actor and self-described “sexy maniac” Yuri Tolochko announced his marriage to his beloved, a sex doll named Margo, on Chuck Shepherd Instagram on Nov. 25 and shared with his followers their wedding video, in which the joyous couple, wearing a tuxedo and a full-length wedding dress, exchange vows and welcome friends and loved ones to a reception after the ceremony, The Sun reported. The groom identifies himself as pansexual and able to fall in love with “a character, an image, a soul,” and said the two became engaged a year ago, after he rescued her from some unwanted attention in a nightclub. “Couples need to talk less and connect more,” Tolochko said. “Margo and I realized that it takes more than words to have a conversation.”
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— The British Museum on Dec. 9 announced that among the historical finds it has registered this year was a cache of 63 gold coins dating from the reign of Henry VIII, dug up by a family weeding their garden in New Forest. The coins, totaling 24 pounds and equivalent to more than $18,000 in today’s dollars, were probably buried around 1540, The Guardian reported. The museum has experienced an increase in garden finds this year, as Treasure Registrar Ian Richardson said people are spending more time in their gardens, “resulting in completely unex-
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DRINK TO DRINK? This also kind of depends on the day and/or bar that I’m at. A beer and a shot is something that will never get old and hits the spot every time. The Boulevardier has been my go-to lately, though. However, on a clear sunny day, the Jungle Bird just hits different. WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AS AN AFTER-DINNER DRINK? My go-to is a nice Fernet shot; with its bitter, earthy notes and cool minty flavor, it is perfect for after dinner. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also a digestive. WHAT’S THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE SEEN WHILE BARTENDING? Hmmm definitely NSFW WHAT’S THE BEST TIP YOU’VE EVER GOTTEN? Take the good with the bad. Don’t get stress the small things.
pected archaeological discoveries.” — French chef Benoit Bruel in Lyon struck a blow for French cuisine by capturing the Guinness World Record for most varieties of cheese on a pizza with 254 cheeses, United Press International reported on Nov. 30. Guinness posted a video of Bruel making and then enjoying the pizza with friends along with its listing of the achievement, noting also that “Benoit took this as a patriotic challenge, as one of the things France is most famous for is its cheeses.”
11 EXPERIENCES ENDLESS HOLIDAY JOY
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Police in Jackson, Mississippi, had little trouble identifying the man who they said passed a threatening note to a teller at a Trustmark Bank on Dec. 3 and got away with an undetermined amount of cash, WAPT reported. Security cameras in the bank clearly captured images of suspect Richard Jiles, 41, wearing a white shirt and camouflage jacket with a blue face mask pulled down below his chin to reveal his entire face. Jiles was later apprehended. — Residents in upscale neighborhoods of Woodway and Edmonds, Washington, have been visited recently by people carrying official-looking documents who knock on doors, tell homeowners they own the property and “they’re there to repossess the home and want the people to vacate the premises,” Edmonds police Sgt. Josh McClure told KIRO. The group identifies itself as Moorish Sovereign Citizens, McClure said, who “believe that they own all of the land between Alaska and Argentina.” So far, the people have cooperated with police and left after being told they are trespassing. — The 400 Rabbits tequila bar in Nottingham, England, has applied to the local registrar general to be declared a place of worship, namely the Church of the 400 Rabbits, in an effort to allow customers back inside the establishment, something that is currently prohibited by local restrictions. The Guardian reports that the effort may have been inspired by a similar attempt made by a gym in Krakow, Poland, in October. Men’s Health reported that Marta Jamroz, manager of The Atlantic Sports and Fitness Club, went to great lengths to rebrand her gym as the Church of the Healthy Body. The outcome of her efforts is unclear; the tequila bar’s application is given little chance to be approved. !
© 2020 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate. Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
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Molly McGinn comes to the Carolina Theatre
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he Ghostlight shines as Molly McGinn and friends join Quilla at the Carolina Theatre on Dec 19. The latest installment of the Carolina’s GhostKatei Cranford light Concert series blends Americana with electro-beats as Contributor McGinn and friends bring her rootsy storytelling to life, while electronic artist and producer, Quilla, will parley a live rendition of her latest album, The Handbook of Vivid Moments, with accompaniment from violinist Kate Tobey. While their sets are separate, the artists will align for a few tunes, including a special mash of “Silent Night” and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. “If we can pull it off,” McGinn mused. As collaborative partners, Quilla and McGinn have been creating harmony between two seemingly distinct genres since the 2016 release of their collaborative electronic-folk single, “Wild and Kind.” For the upcoming show, they’ll debut their latest work, “Calling All Ye Outs.” “She shapes the music, and I just write the words and sing,” McGinn explained of their process, referring to Quilla’s amplifying presence as a collaborator. “When it comes to writing, she’s your ride-or-die chick. She’ll make you take it far.” For McGinn, it’s been the vehicle into the world of electronic music—a surprising journey for the earthbound songstress. “I was pretty judgy about the whole scene,” she admitted, “but hearing Maggie Rogers’ Alaska made me think there’s more to electronic music than I’d considered.” Sylvan Esso likewise aided the voyage. “They’ve created such an organic, modern, digital sound that I wanted to jump into,” she noted of the duo, calling Amelia Meath “a force of musical nature.” Quilla and McGinn also share a passion for cultural storytelling. McGinn’s last record, 2014’s Postcards from the Swamp, a six-song series inspired by the Great Dismal Swamp, scratches the surface of her penchant for weaving study and tradition into song. From landscapes to menus, she’s fascinated by what she called, “little anthropological studies into a person’s family history.” And that fascination flows YES! WEEKLY
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into other arenas. While McGinn and Quilla collaborate in song, McGinn and Tobey are working with Brittney Johnson to produce a new video series, Holiday Stories From The Magnolia House, which is an “immersive food, storytelling, and historical experience,” centered around local talent and Magnolia personalities. “We’re trying to create videos that blend with things to do in real-time, at home, away from the computer,” McGinn explained of the hands-on series, “something to literally bring the Magnolia’s traditions to the viewers.” McGinn first fell in love with “the house that soul built” following her work with
the Porch Sessions drive-in concert series over the summer. “I believe in the soul of places,” she said, “and the owner, Natalie Miller, is such a special soul. She’s been such a bright light in some dim times.” Published videos thus far include Josephus Thompson reading Maya Angelou; and an immersive recipe for the New Year’s staple: Hoppin’ John with sweet potatoes and collards, shared alongside memories and stories, from Miller’s aunt, chef Linda Aamal Kite. It’s truly a family celebration “from the Magnolia House to yours.” Sneak-peaks of future episodes feature Santa and Justin “Demeanor” Harrington
exuding Christmas spirit. “We’ll be showing people how to make a Magnolia wreath to symbolize the importance of sacred, historical places,” McGinn explained of upcoming segments, “it’s a way of bringing new tradition to the holidays.” New traditions are just a few of the new ways of life for McGinn, as musicians far and wide navigate this new world. “It’s a funny shift,” she said, “worrying about keeping the people you play with safe during a show. The prevailing thoughts before were like— set list, loadin and soundcheck. Maybe some snacks would be cool. Now, I’m wondering if I can borrow somebody’s germ bomb machine.” It’s all new considerations in gigging: masked employees, sanitized mics, “things I’d never thought I’d need to think about—until now.” Joining her onstage this round will be Alex Bingham on bass, Sam Fribush on keys, DaShawn Hickman on pedal steel, and Charlie Hunter on drums. “If I’m asking them to do this show,” she said, “then I need to make sure it’s safe for them, too.” McGinn’s mama-bear approach is neither unwarranted, nor limited to 2020 conditions. “We need to create more spaces where the LGTBQ-community knows they’re welcome and safe,” she said, reflecting on the “REPRESENT N.C.’’ series, which celebrated female and LGBTQ-musicians over its two-year residency at Joymongers. “I really miss that series,” she added, “and I miss playing out in the wild. But all things—even good things—change.” And with that notion, McGinn’s bright eyes shine toward the future. “I’m looking forward to writing more tunes, and making new projects,” she said, “now that [life in 2020] is a little less mysterious. I still have no idea what any of that’ll look like, or when it’ll happen. But I’ll just keep cranking-on my ‘Hoping Machine,’ trying to tame these lions into poems— as my friend Jessica would say— helping others when I can, and working on being a good friend to the folks I love.” In the meantime, McGinn and friends look to take the stage at the Carolina Theatre on Dec. 19. Holiday Stories From The Magnolia House, airs weekly through December via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. ! KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who hosts “Katei’s Thursday Triad Report,” 5:30-7p.m. on WUAG 103.1 FM.
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chow
EAT IT!
Blue Rock Pizza set to open in shopping center
BY CAROL BROOKS | cab1hp@gmail.com
A
dams Farm Shopping Center will soon be rocking when Blue Rock Pizza and Tap opens in the space formerly occupied by McPherson’s. Owner Paul Riggan hopes to open Dec. 18 but - fingers crossed – definitely before Christmas. “We’ve passed all the inspections and now we just have to wait for the ABC [license],” Riggan said. “There was a need for some more restaurants in Adams Farm. We could use a few more,” he added. “The area’s grow-
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ing. I think this is going to be a good area.” Riggan and his crew gutted the McPherson’s space, turning it into a family-oriented restaurant, similar to the one in High Point with the same name, offering craft-style pizza and craft beer, and decorated in a rock-and-roll theme. He has installed 24 beer taps and will also offer wine. “It’s going to be a fun, upbeat environment,” Riggan said, adding that a magician will be on-site visiting diners one night a week. “We’re excited.” While the menu will be similar to that in High Point, the Adams Farm location
will also feature several pasta options. There is a private dining room with TV and several other semi-private seating areas for a total of 125 seats. There is also an outside patio that can seat 32. With the recent restrictions, that maximum number is currently lower. There is a modern jukebox that can be synced to your personal mobile phone. Architectural drawings took two months longer than anticipated. Construction also was slowed, but has picked up in recent weeks. The restaurant will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. With the state’s current restrictions, the restaurant will close at 10 p.m. and stop selling alcohol at 9 p.m.
This is Riggan’s Blue Restaurant Group’s first venture outside of High Point, except for one in Wilmington. His first, Blue Water Grille, opened around 2002, followed by Blue Zucchini, Blue Bourbon Jack’s, Blue Rock Pizza, Lulu & Blue and Magnolia Blue. Riggan has since sold Blue Zucchini and BBJ’s. As for the “blue” theme, Riggan said it tied in with seafood at Blue Water Grille and he decided to continue for the other restaurants. This year’s restrictions has affected all of the restaurants, and Riggan noted that several of them had to close for a while. Blue Rock in High Point, however, had just begun delivery so it was able to stay open. !
Blue Rock Pizza will open soon in the Adams Farm Shopping Center in the space formerly occupied by McPherson’s.
DECEMBER 16-22, 2020
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feature
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No home for the holidays: Activists, researchers say a ‘tidal wave’ of evictions is coming soon — Part 1
O
n Dec. 11 around 2:30 p.m.,
the sound of Christmas music filled the air outside the Forsyth County Government Center as 10 activists from Katie Murawski Housing Justice Now, Hate Out of Winston, and Triad Abolition Editor Project protested the eviction hearings of over 60 people in less than two weeks before the Christmas holiday. HJN volunteer Rachael Fern was dressed as Santa Claus as she held a sign that read “END EVICTIONS NOW” and rang a bell each time cars passed by, while HJN and TAP volunteer Sara Hines repeated on a megaphone the phrase: “There is a disconnect between the privileges of the few and the needs of the many.” Activists protesting last Friday’s en masse eviction court hearings criticized government officials for continuing to allow housing displacement of many Forsyth County/Winston-Salem families and for not addressing what is to come in early 2021. In this two-part series, YES! Weekly will outline the concerns of activists, discuss the findings of a 2014-2018 case study addressing housing loss in Forsyth County, as well as report local government officials’ responses to criticisms from activists and whether or not they could (or would) implement the study’s policy recommendations. “If you think about how the governor put out an order restricting the number of people you can gather, at the same time, they are summoning 60 plus families to come here at 2 p.m. and go into that building and get evicted,” said Fern outside of the government center last Friday. “We are about to see a tidal wave [of evictions] in Forsyth County.” ‘Displaced in Forsyth’ In September, the Future of Property Rights program of New America, a D.C.based progressive think-tank, teamed up with researchers from Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University to release their findings of a study called, “Displaced in America.” YES! WEEKLY
DECEMBER 16-22, 2020
The study attempts to answer the questions: “Where is forced displacement most acute? Why does housing loss occur? Who is most at risk? And what happens to people after they lose their homes?” In doing so, it aims to “help municipal leaders better understand where the pandemic might exacerbate already established patterns of housing loss.” According to the executive summary of the “Displaced in America” report, the COVID-19 pandemic has “exacerbated the effects of stagnant wages, the lack of affordable housing, insufficient federal housing assistance, and discriminatory policies that contribute to housing loss.” The findings of the study also assert that emergency measures such as eviction and foreclosure moratoriums may prevent people from losing housing in the short term; however, those measures alone would “not address the systemic policies and economic factors that lead people to lose their homes.” “Evictions and foreclosures persistently affect the same areas and communities,” the executive summary states. “While shock events like the 2008 foreclosure crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic add to the volume of housing loss, these surges often follow familiar patterns: the people and places most vulnerable to housing loss during steady-state periods are often the ones who experience it most acutely in times of crisis. By identifying and examining which places have traditionally experienced the most acute housing loss, we can predict where future housing loss will occur and who will be impacted, and direct resources to prevent the harm before it proliferates.” In “Displaced in America,” New America and its partners “visualized the scale and breadth of displacement across the United States through a National Housing Loss Index, which ranks U.S. counties based on their combined eviction and foreclosure rates.” Additionally, it took a closer look at three census tract-level displacement case study locations: Forsyth County(WinstonSalem); Marion County, Indiana (Indianapolis); and Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa). In the “Displaced in Forsyth” case study, researchers interviewed government officials, housing advocates, real estate developers, journalists, lawyers, service providers, and community members to determine who housing displacement mostly affects, how it occurs, and what happens after people are displaced.
“However, in the midst of completing this research, the world changed,” the introduction states. “As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across America, it rapidly became clear that we would release this report at a time when millions of Americans are without jobs and at risk of losing their housing. This report became more than a way to show historic housing loss, but a tool city leaders could use to better predict where the hardest-hit neighborhoods of their city may be.” Based on examining data from 20142018, “Displaced in Forsyth” found that residents experience acute housing loss at a rate of 2.6%, the county ranks “89th worst housing loss in the nation (of more than 2,200 counties measured) and the 10th worst of the 50 North Carolina counties for which we have data.” The eviction rate for those years was 4.4% (12,276 households), and the foreclosure rate was 1% (6,221 households), “however foreclosure rates jump to 3-6% in East Winston and the Southeastern region.” This case study found that evictions primarily affect minority populations and households living below the poverty line; some of the highest eviction rates (13%) are concentrated to the east of downtown and East Winston. Each year, 9.6% of residents in the East Winston census tracts lose their homes. “A few of these tracts lie directly to the east of U.S. Route 52, while others lie between Smith-Reynolds Airport, the Wake Forest University athletic stadiums, and the local fairground.” It also found that August had the highest average number of evictions (256) and that when evictions go to court, tenants often lose. “Evictions in Forsyth County often exceed 3,000 per year, but only 200 cases or so receive pro-bono legal representation.” Forsyth County also has 1,524 “heirs properties,” which is the fifth-highest in North Carolina. “Heirs property is passed down through generations outside of the formal probate process and often lacks ‘clear title.’ Disproportionately present in Black communities, this form of property ownership exposes owners to significant vulnerability.” The case study findings also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected North Carolinians, as “46% of households reporting that at least one person in their household has lost employ-
ment income since the pandemic began.” In June, The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Forsyth County’s unemployment rate doubled (to 8.2%) from June 2019. In terms of “who” is most at risk, the findings of the case study showed that census tracts where residents lacked health insurance and relied on public transportation had higher rates of housing loss. It also showed that predominately non-white households had higher eviction and foreclosure rates than predominately white households. “In particular, we found a strong positive relationship between the number of Black households in a census tract, and the rate of mortgage foreclosures. Predominantly Latinx census tracts also showed higher rates of evictions and foreclosures than white census tracts, but the relationship was not nearly as strong as for Black households.” As for the question of “why” people are losing their homes in Forsyth County, the study attributed the affordable housing crunch, in particular, Winston-Salem’s 16,244-unit shortage of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income families. “Households that earn less than 30% area median income can afford an apartment for $464 in monthly rent, but the fair-market rate for a two-bedroom apartment in the city is $729.” Perpetually low wages also contribute to housing loss, as noted by a county official: 5.5% of rent increase versus 30% decrease in wages for county residents. And, of course, gentrification and concentrated poverty resulting from the redevelopment of low-income neighborhoods also contributed to displacement and housing loss. Thus, the “Displaced in Forsyth” case study found that the consequences of displacement included neighborhood neglect, in which foreclosed homes resulted in $170,000 of losses in tax value to the surrounding communities; over 6,000 vacant Winston-Salem properties in the North East, East, and Southeast wards of Winston-Salem; and in those same wards, 50% of rental units reporting a pattern of habitability issues. Another consequence of displacement is education disparity, as the study’s key informants estimated that, at the county’s lowest-performing schools, between 20-50% of students finished the school year at a different
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school than the one they started. The lack of accessible public transportation is also a consequence of displacement, as many low-income residents who don’t own a car tend to live near public transportation, which limits their ability to commute to work, school, grocery stores and doctor’s appointments. Overcrowding and homelessness are also consequences— which according to the case study, “is well documented within Forsyth County, and particularly dangerous in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Families unable to find community support after displacement can end up in a shelter, in their car, or on the street.” ‘EVICTIONS KILL’ In her experience advocating this year for housing justice, Fern has noticed that not much, if any, attention is being paid to housing displacement in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County— by elected officials and by those who are unaffected. That’s why she decided to make people pay attention through visually-striking cosplays during protests. For instance, shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday, she portrayed the grim reaper, and on Dec. 11, she dressed as a not-so-jolly Santa Claus. “It’s Christmas, and we are evicting people; it’s a pandemic, and we are evicting people,” Fern said. “It’s well documented that as evictions go up, so do coronavirus deaths. That is what we are doing in Forsyth County— we are killing people unnecessarily.” Fern’s claim appears to be correct as a Vox article published the same day as the protest quotes that a recent study called, “Expiring Eviction Moratoriums and COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality,” confirms this. Coincidentally, one of the study’s seven co-authors is Wake Forest University’s School of Law Visiting Professor Emily Benfer, who is also the chair of the American Bar Association’s COVID-19 Task Force Committee on Eviction, co-creator of the COVID-19 Housing Policy Scorecard with the Eviction Lab at Princeton Univer-
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Housing Justice Now volunteer and activist Rachael Fern dressed as Santa Claus protesting the 60+ eviction hearings outside the Forsyth County Government Center on Dec. 11 sity, and principal investigator in a study of nationwide COVID-19 eviction moratoriums and housing policies. According to that study, states that let eviction protections and moratoriums lapse “saw an estimated 433,700 excess individuals contract COVID-19, and 10,700 people die from the virus.” According to the Vox article, this situation, nationally, is dire because “as many as 40 million Americans could suffer in the coming months.” To make matters worse, on the day after Christmas, 14 million workers’ unemployment benefits are set to expire because, as of Dec. 15, Congress has yet to pass the second round of COVID-19 relief funds.
All of this during the winter months and a pandemic with a historic death toll of 300,000. In October, Fern provided YES! Weekly with HJN’s data from June 22 to Oct. 9, tracking eviction hearings in Forsyth County. HJN’s data found that near the end of June, there were 40 eviction hearings; in July, there were 517 eviction hearings; in August, there were 558 eviction hearings, and in September, there were 446 eviction hearings. In an Oct. 9 email, HJN noted that according to data from WFDD’s Eddie Garcia, “from June 21, 2018, to Sept. 17, 2018, there were 961 summary ejectment hearings,” meanwhile in 2020, HJN’s data shows
that there were “1,377 over that same time period,” which is a “43.3% increase this summer in eviction hearings in WinstonSalem.” According to HJN’s recent data, since June, the number of eviction hearings has reached over 2,000. Fern noted that this is roughly 10% of renter households in Winston-Salem. Dec. 11 was the last day many in-person court cases would be in session before Chief Justice Cheri Beasley postponed most proceedings for 30 days starting Dec. 14 due to the recent spike in COVID cases. The Forsyth County Public Health Department reports that as of 2 p.m. on Dec. 15, there are 17,035 COVID cases in the county,
DECEMBER 16-22, 2020
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189 deaths, 250 new cases, and 3,372 new cases reported in the last two weeks, with 10.9% of people in North Carolina testing positive for the virus. Fern has volunteered with HJN through administrating its court watch sessions since the summer, but at the beginning of December had to quit because she said the “explosion of COVID cases in Forsyth County” made it unsafe for her to continue. Fern said during her time watching hearings and standing outside protesting, she has witnessed “people getting traumatized,” especially children. “If I had to describe what I have been seeing in one word, it would be trauma.” What about the CDC Moratorium? From Sept. 4 to the end of this month, the Center for Disease Control set a nationwide temporary moratorium on evictions. “It’s been really hard for people to get protection under that order,” Fern explained. “People have really had to fight to be protected under that order— and what little protection they had is about to go away.” North Carolina Legal Aid attorney Ed Sharp said in a phone interview on Oct. 9 that the CDC moratorium “carries pretty severe criminal penalties for violating
it either for the landlord or the tenant.” Sharp said the University of North Carolina School of Government has sent out guidance to civil magistrates that the CDC moratorium “holds legal weight until it doesn’t, which will come on Dec. 31, when it expires.” “If the landlord violates the CDC order and thereby commits a Federal crime, they should not be allowed to gain an advantage (that is, evicting somebody in civil court here in North Carolina) by committing this Federal crime,” Sharp said, paraphrasing UNC-School of Government’s Dona Lewandowski. At the end of October, Gov. Roy Cooper issued Executive Order 171, which was supposed to “strengthen eviction protections” under the CDC moratorium. According to the Governor’s website, the Order required landlords to make tenants aware of their rights under the CDC moratorium, set forth procedures to ensure protection for residential tenants, and clarified the CDC moratorium, “so that it clearly applies to all North Carolinians who meet its eligibility criteria.” However, Sharp noted that the CDC’s moratorium is not a “blanket moratorium by any means.” He noted that the moratorium does not invalidate a lease— meaning tenants still must pay the rent— it
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Triad Abolition Project and Housing Justice Now activists protesting the 60+ eviction hearings outside the Forsyth County Government Center on Dec. 11 just prevents tenants from “being thrown out on the streets and therefore, spreading COVID.” But in order to invoke these protections, Sharp noted that a tenant has to sign the CDC declaration, and it has to be truthful— and many tenants aren’t able to sign it. He said some of the qualifications to truthfully sign is that tenants have to ask for rental assistance and have to of experienced a loss of income. Sharp cautioned that landlords and tenants would suffer greatly from the expiration of the CDC moratorium if they don’t work together while it is still in place. “One of my biggest worries is that whenever the CDC order ends— the bill will come due, so to speak, and they will have this enormous crisis of tenants being thrown out in the middle of winter with COVID still raging,” Sharp said. “It could be a disaster for tenants and landlords. If a tenant gets thrown out at that time, the landlord might suffer significant financial losses due to all of this. We could be looking at a real mess. What I am hoping happens instead is that tenants and landlords work together, while the CDC order is in place, to get rental assistance from whatever source, to get the landlords paid and get the tenants up to date and no longer facing evictions. The CDC order is potentially a time bomb. Everyone will suffer if it is not addressed.” However, volunteers with HJN are doubtful that the majority of local landlords (or “slumlords,” as they call them) have the emotional capacity to work empathetically with tenants— especially since the City of Winston-Salem’s tenant-
landlord mediation service doesn’t require landlords to participate. Fern wrote in a text message that she has personally worked with tenants who are technically protected under the CDC moratorium but are still getting evicted because landlords are bypassing the moratorium through other eviction methods, such as parking and pet violations. “The most common is ‘holdover,’ which just means the landlord chooses not to renew the lease if the tenant is behind on rent and can successfully bypass the moratorium,” Fern said. “I’m working with a 70-year-old disabled veteran (the guy we got the emergency order for) whose landlord did just that. The landlord said he is aware that given his age and health, his tenant could die on the streets this winter but [claimed], ‘I’m the victim here and have to protect myself.’ It cost him a total of $50 to have the Sheriff go and lock the tenant out. Without direct aid from the government, this is just a blood bath being fought between landlords and tenants, and the stakes are incredibly high for some folks.” ! (Part 2 will address the criticism of city and county officials, their responses, and whether or not they will consider implementing the “Displaced in Forsyth” policy recommendations.) KATIE MURAWSKI is the editor-in-chief of YES! Weekly. Her alter egos include The Grimberlyn Reaper, skater/ public relations board chair for Greensboro Roller Derby, and Roy Fahrenheit, drag entertainer and self-proclaimed King of Glamp.
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last call
[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions
KNIGHT VISION
My boyfriend is very successful, with a high-profile job in finance. He’s very romantic, and I felt I’d found “the one.” However, he has cheated on previous girlfriends, is Amy Alkon unusually protective of his phone around Advice me, and otherwise acts secretively. Goddess For example: He began disappearing for three hours on Wednesday nights. He didn’t return any texts, which is unlike him. He claimed he was at “therapy,” forgetting he’d told me he instead uses life coaches at his job. Another example: I stopped over one morning and saw remains of a pizza and a dainty box of sparkly champagne gummy bears (not exactly a man’s snack). After I called him on these incidents, he began texting me periodically on Wednesday nights and stockpiling cheap drugstore gummies, which he eats when I’m over. He has angrily denied he’s seeing other women and refuses to discuss it further. I’m in love with him, and I want to believe him. —Benefit Of The Doubt? Believing you’ve found love has a dark side: wanting to keep believing. The most outrageous claims can take on an air of plausibility, like when your friend tells you she spotted your boyfriend licking some woman’s tattoo, and he angrily insists he was saving somebody dying of snakebite
— uh, in Midtown Manhattan. Your brain is partly to blame. Human brains have a collective set of built-in errors in reasoning called “cognitive biases” that prompt otherwise smart people to act like they have the IQ of a root vegetable. Crazy as it is that our brain would evolve to have built-in errors, this is actually not a bug, but a feature: one that sometimes acts like a bug. Our mind needs to take mental shortcuts whenever it can. If we had to methodically think out our every action (starting with, “How do you turn on the light in the kitchen, and is that even a good idea?”), we’d wake up at 8 a.m. and need a nap by about 8:17. So, we’re prone to cut out the wearying middleman — careful deliberation of all the facts at hand — and leap to conclusions about what to do or believe. However, we don’t do this at random; we default to “heuristics” (aka “rules of thumb”) — broad, general principles that evolved out of human experience — to make semi-informed, “quick and dirty” guesses. Though these guesstimates are typically “good enough” solutions in do-or-die situations, they also lead to cognitive biases, those absurd errors in reasoning that can muck up our lives. Two that might be mucking up yours are the “sunk cost fallacy” and “confirmation bias.” The sunk cost fallacy is the irrational tendency to continue investing time, money, or effort in some losing endeavor (like an unhappy relationship) based on the investment we’ve already “sunk” into it. Of course, that prior investment is gone. The rational approach would be future-
oriented thinking: assessing whether we’d get enough out of any further investment to make it worth throwing in more love, money, or time. Confirmation bias reflects our tendency to favor information that confirms a belief we already have — like, “I found Mr. Right!” — and reject information that says (or screams) otherwise: “I found Mr. Juggles Women Like A Moscow Circus Bear.” If you are succumbing to these cognitive biases, they probably have a co-conspirator. Cross-cultural research suggests that female emotions evolved to subconsciously push women to seek highstatus “providers,” even when women are high-earning bigwigs themselves. In other words, you might be prone to ignore any intel suggesting your wolf of Wall Street spends a good bit of his week raiding the hussy henhouse (aka Tinder). In short, though we humans (the snobs of the mammalian world!) smugly refer to ourselves as “rational animals,” we are able to reason, but we don’t always get around to doing it. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains that our brain has two information processing systems, our
“fast” emotion-driven system and our “slow” rational system. The emotiondriven fast system is behind our mental shortcuts. It rises up automatically, requiring no work on our part. (We just experience emotions; we don’t sit around emotionally dead until we put effort into yanking one up.) Reasoning, on the other hand, takes work: mental exertion to pore over and analyze information in order to make a decision. Tempting as it is to believe you’ve found “the one,” making yourself take the slow approach — doing the work to see who a man really is — will, at the very least, help you boot the bad eggs faster. Sadly, we live in an imperfect world — one in which “pants on fire” is merely a figure of speech, not what happens when your half-undressed boyfriend says (with a totally straight face): “Amber and I were just about to have a work meeting.” You: “In our bed?” ! GOT A problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com) © 2020 Amy Alkon Distributed by Creators.Com.
answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 7
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