TCB Aug. 16, 2018 — Campus as refuge

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point August 16-22, 2018 triad-city-beat.com

Campus as Refuge CAMPUS-BASED HOSPITALITY PROVIDES ANTIDOTE TO TRUMP’S ANTI-REFUGEE DEMAGOGUERY

Josh King, clean PAGE 16

Cannabis can PAGE 14

We the media PAGE 12 & 13

FREE

August 16-22, 2018

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Denim City, still

My jeans today bear the Asbury Park label, constructed from sturdy, raw selvedge denim that itself came together, thread

by Brian Clarey by thread, on an antiquated Draper Flyshuttle Loom on the second floor of Cone Mills’ White Oak Plant, perhaps two miles from my front door.

They’re structured in classic five-pocket style, with a button fly, and they’re a bit too long — when I first got them last year I let them bunch around my knees and hips, and now when I roll the cuffs a little the faded whiskers really stand out.

One of my talents — something I was born with, I think — is my ability to break things in, wear them down, season them to my liking. Jeans. Shoes. Belts. Catcher’s mitts. I could break in a new pair of dark blue Levis in one weekend behind the bar. These Asbury Park jeans took a little longer.

I suppose I have been wearing them, with little exception, every day for at least 10 months. As far as I know, I have washed them once: cold water in the gentle cycle with no detergent, line dried.

I don’t mess around with my jeans, not after I burned through a pair of Raleighs

in 16 months after near-constant wear and frequent washings, blowing out the rear pockets and creating a… situation with the button fly that keeps me from wearing them outside the house.

My affinity for blue jeans — a lifelong thing — is one of the things that binds me to Greensboro, where from about 1900 until January of this year, the finest denim in the world came from the White Oak plant’s looms, notably the mechanical Draper flyshuttles, which local scuttlebutt insinuates are earmarked for Mexico or Japan since Cone shuttered the mill.

When Wrangler announced a relocation from Greensboro to Denver, I feared the last tie had been severed.

But Wrangler, the city’s last vestige of the denim trade, sold off its denim line to Lee Jeans — itself a legacy brand — which in turn will be moving its headquarters here.

Let’s call it: Not a Total Loss.

If I were CEO of Lee’s denim operation, I’d try to get my hands on as many Draper looms as I could. I know for sure there’s one on display in the Greensboro History Museum.

Because I can feel it: I’m gonna need a new pair of jeans pretty soon. And just like shrimp from the gulf, pizza from New York and tacos from the mercadito, I prefer my denim comes from Greensboro.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

If you think about it, a university or college campus is like a parish or a town, with shared values and common goals. We have housing and clinics — basically anything you need to meet people’s needs. A campus has more skills than any other community. We have people who know the law, people who speak particular languages.

— Diya Abdo, in the News, page 8

BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green

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gayla@triad-city-beat.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

jordan@triad-city-beat.com

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lauren@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS

STAFF WRITER Lauren Barber

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1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 Cover photo by Corolyn De Berry

jennifer@triad-city-beat.com Carolyn de Berry, Sayaka Matsuoka, Matt Jones

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August 16-22, 2018

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August 16-22, 2018

CITY LIFE Aug. 16-22, 2018

by Lauren Barber

THURSDAY

Black Panther @ LeBauer Park (GSO), 7 p.m.

Doug MacLeod @ Muddy Creek Music Hall (W-S), 8 p.m.

Opinion

News

Up Front

Bicycle master plan meeting @ Enterprise Center (WS), 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY

Consultants unveil recommended updates to Winston-Salem’s master bicycle infrastructure plan in a brief presentation followed by an open house for community members to view detailed maps and charts, ask questions and leave comments with transportation department staff. Learn more at wsbikeplan.com.

UNCG presents a free sunset screening of Marvel’s muchacclaimed Black Panther at 8:07 p.m. Come early to grab some eats from Ghassan’s, Porterhouse Burger Company or Café Europa before lounging on the lawn. Learn more at greensborodowntownparks.org and find the event on Facebook.

High Noon @ Hanesbrands Theatre (W-S), 7:30 p.m.

BlacKkKlansman @ Aperture Cinema (W-S), 6 p.m.

Award-winning acoustic blues and roots songwriter Doug MacLeod fills the old music hall with warm vocals. Learn more at doug-macleod.com and find the event on Facebook.

SATURDAY

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Reptiles & amphibians walk @ Piedmont Environmental Center (HP), 8 a.m.

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The New Winston Museum kicks off its New Winston Dialogues program after this screening of Spike Lee’s new film about Ron Stallworth, the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan in an undercover investigation to take down the extremist hate group. Larry Little, co-founder of Winston-Salem’s Black Panther Party chapter and associate professor of political science at Winston-Salem State University, moderates the informal conversation. Learn more at aperturecinema.com and find the event on Facebook.

Oculus GSO @ Studio 503 (GSO), 6 p.m.

Culture Pushers Collective musicians provide a soundtrack for the opening night of an exhibit showcasing a number of Greensboro’s painters, muralists, sculptors, sketch artists, photographers and videographers. Artists will create new impromptu pieces and attendees enjoy wine and light appetizers. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Learn more at studio503gso.com.

RiverRun Retro presents a legendary western starring Gary Cooper Grace Kelly. Glenn Frankel, an author, academic and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, joins film historian Foster Hirsch for post-screening film discussion and a reception for his newest book, High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic. Bookmarks Bookstore will be on site selling copies of the book for the signing. Learn more at riverrunfilm.com/high-noon-retro.

Jazz Classique @ UNCSA (W-S), 7:30 p.m.

All ages are welcome on this nature exploration led by one of the center’s naturalists. Find the event on Facebook.

National Honey Bee Day celebration @ Colony Urban Farm Store (W-S), 10 a.m.

The classical chamber-music ensemble blends elements of blues with jazz improvisation. This concert, titled “Baroque and Beyond,” features selections by Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Orff, Faure, Brubeck and others in the Salem Elberson Fine Arts Center. Find the event on Facebook.

Mingle with local beekeepers, sample honey-laden desserts and check out an observation hive with live bees to the tune of live music. Children have the opportunity to participate in an art and coloring contest during the free event. Learn more at colonyurbanfarm.com.

August 16-22, 2018 Up Front

“Shop Talk” for adolescents @ International Civil Rights Center & Museum (GSO), 11 a.m.

Before the academic year gets underway, local community leaders and mentors gather to help encourage and support students in grades 6 to 12 during the “shop talk” program designed to foster the types of conversation enjoyed in barbershop and salon settings: everything from life skills to current events to setting goals. Participants will be entered to win free cuts and styles from local barbers and cosmetologists. Find the event on Facebook.

Cinnamon Reggae @ 6th St. & Liberty St. intersection (W-S), 7 p.m.

News

The long-standing, local collective blends Jamaican-influenced reggae with jazz, R&B, gospel and country. Learn more at downtownws.com/music.

The Lion King @ Geeksboro (GSO), 8 p.m.

Sing along during this classic riff on Shakespeare’s Hamlet featuring an Oscar-winning soundtrack by Elton John. Bring your lawn chair or rent from Geeksboro in preparation for the outdoor “lawn chair drive-in.” Stock up on drinks, popcorn, candy and popsicles before the movie starts at sundown. Find the event on Facebook.

Opinion

JujuGuru @ Center City Park (GSO), 7:30 p.m.

Central North Carolina blues-rock duo Micah McCravey and Josh Feldman take the stage.

Find the event on Facebook.

SUNDAY

Culture

Pippin @ Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance, 2 p.m.

The alliance brings Grammy and Oscar-winning musical theatre darling Stephen Schwartz’s iconic musical about a young prince searching for fulfillment. Learn more at wstheatrealliance.org.

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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August 16-22, 2018 Up Front

Eight favorite stops on my WinstonSalem paper route

by Lauren Barber 1. Twin City Hive Twin City Hive sits at the top of my list of Winston-Salem coffeehouses and, over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed it’s an almost-guarantee that I’ll run into a friend or acquaintance I actually want to see.

Opinion

News

2. Slappy’s Fried Chicken The joint smells like fried chicken, and that’s all that needs said.

3. Kaleideum North Formerly known as SciWorks, the children’s science center’s high ceilings are ever echoing the delighted squeals of the younger set and house charming, interactive exhibits that remind me of grade-school field trips to the Ben Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Seeing entourages of chaperoned students puts a smile on my face every time.

4. Café Gelato The stretch of small businesses across from Hanes Park on Reynolda Road is undeniably cute. It’s an always-tempting opportunity for a sweet treat but whether I indulge or not, the happy colors and kind owner are their own kind of pick-me-up. I recently discovered espresso is on the menu, too.

5. McKay’s I love the smell of books almost as much as fried chicken. Almost.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

6. Penny Path Café Again, the smells. Sensing a pattern?

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7. SECCA The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts — tucked away within a residential neighborhood northwest of downtown — serves as a welcomed respite from traffic lights and concrete, not to mention that this stop comes with a chance to take a quick peak at the newest exhibits.

7. Dry Cleaning Central Papers aren’t flying off the rack just yet at this newly established stop, but the Oakwood Drive spot is sunny and the employees learn your name. Let’s be real: It’s always nice to be able to integrate a few errands along the route, too.

8. William G. White Jr. Family YMCA This one surprised me, too. Of all the Ys I’ve visited in the city, though, this one hosts the most gregarious guests and staff who subtly make me feel like a valued member of our community. Almost every time, I’ll run into someone flipping Triad City Beat’s pages and half-way through my day I’m reminded of why I’m doing it all in the first place.

Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

It might not seem all that controversial to criticize school segregation, but since the majority-white voters of Forsyth County impose the arrangement on a student population that is majority non-white, it’s evident that many people feel otherwise.

The federal courts lifted an order requiring racial balance in WinstonSalem/Forsyth County schools in the 1980s, but the assignment policy remained in place until a conservative white majority on the school board JORDAN The Rev. Alvin Carlisle confers with Kellie GREEN adopted a new plan in Easton before a press conference.

1995 that emphasized parental choice.

The choice plan, which has resulted in increasing racial and socioeconomic segregation, has created a vicious cycle. Urban schools that serve high percentages of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, predominantly black and brown, become less appealing, and parents with resources opt to send their children elsewhere. Faced with the challenges of educating students in schools with high levels of poverty, teachers also typically prefer assignments elsewhere. As a result, urban schools with high levels of poverty become underpopulated. Meanwhile, suburban schools with higher percentages of white students and higher academic performance become overcrowded, and thus receive priority for replacement or expansion, while urban schools are subject to a downward cycle of disinvestment.

Ashley Elementary, a school with a 94.2 percent non-white population in northeast Winston-Salem where students and teachers have complained of chronic sinus infections and headaches potentially due to mold exposure, is the predictable result of the resource allocation scheme driven by Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ choice plan.

Notably, Ashley Elementary was slated for replacement under an early draft of the 2016 school bond, but once the school board winnowed down the price tag and a deal to acquire property for the new school fell apart, replacement was dropped from the project list.

Now, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is the target of a federal civil rights complaint filed with the US Department of Education under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Among other things, the complaint brought on behalf of Action4Ashley Coalition calls on the school district to build a new facility for the students as soon as possible, allow students and staff susceptible to symptoms from poor indoor-air quality the opportunity to immediately transfer to a different school, provide additional services to students who missed school due to health problems, and conduct a comprehensive survey of school buildings to determine if other schools serving predominantly nonwhite and low-income students are experiencing similar conditions.

“WSFCS’s failure to take immediate action to remedy the conditions at Ashley has had a direct and harmful effect on the ability of students at Ashley, who are predominantly black, to learn in a healthy environment resulting in potentially irreversible educational consequences,” the complaint charges.

August 16-22, 2018

School segregation hurts poor students

by Jordan Green

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Every Campus A Refuge offers welcome in a time of catastrophe

by Jordan Green

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

August 16-22, 2018

NEWS

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Ali Al-Khasrachi, a print and design professional and calligrapher, had to flee Iraq with his family after surviving two assassination attempts due to his work for CAROLYN DE BERRY a company that contracted with the US military.

Inspired by a call from Pope Francis, a Guilford College professor launched Every Campus A Refuge in 2016 to house refugees, just as Donald Trump was exploiting xenophobia to fuel his successful presidential bid.

Ali Al-Khasrachi, his wife and their three boys arrived at Piedmont Triad International Airport on March 8, 2017, only two days after President Trump issued a revised order dropping Iraq from the list of countries included in his

controversial travel ban. (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen remained on the list.)

Al-Khasrachi ran a printing and design shop in Baghdad, but after surviving two assassination attempts

due to his work with a company that had contracted with the US military, he knew that it was time to go. His personal safety was at stake, but he told Triad City Beat through a translator that the No. 1 reason for leaving is that he wanted to

August 16-22, 2018 Up Front News Opinion

Al-Khasrachi shows some of his artwork, which is inspired in part by Islamic architecture.

boro. The three boys — Abdulrahman, Ahmed and Yousef — have adjusted well to the schools in Greensboro. They like to play soccer and ride their bikes around the apartment complex.

Caption

CAROLYN DE BERRY

Ali said at first he was a little concerned about how people might react to his wife, Marwa, because she wears a hijab, a head covering associated with modesty in the Muslim faith. “We haven’t felt anything,” Ali added, “or been projected with anything.”

While Al-Khasrachi takes a dim view

Puzzles

Faculty and student volunteers at Guilford College, Wake Forest University and other participating institutions take on a myriad of tasks to assist refugees, from arranging for vaccinations to taking children on outings to the swimming pool, along with tutoring and fielding phone calls in the middle of the night from a family member who thinks they might need to visit an emergency room.

As the name implies, Abdo’s goal for Every Campus A Refuge is literally for every campus in the world to host a refugee family, and she travels frequently to try to persuade faculty and administrators to sign on. So far, six other campuses have joined the network. Wake Forest University signed on in late 2016. Other campuses include Lafayette College and Northampton Community College, both in Pennsylvania; Agnes Scott College in Georgia; Rollins College in Florida; and a college in Ohio that prefers to remain unnamed to protect the safety of its guests.

After staying on the Guilford College campus for eight months, the Al-Khasrachi family moved into an apartment of their own on the west side of Greens-

Shot in the Triad

people’s needs. A campus has more skills than any other community. We have people who know the law, people who speak particular languages.”

As a Quaker institution rooted in core values of diversity, equality and justice with historic linkages to the Underground Railroad, Guilford College was a natural place for Every Campus A Refuge to be launched. Guilford College started housing refugee families in January 2016, as Trump began storming Republican primaries. By mid-summer, fear-laden excoriations of refugees, particularly from Syria, would become a centerpiece of the Trump campaign.

Abdo said she “wasn’t thinking of Trump at all” when she decided to launch Every Campus A Refuge.

“Trump is a gross manifestation — and by that, I mean large — of the ideas that have been tracking through narratives about immigration and refugees,” Abdo said. “It’s the same in Europe.

There isn’t an outpouring of welcome that we would hope for in this time of catastrophe. There’s a lack of hospitality in this country; it’s more hostility and indifference.”

Culture

ensure that his children would have a future.

“We were surprised when we arrived at the Greensboro airport, and the people who met us were smiling and welcoming, and they said we would be guests at Guilford College,” Al-Khasrachi recalled. “When we arrived at the apartment, it was fully furnished. There were even toys for the kids. Everything was taken into account. One thing that was very joyful was the volunteers coming with open hearts, wanting to ease our arrival, and not wanting anything in return.”

Al-Khasrachi and his family stayed on the campus of Guilford College for eight months through a program founded by Diya Abdo, an associate professor of English. Abdo was inspired to found Every Campus A Refuge by a call made

by Pope Francis in 2015 — at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis — for every parish to host a refugee family.

“If you think about it, a university or college campus is like a parish or a town with shared values and common goals,” Abdo said. “We have housing and clinics — basically anything you need to meet

CAROLYN DE BERRY

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August 16-22, 2018 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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of the government in his native country, the United States represents a new start.

“One thing I like is this is a nation of laws and systems,” Al-Khasrachi said.

“If you go with the system, you can live a safe and prosperous life.”

The refugee resettlement program, which is administered through the US State Department, leaves little time for readjustment. Walid Mosarsaa, a member of the leadership team at Every Campus A Refuge, said the State Department provides refugees with $1,100 per person for a three-month period. The stipend is enough to live at poverty level, but Al-Khasrachi had to hit the ground running to find work to ensure that he would be able to support his family after the money ran out.

In comparison, Al-Khasrachi said his sister was given a year to learn English before she was required to find a job as a refugee in Canada. In Germany, he said, the government doesn’t even allow refugees to work until they have learned the language.

Al-Khasrachi works at Tyson Foods in Wilkes County. An organization comes to the factory to provide English lessons from 6 to 8 a.m., but the hour-long commute doesn’t allow Al-Khasrachi to avail himself of the opportunity. He does get tutoring in English and conversational practice from a volunteer who comes to his home every Sunday.

The chicken plant is an adjustment for an Iraqi professional who left behind a print and design shop. Al-Khasrachi learned diwan-style calligraphy from his father, who once inscribed headlines for newspapers. Since the family’s relocation to North Carolina, Al-Khasrachi has continued to practice calligraphy, which features bold flourishes of lettering over gentle yet expressive geometric color schemes. Al-Khasrachi said his art is inspired by ancient Arabic calligraphy, Islamic architecture and the folklore of

Al-Khasrachi takes pleasure in writing a guest’s name in Arabic calligraphy as a memento.

Baghdad.

Al-Khasrachi takes a positive attitude towards his job at Tyson Foods, where he’s befriended his supervisor, but the work has already taken a toll. The repetitive motion of one knife motion — slicing off chicken wings at the shoulder, 56

per minute — leaves him with pain in the muscle that connects his thumbs to his palms.

“If I continue with this job, it’s going to be hard to continue calligraphy,” Al-Khasrachi said. “It’s hard to hold a pen.”

CAROLYN DE BERRY

Since Trump took office, the annual count of refugee arrivals in the United States has fallen from 84,994 in 2016 — an 18-year high-water mark — to 53,716 in 2017. By executive order, Trump

August 16-22, 2018 Up Front Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

capped refugee entries at 50,000 per fiscal year. As of July 31, the United States has only admitted 18,214 refugees for the calendar year 2018. Of the 806 refugees placed in North Carolina, the largest share come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (326), followed by Burma (156).

The ban on certain countries — derided by opponents as a “Muslim ban,” but upheld by the Supreme Court — provides a waiver for the affected countries. Two individuals from Syria have been relocated to North Carolina since the beginning of 2018.

As director of Every Campus A Refuge, Abdo frequently pitches the project to faculty groups.

“I think usually the staff and faculty are very excited about doing something like this,” she said. “This project is in line or at least similar to the core values of any college.

At the top, with administrators, that’s where there’s often some reluctance because of questions about risk and liability. It’s not strange. People just need to understand that it’s important. It’s very useful for everyone involved. It’s very rewarding.”

Abdo said Guilford College has housed 43 individuals since Every Campus A Refuge launched in 2016. As of March 2018, the six other campuses have housed 37 individuals.

Considering the magnitude of the crisis — the UN High Commissioner on Refugees reports that there are currently an unprecedented 25.4 million refugees, including 6.3 million from Syria — the work of supporting refugee resettlement can feel like a drop in an ocean.

“Where I feel like I’m making a breakthrough is when I’m talking to local people — a church,” Abdo said.

“They’re loving, but they might have stereotypes about Arab and Muslim people. That’s where I really feel like I have an opportunity to change the way people look at things.”

News

Diya Abdo, an associate professor of English at Guilford College, JORDAN is the founder and director of Every Campus A Refuge.

GREEN

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August 16-22, 2018 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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CITIZEN GREEN

OPINION

Re-center antifascist resistance; let reporters work

After posting footage of a nonviolent antifascist column marching through the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Va. to pay respects to Heather Heyer on Aug. 11, I wrote this on my Facebook page: “I appreciate all the comments expressing concern for my safety

by Jordan Green this weekend in Charlottesville and Washington, DC. So I don’t want to sound truculent in saying this. But please reserve your concerns for those who are in a far more precarious position than I. I am a white hetero male in a society that is structured for my comfort and safety. The police generally assume it is their duty to protect me instead of regarding me as a threat. Others are taking far taking far greater risks, and also I don’t have to deal with hostility and suspicion solely because of my skin color, gender and sexual orientation.”

I might have added that others take on far greater risks by willingly putting their bodies on the line to absorb white supremacist violence, whether nonviolently submitting to battering, fighting back or proactively using violence. They risk not only bodily injury, but the potential loss of livelihood and reputation.

Let us remember that “antifa” is short for “antifascist.”

Presumably, almost everyone who is not a fascist should be antifascist, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, the American soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy and everyone who supported the Allied war effort. “Antifa” is a shorthand that conflates the militant tactics of the black bloc with broad-based antifascism. Far-right activists like Jason Kessler and right-wing politicians alike use “antifa” as a slur to portray people of all walks of life, ages, abilities and tactical postures as mindless purveyors of violence and intolerance.

Although the expressions of concern towards journalists are appreciated, the risk of valorizing journalists in conflict zones is that the reporter perversely becomes the protagonist of the story, as if Ernest Hemingway was the hero of the Spanish Civil War. In Charlottesville, the protagonists are the people who live in that community. They are the radical clergy, the Black Lives Matter activists and residents of all races who bodily resisted the onslaught of white supremacist violence on Aug. 11-12, 2017 and still live with physical injuries, post-traumatic stress, anxiety attacks and depression. In Greensboro, the community I know the best, the protagonist in the struggle against fascism was the single mother on McConnell Road who frantically called for her children to come inside when Klansmen and neo-Nazis opened fire in the Morningside Homes public housing community in 1979.

A colleague with decades of experience teaching journalism gently chided me for saying that journalists on the whole are afforded more protection because of our professional status, noting the Committee to Project Journalists’ recent safety advisory for covering the Unite the Right rally and counter-protests in Washington, DC and Charlottesville.

The advisory pointedly notes, “These demonstrations are

Virginia State Police stroll down Heather Heyer Way.

JORDAN GREEN

taking place against a backdrop of hostile rhetoric against large sections of the media. Journalists should keep in mind that if violence breaks out they could face arrest by police or be the target of physical or verbal assault by protesters.”

I observed some of that on Sunday as a black bloc materialized at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street after the police had safely whisked Kessler and his 19 supporters into Lafayette Park. I watched a member of the black bloc shove a photographer because he didn’t want his face to be photographed. A colleague was told ominously that their camera “might get messed up if anything happened.” During a lull in the action, two members of the black bloc heckled me, first suggesting that as a member of the media I was going to misrepresent them, then that I was an ambulance chaser seeking to exploit violent confrontations for media glory, and then absurdly asking whether I wanted “to allow Nazis to live in peace.” These things happened, but again, they’re not the story. If you want to know what I took away as the most important phenomena of two days in Charlottesville and Washington, DC in about 1,000 words, read my recent dispatch in the Progressive.

We live in an era when the president of the United States has repeatedly demonized the media, using terms like “enemy of the people.” People on all sides want to bait us into either condemning or endorsing the various players even as we’re gathering the news in fraught and confusing circumstances. It’s important for reporters to be present for far-right rallies and counter-protesters to memorialize an unfolding history, and also to chronicle events so that the conduct of neo-Nazis, the police, and yes, even antifascists, can be assessed in retrospect.

Journalists don’t need to be held up as heroes and showered with accolades. Collectively, we frequently make mistakes and fall short. We would all do well to review our work periodically and ask ourselves how we can do better.

But I argue that now, more than ever, when we’re under attack, we need to fight to preserve our noncombatant status. Just give us a small measure of respect, and space to do our work.

The enemy and the lie

Up Front News Opinion

President Trump calls us “fake news.” He says we’re the or economic agendas, widgetize, or even outright sell “enemy of the people.” content to appease advertisers.

And such is the state of affairs in this country that But dammit, there are still 38,790 reporters out there people are starting to believe it.

— that’s according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — When Kennedy was president, men stopped wearworking the phones, scribbling in their notebooks, writing ing hats. In the Trump era, the president’s acolytes have against deadline. And they are not the enemy of the devised the perfect, blanket deflection for the disturbing people. They are the people. onslaught of facts that paint a most devious portrait of It’s a pretty good thing they’re out there, too. Our their guy. system will not survive without us.

It comes at a time when the industry is Not too many industries are mentioned At its best, the on its knees. Newspapers in general have in the Bill of Rights, but ours is, right up been in crisis — and under siege — for and center. The press — which these press gives us a front more than a decade. Widespread layoffs days means anyone using a system of factglimpse of embegan in earnest in 2007 after years of gathering for reporting purposes — proself-inflicted wounds too numerous to list, vides a true check on the three branches pirical truth. along with the near-complete stripping of of government, a necessary element to most traditional revenue streams: classiresponsible voting, a proxy for the people fieds, legal ads, real estate, automotive. while business is being conducted in their Still, almost every important American news story this names. At its best, it gives us a glimpse of empirical truth. century has begun with a reporter on the ground with a That’s why Trump hates us. notebook, gathering enough facts to write a piece.

Because the awful truths are beginning to pile up just And truth be told, many “mainstream” news outlets as his lies accelerate, and we’re writing it all down. have abdicated their responsibility to report on events of public interest, choosing instead to advance political

August 16-22, 2018

EDITORIAL

Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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CULTURE Healing with cannabis at Camel City Hemp

by Sayaka Matsuoka

A

dam Combs gently pulled down the woman’s purple shirt, exposing her right shoulder, and began rubbing the oil into her skin. A sudden whiff of eucalyptus and mint filled the store as the woman exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Oh that feels good,” she said. “I can feel a warm sensation relaxing the muscle.”

This was the first time she had visited Camel City Hemp in Winston-Salem, the city’s newest Cannabidiol, or CBD for short, shop, situated on Burke Street.

CBD, is a naturally occurring cannabinoid, or chemical compound that’s found in the cannabis plant. The other well-known cannabinoid is THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound that gets marijuana users high. Because CBD doesn’t have the same mind-altering effect as THC, it’s gained immense popularity amongst those who seek pain or anxiety relief without getting high. To capitalize on this new demand, many in the industry have turned to hemp plants, which have low levels of THC and higher levels of CBD when compared to marijuana.

Shops like Hookah Hookup and even House of Health carry CBD products these days.

This morning, the woman had come to Camel City Hemp looking for alternatives to synthetic drugs to deal with chronic pain that began when she was in the army.

“I have degenerative arthritis in my lower back and shoulders,” she said. “I used to take medication but I couldn’t function so I don’t take drugs that have more than two side effects anymore.”

Hesitant to ingest any of the oils or teas, Combs convinced the woman to try his topical CBD spray, which he says helps alleviate pain. The woman,

Supporters tout CBD as a one-size-fits-all medical marvel. Products with varying levels of CBD claiming to help with sleep, anxiety, pain, and even acne have flooded the market.

SAYAKA MATSUOKA

who preferred not to be named, was one of several customthe negative connotations attached to using CBD products ers who entered Combs’s shop, which opened in late June. All because of its close association with marijuana which remains had come to satisfy their curiosity about the newest trend in illegal in North Carolina. natural health care.

Two of Combs’ first customers of the day also declined to Supporters tout CBD as a one-size-fits-all medical marvel. give their names.

Products with varying levels of CBD claiming to help with They, like the veteran who tried the spray, had come to the sleep, anxiety, pain, and even acne have flooded the market. shop looking for ways to cure their many ailments but felt unMany companies contend that CBD products are safe for kids comfortable being publicly associated with CBD. The woman, and pets. Combs is one of those believers. who suffers from complex regional pain syndrome, and the “All of our products are natural and contain less than 0.3 man, who lives with chronic back pain and epilepsy, both say percent THC which is the legal limit,” Combs said. “It’s for they were prescribed the highly addictive opioid Oxycodone, people looking for natural pain relief.” to deal with their pain.

Dressed in camo shorts that show off the skull tattoos on “I would just rather have something that I know works withhis legs and his navy Adidas Boosts, Combs doesn’t look like out the harmful side effects,” said the man. the stereotypical health nut. That doesn’t stop him and his Both listened eagerly as Combs described several products wife Casey from eating only natural foods, avoiding GMO that filled the glass case and slim refrigerator next to him. products and synthetic drugs, and opposing vaccines. Instead, Ingestible gummies and caramels along with CBD-infused tea, they use their CBD products for sprays, facial serums, tinctures, and things like sleep and anxiety. And popular oils were displayed under while many aspects of the couple’s stark, fluorescent lights that gave Find out more at camelcityhemp.com lifestyle could be considered conoff a subtly sterile vibe. troversial, their passion for CBD, at In the end, Combs sold the pair least, is backed by science. on a 1,000 mg, whole-plant extract Sativex, an oral spray prodof hemp oil, to be administered uct containing both THC and CBD has been used in several under the tongue, and a pack of vegan CBD gummies.

European countries to help those with multiple sclerosis since “I wanted something that’s more like going into a pharmacy 2010. In late June of this year, the FDA approved Epidiolex, a and knowing what you’re getting,” said the woman. “I was CBD oral solution for kids with rare forms of epilepsy. Most excited to hear about this shop opening.” hemp or CBD products on the market however, aren’t reguAnd that’s exactly Combs’s goal. lated by the FDA, and hemp production is still illegal in many “In 10 years, every single pharmaceutical company will be states. The 2014 Farm Bill helped legalize hemp production in a CBD company,” Combs said. “The future is pharmaceuticalNorth Carolina, but only as part of the state’s pilot program grade CBD products.” as allowed under federal law. To change this, Senate Majority The entrepreneur even provides certificates of analysis with Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky introduced a bill in April all of his products to show customers exactly what’s in them. to remove hemp from the federal list of controlled substances “We’re just doing our part to offer a clean product that’s and give farmers across the country the ability to grow it what it’s supposed to be,” Combs said. “I’ve been a believer legally. in cannabis my whole life. I’m just waiting for the market to Still, many who come in to Camel City Hemp are wary of catch up.”

August 16-22, 2018

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CULTURE Josh King: A fool comes clean

by Lauren Barber

H

e’d rise at 5 a.m., make a pot of coffee, a couple eggs, then find himself on the back porch of his old house with breakfast, a side of cigarettes and an acoustic guitar. First came a melody, then a chord progression and, with any luck, some lyrics.

That’s how Josh King wrote his debut solo album Into the Blue, due for national release on Friday. The Greensboro musician is best known as a member of indie-rock sextet House of Fools, and Americana band Roseland.

As a solo artist, his sound veers into pop-country, rock and roots territories.

Thematically, King drew from experiences with substance abuse, small-town idleness and the piquant sadness that comes when friends “move forward” with their lives.

“With House of Fools, we’d come home and in the down time we all started drinking a lot, and when you’re in the same place for a long time and you’re drinking a lot, other drugs pop up and that’s where it went off into the deep end,” King says. “I would go on benders, and one put me in the hospital…. I stopped everything for almost a year.

Once I felt like I could grab hold of it and be able to go out with my friends without going to that next level, I started drinking some again and so far so good.

It’s a slippery slope that’s for sure, being in a small town like Greensboro knowing everybody and everything’s at your fingertips.”

Sobering up and support from friends, including previous bandmates, sparked his desire to start composing again about 18 months ago.

“Whenever you get clean, even if it’s for a brief period of time, you’ll find yourself finding this incredible clarity that you never felt before and didn’t know existed,” King says. “So I was waking up in the morning with more energy and clarity that any drug could ever give me. I’d crank out songs all day and then go straight into the studio… which kept me focused. I had no need for anything else; it filled that void that I needed to fill.”

He took the demos to former bandmate Jordan Powers, who became one of the album’s producers and also plays guitar on some tracks. Joel Kiser, another running partner, lent his talents on the guitar for Into the Blue.

King says he devoted time for introspection and meditation before song-

Former House of Fools frontman Josh King reveals an introspective side on his new release, Into the Blue.

COURTESY PHOTO

writing so that he could sincerely translate his inner dialogue He wrote the title track first. and day-to-day lived experiences into song, so it’s no surprise “It was a weird song because I started writing months his friends made the cut. before I had to go to the hospital; I had the first verse and “[The song] ‘Friends’ is about the friends that were right first chorus,” King says. “It was a downer, more like a confesthere, that stayed through everything,” he says. sional…. When I decided to start writing again, I picked up His then-girlfriend, now-wife and musical heroes like Elliott that song first. The second verse is about the whole experience Smith and Tom Petty played just as big a role in his recovery that I went through. That’s one where I can still remember the and studio return. scene when I wrote it, the “[Petty] is a really big influscent of my surroundings: ence, especially for this album,” coffee and cigarettes.”

Josh King plays an album release show with King says. “If we got stuck in the But neither his own soul Caleb Caudle and the Carri Smithey Band at studio I’d ask, ‘What would Tom nor that of his debut album the Blind Tiger (GSO) on Aug. 17.

Petty do?’” are really about drugs and It shows, especially on songs alcohol: This is a story about like “The Well.” King, sometimes isolation and selfishness, soft-spoken sometimes belting during orchestral ballads, ocdisillusion and the ebb and flow between self-loathing and casionally lets out the faintest countrified twang that seems healing. cribbed from the Petty songbook. His rock sensibilities lend “For the first time in a long time, I can actually tell people structure to four-minute tracks that swell into catchy choruswhat the songs are about because I was writing for a purpose es reminiscent of early-aughts pop-punk. There’s no preteninstead of just writing to write a song,” King says. “I’m 35 years sion to be found in the simple rhymes and back-to-basics old, I’m married and I have a baby coming along. Now’s the chord progressions on King’s 11-song debut. On the whole, Into time to really go for it. I can’t do it like we used to do it, sleepthe Blue is daydreamy record, universal enough in narrative ing in Walmart parking lots, but I want to support my family for just about anyone to project their own neuroses, joys and and I think there’s ways to do it that I can pull off.” redemptions onto it.

August 16-22, 2018

CULTURE Tristin Miller plays with reality in Irving Park

by Lauren Barber

T

Up Front News Opinion

“I love the repetition of doing something over and over again,” Miller says. “As I made the small paintings, I would tape them all up on the wall in the studio,” she says. “It was almost like keeping a calendar.”

TRISTIN MILLER

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is a sketch for the next sketch. It sets you up for your future about the metaphorical and symbolic meanings. How is nawork. But if you’re not clocking the mileage you’re never going ture showing up in your mind’s processing of your life experito get anywhere in your self-discovery as an artist. You have to ences? What are the images that really stick with us?” be disciplined and have a relationship with your work.”

When she saw a friend’s photos from travel in Norway, Discipline doesn’t equate to rigidness, though. Miller says she found herself questioning how a sudden flood would that a commitment to show up alter those picturesque, foggy consistently, open to all posmountain views that prompted sibilities, allows intuition and memory of her time in Japan’s Learn more at tristinmiller.com and visit the impulsivity to guide her work. snow country. She answered “I think my work is about that question with fragmented exhibit at 2105 W. Cornwallis Drive (GSO). water, the power of water,” etchings with a white gel pen Miller says. “I’m interested in on the first and a watercolor the power of how nature can wash of opaque, warm reds offset us and derail us, but it’s also really been the key, ancient and blues overflowing from a river in the second. Those pieces metaphor for reflection on our lives.” most evidently demonstrate her interest in exploring sense of Japanese mythology, traditional arts, and Shinto and Zen space and in communicating the sense of awe that accompaBuddhist aesthetics particularly influence Miller. Ten years nies overwhelming natural disasters. In other recent works, ago, she lived with a friend for a summer in a mountainous she turns her curiosity inward in the most literal sense. river valley area of Honshu, the largest Japanese island.

Four nonfigurative corporeal landscapes suggest a sense “The mountains were smack dab in your face, the forest was of kinetic energy and bodily entropy, a mirror to the reality right there and you always heard the sound of water being that our inner and outer environments are in constant flux. channeled through little gullies,” she says.

Anxious yellows stir up sour stomachs, mixed up in whirlwinds For Miller, water’s intrigue largely stems from her dream of bile, burgundy blood and messes of sapphire nerve endlife. ings. Our musculoskeletal home will one day dismantle itself.

“Dreams are really underrated and say a lot about your Valleys will flood. It’s a cycle born of the ever-present potenwaking life and subconscious life,” she says. “I’ve had a lot of tial for betrayal in the face of fleeting vitality, whether from dreams about tsunami waves or all the pipes bursting in my within or without. Miller chooses to engage anyway, day after childhood home. Water represents your emotional life, so my day after day after day. work is not so much about the literal sense of water, it’s more

Culture

he tidy grid of 36 petite watercolors catch the eyes first. The array of tiny potential Rorschach tests are nestled in a concave structure that might as well serve as metaphor for stepping into the painter’s subconscious.

This painter is Tristin Miller, whose latest exhibit Past in Present hangs in Irving Park Art & Frame in Greensboro. The show, up through the end of August, features selections from her last decade of work including whole sketchbooks, sumi-ink and micron-pen abstractions, and repetitive linear work, most of which have never been shown. Miller is also known locally for founding the Hand-to-Hand Market for indie craft and the Greensboro Zine Fest; she currently teaches a night drawing class for adults at the Cultural Arts Center for the Art Alliance of Greensboro.

“I love the repetition of doing something over and over again,” Miller says.

“As I made the small paintings, I would tape them all up on the wall in the studio,” she says. “It was almost like keeping a calendar. I could see each one and give myself some time away from them but never said, ‘Oh, this one’s done.’

So there’s a dialogue going on not just between me and the work but between the works.”

The watercolors feature a limited palette: primaries, black contrasting with the white of paper.

“The title [of the exhibit] also suggests the accumulation of time,” she continues. “All these pieces, especially the smaller ones, I want them to show time spent because every minute of every hour is the most valuable resource I have and I will never get that back, so I choose to spend [it in a way that] is important and intentional.”

Miller plays with the concept of time in other ways, too; she reached for antique, 19th Century paper when creating four framed oil-pastel drawings on the far wall. The time she’s most interested in, though, is the present, which is reflected in her emphasis on process.

“I was really liberated by my printmaking professor who said it’s about process and not finished product. He told me, ‘I think you’ve been focused on making art with a big “A” not art with a little “a”’ and that was when it clicked with me. Printmaking really liberated me to just fall in love with the process and make another and make another and make another. Every sketch you make

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“Alien, the Sequel”--actually, do call it a comeback.

by Matt Jones

“Automatic for the People” group Trivia magazine started in 2001 Org. that’s (supposed to be) concerned with pollution Patient waiter “Helps stop gas before it starts” product “Neither fish ___ fowl” Light bite First two words of some political yard signs TV alien with a reboot announced in August 2018 (as found in the long answers)

41 Pulitzer-winning San Francisco columnist Herb 42 Sydney suburb, or a California-based

car-sharing rental company 43 A.F.L. merger partner 44 Running in neutral 45 Tests the depths 46 Entice 47 Meeting outline 51 Different ending?

53 Pyromaniac’s crime 56 “One ___ land ...”

57 Show with Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester 60 Private eye, informally 61 ___ in “Oscar” 62 ___-Caps (movie candy) 64 D.C. sort 65 Dog noise

Opinion

Down 1 Interview goal 2 Science writer Flatow 3 Reddish-brown wood 4 Blew up ©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 5 Bear, to Bernal 21 “That’s funny” 6 Parker Jr. of the “Ghostbusters” theme song 24 Overly muscular 7 “Zounds!”

25 Monopoly purchase (abbr.)

8 Remove, to a proofreader 26 Some meat alternatives 9 Antagonist in “The Year Without a Santa Claus” 27 Location of a nursery rhyme’s three men 10 Sleeve tattoo locale 29 It’s not what the P stands for in TP (unless the T is “two”?)

11 Waste time frolicking, old-style 32 Retract, as regrettable words 12 “I’ve got nothing ___” 33 One way to walk tall?

13 “The Late Late Show” host before Kilborn, 36 One generating a lot of interest Ferguson, and Corden 37 Charge for a spot 19 Gp. once headed by Mueller and Comey 40 Capital of Chad

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58 59 63

66 67 68 69 70

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Across 1 CNN chief White House correspondent Acosta 4 Disinterested 9 Ax handles 14 ___ pro nobis 15 Grammar concern 16 ___ the side of caution 17 “Humbug!” preceder 18 Harry’s kin 20 Honey ___ (Post cereal, as renamed in 2018) 22 1990s Wink Martindale game show that paid off contestants’ obligations 23 Cable company alternative to streaming, for short 24 Italian racecar 28 Levy 30 St. George’s state 31 Difficult responsibility 34 More sick, in old hip-hop slang, or ... more sick, in general 35 Long-running role-playing video game franchise 38 Take to the skies 39 Place to go play 40 ATM maker bought by AT&T in 1991 43 Dress code loosening 45 Without toppings 48 Suffix after tera- or peta49 Provided party music 50 Bela of horror films 52 Ocean liner’s route 54 Ultravox frontman Midge 55 1980s Secretary of State Alexander

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