TCB Feb. 6, 2020 — The State of 'Cue

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point Feb. 6-12, 2020 triad-city-beat.com

WINSTON-SALEM EDITION

FREE

The state of ‘cue Where barbecue has been and where it’s going in Winston-Salem

PAGE 16

The man behind Woolworth’s counter PAGE 14

Iowhaat? PAGE 13

Election coverage PAGE 8-11

Feb. 6-12, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

The medium and the message Maybe you’re topic for another day. And there are a lot reading this colof other ways to get news — though most umn in newsprint. of the biggest stories originate in print.

Maybe you’re But it’s equally true that people are looking at it on consuming more journalism than ever your phone, or before in the history of this country. And your computer they’re getting it from a variety of media at work. Maybe — which, remember, refers only to the

by Brian Clarey you got the link means of conveyance, and not the mesthrough an email and gave it a click, or sages themselves. you parachuted in from Facebook or And that’s where it starts to become Twitter. muddy. Triad City Beat engages readers Any way you slice it, I’m still through our weekly print getting my point across, right? paper, but also through our Since I made a pivot a few website, our social media People are conyears ago from the editopresence, our email lists and suming more rial side to the publisher’s our events — just like NPR journalism than desk, one of the first things I engages through live radio, ever before in realized was the similarity of a website, podcasts, email mission: to get the word out. lists and every other channel the history of That’s the whole deal, for they can harness. this country. advertisements and breaking Most weeks, TCB has news stories alike. We have more readers in print than these great things to say and it does online. Doubtless messages to send, and we try that will one day change — a to get them to the people who want or bridge to be crossed another day — but need to see them. even then, we will still make a print prodPeople often remark to me about the uct, because it will always be a great way decline of print. And it’s true: Newspapers, to reach people where they are… as long daily newspapers in particular, have seen as they pick it up. their monopoly on local journalism erode That’s the other thing about print: significantly this century — largely for It’s only as good as what you put on the reasons of their own making, but that’s a paper.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Our pipes are built for 10-year rains, and we are seeing 100-year rains with pretty regular frequency. And we’ve got pipes that are built for 10-year rains. We can see that we’re going to be playing catch-up for quite a while.

— Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan pg. 12

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 jordan@triad-city-beat.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR Nikki Miller-Ka niksnacksblog@gmail.com

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1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 Covers STAFF WRITER Savi Ettinger savi@triad-city-beat.com Greensboro: Charles Bess, who worked behind the counter at INTERN: Rachel Spinella calendar@triad-city-beat.com Woolworth during the 1960 sit-ins ART [Photo by Sayaka Matsuoka] ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette robert@triad-city-beat.com SALES

KEY ACCOUNTS Gayla Price gayla@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, Matt Jones, Jen Sorensen

TCB IN A FLASH @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, all additional copies are $1. ©2018 Beat Media Inc.

Winston-Salem: A barbecue tray from Honky Tonk Smokehouse in Winston-Salem. [Photo by Nikki Miller-Ka]

Feb. 6-12, 2020

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Feb. 6-12, 2020

CITY LIFE Feb. 6-9, 2019

by Rachel Spinella

THURSDAY Feb. 6

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

Women’s Self-Defense Seminar @ Macon’s Martial Arts Inc. (HP) 8 p.m.

Interested in learning martial arts for selfdefense? In High Point, train with black-belt experts at Macon’s. Friends and family are welcome to learn basic self-defense tips and tactics to protect yourself. You can find this free community event on Facebook.

60th Intercollegiate Music Association Conference @ Winston-Salem State University (W-S) 4 p.m.

The Intercollegiate Music Association is hosting a three-day conference that will feature professional-development workshops and seminars, honors scholarship recital, ensemble rehearsals and a grand finale. This includes the IMA Symphonic Band, String Ensemble, Mixed Choir and Jazz Band. This year’s conference will also have music faculty, staff and students from 12 member institutions. Check out this production if you have an interest in symphonies or love for listening. Find the event on Facebook.

FRIDAY Feb. 7

Fletcher Opera: La Clemenza di Tito @ UNC School of Arts Stevens Center (WS) 7:30 p.m.

This university is performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s two act opera seria set in ancient Rome. A tale of intrigue, power and mercy — the lady Vitellia despises the Roman emperor Tito for choosing to marry the sister of his friend Sesto, Servilia, instead of her. In turn, she conjures up a plan to kill Tito and enlists the help of Sesto, who accepts but in exchange for her love. Check out the musical drama and find out how this story ends. Find the event on Facebook.

Form and Flight @ Piedmont Craftsman (W-S) 7 p.m.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Puppy Class @ Best Friendz Too (W-S) 5 p.m.

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This session will educate you on the basics of training your puppy. The class will teach your pup obedience (sit, lie down, roll over etc.) to simple grooming skills, tips on crate and potty training as well as socialization.

Registration is $15 per puppy. Find the event on Facebook.

Look for artwork from David Russell, who specializes in glass, and mixed-media artist Kathleen Master. Russell from Camden, SC uses Venetian techniques combined with American aesthetic to create hand-blown vessels from the furnace, while self-taught artist Master uses “acid etched copper and formed clay on salt-resist and cotton with natural organics to create one-of-a-kind wall work inspired by nature.” Both Master and Russell’s artwork will be on display and for sale until Feb. 29 during regular gallery hours. Find the event on Facebook.

Feb. 6-12, 2020

SATURDAY Feb. 8

Cookie Class @ AR Workshop (GSO) 11 a.m.

6th anniversary celebration @ Scuppernong Book (GSO) 6 p.m.

SUNDAY Feb. 9

The Southern Gothic @ The Carolina Theatre (GSO) 7:30 p.m.

Up Front

Red Carpet Gala to Benefit GTP Foundation @ Cadillac Service Shop (GSO) 7 p.m.

This Sunday the band from Nashville and Atlanta are performing at the theater in Greensboro along with the Grand Ole Uproar. Formed in 2007, the Southern Gothic is known for their Americana sound with a mix of country and Southern rock, and their new EP, Burning Moonlight.

Find the event on Facebook.

This foundation’s mission is to impact children’s lives by providing educational opportunities to help kids succeed in the classroom. To offer these opportunities they are holding a formal to raise money for their scholarship called the Baseline Fund. The event will include a DJ, prizes to won and will provide food and drinks. Find the event on Facebook.

Ever in the Glades @ Wake Forest University Theatre & Dance (W-S) 2 p.m.

Shot in the Triad

Black History Month celebration @ Greensboro Children’s Museum (GSO) 9 a.m.

Head down to the children’s museum to celebrate this annual event that includes music and art to recognize African and African-American contributions throughout American history. The event will feature special guests such as Suah Dance Theatre, the BBoy Ballet and M&F Bank. Find the event on Facebook.

Struggling to survive on a mysterious island full of secrets with adults that are just as dangerous as the alligators — five teenagers come together in an attempt to escape to the mainland. But there’s just one problem, they need a boat and they need it before the adults learn of their plan and end it or worse them. Find the event on Facebook.

Puzzles

Girls, celebrate Valentine’s day with your girlfriends this year by heading down to this alehouse for a fun night.

Enjoy anti-Valentine’s day with local arts and crafts and don’t forget to treat yourself to a mimosa. Find the event on Facebook.

Introduction to the Art of Photography @ White Rock Civic Center (W-S) 9 a.m.

The center will be teaching a half-day class to those interested in learning how to use a camera. You will learn different concepts to create breathtaking photos starting with the basics, compensation, exposure and focus. Find the event on Facebook.

Culture

Yin Yoga @ Wildlight Wellness Collective (W-S) 6 p.m.

For a relaxing and invigorating workout join Meghan Prior for this yoga session. The practice will focus on stretching the connective tissue at the joints through a variety of different poses while keeping muscles calm. Check out this event if your looking to decrease your stress. Find the event on Facebook.

Opinion

Sweeter by the Batch’s Jessica and Olivia will teach a class on the art of cookie decorating. There will also be a DIY workshop to help students learn to create a wooden pedestal, round tray with handles or a box tray. Find the event on Facebook.

4th annual Galentine’s Day Market @ Gibb’s Hundred Brewing Company (GSO) 10 a.m.

News

Back in 2013, this book shop in downtown Greensboro opened to the public. Be there to celebrate its 6th anniversary, with discounts on books along with food and drink.

Find the event on Facebook.

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Feb. 6-12, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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We survived Business 40 construction

by Brian Clarey I can scarcely remember when we started reporting on the Business 40 construction.

Was it 2012? 2010? It may even have been way back in 2006, when the state DOT decided to close off the highway and make the repairs all at once instead of shutting down one lane at a time.

Even though we had plenty of notice — and we, along with other newspapers and the DOT itself, published thousands of words in an effort to prepare people for it — the closing of Business 40 as it wended through downtown Winston-Salem still took many residents completely by surprise.

“Did you know about Business 40 closing?” people would say to us, so often that it became sort of an in-joke among local journalists, right up there with, “You should do a story about me.”

Maps were made and distributed, tips shared, alternate routes plotted — I always took the Fifth Street exit and approached downtown from the east. We adapted. We hunkered down.

That was in 2016, and now here we are, not even one full Trump term later, and it’s done.

In its way, the prolonged construction site was devastating, blocking the main artery into downtown and cutting businesses in Brookstown off almost completely from their customers. At least one business cited the construction as a reason for closing; others did their best to adapt. Geography is destiny, and now that the tap has been turned back on here’s hoping that the business district there recovers its previous vigor.

A rendering of the completed Business 40 bypass in Winston-Salem

NC DOT

I haven’t driven the new Salem Parkway yet, but early reports cite an elevated police presence and complaints about a lack of extra lanes. I’m hoping access to the on/off ramps might be a bit more generous along that stretch. And I’m grateful to be able to approach Winston-Salem from the highway again, watch the cityscape rise on the horizon until it takes me in.

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3723 West Market Street, Unit–B, Greensboro, NC 27403 jillclarey3@gmail.com www.thenaturalpathwithjillclarey.com

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BAD NEWS

Culture

NO NEWS IS

Opinion

It really shouldn’t have been all that surprising.

In the wake of the SARS epidemic in 2003, vitriol and racism against Asians and Asian-American spread like… well, you know.

Subway riders refused to sit next to Asian passengers, businesses turned away Asian customers and shoppers avoided Asian-owned restaurants and businesses. One report estimated that Asian businesses lost up to 80 percent of their income that year because of the SARS scare.

PUBLIC A notice for the coronavirus.

DOMAIN And it’s all happening again.

When the coronavirus began to group from coming to this country? And spread and developed into the panic it is then the Immigration Act of 1917 and 1924 now, people inevitably began spreading when they excluded anyone from “Asithe same kind of racist nonsense. atic Barred Zones” from migrating here?

Last week, UC Berkley, which has a Throughout the centuries, Asians, more significant Asian population (40 percent often than not Chinese people, have been of undergrads were Asian in fall 2019), scapegoated for bringing diseases upon shared an informational post on Instagram the world because of all the “weird” foods that listed common reactions to the virus. that we eat.

Things like “anxiety,” “feeling helplessness,” But if you look at the numbers, it doesn’t and “anger” made the list. Oh, and “xenomake any sense. phobia: fears about interacting with those While there have been more than who might be from Asia and guilt about 20,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus these feelings,” was also included. across the world, most of them are conAs to be expected, several readers and centrated in China, and there have been students commented on the post, calling only 427 deaths. Only 11 confirmed cases the university out for what was at worst a have been reported in the United States. racist explanation, and at best an ignorant On the other hand, just this season the gaffe. The post was removed almost imCDC has reported more than 180,000 mediately; the university issued an apology. hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths from In addition to UC Berkley’s social media the flu. The flu. And that’s just in the blunder, multiple Asians and Asian-AmerUnited States. icans are reporting instances of racism in And yet here we are, surrounded by a real life. bunch of white folks who don’t vaccinate In an article by the Los Angeles Times, their kids. one man who works as a cashier recounted Please. how a recent customer asked him to During the 2017-2018 flu season, only get them a new product when his hand four out of 10 adults in the United States touched the one he was bagging. When got a flu shot, making it the lowest rate the Asian employee asked the customer in seven seasons. That season ended up why, they responded with, “Because you being one of the deadliest in decades, touched it.” with more than 80,000 deaths from the On social media sites like Twitter, Faceinfection. book and TikTok, insensitive memes and So why are people so afraid of the coroviral videos have taken to making Chinese navirus when the flu has been killing more people and those of Asian descent out to and more people by the week? be crazed, bat-eating, infection-spreading Plain and simple: racism! heathens.

People are afraid of the exotic, the new, It’s truly a tale as old as white supremacy. the other. And it’s happening now.

Anti-Asian sentiment, much like any But the next time you see an Asian other anti-non-white people sentiment, is with a face mask and you feel concerned, entrenched as part of the painful history maybe worry more about the 4-year-old of our country. Remember the Chinese with the snot running down their face Exclusion Act of 1882? When the United instead.

States straight up banned an entire ethnic

Feb. 6-12, 2020

The coronavirus and racism

by Sayaka Matsuoka

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Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

Feb. 6-12, 2020

NEWS

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Incumbent and challenger both want change in North Ward

by Jordan Green It can be hard to tell the difference between the incumbent and the challenger in the race for the North Ward seat on Winston-Salem City Council.

Political change is stirring in WinstonSalem, and both candidates for the North Ward seat on city council feel it.

At minimum, two seats are guaranteed to turn over due to the retirement of Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke in the Northeast Ward and Dan Besse in the Southwest Ward.

“We have 22 people running for city council this year,” said Eunice Campbell, who is challenging incumbent DD Adams for the North Ward seat. “That is unheard of. If that is not a sign that the voters are ready for a change, then I don’t know what is. I feel welcome to be a part of the change…. It validates those conversations I’ve been having with people. They’re not happy with the city council.”

Adams said she welcomes the increased engagement from constituents.

“People are more engaged now than I’ve seen them since the 1960s,” she said.

“My generation was attuned, whether it was Vietnam, the environment or segregation. People are more attuned to what they expect from their leaders.”

The 65-year-old Adams, who retired seven years ago as a quality-control engineer at Johnson Controls, won her seat in an open contest in 2009, but that election also saw two long-serving incumbents involuntarily retired in upsets.

“I would be remiss to take anyone for granted,” Adams said. “I would say everyone should be challenged.”

Campbell reeled off a list of challenges and needs in the ward during a recent interview: gentrification, road upkeep, public transportation and a relative dearth of retail and grocery stores.

“I thought about if we were going to meet in a nice coffee shop in the North Ward, and I couldn’t name one,” said Campbell, who has lived in the ward for 25 years.

“When I go to shop, if I want to buy an outfit and I want to stay in the North Ward, what options do I have?”

Campbell asked. “As far as being a fiftysomething-year-old woman looking for a certain type of dress, I have Burlington Coat Factory…. It’s not for me. As a city as a whole, they tended to put all of that in the Stratford Road area.”

The North Ward captures a small chunk of downtown and winds in a northwesterly direction to the city’s fringe beyond Historic Bethabara, loosely bounded by Highway 52 to the east and Reynolda Road to the west.

At the heart of the ward is the massive Whitaker Park, tucked between Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Wake Forest University. The industrial park once anchored RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.’s tobacco manufacturing operations before the company shifted production to Tobaccoville.

Adams commiserates with Campbell, noting that Reynolda Road was envisioned as a retail hub similar to the Hanes Mall area in southwest WinstonSalem, but the closure of the Whitaker Park tobacco works dampened its prospects.

Her family’s relationship to Reynolds Tobacco is at the heart of her connection with the North Ward. Adams’ parents bought their first house between the Winston-Salem’s North Ward cuts a diagonal from the northwest corner COURTESY FORSYTH COUNTY Boston-Thurmond and of the city towards downtown.

BOARD OF ELECTIONS Kimberley Park neighWinston-Salem to Stokes County, to set Park. borhoods 50 years ago up a medical-devices plant in Whitaker “Some of this is about relationship, when her father worked for Reynolds.

Park. Reason to Believe, a company that and you have to market your story,” Adams herself worked as a tour guide at manufactures cosmetics products, also Adams said. “I have a connection — I’ve Whitaker Park on summer break during moved into one of the renovated buildnever let go all my life.” college. She describes the facility as akin ings in the complex.

Campbell expressed skepticism about to an Amazon hub, with a thriving coAdams is most proud of the residential the project, questioning whether it will hort of trucking businesses that shipped component of the revitalization project, bring development to the ward without the company’s products and restaurants led by developer Chris Harris, a retired benefitting its residents. that fed its workers.

NFL player. Adams said she met with “How is that going to help the resiWhen the facility finally closed Harris when he was leading the Plant 64 dents of the north-side area?” she asked. for good around 2012, local leaders project in the Wake Forest Innovation “During the presentation, I remember launched the Whitaker Park DevelopQuarter, and asked him to take a look at the words, ‘as we look to the city,’ all ment Authority. Through incentives, Whitaker Park. Harris’ company plans pointed towards downtown, like there’s the city persuaded Cook Medical, to build 164 loft apartments at Whitaker nothing behind it…. Those people and which had threatened to relocate from

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Hard news at no cost to you, and no matter the cost to us.

Feb. 6-12, 2020

those residents, they’re marketing downconnect residents with employment optown to them, not the surrounding area, portunities, and for the city to efficiently not the Northside Shopping Center, not provide services. the Patterson Avenue area.”

“We need restrictions on predatory Specifically, Campbell objects to a investment, on speculative investment,” proposal to cut Indiana Avenue in two Campbell said. “Predatory investors at a railroad crossing near Whitaker come into a city. People are buying Park. Transportation planners contend properties and leaving them vacant. If the closure is necessary so they can add you have a progressive land tax, you a railroad crossing for a new road that pay a bigger tax on an empty piece of would connect Whitaker Park to Smith land than you do if it was occupied.”

Reynolds Washington, Airport.

DC and PittsCandidates for the North and “That is a burgh have plan, and I Northeast wards will speak to vot- experimented don’t support with similar ers during a forum at the it,” Adams programs. said of the Both candiWinston-Salem NAACP headquarproposal to dates want to ters, located at 4130 Oak Ridge bisect Indiana change zoning Avenue. “I’m ordinances, Drive, on Thursday at 6 p.m. not moving on which are part it. My constituof a unified ents have made it clear.” system shared by the city of WinstonBoth Campbell and Adams noted that Salem and Forsyth County. the street provides a vital link between “Work together to change zoning the eastern and northern portions of regulations, to change density, so we can the city. Indiana Avenue links Cleveland build more houses,” Adams said. “Build Avenue to Northpoint Boulevard, which tiny houses, housing for children exiting connects in turn to Salem Creek Parkfoster care, for people who were formerly way. The network of streets forms a kind homeless.” of inner loop through the city.

Campbell echoed support for the idea.

Both candidates argue that if a road is “We’re going to have to change some needed to the airport, authorities should of our zoning regulations to get rid find funds to pay for a bridge rather than of urban sprawl,” she said. “I am an closing an existing railroad crossing. advocate for tiny houses. You could put The two candidates both want to profour or five on a foundation, and have a mote infill development, worrying that common patio for seniors, with one or low density makes it more difficult to two people per household.”

TRUTH IS POWER

Incumbent DD Adams (left) and Eunice Campbell are vying for the North COURTESY PHOTO Ward seat on Winston-Salem City Council in the March 3 primary.

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Feb. 6-12, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

10

District 5 County Commission candidates prioritize education

by Sayaka Matsuoka The open seat on the Guilford County Commission in District 5 draws four candidates who have centered their campaigns around funding education.

The decision by Jeff Phillips, the current chair of the Guilford County Commission, not to run for re-election has led four contenders to vie for the District 5 seat on the board.

Both Republicans and Democrats have contested primaries on March 3.

District 5 radiates from the center of Greensboro in and around the downtown area and then spreads to the north, ballooning out to the northern edges of the county, picking up all of Summerfield. The redrawing of the district by the General Assembly in 2011 favored Republicans.

Cyndy Hayworth and Troy Lawson are two Republicans hoping to reclaim the open seat on the board and maintain the Republican majority, which is currently 5-4.

Hayworth, who lived in Summerfield for 15 years before moving to Greensboro, is running for political office for the third time. She also ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2007 and 2011.

During the day, she works as the operation manager for Midtown Financial Advisers, a position she’s had since 2016, but Hayworth has also held multiple positions on various boards at both the city and county level over the past 15 years.

From 2007 to 2013, she chaired the Greensboro Zoning Commission. In 2017, she joined the Guilford County Planning Board, a position she still maintains. From 2016 to 2018, she was chair of the Guilford County Environmental Review Board. Hayworth argues that all of her combined experience makes her the strongest candidate to succeed Phillips.

From left to right: Carly Cooke, Cyndy Hayworth and Troy Lawson. Macon Sullivan, the other Democratic candidate could not be reached in time for publication.

“I’ve been engrained in this community for years,” Hayworth said. “I’ll put my qualifications and my community service up against anybody that’s running in this race.”

Hayworth, like many others running for county commission, said her priorities lie in the board’s responsibility to fund education in the county. She mentioned that almost half of the county commissioner’s budget is allocated for education.

“I’ve been in the education system for 15 years and volunteered for 10 years,” said Hayworth, who worked as the CEO of Junior Achievement of Central North Carolina, a nonprofit that teaches kids in public schools about entrepreneurship and life skills. “Education is easy to sell. I don’t know any citizen that doesn’t want their school system to be the best. But you can’t just throw money at it.”

With regards to the $1.5 billion need that is needed to fix Guilford County Schools’ facilities, Hayworth said that she’s not against the possibility of putting up a bond before voters or even proposing a tax increase as long as the details make sense.

“Of course, I’m for any way that we can make the school system better as long as it’s accounted for,” Hayworth said. “It’s about the timing and the structure of it.”

Her opponent, Troy Lawson, on the other hand, did not say whether or not

FILE PHOTOS

he would support a bond or tax increase maintaining the conservative majority on to pay for the $1.5 billion need. the board. Lawson was the first African“Quite frankly, it’s a bit premature American chairman of the Guilford to state how we’re gonna pay for this,” County GOP, a position he held from Lawson said. “There’s a couple of ideas 2017-19. In 2018, he ran for state House floating around, whether it’s a bond or a District 57, ultimately losing to Ashton sales tax, and I am looking at all of those Clemmons by about 36 percentage issues and how that may be paid for… points. the research is not all there yet. I need to “The board needs a commissioner find out more information about it.” who the constituents can depend on and Still, he said that he knows that somerely on to make conservative decisions,” thing needs to change. he said.

“The schools in this county are in Building on his argument, Lawson a precarious situation,” Lawson said. pointed comments directly at his op“I have visited a number of our high ponent, Hayworth, who he said is not schools in the district and they are a conservative or consistent enough. mess, facility-wise. That is concern“She can’t seem to make up her mind ing not only to me but to many of the on what party she represents,” Lawson parents I’ve met with and some of the said. students.”

In 2007, Lawson menHayworth ran tioned a few of for Greensboro The primaries take place on the older schools City Council March 3. Visit ncsbe.gov to in the district when she was including Page registered as a check your registration status High School, Democrat. She which was built also mentioned and look up your polling place. in 1958, and during her inGrimsley High terview that she School, which was built in 1929. has supported Democratic candidates “Facilities is very key right now in my such as Kay Cashion, for whom Haycampaign,” he said. worth organized a fundraiser in 2014.

Lawson said he moved to Greensboro Hayworth argued that her willingness five years ago from Baltimore, so his wife to work with Democrats makes her the could be closer to family. He said that stronger candidate. his priorities lie in education as well as “I don’t make decisions based on po-

Feb. 6-12, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

litical affiliations,” she said. “I don’t make decisions other than facts and what’s best for the citizens of the county.”

Lawson however, said that he doesn’t trust someone with Hayworth’s varied background.

“I’m not gonna put up with that in this district or in this county,” he said. “That type of so-called Republican hasn’t got the right to go up and represent the party. I am a person who is very consistent.”

However, Lawson did say that he’s not too rigid that he can’t work with other board members across the aisle.

“On both sides, people are working hard to make good things happen,” he said. “I don’t see why I would not want to listen and understand their side, and I hope they’re gonna understand my side. I have no problem working across the board if it’s good for the county.”

Two candidates will also face off in the primaries on the Democrat side.

Like Lawson and Hayworth, candidate Carly Cooke, also said that education is what drew her to the race.

“I decided to run because of the school funding issue,” Cooke said. “It’s a big part of the job that the county commission will be doing over the next five to 10 years.”

Cooke, who owns a real estate business with her husband, said that her experience working with the budget of her own company will help her in her role as county commissioner.

“I have experience working with limited resources,” she said. “I have experience making financial decisions.”

Cooke also noted her educational background studying business for her undergraduate degree as well as obtaining her MBA from UNCG. After obtaining her masters, Cooke said that she decided to take over the financial portion of her husband’s business, which helped her to work from home and spend more time with her two kids. Hours of volunteering as part of the PTA led her to experience the county’s school system firsthand.

“I have been in the building and seen it from that perspective,” Cooke said. “I think that will be really helpful to represent the families.”

Cooke, noting the $1.5 billion need, said that she supports finding a way to fund the entire project, and said that might necessitate more than one bond.

“That’s the only way we can pay for those needs,” she said. “How we pay for those debts is the question.”

She brought up past attempts by the board to pass a quarter- or half-percent tax increase, but notes that they haven’t been successful.

“We would have to get creative about finding other ways to fund the debt services on the bond,” she said. “From what I see, it’s not obvious to me where that excess spending is happening, but I do think it’s worth looking at every single line item in the budget.”

Cooke said in addition to education, she is concerned about public health and increasing revenue in the District 5. She pointed to the new behavioral health crisis center, which is expected to open in 2021, as a step in the right direction.

“My hope is that that will be instrumental in reducing the amount of opiate-related deaths in our community,” she said. “That is something that I worry about as a parent….

I hope we can be proactive as a county in attacking that.”

Macon Sullivan is the other Democrat who has filed to run for the seat. He could not be reaching in time for publication.

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CITIZEN GREEN

OPINION

Greensboro’s new normal: Chronic flooding

There’s no point in tip-toeing around the issue to protect some climate-denier’s tender sensibilities.

“The new norm is different than maybe years past when it comes to flooding and extreme weather we’ve had,” Assistant City Manager Christian Wilson said.

by Jordan Green “In our planning for emergency preparedness and sheltering and everything else, we’ve had to shift the way we think, because it’s more frequent and it’s more extreme.”

Kristine Williams, assistant director of water resources, was even more pointed during her presentation to Greensboro City Council on Tuesday afternoon.

“The climate change issue is affecting us,” she said. “We are seeing more frequent and intense rainfall. And that’s happening more often. And we will probably continue to see that.”

Greensboro doesn’t have to contend with sea-level rise, as do coastal cities like Hampton Roads, Va., Miami or New Orleans. North Carolina’s third largest city is at the headwaters of two the Haw and Deep rivers, which both contribute to the Cape Fear watershed. The challenge for Greensboro is that the narrow streambeds of the North Fork and South Fork of Buffalo Creek, which cover most of the city and feed into the Haw River, are ill-equipped to absorb sudden and intense rainfall.

“We know that the intensity of the rain is really what has gotten us lately,” Mayor Nancy Vaughan observed. “As it comes down, there’s really no place for it to go because it comes so quickly. If it falls over hours, it has the ability to dissipate. If it falls in an hour, there’s just no place for it to go.”

The city’s storm sewer network is not designed for the volume of rainfall that Greensboro has been receiving.

“Our pipes are built for 10-year rains, and we are seeing 100-year rains with pretty regular frequency,” Vaughan said.

“And we’ve got pipes that are built for 10-year rains. We can see that we’re going to be playing catch-up for quite a while. I think as we’re looking at the Comprehensive Plan that this is going to have to play a bigger part of it.”

Average yearly rainfall in Greensboro is 42 inches, Williams told council members. But rainfall for 2019 totaled 64 inches, and 70 inches the year before that.

Williams characterized the flooding as “devastating,” noting that it has damaged not just homes, but also cars and HVAC units.

And it’s affecting areas that aren’t supposed to flood.

“Urban flooding has been one of our biggest problems that we’ve had, and we had it all over town,” Vaughan said.

“The issues that our property owners had — homeowners — and while people may be required to have flood insurance if they’re in a flood plain or a flood way, we have seen people who are not flood ways or flood zones that are flooding all over town, and that are having significant property damage.”

Vaughan told her fellow council members on Tuesday that Greensboro needs to look at providing incentives to

South Buffalo Creek flows past Pinecroft Place apartments JORDAN GREEN during Hurricane Florence in September 2018.

developers to build vertically so that the city can preserve greenspace to absorb rainfall.

“Because when we look at retention ponds, sometimes they’re just a thimble, when we look at the intensity of the rain,” she said.

The city is already incurring costs from climate change through a program to buy out property owners in floodprone areas and by providing funds to help others elevate their homes.

The city purchased property through its property acquisition program as recently as November, Williams said.

The program prioritizes properties that have absorbed repeated losses through flood damage and properties where flooding presents a public-safety concern, Williams said. If the property owner isn’t interested in selling, she said, the city will consider assistance to help them elevate their homes.

Staff plans to bring a proposal to city council at its next meeting to purchase another property, and to apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funding to cover buyouts and modifications.

Councilwoman Sharon Hightower asked staff to look into policy changes that would require multifamily housing developers to get approval before building in flood-prone areas and to give the city the power to reject permits because of flood risk in some extreme cases. She said she’s afraid the city will end up buying out developers, without adequate regulations in place.

So, if it wasn’t completely clear before, whether through regulation or buyouts, we’re in the new era of managing the adverse consequences of the climate crisis.

The Iowa shitshow

by Clay Jones

News

Call Iowa the ‘user error’ caucus.

claytoonz.com

Opinion Culture

This year, all the Iowa caucus produced was concrete examples of state party ineptitude — this was run by the Iowa Democrats, and not the state board of elections — and a dozen conspiracy theories invoking Russian dirty tricks, the DNC’s suppression of Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete’s app maker, a corrupted newspaper poll and voters rising from the dead.

A conspiracy is highly unlikely. Most reporters will tell you that ineptitude is more likely than the sort of pinpoint machinations necessary for a true conspiracy.

And then there was that bit in the New York Times reporting: Many precinct chairs had trouble downloading the troublesome app, and even more said they never bothered to try.

Call it the “user error” caucus.

Meanwhile, everyone has moved on. The candidates have left for New Hampshire, site of the next primary on Feb. 11 and a state with about half the population of the Charlotte metro area — 1.4 million. The TV news needs to free up airtime for retroactive coverage on the Super Bowl halftime show before it goes full-court press on Valentine’s Day gift ideas.

And somewhere, Donald Trump is laughing. Because if there was a clear winner in Iowa, it was him.

Up Front

As of this writing, on Tuesday afternoon, we still don’t know who won the Iowa Democratic caucus. Which is fine, because it doesn’t really matter anymore. Maybe it hasn’t for a long time. And maybe it should never matter again.

Iowa’s caucus tradition — basically a parlor game for farmers in the off season that prioritizes horse-trading over policy — has had, since 1972, a 55 percent success rate for determining the eventual Democrat presidential candidate, about the same as a coin toss, and an even lower rate, 43 percent, for naming the eventual Republican nominee.

Bill Clinton came in fourth in the Iowa caucus in 1996, with just 3 percent of the vote, behind winner Tom Harkin — Who? — with 76 percent of the vote, Paul Tsongas and “Undecided.” The last three Republican presidential hopefuls to emerge victorious in Iowa were Ted Cruz (2016), Rick Santorum (2012) and Mike Huckabee (2008).

It’s worth mentioning, too, that Iowa is a pretty white state in a very diverse nation: 87 percent, 15 points higher than the United States itself.

So what’s it good for, besides a little bit of early campaign-trail speculation and warm-ups for bigger primaries and states with more electoral votes?

Feb. 6-12, 2020

Claytoonz

EDITORIAL

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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Feb. 6-12, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

14

CULTURE The man behind the counter: Charles Bess recalls the Greensboro sit-ins

by Sayaka Matsuoka

THE MAN BEHIND THE COUNTER

Charles Bess lives on the cusp of celebrity.

Spritely, even at the age of 82, with two tufts of bright, white hair that he likes to fluff and shape gently with his hands every now and again, Bess walks swiftly through the crowded lobby at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in downtown Greensboro on a recent Saturday.

It’s the 60th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins, and the museum is packed. A few employees glance up from the ticket desk to smile warmly and welcome Bess into the building as they hurriedly check a long line of college students out at the counter. Other than that, Bess goes largely unnoticed by the dozens of people who fill the space.

As he makes his way past the crowd, Bess pulls out his new cell phone (he lost his old one about a week ago) and pulls up a black-and-white image. It’s a familiar one, especially today. Four young black men sit at a lunch counter and glance back over their shoulders at the cameraman. Three look directly into the lens.

The fourth, the closest to the viewer, either ignores the shooter or has missed the invitation.

Much has been written about the four men who sat defiantly on Feb. 1, 1960 at the Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro all those years ago. But on the other side of the counter stands one other figure — another young black man, this one in a white paper hat and a busboy uniform. His eyes are downcast, as if he, too, missed the cameraman’s cue — or more than likely, looked deliberately away, not wanting to get too caught up in the moment.

“That’s me!” Bess exclaims as he points to the man behind the counter. He laughs and emits a high-pitched giggle, one that resounds through the space and somehow makes Bess seem both aged and youthful at the same time.

Bess was 23 years old when he began working at Woolworth in Greensboro. He had come to the city in 1957 from Kings Mountain, about 130 miles away, to live with his sister, Virginia. It wasn’t long before he got a job at Woolworth, first as a dishwasher.

“It was hard work,” Bess recalls. “I would take the dishes off the elevator and put them in a tray and send the tray through the machine — the dishwasher. And then it would come out on the other side and I would leave [the dishes] in the tray and they would dry. Then I would stack the dishes up and put them on the little elevator and send them down to the lunch counter.”

Upstairs in the dish room he worked with just one other employee — a black woman. They were in charge of cleaning and rotating dishes throughout the day to keep up with demand.

“All the ones working up in the kitchen was blacks,” Bess says.

The waitresses were all white. The counter manager, whom Bess knew as Mrs. Holt, was also a white woman.

“Woolworth was kind of a hard place to work because sometimes the manager would get on you a lot, but she didn’t bother me too much because I did my job,” Bess says proudly.

About a year later, in 1958, Bess was promoted to busboy. The previous busboy had quit to attend college in Charlotte and by then, Bess had won the approval of Mrs. Holt and been deemed worthy of working in front of the white customers. Downstairs, he was in charge of sending dishes up to the dishwashers and making sure the waitresses had the plates they needed.

He also served cakes and pies if needed.

It wasn’t a glamorous job, but Bess took pride in it.

“If you were going to be a busboy at Woolworth at that time, you had to be fast,” Bess says. “Oh yeah, I was fast.

I think that’s why Mrs. Holt kept me there, cause she saw that I could keep up.”

FEB. 1, 1960

Bess was working as a busboy on the day that Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond walked into the store. He says that PUBLIC DOMAIN From left to right: Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, before making their way to the counter, Billy Smith, and Clarence Henderson. the young men bought some school supplies. Bess says he had seen other finished his closing duties, Bess caught a cab home and black people try to sit at the counter before the A&T remembers telling the driver all about the young men Four, but none had attempted to stay after being asked who came into the store that day. As soon as he got to leave. After doing just that, the men kept calmly home, he told his sister, and then his brother-in-law. asking the waitresses for a cup of coffee any time one of “I felt like I wanted to tell everybody,” he says as he them passed by. waves his arms up and down. “I was excited about it. It “I remember it was kind of a cold day,” Bess says. “I was a very exciting week.” guess that’s why they wanted the coffee.”

Bess says that working for a company that kept He remembers how one of them asked why he whites and black separated — not only behind the couldn’t be served if his money was just as good as anyscenes, but publicly — felt complicated at times. one else’s. After being ignored by the waitresses, they “I did have to wrestle with it,” he says. “I was on the stayed for about an hour until closing time. other side, being paid by a company that was keep“Here’s the thing,” Bess says. “They didn’t move. ing me going, but all the same time, I was kind of on Nobody could understand that. They were just teenagtheir side. I was on this side, but I was rejoiced by the ers. It really took the younger guys to get it to boost people on the other side. I felt like there needed to be a off because at the time, the older change.” people were afraid to do that. The Bess says he experienced segreolder folks were set in their own gation in his hometown of Kings For more information on ways. These four guys, they were Mountain as a child. Segregated wanot hungry for just food, they were ter fountains, movie theaters, restthe International Civil hungry for a change.” rooms and more dot his memories.

Rights Center & Museum, He was so surprised by their acAnd yet, he says, he didn’t think visit sitinmovement.org. tions that he stopped working for it was all that strange at the time a while and just watched the four because that’s just how it was. students as they protested.

“It didn’t bother me too much “I really wanted to see what was because my parents and people going to happen,” Bess says. “I was looking at ’em. I older than me was going along with that and I felt like didn’t say nothing to them.” that was the way to go,” Bess admits. “That’s what it While the now-famous photograph shows Bess as was like for years. We were set in our own way. We had reserved and a bit distant, internally, he was ecstatic. gotten comfortable in our own way. Like we go in this “I was excited about it,” Bess says. “I was really excitbathroom and the whites go in that bathroom.” ed to see it happen. I felt like whites and blacks and any It wasn’t until he saw the A&T Four before him that other race should be able to sit down and eat together.” it dawned on him that things could be different, Bess After his shift once the four had gone and he had says.

Feb. 6-12, 2020 Up Front News Opinion

Charles Bess worked at Woolworth in Greensboro from 1957 to 1961. In July 1960, he and three other coworkers became the first to integrate the lunch counter when their manager asked them to sit and eat during one of their shifts.

JULY 25, 1960

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

A few months after the sit-ins on July 25, 1960, the Woolworth counter in Greensboro was quietly desegregated.

Bess and three of his coworkers had been told by Mrs. Holt and upper management the day before that they would eat at the lunch counter the next day.

“She came to me and said, ‘Charles said we are going to start serving colored folks here, but I want my employees to be the first ones to sit down and eat first,’” Bess says. “I had a good feeling about it. I knew that things were gonna change.”

Holt asked Bess and his coworkers to change out of their work clothes and into the regular outfits and sit at the counter in the middle of their shift. Bess says he wore some jeans and his “regular old clothes” and sat down to eat Woolworth’s signature meatloaf.

“I love meatloaf,” Bess says. “I also had some green beans, maybe a potato salad with it.”

It took a total of about 10 minutes.

Then, they just went back to work.

“After that, that’s when other blacks started sitting at the counter,” Bess says. “I didn’t realize that it would be a big deal. I didn’t realize that I would be talking to you about it 60 years later.”

In 1961, Bess left Woolworth to go work at Odell Mill Supply Co. He had just gotten married and was looking to make more money. In the years that followed, Bess says that Mrs. Holt reached out to him to ask if he could cover some shifts here and there, but he never went back as a customer.

“It just didn’t cross my mind to go back,” he says.

RECONNECTING

It wasn’t until decades later that Bess reconnected with Woolworth and his time there. He had been invited to the 20th anniversary, which he says took place at a motel downtown. There, he read a poem that he had written about the sit-ins. During the anniversary, the A&T Four also reunited and sat once more at the historic counter at Woolworths, which is now on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. The rest of the counter is on permanent display at the civil rights museum in Greensboro.

Bess says that of the four, he became closest with David Richmond because he had remained in Greensboro.

Richmond passed away at the age of 49 in 1990. McCain passed away in 2014 at the age of 73. Blair Jr. and McNeil are still alive today.

Bess says that Richmond told him that he was scared the day of the sit-ins.

“At the time he was getting ready to sit, he said that he was getting kind of scared,” Bess says. “He was the last person to sit. He really didn’t know what was gonna happen.”

Today Bess lives just a few miles up the road from the museum and says he “drops in” every couple of months. Most of the employees know him by name, and sometimes he gives his firsthand account during public tours.

On Saturday, a trio of college women from Chicago approach Bess and ask for a picture. Bess excitedly accepts, but not before fluffing his hair just so. Later, he struts behind the counters, the same ones he once worked behind 60 years ago. He finds what looks like an original metal bus bin, the kind he used every day.

“I’m excited to see that it’s still here,” Bess says. “I would never forget Woolworth, the hard work I put in here, the good friends I made. I didn’t have a big position at Woolworth like cooking or baking cakes. I was just a plain busboy working with dirty dishes all day, but I praise God that I can still be here talking about Woolworth.”

Culture

“I just felt like that a change had to come when these four guys were sitting there,” he says.

SAYAKA MATSUOKA

15

Feb. 6-12, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

16

Nik Snacks The changing landscape of barbecue in Winston-Salem

H

owever you spell it — barbecue, barbeque or BBQ — it all means two things in North Carolina: whole hog or pork shoulder.

The methods of barbecue in Winston-Salem have changed.

Long gone are the men and

by Nikki Miller-Ka women who rise well before dawn to stoke and control the fires of the smokehouse.

Feeding hand-chopped hardwood to the pyre and turning the cuts of pork in order to serve the masses each day is an art that has become lost over time. Stacks of wood have given way to electric smokers and the flip of a switch.

In the past 18 months, the flavors of barbecue in the city have changed too. No longer is Lexington-style — smoked pork shoulder or pork butt dressed with a thin, vinegar-based sauce made with ketchup, sugar and red pepper flakes — the king of the land. One purveyor of Lexington-style barbecue is Little Richard’s which has been open since 1991 and quickly became a barbecue dynasty in the area. Its partners went separate ways in early 2018 with Real Q emerging from the ashes off Country Club Road and Wallberg, using the traditional smokehouse cookery methods. The remaining Little Richard’s locations and the new Little Richard’s Smokehouse Bar N Que (opened in late 2019), use electric wood smokers. Two other Lexington-style barbecue legacies were laid to rest in 2019: 68-year-old Hill’s BBQ on Patterson Avenue and Mr. Barbecue on Peters Creek Parkway which fell victim to a fire in April 2019.

Along with the death of the Twin City Rib Fest in 2018, which celebrated many styles of barbecue, where does that leave the legacy of Lexington-style barbecue in Winston-Salem?

“I think you’re seeing an influx of a new generation who are wanting to explore new and different things,” says Sam Platt, owner and operator of Honkytonk Smokehouse.

Platt was a barbecue aficionado and hobbyist before opening his restaurant off Jonestown Road. He believes the new school of barbecue gives deference to the old ways but is adapting to changing times and tastes.

Honkytonk’s style closely mimics Memphis-style barbecue with the addition of six different sauces.

Platt says that part of the reason why the barbecue landscape is changing is the local economy and the influx of white-collar jobs.

“Winston-Salem is becoming more medical and research with desk jobs and labs,” Platt says. “I’m not seeing the blue-collar jobs. The history and growth of Winston is changing. Barbecue is adapting to new tastes.”

And while Lexington barbecue may not have as strong a footprint as it once did in the city, others argue that the culinary tradition has always been more varied than just Lexington or Eastern-style, another popular version in the area.

“Owners are traveling to different regions and cherry-

Lexington-style BBQ sandwich from Real Q

NIKKI MILLER-KA

picking what they want,” says culinary historian Adrian There’s even a “Mexi-que” section of the menu with Miller. Miller’s newest book “Black Smoke: African pulled-pork tacos, taquitos and a barbecue quesadilla American Adventures in Barbecue,” slated to be pubserved with pico de gallo. Eight different types of meat lished Spring 2021 by UNC Press, explores the tradition and seven different sauces are served alongside 15 difof African-American pitmasters and their contributions ferent sides in a restaurant that is one-third sports bar to culinary artistry. and two-thirds traditional table service.

“They’re cooking meat, drowning it in vinegar and Some in the industry take issue with the overdressing calling it barbecue,” he says. of the meats.

Miller identifies trends in barbecue that he’s seen “I’m traditional,” says Mark Little, pitmaster and part across the country. Central Texas owner of Bib’s Downtown. “I like barbecue is the default barbecue the smoke, I like the flavor of the edition: sausage, brisket, ribs to meat. Any time it gets overpowBib’s Downtown some extent and Texas beans or ered with sauce, they’re hiding 675 W. 5th St. cowboy beans as a side. The state something.” even has a dedicated barbecue Bib’s style of barbecue, which Honky Tonk Smokehouse editor at Texas Monthly magaclosely mimics Texas, has also 145 Jonestown Rd. zine — Daniel Vaughn, a former jumped into the changing landarchitect turned barbecue hobscape with a breakfast menu and byist. Memphis barbecue used to is looking to add wine and beer Little Richard’s Smokehouse be the default, characterized by dinners in the future. In order to Bar N Cue dry rub and wet or sauced pork stay relevant and change with the 109 S. Stratford Rd. and ribs. times, the menu has to evolve but “If other regions did the same, not so much as to muddy the waReal Q they could be part of the converters with multiple choices of sauce sation,” Miller says. and styles of meat.

4885 Country Club Rd. A trend like chef-driven barbe“To me that’s someone who has cue with an emphasis on highlost the passion for barbecue and quality meats like wagyu and maybe they’re not confident in kobe with cheffed-up sides like gourmet macaroni and their style in trying to offer it everybody,” he says. “Do cheese or brussels sprouts could well be on its way here, what you do and do it well. pushing the humble pork butt to the side.

“Don’t worry about giving everybody every sauce kind Little Richard’s newest venture, the Bar N Cue, sufin the world,” he continues. “It just becomes food and fers from an amalgamation of trends. Cookery is now not barbecue.” automated. While technology advances, some of the elements have been lost in translation.

CULTURE To the Hoop celebrates history, artistry of basketball

by Savi Ettinger

Feb. 6-12, 2020

T

Up Front News Opinion

“Double Sunk Dunk” by the New Craft Artists in Action

SAVI ETTINGER

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

dribbling instruction video. Hidden away in a corner, another “If you think about it,” Gray said, “there’s all these players screen shows a loop of a man in a Lakers-themed hoop skirt, defying gravity and doing these magic moves.” trying to shoot baskets. A couch sits in front of it, barely Throughout the gallery, the line between basketball and empty for a moment during opening night as guests stop and the metaphysical blurs. Pink balls are carved open to reveal enjoy a game together. they’re actually rock geodes. Jerseys continue into skirts, formFor the show, Raleigh artist André Leon Gray contributes ing ballgowns in team colors. A stained-glass backboard casts a work entitled “Black Magic,” referencyellows and reds over a corner of the room. ing the significance of the sport in black In the center of everything, an imposing American communities. In 1904, the game pyramid of basketballs overlooks the gallery.

For more information was introduced into segregated schools of The classic orange beside UNCG’s own on To The Hoop visit Washington, DC by a black gym teacher, navy blue and gold draws the eye. The work weatherspoonart.org.

Edwin Bancroft Henderson. In 1923, the first — the fifth basketball pyramid by David black professional team, the Harlem RenaisHuffman — hides speakers at its core, filling To the Hoop runs from sance Big Five, formed within 30 years of the the space with sounds from games past.

Feb 1 until June 7. first time the sport was ever played profesHere and now, they act as a centerpiece. sionally.

When the exhibit ends, the screens will be A wooden ironing board hangs on the taken down and the paintings and photowall, a basketball haloed by black and red wires on its top. graphs will get removed from the walls. However, each of the Below, rhinestones form the shape of a veve — a symbol used balls will find a new home, in a youth rec league or YMCA. in Haitian Vodou. Continuing with the Vodou aesthetics, the They will find a new court to be played in, and the game conboard turns into a mask at its tapered end. Where the foretinues. head of the mask would be sits a sweatband with the iconic “These,” Stamey said, “will go out into the community.” silhouette of Michael Jordan in the air.

Culture

he basketball sits suspended and immobile.

It levitates at the center of a large water tank, the orange rubber refusing to bob up or sink down in the cool, blue liquid. The only movement is on the surface, a barely noticeable ripple in the salt water.

The work — “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank” by Jeff Koons — joins dozens of others in the Weatherspoon Art Museum’s latest exhibition, To the Hoop.

The museum’s second-floor gallery houses a selection of artworks revolving around the sport of basketball, and its history as part of American culture.

“Basketball is the universe here,” curator Emily Stamey says.

On a Friday night, Stamey welcomes guests during the exhibit’s opening.

Stamey herself gained a love of basketball during graduate school at University of Kansas, even studying Koons’ piece at one point.

The sport traces its roots back to James Naismith in 1891, who used peach baskets and a soccer ball to devise an indoor, winter sport for the instructors of his local YMCA in Springfield, Mass. A year later, Senda Berenson created a women’s version of the sport for Smith College, and the game then spread across America in less than half a century.

People visiting the gallery for the opening don jerseys of their favorite teams, sneakers and shorts. The smell of rubber from basketballs used in the art pieces, combined with the sounds of sneakers on the wood-panel floors, make the gallery feel more like a court.

Antonia Smith, a UNCG alum, stands by a cutout of the Jumpman logo, altered to have a third leg — a symbol of basketball fans’ tendency to focus more on the men’s teams. Smith, along with other visitors, walk through their exhibit remembering their own childhood basketball games, and came to celebrate the connections and community around the game.

“I like how it brings people together,” she said.

Within the gallery, it becomes clear how accessible the game itself is. With no fancy or expensive equipment required, and no formal uniform or safety gear, the image of a backboard on a telephone pole feels as important to the sport as a photograph of an NBA match.

A set of screens on one wall shows a

17

Spring Garden Street, Greensboro

Feb. 6-12, 2020 Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Puzzles

Weatherspoon Art Museum visitors examine Jeff Koons’ “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank” at the opening night party of the new exhibit To the Hoop — Basketball and Contemporary Art. The show is open to the public through June 7.

18

CAROLYN DE BERRY

Across

‘Decade in Review, Part 4’—fun stuff from 2016 & 2017.

by Matt Jones

Jon Walters and Special Guests

Every Wednesday

Matty Sheets and the Nervy Bees with Laura Jane Vincent

Every Tuesday Open Mic Night

Saturday February 8th Julianna Money

©2020 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

©2020 Jonesin’ Crosswords

(editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

602 S Elam Ave • Greensboro

Answers from last issue Answers from previous publication.

(336) 698-3888

Puzzles

“I conquered,” to Caesar Ancient Briton Feels sorrow about Broadband forerunner Least narrow Cell dweller Good thing to pass Ronan of “Little Women” Lake that borders Ohio Montenegrin, e.g.

Gets after D.C. nine, for short Affirm as true Forming a chord, say “Honeysuckle Rose” singer Anita Hall of Famer Willie Antarctic mountain ___ Massif Coded message Apples and pears, e.g.

Ancient Britons “___ myself today ...”

(NIN/Johnny Cash lyric) “Be with you in just ___!”

Place for growth?

Yale students Docs that use endoscopes “The Andy Griffith Show” kid Linguistics suffix “From ___ Zinc” (multivitamin slogan) Two, to Juan

Shot in the Triad

11 12 13 16 21 22 23 25 28 30 32 33 34 37 38 39 44 49 51 53 54

56 57 58 59 61 64 65 66

Saturday February 15th

Friends of Deviant Benefit Show

Culture

Homer’s exclamation “Defending Liberty, Pursuing Justice” org.

Flavor enhancer initials “___ Fables” Actor Kinnear The “E” in “EGBDF” Passover feast “___ shocked as you are” Indiana’s second-largest city Album opener

Every Tuesday

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cesar and Guests

News

Down

EVENTS

Every Monday

Up Front

1 Compensation in a lawsuit 8 “Don’t mind ___ do!”

11 Media device manufactured for the last time by Funai Electric in 2016 14 Check out 15 Exclamation from Poirot 17 Margaret Atwood’s 2016 retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” 18 It may be drafted for impeachment 19 Brute in a storybook 20 They may be dire 21 ___ out (back down from a daunting task) 24 ‘16 and ‘17, e.g.

26 Signature of Pooh’s tree-dwelling friend 27 Being employed 29 Sharp ___ tack 31 “Major” or “Minor” constellation 35 Slide into your ___ 36 2016 event featuring a shirtless Tongan, green pool water, and Ryan Lochte shenanigans 40 Hit the buffet 41 Jones who ran from a big boulder 42 +, on a battery 43 TV host who misannounced the winner of Miss Universe in 2017 45 Sault ___ Marie, Canada 46 Garr of “Young Frankenstein” 47 Shakespearean laments 48 Clean vigorously 50 Journalist Mary Louise Kelly’s employer 52 Prefix for dermis 55 MIT’s middle, in brief 56 Kick-ass 60 Chain to buy some stacks 62 Biblical king 63 Hit 2017 indie video game in the style of 1930s animation 67 Celebrated 68 Sees if one can 69 Network that aired a “Candy Crush” game show in 2017 70 Admin’s domain, for short 71 Sound setups

SUDOKU

Feb. 6-12, 2020

CROSSWORD

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