TCB March 19, 2020 — We'll get through this.

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14 ways to help each other through the coronavirus pandemic

1. Don’t panic PAGE 4

March 19-25, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

A message from the publisher: We will get through this Hello friends and neighbors.

We know this has been a confusing and difficult time for our readership and beyond — the

by Brian Clarey coronavirus has affected our entire world in a way most of us have never experienced before.

Things are changing quickly, but I want to assure you that Triad City Beat will be on the case through this most challenging episode in our shared experience.

Triad City Beat’s weekly print publication will be coming out as usual on Thursday, albeit in slightly abridged form. We’ll have useful, timely and accurate information about the coronavirus, COVID-19 and their effect on the Triad right now, along with suggestions as to how we use our time in quarantine.

We will continue to support our community and its needs, because that’s what we do. But we remind everyone that we are reliant on advertiser funding to bring the news to you, for free. If you’re wondering how you can support the TCB mission through this difficult period, we have some suggestion.

For business owners: In addition to our weekly paper, we have our vibrant and bustling website, triad-city-beat.com, as well as email and social-media platforms

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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And remember that this, too, shall pass.

Until then, stay healthy, stay safe and take care of one another. In times like these, we realize that all we have is each other. But we also remember how powerful we can be when we all strive for the same goal.

Thank you all for your continued support. We’ll get through this, together, like always.

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We will get through this.

by Staff

Things to read, hear and watch while flattening the curve

March 19-25, 2020

COUCH LIFE Mar. 19-25, 2020

This week, rather than giving you a rundown of local events — which have all been calceled — we’re offering some of our favorite books, podcasts and movies and TV shows to watch while you stay home. Because let’s be honest: You should probably be staying at home.

PODCAST SUGGESTIONS:

SHOW/MOVIE SUGGESTIONS:

The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson

“Science Vs.”

“Explained” (Netflix)

Co-stars of “The Office,” Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey run through every episode of the award-winning sitcom, deconstructing themes, clocking character development and sharing inside stories from more memorable episodes and scenes.

It’s lighthearted and funny, probably just what we all need right now. — Brian

American Factory (Netflix)

With the Coronavirus pandemic establishing another fraught linkage between Americans and China, it’s interesting to revisit a different kind of connection between the two countries.

When the GM plant in Dayton, Ohio closed in 2008, 2,400 jobs evaporated.

Two years later, the plant reopened under the ownership of a Chinese company, Fuyao. Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, who live in nearby Yellow Springs, track the workers’ uneasy relationship with their new employer in this Oscar-winning documentary, which was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. — Jordan

“McMillions” (HBO)

I’m a few episodes into HBO’s documentary about McDonald’s crooked Monopoly promotion.

It’s an amazing tale of organized crime, tenacious FBI agents and Big Macs, and a scheme so elaborate, but also so poorly executed, that it eventually crumbled — quietly, if you remember. I used to eat a lot of McDonald’s, and I loved the Monopoly promotion, so this one hits home. — Brian

Puzzles

The author of The Underground Railroad brings us this fictionalized tale of an actual boys home in Florida during the Jim Crow era, as seen through the eyes of its AfricanAmerican wards. It’s a quick-ish read, loaded with all-too-real horrors and an overwhelming theme of despair. I’m not quite done with it yet, but I’m pretty sure there won’t be a happy ending. — Brian

“The Office Ladies”

Created by the minds behind The Office and Parks and Recreation, this sit-com follows a Brooklyn police precinct in its day-to-day operations, with a focus on Jake Peralta, the show’s infuriating but lovable male lead. Unlike The Office’s Michael Scott however, Brooklyn Nine-Nine manages to avoid making Peralta an absolutely unbearable bafoon by being self-aware and having other characters call him out repeatedly for his antics. Plus the show has Terry Crews pretty much playing himself. Why wouldn’t you want to watch that? — Sayaka

Shot in the Triad

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Hosted by comedians Andrew Yang and Tawny Newsome, this hour-ish long podcast delves into everyday people’s questions about racism. Yang, Newsome, plus one or two guests, pick questions from callers who ask things like whether their dad trying to speak Spanish at Mexican restaurants is racist and then laugh it out. Funny despite the topic while being informative.

— Sayaka

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (Hulu and NBC)

Culture

Short but punchy, this novel

by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite follows protagonist Korede, as she becomes increasingly involved in cleaning up after her sister’s... murders. Deadpan, witty and pulpy, this 2018 award-winner asks questions about the depth of familial bonds in the face of absurd adversity. — Sayaka

“Yo, Is This Racist?”

Created by a team at Vox, this educational TV show has 20-minute episodes ranging from what giving birth is actually like to society’s current fascination with athleisure. Easy to digest and watch while you’re folding laundry or cooking dinner. — Sayaka

Opinion

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Science is more important than ever now with everyone and their mother posting what they think they know about the coronavirus.

This podcast covers everything from abortions to climate change to coronavirus and digs into the facts. Easy to listen to and plus, you’ll be smarter than everyone on your Facebook feed. — Sayaka

News

The Birds of Opulence, Crystal Wilkinson’s 2016 novel, follows five generations of women in a black family in small-town Appalachia. What’s striking to me about The Birds of Opulence, beyond the racial identity of the characters, is how strongly the novel conveys a familiar theme of Appalachian literature — the attachment to land. What’s particular about this novel is Wilkinson’s examination of intergenerational mental illness and sexual trauma. Each line is simultaneously poetic and devastating.

— Jordan

Up Front

BOOK SUGGESTIONS:

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March 19-25, 2020

14 ways to help each other out during the coronavirus pandemic

Up Front

We know it’s crazy out there. It’s easy to panic and get lost in all of the news updates. But we encourage you to take a second and breathe and then think about how we can all do our part to help our communities during this crisis. We’ve got a little list to get you started. Got suggestions? Send ‘em to sayaka@ triad-city-beat.com and we’ll update this list as we go! We got this!

Culture

Opinion

News

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

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1. Don’t panic.

2. Donate or volunteer at local organizations:

Guilford County organizations: • Second Harvest Food Bank — This Triad-wide food bank is taking volunteers as well as monetary donations to help feed people during the crisis. Learn more about how you can help on their website.

• United Way of Greensboro — United Way of GSO has partnered with other local organizations to start a virus relief fund to help children and families.

Donate on their website.

• Greensboro virtual tip jar for workers — A local spreadsheet with those who have been fired or have had their hours cut back on is circulating with a way for people to donate to individuals in need. Check it out at tinyurl.com/gsotipjar.

• Down Home NC — This grassroots organization mobilizes and works with rural working families in the state. They are collecting donations through their mutual aid fund to help families purchase supplies and goods during the crisis.

Learn more on their website.

• Backpack Beginnings — This organization helps feed children in need. They are currently asking for both monetary and food donations to their warehouse.

They are also in need of volunteers to help sort, pack and deliver food. Learn more on their website.

• A Simple Gesture — This organization is working with Guilford County Schools to offer grab-and-go meals for students while schools are closed.

Learn more how you can donate time, money or food on their website.

• Sign up to volunteer through the Volunteer Center of GSO — The volunteer center pulls volunteer opportunities from various nonprofits in the city.

Find a way to help on their website.

• Interactive Resource Center — The homeless day shelter has extended their hours and is in need of hand sanitizer and online monetary donations. Learn more on their Facebook page.

• YWCA of Greensboro — The local shelter for women and families is accepting monetary donations as well as food and disposable thermometers. Learn more on their Facebook.

Forsyth County organizations: • HOPE of Winston-Salem — The organization is working to fill backpacks to deliver to children during the coronavirus. They need volunteers to help pack bags as well as deliver. They also need goods like bread and fruit. They are also taking monetary donations on their website.

• Samaritan Ministries — The Winston-Salem organization provides shelter and food to those in need. Right now, they are in need of supplies and volunteers. Learn more on their website.

• Goodwill — Donate to your local Goodwill. They are still taking their regular donations. Visit their website for more information.

• Crisis Control — This food pantry and basic needs shelter is asking for both food and monetary donations. Visit their website for more info.

3. Check in on one another! This is a scary time. Send texts, calls or even Facetime friends and family. Don’t forget to check on your neighbors too, especially those who are elderly or have immune deficiencies and offer to help get groceries or run errands. Starting a Facebook group or sending out flyers door-to-door with a neighborhood email is a great way to connect!

4. Buy gift cards from your favorite stores and restaurants. You can also (as of the writing of this article, still order takeout from restaurants). Check out businesses’

Facebook pages for updates.

5. Take a break from social media and the news (but keep reading

TCB!). It’s easy to get bogged down and upset when you’re being bombarded by new

alerts every minute. Take some time to log off and disconnect.

6. Don’t hoard supplies. Only buy what you need. There are others in need, too.

If you have extra, consider sharing them with friends, family or neighbors. Some organizations need supplies too.

7. Check out ebooks or audiobooks. Use your local libraries if they’re still open, from the free Libby app or from your local bookstore if they are still open.

8. Donate old electronics like laptops and phones. There may be students

who need them to work from home.

9. Offer to watch someone’s kids if you have time and space. With schools being closed, this is a crazy time for parents. If you have babysitting experience or are able, offer to watch someone’s kids if their parents still need to go out to work.

10. Fact-check news stories before you share them! This is important.

News is breaking all the time and it’s easy to share stories with a single click on social media. But we need to all be vigilant to make sure the information that we’re sharing is accurate.

11. Offer to let other people connect to your home wi-fi if they’re nearby.

12. Take care of yourself. Wash your hands. Stop touching your face.

13. Create something in lockdown. Maybe a novel, song, painting, a graphic

novel, an outfit or costume or an app. You could even make little cards to send words of encouragement to friends and family in other states. It’s the little things.

14. STAY HOME! This is the best way to stay healthy and ensure we don’t spread

the virus.

Commission finds ‘evidence of factual innocence’ in cases of 4 men convicted in murder of Chris Paul’s grandfather

by Jordan Green

Christopher Bryant, Rayshawn Banner, Nathaniel Cauthen and Jermal Tolliver (l-r)

Culture Shot in the Triad

‘I said what I said because I was scared half to death I was getting charged with wrongful death.’

Puzzles

seen it in cases of documented false confessions, and I see indicators of this in the current case as well. For example, three of the defendants — Nathaniel Cauthen, Jermal Tolliver and Christopher Bryant — testified in their suppression hearings that they just wanted to go home. And they were specifically responding to interrogators’ questions by saying, ‘I want to go home.’”

Cleary testified that Cauthen, Banner, Bryant and Tolliver respectively scored 70, 71, 79 and 66 on IQ tests, adding, “These are severe cognitive deficits that are directly relevant to the interrogation context.”

Cleary said she saw “numerous examples” of what she called “maximization” techniques — defined as “a family of interrogation techniques intended to heighten suspects’ anxiety, and make them feel like confession is inevitable” — in the interrogations of the five defendants and Black.

“One [example] is this practice of accusing suspects of lying, and shutting down any attempt to deny their involvement in the crime,” Cleary testified. “We saw that in numerous interrogations, and also with Jessicah Black.”

The “most concerning maximization technique” Cleary said she saw in the interrogations was telling the suspects they could get the death penalty. “This process of heightening the suspect’s fear of what will happen to them if they don’t confess is very, very palpable,” Cleary testified, “and it’s a very effective way to obtain confessions — true confessions and false confessions.”

Two Winston-Salem police detectives, Stan Nieves and Sean Flynn, admitted to innocence commission Staff Attorney Julie Bridenstein that they told the

Opinion

until after Weavil had threatened him.

“He threatened that I would do the rest of my life in prison,” Cauthen testified. “He threatened me with lethal injection. He threatened me to shoot me.”

Testifying before the commission, Hayley Cleary, a confessions and psychology expert, compared the case to the Central Park 5 case, in which five black and brown teenagers were convicted in the brutal beating of a white jogger in 1989, based on false confessions and without forensic evidence.

Cleary told commissioners that both dispositional factors, including the defendants’ adolescence and mental impairment, and situational factors, namely the interrogation process, create a risk of producing false confessions. And she cited in detail how each of the factors came into play during the interrogations of Cauthen, Banner, Tolliver and Bryant.

Because of neurobiological limitations on their ability to orient themselves toward the future, Cleary said, adolescents are less able than adults to withstand the pressures of interrogation and to think about how “admitting to something you didn’t do might feel like a good idea now, but it might cause serious problems down the road.”

She testified: “The idea of being relieved from a stressful interrogation or getting away from an uncomfortable or psychologically painful environment can be overwhelming to youth. And we’ve

SCREENSHOTS

News

Four Winston-Salem men who were convicted in the murder of NBA star Chris Paul’s grandfather are a step closer to exoneration following a vote by the NC Innocence Inquiry Commission on Friday night, which found “sufficient evidence of factual innocence to merit judicial review.”

Judge Thomas Lock, the alternate chair of the commission, said he will enter an order on Monday referring the case to Todd Burke, the senior resident superior court judge in Forsyth County, and requesting that the chief justice of the state Supreme Court convene a special session of superior court to hear evidence in the case.

Commissioners voted 5-3 to enter a finding of factual innocence after hearing from the four defendants, including brothers Nathaniel Cauthen and Rayshawn Banner, who are serving life with parole in a North Carolina prison; and Christopher Bryant and Jermal Tolliver, who were released after completing their sentences in 2017. A fifth defendant, Dorrell Brayboy, like the others, had proclaimed his innocence, but was fatally stabbed in Winston-Salem in August 2019 before he had the opportunity to file a claim with the commission. Cauthen, Bryant, Tolliver and Brayboy were 15 years old at the time of the crime, while Banner was 14.

All five defendants, like the victim, are African American.

Nathaniel Jones, a 61-year-old gasstation owner, was beloved among his neighbors and customers. He had left the gas station on the evening of Nov. 15, 2002 and returned to his home on Moravia Street in the Belview neighborhood. Later that night, he was found dead from a heart arrythmia in his carport after being beaten and robbed.

Beyond the brutal circumstances of the murder and the defendants’ young age, the case has attracted widespread attention because Jones’ grandson is Chris Paul. Then a promising basketball player at West Forsyth High School, Paul scored 61 points in honor of his grandfather shortly after the murder. He

then played basketball for Wake Forest University, where he helped the Demon Deacons achieve their first-ever No. 1 ranking. In 2005, Paul was recruited to the NBA, and last July he was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Jessicah Black, who was 16 years old at the time of the crime, testified against the defendants, telling the court that she drove them to the scene. Now, an adult, Black recanted both in direct testimony to the innocence commission on March 11 and in a taped deposition played for the commission the previous day.

Black also recanted in an interview with Hunter Atkins, who was at the time a sports reporter for the Houston Chronicle.

Atkins separated from the Chronicle in February, and has not published a story on the case.

“The gist of it is everything I said on the stand, I can tell you, them, anybody, all that shit’s not true,” Black said in her deposition. “I said what I said because I was scared half to death I was getting charged with wrongful death. I was so scared I was going to jail. And nothing I said was right. And [the detectives who carried out the interrogation] weren’t satisfied until I gave them the answer they wanted. And that’s what I did.”

On Friday Cauthen, Banner Tolliver and Bryant all testified before the commission that they were coerced into giving false confessions.

– Jessicah Black “I didn’t know no better; I was a child,” Cauthen testified in response to a question about why he lied by telling detectives that he was involved in the crime, when he wasn’t. “I was 15 years old. I was forced to say something that I didn’t want to say. And the only way I knew to get out of the situation that I was in was to comply with what they was asking me for.”

Cauthen testified Lt. Randy Weavil told him he could go home if he told them what they wanted to hear. Cauthen also said he didn’t incriminate himself

Up Front

Four men convicted in the murder of Chris Paul’s grandfather could be exonerated after a state commission found “evidence of factual innocence.”

March 19-25, 2020

NEWS

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March 19-25, 2020

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Dr. Blair Wisco - UNCG

copelab@uncg.edu

defendants that they could receive the death penalty even though they knew that as juveniles, the boys could not receive the death penalty under state law.

Bridenstein told commissioners that Nieves’ supervisor told him he should not have brought up the death penalty, Bridenstein told the commissioners.

“He said that it was incorrect, and that it was poor judgment on his part,” she testified.

Bridenstein also testified that the commission “sent out numerous items for DNA testing,” and “none of the DNA profiles of the defendants were found on any of the items tested.”

The one piece of evidence linking Cauthen and Banner to the crime scene was a partial print of a Size 9 Nike Air Force 1 shoe found on the hood of the victim’s car, which matched a shoe seized as evidence from the boys’ home, according to an expert witness who testified before the commission.

Banner testified on Friday that he wore a Size 8 ½ Nike Air Force 1 shoe, and that his brother wore a Size 9 at the time of the murder.

Banner said he sometimes wore his brother’s shoes, but on the day in question he believed he was wearing his own shoes.

The commission also heard testimony from Winston-Salem police Detective Jason Swaim, a homicide detective who said he was assigned by his captain to review the case after the inquiry by the innocence commission was announced.

“Obviously, we as police officers don’t want to have the wrong people in jail, so if any new leads — anything were to come up that was to be investigated, then I would investigate it as a sworn law enforcement officer,” Swaim testified.

In his role as the detective assigned to review the case, Swaim went back and interviewed Jessicah Black in late February.

Swaim said he found Black to be “not very credible” based on “the changes in her story from 17 years ago ’til now.” He added, “She can remember exact times for certain points of it, but then certain parts, ‘Well, I think this. I think that.’”

Asked if there was anything at all in his interview with Black or

his review of the case file “that gives you pause about these claimants’ convictions,” Swaim simply answered, “No.” While he joined the police department a couple years after the initial investigation into Nathaniel Jones’ murder, Swaim testified that he has received no training on how to avoid false confessions.

Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill, who is the Republican nominee for state attorney general, expressed reservations about the work by the innocence commission in a text to Triad City Beat.

“The initial process would be more efficient and fair if both sides were given the same opportunity to present evidence and call witnesses,” he said.

“The Forsyth County District Attorney’s office will never stop fighting for and pursuing justice on behalf of Nathaniel Jones and his family,” O’Neill added. “We look forward to actually participating and presenting all the evidence, in its entirety, to the independent three-judge panel.”

EDITORIAL

Finger-pointing in the age of COVID-19 So, who do we blame for the coronavirus epidemic

Living through coronavirus

News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

The crisis that overtook the United States last week beggars belief.

The reckoning with

by Jordan Green the speed at which the virus is spreading across the country caused life as we know it to come screeching to a halt. On Wednesday, the ACC announced that tournament games at the GreensSTOCK The most surreal aspect of the crisis is that everything still looks the boro Coliseum would be played PHOTO same, because a pandemic is largely invisible. without fans in attendance. And the side of an interstate, but in this case there’s no visthen, on Thursday, the tournament ible wreckage. There are still cars circulating through the was abruptly canceled, wiping out income for hourly city streets, although traffic is lighter, but everything is sufemployees and contract workers. By the end of the day, the fused in an odd stillness. Or maybe it only seems that way biannual spring furniture market in High Point — an event because I’ve internalized the new rhythms of cancellations that annually generates $6.8 billion in economic activity and and remote meetings. $616 million in tax revenue, according to a study by Duke God willing, the casualties from infection will be minimal, University — was postponed until June. Events large and but the economic consequences of the draconian measures small were canceled, and restaurant workers braced for an taken to contain the pandemic will likely cause vast wreckinterruption in income. age.

On Wednesday night, I learned that Wake Forest UniAs the Washington Post reported on March 14, “the versity, along with UNC System schools and virtually every United States is suffering the most abrupt and widespread other university in the state, would be cancelling classes, cessation of economic activity in its history,” so it’s difficult and I would be teaching my investigative reporting class to imagine that the sudden drop in retail and restaurant via Google Hangouts. By order of Gov. Roy Cooper on spending and travel, and the slowdown in Saturday, all K-12 public schools are closed work won’t trigger a severe global recesfor the next two weeks, at least, so I’ll be sion. Maybe the only hope for avoiding looking for ways to keep my 6-year-old God willing, the catastrophic economic harm is if the panoccupied while I work from home. Daycare casualties from demic is quickly brought under control and is still open — at least so far — so childcare pent-up demand revives the economy. for my 1-year-old is still covered. Worship infection will be We’re all freaking out, right? We should services canceled on Sunday. Our famminimal, but the be. And I certainly am. But at the same ily watched an Episcopal service at the this period calls for steady and calm National Cathedral in Washington, DC, consequences will time, stewardship from local and state officials including a sermon patched in remotely be massive. (we can figure this out without Trump’s from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, guidance, thank you), and clear, accurate streaming over YouTube. We recited the information from journalists.

Nicene Creed from our living room.

More importantly, the moment calls on us to strengthen Adjustments such as these, while dramatic to the person bonds of social solidarity, even as we must implement experiencing them, are utterly unremarkable in the bigger “social distancing” measures to protect each other. Now, picture because of the ubiquity of the pandemic. Unlike a we need to be martialing our compassion and ingenuity to hurricane or a terrorist attack, with victims on the front lines figure out how to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in and concentric rings of impact, the impact of the coroways we never did before. Now that the mask of compenavirus is diffuse considering that every human being on tency and legitimacy has slipped from the federal governthe planet could potentially become infected or become a ment, we should be figuring out how to remake institutions passive carrier. That said, just as cruise ships, airports, sportso they protect and support people instead of exploiting ing events, conferences and international governance and and preying upon those who are already the most margincelebrity networks became coronavirus hot zones, we must alized. now consider nursing homes, prisons and jails as front lines We will get through this, as this week’s cover of Triad in preventing the spread of infection.

City Beat declares. We don’t know what the future holds.

The most surreal aspect of the crisis is that everything But let us pray that we will use this time of reflection to still looks the same, because a pandemic is largely invisible. become better than we have been.

It brings to mind a zombie movie where there are signs of normal life instantly interrupted, like vehicles idled on

Up Front

and the impending collapse of the global economy?

The Wuhan meat market, the alleged source of the outbreak, and the pangolin meat that supposedly carried it? The lax response that allowed it to fester and spread? The people who carried it from one continent to another?

Or we could blame our fellow, filthy humans who went through airports, ignored official warnings and protocol, partied in the streets on St. Patrick’s Day and bought up all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer?

It’s tempting to blame President Trump, too — it’s true that he slow-walked the Unites States’ response to the pandemic, labeled it as a media hoax in its earliest days, when something could have been done to stem the domestic tide of disease, and continues to lie about his response and assessment of the danger.

But the blame game won’t get us anywhere. Not today, when humans in our largest cities prepare to shelter in place, COVID-19 expands exponentially through our populations and thousands and thousands of businesses begin It’s human nature the slow slide to to look for a scapeinsolvency.

It’s human nature goat in all this. But to look for a scapegoat in all of this — at this stage, what’s we’re as susceptible the point? to this tendency as we are to the virus itself. But seriously: At this stage of the game, what is the point?

What matters now is how we react.

It’s ironic that just as our country has become the most divided it’s been since the Civil War, it is what we do together that will get us through this. But it’s already happening — the helpers have come out in full force, sharing useful information, tendering offers of aid, searching into the far corners to see who will be affected the most by the disease, the economic collapse, the breakdown of normalcy that, it seems, could last a good long while.

Like it or not, we’re in this together. Our collective action is the only thing that matters now. And if we all do the right thing to prevent the spread of the virus, to help our neighbors and retain those connections that bind us, there will be plenty of time to play the blame game later.

CITIZEN GREEN

March 19-25, 2020

OPINION

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March 19-25, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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Nik Snacks Triad restaurateurs work together to stay afloat

I

t’s safe to say that the landscape and joie de vivre of social dining has drastically changed over the past two weeks in the Triad. The disruption of daily work and home life is creating a ripple effect. Plans change from moment to moment, and the hospitality industry is stepping up.

by Nikki Miller-Ka “We’re all in a moment of having to take it all in stride,” says Kris Fuller, owner of Crafted, The Art Of The Taco. “We have to do what’s best for the public’s safety.”

Restaurants, the small-business community and state government are supporting diners’ efforts to achieve social distancing.NC Governor Roy Cooper announced an executive order on Tuesday for all restaurants and bars in the state to close except for takeout and delivery orders.

The move aims to lessen the spread of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the coronavirus — by limiting interactions between large groups of people.

The order took effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday and also includes an expansion of unemployment benefits.

COURTESY PHOTO Peyton Smith has started selling T-shirts with Several restrictions on state unemployment benefits have W-S restaurants listed on them to raise funds. been lifted in order for more people to qualify and to reduce the didn’t know what exactly until COVID came into our lives and cost to businesses, Cooper said Tuesday at a news conference. it became clear that people are about to have major financial Under Cooper’s new order, employees who don’t entirely lose struggles.” their jobs due to coronavirus closures but do see their hours Smith paints a picture of how he is in a privileged position, so cut will, in some cases, be able to qualify for unemployment he believes he has a duty to try to help. benefits.

“I will begin to distribute to anyone in the Winston-Salem Even before the order, restaurants across the Triad began refood-service community with a demonstrative need,” he says. “I ducing their menus, adding family-style menu options, offering have an obligation to those who put their faith in me to distribdelivery, increasing take-out options, adding curbside pick-up ute it prudently and effectively.” and encouraging increased use of food delivery apps such as While the ways and means of distribution are up in the air, Takeout Central, Door Dash, Grubhub, UberEats and locally Smith believes this grassroots effort will make a difference. owned start-up delivery service Swipeby Online groups and social-media users are steadily encouragLaunched in May 2019, the Winston-Salem- based company ing their networks to purchase gift cards and gift certificates has more than 50 area restaurants available on their app. Availto their favorite eateries to use able for both Apple and Android at a later date. This grassroots users, there are no fees associeffort is in response to restauated with the app and the food • Swipeby: swipe.by rants slowed foot traffic and prices are the same as if you volume of business. Those who were dining in a restaurant.

• Winston-Salem restaurant industry T-shirts: need to cancel reservations and “Over 200 units have apmissionpizzanapoletana.com/shop appointments are encouraged proached us via email and our to purchase gift cards in lieu of website nationwide,” says Carl • Virtual Tip Jar for Greensboro restaurant emface-to-face visits. These efforts Turner, owner of Swipeby, Carl ployees: tinyurl.com/gsotipjar help generate instant cash flow Turner. “Restaurants can be to local businesses. online in about five hours. The Sharon Reiss, organizer of outbreak has accelerated our MeetUp.com group Winston-Sagrowth plan exponentially.” lem Dining Out and More, created a public thread on Facebook Another population facing changes are hourly and tipped to share links to restaurants’ online gift card sales. Reiss says employees of the hospitality industry. In an effort to combat her members want to contribute in any way they can. the financial blow to the community, Peyton Smith, owner of “They know they want to be safe but support the businesses Mission Pizza Napoletana in downtown Winston-Salem created as long as they can,” Reiss says. a fundraiser to give funds directly to affected parties. Smith is Health and safety recommendations regarding the epidemic leading the charge with online sales of T-shirts and merchandise change almost daily. As more information becomes available, with the names of select restaurants located all across the city. contact your favorite local restaurants directly by phone, webThe design is simple: 10 restaurants on a baseball-style shirt. site and social media channels to support them through this difficult time.

“I always wanted to use the shirts as a sort of galvanizing tool and raise money for something with it,” Smith says. “I just

by Sayaka Matsuoka

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Bhardwaj has created dozens of murals in Greensboro since he moved to the United States two years ago.

SAYAKA MATSUOKA

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building, Lee is cast in orange and blue hues, one side repreFigures floating above the ground with multiple limbs sented by fire while the other evoking water. In bright-yellow, interlaced stare out at the viewer while symbols like the pyrablocky letters, the word “khiladi” appears on top of Lee’s right mid, the moon and snake leave hints on the canvas. Titled, “A shoulder, a word that means “champion” in Hindi.

Perfect Myth,” Bhardwaj explains that, in a way, the painting is Bhardwaj says that he tries to include parts of his Indian a visual representation of his own inner struggles of what life identity in his work, so as not to lose that part of him as he is really about. adapts and makes a life here in America.

A few years ago, he says he gave up life as an artist in an “I think the influence of Indian culture is mostly in my apattempt to become more spiritual. He began practicing with a proach to life and art,” Bhardwaj says. “I think I became more guru, meditating day in and day out, and picked up trades like aware of my Indian identity when I came here. Here, you tend acupressure, reiki and astrology. to feel like you’ve lost your identity “I thought, Maybe I can be better and I don’t want to do that. I think if I support people with these things,” Bhardwaj’s exhibit Maya and Myth will he says. “But then, I later started I want a constant reminder, and be on display at the Artery in that’s what makes me different and feeling that that was an illusion too.

Greensboro through March 30. Call maybe special.”

It was also egoistic. I did it for seven the gallery to make sure they are open As the coronavirus spreads or eight years and I never reached before you go. throughout the world, Bhardwaj a stage where I found God. Those is concerned about his wife and questions all define my art.”

Follow Bhardwaj on Instagram at daughters that he left behind in Despite his earnest attempt, @artistraman and at ramanartist.com India. He had planned on going back Bhardwaj found that he felt empty for more information. next month, but says that he had and unfulfilled. He returned to the to cancel his trip because of the canvas. pandemic. He says he eventually “I came back with a richer experiwants to bring his daughters to the ence,” he says. “I’m more humble, United States because he believes and I’m starting to bring in that that gender equality is better here. spiritual side. I’m trying to combine the two.”

In the meantime, he says he’ll continue to focus on his art.

Now, it’s about finding a balance between just creating art In the exhibit at the Artery, Bhardwaj’s pieces aim to ask and making his work more meaningful. the viewer questions about what constitutes reality and the “We all have these dualities inside each other,” he says. struggle between indulgence and hedonism versus spiritual “Sometimes it’s tilted towards one side or the other. The huenlightenment. man mind is fascinating.”

Culture

aman Bhardwaj has two favorite animals: the tiger and the lion.

Both exemplify the artist’s love and fascination with the majestic, the monumental, the mythical.

“Ever since I was a child, I was fascinated by tigers and lions,” says Bhardwaj just a half-hour before his opening reception at the Artery gallery in Greensboro. “There’s something natural, maybe the power and the grandeur, the regal grace of the lion that attracts me.”

The tiger is also the national animal of India, where Bhardwaj is from.

The 44-year-old artist traveled from Chandigarh city in northern India to the United States in 2018 after his mother had passed away. He had been working as a freelance artist for more than a decade and took the chance to move in with his brother, who has been living in Greensboro for the past 23 years, after he got an artist visa.

Coming here was initially a huge shock, says Bhardwaj.

“Everything is different,” he says. “The buildings are different. People look different — the skin, eyes, hair. Everything is different. It’s so fleshy, fascinating… you are lifted from one location where you are surrounded by people who look like you and suddenly implanted somewhere else. So, your visual things is all shaken up, and because I’m a visual artist, that’s going to influence me.”

One of the biggest changes to Bhardwaj’s style presented itself as a new art form: murals. To date, the artist has created about two dozen murals throughout Greensboro, painted on the backs of various buildings and businesses. Like the tiger or the lion, painting murals gives Bhardwaj a feeling of being larger than life.

“Murals weren’t so prevalent in my city,” Bhardwaj says. “There wasn’t so much of a tradition of mural and graffiti, but I’ve always been fascinated by the large-scale paintings and drawings.”

Some of his favorite ones include a painting of Dorothy and Toto on the back of Red Cinemas as well as a portrait of Bruce Lee on the rear side of Pure Barre in the Westover Gallery shopping center.

The latter, again, appealed to Bhardwaj because of Lee’s magnetic persona and his display of strength despite his smaller size. Murals have become his favorite form of art.

Painted across the back of the brick

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CULTURE Artist Raman Bhardwaj infuses his Indian heritage into his art

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March 19-25, 2020

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Across 1 Rotary phone parts 8 Whip holders?

15 Hoppy “New England-style” brew 16 System that includes emoji 17 Invited up 18 Compliment after getting out of bed?

19 ___ Bhabie (rapper first known as the “Cash Me Outside” girl from “Dr. Phil”) 20 Precipice 22 Indian curry dish 23 ___ Dems (U.K. political party, informally) 24 Fictional Marner 26 Achievement ©2020 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 27 Neighbor of British Columbia 30 Like birthday celebrants 32 Letters in some Baptist church names 33 Most sound 35 They may have chains and locks 37 Pic off a monitor?

39 1960s TV spy thriller with a 1997 movie remake 42 Site for ants or bumps?

46 Slick stuff 47 Dreadlocked one, maybe 49 Like some fast-food chicken sandAnswers from last issue wiches 50 Returning grad 13 Japanese appetizer 52 Flashlight battery 14 Advisory councils 54 Alternate spelling abbr.

21 Healed up 55 Anwar who shared a Nobel Peace Prize 25 Dry, as Italian wine 57 Deep-sea killer 28 Former New York Jets owner Leon 58 Sister of Poseidon 29 Muppet whose tweets often end with 59 Secure firmly “Scram!”

61 Dazed 31 “___ Hope” (1980s ABC soap) 63 Not consistent 34 Three-note chord 64 The “devil’s interval” in music 36 Machine that helps with sleep apnea (heard in “The Simpsons” theme) 38 Fix firmly in place 65 Took once more, like a white elephant gift 39 “Wide slot” device 66 Pieces of Sanskrit religious literature 40 “Cautionary Tales for Children” author Belloc 41 Evasive sorts Down 43 Enjoy immensely 1 Dry white wine 44 Instrument in a “Legend of Zelda” title 2 Jones who played Angie Tribeca 45 Spins around 3 Keep showing up in a book and film 48 “Little Women” author series?

51 Furious with 4 Turned from white to pink, maybe 53 Actress Linney of “Kinsey” 5 Pot top 56 “Africa” band 6 Big pictures?

58 “So ___” (Kid Rock song) 7 Company behind Hello Kitty 60 Wheaton of “The Big Bang Theory” 8 “You’re a better man than I am” poem 62 Malleable metal 9 “Allergic to Water” singer DiFranco 10 Travel expert Steves 11 Words before Base or spades 12 Quit messing around

March 19-25, 2020

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