TCB April 29, 2021 — Stop Asian Hate

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point April 29-May 4, 2021 triad-city-beat.com

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STOP A SIAN HATE Local Asian Americans

BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA | PAGE 4

Etc.: GSO’s new DIY collective PAGE 8

Making Whole30 more inclusive PAGE 7

speak out.

We need to talk about Andrew Brown Jr. PAGE 6

April 29-May 4, 2021

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

What we know and what we don’t

W

e’re standing out front of the hotel on West 28th Street, me and the guy from the front desk.

by Brian Clarey Just talking. He asks me what I do for a living.

“Newspapers, huh?” he says. “So what do you make of this coronavirus?”

I tell him it was a poorly-handled disaster that unfolded in slow motion, that I can’t wait for us to be past it, and that it’s shameful that half a million Americans had to lose their lives over it, but here we are.

“I don’t know,” he says.

He don’t know if those numbers are real. He don’t know if they’re just trying to scare everybody or not. He don’t know about that vaccine. Definitely don’t know about that.

“I got the vaccine,” I say. “Moderna.”

He shrugs.

“What about the flu?” he asks. “You telling me that all these people got coronavirus and no one got the flu?”

I am telling him that. Everything’s closed; everyone’s been staying home. We

wear masks and wash our hands and avoid crowds. If we did that every year, there’d be no such thing as the flu.

“I don’t know,” he says.

What about the vaccine, I ask him. You gonna get the vaccine?

“They want us to,” he says, “but I don’t know. It’s hard to get around here.”

I suggest he come down to North Carolina, where we’ve got plenty to go around. Vaccine tourism, I call it.

“That’s never gonna happen,” says a new voice with an unmistakable New York accent: skinny dude, red hair, black mask, Yankees cap. “Just like with taking away our guns. They can’t do it.”

It is notoriously difficult to obtain a legal handgun in New York City, I know.

“They’re just trying to control us,” he continues. “I mean, I’ll wear your stupid mask, but c’mon. It’s basically the flu.”

“I know,” says Hotel Guy. “They had a vaccine for coronavirus for animals in the 1980s!” Ballcap says.

I didn’t know that, I say.

Hotel Guy shrugs and Ballcap pulls down his mask to reveal his freckled face.

“I’m a chef,” he says. “That’s how I know.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK It can be a lonely life to be Asian American. There are days when you are proud but some days where it’s hard.

-Christie Soper pg. 4

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336.256.9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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OF COUNSEL

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Coronavirus in the Triad: (As of Wednesday, April 28)

Documented COVID-19 diagnoses NC 965,536 (+13,277) Forsyth 35,123 (+472) Guilford County

44,825 (+808)

COVID-19 deaths

NC

12,619 (+139)

Forsyth

372 (+3)

Guilford

621 (+22)

Documented recoveries NC

924,490 (+12,771)

Forsyth

33,267 (as of 4/17)

Guilford

42,602 (+994)

Current cases NC

28,427 (+97)

Forsyth

*no data*

Guilford

1,601 (-208)

Hospitalizations (right now) NC

1,117 (-51)

Forsyth

*no data*

Guilford

48 (-1)

CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, Matt Jones, Jordan Howse, Jen Sorensen, Clay Jones

COVER Cover layout by Robert Paquette

Vaccinations NC First Dose

3,255,646 (+113,908)

Fully vaccinated

2,680,729 (25.6%, +244,258)

Forsyth First Dose

125,400 (+3,810)

Fully vaccinated

106,632 (27.9%, +8,927)

Guilford First dose

180,657 (+4,874)

Fully vaccinated

153,354 (28.5%, +12,166)

April 29-May 4, 2021

CITY LIFE April 29-May 5

by Michaela Ratliff

THURSDAY April 29

Polaroid Stories @ UNCG School of Theatre (GSO) Online

FRIDAY April 30

Artist Spotlight 2021 @ Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts (W-S) 9 a.m.

Until June 12, the diverse styles of ten different artists from the Associated Artists of Winston-Salem are on display as both 2D and 3D pieces during this fine arts show. Admission is free. Visit the event page on Facebook to view future dates.

Bark & Brew Adoption Day @ Mac’s Speed Shop (GSO) 5 p.m.

UNCG School of Theatre presents Polaroid Stories, tales of those who rebel against society wrapped in disruption and deceit, available for on-demand streaming until May 1. To purchase tickets, visit UNCG School of Theatre’s website, or call the box office at 336.334.4392.

The Green Color Line: Surviving While Black in an Economically Divided Greensboro @ Greensboro NAACP (GSO) 5:15 p.m.

In the first of four free bimonthly virtual meetings, the Labor and Industry Committee of the Greensboro branch of the NAACP will discuss and address how public spending and economic inequity affects the Black community. Register at actionnetwork.org/ events/thegreencolorline.

Enjoy the award-winning tastes of Mac’s before shopping for your new best friend. To celebrate National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, SPCA will be there with adoptable pups..

From Combo Corner to the World: The Diaspora of the Winston-Salem Sound @ the Ramkat (W-S) 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY May 1 Wheels on the Greenway @ Downtown Greenway (GSO) 9:30 a.m.

To kick off its new monthly arts and performance series, MUSE Winston-Salem is collaborating with Bookmarks and the Ramkat to bring you a program about music from Winston-Salem and North Carolina, featuring WS based musicians Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple. Although the event is free, donations to both MUSE and the Ramkat are welcomed. After registering on Eventbrite, a link will be emailed to you the day of the event.

MayFest Spring Festival @ SouthEnd Brewing Co. (GSO) 5 p.m.

SouthEnd is excited to host its first spring festival, featuring a full day of food, live music and more. Shop from more than 20 vendors, including some from the MAKRS Society. Grab dinner from Tacos Mama Chava or Taste of Creole Concessions while enjoying the sounds of WristBand and !fIVE eYES! Check out the event page on Facebook for more information.

Re-Imagining Freedom 2.0: A Solo Art Exhibition & Book Signing @ 100 South Main Street (HP) 7 p.m.

In this exhibition by artist Freedom Clay, he dedicates more than 70 pieces to those he calls his “ancestral/celestial angels.” The exhibit displays Clay’s idea of freedom and overall wellness. Find more information on the event page on Facebook.

SUNDAY May 2 Happy Motter’s Day Workshop @ Distractions (HP) 4 p.m.

We Need a Time to Grieve @ 201 North Chestnut Street (W-S) 6:30 p.m.

Join the Triad Abolition Project for dinner, followed by a march and vigil dedicated to those killed by state violence.

Celebrate Mother’s Day by creating an adorable otter-themed plate. Really make it your own by adding your footprint! Admission cost includes all materials. Visit Distractions’ website to register.

Andy Eversole @ SouthEnd Brewing Co. (GSO) 5 p.m.

Head to SouthEnd to enjoy a drink and the sounds of Andy Eversole’s banjo.

Whether your wheels are on a bicycle, skateboard or a scooter, test them out on the new section of the Downtown Greenway on Murrow Boulevard. Kona Ice will cool you off with shaved ice along the way. For more information, visit the event page on Facebook.

WEDNESDAY May 5 Mental Health Forum @ Kellin Foundation (GSO) 12:00 p.m.

In observance of Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, the Kellin Foundation with community partners Resilience High Point and Guilford County System of Care Collaborative for Children’s Mental Health are hosting a Zoom meeting discussing children’s mental health. Visit Zoom for free registration.

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As hate crimes against Asians rise nationally, locals organize to share their stories and raise awareness

By Sayaka Matsuoka

Opinion

News

Up Front

April 29-May 4, 2021

NEWS

L-R: Anthony Chow, Christie Soper, Tina Firesheets and Tiffany Lam-Balfour speak out against anti-Asian hate.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

A

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few weeks ago, Anthony Chow learned that his brother was attacked in California while he was stopped at a traffic light.

“He’s a professor at Stanford and he’s driving, and he gets attacked in the middle of the street,” Chow said. “This guy comes and tries to stomp on his windshield.”

Chow said that his brother called the police but that they didn’t log the incident as a hate crime because there was no evidence of racialized motivation.

But Chow doesn’t buy it.

“Out of all of the cars in the lanes, he picked my brother’s,” he said.

According to the organization Stop AAPI Hate, there have been close to 3,800 reported incidents of hate crimes against Asian Americans in the United States from mid-March 2020 through February 2021. While verbal harassment makes up most of those incidents at 68 percent, the most visible attacks in the past year have been physical in nature such as the shootings in Atlanta that took the lives of six Asian women and the attack in New York City in which a man repeatedly kicked a 65-year-old Filipino woman in broad daylight. In that incident three men, including a security

guard in the lobby of a nearby luxury apartment building, stood by as they watched and did nothing.

An analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism by California State University from March found that as hate crimes decreased by 7 percent overall in 2020, those targeting Asians rose by nearly 150 percent.

According to data by Stop AAPI Hate, the attacks range in location, gender and targeted ethnic group as well.

“Racism knows no status,” said Chow.

“No accomplishments. No matter what you accomplish in life, you cannot avoid it.”

Combatting anti-Asian racism in higher education and beyond

N

ow, Chow is using his role at UNCG as an associate professor in the Department of Library and Information Studies and as the chair of the faculty senate to create an Asian caucus across the UNC system.

As of this past week, Chow said that they have had 98 people sign up across 10 institutions. No representatives from UNC-Chapel Hill or UNC-Charlotte have signed up yet, but Chow said he anticipates that number to double in no time.

“I sent out an email to all of the faculty senate chairs at the UNC system schools and asked them if they think it’s a good idea to form an Asian caucus,” he said. “And the answer has been, unequivocally, yes.”

Chow, a Chinese American, grew up in Florida and has lived in Greensboro for about 15 years. As a child, Chow says he faced all kinds of racism, despite being tall, athletic and a star student.

In fourth grade, a classmate called him “eggroll.” In high school at a basketball camp, he was called “Jap” and “chink.”

And that hasn’t really ever stopped, he says.

“Every two years or so, something will happen,” he said. “Like out of the blue, someone will call me ‘chink.’”

Tiffany Lam-Balfour, a ChineseAmerican woman who was raised in Greensboro says that when rumors of the pandemic were first circulating in February of last year, she began experiencing microaggressions at work. When her assistant got sick, Lam-Balfour says she was blamed because she had experienced a 24-hour stomach bug a little while before.

“This coworker sprayed Lysol in my direction,” she said. “And then I started thinking, Is this because of the pandemic?”

CENTER PHOTO BY PERFECTA VISUALS

A few months later, one of Lam-Balfour’s neighbors was talking to her friend about the community HOA and referred to Lam-Balfour as a “Chinese bitch,” not knowing that her friend would later relay the remark to her.

“I don’t even know how this person knew I was Chinese,” she said. “But the venom of calling me a bitch when you don’t even know me — it’s just really upsetting.”

According to Stop AAPI Hate data, businesses are the most frequent sites of discrimination at 35 percent. Public streets and parks are the next most common.

That’s one of the reasons why Chow is passionate about creating an Asian caucus for the higher education system. He says that understanding racism within the workplace is key.

The goals of creating the caucus are threefold, he explains. One is to let Asian colleagues know that there is a support system. The caucus will also work to educate one another and the broader community about the unique challenges facing the Asian community.

While Chow is collecting stories from Asian colleagues across the highereducation system, two local women are working on compiling the experiences of

that rift can still be seen today.

How the model-minority myth creates a rift between communities and renders Asians invisible

C

Opinion Culture

Learn more about PAVE NC by reaching out to outreach@pavenc.org and by following them on social media @pavenc. They will also roll out their website, pavenc.org, on May 1.

To learn more about the UNC system’s Asian caucus, visit apicunc.org.

News

While hate crimes in the US decreased overall last year, those targeted at Asian Americans rose by nearly 150 percent.

and can eventually encompass the whole state. Eventually, they want to create resources that list local Asian-owned businesses and organizations as well.

According to Census data analyzed by the Pew Research Center, Asian Americans recorded the fastest population growth rate among all racial and ethnic groups in the United States between 2000 and 2019. That same growth is reflected at the state level, which shows that the Asian American population has increased by 175 percent in the last 19 years in North Carolina.

However, despite the rapid growth of the overall community, the Asian American diaspora is varied and broad, encompassing dozens of nationalities and languages. Because of that, Soper and Firesheets say they plan to incorporate the viewpoints of all Asians including those of Southeast Asian descent, the Montagnard community and those from the LGBTQ+ community.

“We need to create unity in the voice,” Soper said.

The time of being invisible is over, Chow says.

“We’ve remained quiet too long,” he said. “The consistent idea is that when shit hits the fan, we just keep going.

Instead of trying to attack racism, we just keep going. But we need to hit this directly.”

Up Front

how says some of the most racialized hate that has been directed at him over the years have come from Black individuals. A few years ago, Chow says his son was also targeted by a Black student who bullied him daily in elementary school. In a way, Chow says, it’s understandable when the complicated history between Black and Asian communities is coupled with the continued harassment and racism that Black people face on a daily basis.

“If you’re getting the shit beat out of you, you look to beat the shit out of someone else,” he said. “And Asians can be easy targets.”

In the New York incident, Brandon Elliot, a Black man, was the perpetrator who beat Vilma Kari after stating that “she didn’t belong here.”

And that’s a problem that the larger community has to face, Chow said.

“We have to address the elephant in the room,” he said. “It’s not unilateral but it seems to be a problem. I think the answer is solidarity and education….

That’s the only way to move forward.”

The model minority myth also acts

as a double-edged sword by rendering Asians invisible, Chow argues.

“My identity was wrapped up in success,” Chow said. “If I’m doing well, it’s because I’m a model minority, and not because I’m working hard.”

That kind of thinking leads to the erasure of Asian-American identities, says Soper who is both Korean and white.

“It can be a lonely life to be Asian American,” she said. “There are days when you are proud but some days where it’s hard.”

That can lend itself to staying quiet when people have been harmed, LamBalfour says.

“A lot of Asian people are inclined to not speak out and not rock the board,” she said.

“That’s how my parents taught me to be.”

To combat that invisibility, Soper and Firesheets are collecting personal stories from Asians in the community to share on a forthcoming website and social media platforms.

Their goal is to create high-quality content with professional photography and offer it to local businesses and organizations for free so the stories have a wider reach.

For the month of May, which is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, they plan to share stories weekly. For the first batch of stories, they reached out to local friends and family but they hope that the project catches on

April 29-May 4, 2021

Asians locally.

Christie Soper and Tina Firesheets are unveiling a new project called PAVE NC which seeks to raise awareness about the Asian community by sharing personal narratives as well as community resources.

“The recent attacks were definitely a springboard for this, but I think more than anything, our hope is to make ourselves more visible and make our stories more visible and to serve as a bridge-builder,” said Firesheets, who is a Korean adoptee.

Soper says that much of the publicity has been focused on the hate crimes and the negativity around the attacks, but she and Firesheets want to share stories of success and joy as well.

“In my opinion, the Asian-American community is complicit in being pretty invisible and not always being vocal,” Soper said. “Some of that is cultural but it became very important last year to combat that, to start leading a dialogue and to have conversations about what it means to be Asian American really.”

Part of what Soper, Firesheets and Chow are combatting as East Asians is the insidious concept of the “model minority” which arose in the mid-1960s as a way to cast Asians, particularly Chinese and Japanese Americans as the hardworking and ethical, “good” minorities compared to Black and Latinx Americans. The myth caused a rift between many Asian and Black and Latinx communities, seen most notably during the clash between Korean Americans and the Black community during the LA riots in the 1990s. But repercussions of

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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April 29-May 4, 2021 Up Front News Opinion Culture

OPINION EDITORIAL

What can we do about Andrew Brown?

I

t’s astonishing, really: The day after a Minnesota cop gets convicted for the murder of George Floyd, sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City, NC shoot and kill a 42-year-old Black man who had his hands on the steering wheel.

His name was Andrew Brown Jr., and on Monday his family saw 20 seconds of police body-camera video, the moments leading up to his death. According to the family and their lawyers, he died from a kill shot to the back of the head.

Pasquotank County deputies were out that night serving warrants in tactical gear, in the back of a pickup truck. They shot Brown five times. Footage seen by his family — 20 seconds worth — shows he had his hands on the steering wheel when a deputy delivered the kill shot to the back of his head.

Elizabeth City Mayor Bettie J. Parker declared a state of emergency in the city in the hours before the family viewed the footage, in anticipation of public release.

We still await the police body-camera footage in its entirety, and the continuation of due process, but there is some signal that the optics won’t be good for the Pasquotank Sheriff’s Office. Or for any of us, really.

The frequency with which Black Americans get killed by law enforcement is the whole point of Black Lives Matter; it’s what everybody’s been talking about all this time, behind every protest and march and chant and slogan.

It happens so often that we don’t even get a break on the day a cop gets a historic three felony charges for doing it.

And the lack of transparency even now is alarming.

In Greensboro, we’re still pursuing justice and transparency for Marcus Smith, killed in 2018 by Greensboro police during a mental-health emergency. It took three months for the body-camera footage to be released, only after the police chief allowed it and a judge ruled on it.

In Winston-Salem, we still have questions about the death of John Neville during a 24-hour stay in the Forsyth County jail — a death that wasn’t made public until six months after it happened. We didn’t see footage of his death until a coalition of media outlets demanded it with the force of law and activists occupied downtown for weeks.

Like Smith and Neville, Andrew Brown was a North Carolinian; he was one of ours. We owe it to him to find out the details of his death at the hands of police, to watch every second of his interaction on the night he was killed, to demand public release of the footage in its entirety if there is any delay.

At the same time, we shouldn’t get too hung up on these details, because an outstanding warrant is not a death sentence any more than a jail stay or a public mental breakdown. And police are not executioners.

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by Clay Jones

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Puzzles

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Carrie Kholi-Murchison of Winston-Salem was charged with making Whole30 more intersectional and inclusive.

How did growing up in Winston-Salem prepare you for your current role and why did you stay?

I’m also West African and so I also had a very African kind of childhood, like a kind of immigrant childhood.

I spent my time split between Black and white worlds.

In a lot of ways, Winston is very, very white when you go outside of Black neighborhoods. And it prepared me for what was to be expected of me in some form of leadership.

I grew up in a West African-American home in the south with real middle-class values and honestly, it was a lot of expectation…. There was so much at stake for us because I had parents who were expecting me to be the world and have all of these things. There was probably a lot of disappointment on their behalf. I don’t think they expected to have a queer kid; I had a lot of feelings around not belonging. I want folks to always feel like they belong and I’m obviously still doing that with my work. So, we just wanted to be [in WinstonSalem] and figure our way into those spaces and bring our work as close to home as possible.

Puzzles

What I do recognize in hindsight, is that I grew up in a very Black family. A very Black family that did Black things.

I grew up in Black churches in Winston-Salem, so I knew about how to organize around food tables. I knew how to get people together to network, grouping resources as a way of care. I think so much of my life in Winston was about food as a point of caring, of figuring out how to build community and then figuring out how that community was going to take care of each other.

I still do that, but it’s on a very different level. It’s not everybody gathered in my grandmother’s kitchen on a Sunday, but it’s about me trying to get folks to recognize that those are valid ways of being…. It’s what we’re doing now is trying to build a brighter future, a more inclusive future, and useful future for everyone.

COURTESY IMAGE

Shot in the Triad

Creating systems to check and to recognize unintended harm, that must be built into the foundation of a company. Creating spaces for different intersections of personalities and culture was needed. The company space was full of middle-class white women and that space was not built for people of color, multicultural or diverse populations. Representation is real, and systematic oppression and bias exist. It started with conversations. Paying collaborators for their recipes and time,

Culture

What, in your opinion, needed to change within Whole30 to be accessible for all?

We started by acknowledging what it means for the company and what equitable action looks like, what it means to define diversity for the community, what it means to be included for a company that exists in a digital space while being accountable to business partners and the Whole30 community. We had to create a space for all of these things.

One of the first things we did was going back to how do we talk to one another. Everyone feels connected because of the internet, but the voices don’t match. We had to agree to a set standard for engagement and lean into that and build from there. Anyone should be able to do Whole30. If that is being led by white people, how do we take Whole30 and make this a point of communal wellness?

We are more privileged by actively not talking about Black bodies, so we have to do it. We have to make clear our values and educate the community. We want to acknowledge how food is more than how we feed ourselves.

Opinion

CKM: Whole30 is not a diet. It’s a 45-day elimination protocol where people eliminate inflammatory foods like dairy, sugar and alcohol. It’s a self-experiment that helps people establish and transform their health habits and relationship with food. It’s intended to help humans make sure they never have to be on a lifelong diet and that they can experience freedom in nourishing themselves without unexpected illness and intolerance.

As an individual, I know that the information and habits you receive from doing a Whole30 can literally change your life. It has mine, especially as a person that used to suffer from inflammation and terrible breakouts and food allergies. So, it’s a process that I want absolutely everyone to know about.

How did Whole30 change its diversity initiatives with you at the helm?

News

How would you describe Whole30 and what does it mean to you?

changing the Whole30 cookbook from hardback to softcover to lower the price, changing the recipes to reflect the cultural appreciation of food and the historical pathways of ingredients.

Up Front

tkins, keto, Mediterranean, Zone, DASH, paleo, lowcarb, Weight Watchers.

You’ve likely heard of them or even tried a few; they’re diets.

But have you heard of Whole30?

Started in 2009 by Melissa Hartwig Urban, Whole30 is a

by Nikki Miller-Ka diet that discourages the consumption of sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy for 30 days. It permits meat, seafood, eggs, veggies, fruit and fats like vegetable oils and coconut oil, and tree nuts. Now there are Whole30 online coaches, cookbooks, branded salad dressings, blogs and podcasts.

Upon creation, white women flocked to the wellness cult in droves. But an internal audit of users of the program found that there was a dearth of respect to communities of color, especially Black users of Whole30 as well. The program has always been free and easily accessible online but the audit revealed that involvement in the program was about more than just the fiscal cost. No cultural and heritage recipes were represented accurately. People were not seeing themselves in the Whole30 online community. Something had to be done.

That’s where Carrie Kholi-Murchison comes in. As a queer, femme, Southern Black woman and a WinstonSalem resident, Kholi embraces multiple identities, making her the perfect fit as Whole30’s vice president of social impact and strategy. In the position, she leads diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across all Whole30 platforms and works to enhance the quality of life for historically marginalized communities.

April 29-May 4, 2021

NIK SNACKS Q&A: Carrie Kholi-Murchison on inclusivity at Whole30

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April 29-May 4, 2021 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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As COVID-19 slows down, local farmers remain optimistic

H

arvey Moser isn’t complaining. If anything, he’s looking forward to a new season at the local markets.

Moser and his wife

by James Douglas Susan own and manage Moser Manor Farm in King.

“We grow everything from artichokes to zucchini,” he says proudly from his booth at the Cobblestone Farmers Market. His sunworn face and callused hands echo the signs of life on his farm.

Now is a busy time for local growers.

Cultivating spring growth is a risky proposition for a lot of growers because of late frosts and unpredictable weather. Despite preparations, even the most experienced growers have their difficulties as fresh seedlings, blooms and fruits can easily be “bitten back” in a night if the temperature unexpectedly dips too low.

Still, the Mosers say they had better produce sales last year, during the pandemic summer, than the year before. Increased time at home combined with grocery shortages contributed to a boom in local farmers DEB FOX Susan and Harvey Moser of Moser Manor Farm sell produce at Cobblestone Farmer’s Market on Saturdays in Winston-Salem. markets, they say.

Ken Vanhoy of Rail Fence Farm in Belews those time-tested guides, Creek says something similar. the almost-mystical “We saw a significant increase in plant sales,” Vanhoy elements of the moon, says. “When things get a little rough, people tend to anatomy based on zodiac want to do more homegrown stuff.” placement and even the Vanhoy has been gardening since he was a child but amount of moss on trees has worked full time as a grower for over a decade, a that year can predict a job he’s held since he was laid off during the 2008 recesgood season. sion.

Moser’s assessment of “Even during the recession, we saw a pretty big the current state of the bump,” he recalls. weather sounds equally Asked about the recent cold snaps, Vanhoy says that supernatural. the temperatures hit fruit growers hard in this area. He “We don’t plant anysays strawberries are of particular concern this time of thing until after the 15th year because they are an early spring growth. Still, while of May because we’ve a few local growers lost a portion of their strawberry still got ‘blackberry wincrops, NC Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler ter’ to go yet,” he says. stated earlier this month that the “recent hard frost He explained that the kept strawberry growers busy protecting the plants’ Native Americans said tender blooms, but… those efforts have been successthat when the blackberful, and consumers will be able to find local berries.” ries were in full bloom, Moser says he is remains optimistic despite the to expect a cold spell up recent frosts. until mid-May. “We had grapevines getting ready to bloom and [the With the shutdown re- Ken Vanhoy of Rail Fence Farm started growing full time during the COURTESY PHOTO frost] took them out,” he says. “Hopefully it’ll come 2008 recession. strictions easing up, and back, we don’t ever know.” as more of the populace Most farmers watch the weather with the intensity last year, it had to be a labor of love ‘cause there was no returns to normalcy, Moser expects that this spring of a bookie at a horse race, but the old ways still play a money. Now things are changing.” season will prove to be a litmus test for the future. His part. Most Farmer’s Almanacs detail weather forecasts His near sold-out booth indicates as much. infectious optimism expects another successful season but also include trends, and astrological signs that of produce sales followed by a strong summer. have informed growers for generations. According to “What we do, we do for love,” Moser says. “Up until

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‘Let’s create something together’ — Etc. does it in Glenwood

Up Front News Opinion Culture

A pop-up festival in the backyard on March 25 was Etc.’s introduction to the Glenwood neighborhood.

JAK KERLEY

Puzzles

spaces he visited in his home country of Greece. Strickland to brush the legs of passersby. The shop is just one addition to says Dial House in Essex, England, founded by writer Penny Etc. that emphasizes its versatility as a collective.

Rimbaud, and Crack Cloud, a Vancouver-based multimedia “The one thing we all knew when we were coming up with collective, are her biggest inspirations. Kerley’s background in the concept of this place is that it wasn’t gonna be just one filmmaking and photography has taken him to collectives in thing,” Kerley says. “We knew we were gonna have a plant Europe, New Zealand and Australia. shop, live events and flea markets.”

“What we’re essentially doing is taking our To Strickland, who sees herself as an artidea and applying it to that thread that is ist, healer and activist, Etc. is not just an Learn more about Etc. similar to all these other places, but with our art space; it’s a refuge. She says the group influences,” Kerley says. hopes the space will “empower people to by following them on Although the preparation of the building’s feel a sense of community and belong in real, Instagram @etc.gso. interior is still in the works, the exterior is authentic ways.” beautified by Ralph’s Plant Shop, a fenced Basically, Etc. is a space for any and everyarea that is an extension of Soverio’s Trithing, as shown by its name.

County Garden Center in High Point.

“We really wanted to embrace being a unique space for all “Slowly but surely we’re working on improving Etc. more on kinds of art, whether that’s a printmaking shop, zines, film, the outside firstly,” Braxton says. music, dance parties or a yoga class and anything else,” StrickIn it, shoppers can find garden decor, house plants and even land says. “Let’s create something together.” pet food. The greenery placed in the middle of the shop appears bright and healthy, some plants extending far enough

Shot in the Triad

he sweet smell of marinated pork from the Bulgarian Taco pop-up filled the air. Medium-sized dogs, connected to their owners by close leashes, wagged tails in excitement as their humans shopped for handcrafted goods from local businesses. Nearby, Peter Daye, who owns and operates Cut the Music Prints, set up his mobile T-shirt printing press to create custom shirts for patrons. On Sunday, Etc., Greensboro’s new do-it-yourself collective, introduced itself to the community with its inaugural market.

Located in the historic Glenwood neighborhood, Etc. occupies the former space of the now-defunct On Pop of the World Studios. Etc.’s Instagram page says it “represents a love for DIY, music, creative workshops, pop-up flea markets, wellness, and more.” It was founded by six individuals — Jak Kerley, Michael Nardone, Matt Gashow, Briana Strickland, Yanni Xoinis and Ben Braxton — who share a background in some form of artmaking. They pride themselves on their nonconformist “do-it-yourself” attitude, which helped them transform the building into their unique space.

“We all have that same punk ethos where we all probably slept at someone’s house and they had a nice bookshelf and [we] made it a workshop or a space,” Nardone says.

The collective’s inaugural market was held behind the building, the backyard enclosed by a wooden fence covered in faded, spray-painted words and figures, remnants of the music studio that was once there. More than 10 vendors sold jewelry, candles paintings and more. The white bus that is home to Boomerang Bookshop, a Greensboro-based mobile bookstore, sat furthest from the entrance to the yard, opening its doors towards the guests. Inside the bus was a library of texts featuring topics like philosophy, religion and human sexuality.

According to Kerley, the use of the space inside the freshly painted brick-red building on the corner of Grove Street will be controlled by its visitors, not Etc.’s creators.

“We’re gonna let the space become what it needs to become to fulfill the needs of the community around us,” he says.

As far as its interior decoration, the crew is drawing inspiration from places they’ve visited around the world. Xoinis’ decorative eye is influenced by the DIY

April 29-May 4, 2021

by Michaela Ratliff

9

Gate City Boulevard, Greensboro

April 29-May 4, 2021 Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Puzzles

Beef Burger, the morning after. Hundreds of people flocked to the restaurant on Monday due to a rumor circulating on social media that they were closing. Known colloquially as Biff-Burger, the restaurant has been a beloved Greensboro spot since the early 1960s.

10

CAROLYN DE BERRY

by Matt Jones

If you read

Across

then you know...

• Why Rhiannon Giddens does what she does

• How fees affect driver’s licenses

• Why the streetlights are

Up Front

purple

Triad City Beat — If you know, you know ©2021 Jonesin’ Crosswords

(editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

News

To get in front of the best readers in the Triad, contact Chris or Drew

Answers from previous publication.

chris@triad-city-beat.com drew@triad-city-beat.com

Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

1 “Dis or ___” (“You Don’t Know Jack” round) 4 Ozone depleter, for short 7 Brotherhood brothers 12 Obama’s first chief of staff Rahm 14 Fragmented 16 *”Feel the need to get in hot water? Ask your doctor if ___ is right for you.”

17 *”Are you managing your health under ‘New Rules’? Ask your doctor if ___ ...”

19 Our top story?

20 Things to pick 22 Film set in cyberspace 23 7, on a grandfather clock 24 Chime in 26 Prefix meaning “iron-containing” © 2021 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 27 Maritime patrol org.

29 *”Lack of unusual influences getting you down? Ask your doctor if ___ ...”

31 “Atlas Shrugged” novelist Rand 33 “And giving ___, up the chimney he rose” 34 Marlins’ MLB div.

35 In-browser programs 39 Tiny amounts 41 Conk out 42 Feast on the beach 44 Roman 1011 45 *”Do you need to reach higher in life? Ask your doctor if ___ ...”

Answers from last issue 48 Aquafina rival 9 Bucks’ org.

52 Game show host Convy and Muppet 10 Out of ___ (askew) ... well, we don’t get a last name 11 Like some renditions 53 Gnocchi-like dumplings 13 Rapa ___ (Easter Island, to locals) (from the Italian for “naked”) 15 Trivia quiz website that also offers pub trivia 55 “Who Let the Dogs Out?” group Baha ___ 18 Licorice-flavored seeds 56 “You’re in trou-bllle ...”

21 See 4-Down 57 Poison lead singer Michaels 25 Kept inside 58 Barely enough 26 Former Army base in N.J. 60 *”Want to feel like you did it your way?

28 Gadot of “Wonder Woman” Ask your doctor if ___ ...”

30 Scarfed, even more slangily 62 *”Feel like the only way to be cured is by 32 Barks sharply meat? Ask your doctor if ___ ...”

35 Marinated Philippine dishes 64 Milk acid 36 Disinfectant ingredient 65 Seven days from now 37 Kuala Lumpur’s ___ Towers skyscrapers 66 Nebraska senator Ben who voted to impeach 38 Provide table talk? in the February 2021 trial 40 “What’s the ___?” (“So what?”)

67 ___ Equis 43 ___ Reader (alternative digest) 68 “Black-ish” dad 46 Home of Odysseus and Penelope Down 47 Won on eBay, usually 49 Took an x-ray of, perhaps 1 “Done it before” feeling 50 Kendall or Kylie 2 Cremona violins 51 Consumption 3 Gambit 54 Cozumel y Mallorca, por ejemplo 4 Capital of the 21-Down Empire 57 Rite performed by a mohel 5 Moroccan hat 59 Dairy dweller 6 Medical center 61 Some two-door Audi models 7 Age range for most high-schoolers 63 One of “Two Virgins” on a 1968 album cover 8 Heavy burden

April 29-May 4, 2021

CROSSWORD ‘Ask Your Doctor’—they sound like prescriptions. SUDOKU

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