TCB Sept. 30, 2021 — Mapping it out

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

TRIAD-CITY-BEAT.COM

Mapping It Out

Redistricting hits the Triad.

What it is, how it’s going and how to get involved.

BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA | PAGE 6

april parker ascends PAGE 8

a wedding amongst friends PAGE 10

yusef salaam in w-s PAGE 11

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

The hackers, the haters and me

I

n the beginning, it was all DDoS attacks that would crash the website immediately and keep it down for about an hour.

by Brian Clarey They landed regularly, on our publication date — we came out on Wednesdays back then — and whenever we broke a big story on the site.

This was before I learned to operate my own server, before I knew about remote caching, before I began to build the Triad City Beat digital security web, which, by nature, will forever be a work in progress.

And I believed I knew where these attacks were coming from. The suspect was a disgruntled blogger with a history of online chicanery who actually created a TCB haters group on Facebook, where he posted a link to the website “stress test” I believe he used. And I only know this because he didn’t make the group private until after I’d already seen it.

A DDoS — which stands for “distributed denial of service” — happens when too may entities request resources from a website all at once. We still get the occasional DDoS, though it takes a massive one to crash us these days and I can quash it immediately using my phone.

Website security is an arms race, with

the advantage always belonging to the aggressor who must constantly find new ways to sow chaos, as opposed to the vigilant publisher who must always be on the defense.

Thusly I’ve been keeping these bitches at bay for years, until a new hack squirmed its way into our site repeatedly for the last couple months, always on Thursday, which is the day our paper comes out. Because that’s when most of the content drops, it’s often the busiest day each week on our website.

This one was redirect malware, which sent every user at triad-city-beat.com to a spam site that promised a sweepstakes win or some such bullshit. The code was insidious, exempting page admins from the redirect so they did not see it happening, masquerading as a plugin but hidden from the WordPress interface, creating php tables that had to be tracked down and scrubbed. We needed new user passwords and a new layer of security that basically fries any piece of code sent to our website unless it comes from me personally.

Scorched earth, baby.

I know I’ll never fully defeat the hackers and the haters. They are innumerable and relentless, in the manner of rats or termites.

But their attention shows me and everyone else at TCB that if we’re publishing things people don’t want others to see, then we’re on the right track.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Thurs. September 30th

Sat. OCTOBER 2nd

Sat. OCTOBER 9th

Before this, no one came and sat down with us and asked us who we were, where we came from, what happened.

—Yusef Salaam pg 11

Sam Fribush Trio Fri. OCTOBER 1st

Southern Gothic Fri. OCTOBER 8th

HISS Afterparty - Sam Fribush Trio

Sun. OCTOBER 10th

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COVER Illustration by Robert Paquette

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

3

UP FRONT | SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

CITY LIFE SEPT. 30-OCT. 3

by Michaela Ratliff

THURSDAY Sept. 30

The Unmarked Initiative: Historic Black Cemeteries @ Oddfellows Cemetery (W-S)

30 Portraits for 30 Years Exhibit @ Center for Visual Artists (GSO) 6 p.m.

Join Dance Project on First Friday as they celebrate 30 years of the NC Dance Festival with a photo exhibit featuring 30 portraits captured by Durham-based photographer Zoe Litaker. They will be on display until Oct. 23. For more information, visit the event page on Facebook and danceproject.org/ncdf.

Monty Python’s Spamalot @ High Point Theatre (HP) 7:30 p.m.

To raise awareness and generate support for historic Black cemeteries in the area, Preservation Forsyth, a/perture Cinema, Senior Services, Inc., Friends of Oddfellows Cemetery, Happy Hill Cemetery Friends, and the William C. Sims Center have partnered to host The Unmarked Initiative.

Unmarked, a documentary examining the history of America’s Black cemeteries, will be shown. For more information, visit the event page on Facebook.

Fall Paint Night @ The Smooth Edge (GSO) 6 p.m.

PARTICIPATE IN OUR RESEARCH with Dr. Blair Wisco at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro

WE’RE EXAMINING: emotional and physical reactions to memories of stressful or traumatic experiences.

YOU MUST BE: •Age 18 or older •Able to read and write in English THE BASICS: •5 visits to our lab within 2 weeks •$150 total compensation

WHAT YOU’LL DO: •Interviews and questionnaires (3 hour visit)

The Smooth Edge invites creators of all levels to a night of fall-themed painting. All materials will be provided. Water and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided, but you’re welcome to bring your own beverage! Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at thesmoothedgebrand.com.

An Evening of Poetry @ Scuppernong Books (GSO) 7 p.m.

High Point Community Theatre invites you to their performance of Monty Python’s Spamalot, a musical-comedy rendition of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they try to obtain the Holy Grail. To purchase tickets, head to hpct. net.

SATURDAY Oct. 2

Holiday Market @ Covenant Church (HP) 9 a.m.

Get a headstart on holiday shopping at Covenant Church’s 14th annual holiday market. More than 60 vendors will be in attendance selling crafts, art and other items to gift yourself or someone else. Check out the event page on Facebook for more information.

Oktoberfest @ SouthEnd Brewing Co. (GSO) 2 p.m.

•Monitor your bodily reactions while you think of past experiences (2 hour visit) •Wear a cardiac monitor and answer questions on a tablet computer on 3 days (30 min set-up per day)

WANT TO SEE IF YOU’RE ELIGIBLE?

CONTACT US TO GET STARTED! You will be asked to complete screening questions online and over the phone.

Email or call us to get more information and be directed to the online survey.

Or, scan the QR code to take you straight there.

4

Dr. Blair Wisco - UNCG

copelab@uncg.edu

Poets Michael Gaspeny and Sam Barbee will be at Scuppernong Books discussing their own works and the importance of poetry. Head to scuppernongbooks.com for more information.

FRIDAY Oct. 1

Carolina Classic Fair @ Winston-Salem Fairgrounds & Annex (W-S) 11 a.m.

The Carolina Classic Fair is back with your favorite fair foods, rides and performances. For daily schedules, tickets and more information, go to carolinaclassicfair.com.

SouthEnd Brewing Co. is hosting a three-day Oktoberfest celebration including a vendor market, cold beer, games, live music and more! Stay updated with each day’s events on SouthEnd’s Facebook page.

Who Let the Dogs Out: A Bunker Dogs Show @ Mountcastle Black Box Theatre (W-S) 8 p.m.

Winston-Salem based comedy troupe Bunker Dogs invites you to their first improv show in over a year at Arts Council’s Mountcastle Black Box Theatre.

The troupe specializes in Chicago-style short form comedy. Tickets can be purchased at intothearts.org or by calling the box office at 336.747.1414.

Learn more about Bunker Dogs at bunkerdogsimprov.com.

Queersboro Meet Up @ Greensboro Arboretum (GSO) 12 p.m.

Coronavirus in the Triad: (As of Wednesday, Sept. 29)

Documented COVID-19 diagnoses NC 1,390,489 (+39,792)

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021 | UP FRONT

SUNDAY Oct. 3

Forsyth 48,800 (+1,158) Queersboro is inviting LGBTQ+ locals and allies to a hangout during Art in the Arboretum. Meet new people while viewing art from more than 40 artists, live entertainment, a honeybee exhibit and more. Visit the event page on Facebook and greensborobeautiful.org for more information.

Family First: A Menagerie of Masks @ Reynolda House Museum of American Art (W-S) 2 p.m.

Reynolda is hosting a series of Family First workshops designed for children and adults to get creative togther. This week, create a mask using the template provided or come up with your own design. Advance registration is required and can be done at reynolda.org, where you can also find future Family First events.

Guilford County

62,440 (+1,855)

COVID-19 deaths NC

16,444 (+503)

Forsyth

507 (+12)

Guilford

803 (+2)

FSPW Presents: Tell the Vision @ FireStar Arena (GSO) 7 p.m.

FireStar Pro Wrestling invites you to view several extreme matches in the new FireStar Arena. A ribbon cutting ceremony is at 6, with matches beginning at 7. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Documented recoveries NC

1,297,563 (+42,395)

Forsyth

*no data*

Guilford

57,849 (+1,654)

Current cases NC

76,690 (-2,898)

Forsyth

*no data*

Guilford

3,760 (+172)

Hospitalizations (right now) NC

3,010 (-454)

Forsyth

*no data*

Guilford

148 (+1)

Vaccinations NC First Dose

5,591,141 (+52,978)

Fully vaccinated

5,564,973 (53%, +73,072)

Forsyth First Dose

220,844 (+1,670)

Fully vaccinated

205,317 (54%, +2,217)

Guilford First dose

314,782 (+2,454)

Fully vaccinated

295,380 (55%, +2,928)

5

NEWS | SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

6

NEWS

What redistricting looks like in the Triad and how to get involved

by Sayaka Matsuoka

I

n just over a year, Americans across the country will head to the polls to vote for members of Congress, state legislatures and many local offices. That goes for North Carolinians, too. And the choices that voters have will depend on the district lines that are currently being drawn through a process known as redistricting.

So what is it?

Most elected officials, including members of Congress, state legislators and, locally, county and city officials, are elected by voters grouped into districts.

But because populations change over time, every 10 years, after the official Census count, districts are redrawn to be reflective of the new electorate. That process is happening now.

In North Carolina, state legislators are tasked with redrawing districts. There are 19 members of the House Redistricting Committee and 16 members of the Senate Redistricting Committee. But states like NC, in which legislators are tasked with redrawing districts, have shown to have a contentious history with the task. Often, lawmakers draw up maps to seize political advantage for the next decade, otherwise known as gerrymandering.

Our state has been a hot spot for legal fights over political maps for the last three decades, including several court cases in the last 10 years. After the Republican takeover of the General Assembly in the 2010 elections, Republican leadership set out to redraw maps in their favor, leading to challenges in court in 2016, 2018 and, most recently, in 2019. While gerrymandering occurs in many forms in differing states, most of the Republican-made maps in NC were struck down for discriminating specifically and “surgically” against Black voters and Democrats. Now, with new Census data at hand, state legislators are tasked with creating fair maps.

According to Census data, North Carolina’s population grew by 9.5 percent, adding 903,905 residents, which means the state gained an extra Congressional representative and coinciding district. At the city level, Greensboro grew by 10.3 percent, adding more than 30,000 residents and remains the state’s third largest city behind Charlotte and Raleigh. During the same time period, Winston-Salem grew by 8.7 percent for a total population of 249,545, while High

Point grew by 9.3 percent to 114,059.

How does redistricting work and why it is important?

F

or the last several weeks, members of the state redistricting committees have been hosting public hearings in various cities across the state.

On Sept. 14, close to 100 people showed up to Forsyth County Technical College to voice their opinions about how the state should be divided this time around.

Several people urged the legislators in attendance to keep cities together.

Al Jabbar, president of the WinstonSalem/Forsyth County chapter of the NAACP, warned the representatives against “packing” and “cracking,” two common gerrymandering practices used to either dilute the voting power of a particular group across several districts or concentrate the voting power into one district to reduce their power in others.

One example was a few years ago when legislators split NC A&T State University in half, creating two precincts on campus.

“Cities and towns should not be split unnecessarily,” Jabbar stated during the meeting. “And people shouldn’t be packed into a few districts.”

In 2011, when the state legislators redrew the maps, they used racial data to pack Black voters into as few districts as possible. This created as many districts with majority Black voters as possible, thus limiting their voting power. In 2019, Republicans set out to diminish the power of Democrats’ vote by packing them into a small number of districts to dilute the vote. Currently, the Congressional map has Greensboro, Winston-Salem and most of High Point in the same district, but many speakers on Sept. 14 noted that High Point should not be split. Now, as legislators redraw maps for the 2022 elections, they are working on a very tight deadline because of the late Census data, according to Lekha Shupeck, the NC director for All on the Line, a national organization that works to end gerrymandering and increase awareness about redistricting.

“We are in a situation where we’re having a very abbreviated process,” Shupeck said. “The last time we redrew maps we had five to six months. Now we have just eight to 10 weeks.”

In addition to that, the public hearings

across the state have been held typically in the middle of the day, making it difficult for people who work to attend.

“It doesn’t give people an opportunity to give feedback,” she said.

That’s why the biggest thing that All on the Line is advocating for is transparency in the process.

“At minimum we would want to see what we did in 2019, where they did the map-drawing in public,” Shupeck said. “Ideally what would happen is the map-drawing would happen in public hearings across the state and the parts being drawn would be relevant to the district. I would love to see drawings at they happen in real time.”

So far, the state has held 11 public hearings across the state and will hold two more on Wednesday in Wilmington and on Thursday in Fayetteville. For those who weren’t able to attend the meetings but wanted to give input on how the Congressional and state maps should be drawn, voters can submit comments on the general assembly’s website.

At this rate, Shupeck said that the actual map-drawing process will start sometime in October with the final maps to be completed by mid November so that candidates can start filing for the 2022 election.

After the maps are drawn, the committees will vote on whether to approve of the maps. Shupeck said she has been told that, because of the tight timeline, there won’t be another public hearing after the committee members decide on a map, to hear what the public thinks about it.

“Because we’re having this more abbreviated process, it shuts people out,” she said.

Still, Shupeck noted that it’s important to understand the redistricting process and to get involved if able because of the impact redistricting has on everybody’s lives.

“Redistricting impacts every issue that anybody cares about,” Shupeck.

She noted issues like Medicaid and education being important topics that voters care about but haven’t been passed or fixed because of past gerrymandering. In order to fix that, Shupeck said that the ideal process would to not have legislators drawing the maps. Instead, she advocates for having a nonpartisan redistricting body do the mapmaking.

“Taking legislators out of the process

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

How gerrymandering works.

would be the main thing that would create a fairer process in North Carolina,” she said.

States that have opted for this model include California, Michigan, Virginia and New Jersey. And locally, at the city level, Greensboro recently created an advisory committee of people appointed by city council to help create a new map for the city.

Redistricting in Greensboro, High Point and Guilford County

L

ike at the national and state level, legislative bodies at the local level are in charge of redistricting.

That means for the city of Greensboro, the city council is tasked with drawing city maps and that goes for the county commissioners and the school board for county maps, too. However, for Greensboro, an advisory committee was created and consists of seven members who were appointed by nonpartisan groups.

Rev. Bradley Hunt of the Greensboro Chapter of the NAACP told TCB that as of Tuesday, the committee had narrowed down about four working maps to one proposed option. This option, known as “C2 Draft Map” was created after

maps using the app and submit them for consideration until Thursday at 5 p.m.

Because the mapmaking is being left to the commissioners themselves, Alston stated that they haven’t narrowed down the maps yet. He noted that he hopes to have maps to review on Oct. 6 and to have a possible final map by Oct. 7.

“I’m going to make sure it’s fair based on the increased numbers that we’ve had,” Alston said. “Some of those increases are in more districts than others so we have to even those out. Some of the precincts in some districts have to be changed. We’ll take those into account along with demographics.”

Based on the 2020 Census, Guilford County has a population of 541,299, an increase of 10.8 percent in the last ten years.

According to Janson Silvers with Guilford County Schools, the school board is not redrawing their maps. Instead, Silvers said that they will likely be using the same maps that the county commissioners end up drawing for school board member districts.

“We don’t have the ability to handle drawing our own district lines,” Silver told TCB. While the rules for how maps can be drawn differ slightly between the state and local guidelines, the basic rules are the same. The districts have to have equal populations, be contiguous, be compact and include communities of interest.

In High Point, Deputy City Manager Randy McCaslin told TCB that because they don’t have city council elections for another two years, that they haven’t started the redistricting process yet.

“We’re lucky,” McCaslin said. “We’re not under an immediate gun to get everything redistricted and our ward maps redrawn.”

High Point’s population increased by 9.3 percent to 114,059 in the last 10 years, according to Census data. Using this information, McCaslin said that they’ll likely start the redistricting process sometime in 2022 and they’ll probably use an outside consultant, much like Greensboro is doing this year.

“They’ll look at the federal requirements, the population shifts and come up with recommendations to recommend to city council but we haven’t started that process yet,” McCaslin said.

What about Winston-Salem and Forsyth County?

L

ike with High Point, WinstonSalem city council had their elections last fall so the city is

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021 | NEWS

consulting with attorneys hired by the city from the Parker Poe firm. The map, linked on the city’s redistricting website, moves precinct G26 from District 2 to District 3 and Precinct G13 from District 3 to District 4. This Thursday, members of the public will have the opportunity to submit their comments during the redistricting committee meeting. The city plans to upload an interactive map with the current redistricting draft maps online on their website on Wednesday.

The toughest part of the redistricting process, Hunt said, was trying to make sure that the population sizes for all of the districts were about equal. According to state law, the population of each district must be within five percent of the ideal. Greensboro’s population is 299,035 so each district would need close to 59,807 residents. Going into the redistricting process, District 2 had 62,801 residents, making it the largest district in the city. District 5, with 58,060 residents, had the least. With the proposed C2 draft map, the population sizes for each district would be as follows: 61,739 in District 1; 58,172 in District 2; 61,042 in District 3; 60,022 in District 4 and 58,060 in District 5. One of the reasons both District 2 and 5 would have the lowest populations is because data shows that these two districts are the mostly likely to grow and have the most potential for population growth, Hunt said.

“We see that there has been growth in East Greensboro so as we look to the future, I think we want to make sure that we give everyone one person, one vote,” Hunt said.

On the other hand, District 4 which is “landlocked” by Districts 5, 1 and 3, has less room to grow because of lack of housing and vacant lots, which District 2 has a lot of.

Ultimately, the evaluations done by the committee are strictly recommendations and will have to be voted on by city council before the final map gets decided. In the end, Hunt said their job was to make sure the maps were fair.

“We just wanted to make sure that the maps reflect the population of the city,” he said.

At the county level, Skip Alston, the board chair of the county commissioners told TCB that they don’t have an advisory committee or a separate entity drawing their maps. Instead, he said that each commissioner is working on creating their own maps using the county’s redistricting app, which they will bring to their next meeting on Oct. 6. The public has the opportunity to also create county

The C2 draft map of the city of Greensboro

not in a rush to redistrict just yet. While some cities have staggered elections for their council, Winston-Salem voters elect all eight ward members and the mayor every four years so the next election wouldn’t be until 2024.

Because of this, the city won’t be looking at data from the Census to draw new maps until October, said Aaron King, interim assistant city manager for Winston-Salem.

“That will be the kickoff to the redistricting process in Winston-Salem,” King said. “Our next municipal elections won’t be until 2024 so our time frame isn’t as quick as other local governments.

We’re in a good situation in that we have more time.”

While the legal standard for drawing districts is that they have to be within a 5 percent differential from the ideal, King said that as a city, they would like to be under 2 percent if possible.

“We try to get that different much tighter than 5 percent to ensure the ‘one person, one vote’ ideal,” King said.

King noted that once city staff starts looking at the Census data and presenting information to city council, they’ll start hosting public information sessions that will allow the community to give input on the new maps. That will likely take place early next year, he said. And then they’ll also host a public meeting before the final maps are decided, King said.

At the county level, Forsyth County Attorney Gordon Watkins told TCB that because county commissioners have staggered terms, they are working on redistricting right now.

“Our board has staggered terms so we

SCREENSHOT

have elections every two years,” Watkins said. “So we definitely need to get it done soon.”

According to the 2020 Census, Forsyth County’s population is 382,590, an increase of 9.1 percent since 2010.

Last year, Republican incumbents David Plyler, Gloria Whisenhunt and Richard Linville were all re-elected to District B. The four remaining commissioners on the board — Tonya McDaniel (D) and Fleming El-Amin (D) of District, Don Martin (R) of District B and Ted Kaplan (D) in the at-large seat — will be up for re-election in 2022.

According to Watkins, the county will be holding an information meeting for the public on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at the county commissioner’s office and via live stream. Based on the population changes for the county, Watkins said that there is a need to decrease the population for District B and a need to increase the population for District A. That being the case, so far Watkins has presented the commissioners with four different maps that would bring each district closer to their ideal sizes. The options so far are to move Precinct 033, 122, 601 or 905 from District B to District A. The plan, Watkins said, is to narrow down the options to one map by their Oct. 7 meeting and to have the board vote on a final map by Oct. 21.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools is also likely in the midst of redistricting at the moment because both have several seats up for re-election in 2022. However, TCB could not confirm the details of their redistricting process in time for this article.

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NEWS | SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

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First but not the last: April Parker is managing director at Elsewhere

by Sayaka Matsuoka

O

n Monday, Elsewhere Museum announced that longtime collaborator and former Creative Catalyst Fellow April Parker was stepping into a new role as managing director.

“I wanted to be in a decision-making role,” Parker told Triad City Beat. “Elsewhere has always been a political home.

It’s one of the few historically-white organizations that didn’t immediately shut down when asked to be anti-racist.”

While Parker’s relationship with Elsewhere has spanned more than a decade, much of her artistic work has been most apparent in the last year. Since the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Parker has used art through Elsewhere to highlight Black identity, intersectionality and power. One of her most captivating works has been the Unveiling Monuments series in which Parker posed on top of a plinth in the Greenhill Cemetery that once held the statue of a Confederate soldier. Parker orchestrated the Mourning Drive, a funerary procession that wound through downtown Greensboro to the burial marker of the five people murdered during the 1979 Greensboro Massacre. Parker was also one of the primary organizers who pushed for the recognition of Juneteenth as a citywide holiday in Greensboro and helped to create a Black artist retreat at Elsewhere in the last year. Her work, in its essence, has always been about storytelling and using art and activism to uplift the afflicted.

“Elsewhere’s vision is, ‘With people and things, we build collaborative future,’” Parker says. “There are Black people in the future. I want to see what happens when an organization truly values and centers Blackness, both for reaching its potential, but for modeling for other organizations what is possible.

“I am an architect of Black spaces,” Parker continues. “I always have been and with this leadership position I can explore, orchestrate and evolve as an artist and utilize Elsewhere’s institutional power and influence both nationally and internationally, and leverage that to change Greensboro.”

In addition to the Mourning Drive and the Unveiling Monuments series, Parker has worked closely with the Magnolia House, a historic site in Greensboro that is one of the last remaining Green Book sites in the state. For her, preserving Black spaces like Magnolia House is an important part of an artist’s

IRVING ALLEN

April’s relationship with Elsewhere spans more than a decade, but her work in the last year and a half has been some of the most visible.

— Black, queer, immigrant.” work, especially as the city undergoes Moving forward, Parker says she rapid change and gentrification. hopes to continue “We’re seeing creating spaces by rapid changes in ‘I want to see what happens and for Black artdowntown,” she says. “As a commu- when an organization truly ists. In the end, she envisions her role nity organizer, and values and centers Blackas one that sustains now art administraand lends itself to tor, I have a height- ness, both for reaching its ened awareness of potential, but for modeling the advancement of BIPOC creatives in gentrification and for other organizations the city. redevelopment of what is possible.’

One of those our city. This is creatives, Jordan another frontline for – April Parker Robinson, also me. Working and took on a new role living and owning at Elsewhere as the communications property downtown, I am invested in the manager. Robinson, who attended NC advancement of the city and our peoples

A&T State University, has been working in the arts community in the state for years and was previously an art teacher at the African-American Atelier and a curatorial assistant at Greenhill NC. His most recent work tackles art involved the non-binary community, called the Transparency Project. The advancement of both Parker and Robinson displays a prominent shift for Elsewhere, an organization that has had a widereaching artistic impact for decades but has always historically been led by white administrators.

“I want to see more Black art administrators,” she says. “I may be the first Black director, but I will not be the last.”

EDITORIAL

Local news as critical infrastructure

H

ere’s something the US House president. and Senate agree on: The local A good step towards remedying this news industry has been in crisis is the Local Journalism Sustainability and under siege for decades now.

Act, which has made its way through two Local TV stations routinely violate the readings in each house with bipartisan FCC regulation that forbids conflating support, and was, at last report, part of the content with advertising. Daily newspapers $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package have been traded between investment that is caught in the collective craw of the groups who have eviscerated staffs, gutted legislative branch. operations and sold the land out from If you’ve heard about this, thank a under them. There are more PR flacks than reporter. reporters at any local governThe act acknowledges local ment meeting. media as an essential piece of Meanwhile, instead of infrastructure by giving all AmeriThere are spending their marketing cans a tax credit for subscribing to budgets on advertising with not enough local newspapers, by giving local local media, which uses the news companies payroll-tax credits reporters revenue to benefit the comfor the journalists they employ and munities it comes from by by giving businesses, governments covering hiring reporters to cover the and other entities tax credits for news, businesses big and small local news. dollars spent advertising with local pay for Google ads or socialnews orgs. media posts. Who knows what This would be a good thing for Facebook does with the money. local news in general and, as a devoutly We know this: The news business does local news source, for Triad City Beat spenot do well in the hands of people who cifically. don’t care about the business of news.

But this alone cannot save local journalAs a result, there are not enough ism. Funding is good and incentives are reporters covering local news. And when great. But none of this matters unless the a society does not have enough accurate, citizenry keeps up its end of the deal by timely information to govern itself, we all striving to stay informed. pay the price.

We’ve seen what it looks like when For the most part, your county compeople get their news from YouTube and mission and city council have more of social media. There’s been a better way all an effect on your day-to-day life than along. your Congressional reps, senators or the

Claytoonz

by Clay Jones

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021 | OPINION

OPINION

claytoonz.com

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CULTURE | SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

10

In the Weeds

‘Make it work’: Service-industry veterans power a working wedding

T

he event company is punctual. At 9 a.m. sharp, a pickup truck and trailer emblazoned with pink lettering and a flowery logo crest the hill above the field where about 10 of us sit, stale convenience-store coffees in hand. The

by James Douglas truck holds a professional young couple and their cargo: three large tents, 130 chairs and multiple tables. The small crowd that arrived earlier helps unload while the couple assembles the frames that hope to contain the upcoming fête. The day’s heat is just starting to make itself apparent when the tents are fully erected, staked in and strung with lights. As the event company leaves, we all stand by the road and wave goodbye, just a happy band of helpers, silently watching as the truck and trailer disappear over the hill. The tents are secured and ready for whatever the weekend will bring. We admire the work for a moment, and immediately start to dismantle them.

The wedding party has begun, and time is short.

Service industry workers are an odd bunch. Masters of “make it work,” most can shine when necessity requires it. The jobs are varied and allow versatility.

They plan, they improvise, they adjust. In a town like Winston-Salem, the proximity of similar jobs allows a bastardized version of networking to occur. For many of us, the separation of social and professional lives is nonexistent. We work together; we play together. We visit each other at our jobs, and we tip each other. We call each other about private gigs that pop up, and work outside events for extra scratch. We drink together after work, we do activities together, we travel together.

We date each other and, sometimes… we get married.

The group currently taking apart the tents are all from some branch of the industry. Nothing ever is exactly to plan and the rental company supplying the tents (understandably) didn’t want to go off-road. The actual wedding is going to be in a nearby hayfield, completely enclosed by trees and only accessible by a small hidden gap slowly being enclosed by kudzu. Not an issue; they don’t have to know that. We know how to prep a party. We know how to set up and break down.

Most know the ins and outs of events.

What do we do when our friends, a chef at a popular restaurant and bartender at a popular brewery/bar, decide to get hitched? We do it ourselves.

Between the lot of us, we know DJs, caterers, bakers, craftsmen, brewers, bartenders and event workers. We are them. Chances are one of us knows a guy with access to a pretty field in the country.

The field by the road is actually our parking area. So, methodically, deliberately, we march the newly dismantled frames, poles, lights, tables and chairs through the gap and reassemble. The wedding is Sunday afternoon, the rental company is coming back Monday at 10 a.m. sharp to retrieve the tents. Plenty of time to return them to the original location with none the wiser. We

JAMES DOUGLAS

A wedding in the service industry is a rare gift.

decorate and organize until it’s picture perfect.

A wedding in the service industry is a rare gift. Everyone takes off work, and some places even close, since everyone who works there is going to be attending. This time, we’re the ones dressing up and enjoying an open bar. It’s a chance for a large crowd of colleagues who spend their lives catering to others to cater to themselves, and we all know it. Tomorrow, we’ll be back at our respected establishments. Tonight, we play. We celebrate our friends, and each other. We dance, we sing. We revel in the moment, and it’s lovely.

We also don’t consider the eventual, inevitable hangovers.

So, as the morning sun begins reveal the extent of our revelry and the various campers spread about in the field; three or four of us stretch, down some caffeine (and ibuprofen, and water, and leftover cake), and begin the arduous breakdown. We clean, bag trash, wipe down. We begin to dismantle and move the three tents.

We start to move the 130 chairs and multiple tables back in their original location, all hopefully reassembled before the rental company arrives to collect at 10 a.m. sharp.

At 9:58 am, the truck and trailer crest the hill.

We’re all weary smiles. But the job is done.

by Nicole Zelniker

Abolitionist Yusef Salaam of the ‘Exonerated Five’ shares his new memoir at Bookmarks

I

’m too young to remember when Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Anton McCray and Korey Wise were arrested in 1989 for assaulting Trisha Meili, known at the time as the Central Park Jogger.

What I do remember is when Wise became last of them to be released from prison in 2002. I remember the many talks I’ve heard about it since then, the many articles that came out during the 2016 election about Trump’s vendetta against the now exonerated five and the ethics class centered around the case when I was at journalism school.

What I don’t think I ever saw was any of the exonerated five telling their own story. That is, until I read Yusef Salaam’s memoir, Better, Not Bitter. The book came out in May, and Salaam has been speaking to various audiences about his story, including in Winston-Salem this past Sunday. Dozens of people filled the seats at the Forsyth County Central Library to listen to a suit-and-tie clad Salaam talk about his story.

As the closer to Bookmark’s annual author festival, Salaam got to the library early to sign his memoir, which he says he always wanted to write.

“The memoir in many ways was fully conceived after ‘When They See Us,’” he said, referring to the Ava DuVernay series that came out in 2019 detailing the events of the Central Park Jogger case.

“What was great about ‘When They See Us’ is that it told our story as a group.

“Even the stories that were told more fully, the beginnings and endings had never been told,” Salaam continued.

“Before this, no one came and sat down with us and asked us who we were, where we came from, what happened.”

The last few years, Salaam has traveled all over the country speaking to groups about his experiences and mass incarceration, though he hasn’t done so as much recently due to COVID. The memoir itself has had a slow reception for the same reasons, but Salaam says that’s okay.

“My mentor Les Brown once said that the times you’re not busy, you should be thinking about and honing your craft, thinking about what you learned in the process,” he said. “With everything being slowed down, you have time to think about methods and tactics and all that other good stuff.”

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021 | CULTURE

Culture

YUSEF SALAAM

Salaam lives in Georgia now but has been traveling the country on a book tour for his new memoir, Better, Not Bitter, published in May.

Salaam lives in Georgia now, an author, poet and activist for others who have been wrongly convicted. As he says, this is a systemic issue. The Equal Justice Initiative has found that over 2,500 formerly incarcerated people have been exonerated in the U.S. since 1989, and the University of Michigan found that innocent Black people are seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people.

As of Sept. 18, 38.2 percent of the incarcerated population in the United States is Black, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. For context, the Pew Research Center estimates the total Black population makes up about 14 percent of the United States.

Better, Not Bitter is thus not just Salaam’s story, but the story of how this came to be. He feels for Meili. He feels for Lourdes Gonzalez, the woman Meili’s attacker later assaulted and killed. He maintains that if the police had done their jobs in the first place, Gonzalez would still be alive and Salaam and the others never would have gone to prison.

“People look at a Yusef Salaam and say to themselves, these were anomalies,” Salaam said. “But what about Breonna Taylor or Rayshard Brooks? This is a systemic issue. No one in our community has ever said, ‘I want to be dead or in jail before I turn 21,’ but that’s a common thought. It’s profound now that I can be in a space where I can talk about that.”

Better, Not Bitter is Yusef Salaam’s first memoir. Readers can follow Salaam at his website, yusefspeaks.com, or @dr.yusefsalaam on Instagram and @dr_yusefsalaam on Twitter.

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CULTURE | SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

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Culture

by Nicole Zelniker

I

ARTC reopens space, prepares for the 2022 season

t’s barely recognizable.

When Marsha McNeely Heirl founded the Alamance Repertory Theatre Company at 110 W. 7th Street in Winston-Salem, the physical space had almost nothing.

The seating consisted of old church pews, all donated, and there was no air conditioning. The curtains were folded screens. This was all McNeely Heirl could afford at the time.

“We started a theater company and we were looking for a space to stage our plays” she says. “Richard Miller, I had been bugging him forever to let me rent it and he finally decided to let me rent it.”

ARTC, which opened officially in 2018, performs all kinds of plays, especially those that touch on important social issues, including The Last Five Years, A Streetcar Named Desire, Rent and Metamorphosis, all scheduled for 2022. The theater’s mission is to bring the community together.

Soon, everything started coming together for ARTC. A local Eagle Scout made it his project to revitalize the space. He fixed up the marquee and put in real curtains. Shortly after that, a local theater closed, allowing McNeely Heirl to sell the church pews and buy theater seats.

The renovations also include an expanded stage, allowing them to be back and better than ever since reopening after a year of being closed during the pandemic.

“Now we have an air-conditioned theater with seats and curtains,” she said.

“We’re moving the bar back and creating a VIP space where people can receive all kinds of perks. We’ve hung a projector so we can show movies now as well.”

In addition to the indoor renovations, ARTC also has a new mural on the side of the building with a link to the organization’s Instagram account. The small, white, brick building is also decorated with a series of large stars, leftover from the Garage’s glory days, and advertisements to their current and upcoming shows.

The last year and a half has been difficult for ARTC as a theater venue, which should come as no surprise. Hundreds of concert venues shut their doors for good while movie chains like Regal closed down. Live theater was a major victim as well, with Broadway only now reopening their doors, though several shows closed

COURTESY PHOTO

With far less in the way of knick-knackery than its predecessor the Garage, the ARTC Theatre in downtown Winston-Salem is now a black-box performance space.

before they could return.

Luckily a backer had offered to pay ARTC’s bills, though, which McNeely Heirl said saved their business. They closed for a year. Now, they have been renting the space to other theater organizations that were not as lucky.

“A lot of theater companies lost their spaces, so we’re opening up our theater so people can rent it,” McNeely Heirl said. “As a theater company, without putting on any plays, you’re not making any money.”

Their next show, on Saturday, is a drag show, closely fol-

lowed by a show by Twin Cities Stand Up on Oct. 15. Evil Dead will close out October and then McNeely Heirl has 2022 packed through December.

“We’ve tried to plan 2022 as a killer year for arts and theater,” McNeely Heirl said. “We’re always looking for playwrights in addition to hoping we get a burlesque performance now and then. We’re also hoping to do more drag shows.”

Tickets to ARTC’s production of The Evil Dead are on sale now at artctheatre.com. Contact ARTCTheatrews@gmail.com with any questions.

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021 | CULTURE

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SHOT IN THE TRIAD | SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Lake Townsend, Greensboro

CAROLYN DEBERRY

Sunday afternoon during the Lake Townsend Yacht Club’s 44th Mayor’s Cup regatta.

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Across

by Matt Jones

1 Trees lining the new Malahat Skywalk on Vancouver Island, B.C. (a spiral ramp tower with optional slide to the bottom) 10 Surname in a nursery rhyme with platter licking 15 To the point 16 “It’s ___ of passage” 17 2010 statute nickname whose real initials are hidden in the name 18 Sounds in certain specialty cafÈs 19 One with interior motives?

20 Realm of influence 21 Employs a hive mentality?

22 “La fÈe ___” (fanciful term for absinthe, based on the color) 23 Sticks it out 24 Run, as a forklift 26 Maneuvers famously pulled off © 2021 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) by rapper Lil Uzi Vert 29 You might use one to play Breakout 33 Second, for instance 34 Word that ends many yoga classes 35 Puzzle magazine with a “Pencilwise” section 40 Grey Goose rival, familiarly 41 ___ tetrameter (poetic verse used in works like “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”, using an unstressed/unstressed/stressed pattern) 45 Film critic Kenneth who stepped down from the L.A. Times in 2020 46 Notable feature of “Careless Whisper” Answers from last issue 47 “Fame” singer/actress Cara 48 Brit who imparts vitality 14 SAT takers, e.g. (and not... body parts) (though the battery brand’s spelled with a Z) 25 Legendary footballer 49 Observes Ramadan, in a way 26 Go (through), as evidence 50 State where the soft drink Mountain Dew was 27 Nice private discussion? first formulated 28 Actress Dolenz 51 What some collars ward off 29 Note that sounds like B double flat 52 Participants in the Singing Revolution 30 Residents of one of the Lesser Sunda Islands (1987-1991) in Southeast Asia 31 Loser of a mythological footrace Down 32 Optimistic quality 1 Like eels and flukes, biologically 33 Fluid, as a dancer’s motion 2 Brazilian gymnast Andrade, gold medalist in 35 CNN senior political analyst David who the vault in Tokyo advised four administrations 3 Modified leaves on flower stems 36 Saint Francis’s home 4 Maximal 37 Peak near Olympus 5 “Toddlers & ___” 38 Title name on the 1982 album “Too-Rye-Ay” 6 Cooper title character 39 Sports recap feature 7 Former Pacific defense gp.

42 Geese on the Big Island 8 “The Smartest Guys in the Room” subject 43 In regard to, old-style 9 Site that bills itself as 44 Movie aired when there’s often nothing on?

“The world’s best music blog” 10 11 12 13

Hindu scripture that contains melodies and chants Demonstrate deservingness in advance 1959 western with Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson Nervously excited

SUDOKU

SEPT. 30-OCT. 6, 2021 | PUZZLES

CROSSWORD ‘Open Letters’— a themeless 58-worder.

©2021 Jonesin’ Crosswords

(editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

Answers from previous publication.

If you read

then you know...

• What a Freedom Fridge is • Where to get that bread • How many anti-abortion bills have been introduced this session Triad City Beat — If you know, you know

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

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

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