FP200805

LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1987

Take Your Pick West Broad Market Garden Thrives in New Location and Format p. 11

AUGUST 5, 2020 · VOL. 34 · NO. 31 · FREE

COLORBEARER OF ATHENS DIGGING IN THE DIRT

A Last Message from Congressman John Lewis Congressman John Lewis died on July 17. Shortly before his death, he addressed these words to the demonstrators and protesters who have taken to the streets on behalf of Black Lives Matter and against police brutality and white supremacy.

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.

That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.

Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never, ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.

Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain.

Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence.

He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble,

2

FLAGPOLE.COM | AUGUST 5, 2020

necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.

You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, though decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war.

So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.

VOTE!

this week’s issue

contents

OCONEE COUNTY OBSERVATIONS

STILL PROVIDING EXCEPTIONAL CARE FOR EXCEPTIONAL PETS DURING THIS TIME

1150 Mitchell Bridge Rd. 706-546-7879 · www.hopeamc.com Office Hours: Monday-Friday 7:30am-6pm Saturday 8am-1pm With the coronavirus surging and students pouring back into town, the bar owners who cater to them sue to serve them until early hours. Athens battens down for a perfect storm.

This Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 NEWS: City Dope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Last Call, District 6 Ruling, School Openings and Other News

Street Scribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ARTS & CULTURE: Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Curb Your Appetite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Seline Haze Plays Personal Growth and Self-Love

Sudoku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

NEWS: The Locavore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Threats & Promises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Visit the Land Trust Market and Garden

Record Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 ARTS & CULTURE: Day Tripper . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Enjoy Georgia Wine and Italian Food

Art Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Property Management Investment Properties

EDITOR & PUBLISHER Pete McCommons PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner ADVERTISING SALES Anita Aubrey, Jessica Pritchard Mangum CITY EDITOR Blake Aued ARTS & MUSIC EDITOR Jessica Smith OFFICE MANAGER AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Zaria Gholston CLASSIFIEDS Zaria Gholston AD DESIGNERS Chris McNeal, Cody Robinson CARTOONISTS Lee Gatlin, Missy Kulik, Jeremy Long, David Mack PHOTOGRAPHER Whitley Carpenter CONTRIBUTORS Chris Dowd, Dan Jackson, Gordon Lamb, Rebecca McCarthy,

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles

Rentals Buying Selling

GoJoiner.com

706-549-7371

Dan Perkins, Amber Perry, Ed Tant, CIRCULATION Charles Greenleaf, Christopher Linter, Mike Merva EDITORIAL INTERNS Lily Guthrie, Elijah Johnston, Amber Perry COVER PHOTOGRAPH of Ethel Collins and Xavier Coates at the West Broad Market Garden by Whitley Carpenter (see the Locavore on p. 11) STREET ADDRESS: 220 Prince Ave., Athens, GA 30601 MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603 EDITORIAL: 706-549-9523 · ADVERTISING: 706-549-0301 · FAX: 706-548-8981 CLASSIFIED ADS: class@flagpole.com ADVERTISING: ads@flagpole.com CALENDAR: calendar@flagpole.com EDITORIAL: editorial@flagpole.com

LETTERS: letters@flagpole.com MUSIC: music@flagpole.com NEWS: news@flagpole.com ADVICE: advice@flagpole.com

Flagpole, Inc. publishes Flagpole Magazine weekly and distributes 7,000 copies free at over 275 locations around Athens, Georgia. Subscriptions cost $80 a year, $45 for six months. © 2020 Flagpole, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOLUME 34 ISSUE NUMBER 31

DON’T STAND SO WEAR A MASK

Association of Alternative Newsmedia

CLOSE TO ME

comments section Athens/Clarke had one of the lower rates of infection in Georgia until Kemp lifted restrictions and the students started returning to Athens throughout the month of May. Our two hospitals serve over 20 counties in northeast Georgia. And now the NCAA is allowing football games. I’m going to find a place to hide out in until the middle of December when finals are over and the students go home.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

— Matt Linden From “UGA Ranks Third in COVID Cases Among Colleges” at flagpole.com

SITE PLANNING & ENGINEERING COMMUNITY SUPPORT

AUGUST 5, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM

3

news

city dope

Last Call for COVID PLUS, SCHOOLS RESTARTING, POLICE OK TEAR GAS AND MORE NEWS

By Blake Aued, Chris Dowd and Rebecca McCarthy news@flagpole.com A lot of things are on hold during this coronavirus pandemic, but it’s still a free country, and our God-given right to lick eyeballs after 10 p.m. shall not be abridged.

With COVID-19 cases spiking, the return of UGA students looming and reports of big crowds at downtown bars already, the Athens-Clarke County Commission passed an emergency ordinance July 30 moving last call for alcohol at bars and restaurants from 2 a.m. to 10 p.m. The commission also updated its mask ordinance to require bar patrons to wear masks whenever they’re not seated.

“I’ve been there. We’ve all been there,” Commissioner Melissa Link said. “You’re out at a bar, you’re up in each others’ faces, you’re hugging, you’re kissing, you’re licking each others’ eyeballs, whatever you do, but we’ve got to lay down some rules that we can’t do that in these times. Alcohol does not give you COVID, but breathing in each others’ faces does give you COVID.” The requirement that people who remove their masks to eat or drink remain seated was proposed by Link. Commissioner Tim Denson wondered if that applied to someone walking down the street eating a sandwich. Mayor Kelly Girtz reminded him that the ordinance includes an exception for outdoor recreation.

“If I’m eating a foot-long hotdog, we can count that as exercise now?” Denson said.

“They have contests around that,” Girtz replied. “It’s nearly an Olympic sport.”

Commissioner Allison Wright wondered if ACC wasn’t wandering further into Gov. Brian Kemp’s crosshairs. “We’re in the hot seat as it is,” she said. “This seems like we’re going into the big flames” Wright’s concerns proved prescient.

The next morning, libertarian-leaning local attorney Mo Wiltshire filed a lawsuit on behalf of local bars On the Rocks, Moonshine Bar, Buddha Bar, Cloud, Infusia and Centro alleging that the last-call ordinance violated Kemp’s emergency order, which prohibits local governments from enacting stricter COVID provisions than the state. That provision is currently under judicial review, as Kemp has challenged Atlanta’s mask ordinance.

That afternoon, Superior Court Judge Eric Norris—an Oconee County resident appointed by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal—issued an order temporarily restraining ACC from enforcing the new, earlier last call or the mask ordinance. Ironically, the order appeared to be written on the back of a bar napkin. A hearing is set for Thursday, Aug. 6.

In the meantime, the college students who are already trickling into town will be licking eyeballs mask-free into the early hours of the morning. Clarke County is adding new COVID-19 cases at the rate of about 40–50 per day, with the numbers constrained only by the limits of the county’s testing capacity. By the time the hearing is held, Athens’ total cases will be approaching 2,000. Last week, the disease claimed the life of UGA staff member Ana Cabrera, as well as former Clarke Central band teacher

4

Robert Norris. And that is before tens of thousands of students and employees return to campus. Bars have been proven to be places where one “superspreader” can infect dozens of people in one evening.

“By all epidemiological standards, this whole state should be shut back down and quarantined again,” Link said. “The science is crystal clear that bars are super-spreader environments, primarily because people do gather closely face-to-face, and their inhibitions are down.”

Even the Trump administration agrees.

The White House classifies Georgia as in the “red zone” and recommends that states in the red zone close bars entirely. Kemp had the opportunity to do so when he renewed his emergency order July 31. Instead, he doubled down, adding language intended to bolster his case for nullifying Atlanta’s mask ordinance.

“We’re about to see 40,000 college students descend upon this town this weekend,” Link said. “We’ve got to do something.” But the powers that be won’t let us.

[Blake Aued]

No Masks for Other Districts The Clarke County School District first pushed back the start of school over a month, until Sept. 8, then pulled the plug on in-person learning entirely—at least for now—joining most metro Atlanta and other large districts around the state that are moving to virtual learning during the pandemic. Other area school districts are taking a different stance.

In the New York Times last week, former Flagpole editor Richard Faussett, who now works in the Times’ Atlanta bureau, reported on schools in nearby Jefferson, about 20 miles northwest of Athens. Even in that conservative community, some parents and students are anxious about the safety of reopening. Jefferson schools reopened last Friday, without a mask mandate in classrooms.

In Oconee County, where schools start Aug. 5, parents protested a lack of clarity on COVID plans, according to Flagpole contributor Lee Becker’s Oconee County Observations blog. Teachers “are terrified,” said former employee Katie Castleberry, who resigned over the district’s coronavirus response. “No one has asked them how they feel. No one has asked them what the year is supposed to look like digitally or otherwise.” As in Jefferson, masks are encouraged, but not required.

Barrow County is another district where face coverings are “strongly encouraged,” but not mandated indoors. Barrow schools started up Aug. 4. Jackson County Superintendent April Howard said that district will “ask” all teachers and students to wear masks inside schools when school begins Aug. 12.

In Madison County, which starts Aug. 14, “masks are expected to be worn when social distancing is not possible.” Masks are encouraged but not required in Oglethorpe County, which considered moving up the

FLAGPOLE.COM | AUGUST 5, 2020

first day of school to avoid a COVID spike later on in the year, but stuck with Aug. 10.

All of the districts surrounding Clarke County are offering online as well as in-person options. [BA]

Police Clear Themselves for Tear-Gassing Protesters The ACC Police Department has announced that an internal investigation found their use of tear gas and bean-bag rounds against protesters on the night of May 31 was reasonable and within department policy.

Lt. Harrison Daniel, commander of the ACCPD Office of Professional Standards, summarized the findings of their investigation in a press conference on Friday, July 31.

Before the demonstration began on May 31, ACCPD had already received intelligence from national and state law enforcement agencies that protesters were planning to loot and vandalize businesses and government buildings that day. They also heard that “extremist groups and agitators” would be present in the crowd. When self-identified members of the Boogaloo anti-government group showed up downtown armed with rifles, ACCPD considered the intelligence they received to be confirmed. This “elevated the threat assessment,” according to Daniel, making police uncomfortable and nervous.

As the planned portion of the protest came to a close, Daniel described how those remaining downtown were scrutinized by surveillance cameras and covert operatives for any small detail that could betray violent intentions. From that point, being dressed in colorful Hawaiian-style shirts or in all black, wearing long sleeves, entering a tent, carrying a backpack or wearing a larger than average mask were all interpreted by police as potentially threatening.

Police were also concerned by the fact that protesters seemed to be preparing to resist violence if it were used against them. As the night went on, protesters were bringing gallons of milk, heavy gloves, respirators and a leaf blower to the scene in

preparation to minimize the damage caused by tear gas.

ACCPD originally claimed that “many” of the protesters occupying the area around the Confederate monument “appeared to belong to a violent extremist group.” Their story in this press conference was somewhat different—they now claim merely to have seen indications that “suggested the presence of extremists,” such as one protester out of roughly 200 wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

More troubling, they also overheard some protesters “agitating others to engage in violence and property damage.” However, other than spray paint on the Confederate monument, such vandalism did not occur on that night or during any of the many protests that happened in the months after.

As a final justification for assaulting protesters who had not engaged in any violent acts whatsoever, Daniel described the dismay police felt when protesters locked arms in formation, indicating their resolve to remain at College Square. “These actions significantly influenced the determination that chemical irritants [tear gas] were the most appropriate option to accomplish the goal of dispersing the unlawfully-assembled crowd,” Daniel said.

The goal of police was to clear the area, not make arrests. When people link arms, they can be difficult to remove without using force of some kind. In addition to passive resistance, police were concerned about extremist elements posing active, violent resistance if they were approached.

In this situation, if not for tear gas, Daniel indicated that police may have had to resort to striking protesters with batons.

Making matters worse, Daniel admitted that ACCPD does not have an appropriately-trained and equipped “mobile field force” capable of responding to events of “civil unrest” like a protest. With the National Guard ready to go home by midnight, police felt that they had to act to clear the area efficiently while they had the extra help.

Weapons that police call “impact munitions,” also known as rubber bullets or bean-bag rounds, were used against protesters in addition to the tear gas. This was also within department policy, according

students could be helping me.”

Once or twice a week, she makes a 30-mile trip to the camp and spends an hour or so finding jalapeño, banana and bell peppers, along with yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, corn and purslane, which covers big patches of the garden plot. Latinx people include purslane as an ingredient in various sauces,

ESOL Teacher Gives Back

Bivins has learned, and people who know its usefulness are thrilled to get it. After picking vegetables, Bivins lays them on a table and then places them in coolers in her trunk before heading another 30 miles back to Athens.

“I go to trailer parks that most people don’t even know exist,” Bivins said. “I open my trunk and offer people vegetables, and they’re so grateful. I want them to take what they need.”

If there are tomatillos in the harvest, she may visit Latinx families, while a bumper crop of green beans takes her to African-

WHITLEY CARPENTER

to Daniel. These less lethal, although still This summer, the camp is shuttered potentially deadly, weapons were deployed because of the pandemic. The garden only against individuals who tried to pick Robinson had planted in early spring was up, snuff out or kick tear gas canisters. doing well, but with no one to pull weeds Doing so effectively would have cleared the or pick vegetables, it was becoming overgas, allowing protesters to remain in the grown. The zucchini were as big as missiles, area. Therefore, those who disturbed the some of the tomatoes were melting on the tear gas canisters were shot, in accordance vine. “I was thinking, well, there’s next with ACCPD policy. The decision to shoot year,” Robinson said. was made by each officer at the scene individually and was not explicitly authorized

by Police Chief Cleveland Spruill, who did authorize the use of tear gas.

Nineteen people were arrested that night, with the tents, milk and other items seized by police.

Originally, police had claimed that stacks of bricks were found inside the tents that could have been thrown at officers or used to smash windows. However, at this press conference, Daniel admitted that the tent “did not have anything significant in it of weight,” with video evidence showing one officer lifting it easily.

Daniel did discuss one failing of ACCPD’s handling of this event: not maintaining clear lines of communication with protest organizers after the planned events for the day ended.

Kelli Bivins loads produce into her truck.

[Chris Dowd]

During a typical summer, camp director Carly Robinson would be welcoming hundreds of children from metro Atlanta to a 160-acre facility in North Georgia. The campers would go tubing on a river that runs through the property. They would learn to build fires and tie knots, learn about trees and insects, amphibians and birds. They would live in cabins, pick vegetables and fruits from a large garden and learn how to make tasty dishes using the garden produce.

Until Kelli Bivins visited the camp in early June. She saw the garden and immediately thought she knew people who could use the vegetables. An English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher who works for the Clarke County School District, Bivins decided to pick and distribute the food in Athens neighborhoods, including East Athens, Pinewoods and Bethel Midtown Village, where many of her students and their families live.

“I’m not teaching, but I want to be doing service in the summer, and this is what I can do safely,” Bivins said. “I just wish my

American families. On one of her forays into hidden trailer parks, she spotted some elderly folks sitting under shade trees in the yard. They happily accepted some vegetables, and now she visits them regularly.

Another development is that Bivins’ neighbors have started giving her vegetables from their backyard gardens for her to distribute, as well as clothes and art supplies.

Sharing with others “fulfills me,” Bivins says. “I’ve always felt that sharing food is a good way of healing a community. We have a lot hurting us now; this simple act feels right.” [Rebecca McCarthy]

Odds and Ends

SALON, INC.

A judge has awarded the ACC Commission District 6 seat to Jesse Houle, agreeing with the Board of Elections and ACC Attorney Judd Drake that Georgia law voids the votes cast for incumbent Jerry NeSmith, who won more votes despite dying in an accidental fall three days before the June 9 election. The decision is under appeal.

Every family with a child enrolled in Clarke County public schools is eligible for $256.50 per child from the Georgia Division of Family and Child Services and Department of Education.

Families enrolled in SNAP will automatically receive the funds on their EBT cards.

Others must apply at dfcs.georgia.gov/ pandemic-electronic-benefit-transfer. The program is for students who receive free or reduced lunch, so all families with CCSD students are eligible because school lunches are free for all CCSD students.

CCSD will host a town hall meeting from 5:30–7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5 to answer questions about the start of school. It will be streamed and archived on CCSD’s YouTube channel. Go to bit.ly/askccsd to submit a question. [BA] f

Better Service, Better Plumbing Insured • Local • Free on-site Estimates

Voted an Athens Favorite!

2440 West Broad St., Suite 2 706-548-2188 www.alaferasalon.com

$30 Flagpole Special Discount* *Call for details

706-769-7761

www.plumberproservice.com

AUGUST 5, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM

5

news

letters

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO P. O. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603 OR EMAIL US AT LETTERS@FLAGPOLE.COM

Lawsuit Is About Rights, Not Houle On a recent Friday morning, my cell phone rang. “Rick,” said the caller, “the petition to overturn the decision to void Jerry NeSmith’s votes in the [Athens-Clarke County Commission] District 6 race is going before the court. Some of us were talking, and we were wondering…”

“No,” I replied before they could complete the sentence. “I have no interest in running.”

“We just thought you would be an ideal candidate,” my caller continued.

“That’s flattering. But it ain’t going to happen.”

The next day, I got a call from Jesse Houle, the runner up to the late Commissioner Nesmith, who accidentally died two days before the June 9 election.

Houle was the beneficiary of an ACC Board of Elections ruling, on the advice of County Attorney Judd Drake, that discounted the incumbent’s 1,864 votes and made his opponent, who earned 1,404 votes, the winner. “Rick, are you planning to run for the District 6 seat?”

Through my laughter, I replied, “No, Jesse, I have no desire to be on the commission. Where is this coming from?”

“There’s a rumor out that you are going to run,” Houle said.

Kill the rumor, please. I have absolutely no interest in being elected county commissioner, member of the Board of Education or dog catcher. However, I do plan to support Houle if and when a special election is scheduled.

I feel my greatest contributions to this community comes from providing youth services and making people aware of issues via my radio show. That is all the power and influence I need. That influence is why I think the people behind the petition to overturn the original election outcome asked me to join their ranks. Which I did, and please allow me to explain why.

When first asked to sign the petition, it was stated that Houle supported the initiative. “How novel,” I thought. Here was a candidate who realized that earning the trust and confidence of the people in the district would only come by vote and not appointment. Here was a candidate who respected the right to vote so much that he would risk losing a second election. I’ve got to support somebody like that. I’ll put my name on that petition.

Little did I know that signing the petition meant suing Houle and the Board of Elections. I thought it just meant addressing a bad law (even Drake admitted it was subject to challenge) that disenfranchised voters and worked to the benefit of the political power structure. I did not see it as conservative vs. liberal or Democrat vs.

Republican. I saw it, and still see it, as people being denied the chance to vote. I see it as right vs. wrong.

I grew up in an American city where residents still do not have full voting rights— Washington, DC. It was 1961 before those living in the nation’s capital were granted the right to vote for president of the United States. It was 1974 when, for the first time, Washingtonians elected a mayor. They still

6

do not have a U.S. senator, and their lone member of the House of Representatives cannot vote on legislation.

Based on that experience, I feel the law that wiped out votes cast for NeSmith is as vile as the one Gov. Brian Kemp is using to try to deny voters the chance to elect someone to replace retired District Attorney Ken Mauldin. Different circumstances, same results—people were denied the right to select a political office holder by voting.

In the words of the recently deceased civil rights champion C.T. Vivian, “Whenever anyone does not have the right to vote, then every man is hurt.”

So, everyone with heartburn over this petition, it is not about you. It is far greater than you. It is about preserving the right to vote for everyone. I’ll take those yard signs when you are ready, Jesse.

Rick Dunn Athens

Don’t Forget the Runoff Voters, did you know there is a runoff election happening in Athens-Clarke County on Aug. 11? Candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties in the 9th Congressional District are competing for spots on the November 2020 general election ballot. Democratic voters in the 9th District will choose between Devin Pandy and Brooke Siskin. Republican voters will cast a vote for either Andrew Clyde or Matt Gurtler.

The 9th District encompasses parts or all of 20 northeastern Georgia counties, including northern Clarke County. Because of this, the runoff election only affects residents who vote in three of our county’s precincts: 2A (J.J. Harris Elementary), 5D (Athens-Clarke County Fleet Management Building) and 1A (Winterville Train Depot).

If a voter is unsure if they are part of the 9th District, contact our office at 706-6133150, or visit mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP/mvp. do online.

As a registered voter living in the 9th District, residents are eligible to cast a ballot in this primary runoff election at their precinct on Election Day or during early voting, which began on July 20. Voters who cast a ballot in the primary must vote the same party ballot in the runoff. For a voter who cast a nonpartisan ballot in the June primary, either party’s ballot may be chosen during the runoff election. If a person did not vote in June, then they may also choose either party’s ballot for the runoff.

There is still time to request an absentee ballot for the Aug. 11 Primary Runoff election. You do not need a reason to request an absentee by mail ballot. Anyone may vote this way. Voting by mail is encouraged during the pandemic to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Please contact our office at 706-613-3150 to request an application for the absentee ballot or online at mvp.sos. ga.gov/MVP/mvp.do. The application deadline is Aug. 7.

If a voter eligible to vote in the Aug. 11 primary runoff chooses to vote in person, early voting is being held at the Board of Elections Office, 155 E. Washington Street, through Friday, Aug. 7 from 8 a.m.–5 p.m.,

FLAGPOLE.COM | AUGUST 5, 2020

except on Aug. 5 until 7 p.m. An additional early voting site is open at Miriam Moore Community Center, 420 McKinley Drive, from 10 a.m.–7 p.m. on Aug. 5 and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. on Aug. 6 and 7. Precautions against the pandemic are being strictly followed at the in-person voting locations.

Our staff gladly serves the voters of Athens-Clarke County. Please feel free to contact us about the upcoming primary runoff election on Aug. 11, 2020. We enjoy talking about elections and solving your voting related issues.

Lisa McGlaun The writer is an elections assistant at the ACC Board of Elections and Voter Registration.

Give Parents a Voice on School Reopening In light of the Clarke County school board’s recent decision not only to postpone the school year a month, but also to incorporate virtual online-only classrooms for the foreseeable (and undetermined) future, we felt we needed to make our voices heard during a time when those voices seem routinely ignored. We understand the complicated decisions that must be made during this unprecedented time, and we have no interest in compromising the safety and health of our children, our teachers and our community. But rather than clear, resolute leadership and widely understood goals and benchmarks, it seems as if decisions are being postponed, a mere kicking of the can down the road toward some hazy, indeterminate time in the future. This indecision is throwing families’ lives into chaos.

Interim superintendent Xernona Thomas has said, “We recognize the best place for students to learn is in class, and the district is working to resume in-person instruction as soon as possible.” We are encouraged by this sentiment but concerned with its vagueness.

Every day our children are not in school is a day that they fall farther behind, and we are forced either to pay for extra child care or miss work entirely, not only suffering severe financial consequences during an already difficult time, but often derailing careers women have been working decades to establish. Working mothers who cannot work from home—the cashiers, bus drivers, restaurant workers, janitors, nurses and other service workers—are forced to choose between two impossible alternatives: abandoning their children or losing their livelihood. There have been many well-documented studies from the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical and education organizations that have made clear that the social, economic and even medical costs of keeping schools virtual indefinitely are too much to bear.

We love the schools of this community, have committed to the promise and opportunity of public school in Athens, and have seen the benefits they have provided for our children. But the longer they are out of in-person school, the more we worry that parents, backed into a corner by what can seem like a lack of a commitment to in-person learning as soon as possible, will be forced to make choices outside of the system. This is the last thing anyone involved should want.

We are not asking for a reckless rush to in-person learning. We are asking for the Board of Education to be more explicit, open and accountable about its commit-

ment to returning to in-person education as soon as possible. And we are asking to be part of the process.

We believe there are simple measures the Board of Education can adopt to ease the anxiety of Athens families. They are: • Weekly updates on how the process of moving toward in-person education is progressing. We do not want vague generalizations and long-winded bureaucratic rhetoric on YouTube channels. We want concrete, regular updates.

• Specific benchmarks that, when met, will lead to ramping up preparation for in-person schooling. These can involve the rate of infection in the county and the university, as well as scientific results from other communities that have opened up in-person schooling.

• Regular monitoring of surrounding counties that have opened, like Oconee County and Oglethorpe County, to see what can be learned from their experiences, their successes and their setbacks.

• Clear assurances that there will be no more kick-the-can-down-the-road, crossyour-fingers-and-hope postponements, which only prolong uncertainty and lead to concerns that there is, in fact, no concrete plan at all.

• A voice in the process. We have watched helplessly as people we do not know and are not involved in the lives of our families and our children have made decisions—or not made decisions—on our behalf, that affect our lives dramatically, without any solicitation of any thoughts we might have on the process. All CCSD stakeholders deserve a transparent process in which they have a voice.

We love this city, this county, this school system, all of it: Teachers, parents, administrators, coaches, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, janitors… in many ways, our public schools are the drivers of this whole community, the place we have chosen to spend our lives, to raise our families, to build our businesses. We only want the best for it.

We feel that a clear, explicit, transparent plan for getting our children back to school safely is of the utmost importance. And we ask that we, the parents of Athens, not be forgotten: We ask that we be given a voice.

Alexa Stevenson, Hailey Campbell, Genevieve Knox, Will Leitch, Bertis Downs, Josh Brooks, Lillie Brooks, Hope Cook, Chase Cook, Kari E. Abernathy, Lucy Atkinson, Allison Hodge, Jason Hodge, Rosemary Hunter, Katy Brodrick, Todd Stichtenoth, Casey Stichtenoth, Breckyn Alexander, Ginny Graham, Amanda Eldridge, Amanda Hardee White, Whitney Knowlton, David Knowlton, Caroline Griggs, Hilari Reagin, Katherine Little Odom, Georgia Anne Moore, Anne Coppedge, Maggie Talley, Robin Roberts, Susan Reynols, J McElhannon, Allison Nealy, Jenny McCallen, Kyle Marshall, Scott Talley, Marie Garau, Aphrodite Douris, Emmy Scruggs, Courteny Lawrence, Stephen Simmons, Ally Simmons, Patrick Cates, Candice Treadway, Caroline Copeland, Jeb Bradberry, Cameron McElreath, Jean Sample Campbell, Mary Jill Springer, Stacy Brown, Susan Banister, Carol White, Jan Finney, Cameron Mulford, Greg DeMent, Catherine Hardman, Leigh Hubbard, Laura Hogan, Sarah Pittard, Elizabeth Chastain, Amy Chisolm, Andrea Welter, Traci Hudson, Lauren Harrell, Ron Menzies, Cristi De Martino Moore, Laura Fagrall, Ragan Garrett, Heather Cates, Jennifer Barnhart, Leah

Sibley, Gigi Lastinger, Cecilia Reynolds, Particia Hopaluk-Gay, Brian Campbell, Barndon Hicks, Gretchen Pearson, Betty Schroeder, Jessica Burns, Hally DeMent, Dan DaLamater, Sherry Mugovero, Kris Rapp, Carolyn Dilon, Stacy Campbell, Jim Gillis, Linda Jerkins, Deirdre Sugiuchi, Sophia Estrada, Sis Bettress, Richard Whitworth, Carla York, Micah Allen, Jadon Allen, Maria Mueller, Elijah Allen, Mickey Dillard, Joyce Allen, Katie Smith, Rosie Alexander, Alice McMaster, Libby Carson, Ginger Redwine, Andrea LaferaBianco, Adam Kaluba, Eric Sewell, George Schroeder, Charme Bradberry, Steve Greer, Susan Ferguson, Ross Reynolds, Emma Hunt, Braden DeLamater, Elizabeth Milner, Elizabeth Earl, Michael Earl, Usha Rodriques, Missy Hutto, Diego Labrador, Aakriti Bhatta, Gianna Valdez, Zoe Wu, Steve Middlebrooks, John Bellamy, Donna Weekley, Chris Gilmer, Lauren Cook, Susan McCullough, Jeffrey Trapnell, Christine Howell, Ben Coppadge, Anamaria Nelson, Lindsay Van Note, Lori Drake

BOE Should Respond to NAACP Concerns As president of the NAACP AthensClarke County Branch No. 5180, I have attempted to schedule a community meeting with Clarke County School District Board of Education members since May 6. According to the board’s policy, this request was appropriate. As a result, the Athens-Clarke County branch of the NAACP received on May 12 a response letter from the board’s attorney. It was a slight improvement in approach to previously received concerns expressed to the CCSD BOE by our local NAACP branch.

Disappointingly, the response did not provide the level of depth that we demanded as the civil rights advocates for the children of our community. Therefore, the NAACP continued its pursuit to have a community meeting with the Board of Education.

The Board of Education knew there were two pressing priorities that the community wanted to discuss with them: reinstating Demond Means from his status of administrative leave back to serving as superintendent, and the Cognia report that threatens the Clarke County School District’s accreditation.

The BOE, in my opinion, has shown a lack of integrity in addressing our concerns by delaying the date to meet with the community to give responses to our concerns.

They knew the community was desiring for them to hear their voices in giving responses to the above listed concerns.

After several changes in dates and procedures, the BOE finally settled on Aug. 4 at 6 p.m. to respond to some of the community concerns. In the meantime, they scheduled a called meeting to make a decision on Means’ contract on July 23. At this meeting, five BOE members voted to buy out Means’ contract for $637,500. This action in reality probably has a cost that is closer to $1 million when you add in the two superintendent salaries and attorney fees.

This latest action by the BOE (exiting the superintendent) is very disheartening and could further increase the divide with the community, especially with the all the white members voting to exit Means without cause, that was suggested by C.J. Amason. We were hoping that our community discussion with the board would be a trust builder wherein all of us could work

together for all of the children. This is still our hope for the Aug. 4 community meeting despite this action that promulgates a clear breach of trust. Finally, we are looking forward to this community meeting being the catalyst to the BOE being willing to respond to community concerns.

Alvin Sheats Athens

Normal Books Will Be Missed Bookstores are a dying breed—in particular, small, independent bookshops have been eaten alive by the mega-giant amazon. com. We used to have Jackson Street Books downtown. The telltale smell of old books— many of which were valuable collectors’ items—filled the air inside the store. We still have Avid Bookshop, but their original Prince Avenue location closed last year.

Their second location, in the vibrant, affluent Five Points neighborhood adjacent to our university, will now be the last one standing in the disappearing world of small, independent bookshops, for our college town has lost our only other small, independent bookshop, situated in the heart of Normaltown: our beloved Normal Books.

Normal Books, like many other small businesses, was not able to survive the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, July 20, Normal Books closed its doors.

One of the best parts about living in a college town is the unique character created by the local businesses. In that respect, Normal Books was truly something special. It was the only bookstore in Athens that sold new books at used books prices.

They hosted events in the store—knitting groups, book clubs, children’s activities and our famous Athens Writers Association public readings.

We, the Athens Writers Association, were blessed when Chris and Mary got the idea to open their independent discount bookstore in Normaltown—one of the few neighborhoods in Athens, other than Five Points, where small, local businesses have a chance to thrive. The west side of town is becoming a hub of big franchises and big business, much like you’d expect to see in a larger city rather than a unique college town. Normaltown was the perfect location to open a store with the mission to make new books affordable to everyone and to become a living member of the local community.

It took about six months for our Athens Writers Association to catch on to the fire of Normal Books. Chris and Mary opened their store on Prince Avenue, across the street from Piedmont Hospital, in December 2017. Since we began our partnership with them in early June 2018, our Athens Writers Association wqs proud to support Chris and Mary and their vision as much as they supported our local authors.

Not only did they host our public readings without charging us a dime to use their space or advertise, but they also created an entire shelf devoted to our local authors.

Much like Avid Bookshop, Normal Books had limited space for inventory, but Chris and Mary generously displayed and sold copies of books written by Athens writers, regardless of their fame or previous marketability. They were our partners in every way—the extraordinary and anything but “normal” Normal Bookstore.

Jill Hartmann-Roberts Athens

news

street scribe

You Say You Want a Revolution?

TRUMP FIGHTS PROTESTS WITH NIXONIAN TACTICS

By Ed Tant news@flagpole.com On July 9, 1776—just days after the Declaration of Independence was signed—an angry crowd of protesters in New York City toppled an equestrian statue of King George III. Revolution was in the air in the American colonies, and protesters against British tyranny struck at symbols of the hated monarch of the British Empire who ruled his colonial outposts in what would become the United States. To the king and his occupying troops, the destruction of the statue was treason against the crown

Trump is stoking fears of urban violence to rally his base for the Nov. 3 election by placing federal troops in Portland, OR and other American cities where peaceful protests and violent anger have flared in the aftermath of the police killing of a black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis earlier this year. In California, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff said, “I’m furious that Oakland may have played right into Donald Trump’s twisted campaign strategy. Images of a vandalized downtown is exactly what he wants to whip up his base and to potentially justify sending in federal troops that will only incite more unrest.”

Other mayors and governors in states targeted

by Trump’s troop invasions have decried the administration’s actions.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller blasted the proposed deployment, saying, “There’s no place for Trump’s secret police in our city. If this was more than a stunt, those politicians would support This mid-19th Century painting by Johannes A.S. Oertel depicts American constitutional crime colonists pulling down a statue of King George III. fighting efforts that work for our community, not by an angry mob. To the colonists then and turning Albuquerque into a federal police to historians now, the toppling of the regal state.” In Seattle, Mayor Jenny Durkan said statue was a patriotic act that combined of Trump’s troops, “There’s no question symbolic protest with real resistance when that the actions in Portland have escalated rebellious colonists melted down lead from things, not just in Seattle, but nationwide.” the statue to make bullets for use against Meanwhile, across America, the same King George’s occupying forces of Redcoat self-styled “conservatives” who have long soldiers during the American Revolution. claimed to be against big government and Fast forward nearly 250 years to the for state’s rights seem to have no problem America of today. Revolution is in the air with their president using paramilitary again, along with the stench of tear gas. forces against American civilians while Statues topple in cities across the nation, ignoring the wishes and warnings of govand a despised and ernors and mayors. It imperious president is telling that in 1994 Trump hopes to win the National Rifle in the White House is using fear and anger in a second term with a Association and the America as a prop for American Civil Liberties Nixonian call for ‘law and Union held a joint press his re-election campaign to avoid being toppled conference to decry the order’ and appeals to a

by American voters in of this ‘silent majority’ of voters. militarization November. The upcomnation’s police under ing presidential battle the “war on drugs” and between President Trump and former the “war on terrorism.” Today, the ACLU Vice President Joe Biden promises to be a has condemned the secret police actions in bizarre and nasty affair in a nation gripped Portland and elsewhere, while the NRA has by pandemic, protests and economic colremained with the Trump camp. lapse. Violence and vandalism will play Civil rights icon John Lewis was laid to right into the hands of Trump’s campaign, rest in a restless nation recently. His life and already his television and online ads are of nonviolent resistance to injustice and warning that Americans will be unsafe if a fascist trends in America was an example to Democrat gains the White House. Trump citizens of every nation. In his 1998 autobihopes to win a second term with a Nixonian ography Walking With the Wind, Lewis wrote call for “law and order” and appeals to a words of warning that apply more than ever “silent majority” of voters. While President in Donald Trump’s America: “We cannot Franklin Roosevelt told a worried and let this continue. We cannot have a very weary Depression-era America that, “We few people visibly and luxuriously living in have nothing to fear but fear itself,” the excess while the rest of the nation lives in slogan for the lawless and disorderly Trump fear and anxiety. We cannot afford to have administration could be “we have nothing two societies, moving further apart… such but fear itself.” disparity is a recipe for disaster.” f

“

AUGUST 5, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM

7

CURB YOUR APPETITE

Here are restaurants that are open and waiting for your order!

CALL IN I N YOUR ORDER

PATIO OPEN!

Pre-pay over the phone for contactless pick-up Enjoy your order on our patio or take it to go Delivery available via DoorDash, BullDawg, or Cosmic Delivery

ONLINE ORDERING NOW AVAILABLE AT

HALFSHEPHERD.COM Hours Tues –Sat 12pm-6pm

393 N. Finley St. · 706-353-0029 www.bigcitybreadcafe.com

706-850-2955 • 1238 Prince Ave

Lunch, Dinner & Weekend Brunch

Offering Outdoor Dining and Contact free Pick-up for take-out

Call ahead for pick-up

Lunch Tues-Fri 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Dinner Wed-Sat 5 p.m.–9 p.m.

Brunch Sat & Sun 9:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

delivery through bulldawg delivery and uber eats

PATIO OPEN (weather permitting) LIMITED INDOOR SEATING AVAILABLE

706.354.7901

3 locations • open 7 days till 10pm

Delivery through Cosmic Delivery

3:30pm-9pm M–F • 2PM–9PM SAT & SUN

706-548-3359

blindpigtavern.com

Corner of Chase and Boulevard

heirloomathens.com

706-543-6592 • 11 A.M.– 8 P.M. EVERY DAY

(cedar shoals location closed mondays)

706-227-9979 lumpkin st.

8

706-355-7087 cedar shoals dr.

WHOLE CAKES AND BULK ITEMS WITH 48 HOURS NOTICE

FLAGPOLE.COM | AUGUST 5, 2020

- BEER AND WINE TO GO -

V N

I

10:30 A.M. – 10:00 P.M. 7 DAYS A WEEK

OUTDOOR SEATING curbside pickup • delivery*

END ZYORH A Y R ENT BLOWO Y’ UT

S!

(*via bulldAWg delivery - 706-850-7999)

- CARRYOUT - DELIVERY (BULLDAWG FOODS) - CURBSIDE PICKUP (BY REQUEST) -

C

hendershot’s

Hot coffee, Cold Brew, Beers for Chad, Seltzer for Becky, Growlers for Beer and Nitro, Liquor to help you sleep, Bulk coffee to help you wake up, Bottles of Red and White, T-shirts, Trucker Caps, Hand Sanitizer to help you stay safe, our prices to reflect the times… INSANE!

NOW WITH BISCUITS (brought to you by The Plate Sale)!

237 prince ave. • 706.353.3050

House of Kabob

20OF% F E DIN

OUT D SEAT OOR ING O

NLY

-IN

PERSIAN CUISINE FREE APPETIZER OR DESSERT WITH ANY TAKE-OUT ORDER CURBSIDE PICK-UP OR DELIVERY WITH DOOR DASH, GRUBHUB, UBER EATS & COSMIC

HAPPY HOUR

MON-- FRI 5-- 7PM

$1 DRAFTS $4 WINE

1155 MITCHELL BRIDGE ROAD

706-850-1509

MON-SAT 8AM–9PM

SUN 10AM–9PM

NE W HOURS!

COUNTER SERVICE • ONLINE ORDER CURBSIDE BY REQUEST

TUESDAY-SUNDAY • 11AM-8PM

DELIVERY VIA BULLDAWG OR DoorDash FIVE POINTS • 706-613-2600

WHITETIGERGOURMET.COM

217 HIAWASSEE AVE • 706.353.6847

Let Athens know that your restaurant is OPEN!!

WAYS TO GET YOUR JUICE: Come in the store to grab a juice Call in and we’ll deliver it curbside Call or email to set up a delivery Tues and Fri Delivery Daily via Uber Eats & Cosmic Delivery M-F 7am-7pm I Sat 9am-5pm I Sun 12pm-5pm

1428 Prince Ave AMY@JOURNEYJUICE.COM

706.850.0707 JOURNEYJUICE.COM

PIZZA SANDWICHES

flagpole is offering restaurants

CALL US FOR TAKE-OUT!

a discount to get the word out!

SUN-THURS 11AM-8PM FRI & SAT 11AM-9PM BEER • WINE • DESSERTS

Contact your flagpole ad rep, email ads@flagpole.com, or call 706•549•0301

DELIVERY THROUGH BULLDAWG FOOD

254 W. Washington St. 706.543.1523

tedsmostbest.com

Catherine Chatham Murray October 23, 1942–August 3, 2020

Chatham died suddenly and unexpectedly at home Monday morning. She loved her family and her many friends with active concern, and she always fought for what she thought was right— as uncompromising in her beliefs as she was in her art. She was a hard worker and demanded the best from herself. She was a free spirit, yet bound to those she loved with fierce devotion.

She was a true Athens character and proud of it.

Rest in Peace, Dear Friend.

AUGUST 5, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM

9

music

feature

Tend to Your Garden SELINE HAZE RAPS ON PERSONAL GROWTH AND SELF-LOVE

By Amber Perry music@flagpole.com

At

nursing assistant at a retirement/rehabilitation facility, her purpose is helping people, according to Smith. She was conditioned to be a nurturer at an early age, having always had to care for her cousins at holiday gatherings and other family events, she explained.

Smith grew up in Athens with inspirational figures who pushed her to do what she loved, despite the traditions typically enforced on her, like preening for a doctor’s or lawyer’s career. In her song “Focused,” Smith raps about her grandfather through feelings of grief, “Grandpa can’t get no hug/ or the love/ he used to speak through our conversations/ help us breathe, too/ elevating on a different station/ dodging our different situations/ that cause complications.”

Smith’s grandfather empowered her as an individual. “He always told me to do what I love. He always tried to push that,” she said. “He was always somebody that spoke up and was just like, ‘You can be your own self.’”

Grief is a recurring emotion that Smith addresses in her music. Not only did she face the loss of her grandfather, but her first-born died a month and two days after giving birth. Other emergent topics in Smith’s music come from the obstacles in everyday life experiences, like single parenthood, being a Black woman, and more broadly, mental illness. Smith often characterizes her depressive states as “demons” in her songs, an effect of those daily trials and traumatic events.

Common devices in her songs are earth-centric metaphors, such as the opening verses of “Evolve,” her personal favorite and a tribute to Saba’s song, “Life.”

She starts by advising the listener, “tend to your garden” and describes why she’s had to tend to her own, “reaching for that

Residential • Office • Construction • Move In • Move Out

We are here for you!

Taking precautions to ensure everyone stays healthy and disinfecting high touch surfaces.

Adilene Valencia 706-424-9810 aecleanathens@gmail.com

10

FLAGPOLE.COM | AUGUST 5, 2020

MATT CATHCART

the East Athens Community Center back in February, before the pandemic curtailed live performances, several artists performed on leap day for a Black History Month celebration. One was 26-year-old Karica Smith—also known by her stage name, Seline Haze—who was voted Best Female Hip-Hop Artist at the 2018 Athens Hip-Hop Awards. Gymnasium bleachers were packed with people attentive to a fitting prologue to her first-ever release “Waves,” a wash of empowerment discussing mental health and the Black identity.

In her introduction, Smith filled the wide, open floor with thoughts on the mental health stigma that’s present in the Black community. “People are dealing with mental illnesses, and Black people don’t like to talk about it. Let’s be real. We like to brush it off,” Smith said. In many of her songs, the self-proclaimed survivor talks about her struggles and her life burdens—going through them to get over them—and provokes the listener to do the same. Smith is a hip-hop artist with a passion to talk about mental health.

As I crouched and listened to Smith over the sounds of children playing, Montu Miller, Smith’s manager and an employee at the community center, chimed in on the conversation. “She takes care of folks—in music, in her life. That’s just what she does,” Miller said with ease. Miller has known Smith for a few years, but it wasn’t until this past year that he became her manager.

He was always intrigued by her movement and by what she had to say.

“She’s one of those artists—when she’s telling her story, you can feel it. When she’s on the mic, and she’s talking, there’s this vibe, this energy. You can feel her being triumphant. You can feel that she’s been through the fire and got through it,” Miller said. “She’s a healer.”

One of the best feelings Smith has experienced is fans telling her that she’s helped them through a difficult time. “I was searching for my purpose in life, and I think I finally found it,” she said. Whether through her music, motherhood, caring for her father or her occupation as a certified

gleaming silver lining/ life is full of these surprises/ mindless mind/ I look, so where I find it?/ I can’t stop the ticking clock/ it’s timing/ depressing hit the peak from all the climbing.”

By “tend to your garden,” Smith means to focus on yourself, love yourself and cultivate who you want to become. “[The garden] represents your life, your friends, the important things, the things that matter and the seeds that you plant in order for things to grow, things to get better. It’s whatever you manifest in this life,” she said.

On her bandcamp page, Smith introduces “Evolve” by writing, “Life isn’t easy for everyone. Some are fighting a war no one knows about, despite our worldly news.

I found myself in a hard battle with depression, struggling for my life.” She asks, “How

much can you lose before you self-destruct?

Or will you use it to EVOLVE?” The depression that Haze describes is coupled with anxiety. She says she has struggled with anxiety most of her life. She’s always been shy—Karica has anyway. Many artists use an alias— for different reasons—but Smith said Seline Haze allows her to be the person she always wanted to be. “Seline Haze just has this fierceness to her, demands respect,”

she said. Smith jumps into this mindset before every performance.

Writing music and mixing her own tracks is a therapeutic process for Smith, but she hopes that her music can help listeners get through whatever they are experiencing, whether it’s getting over trauma or even the small stuff. “I’m hoping that I can help someone, some kind of way, the same way music helped me,” she said. “I make music overall to cope through stuff I’m experiencing, like depression. I just hope somebody feels me.”

Smith’s stories of struggle are especially important to share with other women in the community. Women are more frequently diagnosed with depression, as compared to their counterparts, according to Lisa Anger, an Athens-based therapist in practice for almost 30 years. Women tend to internalize their emotions, Anger explains. By sharing these stories, Haze and other women artists allow for the listener to relate to those emotions.

Female hip-hop artistry is an important presence in the Athens hip-hop community, where there are few participants. AthensClarke County Commissioner, fellow hip-hop artist and godmother to Smith’s children is Mariah Parker, also known as Linqua Franqa. Like Smith’s, Parker’s music hones on mental health, race and gender issues. Being a woman in the hip-hop community is a “mixed bag,” according to Parker. It poses issues like sexism, tokenization and skepticism, but those issues bring a dimension of relatability, according to Parker. “I think people see us as unique.

We benefit from standing out amongst the crowd for representing an underrepresented perspective as women, and I think people value that, too.” After observing Parker’s involvement in hip hip around Athens, Smith reached out to her, and their relationship grew from there. “I think that her candidness in her stories of struggle, and finding resilience and strength, and overcoming those struggles is really powerful,” Parker says.

With Miller’s help, Smith continues to make new music, having just released a six-track EP titled Haze on June 5, and she continues to perform for her “rose squad” of family, friends, supporters and anyone undergoing life trials by fire. As it was nearing dinner time, Smith’s daughter returned from play and murmured, “I’m hungry.” The conversation understandably had to end.

In parting, the mama and musician said, “Tend to your garden. Love yourself”— characteristically so. f

day tripper

food & drink

the locavore

Italy on the Etowah

West Broad Rising

DAHLONEGA WINERY OFFERS A TASTE OF TUSCANY

LAND TRUST MARKET AND GARDEN MOVE TO ROCKSPRINGS

By Dan Jackson news@flagpole.com

By Dan Jackson news@flagpole.com

Athenians are getting restless. The urge to travel has been frustrated by coronavirus, and countless trips have been canceled or postponed. Baking, Netflix binges and jigsaw puzzles are pale substitutes for the joys of seeing the world and savoring its bounty.

For those who’d like to enjoy the rolling hills, wineries and food of Tuscany, we may have something of a solution here in Northeast Georgia. A mere 70-mile road trip lands visitors at the doors of Montaluce, an imposing Italian villa perched on a slope surrounded by 18 acres of vineyards overlooking the North Georgia COURTESY OF MONTALUCE

mountains. A travel agent friend with a surprising amount of time on his hands and frustrated by the current lack of travel opportunities joined me on the trip where, if you get a glass of wine and squint just right, you can picture yourself thousands of miles away. You’d never imagine that you were deep in James Dickey country, just up the road from a meat and three. Was that banjo music we heard?

The edifice was originally built as a clubhouse for a real estate development of Italian villas on small lots, but the Great Recession took care of that idea, and only a few homes were built. Montaluce’s new owners, also in real estate, ambitiously changed the clubhouse into an elegant, full-service restaurant that would lure wealthy Atlantans for an afternoon or evening of Italian food and Georgia wine.

Montaluce is also a working vineyard that produces a surprisingly wide collection of grapes on its 18 cultivated acres, and winemaker Craig Boyd creates wines ranging from complex reds to lighthearted, quaffable rosés; a fruity raspberry mead fermented from honey that might bring to mind a Jolly Rancher; and its most popular, a sweet apple wine. Boyd has serious wine chops, as evidenced by his degree in enology and viticulture from University of California-Davis, as well as his stints at wineries in other unlikely wine regions, such as Arizona and South Dakota.

From the monumental entrance, the

villa opens up into an opulent, high-ceilinged restaurant fitted with Old World architectural elements, such as heavy wooden beams and ceilings, rows of Palladian windows, massive iron chandeliers, an immense bar and highly polished, stained concrete floors. Lunch is prepared

by Christopher Matson, the executive chef, who studied classical French cooking at New York’s International Culinary Center.

Still in sheltering-in-place mode, we donned our masks and ventured onto the spacious outdoor terrace that frames views of the vineyards and surrounding countryside with the large arched openings of an Italian colonnade. The views of the dense forests of North Georgia reach as far as Blood Mountain, more than 20 miles to the northeast.

With the higher altitude and the treetop height of the terrace, refreshing breezes soon welcomed us, along with a wait staff out of the pages of a J. Crew catalog. My friend ordered the Centurio red, with its “strawberry, floral, perfume and cola aromas with a hint of earthiness,” and I joined him with a lighter Sangiovese. We were soon served a Tuscan flatbread, large enough to share, slicked with a sweet balsamic glaze and ornamented with a fluffy meadow of peppery arugula ($18.)

Service is leisurely. The entrées arrived— coriander-crusted pork tenderloin with roasted fennel and citrus saffron foam ($28) for your writer, a rich pasta bolognese ($24) for the travel agent—and were promptly dispatched. The broad expanse of a colorful French fruit tart dotted with blueberries and raspberries soon followed, and it too quickly disappeared. Wines by the glass run $7–$22.

I checked my phone and, sure enough, the temperature in Athens was nearing 90 and was only 78 where we sat. That alone seemed worth the price of admission.

Wine lovers can sample five of the winery’s offerings with the Montaluce Flight, with patrons choosing from 11 wines for $30 per flight, and you walk away with a souvenir Montaluce glass. Another option not listed on the website is a two-and-a-half hour walk through the vineyards with a winemaker and a tour of the winery, with a wine tasting, for $45 on Saturdays and Sundays only.

Wines are also available at the wine shop located at the entrance to the restaurant.

Prices range from $28 for their apple wine to $82 for their 2017 Reserve Malbec. A selection of charcuterie rounds out the wine shop’s offerings. See montaluce.com. f

The Athens Land Trust recently relocated own produce. Benham says the market will the popular West Broad Market Garden work with the community to continue addfrom its old location at the West Broad ing planting beds to the one-acre plot.

School to the parking lot of the Athens The ALT was forced to seek out a new Housing Authority at 300 Rocksprings St. site for the market and garden when, after The market responded to the pandemic a years-long debate over the future of the crisis by taking a page from the Community property, the Clarke County School District Supported Agriculture playbook, offering decided to turn the vacant West Broad produce, meats, fish, dairy, prepared foods, School into an early learning facility. honey and many other products to its The ALT also owns Williams Farm, a customers on a new website (wbfm.localfive-acre produce farm off North Avenue lygrown.net). Ordered items are available where farm manager Seth Nivens practices for pickup at a curbside drive-through in next-level farming techniques to improve the parking lot at their new location on the quality of the soil. Currently, there are Saturdays. only cover crops designed to improve soil West Broad Farmers Market manager and suppress weeds in the fields. Prior to Ellie Adams says that vendors and customfall planting and seeding, the cover crops, ers alike miss the weekly jostle and activity a mix of buckwheat and field peas that at the weekly market, but that they have responded enthusiastically to the new format. The new plan allows vendors to know exactly how much produce to deliver to the market on Saturday, she says, saving them a lot of time.

Customers can shop online from 5 p.m. Sunday through 1 p.m. Thursday.

Customers then arrive at the new location between 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. on Saturday to pick up their orders.

Payments can be Resident Gloria Moses (right) signs up for a garden plot with Cameron Teeter, arranged online or community agriculture director for the Athens Land Trust. can be taken at the drive-through. The market accepts cash, checks, credit card or will provide mulch for the fall crops. The EBT/SNAP. The market will continue its garden’s 54 CSA customers are on hiatus policy of offering “double dollars” to SNAP now and will await new fall crops in mid- to recipients, cutting their bills in half. late-September.

Vendors receive orders from the website The Athens Land Trust has a robust and create packages for each individual’s mission that includes the West Broad order. Upon delivery, farmers market market—its most visible project—and its helpers sort these packages, assemble the popular Youth Development Program, a orders, and deliver them to customers as paid job-skills training program that has they drive through. helped more than 300 high school-age stuHeather Benham, executive director of dents. The Young Urban Builders, the Young the Athens Land Trust, reports that the Urban Farmers and the Young Conservation market is attracting more new vendors Stewards programs are designed to give each week, about doubling since last year. these students exposure to real-world job Currently, about 30 vendors offer 500 prod- training and provide “soft skills” such as ucts, including fresh produce, herbs, catfish, public speaking and leadership. Other prospecialty Wagyu beef, flowers, honey and grams support local community and school nuts. Want to watch caterpillars metamorgardens. The ALT’s mission also reaches phose into Monarch butterflies? They are across the state with conservation proavailable from the local Floating Flowers grams that help landowners improve soil Butterfly Farm, along with the Butterfly and water quality on nearly 19,000 acres of weed essential to newly hatched Monarchs. farmlands, wetlands and natural areas. In The new location will also host a commu- addition to conserving farmland and greennity garden, restoring a popular feature at space, the organization also builds and the old location. The new gardens, currently renovates affordable housing, using a model a series of raised planters, are filled with in which the buyer owns the house, but the rich, organic topsoil, and were assigned last ALT keeps the land in trust, reducing costs week at an ALT meeting to gardeners from and enabling the home to remain affordable the neighborhood who want to raise their in perpetuity. f

AUGUST 5, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM

11

WHITLEY CARPENTER

arts & culture

cla cl assifi fie eds Buy It, Sell It, Rent It, Use It! Place an ad anytime, email class@flagpole.com

 Indicates images available at classifieds.flagpole.com

REAL ESTATE APARTMENTS FOR RENT 1BR/1BA, $525/mo. 1-year lease with $525 deposit. $40 non-refundable application fee. Water included, all-electric. Pets welcome with deposit. Close to downtown on bus line. bondhillapartments@gmail. com 3BR/2BA apartment.

Remodeled, new flooring and paint on five acres.

Please call 941-962-4933 for more information.

Quiet 1BR /1BA apartment for rent in Waterbury Apartments. Across from UGA Vet Hospital and bus lines. Recently refurbished, W/D included and pets OK. Flexible move-in date (Aug. 1–Sept. 1). Deposit: $635/Rent: $750. For details, please call 706399-5591. For a virtual tour, please click here.

ROOMS FOR RENT

HOUSES FOR RENT

Office space available at 220 Prince Ave. Flagpole has more space then we need in the 1907 two-story house that we rent across from The Grit and Hendershot’s!

Three spaces available on the second floor: $800/ month for large office; Facing Prince Ave., lots of windows, built-in bookcase and decorative fireplace. $600/month for medium office; 17ft x 14ft, decorative fireplace and storage closet. $350/month for small office; Perfect for space for a single person to get some work done. All spaces include parking for the renter and a guest, all utilities (except phone) including inter net and use of shared conference room. Must have limited foot traffic. No reception available. Please email ads@flagpole.com for more information or to set up an appointment.

4BR/3BA house in Five Points for rent. $2000/mo.

Master suite on main floor, fireplace in living room and mudroom off of the kitchen.

Wa t e r, g a r b a g e , l a w n maintenance and pest control included. Call 706621-5330 or 706-202-8688 for details.

flagpole classifieds Reach Over 30,000 Readers Every Week!

Business Services Real Estate Music For Sale

Employment Vehicles Messages Personals

BASIC RATES* Individual $10 per week Real Estate $14 per week Business $16 per week (RTS) Run-‘Til-Sold** $40 per 12 weeks Online Only*** $5 per week

Newly renovated 2BR/1BA in Historic Normaltown. $1400/month. Available mid-July or August. Please visit www.133LenoirAvenue.com for more details.

SUB-LEASE Looking for someone to take up my lease from Oct. 2020–June 1, 2021. Bogart apartment in a quiet neighborhood near Atlanta Hwy. Easy access to post office, library, downtown Athens, etc. Includes living room, kitchen, laundry room, b e d ro o m , s m a l l b a t h room, easy parking and more. $675/mo. Must have a credit score at 600 or above. Call or text Jen at 410-212-2657.

Find someone to buy your house or find tenants for your properties by advertising in the Flagpole Classifieds.

MUSIC EQUIPMENT Nuçi’s Space needs your old instruments & music gear, especially drum equipment! All donations are tax-deductible. 706227-1515 or come by Nuçi’s Space, 396 Oconee St.

SERVICES HOME AND GARDEN Plumber Pro Service & Drain. Upfront Pricing. Free Estimates. $30 Flagpole Discount. Call 706-7697761. Same Day Service Available. www.plumberproservice.com.

MISC. SERVICES Learning coach available for families choosing to do online learning in the fall. Over 30 years experience working with children of all ages. References available. 706-870-5128. commercedance@yahoo. com Advertise your service in the Flagpole Classifieds.

Call 706-549-0301 today.

Need some old newspapers for your garden?

Or how about that new puppy? Well, they’re free at the Flagpole office! Call ahead, then come grab an armful. Please leave current issues on stands. 706549-0301.

TUTORS Middle school teacher for online or in-person tutor.

Master’s in Ed from UGA; 6 years classroom experience. Certified in math, social studies and English.

Grades 4–8. Call/text: 706461-2212

JOBS FULL-TIME ABC Package is hiring par t-time and full-time team members to assist customers on the sales floor, front end cashiers and merchandiser/stock associates. Must be 21.

Please apply at 2303 W. Broad St.

OPPORTUNITIES World of Futons is hiring! Seeking delivery and salespeople, as well as frame builders. Call 706-353-1218 for more details.

ADOPT ME!

PART-TIME Seeking excellent typists (65+ WPM) to start immediately. Flexible schedules with 16 hours/per week minimum. Office policies include mandatory cleanings, socially distant workstations and no unauthorized visitors. Pay starts at $9.25 with $1/hour or higher raises after training.

No previous transcription experience required. Apply at www.ctscribes.com Seeking vir t ual assistant, preferably a literature graduate student interested inpublishing industry. Applicant will research publishing houses and agencies and assist author in submission process. Part-time but looking for long-term working relationship.

Excellent organizational s k i l l s a m u s t . $ 1 5 / h r.

Contact Dr. Kuhl at josephkuhl@gmail.com.

NOTICES MESSAGES Flagpole subscriptions delivered straight to the mailbox! Perfect present for your buddy who moved out of town! $45 for 6 mos. or $80 for 1 yr. Call 706549-0301.

Visit athenspets.net to view all the cats and dogs available at the shelter

*Ad enhancement prices are viewable at flagpole.com **Run-‘Til-Sold rates are for MERCHANDISE ONLY ***Available for individual rate categories only

PLACE AN AD • Call our Classifieds Dept. (706) 549-0301 • Email us at class@flagpole.com

• Deadline to place ads is 11:00 a.m. every Monday for the following Wednesday issue • All ads must be prepaid

12

Eva (53875)

There’s never a dull moment with Eva! She loves to run and play but will also sit (for treats.) If you have love to give, Eva’s more than ready for it! Call the shelter for more info and to possibly meet this sweet girl.

FLAGPOLE.COM | AUGUST 5, 2020

Magic (53560)

Magic is a sweet boy familiar with living in a home. He’s most likely been housetrained and loves getting pets and affection. At four years old and 81 pounds, there’s plenty of Magic to love!

Roxy (53803)

This girl is friendly and bouncy! Roxy loves people and seems to like other dogs, making her a great candidate for a loving home. Call today to see if Roxy’s the right fit for you and your family!

These pets and many others are available for adoption at:

Athens-Clarke County Animal Control 125 Buddy Christian Way · 706-613-3540 Call for appointment

flagpole

SUDOKU

Edited by Margie E. Burke

Difficulty: Easy

4

7 6

1 2 3 8 5 5

7 2

2

4

8

9

6 6 2 3

8

Copyright 2020 by The Puzzle Syndicate

HOW TO SOLVE:

Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9; and each set of 3 by 3 boxes must contain the of numbers 9.

Week 8/3/201- to 8/9/20

The Weekly Crossword 1

2

3

4

5

6

14

15

17

18

20

7

8

4 9 34 3 39 6 43 2 47 5 1 56 8 63 7

8 1 6 9 3 7 2 57 4 5

7 5 2 4 1 8 6 358 9

5 435 7 2 8 3 952 1 6

12

13

31

32

33

61

62

22

328 1 9 296 6 2 3 367 9 840 5 1 7 544 1 8 4 6 7 9 48 1 9 4 2 5 3 8 534 2 7 6 595 8 464 2 3

2 8 4 3 45 5 49 6 7 9 1

25 30 37

38

41

42 46 50

51

54

55

60

PLUS, MORE MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP wave couldn’t possibly get hotter, here comes Kxng Blanco with a brand new set of conceptual and direct bangers named SummersOnSarsen. The whopping 18-track album, courtesy of GA Pro with ATHfactor-Liberty Entertainment, just came out last week via all streaming platforms.

Familiar ears will readily recognize Blanco’s hardcore and nearly flawless flow, not to mention his pull-no-punches lyricism, but will also be pleased by the notably thoughtful selection of beats. Nothing here feels pasted over or tacked on but, rather, sounds deliberately compositional. The most single-worthy tracks here are the reverb stylized “E.T.,” the inspirational “Pain N’ Sufferin,’” and the title track. Blanco is a great storyteller, and most of the tracks here are deeply personal, and not all of it is comfortably absorbed.

But that’s OK, as this work tells his story, not yours. Find this everywhere, but follow along at facebook.com/kxngblanco.

FIND IT: Across a mere two tracks, songwriter Elliot Shaw

imparts the loneliness of isolation as well as the sometimes difficult-to-shed embeddedness of identity. The songs, “Never Given The Time” and “Queen Of Everything,” just came out last month, and, while not exactly a full-on release, they’re far from simply being tossed out there. The instrumentation—largely acoustic with some supporting strings imparting drones on the first, and a dark and lovely piano with wonderfully set guitar transitions on the second—is perfect on each. All told, this is a very romantic pair of songs that could have very easily slipped under the radar but didn’t. Find this at elliotshaw.bandcamp.com.

ANNIVERSARY SONGS: Long-running Athens Americana band Family And Friends is back with a short EP named All My Days.

Two tracks are re-workings of older songs, specifically “Amadeus,” which first appeared on the band’s album XOXO (2015), and the second being “PRSM,” from the group’s Felix Culpa (2018). Each is a nice replaying of these older tracks, and they’re joined nicely by the soft acoustic number “For To The City.” While this is a fine slice of keeping-up-with-the-band, listening to it made me miss long summer nights at The Caledonia and elsewhere, seeing these guys onstage and hanging out with, you know, family and friends. Anyway, check this out at familyandfriends.bandcamp. com, and give ‘em a wave at facebook.com/ familyandfriends.

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

ACROSS 1 Fair-minded 5 Follow as a result 10 Q-Tip 14 Catch sight of 15 Spa feature 16 Bear's lair 17 Have a hunch 18 Checkout device 20 Like some chickens 22 Prevent, as disaster 23 Faucet flaw 24 Clear the slate 26 Nothing at all 28 Cozumel coin 30 French household 34 Some Japanese films 36 Details, briefly 38 Like a sad sack 39 Farmer's guide 41 Religious selfdenier 43 Genesis son 44 Word of assent 46 Popped up 47 Crushing snake 49 For fear that 51 "Holy cow!"

11

16

21

27

10

19

Solution to Sudoku: 24 23 26

by Margie E. Burke 9

Kxng Blanco’s SummersOnSarsen WEST OF WILTSHIRE: Just when you thought the current heat

8 3 7

threats & promises

By Gordon Lamb threatsandpromises@flagpole.com

9

4

music

Copyright 2020 by The Puzzle Syndicate

52 Perpendicular to the keel 54 ___ mortals 56 Take to the soapbox 59 Math function 63 California gold seeker 65 Indian butter 66 Bitty biter 67 For all to see 68 Word on a towel 69 Penn of films 70 Contract details 71 Uno + dos

13 19 21 25

DOWN 1 Bridges in the movies 2 End ___ 3 Highway sign 4 Aerosmith frontman 5 Break out 6 Tandoori bread 7 Scalpel wielder 8 Below the surface 9 Corn serving 10 Type of hunt 11 Baseball's Boggs 12 Declare firmly

40 42 45

26 27 29 31 32 33 35 37

48 50 53 55 56 57 58 60 61 62 64

Ernie's pal Ill at ___ Turn red, maybe "Famous" cookie maker Civil rights org.

Mosaic technique Down with something Thoroughly False front Run the show UN headquarters locale Jack's "Chinatown" costar First-rate Feed a party One who distributes charity Follow orders Intelligence, slangily ____ and well One way to turn Slays, in slang Part, in pictures Kind of code Bug's beginning?

Roll-call reply State of disorder Part of DNR

Puzzle answers are available at www.flagpole.com/puzzles

C-60 PASTE UP: I don’t know a single dang Kxng Blanco ol’ thing about this band named Divorce Party, except they share a name with a Ruby The Rabbitfoot record, but they’ve got an EP out now that I can’t stop playing. Neatly and succinctly titled EP #1, it’s composed of six tracks recorded via 4-track cassette between 2018 and now. Due to its overall aesthetic and necessary sonic limitations, this is a nice lesson in remembering what creative folks can do with very little. The music itself pulls from a deep tradition of self-produced indie rock, and the songs spill through much of the latter 20th Century of college rock. To wit, there are shades of very early R.E.M., Sebadoh, Guided By Voices, et al throughout this. None very on the nose, but back there somewhere.

Check it out at divorcepartyyy.bandcamp.com.

WE CAN DO IT: Y’all ever felt music just sweat into your ear?

I mean, sure, OK, yeah we’ve all been there. But have you had it happen lately? If not, go spend a few minutes with the new tracks from Rosie & The Ratdogs. Since June, the band has released two singles ( “Sanhedra” and “Flicka”) off its upcoming EP. I hesitate to lump the band lazily into the “grunge” category because that term is too many decades old for quick relevance and reference. That said, sometimes you just feel lazy and throw off any hesitation you may feel.

So, fans of TAD, Soundgarden, the more melodic tunes from Unsane, etc. will totally dig these the most. Kick the tires around over at rosieandtheratdogs.bandcamp.com. f

record review Immaterial Possession: Immaterial Possession (Cloud Recordings) Knowing that musicians Cooper Holmes, Madeline Polites and Jeremy Kiran Fernandes share a parallel pursuit in surreal theater and performance art, it feels only natural that their songs, crafted alongside drummer John Spiegel, are designed to fully engage the senses. Full of mystical narratives, the lyrical world-building provides rich visual descriptors, while the psychedelic pop melodies themselves seem to stretch and manipulate time, charming you into snaking along to and fro. Think of it as the auditory equivalent of hypnagogia, the transitional state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep when fleeting memories and intentions are reaffirmed over slippery, kaleidoscopic visuals that flutter into focus before disappearing into the ether. The recordings feel both folkloric and present-day, unlikely to have materialized out of the same shared reality as the rest of us, but instead gracefully visiting from the astral realm. [Jessica Smith]

AUGUST 5, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM

13

bulletin board Deadline for getting listed in Bulletin Board is every THURSDAY at 5 p.m. for the print issue that comes out the following Wednesday. Online listings are updated daily. Email calendar@flagpole.com.

Art ARTS IN COMMUNITY AWARD: RESILIENCE (Athens, GA) The Athens Cultural Affairs Commission awards grants of $2,000 each to public art projects, events and activities that promote creative placemaking in the community. Grants will be awarded based on the level of community enrichment through the arts, contribution to the local identity and quality of artistic merit. Artists, local organizations and groups can apply.

Deadline Aug. 7, 11:59 p.m. Fill out online proposal. info@athens culturalaffairs.org, www.athensculturalaffairs.org/calls-for-artists ATHENS CREATIVE DIRECTORY (Athens, GA) The ACD is a new platform to connect creatives with patrons. Visual artists, musicians, actors, writers and other creatives are encouraged to create a free listing before the new website launches.

Submit a profile by Aug. 5 to be entered to win a $25 Downtown Athens gift card. athenscreatives@ gmail.com, athenscreatives.directory CALL FOR INTERNS (Athens Institute for Contemporary Art: ATHICA) ATHICA is seeking interns interested in development, social media, music, poetry, photography and gallery operation. Minimum five hours a week. College credit is available in coordination with department of study. Rolling deadline. athica. org/updates/internships

CALL FOR PUBLIC ART: DUDLEY PARK (Athens, GA) The Athens Cultural Affairs Commission invites professional artists to submit proposals for consideration in the picnic shelter and restroom facility area at the park. Proposals due Aug. 30. www.athensclarkecounty.com/9519

Auditions FRUITCAKES (Elbert Theatre, Elberton) Encore Productions hosts auditions for the final show of its 2020 season. The director is looking to cast a mid-sized group of adult men, adult women and children ages 10–12. Be prepared to read excerpts from the script. Auditions on Aug. 31–Sept. 1, 6–8 p.m. Rehearsals will be held mid-September through mid-November. Performances held Nov. 6–8 & 13–15. 706-283-1049

Classes DEDICATED MINDFULNESS PRACTITIONERS (Online) Weekly Zoom meditations are offered every Saturday at 8 a.m. Email for details. jaseyjones@gmail.com MINDFULNESS PRACTICE EVENINGS (Online) Discuss and practice how to change your relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions. Email for the Zoom link.

Second Friday of the month, 6–7 p.m. FREE! mfhealy@bellsouth.net

art around town AMICI (233 E. Clayton St.) Jennifer Wallens Terry is a medium, pet psychic and spiritual coach. Her abstract paintings focus on texture and color, while others feature celestial and symbolic imagery. Through August.

CITY OF WATKINSVILLE (Downtown Watkinsville) “Public Art Watkinsville: A Pop-Up Sculpture Exhibit” consists of sculptures placed in prominent locations around downtown. Artists include Benjamin Lock, William Massey, Stan Mullins, Robert Clements, Harold Rittenberry and Joni Younkins-Herzog. • “Artscape Oconee: The Monuments of Artland” features a total of 20 paintings on panels installed around town. Artists include Claire Clements, Peter Loose, Andy Cherewick, Lisa Freeman, Manda McKay and others.

EARTH FARE (1689 S. Lumpkin St.) Tom Hancock creates abstract paintings that incorporate mixed media and found objects. Through August.

GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART (90 Carlton St.) “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection” features over 60 objects spanning over 30 years of the famous stained-glass artist’s career. • “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” is an annual exit show for the graduating master of fine arts students at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. • “Rediscovering the Art of Victoria Hutson Huntley” contains approximately 30 lithographs and two paintings. • “Drama and Devotion in Baroque Rome” celebrates Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s influence. Through Aug. 23.

• “Altered Landscapes: Photography in the Anthropocene” includes images that demonstrate humanity’s impact on the natural world. Through Sept. 27.

• “Recognizing Artist Soldiers in the Permanent Collection” includes artists who served in conflicts from the Revolutionary War through World War II, as well as those who served in the 1950s. Though the museum is temporarily closed, many of the exhibitions, as well as the permanent collection, are currently available to view online at georgiamuseum.org.

GLASSCUBE@INDIGO (500 College Ave.) “Supple Moments, Dark Corners” is a site-specific installation by Eli Saragoussi that is accompanied by a soundscape by Max Boyd called “Jungle Drone.” Saragoussi recently incorporated additional set pieces built for Ad•Verse festival.

JITTERY JOE’S DOWNTOWN (297 E. Broad St.) Susan Pelham’s collages are influenced by Magic Realism, Surrealism, fables and folklore. Through August.

LAMAR DODD SCHOOL OF ART (270 River Rd.) “Amiko Li: The Purpose of Disease” presents the explorations of the Dodd MFA Fellow in photography

14

OLLI@UGA CLASSES (Online) OLLI offers 28 different classes through Zoom. Topics include photography, bats and coronavirus, how changing diets can impact vision and cognition, mindfulness and more. For ages 50 & up. Held daily through Aug. 6 at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. www.olli.uga.edu SPANISH CLASSES (Athens, GA) For adults, couples and children.

Learn from experts with years of professional experience. Contact for details. 706-372-4349, marinabilbao75@gmail.com YAMUNA AND MORE (Elevate Athens, Online) Nia Holistic Fitness and Yamuna Body Rolling are held on an ongoing basis. $20/class. www.elevateathens.com ZOOM YOGA (Online) Rev. Elizabeth Alder offers “Off the Floor Yoga” (chair and standing) on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. and “Easy on the Mat” yoga classes on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. Ongoing classes are $5/class or $18/month. 706-612-8077, ommmever@yahoo.com

Events ATHENS FARMERS MARKET (Bishop Park) The market is open with safety precautions in place.

Wear a mask, pre-order when possible, keep your family home and use cashless payments. Saturdays, 8 a.m.–12 p.m. www.athensfarmers market.net

Tif Sigfrids presents seven humorous paintings by Heidi Jahnke, including “Ham with Top Hat,” through Aug. 24.

JULY EVENTS (Southern Brewing Company) Cornhole ATL league is held every Wednesday from 6:30– 9:45 p.m. Sunday Trivia with Solo Entertainment is held every Sunday at 5 p.m. www.sobrewco.com LIVE WIRE SUMMER EVENTS (Live Wire Athens) Wedding Industry Happy Hour is held every Wednesday from 5–6 p.m. Games of darts are held every Wednesday from 5–10 p.m. Fresh Garden Jam with live jamming is held every Thursday from 5–10 p.m. Love Music Live Stream offers bands streamed from the main stage every Friday 5-10 p.m. www.livewireathens.com/ calendar RAY BRADBURY READ-A-THON (Online) Over 40 readers from all over the country, including representatives from the Athens Regional Library System, will perform a virtual reading of Bradbury’s classic dysto-

into acupuncture, palm reading, psychogenics, herbal supplements, antibiotics and the regeneration of limbs. • “KITCHEN” is a new animation by New York-based artist and former Athenian Michael Siporin Levine, inspired by his quarantine experience. • In “Mors Scena,” photographer Rachel Cox documents the viewing rooms and visitation spaces of funeral homes, drawing attention to how we mourn and memorialize the dead in America. • Atlanta-based artist Michi Meko’s 2017 installation, “One Last Smile Before the Undertow,” is a suite of works addressing black life in America postObama. • “Silver_Page_Radio_Light” is a collaboration between Austinbased photographer Barry Stone and New York-based photographer Lucy Helton, who faxed each other an image each day for a portion of quarantine.

• In “Optical Illusion,” Zipporah Camille Thompson juxtaposes organic and inorganic materials. • In “Makeover Kingdom,” Houston-based artist and Dodd alum Cobra McVey transforms thrift store objects and mass-produced consumer goods into playful assemblages. Exhibitions are available online at art.uga.edu.

LYNDON HOUSE ARTS CENTER (293 Hoyt St.) “Collections from our Community” presents the peels of bananas that were eaten by Hue Henry and photographed as a still life by Carole Henry. Through Sept. 1. • In the Lobby Case, view a collection of charming ceramic house sculptures by Frank Jackson. Through Sept. 1. • The Lyndon House is currently open to the public, with precautions in place. Daily installments of artwork and activities are also available on Instagram and Facebook, using the hashtags #45JuriedShowOnline and #ArtsCenterOnline.

MADISON ARTISTS GUILD (125 W. Jefferson St., Madison) Bev Jones’ works in “Whispers of Tranquility” are inspired by experiences that jar her as well as still moments, particularly when alone and immersed in the natural world. Through October.

MADISON-MORGAN CULTURAL CENTER (434 S. Main St., Madison) “Lambs to Lillies” is an online exhibition featuring impressionistic oil paintings by Cynthia Perryman. Through Sept. 11 at mmcc-arts.org.

TIF SIGFRIDS (119 N. Jackson St.) See seven humorous paintings by Heidi Jahnke, a Canadian artist who lived and worked in New York. Through Aug. 24.

UGA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIES (300 S. Hull St.) Online exhibitions include “Steele Vintage Broadcast Microphone Collection,” “Foxfire on Display at UGA: 50 Years of Cultural Journalism Documenting Folk Life in the North Georgia Mountains, September–December 2016,” “Covered With Glory: Football at UGA, 1892–1917” and “Fighting Spirit: Wally Butts and UGA Football, 1939–1950.” Visit digilab.libs.uga.edu/scl/exhibits.

FLAGPOLE.COM | AUGUST 5, 2020

pian novel Fahrenheit 451. The reading will be streamed over YouTube, Facebook and Instagram on Aug. 22. www.raybradbury.com THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW SKETCHES (Elbert Theatre, Elberton) Encore Productions presents a night of 1970s comedy. $9–16. Social distancing will be observed through reserved seating.

Aug. 21–22, 28–29, 7 p.m. Aug. 23, 30, 2 p.m. 706-283-1049, tking@ cityofelberton.net THE CRY BABY LOUNGE PRESENTS (Online) Eli Saragoussi hosts bimonthly shows using YouTube Premeire. Michael Potter, Esme Patterson (Denver) and Cicada Rhythm will play Aug. 7 at 7:30 p.m. with donations supporting Color of Change. Find The Cry Baby Lounge on Facebook. thecry babylounge@gmail.com, bit.ly/ TheCryBabyLounge

Kidstuff WE ROCK ATHENS CAMP ONLINE (Online) Girls Rock Athens presents online classes in instruction, musicianship, self-empowerment and community care. For ages 9–17.

Classes include guitar, bass, drums, keys, vocals, DJing, body image and media literacy, DIY crafts, poetry, activism, volunteerism and more.

Ongoing. Sliding scale tuition. girls rockcampathens@gmail.com, www. girlsrockathensga.org

Support Groups AL-ANON 12 STEP (Multiple Locations) Recovery for people affected by someone else’s drinking.

Visit the website for a calendar of electronic meetings held throughout the week. www.ga-al-anon.org RECOVERY DHARMA (Recovery Dharma) This peer-led support group offers a Buddhist-inspired path to recovery from any addiction.

Visit the website for info about Zoom meetings. Thursdays, 7–8 p.m.

FREE! www.athensrecoverydharma. org

On the Street ACRONYM (Athens, GA) ACRONYM is a new website compiling COVID19 aid for Athens-based live music venues and artists. Check the website for updated listings on funding and financial opportunities,

mental health guides, organizational support, community resources and more. Visit acroynym.rocks CORNHOLE LEAGUE REGISTRATION (Southern Brewing Company) Register for CornholeATL Athens’ seven-week cornhole league that begins in September. The fall league offers four different divisions of play to accomodate all levels. www.cornholeatl.com THE MARIGOLD MARKET (Online) The Marigold Market aims to make fresh food easily accessible to the Eastside Athens and Winterville communities. The market is open online every week from Friday through Wednesday, and orders can be picked up every Saturday. www. cityofwinterville.com/marigoldmarket SEEKING BANDS (Athens Regional Library System) Seeking musicians of every genre for a Facebook Live Music Series. Email your name, band name, contact information and a link to your music. Artists will be requested to send a video of three to four songs to release through Facebook. Songs must be radio appropriate. jmitchell@athens library.org STORMWATER CALENDAR (Athens, GA) The ACC Stormwater staff is seeking photos of water and nature scenes from all around Athens to create a wall calendar for 2021. Submit photos by email with the name of the photographer and a description of where, when and why it was taken. Deadline Sept. 25. stormwater@accgov.com TRASHERCISE (Athens, GA) Complete your own Trashercise workout by walking, jogging or running along, trails, roads and neighborhoods. Bring a bag, gloves or a grabber, and pick up any trash you see. Share photos through #trasherciseathens. Report your cleanup online, and Keep AthensClarke County Beautiful will send a prize. carlos.pinto@accgov.com, www.keepathensbeautiful.org, www. accgov.com/aahcleanupreport WATER WORKS PHOTO CONTEST (Athens, GA) The ACC Water Conservation Office invites photographers to fill in the blank on “Water works. Today. Tomorrow. For ___.” High-resolution photographs due Aug. 30. Twenty photos will be selected as finalists for a round of online voting, with the 10 photos receiving inclusion in a 30-second TV spot in honor of Imagine A Day Without Water. www.accgov.com/ waterworks f

Sexual Health & Wellness

A State of Body, A State of Mind!

“Let us help you explore &

enjoy your sexual wellness”...

15% OFF Mention This Ad For:

*

All Sexual Wellness & Personal Care Products!*

Your Pleasure Is Our Business:

Adult Toys • Sexual Enhancers Lubes • Mood Setters • Condoms Hookahs • Vapes • Smoke • CBD Pipe Accessories • Detoxification Adult Party Gifts • Intimate Gifts

@WUGAFM | WUGA.ORG

LOCAL NEWS

®

WUGA IS A BROADCAST SERVICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA.

Dog Spa

PLUS... SO MUCH MORE! (*Offer not to be combined with other promotions.)

4100 Lexington Rd. Athens (Adjacent to Willowood Square)

706.552.1492

Always FREE SHIPPING @

ShopStarship.com

ALICIA has been our main receptionist for two years. She keeps everything running smoothly!

Meet Our Staff!

barkdogspa.com 1850 Epps Bridge Pkwy · 706-353-1065

Experienced advocate for individuals in criminal, juvenile, and probate matters

Tomlinson-lawfirm.com

706-200-1777

AUGUST 5, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM

15

Residents and visitors should wear face covers in public spaces and commercial buildings in Athens-Clarke County to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Face covers help protect you and other people around you.

• Medical grade masks are not necessary for most uses.

• Face covers may be made from household items such as scarves, bandanas, or other suitable fabrics.

• Face covers should cover the mouth and nose.

• Follow CDC guidelines for putting on, removing, and washing cloth face covers.

ACCGov is distributing some reusable cloth face covers through: • Athens-Clarke County Library • Athens Community Council on Aging • Athens Free Clinic mobile testing unit • Clarke County School District food distribution pods • Leisure Services Community Centers, Parks, and Facilities • Police Headquarters • Transit Multimodal Transportation Center and buses • Water Business Office accgov.com/coronavirus | 706-613-3333

READY. SET.

GO SAFELY. ATHENS, GA

Athens-Clarke County is committed to prioritizing your health and safety and mitigating the spread of COVID-19. To do so, we recognize that

As you venture out, please commit to go safely:

community-wide measures and guidelines must be established and followed. READY, SET, GO SAFELY is a collaborative community effort to promote and encourage protocol, sanitization measures, and safety guidelines so that we can safely go forward together.

To Ready, Set, contact Go Safely, we are encouraging all businesses to commit these 6 guidelines: Limit close and Washtohands or use hand sanitizer. maintain 6 feet of distance.

Ready.

Establish and follow approved protocol.

Set.

Follow CDC standards for sanitizing and disinfecting.

Avoid large Monitorgroup and follow gatherings.

Train employees on protocol distancing and capacity guidelines.

to reduce the spread.

Go Safely.

Wear cloth face coverings and maintain 6-feet of distance.

Clean and disinfect personal Welcome patrons who are following guidelines. items and surfaces.

As you start to Respect people and guidelines venture out, we ask Learn moretoat readysetgosafely.com that you commit Limit close contact and maintain 6-feet of distance.

Wear cloth face covers in public.

Avoid large gatherings.

Wear cloth face coverings in public.

Wash hands or use hand sanitizer.

Clean and disinfect personal items and surfaces.