INDY Week 3.02.2022

Raleigh | Durham | Chapel Hill March 2, 2022

E C I T S U J

N O I S S I M Behind the scenes of the local podcast illuminating the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women

BY SASHA SCHROEDER, P. 12

Raleigh 2 Durham 2 Chapel Hill

Mohammad Sadat, the Raleigh-based founder of AFGNSTN Clothing Co. p. 5

VOL. 39 NO. 9

PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA

CONTENTS NEWS 5

A Raleigh clothing designer draws on his heritage and gives back to Afghanistan, the country that inspires his creative work.

BY JASMINE GALLUP

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Latinx student groups at Duke have united to demand representation, acknowledgment, and respect from the university's administration.

BY JEREMY CARBALLO PINEDA

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With plans to renovate or demolish McDougald Terrace, the futures of the community's residents hang in the balance. BY THOMASI MCDONALD

10 Black entrepreneurship is on the rise again in the Bull City.

BY RYAN PELOSKY

ARTS & CULTURE 12

Behind the scenes of the local podcast illuminating the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. BY SASHA SCHROEDER

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A new North Carolina Opera production tells the story of William Still, a major leader of the Underground Railroad. BY DAN RUCCIA

16 Django Jenkin's Beforetimes 1 highlights both the ease and existential doubt of everyday living. BY NICK MCGREGOR

THE REGULARS 4 Photo Series

3 Drawn Out

17

Culture Calendar

COVER Photo by Kathryn Osygus

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A D V E RTI S I N G

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Senior Writer Leigh Tauss

Contributors Madeline Crone, Grant Golden, Spencer Griffith, Lucas Hubbard, Brian Howe, Lewis Kendall, Kyesha Jennings, Glenn McDonald, Gabi Mendick, Anna Mudd, Dan Ruccia, Rachel Simon, Harris Wheless

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BACKTALK

Last week for the web, Jasmine Gallup wrote about the Millbrook home in Raleigh that went up for sale for under $300,000 and the crowds that swarmed the property captured in a viral video from a local realtor. Our Facebook page was swarmed with commenters who, of course, had thoughts.

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“This same thing happened in my Durham neighborhood near the RTP houses that sold a year ago for around 200k are now selling for 260k with streets flooded with buyers—my house 2 years ago was 204 now Open door gave me an offer at $325k,” wrote commenter DONYA SMITH. “The only crazy thing about this was the line,” wrote commenter LINDSAY MULLANEY WIRTHLIN. “Almost all homes in Raleigh go like this at any price point. Just sold ours in 48 hrs for 470k.”

“GF and I saw nearly 45 houses and bid on 14,” wrote commenter TIM KUHNEL. “We actually managed to get something this weekend and the seller admitted they wanted to sell to PEOPLE and not corporations or investors. Nice to see some chivalry being alive in the housing market even if it’s pretty rare.”

“No thanks,” wrote commenter DAVID ZACKO SMITH. “I’d move from the area before I overpaid for what is a ‘just OK’ house. Perhaps we need to put more pressure on the local government and on greedy developers to build more affordable housing? Literally hundreds of new homes going up around me, but 80% of them are $450,000 and up … and nothing special on tiny lots. If you want a big lot or a walkable neighborhood it’ll be $600,000+.”

Commenter ADUL SILER blames Democrats: “The prices are going up not because of a conservative Republican State. The prices are going up because the Urban areas are changing over to Democrat run areas. Democrats are moving from places like Cal-

ifornia, Seattle, NY, NJ, IL, and many other liberal cities for the cheaper costs compared to their very higher pay from those areas. They are following the tech businesses moving to the NC area. Want proof? Look up the voting records and reports.”

Commenter D RYAN ANDERSON blames everyone: “The change from REP to DEM in Wake County occurred in 2004 and by 2008 the county was already heavily DEM. What we are seeing here isn’t due to an influx of democrats. That happened over a decade ago. The housing problem is multifactorial. Politics is part of it but you should realize both parties serve the interests of corporations over individuals and are more similar than they are different. Neither party will solve this for us.”

Commenter TOM ANDERSON has some choice words for us: “I love how the Neolithic deadbeats of indyweek never neglect to present themselves as authorities on issues they know very little about.

Not a housing crisis, there is a density crisis. There are hundreds of affordable homes in Henderson, Mebane, Dunn, Rocky Mount, Jacksonville, Fayetteville, Lumberton, Whiteville, Tarboro, Southern pines NC. “And the list goes on … of course those towns would probably run indyweek out of town in a day.

“Indyweek just likes to never miss an opportunity to turn the screw to get their simpleton readers hating a free market.”

It’s the free market at work, folks: No houses in the Triangle, no “indyweek” anywhere else.

DRAWN OUT

BY STEVE DAUGHERTY

INDYweek.com

March 2, 2022

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PHOTO SERIES

Clustertruck WORDS BY JASMINE GALLUP + PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRETT VILLENA

Inspired by the so-called Freedom Convoy that blockaded Canadian cities, dozens of anti-vaxxers gathered in downtown Raleigh on Friday (sans masks) to rail against the state’s swiftly-lifting COVID-19 safety precautions.

Organized by right-wing extremists, the protest soon turned into an impromptu rally for white supremacist group the Proud Boys. About half of the 40 or so protesters wore the group’s black and yellow colors, waved flags with the slogan “Proudly Unvaccinated,” and threw out white power symbols. Many protesters carried signs in protest of vaccine mandates but talked about everything from religion to conspiracy theories. 2

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NEWS

Raleigh Mohammad Sadat, owner of AFGNSTN Clothing Co. PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA

Afghan Inspired A Raleigh-based clothing designer draws on his heritage and gives back to the country that’s his biggest creative influence. BY JASMINE GALLUP jgallup@indyweek.com

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or many Americans, the name “Afghanistan” conjures images of bombed-out cities, soldiers with machine guns, and crying refugees. For Mohammad Sadat, however, Afghanistan is a second home—a place rich with food, music, and art.

Sadat, born and raised in Raleigh, is a second-generation Afghan American. His parents, who came from Afghanistan as refugees, immigrated to the United States in the 1980s.

As a child, Sadat grew up in a traditional Islamic household, he says. His upbringing was a mix of modern American culture and the central Asian customs of his parents.

“I grew up watching American television, Nickelodeon, Family Feud, anime. I even listened to plenty of American music, not only what was popular at the time but also golden classics my father loved, like Tom Jones, Elvis Presley,” Sadat says. “All this while my parents still taught me their heritage, their traditions, their history, and about my ancestors. I was told the bedtime stories they were told.”

It was in high school that Sadat first started thinking about creating his own clothing line, he told the INDY.

Seeing European and French fashion houses appropriate Middle Eastern culture sparked his interest in fashion.

“Versace’s [iconic baroque print], that’s something that’s very synonymous with central Asian culture,” Sadat says. “I grew up wearing those kinds of designs in traditional clothing. It really pushed me to start concocting ideas about my own fashion line.”

Last year, that dream became a reality when Sadat founded AFGNSTN Clothing Co., a fashion line that celebrates the culture and beauty of Afghanistan.

For the past 20 years, the war raging across the Middle East has dominated international news and permanently influenced many people’s perceptions of Afghanistan. Today, Sadat wants to reverse that trend, showing North Carolinians the vibrant cultural tapestry that lies just beneath the suffocating political rhetoric.

“I want to show the positive things that the country has to offer,” Sadat says. “When people hear the word ‘Afghanistan,’ usually they connect it with negative thoughts. I want to change that perception of the country.”

Sadat is also committed to making a difference on the ground. Even though AFGNSTN Clothing Co. is only a year old, it donates 15 percent of all profits to Afghanistan through the humanitarian nonprofit Islamic Relief.

Sadat says he hopes to one day open a manufacturing facility in Afghanistan.

The clothing line itself features minimalist designs printed on T-shirts, hoodies, and snapback caps—a kind of rapper chic. Like many of today’s popular brands, it also makes a social statement.

The simple act of wearing a T-shirt printed with a silhouette of Afghanistan shows support for its people. Donning a cap embroidered with the letters “AFGNSTN” shows membership to a particular group. In the Triangle, the community of American Afghanis is quickly growing, as refugees flee the Taliban and join family and friends who have been living in North Carolina for years.

“The same way people wear French Connection clothing or clothes that say ‘C’est la vie, Paris,’ I want people to represent Afghanistan in a cool way,” Sadat says. “It’s gonna take time, but that’s where I see this brand going.”

Sadat was inspired by West Coast streetwear that features graffiti-esque designs, he says. He tries to emulate that style in his own work, creating casual, colorful prints.

Sadat’s favorite design so far is his mosaic-style recreation of the rabab, the national instrument of Afghanistan.

The string instrument, which dates back to the 7th century, is a bit like a lute or a banjo. It’s hard to find stateside, but the twangy melody it creates is instantly recognizable.

“For me, the sound of that instrument is almost transcendental,” Sadat says. “It’s like reliving my ancestors’ memories, almost, when I hear that sound. It’s in a lot of the music I listen to.”

Another AFGNSTN design features the saffron flower, from which the saffron spice is made. Afghanistan has long been recognized as the country that produces the world’s best saffron, Sadat says.

Likewise, Afghani craftswomen weave some of the world’s finest rugs, with distinctive patterns and colors.

Sadat also takes inspiration from those patterns for his designs, he says.

“Taking those meaningful things and putting them on western styles of clothes, on streetwear, is where the blend comes,” Sadat says.

He sees his clothing as a combination of American and Afghani culture, something that can represent the experience of Afghan Americans.

“I’m taking elements of my heritage, my parents’ tradition, and their culture, and putting a minimalistic twist on it,” Sadat says. “Anyone who loves mountains, pomegranates, or even flowers can wear clothing from AFGNSTN Co. The thing that makes it special is that inspiration comes from Afghanistan.” 2 INDYweek.com

March 2, 2022

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NEWS

Durham From left: Lissette Araya, Sophia Vera, and CarloAlfonso Garza, Duke students representing Latinx organizations on campus PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA

List of demands: The creation of a Latinx cultural center on campus The student cochairs of Latino Student Recruitment Weekend receive payment The establishment of a fund for Latinx organizations’ graduations, stoles, and awards An increase in Latinx faculty and staff representation The creation of a Latinx studies department, including a major and minor The reinstatement of merit scholarships for international Latin American students The hire of diverse and multilingual financial aid staff An increase in admissions recruitment in highly Latinx parts of cities The creation of a President’s Council on Latinx Affairs

Voices United Latinx students at Duke are making demands of the university’s administration for better representation.

BY JEREMY CARBALLO PINEDA backtalk@indyweek.com

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ast month, more than 100 students packed a lecture hall at the Reuben-Cooke Building for a teach-in to advocate for Latinx students. They signed a petition requesting that the administration respond to several demands that all the Latinx organizations at Duke University had made a week prior.

“Since President Price has told the administration not to engage, we will make him engage,” Duke senior Carlo-Alfonso Garza, the founder of the Duke Latinx Business Organization, told the crowd from the front podium.

In the past month, students have written a chapter in the history book of Latinx activism at Duke.

For the first time, 12 Latinx organizations united to develop and publish the list of nine demands (see box) 6

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to the Duke administration, released on January 28.

Following the release of the demands, the organizations hosted the teach-in on February 9, where they shared Latinx student perspectives through speeches, poems, and personal reflections.

“After being flown in from a rural midwestern town, I was infatuated by the school that I thought had picked me,” senior Carlos Dias told the crowd in the lecture hall.

“This facade washed away throughout the first semester …. I couldn’t find community at Duke until I found La Casa my sophomore year.”

La Casa is Duke’s designated Latinx cultural center, although calling it a “center” is a stretch. It’s really just a space, the size of a living room, hidden in the base-

ment of the Bryan Center, Duke’s student center on West Campus.

The Latinx community at Duke says it has grown tired of repeated unkept promises from administrators. Their demands, gathered from different organizations and published in The Chronicle, Duke’s student-run newspaper, seek to create a more inclusive and equitable environment for the Latinx undergraduate community.

“We demand Duke establish a plan to follow ALL these demands to fruition in a transparent, ethical, and effective way that will prioritize student, faculty and staff input,” the groups state. “They are hardly demands, they are a plea for the respect and acknowledgement of marginalized students.”

In his freshman year, Garza saw an exhibit about the Allen Building takeover displayed in Duke’s Perkins Library, showcasing African American students’ occupation of the Allen Building, the university administration’s main office building, in 1969. The takeover captured the community’s attention and highlighted the students’ demands.

The exhibit gave Garza “an idea that Latinx student activism could be placed in the same location,” he says.

Three years later, Garza’s idea became the Our History, Our Voice: Latinx at Duke exhibit currently in Perkins, which formally opened February 21.

Garza reached out to the individual organizations last fall. Organizations sent a representative, and the students formed a committee, which ultimately created the list of demands.

“After seeing the [Our History, Our Voice] exhibit the first time in person, it brought me to tears,” Garza says. “I didn’t know if it was going to be possible. I hoped it would happen, but I needed support.” “[Garza] took the lead of organizing the groups,” says Sophia Vera, copresident and committee representative of Mi Gente. “This is the first time we’ve had a group come together like this.”

But since the groups released the demands, the university’s administration has largely been quiet.

“Unfortunately,” said Garza in his opening remarks at the teach-in, “we’ve received word that President Price has told administrators to not engage.”

The administration has not released a public statement on the demands but did respond to questions from the INDY. “Demands cause all of us to be reactive instead of sitting down together and talking through strategies for priorities,” wrote Catherine Pierce, the chief of staff for student affairs on behalf of Duke’s vice president and vice provost Mary McMahon and associate vice president Shruti Desai.

“When students proactively reach out, we are able to guide them as opposed to react …. The students bring us concerns, and we work to provide education about the process for change and if immediate change is possible, we make the change.”

This isn’t the first time that Duke’s Latinx students have made requests to the university to make changes. Previously, in 1997, 2003, 2005, and 2016, individual organizations, such as Mi Gente, Duke’s largest Latinx student organization, have publicized demands.

This year marks the fifth time since Duke’s founding that Latinx groups have made demands, or requests, but haven’t received deliberate consideration.

“Many of us within student affairs are new and cannot address what has and has not happened in the past,” Pierce wrote.

“What we can say, is that we are committed to making Duke a place where marginalized students feel a sense of belonging and to putting in place policies and procedures that align with equity and inclusion.”

Given Duke’s $8.6 billion endowment—the 10th largest in the country— the demands seem within reason. They were crafted through a two-semester effort involving the 12 cosigned organizations: Mi Gente, Brazilian Student

Association, La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Rho Chapter, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Zeta Mu Chapter, Latinx Business Organization, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Latinx/a Women’s Alliance, Define America, and Latin American Student Organization.

These organizations represent the estimated 10 percent, according to the university registrar, of Duke undergraduates who identify as Hispanic or Latinx.

“What’s different and special about this time,” says senior Lissette Araya, a representative for Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, “is that we included the voices of all the Latinx organizations that are equally affected by Duke policies.”

Though the administration has been unresponsive so far, some Latinx students still hold some hope of being heard.

“We are cautiously optimistic,” Araya says. “These are repeat demands … so there’s hope this time that we’ll be able to make significant progress, but sadly we won’t be surprised if the administration responds unfavorably and doesn’t accept the demands immediately.”

As of last week, only three out of the 20 administrators contacted had agreed to a meeting. But Pierce says the administration has “already accomplished a few of the asks, such as graduation funding, Latino Student Recruitment Weekend funding, and have recently signed a contract with TransPerfect that allows translation in more than 100 languages.”

“These pieces are a small portion of their demands,” Pierce continues. “We will continue to meet with these students and help them network with individuals who oversee specific areas. These systems were not built overnight and will not be repaired and restructured overnight.”

Other students are less hopeful.

“No matter what method we try, we get shot down,” says Vera. “What we see is that we’ve tried, it doesn’t work.”

“I don’t expect to see any of these demands met while I’m here,” adds Garza. “It’s one thing to make demands, it’s another to see them through. We will develop a plan to educate the Latinx students coming in with the institutional knowledge needed to keep fighting for these demands.”

Though they say the lack of response from the administration has been disappointing, the students say they will keep pushing for the demands and are proud of what they’ve achieved so far.

“At the end of the day,” says Vera, “the community will always have this unification.” 2

BILL BURTON ATTORNEY AT LAW Un c o n t e s t e d Di vo rc e Bu s i n e s s L a w UNCONTESTED In c o r p o r a t i o n / L LC / DIVORCE Pa r t n e r s h i p MUSIC BUSINESS LAW Wi l l s INCORPORATION/LLC WILLS C o l l e c t i o n s SEPARATION AGREEMENTS Mu s i c

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NEWS

Durham

In the Balance If McDougald Terrace is torn down, where will its residents live in an increasingly unaffordable Bull City?

BY THOMASI MCDONALD tmcdonald@indyweek.com

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n a warm, sunny afternoon this week, a group of older men and women gathered behind Mamie Beal’s apartment at McDougald Terrace in South Durham. They talked about how Durham Housing Authority’s (DHA’s) recently announced “recovery agreement” with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) might affect their lives in the coming years.

Last week, Anthony Scott, the CEO of DHA, said the agency had entered into an agreement with HUD to submit a redevelopment plan that calls for the “repositioning” of McDougald Terrace by this time next year. If HUD approves the plan, local public housing officials’ options include “substantial renovation” of the property—a so-called “voluntary conversion”—based on a physical needs assessment, according to a two-page letter the DHA made public that outlines the terms of the agreement.

“Relocation will be necessary, phased at best,” DHA officials state in the letter.

The other option calls for issuing “tenant protection vouchers” to McDougald Terrace families and demolishing the city’s oldest and largest public housing complex, removing the property altogether from the federal housing program.

“In other words, HUD no longer wants McDougald Terrace in the Public Housing Program, which is not something we disagree with,” Scott told the INDY in an email last week. “The age and funding methodology does not serve a property like McDougald Terrace well. Other programs within the HUD tool box will allow much-needed renovations and/or redevelopment to benefit our residents.”

Scott says the cost for renovating McDougald Terrace has not yet been determined and “will be part of the planning process work forthcoming,” but he added that in consideration of the financially impoverished status of its residents, “any and every option that will be considered will have some or all replacement units included in what is to be done at McDougald Terrace.” He also noted that when residents are required to move, “DHA will provide all relocation assistance based on the federal Uniform Relocation Act,” meaning the families “will be given assistance to move, supplies and help with utilities that are transferred.”

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cDougald Terrace residents have endured a hellish litany of public health issues: generations of aching poverty and, in recent years, health-threatening living conditions that at one point forced the wholesale evacuation of 8

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McDougald Terrace

PHOTO BY JADE WILSON

hundreds of residents who lived for months in area hotels.

There’s a level of gun violence, too, that has made it the most violent community in the city.

The full impact of the agreement won’t be felt until 2024. Still, for residents of a neighborhood frozen in poverty and with a dearth of resources, the news is unsettling.

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the per capita income in McDougald Terrace is less than $10,000 and the median household income is a little over $27,600.

So, even with tenant protection vouchers, what will happen to the 301 families and 807 people now living in McDougald Terrace? Will the vouchers provide enough to live in a city where, last year, the average rent for an apartment cost just over $1,400, which an adult with one child would have to earn a yearly income of $55,155 to afford?

In a Time magazine story published last month, Marcia Fudge, the U.S. secretary of HUD, encapsulated the existential threat that’s familiar for millions of Americans: Where can they find an affordable place to live?

“I need every single person in this nation to understand that homelessness is a crisis,” Fudge told a West Coast group in October, but “housing prices are a crisis,” too.

Members of the group behind Beal’s apartment included a couple of men who, now in their sixties, were born and raised in McDougald Terrace.

This week, others in the community voiced both concern and frustration. A DHA maintenance worker parked a company truck along the shoulder of Sima Avenue and used a metal grabber to pick up trash he collected in a plastic, navy blue bucket.

“They’re not saying anything,” the DHA employee responded when asked if McDougald Terrace residents are

talking about the so-called recovery agreement the agency reached with HUD. “They’re kind of shook up,” added the worker, who declined to give his name. “But it’s been a long time coming. They need to shut it down.”

A woman who appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties adjusted the pink bonnet covering her hair as she sat in the driver’s seat of an old pickup truck on Ridgeway Avenue, one of the old neighborhood’s major thoroughfares. The woman, who also declined to give her name, was angry because she was $2,800 behind on rent.

“They need to shut this shit down,” she said. “They don’t fix nothing.”

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eanwhile, the group behind Mamie Beal’s apartment sat in worn patio chairs or stood around a clothesline, drinking cans of Miller and Bud Light. Their sentiments accompanied the rough, tender voice of Otis Redding, singing “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” tumbling out of an apartment window.

The group, composed of working-class folk still in the uniforms they wear to work each day, are friends and neighbors whose resilience supersedes the tragedies that often happen in the community. Beal says she didn’t hear the gunshots that killed a boy a few doors down from her apartment a couple of months ago. She remembers the fatal police shooting of a young man in the front yard of a Wabash Street apartment several years ago.

“They say he’s back at work,” Beal says of the officer who shot the young man. “A lot of times when people get shot I don’t be here. It’s like God sends me away.”

There is a work ethic among Beal and her neighbors, a kindness, ready smiles, and good cheer that’s at odds with

the neighborhood’s reputation as being the most violent community in the city.

Most are well aware of the community’s place in the Bull City’s history of white flight and the trauma that impacted Black people all over Durham during the 1960s and early 1970s with the misnamed urban renewal program, whose centerpiece was the construction of Highway 147 that cleaved the heart of the historically Black Hayti District and destroyed 4,000 homes and 500 businesses.

Few remaining enterprises remained, in a place called “Tin City,” that sat behind Phoenix Square and the Hayti Heritage Center.

The way the folks behind Beal’s apartment see it, that generations-old urban demolition and displacement is part of the same canvas nowadays that accounts for the systemic neglect of affordable housing, gentrification, and its incumbent dislocation of Black families, along with the reverse flight of more affluent whites moving back into the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown core. The racially charged “inner city” is giving way to white-informed “center city.”

Months before Durham and the rest of the country shut down because of the coronavirus, the residents of McDougald Terrace were already enduring a public health crisis fueled by mold conditions, lead paint, pervasive sewage issues, and the unexplained deaths of three infants that, in January, prompted the evacuation of more than 300 residents after DHA officials reported a massive gas leak in the community.

Among the people gathered around Beal’s back door are Curtis Bright, who works in the facilities department at Duke University, and Derrick Kevin Smith, a strikingly handsome, dark-complexioned man with a full snowwhite beard. Smith wears a black sweatsuit and looks like Harry Edwards, the famed sports sociologist and former Black Panther. He echoes a frequent question while sitting behind Beal’s apartment: Where will the people go if they shut McDougald Terrace down?

“McDougald ain’t as bad as they think it is,” Smith says.

“Put your foot down in the places where the guns are. Ask the white people, would they put their children outdoors?

Ain’t nothing but children out here.”

Beal quietly listens while sitting in one of her patio chairs. She and her husband were among the hundreds of families the DHA evacuated in early 2020 after officials detected high levels of carbon monoxide leaking from their kitchen appliances.

“I think they need to be torn down,” Beal says of the housing complex. “They’ve been here for a long time, from what I’ve been told. You just can’t keep fixing, fixing, fixing.

At some point you just gotta let it go.”

“There’s no central air, no central heat,” Beal says. “They said they were going to get rid of the gas, but we still got gas heat. I still got a gas leak, but can’t nobody smell it but me. My husband smells it too, basically in the morning when we get up and walk downstairs and go into the kitchen. We can smell it in the kitchen pipes.”

Meanwhile, Bright wonders: After DHA spent $6 million to renovate McDougald Terrace during the carbon monoxide crisis, is the agency willing to spend millions of more dollars to meet HUD’s approval?

“If you can fix it, go ahead and fix it,” Bright says, before leaning out of earshot of the group and whispering that the “shootings and stuff” are worrisome.

“I think they need to be torn down. They’ve been here for a long time, from what I’ve been told. You just can’t keep fixing, fixing, fixing. At some point you just gotta let it go.”

“There’s a lot of death out here,” he says. “I’d rather have a nice apartment. Move me out of here.”

But he’s also worried about trying to afford a $1,500, one-bedroom apartment downtown.

“Then you have to pay for parking,” he adds. “I want to be there, but that’s a hell of a price. If they plan to move us out, how are we going to move back? To tell you the truth, it ain’t for us. They want the credit-card crowd downtown.”

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cott says HUD admits that it has underfunded public housing authorities across the country by about $70 billion and that it’s “an indication of how bad the problem is with America’s public housing stock.”

“That [$70 billion] figure, by the way, equates to about $70,000 per [housing unit] that public housing authorities should have received, but that the U.S. Congress has chosen not to fund over the years.”

Last month’s Time magazine story notes that the $70 billion needed to repair government-owned public housing is more than HUD’s entire annual budget. And so instead of repairing public housing, the federal government has increasingly opted to “reposition” places like McDougald Terrace.

HUD authorities point to an upside of such a move.

Repositioning, they say, gives local authorities more control over the use of public housing assets. Repositioning also moves the property from the public housing program to Section 8 assistance with the intent to preserve the properties as long-term affordable housing. HUD authorities also say that in some instances, repositioning can mean the conversion to tenant-based assistance or the sale of public housing units to low-income home buyers, according to A Guide to Public Housing Repositioning, which the federal agency published in March of last year.

One of the city’s foremost scholars on Black entrepreneurship and affordable housing posed the same uncertainties voiced by the residents.

“Where will they go when [McDougald Terrace] shuts down? What will be the impacts on their lives and well-being now and into the future—and even for generations to come?” asks Henry McKoy, who is director of entrepreneurship at North Carolina Central University’s business school and director of Hayti Reborn, LLC, a far-reaching project

that envisions transforming the vacant DHA-owned Fayette Place into a hub of commerce, affordable housing, and education, without the trauma of gentrification and displacing Black families.

McKoy also wonders: What will become of the land where the public housing complex sits?

“Will it be sold off to the highest bidder as the folks in the community are scattered into the wind, or will more creative imagining take precedent and allow our leaders to think about how it can be leveraged to maximize the benefit of those living there now?” asks McKoy. Last month, Hayti Reborn officials filed a letter of protest with DHA after the agency left them out of ongoing plans to build more affordable housing on the vacant Fayette Place property.

Last week, McKoy told the INDY that the future of the land where McDougald Terrace now sits must include “a real and serious debate about the highest and best use of public lands in Durham in contemporary times” as well as the land’s relationship to Black and other low-income communities.

“We must have that conversation immediately, or there won’t be a future Black and low-income community in Durham,” McKoy says. “It can’t be only about how we house them, but how to utilize available public property for ladders of mobility and wealth creation for our lowest-wealth and left-behind communities.”

A

t the heart of DHA’s recovery agreement with HUD was a “troubled rating” that the agency received in 2020 from the federal Public Housing Authority Assessment System. The rating was based upon an assessment during the 2018 fiscal year.

The DHA letter noted that the “troubled” rating happened before the agency spent $6 million to address brickand-mortar concerns, with $3.7 million spent on health and safety repairs since the 2020 carbon monoxide crisis.

But the rating includes all of DHA’s properties. In addition to the properties’ physical condition, the rating is based on the financial condition of the agency, management operations, and its capital fund program, according to HUD’s scoring guide.

Aside from McDougald Terrace’s repositioning, the agreement calls for the DHA to increase its occupancy rate to 95 percent and improve the conditions of all its properties over the next two years.

Still, the biggest concerns lie with McDougald Terrace.

Scott says he cannot speculate about HUD’s “decision process” when asked what will happen if the federal agency does not approve the plan DHA submits next year. However, he says, local housing authority officials will “seek input from the residents, engage our professional staff and potential development partner and put forth a plan that is achievable.”

And he managed to sound a positive note about the fate of McDougald Terrace, adding that DHA’s “most recent Downtown and Neighborhood Plan process and success in providing approval plans gives us the [optimistic] tone [on behalf of] the McDougald Terrace community.”

The group behind Beal’s apartment on Monday afternoon remains wary at best, and cynical at worst.

“You’re trying to take out a whole lot of families,” says Carlos, who declined to give his last name. “And that shit ain’t right.” 2 INDYweek.com

March 2, 2022

9

NEWS

Durham

Black Enterprise Black entrepreneurship has been on the rise again in the Bull City in recent years. Three business owners talk about their experiences.

BY RYAN PELOSKY backtalk@indyweek.com

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hen Beverley Makhubele and Naledi Yaziyo opened Rofhiwa Book Café in May 2021, they filled a perceived gap in the East Durham community.

“What I think had been lacking was places to exchange ideas that are focused upon particularly Black literary traditions,” said Yaziyo, Rofhiwa’s curator and a PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at Duke.

“Rofhiwa” means “we have been given/ blessed” in Tshivenda, a language spoken by the Venda people of South Africa. With an expansive selection of books by Black authors, foreign and domestically published, as well as hot and cold drinks and a welcoming seating area for customers to read and work, Rofhiwa has built an environment for customers to relax, read, and discuss Black literature.

The two South African entrepreneurs carry “a very global selection” but face constraints due to limited printing runs of books printed outside the United States. As a result, the store may hold just one copy of a given book at a time.

“Sometimes it means we traveled to South Africa and packed books in a suitcase to bring back to the store,” Yaziyo said.

“We have to make do with what we have.”

Makhubele and Yaziyo launched Rofhiwa using crowdfunding, raising over $40,000 on Kickstarter with an average donation of around $15.

“Like most young Black entrepreneurs, we were not in a position to approach a bank for a loan,” Makhubele said. “We don’t come from independently wealthy families.

Crowdfunding was an obvious option.”

The store is “Black in the way that we 10

March 2, 2022

INDYweek.com

think about our selection, the way that we choose our selection, and how we would go about seeking community partnerships and vendors,” Makhubele said. The two were conscious of this message when searching for their storefront’s location, Makhubele said. “We knew it had to be a Black neighborhood.”

“It was important for us to make a thing in a place that was and felt like home,” said Makhubele, a Durham resident of six years.

“East Durham is home.”

Makhubele is also excited and inspired by Durham’s Black businesses.

“I think the most fascinating thing to me about this moment for Black business in Durham is seeing young entrepreneurs being bold enough to start businesses that are not necessarily traditional, or that are not necessarily addressing an emergent need but are more leisure-focused, that are more interested in putting together different things,” Makhubele said. “I find it very exciting to watch young entrepreneurs introduce these very interesting and creative concepts to the Durham market.”

The cofounders are eager to achieve more as they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Naledi and I are very interested in the different ways that we can use our space, not just for literature, but how the space can become a more dynamic one for the arts, for music, for live performance, for all kinds of things,” Makhubele said. Makhubele hopes to continue “building it up with good bones, enough that someone might look at it and say, ‘Something’s happening in East Durham, and that’s worth my time.’”

Beverley Makhubele & Naledi Yazio

PHOTO BY SIMRAN PRAKASH

Remembering Durham’s Black business history Downtown Durham’s North Carolina Mutual building serves as a physical reminder of the city’s vibrant history of Black entrepreneurship. North Carolina Mutual is shutting down this year after some 123 years in business. But for decades it was a pillar of American Black business.

Seeking to uphold and add to this legacy, Carl Webb cofounded Provident1898 in 2019 with Peter Cvelich. Provident, a Black-centric shared workspace for innovators and entrepreneurs, occupies a 15,000-square-foot facility on the concourse level of the historic Mutual Tower.

Provident1898’s name pays homage to NC Mutual, which was founded in 1898 and was originally called NC Mutual and Provident Association.

“Let’s look at what [NC Mutual] did 120, almost 125 years ago, and how we can use that as a way to be inspired for what the next generation can do,” Webb said. “We wanted to provide some progressive and positive ways of building the community, similar to the founders of NC Mutual.”

Reminders of Durham’s rich history of Black businesses line Provident’s walls.

The original sign from the entrance to Durham’s Royal Ice Cream Parlor—where

the Royal Ice Cream sit-in took place in 1957, more than two years before the famous Greensboro sit-in—hangs prominently in Provident’s lounge. Provident’s conference rooms are named for Durham’s Black leaders, including John Merrick, the founder of NC Mutual; Charles Clinton Spaulding, who presided over NC Mutual for several decades; and Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore, Durham’s first Black doctor and a leader of the Hayti community.

Provident offers offices, desks, meeting rooms, and a lounge to both small businesses and solopreneurs. Provident’s partners include nonprofits like the Durham Public Schools Foundation and profit-making businesses like Hayti, a Black news media app.

Webb has spent almost 40 years as an entrepreneur in marketing communications and urban development. Cvelich has also spent much of his career in urban planning.

The endeavor has special resonance for Webb, a Durham native.

“Being in a community where I’ve had the benefit of seeing Black entrepreneurs and businesspeople accomplish significant things, I never quite felt like it was a stretch to want to start a business,” Webb said. “I saw the people starting businesses, so those role models and examples were really, really helpful for me very, very, very early on.”

“The real question is, what will the stakeholders and leaders, both public and private, do about closing the opportunity gap?”

Webb is optimistic about the young business.

“We are committed to doing the work, and the hope is that the market will find what we’re offering to be something that’s worthy of support,” he said. “I’m encouraged that the indication so far says yes, but it’s not going to be easy.”

Webb is hopeful for the future of Black business in Durham more broadly, too.

Webb sees progress with the North Carolina IDEA Fund, the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce, and other similar organizations. Still, he says, obstacles remain.

“The real question is, what will the stakeholders and leaders, both public and private, do about closing the opportunity gap?” Webb said. “We need to continue to focus on shared economic prosperity, and we, as a community, can’t sustain by having such a huge gap between the haves and have-nots.”

Serving up fusion cuisine In 2015, Toriano Fredericks was working on an offshore oil drillship, serving long stints at sea. That year, he and his wife, Serena Fredericks, launched their Boricua Soul food truck, which serves Latino-soul fusion cuisine, and operated it during Toriano Fredericks’s four-week breaks between trips.

“For a couple of years, we ran the truck and tested our concept while still having a day job, essentially,” Toriano Fredericks said.

In 2018, he left his job to operate the truck full-time.

In November 2019, the Frederickses opened a storefront in the center of the American Tobacco Campus in downtown Durham. Named for the indigenous people of Puerto Rico, Boricua pairs the Frederickses’ Puerto Rican and Georgian grandmothers’ love of cooking with dishes like barbecue empanadas or chicharrones de pollo, a Puerto Rican–style fried chicken dish.

Boricua’s large patio, half-open kitchen, and indoor murals commemorating Durham’s history give the restaurant a communal feel. Toriano and Serena work

front and center, across all open hours, bringing food from the kitchen to Boricua’s customers.

Showcasing other Black-owned businesses is a priority for the Frederickses. Boricua has collaborated with or purchased goods from Black-owned Pine Knot Farm, Spaceway Brewing, and Shoe Crazy Wine.

Throughout the year, the Frederickses feature other Black-owned businesses on their social media.

Less than five months after they opened their storefront, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the couple to temporarily shut down the business. Despite its welcoming indoor space, Boricua has not offered indoor dining since before the pandemic.

“We opened the restaurant going into a slow period going into the winter and then COVID hits, so we really didn’t ever have a chance to get a feel of the landscape,” Toriano Fredericks said.

“I think the fact that we don’t have restaurant experience has helped in a way because we just aren’t sure how anything should be done,” he said. “So we’re just constantly trying things out and being open-minded to them.”

Support from the Durham community has been the only constant for the Frederickses since opening in 2019, they said.

That support instills optimism about the future of their business—cautious optimism, that is. While Durham’s recent growth has brought more customers, rent rates have increased. Meanwhile, COVID-19 led to labor shortages.

“I’d like to be able to execute what we said we were going to do with the menu when we opened up,” Serena Fredericks said. “We haven’t been able to really add things to our menu just because of labor difficulties.”

Emerging from the pandemic, the Frederickses hope to make Boricua Soul a community staple. Said Toriano Fredericks, “That ability to gather and have people come together is something we’re definitely looking forward to doing again, or doing at all.” 2 This story was originally published in The 9th Street Journal.

r e m Sum ide u g p m Ca

nd of u o r t he las p Guide? t s s i M r Cam e m m Su

SUMMER CAMP GUIDE #2 IS COMING

March 9!

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March 2, 2022

11

ETC. Angela Baxley (left) and Shelia Price (right) hold photos of their deceased relatives.

PHOTO BY KATHRYN OSYGUS

“That story should have made national news,” said Hunt, a former social worker at Blanks’s high school. “It’s traumatic. I think a lot of families feel a lot of anger around that, that people didn’t care more.”

On the podcast, host Brittany Hunt takes the time to cry, grieve, and remember who Blanks was with Blanks’s mother.

“That episode was kind of a turning point in our podcast and also in helping us think about how we can give families the dignity and respect that they deserve, even though they have not been given that from the media,” Hunt said.

“I started dreaming about them”

Justice Mission True-crime media often ignores the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women—but local podcast The Red Justice Project is stepping in to help close the gap. BY SASHA SCHROEDER arts@indyweek.com

M

arcey Blanks’s mother is still waiting for the trial of the man charged with her daughter’s murder.

In the early hours of November 16, 2016, Blanks’s attacker raped her, stabbed her 89 times, and set her home in Robeson County on fire. Blanks managed to get up, walk to her neighbor’s home, and tell him the name of her attacker.

She died on his doorstep. She was 18 years old.

Over five years later, the case hasn’t gone to trial due to a series of delays by the defendant.

So, when the Red Justice Project podcast featured Blanks’s case last year, her mother, Mary Sue Hunt, was thrilled. The podcast’s focus on her daughter’s death, which otherwise received little media coverage, helps keep interest in the case alive, she said. At the time of Blanks’s mur12

March 2, 2022

INDYweek.com

der, several local news outlets didn’t even spell Blanks’s name correctly in their brief reports.

“She was a good girl,” said Hunt. “How hard she fought that morning—that’s how hard I have to fight for her.”

The Red Justice Project is a true-crime podcast devoted to bringing attention to the widespread violence against indigenous people in North Carolina and beyond. Brittany Hunt and Chelsea Locklear, both Lumbee women like Blanks, started the project during the summer of 2020. With more than 5,000 downloads, the podcast has reached listeners across over 40 states and 60 different countries—and victims’ families are grateful for the renewed attention their loved ones are receiving.

Indigenous communities are spread widely across North Carolina. The only federally recognized indigenous tribe in the state is the Eastern Band of Cherokee in western North Carolina, but the state also recognizes seven other tribes, including the Lumbee. With over 70,000 members, the Lumbee are the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River.

The Lumbee primarily live in Robeson County, where many of the cases featured on the podcast took place.

Robeson County had the highest violent crime rate in the state in 2020.

But violence against indigenous women isn’t unique to Robeson County or North Carolina. Indigenous women across the United States are over three times more likely than other women to experience violent crime in their lifetime, and nearly half of indigenous women in the United States have been raped. In North Carolina alone, there have been around 90 unsolved cases of missing or murdered indigenous women since 1994.

These statistics are likely much higher, Locklear said.

Victims from tribes that aren’t federally recognized aren’t counted in national statistics, she said, so Blanks’s case wasn’t federally acknowledged.

Additionally, many indigenous victims are misrepresented as being nonindigenous or aren’t even given the ability to be represented as indigenous on police forms. “‘Native American’ sometimes is not an option,” Locklear said. “You have to go into another box.”

Locklear had long been a fan of popular true-crime podcasts. But she noticed that most true-crime podcasts primarily featured white victims—so she set out with Hunt to give their own community the attention they felt it deserved.

Locklear, 32, works for an investment management firm in Raleigh, and Hunt, 31, is a postdoctoral research associate at Duke University, where she researches how education disenfranchises indigenous history and affects indigenous culture.

The two Lumbee women met on Facebook, which is a popular way for indigenous people to meet members of their extended communities, Hunt said. They searched for cases to cover by sifting through social media, news

hold

“Our most common messages are: ‘When is season two? “The next one is: ‘Can you cover my family member’s case?’”

aid Hunt, “It’s trauer around articles, and police reports and talking to victims’ family members. Hunt and Lockme to cry, lear record the episodes on their own ’s mother. computers and Locklear’s husband edits r podcast the audio files. give fami- Hunt and Locklear are now planning the n though second season of the podcast. It’s taken Hunt said. a while for the pair to get started—telling their community’s stories has taken a toll on the next season.

“Some nights, I wouldn’t get sleep, and I started dreaming about them,” Hunt said. oss North s tribe in ern North “A horror story” her tribes, bers, the Casey Elaine Young—featured on episode ppi River. 13—went to high school with Hunt. She ty, where was found dead in the woods a few hundred ok place. yards from her home in Robeson County on ate in the June 15, 2009. She was 21.

“Casey was humble, kind, a great basketunique to ball player, and a good leader,” Hunt said s women on the episode. more likely Young had a gunshot wound to her head their life- and her hands were missing. The police he United ruled the case a suicide, but the gunshot here have wound trajectory came from her nondomimurdered nant hand. Friends and family believe Young was murdered. Her aunt, Angela Baxley, has lear said. been fighting for justice ever since. Baxley’s zed aren’t daughter, who discovered Young’s body, was nks’s case close with Young.

“It was a horror story for my daughter to epresent- see her cousin and best friend laying there he ability like that,” Baxley said. “My daughter went through a lot of dark periods.”

Baxley is secretary of Shatter the ” Locklear Silence, an organization that advocates for rue-crime justice for missing and murdered indigenous podcasts people in North Carolina. Red Justice works with Hunt closely with Shatter the Silence, which ey felt it was founded by Shelia Price, the mother of Rhonda Jones, a Lumbee woman whose nagement body was found in a trash can in Robeson research County. Jones’s murder remains unsolved.

Shatter the Silence holds rallies and ches how nd affects marches and supports victims’ families.

The organization’s Facebook group has over which is a 9,000 members, and Baxley credits Red mbers of Justice for helping to add to that number. searched Baxley said officials are taking a closdia, news er look into Young’s death. The Robeson

County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Baxley is thankful to Hunt and Locklear for humanizing the victims they feature on the podcast.

“I have nothing but love and respect for them because they’ve brought an issue back to the forefront of the county,” Baxley said. “They put a face to these women and to these men.”

“Love for our community” To describe violence against indigenous women as an epidemic—a short-term, isolated problem—does not do justice to what continues to take place in indigenous communities, Hunt wrote in an article for the North Carolina Medical Journal in November 2021.

“The problems that Indigenous women face are neither short-term nor isolated.

These were the same problems faced by their mothers and grandmothers before them, the same problems that their own daughters and granddaughters face now,” Hunt wrote.

The love that Hunt and Locklear have for their community is what keeps them going, despite how difficult it can be, Hunt said. Both women are still deeply connected to their indigenous ancestry and their community.

“With love comes this great sense of injustice for what’s happening in the community,” Hunt said. “If we didn’t love it, we probably wouldn’t care so much. And so that keeps us going.”

Hunt said most of the response to the podcast has come from North Carolina, but the pair has received messages from as far away as Canada.

“Our most common messages are: ‘When is season two?’” Hunt said. “The next one is: ‘Can you cover my family member’s case?’” 2 UNC Media Hub is a collection of students from the various concentrations in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media working together to create integrated and free multimedia packages covering stories from around North Carolina.

INDYweek.com

March 2, 2022

13

MUSIC

NORTH CAROLINA OPERA: SANCTUARY ROAD

Friday, Mar. 4–Sunday, Mar. 6, various times | Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh | ncopera.org

Sanctuary Road set (design by Brian Ruggaber) PHOTO COURTESY OF NC OPERA

Safe Haven A new North Carolina Opera production tells the story of William Still, a major leader of the Underground Railroad. BY DAN RUCCIA music@indyweek.com

W

illiam Still deserves to be better known. The youngest of 18 children, Still was born free in New Jersey in 1821. He settled in Philadelphia and became an active member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, chairing its Vigilance Committee and serving as a major leader of the Underground Railroad. Throughout the 1850s, his home served as a way station for at least 800 formerly enslaved people on their journey to Canada.

What sets Still apart from other participants in the Underground Railroad is that he interviewed every passenger who came through his house, meticulously documenting their lives, the abuses they faced while enslaved, and the hardships they faced on their journey north. In 1872, he published an encyclopedic 800-page book, The Underground Rail Road, which paired these accounts with letters he received later from formerly enslaved people that he had helped.

It is this incredible document that serves as the foundation of composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell’s opera/oratorio, Sanctuary Road, whose opera version 14

March 2, 2022

INDYweek.com

North Carolina Opera will premiere this weekend at Fletcher Opera Theatre in Raleigh. First commissioned by the Oratorio Society of New York in 2016, the work was first conceived as an oratorio about the Underground Railroad.

Campbell recalls initially being excited but apprehensive about the project.

“I’m not comfortable being a white guy talking about slavery,” he said at the time. “Let me find a way to honor the people who were actually there who actually did something.”

When he came upon Still and his book, he told Moravec, “This is a way we can tell this story. This is actually the only way that I can tell this story.” Moravec readily agreed, noting that Still is “such an admirable character. He elevates everyone who is involved here. He’s our silent partner in this work. How can we honor his work here?”

In Sanctuary Road, though Moravec and Campbell are white, nearly every other major participant in North Carolina Opera’s production is Black: all five of the lead soloists are Black (something Campbell insisted on when writing

the libretto) as are conductor William Henry Curry and director Dennis Whitehead Darling.

After the premiere of the oratorio version, it was clear to both Moravec and Campbell that there was potential for the piece to do more. As a form, an oratorio is a kind of unstaged drama with a full orchestra, chorus, and soloists— think Handel’s Messiah or Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion.

It has plenty of space for drama. But an opera has room for more. Campbell recounts deciding to cut a scene from the oratorio where Still interviews a man he discovers is his long-lost brother (whom his mother had left behind when she escaped slavery) because it was “a little too dramatic and detailed for an oratorio.”

Converting the work into an opera allowed them to add that scene back in and to bring the drama and danger even further to the fore. The piece unfolds in a series of vignettes, using Still, his interviews, and his book as a springboard to recount the true stories of a number of fleeing people. There’s the story of Ellen Craft, who disguised herself as an ailing old white man taking a train to Philadelphia to see a doctor while her “slave” (her future husband) was in another car. Though she briefly panics when she sees a man she had served dinner to the night before in the same car, Craft and her fiancé escape to freedom.

There’s the story of Henry “Box” Brown, who shipped himself in a cramped crate from Richmond to Philadelphia, a 26-hour journey, with only a tiny hole to allow him to breathe. He escaped to freedom and became an abolitionist and performer. Then, there’s the story of Wesley Harris, who fled on foot, running through marshes and woods, dodging dogs and slave patrols. He also escaped to freedom.

Of the hundreds of people whose stories Still tells, Campbell chose to adapt the ones that “sang,” that “had some sort of elevated idea,” that were a little “nobler, funnier, more poetic, more passionate.” It’s those wide-ranging moods as much as the reality of the stories themselves that give Sanctuary Road its power. These are stories whose multiple emotional resonances demand to be sung, and Moravec’s gripping, tuneful music brings them life with visceral immediacy.

“I like the idea of plain-speaking, ordinary people,” Moravec says, “their own words, their own historical records, caught up in the most extraordinary circumstances, and how they respond to it.”

Since the work was originally written, William Still has started to become better known—he was played by Leslie Odom Jr. in the 2019 film Harriet—but he still isn’t as much a part of our history as he should be.

And in a moment where the teaching of Black history has come under increasing attack from right-wing demagogues, works like Sanctuary Road become even more important. William Still’s story is our story—and this opera honors it well. 2

COMING

3/23

Festival & Event

DIRECTORY

The Triangle has so many festivals and events throughout the year that a sane person can not possibly keep track of them all. Singles, couples and families need time to plan their summer schedules.

Well we’re here to help out!

Raleigh's Community Bookstore

Latest on Bookin’ Available

2.28

Dave Pell, Please Scream Inside Your Heart Events IN-STORE

SAT

3.5

2PM

Gillian McDunn, Honestly, Elliott Ages 8+ VIRTUAL

SUN

3.6

7:30PM

Dolly Parton & James Patterson, Run, Rose, Run Ticket with book purchase IN-STORE

WED

3.9

7PM

Phoebe Zerwick, Beyond Innocence: The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt with David Zucchino (Wilmington’s Lie)

Register for Quail Ridge Books Events Series at www.quailridgebooks.com. www.quailridgebooks.com • 919.828.1588 • North Hills 4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road, Raleigh, NC 27609 Offering FREE Media Mail shipping and contactless pickup!

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LOCAL ARTS, MUSIC, FOOD, ETC.

in your inbox every Friday

MUSIC

DJANGO HASKINS: BEFORETIMES 1 | HHHH

[Self-released; Monday, Feb. 28]

Turn Back Time Five songs recorded before the pandemic highlight both the ease and existential doubt of everyday living over sophisticated folk-pop arrangements.

BY NICK MCGREGOR music@indyweek.com

E

the Triangle’s Arts & Culture Newsletter

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March 2, 2022

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ven before 2020, the term “before times” contained multitudes. After the Black Plague swept medieval Europe in the 1300s, it became a common Middle English adverb before popping up in the King James Bible and across Caribbean folklore. As a modern concept, though, the term is rooted in dystopian science fiction, appearing in works ranging from Mary Shelley’s 1826 novel, The Last Man, to a 1966 episode of Star Trek and the 1985 movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Of course, after a weary two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase has elbowed its way back into our modern lexicon. How appropriate, then, that local folk-pop standout Django Haskins has prepped a majestic collection of songs dubbed Beforetimes 1 (out now) and Beforetimes 2 (out in April). Recorded just before the pandemic, the twin bill packs a wistful punch, marrying melancholy with merriment.

Languid dreams unspool over sparkly keys on “In Afternoons,” while complex chord changes soundtrack “Trim the Sails” on a bluebird day in Chicago. “You Never Know” captures gleeful lightning in a bottle (“If there’s a luckier guy than me, I’d like to meet him”) as Haskins lives large, but “Tomorrowland” spikes the sunny proceedings with minor-key piano and haunting horns.

Beforetimes 1 is deliciously intricate, spotlighting Haskins’s immense skills as a solo composer—my favorite track is the soaring power-pop arrangement “Cutting Onions,” which unpacks the knot of masculinity (“Be a man now / And admit it / No one knows how to be a man”). Still, Haskins credits the contributions of his supporting cast of Skylar Gudasz, Matt Douglas, and Syd Straw as “the thing I’m most excited to share with the world.”

In the end, Haskins’s lyrical barbs hit the hardest. “Trim the Sails“ contains perhaps the most poignant pandemic reflection of all: “Living in a time when time itself has gone off of the rails / The winds of change / Make me feel strange / I wish we’d trim the sails.” 2

CULTURE CALENDAR

Please check with local venues for their health and safety protocols.

Surfbort performs at Cat’s Cradle on Sunday, March 6.

art Collage, Assemblage, and Bricolage: Sustainability in Art Thurs, Mar. 3, 6 p.m. Online; presented by the Gregg School of Art & Design.

Guided Tour: Peace, Power & Prestige: Metal Arts in Africa Thurs, Mar. 3, 1:30 p.m. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.

Honors Thesis Exhibition: Jason Lord, Gathering Mar. 4–Apr. 10, various times. Lump, Raleigh.

Birding with a Ranger Sat, Mar. 5, 8:30 a.m. NCMA, Raleigh.

Weinberg Lecture of Egyptology Sun, Mar. 6, 2 p.m. Online; presented through NCMA, Raleigh.

Virtues Live and in Color: An Art Exhibit by Steevie Jane Parks Mar. 7–Apr 24, various times. Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist, Chapel Hill.

Hanes Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Stephanie Syjuco Tues, Mar. 8, 7 p.m. Online; presented by UNC Art & Art History.

stage Yoga Play by Dipika Guha $20. Feb. 23–Mar. 13, various times. PlayMakers Repertory Company, Chapel Hill.

Wake County Public Schools: Pieces of Gold $15+.

Wed, Mar. 2, 7 p.m.

Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Kemps $10. Mar. 3-7, various times. Kenan Theater, Chapel Hill.

Forest at Duke Legends Concert & Comedy Series: The British Invasion $45+. Fri, Mar. 4, 8 p.m. DPAC, Durham.

Ronny Chieng: The Hope You Get Rich Tour $35+. Fri, Mar. 4, 8 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

page

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CAROLINA THEATRE

Book Launch: The Quarter Storm with Veronica G. Henry and Cadwell Turnbull $15.

Fri, Mar. 4, 7 p.m.

Rofhiwa Book Cafe, Durham.

screen Dark Passage & Dangerously They Live $10. Fri, Mar. 4, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

The Money Pit & Funny Farm $10. Sat, Mar. 5, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAT’S CRADLE

music

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson: Beyond Order SOLD OUT. Thurs, Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m. DPAC, Durham.

Transactors Improv: Love Rollercoaster Musical $15. Fri, Mar. 4, 8 p.m. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro.

Funny Farm screens at The Carolina Theatre on Saturday, March 5.

Ackland Film Forum: Om Shanti Om Thurs, Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m. Varsity Theatre, Chapel Hill.

University Theatre Presents A Case of Salt $12. Mar. 3-6, various times.

Kennedy-Mcilwee Studio Theatre, Raleigh.

Adele Myers presents The Tobacco Wives Tues, Mar. 8, 5:30 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.

Patrick Droney $17.

Sat, Mar. 5, 9 p.m.

Motorco, Durham.

Blends with Friends (Open Decks) Mar. 2-3, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Duke Symphony Orchestra: A Russian Spring Wed, Mar. 2, 7:30 p.m.

Baldwin Auditorium at Duke University, Durham.

The Eagles: Hotel California 2022 Tour $99+. Wed, Mar. 2, 8 p.m. PNC Arena, Raleigh.

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 with the North Carolina Symphony $20+. Mar. 4-5, 8 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Condado / Last Waking Moment / DJ PRIMOUX Dance Party $10. Fri, Mar. 4, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Deafheaven $25.

Thurs, Mar. 3, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Gimme Gimme Disco: A Dance Party Inspired by ABBA $20. Fri, Mar. 4, 9 p.m. Local 506, Chapel Hill.

Kaki King $25.

Thurs, Mar. 3, 8 p.m.

The ArtsCenter, Carrboro.

The Holland Brothers Fri, Mar. 4, 7 p.m. Vecino Brewing Co., Carrboro.

Songstories Live Thurs, Mar. 3, 5:30 p.m. Boxyard RTP, Durham.

ICEAGE / Sloppy Jane $16. Fri, Mar. 4, 9 p.m. Motorco, Durham.

The Veldt / Minka / Waking April $10. Thurs, Mar. 3, 9 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Kaden Thrower Fri, Mar. 4, 7:30 p.m. The Oak House, Durham.

North Carolina Opera: Sanctuary Road $21+. Mar. 4-6, various times. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Sandeep Das and the HUM Ensemble: Delhi to Damascus $30. Fri, Mar. 4, 8 p.m. Moeser Auditorium in Hill Hall, Chapel Hill.

Sonatas by Schubert, Debussy, and Chopin Fri, Mar. 4, 7:30 p.m. Nelson Music Room at Duke University, Durham.

Wale: Under a Blue Moon Tour $27. Fri, Mar. 4, 8:30 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.

Where’s Beth & Sayde Laine: A Night of Music and Art $10. Fri, Mar. 4, 6 p.m. 4 Gooseneck Road, Chapel Hill.

The Intense Tour $36+. Sun, Mar. 6, 6:30 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Knuckle Puck SOLD OUT. Sun, Mar. 6, 7 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Schaffer the Darklord / LEX the Lexicon Artist $12.

Sun, Mar. 6, 8 p.m.

Local 506, Chapel Hill.

St. Paul & the Broken Bones: The Alien Coast Tour $31+. Sun, Mar. 6, 8 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.

Erez Dressel Sat, Mar. 5, 4 p.m.

Durty Bull Brewing, Durham.

Surfbort $12. Sun, Mar. 6, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Family Saturday Series: Beverly Botsford, Drum Talk $5. Sat, Mar. 5, 11 a.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Thou / Doomsday Profit $13. Sun, Mar. 6, 9 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

KRS-One $30. Sat, Mar. 5, 8:30 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Marielle Kraft / Skout $10. Sat, Mar. 5, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Matroda $15. Sat, Mar. 5, 9 p.m. The Fruit, Durham.

DRAMA $20. Mon, Mar. 7, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram $35+. Tues, Mar. 8, 7:30 p.m. DPAC, Durham.

Deau Eyes / Megabitch / Evil English $10. Tues, Mar. 8, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

FOR OUR COMPLETE COMMUNITY CALENDAR: INDYWEEK.COM INDYweek.com

March 2, 2022

17

PUZZLES

ALL RE A LTHC T HEA ERS GE K R WO

FF O % 10 ON ALKLS

If you just can’t wait, check out the current week’s answer key at www.indyweek.com, and click “puzzle pages” at the bottom of our webpage.

BOO

In-Store Shopping Curbside Pick Up www.regulatorbookshop.com 720 Ninth Street, Durham, NC 27705 In-store and pick up hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10a-6p

su | do | ku

this week’s puzzle level:

© Puzzles by Pappocom

There is really only one rule to Sudoku: Fill in the game board so that the numbers 1 through 9 occur exactly once in each row, column, and 3x3 box.

The numbers can appear in any order and diagonals are not considered.

Your initial game board will consist of several numbers that are already placed. Those numbers cannot be changed. Your goal is to fill in the empty squares following the simple rule above.

Looking for Goathouse R has many cat also care for and comfort by adopting, goathouseref

If you just can’t wait, check out the current week’s answer key at www.indyweek.com, and click “puzzle pages.”

Best of luck, and have fun! www.sudoku.com solution to last week’s puzzle

18

March 2, 2022

INDYweek.com

3.02.22 INDY CLASSIFIEDS classy@indyweek.com

CLASSIFIEDS EMPLOYMENT

EVENTS

Work Situation Wanted: Seamstress/Tailor Assistant In possession of sewing skills and would like to work part-time for an experienced sewer. Durham-based, but can commute in Triangle. Can provide work samples.

Wage negotiable. Call Kathy at (919) 924-6521.

Principal BI Developer (Durham, N.C.) Principal BI Developer sought by Parexel International LLC in Durham, NC to provide subject matter expertise & project mgmt for the dsgn & dvlpmt of Business Intelligence applications. Reqs Master’s deg in Comp Sci, Comp Info Systems, or a closely related field plus 3 yrs (or Bachelor’s deg plus 5 progressive yrs) of business intelligence software dvlpmt exp in: (1) Data Warehousing Methodology using Dimensional Modeling & ETL, (2) Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, (3) Informatica & DAC, (4) Business Objects Universe & Webi Reports, (5) Oracle SQL & PL/SQL, (6) Crystal Reports & Business Views, (7) liaising with business users to gather reqmts & translate technical dsgns, & (8) providing verbal & written presentations to business units & sr mgmt. Position may work from home 1-2 days per week. To apply, please send resume to openings@parexel.com & cite requisition number 00439 or apply at jobs.parexel.com.

Sr. Ab Initio Developer (Durham, N.C.) Sr. Ab Initio Developer sought by NC Health Affiliates, LLC in Durham, NC. Write well designed, testable, efficient code to support varied and complex IT solutions. Telecommuting permitted. Apply @ www.jobpostingtoday.com #14405.

HEALTH & WELL BEING

Senior Systems Developer (Morrisville, N.C.) PPD Development, L.P. seeks a Senior Systems Developer in Morrisville, NC to provide systems analysis, design, development, testing and support. MS & 3 yrs.

May work from home, but must be able to report to local office. For full req’s and to apply send resume to GlobalMobility.sm@ppd.com Job Reference Number: 210368

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE 919-416-0675

www.harmonygate.com

Looking for easier advertising?

TRY INDY CLASSIFIEDS! Email classy@indyweek.com or sales@indyweek.com for more information

INDY CLASSIFIEDS classy@indyweek.com

INDYweek.com

March 2, 2022

19

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