B-Metro August Issue

Hate going to the doctor?

Then don’t.

Getting treatment for a common illness used to mean having to make a doctor’s appointment or spending the day in a waiting room. Not anymore.

With UAB eMedicine, you can get an online diagnosis and treatment plan, typically within an hour. And for just $25. Go online now and see how easy and convenient everyday healthcare for common conditions can be.

NO APPOINTMENT

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NO WAITING ROOMS

MOBLEY & SONS EST. 1969

THE SUMMIT: NOW OPEN | CRESTLINE VILLAGE

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W H E R E

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WHAT'S

TRENDING I S

F OUND

I N

ST O R E

G U S M AY E R + W E S T E L M + S O F T S U R R O U N D I N G S + A T H L E T A + M O B L E Y & S O N S L O V E S A C + U LT A B E A U T Y + T E M P U R - P E D I C COMING SOON: PELOTON + SEE EYEWEAR

VICKI LUGAR

Finding you a new place to live and a new home to love. $80 Million Dollar Producer

Vicki Lugar is an experienced RE/MAX agent, who provides professional service and builds a relationship with each client. Vicki strives to provide a customized experience by creating a strategic marketing plan to sell your home as well as a personalized checklist to fulfill every desire for your new home. She provides this individualized home shopping experience in most areas of Birmingham and accomodates all budgets. Vicki is customer focused and provides a stress free and exciting experience that is all about YOU and achieving your goals and dreams. Vicki believes a life changing decision requires a partnership for a smooth transition. She always has technology at her fingertips notifying her of new listings, to get you in line first. Vicki has the insight to know what her clients want and the passion to make their dream a reality. Call Vicki today to achieve your happy ending.

Southern Homes

VICKI LUGAR

ABR, GRI, CRS, ABR, E-Pro Associate Broker

205-563-3444

vicki@vickilugar.com • www.VickiLugar.com www.linkedin.com/in/VickiLugarRealEstate

Southern Homes

“

NATURAL FACES

Everyone will notice.

No one will know.

WHO I AM

DR. AUSTIN ADAMS 1.

ROUSSO FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY CLINIC, MOUNTAIN BROOK

ON NATURAL FACIAL BEAUTY

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE MOST REQUESTED PROCEDURES?

Rhinoplasty, facelift, hair restoration

2.

WHAT NEW SURGICAL PROCEDURES ARE MOST POPULAR/TRENDING IN YOUR PRACTICE?

Recently, I have performed a lot of subnasal lip lifts. While this is not a “new” procedure, the popularity has skyrocketed due to the minimal downtime and its ability to provide a fuller upper lip to balance the lower face.

3.

W

ith an honest, innovative and knowledgeable approach, Dr. Austin Adams specializes in aesthetic rejuvenation of the face and neck using a combination of surgical and non-surgical treatments. He and the staff at Rousso Facial Plastic Surgery Clinic provide a warm, welcoming environment to discuss the patients’ facial concerns and goals. “The computer-generated simulations we provide to the patient during the consultation help them envision their procedure and manage their expectations before taking the next step.” His philosophy is to provide a natural result and a beautifully balanced and rejuvenated facial appearance. “When patients show me their Facebook and Instagram photos after treatment, I see a new spirit of confidence in them. That’s why I do, what I do.” Dr. Adams prides himself in utilizing the most advanced and up-to-date techniques to provide exceptional care for his patients. “It is an honor to serve the Birmingham area, and in return, I go above and beyond to meet my patients’ goals and expectations.”

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT YOUR PROFESSION?

I love that I can help a patient’s confidence by fixing what bothers them. A cosmetic surgery can be life-changing for them.

4.

WHAT SETS YOUR

PRACTICE APART?

I am extremely fortunate to practice along side one of my mentors who has been an incredible example of how to take care of patients. Together with our fantastic staff, we pride ourselves in providing excellent plastic surgery, exclusively on the face.

5.

WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH TO RHINOPLASTY?

In my opinion, an attractive nose is a nose that doesn’t draw attention to itself. A nose should highlight patients’ eyes, lips and other facial features when it is in harmony with the rest of the face.

6.

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY?

Surgical results continue to be the gold standard in facial rejuvenation. However, new, less-invasive technologies continue to evolve and are being used more frequently in combination with surgery to achieve even greater results. As technology evolves, patients will continue to reap the rewards of their doctors having more tools in their toolbelts to treat various issues.

7.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MYTH IN YOUR PROFESSION?

Patients often think surgery means looking plastic and overdone. The mark of a good plastic surgeon is that you can’t immediately tell that the person has had plastic surgery.

I always enjoy seeing how happy my patients are getting back to their lives after a couple weeks looking like a rested and rejuvenated version of themselves.



BEST FACE FORWARD Before (left) and after (right).

i THREE WORDS:

WHAT ARE YOU KNOWN FOR:

Honest, Attentive, Meticulous

Rhinoplasty

MY CREDENTIALS MEDICAL DEGREE Tulane University School of Medicine

RESIDENCY Vanderbilt University Medical Center

FELLOWSHIP Rousso Facial Plastic Surgery Clinic

BOARD CERTIFICATION

MY OPERATING ROOM PLAYLIST:

American Board of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery

Jason Isbell, The Revivialists, Old Dominion

CONTACT Rousso Facial Plastic Surgery 2700 Hwy 280, Ste 300W Mountain Brook, AL 35223 (205) 930.9595

ABOUT DR. ADAMS After obtaining his medical degree at Tulane University, Dr. Austin Adams completed his residency at Vanderbilt University. He then went on to receive fellowship training in facial plastic surgery through the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Dr. Adams is board-certified in head and neck surgery, specializing in facial plastics.

2700 Hwy 280, Ste 300W Mountain Brook, AL 35223

(205) 930.9595 Visit the doctor’s gallery of before-and-after photos at: www.drrousso.com

+ A FEW OF MY SPECIALITIES… Rhinoplasty Facelift Mini Facelift Brow Lift Blepharoplasty Neck Lift Neck Liposculpting Forehead Reduction Facial Implants Lip Augmentation Hair Restoration Otoplasty Ear Lobe Repair Fillers Botox/Dysport Facial Laser Resurfacing Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Mohs Reconstruction Radio Frequency Skin Tightening Hand Rejuvenation Dermalinfusion IPL/BBL Treatments Chemical Peels Laser Hair Removal

the

METRO

team

EDITORIAL Joe O’Donnell Editor/Publisher joe@b-metro.com

Robin Colter Creative Director robin@b-metro.com

Rosalind Fournier Associate Editor ros@b-metro.com

ADVERTISING/MARKETING Amy Tucker Marketing Specialist amy@b-metro.com

Elizabeth O’Donnell Accounting elizabeth@b-metro.com

Contributing Writers Javacia Bowser, Lee Ann Brown, Micah Cargo, Tom Gordon, Angela Karen, Joey Kennedy, Brett Levine, Lindsey Osborne, Cody Owens, Phillip Ratliff, Luke Robinson, Max Rykov

Contributing Photographers Billy Brown, Edward Badham, Marc Bondarenko, Cameron Carnes, Liesa Cole, Eric Dejuan, Larry O. Gay, Beau Gustafson, Angela Karen, Nik Layman, Jaysen Michael, Alison Miksch, Karim Shamsi-Basha, Jerry Siegel, Chuck St. John

B–Metro is published monthly by Fergus Media LLC 1314 Cobb Lane South Birmingham, AL 35205 (205) 202-4182 Printed by American Printing Co., Birmingham, AL

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A CUT ABOVE THE REST. SIZZLING PERFECTION FROM START TO FINISH.

PRIVATE DINING ACCOMMODATIONS FOR UP TO 300 GUESTS.

2300 WOODCREST PLACE AT THE EMBASSY SUITES BIRMINGHAM 205.879.9995 www.RuthsChris.net

Filmmaker Brandon Loper on the set.

METRO

contents AUGUST 19

Volume 10 Number 10

36. Back to Life Danielle and Alan Weintraub found the perfect older home and brought it back to life.

Photography by Beau Gustafson

Filmmaker and musician Logan Freeman is trying to do good.

42. Reserve Your Seat

56. The Accidental Filmmaker

The Sidewalk Film Festival brings a creative spark to the city. Here’s our guide to must-see films and cool events.

Attorney Jenna Bedsole found inspiration in a pioneering lawyer’s story.

48. Making the Connection

SPECIAL SECTION

Home from Los Angeles, Virginia Newcomb loves the creative, collaborative spirit she’s found in the South.

Written by Joe O’Donnell

50. That’s a Wrap A fresh batch of filmmakers are adding creative force to the city and putting Birmingham on the movie map.

cover august

54. Logan Freeman Gets Inspired

Filmmaker Brandon Loper.

Photo by Beau Gustafosn. Design by Robin Colter.

Metro Birmingham Living

59. Top Women Attorneys Our annual list of the top female attorneys in the city.

78. Experts From education to beauty to real estate, here are some expert opinions.

YOUR SEAT AT

SIDEWALK

Spotlighting some of the can’t miss films from our favorite film festival

IT’S A WRAP

52. Passion Play

08

AUG 2019 $4.99

5

www.diamondsdirect.com

Proud Partner of the Auburn Tigers

Proud Partner of the Alabama Crimson Tide

7447 0 8 0 7 0 2

(205) 201-7400

TOP WOMEN ATTORNEYS

0

2800 Cahaba Village Plz, Birmingham, AL 35243

AUG $4.99 US

For filmmaker Brandon Loper, the key is passion.

A fresh batch of young filmmakers are putting Birmingham on the map

www.b-metro.com DISPLAY UNTIL SEPT 10, 2019

10 B-METRO.COM

Filmmaker Brandon Loper

OurLoveStory THE LOVE STORY OF JORDAN HOWELL AND ABBY NORRIS

Jordan Howell and Abby Norris met way back in in their freshman year of high school. Mutual friends introduced them at their church. Friends first, they started dating in July 2013, the summer before their senior year in high school.

They can’t point to a single moment when it became obvious that they belonged together, but they knew deep in their hearts it was right, and a way to serve the Lord more effectively together than as individuals.

Today, Jordan, a graduate of the University of Alabama, is in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Samford University. He will graduate in May 2021. Abby graduated from the University of Alabama in May 2018 with a degree in Clothing, Textile, and Design. She currently works as a media specialist for ExVoto Vintage Jewelry in Mountain Brook Village.

They became engaged on May 25, 2019, while Abby was visiting Jordan in Nashville, where he was doing a clinical internship for his DPT program.

Jordan planned the day with a visit to Percy Warner Park, which features a large stone staircase built during the Depression. At the bottom of those stairs, Jordan proposed. Family members, who had been in hiding, popped out to take

pictures, and later the families all gathered for a special lunch.

“It was the most surreal day,” Abby says. “We are so thankful for each and every family member who made the drive to Nashville to celebrate with us. We are blessed with amazing people in our lives and Jordan could not have planned the day any better.”

An earlier surprise came when Jordan made an appointment at Diamonds Direct. He and Abby sat down with Ben Ash at Diamonds Direct and found some options that were perfect for them. “I genuinely did not know what I was looking for when I walked into the appointment that day, but by the time I left, I knew exactly what I wanted. I got to pick every single thing out. I was blown away that I could design my own ring. I narrowed it down to two specific diamonds and two bands and left it up to Jordan to pick, so there was still a surprise. I could not have been happier with the outcome. Seeing it for the first time all together when he proposed was priceless,” Abby says.

The couple’s planned wedding date is May 3, 2020 at The Barn at Smith Lake.

2800 Cahaba Village Plaza Birmingham, AL 35243 www.diamondsdirect.com 

Love Story is Presented by Diamonds Direct. For more info on how you can be featured in Love Story, check out Diamonds Direct-Birmingham on Facebook.

METRO

departments august

14. Chronicle by Joe O’Donnell 16. Currents: Food, art, fun, parties you missed, things you should know 26. Vignette: Zoe’s in Forest Park 28. Vignette: Caliber in Homewood 30. Personal Space: Buddy Palmer, Create Birmingham 32. Bleacher Seat by Luke Robinson 33. The Glamorous Life by Lee Ann Brown 34. B’ham to the Max by Max Rykov 35. B-Yourself by Angela Karen 84. B-There: L’Chaim 88. B—Curious by Joey Kennedy

This page: Drinks from the bar at Brick & Tin. Full story on page 18.

12 B-METRO.COM

Photo by Beau Gustafson

Chronicle

M

: EDITOR’S NOTES

ovies have always intrigued me. I used to love going to the movies when I was a kid and that entrancement never left me. I’m no expert and I certainly know nothing about the craft, but the magic of the movies has always been a part of my life.

The genre doesn’t really matter. Whether I’ve seen it before doesn’t really matter. I have been know to watch movies over and over again to the point where people in my household begin to wonder whether I am losing my mind.

I’m not. I just find new things that fascinate me every time I watch a really good movie for the fourth time, or fifth or fifteenth. It’s like a landscape that you’ve gazed upon repeatedly and just never noticed an aspect that has real appeal.

That’s the way I feel about Sidewalk Film Festival. It is hard to believe it is now its 21st incarnation, but it is. And each time you experience Sidewalk, you often find more and more things to like about it.

This month we dove into the world of film in Birmingham and came away with not only a guide to some really cool films that will be shown during Sidewalk weekend, but a sense that the city is really on the rise in the world of film.

Elsewhere this month you’ll find a new section that we are doing called Vignette. It is a foray into local shopping, sharing images and the story behind some of the city’s coolest local shops.

I hope you enjoy this month’s issue.

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Currents WHAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN THE CITY

HEAR ME OUT

08//19

music after receiving a call from jamband icon Oteil Burbridge of Aquarium Rescue Unit/Allman Brothers fame—who was living in Birmingham at the time—to join his band Oteil and the Peacemong the upper echelons of Birmingham’s elite musi- makers. Featuring world class players like guitarist Mark Kimbrell cians, there are secret weapons, and then there’s Matt and drummer Chris Fryar, the Peacemakers were a different beast Slocum. A classically trained pianist and master im- altogether, mining a challenging repertoire of fusion-oriented proviser whose cross-genre exercises have made him one of the jazz-funk that would make them one of the city’s most respected most coveted hired guns in the music business, particularly on outfits of the early-2000s. Playing with the band for the next five the Southern jamband scene, Slocum’s roots in Birmingham run years, the group would prove to be a gateway into a wider world deep and have helped pave the way for a remarkable career as of next-level musicianship, with Slocum being introduced to the both a collaborator and touring musician with some of today’s likes of ARU alums Col. Bruce Hampton and Jimmy Herring, most celebrated artists, from Widespread Panic’s Jimmy Herring as well as guitarist Derek Trucks, all of whom he would go on and blues chanteuse Susan Tedeschi, to to work with in a variety of settings over The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson and the years, establishing himself as a valuaMATT SLOCUM popular poly-Americana fusion group ble member of any ensemble he lent his Railroad Earth. A phenomenally gifted talents to. It was also through Burbridge keyboardist with a range of chops that that he would find himself reunited with have allowed him to effortlessly glide an old acquaintance from his Norwell between everything from funk and jazz, days in the form of Susan Tedeschi, who to rock, gospel, bluegrass and beyond, also grew up in the area and once babysat Matt’s unique ability to serve both the a young Slocum, joining her touring song and musical conversation, in whatband in 2008 and recording the Gramever format he finds himself in, has paid my-nominated album Back to the River in big dividends for his ever-growing re2009. sume, allowing him to travel the world “Playing with Oteil is what really doing what he loves to do best while stayjumpstarted me to play at a national, and ing connected to his adopted hometown. eventually international, level with all Born in Newton, Massachusetts, Sloof these musicians,” he says today lookcum first moved to Birmingham with his ing back on Burbridge’s influence and family at the age of four, where he would impact on his career. And that may be discover an early love of music through an understatement. From performing his mother and father before taking his alongside members of Hot Tuna and first piano lessons at the age of seven.

The Meters, to opening for BB King, and Moving back to Massachusetts just three working with British guitar legend John years later to the town of Norwell, it was McLaughlin, it’s been quite the musical there that he would attend the renowned South Shore Conserv- journey. Having also maintained a long-running side gig as a proatory, honing his musical skills while also playing in his middle fessional piano tuner and repairman here in town, Slocum has school band under the tutelage of influential music teacher Paul dedicated himself to his instrument in a way few others have.

Weller, who would encourage his burgeoning interest in jazz, theSet to hit the road this September with a new Herring-led outory and composition. Staying in the northeast for four years, he fit called The 5 of 7— in a nod to the recently deceased Hampton— soon returned to Birmingham where he would land at the Ala- despite his busy schedule, Slocum still manages to find time to sit bama School of Fine Arts, continuing his studies as part of their in on local gigs and recording sessions with friends around town, advanced music program while also playing in high school rock keeping him grounded in the city that helped shape his path. bands.

“There are so many great musicians in Birmingham. I wouldn’t be Leaving for Memphis following graduation with his band where I am today, I don’t believe, if I hadn’t come here,” he says.

Midnight Rain, Slocum frustratingly returned to the Magic City a “Birmingham is a huge part of my career and upbringing. I mean, third time after just four months away. Later playing in local cover this is where I’m from. I know I was born in Massachusetts, but groups like the Elvis Willis Band, it wasn't until 2002 that he I’m from the South and from Birmingham." And that's exactly the would truly discover his place in the larger world of professional way we want to keep it.

A

WITH LEE SHOOK

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russell amber's BIRMINGHAM

RESTAURANT WEEK

We’ve had the pleasure of blogging for Birmingham Restaurant Week for the past few years and we always seem to fall in love with a new dish or two! For the uninitiated, Birmingham Restaurant Week lasts from Aug. 16th-25th and features dozens of local restaurants that will have special menu pricing just for this event.

We can’t believe that this is the 10th year. This is the best time to find your next favorite B’ham restaurant. The only downside is that you may have to burn some extra calories, but it’s totally worth it.

AUGUST HAPPENINGS

OUR FAVORITE COUPLE FROM HAPENINGS IN THE 'HAM TELL US WHERE THEY'LL BE. THIS MONTH

sidewalk2019 We try to be impartial, but Sidewalk is our favorite Birmingham Festival! (It’s in print now, so it’s official!)

We’ve attended, volunteered for, and covered Sidewalk Film Festival for a long time. This festival is the spirit of Birmingham brought to life! August 23rd-25th, spend the weekend downtown watching some amazing independent films in some gorgeous venues. We’ve been told by multiple filmmakers that this is by far their favorite film festival as well! In addition to the films there are always fun parties to attend, and the Saturday night party always has a fun theme. We can’t overstate how much fun you’ll have. We usually make a staycation out of it and stay downtown. We will see you there. “Happy Sidewalk!”

SEE FEATURE STORY ON PAGE 42 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

11TH ANNUAL On Friday September 13, head over to Avondale for the 11th Annual Land Aid! Fresh Water Land Trust

LAND AID

does SO much for our community, especially since the undertaking of the Red Rocks Trail Initiative that will connect 750 miles of trails in the Birmingham area. This is your chance to give back while having a great time!

This year’s headliner is The Brummies with opener Funk You. The show starts at 6 p.m. and goes into the night. We’ve attended Land Aid for the past few years and always have a fantastic time.

cayo coco This is the newest addition to Founder’s Station! Check out this swanky, Cuban–inspired restaurant and bar. They will be serving dinner starting at 5pm Mon-Sat, but the bar opens at 4pm. Situated near Pilcrow, The Essential, and Square One Goods, Cayo Coco is the perfect spot to relax with friends as the sun sets. Their selection of punches, daiquiris, and cocktails will send your tastebuds on a tropical getaway!

The vivid colors of the interior are sure to make this a selfie hotspot. We’re definitely glad that their doors are now open to the public!

RUM BAR

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currents

Chef and kitchen manager Bradley Jennings

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B-METRO.COM

PAN SEARED CHICKEN

Joyce Farms chicken breast, Chilton County peaches, local cucumbers, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, avocado and pesto

MORE THAN JUST

LUNCH

Brick & Tin has evolved along with downtown to become a nighttime destination.

Written by Joe O’Donnell • Photography by Beau Gustafson

I

f you’ve driven down 20th Street any time in the past few months, you’ve no doubt seen the work being done between 3rd and 2nd. And that means you’ve seen the transformation of Brick & Tin. The fine dining lunch spot that has charmed downtown workers for a decade has expanded its offering to dinner. It’s a move that has intrigued chef-owner Mauricio Papapietro ever since he struck out on his own and brought a fine dining sensibility to downtown’s working lunch crowd.

Papapietro had worked in some of the finest kitchens in the city, being mentored by Frank Stitt at Highlands and Chris

Hastings at Hot and Hot. His last job prior to opening Brick & Tin was as chef de cuisine at Highlands.

Brick & Tin opened in the summer of 2010, when aside from Cafe Dupont there was very little in downtown. “At night it was a ghost town,” Papapietro says.

“I was ready to either move to another city and learn from someone else or open my own place. So that’s what I did with Brick & Tin. It was a chef-driven concept, all about the food, taking everything I could from my mentors,” he says.

“It was all about the cooking, but also the procurement, choosing the best ingredients from local farmers. What I was B-METRO.COM

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TUSCAN

Roasted portobello mushrooms, oven dried tomatoes, provolone and pesto on focaccia

doing was trying to bring that sensibility to the lunch table, where it had to be fast because people only had an hour for lunch.”

The sandwich was the answer. But not just any sandwich, but an artfully conceived meal. The Brisket, for example, is a panini of braised beef brisket, caramelized onions & white bbq on pain de mie flatbread. From opening day it has been among the most popular of items on the menu.

“I was going to take quality ingredients and put it between two pieces of bread, but we were going to make the bread. So I had a baker who got there at 3 a.m. to make the bread, and I got there at 7 a.m. to prep the food. Then at 10:30 we opened for lunch and it was busy from the very first day,” Papapietro says.

The plan going forward is to have that same kind of success at dinner, including adding a full bar to the downtown restaurant. The team at Brick & Tin has been able to prepare for dinner service with the experience gained by the Mountain Brook location of Brick & Tin, which opened in 2014 on Culver Road in 20

B-METRO.COM

Mountain Brook Village.

“The Mountain Brook location was surrounded by a population of people who could really get behind it. I was ready for lunch and dinner seven days a week.

The community is amazing and has really embraced it.”

Drawing on the Mountain Brook menu when Brick & Tin expanded downtown to dinner, he added small plates such as Street Corn Fritters of crispy corn tempura, cotija cheese, crema, lime, cilantro and chile.

Entrees include the pan seared chicken, which includes Joyce Farms chicken breast, Chilton County peaches, local cucumbers, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, avocado and pesto. This dish is light and Southern in an unforgettable way.

The Tuscan is a sandwich of roasted portobello mushrooms, oven dried tomatoes, provolone and pesto on focaccia.

Papapietro says his decision to re-invest in downtown with the renovation and expansion will pay off. “There is so much happening. The pieces you need for a city to be vibrant are all coming together,” he says.

DETAILS

214 20th St N, Birmingham 10:30 to 9 p.m. daily except Sunday (205) 297-8636 2901 Cahaba Rd, Mountain Brook 10:30 to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday 10:30 to 2 p.m. on Sunday (205) 502-7971

STREET CORN FRITTERS Crispy corn tempura, cotija cheese, crema, lime cilantro, and chili

currents

DIVE IN WITH BEAU GUSTAFSON

GREEN VALLEY DRUGS In Dec of 1961, one of the oldest stores in Hoover opened. It is the old style soda fountain located in the Green Valley Pharmacy. It is know for its malts, shakes burgers and fries and being a local gathering spot that people have been frequenting for years and years. I have eaten breakfast served by Braiden or Dana and cooked up by Bobby every Weds for the last 15 years and Bobby has been cooking up the food for 51 years.It is just good friendly service. So If you are wanting an old time soda shop my suggestion is to Dive in to Green Valley Drug and get a shake and catch up with some locals.

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the PARTY you missed

The July Art on the Rocks at the Birmingham Museum of Art featured Durand Jones and the Indications. The next scheduled Art on the Rock is August 9, featuring Austin band Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.

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Unlike regular beach hotels cluttered together along the coast, The Lodge at Gulf State Park, A Hilton Hotel, is a unique destination on the Alabama Gulf Coast with nature at its doorstep. During your stay, you’ll connect with the outdoors on a whole new level. And in doing so, you’ll be helping the hotel’s conservation efforts to restore and maintain the beauty of this truly distinctive destination.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT LODGEATGULFSTATEPARK.COM 21196 EAST BEACH BLVD. GULF SHORES, ALABAMA 36542 | 251.540.4000 HILTON RESERVATIONS: 1.800.774.1500

currents

the PARTY you missed McWane After Dark brings excitement to the downtown children's hands-on museum.

The most recent event was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

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B-METRO.COM

After surgery, we also specialize in “You can do this.”

A COMMUNITY BUILT ON SUPPORT We never forget that there’s more to care than medicine.

There’s compassion. Attentiveness. And a healthy dose of kindness. Which is why when it comes to your care, all of us are here to treat you well.

Find a physician at BrookwoodBaptistHealth.com Brookwood Baptist Medical Center | Citizens Baptist Medical Center | Princeton Baptist Medical Center | Shelby Baptist Medical Center | Walker Baptist Medical Center

V

ignette

A peek inside some unique Birmingham shops.

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Caliber

The sporting lifestyle.

Caliber’s welcoming showroom in the heart of Homewood is far more than a gun store: it’s a gathering place. It is a place where you can smoke a cigar by their fireplace, shop high-end clothing brands, and share your latest stories about your last great excursion. From a Tom Beckbee field jacket to a Beretta shotgun, Caliber specializes in meeting the city’s hunting and lifestyle needs.

Photography by Beau Gustafson

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zoe's in Forest Park The vintage advantage

The mannequin on Clairmont Avenue is easily one of the city's most iconic shopping monuments, changing her look according to season or mood. This vintage clothing store in Forest Park is famous for its friendliness, bargains and sense of style. Owner Deborah Fulton says "Zoe is Greek for that creative, never-ending spirit of life. That was my mission: to create a place for people to feel that spirit in themselves.

Music. Cats. Color. Creative expression all around. I created a place. Make it and they will come. And they did.

Photography by Beau Gustafson

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B-METRO.COM

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TALK

personal

space B

A ONE-ON-ONE CONVERSATION WITH BUDDY PALMER, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF CREATE BIRMINGHAM

uddy Palmer is a 30-year career professional in both commercial and nonprofit creative fields. He joined Create Birmingham as President & CEO in 2008, launching major initiatives in arts-in-education, cultural marketing, creative industries and arts for social change. Previously, he served as the executive director of the Acadiana Arts Council in Lafayette, LA, for thirteen years, preceded by four years in his hometown as the executive director of the Selma/Dallas County Arts Council.

Palmer has served as a consultant to arts and community-based organizations for the LA Division of the Arts, MS Arts Commission and AL State Council on the Arts. He has presented at conferences throughout the Southeast on topics such as arts and tourism partnerships, cultural planning, arts and racial healing, and artist-community partnerships, and participated in public art selection, curatorial and administrative processes for federal courthouse, airport and community-based projects.

B-Metro: How do you view Birmingham at the moment?

directors and production designers and cinema people talking about the great experience they had here has been invaluable.

Palmer: Within the city and the region there is just so much positive energy and so many places where you can help make an impact. And I think that it’s kind of a historic moment in Birmingham’s history where creativity and creative work is leading the way in a lot of instances.

B-Metro: How would you describe Create Birmingham?

Palmer: As the only local agency exclusively focused on Birmingham’s creative industries, Create Birmingham plays a unique role in growing the creative sector. Create Birmingham’s mission is to invest in imagination and invention. Through our programs, we construct and support diverse avenues for commercial and nonprofit creative success. Through our advocacy, we work to ensure that Birmingham’s creative industries are recognized not only for their cultural impact, but also for their contribution to the greater Birmingham area’s economic development.

B-Metro: Much of your work recently has been taken up with developing Birmingham as a destination for filmmakers and production companies. How has that developed?

Palmer: It has been really rewarding to work closely with the film industry. We wrestled with how we could make headway.

Looking at ad buys in Variety or Hollywood Reporter or Deadline to say we are the home for independent filmmaking and brand Birmingham in that way, there’s no way we could have paid for that. But the publicity that has come from Instagram feeds of 30

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B-Metro: Why do you think we are so attractive to the film industry?

Palmer: Our built environment and our natural environment within a 30-mile radius of the core of downtown are amazing.

The ease of working here, hospitality and cost of production are really attractive. That’s the way we’ve been able to make inroads into film. We’ve had 23 feature films here in three years. Before that I don’t know if we’ve had a total of 23 feature films in the last 30 years.

B-Metro: What are the steps involved in attracting filmmakers to Birmingham?

Palmer: From the initial contact, we are immediately responsive to inquiries. We try to be a one-stop full service first stop.

We can push out photography and videography packages really quickly based on what they’re looking for. We can answer questions about the state’s incentives or local permits and licensing.

We can connect them to the local crew base, real estate developers and property owners. We know the arts community, so we can begin to connect them to the local talent base. And we have great relationships with the city of Birmingham, with Jefferson County government, with the city of Bessemer. You can say we’re just trying to super serve these folks from the very beginning. Once they decide on Birmingham and they start hiring locally, we step back. Because our job is to get local people hired. We don’t want to take on a job that somebody else didn’t get paid to do. So we are essentially a concierge.

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Create Birmingham’s President and CEO, Buddy Palmer

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TALK: BLEACHER SEAT WITH LUKE ROBINSON

I Can See it So Clearly Now Focusing on the solution

By Luke Robinson

W

hen I was in first grade, I received some pretty bad news.

Already saddled with a portly physique and loner-ish personality, my recent eye appointment dictated that I was in dire need of glasses.

Now, having to wear glasses at age 7 in 1979 was about as cool as having to use prescription deodorant. Not one company world-wide had invented good looking frames for a first grader at that time. They only came in various shades of brown and were made from enough plastic to choke a gaggle of sea turtles. However unpopular I was before I got glasses, I was now unpopular AND pitied!

Of course, I desperately needed the darn things. My vision had deteriorated to the point where I was using sonic vibrations to make my way to class. The inside of my frames had the words, “If found, return to the Hubble Telescope Station” inscribed on them.

My therapist and I both agree that my getting glasses at such an early age led to years of pre- and post-teen angst along with a deep-seeded hatred for all spectacles. Glasses, shades, monocles; you name ‘em, I didn’t like ‘em.

Fast-forwarding to the present (and after LASIK surgery in the early ‘90s), I am now the proud papa of four wonder-

ful kids. The two oldest, unfortunately, inherited their daddy’s poor eyesight.

Luckily, they aren’t quite as blind, but they both need corrective lenses day-today.

My youngest son (Walker), however, had not needed glasses. (Hey, that makes the score Luke 1, genetics 2,345,238!)

That is until his mother called me two months ago to say that Walker had been complaining of blurry vision. She then took him to an optometrist to see just how bad things were getting.

The doctor checked the right eye.

Then left. She shined lights directly into his pupils. She asked him to read the famous eye chart using different lens settings.

“Ummm… E…. K?.... L?..... 7?....

Uhhh…. Ampersand?.... I can’t make them out,” Walker lamented.

The doctor did more tests. More lens flip-flops. She dilated, hydrated and pontificated for approximately 30 more minutes.

Walker’s mom began to pace in the waiting room as she was concerned the exam wasn’t going well. That’s when the doctor came out to speak to her. His mother braced for the worst.

“Ms. Robinson,” the doctor sighed, “I am not sure what to tell you...”

There was a pregnant pause as Walker’s mom’s face froze with the ‘give-it-to-me-straight-doc’ look. Then, the doctor looked up and said, “Uhhhh…

Walker has 20/20 vision.”

“Wait…,” the mother said, “20/20?

That’s, like, perfect. So why is he having trouble seeing the board at school?”

“Well, the thing is…I am pretty sure he is faking,” the doctor said in a Seinfeldian manner. “I just think he WANTS glasses. So, my plan is to go back in there, give him a pair of frames with clear lenses, write you a faux prescription and see what happens.”

And that’s how the ruse began.

The plan worked. Immediately after donning the fake lenses Walker was reading the eye chart like a pro. He even got the “Made in the Vietnam, copyright 2011” part right at the bottom of the poster. Walker could see clearly now… The rain was gone… He could see aaaaaallll obstacles in his way!

Several days later, Walker’s mother was about to pick him up from school when the teacher pulled her aside. His teacher told her that Walker’s grades and overall behavior have improved dramatically with his new eyewear.

Walker’s mom broke the news that the glasses were fake, but the teacher didn’t care one iota. “It doesn’t matter!”, she whispered loudly, “Whatever he is wearing–real or fake–is working! He just needs to keep them on!”

So, after my childhood trauma and lifelong disdain for glasses, one of my offspring was so desperate to have them that he was willing to falsify his own eye tests!

The irony… It is thick with this story...

Thicker than my own glasses in 1979.

•

Luke is a host for the University of Alabama’s Coaches Cabana webcast, an AHSAA Radio Network team member, and a Sportzblitz TV/radio personality and blogger for Crimson Country Club.

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TALK: HUMOR MAKES THE DAY GLAMOROUS

My First Time Learning to fake it

By Lee Ann “Sunny” Brown

I

remember my first time so clearly that it was almost like yesterday.

I had been wanting to do it for a long time, in fact, for several years before I actually got up the courage to do it. I knew which ones of my friends had done it—you could almost always tell—there was something about them that just gave off that “glow” that made them look more confident, and I wanted that glow, too.

And then there were some friends who had done it so much that they had lost that youthful glow. In fact, they just looked older, really, and I knew that I did not want to have the same experience they did.

I didn’t want it to be noticeable that I had done it, I didn’t want to look like I was scarlet red, I didn’t want everyone looking at me and immediately thinking that I had done it, I just wanted there to be a noticeable something extra, I just wanted the glow. So, every time I was with my friends who were “in the know” I would ask them every question I could think of about the experience; what it was like, were they scared, did I need to take anything special with me whenever I finally decided to go for it? I wanted to be prepared for whenever I finally did decide to do it.

Then, of course, there was the major question of “who” I was going to go do it with. This proved to be a major decision. I had a lot of options to choose from, which actually made it even more difficult to decide. I spent a lot of time checking up on each potential suggestion. I would look them up on social media and see what other people had said about them, if there were any nasty or negative comments about them from past women. Sometimes I would drive over to where they were and I would drop by and just hang out for a few minutes, see if they were nice or just giving me the brush off. I would have a conversation, ask questions about themselves, (they love that!), just trying to get a feel for the vibe and if I felt

comfortable with them. I realized that I didn’t want to go with someone who a lot of people had been with. They might have more experience, but I just didn’t think that they would take into account that it was my first time and make me feel comfortable. I was afraid that it would just be an impersonal rush job. Not that I was wanting a commitment or anything like that, I just didn’t want to have to sign on any dotted line or give my email or phone number. I just wanted to be relaxed, have things explained to me, to be gently guided through it. I might not ever want to come back or see the person again, so I certainly wasn’t looking for a commitment.

At last, I finally did find the person that I thought would be the right one for me, who could help me relax and let me decide how far I wanted to go with it. In fact, I actually decided on a woman that a lot of my friends had referred me to that they went to for their first time. We talked and set a date and time. All week long I was filled with a mixture of excitement and uncertainty. I knew I would feel selfconscious so I spent the week before doubling down on my workout, trying to tone all the right places, sadly, to no avail.

Suddenly, after all the months, (years, really) of talking and thinking about doing it, the time had come. I was really nervous.

Then I stepped through the door. It’s always nerve racking the first time you take your clothes off in front of someone you barely know, a total stranger really. The first time is so awkward; silly things like where to put your clothes or how to tell them it’s a little too chilly. On top of all that the lighting was way too bright!

I’m gonna say that it wasn’t as bad or as good as I had hoped for. There were parts of it that I definitely liked better than others. I liked that I now had that glow about me, too.

A soft golden tan—

but I didn’t look like I had just had a spray tan.

My legs and arms and face looked fabulous! It made my teeth look so white! For the first time in my life I actually had tan lines.

Although, I could have had a little deeper tan on my chest and stomach area.

Being so pale, I was scared that I would come out looking too dark. After all, I didn’t want to be accused of wearing black face.

I wanted to look as if I had just gotten back from a week at the beach sporting a naturally soft, even, golden, glowing, sunkissed tan. And actually, that’s just what I looked like (except for my chest, which looked like I only spent a half day at the beach). I loved it!

Now the problem was how to have this look always; I cannot break the bank to keep a tan. And, my husband has informed that he will not become the Bruce Willis character in the movie Death Becomes Her, keeping a set of spray paints on hand to keep doing my touch ups (after all, he already does that in photographs!). So, I am learning how to use the self-tanning lotions to get that golden glow I want.

It sure takes a lot of effort just to fake it.

•

Lee Ann is a humor writer, actress, and singer, chronicling her glamorous life on stage and in print. She can be contacted at leeanndbrown@gmail.com.

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TALK: BHAM TO THE MAX

Back to School in Birmingham Orpheus and Eurydice, Bham style

By Max Rykov

I

t’s August once again! That magical time of year that children dream about all summer long—visions of notebooks and markers and Social Studies are ever so close to manifesting in their daily lives, soon to replace the enervating idleness of summer vacation. Back to the soul-sustaining rigor and grind of formal education in our local schools. What joy!

Our local students have much to take in if they are to grow to become intelligent and educated adults one day. They must be exposed to the great cultural masterworks of human civilization, in order to move about societies, both local, and foreign, with sophistication and grace. They must appreciate all that has come before them, and display an understanding of the wisdom that is the foundation of our culture.

And much like the method that many teachers have employed over the years to put arithmetic into terms that, say, a young scholar-athlete who only comprehends the world in the context of football (e.g. if Alabama scores one touchdown, one extra point and 3 field goals, how many points does Alabama have? *answer revealed at the end of this column), I propose a method of pedagogy that retells folklore in Birmingham-centric terms, in order to capture the attention of the civically obsessed student in all of us. Take, for example, the famous Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It’s a tale that’s been told and retold countless times in many different cultures, rife with meaning and metaphor—but how could a modern Birminghamian possibly relate to this tale?

What if instead of Orpheus and Eurydice, the protagonists of this myth were represented by two of Birmingham’s most iconic lovers: Vulcan and Electra?

Some context. In 1926, E.T. Leech, the editor of the Birmingham Post, wrote a love story about these two statues, under the pseudonym “Dr. B.U.L. Conner”

(I have no clue if there is any connection at all with this pen name to the infamous Bull Connor, who had two stints as Birmingham’s Public Safety Commissioner for two terms: first from 1936–1954 and then from 1957–1963).

The Newly Retold Myth: Once upon a time in Birmingham there lived a gigantic blacksmith named Vulcan. Besides his unparalleled height, he was also known for his mighty right shoulder. His stamina was legendary–he was able to hold up his right arm up indefinitely. At first, Vulcan found a simple spear to hold up, but when the residents of Birmingham saw the potential usefulness of his skill, he was gifted a beautiful torch to hold. The torch lit up the whole city with a brilliant green light, delighting the residents’ minds and healing their hearts of sorrows and troubles.

Birminghamians came out in droves to see Vulcan and his enchanting green light. Lovers would be inspired by the sheer grandeur of the sight, and would be moved to show their affection for each other at his feet. For many years, Vulcan witnessed the embrace of others, but had to endure his own loneliness, never having seen a being who could capture his own heart.

Until the day Electra came to town.

She was gilded and radiant, a Divinity of Light atop the Alabama Power Company building.

Vulcan saw her from afar, and fell in love immediately. He flashed his emerald light to Electra, and she beamed, drawn into a swoon of ecstasy at the sight. They began a steady courtship; Vulcan would leave Red Mountain, and stomp downtown to visit Electra. He would leave a steady stream of potholes in his wake, a reminder to the residents of Birmingham of his immense love for Electra.

This honeymoon phase didn’t please everyone though. The replica Statue of Liberty in Liberty Park desired Electra

for herself, and plotted to seduce her! One day, when Vulcan and Electra were taking a calamitous stroll through the streets of Birmingham, the replica Statue of Liberty emerged from behind The Heaviest Corner on Earth, intending to kill Vulcan! When Vulcan noticed her, he grabbed Electra by the hand and they started running toward Ruffner Mountain. As they were running away, Electra was bitten by a snake and tragically died.

Vulcan was devastated by the loss of his beloved. His torch shone red with sorrow, instead of the usual brilliant green.

The people of Birmingham, accustomed to the comforting green light, convinced Vulcan to travel to the Underworld in Five Points South, and ask the Storyteller to return Electra to the realm of the living.

Upon entering the Underworld, Vulcan enchanted the Storyteller, and broke his heart with the sorrowful red torchlight. The Storyteller agreed to allow Vulcan to bring Electra back to life, but with one stipulation–that he not look back at her while they were walking out of the Underworld.

Vulcan agreed to these terms, but as they were about to emerge from the Underworld, he became overcome with worry that Electra was no longer behind him, so he turned around. At that moment, Electra was whisked away to the Underworld forever, crushing the soul of our dear Vulcan.

It was then that Vulcan decided to throw away his torch entirely. Without the chance of seeing his beloved, he saw no point in bringing beauty into the world any longer. He picked up his spear of yore, and waited for death, or another renovation project to reunite with Electra.

May you learn much this school year, young Birminghamians! *Alabama has scored 16 points

Writer, emcee, producer, nonprofit event organizer, and freelance quarterback Max Rykov is a tireless advocate for the creative community in Birmingham.

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•

In college, what courses did you enjoy the most? Why?

“

TALK B-YOURSELF

WITH PHOTOGRAPHER ANGELA KAREN

Can I say I enjoyed all of them? Since Sewanee is a liberal arts school, it has some intriguing options like Polish Film which I took during my first semester freshman year. Just through studying Polish cinema, we learned about daily life and values, traditions, and even the general look of the country. The photography classes also interest me a lot, especially the ones that include platinum-palladium since it is a printing process that went almost extinct during the World Wars because of the high demand for both metals. Also, the platinum-palladium process was reinvented by my professor and his friend, and now museums are starting to use this method for archival purposes because the print will not fade and lasts as long as the paper stays intact.

“

-Ann Marie Eich International and Global Studies (major), Spanish and art (minors) TO READ FULL INTERVIEW GO TO B-METRO.COM

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BACK T

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TO LIFE DANIELLE AND ALAN WEINTRAUB FOUND THE PERFECT OLDER HOME AND BROUGHT IT BACK TO LIFE. WRITTEN BY JOE O’DONNELL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD BADHAM

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W

hen Danielle and Alan Weintraub were searching for a new home, they had a good sense of what they were looking for.

They loved the convenience of Mountain Brook’s villages, as well as the neighborhood experience of strolling on village sidewalks and enjoying the compact beauty of a classic neighborhood. They focused their home search on the neighborhoods between Crestline and Mountain Brook Villages.

They found the perfect place, knowing all along they their ultimate goal would be to renovate the house in order to make it their own.

But they were in no hurry. In fact, they made a calculated move to live in the house as it was, for a year or so. They used that live-in time to determine what worked and what needed to be re-thought. They sought answers to the kind of questions that only come up when you really live in a place.

How did the layout flow when the house was full of people? What

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DETAILS

ARCHITECT: JAMES LAUGHLIN INTERIOR DESIGN: BETSY BROWN, INC. LANDSCAPING: BLACKJACK GARDENS GENERAL CONTRACTOR: DAYSTAR CONSTRUCTION

rooms got too hot in the afternoon sun? Did they like the size of closets, the location of walls, the vantage points viewed from different rooms?

“So we lived in it first and that really helped us make decisions that we otherwise might not have known would be important to us,” Danielle, an architect as well as the homeowner, says.

The decision was made to update 40

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the house entirely. That meant new plumbing and electrical, along with roof underlayment, HVAC, insulation, doors, and windows. They enlarged the kitchen, laundry and powder room downstairs.

On the exterior, they took the patio off the house and replaced it with a larger, covered, screened-in porch. That has become the Weintraub’s favorite space.

“Mostly we worked within the original

house structure internally, updating the pieces and parts of that. It is a great house on a great property that had been only modestly updated over the years. It was a matter of updating and rejuvenating,” says Stephen Dorsky of Daystar Construction.

“The owners and designer brought a more modern, personalized look into an older house and that really brought a lot of life back into it.

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reserve your seat at

sidewalk 2019 Two decades into its creative life, Sidewalk has become a major player in the artistic side of the city. Here’s an inside look at this year’s festival with a rundown on don’t miss films and the people who provide the creative spark.

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DEATH OF DICK LONG

DEATH OF DICK LONG The dark secrets in this black-comedy come rolling out quickly because in small town Alabama, news travels fast. Dick is the dead guy. His bandmates, Zeke and Earl, are trying hard yet unsuccessfully to deal with his demise. All hell soon breaks out.

This film was shot in Alabama and features many local actors including Virginia Newcomb, Roy Wood, Jr. and a young actor Polly Cunningham. Newcomb plays Zeke’s wife, Lydia. Other supporting actors include Sarah Baker and Jess Weixler.

The screenplay was written by Billy Chew, and the film was directed by Daniel Scheinert, known for Swiss Army Man (2016), DJ Snake and Lil Jon: Turn Down for What (2014) and The Death of Dick Long (2019).

Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, collectively known as Daniels, are a filmmaking duo best known for their music videos.

In 2016 they expanded to feature film, writing and directing the movie Swiss Army Man featuring actors Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe, for which the duo received the Directing Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Scheinert describes The Death of Dick Long as provocative. “The whole movie is an exercise in empathy. It is about characters that you wouldn’t normally think a movie would be about. That’s the magic of the screenplay. You can’t believe you like it,” Scheinert says.

“We wanted to be honest and authentic about Alabama. We want it to spark conversations,” Scheinert says. “I find filmmaking to be a very therapeutic experience.”

SWORD OF TRUST Conspiracy theorists abound in this comedic film, and their focus is on a Civil War era sword. A cantankerous pawn-

shop owner and his man-child employee team up with an out-of-town couple who are trying to sell the sword, which they inherited from a recently deceased grandfather.

But it could be more than a sword. It could be the proof that the South really won the war.

The adventure that ensues takes the characters on a wild journey into the depths of conspiracy theory and Southern disillusionment.

The movie stars Jillian Bell and Michaela Watkins as Cynthia and Mary.

Marc Maron plays the pawnshop owner and Jon Bass is his sidekick. The film was directed by Lynn Shelton, and written by Lynn Shelton and Michael Patrick O’Brien. Filming took place in Birmingham and other locales in Alabama.

“I wanted to give myself permission to do a screwball comedy, which I’ve never done before. I was ready to laugh after my last film, Outside In, which was a drama. I B-METRO.COM

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SWORD OF TRUST

IRON GRIT

said I was going in for comedy next time because I really want to laugh. I never really let myself go off the rails before when it comes to ridiculousness of plot. But I wanted to create characters that feel real so that you care about them,” Shelton says.

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It was a June evening in the Kingston neighborhood of Birmingham in 1979.

There was an altercation at Jerry’s Convenience Store. By the time the evening was over, a 20-year-old black woman, Bonita Carter, was dead, shot by white Birmingham Police officer George Sands. Carter was unarmed.

It was the culmination of a period in Birmingham when the black community and the police department were at odds, with numerous reports of brutality and strife.

The shooting of Bonita Carter was the impetus behind the rise of Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr., who ran in the city’s election that year, becoming the city’s first black mayor and beginning a 20-year reign at city hall.

Iron Grit, a documentary directed and produced by two Birmingham natives, Jamel Lajuan and Sumner Nesbitt, is a deep dive into that difficult time, telling the back story of Birmingham’s transformation and echoing into today’s turmoil

over police shooting of African-Americans.

“The recent police shootings on unarmed Black American citizens greatly tie into this 1979 story. I want to bring attention to the disproportionate deadly police action towards Blacks in America that is still happening today, but I also wish to inspire racial unity in the name of progress for global audiences,” says director Lajuan.

The film features interviews with Mayor Arrington, Bonita Carter’s cousin, Myrna Carter Jackson, comedian Rickey Smiley, and former NAACP president Hezekiah Jackson, a childhood friend of Carter’s.

I WANT MY MTV The legend has it that Birmingham native and Sidewalk founder Alan Hunter cartwheeled onto the stage for his audition as one of the world’s first vee-jays at the birth of MTV. That birth, and subsequent golden age of the new cable network, is the subject of I Want My MTV. This documentary, from directors

IRON GRIT

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Tyler Measom, Patrick Waldrop, features interviews and commentary from Robert W. Pittman, Judy McGrath, Tom Freston, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Sting, Billy Idol, Pat Benatar, Nancy Wilson, Bret Michaels, and Darryl McDaniels.

The creation of something absolutely new is a heady enterprise and this documentary brings that excitement to life. MTV became a touchstone for young people and a new format for musicians and filmmakers to show off their talents.

On August 1, 1981, MTV was born with scrappy hosts, a production style that looked like it was being made up as it went along, and the music videos that would come to define a generation.

The film has other Southern connections in addition to Alan Hunter, who was the first face seen on MTV. Robert Pittman, the original CEO of MTV Networks, was born and raised in Mississippi.

OTHER FILMS YOU SHOULD SEE STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Take in this retrospective screening of the Star Wars classic, directed by Irvin Kershner. Released in 1980 and generally considered the best of the original trilogy, the screening keeps an ‘80s vibe going at the festival.

THE NIGHTINGALE The Nightingale is an Australian period thriller film written, co-produced, and directed by Jennifer Kent. Set in 1825 in the British penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land, the film follows a young convict woman seeking revenge for a terrible act of violence committed against her family. It stars Aisling Franciosi, Baykali Ganambarr and Sam Claflin.

THE NIGHTINGALE

TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM This artful and intimate meditation on legendary storyteller and novelist Toni Morrison examines her life, her works and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career. Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, history, America and the human condition. The film was directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

YOU DON’T NOMI

TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM

Film critics and devotees explore the afterlife of the biggest film flop in 1995, Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls, from disastrous release to cult status to extraordinary redemption. Was it a mess or a masterpiece? This documentary explores one of the most talked-about films ever.

THE CAT AND THE MOON The Cat and the Moon is a drama written and directed by Alex Wolff, who stars alongside Mike Epps, Skyler Gisondo, Stefania LaVie Owen, Giullian Yao Gioiello, and Tommy Nelson. While his mother seeks treatment in rehab, teenager Nick (Wolff) comes to New York to stay with Cal (Epps), a jazz musician friend of his late father’s. During his stay he makes friends who show him what the city has to offer.

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YOU DON’T NOMI

NEW AT SIDEWALK SideTalks is the new official podcast of the Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema. Hosted by Sidewalk Creative Director Rachel Morgan and Programmer Corey Craft, featuring the Sidewalk staff as well as industry professionals, SideTalks takes on all things cinematic. Released bi-weekly and produced by Boutwell Studios in Birmingham, the podcast provides a fun, fast-paced spotlight on select current and retrospective films from all eras and genres and related cinematic topics by way of debates, deep dives, interviews and notes on “what we’re watching.” The podcast also highlights select events and films screening at the annual Sidewalk Film Festival and year-round Sidewalk Cinema (opening Summer 2019) and provides an awesome companion for festival goers, cinema patrons and film enthusiasts alike.

At the festival this month, there will be a track of podcast focused programming spread throughout the Festival schedule and footprint, including a live show of Sidetalks, a special partnership event with NPR for the breakout podcast, White Lies, ArcStories and more.

SIDEWALK LAB Stowe Story Labs brings screenwriters, filmmakers, and creative producers together with seasoned industry professionals to help get projects made and seen. Our Sidewalk Lab is an inaugural program being built in partnership with the team at the Sidewalk Film Festival. The four-day intensive program will introduce writers to key considerations when adapting works for the screen. The aim of the Lab is to prepare participants to best place themselves and their projects in the film industry. Mentors are top industry professionals working on all aspects of film and TV projects.

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MAKING THE CONNECTION HOME FROM LOS ANGELES, VIRGINIA NEWCOMB LOVES THE CREATIVE, COLLABORATIVE SPIRIT SHE’S FOUND IN THE SOUTH. For Virginia Newcomb the essence of her work today is creative collaboration, making a connection with a community through the telling of stories.

“I got into this work because it’s a collaborative art. We need each other and we’re all trying to tell these stories and help each other tells stories. I feel Sidewalk is a really good representation of that and specifically why so many people are coming back to the South to make movies because the community here is so strong and we were out to help each other,” Newcomb says.

“I didn’t realize until I left L.A. how much community meant to me and how much I needed it. Los Angeles is great and I learned a lot, but it can become a very isolating place.”

Alabaster native Virginia Newcomb is an actress, producer, and independent filmmaker. Her most notable roles include Peacock (2010) with Cillian Murphy & Ellen Page, Reparation (2015) with Marc Menchaca, and The Office opposite B.J. Novack. Much of Newcomb’s latest work has been back home in Alabama, with lead roles in the A24 film, The Death of Dick Long (2019) by Daniel Scheinert (premiered at Sundance in 2019), Whitney Hamilton’s queer civil war epic, Union, as well as, producing on the Lynn Shelton 48

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Photo by

Liesa Col

comedy feature, Sword of Trust (2019).

Those last two films will be at Sidewalk this month, along with a short film, The Cherry, in which she performs. The short film about a daughter and her dying father was written and directed by Stacey Davis.

Photographer Liesa Cole was the cinematographer.

“I went to L.A. to become an actor and I studied acting and that became my specialty. But in being a part of the Hollywood culture, I realized that I don’t want to be a specialist. I want to be a filmmaker. I want to be a creator and collaborator, so I actually had to kind of take the reins on that and started producing more of my own content,” she says.

Newcomb established herself in Los Angeles with award winning roles in film and stage. Then in 2015, Newcomb took the show back on the road. Her first project as producer and co-creator, Three Fingers, filmed in her birth state of TN. The film, in which Newcomb also stars, premiered at the Sidewalk Film Festival where it received the Kathryn Tucker Windham Storytelling Award and went on to play over 15 festivals accruing multiple jury prizes. This began her collaboration with the abundance of emerging talent that resides in the southeast. She is developing two Southern Gothic projects that follow other young women who escape the institutions that bind them. Her work seeks to share bold, evocative stories in risk taking projects that portray women honestly, particularly in nontraditional Southern narrative.

Newcomb left Alabama when she was 20, when Sidewalk had barely begun. “I realize how much of an impact Sidewalk has had, not only on the state but the film community in the Southeast as a whole, especially over the last 10 years. What it’s done for the amplification of artists here

is pretty signifiVirginia Newcomb cant.” and Brian Childers Newfrom The Cherry comb’s Photo by Liesa Cole early years we r e spent i n Memphis.

S h e moved to Alabaster when she 10. Quite shy and introverted, Newcomb broke out of her shell by singing in a choir and then getting involved in theatre. She received a drama scholarship to Jacksonville State University. Her mentor, Susan McCain (who plays her mother in the film The Cherry) helped her get a scholarship to the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Los Angeles. “She’s a really fantastic teacher and a big part of why I started taking it seriously, because she believed in me.”

Newcomb has performed in numerous award winning plays on the west coast while 2014 saw Newcomb’s Broadway debut in Jay Scheib’s live cinema production of Chekhov’s Platonov, or The Disinherited.

Here in Birmingham, where Newcomb now lives, the arts continue on the upswing. “I feel like it grows exponentially every year, bringing attention to the dynamic creative culture we have here. We’re going to do some really amazing stuff over the next five years or so. We have an infrastructure here now that I think people are going to capitalize on. It’ll be fun to see what comes out of it.”

Virginia Newcomb Photo by Audrey Reid

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THAT’S A WRAP a fresh batch of filmmakers are adding creative force to the city and putting birmingham on the map.

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Brandon Loper on the set.

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PASSION PLAY For filmmaker Brandon Loper the key is passion.

The combination of mentors, luck and creative passion brought Brandon Loper the film and story-telling career he was searching for.

He found it first in San Francisco and now in his home state of Alabama, where he has settled in Birmingham, but works wherever he finds a story to tell.

“I think at my heart I really enjoy storytelling. Gosh, it’s like part of my DNA and you know, to me that’s a creative expression the way I think as humans we relate to each other. You know, I think since the beginning of time, that's how stories have been passed down,” Loper says.

Born in Decatur, Loper first thought of a future in the music business. He started bands, played music, but then moved on to college in North Alabama. Eventually deciding that music was not for him, he gravitated toward film and video.

“I was never really like a film buff or anything growing up. I can’t say that I was inspired by these amazing filmmakers or anything.”

But he was inspired by the creative process and he pursued it with passion.

That passion brought him from his native Alabama across the country to San Francisco, following his girlfriend (later his wife) who began working as an architect in that California city. Loper worked temporary jobs and then worked as a videographer at the Academy of Art Univer-

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sity. San Francisco was a creative hotbed and Loper dove into it.

“There’s a lot of creative energy there.

A lot of it comes from the tech industry, but there’s also just this kind of creative kind of fog that I moved into,” Loper says.

He scored an internship, making minimum wage, taking out the trash, and ordering people Chinese food at the prestigious ad agency, Goodby Silverstein and Partners, and that was the beginning of a career that would take him on a trajectory that he is still following.

Loper gradually worked his way up in the agency, becoming an assistant editor then an editor. With top-tier clients and a famous agency, Loper worked on million dollar shoots, major campaigns and the best talent in the business. He was in his late 20s.

He was mentored at Goodby Silverstein by top producers like James Horner and PJ Cole. And then he began doing freelance work for Dalia Burde, the founder of the boutique production firm, Avocados and Coconuts. He later began working as a director for the firm.

As his career continued to develop he began to focus on moving beyond advertising into feature documentaries.

The past decade has been spent honing his cinematic documentary style.

His documentary, A Film About Coffee, explores the global culture of specialty

coffee and his most recent film, Still KD, chronicles the basketball superstar Kevin Durant on his run to win his first NBA championship.

The coffee film came out in 2013 and reflected Loper’s interest and passion for coffee and the culture that surrounds it.

A tremendous basketball fan, his work on the Still KD documentary was a dream come true, Loper says, as he chronicled the star basketball player’s drive to the championship for the Golden State Warriors.

“You know, the thing that I’ve found throughout my career is your passion projects are really what propel you forward.”

That passion has sustained the creative impetus behind such work as Loper’s coffee film. “Coffee like food is something that like, it should be celebrated and people should know about it,” he says.

Loper has translated that passion for coffee, food and wine from the screen to the real world. Now back in Birmingham (his wife, Amanda Loper, opened up an office of the California architecture firm, David Baker Architects) he is scheduled to open a sustainable wine store and wine bar this month in Mountain Brook Village on Culver Road called Golden Age Wine.

Brandon Loper Photo by Beau Gustafson

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LOGAN FREEMAN GETS INSPIRED Filmmaker and musician Logan Freeman is working to do good.

It did not look like the stars were aligning in the mid-2000s in the world inhabited by Logan Freeman.

He had some personal losses. Jobs were hard to come by. “I had a good, good long time of just not doing well,” Freeman says. He had played music in Birmingham for quite a while, but similarly that did not seem to be going anywhere.

Then came Sidewalk Film Festival. He entered a film in a Sidewalk Scramble and won.

“So I’m like, fine, I’m not going to be miserable anymore. I’m just going to do

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what makes me happy and do what I feel like I was meant to do. That was like, well, that’s validation there. So I quit my job and just started focusing on the work full time,” Freeman says.

He entered Emerson College in Boston in 2013 and received an MFA in directing and film production. His focus and hard work was rewarded with success from the music angle with Dorian Lives, and a successful film shot here in Birmingham with a music theme, Fated to Repeat.

“I started slowly but surely getting my roots and bearings back and finally started

making films, getting back into the groove of the Southern life and how great the stories are around here. And then started making things again,” Freeman says. “I was directing and writing and finding a narrative. Then I can expand out that story into something that can maybe do some good for somebody.

“I guess that’s what energizes you and makes it an exciting way to spend your time. I don’t like being told something’s impossible because nothing is impossible.

You decide to do something and you figure out how to do it,” Freeman says.

Logan Freeman Photo by Beau Gustafson

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THE ACCIDENTAL FILMMAKER Attorney Jenna Bedsole found inspiration in a pioneering lawyer’s story.

A lawyer by profession, it seems likely that if Jenna Bedsole wanted to pursue an interest in creating films, she might just gravitate to a story about a lawyer. That’s what she did in Stand Up, Speak Out: The Nina Miglionico Story.

And it all happened at least partially by accident.

“I volunteered to do a three-minute video for the Alabama State Bar about an inductee in the Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame. I chose Nina Miglionico–she was one of two women being inducted and one I had heard of since I practice in Birmingham. That three-minute film turned into a 56-minute, full-length film,” Bedsole says.

Bedsole is a shareholder in the Birmingham office of Baker Donelson and leads the firm’s labor and employment group. With the recent increase of wage and hour law cases, she has defended employers successfully in both single plaintiff cases and collective actions.

Originally from Montreal, she advises U.S. companies with U.S. workers in foreign jurisdictions about the effect of U.S. law on those workers, and advises foreign companies in the U.S. on compliance with U.S. labor and employment laws.

She conducts management and employee training relating to employment issues in the workplace, drafts handbooks and

employment agreements, provides policy review and regularly counsels employers to ensure compliance with applicable employment and labor laws.

And she creates film.

For the Nina Miglionico film, the subject matter was rich indeed. “As I got into the research I soon realized I couldn’t limit it to three minutes. There was too much to it. Nina’s story has it all: someone who faced struggles, overcame them, fought, worked hard, and succeeded. She also was fearless. She was inspiring,” Bedsole says.

Miglionico served on the Birmingham City Council for 22 years, during the most difficult and dangerous years in the city’s history. Because of her support for women’s and civil rights, a bomb, which did not explode, was placed on her porch in 1965, and a cross was burned in her yard in 1974. In 1996 she was recognized by the ABA as one of the five outstanding women lawyers in America that year.

Nina Miglionico was born in Birmingham to Italian immigrants, working in the family delicatessen and studying piano while growing up. She graduated from Woodlawn High School, completed her undergraduate education at Howard College (now Samford University) and earned her law degree at the University of Alabama.

She was one of the first women law-

Bedsole is working on a film to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

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yers in Alabama to start her own practice after receiving her only job offer as a secretary (provided she knew how to type and would be willing to learn shorthand).

Working diligently to build her own general practice meant handling criminal cases, which required that she visit clients in jail. Her mother would say, “Nina, a lady doesn’t go to the jailhouse,” to which Miss Miglionico would reply, “Mother, I’m not a lady; I’m a lawyer.”

That was the spirit that Bedsole strove to capture in her film. The two disciplines, though seemingly far apart, share some similarities, Bedsole says.

“I am a litigator. I tell my clients’ stories to juries. Film is not too different except I don’t have to worry about the other side objecting while I tell my story.

Also, in law school and in practice, you research. You read cases (stories about people and their problems). I am comfortable in a library. That helps if you want to produce/direct a documentary.”

While still working full time at her law practice, Bedsole has also stayed active in film. “I have been working on a three part series about bio tech in Alabama for APT. The first episode focuses on Southern Research and we are in the editing process. I am also working on a short with the Alabama State Bar to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage,” she says.

Jenna Bedsole Photo by Beau Gustafson

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WOMEN and the Law Our annual listing of the top women attorneys in the metro.

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B-Metro 2019

TOP

Women attorneys

Amy Adams Balch & Bingham

Janell Ahnert LIttler Rosemary Alexander Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys

Julia Bernstein Bradley

Sela Stroud Blanton Bainbridge, Mims, Rogers & Smith, LLP

Emily Sides Bonds

Leslie Garrett Allen

Jones Walker LLP

Lisa W. Borden Baker Donelson

Balch & Bingham

Paige M. Boshell

Anastasia Allmon Farris, Riley & Pitt

Labella Alvis

Privacy Counsel, LLC

Toni Braxton Braxton Legal Services, LLC

Christian & Small, LLP

Susan M. Brown Christina Andreen Southern Environmental Law Center

Lisa Karen Atkins Ogletree Deakins, PC

Tammy Baker

Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff, and Brandt

Whitney R. Brown Lehr Middlebrooks & Vreeland, PC

Kitty Rogers Brown White Arnold & Dowd PC

Jackson Lewis, LLP

Tiffany J. deGruy Bradley

April DeLuca Magic City Law

Lauren C. Demoss Maynard Cooper & Gale, PC Heidi DiLorenzo Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys

Judith Dolan Waldrep Stewart & Kendrick, LLC

Susan Doughton Dominick Feld Hyde, PC

Jennifer Hoover Clark Bradley

Gayle Douglas

Kori Clement

Augusta Dowd White Arnold & Dowd, PC

Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC

Hare & Clement, PC

Patricia Clotfelter Baker Donelson

Christie Dowling Lyman Dowling Law

Glenda Cochran

Jessica Kirk Drennan

Glenda Cochran Associates

Kirk Drennan Law

Julia Cochrun Cochrun & Seals

Starr Drum Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C

Wendy Brooks Crew

AshLeigh Meyer Dunham

The Crew Law Group

Judith Crittenden Crittenden Partners, PC

Magic City Law

Anne Durward Massey Stotser & Nichols, PC

Michelle I. Crunk

Victoria Dye

Dodson Gregory, LLP

Fischer & Associates, LLC

Alyssa Daniels Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys

Nancy Eady Morris, Hayes, Wheeles, Knowles & Nelson LLP

Kim Davidson Kim Davidson Law Office

Melody Eagan Lightfoot, Franklin & White, LLP

Charity M. Davis

Chelsey Mitchell Edgerly

Gilchrist Davis

Vernis & Bowling of Birmingham, LLC

Kathy R. Davis Carr Allison

Jennifer Reid Egbe

Tracy Davis

Kathryn Roe Eldridge

Hand Arendall, LLC

Maynard Cooper & Gale PC

Stacey Davis The Law Firm of Stacey A. Davis

Dawn Stith Evans

J. Carin Burford Joyce Baker

Ogletree Deakins P.C.

Red Mountain Law Group

Robin Burrell Nancy Ball

Najjar Denaburg, PC

Cabaniss Johnston

Jennifer “Ginger” M. Busby Stephanie Balzli

Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys

Burr Forman LLP

Christen Butler Dominick Feld Hyde, PC

Lois Beasley-Carlisle Carlisle & Carlisle, PC

Leigh Reynolds Byers Nolan Byers, PC

Elizabeth Beaube Maynard Cooper & Gale

The Cain Law Firm

Cory Watson Attorneys

Balch & Bingham 60

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Brooke Everley

Yvonne Green Davis PC

Red Mountain Law Group

Diandra Debrosse

Heather Fann Five Points Law Group

Grant & Eisenhofer

Pooja Chawla Pooja Chawla P.C,

Kimberly Bell

Yvonne Green Davis

Elizabeth Chambers

Rebecca Beers Rumberger Kirk & Caldwell

Guin, Stokes & Evans, LLC

Tanita Cain

Jenna M. Bedsole Baker Donelson

Huie

Annesley H. DeGaris DeGaris & Rogers

Carmen Ferguson Slater Ferguson, LLC

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LAURA KARNS FISCHER

VICTORIA DYE

Focusing exclusively on civil litigation, the attorneys at Fischer & Associates, LLC represent plaintiffs who have suffered serious injuries due to the negligence of another. Utilizing the entire group of Birmingham personal injury attorneys, they take a team approach to representing you. This means tackling each case in a manner that uses the unique skills and talents of each member of the firm. Every lawyer on staff is fully devoted to representing you in an aggressive and zealous manner, and seeking justice for victims and loved ones who have been affected by negligence. You will have an entire team of professionals at your side managing all phases of your case from the opening investigation of your claim to its finality, including settlement, trial or appeal.

2201 PROVIDENCE PARK, #200 • BIRMINGHAM, AL 35242• 205.423.8504

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No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

B-Metro 2019

TOP

Women attorneys Laura Karnes Fischer

Anna L. Hart

Fischer & Associates LLC

Hart Law LLC

Sammye Kok Dominick Feld Hyde, PC

Shannon Miller Jackson Lewis, LLP

Linda Flippo White Arnold & Dowd, PC

Alicia Haynes

Amber Ladner

Laura E. Montgomery

Haynes & Haynes

Bradford Ladner, LLP

Kira Fonteneau

Katherine W. Haynes

Jayna Partain Lamar

Five Points Law Group

The Rose Law Firm, LLC

Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C.

Crittenden Partners

Anne Moses Moses & Moses, PC

Sara Anne Ford

Wakisha E. Hazzard

Brandy Lee

Lightfoot Franklin & White, LLC

The Hazzard Law Firm, LLC

Red Mountain Law Group

Charlene Ford

Deborah Hembree Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete, LLP

Karen Hennecy White Arnold & Dowd, PC

Heather Leonard

Whatley Kallas, LLP

Leigh King Forstman Pittman Dutton & Hellums

Brandi B. Frederick Austill Lewis Pipkin & Maddox PC.

Linda Friedman Bradley

Sylvion Moss Red Mountain Law Group

Heather Leonard, PC

Debra Taylor Lewis Balch & Bingham

Margaret Loveman Nina Towle Herring

Butler Snow

Cory Watson

Yvonne Norris Maddalena Jackson Lewis, LLP

Leigh Anne Hodge Bradley

Rachel Friedman Burr & Forman, LLP

Neki Garrett McClinton Garrett & Associates, LLC

Honora Gathings Gathings Law

Meredith Maitrejean Alyson Hood Hogan

King Simmons, PC

Daisy Holder Daisy M. Holder Attorney at Law

White Arnold & Dowd, P.C.

Melanie Bradford Holliman

Sirote & Permutt

Lana Olson Lightfoot, Franklin & White

Melinda Mathews Kathryn J. Ottensmeyer Maynard Cooper Gale

Deborah A. Mattison Caroline U. Hollingsworth Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC

Kathryn Crawford Gentle

Wiggins Childs Quinn & Pantazis, LLC

Morris Haynes

Maridi Huggins

Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas & O’Neal, LLP

Virginia Patterson

Jennifer McGahey

Bradley

Maridi Huggins Law

Bradley

Stephanie Hunter Hunter Law Firm, PC

Yawanna McDonald Campbell Partners

Suzanne Paulson Leitman Siegal & Payne, PC

Linda Peacock Baker, Donelson

Elizabeth Hutchins

Gina McDonald

Lisha Graham White Arnold & Dowd, PC

Lenora Pate Sirote & Permutt

Diane Maughan Emily Hornsby

Laura Gibson White Arnold & Dowd, PC

Britton O’Shields

Hope Marshall

Kimberly Geisler

Lloyd & Hogan PC

Farris, Riley & Pitt

The Bloomston Firm

Bradford & Holliman, LLC Scott Dukes & Geisler PC

Amy Myers Tedrow & Myers Immigration Law Group

Emily Nelson Morris, Haynes, Wheeles, Knowles & Nelson LLP

Frances Nolan Nolan Byers, PC

Lynne Stephens O’Neal Leitman Siegal & Payne, PC

Gaile Gratton Sirote & Permutt

Gina H. McDonald & Associates, LLC

Julie Pearce

Sirote & Permutt PC

Angie H. Ingram

Angie Godwin McEwen

Angie Ingram Law

Butler Snow

Candis McGowan Wiggins Childs Quinn & Pantazis, LLC

Jodi McKelvin Shelby Roden, LLC

Candace Peeples Peeples Davis LLC

Gaines Gault Hendrix, PC

Paula Greenway Greenway Bankruptcy Law, LLC

Wendy Hartley Gregerson Attorney at Law

Benita Jenkins The Law Office of Benita Jenkins LLC

Sandi Gregory Sandi Eubank Gregory Attorney at Law, LLC

Elizabeth Kanter Carr Allison

Susan Han

Denise Killebrew

Red Mountain Law Group

Baker, Donelson

Jennifer Hanson Bainbridge Mims Rogers & Smith, LLP

Annette Kinderman

Jessie Keating Hardy Kirk Drennan Law

Kathryn Harrington Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC

Cabaniss Johnston

Rachel King Vella & King

Leslie Klasing Waldrep Stewart & Kendrick, LLC

Ann McMahan Simpson, McMahan, Glick & Burford PLLC

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Hare Wynn Newell & Newton, LLP

Kathryn Perreault Bressler, Amery & Ross

Denise Pomeroy Dominick Feld Hyde, PC Katie T. Powell

Calle Mendenhall

Butler Snow

Farris Riley & Pitt

Andrea Powers Tracy Miller

Baker Donelson

Hand Arendall, LLC

Jessica Powers Lauren Miller Cory Watson

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Ashley Reitz Peinhardt

Powers Injury Law

Tempe Smith, Trial Lawyer Ashley Peinhardt, Trial Lawyer

Women in the Winner’s Circle Lawyers Helping People It takes all kinds of talent to make a strong team. At Hare Wynn, we’re proud to employ a diverse team of professionals who bring a wide range of experience from different educational disciplines and cultural backgrounds.

We firmly believe that our differences make us stronger and we bring that strength in every case we argue.

BIRMINGHAM | LEXINGTON (855) 359-6555

Join us in congratulating two of our finest lawyers as they

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achieve B-Metro’s Top Women Lawyers of 2019. Winning #LikeAGirl is just one more way we can enjoy celebrating more than 125 years of legal excellence.

No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of the legal services performed by other lawyers.

B-Metro 2019

TOP

Women attorneys Rebecca Pritchett

Tempe Smith

Amber Whillock

Pritchett Environmental & Property Law, LLC

Hare Wynn Newell & Newton, LLP

Starnes Davis Florie, LLP

Natasha Snow

Kay Wilburn

Snow & Nichols LLC

Dominick Feld Hyde

Sarah Stokes

Sara Williams

Southern Environmental Law Center

Sharon Stuart

Alexander Shunnarah Persona Injury Attorneys

Christian & Small, LLP

Amanda Williamson

Fran Quarles Quarles Law Firm, LLC

Wendy Reese Law Offices of Wendy A. Reese, LLC

Sally Reilly Wallace Jordan Ratliff & Brandt, LLC

Jennifer Fox Swain Sandra Reiss

Littler Mendelson, PC

The Reiss Firm, LLC

Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC

Kay Bryant Wolfe Jones Walker

Kristin Waters Sullivan Lynn Reynolds Baker, Donelson

Five Points Law Group

Liz Young Dummier Young LLC

Klari Tedrow

Brandy Robertson

Tedrow & Myers Immigration Law Group

The Rose Law Firm, LLC

Balch & Bingham LLP

Anne Yuengert Bradley

Jessica Zorn Farris, Riley & Pitt

Ginny Rutledge

Mary Thompson Parnell Thompson LLC

Elizabeth Zwiebel

Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC

Martha Thompson Jennifer Rose

Sirote & Permutt

Emily Tidmore Karen Salter

Salter Ferguson, LLC

Jennifer Devereaux Segers Huie

Anne Marie Seibel

Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury, LLC

Temple Trueblood Wiggins Childs Quinn & Pantazis, LLC

Sara Turner Baker, Donelson

Bradley

Dawn Helms Sharff

The Zwiebel Law Firm, LLC

Melissa Zwilling Carr Allison

Tracy Owen Vella Vella & King

Bradley

India Vincent Burr Forman LLP

Elizabeth Shaw Elizabeth Shaw Attorney at Law

Judy Bateman Shepura

Summer Walker Summer G. Walker, PC

Dominick Feld Hyde

Jennifer Wales Shine Law Firm

Beddow, Erben & Bowen PA

Tanya Shunnara

Starnes Davis Florie, LLP

Lauren Shine

Jeannie Bugg Walston Sirote & Permutt

Congratulates Jenna Bedsole

Lisa Borden

Patricia Clotfelter

Denise Killebrew

Linda Peacock

Andrea Powers

Laura Washburn Susan Silvernail

Bradley

Marsh Rickard & Bryan, PC

Lindsey Simmons

Leila Watson Cory Watson Attorneys

King Simmons, PC

Latanishia Watters Jeanie Sleadd

Hand Arendall, LLC

Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC

Stephanie Weems Angela Cameron Smith

Massey Stotser & Nichols, PC

Burr & Forman, LLP

Summer Wells Deborah Alley Smith

Serious Injury Law Group

Jennifer Smith

Lynn Reynolds

Sara Turner

www.bakerdonelson.com

Christian & Small, LLP

Kimberly West Wallace Jordan Ratliff & Brandt, LLC

Wiggins Childs Pantazis Fisher & Goldfarb, LLC

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT. Timothy M. Lupinacci is Chairman and CEO of Baker Donelson. Š 2019 Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC.

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W e Cong r atu l ate Glen da Coch r a n f or be ing Selected a s on e of th e top wom en At torn e ys of 2019

[ Quest

for Truth]

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Our

cOmmitment is fOcused On cases invOlving catastrOphic persOnal injury

and wrOngful death.

in

Our quest fOr truth, we will leave nO stOne unturned.

GL E NDACOC H RAN.COM

No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers

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MELANIE BRADFORD HOLLIMAN

Congratulations for the recognition of your legal excellence!

• Estate Planning & Probate Matters • Asset Protection Trusts • Special Needs Trusts • Long-Term Care Planning • Medicaid and VA Benefits Planning

205-663-0281 2491 PELHAM HIGHWAY, PELHAM, AL 35124 256-259-3301 803 GARLAND FERRY ROAD, SCOTTSBORO, AL 35768

BRADFORDHOLLIMAN.COM No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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“I am absolutely proud to work with this amazing group of women lawyers, which has tripled in number in just six years. The tenacity they display on behalf of their clients is equally matched with their kindness and generosity to their communities. It is an honor to work alongside such a large group of women dedicated to providing quality legal service while supporting each other.”

–Sara L. Willliams, Esq., Managing Attorney

2900 1ST AVENUE SOUTH BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA 35233 1-800-229-7989

SHUNNARAH.COM No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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Compassion, Integrity, Experienced, Advocates AshLeigh Meyer Dunham & April Hare DeLuca are more than just family law attorneys. They are wholeheartedly devoted to helping families through tough, emotional times. They believe the clients are more than a case file. At Magic City Law, they take the time to get to know their clients, their families, their goals, and to counsel clients in order to ensure the best possible outcome.

Magic City Law, LLC is a boutique all female law firm. With a focus on families, AshLeigh and April are truly able to devote all their energy and effort to client-centered legal solutions. Their practice is focused on adoption, ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) representation, divorce, family law, and child custody.

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1927 1st Ave N Suite 601 • Birmingham Alabama 35203 (205) 582-2832

AshLeigh and April have a love for families.

Learning from their experiences as Guardians Ad Litem, where they came to the realization that the needs of minor children are often overlooked in family law disputes, AshLeigh & April craft legal responses to family law matters with the children in mind. In developing a legal strategy that protects the best interests of children, they strive to ensure a solution reached benefits the entire family.

Research is not simply routine at Magic City, it is continuous. Family Law, especially in the area of ART, is quickly and constantly evolving. These attorneys stay on top of the newest trends and case law in their field. Through continuing education and research AshLeigh and April cultivate and perfect new and inventive ways to represent their clients and help them to achieve their end goal. At Magic City Law, their mission is to help Magic City families move forward.

magiccityfamilylaw.com No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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CANDACE B. PEEPLES

HELPING INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES GET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF DIVORCE Candi Peeples formed PEEPLES LAW as a boutique-styled practice, limited to Matrimonial and Family Law, because helping families with these difficult issues is what she loves.

“We could be practicing other types of law, but we do this because we love it. With us, it’s not a slogan—it’s just the truth,” Candi tells us.

A core belief within the firm is that every case has the potential to settle out of court. “We make it a priority to exhaust all reasonable options for settlement, but we are both absolutely ready for trial when that is what is best for our clients,” Candi says. “While a trial may be difficult for a client, we love to try cases—for us, it is one of the most fulfilling parts of our job; we see all the pieces of our team’s hard work come together.”

Candi receives high praise from clients for her commitment to Matrimonial and Family Law and she is proud to be of service to the community. Candi says, “We feel that by keeping in mind that we are here to be of service to our clients, we can deliver our very best for them.” The AV-rated firm is proud to boast that they have been featured in distinguished publications, such as Vanity Fair, for their excellence in Family Law. Candi is a graduate of The University of Georgia and the Cumberland School of Law, with honors. She is a certified domestic and appellate mediator, and is the publisher of the Birmingham Matrimonial and Family Law Newsletter. She has been named in the 2016 “Best of Birmingham” list by Birmingham Magazine, and named by the Birmingham Business Journal as one of the “Top 40 Under 40.” She has consistently been named a Top Lawyer by B-Metro magazine. She is also a fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and a Certified Family Law Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Candi is married to Lloyd Peeples and lives in Vestavia with their two children, Lily and Chandler.

PEEPLES LAW

MATRIMONIAL & FAMILY LAW ATTORNEYS THE HISTORIC A.B. LOVEMAN HOUSE 2956 RHODES CIRCLE SOUTH BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA 35205 / 205.403.5577

PEEPLESLAW.COM No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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Joyce Baker, Brooke Everley, Susan Han, Brandy Lee, and Sylvion Moss are owners of member law firms of Red Mountain Law Group (“RMLG”).

RMLG is an innovative network of 12 firms representing individuals and businesses in a variety of matters. RMLG’s clients benefit from the efficiency, value, and commitment of a small firm, while also having access to the high caliber counsel, resources, and expertise of a larger, traditional law firm. Joyce, of Baker Law, LLC, represents businesses of all sizes in transactional and commercial matters. Brooke, of Everley Law, LLC, provides services relating to wills, trusts and estates. Susan, of Nettles Han Law, LLC, represents individuals and entities in real property litigation and employment law matters. Brandy, of the Lee Law Firm, LLC, represents plaintiffs and defendants in civil litigation. Sylvion, of Law Works, LLC, provides counsel to individuals and businesses in real property and corporate transactional matters.

Pictured in the following order, Brandy Lee, Susan Han, Sylvion Moss, Brooke Everley, and Joyce Baker have over 80 years of combined legal experience and are dedicated to providing efficient and quality legal counsel.

THE LANDMARK CENTER, SUITE 600 • 2100 FIRST AVENUE NORTH • BIRMINGHAM, AL 35203 205.328.9445

REDMOUNTAINLAWGROUP.COM No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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Kirk Drennan Law is strong so you don’t have to be. #KDPCstrong

FAMILY LAW GROUP •Divorce •Custody •Pre · Post nuptial agreements •Paternity •Appeals

CRIMINAL LAW GROUP •White Collar Crimes •Death Penalty Offenses •Felonies •Misdemeanors •Appeals

Kirk Drennan Law (205) 803-3500

kdpc@kirkdrennanlaw.com • kirkdrennanlaw.com No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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The Family Law Division of Five Points Law Group (Fann Law, LLC) is proud that Heather Fann has been selected again as a Top Women Attorney, and is excited to announce that Emily McClendon has joined the firm as an associate to better serve our clients.

The Family Law Division of Five Points Law Group (Fann Law, LLC) is proud that Heather Fann has been selected again as a Top Women Attorney, and is excited to announce that Emily McClendon has joined the firm as an associate to better serve our clients.

Emily has begun her practice as a family lawyer with an unusual wealth of experience, having served many years as a judicial assistant for Jefferson County domestic relations judges Eddie Vines, Julie Palmer, and Agnes Chappell. Emily’s intimate understanding of the judicial side of the divorce process and

established relationships with attorneys and judges alike have proven a great benefit to clients in family transition.

Combining Emily’s training with Heather’s years of experience and leadership in complex matters including novel issues of same-sex marriage and parentage, the team is able to provide modern approaches to divorce, paternity, custody, and support matters – via alternative dispute resolution methods such as collaborative law and mediation, preventative planning such as prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and, where necessary, carefully tailored litigation.

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Sirote & Permutt congratulates our “2019 Top Women Attorneys” Gaile Gratton Litigation

Elizabeth Hutchins Estate Planning & Tax

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MARY H. THOMPSON

Parnell Thompson congratulates Mary Thompson for being recognized in B-Metro’s 2019 Top Women Attorneys.

Mary Thompson is the Managing Member of the Firm.

Her areas of practice include municipal, public sector and governmental law; employment law; environmental law; regulatory compliance; and corporate law.

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Big Firm Experience.

Small Firm Service.

Maridi Huggins Law, LLC is a firm that handles solely personal injury matters across the State of Alabama. Bringing the unique experience of having practiced as a defense attorney for a number of years, Maridi now enjoys representing plaintiffs and fighting for her clients’ rights in various types of cases, including auto accidents, trucking accidents and slip-and-falls. Whether the case is large or small, Maridi is dedicated to getting positive results for her clients in the form of financial compensation.

Maridi is honored to be included in B-Metro’s Top Women Attorneys for 2019. She congratulates her fellow list mates on this great honor.

We don’t just practice in this community We’re a part of it Jones Walker LLP proudly salutes partners Emily Sides Bonds and Kary Wolfe on being honored as B-Metro Magazine’s 2019 “Top Women Attorneys.” We congratulate Emily, Kary, and all of the honorees for their achievements and contributions across the city and state.

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Our lawyers do a lot of great things.

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Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP’s Meredith Maitrejean, Jessica Zorn, Calle Mendenhall, and Anastasia Allmon represent injured individuals across Alabama, as well as in Mississippi and Georgia. They are well trained and experienced in litigation and negotiation, earning fair and just settlements and verdicts for their clients by diligently arguing for them in both federal and state courts. They also use their skills and talents for the benefit of others through community involvement and volunteer work. Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP is proud to congratulate Ms. Maitrejean, Ms. Zorn, Ms. Mendenhall, and Ms. Allmon on being recognized as 2019 Top Women Attorneys.

LEARN MORE AT FRPLEGAL.COM No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

JENNIFER K. WALES

Beddow, Erben & Bowen, PA proudly congratulates Jennifer K. Wales for being selected as one of B-Metro’s “Top Women Attorneys.”

In addition to this great honor, Jennifer was made a partner and shareholder in 2017 and is the first female partner in our firm’s more than one hundred year history.

Jennifer has an LL.M. in international law, which she acquired from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Although our firm is one of general practice, her main areas of practice focus on family law issues including: pre-nuptial agreements, divorce, child custody; as well as estate planning and probate matters. Senior Partner, Frederick A. Erben, has been in practice for more than fifty years, with a focus on family law, including divorce and child custody; civil matters such as personal injury; and criminal defense. Though we are located in Jefferson County, we routinely handle cases in the surrounding counties, and throughout the state.

Our firm is committed to guiding our clients through the difficult times in their lives through preparation and fierce advocacy.

Beddow, Erben & Bowen, P.A.

Serving the people of Alabama for more than 100 years.

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Gina McDonald has been helping the community overcome financial issues since 2004. She is an expert in bankruptcy and debt as well as business reorganization. Gina and her team know that making the first call is the most difficult step and strive to make you feel comfortable and reassured as they walk you through the filing process.

With over 35 years experience in the legal profession, Wendy specializes in family law and criminal law. Additionally, she also has experience in wills, trusts and automobile accidents. Wendy is a member of the Shelby County Bar Association and the Birmingham Bar Association. She was named in the “Top Women Attorneys” for 2015 and 2016. She is the recipient of the Client Choice Award for AVVO in 2015 and was selected in B-Metro Magazine’s Top Lawyers in 2017.

2057 VALLEYDALE ROAD, SUITE 202 • BIRMINGHAM, AL 35244 (205) 982.3325

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We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for relief under the Bankruptcy Code. No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other attorneys.

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POOJA CHAWLA

Recognized by Super Lawyers as Rising Star 2017, 2018 and 2019, Pooja Chawla (Attorney PJ) is a solo general practitioner with a passion for Family, Criminal, Civil and Probate matters. As a busy mother of two, Pooja appreciates your time and is willing to meet her clients after work, weekends and holidays. Pooja received her J.D. from Birmingham School of Law in 2009. Pooja is a native of India and has resided in Birmingham, Alabama for more than 17 years. Pooja was recognized by B-Metro Magazine as one of Birmingham’s Top Women Attorneys for 2018. Pooja was further selected for a special recognition by B-Metro as one of the 12 Stars of the Bar for 2019.

POOJA CHAWLA, P.C.

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From home buying to vision health, chidcare and beauty there’s an expert for that–and B-Metro knows where to find them. To address those needs and others, check out the experts we’ve lined up on the next few pages.

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Places that you need to be and things that you need to do.

THE LENS OF THE

HOLOCAUST

For Ann Mollengarden, it is the personal stories, like her father’s, that can act as a mirror to help us better understand the nature of man.

Ann Mollengarden wears two hats, child of a survivor (her father Robert May) and Education Coordinator for the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center (BHEC). These two hats are often 84

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hard to separate, but offer a unique perspective on the study of the Holocaust.

Most importantly, it provides a great appreciation for the importance of honoring Holocaust survivors–their tragic his-

tory–their ability to move on and create new lives for themselves–their undying efforts to share their history with future generations–by making sure that their stories are kept alive.

“As the child of a survivor, I was exposed early on to my father’s family history,” Mollengarden says. “German was spoken during my father’s weekly calls to my grandmother, who we called Oma. Interestingly, I always thought that was her

given name and didn’t realize until I was much older that is was actually generic for grandmother in German. When we visited the extended family in New Orleans, German was used when the adults wanted to keep the kids out of the conver-

sation. My dad enjoyed foods that were uniquely German, including a taste for sausages and other cured meats, stinky cheeses, and plum tarts. My grandmother was known for her spaetzle (German noodles) and apple fritters.”

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TICKETS: While Mollengarden knew her father’s family was German and that they had lost family during the Holocaust, she did not become aware of the implications until her father took the immediate family back to Germany in the late 60s, to see his home town of Camberg.

“We did not go to see anyone because my father’s memory was of a community that turned on his family. We went only to see the town. The only person we looked up was a gentleman who had warned my grandfather about the pending events of Kristallnacht. We drove up to his apartment building, my father went to the door by himself and left us in the car on the street. We saw the curtains pulled shut, and my father stayed inside a disturbingly long time. He then emerged with this man and his wife and introduced us. I realized then that this was a very different type of situation from what I was accustomed.”

On that same trip, they visited cemeteries, looking for family graves. “My genealogy interests were peeked, and I began a fervent effort to learn about relatives; I was only 11 or 12. While I consulted with my grandmother, it was 86

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only about names, dates, and places. She never shared her experiences first hand, which was a shame. It never occurred to me at that age to ask about personal stories,” Mollengarden says.

Fast forward to 2005, and Mollengarden’s father took his grandchildren back to Camberg. “I had gotten involved with the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center a few years earlier and had begun to learn more about the events of the Holocaust and started making connections with my own family story,” Mollengarden says.

By 2010, and at Mollengarden’s urging, her father began to tell his story publicly. “While he knew about the work of the BHEC, and was proud of the work we were doing, he never considered himself a survivor. After all, he had never been in a ghetto or a camp, nor suffered like “Holocaust survivors.” I explained to him that he was indeed a survivor...anyone who had come under the Nazi reign of terror is considered a survivor. And that his story was as important, if not more important, because his story spoke to the early warning signs, a time when change would have been possible. How people’s

ADULTS: $50.00 STUDENTS: $25.00 WWW.BHECINFO.ORG/LCHAIM

behavior changed, and why. How people rejected accepted standards of morality for the “greater good.” I pointed out how he had suffered the loss of his extended family, the separation from his family (even if temporarily). The loss of the three family members who made sure he survived. These were things he had not emotionally explored and reckoned with,” she says.

“It is through the personal stories, that we are able to make connections with this overwhelming history. I see it with students, that all the facts and figures are important for a larger understanding, but the personal stories remain a part of their inner being. With fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors alive to be able to tell their story, it is our responsibility to keep those stories alive.

“When listening to a Holocaust story, we naturally try to put ourselves in this context, which is virtually impossible.

How does one put oneself in a context of an event that even the survivors of that

“

AND THAT HIS STORY WAS AS IMPORTANT, IF NOT MORE IMPORTANT, BECAUSE HIS STORY SPOKE TO THE EARLY WARNING SIGNS, A TIME WHEN CHANGE WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. HOW PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR CHANGED, AND WHY. HOW PEOPLE REJECTED ACCEPTED STANDARDS OF MORALITY FOR THE “GREATER GOOD.

“

event are not adequately able to describe? We then ponder, “What would I have done?”

Of course, it is natural to take the moral high ground and assume we would have spoken up, stepped in, even pulled a gun. In truth, nothing is that simple. We have to have a full appreciation of the situation at hand: the history, the relationships, the dreams, the emotions, the fear. What were the prevailing sentiments and government powers that effected action or inaction?

“It is the personal stories, like my father’s, that can act as a mirror to help us understand how people behaved and better understand the nature of man. For that is what we need to understand. What is man capable of, what makes some people react one way and not another, and how do we deal with that,” Mollengarden says.

“One must appreciate that although not all of the victims of the Holocaust were Jews, all Jews were victims. The Jews were targeted for complete elimination. So this is a very personal story for the Jews. For others outside of the Jewish faith, the Holocaust should serve as a human story. A story of man’s inhumanity to man, of what a highly educated society is capable of. While the victims during the Holocaust were primarily Jews, the next time the victims may be a different targeted group. We must remain keenly aware and vigilant of the warning signs. After all, the Weimar Republic (the government of Germany after World War II) was democratic, and Germany was one of the most cultured nations at the time.

“We all must take the time to learn the history. To that end, the BHEC has been offering a Community Education program for the last two years. We also present community education programs including an annual Film Series. The Holocaust was an event like not other in history, but there are events going on in our world today which can be examined through the lens of the Holocaust.”

L’CHAIM 2019

Honoring Holocaust Survivors from Generation to Generation The L’Chaim (“to life”) event celebrates the culmination of the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center’s (BHEC) annual fundraising campaign. This year, the BHEC is honoring Alabama’s Holocaust survivors and their families. The personal stories of these survivors are the very reason for the BHEC’s existence and the core of the organization’s work statewide. The BHEC uses these stories to teach new generations about the consequences of hate and indifference.

The program will celebrate the rich Jewish culture shared by all of our Holocaust survivors, and will also shine a light on survivors of hatred in our day: targeted groups such as African-Americans, Muslims, LGBTQ, the handicapped, and (still) the Jews– because the lessons of the Holocaust are painfully relevant and timely in today’s world.

B-CURIOUS with Joey Kennedy Continued from page 88

•Raising the age to purchase semiautomatic rifles like AR-15 to 21 years old to make it more difficult for minors to purchase them.

This year in Alabama, Ellis and Moms Demand Action helped county sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies defeat an effort in the Alabama Legislature to allow people to conceal carry firearms without a permit. But a Red Flag proposal didn’t go far. Congress needs to address comprehensive background checks. Some states already require people to be 21 or older to buy semiautomatic firearms or already have laws addressing how guns are stored at home.

Alabama is not the tip of the spear–or barrel of the gun, if you will–on these issues.

There is hope, though. Ellis said that Moms Demand Action’s Be SMART program is available to any group or organization who requests it. “This program speaks with gun owners on how to responsibly store guns,” Ellis said. “We are ready, at any time, to give this 20-minute presentation.”

(Write to Ellis at Alabama@momschapterleaders.org if you would like to schedule a Be SMART presentation.)

And if you’re a curious soul like me, you should check out the report “Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Plan to Stop Mass Shootings and End Gun Violence in American Schools,” put together by Everytown, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers. Go to everytownresearch.org and click on “Protecting Kids and Communities” to read and download a copy.

People have to get over the twisted thinking that every sensible gun law is the first step on the slippery slope to ban guns outright.

It is not.

As Ellis said, “It’s about gun sense, not gun control.”

Our children shouldn’t have to endure the trauma of a school shooting or even an active shooter drill or lockdown.

As Moms Demand Action demonstrates every day, they don’t really have to if only common sense could prevail.

•

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CURIOUS

METRO

WITH JOEY KENNEDY

Gun Sense

Not gun control

By Joey Kennedy

A

t no point during my time as a public school student did we have active shooter drills. School shootings just weren’t a thing during my 13 years of public education (including kindergarten!)

But when I was in first grade those many years ago, we did have nuclear bomb drills.

Seriously. We’d all file out of Miss Mullinex’s classroom, sit down against the Hamshire (Texas) Elementary School hallway walls, and put our heads between our legs. Like that was going to protect us from nuclear war. Still, we

Courtesy of Dana Ellis

were doing something, and it would have been pretty darn scary if I had actually understood what we were doing.

Now, sadly, as students prepare to return to their schools this month, they’ll likely be facing multiple days of active shooter drills.

They’ll learn how to lock their classroom doors, turn off the lights, and be quiet, even as some disturbed individual is shooting up their school. They may shelter, scrunched together, in a classroom supply closet if one exists. Teachers or administrators in some schools may actually be armed.

That is scary.

I return to the classroom at UAB later this month, too. While we don’t have active shooter drills, I have undergone active shooter training, as did most every UAB faculty member, a year or so ago. I armed myself with wasp spray to keep in my classroom, the goal being to distract a shooter if he showed up.

We live in different times, but then, I’d bet every geezer says that. Still, there’s so much more we could do to lower the risk of gun violence–if we just would.

Birmingham’s Dana Ellis, Alabama Chapter Leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, is already dreading what is sure to happen at some point this coming school year.

Somewhere, on some day, there will be another mass school shooting. Like Sandy Hook (Conn.) or Marjory Stoneman Douglas (Fla.) or Santa Fe (Texas) High School.

“It would be great if this were the first school year it didn’t happen,” said Ellis. But unfortunately, she said, that is a long shot.

It’s important here to note that despite

criticism from groups like the National Rifle Association and some other pro-gun groups, Moms Demand Action, a national group, isn’t campaigning for the repeal of the Second Amendment. The group only wants common-sense gun legislation that will lower the chances of another school or other mass shooting. And, as important, to help prevent some of the hundreds of gun deaths and injuries that occur every day in the United States. According to Everytown for Gun Safety (of which Moms Demand Action is a part), about 100 Americans die each day from gun violence, most of those from suicides. Many more than that are wounded.

The mass shootings at schools and other places get the media coverage, but gun violence in the United States is seriously out of kilter with any other developed nation.

“The school shootings are horrific,” Ellis said. “And they cause our children to have lockdown drills. There’s a collective trauma.”

But, Ellis adds: “School shootings represent only a small portion of the daily gun deaths. We also have a responsibility to look at the daily toll of gun violence.”

There’s no effort to prevent Americans from legally owning guns, either for hunting or for personal safety or for sport. Indeed, many activists with Moms Demand Action are gun owners themselves. Instead, Moms is focusing on pushing common-sense gun legislation.

Those proposals include: •Requiring background checks on all guns sales (supported by an overwhelming majority of gun owners).

•Red flag laws so that law enforcement and family members can act on warning signs of violence, to temporarily prevent access to firearms.

•Laws governing how guns are stored in homes so that children don’t have access to them.

Joey is a Pulitzer Prize winner. He writes this curious column each month for B-Metro. He can be reached at joeykennedy@me.com.

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Continued on page 87

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