Queen City Nerve - February 10, 2021

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 6; FEBRUARY 10 - FEBRUARY 23; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

News: COVID outbreak

in homeless shelter pg. 4

Food: 7th Street

Public Market weathers storm pg. 10

Rosalia Torres-Weiner continues her multi-dimensional work through pandemic

by Pat Moran

THE OUTBREAK OF CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) MAY BE STRESSFUL FOR PEOPLE. FEAR AND ANXIETY ABOUT A DISEASE CAN BE OVERWHELMING AND CAUSE STRONG EMOTIONS IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN. COPING WITH STRESS WILL MAKE YOU, THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT, AND YOUR COMMUNITY STRONGER. EVERYONE REACTS DIFFERENTLY TO STRESSFUL SITUATIONS. HOW YOU RESPOND TO THE OUTBREAK CAN DEPEND ON YOUR BACKGROUND, THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PEOPLE, AND THE COMMUNITY YOU LIVE IN.

 -Fear and worry about your own health and the health of your loved ones -Changes in sleep or eating patterns -Difficulty sleeping or concentrating -Worsening of chronic health problems -Increased use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs

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-Take care of your body. Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate. Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and avoid alcohol and drugs.

-Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy.

-Connect with others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Â? Â?

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ONLINE THERAPY OPTIONS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS& 5 OPINION 6 ARTS 8 MUSIC 10 FOOD& DRINK 11 LIFESTYLE

4 HEARTBREAK HOTEL BY RYAN PITKIN COVID-19 outbreak in shelter puts quarantine motel at capacity HELLO, HOMELESSNESS BY ADRIENNE THREATT Tent City isn’t new, it’s newly visible

PUBLISHER

JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS jl afra n co i s @ q cn er ve.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RYAN PITKIN rpi tk i n @ q cn e r ve. c om

ART DIRECTOR

JAYME JOHNSON jjo h n s o n @ q cn e r ve.com

STAFF WRITER

PAT MORAN pm o ra n @ q cn er ve . com

DIGITAL EDITOR LEA BEKELE l be ke l e @ q cn er ve . com

AD SALES EXECUTIVE RENN WILSON r wi l s o n @ q cn e r ve . com

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER JESSICA RAGLAND jragl a n d @ q cn e r ve.com

THE ARTIVIST OF ETERNITY BY PAT MORAN Rosalia Torres-Weiner continues her multi-dimensional work through pandemic

GETTING BACK TO NATURE BY PAT MORAN Folk Rap Band returns with Valentine’s Day video

DON’T LET THE MARKET CRASH BY JASIATIC ANDERSON 7th Street Public Market has emptied during the epidemic, but it deserves a rescue LIFEWAVE A dose of reality

FAST

12 PUZZLES 14 AERIN IT OUT BY AERIN SPRUILL 14 HOROSCOPE 15 SAVAGE LOVE

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THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS: PAT MORAN,

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ADRIENNE THREATT, GRANT BALDWIN, JASIATIC ANDERSON, JONATHAN COOPER, BRANDON WIENER, AERIN SPRUILL AND DAN SAVAGE.

News:

COVID outbreak in homeless shelter pg. 4

Food:

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7th Street Public Market weathers storm pg. 10

Rosalia Torres-Weiner continues her multi-dimensional work through pandemic

by Pat Moran

COVER DESIGN BY: JAYME JOHNSON PHOTO BY: BRANDON WIENER

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NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

HEARTBREAK HOTEL COVID-19 outbreak in shelter puts quarantine motel at capacity

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BY RYAN PITKIN

At first glance, the motel looks abandoned. The sign out front is empty. Cones block much of the entrance. Just a couple cars sit in the parking lot.

As I enter around the cones at 12:30 p.m. on a Monday afternoon, however, I see some signs of life. Women in scrubs push carts along the hallways outside the three floors of rooms. A woman drops a bag of food outside each occupied room, then knocks and keeps it moving. After about 30 seconds — the amount of time the tenants have been asked to wait after hearing the knock — a man pokes his head out of the room, looks outside for a second or two, then picks up the food and goes back in, shutting the door behind him.

Outside of one empty room, a man zips up a white, full-body biohazard suit before picking up a tank of cleaning solutions and entering the room.

As I drive around to the back of the building, two security officers flag down my car and ask what I’m doing on the property. I tell them I’m a journalist doing some reporting about Mecklenburg County’s quarantine motel and that I just wanted to check it out for myself. They thank me and continue walking through the lot.

It’s long been known that the best move for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is to quarantine in their home. But what about those without homes?

For months, the county has been running this hotel for unsheltered people who have tested positive for the coronavirus and have nowhere to quarantine. But after an outbreak at the Roof Above men’s shelter on North Tryon Street led to more than 100 infections there, officials have been scrambling to find everyone suitable quarantine accommodations. Most of the men ended up here in the county’s quarantine motel on Queen City Drive in west Charlotte, but the outbreak put the motel at capacity, and Roof Above has had to place some confirmed cases in other motels where the organization provides shelter to some of the more than 3,000 Charlotte residents without homes.

In response to the outbreak, Roof Above is now closing the men’s shelter indefinitely and will shelter men by placing them in rooms at two motels that the organization operates in Charlotte.

Roof Above, which formed as the result of a merger between The Men’s Shelter of Charlotte and Urban Ministry Center, also purchased a third motel in May that houses vulnerable folks 65 years old and older and is run in partnership with the Salvation Army.

According to Mecklenburg County Public Health, as of Jan. 24, there had only been five confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the North Tryon men’s shelter.

Three days later, there were 52, and by Feb. 3, 101 people at the shelter had tested positive, including three staff members.

Yahya Randolph was one of the men’s shelter residents who tested positive. He hadn’t experienced any symptoms, but was part of the mass testing that followed the first positive tests.

Randolph believes it was one of his fellow residents who works in janitorial services at a local hospital who brought it into the shelter.

“You have everybody from different walks of life at the shelter,” Randolph explains. “You got people that go out there panhandling, they see 100 different people, you got some people that go to work, you got some people that sit in the shelter all day. It’s a guess who’s coming in and who’s coming out with it.”

Randall Hitt, a spokesperson with Roof Above, said the shelter had implemented policies they hoped would help prevent any outbreak or cluster within the facility, but providing services and shelter to nearly 200 men each day, not including those who receive services at the nearby Day Services Center, brings with it inherent risk.

“The best prevention against COVID is about not being around anybody, but we naturally have services that bring people together,” Hitt says. “So it was just engaging in all of the best practices among a couple hundred shelter guests to ensure that we put ourselves in the best possible position for prevention.”

He says the staff changed its food service, removed popular congregation areas such as the community television, put up barriers around the shelter and screened for symptoms during the daily check-in at 4:30 p.m. Despite these measures, mass testing confirmed the staff’s worst fear, a large cluster of cases that Hitt says was nearly undetectable due to the large number of asymptomatic residents who tested positive.

Randolph claims the temperature checks didn’t become a part of the daily check-in until

the first resident tested positive. He says his recent experience confirmed his earlier hesitations about entering the shelter.

Randolph has been without a home in Charlotte for three years now. He has been in and out of psychiatric treatment centers in that time, but also deals with physical disabilities including a partial amputation on his foot and a spinal cord stimulator in his back.

He lived in the sprawling encampment that’s come to be known as Tent City during parts of 2020, but entered the shelter in the fall, as his body does not cope well with cold weather.

“If I didn’t have so many handicaps and disabilities I would have stayed in the tent, but the cold air bothers me real bad, so I couldn’t stay out in the cold,” Randolph tells Queen City Nerve over the phone from his motel room. “I hardly know anyone who stays in a tent who has gotten COVID. They deal with people who bring food and stuff but they don’t deal with a large amount of different things going on.”

Skepticism and reluctance toward local shelters has been a concern among Charlotte’s neighbors experiencing homelessness since long before COVID-19. Some do not like the lack of privacy, others have had experiences with assault or theft in the past.

In November, county officials emphasized that service organizations had an available bed for every resident living in Tent City if they wanted it, but claimed that most had turned down the offer. While Hitt can’t confirm if this is still the case — the situation at Tent City is fluid and the closure of the men’s shelter has slightly cut the number of available beds — he hopes the new focus on motels will help bring in more reluctant folks like Randolph to sign up for a room.

“Where we’re focused is making sure that we have as many beds online as we can,” Hitt says.

“That puts us in the best possible position to serve everybody and continue to focus on our outreach engagement that really works with folks to put them on the path to shelter — connect them to the right resources or ultimately get them into housing.”

As for Randolph, he says what comes next for him is “guesswork” until his quarantine expires on Feb. 10, at which time he’ll be moved to a neighboring motel. Until then, he’s spending his time with his new roommate on Queen City Drive, each of them unsure of their future.

“We just sit in here together and watch movies and just deal with it the best way we can,” he says. “I have plenty of time doing nothing in here.”

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NEWS & OPINION OPINION

increased, that area became more and more populated. When addressing Tent City, we must not forget how and why Tent City was formed. We must not punish our homeless neighbors for living in a space we all designated for them.

Graham, citing the additional capacity of shelters and motel rooms, argues there are plenty Tent City isn’t new, it’s newly of open beds available for individuals living in Tent visible City. Graham speculates that many of our homeless neighbors don’t want to stay in the allocated

BY ADRIENNE THREATT congregate spaces because of fear of COVID-19. But many people refused to stay in the shelters prior to Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham the pandemic. recently wrote an editorial in the Charlotte Observer When I talk to our neighbors on the streets, the about the area in Charlotte known as “Tent City,” number one reason they tell me they choose not to a large collection of homeless encampments, primarily on the northern end of Uptown on North College, West 12th and North Tryon streets. He argues that resources to support Charlotteans currently living in tents are already in place and that it’s simply a matter of redirecting people, setting a deadline and closing the camp. I am deeply troubled by Graham’s distorted perspective.

His voice is one of many confidently speaking out about how Charlotte leaders will “solve” this problem while ignoring how decisions about how space and resources are TENT CITY IS A SPRAWLING ENCAMPMENT THAT RUNS ALONG 12TH STREET. allocated in Charlotte played a major role in creating the stay in shelters is that they aren’t safe. The number problem they are now so confident they can solve. one reason I hear for not staying in the designated I recently reviewed some video interviews I motels is that they don’t meet predetermined conducted through my nonprofit Hope Vibes during qualifications. Just a few weeks ago, I was talking to the first week of COVID-19 shutdowns and came a lady in the encampment who told me, “I tried to go across a conversation we had with a homeless and get one of those rooms and they told me I don’t neighbor named Anthony. Listening again, I had a qualify. Here I am, working a full-time job, trying to disturbing and amazing realization: Our neighbors get my life together, staying out here in this tent … didn’t create the Tent City we see today, we did. Let but they say I don’t qualify.” How do we respond to me explain. people like her?

When COVID-19 hit our region back in March The narrative that’s so often pushed by people 2020, our shelters, based on CDC recommendations, in positions of authority is that the majority of were forced to significantly reduce their number of people living on the streets are out there because residential intakes to allow for social distancing. They they want to be. “They are on drugs, they have were forced to send people seeking shelter away extreme mental health issues and they don’t with a tent and sleeping bag. City leaders allowed want better for themselves.” We are reassured that them to set up near the Roof Above Day Services solutions are already in place, but folks experiencing Center, formerly known as Urban Ministry Center, to homelessness are “too self-destructive” to be in close proximity to available resources. As the access them. Are there individuals experiencing number of individuals experiencing homelessness

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HELLO, HOMELESSNESS

homelessness who struggle with addiction, mental health and motivation? Yes, just as a portion of people with housing have these same struggles. But the vast majority of the people we serve week to week are unhoused for one reason: Charlotte lacks affordable housing. The “solutions” Graham assures us are in place do not address the primary driver of homelessness.

Charlotte has devoted a lot of financial resources to addressing homelessness. But that’s where many of us who serve this community struggle. Graham himself mentions the city has dedicated $30 million towards Tent City since the wake of COVID-19.

The question I’m often asked by both citizens and homeless neighbors living in the various tent camps and shelters — pre-and postCOVID-19 — is where exactly do all these resources end up? Just two weeks ago, Charlotte City Council approved a multi-billion dollar plan, ($8-12 billion, yes, with a “B”) to extend the light rail to Matthews and Gaston County.

It’s hard to hear leaders say there’s not enough funds to adequately address in PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN homelessness our city. Lack of resources isn’t the real problem, it’s lack of will.

In December, the city worked with partners to fund the purchase of a motel for $5.45 million to transition people from the streets into short-term housing. The building’s renovation will cost another $12 million. But the finished product will only contain 88 single units. The most recent count of individuals experiencing homelesness in CharlotteMecklenburg is over 3,000. How is it a solution to spend $18 million to serve only 88 people?

Renovating old motel buildings is an approach adopted by other regions, but Charlotte could make a different choice. We could lead the nation in innovative disruption. How many non-traditional housing solutions or rent subsidies could we have funded with that $18 million? Our city is full of creative, community-focused solution cultivators who are ready to lead new initiatives. Instead of always listening to the same leaders who got us

where we are, why don’t we allow others — maybe even our homeless neighbors — to create new solutions? Leveraging the local talent we already have, we can more efficiently allocate these funds to create long-term affordable housing opportunities with appropriate programming that help more people get back on their feet and change the narrative for how we help people experiencing homelessness on a local and national scale.

Mr. Graham is content with getting rid of the “eyesore” of tent city. But many of us want to disrupt the systems that created it. We don’t care how the tents look in contrast to the impressive skyline, we care that our most vulnerable neighbors — many of whom are working the minimum wage jobs our city depends on — don’t have anywhere else to live.

Tent City isn’t new, it’s newly visible. People have been living in tent cities in the shadows of Charlotte for years. Why didn’t we care about Tent City then — or do we only care now because we can see it?

Mr. Graham calls for a team of leaders to work to disband the camp humanely; I’m calling for a team of leaders who will work to aggressively pursue tangible, implementable solutions to house our neighbors. Let’s fill that team with individuals who work outside the current systems, think outside the box and are willing to take creative calculated risks. The real movers and shakers in our city aren’t interested in another task force or committee to just talk about the problem.

We don’t want to create plans that will sit on the shelf for years as a meaningless monument of faux success. We want creative exit strategies that can be implemented now to help people transition into safe and secure housing while simultaneously walking alongside them in a journey to total life wholeness and stability. If Charlotte-Mecklenburg really wants to move the needle on ending homelessness in our city, we must have leaders who will, without compromise, prioritize people over appearances.

Without this firm foundation, all local efforts to shift the narrative of homelessness in our city are deadend streets.

Adrienne C. Threatt is the executive director of Hope Vibes Inc., a local nonprofit developing creative exit strategies to end homelessness through direct relief, research, innovation, advocacy and systemic disruption. Hello Homelessness is a new Hope Vibes advocacy initiative created to re-introduce the true faces and facts of homelessness in Charlotte and throughout the nation. Learn more about their work in the Charlotte region by visiting hopevibes.org.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

ARTS FEATURE

Torres-Weiner is also collaborating with two Torres-Weiner’s Instagram account, the owners there Latinx activists, Moises Serrano and Cornelio requested a custom design for their headquarters.

Campos, for a June 2021 exhibition in Greensboro.

She’s currently painting a portrait of one of the Abuelo’s flute & the pretend camera activists, queer and undocumented Latinx advocate Given all this activity, it’s ironic that the project Serrano, for the exhibit as part of her ongoing series proving most challenging is a task she’s undertaking of “Dreamers” portraits. not for others but for herself. Torres-Weiner is Rosalia Torres-Weiner At the exhibit, Torres-Weiner’s subject and learning to play the flute. continues her multiformer Yadkinville resident Serrano will be screening To be accurate, she’s re-learning the instrument. dimensional work through Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural As a 5-year-old she played flute in Mexico City’s first America, a 2016 documentary about his plight. pandemic children’s orchestra. Soon after, she was gifted a The paintings Torres-Weiner is bringing to wooden French flute from the early 1900s that had the exhibition will feature augmented reality. once belonged to her grandfather Benito Canales,

BY PAT MORAN RedCalacAR, a free app developed by her husband a conductor for a Mexican military band. TorresA storybook depicts a little boy unfurling a kite Ben Weiner for her “Dreamers” series, allows people Weiner brought the flute with her when she left to release the sorrow of losing his father. A portrait of an immigrant advocate emerges from the confluence of vibrant colors. A multihued public mural celebrates a community.

These are just some of the stories Rosalia Torres-Weiner tells through her art. The Mexican-born multidisciplinary artist is best known for her boldly colored, animated murals that depict immigrants, neighbors and friends as fellow Americans. For Torres-Weiner, her work is as much a calling as a career. Creating and sharing stories at the intersection of art and activism — a storyteller with a mission — years ago she coined the term “artivist” to describe her work.

“I’m a reporter like you,” Torres-Weiner tells me. She’s also a dynamo, a whirlwind of activity who approaches her life’s work with infectious energy and enthusiasm.

When I call the artivist at her Charlotte home, she’s working on multiple projects at various stages of completion. If the city’s art ROSALIA TORRES-WEINER IN FRONT OF ONE OF HER MURALS AT HYGGE COWORKING IN CAMP NORTH END. PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN scene is experiencing a pandemic-induced slowdown, there’s little evidence of it here.

Each Friday, Torres-Weiner partners with master to hear each painting’s subject speak.

Mexico for the U.S., but as marriage, kids and career Two murals have also been added to Torres- happened, she stopped playing. puppeteer Hobey Ford to give a puppet workshop to North Carolina school children via Zoom. The virtual Weiner’s “to-do” list. In the Belmont neighborhood Her interest in playing was rekindled when she residency integrates puppets, performances and she’s prepping the side of a Seigle Avenue building spied the flute in her studio. The problem, Torresstorytelling, while teaching children to make their for a characteristically colorful mural. The project, Weiner says, is that she learned all those years ago which she took on after winning a competition, to play in Spanish. Now she’s relearning in English. own puppets.

“I love it, because I’m also learning,” Torres- was set for last year, but then postponed due to “It was, ‘do re mi fa so la ti do,’ and now it’s B flat Weiner offers. “The children who look like me, they COVID-19. Torres-Weiner says she can’t wait to and F sharp,” Torres-Weiner says. “It hurts my head.” are probably thinking, ‘This lady’s Mexican. She get started on the mural in February, one of two She started lessons with Charlotte-based music she has slated for the month. The second is at a instruction company Bold Music and created flash made it. I can make it too!’”

Concurrently, Torres-Weiner is creating a group private residence, a historic home in the Elizabeth cards to illustrate the fingering positions for notes. of commissioned paintings for the Moore & Van neigborhood.

As she speaks to Queen City Nerve from her home, As if that’s not enough, Torres-Weiner has also Torres-Weiner is facing the flash cards set next to Allen law firm. Focusing on themes of inclusion and diversity, the artwork will grace the firm’s annual been in touch with the owners of the Metropolitan in the sheet music on her music stand, which in turn Uptown Charlotte for more work. After checking out stands alongside her easel where she is working on report.

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THE ARTIVIST OF ETERNITY

a portrait of Dreamer and longtime Charlotte activist Oliver Merino, who currently lives in Washington D.C. “I just want to play the flute again,”Torres-Weiner says. “My grandfather would be so proud of me.”

Torres-Weiner grew up in Xochimilco, a formerly independent town 15 miles from Mexico City.

“City people would come to my town to buy flowers,” she remembers. “Since I was a little kid, I wanted to be an artist, [but] I didn’t have a choice.”

With one sister going to school to become a lawyer and the other studying to be a doctor, Torres-Weiner earned a business administration degree in Mexico City, but she fell back on art throughout her childhood.

Torres-Weiner says her father had a weakness for firearms and alcohol. When he came home in a dangerous mood, Torres-Weiner would duck under a table, where she would hide with her two sisters and younger brother.

“The table was covered with a big tablecloth, and I would entertain my siblings by making cartoons of them,” she remembers.

“I pretended I had a camera and I would take pictures of them.”

Torres-Weiner placed the drawings in a matchbox and pretended to develop the photos.

This kept the children occupied and unafraid until it was time to emerge from hiding.

“My art was a way of survival for me, a necessity,” Torres-Weiner offers. “It has been with me — my best friend.”

Torres-Weiner left home to manage the housekeeping department in a large hotel in Cancun, and even there, her proficiency as an artist proved useful. Her primarily Latina staff could never remember the foreign names of their repeat customers, so Torres-Weiner created a series of humorous cartoons to enable the staff to learn the strange-sounding names.

Foreign visitors to the hotel instilled wanderlust in Torres-Weiner. When her eldest sister died, Torres-Weiner felt there was little to keep her in Mexico. She left for California. In Los Angeles, she met and married her husband, Ben Weiner. After he completed his degree in technology, the couple, along with their children Paloma and Brandon, moved to Charlotte.

“We thought it was a beautiful place to raise the kids,” Torres-Weiner says. “I remember seeing a church on every corner, baseball fields, kids playing and parents attending their games.” At the time the young family moved to the Queen City, TorresWeiner was a flight attendant for US Airways. “I wanted to see my family [in Mexico] again, and I wanted to visit Paris,” she says.

ARTS FEATURE When the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks stunned the nation in 2001, Ben Weiner asked his wife to stop flying.

He suggested that she pursue her interest in art.

“He supported me,” Torres-Weiner remembers.

“So, I started making murals in the kids’ rooms.” In short order, business boomed. Torres-Weiner went from painting murals in friends’and neighbors’houses, to creating art for NASCAR drivers, judges and doctors.

“I was making good money, and providing jobs to other artists who worked with me,” she remembers.

Then Wall Street malfeasance crashed the economy in 2008, inspiring Torres-Weiner to go in a different, more impactful direction.

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Artivism, papalotes & puppets

Torres-Weiner began using art to document the stories of fellow Latinos in her community, she says, and that’s when she coined her new epithet.

“I redirected my commercial art to artivism,” Torres-Weiner says.

She opened Red Calaca Studio in NoDa. She painted murals for exhibitions at McColl Center for Arts and Innovation, Levine Museum of the New South, UNCC’s Projective Eye Gallery and many more. “[The murals] talk about Latinos in the South, how the South is changing us and how we’re changing the South,” she offers.

One mural graces the cover of a National Geographic American history textbook.

Though much of Torres-Weiner’s work is exuberant and vigorous, boasting bold colors that represent her Mexican heritage, there is more to her murals than energy and celebration. A melancholy undertone threads through many of her paintings, stemming from stories told among her friends and neighbors. They are tales of a community under siege: the dread of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers pounding on the door, the cruelty of deportations, and the sorrow of family separations.

Perhaps her hardest-hitting protest against America’s barbarous immigration policy was her mural “Uprising Against ICE.” Now in a private collection after being displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Community Museum, the piece reimagines Diego Rivera’s 1931 social realist mural “The Uprising.”

Bursting at the seams with anxiety and motion, Torres-Weiner’s painting depicts ICE officers attacking a family. Here, in contradiction to much of her work, Torres-Weiner leaches the warmth from the scene by switching her colorful pallet to an icy blue. It’s as if the sunlight is being eclipsed by a cruel twilight.

In reaction to ICE’s assault on immigrant families, Torres-Weiner reached out to her besieged community with The Papalote Project.

“I asked myself ‘What can I do to help?’” she remembers. “My art was my only tool.”

Papalote means butterfly, which TorresWeiner symbolizes with a kite. Torres-Weiner initially envisioned writing a book about the son of a deported father writing down his thoughts, emotions and fears, and then attaching them to a kite. Once the kite is airborne, the child enters an environment where he can express those emotions.

Flying the papalote sets him free.

Torres-Weiner realized no one was going to publish a book by an unknown author. The first iteration of the project was a lively mural she created at Manolo’s Bakery on Central Avenue. She also decided to invite

wanted to keep telling the story. She cut it down to a 10-minute scenario, secured permission to use Theatre Charlotte’s accompanying music, and adapted the tale into a puppet show.

“I wanted kids to see how easy it was to tell a story,” she says.

Torres-Weiner found a vintage suitcase and created a portable mini-theater. Everything — scenery, characters and even the theater proscenium — came out of the suitcase. The Magic Kite, a short film starring Torres-Weiner as the puppeteer, can currently be seen on YouTube.

An artivist on wheels

Determining that her art needed to leave the studio and go to the public, Torres-Weiner closed her space in NoDa. She bought a truck and took it on

TORRES-WEINER AT WORK IN HER STUDIO. PHOTO BY BRANDON WEINER

children into her studio where she would teach them how to heal through art. She found her children at Iglesia Guadalupe Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe.

Initially it was hard to reach the traumatized children.

“The kids were dead inside,” Torres-Weiner remembers, but she didn’t give up. She felt that ICE’s actions against families were unacceptable. “These were just children!” she says. Torres-Weiner decided it was important not just to document their stories but also to share them with the community.

“I have this friendly approach to tell these sensitive but powerful stories,” she says In 2016, after Torres-Weiner published her book, The Magic Kite, the story was adapted and staged by Children’s Theatre of Charlotte.

After the show completed its run, Torres-Weiner

the road as Red Calaca Mobile Art Studio. Obtaining a grant by the Arts & Science Council, Torres-Weiner brought her art to the community for three years.

“I noticed [people] were not just starving for arts but also for technology,”Torres-Weiner says. In 2018, she received a matching grant from ASC and Google Fiber to buy iPads so she could bring technology and digital art to the communities that needed it.

She says her favorite stop was the Tyvola Senior Center. There, she introduced residents to a free art app called Brushes Redux. “They were so proud that they were learning,” Torres-Weiner says. “There was a lady who said, ‘I never in my life thought that I would learn how to use this iPad.’” While visiting communities across Charlotte, Torres-Weiner had a brainstorm. She would create 100 small paintings of flowers, place them

throughout Charlotte, and whoever found the canvasses would get a bag of pandemic essentials, including a mask and hand sanitizer. She asked a friend who is also part of Charlotte’s Latinx community what she thought of the idea. The answer shocked Torres-Weiner.

“She said, ‘What our people need is food.’”TorresWeiner remembers. Partnering with Compare Foods, Torres-Weiner devised the means to distribute food along with pandemic supplies.

First she produced 100 floral paintings on 8-by-10inch canvases, then placed the paintings in different neighborhoods. On the back of each painting, she wrote directions to one of several Compare Food stores, and told people to go there with their paintings. Once there, they received a $50 certificate for the grocery, as well as a bag of pandemic essentials.

Torres-Weiner says the idea was inspired by a Claude Monet quote.

“I must have flowers, always, and always,” she recites. In a way Torres-Weiner had come back full circle to Xochimilco, the small borough that drew people all the way from Mexico City with flowers.

In September 2020, Torres-Weiner traveled to UHill Walls, a walkable art exhibition with over 40,000 square feet of murals on 15 contiguous acres in Durham. Masked and socially distanced, she painted alongside national and international artists to create one of the largest consolidated collections of murals in the southeastern U.S. As 2020 drew to a close, Torres-Weiner flew to Mexico City. There, Alfredo del Mazo Maza, governor of the State of Mexico, honored her for her contributions to the arts.

On Dec. 15 and 16, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office sponsored a two-day arts and culture conference.

Torres-Weiner took part, painting live from her studio during the conference. Prior to beginning the project, she had solicited drawings to inspire her from children across the state. The theme was moving forward in 2021.

Despite the variety of projects and commissions she’s undertaken, Torres-Weiner says her main work continues to center on immigration and social justice. She remains a storyteller, drawing a community together with a vivid mural, exposing injustice with an impactful painting, helping a child process his heartache with a whimsical puppet show, or remembering a little girl keeping her siblings safe until danger has passed.

“Mexico prepared me with the necessary tools to survive,” Torres-Weiner says. “Those tools include art.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

MUSIC FEATURE

GETTING BACK TO NATURE

Folk Rap Band returns with Valentine’s Day video

Pg. 8 FEB 10 - FEB 23, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

BY PAT MORAN

Midway through, featured artist Afroman, best After Hood graduated from college and came known for his 2001 stoner anthem “Because I Got back to Charlotte, he slotted into the city’s hip-hop High,” unfurls an infectious, swaggering rap that scene, but he also started rapping with alternative dances around Willard’s spiraling guitar solo. rock musicians.

In 2015, Hood and Charlotte native Willard, who From Chuck Berry to ‘Bowl’ once played with singer-songwriter LeAnna Eden, “The mission statement that we’ve all agreed upon formed the first iteration of Folk Rap Band. After a is that we’d rather make $100,000 by the time we’re 40, series of lineup changes where Hood and Willard than be worrying about making $10,000 now,” Hood remained the only constants, Speer and Williams tells me. “We want to focus on quality and originality.” joined in the summer of 2019.

after drumming for alternative metal outfit Death Comet. A few months after Speer and Williams joined, the group, which had originally billed itself as Nige Hood and the Folk Rap Band, shortened their name to Folk Rap Band.

“Bowl N the Woods” started as a catchy loop that Hood recorded on voice memo. He took the fledgling tune to bassist Brandon Henry, a former member of Folk Rap Band.

“Brandon helped me structure it,” Hood says.

“Then from there, I had to write the verses.” As the recording date approached, Hood reached out to Afroman to rap on the song. “Afroman has always been an inspiration for me to conceptualize and put together what I do,” Hood offers.

Members of the Charlotte-based Folk Rap Band were driving back from Ohio when they saw a pickup truck flipped over on its roof by the side of the road.

“I immediately pulled over,” says drummer Eugene Speer, known to his A woodsy, whimsical video bandmates as Cortez. He and bassist No sooner had the band recorded their Maxwell Williams raced to the truck, first single at Charlotte’s now shuttered 5th quickly followed by guitarist Zack Willard Man Studio in early 2020 than plans were laid and frontman and rapper Nige Hood.

SHOT BY CLT PRODUCTION to produce the song’s accompanying woodsy NIGE HOOD (FRONT, LEFT) AND AFROMAN (RIGHT) IN ‘BOWL N THE WOODS.’ “There was a dude [inside] flipped upside and whimsical video. down, hanging with his dog,” Speer says.

We’re ranged around the rectangular table Afroman agreed to play a friendly forest ranger Williams had played with local rock band I’m with the band, seated around a long table that suggests both a boardroom and a picnic spot, RadioJacks, after earning a music degree at Catawba who comes upon the band as they undertake at Birdsong Brewery, as Speer recounts the rescue discussing how Folk Rap Band creates a sound that College in Salisbury. Speer is a former field artillery “recreational” activities in the woods. account. Hood provides the backstory, saying the recalls the genial hip-hop of Chance the Rapper and sergeant in the army who joined The Folk Rap Band Hood recruited Curt and Sarah Tang Braden, the band was in the Buckeye State to shoot a music the funky Southern boogie of Little Feat. video with rapper Afroman for the band’s debut “I have a jazz-oriented background, listening single “Bowl N the Woods.” to [bassists like] Jaco Pastorius,” Williams offers.

As Speer and Williams relive and describe the “Zach loves chordal voicings and they’re always so emergency, I can sense their adrenaline levels rise. interesting as the background of that beat. With Willard and Hood chime in as the story unfolds, Cortez, there’s a lot of hip-hop-inspired beats, R&B providing a kind of color commentary to the and lots of hi-hat work.” unplanned mission of mercy.

“I also play bass,” Speer says. “So, I’m able to put “Cortez and I yanked the [truck] door,” Williams into drums what [Williams is] incorporating on bass remembers. in order to give [Hood and Willard] the room … to “It just came open,” Speer appends. “Usually it create a song.” takes Jaws [of Life] to get stuff like that open.”

Willard says the songs come together “The dog takes off,” Williams says. “The guy organically, with each band member contributing comes out and the ambulance came shortly after.” to the mix.

The truck driver only suffered minor cuts and “Then it’s a refining process,” says Speer. “With bruises. Motorists stopped to congratulate the all our minds together, we can easily write five to six musicians for rescuing him, but they didn’t stick songs within two hours.” around for the accolades. They had to get back to Hood, who earned a degree in history at North Charlotte to finish shooting a video for their new song, Carolina Central University in Durham, draws which premieres at midnight on Valentine’s Day. inspiration from the history of rap, pop, and rock “Hopefully that guy got his dog back,” Williams to create melodies that resonate with listeners. He reflects. cites the timeless appeal of Chuck Berry as a model.

Opening with chirping birds, “Bowl N the “I’m supremely inspired by Chuck Berry,” Hood Woods” weaves a laid-back slinky groove with curls says. “He made songs that were essentially stories, of honey-toned guitar, bouncing bass and jazzy hip like ‘Riding Along in My Automobile,’ or ‘School Days.’

Find upcoming events at hop drums. In a fine-grained croon, Hood sets the These are eternal concepts that people can always ArtsAndScience.org/CultureBlocks funky bucolic scene: I took a day trip from this crazy relate to,” Hood maintains. Plus, he adds, they’re fun. city / I’ve got my girl, my friends and my bud with me.

Connect with free virtual arts, science, and history experiences for all ages.

CULTURE

BLOCKS

Pg. 9 FEB 10 - FEB 23, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

married couple that runs CLT Production, to shoot the video after meeting them on the set of Skateshop: The Movie. The Bradens co-directed, co-produced and shot the Charlotte-lensed independent feature.

Just after July 4, 2020, the production cast and crew hit the road for Ohio, where Afroman lives, to shoot the first half of the music video.

“We found this Airbnb in the middle of the woods,” Williams says. “It ended up being our [shoot] location. It was a small house that looked like a cabin.”

Speer remembers that Afroman was a pro on set, despite the sweltering heat and shifting winds that would not cooperate with the fog machine. He also brought his own malt liquor, which he shared with the band.

“He even brought his own bowl,” says Willard.

After the Ohio shoot wrapped, Afroman coaxed the band to sing along with him on an eclectic selection of tunes including “We Are The World,” Del Shannon’s “Runaway’ and Alicia Bridges’ disco classic “I Love the Nightlife.”

“He’s a silly, fun-loving guy,” Hood says.

Back in Charlotte, Folk Rap Band scheduled one more shoot to complete the video, at Latta Plantation Nature Preserve in late August. In the video, the band turns into animals after meeting Afroman’s nature-loving ranger.

That meant everyone had to don a heavy costume in the summer heat, Speer remembers. He was a squirrel, Willard a bear, Williams a raccoon and Hood a fox. Elaborate makeups, devised by Charlotte stage magician Caleb Sigmon and his wife Katie, were running off the actors’ faces. But the band powered through, and they’re proud of the results.

With Folk Rap Band’s woodland epic finally in the can and slated for a Valentine’s Day debut, the band looks forward to reuniting with Afroman for a socially distanced outdoor concert on April 3 at Unknown Brewing Company. Hood sees the show as a chance for Charlotte to see Afroman live.

“It’s not like this is a place that he comes very often,” Hood offers. The concert also represents an opportunity for Folk Rap Band to gain more exposure for themselves and their new song, but exposure can be shared.

“We want to not only propel our band, but other bands [too] and … showcase the musical talent here,” Hood says. “It’s not getting the spotlight it deserves.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

CAN you do it!?

February is Aluminum Can recycling month!

The challenge is on!

Help us recycle 100 tons of cans this month.

Learn more at www.wipeoutwaste.com

SODA

MUSIC FEATURE

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

DON’T LET THE MARKET CRASH 7th Street Public Market has emptied during the epidemic, but it deserves a rescue

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BY JASIATIC ANDERSON

I will be the first to admit, growing up as a Southerner, parking decks make my skin crawl.

Combine my need for sprawling lots with all the true-crime podcasts I listen to daily, and it’s altogether troubling.

All true-crime aficionados know it goes down in the deck. Also, do I have to pay? Will they validate?

Are there stairs involved?

Plus, I’m the cheapest/luckiest parker you know.

I’m the friend that pulls right into a parallel space on a Saturday night at 11 p.m.

I could go on with excuses and reasons why I don’t like parking decks, but this article is in fact about food. More specifically, it’s about the brilliant mashup of food, culture and lifestyle known as the 7th Street Public Market.

The need to find parking should not have kept me from this spot, seriously, but once I finally leaned into easy machine validation, I was pleasantly surprised.

Over the years, I’ve watched 7th Street Public Market — not to be confused with Adams 7th Street Market in Elizabeth — grow and change. Of course, as the skyline exploded, the market began to expand with it. Enormous amounts of foot traffic poured in every weekday, with lunch crowds packing the building.

Here’s the thing about the market: There’s something for everyone. In many ways when we need it most, it’s a cultural escape. I’ve been particularly interested in markets lately because they typically have space both vertically and horizontally.

In a time where you need to stretch out, markets give just that. They are great places to mask up and appease your entire family’s need for safety and variety.

No one has felt the economic impact quite as much as restaurants and entertainment spaces — especially those located in Uptown. All it takes is

a trip inside the I-277 loop to see that companies’ We subbed the Gouda for the tomato basil spread forced decisions to pivot their employees to working from Viva Raw and ... voila!

This is not your mama’s (or my) grilled cheese remotely have emptied our streets. Places like 7th (and my grilled cheese is good good). One bite and Street Public Market have been dually impacted.

“Like all small businesses in Charlotte, the 7th my taste buds were like “OKAYYYYY”.

Street Public Market continues to feel the effects of the pandemic,” says Chris Clouden, executive director at 7th Street Public Market. “Part of what makes the market so special is its role as a community gathering space. We miss the customers and visitors who have made us part of their lives, and want to JIMMY PEARLS FOUNDERS AND CHEFS DARYL COOPER (LEFT) AND OSCAR JOHNSON. remind everyone that PHOTO BY JONATHAN COOPER the market vendors are open and we look They also informed me that the soup of the day forward to safely welcoming you back to the market is often vegan. Spreads, jams, olives; I’m just saying, when you are ready.”

So this is my selfish plant-based plea: Can we your crudités or vegan charcuterie will be on point support this market? There are so many ways to after a trip to Orrman’s. It’s the tiny taste of Europe enjoy 7th Street as a vegetable-forward eater. Let’s you didn’t even know you were missing during quarantine. get into it!

And while we’re talking artisanal...

Viva Raw

If you are true to your juice game, you know no one doesn’t it better than Viva Raw. They boast flavors such as my favorite, the Oatmeal Raisin almond milk (it’s like a cookie you can drink!) to the Pearfection (it’s called Pearfection, what more do you need to know?).

Cheeses, tonics, mushroom jerky and meals from Nourish keep the menu well rounded beyond the juices.

While there, our friend Kenya Templeton, market manager of Viva Raw, hipped me to the fact that you can get a banging-ass grilled cheese made with one of Viva Raw’s spreads at Orrman’s. Apparently everyone in the market knows about this, but it was delicious news to me.

Orrman’s Cheese Shop

True to Kenya’s words, I was greeted by a staff that was not only helpful with sandwich pairing, but also knowledgeable about the bread ingredients and other vegan shop offerings.

I had the No. 2, which is typically Gouda & plum chutney with pickled green tomato on sourdough.

Zia Pia Imports

I’m not sure if I ever really ventured into Zia Pia until my recent Saturday visit. That was my mistake.

Not long ago, planning to make a mushroom risotto, I was desperate for something other than Arborio.

Searching through my options — they were slim, expensive and uneventful — I ended up with my usual. Little did I know, Italy was right down the street. And I’m not just talking carnaroli ... there’s solid variety. Not only are most of their pastas vegan, but there are plenty of gluten-free varieties as well!

Assorted Table Wine Shop

Because all this talk of cheese, olives and pasta equals wine. Who asks for a taste of wine at 11 a.m.?

This girl! Celine DeMaesschalck effortlessly checked the ingredient list and let me know that the bottle queued up for tasting was indeed vegan. While talking about “fining,” the process of clarifying wine, DeMaesschalck said lots of wine makers are opting to use bentonite clay. This is music to my ears, because who really wants gelatin in their wine? ATWS has several vegan wines and a bitters selection like no other.

Not Just Coffee

While I don’t have the space to name every single vendor in the market, Not Just Coffee is always worth a mention because it’s hard to outdo their quality and style. Of course you can always expect to find delicious vegan milk options and alternatives to coffee.

Good Earth Essentials

Owner Tatyana Riesini was more than helpful on my trip, informing me of all the ways her store is saving the planet — one product at a time. From cute gifts for the naturalista in your life to everyday goods, she has a product lineup that you need in your essential shopping regimen. Most everything in this store is bulk, so bring your clean containers and get ready to shop.

Jimmy Pearls

Drum roll please...

I’d seen the social media posts about this Virginia-bred duo making a slow climb through the restaurant scene by way of amazing fish plates. I must say, I’m not a person that particularly craves fish since shifting my diet decades ago, but make no mistake, I grew up eating fish from my grandmother’s Black pot. And you know what it is on Fridays; if she’s not cooking, we going to the fish camp (Seafarer on Albemarle Road, more specifically).

Anyways, when I heard that Jimmy Pearls also had a fried-vegetable plate I was like, “I guess …

But who doesn’t have a vegetable plate?” Lots of people, and also, WRONG! The team was more than accommodating and told me they would sub out the Jimmy Pearls sauce for cocktail sauce. Do I even like cocktail sauce? I’m a veganaise girl, so I grabbed my food, went home, whipped up some tartar sauce and dug in. My god. Transported. My words won’t do it justice, so you just gotta go get your own. I didn’t even need the tartar sauce, a miracle in itself.

Also a special shout out to the field pea slaw, because we all know how side dishes are used to being treated. Just wow; the slaw is a meal in itself.

Jimmy Pearls is open Thursday-Saturday for the time being, so catch them when you can!

This once booked and busy place for hungry lunch eaters has slowed tremendously. If you’re like me, you take your vegan options seriously. Most all of the vendors are available for curbside pickup, which makes it so easy to support and stay safe!

Walk, take the light rail, drive and get validated, just get there.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

We’re kind of opening, kind of not, so not all of these are virtual events as we were highlighting at the beginning of the lockdown, but plenty are. COVID is still going strong, so party at your own risk.

SVETLANA: NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

What: Russian by birth, American by musical trade, Svetlana presents a live performance of her 2019 chart-topping album Night at the Movies, lauded as a love letter to cinema and dreams. Backed by award-winning New York Collective, Svetlana takes listeners on a dynamic musical journey comprised of innovative jazz arrangements of movie soundtracks ranging from the American movie classics to French New Wave and Soviet cinema. Night at the Movies captures pieces of time, moments of joy and passion, sharp humor, reflection, and most of all, fantasy.

More: $24-30; Feb. 11, 7 p.m.; Middle C Jazz, 300 S Brevard St.; middlecjazz.com

‘WE INSIST!’

Jazz Arts Charlotte, has traveled around the world performing at festivals and venues with some of the most influential figures in jazz. Even though he’s been called “one of the premiere drummers in jazz,” Davis is a humble guy — but make no mistake, this dude’s music royalty.

More: $10; Feb. 17, 7 p.m.; online; neighborhoodtheatre.com

SKYLINE DRIVE-IN: ‘CREED’

What: When Creed hit movie screens in 2015, it had been so long since Sylvester Stallone had actually acted, that audiences and critics were blown away by his performance. Easily the best Rocky movie since Stallone’s initial portrayal of the Philadelphia boxer back in 1976, Creed mirrors the plot line of the Oscar-winning original: A battered mentor takes a humble boxer under his wing to prepare for a oncein-a-lifetime shot in the ring. Except this time, Rocky is the old mentor.

More: $30 per car, Feb. 18, 7 p.m.; Camp North End; 400 camp Road; tinyurl.com/SkylineCreed

What: JazzArts Charlotte presents a performance of We Insist!: Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, an historic and groundbreaking jazz protest album, presented from Charlotte’s Black Lives Matter Mural Plaza in Uptown. This performance, featuring over a dozen accomplished artists including vocalist Dawn Anthony, saxophonist Elijah Freeman, drummer Ocie Davis and spoken-word artist Quentin Talley, INSIDE SILOAM SCHOOL will broadcast its Carolina premiere on JazzArts What: The Charlotte Museum of History hosts a Charlotte’s website and Facebook/YouTube channels. 360-degree virtual tour bringing you inside the More: Free; Feb. 12, 8 p.m.; online; thejazzarts.org historic and endangered Siloam School. A local African-American community built the school in rural northeast Charlotte in the early 1920s to OCIE DAVIS What: First picking up the sticks at age 7, Ocie Davis give their children a quality education despite came to Charlotte in 2006. By that time, he was segregation. Ticket holders can learn more about established as a phenomenal drummer, as well as an the historical importance of the school and the internationally recognized educator and composer. community project to save it during a live streamed Davis, currently the artistic director of nonprofit kickoff event on Feb. 18. The event features author

Stephanie Deutsch and local project champions for ‘TELL THEM WE ARE RISING’ the Save Siloam School Project.

What: Historically Black colleges and universities More: $25 and up; Feb. 18, 6 p.m., tours run through are havens for Black intellectuals, artists and Feb. 28; online; charlottemuseum.org revolutionaries and have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field. With Tell Them We Are Rising: The ‘PUSH’ What: The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art Story of Black Colleges and Universities, the latest presents a new documentary from award-winning film from Stanley Nelson (Black Panthers, Freedom director Fredrik Gertten, investigating why we can’t Riders) and Marco Williams, the powerful story of afford to live in our own cities anymore. Housing the rise, influence, and evolution of HBCUs comes is a fundamental human right, a precondition to a to life. The documentary examines the impact these safe and healthy life, but in cities around the world, institutions have had on American history, culture, having a place to live is becoming more and more and national identity. difficult. What are the factors that make housing More: Free; Feb. 20, 6 p.m.; online; ganttcenter.org one of today’s most pressing world issues? After the film, an interactive Zoom panel discussion features FINAL DRAUGHT: AT HOME WITH Greg Jackson, co-founder of Heal Charlotte; and THERESA PAYTON Nadia Anderson, associate professor of Architecture What: The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and Urban Design at UNC Charlotte.

Foundation brings the authors to you with Final More: Free; Feb. 18, 7 p.m.; online; bechtler.org Draught: Home Edition. Theresa Payton, one of the nation’s most respected authorities on cybersecurity, MATTHEW BOURNE’S ‘ROMEO & will discuss her book, Manipulated: Inside the Cyber War to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth. Drawing JULIET’ What: Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet is a from her experience as a cybercrime fighter, Payton contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic depicts a battlefield that hosts warfare in which no story of love and conflict. In the not-too-distant shots are fired, but damage is inflicted through clicks, future in The Verona Institute, two young lovers are swipes and backdoors. It’s a front where Russian, mysteriously confined against their will by a society Iranian and other state actors wield sophisticated that seeks to divide and crush their youthful spirits. digital technologies to shift American public opinion They risk everything to follow their hearts. Prokofiev’s and hack into our election infrastructure. classic score to his ballet is conducted by Terry Davies More: Donations encouraged; Feb. 23, 7 p.m.; online; foundation.cmlibrary.org and played live by the New Adventures Orchestra.

More: $10; Feb. 19 - 21, 8 p.m.; online; blumenthalarts.org

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Join Queen City Nerve in discussions about local news topics over cocktails with featured guests on the Queen City Podcast Network.

www.queencitypodcastnetwork.com/noozehounds

Pg. 12 FEB 10 - FEB 23, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES SUDOKU

BY LINDA THISTLE

PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE. ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

1. ANATOMY: What is the hardest substance in the human body?

2. GEOGRAPHY: Off which U.S. state’s coast is Santa Catalina Island located?

3. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Who was the first president to hold a press conference?

4. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: How many breaths does the average human being take in one day?

5. MOVIES: Which movie featured the Seal song “Kiss From a Rose”?

6. U.S. STATES: A city in this state became the first in the world to install a parking meter?

7. ANCIENT WORLD: Before he became a philosopher, what was Socrates’ profession?

8. LANGUAGE: What is the only letter that does NOT appear in any of the U.S. states’ names?

9. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a group of giraffes called?

10. LITERATURE: Which dystopian 1950s novel was originally titled “The Fireman”?

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Kuwaiti rulers 6 Pin to hang a chapeau on 12 Clothes 16 “This is so frustrating!”

19 Maui porch 20 Single-celled creature 21 Old term for margarine 22 Sooner than, in sonnets 23 Incriminated dancer Ginger with false evidence?

25 Possible cause of sneezing 27 Petri dish gel 28 A handsome Greek god put half-and-half in his coffee?

30 Scholars’ milieu 34 See 56-Across 35 Mini-plateau 36 Cornhusk-wrapped treats found in an underground vault?

43 Pizazz 44 Psychic glow 45 Volt-per-ampere unit 46 Stephen of film 49 Temporarily smiling broadly?

56 With 34-Across, “Green Eggs and Ham” character 59 Sweetheart 60 Oklahoma city 61 Shoe retailer 62 Former flying inits.

63 Gas suffix 64 Tuscany city 66 Negative particle 67 Iowa’s tree 68 Tony-winning musical performed in France’s capital?

73 Graynor of “The Sitter” 74 Nabisco treats

76 Valleys 77 Wish to undo 78 Pince- -79 6/6/44 80 Colonel North, briefly 82 Broadway star Rivera 84 Spokane-to-Boise dir.

85 Actor Ralph having reached a saloon’s counter?

89 “-- -haw!”

90 Suffix with brilliant 91 Rod go-with 92 Memo starter 96 Group journey that has made everyone really hungry?

104 Memo starter 106 British rocker Brian 107 Cold carnival treats 108 Group of truck drivers who were once in the same college fraternity?

115 “After that ...”

116 Belgium’s capital 117 Doubled radius of a toy on a string?

122 Go astray 123 Intro studio course 124 By wagering 125 Plant used to make tequila 126 Hankering 127 Pony pattern 128 SEALs’ mil. branch 129 Renowned DOWN 1 Pixieish one 2 Damage a bit 3 -- funk (sad) 4 Ninth Muslim month 5 Gangster Bugsy

6 Singer Emmylou 7 “Yo te --” 8 Roman wrap 9 Small chirp 10 Spanish river 11 Illuminated like old streets 12 “Beat it, kid!”

13 Actor Guinness 14 Back area 15 Foreshadow 16 Some math specialists 17 French city 18 Ibsen’s “-- Gabler” 24 Matriarch 26 Pitch a tent 29 “-- -di-dah!”

30 Feasted 31 Nev. neighbor 32 Docs’ org.

33 -- worse than death 37 Rhine feeder 38 Nev. neighbor 39 Yoga pad 40 Corn bases 41 Cronus’ wife 42 Singer Sumac 47 Audience extras 48 Really suffer 49 Licked parts of envelopes 50 Actress Chaplin 51 KOA patron 52 Newsy bits 53 Tax-free bond, in brief 54 Israeli airline 55 Adult males 56 Supported 57 Oscar winner, e.g.

58 Not go right or straight while driving

Pg. 13 FEB 10 - FEB 23, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

PG.18 PUZZLE ANSWERS

AM TOO!

©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

64 Paper unit 65 Actor Ziering 66 Lend -- (listen) 69 Inuit-language word for “house” 70 Small error 71 Chi-Town daily paper 72 Let -- sigh 75 Popeye’s gal 80 Old Dodge 81 Corrosive cleansers 82 Rice -- (cereal) 83 Assists 86 Archer’s skill 87 Pt. of NATO 88 Ball balancer 92 In a single try 93 Wicked act 94 Wingtip tip 95 Walk- -- (small roles) 97 Santa -- (hot winds) 98 Entraps 99 Walk- -- (no-appointment customers) 100 “I meant someone else” 101 Real thing 102 Qatari port 103 “The -- Cometh” 104 Monks’ home 105 -- Haute, Indiana 109 Despot of old 110 Architect Saarinen 111 Utah ski site 112 Ages on end 113 Meg of film 114 Japanese noodle 118 Actor Patel 119 Tit for -120 Night before 121 Ruby, e.g.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

AERIN IT OUT LOSO-SO DEF

Not all Protagonists wear capes

Pg. 14 FEB 10 - FEB 23, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

BY AERIN SPRUILL

Upon waking up two Saturdays ago, I frantically searched for my cell phone to discern the time, confused as to what day it was and if I’d overslept, the previous night’s shenanigans still swirling around in my head as I pieced together the timeline of events.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized it wasn’t a workday and all of my belongings were conveniently placed on the bedside table next to me. Nervously, I pulled myself into a seated position on the bed and smacked my teeth searching for the presence of a hangover. Whew, no nausea.

I started rummaging through text messages trying to remember what was on schedule for the day, hoping I wouldn’t find any commitments. No such luck. I ran across a group text message from Thursday. An invitation to a “potential” birthday celebration at Protagonist for one of my first friends in Charlotte.

Instead of following up, I held my breath in the hope that the “It’s actually happening” text would never come. At 11:51 a.m., the dreaded text came and indicated I had roughly an hour to get my butt in gear and head to the new Protagonist location in LoSo. (Sidenote: can we all agree that trying to make “LoSo” happen should be met with the same vigor of repulsion as “fetch” in Mean Girls?)

As I sat cautiously in the back of my Uber surrounded by the smog of the previous night, I felt like a kid pestering a parent, “Are we there yet?!” It’d been so long since I’d made my way to that part of South End that I’d forgotten how much of a “trek” it can feel like.

When we arrived, I tumbled out of the Uber and took in a deep breath of fresh air before resting my eyes on a group of friends sitting at one of the picnic tables on the outdoor patio just a few steps from the entrance to Protagonist.

I’ll be honest, I was unaware that the new location had officially opened when I received the invitation just a few days prior. My initial reaction was to note how spacious the outdoor patio was.

My second: “Thank GOD there’s plenty of heaters to keep this Black girl warm,” since the real estate surrounding one of the fire pits out front was slim.

I greeted the smiling faces I’d admired on social

media from a distance for so long, truly longing to fully embrace all of them (especially a new baby edition who I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting just yet), but tried to be mindful of boundaries during a pandemic.

Meanwhile, each excitedly shared the details of the second or third drink they were sipping on. Time to catch up.

I walked inside and to my utter surprise, I was standing at the foot of a stairwell I’d climbed before. That’s right, the South End expansion of The Protagonist now rests where the Great Wagon Road Distillery/Broken Spoke once sat. I smiled as I hopped in line thinking about all the change we’ve had to accept during COVID, and while I was sad that I never got a chance to revisit Broken Spoke (the same feeling I had when I realized the first Protagonist location had replaced my go-to convenience store Noda Grocery), this was a change that I realized I’d come to accept after ordering my sixth drink.

I leaned on the advice of one of my friends and ordered the Maleficent — Tito’s, muddled blackberry, lemon, soda ($6). After one sip I knew immediately that Maleficent would be the protagonist in that night’s story.

If you’ve visited the flagship location in NoDa but haven’t been to the South End location, here’s the skinny: It’s massive, weighing in at 20,000 square feet with plenty of space inside (upstairs/ downstairs) and out, has three bars fully stocked with namesake beer as well as liquor, and for the long haulers like myself there are 28-inch pizzas that you can watch being hand-tossed on site!

Sure, there are certain characteristics that pay homage to the 15-barrel brewery that opened just two short years ago. But quite a unique picture is painted of the South End Protagonist location. It’s only been open since November and yet, there’s a vibe that makes you feel like it’s been there all along.

As day turned to night, the last men standing were wiping pizza off of our faces, and the crowd had dwindled with some retreating indoors. I was shocked (almost appalled) by my extended stay in South End, those are few and far between.

The growing fear of becoming a “LoSo” person started to take hold in the back of my head. And then “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile starting playing over the sound system.

And just like that, the thought was gone.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

HOROSCOPE

FEB 10 - FEB 16

FEB 17 - FEB 23

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) St. Valentine’s Day magic rules the entire week for romantic Rams and Ewes. Music, which is the food of love, is also strong. The weekend offers news both unexpected and anticipated.

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Doing something nice for others is typical of the generous Arian. But be prepared for some jealous types who might try to question one of your more recent acts of kindness.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your aspects favor the

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You’re eager to take on new responsibilities. But before you do, you might want to check out exactly what would be required of you so that you don’t face any “surprises” later.

arts — which the Divine Bovine loves, loves, loves. Also, for those looking for romantic love, Cupid is available for requests. After all, his mother, Venus, rules your sign.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Loving commitments continue to grow stronger. Ditto budding relationships.

A recent move to help start-up a new career-linked direction soon could begin to show signs of progress.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Single Moon Children

might be eager to take that proverbial chance on love.

But your more serious side will feel better if you take things slowly and give your moonstruck self more time.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) It’s a love fest for Leos and Leonas this week. Paired Cats might expect to be purr-fectly in sync. And with matchmaking friends, single Simbas searching for romance shouldn’t have too far to look.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) It might be best to put

off an important decision until a fluctuating situation becomes more stable. Recently received news could help resolve a long-standing family matter.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) If you still have a problem getting that information gap closed, you might consider asking a higher authority to resolve the matter, leaving you free to move on to another project.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) A family matter needs to be dealt with at the start of the week. Once it’s resolved, the Big Cat can devote more attention to that new opportunity that seems to hold so much potential.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) More

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Pay attention to those niggling doubts. They could be warning you not to make any major decisions until you’ve checked them out — especially where money matters might be involved.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Accept the fact

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A business venture might need more of your attention than you are able to provide. Consider asking a trusted friend or family member to help you work through this time crunch.

understanding on both sides can work miracles in restoring ailing relationships to health. Make the first move, and you’ll be closer to your much-wanted reunion. that you are worthy of being loved, and you’ll find proof in what is revealed to you over the course of the week.

Also accept a compliment offered with great sincerity.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Planning to

take a new direction in life is exciting. And so is a new awareness of someone’s special affection. Expect a slow and mostly steady development of the situation.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Although you might still feel you weren’t treated quite right in a recent matter, all that will work out in time.

Meanwhile, enjoy the week’s special qualities and potentials.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Deciding

not to give up on a troubling romantic situation helps start the healing process. Expect to find some valuable insight into yourself as things move along.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) A morepositive aspect helps you get a clearer focus on how to handle your time so that you can deal with several responsibilities that are just now showing up on your schedule.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A very close friend (you know who that is!) has advice that could help you work through a confusing situation. So put your pride aside and ask for it. You’ll be glad you did.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A workplace situation could turn a bit tense. The best way to handle it is to confront it and deal with it openly.

Doing so can help reveal the underlying reasons for the problem.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) The week is filled with positive potentials, but it’s up to you to make the right choices. The advice of someone who truly cares for you and your well-being can be priceless.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A colleague’s

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) It’s a good time to make yourself available to possibilities of the romantic kind. Already paired? Good. In that case, be sure to reassure that special person of your feelings.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Support for your work comes as a surprise from someone you thought was critical or, at least, indifferent. Your spouse or partner has big plans for the weekend.

BORN THIS WEEK: Your generosity gladdens the

BORN THIS WEEK: Your spiritual strength often acts as an inspiration to help others make decisions about their lives.

hearts of others, and you bask in their joy.

remarks appear to be especially cutting. But don’t waste your time or your energy trying to deal with the situation. You have more important things to do.

2021 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

PG.19 PUZZLE ANSWERS

SAVAGE LOVE TOY BOY

Some things aren’t for sharing

BY DAN SAVAGE

I’m positive you’ve written something about this in the past. I have searched your archives but have only managed to find people arguing in the comments about this topic when what I want is your advice. My 16-year-old son is stealing our sex toys. My son took my husband’s handheld toy several months ago. I found it where it shouldn’t have been and let my husband know. He talked to our son and told him these are personal items, like a toothbrush, and that he needed to stop taking them. A few weeks ago I noticed my dildo was missing. I thought I had misplaced it or that my husband hid it somewhere. As it turns out, our son took it. We talked with him again and stressed that these are personal items and not something to be shared. I want to get him his own toy so he stops taking ours. My husband is squicked out about it and I agree it’s weird to have your parents buy a toy for you but he clearly wants one. I don’t want to pick it out. I want to give him a prepaid gift card and have him pick out what he wants from the website of a reputable shop. Is there a better way to handle this?

Pg. 15 FEB 10 - FEB 23, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

MAMA IN HOUSTON

Teenagers. Going into their rooms for even a second — even just to leave clean and folded laundry on their beds — is an unforgiveable invasion of their privacy, a world-historical crime on a par with the Nazi invasion of Poland, an atrocity that should land mom and dad in a cell in the Hague. But that same kid will tear their parents’ bedroom apart looking for mom and dad’s sex toys, any cash mom and dad have at home, mom and dad’s secret stash of pot, etc. Because while they’re entitled to absolute privacy, mom and dad — or dad and dad or mom and mom — aren’t entitled to any privacy at all. (And your son may never forgive you for the embarrassment you caused him when you asked him not to steal — and not to use — your dildo.)

How do you handle this?

You could forbid him to go into your bedroom. You could even put a lock on your bedroom door. But you’ll forget to lock it one day or one day he’ll learn to pick the lock and before you know it he’ll be back in your bedroom picking through your sex toys.

You could run out the clock. Your son is 16 years old and he’ll hopefully be out of the house in less time than it took to get him out of diapers. Twenty-four short months, hundreds of millions of COVID vaccinations, and a few college applications are all that stand between you and having your house all to yourselves again. At that point you and your husband won’t have to worry about your son stealing your sex toys — hell, at that point you can make a lovely centerpiece out of them for the dining room table. But while running out the clock allows you to avoid some squickiness, you’re still gonna have to worry about him swiping your sex toys or — even worse — swiping one, using it, and then putting it back without cleaning it properly. Most 16-year-old boys can’t clean themselves properly; the odds that your son is capable of sterilizing your dildo after using it on himself are very, very low. (The odds that your son can make you wanna jump in a time machine and go back 17 years and sterilize yourself? Very, very high.)

You could buy him some sex toys. I think this is the best option. Get your son a gift card that he can blow on some toys for himself at a reputable sex toy shop. Or you could pick out a few for him — you already have a pretty good handle on the type of sex toys he finds appealing — and leave those toys for him on his bed next to his clean and folded laundry. Having a few sex toys of his own won’t necessarily stop him from tearing your bedroom apart — there’s still your pot and cash to find — but it will make him less likely to tear your bedroom apart looking sex toys. And perhaps most importantly, buying your son some sex toys will allow you to suspend your disbelief and pretend your son isn’t looking through your sex toys long enough to help him fill out those college applications.

A few weeks ago in your column, you were responding to a guy who was unsure about his relationship because his boyfriend’s kinks didn’t match up with his own. You said that kinks are “hardwired” and that, for someone who has them, acting on their kinks is necessary for them to have a fulfilling sex life. Wow. That leapt off the page at me. This is something I’ve struggled with most of my life and that made things so crystal clear. From the time I was first sexually aware, I knew I was gay and that I was attracted to BDSM. I am five years out of a 20-year relationship. My partner and I dabbled in BDSM but I never felt like he was really into it. He was just doing it for me. When I asked what I could do for him, he’d always say “nothing.”

That made it even more disappointing. The relationship didn’t end over his stuff, but I regret stick-

TRIVIA ANSWERS: 1. Tooth enamel 2. California’s 3. Woodrow Wilson, March 1913

4. About 23,000 5. “Batman Forever” (1995) 6. Oklahoma (Oklahoma City) 7. Stone mason

ing with it, and an unfulfilling sex life, for so long.

The kink stuff started so early for me. Hard-wired doesn’t even begin to describe it. Pre-puberty I was fascinated when I saw guys getting tied up on TV, in comics, and in movies. But now here I am, single and 63 years old. I haven’t dated anyone since my relationship ended. I don’t want to date purely vanilla people or people with kinks that aren’t compatible with mine. I’m just not sure what to do. Any advice?

8. Q 9. A tower 10. “Fahrenheit 451,” Ray Bradbury

will send him a message once every few months and my boyfriend hurries over to his house to blow him. My boyfriend thinks it shouldn’t matter that he’s “servicing” this one other person since we both fuck around. My problem is the “ONE OTHER PERSON” part of the equation! I am NOT interested in monogamy but I am STRONGLY opposed to MY BOYFRIEND having an ONGOING THING with another man! If our ages matter: I am in my mid-twenties and VGL, my boyfriend is in his mid-thirties and I’VE NO CLEVER ACRONYM VGL, and this guy is in his LATE forties and TOTALLY AVERAGE LOOKING. I do not see why my boyfriend In the column where I described kinks as hard-wired won’t GIVE UP this man for me.

— which they are for most people, INCA, although some REALLY ANGRY GUY INTO NO GAMES folks do manage to acquire them — I didn’t advise kinky people to date only other kinky people. So long as a kinky I can almost see why your boyfriend wouldn’t want person 1. isn’t being shamed and 2. is allowed to enjoy to give up this guy for you, RAGING. I mean, if I squint I their kinks with others who share them, a mixed kink/ can almost make it out… vanilla relationship can work. So don’t limit yourself to Look, your boyfriend has been servicing this guy for dating only guys who are into BDSM. Date vanilla guys almost a decade. If they wanted to date, they’d be dating. you meet through mainstream dating apps but be open If they wanted to be together, they’d be together. And if about your kinks from the start and be clear about your you force your boyfriend to choose between the DEMANDintent to enjoy your kinks with guys who share them. And ING INSECURE CAPS BOY he’s known for a little less than date kinky guys you meet on kink dating apps — there two months — that would be you — and the guy he’s are plenty of guys your age on Recon, the biggest person- been servicing for a little less than a decade, you’re going als site for kinky gay and bi men, and guys of all ages who to lose. If you wanna be with your VGL boyfriend, RAGare into guys your age. Good luck.

ING, offer to grandfather the average guy in, i.e. agree to him continuing to service this impossibly old fart on the Gay boy here with a new boyfriend. We’ve condition that your boyfriend doesn’t add any new “regubeen together for almost two months and I TOLD lars” to his rotation. But the off chance your boyfriend also HIM that I want an open relationship but I AM NOT reads my column: OMG, DUDE, RUN. comfortable with him dating other men. I MADE THAT CLEAR. A week ago he oh-so-casually drops mail@savagelove.net; savagelovecast.com; that he’s been meeting up with a guy for EIGHT Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage; FUCKING YEARS! I told him he had to STOP this but my he REFUSES to stop it. He says they aren’t “dating” so he didn’t betray me. I looked at their text messages — GOING BACK YEARS — and this guy