Evince Magazine May 2017

Evince Magazine Page  1

Meditation Moment Casey Molloy Page 5

Creating a Field of Honor See Page 3

Editor’s Note

Photo by Von Wellington Photography

Page 2 May 2017

Photographer Michelle Dalton snapped our cover picture of the Field of Honor on a beautiful, sunny day last summer. Evince readers wanted to know more about that glorious patriotic display and how to become a part of it so we talked to Charlie Abercrombie. He gives all the details on page 3. That project is just one reason to be of good cheer. There are more.

May Contents

2 Editor’s Note

THE

3 Charlie Abercrombie

Creating a Field of Honor

by Joyce Wilburn

CEO / Publisher Andrew Scott Brooks President Director of Sales & Marketing Larry Oldham (434.728.3713) larry@evincemagazine.com

4 She Said He Said

A Mother’s Love Is Never Forgotten

by Dena Hill & Larry Oldham

Editor Joyce Wilburn (434.799.3160) joycewilburn@gmail.com

5 Meditation Moment

The Voice of Good Cheer

by Casey Molloy 7

Associate Editors Jeanette Taylor

Renovation Reality / Part 14

by Carla Minosh Spotting Exceptional Customer Service

by Mack Williams

Contributing Writers

Diane Adkins, Wayne Alan, Brenda Brokaw, Kim Clifton, Rachel Covington, Lanie Davis, Ina Dixon, Mary Franklin, Cedric Hairston, Karen Harris, Dena Hill, Telisha Moore Leigg, Linda Lemery, Erica Lowdermilk, Carla Minosh, Casey Molloy, Karen Myers, Larry Oldham, Carollyn Lee Peerman, Rachel Shaw, Dave Slayton, Jay Stephens, Kate Stokely Powell, Lisa Tuite, Melanie Vaughan, Joyce Wilburn, Larry Wilburn, Annelle Williams, Mack Williams

9 Second Thoughts

I Feel Flushed

by Kim Clifton 10 A Coin for the Ferryman / Fiction

by Telisha Moore Leigg

Business Manager Paul Seiple(1.877.638.8685) paul@evincemagazine.com

11 What’s Happening in the Public Libraries

Marketing Consultants Kim Demont (434.792.0612) demontdesign@verizon.net Lee Vogler (434.548.5335) lee@showcasemagazine.com

12 Calendar Clips 14 Calendar 16 Always Leave ‘em Laughing

by Carollyn Lee Peerman

In this Voice of Good Cheer, another mood-lifter is included on page 5, Casey Molloy’s Meditation Moment. Linda Lemery’s Reflecting Forward Voices of Good Cheer will have you singing before you finish reading page 20. When the last note is sung, give a toast that will bring cheer to someone.

Dave Slayton’s The Wine Spot on page 18 gives a historical perspective on saluting others with a toast and clinking glasses.

17 Book Clubbing

Hiring the Black Worker: The Racial Integration of the

Southern Textile Industry by Timothy J. Minchin

a review by Diane Adkins

Finally, remember to Always Leave ‘em Laughing as suggested by Carollyn Peerman on page 16. That was my motive in choosing this month’s editor’s picture taken by Von Wellington Photography at the Chatham Rotary Casino Night & Auction on April 22. What a fun night that was!

22 Photo Finish

Art & Production Director Demont Design (Kim Demont) evince\i-’vin(t)s\ 1: to constitute outward evidence of 2: to display clearly: reveal syn see SHOW

18 Retrieving a Memory

by Mack Williams

Wine Spot

After a Toast of Good Cheer Clink!

by Dave Slayton

Deadline for submission of June stories, articles, and ads is Wednesday, May 24, at 5:00 p.m.

Submit stories, articles, and calendar items to joycewilburn@gmail.com.

20 Reflecting Forward

by Linda Lemery

For ad information contact a marketing consultant or the Director of Sales & Marketing listed above.

21 Around the Table

Pasta with Green Sauce

by Annelle Williams

On the Cover:

Photo of the Field of Honor by Michelle Dalton Photographer Photo of Casey Malloy

by Clark Davis

OICE OF GOOD CHEER

Editorial Policies:

Don’t Forget to Pick Up the May Edition of Showcase Magazine Mental Health Issue

eVince is a monthly news magazine covering the arts, entertainment, education, economic development, and lifestyle in Danville and the surrounding areas. We print and distribute eVince free of charge due entirely to the generosity of our advertisers. In our pages appear views from across the social spectrum.

They do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. We reserve the right to accept, reject, and edit all submissions and advertisements.

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Reproduction or use in whole or in part in any medium without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Cheers to you our readers, writers, and advertisers!

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Kate Stokely Powell is the Coordinator of the Cancer Research and Resource Center of Southern Virginia.

Wayne Alan is a celebrity magician/ illusionist who owns the Historic North Theatre.

Carla Minosh is a nurse practitioner and an avid antiques collector.

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For subscriptions to Evince, email cindy@showcasemagazine.com

Evince Magazine Page 3

S

everal years ago, Charlie Abercrombie and his wife, Sue, were on vacation in Cody, Wyoming, when they saw something that would change the landscape of Danville every year between Flag Day on June 14 and Independence Day on July 4.

Sitting behind his desk at Edward Jones Investments, the financial advisor remembers when he first saw the striking image of Cody’s Field of Honor--500 United States flags flying on the courthouse lawns and park. “It was very beautiful and inspiring,” says the Danville native. “I thought a similar project in Danville would be a wonderful contribution to the community and would add to what the city is trying to do in the downtown area,” Charlie says, referring to the revitalization of the River District and the development of a river park near the former White Mill on Memorial Drive.

Working under the guidance of the Colonial Flag Foundation that provided resources and assistance, Charlie asked his fellow Rotarians in the Rotary Club of Danville to help with the creation of the 2015 Field of Honor. He gives a lot of credit to Brian Wilson and Matt Wyatt for their skills in transforming a vacant lot into a field of red, white and blue flags that are sponsored by interested citizens and erected in honor of or in memory of loved ones and personal heroes. All profits are given back to the community through grants to the YMCA Camp, Boy Scouts, and Danville Little League or in scholarships and dictionaries for young people.

“The first year we had 500 flags, the second year 1,000, and this year we’ve ordered more,” says the army veteran who graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1964. “We also have a 9-11 flag that remembers everyone who died in the attack and flags to honor veterans and first responders, everyone in the sheriff’s department and firefighters.” Charlie is quick to give credit to Tom Leggett, a civil engineer, for designing the perfect rows in the Field of Honor. “There are no other fields as well laid out as ours,” he says proudly comparing it to the other 55 or more fields throughout the United States.

Charlie looks at a picture of

Charlie Abercrombie helps Brian Wilson and Matthew Wyatt unfurl the flag that honors all the victims of 9-11.

Charlie Abercrombie Creating a Field of Honor

by Joyce Wilburn last year’s display and recalls an incident that happened while they were preparing the grassy plot.

“One night we were tying name tags on the flags and someone stopped by and asked what we were doing. I explained and then he asked who would cut the tall grass. I told him it would happen soon. Later that night he came back with a push mower and cut all three-and-a-half acres because he wanted it to look nice. He was a Vietnam veteran and appreciated what we had done. Events like that make all the hard work worthwhile.”

Commenting on the difficulties involved in creating the Field, he says, “It’s not easy to install the flags because there is an old road in that field and holes have to be drilled into it to hold the rebar for the flag poles.” Of course, expenses are incurred even though the labor is all volunteered. “We rent tools for installation and solar panels to illuminate the flags at night,” he says. Everything will be complete, however, when the Field of Honor opens on Flag Day, June 14. Then Charlie’s vision will once again become reality with 1,000+ American flags and

1,000+ stories, because every flag represents a person and tells a story.

• To purchase a 3’x5’ flag in honor or in memory of a loved one or a personal hero, call 434.799.8800 or visit Office Plus Business Centre, 840 Memorial Drive; Commonwealth Home Health Center, 479 Piney Forest Road; or Edward Jones Investments, 725 West Main Street. Deadline is May 31.

Flags are $40 and can be taken home after July 4th. They can be brought back and flown the following year for $10.

• The public is invited to walk among the posted flags after the opening on June 14.

There is no charge.

• For more information about the program, visit www.healingfield.org.

Field of Honor Visitor Etiquette

The names of the 9-11 victims are written on the flag.

Photos by Michelle Dalton Photography.

These flags are posted as a temporary reminder of what has been sacrificed, what we have to be grateful for, and what we live for as Americans.

We invite you to walk the Field of Honor and reflect on what these flags symbolize. Each flag is posted with care and precision and each visitor has his or her own special memories and experiences.

Please show proper respect.

Page 4 May 2017

SHE SAID

HE SAID

A Mother’s Love Is Never Forgotten

What kind words you have shared this month. What a great tribute you have paid to my mother. Yes, she is special. She doesn’t act like an eighty-nine year old woman because she doesn’t think of herself as an older person. She is still as young in mind and spirit as we are. She did a lot for me over the years as I was growing up.

by Dena Hill

by Larry Oldham

Picking on you in real life and in this column is a tremendous amount of fun. You always take it lightly and never become angry no matter what I say about you. I think that’s one of the reasons I was attracted to you. I fell in love with your easy-going style and your sense of humor. I recognized those traits even in high school. I have to admit though, I never thought about marrying you back then, but that’s another story.

One of the things that I’ve enjoyed and appreciated about you, I learned only after we started dating.

I learned about your dedication to your parents, especially your mother. You have been calling her every morning for the past twenty-five years. Even when we’re traveling, you always take the time to check on her and make sure she’s doing okay.

You have gone to visit her every single week since we have been together. That’s over eighteen years of sincerity and loyalty to your mom. She even told me that you had been doing that for over forty years.

She took care of me and showed me a life filled with love and honesty.

She dedicated her life to making sure that we grew up in a Christian home. She taught me how to read as a child by reading to me while I sat on her lap.

She gave me all the love that a son needs with advice when my heart was broken or if I was upset about problems going on in my life. She taught me how to be responsible and how to treat a woman like a lady. I could never repay her for all that she has done for me throughout my life. She was a caretaker for my dad for over eighteen years, giving up her life to make sure that he had as happy a life as he could have enduring his disabilities.

She said He Said

You also take her to Greensboro to see the doctor, run errands for her, and go with her to do her taxes, banking, or grocery shopping. You visit her church some Sundays because you enjoy listening to her play the organ and know that she always likes to see you there. The way you treat your mother and the respect that you show her makes me love you even more. I know that as we grow older, you will be kind and considerate to me and if you treat me with as much patience and understanding as you do your mom, our love will last forever.

Your mother has always treated me like a daughter and I can see why you love her so much. Happy Mother’s Day, Dot Oldham, from your daughter-in-law.

The ironic thing about being married to you is that you have shown those same sincere qualities to your family. You did an excellent job raising three children, and you have tremendous affection and a caring attitude about your five grandchildren. You took care of your mom for years as well as your former mother-in-law. You make my mother feel as if you love her as you did your own mother and for that I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Happy Mother’s Day! I love you.

Remember Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 14.

He Said / She Said can be found in Showcase Magazine.

Evince Magazine Page 5 our lives certainly deserve serious recognition, we can also consider the experiences that have brought us good cheer.

Photo by Clark Davis The poses and breathing practiced in yoga were created to prepare the body and mind to sit for extended periods of time in meditation.

Meditation Moment The Voice of Good Cheer

by Casey Molloy, RYT How do we measure the success of our lives? When answering this question we might begin

by describing our achievements in education, professions, or athletics. While these aspects of

When looking back at our lives, we tend to remember the events that have the most emotion attached to them. Sometimes those events are synonymous with our educational, professional, and physical accomplishments. While pursuing our goals, however, it is vital to also allow time to decompress and indulge in our hobbies and passions. Passions are named as such because of the immense joy they bring us and our innate desire for them. It is imperative to balance the efforts of productivity with the ease of enjoying the moments that later become good memories.

When our lives become hectic and goal-driven, it is difficult to live in the present moment.

Reminding ourselves to be present in our thoughts, speech, and actions enables us to have a full appreciation for the lives we live. If you’re feeling as though your life is lacking good cheer, there is no time better than now to work toward cultivating more happiness.

We’re

on Danville!

Janet Donna Holley • Gibson Owner Owner

HOLLEY & GIBSON REALTY COMPANY

339 Piney Forest Rd., Danville, VA 24540

Office: (434) 791-2400 Fax: (434) 791-2122 Visit our website at

www.eraholleyandgibson.com WE’RE SELLING HOUSESSM

Page 6 May 2017

t u o l e v a r t o t n o s a e r o n “ There is ” . e r a c t r a e h t a e r g r o f of t own — Jim Shields, Danville businessman

Keep Your Heart Close When Jim Shields suffered a heart attack, the cardiac catheterization lab team at Danville Regional Medical Center, a Duke heart affiliate, was able to quickly diagnose a blockage in his heart – “the widow maker.”

Jim survived, thanks in part to the smooth and seamless care he received at Danville Regional. He participated in Danville Regional's cardiac rehabilitation program and still runs his business full-time.

At Danville Regional, your heart is our priority. We are committed to delivering you expert, compassionate care from procedure through rehabilitation. With the region's only ER, only Accredited Chest Pain Center and only Advanced Certified Primary Stroke Center, the choice is easy.

You can keep your heart close. Just like Jim. Read about Jim and other patients’ stories at DanvilleRegional.com/stories.

Evince Magazine Page 7

Spotting Exceptional Customer Service

Cindy Jones

Queen Daye

by Mack Williams

During the month in which I was without transportation to work at the Danville Science Center on Craghead Steet, I depended on Danville’s Reserve a Ride to take me there.

This shows a close-up of the bathroom tiles.

Renovation Reality Part 14

by Carla Minosh Unlike shows on HGTV where home renovations are completed within 30-60 minutes, the Victorian house at the corner of Chestnut Place and Main Street in Danville has been under a transformation for 16 years. This series that began in April 2016 explores the truth of home renewal from someone who has been there and done that. If you missed any of the installments, visit www.evincemagazine. com. In the April Evince, Carla described the creation of a master bath. Here is more about that adventure.

W

e scoured eBay and

found a great shower

fixture with a huge rain showerhead, a handheld shower, and a faucet spout from a high-end bathroom showroom. No box, no instructions, and no warranty, but it retailed for over $10,000 and we bought it for just over $800. The beauty of the piece was that it was all constructed in exposed pipes, so that it had an antique look to it, almost Victorian steampunk. It also had so many knobs and levers that it looked like it belonged in a laboratory. I loved it! My guests need a tutorial to use it. With the shower and floor fully tiled, it was a logical step to include also the shower ceiling in the tiling process.

By this time, we were well into spring and thus began the long process of getting the floor ready to grout. Starting in one corner, applying a

razor knife and a vacuum, all of the debris and errant chunks of mortar were systematically dislodged and removed. My knees still remember the effort.

After several grout options were sampled, we finally had the perfect choice.

The weekend before grouting was to commence, however, Tom exhibited some bizarre behavior. He removed his shoes and socks and proceeded to walk on the newly-installed floor with a hammer in his hand. I didn’t understand the purpose of this exercise and watched in confusion as he slid his bare feet over the floor. Suddenly, he stopped and then with a swift blow, he smashed a piece of the floor to bits. I jumped to my feet in surprise, objecting to this destruction of the product our many weekends of intense labor had created. He explained that if a piece had shifted after installation and cured askew to the rest of the floor, he would catch his foot on it for the next 50 years and it would drive him crazy. I acquiesced to this logic and cringed through over two dozen blows before he was done. As “mud girl” I learned the importance of just the right consistency--not so dry that it isn’t workable and won’t stick, but not so moist that pieces might move after installation. It took just a little work to replace so few pieces after installing over a thousand and the grouting proceeded with a leveled floor.

(to be continued)

Queen Daye, Administration Specialist in Danville’s Mass Transit Department, processed my over-the-phone reservations. Cindy Jones with Senior Transportation Services also worked with me to register for transportation services to other locations. They were thorough in the handling of my requests, seemed truly earnest in their understanding of my temporary lack of transportation predicament, and sincere in helping me. (The drivers were prompt, even arriving early at times, and I enjoyed my en-route conversations with all of them.) It seems that Cindy Jones and Queen Daye have their hearts involved in their jobs as well as their brains. For these reasons, I nominate both for the Spotting Exceptional Customer Service Award.

Evince and the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce want to encourage and recognize exceptional customer service. When someone gives you exceptional service, please let us know. In 300 words or less, tell us what happened. Email your story to joycewilburn@ gmail.com or chamber@dpchamber.org.

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Page  8 May 2017

Evince Magazine Page 9

Second Thoughts

by Kim Clifton ©2017

I Feel Flushed I’ve got something new to worry about. The room I trusted to get me clean is dirty. Even after I take a bath, chances are I’ll still need another one. As usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.

It started out as a typical bridal shower. The living room was full of family and friends seated in a circle wherever extra chairs would fit. The dining table was loaded with finger foods, cake and punch. Beautifully wrapped gifts, waiting to be revealed, sat in front of the honoree. It was all fun and games until my sister asked a question that ushered me down anxiety’s newest path. “So, have you two worked out the seat situation?” Diane had teased the bride who was holding up monogrammed hand towels for the guests to admire. “Oh, yes,” she answered, “It’s always down.” Somebody trained him right, I thought. “You know, because of the toothbrushes,” she added. Did she just say because of the toothbrushes?

I wondered. All heads were nodding except mine. For the

life of me, I couldn’t connect the dots. In case you can’t either, let me explain as best I can for polite conversation. It seems that when the powder room is used, germs are emitted. Nothing is ever truly flushed from either your system or your toilet. Turns out the microorganisms released during the process float about the room in search of new homes. Bottom line: your toothbrush may give you a potty mouth.

“And you know, in public restrooms, you’re actually supposed to flush and run,” someone added. Talk about fighting a losing battle. I pictured women bolting out of stalls faster than the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby only to be hit head-on by blowing bacteria from the hand dryers.

This was all so new to me. I’ve done my share of running to a bathroom, but never away from one. Either way, the message was clear. Waste makes haste.

As the bride was holding up gifts, my mind was going down

the toilet. “I don’t even keep my toothbrushes in the bathroom anymore,” noted another.

Where would you keep them, I thought, but too embarrassed to ask. The kitchen sink has water but I can’t imagine that would do. It’s not only about bad manners. It’s where you go to clean your plates not your palates. The discussion stopped being funny and started being frightening. If germs can find my toothbrush, they can find other places. I knew I’d no longer leave a warm washcloth hanging to dry and I worried what else my moisturizing face cream had been dispensing from its upright pump. I couldn’t deal with either of those until I resolved my toothbrush dilemma. Storing it in a medicine cabinet was a solution except I don’t have one. I could buy one of those travel cases that snaps shut over the bristles like a tiny helmet but that may give the wrong impression to visitors. People might see it and think I’m packed and only one argument away from walking out on my husband.

Worrying about spreading

diseases of this kind is admittedly a first-world problem. Even so, I went to the bridal shower to celebrate the union of a loving couple and instead left agonizing over what can happen when my internal plumbing meets my indoor plumbing. Maybe there’s something to it. Maybe there isn’t. But for the sake of good manners and good hygiene, the best thing I can do for now is to put a lid on it.

Page 10 May 2017 “You must do it, Anna-girl,” Papa said, reaching into his pocket.

P

apa kept telling me to be

careful and watch the road

on Turner’s Way, even before we left the city limits, but I didn’t.

I wouldn’t listen. At fifteen, a few months shy of sixteen, I was too young, too light for life’s weight. I didn’t even understand why we were there on the wrong side of the road on Turner’s Way, me supposed to be learning to drive, but not really. I just knew that Papa finally took me off Mama’s and her new husband’s porch during one of Papa’s visitations since the divorce, and it was fun to be with Papa alone, no grading papers, no graduate students cooing in his ear, none of his main thesis: lost love for Mama, his retold myths deep and sad. And this summer, he, a classics professor, was taking me with him on his sabbatical to Ireland.

“What?” I whispered, but I knew even before I took the coins out.

I didn’t have a learner’s permit and my father taught me to drive against my mother’s wishes on one of the few gravel-strewn, dusty and red-clay roads just outside Boris, North Carolina, Turner’s Way, most specifically. And though I was not particularly rebellious, I liked that I was doing what I wasn’t allowed and that Papa said it was fine.

Even though in the end, I could barely do it.

Turner’s Way was backwoods country

A Coin for the Ferryman fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg in North Carolina, just pine trees, a pond every few miles, those moonfaced cows in the distance. I was thrilled. No, I was happy. I remember to this moment that day, my hair flying like a banner behind me through the driver-side window, the fear and excitement of learning a skill, my father totally relaxed as he gazed out the passenger window and then looked lazily back to me. I think I could tell you every cloud in the sky, how strange it felt to not see signs of city, no telephone poles, no sidewalks, or stop lights—just me and Papa, and the crows back a pace, and the cows you saw every now and then chewing cud with wise and dull eyes. We roared on that road through fields of green. I remember the sky was sun-high and clear, a Saturday. The windows were down and Papa hummed as he rested his arm on the car window ledge. This is one of the favorite memories I have of my father, his peacefulness.

Later, watching Papa a second too long and going too fast, I didn’t want to stop when I hit it, the dog; I hoped it was a stray that no one loved but I knew otherwise—it had a collar. It was a caramel color, turned on its side, its one dark eye showing, spiritless, and staring, tongue extended over teeth.

I wouldn’t get out of the car. “It’s just a dog. I bet the myth doesn’t work for dogs,” I said to Papa from the open

driver’s side car door, but still moving no closer to the dead dog. “Come here, girl,” Papa said as he put the coin on the dog’s tongue. He made me close its eyes.

I knew the ancient myth of Charon, the ferryman, and how for Papa we all pay a toll to cross over so our spirits won’t wander. I tried to get back into the car on the passenger side, but Papa didn’t allow it even though he knew I didn’t want to drive anymore. I wouldn’t speak and Papa didn’t make me.

Of course, myths always die the moment we stop believing, only to be born again later in our fears.

“Don’t think of it; keep going; you must keep going,” Papa said. And I didn’t really know how. I thought he meant the dog—words which seemed cruel, but maybe he meant life—which seems crueler. Anyway, I hadn’t been paying attention how I got here. There were bumps at dusk, and later still lost on Turner’s Way on the outskirts of Boris, North Carolina, there were potholes in the dark, gravel that pinged the car as I swerved where there were no lanes with just the bright headlights for guidance. We went alone like that. Just Papa and me. We drove for miles and miles into this countryside. Papa knew the way back, but he wouldn’t help me.

“This is good,” my Papa said.

Papa wanted me to find my way back,

but I couldn’t remember and Papa didn’t tell me. We drove around until dark, long after I should have been back to Mama’s as agreed. Until I remembered something, and lights on bright, accidently turned at some road mark I never consciously recorded, and hit the main highway again.

“Why?” I asked Papa. I meant the dog; I think now that Papa meant life, or maybe just the road.

Papa stroked my hair down. It was flat now since the windows were up. Papa said, “Anna-girl, shhhhh, if I tell you, you will not learn.” I was tight with anger and I let Papa know it when I slammed the car door. I didn’t even flinch at Mama’s anger, her “AnnaMargaret, come back here!” and Harold, my stepfather’s, stern and worried looks. In my pretty room, looking into my closet, I hugged my hurt.

It’s only now, only now I know that a coin is not enough, anything is too little. Now, yes even now, almost twenty years later, Papa long gone away from me, my own babies dead, my life trying to find some damn peace. And I am polite now, say thank you and please to my father’s gods: please give me some peace. It does not work; I’m that dog, and my life is a shadow wandering the shore still looking for the ferryman. At fifteen, a few months shy of sixteen, I was too young, too light for life’s weight. I was furious that Papa made me find my way to comfort and care in the dark. I thought of that dog, how Papa made us stop to put a coin on the tongue of some mutt. Now, I wonder when someone will do that for me.

Evince Magazine Page 11

Pittsylvania County

What’s Happening in the Public Libraries

Submitted by Lisa Tuite

Brosville/Cascade • Needlework Tuesdays: 10am Work on your own projects.

• Wednesdays: Dancercise 9am adults • Fridays: Walk Fit 9am • May 3: Wednesdays for Wees 10am • May 11: Basket Making 5:30pm.

Make a professional-looking basket that includes two pint jars with lid covers of your choice.

Be prepared to work in water.

Materials cost $35.

• May 18: Book Bingo 6-7:30pm family fun • May 25: Try It Thursday 6pm Learn to embroider.

Chatham • Tuesdays: Computer 1 on 1 Help 11am-noon • Wednesdays: Computer 1 on 1 Help 6-7pm • May 4: Star Wars Day coloring and activity sheets available • May 5: Book Sale 9am-5pm Ennis Building next to the History Research Center Crochet 3-4:30pm. Come to work or learn to crochet.

• May 6: Book Sale 10am-2pm Ennis Building • May 8: Mother’s Day Craft and Cards 4-5:30pm all ages • May 11: 2nd Thursday Discussion Group 4-5:45pm adults • May 19: Crochet 3-4:30pm. Work or learn to crochet.

• May 30: Book Critique Group, 4-5pm. New! Share and discuss advanced reader’s copies.

• May 31: Paper Umbrella Craft, 3-4pm. free, but register. Space is limited. Parent must accompany children.

Gretna • Mondays and Thursdays: Group Fitness 10am adults • Wednesdays: Wednesdays for Wees 10am ages 3-5 and their caregivers • Thursdays: Learn to Crochet 5pm • May 2: Book Club 10:30am Discuss The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsione. DIY Craft 5pm Make a personalized tile coaster. free • May 9: 2nd Tuesday Recipe Club 5:30pm. “Copycat Recipes.” Bring your prepared dish along with the recipe to share with others.

Homeschool Connection 2pm. Travel the world through stories and crafts.

• May 12: Bingo for Books 2pm family fun • May 23: Homeschool Connection 2pm. Travel the world through stories and crafts. Bingo for Books 5pm family fun Mt. Hermon • May 1 & 15: Knitting 6:30-8pm.

Work on your own projects.

• May 3: Mother Goose on the Loose 10am stories, music ages birth to 3 and their caregivers • May 4: May the Fourth 4pm.

Celebrate all things Star Wars • May 5: Preschool Pals 10am stories and more ages 3-5 and their caregivers • May 6: Family Movie 10:30am tuneful film fun for the family • May 11: Mother’s Day Card Craft 4pm Make mom a special handmade card.

South Boston Public Library Submitted by Jay Stephens

• Tuesdays: Itsy Bitsy PALS: 12:301:30 birth to age 2; PALS: 2:304:30 ages 2-7; Tweens and Teens: 4:30-5:30 ages 8-18. Throw Paint at Cancer Free peer-to-peer support group for cancer survivors and caregivers 5:30-7:30 pm To register call Halifax County Cancer Association 434.476.2714.

• May 4: Computer Class: Introduction to Tablets 6 pm 434.575.4228 to register • May 9: Adult crafts 1pm For more information, visit South Boston Public Library, 509 Broad Street, or www.halifaxlibrary.org, or call 434.575.4228.

Halifax County Public Library Submitted by Jay Stephens

• Wednesdays: Itsy Bitsy PALS: 12:30-1:30 birth to age 2; PALS: 2:30-4:30 ages 2-7; Tweens and Teens: 4:30-5:30 ages 8-18 • Second and Fourth Thursdays: Art @ the Library: 4-5 pm ages 5-17 • Third Tuesday: Tea and Book Discussion 2:30-3:30 Teatime for the Firefly • Third Thursday: Art for Adults: 10 am-noon ages 18+

• May 1: Computer Class: Introduction to Tablets 3pm 434.476.3357 to register • May 10: Adult crafts 1pm • May 20: Halifax Farm & Market Stroll 7 pm Kids’ activities and free books For more information, visit Halifax Public Library, 177 South Main St. in Halifax or www.halifaxlibrary.org or call 434.476.3357.

Gunn Memorial

Submitted by Erica Lowdermilk

• 2nd Mondays: Book Club for adults 6pm Books provided.

• Mondays: Job-Seeking Skills Lab 2-3pm • Tuesdays: 3:30-4:15pm Book Baggers ages 5-12 • Wednesdays: 10-11am Storytime ages 0-5 • Thursdays: 3:30-4:15pm Teen Thursdays games, crafts, art; ages

12-18 Snacks served.

• Fridays: Job-Seeking Skills 1011am and 3-4pm • Saturdays: adult computer class 10-noon For more information, visit 161 Main Street East, Yanceyville, NC or www. caswellcounty.gov/library or call 336.694.6241.

• May 25: Hooks & Books 6-7:30pm.

Crochet an amigurumi figure. Basic crochet experience required (chain, slip, and double crochet).

History Research Center & Library • May 6: Finding Our Roots. Page 12.

• May 30: Our Civil Rights: Race and Labor film and discussion series potluck dinner kickoff. See page 17.

Unless otherwise noted, all programs are free. For more information, contact Gretna Library, 207 A Coffey Street, 434.656.2579; Mt. Hermon Library, 2725 Franklin Turnpike, 434.835.0326; History Research Center and Library, 340 Whitehead Street, Chatham; 434.432.8931; PCP Main Library, 24 Military Drive, Chatham, 434.432.3271; Brosville Library, 11948 Martinsville Highway 434.685.1285 or www.pcplib.org.

Danville Public Library

Submitted by Rachel Shaw Mondays • Computer Basics: 11am-12pm • Maker Mondays: 2nd and 4th Mondays 5-6pm Create, Build, Program, & more!

Tuesdays • Genealogy 101: Getting Started 11am-2pm • Book Club @ Westover: Second Tuesday 11am-1pm • Crafter’s Corner: 4-6pm Wednesdays • Computer Basics: 11am-12pm • Children’s Programs @ Westover: Third Wednesday 4-5pm Thursdays • Intermediate Genealogy Classes: 11am-2pm • May 6: Finding Our Roots Page 12.

• May 8: African American Voices Author Talk: Selena Thornton 4-5pm.

• May 11: Download the Library: eBooks, Audiobooks, and more! 4:30-5:30pm

• May 15: Summer Reading Early Registration • May 18: Spring Book Talk Series: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo presented by Michelle Larking 6pm • June 1: Summer Reading Kick-Off Party 4-7pm *Check out the new space exclusively for tutors. This quiet study room is available weekdays from 3:30-6pm. *The Maker Lab will be open to discover and explore Monday and Wednesdays from 3-6pm.

All programs are free but require registration at ww.playdanvilleva.com.

For more information visit DPL, 511 Patton Street, www.readdanvilleva.org or call 434.799.5195. For the Westover Branch, visit 94 Clifton Street or 434.799.5152.

Page 12 May 2017

Calendar Clips Clip it. Post it. Do it.

For more activities, see the calendar on page 14.

Monday, May 1 – Thursday, August 31 People, Pets & Pilot Picture Registration

Register during this time to have a Photography by Rachel professional 11x14 wall portrait taken with your pet and make a difference in the community. Cost is $25. The picture of your choice will be made into a print ready for framing that you keep. Between October 9 and 22, the Luncheon Pilot Club of Danville will display all pictures at the Danville YMCA. The community will vote in cash for a favorite picture. The winner is determined by the picture that raises the most cash. All money raised stays in the community to help those with brain-related disorders and disabilities.

For more information, call 434.709.0695. Don’t have a pet but want to participate? Sponsor an animal from the Danville Humane Society for $25. (submitted by Melanie Vaughan)

Friday, May 5 & Saturday, May 6 Sounds of Frank Sinatra & the Big Band Sound

Crooner John Wilt will present a one-man show of Frank Sinatra’s classic songs at the Historic North Theatre, 629 North Main Street, at 2:00 p.m. on Friday and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. It will feature several of Sinatra’s greatest hits including “Day In Day Out,” “For Once in My Life,” “Until the Real Thing Comes Along,” “Witchcraft,” “Luck Be a Lady,” “All or Nothing at All” and others. The two shows will also feature historical film clips of Sinatra’s rise to fame as one of America’s premier singers. This is a fundraiser for the Salvation Army. Cost is $15/$20. (submitted by Wayne Alan)

Saturday, May 6 Finding Our Roots

From noon until 4:00 p.m. at 24 Reid Street Gallery in Chatham, find the answers to questions about your family’s past in this free community event. Explore family and local history while discovering the connections shared through both.

Discuss family history with professional and local genealogists and librarians and learn about the free, available genealogical resources. Lunch can be purchased. The Pittsylvania County History Research Center and Library, 340 Whitehead Street, will be open for participants to begin a genealogical search. Door prize is an Ancestry.com DNA kit. The keynote address will be given by historian Lynn Rainville, author of Hidden History: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia. The libraries in Pittsylvania County, Danville, and Yanceyville, History United, and the Pittsylvania Historical Society are hosting this event. Register at Eventbrite. (submitted by Ina Dixon)

Saturday May 6 Derby Day on the Lawn at DMFAH

From 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., this fundraiser for the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, 975 Main Street, will offer video-racing Betsy Bacon, Keith Robinson and Elizabeth Johnson games with local at the 2016 Derby Day on the Lawn. sponsors’ names and horses in each race. There will be lawn games, costume and hat contests, music by the Laura Adcock Band, beverages (including mint juleps) and food to celebrate the Kentucky Derby Run for the Roses highlighted by a live broadcast of the Derby on the big screen. Tickets are $40 per person in advance and $45 at the gate and can be purchased at the DMFAH or online at eventbrite.com; Danville Museum Derby Day. For more information, call 434.793.5644 or visit www.danvillemuseum.org. (submitted by Larry Wilburn)

Tuesday, May 9 Keeping Well: Food Matters

Enjoy a free, healthy lunch as local restaurateur Steve DelGiorno, Aimee Strong with the Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center and Jamie Zoellner with the University of Virginia School of Medicine and UVA Cancer Center discuss food, community gardens and the importance of a healthy diet for cancer prevention or after a cancer diagnosis. Meet at the Ballou Park Recreation Center, 760 West Main Street, lower level, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Lunch will be catered by the area’s newest restaurant, Chatham Public House, for the first 80 registrants.

Call the Cancer Research and Resource Center of Southern Virginia at 434.421.3060 or email cllitzenberg@vcu.edu for more information and to register. (submitted by Kate Stokely Powell)

Steve DelGiorno

Friday, May 12

Comedy Club @ Historic North Theatre

For over twenty years, John Floyd has provided laughs all over the world on cruise ships, clubs and corporate events. His clean, Southern charm will have you rolling in the aisles. The feature performer will be Ben Jones who has appeared at top clubs in the country (and a few at the bottom). The show is presented in the North Theatre Gallery, 629 North Main Street, in a comedy club setting with beer and wine available starting at 7:30 p.m. This John Floyd monthly comedy show has good, clean, award-winning fun. Tickets are $15. www.TheNorthTheatre.com 434.793.7469. (submitted by Wayne Alan)

Saturday, May 13 Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

Leave non-perishable food items (no glass) at your mailbox before your carrier arrives. Volunteers or postal workers will collect the items. Donations may also be dropped off at God’s Storehouse, 750 Memorial Drive. Food

Evince Magazine Page 13 collected in and around Danville benefits God’s Storehouse; food collected in Chatham and north benefits the Northern Pittsylvania County Food Pantry. The National Association of Letter Carriers, Rural Letter Carriers and the U.S. Post Office are sponsoring this annual food drive. God’s Storehouse greatly depends on this food to help stock up for the summer months when donations are low. (submitted by Karen Harris)

Saturday, May 13 DSO Spring Pops Concert

This Danville Symphony Orchestra concert, Take Me Out to the Movies, will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the George Washington High School Auditorium, 701 Broad Street. This concert is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Noah F. Gibson who was a founding member of the orchestra 25 years ago. It will offer a selection of movie music and will feature violin soloist, Leigh Latchum, who had been an orchestra member for fifteen years and the Concertmaster. She returns to present a cameo performance of the theme from “Schindler’s List.” (submitted by Mary Franklin)

Friday, May 19 Greenberg/ Overcash/Heard Memorial Golf Tournament

Golfers can help the citizens of the Dan River Region by teeing off in this 12th annual event at Southern Hills Golf Course.

All proceeds will benefit the Danville Speech and The players on the 2016 first-place team Hearing Center a nonof Raymond James Financial Group were: Ryan Taylor, profit, outpatient clinic Mike Kilgore, Tommy Freeze and Mark Lewis. that provides the highest quality speech/language pathology services at the lowest possible cost to those in need of communication services. Entry fee is $300 for the captain’s choice, four-person team tournament featuring cash prizes, door prizes, complimentary beverages and lunch served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Shotgun start is at 1pm. For a registration form or more information, call 434.793.8255, e-mail danvillespeech@yahoo.com or visit danvillespeechandhearing.org. (submitted by Karen Myers)

Friday, May 19 Solo Festival

The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History & BB&T will present a middle and high school solo festival at the DMFAH, 975 Main Street, at 6:00 p.m. This event will feature students from the Dan River Region including Danville, Pittsylvania and Caswell Counties. These gifted musicians will be competing for cash prizes in the categories of instrumental and vocal music. An $8 fee at the door includes museum admission and supports future programs that enable the museum to meet its vision to be the Dan River Region’s leader for integrated awareness of history, culture, and community. Non-performing students are admitted for $4. For more information, call 434.203.1735 or www.danvillemuseum. org. (submitted by Cedric Hairston)

Saturday, May 20 Serve365: Community Resource Fair

Festival in the Park and Averett University’s Center for Community Engagement & Career Competitiveness invite you to visit this Fair from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. to discover what the region has to offer and

how you can engage in the community 365 days of the year. There will be more than twenty local organizations providing information on: summer activities for your children, educational resources for the whole family that are available, ways to serve the community, and more. Learn about SERVE365, a volunteer software platform that connects you with community agencies, needs, and events. Visit www.serve365.org to start exploring. The Fair will be located beside the Ballou Park Senior Center.

Everyone can enter the drawing for a $50 VISA gift card. The more tables you visit, the more likely you are to win. (submitted by Rachel Covington)

Sunday, May 21 Voice and Piano Recital

The students of Brenda Brokaw’s Music Studio will perform at 3:00 p.m. in the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History auditorium, 975 Main Street.

These students span the ages of elementary school to adult.

This event is free and open to the public. For additional information, call 434.797.3780. (submitted by Brenda Brokaw)

Upcoming

Samantha Overton rehearses for the upcoming recital.

Saturday, June 3 Bridge Street Food Truck Rodeo

From noon until 6:00 p.m. this event, brought to Danville with the help of City Councilman James Buckner, will feature several different types of foods and cultures. Participating food trucks include Mama Crockett’s Cider Donuts from Lynchburg, Hickory Tree Turkey BBQ from Greensboro, PorterHouse Burger Truck from Greensboro, Zeko’s 2 Go from Jamestown, North Carolina, and more. Prices will vary from truck to truck. With thirteen trucks participating, there will be something for everyone’s taste buds at this event. (submitted by Lanie Davis)

Friday, June 9 Segregation in Virginia

Join History United from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at High Street Baptist Church, 630 High Street, for a community event exploring the history of segregation, integration, and civil rights in Virginia. The evening reception will feature a talk by historian and co-host of Virginia Foundation for the Humanities BackStory, Ed Ayers, who will discuss the evolution of segregation, disfranchisement, and resistance in Virginia and in the South from emancipation into the early 20th century. Register bit.ly/ June9Discussion. (submitted by Ina Dixon)

Page 14 May 2017

May Calendar Abbreviation Key

• AU=Averett University, 434.791.5600 www.averett.edu • CRC=Cancer Resource Center 434.421.3060 • DMFAH=Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. 434.793.5644 www.danvillemuseum.org • DSC=Danville Science Center, 677 Craghead St. 434.791.5160 www.dsc.smv.org • HNT=Historic North Theatre, 629 North Main St. Danville www.TheNorthTheatre.com 434.793.7469 • PA=Piedmont Arts, 215 Starling Ave, Martinsville 276.632.3221 www.PiedmontArts.org • RSG=Reid Street Gallery, 24 Reid St. Chatham 434.203.8062 reidstreetgallery.com • The Prizery=700 Bruce St. South Boston 434.572.8339. www.prizery.com

Ongoing

Eat Well, Play Well – DSC brings nutrition and fitness education together to encourage all-around healthy living for visitors of all ages. Learn the science of making healthy food choices while exploring fun and interesting ways to stay active and healthy.

Guided Walking Tours – Millionaires Row, Holbrook Street and Tobacco Warehouse District. Danville Historical Society. www.danvillehistory.org.

434.770.1974.

Reid Street Gallery Events.

See page 20.

The 1963 Danville Civil Rights Movement – The Protests, the People, the Stories. The Danvillian Gallery. 434.466.7981.

DMFAH self-guided audio-visual tours. 434.793.5644.

Public Library Events. See page 11.

Tai Chi with Wyona – A slow moving exercise to enhance breathing, calm the mind, relieve stress $6. Ballou Rec. Center Mondays 11:15am-12:15pm & 5:45-6:45 p.m. Wednesdays 3:30pm4:30pm 434.799.5216.

Tai Chi with Paul. Ballou Nature Center Wednesdays 3:30pm-4:30pm Thursdays 11:15am-12:45pm.

Let’s Dance – Learn new dances, make new friends. Donna Robbins teaches a variety of dances in a fun atmosphere. A partner is not necessary. Adults 18+. Tues 7-8.30pm. Ballou Rec. Center.

434.799.5216.

Art with Judie – Learn how to paint with acrylic, oil, or water color. M/ TU – Times vary. Ballou Annex.

434.799.5216.

Kuumba African Dance – a great workout with live drumming and energetic dancing. Kids M/W 5.30pm; Adults M 6-7.30pm. 434.799.5150.

Prime Time Fitness – Lowimpact aerobics workout with a mix of various dance steps. Tu/Th 9.30-11am. Coates Rec. Center.

434.799.5150.

Zumba Classes – Hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves create a one-of-a-kind interval training fitness program with fun routines that tone and sculpt the body while burning fat.

434.797.8848.

Art with Flo – Wet-on-wet technique of oil painting. Ages 18+. W 9.3011.30am. Glenwood Community Center; 6-8pm, Ballou Annex.

434.799.5216.

African Rhythms by Nguzo Saba – West African dance to live drumming.

W 6-7pm. Pepsi Building.

434.797.8848.

Ballou Jammers – Acoustic musical jamboree. Bring a stringed instrument or listen. TH 3-5pm.

Ballou Rec. Center. 434.799.5216.

Friday Night Fun and Dance – Live music provided by the City Limits Band on the first, third, and fifth Friday. The Country Pride Band plays on the second and fourth Friday.

Ages 50+. F 7.30-10.30pm. Ballou Rec. Center. 434.799.5216.

May 2

Eat Out to Help Out: happening at various locations; look for a sign in the window. Restaurants donate 10% of total proceeds to God’s Storehouse. www.godsstorehouse. org 434.793.3663

May 4, 11, 18, 25

Throw Paint at Cancer DMFAH 4 to 6 pm Registration required. Free peer-to-peer support group for cancer survivors and caregivers

May 4

Chatham First: Meet to make a difference in the community. 7pm.

24 Reid Street Gallery, Chatham.

May 5 & 6

Songs of Frank Sinatra & the Big Band Sound: See page 12. Starring John Wilt, a benefit for The Salvation Army HNT Friday 2pm; Saturday 7:30pm $15/$20 Smoke ‘n Guns: Lindsay Bowman (Danville’s own), Alecia Arnall and Ross Flora bring their high energy repertoire of country, rock, pop, blues and rock & roll. Friday 8-10 pm.

2 Witches Winery & Brewing Co. Trade St; Saturday 7-10pm Golden Leaf Bistro, 215 Craghead St. no cover charge.

May 5

Yanceyville First Friday: Yanceyville Pavilion, next to the Municipal Services Building, 158 E. Church St. music by Cruize Control 7pm free

May 6

Danville Farmers’ Market Opening Day: produce, meat, baked goods, arts, crafts; free tomato plant for each visitor while supplies last.

629 Craghead St. 434.797.8961 Derby Day on the Lawn.

See page 12.

May 9

History United Networking: meeting to encourage collaboration through history. Open for all who are interested in being involved, or just want to know what’s new in local history. Fowlkes Gallery, Caswell Council for the Arts 43 West Main St. Yanceyville, NC 5-6pm Lecture series: Larry Aaron, President of the Pittsylvania County Historical Society will speak on the founding and history of Pittsylvania County and Danville. DMFAH 7pm regular admission fees apply, free for members

May 12

Community Awareness Day: free lunch, bouncy house, puppet show, free information about services Pittsylvania County Community Action 348 N Main Street, Chatham 11am-3pm. 434.432.8250 Classic Film Series: Celebrate Mothers’ Day Weekend by screening the motion picture Mrs. Miniver starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. DMFAH will remain open past 5pm until the end of the film.

Cash bar/concession available. regular admission fees apply, free for members

May 13

Danville Symphony Orchestra.

See page 13.

Cruiz’n in the River District: Time Machines Car Club Cruise-in Acree’s parking garage 300 Bridge St. 5-9pm 434.728.0617 or 434.250.1405 or Facebook South Boston Strawberry Festival: Halifax Square Shopping Center 3130 Halifax Rd. in SoBo 10am-8pm Gretna Strawberry & Wine Festival: 415 South Main St 11am6pm $15/$20 at the gate non-tasters $5; children 16 and younger free.

May 18

Science after Dark: Danville Science Center, 677 Craghead St. 5:30-9pm $5

May 19 (thru 21)

Festival in the Park: Ballou Park, 760 West Main Street.

4-8pm Friday; 10am-8pm Saturday; 1pm-6pm Sunday. www.DanvilleFestivalinthePark.com

May 19

May 2017 S M T 1 2 7 8 9 14 15 16 21 22 23 28 29 30

W T F S 3 4 5 6 10 11 12 13 17 18 19 20 24 25 26 27 31

May 22

Canvas & Cabernet: DMFAH social painting class, pre-registration & payment required. 6:30-9pm cash bar / concession available

May 23

Step by Step: Healthy walk and talk with Gingy Blakely. Meet at Karen’s Hallmark in Danville Mall to walk at 9am. Meet at Nature’s Essentials, 413 Mt. Cross Road, at 10:30am to learn why physical activity is good for preventing cancer. free healthy snack. dwhittle@vcu.edu.

May 27

Spring Yard Sale: Danville Farmers’ Market, 629 Craghead St. 7:30am 434.797.8961.

May 30

History United - Our Civil Rights: Race & Labor: Facilitated by Dr. Andrew Canady of the history faculty at Averett, this is a series of conversations that explore the history of race as it influenced labor in the nation, the South and in our local community. Pittsylvania County History Research Center and Library 340 Whitehead Street Chatham free 6:30-8:30pm

Upcoming June 3

Bridge Street Food Truck Rodeo.

See page 13.

Summer Concert Series: “Old Dominion” will provide music.

Carrington Pavilion Craghead St. 6pm $25/35/40 www. danvilleharvestjubilee.org

June 5

Danville By Choice – Quizzo: 2 Witches Winery and Brewery 209 Trade Street 5:30pm-8pm 4 rounds of invigorating trivia. Teams may have up to 4 people. Assemble team at 5:30pm; trivia begins at 6pm.

No cover charge or pre-registration required.

June 6

River District Scavenger Hunt: Win $500 in River District dollars by visiting businesses. free ice cream, drinks, music. 5:30pm-8pm 434.791.0210

June 10 Third Annual Solo Festival: Art on the Lawn Festival: juried See page 13. art show of paintings, photography, Speaker Series - Focus on ceramics, and other fine arts media Photography with Donna Wesley for sale; children’s activities; silent Spencer, Director of Perspective Fine auction DMFAH free 10am-5pm.

Art Photography, in Chicago, IL. She will discuss what makes photography “art”, and share images from her gallery. RSG 2pm $5.

For more events see Calendar Clips on pages 12 & 13.

The deadline for submitting information for the June calendar is Wednesday, May 24, at 5:00 p.m.

Please send just the basic information following the format on these pages to joycewilburn@gmail.com.

Evince Magazine Page  15

Page 16 May 2017

Always Leave ‘em Laughing

by Carollyn Peerman “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face,” noted Victor Hugo. Who would know that better than Ronald Reagan?

He followed the old vaudeville prescription: always leave `em laughing. Most of the time when the former president came to the close of a meeting, he told a story or a joke that had some relevance to the preceding discussion. That way, as his guests departed they would leave with the sense of well being that a good laugh imparts. Reagan was someone who enjoyed his jokes as much as the people who heard them.

Did you know that scientists have found laughter stimulates the production of the brain chemical called endorphins? Endorphins affect the hormonal levels in the body that are related to feelings of joy, the easing of pain, and the strengthening of the immune response. They are a substance in the brain that attaches to the same cell receptors that morphine does. Endorphins are found in the parts of the brain that manage and coordinate muscular action and are very close to the centers that manage feeling and thinking. No wonder writer Wilferd Peterson said, “He who laughs— lasts.” “Laughter brightens the

eye, increases the perspiration, expands the chest, forces the poisoned air from the least-used lung cells, and tends to restore that exquisite poise or balance which we call health,” noted author O.S. Marden. Moreover, it was Aristotle who said, “Laughter is a bodily exercise precious to health.”

Why not laugh when you can? It is cheap medicine.

Start a humor library. Whether it’s news clippings, cartoons, letters from friends, posters, biographies, old or new comedy movies, joke encyclopedias, or humorous stories, expand your collection.

Pay attention to whatever harmless humor tickles your funny bone and make it a point to keep it close at all times. These are the ideas of Dr. Robert K. Cooper, author of the book, High Energy Living. “It better befits a man to laugh at life than to lament over it,” wrote the philosopher Seneca. Laughter bridges the gap between the infinite magnitude of your tasks and the limitation of your strength.

Why is it that man alone laughs?

Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Man alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.” Therefore, dear readers, laugh a little. It is the hand of God on the shoulder of a troubled world.

Evince Magazine Page 17

Book Clubbing A Review by Diane Adkins

Hiring the Black Worker

The Racial Integration of the Southern Textile Industry

by Timothy J. Minchin

The Pittsylvania County Public Library has sponsored a summer series of discussions about race and civil rights for the past three years. The fourth series, in partnership with History United, an initiative of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, will begin on May 30. Each year film clips and a theme are used as discussion starters. Attendees listen carefully to each other’s stories within the context of our larger history as a region and a nation. This shared experience puts our present in context and helps us shape an equitable future as a community.

This year’s theme is Race and Labor and reading this book is good preparation. It focuses on the experiences of AfricanAmerican workers in the textile industry between 1960 and1980.

Dan River Mills is a big part of the story. Through research and interviews, Minchin shows the struggle of African-American men to be hired for anything other than heavy lifting and janitorial work. For African-American women, there was no work at all. Even as late as 1995, these women were struggling for advancement and faced a basic lack of respect. In a book full of enlightening stories, two things stood out to me. The first is that if it had not been for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, these mills still may have been segregated until textile manufacturing went offshore. Legislation is a crucial first step in leveling the playing field. The other is the ability of management to ignore the results of its own studies which showed the performance of AfricanAmerican workers to be superior to their white counterparts.

When facts stood in stark contrast to prejudice, the managers frequently chose to double down on their erroneous beliefs.

This phenomenon has been illustrated in a paper entitled “When Corrections Fail” in 2006 by a University of Michigan professor, Brendan Nyhan. He says, “Individuals who receive unwelcome information may not simply resist challenges to their views.

Instead, they may come to support their original opinion even more strongly – what we call a backfire effect.”

It’s crucial that we listen to each other. In an era of great division, there is nothing to be gained by continuing the strategy of cable news----to yell louder, to generate heat instead of light. Books like Minchin’s give us both facts and context, human stories to illustrate those facts. Discussion series like Our Civil Rights give us crucial opportunities to hear each other and to understand.

Be part of the conversation.

Diane S. Adkins helps coordinate the Our Civil Rights discussion series at the Pittsylvania County History Research Center and Library, 340 Whitehead Street, Chatham. Discussions begin at 7:00 p.m. on the last Tuesday of each month, May through September. All are invited.

Page 18 May 2017

I

have heard that each day of our lives is recorded some where in our brains.

Occasionally, something happens that provides a hint of the past and a day or instant of time from that cerebellar diary is retrieved. In mid-April, the Danville Science Center was preparing for another season at the Butterfly Station and Garden.

The butterfly chrysalis boxes had already been repainted by friend and fellow worker Brian Buchanan, and he was cleaning the cabinet in which those boxes are secured. When I looked in his direction, Brian was wiping the inside glass of the cabinet, his hand facing me.

Due to the fluorescent lighting within the cabinet, his back-lit hand appeared silhouetted, its image showing through the wet, cleaning towel.

Then it all came back! (Actually, it had never left, but only been buried, like those recurring messages of the old Magic-8 Ball). It was the 1950s and I was sitting in the front passenger seat of my father’s old black Studebaker, gazing above me where the silhouetted hand of the service station attendant was

cleaning the windshield with a blue towel, the same kind that Brian was using at the Science Center. The car’s windshield, just like the lens of my eyes, was curved. I saw scores of motes, some winged and splattered, removed from that great “lens” overlying my own.

I was reminded of the biblical metaphor about removing the log in my eye before clearly seeing to cast out the speck or mote in another’s eye. Each time the hand from the sky seemed to wipe the sky clean, it gave me a wonderful, good feeling.

Back at the DSC, Brian made the butterfly cabinet’s glass as mote-less and crystalline as the cleaned windshield of my father’s old Studebaker. When he finished, he said with a smile, “That looks a lot better!” With a nostalgic smile, I confirmed his opinion.

Retrieving a Memory

by Mack Williams, Natural History Educator Danville Science Center

• The Danville Science Center’s Butterfly Station, 677 Craghead Street, is open free of charge and available to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

How did the custom of clinking glasses after a toast originate?

One theory is that it began centuries ago when it was common to try and kill an enemy by offering a poisoned drink. To show that there was no harmful intent, the guest and the host would pour a bit of their beverage into each other’s container, then drink simultaneously. If the guest and host trusted each other they would simply touch or clink each other’s glass. Another theory is that early Europeans felt the clinking sound helped to drive off evil spirits. Both of these theories have currently fallen into disfavor.

vessel. Floating in the loving cup passed among celebrants in Britain was a piece of spiced cooked bread (toast) that the host would consume along with the last few drops of liquid after the cup had made one round of the company. In modern times toasting has become a matter of imbibing from individual drinking vessels rather than from one shared flagon, so to compensate for the sense of unity lost in doing away with the sharing of the same cup we have evolved the practice of simultaneously drinking each from our own glass when a toast is made, thereby maintaining a communal connection to the kind words being spoken.”

The custom of sipping a beverage after expressing good wishes for others has been around for so long that its origins are probably lost to us. I believe Barbara Mikkelson, writing for the internet reference source Snopes is correct when she states, “Toasting, our term for the pronouncement of benedictions followed by a swallowing of alcohol, is believed to have taken its name from a practice involving a shared drinking

Personally, I enjoy this act of camaraderie. It’s a brief feeling of celebration and connection to others. It is an act which symbolizes community in wishing good will. Good etiquette may say one need not clink glasses with everyone present in large assemblies, but I believe that given the spirit of the act, inclusion is a top priority. So I say clink if at all possible, even if it takes a little time, just don’t spill your beverage. Cheers! …Clink!

The Wine Spot After a Toast of Good Cheer – Clink!

by Dave Slayton

a member of the Master Court of Sommeliers

Evince Magazine Page  19

Page 20 May 2017

Reflecting Forward

We’re growing - limited classes and events this month!

Weekly in MAy

Singing First Auditions: Voices of Good Cheer

Gentle yoga with lorrie laming

Mondays 5:30 - Begin your week with a gentle yoga practice designed to relax and restore.

Tai Chi with Wynona Witcher Tuesdays 10:00 - $10 per person

Weekly classes subject to change please contact us for updated information.

MAy

May - Focus on Photography exhibit:

Come view the work of talented local photographers, including Jim Funderburk, Matt Bell, John Ranson, and Gail Macleod.

Chatham First

Thursday, May 4, 7:00 pm

Come and be a part of this group, making such a difference in our community!

Finding Our Roots

Saturday, May 6, 12:00- 4:00 - Free Admission!

keynote speaker- lynn Rainville. One-on-one genealogy consultations, and enter to win an ancestry test!

Featured Artist

Gail Macleod

My greatest inspiration comes from paintings by Van Gogh, Sisley, Wyeth and Bruegel. Perhaps studying paintings is unusual for a photographer, but i enjoy learning about their composition, colors, intent and place in history. These instruct my photography in creating a sense of wonder or telling a story. The soft character of many of my images are drawn from these painters.

i will continue to enjoy capturing the beauty that surrounds me, but keep a watchful eye as i play with the creativity that the tools of the Donna is Director of Perspective Fine Art Photography, in Chicago, il. The gallery specializes in Fine Art Photography. 21st century bring to photography.

Speaker Series - Focus on Photography with Donna Wesley Spencer New! Sunday, May 21, 2:00 pm Ms. Spencer will discuss what makes photography “art”, and share some images from her gallery. Admission $5.

Refreshments will be provided.

24 Reid Street Chatham, VA 434.203.8062 reidstreetgallery.com FB Reid Street Gallery

Follow us on Facebook and check out our website for more events and information…..www.ReidStreetGallery.com

Paula Deen’s

DOGWOOD C

olleCtion

by Linda Lemery

I

find audition success stories to be incredibly engaging.

Here’s a secret for Evince readers: I’m a closet auditions watcher. I don’t watch the bad auditions. I don’t park myself in the living room to watch X Factor, The Voice, or Britain’s Got Talent. Why? Because I can’t stand seeing a performance that elicits scathing comments from the judges or looks of disappointment or worse on the faces of the performers. Because I cringe when I see not-so-great performances, I only watch the great ones.

Why am I so fascinated by these great first-time performances that I listen to them repeatedly and lose track of time every time I listen? I think I must want the lift, the dawning joy I feel when I hear someone unknown who excels. Listening to these people inspires me. I love that sense of discovery and hope when I’m listening to an unknown and realizing that person now will be known because of that lifechanging audition. Hearing a child sing opera or an adult opera singer cross genres into hard rock fascinates me. They sing with heart, soul, and all they have.

The list below contains titles of some of my favorites. How did I find these? By doing Google searches for best singing auditions ever and then sitting there and listening to them. So what qualities do these diverse performers have in common?

They have the: 1. self-confidence it takes

to overcome barriers like introversion, walk onto stage and pour out their hearts in song 2. courage it takes for a previously unknown nine-year old or a thirty-seven-year old to stand in front of thousands of people and share their inner muses 3. moxy to pour personal meaning into the lyrics 4. perseverance to put in the hard work to develop their voices 5. determination to continue to try, and the 6. vision to reach for the stars.

So how does hearing these performers influence me and perhaps other listeners/readers?

Listening to these singers: 1. inspires me to try to develop some of those qualities listed above for something I’ve always wanted to do.

2. makes me think about what I might achieve if I worked that hard at something I loved.

3. makes me determined to work harder at whatever I think I should try.

4. energizes me with good cheer and hope.

Listening to these singers inspires me to try to do great, new things.

Evince readers, what inspires you?

What do you wish you could do that you haven’t yet done? What moves you to good cheer and future possibilities?

About the Author: When she’s not moved to tears listening to best-ever singing auditions (instead of crying over how messy the house is), Linda Lemery llemery@averett. edu serves as Circulation Manager at Averett University’s Mary B. Blount Library in Danville. She welcomes reader comments.

Some Personal Favorite Singing Auditions

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(in no particular order) • Got Talent Espana: Cristina Ramos (Opera/Rock) • Britain’s Got Talent: Ryan O’Shaughnessy (No Name); Bars and Melody (Antibullying Rap); Beau Dermott (Defying Gravity); 100 Voices of Gospel (Let It Shine); Sam Kelly (Make You Feel My Love) • America’s Got Talent: Calysta Bevier (This is My Fight Song); Grace VanderWaal (I Don’t Know My Name); Laura Bretan (Opera); Kevin Skinner (If Tomorrow Never Comes) • The Voice: Sawyer Fredericks (I’m a Man of Constant Sorrow) • X-Factor: Josh Krajcik (At Last); Christopher Maloney (The Rose); Jeffrey Gutt (Hallelujah); 4th Power (Bang Bang); Alex & Sierra (Toxic); Carly Rose Sonenclar (Feeling Good); Craig Colton (Hiding My Heart Away); Luke Lucas (Who’s Loving You) • Holland’s Got Talent: Amira Willighagen (O Mio Babbino Caro) • Australia’s Got Talent: Uncle Jed (Family Band)

Evince Magazine Page 21

by Annelle Williams Green is the color of spring, the color of new growth and new beginnings. As I watch the greens showing themselves across the landscape it’s nothing short of a miracle how many different greens there are.

I’ve been hungry for this green dish since the first time I saw a picture of the sauce topping a mound of pasta. It’s not pesto, although many of the ingredients are the same. No, this has plenty of herbal flavor coming from the parsley, dill, and basil, but olives and capers are the green stars. Anchovies and garlic give the sauce depth; lemon zest and juice add the brightness. The toasted breadcrumbs add a nice little crunch and all this goodness is topped with a few grates of fresh Parmesan.

Doesn’t this sound easy and fresh and something that would melt in your mouth? Well, it is and it does! Give it a try and if you want to change things up, add grilled asparagus or fresh spring peas. Enjoy the greenness of this beautiful Earth with good cheer!

Pasta with Green Sauce (Epicurious) 1 T plus 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs salt and pepper to taste 2 T chopped fresh dill 1 tsp. grated lemon zest 12 oz. linguine 4 oil-packed anchovy filets 1 small garlic clove

1 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil 1 cup green olives, pitted and halved 3 T drained capers 1/2 cup grated Parmesan plus more for serving 2 T fresh lemon juice

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add panko and stir until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper, transfer to paper towels to drain and then toss in a bowl with dill and lemon zest. Set aside.

Cook pasta in salted water as directed on package. Drain and reserve l/2 cup pasta water. While pasta is cooking, mash anchovies and garlic to a paste on a cutting board using the back of a knife. Combine with parsley, basil and half the olives and capers in a large bowl. Chop remaining olives and capers and add to bowl along with remaining 1/2 cup oil. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Add cooked pasta and about 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking liquid to sauce. Toss, adding the Parmesan cheese a little at a time and more cooking liquid if needed. Add lemon juice. Taste for added salt and pepper. Pour into serving dish, top with panko and a bit more Parmesan. *It’s best to make the sauce ahead and have it ready for the cooked pasta.

Questions or comments?

Email me: AnnelleWilliams@comcast.net I look forward to hearing from you!

Page 22 May 2017

Photo Finish

DAL exhibitor Terri Hall and Phil Hall chat with Jerry Franklin. Kenneth Bond admires one of the paintings.

Danville Art League (DAL) members and supporters didn’t allow April showers to deter them from attending the opening reception of the DAL’s 30th Annual Spring Exhibition, “Springtime Again,” at American National Bank, 628 Main Street. Twenty-nine amateur and professional artists entered seventy-seven works of art in the juried show. Cash prizes and ribbons were given in the categories of traditional painting, photography, and Best in Show.

The exhibit continues through Friday, May 5, during the bank’s business hours. It is free and open to the public.

DAL Show Chairman, Jim Jennings, welcomes exhibitor Joy Thompson and her family, Ellen and Reid Thompson.

The winners were: Photography: 1st place: Barry Koplen Honorable Mention: Harper Scollo, Gina Browning,

Danville Art League President Jerry Franklin enjoys the delicious refreshments at the opening reception.

Painting: 1st Prize: Jane Carter 2nd Prize: Nathan Talley 3rd Prize: Kim Martin Honorable Mention: Carol Ann Wendel, Brenda Brokow, Jane Wiseman

Carol Ellis and exhibitor Steve Petrick discuss one of the paintings.

Best in Show: Annie Chang Anyone can join the DAL. For more information, call 434.489.1179.

Evince photographer, Von Wellington, was on another assignment the Sunday these pictures were taken by Joyce Wilburn. He will return next month. To see more of his pictures, visit www. vonwellingtonphotography. com or facebook. For more information, call 434.770.3553.

A good size crowd braved the rainy Sunday afternoon to attend the opening reception.

Jane Wiseman shows Nikki Fallis her work while holding the Honorable Mention blue ribbon she was given for “Bittern & Moon.”

Nami Kim Addis and Dr. Daniel Addis stand beside friend and artist Clara Gutierrez.

Seventy-seven works of art are displayed in Danville Art League’s 30th Annual Spring Exhibition.

The Best in Show ribbon was presented to Annie Chang for “Vine”. Annie is an international student at Westover Christian Academy from China. The judge’s comment: The artist showed a masterful use of colored pencil technique and attention to detail.

A live plant compliments the painting of hydrangeas

by Clara Butierrez.

Evince Magazine Page  23

Page  24 May 2017