YES! Weekly - March 24, 2021

ART SCAVENGER HUNT

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MARCH 24-31, 2021 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 12

10 5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231

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Fax 336-316-1930 Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL Editor CHANEL DAVIS chanel@yesweekly.com YES! Writers IAN MCDOWELL

“I called the blog DIRTY, SEXY HISTORY because I wanted to focus on the aspects of history that aren’t sanitized for a modern audience,” Jessica Cale told YES! Weekly. “Social and cultural history has always been my focus.” Cale said that, despite having a broad interest in a range of subjects and periods, she considers herself “first and foremost” a historian of sex and sexuality.

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DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT KYLE MUNRO SHANE MERRIMAN ANDREW WOMACK We at YES! Weekly realize that the interest of our readers goes well beyond the boundaries of the Piedmont Triad. Therefore we are dedicated to informing and entertaining with thought-provoking, debate-spurring, in-depth investigative news stories and features of local, national and international scope, and opinion grounded in reason, as well as providing the most comprehensive entertainment and arts coverage in the Triad. YES! Weekly welcomes submissions of all kinds. Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however YES! Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. YES! Weekly is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. Copyright 2021 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

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ArtsGreensboro will host its annual Public Art Scavenger Hunt beginning April 1, 2020, as part of its #IHEARTARTSMONTH, which Greensboro City Council proclaimed as April in 2015, and in support of the annual Arts Fund, a communitywide campaign supporting arts organizations and artists in the Triad.

5 The Downtown Greenway is pleased to share RADCLIFFE BAILEY’S DESIGN for the Freedom Cornerstone. Radcliffe will be speaking on Wednesday, March 24 at noon to discuss his work with Public Art consultant Barbara Peck and Weatherspoon Art Museum Curator of Collections, Elaine Gustafson on Action Greensboro’s series The More You Know GSO hosted by Candace Martin live-streamed on the Action Greensboro Facebook page.

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...if we need to blast a bigot’s name from the front of an auditorium or stadium in order to promote racial unity, then so be it. But we also need to recognize the importance of CONTEXT.

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The RiverRun International Film Festival will present a special, one-nightonly screening of the award-winning

drama DROUGHT this Friday. Tickets are $12 and available at https://riverrunfilm.com/.

The film will be available online for viewing for 72 hours, and the screening will also include a look at Elevent, the virtual screening system that will be utilized for the 2021 RiverRun International Film Festival, which is scheduled for May 6-16, 2021.

13 “SAY HIS NAME,” shouted AJ Morgan to fellow activists gathered in front of Ben & Jerry’s in Greensboro’s Friendly Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday. “Marcus Smith!” roared the crowd.

14 DYLAN INNES makes a mountainto-sea connection with his latest album, “Taste the Tide,” a nine-song acousticoriented sophomore release recorded at ElectroMagnetic Radiation Recorders in Winston-Salem. “Doug Williams was an obvious choice, because of his experience recording some really major acoustic projects,” Innes said of the Triad studio where Williams has worked with the likes of the Avett Brothers, Mipso, and David Mayfield; as well as Triad artists including Abigail Dowd, Wurlitzer Prize, and the bo-stevens.

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Ready, Set, Art!: Annual Scavenger Hunt to benefit local arts organizations, artists

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rtsGreensboro will host its annual Public Art Scavenger Hunt beginning April 1, 2020, as part of its #IHeartArtsMonth, which Greensboro City Council proclaimed as April in 2015, and in support of the annual Arts Fund, a community-wide campaign supporting arts organizations and artists in the Triad.

Chanel Davis “As the city’s arts council, ArtsGreensboro’s mission is to support and advocate for our art community.

Editor We wanted to promote the vibrant arts scene we have in our city. A scavenger hunt sounded like the perfect way,” said Catena Bergevin, director of development for ArtsGreensboro. “We did it a few years ago, and it was really fun. All generations got into it and competed to complete the challenges.”

Ultimately a fundraiser, this year’s event is especially important on the heels of the tumultuous economic year for the artists’ community, big and small.

“Our local arts community, and the artists who make it all happen, have taken a “gut punch.” Lost revenue from event and ticket sales, closed venues, canceled events, and in-person fundraisers have caused a tremendous hardship. But the amazing thing about the arts and artists is that they are innovative and always find a way to continue the creative spirit. We call it Arts Through it All, which is the tagline for our campaign,” Bergevin said.

“The ArtsFund is an annual community-wide campaign that supports our arts organizations (large and small) and our local artists. It has a renewed importance this YES! WEEKLY

MARCH 24-31, 2021

year! A gift at any level will make a big difference.”

The month-long scavenger hunt is designed for art lovers and residents to explore the city’s public art, at their leisure, while donating to a worthy cause. Those wanting to participate in the free event should register by April 1. Once registered, participants will be sent an email with a link to download the Engage Greensboro app and be provided with a game code to sign up. The app, powered by Action Greensboro and the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, is used for the scavenger hunt.

“The Social Scavenger app is a really fantastic tool we’ve been using internally and externally at Action Greensboro for a couple of years. It’s a scavenger hunt app that allows users to engage with each other and explore the community,” said Sarah McGuire, director of SynerG Young Professionals. “We are happy to partner with ArtsGreensboro again this year for its public art scavenger hunt! Greensboro has an amazing array of public art, and ArtsGreensboro’s event is a really fun and safe way to explore all month long using the app.”

Participants can then pick a team name and begin their search for art as a “safely-distanced” team of friends and family or by themselves. There are challenges built-in along the way so participants can earn additional points.

The hunt is designed to give participants a chance to visit different public art spaces or art venues located around the city, not just downtown. Each location has a thumbnail photo and geolocator. Participants will need to visit the site and correctly answer the challenge question before winning points. Challenges include trivia questions, multiple-choice questions, a creative photo or video, or a thought-provoking response to a question. Either way, points won’t officially be awarded until the challenge is complete.

“This year, we wanted to promote art in all our neighborhoods, so the hunt will take you all around Greensboro,” said Bergevin.

There’s no real hurry to finish the challenge, as long you’re done before April 30th. You can do it all in one weekend or do parts of it each weekend out of the month.

Winners will be announced on May 3, and prizes will be awarded based on three categories: the most points earned, the most creative photo, and the most thoughtful response. In the event of a tie, names will be drawn to select a winner. When you register, you will also be given the option of donating to the Arts Fund. The first 75 people to register and donate will receive a free Arts Through it All Window Cling.

While current social-distancing measures and restrictions have halted many of the plans for #IHeartArtsMonth, Bergevin said that ArtsGreensboro has been working with local artists to produce an original song and video about how the arts have helped many people through challenging times. She’s petitioning the community to add their own piece of art to the finished product by uploading their photos and videos to https://artsboro.org/.

“Their content may be part of the finished piece. This project will be authentically Greensboro! We are partnering with Creative Arts & Media Productions, local artists Brandon Davis, Jerald Vann, J. Timber, and Kate Tobey,” she said.

For more information on the event, visit artsgreensboro. org or contact Catena Bergevin, director of development, by email at cbergevin@artsgreensboro.org or phone at (336) 279-7082. !

CHANEL DAVIS is the current editor of YES! Weekly and graduated from N.C. A&T S.U. in 2011 with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s worked at daily and weekly newspapers in the Triad region.

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Downtown Greenway shares Radcliffe Bailey’s design for the Freedom Cornerstone SUBMITTED BY DOWNTOWN GREENWAY The Downtown Greenway is pleased to share Radcliffe Bailey’s design for the Freedom Cornerstone.

Radcliffe will be speaking on Wednesday, March 24 at noon to discuss his work with Public Art consultant Barbara Peck and Weatherspoon Art Museum Curator of Collections, Elaine Gustafson on Action Greensboro’s series The More You Know GSO hosted by Candace Martin live-streamed on the Action Greensboro Facebook page.

Radcliffe Bailey’s work often celebrates and tells the stories of African American history and culture. In his work for the Freedom Cornerstone, his design incorporates elements including: · The Dogon ladder – a wooden tool used by people from Mali, along the West African coast; · Tabby, a material that combines concrete and oyster shells often found in slave quarters in the south; · a steel railroad track/ladder/bridge – referencing a way of moving up and reaching higher, as well as symbolizing the railroad itself as a means of travel, the Underground Railroad as a route to freedom, and acknowledging how railroad lines have also created divisions in communities; · hull of a boat as a remembrance of those lost in the Middle Passage; · a blue neon star representing the North Star helping those find their way along the Underground Railroad and also a nod to the old sign for the nearby Historic Magnolia House; · and the incorporation of poetry, music, and sound Radcliffe Bailey, an internationally recognized Atlanta-based artist, was selected from a pool of over 65 artists for this commission. He was featured in the recently released HBO film, Black Art: In the Absence of Light. Directed by Sam Pollard (Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children), the film shines a light on the extraordinary impact of David Driskell’s exhibit on generations of Black artists who have staked a claim on their rightful place within the 21st-Century art world. Interweaving insights and context from scholars and historians, along with interviews from a new generation of working African American curators and artists, including Theaster Gates, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Amy WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Sherald, Carrie Mae Weems, and Radcliffe Bailey, the documentary is a look at the contributions of Black American artists in today’s contemporary art world.

Radcliffe comments, “It is my honor to celebrate the victory of freedom for this commission.” He notes that “we all will bring our own history the project, but that history will be seen through the lens through which we each perceive our own experiences.”

Downtown Greenway Project Manager Dabney Sanders notes, “We are so pleased with the thoughtfulness and care that Radcliffe has taken with this theme of Freedom – not only recognizing Greensboro’s history with the Sit-In Movement that catalyzed the national Civil Rights Movement but thinking of what freedom means today to all people. The layers of ideas and symbols will create a very powerful and meaningful piece for this site.”

About Downtown Greenway The Downtown Greenway, a collaborative project of the City of Greensboro and Action Greensboro, is a planned 4-mile walking and biking trail that will encourage economic development, increase the tax base for the city, and will improve quality of life for its citizens. This urban loop around the center city of downtown Greensboro will enhance the urban landscape with a green space that will promote fitness, connectedness, and wellbeing for our residents and visitors in an aesthetically pleasing environment. The loop itself provides a unique opportunity for Greensboro to have the only one of its kind in the state and one of the few in the country. With its emphasis on public art, the Greenway will tell stories and engage users of the trail in a unique and authentic way. In addition, with the connections to the extensive existing and planned trail

systems in the city and the county, this loop will connect residents from all parts of the community and beyond. With 3 miles built and open to the public, and the final mile to go under construction this fall, the Downtown Greenway is expected to be completed in 2022/2023.

About Action Greensboro Action Greensboro, together with the

Chamber of Commerce, serves as the city’s primary economic and community development group. Formed in 2001, Action Greensboro is comprised of six local charitable foundations. In collaboration with business, higher education, and municipal government, Action Greensboro works to strengthen Greensboro’s economy and ensure the continuation of its excellent quality of life. !

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Melvin and Elon: Saga of a portrait

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efore the Pandemic came along, we were a nation consumed with erasing history. Every week, it seemed, there was another statue or monuJim Longworth ment being torn down, or a building being re-named, Longworth all in the cause of at Large racial justice. Don’t get me wrong. I do not now, nor have I ever revered the memory of Confederate Generals. Moreover, I have nothing but contempt for dead political figures or industrialists who spent their lives spewing racism. And if we need to blast a bigot’s name from the front of an auditorium or stadium in order to promote racial unity, then so be it. But we also need to recognize the importance of context. Silent Sam, for example, was erected on the Chapel Hill campus a century ago simply

to memorialize UNC grads who died in the Civil War. But when a group of young people discovered that a flaming racist gave a speech at Sam’s dedication, then suddenly Sam had to go. And just recently, cancel culture activists have called for the removal of no less than five different statues of Abraham Lincoln, a man who gave his life in the cause of human rights.

Context is everything, and that brings me to the controversy over recent calls to remove a portrait of former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin from the Elon University School of Law. Last year, Maryland-born Madison Fields and Paris Henderson of Virginia, both of who are law school students at Elon, were told about the 1979 shootout in Greensboro between members of the Communist Worker’s Party and a contingent of racist Klansmen and Nazis.

On that fateful day in November, the CWP group had planned a “Death to the Klan” march and a protest in support of local textile workers’ rights. Some of the Communists carried handguns, but the Klansmen were more heavily armed. A violent clash ensued, and minutes later,

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five people lay dead in the street. For the record, three of the fatalities were White (including one Klansman), one was Black, and one was Hispanic. Twenty-five years later, the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission criticized City police for allegedly colluding with Klansmen and failing to patrol the march. Jim Melvin was Mayor in 1979, but it was a statement he made five years ago that caught the attention of Fields and Henderson.

In 2015, Melvin told the Greensboro News & Record that he’d “prefer a different word other than ‘massacre’ to describe what happened” in ’79 and that the CWP had “picked a fight” with the Klan and Nazis. In fact, the courts concluded that both sides acted in self-defense, and what occurred, though tragic, was not a massacre according to any standard definition of the word. Nevertheless, Fields and Henderson, who had never even heard of Jim Melvin until last year, demanded that his portrait be removed from the law school. But if those ladies had done their homework, they would have realized that there would be no law school for them to attend had it not been

for the tireless efforts of Melvin.

To be fair, the Melvin portrait isn’t the only point of contention. Fields and Henderson also demanded other considerations from Elon, which have since resulted in new programs designed to promote diversity and inclusion. But rather than focus on substantive changes that can have a positive impact on students of all colors, Fields and Henderson told the News and Record that they are still “pushing for the portrait’s removal.”

There are plenty of injustices that we as a society must address, including the elimination of voter suppression and health disparities.

We must also fight for the removal of barriers to employment and demand that rogue cops be punished for abuse. But my message to young people is this: pick your battles and fight like hell to win the ones that are important. Not everything you’ve become woke to needs to be removed. !

JIM LONGWORTH is the host of Triad Today, airing on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on ABC45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).

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RiverRun delivers award-winning drama Drought

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he RiverRun International Film Festival will present a special, one-nightonly screening of the award-winning drama Drought this Friday. Tickets are Mark Burger $12 and available at https://riverrunfilm. com/. The film will be Contributor available online for viewing for 72 hours, and the screening will also include a look at Elevent, the virtual screening system that will be utilized for the 2021 RiverRun International Film Festival, which is scheduled for May 6-16, 2021.

Filmed on location in and around Wilmington, Drought is set in the early 1990s, during the worst drought in modern history, and focuses on Carl (newcomer Owen Scheid), a youngster who is on the autism spectrum, and becomes convinced that a major storm will hit the outskirts of his small town, thereby ending the drought.

As a way of bonding with Carl, his teenaged sister Sam (Hannah Black) decides that she and he will become amateur storm chasers, pursuing it in their mother’s ice-cream truck, which they’ve stolen.

Estranged older sister Lillian (Megan Petersen) and friendly neighbor Lewis (Owen’s real-life big brother, Drew Scheid) impetuously decide to accompany them.

What transpires is more than just pursuing a storm, but an in-depth exploration of the ties that bind and those ties that need repairing. Each character must come to terms with his or her own past, the mistakes they’ve made, the tragedies and pitfalls they’ve experienced in their young lives, and attempting an attempt to make a better, happier future for themselves and each other. In short, Drought is a journey of self-discovery.

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Jane McNeill, Justin Matthew Smith, Jerry Winsett, Lori Lail Marette, and newcomers Kaitlin Baden and Kelby Roberson round out the cast of Drought, which also marks the feature debut of both executive producer/story writer/screenwriter/co-director Hannah Black (who plays Sam) and executive producer/story writer/co-director Megan Petersen (who plays Lillian).

Drought, which had been scheduled to be shown during last year’s RiverRun festival, won the Independent Spirit Award at the 2020 Naples International Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Film at the 2020 Vail Film Festival, as well as nominations for the Grand Jury Award for Feature Film at the Dances With Films Festival and the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 Naples Film Festival.

In addition to its acclaim and Tarheel State ties, Drought is being presented in anticipation of World Autism Awareness Day (April 2), which was adopted by the United Nations in December 2007 and encourages member states of the United Nations to raise awareness about those affected by autism spectrum disorders throughout the world. It is one of only seven official healthspecific United Nations Days.

“We are thrilled to offer Drought for one night only, and the timing just in advance of World Autism Awareness Day could not be more perfect,” said RiverRun executive director Rob Davis. “Having the opportunity to show a North Carolina-born film is always a special treat, and we are so glad that the cancellation of the 2020 festival doesn’t mean that our audience won’t have the chance to see this wonderful piece of work.”

For more information, call (336) 7241502 or visit the official RiverRun website, which is regularly updated: http://riverrunfilm.com/. !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2021, Mark Burger.

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leisure [NEWS OF THE WEIRD] CAN’T HELP HERSELF

Two weeks after a plea deal fell through in connection with a 2019 attempt to stowaway on a flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Chuck Shepherd Marilyn Hartman, 69, was arrested and charged with trespassing March 16 as she attempted to sneak onto another flight at O’Hare, the Associated Press reported. At the time of her 2019 arrest, Hartman was on probation after having bypassed security in January 2018 and boarded a flight from Chicago to London without a ticket. The Cook County Sheriff’s Department says it plans to seek a felony escape charge for Hartman.

PERSPECTIVE

In March, Einstein Cafe, an upscale dessert chain with outlets across the Gulf Arab states, started a fad by selling its thick, milky drinks in plastic baby bottles, complete with nipples. The Associated Press reported the cafe was inspired by photos of trendy bottles on social media, and the idea was an instant hit. People lined up at Einstein stores, they “took photos, they had fun, they remembered their childhood,” said Younes Molla, CEO of the chain, but others “were so angry they said horrible things.” In Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain, the government cracked down on the new cafe offerings, saying the bottles violate the countries’ customs and traditions; in Oman, citizens were asked to report sightings of the baby bottle confections to a consumer protection hotline.

RECURRING THEMES

— Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her daughter, Emily Rose Grover, 17, were arrested in Pensacola, Florida, on March 16 after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found the duo had allegedly stuffed the ballot box with votes for Emily for homecoming queen last fall. Suspicions were raised when the Escambia County School District reported illegal accessing of hundreds of its students’ digital accounts.

Authorities said Carroll, an assistant elementary school principal, had access to the district student information system, and investigators traced unauthorized entries into the system to Carroll’s cellphone and computers, where nearly 250 votes were cast. Fox News reported that

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investigators also said students reported being told by Grover about her mother’s activity. Each of them was charged with offenses against computers and other cybercrimes, along with conspiracy.

— Raffaela Spone, 50, was arrested in early March in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after prosecutors say she created “deepfake” videos and photographs of at least three girls on her daughter’s cheerleading squad in an apparent attempt to embarrass them and force them off the team. Prosecutors said Spone allegedly sent the manipulated images to the girls — shown drinking, smoking and naked — anonymously and suggested they kill themselves, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Parents of one of recipients contacted police, and detectives traced the IP address where the messages originated to Spone’s home. Investigators believe Spone’s daughter was unaware of what her mother was doing.

COMPELLING EXPLANATION

Andrew Almer of Fargo, North Dakota, has flown an American flag from the balcony of his condominium for two years, but the condo association is now demanding the flag be taken down because it creates too much noise flapping in the wind. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Almer told reported KVLY-TV. “It’s not rude, it’s not nasty, it’s the American flag. ... It’s not coming down anytime soon.”

HOME SWEET HOME

Vietnam veteran Tom Garvey, 78, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, has released a new memoir, not about his service in Southeast Asia, but about the “secret apartment” he maintained for two years in an empty concession stand in Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, once home to both the Phillies and the Eagles, reported The Philadelphia Inquirer. From 1979 to 1981, Garvey lived in an “off-thewall South Philly version of the Phantom of the Opera,” he said, furnishing the apartment with a bed, sink, refrigerator, stereo, coffeemaker, hot plate and seating for guests, who included players’ wives waiting for their husbands after games. Leftover Astroturf served as the carpeting. Cousin Terry Nilon said being in Garvey’s apartment, located literally in leftfield, felt like “Vet stadium was in his living room.” !

© 2021 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

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Taboo Tales: Author Jessica Cale talks Sex, Pirates, Netflix, and Her Latest Book

ot every article in Dirty Sexy History, the blog founded and edited by historian and novelist Jessica Cale, is about sex.

The earliest Ian McDowell entry, from 2014, is titled “Absinthe in Seventeenth-Century YES! Writer England (Sort Of).”

The most recent “A Cure for (Anything) that Ails You: Cocaine in Victorian Medicine,” was posted on March 18. Appropriately enough for a blog so highly addictive, there’s a lot of drugs and booze.

There are also entries on the 19th-century passion for nipple rings and tattoos, the daring Russian women who dropped bombs on Hitler’s armies from tiny rickety airplanes, the 19th century Parisian equivalent of goth clubs, and why “Civil War Hospitals were Enough to Make You Sick.”

But there’s also plenty of sex.

Representative titles include “Hysteria and Medicinal Masturbation: The 19th Century Origins of the Vibrator,” and “Sex, Contraception, and Abortion in Medieval England.”

My favorite, “The Lays of Ancient Rome: Pompeian Pornography and the Museum Secretum,” perfectly embodies Cale’s scholarly-but-saucy approach and her

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Author and Historian Jessica Cale contributors. It naughtily riffs on the title of an 1842 collection of narrative poems (or lays) by Thomas Babington Macaulay while presuming the reader won’t be turned off by the Latin “Secretum,” the title of the section of the British Museum devoted to material once thought obscene.

“I called the blog Dirty, Sexy History because I wanted to focus on the aspects of history that aren’t sanitized for a modern audience,” Cale told YES! Weekly. “You learn a lot of dates and definitions in high school history class, but there’s no life

to them. Social and cultural history has always been my focus.”

Cale said that, despite having a broad interest in a range of subjects and periods, she considers herself “first and foremost” a historian of sex and sexuality.

“Before I went to college for history, I was a volunteer peer sex-ed counselor for Planned Parenthood (I was the girl you could ask about birth control and STIs, and I could show you how to put a condom on a banana). Sex is obviously a huge part of life—having the knowledge to keep yourself safe and the freedom to control your own reproductive destiny is critical, and it always has been. People try to use bad history to justify rolling back reproductive rights, and so many people

just accept what they’re saying at face value because no one ever told them anything different.”

This expertise is why Netflix hired Cale in 2019 as one of the historians seen and heard in the new “scripted documentary” series The Lost Pirate Kingdom, in which she talks about everything from the famous Irish-American pirate Anne Bonny (even a cursory glance at Cale’s blog reveals her interest in women who defy traditional roles) to how “wife sales” and “wife auctions” were a common way for men to end their marriages (divorce was widely available only to the wealthy, and women had to come from rich or powerful families to have any say in it).

“One of the directors was a big fan of Dirty, Sexy History and turned the others on to it,” said Cale. “They contacted me and asked if I would consider appearing on the show, and we had a brief online interview to see how I did on camera. I talked about syphilis for what must have been about a half-hour, and they flew me to New York City the next week.”

Like many documentary series, the show mixes historians speaking to the camera with dramatized incidents, but the latter are longer than usual for the form, contain more dialogue, and feature actors charismatic enough for a dramatic series or feature film. For instance, the show depicts Edward Thatch as taking the name and ferocious persona of Blackbeard and striking out against the English slave trade. Then, in North Carolina, he turns from liberating slaves to selling them.

Cale told YES! Weekly that “we can only speculate” on Thatch’s views regarding slavery. “At this time, Bristol was the second largest port in England, and that was a direct result of the slave trade.

His family probably made their money

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from it. At this point, a lot of people were beginning to subscribe to ideas of ‘racial theory,’ these bunk science justifications for enslaving other races. People felt differently about it, and even if Thatch was opposed to it—which he very much could have been—it was still very much a reality in his life.”

She also spoke of the Bristol-born pirate’s special relationship with North Carolina. “It made sense for him to come up here. The way the coast is, it would have been easy for him to sail inland a bit and basically disappear from anyone pursuing him. Further, the governor and chief justice were in his pocket, so North Carolina was an ideal safe haven for him.”

I already knew that Blackbeard was not a bloodthirsty psychopath (there is no record of him killing anyone, and he had a reputation for charming and marrying women rather than kidnapping them) and that his ferocious and even psychotic mage was a theatrical creation designed to frighten his victims into surrendering without a fight. But I was surprised to see him depicted as an educated man who, in a sex scene with Ann Bonney, speaks a bit of Latin and remarks on the usefulness of poetry for wooing ladies.

“Thatch was from a well-to-do family in Bristol, likely successful merchants, and he was very well educated,” said Cale.

“He could read and write, and Latin was taught in grammar schools at this time. It would be unusual if he didn’t have some Latin.”

Speaking of self-promotion, the famous pirate I already knew the most about is Anne Bonny. She was the heroine of my “Under the Flag of Night,” which was published in Asimov’s Science Fiction in 2004, reprinted in the Science Fiction WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Book Club’s Best Short Novels 2005, and is currently available on Amazon Kindle.

Bonny appears throughout Netflix’s The Lost Pirate Kingdom series, but her actual career as a pirate doesn’t begin until the first season is almost over, and it doesn’t depict the other famous female pirate, Mary Read, with whom she sailed, and who is rumored to have been her lover.

“There’s not a lot we know for certain about Anne Bonny,” Cale said. “She’s one of the only known female pirates from this period, and her legend lives on to this day. The sources are spotty and mostly legend, but even legend has to come from somewhere. I rather suspect there’s more than a grain of truth to the stories about her. She must have been an incredible fighter if men were willing to admit to being impressed or even beaten. She sounds like a fearsome character, but that wasn’t unusual at the time. Back in Britain, there were plenty of female fighters and cross-

dressing thieves. That’s not to say Anne wasn’t remarkable, only that she wasn’t the only woman doing these things.

When Mary Read turned up in trousers, she wasn’t the only other woman on the planet who rejected social mores and habitually dressed as a man.”

Cale said she and other historians could only speculate whether Anne and Mary were actually lovers.

“We’ll never know for sure if that really happened, but it’s pretty likely it did.

During this period, women frequently experimented with each other sexually, and a number of them had lifelong romances.

Female relationships weren’t generally seen as threatening to men because men couldn’t work out the mechanics of them, so people turned a blind eye. It wasn’t a concern. Of course, we know that Mary died, but Anne disappeared, and what happened to her next is still a mystery.

There’s a theory that she went back to

Famous female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read

the States, married, and had a normal life, but I can’t imagine that was true. You don’t run away with Jack Rackham, then go home and marry some random farmer.

She probably went on to have more adventures under a different name.”

Then there’s Charles Vane. The one famous pirate who was every bit as vicious as his reputation claimed him to be.

“All the awful things other pirates were rumored to have done,” said Cale, were actually done by Vane.

“We don’t know for sure where he came from, but you have to realize that for most people in London at this time—and to a point, even in larger port towns in England—conditions were less than ideal.

The poor in London experienced the kind of poverty we can’t begin to imagine.

Vane likely grew up surrounded by death, disease, and filth, people living on top of each other and fighting every day to survive. This is a time when regular public executions were the main source of entertainment for most people. Hanging days at Tyburn were treated as public holidays; they wanted to set an example for the public, but the punishment was so casual and needlessly cruel—we’re talking children hanged for stealing pennies—that showing up and supporting those killed became a way to stand up to the tyranny of the judicial system. This is not the kind of world that inspires faith in law and order. Many people did rebel, and piracy was very much a part of that, but Vane didn’t stop at making his own way—he wanted to burn down the world.”

Cale has a particular interest in Tyburn, the infamous gallows that were the main place of execution for London and Middlesex until 1783. It’s the title of her first book, volume one in the Southwark MARCH 24-31, 2021

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Saga, a series of historical romances that began in 2014.

“I have 12 books out. Most fall somewhere between Historical Romance and Historical Fiction. The love story is there, but there are a lot of historical details, real-life settings, and a few cameos from historical figures,” she said. “Apart from those, I do also have a non-fiction history book, Sexuality and its Impact on History: The British Stripped Bare, which is a sexual history of the UK. There are a few authors in that one, and I wrote the chapter on the Middle Ages.”

Cale grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, and moved to Wales on her own when she was 18. There, she earned a BA in Ancient and Modern History and an MFA in Creative and Media Writing, both from the University of Swansea.

“In 2007, I did an internship with BBC History Magazine and continued to work with them as a freelance history tourism writer for the next two years. I wrote for several other people as a freelance journalist as well, mostly music magazines. I came back to the States in 2011 and ended up in the Triad—my best friend from my MFA, Jennifer, was originally from here, and she said we’d like it, so we thought we’d give it a try. It’s been ten years so far, and I love it here.”

She said that Dirty, Sexy History started as a reaction to negative reviews her friends were getting for their Historical Romances. “Romance has a bad reputation for being inaccurate, and I wanted there to be a place where we could show our receipts. History isn’t nearly as buttoned-up as people like to believe, and it’s sort of become my mission to prove that.”

A scene from Netflix’s The Lost Pirate Kingdom, a series on which Cale is a regular historical contributor When she’s not stringing love stories together, she conducts ghost tours for Carolina History and Haunts. Since 2018, she has owned her own company, Safeword Author Services, with the motto “We will whip your project into shape.”

Her husband John, who is also a historian, sometimes contributes articles to her blog. Though he grew up in London, she said that the pair met when she was in Swansea.

Cale said that one reason for her interest in sexuality is that a lot of previous cultures were more sexually enlightened than the contemporary United States.

“The Middle Ages were not nearly as repressed as people tend to believe. Sex outside of marriage was really no big deal, and most clergy appreciated it was going to happen and didn’t particularly care.

Abortion was common and didn’t have the same stigma attached to it that it does today. They didn’t believe that life began at conception. Some said it wasn’t until birth, and some said it was around the time you could feel the baby kick. Abortion wasn’t actually outlawed in the UK until the 19th century. Before that, it was viewed as birth control, and it was something women handled themselves. There were even recipes for abortifacients made from household plants in mainstream recipe books through the 17th century. Until very recently, sexuality was a spectrum rather than a binary, and most people would have been what we now consider bisexual.

Gender roles were not as stark for much of history either, and effeminacy among men was not seen anywhere near as negatively as it is in America today.”

Modern painting of Anne Bonny

I asked the Historical Romance and Historical Fiction Author Jessica Cale to tell us about three of her favorite historical figures. She replied with the following italicized responses: Lola Montez: [I’m currently working on a long post about her] Lola Montez was an Irish woman who reinvented herself as a Spanish dancer and had affairs across India, Europe, and North America. Her affair with King Ludwig I of Bavaria resulted in his abdication after he named her the Countess of Landsfeld. Forced to flee, she became an author and lecturer and ended up moving to America.

Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges: [there is an article about him on DSH] What’s not the like about the chevalier? He was a fencing prodigy, a composer so skilled that he taught Marie Antoinette music and made Mozart jealous, and he led the Légion St-Georges, the first all-Black regiment in Europe.

Mata Hari: Like Lola Montez, Mata Hari escaped an abusive marriage and reinvented herself as a dancer in Paris. She started her career in her early 30s, a little later than Montez, but was every bit as popular and, of course, became infamous as a spy, but we still don’t know if she really was one. As a popular entertainer and Dutch citizen, she was able to travel freely throughout the war. France tried to hire her to spy for them, but she was unable to learn anything. Wanting a scapegoat for everything going wrong, France convicted her of spying for Germany and claimed her makeup was invisible ink. The prosecution had argued that she was too attractive to be trustworthy. !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

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Two Protests. Same Cause. Different Response.

“Say his name,” shouted AJ Morgan to fellow activists gathered in front of Ben & Jerry’s in Greensboro’s Friendly Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

“Marcus Smith!” roared the crowd.

Ian McDowell The last time Morgan led a protest YES! Writer at Friendly, it ended when Greensboro police threatened marchers with a sonic weapon. On Saturday, officers were called to the scene by the Friendly Center Security Director but did not approach those demanding the city settle a lawsuit brought by the family of the man who died after being hogtied by GPD officers in 2018.

There are several differences between Saturday’s protest and the one on June 27 of last year.

The earlier one was organized by Morgan and the organization known as the Three, who in previous marches had shut down parts of Battleground and Wendover Avenues and I-40. Most of those who spoke at it were Black and under 40. The June 2020 marches aimed to make an economic statement by temporarily denying access to businesses in areas other than downtown.

While police allowed the Battleground and Wendover marches to continue along their announced routes, the one at Friendly Center ended when the GPD threatened to deploy the department’s Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). While LRADs can be used as directional PA systems, the devices are also sonic crowd-control weapons capable of damaging eardrums and inducing vomiting.

In contrast, Saturday’s protest was organized by the Greensboro Justice Coalition, which skews a bit older than groups protesting last year. The first speaker was internationally-known activist, labor organizer, and Greensboro Massacre survivor Rev. Nelson Johnson of the Beloved Community Center. Subsequent speakers included two prominent local white activists; retired civil rights attorney Lewis Pitts and Democracy Greensboro’s Hester Petty.

The June protest marched into multiple businesses, some of which welcomed them (the Fresh Market gave them cups of water, and another business gave me them ice pops and Chilly Willies), while WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

PHOTO BY IAN MCDOWELL

Supporters of Marcus Smith’s family, organized by the Greensboro Justice Coalition, gathered at Friendly Center on Saturday afternoon. others, such as Old Navy, tried to keep them out. They blocked the Green Valley Road Exit for 15 minutes, which led to incidents of one white motorist brandishing a pistol and racially charged slurs being thrown.

Saturday’s protesters stayed out of public streets and gathered in one place rather than marching through the shopping center. They stationed themselves in the traffic circle outside of Ben & Jerry’s - another business which appeared to welcome their presence. There, members of the Bike Patrol, a volunteer group that regularly escorts anti-racist marchers in Greensboro and Graham, directed traffic around the protest. Drivers were slowed down, and in some cases, only allowed to turn one way but were never stopped.

Before the rally, small groups of activists distributed flyers throughout the shopping center.

Perhaps the most significant difference between last year’s protest and this one was how the crowd answered, “Say his name!” Last year, the response was a litany of Black men and women killed by police, including the names George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, and WinstonSalem’s John Neville. On Saturday, every repetition of SAY HIS NAME! by Morgan, Rev. Johnson, and singer Lauren Cunningham was answered with a thunderous MARCUS SMITH! This was the first time a major protest over Smith’s 2018 death has been held outside of downtown Greensboro.

Ten minutes into the rally, a security director for Friendly Central Properties arrived and asked protesters to disperse.

Rev. Johnson responded equally po-

litely but stated they would only do so if ordered to leave by police. The security director then called GPD on his cell phone, speaking to someone he addressed as “Ron.” After about 20 minutes, GPD officers emerged from patrol cars in front of Harris-Teeter, and bicycle officers gathered in the cinema parking lot, but neither group approached the protesters.

“See, they won’t disperse a more diverse crowd,” said Johnson. He then asked Lauren Cunningham to sing “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Set on Freedom),” a song composed by Rev. Robert Wesby during the 1961 Freedom Rides.

“Nina Simone, one of my favorite singers, said we shouldn’t have to fear,” said Cunningham. “If we’re having a mental crisis, we shouldn’t have to fear our own police department.” The restraint that ended Smith’s life was applied after Smith, who was suffering a mental health crisis during the 2018 North Carolina Folk Festival, approached the officers and asked to be taken to the hospital. “This isn’t just for Marcus,” said Cunningham, “it’s for all of us.”

At around 4:30 p.m., the rally ended without intervention from the police.

Johnson asked those present to email the Greensboro City Council. “Demand that the Marcus Smith case be settled because we have come today believing that, if there is no justice, we have to keep on making good trouble. Let us step over the ditches of division and build an unbreakable unity, one that no political bloc can stop. The police are not here. I heard that they have made a decision that they are not coming, because the people united can never be defeated.”

Several people taking part in the protest told YES! Weekly that they are veterans of anti-racist protests in Alamance County but had to come to this one after learning that Douglas Strader, one of the officers who hogtied Smith, was recently hired by Graham Police.

Dejuana Bigelow, whom AlamanceWomen.org called a Black leader for Change, told YES! Weekly that Strader’s hiring has made activists in Alamance County more aware of the Smith case.

Several others who took part in Saturday’s rally said they’d recently moved to Greensboro after receiving threats from Graham neo-Confederates, and that this case would impact who they’d lend their support to in the Fall Election.

Greensboro resident Paulette Montgomery said she believes Strader’s hiring was an attempt to “intimidate” protesters there. Along with her daughters, Montgomery was pepper-sprayed at a voting rights march by Graham Police and Alamance County deputies in October 2020. The clash between participants and law enforcement garnered national headlines and condemnation from Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein. As previously reported, Strader was fired last September for a 2019 incident in which he discharged his weapon at a fleeing car.

“It’s not having the effect they intended,” said Montgomery. !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

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HEAR IT!

Dylan Innes’ “Taste the Tide” flows down the mountain

D

ylan Innes makes a mountain-to-sea connection with his latest album, “Taste the Tide,” a nine-song acoustic-oriented sophomore reKatei Cranford lease recorded at ElectroMagnetic Contributor Radiation Recorders in Winston-Salem.

“Doug Williams was an obvious choice, because of his experience recording some really major acoustic projects,” Innes said of the Triad studio where Williams has worked with the likes of the Avett Brothers, Mipso, and David Mayfield; as well as Triad artists including Abigail Dowd, Wurlitzer Prize, and the bo-stevens.

“He’s got a lot of really cool vintage gear, and his studio had a nice relaxed

feeling to it,” Innes continued, praising the general vibe and vintage gear of the studio that’s built within an old, renovated house. “We recorded the entire project in about eight hours,” he explained of his tight budget and single-day session. “I practiced consistently for a month, including the bass and electric guitar overdubs, so that I’d be prepared to just knock it out.”

Innes’ experience as a multi-instrumentalist came early, albeit begrudgingly. “I took the typical piano lessons when I was five or six, and I hated it,” he said, turning to how a middle-school interest in theater led him to learn guitar for a role in Grease.

“I found a Gretsch acoustic for $20 at a yard sale,” he recalled, “and my parents said if I learned to play it, they’d buy me an electric one.”

From there came a move to the mountains, where Innes joined bands 80 Unlacey and Unduke. “I got started just playing house shows around Asheville,” he explained of how he ultimately moved to

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Boone, where he’s currently enrolled in the Music Production and Recording Program at Appalachian State.

As a solo artist, “Taste the Tide” follows Innes’ 2020 debut release, “Unglued,” which explored the dichotomy of “coming unglued,” relative to both breakdowns and breakthroughs. “Coming Unglued has two meanings,” he explained, “the first means coming apart mentally and feeling like things are breaking down. The second means coming unstuck in life and moving forward.”

In contrast, his latest work looks back on simpler times. “Tasting the tide is a metaphor for allowing yourself to actually feel things. As we grow older, the water seems to rise and rise until we can’t breathe,” he said, expanding on his thematic metaphor. “I’m not saying breathe in water but let yourself feel.”

For Innes, those feelings embody days “from back when I would just sing and play guitar for fun, without worrying about the outcome,” he said, reinforcing an aim for simplicity inspired by Kentucky bluegrass songwriter Tyler Childers. “He’s so connected with his acoustic guitar, and I wanted to try and capture a similar energy,” Innes explained. “It helped me realize that simple instrumentation can sometimes convey the meaning of the song even more deeply. Whereas before, I definitely had a tendency to overproduce stuff.”

While there’s barely a splash of bluegrass on the album, Innes’ preference for production and noted influences from older country artists and acts like Jason Molina come through. “I was actually listening to stuff like Johnny Cash,” he said of artists helping steer his songwriting toward a more simple life.

It’s a concept highlighted in the album-

opener, “Lose or Gain,” written just a few days before recording. “It’s about just being grateful for where you are while reflecting on past mistakes,” Innes explained, calling the track “probably my most wholesome song.” A “Parrot Headed” brand of self-reflection peppers the album, which includes a cover of Jimmy Buffett’s “A Pirate Looks At Forty” (his dad’s favorite song) as the last track.

“Taste the Tide” hinges between the mountains and sea, not unlike the Triad, where Innes’ played his last live performance—a year ago (with 80 Unlacey) at New York Pizza in Greensboro. While he misses the stage, he’s not in a huge rush to return. “It took me a long time to admit,” he said, “but I like writing and recording much more than I do playing shows.”

With that, a shift in his songwriting is already underway. “I went simple on the previous album, so I want to go for a huge sound on my next release,” Innes explained, noting an intended big-band approach—including a full-string and brass section—for upcoming work.

But first, “I’m going to take a little time off to clear my head,” he added. “I really want to buy a scooter, take some time off of creative projects and just be a human being. That sounds great.”

“Taste the Tide” by Dylan Innes is available now over streaming platforms. !

KATEI CRANFORD Is a Triad music nerd who hosts the Tuesday Tour Report, a radio show that runs like a mixtape of bands touring NC the following week, 5:307p.m. on WUAG 103.1FM.

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last call

[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions

SMEAR PRESSURE I’m a college sophomore, and my boyfriend is a senior.

He’s a football player, and other girls have crushes on him.

Recently, he was with his guy friends at a party. A girl came over and said I’d slapped her across the face.

I’ve never even met her! Why would she do this? —Mystified

Amy Alkon

Advice Goddess

Women are seen as the kinder, gentler sex because they tend not to leave a trail of bloody noses and broken barstools.

But women go plenty aggressive on other women, just in ways they can’t patch up at urgent care — like when some mean girl dislocates your reputation and fractures your psyche in 36 places.

In short, while men have Fight Club, women have Underhanded Snipe Club. Researchers find that women almost always use “indirect aggression” against other women — nasty gossip, ostracism, and “just trying to help!” shaming remarks — to vie for mates and jobs. Psychologist Kaj Bjorkqvist explains that this covert “social manipulation” maximizes the harm to the victim while minimizing the risk of counterattack on the perpetrator, who often remains anonymous — leaving the victim unable to trace how her social status ended up in the morgue.

Women’s mate competition can be a beauty contest — hotting up one’s appear-

ance to yank male eyeballs away from female rivals — or an ugly contest: using “competitor derogation” (disparaging the competition to decrease others’ mate value relative to one’s own). A woman trashing another woman to men typically sneers that she’s ugly or slutty (in line with men’s evolved priorities for physical attractiveness and fidelity). However, evolutionary psychologist Maryanne Fisher observes that if the woman casting the shade is not all that hot herself, her remarks about another woman’s looks are likely to be dismissed.

This might lead her to rely on “alternative tactics” — like inventing a story about how a hot woman is actually the lady bar brawler of the sophomore class.

Unfortunately for the cuckoo case trying to destroy your reputation, her efforts may backfire. Most undergrad guys aren’t dating to wife up, so some (or many!) would be way into a high scorer on the hot/ crazy scale: Hello, aggro babe hate sex! As for the eventual “auto detailing” that so often comes with, guys try to focus on the upside, like their car being easier to spot in a crowded campus parking lot. (Just look for the hot-pink spray paint, “GET YOUR HERPES HERE!”)

they’re getting it wrong (like that they aren’t spending enough time reading “Hooked on Phonics” to their kid in the womb), when they could really just leave their kid in the woods and say, “Come back when you’re 20.”

Okay, so the woods thing is a bit of an exaggeration. However, psychologist and twins researcher Nancy Segal explains that while “most parents believe they significantly shape their children’s behaviors ... we now know that genetic effects are pervasive.” In fact, “Most behaviors have a 50% genetic influence.”

The power of genes in shaping our personality and choices is especially apparent in identical twins who were separated at birth and raised apart. Segal studied two of these identical twins: Oskar, who grew up Catholic in Nazi Germany and was an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth, and his brother, Jack, who was raised as a Jew in the Caribbean and spent time on an Israeli kibbutz. When Segal and her colleagues brought them together as adults, each showed up at the Minneapolis airport in a white sports jacket over a two-pocket blue shirt with epaulets and had wire-rimmed glasses and a mustache. Among their

many shared quirks, each read magazines from back to front, wrapped tape around pens for a better grip, kept rubber bands around their wrists, and — because each is germophobic — flushed toilets before use as well as after.

As Segal emphasizes, a child’s “environment,” including parenting, “contributes only modestly” to the sort of person they become. Focusing on this might help. Perhaps if you remove any “shoulda, coulda” blame you place on yourself, you can set aside some of your anger, show compassion for your daughter, and be loving and supportive despite your dismay at her choices.

It’s possible your grandkids have a chance.

If you come at this more lovingly than adversarially, they just might end up spending more time with Grandpa than the bad dad you probably suspect is a few infant crying jags away from putting grain alcohol in the sippy cup. !

GOT A PROBLEM? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com). Follow her on Twitter @amyalkon. Order her latest “science-help” book, Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence. ©2021 Amy Alkon. Distributed by Creators.Com.

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answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 9

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