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THANKFUL & Grateful

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Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com

EDITORIAL

Editor CHANEL R. DAVIS chanel@yesweekly.com

YES! Writers JOHN BATCHELOR MARK BURGER KATEI CRANFORD LYNN FELDER JIM LONGWORTH IAN MCDOWELL

PRODUCTION

Senior Designer ALEX FARMER designer@yesweekly.com

Designer SHANE HART artdirector@yesweekly.com

ADVERTISING

Marketing ANGELA COX angela@yesweekly.com

Promotion NATALIE GARCIA

DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT 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

3 Music Box Films has released Jeremy Workman’s award-winning documentary feature SECRET MALL APARTMENT on DVD ($23.96 retail) and Blu-ray ($27.96 retail), each boasting a bevy of bonus features.

4 It’s the time of the season when we’re forced to examine the things and people that WE ARE GRATEFUL for having in our lives.

5 KEEPER, the latest directorial effort by Osgood Perkins, comes hot on the heels of his Stephen King adaptation The Monkey, released in February, and reunites him with lead actress Tatiana Maslany, composer Edo Van Breemen, and cinematographer Jeremy Cox (who handled second-unit chores on the earlier film).

8 This year, the YES! Weekly staff has been asked to submit a brief description detailing what they are THANKFUL FOR during the holiday season.

11 Gather ‘round, y’all. The HOLIDAYS OFFICIALLY BEGIN this week — in the name of gratitude and goodwill, both of which you can feel in short supply depending on where you look. But even as the days get darker, there’s an ICE-melting light and a lot of love being passed down the table this Thanksgiving and across the weeks that follow.

12 At the Nov. 18 meeting of the Guilford County elections board, chair Eugene Lester called VOTING A PRIVILEGE rather than a right. “As citizens in this great country, we have certain rights and privileges,” said Lester.

Filmmaker Jeremy Workman has a Secret …

BY MARK BURGER

For many years, shopping malls have been synonymous with Christmas. Whether it was the holiday decorations, the (sometimes free) gift-wrapping, or a sit-down with the resident mall Santa, malls and Christmas still go hand in hand despite more current options for gift buying and gift-giving.

It therefore seems only ﬁtting that Music Box Films has released Jeremy Workman’s award-winning documentary feature Secret Mall Apartment on DVD ($23.96 retail) and Blu-ray ($27.96 retail), each boasting a bevy of bonus features. For the ﬁlm fan on your holiday list, Secret Mall Apartment is an ideal gift, and yet another triumph for Workman, earning unanimous critical acclaim and a slew of festival awards from the Cleveland International Film Festival, IFFBoston, and the Calgary International Film Festival, to name a few.

The principal character in the ﬁlm, aside from the city of Providence, R.I., is Michael Townsend, an artist so incensed by the neighborhood’s gentriﬁcation, which essentially laid waste to the exhibition and performance space he and his fellow artists used, that he hatched a plan to “relocate” to a long-forgotten storage space in the mall. He and his friends surreptitiously cleaned up and furnished the space into an actual living space. Even more surprising is that they remained undetected for four years (2003-’07).

The discovery of the “secret mall apartment” made national headlines, not just for its audacity but as a statement of sorts about corporate greed, and the ingenuity of Townsend and his fellow artists, none of whom had ever been named or spoken about the events until now. Townsend himself accepted full responsibility and was issued a lifetime ban from ever entering Providence Place Mall again.

Workman edited 25 hours of video footage shot by the artists and combined them with footage he shot years later, to create a comprehensive portrait of how Secret Mall Apartment came to be, its impact on the participants and community at large, and where both are now.

The concept, explained Workman, “just grabs you because it’s so absurd. But then the movie brings you into all these

di erent textures, and I love that. I think in some ways that’s what my ﬁlmmaking is all about.”

He came to the project in a roundabout way. He happened to be working on Lily Topples the World in Athens, Greece, and the cultural center there had been adorned with tape art … created by Michael Townsend.

“He’s probably the best-known tape artist in the world, and we became friends instantly,” Workman said. “He was also watching me ﬁlm [Lily], which I thought was really interesting, and soon he said he was the guy that lived in the mall. I had no idea what he was talking about. At ﬁrst, I thought he was, like, ‘punking’ me — like this was all a big, elaborate joke. Then I Googled it and, sure enough, it was on Google — and ‘Oh my God.’”

That didn’t make the resulting documentary a fait accompli. “I became fascinated, obsessed with it,” Workman said, “and then I spent the next year convincing Michael, and then convincing the eight main residents to let me be the person to make the documentary. At ﬁrst, they all said no. They have been saying no to ﬁlmmakers for 17 years. The reason they always said no was because they felt like everybody’s pitch was ‘This is an incredible prank!’ — and they wanted to tell that kind of crazy, sensational side of the story.”

Workman persuaded them by emphasizing his interest in them as artists and their work, “which was tangentially related to the secret apartment. I think they ﬁnally felt like this was the story they were ﬁnally waiting for somebody to tell.”

For audiences, “I wanted viewers to come into this story [thinking] ‘Oh, this is going to be so much fun. What a great, funny concept. I can’t wait to watch this movie.’ And, sure enough, the movie delivers on that. It’s like this incredibly entertaining heist movie. But I knew that was just the way that we would get into all these deeper topics, like gentriﬁcation and what it means to live your life with purpose and community, and how to live your life with art, and what’s the meaning of art, and all these kinds of highfalutin’ ideas that I wanted to explore. Making this movie has been such a thrill. It’s been so much fun. I like the themes of the movie: Being an artist and living your life in that way and taking a stance against

these bigger, bigger entities.”

Even as he began pre-production, Workman was concerned that the powers that be at Providence Place Mall would not look kindly on a documentary about its undetected “tenants,” as it were.

“That I was always worried about,” he admitted. “Are they going to come after us? Are they going to do a ‘cease and desist’? So we didn’t tell them, and when the movie was done, we kind of tiptoed around it. I brought in a lot of lawyers. Then, miraculously, the mall came to us and said, ‘We heard about the documentary. We want to be involved.’ They premiered the movie at the mall this year, and it played for six months from March to October, and we were one of the biggest hits at the theater in the mall! And they unbanned Michael Townsend, so it’s an incredible coda to the movie.”

“I first became aware of Jeremy Workman’s films during my a liation with the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival prior to coming to North Carolina,” said Rob Davis, former executive director of the RiverRun International Film Festival. “He is an extremely talented filmmaker, and I think one of his key strengths is finding unique stories about unique individuals and crafting exceptional documentaries about these people. He has a gift for telling their stories in a way that resonates incredibly well with audiences.”

Indeed, both The World Before Your Feet (2018) and Lily Topples the World (2021) drew big crowds at RiverRun. “We

were trying to get to RiverRun this year, but we ran into some challenges with our release,” Workman said. “I’ve been to RiverRun, I think, four times, (and) RiverRun has had this incredible support for me. They’ve always really supported me as a ﬁlmmaker. Also, a/perture cinema played Secret Mall Apartment during its theatrical run.

“I’ve always loved coming to WinstonSalem. I ﬁnd the city so interesting. It’s kind of a mix of history, art, and culture, and I’ve had successful collaborations with some former students at UNCSA. I’ve just always been a fan of the community there. So, I’m looking forward to coming back to RiverRun, if they’ll have me!”

The o cial website for Secret Mall Apartment is, appropriately enough, https://secretmallapartment.com/ !

Jeremy Workman

BY CHANEL R. DAVIS

It’s the time of the season when we’re forced to examine the things and people that we are grateful for having in our lives.

The same is here at YES! Weekly . In this week’s edition, I’ve asked our staff

Grateful

members to reflect on what they are thankful for this year. While I’m aware that it is a cliché, I think it gives us an opportunity to reflect on our last year and prepare for the next.

Kind of a preamble to the incoming New Year’s Resolutions.

We often don’t take the time to focus

on what’s important to us. We go about our days doing the things required to make our lives and our loved ones’ lives easier. I know that I have often thought the world was ending when something didn’t go the way I wanted, without thinking about all the things that are going right in my universe.

So this year, in the spirit of gratitude, I’m thankful for the mundane and the exciting moments that have happened this year.

I’m thankful for my family, friends, colleagues, and the whole YES! crew. Thank you for the support you all give me when I’m working late, need a break, or am just being my regulardegular self. I work hard to mold myself into someone that you’d be proud to associate with.

I’m thankful for my health and the ability to hit the gym every morning for my steel therapy sessions.

I’m even thankful for the rough times that this year has brought. It has helped make me a better human and allowed me to focus on what is important versus the noise. The slight mistakes and lessons leave me wiser

than I was before.

I’m thankful for the news cycle, always keeping journalists like me busy and eager to inform readers like you.

I’m thankful for the residents, organizations, officials, and businesses that trust us to tell their stories, and furthermore, trust us to give them the information they need to make an informed decision.

Last but not least, I’m grateful for you wonderful readers. You continue to push myself and this publication to be the best version of ourselves. You challenge us to raise the bar on our continued quest to provide news for the best of the Triad.

I ask you to take the time to reflect on the things and people you are grateful for this year. I charge you to appreciate those things and let those you love know you are grateful for it all.

Happy Thanksgiving. !

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.

Osgood Perkins’ latest chiller is a creepy Keeper

Keeper , the latest di-

rectorial effort by Osgood Perkins, comes hot on the heels of his Stephen King adaptation The Monkey , released in February, and reunites him with lead actress Tatiana Maslany, composer Edo Van Breemen, and cinematographer Jeremy Cox (who handled second-unit chores on the earlier film). Like much of his work, Keeper is first and foremost a horror film, but Perkins revels in injecting large doses of black humor into his films, and this is no exception.

Having evidently never seen a horror film before, artist Liz (Maslany) and her doctor boyfriend Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) are enjoying a weekend getaway at his family’s remote cabin in the woods (shades of the recent Die My Love and any number of similar chillers). They’re all alone in these seemingly bucolic surroundings … at least until Liz begins hearing, seeing, and dreaming spooky things. Yes, this is (very) familiar territory, but stylishly rendered and smoothly orchestrated by Perkins and screenwriter Nick Lepard, who penned the shark shocker Dangerous Animals released earlier this year. During the weekend, Malcolm’s obnoxious cousin Darren (Birkett Turton) drops by unannounced, with Euro-trash model girlfriend Minka (newcomer Eden Weiss) in tow. It’s Darren who tells Malcolm about Liz: “She’s a keeper. Don’t let this one get away.” Infamous last words, to say the least. Maslany (also an executive producer) and Sutherland (a co-executive producer) easily convey the mounting tensions that grow between them, which clearly have been present since they first met. One isn’t quite sure which character is

bound to go bonkers, but suffice to say they both eventually do, although in differing ways. The leads, who essentially carry the film, have come to play, and there’s a palpable enjoyment that comes across in their work. They’re in on the joke and willing to take it as far as it can go. Likewise, Perkins and Lepard evince their affection for the genre. They’re having fun too.

Keeper isn’t as bloody as you might anticipate, although there’s quite a bit of the red stuff on display — as well as enough drool and slime and goo to easily earn that (well-deserved) R rating. The film isn’t for the kiddies, and it’s not for the squeamish, either.

When the “Big Reveal” comes, it’s quite a whopper, and for some it may be a twist too many, but if you’ve come this far, you may well be willing to (again) suspend disbelief and let the story play out to its conclusion. For sure, it’s certainly something different — and the film’s last scene is nothing if not memorable. It sums things up in a neat, ghoulish, and satisfying fashion. For genre fans, Keeper is indeed a keeper. !

[WEEKLY ARTS ROUNDUP]

“A LIFE WELL LIVED”: CELEBRATING THE STORIES AND SPIRIT OF PHYLLIS DUNNING

SUBMITTED

“Ms. Dunning was one of the few teachers who didn’t let me get away with being a jackass in high school. She didn’t believe I was that person, and she still comes out to my shows when I come through town.” — Ben Folds

In a city that prides itself on cultivating curiosity and creativity, few ﬁgures have shaped Winston-Salem’s cultural landscape more deeply than Phyllis Hemrick Dunning. This December, the community will gather to celebrate her remarkable life and legacy with the release of “A Life Well Lived: Mrs. Dunning’s Lesson Plan for Happiness.” The launch party will be held on the evening of Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in downtown Winston-Salem.

The book is the inaugural publication from Flourishing Media, a new nonproﬁt imprint of Partners Media dedicated to promoting art, entrepreneurship, and the spark of curiosity that brings the two together. Designed to uplift projects rooted in the local creative community, Flourishing Media’s mission aligns seamlessly with Dunning’s lifelong belief in the transformative power of the arts. In that spirit, all net revenue from the book will be donated to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Salem College, and the Howell Binkley Fellowship Program — institutions that represent the artistic and educational pursuits she has championed for decades.

Co-authored with Joyce Storey — an award-winning New York-based writer, actor, producer, and longtime friend — “A Life Well Lived” o ers an intimate, beautifully crafted portrait of Dunning’s nine decades of passion, travel, teaching, and connection. Storey helps shape the narrative with a playwright’s instinct and a collaborator’s heart, allowing Dunning’s voice to shine: warm, incisive, elegant, and often delightfully mischievous.

For 33 years, Dunning taught English literature to thousands of students in Winston-Salem, leaving an imprint that extended far beyond the classroom walls. Her lessons in Chaucer and Shakespeare were matched only by her insistence that students engage with the arts as active participants. She ushered teenagers into symphony halls, opera houses, theaters, and museums — sometimes for their very ﬁrst experiences — believing that exposure to beauty and storytelling builds character as much as intellect.

Her impact on the arts community is equally profound. Dunning has supported organizations such as the Winston-Salem Symphony, Piedmont Opera, UNC School of the Arts, and Reynolda House Museum of American Art, becoming a connector and mentor whose encouragement has shaped careers and strengthened institutions.

“A Life Well Lived” is a testament to purpose, curiosity, and connection. With its debut, Flourishing Media not only honors Dunning’s extraordinary life, but also fuels the next generation of artists, thinkers, and leaders who will shape Winston-Salem’s creative future.

For more information on “A Life Well Lived,” visit https://www.ﬂourishingmedia.com/ !

Mark Burger

Contributor

I felt uncertain about my future until I arrived at GTCC. Now, I know what’s possible — and it’s amazing.

future what’s it’s amazing.

Applying unlocks everything. Let us know you want in. gtcc.edu/whygtcc

Thankful and Grateful

TBY YES! WEEKLY STAFF

his year, the sta has been asked to submit a brief description detailing what they are thankful for during the holiday season. The submissions are below.

JOHN BATCHELOR

I am thankful, ﬁrst, to still be alive and healthy at this point in my life. In another year, I hope to be 80!

Second, I am glad I can still drive to Winston-Salem regularly and taste and enjoy good food, in addition to short trips in Greensboro.

Finally, I am thankful for my marriage and the quality of my life in general. It’s been a good ride. Don’t want to give it up anytime soon.

ANGELA COX

Feeling grateful this Thanksgiving for family, friends, good health, and the blessings that ﬁll my life each day.

KATEI CRANFORD

2025 has been a full year, so I’m o ering a full course of thanks from me to you, dear readers.

word of what’s going down around the Triad. The second course extends to my sweet, Brad — the handsomest Dolt — my lovin’ nerd and partner-in-crime, 11 years runnin’. Whether he’s shredding guitar or mowing the lawn, I’m so beyond grateful for the life we keep building and the memories we share. For our home and our little weirdo ward, Zazu. There’s nobody who can bake bread like Brad, and I don’t take for granted that he’ll bake it for me Thanksgiving morning, which I’m so, so thankful we’ll get to enjoy under the TV-glow of the Macy’s parade.

Getting to the main dishes, I’m thankful for the love of friends — near and far — the degree to which becomes more clear as the years roll on. Fast and slow, all at once, over milestones: marriages, babies, business, and bust. We don’t get to share as much time as I’d like, but I so appreciate when we can get together … hopefully sooner than later.

For dessert, gratitude goes out to my family and good health. It’s hard for a lot of folks out there, so there’s something especially sweet in the normalcy of full plates and able bodies — and I’m especially thankful for both this year. A year that seems anything but normal. In that light, the digestivo goes out with thanks and love to my neighbors and organizations out there working to keep folks safe (like Siembra N.C.) and fed (like the Shalom Project and Out of the Garden). We need it now more than ever.

With that, a round of cheers, dear Triad. Thanks for all you are!

ALEX FARMER

I can’t wait to do it again. My husband and home. Sometimes I feel like I don’t give my husband enough credit. This man would do anything for me and tells me I’m beautiful every day. Even when we’re mad at each other, I wouldn’t have anyone else. I’m thankful for the home we’ve created together. Even when the whole house is a mess, I’m blessed to have a mess. I’m thankful for our fur babies, Dallas and Lucy, for all their love and a ection.

Friends. Get yourself some good friends, and you’ll never feel alone! My circle is small, but I know my girls would do anything for me. Chanel, Danielle, and Kayla, I need y’all to know that without you, I don’t know how I would survive. I’m so grateful that someone loves me enough to put up with me. And I love you all for it.

JANICE GANTT

As an apertivo, I reﬂect on the a rmation to feel gratitude at being overwhelmed by a life you once dreamed of. And that’s 2025 in a nutshell, y’all. I blinked, and it ﬂew by on the wings of wrangling artists, interviews, festivals, and the blessed cat-herding that is event curation. Major thanks to all the bands, and managers; everyone at NCMA WinstonSalem, the Pour House, Ember Audio + Design, the CMPND N.C., the Ghoul Moon Crew, and anyone I’m overlooking because I am legitimately overwhelmed — thankful, grateful, honored, and exhausted.

“Let’s go around the table, and everyone say one thing they are thankful for!” Can you feel my eye-roll? This has become a Thanksgiving tradition that I truly loathe. But for my lovely editor, I shall try.

A ﬁrst round of “thanks” to the crew at YES! Weekly who keep plugging away to cover the who’s, what’s, and where’s — and continue to be an outlet for spreading the good

Faith. I’ve been a believer in Jesus for more than half my life, but I’ve only truly begun to dive into scripture. I’m reading daily verses, following guided scriptures, Bible plans, and taking time to talk to God. Doing this has not only made me feel more whole but also sets me up to have a more positive outlook.

Health. I was a smoker for 20 years, switching to vaping two years ago. Two months ago, I told myself I’d had enough, switched to nicotine-free vapes. Now I’m vape-free. What I thought would be impossible was more possible than I thought it could be. I’m so happy I didn’t give up on myself.

Family. My family is spread across North Carolina, from the foothills to the sandhills. We may be spread apart, but it’s such a blessing when we’re able to come together. We ﬁnally had a family vacation this year, and

I am forever grateful, thankful and blessed everyday! I’m very grateful for all the little and big things. I’m very blessed for my family and friends and the unconditional love. I’m very thankful for my job at YES! Weekly all these years!! I’ve been here and still able to be here. I started when the second issue was printed! I’ve met so many great people along the way. I love the freedom I have. I am thankful for my home, health, and all the people that have supported me along the way. I’m grateful to have the ability to have a sense of humor and always look on the bright side of trying times. I’m just so happy to be able to be here and keep going.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!

SHANE HART

This year I’m grateful for the time spent with loved ones. Whether you’re related or chosen family, time together is something that we often overlook in our busy schedules. It is important to take a step back and make sure you check in on the ones who are most important to you, especially during this time of the year. I’m also grateful for my community and how we’re able to come together in dark times and work together to stand up for what is right. With the weight of everything going on around us, I’m thankful for community and my loved ones. Life is already enough, let’s not go through it alone!

JIM LONGWORTH

America’s ﬁrst o cial Thanksgiving took place in December of 1619 at what is now Berkeley Plantation in Virginia. It was ordered by Capt. John Woodlief as a celebration in which he and his fellow travelers gave thanks for their safe arrival in a new land following months of hardships they had endured in the long journey from England. In that same spirit, I believe that before we can be truly thankful for anything, we must ﬁrst experience, endure, or be aware of the hardships that face us and others.

For example, I’m thankful that I can (at least for now) express my views in this paper and on my Triad Today television show, while others in my industry have been censored, ﬁred, and in some cases killed for speaking truth in their broadcasts and columns. I’m thankful that I was born in America and don’t have to live in fear of being deported. I’m thankful that I have enough food to eat while thousands of people in our community go hungry. I’m thankful that I have a roof over my head while others sleep on the streets.

I’m thankful that I grew up in an era when our elected o cials debated issues with each other instead of calling for their political opponents to be executed, and I am hopeful that in time we can once again co-exist in a civil society. I am also thankful to Eli Lilly and Mounjaro for rescuing me from diabetes and an early grave.

Most of all, I am thankful for helping to reduce the divorce rate in America by ﬁnally ﬁnding my soulmate after years of enduring personal disappointments and hardships. The fact is I’m a better person because of Pam. I give thanks for her every day, and I love her more than life itself.

Like most folks my age I have lost good friends and members of my immediate family, yet I still look forward to our annual gathering of relatives on Thanksgiving. It’s a day when we can all give thanks and celebrate having survived another day of our journey.

IAN MCDOWELL

“I do not live happily or comfortably / With the cleverness of our times” wrote Mary Oliver in “With Thanks to the Field Sparrow, Whose Voice Is So Delicate and Humble,” which has been called “a perfect poem for Thanksgiving.”

I only know 0liver from memes, but if those words are perfect for Thanksgiving, then the holiday should be boiled in cranberry sauce and buried with a turkey drumstick through its heart (to paraphrase what Scrooge said about Christmas, a holiday I love). And I prefer snakes to sparrows, whose voices are hardly delicate, and kill more songbirds than any native predator does.

It’s not the cleverness of our time that makes me uncomfortable, but it’s raging ignorance and hate. Oliver’s fans may call me a hater, but I love my friends who love her poetry, and agree with the writer/journalist (I think it was Emma Townshend) who said that reverence for Oliver means poetry still matters.

As with every year since I survived cancer, I’m thankful for my continued health and the vaccines that got me through the pandemic in which my medical history put me at particular risk.

But most of all, I’m thankful for my brave, brilliant, beautiful ﬁancé Amanda, my light and life in these times that are so much worse than uncomfortable, and who has introduced me to true joy by saying yes to my proposal. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with me roasting quail inside Cornish game hens and her making Italian sausage stu ng (she calls me her Scots sausage) and borscht, the soup that taught me to be thankful for beets. We will hold each other against the howling dark, surrounded by love and food and cats. !

Gather ‘round: Art! Love! Revolution!

Gather ‘round, y’all.

The holidays o cially begin this week — in the name of gratitude and goodwill, both of which you can feel in short supply depending on where you look.

But even as the days get darker, there’s an ICE-melting light and a lot of love being passed down the table this Thanksgiving and across the weeks that follow.

On Nov. 29, Grammy-nominee and Winston-Salem native Joe Troop will bring his “social justice bluegrass” Truth Machine band (featuring Winston’s Lu Fortado and Greensboro’s Jimmy Washington) to the Pinhook for a special night of righteous ruckus, pickin’ and playin’, with proceeds going directly to Siembra N.C. A “grassroots organization focused on defending our communities from abusive employers and landlords, ICE, and bad políticos,” Siembra N.C. has been essential for keeping North Carolinians safe from harassment and detainment through outreach, workshops, and launching a digital map that documents veriﬁed federal immigration enforcement sightings across the state.

“These traitors, ICE, have been devastating lives in North Carolina over the past week, and it’s a disgusting situation these fascists have been able to run amok without any accountability,” Troop said over Instagram. “My bluegrass band is going to take a stand! All ticket sales after venue expenses are going to be donated to an amazing organization called Siembra N.C. And we’re going to stand together in solidarity with our Latin American brothers and sisters who have been so mistreated lately.”

“Get ready for a satirical, featherru in’ night of bluegrass, straight out of the Piedmont of North Carolina,” said the Pinhook’s event listing, noting that Troop has “corralled some fellow do-righters o the grounds of Galax Fiddlers Convention to make some good, All-American trouble with ‘an equal mix of humor and heart!’”

Leaning into the heart of the matter, grassroots progressive action group Indivisible Guilford County has been pumping the Truth Machine show and are also the beneﬁciaries of the upcoming “Art! Love! Revolution!” art auction and concert fundraiser at the Back Table on Dec. 3. Established as a “platform for hosting demonstrations, getting out to vote, and pushing for a more progressive, inclusive country,” Indivisible Guilford County works to “preserve and promote the values and principles of our democratic republic for the common good” through in-person demonstrations and community resource campaigns (you can ﬁnd them most Wednesdays around 5 p.m. on the Walker Avenue bridge in Greensboro).

The auction is an endeavor from a handful of artists like Peter Schroth, Kat Lamp, and David Smith, who’ve wrangled pieces from more than 30 area makers (including: Amy Gordon, Barbara Campbell-Thomas, Caitlin Cary, Christopher Thomas, David Childers, Hollis Gabriel, Hank Rudisill, Ian Dennis, Jack Stratton, Jenny Eggleston, Laura Lashley, Mark Dixon, Paige Cox, Patrick Harris, Scott Neely, Scott Pope, Trina Olson, Woodie Anderson, Zap Mcconnell, and more). And secured the supremely socially-conscious songbirds, Laurelyn Dossett and Molly McGinn, who are scheduled to perform.

“We’ve teamed up with some good friends, new friends, and kind and generous people to create this event,” Lamp said. “While art and music and fundraisers can’t ﬁx everything, these things do create ripples of hope and light and resistance and action. Art! Love! Revolution!”

Schroth echoed the sentiment, extending “Many thanks to the team of organizers for this event. Gonna be a great night to exhale, have some fun, share some laughs and importantly...bid on some art. Money raised goes to Indivisible Guilford

County. The more bids, the more we get to donate.

Now...it’s your turn to help send the message to D.C. Who’s coming?”

Boasting a blend of artists from around the Triad, the essence of the event extends over to Monstercade in WinstonSalem, who’ll kick o the ﬁrst two nights of “Meltdown,” a beneﬁt concert and fundraiser event series supporting Siembra N.C. that kicks o with Kazha, BOCANEGRA, and Transmvte on Dec. 5; followed by a techno-centric installment on Dec. 6 with NÄTIVA, SINN, MikRo. Wav, Dead Language, Poetic Note, and Kinetic Audio. More dates at area venues (including the Den, The Ramkat, Hel’s and Fair Witness) are on the way.

Speaking of Fair Witness and Triad crossovers: Greensboro’s Dance From Above resident Alvin Shavers will be spinning a MikRo.wav hosted party at Fair Witness with regulars, isodose and John Speed on Dec. 2. Meanwhile, rocknroll rules the corner roost, with Designer raging the Fair Witness showroom on Dec. 3. The Asheville-based outﬁt doesn’t bear any relation to the Triad beyond my assertion they rip–and I’m stoked, so it bears mention. Good times are hard to ﬁnd, so smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and seize ‘em while you can. With that, the fabulous Donna Smith (aka second place Videographer in the 2025 Triad’s Best awards), will celebrate a solar return with a free concert featuring Instant Regrets and the return of Sugar Meat at the Back Table on Dec.

10. Selﬂess, sweet (and just the right bit of salty), in lieu of admission, Smith is requesting nonperishable food items for the Back Table’s collection box. “Filling that thing up is my only bday wish,” she said, “...oh and hearing my friends play music! So excited to see good friends and new friends and old friends and weird friends at my birthday celebration! We’re still here and we even get to hang together sometimes!”

As the spirit of the season gets underway, here’s to art, love and revolution — and the folks using all three to light the way. Joe Troop’s Truth Machine will raise funds for Siembra N.C. at the Pinhook on Nov. 29; Laurelyn Dossett and Molly McGinn will perform at the funder for Indivisible Guilford County at the Backtable on Dec. 3; the “Meltdown” series for Siembra N.C. will kick o at Monstercade on Dec. 5; and Instant Regrets and Sugar Meat will be collecting goods at the Back Table on Dec. 10. !

Assistant Teaching Professor

(Winston Salem, NC) - Design, dvlp & teach new courses bridging leadership & character w/ entrepreneurship. Reqs. incl. PhD & demonstrated study, research, scholarship & teaching, in the areas of character-driven leadership in entrepreneurship & business enterprise, incl. interdisciplinary engagement.

Send CV to Wake Forest Univ., 1834 Wake Forest Rd., Winston-Salem, NC 27109, Attn: N. Lynch.

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

Katei Cranford

Contributor

Voting not a right, says county election board chair

At the Nov. 18 meeting of the Guilford County elections board, chair Eugene Lester called voting a privilege rather than a right.

“As citizens in this great country, we have certain rights and privileges,” said Lester. “Rights are those things that we get automatically, like the right to be presumed innocent in a criminal trial. There’s nothing we have to do other than to be born here and enjoy the Constitution to get that right. Then there are privileges. Voting is a privilege.”

Lester was addressing the crowd of

students, community organizers, and county Democratic leaders who were there to support board member Carolyn Bunker’s proposal to expand early voting sites to include N.C. A&T State University and UNC Greensboro, as well as High Point’s Washington Terrace Park and Greensboro’s Barber Park.

“Our decisions today must reflect commitment to fairness, inclusivity, and the belief that every voter, regardless of where they live, deserves a convenient and accessible opportunity to participate in your government,” said Bunker.

Bunker asked that students who had come to support the proposed voting sites be allowed to speak. Lester replied that public comments were not allowed.

Lester and board members Kathryn Lindley and Peter O’Connell are Republicans. All three voted against including the universities and parks as voting

sites. Democrats Bunker and Felita Donnell voted for the expanded list.

The Republican majority approved nine early voting sites for the 2026 election, seven of them in Greensboro. These are the Old Courthouse, Brown Recreation Center, Bur-Mil Clubhouse, Craft Recreation Center, Guilford County Center, Leonard Recreation Center, and Lewis Recreation Center. The other two are Jamestown Town Hall and High Point’s Culler Senior Center.

Cries of “shame!” rang out from the audience when Lester, Lindley, and O’Connell voted against the universities. Because the board’s 3-2 vote was not unanimous, the final decision will be made by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which also consists of three Republicans and two Democrats.

In June, North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek changed local election board leadership from Democrat to Republican after Senate Bill 3-82 transferred the power to make election board appointments from the governor to the state auditor. Boliek replaced Roy Cooper appointee Richard Forrester with Lester, a move Democrats denounced as a Republican power grab.

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Deanna De’Liberto, second vice chair of the Guilford County Republican Party, defended the decision to deny early voting at A&T by alleging that would show bias towards Democrats and “disenfranchise” voters who are not students. “A&T knows how to bus their students to polling sites, because they’ve done it in 2025.”

Guilford County Democratic Party chair Katie Kirkpatrick accused Lester of having “embraced the Republican stance about voting,” which Kilpatrick characterized as “only the white elite have the right to vote.”

“Republicans know that their policies and hateful rhetoric are not popular. They also know that the only way they can win is to suppress the votes of women and minorities and to gerrymander the heck out of the voting maps.“

Multiple amendments to the U.S. Constitution contradict Lester‘s claim that voting is a privilege rather than a right. The 15th Amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United

States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The 19th Amendment declares “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is not titled the Voting Privileges Act. Guilford County Board of Elections does not list email addresses of individual board members; messages to them must be sent to board director Charlie Collicutt at guilfordelections@ guilfordcountync.gov.

YES! Weekly’ s request for comment included a link to the July 30, 2021 Washington Monthly article “Why Voting isn’t a ‘Privilege.’”

As Lester stated, “one has to be born here” to be protected by the presumption of innocence, the message also asked if he believes people not born in the U.S., such as Ted Cruz and Melania Trump, do not have that constitutional protection.

Collicutt sent the following response from Lester.

“Citizens in this country enjoy the right to vote. It is a privilege to exercise that right. I don’t have an opinion to share on the article or birthright citizenship.” !

IAN MCDOWELL is an award-winning author and journalist whose book I Ain’t Resisting: the City of Greensboro and the Killing of Marcus Smith was published in September of 2023 by Scuppernong Editions.

Ian McDowell

Contributor

Chairman Eugene Lester

CARBORRO

Cat’S CradlE

300 E Main St | 919.967.9053 www.catscradle.com

Nov 29: Crazy Chester, Sugaree String Society

ChARlOtte

BojaNglES ColiSEum

2700 E Independence Blvd | 704.372.3600 www.boplex.com

Nov 26: Christian Nodal

Nov 30: gunna

thE FillmorE

1000 NC Music Factory Blvd | 704.916.8970 www.livenation.com

Nov 28: Cattle decapitation

Nov 28: roy Wood jr.

Nov 29: avatar

Nov 30: j.i.d.

ClemmOns

VillagE SquarE

tap houSE

6000 Meadowbrook Mall Ct | 336.448.5330 www.facebook.com/vstaphouse

Nov 26: tim Elliot

Nov 28: Kids in america

Nov 29: queen City Siren

duRhAm

dpaC

123 Vivian St | 919.680.2787 www.dpacnc.com

Nov 26-30: Elf the musical

elKIn

rEEVES thEatEr

129 W Main St | 336.258.8240 www.reevestheater.com

Wednesdays: reeves open mic

Nov 27: joe thrift & Friends

[SALOME’S STARS]

Week of December 1, 2025

[ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your curiosity might not be appreciated by everyone. Expect some resistance when getting the answers to your questions. But stay with it. You need facts in order to make important decisions.

[TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Some of the mystery surrounding your recent ﬁscal situation will soon be dispelled with a clear explanation. Use this new knowledge to help you chart a fresh ﬁnancial course.

[GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Start your Christmas and Chanukah gift-buying now. This will help avoid problems caused by possible mid-December delays. Meanwhile, a family member has important information.

[CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Use a little more sense in how you plan to spend your end-of-the-year holiday dollars. Meanwhile, you continue to gain support for your stand on a workplace issue.

[LEO (July 23 to August 22) Wearing that big, loving Lion’s heart of yours on your sleeve leaves it unprotected. Let things develop a little more before you allow your emotions to spill over.

[VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) You might feel like you’re not ready to patch up an unraveled relationship. But the longer you wait, the more di cult it will be for all parties to take the ﬁrst healing step.

[LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Your end-of-the-year holiday plans could be disrupted by something out of

your control, but stay the course. Ultimately, things will settle back into a normal pace.

[SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Your honest approach to a workplace project earns you both respect and credit from those in charge. Meanwhile, a personal problem still needs to be dealt with.

[SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Money could be a little tight this month. This means that the usually bargain-oblivious Sagittarian should look for ways to save on end-of-the-year holidays.

[CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Examine the facts, and you might ﬁnd that it’s a wiser move to shift gears and redirect some of your goals before the end of the year. In addition, someone close to you o ers good advice.

[AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Be careful that your generosity is not abused. Find out more about both of the special favors that you might be asked to grant — and who exactly is asking for them.

[PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You’ve come through a recent rough time in great shape. Congratulations! Now go out and enjoy your well-earned rewards. More good news comes in mid-December.

[BORN THIS WEEK: You aim for the truth, and you usually ﬁnd it. Your honesty earns you the friendship and respect of others.

answers

[CROSSWORD]

crossword on page 6

WEEKLY SUDOKU]

sudoku on page 6

[TRIVIA TEST]

by Fifi Rodriguez

[1. LITERATURE: What is the name of the dragon in The Hobbit?

[2. MOVIES: Which holiday is being celebrated at the end of When Harry Met Sally?

[3. GEOGRAPHY: Which country is home to the famous Angkor Wat Temple?

[4. HISTORY: In which year did the Internet become available to the public?

[5. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Which wrestler is known by the nickname “The Rock”?

[6. LANGUAGE: What is cryptophasia?

[7. TELEVISION: In which state was the sitcom Newhart set?

[8. MATH: How many sides does a nonagon have?

[9. MUSIC: Which singer/songwriter wrote the soundtrack for the animated movie Tarzan?

[10. FOOD & DRINK: What is the essential spice in paella?

answer

7. Vermont. 8. Nine. 9. Phil Collins. 10. Sa ron.

6. A unique language developed between twins.

1. Smaug.

2. New Year’s Eve.

3. Cambodia.

4. 1993.

5. Dwayne Johnson.

Side by Side with Nido Qubein is a series of in-depth, 30-minute conversations with leaders, storytellers, and influential voices shaping North Carolina and beyond.

Hosted by internationally known author, business consultant, and High Point University

President Nido Qubein, each episode dives beneath the surface to reveal insights and inspiration from each special guest. Featuring timeless and topical themes, the program airs year-round on PBS North Carolina.

HOW MANY OF THESE INTRIGUING INTERVIEWS HAVE YOU SEEN?