Spring Issue

High-quality, hand-made products

Available at Bottega in downtown hickory

[email protected]

828-962-3077

North Mississippi Brothers Luther and Cody Dickenson
Allstars form this Grammy nominated southern
rock/blues band. The group garnered
national attention as the house band
for several episodes of Last Call with
Carson Daly, as well as
appearing on Late Night
with Conan O’Brien.
As sons of Memphis
musician Jim Dickinson,
the two have been
immersed in music for
their entire lives.

Aaron Burdett Alberti Flea Circus Andrew Collins Trio Andy May Ari Eisinger Ashley Heath &
Her Heathens

B Townes Balsam Range with Atlanta Banknotes Bill Mathis Bob Hill Bryan Sutton
Pops Orchestra Ensemble

Brynmor Cane Mill Road Cardboard Fox Carol Rifkin, Jeanette Cathy Fink and Charles Welch
Queen, Mark Queen Marcy Marxer

Cicada Rhythm Clinton Ross David Holt David Holt and Dead Horses Donna & the Buffalo
Josh Goforth

Doolin Erin Harpe Fireside Collective Flatland Harmony Flattop Frank Solivan and
Experiment Dirty Kitchen

Gunner and Smith Hannah Shira Happy Traum Horsemen Let’s Ride Hubby Jenkins Hummingbird Crossing
Naiman

Jack Lawrence Jamey Johnson Jayme Stone’s Jeanette Williams Jeff Little Trio Jeffrey Foucault
Folklife Band

Jim Lauderdale Jody Carroll Joe Mullins and the Joe Smothers Junior Appalachian Ken Crouse
Radio Ramblers Musicians Band

Laura Boosinger & the Lauren and Lane Lillian Chase Lindsay Lou Lori King and Mark Bumgarner
Midnight Plowboys Junction 63

Mike Aiken Band Mission Temple Mitch Greenhill My Bubba Nu-Blu Pete & Joan Wernick
Fireworks Revival

Peter Rowan Piper Jones Rhiannon Giddens Richard Ray Farrell Richie & Rosie Rob Ickes &
Trey Hensley

Robert Earl Keen Robin & Rodney Crowell Rosie & the Riveters Roy Book Binder Sarah Jane
Linda Williams Scouten

Savannah Smith Scythian Shinyribs Sideline Smitty & the Steve &
& Southern Soul JumpStarters Ruth Smith

String Madness Susana & T Michael Coleman Ted Olson Tennessee Jed Fisher Terry Baucom’s
Timmy Abell & Imagine Possums Dukes of Drive

The Barefoot The BattleAxe The Devil The East The Hackwells The InterACTive
Movement Band Makes Three Pointers Theatre of Jef

The Kruger H Lang Sisters The Local Boys The Lonely The Mastersons The Midatlantic
Brothers Heartstring Band

The New The Note Ropers The Way Down The Waybacks The Whitewater The Wildmans
River Drifters Wanderers Bluegrass Company

Tony Town Mountain Unspoken Tradition Wayland Wayne Henderson Wesley Bright &
Williamson Band the Honeytones

Crawdads
Baseball

Over the years minor league baseball has developed a niche ZOOperstars, the fan-favorite inflatable mascot group
in the sports industry as boasting some of the most unique featuring characters such as Harry Canary and Tim Tebull,
promotional schedules in the industry. Teams such as the will be returning to Hickory this year for two games. Their
Hickory Crawdads host 70 games from April through Labor first appearance at the Frans will be on Saturday, May 26th as
Day Weekend and have to come up with a promotional the ‘Dads celebrate Memorial Day weekend. They will return
lineup that will get fans of all ages out to the stadium each later in the summer on Saturday, August 25th. Throughout
game. From the end of the season to the ‘Dads return to L.P. the games, the ZOOperstars will be participating in on-field
Frans Stadium, the front office has 220 days to plan themes, promotions and engaging with fans and players.
promotions, and giveaways for every game. In addition to unique promotions and concerts, the Crawdads
Each year, the Crawdads include a mix of promotions with also have Daily Promotions, offering fans specials based on
some twists every year on annual events such as Girl and Boy the day of the week.
Scout nights, and Christmas in July while also throwing in timely The week kicks off with Make a Difference Monday. Each
or never before done promotions like Grease’s 40th anniversary week highlights a different local charity that asks for
or Purr in the Park, which are both on the calendar for 2018. requested items. Fans who bring those items get a free ticket
For the first time in team history, the Crawdads will be to the game.
adopting a new identity for a three game span. On Mother’s Dollar Dog Tuesdays are all about the dogs. Hot dogs are
Day weekend (May 11th-13th) the team will rebrand as the only $1 while craft pints and Pepsi products are $2. On
Crawmoms. Players will wear Crawmoms hats and jerseys for Tuesdays fans are also encouraged to bring their dogs to
the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday games. Friday’s game will the stadium to enter in the weekly dog show.
kick off the weekend long celebration of moms and conclude Every Wednesday night game kids 12 and under receive a
with a fireworks show. Saturday will feature a pink replica jersey free ticket, free meal voucher, and free bounce house, speed
giveaway to the first 1,000 fans. The weekend will wrap up on pitch and carousel voucher.
Mother’s Day with a carnation giveaway, a Pink Heals Fire Truck The ballpark classic Thirsty Thursday features discounted
on display, and first pitches from cancer survivors. Merchandise Pepsi products and beer. Following each Thirsty Thursday
featuring the Crawmoms specialty logos will be available for game, fans can stick around for a post-game band on the
purchase. concourse.
A top draw on the calendar every year for the Crawdads is the One of the most popular daily promotions is Fireworks Friday,
Christian Concert that takes place in late summer. This year, with a fireworks show following all 10 Friday home games
Sidewalk Prophets will come to town on July 21st. The group this year.
has released five albums, with their biggest song, “You Love Super Saturday features post-game concerts (Sidewalk
Me Anyway,” reaching number 1 on the Billboard Christian Prophets and Finding Favour in 2018), celebrity appearances,
Single chart. They will be playing on the field following the and giveaways. After the game, fans can meet some of their
conclusion of the Crawdads game. favorite Crawdads in a post-game autograph session.
The event has become so popular over the years that a second On Sundays, anyone who brings a church bulletin to the
Christian Concert was added earlier in the summer. Fresh off ticket office will get a discounted $6 ticket. The Crawdads
Toby Mac’s HITS DEEP TOUR, Finding Favour will be playing will then donate $4 of each ticket to the bulletin’s respective
at L.P. Frans Stadium on April 28th. church.
Another top annual promotion for the Crawdads is their Following every Crawdads home game, kids can test their
Independence Day Celebration game. As they do not have speed by running the bases.
a home game on July 4th, they will be celebrating a day early For more information on ‘Dads promotions or to order tickets
this year with a 7pm game. The night will be patriotic themed call (828) 322-3000 or visit hickorycrawdads.com.
with costumed staff members and special on-field promotions
and video board graphics before concluding with a fireworks
show. The game will also feature patriotic jerseys that will be
worn several times during the season including Memorial Day
and Labor Day. The jerseys will be auctioned off on Labor Day.

104

105

Gardening as Therapy

If you have been thinking about planting a garden, why not do it this spring? Spring is a great time to start
a garden, and the health benefits can be as abundant as your harvest.
Gardening is a rewarding experience that is also widely embraced as a therapeutic tool to help individuals of
varying ability achieve a higher quality of life. Gardening therapy can be used as part of any comprehensive
rehabilitative treatment program related to physical illness, injury, or cognitive impairment.
Research shows that the benefits of gardening can include:
-Improved physical functioning and motor skills
-Enhanced memory and attention
-Increased overall mental well-being and reduced stress, greater feelings of calm, relaxation and improved
self esteem, a renewed sense of purpose, accomplishment, and responsibility
-A coping tool for anxiety and frustration
-Time for social interaction
Enjoying the “Fruits” of Our Labor
Not only do digging and weeding get you outside and moving, when you plant your own garden, you
control what you grow. Whether you decide to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs or flowers, the bounty is all
yours to keep or share.
If you love fresh salads, a good place to start is by planting green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage,
spinach, or kale. These hearty vegetables are easy to grow and have high levels of nutrients and fiber, which
can decrease the risk of colon cancer and fill you up without the extra calories. Additionally, tomatoes are
high in lycopene, which aids in disease prevention, and offers an excellent source of potassium, vitamins
C and A, and fiber – a great heart-healthy combination. Tomatoes may also help reduce inflammation that
can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Community Gardening
If you don’t have space to garden at home, look into community gardening options in neighborhoods,
nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The City of Hickory has two community gardens that offer
residents a place to grow a garden of their own. Both Civitan Park, near Hampton Heights Golf Course, and
Taft Broome Park, near the Ridgeview Recreation Center, have plots that can be rented by individuals or
families where you can get to know other gardeners, share gardening tips, and exchange what you grow.
The city tills the plots in the spring and fall and provides water so that you can grow whatever you like.

Contributing author, Dr. Jessica Urzen, is the Medical Director of Inpatient
Rehabilitation at Catawba Valley Medical Center and also serves outpatients at
Catawba Valley Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
106

Types of Gardens

Healing Gardens
A healing garden can include green plants, flowers, flowing water, and other aspects of nature. Often associated with
hospitals and other healthcare settings, they are accessible to all and designed to provide therapeutic benefits by serv-
ing as a retreat or place of respite for patients, visitors and staff.

Horticultural Therapy Gardens
Designed to be used as a component of an occupational, physical, or recreation therapy treatment program, a thera-
peutic garden can be incorporated into rehabilitation treatment plans to achieve specific treatment goals.

Enabling Gardens
An enabling garden is designed for older gardeners and those with physical disabilities. These gardens often have
raised beds, containers, and smooth firm pathways to accommodate for wheelchairs and other assistive equipment.

Restorative Meditation Gardens
This type of garden employs the restorative value of nature to provide an environment conducive to mental repose,
stress reduction, emotional recovery, and the enhancement of mental and physical energy. The design of a restorative
garden focuses on the psychological, physical, and social needs of the gardener.

107

Resolutions

By Ryan Gant

2018... A fresh start...A do over... A new Becoming disciplined is no easy feat. You
beginning... 2018 is going to be your year! may ask, where does discipline come from?
New Year, New You! The latest resolutions This answer is simple. Discipline comes from
are probably filling your thoughts as you WITHIN. It is an internal force. Self discipline
begin to read. Have you stayed true to comes when you break down and make the
them? We’ll see. decision to DO more, to BE more than you
have in the past. Finally you are willing to
When making a resolution to get in or back leave YOUR mark on the world. Isn’t that
into shape, I want you to think about starting what we all crave; become the ruler of our
from the ground up. Start by giving yourself own lives, forge our own path, have others
a gut check. Think about the THING that look up to us? 75% of my job as a personal
has held you back in the past; the THING trainer is to help bring out your passion for
that has made you quit; the THING that life, and help hold you accountable to your
makes you fall back into the same routine goals. Sometimes it will be HARD; almost
over, and over, and over again. “Why do I inevitably UNCOMFORTABLE. In those times,
continue to do this to myself?” Each person just remember why you started. Embrace it.
has one. CONFRONT it. Have an honest, Create relationships with those who have
heartfelt conversation with yourself. Make a walked this walk. Working out and making
plan, and determine what is most important healthy choices will reset your compass, and
in your life. This is your resolution, no one liberate you from the shackles of your past.
else’s. It was made for a reason. Eliminate In the end you will see what you are truly
the outside influences that continue to force capable of. It will set you FREE.
you backwards. Become disciplined.
So, in 2018, set a goal. Write it down. Post it
on the ceiling of your bedroom. Literally, post
it on the ceiling of your bedroom. When you
wake up in the morning it should be the first
thing you see. A constant reminder. Have short
and long term goals that aid in reaching your
main goal. You’ve heard all of that before, so I
wont beat a dead horse. Conquer the THING.
Become DISCIPLINED.

Leave YOUR mark.

108

WWW.TIMBERCREEKMULCH.COM (704) 997-9393

109

LA ME D UC K S AV I OR ?
Heather Wood Davis

A couple of years ago, while driving to Winston- and enthusiasm for the risen Lord in the wake of
Salem, I was listening to NPR and kept hearing the t h e “ S u n d ay a f t e r ”. T h e h a r d w o r k o f J e s u s ’ l i f e ,
term, lame duck president. This was back when death and resurrection is over. So this makes me
President Obama had announced Merrick Garland ask the question, do we feel like we have a lame
as the proposed replacement for Anthony Scalia on duck Savior?
the Supreme Court. What I found interesting was
that term being used over and over again— lame What more is there to say when the hard work has
duck president—and although you’ve probably been done?
heard before, I hadn’t really ever paid attention
to it in the setting of politics. Is the Sunday after Easter a lame duck Sunday?
Are we just warming the seats of these pews until
Lame duck president is a term for, “an elected we can fill them all again next Easter or even
official or group continuing to hold political office worse are we just warming the seats so self assured
during the period between the election and the that we have nothing more to do because we are
i n a u g u rat i o n o f a s u c c e s s o r.” I t i m p l i e s , t h e h a r d already “saved”?
work is already behind the president and now he’s
just keeping the seat of office warm until the next I don’t need to tell you that the hard work of Easter
president is elected. is far from done.

Anyone that has held office of POTUS has surely Defeating death and sin was the definitive work
had hard work in their presidency. For Mr. Obama, that Christ accomplished but I wonder if it is just
who then only had 9 months remaining in his term as hard for the Lord to stand back and watch as we
as president, he’d done the hard work; riding out struggle to remember that we are Easter people 365
those final months would seem to be just smooth days a year, not just 1.
sailing from here on out.
Just to remind us that this isn’t a lame duck Sunday,
I think if we’re honest, this can be a little how we there is a verse in John’s gospel, a story where we
feel about the Sunday after Easter. The Sunday find the call for the real work of Easter—as the
after Easter is like its sister Sunday, the Sunday Father has sent me, so I send you. (John 20:21)
following Christmas— a little less exciting, a little
less celebratory. No, the work of Easter is anything but done. Yes
Easter, over 2000 years ago had the final say on
Christmas and Easter are power-house Sundays. We all sin and death, but the REAL work of Easter, the
gear up for the main event on those Sundays. Truthfully if, mandate that comes from Christ on the very day he
for whatever reason, you found yourself only being able to rose, is that just as he was sent, we are sent; sent
attend church on those two Sundays, they are the best ones out to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of
to attend. You will hear church music at its best—singers and God is at hand in the risen Lord.
musicians have been busy practicing anthems and songs; you
will see more flowers in our worship spaces; the pews and rows And speaking of Easter work, do you know what
of chairs are stuffed a little tighter on these two Sundays; and the first thing Jesus does after his resurrection?
you will hear the good news that the God of the universe is Anyone know what the savior of the world did
intimately tied up in this thing we call life. The grand story that after breathing glorious morning air into those
began in Advent has now culminated on Easter. resurrected lungs?

By the time you get to the Sunday after Easter you’ve seen You might be thinking, well he does an appearing
Christ passionately engage being human; grieving over sick act for the disciples. Or he breathes on them. Well
friends, rejoicing over children. He surely knew the pain of a go back, even before that. What is the first things
close friend’s betrayal and the feeling loneliness and defeat. But he does?
he also knew the elation of victory won, he fed hungry hearts,
and surely his bracket always included a North Carolina ACC He appears to the women, he talks to them Go back
team in the Final Four. even before that!

Jesus not only confronted the religiosity of his own Judaism, You know what Jesus does?
but also challenged the most powerful government of his day;
the Roman government. Christ redefines the very the power He does laundry. Laundry! David Henson writes,
structure of the world,and after dying a criminal’s cruel death “The first thing [Jesus] does  is to  fold up the
he shows in his resurrection that the power of sin and death shroud neatly and to take care with his linen
are no more; and THAT is THE definitive word displaying God’s grave clothes… Amid the confusion and fear, and
un-surpassing love. maybe a touch of elated hope, there is the laundry,
neatly folded in the tomb. Henson writes, “I mean,
But after Easter, all of that is behind us, right? who does that? The first thing Jesus does when he
comes back is the laundry? He folds clothes?! It’s
The Sunday after Easter you may find a less full enough to make my whole heart warm with his
sanctuary than last week,; the congregation and presence like  a load of whites straight from the
worship leaders, trying to muster as much joy dryer. It’s enough to make me believe in the

110

glori o u s w e i rd n es s of re s ur re c t i on .” But even in that fear, even in that failure, Christ
appears among them, not condemning; not
You know, as someone who does laundry, I love demanding penance of some sort; not asking for an
that image. The first thing Jesus did was laundry. explanation of their behavior; not standing there
It is so simple it is almost ridiculous. Almost waiting for a confession—none of that takes place.
as ridiculous as continuing to proclaim the In a space that could have been volatile, Jesus does
resurrection after it has happened, the Sunday what we do every day; he breathes.
after, the 2,000 + years of Sundays after.
He takes that moment of anxiety we feel and
Almost as ridiculous as coming back, again and inhales deeply and exhales. Jesus breathes peace
again, to our places of fellowship to hear the on them. Before they even have a chance to
stories we’ve heard many times before—or even process who it is that stands before them, Jesus
more profound—perhaps someone will come for the de clares, “ Peac e b e with you.”
first time, Sunday after and hear the stories for the
first time. And that makes it Easter all over again. Gandhi was once asked, “what’s the difference
between you and most Christians?”
To t h i n k t h at t h e Lo r d o f t h e u n i ve r s e , t h e o n e
who defeats sin and death takes the time to do G andhi said, “ Well I think he m eant it.”
something so menial is pretty amazing. And if
you are like me you’d never even thought about it When Jesus said, love your enemies, I think he
before. You’d never even noticed the resurrection meant it. When he said, ‘Peac e b e with you’,I think
in the stuff we do every week, or every day. But he meant it. When he said forgive others, I think
the really wonderful thing is this invites us to he meant it.
experience the incredible good news of a risen
Lord not only the shock and awe of the empty tomb This is not a Lame Duck Savior. The Sundays after
on Easter Sunday, but we are invited to experience Easter are not lame duck Sundays. We are not a
the incredible good news of a risen Lord in the ho- celebratory people on just one day, but we are
hum days after. “…it’s almost as if Jesus is asking Easter people every day.
us to pay attention to the slow and the ordinary
as the place where we are most likely to find And our task every morning that our feet hit the
resurrection, not in the hectic busy-ness of trying floor is to find the resurrection in our world and
to change and transform the world, our churches, tell about it.
and o u r l i ve s .”
And even when we fail to do so, Jesus will still
We are likely to feel guilty about not being as breath peace on us.
excited about the resurrection when it isn’t Easter
Sunday. We may try to deny it. We may try to Did you ever sing a camp song about the Wishy
patch it up and resolve that starting from here on Washy, Washer Woman?
out we WILL do better;
The songs starts out, “Waaaayyyy down in the
We WILL talk up the resurrection; valley where nobody goes, the wishy, washy,
we WILL have the eyes for it; washer wom an washes her clothes.”
we WILL be Easter people…
and then Monday morning happens. Well, that’s how Jesus does his laundry too. Down
in the valley where nobody goes; down in the
Well here’s the good news, even when that valley of your locked doors; down in the valley of
happens, the resurrection will still appear. Even your mundane laundry and house cleaning; down
when we fail, the hard work getting the better of in the valley of our betrayal and denial; down in
us, Christ isn’t going to shame us into doing better. the valley of our forgetting that the work of Easter
Which again is where I John’s story of the post- is on-going; down in the valley where nobody goes.
resurrection appears of Jesus to the disciples has And the difference between Jesus and some other
something to say to us (see John 20: 19-31). lame duck savior, a has been who is Easter’s news;
the difference is that our Lord means it.
Jesus appears to the disciples behind locked doors—
doors that are barred out of fear. John tells us, the As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
disciples are hiding because they fear the Jews, but Peace be with you.
I think they were fearful of one Jew in particular;
Jesus. h t t p : // w w w. m e r r i a m - w e b s t e r. c o m /d i c t i o n a r y/ l a m e % 2 0
duck
I mean what if he really was alive? Would he h t t p : // w w w. p at h e o s . c o m / b l o g s /d a v i d h e n s o n / 2 0 1 6 / 0 3 /
come looking for them? Would he hold a grudge? the-sacrament-of-housework-when-the-risen-lord-did-
Their job performance over the last few days in the-laundry/
the areas of loyalty, trust, and love all get poor ibid Scott Hozee, http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-
marks. I can’t say I blame the disciples for being s t a r t e r s /e a s t e r - 2 c / ? t y p e = t h e _ l e c t i o n a r y _ g o s p e l
scared—especially if they were scared of maybe
seeing Jesus.

111

GROUNDING

Kelsey Crowe, MSW, LCSW, LCAS, CCS

With the hustle and bustle of available, and sit in a comfortable
day to day life, sometimes it can seated position with your feet on
be difficult to find ourselves in the floor.
t h e p res en t m o m en t. It’s easy Let ’s begin wit h a simple groun d -
to think about what you were ing technique that is common
doing yesterday, or what you across the literature.
w i l l b e d o i n g to m o rro w. Tech- Place both feet flat on the floor
nology, with its many benefits, Lean back into your chair, and
enables us to move seamless- make note of the feeling of the
ly through the past and future. chair under you and against your
Sometimes this prevents us from back.
staying present and focused in Cross your arms over your chest.
our lives. Research shows that Gently tap your shoulders, alter-
mindfulness, when used regular- nating one side at a time.
ly, can help to alleviate anxiety, Alter natively, if you are in a pub-
depression, and a whole host lic place such as a meeting or
of other common mental health crowded waiting area, you can
issues. Mindfulness helps us to place your hands on your thighs,
be fully present in our body and tapping one leg slowly at a time.
helps keep us connected to the Another common grounding ex-
earth. ercise addresses all five sens-
Grounding is a helpful type of es. “54321” is a common senso-
mindfulness, and one that you ry awareness grounding exercise
can put into practice anywhere can be a helpful tool to relax or
you go. Grounding helps reori- get through challenging moments
ent you to the present moment. of stress or anxiety. You can say
It requires no special equipment, these out loud or to yourself,
recordings, or costly accesso- whatever is most comfortable.
ries. All you need is your body
and a little bit of willingness. It
is recommended that you find a
quiet room, have 5-10 minutes

Describe 5 things you see in the room.
Name 4 things you can feel (“the chair under my hands” or

“my breath moving in and out”)
Name 3 things you hear right now (“the air conditioner, traf-

fic, people speaking”)
Name 2 things you can smell or taste right now. If you can’t
smell anything, cultivate the sense of two smells or tastes

that you like.
Name 1 positive quality about yourself

112

Mindfulness is good for all ages! In chil- C re s c e n t i n i , C . , C a p u r s o , V. , F u r l a n , S . , & F a b b ro, F.
dren specifically, mindfulness has been (2016). Mindfulness-oriented meditation for primary
found to reduce the effects of bully- school children: Effects on attention and psycholog-
ing (Zhou, Liu, Niu, Sun, & Fan, 2016), ical well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 805.
enhance focus in children with ADHD Roman, K. (2015, April 2). 7 fun ways to teach your
(Zhang et al., 2016), reduce attention kids mindfulness. Retrieved from www.mindbody-
problems (Crescentini, Capurso, Fur- green.com
lan, & Fabbro, 2016) and improve social
skills when well taught and practiced in Zhang, D., Chan, S. K. C., Lo, H. H. M., Chan, C.
children and adolescents. Y. H . , C h a n , J . C . Y. , Ti n g , K. T. , G a o, T. T. , Lai , K .
The Body Scan is a technique that can Y. C., Bögels, S. M., & Wong, S. Y. S. (2016). Mind-
benefit both children and adults! fulness-based intervention for Chinese children
Have your child lie down on their back with ADHD and their parents: A pilot mixed-method
on a comfortable surface and close their study. Mindfulness, 8, 1-14.
eyes if they are comfortable doing so.
The body scan can also work with eyes Zhou, Z., Liu, Q., Niu, G., Sun, X., & Fan, C. (2017).
open. Bullying victimization and depression in Chinese
children: A moderated mediation model of resil-
ience and mindfulness. Personality and Individual
Differences, 104, 137-142.

Next, tell them to squeeze every sin-
gle muscle in their body as tight as
th e y ca n . Te l l the m to s q u i s h th e ir t oes
and feet, squeeze their hands into fists,
and make their legs and arms as hard
as rocks. Depending on the age of the
child, you can guide them through re-
laxing and tensing each muscle one at
a time, or a younger child may do best
tensing all the muscles at once. Adults
will benefit from moving from the top of
the head, through the toes in progres-
sive muscle relaxation.

After a few seconds, have them release
all their muscles and relax for a few min-
utes. Encourage them to take big deep
breaths.

Ask them how their body felt before and
after the experience (Roman, 2015).

Feel free to practice these techniques
as often as you would like. Often times,
after practicing these techniques dai-
ly for several months, people begin to
notice a difference in their overall feel-
ings of anxiety, depression, and stress.
Mindfulness skills can help you to move
through your day with ease.

113

DEAR DAVID,

Dear David,
I am getting so depressed looking at social media lately. It seems like everybody is so negative
and constantly complaining. I like using social media to keep up with old friends and family
but I feel like I can only unfollow so many people.

Sincerely,
Bummed Browser

Dear BB,
I and most of our readers can likely empathize with you and I want to ask you something. What did
you do before you had social media? If you have always had it let me encourage you to ask someone
older than you. We know that genuine, in person exchanges offer far more than social media in
the way of conversation and relationships. Social media has become a bit of an echo chamber in
regards to various topics. More specifically we follow and repost the things we agree with and
ignore or avoid the things we don’t. Real people and relationships both challenge and encourage us.
Take some time away, it’s not going anywhere and there is lots of evidence to suggest it has similar
impacts on the brain as certain addictive substances. You may find your mood increases with a break
and you may also find extra time for people and things you enjoy you didn’t even realize you had.

Sincerely,
David Zealy-Wright MA, LPC, LCAS

Dear David,
I am a very detail oriented rule follower with a toddler. I am constantly worried with the
impact of today’s world on their future. I want to do everything in my power to make sure that
she grows up to have a good life and makes good choices. What are some suggestions on how I
can help her avoid future mistakes?

Sincerely,
Worried Mom

Dear WM
The first thing I want to encourage you about is that YES parenting is super hard and very intimidating
in today’s world. With the internet, school violence, and an unsteady sociopolitical environment
most parents are worried about their children’s future lives. That said I would also tell you a parent’s
number one job is to love and number two job is to teach. With my own four-year-old I often ask
myself, what am I teaching with my decisions? In regards to mistakes, they will happen but your
child will be able to figure them out, much like I’m sure you did. Trying to prevent a child from making
mistakes or fixing them for them when they do only teaches them that they cannot handle adversity.
So encourage your child to make mistakes while they are still in your home and focus on what they
learn from them vs the fact they make them.

Sincerely,
David Zealy-Wright MA, LPC, LCAS

David Zealy-Wright is a Licensed Professional Counselor,
a Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist, and a Clinical
Supervisor Intern. He graduated from Catawba Valley
Community College in 2005 earning an Associate in Arts,
Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2008 earning a BA in Psychology,
and in 2010 an MA in Agency Counseling. His specialty
areas include addiction, depression, anxiety, life changes,
men’s issues, relationships, and LGBTQIA issues.

114

EVENTFULLY YOURS,

Eventfully Yours,
My son is getting married in D.C. in July and we are hosting a
rehearsal dinner. How can I be sure that I have followed all of
the “rules” and covered the details for this special event?

Rehearsal dinners are a wonderful opportunity to meet and greet with family
from far and wide at the beginning of the wedding festivities. In many cases
bridal party and family guests travel into town the day before the wedding to
host and toast the couple prior to the larger reception held after the ceremony.
This is an intimate event that is generally smaller in number and nature compared
to the larger reception celebration. I feel that it is always nice to invite the bridal
party and their significant others, parents of the bride and groom, grandparents
of the bride and groom, any specific close family guests, as well as the pastor for
the service and their significant other to the rehearsal dinner. It is often custom
to extend an invitation to the musicians, readers and others that are performing
during the ceremony as they are many times part of the actual ceremony rehearsal.
You possibly could have a large family and friends group that you would like to
welcome or meet prior to the ceremony date but you cannot find space to invite
them to the rehearsal dinner. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to host a
smaller meet and greet at the hotel early on the rehearsal day or even possibly
to host a small cocktail social after the rehearsal dinner. Your guests will feel
welcomed and ready to celebrate the wedding with you.
The rehearsal dinner theme can range from being a very simple family BBQ to a
more elaborate plated dinner. I feel that it is always good to deviate from what
is happening and the reception. If the reception is a casual cocktail hors d’oeu-
vres party you may choose to have a seated plated dinner or vice versa. Table
and room décor are generally more understated than the reception as well. You
should hope to create a lovely event that does not overshadow the wedding day
events.

Eventfully yours,
Tara B

Tara H. Bland is owner and event specialist of Tara B’s Eventful Planning
and It’s My Party Rentals. Tara has planned and directed weddings and

events for the past 18 years in the Foothills of North Carolina.

115

foothillsfoothills astrologer
astrologer

Most people these days can tell you their “sign”. When someone tells you they are
a Virgo, they mean that when they were born, the sun was in the section of the sky
we call “Virgo”, which used to be near the constellation Virgo, but has wiggled over
a bit in the last several thousand years. They probably don’t realize that’s what they
mean. That’s just all they know about astrology, and they open up the astrology
pages in magazines to read about the forecast for their sign for the next month.
But the sun isn’t the only astrological body that matters. The moon, the other planets,
our angles, and nodes all are very important to personalized readings and forecast.
The placement of these bodies at our births, as well as at the current time, creates an
extremely detailed forecast that is much more accurate than the paragraph description
you normally read that’s meant to describe 1/12th of the population.
But I don’t know when you were born, and I don’t want to water these pages down so much
they are useless. So I’m going to go about this in a manner most magazine columns do not.
Instead of bothering with your personal nativity (that’s the planetary placements at
your birth), I will write about the current configurations. They are influencing everyone
in the world, and have specific start times and energetic signatures. I feel that you will
find this more useful than a quick summary for each sun sign. If you are looking for
more detailed information, you can purchase a chart and interpretation by e-mailing
me at: [email protected].
Astrology is the study of the relationship between the location of celestial bodies and life
on earth. It’s incredibly complex, but most of what you see in magazines and newspapers
is predominantly fluff. Astrology looks at the placement of the planets at a person’s birth,
and also the current or future placement of planets. Typical reports like these would include
a simple paragraph for each of the 12 signs-there isn’t enough room to provide helpful
information in that format. Instead, I’ll explain only the current placements. What you read
will be felt by everyone, so your sign doesn’t matter here. For info about your natal chart, or
116 for custom horoscopes, email [email protected].

april 14: jupiter sextile pluto fear or hesitancy. This is a long, slow ride
for Chiron, so work on embracing and
Jupiter, the planet of expansion, is making a confronting wounds to your identity.
favorable connection with Pluto, the planet
of transformation. This is an excellent time april 19: sun enters taurus
to solve a stubborn problem or capitalize
on something we missed before. Taurus is loyal and stubborn. When the
sun is here, we are more sensual and
april 15: mercury goes direct methodical. We are likely to be more
active during this time when we are
Even people who scoff at astrology have defending something we care a good
heard of the dreaded Mercury Retrograde. deal about.
It’s over now, and communications should
begin to flow in a more normal and april 22: pluto turns retrograde
expected manner.
Any time a planet is retrograde, its energy
april 15: new moon in aries is turned inward. Pluto retrograde forces
us to examine that in us which is bursting
New moons are the time for starting fresh. for a transformation. We will all be turning
And Aries is at the start of the zodiac- our attention on ourselves, examining
it is the definition of fresh. This is such a the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s
good time to begin new projects. Go best if we all acknowledge the need for
at something with GUSTO and it will go transformation, and spend our energy
beautifully. doing it properly, instead of allowing
ourselves to hide from the need. Pluto can
april 17: saturn turns retrograde feel quite dark, and this transit may feel
like taking a hard and dark look at your
Saturn is the planet of responsibility, own inner workings and motivations. Pluto
and it can be heavy. When Saturn turns moves slowly, so you can look to what
retrograde, we all begin to become much house Pluto is located in for you right now,
more aware of our responsibilities and and that will help you understand which
limitations. The weight of responsibility we part of your life this will be playing out in.
carry might feel much heavier than normal.
As the retrograde progresses, these april 24: venus enters gemini
feelings let up and it becomes a lovely
time to reassess careers and the important Curiosity, variety, sociability and
decisions of our life. Slowing down feels communication are key words here. Venus
good. Extra responsibility will likely not feel is the planet of love and our softer side,
good. so our love style and our feminine selves
will exemplify these words. Watch out for
april 17: chiron enters aries fickleness.

Chiron is entering Aries, which means it’s at april 29: full moon in scorpio
the beginning of the zodiac. Chiron is about
our wounds, and this transit will ask us all to Paired with the retrograde Pluto, this one
examine the wounds to our self-image. If we is a doozy. This full moon, which is always
don’t fight against this cathartic energy, we a time of reaping, is demanding of us
will learn to put ourselves forward without

117

J aunruealernytin1g5honesty. Scorpio is sharp, and it may 19: venus enters cancer
doesn’t take no for an answer. Scorpio never
stops pushing us, demanding that we listen. In matters of love, this is a time of extreme
During this full moon, take an honest stock sensitivity. Softness, gentle love and
of yourself. It’s an important step to knowing familial bonds reign supreme. We will be
our true selves. We may find that this analysis devoted and more cuddly than normal.
allows us to let go of fears that have been
chasing us for years. may 20: sun enters gemini

may 13: mercury enters taurus Schedule a party! Everyone is more
sociable when the sun is in Gemini. People
Mercury represents our communication. will be curious and communicative. Open-
Taurus is practical. This transit will bring our mindedness will abound.
communication right down to earth. Our
thoughts and communications will be more may 25: jupiter trine neptune
solid and grounded. This isn’t a time for
fanciful daydreams, but of looking at reality The world will be very idealistic now. It’s
and letting it ground us. Attention to details a great time to make connections with
is high, so it’s a great time to nail down the people of different backgrounds. Jupiter
details of projects. But we may lean into more represents expansion and Neptune
rigid thinking during this time and we need represents our intuition...when they blend
to be aware of that. together, it’s a beautiful time with a lot of
potential.
may 15: new moon in taurus
may 29: full moon in sagittarius
This new moon is about realizing your value.
New moons are times to manifest...what do Full moons are times of reaping, and
you want? You have value. Again. You have this one is square Pluto. That means
value. Trust that and try to hang on to it. it will be tugging on your need for self
transformation. It’s trining North Node,
may 15: uranus enters taurus meaning that it should be easier for
everyone to make positive progress
Uranus represents our rebellious nature and towards their own personal karmic goals.
our need for chance. And Taurus is very The energy of the day, according to Sabian
grounding and stabilizing, and deals with our Symbols, is ”A mother leads her small
beliefs and our finances. This is slow transit, child step by step up a steep stairway.”
but we will all be pulled to examine these It’s a good idea to think about how that
areas of our lives and see where the change sentence could apply to your emotional
needs to happen. Imposed values may fall life and karmic goals. If change is needed
away. in your life, this is a good time to go for it.

may 15: mars enters aquarius

Mars is passion. Aquarius is visionary
and unsteady. This is a time of hit or miss
methods. Of vacillating energy levels. Big ups
and big downs. Hold on for the ride. Follow
your passions. They will lead the way.

118

Order custom sky map art to commemorate a special moment, a birthday
or an anniversary. Freeze the planets in time and add style and a burst
of color to your living space. Available in several styles and finishes.
[email protected] to start an order!

Salt Therapy 2221 N. Center St. #3
Benefits: Hickory NC 28601
828-855-9980
Asthma salinity.net 119
Allergies

Acne
Bronchitis

COPD
Cystic Fibrosis

Eczema
Ear Infections

Psoriasis
Snoring
and more

by Michael K. Dugan

SOFAGATE
By Michael K. Dugan

We’ve all heard about Hillary Clinton and Emailgate. Unless they decide to enter the
witness protection program, the Clintons and controversy go together, for good or ill,
like peanut butter and jelly. But the most ardent Clinton Controversy trackers may not be
aware of a situation that swept up the Foothills region and Henredon Furniture, located
in Morganton, NC, when I was president and CEO in the early 90s. Let’s call it Sofagate.
120

The whole thing started in November Kaki was a frequent Henredon user who
1992 when I received a phone call from worked closely with the aforementioned
Craig Shoemaker, the head at the time dealer in Arkansas, and by providing
of Henredon’s Upholstery Division. The the sofa we would be accommodating
sound of his voice told me he was not both of them. More importantly, I saw
exactly thrilled to be making this call. how our employees might take pride
in crafting this piece of furniture for
“Mike, what do you think about Henredon the White House. So, after Craig and I
donating a sofa to be used in the White spent a few more minutes discussing the
House?” Clintons and the president’s latest talk
about raising taxes, I gave my approval
“One of our sofas? In the White House?” and thought no more about it.
I asked incredulously. The request was put in as a rush order.

Tw o thoughts Once the fabric
immediately came to arrived, the sofa
mind. I recognized that was summarily
it would be quite a coup crafted, packed,
both for Henredon and and shipped to
the Foothills region’s Washington,
furniture manufacturing D. C. The
industry to have one of paperwork
our pieces featured in stated that
the White House. But it had been
then I remembered the sold to White
White House’s newly Furniture in
elected occupants, Little Rock at no
President Bill Clinton charge and was
and First Lady Hillary. Craig’s reticent designated for the “White House/Media
tone conveyed his distaste for the Tour.”
Clinton administration, which happened In December 1992, I received a “Dear
to be shared by many executives at the Michael” letter from Hillary Rodham
company. Clinton herself on “Office of the
President-Elect” stationery. She thanked
“I know what you’re thinking,” Craig me “for the lovely gift and for thinking
offered. “But I’m really asking as a favor of me during this very special time.” She
for Brad” - Brad Noe, our Vice President went on to say how she and Bill were
of Sales at the time – “who got the “filled with hope and excitement as we
request from our dealer in Arkansas. We’ll begin our new responsibilities.”
get the fabric from one of our vendors, The following September, a special
so our end of this won’t be much at all.” invitation came for Craig Shoemaker,
Brad Noe and me to attend a reception
Politics aside, it seemed like an at the White House with our wives in
inconsequential request, and in the end appreciation for the donation. By this
it came down to a business decision. As time, President Clinton was pushing hard
Craig filled in more details behind the to raise taxes, especially for the well-to-
sofa request, I learned that the Clintons’ do folks who buy Henredon, and for that
interior designer, Kaki Hockersmith, reason the three of us wanted nothing to
was renovating the private quarters of
the White House at Hillary’s request. 121

do with this event. However, our wives a common Irish lineage to the Cassidy
prevailed, so we agreed to go, just for Clan in County Fermanagh. Once I made
the heck of it. At any rate, we figured it the connection to the Cassidy Clan, the
would be nice to visit Washington. vaunted Clinton charm kicked in, as he
Regardless of your political persuasion, clearly relished talking about his Irish
the White House is very impressive. You roots. And, I can attest to his ability to
cannot help but be captivated by its make a person feel as if there is no one
history. And the reception turned out else in the room.
to be quite a grand, if rather intimate, We were then given a special tour of
affair with roughly seventy-five guests in the White House, which, besides such
attendance. We were served top-shelf usual highlights as the Oval Office,
drinks and delicious hors d’oeuvres by included the family’s private quarters
white-coated attendants. When President on the second floor. It was there we saw
Clinton and Hillary arrived on the scene, our beautiful Henredon sofa and felt
they deftly took charge of the room. tremendous pride in seeing our product’s
Hillary spoke first, giving a short but prominent place in the official residence
eloquent speech in which she thanked her of the President of the United States. The
guests for their assistance in the White décor overall was a bit flamboyant for my
House restoration project. She then taste, with quasi-Victorian elements, bold
turned the floor over to her husband, our
Chief of State. patterns and
strong colors,
President Clinton all of which
proceeded seemed to
to deliver demonstrate
a perfectly more self-
wonderful confidence
address, carefully that taste.
tailored to his Were the
well-heeled Clintons
audience. His happy with our
remarks centered sofa?
on the important
role that home It appears
furnishings they were, for
play in our lives when it came
and how they time eight years later for them to move
influence our thoughts. He even went so out of the White House, they chose to
far as to relay that he had been inspired take it with them to their new residence
by a particular desk while signing a in Chappaqua, New York. Hillary had
peace treaty earlier that week. His just been elected senator of New York,
comments and his radiance completely and once sworn in to office she would
captivated the audience, including those no longer be able to accept gifts, so she
of us on the opposite end of the political and Bill hurriedly declared a list of items
spectrum. When we formally introduced given to them personally over the course
ourselves to the president and first lady of his two terms.
in the receiving line, I pointed out to On, Monday, February 5, 2001 the
President Clinton that because both our
mothers were Cassidys, he and I had
122

Washington Post published the list of evenly split between Republicans and
gifts under the headline “Who Said You Democrats. Then in true bipartisan spirit,
Can’t Take It With You?” Immediately Cliff came up with a neat suggestion that
following “Jack Nicholson, Beverly might defuse the whole situation: “Offer
Hills, Calif. $350. Golf Driver,” I noticed to make a sofa for the Bushes.”
the entry “Brad Noe, High Point, N.C. In addition to the media inquiries
$2843. Sofa.” Scanning the list, I was that continued to pour into my office,
struck by how our Henredon sofa had including a call from the New York Daily
joined such illustrious celebrity names as News and two follow-up calls from
Stephen Spielberg, Kate Capshaw, Mary the TV networks, I also received calls
Steenburgen, Ted Danson, Sylvester from Betty White, our Henredon rep in
Stallone and Ken Burns. Little did I know Arkansas, and Kaki Hockersmith. The
that this itemized list of $190,027 worth purpose of their calls, in contrast to
of gifts would trigger a firestorm of the press, was to extinguish this media
outrage that would ultimately sweep up firestorm that threatened to burn out of
yours truly and Henredon in its path. control. Both women did their level best
On the day the gift list was reported, I to persuade me that the sofa had always
had a very full schedule and planned to been intended for the Clintons and that,
fly to Miami in the afternoon. My typical of course, they should be able to take it
routine was interrupted mid-morning, with them.
however, when my assistant announced
that she had MSNBC on the line. The According to Kaki, all I needed to do to
caller was an earnest-sounding young make everything right was to send a fax
woman who said the network wanted to to Mr. Clinton’s New York office stating
interview me for The Brian Williams Show. our original intent. “Otherwise, it will just
“Interview me about what?” I asked. “It’s end up in a government warehouse and
something to do with the sofa you gave be of no use to anyone,” Kaki pointed
the Clintons,” she replied. Needing time out. “Just send the fax before 2:00 PM
to sort out the appropriate response, I and then he can make reference to it
promised I would get back to her. in his press conference today.” The
I mainly wanted to make sure I was prospect of being quoted in a Clinton
able to answer the network’s questions press conference did not strike me as the
without attracting any negative publicity best way for Henredon either to maintain
for Henredon. Before I had the chance a low profile or steer the middle ground,
to gather my thoughts, though, a call so I told her I’d think about it. By now,
came in from another producer, this time I was increasingly nervous and unsure
from the NBC Nightly News with Tom of how I would response to the media.
Brokaw. I was truly at a loss to see how On the one hand, I knew that trashing
this was a newsworthy event. I realized the Clintons, while tempting, was hardly
how quickly the story was moving when warranted, and yet going on the record
I received my third call from yet another as openly supporting them in their
MSNBC producer. I figured now was an looting of the White House struck me as
appropriate time to seek expert counsel, imprudent. Since refusing comment was
so I contacted Cliff Oxford, our in-house not an option, I decided that telling the
public relations expert. Cliff advised me truth was the best and safest way to go.-
to steer the middle ground, given the First, I called Tom Brokaw’s producer.
probability that our customers were “Look,” I offered by way of explanation,
“this is just not that big of a deal. The
request for the sofa came from our

123

dealer in Arkansas, who simply asked if As I was boarding the plane for Miami in
we would be willing to make a sofa for Charlotte, I took another call from Bob
use in the redecorated private quarters Porte of the Daily News, who asked me
of the White House. We agreed as an to confirm a statement by Brad Noe.
accommodation to our dealer as much Apparently, Brad had not received Cliff’s
as anyone. We were flattered that the “steer the middle ground” advice and
Clintons chose our product in the first had told the reporter in no uncertain
place. We are flattered they have chosen terms that the sofa had been intended
to take it with them to New York. But it’s for the White House restoration project
not our call to decide whether they are and not the Clintons personally. It
entitled to it or not. More importantly, turns out I was not the only one at the
I’m worried about President and Mrs. company the press had contacted, and
Bush. What are they sitting on?” our stories were not in sync - a public
“I assume they brought their own sofa relations disaster in the making.
from Texas,” the producer replied. By the time my plane landed in Miami, I
“Well, we’d be honored to build one for felt myself more and more in the hot seat.
them as well.” Sure enough, a uniformed driver met me
“But, Mr. Dugan, surely you must be and whisked me away to the NBC affiliate
upset that the Clintons just took the sofa station in his S Class Mercedes Benz. I
with them?” was really conflicted about what to do.
Biting my tongue, I replied, “That’s not Should I support Brad’s contention that
for me to say.” the Clintons had no right to the sofa?
“Why not?” she fired back. “What was After all, he was much closer to the actual
your understanding when you made the transaction than I was. Or should I modify
sofa? Did you make it for the Clintons or my original statement to say that since
the White House?” we knew it was for the private quarters of
“I really did not give the matter that much the White House, Henredon’s assumption
thought,” I answered. “As I said, we were was that the sofa belonged to none other
honoring our dealer’s request.” Then a than the Clintons?
thought occurred to me. “I will say this. As I waited at the studio, the producer
I have a Henredon sofa in my office. It called to apologize for not being there
has been provided by the company. If to meet me. It was an unusually big news
I leave, I would not think I was entitled night with a workplace shooting rampage
to take it with me.” At the sound of the in Illinois, and they had decided to cancel
producer’s furious typing, I immediately my segment. Whew! I admit to feeling
began to worry I had just furnished her a bit disappointed that my 15 seconds
with ammunition to be used against the of fame had ended before they started,
Clintons. Even worse, the round might but I was greatly relieved that I did not
ricochet back on Henredon. have to process my conflicted feelings on
“Thank you,” the producer said. “Let national television.
me discuss this with my executive
producer. In the meantime, we’ve made In thinking back on the day’s
arrangements to meet your flight in conversations with producers and
Miami to tape the interview.” reporters, the media’s angle became
clearer to me. Apparently they already
124 had someone to espouse my “middle
ground” position, and they were hoping I
might take up the contrary position. How
typical of the media, I thought to myself,
whipping up controversy by presenting
two opposing views and pretending to

be objective. “Really?” I said. “Why not?”
With the cancellation of the NBC “Well, Mr. Dugan, we are looking for
interview, I assumed the ordeal was someone who is a bit more upset with
over. But when I checked the news the the Clintons about this. And you…how
following morning, I saw to my dismay shall I put this? You just aren’t pissed off
that the story had only magnified in enough.”
intensity. The Daily News had found I thanked her for her candor and we said
their “contrary” source, and it was none our goodbyes. Once again, the media
other than my colleague, Brad Noe. The had a preconceived angle they wanted
paper reported that due to the furor over to pursue, and unless the factual story
the gifts, the Clintons had decided to fit their angle, it was of no use to them.
return some of the furniture to the White Eventually, “Sofagate” got caught up
House. All this might have blown over if in larger issues. The Clintons continued
the article had merely quoted Brad as to generate still more controversy with
saying, “It was a corporate gift to the
refurbishment of the White House. The the subsequent
gift was to the White House restoration announcement
project.” o f B i l l ’s
But expensive
unfortunately Manhattan
he went on office, Hillary’s
to say that he china and
was greatly silverware haul,
offended to and the Marc
be individually Rich pardon. On
named on Wednesday, the
the Clinton’s Daily News ran
personal gift another story
list that the that once again
Washington pitted Brad Noe
Post had and me against
printed. “I each other. The article described Brad as
would never give a gift to the Clintons,” “disgruntled” and quoted me as saying,
Brad had defiantly declared. “The issue as to whether it was for the
Media blood was in the water, and Clintons or the White House didn’t occur
sure enough, I received a call later that to us back then.” At least they included
morning from the MSNBC producer my quote that Henredon would “be
who now wanted to set up a televised happy to make a sofa for President and
interview in Charlotte upon my return. Mrs. Bush.”
Carefully and patiently, I repeated my By Thursday of that week, the sofa was
well-practiced rationale as to why I felt forgotten - or so we thought. While
the matter was not newsworthy. I could driving home from High Point, my
tell this was not what she wanted to hear, assistant informed me that a reporter
and she said she would call me back, from the New York Times had called.
which she did within the hour. Yikes, just when I thought I was out, they
“Mr. Dugan, we’re really sorry, but kept pulling me back in!
we have decided not to record your I returned the call to a John Leland who
interview.”
125

asked me to relate what happened. controlled silence amid the discarded
Leland seemed savvier than the other relics of 43 presidents.”
news people I had spoken with, so I felt Nevertheless, some people were not
comfortable in straightening him out, willing to let “Sofagate” die a peaceful
feeling quite sure I could convince him death. With the tenacity that top-
that this story in particular was one not notch designers often exhibit for their
fit to print. He informed me that the important clients, Kaki Hockersmith
Clintons had, indeed, decided to return made another valiant attempt to reclaim
the sofa and certain other items “because the sofa for the Clintons. She asked
the White House Ushers Office could me yet again to consider sending a
not determine whether or not the gifts fax to the White House stating that the
were the Clintons’ personal property or product had originally been intended
belonged to the permanent White House for the Clintons. I respectfully declined.
collection.”
I replied by saying, “Well, that’s a shame. Two other loose ends remained,
It would have been okay with us if they however. Was there a way for Henredon
had kept it.” to retrieve the sofa from its warehouse
As we concluded our conversation, he purgatory, and could we get a new sofa
began to ask about Brad Noe’s role in into the hands of the Bushes? I called
the company, and I our dealer in Austin, Texas and asked
eventually realized if he had any connections with Mr. and
that this reporter,
too, was looking for a Mrs. Bush. He
quote to fit a certain told me that, as a
angle. Nevertheless, matter of fact, he
I was satisfied that did, and it just so
I had done my part happened he was
in killing the story having dinner with
for good. But later the Bushes that
that evening, I got very weekend.
a call from Craig The dealer gladly
Shoemaker telling relayed our offer
me that Leland had to build them a
contacted him in an new sofa. They
attempt to uncover got excited and
“trouble” between Brad and me. So much suggested we
for “straightening out” the New York work through their
Times. The media really are incorrigible! interior designer,
That Friday the papers reported that the which, of course, we did. But this time,
Clintons had returned the sofa along with we clearly designated the Bushes as
$25,000 of other “gifts.” By now the sofa the recipient!
had traveled from North Carolina to the As for the original sofa, its current
White House to New York and now back whereabouts are unknown. Perhaps
to the White House. If only it could tell it still sits all alone in a dust-free
us stories about its journey! According to government warehouse. Henredon may
the Daily News, “The gifts returned by the have ultimately been unsuccessful in
Clintons have been stashed in a secret getting it back, but that did not stop
government warehouse to sit in dust- Kaki from calling us again, perhaps
126 hoping the third time would be a
charm, to ask if we “could please send
a fax to the White House telling them

the sofa was for the Clintons.” Tpahritsyisotfhyeobuigrgleisfte.
By this time, I had come across a copy of
the March 1994 issue of House Beautiful Magical Music
that featured Hillary on the cover. The Ad
accompanying article had made it
abundantly clear that the furniture had You need to hire a professional, someone who has
been intended for the White House the experience to keep your party going so that you
restoration project and not the Clintons can enjoy each other. Magical Music DJ has over 30
personally. years of experience in the entertainment industry
“This is the president’s house,” Hillary and you can relax knowing that they will read your
even admitted herself, “and we have an crowd, then keep them entertained.
obligation to care for it and to make sure
it reflects well, not just on this president, (828) 391-1388
but on this presidency and the country.”
The story concluded with the statement facebook.com/MagicalMusicDJ/
that “the cost of the refurbishing was
$396,429.46, and it came entirely from
donations to the White House Historical
Association.”
Ye s , K a k i ’s re q u e s t d i d s e e m
inconsequential. Then again, is anything
inconsequential when it comes to the
Clintons?
For the last time, and without hesitation, I
told Kaki “No.”

Bio: Michael K. Dugan was president Our custom design will delight you and yours. Call
and CEO of Henredon Furniture for us and let our design team create a space that
seventeen years. He is also the author of makes you as happy as these little guys were!
Furniture Wars, a book about the decline
of the furniture manufacturing industry in Steelesdesign.com
the United States, particularly in North
Carolina. ( 8 2 8 ) 3 2 2 - 8 0 1 1 127
*The opinions in this article reflect the
thoughts and experiences of the author
and should not be construed as political
opinion by this magazine.

APPALACHIAN TAPESTRY
C. Pleasants York

“Until the day breathes and the shadows flee.”
Song of Solomon 2 Verse 17

After she died
I found her tapestry carpetbag
with the cabbage roses on it –
the tatting needles, the crochet hooks,
the threads, the yarn, the tangled memories –
that she touched with
patient hands,
hands moving like swift birds across
the fabric of life
as she sat on the divan
and listened to the
slow rhythm
of WSJS-FM 1260 on the dial,
sat with her leg under her
like a contented nest hen,
sorted wool, made rugs, crocheted,
sewed dresses for me, did fancy work.
In the carpetbag folded into a cardboard
spool I found a doily – unfinished –
thread dangling, needle attached.
I had it framed – a fragment of forever.
Do we ever finish life really?

128

THE CORNSHUCK DOLL

for
Jessie May Pleasants Stearns

Dora’s Daughter
When the snows came
the family was stranded on the mountain

for weeks at a time,
sequestered in the cabin
with the smell of candle wax and wood smoke,
drifting snow piled against the door
and the wind moaning through the cracks.
Icicles hung from the eves
as Dora huddled in front of the fire,
her brows wrinkled in concentration
as she made the finishing touches
on her corn shuck doll.
A pile of corn silks and corn shucks littered the rag rug
and spilled onto the wooden floorboards
worn smooth by repeated sweepings.
Her fingers were lined and sore
from bending the wires to wrap tight the skirts,
from fashioning the tiny sleeves gripped with tobacco twine.
An apron of calico, a broom from straight twigs –
Dora hummed as she worked,
drawing the face with charcoal from the fire,
then painting in a smile with berry juice
from pokeberries she found on the mountain last fall.
Dora held up the doll and viewed her critically.
A slightly lopsided smile grinned back.
Dora’s mother Mary Elizabeth always said,
“If you don’t have barrels of happiness,
you’ve just gotta make do with what you’ve got.”
Dora looked again at the corn shuck doll,

then gave her a hug.
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Mamie Make-Do!”
C. Pleasants York

129

Rites of Spring

By C. Pleasants York

They were fighting again, their angry words echoing through the tiny
cabin, bouncing off the log walls chinked with wadding and mud. Dora
shifted uncomfortably, pulling the patchwork quilt around her to war m
the night chill of the early spring in the Brushy Mountains. She moved
quietly to keep the corn shuck mattress from rustling. She didn’t want
her parents to know she had heard.
Th e re w a s the s c rap e o f c h air t o t able and a sigh. “W hat ’s t his ol d
mountain doin’ for us, KeyKey? Not a thing.”
“But I thought you were happy, George. You used to be.”
“Grubbing out a living ain’t my idea of happy. I didn’t think it was going
t o b e t h i s w ay. The re’s j o b s , KeyKey, jobs t hat pay down in W inst o n.
I co u l d w o rk at R ey no l d s To bacco C ompany. T here’s plent y of jobs i n
the shipping room, sending out cartons all over the world.” Dora could
hear his feet scraping as he paced up and down, up and down across the
stone floor. “That means eating in restaurants and getting store-bought
clothes. I could have me a good life down there and ear n good money.”
There was a pause, then: “Hell, you could come with me and get Jessamin
to keep the kids up here on Grandmother Mountain.” Another chair
cre a ke d a n d D o ra h e ard h e r f a t her ’s voice fast er, more pleading. “We
could stay with Raven at his place for a year or two, you know, just while
we’re getting started.”
H e r mo t h er’s v o i c e , s o f t b ut clear : “But we’re already st ar t ed. We’ v e
been married eleven years come May. Have you forgotten? I don’t want
our family spread out from here to yonder. I want Dora and W int and Ed
to have a mother and a father all the time, not just when you feel like
spending your nights here.”
“Yeah, KeyKey, but I’m getting nowhere here. I got hopes and I got
dreams and if I don’t go after them now, I guess I never will. I’m feeling
trapped up here on this mountain, and hell, I just gotta go.” His fist hit
the table, rocking the teacups. “I just been waiting for the spring thaw.”
Dora heard the scrape of the chair, the click of the suitcase lock, the creak
of the bedsprings in the other room, a muffled sob. For a few minutes
there was silence in the cabin, and then there was a tiny quavering voice
from the pallet near the fireplace.
“Dora, why Daddy and Ma always fighting?”
“Don’t you worry about it, W int. You get yourself some sleep.” She
tur ned over and added, more to herself than to her four-year-old brother,
“I’ll do all the worrying for both of us.”

130

Dora thought about the ladies who here visiting at church a couple
of weeks ago up at Fair Plains, cousins of Mint Dancy from down near
Mocksville. They were flashy red heads, giggly and painted up,
wearing cheap cotton dresses and carrying bags stitched with tiny
b l a ck b ead s . And D o ra h ad never seen shoes like Miss Ada’s before - -
strips of colored leather and high heels that clattered when she walked
down the church aisle. Trixie had tiny hat with feathers held on to
her curls with a long jeweled pin. Was that how city ladies all looked,
Dora wondered.

She thought of her tiny mother with the blonde hair long enough to sit
on, cascading down her back, the faded dresses, the aprons threadbare
from wiping dish-worn hands, crop-worn hands crusted with dirt. Dora
wished now she hadn’t been so rude to her mother after she came back
from the church.

“Why can’t we have clothes like that and pretty shoes? Seems like
all I ever do around here is clean and work in the field and look after
my b ro t he rs .” Do ra’s v o i ce had r isen in ir r it at ion. “C it y gir ls my
age get allowances and can buy clothes and they can drink sodas at
the drugstore. Miss Ada and Miss Trixie told me. I was talking to
them after the revival, and they told me we were silly to stay up here,
g ro w i n g o ur o w n f o o d , s no wed in ever y wint er. T here’s anot her life,
and we’re missing it, just sitting up here on this mountain missing
it!” Her mother reached into the stove and pulled out the pan of
cornbread, wiping the steam away with her hand. She said nothing.
Dora wondered, too, about the embroidered handkerchief she found
w h e n s he w as p u tti ng aw ay her daddy’s laundr y. It was linen, cr i s p
white with a bright red trim, the initial T in one cor ner.

“Where do you suppose Daddy got this? And why,” she giggled,
“would he keep it in his underwear drawer right there with his long
underwear and union suits? Look. . .” She waved the handkerchief
like a flag, but stopped mid-sentence when her mother grabbed it and
threw it in the fire, standing for a long time with her back to Dora,
watching the ashes and sparks drift up the chimney.

Dora sighed and pulled the quilt up, trying to force her problems out
o f h e r m i nd . It’s al l m y f au l t, she t old her self gr imly. If I helped mo re
with the boys, if I were nicer, Mama wouldn’t be so sad all the time.
She and Daddy would be happy, like they were when I was little. She
thought of the barn raising over at Halls Mills with her daddy playing
“Aura Lee” on the fiddle and her mother dancing on the table, her
eyes wide and blue and young.

Dora was just drifting off to sleep when it happened. She felt it and
heard it at the same time – the impact of something heavy falling,
landing, the rustle of the corn shuck mattress, the pinprick of pain in
the arm. She screamed, tripped over the bedclothes, and stumbled
into the darkness. She cowered on the bricks of the hearth, gasping.

131

George appeared in the doorway, a candle in his hand. “What
happened?”
By then Dora was shivering in the cold gloom of night. “Something
c-c-came from up there. Must have been on the rafters.”
“Move out of the way.” He pushed her aside and peered cautiously
under the bed. “Copperhead.”
“Oh my God!”
“Did it bite you?”
“I think so.”

George was gone for an instant and returned with a carved wooden
walking stick. With one quick movement, he swept it under the bed.
Dora saw a blur of movement and heard Wint, his eyes wide with
fear, whimper from his pallet. She grabbed her little brother and
they cowered over in the cor ner, Dora covering his ears to deaden
the sound of the crash – one, two.
When she looked up again, her father was silhouetted in the doorway,
huge in the flicker of the candle, his arms spread wide holding the
snake. He turned and slammed it against the log wall like a bullwhip.
Dora screamed and hid her eyes. She could hear Eddie wailing from
his crib in the front room.
Again, again. And then George picked up the limp snake, pushed
open the window and tossed it out. “KeyKey, get me one of them
Gillette razor blades, the one still wrapped up in the paper. Celluloid
shaving case. On top of my suitcase.”
He slid the shaving case across the bed, deftly unwrapped the blade.
“Dora, gimme your arm.” He cut two slits where the fang marks
were. “Now you stay quiet, you hear? The more you move, the
quicker the poison spreads.”
George squeezed her arm, leaving the prints of thick brown fingers.
Dora was starting to feel dizzy, her mind a whirlpool of gushing
blood, of flickering light. George sucked the poison from her arm,
spat explosively. Spittle trickled off the edge of the table and onto
the floor. W int rushed into the kitchen and retur ned with a blue
cro cke r y c ereal b o w l . G eo rge t ousled his son’s hair as he leaned
over to spit.
Dora drifted in and out of consciousness. She watched the sweat
p u d d l e on h e r f ath e r’s f o reh ead and t hen t r ickle down t he suncreases
to his beard. She reached up once to touch the crisp wet curls.

132

F ro m fa r- off s h e h e ard h e r mot her ’s voice. “George, you know if y o u
suck that poison wrong, it could kill you both.”
“Yeah, KeyKey, but I gotta try.”
Then Dora slept. It was nearly dawn when she sat up in bed, groggy,
trying to figure out what had awakened her. Her mother was asleep on
the pallet by the fire, her long hair spread out across the pillow, Wint
and the baby wrapped in the quilt next to her. Dora strained to hear.
Nothing. Nothing - and then the muffled click of the latch.
She grabbed her shawl from the nail near the door and slipped out
into the new day. The sun was just coming up over the spring house.
George was a few steps past the fork in the road, a suitcase in one hand,
the walking stick in the other.
A s o b ro s e i n Do ra’s thro at. “ Daddy, where are you going?”
He tur ned. “You know, Honey, I don’t rightly know.”
“Then why are you going?
“I guess I just gotta.”
Dora started to run toward him, hungered to bury her head in his broad
shoulder like she had done when she was little. But something in his
face held her back. She stayed where she was, spoke slowly. “But you
can’t go. You saved me from the snake.” She peered curiously at him,
as if seeing him for the first time. “That means you must love me.”
“Honey, I love you. I love you all.”
“But, Daddy, if you love me and Mommy and W int and Eddie, why do
you want to leave us?”
“You know, Dora, I just wish I knew.” He shook his head and sighed.
He stood for a moment, his head down and brushed his hand through
h i s h a i r, h i s f i n g ers c l aw i ng a t t he coils of black cur ls. “It ’s just t hi s
rambling part of me. I just have to leave.”
H e s p o ke th e n , l o w and q u i c k ly, t he words t umbling out . “Dor a, when i t’s
time for you to get married, you do it up right. You wait till a good man
comes along, one you can love and trust. Don’t you fall in love with the
first man you see like your Ma did. And don’t you choose nobody like
me, cause, girl, you deserve better.” He stood for a moment rubbing
his finger over the carved wood of the walking stick. “Dore Baby, you
have a good life, you hear?”
He turned, and she watched him get smaller and smaller and then
disappear on the path down the mountain.

133

The Gas Station at the

End of the World

By Robert Canipe

Now her car won’t start. The key was stuck in the door Now, whenever she called her parents, they avoided
of the convenience store, it’s 16 degrees, and now the her, afraid she’s looking for a bailout instead of the
Celica had lay down and died. mentorship and advice she so dreamed of.
Monica put her forehead on the freezing steering Monica cried until the customer tapped on her
wheel and cried. She cried about the present and window and she realized that tears were frozen
the past. Tears fell over the mess her life was in, the on her cheeks and lips. She looked up to find Billy
poverty that plagued her like a threatening storm Zee staring at her through the fogged window. She
rumbling in the distance. She wept over student quickly wiped her face and pressed the button to roll
loans, dead babies, and unreturned phone calls from down the window, but it didn’t work. Of course, the
parents. She especially wept about the store she’d car was cold and dead like a dinosaur.
bought last year, this two-pump, lonesome package “You ok?” Billy said, his voice muffled. Monica noted
store that barely paid her rent. Were it not for cheap he was shivering as he only wore a flannel shirt and a
carbs from her own shelves, she might starve. baseball cap. “We need coffee,” he said.
Her father had warned her. Don’t do it, he had said. She got out of the car. “Damned lock is iced,” Monica
It’s too far off the beaten path, the building needs said. “Key is stuck and I’m afraid of breaking it. I
too much work, the price is too high. Her mother had jiggled and jiggled, but it won’t turn nor turn loose
stood stoically by while her father refused to help the key.”
with a loan, forcing her to the savings and loan and
money at 13%.

134

She watched Billy step over the door, a classic aluminum glass double-door whose hinges allowed the door to
open in and out. He tried to door, and it opened. She looked at the lock, watched Billy bend, picking up the
keyring from the icy asphalt.
“Hunh!” Billy said. “You must’ve jiggled it more’n you thought.”
Monica stared at the keys, took them, checked the door key. It was freezing cold but intact. She dropped the
whole thing into her purse and followed Billy inside.
While Billy got a pot of coffee going, she turned on the lights and counted cash into the register. A car pulled
up to the gas pumps. Monica pushed a button and the pumps lit up. The drive began filling her tank.
Monica listened to the store’s hum. Each machine contributed its own music to the sound of the place. The drink
coolers, the slushi machine, the coffeemaker, each created a sound that played the symphony of the roadside
store, a repository of expensive stuff from candy bars to soaps to cigarettes to lottery tickets. But by God it was
her home for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, and she loved its language.
The difference between the store and other convenience stores of its type was that it was really out in the middle
of nowhere. “The Convenience Store at the End of the World” is what most folks called it. Monica was its owner,
manager, and chief employee, mainly because she lived only two minutes away, buried in rural nowhere, living
alone in a rental house that could never be called a home, but seemed a halfway house to something else. Each
time she entered the house to fall into the bed, she felt it warning her to not get too comfortable. The temporary
atmosphere kept her on edge and she could never relax. It was as though she were on tenterhooks, waiting to be

dropped or jerked upward toward God knows what. “What Indian?” Monica said.
The lady from the gas pumps entered. “Can I get a “The one at the side of the building. Left as you face
pack of Marlboros,” she said, pulling her wallet from it. Got to be a Indian cause he’s dark but not black.
her purse. Her nose and cheeks were red, her fingers Old, too. He watched me as I walked in. Made me
peeked from fingerless gloves. kind of nervous, peeking at me from the corner of the
“How you been, Dolores?” Monica said. building as I opened the door. He looks old as sin,
“Oh, I’ve been stove up for a week. Damned winters but lurking around like that is unnerving.”
are killing me. No wonder rich people move to Monica bit her lip. “Billy, will you go see before you
Florida. I thought I’s far enough south to not have to go? I don’t need no more trouble today. ”
freeze, but it’s getting like the Dakotas around here. I Billy stirred creamer into his large coffee. “OK,
ever tell you about the winters in the Dakotas?” Mons.” He popped a lid on his coffee, took out his
Monica nodded, running Dolores’ credit card. wallet. Monica raised a hand. “On the house, Billy.
“Yes, you have. Your stories make me cold to my Thanks for helping me this morning.”
underwear.” They laughed. Billy nodded and went out, returning in a moment.
“By the way,” Dolores said. “Who that Indian standing “Nobody there, Mons.”
out there. He’s going to freeze.” Dolores said, “He might be round back.”

135

Monica shook her head. “No, it’s too steep. This chemical at the bottom of the steps and looked out
building has a full basement. It’s all grown up back the grimy door to the back lot. When she’d bought
there. I’ll never afford to clean it up at this rate. Billy, the place, she’d dreamed of building onto the store
will you--?” straight out back, upper and lower floors, creating a
Billy smiled. “Yes’m. Call 9-1-1 is I ain’t back in fifteen restaurant inside her store. Now, she realized it was
minutes.” They laughed. He went out. only a dream. Her nightmare was that she did enough
“The government will disavow any knowledge of you, local business to stay covered up and working hard,
Billy Zee,” Monica said. but not enough to do anything but pay the bank note.
Dolores smiled. “Sorry hon. I don’t mean to scare She felt tears welling again, stopped and wiped her
you.” She patted Monica’s hand. “Well, I got to get eyes. “Damn it, Monica. You’re a businesswoman. You
to work. Old man McHenry will dock me if I’m late. ain’t no kid crying every time tought times come.”
See you, hear?” She stopped short of the door. “Why She scrubbed at the back door glass with her sleeve,
don’t you let me see if old McHenry won’t hire you listening for the front door’s bell that signaled a
on. You look wore out and skinny. This place is going customer.
to kill you.” She looked out.
“Yeah, Dolores, I know. But old man McHenry can’t In the rolling meadow behind the store, a figure stood
tell me what to do in here. I’ll see you, hear?” Monica in the dormant kudzu. It looked like a man and he was
said, and watched Dolores walk across the snowy staring directly at the store, seemingly at her.
parking lot, looking over her shoulder to her right That ain’t Billy, she thought. Where is Billy? She ran
toward where she’d saw her Indian. upstairs, looking out the front door. Billy’s truck sat
Other cars pulled into the lot, to the pumps; Monica still where he’d parked it that morning. His boss at
got busy, losing track of time in the busy day and the plant would surely be madder than a hornet if
didn’t realize until 6pm that Billy Zee had not returned. Billy missed work.
*** She went back downstairs, peered back out the
back door glass. The figure was still there, yet closer,
During the 5:50pm lull, Monica went downstairs to standing still, staring. She could make out his features
get more antifreeze from inventory for the rack by the not. He was old—ancient-looking—long white hair
door. It was then that she realized that Billy had gone flowing in the cold breeze. He was dressed in what
at 7am to check the back and had not come back. In looked like a sheet, a blanket that reminded her of a
fact, she’d not seen him leave the lot. She thought of shroud. She shivered and stepped back. The upstairs
the joke he’d made. door jangled, so she grabbed the heavy case of
She sat a case of four gallon bottles of the green antifreeze and climbed the steps.
She prepared to welcome the visitor, but there was no
one evident. She put out the antifreeze and looked

136

down each aisle. No one. Not a soul. But she’d heard soul, they did.”
the door bell! Monica knew no one else was in the store but the
Behind her, the door jangled again, opened. three of them. Ned Tillman walked to the toilet’s door,
However, there was no one there. The door opened opened it and went in. A few seconds passed. He
and closed, it’s hydraulics making the same hissing came out.
sound as usual, but no customer came in, no one “Ain’t nobody in there,” he said. “You’s imagining
to greet, no one to nod back at her as some of the things,” he said to Jerry, reaching to help the man up
customers do. while Monica picked up exploded potato chip bags
Two cars pulled into the lot, a sedan and a pickup. from where he’d lain.
Jerry Norman got out of the car, Ned Tillman the “I’ll be damned if there ain’t a man in there,” Jerry
truck. Ned usually bought a scratch off and a piece of said, struggling to pull up his underwear and trousers.
prepackaged pound cake with a coffee. Jerry Norman “He’s an old man, wearing a sheet. Old and wrinkly
used the toilet, perused the magazine rack, and and brown, but pale. He grabbed me from behind
sometimes bought nothing. She didn’t mind people while I’s on the commode.”
who bought little or nothing, but Jerry complained if “How can he grab you from behind the commode
the toilet wasn’t perfectly clean. when it’s against the wall,” Monica said.
As usual, Ned walked to the counter while Jerry went Jerry looked confused, buckled his belt. “Ain’t got
to the Men’s room. no idea. But it’s what he done. He was hanging on
“Hey, Monica,” Ned said. “How’s your day? I’m about my back and I seen him reflected in the mirror when I
froze. No heat at the school today. Ever body was got up. I didn’t feel any weight from him though, like
froze.” he was just a ghost. Monica, your store is haunted.”
“I’m ok, Ned,” she said. “Been busy. Lots of cold “Lord, God, Jerry! Don’t say stuff like that! My life
weather items a selling.” is already hard enough without rumors of spooks
Ned jumped when Jerry screamed and tore out of in toilets getting out, Monica said, feeling tears of
the Men’s restroom, trousers and drawers around his frustration coming to her eyes.
ankles, fell over his own feet and pants, taking down Ned cleared his throat. “Jerry, you sure you ain’t been
a potato chip display, rocking on his shoulder blades. drinking today? You’ve been known to—“
Monica moved from behind the counter to where Jed “Hell, no, I ain’t been drinking. I’m as sober as a
lay, saying, “What in the world, Jerry Norman? You judge, preacher, and one of them Shariah law fellers.
trying to give us all heart attacks around here?” I seen He went out the door, turned came back. “Will
He looked at her, eyes wide, hair askew, lower lip you get my coar off the back of the door in there?”
trembling. “There’s a man in the toilet! Put his hands
on me. Coldest hands I’ve ever felt. Froze my damn

137

Ned came back with his coat. Jerry shrugged into it. snow, as though a hand pressed into her back and
“Haunted. Damn it. Haunted injuns in the crapper,” pushed her forward. The further away from the store
he said. she walked, the further Billy Zee seemed to be.
He left, passing a customer wearing an overcoat and Oh, I know, she thought. This is a dream! That’s why
hat who went directly to the restroom before Monica everything is so weird. She pincher herself on the
could say anything. She and Ned stood there and arm, felt it. Pulled hair from her arm. Felt it.
waited for the scream. But she didn’t awaken. She still stood in the middle of
“You seen Billy Zee?” Monica asked. a field of tangled weeds looking at Billy Zee gesturing
Ned shook his head. “He wasn’t at work today,” he to her, his mouth now working silently. His face was
said. pale.
The man exited the restroom, wiping his hands on Behind him, practically on his shoulders was an old
paper towels. He moved to the coffee area and man, wrinkled, with a head full of long white hair. Billy
prepared a cup of Jamaica Me Crazy, grabbed a didn’t bend under his weight. It was as though the
Krispy Kreme dozen box, and went to the counter. old man were weightless.
“Is that all, sir?” Monica asked. Like a ghost, she thought.
“Yes, please,” the man said, paying with a debit card. She felt the hair on her arms and the back of her
“Thank you,” he said and left. neck stand up. She began to sweat in the cool. The
Ned shook his head. “Derned old Jerry. Showing his temperature seemed to drop and she shivered,
ass.” wished she had her coat.
Monica smiled. “Yeah. In more ways than one.” She As though he were on a pull-string and rollers, Billy
thought why he’d bolt out of that bathroom half Zee screamed and shot toward her, grabbing her by
naked unless something really scared him. the shoulders, an earsplitting shriek causing her eyes
Ned giggled, took his scratch off and left. to go wide and her bowels to freeze.
*** “Ih-wah-e-reh!” Billy screeched into her face. He said
At 11pm closing, Monica felt as though she might it at least five times, each utterance more terrifying
collapse where she stood. She was exhausted. She than the last.
was still disturbed that Billy Zee hadn’t been to work. Monica pulled away from him and ran toward the
His truck still sat in the lot beside the Celica. She also back door. How she got turned around she didn’t
realized that she’d not called anyone about her car. know, but she discovered she was running away from
She’d probably have to bed down in the storeroom the building. Each time she turned to redirect to the
tonight if it didn’t start. building, she found herself deeper into the wood past
And it didn’t. And it had started to snow again, a the kudzu meadow, stumbling and falling over snow
lazy fat flake that drifted to the ground like a down covered stumps and fallen trees.
feather. She stopped suddenly, thinking that the panic she
That tears it, Monica thought, tears again filling her was in wasn’t helping any. She turned but didn’t run,
eyes, her throat feeling lumpy and closed. Now I’ve but took a moment to get her bearings. She stood in
moved into the place. I’m literally here 24-hours a the middle of the wood at the edge of her property
day, going to have to sleep on a thrift store couch in line. In the twilight of the snowy night, she recognized
a basement storage area. the area as she’d walked it a few times in the summer
She tried to make the best of it and snuggled under before, dreaming of building a home on it, living here
an afghan her great grandma has made. She slept forever, disappearing into the nature of it.
fitfully, dreamed of foreclosure and destitution. But she was always dragged back to the store and
She awoke to the sound of tapping on glass. Oh, no, its pressure, its hamster wheel existence of money
she thought. Now the snow has turned to ice. Won’t in and out with little to call her own. All the store
be long before the power will be out and I’ll freeze represented was a life of servitude without the
to death in here. The bank’ll find my froze self laying moments of being that offered solace. Even in her
here, unable to pay another cent. sleep she dreamed of failure, her father’s words
The tapping continued, and she realized it was as cascading through her subconscious, her mother’s
though someone were tapping for attention. She left look of helpless disapproval.
the warmth of the couch and walked to the back door. Monica looked at the clearing she was in. It was wide
Peering through the window, she was astounded that and circular as though the trees had been planted
it was so light outside. Snow covered the kudzu and to encircle the place. They were old trees, tall and
the trees. healthy, but the clearing was clean of saplings and
Standing in the same place as the man earlier was dead limbs as though it had been maintained. All that
Billy Zee. And he was beckoning her to come, his decorated the area was the loam of fallen leaves from
hand and arm slowly rising and lowering. autumns past and the snow that fell yet again through
She threw the lock and opened the door, started at the skeletal limbs of the oaken giants.
how warm it was outside. She’d expected ten degrees In the sudden silence of the night, she heard an owl
to smack her in the face, but it felt like forty out there. hoot and a bird whistle and a cricket chirp. From
Billy Zee continued to summon her forward, into the behind the several trees appeared shadows which
became people, each covered in a white shroud,
138 each staring at her through wizened eyes.

She froze and looked around her, gazing at each with him dug around in the snowy ground. She went
figure as it left its tree and stepped into the clearing. back to the store, worked a very busy day, looking
There, each joined hands with the other and a chant expectantly at the van the college folks had arrived in.
cracked the air. “Ih-wah-e-reh!” Over and over again, Every so often, one of the kids would be at the van,
the shrouded figures sung the word, the recitation open it, and take out a tool like a shovel or pickax.
rising and falling like a mesmerizing choir. Monica It was at 5pm at dusk when they came into the
watched as the snow fell harder and faster, passing store. Monica was signing the invoice for that day’s
through the figures and onto the ground. She felt as newspaper delivery and paying the carrier with a cash
though she’d freeze to the spot. Her skin burned and payout from the register. She bid the carrier goodbye.
her bones ached as the chill bit at her, but the song The college professor, whose name was Belsun,
was so beautiful, so wonderful, that he didn’t want to looked as though he’d rolled through a muddy valley
run. No she wanted to join their circle, to chant and and back.
pray and do whatever it was that they did. “You look like you could use a beer and a bath,”
She wept as she watched. As she gazed at each face, Monica said.
men and women, old and young, she felt as though “How did you know?” he said.
she realized to what they chanted, to whom they were “I had a feeling,” she said.
appearing, and the reasons why. Her soul filled as “No way,” he said. “That grave yard is old, I mean it’s
though it were a pitcher, and empty one, one bereft the oldest Catawba Indian burial ground ever found.
and neglected. We’ve found evidence of high tribe members interred
And then it dawned on her. there. There’s tons of artifacts and historical stuff there
The figures ceased chanting and the woods grew that will connect missing data for us. It’s an incredible
quiet. Monica felt herself drifting in mind and body. find.”
Please, she thought, don’t forget. Never, ever forget “And it’s on my land,” she said. “And I want to stay
this place and what you’ve learned. here.”
She was aware that she was falling unconscious as “Oh absolutely. Law prohibits removing the remains
she did it, and it was strange, as though she were from the ground and the artifacts from the area. In
outside her body and inside it at the same time. She fact, this land is all protected now under the state
was sure she wasn’t freezing to death because she historical preservation act. People will come from all
felt so safe, so loved, as though she’d been shown over the country to visit here. Researchers will want
something amazing and miraculous that she longed to see the area and the artifacts. I’m even willing to
to share with the world. offer that the college will want to partner with you to
*** build a museum here that compliments the find.” He
She awoke in the store, on the sofa, cold and smiled at her. “It’s going to get busier around here.
shivering. The power was out. She heard knocking I’ve seen commerce grow around finds like this.”
on the upstairs door. She pulled on her shoes and She thought about the old man in the field, in the
went upstairs. She saw Billy Zee’s face through the bathroom. On the backs of Jerry and Billy. The chant
glass and smiled. that translated from the Catawban language meant
She threw back the thumb latch lock and grabbed “Dead” and “Live” wandered through her mind like
Billy. “I’m so glad to see that you’re all right!” she a melody. She thought about how that door got
said, crying into the fur of his jacket. unlocked that morning, the key suddenly on the
She let him go and he looked at her. “What ground.
happened? I went to the back and saw that old man. She left professor Belsun standing at the counter and
He wouldn’t answer me, so I intended to put my ran to her car, keys in hand, got in, turned the ignition.
hands on him and make him. Next thing I know, I’m The car started, purring as though it were new.
trying to get back in here to tell you about him and “You ok?” Belsun said.
the dern door is locked.” Monica shut off the car. “I’m more than ok,” she said.
Monica wiped her eyes. “Billy, that was yesterday. You “I don’t feel so much like I’m at the end of the world
got gone and I couldn’t find you.” anymore.”
“Oh, man, I’m going to get fired if I missed a day’s She got out of the Celica and saw the old man
work,” he said. standing at the building’s corner, covered in a shroud,
Monica looked at him, smiled. “If what I think is in the looking at her as though staring. She thought she saw
woods behind my store, I’ll hire you to help me in the a smile cross his lips.
store,” she said.
Two hours later, Monica had convinced a historian to End
come to the store. It had taken him three hours to
get there from the state capital where the college he 139
worked at was.
Monica took him across the meadow and into the
woods where he and several students he’d brought

The Enkindled Spring

D. H. Lawrence, 1885 - 1930
This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.

I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,

Faces of people streaming across my gaze.
And I, what fountain of fire am I among

This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed
About like a shadow buffeted in the throng

Of flames, a shadow that’s gone astray, and is lost.

140

“… A palpable and invigorating book, mapping one woman’s lifelong
efforts to discover her own sexual identity through Christianity and

friendship.” Kirkus Review
“Sandra Worsham’s humor and clear-eyed honesty stitch this
amazing quilt of meaning and experience together in a wonderful
way.” Jill McCorkle, author of Life after Life and Going Away

Shoes
”The struggle of the gay Christian’s complicated effort to reconcile
sexuality and faith is often overlooked by church leaders and more
secular gays. But it is a complex, and deeply engaging journey. I was
deeply moved by Sandra’s book, engaged by her voice, her mind, her
heart. I think many will find their very human story here in the hands

of a wise and compelling woman.”
--George Hodgman, author of Bettyville

Available for purchase at Taste Full
Beans Coffeehouse in Hickory or at

Amazon, using the code here.

141

Ana Cristina Godoy In our next
issue...
Accredited Jewelry Professional
Jewelry Appraisals Lake Living

Graduated Gemologist Our region is full of lakes. We look
GIA#0010127822 for the best swimming holes and

Custom Fine Jewelry share the tips we find.

828.493.3744 Catawba Crafters

Anacristinagodoy.com This group meets to craft for the
[email protected] greater good. They have produced
countless hats for homeless people,
and we chat with them about their

goals and methods.

Horn in the West

Boone is home to the nation’s second
oldest outdoor drama. We examine

what makes it so special.

Day Trips

We look at the many fun day trips
available in our region. We start with

Tweetsie Railroad!

And more!

Our next issue is stuffed full of goodies,
and we can’t wait to share it with you!

If you don’t have a subscription, you can
take care of that at:
foothillsdigest.com!

142

Spring Song

Sherwood Anderson, 1876 - 1941
In the forest, amid old trees and wet dead leaves, a shrine.

Men on the wet leaves kneeling.
The spirit of God in the air above a shrine.
Now, America, you press your lips to mine,
Feel on your lips the throbbing of my blood.

Christ, come to life and life a,
Sweet and strong.

Spring. God in the air above old fields.
Farmers marking fields for the planting of the corn.
Fields marked for corn to stand in long straight aisles.
In the spring I press your body down on wet cold new-plowed ground.

Men, give your souls to me.
I would have my sacred way with you.
In the forest, amid old trees and wet dead leaves, a shrine.
Men rising from the kneeling place to sing.
Everywhere in the fields now the orderly planting of corn.

143

144

Photo by Serge Skiba

145

146

© kellyvandellen
147

What do these Awards
really mean to You and
Your Community Hospital?

For the sixth consecutive year, Catawba Valley Medical Center has
been named a recipient of the Women’s Choice Award as one of
America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Patient Experience. Also, for the
sixth consecutive year, a recipient of America’s Best Hospitals for
Obstetrics. This Women’s Choice Award identifies the nation’s best
healthcare institutions measured against the needs and preferences
of women, providing her the opportunity to identify which hospitals
deliver the quality patient experience she seeks for her and her
family, and for her birthing experience.

This credential signifies Catawba Valley Medical Center’s
commitment and passion towards an extraordinary healthcare
experience for all patients, and is another example of the many ways
we’re working to improve the health of our community.

828/326-3000 Follow us on Facebook
www.catawbavalleymedical.org facebook.com/CatawbaValleyMedicalCenter

Catawba Valley Medical Center does not discriminate on the basis of sex, age, national origin, disability, or race in its health programs.
Español (Spanish) ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística.
繁體中文 (Chinese) 注意：如果您使用繁體中文，您可以免費獲得語言援助服務。請致電
Hmoob (Hmong) LUS CEEV: Yog tias koj hais lus Hmoob, cov kev pab txog lus, muaj kev pab dawb rau koj. Hu