New Greensboro Voice.TH

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VOLUME 1 ISSUE 6 APRIL 2011PRINTING NEWS THAT DOESN’T FIT.

By Andre Fernandes

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Continued on page 5

�e Music Man

Bleeding Gums Murphy teaches Lisa how to cope with the blues by expressing her feelings through music. Homeless people, like Richard Thorton, channel their emotions through music.

I t feels as though spring is already flirting with summer. When the warm days get here,they are already hot. I recently bought a used mountain bike on Craigslist. I'm considering thefuture prospect of grills and ham-burgers because it already feels like summer to me. When I wasa kid, summer meant freedom and sometimes adventures. It was really a feeling that my timewas my own, that I could pursue my own desires and find my ownpurpose. Weather can bring star- Very early in my time with the Interactive Resource Center, I had an interview with Richard “The Music Man” Thornton, a guitarist, bass player and singer who was a member of that enviable club of men who are lucky enough to make a living doing what they love best.

Also in this issue

Help our newspaper share these stories with our Greensboro community

Mail donations to:The New Greensboro Voice

Elizabeth Chiseri-StraterDepartment of English

Humanities BuildingUNCG

Greensboro, NC 27412

Please make your checks payable to “The New Greensboro Voice”

Every homeless person has a story

Enjoy this issue and pass along

to a friend!

The relationship between the homeless and the public libraryPage 3

An interview with Chris Gotham of Goodwill IndustriesPage 2

An editoral about having a voice in today’s society Page 7

A book review on “Same Kind of Different as Me” Page 4

PAGE 2 The New Greensboro Voice

New Greensboro Voice.TH

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Website: http://thenewgreensborovoice.wordpress.com

E-mail: thenewgreensborovoice@gmail.com.

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Mission Statement:

This issue was produced by:Cristina Bryant, ReporterAtilah Claiborne, InternElizabeth Chiseri-Strater, EditorChris Davis, ReporterRobert “Shorty” Decker, ReporterAndre Fernandes, ReporterJennifer Holleran, Design InternWhitney Johnson, DistributionBob Norfleet, VolunteerMajik Pinnix, ReporterDavid Reed, Design & LayoutClarette Sutton, ReporterMary Yost, Editor

Join Our Team:Members of Greensboro’s community who are interested in issues around homelessness and poverty publish The New Greensboro Voice. We welcome you to join our team.

Meetings are held at the Interactive Resource Center’s Board Room on Tuesdays from 9:00-10:00 a.m. and Fridays from 1:00-3:00 p.m. We invite all interested reporters, editors, photographers and designers.

Our newspaper aims to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public discussion on issues that are not frequently covered in mainstream media outlets. These issues include homelessness, facing potential homelessness and the resources that are available to help those in need.This newspaper is for everyone: homeless individuals, housed individuals, students, parents and anyone else who wants to have their voice heard.We hope the awareness gained from our newspaper will encourage the community to have a discussion about issues and people that are normally ignored.

PAGE 2 The New Greensboro Voice

Interview at Goodwill Industries

Q: What is the Employability Program?A: This program gives resources and opportunities for self-sufficiency to meet the needs of individuals in the community.

Q: How does the program help people get and keep a job?A: The job-on-site program offers training and one-on-one counseling, and has a staff. There is not too much difference from job-preparedness classes.

Q: How long does the program last?A: It depends on the individual. A mentor coach is responsible for the clients at Goodwill with training. Some clients are homeless and others are recovering addicts or individuals that have lost their jobs and need extra help.

Q: What happens after the person completes the course?A: The client receives a human

resources development class certificate.Q: How many employees are at this location?A: Around 300 people.

Q: How many people do you serve at this location?A: Yearly, we serve about 10,000 people.

Q: What other job opportunities does Goodwill Industries offer to the community?A: Computer labs, resume writing help, networking rooms, interview training, job postings, vocational rehabilitation and counseling opportunities. We also cater to disabled individuals.

Q: Describe the mission of Goodwill Ministry in one sentenceA: We want unemployment to be at zero percent and we seek to form partnerships with other nonprofit organizations.

Chris Gorham is the director of marketing at the Goodwill Industries of Central North Carolina in Greensboro.

by Majik Pinnix

Majik Pinnix learned about the Employability Program at Goodwill Industries. Photo by Toni Shaw of Shaw Photography Group.

PAGE 3The New Greensboro Voice

By Cristina Bryant

The library offers shelter, food to homeless

W hile at the library I spoke with assistant director Steve Sumer ford about his thoughts on the home-less individuals who spend time in the library.

“I feel that all the people here in the library are customers and should be treated with respect,” Sumerford said. “I recognize that homeless people have some very specific needs, and I hope that our library can meet their needs, just as we do with any other customer.”

Sumerford said that both homeless and housed individuals could cause problems in the library.

Homeless individuals visit the library on a daily basis. Steve Johnson, a 50-year-old man, said he lives wherever he can lay his head. When people react to his presence in the library, he said they have little respect for him. The security guards sometimes disturb him while he is there, he said. During his visits, he browses the Inter-net and reads magazine. He likes car magazines the most.

Johnson visits the library every day and spends all day there.

Homeless individuals who spend time in the library have a highlight to look forward to every Monday when Food Not Bombs brings a meal to the Central Library. The Food Not Bombs dinner has been served nationwide since the early 1980s and has been served in Greensboro for the last 15 years. The group’s motto is “Food is a right, not a privilege.”

I spoke with May, a volunteer for the

Food Not Bombs group. May said they serve mostly vegan and vegetarian foods. The organization receives dona-tions from grocery stores, farmers markets and bakeries. Everyone in the Food Not Bombs group works together to serve the healthful foods that are donated by bringing them to the library in downtown Greensboro.

May said Food Not Bombs is a group of people who want to share food with the community that would other-wise go to waste. I have been to the organization a few times and experi-enced the taste of the Food Not Bombs food. The experience is delightful and everyone is greeted with respective smiles. The guests at the library who do not always receive that same respect welcome this friendship. The team that serves the food ensures that everyone receives food and drinks and that

everyone is treated equally. Sometimes during the dinner, the Food Not Bombs group has special guests come in from other different organizations. For example, one night a guest told us a couple poems and got some of the dining guests to join in. Anyone is welcome to be a guest at these meals.

Cristina Bryant is a 29-year-old creative writer and artist who likes to

crochet. She is happily married to Scotty and has three children. She was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to a military father. She is glad to be a reporter for The New Greensboro Voice and wants to share her homeless story with readers.

Cristina found that homeless individuals must combat stereotypes when they spend the day at the public library.

PAGE 4 The New Greensboro Voice

I n his letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote, “And now these three remain: faith, hopeand love. But the greatest of these is love.”

This inspiring book tells the true story of three people: an angry homeless man (Denver Moore), a fast-paced interna-tional art dealer (Ron Hall), and a very understanding woman (Deborah Hall). Deborah brought the three unlikely friends together with her love, faith and her strong hope for a better world. The story is told in their own words, often shocking but filled with hope, faith and love. Denver and Ron take turns from chapter to chapter telling their life story.

The story begins in the early 1950s with Denver Moore telling about his story as “a modern day slave.” Denver describes his impoverished life as a young black boy on a plantation in Red River Parish, La. He tells about his first taste of racism after an encounter with three young, wealthy white boys when he was 16 years old. He also describes the horrors of poverty and sharecrop-ping. Finally, he talks about losing his grandmother in a fire and listening to her dying screams because he was too young and weak to pull her from the wooden shack that was their home. She was the only person who showed Denver love and trust when he was young.

Denver “just got tired a' bein poor” and hopped a freight train that was traveling west. Denver cannot read, write or understand numbers, but he knows a great deal about cotton farming and he heard that in California “money would stack up like flapjacks.” Denver remains on the train until he got to Fort Worth, Texas. Young Denver quickly

discovered that being an uneducated black cotton picker from Louisiana placed him no higher on the social scale than a scrap of paper tumbling down a dirt road. “That's how come I wound up sleepin on the streets.”

Ron Hall begins his story by describ-ing his life as a young boy born to a lower, middle-class white family in Fort Worth, Texas. He describes his father’s attempt to work a small, flat blackland Texas farm. Life is a struggle for the family. Ron says that the farm was miserable and did not have beneficial soil. Ron later said that one day his father just “crawled into a whisky bottle and didn't come out until I was grown.” Tommye, his mother, was Ron's single cheerleader in his immediate family.

Ron lovingly remembers the summers that he spent at his grandparents. His grandfather taught him the value of “working like a mule,” maintaining a never-give-up philosophy and never turning down an opportunity to help the less fortunate, even if you are dirt-poor yourself. His grandfather also taught Ron to keep his sense of humor at all times and to respect his fellow man, no matter his financial level or race.

In each chapter thereafter, Denver and Ron take turns writing segments of their lives.They finally meet “destiny” and each other, but not without an interest-ing “intervention.” A strong-willed woman of enormous faith becomes the magnet that draws these two unlikely friends together.

Same Kind of Different As Me seeks to raise an awareness about homeless-ness in a very compelling manner. After completing the book, the reader will undoubtedly be left with a renewed

spirit and a commitment to become a part of the solution to homelessness in the United States. The reader will be blown away by what happens in the end. This story a real page-turner and is one of my top favorites. Check it out at your local library but be sure to put on your seat belt for an exciting ride on this real-world train!

Book Review: Same Kind of Different as Me

North Carolinanative. He graduated with sociology and economics degree from Guilford

College. He later spent six years as an officer in the U.S. Marines. After that, Bob was a banker for 40 years and retired in April 2010. He now does volunteer work with the Greensboro Urban Ministry and The New Greens-boro Voice.

by Bob Norfleet

PAGE 4 The New Greensboro Voice

I n his letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote, “And now these three remain: faith, hopeand love. But the greatest of these is love.”

This inspiring book tells the true story of three people: an angry homeless man (Denver Moore), a fast-paced interna-tional art dealer (Ron Hall), and a very understanding woman (Deborah Hall). Deborah brought the three unlikely friends together with her love, faith and her strong hope for a better world. The story is told in their own words, often shocking but filled with hope, faith and love. Denver and Ron take turns from chapter to chapter telling their life story.

The story begins in the early 1950s with Denver Moore telling about his story as “a modern day slave.” Denver describes his impoverished life as a young black boy on a plantation in Red River Parish, La. He tells about his first taste of racism after an encounter with three young, wealthy white boys when he was 16 years old. He also describes the horrors of poverty and sharecrop-ping. Finally, he talks about losing his grandmother in a fire and listening to her dying screams because he was too young and weak to pull her from the wooden shack that was their home. She was the only person who showed Denver love and trust when he was young.

Denver “just got tired a' bein poor” and hopped a freight train that was traveling west. Denver cannot read, write or understand numbers, but he knows a great deal about cotton farming and he heard that in California “money would stack up like flapjacks.” Denver remains on the train until he got to Fort Worth, Texas. Young Denver quickly

discovered that being an uneducated black cotton picker from Louisiana placed him no higher on the social scale than a scrap of paper tumbling down a dirt road. “That's how come I wound up sleepin on the streets.”

Ron Hall begins his story by describ-ing his life as a young boy born to a lower, middle-class white family in Fort Worth, Texas. He describes his father’s attempt to work a small, flat blackland Texas farm. Life is a struggle for the family. Ron says that the farm was miserable and did not have beneficial soil. Ron later said that one day his father just “crawled into a whisky bottle and didn't come out until I was grown.” Tommye, his mother, was Ron's single cheerleader in his immediate family.

Ron lovingly remembers the summers that he spent at his grandparents. His grandfather taught him the value of “working like a mule,” maintaining a never-give-up philosophy and never turning down an opportunity to help the less fortunate, even if you are dirt-poor yourself. His grandfather also taught Ron to keep his sense of humor at all times and to respect his fellow man, no matter his financial level or race.

In each chapter thereafter, Denver and Ron take turns writing segments of their lives.They finally meet “destiny” and each other, but not without an interest-ing “intervention.” A strong-willed woman of enormous faith becomes the magnet that draws these two unlikely friends together.

Same Kind of Different As Me seeks to raise an awareness about homeless-ness in a very compelling manner. After completing the book, the reader will undoubtedly be left with a renewed

spirit and a commitment to become a part of the solution to homelessness in the United States. The reader will be blown away by what happens in the end. This story a real page-turner and is one of my top favorites. Check it out at your local library but be sure to put on your seat belt for an exciting ride on this real-world train!

Book Review: Same Kind of Different as Me

North Carolinanative. He graduated with sociology and economics degree from Guilford

College. He later spent six years as an officer in the U.S. Marines. After that, Bob was a banker for 40 years and retired in April 2010. He now does volunteer work with the Greensboro Urban Ministry and The New Greens-boro Voice.

by Bob Norfleet

PAGE 5The New Greensboro Voice

The Music Man (continued)-

Andre Fernandes is a 25-year-old graduate student pursuing a degree in cre

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ative writing at UNCG. He is a

Brazilian-American who roots for the United States when they’re playing basketball and Brazil when they’re playing soccer.

For him, it was playing music. Richard had been in a few rising bands and even worked for paychecks as a professional musician making profitable guest appearances on other people’s work.

He wrote songs for a few big names and played with people like Tyrone Davis, The Temptations and George Clin-ton. What should have been a brief inter-view about music materialized into a conversation that spanned nearly two hours. It seemed to take us both by surprise.

Richard gave me opinions, anecdotes, rumors and peppered his conversation with exclamations of his love of music. He also told me about his life and his father who, on his deathbed, had a vision of Richard playing music to huge crowds. Richard spoke of his daughter and his grandchild. There were still some raw emotions about his family, but it seemed to give him some peace to be able to talk about it. Nothing seems so bad if you can still talk about it.

As a young musician in the midst of the Blues scene of the ‘70s and ’80s, Richard fell into some bad habits. He relapsed into a few of those bad habits two years prior to our conversation, and though was eight months clean when he spoke to me, he also spoke regretfully of his previous record before his relapsed:15 years clean. For 15 years, Richard was strong. But like he said, “It just takes one real bad day.”

At the end of our interview, Richard told me he had no telephone or e-mail, but he took my information and promised to stay in touch, saying, “I’m the kind of guy who stays in touch when I say I’ll stay in touch.” I urged him to do so. I have not seen him since.

There is a famous episode of The Simpsons called Moaning Lisa. You will have to look back to the very first season of the series to find it. Lisa is depressed. She asks Homer if it would make any difference if she had never existed.

Homer cannot give her an answer, of course, and her mother tells her to take a hot bath. Lisa’s blues continue until she hears a lone saxophone note in the distance, which she follows and leads her to the legendary Bleeding Gums Murphy playing on a bridge. Within a short span of time, Murphy teaches her a little something about blues and how to chan-nel her sadness to make better music.Where is the music man?

PAGE 5The New Greensboro Voice

Carhop for Ca$h!April 23 2011|12pm-4pm| Sonic Drive-In|915 Summit Ave Greensboro

Come out and support The New Greensboro Voice

at Sonic on Summit Avenue in Greensboro! Sonic will generously

donate 10% of their sales to usduring the hours of 12:00-4:00 p.m.

on Saturday, April 23rd!

PAGE 6 The New Greensboro Voice

A student’s shifted perception of homelessnessBy Atilah Claiborne

S kewed. This is the word I will use to describe my experience with the homeless population in Greensboro prior to my internship position at The New Greensboro Voice. As a college student, my routine is pretty much the same: wake up, brush teeth, wash face, get dressed, go to class, go to a meeting or two, hang out, talk to my parents, then go to sleep. These mundane tasks always seemed to exist with some type of difficulty. For example, my roommates would use all my toothpaste without asking, or the mirrors were occupied when I wanted to use them; someone would interrupt me while I was speaking at a Student Government Association meeting; my mother did not send me the “correct” amount of money; and I had the worst time finding the perfect shoes to go with my perfect outfit.

These were the “dramatic” struggles that I had to face as a college student in Greensboro. Silly, right? Little did I know that people in my community were dealing with issues that are so much more impor-tant those of my own. I will retract that last statement. I did know about the struggles of the less fortunate, but to some extent, I can say that I did not care. This is a statement that I ashamed to confess and it hurts even more to see it in words. While I was selfishly complaining about not being able to use the mirror in my room, there is a girl my age who is praying for a roof over her head. However, since I do not know her personally, I do not care. This notion of carelessness speaks to an issue

that many of us face: “proximity-based concern.” If it is not close, then it does not exist.

How many times have you driven down East Market Street and experi-ence a homeless individual who asked you to spare a little change? What happens? If you have it, you give it to them and continue with your life. You don’t really take the time to converse with the person, learn their story or even think about how you can help them in other ways. Why? Because their story does not play a major role in the plot of your life. This thinking is destruc-tive and detrimental to our commu-nity.

Working with The New Greensboro Voice taught me that everyone has a story. Thinking back to my first meeting at the Interactive Resource Center, I left feeling a sense of confusion. Sitting in a circle, writers and contributors voiced their ideas about potential stories and fundrais-ing ideas. Meanwhile, I was glanc-ing through the pages of a past issue of the paper. At the bottom of each story is a small picture and short biography of the writer. I was shocked to discover that many of the writers had been homeless in the past or are currently homeless. My eyes gazed over the room and these people were sitting in the room with me. “How could they be homeless? They don’t look homeless” were some of my thoughts that ran through my head at that moment.

After being an intern for a few months, I’ve met so many interest-ing people that have shattered that “homeless stigma” that so many of

us on the “outside looking in” proj-ect onto this group. I’ve heard so many stories that are inspiring and uplifting. The noble sense of hope that travels through this community is admirable. I am proud to say that my perception of homelessness has completely shifted and I have learned so much from the staff of The New Greensboro Voice. The tagline “printing news that doesn’t fit” explains the public’s perception of the underprivileged. However, with each edition, The New Greens-boro Voice is making room for this voice to not only fit, but to be heard.

Interning at The New Greensboro Voice has helped one college student overcome the stigma associated with homelessness. Painting by Andrew

Atilah Claiborne is an award-winning student journalist at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University specializ-

ing in broadcast journalism. She is from Fayetteville, N.C., and is the Communi-cations and Video Marketing Intern at The New Greensboro Voice

PAGE 7The New Greensboro Voice

Editorial: Take Out the Anger in MeBy Clarette Sutton

The artist “X” presents to you a story inspired by J.Cole’s album Friday Night Lights. Dreams, death at a young age, struggle and the outlook for 2-6 are all splashed across the canvas. Money and greed fill the world but also filled the hands of “X” to comprise a piece that exemplified the mix tape.

Well it’s article time again and I love to write, but my opinions are limited. Edits turn to revisions that are not my thoughts. My life then turns to lies because I make people believe that all is OK. We are differ-ent and the world needs to truly see the difference. It’s not always about being black or white, male or female, but sometimes about being rich or poor. Lord, take out the anger in me.

In life, two people can make the same statement, but the lesser of the two is most likely to be unheard. One thing that I do know is that God sees and knows. He knows the depths of our hearts and the pains imposed on us. He sees our tears, hurt and pain. He was the one that initiated our very name. He makes the world under-stand, “That the poor will be with us always.” He gives us wisdom and understanding that a little sleep and slumber will lead to poverty.

I know we all need a voice, but some people do not want to be heard. The scholars said the government got upset when Jesus delivered the insane man and sent the demons into the pigs. Scholars said it was an economic move because they lost livestock and money. The man did get healed. Just like that situation, people do not want opinions voiced because the people might get healed.

If the people get healed, our prisons, hospitals or institutions will have to close. We do not want that to happen.

If our voices get heard, people will get healed and we do not want that. The truth does not always set us free. It bounds us and builds anger inside us. I write because I see so much wrong done against others and me, but we have no voice. I write because I see things from a different view as others. God gave me a command years ago.

He said, “My daughter, speak for those who cannot speak for them-selves. As you deliver them, I will deliver you from all your troubles.” He has done just that. Today, I make the same statement. If I cannot speak for them, how can I be that voice? How can we have new voices if we are not willing to listen to what is written?

How can we help the homeless when before they became homeless, no one explained foreclosure, preda-tory practices and deceptive prac-tices? How can we help the sick when we can’t tell them the house was full of lead paint? How can we save the paralyzed when we couldn’t tell them about the car’s defects? Lord, take the anger out in me.

Or is my anger justified? Jesus got angry at the money changers in the temple and turned over the tables. I guess I can get angry. Jesus said that

it’s OK to get angry as long as a person does not sin.

Now I can’t think to write because my writing won’t fit the situation.

Who has the right to edit what I say or what I write? Who has the right to say where I work or what I drive? No one. Until that voice is heard no one has the right to think for me. Lord you take the anger out of me because I do not understand why people try to change others instead of letting the change come from within.

Lord, take out the anger in me.

Clarette Sutton is a youth advocate and minister who spends much of her time helping others. She is founder of EMOTIONS

organization, and Prayer, Praise and Healing Outreach Ministry of Warsaw, N.C.

PAGE 8 The New Greensboro Voice

LAST WORD: ART & POETRY

Love’s Withered FlowerBy David Pigue

Love’s withered flower, once in full bloomArguments heated, and love was doomed.Late night talks, long heart-aching tearsYelling at each other throughout the year.Selfish needs ensues her heartChristmas Eve we had to part.She storms away without a glanceLeft behind are memories of our prom night dance.Our first kiss, how happy we areBut it faded with the evening star.I tried to water it, give it TL careI still forget that you’re not there.Wrote you letters saying, “I still love you.”Still hoping and praying you’ll say it, too.But I realize now we need to move onEvery day a new day, came with the dawn.Maybe I’ll fall in love again.Can a broken heart mend,If so, then when?Goodbye to the past love’s withered flowerLast year was our final hour.

Thankful

God, thank you for opening my eyes this morning.Thank you for my good health and peace of mind.Thank you for my family and friends.Thank you for the things I have and the things I don't.Thank you for my job, my boss and co-workers.Thank you for providing me with food and shelter.Thank you for your angels that keep me safe, day by day.Thank you for my good heart and soul.Thank you for loving me and being understanding.Thank you for the doors that you've closed and opened.Thank you for your blessings and those to come.Thank you for your forgiveness.Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ.Thank you for keeping the promises you've made.Thank you for creating me in your image.Amen.

The New Greensboro Voice needs YOUR voice!

Are you a writer, editor, designer or photographer who wants to contribute your talents to our newspaper?

If so, then we want to hear from you!Please contact our team via e-mail at thenewgreensborovoice@gmail

By Chris Davis