Virginia storyteller Chetter Galloway thrilled audiences at last year’s Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival in downtown Charleston. The event will be back March 13-14 at Wragg Square as national and regional tellers delight young and old with everything from folk tales and tall tales to ghost stories. In addition to multi-year winners of West Virginia’s Liar’s Contest and performers from Comedy Central, headliners include Charlotte Blake Alston, Michael Reno Harrell, Bil Lepp and Corinne Stavish – all award-winners, recording artists and authors who have traveled the globe captivating audiences. Learn more about tickets and times here. Photo by Cynthia Bledsoe.
IN THIS EDITION (MARCH 2, 2015 | Number 7.18)
FOCUS: Gregorie wants a city that works for all
BRACK: “Dum spiro spero: for public education
POEM: The Story of a City, by Ed Madden
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
GOOD NEWS: Exhibit to feature Fraser’s batiks
FEEDBACK: Send us your letters
REVIEW: First Frost
CALENDAR: Book sale, Underpants, sculpture, more
MYSTERY PHOTO: Just in time
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Josephine Humphreys
FOCUS
Gregorie: A city that works for everyone
By William Dudley Gregorie, candidate for mayor | Our hometown is growing. Yet because of a ground-breaking commitment for historic preservation and a respect for the city’s cultural heritage, Charleston enjoys a reputation as the most authentic Southern city in America.
Gregorie walking in the 2015 Emancipation Day parade. Photo via DudleyGregorie.com
In time, however, uncontrolled growth could threaten what our city has become. The unique character of Charleston is brilliantly displayed in the city’s remarkable architectural landscape. As we grow, we must not lose sight of the need to control traffic congestion, while being people friendly and environmentally conscious. I will protect the “Charleston brand” while advancing sustainable urban growth, built on the core principles of livable and safe neighborhoods. With a new politic of citizen input, we can move excitedly toward a future of ONE CHARLESTON: A City That Works For Everyone.
As we continue to grow, we must address the challenges of drainage and flooding, improve streets and sidewalks, and maintain dependable sanitation and recycling service. We will achieve these goals through a conservative fiscal policy guided by priority spending while preserving Charleston’s AAA credit rating.
Charleston’s continued growth and national and international standing will depend on our ability to rapidly improve our schools. As mayor, I want to build a world-class public education system as this is critical for the financial and civic health of our city. We must ensure that our citizens, young and old, are prepared to participate in a democratic society so that they can seize new jobs and business opportunities.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Between now and the November mayoral election, we are offering an opportunity for each of the declared candidates to write a column outlining why they want to be mayor. Candidates get to pick their publication date on a first-come, first-served basis. Content related to the race is archived here.
Public safety – the number one priority – is an essential element to sustain and improve the quality of life for all Charlestonians and our visitors. We must re-educate our citizens to assist police in making their communities safer while providing our police officers with the proper crime solving and prevention tools necessary to expand their public safety capacity within a growing community. We must work to ensure that our Fire Department regains accreditation and provide the department with whatever is necessary to bring this to fruition.
Charleston’s vested projects will proceed as planned. They include: the West Ashley Senior Center, extension of the River Walk, the International African American Museum, drainage, the Horizon Project, Magnolia redevelopment, West Ashley future redevelopment and Upper Peninsula/ Morrison Drive redeployment.
My vision is not limited by neighborhood lines or geographic barrier, or by the city limits. As a municipality, we cannot operate in a vacuum. We have a symbiotic relationship with the governments in the tri-county. We must also think globally to make important local and regional decisions. We must be inclusive in our approach. I will be relentless in the pursuit of solutions to regional growth challenges.
Charleston’s economic prosperity presents us with one of our greatest challenges; how to make Charleston an affordable community in which to live, work and raise families. This is where my experience working for HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) is so valuable. Regionally, I will advocate expanding affordable housing choices in opportunity-rich neighborhoods by identifying incentives to encourage responsible development of new housing, businesses and job creation.
As the region experiences tremendous growth over the next decade, transportation and land use will remain top priorities. We want that growth to reinforce the unique physical qualities of this place we call home. We must provide greater protections across the region for our natural resources and rural lands. We must become serious about the transportation infrastructure needed to serve a region of 1 million residents. We must advocate for better public transportation that uses new technologies to build a rapid transit system, in order to connect all of our residents in every area of our city. We need a regional rail network to connect Charleston with other cities in the southeast. In the short run, we must:
- Build the best regional plan in the country
- Realistically fund public transit
- Complete a road network
- Extend the urban growth boundary to include all counties in the region.
Long term, we must build a passenger rail system that connects urban centers in South Carolina and beyond to include Charlotte, Atlanta and Savannah.
This nonpartisan mayoral election is not about Republican or Democrat. This race is about serving YOU, the people of this city.
This election cannot be about false promises. As a city councilman, my track record of proposed legislation and efforts shows that my heart is with YOU.
Charleston is on the brink of a new era of amazing possibilities. We can make history in November. I will work hard to serve this ENTIRE city. West Ashley – I hear you! John’s Island – I hear you! James Island – I hear you! Downtown – I hear you! Eastside – I hear you! Westside – I hear you! The Neck – I hear you! Daniel Island – I hear you! Cainhoy – I hear you! And I will do all I can to help and serve you!
We will be: One Charleston – A City That Works For Everyone.
William Dudley Gregorie, who served for 32 years with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was elected in 2009 as the District 6 council member on Charleston City Council. He served as mayor pro tem in 2013.
BRACK
Brack: “Dum spiro spero” on S.C. public education
By Andy Brack | Twenty years from now, historians just might look back on the past week as the tipping point for state legislators finally “getting it” that public education, particularly in rural areas, needs a lot of attention, not episodic Band-aids.
The state House of Representatives finally seems to have a leader — a man who grew up in the Corridor of Shame’s Darlington County — who is walking the walk, not just talking the talk about public education.
GOP House Speaker Jay Lucas this week challenged a special new panel of leaders he appointed to look for real fixes to public education, solutions that should be innovative, bold and inventive.
He told legislators and lay leaders to use an approach offered by English writer and thinker C.S. Lewis, who once said, “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”
Lucas reflected, “Cutting down a jungle does nothing but focus solely on correcting the current inadequacies in our system. Hacking away at ineffective policy will only yield minimally adequate results.
“Instead, focus on irrigating the desert. Focus on achieving what others think cannot be achieved. Make South Carolina’s educational system competitive on the national scale.”
Comments like that illustrate that Lucas is serious and wants legislators, often lackluster in thinking outside the box, to look for solutions that will be transformative for students from Dillon County to Abbeville County.
“If we have procedures and programs that work, keep them,” Lucas implored. “If there is a program you believe is failing, then scrap it and find a new approach.”
Lucas’ marching orders are pretty clear: Do something big, for a change.
Bud Ferillo, the Columbia public relations guru who brought national attention to the failings of rural education in schools along the Interstate 95 corridor in his 2005 “Corridor of Shame” documentary, understands how Lucas’ words show the attitude toward public education really may be changing in the Statehouse.
“With the strong decision [last year] from the Supreme Court, last legislative session’s increased funding of early childhood education, a new superintendent of education, a new Speaker of the House and improved state revenue projections, the stars are aligned for genuine collaboration on the problems in our poverty schools,” Ferillo told us this week. “It will take years to assure quality education in these districts, but I think we have the wind at our backs for meaningful, sustained improvements. I am excited about this impressive beginning.”
So is Ferillo’s longtime friend, past Gov. and U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley of Greenville. He told committee members they had a real chance to do something remarkable with public education.
In seven pages of remarks, Riley outlined what really is a blueprint for change in rural public education. He told the policy review and reform task force that last year’s S.C. Supreme Court decision imploring the state to deal with inequities of rural education provides a real chance for a fresh start.
Riley told members to think strategically, expansively, comprehensively and with a long-term view. He said they needed to have a sense of urgency. “There are 130,000 elementary and secondary students in the plaintiff districts,” he said. “We cannot lose another generation of children when we have a chance to do right by them now.”
Riley then offered 13 major policy recommendations, from attracting and retaining effective teachers and leaders to providing high-quality after-school and summer learning programs, and reforming high schools.
It’s going to take a long time, Riley and Lucas agreed. The effort by the state has to be sustained, not piecemeal as it has been year after year as new leaders trash what their predecessors did.
“We also know that initiating these reforms is a complicated process that requires more than just the ‘spaghetti approach,’” Lucas said. “We can’t afford to simply throw a bunch of ideas up against the wall hoping that some stick. This is why I have brought all of you together to work towards a real solution.”
“Dum spiro spero,” our state’s motto. “While I breathe, I hope” our state lawmakers won’t lose this chance to do what they should have done generations ago.
PALMETTO POEM
A Story of the City
By Ed Madden
(written for the 2015 State of the City Address by Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin, 20 Jan 2015) |
In the story, there is a city, its streets
straight as a grid, and in the east, the hills,
in the west, a river. In the story,
someone prays to a god, though we don’t
know yet if it is a prayer of praise
or a prayer for healing—so much depends
on this—his back to us, or hers, shoulders
bent. We hear the murmur of it, the urgency.
In the story a man is packing up
a box of things at a desk, a woman is sitting
in a car outside the grocery as if
she can’t bring herself to go in, not yet.
Or is the man unpacking, setting a photo
of his family on the desk, claiming it?
And is the woman writing a message to someone—
her sister maybe, a friend? In the story,
a child is reading, sunlight coming through
the window. In the story, the trees are thicker,
and green. In the story, a child is reading,
yes, and his father watches, uncertain
about something. There is a mother, maybe
an aunt, an uncle, another father. These things
change each time we open the book, start
reading the story over. Sometimes a story
about trees, sometimes about a city
of light, the city beyond the windows of a dark
pub, now lucent and glimmering. Or sometimes
a story about a ghost, his clothes threaded
with fatigue and smoke, with burning—you smell him
as he enters the room, and you wonder
about that distant city he fled, soot-shod,
looking back in falling ash at the past.
Sometimes it’s a story about someone
singing. Or someone signing a form, or speaking
before a crowd, or shouting outside a building
that looks important, if only for the flag there,
or the columns, or the well-kept lawn.
By now it’s maybe your story, and the child
is your child, or you, or maybe we’re telling
the story together, as people do, sitting
at a table in a warm room, the meal
finished, the night dark, a candle lit,
an empty cup left out for a prophet,
an empty chair, maybe, for a dead friend,
a room filled with words, filled with voices,
the living and the dead, someone telling
a story about the people we are meant to be.
Ed Madden, an associate professor of English at the University of South Carolina who directs the university’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program, is poet laureate of the City of Columbia, S.C. Republished with permission
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Morris Financial Concepts
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring Charleston Currents to you at no cost to readers. Morris Financial Concepts, Inc., is a nationally recognized, fee-only financial consulting firm that helps you identify and align your resources, values and goals to achieve an enriched life. We do not accept commissions or com
pensation related to the products and service we recommend. Our counsel is based solely on what we believe is best for each client.
- Learn about founder and Charleston Currents columnist Kyra Morris and more about the consultancy at: Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
GOOD NEWS
Exhibit to highlight Fraser’s geographic batiks
Above, Between, Below is a new exhibit featuring batiks on silk by Charleston artist Mary Edna Fraser that will be on display March 21 to May 3 at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park.
Image is part of “Flying North,” by Mary Edna Fraser.
According to a press release, “Above, Between, Below is an ambitious exhibition of work by Lowcountry artist Fraser, depicting—through her signature batiks on silk—breathtaking perspectives on space, earth and deep sea. Developed with leading scientists in the fields of planetary science, coastal geology, and oceanography, Above, Between, Below bridges cutting-edge science and the living, ancient art of batik—a technique of hand-dyeing fabrics by using wax as a dye repellent to cover parts of a design, dyeing the uncovered fabric, and dissolving the wax in boiling water—to afford a vantage point the human eye and traditional cameras cannot reveal.” More.
More Good News:
Hats off to IOP. A big thanks to Isle of Palms town leaders for unanimously passing a resolution last week opposing offshore drilling and seismic airgun blasting off the South Carolina coast, says the international advocacy organization Oceana. “This is no longer just a debate over the risks and benefits of seismic airguns,” said organizer Samantha Seigel. “It’s a fight to protect the East Coast and the marine life, people and communities that call it home.”
100 years of the Navy Reserve. The City of North Charleston, the Navy League of Charleston and others will present a celebration of the Navy Reserve’s 100 years of service from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. March 7 at Riverfront Park in North Charleston. There will be tours of the USS Shamal, a Cyclone-class patrol ship, speakers, history panels, bands, fireworks and more — including a Naval Reserve flyover. More.
Passing. A somber moment for The Citadel, which lost its retired bulldog mascot, General Thomas Curtis Metsker, on Feb. 26. Born in 2003, he served the college for 11 years. “General” was named, in part, for Capt. Thomas Curtis Metsker, who graduated from The Citadel in 1961. During the Vietnam War, he was in the battalion that led the first search-and-destroy mission to be conducted using airmobile (helicopter) warfare tactics. Metsker, who was wounded in the shoulder, was shot and killed when he gave up his seat on a helicopter to another soldier who was more seriously wounded, according to The Citadel. A memorial to past mascots of The Citadel will be dedicated 11 a.m. March 14 at Johnson Hagood Stadium.
New academy. The Footlight Players has added the Footlight Dramatic Academy to train a new generation of actors and theatre-goers with classes and workshops for ages 5 to 18. The first play it will produce is “Miss Nelson is Missing” on March 21-22. Ticket prices and more info.
FEEDBACK
Send us your letters (i.e., rant, rave)
If you have an opinion on something we’ve offered or on a subject related to the Lowcountry, please send your letters of 150 words or less to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com | Our feedback policy.
REVIEW
First Frost, by Sarah Addison Allen
In the small college town of Bascom, North Carolina, the Waverley women are known for their peculiarities. Get your hair done by Sydney Waverley and you’re guaranteed a smooth morning commute, a promotion at work, and dinner cooked by your husband when you get home. Hire Sydney’s sister, Claire Waverley, to cater your child’s birthday party with candied violets and petite strawberry cupcakes, and those children will be well-behaved and take long afternoon naps. Sydney’s teenage daughter, Bay, has a knack for knowing where everything belongs. She could put your dinner dishes correctly away, even though it’s the first time she’s ever been in your kitchen. The Waverleys’ elderly cousin, Evanelle, always has a useful gift to unexpectedly give someone. Whether it’s a wooden handled spatula, a baby crib, a stick of Blackjack chewing gum, the receivers find they were given the right gift at just the right time.
Autumn rolls into Bascom and brings with it a mysterious gentleman who puts everything out of balance for the Waverley women. They find that they all have difficult decisions to face leading up to the season’s first frost on Halloween morning. If you enjoy a light, refreshing read with strong female characters and sweet and simple details, this book is for you.
– Codie Smith, John’s Island Regional Library, John’s Island, S.C.
Find this and similar titles from Charleston County Public Library. This item available as a book. To learn more or place a hold, visit www.ccpl.org or call 843-805-6930.
CALENDAR
This week: Book sale, Underpants, sculpture talk, more
The Underpants: March 6 to March 22, Dock Street Theatre, Charleston. Charleston Stage will present comedian Steve Martin’s hilarious farce that updates a German comedy and makes it relevant today. For times and ticket prices, visit CharlestonStage.com
Book sale: March 6 and 7, Mount Pleasant Regional Library, 1133 Mathis Ferry Road, Mount Pleasant. Charleston Friends of the Library will have its annual sale in Mount Pleasant with great bargains on good books and other media. The event opens at 9 a.m. on both days. More.
Captain’s Comic Expo: March 7 to March 8, Omar Shrine Temple, Mount Pleasant. The 7th annual event is the city’s premier comic book and pop culture event and will have more than 100 tables of comic books and toys for sale, with lots of other fun stuff too. More.
Mullet Haul Trail Run: 8:30 a.m., March 7, Mullet Hall Equestrian Center, Johns Island. The 5th annual trail run features a 5- and 10-mile off-road run. Fees. Click here to learn more and register.
Bushels & Bids: 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., March 7, Charles Towne Montessori, 56 Leinbach Drive, West Ashley. The community’s oldest and only internationally-accredited Montessori school will have an oyster roast fundraiser with local oysters and live music by Castle Crossing. More.
(NEW) Teddy Bear Picnic: 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., March 8, Hampton Park, Charleston. The Charleston Parks Conservancy will host the event that features entertainment and a care station for “injured” bears needing treatment. Families are invited to bring a picnic lunch and blankets to enjoy entertainment. Rain date is March 15. More.
U.S. Navy Band to perform: 6:30 p.m., March 9, Meyers Theater for the Performing Arts, 5109 W. Enterprise St., North Charleston. The city is only one of 32 this year to host the Navy’s concert band, which will present an array of marches, patriotic selections and more. Free. More.
(NEW) The Art of Healing: 6 p.m., March 10, Charleston Federal Courthouse, 83 Broad St., Charleston. The Gibbes Museum and Roper St. Francis will offer a panel discussion on public sculpture and, specifically, the statue of the late U.S. District Judge Waties Waring on the courthouse grounds. Panelists will include U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, sculptor Rick Weaver and artist Jonathan Green. Preregistration is required by March 2 here.
Terrace Charleston Film Festival: March 12 to March 15, Terrace Theater, James Island. The retro cinema will offer more than a dozen great films during its 6th annual film festival. More info.
Charleston Tells: March 13-14, Wragg Square, Charleston. The third annual Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival will bring together some of the best of national and international storytellers in one place over two days. Presented by the Charleston County Public Library, the event features nine acclaimed storytellers and others. Last year, more than 1,600 people enjoyed the event. Don’t miss it this year. Tickets are $40 with kids 12 and under for free. More.
(NEW) Refugee All Stars: 5 p.m., March 19, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars will offer a benefit concert to raise money for Doctors Without Borders, a non-governmental organization working to combat the spread of the Ebola virus which killed more than 3,300 in the west African nation. Tickets are $15. More.
(NEW) Art submissions sought: Due March 21. The 3rd annual Spring Jam Music Fest is offering an Art Walk Exhibition of 10 artists chosen by festival contributors. The art will be displayed during the all-day April 18 show at The Grove at Patriot’s Point in Mount Pleasant. Learn more here: www.springjammusicfest.com
Lowcountry Cajun Festival: Noon to 6 p.m., March 29, James Island County Park, James Island. A full day of tunes, food and activities will ensue as the area celebrates all things Cajun. $15 for 13 and up. More.
Art on Paper: Through April 5, 2015. While the Gibbes Museum of Art is renovating its space through next year, its third annual Art on Paper exhibit will continue — just in a different location. This year, the exhibition of works on paper will come from six local galleries and be featured at The Vendue, Charleston’s art hotel at 26 Venue Range, Charleston. An opening reception is 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Feb. 6, at the hotel
Fashion Flashback: Through May 10, 2015, 360 Meeting St., Charleston. The Charleston Museum will offer a new fashion exhibition, “Fashion Flashback, 1920s-1960s: Five Decades of Style that Changed America” in its Historic Textiles Gallery. A light-hearted look at 50 years of fashion, viewers will enjoy exploring clothing styles from the swinging 1920s to the hip 1960s. Learn more here.
Natural history exhibit: Through Aug. 10, 2015. “From Land to Sea: 35 Million Years of Whale Evolution” will be featured in The Charleston Museum’s lobby gallery with displays of whale fossils from millions of years ago. There’s limited availability for an overview by Natural History Curator Matthew Gibson on opening night. Learn more.
Bird walks: 8:30 a.m. to noon, every Wednesday and Saturday. This is the time of year that a great variety of migrating birds fly through the Lowcountry so what better time to take part in one of the regular early morning bird walks at Caw Caw Interpretive Center in Ravenel. Pre-registration is suggested. Cost is $5. Walks also are conducted on James Island and Folly Beach. Learn more online.
If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to editor@charlestoncurrents.com for consideration. The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.
MYSTERY PHOTO
Just in time
CLUE: This photo, taken in the Lowcountry but outside of Charleston County, arrives just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Where is it? Send your guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Where in the world is this weather vane? Photo by Michael Kaynard, KaynardPhotography.com.
Chris Brooks, the old reliable mystery photo detective, was the only person to correctly identify last week’s wind vane photo. It’s atop the historic Old Exchange Building at East Bay and Broad streets. Thanks Chris! Both photos by Michael Kaynard of Kaynard Photography.
If you have a mystery photo that you’d like to share with readers, send it to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. (And make sure to tell us what and where it is because we might not know!)
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA
Josephine Humphreys
Born in Charleston in 1945, novelist Josephine Humphreys is the daughter of William Wirt Humphreys, a corporate board director, and Martha Lynch. She attended schools in Charleston and enrolled at Duke University, where the author Reynolds Price served as her mentor. After receiving her bachelor of arts degree in English in 1967, she went on to Yale University, where she earned a master of arts degree the following year. On November 30, 1968, she married the attorney Thomas A. Hutcheson. She studied at the University of Texas at Austin from 1968 to 1970, returning to Charleston to teach at Baptist College (now Charleston Southern University) from 1970 to 1977. She has two sons, Allen and William.
Drawing praise for its finely honed language and strong characters, Humphreys’s first novel, Dreams of Sleep (1984) won the Ernest Hemingway Prize for a first book of fiction. The story concerns Alice Reese and her husband Will (a Charleston gynecologist), who have two daughters. When Alice learns that Will is having an affair with his receptionist, she hires Iris Moon as a babysitter to allow herself time away from home. Iris, a teenager from a troubled home but mature beyond her years, idealizes the Reese family and becomes an unlikely catalyst in saving the marriage.
Humphreys’s second novel, Rich in Love (1987), also depicts a family in crisis and a precocious teenager, in this case the lively narrator Lucille Odom, who Humphreys acknowledged to be modeled after Iris Moon. Lucille’s mother abandons her and her father, her pregnant sister Rae returns home to Charleston unhappily married, and Lucille breaks up with her boyfriend. Out of these troubled relationships comes some resolution in Lucille’s increased independence and her realization that she is “rich in love.” The 1992 film adaptation of the novel starred Katherine Erbe, Albert Finney and Jill Clayburgh.
Although Humphreys makes no attempt to capture the exact geography of Charleston, her first two novels bring the city to life, touching on its beauty, traditions, and troubled past as it clashes with the new developments on its fringes. Her third novel, The Fireman’s Fair (1991), also takes the Charleston environs as its setting. Here Humphreys writes from the point of view of bachelor Rob Wyatt, who at age thirty-five decides to quit his law practice. He then meets Billie Poe, a refugee from a bad marriage and also a breath of fresh air for Rob. Billie, as does Iris in Dreams of Sleep, has a maturity that belies her age.
In 1994 Humphreys collaborated with the pseudonymous Ruthie Bolton on Gal: A True Story, an account of Ruthie’s deeply troubled childhood and near miraculous escape into a stable life in Charleston. Nowhere Else on Earth (2000), as does Humphreys’s previous work, concerns a family in crisis, but in this case the threat derives from racial violence, and the setting is fictitious Scuffletown, North Carolina, at the end of the Civil War. The narrator, Rhoda Strong, is another of the author’s memorable and enduring women.
– Excerpted from the entry by Ken Autrey. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
OUR UNDERWRITERS
Charleston Currents is an underwriter-supported weekly online journal of good news about the Charleston area and Lowcountry of South Carolina.
To learn more about how your organization or business can benefit, click here to contact us. Or give us a holler on the phone at: 843.670.3996.
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE
Subscriptions to Charleston Currents are free.
- Click here to subscribe.
- Unsubscribe. We don’t want to lose you as a reader of Charleston Currents, but if you must depart, please click here.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Use our feed
Send us your comments
