Charleston Currents #12.22 | April 13, 2020
CREATIVITY RULES. Somebody gets a double “thumbs up” for creativity in this chalk messaging along the West Ashley Greenway. If you see something during the coronavirus shut-in period that makes you smile, take a photo and send it to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And make sure to tell us who to credit the photo to, what it is and where it was taken. Charleston Currents photo.
TODAY’S FOCUS: How to get cool shoes and help hospital workers
COMMENTARY, Brack: We can do better for all
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: SCIWAY
NEWS BRIEFS: More apply for unemployment in last 3 weeks than last year
FEEDBACK: Crisis exposes lack of infrastructure in S.C., world
MYSTERY PHOTO: Another bridge
CALENDAR: Check out these online events
Friends and readers,
We’re proud to offer Charleston Currents for free. For more than a dozen years, we’ve been the go-to place for insightful information and good news about the Lowcountry. And we love it as much as you do. But now, we can use your help. If you’ve been thinking of contributing to Charleston Currentsover the years, now would be a great time to contribute as we deal with the crisis. In advance, thank you.
— Andy Brack, editor and publisher
How to get cool shoes and help hospital workers
Staff reports | Charleston Shoe Company, known for stylish and comfortable sandals, has donated 100 pairs of its new Lulu sneakers to MUSC health care professionals who are working to battle the coronavirus. And now, in a bid to keep the company going as its 30 stores across the nation are shuttered to deal with the virus, it is launching a “buy one, give one” offer to allow customers to send more shoes to hospitals.
“Instead of taking a passive approach, our team is facing this unique situation head on — pushing ourselves to adapt and persevere for our business, while also focusing on our community as a whole and what we can do to help,” founder and owner Neely Powell wrote last week. “Our store managers, who had to close their shop doors in mid-March, are instead, selling from their homes. From social media takeovers to Zoom call shoe parties, these incredible women continue to spread smiles (and bright sunny shoes) during hard times.”
According to the company, the Lulu sneaker is “crafted with a soft knit upper which is both breathable and flexible, making it perfect for all day wear. As an added bonus, the Lulu is 100 percent machine washable. The lightweight rubber sole has been tested and certified to be slip-resistant making it the perfect go-to for these incredible healthcare workers.”
MUSC’s workers appreciate the new shoes, said Jennifer Simon, an MUSC nurse coordinator.
“The nurse runners who’ve been coming to me for donation pick-ups have been wearing them and love them,” she told the company. “Your donation had an immediate positive impact on our care team members, and we seriously are so grateful for you.”
If you want to buy and give shoes to health care workers through the company, visit its website and use the code BuyOneGiveOne at checkout. “Customers may purchase any shoe on the site — from sandals to wedges to flats to heels. No matter what you buy, we’ll send a ProLine (Lulu) shoe to these amazing women!”
The company also is working with its shoemakers to produce fabric masks to donate to hospitals around the country.
- For more information, go to www.charlestonshoeco.com.
As more people stay home to deal with the coronavirus crisis, people are looking for things to do. You can find some fun things to do online in our calendar section below, but let us also encourage you to FORWARD your issue of Charleston Currents to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. It’s got a great price, as you know: Free! We hope they’ll enjoy our coverage.
BRACK: We can do better for all
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | So what happens when Americans start getting their $1,200 federal coronavirus checks or small business owners start receiving tens of thousands of dollars of rescue money?
Will they finally wake up and realize government isn’t the enemy, despite four decades of self-serving GOP rhetoric dedicated to drowning it in a bathtub? Will they finally remove political blinders and realize an ideology devoted to personal wealth and greed has hoodwinked them and taken away countless opportunities?
Maybe, but doubtful. The powerful blather from Fox television, conservative think tanks, private clubs, golf courses and boardrooms is too strong to wither in one fell swoop of citizen frustration. But it’s coming, yes, change is coming. It’s just a shame that a pandemic afflicting millions may well be the root cause of a political revival of the common good.
In a prescient editorial published last week, The New York Times observed, “The erosion of the American dream is not a result of laziness or a talent drought. Rather, opportunity has slipped away. The economic ladder is harder to climb; real incomes have stagnated for decades even as the costs of housing, education and health care have increased.”
In two decades of writing about South Carolina and her politics, one conclusion has been crystal clear: We can do better for our people. We can do better in providing more opportunities for families to realize their dreams. We can do better in strategies to thwart pervasive poverty, poor health, hunger and educational challenges that linger in the Palmetto State, decade after decade. We can do better by lifting up everyone, instead of using public policy to prefer those who tend to be white, rich or conservative. We can do better by focusing on policies that bear fruit for “we the people” — all of our people, not just the few.
You may not like that general conclusion. You may balk and get your back up. But let’s see whether you return the $1,200 check. Or if small business owners turn down aid. Or if you say no to Social Security, Medicare or cheap college loans. Or if you refuse to ride on roads built by the government or get it to stop taking away the trash from your yard.
Governments solve problems. In the 1920s after a world war, our federal government took action to improve food safety, protect the health and safety of industrialized workers, and extend voting to women. Then came Social Security and assorted New Deal programs to help the country grow from a depression.
After a second world war came the G.I. Bill, which opened educational opportunities to millions. Civil rights advances, as well as Great Society programs like Medicaid and Medicare, brought millions more out of poverty that stretched from the Civil War.
But in the 1980s, government became the bad guy, a punching bag for avaricious politicians who valued individual achievement over the common good. It didn’t help that government had become bloated and bureaucratic, the societal equivalent of an Edsel or K-Car.
Partisanship ensued. And it got worse as the tea party got trumped by, well, President Trump and his followers, hungry to hear how they were relevant even though GOP policies had left them behind.
As the Times opined, “Advocates of a minimalist conception of government claim they too are defenders of liberty. But theirs is a narrow and negative definition of freedom: the freedom from civic duty, from mutual obligation, from taxation. This impoverished view of freedom has in practice protected wealth and privilege.”
Democrats didn’t do much better in this whole political mess, often adopting the same cynical tactics used by Republicans to divide and try to conquer.
So now we’re at a point where the nation’s experiment in democracy is being demonized by a microbial invader. Government, quite rightly, is the only entity big enough — despite constant attempts to denude its legitimacy — to come to the rescue.
As it responds, people in government must look ahead at how it can provide more opportunities for everyone, not just the few. It’s time for leaders to be leaders for all. And if they can’t, bring on a new batch. Indeed, we can do better.
Andy Brack is the editor and publisher of Charleston Currents and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
SCIWAY
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More apply for unemployment in last 3 weeks than last year
Click the map to make it bigger.
Staff reports | More than 180,000 people in South Carolina have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March than filed in all of 2019. It’s a stark reminder, Charleston City Paper editor Sam Spence writes, of the crushing economic impact of physical distancing measures in South Carolina to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 infection.
South Carolina tallied just over 121,000 initial unemployment claims in all of 2019, averaging about 2,300 per week, according to U.S. Department of Labor figures.
Unemployment numbers released Thursday show 85,018 people filed claims for the week ending April 4, bringing the total for the past three weeks to 180,928, according to the state Department of Employment and Workforce. The increase represents a more than a 4,000 percent increase compared to the week ending March 14. Read more in the City Paper.
Also in recent news:
Matching food gift. Former Ingevity president and CEO Michael Wilson and his wife Pam are providing a dollar-for-dollar matching gift up to $150,000 to the Lowcountry Food Bank for coronavirus food relief. The donation will be used to buy and distribute “Fueled by Fresh” relief boxes of fresh produce and shelf-stable food, the organization said. “Pam and I understand this pandemic has brought a much greater demand for food, but also significant challenges in getting it distributed,” Michael Wilson said in a press release. “Families and individuals are experiencing lost wages and difficulty in accessing food – even more severely in rural areas, and with school closures — in our own backyard. These factors bring an increased reliance on the Food Bank.
Farmers face tough times, too. The shuttering of restaurants and schools has lashed South Carolina farmers. The exact toll will be unknown for months but some fear the downturn in markets from the coronavirus pandemic will cause farms already on the edge to suffer or close.
“The last five years have been insane,” said Clemson University agribusiness professor Adam J. Kantrovich said. “Hurricanes, freezes, the trade war and now this.”
He said the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and potentially the virus itself added more hurt that may not be relieved by aid packages. Some federal aid is already expected for farmers, but state disaster aid was held up after a one-day legislative session this week ended without an agreement on funding state government or releasing $180 million in pandemic aid. But amid the challenges, there could also be opportunity to strengthen and bolster locally grown foods, according to Kantrovich and South Carolina Farm Bureau media liaison Stephanie Sox. Read more here.
About those gun-store exemptions in executive orders. What do gun shops and grocery stores have in common? According to Gov. Henry McMaster’s “home or work” order this week, both are permitted to stay open during the current public health crisis. This week, reporter Heath Ellison at the Charleston City Paper took a hard look at why gun stores are allowed to keep operating. The purported reason is in part due to a Department of Homeland Security guidance that exempts gun stores from closures. Read more.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
Crisis exposes lack of infrastructure in S.C., world
To the editor:
As we are all being affected in the current coronavirus pandemic, we are reminded how interconnected and global our world is. The crisis we are facing is exposing our lack of infrastructure here in South Carolina as well as across the world.
While our government is taking large-scale action in response to coronavirus’ effect on public health and economic fallout, similar decisive action is urgent for the climate crisis. A commitment to 100 percent clean energy is an element of sustainable, supportive infrastructure necessary to care for citizens.
Additionally, at a time when we are worried about economic stability and facing the dark unknown, moving South Carolina in the direction of clean energy can create high-paying jobs that offer dependable hope during a time of such uncertainty.
— Alison Craig, Charleston, S.C.
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Another bridge
Here’s another bridge that may look familiar. Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our last Mystery Photo, “Bridge to somewhere” is the 2003-era Paul Gelegotis Bridge on Maybank Highway over the Stono River between James and Johns islands.
A pat on the back to those who guessed it was a bridge in North Charleston, Hilton Head, Daniel Island and more. But big congratulations to all of the home-bound sleuths who correctly identified: George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.; Jay Altman of Columbia; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Rindell Hardison; Stephen Yetman, Ralph Parrado and Amanda Hicks, all of Charleston; and Jason Appelt. (Reminder: Please tell us the city where you live when you send in guesses.)
Graf shared a bunch of information about the bridge named for Gelegotis, a James Island businessman and politician also known as the father of the Emergency Medical System, or EMS, in South Carolina.
“There have been several bridges in this location,” Graf shared. “The site of the current bridge is among several sites of a slave rebellion called the Stono Rebellion, one of the earliest known organized acts against slavery in the Americas. On Sept. 9, 1739, 20 black slaves raided a store near the bridge; in the process they killed two storekeepers and took guns and gunpowder.
“A wooden bridge on this site survived an attempt by Union forces to burn it during the American Civil War. Union troops floated burning rafts down to the Stono Bridge, hoping the wooden structure would catch fire and burn. However, their efforts were thwarted by a Lieutenant Smith, who along with members of a naval battalion, brought the rafts to shore.”
- Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Curb your boredom
With most people following a stay-at-home order, they’re looking for things to do. Here’s a look at some online events and offerings to help you shed any boredom that may rise in your home:
If you have any online events, drop us a line (editor@charlestoncurrents.com) and make sure to put “Online event” in the subject line. Similarly, if you’ve got cool ideas for stuff to do while in isolation at home, send them our way.
Virtual tours: Bulldog Tours is providing virtual tours of the city of Charleston daily at 2 p.m., according to sister publication Charleston City Paper. So far, tours have been to Washington Square, Fort Lamar and the old City Jail. Learn more.
Plugged In To History. Middleton Place offers this new digital content portal that offers streamed content on living history, heritage breeds, crafts and even past drinks and social practices (appropriately on Friday at 5 p.m.). More.
Online wellness: You can also get fit online through virtual fitness classes that offer workouts, meditations and more. Check out this City Paper post of what area studios are offering.
Online jazz: Forte Jazz Lounge in downtown Charleston is offering music enthusiasts the chance to watch live shows online through virtual ticketing with suggested donations of $10. The feed starts about 15 minutes before shows. When the virus scare is done, all donors will be invited to a big party blowout at the club with the Joe Clarke Big Band. Learn more.
Aquarium online. The S.C. Aquarium is expected to offer a daily Nature Challenge, a virtual “Passport to Fun” and a “Moment of Zen” starting this week online. It also offers daily education classes at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday to Friday, via its virtual network. Learn more.
- Read here to learn more about the Aquarium’s new Solo Sweep Challenge litter clean-up effort.
Virtual museums, attractions. You can visit 500 museums across the world online through this Google amalgamation of sites. In the area:
- Brookgreen Gardens. The Murrells Inlet gardens have a new set of activities, #BrookgreenAtHome, that you can do, well, from home. The staff offers materials, directions and examples. Post to social media with the tag when done.
- Avian Conservation Center. Access videos and live streaming presentations online to learn about what’s going on at the Center for Birds of Prey.
- Charleston Museum. “The Charleston Museum and its Historic Houses will have a variety of content, lessons, videos, and virtual tours during this uncertain time. More online.
- Gibbes Museum. You can enjoy lots of local art offerings through the website and social media accounts of the Gibbes Museum. AT 10 a.m. on weekdays, the museum posts virtual readings and workshops on Facebook. Find more online.
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