Author: Holli W. Haynie

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News News Feature

Smokescreen

In January, Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous restaurant downtown became a smoke-free establishment. As owner John Vergos recalls, “We’d be very busy, and we’d see people with small children who had to decide to wait 30 minutes for a nonsmoking table or choose an [available] smoking table. We didn’t think it was fair to make them have to choose.”

This move indicates a greater trend toward protecting the health of nonsmokers. Last year, all Tennessee state buildings became smoke-free. This year, Governor Phil Bredesen introduced a bill into the legislature, the Tennessee Smoke-Free Air Law (HB 2336 and S 2255). The bill would prohibit smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, and would make it illegal to smoke within 25 feet of entrances and windows of smoke-free establishments. Under the bill, smoking in a nonsmoking area would be punishable by fines both to individuals and noncompliant business owners.

It’s about time. Tennessee is one of the few states that received a settlement from the mammoth tobacco-industry lawsuit. The payments began in 1999 at around $140 million, at least $32 million of which was to be secured for developing effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention programs. Since the settlement, Tennessee has allotted exactly zero dollars to tobacco-control programs. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Tennessee generates $265 million annually from tobacco settlement payments and tobacco taxes, which increased in 2002. Annual smoking-related health-care costs in the state exceed $2 billion and continue to climb.

Twenty-eight states currently have smoke-free-workplace laws. Regional states that have beaten Tennessee to the punch include Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri. Smoking legislation accelerated after the surgeon general’s report last year cited scientific evidence of the role of secondhand smoke in causing disease and death in nonsmoking adults and children. The lengthy hazard list includes lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory infections, and SIDS.

“Workers have more than a casual exposure,” adds Joe Weinberg, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. “You can show that in a couple of years [of working in a smoking environment] there is already a decreased lung capacity.”

Robert Gowan, senior policy adviser to the governor, explained the impetus for this legislation developed in response to smoke-related health-care costs and the move by neighboring states to take action.

“It looked like there was a different mood on the subject,” Gowan says. “We learned about the surgeon general’s report last summer, then I saw an article [that] compared how little money Tennessee receives from tobacco versus the cost of smoking. It put things into perspective.”

More than $2 billion is spent annually in Tennessee for smoke-related illnesses, whereas tobacco crops only brought in $93 million, reports statistics from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDOA). “States that have [passed legislation] see a significant drop in the number of smokers and decreased health-care costs,” Gowan says.

Long into the smoke-free Tennessee movement is the nonprofit organization CHART (Coalition for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee), which formed after the tobacco settlement to create tobacco prevention programs. Executive director Shelby Logsdon credits the sway in political support to a shift in public sentiment.

“No one should have to risk their health in order to earn a paycheck or enjoy a night out,” says Logsdon. “Legislators are receiving more and more feedback that people want this law.”

In fact, an October 2006 survey conducted by the American Cancer Society indicated more than 73 percent of Tennessee voters would support a law that makes all workplaces smoke-free. Yet the record in Tennessee shows a consistent defeat of tobacco legislation. What’s different this time?

The strategy is focusing the campaign on employee rights and children’s health. Supporters also note the growing concern business owners have over worker’s comp liability for allowing smoke in the workplace. On top of that, TDOA supports the governor.

Yet overall, where other proposed bills have failed, this bill has succeeded as the first smoke-free legislation backed by the Tennessee Restaurant Association (TRA).

“We always said if a bill like this came along, we’d support it,” says Ronnie Hart, executive director of TRA. “[Restaurants] are the number-one entry-level position for kids coming to work. We want the opportunity to keep long-term, healthy employees.”

Since John Vergos made the Rendezvous smoke-free, patrons who once avoided the restaurant because of cigarettes are coming back. “We’ve had zero complaints and far more thank-you’s,” he says.

The only smoke you’ll find there is of the pork variety, and the kitchen is well-ventilated.

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News The Fly-By

River Dance

A single raindrop falling at the headwaters of the Mississippi River takes 90 days to make the more than 2,300-mile trek to the Gulf of Mexico. On Saturday, June 24th, those 2,300 miles will be connected when seven river cities host free, simultaneous dance performances along the river.

One River Mississippi will bring together art, ecology, and community in an effort to celebrate movement, to bring awareness to environmental issues facing the river, and to cultivate a sense of unity. Four years in the making, this event includes the efforts of numerous choreographers, dancers, environmentalists, and ordinary citizens.

“Five years ago, I had this image of thousands of people standing out on bridges over the Mississippi River,” says artistic director Marylee Hardenbergh, who has raised funds with site-project managers and received grants from the Unity Avenue and McKnight Foundations to make the event possible. “I love to create beauty. Through the avenue of that beauty, people feel more of a sense of place, more of a sense of belonging in the environment.”

The sites include the river’s headwaters at Lake Itasca in Minnesota; St. Louis; Memphis; New Orleans; and the mouth of the river located in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

An award-winning artist and dance therapist, Hardenbergh has created large, outdoor, site-specific dance performances for 25 years at wastewater plants, bridges, and even a clock tower on the Volga River in Russia.

For the past nine years, she has coordinated Solstice River, which honors the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, at the city’s historic stone-arch bridge. One River Mississippi commemorates the 10th anniversary of Solstice River.

“The whole point of this is for us to understand that for all the communities up and down the Mississippi River, the river is a bridge,” Hardenbergh says.

In Memphis, the performance will be on the cobblestones leading down to the river, designed so the audience must view it from Mud Island. The cobblestones are the vantage point representing the history and evolution of Memphis as a port city.

The project was adopted by the Church Health Center, as well as Stax Museum and TheatreWorks. Attention will be brought to the Bluff City’s need for environmental cleanup and riverfront preservation. A diverse group of more than 100 participants from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi have pledged their time, including dancers, canoeists and kayakers, and other volunteers.

While each city’s performance will be different, a few basic requirements include aqua choreography with various watercraft and a synchronized finale in which the audience in each city will be asked to participate in singing the word “Mississippi.”

“I want everybody to have one second of this physical experience of feeling connected with the other audiences,” Hardenbergh says of the finale.

Locally, the dance will be set to music by Booker T. & the MGs, King Curtis, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash.

Decorator Bernice Humphrey, 53, has never been much of a dancer, but when she heard a call for volunteers, she knew it was something for her.

“I’m one of the seniors of the group, and moving with young folks, I’m surprising myself,” Humphrey says. “It’s like therapy for me.”

“This is an amazing, creative outlet for the community,” adds Southern College of Optometry student Kiley Berry, 24. “This beautiful river flowing through Memphis means a lot to the people as well as the environment it nourishes.”

One River Mississippi can be viewed from the Mud Island River Park, starting at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 24th. For more info, go to onerivermississippi.org or call 576-7241.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Poetry in Motion

Electric, inspiring, fiercely passionate — all of these words have been used to describe the raw hip-hop energy of Def Poetry Jam, a collection of soulful young poets presenting (sometimes shouting) their commentary on American society.

Def Poetry Jam comes to The Orpheum on December 3rd.

One of the poets performing is Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian-American born in Jordan and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Hammad, 31, was first discovered by hip-hop magnate Russell Simmons, producer of Def Poetry Jam, and director Stan Lathan, after one of Hammad’s poems gained popularity through the Internet. It was only a month after the September 11th attacks, and the original date for the HBO special Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam had to be rescheduled for October.

“I had written a poem called ‘first writing since,’ which was a long response to the week of September 11th from my very specific, local vantage point,” Hammad says. “I was speaking to my particular fear of being a New Yorker and being an Arab-American and having a brother in the military and what all of this was going to mean to my life.”

Lathan contacted Hammad about reciting her poem on the HBO special. Hammad’s been with the show ever since, performing on Broadway, where the show won a 2003 Tony award, and traveling with the touring group for two seasons.

Hammad says her relationship with Def Poetry Jam has been uncensored, allowing her to create poems that ask difficult questions. Born to refugee immigrants who came to New York when she was 5 years old, Hammad sees herself as a Brooklyn girl but emphasizes her heritage in order to offset negative stereotypes of Arab-Americans.

“My parents always taught me that the Koran and scripture are poetry,” she says. “And all around me young people were testifying to their own life stories with poetry. They just put it over a beat. Very early on all of it was synthesized out of me. It’s the way I think, it’s the way I dress, it’s the way I look at the world.

“When I travel, I’m perceived as American,” Hammad says. “I’m always trying to tell people there are so many types of Americans. The rest of the world is now looking at America and thinking, ‘Well, Condoleezza Rice is going to be in such an amazing position. This must mean that all African-American women are liberated to the point where they are the president’s right-hand person.’ You never know what the label actually represents and what the label actually means.”

Hammad uses her stage time to promote civic responsibility and to examine the bigger social

picture.

“I really believe that life is worth living to the fullest and part of that means being engaged in civic activities in your neighborhood and with people all the way across this world because we share this planet,” Hammad says.

“I think in every situation where I see social injustice or people being oppressed — as deflating and destructive as humanity can be toward itself — there’s always hope and perseverance against our worst selves.”

Hammad says the poet’s voice often comes from the margins of society and reflects on how society can learn from the past.

“Through the tension you create art,” she continues. “If there is tension and imbalance, in the balancing out, you’ve created movement and art,” she says.

Performing with Hammad through Def Poetry Jam are Black Ice, the first spoken word artist signed to Def Jam Records, and Lemon, who’s appeared in Spike Lee’s film She Hate Me.

“I don’t think there’s another show that offers all these different perspectives on a particular generation, the hip-hop generation,” Hammad says. “With all these different aesthetics and ideas on one stage, in 90 minutes you’re really taken on a roller-coaster ride.” n

Def Poetry Jam will be at The Orpheum Friday, December 3rd at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $45. Call 525-3000 or visit Orpheum-Memphis.com. For more information on the Def Poetry Jam tour, visit DefPoetryJamOnTour.com.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Spill It

It was nine years ago when Old Millington Winery owners Perry and Carrie Welch took a trip to Napa Valley. Perry was inspired and, upon returning, decided to plant some vines on the couple’s 12-acre Millington spread. Carrie figured her husband would just buy a few vines. He bought 500.

After that, Perry, who was working odd construction jobs, devoted his free time to learning how to tend his vineyard.

“I went around to everyone I knew who grew grapes or made wine,” he says. Perry soon made friends with a vineyard-owning neighbor.

“He told me if I came and helped him pick his grapes, he’d give me half of them, and I could start making wine,” Perry says. “I didn’t have a clue how to make wine, but I had 200 pounds of grapes. I took them in my kitchen and put them in garbage bags and stomped them. I made the worst wine you can imagine.”

Because grape vines don’t produce for the first couple of years, Perry had time to experiment with various fruits. He entered some of his results, such as his apple wine, for judging at the Mid-South Fair. He won several ribbons, and his friends came clamoring.

“I remember on Sunday afternoons, my buddies were hitting me up, saying the liquor stores were closed and they wanted some wine,” Perry says. “One night, after a couple of bottles of wine, I said, ‘Hey, I think we need to open up a winery.’ Carrie must have agreed to it.”

It was 1998 when they began learning all the agricultural and business steps necessary to open a winery. The Welches wanted to control everything, so they invested in larger equipment and built a store, which opened in October 2000.

By then, Perry had produced 500 gallons of their first blend, Maggie’s Rose, named after their daughter who was born the previous January.

These days, the winery has three stainless-steel fermenting tanks capable of holding up to 800 gallons of crushed grapes, a large crusher/de-stemmer that can handle 1,000 pounds of grapes, and a six-spout bottler that bottles more than 100 gallons of wine in 90 minutes.

The Welches and their part-time employees can turn 1,000 red-grape vines, combined with white grapes and fruit concentrates they purchase from other farms, into 3,000 gallons of wine each year. Crush season, as harvest time is known, lasts from August through mid-September. The whites take six months to prepare; reds take eight.

Old Millington’s wine selection includes dry and semi-dry whites, reds, semi-dry blushes, sweet and fruit wines, and red and white ports. Best-sellers are the muscadine and blackberry wines.

A new red wine is currently in production. It’s named Crying Angel, after a statue that once stood in a family cemetery outside of Millington. Humidity made the marble statue sweat, which made the angel appear to be crying. The statue, rumored to be crying for fallen Civil War soldiers, became an urban legend among Perry’s peers, especially, he says, for the guys who wanted to scare their girlfriends.

All Old Millington wines are available exclusively in the store and can be purchased by the bottle or case. Bottles range from $9.50 to $12.

Old Millington Winery is able to sell wine on Sundays, Perry says, because it’s classified as an agriculture business and is not regulated like liquor stores. Perry makes the wine 12 percent alcohol, except for the port, which is 20 to 21 percent because brandy is added to the mixture.

“Twelve percent gives a better shelf life,” he says. “And it will give you a little buzz. Some people say our wine is hangover-proof. I don’t say that, because if you drink too much, it’ll hurt you.”

Perry says he can’t see himself doing anything else, that he enjoys being the face behind the counter. “It gives me the opportunity to talk to people,” he says. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of folks through the winery.”

The Welches intend to keep their business small and hope to one day pass thewinery on to Maggie.

Old Millington Winery is located at 6748 Old Millington Road (873-4114, omwinery@bigriver.net). Hours: Wednesdays-Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sundays 1-5 p.m. On Sundays from April through October, the winery offers a concert series featuring local musicians.