skirt november 2012

n o v e m b e rAugusta, Aiken & Columbia

Cover copy by Nikki Hardin, art by Ali Douglass

“Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.” Samuel Pepys

skirt!isfree!www.skirt.com

November is the month we crave

community and culinary togetherness.

We buy a too-big turkey just to have

sandwiches and leftover gravy the day

after Thanksgiving. We cut out recipes

for dinner from scratch, but deep-down

we yearn for jellied cranberry sauce and

pumpkin filling from a can. We hunger

for a seat at a dining-room table filled

with Extended Family,

Cornbread Dressing

eccentric friends and occasional

strangers. We cross our fingers that this

will be the year everyone behaves and no

one leaves the table in tears. We binge

on blessings and green-bean casserole,

and cornucopias, feasts and football.

And when it’s done, we’ll fold up the

crepe-paper turkeys and blow out

the Pilgrim candles and swear on the

wishbone that next year we’ll eat

out. Until it’s time to do it again.

Columbia/Augusta/Aiken

2734 Devine Street, Columbia, South Carolina 803.252.4339 www.shopvanjean.com

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“Stylish South Carolina ladies come here for runway favorites ranging fromTibi dresses to necklaces from boho-rocker line Dannijo, Melissa Blanchard

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NANETTE

4 november 2012 www.skirt.com

skirt.comskirt! is published monthly and

distributed free throughout the greater Augusta/Aiken/

Columbia area. skirt! reserves the right to refuse to sell space for any advertisement the staff

deems inappropriate for the publication. Unsolicited manuscripts

must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Letters to the editor are welcome, but may be edited due to space limitations. Press releases must

be received by the 1st of the month for the following month’s

issue. All content of this magazine, including without limitation the

design, advertisements, art, photos and editorial content, as well as the selection, coordination and

arrangement thereof, is Copyright © 2010, Morris Publishing Group,

LLC. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this magazine may be copied or reprinted without the

express written permission of the publisher. SKIRT!® is a registered

trademark of Morris Publishing Group, LLC.

skirt! is all about women...

their work, play, families,

creativity, style, health and

wealth, bodies and souls.

skirt! is an attitude...spirited,

independent, outspoken,

serious, playful and irreverent,

sometimes controversial,

always passionate.

sheMAILskirt! 127-A 7th Street Augusta, GA 30901 Sales: 706.823.3373Sales Toll-Free: 800.622.6358FAX: 706.823.6083

www.skirt.com

about skirt!Publisher

Nikki Hardin [email protected]

National Art Director Caitilin McPhillips

[email protected]

National EditorMargaret Pilarski

[email protected]

Market Manager

(Augusta/Aiken/Columbia)

Kate Cooper Metts

[email protected]

Contributing Editor Columbia

Jenny Maxwell

[email protected]

Editor Augusta/Aiken

Gracie Shepherd [email protected]

Sales ExecutiveColumbia/Aiken

Libby Salvador [email protected]

Sales ExecutiveAugusta/North Augusta

Doressa Hawes doressa.hawes@

augustamagazine.com

Graphic Designer

Cher WheelerMeaghan Pafford

PhotographyMolly HarrellSara Caldwell

Essays

Um. Yum.

Stacy Appel ................................................................................... 13

Paper Weight

Kim Todd ........................................................................................ 14

Jump Start

Stephanie Hunt .......................................................................... 22

Summer Love

Lisa Evans ...................................................................................... 36

The Bowls

Laura Templeton ....................................................................... 32

Features

Letter from the Publisher ......................................................... 6

Letter from the Editor ............................................................... 6

Feel Good ...................................................................................... 10

Meet ................................................................................................... 31

He’s So Original .......................................................................... 26

Skirt of the Month..................................................................... 39

Planet Nikki .................................................................................... 42

Women make more than 80% of all purchasing

decisions.

Women control 2/3

of the nation’s disposable income.

Women influence 80%of all car sales.

No

ve

Mb

eR

The Crave Issue

Women spend almost 2 of every 3

healthcare dollars.

Illus

trat

ion

by B

erin

Mad

e Ill

ustr

ated

Pap

er G

oods

. berinmade.com N O V E M B E R

www.skirt.com november 2012 5

Dish

The UniTed SkirTS of AmericA

The United Skirts of

America was founded

on the blood, sweat

and estrogen of our

foremothers, who

won us the freedom

to choose...to break

The Rules, to wear

combat boots or high

heels, to run for office

or run a marathon,

to form our own

rock groups instead

of being groupies, to

shatter Glass Ceilings

and Glass Slippers, to

shoot hoops instead

of settling for hoop

skirts. The ones who

came before us made

it possible for our

daughters to dream

bigger, to have the

chance to grow up to

be President and turn

the Oval Office into

the Ovary Office. In

the United Skirts of

America, every day is

Independence Day!

Ali Douglass

Ali Douglass was born in

Muncie, Indiana, and after

enjoying life in Boston, Kansas

City, New York City, and San

Francisco, she is happy to be

living in Asheville, NC. She has

been working as an illustrator

for more than 13 years, illus-

trating magazines, newspapers,

greeting cards, advertising, and

more than 25 books.

Her work has been recognized

by American Illustration,

Step Inside Design, L.A. Society

of Illustrators, readymade.com,

sfgirlbybay.com, and

apartmenttherapy.com.

Books she has illustrated

for American Girl have

been winners of the 2008

Children’s Choice Award,

International Reading

Association and Children’s

Book Council, and winner of

the 2007 Excellence in Finan-

cial Literacy Award (EIFLE),

Institute for Financial Literacy.

Visit us on skirt.com

Gracie [email protected]

from The ediTor

Hard as it is to beat summertime standbys, this time of year is my favorite when it comes to food.

From Thanksgiving turkey to apple cider, fall treats give summer barbecue and popsicles a run for their

money. I think one reason is because the foods from this time of year more often than not come with

memories, like making pralines with my mother to deliver before the holidays or watching my grand-

mother hand mix her cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving dinner. What would a hay ride be without

hot chocolate afterwards, and isn’t the Thanksgiving spread what we’re all truly grateful for? We’re

calling this The Crave Issue, and we want to give you permission to relish the good stuff this holiday

season. Whether you’re on the paleo diet, trying to give vegan a go or are just counting calories, I think

taking a brief hiatus might be good for us all. Make all the bad things you love so much, and maybe take

the time to teach your tricks to someone new this year.

from The PUbliSher

Nikki [email protected]

For months now, my soul has been craving a change of scenery, a complete

180 from where I’ve been living, a cutting away of all the usual props I

depend on for security and safety. So in October I used my vacation time to

go on a solo journey to New York City for a few weeks, about as far as I

could travel from Charleston, SC, in psychic miles. I wasn’t even sure what

I was looking for there. It wasn’t comfort—I stayed in a run-of-the-mill

shoebox of an apartment that didn’t take long to have me bouncing off

the walls. It wasn’t glamour—nothing stylish about the clanking radiator,

the lack of water pressure in the shower and the overflowing bins in the

trash room. It wasn’t convenience—getting around meant deciphering the

subway system and walking everywhere when I couldn’t because cabbing

wasn’t in my budget. When I was going through it, I couldn’t explain to

myself or anyone else why it was so important to me to venture outside my

very predictable routine, to be uncomfortable, to prove I could do this on

my own. I only knew that the craving was there, so strong that I couldn’t

ignore it, even when I got cold feet and wanted to call off the whole trip.

It was a nudge from the inside out, pushing me where I needed to be right

then, whether I understood it or not. Whenever I regretted the financial

splurge and the urge to escape or felt lost and unanchored in the vast ocean

of Manhattan, I tried to remember the quote from Whitman that I had

copied in my journal a few weeks before: “Now, Voyager, sail thou forth,

to seek and find.” And maybe that’s a craving that has to be satisfied over

and over again, as long as we live.

The Crave Issue


3 Monkeys Fine Gifts141 Laurens Street SWAiken803.648.7592

The Gourmet Shop724 Saluda AvenueColumbia803.799.9463

Mish Mash Interiors4090 Washington RoadEvans706.814.7380

What’s Cooking?

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FE

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to higher-priced options, is that the individual container you mix your smoothie in can go straight

from blender base to breakfast on your way to work, thanks to a resealable lid.

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www.skirt.com september 2012 13

SKIRT! SAYS: Take a leap of faith when logic

lets you down.

82 augustw2012 charleston.skirt.com16 september 2012 www.skirt.com

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i t ’ s A l l s o y u m m y !

Fresh produce, seasonal plants and Christmas trees can be found in the outdoor setting of Good Earth Produce and Garden Center located in Aiken and Augusta.

Shop for fine olive oils and vinegars at The Crescent Olive on Devine Street in Columbia.

Come experience the taste of Red Bowl Asian Bistro located in Aiken & Columbia, SC

Elegant to fanciful: we can help set your table for any occasion. Visit Westend in Columbia.

A perfect gift of good taste and health: pecans of all varieties can be found at Pecans Unlimited.

For the pinnacle of authentic Chinese cuisine in an elegant setting, stop in for lunch or dinner at Shagri-La in Augusta.


“Guess what I can do?”

Stephanie Hunt

22 september 2012 www.skirt.com

Jump Start

Stephanie Hunt is a Charleston-based freelance writer whose work appears in skirt!, Charleston Magazine, Literary Mama and other publications and blogs. Her tramping days are over, thanks to iffy knees and old-lady bladder, but once upon a time she had an impressive back layout.

I am at my desk bouncing from screen to screen, window to window, website to website to blog to inbox, getting dizzy and distracted while trying to convince myself this passes for “work,” and my daughter comes in, her face flushed and glowing from being outside, a halo of sweat beading on her upper lip.

“Guess what I can do?” she asks, breathless and ex-cited.

“A back double flip? One of those twisty seat-to-seat moves?” I venture, my foggy midlife brain unable to find the term “swivel hips.” Claire’s been jumping on her friend’s trampoline, and her double-gainer grin suggests she’s

reached heights approaching cloud nine. “No, a handstand into a backbend!” she announces, triumphantly. We

spent endless hours all summer, me as spotter, she kicking up to catch my waiting arm extended like a traffic cop, then I braced her as she flopped over, sometimes more successfully and more gracefully than others. She practiced front-overs on the beach, in my bedroom, in the front yard, in the ocean. Re-lentlessly. Religiously. She was determined; she was dying to do it. Her arms would ache from hours of trying. She mastered kicking up into a balanced handstand—a marvel in itself in my opinion—and once she came really, really close to tumbling into a backbend without my support, but poor kid, Gabby Douglas she will never be. As my patient yoga teachers can attest, there is not a flexible, gymnastics-prone muscle in my body, and I’m afraid my daughter’s orthopedic inheritance ain’t doing her any favors.

But the trampoline did. It gave Claire just the right amount of cushion and confidence to let herself freefall into a backbend. Along with my non-limber musculature, Claire also inherited my love of trampolines. As a kid, I lived to jump. I adored it. I craved the ping-ponging of my body off those coiled springs; I loved being launched into the sky, the forgiving landing, the slow-learning of, eventually, training my mind and my body into a back flip. I first fell head over heels, literally, for jumping at summer camp, back in the pre-litigious 1970s when our YMCA camp not only offered trampoline as an activity, but encouraged kids to soar, twist and flip on trampolines built into a pit framed by cement block. The camp tramps had fabulous super-duper springy springs, but if you mis-jumped, your skull or other body parts had a high probability of encountering concrete. A scene from the first season of Mad Men, when little daughter Sally Draper runs into the living room with a plastic dry cleaning bag over her head and no adult is remotely interested or concerned reminded me of the oblivious days of those camp death-traps that were my first love.

We didn’t have a trampoline at our house, but I made myself at home in my cousin’s backyard, and down the street at the Marlowes’, where their bouncy turf became my playground and training ground and my escape from the ups and downs of life at home amidst a turbulent divorce. I loved the feeling of flying, of being suspended ever so briefly in the air, then on landing the promise of ricocheting back up there again. I loved trying new tricks, fine-tuning balance with power and height, figuring out how to move and control an adolescent body that otherwise was more or less out of my control. In time I could even do a one-and-a-half front flip—not exactly Olympian gold medal material, but good enough for me.

These days when Claire asks, no—begs, for a trampoline, I’m tempted to go against my better, safer judgment and dreams of a decent landscaped yard and let her have the joy of jumping to her heart’s content. Because I know that desire. I know that joy, that compulsion almost, to soar and levitate and rebound against gravity, against all that holds you down, up into the air again. Because it’s what I still long to do. Because now, in the mire of midlife as I feel stuck and motionless in many aspects of work and life, I want nothing more than to bound upward, to jump dangerously high—and when I sink down, to know I’ll bounce back again. Maybe even turn a flip.

George Nissen, the inventor of the modern trampoline, supposedly en-joyed jumping until he died at age 96, and at his 80th birthday party the spry athlete sprung into a handstand right on the dining room table. Claire, my little handstand queen, got a kick out of that bit of trivia, although she doesn’t want to wait 70 years to follow suit.

“Mom, a front-over was so easy on the trampoline,” she says, with an unspoken please? shining clearly in her eyes.

“Claire, that’s great!” I reply, my heart feeling like a tight spring, holding en-ergy and desire in as reason prevails. I pretend I don’t see her look of longing.


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This fun event is for all the ladies in the CSRA! Includes livemusic, hors d’oeuvres provided by the area’s top restaurants

and caterers, beverages, and exclusive shopping at theHoliday Market.


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Lisa Evans is a freelance writer from Toronto, Canada. Please visit her website lisa-m-evans.weebly.com.

I knew I was falling for him the day I walked into the lecture hall and saw him sitting in the front row. Hunched over a book, he pulled out a black ballpoint pen and scribbled a note in the margin. His eyes, hidden behind his dark-rimmed glasses, didn’t waver even as the noise level of the room rose.

The room hushed as a tall man with broad shoulders and messy white hair entered. He introduced himself as Professor Thompson and asked the boy in the front row to stand. This was Tim, our teaching assistant—the one who would lead our tutorials and grade our papers. Of all the guys in this room, I had to lay my eyes on the one who was giving me my grade.

Throughout the semester, I enjoyed Tim’s tutorials. The subject matter, political data, could put me to sleep, but Tim made it exciting. He regurgitated Marxist quotes and dressed like a rocker, with a metal chain connecting his wallet to his pants, and he had a thin beard that framed his small, boyish face. He made nerdy look cool.

Two months later, I answered an email from Tim, requesting an office assis-tant. Although he was brilliant, organization wasn’t his strong suit. His tiny home office was cluttered with thousands of articles and newspaper clippings and he offered to pay me $50 for a few hours of work every Friday morning to organize them into binders.

Fridays were now my favorite days and I leaped out of bed earlier than my alarm clock and hopped on the long subway ride downtown. We went for lunch at the bar down the street and talked about school, then ourselves—our lives, our friends, our hobbies...and his girlfriend. I knew she existed. I’d seen her stuff around the house. It didn’t bother me. A girlfriend put some distance between what I wanted to happen and what could never happen.

That summer, Tim announced that he and his girlfriend were splitting up. She’d moved out and after a weekend of wallowing, he realized he was happy about the change. They weren’t the most compatible couple—she a Sex and the City shopaholic who barged into his office to debate whether Carrie should finally break up with Big while he immersed himself in the political teachings of Gramsci.

We met at a bar one sunny afternoon in June. The course was now over and the upbeat atmosphere of the outdoor patio filled with nearby office workers in-dulging in after-hours drinks got to me, so I indulged in some red wine. It was get-ting late, but the warm summer air whispered to me to stay out and enjoy myself, so we headed back to his house. As I sipped the last of a bottle of red wine, I felt his hands cup around my shoulders, massaging my sore back. His hands stopped moving and I felt his breath beside my ear, hot and panting. I turned my head and met his mouth. His warm lips tasted better than the full-bodied wine. He pulled me up, our lips still intertwined, and wrapped his arms around my body.

We moved from the patio, through his office and into the kitchen and then down the stairs into his bedroom. He removed my clothes slowly, yet with confidence, and made love to me as though he’d wanted to do this for as long as I had.

In the months after, we saw each other infrequently. I had a trip to Europe planned with a girlfriend and the start of the new school year made seeing each other difficult. I didn’t worry—I knew he was the type who needed his space. On one of those infrequent dates, the warm summer air now a cool breeze that made my nose cold, we went to a movie and then for drinks. He hadn’t kissed me all night, and as we sat in the dark bar lit only by candles sticking out of beer bottles, wax of different colors floating down them creating colorful and unusual shapes, he finally brought up the subject of us.

“What we shared was beautiful, but I’m not in a place right now where I can be a good boyfriend,” he said.

I was crushed, but I understood and didn’t let on how hurt I was. We prom-ised to stay in touch, to be friends and maybe in the future, we could be more.

For the next year, I dated on and off, but never seriously, always holding out hope that Tim and I could re-visit our summer romance. We met for drinks the following summer and I was sure this would be our time.

“I want to be with you,” I said. He sighed. “I’m sorry, Lis. We’ll always be friends, but it just isn’t right

for me.” He talked about the papers he was working on, his PhD, and a conference he

was speaking at in October. He’s too busy, I thought. Of course he doesn’t have time to date.

Two weeks later, I strolled into the student lounge and there he was. His thick dark-rimmed glasses fell to the tip of his nose while he stared intensely into a book. I took the table near the back of the room—facing him, studying him. Just watching him at work inspired me to study harder, to read more, to do more. Then, my heart stopped. A tall, skinny girl with straight blonde hair that fell down to her waist strolled in. Wearing cargo pants and a t-shirt, she walked up to his table and sweetly brushed his lips with hers. She took the seat in front of him and they talked briefly before she pulled a book out from her backpack and they sat in silence, reading together, their knees touching under the table.

I knew her. She was in my class. She was intelligent and said things that made the professor cup his chin with his index finger and say “hmm.” I liked her, and yet here she was sitting with my Tim. I needed to hate her, but I couldn’t.

It should have been me, I thought as I buried my head in my book, underlin-ing incomprehensible passages with my blue pen, my mind wandering back to that hot summer night, wishing I could have it all again—the hot humid air, the fruity wine and him—his curly black hair tickling my breasts, the half-empty glasses of wine sitting outside on the patio awaiting our return.

Of all the guys in this room, I had to lay my eyes on the one who was giving me my grade.

Lisa Evans

LOVE


1 1 8 L a u r e n s S t r e e t SW | A i k e n , S C

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FStor


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indesign.etsy.com

Skirt of the MonthMilly

Village453 Highland Avenue

Augusta706.729.9125


Love this Poster?Prints are available for purchase

at LetsLiveLikeThis.com

Jennifer Renninger is an illustrator from Tampa, FL, whose clients include The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harper’s, Bark, Urban Outfitters, O Magazine and Chronicle Books.

charleston.skirt.com augustw2012 5540 november 2012 www.skirt.com

“I have been advertising in skirt! for three years and it’sbeen great for our business. The same fun folks who

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Advertising in

an investment that works.

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Passion Parties’ business opportunity, our in-home parties andmost importantly, our products are designed with one veryimportant goal in mind – to arouse passion. Our mission is toshare the Passion Parties opportunity so that any woman canexperience the prosperity of owning her own business; to sharethe products that will enhance any woman’s relationship; and toshare the philosophy of women helping women.

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planetnikki[ a v i s u a l j o u r n a l ]

I heard “Look Me Up” from Julien Funk & The Painted Thief on a funny, explicit (yes, full frontal nudity) web series called Hunting Season about the sexual exploits of a group of gay men in Manhattan. Think Queer as Folk meets Sex and the City. The EP is a free download at julienfunk.com.

I’ll risk getting lost. Just this once,

I won’t look around the corner of Now

Just this once,

Just this once, I’ll finish something before it’s due instead of dreading the deadline.

Just this once, I won’t wish I looked younger, smoother, tauter.

and try to get a glimpse of Just Ahead.

Just this once, I’ll pretend to be the expert in the room.

Just this once I’ll trust my intuition despite warnings from my intellect.

Just this once, I’ll assume I’ll have a good time at the party.

Just this once again and again, and maybe it will become

94 augustw2012 charleston.skirt.com

Anyone who reads this page knows I’m a huge Jack Kerouac fan, and I’m rereading In the Night Café by Joyce Johnson, briefly one of his lovers. It’s a beautiful little novel that made a huge impression on me when I first found it years ago.

All I want for Christmas is the smell of flowers when you get off the plane in Honolulu, a hike through a bamboo forest and hours of watching

the soul-soothing Pacific. Maybe next year.

Nikki Hardin is the founder and publisher of skirt! magazine. She blogs at fridaville.com.

a habit.

A recent surprise package from my London friend included

this silk scarf printed with Cecil Beaton’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth

on her Coronation Day in 1953.“Maybe next year.”


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