Sayaka Matsuoka

Greensboro, Matthews

Managing editor for @Triad_City_Beat | Diversity chair @altweeklies | Words in @bittersouth @indyweek @nerdist | 🇯🇵🇺🇸 | Tips: [email protected]

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Articles

Paperhand Celebrates 25 years of People, Puppetry, and Politics

1 day ago | indyweek.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

The creature looks out, a carefree expression on its face, as three interns gather to make an incision around its skull, from ear to ear. Then, they slice down the center of the creature’s throat and start to pull. Slowly, the papier-mâché beaver’s head starts to slide off of its mold as the interns gently but firmly coax it off, inch by inch. A moment later, the beaver is free, held aloft by one of the artists. “Wow, good job guys,” one says. “The magic of birth,” says another.
Sayaka Matsuoka

1 day ago | indyweek.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

Deeply rooted in environmentalism, Paperhand Puppets has made a name for itself around the state and across the country as an activist art-making organization.
Paperhand Celebrates 25 years of People, Puppetry, and Politics

1 week ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

The creature looks out, a carefree expression on its face, as three interns gather to make an incision around its skull, from ear to ear. Then, they slice down the center of the creature’s throat and start to pull. Slowly, the papier-mâché beaver’s head starts to slide off of its mold as the interns gently but firmly coax it off, inch by inch. A moment later, the beaver is free, held aloft by one of the artists. “Wow, good job guys,” one says. “The magic of birth,” says another.
Greensboro Bound Book Festival Returns Leaner, Just as Powerful

3 weeks ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

Greensboro’s popular book festival returns this weekend—but this year, it looks a little different. The event, founded in 2017 by Steve Colyer with Scuppernong Books owners Brian Lampkin, Steve Mitchell, and Deb and Dave White, draws book lovers to the Gate City each year. This year’s Greensboro Bound Book Festival—formerly the multi-day Greensboro Bound Literary Festival—will feature most of its events on Saturday, May 17.
In Greensboro, A Beloved Pub Marks 10 Years

3 weeks ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

Freeman’s Grub & Pub will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Sunday, May 18, with a special menu, vendors in the parking lot off Spring Garden Street, and gratitude for a decade of community support. But the road to a decade wasn’t always clear or easy. When Kevin and Emily Purcell got the call in November 2021 asking them to take over the restaurant, they were living 3,000 miles away on a houseboat in Seattle.
A Push to Protect Immigrants

1 month ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka |Gale Melcher

1. Making the Fourth Amendment the New Second Amendment2. The Agenda: Your Guide to the Week in Local Government. 3. What We’re ReadingLyn McCoy and Dan Bayer glanced both ways before crossing a busy New Garden Road in Greensboro on a recent Saturday afternoon. They walked hurriedly, their gait edging into a light jog as they made it to the parking lot of Craft City Sip-In and walked through its doors.
NC Businesses Take 4th Amendment Class to Protect Immigrants

1 month ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

Lyn McCoy and Dan Bayer glanced both ways before crossing a busy New Garden Road in Greensboro on a recent Saturday afternoon. They walked hurriedly, their gait edging into a light jog as they made it to the parking lot of Craft City Sip-In and walked through its doors. McCoy and Bayer approached the bar and greeted the manager on duty, Ashley Sanchez, with their pitch. “We’re volunteers with an organization called Siembra NC,” Bayer said.
At The Back Table in Greensboro, There Are No Strangers

1 month ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

On a wooden post in Greensboro’s Back Table coffee house hangs a honey-colored, acoustic Cordoba guitar. The instrument was a favorite of the late local singer-songwriter Matty Sheets, who is remembered for both his talent and community building. “He’s the thread that involved a lot of our music scene,” said Laura Jane Vincent, Back Table’s events manager.
Greensboro Cannabis Crawl Offers A Different Kind of Buzz

1 month ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

Imagine a typical bar crawl—St. Patrick’s Day, a friend’s birthday, a bachelor or bachelorette party. There’s a good chance someone has a little too much to drink and finds themselves slumped over a bar, or worse, a toilet. Now, imagine a different kind of bar crawl. One in which you still get to try cocktails or fizzy refreshments at every stop, but you don’t feel sluggish or out of control. Instead, you feel kind of light, relaxed. At worst, you might feel a little sleepy.
‘Unapologetically Who We Are’

2 months ago | theassemblync.com | Sayaka Matsuoka

Sherricka Carpenter Stanley remembers the first time she saw the little Black boy on the book cover, head-to-toe in bright red, standing in a landscape of snow. “My Uncle Kenny, God rest his soul, always made sure me and my cousin read books that looked like us,” Stanley said.