Skirt March 2015

A u g u s t A , A i k e n & e v A n s

it was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

Charles Dickens

March comes in big, like a lion, and its roars

bring sudden big blooms of periwinkle and

fuchsia. The azaleas color our world in

the South, they hang in there while were

predicting when the next cold front will

arrive, or can we call this spring yet? We

bundle up in chilly mornings and shed layers

throughout the day as the mercury rises in

the afternoon hours. Time to think about

that pedicure and open-toed shoes, time to

drive home with the sunroof open, time for

the pollen and breezy afternoons when the

wind whispers, Spring has sprung. This is

the big time when the summer heat is still

weeks away and we can walk the streets

without breaking a sweat, stop and pause

long enough to see the time lapse of leaves

budding on bare trees. The soothsayers

warning to Julius Caesar, Beware the Ides

of March, in Shakespeares tragedy imbued

that date with a sense of foreboding, but its

just the 15th on the Roman calendar and we

prefer to celebrate it as the Romans did

by indulging in wine, song and celebration.

This is a time of good hair days, wind whip-

ping our skirts, evenings just chilly enough

for a light sweater, time for outdoors, for

new buds turned blooms, the bright sky

that reminds us of how small we are in this

big old world, and the brand new green

grass thats made for lying on your back and

looking for shapes in clouds chugging by as

the world keeps turning, turning, turning.

e s C A p e t h e o r D i n A r y

Cover Art: Jackie Besteman

M A r C h

f r e e

/[n | @n1

} xx /Y G kcc G @

91 /

} k @ @kk@@` k@

zzppkkY@ckY

www.skirt.com march 2015 3

4 march 2015 www.skirt.com

Like to see your ad in skirt! Magazine? 706.823.3702

Foundernikki hardin

Creative Director Caitilin Mcphillips

[email protected]

Market Managerkate Cooper Metts

[email protected]

Contributing Editor gracie shepherd

[email protected]

Sales DirectorLisa Dorn

[email protected]

Sales ExecutivesDoressa hawes

[email protected]

Lisa taylor [email protected]

Maidi McMurtrie thompson [email protected]

Mary porter vann [email protected]

CirculationJessica seigler

[email protected]

PhotographyJon Michael sullivan

Advertisingsales: 706.823.3702

fax: 706.823.6061 1.800.622.6358

skirt! is published monthly and distributed free throughout

the greater Augusta, Aiken & Evans area. skirt! reserves the right to refuse to sell space for

any advertisement the staff deems inappropriate for the publication.

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 2014, 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.

february2015

No matter the size of the town, someone will always be having big ideas.

In Augusta and Aiken, there are scores of people who work every day to

perfect and promote big ideas they believe in strongly. This issue, we sit

down with just a handful of locals who are going hard after big ideas ranging

from suicide prevention to holistic living to community collaboration and

innovation in technology. A common thread in all of their stories is a

simple question that we could all take to heart: why not me?

Gracie Shepherd

[email protected]

SKIRT! THIS MONTH

march2015

Cover Art: If youre an artist

and would like to submit your work, please send

a link or low res artwork to [email protected].

The BIG Issue

John D. rockefeller

Dont be afraid

to give up the good to go for

the great.

FeaturesYes, Im Aging. So What? Iris Dorbian .....................................................29

Just A Mermaids Tail Hilary Brooke Hall ................................47

in this issueLetter from the Editor ...................................4

Hes So Original .............................................25

Skirt of the Month .........................................29

Meet ..................................................................26

Product .............................................................13


@[ b n |@ @e [nb /#@

[@


Pho

to b

y J.

M. S

ulliv

an

march2015

Denise Tucker | Humanitree House

Enter Humanitree House, and immediately it feels like a different world from 8th Street in downtown Augusta. With Bob Marley records playing

in one corner and handpainted murals surrounding the entire space, Denise sees it as an extension of her home. She and her husband Baruti

opened Humanitree House in the summer of 2014 because they saw a need for a cold-pressed juice bar in particular and a family-friendly gath-

ering place in general. Cold-pressed juice is made using a process that preserves more nutrients than other ways of juicing, keeping the fruit in a

similar state as to when it was first picked. Humanitree House is all about eating, drinking and living closer to the sun, and closer to the earth

as a vegan space. Its been life-changing, Denise says. Her customers have become friends, and being her own boss means that she can take

time to just chat with someone if she feels that is what they need. I can truly find out how life is going for them, and what makes them tick.

pzz} X p c@ ,@ .c` @` p


february2015

Big ColorMara Hoffman espadrilles

Shoes at Surrey487 Highland Ave, Augusta

706.504.3532

Big SparkleJudith Ripka 18K gold/turquoise earrings

Windsor Jewelers2635 Washington Road, Augusta

706.738.7777

Go Big or Go Home

Big FragranceKobo mahogany leather candle

Nandina Home & Design158 Laurens Street SW, Aiken

803.649.0616

You cant top lobster for fancy dinner party fare.

Impress your guest list with a taste of New England delivered fresh to your door. Dont forget the bibs and melted butter!

SimplyLobsters.com will ship fresh Maine lob-sters and lobster tails in 24 hours (and you

can get them year-round).

march2015


TI]ZMV[ [\ [_ LW_V\W_V )QSMV 5. " ;I\ !!

KWV\MUXWZIZa RM_MTZa[W]\PMZV IZ\

T

} @k /kk /9k` /

p p

8 kY@` c 9@k`kk 1kc@@c 1c@

/k /@

Afo Ao

k

Y@kc Y/kk

z k /@ k@`

p}ppps sz_

/@ }

3OHDVH MRLQ XV DVWKH &RPPXQLW\ *DWKHUV WR

&HOHEUDWH (DVWHU$0 $0

(DVWHU &HOHEUDWLRQV RI WKH 5HVXUUHFWLRQ ZLWK &KRLU %UDVV 'UXPV$0 6HUYLFH

$QQXDO (DVWHU (JJ +XQW RQ WKH /DZQ30

(DVWHU &HOHEUDWLRQ RI &HOWLF (YHQLQJ3UD\HU &RPPXQLRQ

5H\QROGV 6WUHHW $XJXVWD *HRUJLD


;.81;, 1 7 , 0 ( )25/3.

/,33/1 # p z} p


REASON CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS,

BUT IMAGINATION HAS TO ASK

THEM. Ralph Gerard

PQUIZ!

A NOT SO BIG

P

S U R P R I S E !


WHAT COLLEGE HAS BALLROOM DANCING AS A MAJOR?Brigham University.

WHAT WOULD BARBIES MEASUREMENTS BE IF SHE WERE LIFE-SIZE?

39-29-33.

WHAT STATE HAS THE MOTTO WISDOM, JUSTICE AND MODERATION?

Georgia.

9WHAT

CLOUD NUMBER ARE YOU ON WHEN YOURE BLISSFULLY HAPPY?

WHO SAID WOMENS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS AT THE UN FOURTH WORLD

CONFERENCE ON WOMEN IN BEIJING ?

Hillary Rodham Clinton.

WHAT WILL KEEP YOU FROM CRYING

WHILE PEELING ONIONS?

Chewing Gum.

WHAT CHEESE GOES BEST WITH

A GLASS OF SAUVIGNON BLANC?Gruyere.

WHAT DOES THE COLOR YELLOW SYMBOLIZE?

Friendship and Joy.

PQUIZ!

A NOT SO BIG

P


#% ' $

# ## # # $ $ !! # # ' $# !$

& % !# !# ! % !!

!!%

# !# ' !

% # # #' !

$ #! #! $ ! %!

z #1# / ..8 ; o o y 0 y s y ^ #3/ ,.#//# 1.1# / X ;9; ,.#. 8

&65$V/DUJHVW6HOHFWLRQRI %ULGDO*RZQV DQG)RUPDO

$FFHVVRULHV

&DOO IRU DIUHHFRQVXOWDWLRQ}

7^tyT /

y T y 0

7 6,1&(

ZZZVKRDQHEULGDODQGIRUPDOVFRP

Cha

rlest

on M

edic

al S

pa

HOW MUCH GARBAGE ARE AMERICANS RESPONSIBLE FOR IN

THE WORLD ANNUALLY?One-fifth.

WHAT WAS ARETHA FRANKLINS FIRSTNUMBER 1 HIT?R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

WHAT ARE THE ONLY BIRDS THAT

SEE THE COLOR BLUE?

Owls.

WHAT IS THE SLEEVE ON THE OUTSIDE OF A COFFEE CUP CALLED?

Zarf

WHO IS THE LARGEST LANDOWNER IN NEW YORK CITY?

The Catholic Church.

HOW MANY CANCER

DIAGNOSES ARE SUN RELATED?

One- Third.

WHAT GRADE DID ELVIS PRESLEY GET IN HIS 8TH GRADE MUSIC CLASS?

C.

WHAT ARE THE THREE INGREDIENTS IN

MACAROONS?Eggs, Coconut

and Sugar.

WHERE IS IT ILLEGAL TO SPIT?Norfolk, Virginia.

WHAT IS THE LONGEST WORD TYPED ONLY WITH THE LEFT HAND?

Stewardesses.

WHEN DOES A FULL MOON ALWAYS RISE?At Sunset.

WHAT COUNTRY WAS THE FIRST TO GIVE WOMEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE?

New Zealand.

HOW MANY WAYS ARE THERE TO MAKE

CHANGE FOR A DOLLAR?

WHAT IS THE ONLY FOOD THAT MELTS AT BODY TEMPERATURE?

Chocolate.


dear

biguphpHpet

Efbs!!CJH!Up!Hp!

Hpet;!!Xf!!

voefstuboe!zpvsf!!

voefs!b!mpu!pg!tdsvujoz!uiftf!ebzt/!

Cvu!xf!kvtu!ibwf!b!gfx!uijoht!xf!xpvme!mjlf!up!dibu!

bcpvu;

The problem is when that fun stuff becomes the habit.

And I think thats whats happened in our culture.

Fast food has become the everyday meal.

Michelle Obama

Can we go back to small, medium, and

large? Were confused by (and frankly a little

scared of) Super, Mega, Extra Grande, Trenta,

Extreme and Value-sizedwhen big just

cant quite cut it.

We feel pretty virtuous when we pick up dinner

from Subways Fresh Fit Choices (paired with

apples and water instead of chips and soda), but

we hate it when we forget to ask you to put

the mayo on the side. That little dollop of mayo

(which looks to be about 4 tablespoons) adds

almost two chocolate chip cookies to our order

of the healthy veggie sandwich.

What is with the volume of liquids that are

being offered these days? We thought it couldnt

get any more out of control and then 7-11 had

to bring in the Big Gulp that holds 200% more

liquid than the average human stomach. Always

a good workout for our lifetime practice of

stretching our stomachs. And by the way, where

are the Small Gulps or even the Medium Gulps?

A special thank you to McDonalds for

offering an alternative to our usual breakfast

of fresh fruit and Greek Yogurt with the

McDonalds Big Breakfast with hotcakes, a

large biscuit, hashbrowns, eggs and sausage.

Because really, who needs breakfast when you

can have a buffet?

Our top award goes to fast food burgers. Instead

of making the burgers bigger, you just pile

patties on top of each other. Burger King Triple

Whopper with cheese, we see youTHREE

lb. patties (yes, thats almost a full pound of

meat), 82 grams of fat, and 1,230 calories. Youd

have to have the metabolism of a hummingbird

to burn that off!

Overall, kudos to the fast food marketing

teams. We wonder what would happen if you

used words like enormous, gigantic, hefty,

massive, or excessive, when labeling your

foods. How about the Barn Door Burger...

now thats a description we can understand.

So, if you could work on that so we could get

our obesity numbers down and perhaps solve

the problem of fair wages, wed say cheers. And

raise our bottle of water to you. Well keep the

zero calories around.

Remember when the Big Mac

was considered the bad burger? And now its the diet alternative

to some of these items.




Michelle Obama

Jane

Hur

ley,

nu

triti

onis

t at

the

Cen

ter

for

Scie

nce

in

the

Pub

lic In

tere

st.


Remember when the Big Mac

was considered the bad burger? And now its the diet alternative

to some of these items.




Michelle Obama

Jane

Hur

ley,

nu

triti

onis

t at

the

Cen

ter

for

Scie

nce

in

the

Pub

lic In

tere

st.

7:07MW W0y 0 ytt Wt

/ty /tt t^Tt:W 0 W ^ oM:

)ROORZ XV RQ IDFHERRN DQG LQVWDJUDP#6+236:$1.&2 IRU QHZ DUULYDOVDQG RXWW JLIW DFFHVVRU\ LQVSLUDWLRQ

)ROORZ XV#6+236:DQG RXWW

WW^W:W0 ^t y^W M^:^W^oW W^

T^Wyt

# ,. zv

9/ 1# .#S : 1 1# 9# ##/ T3 ` / 3 1 33/1 `

p } } z z x P c P @ Y


1n |n n@ @

e n @@@QnR}AA\

! n@ n@ [n .Q 9 /n@|e#!1 #.1 #31 #3. /1b .!; /.8

z

1@ ; @ | 8 3/1 /1 ! 33/1

;n@z

9n @n Qne @e ne Qn nQe /n@ n

! n@ .@e

@b s s

/@a @/a

s 9@ .@e@b s

1a @ I /@a @/a


february2015

Pho

to b

y J.

M. S

ulliv

an

march2015

Grace Belangia | Welcome to The Clubhou.se

If its a cool, collaborative effort going on in Augusta, Grace is probably there. From TEDxAugusta to Hack Augusta, shes a leader and cheer-

leader within Augustas technology and entrepreneurial communities. For the past few years, shes been a part of spearheading The Clubhou.se,

a community of professionals sharing workspace in the old Academy of Richmond County building that has blossomed into a breeding ground

for startup ideas, robotics training and a wide range of innovative efforts. Its about figuring out a way to empower our different communities,

Grace says. The opportunity for these self-branded geeks to find fellowship and inspiration from each other has been met with such great

response that its led to her and other members sharing the narrative of their success across the country this summer, Grace will be speak-

ing at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. I think Id be doing this kind of thing no matter where I was, she says. Its where the

crossroad of passion and desire and spiritual gifts comes together.


february2015

Pho

to b

y J.

M. S

ulliv

an

Lisa Tindal | Tough Conversationalist

Lisa believes strongly that the first step in making a difference is starting a conversation. As executive director of Mental Health America for Ai-

ken County, she saw a need to raise awareness and start a local conversation about suicide prevention. With other members of the community,

she began the Coalition for Suicide Prevention of Aiken County as a way to find out what exactly those local needs were. The best thing to

do really is just to listen, she says. Suicide is a difficult subject for many people to approach, but Lisa and the rest of her team on the coalition

believe its a vital one. Sometimes we dont ask questions because we are scared of the answer, she says. What keeps us from talking about a

lot of things is fear. The coalition created www.preventingsuicides.com in the hope that it will take some of that fear away, with step-by-step guides

for having conversations for suicide prevention.

march2015


february2015

Hes So Original | Hes So Persistent Chris Kane

Pho

to b

y J.

M. S

ulliv

an

march2015

You may know him from the morning news on WJBF News Channel 6, but Chris has a not-so-secret life as a devoted runner. He ran his first

race in the 2009 Augusta Half Marathon, plugging into the Augusta Striders running group to keep himself motivated. Some of my best friends

in this town now are runners, he says. Its more enjoyable when you have someone your speed, running alongside you. Immediately following

the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Chris and other Augusta runners organized a Run For Boston to show support and raise money for

survivors. The tragedy prompted Chris to make shirts with #DontStopRunning printed on them, as a message of solidarity and motivation for

himself and other runners. The shirts were a huge hit and have expanded into an entire line of running gear, available at Fleet Feet in Martinez.

If youve got a problem or a struggle youre dealing with, tell a runner, Chris says. Were used to going uphill.


february2015

Pho

to b

y J.

M. S

ulliv

an

Never be less, kiss passionately, speak up, break the mold.

mar

ch

Jamie Johnson Turnerromance writer and author of Always and Broken

Describe me:FavoriTe ThiNgs:

1. italian sweet red wine

2. staying in a luxury hotel

3. meeting fans of my books

4. hugs from my daughter

5. Just-because flowers from my

husband

1. Fantasy spinner

2. romance Writer

3. superman Fanatic

4. hopeless romantic

5. spotlight craver

6. chocolate Lover

2015

)XML :LJVz} .# /1.

1

33/1 `

# ; s /13.; _ s z_,)8// 6(59 ,&( :,* 6+23

3 . /; 11 .

t

A G

"

i ~ A

~

Offering:golden rabbit enamelware Bacon Jam Beyond Borders

Cake Mud Pie Sound View Lolita Just to name a few

Open Monday friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 10am-2pm418 Columbia industrial Blvd evans

Like and follow us on facebook! | [email protected]


)$6+,21 ,1 $8*867$ +$6 $ 1(: 1$0(

0oAoo

\\oo

o\

6855(< &(17(5 ! 8!333/1b ,#!

([FOXVLYHO\ #3HDFK $XJXVWD


i dreamed i packed my skirt and my bikini and

headed to miami for my much earned 76 degree day on

the beach.

WHEREWill Your Skirt

take younext?

february2015

Illus

tratio

n by M

onke

y Mind

Desi

gn. m

onke

yminde

sign

.etsy.co

m

MillyOne. 453 Highland AvenueAugusta706.869.2254

i dreamed i packed my skirt, my traveling shoes, my

bucket list, and flew off to see the big,

wide world.

WHEREWill Your Skirt

take younext?


march2015

W E A S K E D T H E

U N I V E R S E F O R T H E A N S W E R S T O

O U R T O P T E N

q u e s t i o n s A N D T H I S I S H O W S H E S O K I N D L Y A N S W E R E D U S .

BIGWHATS NEXT?

Hopefully not jury duty.

WHAT IS MY PURPOSE TODAY?

To keep your spa date. With myself.

WHERE DO I SEE MYSELF IN

FIVE YEARS?In front of a mirror.

Searching for gray hairs.

WHAT SUSTAINS ME?

Taco night. And a margarita.

And a tequila shot.

WHY AM I HERE?Because your GPS

got confused.

IS THIS ALL THERE IS?

If youre referring to wine,

then, no. Trader Joes has your back.

WILL I END UP ALONE?

Only if you keep eating your dates dessert

after saying you dont want any.

HOW WILL I KNOW IF HE IS

THE ONE?When youre tear-

fully chocolate-bingeing your way through

PMS and he still thinks youre perfect.

AM I THE BEST I CAN BE?

If youre sick of self-improvement books, then sure, why not?

WHO AM I?Ask Siri.


Skirt March 2015

Documents