By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) – Pope Francis urged the Cuban and U.S. governments to push ahead on their newly forged path toward normal relations, saying they should “develop all its possibilities” as he arrived Saturday on the first leg of a trip to the Cold War foes that papal diplomacy helped bring together.

Standing on the tarmac of Havana’s Jose Marti airport, Francis called the resumption of full diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba this year an “example of reconciliation for the entire world.”

The pope wrote a personal appeal to Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro and hosted their delegations at a secret meeting at the Vatican last year to seal a deal after 18 months of closed-door negotiations. Since then, the two leaders have reopened embassies in each other’s countries, held a personal meeting and at least two phone calls and launched a process aimed at normalizing ties in fields ranging from trade to tourism to telecommunications.

Standing with Cuba’s president by his side, Francis said the developments over recent months have given him hope.

“I urge political leaders to persevere on this path and to develop all its possibilities as a proof of the high service which they are called to carry out on behalf of the peace and well-being of their peoples, of all America, and as an example of reconciliation for the entire world,” he said.

Castro blasted the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba as “cruel, immoral and illegal” and called for it to end. But he also again thanked the pope for his role in fostering “the first step” in a process of normalizing relations.

The Vatican has long opposed the embargo on the grounds that it hurts ordinary Cubans most. On the eve of the visit, the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, made clear the Holy See hopes the rapprochement will eventually result in the lifting of sanctions. The Obama administration also called on Congress to lift the embargo, and on Friday it unveiled a new round of executive actions that carve out exceptions to the sanctions, such as allowing U.S. businesses to open offices in Cuba, letting U.S. residents send unlimited cash to Cubans and permitting virtually all U.S. pleasure boats to travel to the island without a special license.

In his remarks, Francis gave a friendly greeting to Fidel Castro, asking his brother Raul to send the 89-year-old revolutionary “my sentiments of particular respect and consideration.”

In the same breath, Francis also gave an apparent nod to Cuban dissidents, who have complained that he wouldn’t be sitting down with them during his visit. He said he wanted to embrace “all those who, for various reasons, I will not be able to meet” – as well as Cubans elsewhere in the world. The Vatican spokesman said the pope’s words were certainly meant as an expression of greeting to all Cubans, dissidents included.

“This visit is like a breath of hope blowing over Cuba,” because of the role that the pope played in the reestablishment of relations with the U.S., retiree Diego Carrera said.

Francis has been on record criticizing Cuba’s communist – and for decades atheist – revolution as denying individuals their “transcendent dignity.” But like the last two popes to visit Cuba, Francis has no meetings with dissidents on his official schedule. His speeches here are being closely watched for their handling of two delicate and related topics: human rights in Cuba and the church’s freedom to operate in the now officially agnostic state.

The pontiff didn’t explicitly mention human rights in his speech but said he would pray to Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, “for all her Cuban children and for this beloved nation, that it may travel the paths of justice, peace, liberty and reconciliation.”

While he made no reference to the church’s desire to be allowed to operate religious schools and broadcast on state-run television and radio, he said his trip was to help the church “support and encourage the Cuban people in its hopes and concerns, with the freedom, the means and the space needed to bring the proclamation of the kingdom to the existential peripheries of society.”

The Cuban government pursued a citywide effort to bring crowds into the streets of the capital, offering a day’s pay, snacks and transportation to state workers to gather along the pope’s route from the airport to the papal ambassador’s home. University students were also recruited to turn out.

The Vatican estimated more than 100,000 people lined the streets on Francis’ route to the residence, where he is staying in Havana. He was greeted with shouts of “Francis! Brother! Now you are a Cuban!”

Francis greeted a specially selected group of Cubans outside the residence Saturday night before a busy first full day on Sunday, starting with Mass in Revolution Plaza followed by a closed meeting with Raul Castro and a possible luncheon with Fidel Castro. The afternoon brings a vespers service and Francis’ first encounter with Cuban young people.

Accountant Magaly Delgado said she would go to the Mass because “I’m a believer and this pope interests me a lot because of all the change that he’s making.”

On Monday, the pope flies to the eastern city of Holguin – part of the periphery that is such a concern for Francis – to celebrate Mass and then on to the far eastern city of Santiago. He spends the night there and celebrates a major Mass at the sanctuary of Cuba’s patron, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, before flying Tuesday to Washington.

He will be greeted at Andrews Air Force Base by the first family. He will then, like his predecessors, grab the world stage at the United Nations to press his agenda on migration, the environment and religious persecution.

The U.S. visit, planned well before the Cuban stop was added, will be notable for the center stage Francis is giving Hispanics, who make up about 38 percent of adult Catholics in the U.S., according to the CARA research center at Georgetown University.

Francis will deliver most of his speeches in his native Spanish and is expected to make immigration one of the major themes of the visit. He has called for countries to be more welcoming of migrants seeking a better life for themselves and decried in particular the plight of would-be migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border- signaling he has no qualms about wading into a politically charged issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

___

Associated Press writers Eduardo Castillo and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana and Christine Armario and Andrea Rodriguez in Holguin, Cuba, contributed to this report.

___

Nicole Winfield on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nwinfield

Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mweissenstein

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Newly awarded grant money is firing up the furnace at Conway Glass this fall.

Ed Streeter, co-owner and visual artist, will use the grant funding to fan the flames of his monthly Saturday glass-blowing demonstrations, which are instructional presentations that show off traditional and experimental techniques in the ancient art of glass blowing to a crowd that grows each year.

This year’s first demonstration will be held on Oct. 3 – the same day as the City of Conway’s Fall Festival and the Live Oak Festival events, which will feature arts and crafts vendors and musical entertainment.

It’s transformative. They start with a blob of molten nothing and in a brief time colors are introduced and then the little blob of glass is turned into a bowl or vessel, and it’s really fun to watch that happen right before you.

Jim Arendt, area artist

During the demonstrations, Streeter works with 2,150-degree heat as he pulls molten globs of glass from the fire and fashions them into pieces of art before an audience in his studio at the back of Conway Glass, at 209 Laurel St.

“It’s transformative. They start with a blob of molten nothing and in a brief time colors are introduced and then the little blob of glass is turned into a bowl or vessel, and it’s really fun to watch that happen right before you,” Jim Arendt said, who is also an area artist and has attended the demonstrations for the past five years with his wife and three children.

Additionally, Arendt is the director of the Rebecca Randall Bryan Gallery at Coastal Carolina University.

Ed is assisted by his wife Barbara, who is also co-owner and a visual artist at Conway Glass. Barbara usually narrates as Ed creates during the 45-minute presentations for audiences, ranging from 20 to sometimes 60 people an hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month.

“It’s very informative, yet informal. We just have a good time. It’s fun for all ages,” Barbara said of the demonstrations.

The Streeters are also occasionally assisted by friend and fellow glass-blowing artist Wayne Fitzgerald, who visits the studio about once a year from the Philadelphia area.

Together, the Streeters have been putting on the glass-blowing demonstrations for roughly 15 years and have watched the crowds grow steadily each year.

“On a cold fall day, it’s the hottest ticket in town,” Arendt said.

2,150 degree heat is used in glass blowing

The demonstrations are often themed; during October it’s glass pumpkins, December brings Christmastime decorations. About 500 spectators came to presentations on a January Saturday when old beer bottles were refurbished into drinking glasses.

Flames of the furnace are also sometimes used to make popcorn for audiences and lunches for the Streeters while they’re in between shows.

“I would absolutely love to attend the demos. I plan to go to as many as I possibly can,” said Melaney Mills, who is from Lake City but previously lived in the Myrtle Beach area for years.

She has heard great things about the demonstrations at Conway Glass and is excited to attend future events. Mills said she enjoys the arts and dabbles in them herself.

“I love the vibrant colors in the glass. It’s all so beautiful to me,” she said as she looked around at all the shiny merchandise at Conway Glass.

The storefront of Conway Glass is simple, but within is a wonderland of glass orbs and ornaments, of stained glass mosaics and an array of handcrafted merchandise, big and small.

The Streeters also specialize in other glass needs such as commercial and residential products, including windows, mirrors, shower doors, safety glass and more.

Through a small hallway past the store’s front space and down the rabbit hole, is a large workshop studio where the demonstrations take place. It was revamped last year when Barbara was awarded a $5,000 grant from the S.C. Arts Commission that allowed her to add new video equipment, lighting and other technical improvements, which gave audiences a better view of all the action, Barbara said.

The grant money also helped the couple hold the glassblowing demonstrations from October to May 2014 and propelled Barbara’s experimental glass-blowing theater project, which featured two plays with glass-blowing fused into the plots and a performance by a glass-blowing magician.

After Barbara and 15 actors put in roughly 700 volunteer hours preparing, every one of the 100 tickets available to each blackbox-theater style event at about $18.50 a piece sold out. Barbara said she would love to do the events again, and may apply for more grant money to continue them.

“Conway Glass is a real treasure. A glass-blowing studio is a rare thing in the state to begin with, so to have one in our backyard is really nice,” Arendt said.

This year, Ed was awarded a $1,000 Quarterly Project Support for Artist Grant by the South Carolina Arts Commission for the 2016 fiscal year to help keep the demonstrations going. The Streeters said the funding helps pay for advertising, materials and time as the couple devotes an entire day to giving the public a free view of traditional and experimental glass blowing.

The Quarterly Project Support for Artists is partly funded by the National Endowment of the Arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina. Conway Glass is also helping Ed meet his obligation of matching the arts commission grant with local dollars.

“I was just floored when I got the grant. It’s pretty exciting to be recognized by the S.C. Arts Commission,” Ed said.

With this grant the Streeters will put on demonstrations on Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5. The couple will apply for another quarterly grant to hold more presentations the first Saturday of each month from January to May.

The Streeters offer classes from October through May from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays when demonstrations aren’t being held, and hold them on Thursdays as well. Walk-ins are welcome on Thursdays, but the Streeters request calling for an appointment on Saturdays. Prices range from $28 to $325 per class, depending on what people would like to learn.

More than glass

In addition to their glass-blowing studio projects, the Streeters are stay active in the emerging art scene in Conway.

Barbara is executive director of the organization CREATE!, which is a nonprofit 501 C-4 membership organization formed in 2011 and designed by local artists to celebrate and promote the arts in the community.

Grant money was also awarded to the group over the summer, including more than $800 from the S.C. Arts Commission, $2,000 from the Waccamaw Foundation and $2,500 from the City of Conway, the Streeters said.

CREATE! has about 30 members and is growing each year as more artists participate. The organization gained an administrative office space this year in the Conway Innovation Center near the Streeters’ glass studio in downtown Conway, but Barbara said the growing group desperately needs a bigger space.

“I love watching it grow from just a few individuals to a recognized group trying to bring more art to Conway,” Jesse Nevins, membership coordinator and teacher with CREATE!, said in an email.

Nevins has been a member of CREATE! for two years and teaches an after-school program for elementary school-age kids from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays at the Mary Thompson building in Collins Park. She also keeps up with CREATE! members and recruits new ones.

Nevins was has an art degree from Coastal Carolina University and joined CREATE! after finishing college. She said got involved with CREATE! because she wanted to work with an artist group that was “cutting edge” and “community focused.”

“As an artist sometimes you can feel really alone in facing the problems of making. It’s nice to be able to share your frustrations with others who understand and bounce ideas around with others who have a background in art,” Nevins said.

The organization’s website has also been revamped and a cultural events calendar was just added. The cultural calendar highlights creative events happening around Horry County such as art openings, cooking classes, wine tastings, plays and more.

The Streeters also just established the Conway Cultural Development Corporation in April, which is dedicated to stimulating economic growth in the Conway area through the creation of a vibrant art scene.

The Streeters said dollars stay around the Rivertown when cultural events and festivals are held as participants patronize area restaurants and shops, spurring the local economy in the process.

Arendt and Mills both said when they visit Conway Glass they eat at area restaurants, shop at the Conway Farmer’s Market and visit other downtown stores.

The organization envisions working with local municipalities’ planning departments to work with area artists using both public and private dollars to find a cooperative space for artists to create and to establish an art district in the community.

The center will really create an energy among the artists as they inspire each other, and if we can create that kind of energy, the sky’s the limit for Conway and Horry County together.

Ed Streeter

A big project in the works for the CCDC is the creations of the Waccamaw Art Design Center-MakerSpace — a cooperative gallery and studio in Conway that would allow members to use a shared space with tools and equipment, including a 3D printer, a laser cutter and industrial sewing machines. The nonprofit also hopes to set up a rental studio to recruit and launch design- and art-based companies.

“Just having a group advocate for arts in the community is really important. Numerous studies have shown that art-focused communities have a better economic outlook and happier residents. It’s important to have people that care about the arts creating spaces and events for their neighbors to enjoy,” Nevins said.

Barbara said the organization has looked at several properties but hasn’t found the right one yet. She said the organization wants to find the right space for area artists to call a creative home, and needs to be choosy to find a property that would suit the needs of a variety of different artists.

“The center will really create an energy among the artists as they inspire each other, and if we can create that kind of energy, the sky’s the limit for Conway and Horry County together,” Ed said.

The couple

Ed and Barbara Streeter have been married for 29 years and have operated Conway Glass since 1990. The glass gods slowly sifted the sands of time to bring them together as they both moved to South Carolina in 1968 from different parts of the Northeast.

Ed moved to the Myrtle Beach area from Rome, an upstate New York town, after his father was stationed at the Myrtle Beach Air Force base. Barbara, originally from Winslow, N.J., had relocated to Philadelphia with her family before her father got a job transfer to a textile plant in Spartanburg.

Barbara has a genetic love for glass which she got from her great-great-grandfather, who was a master glassblower in Winslow in the 1800s.

When Barbara was a child, she and her grandmother would take walks on the dirt road near their home leading by the an old, closed-down glass company, collecting bits of scrap glass along the way and fostering her hereditary love for glass.

In 1979, Ed got a job out of high school working with glass. Barbara said Ed worked in the Spartanburg area the same time she lived there, but they never ran into each other, despite spending time at some of the same places.

“We must have crossed paths several times over the course of 20 years, but we never actually met,” Barbara said.

It wasn’t until summer 1985 that the couple would meet. poolside at the Arcadian Dunes while vacationing in Myrtle Beach. They married a year later and opened their first glass business.

“It was just meant to be,” Barbara said.

The couple still pays nostalgic trips to the Arcadian Dunes from time to time.

The Streeters started Conway Glass Works on Main Street with friend George McCorkle, who was guitarist and founding member of the Spartanburg-based, classic rock legend The Marshall Tucker Band.

Together, the group ran the shop for about three years until the Streeters wanted to grow bigger in the glass business and arts and McCorkle wanted to stay small.

The Streeters then opened Conway Glass in 1990. The couple has been perfecting their glass-blowing skills over the years by studying at various schools, including Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Wheaton Village in Millville, N.J., and the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.

Barbara attributes their success personally and professionally to Ed’s steady patience and their ability to work together as a team, each combining their skill sets to fuse something strong.

“It’s been an amazing journey,” Barbara said of their nearly three-decade partnership. “It’s a wonderful life. When you wake up happy to go to work together every morning — that’s a good thing.”

More information

For more information about Conway Glass and the glass blowing demonstrations, visit http:// www.conwayglass.com or call 843-248-3558.

Glass-blowing demonstrations will be held the first Saturday of each month starting Oct. 3 to May 7 at Conway Glass at 209 Laurel St. in downtown Conway and are free and open to the public.

Glass-blowing classes are offered at Conway Glass from October through May from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays when demonstrations aren’t being held by appointment and on walk-ins are welcome on Thursdays. Prices range from $28 to $325 per class.

For more about CREATE!, visit http://createconway.wildapricot.org/ or call 843-248-4527.

To see a calendar filled with cultural events, visit http://createconway.org/arts_calendar.

N.C. Ski Areas Association (NCSAA) announced the award and number of friends, family and colleagues in the local skiing industry attended to congratulate Moretz for all of his work in establishing the High Country and other parts of the state as a premiere skiing and snowboarding destination. Photo by Ken Ketchie

By Jesse Wood

Ten years after receiving the lifetime achievement award from the National Ski Areas Association, Grady Moretz, president and general manager of Appalachian Ski Mtn. for many years, was honored a little closer to home.

Earlier this week, the N.C. Ski Areas Association (NCSAA) honored Moretz for all of his work in establishing the High Country and other parts of the state as a premiere skiing and snowboarding destination. A number of friends, family and colleagues in the local skiing industry attended to congratulate Moretz.

“As a founding member of the NCSAA, the membership made it a priority to recognize Grady’s immense contribution to North Carolina skiing, his hard work, his leadership and his guidance – and to say “thank you,” NCSAA president Kim Jochl said.

Grady Moretz “ate crow,” so to speak, and dressed up like a “rad dude” when he welcomed snowboarding.

The NCSAA was formed in the ‘70s. (Today, only Gunther Jochl of Sugar Mountain Resort and Moretz are the original founding members still on the NCSAA board.)

Jochl noted that Moretz has spent many years growing the NCSAA to ensure its prominence and relevance. He was also instrumental in creating the 1981 N.C. Skier’s Safety Act legislation and forging partnerships with the N.C. Department of Transportation and the N.C. Department of Travel and Tourism for those brown directional signs that you see along the highway directing motorists to the resorts.

“Those partnerships still exist today,” Jochl said. “He has made a lasting impression on North Carolina skiing.”

Moretz began his career at Blowing Rock Ski Lodge, what is now Appalachian Ski Mtn., in 1961. V.L. Moretz Son Lumber supplied the materials to build the Blowing Rock Ski Lodge and received payment in the form of the ski company’s stock. Because he was a stockholder now, Grady was automatically placed on the board of directors of the ski lodge.

When the Blowing Rock Ski Lodge went bankrupt, Moretz purchased the company with four other partners. While Moretz took over management that year, Moretz and his family didn’t become the sole owners until 1986.

Under his tenure, Appalachian Ski Mtn. has grown to include two quad chairlifts (the first in North Carolina), ice skating and more. The mountain was the first in the Southeast to offer night skiing and use airless snowmaking. Skier visits have increased from about 12,000, to more than 100,000 annually, ASM President Brad Moretz said.

Brad noted that his father was moved by this award and recalled that in 2005, his father was brought to tears when the National Ski Areas Association honored Grady with the lifetime achievement award.

But just as devoted as Grady Moretz was to Appalachian Ski Mtn. and the local ski industry, he put the family in “family business.” His wife, Reba, has been apart of the resort for years and their children Brad and Brenda Speckmann manage the mountain today.

“My father was and still is very devoted to his family, as well as his family business. He instilled a strong work ethic in my brother and I at a young age, but better yet how to treat people with compassion. He was a great role model for us in all that he has done locally for this community and on a state level too,” Speckmann said. “Dad was a very hard-working father who made time for his family and gave back much to his community! My wish and prayer would be for him to be able to see his grandchildren have the passion to continue to carry on the family business that he worked so hard to establish!

The NCSAA Board honors Grady Moretz, owner of App Ski Mtn., at its board meeting on Monday.

Grady and Reba Moretz

Grady Moretz, wife Reba, daughter Brenda Speckmann, and son Brad Moretz stand in front of their sign during the 50th anniversary in 2011.

Grady Moretz, ASU Chancellor John Thomas, Hugh Morton, Ski Patroller Steve Benbow and Alfred Adams on the first quad lift.

Grady Moretz wasn’t experienced in the ski industry when he took over the mountain. Nonetheless, he was successful.

Comments

comments