When the Miss America Organization marks its 100th anniversary this year, Columbia County will have cause to celebrate as well.

Talk about a crowning achievement. Representing the state as Miss Georgia, Martinez native Karson Pennington, 23, will be one of the candidates vying for the job of Miss America in Uncasville, Connecticut this month.

Karson has been involved in the Miss America Organization for more than a decade, winning multiple competitions. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, who competed in Miss Georgia in the 1980s, and her older sister, Kendyl, who has won numerous titles of her own.

In 2008 Karson won her first title, Miss Georgia Princess, at age 10. Competing as Miss University of Georgia for the statewide crown, she won the title in Columbus in June.

“I was in a complete state of shock to hear my name called as Miss Georgia 2021,” she says. “I thought of 10-year-old Karson watching Miss Georgia for the first time. I was sitting in the audience, and I wanted to be just like her and all of the other incredibly accomplished women on the stage. After 13 years, my dream had finally been realized. It was the best feeling in the world.”

She is proud to represent her home state as one of “51 incredible candidates who are talented, highly educated and give back to their communities.”

 

Hear Her ROAR
With her resume, she should feel perfectly at home with the other Miss America candidates. Currently, Karson is a second-year doctoral student in political science and international affairs at UGA.

The diehard Bulldog graduated magna cum laude with high honors from the university in May, earning three degrees – a Bachelor of Arts in political science, a Bachelor of Arts in history and a Master of Arts in political science and international affairs – in four years.

As a doctoral student, she teaches classes and conducts independent and departmental research focused on federal judicial politics. In the future Karson hopes to become a collegiate professor.

Her Miss Georgia duties include the promotion of education and literacy through her social impact initiative, ROAR: Reach Out and Read, which she has pursued since she was 12 years old.

Diagnosed with onset fluency disorder at age 3, Karson stuttered as a child. Her pediatrician suggested that her parents start teaching her to read so she could practice pronouncing words as she read aloud.

“I started reading then, and I haven’t put down books since,” she says.

With her mascot, Lucky Lion, she visits classrooms, donates books, and educates students and parents on the importance of literacy skills. Karson also wrote “Lucky Learns to ROAR,” which is available as an e-book on her website, roarreachoutandread.org.

She schedules appearances and advocates with the state legislature for educational funding as well.

“Miss Georgia is an 8-to-5 full-time job. It’s not just wearing a sash and crown,” Karson says. “I love to get dressed up in an evening gown and represent Georgia, but I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk on my laptop and communicating with people.”

Getting Ready
She also carves out time to prepare for the talent, interview and evening gown portions of the upcoming Miss America competition. Karson, who was a four-year member of UGA’s Georgettes Dance Team, will tap dance in the talent segment.

Four or five days a week she goes to the dance studio to rehearse her routine for two hours at a time, and she closely follows current events to prepare for the private and onstage interviews.

In September Karson attended a 10-day Miss America orientation, when she met the other candidates for the first time.

“It’s crazy to say that I have a friend in every single state now,” she says. “It’s a sisterhood, even though we’re all competing for the same thing. We develop an incredible bond by going through this shared experience.”

Karson has won more than $23,000 in scholarships through the MAO competitions, enabling her to pursue her Ph.D. She also gains poise and confidence by appearing on stage and through MAO mentorship programs.

The final round of the five-day competition will be held Thursday, December 16, and her parents, Kathy and John Pennington, and her sister will be in the audience to support her.

Despite the similarities to other competitions, Karson expects Miss America to be different from her previous experiences.

“I think there’s a little bit more pressure, but the pressure is almost lower, too, because I’ve made it to this level,” she says. “I competed at Miss Georgia more than one time. I will get only one chance to compete at Miss America, and I’m honored to stand on that stage.”

The fact that this year’s event is the centennial anniversary is special to Karson as well.

“There will only be one 100th anniversary class, and I’m in it,” she says.

By Sarah James

Fans of the supernatural can look forward to a new movie featuring a homegrown cast and crew.
Filming recently wrapped up in Columbia and Richmond counties for Applewood, an indie horror-based thriller that will be released in late 2021 or early 2022.

“Almost all of our talent and crew are locally based,” says production supervisor Nik Wilets of Augusta. “We have a crew of about 50 people, and 35 to 40 of them are local.”

The film also was written by local resident Amy Rhinehart Bailey and Rob Hollocks, a British director, producer and screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles. In addition, the film’s three lead actors, Kate Dailey, Susan Willis and Nathan Rothwell, live in the area.

“The film is a labor of love for these people,” Wilets says. “I think small teams usually make the best products. There’s a certain esprit de corps with a small team.”

The horror-based thriller, based on a story by local writer Zach King, is about “a woman who buys a house and remnants of the past come back to her,” says Wilets.

Some scenes were shot in a Columbia County neighborhood and a local ATV park. However, Wilets says the Clay House on Milledge Road in Augusta will be one of the most recognizable locations in the film. “We show the Clay House in decay, and in flashbacks, in its heyday,” he says.

While Georgia has become a leading destination in the world for filming, Wilets says Columbia and Richmond counties are becoming more popular among filmmakers.

“Atlanta has become a little overused, and this area offers a bit of originality. There’s a lot of diversity here,” he says.

Wilets believes the film will resonate with audiences. “I hope they have some thrills and scares. There’s also a lot of takeaways about loss and redemption,” he says. “I hope they enjoy a good story.”

By Todd Beck

As the brainchild of Abigail Jessee of Abigail Marie Creative, “A Love Story to Remember” tells the love stories of four local couples. She started her business to share people’s lives, and particularly their love stories, through photography.

“I love a good wedding photo, but I started thinking, ‘Where are all of the other love stories?’” she says.

Enlisting the aid of her friends, Abigail Johnson of Rosilie’s Rentals and Georgia Martinez of Georgia Miller Photography, they launched the project with a contest to showcase the love stories of local residents. The winners received a complimentary photo shoot and the opportunity to share their stories in Columbia County Magazine.

Abigail Jessee and Georgia shared photography duties; Abigail Johnson provided vintage props for the photo shoots.

“The best part about this process was reading all of the submissions,” says Abigail Jessee. “I was so encouraged that every story was unique its own way.”

With her camera, Georgia loves to peek behind the scenes. “Taking part in this project was an enriching, beautiful experience for me. Although I am often photographing what is visible to the eye, I truly believe it is the story behind a photograph that gives it meaning and life,” she says. “Our love stories are timeless, unique, and they connect us all.”

Abigail Johnson is fascinated by every detail of people’s lives. Her interest in their histories grew out of the mementoes and memories that her grandfather saved of her late grandmother, Barbara Roselie, whom she never met.

“I’m so thankful my PaPa kept their love story alive through her things, photos and his memories. It made me realize how captivating history and memories can be,” she says. “It was through my grandparents and their epic love story that my love for all things sentimental, unique and antique really began.”

The contest was open to all CSRA residents. Couples could nominate themselves or be nominated by someone else.

The featured couples include an engaged pair that is getting married in May – pandemic or not, a husband and wife that finally admitted their true feelings for each other and eloped after a 12-year friendship, fun-loving empty nesters who make the most of every moment they spend together and mentor other young couples, and great-grandparents (and great dancers) who have been married for 51 years. Enjoy.

Augusta residents Brynn Allen and Nick Woo don’t plan to let covid-19 or anything else stop them from getting married on May 8, especially after a lifetime of near misses.

Both of them attended elementary school at St. Mary on the Hill Catholic School. Even though each grade had only two classes, they never were in the same one. Growing up, they knew lots of the same people, but not each other. “When we got older, we continued to just barely miss each other,” says Brynn. “Nick and I had so many mutual friends and were at so many of the same events together, it is almost laughable how we just kept missing each other.”

Those circumstances finally changed after a day at Clarks Hill Lake with friends the summer before their senior year in high school — Nick at Greenbrier High School and Brynn at Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School. “I think we might have been the only two that didn’t know each other,” Brynn says.

For their first date—which ended up being spread over two days—they sat on the dock at Savannah Rapids Pavilion and talked for hours. They had planned to get takeout food from Toki, but it didn’t work out. When they went back to the dock the next day to “finish” their date, they had Toki to-go boxes in hand.

Once they finally started dating, they also had to overcome the challenges of a long-distance relationship. Brynn went to Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, while Nick recently graduated from Augusta University. The separation wasn’t easy, they agree, but it allowed them space to grow as individuals.

Nick and Brynn have been together six years, but after a few months, she knew he was the man she wanted to marry. He proposed to her in July by recreating their first date with another Toki picnic on the Savannah Rapids dock. “To pop the question, there couldn’t have been better spot to do it,” he says.

They call communication the foundation of their relationship.

“You need to be vulnerable with that person you care about, open up and have the hard conversations,” Nick says.

“She pushes me to be the best I can be, and she supports me  in any endeavor.”

In addition, they simply have fun together and enjoy each other’s company.

“Every single year we have been together has been like a new year and a new adventure,” Brynn says.

Four university freshmen from Columbia County share their experiences of going off to college during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first year of college can be a time of excitement, anticipation, adventure, challenge, trepidation, self-discovery and personal growth all at once.

For the college Class of 2024, however, the worldwide coronavirus pandemic added one more layer to these students’ introduction to campus life. Not only did they have to finish their senior year of high school online. They also had to start their freshman year of college amid the uncertainty, rules and regulations of the pandemic.

These freshmen approached their first semester with strength and resilience, however, to make the most of their college experience. If life as we once knew it hasn’t returned by the end of their freshman year, here’s hoping they can start their sophomore year under more normal circumstances.

In this Q&A, which has been edited for space and clarity, they described what life on campus was like during their first semester of college.

Sara Blake Tully
Augusta University freshman, business major

Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
Covid didn’t affect my decision to go to AU. I want to transfer to UGA next year, but with everything being so crazy, I’m glad I decided to stay home and live at my parents’ house.

What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?
We had to wear masks in every building we went in. If we were walking outside, we could bring our masks down. The majority of time that I was on campus, I had to have my mask on.

In the classrooms, the chairs and desks and tables were set up six feet apart. There were a lot less people in class than usual. At the food court, we had to stand in line six feet apart. We had tables, but only a limited number of people could sit at each table.

What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
I am not quite sure what would happen if a student tests positive for covid-19, but I did not have to quarantine or isolate for any reason.

Were your classes online or in-person?
I had two online classes and two in-person classes. I went to campus every morning. I took biology and history online, and public speaking and pre-calculus in-person. For biology, we got handouts to answer questions that went along with videos.

Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?
It kind of helped. When we first went online in high school, no one knew what to do at first. It’s different now. Teachers are better at doing online lectures and working with all of the technology. 

Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
Online learning for me is a lot harder than in-person because I can’t grasp the information as well. I had to study more and change my focus. It was all on school. I was juggling two things at once with online and in-person classes.

What were you most looking forward to about going to college?
Getting a fresh start, being more independent and meeting new people.

What was reality like?
It was very isolated because of the masks. It wasn’t as personable. You couldn’t meet people in class. You couldn’t really talk because of the masks. It made things a little lonelier since most of my friends went off to school. Corona didn’t make it any easier.

I rushed, though, and joined a sorority – ADPi. It was supposed to be in-person, but we did it over Zoom. It was awkward because you’re talking over a computer screen. Sometimes there were awkward silences because of the internet connection.

We had chapter meetings over Zoom, but we did some sisterhood events. We wore masks for them. We had to have a limited number of people at the events, but I could still hang out with some of the girls. We did things outside. We would go to a park or have a picnic. We social distanced.

How do you date during covid?
(laughing) You don’t. it’s really difficult to do that.

What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?
It’s not getting the full college experience. I still went to campus, which I loved. But it was not the same because there was hardly anyone there.

Was anything better than you expected?
Deciding to stay home for school has been better than I thought. It’s been nice living at home. It’s been a good stress reliever from school.

Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
I’ll definitely have many stories I can tell my kids. And it has been character building. I had to learn how to interact with people and teachers differently. I have learned not to take anything for granted. I know everyone wants to go back to how life was before corona.

Bryant Thomas
Clemson University freshman, pre-business major

Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
No. My dad went to Clemson, so I’ve always wanted to go to Clemson.

Where are you living this year?
In a dorm with my roommate. We can only have a limited amount of other people in our dorm. And when they come in, they have to wear a mask. We don’t have any rules with our roommate because we’re around each other so much. But if we have other people in, they have to wear a mask.

What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?Any building you went into, you had to be wearing a mask. When you were outside, if social distancing couldn’t be guaranteed, you had to wear a mask. You had to make appointments to go into the campus gym or the library.

There weren’t as many dining options. Some of the dining halls were closed because of covid, and there were a lot less food options than there normally would be. For football games, they didn’t give out as many tickets to students, and there was social distancing. I didn’t get to go to any games.

What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
Anyone who tested positive for covid-19 at Clemson had to enter 10-day isolation, and his or her roommate had to enter 14-day quarantine, even if they tested negative. I did have to isolate around the beginning of October because I tested positive for covid-19. I had a fever and body aches for about three days, and then a cough and a sore throat for about a week.

Were your classes online or in-person?
Most of them were online. For some, I only went in-person on certain days of the week. I had an economics and a geology class that were all online. My sociology, math and business classes and an entrepreneurial elective were online and in-person. The professors posted video lectures.

How did taking classes online work with a roommate?
We just ignored each other, I guess. 

Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?
It helped. It was still kind of frustrating, though, having to sit in your dorm all day.

Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
I think of myself as more of a hands-on learner, and that’s just difficult to do through Zoom. I’ve had to switch to a more visual, auditory learning style.

What were you looking forward to most about going to college?
I was looking forward to being independent, living on my own and making new friends. That’s been a lot harder this year because of covid, but I still found ways to meet new people by getting involved in campus organizations and through my dorm.

I didn’t join a fraternity. I might next semester, but I’m not sure. Because of covid, we’re all hesitant. They can’t really do many events. We would have to go through rush on Zoom. But everyone here is sick of Zoom calls because that’s what we do for most of our classes.

How do you date during covid?
As long as you keep your group small, there isn’t really any problem. And a lot of the businesses and restaurants are still open.

What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?
I guess not really being able to go out and do anything. There are, of course, restrictions on gatherings or parties. I only saw a few situations where big groups got busted up. It was frustrating that we couldn’t have people in the dorm or go to class in person.

Was anything better than you expected?
Despite all of the covid, I think the university tried really hard to make this semester as normal as it could be. By not sending us home when our cases went up, that made it easier to go out and make new friends.

Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
It’s like being part of history. I think a lot of things are going to change even after covid goes away. If I can live through this, I can make it through anything.

Sanders Hackett
University of Georgia freshman, civil engineering major

Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
No. I told my mom when I was 4 or 5 years old that I wanted to go to UGA, and that’s what I worked for all throughout school. When I got accepted – worldwide pandemic or not – I wanted to go to UGA.

What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?
At UGA, the rules are pretty strict. Anytime you’re inside any sort of building, even at the gym, you have to have a mask on. Everywhere is marked off with little dots six feet apart. Anywhere you go, there’s always hand sanitizer and wipes. If you touch something that other people may touch, you wipe it down afterward.

In the dorm, it’s you and your roommate. Other than that, there are no visitors and no guests. Not even people from your own hall are supposed to be in your room.

The meal plan and the dining halls have been one of the biggest changes. When we started school, it was takeout only and the options were limited. The lines were long. Some people dropped their meal plan, but I didn’t.

I give UGA a lot of credit for asking students what they could do to better serve us. It became a more efficient process, and there were some dine-in options. The food variety got much better.

What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
When someone tested positive at UGA, they were immediately sent to isolation in a specifically designed dorm for people who test positive for covid-19. They were then given the option to go home or to stay in the isolation dorm. However, they were not allowed to return to campus for a minimum of 14 days after a positive test. This proved to be extremely effective in getting those who tested positive out of the general student body and allowing them to return to full health. I have not had to quarantine or isolate for any reason yet. I been extremely blessed and fortunate that I have been able to stay healthy.

Were your classes online or in person?
I had two classes that met in-person once a week and one that met in-person every other week. The other two were online. Calculus and world geography were online. I took two different introductory engineering courses. One met in-person once a week, and the other one met in-person every other week. My public speaking class met in-person once a week.

How did taking classes online work with a roommate?
That was one of several struggles we had. Luckily for us, we only had one class at the same time. We usually weren’t trying to do Zoom classes at the same time. It was a lot of headphones in and “please be quiet” from the other side of the room.

Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?

As terrible as it is and was – yes. The way that we had to end high school in an online forum, it did help with the transition to online classes in college. For me, it helped with time management for online classes. You don’t have to go to class every single time it meets, but there are still deadlines for quizzes, tests and other assignments.

Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
Yes. I like being in-person and having that interaction with the teachers. I like being able to ask questions or go up to them after class.

What were you looking forward to most about going to college?
I envisioned I would be living out my dream and participating in some of the great things Athens has to offer – dorm life, going to football games and making new friends. I have been able to do some of that, but not on a large scale.

I have gotten involved in Greek life. I joined Theta Chi, and we were able to have some small events as long as we followed all of the state rules and school rules and regulations.

But with covid, I knew that the social aspect was going to be hard. I had prepared myself for this and for the challenge of earning a degree.

I also am employed part-time at RW Allen as an intern in project management and estimating. I carried that piece of home with me, but we have limited in-person interaction.

How did you go through rush?
It was a lot different. There were not any big events. When we did the house tours, everybody had to wear their masks. Only a limited number of people could be in a house at one time. We had to social distance for everything. 

How did covid affect your social life?
It tore apart my social life. I am an extremely, extremely social person. I haven’t had some of the social gatherings I thought I would have when I came to college. It has affected going on trips.

I have only been to two football games, and it was very, very different. I’ve been to UGA games all my life. I’m used to being there with 100,000 people. It’s usually loud with lots of energy. It’s hard to recreate that same experience with only around 20,000 people there.

How do you date during covid?
It’s tough. I’m not going to lie. My roommate has a girlfriend, but they have been dating a long time. You can’t date traditionally. There are not as many opportunities to go out to eat or go to a football game. There are limited social opportunities right now.

What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?
For me, I’m a very social person. There have not been very many social events or as many social gatherings as we would normally have. It’s been nothing like what I used to hear about from my other friends or when I would visit. That has been the hardest aspect for me.

Has anything been better than you expected?
The bathrooms in my dorm. Friends had told me the bathrooms are awful. I’m not saying they’re nice, but they are not as awful as everyone made them out to be.

Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
That’s a tough question. Looking back on it, I hope I’ll be able to say I made the best out of the situation. I want to be able to say I had a good, positive freshman year, but I also followed the rules and regulations that are in place.

Everybody here understands that we all want to have a good time, and we all want to be able to have the normal freshman experience. But we’re not able to do that right now. The only way to get back to normal is to follow the guidelines and rules from the government and the school.

Grace O’Neal
Georgia Southern University freshman, nursing major

Did covid influence where you decided to go to college?
Not really. It hasn’t made me change my mind about my major, either. Not yet, anyway.

 What kind of rules or restrictions did you have to follow on campus because of covid?
We always had to wear a mask on campus and in class or when we went in any building. We were not allowed to have any visitors in our dorms. We had limited capacity in our classrooms, and it was optional for us to go to class in-person. If we were uncomfortable, we could go on Zoom for our classes.

What happened when someone tested positive for covid-19? And did you have to isolate or quarantine for any reason?
We have an online Georgia Southern portal with a CARES (Covid-19 Answers Resources Evaluation and Self-reporting) Center, where we were supposed to report our sickness and let our professors know. The dining hall had to-go boxes, and you were allowed to get two of them. So, if your roommate was sick, you could get one for them.

For the first couple of weeks of school, most of the people I know had covid, including me and my roommate. We had it at the same time. It wasn’t that bad. The only thing that happened to me was I lost my taste and smell, but we couldn’t do anything then.

Were your classes online or in-person?
I had three classes in-person – universal justice, government and English. One was only half a semester, though. I took chemistry and a first-year experience class that all freshmen have to take online.

How did taking classes online work with a roommate?
In our dorm, we each have our own room. I could sit in my room and shut the door.

Did finishing high school online help you adjust to online classes in college?
To a certain extent. It made me realize that I had to wake up every day and see what I had to do. At the end of our senior year in high school, they were pushing us across the finish line. It has been a lot harder in college, though. The load of work is definitely a lot more, and it’s a lot more difficult.

Have you had to adjust your learning style because of online classes?
I definitely have had to adjust my learning style due to online classes. I’ve had to get used to emailing my professors often with questions and figuring out a lot of things on my own by googling videos to explain topics I don’t understand.

What were you looking forward to most about going to college?
I was really excited to get away from home, branch out and meet new people, and live on my own. I have been surrounded by the same people my whole life.

What was reality like?
At first it was super difficult because of covid. I didn’t get to meet as many people as I thought. Over time, things got better, and I met new people. I’m in a sorority, but we weren’t getting to do anything at first. Later we could do more activities, but we had to have our masks on.

I joined ADPi, and we did rush on Zoom calls the whole week. We had a different Zoom call for each sorority every day.

How do you date during covid?
I have a boyfriend, so I’ll go to his house and hang out there and eat dinner there. Most of the restaurants in town are still open, so we can go out to eat.

What has been the biggest disappointment or challenge about going to college during covid?For me, I wanted to rush, and I was really excited about the things we would get to do with our sorority. But we haven’t been able to do much. And my parents can’t really come to visit me.

Has anything been better than you expected?
The number of friends I have been able to make has been better than I expected. I wasn’t sure I would be able to meet new friends at first.

Ten, 15 or 20 years from now, how will you look back on this experience?
It’s definitely going to be something I’ll remember. I’m glad I’ll have this story to tell that I was a freshman in college and a senior in high school during covid. Those are two really big years, and covid has altered them.

A Jones Creek couple celebrates the spirit of the season with string instruments, song and the occasional surprise at their annual Christmas party.
When people move from one city to another, it’s customary to pack up their belongings and bring them to their new place. Then there are Evans residents Monica and Paul Dainer.

Each time they have moved through the years, they have taken their annual Christmas party, featuring live music, with them. Last year the Dainers, who live in Jones Creek, held their 38th annual party.

“It’s something we’ve always done,” says Monica. “It always comes together.”

Unfortunately, they had to change their tune this year and cancel the party because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, they still might find a way to strike the right note for the times.

“We’re so disappointed that we can’t have the party, but we may do something virtually,” says Paul. “And we hope to have the party again next year.”

Traveling Show
Paul started the Christmas party tradition in the late 1970s when he was single, serving in the U.S. Navy and stationed in San Diego. In 1979 Paul, a hematologist and oncologist at Georgia Cancer Center, was transferred to the naval hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, where he first met Monica and told her about the party.

“I thought it sounded like a lot of fun to celebrate the season with live music,” she says.

Paul, who also played viola for the Charleston Symphony, enlisted some of his symphony colleagues and the organist/pianist from St. John’s Lutheran Church to play with him at the party. He also had bought a new baby grand piano just in time for the occasion, so he couldn’t let that purchase go to waste.

He made an even better family addition when he and Monica married shortly after the second party.

They took their party with them when they moved to Bethesda, Maryland and Jacksonville, Florida, where Paul played in their symphonies.

In Maryland, Monica says, “We attracted musicians from local orchestras and had already begun adding vocalists to the parties.”

They held two parties in Jacksonville with fellow members of the Jacksonville Symphony and other local musicians. “The first chair of the second violins delayed her Christmas vacation a day just to play first violin in a piano quintet with us,” Monica says.

From Jacksonville, the Dainers moved to Greenville, North Carolina, where their daughters, Erin and Caroline, started singing and performing on the piano and violin, respectively, during the four parties they had there. Monica began singing at the parties as well.

The Dainers settled in Evans in 1992, and they started hosting their annual Christmas party here the following year. Until this December, they had skipped the party only three times – the years they moved to Evans and Greenville and in 2009 when they had to cancel it after Paul had an accident a couple of days before the event. In 1982, the party was subdued after Monica had a miscarriage the night before and a heavy snow fell on the day of the party.

“We couldn’t reach everyone to cancel the event. In spite of the snow, a few people arrived, only about 10. We couldn’t turn them away,” Monica says. “It was a quieter and somewhat somber evening. However, we did manage to sing some favorite Christmas carols.”

Strings Attached
The black tie-optional party is a Christmas highlight for many of the Dainers’ friends, and the guest list has grown through the years.

“We started out with about 30 guests and have increased to over 70. We never know who will come because many of our friends have family commitments or have travel plans formulated months before the invitations have been sent,” says Monica.

Several years ago, more than 100 guests attended the party during a three- or four-hour time period. Some people stay for the entire evening; others drop in.

No wonder the party, which includes Christmas, religious, classical and popular music, is one that people don’t want to miss. With their ties to the local arts community, the Dainers can invite any number of talented musicians and vocalists to perform.

Paul, who plays viola for Aiken Civic Orchestra (and played with Augusta Symphony for 15 years) has enlisted many of his fellow musicians to appear at their parties.

Monica, a former nurse who now presents programs at the USC Aiken DuPont Planetarium, also has been active with Augusta Players as a performer and board member. “Through my connections with that organization, we have invited a number of very talented singers over the years,” she says. “And we always like to invite children and young people as guests and performers.”

Last year, for instance, Laura Doss, organist at Christ Church, Presbyterian and accompanist for Augusta Youth Chorale, played the piano and was accompanied by her three sons (ages 15, 10 and 9 at the time) on the violin and cello. The played “Good Christian Men, Rejoice” and “See Amid the Winter‘s Snow,” both arranged by Kristen Campbell.

Other performances included a piano solo by Moscow native and Columbus State University adjunct faculty member Ksenia Kurenysheva, who also accompanied Taiwan native Sho Ane Seaton as she sang the arias “Ombra Mai Fu” by Handel and “O Mio Babbino Caro” by Puccini.

Melissa Schultz, a voice and piano teacher who has performed throughout the United States and Canada, sang “Gesu Bambino” by Pietro Yon and Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum (k.339).” Members of the Christ the King Lutheran Church choir sang “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Mark Dickens, who has played the piano and organ in many area churches, and Stacy Reynolds, who has played piano for local musical theater groups and contemporary Christian music for churches for decades, also played the piano at last year’s party.

The Dainers pulled double duty as hosts and entertainers for the festivities. Monica sang with her choir from Christ the King, and she sang an Austrian Christmas carol, “Es wird scho glei dumpa,” with their daughter, Caroline Dainer Osburn, in Austrian-German dialect. Paul played the viola both as a soloist and in a chamber group.

He played Hoffmeister’s “Viola Concerto in D major”, third movement (Rondo) with Mark Dickens on piano. He performed “String Quintet No.4 in G Minor” (k.516) by Mozart with Adam and Andrew DePriest on violin, Janis Krauss on viola and Robert Gibson on cello.

He also played the fourth movement (Minuet) by Dittersdorf, a duet for a viola and string bass, with Adam DePriest. Finally, Paul played Christmas carols, arranged by Stan Pylant for three violas and the audience, with Stan and with Carl Purdy.

The program offered plenty of levity as well. Steven Hansen – a local actor, Greenbrier High School music and theater teacher, and Christ the King choir director – brought some fun to the occasion by singing “We Need a Little Christmas” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

Tyler Cook, a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance graduate of Augusta University who has won numerous state, regional and national musical theater competitions, sang the Christmas folk song, “River,” by Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, and “She Used to Be Mine” from the musical, Waitress.

Rabbi David Sirull of Adas Yeshurun Synagogue in Augusta, another performer at last year’s party, received classical training in the art of Eastern European Chazanut and Yiddish folk music. However, he sang several “redneck” songs from his collection, some of which can be found on YouTube.

The guests got into the act as well. After the scheduled performances, they joined in singing Christmas carols.

Expect the Unexpected
The Dainers never know what to expect at their party, except that it will be one for the ages – all ages, in fact. Last year, three babies were in attendance, which Monica says is unusual.

“They ranged in age from 5 weeks to 8 months, and they were perfect angels. We never heard them cry,” says Monica. “I guess they were mesmerized by the music.”

One year Paul’s 93-year-old father came to the party shortly after losing his wife. However, the music lifted his spirits. “He even was inspired to play some familiar songs on our piano as the party concluded,” Monica says.

On occasion, the Dainers have been surprised by the people they have found on their front porch. About 15 years ago, the doorbell rang during the party and they opened the door to a group of about eight college students singing Christmas carols. Naturally, the Dainers invited them inside to sing.

The couple loves to share the joy of the holiday season, and some aspects of the evening are entirely predictable. For instance, fellowship with good friends and good food from Silver Palm Catering Company – plus sweets, cookies, cakes and other treats made by Monica – are the perfect accompaniments to the party.

Still, the music is the star of the evening.

“Music transcends spoken language and has the power to bring people from diverse backgrounds together,” says Caroline. “You don’t have to sing or play an instrument to understand this language, because music is the language of the heart.”

By Sarah James

 

Regardless of the type of camera he has in his hand, a local documentary filmmaker and photographer loves to preserve special moments in time.

Growing up in Wisconsin, Augusta resident Mark Albertin knew little about the South other than the often distorted portrayal he saw of it on film and television. However, his maternal grandmother was born and raised in Augusta, so he had a connection to the region.

He moved to Georgia in 1986, but he strengthened his ties to the South even more when he made his first video – a tribute to his grandmother – as a birthday gift for his own mother years ago.

“It all comes back to the roots of where it started,” says Albertin. “I never met my grandmother, but I wanted to know who she was. My mother talked about us like we were soup. She said we came from good stock.”

As it turns out, that dive into his ancestry was a gift to himself as well. After making the video, Albertin started Scrapbook Video Productions in 2000 to produce documentary films. He made a $30,000 investment in equipment, including a high-end video production camera and editing equipment, to start the business.

“I was bitten by the bug, and I wanted to do bigger and better things,” he says. “It allows me to do the projects that I want to do.”

Many of his productions, which range from stories of towns to noted individuals, have aired on PBS and received awards from film festivals across the country. His newest film, Finding Home – 20th Century Voices of Augusta is slated to premiere late this year or early next year. Albertin had planned to hold the premiere in August at Imperial Theatre, but it has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This film is a revised version of Augusta Remembers, which aired on Georgia Public Television in 2000. For the original documentary, Albertin interviewed his grandmother’s contemporaries about life in Augusta from the early 1900s to the 1940s. In Finding Home, Albertin has added interviews with local residents about living in the area from the 1950s through the 1980s.

“The documentaries that include oral histories are essential. We need as a nation to listen to our older people,” Albertin says. “It gives us comfort and support and makes us feel better to know that other people lived through hard times.”

School of Hard Knocks
Albertin, who also is a professional photographer, is a self-taught filmmaker. His original skill set is in color separation for the four-color printing process. That process is flat and two-dimensional, he says, so he started attending video boot camp training classes in Atlanta and Charlotte in his spare time.

In addition, he says, “I went to the school of hard knocks where you’re up until three in the morning trying to figure something out.”

Like many documentary filmmakers, Albertin says, he followed the lead of celebrated documentarian Ken Burns, who uses archival footage and photographs, to transform a film from a product with boring narratives and static images into something more compelling.

“Ken Burns showed us that you can use voices, sound effects and music from the time period,” says Albertin. “The key is to pull people in, and you can do that with writing, sound effects, voiceovers and real people. The audience needs to engage with the film and feel a connection to the people and the subject matter.”

Albertin enjoys every aspect of filmmaking from adding movement, sound and sound effects to conducting interviews and writing the scripts. “It’s a blast to do this stuff,” he says. “It allows me to really be creative.”

He spends 80 percent of his time on video, 15 percent on photography and 5 percent writing. “I love all three of those things, and I find ways to mesh them together,” Albertin says.

He also likes to meet people and talk to them, and he has learned firsthand from people’s oral histories what it was like to live through trying times such as the Dust Bowl or the Holocaust.

“If these people are good storytellers, they take you somewhere you’ve never been,” says Albertin. “I can feel their pain when they tell me their stories. People in the twilight of their lives want to talk about their experiences for posterity.”

He spends a lot of time doing research and tracking down people, and he wants those he interviews to feel like they have been heard and respected.

“The people that know that history are the ones that are going to come and watch a premiere,” says Albertin. “The main audience that I’m appealing to is age 70-plus. To capture their stories and preserve them is a wonderful thing to do. The feeling that I get in my heart and soul is something I can’t explain.”

He often relies on narration early in his documentaries to set the stage, and he says the narrator can “make or break” a film.

“Each film has a different formula, depending on what the storyline is,” Albertin says. “Sometimes you start with the ending first. They’re not always chronological.”

Feeding the Senses
Some of his other documentaries include Displaced: The Unexpected Fallout from the Cold War, about the development of the Savannah River Site that displaced more than 5,000 residents in rural South Carolina communities, and Discovering Dave: Spirit Captured in Clay, about a literate slave potter who lived in Edgefield, South Carolina and wrote verse and poetry on his pots. He also has done a Remember series about various towns such as Augusta and Savannah in Georgia, St. Augustine and Jacksonville in Florida, Beaufort, North Carolina and Topeka, Kansas.

He made the award-winning War Stories – Augusta Area Veterans Remember World War II, in which he spent four years interviewing local veterans from all branches of the military to highlight their World War II experiences.

This project began as part of the Veteran’s History Project, which was undertaken by the Augusta Richmond County Historical Society to add to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. To collect these oral histories, Albertin went to Brandon Wilde and interviewed 20 veterans a day.

“You’re not going to get rich making documentaries,” says Albertin, who also does promotional spots and commercial videos. “It’s the satisfaction of preserving something and creating something that makes people laugh or cry.”

The reaction to his work is something that Albertin usually experiences secondhand, however. He says he never sits in the theater when his films premiere. Instead, he dispatches his wife to join the audience while he settles in the lobby.

Maybe he should rethink that plan, however, because his wife usually tells him he should have been in the theater to see the positive reaction to his films.

“When I’m gone, I will have hopefully left something behind that people can learn from,” says Albertin. “Film was, and hopefully one day, will become a social event again. I love film because you’re seeing two things happen. You hear and see, so you’re getting two senses fed at once.”

Documentaries need to be fair and balanced, he says, and he covers difficult issues such as racial injustice in his films.

“It’s something we need to see and hear. We need to understand that it can happen again, and we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” says Albertin. “Everybody has their own angle on what happened.”

Blending In
When he photographs a subject, Albertin approaches it from different viewpoints as well.

“Photography is an extension of video,” he says. “It’s trying to tell a story with pieces in an artistic manner. It’s all about the storytelling. Sometimes one picture is all you need. Sometimes you need multiple pictures with multiple angles.”

His love of photography dates back to his childhood when he would borrow cameras from his father, who was a medical illustrator. And that interest “never went away.”

“I love going out and playing with old cameras. The results you get are totally different from digital,” says Albertin.

He prefers photographing landscapes to people because he finds it less stressful. “Those places are where I find peace,” he says of landscapes. “They’re getting harder and harder to find.”

He says it’s pleasant to go outside – other than having to lug all the gear around. He likes to capture the light or early morning dewdrops on leaves. When he goes into the woods, he usually is alone.

“You have to sit still for a while to blend into a setting,” Albertin says.

He is just as likely to shoot in black and white as he is in color, depending on what he wants to accomplish.

“To me, color is really at its best in the spring,” says Albertin. “Black and white is a more spiritual medium. I use black and white when I want people to notice the object and the composition. Black and white can do amazing things if you use the right filter.”

Whether he is making films or photographs, Albertin hopes his work provides people with an escape.

“I want people to be able to leave their stress, their worries and their problems behind and get into another place and see what I saw,” he says. “To me, that is another way to do something good.”

By Leigh Howard