In photos: Nuestro Centro celebrates Latino culture at Emma Elementary

Last Thursday, March 20, students and parents from Emma Elementary school gathered in the school’s auditorium to watch some of their fellow students perform a traditional Mexican dance from the state of Veracruz. The program, part of the school’s Cultural Day, was organized by Nuestro Centro, a Latino community center based in the Emma community.

Hypecast

“When I put together a show, I think of it like a meal,” says Joseph Lepanto of Avlpromo. “You want to have a little bit of everything: a main course and sides that go really well with it.” In the past year, Lepanto (also known as Diggypop Malone, or simply Diggy) has organized roughly 30 […]

All Greek to me

Some of Asheville’s best but least expensive eateries have a history steeped in Greek flavors. Name a longtime diner or recall one that’s no longer around, and it’s quite likely it was owned and run by Greek immigrants to the area. Athens Restaurant and Three Brothers come to mind, though both are gone. But (to […]

Trailblaze­r: UNCA professor Dee James still leads the way

When Deborah “Dee” James walked tentatively onto the UNC Asheville campus in 1969, it was as one of the first African-Americans to integrate the women’s dormitories. Nowadays, however, she downplays that pioneer status. “It was the times; it was happenstance. If it wasn’t me, then it would have been somebody. Also, because I was 17, […]

Bullying needs to stop

I felt compelled to write a letter to the editor after reading about the horrible incident at Candler Elementary School. A 9-year-old boy, who loves My Little Pony, brought a backpack to school that had a character on [it]. His classmates called him vicious names and teased and tormented him. I won’t get into all […]

Funny business

It’s no secret that the Internet has changed the way we consume entertainment. And sketch comedy, with its compact, easily digestible format, is tailor-made for sharing on social media. Get on Facebook, and there’s a three-minute clip from Portlandia. Log on to Twitter, and someone’s passing around a Key & Peele skit. In a way, […]

The fika files: The art of community

Look down Eagle Street from Biltmore Avenue, and you’ll see the historic YMI Cultural Center and on the corner, a little coffee shop. Eagle Street Coffee Emporium moved into the neighborhood last November, pulling up roots from its Wall Street location to join a neighborhood with a rich, African-American history. Owner Teresa Johnson says her […]

The big drive

By David Fobes and Jake Frankel After being off the radar for years, a renewed push to construct a section of Interstate 26 through Asheville is picking up speed. The drive is, in part, the result of a small group of influential local leaders who have met behind the scenes for more than a year to […]

State of the Arts

Narration, a new group show on view at Blue Spiral 1, opens with a portrait of beauty marred by death and consequence. In “Or Some of Those That Fly So High (Little Sparrow),” a 45-by-50-inch countryside rendering by Julyan Davis, a woman in a navy dress stands in front of a rusted red barn. She’s either […]

The gluten-free life

This Saturday, UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center will be transformed into a state-of-the-art gluten-free education center with 55 vendors offering tastings, cooking demos and the latest information. Organizers hope the Gluten-Free Expo will help dispel some of the popular myths surrounding why people choose the diet. The media’s portrayal of gluten-free as just another fad diet […]