Release and relocate: The metaphysic­s of clutter

I had my carpets cleaned the other day, and it shook up my life like a snow globe. There were reminders of who I was at 2 years old (plastic jack-o’-lantern), at 7 (kids’ books), at 13 (journals — all right, I'm keeping those), in high school (jeans painted with peace signs and shout-outs to Joplin and Hendrix — decades late, but still felt it, man), and who I was some months ago (letters, bank statements, numerous prescription-refill bags). Why all this stuff hanging around, pulling me down?

Local parent starts petition to increase school security

Local parent Mark Fields seeks 10,000 signatures for his petition to “provide each of our city and county public schools with an on-duty police officer or sheriff during the hours that children are in attendance, while simultaneously working to develop and implement a permanent plan to ‘Protect Our Children’ while in the custody of our public schools.” (Pictured: An incident from May, 2007, when Asheville High School was placed on lockdown. Photo by Bill Rhodes)

Knife fight in Pritchard Park sends one to Mission Hospital

Around 4:45 p.m. this afternoon, Asheville Police received a call that two men were fighting in front of the Decko Gecko sculpture in Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville. When officers got to the scene, Lt. Wally Welch explains, they found that one man had been struck in the head with a cane and cut with a knife; the other man had been cut on his cheek. ***WARNING This post contains a graphic image with blood*** (Photo by Max Cooper)

Mission opens new center to help blind, visually impaired

With an oven, microwave, refrigerator and stove, the training kitchen inside of Mission Health’s recently opened Low Vision Center at Asheville’s Industries for the Blind looks no different from any other kitchen. However, for Tony West, he sees the kitchen differently — primarily through smell and touch. (Above, Tony West works at Industries for the Blind in Asheville. Photo by Caitlin Byrd)

Asheville area readies for winter storm ***UPDATED 9 a.m.***

This morning, it’s icy rain in Asheville, while some mountain counties are reporting 6 inches of snow — one consequence of Sandy, the massive storm battering the East Coast. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Western North Carolina, including Buncombe County, until 6 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31. Gov. Bev Perdue has declared a state of emergency throughout WNC. (Photo by Bill Rhodes)

My, how things change: The weather

One of the most amazing things about living in Western North Carolina is the ability to watch the Earth system move through its annual climate cycles. That is especially true for those of us who have moved here from other regions, especially those that, perhaps, do not progress through these cycles in such grand fashion.

The images below highlight how fast the changes occur in our mountains. Frozen Knob is a mountain in Madison County that shows great color each fall.  Color had just started to appear on the mountain on October 11th, but by this week, the greens are giving way to the yellows, oranges and rusts of fall.
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