Year: 2009
Showing 2899-2919 of 2958 results
The Biz: Task master
Katrina Bragg believes she’s hit upon a great idea. Companies of all stripes are constantly facing a variety of tasks they’re either ill-prepared or too busy to perform in-house. Bragg’s company, Task Mania, seeks to fill the breach. The one-stop shop handles assignments ranging from administrative to marketing to financial and beyond. Can-do spirit: Katrina […]
SEFCA Awards for 2008
The Southeastern Film Critics Association named Milk the Best Picture of 2008 in its 17th annual voting. Director Gus Van Sant’s powerful look at slain activist Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in the nation, earned a total of three awards, with its other victories coming in the categories of […]
A failure of civic leadership
Now that the City Council vacancy farce has drawn to a close, it is high time to put an accurate label on it. How about “Authoritarian Disregard for the Citizens of Asheville”? Or maybe “Travesty of American Democracy”? Either or both seem to be appropriate and, unfortunately, accurate. When City Council took it upon themselves […]
Losing weight
Adding health care to the menu
Every restaurant server knows the verbal tipper—the customer who doles out extravagant praise and leaves behind a measly 15 percent. In the food-and-beverage biz, such stinginess isn’t just an aggravation: It makes it significantly harder for a server, who’s typically paid less than $3 an hour, to afford flu shots, prescription drugs and annual checkups. […]
Outdoors: Moving bodies
If local soccer coach Randy Bassham has anything to say about it, it just might get easier to find a safe place to play ball, learn trapeze or even race your bike. He’s rallying the masses to help realize his big dream: a multisport complex near Weaverville. Bassham calls it a multipurpose athletic and community […]
Capitalism on campus
A struggling George Bailey once received a fat cigar and a generous job offer from banker Henry Potter. Potter pointed out that it would be in George’s self-interest to accept it and forget about that old savings and loan and all the little people it served. George Bailey turned down that deal. Western Carolina University […]
Ayn Rand—still a bad idea
Thank you for reporting on Western Carolina University’s instituting their Ayn Rand studies at the behest and endowment of the BB&T banking firm [“Capitalism on Campus,” Dec. 23]. Those who have read Ayn Rand do not need to be told that her writings represent the core of the collection of bad ideas that, up till […]
What’s ethical about egoism?
I am writing to comment on the article “Capitalism on Campus” [Dec. 23 Xpress]. The ethical philosophy of Ayn Rand is completely insane. According to Rand, an individual acts rationally only when he or she acts in ways that promote his or her own life. This is ethical egoism, and there doesn’t seem to be […]
A time to reflect
It’s been a really tumultuous time for our country recently—and also for Asheville and Buncombe County. So now we move forward, and while I’m filled with optimism both for our nation and for this city, I’m not ready to say “We have overcome” and forget the struggle that got us to this place. There are […]
For the record
First, I want to thank the people at Mountain Xpress for the kind review of my music [“Soundtrack,” Nov. 26] and for the benevolence of everyone I have spoken and worked with at the paper. [However,] there are some points I would like to clear up that were in the article and do not hold […]
Small Bites
Asheville-area food and restaurant news
Bittersweet Lane
On Jan. 1, 2008, I sat in my apartment in Kenilworth with friends, throwing cards and eating black-eyed peas and collard greens for luck in the New Year. I wasn’t thinking about how the Wheel of Fortune sometimes spins wildly, turning tides and yielding unexpected outcomes. Two weeks later, I traveled to southwest Virginia with […]
The misery behind “Bright Ideas”
Jerry Sternberg’s commentary, “Bright Ideas” [Nov. 26, 2008] was a perfect example of a common, recently named malady: empathy deficit disorder (EDD). Sternberg muses on the inconveniences he dealt with as a teen when he was moving animals from a stockyard to his family’s rendering plant. His ordeal of transporting old, sick, diseased and disabled […]
Growing art—and artists—in Asheville
First, thank you to Bill Thompson for not only pushing Asheville artists to grow creatively, but to also be aware of the mechanics that operate outside of the studio. He has consistently exposed our little city to a much larger picture from the moment he opened his doors. Also, I want to express my sincere […]
SoundTrack
The French Broad Brewery and Tasting Room is a pretty innocuous establishment. Children, pets and Brews Cruise tourists pack the cozy space. Even so, singer/songwriter Lyndsay Wojcik—she of the Noxzema complexion and shiny locks—looks like she might be more at home at a horse show than on stage at a bar. And then she starts […]
Buncombe commissioners make their pick for I-26 Connector route ***UPDATED***
In a tense 3-2 vote, Buncombe County commissioners Tuesday night voted for the route known as Alternative 3 for the Interstate 26 Connector route through Asheville.
Bankruptcy disrupts luxury resort near Boone
The Laurelmor development in Watauga and Wilkes counties — one of WNC’s largest — has been sold as result of bankruptcy.
At Buncombe commissioners meeting, a Twitter-fest
Mountain Xpress will be covering the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners’ meeting tonight, and we’re inviting all you citizen journalists to join us.
Bothwell announces bid for Asheville City Council
Local writer and activist Cecil Bothwell has announced that he will run for a seat on Asheville City Council in November.