“I backed myself up and saw it, a sign on the door reading: ‘Therapy Dogs, Emotional Support Dogs and Pets, not allowed inside per Federal/NC State Law. Thank you for your cooperation.’ Uh-oh.”
Author: Abigail Hickman
Showing 1-12 of 12 results
Sizzle hot: the thermodynamics of history
“The old Asheville Middle School, outdated and undercomputerized, was a holdover from a time when there was no such thing as a car pool line, or drinking fountains designed to accommodate a water bottle, or web portals where parents could track the progress of their child’s daily science experiment.”
Misfit: Asheville is going to the dogs
“Tattoos, though, aren’t the only thing every second person in Asheville seems to own. What about dogs?”
Suspicious minds: Paranoia, prejudice and common sense
“Why do women carry their keys as weapons as a matter of course? Why was I afraid of the black man in the parking garage? In part, it’s because we’ve been conditioned to expect an attack, to view the unexpected or the “other” with suspicion. And in the process, we create doubt and fear, manufacturing imaginary offenses that may never actually happen.”
Gray baby: Life, death and slippery slopes
“A cursory inventory of my own past behavior brought up some mistakes that could easily have ended with someone in a casket and my two feet standing on a taped line looking swollen-eyed into a camera.”
Fit to be tied: Why Asheville beats LA
“I’ve lived here for six years and felt I truly understood this offbeat, dog-loving, music-playing, beer-drinking conglomeration of a city. Using the Fitbit, though, was like watching Asheville in slow motion.”
Weather watching in Asheville
We are mountain folk, at heart. We are entwined in our ecosystem in ways larger cities cannot understand. So it was just a matter of time before we put down our devices and walked outside and craned our necks up up up towards the sky.
(Bacteria) culture of Asheville
For quite some time, Ashevilleans have been operating under the assumption that we know ourselves, but Craigslist reminded me that we are a community of collaborators. At a cursory glance, Asheville and her people appear to be easy to define. We are the Beer City USA, after all, and that says a little something about […]
Twins tackle Tobacco Barn
My twin sister gets cranky every time she visits Asheville. She is from the big hot city of Atlanta. When I say “hot,” I do not mean in the sophisticated cool sense; I mean in the literal sense. The blistering nonsensical heat is one of the things that pushed me out of the neighborhood we […]
The stair mistress: Enchantment at my Local YMCA
COMMENTARY: My first few trips to the gym were myopic; I was unable to examine the landscape and so did not notice the StairMaster in its elevated position there in the front corner. But all that changed the day after Halloween. I settled into my favorite machine, had my Spotify set to the Dixie Chicks and was “ready, ready ready, to run” when I felt a change in the air.
Parade of non sequiturs
Every Saturday my husband and I strap our bikes to the back of our car and drive away from our beloved Weaverville towards Asheville. We head to a popular destination called Carrier Park along with a few thousand other local residents. We arrive to the mecca center for fit, good-looking people with attractive children and […]
Buskers and bells, tea in town
I live in Weaverville, and we Weavervilleans have pretty firm ideas about coming to town. “Town” here refers to Asheville as we consider ourselves an idyllic little village just outside of town. In many ways, we are idyllic. Our neighborhoods have sidewalks that busy themselves with bicycles and baby strollers, our big trees boast swings […]