“When I write, I can shake off all my cares,” wrote Anne Frank on April 5, 1944. Frank’s cares were considerably more than any 14-year-old should ever have to bear: She was in hiding with her family in Holland, having been displaced 11 years before from her home in Germany, and well aware that Germany’s […]
Author: Kent Priestley
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Outdoor Journal
Highly recommended: Xpress contributor Danny Bernstein will lead a hike to Hemphill Bald this Saturday, Sept. 29, as part of the “Together We Read” program (togetherweread.org). Views from the scenic bald are to Cataloochee Valley on one side and Maggie Valley on the other. The hike will pass through forested slopes and emerge into open […]
Lost Scouts found
Eight Boy Scouts and their three adult leaders were found Monday morning after disappearing into the wilds of Haywood County.
More on Active Aging week
Fitness doesn’t end at 40
Did someone say ‘extreme’?: Blue Ridge Games come to Brevard
This doesn’t give you much time to perfect your backside bluntslide or frontside 180 pivot body varial, but get out there and try it anyway. Zero Gravity Skatepark is the local host of the Blue Ridge Games competition series, which starts tomorrow, Sept. 22, with a skateboard contest at the Brevard facility. The event begins […]
Critter Love: A state with no amphibian is no state at all
The choices are many when it comes to picking North Carolina’s state amphibian
You’ve only just begun
Next week, the Council on Aging of Buncombe County, the Land of Sky Regional Council and CarePartners will join together to help area residents celebrate Active Aging week. (And you thought it was enough to age gracefully. Think again.) Photo By Kent Priestley “We’ve known for a long time about the benefits of exercise to […]
This pachyderm means business
Chad Nesbitt doesn’t have one good thing to say about liberals. “They’ve taken over this town,” he says. “They’ve raised the taxes sky-high. They’ve taken over the churches, which are becoming more liberal all the time.” He could go on. You’ve been warned: The gateway to the Carolina Stompers Web site and Chad Nesbitt, the […]
Outdoor Journal
Swapping sh*t: Mark your calendars now for Saturday, Sept. 29, the date of the first-ever Brevard Outdoor Festival. There’s good reason to: Beginning at 7 a.m. that day, local outdoor retailers, summer camps and individuals will band together for “The Great Gear Swap and Sell,” a five-hour bazaar of outdoor deals. There’ll be a stream […]
Digital dogfighters
Flight Sgt. Conky noses his Spitfire through the cleft between two snow-capped peaks. They fall away, revealing a valley far below. It stretches north and east, cloaked here and there with pockets of clouds. Conky radios his fellow pilots. Pre-flight check: Chris Fuller, left, helps Carlton Whatley settle in before a virtual dogfight. Photos By […]
Black Mountain College documentary returns to town
The documentary film Fully Awake will screen at Asheville’s Fine Arts Theatre and in Black Mountain this week.
Buncombe County Commissioners
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners continued its hard slog through a pile of rezoning requests at its Sept. 4 meeting. This time, the board considered 11 such requests from property owners unhappy with the results of the zoning ordinance passed last spring. Zoning rubber hits the road by Cecil Bothwell Cabin feever: Jim and […]
Throwing the book at Burnsville
This week, downtown Burnsville will once again find itself in the throes of some serious wordage as the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival commandeers the place, filling the air with the heady odor of metaphor and allusion. The event, in its second year, will bring more than 40 authors to the Yancey County seat to read […]
Get in, hang on, don’t worry
There are 48 different rides at this year’s North Carolina Mountain State Fair, ongoing near Fletcher. They have names like Paratrooper, Pan’s Royal Palace of Fun, Starship 2000, Fireball, Tornado, Pharoah’s Fury, Freak Out, Supershot, Zero Gravity and Demon Loop. A view to thrill: In an uncertain world of Demon Loops and Fireballs, it’s nice […]
In the realm of the kokanee king
Mark Swann has achieved that rarest of angling feats, setting two state records for a species within the same month. The species is the kokanee salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, a modest-sized fish with silvery flanks and a reputation for mystery, at least in these parts. A man, a fish, a moment in time: Mark Swann of […]
Outdoor Journal
They want the shoes you don’t want: Diamond Brand Outdoors has joined forces with the nonprofit Soles4Souls Inc., helping to bring needy people around the world your used kickers. Sure, you could do it yourself, but it would require considerable travel expenses and more than a few awkward moments. To save you all the effort, […]
Who’s that in the sky? Why, it’s the Commissioner of Labor!
The title of Commissioner of Labor may not sound tailor-made for fun, but in the case of Cherie Berry, who serves in that capacity for the state of North Carolina, it has its moments.
This guy can’t catch a break: System failure forces temporary closure at Register of Deeds office
A Labor Day weekend computer-system crash has forced the staff of the Buncombe County Register of Deeds office to do things the old-fashioned way: by hand.
R.I.P. Nero
Among the six dogs that made up the Asheville Police Department’s K-9 unit, Nero had the status of a wise elder. By the time of his death earlier this month from a heart condition, he had attained an age virtually unheard of for dogs in his line of duty. In memorium: Nero the police dog […]
Outdoor Journal
Mountain woman: Author, Xpress contributor and hiker extraordinaire Danny Bernstein will give a slide show and sign copies of her hiking guide, Hiking the Carolina Mountains this Friday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. at Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café in Asheville. Published by Milestone Press, Bernstein’s book illuminates 57 hikes in the North Carolina mountains and […]
Commissioners kick off September meets
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners meets Tuesday, Sept. 4, at 4:30 p.m.