I enjoy all the new murals being created around our city. But I take offense to a new mural on the side of Orbit DVD at 781 Haywood Road in West Asheville. The mural features a young woman on all fours in a suggestive pose. Next to her is a three-toed sloth on top of […]

Residents of North Asheville will notice the absence of the white oak at 189 Kimberly Ave. Broken in a storm two years ago, it was bolted in five places and cabled in two in an effort to keep it upright. Subsequent testing showed the tree to be hollow in the bottom one-third of the trunk. […]

Thank you so much for your article on Autism [“Living Full-Circle with Autism Spectrum Disorder,”June 25, Xpress].  As a mother of a teenager on the spectrum, it is wonderful for a positive article on Autism. North Carolina is one of the best states for Autism help. But one thing is needed to make this the […]

There is a bill currently in the NC House of Representatives to put the issue of Medical Marijuana on the November ballot.  H1161 currently languishes in the Judiciary Committee under the control of Rep. Leo Daughtry (R-Johnston). The much-maligned marijuana  plant’s use for alleviating suffering is well enough documented that 23 states have legalized its […]

Thank you Mountain Xpress for printing the satire on an increasingly silly social issue.  I am referring, of course, to Michael Beal’s letter about the misogynistic cowgirl mural at 99 Riverside Drive. [“Cowgirl is Misogynistic,” June 25, Xpress]. Hilarious! The mural referenced depicts a woman dressed in a sailor suit and climbing upon a ship’s […]

I would like to make a few points concerning a reader’s letter on the cowgirl mural at 99 riverside [“Cowgirl is Misogynistic,” June 25, Xpress]. Although he makes some valid points as to the commercialized sexploitation of women, I hardly think the cowgirl mural is the poster child of female objectification. Take it for what […]

It strikes me that the blind impulse for quick money from fracking has a price tag we won’t want: a lifetime of losses. What amount of money is worth it? Paying one bill? Sending kids to college?  I recently read a Facebook post that said $4,000 was offered to someone for their mineral rights – […]

I must applaud our wonderful library system. I have always been an avid reader and years ago discovered the benefits of getting my books from a library rather than buying countless volumes (as I had in the past). Our county system may be small, but it is comprehensive. A few years ago a friend sent […]

Earlier this year, my husband and I visited the Asheville Art Museum with our children. After paying for our admission, we were told that we were required to leave our infant carrier along with our diaper bag. The bag included medication for our infant daughter who has life-threatening allergies along with other items necessary to […]

Conspicuously absent from Jonathan Ammons’ review of Vue 1913 at the Grove Park Inn [“Post-tablecloth dining at Vue 1913,” June 18, Xpress] was any mention of prices. By contrast, Gina Smith’s Small Bites feature offered price information for four of the establishments/events mentioned in her articles, as well as pricing information for her article on […]

Misogyny is a term of broad, sometimes elusive rudiment. Some attempt to ascribe individual acts to it, when actually its core meaning represents something more symbolic, sociological. The mural portraying a cowgirl on the side of a building at 99 Riverside Drive, north of the River Arts District, is misogynistic because it depicts a woman […]

Thanks to Robyn Josephs for her acknowledgment, on behalf of the Black Mountain area’s healthy, local foods community, of the long service Elaine (and Harry) Hamil provided to us [“Hamil Made Black Mountain Farmers Market Work,” June 11, Xpress]. Instead of trudging down I-40 to Asheville and long before Ingles decided to compete on the […]

Thanks, Mountain Xpress, for the reviews you’ve been running of shows that are appearing in local theatres. Jeff Messer’s insightful commentary has helped me plan out my weekend viewing and also has gotten me interested in some productions that I might not have ordinarily seen. Blaine Greenfield Biltmore Lake

Just read the recent article regarding “The Changing Face of North Carolina Barbecue,” June 4, Xpress] It did have some good points, and enjoyed reading the viewpoints of others but, it’s only the points from the “usual” cast of BBQ people in the area that get mentioned. There ARE others in the area besides “the usual […]

Mr. [Fuller] Moore’s letter “Van Duyn and ‘Moral Mondays’ Taking us in Wrong Direction,” May 28, Xpress] represents the very worst of thought in our society and a misunderstanding of the current world. It appears that Mr. Moore wants to live in the Libertarian world of self indulgence and isolation. It would serve Mr. Moore […]

When I read the Mountain Xpress article “Power of the Press” [May 14], I thought to myself “what, nothing about Mark Olson?” Then his name came up in Arnold Wengrow’s letter to the editor the following week [“Letterpress Artist Deserves Attention,” May 21, Xpress] . It is somewhat of a puzzle that the 2010 article […]

While I wish the new owners of the market all the best, the article, “Black Mountain Farmers Market Reborn as Roots and Fruits,” [May 14, Xpress] owes an apology to Elaine Hamil, the founder and owner of the BMFM. The article quotes Tom Brody of Rise Up Rooted Farm as saying “Harry and Elaine [Hamil], […]

Who would trust progressive candidate Brian Turner? What legislator would want to work with him? He is running against Rep. Tim Moffitt for N.C. House District 116 (Buncombe District 3), and he has already made several poor and underhanded decisions. Turner has secretly recorded his so-called “friend,” County Commissioner David King (District 3). Secondly, Turner […]

On the back of every plastic and glass bottle, there is a place of text that says something like “5 cent refund for NY, MA, VT, CT” and so on. This is a list of states that will give you money for your plastic. This means if you were to keep all of your bottles […]

Photographer Brian Green (“Privacy Not Guaranteed,” May 27, Xpress) doesn’t seem to have a very strong moral compass. Addressing some folks’ concerns that his work — which seems to consist mostly of nonconsensual photographs of people in public, sometimes taken without their knowledge — is exploitative, he basically says he can’t help it, and that […]

Terry Van Duyn, who was picked to replace state Senator Martin Nesbitt, who passed away, is up to her eyeballs with the “Moral Mondays” protests, begging and demanding increased monies for North Carolina social programs. Along with Rev. William Barber, the head of the N.C. NAACP, they want unlimited unemployment insurance and medicaid expansion. In […]