Say the words Mount Dungeon to those who aren’t in the know, and you will likely be greeted by either quizzical looks or taunts of being a Dungeons & Dragons nerd. But to a growing audience in Asheville, the name Mount Dungeon is fast becoming synonymous with relevant, original and interesting local music. But what […]
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Dead fountain
Kenilworth residents know they live in the city: It’s just five minutes to downtown, and a convenient bus route runs right down Kenilworth Road. On holidays, you can hear the fireworks at McCormick Field. On a sadder note, I once saw a discarded crack pipe among the leaves at Kenilworth Park. An urban neighborhood with […]
Honey, I shrunk the climate zone
In mid-June of last year, I arrived on a North Carolina mountaintop that stays carpeted in a tapestry of flowers from earliest spring until the final killing frosts of late fall. To the untrained eye, this place might not seem like a garden: Here, nature is given an equal hand in the placement of many […]
Like water through our hands
I was really glad to read the article “Growing Green in Dry Times” by Margaret Williams [The Dirt, March 19]. As we enter the spring season, many of us have already forgotten the exceptional drought our region was experiencing just last summer, and many others have no idea our city still finds itself in a […]
It’s still a classy town
Here is my response to the letter from Mary Ann Durand regarding the new sculpture in Pritchard Park [“A Classical Dilemma, March 26]. Thanks to the city and the artist who created the sculpture, which now stands in Pritchard Park, for adding some zest and visual excitement to downtown Asheville. In her letter, Ms. Durand […]
Enjoy those simple pleasures
A special place in the Museum of Journalism should be allocated to enshrine page 7 of the March 12 Mountain Xpress. I don’t know Cicada Brokaw (Asheville), Reb Knight (Mars Hill) or Lisa Bain Landis (Brevard), but their letters to the editor, published alongside the full-color notice of the Grand Opening of the Sky Loft […]
Dreaming of the old country
My dream for us is to become the beginning of the Responsible Communities Movement in North American. We’d be the first North American city to follow the recommendations of the International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety (ICEMS), as described in Benevento Resolution that came out of the commission’s 2006 conference in Benevento, Italy. Scientists there resolved […]
Step out of the box
Concerning the controversy over the comments made by Barack Obama’s pastor, I don’t fear a president with the tolerance to listen to someone he disagrees with—I fear a president lacking that tolerance. Many of the problems we now face as a nation result from a chief executive intellectually handicapped by his decision to surround himself […]
Stop controlling the news
Diverse news selections and opinions are rapidly becoming obsolete with an appalling massive media takeover. In 1995, 20 corporations owned and controlled 50 percent of American radio and TV stations, newspapers, magazines, book publishers and major movie studios. At this writing, six corporations control the majority of the media in our country. It’s a one-size-fits-all […]
Want that money or not?
The IRS needs your help. Starting in May, economic stimulus payments of up to $600 for individuals ($1,200 for married couples) will be issued by the IRS based on 2007 tax returns. Parents also get $300 for each eligible child. People must file a 2007 tax return. That’s it. But here’s where the IRS needs […]
Reading the cards
Listening to the news recently, I learned that cruise-ship travelers and those American citizens reentering the United States must now have a passport, birth certificate and identification with them. The possible due date of May 2008 for a national ID card brought to mind my mother’s old trunk from Germany. Rummaging around, I found what […]
Surreal life
Self-taught artist Alli Good believes that it’s easier for her to maintain her unique vision by working in isolation. “I love Asheville’s art scene,” she says, “but I can start to second-guess what I’m doing if I’m around it too much.” Alli Good’s “First Signs of Passion, a Horse and a Bucket” That might be […]
No trespassing
Walking on private land is alluring, a little naughty—and liable to get you in trouble. With thousands of miles of public trails here, I’ve never felt the need to push the envelope. But a lot of our public lands are bordered by private property, and local land conservancies are scrambling to protect some of those […]
Weekly Asheville Disclaimer Page: 04/09/08
• Downtown donation boxes success for Obama campaign
• Shocking facts from the new Jesse Helms biography
• Commentary: The Rule of Law
• News Briefs
• Asheville Alibi
State of emergency
Asheville wants to end homelessness, right? That’s a noble cause, and I support the good intentions behind this effort. But if Asheville is ever going to achieve this lofty goal, we need to be honest about a few things first. 1) There’s a segment of Asheville’s homeless population that chooses it as a “lifestyle.” Take […]
Fanfare for the common man
“A vale of humility between two mountains of conceit.” You may have heard that expression describing the position of North Carolina and its relationship to Virginia and South Carolina. You may even have heard some North Carolinians claiming this “valley of humility” as something we should be very proud of. And maybe we should be. […]
Bewitched
My e-mail in box frequently receives outraged, sorrowing communications concerning the state of Stonehenge in England and the Hill of Tara in Ireland. Both have been important cultural markers in my personal spiritual journey, and I’ve been awed and privileged to spend time at each of them. Both are now endangered, say the e-mails, by […]
Being “that guy”
Michael Ian Black knows about pain. Maybe not the paycheck-to-paycheck pain of the blue-collar worker, or the heartache of a tragedy-drenched life, but it’s a real pain all the same. And it’s a refreshingly postmodern kind of pain at that. Black, like so many cable-generation celebs, knows the pain that comes with constantly being asked, […]
Lasting legacy
“I loved and respected Kitty as a woman from my mother’s generation who refused to follow the ‘rules,’” writes local photographer Alice Sebrell in an artist statement. “I loved her bravery, audacity, and her extraordinary embrace of life.” Even though late ceramist Kitty Couch spent the first half of her adult life as a traditional […]
Mountain country
The guitarist, Henry Whitter, slid his chair across the floor to bring his instrument a little closer to the recording machine’s sound-gathering horn. A harmonica dangled from his neck on a wire truss; he made a tentative puff on it and looked over to the man behind the controls. Click on the image above to […]
The Dirt: The beetle in our back yard
Members of Tsuga, the hemlock genus, are found in portions of Asia, the Pacific Northwest and the Eastern U.S. Through much of these species’ ranges, they’ve been afflicted—for who knows how long—by an insect known as the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). But in each instance, groups of predatory beetles hold the pest in check. […]