You’re brilliant and charismatic, but right now I hate you with the passion of a betrayed lover. You are becoming the most powerful person in the Democratic Party. Your stardom is occurring in the rarest of historic moments: an electorate rejecting a once-popular war in the face of militant patriotism. Yet, you’re blinded by the […]
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Individuals Reforming Ideas to Secure Equality
Pictured are Ally Styan, Executive Director; Tara Chandler, Board President; and Joshua Kumm, Executive Director. I-RISE is working to create Asheville’s first LGBTQ community center, scheduled to open this summer at 237 Haywood St. in downtown Asheville. The center will serve Asheville’s LGBTQ and supportive community by offering low-cost counseling, HIV testing, a lending library, […]
Making the grade
When Michael Domonkos and his wife were considering retiring to Brevard from Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1994, one amenity in particular caught their attention. Tame climate and concert series aside, it was a proposed trail on the former Transylvania Railroad corridor that ultimately made up the couple’s minds. The route, they understood, would pass near their […]
Development in Asheville
Last fall, Council member Robin Cape and I ran a guest commentary in Mountain Xpress (see “A Sustainable Agenda: Proposals for a Clean and Green Asheville,” Sept. 20, 2006) outlining some of our ideas for making Asheville an environmentally sustainable city. Since then, City Council has taken a number of concrete steps: established a new […]
Government for the people
As the N.C. General Assembly convened for this year’s legislative session, some political analysts noted that it seems to lack a central “theme.” Last year, the argument goes, the theme was lobbying and ethics reform. During previous years, lawmakers were consumed with overcoming big budget shortfalls brought on by an economic downturn and the federal […]
Weaving new community perspectives
Dr. Dwight Mullen: “Protecting your own freedom by protecting the freedom of your community.” A dialogue was continued on Saturday at the State of Black Asheville forum. I left with new ideas and perspectives slowly weaving themselves into a more holistic understanding of some of the problems that we face as a community in Asheville. […]
The tide’s turning Green
On Feb. 3, a small group of concerned citizens met in the community room of Earth Fare and formed the Buncombe County Chapter of the Green Party. Incredulously, I found myself volunteering to take on the role of administrative coordinator of the newly elected Coordinating Committee. Why? Simple answer: For several years as I bewailed […]
Kenilworth questions beg for answers
Many thanks for Brian Postelle’s excellent article on the Kenilworth Assault [“Go Tell It on the Mountain,” Feb. 14]. But there are a few remarks made by Project Manager Gerald Green that require amplification. First, why didn’t the developer simply change the original plat to put more space around the existing African-American cemetery? It seems […]
State of which black Asheville?
Just more hot air from others theorizing about us—how we’ve done everything wrong compared to white privilege. Officials with their behind-the-scenes agendas trying to tell the stories of the victims—how bad they’ve got it, how they don’t have a chance, how their fathers and brothers are all locked away, how their mothers and sisters don’t […]
How green was my hillside
Gerald Green, Reynolds Mountain developer’s environmental consultant, must take us for idiots. While he says they have kept 30 acres “pristine” with their cluster-designed development, I suppose he expects us to give a big sigh of relief! Never mind that they have destroyed 220 once-pristine acres in the process! He said Reynolds Mountain will be […]
Good satire requires intelligence
I have read the Mountain Xpress for years and chuckled many times over the good-spirited lampoons on the Asheville Disclaimer page. The Feb. 14 issue’s satire of Bob Caldwell, however, made me cringe. Not only was it mean-spirited and decidedly not funny, it was crude and poorly written. Instead of good-natured ribbing, it sounded more […]
The vegan choice is simple
Just like Nina Smith (“Fries With That?”, Feb. 14), I am inspired by Stewart and Terri David’s thought-provoking letters. Not to go to McDonald’s, but rather to work towards a more compassionate world. Being vegan is an easy, delicious and simple choice that we can make at every meal that will have an impact far […]
Promoting worthy dialogue
I was just bowled over by Nina Smith’s thoughtful, articulate, and compassionate letter [“Fries With That?”, Feb. 14]. I was so impressed by the Mountain Xpress’ willingness to publish an opinion of such rare sentiment toward animal activists in this society that is increasingly hostile toward us. How pleasing to know that Ms. Smith will […]
The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program
Connie Pegg, RSVP Coordinator, with Park Ridge Hospital volunteer, Rosemary Iles. Rosemary is displaying the wall-hung quilt rack she won when her name was drawn for responding to a survey. RSVP asks, “What does volunteering mean to you? Sharing? Improving? Helping? Saving?” RSVP, part of the Volunteer Services Department at Land-of-Sky Regional Council, places adults […]
Am I my brother’s keeper?
The continuing push-and-shove between Council member Carl Mumpower and the Asheville Police Department is instructive for all city residents. The APD was arresting someone for cocaine possession when Mumpower, who’s been walking the projects in order to make his point about local drug trafficking, asked them to look into the sale of yet more cocaine […]
Through a windshield, darkly
There is a feeling of precise formality in Holden Gallery at Warren Wilson College. Peter Schlessinger’s digital ink-jet prints are displayed in a carefully thought-out way that belies their creator’s stated method of working. “I am interested,” he says, “in the way forms feel—it’s an emotional divining rod. I don’t think about it too much.” […]
Gallery gossip
• If you’re tired of work made by people with MFAs being billed as folk art, go to the current exhibit at the Asheville Area Arts Council’s Front Gallery. The show comes from The Open Hearts Art Center, pieces done by local adults with mental, physical, developmental and emotional disabilities. They show joyful self-portraits, colorful […]
Grey area
JJ Grey is a white boy. Specifically, the songwriting wellhead of the porch-swing-fitted MOFRO is a 39-year-old North Florida white boy—a dirtfloorcracker, as he quips in song—a man of the unapologetically Southern variety, fond of his short-cropped hair, country-road accent and some achingly personal blues-basted rock and soul. You can learn most of this and […]
Drugs don’t walk a straight line
I am ready to see some real change happen locally, nationally and globally. I am tired of mediocrity and seeing tax dollars used inefficiently. Everyone, including elected politicians, government staff, activists and community members, can commit to think more systemically and not allow ourselves to frame reality linearly. Linear thinking stems from Newtonian physics and […]
A developing problem
I am writing out of my concern for the issue that was addressed in the “Green Scene” environmental news written by Rebecca Bowe [“Cloudy Currents,” Oct. 11, 2006]. The article made reference to a storm-water ordinance recently passed that will impose fines on developers when ineffective storm-water-control systems result in land disturbances. I fear that […]
Write food reviews, not travelogues
I am writing pertaining to the article on Carmel’s Restaurant and Bar [“The Straight Dish,” Feb. 7]. Your writer thinks she must write a funny story instead of just commenting on the food and restaurant. This article was pitiful. A Floridian party place that was preceded by Anntony’s, a beans-and-rice place! Please try to find […]