On the morning of Dec. 1, 2006, my wife and I closed on a lovely home at 2949 Riverside Dr., Asheville 28804. Concurrently, the [county commissioners] made public two years of informal, private negotiations that [have now] resulted in the leasing of the property across the street from our new home. If we had known […]
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Woe is Woodfin
After reading “The Price of Progress” in the Xpress [Jan. 24], it made me wonder if Woodfin is becoming an environmental disaster dump. First they gave us roof-to-roof hillside building on Reynolds Mountain. One must drive by to witness the distortion to the natural beauty of the mountain. And that distortion is [in addition to] […]
There’s nothing festive about this tree-trimming
How many of you are shocked at the poor quality of the trim jobs done along our roads and highways? The way the N.C. Division of Highways’ Bush Hogs massacre the trees and bushes is deplorable. When they recently vandalized the trees in our neighborhood, leaving them shredded, mangled and lying all over the ground […]
The wheels are turning
Who would’ve thought that a groundhog, a pirate and a pair of valentine sweeties would play such an indispensable role in establishing cycle infrastructure within our city? After winning best use of theme in the recent holiday parade, Asheville on Bikes, a fledging group of commuter advocates, invested its prize money to promote The Bike […]
Studying magic
Recently, our nation’s cancer authorities celebrated the American Cancer Society’s report that the total number of cancer deaths declined by 3,014 (a whopping 0.5 percent), from 556,902 in 2003 to 553,888 in 2004. Biomedical researchers are certain to request more funding in their quest for the magic cancer pill. Yet, cancer, like heart disease and […]
Onward Christian soldiers
We hit a historic high for the U.S. population a little while ago—300 million. That’s a lot of bodies. Luckily we have lots of body bags, thanks to this war. It seems to me, as a person who reads, I don’t remember Jesus saying anything about abortion. Nothing. I’m not even sure there was such […]
Keep your families safe
As an odd start, I’m beginning with an apology of sorts. I am not a great orator and am often not able to get my point across. Please bear with me, and if I do not get my point across clearly, please let this letter spark your interest to further investigate the issues. Our children […]
Size matters
blueline (n): a mountain stream or brook inhabited solely by wild (see “native”) trout. It was a stream I’d driven past dozens of times. But it was only after a fruitless day spent fishing a larger river that I really noticed it. The clear brook, which amounted to barely a trickle, ran alongside a winding […]
Buzzworm news briefs
Public-transit ninja blogger strikes again A warrior against smog: Paul Van Heden of Brainshrub.com uses his blog to get more people on the bus. photo by Jonathan Welch The Internet is a slippery thing, isolating some people while inspiring unlikely connections among others. Some 2 million Chinese teenagers are addicted to it, according to a […]
Smiling off to war
Gut-wrenching war narratives they’re not. However, Pavel Amromin’s cherubic, puppy-faced porcelain figures say as much about the subject as Goya’s famously visceral “Executions on the Third of May” or K/Sthe Kollwitz’s tragic “Widows and Orphans.” Sure, the sculptor has (quite literally) glossed over the grimness, but with good reason—and with exquisite results. In his artist’s […]
Gallery Gossip
â¢*Talk about collaboration! There’s big excitement at UNCA about the enormous mural being installed in the cafeteria. Word is that at least 40 artists worked on the project over the last two years. ⢠Watch for Robert Godfrey’s new paintings, collectively called Silly Talk, to be shown locally in the spring. He hasn’t lost his […]
Education and democracy
Editor’s note: The Buncombe County Early College recently asked students to write an essay on the recently conducted “democracy panel” and how it affected them as individuals. Mountain Xpress chose this one for publication; excerpts from others will be presented in a future issue. The motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, “Our children are our […]
Walking through the gate
The Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains are a beautiful part of this unique region. But they may represent something different to me than they do to most area residents. In my youth, I saw those mountains as a confining wall. But I encourage today’s urban youth to view them as the gateway to a […]
Toxic pessimism
At risk of adding more doom and gloom to Richard Fireman’s account of our environment [“A Healthy Future for Sophia,” Jan. 17], I’d like to mention lead as one of those toxic substances still in our lives on a regular basis. But fortunately, lead is also one of those substances about which people in Buncombe […]
Let’s make it 578
I am a resident of downtown Asheville and have been a professional singer for over 30 years. Most of my life was spent singing in smoky bars, six nights a week, inhaling other people’s secondhand smoke. Asheville is a music town filled with many musicians wishing to perform their music. Since musicians need a venue […]
Democracy redefined
On Jan. 16, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to give Progress Energy, a for-profit company, a $1 lease on public land so they can build an oil-burning plant. Before the vote, David Gantt announced, “This is democracy!” He then thanked the [many] people who spoke against [the plant]—those of us foolish enough […]
Review it yourself
I would like to respond to the reader’s letter entitled “Grab Your Yerba, Mateys” [Jan. 24], which regarded a (not-so-favorable) review of the local band divineMAGees. And even though I did not read the original piece about the band by the paper’s columnist, Ms. Bianchi, as a local musician myself, I must throw in my […]
Tired of the color code
Hello, Asheville. Are you ready for the first black-American coaches to go to the Super Bowl? Is it racism to have taken this long to make it there? Is it racism to call them black coaches? Shouldn’t they just simply be referred to as coaches? Do humans need a prefix of black? Why is the […]
Health care, or sickness care?
When I glanced at the cover of “The Medical Issue: To Your Health” [Jan. 17] with the attractive young babe in the surgical garb, I thought to myself: Here we go again, the local medical establishment is out campaigning again to sell their wares, useless drugs, surgery—out to sell some more diseases. And I was […]
Economic development meets steep-slope reality
Recently I was elected by the people of Buncombe County to the position of Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor. Many of you voted for change; many of you voted out of frustration. You’ve seen your constitutional rights slowly whittled away, your property rights diminished, tax dollars wasted on all the wrong projects, and now […]
More is more
“Laid to Rest II,” Andrew Blanchard (cyanotype and silkscreen mounted on board, 11″ x 16″ x 3″). January is all about thinking big — I will lose 20 pounds! I will become a better person! — and the upstairs (artspace) in Tryon has caught the seasonal bug. Its New Year’s show features 70 works by […]