“I’ve lived here for six years and felt I truly understood this offbeat, dog-loving, music-playing, beer-drinking conglomeration of a city. Using the Fitbit, though, was like watching Asheville in slow motion.”
United we stand: Let’s get serious about addressing addiction
” The disease of addiction feeds on isolation, and as long as we criminalize and condemn addicts, we will never make any true progress in addressing the problem.”
Let’s move from ‘Pit of Despair’ to Asheville’s ‘Red Brick District’
“To those purely in favor of a park, be careful what you ask for. The idea of a park across from the basilica is wonderful. However, there are very substantial downsides that are being completely overlooked in the dialogue.”
Revised Duke Energy proposal challenges all of us
“While the utility has reduced the overall size of the proposed natural gas plant, it has also issued a warning: Unless something changes in Western North Carolina, Duke will need to build an additional gas-fueled, 190-megawatt peaking unit to meet growing demand. “
Duke Energy proposal pits profits vs. public interest
“What would most benefit residents and ratepayers is implementing programs that reduce consumption and eliminate the need to build more centralized power plants.”
Remembering Wally Bowen: Asheville’s media MVP
By Bill Branyon | “He never — and I do mean never ever — complained of his plight. His joie de vivre remained intense, and our talks about sports, literature and politics passionate.”
Iconic basilica deserves better setting
“Alongside great people (which Asheville has in abundance), great architecture is the single most important social, cultural and economic asset a city can possess.”
New report reveals impact of nonprofit Children First/Communities In Schools of Buncombe County
The report notes that 2,856 children in Buncombe County, or 6 percent of all children living in Buncombe County, were served through Children First/CIS services and programming.
Back in the day, Asheville’s nightclubs were hopping
“But the best thing about most of these clubs was their food, probably subsidized by the under-the-counter liquor sales and occasional other nefarious activities, such as backroom gambling.”
Is adoption an option?
“As a mom, I now know firsthand that adoption is amazing, overwhelming — and definitely possible.”
What I Found when I went back to church (hint: It’s not God)
By Monica Bethelwood | The longer I’ve been in Asheville, the more questions I’ve had about the New Age/Spiritual culture, around which a large chunk of Asheville’s scene seems to revolve. Something has felt missing in all the seeking, something missing at the heart of it all…
Our survival’s at stake: We can’t afford half-truths about our energy future
“Truth telling is risky business. The science tells us that if we don’t quickly change our energy infrastructure, it’s very likely that our children will inherit a dangerously warm world.”
St. Lawrence Green no litmus test for voters
“Relying on the single-issue test is like looking at the panorama of the election through a drinking straw.”
Anywhere but Asheville
“Overall, [Asheville’s] critics can be divided into three groups: the transplants who didn’t, some surrounding mountain neighbors and the conservative sanctorum in Raleigh. For them, it’s definitely ‘anywhere but Asheville’ — socially, culturally and politically.”
If you want fewer abortions, keep Planned Parenthood open
“And if Planned Parenthood does close its doors, the people in Asheville and WNC who will be the most hurt are precisely the ones who most need the sex education the organization provides.”
Hand in hand: Peace begins at home
“Many of us celebrate Asheville as Beer City, Bee City or Tree City, but what do we do to nurture peace among the people of all races and backgrounds whose lives play out in local homes, attending our schools and walking our streets?”
Killing to eat is a bloody business
“I’ve read that ‘life’s a journey,’ and I’m still pondering the fact that my own journey began as a cowboy on the prairies raising market cattle, yet, within five decades, I’ve traveled far enough that now, I never even peer into the local market’s meat department.”
Amid food festival, let’s remember those who don’t have enough
“In the city of Asheville, with its wealth of social capital and talent, a mecca for aging boomers looking to be relevant and to leave a legacy of social change, we are also a community struggling to build bridges between races and heal divisions of poverty generations old.”
The stars make you sick
“Thinking of my flu as transformational evolution pacified me for a minute or so: Then I had to blow my nose again.”
Affordable housing essay: Affordable housing is everybody’s problem
“Every day, our case managers work to find safe, affordable places for our clients to live. Now, however, we simply cannot find those homes.”
Buncombe County’s Super Summer Meals program helps alleviate summer food insecurity for children
“Currently in its fourth year, the Summer Food Service Program grew in response to the risk of summer food insecurity experienced by children who are on the free and reduced meal program during the school year. “