I was scrounging for a master’s in history from Western Carolina and buying beer at Cullowhee’s Speedwell General Store when there it was on the checkout counter: Green Line … a newspaper that, a few years later, became Mountain Xpress. Finally, here was a paper based on the environmental principles of the Green Party! It […]
There was never a dull moment
I moved to Asheville — well, technically, Black Mountain — in the winter of ’83. It was pretty rough. The night I moved into my little no-insulation cottage, temps plunged to minus 50 with the wind chill. The pipes froze, the toilet cracked, and I tried in vain to stuff newspaper in places where the […]
The drum circle’s early beats began at Vance Monument
Thank you for allowing me to share a bit of true Asheville history, at least my recollections of the origins of Asheville’s drumming and how the Pritchard Park drum circle came about. I was born and raised in Asheville. I was taught percussion at South French Broad Middle School. My love for percussion instruments has […]
The Gospel According to Jerry: Tit for tat
This year’s Go Topless rally, the bare-busted parade that annually turns Pritchard Park into Hooterville, has sent shock waves through our town that have reverberated all the way to Raleigh. Many people are beating their chests in outrage over this display of titillating torsos.
Saving the big red maple
When Council discussed ideas for renovating Pritchard Park downtown AT A DATE WORKSESSION, then-Mayor Russ Martin suggested using a 1940s trolley as a central piece to the park
A call to drums: A view of Asheville’s drum-circle history
I moved to Asheville in 1996 from Santa Barbara, Calif. We had a great drum circle community out there. Every Sunday at a park, down by the beach, from early afternoon until late in the night, we would gather and drum and dance and enjoy all the beauty there. I really missed the circle when […]
Remember when, Asheville?
Remember when Stone Soup was the happening place to be seen eating lunch and the Gilberts greeted you with a smile every day with their homemade bread and soups? Remember when Wall Street was deserted (no foot traffic)? Self -Help Credit Union, with the help of Julian Price (and other donors) helped to rehab the […]
It takes a village: How a cast of thousands transformed downtown Asheville
Moving from a wasteland of vacant, dirty streets, partial demolitions, lifeless buildings, and adult bookstores and theaters to the “top 10” lists in just about every category is truly a miracle. But we did it.
How Asheville became (and continues to be) the most exciting small city
Does anyone remember the early 1990s in Asheville, a time when Bill Clinton was president, Jim Hunt the governor of North Carolina, and there wasn’t a parking or traffic problem at all? Mountain Xpress wouldn’t come into being until 1994, the year before Gannett Co. bought out the Asheville Citizen-Times. Fine cuisine? Mark Rosenstein had […]
Asheville groove, part 3: Cherishing our sense of place
For well over a century, Asheville has attracted creative people. So, whatever good deeds have been done in the recent past should be seen as growing out of the incredible mountains around us and as gifts from prior generations, the Cherokees and hard-scrabble Southern Appalachian settlers and Asheville’s new urbanists from the mid-19th century onward. […]
Asheville Disclaimer 9/17/14
The one that got away.
How did Asheville find its groove? (part 2)
Ask anyone who’s lived or worked in Asheville since the ’80s or ’90s, and you’re likely to get a different answer. We offer some responses in this week’s retrospective, such as: • We faced key challenges from within local government. • We fought city hall. • We protected the environment. • We stood up for […]
Asheville: where I found myself
In 1994, Asheville was just a weekend place that I escaped to from Greenville, S.C., with my then husband, Blane Sherer. I thought it was just a getaway; I did not know I was looking for something, but I found it: Poetry.
Asheville Disclaimer 9/10/14
Mysterious woman moves to Asheville for ‘job’
Inside out: Cultivating philanthropic leaders to spearhead community change
“Amid a shifting social, economic and political landscape, communities of color in Asheville are examining creative and innovative strategies to facilitate community change,” Tracey Dorsett writes in this commentary.
Western Carolina Medical Society: The difference between hospice and palliative care
In this article, Dr. Janet Bull, medical director at Four Seasons Compassion for Life in Henderson County, explains the difference between palliative care and hospice as part of a series presented by the Western Carolina Medical Society. This is a frequent question that people often ask us at Four Seasons Compassion for Life. First of all, […]
Buncombe County ranks lowest for immunizations in NC
Buncombe County usually ranks high in the state for healthy behaviors and quality medical care. Unfortunately there is one area where we are dead last: immunizations. The percent of Buncombe County kindergarteners who have not received all their required immunizations is about five times higher than the North Carolina average. Most of these children’s parents claimed a non-medical reason for not vaccinating their children. Our goal at Buncombe County Health and Human Services is to assure that parents and our community understand the benefits of immunizations.
The Gospel According to Jerry: The no-tell hotel
Longtime Xpress commentary writer Jerry Sternberg shares a story about the Langren Hotel and the ironies of “progress.”
Asheville Disclaimer 7/23/14
Effects of waking at 2 a.m. prompt WLOS meteorologist Julie Winder to call it a day (with chance of rain)
A mother’s end-of-school success story
Guest columnist Jodi Ford explains how one single mother used the services offered by Children First/ CIS to help her family. This article is featured as part of a partnership between the Xpress and Children First/ Communities In Schools of Buncombe County.
Profiles in suspicion: A book’s cover does tell you something
I just finished reading your long story on burglary in Asheville (“Home Sweet Target,” July 2 Xpress). What stood out most for me, because of its unexpectedness, was the caution against profiling from Sean Davis, identified in the story as a “community resource officer” for the Asheville Police Department. You quote him as saying, “In no way does race, gender, sexual orientation or religion make an individual suspicious.” This was in the context of advising citizens to be vigilant for suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.