These changing times

Periodicals periodically make staff changes, from the editor’s office down to the weekly deliverers of the paper. Cecil Bothwell’s tenure as [staff writer and former editor] of the Xpress has gone down, overall, as having been good for the paper, the people of WNC and the city of Asheville.

There it is: “change.” Change is a part of the business. Cecil now moves on; the Xpress moves on; and the people, as ever, change too, and move right on towards that which is, ever-as-ever, uncertain: the future. All we may believe for sure about the future is that it brings change to us all.

Cecil Bothwell will be missed.

As a former contributor to Xpress myself, as well as a former Ashevillean, I have been long, long familiar with the excellent works by Bothwell. In point-of-fact, Cecil Bothwell is a hell-of-a-good writer, journalist and editor. He has always been good at his works, is good at ‘em even this very day on which I write and will continue to be so in [the] future. Time spent reading his words/works is quality time, well spent. Over the years, Bothwell’s works have matured—as has Cecil, himself. His years at the Xpress leave him with a fine reputation and, I daresay, after all’s said and done, after a while, after emotionalism has somewhat faded into the quietude that such gnarly matters do have a way of doing, Cecil’s legacy will be one of a master at his crafts, well thought of, fondly recalled.

Nope, I haven’t any dawg in this race, but I am a longtime reader of Cecil Bothwell, and his admirer—as I am of the Xpress, also, a reader and admirer of many years.

It is a matter of change: Things change over time; people change over time; the needs of people and publications, of readership, change with the passing of years.

To edit, or not to edit the Xpress; that’s the question, and it is answered. Life goes on, Bothwell and the Xpress both go on, changed, as is the way of all things great and small.

I will continue to look forward to the writings of Cecil Bothwell and, though exact circulation totals escape my mind right here, right now, nonetheless, I daresay in excess of [tens of] thousands readers will do likewise. Quality works that way; the quality’s implicit herein: Cecil’s quality and the quality that has, ever, been synonymous with the Mountain Xpress.

So, thank you, Cecil Bothwell and thank you, Mountain Xpress, for past excellence and present quality and for the future of both Bothwell and Xpress. WNC is bettered for/by your contributions to the rich culture and heritage of the people, the place and this, our time, right here and right now.

— Rod Personette
Orlando, Fla.