Making great strides

Zohar Israel not only trains young musicians and dancers, he hires them to perform in his troupe — which will be putting in an appearance at this year’s Goombay! Festival. “I’m the one healing the wounds,” said the director of the New Orleans-based Free Spirit African Drummers, Dancers and Stilt Walkers in a recent interview. […]

Letters to the editor

Free speech is not silent vandalism I live near downtown Asheville, and I recently had my vehicle vandalized. Were my windows broken or was my paint scratched? No, someone chose to deface my George W. Bush stickers with graffitti. Now, I understand there are many in this city who do not agree with my political […]

Buzzworm news briefs

Antiques fair burnishes the past At 58, the Asheville Antiques Fair is becoming, well, a bit of an antique. But it didn’t become a community heirloom by simply aging. Proceeds from the annual fair are donated to local charities, civic projects, historical restoration and scholarships — making the yearly event more than just a curio. […]

American holly

I just love the American holly that lives at our house. It constantly brings pleasure and nourishment to our lives, to the garden, and to the land around us. This lovely tree is home to a pair of mourning doves, and bees swarm it when it flowers. (That’s also when the leaves drop, stinging my […]

The Terminal

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There’s a story — quite possibly apocryphal — that Abraham Lincoln once agreed to do a product endorsement. “For people who like this sort of thing,” he is reported to have said, “this is the sort of thing they will like.” And regardless of whether old honest Abe ever said any such thing, it’s the […]

Buzzworm news briefs

Friends in deed For more than a quarter-century now, the Land-of-Sky Regional Council has been recognizing organizations and individuals who’ve made a significant contribution to restoring and enhancing the French Broad River. The 28th annual Friends of the River Dinner — part of this year’s French Broad River Month celebration — happens Tuesday, June 8, […]

The sound and the scurry

Abbeville, Ga., is home to the Wild Hog Festival, while Coalinga, Calif., boasts the Horned Toad Festival and Derby. Not to be outdone, the town of Brevard is preparing to launch its first-annual White Squirrel Festival. The event’s theme? “Go Nuts!” Of course. Brevard is one of reportedly only four areas in America where white […]

Keeping up with Holly Jones

“I know we’re supposed to be about this — coming together as a community to create something special for everyone.” — Holly Jones Asheville City Council member Holly Jones arrives for our interview wearing shorts, a tank top and a light T-shirt. She looks to be fresh from a workout in the newly refurbished gym […]

Letters to the editor

Xpress election coverage rocked! I can’t thank you enough for your coverage of the [Asheville] City Council candidates, both for the primaries and for the Nov. 4 election. Usually I go to the polls feeling rather unformed when I cast my vote. This time, I was able to make choices with confidence. Your newspaper is […]

Chain reaction

Downtown Asheville is at a crossroads. The city’s thriving central business district is enjoying a full-blown renaissance driven by an eclectic, ever-shifting mix of boutiques, restaurants, galleries and clubs. It wasn’t always so. A mere two decades ago, downtown Asheville was home mainly to boarded-up buildings. Scarcely anyone who had other options lived downtown, and […]

Letters to the editor

Thanks for the votes of confidence, Asheville I want to thank all of the citizens of Asheville who came out and voted for me in the City Council primary election held on Oct. 7. It is an honor to have come in first place in the primary election. Through my work on the North Carolina […]

Buzzworm news briefs

Trout saddles? Do mountain trout buck when you ride ’em? Well, RiverLink has sure raised the question, anyway. The local agency is hosting the Swannanoa Appreciation Day and Trout Rodeo at the Buncombe County Recreation Park, adjacent to the Nature Center, on Oct. 5 from 12-4 p.m. The free event will feature trout fishing from […]

To SEEE and do

Backhome Chapters Across America: Who they are, what activities and projects they’ve already accomplished, and how you can become involved by getting together with like-minded folks in your community. Batteries for green power systems: Safety precautions, sizing, maintenance and types of batteries for solar, wind and micro-hydro systems. Citizen Action for Clean Air: Canary Coalition […]

A trashy tug of war

An uninspiring pile of construction-and-demolition debris sits waiting to be covered with dirt at the Buncombe County landfill. A closer look reveals chunks of brick, shingles, twisted sheets of metal, plywood, gypsum board and other materials — about 80 percent of which could be recycled, observes General Services Director Bob Hunter, surveying the rubble. That’s […]

Stinking roses

My nose gets a workout in June; roses and lavender, valerian and honeysuckle perfume the balmy breezes. Following the lead of hundreds of pollinators, Ivy Rose and I cruise around the garden, inhaling deeply. But not all the olfactory input is fragrant. Sometime around the summer solstice, my observant granddaughter announces, “The stinking roses are […]

Soul food from the Universe Cafe

Revolutionary carrots? Transformational potatoes? After a talk with Sister Miriam Therese MacGillis, the spiritual aspect of food seems less an esoteric abstraction than an everyday delight. Restoring the connection between earth, food and humans is not only Sister MacGillis’ personal mission, it’s her job (she’s the director of Genesis Farm, a 180-acre educational center and […]

The big ride

Standing at the very front of the No. 13 bus, swaying and staggering as it lurches through Oteen and Haw Creek in rush-hour traffic, I briefly consider whether all my creativity is being sucked out through the window and swallowed by the dreary Tunnel Road streetscape. It hasn’t been a fun trip, and it’s getting […]

Tempeh fugit

“I began shopping in the local natural-food store there in Idaho, befriended the owners, and learned how to pronounce some of the exotic products. Months later, I called home and asked my mom if anyone had started a natural-food store while I was gone, and soon I was making plans to return to Asheville and […]

Business notepad

Mo better trails “I may as well have driven to Australia,” says Betty Hurst of HandMade in America, talking about the 12,000 miles she drove through the North Carolina mountains in the course of updating The Craft Heritage Trails of Western North Carolina. “But it was worth it,” she adds. “We revisited everybody’s place and […]

The spirit and the flesh

There are any number of indigenous North American stories telling How Corn Came to The People. Sometimes it came as a gift. Sometimes it came in the form of a woman. Sometimes it was stolen. But in every case, Corn became intimately entwined with The People — economically, culturally and spiritually. Archaeological evidence suggests that […]