Buncombe County Public Libraries are not only a place for literature, film, research, story hours and free yoga classes. They also provides amenities like public bathrooms, heating, air conditioning and internet access, which are enjoyed by everyone but are lifelines for some patrons.
BeLoved Asheville co-director Amy Cantrell speaks with Xpress about the health impacts of housing insecurity, combatting isolation and her role as the architect of an intentional community.
Andy Baker has spent the last 17 years building a home for himself, his family and many others through his development projects in Western North Carolina. Originally from Michigan, Baker graduated from Purdue University with a degree in forestry before pursuing a career in real estate development. Earlier this year, the Southeast Regional Land Conservancy […]
“I knew that if I wanted my child to use whatever toy storage solution we had, it needed to be fun and like a game. “
UNC Asheville Community Impact Award goes to student who lives their passions. Their advice to others? “I would say that there is never too little or too much support that you can provide to your community. Any amount of action is action.”
Waynesville man shows off his bushcraft skills as a contestant on the reality show
‘Naked and Afraid.”
“Everyone works together to make sure our students are educated, that their emotional needs are taken care of,” says Ruafika Cobb, principal of Ira B. Jones Elementary School. “People here just do it.”
Hathaway spoke to Xpress about having an impact on the community’s health care, how the opioid epidemic affected him as a cardiologist and his excitement over becoming a grandparent.
No parent wants to talk about pornography with their child. No child wants to talk about porn with their parents. These are facts.
Yet John Van Arnam of Black Mountain has taken the Sisyphean task of making sure these conversations occur. Children’s mental and physical health depend on it, he says.
Justin Shytle moved to Asheville when he was 7 years old and remembers a childhood attending Bele Chere and skating around the former Vance Monument. But at 14, their childhood came to an abrupt end when they discovered their father dead from an overdose. The experience “opened the door for my IV drug use and […]
Xpress speaks with Jeff Ashford about his work at Appalachian Wildlife Refuge, the appeal of opossums and his unusual home pet.
Growing up in Hendersonville, Ashley Featherstone assumed she would move away for work. “I was always told that you could never find a job here,” she recalls. “There are [fewer] jobs here than there are in places like Atlanta and Charlotte. But I just decided that I was going to find a job.” And she […]
Joe Hollis’ whole life is Mountain Gardens, a botanical garden in Western North Carolina that he has cultivated over 50 years. Hollis focuses on growing useful plants, especially medicinal herbs and perennial vegetables, and passing along his plant wisdom to students and apprentices. Workshops, seeds and bare root plant sales support Hollis and his garden. […]
Whether by hiking the debris flow pathway of a landslide or reading arcane scientific articles, Karin Rogers dedicates herself to understanding complex scientific data so she can translate that information for ordinary people to understand.
Public health is the science of improving health and safety within communities. Fabrice Julien, assistant professor of health and wellness at UNC Asheville, knows that it’s also an art. Julien teaches health communication and the theory of health promotion at UNCA. He thinks a lot about how to break through medical distrust and skepticism, as […]
Medical school did not teach Dr. Tiffany Sauls anything about psychedelics. “Not at all, other than to stay away,” she says with a laugh. But as she moved into her career as a psychiatrist, Sauls began to wonder about effective alternatives to exclusively treating mental health symptoms with pharmaceuticals. Over time, she became interested in […]
Don’t tell the kids, but Asheville’s most beloved Santa doesn’t live at the North Pole. Dennis Reed and his wife Deborah — aka Mr. and Mrs. Claus — reside in Haywood County, where they both grew up. Dennis worked for 35 years at the Blue Ridge Paper plant and got his start as Santa in 2004 after […]
At many grocery stores in the area, consumers can find at least some local produce, meat or dairy products. Plenty of restaurants tout local ingredients on their menus and farmers markets are ubiquitous here. But it wasn’t always that way. “It’s hard to remember what it was like 20 years ago, but there was not […]
There are thousands of books containing business advice on topics like brand development, marketing, startup funding and networking. But less frequently addressed are the psychological and emotional impacts of being a business owner. That’s where Jane Carter, who holds dual professions as a therapist and a business coach, comes in. She guides her clients through […]
The Block, an area that spans Eagle and South Market streets in downtown Asheville, was once home to a vibrant residential and commercial district for Black residents. But between the 1950s and 1980s, Asheville’s urban renewal policies that sought to address allegedly “blighted” areas of the city by removing homes and businesses to make way […]
Unlike modern job-hoppers who switch roles every few years, Jill Sparks jokes that she’s a “monogamous worker.” She spent over six years at Appalachian State University, primarily in career planning services, and for the past 16 years, she’s worked at A-B Tech. As executive director of the community college’s Business Incubation and Small Business Center, […]
