“For the next 24 hours, we had armed agents guarding the gate and the driveway, and lookouts toting automatic weapons were posted on the roof.”
Tag: The Gospel According to Jerry
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The turbulent ’60s: A Jew in Asheville
“Meanwhile, despite the new respect that worldwide Jewry received after the war, antisemitism continued to rear its ugly head in Asheville, as demonstrated by two stories that community members shared with me.”
Fighting back: A Jew in Asheville
“Non-Jewish friends and even people I hardly knew were saying things like ‘I didn’t know Jews would fight’ and ‘You guys really kicked those guys’ ass.’”
No admittance: A Jew in Asheville
“In addition to emotional pain and suffering, selective membership based on race, color or religion can result in egregious restraint of trade.”
The war years: A Jew in Asheville
“I rushed to the window in time to see one of my classmates from school throw a trash can through our front door, shouting ‘Jew! Jew! Jew!’”
Ode to the River Queen: The Gospel According to Jerry
“She rode into town on her white steed. And immediately found this silver serpent slithering slowly through the valley, passing the city and sorely in need.”
From bigotry to advocacy: The Gospel According to Jerry
“To be honest, it was those very acts of civil disobedience — the lunch counter sit-ins by dignified young Black people, the reasoned speeches of Martin Luther King and the angry voice of Malcolm X — that gradually opened my eyes.”
How much has Asheville really changed? The Gospel According to Jerry
“I remember when the old passenger rail depot, now a restaurant, had a segregated waiting room.”
A day to remember for Jerry Sternberg
“When governing ourselves, listen to both sides of the argument and take your stand, but remember, efficient government is like walking in a culvert. There is plenty of room on both sides, but the water flows the smoothest in the center.”
Patriotism or bigotry? The Gospel According to Jerry
“You cannot practice racism and bigotry and still call yourself a ‘patriot.'”
Letter: Gospel Jerry is not really gospel
“Climate change is one of the most ridiculous rallying cries of the left lunatics. This doomsday scenario has been pushed on us for 50 years.”
My education at the University of Mammon: The Gospel According to Jerry
“I grew up in the depths of the Great Depression, when money seemed to be the driving factor for almost everyone around me, because nobody had any.”
An unvarnished look at affordable housing: The Gospel According to Jerry
“As soon as outraged neighbors show up at municipal meetings screaming and shouting about traffic, quality of life and property values, our elected officials quietly slide down in their chairs and hide their faces behind their computer screens, concealing their shame about discouraging developers, both public and private, from increasing our woefully inadequate housing inventory.”
The great threat: The Gospel According to Jerry
“The newcomers worshipped at the feet of the Right Rev. Wilma Dykeman, a local deity whose writings took on the prominence and influence of the Holy Grail.”
Thank God it’s over!: The Gospel According to Jerry
“Heroic young men and women who’d stepped up to defeat our dreadful enemies returned to us, many arriving at the same train station on Depot Street from which they’d departed.”
Blue Ridge Honor Flight brings veterans home: The Gospel According to Jerry
“Grown men don’t cry, but it was hard to keep a dry eye as we walked through these profoundly evocative memorials, knowing the gut-wrenching agony of the families of all these thousands of men and women who, had they survived, might have been on the bus with us this very day.”
The Gospel According to Jerry: Luck of the draw
“It was so bizarre that I started to laugh — but then I realized that there was something very unfunny about the situation.”
The Gospel According to Jerry: The long arm of the law
“As most of you may know, the sheriff is the most powerful official in Buncombe County, answering to no one but the voters.”
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.”
The Gospel According to Jerry
The 65th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, got me reflecting on how much the 1942 attack changed my life—and changed Asheville. I have a particularly vivid memory of what happened that fateful day. My father had taken me and several of my little friends to the Isis Theater in West Asheville, where we […]