Mountain Xpress 03.15.17

OUR 23RD YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 23 NO. 34 MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

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Invisible city: Asheville’s disabled community

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Where to eat (and drink) for St. Patrick’s Day

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Blackalicious makes its Grey Eagle debut

What Matters to Me?

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OUR 23RD YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 23 NO. 34 MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

C O N T E NT S

PAGE 14 KIDS ISSUE 2017 Xpress asked local K-12 students to submit art, essays and poetry on the theme “What Matters to Me?” We received about 450 entries (our largest response ever), ranging from thoughtful submissions on social justice issues to sweet tributes to family, friendship and pets.

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Invisible city: Asheville’s disabled community

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Where to eat (and drink) for St. Patrick’s Day

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Blackalicious makes its Grey Eagle debut

What Matters to Me?

COVER ART: Caroline Tintinger, seventh grade (face), and Oriah Doellgast, first-grade (background), both of Rainbow Community School COVER DESIGN Norn Cutson

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9 INVISIBLE IN PLAIN SIGHT Living with disabilities in Asheville

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WELLNESS

42 VIRTUAL HOUSE CALLS Telehealth takes hold in Western North Carolina

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46 THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING SUBSIDY WNC Nature Center achieves threeyear reduction goal in one year

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52 READY FOR ANYTHING Green Opportunities Kitchen Ready grads hit their career paths running

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58 A TRAVELING POET GOES HOME Allan Wolf’s latest YA novel draws on the death of a childhood friend

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60 ‘EVERY DAY IS VITAL’ Health issues heighten the urgency of Blackalicious’ music and Grey Eagle show

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Thanks to the hard work of numerous excellent early childhood development and other nonprofits, public awareness of the importance of high-quality early childhood education seems to be at, if not an all-time peak, a very impressive level. Buncombe County Smart Start, Pisgah Legal Services, Verner Center for Early Learning, the YWCA of Asheville, as well as others in Western North Carolina, are providing high-quality care and advocating for policies to improve the lives of the region’s youngest residents. And we at The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, along with many of our fundholders, are pleased to support them.

New research strengthens the deep evidence base for both the immediate and longer-term positive effects of high-quality early care and education. Research released in November by the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy involved more than 1 million North Carolina public school students born between 1988 and 2000.

The study found that North Carolina’s

investment in young children, specifically Smart Start and More at Four (now NC Pre-K), “resulted in higher test scores, less grade retention and fewer special education placements through fifth grade.” Moreover, the research shows that the benefits of this investment do not diminish with the passage of time.

In addition, Dr. James Heckman, Nobel Laureate (economics) of the University of Chicago, and his colleagues have released a working paper showing a 13 percent return on investment for dollars spent on early care and education. This is actually an increase from earlier research suggesting a 7-10 percent ROI. Although ROI estimates vary according to the study analyzed, a positive, significant ROI has been established.

The case for investment in early childhood development is settled, really. Now, it becomes a matter of convincing state leaders to make the investment and to make it wisely.

That’s where things get more complex, because the North Carolina budgeting process is based on a paradigm of scarcity, i.e., the funding pie is unlikely to grow larger. Legislators rob Peter to pay Paul, and early childhood programs find themselves competing with each other for necessary funds. The result often is too little investment to make any particular program operate as well as it could. Relying on the pri-

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Early childhood funding shouldn’t require economic argument

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O P I NI O N

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

vate sector will not produce the level of funding necessary to fund Smart Start, NC Pre-K, Nurse Family Partnership, Parents as Teachers and the state Child Care Subsidy program, to name just a few, at appropriate levels.

As a result, early childhood advocates are now making the economic case for state investment in early childhood programs. This case is clear: an attractive return on investment, a better educated workforce, lower crime rates and so less demand for building prisons, less grade retention and more. It is disappointing, however, that we have had to elevate the economic case to the prime position. The benefit to children should be paramount: physical development; emotional development; development of the soft skills of cooperation and negotiation; development of the ability to delay gratification, to exercise imagination, to learn empathy; and development of an educated citizenry. If the economic case has to be made, the case is easy to make. But I’m sorry that we have to make it, that our state will not invest sufficiently in our children simply because it’s the right thing to do.

— Philip Belcher Vice president for programs The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina Asheville

Is Hendersonville training center justified?

On Oct. 2, 2016, the Hendersonville Lightning reported, “The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Monday committed to a $20 million law enforcement training center at Blue Ridge Community College …

As [Hendersonville Sheriff Charlie] McDonald sees it, law officers need training that’s as sophisticated as the [sic] some of the advanced military training, because even Hendersonville could see an ISIS type attack, as San Bernardino, Calif., did. “‘Law enforcement is at a place where we don’t want to be militarized, we wish we didn’t face the threat we’re facing but we’re facing military tactics, military type weapons, and in the case of ISIS — and they are here,’ he said. ‘I believe they are here, and they will strike on their time, whether it’s in Henderson County or some place else — we’re going to be facing a sophisticated enemy that knows how to fire and move to draw in to ambush and invade and our guys need to know how to fight out of that and how to live and how to come home. I’m telling you, we’re going to see more loss of life 6

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in the days ahead. I could have told you that five years ago. Nobody would listen.

We don’t train near enough.’”

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism is a Department of Homeland Security-supported research and education center at the University of Maryland. In response to President Obama’s statement on Oct. 1, 2015, comparing Americans killed by gun violence to Americans killed by terrorist violence, START compiled the following information from its Global Terrorism Database.

According to the GTD, 3,158 Americans have died in domestic terrorist attacks between the years of 1995-2014. [And] 2,908 of those deaths occurred on 9/11.

“In terrorist attacks from 2004 to 2013 … 36 [Americans] were killed in attacks that occurred in the United States.” By comparison, according to a report by The National Center for Health Statistics, in 2014 alone, 42,773 Americans died by suicide.

A 2016 VA study found that 20 veterans commit suicide in the U.S. each day.

While the threat of domestic terrorism is certainly real and merits public attention, when regarded dispassionately and juxtaposed with American suicide statistics, one must ask, which is the greater problem in our society?

— Patrick Walters Asheville

Act now on gerrymandering More and more, we hear the term gerrymandering, and still there can be confusion as to what it is and why we should care. The quickest explanation is [that] gerrymandering allows politicians to draw their own district lines. This means they pick who votes for them, instead of us picking who represents us.

This causes a myriad of problems. It encourages a lack of cooperation and increases the partisan divide because incumbents have almost guaranteed their re-election based on partisan district lines. Millions of votes across the nation go unheard. Power is ripped away from the people and placed even more into the hands of politicians.

Gerrymandering lawsuits are expensive, and you know us taxpayers pay this in the end. This is a nonpartisan issue: Four times as many North Carolinians are against gerrymandering than are for it.

What can you do? Call the N.C. House Chairman of [the Committee on Rules, Calendar and Operations], Rep. [David] Lewis [(R-Harnett)], at 919-715-3015 and request he allow HB 200, a nonpartisan redistricting bill, to go to committee. Call

your N.C. House rep asking them to support HB 200. For more take action ideas regarding gerrymandering, please join http://tinyurl.com/j448nhc or go to http://commoncausenc.org.

— Kris Kramer Black Mountain

Movement seeks power for voters I represent an organization, NCwethepeople.org, whose intent is to engage enough public support that the legislators in Raleigh will recognize the wisdom in allowing “The People” to vote in November 2018 on a ballot measure.

We are a statewide grassroots movement — for voters themselves — not the legislators, to determine who controls our elections.

I hope your readers will seriously ask themselves this question: Do North Carolina voters deserve the chance to join with the overwhelming national majority who’ve already approved that: A. Artificial entities, such as corporations, do not have constitutional rights. The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.

Artificial entities (including political action committees, unions, etc.) established by laws of any state, the United States, or any foreign state, shall have no rights under this constitution and are subject to regulation by the people, through federal, state or local law.

B. Money is property — not free speech; it must not to be used to determine the outcome of elections.

We urge people across the state to join us at any of these levels: 1. Sign this petition http://avl.mx/3gj 2. Tell your district representatives and senators to vote “yes” 3. Participate in our press conferences.

4. Ask other nonprofit organizations to partner with the 18 other sponsoring groups in our coalition.

— Lucy Christopher Cashiers

Correction A photo caption with the article “Stressed out: Unchecked stress impacts wellness, say Asheville-area mental health providers,” in the March 1 issue misstated Barb Skupien’s title. She is the owner of downtown business Embellish Asheville.

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O PINION

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Put women in the Constitution Tell your state legislators to ratify the ERA

BY ANN VON BROCK You might be surprised to learn that women do not have equal rights in this country. You’d be in good company: In a 2016 poll conducted by DB5 on behalf of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality, 80 percent of respondents mistakenly said the Constitution already includes such a guarantee. Many people think equal rights are covered by either the Equal Rights Amendment — which Congress approved in 1972 but which fell three states short of the required number of ratifications by the June 30, 1982, deadline — or by the 14th Amendment, which deals with the rights of citizens and equal protection under the law.

But since that amendment’s original wording defined citizens as “male,” it didn’t grant women full citizenship rights — and, in fact, they couldn’t even vote until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. Others believe women’s rights are guaranteed by such laws as the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act or the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. A growing body of court cases, however, shows that there are ways to get around treating women fairly under those laws.

I admit to having been surprised by this myself. In the 1970s, I rallied for the ERA, knew it hadn’t passed but bought the hype that we were otherwise covered. This was a terrible misunderstanding on my part; somehow, many others fell into the same trap. But thanks to Roberta Madden of Black Mountain, who has tirelessly advocated for the ERA for over 40 years, I am back on track.

I’ve learned that laws can be overturned, executive orders can be changed and congressional acts can be reversed. It is now clear that until women are explicitly included in the U.S. Constitution, there is no guarantee we will have equal citizenship.

Currently, the only constitutionally protected right for women is the right to vote.

As the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia stated: “Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex.

The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.”

Historically, the ERA has been a nonpartisan issue. A differently worded 8

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ANN VON BROCK version of the bill was first introduced in Congress in 1923 by a Republican. It was part of the Republican Party platform four years before the Democratic Party embraced it. Scare tactics about women having to serve in combat and being forced to work outside the home led to the ERA’s removal from the Republican platform, even though many Republican women supported it and still do.

This should not be a partisan issue.

The 2016 poll showed 94 percent adult support for equal rights for men and women: 90 percent of men and 96 percent of women. When identified by political party, 97 percent of Democrats, 90 percent of Republicans and 92 percent of independents supported the amendment.

That’s a pretty compelling majority — but we aren’t doing much to make it happen.

Suzie Morris, who now lives in Mars Hill, had careers in several fields not typically open to women. After earning a degree in cinematography and cinema arts, she tried to get a job as a camera production assistant in several states but was repeatedly rejected. Men told her it was virtually impossible for a woman to be hired for such a position. During an earlier radio career, she was hired by a male program director, but when the male general manager found out, he “went ballistic,” says Morris. And when

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she proved to be a good hire, he told her he “wished she was black so he could get two for one.”

Martha Marshall is an associate professor emeritus from UNC Asheville, where she taught accounting. In high school and college during the 1960s and ’70s, she couldn’t enroll in drafting or agricultural economics classes because females were not allowed. Before becoming a college professor, Marshall worked in public accounting. Some businesses, she says, insisted that only a male CPA be sent to audit their company; and in some firms, a woman could never get field experience — and thus could never make partner.

“Some years ago at a CPA dinner meeting in Asheville,” says Marshall, “one of my bosses made the statement that it was OK for a woman to work, but a woman’s primary job was to get married and have children. I was married but did not have children. Fortunately another man at the table defended women, including me, wanting to have a professional career.”

I had many similar experiences while seeking employment years ago. “We don’t hire women,” I was told, or “We only want men because they’re better workers,” or “Would your husband approve of you working here? We don’t want trouble.” I found less sexism in the nonprofit sector, where many women hold managerial positions and there’s more awareness of gender-based discrimination. But even there, prejudice persists. One national charity was hiring a new president, and some of the male chapter CEOs suggested hiring a woman so they wouldn’t have to pay her as much as the male predecessor.

Good companies investigate discrimination charges thoroughly and often implement training or corrective action, says Lianne Price, a 32-year-old human resources professional with 11 years’ experience around the country. The Asheville resident’s support for the ERA comes from her surprise that it hadn’t already been adopted and her belief that all workers should have equal protection. In sex discrimination cases, the courts use a different standard from the strict scrutiny required for such classifications as race, religion and national origin. That makes it hard to prove intentional sex discrimination, which won’t be prohibited until the Constitution explicitly does so.

Section 1 of the ERA reads as follows: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

This wording would provide legal protection for anyone facing sex discrimination, regardless of their gender. It would also clarify the legal status for the courts, helping to ensure more consistent decisions in cases dealing with such issues as equal pay for equal work, pregnancy discrimination, violence against women, child custody and citizenship, and inequities in Social Security, taxes, pensions and insurance.

Bills reintroducing the Equal Rights Amendment have been proposed in every session of Congress since 1982, yet Congress has never voted on them.

Meanwhile, some argue that the 1982 deadline is no longer valid, meaning only three more states need to ratify the ERA for it to take effect. And with the Nevada State Assembly about to vote on ratification (the state Senate approved it March 1), just two more approvals may soon be needed.

As of this writing, North Carolina is one of 15 states that haven’t ratified the amendment, though a bill to ratify was introduced in the General Assembly in 2015 — for the first time since 1982 — and again this year.

If legislators don’t hear about something from voters, they assume it isn’t very important. So here’s what we need to do: Share this information with the people around you who care about equal rights. Share it with people who don’t yet care but would if they understood the situation. Most importantly, call your state representative and senator and urge them to support ratification of the ERA (Senate Bill 85 and House Bill 102). Tell them this is not about political parties — it’s about what is right for all citizens.

Our mothers, sisters, daughters and nieces need to be included in the Constitution of this country!

A regional ERA meeting will be held 1-3 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at Rainbow Community Center, 60 State St. in West Asheville. Anyone interested in learning more about the ERA and what can be done to advance it in North Carolina is welcome.

Asheville resident Ann Von Brock is a retired human services professional who’s working with Ratify ERA-NC and the ERA-NC Alliance. X

NEWS

INVISIBLE IN PLAIN SIGHT Living with disabilities in Asheville

BY THOMAS CALDER tcalder@mountainx.com “Most of us, if we live long enough, are going to end up with some kind of issue,” says Eva Reynolds, the associate director of DisAbility Partners.

Reynolds found that out the hard way, thanks to a 2003 brain injury. A widow with three young children, she was working in a restaurant and had no health insurance. “In those instances, you either sink or swim,” she says.

A self-described champion of the underdog, Reynolds joined DisAbility Partners in 2011 after earning a degree in psychology from UNC Asheville.

With locations in Asheville and Sylva, the organization serves 14 Western North Carolina counties, providing information and referrals, training in independent living skills, peer counseling and advocacy. “Our whole purpose is to help people live in the community,” she explains.

The need for such services is great.

Nationwide, roughly 56 million people were disabled as of 2010, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. And a 2012 American Community Survey reported 1.3 million people with disabilities in North Carolina.

In WNC, DisAbility Partners is just one of several local and state organizations that are working to provide needed services. Many committed people, who often have disabilities themselves, are partners in that work, helping build awareness and recognition of the kinds of challenges that no one is immune to.

“Nobody is guaranteed complete mobility,” notes Asheville resident Rylin Mariel, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000.

“Disability is something that could happen to anybody.”

DEFYING THE ODDS On Jan. 18, 2013, Kiel Baumbach stood on a scaffold, painting shutters.

Throughout his 20s, he’d mostly done manual labor: construction in his home state of New York and working for a moving company since relocating to Asheville in 2011.

The painting job was a side gig, and unbeknownst so Baumbach, the scaffold hadn’t been properly assembled,

OPENING EYES: Since joining DisAbility Partners in January 2016, Kiel Baumbach has worked as an advocate for those living with disability. Photo courtesy of Kiel Baumbach he says. The frame was secured by nails rather than screws, he adds, and as he continued to work, the nails gradually gave way.

“I ended up falling about four stories,” he reveals. “I couldn’t move.”

Baumbach spent the next four weeks in the intensive care unit at Mission Hospital with a broken neck and a shattered forearm; the injury left him paralyzed from his midchest down. Still, he considers himself lucky. The ground was littered with tools and tree stumps that could have made his injuries much worse, and his condition proved to be less severe than the initial prognosis. “In the hospital, they told my family that I wouldn’t be able to talk and I wouldn’t be able to move anything from the neck down,” he says.

“I definitely surpassed that.”

The accident, he notes, has opened his eyes to the many local organizations providing assistance. And at a deeper level, his disability has altered his worldview.

“When you get an injury of this severity, it really changes the way you look at things,” says Baumbach. “You look at sidewalks to see if they’re accessible, and you kind of learn what businesses are willing to go that extra mile.”

Baumbach now works alongside Reynolds as an independent living specialist at DisAbility Partners. Knowledge, he maintains, is one of the greatest tools he can offer his clients. “We like our consumers to be informed about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how its requirements can benefit us.”

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N EWS LIMITS OF THE LAW Passed in 1990, the ADA guarantees individuals with disabilities the same rights and opportunities as other citizens when it comes to things like public accommodations, employment, transportation, telecommunications, and state and local government services.

The Southeast ADA Center in Atlanta is one of 10 such regional facilities across the country. It provides information, training and guidance on the law and conducts research on ways to reduce or eliminate barriers to employment. North Carolina is one of eight states the Atlanta facility serves.

“You may hear some people with older buildings say, ‘I’m grandfathered in,’” says information specialist Rebecca Williams. “But there is no grandfathering in the ADA.” For some Asheville residents, however, that fact offers little relief. In the late 1970s, Carol Hubbard survived a traumatic brain injury that still affects her mobility today. Title III of the ADA addresses public accommodations and services operated by private entities. But because it’s complaint-driven, it “puts the onus on the people in need of the accommodations to make the change. That’s ass backward as far as I’m concerned,” says Hubbard, who lives in the Battery Park Senior Apartments.

When service providers don’t obey the law, the only options open to an individual are filing a formal complaint or a civil suit, Williams confirms. And since both those avenues are handled at the federal level, local and state governments have no part in the process.

“It’s true,” says Brad Stein, risk manager for the city of Asheville, who recently took on the additional title of ADA coordinator. “We don’t go out and police existing structure. We don’t field complaints from the citizenry regarding ADA compliance or noncompliance on private property. That is not in our purview or mandate.”

But the city, he continues, does review both new construction and renovations to older buildings for ADA compliance. And in the latter case, Stein advises residents to speak with the building owners. “Hopefully most businesses would want to do the right thing … before a citizen would have to file a complaint with the Department of Justice,” he says.

Still, Hubbard points out from her Battery Park apartment, lack of access can lead to extreme isolation. “Think about it: If you don’t know if you can get in somewhere, if you aren’t sure you’ll be able to use the bathroom, how likely are you to take the trouble? It’s 10

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BATTLE TESTED: Since 2014, Donna Dreyling has been fighting to keep nondisabled residents out of the city’s disabled parking spots. Photo courtesy of Donna Dreyling easier to just stay home. Out of sight, out of mind: It’s a vicious cycle.”

MUTUAL BENEFITS The Arc of North Carolina provides free job placement and retention/support services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And Tim Blekicki, an employment specialist with the Buncombe County chapter, has a fact sheet titled “Five Reasons to Hire Disabled Workers,” which highlights the benefits for employers. For starters, the handout maintains, the disabled community is the nation’s thirdlargest marketing segment. Nearly 30 percent of the 70 million American families “have at least one family member with a disability,” the fact sheet points out. It also cites a University of Massachusetts poll that found that “87 percent of Americans surveyed said they prefer to patronize businesses that hire people with disabilities.”

Blekicki views employment as a crucial component if we’re to create a more integrated society. Besides providing financial independence, it gives disabled people a place within the greater community.

A sense of invisibility, Blekicki and others say, leaves many in the disabled community feeling like second-class citizens.

Christopher Egan, executive director of the N.C. Council on Developmental Disabilities, agrees. The government agency works on behalf of the more than 185,000 people with intellectual or other developmental disabilities in the state.

Its 40 members (60 percent of whom either have such disabilities or have a

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family member who does) are appointed by the governor.

Egan emphasizes the need to highlight success stories. “We want to see employers pulling people in,” he explains, rather than the system “kind of pushing people in.” A 2013 report by the National Governors Association, notes Egan, “highlights Walgreens as a good example. By diversifying their workforce in positions that they typically had a hard time filling and maintaining, they realized there was a positive impact on their business.”

But it’s not just about giving businesses points for inclusivity. The pharmacy chain, says Egan, saw its profits increase. And Blekicki’s handout highlights a common-sense approach, arguing, “When you employ people with disabilities, you’re mirroring the market to attract a wider and more diverse customer base, which can increase your market share.”

WATCHDOG COMMITTEE To help ensure that local folks get the services they need, Blekicki has teamed up with Karen Keating of the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina. Keating, the regional coordinator for the organization’s Asheville office, joined the Mayor’s Committee for Citizens with Disabilities in 2008, after her son sustained a brain injury in a car accident. The committee advised the city on pertinent issues.

“Unfortunately, as time went on, it floundered,” she recalls.

Now, however, Blekicki and Keating are working to re-establish the group.

“When I got to Asheville, I found the disabled community advocates weren’t networked together,” says Blekicki.

“Employment, housing and transportation had their corners, but there was no central network hub. A single phone call should suffice.”

The city, meanwhile, realized that it had a similar problem with respect to issues surrounding Title II of the ADA, which addresses public services at the state and local levels. “What we had been doing was really decentralized,” says Stein. “We wanted to modernize our process. That is, honestly, how I got involved in this.”

As ADA coordinator, Stein is now the single point of contact for city residents with concerns or complaints. They can call his office at 828-259-5687 or reach him via email (bstein@ashevillenc.gov).

Polly McDaniel, a communications specialist for the city, encourages residents to use the Asheville App to report issues or service requests. “It’s an application you can download on your phone; it’s free,” she notes.

Blekicki and Keating hope the new edition of the Mayor’s Committee for Citizens with Disabilities will help the city stay on top of the issues while continuing to advocate for the disabled.

“So much progress has been made,” says Blekicki. “But literally, the point of being a progressive is to continue to progress. You never stop learning acronyms; you never get tired of getting better. The second you rest on your laurels, you’re not a progressive anymore.”

FIGHTING BACK It might sound odd, but when Donna Dreyling was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy in 2003, she says it felt as though she’d won the lottery.

“It’s a neurological disease where, more or less, the pain receptors never shut off,” she explains. In her case, Dreyling’s “winnings” came in the form of peace of mind: After six years, she could finally identify the source of her joint pains and the discoloration on her hands and feet.

“It can make you very depressed,” she says. “I’ve had to learn to fight to survive.”

In recent years, some of that fighting has been with city residents who violate the law. “My goal is to make this community handicapped-friendly,” she says.

In 2014, Dreyling began volunteering with Asheville’s Handicapped Parking Enforcement Program. “I write handicap tickets for the city,” she reveals.

Her biggest gripe — and one she’s written a fair number of tickets for — are nondisabled people who drop passengers off at a store, pull into a disabled parking spot, and wait there until their passengers return. “That will cost you a $250 fine,” she notes.

Often, the recipients of those tickets aren’t happy about it, however, and Dreyling has taken her share of abuse.

“People scream at me and yell obscenities,” she says. “The worst violators are the ones who are screaming at me: the violators! And you don’t feel like you have the backup of the police because they have so much other crime to worry about that handicapped parking is bottom of the barrel.”

COME TOGETHER Support groups can help ameliorate battle fatigue while fostering a sense of community. In 2015, Ann Karson founded the Asheville chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. Between 25 and 50 people typically attend the monthly meetings held at CarePartners on Sweeten Creek Road (for details, visit avl.mx/3hg). “There are people who

job — all those rights that people without disabilities often take for granted.”

Leonard-Spencer, meanwhile, feels the program can have “a ripple effect that won’t just affect people in the here and now, but possibly for years to come.”

CURSE OR CHALLENGE?

EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE: Since his youth, Gary Ray, front left, has had poor vision. In 1980, he was declared legally blind. He says every day is a challenge, but one that he embraces. Accompanying Ray on his rafting trip are rafting guide Sam Hartshorn, back left, Linda Ray, back right, and a unidentified passenger. Photo courtesy of Gary Ray come and say they value a place where they can expect their hearing loss to be taken into account,” notes Karson.

“They can socialize. I think we’re slowly getting appreciated for that.”

The group is also urging local businesses to install hearing loops, which electromagnetically transmit sound to hearing aids and cochlear implants.

Egan of the Council on Developmental Disabilities applauds the chapter’s efforts. “Come together with other people: Your voice is louder that way,” he points out. “Increase advocacy and advocacy development opportunities for members, family members and professions. Train and help people understand that this is how you can make an impact and help shape policy.” And while this strategy doesn’t address individuals’ struggles with exhaustion, he continues, it does create “avenues where we can make change for the future.”

LEADING THE WAY One of those avenues for change is a program called Supported Living — Making the Difference, a statewide effort to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities achieve increased independence.

Funded by a three-year grant from the Council on Developmental Disabilities, the initiative is led

by Vaya Health, an Ashevillebased managed care organization.

Supported living has been added to the list of government-funded services, and the project will identify

and disseminate best practices to be used by care providers.

“The grant is designed to create a statewide learning community,” says Jesse Smathers, Vaya’s network development director. Four partner organizations — Turning Point Services, The Arc of North Carolina, Liberty Corner Enterprises and FIRST — will monitor the progress of 18 people with either intellectual or developmental disabilities as they transition from a group home to living in the community. Vaya, in turn, will monitor the monitors.

“There will be some videography taken from it, and the stories will be shared through a learning community, with quarterly meetings or quarterly webinars,” says Smathers. Consisting of care providers, experts in the field, disability rights activists and other interested parties, the ever-evolving learning community will “help people see the possibilities of using this service,” Smathers notes.

Rachel Leonard-Spencer, Vaya’s marketing and communications coordinator, says, “We want to impress upon people that these individuals aren’t just thrown out there on their own: They do have support.” And drawing on those test cases, Vaya, its partner organizations and additional nonlocal experts will distill best practices to be used in meeting the anticipated increase in demand for such services.

Independent living, notes Smathers, “gives a person pride. It seems to be a part of everyone’s life to break away from the family and move out into the community, get their own place, find a

“The first thing I see in the morning, and the last thing I see at night, is that I’m blind,” says Gary Ray. “Everything between those two is either a curse or a challenge.”

Born in Weaverville in 1950, Ray battled poor vision all his life. By the time he enrolled at N.C. State, a strange phenomenon had begun to occur: The varsity athlete thought he saw people jumping in front of his car. But when he returned to Asheville to see his eye doctor, Ray was informed that he had macular degeneration, and by 1980, he was declared legally blind (his vision was 20/200).

For 20 years, Ray worked at the N.C. Library for the Physically Blind and Physically Handicapped in Raleigh.

“They paid me to talk,” he says. “I got to go around the state and let blind and visually impaired people know about the services offered.”

After retiring nine years ago, Ray returned to WNC. But Raleigh, he maintains, is way ahead of Asheville when it comes to things like accessibility and transportation services. To help improve conditions here, Ray now serves on the city’s Transit Committee and belongs to the Buncombe County chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. “We believe that with appropriate training and services, a blind person could get blindness down to where it becomes a nuisance, as opposed to something that keeps them at home and never lets them go anywhere,” he explains.

In between his committee work and chapter meetings, though, there are times when Ray feels the full weight of his disability. But he’s taught himself a trick to fend off despair.

“It’s called brainwashing,” he says.

“The human brain can generally only keep one line of thought going at any given time. Whenever you feel the curse coming, if you change the way you think — if you change it from curse to challenge, if you force your mind to think ‘challenge’ over and over again — you can start a new day at any point.” X

MOUNTAINX.COM

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11

Magical Offerings

NEWS

Commissioners approve sustainability initiatives

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dhesse@mountainx.com The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners bustled through a bevy of energy-related items and continued a freeze on funding for A-B Tech construction projects at its March 7 meeting.

The board created a new sustainability office, moved to invest in a feasibility study for a solar farm and allocated $700,000 for new LED lights for Buncombe County Schools, while continuing the moratorium on spending at the community college after A-B Tech officials requested a postponement earlier that day.

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B U N C O M B E B E AT

JOB MANUFACTURING Nathan Ramsey, with Mountain Area Workforce Development, gave commissioners a presentation about the state of the region’s manufacturing job opportunities. He said statistics show county wages remain below national and state averages, with the average yearly county wage being $39,728, compared with $43,280 and $44,569 for North Carolina and the U.S., respectively. He noted only the health care and hospitality/tourism sectors in the region, composed of Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties, have higher wages than the state and national averages.

“Between the Mission Health expansion and the conversion of [Duke Energy’s] Skyland plant from coal to natural gas … that’s $1.5 billion in investment and thousands of skilled trade workers that will be needed,” said Ramsey, who previously served as both Board of Commissioners chair and state representative.

Commissioner Jasmine BeachFerrara inquired about the availability of apprenticeships. “That’s a hot topic right now,” said Ramsey.

“They really provide academic and practical skills. There are about 220 apprenticeships in our region.” He noted that since the workforce for the same area is about 200,000 people, he would like to see signifi-

MOUNTAINX.COM

EXHAUSTING OPTIONS: Buncombe County says its generator that converts methane gas from the landfill into energy is paying off. The graph above shows the amount of energy equivalencies it has created over the past three years. Graphic courtesy of Buncombe County cant increases in that area and said state funds are helping with the expansion effort.

Commissioner Al Whitesides asked about short-term certificate courses for people not wanting to invest two years in a program.

Ramsey said it’s another hot area and community colleges are “nimble” enough to provide them if they have the students to support those programs. “Frankly, the challenge has been to obtain students to run the short-term training. The challenge is how we drive enrollment to those courses,” said Ramsey.

A-B TECH’S ABSENCE EXCUSE A-B Tech President Dennis King was slated to appear before commissioners to continue a discussion about a spending moratorium that commissioners placed on the school’s capital projects in January.

That meeting, on Feb. 21, sparked

concerns about diversity efforts and the school receiving funding via the consent agenda. However, King canceled his appearance the day of the meeting, citing information from a “recent engineering analysis” that will require him to discuss the college’s overall capital projects with the board of trustees on April 17. There is no word on when A-B Tech will reappear before the Board of Commissioners.

SUSTAINING POWER Commissioners received an update on the county’s energy usage regarding the landfill, numerous buildings and vehicle fleet. Kristy Smith, with the Solid Waste Department, said the landfill receives 1 million pounds of waste daily. However, she said a county initiative that captures methane gas produced at the landfill is helping offset energy usage.

“Instead of the gas emitting into the

B UN C O MB E B EAT HQ environment, we decided to capture it and turn it into electricity,” said Smith.

She said the carbon reduction of the project, over the last three years, is equivalent to taking 16,490 cars off the road for a year, or a savings 8.8 million gallons of gas.

Clint Shephard, the county’s general service manager, gave an overview of sustainability efforts regarding the county’s 84 buildings and 450 vehicles. He noted that after an energy audit and taking reduction measures, the county has reduced the average per-squarefoot-utility (natural gas, electricity and water) cost by 12 cents over the past three years.

He said the average fuel cost is about $550,000 per year but noted combined fleet and building reductions have resulted in an equivalent of saving 9 million gallons of gas, or energy for 8,400 homes.

Commissioners were impressed with the reductions, but Commissioner Mike Fryar noted that while “if it’s break even, it’s still good,” the generator capturing and converting methane into energy is expensive.

SUSTAINABLE JOB County Manager Wanda Greene pitched to commissioners the creation of a Sustainability Office that would help county departments with issues like carbon reduction, energy efficiency, cost-efficiency measures and seeking external partnerships for the county to engage in.

Commission Chair Brownie Newman said the post would help ensure that energy use at county facilities is being responsive to the needs of taxpayers and the environment. “As we think about clean energy and sustainability goals … to really make a difference, it will take collaboration with community partners. As we go forward, there will be partnership opportunities we don’t even know about right now.” said Newman.

Greene told Xpress the salary would be about $75,000 a year and not require additional money for the current fiscal year, but it will need to be funded in the upcoming fiscal year.

LIGHTING LOTTERY Next commissioners heard from county school officials about an

To read all of Mountain Xpress’ coverage of city and county news, visit Buncombe Beat online at avl. mx/3b5. There you’ll find detailed recaps of government meetings the day after they happen, along with previews, in-depth stories and key information to help you stay on top of the latest city and county news. X

effort to replace fluorescent lights with LEDs across the entire district.

The school system asked for $700,000 in lottery funding to help with the initiative and said the move would save $911,000 a year in maintenance and energy savings. It will take two years to completely change the lights from the remaining 38 buildings.

Commissioners unanimously approved the funding.

SUNNY OUTLOOK “I do work in the solar industry, so I think about good places to put solar installations in,” said Newman, starting his pitch for a solar farm on the county’s old landfill in Woodfin.

“Solar is booming in North Carolina.

It’s a challenge in the mountains.

Steep slopes are not where you want to put solar farms, but the retired landfill in Woodfin is emerging as a unique property.”

He conceded that it’s not a sure thing the logistics will work out, noting that a feasibility study will show if it’s a good fit. However, he says if the forecast comes back positive, it would draw an investment of about $7 million for the potential 4- to 5-megawatt system.

“There are a lot of energy companies looking for locations for solar farms. Once approved in concept, we think we can find an energy company to provide capital,” said Newman, noting that permit and processing steps would take upward of 18 months. However, if successful, he says the investment could bring in property tax revenue and save money on land maintenance.

Newman also claimed it would create enough energy to power 18 percent of the county.

The motion to invest $27,000 for a feasibility study was unanimously approved.

Newman also said that no solar company he works with or invests in will be eligible for the project. The county’s attorney signed off on that notion, and no other commissioners raised concerns. X

March 22

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Explore your Upward Mobility at

— Career Fest — Local companies are seeking employees just like you. Job fair open to the public.

Hosted by Lenoir-Rhyne University Asheville.

LR.EDU/Asheville 36 Montford Ave, Asheville NC 828.407.4263 MOUNTAINX.COM

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KIDS ISSUE 2017

And from those new things, there are new worlds to get lost in. Thousands of adventures are waiting to be opened inside a million unread books, unheard albums and unseen sights. If you never get lost, you never have to find yourself, never have to learn about who you are you’ll never be forced to experience the world around you.

— Maia Rae Morrell Franklin School of Innovation, ninth grade

What matters to me?

What has this become?

BY TRACY ROSE trose@mountainx.com

Welcome to part I of Xpress’ 2017 Kids Issue, our annual feature celebrating the creativity of this area’s K-12 students. This year, we asked kids and teens to focus on the theme of “What Matters to Me?” We received about 450 entries (our largest response yet) from students who attend more than 30 local public, charter, private and home schools, along with an afterschool arts program.

Their responses — in the form of art, essays and poetry — reflect a wide range of interests and concerns: from thoughtful submissions on social justice issues to sweet tributes to family, friendship and pets, all threaded with the exuberance and hope of youth. (And if you ever wonder about the next generation, here’s solid evidence that we’ll likely be in good hands in the future.)

Be sure to check back next week for more engaging kids’ art and writing in part II of the Kids Issue, along with Xpress’ annual guide to area summer camps. Enjoy!—X

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SHE MATTERS TO ME: Sand Hill-Venable Elementary School fourth-grader Emily Blanco painted this portrait in the style of visionary artist Minnie Evans, with details that are important to her.

Making the most of life

The most important thing to me in life is using it. Making the most of it.

And that sounds really cheesy, but I mean it, I really do. What living life to the fullest looks like to me is not one thing. It’s more of a web, like the food chain in an ecosystem.

For me, it starts at trying new things; what trying new things means to me is learning. Learning about different cultures, learning to cook, speak a different language, learning about yourself along the way and pushing yourself just enough to learn how much more you are capable of then what you first thought.

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KIDS ISSUE

Part I

But that’s not all that trying new things is, of course; trying new things also means going new places, maybe going to a party you told yourself you wouldn’t go to because that’s not your crowd or because you think you aren’t cool enough. Because like I said, all of this is like a chain reaction. Through trying new things, whole other worlds can be opened up to you.

A big thing for me is people. Making new connections with new people.

Because the thing about connecting with other people is it inspires you; maybe gives you new views, beliefs, new ideas of what you want to do. Human connections are a pretty spectacular things. In my opinion, one of the most underrated things is actually feeling comfortable around someone and connecting with someone on a deeper level than small talk and polite chitchat.

As humans, we are very dependent on each other, and there is no way of getting around that. We need each other, we need something to connect to, to relate to, to feel some sort of sense of belonging.

Even if you lock yourself away from the outside world, maybe you don’t really talk to anyone, and social situations make your skin itch, chances are you connect to something. We feed off of others’ art, music, philosophies. If you listen to music, you are connecting with whoever put themselves into making it; if you connect with books and literature, that’s you connecting with the author; if you like art, you connect with the artist.

Why do white people have more rights? Is it because there has only been one black president? Is it because Christopher Columbus was a white man who founded America? What if Columbus was a black man? Would black people have more rights, or would white people because they do not respect another brother or sister?

Why do white police officers think it’s OK to shoot an innocent black man? I am a proud black boy who is confused.

I am confused why people with different skin colors don’t have equal rights.

Black people have their rights, and white people have their rights, but why are they not equal?

I live in a multiracial family. One of my dads is Mexican, and the other is [Anglo]. My dads decided to adopt me.

My two teenage sisters are black just like me.

I think people with different genders and ethnicities should have equal rights, and I think it is stupid that white men claim to be the people with the most power and blacks have the least.

But I am not hating or judging white men and I am not saying that black people should have more rights.

I myself, hang out with a group of five. Three people are white, one person is brown, and the other (me) is black. Most of the time we get along, but when we do not, it is not because of the colors of our skin. What’s the difference between us kids? We all love similar things, so why should we be playing with kids that are only our skin color?

Why should we live in a neighborhood with our designated skin tone?

After all, we are more alike my friends than we are unalike.

— Oliver Henry Perez The Learning Community School, fifth grade

BELOVED TREE: Claxton Elementary School fifth-grader Kessie Ragland used paint and buttons on canvas to create this artwork.

The disappearance The savory smell of gravy as it cascades onto your mashed potatoes, saucy looping spaghetti, the crunch of an oatmeal cookie.

Gone.

A crisp apple in the dying sunlight, ice cream melted just enough so that every bite is drowning in a concoction of soupy, sweet perfection, a luscious pancake adorned with fresh berries.

Gone.

If we continue killing off our main pollinators, none of us will be so fortunate. Maybe you think, “Why worry?” Food will be in short supply but rationed very carefully. The chances are there will not be enough

to go around for you, your pets, your friends, your parents, your grandparents, your cousins, your siblings and everyone else on the planet. Also, animals need food. They eat plants too, and if they do not, they eat animals who eat plants! Less pollination, less plants, less life. Simple. And it is happening at an alarming rate.

Pesticides and herbicides are a big part of the problem. A honeybee drinks nectar from a poisoned plant, is soon weakened, then killed. Could you please take it to heart not to use these chemicals in your garden?

Only buy food labeled “organic.” If we all take this leap, do our best, spread the word, it might not be too late for this amazing and vital endangered species.

— By Zinnia Marquis The Learning Community School, sixth grade

KIDS ISSUE

Part I

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Music to my ears

It’s a school night. I am 8 years old and practicing the piano. I start to wander off and mess around by playing random notes and making up horrific chords.

I think some of those keys don’t make the delightful sound I thought they would make, so I try to find something … worthy. I fall upon the F major scale. I move up a note to the G, and try to figure something out there. After about a minute, I discover the G major scale. I next find a note progression in the other six notes in the octave until I come back to F. I call out to my dad to check out what I found. He comes down, and I show him all the treasure my brain has discovered. My dad tells me they are scales. My cheeks turn as red as a tomato; I am amazed.

He goes out of the room and comes back in with his iPad, pulling up a video. “This song is known as the hardest song on piano ever,” my dad

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Part I

ON A SAUNTER: Claxton Elementary School third-grader Elise Carson painted this watercolor of an elephant and friend.

NIGHT DRAGON: Asheville School 11th-grader Heather Capps painted this atmospheric night scene. forewarns. “This song is known as Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3.”

He presses play. The song starts. I study note by note. It’s like candy for the ears, endless amounts. My jaw drops as the performer plays the entrance to heaven.

That heaven lasted for 45 minutes, and when it ended, I closed my

sore jaw and shook my head round and round to see if that was real life.

“The girl who played that was 25, and someday you can play that song, maybe at 20.” Those words struck me so hard my eyelids opened from floor to ceiling.

From that point on, I have been competing against myself to some-

day be as good as the girl I saw play. I hope someday to be a famous musician, and I have gotten support from my teachers and family to keep my hopes up and improve. I love music, every part of it.

— Riley Johnson The Learning Community School, sixth grade

KIDS ISSUE

Part I

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KIDS ISSUE

Part I

Imagine a life without friends. Friends are one of the essentials of life; without them, we would live a boring, lazy and incomplete life. I think friends are very important to have because I can count on them and I need them.

Harper is one of the best friends I have ever had. She is amazing at helping me with tasks, from writing anything to being brave. For example, one day we were writing a book, and she wanted to add something in. At first, I was not sure it would sound good, but she talked me into it. When I lived in New York City I could talk to her more, but now that I live in North Carolina and do not have an electronic device, we write letters to each other. The joy of opening the letter makes me feel like I am in the same room as her, and when I write letters to her, I always love putting them in the mailbox.

Sacha is another good friend from New York. I can tell her anything, and she is a great secret keeper. She loves cats just like me. I used to go and visit her and her very cute cats. Their names are Angel, Ranger and Tiger.

Gabby is the last person I want to talk about. She is creative and funny. She always has awesome ideas. One day we were playing with clay, and she suggested we use the guide book for the clay models. It really worked, too, with ideas like doughnuts, taffy, fish, owls and ponies.

I love all my friends for different reasons, and I would not know what to do without them. I hope you feel the same

way when you are with and without your friends, too!

— Veronica Martinez The Learning Community School, fourth grade

Moving to Asheville I moved across the country during my early elementary school years.

I moved from my hometown, Los Angeles, Ca., to Asheville, N.C. It was a life-changing experience.

I hated it at first. First of all, it was a whole new environment. The weather was much more different. It was hot in LA and cold in Asheville. It felt like I was turning into an ice sculpture.

Plus, LA is way bigger than Asheville!

It was like moving into a walnut. Also, it was very depressing. Life in LA was smooth, then things got very busy and hectic. My parents got busy finding jobs and getting new houses. I felt like I never got to spend any time with them.

And it wasn’t like I could hang out with a friend. I moved to a new school in the middle of the year, so everyone already was best friends with someone else. It was very complicated. I had no clue what to do.

If you’ve ever been in this same situation, it takes a lot of time to get used to. But I finally met silly, funny friends along the way who helped me, who had similar experiences. Since then, part of me even wanted to laugh all day. Even though a big part of me still wants to

LOVE OF SOCCER: North Buncombe Middle School seventh-grader Briana Molina-Avalos created this artwork featuring things that are important to her, including her Mexican heritage. be in LA, I know that now that I like Asheville more than I did before.

— Tatum Shearer Claxton Elementary, third grade

DOG IS LOVE: North Windy Ridge Intermediate School fifth-grader Miles Gast snapped a photo of this friendly canine.

Our pets

MY BODY, MY CHOICE: Asheville School 12th-grader Isabel Whelchel’s artwork includes wording explaining a pro-choice viewpoint.

We love our pets, and our pets love us, But never let them on the bus.

Some do bark and leave lots of their business in the park, Some are big, some are small, some are annoying, some are all.

Some also leave their business in the hall, and some really love to play ball.

Some love snuggles from us Muggles, Some eat all the ham, and Mom gets really mad, and she says, “You’ve been very bad!”

She scowls at them and frowns and calls them, big fat clowns.

As we said before, we love our pets.

Us two. Very good friends.

We will love them forever.

— Mattie Monteleone and Jack Cooper Isaac Dickson Elementary School, fourth grade

MLK

He was the best.

He never hurt a pest.

He was a great guy Almost as great as the sky.

He is not a girl But he’s one special pearl.

He always kept his chill.

He never was a kill.

He was an awesome man As awesome as the great Pan. — Andromache Lemmel Isaac Dickson Elementary School, third grade

BUTTERFLY TIME: Rainbow Community School kindergartener Cearnaighy McCorkle painted this watercolor of a butterfly.

KIDS ISSUE

Part I

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OUR TRAUMA IS NOT A STEREOTYPE: A.C. Reynolds High School 11th-grader MaryChandler Bridges looks below the surface in this meaningful artwork.

Fantasy

God’s gentle fantasy dancing looks like peace, watching over us to see who eats, eats the animals God has made, watching us live and go to grave, watching us pray on that holy day.

God is all and we should obey.

God did everything.

— Ava Babcock-Watford Isaac Dickson Elementary, fourth grade

NATURE’S BEAUTY: Cane Creek Middle School sixth-grader Virginia Ward painted this woodland scene.

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KIDS ISSUE

Part I

Where has it all gone?

My face pressed against the glass as I peered out my window on a midJanuary day, noticing only the sun that covered my eyes. This shouldn’t be like this. My parents tell me stories about how it snowed all through January, how piles of snow stacked up along the side of the road. That’s not what I see now, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. What happened to the winter my parents remembered? What happened to the world we live in?

The most significant issue that I care about is climate change. Since I was little, I would look up at the sky and wonder what it was like before oil and the Industrial Age. I wondered what it would be like to live when the weather was consistent and everything wasn’t so technologically dependent. I wondered what it was like to see trees and rain forests instead of phone lines and internet cables pouring onto the road like an ocean washing up to the shore. I have these moments almost every day, and it has driven me to the conclusion that the Earth is most important to me.

In high school, I want to take renewable energy and programming classes at A-B Tech, so when I get older, I can pursue my goal of making renewable energy-powered everyday necessities, such as cars, phones, computers, etc.

I really don’t like the turn our country has taken in delaying solar and windpowered energy just so the oil companies can make more of their filthy money. The Earth is important to me, and I will do the best that I can to stop

A summer of adventure...

A lifetime of values.

what will eventually make the place that we live and breathe on ... die.

— Sage Sankey-Taranto Evergreen Community Charter School, eighth grade

Boys Overnight & Co-ed Day Camp Sessions

BRAINWASHER: Asheville Middle School eighth-grader Sam Hopper Fisher depicts President Donald Trump washing a brain covered in the flag to represent Trump brainwashing America.

KEY TO HER HEART: Asheville Middle School eighth-grader Rowan Berry-Foster used pen, marker and watercolor to express how “we all care about love, or lack thereof, at some level.”

We are equal

On March 23, 2016, North Carolina stole the rights of the LGBTQ community. That’s right, I’m talking about HB2. This outrageous bill caused much confusion and discrimination to many people in North Carolina.

Although Gov. Roy Cooper is trying to fix all of this mess, we are somewhat still in a box.

This a problem I feel strongly about, due to the fact that I have many friends who identify differently from their original sex. I personally feel that this bill is cruel, unexplained and unfair. The U.S constitution gives us the power and freedom to control ourselves. I don’t understand why this is happening. This law doesn’t make any sense. I hope people in the future will see how self-centered they are for supporting HB2 and that this should never happen again.

Much of the population agrees with me and has protested and marched to overturn this bill. Several organizations stand against it and are trying everything they can to get this law reversed.

Bands coming to play in Asheville have been canceled due to HB2. Some say that over 15,000 will have to get refunds

because so many shows and concerts are being canceled in protest. Paypal was planning on opening a plant, but decided not to because of this law. Many sports events have been canceled as well.

Twenty-three percent of all Americans identify as LGBTQ. That’s a little less than a quarter of the population. I hope that whoever supports this bill stops and thinks about all the other people in this community being affected and realizes how cruel and hurtful HB2 really is. All of you people who are supporting this law, get your facts right.

After the election, We the people elected our new governor, Roy Cooper. He is against House Bill 2 and is trying his best to repeal this law. I guess all the people and businesses protesting are making a change in the system.

— Morgan Rouse Evergreen Community Charter School, eighth grade

Learn more: rockmont.com

Camp Heart Songs 14th Annual Grief Camp A FREE two day, overnight camp to help children express their grief in a fun and safe environment.

When: 8:00AM Saturday, August 12th through 12:00PM Sunday, August 1

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Registration from 8:00am-8:30am.

Parents must be present for registration.

Where: Camp Tekoa in Hendersonville off Crab Creek Road Ages: -15 years of age

Pre-Application due by July 8th Application due by July 29th

‘I LOVE MY AMAZING FAMILY’: Asheville Catholic School third-grader Celina Nguyen writes that she loves her family because they love and care for her.

Registration is limited.

For an application, please call: 828-233-0334 Register online at fourseasonscfl.org/heartsongs

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IMAGES: Asheville School 11th-grader Robert Harlan created this collage.

We are wasteful

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The landfill was way bigger than I ever imagined, a huge plot of land, being wasted just for our waste. In second grade, we loaded up the buses and went on a field trip to the landfill. It was filled with trash; unused, unneeded parts of our daily lives.

From plastic bags to old boards to piles of scrap metal. We waste way more than I ever thought was possible.

Wastefulness has always been an issue I have been aware of. When I was young, my parents made sure to teach me that we can’t waste too much. Not only my parents, but many people in my life and at school have influenced me and my beliefs on this topic, and even how to put them into action. Whether it is eating all of my dinner or using reusable containers and water bottles, waste matters to me.

People waste a lot, generally not even realizing it leads to unnecessary wastefulness, and oftentimes in unnecessary and inefficient ways.

This affects not only me but every living being on our planet. It is an issue that if everyone tried just a little harder, took that one extra step, could be improved.

People need to realize how simple it is to become less wasteful. It is recycling, reusing, turning off the lights, printing two-sided, bringing your own shopping bags, using clotheslines, buying secondhand, caring. The obstruction is that it is easier to not do anything, to sit around and not care.

Wastefulness is significant to me because it relates to climate change and how much we are destroying our planet.

If we all continue to act how we are now,

things will keep traveling downhill.

Finding ways to be more efficient and not waste so much could be a major part of how we can help. This will benefit everyone.

— Sam Fleming Evergreen Community Charter School, eighth grade

BELIEVE: Valley Springs Middle School eighth-grader Dylan Molling writes that he drew this self-portrait with words that describe himself as well as phrases he looks to and lives by.

‘I HOPE MY MOMS LIVE FOREVER!’ Claxton Elementary School second-grader Braden Miller drew this happy image with pencil and crayon.

Empathize, don’t criticize He rolls into the room. Packed bags on the floor, a flicker of the kitchen lights reflecting in his teary eyes. “I messed up, I am sorry, but I can’t leave, not now, not like this.” What do I do? What can I do? Thoughts echo through my mind as I see this man, not much older than myself sitting in his wheelchair, telling me he wants to die. There is no way for a 14-year-old to help someone who had their whole life taken away from them due to a single incident. Nothing I can do now that he relapsed, because of his disease, now he must leave a place he felt safe and loved. Nothing I can do except listen and empathize.

I am a 14-year-old who lives in and around recovery homes for drug “addicts.” These are people no one thinks about when it comes to helping them. They are looked down on in our society. Whether it is judgmental looks from the neighbors, being labeled as untrustworthy people or being stopped on the sidewalk to be asked questions that are passive-aggressively insulting them. They made a mistake, just one, and that is the mistake of picking up a drug and having the disease of addiction in their genetics making them “addicts.” When people talk about a “drug addict,” they aren’t talking about a loving mom, caring veteran, successful businessman or everyday people — even though that is who they are.

Empathize, don’t criticize, embrace that everyone is different. These people you think of with fear or think are dangerous are usually hurt, defenseless, harmless people who weren’t able to see any other option but drugs largely, in part, because they didn’t get an education, they got injured, lived in poverty, had abusive parents, etc. But in the end, they just had a disease. So, next time you pass that recovery house in your neighborhood, remember that the people in there are just like you. They just need help, and talking cruelly about them, telling them to leave, labeling them as criminals doesn’t help. Empathize, don’t criticize.

— Middle-school student Buncombe County

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HORSES MATTER: Hopeland Academy home school fourth-grader Radiance Hoagland painted this colorful portrait of a favorite horse.

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+6/& "6(645 WHERE I’M FROM: Francine Delany New School for Children seventh-grader Tobin Fields submitted this illustrated poem.

The natural world

If one thing in this world spoke more to me than any other, I think the most clear voice in my life has been the natural world. As long as I remember, going outside and breathing fresh mountain air has always helped me regain my strength when I need it. Nature always shows me how simple things are often the best things. It’s almost magic how a sunrise can help you be ready for a stressful day of exams. Even if all else goes wrong, the sun is going to be there for me every morning, the trees will whisper their hellos in the wind, the birds will comfort me with cheerful song.

The aliveness that surrounds you in a forest is enchanting. Everything around you has a voice, something walls and floors and fluorescent lights have never felt. When the forest is around you, you’re part of a collection of beautifully diverse space that has an energy found nowhere else. Every tree that shades you is so vibrantly alive. Every insect flying about is an example of the refined perfection of aerodynamics and dexterity and weighs less than an eyelash. Nothing can feel the same as exploring the impossible world we live in.

I go on walks up the mountain when I’m sad sometimes. When I’m happy, too.

Because I know that I’ll pass the turkey family. I’ll wave. As I walk further, I’ll pass the blackberry patch where I’ll share a meal with the songbirds. I’ll meet a new friend maybe, a squirrel chattering in the

During our summer day camp, small co-ed groups of 1st-7th grade aspiring naturalists will have opportunities to explore the peaks, creeks, and wild woodlands that make western North Carolina so magical. We oer a half-day program for younger grades (1st3rd) and a full-day program for older grades (4th-7th). Come enjoy nature with us!

For more information or to register visit:

www.campmuddysneakers.org 828-862-5560 • PO Box 146 • Brevard, NC 28712 24

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trees. I’ll walk through the goldenrod, and a thousand grasshoppers will fly up into the air around me. I’ll find a stone. I’ll bring it with me to the top of the mountain. And I’ll place it on the grave of my friend. My friend was a rabbit. She wished me well on my way to school every day. When I found her body in the road, I decided she could rest here, where she could see out forever. And it makes me happy again.

She is home, and so am I. — Elias Varn Invest Collegiate Imagine, tenth grade

FAMILY MATTERS: Rainbow Community School second-grader Zeneida Leitner drew this portrait of her family.

CREATIVITY AND MORE: Odyssey Community School third-grader Dylan Cantinella shares what matters.

What I do not want to grow up in

I am 10 years old, and so far I have seen hatred, racism, sexism and so much more. I do not want to live in a world like that, but that is the type of world we live in. We have come so far in the civil rights movement that now in 2017, I feel like that we are going backwards.

I might be little, but I know I have a voice. We can bring peace if we unite and fight for our rights. We all might be different, never the same, but it does not matter about skin color or gender.

We are all human and come from the same place. So help bring peace back to America. Thank you!

— Gabriella Bluestone Isaac Dickson Elementary School, fourth grade

I fell asleep I fell asleep in a small town in West Virginia, in my grandparents’ home. I listened to the sounds of cars as they flew by in the midnight hours, full of junkies and alcoholics who were bar hopping. The steady beat of the nightclub up the alleyway lulled me.

Patchwork roads, with their temporary fixes led my mind there. I fell asleep to the train whose engine purred softly on the path across the river. I fell asleep in a rickety wooden bed with a quilt that my frail great-grandmother had made herself years before she died. I fell asleep hearing my grandpa’s steady snore two doors down. I heard the clock on the kitchen wall tick as each second passed. The seconds led to hours, which led to days, which inevitably turned to years.

I fall asleep in silence in my own room now. I fall asleep in my own home. The gentle glow of the TV screen from across the hall seeps into my room. The dim rays of green shine from the outlet beside my dusty piano. Time has brought me here, time has changed me. I no longer hear the hum of cars passing by my window.

I have grown up. I am no longer falling asleep but instead lying awake. I don’t know where the time has gone, nor why it had to go so abruptly.

Yet still, somewhere inside I am in every place all at once. I feel the eternity of my experiences and feel happy. It isn’t a place, it is a feeling, a family and a moment of my childhood. It isn’t where I fall asleep that makes the difference in my happiness; it was what comes with it.

The thing that matters most to me is the love I had felt long ago and will always feel. The things that matter most to me are the memories that I will keep with me forever.

— Morgan Cook Martin L. Nesbitt Jr. Discovery Academy, tenth grade

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ANIMALS, FAMILY AND FUN: Rainbow Community School second-grader Ariana Smith-Ocean shares four images of what matters to her.

Happiness or sadness

I want to live happy. Where do you think happiness comes from? I believe it came from God. I have been sad before.

Happiness is better than sadness.

One time I had a pet hamster, and I loved it. Once, when I came home from my mema’s house, my hamster had died.

I felt very, very sad. A long time later, I was happy that he was with God. I am so glad and happy that we can be happy!

I want to be happy even if we are by ourselves. One time, I was at my aunt’s house. My sisters were not with me, and my brothers were not with me. I got sad, so we went for a walk. Then, I felt better.

When I saw nature, I remembered God made me. And God is with me, so I felt even better. Then, I was happy.

I want to be happy with God, with my family and also with my friends. It is OK to be sad — for a while. But I am going to pick happiness. I hope you do, too.

— ShevaStar Hoagland Hopeland Academy home school second grade

What matters most

I remember I remember standing in a forest Breathing in the fresh, clean air.

Running. Laughing. Playing.

Then we looked up, saw a canopy, a bird’s nest And were happy

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Truly happy, happy and free.

I remember the sound of them falling A boom and a crash That shook the forest floor.

Animals fleeing from what once was a home.

Chopping. Chopping Faster and faster Until everything was gone.

Not a bird chirps, not a mouse moves There is nothing Nothing at all.

I remember why they were destroyed.

So humans can have whatever they want.

Paper, pencils, room for houses.

Cattle ranches.

Not caring at all since it benefits them.

But that’s not OK. Not at all.

I remember replanting, Digging in the dirt, Covering the roots of a sapling, Trying to save our world At least a little.

I remember a forest.

Will the next generation?

— Logan Feiler Hanger Hall, seventh grade

ANIMAL REFLECTIONS: A.C. Reynolds High School 11th-grader Savannah Hutsell painted this picture juxtaposing a pet with crated chickens.

Lovely thoughts from a lovely girl and all that matters to me is you.

Around your finger I watch your hair twirl, eyes shining brighter and bright est.

Galaxies upon galaxies upon gal axies, and all that matters to me is you.

Listen to any of the true prophe cies to hear your name and your name only.

What matters most to you?

Is it the way you find joy in everything, Or the freedom of your soul?

I’d like to know what matters most to you, because what matters most to me is You. — Jake Elvada Home school, tenth grade

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Freedom, love, religion, rights, Let us be each other’s lights.

Strong and kind and very bold, We will be each other’s gold.

I know it’s hard to continue the fight, But guide us, guide us through the night.

For what we know and believe is right, Love will carry us with its might.

So if you’re walking past some one you don’t know, Wait a minute and say hello.

For that is what makes this world important to me.

— Cora Goforth North Windy Ridge Intermediate School, fifth grade

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KING OF THE LIZARDS: Asheville Catholic School third-grader Joaquin Tordoya-Urdiales writes that his first pet is very important to him.

What really matters What really matters to me?

The answer is very simple, you see: Penguins My cat, Zammie Recycling Friends Writing Books Family Kindness Oh, and also ice cream.

— Madelynne Wechtel North Buncombe Elementary School, fourth grade

What’s important Important things have value, But maybe just in your eyes.

Even though these things are good, Love and friendship are the prize.

There may be joy, sorrow and lies, Peace, love, hope and cries.

But in the end, we all rise.

Family, friends and everything you do, What are the things important to you?

A SPECIAL CAT: Rainbow Community LIGHT BEARER: Home school eighthSchool second-grader Nik Waddell offered grader Savannah Stone created this colorup this colorful cat portrait. ful work.

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Politics gives me a chance to understand people To me, all of politics matters because it gives me a chance to understand people better, and it gives me a chance to express myself.

I also enjoy politics because I love arguing with people over various topics. Politics also gives me an outlet to do something in my community. It can also give me some job opportunities that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to get. Political debates are fun to watch and help me see other people’s viewpoint.

All of this matters because in a democratic society we need people who listen to the other side and people who are willing to voice their opinion. Without it, we would have a society that is completely one-sided toward a goal or a split society that hates each other.

And because of this, I believe that the people in power need to listen to the people even if they don’t agree with them. When you have people in power who don’t listen to the people, it creates an imbalance, which can cause people to feel powerless. We can fix that by trying our best to see the other side and set an example for other people.

— Jordan Spencer Franklin School of Innovation, ninth grade

Don’t support puppy mills

Who doesn’t love puppies?

Puppies are some of the cutest creatures ever! You know all those adorable puppies behind the glass at pet stores? Well, where they come from isn’t adorable. Those puppies come from breeders, just as their papers say. But it doesn’t say which breeder — did you notice that? That’s because they come from commercial breeders, called “puppy mills.”

Mother dogs are forced to have litter after litter while residing in the most horrific, gut-wrenching conditions.

Occasionally, mothers are even forced to mate with their brothers. Mill owners jam pieces of metal down the breeding dogs throats to rupture their vocal cords and prevent them from barking.

Usually, dogs are kept in wire-bottom cages, where in the summer, some puppies bake on the floors. Sad, right?

It gets worse.

After the mothers can’t handle another litter, they’re usually thrown in city dumpsters and left to die. In 201112, North Carolina was the number one puppy mill state. You must be thinking, “They have to have some type of health standards for the mills, right?” Wrong.

Most states have zero health standards for commercial breeders. You’re probably thinking, “Well, buying a puppy from a mill can turn their life around.”

Yes, it could, but in doing so you’re supporting the mills by contributing to their profit.

You want to save a dog? Get one from your local shelter. A lot of them are from pet stores that people couldn’t handle, anyway! Adopt, don’t shop, save a life.

— Sarah Harvey Franklin School of Innovation, ninth grade

WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND NATURE: Isaac Dickson Elementary School second-grader Anne Hyland expresses what matters to her.

I was playing on my own way before that, though. I try to play basketball every opportunity that I get, but I still don’t play as much as I want to.

I also love sneakers a lot. I started loving and researching sneakers around the fifth grade. I have been in love ever since. I will sit around watching videos about sneakers in my free time. That is something that I enjoy doing in my free time as well as play basketball. The downside to it is I want to play basketball in the free time that I am watching videos.

My two favorite things to do are kind of in the way of each other. The two things also work together because you need sneakers to play basketball,

and I like to have the best ones on the court.

— Phineas Tager Franklin School of Innovation, ninth grade

Basketball and sneakers I love to play basketball as well as research shoes and collect sneakers. I play basketball a lot and try to be as good as my potential will let me be. It is one of my first loves.

One reason for that is because my first word other than “mom” or “dad” was “ball.” So “Ball is life.”

I have been playing basketball for as long as I can remember. I think I started on a team at 4 years old.

‘TREAT THE EARTH BETTER’: Asheville Middle School eighth-grader Tiffan Black suggests “something as simple as picking up trash.”

KIDS ISSUE

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‘I AM SAD AND WORRIED ABOUT THE WALL’: Claxton Elementary School thirdgrader Caroline Peel is concerned about families being separated by a U.S./Mexico wall.

Live Your Legacy Camp For 10th & 11th Grade GIRLS AUGUST 6 – 11 2017, Black Mountain, NC

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Education is the path to success

Education is something that is very important to me, and let me tell you why. It is important because it’s a foolproof way to make lots of money and be smart along with it. It’s also not necessarily about how much you know, but it’s about how it looks on paper.

A grand concern can be shown for the upcoming generation. They’re not so educated. The rising generation needs to just buckle down and get with it. Just be serious about school and grades.

That’s pretty much the only way you can make good money nowadays, and it will impress your parents. You can go to a good college and a good school.

Among millennials ages 25 to 32, median annual earnings for full-time working college-degree holders are $17,500 greater than for those with high school diplomas only. As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.� Benjamin Franklin also once stated, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.�

To sum it all up, education is the key path to success; whether it’s in school or anything, you must be educated on what it is that you’re doing. — Trey Chandler Franklin School of Innovation ninth grade

Words can bring success

Ever since preschool, I was captivated by RVs. I wanted to drive one, own one, camp in one, yet I had no access to any of these actions or ownership. When I was 12, I received a couple of RVing books for Christmas, published in the 1990s, and the pictures were in black-andwhite. When frustration came upon me for credible, accurate and true RVing tips, tricks, stories and information that wasn’t based 25 years ago, I decided to write my own book about RVs called New Roads, New Adventures when I was 12.

Now, at 14 1â „2 , I have reached the point of my short-experienced career of being a writer where I am working hard toward being selfpublished on shelves and Amazon Kindle at the end of spring 2017. I cannot tell people how many failures I have reached while working on my book, multiple drafts, and issues, time and energy, and the people around me, throughout my journey. Now, as I near the end of this insightful and meaningful journey, I am willing to share my story.

My story of determination and dedication and hard work.

Success. A beautiful product of hard work is achieved through

dreams and goals, where you make the impossible possible. Within my journey, I have seen success in many ways, yet I’ve also seen failures in many ways. But when you take your hands off that keyboard, take a deep breath and feel tired, that is when you are allowed to relax and to enjoy the rest of your day; that is when you know that you have been successful during your time of working and persevering through challenges. I have worked on this book for 3 1⁄2 years, and I can tell you all too many times, I have thrown my hands up in the air, exited the program, and given up, only to return to the computer a few minutes later because I remember I had hit the save button.

— Luka Harris Franklin School of Innovation, ninth grade

Racism haikus Racism is bad Main problem is very small You’re different than me When we are racist We exclude many people We are all the same Racism, really?

It is 2017 We should know better When you are racist You see one bad point of view Seriously stop Skin color, N/A only personality So, be kind and nice — Carter Norfleet Odyssey Community School, ninth grade

SAVING ORANGUTANS: Evan Anderson, a fourth-grader at Roots + Wings Community Design Lab at Vance Elementary School, is working to stop destruction of orangutans’ habitats.

PUPPIES! Ella Miles-Peart, 8, who participates in the Roots + Wings Creative Campus Afterschool Program, shares her love of puppies.

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What matters to me

What matters to me

Her warming personality, Her dark caramel hair, Outstandingly unique clothes, My sister matters to me.

Her loving caring touch, Her soft, warming hugs, The sweetness in her voice, My mom matters to me The strongest love, The greatest hugs, The farthest adventures, My dad matters to me.

The roughness of the bark, The beauty of the trees, The wind that blows and blows, The softest touch of leaves, Nature matters to me.

— Ella Skeen Odyssey Community School, fourth grade

Don’t stop their heartbeat When I first heard of being a vegetarian, I was so engrossed with the idea of it: the fact that you could live your life without eating meat and harming animals. When you are vegetarian, your chance of having cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity are cut down.

There are a lot of health benefits to living a plant-based diet; another important thing is that the meat industry is taking away large parts of the world’s resources that could be used in better ways.

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The warmth of her fur, the way she greets me at the door.

My dog matters to me.

The laughs they share with me, the adventures we go on, they keep me going.

My friends matter to me.

The soft wrinkled skin of the elders when they hug me, the warmth they give me.

My family matters to me.

The wind blowing on my face, the sound of the animals in the forest.

Nature matters to me.

— Eloise Guerguerian Odyssey Community School, fourth grade

MEXICAN ART AND CULTURE: Sand Hill-Venable Elementary School fourth-grader Walter Alvarez-Sanchez painted this portrait in the style of visionary artist Minnie Evans, with details that are important to him.

I have been a vegetarian for over two years now. I became a vegetarian when I was 13, and it was one the best things I think anyone can do. I became a vegetarian not for health reasons but because of the animals that are ripped from their mom or killed for them just to be food.

When I first became a vegetarian, I had no idea about the impact it had on the environment or really just how bad it was for you. The more time that goes on, the more I learn about how the impact of meat is destroying the planet we live on.

Some people say that they would like to try it, but they never do; they push it off and off, and it never happens. So I would say an easy way to start if you are think-

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ing about it is don’t think long term when you first start. Maybe say for a week or month — start small and work up in time because soon you will just not want to eat meat. Another thing I would say is start slowly because any change in not eating meat is a good change. Maybe say, “I will stop eating pork and then beef and then chicken and other birds and fish.” One thing that also may help is try it with a friend — if you have someone to encourage you and to keep going, it will help. I would recommend this one —that is what my best friend and I did.

— Aubrey Cook Franklin School of Innovation, ninth grade

Art and music What I care about in life that matters to me the most is art and music.

Art: I care about art because it a way to express myself in many various colors and textures and shapes and brushes. Using it to make a simplistic way of drawing or expression of feelings that are inside you and wants to release itself to the piece of whatever you’re drawing on that you can be yourself on. By using the many colors, you can create anything, from a drawing of a cat to a sculpture of an ancient animal.

Music: The reason I care about music is because it is also anoth-

Appalachian Institute for Creative Learning

er way to express yourself. The music you produce can either make people feel calm and relaxed or energetic and groovy. When you’re creating music, you’re putting your passion into the music you’re making. If you’re at home and either singing or humming, that is music, but music is everywhere, the wind whistling. People say that space has no sound whatsoever, but that isn’t true. Planets have magnetic fields that create these sound waves that go around the universe, like a space orchestra.

— Dennis Dujsanit North Buncombe Middle School, seventh grade

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Dance

Dance happy, beautiful running, jumping, twirling arms legs shoes feet trying, looking, practicing calm and lovely ballet shoes — Cecilia Rainbow Community School, second grade

AICL has expanded!

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AT PEACE WITH NATURE: Bell Elementary School fifth-grader Lila Baggott shares her colorful, whimsical drawing.

A School of Global Leadership; Where Faith and Knowledge Meet the World.

Now enrolling Pre-K Through 8th Grade

Week Tminus1: Blastoff to Adventure!

Like our other weeks of camp at Warren Wilson, we continue the motto we’ve had since 1982: learning is fun! But this week is tad different in that it specializes in rising 6–8th graders at Mars Hill. Week T-1 provides more of a focus on what Middle School students love: classes full of imagination, hands-on projects, selfexpression, and the skills they need for their continuing academic lives. This program will offer such classes as Alien Civilizations, Stencil and Stamp, 3d Design, Tape Sculpture, Corpus Delicti, Book Building, and Board with a Nail in It (a class about survival and exploring). This is a week of learning adventures that will take campers to new worlds as well as give them abilities to change the world they are in!

800-751-7442 aiclsummercamp@gmail.com www.appalachianinstitute.org

Visit Us at AshevilleCatholic.org or Call for Your Personal Tour at 828.252.7896 KIDS ISSUE

Part I

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

33

Stand up for one another

I care deeply about the way people treat each other. I want people to be happy. The way people treat each other can be cruel, mean, violent, disrespectful, etc. I want to stop this!

If you have seen this happen, why just stand back and watch when you can stop it? Some people can’t even see that they are treating people badly. It makes me upset when I see a student being bullied because I remember when I was being bullied, too. It is horrible!

What makes people think they are better than everyone else?

I truly care about kids and young adults being mistreated. When you are the one being bullied, you will want to help stop this horrendous event. It is not a fun experience.

If we stand up for one another, we can make the world a better place. All these people are being treated poorly, and no one has stopped it yet. Why? Everyone knows what kind of problems are going on in this world. Together let’s fix one of these problems!

— Isabel Lamoree North Buncombe Middle School, seventh grade

BLACK LIVES MATTER: SILSA 12th-grader Gillian Maurer created this powerful artwork.

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MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

MOUNTAINX.COM

KIDS ISSUE

Part I

Family, dance and friends

Have you ever wondered what it was in this world that you could never live without? I believe that the most important things to you is the answer.

Whether it is books or nature, there is always something that you would cry if you lost it. For me, some of my most important things are family, dance and friends. They help me and nurture me into being what I am today.

My family is very special and important to me. My mother gave me life and let me come into this world. Without her, I would not even exist and then would not be writing this paper. Also, they support me in what I want to do with my life and help me follow it and work hard at it. Most of all, they help me when I am struggling and keep me focused on the most important thing of all, God. In all, separately we are broken twigs, but together we are a mighty tree.

Dance, not just ballet, is very important for me and my health. It lets me express myself freely and it helps me

LIFE, THE EARTH AND MORE: Odyssey Community School third-grader Eliot Pusser shares a few things that are important to him.

KIDS ISSUE

Part I

get loose and feel attuned with the movement. Also, it lets me vent and let go of any anger or annoyance that I was feeling at someone or something.

A bonus thing that dance does is that it keeps me healthy and active. Dance is like my diary, I can “write” whatever I want in it.

Friends are extremely important, physically and psychologically. They make me happy and smile so much that I have wrinkles. Plus, they help me stay strong and keep me focused on my schoolwork. If I am feeling down, they let me have someone to lean on when I am struggling. Friends make life a bit more fun and a bit more hectic.

In conclusion, I have many important things to me. Not all of them are really necessary or helpful, but it is also important to have things that make you happy. My family supports me, dance lets me express myself, and my friends make me very, very happy. All in all, each person is like a flower, and each petal is unique and is something they cherish and is important to them..

— Crystal Muirless Asheville Catholic School, eighth grade

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR MARCH 15 - 23, 2017

CALENDAR GUIDELINES For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 2511333, ext. 137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 251-1333, ext. 320.

ANIMALS ASHEVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY 761-2001 ext. 315, ashevillehumane.org • SA (3/18), 2-5pm - Vaccine clinic for pets. Visit website for list of services and fees. Held at Hall of Fletcher Elementary, 60 Ridgelawn Road, 350-6400

BENEFITS ASSAULT ON BLACK ROCK TRAIL RACE goo.gl/gLGK1x • SA (9/18), 9am - Proceeds from the “Assault on Black Rock Trail Race,” seven-mile trail race benefit Clean Slate Coalition of Sylva. $30/$25 advance. Meets at Pinnacle Park, Fisher Creek Road, Sylva BREVARD LITTLE THEATRE 55 E. Jordan St., Brevard, 884-2587, TheBrevardLittleTheatre.org • SA (3/18), 7pm - Proceeds from the "Dancing With Our Stars," dance competition benefit the Brevard Little Theatre. $10.

ELIADA 452-2997, folkmootusa.org • TH (3/23), noon-1pm - Proceeds from the “Lunch of a Lifetime” with lunch and presentations about Eliada successes, benefit Eliada.

Held at Crowne Plaza Expo Center, 1 Resort Drive FOLKMOOT USA 452-2997, folkmootusa.org • SA (3/18), 6-8pm - Proceeds from this barbecue dinner featuring live music by Possum on a Whale, Lillian Chase & the New Potatoes, Whitewater Bluegrass and the Darren Nicholson Band benefit Folkmoot. $25/$15 children. Held at Folkmoot Friendship Center, 112 Virginia Ave., Waynesville FROSTBREAKER 5K slidethefletch.com 1126 Prices Creek Road, Burnsville • SA (3/18), 8am - Proceeds from this 5K race benefit the transition for Hall Fletcher Elementary's children and families to a traditional school calendar from a year-round schedule. $30.

GET IN GEAR FEST outdoorgearbuilders.com/gearfest/

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MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

• SA (3/18), noon-5pm - Proceeds from this outdoor sports festival featuring 25 local outdoor gear manufacturers, family-friendly activities, climbing wall, and food and refreshments benefit The Outdoor Gear Builders of WNC. Free to attend. Held at Salvage Station, 468 Riverside Drive, Asheville LIBERTY CORNER ENTERPRISES 299-3370 • TH (3/23), 6-8pm - Proceeds from this 30th anniversary celebration with live music, food, drinks, silent auction and raffle benefit Liberty Corner Enterprises. $35/$60 for two tickets. Held at Highland Brewery, 12 Old Charlotte Highway MOUNTAINEER 2-MILER • SA (3/18), 10am - Proceeds from the “Mountaineer 2-Miler” road race benefit Waynesville Middle School. $30. Held at Waynesville Middle School, 495 Brown Ave., Waynesville VOICES IN THE LAUREL BINGO NIGHT FUNDRAISER voicesinthelaurel.org • FR (3/17), 7pm - Proceeds from this bingo fundraiser and Voices in the Laurel performance benefit Voices in the Laurel. $20. Held at Haywood County Fairgrounds, 758 Crabtree Road, Waynesville

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY A-B TECH SMALL BUSINESS CENTER 398-7950, abtech.edu/sbc • WE (3/15), 10-11:30am - "Doing Business with the Government," seminar. Registration required. Free.

Held at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler • WE (3/15), 6-9pm - "SCORE: Advanced Internet Marketing," seminar. Registration required. Free.

Held at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler • TH (3/16), 1-4pm - "ABCs of Trademarks for Small Businesses," seminar. Registration required. Free.

Held at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler • TH (3/16), 6-8pm - "Business Formation: Choosing the Right Structure," seminar. Registration required. Free. Held at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler

MOUNTAINX.COM

GET IN GEAR: Get your hands on locally made outdoor gear from 25 Western North Carolina manufacturers at the Get in Gear Fest on Saturday, March 18, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Salvage Station. This free event is your chance to test out gear made locally, including kayaks, tents, backpacks, shoes, slingshots, stand-up paddle boards, bikes and more. There will be a 30-foot climbing tower, family-friendly activities and live music all day long. Beer and cider from local breweries, as well as local food and ice cream, will be available for purchase. A special gear raffle will benefit the organizer, Outdoor Gear Builders of WNC. For more information visit getingearfest.com. Photo courtesy of Seyl Park, Spark Media Collective G&W INVESTMENT CLUB klcount@aol.com • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 11:45am General meeting. Free to attend.

Held at Black Forest Restaurant, 2155 Hendersonville Road, Arden

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS A NEW ERA IS DAWNING (PD.) Hope in a Time of Chaos. Expected for generations, the World Teacher, Maitreya, is in the world. Not a religious leader, but a modern man, concerned with modern problems.

His galvanizing energy inspires people to stand up for justice and equality…to see that we are one human family. Signs/miracles/UFOs. What role will you play in the coming time? Saturday, March 18 - Asheville Friends Meeting, 227 Edgewood Road. 2pm. • Free. 828-398-0609.

the River Arts District or your location. AshevilleStudioA.com • call/text (828) 423-6459 • AvlStudioA@gmail. com for signup + more info.

POLE DANCE, AERIAL ARTS + FLEXIBILITY CLASSES AT EMPYREAN ARTS (PD.) •Mondays at 6:45pm is Pole Spins & Combos •Mondays at 8:00pm is Exotic Pole Dance •Tuesdays at 11:00am is Beginning Aerial Arts •Tuesdays at 8:00pm + Thursdays at 1:00pm is Flexibility/Contortion •Wednesdays at 8:00pm is Floor Fluidity Dance •Thursdays at 11:00am is Beginning Pole •Fridays at 7:15pm is Beginning Pole •Fridays at 8:30pm is Chair Dance •Saturdays at 4:00pm is Breakdancing No experience needed, Drop-ins welcome, For more information check out Empyreanarts.org or call/text us at 828.782.3321

COOKING CLASSES WITH OFRI (PD.) • Indian: March 11, 6pm-9pm • Thai: March 18, 6pm-9pm. • Dumplings around the world: April 1, 6pm-9pm.

Sign-up on site or over the phone: 917 566-5238. Come join us! w ww.ofrishomecooking.com

THE WAY OF THE DREAMER (PD.) April 3rd- May 8th, Mondays 7-9PM, $200. The Way of the Dreamer: Educational, Explorative, Experiential. A Six-week Course in Dreaming, facilitated by Helena Daly, Ph.D. For more info and registration: facebook.com/celticdreaming or email: helenacdaly@gmail.com

MAKE YOUR OWN UKRAINIAN EASTER EGG (PD.) Learn to make beautiful Ukrainian Easter eggs: Pysanky workshops in

ASHEVILLE ASPERGER'S ADULTS AND TEENS UNITED meetup.com/aspergersadultsunited/, wncaspergersunited@gmail.com

• SA (3/18), noon-2pm - "Beaverdam Bird Sanctuary and Beaverdam Lake Outing," for members and interested members. Free. Held at Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary, Merrimon Ave. ASHEVILLE TOASTMASTERS CLUB 914-424-7347, ashevilletoastmasters.com • THURSDAYS, 6:15pm - General meeting. Free. Held at YMI Cultural Center, 39 South Market St. BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/governing/ depts/library • SATURDAYS through (4/8), 10:30am-3pm - UNC Asheville tax preparation assistance for low to moderate income families and individuals. Bring photo ID, social security card, and tax preparation information. Information: www. irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-returnpreparation-for-you-by-volunteers.

Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. DAVIDSON'S FORT HISTORIC PARK Lackey Town Road, Old Fort, 668-4831, davidsonsfort.com • SA (3/18), 10am-4pm "Recruitment Day," colonial crafts and demonstrations. Admission fees apply.

ETHICAL HUMANIST SOCIETY OF ASHEVILLE 687-7759, aeu.org • SU (3/19), 2pm - “One Nature Indivisible: A Natural Ethic of Wild Humanism,” presentation by Chris Highland. Free. Held at Asheville Friends Meetinghouse, 227 Edgewood Road HAYWOOD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER 452-8346, myhaywoodregional.com • WE (3/22), 10am-1pm - Job fair.

Free. Held at Lenoir Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies, 36 Montford Ave. HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION 505-1874, dmn261034@mac.com • SA (3/18), 10:30am - "Investigating Tinnitus," presentation by Lauren Hadden. Free. Held in Seymour Auditorium. Held at Care Partners Main Campus, 68 Sweeten Creek Road HENDERSON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville, 697-4725 • 3rd TUESDAYS, 2-4pm - Apple Users Support Group. Free.

HOMINY VALLEY RECREATION PARK 25 Twin Lakes Drive, Candler, 242-8998, hvrpsports.com • 3rd THURSDAYS, 7pm - Hominy Valley board meeting. Free.

Nurture Brilliance. Broaden Horizons. Change The World.

Become a Teacher.

LEICESTER COMMUNITY CENTER 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester, 774-3000, facebook.com/ Leicester.Community.Center • 3rd THURSDAYS, 7pm - The Leicester History Gathering general meeting. Free.

LENOIR RHYNE CENTER FOR GRADUATE STUDIES 36 Montford Ave., 778-1874 • WE (3/22), 10am-2pm - Career and graduate school fair. Free to attend.

MOMS DEMAND ACTION momsdemandaction.org • TH (3/16), 4pm - Meeting regarding gun sense in America. Free to attend. Held at Catawba Brewing South Slope, 32 Banks Ave., Suite 105 • 3rd MONDAYS, 4:30pm - Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America, general meeting.

Free. Held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 337 Charlotte St. MOUNTAIN AREA GEM AND MINERAL ASSOCIATION 779-4501, americanrockhound.com, rick@wncrocks.com • FR (3/17) through SU (3/19) - NC Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show with indoor and outdoor rock, gem, mineral and fossil vendors. Fri.Sat.: 9-5pm. Sun.: 10-4pm. Free to attend. Held at Camp Stephens, 263 Clayton Road, Arden OLLI AT UNCA 251-6140, olliasheville.com • FR (3/17), 5-6:30pm - "Death Café," discussion, storytelling and exploration of ideas and feelings about death. Free. Held in the Reuter Center.

ONTRACK WNC 50 S. French Broad Ave., 255-5166, ontrackwnc.org • WE (3/22), noon-1:30pm "Understanding Credit. Get it.

Keep it. Improve it." Workshop.

Registration required. Free. • TU (3/14), noon-1:30pm "Savings and Goal Setting," workshop. Registration required. Free.

PUBLIC EVENTS AT A-B TECH 398-7900, abtech.edu • TH (3/16), 12:30-4pm - "Power Up, Power On: Empowering Women in Technology," event with presentations on work life balance, collaboration, and "A Journey into Robotics." Free. Held in the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center PUBLIC EVENTS AT UNCA unca.edu • SA (3/18) & SU (3/19), 10am-6pm - "FIRST Robotics Competition," featuring 28 teams of high school students. Free. Held in the Sherrill Center Kimmel Arena • MO (3/20), 5:30pm - UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

open house. Registration required: Pharmacy.unc.edu/openhouse.

Free.

SALUDA HISTORIC DEPOT 32 W. Main St., Saluda, facebook.com/savesaludadepot/ • FR (3/17), 7pm - "Saluda Train Tales," stories and history with Bob Loehne. Free.

SHOWING UP FOR RACIAL JUSTICE showingupforracialjustice.org • 3rd TUESDAYS, 7pm - Coalition building session. Free. Held at Kairos West Community Center, Haywood Road, Asheville WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY wncpsr.org • 3rd FRIDAYS, noon-2pm Monthly meeting. BYO lunch. Free.

Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St.

DANCE POLE FITNESS AND DANCE CLASSES AT DANCECLUB ASHEVILLE (PD.) Pole Dance, Burlesque, Jazz/Funk, Flashmobs! Drop in for a class or sign up for a series:• 4 Week Beginner Jazz/Funk to Missy Elliott - Begins Feb. 23• 6 Week Intro to Pole - Begins Feb. 28• Tues., Thurs. and Fri. at 12PM - Pole class for $10• Memberships available for $108/month• 1st class free with the mention of this ad DanceclubAsheville.com 828-275-8628 Right down the street from UNCA - 9 Old Burnsville Hill Rd., #3 STUDIO ZAHIYA, DOWNTOWN DANCE CLASSES (PD.) Monday 12pm Barre Wkt 4pm Ballet Wkt 5pm Bellydance Drills 6pm Hip Hop Wkt 6pm Bellydance Special Topics 7pm Classical Ballet Series 8pm Tribal Bellydance Series • Tuesday 9am Hip Hop Wkt 6pm Intro to Bellydance 7pm Bellydance 2 8pm Advanced Bellydance • Wednesday 12:30pm 80/90s Fitness Wkt 5pm Hip Hop Wkt 5pm Bollywood 6pm Bhangra Series 8pm Lyrical Series • Thursday 9am Hip Hop Wkt 4pm Girls Hip Hop 5pm Teens Hip Hop 6pm West African Drumming 8pm Sassy Jazz Series • Saturday 9:30am Hip Hop Wkt 10:45 Buti Yoga Wkt • Sunday 6:150pm Restorative Yoga • $13 for 60 minute classes, Wkt $6. 90 1/2 N. Lexington Avenue. www.studiozahiya.com :: 828.242.7595 ASHEVILLE MOVEMENT COLLECTIVE ashevillemovementcollective.org • FRIDAYS, 7-9pm - Community ecstatic dance wave. $8-$20. Held

at Terpsicorps Studios, 1501 Patton Ave. • SUNDAYS, 8:30-10:30am & 10:30am-12:30pm - Community ecstatic dance wave. $8-$20. Held at Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway DANCE AT UNCA unca.edu • TU (3/21), noon - Master dance class with guest artist Momar Ndiaye. Free. Held in Sherrill Center, dance studio 351

UNC Asheville has a teacher licensure program for professionals who already have a bachelor’s degree.

Learn more at our Teacher Licensure Info Session. Ç° VSTEBZ .BSDI SE QN t ;BHFJS )BMM 3PPN

Learn more at education.unca.edu teach@unca.edu 828-251-6304

SOUTHERN LIGHTS SQUARE AND ROUND DANCE CLUB 697-7732, southernlights.org • SA (3/18), 6pm - "Lets Go Fly A Kite," themed dance. Advanced dance at 6pm. Early rounds at 7pm.

Squares and rounds at 7:30pm.

Free. Held at Whitmire Activity Center, 310 Lily Pond Road, Hendersonville SWING ASHEVILLE swingasheville.com • TUESDAYS, 8-11pm - Jazz N' Justice: Beginner swing lessons at 8pm. Open swing dance with live jazz at 9pm. $10 beginner lesson/$5 open dance. Held at The BLOCK off biltmore, 39 South Market St.

Connect with WNC’s Top Computer Repair Shop today!

FOOD & BEER ASHEVILLE VEGAN SOCIETY meetup.com/ The-Asheville-Vegan-Society/ • 1st TUESDAYS & Third SATURDAYS, 10am - Social meeting. Free to attend. Held at Firestorm Cafe and Books, 610 Haywood Road DOWNTOWN WELCOME TABLE haywoodstreet.org/2010/07/ the-welcome-table/ • SUNDAYS, 4:30pm - Community meal. Free. Held at Haywood Street Congregation, 297 Haywood St.

WINNER

info@oneclickavl.com | oneclickavl.com | 828-318-8558 Shop Hours: 9-5 M-F | 438 Montford Ave., Asheville, NC 28801

TAX TIME IS HERE! FREE* Check Cashing

FAIRVIEW WELCOME TABLE fairviewwelcometable.com • THURSDAYS, 11:30am-1pm Community lunch. Admission by donation. Held at Fairview Christian Fellowship, 596 Old US Highway 74, Fairview

Don’t waste your money on Fees, when you can buy something you need

LEICESTER COMMUNITY CENTER 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester, 774-3000, facebook.com/ Leicester.Community.Center • WEDNESDAYS, 11:30am-1pm Welcome Table meal. Free. • 3rd TUESDAYS, 2:30-3:30pm - Manna FoodBank distribution, including local produce. Free.

LIVING WEB FARMS 891-4497, livingwebfarms.org • TH (3/23), 6-7pm - "Kitchen Hacks for Better Cooking," workshop.

*With minimum purchase. Check cashing performed by Alan’s Check Cashing

3 LOCATIONS 1186 Patton Avenue 828-254-8681 M-S 9-7 • Sun 1-6

736 Tunnel Road 828-299-4440 Mon-Sat 9-7 MOUNTAINX.COM

Cherokee • Open 24 Hours Across from the Casino (828) 554-0431 MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

37

C O N S C I O U S PA R T Y

By Kat McReynolds | kmcreynolds@mountainx.com

FEAST on the FARM

A LEAFY LESSON: Local nonprofit FEAST reaches about 1,500 children per year with its hands-on healthy eating lessons, including these Vance Elementary School students.

Photo by FEAST teacher Jordan Diamond WHAT: A pig pickin’ to benefit FEAST WHERE: Warren Wilson College Farm WHEN: Wednesday, March 29, 4-8 p.m.

WHY: Hosted at the Warren Wilson

College Farm, an upcoming barbecue fundraiser for FEAST shows just how tight a food supply chain can get. “The pork is heritage breed and pasture-raised

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MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

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right here,â&#x20AC;? says the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farm manager, Asher Wright. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will be smoking it over our very own oak and hickory logs from our forest ... [using] our vintage hog smoker made by students back in the early â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;70s.â&#x20AC;?

The eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collard greens and salad greens will also be sourced on-site and served aside barbecue tofu, baked beans, corn bread, and sweet and unsweet tea.

Admission comes with unlimited servings and two tickets for beer donated

by Pisgah Brewing Co. Children under 12 eat free, and attendees of all ages can participate in a raffle. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The event will be in the pasture by our farm shop, where we keep our one dairy cow and four wool sheep,â&#x20AC;?

Wright says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in the heart of the valley and surrounded by our historic farm buildings.â&#x20AC;?

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a familiar scene for WWC farm crew member Hayden Holbert, who is leading the fundraiser â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with help from

about a dozen peers on the day of the event â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as his senior community service project. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll even perform during the barbecue as part of The Old Time Band.

Proceeds from Holbertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts will go to FEASTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general pool of funds, â&#x20AC;&#x153;which does a whole heck of a lot,â&#x20AC;? according to the nonprofitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s co-founder Cathy Cleary.

The organization reaches about 1,500 students per year with hands-on cooking and gardening programming that empowers youths to choose healthy eating. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our vision is that all children in our area are eating fruits and veggies every day regardless of income,â&#x20AC;? she says, citing benefits like improved brain development, learning and long-term health. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And the list goes on and on.â&#x20AC;?

Visit avl.mx/3gw for more information or tickets, which cost $20 ($10 for students). Photo by FEAST teacher Jordan Diamond X

C OMMU N IT Y CA L E N D AR

$10. Held at French Broad Food Co-op, 90 Biltmore Ave., ASheville

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS CITY OF ASHEVILLE 828-648-2809 • TH (3/16), 6-7:30pm - Public education series about affordable homeownership opportunities presented by the Community and Economic Development Department. Held at the Grant Southside Center, 285 Livingston St. • TH (3/21), 6-8pm - Community meeting with the NC Department of Transportation for the Fairfax Ave./Virginia Ave. community regarding the I-26 Connector Project. Held at Grace Baptist Church, 718 Haywood Road • TH (3/21), 6-8pm - Community meeting with the NC Department of Transportation for the Hillcrest Apartments community regarding the I-26 Connector Project. Held at Hillcrest Apartments community room, 100 Atkinson St. HAYWOOD COUNTY DEMOCRATIC WOMEN 828-648-2809 • TH (3/16), 6:30pm - “OMG! Is that a man in the bathroom?,” general meeting and discussion on the HB2 bill. Free to attend. Held at Angelo’s Family Pizza and Pasta, 166 Walnut St., Waynesville JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT ON AGING 100 Country Services Park Sylva, 586-8562, aging.jacksonnc.org • FR (3/17), 5pm - Jackson county republican party precinct meetings and annual county convention.

Registration at 5pm. Precinct meetings at 5:30pm. Convention at 6pm. Free.

PROGRESSIVE WOMEN’S LUNCH AND LITERARY CLUB 828-684-5005, mreginaseven@gmail.com • Through MO (3/20) - WNC Progressive Women’s lunch and literary club meeting on Thursday, March 23, 1pm. Location given upon registration: 828-684-5005.

Free to attend.

KIDS BARNES AND NOBLE BOOKSELLERS ASHEVILLE MALL 3 S. Tunnel Road, 296-7335 • SA (3/18), 11-11:30am - Storytime for kids featuring the graphic novel, Egg. Free to attend.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/governing/ depts/library • WE (3/15), 11am - "Asheville

by Abigail Griffin

Symphony for the Very Young," music program for babies, toddlers and children up to age five. Free.

Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. • WE (3/15), 3:30-4:30pm - Makers and Shakers: Printmaking with the Asheville Art Museum for ages five and up. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TH (3/16), 11am - "Asheville Symphony for the Very Young," music program for babies, toddlers and children up to age five. Free.

Held at West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Road • FR (3/17), 4pm - “Build a Boat,” activity for the whole family to ransform recycled materials into boats that float. Free. Held at Leicester Library, 1561 Alexander Road • SA (3/18), 10am - "Asheville Symphony for the Very Young," music program for babies, toddlers and children up to age five. Free.

Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • SA (3/18), 3pm - “Musical Magnets,” activities with magnets with Hands On! Science Museum.

Registration required: 250-6480.

Free. Held at Leicester Library, 1561 Alexander Road • MONDAYS, 10:30am - "Mother Goose Time," storytime for 4-18 month olds. Free. Held at Skyland/ South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road FLETCHER LIBRARY 120 Library Road, Fletcher, 687-1218, library.hendersoncountync.org • WEDNESDAYS, 10:30am - Family story time. Free.

HANDS ON! A CHILDREN'S GALLERY 318 N. Main St., Hendersonville, 697-8333 • FR (3/17), 10am-4pm - St. Patrick's Day treasure hunt. Admission fees apply.

HENDERSONVILLE SISTER CITIES hendersonvillesistercities.org • Through FR (3/31) - Writing and art submissions on the theme of "We're Going Places," accepted for the international Young Artists & Authors Showcase.

Information: sistercities.org/YAAS or HVLsistercities@gmail.com. Free.

MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE AND CAFE 55 Haywood St., 254-6734, malaprops.com • WEDNESDAYS, 10am - Miss Malaprop's Story Time for ages 3-9.

Free to attend.

RIVERLINK 252-8474, riverlink.org • Through MO (3/20) - Submissions accepted for the annual Voices of the River Art and Poetry Contest for pre-K to 12th grade students.

Contact for full guidelines.

SPELLBOUND CHILDREN'S BOOKSHOP 640 Merrimon Ave., #204, 708-7570, spellboundchildrensbookshop.com • SA (3/18), 11am - Mo O'Hara presents her book, My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish. Free to attend.

• SATURDAYS, 11am - Storytime for ages 3-7. Free to attend.

WNC HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION wnchistory.org • SA (3/18), 10:30am-12:30pm Crafty Historian: "Colonial Button and Spool Dolls," workshop for ages seven and up. Registration required. $7. Held at Smith-McDowell House Museum, 283 Victoria Road

OUTDOORS ASHEVILLE ON BIKES ashevilleonbikes.com • SA (3/18), 1:30-6pm - "Bike of the Irish," community bike ride through Asheville. Free. Held at Wedge Brewing Co., 125 B Roberts St. BLUE RIDGE NATURALISTS NETWORK facebook.com/groups/ BRNNmembers/ • TU (3/21), 5:30pm - "Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge," lecture by naturalist and photographer, Scott Dean.

Free. Held at West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Road CHIMNEY ROCK PARK 1638 Chimney Rock Park Road, Chimney Rock, 625-4688 • Through WE (3/29) - Open registration for the "Walk with a Llama," live llama event on Saturday, April 1, from 10am-2pm. Registration: 828625-9611. $10.

• SA (3/18), 11am - "Early Spring Walk," naturalist led 1.5 mile hike.

Admission fees apply.

• TH (3/23), 5:30-7pm - Tour and information session for prospective students. Free to attend.

MECHANICAL EYE MICROCINEMA mechanicaleyecinema.org • FR (3/17), 6-9pm - "Parents' Night Out Film Party," film-making and animation creation child care for ages 4-12. $25/$40 for two children/$55 for three children. Held at The Refinery, 207 Coxe Ave. SWANNANOA VALLEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL 130 Center Ave., Black Mountain, 669-8571, swanmont.org • 3rd THURSDAYS through (5/18), 9:30am - School tour. Registration required. Free to attend.

YOUTH OUTRIGHT 866-881-3721, youthoutright.org • 3rd SATURDAYS, 11am - Middle school discussion group. Free. Held

at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St.

PUBLIC LECTURES PUBLIC LECTURES AT A-B TECH 398-7852, abtech.edu, marthagball@abtech.edu • WE (3/15), 3pm - “Asheville’s Jewish Women,” lecture by historian Sharon Fahrer in honor of Women’s History Month. Free.

Held in Ferguson Auditorium PUBLIC LECTURES AT BREVARD COLLEGE 884-8251, raintrlh@brevard.edu • WE (3/15), 3:30pm - Great Decisions Lecture: "Trade and Politics," lecture by Julie Snyder, former official at the Department of Commerce. $10. Held in McLartyGoodson Room 125

PUBLIC LECTURES AT UNCA unca.edu • TH (3/23), 7pm - The Center for Jewish Studies presents a short film about its history and the Phyllis Freed Sollod Memorial Lecture given by Professor Richard Chess.

Free. Held in the Reuter Center • TH (3/23), 7:30pm - “Secrets of the Ness of Brodgar,” lecture by archaeologist Nick Card. Free. Held in Ramsey Library, Whitman Room

SENIORS SERVICES AND SUPPORT FOR SENIORS (PD.) • Companionship and respite care • Accompaniment to appointments • Monitoring and family liaison • Meal preparation • Nursing home visits • Housesitting • Consultation and Mentoring • Conscious Aging Workshops. Evalina

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HOLMES EDUCATIONAL STATE FOREST 1299 Crab Creek Road, Hendersonville, 692-0100 • SA (3/18), 10am-noon - "Spring Wildflower Hike." Easy, 3/4 mile hike. Registration required. Free.

LAKE JAMES STATE PARK 6883 N.C. Highway 126, Nebo, 584-7728 • WE (3/15), 8am - "Walk Like a Duck," ranger-led, 2-mile birdwatching walk. Free.

• FR (3/17), 1:45pm - "Boat Tour," ranger-guided boat tour focusing on waterfowl. Registration required.

Free.

PARENTING FRANKLIN SCHOOL OF INNOVATION 21 Innovation Drive, 318-8140, franklinschoolofinnovation.org

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MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

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C O M M UNI TY CA LEN DA R

Everidge, RN (828) 577-7841.

SeasonedPathways.com COUNCIL ON AGING OF BUNCOMBE COUNTY, INC. 277-8288, coabc.org • TH (3/16), 2-4pm - "Medicare Choices Made Easy," workshop.

Registration required. Free.

Held at Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Road, Fairview • TU (3/21), 2-4pm - "Medicare Choices Made Easy," workshop.

Registration required. Free. Held at Blue Ridge Community Health Services, 2579 Chimney Rock Road, Hendersonville HAYWOOD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER 452-8346, myhaywoodregional.com • TU (3/21), 1-4pm - Advance directives workshop. Free. Held at Senior Resource Center, 81 Elmwood Way Waynesville SENIOR OPPORTUNITY CENTER 36 Grove St., Asheville • THURSDAYS, 1-2pm Contemporary line dancing class. Join anytime. $5 per class.

• FRIDAYS, 12:30-3:30pm "Canasta," group card game gathering. Free.

• 1st & 3rd FRIDAYS, 1:30-

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by Abigail Griffin

3:45pm - "Charitable Sewing and Yarn Crafts." Complete your own projects in the company of others. Free.

• TUESDAYS, 2-3pm - "Senior Beat," drumming, dance fitness class. For standing or seated participants. $3.

• WEDNESDAYS, 1:30-4pm "Bid Whist," card players club.

Free.

SPIRITUALITY ASTRO-COUNSELING (PD.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Readings also available.

Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229.

FULL MOON TRANSMISSION MEDITATION (PD.) Want to help the world? Where to start? Group meditation that 'steps down' energies from the Masters of Wisdom for use by people working for a better world. Non-sectarian. Simple, altruistic service for the world.

• Free. Wednesday, March 15, 7pm, Crystal Visions. 5426

Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com

Asheville Hwy. Information: 828398-0609.

OPEN HEART MEDITATION (PD.) Now at 70 Woodfin Place, Suite 212. Tuesdays 7-8pm.

Experience the stillness and beauty of connecting to your heart and the Divine within you. Suggested $5 donation.

OpenHeartMeditation.com AVALON GROVE 645-2674, avalongrove.org, avalongrove@gmail.com • SU (3/19), 3-4pm - Celtic Christian service to honor Ostara and the Spring Equinox.

Location given upon registration.

Free to attend. Held in a private home.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • WE (3/15), 6pm - "Healing on the Spiritual Path: Medically Verified," presentation by Bruno Asheville. Information: brunoasheville.com. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave.

CENTER FOR ART & SPIRIT AT ST. GEORGE

SHAMBHALA MEDITATION CENTER

1 School Road, 258-0211 • 3rd SATURDAYS, 7:30-9:30pm - Dances of Universal Peace.

Free.

60 N Merrimon Ave., #113, 2005120, asheville.shambhala.org • WEDNESDAYS, 10-midnight, THURSDAYS, 7-8:30pm & SUNDAYS, 10-noon - Meditation and community. Admission by donation.

GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH 1245 Sixth Ave., W. Hendersonville, 693-4890, gracelutherannc.com • Through WE (3/15) - Open registration for the "YOUnique" workshop to explore personality and health. Workshop date: Saturday, March 18. Registration required. Free.

GREAT TREE ZEN TEMPLE 679 Lower Flat Creek Alexander, 645-2085, greattreetemple.org • 3rd SATURDAYS, 4-5:30pm Women’s zen practice circle with meditation, discussion, study, creative expression and building community. Admission by donation.

KAIROS WEST COMMUNITY CENTER Haywood Road, Asheville, 3676360, kairoswest.wordpress.com • 3rd SUNDAYS, 11am-12:30pm - Introduction to Buddhism meeting. Sponsored by Soka Gakkai International - Asheville.

Free.

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD BUFFALO NICKEL 747 Haywood Road, 575-2844, buffalonickelavl.com/ • WE (3/15), 7pm - Spoken word open mic hosted by Nancy Reeder and Lloyd Arneach. Signups begin at 6:30pm. Free to attend.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/library • TH (3/17), 2:30pm - Skyland Book Club: Our Souls at Night

by JKent Haruf. Free. Held at Skyland/South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Road • TU (3/21), 7pm - Fairview Evening Book Club: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. Free. Held at Fairview

Library, 1 Taylor Road • TU (3/21), 7pm - Mystery Book Club: The Frozen Dead by Bernard Minier.

Free. Held at Black Mountain Library, 105 Dougherty St. • TU (3/23), 7pm - Swannanoa Book Club: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. Free. Held at Swannanoa Library, 101 West Charleston St. GRATEFUL STEPS 30 Ben Lippen School Road, Suite 107, 277-0998, gratefulsteps.org • MONDAYS, 6:30-9pm, THURSDAYS, 9:30am-noon & SATURDAYS, 9:30noon, through (4/29) - "Writing Secrets of the Pros," fundraiser class series helps writers discover professional techniques for writing fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Registration required: 828-505-9221 or weirwnc417@gmail. com. $25 per class.

HENDERSON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville, 697-4725 • TH (3/16), noon - "Literary Lunch" with author Leanna Sain. Bring your own lunch. Free.

MALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE AND CAFE 55 Haywood St., 254-6734, malaprops.com • WE (3/15), 7pm - Phillip Lewis presents his book, The Barrowfields. Free to attend.

• TH (3/16), 7pm - Tim Gautreaux presents his book of short stories, Signals. Free to attend.

• SA (3/18), 7pm - Michael Farris Smith presents his book, Desperation Road, and David Joy presents his book, The Weight of this World. Free to attend.

• SU (3/19), 3pm - "Writers at Home Series" with Tommy Hays and work from The Great Smokies Review. Free to attend.

• MO (3/20), 7pm - "Writer's Coffeehouse," monthly writers networking group. Free to attend.

• TU (3/21), 7pm - Andrew Skurka presents his book, The Ultimate Hiker’s Guide. Free to attend.

• TU (3/21), 7pm - New and Notable Book Club: Nutshell, Ian McEwan.

Free to attend • WE (3/22), 7pm - Andrew Forsthoefel presents his book, Walking to Listen. Free to attend.

• TH (3/23), 6pm - Lisa Yarger presents her book, Lovie: The Story of a Southern Midwife, and Pam England presents her book, An Ancient Map for Modern Birth. Free to attend.

SPELLBOUND CHILDREN'S BOOKSHOP 640 Merrimon Ave., #204, 708-7570, spellboundchildrensbookshop.com • FR (3/17), 6pm - Allan Wolf presents his young-adult novel, Who Killed Christopher Goodman? Free to attend.

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE 39 South Market St., 254-9277, theblockoffbiltmore.com

• SA (3/18), 5-7pm - " Art as a form of Protest," poetry reading by Devin Jones. Free to attend.

THE WRITER'S WORKSHOP 387 Beaucatcher Road, 254-8111, twwoa.org • Through FR (3/31) - Submissions accept for the annual poetry contest.

See website for full guidelines: twwoa. org. $25.

WNC ASPERGER'S ADULTS UNITED facebook.com/ WncAspergersAdultsUnited • SA (3/18), 3-4pm - Aspergers United writer's circle. Free. Held at The Autism Society, 306 Summit St.

VOLUNTEERING TUTOR ADULTS IN NEED WITH THE LITERACY COUNCIL (PD.) Dedicate two hours a week to working with an immigrant who wants to learn English or with a native English-speaking adult who has low literacy skills. Sign up for volunteer orientation on 3/29 (5:30 pm) or 3/30 (9:00 am) by emailing volunteers@litcouncil.com. www.litcouncil.com ASHEVILLE DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION 251-9973, ashevilledowntown.org • WE (3/15), 6-9pm - Volunteer orientation and Downtown After 5 kickoff. Free to attend. Held at Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave. BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF WNC 253-1470, bbbswnc.org • TH (3/23), noon - Information session for those interested in volunteering to share their interests twice a month with a young person from a single-parent home or to mentor one-hour a week in elementary schools and after-school sites. Free. Held at United Way of Asheville & Buncombe, 50 S. French Broad Ave. BLUE RIDGE RAIDERS mizzarnette@gmail.com • SATURDAYS (2/11) through (5/6) - Volunteer to help with ticketing, concessions and apparel for Blue Ridge Raiders home games. Contact for full guidelines.

GUARDIAN AD LITEM 31 College Place Suite D204, 259-3443, volunteerforgal.org • WE (3/22), 5-6pm - Open house for those interested in volunteering to serve as advocates for abused and neglected children in the court system. Free.

MASTER DANCE: The UNC Asheville dance program will present a master class with guest artist Momar Ndiaye at noon on Tuesday, March 21. Ndiaye and UNC Asheville dance department Director Celia Weiss Bambara will also perform a duo work-in-progress at noon on Thursday, March 23. Ndiaye, who began dancing on the streets of his native Senegal, has worked with many well-known choreographers from Africa, Europe, Asia and North America and brings a global variety of post-modern dance techniques to his master class and performances. Both events are free and will be held in UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center, dance studio 351. For more information call Celia Weiss Bambara at 828-255-7204. Photo courtesy of UNC Asheville (p. 37) HANDS ON ASHEVILLEBUNCOMBE 2-1-1, handsonasheville.org • SA (3/18), 2-5pm - Volunteer to help accept donations at a nonprofit resale store. Registration required.

• SU (3/19), 1-2:30pm - Volunteer to knit hats for community members in need. All skill levels welcome.

Registration required.

• MO (3/20), 6-8:30pm - Volunteer to help bake homemade cookies for hospice patients and their families.

Registration required.

• TH (3/23), 11am-12:30pm Volunteer to serve a homemade lunch to veterans. Registration required.

HOMEWARD BOUND OF WNC 218 Patton Ave., 258-1695, homewardboundwnc.org • 3rd THURSDAYS, 11am "Welcome Home Tour," tours of Asheville organizations that serve the homeless population.

Registration required. Free to attend.

LAKE JAMES STATE PARK 6883 N.C. Highway 126 Nebo, 5847728 • SA (3/18), 8:30am - "Lake CleanUp," shoreline clean-up. Participants with boats are needed. Free.

MOUNTAINTRUE 258-8737, wnca.org • WE (3/15), 10am-4pm - Volunteer to help plant live-stakes along eroding riverbanks. Registration: mountaintrue.org/eventscalendar/ • TH (3/16), 10am-4pm - Volunteer to help plant live-stakes along eroding riverbanks. Registration: mountaintrue.org/eventscalendar/ OUR VOICE 35 Woodfin St., 252-0562, ourvoicenc.org • Through FR (4/14) - Open registration for the Our VOICE Advocate training to provide emotional and informational support to callers on a 24-hour hotline. Training takes place THURSDAYS (4/20) through (5/25), 2:30-5:30pm. For more information or to register: erastusw@ourvoicenc. org or 828-252-0562 ext 105. Free.

PROJECT LINUS 645-8800 • SA (3/18), 10am-2pm - "Make-ABlanket Day," volunteer to participate in creating blankets for seriously ill or traumatized children. Free.

Held at Eliada, 2 Compton Drive For more volunteering opportunities visit mountainx.com/volunteering

Mountain Xpress Presents

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MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

41

WELLNESS

VIRTUAL HOUSE CALLS

Telehealth takes hold in Western North Carolina

BY PEGGY HUSTAD songbirdpeggy@bellsouth.net The mountains are calling, using a technology that still is deciding on what to call itself — whether telemedicine or telehealth. “Some say there’s no difference” between one term and the other, says Dr. Steve North, clinical director for Mission Virtual Care. But no matter what you call it, North and many other health-care professionals in the North Carolina mountains agree that there is a real need for the service in the area and beyond.

“Telemedicine is the act of providing care to a patient with videoconferencing technology,” while “telehealth includes remote home monitoring,” such as cardiac monitoring from home, North explains.

“Virtual care is all encompassing,” he says. That means that telemedicine includes real-time as well as asynchronous telecommunication, like email.

“There is tremendous need,” says North, noting the broad shortage of health professionals in the region. He has seen telehealth help meet this need in many forms for years, including school-based health care. North started out as a teacher in North Carolina, where he saw “kids come to school without great access to health care, and that limited their ability to learn.”

North decided to go to medical school at UNC Chapel Hill so that he could provide “school-based healthcare in a rural community.”

North, who is also the founder and medical director of the Center for Rural Health Innovation in Spruce Pine, has seen patients since 2011 through the Health-eSchools program he developed, which is now in 33 schools in four counties. “Due to the program, all students in McDowell, Mitchell and Yancey counties have access to school-based health care. We see all students regardless of their ability to pay.”

The fourth county, Burke, does not have all students in schoolbased health care yet, he notes.

Because of the program, “85 percent of students return to class as opposed to going home or missing a day of school entirely,” says North.

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VIRTUAL VISIT: Social worker Marisol Tomás of SolReflection provides teletherapy to humanitarian workers abroad. Photo courtesy of Marisol Tomás Telehealth can be beneficial in Western North Carolina for other types of patients as well, North explains.

Virtual care in the North Carolina mountains has been especially helpful for stroke patients and psychiatric clients, but “in most specialties in the region, we have the capacity to care for acutely ill patients. The challenge is [that] routine referrals result in extended wait times.”

Sharon Wilkening, a nurse practitioner for Carolina Partners in Mental Health, has been working with telehealth since last September. In her 14 years of practice, she has seen “the need for behavioral health services continue to rise as waiting lists increase and crisis services decrease. People who are in need of mental health care are not getting the services that they need in a timely fashion, if at all.” Telehealth allows providers “to access those individuals that we would not have otherwise been able to reach.”

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Wilkening says the goal of her organization is “to make behavioral health services accessible to all those in need.”

Stan Monroe, CEO of CPMH, has witnessed an overall health care shortage in the region as well. Referencing an article called “The Impact of Telemedicine”

by Kristen Shrader, Monroe says, “Telemedicine helps bridge the health care gap by providing individuals with better access to care, convenience and reduced medical spending.”

While some practitioners may work with most of their patients in person, some WNC practitioners have expanded their care to clients in other areas of the world with telehealth.

Miriam Nelson, a physical therapist and owner of The Runner’s Mechanic in Asheville, specializes in manual physical therapy and biomechanics — “the study of the human body’s movement and how it relates to forces throughout the system,” she explains.

For several years Nelson has worked locally with elite athletes, such as ultrarunners, Iron Man athletes and Olympics athletes. But starting last year, she began to provide telemedicine services for people in other parts of the country. “I do video analysis for clients across the country [after they] send video of their running gait. I break down the kinematics with software I have, give them useful information about their movement patterns that have been shown to be injurious or inefficient in the research, and strength and stretching tips,” says Nelson. “I also advise them how to follow up with local practitioners for the hands-on treatment they may need.”

Marisol Tomás, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in somatic experiencing and Organic Intelligence in her Asheville-based private practice Sol Reflection, does most of her work locally. But Tomás has provided services remotely across the U.S. since 2014 and in other countries since 2015. Her international teletherapy came about when a local Facebook counseling site indicated that a United Nations humanitarian worker wanted therapy in English, she says. Tomás began offering therapy to that client, who has since referred her to humanitarian workers in other countries. Tomás has provided therapy by video conferencing with clients in Iraq, Kenya, Somalia and Nepal.

There are many such advantages to telehealth, says North. He notes that school-based telemedicine is convenient for parents because they don’t have to “leave work to take their child to the doctor.” Telehealth also allows school nurses and counselors to be present at the school during the appointment, if needed. They “send records of all visits to the primary care physician,” which encourages follow-up visits, North says.

“The chance that a patient no shows to a follow-up visit decreases” the closer the patient is to a health practitioner, he adds. Citing the N.C. Statewide Telepsychiatry Program, North also notes that “telepsychiatry reduces length of ER visits,” so virtual care can save time and money as well. And, he continues, telehealth also improves medical care and saves lives, especially with telestroke programs, where “the key to improv-

ing stroke care is getting the patient treated within three hours of the onset of symptoms.”

Wilkening mentions several additional telehealth benefits: “Transportation and time constraints can hinder some from being able to receive the services they need to improve their quality of life,” she says. “There are numerous reasons why patients cannot attend office visits, and this service bridges that gap. Patients are able to access services from the comfort of their home or office. To date, most patients requesting appointments for verbal therapy have been seen the day of the request and within a day for medication evaluation appointments. This is practically unheard of for behavioral health appointments.”

Nelson says she enjoys providing physical therapy for patients in person as well as remotely. “I really appreciate the chance to meet people from all walks of life,” she says.

“I love treating these clients that are non-athletes — people of different ages, demographics and occupations.” Although Nelson specializes in working with elite athletes and runners, she remarks, “The truth is I love working with everyone.”

Tomás says, “I really love the accessibility of [telemedicine]. I can see [clients] wherever I am in the world,” she says. “Just check the time difference and set the appointment.”

Tomás is able to provide therapy to “people who want the specific type of therapy” she offers, no matter how far away they live. Telehealth is “good for someone who wants to create their own schedule” as well.

Wilkening was initially skeptical about telehealth for purposes of evaluation and treatment. “I was initially concerned that the video conferencing platform would decrease my ability to evaluate essential therapeutic factors such as body language, posture, eye contact and facial expression,” she says.

“These cues are extremely useful tools for a provider in regard to assessment and treatment. I believe very little of the nonverbal cues are lost when utilizing telemedicine,” says Wilkening. “I have yet to find drawbacks with telemedicine.”

But there are potential disadvantages. “Across the country, one of the challenges is being able to connect patients back with primary care” after a patient has been seen through telemedicine, says North. “Big, for-profit companies are providing telehealth services

and not informing primary care physicians what they’ve done.”

Nelson says she informs patients about the potential limitations of virtual care. “I’ve actually cautioned the people that attend my courses — I teach a two-day course for North American Seminars on running rehabilitation and biomechanics across the country — that comprehensive treatment can’t just be done via online with the gait analysis. But there is a very valuable part of treating a runner by this service, sometimes greater than 50 percent for most clients, and a few at 100 percent if that is their main issue.”

Tomás relates very few disadvantages to telehealth. While providing therapy, she is “watching the entire body for patterns and movement and flow and constriction and ease, so you would think it would be hard to see all of that” with virtual care, but it has still worked well, she says. One limitation occurs, however, when the country she is accessing does not have a good internet connection. Tomás also acknowledges that when she’s providing therapy to people remotely, they should have some connection to a therapist locally in case they need direct support. In her initial contact, she makes sure the client is appropriate for teletherapy, noting, “They need to be stable.”

Wilkening predicts that with advantages far exceeding the disadvantages, telehealth will continue to expand as a much-needed service in the future. “Prior to launching our telemedicine program, we completed extensive research on other national telemedicine providers. After completing research, it became apparent that this is the direction many practices are heading, and patients are influencing the dramatic growth of telemedicine,” she says. “We are in an age of technology, and as providers we need to keep up with the technology.” X

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W E L L N E S S CA LEN DA R WELLNESS

beautiful leslie, hot yogi since 2008

ABOUT THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TECHNIQUE • FREE INTRODUCTORY TALK (PD.) The authentic TM technique, rooted in the ancient yoga tradition—for settling mind and body and accessing hidden inner reserves of energy, peace and happiness. Learn how TM is different from mindfulness, watching your breath, common mantra meditation and everything else.

Evidence-based: The only meditation technique recommended for heart health by the American Heart Association. NIHsponsored research shows deep revitalizing rest, reduced stress and anxiety, improved brain functioning and heightened wellbeing. Thursday, 6:30-7:30pm, Asheville TM Center, 165 E. Chestnut. 828-254-4350. TM.org or MeditationAsheville.org CANCER PATIENTS DESIRED FOR FREE HEALING WORK (PD.) SA & SU (3/18 - 13/19) 9am-3pm both days. Cancer patients needed as clients for advanced handson healing students. Earth-based healing school. Free. Interested parties register at registrar@ wildernessFusion.com. Montreat, NC. (828) 785-4311, wildernessFusion.com.

LIVE JOYOUSLY IN THE LIGHT OF REIKI (PD.) • Reiki I Class: Sunday April 2, 9am-3pm. • Reiki II Class: Sunday April 9. For information/registration, call Reiki Master Isis Mary: (843) 576-9202.

OPENING THE ENERGY GATES • QUIGONG CLASS (PD.) Saturdays, 11am-12pm, Weaverville, NC. Foundational mind/body practices for creating whole health. Instructor Frank Iborra has over 47 years experience in the internal and Taoist movement arts. 954-721-7252. www.whitecranehealingarts.com SECRETS OF NATURAL WALKING (PD.) Workshop on Saturday, 3/25, 9-5pm, $150. Call to register, 828-215-6033. natural-walking. com. Proper alignment = healthy joints, energized body, calm minds. Let's Become Younger This Year!

THIS SUNDAY AT PISGAH BREWING • OUTDOOR YOGA! (PD.) March 19, 4-5pm. During National Nutrition Month, Black Mountain Yoga is hosting an all-levels, donation-based yoga class. Proceeds benefit Bounty & Soul, a local nonprofit focusing on healthy food access

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and health/wellness education for all! www.bountyandsoul.org www.facebook.com/ events/227400260999575/ BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/governing/ depts/library • TH (3/16), 1-2pm - "Ageless Grace: A Music and Movement Exercise Program," with gentle stretching to maintain neuroplasticity. Free. Held at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St. • TH (3/16), 6-8pm - "Long Term Health Care under a Trump Administration: Things to Consider," presentation by a certified long-term care specialist. Free. Held at North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave. QIGONG/CHI KUNG COMMUNITY PRACTICE GROUP allen@ashevilleqigong.com • FRIDAYS, 9:30am - Qigong/Chi Kung class. All levels welcome.

Free to attend. Held at The Alternative Clinic, 23 Broadway THE BLOOD CONNECTION BLOOD DRIVES 800-392-6551, thebloodconnection.org • SA (3/18), 11am-4pm - Blood drive. Registration: goo.gl/ uOmNm5. Held at Asheville Humane Society, 14 Forever Friend Lane WNC BAPTIST RETIREMENT HOME 213 Richmond Hill Drive • Through FR (3/17) - Open registration for the "Mind Tune-Up with Dr. Elizabeth Pavka," class regarding nutrition for a healthy mind. Class date: Tuesday, March 21, 4pm. Free.

SUPPORT GROUPS ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS & DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES adultchildren.org • Visit mountainx.com/support for full listings.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS • For a full list of meetings in WNC, call 254-8539 or aancmco. org ASHEVILLE WOMEN FOR SOBRIETY 215-536-8026, womenforsobriety.org • THURSDAYS, 6:30-8pm – Held at YWCA of Asheville, 185 S French Broad Ave. ASPERGER'S TEENS UNITED facebook.com/groups/ AspergersTeensUnited • For teens (13-19) and their

parents. Meets every 3 weeks.

Contact for details.

BRAINSTORMER’S COLLECTIVE 254-0507, puffer61@gmail.com • 3rd THURSDAYS, 6-7:30pm For brain injury survivors and supporters. Held at Kairos West Community Center, Haywood Road, Asheville BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GROUP 213-2508 • 3rd THURSDAYS, 5:30pm - For breast cancer survivors, husbands, children and friends.

Held at SECU Cancer Center, 21 Hospital Drive CODEPENDENTS ANONYMOUS 242-7127 • FRIDAYS, 5:30pm - Held at First United Methodist Church of Waynesville, 556 S. Haywood Waynesville • SATURDAYS, 11:15am – Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St. • TUESDAYS 7:30pm - Held at Asheville 12-Step Recovery Club, 370 N. Louisiana Ave., Suite G4 DEBTORS ANONYMOUS debtorsanonymous.org • MONDAYS, 7pm - Held at First Congregational UCC of Asheville, 20 Oak St. DEPRESSION AND BIPOLAR SUPPORT ALLIANCE 367-7660, depressionbipolarasheville.com • WEDNESDAYS, 7pm & SATURDAYS, 4pm – Held at 1316-C Parkwood Road.

DIABETES SUPPORT 213-4788, laura.tolle@msj.org • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 3:30pm - In room 3-B. Held at Mission Health, 509 Biltmore Ave. FOOD ADDICTS ANONYMOUS 423-6191 or 242-2173 • SATURDAYS, 11am- Held at Asheville 12-Step Recovery Club, 370 N. Louisiana Ave., Suite G4 FOUR SEASONS COMPASSION FOR LIFE 233-0948, fourseasonscfl.org • TUESDAYS, 3:30-4:30pm Grief support group. Held at Four Seasons - Checkpoint, 373 Biltmore Ave. • THURSDAYS, 12:30pm - Grief support group. Held at SECU Hospice House, 272 Maple St., Franklin GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS gamblersanonymous.org • THURSDAYS, 6:45pm - 12-step meeting. Held at Basillica of St. Lawrence, 97 Haywood St.

GRIEF PROCESSING SUPPORT GROUP 452-5039, haymed.org/locations/ the-homestead • 3rd THURSDAYS, 4-5:30pm Bereavement education and support group. Held at Homestead Hospice and Palliative Care, 127 Sunset Ridge Road, Clyde HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP 252-7489 • 1st & 3rd TUESDAYS, 6-7:30pm - Sponsored by WNCAP. Held at All Souls Counseling Center, 35 Arlington Street LIFE LIMITING ILLNESS SUPPORT GROUP 386-801-2606 • TUESDAYS, 6:30-8pm - For adults managing the challenges of life limiting illnesses. Held at Secrets of a Duchess, 1439 Merrimon Ave. MINDFULNESS AND 12 STEP RECOVERY avl12step@gmail.com • WEDNESDAYS, 7:30-8:45pm Mindfulness meditation practice and 12 step program. Held at Asheville 12-Step Recovery Club, 370 N. Louisiana Ave., Suite G4 MOUNTAIN MAMAS PEER SUPPORT GROUP facebook.com/mountainmamasgroup • 3rd SATURDAYS, 11am-1pm - Held at First Congregational UCC of Hendersonville, 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville MY DADDY TAUGHT ME THAT mydaddytaughtmethat.org • MONDAYS & WEDNESDAYS, 6-8pm - Men's discussion group.

Free. Held in 16-A Pisgah Apartment, Asheville NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS 505-7353, namiwnc.org, namiwc2015@gmail.com • 3rd TUESDAYS, 6pm - For family members and caregivers of those with mental illness. Held at NAMI Offices, 356 Biltmore Ave. • 3rd TUESDAYS, 6pm Connection group for individuals dealing with mental illness. Held at NAMI Offices, 356 Biltmore Ave. OUR VOICE 35 Woodfin St., 252-0562, ourvoicenc.org • Ongoing drop-in group for female identified survivors of sexual violence.

OVERCOMERS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 665-9499 • WEDNESDAYS, noon-1pm Held at First Christian Church of Candler, 470 Enka Lake Road, Candler

OVERCOMERS RECOVERY SUPPORT GROUP rchovey@sos-mission.org • MONDAYS, 6pm - Christian 12-step program. Held at SOS Anglican Mission, 1944 Hendersonville Road OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Regional number: 277-1975. Visit mountainx.com/support for full listings.

RECOVERING COUPLES ANONYMOUS

The

Sustainability CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2017

recovering-couples.org • MONDAYS 6pm - For couples where at least one member is recovering from addiction. Held at Foster Seventh Day Adventists Church, 375 Hendersonville Road

Series

REFUGE RECOVERY 225-6422, refugerecovery.org • FRIDAYS, 7-8:30pm & SUNDAYS, 6-7:30pm - Held at Urban Dharma, 29 Page Ave • TUESDAYS, 7pm - Held at Shambhala Meditation Center, 60 N Merrimon Ave., #113 • THURSDAYS, 7:30pm - Held at Sunrise Community for Recovery & Wellness, Unit C4, 370 N. Louisiana SEX ADDICTS ANONYMOUS saa-recovery.org/Meetings/UnitedStates • SUNDAYS, 7pm - Held at First Baptist Church of Asheville, 5 Oak St. • MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS & FRIDAYS, 6pm - Held at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 789 Merrimon Ave. SHIFTING GEARS 683-7195 • MONDAYS, 6:30-8pm - Group-sharing for those in transition in careers or relationships. Contact for location.

SMART RECOVERY 407-0460 • THURSDAYS, 6pm - Held at Grace Episcopal Church, 871 Merrimon Ave. • SUNDAYS,6pm - Held at Kairos West Community Center, Haywood Road, Asheville • WEDNESDAYS, 6:30-8pm - Held at Sunrise Community for Recovery & Wellness, Unit C4, 370 N. Louisiana Ave.

Exploring the landscape of sustainability in WNC in all four April issues of Mountain Xpress

SUNRISE PEER SUPPORT VOLUNTEER SERVICES facebook.com/Sunriseinasheville • TUESDAYS through THURSDAYS, 1-3pm - Peer support services for mental health, substance abuse and wellness.

Held at Kairos West Community Center, Haywood Road, Asheville T.H.E. CENTER FOR DISORDERED EATING 337-4685, thecenternc.weebly.com • WEDNESDAYS, 7-8pm – Adult support group, ages 18+. Held in the Sherill Center at UNCA.

Contact us today!

828-251-1333 x 320 advertise@mountainx.com MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

45

GREEN SCENE

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING SUBSIDY WNC Nature Center achieves three-year reduction goal in one year

BY KARI BARROWS karibarrows94@gmail.com Each day at 11:30 a.m., a crowd gathers around the Western North Carolina Nature Center’s Otter Falls exhibit to watch a dynamic duo of river otters being fed. As music blares over the speakers, an education specialist throws fish in all directions with the otters in hot pursuit, diving in and out of the water while excited children watch, hands and faces pressed against the glass.

But these beloved aquatic performers are only one of the many native species on view at the Nature Center.

And together with red wolves, cougars and black bears, they’re helping to generate record-breaking attendance at the East Asheville facility, which opened in 1976.

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OTTER-LY ENGAGING: The Nature Center’s otter inhabitants draw kids and adults alike to watch their antics, which can be playful, cuddly and athletic, all in the space of a few minutes. Photo courtesy of the WNC Nature Center The city of Asheville is a longtime supporter of the Nature Center, providing 58 percent of the organization’s operating budget as recently as 2014.

Around November of that year, however, the Finance Committee, which advises City Council, took a serious look at various Parks and Recreation operations. After much discussion and research, the committee took its findings to City Council in December. And since Asheville residents account for only about 25 percent of the Nature Center’s visitors, Council members wanted to see that demographic reflected in the city’s level of support.

Accordingly, City Council asked the organization to come up with a plan for reducing its subsidy.

“We’ve always been very strongly managed, and the city’s been a great supporter, obviously,” says Director Chris Gentile. “But City Council forced everyone in the city, not just the Nature Center staff, to think of this as a business — a governmental business, certainly, but one that could absolutely cover more of its expenses. If you look at zoos nationwide that are run by a government enti-

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ty, they’re usually getting between a 25 percent and 33 percent subsidy. At the time, our subsidy was way too high.”

In response, the Nature Center proposed establishing a committee that would look at ways to shrink the subsidy to 25 percent within three years. By last June, though, that goal had already been achieved.

BALANCING ACT “I think anytime you’ve got public resources like that, it’s a real balance between what should people pay for and what should just be an amenity,” Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler points out.

“It’s along a spectrum, as you can imagine. You’re not going to charge for a park, but you may charge for certain parts of a park.”

Gentile says the city’s request was fair. “Clearly, we’re a regional, even national, attraction,” he says. “People come from all over the country to visit us — all over the world, actually — so that wasn’t the issue. But they wanted it to reflect the people who are actually paying taxes to support it.”

In January 2015, a team composed of staffers from the Nature Center and its affiliated nonprofit plus Parks and Recreation Director Roderick Simmons and Barbara Whitehorn, the city’s chief financial officer, began hatching strategies. After additional research and public input, the group came up with a threeyear plan that called for diminishing subsidies of 45, 33 and 25 percent.

“Council knew that we couldn’t just pull the Band-Aid off and go from 58 percent to 25 percent in one year, because we’d have to raise our fees and do a whole bunch of things that would make us nonaccessible to the majority of the people,” Gentile explains. In fact, however, the initial changes the center made far surpassed expectations.

Realizing that its admission fees had stayed the same for about 10 years, the Nature Center studied the fee structures of other zoos in the region and decided to raise each fee category by $1.10, with discounts for city residents.

Despite those increases, the center posted record attendance last year: 134,000, up from 121,978 in 2015. Meanwhile, the facility took other steps to increase

SIGNIFICANT OTTERS: The WNC Nature Center’s otters are a star attraction at the park, which places an emphasis on showcasing species native to this region. Photo courtesy of the WNC Nature Center revenue: updating the gift shop, adding more places to buy food, creating a gem-mining area, and implementing a voluntary program asking people to round up their admission charge to the next dollar.

“The money that gets rounded up gets put into an enhancement account specifically for the Nature Center,” Gentile explains. "So not only are we meeting our operational budget, we’re now creating revenue streams to keep us from having to tax the city’s resources when it comes to improvements.”

2020 VISION Still other improvements resulted from the Nature Center’s “2020 Vision” plan, adopted in 2009 to chart the facility’s further expansion and development.

A key component of the plan is creating programs that target a wider range of age groups.

Education Curator Keith Mastin feels the changes are really just part of the job. “We’re really flexible. That’s what environmental education is all about: being able to adjust and provide services for those out in the community.”

And every staff member, he notes, has had input into the organization’s financial planning, from small details to broader issues.

A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS Another significant funder is the Friends of the WNC Nature Center, a nonprofit founded in 1974 that raises money through special events and membership programs. In response to the decreased subsidy, notes Executive Director Kelly Christianson, her orga-

nization began supporting the Nature Center in different ways.

“In the past, the Friends gave money to the Nature Center for capital improvements, like the bear structure or the new front entrance, and for very specific needs,” Christianson explains. “This year, we’ll contribute $150,000 to the operating budget, and next year that will be $175,000.”

Advertising and marketing done by the Friends, she continues, is a key factor in attracting visitors. But the Nature Center isn’t finished yet. On the heels of its remarkable success in generating additional revenue, the organization aims to become even more financially self-sufficient while achieving its “2020 Vision” goals. One of those goals, a new front entrance, will address what Gentile says are “challenges with parking and accessibility: It’s tough to get spots on the upper level for strollers and things like that. So when the new front entrance opens, we feel like that’s going to increase our attendance even more.” Construction began Feb. 27 and is expected to take 12 to 18 months.

Encouraged by its success so far, the center now hopes to shrink its subsidy to 20 percent by June of next year, and if attendance continues to grow, Gentile believes this shouldn’t be a problem.

Mastin, meanwhile, calls the increased attendance “a big response from the community, realizing that we are one of Asheville’s gems. I don’t think it’s any big surprise, because it’s our turn to be recognized. I think the citizens are very much fully supporting our efforts and what the Nature Center means for Asheville.”

To view the full “2020 Vision” plan, visit wncnaturecenter.com. X MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

47

FARM & G A R D E N

by Maggie Cramer

mcramerwrites@gmail.com

CULTIVATE COMMUNITY

Sign up for a farm share at ASAP’s 7th annual CSA Fair

Things are heating up on area farms: The warming weather means growers are busy out in the field, getting ready to harvest their first-of-the season crops — think delicate vegetables such as asparagus and spring onions. They’ll sell many of them at area tailgate markets, which open outdoors next month. But others will get packed especially for their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members.

CSA members support a farming neighbor by “subscribing” to the farm. That subscription nets them a share of the farm’s output via a weekly box of produce or meats throughout the growing season.

And now is the time to sign up, as available shares often sell out

by April. To help Western North Carolinians pick the best CSA for them, ASAP will host their seventh annual CSA Fair on March 16, from 3 until 6 p.m., at Jubilee! in downtown Asheville. The event is free to attend

and provides the chance to meet farmers face-to-face and learn about their offerings.

Participating farms provide traditional CSAs, pre-packed boxes delivered to pickup locations once per week, as well as market-style CSAs, which allow subscribers to choose the items for and pack their own boxes at a local farmers market.

Select farms sell alternative options, such as flower shares, and offer box add-ons like eggs. All fair farms have pickup sites in Buncombe County.

ASAP’s online Local Food Guide, at appalachiangrown.org, lists all Appalachian Grown™ farms offering CSAs for 2017. X

Find these farms at the fair*

MUNCH BOX: Young local food supporters practice picking up their weekly Community Supported Agriculture box from Ivy Creek Family Farm. Photo courtesy of ASAP

The delicious deets WHAT ASAP’s CSA Fair WHEN Thursday, March 16, 3-6 p.m.

WHERE Jubilee!, 46 Wall St., Asheville

48

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

MOUNTAINX.COM

WHY To sign up for a weekly box of farmfresh produce or meats this growing season.

DETAILS For more information, visit asapconnections.org.

A Way of Life Farm (Bostic) Blue Meadow Farms (Hendersonville) Flying Cloud Farm (Fairview) Full Sun Farm (Leicester) Hickory Nut Gap Farm (Fairview) Highgate Farm (Marshall) Ivy Creek Family Farm (Barnardsville) Lady Luck Flower Farm (Leicester) Long Valley Eco-Biotic Farm (Marshall) Olivette Farm (Alexander) Patchwork Urban Farms (Asheville) Root Bottom Farm (Marshall) Rooted Earth Farm and Garden (Leicester) Wendy Town Farms (Marshall) * Participating farm list is subject to change.

ECO ASHEVILLE GREEN DRINKS ashevillegreendrinks.com • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 7pm - Ecopresentations, discussions and community connection. Free. Held at Lenoir Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies, 36 Montford Ave. ASHEVILLE GREENWORKS 254-1776, ashevillegreenworks.org • TH (3/23), 6-9pm - “Environmental Excellence Awards,” ceremony honoring outstanding achievements in environmental sustainability by individuals, organizations, schools and businesses located in Asheville and Buncombe County. $55/$25 under 26/$15 under 17. Held at Asheville Masonic Temple, 80 Broadway DOGWOOD ALLIANCE 251-2525, dogwoodalliance.org • TU (3/21), 5:30-8pm - “Forests: A Climate Solution,” presentation by Dr. Bill Moomaw, climate scientist. Free.

Held at The Collider, 1 Haywood St., Suite 401 GREEN GRANNIES avl.mx/0gm • 3rd SATURDAYS, 4pm - Sing-along for the climate. Information: singfortheclimate.com Free. Held at Pritchard Park, 4 College St.

HAYWOOD COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS 456-3575, sarah_scott@ncsu.edu • Through FR (3/17) - Plant sale.

Order forms available by calling 828456-3575 or by email at mgarticles@ charter.net.

IKENOBO IKEBANA SOCIETY 696-4103, blueridgeikebana.com • TH (3/16), 10am - Monthly meeting with a presentation on “Shoka Shimputai Using House Plants.” Free.

ASAP COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE FAIR asapconnections.org/events/ csa-fair-2/ • TH (3/16), 4-7pm - Community supported agriculture fair to meet farmers and learn about their CSA programs. Free to attend. Held at Jubilee Community Church, 46 Wall St. BUNCOMBE COUNTY EXTENSION MASTER GARDENERS 255-5522, buncombemastergardener.org, BuncombeMasterGardeners@gmail.com • TH (3/16), 11:30am - Gardening in the Mountains presents “Alternative to the Vegetable Stand: Growing Your Own Vegetables.” Registration required: 828-255-5522.. Free. Held at Buncombe County Cooperative Extension Office, 49 Mount Carmel Road, Asheville CITY OF HENDERSONVILLE cityofhendersonville.org • THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, until (5/13) - Seasonal mulch and composted leaves giveaway. Thurs. & Fri.: 3:30-7pm.

Sat.: 8am-noon. Free. Held at the old Waste Water Treatment Plant, 80 Balfour Road, Hendersonville

Change the World.

70 Monticello Rd. Weaverville, NC I-26/Exit 18 828-645-3937 www.reemscreek.com

Held at First Congregational UCC of Hendersonville, 1735 5th Ave. W., Hendersonville MEN’S GARDEN CLUB OF ASHEVILLE 683-1673, mensgardenclubofasheville.org • Through FR (3/17) - Open registration for a container garden contest for Buncombe County Kindergarten through fifth grade classes.

Registration details: heideled@yahoo. com. Free.

ORGANIC GROWERS SCHOOL 552-4979, organicgrowersschool.org • TUESDAYS through (4/25), 7-9pm Six-part series on all aspects of grow-

Spring 2017

Nonprofit issue

Coming May 3rd!

Contact us today!

828-251-1333 x 320 advertise@mountainx.com

ing food. Register for more information and locations: organicgrowerss-

FARM & GARDEN

PLANT A GARDEN

chool.org/events/get-growing-series/. $35 per class/$90 for the series.

POLK COUNTY FRIENDS OF AGRICULTURE BREAKFAST

GROW YOUR FOOD...

KNOW YOUR FOOD!

polkcountyfarms.org • 3rd WEDNESDAYS, 7-8am - Monthly breakfast with presentations regarding agriculture. Admission by donation. Held at the 4-H Center, Locust St, Columbus SCHOOL OF INTEGRATED LIVING schoolofintegratedliving.org/ • TH (3/16) through SU (3/19) - Kudzu Root Camp, hands-on workshop and experiential skillshare focused on kudzu. Location given upon registration: zev@schoolofintegratedliving. org. Admission by donation.

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS CONSERVANCY’S COMMUNITY FARM

One Stop Shop ... for Edible Gardening!

Selections: vegetable starts & seeds, fruit bushes, fruit & nut trees, herbs, soils & fertilizers!

Organic selections are available!

Locally Owned Locally Grown: 29 28 Years!

180 Mag Sluder Road, Alexander, 253-0095, appalachian.org • TH (3/16), 2-6pm - “Multi-Species Rotational Grazing: Fencing, Planning & Management,” workshop focusing on cattle, goats, sheep and pigs.

Registration required: Chris@appalachian.org or 828-490-2565. $20.

Garden - Gift - Landscape Services Visit bbbarns.com 3377 Sweeten Creek Rd. Arden, N.C. 28704 | 828-650-7300 MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

49

FOOD

FALAFEL ON THE FLY Baba Nahm brings quick Middle Eastern eats to Grove Arcade

SIMPLE BUT VERSATILE: While the menu at Baba Nahm will feature only eight core dishes, the items can be combined in a variety of ways to create different meals. Classic Middle Eastern fare such as shwarma, tabbouleh, hummus, fattoush and pita sandwiches will be available at the counter and from a grab-and-go cooler. Photo courtesy of Baba Nahm

BY NICK WILSON nickjames.w@gmail.com

Dinner 7 days per week 5:30 p.m. - until Bar opens at 5:00 p.m.

Brunch - Saturday & Sunday 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC Tue., Thu., Fri. & Sat. Nights Also during Sunday Brunch

Locally inspired cuisine.

Located in the heart of downtown Asheville. marketplace-restaurant.com 20 Wall Street, Asheville 828-252-4162 50

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

The eclectic setting of downtown Asheville will soon welcome its latest creative infusion in the form of Baba Nahm. The new Mediterranean graband-go food joint is coming to the east side of the Grove Arcade this month in the space that formerly housed chef Hector Diaz’s restaurant Chorizo.

Baba Nahm, pronounced “bah, bah” (as in “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”) and “nom” (as in the “om nom nom nom” of a hungry Cookie Monster), is the concept of Piazza and Rezaz founder Reza Setayesh and current Rezaz owners Brian and Laura Smith.

Setayesh opened Rezaz in 2002 and sold it to the Smiths in 2015 in an effort to devote more time to his family —

MOUNTAINX.COM

particularly to the development of his children’s band, Posh Hammer. The Smiths, who were longtime employees at Rezaz before taking over ownership, say that the idea for Baba Nahm was something they had been kicking around for years before they assumed control of the restaurant.

TASTE OF THE MIDDLE EAST Setayesh was born in Tehran, Iran, and raised in Abadan, a city in southern Khuzestan Province, near the Persian Gulf. He fled the country in 1978 at the beginning of the Iranian revolution. He and the Smiths hope Baba Nahm will inject the downtown Asheville community with a cuisine style and energy that might be found in a bazaar somewhere in the Middle East — but one that’s also comfortable

and familiar to the 21st-century, smartphone-wielding American consumer.

Baba Nahm’s objective is also to become a neighborhood fixture. In a town that lures tourists by the busload with its fertile craft brewing, restaurant and arts scenes, Baba Nahm’s focus will be on feeding the growing local community of workers and residents who make this town function.

“There are so many great restaurants downtown, but a lot of them are geared toward sit-down meals because visitors and tourists have time,” says Setayesh.

“But what about locals that are working and on the go? What about those that are coming through town for quick business and are back out again? We have this hustling and bustling downtown, but we don’t have many places for these sorts of people to be fed and nourished quickly and affordably.”

ISAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BISTRO IS GOING GLOBAL! KEEPING IT SIMPLE â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think a lot of times the actual food can get lost in the dining experience,â&#x20AC;? says Brian Smith. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We really just want to cut out all the unnecessary stuff and get right to the food.â&#x20AC;?

The Baba Nahm space was clearly designed with simplicity and efficiency in mind. Customers will encounter the ordering station immediately upon walking through the door, an intentional strategy meant to promote the grab-and-go vibe of the place. Behind the counter, the open kitchen will reveal rotating meat spits and meals being prepared to order. The dining area is built for comfort and speed, consisting of a little nook lined with bar stools and convenient outlets for laptops or cellphones, as well as a large communal table and a few seats outside.

The menu itself will consist of only eight core items, all in the affordable price spectrum of $3 to $7.95, not including extras. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not trying to reinvent the wheel here,â&#x20AC;? says Setayesh. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not pushing duck or goat shawarma or anything like that.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really foundational cuisine that people can enjoy and expect to get really comfortable with.â&#x20AC;?

Lighter menu options include harira, a soup that consists of lentils, chickpeas, vegetables and pita chips in a vegetable broth seasoned with sweet spices, harissa and zhug. There is also a hummus bowl that includes pickled vegetables, Israeli salad, feta, olives, sumac, zatar, parsley and toasted pita, as well as Israeli potato fries tossed with zatar, lemon tahini and harissa sauce.

Heartier menu options will come in the form of Middle Eastern classics such as chicken and lamb shawarma and fresh-made falafel, which all come with hummus, Israeli salad, parsley salad, pickled vegetables, Arab pickles, lettuce and tahini. These will be avail-

able in the form of pita sandwiches (including gluten-free options), entrĂŠestyle plates or salads.

Vegetarian-friendly options are numerous. The sabich pita sandwich or plate, for example, consists of roasted eggplant, boiled egg and sautĂŠed onion with hummus, Israeli salad, pickles, lettuce, tahini and amba (pickled mango). There is also the fresh fattoush and tabbouleh salad, which can be upgraded with the addition of falafel, chicken or lamb for an extra $2 to $4.

Desserts will include house-made baklava and chickpea fudge, and a limited menu of nonalcoholic drinks, beer and wine will also be available.

Despite the uncomplicated menu, patrons can expect to establish a versatile relationship with the food. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even though there are only eight items on the menu, there are still a ton of different combinations customers will be able to play with,â&#x20AC;? says Laura Smith. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll actually have a grab-and-go cooler right in front where customers can come in and grab some fresh pita, falafel, shawarma meat or tabouleh salad. I think this will be perfect for those who may have some leftover lettuce sitting in their refrigerator at home that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to use up, or just want to keep a pint or two of something at the office for an afternoon snack.â&#x20AC;?

Eventually, a Baba Nahm app will allow seamless transactions on the fly, and a slick online ordering platform is already in place.

Baba Nahm is expected to open before the end of this month in the Grove Arcade, 1 Page Ave., No. 139.

Hours will be 11 a.m.-9 p.m. MondayThursday and 11 a.m.-late FridaySaturday. Find updates at babanahm. com, on Facebook or Instagram or by calling 828-575-2075. X

plant cooking dinner nightly; dreaming of springâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s asparagus 165 merrimon avenue | 828.258.7500 | www.plantisfood.com

MAR. 19: CALIFORNIA, USA MAR. 26: SPAIN

Join us Sunday, March 19th for cuisine and drinks from California!

APPETIZERS CRAB LOUIE hard boiled eggs, baby tomatoes, cucumbers, asparagus, local bibb ANIMAL FRIES thousand island, American cheese, carmalized onions BLACK BEAN AND AVOCADO SOUP preserved meyer lemon crème fraiche, cilantro ENTREES CIOPPINO shrimp, mussels, swordfish, grilled sourdough FISH TACOS pickled red onion, cilantro, hot sauce aioli, soft corn tortilla GRILLED FLANK STEAK baby heirloom tomatoes, avocado, grilled corn, chili salsa DESSERT OLIVE OIL CAKE vanilla crème fraiche, citrus, toasted pine nuts CHOCOLATE AVOCADO MOUSSE mango compote, candied pistachio cream

1 Battery Park Ave. | Asheville NC 28801 | 828-575-9636 info@isasbistro.com | isasbistro.com Complimentary valet parking available at the Haywood Park Hotel

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Make reservations at reserve.com 28 Hendersonville Rd. 828.277.1510 rezaz.com

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

51

FOOD

by Emily Glaser

emglaser@me.com

READY FOR ANYTHING Green Opportunities Kitchen Ready grads hit their career paths running mojokitchen.biz

Like what you’re reading?

There’s much more online. mountainx.com

GO FOR IT: From left, Jammie Wright, Kierra Byers and Stephen Hammond are pictured during their stints in the GO Kitchen Ready program. In 2016, 72 percent of students who graduated from the course were employed within three months, the majority of them in the culinary field. Photo by Max Cooper Photography

Join us for

SUNDAY BRUNCH 11:30am – 3:00pm 828.505.7531 1011 Tunnel Rd, Asheville NC 28805 Home Trust Bank Plaza

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“I really needed that steppingstone, that opportunity,” Robert Robbs says with a flash of his signature optimism. The opportunity to which he’s referring is GO Kitchen Ready, a program of Asheville nonprofit community-building organization Green Opportunities. Through a partnership with A-B Tech and the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, GO offers this free, 15-week culinary training program to Asheville-area low-income adults looking for a second chance (and a ServSafe certification).

Since 2012, GO Kitchen Ready has hosted three training cycles annually, with each cycle instructing an average of 15 students. The program has

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an impressive success rate: In 2016, for example, 42 students enrolled in the program, and 79 percent of them (33) graduated. Of those students, 72 percent were employed within three months of graduation, the majority within the culinary/hospitality industry.

Executive chef instructor Gene Ettison notes that the job-readiness course can trigger a remarkable metamorphosis. Students who may enter the program jaded or broken from drugs, prison or plain bad luck, leave a few months later with a ServSafe certification, 208 hours of culinary training, experiences with some of Asheville’s most lauded chefs and a foundation of culinary arts certification from A-B Tech. “These are people

that come to us in active addiction, people that are homeless or in broken homes,” says Ettison, “and [they] ultimately land living-wage jobs and move on to even becoming managers and supervisors in their own right.”

Graduates of Kitchen Ready aren’t just equipped with skills and released into the wilds of Asheville’s kitchens; they’re offered support from case management specialists and guidance from program administrators like Ettison. “We actually watch students develop into mini-chefs with tons of eagerness to show the world what they have to offer, and I welcome their late-night phone calls for advice, letters of recommendation or just a quick hello,” he says.

Graduates who find success are always welcomed back as leaders and volunteers. Even students who don’t find analogous positions in the culinary field are still rigged with the know-how and — perhaps even more importantly — self-assurance to pursue other careers.

EMPATHY AND COMPASSION “The GO program gave me my confidence back,” says Sharon Tobolski, who’s advanced quickly since graduating from the Kitchen Ready program in April 2015. She’s already cafe manager at City Bakery’s Charlotte Street shop. It’s the kind of job that requires fleet feet, quick wit and a deep reserve of patience — attributes Tobolski refined in the GO Kitchen Ready program. “I definitely learned patience and discipline and how to work effectively and successfully under pressure during our pop-up dinners,” she points out. “I believe that’s one of the major reasons I have excelled so fast in my current job and why I can handle superbusy and chaotic days at work — which is pretty much every day there,” she says.

The experience of the GO Kitchen Ready program itself is often intense and can pose challenges for students who have to balance its requirements with other responsibilities. “Had I been in the position I am now, where I have to work full time in order to survive, I would not have been able to attend GO,” Tobolski says. She points out that the program follows the schedule of a normal workday, meaning students have to find paying work at night or on weekends. “I feel like it would fit the working-class schedule better if there were evening classes, maybe weekends as well,” she says.

Although every student’s experience is different, Tobolski says the kindness and encouragement of the instructors is a constant. “I loved how all the staff there did not judge their students on what they have been through in their lives. They showed empathy and compassion to each and every one of us every day,” she says.

BEYOND THE KITCHEN Not all GO Kitchen Ready grads find employment in the culinary field. “The things that they were teaching — networking, people skills — were very helpful for me,” says Robbs, a 2014 graduate of the

program. When he started working at Facebook in Forest City, he immediately put those networking skills to good use. “I met a foreman over here, and he saw I knew a lot of things, and the doors began to open,” he explains. Now the company is investing in Robbs, sending him to school to specialize in HVAC technology so he can help maintain the facility’s air quality.

During the 16 years he was incarcerated, Robbs pursued a variety of degrees, including culinary. But at GO Kitchen Ready, he was able to turn his motivation into marketable skill sets. “I just needed an opportunity,” Robbs repeats again and again. For now, Robbs says he plans to keep rising through the ranks at Facebook. “But I love to cook,” he says, so in the future, he hopes to put his culinary skills to good use by perhaps a sports bar.

ON THE RIGHT PATH “For me it was just the best experience I could have,” says Stephen Hammond, who works with chefs Joe Scully, Mike Cash and Josh Weeks at Chestnut, Corner Kitchen and Corner Kitchen Catering. Hammond’s entrée to the culinary world came after 20 years of farming and 17 years of addiction. Hammond says he always liked to cook but truly realized his passion for kitchen work during a stint in an Asheville rehab program. He graduated from Kitchen Ready last fall, and his long-term plan is to own his own restaurant or food truck within five to 10 years.

Hammond currently volunteers monthly with the Kitchen Ready program, plus he’s spearheading a new project. “I’m in the process of trying to start a community garden in one of Asheville’s Section 8 housing [com-

munities],” he says with excitement.

“I’m trying to get kids involved after school on Friday and Saturday, to do something positive in the community where there’s been a lot of negative.”

Sometimes the Kitchen Ready program lights the path a student was always meant to take. When Brit Castañeda applied to the Kitchen Ready Program, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do with his life.

“I had already tried a few semesters of A-B Tech’s electronics engineering program, but I was struggling with the math courses and eventually dropped out,” he says. “With GO, I was given the chance to focus and stay busy in the kitchen.”

And the kitchen, he discovered, was where he belonged. After leaving GO Kitchen Ready, he joined the culinary program at A-B Tech, where he’s now in his second year. He juggles his studies with time in the kitchen at Sky Lanes Bowling Alley. “Even though it’s a tiny kitchen, I’m always trying to improve and apply what I’m learning in school to my work.” He’s also putting together a business plan for his own restaurant.

Castañeda points out that the far-reaching impact of the program affects not just the students but all of Asheville through the community engagement encouraged through the Southside Kitchen meals. “Serving a diverse community seems to be in the center of a lot of what’s going on in Asheville,” says Castañeda when asked about his favorite part of the program. “With folks from public housing to politicians, it felt equalizing to be a part of GO.” Ettison agrees that the program can inspire beyond the boundaries of the kitchen. “I wanted people, not just students, to see that no matter where you are in your life’s journey, with determination anything is possible,” he says. X

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Feeding the community

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Students and graduates of GO Kitchen Ready feed the community — literally.

Lunches prepared by students are currently offered to the public noon-1 p.m.

Monday-Wednesday, and a three-course pop-up dinner is served 5:30-7 p.m.

Thursdays at the Southside Kitchen, Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center, 133 Livingston St. Meals are free, but donations are welcomed, with contributions going directly to the students as a stipend.

Students and graduates of the program also help prepare grab-and-go snacks for the cooler at the Eddington Center, which are offered for free 3-6 p.m.

Monday-Friday. Catering services are also available through Kitchen Ready Industries, an adjunct of Kitchen Ready, which offers culinary employment opportunities to graduates.

For menus and up-to-date meal schedules, visit greenopportunities.org. X

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MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

53

SMALL BITES

FOOD

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

Everyone is Irish Come Friday, March 17, restaurants and bars throughout Asheville will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with Irish-themed food and drink specials.

But before you drop that shot of Irish cream and whiskey into that glass of stout, why not wow your fellow allgreen revelers with a few St. Paddy’s Day facts?

Take the color green, for example.

In St. Patrick’s time (which would have been in the late fourth and early fifth century), blue — not green — was all the rage, and evidently, the future saint adored the color. But what about his dislikes? Apparently, St. Patrick wasn’t a fan of snakes. According to legend, he drove every last one of them out of Ireland (despite the fact that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes — but let’s not get bogged down by facts here, folks).

By now your fellow revelers have surrounded you, eager for one last tale.

You feel the pressure. Maybe you go with the fact that St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish; that he was from Scotland or Wales (pesky historians can’t seem to agree on which location it was). Or maybe you talk about his years spent a slave, kidnapped by Irish raiders. The choice is yours.

Before any of this can happen, though, you must first choose where to celebrate.

On Wall Street, MG Road Bar & Lounge will serve Irish bangers and mash, corned beef and cabbage, and steak and Guinness stew pie, all prepared by chef Dan Silo. Plates will range from $6-$12. Drink specials will feature Guinness, Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale, Smithwick’s Irish Ale, O’Hara’s Irish Wheat, Irish car bombs, Irish flag shots, Irish coffee, green punch, pot-of-gold slushy and selections of fine Irish whiskey. Drink prices range from $4-$9 (avl.mx/3h0).

At Pete’s Pies on Lexington Avenue, imperial pints of Guinness stout will go for $4. The kitchen will offer traditional lamb and potato Irish stew, and in the courtyard, Harry Harrison will perform Irish drinking music. The closing time will extend to 10 p.m. (avl.mx/3gy).

Down the street, The Southern will offer $5 Jameson and Jameson’s Caskmate shots. On Sunday, March 19, the bar will continue the revelry with $6 Irish coffees (avl. mx/3gz). On College Street, Claddagh Restaurant & Pub will have live

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pany Saveur the Journey. The fivecourse menu has not been finalized but will be styled especially for cheese and wine enthusiasts. Blue Ridge Mountain Creamery and Looking Glass Creamery will be among the local cheese providers. “The Alpine Wine Dinner will feature the beautiful wines of the Alps complemented by the local artisanal cheeses of our own majestic Blue Ridge,” says Kelsey Winterbottom, HNG’s director of advertising. A free shuttle will be provided by HNG from a downtown location to be announced.

The Alpine Wine Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, 57 Sugar Hollow Road, Fairview. Tickets are $68, not including tax and gratuity. For details and tickets, visit avl.mx/3gs.

WINE DINNER AT THE N.C. ARBORETUM

WEARING OF THE GREEN: Pete’s Pies will roll out the green carpet for St. Patrick’s Day with beer specials, Irish lamb and potato stew and live Irish drinking music in the courtyard.

Pictured, from left, are Pete’s Pies chef Eli Barnard, owner Peter Waissen and front-of-house manager Chelsea Zappel. Photo by Gayle Tiller Photography music throughout lunch and dinner and into the night (avl.mx/prt2).

On Patton Avenue, Jack of the Wood will open at 10 a.m. with Irish session players all day. At 9 p.m., the Red Wellies will perform. Food specials will include corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie pasties, house-made bangers and mash, fish and chips, beef and Guinness stew, colcannon and Irish soda bread. At there bar, there will be specials on Guinness, Irish whiskey and whiskey cocktails (avl.mx/prt8).

Heading west, the Westville Pub will offer corned beef along with $4 specials on all Highland beers and $1 off on all Irish liquors (avl.mx/3h1). On the north

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side of town, if you wear green to Avenue M, you’ll receive 10 percent off all food items (avl.mx/3h2).

In Biltmore Village, the Village Wayside will have corned beef and cabbage for $11.99 and reuben meatloaf sandwich with a side for $10.99 at both lunch and dinner as long as supplies last.

ALPINE WINE DINNER The wines of the Alpine region will be celebrated on Saturday, April 8, at Hickory Nut Gap Farm. The wines will be paired with a meal created by the farm’s chef, Nate Sloan, and chef Aaron Schorsch of international food tour com-

MetroWines’ Asheville School of Wine will hold an International Wine Pairing Dinner at the N.C. Arboretum on Sunday, March 19. The event will begin with a Champagne reception at 3:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 4 p.m. According to a press release, the menu will feature “six internationally inspired courses representing Oregon, Spain, Italy, Argentina and France,” including house-smoked salmon, braised pork and clams, spinach, goat cheese and prosciutto ravioli, Argentine-style chicken, and blue cheese terrine with dried fruit. The Savory Thyme Café will prepare the meals. The evening will conclude with fair trade coffee and dessert.

The International Wine Pairing Dinner runs 3:30-6 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at the N.C. Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way. Tickets are $50 plus tax and gratuity. For more information, visit avl.mx/3gu. To make reservations, call 828-665-2492, ext. 232.

HEART & SNAKE BISCUITS BREAKFAST POP-UP A recent press release from Spruce Pine restaurant Knife & Fork reads, “Heart & Snake is our answer to the community’s Monday blues.”

On Monday and Tuesday mornings, Heart & Snake offers locally sourced, made-to-order breakfasts that include sandwiches on freshly baked biscuits, butternut squash pancakes and hot doughnuts, along with coffee and house-made rosemary lemonade.

Heart & Snake Biscuits is open 7-11 a.m. Monday-Tuesday at Knife & Fork, 61 Locust St., Spruce Pine. For more information, visit avl.mx/3gv. X

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MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

55

A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

STARTING THE CONVERSATION Chicano Batman plays The Mothlight

BY BILL KOPP bill@musoscribe.com The four musicians of Chicano Batman readily accept that such a name might lead some potential listeners to decide what they sound like without actually hearing their music. But the Los Angeles band’s music — as showcased on its third and latest album, Freedom Is Free, released March 3 — weds infectious soul grooves to thoughtprovoking lyrics, and draws from styles well outside the Latino music scene. Chicano Batman plays The Mothlight Wednesday, March 22.

In January, Chicano Batman released a cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The choice of that particular song is an unmistakable response to a new U.S. government administration that appears to be openly hostile toward large swaths of the Latino community. Yet, bassist Eduardo Arenas says, “We’ve never thought of ourselves as a political group.”

Lest the collection of songs on Freedom Is Free be seen as a reaction to November’s election, Arenas points out that the album was recorded a year ago. “All these themes and patterns are already set in stone for us,” he says. “It just goes to show that a lot of these topics are timeless.”

He notes that people gathered in protest in the 1960s. “That tradition hasn’t ended, and I don’t think it ever will. It can’t end because that’s how we promote change, new ideas and new ways of thinking.”

Arenas believes that Chicano Batman has become relevant in changing times. “We’re very passionate about the music we play, and a lot of the messages are about love,” he says. “And when you’re in a really chaotic political atmosphere, sometimes love is the biggest tool that you can have.”

Arenas sees music as a means to talk about real and important issues. “Music kind of opens the ears to a lot of those conversations,” he says.

Chicano Batman can be seen as part of a musical tradition that

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THIS BAND IS YOUR BAND: Chicano Batman pays tropicalia- and psychedelia-flavored soul, but the group’s lyrics address deeper themes about togetherness and the nature of freedom. Photo by Josue Rivas includes legendary Southern California groups from the 1960s and ’70s like Thee Midniters and El Chicano, and more modern acts like Los Lobos. But Arenas doesn’t want the group to be pigeonholed, despite the fact that “we dress up in ruffled tuxedo suits, and we put our music on vinyl.” He continues, “We borrow elements from the past — timeless elements — to kind of get our message across. It’s an honor to be part of that legacy.”

But the group has its sights set much higher than success within a particular ethnic group. “What we do with our band from here forward will dictate what part of the legacy we are,” Arenas says. “We could be like some popular Anglo band with the kind of reach we [will eventually] have.”

But he knows it’s an uphill struggle.

“That’s a battle that a lot of Latino bands have. The Latin Grammys are the Latin Grammys for a reason: because there’s some kind of separation from the mainstream media.” He

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points out that award-winning groups like Los Tigres del Norte and Los Tucanes de Tijuana sell millions of records but are largely unknown outside the Latino music scene.

That’s not the plan for Chicano Batman. The group’s irresistibly melodic music invites listeners to revel in its deep grooves. And those who care to dig deeper can explore the lyrics, crooned by lead vocalist Bardo Martinez. Arenas says that the title track on Freedom is Free “challenges the notion that we make a lot of decisions out of fear. If we can start unraveling that fear, then maybe we can start making more conscious decisions based on rationality.”

Noting that Thee Midniters founder Larry Rendon is a fan and friend of the band, Arenas smiles and says, “Some of the old bands listen to our music and think that it’s one of the bands that they played with back in the ’70s! But I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s what influenced us to put our band togeth-

er and to launch ourselves into the world. Our compositions speak to the now. I think we’re forward-looking.”

He adds, “Now is our time. I mean, it’s everybody’s time now.

If you were once radical and completely left wing, now you’re right in the center with what everybody’s thinking. So it’s time for everybody to keep the discussion going.” X

WHO Chicano Batman with 79.5 and SadGirl WHERE The Mothlight 701 Haywood Road themothlight.com WHEN Wednesday, March 22, 9 p.m. $12 advance/$14 day of show

Ambivalent about ‘ambient’ Trailblazer Hans-Joachim Roedelius returns to Asheville German composer Hans-Joachim Roedelius is a synthesizer pioneer and leading light of ambient music.

Yet acoustic piano is his instrument of choice, and he has little use for the term “ambient.” Roedelius makes a rare North American appearance at The Mothlight on Saturday, March 18, before heading to Knoxville for the Big Ears Festival.

The 82-year-old musician doesn’t consider himself part of the coterie of minimalist composers that includes Philip Glass and Steve Reich. “I’m working from the belly, not the head,” he insists. And while the oft-stated goal of ambient music is to encourage a contemplative or even meditative state, Roedelius is more modest — and direct — as far as his goals. “I don’t want to evoke anything but listening,” he says.

Roedelius does share fellow minimalist Brian Eno’s appreciation for spontaneity. “There’s no purpose in the game but love for what I’m doing,” Roedelius says. “I think real music catches its audiences’ attention by its inner strength.”

Roedelius has visited Asheville before. A high-profile performer at Moogfest in 2011, he performed solo and as LunzProject with Tim Story.

For much of his solo set, he played grand piano and didn’t use keyboard synthesizers at all.

“I didn’t use synthesizers for a long time because of the lack of money,” Roedelius says. “Later, I made several records using only a Korg MS20.” But to avoid what he describes as “putting the same nails in the same holes,” he moved over to acoustic instruments.

Still, Roedelius values modern technology. One of his prized possessions is an iPad with the Animoog app installed — “a gift from the Moog people,” Roedelius says. “It helps me a lot to create my music out of the moment in the way I want it.” X WHO: Hans-Joachim Roedelius with Xambuca WHERE: The Mothlight, 701 Haywood Road, themothlight.com WHEN: Saturday, March 18, 9 p.m. $15

LISTEN UP: “I’m working from the belly, not the head,” says synthesizer pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius. “I don’t want to evoke anything but listening.”

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57

A&E

by Doug Gibson

doug@douggibsonwriter.com

A TRAVELING POET GOES HOME Allan Wolf’s latest YA novel draws on the death of a childhood friend

DARK DAYS: As Allan Wolf’s writing career developed, the events surrounding his friend’s death remained sharp in his memory. “I journaled on it, I wrote a series of poems about it,” he says. In doing the research for Who Killed Christopher Goodman? “I opened up this whole Pandora’s box of people who have been obsessed with this kid’s murder.” Photo courtesy of Wolf

Spring 2017

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Coming May 3rd!

Decades after the death of Allan Wolf’s boyhood friend Ed Disney, Wolf and his brother set out along a back road near their hometown of Blacksburg, Va., to find the exact spot where two young assailants shot Disney and left him to die.

The Asheville-based author will launch Who Killed Christopher Goodman? — a young-adult novel based on the events surrounding this crime — at Spellbound Children’s Bookshop on Friday, March 17. While Wolf’s book is a fictionalized account, the Christopher Goodman of the title isn’t exactly the Ed Disney who inspired his character. But as Wolf describes his search, it’s clear the reality of his friend’s death still looms large in his imagination and in the imagination of his nowgrown high school friends.

“Suddenly our blood ran cold,” Wolf says of finding the scene of the crime. “On the ground was a little plastic cup with dried flowers. Somebody had been there within the last few months and actually left this little memorial.”

In a way, Christopher Goodman is itself a return to Blacksburg: It’s the first time Wolf has taken up his own youth as a subject after a long and winding journey to become a prominent YA writer and a popular presenter at schools across the country. Wolf had been teaching at Virginia Tech and leading what he describes as “weird, Dada-esque poetry events” when a colleague

got a job with the Asheville-based organization Poetry Alive. Wolf followed suit and wound up touring with the troupe that evangelizes young people for poetry and performance.

“I ended up working with kids,” he says, and in the process, “I met a bazillion teachers and librarians and editors. I got to know all of those people through performance poetry ... and one thing led to another, and that’s how I started writing for kids.”

Wolf published his first book, The Blood-Hungry Spleen (a collection of poems exploring the working of the human body), in 2003. Since then he has published a new book every few years, including New Found Land, about the Lewis and Clark expedition and The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices From the Titanic. At the same time, he’s kept up an unrelenting schedule of school visits and performances.

Though he’s now working solo, his goal is similar to when he worked with Poetry Alive — to turn young people on to poetry.

“The major point is not that they become poets,” he says, “but that they can begin to see the world through a poet’s eyes.”

As Wolf’s writing career developed, the events surrounding his friend’s death remained sharp in his memory. “I journaled on it, I wrote a series of poems about it,” he says. “I’d been collecting notes forever.” Then, after he pitched the idea to his publisher and began his research, he found he wasn’t the only one. “I opened up this whole Pandora’s box of people who have been obsessed with this kid’s murder.”

Still, Christopher Goodman is a novel. “Everyone wants this book

2017 WNC’s fun way to give!

to be about this kid, Ed Disney, but it’s not,” Wolf says. “The more I dug into the research, the more I started fictionalizing it.” And while he originally imagined a frame in which adults come together years later to process what happened to their friend, during the writing it became a story told in multiple points of view, of teens forced to trace the apparently innocuous choices that left their friend — so deeply admired for his kindness and his unique approach to life — alone with his murderer.

It’s also about how these young people deal with the aftermath.

“There wasn’t anyone who could talk us through it,” Wolf says of those touched by Disney’s death. But Christopher Goodman’s friends make peace with this tragedy, and the author hopes that his book will bring closure to those affected by the real-life crime as well.

“I feel like I have created something that lets those people off the hook who feel like they could have done something,” he says.

“I hope those people who have suffered more than me will find some solace.” X

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WHO Allan Wolf presents Who Killed Christopher Goodman?

WHERE Spellbound Children’s Bookshop 640 Merrimon Ave. spellboundbookshop.com WHEN Friday, March 17, 6 p.m.

Now accepting applications from area nonprofits to participate in our annual fundraising effort.

For more information, go to avl.mx/3g5 MOUNTAINX.COM

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59

A&E

by Edwin Arnaudin

edwinarnaudin@gmail.com

‘EVERY DAY IS VITAL’ Health issues heighten the urgency of Blackalicious’ music and Grey Eagle show When Sacramento hip-hop duo Blackalicious makes its Grey Eagle debut on Wednesday, March 22, it will mark 30 years since lyricist Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel first met while attending John F. Kennedy High School in the California capital.

Officially a group starting with the pair’s debut single “Swan Lake” in 1994, there’s no great secret to how they’ve maintained a successful partnership over the subsequent decades, but their longevity is nonetheless remarkable. “[We] just [have] a common affinity for the music, you know what I mean?” Chief Xcel says.

“Just a common intensity for how we see music and how we choose to explore music. We’ve always seen eye to eye on that, so when we get into the studio, that chemistry just unfolds.”

Though little time was logged in the studio between the release of The Craft in 2005 and when the duo began to work on Imani Vol. 1 in 2012, Blackalicious toured regularly and kept busy with side projects. Gift of Gab released three solo albums while Chief Xcel worked with soul singer Ledisi and put out a record in 2013 with French keyboardist/singer Hervé Salters of General Elektriks under the moniker Burning House. On these tangential pursuits, Chief Xcel says he and Gift of Gab “pretty much separate into [our] own little worlds” but can easily see their impact on each Blackalicious effort.

“We always come back into it with different influences,” he says. “Those other projects are when we explore our other interests. It just kind of helps expand our creative reservoir.”

Chief Xcel estimates that 90 percent of the music on Imani Vol. 1 is live tracks and that the album, which was released in 2015, probably features the fewest samples he’s ever used on a record. He says the focus on instrumentation — incorporating bass, drums, keys, horns and strings — is the result of an evolution he’s been on since 2002’s Blazing Arrow. “You just keep diving deeper and deeper into the world of music,” he says.

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SACRAMENTO KINGS: In the decade between Blackalicious albums, DJ/producer Chief Xcel, foreground, and lyricist Gift of Gab kept their collaborative muscles sharp through regular touring. “Even if we’re not working in the studio together, we’re still working with each other,” Chief Xcel says. “There’s never these huge gaps where we completely lose contact because we’re always working on some level, just not always making music.” Photo by Nicole Mago “It’s not a novelty. It’s not like, ‘Oh, look, I’ve got a live musician. Now I’m going to play a bass line.’ It’s not like that. We just go in and we create.

It’s what we do.”

The latest imaginative explosion resulted in roughly 60 songs, which were whittled down to 16 tracks for Vol. 1. (Whether through licensing to television and film or serving as the seeds for songs on Imani Vol. 2, Chief Xcel says the tracks that didn’t make the initial cut will have some sort of final destination.) Also feeding that prolific output is the heightened

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sense of urgency stemming from Gift of Gab’s health. The MC’s kidneys failed in 2012, right when Vol. 1 was getting rolling, necessitating dialysis treatments that continue to prohibit him from touring as frequently as he’d like. In addition to sparking the planned Imani trilogy, Gift of Gab has the Rejoice! Rappers Are Rapping Again EP primed for an April release.

He’ll also share a new monthly track exclusively on the crowdfunding subscription platform Patreon and will be aided by his Blackalicious partner whenever possible.

“I want to be able to just record, produce and document Gab’s greatness while he’s on the planet. So yeah, every day is vital,” says Chief Xcel. Despite the struggles, he adds that his friend is “doing great.”

At the release of Vol. 1, which includes contributions from Zap Mama and Fantastic Negrito, among others, Gift of Gab hinted at Vol. 2 being more guest-heavy.

Currently in the thick of making the trilogy’s middle chapter, Chief Xcel says he wants to let it come together in its purest form first before determining whom to invite aboard. Might former Asheville resident and current Sacramento-area neighbor Secret Agent 23 Skidoo be in the running to contribute a verse? Having recruited Gift of Gab to rhyme on “Speak the Truth” from his 2010 album Underground Playground, the recent Grammy winner seems a more likely candidate than most, but Chief Xcel insists the music is not quite to the point where those kinds of definitive decisions are being made.

Along those lines, the beat master strives to not limit his creativity in any way but anticipates employing a similar live track emphasis with Vol. 2. As for what other qualities and themes will tie the three Imani albums together, he’s a bit more coy. “Well, you’ve got to wait until the trilogy’s done, and then I’ll let you listen to it, and then you call me, and then we’ll talk about it. You tell me how you interpret it,” he says. X

WHO Blackalicious with FTO and King Garbage WHERE The Grey Eagle 185 Clingman Ave. thegreyeagle.com WHEN Wednesday, March 22, 9 p.m. $18 advance/$22 day of show

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by Timothy Burkhardt

burkhardttd@gmail.com

REMEMBERING ROSELAND GARDENS

C LOT H I N G F O R R E A L W O M E N

OUT WITH THE OLD...

The local juke joint served as a dance hall and community center

FREE TO BE: Dancers cut loose inside Roseland Gardens, circa 1950. The venue offered entertainment and a gathering space for area African-Americans during the era of segregation. Photo courtesy of the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center Opened in Black Mountain in 1918 by local businessman Horace Rutherford, the Roseland Gardens juke joint’s reputation for lively music and entertainment spread quickly.

Soon, African-Americans were traveling from Asheville, Old Fort and Marion to socialize at the only venue in the area that was not designated “whites only.”

Rutherford’s granddaughter, Katherine Debrow, recalls Roseland Gardens as a cultural hub for the black community. “Everybody came here to dance, and I do mean everybody who lived in the community,” she says.

“They came here to drink beer and they came to dance. [I] can talk to any person in Black Mountain who’s my age, or a little bit older, and they will say, ‘Your grandfather had the best music in town.’”

Rutherford reportedly got the idea for the venue when he visited the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

He strove to emulate the style and beauty of that establishment, even outfitting

his dance hall with a massive glass chandelier. Some locals speculate that Bessie Smith performed at Roseland Gardens in its heyday, and that her song, “Black Mountain Blues,” was written after a wild night at the bar. Historian Don Talley spent years researching Roseland, and while he hasn’t found proof that Smith performed there, he thinks it’s likely that she and many other blues artists graced the juke joint’s stage.

“The early blues stars were traveling the circuit throughout the South, playing anywhere they could,” says Talley. “So if they were playing in Durham, which was a center for the blues in North Carolina, and the next show was in Knoxville or down in Atlanta, they would need a stopover. Word-of-mouth would have told them that not only was [Roseland] a place to get food, they could make a little money between the big gigs.”

Roseland Gardens may also have been a front for moonshiners. According to Debrow, patrons called corn liquor “medicine” and referred to Rutherford as “The Good Doctor.” She also recalls a sign on

the door that read, “The Juke Doctor is IN” on one side, and, “The Juke Doctor is OUT” on the other.

A small building beside the main edifice had two moons carved above it, Talley says, and, “According to locals, that was a symbol for moonshine.”

Rutherford himself is described as a larger-than-life character who wore a fedora and carried two revolvers to keep the peace. “No one ever got shot,” says Debrow. “There might be some shooting in the air ... before the sheriff was called.” She remembers that there were a few times when Rutherford had to pistol-whip someone.

Despite its wild nights, Roseland Gardens was also a place for the children of the African-American community during the day. In the 1930s, Black Mountain opened a whites-only movie theater, so Rutherford bought a film projector for his business. He charged 10 cents a ticket and screened movies such as Roy Rogers westerns and The Red Rider.

In 1950, the Asheville Citizen called Roseland Gardens “the largest private recreation center for colored people in Western North Carolina.” Other juke joints sprung up in the region, but none had the the staying power of Rutherford’s space.

While WNC remained segregated, Rutherford — rumored to never turn away business — wasn’t opposed to allowing white people to drink at his bar, and Roseland Gardens may have been the first integrated establishment in the region. “It was an interesting place,” says Talley. “Black and white people couldn’t go to church together back then, but they could go to Roseland and have a beer.”

The dance hall’s popularity dwindled after desegregation in the 1960s allowed local African-Americans to attend other area nightclubs. The juke joint closed in 1976, and Rutherford died in the mid’80s. Despite attempts to get the building registered as a historic landmark, it was demolished in 2015. The original Roseland Gardens sign, as well as the movie projector, now reside at the Swannanoa Valley History Museum in Black Mountain. X

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Spring Cleaning SALE! Thurs. 3/16- Sun.3/19 ALL SALE MERCHANDISE PRICED AT $5, $10, $20 DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPRING ARRIVALS TOO!

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by Emily Glaser | Send your arts news to ae@mountainx.com

The Space Cowboys & The Cosmic Girls This week marks many milestones for rockers The Dirty Badgers. They’ll release their first music video for “Too Many Armchairs,” introduce their new EP The Dirty Sessions, and perform a St. Patrick’s Day show. The Asheville group produces a sound it calls “Appalachian grunge,” which captures the moody darkness of Nick Cave spiked with splashes of jazz and bluegrass. This week’s releases are hints of the band’s first full-length album, due out this summer. “As for the show itself, we are ready to lay it all on the line for our hometown in epic fashion,” says frontman Derek Frye. The Dirty Badgers will perform in Highland Brewing Co.’s tasting room on Friday, March 17, at 7 p.m. Free. highlandbrewing.com. Photo by Libby Gamble

Local Jamiroquai tribute group The Space Cowboys & The Cosmic Girls will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a special St. Patrick’s Day show.

In its first performance since fall LEAF, the soulful groove band — which contains almost a dozen members — will unveil new songs its musicians have never performed before. Deja Fuze opens the show, and DJ Shake1 will play dance tunes late into the night. “Dancing shoes are required,” promise band founders Keith Harry (bass) and Mikey McCue (drums).

“We’ve worked up a bunch of new tunes and are pumped to bring a great show that can’t be seen anywhere else.” Asheville Music Hall hosts the dance party on Friday, March 17, at 9 p.m. Free. ashevillemusichall.com.

Photo by Arianna Greenberg

The Moon and You

Black Robin Hero and David Earl

Endless Maria, the second album from indie-folk outfit The Moon and You, is a true collaborative effort. Husband and wife Ryan Furstenberg and Melissa Hyman recruited a string quartet to play and improvise on all eight of Endless Maria’s tracks. “I think the album successfully incorporates many of our favorite things,” says Hyman. “Carefully thought-out arrangements with free improvisation, indie rock with chamber music, and above all, creative input from all of the musicians who collaborated on the arrangements.” The band’s album release party will echo those synergistic efforts and bring multiple artists to the stage, as will all the shows in this tour (The Moon and You plans to hire string quartets all over the U.S. and Europe). New Wave performance artist Daniel Ouellette will open the show at N.C. Stage Company on Sunday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. $15. ncstage.org. Photo by Evoke Emotion Photography

Black Robin Hero’s new album Lonely High is, in the words of frontman Matt Lane, a celebration of perseverance: “It was over three years in the making, and at times it seemed that it would never get done.” He points out the band’s path to creating Lonely High was strikingly similar to that of local folk-rocker David Earl’s for his new album, Catch a Thrill. “It’s as if there was just something in the stars making it difficult to finish either record, but we got them done,” says Lane. The two musical groups, who also share the same studio, will celebrate their achievements with a dual record-release party. Members of both bands and other Asheville rock groups will take the stage at Isis Music Hall on Saturday, March 18, at 9 p.m. $10/$12. isisasheville.com. Photo by Cameron Yeager Photography

The Dirty Badgers

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by Abigail Griffin

‘MOZARTASTIC’: How does it feel to win a Grammy? Secret Agent 23 Skidoo knows — he took home this year’s Best Children’s Album award for his album Infinity Plus One, which was tracked at Echo Mountain Recording and includes contributions from many Ashevillebased artists. 23 Skidoo returns to town Sunday, March 19, at 2:30 p.m. for a performance at The Orange Peel that not only includes songs from Infinity Plus One but will also celebrate the release of Mozartistic, a five-song EP collaboration with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. Visit theorangepeel.net for tickets or more information. Photo by Mike Belleme and Andy Potts (p. 70) ART ART AT UNCA unca.edu • WE (3/22), 5:30-7pm “Fierce Women of Art,” presentation by art historian Eva Bares on the issue of gender equality for artists and group art project on the power of unity. Held in the Highsmith Union Intercultural Center ART AT WCU 227-2787, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu • TH (3/16), 6:30-9:30pm - Appalachian Living craft and skills series: Spoon-making workshop.

Registration required: 828-227-7129. $5. Held at Mountain Heritage Center, Located in Hunter Library • WE (3/22), 4-5:30pm "Wandering into Cultural Diplomacy, Why Art Matters," panel discussion in relation to the Soft Diplomacy exhibition. Free.

Held in the Bardo Fine Arts Center • TH (3/23), 3:30-4:45pm "Building Bridges Creating Dialogues," presentaiton

by by Sarah Tanguy, curator U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program.

Free. Held at the Bardo Fine Arts Center CONNIE BOSTIC STUDIO • SA (3/18), 11:30-1:30pm - “Impromptu Drawing of US: We Are *Almost All Immigrants,” participatory drawing and improvisational music event. Location given upon registration: goo.gl/DHFmCM. Free.

GROVEWOOD GALLERY 111 Grovewood Road, 253-7651, grovewood.com • FR (3/17) & SA (3/18), 10am-5:30pm - "Sip & Shop," event with craft demonstrations and refreshments. Free to attend.

MECHANICAL EYE MICROCINEMA mechanicaleyecinema.org • SA (3/18), 1-4pm Workshop teaching After Effects basics of keyframe animation to design and create your own motion graphics. $40. Held at The Refinery, 207 Coxe Ave.

THE ASHEVILLE DARKROOM 207 Coxe Ave. Suite 16, Asheville, .572.3275, theashevilledarkroom.com • 3rd MONDAYS 6-8pm - "Darkroom basics," workshop. $10.

ART/CRAFT FAIRS CALLIGRAPHY WORKSHOP AT THE EAST WEST SPRING POP UP SHOP (PD.) Learn the drills and the skills to create modern brush calligraphy using a brush marker with Catherine Langsdorf of Long Village Studio - a professional calligrapher for over 20 years. Choose between two sessions March 23, 6-8pm or March 26, 3-5pm. Cost: $85 includes all materials. Register at eastwestpopupshop.com.

EAST WEST SPRING POP UP SHOP (PD.) March 23-25, 10am-8pm and March 26, 1-6pm Free entry featuring over 75 local and indie artists, makers, and vintage collectors. VIP OPENING PARTY, March 22, 6-9pm $5 entry preview

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night with live music, complimentary drinks and bites, tarot readings, a flower bar, giveaways, and an opportunity to meet the makers. Be one of the first 50 attendees and receive a swag bag full of goodies. eastwestpopupshop. com • 278 Haywood Rd.

AUDITIONS & CALL TO ARTISTS ART COUNCIL OF HENDERSON COUNTY 693-8504 • Through (5/1) - Artist applications accepted for the 58th annual Art on Main fine art and fine craft festival in downtown Hendersonville. Visit website for full guidelines: acofhc.org.

ASHEVILLE AREA ARTS COUNCIL 1 Page Ave., 258-0710, ashevillearts.com • Through MO (5/15) - Applications accepted for the 2017 Professional Development Grant for Artists. Contact for full guidelines.

• Through (4/15) - Proposals accepted for solo and group exhibitions at AAAC's galleries.

Contact for full guidelines.

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BLACK MOUNTAIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS 225 W. State St., Black Mountain, 669-0930, blackmountainarts.org • SU (3/12), 1-3pm & WE (3/15), 6-8pm - Open auditions for The Queen of Bingo. Contact for full guidelines.

COME TO LEICESTER STUDIO TOUR cometoleicester.org • Through WE (3/15) - Artist applications accepted for the 12th annual Come to Leicester Studio Tour. Registration: cometoleicester@yahoo.com.

LEAF INTERNATIONAL theleaf.org • Through SU (4/2) Applications accepted for the LEAF New Song SingerSongwriter Showcase and Competition. See website for full guidelines. Free.

MERRIMON AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH 283 Merrimon Ave., 252-2768, mabaptist.org/ • SA (3/18), 2-3pm - Open auditions for the play, Some Other Context. Information: chris@ gomabc.org.

SALUDA ARTS FESTIVAL 817-2876, saluda.com/events_ artfestival.html • Through FR (3/17) - Vendor and performer applications accepted for the Saluda Arts

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by Abigail Griffin

Festival scheduled for Saturday, May 20.

MUSIC APPALACHIAN BARN ALLIANCE BENEFIT CONCERT 230-6982, info@appalachianbarns.org • SU (3/19), 3pm - Proceeds from this "Welcome Spring" concert with Steve Davidowski Trio benefit the Appalachian Barn Alliance. $20/$15 advance.

Held at Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, 433 Bone Camp Road, Mars Hill ASHEVILLE CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES 259-3626, ashevillechambermusic.org • FR (3/17), 8pm - Jerusalem String Quartet presents works

by Haydn, Lark and Beethoven. $40. Held at Diana Wortham Theatre, 2 S. Pack Square BLACK MOUNTAIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS 225 W. State Street, Black Mountain • FR (3/17), 7:30pm - Duo Galilei, celtic harp and viola de gamba concert. $16.

BLUE RIDGE SYMPHONIC BRASS facebook.com/BlueRidge-SymphonicBrass-472866629591180/ • SU (3/19), 4pm - Concert featuring works by Pezel, Ewazen and Gabrieli. Free. Held at First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville, 204 6th Ave., West Hendersonville CALDWELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE 2855 Hickory Blvd., Hudson, 726-2200, cccti.edu • MO (3/20), 1pm - “Americana Roots and Branches,” concert with Kay and Patrick Crouch.

Free. Held in room B-100 CITY OF MORGANTON MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM 401 South College St. Morganton, 433-SHOW, commaonline.org • TH (3/16), 7:30pm - The High Kings. $28-$24.

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 2 S. Pack Square, 257-4530, dwtheatre.com • FR (3/17), 8pm - Asheville Chamber Music Series : The Jerusalem Quartet. $40/$5 children.

FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE 2661 Highway 225, Flat Rock, 693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org • WEDNESDAYS through SUNDAYS until (3/18) - Classic Nashville Roadshow, country

tribute concert. Wed. & Thurs.: 7:30pm. Fri. & Sat.: 8pm. Wed., Thurs., Sat. & Sun.: 2pm. $15 and up.

• FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS until (3/19) - Songs For a New World, musical. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2:30pm. $22.

FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE DOWNTOWN 125 S. Main St., Hendersonville, 693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org • THURSDAY through SUNDAY until (3/19) - Music on The Rock’s: The Music of the Rat Pack. Thurs.: 7:30pm. Fri. & Sat.: 8pm. Sat. & Sun.: 2pm. $35.

CITY OF MORGANTON MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM 401 South College St. Morganton, 433-SHOW, commaonline.org • TH (3/23), 7:30pm - Nelson Illusions, magic show. $15-$20.

HENDERSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY 905 S. Greenville Highway, Hendersonville, 692-6424, myhcdp.com • 2nd & 4th WEDNESDAYS, 7pm - "Strings and Things," folk pop music jam. Free.

MUSIC AT UNCA 251-6432, unca.edu • MO (3/20), 7pm - The Kabir Singers, Indian folk music concert. Free. Held in the Humanities Lecture Hall THE ASHEVILLE CHORAL SOCIETY 232-2060, ashevillechoralsociety.org • FR (3/17), 7:30pm - "Mozart March Madness," concert. $25/$10 students. Held at Central United Methodist Church, 27 Church St. THOMAS WOLFE AUDITORIUM 87 Haywood St., Asheville • SA (3/18), 2pm - Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra with guests from MusicWorks. $20/$10 children.

• SU (3/19), 3pm - Asheville Symphony Orchestra and Asheville Symphony Chamber Chorus. $28/$15 youth.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP OF HENDERSONVILLE 2021 Kanuga Road, Hendersonville, 693-3157, uufhnc.org • SU (3/19), 3pm - Bluegrass to Bach Concert Series: Dr Kevin Ayesh, piano concert featuring works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and Gershwin. $15.

UR LIGHT CENTER 2196 N.C. Highway 9, Black Mountain, 669-6845, urlight.org • SU (3/19), 2:30-4:30pm Richard Schulman spring equinox piano concert. $20/$15 advance.

THEATER 35BELOW 35 E. Walnut St., 254-1320, ashevilletheatre.org

DANCE AT UNCA unca.edu • TH (3/23), noon - Duo workin-progress featuring Ndiaye and Celia Weiss Bambara. Free.

Held in Sherrill Center, dance studio 351 DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE 2 S. Pack Square, 257-4530, dwtheatre.com • WE (3/15) & TH (3/16), 8pm - The Other Mozart by Sylvia Milo. $35/$30 students/$20 children.

HENDERSONVILLE COMMUNITY THEATRE 229 S. Washington St., Hendersonville, 692-1082, hendersonvillelittletheater.org • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS (3/17) until (3/26) - Copenhagen.

Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm. Sun.: 2pm. $16.

MONTFORD PARK PLAYERS 254-5146, montfordparkplayers.org • FRIDAYS through SUNDAYS until (3/26) - The Merchant of Venice. Fri. & Sat.: 7:30pm.

Sun.: 2:30pm. Free. Held at BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St. NC STAGE COMPANY 15 Stage Lane, 239-0263 • WEDNESDAYS through SUNDAYS (3/15) until (4/2) Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, comedy. Wed.-Sat.: 7:30pm.

Sun.: 2pm. $18-$40.

THE MAGNETIC THEATRE 375 Depot St., 279-4155 • THURSDAYS through SATURDAYS until (3/25), 7:30pm - Terry Tempest: The Final Interview. $24/$21 advance/ Low-priced previews March 2 & 3: $19/$16 advance.

THEATER AT UNCA 251-6610, drama.unca.edu • FRIDAY through SUNDAY (3/17) until (3/19) - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, presented by the Asheville Community Theatre youth production class. Fri.: 7:30pm. Sat. & Sun.: 2:30pm. $6. Held in the Belk Theatre

GALLERY DIRECTORY ART AT MARS HILL UNIVERSITY mhu.edu • Through (7/28) - The Fight for Bluff: A Community's Effort to Preserve Its Mountain, student history exhibition. Held in the Ramsey Center.

• Through FR (4/21) - Context, Pretext, Subtext: Words in Art, Art in Words, exhibition co-curated by Kenn Kotara and Eric Steineger. Reception: Wednesday, March 22, 6pm. Held in Weizenblatt Gallery ART AT UNCA art.unca.edu • Through FR (4/7) - Depiction of Material, sculpture by Aaron Gibbons. Held in Owen Hall second floor gallery • Through TU (3/28) - 50th Anniversary Juried Student Exhibition, curated by Dan Millspaugh. Held in Owen Hall's Tucker Cooke Gallery • Through TU (3/28) - Perseverance, works

by Irene Pickens. Reception: Tuesday, March 28, 5:30-7:30pm. Held in the Highsmith Union Intercultural Center • Through TU (3/28) - To Send a Sparrow, sculpture by Jason Adams. Held in the Owen Hall second floor gallery ART AT WCU 227-2787, bardoartscenter.wcu.edu • Through FR (5/5) - Infinitely Yours, exhibition by Miwa Matrayek. Reception: Thursday, Mar., 16, 5-7pm. Held in the WCU Fine Arts Museum at Bardo Arts Center ARTS COUNCIL OF HENDERSON COUNTY 693-8504, acofhc.org • FR (3/17) until FR (3/24) - Artists of Tomorrow, exhibition featuring the art of secondary students. Reception: Friday, March 17, 5:30-7pm. Held at First Citizens Bank, 539 N. Main St., Hendersonville ASHEVILLE AREA ARTS COUNCIL 1 Page Ave., 258-0710, ashevillearts.com • Through FR (3/31) - Mountain Drawings, exhibition of work by Brad Qualls.

• Through FR (3/31) - TEXTILES: Traditional to modern, hand dyed to hand woven, exhibition.

ASHEVILLE BOOKWORKS 428 1/2 Haywood Road, 255-8444, ashevillebookworks.com • FR (3/17) through WE (5/31) BookOpolis2017 - Dream A Book, exhibition.

Reception: Friday, March 17, 6pm.

ASHEVILLE GALLERY OF ART 82 Patton Ave., 251-5796, ashevillegalleryof-art.com • Through FR (3/31) - ARTventure, group exhibition featuring the work of Sandi Anton and Anne McLaughlin.

BLACK MOUNTAIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS 225 W. State St., Black Mountain, 669-0930, blackmountainarts.org • Through FR (3/31) - Emerging Artists, group exhibition.

BLUE SPIRAL 1 38 Biltmore Ave., 251-0202, bluespiral1.com • Through FR (4/28) - Exhibition featuring works by Alex Gabriel Bernstein, Carrie McGee, Donald Penny, David Skinner, Scott Upton and Nicholas Joerling.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/ library • Through FR (3/31) - Exhibition of the art of Peter Olevnik. Held at West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Road

Mountain Xpress Presents

FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER 2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa, 273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • Through (5/13) - Exhibition of new and old work by painter, Margaret Curtis. Reception: Saturday, March 18, 4-7pm.

HAEN GALLERY ASHEVILLE 52 Biltmore Ave., 254-8577, thehaengallery.com • Through FR (3/31) - Wintertide, group exhibition.

Get REady To Vote!

HARVEST RECORDS 415-B Haywood Road, 258-2999 • Through FR (3/31) - Exhibition of paintings

by Todd Wesley Emmert.

JACKSON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 310 Keener St., Sylva, 586-2016, fontanalib.org/sylva/ • Through FR (3/31) - Exhibition of the photography of Chris Aluka Berry sponsored by the Jackson County Arts Council.

ODYSSEY COOPERATIVE ART GALLERY 238 Clingman Ave., 285-9700, facebook.com/odysseycoopgallery • Through FR (3/31) - Ceramic art of Dyann Myers and Libba Tracy.

PUSH SKATE SHOP & GALLERY 25 Patton Ave., 225-5509, pushtoyproject.com • FR (3/17) through MO (5/1) - Slackers, group art show featuring LEVY, GREU & KFEZ. Reception: Friday, March 17, 6-11pm.

SEVEN SISTERS GALLERY 117 Cherry St., Black Mountain, 669-5107, sevensistersgallery.com • Through SU (4/9) - Exhibition of paintings

by Colleen Webster.

THE GALLERY AT FLAT ROCK 702-A Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, 698-7000, galleryflatrock.com/ • FR (3/17) through SU (4/9) - Down Where the Soul Is, exhibition of Tim Jones’ wildlife photographs. Reception: Friday, March 17, 5-7pm.

TRANSYLVANIA COMMUNITY ARTS COUNCIL 349 S. Caldwell St., Brevard, 884-2787, tcarts.org • Through FR (3/31) - Photography exhibition with the Land of Waterfalls Camera Club.

TRANSYLVANIA HERITAGE MUSEUM 189 W Main St., Brevard, 884-2347, transylvaniaheritage.org • Through SA (5/13) - Wars of the 20th Century, exhibition.

WINDOW GALLERY 54 Broadway, windowcontemporary.org • Through TH (5/25) - The Archive of Scarcity, Leah Sandler.

Contact the galleries for admission hours and fees

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CLUBLAND ORANGE PEEL Downtown After 5 Volunteer Kickoff Party, 6:00PM SALVAGE STATION Eleanor Underhill & Friends (Americana), 9:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Female Artist Spotlight Night w/ Peggy Ratusz, 7:00PM

East Asheville’s Craft Beer Destination • 29 Taps

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Laura Thurston, 7:00PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE DJ Phantom Pantone (international soul, R&B), 8:00PM

St. Patty’s Day Reggae Getdown!

TOWN PUMP Open Mic w/ Billy Presnell, 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Blues & Soul Jam (blues, soul), 9:00PM

March 17 • 7pm

Live music by STATION UNDERGROUND

TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic Night , 6:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Wide Screen Wednesdays (live music stream), 7:00PM

THIS WEEK at THE CREEK MON Monday Burger + Trivia w/ Emilie - 7pm TUE

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Richard Shulman and Jacob Rodriguez (jazz), 7:30PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 16

Tacos!

185 KING STREET Vanessa Silberman w/ Asha Goodwin, Reed Mullin & Mikel Ross, 9:00PM

WED Wings + Open Mic Jam w/ Roots & Friends - 9pm THU Chefs Choice!

Fish n’ Chips + Station Underground - 7pm

FRI SAT SUN

Pulled Pork Sandwich / Plate Sunday Nachos

And

BREWS

$3.50 DAILY PINTS

We Cater On & Off Site!

Office Lunch • Birthdays Weddings • Rehersal Dinners Parties of 10+, please call ahead

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5 WALNUT WINE BAR Pleasure Chest (blues, rock, soul), 8:00PM ALTAMONT THEATRE An Evening w/ Dirty Dead (Grateful Dead tribute band), 8:30PM

MAKING HER MARK: From opening for Grammy Award-winning vocalist Gregory Porter to making her debut national appearance as a guest on the Tavis Smiley Show on public television, Nashville vocalist and songwriter Dara Tucker is making her mark with a blend of soul, Americana, gospel and jazz that is uniquely her own. In addition to her national appearance, she was recently named “Best Jazz Vocalist” in Nashville by the Nashville Independent Music Awards. Dara will be appearing with her band at Isis Music Hall on Sunday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets or more information visit isisasheville.com. Photo courtesy of the artist WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 185 KING STREET Vinyl Night, 6:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Les Amis (African folk music), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Brad Hodge & friends (singer-songwriter), 7:00PM BARLEY'S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA Dr. Brown's Team Trivia, 8:30PM BEN'S TUNE-UP Lenny Pettinelli & Friends, 7:00PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Open mic w/ Billy Owens, 7:00PM

CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Vanessa Silberman (singer-songwriter), 6:00PM

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesdays (rock, soul, funk), 5:30PM

CREEKSIDE TAPHOUSE Open mic jam w/ Riyen Roots & friends, 7:00PM

ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL Mt. Spirit presents Dan Weber (folk), 7:00PM

CROW & QUILL Sparrow and her Wingmen (swing jazz, swing dance), 9:00PM DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE The Other Mozart by Sylvia Milo, 8:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Classic Country Vinyl w/ DJ David Wayne Gay, 10:00PM FUNKATORIUM John Hartford Jam w/ the Saylor Brothers (bluegrass), 6:30PM

BONFIRE BARBECUE Trivia Funtime w/ Kelsey, 8:00PM

GOOD STUFF Jim Hampton & friends perform "Eclectic Country" (jam), 7:00PM

BROADWAY'S Broadway HumpDay Variety w/ DJ NexMillen, 9:00PM

GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Freerunner w/ Birdie and the Mutts & Slugly, 8:00PM

MOUNTAINX.COM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old-time session, 5:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Ben Hovey (dub, jazz), 6:30PM

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Will Ray & The Space Cooties, 7:00PM BARLEY'S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA Alien Music Club (jazz), 9:00PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Benjo Saylor, 7:00PM BONFIRE BARBECUE Social Function, 8:30PM CITY OF MORGANTON MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM The High Kings (Irish folk), 7:30PM CROW & QUILL Carolina Catskins (rowdy ragtime jazz), 9:00PM DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE The Other Mozart by Sylvia Milo, 8:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Sonic Satan Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10:00PM FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREWPUB Ashely Heath Duet (folk, Americana), 9:00PM

NEW MOUNTAIN THEATER/ AMPHITHEATER Anthony’s Birthday Jam w/ Papadosio, Midnight Snack, Third Nature & more, 9:00PM

GOOD STUFF Eboo's Jam!, 6:30PM

ODDITORIUM The Plague of Man Presents: Haggus, Fentanyl Suprise (punk), 9:00PM

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY East Side Social Ride, 6:00PM

GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN CBDB & The Digs, 9:00PM

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Evil Note Lab, 9:30PM

ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL Beth McKee’s Swamp Sistas Songwriter Circle, 7:00PM

ONE WORLD BREWING Billy Litz, 8:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Open Jam Session, 7:00PM

LAZY DIAMOND Heavy Night w/ DJ Butch, 10:00PM Russ Wilson and His Mighty Mighty Men (jump blues, oldies, country), 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Hank Bones ("The man of 1,000 songs"), 6:30PM ODDITORIUM West Side Bazaar: Arts, Crafts and Bands , 9:00PM OLE SHAKEY'S Pizza Karaoke!, 10:00PM

ALTAMONT THEATRE An Evening w/ Tellico (country), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Joe McMurrian (acoustic, roots, blues), 7:30PM ASHEVILLE MASONIC TEMPLE Mothlight & Worthwhile Sounds present Waxahatchee & Kevin Morby w/ Mary Lattimore, 8:00PM ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL St. Patty's Party w/ Space Cowboys & Cosmic Girls & Deja Fuze (groove, soul), 10:00PM BEN'S TUNE-UP Iggy Radio: One Man Band, 6:00PM

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mitch's Totally Rad Trivia Night, 6:30PM Jive Mother Mary (rock), 10:00PM

BLUE GHOST BREWING COMPANY St. Patrick's Day Show w/ Carolina Ceili (Irish), 7:00PM

ONE WORLD BREWING Brother Bluebird, 8:00PM ORANGE PEEL FKJ w/ Dabeull & Cezaire [CANCELLED], 9:00PM PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Dennis "Chalwa" Berndt & friends , 6:00PM PURPLE ONION CAFE Mare Wakefield & Nomad, 7:30PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Billy Litz, 7:00PM SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Ellen Trnka & Craig Woody, 7:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Unite! Open Mic Nigh, 7:30PM THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Tricky Trivia w/ Sue, 8:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT The Moth: True Stories Told Live , 7:00PM TOWN PUMP Heather Taylor & Sean Jerome w/ Narwhal Empire (folk, blues, Americana), 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Jesse Barry & The Jam (live music, dance), 9:00PM UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Anya Hinkle w/ John James Tourville, 6:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Jon Carroll, Don Dixon & Jimmy Landry, 7:30PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ Unplugged w/ Sarah Tucker, 8:00PM

FRIDAY, MARCH 17 185 KING STREET Celtic Conspiracy, 8:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Lyric (acoustic soul), 9:00PM 550 TAVERN & GRILLE Fineline, 9:00PM

10PM Jive Mother Mary(Rock)3.16 Ca$h Donations ONE STOP

ST. PATTY’S DAY PARTY 3.17 9PM

AMH

Astronautica w/ Panther God,

3.17 9 PM

ONE STOP

Black Stone Cherry

3.18 7PM

w/ The Space Cowboys & The Cosmic Girls Ca$h Donations w/ Deja Fuze + Late Night DJ Set Koresma & Hubble

(Electronic) Ca$h Donations

w/ Caleb Johnson & Through Fire

AMH

(Rock) adv. $20 dos. $25

10PM BELLA’S BARTOK(Folk/Punk)3.23 Ca$h Donations ONE STOP

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

67

CLU B LA N D BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Acoustic Swing, 7:00PM BOILER ROOM St. Paddy's Day Rock Party (local original music series), 9:00PM BYRISH HAUS & PUB A St. Patricks All Day Party CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Jacob Green One Man Band , 7:00PM

COMING SOON wed 3/15

7:00PM–DAN WEBER thu 3/16 7:00PM– BETH MCKEE’S : fri 3/17

FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREWPUB St. Paddy’s Day Party w/ Simon George and Friends (funk, jazz), 10:00PM

WITH JIM ARRENDELL

sat 3/18 7:00PM–SARAH CLANTON

9:00PM–DAVID EARL & BLACK ROBIN

HERO: CD RELEASE

Eclectic Menu • Over 30 Taps • Patio 14 TV’s • Sports Room • 110” Projector Event Space • Shuffleboard Open 7 Days 11am - Late Night

Your Home

M

for the

ADNESS OF MA

RCH HOOPS!

sun 3/19 5:30PM–HEATHER PIERSON 7:30PM–DARA TUCKER tue 3/21 – 7:30PM TUESDAY BLUEGRASS SESSIONS wed 3/22 7:00PM–MATT HIRES & KYLE COX 8:30PM–THE HIGH DIVERS & AMIGO thu 3/23 7:00PM–TOUGH OLD BIRD 8:30PM–CATIE CURTIS

CD RELEASE

FRI. 3/17 DJ Moto

fri 3/24

(dance hits, pop)

SAT. 3/18 Gottcha Groove (R&B, soul, pop)

7:00PM–JACKSON GRIMM BAND 9:00PM–DE TEMPS ANTAN:

QUEBEC INVASION sat 3/25

7:00PM–MILES NEILSEN AND

RUSTED HEART

9:00PM–SARAH SHOOK &

THE DISARMERS

ISISASHEVILLE.COM DINNER MENU TIL 9:30PM LATE NIGHT MENU TIL 12AM

20 S. SPRUCE ST. • 225.6944 PACKSTAVERN.COM 68

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

MOUNTAINX.COM

DIANA WORTHAM THEATRE Jerusalem String Quartet, 8:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Garage & Soul Obscurities w/ DJ Greg Cartwright, 10:00PM

7:00PM–QUILES & CLOUD 9:00PM–FRIDAY NIGHT DANCE PARTY

DOWNTOWN ON THE PARK

CROW & QUILL Ancient Warfare (indie rock), 9:00PM

THE SWAMP SISTAS

SONGWRITER CIRCLE

TAVERN

CORK & KEG Red Hot Sugar Babies (jazz, blues, swing), 8:30PM

TUES-SUN 5PM-until 743 HAYWOOD RD 828-575-2737

FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Kevin Reid (blues rock), 6:00PM GOOD STUFF John Dickie IV & Breadfoot (country), 8:00PM

DJ Phantom Pantone (Korean pop, trap, dance), 10:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Rock 'n' Soul DJ, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Asheville Gypsy Jazz Trio, 6:30PM

Awake in the Dream, 9:00PM

ODDITORIUM St. Pattys Day Punk & Metal Fest, 6:00PM

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

OLE SHAKEY'S Acoustic Roots Music, 5:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Fridays w/ members of Phuncle Sam, 5:00PM Astronautica w/ Panther God, Koresma & Hubble (electronica), 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING Berlyn Trio, 9:00PM ORANGE PEEL Donna The Buffalo w/ Locust Honey (zydeco, rock, folk), 9:00PM

JulieV & Michael Holstein (jazz), 7:00PM Searra Jade, 8:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Oathbreaker w/ King Woman & Jaye Jayle (post-metal), 9:00PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Ultra Lounge w/ Phantom Pantone, 10:00PM THE SUMMIT AT NEW MOUNTAIN AVL Sol Vibes: NC DnB Showcase w/ Dave Owen, Jaybee & Random Movement, 9:00PM TIGER MOUNTAIN

PACK'S TAVERN DJ MoTo (dance hits, pop), 9:30PM

Friday Nite Mash Up w/ B-Boy Evan & Nex Millen, 10:00PM

PISGAH BREWING COMPANY The Lazybirds, 8:00PM

TOWN PUMP

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY The Dirty Badgers (rock), 7:00PM

SCARLET'S COUNTRY DANCE CLUB Open Mic night w/ Sam Warner, 8:00PM

K LOUNGE

THE DUGOUT THE FORTUNE BUILDING

SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Emily Bodley, 4:30PM Fin Dog, 8:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB The Red Wellies (Irish), 9:00PM

Bohemian Jean (blues, Irish, pop), 7:15PM

NEW MOUNTAIN THEATER/ AMPHITHEATER Melvin Seals & JGB (rock, blues), 8:00PM

GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Monsters of Japan w/ Twist of Fate (rock), 9:00PM

ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL An evening w/ Quiles & Cloud, 7:00PM Friday Night Dance Party w/ Jim Arrendell, 9:00PM

THE CLASSIC WINESELLER

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY St. Patty's w/ The Stipe Brothers, Dan Ruiz & Jeff Hinkle, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE The Martins (bluegrass, Irish, Appalachian), 8:00PM Soul Friday Dance Party, 10:00PM

Jimmy & the Jawbones (rock), 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Rhoda Weaver & Ted Ledford (live music), 7:00PM Virginia & The Slims (blues, swing), 10:00PM TWISTED LAUREL Request-powered dance party w/ Phantom Pantone, 10:30PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ Electric w/ Ben Hovey, 8:00PM

SATURDAY, MARCH 18 185 KING STREET Kevin Reid (blues rock), 8:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Patrick Fitzsimons & Priscilla Hunt (folk, traditional), 6:00PM Firecracker Jazz Band (hot jazz), 9:00PM 550 TAVERN & GRILLE Zuzu Welsh (rock), 9:00PM ALTAMONT THEATRE An Evening w/ Mike Farris (blues), 8:00PM

Alina Quu w/ The Gypsyswingers & Quutopia

ASHEVILLE MASONIC TEMPLE Simrit (world music, contemporary), 7:30PM

Benefits Soul & Soil Project â&#x2014;? 3/22, 7:30p-10p 39 S. Market St. â&#x2014;? theblockoffbiltmore.com

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Black Stone Cherry w/ Caleb Johnson & Through Fire (rock), 8:00PM BEN'S TUNE-UP Gypsy Guitar Trio, 3:00PM Wildcard (funky dance party), 10:00PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Billy Litz, 7:00PM BOILER ROOM All Original Music Series w/ Pleasure To Burn, A World Of Lies, 8 Vacant Graves & Bound By Fate, 9:00PM CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Scooter Haywood & the Repeat Offenders (front porch country), 7:00PM CORK & KEG The Barsters (old-time, bluegrass, acoustic), 8:30PM CROW & QUILL Sultry Sirens Varietease (local burlesque), 9:00PM DFR ROOM Andalyn (rock, blues), 9:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Pitter Platter w/ DJ Big Smidge (50's/60's R&B, rock 'n' roll), 10:00PM FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREWPUB Murmuration (funk, jam), 10:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Stephen Evans & the True Grits (singer-songwriter), 6:00PM GOOD STUFF Andy Sneed (folk rock), 8:00PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, 8:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY The Chuck Lichtenberger Collective (jazz, rock), 7:00PM ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL An evening w/ Sarah Clanton, 7:00PM David Earl & Black Robin Hero CD Release Party (vintage rock), 9:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Steel City Jug Slammers (folk, blues), 5:00PM Left Lane Cruiser (blues, rock), 9:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Sonic Satan Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Sean Mason Trio (jazz), 6:30PM NEW MOUNTAIN THEATER/AMPHITHEATER Minnesota w/ Champagne Drip & Ra (EDM, dubstep, hip hop), 9:00PM ODDITORIUM The Mermers, The Dimarcos (punk, surf), 9:00PM OLE SHAKEY'S Saturday Night Fever, 10:00PM ORANGE PEEL The Breakfast Club w/ The Rewind House Band (1980s tribute), 9:00PM PACK'S TAVERN Gottcha Groove (bluegrass, rock), 9:30PM

Marchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Weekly Lineup TUESDAYS

Ladies of Soul: Rhoda Weaver and the Soulmates 6PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8PM

Lyric Jones - Solo acoustic set 8:30PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10:30PM

WEDNESDAYS

Lenny Pettinelli & Debrissa McKinney of Empire Strikes Brass

SUNDAY FUNDAYS $10 Burger & Beer, $1 Off UpCountry Draft

7PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10PM

THURSDAYS

Brews n' Blues: The Cris Coleman Blues Experience 7PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10PM

FRIDAYS

St. Pattyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Special

$4 JamesonÄŻÄŻp $1 Off House Porter

Live Music Mashup: Iggy Radio 6PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9PM

Vinyl Night: DJ Kilby 10PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2AM

SATURDAYS

5)6 t PM ANYA HINKLE (BLUEGRASS)

'3* t PM ANALOG MOON

(INDIE/ROCK/ALTERNATIVE)

4"5 t PM SUFI BROS W/ AARON WOODY WOOD

Live Gypsy Jazz: Gypsy Guitar Trio 3PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6PM

Funky Dance Party: The Wild Card 10PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1AM

SUNDAYS

Reggae Sundays: The Dub Kartel 6PM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10PM

Expires 04-05-17

*no c o ve r * MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

69

CLU B LA N D

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PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Phuncle Sam , 9:00PM

3/16 thu

PURPLE ONION CAFE Scoot Pittman, 8:00PM

the moth:

SALVAGE STATION George Porter Jr. & Runnin' Pardners (rock, funk, R&B), 11:00PM

true stories told live theme: wonders

3/17

oathbreaker

fri �

w/ king woman, jay jayle

3/17

fri the mothlight & worthwhile sounds present:

waxahatchee & kevin morby

w/ mary lattimore

Where The Blue Ridge Mountains Meet the Celtic Isles

.0/%":4 2VJ[[P o #SBJOZ 5SJWJB t QN 0QFO .JD /JHIU t QN

**at asheville masonic temple**

3/18

sat

56&4%":4 ;ZEFDP %BODF 1BSUZ 'SFF t QN Dance All Night!

hans-joachim roedelius w/ xambuca

3/19

sun

emily reo w/

meg mulhearn, adrienne ammermann

Woodpecker Pie

Savory and Sweet Hand Pies!

5pm to last call

8&%/&4%":4 "TIFWJMMF T 0SJHJOBM 0ME 5JNF .PVOUBJO .VTJD +BN t QN

Yoga at the Mothlight

5)634%":4 .PVOUBJO 'FJTU t QN #MVFHSBTT +BN t QN Bourbon Specials

Tues., Thurs., and Sat. 11:30am Details for all shows can be found at

themothlight.com

'3*

SAT

Featuring

Largest Selection of Craft #FFS PO 5BQ t 8JOFT 6 Sours on tap at all times!

IPA Week!

Featuring locally made IPAs! 3/16 - St. Pattyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eve Highland Pint Night 3/23 - East vs. West IPA Flight Night

On Tap! Karaoke Every Wed. 8pm New Menu by Homegrown!

2 Hendersonville Road P o u r Ta p R o o m . c o m Monday - Thursday 11am-11pm Fri. & Sat. 11am-1am â&#x20AC;¢ Sunday 12-11pm 70

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

'3* 3/24 SAT

45 1"53*$, 4 %":

ALL DAY *3*4) +". 4&44*0/ 41&$*"- *3*4) .&/6 1. o 5)& 3&% 8&--*&4

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MOUNTAINX.COM

SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Yoga w/ Cats with Blue Ridge Humane Society, 10:00AM Further to Fly, 8:00PM SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Laura Blackley & The Wildflowers, 8:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Conscious Comedy Night, 7:00PM DJ Malinalli (salsa dance, latin), 11PM THE CLASSIC WINESELLER Joe Cruz (piano & vocal covers), 7:15PM THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Alarm clock Conspiracy, 8:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Hans-Joachim Roedelius w/ Xambuca, 9:00PM THE RIDGE AT NEW MOUNTAIN AVL General Chryst (hip hop), 8:00PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Ultra Lounge w/ Phantom Pantone, 10:00PM THE SUMMIT AT NEW MOUNTAIN AVL 30 & Up w/ DJ Twan, 10:00PM THOMAS WOLFE AUDITORIUM Asheville Amadeus: Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra, 2:00PM TOWN PUMP Shimmy & the Burns (rock), 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES The King Zeros (delta blues), 7:30PM Free Flow (funk, soul), 10:00PM TWISTED LAUREL Dance Party w/ Phantom Pantone, 10:30PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Steel City Jug Slammers, 8:00PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ Live w/ Tom Waits For No Man, 8:00PM

SUNDAY, MARCH 19 185 KING STREET Sunday Sessions open jam, 12:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Eleanor Underhill & Friends (Americana soul), 7:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Guitar Bar Jam, 3:30PM

CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Saylor Brothers (old time, bluegrass), 6:00PM CORK & KEG The Ruglifters (old-time), 3:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Killer Karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER True Home Open-Mic (music, poetry, comedy), 5:00PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Reverend Horton Heat w/ Unknown Hinson, The Goddamn Gallows & Birdcloud, 8:00PM HABITAT TAVERN & COMMONS Acoustic Sundays, 4:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Reggae Sunday w/ Dennis "Chalwa" Berndt, 1:00PM

THOMAS WOLFE AUDITORIUM Asheville Amadeus Finale Concert, 3:00PM TOWN PUMP Ruth Carp & the Fish Heads (psych, grunge), 9:00PM

MONDAY, MARCH 20 185 KING STREET Open Mic Night w/ Chris Whitmire, 6:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Siamese Jazz Club (soul, R&B, jazz), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Classical Guitar Mondays, 7:00PM ASHEVILLE MASONIC TEMPLE Pamela & Her Soms w/ Sequoyah, Marcy and Carmelo & Alec Sturgis, 8:00PM

ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL Mt. Spirit presents An Evening w/ Heather Pierson (Americana, folk, jazz), 5:30PM An evening w/ Dara Tucker, 7:00PM

BYWATER Open mic, 8:00PM

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Traditional Celtic Jam Session, 3:00PM Irish session, 5:00PM

CREEKSIDE TAPHOUSE Trivia night, 7:00PM

LAZY DIAMOND Pabst Sabbath Vol. 4: The Cannonball Jars w/ DJ Chubberbird (rock n' roll), 10:00PM Punk Night w/ DJ Chubberbird & Hard Mike, 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Hot Club of Asheville, 6:30PM LUELLA'S BAR-B-QUE BILTMORE PARK Gypsy Jazz Brunch w/ Leo Johnson, 12:00PM ODDITORIUM 80s/90s Dance Party w/ DJ Nickie Moore, 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Bluegrass brunch w/ Aaron "Woody" Wood, 11:00AM ORANGE PEEL Secrect Agent 23 Skidoo w/ Asheville Symphony, Orion Weiss & Marley Carroll (hip hop, kid hop), 2:30PM Zumba Fitness Party, 6:00PM

CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Musicians in the Round Jam, 5:30PM

DOUBLE CROWN Country karaoke w/ KJ Tim O, 10:00PM GOOD STUFF Songwriter's "open mic", 7:30PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN Open mic night (music & comedy), 6:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Game Night, 4:00PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Quizzo, 7:00PM Open Mic Night, 9:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Benefit w/ DJ Murfy Murf (punk, surf, funk, garage), 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Bobby Miller & Friends (bluegrass), 6:30PM ODDITORIUM Risque Monday Burlesque w/ Deb Au Nare (burlesque), 9:00PM

PULP Dustin Thomas, 9:00PM

OLE SHAKEY'S Honky Tonk Karaoke, 9:00PM

PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Sunday Travers jam, 6:00PM

OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Mountain Music Mondays (open jam), 6:00PM

SALVAGE STATION Open Mic Night w/ The Wet Doorknobs, 7:00PM SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Modern Strangers, 3:00PM

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE The Porch Magazine Presents 5:3:1, 6:30PM THE IMPERIAL LIFE Ghost Pipe Trio, 8:00PM

BARLEY'S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA Hip Bones (renegade jazz), 7:30PM

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Gospel Brunch w/ Redneck Mimosa, 12:00PM

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Trivial trivia w/ Geoffrey & Brody, 8:00PM

BEN'S TUNE-UP Reggae Night w/The Dub Kartel, 6:00PM

THE IMPERIAL LIFE DJ Phantom Pantone (French pop, disco house), 9:30PM

THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Bob Zullo (rock, jazz, pop), 7:00PM

BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Ben Phan, 7:00PM

THE MOTHLIGHT Emily Reo w/ Meg Mulhearn & Adrienne Ammerman (pop, experimental), 9:00PM

BYWATER Grateful Sunday (Grateful Dead covers), 8:00PM

THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN Bob Zullo (rock, jazz, pop), 7:00PM

THE SOCIAL LOUNGE Karaoke, 8:00PM THE SUMMIT AT NEW MOUNTAIN AVL Kosha Dillz w/ Ho-Tron, Sympl, Natural Born Leaders & more (hip hop), 8:00PM

BONFIRE BARBECUE Thunder karaoke w/ Jason Tarr, 8:00PM

GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN The Districts w/ The Halves, 9:00PM

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Turntable Tuesdays, 10:00PM

BYWATER Spin Jam (local DJs and fire-spinning), 7:30PM

HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Dr. Brown's Team Trivia, 6:00PM

ONE WORLD BREWING TRIVIA! w/ Ol' Gilly, 7:00PM

CORK & KEG Old Time Jam, 5:00PM

ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL Tuesday bluegrass sessions w/ The Plate Scrapers, 7:30PM

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Tuesday night funk jam, 11:00PM

CROW & QUILL Boogie Woogie Burger Night (burgers & rock n' roll), 9:00PM

ORANGE PEEL Conor Oberst w/ The Felice Brothers, 8:00PM

LOBSTER TRAP Jay Brown (folk, singer-songwriter), 6:30PM

SANCTUARY BREWING COMPANY Taco and Trivia Tuesday, 6:00PM

BEN'S TUNE-UP Soulful Tunes w/ Rhoda Wader, 7:00PM

DOUBLE CROWN Honky-tonk, Western & Cajun night w/ DJ Brody Douglas Hunt , 10:00PM

ODDITORIUM Open Mic Comedy Night w/ Tom Peters, 9:00PM

BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Mark Bumgarner, 7:00PM

GOOD STUFF Old time-y night, 6:30PM

OLE SHAKEY'S Booty Tuesday, 11:00PM

THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Swing Asheville & Jazz-n-Justice Benefit, 9:00PM Swing Asheville Late-night Vintage Blues Dance, 11:00PM

TUESDAY, MARCH 21 5 WALNUT WINE BAR The John Henrys (hot jazz), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Gypsy Jazz Jam Tuesdays, 7:00PM

North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s First Cider Bar Family Owned & Operated Seasonal, craft-made hard ciders and tasting-room delights from local farmers & artisans.

Perfect for any weather!

210 Haywood Road, West Asheville, NC 28806

(828)744-5151

www.urbanorchardcider.com

MOUNTAINX.COM

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

71

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THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Open jam w/ Rob Parks & Chuck Knott, 7:00PM

797 Haywood Rd. Suite 100

Free Beer Tastings with Brewery Reps Every Friday, 6-8pm

This week (3/17): Granite Falls Brewery Free Wine Tastings Every Saturday, 4-6pm Check out facebook.com/hopsandvinesavl to see whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on tap!

"REW 4ALK s -ARCH TH PM PM Tim Gormley of Burial Beer Co. discusses homebrewing with herbs, spices, flowers, and botanicals

THE MOTHLIGHT Downtown Boys w/ Sneaks & Cloudgayzer, 9:00PM TOWN PUMP Wingate Inn Grand Opening, 5:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Early Jazz & Funk Jam (funk, jazz), 9:00PM WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Irish sessions & open mic, 6:30PM WILD WING CAFE Crooked Old River & the Blue Ridge Heritage Cloggers (bluegrass), 7:00PM

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 185 KING STREET Vinyl Night, 6:00PM 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Les Amis (African folk), 8:00PM ALTAMONT THEATRE An Evening w/ Leyla McCalla (creole), 8:00PM

LOBSTER TRAP Ben Hovey (dub, jazz), 6:30PM ODDITORIUM Spill, Aficionado, RGH & The Cannonball Jars (punk, indie), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Evil Note Lab, 9:30PM ONE WORLD BREWING Gracie Lane, 8:00PM ORANGE PEEL Local Natives w/ Little Scream, 9:00PM SALVAGE STATION R&B Wednesday Jam Night w/ Ryan "RnB" Barber & friends, 9:00PM THE BLOCK OFF BILTMORE Alina Quu w/ The Gypsy Swingers & Quutopia, 7:30PM THE MOTHLIGHT Chicano Batman w/ 79.5 & SadGirl, 9:00PM THE SOCIAL LOUNGE DJ Phantom Pantone (international soul, R&B), 8:00PM

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Brad Hodge & friends (singer-songwriter), 7:00PM

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BARLEY'S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA Dr. Brown's Team Trivia, 8:30PM

THOMAS WOLFE AUDITORIUM Celtic Woman: Voices of Angels, 7:30PM

BEN'S TUNE-UP Lenny Pettinelli & Friends, 7:00PM

TOWN PUMP Open Mic w/ Billy Presnell, 9:00PM

BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Open mic w/ Mark Bumgarner, 7:00PM

TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Blues & Soul Jam (blues, soul), 9:00PM

BONFIRE BARBECUE Trivia Funtime w/ Kelsey, 8:00PM

TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic Night, 6:00PM

BROADWAY'S Broadway HumpDay Variety w/ DJ NexMillen, 9:00PM

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY Wide Screen Wednesdays , 7:00PM

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JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old-time session, 5:00PM

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CREEKSIDE TAPHOUSE Open mic jam w/ Riyen Roots & friends, 7:00PM CROW & QUILL Sparrow and her Wingmen (swing jazz, swing dance), 9:00PM DOUBLE CROWN Classic Country Vinyl w/ DJ David Wayne Gay, 10:00PM FUNKATORIUM John Hartford Jam w/ the Saylor Brothers (bluegrass), 6:30PM GOOD STUFF Jim Hampton & friends perform "Eclectic Country" (jam), 7:00PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN 79.5 (R&B, soul), 8:00PM Blackalicious w/ FTO & King Garbage, 9:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Woody Wood Wednesdays (rock, soul, funk), 5:30PM ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL An evening w/ Matt Hires & Kyle Cox, 7:00PM The High Divers & Amigo, 8:30PM

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN UNCA Jazz Alumni , 7:30PM

DOUBLE CROWN Sonic Satan Stew w/ DJ Alien Brain, 10:00PM FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREWPUB Band of Drifters (folk), 9:00PM FRENCH BROAD BREWERY Gavin Conner (country, alternative), 6:00PM GREY EAGLE MUSIC HALL & TAVERN An evening w/ Loudon Wainwright III, 8:00PM HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY East Side Social Ride, 6:00PM ISIS RESTAURANT AND MUSIC HALL An evening w/ Tough Old Bird, 7:00PM Catie Curtis CD release, 8:30PM JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Open Jam Session, 7:00PM LAZY DIAMOND Heavy Night w/ DJ Butch, 10:00PM The Krektones (instro-surf), 10:00PM LOBSTER TRAP Hank Bones ("The man of 1,000 songs"), 6:30PM NEW MOUNTAIN THEATER/ AMPHITHEATER Space Jesus w/ Shlump (electronic, hip hop), 9:00PM ODDITORIUM Book of Wyrms w/ Dissent, Low Earth & Covenator (metal), 9:00PM ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mitch's Totally Rad Trivia Night, 6:30PM Bella's Bartok (folk, punk), 10:00PM ONE WORLD BREWING Chamomile & Whisley, 8:00PM PULP Jeff Santiago & Los Gatos w/ The Great American, 8:00PM

WILD WING CAFE Jason Wyatt (acoustic), 8:00PM

PISGAH BREWING COMPANY Dennis "Chalwa" Berndt (reggae, roots folk), 6:30PM

WILD WING CAFE SOUTH Jason Whittaker (acoustic), 6:30PM

PURPLE ONION CAFE Michael Reno Harrell (folk), 7:30PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 23 5 WALNUT WINE BAR Pleasure Chest (blues, rock, soul), 8:00PM ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Will Ray & The Space Cooties, 7:00PM BARLEY'S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA Alien Music Club (jazz), 9:00PM BLUE MOUNTAIN PIZZA & BREW PUB Patrick Fitzsimons, 7:00PM BONFIRE BARBECUE Social Function, 8:30PM CROW & QUILL Carolina Catskins (rowdy ragtime jazz), 9:00PM

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Chris Titchner, 7:00PM THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Tricky Trivia w/ Sue, 8:00PM THE MOTHLIGHT Ne-Hi w/ Shaken Nature & The Power, 9:30PM TOWN PUMP Modern Strangers (mountain janglepop), 9:00PM TRESSA'S DOWNTOWN JAZZ AND BLUES Jesse Barry & The Jam (live music, dance), 9:00PM WXYZ LOUNGE AT ALOFT HOTEL WXYZ Unplugged w/ Steve Weams, 8:00PM

MOVIES

REVIEWS & LISTINGS

BY SCOTT DOUGLAS & JUSTIN SOUTHER

★★★★★ = ★ PICK OF THE WEEK ★

Director Claude Barras and screenwriter Céline Sciamma find hope in tragedy with My Life as a Zucchini

My Life as a Zucchini (Ma vie de courgette) HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Claude Barras PLAYERS: Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud, Michel Vuillermoz, Raul Ribera, Estelle Hennard, Elliot Sanchez, Lou Wick, Brigitte Rosset, Monica Budde, Adrien Barazzone, Véronique Montel STOP-MOTION ANIMATION RATED PG-13 THE STORY: A young orphan overcomes trauma with the help of his surrogate family.

THE LOWDOWN: A rare children’s film that respects its target audience’s intelligence, dealing with mature themes in an accessible way and offering hope while avoiding saccharinity.

My Life as a Zucchini may be a relatively traditional children’s film strictly in the formal terms of its stop motion animation — but in content, it’s far from your standard kids’ fare.

After all, this is a film in which the inciting incident revolves around our young protagonist accidentally killing his abusive, alcoholic mother within the first five minutes. While American animation — notably in the hands of studios like Pixar — has been defined in recent years by a tendency to pander to parents through the incorporation of mature themes and humor, Zucchini take an inverse approach by addressing particularly weighty issues on an emotional and psychological level appropriate to its target audience. I can’t think of many narrative

balancing acts more delicate than trying to convey to children very adult concepts like abuse, death, loss and abandonment without overwhelming fragile young psyches, and yet Zucchini pulls it off with almost miraculous aplomb.

A Franco-Swiss co-production helmed by short-film director Claude Barras and adapted by screenwriter Céline Sciamma (Tomboy, Girlhood), from the YA novel Autobiographie d’une Courgette by Gilles Paris, Zucchini refuses to pull its punches. Nine-yearold Icare — nicknamed Courgette (“Zucchini” in French) by his mother before her death — finds himself relegated to an orphanage full of similarly traumatized children. Our protagonist’s new compatriots include kids whose parents have been deported or arrested, at least one victim of molestation and a love interest who witnessed her own parents’ murder-suicide. It’s bleak material to say the least, but Barras and Sciamma, like their characters, never abandon hope entirely.

As young Courgette adapts to his new circumstances, he finds a support structure in the form of policeman and paternal proxy Raymond, some kindly and attentive caretakers and a growing sense of familial affinity for the other kids at the orphanage. These relationships feel organically developed and emotionally real, grounding the characters in a naturalistic sense of childhood that normalizes the suffering their respective backstories entail. Barras and Sciamma deftly avoid maudlin self-pity and compensatory saccharinity, allowing their subjects to develop without the slightest hint of condescension toward the audience. As filmmakers, they’ve performed the laudable feat of treating children like sentient entities, complete with their own perspectives, as opposed to depicting them as malformed adults — it really shouldn’t be a novel concept, but I can’t remember having seen it carried out so successfully.

Zucchini is densely layered with symbolism and narrative nuance. Courgette’s eponymous sobriquet is a near-homophone with “courage,” a bit of wordplay likely to be lost in translation for some monolingual American audiences — while his birth name references the myth of Icarus, a motif reinforced by one of the two mementos of his earlier life.

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that resembles Zucchini’s conception of his long-absent, philandering father, placing our protagonist’s character arc in a role-reversed association with the Greek myth. His souvenir of his mother, an empty beer can, is a little less complicated to symbolically unpack.

Barras’ painstaking analog stop-motion claymation is beautiful in its lack of polish, providing a perfect aesthetic for the narrative’s rough edges in a way that slick computer animation would have undermined.

While Zucchini deals with profoundly dark subject matter, it is replete with heartwarming scenes of triumph over almost unfathomable adversity — a testament to the resiliency of youth.

The story’s approach to what could be defined in Jungian psycho-analytic terms as the negative anima complex is respectful and considerate in a way that few children’s films bother to be, resulting in a film that’s as useful as it is moving and entertaining. It’s a valuable resource for teaching children how to confront a world that too often seems cruel and indifferent — a lesson that most adults could stand to revisit as well. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and suggestive material. French with English subtitles. Opens Friday at Grail Moviehouse.

REVIEWED BY SCOTT DOUGLAS JSDOUGLAS22@GMAIL.COM

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Kedi HHHH DIRECTOR: Ceyda Torun PLAYERS: DOCUMENTARY RATED NR THE STORY: The lives of a handful of stray cats who live on the streets of Instanbul, and the people who encounter them everyday.

THE LOWDOWN: A gentle, quiet documentary that’s a bit smarter and more affecting than your runof-the-mill nature documentary.

Seeing as how all criticism is subjective, I want to start by mentioning that I am wholeheartedly a cat person, and I’m much more of a cat person than I’d ever imagine myself being a documentary person. So a documentary about the cats that roam the streets of Istanbul is exactly the kind that’s made for me.

It’s because of this that I suspect anyone’s enjoyment of Kedi will tie directly into their personal interest in felines. Of course, in a mode of filmmaking that almost always focuses on a specific topic, this is going to be the case. Luckily, Kedi isn’t a run-of-the-mill nature documentary, eschewing the Disney approach of having, say, Morgan Freeman talk about giraffes, and manages to broaden its appeal thanks to this. The film is as much about the people and the place of Istanbul as it is the wild cats that walk its streets.

Kedi’s general structure tells the story of a handful of these felines, who hunt and barge into shops and beg for food, told through the

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eyes of the people who work and live there in these same neighborhoods. This, thankfully, keeps the animals from being anthropomorphized by a faceless narrator. The cats, we’re told, have been a feature on the streets of Istanbul since the reign of the Ottomans, so there’s a sense of tradition and normality to it all, as strange as it might seem to us. And as unruly as the cats can be — they bust into businesses and apartments looking for food or affection — there are people around who feed them and take them to the vet. Some do it begrudgingly, while some, like one fisherman, feed whole litters of orphaned kittens as repayment for what he describes as a mystical encounter with a cat years earlier. Much of the film takes on a vaguely (though never overwhelming) philosophical tone, as the people who populate the film discuss these cats and how they, themselves, relate to them on personal levels. Here, Kedi turns into a movie about finding one’s humanity through animals.

Of course, beyond this, the real appeal of the movie is the cats and their idiosyncrasies. One bangs on a restaurant window demanding his daily portion of Manchego and turkey; another hunts mice outside a seaside restaurant. They’re each distinct and different. While even at a tight 80 minutes, Kedi’s wistfulness can feel a bit repetitive, luckily, the film’s quiet charms, from its cast of characters to its bursts of Turkish pop music, make up for these small shortcomings. I can’t quite call Kedi a great film, but it’s enjoyable and quaint — and sometimes that’s enough. Not Rated. Now Playing at Grail Moviehouse.

REVIEWED BY JUSTIN SOUTHER JSOUTHER@MOUNTAINX.COM

MOUNTAINX.COM

Kong: Skull Island HHHS DIRECTOR: Jordan Vogt-Roberts PLAYERS: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell GIANT MONSTER ACTION ADVENTURE RATED NR THE STORY: A group of scientists and a military escort explore a mysterious uncharted island in the South Pacific in the final days of the Vietnam War. The title should give you some indication of what they find.

THE LOWDOWN: A fun, if not overwhelmingly thought provoking, giant monster film that promises bigger (pun intended) things on the horizon for Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse.

It’s not hard to understand the appeal of a film like Kong: Skull Island — it’s a broadly accessible, largely mindless piece of popcorn moviemaking with a tremendous collection of talent in tow. What’s slightly more difficult to grasp is why all that talent ended up in a King Kong reboot, and how the film manages to avoid falling apart in spite of their efforts. Truth be told, there’s not a hell of a lot beneath the film’s superficial CG veneer and the filmmakers’ attempt to throw in arbitrary social commentary and cursory character development. So why does the whole thing work? In a word, Kong himself.

An adept visual effects team lead by Stephen Rosenbaum and Jeff White has delivered a noteworthy accomplishment, with Kong appearing early in a series of staggering set pieces that define the tone of the film. Absent is the unadulterated idolatry of Peter Jackson’s slavish 2005 remake, replaced by a tendency toward franchise building and an attempt to recapture the box office success of last year’s Jurassic World. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts is clearly a fan of his source material, although that source material is not strictly relegated to the 1933 film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. While the computeranimated gorilla visually apes the original, this Kong exists in the kaiju-centric

MonsterVerse introduced in Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla — the upshot becoming clear in a post-credits stinger that ties Kong: Skull Island to that previous film, and the inevitable shareduniverse sequels which will include monsters such as Mothra and King Gidorah. There are some moviegoers (myself included) for which mere suggestion of such a prospect is incentive enough to shell out for a ticket.

The script, courtesy of Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler, Real Steel), Max Borenstein (Edwards’ Godzilla) and Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) forgoes the New York climax of the original, instead rooting the action on Kong’s home turf — the titular Skull Island.

It’s expertly paced and reasonably wellstructured, but the screenplay diverges into some odd territory with a late-Vietnam-era setting and some ill-defined anti-war subtext. Visual and narrative homages to Coppola’s Apocalypse Now muddy the waters when placed in juxtaposition to the more expected references to the giant monster genre, and all of this becomes exponentially trickier when coupled with Vogt-Roberts’ stylistic similarities to a cut-rate Michael Bay on a permanent sugar high.

If the script gets strange and the direction self-indulgent, Kong’s topnotch cast saves the film from being little more than empty visual spectacle. Tom Hiddleston is a predictably proficient lead, with Brie Larson contributing a sense of gravitas to a thankless role that would’ve been lost in the shuffle were it played by a less competent actress — exactly why her character, as the lone female, is only allowed to hold a camera while everyone else gets a gun is beyond me. Samuel L. Jackson embodies his deranged Kurtz-proxy with the level of gleeful malice one would expect. The surprising standouts, however, are John C. Reilly as a marooned World War II vet and John Goodman as a slightly unhinged scientist at the end of his rope.

While both Reilly and Goodman operate as little more than walking, talking plot devices, they both add an unexpected level of shading to their characters that is achieved through performance alone (it certainly isn’t there on the page).

Kong is effectively a film that works in spite of itself. If the original Godzilla was an allegory for the horrors of the atomic age, and the original King Kong was a statement on colonial overreach and institutionalized racism, Kong: Skull Island is a significantly less nuanced examination of the decline of American exceptionalism in an increasingly global culture. That it does this somewhat poorly is almost irrelevant considering the extent to which it achieves its more modest aims — namely being just good

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SCREEN SCENE enough to hold the audience’s attention and set up a franchise the studio undoubtedly expects to become a major cash cow. It’s by no means a great film — but God help me, I really want to see a giant gorilla fight a giant moth and a radioactive dinosaur. Call it a character flaw. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for brief strong language.

Now Playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemark, Regal Biltmore Grande, Epic of Hendersonville.

by Edwin Arnaudin | edwinarnaudin@gmail.com

There’s much more online. mountainx.com

REVIEWED BY SCOTT DOUGLAS JSDOUGLAS22@GMAIL.COM

The Sense of an Ending HHH DIRECTOR: Ritesh Batra PLAYERS: Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Harriet Walter, Michelle Dockery, Matthew Goode, Emily Mortimer, James Wilby, Edward Holcroft, Billy Howle, Freya Mavor, Joe Alwyn DRAMA RATED PG-13 THE STORY: A curmudgeon must reexamine his long-held assumptions when confronted with a tangible reminder of his first romance and its involvement in the tragic death of a close friend.

THE LOWDOWN: An interesting concept underserved by a truncated narrative and a relatively unlikeable protago-

FILM FLOOD GALLERY FINE ART CENTER 2160 US Highway 70, Swannanoa, 273-3332, floodgallery.org/ • FR (3/17), 8pm - Classic World Cinema Series: Cries and Whispers. Free.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL • THURSDAYS through (5/18), 7pm - Israel/ Palestine Film Festival. Jerusalem in Exile and My Neighborhood, film screenings. Free to attend. Held at Lenoir Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies, 36 Montford Ave. MECHANICAL EYE MICROCINEMA mechanicaleyecinema.org • TH (3/16), 7pm - Curator Caitlin Horsmon presents a program of film and video of work being made in the Midwest. Question and answer discussion following the films. $5. Held at Grail MovieHouse, 45 S. French Broad Ave.

Where Adult Dreams Come True RHAPSODY IN B&W: Diane Keaton and Woody Allen sit before the Queensboro Bridge in this still from Allen’s 1979 film Manhattan. Asheville Pizza & Brewing hosts a new 4K restoration of the film on March 16. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment • Mechanical Eye Microcinema presents Soft Center: Films from the Midwest on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m. at Grail Moviehouse. The program of film and video showcasing the diversity of work being made in the Midwest is curated

by Caitlin Horsmon from the Kansas City, Mo.-based PLUG Projects, a collaboration by five of the city’s artists to bring their peers’ creations to a wider, national network of artists. A Skype Q&A with Horsmon will take place after the screening. Tickets are $5, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. mechanicaleyecinema.org • Asheville Pizza & Brewing’s Merrimon Avenue theater is a host site for the new 4K restoration of Woody Allen’s Manhattan on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $3 and may be purchased in person starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15. ashevillebrewing.com • On Friday, March 17, at 2 p.m., Pack Memorial Library celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with a screening of John Ford’s Ireland-set The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.

Free and open to the public. avl.mx/ff • The West Asheville Public Library’s Pixar Film Series continues with Finding Nemo on Friday, March 17, at 4:30 p.m. The feature presentation will be preceded by the Pixar short film Knick Knack. Free and open to the public. avl.mx/1z5

• Mechanical Eye Microcinema offers a Parents’ Night Out Film Party on Friday, March 17, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Parents are invited to drop off their children (ages 4-12) for a fun-filled night of movie making under the guidance of instructors Lisa Smith and Charlotte Taylor. The cost is $25 for one child, $40 for two siblings or $55 for three family members. Pizza and popcorn will be provided. Register online. avl.mx/prt0 • On Saturday, March 18, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mechanical Eye Microcinema, Charlotte Taylor leads a class on the basics of Adobe After Effects. Students will learn about the program’s keyframe animation and design and create their own motion graphics. The class is open to teens and adults, and no experience is necessary. Students with their own laptops may download the sevenday free trial of Adobe Creative Cloud before the class. Tuition is $40. Register online. avl.mx/prt1 • Hi-Wire Brewing’s Winter of John Candy film series continues inside its Big Top facility on Saturday, March 18, at 8 p.m. with Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs.

Admission is free, and attendees are asked to bring comfortable, portable seating. Foothills Local Meats will provide classic movie theater food, including $3 corndogs. hiwirebrewing.com X

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nist — but largely redeemed by excellent performances from Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling.

The Sense of an Ending is a film tailor-made for a demographic to which I do not belong, and as such, its charms are effectively lost on me. That’s not to say that I don’t recognize its appeal to an older audience — and dynamic performances from Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling go a long way to maintaining interest in a narrative that is principally focused an aging narcissist with a questionable grasp of reality — but the film’s cardinal sin is that it explores an interesting conceit that probably functioned more effectively in its literary source material than it does on screen.

Broadbent plays Tony Webster, a divorcee whose days are defined by engrained routines that mostly consist of being rude to the occasional customer at his vintage camera shop or being a mild annoyance to his longsuffering ex-wife and pregnant daughter. The monotony of his existence is disrupted by an unexpected letter from the mother of his first love, including the bequest of a long-dead school friend’s diary. This leads him on a solipsistic journey down memory lane, in which he’s forced to reexamine his relationship with his old flame (Rampling) and his role in a love triangle with tragic consequences.

It’s this sense of solipsism that is challenged over the course of Tony’s character arc, with the women in his life challenging his autobiographical narrative and calling into question his revisionist history. Based on a novel

by Julian Barnes, Ending’s story is rooted in the concept of the fallibility of memory and its susceptibility to alteration in the interest of ego preservation. While unreliable narrators can work well on the written page, the transition to screen can be a thorny problem when it comes to adaptation.

Director Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox), working from a script by playwright Nick Payne, makes a valiant attempt to visualize this inherently literary device by placing the adult Tony into his own flashbacks as he reexamines his youthful decisions and their impact on the lives of those around him. This works to an extent, but the mystery at the core of Tony’s navel-gazing is a bit lacking, and his ultimate character turn feels distinctly contrived.

Despite the film’s narrative shortcomings, Ending does provide a compelling examination of advancing age as defined by a sense of wistful nostalgia and regret. This capacity for selfexamination is valid, and Broadbent and Rampling contribute a level of

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STA RTI NG FRIDAY Additional bookings may be confirmed after press time, check with your local theater for showtimes.

S PEC IAL SCR E E N IN GS

AFS Cancellation Due to planned construction at Grail Moviehouse, there will be no Asheville Film Society screening on Tuesday, March 21.

Beauty and the Beast Live-action adaptation of the Disney animated film, directed by Bill Condon and starring and ensemble cast featuring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson and more. According to the film’s website: “Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince within.” Early reviews are mixed.

My Life as a Zucchini (Ma vie de Courgette) See Scott Douglas’ review

The Sense of an Ending See Scott Douglas’ review

nuance and complexity to characters that would have come across as distinctly two-dimensional in the hands of lesser performers. There is no doubt audiences that will gravitate toward Ritesh’s film on the basis of its affirmation of their worldview and life experience alone, but I personally found it too difficult to reconcile my inability to relate to Ending’s largely unlikeable protagonist with its lack of narrative momentum. Maybe it’s a film that I’ll find more resonant in a couple of decades, but from my current perspective, the film could stand to sacrifice its sense of an ending for an enhanced sense of a point. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, a violent image, sexuality and brief strong language. Opens Friday at Fine Arts Theatre.

REVIEWED BY SCOTT DOUGLAS JSDOUGLAS22@GMAIL.COM

MOUNTAINX.COM

Cries and Whispers HHHHH DIRECTOR: Ingmar Bergman PLAYERS: Harriet Andersson Kari Sylwan Ingrid Thulin Liv Ullmann Erland Josephson Henning Moritzen DRAMA Rated R As with many of Ingmar Bergman’s late-period works, Cries and Whispers was a divisive film on its release in 1972, and might still be just as divisive today. Also indicative of Bergman’s auteurial signature is the film’s incomparable conflation of beauty and brutality, and this may well be one of the most difficult Bergman films to watch.

Following two sisters who return home to be with a third sister as she dies of cancer, the story is a sensitive showcase of divergent psychology and sexuality as only Bergman could handle such subjects. Realistically, if you’re a Bergman fan you have to see this film at least once — and the prospect of ever watching it again may prove too challenging. Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present Cries and Whispers on Friday, March 17, at 8 p.m. at Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, 2160 Hwy 70, Swannanoa.

Farewell, My Lovely HHHHS DIRECTOR: Dick Richards PLAYERS: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles, Jack O’Halloran, Anthony Zerbe FILM NOIR Rated R One of my favorite Robert Mitchum performances and one of the best ever portrayals of Raymond Chandler’s character Philip Marlowe, Dick Richards’ 1973 Farewell, My Lovely holds its own against the best nostalgia noir of the ’70s, Chinatown included.

Marlowe is the role Mitchum was born to play, and even in his late fifties he fits the bill better than almost any actor to take on the part. Richards plays the material straight, and his affinity for the genre is clear even if it occasionally verges on overromanticization of its tropes. Fans of Mitchum, Marlowe and movies that are good should make the trek to see this one if they haven’t already. The Hendersonville Film Society will show Farewell, My Lovely on Sunday, March 19, at 2 p.m. in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

White Zombie HHHH DIRECTOR: Victor Halperin PLAYERS: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Robert Frazer HORROR Rated NR Victor Halperin’s White Zombie is a film outside the realm of normal filmmaking. It was odd in 1932, with reviewers at odds over whether it was some kind of art film or a horror film — and in both cases either loving it or absolutely hating it. Most independent productions of its era are pretty terrible. This one verges on the amazing and sometimes crosses that line. It’s also something of a shameful picture in that its star, Bela Lugosi, received the sum of $500 (a few sources say $800) for his services. (Lugosi was a bad businessman and had an even worse agent.) And the film is not only unthinkable without him, there’s a certain amount of evidence — based on things said by Lugosi’s friend Clarene Muse, who played the coachman at the beginning of the movie — that Lugosi may have directed parts of it. The fact that nothing else Halperin directed — apart from fleeting moments in Supernatural (1933) — is even remotely on par with White Zombie certainly suggests other input was involved. This excerpt was taken from a review by Ken Hanke published on Aug. 24, 2010. The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen White Zombie on Thursday, March 16, at 9:15 p.m. at The Grail Moviehouse, hosted by Xpress movie critic Scott Douglas.

MARKETPLACE REA L E S TAT E | R E N TA L S | R O O M M ATES | SERVICES | JOBS | ANNOUNCEMENTS | MIND, BODY, SPIRIT CL AS S E S & WOR K S HOP S | M U S IC IA N S’ SERV ICES | PETS | A U TOMOTIV E | X C HANG E | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 x111 tnavaille@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to ads@mountainx.com

REAL ESTATE

HOMES FOR RENT

REAL ESTATE SERVICES

NEED A HOME APPRAISAL? We will appraise your home for Tax Appeal, Divorce, Sales Pricing, Litigation, and Estate purposes. • Covering Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood, Madison, Transylvania, Yancey, and Mitchell Counties.

Earnhardt and Associates Appraisers. Residential, Commercial, Consulting: (828) 253-1930. Reasonable Fees. EarnhardtApprais@ Bellsouth.net

RENTALS APARTMENTS FOR RENT 1BR FURNISHED APARTMENT Beautiful, clean available Now at The Retreat at Hunt Hill. Walking distance to downtown. WD, stainless steel appliances. Fitness room and outside pool just outside your doorway. Great view of the mountains. Must be seen to appreciate. $1,600/month. Call 828 255-5255.

2400 SQFT HILLTOP CABIN Built in 2003 on 6+ acres with view. Just 2 miles from downtown Mars Hill but Totally private. • 4 wheel drive necessary. 3BR/3BA with 1 per floor. Furnished inside and out with deep deck on two sides, carport, hot tub and all new appliances. New stone tops in all bathrooms and kitchen. Propane included. $1,750/month, lease term negotiable. Call 828-2061751.

LITTLE HOUSE OVERLOOKING DOWNTOWN Charming 800 sq. ft. 2 BR house in a quiet neighborhood overlooking downtown.

Large, sunny deck. $950/mo.

Includes water. 828-333-2422.

COMMERCIAL/ BUSINESS RENTALS SHARED OFFICE SPACE NEEDED Seeking healing space with other professional - separate days for part-time Chiropractor/Naturopath. I do longer patient visits. 1 1/2- 3 days/week. 828-785-1475. bhagawan33@gmail.com

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR ZIPLINE AND ARIAL PARK GUIDES AND KOLO BIKE PARK STAFF Multiple positions available, from office assistants to guiding. Check us out online at Adventureavl.com. Send applications and resumes to Manager@ adventurecenterofasheville.com (828)225-2921 SHAMPOODLES PET SALON IS HIRING THE FOLLOWING: We are looking to add the following team members to add to our salon. Experience Pet Stylist: commission based pay. Bather: starting at 8:50/hr. Receptionist: 8.00/hr. 828-252-7171 shampoodlessalon@gmail.com www.shampoodlessalon.com TROLLEY TOUR GUIDES If you are a "people person," love Asheville, have a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and clean driving record you could be a great TOUR GUIDE, FULL-TIME and seasonal part-time positions available. Training provided. Contact us today! www.GrayLineAsheville.com; Info@GrayLineAsheville.com; 828-251-8687.

TZEDEK SOCIAL JUSTICE FELLOWSHIP The Tzedek Fellowship is a transformational experience for emerging social justice leaders that builds the capacity of social justice organizations to effect change in Asheville and beyond. Now accepting applications for elevenmonth, paid, full-time positions at six nonprofit organizations. Visit tzedekfellowship.org to apply.

ROOMMATES ROOMMATES ALL AREAS Free Roommate Service @ RentMates.com. Find the perfect roommate to complement your personality and lifestyle at RentMates.com! (AAN CAN) ASHEVILLE • SHORT TERM AVAILABLE South Asheville.

Shared housing. Vegetarian, no smoking/animals. On busline. Sliding scale. Peace. Call (828) 3489183.

NEW LUXURY APARTMENT HISTORIC BUILDING Amazing downtown location! Completely renovated, second floor, one-bedroom apartment with high ceilings, large windows and hardwood floors. Washer and dryer included. $1550/ month. (828)252-6664 rentals@bassandroyster.com bassandroyster.com/vacancies/

EMPLOYMENT GENERAL

HIRING FOR NEW HIGH ADVENTURE JOB! Seeking canyoneering guides for 2017 season. Must have a great attitude and be comfortable at height. Preferred climbing/ ropes experience. Apply at: frenchbroadrafting.com/jobs ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT, FOR RENT. One bd. room apt. No Smoking. Kitchen and full living room. Large closets. Air conditioning. $700 per mo. $700 deposit.

Located at 150 Starnes Cove Rd, Asheville,NC. Call 828-778-5520 smaphet@gmail.com

NORTH ASHEVILLE TAILGATE MARKET ASSISTANT Seeking Part Time Market Assistant Saturdays April through November must have reliable vehicle, excellent communication and organizational skills email resume and cover letter, no phone calls please Starting pay $10hr

WANT A FUN JOB IN THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY? Our fastgrowing, locally-owned outdoor adventure company is hiring raft guides, zipline guides, photographers and reservation staff for the upcoming season. Experience is preferred but we will train the right people. Apply online at FrenchBroadRafting.com/jobs

SKILLED LABOR/ TRADES

APPLIANCE INSTALLATION TECHNICIANS AND APPLIANCE SERVICE TECHNICIANS NEEDED Haywood Appliance, has immediate openings for experienced Appliance Service Technicians and also Installation Technicians. Service Technicians diagnose and repair kitchen and laundry appliances and Installation Technicians do the new installs.

We offer great pay, bonus, and a comprehensive health insurance package. You would be working out of the Clyde Location. Stop by or send us an email. 828-627-0001

SKILLED PUNCH CARPENTER If you have a very thorough understanding of wood-frame construction assemblies and details and both new construction and renovation experience then you might be the Skilled Carpenter we are looking for •Clean background check and clean driving record required • $35,000 - $45,000 / year depending on Attitude, Skills, & Characteristics. To apply: Please call our voicemail prepared to answer a couple questions about the job.

828-785-4306

ADMINISTRATIVE/ OFFICE CLERICAL PART TIME CLERICAL PERSON NEEDED Office/ Clerical PT Clerical Person needed from Monday-Friday, $250.00 weekly.Computer skills are a must. Need to be detail oriented, possess good customer service skills, some cash & items handling skills,Must be able to do little errand. Apply Email: loffber99539@gmail.com

RESTAURANT/ FOOD APOLLO FLAME • WAITSTAFF Full-time. Fast, friendly, fun atmosphere. • Experience required. • Must be 18 years old. • Apply in person between 2pm-4pm, 485 Hendersonville Road. 274-3582.

COOK AT MONTREAT COLLEGE DINING SERVICES Cook needed for brunch / evening shifts on weekends, some weeknight shifts as well. Good environment for friendly hard working associates. Aramark is a equal opportunity employer 828-669-7118 randall-sharon@aramark.com go to www.aramark.com/careers to apply.

DRIVERS/ DELIVERY LOCAL DRIVERS WANTED! Be your own boss. Flexible hours.

Unlimited earning potential. Must be 21 with valid U.S. driver’s license, insurance & reliable vehicle. 866-329-2672 (AAN CAN)

HUMAN SERVICES ADULT EDUCATION & AUGUSTINE PROJECT DIRECTOR The Adult Education & Augustine Project Director leads two non-profit programs that provide tutoring to adults and children who struggle with reading or who are low-literate. Full-time, exempt.

DIRECT CARE STAFF NEEDED Help needed in Cherokee, Sylva and Asheville areas for direct care staff to work one on one with individuals with developmental/ intellectual disabilities. Part time, HS/GED required, valid drivers license, training provided. Call Elizabeth 828-575-9802 LIFE SKILLS TRAINER Foundations Asheville, a young adult transitional program working with college-age adults in Asheville, North Carolina seeks qualified life skills trainer to create and maintain a consistent, emotionally safe and supportive environment needed to foster the strengths and overcome hurdles necessary for successful adulthood. Collaborate with team to implement programming

designed to support young adults in reaching their goals. Work oneon-one and in the group setting to model and develop independent living skills. Foundations is a residential program, requiring overnights while on shift. The standard shift is a full-time live-in position in the heart of Asheville, with excellent accommodations and expenses paid. Daily tasks of transportation, cleanliness, community involvement, and maintaining a timely schedule are key job responsibilities. In addition, consistent role modeling of healthy habits, problem-solving, emotional maturity, and executive function is critical to our students' success. Seasonal opportunities exist for travel, community service, and project-based-learning. Work with a skilled clinical team to implement real growth for the young men in our care. The ideal applicant would have: •Excellent communication skills, creativity, and desire to work in a tight-knit community. •Skills to teach successful habits of academic success. •Skills to support others find jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities in the community of Asheville. •Professional experience with guidance, teaching, experiential education. •Experience with direct care in a therapeutic environment. •A clean driving record. •Unique strengths they bring to our community. •A desire to learn and grow in the field. •This is not an entry-level position, and requires a high degree of autonomy and collaboration. We are currently interviewing qualified applicants for Full-time and PRN positions. Compensation is commensurate with experience. Promptly email cover letter, resume, references, and any pertinent certifications to foundationshiring@ gmail.com. Learn more at www. foundationsasheville.com.

RESIDENTIAL COACH Black Mountain Academy is seeking Residential Coaches for all shifts to work at our small therapeutic boarding school supporting adolescent males ages 13-18 with Level 1 (high-functioning) Autism Spectrum Disorder or who have social challenges, anxiety, and difficulty in traditional academic settings. Full-Time, Part-Time, and PRN positions available. • The ideal candidate has experience with this population of students, is studentcentered in their approach, and is flexible. • Duties include, but are not limited to, facilitating routines, assisting with meal preparation, some cleaning, service and adventure activities. All candidates must be 21 years old or older. • Competitive pay and benefits offered.

Please see our website for more information about the school, theblackmountainacademy.com Interested candidates, please email your resume and cover letter to jobs@theblackmountainacademy. com THERAPEUTIC FOSTER PARENTS NEEDED Davidson Homes Inc. is seeking Foster Parents in Swannanoa and the surrounding areas. • All training is free and daily rate is great! Call Debbie Smiley: 828-776-5228. www.davidsonhomes.org

TEACHING/ EDUCATION

HOTEL/ HOSPITALITY

INTERESTED IN WORKING AT A-B TECH? Full-Time, Part-Time and Adjunct Positions available.

Come help people achieve their dreams! Apply for open positions at abtcc.peopleadmin.com PART-TIME TEACHER Licensed in Math Education. Licensure required. This position is for a year-round school with small class sizes and a high school curriculum.

• Experience with alternative settings and/or learning disabilities a plus. Our beautiful 24-acre campus, minutes from Asheville, NC provides a safe setting for our students to transform their lives. • Solstice East is a residential treatment center for girls ages 14-18. • Check out our websites for more information: www.solsticeeast. com • Please send a resume and cover letter to humanresources@ solsticeeast.com • Solstice East is an Equal Opportunity Employee.

No phone calls or walk-ins please.

ARTS/MEDIA GRAPHIC DESIGNER The Smoky Mountain News in Waynesville needs a graphic designer to work 25 hours/week. Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and QuarkXpress a must. Primary responsibility is to produce ads for our newspaper and other print products. Good layout skills a plus. Hourly rate. Email micah@smokymountainnews. com.

VACATION PROPERTY CLEANING - ASHEVILLE/SURROUNDING - LOCAL COMPANY HIRING NOW Hiring now for busy season.

Pay starts at $10 & up to $12.50 within 90 days possible. Send last 2 job references & resume to ecocleanofasheville@gmail.com. www.ecocleanofasheville.com

SALON/ SPA

STYLIST WANTED, EAST ASHEVILLE Beauty Bar is looking for a stylist. Booth rent salon but some walk-in traffic, potential to increase clientele. Rent $150/ week. Back bar (AG Hair products) provided. Call Echo @ 545-1970

SERVICES ART/WRITING EDITING/LAYOUT SERVICES TO WRITERS Editing/Layout Services to Writers Author of novels & how-to books will edit your manuscript, design covers, prep for CreateSpace. Contact to discuss project & for quote. Google me. michael@michaelhavelin.com (828)712-5570

HOME IMPROVEMENT

CAREER TRAINING

HANDY MAN

AIRLINE CAREERS BEGIN HERE Get started by training as FAA certified Aviation Technician. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance 800-7251563 (AAN CAN)

HIRE A HUSBAND • HANDYMAN SERVICES Since 1993. Multiple skill sets. Reliable, trustworthy, quality results. $1 million liability insurance. References and estimates available. Stephen Houpis, (828) 280-2254.

TRANS TECH OF ASHEVILLE OFFERS CDL CLASSES In just four weeks become a professional driver earning between 35,000-50,000 in your first year!

Contact us today (828)483-6666 www.trans-tech.net

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES CUSTOMER SUPPORT Great parttime opportunity for the individuals who are looking for extra cash!The position to provide remotely assistant tasks in a customer care, a PC basic skills and cell is necessary for the reports, with no special skills requirements.2000$ monthly. hrbeestcompany@protonmail. com

MOUNTAINX.COM

ANNOUNCEMENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS MAKE THE CALL TO START GETTING CLEAN TODAY Free 24/7 Helpline for alcohol & drug addiction treatment. Get help! It is time to take your life back! Call Now: 855-732-4139. (AAN CAN) PREGNANT? CONSIDERING ADOPTION? Call us first. Living expenses, housing, medical, and continued support afterwards.

Choose adoptive family of your choice. Call 24/7. 877-362-2401.

(AAN CAN)

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY

H U MOR

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The more unselfish and compassionate you are in the coming weeks, the more likely it is you will get exactly what you need. Here are four ways that can be true: 1. If you’re kind to people, they will want to be kind to you in return. 2. Taking good care of others will bolster their ability to take good care of you. 3. If you’re less obsessed with I-me-mine, you will magically dissolve psychic blocks that have prevented certain folks from giving you all they are inclined to give you. 4. Attending to others’ healing will teach you valuable lessons in how to heal yourself — and how to get the healing you yearn for from others.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I hope you will consider buying yourself some early birthday presents. The celebration is weeks away, but you need some prodding, instigative energy now. It’s crucial that you bring a dose of the starting-fresh spirit into the ripening projects you’re working on. Your mood might get overly cautious and serious unless you infuse it with the spunk of an excited beginner. Of course only you know what gifts would provide you with the best impetus, but here are suggestions to stimulate your imagination: a young cactus; a jack-in-the-box; a rock with the word “sprout” written on it; a decorated marble egg; a fox mask; a Photoshopped image of you flying through the air like a superhero.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Many Geminis verbalize profusely and acrobatically. They enjoy turning their thoughts into speech, and love to keep social situations lively with the power of their agile tongues. Aquarians and Sagittarians may rival your tribe for the title of The Zodiac’s Best Bullshitters, but I think you’re in the top spot. Having heaped that praise on you, however, I must note that your words don’t always have as much influence as they have entertainment value. You sometimes impress people more than you impact them. But here’s the good news: In the coming weeks, that could change. I suspect your fluency will carry a lot of clout. Your communication skills could sway the course of local history.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your world is more spacious than it has been in a long time. Congrats! I love the way you have been pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and into the wilder frontier. For your next trick, here’s my suggestion: Anticipate the parts of you that may be inclined to close down again when you don’t feel as brave and free as you do now. Then gently clamp open those very parts. If you calm your fears before they break out, maybe they won’t break out at all.

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MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

MOUNTAINX.COM

BY ROB BREZSNY

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I expect you will get more than your usual share of both sweetness and tartness in the coming days. Sometimes one or the other will be the predominant mode, but on occasion they will converge to deliver a complex brew of WOW!-meets-WTF! Imagine chunks of sour apples in your vanilla fudge ripple ice cream. Given this state of affairs, there’s no good reason for you to be blandly kind or boringly polite. Use a saucy attitude to convey your thoughtfulness. Be as provocative as you are tender.

Don’t just be nice — be impishly and subversively nice.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I want to gather your darkness in my hands, to cup it like water and drink.” So says Jane Hirshfield in her poem “To Drink.” I bet she was addressing a Scorpio. Does any other sign of the zodiac possess a sweet darkness that’s as delicious and gratifying as yours? Yes, it’s true that you also harbor an unappetizing pocket of darkness, just like everyone else. But that sweet kind — the ambrosial, enigmatic, exhilarating stuff — is not only safe to imbibe, but can also be downright healing. In the coming days, I hope you’ll share it generously with worthy recipients.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Saturn has been in your sign steadily since September 2015, and will continue to be there until December 2017. Some traditional astrologers might say you are in a phase of downsizing and self-restraint. They’d encourage you to be extra strict and serious and dutiful. To them, the ringed planet is an exacting task-master. There are some grains of truth in this perspective, but I like to emphasize a different tack. I say that if you cooperate with the rigors of Saturn, you’ll be inspired to become more focused and decisive and disciplined as you shed any flighty or reckless tendencies you might have. Yes, Saturn can be adversarial if you ignore its commands to be faithful to your best dreams. But if you respond gamely, it will be your staunch ally.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Born in the African nation of Burkina Faso, Malidoma Somé is a teacher who writes books and offers workshops to Westerners interested in the spiritual traditions of his tribe. In his native Dagaare language, his first name means “he who befriends the stranger/enemy.” I propose that we make you an honorary “Malidoma” for the next three weeks. It will be a favorable time to forge connections, broker truces, and initiate collaborations with influences you have previous considered foreign or alien.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I like rowdy, extravagant longing as much as anyone. I enjoy being possessed by a heedless greed for too much of everything that feels rapturous: delectable food, mysterious sex, engrossing information, liberating intoxication, and surprising conversations that keep me guessing and improvising for hours. But I am also a devotee of simple, sweet longing . . . pure, watchful, patient longing . . . open-hearted longing that brims with innocence and curiosity and is driven as much by the urge to bless as to be blessed. That’s the kind I recommend you explore and experiment with in the coming days.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): EVERY relationship has problems. No exceptions. In the beginning, all may be calm and bright, but eventually cracks will appear.

Here’s the corollary to that rule: EVERY partner is imperfect. Regardless of how cool, kind, attractive, or smart they may seem in the early stages, they will eventually unveil their unique flaws and troubles.

Does this mean that all togetherness is doomed? That it’s forever impossible to create satisfying unions?

The answer is HELL, NO! — especially if you keep the following principles in mind: Choose a partner whose problems are: 1. interesting; 2. tolerable; 3. useful in prodding you to grow; 4. all of the above.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You know that forbidden fruit you’ve had your eyes on? Maybe it isn’t so forbidden any more. It could even be evolving toward a state where it will be both freely available and downright healthy for you to pluck. But there’s also a possibility that it’s simply a little less risky than it was before. And it may never become a fully viable option.

So here’s my advice: Don’t grab and bite into that forbidden fruit yet. Keep monitoring the situation.

Be especially attentive to the following questions: Do you crave the forbidden fruit because it would help you flee a dilemma you haven’t mustered the courage to escape from? Or because it would truly be good for you to partake of the forbidden fruit?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Would you like some free healing that’s in alignment with cosmic rhythms?

Try this experiment. Imagine that you’re planning to write your autobiography. Create an outline that has six chapters. Each of the first three chapters will be about a past experience that helped make you who you are.

In each of the last three chapters, you will describe a desirable event that you want to create in the future. I also encourage you to come up with a boisterous title for your tale. Don’t settle for My Life So Far or The Story of My Journey. Make it idiosyncratic and colorful, perhaps even outlandish, like Piscean author Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

LOST & FOUND LOST: Matching gold wedding rings (man’s and woman’s) on silver chain necklace lost on Friday, March 10th, in Asheville. Husband recently deceased. If found. please call (828) 808-2673.

CLASSES & WORKSHOPS CLASSES & WORKSHOPS CLAY CLASSES AT ODYSSEY CLAYWORKS Independent Study, Finding Center: Beginner Wheel Throwing, Totem Poles, Ready, Set, Throw, K-12 Educator Workshop, Electric Kiln Repair Workshop, Young Potter's Wheel Workshop for kids ages 8-12. odysseyceramicarts.com, 828-285-0210, odysseyclayworks@gmail. com LEARN RADICAL SUSTAINABILITY AT SCHOOL OF INTEGRATED LIVING Gain whole-life skills for radical sustainability through SOIL’s Permaculture and Ecovillage Immersion at Earthaven Ecovillage, June 10–August 11.

Program includes Permaculture Design Certification.

Learn more and register at schoolofintegratedliving. org.

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT BODYWORK

two, stay the day or all evening, escape & renew! Best massages in Asheville 828299-0999.

SPIRITUAL INTERFAITH WORLD WATER DAY CELEBRATION AT THE FRENCH BROAD RIVER PARK WED. 3/22 @ 5:30 PM Water is Life celebration at the French Broad River Park lead by Water Protectors from the Standing Rock movement. Event follows delivery of clean water petition to Duke Energy Headquarters.

FOR MUSICIANS MUSICAL SERVICES NOW ACCEPTING STUDENTS IN JAZZ PIANO, COMPOSITION, AND IMPROVISATION (ALL INSTRUMENTS).

Michael Jefry Stevens, “WNC Best Composer 2016” and “Steinway Artist”, now accepting students in jazz piano, composition, and improvisation (all instruments). 35 years experience. M.A. from Queens College (NYC). Over 90 cds released. 9179161363. michaeljefrystevens.com WHITEWATER RECORDING Mixing • Mastering • Recording. (828) 684-8284 www. whitewaterrecording.com

PETS PET SERVICES INDEPENDENT LOCAL MASSAGE THERAPY CENTER OFFERING EXCELLENT BODYWORK MARCH SPECIAL-$10 OFF ANY SERVICE! All of our massage therapists are skilled, dedicated,and talented. Deep Tissue, Integrative, Prenatal, Couples, Reflexology, Aromatherapy.

Chair massage $1/minute.

Complimentary tea room.

Beautifully appointed facility.

947 Haywood Road, West Asheville. Free parking in lot,handicap accessible.

(828)552-3003 ebbandflowavl@charter.net ebbandflowavl.com

COUNSELING SERVICES

ASHEVILLE PET SITTERS Dependable, loving care while you're away. Reasonable rates. Call Sandy (828) 215-7232.

RETREATS SHOJI SPA & LODGE * 7 DAYS A WEEK Day & Night passes, cold plunge, sauna, hot tubs, lodging, 8 minutes from town, bring a friend or

ACROSS

1 Bottom topper?

5 “Oh, ___!”

9 Terminal info 13 [Oh, well] 14 Attempts 15 Tirade 16 *Great Plains plaints?

18 Late hours, in ads 19 “Better safe than sorry” and others 20 Café lightener 21 Did home work?

24 *“Get Silverstein on the phone now!”

26 Caterpillar’s Illinois home 28 As per schedule 29 *Command like “Let me be direct: Get lost!”?

33 Chin-wag 34 City destroyed by Godzilla 35 “You’re oversharing!”

38 *Cramps from posing too long?

42 California wine valley 45 Supreme Court action

edited by Will Shortz

7 Bottomless pit 8 Often-overlooked email parts, briefly 9 Auto designer Maserati 10 Meditative exercises 11 “La Marseillaise,” for France 12 TV’s “Remington ___” 14 Eighty-___ (toss) 17 Pie chart lines 20 Longtime host who wrote “Leading With My Chin” 21 “___-daisy!”

22 Like thinking about thinking 23 Bill fatteners 25 Material for a warm sweater 27 Ancient markets 30 F.D.R.’s last veep 31 La Brea goo DOWN 1 1/48 of a cup: Abbr. 32 Reggae grew from it 2 Part of many carrier 35 Meaty lobster part names 36 iPad ___ 3 New York hub for Delta, briefly 37 “Picnic” Pulitzer winner William 4 Fire-breathing monster of myth 38 Bottles marked with a skull and 5 Shrek creator crossbones William 39 Former Dodge 6 Watts of “The Impossible” 40 Stereo component

No. 0208

46 *Teach Dick and Jane’s dog new tricks?

50 “I kid you not!”

51 Martini & ___ 52 Like refrigerators, at times 54 “Are not!” rejoinder 55 Opening at the post office … or, when read as three words, a hint to the answers to the starred clues 59 Withdraw slowly 60 Leaps on the ice 61 Commercial lead-in to pass 62 ___-chef 63 Where Kellogg’s is “K” 64 Visa concern

PUZZLE BY NED WHITE

41 Trudged 42 Attachments to juice boxes 43 Call from Juliet 44 Bahamian capital 47 College honcho

48 Hall’s partner in pop 49 Dr. or Mr. 53 Some, along the Somme 55 Office PC connection 56 Paris’s ___ de Rivoli 57 Heavenly object 58 Collection of bets

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

Mountain Xpress Presents

AUTOMOTIVE RECREATIONAL VEHICLES FOR SALE 2007 WILDCAT 5TH WHEEL CAMPER 30LSBS. 3 slides.

On seasonal site, Lake Hartwell RV park. Boat and dock access. Too many extras to list! Reduced: $13,500 or best offer. 802-892-6658. hydel27@gmail.com

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES

DEEP FEELING EMOTIONAL RELEASE THERAPY - GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM Nell Corry, LCSW, NCGCll, Certified Primal Therapist. Emotional Release Therapy uncovers the source, allows healing of depression, anxiety, addictions, trauma, PTSD. Call for free half-hour chat: 828-747-1813. ncc.therapy@gmail.com www.nellcorrytherapy.com

T H E N E W Y OR K TI M ES CR OSSWOR D PU ZZLE

WE'LL FIX IT AUTOMOTIVE • Honda and Acura repair. Half price repair and service. ASE and factory trained. Located in the Weaverville area, off exit 15. Please call (828) 275-6063 for appointment. wellfixitautomotive.com

ADULT ADULT FEELING WHACKED? Let Kaye's revive you back! Incall/ outcall: 280-8182.

LIVELINKS • CHAT LINES Flirt, chat and date! Talk to sexy real singles in your area.

Call now! (877) 609-2935 (AAN CAN)

y d a E R Get ! e t o V To

0AUL #ARON

Furniture Magician • Cabinet Refacing • Furniture Repair • Seat Caning • Antique Restoration • Custom Furniture & Cabinetry (828) 669-4625

MOUNTAINX.COM

• Black Mountain

MARCH 15 - 21, 2017

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