Mountain Xpress 07.01.20

OUR 26TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 26 NO. 49 JULY 1-7, 2020

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JULY 1-7, 2020

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Accounting Office Management

C O NT E NT S

FEATURES NEWS

A special thank you to all our advertisers, who make Xpress possible.

Bottle Riot / formerly District Wine Bar Cecilia Johnson Chinese Acupuncture & Herbology Clinic City of Asheville Employment Conservation Pros, LLC Daoist Traditions College Father and Son Home Improvement Firewalker Hot Sauce Franny’s Farm Geraldine’s Bakery Givens Gerber Park High Life Smoke Shop

NEWS

Asheville School of Film

9 TARGET AUDIENCE BCTDA seeks ‘responsible travelers’ in new ads

14 ‘LITTLE FOLKS’ Asheville Archives explores how city youths launched Polio Prevention Club amid the 1948 outbreak

22 GOING THE DISTANCE Restaurants invite guests back to dine and socialize at a safe distance

A&E

Musician’s Workshop

25 FADE TO BLACK The Mothlight closes after seven years of innovative programming

Pack’s Tavern Patton Avenue Pet Company Pisgah Brewing Co RHA Health Services Inc. Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Smoky Park Supper Club Sovereign Kava Stewart Builders Inc. Sweeten Creek Antiques The Blackbird Restaurant The Fresh Market The Regeneration Station Town and Mountain Realty Tunnel Vision Wicked Weed Brewing Working Wheels - Wheels 4 Hope Zambra

COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick

MOVIE SECTION HOSTS: Edwin Arnaudin, Bruce Steele

6 GUEST CARTOON

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak

7 BUNCOMBE BEAT

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Leslie Boyd, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Alli Marshall, Brooke Randle, Gina Smith, Luke Van Hine, Kay West

14 ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES 16 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

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22 FOOD

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25 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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30 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 30 CLASSIFIEDS

OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen

31 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose

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18 WELLNESS

Nature’s Vitamins and Herbs New Belgium Brewing

COVER PHOTO Cindy Kunst

28 MOVIES

Isis Restaurant and Music Hall Livewell in WNC / Live Well

Historian and UNC Asheville professor Daniel Pierce shares some of his favorite views, trails and history from the Swannanoa Gap, a primary point of entry into Western North Carolina.

7 NEWS 18 OBSTACLE COURSE Pandemic worsens disparities for local LGBTQ people

Ingles Markets Inc.

PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes

RAILS, TRAILS AND TUNNELS

4 LETTERS

WELLNESS

Asheville Raven & Crone

FOOD

Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company

FEATURE

Asheville Holistic Realty

7 MORE THAN A FEW CONCERNS Speakers blast proposed Asheville Police division

STAFF

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JULY 1-7, 2020

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OPINION

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

Confederacy reminders should reflect on evil, not honor Unlike Francis Strazzella, who wrote in defense of the preservation of Confederate monuments [“Confederate Monuments Remind Us of Our History,” June 24, Xpress], I haven’t visited Nazi death camps, so I could be wrong about this.

However, it’s been my understanding that those camp remnants still exist to remind us of the horror humans are capable of inflicting on each other, not to celebrate the guards, executioners, crematorium operators, etc., who labored for the glory of the Reich by conducting its atrocities. And though I haven’t toured Germany either, I think they might have a rule against public works lionizing Hitler, his henchmen or Nazi symbolism in general.

It is true that the Confederacy is an integral part of American history. It was a catastrophic embodiment of the ugliest interpretation of the American Dream: Every white (preferably Christian) man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.

That self-serving definition of the “Land of Opportunity” has been at home here since Christopher Columbus, but longevity is no redemptive excuse. Appropriate remembrance of its ravages through the centuries should evoke reflection on human evil, not honor its perpetrators.

— Mike Hopping Asheville

No right to put others at risk To those who believe COVID-19 is a hoax, to those who believe it is their right not to practice social distancing or wear a mask: Yes, you have that freedom, yet no, you do not have the right to put others at risk.

I believe that if you refuse to wear a mask, and/or refuse to social distance, you should not be allowed to enter a hospital and place our valuable health care workers at risk and use medical resources.

CAR T O O N B Y R AN DY M O L T O N Your ignorance is not to be rewarded.

— Casey Fitzgerald Fletcher

Let’s work through monument issue together I appreciate Francis Strazzella’s opinion piece on how removing the Confederate monuments is a way of denying and wiping out a part of our history [“Confederate Monuments Remind Us of Our History,” June 24, Xpress.] Having many Southern friends, I know how painful this is for them, especially those born and bred right here in Asheville — they have grown up with the monuments that represent their heritage.

However, many of the Confederate monuments are of slave owners and individuals who believed slavery was right and did not think Blacks should be given equality with whites. The African Americans I know

have shared that when they walk by a Confederate monument, it is traumatic and represents the horror and evil of the slavery perpetrated upon their race.

Strazzella cites how Germany has kept their Nazi death camps as a reminder of the horrors of evil. I would suggest the death camps are also a way of honoring and remembering the ones who were brutalized and died as a result of that evil. Plus it’s worth noting that Germany, as far as I know, does not have monuments of Hitler, Goring, Bormann or other prominent Nazis of the time. Perhaps our Confederate monuments need to be replaced with monuments representing the horror and evil of slavery while also honoring the Black families.

We’re living in excruciatingly challenging times. All the pain of our nation is coming up in full force for us to address.

My prayer is we find a way to connect so we can work through this together.

The polarization of our culture has never been more blatant in every sphere — even down to the topic of “mask vs. no mask.”

My hope is we’ll rise to the occasion and work together for solutions that serve all of humanity fairly and we learn to live and thrive among our differences.

— Blair Fielding Asheville

Freedom requires responsibility Whatever happened to: “No shoes. No shirt. No service”?

Today that phrase must be changed to, “No mask. No gloves. No service.” The reason is not political. It is a matter of 4

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caring about a fellow citizen’s health and their right to live.

My wife went to shop at a local grocery store [recently] to pick up one item, Drano. As she approached the area in the aisle where the Drano was on the shelf, a woman, seeing my wife wearing a mask and gloves, pulled her cart across the aisle to block my wife from going farther. Yes, the arrows were on the floor showing the proper direction for customers to move during their shopping. This woman went the wrong way without regard and stood next to her cart to make sure my wife could not go farther.

After several minutes, my wife calmly asked the woman to move to allow my wife to proceed. Rather than politely move, the woman verbally assaulted my wife, screaming that no one is going to tell her what she can and cannot do. She raged on about she has the “freedom” to do whatever she wants. Her rant continued as my wife backed away and reported the incident to the manager.

The manager said his hands were tied because he cannot police the behavior of his customers. He was wearing a mask. At that point, my wife, who is very rational and not easily prone to tears, burst out into frantic crying. She left the store and felt very ill. The grocery chain has done little except to refer the incident to the regional manager. We’ve heard nothing from the manager.

What has happened to the American people? We were drawn together after 9/11. We pulled together to overcome the Depression, the Great Recession, and defeated evil during World War I and World War II. Now, we are reduced to this savage behavior in the name of extremism.

That behavior does not make this country great. It makes this country implode from within. Has the evil we defeated landed on our shores?

I have a preexisting condition. If my wife gets the virus, I am likely to get it and suffer to the point that it could be fatal. That will not change politics and the outcome of the elections in November. It will just put another notch on the bedpost of hate. How many others must be exposed to fatal illness so that a few can claim their “freedom” to kill and abuse?

Freedom must be accompanied by responsibility if we are to be truly free.

Freedom does not give one the right to take away or risk another person’s life in an act of a grossly irresponsible extremism.

Corporations must care more about their customers’ health than pleasing people who have no regard for the safety and health of others, much less themselves. This is especially egregious when a corporation puts profit over the health of its customers.

Let’s Make America Care Again.

— Chuck Fink Weaverville

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OPINION

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

C AR T O O N B Y B R E N T B R O W N

Repurpose the Vance Monument Regarding the Vance Monument, I don’t care how great a governor Zebulon Vance was. He was just on the wrong side of history when it came to slavery. The stone monument that was erected in his name is a very powerful representation on its own, so I believe the city and county ought to embrace the obelisk and repurpose it for a monument that

stands for freedom and rights for every citizen who breathes the air of this nation.

We should never forget the nasty history this country has gone through, but perhaps the monument can be a representation of what this country can strive to be when it includes everyone. And where the Vance logo is now should be placed a plaque to say as much.

— David Tomlin Asheville

G UEST CAR T OON BY NA NC Y DUN N 6

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Why not open Asheville’s watershed to recreation?

Why can’t we open the Asheville watershed’s 18,000 acres to mountain biking, trail running, hiking, hunting, fishing, etc.?

Many other watersheds in the world are open to recreation. This could even be done on a fee-based basis, and the fees used for trail/parking/pit toilet construction, etc. Eventually, these same fees could go toward updating the water delivery system.

This would be a huge asset to the people of the surrounding communities.

— Worth Grant

Black Mountain Editor’s note: Xpress contacted the city of Asheville with a summary of the letter writer’s points and received the following response from spokeswoman Polly McDaniel: “The city of Asheville is fortunate to have a pristine water source that requires only basic treatment techniques to meet federal and state regulations.

“The city of Asheville’s watershed has a conservation easement, a voluntary, legal agreement that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. Also known as a conservation restriction or conservation agreement, a conservation easement is one option to protect a property for future generations.

“The city owns all the land surrounding both reservoirs, which then creates

high-quality water. Both watersheds have been classified as a Class 1 Watershed by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. Class 1 Watersheds do not allow for any recreational activities within those boundaries.”

Advice for Big Lodging I am an Airbnb host. I asked Airbnb for help with their occupancy tax. Their response on Dec. 20: “In certain areas, Airbnb has reached an agreement to collect and remit occupancy taxes. Airbnb has entered into a voluntary collection agreement with the local tax collector in your listing area, so the tax is assessed automatically by Airbnb. The amount of the tax is shown to guests as a line item on the listing page and again on the booking page. Your listing is in North Carolina, Buncombe, where Airbnb collects and remits occupancy taxes on your behalf.”

So, I never see the money. They do tell me how much they collected and received. So, I can never deduct that from my income.

If these larger establishments are bemoaning their loss of income, maybe they should consider adding an alternative arrangement, like a hostel in their basement. Just a suggestion.

— Elizabeth Mayers Weaverville

NEWS

BUNCOMBE BEAT

Community blasts proposed APD division

WORDS ON THE STREET: Asheville residents marched onto Interstate 240 during protests for racial justice on May 31. Photo

by Nick Levine David Zack thinks he knows what’s wrong with the Asheville Police Department. “It’s really the Achilles’ heel of this organization right now that there is no infrastructure whatsoever — formal infrastructure — to hear from the community and to have their involvement at all levels,” said the APD’s chief at a June 25 remote meeting of Asheville City Council’s Public Safety Committee.

To that end, Zack had proposed the establishment of a new community engagement division within the APD as part of a 90-day plan to restructure the department. “Its sole purpose is to have the ear to actually implement and hear the concerns of the community,” he explained.

While no staffing assignments have yet been made, Zack said he would move forward with his plan “as long as there’s no additional concerns with the creation of that division.”

During an hour of public comment including over 20 speakers, Asheville residents clarified that they did have many additional concerns.

Several commenters, including North Asheville resident Katie Hudson, argued that Zack should have heard the community during local demonstrations that followed the police killing of Black Minneapolis resident George Floyd on May 25. There may be no formal avenue for public feedback to the APD, she said, but protesters have sent a clear message.

“We’ve taken to the streets to tell you what we need,” Hudson said. “It smacks of irony and disrespect to come forward with a proposal that you’re going to listen to people when we are actively telling you what we want right now.”

Other speakers said creating new responsibilities for the APD ran

counter to the thousands of comments City Council has received asking Asheville officials to defund the police. As described on the website of Black AVL Demands, a self-described

“intergenerational collective of Black leaders” that has yet to publicly announce its organizers, activists want 50% of the police’s roughly $30 million annual budget redirected to support community programs.

“We’re not calling the police anymore, so we need to create new systems,” said Nettie Fisher, who identified herself as an Asheville native. “The community engagement division, and those individuals responding to mental health issues, should not be housed within APD, and that is nonnegotiable.”

And Cassidy Doyle of Arden said she could not trust the police after an officer shot her in the face at point-blank range with a less lethal projectile while she was peacefully protesting in early June. Doyle claimed that she suffered a fracture, bleeding and air bubbles in her skull and continues to feel the effects of the injury nearly a month later.

“We’re beyond reform, and it is time to defund,” Doyle said. “Zack and [Asheville Mayor] Esther [Manheimer], please resign.”

Earlier in the meeting, Zack had said that the APD had received “no formal complaints from any individuals regarding excessive use of force” during the protests. Following Doyle’s comment, Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler urged anyone injured by the police to file a report.

— Daniel Walton X

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N EWS

Take care of yourself and others

Asheville City Council adopts interim budget

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CALL FOR ACTION: Activists demanding police reform painted “Defund the Police” on Spruce Street near City Hall on June 21. Photo courtesy of Ben Harper

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Asheville City Council approved interim budget appropriations for July — including over $2.4 million to the Asheville Police Department — as commenters flooded the phone lines at the June 23 virtual meeting to demand that city leadership “defund the police.”

Council also unanimously approved moving the fiscal year 2020-21 budget public hearing and adoption to Tuesday, July 28.

State law mandates that Asheville must adopt its annual property tax rate by Saturday, Aug. 1, explained Barbara Whitehorn, the city’s chief financial officer, in a presentation to Council. The property tax rate cannot be set while operating on an interim budget, she said, requiring Council to shift its public hearing and final budget adoption vote from the previously set date of Tuesday, Sept. 8, to comply with the deadline.

But that final budget won’t really be final, Whitehorn noted. To allow for further public conversation and community engagement, the budget Council will vote to adopt in late July will only include three months of funding allocated to departments and programs. The rest of the money will be set aside as nondepartmental funds, meaning no city department or program can access it. A proposal outlining allocations for those three months has not yet been released.

Concurrently, City Manager Debra Campbell will work with community members to decide how best to

distribute the reserved funding among community programs and city departments, including the APD. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Campbell will present a budget amendment to Council to officially reallocate the remaining money based on public input.

“There will be some engagement between now and July, but what we understood was that we couldn’t do enough in that short period of time to really give people the opportunity to have their voice heard and really develop a budget that speaks to the community,” Whitehorn said.

Many community members didn’t want to wait until later in the process to voice their concerns. For an hour, 25 different callers phoned into the meeting’s live speaker queue, advocating that the APD’s budget be cut by at least 50%. Many cited Black AVL Demands, a self-described “intergenerational collective of Black leaders” calling for “divestment from the police and investment in Black communities.”

“There is clearly a list of the things that we’ve asked for, and it was clearly written on the street in bright yellow letters to defund the police, so I’m a little uncertain what more community engagement would look like,” said Chris O’Leary of Asheville, referencing a mural painted by protesters in front of City Hall on June 21. “Right now, we’re engaging and not being heard.”

— Molly Horak X

BCTDA seeks ‘responsible travelers’ in new ads Free-spirited county of quirky creative types and adventurers seeks short-term relationships with conscientious conformists. Must live within driving distance and bring protection. Deep pockets a major plus.

If the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority wrote a dating profile for the time of the pandemic, it might look something like that. During a June 24 meeting, the TDA board heard a presentation from marketing firm 360i about a new advertising campaign, scheduled to start in July, designed to attract a “responsible tourist audience” to the region.

According to 360i strategist Angie Arner, her group is creating digital and social media ads targeted at tourists whose behaviors agree with certain “psychographic statements” about “willingness to conform.” Such visitors, she suggested, will be more likely to follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks, thereby slowing the local spread of COVID-19.

In a further effort to reduce introduction of the disease, said 360i’s Lauren Jennings, ads would only be shown to potential tourists from areas within a 6.5-hour driving distance of Asheville that have comparatively low COVID-19 case counts. “Hot spot” counties in that radius, as determined through statistical analysis of data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, would be excluded from any marketing.

TDA board member Leah Wong Ashburn, who is also the president and CEO of Asheville-based Highland Brewing Co., said she welcomed the campaign as a way of drumming up visitor spending. “For the businesses to really come back, asking for people who are centered on safety to come back when they’re ready is something I’m comfortable with,” she said. “We need people at Highland, and this wonderful city needs other folks to come in and open their wallets.”

But ex-officio board member and Asheville City Council member Julie Mayfield questioned the wisdom of restarting advertising in light of statewide and national COVID-19 trends. North Carolina confirmed 1,721 cases of the disease on June 24 — its second-highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic — and on June 23, new daily cases in the U.S. reached their highest level since May 1.

Other tourist-heavy areas in the region, Mayfield continued, have not seen visitors adhere to public health recommendations. “I spent a very frightening evening

TARGET AUDIENCE: New ads funded by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority are designed to reach tourists with a specific psychographic profile: a “willingness to conform” with public health measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Graphic by Getty Images at Folly Beach, and nobody’s wearing a mask,” she said about a recent trip to the South Carolina destination. “I wanted to completely decontaminate myself after that evening.”

Stephanie Brown, president and CEO of the Explore Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, countered that not advertising would actually be more dangerous. “We can stay silent and not have any paid messaging out there, but then we lose the opportunity to communicate to potential travelers that the safety of our community is a high priority,” she argued. “To be silent on that front would not rise to our responsibilities and leave an additional gap.”

Brown, who was scheduled to leave Explore Asheville at the end of June to become the executive vice president of Indianapolis-based marketing firm SMARInsights, won’t be around to see those summer visitors to Buncombe County. During a farewell recognition from the board at the end of the meeting, she noted that she was selling her North Asheville home and would be leaving the area.

STIMULATING DEVELOPMENTS

Also at the June 24 meeting, the TDA board heard a presentation from Mountain BizWorks about grants awarded from the Tourism Jobs Recovery Fund.

The $5 million pot of money, funded from the portion of occupancy tax revenues

previously reserved for community capital projects, was authorized by the N.C. General Assembly at the TDA’s request as part of COVID-19 recovery legislation signed into law May 4.

Noah Wilson, director of sector development for Mountain BizWorks, said 394 Buncombe County small businesses and nonprofit organizations out of 444 applicants had received grants of $2,000 to $30,000. The money is anticipated to retain, recover or create nearly 4,800 jobs.

Restaurants and bars received the lion’s share of the funding at more than $2.28 million (46%). That sector was trailed by arts and entertainment at over $704,000 (14%) and retail at about $610,000 (12%). In response to an Xpress request for details on businesses that did not receive support, Explore Asheville spokesperson Kathi Petersen said Mountain BizWorks was not at liberty to share that information.

Of that grant money, Wilson said, 18% had been awarded to minority-owned enterprises, nearly twice his organization’s 10% benchmark. However, he noted that the vast majority of such businesses had not been eligible for funding: 86% of all firms in the Asheville metropolitan area with owners who are Black, Indigenous or people of color are sole proprietorships, but the TDA grants were only available to businesses with at least two full-time employees.

Mountain BizWorks recognizes “a clear need to prioritize the startup and growth of tourism-related small businesses that are owned and led by people of color,” Wilson continued. “Increasing diversity is an ecosystem best practice: Diverse systems are resilient systems.”

— Daniel Walton X

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N EWS

Cawthorn takes Republican nomination for NC-11 seat Out of the fractious field of Republican candidates aiming to replace former Rep. Mark Meadows in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, a clear winner has finally emerged.

Henderson County real estate investor Madison Cawthorn took nearly 66% of the vote in a June 23 second primary against Madison County real estate agent Lynda Bennett, thereby securing the nomination to run in November’s general election.

Cawthorn, whom only about 20% of voters chose in the 12-way Republican primary on March 3, garnered a record-breaking turnout for an NC-11 runoff election. His 30,444 votes in the second primary exceeded the total ballots cast in the 2012 runoff between Meadows and Vance Patterson by over 7,400. Cawthorn also took majorities of votes in all of the district’s counties except Rutherford.

In response to a June 23 Xpress request for comment on Cawthorn’s victory, spokesperson Angela Nicholas said his campaign team would try to respond but that the candidate “has a bunch of appointments with national news already.” No further responses were provided by press time.

The race has attracted widespread attention due both to Cawthorn’s age — at 25 upon swearing in, he would be the House’s youngest member — and high-profile endorsements on Bennett’s behalf by Meadows and President Donald Trump. But Cawthorn downplayed voters’ apparent rejection of the establishment candidate in a press release issued after the results came in.

“I support our great president. I do not believe this election has been a referendum on the president’s influence,” Cawthorn said. “The people of Western North Carolina are wise and discerning.

You observed both candidates and simply made the choice you believed is best for our district.”

Instead, the presumptive nominee turned his focus toward bringing “a new generation of leadership in Washington” and countering what he considers disorder within his rival party. “While the far left is lighting our cities on fire, we are lifting the light of liberty. [California Rep.] Nancy Pelosi and [former Vice President] Joe Biden may not be able to control where the Democrats are going but, together, we can,” he remarked.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: If Republican Madison Cawthorn defeats Democrat Moe Davis in the race to represent North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, he will become the House’s youngest member at 25. Photo courtesy of Cawthorn Bennett, who did not provide answers for the Xpress voter guide and has generally avoided talking with local media, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the election. An Xpress call to a cellphone number listed for Bennett through her real estate company was answered by an unidentified speaker, who said that the number was not affiliated with her campaign.

Cawthorn will face Democrat Moe Davis, a retired Air Force colonel and former Guantanamo Bay prosecutor, in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. In a June 24 post on the Old North State Politics blog, Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper said District 11’s demographics favored Cawthorn over Davis but that the election’s outcome was far from certain.

“Despite recent redistricting that brought the bright blue dot of Asheville back in the district, ~57% of the 11th Congressional District voted for Trump in the last election,” noted Cooper. But, he continued, “as Madison Cawthorn just demonstrated, sometimes candidate characteristics and the specifics of the race can make the difference and swing an election.”

— Daniel Walton X

OP E N F OR B U SI NE SS

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JULY 1-7, 2020

11

FEA T U RE S

RAILS, TRAILS AND TUNNELS Exploring the Swannanoa Gap

BY DANIEL PIERCE I grew up in Buncombe County — West (“Worst”) Asheville, to be exact — and have lived here for 48 years. I’ve spent about 30 of them studying both the human and natural history of this place, and a lot of time wandering around the county and region. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about the places mentioned and plan to explore them yourself as our world opens up again.

THE SWANNANOA GAP

Near my home in Ridgecrest is a beautiful place that’s rich in history and serves as a primary point of entry into Western North Carolina: the Swannanoa Gap. Many visitors to Western North Carolina make the roughly 7-mile climb up the mountain on Interstate 40 from Old Fort to Ridgecrest. The top of the mountain is what most people know as Swannanoa Gap, but traditionally, the gap sits a bit to the north, just above the Ridgecrest Conference Center and pretty much at the intersection of Old U.S. 70 and Mill Creek Road. Here you can look down past a huge patch of kudzu into Royal Gorge and spot the footpath that folks have used to access this area for thousands of years.

A visit to the gap can be both fun and educational. Nearby, there are three state historical markers (denoting Stoneman’s Raid, Swannanoa Gap and the Swannanoa Tunnel) and a Civil War Trails interpretive sign commemorating the Battle of Swannanoa Gap. Hikes in the area include the family- (and even stroller-) friendly Point Lookout Greenway, the short but steep climb up Mount Kitsuma and the more challenging excursion along the Old Stagecoach Road. Most cyclists should be able to navigate the greenway, and mountain bikers with more advanced skills can tackle Mount Kitsuma and Youngs Ridge.

EARLY ARRIVALS

The route was first carved out by Archaic Indians as they came up out of the Appalachian foothills and followed Swannanoa Creek up through the gap on the way to hunting and gathering opportunities in the mountains. The Cherokee used it for that purpose and also as a trading route and warpath. In the spring of 1784, the first white settler 12

JULY 1-7, 2020

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POINT OF ENTRY: Historian and UNC Asheville professor Daniel Pierce shares some of his favorite views, trails and history from the Swannanoa Gap near his home east of Asheville. Photo by Cindy Kunst in Buncombe County, Samuel Davidson, made his way up the rough trail with his wife, their young daughter and a young enslaved female; accounts vary as to their names. Davidson settled near where the East Asheville exit on I-40 (Exit 55) is now located, but he soon met a sad fate.

He was killed by the Cherokee on Jones Mountain when he went out in search of a cow or horse (again, accounts vary) and followed the sound of its bell, unaware that Cherokee warriors had taken it from the animal’s neck to lure him into an ambush. His wife fled back to McDowell County with the enslaved girl and the baby, but other settlers soon arrived.

As Buncombe County grew, the path up Swannanoa Creek was widened to accommodate drovers delivering cattle, hogs, turkeys and other livestock to markets in North Carolina’s Piedmont, and the wagons and stagecoaches bringing in new visitors and residents.

North Carolina through the gap but was repulsed by Confederate soldiers and volunteers led by Gen. James G. Martin. The Confederates felled trees to block the Union troops’ progress and peppered them with rifle fire from the gap, forcing them to retreat. It helped the Confederate cause that both sides knew the war was over and no one wanted to risk their life in a suicidal charge

up the mountain. Although the Battle of Swannanoa Gap was a Confederate victory, it only delayed the inevitable: Gillem’s troops circled around and entered WNC through Hickory Nut Gap, taking Asheville from the south.

You can still follow part of what locals call the “Old Stagecoach Road” up from near the lower end of the Point Lookout Greenway, just above the Old Fort Picnic

A CONFEDERATE VICTORY

During the Civil War, Confederate troops used the route to move back and forth between the mountains and the Piedmont. In April 1865, Union Gen. Alvan Gillem tried to enter Western

SERENE SCENE: This vintage postcard depicts the Swannanoa Tunnel as seen from the top of the Swannanoa Gap. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville

“The route was first carved out by Archaic Indians.”

— Daniel Pierce Stagecoach Road. You can also spy a couple of other tunnels along Old U.S. 70, the route that supplanted the railroad.

HARD LABOR: On March 11, 1879, convict laborers working from both ends linked up after a blast opened the legendary 1,832-foot-long Swannanoa Tunnel all the way through. Tragically, a cave-in later killed a reported 20 convicts, just a few of the hundreds who died due to accidents, disease, malnutrition and ill treatment while working on the route. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville Area. Not far up the greenway a gated U.S. Forest Service road branches off to the left. Follow this road and you’ll see the trail paralleling Swannanoa Creek. Along the way, you encounter the graves of both a Confederate and a Union soldier — stark reminders of the battle that played out here 155 years ago. About three miles in, near the top of Swannanoa Gap, you will come to the railroad tracks. At that point you’ll need to turn back, as this area, which is the property of Norfolk Southern Corp., is posted “No Tresspassing.”

TUNNEL VISION

In 1879, the Old Stagecoach Road was supplanted by a new route that went under, not over, the gap. On March 11, 1879, convict laborers working from both ends linked up after a blast opened the legendary 1,832-footlong Swannanoa Tunnel all the way through. That day, James H. Wilson, chief engineer for the Western North Carolina Railroad, telegraphed Gov. Zebulon B. Vance as follows: “Daylight entered Buncombe County this morning through the Swannanoa Tunnel.”

The celebration proved short-lived, however, as a cave-in killed a reported 20 convicts, a tragic exclamation point to the hundreds who died due to accidents, disease, malnutrition and general ill treatment while working on the route up Old Fort Mountain.

(See also “How Convicts Conquered the Swannanoa Grade; A Chat with Railroad Historian Steven Little,” Sept.

23, 2015, Xpress, avl.mx/7h0) The building of the railroad has been memorialized in both song and story. Legendary Buncombe County

“songcatcher” Bascom Lamar Lunsford, who founded the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, recorded the song “Swannanoa Tunnel.” Sung in the mountains for years, it perhaps originated as a work song among the convict laborers. A portion of the lyric goes, “Asheville junction, Swannanoa Tunnel; All caved in, baby, all caved in.”

In The French Broad, her seminal history of the region, historian and novelist Wilma Dykeman has a chapter on the construction of the railroad and its tragic consequences. And The Road, by fellow Asheville native John Ehle, provides a classic fictional account of those events.

Winding up the mountain from Old Fort, the route traverses seven tunnels.

Parts of it, including the Swannanoa Tunnel, are visible from the Old

POINT LOOKOUT

In the 1920s, the state of North Carolina built Route 10 from Old Fort to the Swannanoa Gap, hugging the slopes above Swannanoa Creek and the upper part of the railroad grade. The name was changed to U.S. 70 when it became a federal highway — and the major access for people coming into WNC. One of the highlights of the route was Point Lookout; looking down into Royal Gorge, the tourist attraction featured a restaurant, gas station, gift shop and a soft-drink-swilling bear named Sally.

In the 1970s, a 3.6-mile section of the road was closed off, due to the expense of maintaining a curvy, slideprone highway that the completion of I-40 had rendered obsolete. In 2008, local interests and McDowell County officials teamed up with the state and federal governments to turn the old road into the Point Lookout Greenway, a popular paved walking and biking trail. Point Lookout itself is about a mile down the trail and features interpretive signage and a large flagpole, one of the hallmarks of the original tourist attraction. The trail, which runs through land owned by the U.S. Forest Service and Norfolk Southern Corp., combines natural attractions with a bit of history.

Those who go early in the morning or at evening time can often spot wildlife: I’ve seen bears and even a bobcat, was once

GETTING STARTED To get to the Swannanoa Gap: Take I-40 East from Asheville to Exit 66 (Ridgecrest), follow the signs for the Ridgecrest Conference Center and continue on to the intersection with Mill Creek Road.

To reach the Kitsuma/Youngs Ridge trailhead: Drive up Old U.S. 70 to the intersection with Mill Creek Road. Drive straight across the intersection onto Royal Gorge Road. The parking area is at the end of the road.

To access the top end of the Point Lookout Greenway: Take Old U.S. 70 to the intersection with Mill Creek Road and turn left onto Mill Creek. After a little less than one mile, the road forks. The left fork, a gravel road, continues down the mountain; the right fork, closed off by a Forest Service gate, marks the start of the greenway. Park on the side of the road. You can also start at the lower end of the greenway by taking Old U.S. 70 West from Old Fort. The road dead-ends at the greenway gate.

To find the Old Fort Picnic Area: Take I-40 East to Exit 72 (Old Fort/ Mountain Gateway Museum). Continue onto U.S. 70 East/West Main Street.

After 0.4 miles, turn left onto Old U.S. 70 West/State Road 1400. The picnic area will be on the left. X

chased by a hen turkey protecting her chicks as I biked up the mountain, and I almost always hear the junglelike calls of the pileated woodpecker on my walks.

Swannanoa Gap is also the launching spot for one of the most popular mountain biking/hiking trails in WNC: the Kitsuma/Youngs Ridge Trail. It’s only about a mile up a dozen or so switchbacks to the top of Kitsuma, which features great views back down the Swannanoa Valley to the west and north to the Black Mountains. The Youngs Ridge Trail picks up from there, rolling along the ridge and then descending steeply to the Old Fort Picnic Area.

The last part of that 4.2-mile route is what mountain bikers call a “screamer,” so if you’re hiking this trail, keep an ear cocked for bikers roaring down the mountain.

But whichever way you choose to explore this area, have a wonderful adventure. X

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13

ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

‘Little folks’ City youths launch Polio Prevention Club amid the 1948 outbreak

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“Church doors were open but congregations were missing yesterday as a city health department order went into effect banning all public gatherings,” The Asheville Citizen reported on Aug. 2, 1948.

The mandate came in response to an ongoing polio outbreak. Over the previous six weeks, Asheville and Buncombe County had reported 81 cases among its youths — a staggering number considering the annual statewide average in prior years ranged between 80 and 100 cases total.

Some business owners, including Herbert D. Miles, president of the George Vanderbilt Hotel, openly criticized and questioned the order.

Meanwhile, a handful of church leaders took umbrage to the mandate’s language, which lumped religious services in with baseball games and theatrical performances as “unnecessary” gatherings.

Nevertheless, residents appear to have followed the order, which continued through Aug. 11. Upon reopening, The Asheville Citizen praised the community’s cooperative spirit. “The health of the population can never be sacrificed to any other interest,” the Aug. 12 editorial declared. “And it was not sacrificed.”

Restrictions, however, remained in place for Buncombe County youths until Aug. 21. Over the 10-day span, children 16 years and younger were forbidden from attending all public gatherings, though neighborhood socials appeared to be fair game, both during and before the extension.

Case in point: On Aug. 6, amid the citywide shutdown, The Asheville Citizen featured a write-up on friends Billy Morrison and Roger Sumner, publishers of the new “try-weekly” paper, Sense and Nonsense. “There is no delivery services,” The Asheville Citizen reported of the publication. “The paper is sold at a cash-and-pick-up news stand on the Sumner front porch. Circulation is boosted by phone calls to neighbors and relatives[.]”

According to the article, the boys launched the paper — replete with neighborhood news, recipes, personal columns, jokes and polio health hints — as a way to raise funds for the Asheville Orthopedic Home, a local medical

TEDDY: In August 1948, Asheville youths formed the Polio Prevention Club. Along with raising funds for the Asheville Orthopedic Home, the group also donated teddy bears to the facility’s patients. There are no known images of the teddy bear exchange. The above picture was taken in 1954. Photo courtesy of Stephen Thomas facility dedicated to treating a majority of the region’s polio cases.

Similar fundraisers continued throughout August and September.

Frank Barber, chair of the Asheville Orthopedic finance committee, praised

the efforts in an Aug. 22 interview with The Asheville Citizen. He also shared excerpts from supporters’ letters.

One such missive described “a little circus” held on Lorraine Avenue in North Asheville. “Our parents and neighbors came to it and we made $4.50,” the letter stated. “[T]hen we cut a lawn for 50 cents making a total of $5 which we are sending to you for the Orthopedic hospital to be used for the children who have polio.”

A few days later, on Aug. 26, the paper featured an article on the Polio Prevention Club, another ad hoc youth organization. The group was raising funds to purchase radios and teddy bears for patients at the Asheville Orthopedic Home. They called on all their peers “to earn money for the fund.”

The challenge was readily met. On Sept. 3, The Asheville Citizen reported that a group of young people in Oteen staged a performance of Hamlet, albeit “slightly cut and embellished with modern rather than Elizabethan slang.” The event raised $21.75.

By month’s end, the Sunday edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times wrote that an estimated 150 members of the Polio Prevention Club had contributed $206 and 20 teddy bears to the Asheville Orthopedic Home.

“These little folks have been touched by the appeal of the ones who are stricken and they genuinely want to do something by their own efforts to help,” Barber told The Asheville Citizen in his Aug. 22, 1948 interview. “That of course is the finest type of citizenship and character building and is the sort of thing that can be made to carry these little folks far in the years to come.”

Editor’s note: This is the final segment of our 1948 polio series. Previous articles can be found at avl.mx/760, avl.mx/77k, avl.mx/7cj and avl.mx/7ck.

Punctuation and spelling are preserved from the original documents. X

Club members In its 1948 reporting, The Asheville Citizen estimated that the Polio Prevention Club totaled 150 members. The following names were mentioned in print: Ann and John Archer; Dion Bostic; Angeta and Kermit Brown; Keller Cushing; Mary Ellen Derbyshire; Linda and Jane Dudley; Jack Grady; Sue and Pat Himalstein; Lynn and Jackie Kyle; Louise Lambert; Ralph and Steven Santow; Ware Schieffer; Henry Southworth; Carolyn, Nancy and Lolly Spears; Sherry and William Sword; Charles Webb; Randy Williams; Alfred and Bud Woodcock.

Xpress is interested in obtaining any photographs related to the organization’s 1948 fundraising efforts. If you have images, please email tcalder@mountainx.com. X

MOUNTAINX.COM

JULY 1-7, 2020

15

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Distant festivities Fourth of July event roundup

Independence Day will look a little different this year. Faced with the challenge of preserving tradition while also protecting public health, many community celebrations have pivoted to allow attendees to socially distance as they celebrate the country’s founding.

For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext.

137. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.

CLUBLAND

Independence Day fireworks display in Historic Downtown Hendersonville Sponsored by the Henderson County Tourism Development Authority, the fireworks display will begin at 9:30 p.m. with patriotic music simulcast via WTZQ AM 1600/95.3 FM. Officials will launch a red balloon the morning of the event; wherever the balloon can be seen, the fireworks will be visible as well. Optimal viewing spots will be along South Main, King and Grove streets and Spartanburg Highway. Attendees are encouraged to practice social distancing during the event.

Fireworks display in Downtown Sylva The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce will host its sixth annual fireworks display. Though the event will not be accompanied by a festival and concert as in previous years, attendees may bring their own lawn chairs or celebrate from their cars. Fireworks will launch around 9:30 p.m. from the Bridge Park area, with great views from the south along Jackson Street and the hills surrounding the Jackson County Public Library.

CELEBRATE FROM HOME

Asheville Downtown Association virtual Fourth of July concert The Asheville Downtown Association will forgo its usual festival and fireworks display, instead partnering with Ingles Markets to host a virtual concert.

The community event will feature eight Asheville-area artists, including Fireside Collective, Lyric and Empire Strikes Brass, performing live from Asheville Music Hall, The Grey Eagle, The Orange Peel and Isis Music Hall. The concert will stream live on IamAVL’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed through the Asheville Downtown Association’s Facebook page. Find the full lineup at avl.mx/7bu.

Virtual Duck Race Brevard’s July 4th Festival is canceled, but fans of the annual rubber duck race — typically held on Brevard JULY 1-7, 2020

CALENDAR GUIDELINES

Fourth of July Event = Online Event= q

FIREWORKS

16

JULY 1 - 9, 2020

A CAPELLA SINGING (PD.) WANNA SING? ashevillebarbershop. com

WITH A BOOM: In Sylva, the music has stopped, but the fireworks will go on.

The town is set to host its sixth annual fireworks display sans festival on July 4 at 9:30 p.m. Photo courtesy of Jackson County Chamber of Commerce College’s Kings Creek — are in luck as the event is going virtual to benefit the Transylvania Community Arts Council. Duck sponsorships start at $10, and prizes will be awarded to the top 10 finishers. All proceeds will go toward arts programming. The race will be prerecorded and streamed on the Transylvania Community Art Council’s Facebook page at 4 p.m., and will be available for later viewing at tcarts.org.

Independence Day BBQ for Consider Haiti In lieu of the July 4th Freedom Gala — an annual benefit hosted by Ashevillebased nonprofit Consider Haiti — local sponsors have teamed up to offer housemade barbecue plates to go, featuring goods from The Chop Shop Butchery and Geraldine’s Bakery. All proceeds will go toward sustainable food, clean water and medical care for children in Haiti. Individual plates and family-style meals are available for preorder online through Thursday, July 2, at 5 p.m., with pickup on Saturday, July 4, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Patton Parker House on Charlotte Street. Find the full menu at avl.mx/7es.

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— Madeline Forwerck X

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1 • Lawn Concert w/ Old North State (folk). 6pm, Waverly Inn, 783 N Main St, Hendersonville • French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam. 6pm, Oklawaha Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave E, Hendersonville • Open Mic w/ Thomas Yon. 7pm, Twin Leaf Brewery • Sound Bath w/ Will Bear Harris. 7:30pm, Move Nourish Heal, 130 Center Ave, Black Mountain • Lucky James (soul, Americana). 8pm, The Root Bar, 1410 Tunnel Rd • Sovereign Kava: Poetry Open Mic. 8:30pm, avl.mx/76w q THURSDAY, JULY 2 • Aaron LaFalce (solo acoustic). 6pm, 131 Main, 308 Thetford St • The Saylor Brothers (bluegrass). 6pm, The Funkatorium • The Last Full Measure (Americana). 6pm, Oklawaha Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave E, Hendersonville • Lawn Concert w/ Matt Fassas Trip (rock).

6:30pm, Isis Music Hall • Irish Session (traditional Celtic music).

6:30pm, Triskelion Brewing, 340 7th Ave E, Hendersonville • Mountain Spirit Acoustic Series: Don White. 7pm, avl.mx/7do q

• Ross Osteen Band w/ Seth Rosenbloom Band (rock, blues). 8pm, The Grey Eagle • Dennis Carbone (folk, acoustic). 8pm, The Root Bar, 1410 Tunnel Rd • Comedy Open Mic w/ Baby George. 9pm, Ben’s Tune Up

• Jointkiller Brass Band.

10pm, One Stop at Asheville Music Hall FRIDAY, JULY 3 • On the Bus Sessions: Hunter McIntosh & Brady Jacquin (alternative). 5pm, avl.mx/7g1 q

• Free Dead Friday (Grateful Dead tribute).

5:30pm, One Stop at Asheville Music Hall • Doug Ramsay (jazz, soul). 5:30pm, Whiteside Brewing Company, 128 NC-107, Cashiers • Dinah’s Daydream (Gypsy jazz). 6pm, Battery Park Book Exchange • Blake Ellege Band (rock, country). 6pm, The Funkatorium • The Super 60s Celebration. 6pm, Point Lookout Vineyards, 408 Appleola Rd, Hendersonville • The JackTown Ramblers (bluegrass, jazz). 6pm, Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards, 588 Chestnut Gap Rd, Hendersonville • Lawn Concert w/ Life Like Water (folk).

6:30pm, Isis Music Hall • Jelly Beet Connection (funk). 7pm, Lazy Hiker Brewing, 617 W Main St, Sylva • Matt Waters & The Recipe (soul, blues).

7pm, One World Brewing, 520 Haywood Rd • Pierce Edens (Appalachian roots) at The Orange Peel. 7pm, avl.mx/7bq q • Ashli Rose Acoustic Showcase. 8pm, Luella’s Bar-B-Que, 501 Merrimon Ave • Stops Out Live.

8pm, 185 King Street, Brevard • Formal Friday: A Fancy Comedy Show.

8pm, avl.mx/7bc q • Quick Chester (funk, groove). 9pm, The Joint Next Door, 1185 Charlotte Hwy, Fairview • Gunslinging Parrots (Phish tribute). 10pm, One Stop at Asheville Music Hall

• DJ Kilby Spinning Vinyl. 10pm, Ben’s Tune Up • DJ Databoy & DJ Woodside. 11pm, AUX Bar SATURDAY, JULY 4 • Fourth of July Rock ‘n’ Roll Jam. 12pm, The Social Club Tattoo, 2560 Asheville Hwy, Hendersonville • Cup o’ Joe Variety Show w/ Joe Kye (rock, pop, classical). 1pm, avl.mx/7ai q • 3 Shades of Gray (60s & 70s hits). 3pm, Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards, 588 Chestnut Gap Rd, Hendersonville • Asheville Fourth of July Concert. 4pm, avl.mx/7bu q • The Flying Saucers (rockabilly, oldies).

4pm, Mountain Brook Vineyards, 731 Phillips Dairy Rd, Tryon • Carolina Coast Band (beach music).

4pm, Point Lookout Vineyards, 408 Appleola Rd, Hendersonville • The Basement Bunch (rock ‘n’ roll). 5:30pm, Saluda Outfitters, 435 E Main St, Saluda • Fourth of July Party w/ Dirty Dead (Grateful Dead tribute). 6pm, French Broad Outfitters, 230 Hominy Creek Rd • Sparrow & Her Wingmen (jazz). 6pm, The Funkatorium • The Lasso Twins (rock, psychedelic). 6pm, Nantahala Brewing, 5 Grindstaff Cove Rd, Sylva • Lawn Concert w/ Love Bubble (oldies). 6:30pm, Isis Music Hall • The Revelations (Southern gospel). 7pm, McMillan’s Hidden Valley Chapel, 1 McMillan Dr, Hendersonville • Pink Beds (indie).

8pm, 185 King Street, Brevard • Arnold Hill (Americana, rock). 8pm, Elevated Mountain Distillery, 3732 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley • Split Shot (rock, beach, dance). 9pm, The Shak, 2270 US-74 ALT, Forest City • Karaoke Night.

9:30pm, Wild Wing Cafe, 161 Biltmore Ave • Falcon 3 (funk, soul).

10pm, One Stop at Asheville Music Hall • Karaoke Show w/ Billy Masters. 10pm, The Social, 1078 Tunnel Rd • Big Blue (hip-hop, rock, funk). 10pm, Ben’s Tune Up SUNDAY, JULY 5 • AstroSauce (progressive, classic rock). 5:30pm, Saluda Outfitters, 435 E Main St, Saluda

• Academy for the Arts: Summer Concert Series featuring faculty performers. 6pm, avl.mx/7dn q • Lawn Concert w/ Russ Wilson’s Jazz Combo.

6:30pm, Isis Music Hall • Black Hole Son (Chris Cornell tribute) at the Orange Peel. 7pm, avl.mx/7c1 q • Mountain Spirit Acoustic Series: Emerald Rae. 7pm, avl.mx/7d1 q MONDAY, JULY 6 • Old Time Jam w/ Banjo Mitch McConnell.

6pm, Archetype Brewing, 265 Haywood Rd TUESDAY, JULY 7 • Bach’s Lunch: Organ Music from the United States. 12pm, avl.mx/7ds q • Team Trivia Tuesday.

6pm, Oklawaha Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave E, Hendersonville WEDNESDAY, JULY 8 • French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam. 6pm, Oklawaha Brewing Company, 147 1st Ave E, Hendersonville • The Lads (rock, folk).

7pm, The Joint Next Door, 1185 Charlotte Hwy, Fairview • Open Mic w/ Thomas Yon. 7pm, Twin Leaf Brewery • Dylan O Flanner w/ Caroline Grace (acoustic). 8pm, One World Brewing, 10 Patton Ave • Lucky James (soul, Americana). 8pm, The Root Bar, 1410 Tunnel Rd • Sovereign Kava: Poetry Open Mic. 8:30pm, avl.mx/76w q • Karaoke w/ Lyric.

10pm, The Social, 1078 Tunnel Rd THURSDAY, JULY 9 • Aaron LaFalce (solo acoustic). 6pm, 131 Main, 308 Thetford St • The Saylor Brothers (bluegrass). 6pm, The Funkatorium • Italian Night w/ Mike Guggino & Barrett Smith (string music).

6:30pm, Isis Music Hall • Trivia Night. 7pm, Mad Co. Brew House, 45 N Main St, Marshall • Ordinary Elephant (folk) at Isis Music Hall.

7pm, avl.mx/78j q • The Cheeksters (pop, soul) at The Orange Peel. 7pm, avl.mx/7go q

• Ley Line (world music). 7pm, The Grey Eagle • Dennis Carbone (folk, acoustic). 8pm, The Root Bar, 1410 Tunnel Rd • Comedy Open Mic w/ Baby George. 9pm, Ben’s Tune Up

WELLNESS • Alzheimer's Association: 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer's MO (7/6), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7ea q • Gentle Flow Yoga MO (7/6), 5:30pm, $5, 2979 New Leicester Highway, Leicester • Dementia Conversations: Driving, Doctor Visits & Financial Planning TU (7/7), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7eg q • Us Too of WNC Prostate cancer support group. RSVP: wncprostate@gmail. com.

TU (7/7), 7pm, avl.mx/7h1 q • Alzheimer's Association: Effective Communication Strategies WE (7/8), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7ed q • Alzheimer's Association: Understanding Alzheimer's & Dementia TH (7/9), 5pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7e8 q • Oily Womban Wellness: Essential Oils Workshop TH (7/9), 6:30pm, Meraki Chiropractic, 315 Haywood Rd

ART • Art Journaling for Beginners: Digital Printables Live Q&A. WE (7/1), 2pm, avl.mx/7g3 q • AIGA: In the middle of a moment Talk by design director Rick Griffith.

WE (7/1), 3pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7ei q • A Cause for Big Paws Dog-friendly exhibition opening benefiting Blue Ridge Humane Society.

TH (7/2), 11am, M.Hammel Studio, 1901 Kanuga Rd, Hendersonville • Slow Art Friday: Artist Couples Discussion led by master docent Doris Potash at Asheville Art Museum. Register: 828-253-3227.

FR (7/3), 12pm, avl.mx/7cr q • First Friday Art Walks FR (7/3), 5pm, Downtown Asheville, Biltmore Ave/College St • Live Oil Painting by Sarah Sneeden Demonstration to be viewed from in or outside the gallery.

SA (7/4), 11am, Twigs

& Leaves, 98 N Main St, Waynesville • AIGA WatchStack: Group Talk & Signal Buzz TU (7/7), 5:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7dr q • Community Art Night TU (7/7), 6:30pm, 2979 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester • Artist Meetup TH (7/9), 4pm, Burntshirt Vineyards, 2695 Sugarloaf Rd, Hendersonville • Yadkin Arts Council Juried exhibition reception and awards ceremony.

TH (7/9), 5:30pm, avl.mx/7ge q • Light, Sound, Movement Workshop UK-based artists reimagine works from the Black Mountain College archive.

FR (7/10), 10:30am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7gp q • Slow Art Friday: Depression-Era Prints Discussion led by master docent Doris Potash at Asheville Art Museum. Register: 828-253-3227.

FR (7/10), 12pm, Free, avl.mx/776 q

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD • St. George's Episcopal: Talks About Racism The Cross & the Lynching Tree, chapter 3. Register: stgeorgeoffice28806@gmail. com.

WE (7/1), 12pm, avl.mx/7as q • Malaprop’s: Lisa Alther presents Swan Song, A Novel WE (7/1), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7d5 q • Anti-Racist Reading & Crafting Group SU (7/5), 7pm, avl.mx/7e3 q • Wild Goose Reading Group How to Be an Antiracist, part 1.

MO (7/6), 6pm, Registration required, Free, Online, avl.mx/7ev • St. George's Episcopal: Talks About Racism The Cross & the Lynching Tree, chapters 4 and 5. Register: stgeorgeoffice28806@gmail. com.

WE (7/8), 12pm, avl.mx/7as q • True Home Open Mic Night TH (7/9), 6pm, Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, 850 Blue Ridge Rd, Black Mountain

FILM • Movies in the Park: Space Jam FR (7/10), 7pm, Free, Pack Square Park

ANIMALS • Paws & Pints Charlie’s Angels Animal Rescue dog adoption event.

SU (7/5), 2pm, Hillman Beer, 25 Sweeten Creek Rd

BENEFITS • NAACP Benefit Concert Featuring Echo Bloom (orchestral folk).

WE (7/1), 8pm, avl.mx/7d9 q • TC Arts Rubber Duck Race Support the arts by sponsoring a duck.

SA (7/4), 4pm, avl.mx/7f6 q

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY • Incredible Towns Business Networking WE (7/1), 11am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7g8 q • How to Sell Anything Masterclass with Lisa Zahiya and Neal Conlon.

WE (7/1), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7gu q • Rouleau Real Estate: Home Buying Strategy Session WE (7/1), 5pm, Free, avl.mx/7gv q • Business in Bare Feet: Entrepreneurship Q&A FR (7/3), 9am, Free, avl.mx/7gq q

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• Asheville Symphony Orchestra Town Hall Meeting WE (7/1), 4pm, avl.mx/7h5 q • New Horizons: Homeschooling Q&A TH (7/2), 11am, Free, avl.mx/7gx q • Spanish Conversation Group for Adults TH (7/2), 5pm, Free, avl.mx/7c6 q

• Freedom Stories: Do Black Lives Matter in Appalachia?

International Storytelling Center panel.

FR (7/3), 1pm, Free, avl.mx/7fo q • FAFSA Fill-out Night Register: avl.mx/7cl.

TU (7/7), 4pm, Free, Blue Ridge Community College - Henderson County Campus,Thomas Auditorium Gallery • Going Virtual Tips and techniques to present meaningful streaming events.

WE (7/8), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7ek q • Snow Creek Landscaping Career Meet-n-Greet WE (7/8), 3pm, Snow Creek Landscaping, 226 Clayton Rd, Arden

ECO & OUTDOOR • MountainTrue University: State of the French Broad River Presentation by riverkeeper Hartwell Carson. WE (7/1), 11:30am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7bl q • Bearly There: Safe Encounters w/ Bears Webinar by NC Wildlife Resources Commission and the Sierra Club.

TH (7/2), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7cc q • Soul Fire Farm: Ask a Sista Farmer Live Q&A on gardening, livestock, agroforestry, plant medicine and food preservation.

FR (7/3), 4pm, Free, avl.mx/7gl q • Fish for Free on Independence Day No license required.

SA (7/4), All day, Lake Julian Park, 70 Fisherman’s Trail, Arden • Forest Bathing & Nature Therapy SA (7/4), 9am, GoFINDOutdoors. org q • Sugar Mountain Independence Day Celebration Summit Crawl competition, live music and fireworks.

SA (7/4), 9am, Sugar Mountain Resort, 1009 Sugar Mountain Dr • Hendersonville Green Drinks Presentation by EcoForestry director Andy Tait.

TH (7/9), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7ft q • Pisgah Chapter of Trout Unlimited

General meeting.

TH (7/9), 7pm, Ecusta Brewing, 49 Pisgah Hwy, Pisgah Forest • MountainTrue: Pandemics & Prejudice Presentation on democracy and environmental stewardship by David Orr. FR (7/10), 7pm, avl.mx/7h6

WEEKLY MARKETS Tuesdays • West Asheville Tailgate Market.

3:30-6:30pm, 718 Haywood Rd Wednesdays • Asheville City Market South. 12-3pm, Biltmore Park Town Square • Weaverville Farmers Market. 2:30-6pm,17 Merrimon Ave, Weaverville • RAD Farmers Market. 3-6pm, Pleb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St • Jackson County Farmers Market. 3:306:30pm, Innovation Station, 40 Depot St, Dillsboro Thursdays • ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech.

9am-12pm, 340 Victoria Rd • Flat Rock Farmers Market. 3-6pm, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Hendersonville • Enka-Candler Tailgate Market. 3:306:30pm, 70 Pisgah Hwy, Candler Fridays • Marion Tailgate Market. 10am-3pm, 67 W Henderson St, Marion Saturdays • North Asheville Tailgate Market.

8am-12pm, UNC Asheville, Lot C • Hendersonville Farmers Market.

8am-1pm, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville • Yancey County Farmers Market.

8:30am-12:30pm,10 S Main St, Burnsville • ASAP Farmers Market at A-B Tech.

9am-12pm, 340 Victoria Rd • Black Mountain Tailgate Market.

9am-12pm, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain • Haywood's Historic Farmers Market. 9am-12pm, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

FOOD & BEER • Drive-Thru Food Box Distribution TH (7/2), 5pm, Crooked Creek General Store, 4614 Bat Cave Rd, Old Fort • The Inferno Challenge Spicy food competition. FR (7/3), 11am, Mosaic Cafe & Coffee House, 1 Town Square Blvd • July 4th To-Go BBQ for Consider Haiti Order for pickup at avl.mx/7h2.

SA (7/4), 11am, Patton Parker House, 95 Charlotte St

FESTIVALS • Crafts After Dark: Night Market Shop handmade items from local crafters.

WE (7/1), 5pm, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd • Open Street Weekend Weekend-long closure of Main St for an enhanced pedestrian environment.

FR (7/3), 6pm, Historic Downtown Hendersonville • Lifting Our Voices Featuring flute player Matt Tooni and beadworker Jenn Bird.

SA (7/4), 10am, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, 589 Tsali Blvd, Cherokee • Annual Independence Celebration at Apple Creek Meadow Speakers, outdoor activities and a potluck. SA (7/4), 12pm, 1184 Camp Creek Rd, Union Mills • Fourth of July Festival Fireworks, food and a fundraiser for the Blue Ridge Humane Society.

SA (7/4), 12pm, Dry Falls Brewery, 425 Kanuga Rd, Hendersonville • Independence Day Cookout & Concert SA (7/4), 5:30pm, Creekwood Farm RV Park, 4696 Jonathan Creek Rd, Waynesville • Fourth of July w/ The Sliding Rockers Live music and a bonfire.

SA (7/4), 6pm, Creekside Market & Grill, 8960 Greenville Hwy, Brevard • Independence Day Fireworks Display SA (7/4), 9:30pm, Historic Downtown Hendersonville • Downtown Sylva Fireworks SA (7/4), 9:30pm, Bridge Park, 76 Railroad Ave, Sylva

CIVICS & ACTIVISM • City of Asheville Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting Virtual access available: avl.mx/7gm.

WE (7/1), 5pm, Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville, 87 Haywood St • City of Asheville Civil Service Board Meeting TH (7/2), 2:30pm, avl.mx/7gn q • Hendersonville City Council Meeting Virtual access available: avl.mx/7e4.

TH (7/2), 5:45pm, City of Hendersonville Operations Center, 305 Williams St • Sunrise Movement: July Hub Meeting Organizing for racial justice and how to talk to city council.

TH (7/2), 7pm, avl.mx/7h4 q • Asheville Women in Black Monthly peace vigil.

FR (7/3), 5pm, Vance Monument, 1 Pack Square • Buncombe County Planning Board Meeting MO (7/6), 9:30am, avl.mx/7ew q • Buncombe County Board of Adjustment Meeting WE (7/8), 9am, avl.mx/7eo q • Caretakers of Violence A conversation on police power with author Tyler Wall.

Register: venue@firestorm. coop.

TH (7/9), 8pm, avl.mx/7e5 q

KIDS • WNC Indigenous Education & Family Fun Day Storytelling, music, crafts and games with indigenous artists and scholars.

SA (7/4), 2pm, Old Cider Mill, 33 Gerton Hwy, Bat Cave • Miss Malaprop's Storytime Ages 3-9.

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• Jewish Power Hour w/ Rabbi Susskind TH (7/2), 6pm, chabadasheville.org q

• Asheville National Day of Prayer & Repentance WE (7/8), 5:30pm, Pack Square Park • Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World Community problem solving workshop.

TH (7/9), 5:45pm, Foster Church, 375 Hendersonville Rd

VOLUNTEERING • Blood Connection Blood Drive Free COVID-19 antibody screenings for donors.

TH (7/2), 10am, All Ways Caring HomeCare, 1328 Patton Ave • MOOP Litter Pickup Adults only.

TH (7/2), 6:30pm, Family Dollar, 609 Haywood Rd • American Red Cross Blood Drive Appointments: redcrossblood.org.

WE (7/8), 11am, Biltmore Park Town Square

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17

WELLNESS

OBSTACLE COURSE

Pandemic worsens disparities for local LGBTQ people

BY LESLIE BOYD leslie.boyd@gmail.com Even before the coronavirus pandemic began, both LGBTQ youths and adults faced obstacles that others never had to think about. And COVID-19 has only exacerbated those disparities.

Adrian Parra, executive director of Youth OUTright Asheville, cites the lack of support many LGBTQ youths face at home and in the community, the likelihood of homelessness, and the lack of state and federal laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination as obstacles people face every day.

“Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County identified more than 1,000 people age 21 or younger who are homeless, and Human Rights Campaign data found that about 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ,” Parra says.

Because of the shuttering of schools, some children and youths find themselves sheltered in place with parents and other family members who are not supportive, may not understand the importance of medications — especially the hormones some need every day — or dismiss the need for therapy or support groups.

“We expect homelessness among this population to double,” Parra says. “This is a population that tended to be isolated even before the pandemic. Now they’re really feeling alone. What they need more than anything else right now is community connections.”

As part of its policy manual, Buncombe County Schools issued gender support guidelines in 2017 aimed at providing a safe and supportive learning

TAKING CARE: Beautifull Walker gets a blood pressure screening at Camp Gender Benders, an annual summer retreat for trans and nonbinary people and their support networks held in Toccoa, Ga. Photo by TC Caldwell environment for LGBTQ students. The seven-page document includes guidelines for restrooms and locker rooms (the guide may be downloaded by searching “gender guidelines, Buncombe” online).

“It’s pretty lofty, but not always followed,” Parra says.

Despite the guidelines, some of the approximately 30 student LGBTQ groups in the county have had trouble gaining access to paid Zoom accounts while the schools were closed to hold

online meetings during the pandemic, Parra says.

Meanwhile, at Asheville City Schools, Parra says his organization was initially denied approval to meet with a student group. “I had to modify my presentation before I could come in and talk to students at Asheville High School, but I was granted access after we appealed.”

Another problem generally with online learning is that schools use a student’s legal name, which often doesn’t match a transgender student’s identity,

and in some cases, can out a student who hasn’t been public about their identity.

“There is one bright spot in this,” Parra says. “With schools closed, there has been a reduction in bullying.”

CASCADE OF EFFECTS

As adults, LGBTQ people continue to have trouble getting and holding jobs, and while a recent Supreme Court ruling means they no longer can be fired for being gay or trans, there still are obstacles. For example, transgender people often don’t have identification that matches their identity.

“Because of ID problems, a lot of trans folks can’t get a job that requires licensure,” says Ezekiel Christopoulos, executive director of the nonprofit Tranzmission. “Only 11% of trans people have ID that matches who they are. That means a lot of jobs aren’t open to us.”

As a result, Christopoulos says, trans people are more likely to work in the service industry in tourist destinations such as Asheville, and those jobs are more likely to be part time and low wage, forcing people to hold two or more jobs just to make ends meet.

“We’re more likely to have to share living space because rents are so high in Asheville,” he says. “That means we can’t self-quarantine. Some of us share bedrooms or sleep on the couch. We have to go to work because service jobs, even though they’re low wage and have no benefits, are considered essential.”

Making matters worse, trans people who are arrested for attending public protests or being out after curfew (for example, walking home from work), usually don’t have the proper ID, so are more likely to be detained and put in a holding cell.

“So, you could be arrested for being out after curfew while walking home instead of taking public transportation — and who wants to get on a bus right now? — and you never know which holding cell you’ll be put in,” he says.

And while the Supreme Court’s June 15 decision means employers aren’t allowed to discriminate against employees who are LGBTQ, it deals only with employment issues — not education or health care.

CLOSING THE GAPS

The Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, founder and executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, issued a statement the day of the Supreme Court decision, affirming her organization’s decision to close all the gaps in human rights for LGBTQ people.

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JULY 1-7, 2020

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Bringing Back our

“The decision comes at a time when millions of Americans are facing unemployment or reduced employment because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” writes Beach-Ferrara, who’s also a member of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. “As LGBTQ people venture back into the job market, we’re grateful for this measure of relief: The legal protection that employers can no longer use anti-LGBTQ bias as a weapon in the workplace.”

Tina Madison White, executive director of Blue Ridge Pride Center, and a board member of the national Human Rights Campaign, was thrilled with the court’s decision.

“I broke down in tears. It’s not until something like this happens that you realize the stress you’ve been living under. ... What this says is that you can’t fire someone for who they love or who they live with. You can’t fire someone for whose softball team they join.”

The one surviving plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, Gerald Bostock, was fired from his job for joining a gay softball team.

However, the ruling deals only with employment, White adds: “There’s still some wiggle room when it comes to education and health care, and we

need to close those gaps by passing the Equality Act.” The proposed federal law would ban all discrimination of people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

“You can legislate behaviors, but you can’t legislate acceptance,” she says.

“Remember, we passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and look where we’re at today with racial discrimination.”

Michael Hoeben, transgender/HIV bridge and retention coordinator at Western North Carolina Community Health Services, also hopes to see comprehensive legislation soon. “I think we’ll see a lot more challenges to discrimination in all these other areas, but a patchwork approach isn’t the best way to deal with discrimination,” he says.

“The enforcement of human rights is the only way to address human wrongs.”

Hoeben cites one more problem with the Supreme Court ruling, especially here in North Carolina. “We’re in a right-to-work state,” he says. “We’re still fireable.”

Christopoulos also notes that the court decision didn’t cover housing or law enforcement, and trans and nonbinary people often are overpoliced.

“They’re assumed to be sex workers and are stopped more often than other

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people,” he says. “We need the Equality Act to address these inequities.”

Christopoulos also says discrimination is rife in health care. “A lot of physicians won’t treat trans and nonbinary people,” he says. “A trans man might need what we call female care, but a doctor might not want him in the waiting room.”

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FROM EDUCATION TO ACTIVISM? White says BRP, which hosts the annual Blue Ridge Pride Festival in Asheville, is considering changing its focus because of the pandemic from primarily education to more of an activist role.

The traditional festival and other Blue Ridge Pride events have been canceled because of the virus, but White says the organization is still talking to the community to explore other forms of programming.

“We always thought we should be the gentler voice,” White says. “With the festival off, we may become more protest-oriented.”

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WEL L NESS The festival helped educate people about the issues LGBTQ people face, and its cancellation leaves organizers questioning how they might help educate people in other ways.

“It’s not just the festival that’s been shut down because of this virus,” White says. “The clubs and other places where people could go to meet others — people who might not be out but who need to meet others who are further along on their journey and who maybe can help and support them — those places are closed right now, too. And more than anything, people need others to talk to.”

Since LGBTQ people face many of the same inequities suffered by people of color, White says, BRP stands with civil rights organizations such as Black Lives Matter and is looking for possible ways to work with other local groups on events and advocacy.

MORE VULNERABLE TO HEALTH RISKS

According to research by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, LGBTQ people are more vulnerable to the health risks of the virus. They are less likely to have health coverage, and are more likely to smoke and have asthma, plus a variety of other chronic illnesses.

In addition: • 17% of LGBTQ people lack health coverage.

• One in five LGBTQ people have not seen a doctor when they needed to because they couldn’t afford it.

• 21% of LGBTQ people have asthma, compared with 14% of non-LGBTQ people.

• LGBTQ people are more likely to work jobs in highly affected industries, often with more exposure and/ or higher economic sensitivity to the COVID-19 crisis.

• One in five LGBTQ people live in poverty, and 40% of homeless youths identify as LGBTQ.

SAY IT PROUD: While this year’s Blue Ridge Pride Festival will not take place in its traditional format because of COVID-19 concerns, last year’s September celebration filled the streets of downtown Asheville with color and camaraderie. Photo by Liz Williams for the Campaign for Southern Equality • The top five industries in which LGBTQ adults work are industries heavily impacted by COVID-19, affecting more than 5 million LGBTQ workers or 40% of LGBTQ workers (compared to 22% of non-LGBTQ people working in those industries).

• A disproportionate number of LGBTQ people work in restaurants (15%) compared with their non-LGBTQ peers (6%), and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage in 2018 for food and beverage serving and related workers was $10.45 per hour.

• Only 29% of respondents to HRC Foundation’s 2018 LGBTQ Paid Leave Survey said their employer offers paid

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ADDRESSING DISPARITIES

Several organizations in Buncombe County are cooperating to address these disparities surrounding COVID-19.

Western North Carolina Community Health Services cares for more than 450 transgender people and more than 800 HIV-positive people. Its Minnie Jones Health Center has repurposed some space and erected tents in the parking lot to increase testing for COVID-19.

Hoeben says the nonprofit is working with a number of LGBTQ advocacy groups to help address some of the health care disparities.

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“The health disparities are exacerbated,” says Hoeben, who is transgender.

“Housing is less secure. ... It’s a social justice issue, and there are real consequences to these systems’ inequities.”

WNCCHS is collaborating with Youth OUTright, Tranzmission, the Campaign for Southern Equality, Gender Benders and Blue Ridge Pride to offer free hormone treatments to its transgender patients.

This is important because, while transgender people can survive without treatments, it only exacerbates the issues they have with their bodies, Christopoulos says. And since hormones are prescription medications, people need access to doctors who can prescribe it, plus monitoring of the dosage.

Some organizations are collecting donations and distributing them as mini-grants to help people gain access to prescriptions and even more basic needs, such as food and rent.

Tranzmission has distributed some $60,000 in food, cash for rent and syringes for the WNCCHS hormone distribution program. Youth OUTright is offering small cash mini-grants of $50 to $200 for people age 24 and younger to help them pay for necessities.

“It’s not a lot, but in my position, I can move a little wealth around,” Parra says.

“What we need is real policy changes, real systemic reform around how people in authority view and treat us, not just during this pandemic, but always.” X

GREEN SCENE

SAFER WHEN WET?

Local researchers explore weather’s role in COVID-19 spread

BY DANIEL WALTON dwalton@mountainx.com It’s not the heat — it’s the humidity.

Thanks to a recently released study from a team of Western North Carolina scientists, the old chestnut about miserable summer weather may get a new interpretation for the COVID-19 era.

The research, published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, suggests that humidity plays a greater role than does the temperature in the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Lead author Jennifer Runkle, an environmental epidemiologist with the Asheville-based North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies at N.C. State University, emphasizes that the results are preliminary due to the limited available data for a disease with no recorded U.S. cases until January.

But she says the findings could nonetheless help inform health officials about what to expect from COVID-19 and manage the ongoing pandemic.

“There are so many factors at play: testing capacity, human behavior like handwashing, even access to care,” Runkle explains. “Weather is just another factor that we need to be incorporating in our infectious disease modeling. That’s what our pitch is to the scientific community.”

COAST TO COAST

The study analyzes weather conditions and coronavirus transmission in eight U.S. cities where viral spread was apparent early in the pandemic, such as Seattle and New York City.

By comparing temperature, absolute humidity and sunlight for each city on a given day with the number of cases later reported, the researchers were able to find associations between the weather and COVID-19.

In three of the study cities — Chicago, New Orleans and Albany, Ga. — a day of low humidity was a significant predictor of new COVID-19 cases for the following two weeks. The risk of viral transmission was up to twice as high as normal in those cities when humidity fell within a specific low range. In contrast, neither temperature nor sunlight were strongly associated with coronavirus spread.

Study co-lead author Maggie Sugg, an assistant professor of medical geography at Appalachian State University in Boone, says that the humidity

CHECKING THE WEATHER: Maggie Sugg, left, and Jennifer Runkle are co-lead authors of the new study, which finds that humidity is significantly related to COVID-19 transmission. Photos courtesy of Runkle finding is consistent with patterns observed for other viral diseases such as the flu, which generally spreads most during dry winter conditions.

“This is because the virus itself lives longer in low-humidity environments, and people’s respiratory systems are also more vulnerable to disease,” Sugg explains.

Runkle notes that the results also match up with early findings from China, where the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) originated. She says her team’s work is among the first research to examine the ties between weather and COVID19 transmission in the U.S., an important piece of the global puzzle for a disease that hasn’t been seen before.

While infection rates of coronaviruses and other respiratory viruses generally vary by season, Runkle says, that pattern won’t necessarily be the case for SARS-CoV-2, which is spreading into a world with no existing immunity. “What makes it complicated when looking at COVID-19 is that it’s a novel coronavirus,” she says. “These viruses typically don’t behave like their normal selves until they become established in the population, so scientists around the country and globe have been tackling different aspects of it.”

STORM A-BREWIN’

Sugg says the team plans to follow up on the research later in the year, when they will be able to draw on more months of data and better adjust their mathematical models for the effects of different social distancing measures on case counts. “Typically when we do these types of studies, we work with several years of data,” she points out. “We’re working with not even a full season.”

One important question to be resolved is whether higher humidity

in the coming months will hinder COVID-19 transmission. The study’s authors say it’s too soon to draw that conclusion from the data, and they emphasize that limiting social interactions and promoting good public health practices like mask wearing will go much further toward slowing the spread of the virus than will changes in humidity.

But as North Carolina moves into the summer and fall, notes Sugg, a different aspect of the weather could become considerably more important than humidity. Hurricane season, which runs from June through November, could drive mass evacuations from the coast, bringing people from different parts of the state into closer contact. “Any time you have greater mobility, you’re going to have a greater introduction of a new disease,” she says.

Climate change, Sugg adds, is making extreme weather events such as hurricanes more dangerous, especially for the state’s residents of color and those living in poverty. According to the N.C. Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan published in June by the state Department of Environmental Quality, “vulnerable communities will be most at risk of flooding occurrences due to hurricanes; with hurricanes happening in short succession, vulnerable communities will struggle to recover between hurricanes.”

“These are just compounding risks for populations that are already really vulnerable,” Sugg says. “COVID and climate change working together are going to amplify climate vulnerability for populations that are already struggling.” X

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JULY 1-7, 2020

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FOOD

GOING THE DISTANCE

Restaurants invite guests back to dine and socialize at a safe distance

BY KAY WEST kwest@mountainx.com As restaurants and event spaces in Asheville have begun to reopen for on-site service, “dining out” has taken on new meaning. With many people still cautious about sitting inside a confined space, restaurants that have wide-open outdoor spaces are finding ways to use those areas wisely as they welcome back staff and customers safely.

“We are very fortunate to have 3 acres of land on the river,” says Laura Reuss, owner of three White Duck Taco locations in Asheville (the River Arts District location has reopened while the downtown and Skyland stores remain closed).

“We have spread out more than 40 picnic tables about 12 feet apart from each other. People are glad to get outside, and we are doing insane numbers. My food runners are getting a workout.”

Reuss reopened the riverside location on May 21, the ninth anniversary of the business she founded with the late Ben Mixon. The building where customers place their orders at the counter from a wall-mounted menu has one designated entry and one exit. Diners carry their own beverages out with them, and staff members deliver the food. “We have switched to all single-use disposable product, which we hate, but it’s the safest way right now,” explains Reuss. “We don’t want our staff to have to take anything back to the kitchen.”

Chef Michel Baudouin, owner of Bouchon downtown and RendezVous in East Asheville, turned the latter’s spacious petanque court into an al fresco dining room where he seated his first guests on May 26, just a couple of weeks shy of the French restaurant’s one-year anniversary. “I wasn’t sure we would make it,” he says. “But we have so many regulars who wanted to get back out and are lucky to have that kind of room to set up tables.”

The 50-by-100-foot court can seat 58, but Baudouin caps reservations at 46 in case diners need to move inside. “We have one menu per table on a table stand, and when we turn tables, everything gets sanitized.” Staff, both front and back of house, are all masked, and Baudouin asks customers to do the same except at the table.

He strongly recommends reservations. “We have had several fully booked 22

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HOLDING COURT: RendezVouz restaurant in East Asheville turned its spacious petanque court into an al fresco dining room. Photo courtesy of RendezVouz nights,” he says happily. “People tell us they feel safe eating here.”

Michelle Bailey, executive chef and owner of Smoky Park Supper Club in the River Arts District, has been in touch with colleagues to gauge their experiences as her team prepares to reopen. “We have been fully closed and taking our time to make the smartest, safest plan we can,” she says. “It’s really thinking up a whole new model for our business as we shift from a full-service restaurant to what makes sense now. We are not ready to open the dining room, so we are lucky to have so much outdoor space.”

Spread around the riverfront property will be picnic tables and Adirondack and lounge chairs with more seating on the patio. There will be three places to order: an exterior window at the end of the kitchen, the exterior window fronting the restaurant’s main bar and an Airstream trailer that will serve adult slushies, canned beer, wine and prepackaged snacks.

The menu will also undergo changes, though Bailey assures the return of the beloved Smoky Park burger and a junior version. “Because we’ll be individually packing everything for guests to take to their tables, we’ll be doing a lot more sandwiches, like a fried oyster po’boy and a fried chicken sandwich,” she says.

“The kale salad will be back. We’re trying

to work with all of our farmers, who have been so massively impacted by this.”

At Salvage Station, owners Katie Hild and Danny McClinton have used the downtime while the space was closed to tackle some projects they couldn’t take on when the bar, restaurant and indoor/ outdoor concert and event space was operating at full throttle. “Last year we had so many big shows our big lawn was trampled, so we’ve resodded, moved things around and added lots of sanitation stations,” Hild reports. “We bought a big screen and a projector, and for now we’re moving away from big concerts and planning smaller community events.

Figuring out how to safely reopen is like starting a new business all over again.”

The owners will redesign their bars to discourage people-parking, space the picnic tables they have, plus, “Our new lawn is so lush people can bring blankets,” says Hild. “Our space can hold 3,000 people, so even if we top out at 750, everybody can basically do cartwheels and not run into anyone else.”

Nonetheless, masks will be required.

Both Salvage Station and Smoky Park are aiming to be back in business by the first or second week of July and urge people to check social media for updates.

Says Bailey, “We want to get guests fed and socialized and out in the fresh air.

People are craving that.” X

Lovin’ from the oven

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Asheville inn owners spearhead initiative to ship baked goods to service members

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ACTIVE DUTY: The Lion and the Rose owners Karen and Steve Wilson bake cookies to send to active-duty military members. Photo from The Lion and the Rose In mid-March, Karen and Steve Wilson were gearing up for a busy season at The Lion and the Rose, the 35-year-old Montford bed-andbreakfast they have operated since September 2018. But when the state’s lodging industry was shut down due to COVID-19, they found themselves with plenty of room at the inn and lots of time on their hands. “There was so much uncertainty,” says Karen.

“We wanted to stay positive and do something good to take our minds off the bad.”

Because both their fathers served in the Army, she decided to look for a virtual volunteer opportunity where they could help service members and found Soldiers’ Angels, a national organization that provides aid and resources to active military, veterans and their families. A division of that group is Angel Bakers, which last year shipped over 2,200 packages of baked goods and other items overseas.

Inspired, Karen reached out to other inns across the nation to see if they were interested in baking for military

members. She eventually signed up over 30 to help with her new initiative, Inn Support of Our Troops.

To kick off the effort, Steve — a craft beer hobbyist — incorporated his passion into a recipe for spent-grain peanut butter cookies. “I’ve been brewing for about five years and recently started offering my beers to our guests when they arrived,” says Steve. “Since we reopened [Memorial Day weekend], we’ve had guests taste-testing the beers and the cookies as we worked on the recipe.”

The Wilsons shipped their first cookies — minus beer — to two active-duty members of the Army they picked from the Angel Bakers database on the Soldiers’ Angels website. “Anyone can do this,” says Karen. “You don’t have to be an inn owner, just someone who wants to send some home-baked goods to a soldier.”

For more information, visit avl.mx/7h9.

Reopening July 1st Downtown AVL • 85 W. Walnut St. • 828-232-1060

— Kay West X MOUNTAINX.COM

JULY 1-7, 2020

23

FOOD

Thinking inside the box

Local distilleries help at-home mixologists master the art of the cocktail

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Even before Gov. Roy Cooper ordered that all but essential services in the state cease operations, Cultivated Cocktails closed its retail shop on Page Avenue downtown.

“I posted on our social pages that because we didn’t feel we provided an essential service to the community, to be safe and responsible, we were closing,” says Leah Howard, manager and co-owner of the family-run, Asheville-based distillery. “Ironically, the governor decided alcohol sales was an essential service.”

Cultivated Cocktail’s first pivot was to manufacturing hand sanitizer; to date, the business has pumped out 20,000 gallons, donating half of it to the community. Simultaneously, it switched from in-store to online sales and curbside pickup of its spirits, and Howard tweaked a national program she had been developing to address Asheville’s essential need for cocktails.

“I was working on a subscription program of cocktail kit boxes that we began shipping all over the country,” she explains. “The boxes contained all the ingredients for a particular cocktail, minus the spirit.

But there was no reason that locals couldn’t pick up a kit and a bottle of the spirit.”

The business started offering the kits in mid-April with a few cocktails, but with the shop closed, there was a lot of time to develop more offerings.

“So we have quite a few now,” says Howard. The boxes include all ingredients for your cocktail of choice, plus a recipe card. Orders are placed online and can be picked up the same day.

Over on the South Slope, Chemist also dove into making hand sanitizer when it closed its Coxe Avenue bottle shop and tasting room and the Antidote cocktail bar next door.

“We had the idea to develop a buildyour-own-cocktail kit and started

RAISING THE BAR: Local distillers are offering all-inclusive, make-your-own-cocktail kits to help amateur mixologists create fancy at-home happy hours. Photo courtesy of Cultivated Cocktails the program right after the stay-athome orders went into place,” says Rhea Lidowski, director of sales for Chemist. “We have several kits that let people make their own Antidote cocktails at home. The most popular have been the barrel-rested gin Manhattan and Old-Fashioned.”

Customers can order and pay in

CALL 828-575-2737 ISISASHEVILLE.COM

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Why I support Xpress:

“Local news is so important for the community. I want to make sure it keeps happening for me, my neighbors, my students, and all.”

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advance online; identification is checked at pickup.

Both businesses plan to tweak the kits to include more seasonal ingredients. As the state has relaxed restrictions on business and gatherings, Cultivated Cocktails, Chemist and Antidote are easing into reopening with limited hours. “We can do tastings and cocktails now,” says Howard. “We opened at 10 this morning, and I made four cocktails before 11. People are thirsty.”

For more on Cultivated Cocktails kits, visit avl.mx/7cv. Details about Chemist’s kits can be found at avl.mx/7cw.

— Kay West X

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

FADE TO BLACK

The Mothlight closes after seven years of innovative programming

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com Since opening in October 2013 in the former Mr. Fred’s Beds space in West Asheville, The Mothlight has brought a steady stream of acclaimed indie rock and experimental music to town, and provided a home for numerous local artists.

Then, on June 18, venue owners Amanda and Jon Hency revealed via social media that they were permanently closing their Haywood Road venue. The couple cited industrywide challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a shift in personal and professional perspectives after becoming parents to two sons. Since making the announcement, they’ve been met with an outpouring of love from an appreciative community, along with support for a difficult but thoroughly thought-through decision.

SETTING THE STAGE

“It began before COVID of just, ‘How can we pivot? How can we either hand over our responsibilities and be doing other jobs so that our lives are more on a family-friendly schedule? Or is it better to try and sell the business? Or is a better option to turn the business into something more sustainable for our lifestyle?’ Those were just the conversations we had been having for a long time,” Amanda says.

“And we had basically come to the conclusion that we wanted to try replacing ourselves and handing over those responsibilities because that just seemed like the least painful transition — to see if that was sustainable before making any more drastic moves.”

In early March, the Hencys recruited close friend and employee Lewis Dahm to start taking on more duties. Shortly thereafter, they and music venue owners across the country were forced to temporarily close as quarantine orders were implemented in hopes of slowing the coronavirus’s spread. Now, as industry members look for paths back to normalcy and some businesses reopen with half-capacity limits alongside copious safety measures, the Hencys feel that it would be extremely difficult for anyone to maintain The Mothlight with reduced attendance and decimated booking options.

“If every night was full 50%, we would have been fine, but there’s just no schedule to fill because people aren’t able to tour. If we had 75 metal fans in here every night, we’d be fine. We’d make it. But there’s no schedule. We can only do so many game nights and local bands — and

CHANGING BULBS: The Mothlight co-owners Amanda and Jon Hency are exiting the music venue business and transforming their West Asheville building into something that Amanda describes as “just a little bit more hands-off.” In Jon’s words, “The juices are flowing with ideas to turn it into some sort of artists community space — kind of keeping it old-school Asheville.” Photo by Edwin Arnaudin I love my game nights — but I don’t think that that’s going to pay the bills,” Amanda says. “It just kind of felt like this is a ‘pause’ button that doesn’t have a clean ‘play’ button.”

(ZIGGY) STARDUST MEMORIES

Looking back on when The Mothlight was in full “play” mode, the Hencys understandably have a difficult time picking from among the space’s plentiful standout moments. One performance that Jon — who was involved in booking every show in the 300-person-capacity venue — says “kind of set the tone” for their business occurred in its opening months when members of Magnolia Electric Co. and Hiss Golden Messenger’s M.C. Taylor played one of only four tribute shows to Magnolia’s late frontman, Jason Molina.

Local artists likewise provided substantial thrills, including instrumental duo Ahleuchatistas playing to a packed house for a record release show; rockers Nest Egg refusing to turn off their fog machine (resulting in the fire alarm going off, a visit from the fire department and “a big fine” — all of which the Hencys now joke about with the band’s Jamie Hepler); and various appearances from Floating Action, whose music came on at random

the day after posting the big announcement and provided Jon a welcome trip down memory lane.

“They’re good friends of ours, and all these emotions came through of Floating Action shows, and that moved into Coconut Cake shows — Michael Libramento [and his Congolese rumba band] — and then it moved to stuff outside of local stuff from there, like the world music we brought in. And I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know! This was a pretty cool place,’” Jon says with a laugh.

“Maybe Floating Action was kind of the perfect soundtrack for me having the time to reflect. I was working on some other stuff and other music was playing, and when that kicked on, all these memories started flooding back in. It was a beautiful thing. I’m glad to have experienced that.”

Free jazz groups from Chicago and New York City also brought Jon great joy. On those nights, he would be sure to work the door and run sound, and while anywhere from 10-40 people would typically attend, he feels that shows like it — and experimental nights that Tashi Dorji, Tom Nguyen and friends organized — established The Mothlight as a venue unafraid to push boundaries. With some booking overlap with other Asheville venues, but nobody doing quite what The

Mothlight was doing, Jon thinks it could take an as-yet-existing music space to carry their torch.

“In a dreamlike world, in 2021, spring/ summer, we’ll be out of this. There’ll be a new venue and it’ll just be picked right back up,” he says. “That’s the dream-case scenario for me — it’s just passed on to someone else. Someone else does it.

Because [the supply and demand is] there — if we can get out of [challenges caused by the COVID shutdown]. Get a 200-300 cap room and we’ll be good.”

Jon’s diverse programming further extended to local fringe art shows (e.g. puppeteering from Keith Shubert and Madison J. Cripps); Xpress film critic Casey Ellis’ movie trivia nights; the Carolina Anarchist Bookfair; the West Asheville Tailgate Indoor Holiday Market; several friends’ weddings; and Urban Combat Wrestling, the brainchild of local hip-hop icon Davaion “Spaceman Jones” Bristol. “[UCW] was honestly one of my favorite crowds,” Amanda says. “Every night has its own feel, and that crowd was just so high-energy, but so positive,” Amanda says. “Everyone was in on the fun, also in on the joke. And the mix of rap artists in between wrestling is just brilliant.”

ENCORE For their post-Mothlight lives, Amanda is two semesters away from earning her teacher’s certification from UNC Asheville and will begin student teaching in August, hopefully at a West Asheville elementary school. Meanwhile, Jon has become passionate about carpentry — which he calls “banging nails” — and is working with their friend Jim Schmidt to transform the family-owned building into its next iteration. The Hencys envision a combination of artist studio spaces and possibly a retail space, a 50-capacity bar and a revamped kitchen, and are open to ideas from people who want to be a part of the project. But after making such a substantial difference in the lives of so many musicians, are they truly done with being music venue owners?

“Who knows?” Jon muses. “The way that we’re going to build these walls, it’s not like it’s going to be permanently fixed. Maybe in 10 years it’s like, ‘It’s a good idea! Let’s knock ’em down and get it back — get the good days back.’ So, I’ll leave that as a ‘maybe,’ because you never know.” X

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A&E

Righteous howl

Lo Wolf releases debut full-length album Look over the track list for Lo Wolf’s debut full-length album, Singe, and you might do a double take. Alongside songs like “Alabama” and “Sailor” on the Asheville-based singer-songwriter’s July 1 release are “Nicotine Wet Dream,” “Sex” and “Rape City, USA” — and even lyrics in the songs without salty titles feature refreshingly unfiltered takes on sensitive subjects, occasionally startling imagery and enough profanity for a “Parental Advisory” sticker for explicit content.

While some listeners may label Wolf as sensationalistic for taking this approach to songwriting, the source of her artistic style is far more organic.

“I wish I was doing it on purpose — I really do. But it really is just my personality. It’s just who I am,” Wolf says. “I do know that some of what I’m saying could be considered controversial or, in the context of our society, it could be considered blunt or overt. But then, on the other hand, when I write songs, I don’t ever sit down and be like, ‘I’m going to write a song about this and it’s going to communicate this message.’ It’s more like a thought or an image will come to me, and I’ll just slowly write it over time. It’s a personal expression. It’s not a political statement, even though it becomes one, I guess.”

DELIBERATE PROGRESS

A native of Connecticut, Wolf grew up in a small town on the shoreline. At the age of 4, she heard someone play harp at a storytelling contest and soon started what she calls “the campaign of terror,” begging her parents to take lessons “every day for five years” until they caved and rented one for her. Unable to bring her harp to college in Philadelphia and wanting to

take a break, Wolf set the instrument aside.

After “bouncing around a few places,” she took a job on a Barnardsville farm in 2011, resumed her harp practice the following year and, in 2014, picked up a guitar and started writing songs.

Wolf plays both instruments on Singe, alongside such local talents as Laura Blackley (guitar/vocals), Jason Krekel (fiddle), Krista Shows (vocals), Mike Johnson (pedal steel), Valorie Miller (upright bass/ vocals) and Will Younts (drums). The most crucial collaborator, however, is producer-guitarist Kayla Zuskin, who Wolf says “steered the ship,” and to her is “the best lead guitar player in town.” Prior to recording in August 2019, the two sat down and made lists of all the players they knew, and while the ultimate lineup came down to “luck of the draw of who responded fastest,” Wolf was deliberate about whom she asked and sought primarily women.

“Living here, once you’re tapped into the music scene — which took me a few years of playing open mics and opening for people — the depth of talent here, there’s such a deep field,” Wolf says. “I did not feel like I was not going to find people who were good enough to play on it. It was more like, ‘Oh, God — am I going to be good enough for them to play with me?’

But it really did work out.”

The ensemble’s smooth yet still plenty raw sound straddles the line between country and folk and serves as an excellent vehicle for Wolf’s achingly honest lyrics and rich imagery that come across crisp and clear under Zuskin’s studio guidance.

The confident sound also belies Wolf’s intense emotions of feeling lost, confused, doubtful, scared and resistant that she experienced in the recording process, during which she doubled down on the notion that “just because something

SAGE ADVICE: Asheville-based singer/songwriter Lo Wolf is undeterred by listeners who may be put off by her honest lyrics. “My musical heroes who are local have repeated something to me, which I have found useful, which is, ‘Go where the love is,’” she says. “So, if someone doesn’t like it, that’s OK. I’ll just go to the next person who does.” Photo by Delaney Storm Brown requires effort and time isn’t a reason to stop.”

A BETTER TOMORROW

Wolf’s plans to share these songs live were “twisted around” when the COVID19 pandemic forced the cancellation of her April 20 record release show at The Mothlight. She quickly realized that “the people who are most affected by COVID are going to be people who already have no money or no support” and started thinking about what she could do as an artist to support the community and make a difference on a local level. With Singe already paid for thanks to her crowdfunding the recording process, and unemployment benefits covering her necessities, she decided to release the album and donate 90% of profits in perpetuity to Asheville Survival Program — which, according to its Facebook page, “builds mutual aid networks with oppressed communities, and

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promotes solidarity and sharing” — plus organizations that address police brutality and systemic racism.

“It really is just giving back what was already given to me,” Wolf says. “Hopefully I can give back some extra.”

In addition to helping enact change on the social justice front, Wolf — who “will not be playing out for a crowd of any size until there is no more threat of [her] getting other people sick” — seeks to improve working conditions for musicians.

She feels that because of the depth of local talent, there’s also a high capacity for abuse when it comes to venues censoring and not paying artists. With hardly any musician willing to speak up and say anything negative about a venue for fear of being blacklisted, the cycle continues.

One of Wolf’s long-term goals is to run her own nonprofit venue that doesn’t “rely on selling beer to make money” and doesn’t pay out-of-town acts disproportionally more than local artists, thereby creating a more sustainable local economy. Until then, she urges her colleagues take the time during the COVID-induced shutdown “to band together as local musicians to demand better.”

“What I’m hoping is that we somehow figure out a way to ask for more. Something I’ve heard a lot is, ‘Save live music.’ But live music doesn’t need to be saved. It’s always been here, it always will be here,“ she says. ”We don’t need venues. We don’t. Venues are wonderful and it’s a blessing to be able to play at them and it’s a blessing to be able to go see shows at them, but we certainly don’t need them in order to do our art. I would love to see musicians being valued here comparatively to how much value they bring." lowolfmusic.com

— Edwin Arnaudin X

Legos in the wild

‘Nature Connects’ exhibit opens at NC Arboretum Parents who think their kids have too many Legos haven’t been to Sean Kenney’s studio.

The Brooklyn-based artist’s Nature Connects exhibit contains over half a million Lego bricks and took approximately 4,700 hours to design and build.

It’s been traveling the world since 2012, visiting nearly 100 botanical gardens, arboretums, zoos and science centers across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Sixteen nature-inspired sculptures are currently on display through Nov. 1 at The North Carolina Arboretum — which has hosted the exhibit twice before, most recently in 2016 — and features 14 new works alongside the returning hummingbird and monarch butterfly.

Taking a break from designing additional Nature Connects sculptures and personal projects “that are pushing the boundaries of what [he] thought was possible with the Lego brick as an art medium,” Kenney spoke with Xpress about planning, creating and transporting the exhibit, plus his hopes for people who experience it during the COVID19 pandemic.

When and how did you get into building Lego sculptures?

I’ve been doing this professionally for over 15 years, but I’ve always loved to create. Even as a young child, drawing and designing were a big part of my life.

I was a total “Lego maniac,” and Lego toys were usually the only toys I ever asked for when my birthday would come around each year. They were something that were always there as a way to create and express myself. I kept building Lego models all through childhood and even into my teenage and adult years. My models slowly became more involved and elaborate as I got older, and in 2005 I started building Lego models professionally as my full-time career.

What was the inspiration for the Nature Connects exhibit?

Nature Connects was developed in conjunction with Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens in 2011 and has been on tour since early 2012. Their director contacted me with the idea of producing an outdoor display for their garden, but after lengthy discussion, we realized it would be better to have the display tour gardens all around the world.

Fundamentally, the show is about connections. Just as Lego pieces interconnect, everything in nature is interconnected in a delicate balance — insects and plants have important relationships; different species of animals have special

relationships with each other; animals have connections with their families just like we do. And, of course, people have a connection with nature, whether you’re trimming a bonsai tree, or planting a garden or anything else — you are a part of nature. It’s important to me that each individual sculpture attempt to illustrate the “connections” found in nature, whether a predator-prey relationship, mankind’s relationship with nature or even the parent-child relationships you see in the wild.

What was involved in the planning and creation of the Nature Connects sculptures?

Each sculpture can have a different process. Some sculptures are the results of my creative team brainstorming and sketching for weeks. Others are inspired by watching nature videos online. And sometimes ideas just “pop” into my head from nowhere. For example, the design of the hummingbird sculpture just “popped” in my head the minute someone said “hummingbird.” I immediately had this vision of something that you could actually walk under, suspended as if by magic. Creating a spindly little nose and paper-thin wings built out of chunky Lego pieces seemed like a wonderful challenge and, if done right, something that would look amazing. I spent about four weeks designing and planning this specific piece, researching images of hummingbirds in nature, choosing the perfect colors and designing the internal steel reinforcements, then about five-plus weeks building it.

Depending on the size of the sculpture, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months. Some of our larger and more detailed sculptures can take nearly a year to design and build. I always want to spend a lot of time making sure it’s perfect.

Where and when were they constructed, and who helped you?

All the sculptures were built in my private studio in Brooklyn between 20112020. I have a whole team of artists and helpers that are a big part of creating this show: building and designing models, welding armatures, etc., as well as people that handle the show logistics and installations.

Did you buy the bricks directly from Lego or somewhere else?

I have to purchase my Lego pieces. The Lego Group does not sponsor or endorse me or my work. I did, however, have the privilege of being the first person in the world to whom they sold pieces in bulk.

BRICK BY BRICK: Brooklyn-based artist Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects Lego exhibit is on display at The North Carolina Arboretum through Nov. 1. Photos by Edwin Arnaudin Which sculptures were particularly challenging to conceive and complete?

One of the most challenging sculptures I’ve ever built is a giant, 7-foot-wide sculpture of a peacock. Not only is the sculpture incredibly large and gravity-defying, but I took the trouble to model and construct the details of every feather, down to the textures of the quills. All of that, combined with the multitude of colors, makes it one of the most visually complex sculptures I’ve ever created.

What’s involved in transporting the sculptures to Asheville?

Installing the show is quite a huge feat. We have three installers and a show director that work together with the local garden’s facilities staff to first determine where each sculptures will be sited and how to best landscape them. Then when the show arrives — it fills an entire 55-foot long tractor-trailer! — the installers use forklifts and Bobcats and pallet jacks to unload the truck and move the sculptures around. Some of the largest sculptures, when crated, weigh over 500 pounds!

Is there glue or anything else holding the sculptures together — or simply the Legos themselves?

All of the sculptures are steel-reinforced, fully glued and then coated with a special UV-protectant lacquer to protect the plastic from the rays of the sun.

They’re also bolted down to the ground to protect against weather and vandalism.

With the exhibit being one of the first major social opportunities for local residents since the COVID-19 outbreak, do you feel the sculptures offer a distinct emotional experience or other potentials for personal growth and

communal connection that it’s never quite offered before?

COVID-19 has been a hard time for all of us. One of the things that the lockdowns have shown us is that the arts are a critical part of our social well-being.

Performance art moved online, Broadway singers united over Zoom video, theatrical movie releases went straight to streaming video services, children’s book authors doodled with kids over lunch, celebrities and political figures hosted read-a-longs, and more. It’s a wonderful demonstration of the fact that when we have nothing else, we always have the arts. And beyond that — we crave the arts. I’m proud that my sculptures are able to be on display for people to enjoy during this time.

Learn more at ncarboretum.org

— Edwin Arnaudin X

Thank You FOR VOTING! BEST OF WNC Results coming later this summer!

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MOVIE REVIEWS THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS

Hosted by the Asheville Movie Guys EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com HHHHH

BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com Kevin Evans

= MAX RATING

Irresistible HHHS

DIRECTOR: Jon Stewart PLAYERS: Steve Carell, Chris Cooper, Mackenzie Davis, Rose Byrne COMEDY RATED R

John Lewis: Good Trouble HHHH DIRECTOR: Dawn Porter PLAYERS: John Lewis, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elijah Cummings DOCUMENTARY RATED PG In the documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble, the eponymous civil rights leader and legislator is mostly depicted in the light of saintly knight or steward.

I suppose if one were to critique such a depiction in and of itself, a “dirt devil” would seek a little more dust in the creases and upon the wings — but I find director Dawn Porter’s portrayal to be refreshingly delightful even during some of the film’s tense and difficult moments.

The execution of this hagiographic documentary seems to deliberately, directly and subconsciously suggest a brighter/larger message of moral fortitude.

Via a newspaper-clipping, era-hopping style, scenes throughout Lewis’ 80 years merge to lend even more power and validity to society’s call for change and progress — though viewers may feel a little lost in time due to the juxtapositions throughout different decades as Porter builds her overall emotional flow of joy, sorrow and fear.

In typical documentary fashion, we’re exposed to everything from still frames, 28

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wavy B&W video, technicolor and modern-day, crystal-clear HD footage.

In effect, viewers feel as if they’ve actually traveled a fair distance — not only because we move through a significant chunk of 20th- and 21st-century history, but because Lewis himself travels, constantly coming or going, meeting and speaking. And that’s merely in his present-day adventures as a politician, years after traveling from Selma, Ala., to the march on Washington to the lunch counter sit-ins, as well as many more perilous demonstrations.

Although Good Trouble doesn’t omit tragedy and heartache, it most certainly does not deprive the audience of love and optimism. At times, some of the political aspects may drag on for anyone who may not be the biggest fan of Washington politics and procedures in general, but this fundamental aspect that’s all but necessary in a bio-doc about John Lewis by no means detracts from its overall uplifting nature.

As such, Porter has gently and sternly presented a humble, brilliant and steadfast man of peace who always seems to be shamelessly in the act of wearing his heart on his sleeve.

REVIEWED BY KEVIN EVANS K.A.E.0082@GMAIL.COM

A brilliant payoff can’t quite make up for an uneven buildup in Jon Stewart’s Irresistible.

Essentially a feature-length extension of his “The Daily Show” schtick, the writer/director’s first film since his 2014 thriller Rosewater is packed with biting political humor and witty commentary on the Washington elite.

The conduit for this quasi-satirical attack is Gary Zimmer (Steve Carell), a Democratic strategist still reeling from the 2016 presidential election, who thinks he’s found his ticket to redemption after a video of Col. Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper) championing core American values at a Deerlaken, Wis., community meeting goes viral.

In town to recruit Jack to run for mayor, Gary’s condescending attempts to fit in elicit decent chuckles at the expense of his cluelessness, but his faux sincerity doesn’t escape Deerlaken’s nevertheless welcoming residents.

Gary’s efforts soon attract the attention of his caustic rival — and sometimes lover — Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne), who swoops in to back the conservative incumbent, Mayor Braun (Brent Sexton, Flightplan), turning this tiny election in the middle of nowhere into a fairly amusing arms race.

While the jokes at campaign headquarters land somewhat inconsistently, they’re far more successful than Stewart’s attempts at character development, particularly anything involving Jack’s daughter Diane (Mackenzie Davis). Though Stewart never lingers on the human interest side long enough to sink the film, the more outlandish and flat-out fantastic the political gag — especially Gary and Faith telling reporters in their respective spin rooms that they’re lying to them — the better.

On the road to election day, Stewart has fun setting up Republicans as ridiculous straw-man villains but is just as hard on the Democrats and the ends they go to win, suggesting a thoroughly broken political system.

While that revelation may not exactly be shocking, its generally funny packaging in Irresistible has the potential

Ian Casselberry

to start conversations that otherwise might go unspoken, especially during this current time of great unrest.

Available to rent via Amazon Video, Apple and other streaming services REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

My Spy HHHS DIRECTOR: Peter Segal PLAYERS: Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman, Kristen Schaal, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Ken Jeong ACTION/COMEDY RATED PG-13 With current events feeling so grave, 100 minutes of laughs are surely welcome. Fortunately, My Spy is up to providing some much-needed escape.

Director Peter Segal has experience making spy thriller comedies with 2008’s Get Smart. So he, along with screenwriters Erich and Jon Hoeber (The Meg), know how to spoof the genre and check off all of the boxes for fans of action and espionage.

Location title graphics typed out on screen? Yep. International terrorist scheme? Definitely. Codes for a nuclear weapon to execute that plan? Of course.

Sprinkle in car chases, double-crosses and just the right amount of explosive action to get it all right.

But this is ultimately a heartwarming comedy, and My Spy wouldn’t be nearly as fun without Dave Bautista carrying the entire venture on his formidably muscled shoulders. Any doubters who dismissed Bautista as another pro wrestler attempting to follow Dwayne Johnson’s path to movie stardom were likely silenced by the comic timing he showed in the Guardians of the Galaxy films.

Bautista has continued to use that talent for deadpan humor in comedies like Stuber, and with My Spy, he’s taking the step to family-friendly action star, which elevated the careers of Johnson, Vin Diesel and John Cena. (Bautista is also a producer here, showing he knows this is the right move, balanced with his roles in upcoming spectacles such as Dune, Army of the Dead and a third Guardians movie.)

Co-star Chloe Coleman (HBO’s “Big Little Lies”) gives a suitably cute performance as the 9-year-old kid who

Bautista’s CIA operative is assigned to watch. And it’s believable that her mother (Parisa Fitz-Henley, Fantasy Island) is intrigued by Bautista’s sensitive lunkhead. Kristin Schaal (HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords”) has a thankless role as his tech sidekick, but thankfully gets a breakout moment.

My Spy is utterly predictable, but resist the urge to turn away. This movie completes its mission thanks to two very appealing stars.

Available to stream via Amazon Prime Video REVIEWED BY IAN CASSELBERRY IANCASS@GMAIL.COM

AVAILABLE VIA FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM (FA) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM (GM) 2040 (NR) HHHS(GM) Alice (NR) HHH (FA) All I Can Say (NR) HHHHS (GM) The Audition (NR) HHHH (GM) Beanpole (R) HHHS(FA) Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (NR) HHHS (FA) The Booksellers (NR) HHHS(FA) Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things (NR) HHHS(GM) Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH (FA) Fourteen (NR) HHHH (FA) The Hottest August (NR) H (FA) House of Hummingbird (NR) HHHH (FA) Joan of Arc (NR) HHHS(GM) John Lewis: Good Trouble (PG) HHHH (Pick of the Week) (FA, GM) The Last Tree (NR) HHHH (GM) Lucky Grandma (NR) HHHH (FA) Military Wives (PG-13) HHH (FA) Miss Juneteenth (NR) HHH (GM) My Darling Vivian (NR) A documentary about Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash’s first wife and the mother of his four daughters. (GM) Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (R) HHHH (FA) Pahokee (NR) HHHHS(FA) The Painter and the Thief (NR) HHHH (FA) Papicha (NR) HHH (FA) Proud (NR) HHH (FA) Shirley (R) HHHHS (FA) Slay the Dragon (PG-13) HHHH (FA) Someone, Somewhere (NR) HHHH (FA) Sometimes Always Never (PG-13) HHHH (GM) Sorry We Missed You (NR) HHHHS(FA) Spaceship Earth (NR) HHHS (FA) The Surrogate (NR) HHHHS (FA) The Times of Bill Cunningham (NR) HHHHS (FA) Vitalina Varela (NR) HHHHS (FA) The Whistlers (NR) HHHH (FA) The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (NR) HHHHH (FA)

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries author Marge Piercy writes, “The people I love the best, jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows.”

The Aries people I love best will do just that in the coming days. Now is not the right time to wait around passively, lazily hoping that something better will come along. Nor is it prudent to procrastinate or postpone decisions while shopping around for more options or collecting more research. Dive, Aries, dive!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip by Bill Watterson. It features a boy named Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes. In the first panel of one story, Calvin is seated at a school desk looking perplexed as he studies a question on a test, which reads “Explain [Isaac] Newton’s First Law of Motion in your own words.” In the second panel, Calvin has a broad smile, suddenly imbued with inspiration. In the third panel, he writes his response to the test question: “Yakka foob mog. Grug pubbawup zink wattoom gazork. Chumble spuzz.”

The fourth panel shows him triumphant and relaxed, proclaiming, “I love loopholes.” I propose that you use this scenario as your victorious metaphor in the coming weeks, Taurus. Look for loopholes! And use them to overcome obstacles and solve riddles.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves,” wrote philosopher and activist Simone Weil. I’m hoping that this horoscope of mine can help you avoid that mistake. In the coming weeks and months, you will have a stronger-than-usual need to be seen for who you really are — to have your essential nature be appreciated and understood by people you care about. And the best way to make sure that happens is to work hard right now on seeing, appreciating and understanding yourself.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Some readers wish I would write more like Cormac McCarthy or Albert Camus or Raymond Chandler: with spare simplicity. They accuse me of being too lush and exuberant in my prose. They want me to use shorter sentences and fewer adjectives. To them I say: It ain’t going to happen. I have feelings similar to those of best-selling Cancerian author Oliver Sacks, who the New York Times called, “one of the great clinical writers of the 20th century.” Sacks once said, “I never use one adjective if six seem to me better and, in their cumulative effect, more incisive. I am haunted by the density of reality and try to capture this with ’thick description.’” I bring these thoughts to your attention, my fellow Cancerian, because I think it’s important for you to be your lavish, sumptuous, complex self in the coming weeks. Don’t oversimplify yourself or dumb yourself down, either intellectually or emotionally.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Travel writer Paul Theroux has journeyed long distances by train: once from Britain to Japan and back again, and then from Massachusetts to Argentina. He also rode trains during part of his expedition from Cairo to Cape Town. Here’s one of his conclusions: “It is almost axiomatic that the worst trains take you through magical places.” I’d like to offer a milder version of that counsel as your metaphor for the coming weeks: The funky, bumpy, rickety influences will bring you the best magic.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Philosopher Miguel de Unamuno declared, “Everything that exalts and expands consciousness is good, while that which depresses and diminishes it is evil.” This idea will be intensely true for and applicable to you in the coming weeks, Virgo. It will be your sacred duty — both to yourself and to those you care about — to enlarge your understandings of how the world works and to push your awareness to become more inclusive and empathetic. What’s your vision of paradise-onearth? Now is a good time to have fun imagining it.

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): What do you want to be when you grow up, Libra? What’s that you say? You firmly believe you are already all grown up? I hope not! In my vision of your destiny, you will always keep evolving and transforming; you will ceaselessly transcend your existing successes and push on to accomplish further breakthroughs and victories. Now would be an excellent time to rededicate yourself to this noble aspiration.

I invite you to dream and scheme about three specific wonders and marvels you would like to experience during the next five years.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has advice that would serve you well in the coming weeks. She says, “Keep a little space in your heart for the improbable. You won’t regret it.” In accordance with your astrological potentials, I’m inclined to amend her statement as follows: “Keep a sizable space in your heart for the improbable.

You’ll be rewarded with catalytic revelations and intriguing opportunities.” To attract blessings in abundance, Scorpio, be willing to set aside some of your usual skepticism and urge for control.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Author Malidoma Somé lives in the U.S. now, but was born in the West African country of Burkina Faso. He writes, “In the culture of my people, the Dagara, we have no word for the supernatural. The closest we come to this concept is Yielbongura, ’the thing that knowledge can’t eat.’ This word suggests that the life and power of certain things depend upon their resistance to the categorizing knowledge that human beings apply to everything.” I bring Somé’s thoughts to your attention, Sagittarius, because I suspect that in the coming weeks, you will encounter more than the usual number of experiences that knowledge can’t eat. They might at times be a bit spooky or confounding, but will mostly be interesting and fun. I’m guessing that if you embrace them, they will liberate you from overly literal and materialistic ideas about how the world works. And that will be good for your soul.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Pioneer Capricorn scientist Isaac Newton is often hailed as one of history’s greatest geniuses. I agree that his intellectual capacities were sublime. But his emotional intelligence was sparse and feeble.

During the time he taught at Cambridge University, his talks were so affectless and boring that many of his students skipped most of his classes. I’ll encourage you to make Newton your anti-role model for the next eight weeks. This time will be favorable for you to increase your mastery of three kinds of intelligence beyond the intellectual kind: feeling, intuition and collaboration.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When future writer (and Aquarius) Charles Dickens was 12 years old, his parents and siblings got incarcerated in a debtors’ prison. To stay alive and help his family, he took a job working 12 hours a day, six days a week, pasting labels on pots of boot polish in a rotting, rat-infested warehouse. Hard times! Yet the experiences he had there later provided him with rich material for the novels that ultimately made him wealthy and beloved. In predicting that you, too, will have future success at capitalizing on difficulty, I don’t mean to imply you’ve endured or will endure anything as harsh as Dickens’ ordeal. I’m just hoping to help you appreciate the motivating power of your challenging experiences.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Maybe you feel that the ongoing pandemic has inhibited your ability to explore and deepen intimacy to the degree that would like to. But even if that’s the case, the coming weeks will provide openings that could soften and remedy your predicament. So be extra receptive and alert to the clues that life reveals to you. And call on your imagination to look for previously unguessed and unexpected ways to reinvent togetherness and tenderness. Let’s call the next three weeks your Season of Renewing Rapport.

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4 Pass on, as knowledge 10 Unruly hair 13 Nondairy spread 15 Yellow Teletubby

16 Power group 17 “Your fins are nice” and “You’re a graceful swimmer”?

edited by Will Shortz 20 “___ luck!”

21 It can get you out of a place it rhymes with 22 Butcher’s stock 23 Done some lassoing?

26 Theater opening 29 ___ Mahal 30 Witty remark 31 Big-bottomed fruit 35 Sporty Mazda 39 One might end with .com 40 Relinquished … or a hint to 17-, 23-, 51- and 62-Across 42 Really bother 43 “Wouldja look at that!”

45 Early 2000s sitcom set near Houston 46 “OK, have it your way!”

47 Suffix with pay 49 Bikini blasts, informally 51 Is unable to pronounce the name of a deodorant brand?

56 San ___, Calif.

57 Convince with smooth talk

No. 0527 58 Very big 62 Actress Sandra emoting?

65 ___ Paulo, Brazil 66 Standard things 67 Lady in Arthurian romance 68 Sister channel of HBO and Cinemax 69 Department store department 70 Where you might find a slop bucket

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1 “That’s hilarious!,” in a text 2 A little of this, a little of that 3 Avidity 4 U.N. workers’ grp.

5 Title dance in a 1999 #3 hit 6 Tree of the custard apple family 7 Gambler’s aggressive bet 8 Berate 9 Bit of Highlands headgear 10 Actor Sal of “Rebel Without a Cause”

puzzle by Chris A. Mcglothlin 11 Ready as needed 12 “Hey … over here!”

14 “Come on now — you flatter me too much!”

18 Lyricist Sammy 19 Smiling Face With Heart-Eyes, e.g.

24 Seized vehicle, for short 25 Like a horse that can no longer be ridden 26 Here, in Honduras 27 What a bobby pin might help make 28 Much change may come from this 32 Slip up 33 Word with old, new or school 34 Stick up 36 Commercial name that becomes another commercial name if you move its first letter to the end 37 Rental for an outdoor reception 38 Fires 40 Sensed

41 When repeated, Mork’s farewell 44 Slip-up 46 Weak 48 St. Francis of ___ 50 Home run pace 51 “Give My Regards to Broadway” composer 52 Natty neckwear 53 Year, in old Rome

54 Hatha and Bikram, for two 55 Bulging with muscles, in modern lingo 56 Che’s “Weekend Update” co-host on “S.N.L.” 59 Many millennia 60 Something not worn on casual Friday 61 Small whirlpool 63 “Dee-lish!”

64 ___ Constitution

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

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