Mountain Xpress 10.28.20

OUR 27TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 27 NO. 13 OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

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NEWS FEATURE

12 COVID CONVERSATIONS Family prepares for unconventional Halloween; clairvoyant discusses remote psychic readings

18 WINGING IT WNC’s independent poultry farmers persevere through processing challenges

CRISIS MEDICINE With approved medical treatments for COVID-19 few and far between, some local practitioners say it’s time to think more broadly about alternative therapies that may help. Check out other articles in our special Resilience issue, identified by icons throughout.

COVER PHOTO Getty Images COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick 3 LETTERS 3 CARTOON: MOLTON 5 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 6 NEWS 12 COVID CONVERSATIONS 14 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 16 WELLNESS 18 GREEN SCENE

20 AIR-POWERED Asheville Independent Restaurant Association fights to help members stay aloft

20 FOOD 22 FOOD ROUNDUP 24 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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9 BOTH SIDES NOW WNC history as seen through Native American eyes

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6 SAFE AND SOUND WNC officials, volunteers work toward fair election

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24 ‘QUEER AND TROUBLED TIMES’ Author Vicki Lane takes multiple views of the Shelton Laurel Massacre

28 MOVIES 30 CLASSIFIEDS 31 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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STAFF PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson MANAGING EDITOR: Virginia Daffron OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose ASSISTANT EDITOR: Daniel Walton STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Laura Hackett, Molly Horak, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Madeline Forwerck MOVIE SECTION HOSTS: Edwin Arnaudin, Bruce Steele CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Leslie Boyd, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Alli Marshall, Gina Smith, Kay West ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Olivia Urban MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR: Laura Hackett MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, David Furr, Tiffany Wagner OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Bowman Kelley BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen, Lauren Andrews DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Gary Alston, Russell Badger, Clyde Hipps, Joan Jordan, Angelo Sant Maria, Desiree Davis, Charlotte Rosen, Carl & Debbie Schweiger, David Weiss

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com. law enforcement, at which point Edwards will no longer back the blue because he’s a “fiscal conservative.” Edwards and his buddies Moffitt and Cawthorn are perverse, almost cartoonish, reactionaries, tying North Carolina’s people to railroad tracks while shouting, “You must pay the rent!” Yet we cannot and should not pay the unaffordable cost any longer for their extremist pursuit of power in Raleigh and Washington.

— Paul Weichselbaum Hendersonville Editor’s note: The writer reports that he is volunteering with get-out-the-vote efforts for Brian Caskey in the 48th Senate District race and other Democrats. Xpress contacted Edwards for a response to the writer’s points, but he declined to provide one.

Alumni who don’t support Cawthorn CARTO ON BY R A ND Y MOL T O N

Elect honest, experienced, expert leaders in Buncombe County This election is about “progress,” not party.

Is less law and order “progress”? Is the antifa intimidation in neighborhoods “progress”? How about the very serious injury to a news reporter downtown in the progressives’ “peaceful protest”?

Are fewer and worse health care choices, thanks to Asheville leadership’s Mission monster, “progress”? Is having needle disposal parks “progress”?

Is censorship of free speech “progress”? Know anyone kicked off online forums for expressing opinions? I do.

Is indoctrination of children with socialist dogma “progress”? They are required to watch CNN for current events.

Is rampant development, regardless of traffic problems, “progress”? Seen South Asheville lately?

Local “Progressives” define this as “progress.” Do you?

Republican County commissioners (a minority since the 1970s?) tried for years to uncover crooked County Manager Wanda Greene and her cronies. She postponed answers, sustained by the current county chair. He, his higher taxes and personal solar business deals should go.

Honest, experienced and expert leaders can soon run the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners when we elect Robert Pressley — candidate for chair; Glenda Weinert — District 1; Anthony Penland — District 2; Joe Belcher — District 3!

Flip your ballot; flip Buncombe. Locals are listed on the back of your ballot.

Choose your future.

— Janet Jones Riceville

It’s time to defund Edwards [Regarding Chuck Edwards, 48th District, N.C. Senate]: It’s time to defund Chuck Edwards, remove his whining arrogance from Raleigh and send him back to Hendersonville to try to make an honest living. Edwards has always been about posturing, never about solutions to the issues facing North Carolina and its people. His current signature bleat is to defund Asheville government because it is trying to make policing more accountable, transparent and effective.

Edwards’ rigid ideology yearns to unleash unaccountable corporations to be “free” to bring back the 19th century dominion of America by robber barons.

Back when people “knew their places” and when the American labor movement faced Edwards’ preferred tools of billy clubs and bullets, alongside falsifying anti-labor consultants. He imagines that police doing their jobs means acting as an occupying force, crushing all opposition, such as during the eras of Jim Crow and widespread lynchings. People of color are invisible to Edwards. The only people he can see are his big donors and people who look like and think like him.

He “backs the blue,” but his first allegiance is to the Washington Republicans who now starve state and local governments. Layoffs lay waste to our schools, parks, public health — and soon enough

Madison Cawthorn’s campaign recently posted to its Facebook page that he’d been endorsed by a “significant number” of alumni and students of Patrick Henry College, a conservative Christian school in Virginia with deep ties in the home schooling community. The campaign also name-dropped Michael Farris, the founder of PHC and the Home School Legal Defense Association. When pressed by alumni, the campaign released the names of six signatories, two of whom are working on his campaign.

Contrast this with the 150 students, former students and alumni of PHC who have signed an open letter denouncing Madison Cawthorn for his “gross misconduct towards our female peers, public misrepresentation of his past, disorderly conduct that was against the school’s student honor code, and self-admitted academic failings,” including that he “established a reputation of predatory behavior.” Further, an alumnus and personal friend of Farris’ confirmed via text that Farris did not and does not endorse Cawthorn. Finally, members of the alumni association confirmed that the association did not and does not endorse him.

PHC is not a liberal school. It has a strictly Christian statement of faith and honor code, draws the vast majority of its students from the home school community, has several alumni working in the White House and for the president’s reelection campaign, and Mark Meadows’s son graduated from it in 2014.

But it is a small community — enrollment is between 275 and 325 any given year.

One hundred fifty signatories are nearly 10% of everyone who has attended over the last 20 years, and I know about a quarter of them personally. Further, it is a community that believes character mat-

ters in leadership, and they have roundly denounced Cawthorn’s.

Cawthorn’s campaign has since edited the post, but we have saved the edit history and screenshots of alumni comments deleted by the page. It seems that his “endorsement” by Patrick Henry College students is about as real as his plans to attend a Naval Academy that rejected him before his accident, as he states himself in a 2017 deposition. As a Patrick Henry College alumnus and Army veteran, I can tell you that this is not the character of a leader or of a representative. Consider your vote wisely, and feel free to contact myself (nelsoncountywayside@gmail.com) or Giovanna Lastra (giovannamarial351@gmail.com) for further information.

— Colin Cutler Greensboro Patrick Henry College, Literature, 2011 Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Cawthorn’s campaign for a response to the points in the letter but did not receive one by press time. An article by AVL Watchdog about the controversy, “Attack

by Madison Cawthorn’s Schoolmates Goes Viral” (avl.mx/8n3) contains a response from Cawthorn’s campaign spokesman, John Hart, who described the allegations as “unsubstantiated and anonymous accusations.”

Davis offers multiple contradictions Let me preface this by saying that I know many people will accuse me of “sour grapes,” having lost the Democratic primary. While that might be partially true, there are greater issues at hand — issues that ultimately led me to leave the party and become unaffiliated.

Among those issues is the fact that many Democrats, including some party leaders in the district, insisted that we agree not to do “negative campaigning.”

For this reason, I was urged not to bring out any of the following concerns about Moe Davis in the primary. ... Now, however, I am just a citizen and a voter who wants people to be informed about their choices in November. ...

Moe Davis has repeatedly told people to “look at his record.” Let’s do just that. I should note that I offered Mr. Davis several opportunities to clear up these issues with me in order to gain my support, and he refused to respond. ...

While I had every intention of supporting the Democratic nominee, I could not in good conscience endorse anyone who knowingly misleads the voters; as a veteran myself, this is especially disappointing coming from another veteran who claims integrity as a qualification.

He continues to mislead the voters regarding his military service, claiming

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OPINION

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

to have “resigned” from his position at Guantánamo. However, this is not the case. When one resigns in the military, it requires a letter of resignation stating the reason for resigning and any supporting documentation submitted to one’s commander. If the resignation is approved, an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions will be processed. This is not the same as “requesting reassignment.” If someone says they resigned but then retired a year later, they are simply not telling the truth.

In fact, in an interview with Columbia University in 2012 [avl.mx/8ma], he stated, “A lot of people think I retired from the military in 2008 because of Guantánamo,” but the collapse of the housing market was really the primary factor.

He also stated that his medal from Guantánamo was disapproved because he was told “your service was not honorable during the time you were chief prosecutor. … You put your personal interests ahead of the mission.”

After reassignment, he wrote an op-ed in 2008 claiming “unforgivable behavior” at the Guantánamo prison. Only eight months earlier, he wrote an op-ed praising the “professionalism of its staff and the humanity of its detention cen-

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ters.” Both articles can be found here: [avl.mx/8mb and avl.mx/8mc].

The contradictions do not end there.

During the primary, he claimed to have joined the Air Force as a tribute to [his] dad. However, in the interview with Columbia in 2012, he stated, “just on a whim, I applied to the Air Force. I can’t say it was a lifelong dream to be in the Air Force, but my brother had served in the Air Force, and I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do, so I thought, what the heck, I’ll apply.” In this same interview, he was challenged on his claim of resignation and was forced to admit he requested reassignment.

He also claimed that he moved to Asheville to retire and drink beer, and then the district changed, and [he] saw an opportunity. The truth is that he was stating on Twitter … before moving to North Carolina that he was coming here to beat Mark Meadows. ...

Set aside his clear lack of understanding of the issues facing Western North Carolina, his Trumplike inflammatory tweets and his statement that a House member has little if any impact on [the issue of whether we overturn] Roe vs.

Wade, it has never been more evident that we need representatives that we can trust. Sadly, upon reviewing his record, Moe Davis clearly does not meet that criterion.

— Steve Woodsmall Pisgah Forest Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Col. Moe Davis about Woodsmall’s points, and we received the following response: “I’m disappointed that Mountain Xpress is inserting itself into a pending election by publishing these allegations that are literally and legally false.

“Maj. Woodsmall has no direct knowledge of the circumstances surrounding my departure as chief prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay; his comments are mere conjecture, and it is inexplicable that this publication would amplify those uninformed opinions at this time.

Attached is a copy of my Oct. 4, 2007, memorandum to Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England. Note the subject line reads ‘Resignation as Chief Prosecutor for Military Commissions.’

Here is a link [avl.mx/8n2] to a New York Times story reporting my resignation at the time.

“Maj. Woodsmall writes that I was accused of putting my personal interests above the mission. That was never my view. I put the rule of law first. I’m proud of my stance against the use of evidence obtained through torture because it was the right thing to do. History has proven I was right to refuse an order that was immoral and illegal. I received the Legion of Merit from three-star Gen. Jack Rives in 2008, one of the highest honors in the military, after I left as chief prosecutor. ...

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“Maj. Woodsmall is deliberately misleading readers when he writes that, ‘he wrote an op-ed in 2008 claiming ‘unforgivable behavior’ at the Guantánamo prison’ that is inconsistent with the op-ed I wrote in 2007 about conditions at Guantánamo.

The 2008 op-ed was about waterboarding. To the best of my knowledge, no one was ever waterboarded at Guantánamo, but some were waterboarded while they were held in CIA black sites before they were transferred to Guantánamo. There is nothing inconsistent in the two op-eds.

“As to my decision to join the Air Force, I had applied for several jobs and was uncertain of my path after law school.

Yes, the application was made on a whim.

The decision to join the Air Force was not. It was made when my father passed away suddenly shortly after I passed the bar exam.

“The property I bought in Asheville in 2018 was (and still is) in the 10th Congressional District. I never had any plans to move to the 10th District and run for Congress in the 11th District. My decision to run came when state courts ruled that the lines had to be redrawn and Asheville and Buncombe County were reunited in the 11th District.

“In the 11 months that I have been campaigning, I have discussed health care in Western North Carolina with medical professionals. I’ve talked with broadband internet experts and reached out to superintendents, teachers and students to discuss education. I’ve met with sheriffs, firefighters, police and first responders; religious leaders; mayors and city council members and other local government leaders; millennials and seniors; environmentalists and business leaders.

I’ve held virtual town halls for months, answering hundreds of questions from voters. I’ve made sure I am prepared to represent the 11th District in Congress on Day One. “Maj. Woodsmall lost in the 2018 primary and proceeded to undermine Democratic nominee Phillip Price in the general election. He finished last in the 2020 primary and is now working to undermine my campaign. Sadly, his letter to the editor says a whole lot more about Maj. Woodsmall than it says about me.”

Wells cares deeply about our community In lots of ways, local elections impact us as much as or more than the big national ones. I encourage you to vote for Terri Wells for Buncombe County commissioner.

Terri is a farmer with deep roots in our community. She cares deeply about what is best for our community and has shown consistently that she can work with people from all political backgrounds and

stances, because she listens to and values diverse opinions.

I first met Terri about a decade ago in her role at the Asheville City Schools Foundation. She impressed me with her thoughtful nature, deep sense of responsibility toward our community and its members, and her ability to work with people from all backgrounds. She’s a careful listener; she is a kind person — and she follows up consistently with well-thought-out actions.

Buncombe County needs political leaders who listen to its community members.

In today’s deeply weird political climate, we need people who unify us, who listen to people and who act for the greatest good. Terri has my vote, and I hope she’ll have yours as well.

— Beth Russo Leicester

Take steps to reverse global warming with Drawdown EcoChallenge When you read about climate news, what feelings do you feel? Stress?

Anxiety? Anger? Sadness? Frustration?

Existential dread?! Or other negative emotions that don’t serve you or the world? You are not alone! Asheville High School environmental science students also feel these feelings. Let’s change that!

Few people know that the solutions to reverse global warming have been identified! Yes, you read that correctly! We know how to reverse global warming! And better yet, these solutions are increasing in use with every passing day!

Project Drawdown is a team of academics who have used peer-reviewed scientific research to identify, map, model and quantify the solutions to reverse global warming. Solutions are not just “pie in the sky” solutions, like installing solar panels on your house, but many are solutions you can practice daily, like reducing food waste and eating a more plant-rich diet.

Drawdown is the moment in the future when we are drawing down, or sequestering, more greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide and methane) out of the atmosphere than we are emitting into it. More information about the solutions can be found on the Project Drawdown website (drawdown.org).

The Asheville High School Environmental Science program invites you, Western North Carolina, to join us in a three-week engagement competition, the Drawdown EcoChallenge, which is rooted in learning about and practicing the solutions to reverse global warming.

The challenge runs from Wednesday, Nov. 18, through Wednesday, Dec. 9.

C AR T O O N B Y B R E N T B R O W N Let’s see for ourselves the positive impacts we make individually and collectively! Take leadership or partner up with a friend to create a team for your school, faith community, sports team, office, business or family. Then recruit friends, family and co-workers to participate. Go to [avl.mx/8n4] for more information and tutorial videos. Follow @AHSsolarCougars on Instagram to see our work. If you are a sixth to 12th grade teacher, email Sarah.Duffer@acsgmail.net to get free lessons to support your work.

Together, let’s learn about and practice the solutions to reverse global warming!

Through this solution-centered work, we can develop a new relationship to climate change. Instead of being victims to it, climate change can be an invitation for us to create a future rooted in sustainability and equity for all life on this wondrous planet we call home.

Forward together!

— Sarah Duffer Asheville High School Science Department Asheville

More greenways should accommodate needs of disabled people Good to see that the new provision of a greenway in and near the River Arts

District includes widening of walkways.

It is essential that the needs of people vulnerable in the context of greenways may be met this time around.

I’m speaking of people who are deaf or significantly hard of hearing.

I contacted Buncombe County two or three years ago, when many greenways or extensions of greenways were being proposed, to express concerns at the description of them I was seeing.

There was concern to get bikers and cars separated better. Yes, essential, but what about the need to separate walkers from cyclists, runners and others using greenways at speeds or with devices which can do damage when collisions occur? I was told it would be prohibitively expensive to separate pedestrians from others. Nothing they could do, they said. Sorry!

I walk a dog quite often on Reed Creek Greenway. Many people are very accommodating to the needs of others when these are obvious. But deafness and hearing loss are not obvious.

Cyclists come by and look at me as if to say, “Are you deaf? I was shouting out I would be passing on your left?” Well, actually, I am not deaf. I am moderately hard of hearing. And I did not hear you, was not aware of you till you were right behind me. And there are many whose hearing problem is far worse than mine. Many of those, especially those who indeed are deaf, would be

putting life and limb in danger to try walking on most greenways. So they don’t. How sad!

Sorry isn’t enough. The Americans with Disabilities Act is supposed to give disabled people access to community venues and events. This is not being honored in regard to greenways. I’ve wondered about a compromise where segments would be made accessible by separating pedestrians from cyclists.

So I’m excited to see that, in effect, this is being planned for that one segment in the RAD. Those with hearing problems, take note.

But cyclists and runners, please also take note. If someone doesn’t seem to be hearing you, they probably can’t.

The onus is on you, not them, to avoid the accident that could put one of you in the hospital with severe injury or worse.

And Buncombe County, take note.

Isn’t it less expensive to plan a solution from the beginning than to be forced to respond to the lawsuit someone may bring one day? The ADA is the law.

— Ann Karson Candler

Why run a cigarette ad?

I love the Mountain Xpress. I hadn’t had time to read a copy in months, so I was excited to open this latest edition.

Then totally shocked to see a full-page ad for cigarettes! I assumed that these were some kind of brand-new “safe” cigarettes but reading further — nope.

You at least had the large disclaimer of a few of the deadly health effects, so my question is why would the MX even consider running an ad for this?

Horrible and disappointing that you would support this kind of advertising just for a buck? Are you going to start advertising for McDonald’s and Popeyes next?

— Virginia Oman Asheville Editor’s response: We love our readers, too, and we’re sorry to disappoint you. But advertising still brings in well over 90% of our revenue. Virtually all newspapers are desperately short of funds, and while reader support has been a help, we’ve still had to lay off staff, cut back on issue size and operate on a dramatically scaled-back budget.

Meanwhile, tobacco ads are legal; as you mention, they contain disclaimers and warnings. Also, advertisements in Xpress do not indicate an endorsement of the product or service. We do prefer to support our operation with local ads, but the current times are a major challenge. We hope you’ll patronize the businesses you like and remember that advertising pays for the newsgathering and reporting you read in Mountain Xpress.

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NEWS

Safe and sound

WNC officials, volunteers work toward fair election

BY DANIEL WALTON dwalton@mountainx.com Of all the ways to defend democracy, poll monitoring is among the least glamorous. Those who sign up stand watch at community centers, churches and schools across the country, clipboards in hand, making sure that elections officials, candidates and outside groups alike follow the rules. It’s a role with long hours, no pay and, if everything goes as it should, little excitement.

But in 2020, more people are excited about the job than ever before. Over 2,000 North Carolina residents have volunteered as nonpartisan poll monitors through Democracy NC, including around 300 in Western North Carolina.

That’s nearly twice the 1,100 monitors the Morrisville-based nonprofit deployed in 2016, says Edward Peters, the group’s WNC regional managing organizer. Many, he adds, are signing up for the first time.

“This year feels a little different,” Peters says. “There seems to be a really heightened sense of what could happen, what might happen, and how to respond to that.”

Democracy NC volunteers aren’t the only ones who think so. Local governments, political parties and activists throughout WNC are all gearing up to protect an election challenged both by the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns over the integrity of the process.

As of Oct. 26, nearly 3.2 million votes had been cast across the state through mail-in and in-person early voting, according to the nonprofit Civitas Institute’s VoteTracker. Those watching the election say they haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary thus far —

WATCHFUL EYE: A volunteer with Democracy NC serves as an independent poll monitor outside a voting location. Photo courtesy of Democracy NC but they’re leaving as little as possible to chance.

Per North Carolina state law, independent poll monitors don’t have an official legal status and must stay outside the marked buffer zone (usually 50 feet) that surrounds each polling site.

Nevertheless, Peters says volunteers can play an important role in ensuring that no voter is unlawfully turned away.

For example, monitors can ensure that voters with disabilities have access to curbside voting, inform voters about their right to a provisional ballot if they go to the wrong precinct on Election Day, remind people that no voter ID is required and relay concerns about long

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lines or faulty equipment to the proper authorities. Democracy NC volunteers also promote the 888-OUR-VOTE voter information hotline, which received over 1,100 calls on the first day of early voting alone.

Peters notes that Democracy NC is deploying some volunteers to WNC locations that community members have flagged as potentially problematic. Recent protests over a Confederate monument in Sylva warranted poll monitors at Western Carolina University, while a history of challenges to Mars Hill University students means more watchers will go to Madison County.

In contrast, political parties have the right to watch elections from inside polling places. State law allows officially appointed observers to take notes and raise concerns with the chief judge

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of each site, although they may not speak with voters themselves.

Jeff Rose, chair of the Buncombe County Democratic Party, says “a higher level of enthusiasm” among party members has allowed him to appoint observers for nearly every early voting site; in previous years, only a few roving observers cycled among sites to check for issues. “We’re looking to make sure, with all the changes in election law over the past few years, that all voters are being asked the right questions and being given opportunities to vote,” he says.

And Jerry Green, Rose’s counterpart in the Buncombe County Republican Party, says the local GOP likewise has enough volunteers to cover the county.

“All we’re looking for inside is just to be sure the procedures are being followed,” he explains. “It’s been my experience, if you have Democrats and Republicans [watching], 99.9% of them want it to be honest and fair.”

Both party chairs note that their early voting observers are reporting few problems. “So far, it’s been no different than 2016 and 2018,” Rose says.

UP THE CHAIN

But beyond the official conduct of elections, says Peters, many Democracy NC volunteers are also worried about voter intimidation outside the polls.

The campaign of Republican President Donald Trump has used militaristic language in calling for an “army” of poll monitors, and the president himself directed the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group, to “stand back and stand by” during a Sept. 29 debate.

“If it’s something with an armed person or a group of armed people, we’re not asking our volunteers to intervene with them, because they could potentially escalate a volatile situation,” Peters notes. In such cases, poll watchers are being directed to contact law enforcement.

As noted in an Oct. 9 memo from the N.C. State Board of Elections, interfering with an election is a Class 2 misdemeanor under state law, while both state and federal law classify voter intimidation as a felony. The memo also states that “it is not appropriate or permissible for law enforcement to be stationed at a voting place,” given that some voters may regard that presence as intimidating in itself. Enforcement of voting law is thus complaint driven.

The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office is preparing to respond quickly should any issues arise at the polls, says Maj. Frank Stout. Officers are personally connecting with chief judges at each voting precinct to set up lines of communication; Stout notes that all deputies will be in plainclothes unless answering a call for service.

Aaron Sarver, spokesperson for the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, likewise says that no uniformed officers will be present at polling locations.

While he declines to provide further details about the BCSO’s planning, he emphasizes that “we will be ready to work with Election Services as needed.”

Higher on the law enforcement ladder, U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray of the Western District of North Carolina is encouraging residents to report concerns over intimidation or other voting rights violations to federal authorities. Contacts include Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards at 828-2714661, the local FBI field office at 704672-6100 and the federal Civil Rights Division at 800-253-3931 or civilrights. justice.gov.

CALM BEFORE THE STORM?

Local examples of voter intimidation this election season have been hard to find. Some politically motivated violence has taken place throughout WNC: A supporter of Republican House candidate Madison Cawthorn had his Jeep’s windshield broken by a thrown water jug during a “Republican ride” on Oct. 18, and the Henderson County Republican Party headquarters was vandalized on Oct. 9. Officials with both major parties say thousands of yard signs in support of various candidates have been stolen.

But little of that apparent aggression has carried over to the election itself. The only notable incident to

date in Buncombe County involved verbal intimidation of voters dropping off absentee ballots by two carloads of “anti-abortion activists” on Sept. 23. As of Oct. 23, county spokesperson Kassi Day said chief judges at Buncombe early voting sites had filed no incident reports.

Alex Lines, however, believes the worst is likely yet to come. As Asheville hub coordinator and North Carolina electoral organizer for the Sunrise Movement, a nonpartisan youth climate justice group, she’s been encouraging volunteers to gain “nonviolent direct action and deescalation skills” in preparation for election season. The statewide Sunrise organization hosted a training on those skills in Greensboro on Oct. 24.

Lines cites a report prepared by the bipartisan Transition Integrity Project, a planning exercise conducted in June by former government officials and other political experts, which projects significant civil unrest in any scenario but a clear win by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. As previously reported by Xpress (See “After the end,” Oct. 21), although North Carolina will likely be able to report the vast majority of its votes on election night, other states may be delayed in counting large numbers of absentee ballots and won’t have final results until later in November.

“We’re not planning for this because we’re excited about it. Most of us are very, very scared,” Lines says. “But we’re preparing for the worst, just so that we can keep each other safe and try to deescalate dangerous situations.”

Both Buncombe and Haywood officials say they’ve explicitly considered civil unrest as part of tabletop planning exercises for the election, a step beyond their previous planning efforts.

Buncombe’s scenario included “reports of violence breaking out in Weaverville and Black Mountain,” while Haywood’s involved crowds of supporters from both major parties gathering at multiple polling places on Election Day and “making threats along with some participants possibly armed.”

Neither county was willing to share details about how their response might be conducted. “It’s kind of like playing poker and showing your hand,” said Jeff Haynes, chief deputy of the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office.

Haynes instead urged residents across WNC to keep the peace as voting continues. “Be mindful of everyone and allow each and every person to enjoy their constitutional rights in a safe manner,” he said. “Be cognizant of that and be respectful.” X MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

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NEWS

Both sides now

WNC history as seen through Native eyes

BY THOMAS CALDER tcalder@mountainx.com Native American history is invisible to many and poorly understood by most, says David Moore, a professor of anthropology at Warren Wilson College.

But when you look at the challenges that tribes in the region faced for over 500 years, he maintains, “Resilient is the only way to describe them.”

November is National Native American Heritage Month. To celebrate, the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center will host a series of events, including a pair of webinars led

by Moore and fellow scholar Brooke Bauer, an assistant professor of history and Native American studies at the University of South Carolina Lancaster.

For too long, says Saro LynchThomason, the museum’s assistant director, “We’ve learned our history from the perspective of the settlers.”

Consequently, she continues, Native accounts have either been ignored or completely replaced by a “distorted settler/colonial mythology.”

In addition to the upcoming discussions, Lynch-Thomason hopes the museum’s latest exhibit will expand the community’s understanding of the region’s history. “Unearthing Our Forgotten Past: Fort San Juan” runs through April.

“Native culture is alive and ongoing and evolving,” she notes. “And I hope these presentations offer some perspective on how nonnative people can be an ally.”

WHOLLY IN CONTROL

Moore’s hourlong webinar, “Trade, Recruitment and Rebellion: Native Mediation of Spanish Colonization,” will consider three critical events tied to the Juan Pardo expeditions of the 1560s, with a focus on how early Cherokee, Sara, Wateree, Catawba and other Native tribes engaged with the Spanish conquistadors.

“These were people that, for millennia, had negotiated their existence in territories with other peoples,” Moore explains. “I think most Americans have this idea that Native Americans just sort of gave up.”

The first incident Moore plans to discuss is the establishment, in 1567, of Fort

San Juan in the Native town of Joara, situated near present-day Morganton.

Moore and a team of archaeologists spent decades searching for evidence of the site’s existence before locating it in 2013. (For more, see “Evidence of Pre-Colonial Spanish Soldiers Reshapes WNC History,” June 30, 2017, Xpress) “It’s the only major excavation in the region,” notes Moore.

Among the questions he’ll address is why the townspeople agreed to let the fort be built there in the first place. “It’s not about Native peoples just giving over their agency to new people,” he explains. “They are wholly in control.”

And that control was on full display when, in May 1568, the people of Joara burned down the fort, killing all but one of the Spanish soldiers stationed there. In addition to considering the factors that precipitated the conflagration, Moore will address the resistance Pardo’s reinforced expedition subsequently faced as it ventured westward.

The region’s Native peoples, stresses Moore, “were certainly not passive. They were constantly thinking and trying to understand the best way to respond.”

INFLUENTIAL WOMEN

Although Bauer’s talk will shift the focus to events several centuries later, “Crisis in Catawba Territory: Catawba Indian Women’s Interactions with Catawba and Non-Catawba Men, 1789-1828” will hit on similar themes of autonomy and self-determination.

A member of the Catawba Indian Nation, Bauer grew up in Rock Hill, S.C., and often heard tales of her tribe’s history.

“I remember my grandmother sitting in her front yard in the middle of the summer heat building pots,” she says. “And a number of the women in the tribe would come and visit with her, and they’d sit under this huge oak tree, and I’d hear snippets about Sally New River,” a tribal member of noble descent.

Bauer’s webinar will focus heavily on New River’s life and contributions as a way to explore the role Catawba women played in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

In 1796, the Catawba leaders deeded the tribe’s remaining 500 acres to New River. The decision, Bauer explains,

ONLINE CHATTER: November is National Native American Heritage Month. To celebrate, the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center is hosting two webinars exploring the region’s history from a Native American point of view. The presenters will be David Moore, left, and Brooke Bauer. Photos courtesy of Moore and Bauer reveals how the Catawbas used the American legal system to protect their territory from the encroachment of white settlers while remaining true to the tribe’s custom of placing women in charge of land management.

Along with planting and harvesting large gardens and orchards, Catawba women raised children, prepared ointments, built homes, learned self-defense and played a crucial role in creating and selling pottery.

“They weren’t just standing on the sidelines waiting for history to be enacted upon them,” stresses Bauer. “They jumped right into the middle of it.”

As an example, she cites the evolution of Catawba pottery. As more European settlers arrived in the area, Catawba women adapted certain designs to appeal to a broader audience. “They did this intentionally,” the historian explains, “because they needed a way to help provide for their families.”

In case you missed it On Sunday, Nov. 1, the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center will upload its Oct. 12 book club discussion of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s 2014 book, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, to the museum’s YouTube channel.

The event includes a presentation by teacher and artist DeLesslin “Roo” George-Warren of the Catawba Indian Nation. To learn more, visit http://avl.mx/8l1. X

WE’RE STILL HERE

Both speakers hope their upcoming presentations will help drive home the region’s complex history. The popular notion is that white settlers’ arrival in the Piedmont in the late 18th and early 19th centuries played out with relative ease.

“But it’s not so simple a story,” Moore contends. An entire history preceded the Europeans’ appearance there, marked by various political, social, economic and environmental obstacles. Together with the smallpox introduced by the Spaniards, those factors led to a sharp decline in the area’s Native population.

And despite the challenges that her ancestors faced, Bauer wants her Nov. 16 webinar to make one thing clear — when it comes to the Catawba Indian Nation, “We’re still here.” X

Upcoming webinars

David Moore’s presentation, “Trade, Recruitment and Rebellion: Native Mediation of Spanish Colonization,” is slated for Monday, Nov. 9. To register, visit http://avl.mx/8kz.

Brooke Bauer’s talk on Monday, Nov. 16, is titled “Crisis in Catawba Territory: Catawba Indian Women’s Interactions with Catawba and Non-Catawba Men, 1789-1828.” To register for that one, visit http://avl.mx/8l0.

Both events will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 for museum members, $10 for nonmembers, plus Eventbrite fee. X

MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

9

NEWS

A costly ticket

0 20 02 2 20

U.S. House race gets expensive

SHOW ME THE MONEY: Setting up as a newbie in Congress doesn’t come cheap.

Republican Madison Cawthorn, left, has raised more money than Democrat Moe Davis, but Davis had more left in the bank as of Sept. 30. Photos courtesy of the candidates

BY MARK BARRETT markbarrett@charter.net Republican congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn’s campaign has raised more than twice as much money as that of Democratic opponent Morris “Moe” Davis, but Davis entered the homestretch of the race for Western North Carolina’s 11th District U.S. House seat with the most money in the bank.

A short speech before the Republican National Convention, the attention generated by a June 23 runoff primary, an extensive and expensive fundraising effort and $361,000 Cawthorn loaned his campaign all contributed to the $3.2 million Cawthorn had raised as of Sept. 30.

Through the same date, according to reports the campaigns filed with the Federal Election Commission, Davis had raised $1.5 million but had $825,830 left to spend versus the $516,612 Cawthorn had on hand.

Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, says the numbers suggest the race in the Republican-leaning 11th is closer than originally expected, or at least is perceived that way.

“People don’t give money to surefire losers and they don’t give much 10

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

MOUNTAINX.COM

to surefire winners, particularly ones who wouldn’t have much power in the chamber,” he says.

Fundraising by the major party nominees in the 11th hasn’t reached this year’s heights since 2006, when Democrat Heath Shuler and Republican Charles Taylor pulled in a total of $6.2 million. After state legislators redrew the district in 2011 to put much of Democratic stronghold Buncombe County in the 10th District, Republican Mark Meadows regularly won the 11th by wide margins and had little need to raise large sums while Democratic challengers typically struggled to attract donations.

Court-ordered changes to the district last year put all of Buncombe back in the 11th, but the district still favors the GOP. Areas now in the 11th gave President Donald Trump 57% of the vote in 2016, according to figures Cooper compiled.

Cooper says the $1.5 million Davis had brought in so far is “definitely” enough for him to run a competitive campaign.

The costs of Cawthorn’s runoff campaign and significant fundraising expenses explain some of the difference in the amount of cash on hand each candidate reported. Cawthorn and Davis both ran in party primaries held March 3, but the Democratic primary was a sleepy affair that Davis won easily, while

MO U N TA I N X PR E S S PR E S E N T S the GOP primary was hotly contested and wasn’t settled until the June runoff.

And Cawthorn spent heavily to bring money in. Most of the roughly $740,000 the campaign reported in direct expenditures on fundraising in the third quarter of this year alone went for fundraising commissions to eight different companies and one individual. Davis reported spending $43,358 on fundraising consultants and services during that period, none of which was identified as commissions.

“I don’t think we are at that much of a disadvantage [financially],” Davis campaign manager Graeme McGufficke says. “Possibly we were more cost effective” in raising money.

Cawthorn has received donations from almost every state, while Davis may have pulled in a larger share of his funds from donors who live in North Carolina.

Campaigns are not required to report the identity of donors who give a total of less than $200, so it is impossible to identify the geographic origins or timing of all donations using campaigns’ public filings. However, a Mountain Xpress analysis did find more than $545,000 that Davis got from individual North Carolina donors versus the roughly $384,000 in identifiable donations Cawthorn got from individuals within the state. Actual figures are likely much higher.

Donations to Cawthorn from each of three other states — California, Florida and Texas — exceeded $95,000. Davis also drew money from around the country, but totals were smaller. At about $49,000, New York donors gave the most to Davis of any state other than North Carolina.

Cawthorn’s national fundraising efforts benefited from media attention following his overwhelming runoff win over a Trump-endorsed candidate, the 25-year-old’s remarks to the GOP convention and the backing of

Club for Growth, a major conservative political action committee. The club, which has a strongly right-wing anti-tax and anti-regulation agenda that sometimes leads it to oppose mainstream Republicans it deems insufficiently conservative, endorsed Cawthorn and has been a conduit for some donations to him.

Using braces and a walker to stand from his wheelchair, Cawthorn urged viewers of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 26 to “be a radical for freedom, be a radical for liberty and be a radical for the republic for which I stand.”

Cawthorn’s campaign raised at least $30,146 that day, more than $74,000 the next and a total of more than $199,000 the week after his remarks.

“That did create a national stage for Madison Cawthorn, and the fundraising followed,” Cooper says. He says Davis having more money on hand as of Sept.

30 may not matter much as Cawthorn has shown he can keep raising funds.

Not surprisingly, both campaigns said the financial status of the race indicates their candidate is in a good position.

“At a time when Republicans are facing headwinds nationally, Madison Cawthorn’s ability to double his opponent’s fundraising totals shows that youthful, optimistic conservatism has a bright future,” Cawthorn spokesman John Hart says. “Voters are embracing Madison’s positive and patriotic message that celebrates freedom and opportunity, and rejecting Moe Davis’ violent and vitriolic partisanship.”

McGufficke says he always expected Cawthorn to raise more than Davis, and the large number of smaller donors to Davis within the district bodes well for his prospects: “We’re very, very happy with how much money we’ve raised to date. It’s in line with where we thought we needed to be to be competitive.” X

FALL 2020 NONPROFIT ISSUE

11.11.20

For more information, contact advertise@ mountainx.com

ELECTION INFORMATION YOU NEED VOTE411.org - the League of Women Voters' award-winning, one-stop-shop for nonpartisan election information.

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Our Home...

Buncombe County NC is my life long home.

As a public servant for 30 years I have taken risks for others and dedicated my life to the safety of our community.

As Commissioner, I will continue the same level of dedication to your quality of life.

Anthony Penland Focused on Our Future www.anthonyfordistrict2.org MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

11

COVID CONVERSATIONS

FEA T U RE S

Trick-or-treat

Channels of communication

North Asheville family prepares for unconventional Halloween

Local clairvoyant discusses remote psychic readings

BOO! The Duncan family poses with some of their latest Halloween decor. Featured, from left, are Corbin, Taryn, Lily and Gavin Duncan. Photo by Thomas Calder Taryn Duncan got the boot this Halloween. Up to now, she and her husband, Brian, have provided both the creative vision and the muscle for decorating the family’s North Asheville lawn. But amid the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, the couple’s 16-year-old son, Corbin, stepped in to ensure the Duncan decor would offer the neighborhood something fun to freak out about.

“When I started to put things up, my son told me it looked like a window display at a department store,” Taryn says with a laugh. “I was apparently a little too symmetrical and vanilla. He wanted to take it up a notch.”

Along with adding more skeletons, Corbin suspended giant spiders from trees to add to the yard’s overall spookiness.

Because of the pandemic, Taryn says the family — which also includes son Gavin, 13, and daughter Lily, 10 — is still figuring out their Halloween

plans. “From a safety standpoint, I think some of the older residents in the neighborhood are understandably pulling back,” she says. “We’re hoping we might have something worked out so we can still have kids stop by.”

In normal times, she continues, their home’s proximity to Kimberly Avenue means they see a goodly crowd of diminutive goblins, ghosts and superheroes. And despite COVID-19, Taryn anticipates a similar turnout this year.

One strategy the Duncans may deploy is to set up a pair of tables with prearranged candy bags evenly spread out to avoid close contact with and among trick-or-treaters.

Whether or not the usual costumed horde will show up remains to be seen.

At the very least, the Duncans’ lawn — courtesy of Corbin — will offer an extra-eerie spectacle during this unconventional Halloween.

— Thomas Calder X

Despite social distancing, Kelly Palmatier says she can still talk to dead people. In March, the psychic shifted her business model from in-person to remote sessions, using platforms like Zoom, FaceTime and Skype.

“The spirit transcends space and time in the afterlife to reach us,” she explains.

“They certainly don’t have any problems with a phone line.”

Over the last six months, however, conveying this idea to her clients hasn’t always been easy. “Not everybody understands that you can tap into energy from anywhere,” she says. “The misconception that a lot of clients have is that you can only do psychic readings in person.”

During the first month of the pandemic, Palmatier says she saw a 50% drop in sessions. Making the most of her lighter schedule, the clairvoyant learned video editing, which she now uses to promote her business. With clients’ permission, Palmatier shares two-minute excerpts from virtual readings on her YouTube channel.

“That’s been good, to help people see that remote readings are just as effective as in-person sessions,” she reports.

Inspired by the success of those initial clips, Palmatier has since launched “The Channeling White Light Show,” a whimsical variety program serving up a mix of psychic-related news, inspiration and interviews. Her first episode, which aired Sept. 2, featured a segment with Eric Bradford of Asheville GreenWorks, a local environmental nonprofit.

Meanwhile, Palmatier says she’s now back to doing about as many weekly readings, albeit remotely, as she was

CLAIRVOYANT: Kelly Palmatier says she’s possessed psychic abilities since she was a small child. But only in the last 3 1/2 years has she turned her skill into a full-time profession. Photo courtesy of Palmatier pre-pandemic. But these days, those clients are mostly concerned about the ongoing health and economic crises.

“People are a little more worried about what’s going on in their own lives, as opposed to reconnecting with their [deceased] loved ones,” she says. “So it’s been really nice for them to be able to get an outside perspective about what’s going on in their lives and when they can expect things to get better.”

— Thomas Calder X

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR OCT. 28 - NOV. 6, 2020 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.

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Halloween Events = In-Person Events = Shaded All other events are virtual Registration required, $10, avl.mx/8m8

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Give us a call! 828.620.0672 Flyingsquirrelcleaningcompany.com

REVOLVE Home School: Conditions for an Unfinished Work of Mourning A conversation with artist Dawn Roe. TH (10/29), 7pm, $5-$20, avl.mx/8lb

First Friday Art Walk Open galleries.

FR (11/6), 5pm, Free, Biltmore Ave/College St

Slow Art Friday: The Human Form in Art Discussion led by touring docent Shana Hill at Asheville Art Museum.

FR (10/30), 12pm, Registration required, $10, avl.mx/8l7

Malaprop's Book Launch Amy Willoughby-Burl presents The Year of Thorns and Honey.

WE (10/28), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8kv

Slow Art Friday: Finding Stories in Faces & Expressions Discussion led by touring docent Megan Pyle.

FR (11/6), 12pm,

Power in the Pages: Foregrounding Equity in Your Writing Firestorm discussion led

by Breanna J. McDaniel.

WE (10/28), 6pm,

LITERARY

Responsible Automotive Service & Repair

Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8jy Stay Home & Write(rs) Group Community writing session with Firestorm.

WE (10/28), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/83c Malaprop's Book Launch Calvin Baker presents A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration and the Future of America.

TH (10/29), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/prv8 Beyond Moral Suasion: A Firestorm Author Discussion Featuring Vicky Osterweil, Kellie Carter Jackson and Saralee Stafford.

SU (11/1), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8mu Leicester Library: Jumpstart Your Creativity Novel writing session with Nina Hart.

MO (11/2), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8m1 Firestorm: Beyond Survival Book Club Five-week series discussing the collection Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement.

MO (11/2), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8g2 Stay Home & Write(rs) Group Community writing session with Firestorm.

WE (11/4), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/83c Leicester Library: You wrote a novel, so now what?

PressBooks formatting workshop with Emily Gooding of BiblioLabs.

TH (11/5), 5pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8m2

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your vehicle

perfectly tuned.

Firestorm Visionary Readers Group As Black as Resistance by William C. Anderson and Zoé Samudzi.

TH (11/5), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8h7

THEATER & FILM Movies Under the Stars: Get Out Grail pop-up screening.

Tickets: avl.mx/prv7.

WE (10/28), 7pm, $10, Haiku I Do, 26 Sweeten Creek Rd

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Asheville Community Theatre: When a Story Calls B True tales of intra-house terrors. Hosted by Tom Chalmers.

TH (10/29), 7:30pm, $15, avl.mx/8kx Drive-in Movie: Ghostbusters $25/carload. Tickets: avl.mx/8n0.

FR (10/30), 6pm, Lake Logan, 25 Wormy Chestnut Ln, Canton

Antigone: Radio Drama Podcast TheatreUNCA listening party.

MO (11/2), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8mn

CIVICS & ACTIVISM Dogwood Health Trust Meeting Annual updates and community issues discussion.

WE (10/28), 3:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8mh Asheville Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy & the Environment Climate justice public input session.

WE (10/28), 6pm, avl.mx/8ld Buncombe County Planning Board General meeting.

MO (11/2), 9:30am, avl.mx/wordcaox Buncombe County Board of Adjustment Special meeting.

TH (11/5), 9am, avl.mx/wordcaoy Vance Monument Task Force Weekly meeting.

TH (11/5), 5pm, avl.mx/85h Asheville Women in Black Monthly peace vigil.

FR (11/6), 5pm, Free, Vance Monument, 1 Pack Square

ANIMALS Junior Wolf Howl Educational program on wolves and coyotes, plus a visit to the wolf habitat.

FR (10/30), 6pm, $10$18, WNC Nature Center, 75 Gashes Creek Rd Annual Howl-O-Ween Dog Costume Contest B Proceeds benefit Charlie's Angel Animal Rescue.

SA (10/31), 3pm, $10, Aloft Hotel, 51 Biltmore Ave Wolf Howl Educational program on wolves and coyotes, plus a viewing of the wolf habitat.

FR (11/6), 6pm, $30, WNC Nature Center, 75 Gashes Creek Rd

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY AARP NC: Taking the First Steps to Entrepreneurship Session 1 of 4, led by Sherree Lucas.

WE (10/28), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8mi Incredible Towns Business Network General meeting.

WE (10/28), 11am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7g8

SCORE: Advanced Tax Topics for Business A-B Tech start-up assistance webinar.

TH (10/29), 11:30am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8kh Craft Your Commerce: Telling Your Story in Images Mountain BizWorks webinar led by photographer Nicole McConville.

FR (10/30), 10am, Registration required, $5, avl.mx/8ki Upselling to Improve Profits for Your Food & Beverage Business A-B Tech Small Business Center webinar.

WE (11/4), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8mx Craft Your Commerce: Creating an Authentic Brand Mountain BizWorks panel discussion moderated by Sarah Benoit.

WE (11/4), 2pm, Registration required, $5, avl.mx/8m4 Mountain BizWorks: People First Website usability best practices webinar led by Sarah Benoit.

TH (11/5), 9am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8my Harnessing Your Cash Flow Western Women's Business Center webinar.

TH (11/5), 10am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8mw

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS Pumpkin Carving Contest B WE (10/28), Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain Spanish Conversation Group For adults language learners.

TH (10/29), 5pm, Free, avl.mx/7c6 Land of Sky: State of Our Air Briefing and press conference on air quality.

FR (10/30), 9am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8mj NC Craft Brewers Conference: Fans, Hands, & Brands Presentation and discussion panel on diversity, equity and inclusion led

by J Jackson-Beckham.

Tickets: avl.mx/8mo.

MO (11/2), 4pm, $20, Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy

ECO MountainTrue University: Recycling & Waste Diversion Led by Gray Jernigan and Christine Wittmeier.

WE (10/28), 12pm,

Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8k0 Election Update & Mapping Trails of WNC: A Journey of Exploration Sierra Club webinar led

by Ken Czarnomski.

TH (11/5), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8Lu Climate Adaptive Design Symposium Presentations on climate-oriented building science by AIA Asheville and GreenBuilt Alliance.

FR (11/6), 10am, Registration required, $35, avl.mx/8mm

FOOD & BEER Halloween Cookie Decorating Class B Led by Three Eggs Cakery.

TH (10/29), 6:30pm, $25, Catawba Brewing, 32 Banks Ave MANNA Express Free grocery items for neighbors in need.

FR (11/6), 12pm, Beacon of Hope, 120 Cavalry Dr, Marshall

FESTIVALS Scarecrow Festival B Contest creations on view.

Ongoing (thru 11/1), Free, Lake Julian Park, 70 Fisherman’s Trail, Arden Fall-O-Ween B Haunted drive-thru with goodie bags.

TH (10/29), 5pm, Registration required, Free, Lake Julian Park, 406 Overlook Extension, Arden Abrazo de Poder Hendersonville B Live music, food trucks and voting.

SA (10/31), 8am, Henderson County Board of Elections, 75 E Central St, Hendersonville Crafts After Dark: Night Market Handmade craft vendors.

WE (11/4), 5pm, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd

KIDS Miss Malaprop's Storytime Ages 3-9.

WE (10/28), 10am, Free, avl.mx/73b Nature Nuts: Wild Woodlands Program on animals and the forest. Ages 4-7.

Register: avl.mx/8m6.

WE (10/28), 10am, Free, Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, 1401 Fish Hatchery Rd, Pisgah Forest Monster Hunt Halloween scavenger hunt in downtown Sylva.

FR (10/30), 10am, Free, Jackson County Public Library, 310 Keener St, Sylva

Family Outdoor Movie: Coco SU (11/1), 5pm, $5, Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave Fascinating Amphibians Learn to identify salamanders and their habitats.

Ages 8-12. Register: avl.mx/8m7.

MO (11/2), 1pm, Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, 1401 Fish Hatchery Rd, Pisgah Forest Miss Malaprop's Storytime Ages 3-9.

WE (11/4), 10am, Free, avl.mx/73b

OUTDOORS MountainTrue: Whiterock Mountain Hike 4.6-mile hike. Register: avl.mx/8Lx SU (11/1), 10am, $15, Bartram Trail at Jones Gap, Sugarfork Intro to Fly Fishing Ages 12 and up. Register: avl.mx/8mk.

WE (11/4), 1pm, Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, 1401 Fish Hatchery Rd, Pisgah Forest

Fly Rod Casting for Beginners Ages 12 and up. Register: avl.mx/8mL. FR (11/6), 1pm, Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, 1401 Fish Hatchery Rd, Pisgah Forest

WELLNESS Pop-up 5K in the Park Fully-marked, flat course with rolling starts.

WE (10/28), 5pm, $10, Fletcher Park, 300 Old Cane Creek Rd, Fletcher Adult Eating Disorder Support Group Hosted by Carolina Resource Center for Eating Disorders.

WE (10/28), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/82e Homeplace Running Club Led by Raelin Reynolds.

WE (10/28), 6pm, Free, Homeplace Beer, 6 South Main St, Burnsville First Contact Ministries Recovery support meeting.

TH (10/29), 6:30pm, Free, avl.mx/7ko Steady Collective Syringe Access Outreach Free educational material, naloxone, syringes and supplies.

TU (11/3), 2pm, Firestorm

Booktore Co-op, 610 Haywood Rd Adult Eating Disorder Support Group Hosted by Carolina Resource Center for Eating Disorders.

WE (11/4), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/82e Recovery Support Meeting Hosted by First Contact Ministries.

TH (11/5), 6:30pm, Free, avl.mx/7ko Council on Aging: Intro to Medicare How to avoid penalties and save money.

FR (11/6), 2pm, Registration required, Free, coabc.org

SPIRITUALITY Creation Care Alliance: Preaching & Self Care Presented by the Rev. Dr. Leah Schade.

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15

WELLNESS

Crisis medicine

BY NIKO KYRIAKOU nkjournalist@gmail.com Editor’s note: This story offers an alternative look at possible COVID19 treatments, drawing on the widely varying perspectives of local practitioners and global experts.

COVID-19 has spawned a billion-dollar race to research and develop pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines to combat the pandemic. It typically takes years to develop a new drug, and meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved only one existing medication to treat the disease.

In the interim, the federal agency has approved five potential treatments for emergency use only, pending further study. This does not include the subsequently revoked authorizations for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

On Oct. 22, the FDA gave full approval to remdesivir, one of the five previously authorized as an emergency treatment only. The decision came just days after a large study sponsored by the World Health Organization found that the drug fails to prevent death in COVID-19 patients. Treatment with remdesivir, which is made by Gilead Sciences, costs more than $3,000 per patient.

And while we wait for drug companies to complete the randomized, double-blind studies the FDA requires, the only strategies Buncombe County recommends for the general public are masks, physical distancing and hand-washing, notes Public Health Director Stacie Saunders.

Potential COVID-19 treatments that lack FDA approval

Against that backdrop, some local doctors and alternative health practitioners have turned to hundreds of small-scale and observational studies suggesting that cheap, over-the-counter supplements such as vitamin D and zinc might strike a significant blow in the struggle against COVID-19.

“We have to act,” says Dr. Brian Lewis of Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville. Integrative medicine is a holistic approach that includes emotional, social, environmental and spiritual factors.

“Doctors,” says Lewis, “have to do something for patients that are dying.”

SIFTING THE INFO

Just since March, tens of thousands of articles about COVID-19 have been published. But, “The misinformation is overwhelming,” says Asheville resident Ken Blackman, a naturopathic physician who practiced in Arizona for many years.

“We have so much false information coming out from a lot of the medical community,” he says, urging people “to follow doctors and researchers who are not tied to industry.”

Last March, the nonprofit Institute for Functional Medicine asked Dr. Patrick Hanaway to head up a team of 20 doctors to evaluate hundreds of medical studies on 27 food- and plantbased agents whose effects on the human body might make them useful in the fight against COVID-19. The IFM is based in Washington state; Hanaway is an integrative physician at Family to Family in Asheville.

The task force, says Lewis, “has done a good job trying to cull through a lot of the information out there that isn’t very accurate.”

“The Federal Trade Commission,” notes Hanaway, “has written numerous warning letters to practices that were ... making unfounded claims, without references, while also commercializing, marketing and selling these natural agents.”

DR. WILLIAM R. HATHAWAY

DR. JIM BIDDLE

OVER-THE-COUNTER REMEDIES

tory tract infections. Other promising natural treatments identified by the task force include green tea, curcumin, resveratrol, melatonin, vitamin A, PEA, beta-glucans, andrographis and licorice.

But the IFM’s report (avl.mx/8n5), stresses Hanaway, offers only a glimpse of the abundant evidence that natural substances can be effective in treating COVID-19, even if they lack FDA approval.

Hanaway’s team identified three overthe-counter supplements as particularly helpful in mitigating COVID-19’s symptoms: quercetin, NAC and vitamin D. Quercetin, an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory found in many fruits, vegetables and grains, supports the immune system. NAC, an amino acid, boosts the body’s strongest antioxidant, glutathione. Vitamin D insufficiency “creates a significant increase in risk of COVID19 infection,” notes Hanaway, who is past president of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. He’s quick to caution that there’s not enough data to claim that any of these substances prevents the illness. But, “There are measures that can be taken in terms of health, nutrition and immune support to decrease the risk of severe infection,” even though none of them are proven.

An observational study of data from 20 European countries published by Anglia Ruskin University last May found that vitamin D can be effective in preventing the so-called “cytokine storm” that’s been linked to many COVID deaths.

The task force also found what it called “strong” evidence in the medical literature for elderberry, vitamin C and zinc, the last of which was said to help with prevention, reduced severity of symptoms, reduced duration of illness and preventing lower respira-

“We have to act. Doctors have to do something for patients that are dying.”

— Dr. Brian Lewis, Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville

DR. BRIAN LEWIS 16

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

MOUNTAINX.COM

DUELING VIEWS

Whatever promise some supplements and vitamins may show in treating the disease, few mainstream hospitals or doctors are likely to prescribe them without FDA approval.

William R. Hathaway, Mission Hospital’s chief medical officer, says vitamins have “no proven role in the therapy of COVID-19.” His institution, notes Hathaway, closely follows FDA guidelines.

The hospital’s staff routinely gives new COVID-19 patients ibuprofen or acetaminophen. If symptoms worsen, potential treatments include convalescent plasma, various forms of oxygen, a nasal steroid called dexamethasone and remdesivir, Hathaway explains.

“There’s clearly no magic bullet.

Despite using all these therapies, there’s a group of people who don’t respond.”

Earlier this year, Dr. Richard Bartlett, a Texas physician, made headlines when he claimed that a combination of zinc and budesonide (a cheap, widely available asthma treatment that’s inhaled) is indeed a “silver bullet” that had been 100% effective in treating his COVID-19 patients, though various health officials were quick to dispute his claims.

Closer to home, Dr. Jim Biddle of Asheville Integrative Medicine says he’s treated just one confirmed COVID-19 patient to date. Biddle, who’s board-certified in internal medicine, says he, too, prescribed zinc and budesonide, adding that the patient has not yet recovered.

Although the FDA hasn’t approved the treatment for COVID-19, Biddle maintains that in a health emergency, doctors must listen to other doctors and use their own judgment in weighing the relative risks of different approaches.

FDA BIAS?

But no matter how effective vitamins and supplements might be in treating COVID-19, the FDA is unlikely to approve them, says Biddle. Because of the high cost of satisfying agency requirements, “Nothing natural ever gets FDA-approved,” he maintains. “I can’t go out and come up with $100 million to show zinc works for COVID-19, because I can’t charge enough money selling zinc to earn that money back. If I could patent it so nobody else can sell zinc, then OK.” “It’s the same story that’s been happening for decades,” he asserts. “The FDA is really financed by Big Pharma, and anything that cannot be patented and make a Big Pharma profit margin gets suppressed.”

Blackman, who compiled his own extensive database ranking research on natural treatments and preventive measures for COVID-19, agrees. He says

LARA DIAZ

the FDA has a long track record of approving unsafe drugs while blocking safe supplements. Blackman cites the decadeslong battle to gain FDA approval for folic acid as a supplement for pregnant and nursing mothers to reduce the risk of birth defects. “How many babies were born with brain damage because the FDA fought folic acid?” he wonders.

In an article published in The Lancet last May, Dr. Rose Anne Kenny, a professor of medical gerontology at Trinity College Dublin, argued that the evidence for vitamin D is strong enough to warrant its widespread use against COVID-19, even without FDA approval.

“We don’t have randomized, controlled trial evidence, but how long do you want to wait in the context of such a crisis?” she pointed out. “We know vitamin D is important for musculoskeletal function, so people should be taking it anyway.”

Hanaway sounds a similar note, saying that the people who have the hardest time from COVID-19 have the lowest vitamin D levels. “It doesn’t mean it’s causative, but given that it costs you pennies to have the right vitamin D level, it’s not toxic, and we know it has effects on modulating the immune system ... doesn’t that seem reasonable?”

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BEYOND SUPPLEMENTS

Amid the gruesome news about COVID-19, there are simple, relatively low-cost steps everyone can take to help them stay healthy.

“Often, people are looking for the magic herb or supplement that will treat this or that, and sometimes they forget that the foundation of their lifestyle will support their immune system,” notes Lewis. He advises people to “Look at nutrition, exercise, stress management and relationships as a base for supporting their health and the immune system. ... It doesn’t matter how much elderberry you take if you are overstressed, not sleeping and eating poorly.”

Meanwhile, Asheville acupuncturist and herbalist Lara Diaz emphasizes the role of attitude. “In Chinese medicine, we say disease begins when the mind is conflicted. So staying focused and positive is very important. Generally, for me, that means not watching a whole lot of sensational news.” X

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GREEN SCENE

Winging it

BY GINA SMITH ginasmithnews@gmail.com Fall is always busy on Western North Carolina’s small-scale poultry farms, but three years ago, late October found growers grappling with an unexpected challenge: The state’s only U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected poultry processing facility for independent operators, the Foothills Pilot Plant in Marion, shut down due to a lack of operating capital.

Farms all over Southern Appalachia that had depended on the plant were left with flocks roaming the fields while customers waited for local chicken, turkey and duck just weeks from Thanksgiving.

“There was quite a scramble,” says Sarah Blacklin, program director for NC Choices, an initiative of N.C. State University’s Center for Environmental Farming Systems that works to support North Carolina’s local, pasture-based meat supply chain. “[The Foothills Pilot Plant] also serviced a lot of the surrounding states — Georgia, Tennessee,

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WNC’s independent poultry farmers persevere through processing challenges

Virginia — so it was a huge financial impact, economic impact and also a supply chain crisis.”

A state exemption already in place allowed farmers with inspected equipment to process their own birds, and to address the contingency, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Meat and Poultry Inspection Division created a special exemption in November 2017 permitting farmers to slaughter, clean and package birds for other growers. The two exemptions, both of which are still in place, allowed many WNC producers to rally and roll with a new normal.

Growers now either process their birds at other farms, do it themselves on purchased equipment or rent one of a handful of mobile units available through private farms, the N.C. Cooperative Extension and other agricultural organizations. The NCDACS currently lists more than 200 North Carolina farms processing their own poultry; Blacklin notes that 10 operations, particularly Dawnbreaker Farm and Dependable Poultry Processors in Carrboro, have developed their on-farm processing operations into successful business ventures by handling other growers’ animals or renting out mobile units.

Blacklin suggests that North Carolina farmers are fortunate compared with growers in other states that have neither a USDA-inspected processor nor a state special exemption. Nevertheless, many producers statewide are still putting less pastured poultry on the market now than they were in 2017. “It’s just harder and more expensive, even with the special exemption,” she says. “It requires more labor and more time.”

STAYING RESILIENT

According to Asher Wright, farm director at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, consumers are clamoring for local, pasture-raised chicken and turkey. The Fairview operation raises 3,500 meat chickens annually, processing on-site in batches of 225 every other week April through October. The farm also produces pastured turkeys — 450 this year — which are presold and distributed fresh right before Thanksgiving.

“We cannot meet our demand,” Wright says of the farm’s chickens, which are sold fresh during peak season. Any birds not sold within five days are frozen.

“If we were able to add [more processing capacity] and freeze birds out the gate,

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GOBBLERS GONNA GOBBLE: Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview is raising 450 turkeys in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday. Photo courtesy of Hickory Nut Gap Farm we could easily sell them through the winter as whole birds or parts,” he adds.

Before the Foothills Pilot Plant opened in 2012, Hickory Nut Gap processed its own poultry, Wright says, then switched to the USDA-inspected facility due to its convenience. When the plant closed, the farm returned to processing with its own equipment, set up inside a gooseneck trailer under a hoop house. This year, Hickory Nut Gap took out a $12,000 loan for a new on-farm facility with a large pole shed, concrete floor and drainage system.

The farm is seriously considering scaling up its poultry efforts — the broiler chicken operation is its most profitable enterprise, Wright says. But aside from occasionally helping out neighbors in need, Hickory Nut Gap isn’t currently processing for other farms, mainly due to a lack of labor.

Liz Sutter and Hunter Morgan, now in their first serious growing season on their ⅕-acre regenerative operation in Madison County, Small Bean Farm, have pasture-raised and harvested 100 Freedom Ranger meat chickens this year and are set to process 15 turkeys. With 10 years of experience between them working on other farms, the pair knew they

wanted to focus on poultry rather than more labor-intensive vegetable crops and were undeterred by the state’s lack of a federally inspected processing facility.

To slaughter, process and package their birds, Morgan and Sutter rely on gear borrowed from a neighboring grower. “We have the exemption for ourselves through his processing equipment. That was nice and relatively easy to get,” Morgan explains.

Although currently hampered by the size of their rented property and the difficulty of accessing more land, Morgan says he and Sutter would like to add a flock of meat ducks and see the farm increase production to about 1,500 chickens and 100 turkeys annually. As the business scales, they have no intention of pinning their hopes on a new federally inspected processing plant.

“I think long-term we would pursue getting a processing station ourselves,” says Morgan. “We really want to make it a whole personal facility where we can not only process and clean the birds ourselves but also package them in ways that we see fit and make them into sausage. Just having more freedom with those options seems really important for keeping us resilient.”

NO JOB TOO LARGE OR SMALL

FUTURE IN PROCESS

NC Choices, Cooperative Extension and other organizations have looked at possible avenues for establishing a new USDA processing facility for the state, says Blacklin; a feasibility study, estimated at $25,000, has yet to be conducted.

NC Choices has also provided informational support to owners of red-meat processing facilities who have expressed interest in adding poultry to their operations, but none have followed through.

“Independent poultry processing is a difficult business to float profitably, labor and seasonality of the business being major contributing factors,” Blacklin explains. She adds that only about 30 USDA-inspected poultry processors in the entire U.S. offer fee-for-service processing for independent farmers.

Wright acknowledges that many area growers would be excited to see a new processing facility for the state, but he echoes Blacklin’s thoughts about the inherent flaws of the business model.

“How can you keep skilled staff and cash flow to your business throughout the year if you’re only processing chickens for, say, seven or eight months?” he asks.

“You’re done after turkeys in November, and nobody can really raise birds outside here in the winter.”

Ultimately, Wright believes supporting and driving expansion of on-farm processing is the most sustainable solution.

“Someone like us who has an actual farm business could add an enterprise of processing for people on the side but still be in business with our farm,” he suggests.

“That’s kind of the Dawnbreaker Farm/

Dependable Poultry Processing model, and that, to me, seems very viable.”

Wright and Blacklin both point to the bipartisan Strengthening Local Processing Act, U.S. House Bill 8431, as legislation that could benefit both the industry and the supply chain. The bill, introduced in late September by Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine and Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska, would provide grant support for small federal, state and on-farm processing operations.

“Exempt [on-farm] operators are critical to our local food poultry market at this time,” says Blacklin. “It will take investment, good data on poultry feasibility and a committed volume of product before we see a new poultry plant pop up, so supporting the exempt processing is a key inclusion of this bill.”

“The demand is there in the region for pasture-raised meat,” adds Wright.

“I think there really is opportunity here for well-thought-out business plans and pastured poultry models, if we can tackle the processing component.”

Madison Cawthorn, the Republican candidate to represent Western North Carolina in the U.S. House, “supports utilizing federal grants to bolster meat and poultry processors but cannot commit to full support of the bill at this time,” according to spokesperson Angela Nicholas. Cawthorn’s opponent, Democrat Moe Davis, also voiced his backing for small farmers but said he “would prefer to await analysis from the Congressional Research Service and more input from stakeholders before committing to support this or any bill.” X

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19

FOOD

AIR-powered

Asheville Independent Restaurant Association fights to help members stay aloft

BY KAY WEST kwest@mountainx.com When Jane Anderson, executive director of the Ashville Independent Restaurant Association, learned in early October that the 17-year-old organization she has helmed since 2013 would receive the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority’s 2020 William A.V. Cecil Tourism Leadership Award, she thought of the groups and community leaders honored in previous years: Pat Whalen of Public Interest Projects; Highland Brewing Co. founder Oscar Wong; and RiverLink founding director Karen Cragnolin are among the honorees.

“I cried,” Anderson admits. “It is a real tribute to this organization, especially this year, the most challenging year our members have ever faced. I have seen firsthand their incredible resilience, and it has blown me away.”

The good news helped soothe the sting of two hard decisions AIR was forced to make in late summer in response to COVID-19. At the recommendation of a sustainability task force, the AIR board of directors canceled the 2020 Taste of Asheville event, which is normally held every November, and suspended production of the AIR Passport, a booklet that offers discounts and complimentary items at participating AIR restaurants.

“We obviously could not gather indoors as we normally do for TOA,” she points out. “And the passports require restaurants to essentially give away food, which is not feasible now.”

TEAMWORK: AIR Executive Director Jane Anderson holds the 2020 William A.V. Cecil Tourism Leadership Award flanked by two of four AIR founders, Eric Scheffer, left, and Michel Baudouin. Photo courtesy Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority Back in March, Anderson couldn’t have imagined that before the end of 2020 AIR would have to pull the plug on its two biggest annual efforts.

At that time, as she struggled to get a handle on the immediate implications of the mysterious virus that hovered ominously over her industry, her immediate response was to call a meeting of AIR members, inviting city and county officials to offer insight into what might lie ahead.

In attendance at the March 16 meeting were Buncombe County’s emer-

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gency preparedness director Fletcher Tove, medical director Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, and Health and Human Services food and lodging supervisor Felissa Vazquez fielding questions from over 50 restauranteurs.

“There weren’t a lot of answers that day,” Anderson recalls. “What struck me was that when people are in a situation like this, they just want to be with other people in the same situation. The next day, the governor ordered restaurants closed, and we went into completely uncharted territory.”

Desperate to navigate the choppy waters, AIR immediately created a Google doc spreadsheet where restaurants could share information about whether they were totally closed or pivoting to takeout, which was still permitted by the state. In the early days of the pandemic, the document had to be updated daily, sometimes hourly.

“When we realized it was not going to resolve anytime soon, we knew we needed something bigger, better and more accessible,” says Anderson.

About two weeks later, with the help of Melissa Dean of Two Birds Marketing, AIR launched the Food in Asheville website listing local takeout

and delivery options. (It now also includes a link to dine-in restaurants.)

Some casual concepts that already did a healthy to-go business segued fairly smoothly to a takeout-only model, Anderson says, while some restaurants downsized and tweaked dine-in menus to accommodate travel in a box. Others realized the numbers would just not support moving to a to-go model and entered a holding pattern.

When Phase 2 of North Carolina’s reopening plan — which allowed indoor seating at 50% capacity — kicked in at the end of May, Anderson says she received a call from a restaurant owner who was in tears because her small dining room couldn’t accommodate enough customers to be worth relaunching. “She told me if she did not get some help from the city on outdoor seating, she would be dead in the water. I reached out to the city, and days later she was seating people outside and feeling reenergized.”

The worried caller and other restaurateurs were helped by the AVL Shares Space Initiative, which expanded outdoor seating areas, and grants from the BCTDA’s $5 million Buncombe County Tourism Jobs Recovery Fund, which provided money to create alfresco dining spaces.

In late September, the city shared the good news that it would extend the Shares Space Initiative past its original Oct. 31 end date until Jan. 3.

The bad news, though, is that winter is coming.

Asheville restaurants face an offseason more daunting than ever before, and Anderson says their survival will depend heavily on support from local customers. AIR is currently gathering information about member restaurants’ holiday hours and offerings as it does every year. But in general, she is putting her faith in AIR members’ tenacity to help them make it through January and February — traditionally the slowest months for Asheville restaurants — as well as locals’ loyalty to homegrown hospitality.

And Anderson says AIR will be with them every step of the way. “Like our members, AIR has to do things differently for now, and like our members, AIR is resilient,” she affirms. “I am in awe of how they are handling the craziness, taking care of their staff and still feeding and welcoming guests.” X

‘Gastro soul’

Friendship is the secret ingredient at Twisted Trap Dinners

at creating a wide variety of cuisines, from lamb sliders to Italian sausage and peppers to jerk chicken. “We haven’t come up with a set menu,” Cheeks says. “We want to show off our skill set. And we also want to know what people respond to the best.”

While the menu and truck location are subject to change daily, a few early hits include slow-simmered and peppery Birria tacos, Mexican street corn nachos and red velvet pancakes the pair have nicknamed “trap cakes.”

Wilson also says vegan dishes such as the tofu scramble and chickpea gyro have been popular.

“Basically, with us coming from not necessarily the hood, but where poverty and lower-class folks live, you know, having single moms trying to try to make it — that’s what the trap is derived from,” says Cheeks. “We’re trying to uphold the culture. There will be days where you’ll see us both tatted up with grills in our mouth, but you’re gonna get some good food.”

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— Laura Hackett X CAUGHT IN THE TRAP: Chefs Zakeya Cheeks, left, and Victoria Wilson of Twisted Trap Dinners pose in front of their new food truck in the River Arts District. Photo

by Laura Hackett As an only child with a single, working mother, chef Victoria Wilson spent a lot of her childhood home alone. At age 9, she attempted to cook her first meal — frozen chicken nuggets — in a sauté pan with a lot of grease.

“I went to eat it, and it was completely mush on the inside,” she recalls with a laugh. “For some ungodly reason, I poured the hot grease into a plastic measuring cup, and it went everywhere.”

Frustrated, she cleaned up the mess and called it a night. “But that was where my intrigue for cooking started, to take some kind of product and just make it this wonderful, fantastic, tasteful meal,” Wilson says.

Since that first mushy dinner, she’s come a long way. At 17, she started working at a Bojangles on Hendersonville Road and since then has cooked everywhere from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse to The Cliffs at Walnut Cove to the kitchen of the now defunct Xcapades strip club on New Leicester Highway.

But it wasn’t until Wilson, now in her 30s, met chef Zakeya Cheeks last year while cooking together at The Cliffs that either of them felt ready to embark on what had been a longtime

dream for both: a kitchen to call their own. Inspired by their fast friendship and nearly identical cooking and childhood backgrounds, the duo quit their jobs in October and launched Twisted Trap Dinners, a food truck and catering business that serves what Wilson calls “gastro soul.”

“Like gastropubs, we do all kinds of different and crazy dishes,” Wilson says. “But we’re also keeping it soulful at the same time.” The business always offers a vegan option, too, she adds.

“We make the truck so you can come get that fine dining without having to dress up or pay $25 for two pieces of asparagus,” jokes Cheeks. Like Wilson, she was raised by a single, working mother and learned how to cook meals for herself as a young person before rising quickly through the ranks of fast food then entering the world of fine dining.

“Working in fast food showed me how to actually run a kitchen, because there were days when the whole kitchen would call out,” says Cheeks. “I’d have to roll out the biscuits, put everything on a grill and send the food out.

It was definitely an experience.”

Because of these varied experiences, she explains, the pair are adept

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OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

21

FOOD ROUNDUP

by Kay West | kwest@mountainx.com

What’s new in food

Open for dine-in and carryout Visit stradaasheville.com for reservations

Thanksgiving Carryout 2020

Order ahead and enjoy our traditional favorites in the comfort of your home.

Order Online at stradaasheville.com Online ordering ends Nov. 19 Pickup between Nov. 23-25 WELCOME BACK: From left, Kidist Bishaw, Elizabeth Zewdneh amd Tebebe Workneh have fired up the injera griddle and reopened Addissae Ethiopian restaurant.

Photo courtesy of Addissae

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Halloween, Day of the Dead and Election 2020 are all on the calendar this week, and that’s a little scary. Not scary? Injera, waffle cones, bags ‘o candy, cocktails and Sunday supper.

Ethiopian food fans who mourned the closing of downtown’s Addissae restaurant rejoiced at the news of its recent resurrection by new owners Tebebe Workneh, Elizabeth Zewdneh and Kidist Bishaw, friends of original owners Vicki Schomer and chef Neeraj Kebede. Currently offering takeout-only service daily 11 a.m-9 p.m., Workneh, Zewdneh and Bishaw intend to open the dining room for indoor seating soon. 48 Commerce St., avl.mx/8lf

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

Election Day scoop

Scream if you must, but no ice cream will be scooped at the Asheville Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop on Tuesday, Nov. 3 — aka Election Day — to allow employees time to vote. Until then, customers can get election information and check their voter registration status in the shop, and with a pledge to vote, they can get a free upgrade to a freshly baked waffle cone just in time to fill it with the timely return of Justice ReMix’d, a mashup of cinnamon and chocolate ice creams, cinnamon bun dough and fudge brownie. A winning platform to be sure. 19 Haywood St.

fe r i n g f o w o N d i n i ng r o o d t ou o ut e k a t d an

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Teff love

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Cúrate and La Bodega by Cúrate will also be closed on Election Day so employees can get to the polls and cast their votes.

In the spirits

Cultivated Cocktails is scaring up a Halloween-themed, all-ages event at its production facility. Spooks & Spirits will take place noon-10 p.m. Sat., Oct. 31, with distillery tours, pumpkin carving, candy bags for the kids and cocktails for the 21-and-older kids.

Costumes are encouraged. 204 U.S. 74-Alt., avl.mx/8lt

What’s sup?

Avenue M executive chef Andrew McLeod continues to stir things up at the 10-year-old restaurant with the Sunday Supper Series, launched Oct. 25 and running through Nov. 15. He is joined by friend and former Husk Greenville chef Jon Buck in creating five-course, locally sourced dinners with beverages chosen by Avenue M co-owner and sommelier Ralph Lonow.

But wait, there’s more: On Nov. 1, Gan Shan West chef Ray Hui joins in, and on Nov. 8, Rhubarb chef/owner John Fleer will be on deck. Tickets are $85 per person for limited, safely distanced seating. 828-350-81818 or avl.mx/8le X

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‘Queer and troubled times’

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Author Vicki Lane takes multiple views of the Shelton Laurel Massacre

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Living in Marshall since 1975, author Vicki Lane was familiar with the Shelton Laurel Massacre long before she wrote about it. In January 1863, Confederate soldiers of the 64th North Carolina Regiment captured and later executed 13 Madison County men and boys accused of participating in local raids against Confederate holdings. At the time, the event caused national outrage; today, local descendants still discuss and debate the atrocities. But even with the built-in drama, the prolific mystery writer wasn’t particularly interested in writing about the Civil War. In more recent years, however, as the country’s current political division has grown more pronounced, Lane’s thoughts returned to the strife leading up to both the Civil War and the 1863 massacre.

“I started thinking, what would it be like to have war right on your doorsteps like the people [in Madison County] had back then?” she says.

Lane’s initial inquiry resulted in years of research, including interviews with descendants of those who carried out the Shelton Laurel Massacre, as well as relatives of those who were killed. These and other findings provided the basis for her latest novel, And the Crows Took Their Eyes, which was published on Oct. 16.

Along with exploring the past, the book examines the limitations and biases that individuals bring to storytelling. These different perspectives, Lane writes in the book’s opening notes, highlight how “the real story lies not in the historical events but in the myriad moments that divide imperfect humanity so that, though we may speak the same language, we sometimes find it impossible to understand one another.”

CORN AND TATERS

To achieve this type of retelling, Lane relays the story of the Shelton Laurel Massacre through five alternating perspectives. And while the majority of the book takes place from 1861-65, Lane follows the characters MOUNTAINX.COM

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED: In her latest novel, author Vicki Lane considers the impact of the 1863 Shelton Laurel Massacre and the consequences it had on both the victims’ families and the perpetrators. Author photo courtesy of Lane well beyond the Civil War, concluding the story in 1900. The author’s choice grants readers insight into the profound changes and long-lasting impacts the war has had on these five individuals and the communities they represent.

The novel’s pace and tension is also masterfully developed through these alternating perspectives. Readers experience the horror of war — as one might expect, given the topic — but the brutality is further emphasized through the novel’s inclusion of mundane, everyday tasks. In these moments, Lane reminds readers that as thousands of men died on fields far away from their homes, the lives and people they left behind carried on without them.

“These is queer and troubled times but fields still got to be plowed, corn and taters planted, and cabbages and such set out,” notes Judith Shelton in the book’s early pages.

Yet despite this character’s pragmatic approach, the war is never far from her mind. Within nearly the same breath, Judith contemplates the country’s dire reality. “I wonder

what it is about some men, maybe most men, makes them act that way — like war is just a game and the killing ain’t real.”

Sadly, like the rest of Shelton Laurel, Judith is destined to experience the severe consequences of the nation’s conflict. Within a year, she’s among the women tortured by members of the 64th regiment while seeking information about deserters.

Shortly thereafter, the 13 men and boys from her community, including several family members, are executed — their bodies left for the wild hogs and crows to devour.

PHANTOMS OF ILLUSION

Even with such cruelty exhibited by the Confederates, Lane refuses to allow her work to succumb to the basic trope of good vs. evil. All five narrators are disillusioned by the war’s end and marked by literal or figurative scars. Characters who thought themselves neutral at the start become intimately familiar with slaughter; those who were optimistic

about a speedy resolution eventually understand the unrelenting consequences that war brings to all parties involved.

Polly Allen, the wife of Confederate Col. Lawrence Allen, is among the narrators. While her husband is away, their Marshall home is raided by members of the Shelton Laurel community, precipitating the massacre. In fiction as in life, Polly loses two of her three children to scarlet fever shortly thereafter, resulting in a deep and inconsolable grief.

“What has my life been but an illusion?” she wonders. “The illusion of a safe and happy home in a peaceful land — the illusion of a husband always by my side — the illusion that I am a Christian woman, bound to forgive those who sin against me. I gaze at my children, dead and living and through the blur of rising tears, they seem all the same — all phantoms of illusion.”

Though void of dramatic action, these quiet, introspective moments hit readers as heavily as scenes from the massacre itself, wherein the youngest of the 13 victims unsuccessfully begs for his life after witnessing soldiers kill his father and three brothers.

“Life is the illusion,” Polly goes on to reflect. “Only death is certain.”

FLAWED HUMANITY

Not surprisingly, Lane says writing historical fiction about people whose descendants still live within her community proved a daunting task. But the process was also deeply rewarding. “It was like a puzzle trying to make it all come together and turn it into an interesting novel,” she says.

Furthermore, Lane views And the Crows Took Their Eyes as a reminder to readers about the inherent complexity of the human experience. “I think it’s important to realize that no one has the whole truth,” she says.

“We’re all flawed. We all see things our own way.”

The challenge, as the book underscores, is finding humanity within those one deems as foe. Otherwise, all sides inevitably resemble the very enemy they fight against.

Or, as Polly observes in the novel, “I see neither honor nor glory in war.

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For more information, contact your local Appalachian RC&D FAC Coalition Representative: Mountain Valleys RC&D Council contact@mountainvalleysrcd.org or (828) 206-6159 www.mountainvalleysrcd.org/forest

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 BEN'S TUNE UP Comedy Open Mic w/ Baby George, 9pm GHOST TOWN IN THE SKY (PARKING LOT) The Grey Eagle: Drive-In Concert w/ St. Paul & the Broken Bones (rock n' roll, soul), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ Love Bubble (blues, oldies), 6:30pm LAZY HIKER BREWING SYLVA Open Jam, 5pm LE PARC AT GLEN CANNON Asheville Music Hall: Drivein Show w/ Greensky Bluegrass, 6:30pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Bill Altman (blues), 8pm, avl.mx/8m0 ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Gunslinging Parrots (Phish tribute), 8pm

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GRAZE IN THE GRASS: “We’re not a bluegrass band,” says singer-guitarist Will Saylor of Brushfire Stankgrass. Instead, the Asheville-based quartet uses the genre at a launching point for its jam-infused, synth-laden mountain music. With two new albums out this year, the group will showcase its hybrid sound at One World Brewing West Friday, Oct. 30, 6 p.m. Photo courtesy of One World Brewing GUIDON BREWING B Halloween Drum Circle, 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL B Honky Tonk Halloween on the Lawn w/ Rebecca & the Reckoning, 6:30pm LAZY HIKER BREWING SYLVA B A Very Jelly Beet Halloween, 7pm LE PARC AT GLEN CANNON Asheville Music Hall: Drivein Show w/ Greensky Bluegrass, 6:30pm

MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Hope Griffin (solo acoustic), 6pm

ODDITORIUM B Outdoor Party: Foul Drag Halloween, 7pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Dead Friday (Grateful Dead tribute), 5:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Billy Litz (solo multi-instrumentalist), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST B Stankoween w/ Brushfire Stankgrass (jamgrass), 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST B Gunslinging Parrots: Halloween Phish Experience, 6pm

ISIS MUSIC HALL Lawn Concert w/ Fireside Collective (bluegrass, Americana), 6:30pm

RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY BEER COMPANY B Trivia w/ Allie: Halloween Edition, 5pm

SALVAGE STATION Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats (indie), 6:30pm

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THE PAPER MILL LOUNGE Karaoke X, 9pm

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OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Human Ladder (solo acoustic), 4pm SAINT PAUL MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS Brian Ashley Jones (blues, country), 2:30pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Mr Jimmy (blues), 2pm TRISKELION BREWERY JC & the Boomerang Band (Irish trad, folk), 6pm

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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

= MAX RATING

H PICK OF THE WEEK H

by the characters’ successive revelations. Don’t shy away from Coming Home Again because of the terminal illness at its center. It’s most definitely a movie chiefly about filial love and life.

Available to rent via grailmoviehouse.com REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm HHHH

Coming Home Again HHHHS

DIRECTOR: Wayne Wang PLAYERS: Justin Chon, Jackie Chung, Christina July Kim DRAMA NOT RATED Coming Home Again takes its bland title from the rich New Yorker essay on which it’s based, a 1995 slice of memoir by Chang-Rae Lee. Set well before he became an acclaimed novelist (Native Speaker), Lee’s touching piece is about his return to his parents’ house to help take care of his mother who is in the final stages of stomach cancer. Adapted for film by Lee and Wayne Wang and directed by Wang, the movie transports the action from 1990s suburbia to an apartment in present-day San Francisco.

Working with cinematographer Richard Wong, a frequent collaborator, Wang constructs a painterly and poignant chamber drama with essentially four characters: Rae (Justin Chon of the Twilight movies), his mom (Jackie Chung) and dad (John Lie), and his sister, Jiyoung (Christina July Kim). But Dad is often absent, and Jiyoung arrives only late in the film, so the movie is chiefly the portrait of a mother-son bond — both its strengths and its pitfalls.

The film flashes between the present (in cool, bluish hues) and unspecified moments of the past (in warm, 28

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

reddish hues), as Rae’s mom gradually reveals the hidden sources of sadness in her life. The family is KoreanAmerican, but while immigration is a part of the story, the emotions and tensions between Rae and his mom will be recognizable to any adult child coming to understand the full human frailty of his or her own mother.

Coming Home Again is also a food film, opening with Rae preparing his mom’s signature pork ribs and climaxing with an elaborate New Year’s dinner — all complicated by the mother’s cancer, which makes her unable to eat. The symbolic weight of this broken bond is clear, as is the metaphoric intent of Rae’s attempts to patch up the peeling paint in his parents’ home.

But the film is never arch or pretentious, in part because the actors are so committed to the quiet truth of their roles. As the mom, Chung gives a fantastic performance, beautifully understated and yet often heartbreaking. Chon is equally fine, although it would be hard for any actor to sell some of Rae’s stranger actions and outbursts toward the end.

This is not a movie anyone needs to explain to you — it’s all right there in Wang’s and Wong’s gorgeous compositions, in the naturalistic dialogue and in the layers of meaning built up

MOUNTAINX.COM

DIRECTOR: Jason Woliner PLAYERS: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova, Mike Pence COMEDY RATED R Comedy can expose hypocrisy and ignorance in ways that pointed analysis, fact-based study or “hard-hitting” journalism never manages to.

There’s something intangible about absurdism and satire that, when properly applied, cuts right to the bone of societal issues, and no one working today can apply it quite like Sacha Baron Cohen.

As with its predecessor (2006’s Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan), Cohen’s new offering, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, is as much an exercise in activism as it is a hilarious romp through the American political landscape. This time around, though, the stakes seem higher as an extremely polarizing and contentious election season comes to an as-yet-undetermined end, making Subsequent Moviefilm more pointed and urgent than the previous film. Disturbingly, Cultural Learnings holds much more relevance than one would hope after 14 years, but where that film is a reactive response to U.S. policy and cultural attitudes, Subsequent Moviefilm is a proactive attempt at preventing specific electoral outcomes.

Reprising his role as the lovable yet purposefully problematic Kazakhstani TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev, Cohen once again finds a way to make trouble for bigots and politicians by leading them to water and allowing them to partake all by themselves. With strict deadpan delivery, Cohen (along with his amazing co-star, newcomer Maria Bakalova) lets loose at the politically charged and divisive times

James Rosario

Kristina Guckenberger

we’ve found ourselves in by setting up sketches in which people from all walks of life react naturally to Cohen’s outrageous stimuli. Granted, not all the jokes land, and some are mere rehashes of familiar material from the 2006 film, but the point is clear: As a nation, we still have a long way to go.

Subsequent Moviefilm is not for everyone and is sure to be hated by many, depending on where they land on the political spectrum.

With identifiable plot arcs and honest-to-goodness character development, Subsequent Moviefilm may be more formally accomplished than we’ve previously seen from Cohen and Borat, but that probably won’t matter much to staunch defenders of status-quo racism, conspiracy theorists and those who insist that Rudy Guiliani needs to lie down on a bed to tuck in his shirt. Of course, viewers will make the call for themselves, but with all the press about this film — good and bad — it’s clear Cohen has struck a nerve that both desperately needs to be struck and yet mostly has escapesdour attention.

Available to stream via Amazon Prime Video REVIEWED BY JAMES ROSARIO JAMESROSARIO1977@GMAIL.COM

Citizens of the World HHHS

DIRECTOR: Gianni Di Gregorio PLAYERS: Ennio Fantastichini, Giorgio Colangeli, Gianni Di Gregorio FOREIGN FILM/COMEDY NOT RATED Giorgetto is an Italian living on a pension who has retired from a life of working as little as possible. He tells his friend, a retired high school classics teacher known only as The Professor, that he’s heard that their meager incomes will go much further if they move abroad. Thus begins the gentle comedy Citizens of the World, originally titled Lontano Lontano (roughly, Far, Far Away). The duo become a trio when they rope in new friend Attilio, who restores antiques and has no pension at all. Together, the three men contrive to amass as much capital as they can and find paradise — somewhere.

These guys are not the dapper, witty old men of Hollywood movies — they look and act well worn, and their dialogue is realistically scattered and prickly. They’re basically good guys, having befriended a homeless young refugee from Mali named Abu, whose courage and ambitious plans contrast with the older men’s shaky commitment and shoddy execution of their own scheme.

The director, Gianni Di Gregorio, who also plays The Professor, has an easygoing style on both sides of the camera as well as co-writing the script. The movie’s theme — the tension between “the grass is greener” and “home sweet home” — is developed in smile-inducing scenes, mostly populated with the kinds of ordinary, upbeat, struggling people rarely seen in American films. The setting is Rome — not the romantic city of spy movies, but a sprawling metropolis of dust and dingy bars and overstuffed bodegas. (Tourist landmarks are seen only briefly, and from a distance.)

Like the Rome they inhabit, Di Gregorio and his two co-stars (Ennio Fantastichini and Giorgio Colangeli) are likable not because they’re heroic but because they’re gritty and real.

Similarly, Citizens of the World is not a laugh-out-loud comedy but an affable fable that ends with a genial twist and some watermelon — like the film, sweet but not that filling.

Available to rent via grailmoviehouse.com REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

The Witches HHHS DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis PLAYERS: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci COMEDY/ADVENTURE RATED PG There’s a special kind of terror that can creep into a child’s mind and inspire a lifetime of bad dreams and obsession. This fearful fascination in my life had the form of Angelica Huston’s Grand High Witch in Nicolas Roeg’s 1990 adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, The Witches.

Well aware of how hallowed the fantasy-horror flick has become since its 1990 release, I was more than skeptical about embarking on Robert Zemeckis’ remake. As with the original, this iteration focuses on a recently orphaned boy who is sent to live with his grandmother and stumbles upon a coven of witches at a fancy hotel who turn children into mice. High jinks ensue.

Though the premise is the same, the decision to use the comedic voice-over stylings of Chris Rock to set the tone and shift the setting from early ’90s England to late ’60s America is unexpected, engaging and largely successful. The screenplay (written by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro) focuses on the bond between the unnamed hero (Jahzir Kadeem Bruno) and his “witch-hunting” grandmother (Octavia Spencer), and emphasizes how their unwavering support of each other is key to their survival. By featuring black protagonists in 1960s Alabama as they recover from a personal tragedy, The Witches affectingly paints a portrait of grief and discrimination without allowing the seriousness of these topics to overtake it. This revision gives the narrative a wider sense of inclusion and relevance without pandering or losing the magic of the beloved original.

The fun of the film doesn’t really take off, however, until the arrival of a captivating Anne Hathaway, as the Grand High Witch. Her glamorous,

AVAILABLE VIA FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM (FA) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM (GM)

platinum-wigged, period costuming and perpetually simmering demeanor hypnotize on screen, as her moods swing from annoyed prima donna to hysterical demon in 5 seconds flat.

Though skeptics have cited her beauty as a roadblock in rivaling the iconic monstrousness of Anjelica Huston’s Grand High Witch (myself included), Hathaway allows herself to become surprisingly hideous, thanks to a hefty dose of CGI. While Huston’s wickedness reigns supreme among fans of the original, Hathaway solidifies herself as a new kind of villain — a kooky, high-camp queen every bit as entertaining as her predecessor. It’s clear that Hathaway is having the time of her life in this role, savoring all the silliness with each evil outburst and nonsensical monologue, and we’re just along for the ride.

Though much more family-friendly than suits my twisted sensibilities, I suspect this whimsical reimagining will tap into the nostalgia of ’90s kids and spook a new generation of younger viewers with surprising delight.

Available to stream via HBO Max REVIEWED BY KRISTINA GUCKENBERGER KRISTINA.GUCKENBERGER@GMAIL.COM

Aggie (NR) HHHH (GM) Belly of the Beast (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (NR) HHHS (FA) Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (R) HHHH Citizens of the World (NR) HHHS (GM) Coming Home Again (NR) HHHHS (GM) Critical Thinking (NR) HHHH (GM) Desert One (NR) HHHH (FA) The Disrupted (NR) HHHHH (FA) Dosed (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) Driven to Abstraction (PG) HHS(FA) F11 and Be There (NR) HHHH (FA) Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH (FA) Flannery (NR) HHHH (FA) Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful (NR) HHH (FA) Herb Alpert Is... (NR) HHS (FA) Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President (NR) HHHHH (FA, GM) John Lewis: Good Trouble (PG) HHHH (FA) The Keeper (NR) HHS (FA) Major Arcana (NR) HHHS (FA) Martin Eden (NR) HHH (FA) Meeting the Beatles in India (NR) HHS (FA) Mr. Soul! (NR) HHHHS (GM) My Dog Stupid (NR) HHHH (FA) Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin (NR) HHHH (GM) Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (NR) HHHH (GM) Out Stealing Horses (NR) HHHHS (FA) Proud (NR) HHH (FA) RBG (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) The Tobacconist (NR) HHHS (FA) The Witches (PG) HHHS Totally Under Control (NR) HHHH (GM) We Are Many (NR) HH (FA) White Riot (NR) HHHHS (GM) MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

CAREGIVERS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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BY ROB BREZSNY

Freewill Astrology will return next week.

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1 Kitchen item on a roll 6 Serum vessel

10 End of a “happy” simile 14 The Pequod and others

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16 University of New Mexico mascot 17 Like an illustrator’s fingertips, maybe

edited by Will Shortz 18 Milk sources for feta cheese 19 One of 10 when one “hangs ten” 20 Philosopher who posited that the simplest explanation is the most likely one 21 Tongue ties?

22 Microwave 23 Classroom missile that might be grounds for detention 25 Minor injury for an office clerk 26 Major attack 30 Musical riffing from Ella Fitzgerald 32 “Kitchy-kitchy-___!”

33 Number on a yarn skein 34 Mtn. measure 35 Some Japanese luxury cars 37 They: Fr. 38 Need for a sobfest 40 Whole load 41 Start for the Top 40 song titles “Sixteen,” “Time” and “You” 42 Focal point of an earthquake

No. 0923 44 Lunch carrier, often 45 One making empty threats 46 Furry Endor resident 48 Primer libro del Nuevo Testamento 50 “___ a doctor, but …”

52 Audio brand Beats by ___ 55 Environmental activist Brockovich 56 Series of documents that trace a path, as suggested by this puzzle 58 Immunity-boosting element 59 Bouncy strips that test one’s balance 60 Fringe 61 “Out of Africa” writer Dinesen 62 Bird on the Mexican flag

DOWN

1 Ninny 2 “Ai-yi-yi!”

3 What’s aft a ship’s aft

puzzle by Margit Christenson 4 Chicago trains 5 Make less tight, as a waistband 6 Larynx 7 Ending with Louis 8 At the previous speed, in scores 9 It’s dropped before a trip 10 Detox 11 Feature of a crawl space 12 Have ___ in one’s bonnet 13 Something soft to sit on 15 Lower-priced edition of a book 21 ___-slipper 22 Granola bit 24 Full of cargo 25 Activity that might involve setting out saucers of milk 27 Old-fashioned newsboy’s assignment 28 Toy with tabs and interchangeable outfits 29 Handicraft e-tail site 30 Fulfill 31 Alternative to a staple

32 Writer Carolyn, the pen name of more than 10 authors of the Nancy Drew series 35 “Hasta ___!”

36 Result of whiplash, maybe 39 Something that’s “true whether or not you believe in it,” per Neil deGrasse Tyson 41 Flavor imparter to chardonnay

43 Tests 44 Hide, with “up” 47 Forms to process 48 Mediterranean appetizer 49 Desertlike 51 Longtime film rating org.

52 “Oh, fudge!”

53 Cambodian currency 54 Otherwise 56 Letters on a tire 57 Coastal inlet

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

P A W S

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A P S P E E U C E S Y O O G B U R U E R R M O E A T S S T S H A P E L S R E A

L U R K E S C A P E D

M U L L I G A N

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Custom Crafted Energy Efficient Homes

“We are most grateful to Aaron and his team of craftsmen who made our mountain home vision a reality. Building from out of state could have been a challenge; however, through the use of messaging and digital photography we felt as if we had an onsite presence. We can highly recommend Solstice Construction.”

— Walt and Cathie

828-290-9596 | www.solsticeconstruction.net MOUNTAINX.COM

OCT. 28 - NOV. 3, 2020

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