Mountain Xpress 11.25.20

OUR 27TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 27 NO. 17 NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

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NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

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C O NT E NT S

TRS Inventory on Shakedown Street

Small Biz Saturday Sale

6 FEELING GRATEFUL Teacher Karen Martín, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer and others share thoughts

Rural arts groups have to be nimble on their feet during the best of times.

The pandemic has put the creative minds at new nonprofit Trillium Arts and the established Toe River Arts to the test. On the cover: Melvin AC Howell of Hendersonville COVER PHOTO Camilla Calnan COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick

WELLNESS

3 LETTERS 16 END OF AN ERA Asheville Integrative Medicine closes up shop

18 BEST TO THE WEST Hikers set speed record on Smokies trails

3 CARTOON: MOLTON 5 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 6 NEWS 10 BUNCOMBE BEAT 12 ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES 14 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 16 WELLNESS 18 GREEN SCENE 20 FOOD

FOOD

Antique Green Painted Apothecary Cabinet

6 TOUGH CONVERSATIONS Racial equity focus of recent city discussions

GREEN

FEATURE

NEWS

FEATURES

PAGE 24 NEW KICKS

20 FOOD NEWS December delivers Buddha bowls, KC barbecue and more

22 CAROLINA BEER GUY 24 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 27 CLUBLAND 28 MOVIES

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26 LOSS AND BEAUTY Laura Boswell taps into natural world on chamber-folk EP

30 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 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 DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Gary Alston, Tracy Houston, Henry Mitchell, Tiffany Narron, Kelley Quigley, Angelo Santa Maria, Carl & Debbie Schweiger

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OPINION

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

CARTO ON BY R A ND Y MOL T O N

Keep fighting against aerospace plant The fight over a proposed Raytheon plant that would make warplane parts on the French Broad River isn’t over.

The closed-door negotiations and rubber-stamping by county commissioners of $27 million of tax subsidies for the war profiteers (after overwhelming opposition by citizens in a last-minute public hearing) is disgraceful.

If this isn’t stopped, we will be subsidizing profits for Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon at the expense of current employees that the company is abandoning. What about environmental and public health damages? After a few people profit richly, we can assume the company will abandon WNC for cheaper labor overseas and leave us holding the bag.

Are voters aware we’re rolling out the red carpet for a corporation cozy with repressive monarchies in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia? P&W has emblazoned their … engines with the slogan “Powering Freedom,” but “Powering Genocide in Yemen” is more like it.

Could we get guarantees that the plant would only make parts for civilian aircraft, instead of warplanes? These weapons could easily be turned against Americans and lead to our area being targeted for attacks.

The fact that employees are being laid off from GE Aviation at Sweeten Creek Industrial Park because of the depressed civilian aircraft industry should make us skeptical about the promised balance of benefits vs. costs. What about worse

traffic and decreased quality of life? Will taxpayers get subsidies paid to GE back?

Couldn’t we wait for something like a company making turbines for windmills and tidal power or offer incentives to aid sustainable businesses instead?

We can defeat this devil’s bargain.

Let’s leave it to residents of areas with existing plants to wean themselves from this blood money and nurture what is unique about our area!

— Roger Ehrlich Candler

You need M, A, S, K to spell ‘make it to spring’ I’ve been reminded a lot lately of three great things to know: Fall in Western North Carolina is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, elections do eventually end and wearing masks during a pandemic saves lives. You can take my word on the first two, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will back me up on the mask claim. In fact, the CDC recently updated its findings to show that mask-wearing not only protects nearby people, it helps the person wearing the mask stay safe, too [avl.mx/8qa]. Huzzah!

Thank you to those already consistently and correctly donning face coverings.

I see you. I pass you in the grocery store, nod at you and your dog out walking, and am grateful for you improving public safety while you’re hard at work at your job. And I know you’re dealing with “maskne,” fogged glasses, muffled voices — it can be annoying. But you have the power to save lives! Every day! You and MOUNTAINX.COM

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OPI N I ON

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

a little rectangle of fabric are going to get us through this fall and winter.

I get it. Pandemic fatigue is real. My March 2020 self would be shocked by the risks I was taking by the end of the summer in an attempt to have things feel normal again. But now North Carolina’s infection numbers are breaking records, and with the holidays approaching, they’re likely to get worse before they get better [avl.mx/8qb].

Kudos to Gov. Roy Cooper for smartly lowering limits on indoor gatherings [avl.mx/8qc]. We don’t need any more superspreader events before we have a safe and effective vaccine. So please join me in putting on a jacket and a mask and going outside to support our local businesses and community at a safe distance!

— Mary Ellen M. Kustin Hendersonville

Give help to those in need in WNC As the nights grow longer and the days turn colder, it is of the utmost importance that we remember those who lack the resources necessary to get through the winter. Throughout Western North Carolina, one in six adults and one in four children are considered food insecure, [according to the nonprofit] Community Table, 2018. According to MerriamWebster, food insecurity is defined as being “unable to consistently access or afford adequate food” (food insecure).

In Jackson County where I reside, 59% of students receive free or reducedprice school lunches (Community Table, 2018). These students face the very real possibility of not having food as schools close for their winter breaks. Coupled with online schooling due to COVID-19, many students and families are struggling to feed themselves without community assistance.

As we enter this time of celebration and giving, I ask that we give help to those in our communities who are struggling. Many churches and school organizations across Western North Carolina host food, supply and toy drives during this time of year. While these resources are needed all year long, this time of year is especially important to those who have little or nothing to celebrate with during the holiday season.

For those of us with the resources to provide for our families, it is time to reach out to those who do not. Participate in food drives. Donate to shelters and charities in the area. Stores such as Walmart sell small but warm blankets for as little as $2.50. These small acts of compassionate giving can make a world of difference to those in need this holiday season.

Please reach out to your local shelters and charities and see what you can do 4

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MOUNTAINX.COM

for your community. Much love and God bless during the holidays.

— Jessica Martin Cullowhee

We don’t need Raytheon plant Everyone has likely heard about the new Pratt & Whitney/Raytheon plant going up in South Asheville. I have many concerns about this, the most important being that they are going to build parts for engines for F-35s, which will end up being sold to countries like Israel, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

President Trump has recently said that the U.S. will be selling F-35s to UAE. These planes will be used for more bombing of Yemen and other places. We are already selling lots of weapons and weapon systems to Saudi Arabia to use on Yemen.

Yemen is an unholy mess. So is Libya.

Both these wars were started under Obama and continued under Trump.

These wars do not serve or help regular people in our country at all. They are causing mass deaths and mass misery in both Yemen and Libya. These wars certainly do keep the profits up in the industries that sell military equipment and weapons and bombs. These wars and human misery do not show up on our TV screens, so they are ignored.

[A] major export for manufactured goods from the U.S. is from the military-industrial complex. These jobs pay well, so Americans do not seem to care that these weapons end up hurting ordinary people and destroying the environment in foreign countries. Our politicians certainly do not care. We currently have local Democrats who are cheering on the building of this MIC plant in South Asheville and thereby furthering Trump’s agenda. And you can be sure it will be on Biden’s agenda, too.

We really do not need this in our backyard. We are better than this. And we sure do not need to spend tax dollars to subsidize this Raytheon plant.

— Susan Oehler Asheville

Take the time for a hand recount In a recount for a gap of 10,000 votes or less, it is not enough to run ballots through tabulator machines. A hand recount with voter verification needs to be done.

With this unusual high-absentee ballot election and with large opportunities for fraud — every effort must be made to assure voters of election integrity.

The N.C. State Board of Elections was in no hurry to get in the votes — an

C AR T O O N B Y B R E N T B R O W N extra nine days were allocated. (Where have those ballots been for over a week?)

Now, there should not be a hurry to cut corners with ballot/voter verification.

— Catherine A. Gallagher Asheville

Legalize marijuana to help NC prosper North Carolina is ignoring an opportunity to hugely increase its income and help its most vulnerable citizens.

North Carolina could increase funding for public education, safety programs, law enforcement training, mental health services and substance abuse programs. States like Illinois have proven this is possible through the legalization of marijuana.

The American Civil Liberties Union found that African Americans are about four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites in North Carolina, despite similar usage rates. Though African Americans make up 22% of North Carolina’s population, they make up 50% of the people arrested for marijuana possession. Racial disparities in marijuana arrests have not improved over the last eight years, and in some areas, they have worsened.

The U.S. used the war on drugs to target communities of color, leading to

huge numbers of people incarcerated for nonviolent crimes but with no decline in community crime. Not only would legalized marijuana boost public funding, but the tax revenues from sales could also be used to cover the administrative and expungement costs for communities of color and help undo historical wrongdoings from the war on drugs.

Marijuana could become our new cash crop, replacing tobacco. Tobacco gives big payouts to tobacco companies but otherwise does not help the citizens of North Carolina. Just with the approval of hemp growth and sales, N.C. farmers have seen large increases in income, and some rely less on tobacco. Marijuana would bring even more income for farmers and our state as a whole.

North Carolina needs to take this opportunity to help itself prosper and care for its citizens by simply catching up with other states and legalizing marijuana. The potential public funds could help North Carolina make sure all of its communities have access to services they need.

— Brittany Borras Asheville Editor’s note: A 2018 report by the Center for American Progress notes that crime rates have declined since 1990 and that incarceration has a negligible effect on public safety.

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NEWS

Tough conversations

BY MOLLY HORAK mhorak@mountainx.com Nearly six months have passed since the summer’s racial justice protests over the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd. In that time, Asheville officials have launched a series of initiatives to attempt to remedy generations of harm to Black residents; now, several of those early projects are coming to a head.

Although the full Asheville City Council didn’t meet the week of Nov. 16, a three-member committee continued to plug away at understanding the Asheville Police Department’s crowd control decisions during the summer protests. A new proposal to build affordable housing on land acquired through urban renewal faced community criticism. And the Vance Monument, dedicated to controversial Confederate governor and slaveholder Zebulon Vance, may soon no longer stand above the city’s downtown.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLEX PROPOSED ON LAND EXEMPTED FROM REPARATIONS

Downtown’s Haywood Street Congregation, which has long served

the needs of people without housing, hopes that a 1-acre plot of vacant land on Asheland Avenue will soon be the site of 42 permanently affordable apartments.

City Council has also worked for years to increase Asheville’s stock of affordable housing, but in the church’s case, that objective has gotten tangled up with a more recent Council initiative: halting the sale of property obtained through urban renewal. The parcel in question was acquired in 1991 through the East Riverside urban renewal program but was excluded from a recent resolution stopping transactions of city-owned property until a reparations committee can make formal recommendations.

The real estate proposal passed Council’s Housing and Community Development Committee in a 2-1 vote on Nov. 17. Outgoing chair Julie Mayfield and member Sheneika Smith voted in favor, while outgoing member Keith Young said the project shouldn’t be approved until a reparations fund is created. The committee’s conversation was only a start, Mayfield emphasized at the start of the meeting, with many more opportunities for community discussion to come before a final decision is made.

Drawing strength over distance I am thankful for being healthy and not having to have to see the doctor that often, ha ha! I am also very grateful for my family in Colombia. Despite being away from them, they still give me so much strength to keep up! COVID-19 has affected my country significantly, and thankfully it hasn’t affected anybody in my family yet. I am also thankful for my boyfriend, who has become a very important person in my life in another country.

I have met very talented and caring teachers here that do so much for this community and inspire me every day! They help me believe that compassion and empathy makes us all stronger during these trying times, and it is easier to be hopeful about our future when you are surrounded by people that work 6

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Racial equity focus of recent city discussions

KAREN MARTÍN

so hard to make this world a better place for all of us.

Martín is a third-grade Spanish immersion teacher at Glen Arden Elementary School. X

MOUNTAINX.COM

BYE-BYE? This July photo shows Asheville’s Vance Monument covered with scaffolding and partially shrouded. On Nov. 19, the Vance Monument Task Force voted 11-1 for the marker’s removal. Photo by Virginia Daffron The proposal from city staff and the Rev. Brian Combs, leader of the Haywood Street Congregation, outlines a community with units available at 20%, 60% and 80% of the area median income, equivalent to $16,910, $31,870 and $42,500 per year, respectively, for a two-person family. Roughly 5,500 feet of flexible community space will house nonprofit services, Combs explained, including a food pantry managed by MANNA FoodBank, case management by Homeward Bound and on-site legal counseling through Pisgah Legal Services.

Estimated costs stand at $7.91 million, said Nikki Reid, Asheville’s economic development program director. To keep the project affordable, Haywood Street Congregation is asking the city to sell the land for $1, subject to perpetual affordable housing deed restrictions. Dogwood Health Trust has already committed $2 million; the

church is also seeking a $1 million loan from the city’s Housing Trust Fund.

During the public comment portion of the virtual meeting, some callers argued that selling the parcel would go against Council’s stated commitment to help the Black community.

Instead of transferring the land to the predominantly white Haywood Street Congregation, Dee Williams of Asheville encouraged the city to invest in Black churches and organizations.

Rob Thomas of the Racial Justice Coalition echoed that idea and suggested using the same format to move forward with reparations.

“I’m pretty sure that we have Black churches in Asheville; I’m pretty sure that we have Black real estate developers in Asheville. And if you got those people together to converse and give them the opportunity to develop our community, that’s the solution,” Thomas said.

Other commenters were frustrated with the project’s lack of transparency and the prospect of more affordable housing in an area already saturated with low-income developments. Combs said he had been directed by city staff not to publicly discuss the project until it came before the HCD committee; when asked about this guidance, Assistant City Manager Cathy Ball said she wasn’t sure who made that call or why.

The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Asheville, a group of local Black pastors, has committed to fighting the proposed land transaction on the grounds that it directly takes ownership away from a Black community already deprived of generational wealth, says the Rev. Damita Wilder.

Speaking to Xpress on Nov. 19, she said clergy members only discovered the proposal the evening of Nov. 16, despite earlier conversations with Council members about purchasing similar parcels of land themselves.

The real estate proposal and the committee’s recommendation will go before the full Council on Tuesday, Dec. 8. If approved, the city would enter a purchase agreement with Haywood Street Congregation; the church would then

develop site plans and hold community engagement sessions before bringing plans back to Council for conditional zoning approval in early spring.

APD PROTEST REPORT FORTHCOMING; COUNCIL TO SEE BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE

On Sept. 8, Smith thought the proposed timeline for an internal investigation of the Asheville Police Department’s response to summer racial justice protests was too long to wait. Nearly three months later, her wait is almost at an end.

Appearing before Council’s Public Safety Committee on Nov. 17, APD Chief David Zack affirmed that a complete after-action report detailing the department’s tactical operations and issues during the protests would be finalized within the next “two to three weeks,” within the 90-day window he’d proposed in September.

To create the report, Zack said, APD officials are consulting department policy manuals, protest arrest data, logistical data, “hundreds of hours” of

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body camera and social media video footage and complaints filed by community members. The department is following federal guidelines outlined by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Standards to identify policies and practices used during the multiday response and identifying any that failed to meet community expectations.

The report will not identify any individual officers for poor performance, Zack noted.

“I can assure you that after seeing rough drafts, this report is going to be extremely comprehensive and should answer the questions and concerns that not only the Police Department has, but also our elected officials and community members,” he added.

While the report will be important to understanding the chain of events that happened over the summer — including the use of tear gas on peaceful protesters and APD’s destruction of a medical supply station — city leaders need to move forward now with new crowd control policies to protect residents, said outgoing committee Chair Brian Haynes. A previous report by City Attorney Brad Branham stated that all tactical decisions made during

the protests, including the use of chemical weapons and “sting balls,” were made entirely by APD officers and authorized by Zack.

Council has also petitioned for access to APD body camera footage depicting any use of force that resulted in a formal complaint, the use of tear gas near the Bowen Bridge, the events occurring at the medic station and any arrests made during the protests. A Nov. 12 ruling

by Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Marvin Pope granted the city’s petition; Council members began individually reviewing recordings the week of Nov. 16.

The same day, a coalition of 20 individuals present at the summer protests filed formal complaints to the APD, said local attorney Ben Scales. Speaking on behalf of Asheville’s Racial Justice Coalition at the Nov. 17 meeting, Scales explained that members of the RJC compiled testimonies of excessive force and spent hours fact-checking statements. The majority of those testifying shared their stories anonymously because they feared police retaliation, he noted.

A series of RJC representatives proceeded to share snippets of the formal complaints during public comment.

Jane Doe 5 said she was “accosted with tear gas three times.” John Doe 3 remembers watching APD officers shoot a woman curled up in a fetal position in the middle of the street with pepper balls. John Doe 1 recounted jumping from the second story of a parking garage to escape a wave of APD officers before they launched tear gas canisters into the enclosed space.

VANCE MONUMENT TASK FORCE RECOMMENDS REMOVAL Members of the Vance Monument Task Force voted 11-1 on Nov. 19 to remove the monument from the center of downtown Asheville, marking an end to 12 weeks of intense public comment and community division.

Task force co-chair Oralene Simmons led the roll-call vote for three different options: removal, relocation or repurposing. Scales, also a member of the task force, was the only member to support repurposing.

Since August, the task force has received more than 600 public comments, ranging from impassioned support for immediately removing the Confederate marker to outright fury that anyone would consider moving an important city landmark.

“We have taken a journey together over the last 12 weeks,” Simmons said in her remarks after the vote. “We’ve had many meetings, spent hours planning and gathering data, seeking input and evaluating facts. We accomplished a lot by listening and learning from each other with dignity and respect.”

The task force recommendation will likely go before the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Monday, Dec. 7, and Asheville City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The task force was only charged with deciding the disposition of the monument; if its recommendation is adopted by the two governing bodies, Council and Commission will determine logistics and funding for removal. X

All the essentials As mayor, one of my favorite parts of the job is meeting with K-12 classes. Obviously, that went away with COVID, but I’ve recently become a virtual lesson plan for teachers and students, so book me now!

Since I mostly work from home, I am even more grateful for my dog, Sochi, who my family adopted from the Humane Society back in 2014. He likes to snooze while I Zoom.

I am so grateful to the people of Asheville who have been kind, gracious, patient and creative in the face of this pandemic. I am especially grateful to all our front-line workers, whether it’s our first responders, health care workers, teachers, grocery store workers, and the list goes on. You all make

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ESTHER MANHEIMER it possible for all of us to get through this each and every day. Thank you!

Manheimer is the mayor of Asheville. X

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BUNCOMBE BEAT

Unanimous approval for $27M Pratt & Whitney subsidy

TURBOCHARGED: Aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney will receive $27 million, Buncombe County’s largest-ever economic development incentive, after a unanimous Nov. 17 vote by the Board of Commissioners. Photo courtesy of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County

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In one of its last votes as a body with four Democrats and three Republicans, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners found bipartisan consensus on its largest-ever corporate subsidy. Members unanimously voted on Nov. 17 to award a $27 million economic development incentive, paid over 14 years, to aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, pending the achievement of certain investment and job creation targets.

No commissioners, county staff members or Pratt & Whitney representatives addressed why the subsidy was necessary for the company to make its investment during the meeting. The manufacturer is a division of Raytheon Technologies, a Fortune 50 company with revenues of over $77 billion last fiscal year; as reported by the Hartford Courant, Raytheon had approximately $10 billion in cash on hand as of Sept. 30 and plans to resume share buybacks in 2021.

But language in the resolution approving the incentive stated that Pratt & Whitney “informed the county that if the county did not promise such economic development incentives, then P&W would not plan to come to Buncombe County and complete the project.”

According to Democratic Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, she and her colleagues had spent 15 months discussing the proposal, asking “philosophical questions, very practical

questions and everything in between.”

Members of the public, however, didn’t learn about the project until an Oct. 22 press release from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. The terms of the county’s incentive were not publicly presented until a Nov. 5 board briefing.

Of the more than 20 commenters who called into the public hearing on the incentive, all but Kevin Kimrey, director of economic and workforce development at A-B Tech, opposed the county’s spending. The college plans to build a $5 million training center that will prepare graduates for jobs with Pratt & Whitney and other advanced manufacturing careers.

Many of those criticizing the agreement pointed to Pratt & Whitney’s role in the national military-industrial complex.

Roughly a third of the manufacturer’s 2019 revenues came from military engine sales, according to a presentation delivered by company representative Dan Field. He added that “over 80%” of the Buncombe County plant’s output would support commercial aviation but did not explicitly preclude military production.

“Making our county a hub for the manufacture of tools used for lethal, violent means, known to have cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people across the world, is absolutely unacceptable,” said Asheville resident Jenny Andry. “As an American taxpayer, I already share a portion of my wages with Raytheon’s $100 billion conglomerate, including Pratt & Whitney. I vehemently oppose sharing my home with them, too.”

While several board members, including Republican Joe Belcher and Democratic Chair Brownie Newman, said they may not necessarily agree with all of Pratt & Whitney’s decisions, they argued that the company’s promised 800 new jobs and $650 million in capital investment would bring an overall benefit to area residents.

“My question is whether the location of this new aerospace manufacturing facility will have any impact, one way or the other, on any of those important foreign policy decisions,” Newman said.

“If I thought the decisions made by our local government would have a direct bearing on those issues, I would think about it differently.”

— Daniel Walton X

Short-term rentals lead Buncombe tourism recovery In the midst of COVID-19 and political uncertainty at the national level, ever more tourists to Buncombe County are seeking a room of their own — as long as that room is part of a short-term rental. According to Chris Cavanaugh, interim CEO of Explore Asheville, 82% of the county’s roughly 3,500 whole-house STRs were occupied during October, up from 65% during October 2019.

By comparison, Cavanaugh told the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority board during a Nov. 18 meeting, hotel occupancy stood at 77% for October, down from 82% for the same month last year.

And while overall hotel revenue was down more than 27% year-over-year in September, the latest month for which data is available, overall vacation rental sales that month increased by about 55% year-over-year.

STR revenue in September represented well over a third of Buncombe County’s $36.32 million in total lodging sales for the month, a figure down just 9% from last September. During the first crest of the coronavirus pandemic in April, year-over-year monthly lodging sales were down 93%.

Cavanaugh noted that sales, and their resultant occupancy taxes, were significantly higher than the BCTDA had projected in its fiscal year 202021 budget. While that document had assumed just under $695,000 in tax revenue would be collected for September, the actual figure was almost $1.6 million, or more than twice as much. The board is also not currently funding any paid advertising, making its expenditures significantly lower than usual.

Himanshu Karvir, the BCTDA board’s chair and CEO of Ashevillebased hotel group Virtelle Hospitality, suggested that the trend toward STRs reflects worries about COVID-19 and the potential risk of viral transmission in shared spaces. “The whole-house vacation rental piece is what’s driving that,” he said. “More and more people are trying to do that right now than staying in hotels.”

And board member John McKibbon, whose McKibbon Hospitality manages the AC Hotel Asheville, Aloft Asheville and Kimpton Hotel Arras, acknowledged that his form of lodging may soon no longer dominate Buncombe County. “The trend continues to be up

A GROWING SLICE: Since July, shortterm rentals have accounted for 38% of total lodging sales in Buncombe County, up from 21% in fiscal year 2019-20. Graphic courtesy of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority for vacation rentals versus hotels, and at some point, I think vacation rentals may surpass the amount of income coming in from hotels,” he said.

Despite the importance of STRs to county occupancy tax revenue, the BCTDA board that oversees its spending includes no vacation rental owners or managers. Per the state legislation that established the authority, six board seats are reserved for “owners or operators of hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, or vacation rental management companies,” all of which are currently held by hoteliers.

In February, the Asheville Buncombe Hotel Association had proposed changing the legislation to explicitly include STR owners and other tourism partners on the board.

However, that change was caught up in disagreement with Buncombe County officials over shifts to allowable occupancy tax spending, as well as the state’s COVID-19 response, and has yet to go before the General Assembly.

— Daniel Walton X MOUNTAINX.COM

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ASHEVILLE ARCHIVES

FEA T U RE S

by Thomas Calder | tcalder@mountainx.com

Blackout Air raid warnings sound in WNC, 1942 In the wake of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s subsequent entry into World War II, Asheville leaders prepared citizens for the threat of additional foreign strikes on American soil.

“Fire sirens will be sounded and factory whistles blown for three minutes Monday evening as a test of the air raid warning and black-out signaling system set up [here],” The Asheville Citizen reported on March 5, 1942. “It will be purely a test of the signaling devices — not a black-out, officials emphasized yesterday.”

The signals were inadequate. By and large, residents reported the sirens were inaudible from inside their homes and “hardly audible outside,” according to the paper’s March 10 edition.

The city’s medical mobilization efforts, however, were successful with the majority of physicians, nurses, ambulance drivers and volunteers arriving at their assigned posts within 15 minutes of being called.

Later that month, the FBI organized a five-day war traffic school at the Langren Hotel in downtown Asheville (which previously stood where the AC Hotel stands today). On March 22, 1942, a detailed list of course offerings was featured in the Sunday edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times. Among the many scenarios addressed, participants would learn how to navigate and respond to “bomb damage to streets during air raids”; how to handle crowds at evacuation points; and how to operate vehicles “without full traffic light control during black-outs.”

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NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

By early summer, Asheville City Council approved emergency ordinances “clothing the city manager with sweeping powers” in the wake of an attack, wrote The Asheville Citizen on June 12, 1942. Meanwhile, the paper warned residents that penalties for looting amid an emergency blackout included a $1,000 fine (roughly $16,000 in today’s currency) and/or 12 months in prison.

On July 15, city officials awarded a contract to the Graybar Electric Co. for 18 Type D federal air raid warning sirens at a cost of $33.77 per signal (roughly $540 in today’s currency) to replace the weaker devices that failed to alert residents earlier in the spring.

The following month, at 10 p.m. Aug. 10, the mountains went dark for 30 minutes. “The Western North Carolina blackout test last night was almost 100 per cent effective,” The Asheville Citizen wrote in the following day’s paper. “Excessive cigarette lighting by persons in the downtown area was reported from one town,” the paper noted. “Carelessness by autoists was reported from another.”

In Asheville, the article continued, a few additional issues arose. A lighted window on the top floor of the New Medical building on the corner of North Market and East Walnut streets “offered a perfect target, until an air raid warden got busy,” the paper explained.

Meanwhile, on Battery Park Avenue “all lights blazed in one shop,” the article read. “A large crowd gathered and many of those present expressed indignation and wanted to break out

MOUNTAINX.COM

MOONLIGHT ONLY: Starting in the summer of 1942, residents across Western North Carolina participated in a series of emergency blackout drills to prepare for potential air raids from the Axis powers. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville a door window to gain entrance. City police informed members of the crowd that nothing was to be broken during a test.”

In another instance, the paper continued, air raid wardens were “forced to climb through a transom in the north end of the Arcade building to turn out bright lights which had been left on in an office.”

The newspaper concluded its account of the evening’s blackout with a gruesome anecdote: “A group of boys and girls tied a dead mouse to the doorknob of the Battery Park avenue store which did

not observe the black-out. One of the boys borrowed a lipstick from a girl and scribbled this on the glass door.

‘You had better black out next time.’”

At least three additional test runs were performed in Western North Carolina between 1942 and 1943.

According to local publications, results improved during each subsequent blackout thanks largely to greater community buy-in and less cigarette smoking amid these emergency rehearsals.

Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original text, including the inconsistent handling of the word “blackout.” X

MOUNTAINX.COM

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

13

COMMUNITY CALENDAR NOV. 25-DEC. 4, 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.

In-Person Events = Shaded All other events are virtual

ART Art "Travels": Whitney Museum of American Art Virtual tour led by Asheville Art Museum.

TH (12/3), 7pm, Registration required, $20, avl.mx/8pz Kananesgi Cherokee Art Showcase Live demonstrations and stories.

FR-SU (12/4-6), kananesgi.com Watercolor Painting Demonstration Presented by Barbara Brook.

FR (12/4), 11am, Haywood County Arts Council, 86 N Main St, Waynesville Slow Art Friday: The Human Condition

Discussion led by master docent Sarah Reincke and touring docent Megan Pyle at Asheville Art Museum.

FR (12/4), 12pm, Registration required, $10, avl.mx/8q0 Opening Reception: Botanical Journeys Naturally dyed and eco-printed fiber art.

FR (12/4), 5pm, Free, The Refinery, 207 Coxe Ave

MUSIC & DANCE Akitchitay Live Taino indigenous tribal performance.

FR (11/27), 3:30pm, $20, Waynesville Yoga Center, 274 N Main St, Waynesville

Under the Dogwood Music and clog dancing.

SA (11/28), 6:30pm, Smoky Mountain Event Center, 758 Crabtree Rd, Waynesville

WELLNESS Adult Eating Disorder Support Group Hosted by Carolina Resource Center for Eating Disorders.

WE (11/25), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/82e

BMC Perspectives: Asher Gamedze & Another Time Ensemble Pan-African music performance and Q&A. WE (12/2), 1pm, Free, avl.mx/8qo

Recovery Support Meeting Hosted by First Contact Ministries.

TH (11/26), 6:30pm, Free, avl.mx/7ko

LITERARY Malaprop's Dual Book Launch Marjorie Agosin and Ruth Behar present The Maps of Memory and Letters from Cuba.

TU (12/1), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8pu City Lights Author Discussion Featuring Ginny Sassaman, author of Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World.

WE (12/2), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8ej Firestorm: Stay Home & Write(rs) Group Community writing session.

WE (12/2), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/83c Malaprop's Book Launch Terry Tempest Williams presents Erosion: Essays of Undoing.

TH (12/3), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8pv LEAF Book Launch Party & Short Film Screening The Rebirth of Kool by O. Vazquez.

FR (12/4), 7pm, $25, Registration required, LEAF Global Arts, 19 Eagle St

BENEFITS Beer City Sisters Food Donation Drive-Thru Benefiting Loving Food Resources. Most-needed items: beercitysisters.org.

SU (11/29), 1pm, 27 Club, 180 Patton Ave

Bounty & Soul: Rooted in Health Food education webinar.

MO (11/30), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8qj Immune System Workshop Led by Dr. Kirsten West.

Register: 828-255-8333.

TU (12/1), 6pm, Free, WNC Holistic Center, 390 S French Broad Ave

AGAINST THE STIGMA: In observance of World AIDS Day, the Western North Carolina AIDS Project will premiere a documentary series on the disease’s impact in the region. Six of the short films follow local individuals affected by HIV or substance use, with a seventh highlighting WNCAP’s harm reduction services, advocacy and outreach.

Created by Asheville-based documentarian Francine Cavanaugh, the series will be released through the organization’s Facebook page Tuesday, Dec. 1, 8:30 a.m.-10 p.m. avl.mx/8qk. Photo courtesy of WNCAP THEATER & FILM WNC AIDS Project Mini Docs Short film series on HIV and substance abuse in the region.

TU (12/1), 8:30am-10pm, Free, avl.mx/8qk MountainTrue: 5Point Adventure Film Festival Short film screening and fundraiser.

TU (12/1), 7:30pm, By donation, mountaintrue. org/5pointfilm WNCHA: Guardians of Our Troubled Waters Documentary screening and Q&A with director David Weintraub.

NOW!

Give online to 44 local nonprofits– and get stuff back!

givelocalguide.org 14

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

MOUNTAINX.COM

TH (12/3), 5:30pm, Registration required, $5, avl.mx/8py Immediate Theatre Project: It’s a Wonderful Life 2020 Modern twist on the classic, presented by NC Stage Co. TH (12/3), 7:30pm, $25, avl.mx/8q9

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY Returning to Business Basics A-B Tech Small Business Center management webinar.

TU (12/1), 12:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8q3 Explore Asheville: Oneon-One Wednesday Individual, 30-minute Q&As on marketing, promotion and group sales initiatives.

WE (12/2), 9am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8q5 Incredible Towns Business Network

Weekly meeting.

WE (12/2), 11am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/7g8 Legal Webinar: Commercial Lease Agreements Presented by Mountain BizWorks and NC LEAP. FR (12/4), 11am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8q4

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS Spanish Conversation Group For adult language learners.

TH (11/26), 5pm, Free, avl.mx/7c6 Asheville Public Art & Cultural Commission Special meeting.

TU (12/1), 4pm, avl.mx/8q7 Fairview Library: Improving Youth & Park Health Presented by Jason Urroz, director of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s Kids in

EMPOWERING THE LEADER IN EACH BOY

Journeymen supports adolescent boys on their paths to becoming men of integrity. Our cost-free program is now enrolling young men 12-17.

Mentees participate in bi-weekly mentoring groups and a semi-annual Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend facilitated by men in the community.

journeymenasheville@gmail.com (706) 949-3202

Parks Program.

TH (12/3), 11:30am, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8q2

MARKETS & FAIRS RAD Farmers Market WE (11/25), 3-6pm, pleb urban winery, 289 Lyman St ASAP Holiday Farmers Market SA (11/28), 9am-12pm, AB Tech, 340 Victoria Rd Hendersonville Holiday Farmers Market SA (11/28), 9am-1pm, Historic Train Depot, 650 Maple St Highland Holiday Market Craft vendors and a Christmas tree lot.

SA (11/28), 12-4pm, Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy Crafts After Dark: Night Market Handmade items from local crafters.

WE (12/2), 5pm, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd

KIDS Miss Malaprop's Storytime Ages 3-9.

WE (11/25), 10am, Free, avl.mx/73b Family Outdoor Movie: Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch SU (11/29), 4:30pm, $5, Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave

Introduction to Medicare Webinar How to avoid penalties and save money.

WE (12/2), 2pm, Registration required, Free, coabc.org Homeplace Running Club Led by Raelin Reynolds.

WE (12/2), 6pm, Free, Homeplace Beer, 6 S Main St, Burnsville

SPIRITUALITY Jewish Power Hour Hosted by Rabbi Susskind.

TH (11/26), 6pm, Free, chabadasheville.org/ zoom

VOLUNTEERING Lake Logan Volunteer Thursday Maintenance, kitchen and office assistance. Register: brice@lakelogan.org.

TH (11/26), 9am, Lake Logan, 25 Wormy Chestnut Ln, Canton Literacy Council of Buncombe County: Volunteer Orientation Information on ESOL and adult and youth literacy programs.

TU (12/1), 5pm, TH (12/3), 10am, litcouncil.com Conserving Carolina: Kudzu Warriors Invasive plant management. Register: avl.mx/8de.

MO (11/30), 9am, Norman Wilder Forest, US-176, Tryon Conserving Carolina: Rock Crushers Trail building and maintenance. Register: avl.mx/8ia.

WE (12/2), 9:30am, Hickory Nut Gorge, Gerton

Give for the giving,

but get local goodies The first 500 donors of $25 or more to Give!Local 2020 organizations are getting 2021 a voucher book full of fun 2020 local rewards like pizza, 2021 Voucher Book coffee and pint glasses.

Voucher But there is another Book reward for donating and that’s the chance to win even better prizes: Thanks to our partnership with local businesses, everyone kicking in $25 or more also gets entered into our “Giving Games!”

New to the games this year is a weekly drawing for a gift card of $20 or more to a local restaurant or shop. We have already given away a $25 certificate for Mellow Mushroom and a $20 certificate to West Village Market and Sunflower Diner.

All eligible donors up to the time of each drawing are entered.

That means early donations have the most chances to win!

In addition to the weekly drawing, this year’s opportunities include: Donors who give $25 or more by Monday, Nov. 30, will be entered to win a splurge at Mast General Store. The prize will be awarded as a $100 gift card (plus a bonus mug full of candy).

Donors who give $25 or more by midnight on Thursday, Dec. 31, will be entered to win a two-night stay for two in an Eco-Cabin on Franny’s Farm.

Donors giving $100 or more during the Give!Local campaign will be entered in a drawing for a complimentary foursome at Reem’s Creek Golf Club in Weaverville, courtesy of Appalachian Wildlife Refuge.

No purchase is necessary; see terms at givelocalguide.org for details. Give!Local is Mountain Xpress’ annual campaign to raise money for worthy local nonprofits.

MOUNTAINX.COM

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

15

WELLNESS

End of an era

HEMP & HEALTH

Asheville Integrative Medicine closes up shop

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U R B A N O R C H A R D CI D E R . C O M

BY LESLIE BOYD leslie.boyd@gmail.com After 23 years in town, Asheville Integrative Medicine will close next month, a victim of COVID-19 and the ensuing recession.

“People just stopped calling,” says Dr. James Biddle, the physician who runs the practice. “When you’re worried about paying the bills you have, you cut back on expenses.”

Unlike most medical practices, Asheville Integrative Medicine doesn’t accept insurance. Biddle, who’s board-certified in internal medicine, says he was among the first to take that approach back in 1999. Eliminating the paperwork required by insurance companies meant he could reduce the number of employee hours needed to fill out the forms and could therefore charge less.

Biddle doesn’t see that decision as causing the pending closure, however: Small businesses are particularly vulnerable during tough economic times. “That doesn’t make it any easier to hand out seven pink slips, though,” he notes.

Biddle has spent more than two decades offering his patients alternative treatments for common ailments that conventional medicine can’t cure.

“Most of what’s covered by insurance is inside the box,” he says. “When someone isn’t well, the first thing most doctors do is reach for a prescription pad. … We take a biochemical approach.”

Often, says Biddle, he can address what’s going on with vitamins or other treatments that have fewer side effects and are far less expensive than prescription medicines. He also counsels patients on ways to forestall illnesses by means of exercise, common-sense eating and sleeping habits, and other wellness practices.

After 7 years we are now offering 4 packs of select ciders Masks & Social Distancing Required 16

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

CLEANING OUT THE PIPES

Ed Woeckener has been a patient since September 1998. He had high cholesterol and partially blocked coronary arteries, and after hearing Biddle speak at UNC Asheville, he made an appointment.

“He lives the way he tells other people to live,” says Woeckener, adding, “That’s important to me.”

Biddle proposed chelation therapy, which is usually used to remove lead and other heavy metals from the body.

Although it’s not FDA-approved for cho-

MOUNTAINX.COM

INTO THE SUNSET: Dr. James Biddle announced he will close Asheville Integrative Medicine, his practice of nearly 24 years. Photo courtesy of AIM lesterol, Woeckener says he believes it’s helped him.

“It cleans out the pipes,” he explains.

“I get it done every six weeks or so and I pay about $100. I’ll be 86 next month, so I guess it’s worked pretty well.”

Woeckener is one of about 500 patients cared for by Biddle and the practice’s seven employees. But as the pandemic spread and the recession deepened, they say, fewer people called for appointments.

MANY PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES ARE HURTING

Biddle isn’t alone. In July, an email survey of more than 500,000 doctors conducted for The Physicians Foundation found that 8% of the roughly 3,500 respondents had closed their practices as a result of the pandemic, 43% had reduced staff and 72% had experienced a reduction in income. Of the latter group, 55% said their income was down 26% or more.

In North Carolina, the landscape for independent medical practices mirrors the national numbers, says Franklin Walker, vice president for rural health systems innovation at the N.C.Medical Society Foundation. He’s administering $25 million in government grant funds

to help independent practices stay afloat during COVID-19.

The money, which came from the federal economic stimulus package approved in March, was allocated by the N.C. General Assembly. Independent medical practices can apply through Monday, Nov. 30, for reimbursement of expenses directly related to the pandemic, such as extra personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, tents for outside testing and telehealth technology. The foundation also produced a webinar on how to determine eligibility and apply for funds.

“I wish it had been more of a general fund, but the money is there, and it might help a practice stay afloat,” notes Walker.

More than 560 practices have already applied for funds; any unused

Help for doctors To learn more about North Carolina’s grant program to help small medical practices deal with COVID-related expenses, visit avl.mx/8q1. The deadline for applying is Monday, Nov. 30.

VEGETABLEKINGDOM.COM

“I feel deeply saddened that we cannot continue.”

— Dr. Jim Biddle, Asheville Integrative Medicine money must be returned by the end of December, he says. “I would encourage independent practices to apply. It just might be enough to help you keep your doors open.”

MOVING ON...

Biddle announced the closing in a letter that was posted on the website and also mailed to his patients.

“After 23 ½ years in this practice, it is with a heavy heart that I announce that AIM must close its doors by the end of 2020, due to financial hardships associated with the economic downturn,” the letter begins.

“Over the last two weeks, I have already felt some of the grief, shock, fear and concern that our clients have expressed upon learning of our closure personally. I understand that losing your physician and health-care support here

at AIM may be deeply troubling for many of you. I share in your grief.

“I also share in the grief of our staff, who not only face an uncertain job market in troubled times but also the loss of their workplace family. Our staff here at AIM has been truly dedicated to improving your health; they express their gratitude for being able to contribute to that with a sense of integrity and loving teamwork. I feel proud to have provided a supportive workplace of camaraderie. I feel deeply saddened that we cannot continue.

“Lastly, I am grateful and honored that each of you trusted us to be your partners in your quest for better health.

I am elated for each step of success that we have shared, and regretful for any missed opportunities or missteps. I’ve often stated, ‘The hardest part about being a doctor is being human.’”

“Sometime next spring, I do plan to open a new consulting-only ‘micro-prac-

tice’ under a different business name, with just me and a laptop computer. Alas, I will finally give up my old paper charts and convert to an [electronic medical record system], and most of our encounters will be by phone or video.”

Woeckener gives Biddle much of the credit for his continued good health.

“I’m still here, and my heart’s still going strong,” he says. “I’m hoping I can be one of the patients he continues seeing when he reopens.” X

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BeLoved Asheville co-directors Amy Cantrell, left, Ponkho Bermejo, center, and Adrienne Sigmon, right. Photo courtesy of BeLoved Asheville In the midst of 2020, we learned that the impossible can become possible through the power of community. We miraculously went from delivering 500 pounds of fresh food a week in March to now delivering over 50,000 pounds of food a week. We built the first deeply affordable home with equity in our community. We have celebrated and protected essential workers, honored elders, made visible our friends on the streets and supported families. We have advocated for equity in every area of life. We have created a mutual aid network where thousands and

thousands of neighbors rolled up their sleeves and supported one another.

We see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is the bright light of hope.

From Black Mountain to Weaverville; from Arden to downtown Asheville; from Leicester to West Asheville; from Candler to Swannanoa; we see people being motivated for the biggest dream possible — community, a vibrant place where all are welcome, share fully their gifts, are seen and heard and where all thrive with equity!

Ponkho Bermejo, Adrienne Sigmon and Amy Cantrell serve as co-directors of BeLoved Asheville. X

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NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

17

GREEN SCENE

Best to the west

Hikers set speed record on Smokies trails

BY DANNY BERNSTEIN danny@hikertohiker.com Consider these numbers.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains about 803 miles of official hiking trails. According to the GSMNP 900 Miler Club, just 675 people have hiked every inch of them. And as of Oct. 3, only two people can claim to have accomplished that feat in less than a month.

Nancy Mercure East, a retired veterinarian from Waynesville, and her hiking partner, Air Force veteran Chris Ford of Knoxville, Tenn., set a new record for hiking all of the park’s trails with a time of 29 days, 10 hours and 12 minutes. The two shattered the previous Fastest Known Time of 33 days set by Knoxville trail runner Jeff Woody, who had just completed his own attempt in late August.

While East and Ford were covering familiar territory — East has previously walked all of the Smokies trails twice, and Ford three times — their recent FKT was more than just a hiking feat. East, who volunteers for Haywood County Search and Rescue, wanted to raise money for the national park’s Preventive Search and Rescue Program in honor of Susan Clements.

END OF THE TUNNEL: Nancy Mercure East, left, and Chris Ford stand by the Lakeview Drive tunnel in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just before wrapping up their record-breaking hike of the park’s trail system. Photo courtesy of East In September 2018, Clements was returning from a moderate hike to the park’s Andrews Bald when she apparently got lost on the trails near Clingmans Dome; East was part of the search that found Clements dead of hypothermia a week after her disappearance. “It was heart wrenching,” East recalls, and the experience drove her to promote hiker education in an attention-grabbing way.

A hope undaunted Personally, I am grateful for the embracing mountains of Western North Carolina, which have offered me moments of awareness, peace and courage in the midst of a chaotic time. Working with the Creation Care Alliance has allowed me to hear from communities and people of faith as they seek renewable energy, deepened spirituality and racial equity. The current trends eroding our once-common values honoring truth, wisdom and collaboration will not extinguish my steady hope for our national and global future — a hope for policies and practices that serve all people and planet, starting with our own hearts and relentlessly expanding 18

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

THE REV. SCOTT HARDIN-NIERI

Photo by Sheila Mraz Photography

love into backyards, city streets, forests and beyond.

Hardin-Nieri is the director of the Creation Care Alliance of Western North Carolina X

MOUNTAINX.COM

East traveled to Ohio to meet with Clements’ family, who gave her their blessing, then set up a fundraiser (avl.mx/prva) through the nonprofit Friends of the Smokies. As of press time, she and Ford had raised over $29,000 in recognition of their record-setting trail effort, which the search and rescue team used to buy a new truck.

“Nancy and Chris are truly inspirational. The energy they put into hik-

ing all the trails of the Smokies was matched only by the effort they put into raising awareness and funds for search and rescue,” says Marielle DeJong, director of projects and community strategy for Friends of the Smokies.

“It’s a magical thing to find people who not only have a strong love for the park but are committed to sharing that love with others.”

Saving for the future This year has been rough, but I am so incredibly grateful that I have been able to continue working from home.

We put in a small garden, and I enjoyed watching my 4-year-old’s excitement about planting, growing and harvesting vegetables.

Time and again, the SAHC work team has pulled together and supported each other. With our diverse backgrounds, experiences and deep, heartfelt passion for conservation, I kind of feel like the Avengers assembled — and we always end our meetings with “Go team.”

We need to slow down, listen to each other, recognize hate and take time for each other’s stories. I find hope in watching my older children interested in developments in the world around us and having open dialogues about what that means and how to make the world a better place.

ANGELA SHEPHERD Shepherd is communications director for the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy X

WALKING THE WEB

Unlike a linear path such as the Appalachian Trail, the Smokies trails branch and loop in an intersecting network. Much of East and Ford’s challenge was untangling this web to hike all the paths with a minimum of repetition.

Enter Lane DeCost of Maggie Valley, one of East’s search and rescue teammates. A retired investment analyst, DeCost loves a good puzzle, and after conferring with East and Ford, he devised a daily plan for the trails East and Ford should walk, becoming what the hikers called “the trail boss.”

DeCost’s guiding principles were efficiency and balance. His plan avoided duplicate trail segments as much as possible, assigned big elevation gains to morning hikes and ended every day at an accessible trailhead to facilitate shuttles. To allow East and Ford time for recovery, he mixed easy, moderate and difficult days throughout the schedule — with “easy” defined as anything less than 30 miles and 2,000 feet of ascent in a day.

The two hikers covered over 500 miles while training, ramping up from a couple of days a week to a five-day stretch of challenging trails they nicknamed “the gauntlet.” Although East and Ford had previously conquered “Le Tour de LeConte” in October 2019, setting a mixed-gender FKT by hiking all 44 miles of paths leading to the park’s Mount LeConte in 16 hours and 13 minutes, they wanted to understand how their bodies would react to backto-back days on the Smokies trails.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Ford says of the gauntlet, which included the Deep Creek area of the park, the steep rock scramble of Chimney Tops and a por-

tion of the Appalachian Trail. He and East subsequently chose those most challenging days as the first five of their record attempt.

DAY BY DAY

On a typical day, Ford and East would wake up at 4 a.m. and leave for the park an hour later, with the goal of being on the trail by 6 a.m. Ford, whose trail name is Pacer, led the pair: They averaged 2.5 mph, kept their heart rate at a comfortable level and made sure not to overheat. They ate high-calorie foods like nut butters and dried fruit on the move, only stopping for comfort breaks, to fill up water bottles and to greet well-wishers who recognized them on the trail.

The duo’s support system included Ford’s wife, Jamie, who with other friends and supporters moved cars to where East and Ford were going to be at the end of the day. They were able to get two rooms, some for free, all around the park — The Lodge at Buckberry Creek in Gatlinburg gave them a complementary stay for two weeks. Other times, they stayed in campsites.

In the evening, East’s husband, Larry, resupplied her and Ford with frozen meals that they had prepared at home. The goal was to be in bed by 10 p.m. East tried to get six hours of sleep but often didn’t succeed; she nevertheless says she always woke up fresh the next morning. She posted photos of her day on social media to encourage her followers to donate to the Friends of the Smokies fundraiser.

“You know what you can control, but you don’t know what you can’t control,” Ford adds about the effort.

“It’s harder when you have two people.

I’m superstitious.”

FINAL STEPS

When Ford and East were planning their feat, Hazel Creek Trail had been closed because of bear activity. The rules for an official FKT effort are clear: Hopefuls must walk all of the Smokies trails that are open at the time they “finish a map,” i.e., when they complete the trail system. DeCost and the two hikers had planned for Hazel Creek to stay closed for a while, but the trail reopened on Oct. 1, just a couple of days before the end of the challenge.

“We were really thrown a curve,” DeCost said. “Nancy and Chris hiked those last few days on sheer willpower.” On their last night, the two walked the Hazel Creek trail from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. — an unplanned addition of 22 miles after a day of 34 miles and a short nap.

East’s Oct. 2 Facebook post showed her exuberance: “Hazel Creek in the bag! We hiked 56 miles in 29 hours, so it’s time for some big calorie consumption, nap for a few hours, then chapter 2 begins for our last 30 miles!”

A group of enthusiastic supporters greeted the pair at Big Creek on the North Carolina-Tennessee border as they finished the trails on Oct. 3. All told, the journey clocked in at just under 948 miles in less than 30 days, at an average of over 32 miles a day.

East is writing a book on the experience, tentatively titled Coves, Creeks and Peaks: A Long Walk in the Smokies.

The process is likely to take much longer than the record-breaking hike itself, but she says her attitude of determination is the same: “As long as I can walk, I can do this.” X

NO JOB TOO LARGE OR SMALL

FATHER AND SON

Home Improvement Billy & Neal Moxley

100 Edwin Place, AVL, NC 28801 | Billy: (828) 776-2391 | Neal: (828) 776-1674

Blue skies ahead I’m grateful for my family’s health and our beautiful mountains here. In my professional work, I am grateful for a growing staff who are devoted to clean energy and energy equity. I have overwhelming gratitude for the people who voted for our climate in the recent election.

Mullinax is the manager of the Blue Horizons Project, a public-private partnership dedicated to promoting energy efficiency and fighting the climate crisis throughout Western North Carolina. X

SOPHIE MULLINAX MOUNTAINX.COM

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

19

FOOD ROUNDUP

by Kay West | kwest@mountainx.com

December delivers Buddha bowls, KC barbecue and more

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Like most chefs, Randy Dunn has long dreamed of opening his own place.

Two years ago, he began to home in on a concept, and on Oct. 21, after 28 years working in other people’s kitchens, his dream took flight with the opening of Zen Hen. The Hendersonville eatery serves house-made rotisserie, non-GMO chicken and build-your-own Buddha bowls.

“Health is top of mind for people these days, and there are not many fast-casual, healthy options out there,” says Dunn, explaining why the time felt right for Zen Hen. The menu, he continues, is gluten-free with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.

Customers can choose from eight bases, adding one of six proteins, four of two dozen add-ins (think spiced chickpeas, tamari almonds and edamame), top it off with one of six sauces and bada-bing, bada-boom: Buddha bowl. Popular items so far have been the chili-roasted cauliflower base and curry-roasted organic tofu — about 60 pounds of it a week.

Dun says he’s been pleasantly surprised by the immediate, enthusiastic response to Zen Hen. “It is gratifying to have an idea, see it come to life and get such positive feedback.”

Zen Hen, 1794 Asheville Highway, Hendersonville, avl.mx/8pm

Bear tracks

A couple of years ago, Cheryl Antoncic visited Western North Carolina to hike with her dog and went back home to Connecticut with a proposal for her partner, Jamie “Bear” McDonald: to open the first location of their restaurant, Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ, outside the Nutmeg State, where there are four.

“I saw this available spot in the South Slope,” says Antoncic. “There is such a great vibe in Asheville, so supportive of small business and so in tune with how we support community. It felt right.”

In 2018, the couple leased two buildings on Coxe Avenue that were previously owned by Mike Byers Auto & Truck Repair, but they put the project on hold while they opened their largest Bear’s location in New Haven, Conn.

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BOWLED OVER: Chef Randy Dunn has opened Zen Hen in Hendersonville, specializing in rotisserie chicken and Buddha bowls. Photo courtesy Two Birds Marketing Antoncic returned to Asheville for good in early 2020 with son and pitmaster Collyn McDonald, eventually firing up a COVID-revised plan for the space.

Rather than invest in building out a restaurant that could not seat capacity, they instead drove their supersized food truck to Asheville and parked it at 135 Coxe Ave. with a permanent permit from the city. “We will not be moving the truck,” she explains. “It is the restaurant for now.”

One of the buildings on the property serves as a commissary kitchen for their Kansas City-style barbecue (Bear grew up in KC). The menu includes burnt ends, brisket and baby back ribs, as well as specialties like the MOINK ball — beef meatballs wrapped in bacon (moo-oink) — and the Bear Attack, cornbread topped with mac and cheese and choice of meat. “It’s our version of a bowl,” Antoncic says with a laugh.

Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ, 135 Coxe Ave., avl.mx/8pn

Home plate

Pair HomeGrown restaurant with Proving Ground Coffee Bar and behold: Home Ground Coffee Bar & Deli. A partnership between HomeGrown’s Mikki Loomis and Proving Ground’s Kendall Huntley (who also operates WhispersHoller Farms), Home Ground is now open in the former HomeGrown West site on Amboy Road in West Asheville.

“Mikki and I have been in this industry a long time, and we both have a good idea about food and flavor,” Huntley says. “This feels really good to get behind.”

Home Ground serves coffee drinks using Dynamite and Bean Werks beans; breakfast and lunch options are made with local breads (including gluten-free options), cheese, eggs, sausage and produce. Most importantly, the famous HomeGrown buttermilk fried chicken comes two ways at Home Ground: on a

biscuit with apple butter for breakfast and with pickled onions, sweet pickles and horseradish honey mustard on a City Bakery bun for lunch.

“I’ve been around long enough to know not to make stupid decisions,” says Huntley. “The fried chicken had to be here.”

Home Ground is open daily with limited indoor as well as outdoor seating; plans are underway to add delivery, grab-and-go salads and sandwiches, and a small market.

Home Ground Coffee Bar & Deli 219 Amboy Road, avl.mx/8po

Thinking inside the box When she lived in Iceland, Cassie Cosgrove worked for a company that delivered weekly boxes of organic produce imported from Europe. The pandemic brought her back to Western North Carolina, where she and her husband, a chef, had a cabin. Cosgrove also had an idea for her own business.

“I decided to reenvision the Iceland concept for something I thought was really valuable and important — to

support local small businesses affected by the pandemic,” she explains.

AVL Box was launched in mid-September with a select number of partners providing products for locally sourced food boxes. Three set weekly boxes — Veggie, Essential and Pioneer — include fresh produce with the opportunity to add other items like honey, chocolates, jams, pickles, relishes, kimchi and hot sauces. There are also specialty boxes, such as the Dynamite for Dynamite Coffee fans, or customers can just think outside the box and create their own.

Current farm partners are Sleight Family Farm, Mighty Gnome Market Garden and newly added Culinary Gardener. “As we grow, we will look to [the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project] to help steer us to other farms we can source from,” says Cosgrove.

Membership is not required. The deadline to place an order is Sunday at noon for Wednesday delivery in and near Asheville or pickup from brick-and-mortar locations in Hendersonville, Black Mountain and Brevard. There’s Thursday pickup available in Waynesville and Mars Hill.

Collaboration instead of competition “We’re so thankful for each other! Marriage and raising children can be challenging on its own, but throw in a business, a farm and working together behind the bar — we know we’re lucky to be true partners. We’re also grateful that Sideways is a part of the thriving WNC beer scene; it’s such a welcoming community and it’s wonderful to work with peers that foster collaboration instead of competition. Often times it seems there is a great deal that divides us, but customers and neighbors have shown there’s more that connects us. Through their support of us and our Tip Our Community program, they have allowed us to donate significantly more to local charities and organizations this year than last.”

This month, AVL Box will add gift certificates and introduce holiday gift boxes that can be delivered directly to recipients within the Asheville delivery area or to the purchaser to send a taste of Asheville to family and friends, near and far.

Find AVL Box at avl.mx/8pq.

Meat up

Cyber Monday — it’s not just for electronics, toys and jewelry anymore.

Add local, pasture-raised meat to the items available for purchase online and set your alarm for Hickory Nut Gap Farm’s first Give Thanks Sale, taking place Monday, Nov. 30, 12:01 a.m-11:59 p.m. Check Hickory Nut Gap’s social media sites for the link to buy breakfast sausage, ground pork, ground beef, packaged meat cuts and more.

Curbside pickup will be available at the farm in Fairview 1-4 p.m. Dec. 10-13.

Hickory Nut Gap Meats, 57 Sugar Hollow Road, Fairview, avl.mx/8pr

Winter Match Challenge Asheville Strong, a local nonprofit that supports independent businesses with resources and relief programs, recently launched its Winter Match Challenge. Through Friday, Jan. 15, a grant from the Wanda & James M. Moran Jr. Foundation will match up to $100,000 in donations to Asheville Strong. Money raised during the challenge will go toward the nonprofit’s Feed Our City program, which pays local restaurants to make meals for groups assisting families experiencing food insecurity.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/8o6. X

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21

CAROLINA BEER GUY

by Tony Kiss | avlbeerguy@gmail.com

Obstacle course

Breweries prepare for pandemic winter challenges Fall and winter are always tough times for area breweries as business fades along with warmer days and nights. But the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will make these coming months even more difficult.

Since the pandemic roared into North Carolina in March, many breweries have greatly relied on outdoor, socially distanced seating. And those that have kept indoor spaces open are limited to just 50% capacity under orders from Gov. Roy Cooper that are meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Breweries have been scrambling to find ways to keep outdoor customers as comfortable as possible as the temperature drops. Many are installing city-approved propane heaters that can be difficult to purchase in the pandemic era. Others are tricking out their spaces with even more elaborate plans.

Wedge Brewing Co. has ordered four heaters, though owner/founder Tim Schaller isn’t sure exactly where on the properties they’ll be installed.

“We’ll use two of them at the Foundation [brewery] and two at the Studios [brewery],” Schaller says. He’s already activated the overhead heat on the loading dock at the Studios brewery but notes that seating is greatly reduced on the dock to maintain social distancing.

While the Foundation property has a lot of room for indoor business,

Schaller has kept it closed to prevent coronavirus transmission. The only exception there and at the considerably smaller Studios taproom is to visit the restrooms.

“When it’s a nice day, we’ll post it on Facebook and Instagram and we’ll serve pints,” Schaller says. “We had a pretty good fall. We took all the [COVID-19 stimulus] money available.

We’ll make it [to spring].”

Just up the French Broad River from Wedge, New Belgium Brewing Co. shut down its outdoor seating area on Oct. 26 after “the weather turned,” says spokesman Michael Craft. The indoor Liquid Center taproom was shut when the pandemic hit.

The production side of the massive brewery continues to crank out beer, which is sold in the eastern United States. “We’re going to do curbside sales for a few months until we can have people back safely,” Craft says.

“Fortunately, production is up, so we could move some folks from the LC over to production [and not] lose any employees.”

New Belgium’s original brewery in Fort Collins, Colo., had its own unique challenge. “They had such a terrible fire season that there were a lot of days that they couldn’t even serve people outside because the air quality was so bad,” Craft says.

Lead with love “If 2020 has showcased anything, it’s how vulnerable each of us are. It’s been tumultuous for so many this year.

Without the love and support of the community, family and friends, I don’t think many of us would have survived.

I’m grateful to have a personal support system that I can lean on to help navigate challenges and I’m thankful I have the opportunity to work in a safe environment with co-workers I consider more family than associates.

As 2020 comes to a close, it’s important to remember to stick together, live in hope and lead with light and love.”

— Erin Jordan, head brewer at Archetype Brewing X

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ERIN JORDAN

Photo by Sally Tanner

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BRAVE NEW WORLD: Hi-Wire Brewing has installed eight transparent “igloo” pods at its Big Top location. Each pod has a table and string lights, and will soon include a heater. Photo by Javier Bolea Oyster House Brewing Co. already had one heater on hand for use on its patio, and owner Billy Klingel is adding two more for the coming cold season. However, he’s “absolutely concerned” about surviving the winter, noting that “Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, it’s been 30% of what business used to be.”

Klingel reopened his indoor space but removed barstools. “We have four tables inside, and our capacity is 24 people, and that includes staff,” he says. But many customers “have been patient and willing to wait for a table.”

Hi-Wire Brewing has installed eight transparent “igloo” pods at its Big Top location. Digital marketing assistant Shanda Crowe says each “igloo” has a table — sanitized after each use — and string lights, and as colder weather sets in, the brewery will install heaters in each pod. “It stays pretty warm in there,” she says.

Crowe adds that the Big Top has been operating at about 50% capacity both indoors and outside, while the brewery’s original South Slope location offers exclusively indoor seating and can serve 24 customers at a time.

Sweeten Creek Brewing is using outdoor heaters and has covered its front patio, says Erica Justice, who owns the brewery with her husband, Joey Justice. They will also rely on indoor seating after a spring and summer when the majority of the brewery’s business was from customers sitting outside.

“I think most people have their fingers crossed for a pretty mild winter,”

she says. “We’re trying to prepare as best we can, but I don’t think anyone knows what to expect.”

Highland Brewing Co. will continue using its spacious indoor taproom and can utilize its indoor private event rooms as needed. The brewery will also keep its sizable meadow space in use, but company President Leah Wong Ashburn says it may or may not have the outdoor bar open — and has already closed its rooftop space. “It’s pretty cold up there,” she says.

Wicked Weed Brewing’s Funkatorium venue has electric heaters at tables for its beer garden space, says the company’s pubs director, Jared Edwards. At the company’s Biltmore Avenue brewpub, a heated tent will cover the front patio, and propane heaters will also be used.

Asheville Brewing Co. has ordered 12 propane heaters for use at both its Merrimon Avenue restaurant and its new Rabbit Rabbit event space next to its South Slope brewery on Coxe Avenue. Both brewery locations are closed indoors, and Rabbit Rabbit is all outside seating.

Company President Mike Rangel got the heaters through a bulk order program with Co-Operate WNC and Mountain BizWorks. “We’ve been in business for 25 years, and outside of our first couple of years of struggle, this is the most concerned I’ve been,” he says. X

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NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Rustic creativity

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com For over a decade, Heather Hartley and Phil Reynolds contemplated the next stage of their careers. Based in Chicago for twice that long, working with various arts organizations, the couple dreamed of translating their professional passions to a less hectic setting, one where they could host and connect like-minded creators from across the country.

“We were getting a little restless,” says Reynolds, a native of Palo Alto, Calif., who grew up outside of New York City. “I always thought it would be interesting to establish a place where artists, primarily performing artists, would have time and space to create their best new work.”

Hartley, a fourth-generation Yancey County native who grew up in Boone, had long desired to permanently return to Western North Carolina, and when she and Reynolds

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found themselves in an “empty nest,” they got serious about establishing their nonprofit residency center. Had Hartley’s mother, who passed away in February, not suffered a devastating stroke, Reynolds suspects they might still be in the Windy City, merely talking about moving. But the tragedy provided the catalyst they needed to relocate, and, in 2018, they incorporated Trillium Arts in North Carolina.

Finding property that met their specific goals, however, took considerably more time. They envisioned what Reynolds calls “a beautiful setting people would want to come to for a few weeks,” including a house in which he and Hartley would live, plus lodging and studio space for four-six artists. The couple also sought reasonable accessibility to a decent airport, a nearby grocery store and, in Reynolds’ words, “a road that we don’t have to fear for the lives of our guests driving off of in the middle of the night into some gulch.” They acknowledge it was a lot to put together into one package, especially without a bottomless bank account, and say they’re thankful for patient real estate agents who didn’t cut them loose over the course of looking at what wound up being nearly 100 properties.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March, they were still narrowing down their search, a process that became more cumbersome with the addition of elevated safety measures. But the lockdown had a far greater impact on Trillium’s fundraising efforts, which were already difficult without a site nailed down and led to the cancellation of key meetings with potential stakeholders. “It’s a little hard to go to someone and say, ‘Write a check for $100,000 so we can build a studio and gather some momentum, but we really don’t know where that’s going to be right now,’” Reynolds says.

Forced to reframe their vision, Hartley and Reynolds closed on a Mars Hill property in July that featured many of their intended ingredients.

While renovations are underway on what Hartley calls a “classic fixer-upper,” the couple have been living in a nearby rental home owned by one of her cousins. But thanks to a grant from the Illinois-based Pert Foundation, they made enough progress on the Trillium site to host their initial round of dance residencies on Oct. 16.

Through the Asheville/Chicago Exchange, choreographers Joshua Blake Carter and Vershawn Sanders-

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Rural arts nonprofits navigate distinct pandemic challenges

BOUNDLESS: Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen of Asheville-based Stewart/Owen Dance perform at Trillium Arts’ inaugural event in Mars Hill. Photo by Tanja Kuic Ward each brought three dancers to Mars Hill, where they were joined by Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen of Asheville-based Stewart/Owen Dance, and Hendersonville-based dancer Melvin AC Howell. With 35 masked, socially distanced invited guests gathered on Trillium’s expansive front porch, Stewart and Owen performed a five-minute improv dance on the property’s sizable lawn, Howell led a hip-hop jam on the porch, and Carter’s group took to the house’s great room. “[They] were on one side of the glass, and the guests were outside, looking in through the patio,” Hartley says. “It felt almost like watching an aquarium — a dance-arium.”

Feedback from artists and attendees on the inaugural events were unanimously positive, and while unreliable internet service prevented the dancers from incorporating digital technology, the advantages of the rustic setting far outweighed the disadvantages.

One Chicago-based artist praised the absence of aggravation that often accompanies a long train commute to urban practice studios, and another dancer experienced a nature hike for the first time.

Hartley and Reynolds seek to provide those types of “disconnected” opportunities to national and international artists as Trillium’s fundraising grows and pandemic restrictions gradually lift. They also plan to build a roster of WNC artists who can collaborate with partners in Chicago and as-yet-established U.S. cities. In the meantime, they’ve established the “Miss Sarah”

Fellowship for Black Women Writers in honor of the late Hickory social justice advocate Sarah M. Johnson — opportunities that the Trillium co-founders aren’t sure would have been possible under other circumstances.

“While it’s been difficult to launch a business during the pandemic, I’m also thankful that we’re not a 20-year-old institution that has massive overhead and all of this lost revenue that they’ve been counting on,” Hartley says. “We were small and flexible and able to roll with it because we were new, so I just really feel for our brothers and sisters out there in the nonprofit arts arena that are really struggling right now.” trilliumartsnc.org

DIGITAL REVOLUTION

Among the established area groups fighting for survival — and winning that battle — is Toe River Arts.

Based in Burnsville, the nonprofit is the only arts council in North Carolina that serves multiple counties, providing resources for both Mitchell and Yancey residents. Prior to March, Executive Director Nealy Andrews and her staff had been in talks with their funders to address how the needs of rural arts organizations differ from their urban counterparts. The discussions resulted in the N.C. Arts Council, its largest financial supporter, altering the boundaries for grants so that Toe River’s artists would be competing for awards with peers in counties with similar populations and resources instead of Asheville-based creators.

But when the pandemic hit, those distinctions became even more prominent. Though Toe River receives state funding, Andrews likes to say it’s a grassroots organization in that it works with numerous community partners, housing authorities, chambers of commerce and private businesses, and has a strong connection with local schools.

Those in-person activities came to an abrupt halt in March, and though a crisis plan was quickly developed with its board of directors, she and her staff of three worked remotely until June.

Like many arts organizations, Toe River shifted to virtual programming, hanging its annual blacksmith exhibit as if it would be seen in person, but launching it as a digital experience to increase accessibility. The organization also had the good fortune of establishing an e-commerce website for its retail space in January, and on Nov. 23 moved its annual studio tour online through Sunday, Dec. 27. Though local partners are helping with funding and marketing, and the expansion from a three-day in-person event to a fiveweek digital offering brings exposure (and potential sales) to a national audience instead of merely a regional one, the changes — including the cancella-

tion of its popular exhibition receptions — are palpable.

“Not being able to gather in groups has been tough,” Andrews says. “One special thing about our community is that it’s so close-knit. We have over 100 people for the exhibition receptions in our little space each time — which is amazing, given the size of our community. People feel disconnected, so we’re looking forward to being able to do that again safely.”

Until traditional get-togethers are practical, Toe River will continue to add online options, including prerecorded banjo and guitar lessons that its instructors would typically offer in area middle schools. Upgrading the audiovisual equipment to deliver these and other online offerings came with unexpected costs that Andrews says her group was lucky to afford. Though she notes that smaller rural arts councils aren’t faring as well navigating those expenses, the innate creativity of her peers gives her confidence.

“As artists, we consider ourselves to be problem-solvers,” she says. “We were all forced to innovate, and I feel lucky to be surrounded by so many innovators.” toeriverarts.org X

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NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

25

A& E

Loss and beauty

Laura Boswell taps into natural world on chamber-folk EP Throughout her musical life, Laura Boswell has bounced between the classical and folk worlds. And while the music on her new Place to Be EP — the Ashevillebased musician’s third release — is firmly rooted in the folk idiom, various musical traditions inform her work.

“My training began with classical piano when I was a kid,” she recalls. “Then, I kind of renounced it.” After seven years of piano training in her hometown of State College, Pa., she switched to guitar and redirected her musical focus. “I was an angsty teenager just sitting in my room learning these songs,” she says with a laugh. “I began learning the songs that I was listening to on the radio. I got really into electric guitar and was really into classic rock like Jimi Hendrix.”

By the time she started at Guilford College in Greensboro, Boswell had begun to find a way forward that combined elements of all the musical traditions she’d been absorbing. After changing her major “a number of times,” she settled on classical music performance, building on her piano foundation. “But I also decided to play one of my songs on guitar during my audition,” she says, and soon immersed herself in classical guitar as well as more contemporary music. “I got really into Iron & Wine and Jack Johnson, and I started writing more music.”

Boswell had already been composing for several years, but her earlier material was simpler. “Before I started playing classical guitar, my music was more bluesy and funky,” she says. “Studying classical guitar really advanced my technique — especially right-hand finger work — and that influenced my songwriting.”

Another leap forward came as she discovered the music of Nick Drake. “He

PALEST BLUE: Recorded in collaboration with River Whyless’ Daniel Shearin, Laura Boswell’s new EP is in part a means of catharsis and coming to terms with loss. Photo by Felicity Amoroso [wrote] in a lot of alternate tunings,” Boswell says. “So I was taking the tunings that he plays in and tying in my classical technique to combine those elements.”

Classical music also continued to exert influence on her emerging style. “I got to see so much live music — chamber music, orchestral music — and I was being exposed to more complex harmonies,” Boswell says. And she began to apply those qualities to her own songs. “When I’d write something, there were times where I’d be like, ‘That’s a little bit bland.

What can I do to make this a bit more interesting or unusual harmonically?’”

That complex yet accessible nature is at the core of Boswell’s three-song Place to Be EP. The collection includes two originals — “Loss” and “Idaho to Montana (Loving Softly)” — and the title track, a

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cover of a song Drake wrote and recorded for his 1972 album, Pink Moon.

Boswell’s interpretation adds elements not found in Drake’s original, namely the sound of mourning doves — a nod to the multiple years she lived on Maui when they would wake her each day with their gentle sounds — and meadowlarks, both of which she and producer Daniel Shearin (of River Whyless) sampled and worked into the mix. “I draw a lot of inspiration — for songwriting and in my life — from the natural world,” she says. And, she adds, “I just really love birds.”

Boswell notes that Shearin’s skill at tying in natural sounds on his self-titled 2019 solo EP was a big part of her wanting to work with him, but other factors also led her to incorporate the soft “coo” of the doves. “My grandfather passed away while I was living on Maui,” she says. “I wasn’t able to attend the funeral, so recording ‘Place to Be’ is my way of processing his death and my not being able to be with family.”

Boswell and Shearin recorded most of the EP in early March, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she left the responsibility for overdubbing instruments (including harmonium) with him.

After exercising full control over the making of her previous albums, “it was really nice to just hand it over and just see what someone else came up with,” Boswell says. “I told him, ‘I entrust my songs to you. I trust that whatever you do to these will be really good.’” lauraboswell.com

— Bill Kopp X 26

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

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CLUBLAND

Online Event= q WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. • Izzi Hughes (solo acoustic), 3pm • French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm RABBIT RABBIT Outdoor Movie: Planes, Trains & Automobiles, 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Old Sap (solo acoustic), 6pm TRISKELION BREWERY InterActive TriskaTrivia, 7pm TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic w/ Thomas Yon, 7pm SOVEREIGN KAVA q Poetry Open Mic, 8:30pm, avl.mx/76w THE PAPER MILL LOUNGE Karaoke X, 9pm

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26 LAZY HIKER BREWING SYLVA Open Jam, 5pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Open Mic w/ Thomas Yon, 6pm TRISKELION BREWERY Jason’s Technicolor Cabaret: Music & Comedy, 7pm ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Gunslinging Parrots (Phish tribute), 8pm

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Roots and Dore (blues), 3pm

TRISKELION BREWERY InterActive TriskaTrivia, 7pm

MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Laura Blackley (blues, soul), 6pm

TWIN LEAF BREWERY Open Mic w/ Thomas Yon, 7pm

LAZY HIKER BREWING SYLVA Live Karaoke, 7pm

ISIS MUSIC HALL The High Lonesome Dreamers (Americana, country), 7pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Kid Billy (solo multi-instrumentalist), 7pm FLEETWOOD’S Deathbots (punk rock), 8pm BEN’S TUNE UP DJ Kilby Spinning Vinyl, 10pm

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28

HOME RUN: Asheville’s Chuck Brodsky is a storyteller in the grand tradition. With 12 folk-roots albums to his credit, the “baseball bard” has 22 story songs enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He plays a show at Isis Music Hall Saturday, Nov. 28, 7 p.m. $15. avl.mx/8qL. Photo by David J. Simchock

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Space Kadet (electronica), 5pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Letters to Abigail (acoustic duo), 7pm

WAGBAR Jesse Stockton (Americana, rock), 5pm

ODDITORIUM Outdoor Show w/ Joe Buck Yourself (punk), 8pm

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BREWERY Howie Johnson Band (blues, rock), 6pm

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29

SWEETEN CREEK BREWING John Emil (Southern blues, rock), 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Sunday Jazz Jam Brunch, 1:30pm

THE GREY EAGLE Patio Show w/ Sean K. Preston (country, blues), 6pm

SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Mr Jimmy (blues), 2pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL Chuck Brodsky (Americana, folk), 7pm

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ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Hot Club of Asheville (jazz, swing), 4pm RIVERSIDE RHAPSODY BEER CO. Drinkin’ & Thinkin’ Trivia, 4pm 185 KING STREET Open Electric Jam, 6pm THE GREY EAGLE Patio Show w/ Nina & The Buffalo Riders (soul), 6pm

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30

RABBIT RABBIT Silent Cinema: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, 7:30pm SOVEREIGN KAVA q Poetry Open Mic, 8:30pm, avl.mx/76w THE PAPER MILL LOUNGE Karaoke X, 9pm

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3

RABBIT RABBIT Outdoor Movie: Edward Scissorhands, 5:45pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. The Last Full Measure (Americana, blues), 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Nerdy Talk Trivia, 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. It Takes All Kinds Open Mic Night, 7pm

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1

ISIS MUSIC HALL An Evening with Tim Easton (solo acoustic), 7pm THE 2ND ACT Izzi Hughes (rock, folk), 7pm

BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Hope Griffin (blues, soul), 2pm

TRISKELION BREWERY JC & the Boomerang Band (Irish trad, folk), 6pm

SAINT PAUL MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS Folkadelic 3, 2:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Team Trivia Tuesday, 6pm

THE GREY EAGLE Blake Christiana & Rick Bugel of Yarn w/ Mike Sivilli of Dangermuffin, 8pm

ISIS MUSIC HALL Cane Mill Road (Americana, bluegrass), 7pm

BALSAM FALLS BREWING CO. Beer Brains Trivia, 8pm

BEN’S TUNE UP Comedy Open Mic w/ Baby George, 9pm

2020 GUIDE

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ASHEVILLE’ F AV O R I T E S S PEOP LE, PLAC ES, GOO DS & SERV ICES

the Definitive G uide

MOUNTAINX.COM

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

27

MOVIE REVIEWS THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS

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

= MAX RATING

H PICK OF THE WEEK H

Uncle Frank HHHHS DIRECTOR: Alan Ball PLAYERS: Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis, Peter Macdissi, Margo Martindale, Judy Greer, Steve Zahn, Stephen Root DRAMA RATED R Set largely in the fictional Creeksville, S.C., Uncle Frank was filmed around Wilmington, N.C., by a writer/director who grew up in Marietta, Ga. Alan Ball (American Beauty; HBO’s “True Blood”) knows the South and the intensity of the familial bonds that shape its culture — and sometimes drive people to cut ties to free themselves. In this case, the escapee is gay, 40-something Frank (Paul Bettany), happily partnered with Wally (Peter Macdissi, HBO’s “Six Feet Under”) in New York City while still telling his family he has a girlfriend.

It’s 1972, and when Frank has to drive home for a funeral, both his 18-year-old niece Beth (Sophia Lillis, It) and Wally tag along, getting ever closer to the inevitable reveal to Frank’s family. The trip also stirs uncomfortable memories of Frank’s first love, which have coalesced into a knot of guilt that threatens to wreck everything he holds dear.

Uncle Frank is a coming-out movie, a road movie, a coming-of-age movie (Beth’s) and a family melodrama all rolled into one, and Ball makes some pleasingly unusual choices in each category. It’s all grounded by a heartbreaking performance by Bettany, shrugging off his Avengers gloss to appear vulnerable and a bit smug. Lillis is charming, despite 28

BRUCE STEELE bcsteele@gmail.com

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

her underwritten character, and Macdissi manages to be both hard-edged and the film’s comic relief. An A-list supporting cast also includes Judy Greer, Steve Zahn, Stephen Root and the always amazing Margo Martindale.

Ball has long been a wry observer of cultural quirks, and while there’s a lot of drama in Uncle Frank, there’s also a great deal of humor, especially in its road-trip segment. Then, once everyone’s back at home, what had seemed for much of its length to be a condemnation of the South turns out to be a kind of love letter to Southern families — which may have their poisonous apples, like anywhere, but whose protective instincts can cut both ways.

Available to stream starting Nov. 25 via Amazon Prime Video REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM

Happiest Season HHHH

DIRECTOR: Clea DuVall PLAYERS: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie COMEDY/ROMANCE RATED PG-13 Picture Meet the Parents and The Family Stone, but a twinge funnier, a smidge more heartfelt and a whole lot gayer, and you have writer/director Clea DuVall’s new Christmas rom-com, Happiest Season.

MOUNTAINX.COM

We meet Abby (Kristen Stewart) and her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis) as they sweetly kiss under the softly falling nighttime snow and impulsively agree to go home for the holidays together.

Waking up with a renewed spirit, Abby excitedly decides that she should propose to Harper on Christmas morning at her parents’ house and all will be well, right?

Not exactly. As with many “meet the parents” narratives, the person taking their partner home reveals a secret just before they arrive, jolting the other party (and audiences) into a tizzy of anxiety.

Here, Harper drops the bomb that she’s actually not out to her conservative parents, and with her father’s mayoral campaign overshadowing the holidays and stressing her mother out, she just couldn’t find the “right time” to tell them.

Instead, Harper has relayed to her family that Abby is her orphaned female roommate who has nowhere to spend the holidays. Abby is understandably shaken by this news, having been with Harper for a year at this point, but she musters the courage of any on-the-brink-of-proposing partner and agrees to keep up the straight charade for the duration of the trip.

Though the premise and subsequent resolution feel a touch too neat and tidy for my “Bah, humbug!” brain, I certainly recognize the importance of LGBTQ+ representation on screen that isn’t mired in trauma or suffering, but instead emphasizes the rare and often underseen depictions of queer joy. In keeping with the spirit of the season, I’ll happily concede that Happiest Season is a boost of buzzy, festive feelings wrapped up in a funny, earnest narrative and is exactly the antidote we need right now.

Read the full review at mountainx.com/movies/reviews Available to stream starting Nov. 25 via Hulu REVIEWED BY KRISTINA GUCKENBERGER KRISTINA.GUCKENBERGER@GMAIL.COM

Hillbilly Elegy HH DIRECTOR: Ron Howard PLAYERS: Glenn Close, Amy Adams, Gabriel Basso, Owen Asztalos FACT-BASED DRAMA RATED R Edwin Arnaudin: Back in 2016 when J.D. Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, was published, it seemed like everyone besides me was reading it — including you! What

Kristina Guckenberger

Melissa Myers

did you think of the book, both on its own terms and its adaptability to the screen?

Bruce Steele: The book is a paradox. It’s one man’s attempt to explain the mindset of an entire culture — poverty-hobbled Appalachia — but it’s almost entirely anecdotal, as if the particular stories of Vance’s dysfunctional family explained everything from the opioid epidemic to Trumpism. It’s full of good stories and smart insights, but it’s not journalism. It’s a memoir. This specificity, in the guise of universality, is what offended a lot of Appalachian people who share Vance’s concern for the culture he grew up in but don’t share his exact experiences.

A Hillbilly Elegy documentary might have enlarged on Vance’s work, but a narrative film can’t help but narrow it.

EA: In the age of the docu-series, it is a bit odd that a nonfiction approach wasn’t taken — especially given the involvement of recently documentary-centric Ron Howard, who seems a poor choice to direct this material in narrative form.

Sure, the guy got his start playing Opie Taylor in the sub-Appalachian town of Mayberry, and Rush (2013) and Solo (2018) are among his best and most exciting films, but he’s firmly back in awards-pandering mode here, albeit without the quasi-excitement of A Beautiful Mind. Did you find any part of this film successful?

BS: I liked the casting of J.D. in both his early teen self (Owen Asztalos) and law school “present” (Gabriel Basso, The Kings of Summer). Both young actors were quite good, and Howard gets points for not trying to prettify his protagonist.

But I doubt that anyone who hasn’t read the books will understand the boy’s divided loyalties between small-town Ohio, where his mother lived, and Kentucky hill country, where his “people” still reside, much less his drive to differentiate himself from his roots. As opioid addiction dramas go — J.D. has to rush home from Yale to deal with the latest overdose by his mother, Bev (Amy Adams) — I’d rank this one below Beautiful Boy since I don’t think Howard ever gets into Bev’s head.

Read the full review at ashevillemovies.com Available to stream via Netflix

Superintelligence HS DIRECTOR: Ben Falcone PLAYERS: Melissa McCarthy,

James Corden, Bobby Cannavale ACTION/COMEDY RATED PG An omnipresent artificial intelligence voiced by James Corden is trying to determine whether to save, enslave or destroy humanity, but it needs a little more intel before it makes a decision. Enter Carol (Melissa McCarthy), the most average human being on Earth, whom the AI follows in order to form its decision.

Amateurishly directed by McCarthy’s husband, Ben Falcone, Superintelligence takes a premise oozing with comedic potential — starring an actor who, in her supporting roles, consistently delivers side-splitting performances — and squanders these golden opportunities, delivering a dud with only a few laughable moments.

Though credited to Steve Mallory, who also wrote the lousy McCarthy vehicle The Boss, one wonders if the hidden curveball of Superintelligence is that the screenplay was in fact AI-generated. The standard formula is there: protagonist, antagonist and love interest, plus best friend who generates more laughs than the lead. But the end product is a middle-of-the-road romantic comedy that haphazardly mixes in sci-fi and action elements. Somebody turn off the simulation, please!

Given McCarthy as the lead, I expected some over-the-top acting and slapstick humor — an overexaggerated character like her role as Megan in Bridesmaids.

Unfortunately, the entire cast takes itself far too seriously, from McCarthy to Corden to Falcone, the latter of whom pops up as a CIA agent.

If you want the least offensive and most vanilla new movie to stream for your family for the holidays, with approximately five total laughs, Superintelligence is a good bet. Otherwise, queue up Bridesmaids, Can You Ever Forgive Me? or some “Gilmore Girls” episodes to remind yourself of McCarthy’s talents.

Available to stream starting Nov. 26 via HBO Max REVIEWED BY MELISSA MYERS MELISSA.L.MYERS@GMAIL.COM

Zappa HHHS DIRECTOR: Alex Winter PLAYERS: Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED As an exploration of Frank Zappa as a man and artist, Zappa is a rousing success. But in its presentation of the

musician’s art, the documentary is mediocre at best.

The latest film from Alex Winter — who’s having quite the year behind the camera (Showbiz Kids) and in front of it (Bill & Ted Face the Music) — boasts “unfettered access to the Zappa family trust and all archival footage” but spends too much time discussing the music and not enough time spotlighting the songs themselves. What’s included is often drowned out by people talking and the overall musical selections offer a poor representation of the artist’s distinct brand of genius.

Whether intentional or accidental, the film is more an exploration of Zappa’s mind and his inability to fit into the mainstream than what made his music great — beyond demonstrating the latter’s value as outsider art. His inspirational battles with the federal government in the 1980s over censorship and the freaky claymation interludes by Bruce Bickford enhance the flow, as do interviews with those close to him.

But as entertaining and generally well made as Zappa often is, the story has already been told — and in more impressive fashion. Thorsten Schütte covered much of the same territory in his 2016 documentary Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words, and while he primarily utilized filmed interviews instead of home movies, he also did right by his subject’s music.

REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM

KIDS REVIEW

The Croods: A New Age HHHHH DIRECTOR: Joel Crawford PLAYERS: The voices of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran, Clark Duke ANIMATED/ADVENTURE RATED PG

Lucas McKee

The Croods: A New Age is an amazing movie! I bet everyone who watches it will love it. This movie is extremely funny and action-packed!

The Croods are a family of cave people who found a guy named Guy (ha! ha!) in their first movie. In this sequel, the Croods and Guy discover a place full of yummy fruit, but they get caught in a trap! We learn that the trap was set by Guy’s parents’ friends (named the Bettermans), who he hasn’t seen in years.

The Bettermans’ daughter Dawn tells Eep (one of the Croods) that her parents won’t let her cross over the wall they built around their property. But Eep says that it’s so much better on the other side. They ride on a multicolored, saber-toothed tiger across the wall, but they run into a bunch of bees. Dawn gets stung, but what do the bees look like and where is Dawn stung? The bees look like rhinos and one bee’s stinger goes through Dawn’s hand!

There are also at least 1,000 bananas at the Bettermans’ home. Their only rule is, “Don’t eat the bananas!” Grug, the head of the Croods, gets mad at one point and breaks the rule. But how many bananas does he eat? All of them. It turns out that Mr. Betterman has been feeding bananas to something mysterious on the other side of the wall. It’s a tribe of punch monkeys. Guy, Grug and Mr. Betterman also see head-butt monkeys, kick monkeys and more.

The monkeys’ language is based on hitting. At one point, Grug starts punching Mr. Betterman in the face, and, in punch monkey language, his punches mean “rock rock rock.”

I can’t tell you the rest. You’ll have to see for yourself.

Starts Nov. 25 at AMC River Hills 10 and Carolina Cinemark REVIEWED BY LUCAS MCKEE

AVAILABLE VIA FINEARTSTHEATRE.COM (FA) GRAILMOVIEHOUSE.COM (GM) Born to Be (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) Citizens of the World (NR) HHHS (GM) City Hall (NR) S (GM) Coded Bias (NR) HHHS (GM) Collective (NR) HHHH (FA) Coming Home Again (NR) HHHHS (GM) Desert One (NR) HHHH (FA) The Donut King (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) Dosed (NR) HHHH (FA, GM) Driven to Abstraction (PG) HHS(FA) Fantastic Fungi (NR) HHHH (FA) Flannery (NR) HHHH (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) Madre (NR) H (GM) Martin Eden (NR) HHH (FA) Meeting the Beatles in India (NR) HHS (FA) Monsoon (NR) HHHH (GM) Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (NR) HHHH (GM) Out Stealing Horses (NR) HHHHS (FA) RBG (NR) HHHH (FA) We Are Many (NR) HH (FA) Zappa (NR) HHHS (FA, GM) MOUNTAINX.COM

NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): “A little too much is just enough for me,” joked poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. I suspect that when he said that, he was in a phase similar to the one you’re in now. I bet he was experiencing a flood of creative ideas, pleasurable self-expressions and loving breakthroughs. He was probably right to risk going a bit too far because he was learning so much from surpassing his previous limitations and exploring the frontiers outside his comfort zone. Now here’s your homework, Aries: Identify two actions you could take that fit the profile I’ve described here.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Those who build walls are their own prisoners,” wrote Libran author Ursula K. Le Guin. She continued, “I’m going to fulfill my proper function in the social organism. I’m going to unbuild walls.” I hope that sounds appealing to you, Libra. Unbuilding walls is my first choice for your prime assignment in the coming weeks. I’d love to see you create extra spaciousness and forge fertile connections. I’ll be ecstatic if you foster a rich interplay of diverse influences. If you’re feeling super-plucky, you might even help unbuild walls that your allies have used to half-trap themselves.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Biologists believe that no tree can grow more than 436 feet tall. As much as an individual redwood or spruce or mountain ash might like to sprout so high that it doesn’t have to compete with other trees for sunlight, gravity is simply too strong for it to pump enough water up from the ground to its highest branches. Keep that in mind as a useful metaphor during the next 10 months, Taurus. Your assignment is to grow bigger and taller and stronger than you ever have before — and know when you have reached a healthy level of being bigger and stronger and taller.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “If you can’t help me grow, there’s no point with you being in my life.” Singer and actress Jill Scott said that. In my view, Scorpios may be the only sign of the zodiac that can assert such a sentiment with total sincerity and authority. For many of the other tribes, it might seem harsh or unenforceable, but for you it’s exactly right — a robust and courageous truth. In addition to its general rightness, it’s also an especially apt principle for you to wield right now. The coming weeks will be a potent time to catalyze deep learning and interesting transformations in concert with your hearty allies.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I haven’t felt the savory jolt of bacon in my mouth since I was 15, when I forever stopped eating pigs. I still remember that flavor with great fondness, however. I’ve always said I’d love to find a loophole that would allow me to enjoy it again. And then today I found out about a kind of seaweed that researchers at Oregon State University say tastes like bacon and is healthier than kale. It’s a new strain of a red marine algae called dulse. If I can track it down online, I’ll have it for breakfast soon. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because I suspect that you, too, are primed to discover a fine new substitute — something to replace a pleasure or resource that is gone or taboo or impossible. What could it be?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): By age 49, Cancerian author Norman Cousins had been struck with two debilitating diseases. His physicians gave him a one-in-500 chance of recovery. He embarked on a series of unconventional attempts to cure himself, including “laugh therapy” and positive self-talk, among others. They worked. He lived lustily for another 26 years and wrote several books about health and healing. So perhaps we should pay attention to his belief that “each patient carries his own doctor inside him” — that at least some of our power to cure ourselves resides in inner sources that are not understood or accredited by traditional medicine. This would be a valuable hypothesis for you to consider and test in the coming weeks, Cancerian. (Caveat: But don’t stop drawing on traditional medicine that has been helping you.)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In accordance with astrological rhythms, I’m giving you permission to be extra regal and majestic in the coming weeks.

You have a poetic license to be a supremely royal version of yourself, even to the point of wearing a jeweled crown and purple silk robe. Would you prefer a gold scepter with pearls or a silver scepter with rubies? Please keep in mind, though, that all of us non-Leos are hoping you will be a noble and benevolent sovereign who provides enlightened leadership and bestows generous blessings. That kind of behavior will earn you the right to enjoy more of these lofty interludes in the future.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the coming weeks, I will refer to you as The Rememberer. Your task will be to deepen and refine your relationship with the old days and old ways — both your own past and the pasts of people you care about most. I hope you will take advantage of the cosmic rhythms to reinvigorate your love for the important stories that have defined you and yours. I trust you will devote treasured time to reviewing in detail the various historical threads that give such rich meaning to your web of life.

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NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2020

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “You live best as an appreciator of horizons, whether you reach them or not.” Those words from poet David Whyte would be a perfect motto for you to write out on a piece of paper and tape to your bathroom mirror or your nightstand for the next 30 years. Of all the tribes in the zodiac, you Sagittarians are most likely to thrive by regularly focusing on the big picture. Your ability to achieve small day-by-day successes depends on how well you keep the long-range view in mind. How have you been doing lately with that assignment? In the coming weeks, I suspect you could benefit from hiking to the top of a mountain — or the metaphorical equivalent — so you can enjoy seeing as far as you can see.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Sensible Capricorn author E. M. Forster (1879–1970) said, “Passion does not blind. No. Passion is sanity.” That’s the opposite of what many poets and novelists have asserted down through the ages, which is that passion isn’t truly passion unless it renders you half-crazy, driven by obsession and subject to delusion and irrationality. But in offering you counsel in this horoscope, I’m aligning myself with Forster’s view. For you in the coming weeks, Capricorn, passion will help you see clearly and keep you mentally healthy.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Alpine swifts are small birds that breed in Europe during the summer and then migrate long distance to Africa for the winter. Ornithologists were shocked when they discovered that at least some of these creatures fly for more than 200 days without ever once landing on the ground. They’re not always flapping their wings — sometimes they glide — but they manage to do all their eating and drinking and sleeping and mating in mid-air. Metaphorically speaking, I think it’s important for you to not act like the alpine swifts in the coming months, dear Aquarius. Please plan to come all the way down to earth on a regular basis.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): There’s substantial evidence that when people talk to themselves out loud in the midst of doing a task, they improve their chances of succeeding at the task. Have you ever heard athletes giving themselves verbal encouragement during their games and matches?

They’re using a trick to heighten their performance.

In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to experiment with this strategy in the coming weeks.

Increase your brainpower by regularly offering yourself encouraging, supportive instructions. It’s fine if you just sort of whisper them, but I’d love it if now and then you also bellowed them.

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11 “We ___ loudest when we ___ to ourselves”: Eric Hoffer 14 Taj Mahal city

15 College in Manhattan 16 Halloween time: Abbr.

17 Ways to cross a river in Switzerland?

19 Big expense for some city dwellers 20 Old Glory’s land, for short 21 Funny Brooks 22 Prop for Mr. Peanut 23 Crow, e.g.

25 Fixed a mistake at a card table 28 First showing at a film festival in France?

31 Co. that merged into Verizon 34 Owned 35 ___ Conventions 36 Supercharge, as an engine 37 Lightly touch, as with a handkerchief 38 Wyoming-toMissouri dir.

39 Chinese dynasty circa A.D. 250 40 Actress Brie of “Mad Men” 42 Colorful fish

No. 1021 43 Creator of sketches, in brief 44 Census taker in India?

48 Like Barack Obama’s presidency 49 Loads 52 Denny’s competitor 53 Mensa stats 55 Urban sitting spot 57 Classic tattoo word 58 Police dragnet in South Korea?

61 Spanish article 62 How café may be served 63 “If you’re asking me,” in textspeak 64 W-2 fig.

65 Fairly 66 “___ Eyes” (1975 Eagles hit)

DOWN 1 Hindu title of respect 2 Expel 3 Misspeaking, e.g.

puzzle by Dory Mintz 4 Some derivative stories, colloquially 5 Brew with hipster cred 6 American pop-rock band composed of three sisters 7 Said “I’ll have …”

8 Cone-shaped corn snacks 9 Swelling reducer 10 Sounds of satisfaction 11 Broadcast often seen at 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.

12 “That is too much for me” 13 To be: Fr. 18 Cake with rum 22 Battle of Normandy city 24 Increase, as resolution 26 Watches Bowser, say 27 Dueling sword 29 Catch 30 Skate park feature 31 Many a May or June honoree 32 Some fund-raisers

33 1975 hit by the Electric Light Orchestra 37 “Just ___” (Nike slogan) 38 Very long time 41 Union workplace 42 Small citrus fruit 45 Baltimore athlete 46 If-___ (computer programming statement) 47 Wholesale’s opposite

50 Like a bad apple 51 2014 Winter Olympics locale 52 “___ in the Morning” (bygone radio show) 54 Narrow opening 56 Sound: Prefix 58 Gradually weaken 59 Home of most of the members of NATO: Abbr.

60 Total mess

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

A C T I V

S H A M U

M O A B

O K R A

S U N G L A S S E S

A T T A C K S

A H O K

P O L O

U P E D E O K

S I C

Y A E S O H M E A N S N O T K U V I C O K C A N I L Y L F U L R B Y E

L H A S A S T Y G E L I D

P P L E O A N G L O A R I L U T E E G H L O O R Y R A N A F R O E T A L S P I Y I M O D I U S T

A T O P

Z E S T

A S E A

G I V E S I T A G O

O R E S

N E X T

F O G I N

T N O T E

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