Mountain Xpress Forums

Rock hopping / creek walks near Asheville

2008-07-19T15:02:02-05:00

Hi all,

I’ve got a little boy that loves the water. The weather is heating up again and I’m looking for suggestions for creek walks / rock hopping streams that aren’t an hour away. Any ideas?

Rich

How diverse is Asheville, really?

2008-06-26T12:02:06-05:00

It seems like every time I talk to someone in Asheville about what they like about the city, the world “diversity” pops up. So many different kinds of people, faiths and lifestyles are represented here. Even though I’ve lived here since the early 1990s, I’ve had trouble agreeing with this view, as Asheville—and downtown in particular—seems to be more increasingly more homogenous from a racial and socioeconomic view.

But maybe I’m wrong. Anyone care to explain what exactly makes Asheville seem diverse?

Predictions

2007-12-18T12:54:05-05:00

The Xpress has more soccer fans than baseball of football. This makes me a sad panda.

Who Is The Real Senator Barack Hussein Obama?

2008-07-17T10:20:28-05:00

Obama is an eloquent speaker, and has of late shown himself to be an adept politican by listing to the right lately to try to widen his appeal for the upcoming general election. Because of the move to the right, he has incurred criticism from his leftwing supporters, and even some of the “in the tank for Obama” newspapers like the Washington Post and the New York Times.

So WHO is the real Obama? A new type of politician as fresh on the scene as Ronald Reagan was in 1980? Or an old type politician who says what is expedient for the moment? Is he a straightforward man? What of his 20 year association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a firey man who said a lot of very controversial things and was a close friend of the anti-semite Nation Of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan? Obama eventually denounced him, but only after the pressure to do so rose to a level that could not be ignored. Obama has admitted to a long friendship with William Ayers, an SDS Weather Underground domestic terrorist who bombed government buildings in the early 1970s. Ayers somehow escaped the punishment he deserved, due to legal technicalities. Rather than quietly live as a citizen, he has said he not only is not sorry for what he did in his youth, but wished he had bombed more buildings. Ayers wrote an unrepentant book about his domestic terrorism that was ironically published on 09-11-01. A Chicago Tribune color picture showed Ayers trampling an American flag. Add to this, a campaign photo showing Obama with hands at his side rather than over his heart like all the other democrat candidates were doing during the National Anthem, and you wonder if this man is fit to be Commander-In-Chief.

So what gives with Senator Barack Hussein Obama? Is he a refreshing breath of air who will somehow change America for the better? Or???

NC Medical Marijuana Legislation

2008-04-02T12:13:11-05:00

Did you ever wonder what is going on in NC to promote safe and legal access to cannabis/marijuana for patients, their caregivers and for researchers? Americans for Safe Access (ASA) will be holding meeting every month in Asheville for this purpose. ASAWNC meets the 3rd Sunday of every month at the Greenlife Grocery Community Center, 90 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC. For more informaiton check out the MountainXpress calendar page and visit the website at: http://www.asawnc.org and their YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/asawnc For all those interested in the science behind cannabis as a proven safe and effective medicine, check out: http://www.youtube.com/cannabistherapeutics.

Let’s talk about “Anywhere, USA”

2007-12-28T13:04:45-05:00

Formerly known as Asheville: The Movie, this film was shot more-or-less entirely in Asheville. It was recently announced that the film was selected by Sundance Film Festival to screen in their Dramatic Competition.

Director Anthony “Chusy” Haney-Jardine has been fairly quiet about the production, and even the film’s website is devoid of concrete information about the film.

So, until the film is released some time in 2008, all we can do is gossip about it. Any thoughts, theories or insights?

I’m opting out

2008-07-18T14:56:51-05:00

I, Jason Bugg, hereby resign from the rat race. You people can have it. Your status symbols, your comforts, everything. I will no longer chase “success”.

I am not the world’s bitch anymore.

At least those in actual chains know when they are slaves. I envy them.

Six Word Story

2008-01-20T20:45:29-05:00

Ernest Hemingway was once prodded to compose a complete story in six words. His answer, personally felt to be his best prose ever, was “For sale: baby shoes, never used.” Some people say it was to settle a bar bet. Others say it was a personal challenge directed at other famous authors.

At the Flickr site we have a group that uses a photograph as the seed to composing a six word story. What i propose here is to look at the photo most recently posted and write your own six word story. Have those few words tell the whole tale, and let the picture be its visual interpretation. Just make sure the title of your pic does indeed contain SIX WORDS in English and is a complete sentence (or two). It is much easier to write only a headline or description, but make it a sentence - one that augments the photo.

Or if you get tired of the current photograph, add your own and start a new series of 6 word stories.

I’ll start with a photograph i took during WestFest last year.

My 6 word story:
Eddie was once struck by lightning.

I heard Barack Obama is related to Donny Osmond and Saddam Hussein

2008-06-30T16:00:45-05:00

Really, its true. He is also the second cousin of both Dick Cheney and Osama bin Laden!!

Only 53 years ago today

2008-07-19T11:01:02-05:00

‘I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.00.’

‘Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won’t be long before $2, 000.00 will only buy a used one.’

‘If cigarettes keep going up in price, I’m going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.

‘Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?’

‘If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.’

‘When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage.’

‘Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.’

‘I’m afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.’

‘I read the other day where some scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas ‘

‘Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the President.’

‘I never thought I’d see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.’

‘It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.’

‘It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.’

‘Marriage doesn’t mean a thing any more, those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat.’

‘I’m afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.’

‘Thank goodness I won’t live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress.’

‘The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.’

‘There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend, it costs nearly $15.00 a night to stay in a hotel.’

‘No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $35.00 a day in the hospital it’s too rich for my blood.’

‘If they think I’ll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.’