Mountain Xpress 02.02.22 by Mountain Xpress

OUR 28TH Y E A R OF W E E K LY I NDE PE NDE NT NE WS, A RTS & E V E NTS FOR W E STE R N NORTH CA ROL I NA VOL . 28 NO. 27 FE B. 2- 8, 2022

K S I R HIGH

e r a c h t l a He options for the uninsured

Council faces ire over proposed food-sharing limits

Health communication professor discusses medical mistrust

C O NT E NT S

WELLNESS WELLNESS WELLNESS

NEWS

FEATURES 16 COMBATING ISOLATION Local nonprofits work to keep older adults engaged amid COVID-19

24 OPTING OUT Sterilization options for the childfree

PAGE 8 SAFETY NET With nearly 30,000 Buncombe County residents uninsured, Xpress speaks to local providers and cost-sharing networks whose services, woven together, create a social safety net beyond what the conventional insurance market offers. COVER PHOTO iStock COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick

28 Q&A WITH JULIE SILVER School nurse for Buncombe County Schools

30 AWKWARD PHASE WNC teens face additional struggles during COVID

LETTERS

CARTOON: MOLTON

CARTOON: IRENE OLDS

CARTOON: BRENT BROWN

COMMENTARY

NEWS

18 BUNCOMBE BEAT

A&C

20 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 36 MUSICAL MALADIES Artists contend with ailments stemming from years of playing

24 WELLNESS 36 ARTS & CULTURE 50 CLUBLAND

A&C

54 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 42 WHAT’S NEW IN FOOD Franny’s Farmacy opens new location in South Slope

54 CLASSIFIEDS 55 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

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STAFF PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Jeff Fobes ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas Calder ASSISTANT EDITOR: Daniel Walton ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Thomas Calder OPINION EDITOR: Tracy Rose STAFF REPORTERS: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Justin McGuire, Brooke Randle, Jessica Wakeman, Daniel Walton COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Justin McGuire, Andy Hall CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Barrett, Johanna Patrice Hagarty, Bill Kopp, Cindy Kunst, Sara Murphy, Linda Ray, Kay West ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Olivia Urban, Eleanor Annand MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, David Furr, Tiffany Wagner OPERATIONS MANAGER: Able Allen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES & WEB: Able Allen BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler-Tanner ADMINISTRATION, BILLING, HR: Able Allen, Jennifer Castillo DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Desiree Davis, Henry Mitchell, Tiffany Narron, Kelley Quigley, Angelo Santa Maria, Carl & Debbie Schweiger

OPINION

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

COVID-19 vaccine adverse events need more analysis [Regarding “Side Effects: Local Handling of COVID Vaccine Troubles Breeds Medical Mistrust,” Jan. 12, Xpress]: The article includes the experiences of several people who have developed serious problems after vaccination. It accepts that these were caused by the vaccine and suggests that there is significant underreporting of adverse effects due in part to the actions of clinicians and hospitals to minimize the actual rates. This is an important question; in my view, the survey and analysis that the newspaper provided in its article is inadequate, as it does not provide a basis for estimating the rates of significant adverse events. The COVID-19 vaccines were deployed because of the clear evidence of the serious effects of COVID19 infections and adequate evidence that, in the short term, the benefit of the vaccines in preventing serious COVID-19 infections was great and their serious adverse effects rates were sufficiently low to justify widespread use. I consider the Mountain Xpress a valuable local newspaper and believe its articles can influence the beliefs and actions of many viewers, including affecting decisions on vaccination. As a retired pediatrician with experience as a medical review officer at the Food and Drug Administration and in drug development in the pharmaceutical industry, I am keenly aware of the importance of vaccine safety. As an individual physician, I propose that the newspaper work with clinicians (including the Western Carolina Medical Society and the North Carolina Medical Board) and with the N.C. Division of Public Health epidemiologists to adequately review case reports from our area and present an updated article. — Stephen Rinsler, M.D. Arden Editor’s response: Thanks much for raising your concerns. We were unable to estimate local rates of significant adverse events because federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System data is only searchable at the state level. However, our reporting found multiple serious local events that had not been reported, and previous research, including the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care study cited in the story, indicates that vaccine adverse events are widely underreported.

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Thanks for focus on vaccine side effects and more The Mountain Xpress continues to do thorough, objective journalism in providing our community with excellent, researched articles. Last week’s issue on mental health was excellent and puts therapy/counseling in the norm of tools to help each of us in our individual life journey. I, like many others, also want to congratulate you on the thorough article about underreported vaccine side effects [“Side Effects: Local Handling of COVID Vaccine Troubles Breeds Medical Mistrust,” Jan. 12, Xpress]. This took courage, given the media blitz and blackout of any competent, researched opinions by professionals that may differ from the pro-vaccine/ booster position expressed in the

media at large. It is a sad commentary on freedom of the press and intelligent journalism that should be reporting more than one perspective. It has helped create and perpetuate the polarity in our country politically and, unbelievably, pandemically. It used to be said that a “common enemy” brings people together — amazing how the pandemic has split us even more. Also thank you for the wonderful article on Kevin Rumley [“The Ties That Bind: Local Veteran Finds Purpose Through Music and Friendship,” Jan. 26, Xpress]. He does an excellent job managing the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court. I’ve had contact with Kevin, and his journey is remarkable. I imagine there have been articles on the BC Veterans Treatment Court and retired Superior Court Judge Marvin

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OPI N I ON

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

Pope (who brought the program to Asheville) but would love to see even more. Kevin’s journey throughout his life prior to his Marine time would be a remarkable article as well. At any rate, each Wednesday, I look forward to the Mountain Xpress. You’ve done a great job of surviving and, hopefully, somewhat thriving during these unbelievably challenging times for all of us. Thank you for what you’re providing the community. — Blair Fielding Asheville

Practicing safe tech for a healthier new year Kudos to the Mountain Xpress for this awesome focus on wellness! Enhancing our health and wellness is at the heart of our new WNCbased nonprofit: SafeTech NC, with a mission to share why and how to use technology safely. SafeTech NC will focus in 2022 on building health care practitioners’ capacity to diagnosis health conditions related to electromagnetic fields and educating policymakers and school officials. In our earlier incarnation, SafeTech Kids NC, we presented to Buncombe County School leaders on the health effects of Wi-Fi, provided education on 5G and shared how to opt out of smart utility meters. The American Academy of Pediatrics provides crucial wellness tips on safer cellphone use [avl.mx/b5d]. These tips followed the 2016 findings of the National Toxicology Program (based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle

Park) and its peer reviewers in 2018 that found “clear evidence of carcinogenesis” from its gold-standard, $30 million study of cell phone radiation [avl.mx/b5e]. While our government’s policies lag far behind, there are fortunately many nations that we can learn from, as outlined here: [avl.mx/b4y]. To learn more about how to use technology safely, here are some reliable websites: MDSafeTech. org, EHTrust.org, EMF-Portal. org/en, BabySafeProject.org and TechSafeSchools.org. Feel free to join us any fourth Thursday, when SafeTech NC hosts a Zoom-based open house: EMF Science & Solutions at 6:30 p.m. Find us on Facebook and our website, SafeTechNC.org (live in early February). For the link to our open house, contact us at SafeTechNC@ ProtonMail.com. — Diane Douglas, occupational therapist, board chair Fairview Natalie Sadler, M.D., medical advisor Black Mountain Mary Anne Tierney, RN, Master of Public Health, director Fairview

Don’t drink the water The runoff pipe on Highway 9, about 3 miles south of Interstate 40, sometimes referred to as the Cricket Hill or Lakey Gap spring, has, according to a video posted to YouTube in 2020, been professionally tested repeatedly and found to be consistently contaminated with E.

C AR T O O N B Y IRE N E O L D S 4

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CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN coli and occasionally with coliform as well. I myself have contracted blastocystis repeatedly and believe it may have been from this water. A post about the pipe from 2016 reads, “I spoke with the homeowner … the water that flows out of the pipe comes from the last of three holding tanks. … He warned me that they have pulled dead animals from the tank before.” It’s possible that this water is not even a true spring, or entirely one, but rather, surface water runoff. Sources: [avl.mx/prwh] and [avl.mx/prwi]. — Alan Muskat Asheville

Hoping Supreme Court requires fair district maps North Carolinians should take a look at the new maps created

by the Republican-controlled legislature. In the proposed maps, the state House district line runs down the middle of my street. So the neighbors at the block party, the Fourth of July celebration, who watch my house when I’m away — who share concerns about traffic and irresponsible pet owners — they’re in a different House district. In the maps, the districts resemble diabolical Rorschach inkblots. A three-judge panel (controlled by Republicans) determined the maps to be a partisan gerrymander that favored Republicans. Despite this, the panel declined to intervene, saying, basically, “Nothing about redistricting affects a person’s right to cast a vote.” In other words, you can still vote, even though it doesn’t mean anything. That decision has been appealed to the state Supreme Court. I hope that it will require that the maps

Editor’s note

Series

In this week’s Wellness Issue, Part 2, we continue with our “Health Checkups,” several short Q&As featuring local residents offering insights about their individual approaches to maintaining their physical and mental health. Hopefully, the wide range of perspectives provide readers with ideas and tips for their own well-being.

be redrawn, as the Supreme Court did in Ohio. Apologists for gerrymandering complain that nobody knows what a fair map looks like. They are wrong. We do. These days, there are mathematical models to evaluate how well maps reflect the population. A fair map would closely mirror the political leanings of the state overall. It is wrong for politicians of either party to create maps that serve themselves rather than their constituents. The best approach would be to convene a nonpartisan commission to draw fair maps, as has been done in several states. I believe these gerrymandered “safe seats” are a primary cause of the partisan rancor and division we are seeing. We need elected officials and representatives who serve all of their constituents. — Cinda S. Chima Asheville

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OPINION

From me to we

consideration the fate of each other’s children and wake up to the salvation of a multicultural existence. We have cut ourselves off from the nonhuman world and have called this ‘progress.’ Such numinous encounters in nature are moments of reconnection, part of the human search for reciprocated love.”

The quantum leap we humans need to make BY THOMAS RAIN CROWE “The story can’t be about the heroism of one person anymore. It has to be about the heroism of communities.” — Barry Lopez I consider myself to be an independent person, someone who has “followed their bliss” as mythologist Joseph Campbell put it. “Done my own thing,” as we used to say back in the 1960s. And in adulthood, been self-employed. Yet in all the many places I have ever lived, I’ve lived not in isolation but as part of a community. For the last 35 years I have lived in Jackson County, and in various ways I’ve been part of that community. As a community member, I have been involved with different groups and organizations that have gotten things done that I couldn’t have done alone. Years ago, I was part of a group of Jackson County residents who pulled together to elect progressive “from here” residents to the Board of Commissioners. In the end, we succeeded in placing a majority of locals on the board to override the developers who’d been dominating it. This new local board went on to create what were said at the time to be the strictest land use regulations in the state. A few years later, I was part of a small group that founded The Canary Coalition — a nonprofit organization focusing on air and water pollution in Western North Carolina. This group expanded to a couple thousand members, tackling not only regional but statewide issues that affected our region. Again, neither I nor that small initial group could have created the changes that this organization was able to achieve without broader community support. Around this same time, I was part of a group of local farmers and gardeners who started a small farmers market in downtown Sylva that operated in the summer months and during harvest season. We began by selling produce out of the backs of our pickup trucks and the trunks of our cars in a small parking lot on Back Street. Today, the Jackson County Farmers Market is a large and thriving enterprise that operates almost year-round. That little group could never have done this alone. It took a community to create

and build a successful farmers market offering all-local produce. These are just some of the examples of how people acting as part of a community have achieved positive and even great things here in Jackson County.

NOW OR NEVER

INTERCONNECTION As I near the end of my life and confront the predicaments that we humans have unleashed due to our inattention to the natural world and our selfish preoccupation with fulfilling our individual desires, I see that the naturalist writer Barry Lopez was right: The only way we’re going to get back to any kind of sustainable equilibrium or stasis as a race is to build a new, untraveled road into our future. It must be not a solo journey focused only on personal survival but, rather, one that is undertaken by entire communities, both large and small. As eco-theologian Thomas Berry stated, it will require a universal leap of consciousness — a group effort — if we Homo sapiens are to have any kind of real future here on this garden planet we were given. In the Gospel of Thomas, there’s a passage that reads: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you,

THOMAS RAIN CROWE what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” For the past several hundred years or more, we humans have been following, to our detriment, a paved path determined by nation states, corporate and authoritarian governments, and the idea of “progress.” We have not been listening to the wisdom voice within, to the moral story within. And that ignoring, that ignorance, is rising up now to destroy us. Again, Barry Lopez says that we need to reinvent ourselves and our responsibilities to one another, to our families, our communities, our countries and our planet. Lopez goes on to say: “If we’re going to survive and to thrive in whatever landscape the world offers us in the decades ahead, we must learn to speak respectfully to each other, to listen to each other, to take into

“We need to reinvent ourselves and our responsibilities to one another.”

“Kairos” is an ancient Greek word meaning “the right, critical or opportune moment.” The term is now widely used by social scientists and environmental physicists to address the conditions in which we find ourselves living today. In other words, now is the proper time for action — in this opportune moment when we’re facing the triple threat of COVID-19, climate change and an authoritarian government, and when we are told by everyone in the know that if we’re going to have a sustainable world in which to live, we must make the necessary changes, both to ourselves and to everyone around us. In other words, we are going to need to, as the Beatles song urged, come together. It’s a song that rings out resoundingly today, with its more-than-pertinent title and urgent message: “Come together, right now.” That is, come together in reciprocated love — and do it today, because we have no time to lose! Jackson County resident Thomas Rain Crowe is the internationally published author of more than 30 books, including the multiple award-winning nonfiction nature memoir Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods. The founder and publisher of New Native Press, he has edited major literary and cultural journals and anthologies and has served on the boards of several environmental conservation organizations in Western North Carolina. X

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NEWS

Safety net

Where can uninsured WNC residents turn for health care?

Series

BY BROOKE RANDLE brandle@mountainx.com Editor’s note: In addition to being on staff at Xpress, Brooke Randle works part time as a licensed agent at Hummingbird Insurance in Asheville. Since 2014, the Affordable Care Act has helped millions of people get health insurance via a tax credit-based program that offsets costs based on age, family size and income. As of Jan. 15, 14.5 million people across the country were enrolled for coverage for 2022 through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, including nearly 3 million new subscribers. But the program still falls far short of covering all Americans. Tens of millions are left uninsured due to their inability to qualify for federal tax credits or because they have preexisting conditions that bar them from enrolling in private plans not subject to marketplace rules. North Carolina remains one of 12 states that have yet to expand Medicaid, leaving about 1.1 million of the state’s roughly 10.5 million residents caught in the so-called coverage gap. And as of 2019, census data show, almost 30,000 Buncombe County residents lacked health insurance. To get a handle on the local situation today, Xpress sought out various providers and cost-sharing networks whose services, woven together, create a social safety net for uninsured or underinsured residents and provide options beyond what the conventional insurance market offers. FREE FOR ALL To address the lack of affordable health care for uninsured patients, the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry’s medical ministry and dental clinic serves uninsured people with an adjusted gross income below 200% of the federal poverty level: $27,180 for a single person and $36,620 for a family of two in 2022. Beth Reeves, the clinic’s coordinator, says that in 2021, the facility harnessed the power of more than 850 volunteers, including 25 physicians and three nurse practitioners. Together, they provided a wide range of nonemergency health services for uninsured adults ages 18-65, including treatment for illnesses and minor injuries as well as crisis dental care. The clinic’s medication assistance program helps older adults obtain prescription drugs that Medicare 8

FEB. 2-8, 2022

BALANCING ACT: Uninsured residents often have to balance costs with the risk of delaying care, but options such as sliding-scale clinics and direct primary care offices aim to make health care affordable and accessible to all. Illustration by Scott Southwick won’t pay for; patients can also get help managing chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or thyroid issues. “These are folks that sometimes have avoided care because they didn’t want to enter a system or because they were concerned about cost,” Reeves explains. The initiative is funded by a combination of grants and support from more than 300 local churches. Michael Wynn credits ABCCM’s free clinic with detecting what could have been a fatal condition. In fall 2019, says Wynn, while he was uninsured and staying at the nonprofit’s transitional housing facility for veterans, he sought care at the dental

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clinic. A routine checkup revealed a more dire diagnosis. “I found out that I had hypertension and then found out that I was diabetic,” Wynn recalls. “And then from there, I found out I had prostate cancer.” At that point, he says, ABCCM referred him to Project Access, a volunteer initiative led by the Ashevillebased Western Carolina Medical Society that provides more extensive medical care for low-income, uninsured Buncombe and Madison county residents. Through that program, he received potentially lifesaving surgery at no cost. “I’m actually cancer-free as of this past October,” Wynn reports, add-

ing that without the free clinic, “I wouldn’t have found out about it.” Reeves says Wynn’s case underscores the facility’s value, particularly for those who may not have had consistent access to care. “The free clinic belongs to the community,” she points out. “It’s run by ABCCM, but this is a service organization.” BRIDGING THE GAP Federally qualified community health clinics also aim to bridge the gap for both uninsured residents

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

N EWS

COMMUNITY HEALTH: Western North Carolina Community Health Services, also known as the Minnie Jones Health Center, is one of 41 federally qualified health centers across the state that offer no-cost and low-cost primary care to individuals. Photo courtesy of WNCCHS and folks who have insurance but are seeking more affordable care. In WNC, those centers include Western North Carolina Community Health Services, which operates the Minnie Jones Health Center; Appalachian Mountain Community Health Centers; Blue Ridge Health; and the Hot Springs Health Program, among others. Warren S. Parker, director of development and collaboration at WNCCHS, says his organization’s clinic, which provides low-cost or free care for low-income residents, is funded through a combination of federal grants and local sources, as well as reimbursements from insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. “Community health centers have been around since the 1960s,” Parker explains. “They were first funded as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty to address disparities in health care among the poor and uninsured.” Founded in the mid-1990s, WNCCHS started out as a clinic for low-income people who were living with HIV. The facility has since expanded its scope to the community at large. In 2020, it served about 14,000 patients, more than half of them from racial or ethnic minority groups, says Parker, and roughly 61% were uninsured. Services, including both primary care and a full dental clinic, are offered on a sliding scale depending on the patient’s income. People with 10

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an adjusted gross income that’s less than 100% of the federal poverty level ($13,590 for an individual or $27,750 for a family of four) have no out-of-pocket costs, while people with incomes between 100% and 200% pay anywhere from $10-$30. More than 90% of patients are at or below the 200% threshold, notes Parker, adding, “Nobody gets turned away because of an inability to pay. And we welcome people with insurance, because that helps us provide the care to those who don’t have it.” What sets WNCCHS apart from other community health centers, says Parker, is its focus on serving people living with HIV (roughly 850 patients per year) and transgender individuals (about 500 patients). “We have a very robust trans health program that provides full spectrum primary care, including hormone replacement therapy and mental health, also dental,” Parker explains. “It’s nice that we are able to provide specialized care to these two populations, among that larger population that we serve.” DIRECT PRIMARY CARE Dr. Chad Krisel, a family physician who’s co-owner of Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville, says that back in 2011, his practice sought to buck the insurance system altogether by introducing a model of direct primary care. The office in Asheville’s River Arts District does

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In 2019, nearly 30,000 Buncombe County residents lacked health insurance.

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— U.S. Census Bureau not accept insurance; instead, patients pay a monthly membership fee in exchange for discounted rates for care and prescriptions. “If you think of any other insurance product — whether it’s auto, disability or home insurance — that product is there to help protect you against an unexpected catastrophe that you actually hope never happens. You’re definitely not going to use your insurance for a small leak in your sink or a routine oil change for your car. And if you did, what would end up happening is the price of that insurance would skyrocket,” Krisel explains. That’s exactly what happened with health insurance starting in the early 1980s, he points out. Today, health insurance is expected to cover not only the unforeseen but also routine care, which he says has increased costs while reducing uninsured people’s ability to access preventive care. “We just didn’t want to have anything to do with any of that. It just felt completely like the antithesis of why we went into medicine, which was to help relieve suffering,” Krisel explains. “So by extricating ourselves from this insurance system debacle, we are able to set fair prices. The goal of most direct primary care is that it is accessible for most folks, that it’s affordable, that there is complete price transparency, and that by doing so, we’re able to spend a much greater amount of time with patients.” Dr. Carly Brown started her direct primary care practice, Ashewell Medical Group, in 2016. The internal medicine physician says that during many years in a conventional feefor-service office, she saw how many uninsured people were essentially barred from access to primary care. “The medical model in the U.S. is really geared toward people having insurance, despite the fact that we don’t basically have universal health care,” notes Brown. “We make primary care affordable for all people: We don’t distinguish.” Today, there are eight direct primary care offices in Asheville. Roughly 60% of Ashewell’s patients are uninsured, says Brown; Krisel says that’s true for perhaps 20%-30% of his practice’s patients. Both doc-

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What is Health Rosetta?

Desiree Greene Life, Health & Employee Benefits Account Executive Health Rosetta Associate Advisor

Health Rosetta is an open source, ever-evolving framework for purchasing health benefits. This framework is sourced from the collective successes of employers around the country. Employers who have adopted its components typically reduce spending by 20-40% while improving the quality of care for each plan member. Fundamentally, the Health Rosetta framework solves some of the biggest root causes of dysfunction in our health care system (i.e., spending far too much on poor health outcomes). A Health Rosetta benefit plan is made up of the following components and subcomponents which focus on the process of purchasing care, the substance of what is purchased, and the best practices and technology necessary to successfully implement each component. Who does a Health Rosetta Plan work for? • Large and small employers with 20 or more health plan eligible employees. • Both rural and urban employers, companies, public entities, schools, etc.

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

NEWS tors emphasize that when possible, pairing a direct primary care membership with a relatively inexpensive high-deductible health insurance plan can be an effective way to cover day-to-day medical needs as well as unexpected major expenses. A health savings account can also help cover costs incurred under a high-deductible plan while also offering tax benefits, but the maximum annual contribution is just $3,650 for individuals and $7,300 for families, and the money can’t be used to pay insurance premiums. “What we want is some sort of blend, where you have the quality of care that we provide at the prices that we provide, but people also have the ability to go to the hospital if they need it and not worry that they’ll have to file for bankruptcy,” Brown explains. Krisel, meanwhile, says that “Primary care, generally speaking, will cover approximately 80% of your health care needs. So people will intentionally choose their insurance plan to have a higher deductible, knowing that the vast majority of their interaction is going to be with our office, which is outside of insur-

FEB. 2-8, 2022

“We would never recommend not having any catastrophic coverage. Surgeries are all very, very expensive.” — Dr. Carly Brown, Ashewell Medical Group ance anyway, and they end up saving many thousands of dollars.” Besides lowering health care costs, however, both Krisel and Brown maintain that the direct service model enables higher-quality care as well as longer, more thorough interactions with patients. Each full-time direct primary care doctor, says Krisel, will typically “take on between 500 and 700 patients, whereas in a regular practice, it’s more like 2,500 patients.” And unlike conventional offices that often bill patients for the difference between their charges and the insurance company’s negotiated rate, direct primary care offices are upfront about the cost of each service provided. “We really do think it’s the health care delivery system of the future,” says Krisel. “The millionaire is coming to us because the quality of care is better. And the person who’s struggling financially is com-

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ing to us because it’s an affordable access point and we’re able to deliver equal care.” SHARING THE BURDEN Asheville resident Todd Fowler says he has both a direct primary care membership at Ashewell and a medical cost-sharing membership with Sedera. Established in 2014, the Texas-based nonprofit now boasts some 30,000 members across the country. “There was a little bit of a leap of faith to take there,” says Fowler, who joined both programs about three years ago. “But Sedera really resonated with me.” In such arrangements, members pay a monthly fee and then help cover the medical costs incurred by other members. Each person pays individual care providers directly at the cash (or uninsured) rate, which is often lower than what people with insurance are charged. Once patients have spent a specified amount on medical bills, they can request reimbursement for the remainder. Payment is not guaranteed, however: It will be limited by the plan’s rules and the amount of money available through the membership community’s cost-sharing mechanism, which is funded by the monthly fees. “I think people forget that health insurance isn’t health care. There are different ways to pay for health care,” says Cindy Kimmel of Kimmel HR Solutions. The Asheville-based business helps clients find nontraditional health plans. Medical cost-sharing networks have been around for decades, she says, but they’ve traditionally been religion-based. Sedera doesn’t ask members for any religious commitment, but it does ask them to commit to both maintaining a healthy lifestyle and to “being a good health care consumer” by seeking the best price for the specific services they need. Kimmel adds that Sedera is open for enrollment year-round, and while no one is excluded based on income, people with preexisting conditions may be subject to a waiting period before they can be reimbursed for related care. For his part, Fowler says that after taking the leap from traditional insurance, he now provides each of his loan agency’s nine employees

STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE: Dr. Chad Krisel co-owns Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville, a direct primary care office that forgoes insurance for a paid membership model. Photo courtesy of IFMA with both a cost-sharing policy and a membership in Ashewell’s direct primary care system. So far, he says, the combination has been a cost-effective alternative to group health insurance plans. “A number of my employees have used it for everything from hysterectomies to broken bones. And me, I’m a hypochondriac, so I’m always calling and getting appointments and bloodwork,” he jokes. “But so far, Ashewell has been fantastic, and Sedera has paid, no problem. And everybody’s just super happy with it.” WHEN THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS Although Asheville does have a range of primary care options for people at all income levels, sometimes that’s not enough. The potentially lifesaving preventive care these facilities offer may reveal more serious medical conditions requiring hospitalization and/or surgery. For this reason, every one of the providers Xpress interviewed stressed the need for patients to also have some level of catastrophic insurance coverage.

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“We would advocate for universal coverage of some sort for all people. But the fact is that we’re not in charge of that,” says Brown. “So what we do is provide care despite that, but we would never recommend not having any catastrophic coverage. Surgeries are all very, very expensive.” This year’s open enrollment period for the federal Health Insurance Marketplace officially ended on Jan. 15 after a four-week extension. But people with an adjusted gross income less than 150% of the federal poverty level — $19,320 for an individual or $39,750 for a family of four — can enroll in both low- and high-deductible plans year-round in 2022. And for those who don’t qualify for Marketplace subsidies, more affordable short-term insurance plans that are available throughout the year are also an option. They screen for preexisting conditions, however, and exclude certain types of treatment that are covered by Marketplace policies. Meanwhile, uninsured people who are facing high bills due to an emergency room visit can also seek help through a program called retroactive or medically needy Medicaid.

“Let’s say, in December, someone had to go into the hospital to have surgery and ended up with a $50,000 bill,” posits Phillip Hardin, the director of Buncombe County’s Economic Services Division. “That person could apply in January, just for December, for that bill, and we might be able to cover a pretty sizable portion of it. They might only be eligible for Medicaid for that one month, but it may pay 95% of your hospital bill.” Hardin adds that children, pregnant women and low-income and disabled people may be eligible for other Medicaid programs, and that roughly 20 such programs exist in the state. He adds that his office is available to answer questions and provide guidance concerning social programs that also contribute to county residents’ overall health and wellness. “We work really hard on trying to provide a whole range of services aimed at keeping people healthy, which could include things like food or housing assistance. People don’t necessarily think of those kinds of things in terms of having good health, but they’re certainly very important.” X

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

NEWS

Combating isolation

Local nonprofits work to keep older adults engaged amid COVID-19

Series

STAYING ACTIVE: Despite the pandemic, area nonprofits, including the Alzheimer’s Association’s local chapter, continue to find ways to work with older residents to keep them engaged, both mentally and physically. Photo courtesy of the Alzheimer’s Association – Western Carolina Chapter

BY JOHANNA PATRICE HAGARTY johannahagarty@gmail.com In January 2020, Heather Bauer took over as the executive director at the Council on Aging of Buncombe County, a nonprofit that assists individuals and families with the challenges of growing older. At the time, Bauer’s goals included closing gaps in services, improving access to care and reducing stigma and ageist stereotypes. But as with all 2020 plans, the council had to pivot in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I did have to table some of the initial plans and strategies,” Bauer says. “Constructs were being deconstructed and reconstructed rapidly [in response to evolving health guidelines]. Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” Over the last two years, Bauer continues, older residents have been among the hardest hit by the crisis. Safety guidelines, she says, “have 16

FEB. 2-8, 2022

increased social isolation, economic burdens and loneliness,” on top of the many health risks and concerns that have left older community members particularly vulnerable to the virus. Yet amid these challenging times, the Council on Aging, as well as several other local agencies working with the area’s older population, say they have found ways to address client needs and expand their reach. All of which, Bauer continues, is imperative given the area’s increasing number of older residents. According to the Buncombe County Aging Plan, Buncombe County has one of the fastest-growing adult populations in the state, with 20.6% of its residents age 65 years or older — nearly 4 percentage points higher than the statewide average of 16.8%. Locally, that number is expected to climb to 23.5% by 2030. And with it, stresses Bauer, services that her nonprofit and other area agencies provide will continue to be essential to the overall health of the region.

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GROWING HUNGER Food insecurity, says Deebie Sprouse, executive director of Meals on Wheels of Asheville and Buncombe County, is among the growing concerns for the region’s older population. Over the last two years, she notes, her organization has seen a significant uptick in clients depending on her nonprofit’s services. Prior to the pandemic, Meals on Wheels worked with around 800 seniors, serving 100,000 meals per year. In 2021, that number increased to 940 clients, resulting in approximately 124,000 meals served. Similarly, Bauer says the Council on Aging has expanded its homebound food delivery program. The organization has tripled its output of shelf-stable products and doubled its monthly delivery services. “Social Security is still the primary source of income for people over the age of 65,” Bauer explains. “These fixed incomes even during ‘normal times’ often create challenges and

sometimes force individuals to choose between paying for food, medication and utilities.” The pandemic, adds Sprouse, “has brought to light how fragile our food system really is and how quickly food insecurity can spread throughout a community.” PERILS OF ISOLATION The global health crisis has also brought increased awareness about the negative impacts of isolation. According to the National Institute on Aging, research has linked solitude and loneliness to higher risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s disease among older adults. Early in the pandemic, Sprouse notes, Meals on Wheels had to pivot to no-contact delivery. While the decision helped reduce the risk of exposure to the virus, it also eliminated personal interactions among staff, volunteers and clients. For many of the older

residents served, these visits were one of the only times they experienced face-to-face contact each week, Sprouse says. Katherine L. Lambert, CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association – Western Carolina Chapter, says concern over the impact of isolation on her organization’s clients informed the association’s early pivot to virtual programming, allowing patients to remain digitally connected, despite lockdowns and social distancing guidelines. “Educational programs and support groups joined our already virtual 24/7 helpline service in meeting those we serve exactly where they are — and safely so,” explains Lambert. In doing so, the organization unintentionally expanded its community reach as well. “Through our virtual education programs, we’ve been able to engage with some caregivers who had never before been able to attend sessions,” she says. “Now they have education and community right in front of them.” Meanwhile, back at Meals on Wheels, the availability of vaccines and additional safeguards against the virus have allowed the organization to resume masked and socially distanced in-person visits.

WELCOME TO THE TEAM: Heather Bauer became executive director of the Council on Aging of Buncombe County two months before lockdowns began due to COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Council on Aging of Buncombe County “Providing social interaction has always been a part of our program,” says Sprouse, “along with delivering meals.” OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK Looking ahead, collaborations will be key for these local nonprof-

its’ continued success. Bauer points out that the Council on Aging has thrived, in part, thanks to its partnerships with such agencies as AARP, the Alzheimer’s Association and Meals on Wheels. With in-person events still in limbo, unique fundraising models and marketing efforts are also crucial to sustaining local area nonprofits working with an aging population. For some, such as the Alzheimer’s Association, virtual and hybrid fundraising efforts over the last two years have surpassed pre-pandemic goals, making 2021 the organization’s best fundraising year to date. Meanwhile, Sprouse reports that digital marketing has helped garner 127 new volunteer applications for Meals on Wheels in 2021. Such results provide hope to those dedicated to serving the area’s older population. “The burden the care economy is facing is still uncertain, but for the first time aging is a priority,” says Bauer. Lambert agrees. Despite the inevitable and unknowable challenges ahead, she believes that organizations in aging services will come out of the COVID-19 pandemic with a fresh perspective and a community that is “greater, wiser, and richer.” X

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BUNCOMBE BEAT

‘Leaking’ Council faces ire over proposed food-sharing limits Leaks from government officials to the press and public often attract attention in national politics. But during a Jan. 25 meeting of Asheville City Council, Vice Mayor Sheneika Smith accused one of her own colleagues of releasing disruptive information. Smith alleged that a fellow Council member had shared early discussions about a proposed city ordinance that would require permits for people to distribute food in public parks. Over the previous week, local faith leaders and homelessness advocates had launched strident campaigns to stop the ordinance, with several making claims about the proposal that were later found to be inaccurate. “A person on this Council [is] leaking information to the public and allowing the discrepancies within the information that they shared to fester,” Smith said, without naming a specific member. “There are a lot of conversations that could have been had around this conversation that were limited — they were hindered, they were gaslit, they were triggered and electrified — just because bad information was released to the public.” Smith, who called the work of those who distribute food “honorable” and said she didn’t agree with the proposed ordinance, said she’d personally experienced backlash after the proposal was made public. “There were some relationships that I really honored, that from this conversation I think are irreparable,” she said. On Jan. 19, the Rev. Milly Morrow of Grace Episcopal Church had shared an email with congregants saying Council was “bringing

FEB. 2-8, 2022

forth to vote in private session a proposed ban against feeding the hungry in public spaces.” Interfaith group Faith 4 Justice Asheville subsequently issued a Jan. 20 call to action stating that Council would “discuss a ban or process to limit sharing food on City-owned properties and right of ways” Jan. 25. And homelessness nonprofit BeLoved Asheville created an online petition against the potential ordinance Jan. 22 that had garnered more than 3,100 signatures as of press time. The city did not offer any official information about the proposal until Jan. 24, when spokesperson Kim Miller issued a press release stating that the idea was “in the exploratory stage and has not been presented to Council for policy consideration.” Later that day, however, the online news outlet Asheville Free Press published documents obtained through a public records request that showed a draft food distribution ordinance had been presented to Council members Jan. 20 as part of their regular “checkins” with city staff. Contrary to the faith leaders’ initial assertions, the language of the “Potential Asheville Ordinance” would not be voted on or heard by the full Council during a closed session or at the Jan. 25 meeting, and would not ban food distribution in public spaces outright. Instead, people and organizations that offer food as a “large group accommodation” in city parks would have to apply for permits. No more than two permits would be issued to the same person, group or organization for the same park within a 12-month period.

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there’s a great deal of confusion that was created in the community.” Council member Kim Roney supported the faith community’s position, asking that all discussions and research by city staff regarding the food distribution proposal be dropped. (Roney declined to comment on Smith’s remarks about leaking information.) But Council member Sage Turner said she was interested in continuing the conversation. “Frankly, we’ve learned that there are some gaps to fill already, that we have some holes in how we are tackling these community issues. I’m all for continuing to discuss and explore how we can be better,” Turner said.

INSIDER INFO: Vice Mayor Sheneika Smith asserts that leaked information about a proposed food distribution ordinance led to confusion and misinformation. Photo courtesy of UNC Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said Jan. 25 that the check-ins, which involve groups of three Council members and are thus not subject to state open meetings requirements, allow elected officials to ask questions and gather information from city staff before bringing new proposals to the public. While she acknowledged that records of those meetings are public, she noted Council usually avoids sharing information at early stages. “We have generally honored that system,” Manheimer said. “Unfortunately, and as you can see, when that system isn’t honored,

APD recruiting to start in March During a Jan. 25 Public Safety Committee meeting, Asheville Police Department Chief David Zack said that the work of Arizonabased consultant, EPIC Recruiting, would begin in March and last for two years. The APD had arranged a $225,000 contract with the company in December to market the city of Asheville to potential new police applicants. EPIC spokesperson Janae Toone said the agency’s work will consist of social media content and ads. She said those materials will depict officers from a range of ethnic backgrounds and genders to encourage a diverse pool of applicants. Zack noted that APD currently has 59 sworn officer vacancies out of 238 budgeted positions.

— Brooke Randle X

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‘That miserable little petition’

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Community objects to renaming Haywood Road, 1922 LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED

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NOT SO FAST: A petition signed in December 1922 put forth a proposal to rename Haywood Road as Main Street. The idea did not sit well with some outspoken residents. Photo courtesy of Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Library The notice was brief, but the reaction was strong. On Dec. 28, 1922, The Asheville Citizen informed readers that 200 property owners and residents in West Asheville had signed a petition that was presented to the Board of City Commissioners calling to change the name of Haywood Road to Main Street. The lone paragraph on the matter concluded, “Commissioner Fitzpatrick though not pledging himself, indicated that he would support the measure in view of the fact one of the main thoroughfares of Asheville is known as Haywood Street.” In the following day’s paper, a C.R. Sumner offered a scathing rebuke of the petition in a letter to the editor, writing: “While I do not propose to speak for the whole of West Asheville, I know that in two hours’ time I could double the size of that miserable little petition with the names of property owners of West Asheville who would denounce the proposed change as the most fat-witted vaporing that ever emanated from the cranium of some beetle-headed busybody. “Main Street, indeed: Have we so far retrogressed as to let a few pin-heads place one of the most attractive sections of a tourist city in the same category as ‘Punkin Center’ and ‘Hickville.’ What should the beautiful asphalt thoroughfare that leads to Haywood County be called but Haywood Road. The name Haywood Road was known half a century ago when the present Haywood Street was a pine thicket and broom-sedge stubble.” The Asheville Citizen appeared to agree with Sumner. In its Dec. 30,

1922, edition, the paper ran an editorial objecting to the petition. “The origin of the request for changing the name of Haywood Road to Main Street is said to be the fear of a Haywood Road resident that his friends in other cities would think he lives in the country,” the article read. “Whatever the reason for the petition asking the Commissioners to do violence to a name which preserves local history, it is insufficient.” Furthermore, the piece argued, “Main Street would be a reversion to small town cognomens that will be laughed out of the City Hall.” But by and large, the editorial focused on and reemphasized the perceived affront to local history. “So far as possible, names rich in the history of the people of and of the region should be preserved,” the paper argued.

Ironically, The Asheville Citizen jumbled the key historic fact, asserting Haywood County was named after the late state treasurer William Haywood (his actual name was John). It also failed to appreciate the greater irony that John Haywood had no ties to the region. Nevertheless, the article concluded, “Let Asheville continue to demonstrate that in its present progress, and as it goes forward to still greater achievements, its people are not forgetting the debt they owe to those who have gone before them and prepared the way.” Subsequent mention of the petition does not appear to have made its way into print. Of course, you need not be a historian to know Haywood Road still exists in West Asheville today. Editor’s note: Peculiarities of spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original documents. X

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In other news In addition to raising opposition to the renaming of Haywood Road, The Asheville Citizen also ran a list of the paper’s “Ambitions For Asheville and Western North Carolina,” in its Dec. 30, 1922, edition. Below is the list in its entirety. Spelling and punctuation are preserved from the original document. • A hard-surfaced highway from • Increased use of the forests for recreation and sport. Asheville to the county-seat of every county adjoining Buncombe. • A central park with a system of smaller parks. • Hard-surfaced highways connecting the capitals of all moun- • A college in Asheville built upon foundations broad enough to suptain counties. port a great university. • More tourist hotels in this whole • A greater Summer School, with curmountain region. riculum arranged to give vocational • Establishment of additional Summer training in arts and industries. X Camp Schools.

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR FEBRUARY 2-10, 2022 For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, opt. 1.

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WELLNESS Yoga and the 12 Steps of Recovery (Y12SR) Addresses addiction as a mental, physical and spiritual disease. WE (2/2), 8:30am, Asheville Yoga Center, 211 S Liberty St Sparkle Time - Holistic Senior Exercise Aerobic, strengthening, balance and flexibility. Proof of vaccinations and booster required. WE (2/2), 10:30am, Avery's Creek Community Center, 899 Glennbridge Rd SE Arden

Introduction to Tai Chi Taught by Roger Byrd. TH (2/3), 10:30am, Free, Asheville Community Yoga Center, 8 Brookdale Rd

Queer & Trans Yoga Class For everyone who identifies outside the lines and hasn't felt comfortable in a traditional yoga space. TH (2/3), 6pm, avl.mx/b1t UNCA COVID-19 Testing Sites In the Blue Ridge Room. No appointment required. FR (2/4), 1-8pm, SA (2/5), SU (2/6), 9am-5pm. Highsmith Student Union, 1 University Heights LGBTQ Sweat Your Prayers A safe space for the LGBTQ community. All are welcome, sliding scale. SA (2/5), 9:30am, Haw Creek Commons, 315 Old Haw Creek Rd

Bipolar and Depression Support Group Contact Renee Bazile for more information 828-367-7660. SA (2/5), 2pm, 1316 Ste C Parkwood Rd Quest4Life 5Rhythms Waves Class Weekly instructional classes based on Gabrielle Roth's work. Mask are required. No dance experience necessary. TU (2/8), 7pm, $12-22, Terpsicorps Academy, 1501 Patton Ave Pub Run Rain or shine, all ages and experience levels welcome. WE (2/9), 6:15pm, Archetype Brewing, 265 Haywood Rd

ART Gallery Group Show: Revanant A response to the pandemic and a “post-pandemic” world. Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-3pm. Continuum Art, 147 ste C, 1st Ave E, Hendersonville Ruminations on Memory On view in conjunction with A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art. Daily 11am-6pm, til 9pm Thurs. Closed Tuesdays. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square Walter B. Stephen Pottery: Cameo to Crystalline Features art pottery and functional vessels from each stage of Stephen’s career. Daily 11am-6pm, Thurs til 9pm. Closed Tuesday. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square A Living Language: Cherokee Syllabary and Contemporary Art Highlights the use of the written Cherokee language, a syllabary developed by Cherokee innovator Sequoyah (circa 1776–1843). Daily 11am-6pm, Thursdays til 9pm. Closed Tuesday. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square A Hand in Studio Craft: Harvey K. Littleton as Peer and Pioneer Places Havey and Bess Littleton's collection from the early days of the Studio Glass Movement and the height of the American mid-century Studio Pottery Movement. Daily 11am-6pm, til 9pm Thursdays. Closed Tuesdays. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square Stained with Glass: Vitreograph Prints from the Studio of Harvey K. Littleton A wide circle of artists in a variety

FEB. 2-8, 2022

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LEAVE IT TO WEAVERS: The Southern Highland Craft Guild is hosting an exhibition of works by members of the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild at the Folk Art Center through May 15. The show features a variety of textile disciplines. The Folk Art Center is open daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Pictured is Martha Owens of Murphy. Photo courtesy of the Southern Highland Craft Guild of media—including glass, ceramics, and painting—were invited to Littleton’s studio in Spruce Pine to create prints using the vitreograph process developed by Littleton. 11am-6pm daily, til 9pm Thurs. Closed Tues. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square Time For Renewal Featuring works by three new gallery members: Kathy Goodson, Margie Kluska and Johnnie Stanfield. Through Feb. 28. An event to meet the artists will be held FR (2/4), 5-8pm. Free, Asheville Gallery of Art, 82 Patton Ave Nocturne A collection of works in a variety of media that celebrates the drama and mystery of the night. Daily 10am-6pm, Sundays 12-5pm. Through Feb. 19. Momentum Gallery , 24 N. Lexington Ave ᎢᏛᏍᎦ ᏫᏥᏤᎢ ᎠᎵᏰᎵᏒ Weaving Across Time Showcases the works of nine Eastern Band

Cherokee basket makers. Mondays-Fridays through April 22. 11am, Center for Craft, 67 Broadway Small Work/Big Impact An annual exhibition that assembles intimately-scaled works in a variety of media. Daily 10am-6pm, Sundays 12-5pm. Through Feb. 19. Momentum Gallery, 24 N. Lexington Ave WNC Fibers/ Handweavers Guild Exhibition A variety of textile disciplines will be on display. Processes represented include spinning, shibori, batik, silkscreen, weaving, natural dyeing, needle felting, knitting and more. Daily, 10am-5pm Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Parkway

ART/CRAFT STROLLS & FAIRS Art Market Local makers and musicians.

SA (2/5), 12pm, Continuum Art, 147 ste C, 1st Ave E, Hendersonville Mini Market Pop Up A variety of local vendors. SU (2/6), 11:30am, Highland Downtown Taproom, 56 Patton Ave

COMMUNITY MUSIC Brian Turner On the grand piano in The Main Hall. SA (2/5), 7pm, The Omni Grove Park Inn, 290 Macon Ave

SPOKEN & WRITTEN WORD Miss Malaprop's Storytime Recommended for ages 3-9. Registration required. WE (2/2), 10am, avl.mx/7b9 Malaprop's Book Club Participants will discuss Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Registration required. WE (2/2), 7pm, avl.mx/9s5

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GRAND OPENING + EVENTS

C OMMU NIT Y CA L E N D AR Dick Lehr presents White Hot Hate: A True Story of Domestic Terrorism in America’s Heartland The author discusses his book. Sponsored by Malaprop's. Registration required. TH (2/3), 6pm, avl.mx/b4m Malaprop's Crime and Politics Book Club Participants will discuss White Hot Hate: A True Story of Domestic Terrorism in America's Heartland by Dick Lehr. Registration required. TH (2/3), 7pm, avl.mx/ahj Poetrio: Shanta Lee Gander, Diamond Forde and Ashley M. Jones Monthly Malaprop's poetry event featuring three poets. Registration required. SU (2/6), 4pm, avl.mx/b5h Mesha Maren presents Perpetual West The author discusses her new novel. Registration required. TU (2/8), 6pm, avl.mx/b5i Discussion Bound Book Club Monthly discussion hosted by the Asheville

Art Museum. WE (2/9), 12pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square

BENEFITS Asheville Outlets Hosts Healthy Food Drive with MANNA FoodBank Focusing on collecting healthy, nonperishable foods for distribution to those in need in WNC. Collection bins will be in the food court. TU (2/1), Asheville Outlets, 800 Brevard Rd

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS Grand Opening of Franny's Farmacy South Slope Samples, food, mocktails and a raffle. WE (2/2), 4pm, Free, 231 Biltmore Ave Sierra Club presents Hope from the 2021 UN Climate Summit: An Interactive Simulation Climate Interactive Co-Founder and Co-Director Andrew (Drew) Jones will share the interactive workshop via Zoom. TH (2/3), 7pm, avl.mx/977

Friday Night PlayDate: 3-D Folk Art with Michelle Hamilton Michelle Hamilton will lead with paints, markers, patterns, and everyday materials. FR (2/4), 5:30pm, Free, ARTPLAY, 372 Depot St Introduction to Medicare - Understanding the Puzzle The class will explain how Medicare works, the enrollment process, how to avoid penalties, and ways to save money. To register, visit www.coabc.org or call the Council on Aging at (828)2778288. WE (2/9), 2pm Master Gardener Virtual Plant Clinic Email HaywoodEMGV@ gmail.com with a detailed description of the problem, plant, or insect. Or call (828) 456-3575.

FOOD & BEER River Arts District Winter Market Local produce, cheese, breads, meats and more. WE (2/2), 3pm, Pleb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St

ASAP Winter Farmers Market SA (2/5), 10am, A-B Tech Conference Center, 340 Victoria Rd

Join us at our newest location in South Slope!

Sip and Smoke Learn how to pair cigars and spirits at a local distillery. TH (2/10), 6:30pm, Oak and Grist Distilling Company, 1556 Grovestone Rd, Black Mountain

FESTIVALS Assembly Required: Asheville Designer Toy Expo A destination for independent designers, bootleg and art toy artists and collectors. SA (2/5), Free-$10, The Funkatorium, 147 Coxe Ave

SPIRITUALITY Jewish Power Hour Weekly Torah class via Zoom. All are welcome. TH (2/3), 6pm, avl.mx/b5z Online Baha'i Sunday Devotional All are welcome at this informal weekly gathering via Zoom. SU (2/6), 10am, avl.mx/a4t

Home of our corporate office, event space & Canna-Cafe Feb. 2nd, 3rd & 5th Samples, Education, Mocktails, FUN!

RSVP on eventbrite to claim your special gift! FFsouthslopegrandopening.eventbrite.com

Looking for the perfect Valentine's date? Look no further!

Franny's Farmacy Interactive Dinner Theatre Sun., Feb. 13th • 6 - 8PM Pasta & Prana's Gluten free Hemp Gnocchi & Franny's Farm Foods! Tickets are available on eventbrite @ ffdinnertheatre213.eventbrite.com

ASHEVILLE (828) 505-7105

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WELLNESS

Opting out

Sterilization options for the child-free

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN jwakeman@mountainx.com

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When James Brinkmann was 17 years old, his friends started having children. He witnessed up close what parenting entailed and he knew he didn’t want it yet. “I saw the adjustments they were having to make,” he recalls. “It made me realize and appreciate and respect the amount of commitment and the loss of control that I would experience if I had kids.” His desire not to have children later solidified. “It cemented 100% around age 28,” he says. He was in a long-term relationship with a woman who also did not want to have children. Brinkmann researched sterilization and discussed ramifications of the decision with his therapist. Four years ago, a urologist in Asheville performed his vasectomy. “I just felt like it was the right thing to do,” he says. Brinkmann was one of the estimated half-million American men who have a vasectomy each year, according to research published in the journal Urology. (The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology estimates the number is close to 200,000 vasectomies in the United States per year.) Xpress was unable to determine how many vasectomies occur in Buncombe County or North Carolina. Dr. Brian Cohen at Mission Urology at Mission Health says vasectomy is “a straightforward, pretty simple procedure that takes 15 to 20 minutes to do in the office.” Basically, the procedure “disrupts the conduit, called the vas deferens, so that the sperm cannot make their way into the ejaculate at the time of ejaculation,” he says. Cohen prescribes his patients a onetime dose of Valium beforehand, so the patient is as relaxed as possible during the procedure, he says. Vasectomy is “very common,” he explains, estimating that he performs between three and five of them a week. Most of his vasectomy patients are parents who don’t want any more children. “I do see some people that have just made a decision [and are] not interested in having kids,” he adds. A vasectomy is a reversible procedure, with a 40%-90% success rate in achieving pregnancy afterward, according to the Cleveland Clinic. “The shorter the period of time [from the vasectomy,] the more successful the reversal,” Cohen explains. “The longer the period of time, usually the less successful.” He says requests

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FOLLOW YOUR ARROW: Michael Simpson of Cullowhee says he’s known for most of his adult life that a traditional family structure, including kids, isn’t for him. Photo courtesy of Simpson for reversals are “pretty rare” at his practice. MAKING CHOICES A patient consults with a health care provider prior to a sterilization procedure. This is when some wouldbe patients run into difficulties. Brinkmann says “the first urologist who was supposed to work on me [for a vasectomy] refused to even see me.” He recalls arriving at his appointment at a urology office in Asheville and waiting for what felt like a long time. “Then, this nervous nurse came in and she was like, ‘I’m so sorry, but the urologist says that [they] won’t see you, that you’re too young and

that [they] refuse to work on you,” he recalls. The nurse found a second urologist at the practice who met with him immediately (and who apologized, Brinkmann says, for his colleague’s sudden cancellation). After a consultation and a health exam, Brinkmann’s vasectomy was scheduled for six months later. Even though he eventually had a vasectomy, Brinkmann says, “Being told by somebody that I don’t have the ability to make informed judgments about my own body … felt really, really horrible in the moment. It still does.” Michael Simpson, 23, a bartender in Asheville who lives in Cullowhee, says his general practitioner laughed

HEALTH CHECKUP at him when he asked for a referral for a vasectomy. “At my last checkup, I brought it up [and asked] ‘Is there anyone you recommend?’” he recalls. “My doctor literally laughed it off. I just smiled and nodded, thinking, ‘It’s still gonna happen, whether you like it or not. I’m not changing my mind!’” Simpson says he felt “patronized” by his GP’s reaction. “I felt like the doctor’s perspective was very skewed toward that traditionalist mindset that everyone’s gonna want kids eventually,” he says. Helping patients make their own decisions is key, says Kat Lewis, health center manager at the Planned Parenthood Asheville clinic. Health care providers should be noncoercive during consultations about any type of contraception with all genders, she says. They should “not ever provide anything other than basically medical facts and guidance,” she says. “Because at the end of the day, it’s a decision [clients] have to make for their body.” Lewis acknowledges that “often in the history of obstetrics, in the history of eugenics, there’s been coercive care and providers who think that their decision is the best decision for the patient.” Health care providers should prioritize “autonomy and noncoercive care,” she says. TYING TUBES Unlike vasectomies, sterilization for women is permanent. The medical term is a hysteroscopic tubal sterilization, although it can be done in different ways. The procedure is called a tubal, tubal occlusion, tubal ligation or, colloquially, “getting my tubes tied,” says Lewis. Approximately 600,000 tubal ligations are performed each year in the U.S., according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

A tubal sterilization involves obstructing the path that eggs travel to the uterus. “After the procedure, there will be scar tissue in the fallopian tubes and therefore the tubes will close,” Lewis explains. “It’s essentially closing off your tubes from functioning and blocking sperm from joining with the egg.” The procedure requires making incisions in the abdomen and therefore has a longer recovery time than men have after a vasectomy, according to the Mayo Clinic. There are a few different ways of performing the operation. A common procedure is a postpartum tubal ligation, which can involve removing either the middle segment of the fallopian tubes or the entire tubes, explains Dr. Elizabeth England, faculty member for Mountain Area Health Education Center’s OBGYN Specialists. Another common tubal ligation procedure involves laparoscopic surgery (with the aid of the camera), where a portion of the tube is removed or a titanium clip is permanently attached, England says. CHILD-FREE BY CHOICE

Wellness with compassion Allé K (he/ him), a queer, anti-fat bias trainer and transmasculine yoga teacher, shares his favorite mental health hacks and thoughts on approaching wellness with compassion. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? My favorite mental health hack is not turning on my phone for at least an hour when I wake up in the morning. I love to take some time to draw a tarot card (from a yoga deck), journal, meditate and go within. Sometimes that looks like coloring, gentle movement and reading. I love walking outside midday for my mental health as well. I try to meditate three times a day to clear my mind. ALLÉ K What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? I approach my physical health from a place of compassion. I like to move my body a couple times a week; walking in the woods of Asheville, yoga classes on Zoom and teaching in my private virtual studio. I also enjoy lifting weights now that I’m on testosterone! What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? I’d recommend bell hooks’ All About Love: New Visions for a beautiful book that will inspire you to open your heart, which is great for your spiritual health and well-being. I’d also recommend Jacoby Ballard’s A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditations for Liberation on queering yoga and meditation. Lastly, A Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation by Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rad Owens and Jasmine Syedullah, which talks about American Buddhism from a racial and queer justice lens. X

Some people who don’t want to have children identify themselves as child-free or child-free by choice. Those terms are used differently than the word childless, which is generally used to refer to someone who wants children but does not or cannot have them. The Pew Research Center reports that 23% of nonparents predicted they are “not at all likely” to have children in the future in a 2021 survey. This was a slight increase from 2018, when 21% of nonparents answered that way. Among the nonparents Pew surveyed, 56% said they “just don’t want

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

WELLN ESS to have children.” Medical reasons, financial reasons, the “state of the world” and “climate change” were among the reasons nonparents gave for being child-free. The COVID-19 pandemic may also be influencing people’s reproductive decisions. According to a survey about family formation during the pandemic, conducted by the conservative organization Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University, 17% of Americans expressed a decreased desire to have children since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The survey found that the desire by middle- and lower-income Americans to have children decreased since the beginning of the pandemic by 6% and 11%, respectively. Simpson says he realized at age 18 that he didn’t want children. “A traditional family life is something I’ve honestly never really fantasized about,” he says. He cites mental health as one of the main reasons for his lack of interest. “I think I’m the limit of people I can take care of,” he says with a laugh. He is open with his family about his plans not to have children and hasn’t faced any opposition from his parents. “I think my dad’s a little disappointed because he’s one of those people who loves being a dad,” he says. “But my mom has said, ‘I can see why you don’t want kids and that’s probably not a great idea for you.’”

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TIED UP: Dr. Elizabeth England, a faculty member at Mountain Area Health Education Center OBGYN Specialists, says there are a few different ways of performing a tubal ligation. Photo courtesy of MAHEC children “once I realize there’s a connection there.” He identifies as aromantic, meaning he is not interested in romantic relationships. Talking about his aromanticism and his child-free status get his personal boundaries out in the open. He explains, “Even if it’s sometimes uncomfortable in the process, it always simplifies things in the long run.”

DATING

WHERE AND HOW

Brinkmann left his long-term relationship in 2019 and has been figuring out how to navigate Asheville’s dating scene as someone who won’t have kids. “I’ve put it in my dating profile, because I feel that it’s important,” he says, adding that he does not want to waste anyone’s time. But sharing his decision not to have children on online dating profiles has also “not felt great at times,” he says. “It’s given me attention that I’ve not necessarily wanted, where some people interpret it as basically me saying that I’m looking for casual sex.” Brinkmann tried a different tactic of bringing up his decision after a few dates. But that also led to complications, he said, when women responded that they do want to become parents. Brinkmann no longer decides in advance about when to share the information and instead says “I rely on my gut.” He feels fortunate that the woman he is currently dating, who is a mother, initiated the conversation by bringing up her own decision not to have more kids. Simpson, on the other hand, says he shares his decision not to have

A vasectomy can cost between $300 and $1,000, according to data from Kaiser Family Foundation. Tubal ligation procedures can cost between $1,500 and $6,000. Coverage by private health care insurance varies by plan. NC Medicaid Managed Care and NC Medicaid Direct insurance covers sterilization for both men and women over age 21; it does not cover reversal procedures. Medicaid recipients are required to sign a consent form at least 30 days prior to a sterilization procedure. People who are looking to be sterilized should ask for referrals from their health care providers, as the specific procedures offered can vary by practice. MAHEC’s Ob-Gyn Specialists do perform tubal ligations. MAHEC also has a Vasectomy Clinic at MAHEC Family Health Center Biltmore; it is the only office in Buncombe County that accepts Medicaid for a vasectomy. The Planned Parenthood Asheville clinic doesn’t perform tubal ligations or vasectomies; nor does Western North Carolina Community Health Services, which is one of Asheville’s federally-qualified health centers. X

HEALTH CHECKUP

Joyful movement

Demystifying meditation

Elizabeth McCorvey, a licensed clinical social worker, specializes in equine-assisted psychotherapy. She works primarily with members of the LGBTQIA community and people of color. Speaking with Xpress, she shares her thoughts on the importance of keeping a routine and of loving your body at any size. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? Seeing a therapist is really important, as well as keeping a sustainable, balanced routine that works for me. Eating regularly, having a sleep schedule that works for me and having mutually supportive friendships are also key. Food and housing security and having access to supportive community resources are privileges that also contribute to having stable mental health. What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? My favorite way to approach physical health ELIZABETH MCCORVEY is through pursuing joyful movement — moving because my body wants to move, not because I’m pursuing a weight loss goal. It’s really important to remember that the standards set for what is considered “beautiful” is rooted in racism, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, transphobia and anti-fat bias; so I’m committed to learning how to love my body no matter what size it is. I’m working on listening to what my body’s needs are and making them a priority. Having good sleep hygiene is also a huge deal. What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? “Maintenance Phase” is an awesome podcast that deconstructs some of the biases around what it means to be “healthy.” The hosts are thoughtful, educated and hilarious. My favorite book right now is The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor. It offers tangible steps to explore and cultivate a loving relationship with your body. I also love Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison, which explores the ways that diets can be harmful and gives the reader alternatives to dieting that help people love and celebrate their bodies at any size. X

Dr. Brian O’Donnell, a pediatrician at Mountain Area Pediatrics, shares his thoughts on meditation, staying active and maintaining positive relationships. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? I hope to surround myself with people that I wish to emulate, amplifying their positivity and learning resiliency. In this manner I have found meditation to be fruitful to calm the internal negativity that abounds with my naturally pessimistic personality. Ten minutes of meditation in the morning, mostly on the days when I am not struggling at the gym, and the day inevitably flows better. I also believe that our mind is similar to our body in that it needs to be challenged DR. BRIAN O’DONNELL and worked out — learning new concepts, working on artistic/creative projects and engaging in stressful public endeavors all can help me find and push the limits of my mind. What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? My approach to maintaining physical health over the last 50 years has varied widely but is based upon a foundation of nutrition, sleep and exercise. My family tries to eat well with mostly home-cooked food, lower in fat and progressively more vegetarian as we age. Sleep rituals and hygiene have been in slow transition as well, now regularly at a comfortable seven hours of sleep per night with an early waking. I find my memory, exercise recovery and immune function to be the main benefactors of a good night of sleep. Lastly, my exercise regimen is meant to combat my naturally weak ectomorph/slowtwitch muscle genetics. I humbly attend a 6 a.m. CrossFit class three days per week, which then allows time later in the day and on weekends to mountain bike, hike and play with my family. What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? Sam Harris’ “Waking Up” app on my phone has really demystified the art of meditation. This guided meditation has been helpful for me as a beginner and allows for a quick (10 or 20 minutes) reflection at lunch, while waiting at soccer practice or first thing in the morning. He also has a wealth of talks, interviews and lessons in conjunction with other leaders in mindfulness. For physical health, my coffee table has Kelly Starrett’s Becoming a Supple Leopard, a recommended read for preventive maintenance and overall physical humility. X

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WELLNESS

Q&A with Julie Silver, school nurse for Buncombe County Schools

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Julie Silver wanted to be a school nurse from the time she was in nursing school. “It was fun because you got to do rotations through the different nursing careers and shadow them,” says Silver. “I really enjoyed going to do my shadows with the school nurses because it’s not just boo-boos and Band-Aids. There’s a lot more that [goes] into being a school nurse.” After eight years of working in a hospital setting, Silver became a school nurse three years ago. She is employed by the Mountain Area Health Education Center, which contracts with Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools, and splits her time between West Buncombe Elementary School and Joe P. Eblen Intermediate School. Over the last two years, school nurses have added COVID-releated responsibilities to their daily tasks. Those responsibilities include keeping up with changing state guidelines, administering COVID-19 tests, alerting students who have tested positive and contact tracing. Silver believes she and her colleagues have met these challenges “head-on.” Xpress spoke to Silver about working with schools, masking and the role of a COVID coordinator. This interview has been condensed for length and lightly edited for clarity. How does school nursing compare to the other kinds of nursing you’ve done? Being in a hospital, you knew what you had to get done, like assessments, vitals, medications. With school nursing, what’s really amazing is you never know what your day is going to hold. I think that’s so awesome because within a day I get to talk to the students, especially those with chronic illnesses. I schedule time with them, usually during lunch, and we talk about ‘How’s things going? How’s your school year going? How are your grades?’ We talk about whether they have diabetes or asthma or allergies and about managing that in school. I also talk with the staff and collaborate with them on finding resources if families need it. We work closely with social workers and counselors to figure out if a family needs any resources, such as housing or things that I may not be able to help with on the medical side. You said being a school nurse is “not just Band-Aids and boo-boos.”

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CARING FOR KIDS: Julie Silver has been a nurse for Buncombe County Schools for three years. “The main goal of school nursing is just to make sure everybody’s safe, healthy and at school to learn,” she says. What would surprise people about your job? We do the typical things where we care for those students who have injuries or they’re sick. But there’s also managing immunizations where we make sure every kid’s up to date. We try to train every staff member [in case] a student needs an EpiPen or an inhaler or any type of medication. One thing I do like to do is get to know the students and their families who may not have a resource — like if they don’t have a primary care doctor for this student. Maybe I can find out if there are any offices that are taking new patients to help them get the care that they need. What are some of the biggest challenges of your job? These past two years COVID has really been a big challenge for us, just with keeping up to date with our guidelines from [the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services] and then collaborating with the Buncombe County Health and Human Services Department, making sure we’re following all that guidance. The state gets the CDC guidance and, based on that, they come up with protocols for isolation and quarantines and masking. What is your responsibility when a student has to isolate or quarantine? When we know that a student has been exposed, we look at the quarantine guidance — now it’s five days — and we make sure that those students

are aware. We talk to the family, give them guidance for their return dates. We talk to them about the symptoms if anything develops. That’s really what quarantine is, because isolation is when you’ve actually tested positive. We work really close with the Buncombe County Health and Human Services Department. They help us do our case interviews and they’ll help us figure out the return date for the students. There is testing available at school, and so that’s one thing we’ve added this year. We look back and do contact tracing as well in the schools. We work with our health assistants and our COVID coordinators at school to talk with those families and let them know if their student has been involved in any exposures. Then we made sure that everybody, like teachers, knows the return dates. Who takes on the role of COVID coordinator? Is that a nurse or another school employee? Someone within the school. If we have several close contacts, they help us do phone calls. We gather letters to go home with the students. They help us keep up with our spreadsheets to make sure that the teachers are aware which students they have out and what their return dates are. Then the MAHEC health assistants that we have now in some schools are helping us with testing and with calls. There has been some controversy about children wearing masks in schools. Have you heard from any parents who don’t want their child wearing a mask in the classroom? In some cases, you do see that. But it’s also nice to have a conversation with the families and explain why we have these guidelines. When we explain to the family that we have universal masking and we talk about some of the reasons why, a lot of times they are very appreciative of that because they realize that’s the way their students get to stay in school. Are you concerned about the possibility of getting COVID because you interact with so many people every day? No. I feel that MAHEC gives us the proper PPE [personal protective equipment] we need. That’s the protective equipment we use: our mask, our gloves, gowns, face shields, whatever we need to be able to do our job. I do not have any worries about that.

— Justin McGuire X

HEALTH CHECKUP

Improvisational dance and sharing your feelings Local artist and longtime Asheville Fringe performer Amanda Levesque speaks with Xpress about improvisational dance and the push for making yoga popular and accessible to those in wheelchairs. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? The best thing I have found is to just talk to a counselor and share with them whatever I’m feeling! There is no shame in seeking help! What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? My favorite way to approach my personal health is through contact improvisational dance. It’s a type of dance with people rolling on top of each other and just being really close. Because I’m in a wheelchair for the majority of time it feels so great to give weight and receive weight safely! What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? AMANDA LEVESQUE I have yet to find a perfect media material that helps me because my situation is so unique. I have read a book by a wonderful quadriplegic yoga instructor name Matthew Stanford. The book is titled Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. I like this book because not only did it go into Matthew’s life, it also inspired me to start doing yoga in my wheelchair! X

HEALTH CHECKUP

Volunteerism and dance Elle Erickson, founder of the local nonprofit The Booth Fairy Project, is known for her positive messaging. In conversation with Xpress, she notes the importance of volunteer work for one’s mental health, the benefits of dance and alternatives to prescription drugs. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? Doing service work has always kept me in a good place mentally. We are designed to feel good when we do good, so any kind of volunteer ELLE ERICKSON work keeps me happy and helps me connect to my purpose. I absolutely love running my booth and the work I do in the world makes me feel so alive and stimulated. Breath work, regular bodywork like massage, yoga and long epsom salt baths also help keep me sane. What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? I have many practices to stay on top of my physical health. I love to do yoga, dance and walk. I also eat mostly plant-based and try and eat whole foods rather than highly processed foods. I believe our diet can help us avoid many health issues. I don’t aim to be perfect, I’m just doing the best I can. I feel so much better physically when I eat clean and avoid alcohol. Those things plus regular exercise help me stay strong. If I do have an issue, I lean toward Eastern medicine. I recommend trying healing modalities like acupuncture before going straight to quick fixes like surgery and prescription drugs. What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? I would read Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Mind, Body and Spirit by Kathy Freston. It totally changed my life. X

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WELLNESS

Awkward phase

WNC teens face additional struggles during COVID

STICKING TOGETHER: From left, Meagan Gosiewski, her sons, Ian and Marcus, and husband, Michael, have struggled with fear and loss throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Linda Ray

BY LINDA RAY

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lindarayaccess@gmail.com Asheville mom Elizabeth Callahan turned the early days of the COVID19 pandemic into an adventure for her two teens. “It was exciting at first,” she says. “We went for hikes and did art projects.” But as the days wore on and turned into weeks, months and years, she says things changed. “Hope of it ending soon drifted away. We couldn’t keep up the energy. And after a while, when we tried social stuff, keeping distance and wearing masks, that was when it became real, and they couldn’t act like children,” she says of her kids. “We’re getting the hard stuff now as we’re shutting down again. After a short period of somewhat returning to normal, they know even more what they lost, and it feels so much harder. Now they

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panic; they just can’t do it again,” Callahan continues. When her 14-year-old daughter, Julia Helen, got COVID-19 in January, Callahan says her daughter was really scared and shut herself in her room. “[Teens] just feel things more,” Elizabeth says. “I just let her feel her feelings.” Elizabeth’s son, Henry, was 15 when the pandemic first hit and says the only thing that’s kept him sane the past two years is the support of his best friend and girlfriend. “Isolation really affected a lot of my peers,” he says. “People were lonely.” Now a junior at the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville, Henry says, “Everyone is hanging on for dear life.” TEENS IN CRISIS Asheville’s adolescents aren’t alone in feeling isolated and overwhelmed

by the pandemic. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of emergency department visits involving mental health among children ages 12-17 increased 31% from 2019 to 2020. And ED visits for suspected suicide attempts, especially among girls, have continued to increase over pre-pandemic numbers. N.C. Department of Health and Human Services data shows similar trends. While the overall number of ED visits was lower in 2020 than in 2019, potentially due to people avoiding hospitals out of COVID19 concerns, the proportion of visits by teens with thoughts of suicide increased. Among kids ages 10-14, suicidal ideation visits accounted for 3.5% of all ED visits in 2020, up from 2.4% in 2019. Laura Anthony, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist in private Asheville practice, says that social

isolation is the No. 1 issue plaguing teens during the pandemic. Through her work with children, adolescents and adults struggling with depression, anxiety and trauma, she finds that “screen time increased drastically for most teens.” “Their connection to the outside world became social media, and it’s not real,” she says. “Already plagued with low self-esteem, they compare themselves and their lives to the selfies of their peers.” Anthony says that therapy is vital for struggling teens, especially those in danger of self-harm or hurting others. But while she says Asheville hosts many therapists, most parents can’t arrange appointments for their kids. “Therapists’ schedules are full, and many have waiting lists. If my schedule is full, I try my best to refer to another therapist, but that’s not always possible,” Anthony says. “In my opinion, there are not enough therapists available to work with our troubled teenage population.” ADDED PRESSURE Meagan Gosiewski is a licensed therapist and mental health counselor employed by the state of North Carolina. Even with all her training, the Asheville mother and her husband, Michael, have struggled with the continuing challenges of raising two middle school boys during the pandemic. Their first issue was getting the Buncombe County school system

Need a Tune Up?

to acknowledge the extra fear and anxiety exhibited by Ian, 13, who is in the exceptional children program with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “He was bedwetting frequently during lockdown, and there was a lot of back-talking and acting out,” Gosiewski said. “He lost all the progress he’d made in his reading, so we wanted to hold him back a year. It wasn’t their policy, but we persisted until they agreed.” The Grosiewskis adopted Ian and his brother, Marcus, now 11, when they were infants. Meagan says that she and Michael tried hard to take the fear aspect out of the pandemic for their children. But when coronavirus-related deaths hit close to home, it was hard to lessen their grief. “We had a full-time caregiver for Ian for five years,” Gosiewski says. “She went home sick one day and was dead from COVID within a week. That was really hard. And then we lost five other close friends and family members to the virus.” Now, when Marcus hears his friends repeat anti-vaccine sentiments they heard from their parents, he just ignores them. He told his mother he wanted the vaccine as soon as he could get it. DEALING Veda Sands, 13, and Story Lee, 14, are best friends and classmates

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WEL L NESS at Evergreen Community Charter School. Both agree that social isolation has been their most difficult challenge since the beginning of the pandemic. They are grateful they have each other and a handful of other close friends. “It’s better to have some people you can count on,” says Sands. “If a friend you trust is having an issue, just being there for them can be enough.” Both teens say they’ve seen tremendous struggles and drastic changes among their peers. “I’m seeing a lot of anxiety and depression among my other friends,” says Lee. “I have three close friends who’ve made suicide attempts. One was admitted to a psych ward, one stabbed herself, and another used a razor.”

Lee says that she’s taken to wearing makeup as her form of release and credits her therapist as helping her deal with the new feelings she’s experiencing. After spending eight months on a waiting list to get her first appointment, she’s glad she finally got the help she needed. “I’m learning more coping mechanisms and how to deal with friends and realizing middle school won’t last forever,” she explains. In addition to mental health issues, the two teens see the proliferation of texting as a negative consequence of social isolation. “We hear more about people self-harming,” says Lee. “And it does take some of the urgency out of it when you’re not with the person, reading their body language and seeing how serious they are,

HEALTH CHECKUP

Taking advantage of what’s around you Dr. Ashfaq Ahsanuddin, Charles George VA Medical Center chief of staff, discusses the need to unplug, the joys of golf and taking advantage of your natural surroundings. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? Technology has become both a boon and a curse in the pandemic. While we are isolated, we are also more connected than ever and inundated with bad news 24/7. Mental health absolutely has to be a priority. It is interesting to me that I have been able to both plug in and unplug to address that need. Some techniques I use to preserve my mental health involve connecting with family and DR. ASHFAQ friends electronically. My family has a Zoom AHSANUDDIN call every week that we never thought about doing before, and my face-to-face weekly poker game became an online event that actually allowed us to play with people in other places that we hadn’t seen for a long time. One memorable game had players from Maine to North Carolina to Texas. (You can imagine that barking chain when the dogs became aware of each other!) By the same token, it is important to also understand the impact of screen time on mental health and both biological and spiritual well-being. I strive to make defined periods where that it is specifically avoided. What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? Since my schedule didn’t really change during the pandemic due to the nature of my work, I did not feel that I had the time to invest in a specific piece of exercise equipment only for it to become an expensive clothes hanger. I applaud the people who have been able to use the time to improve their physical health. My favorite way to approach my physical health is playing golf. Walking a round of golf allows me to be outside, enjoy a hobby and clear my mind. On days that don’t comply, I have had to settle for just walking, but living in Western North Carolina provides no shortage of outdoor beauty. What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? I don’t have a specific reference for health that I would share. I think people have to assimilate what works for them in their individual situations. I would say take advantage of what’s around you — maybe it can be used to help you in a way you hadn’t considered before. X

FEB. 2-8, 2022

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POWER OF FRIENDSHIP: Evergreen Community Charter School students Story Lee, left, and Veda Sands say close social connections have been critical to weathering the pandemic. Photo by Linda Ray because some people do say things just for attention.” She says that the pressures of the past two years have forced them to grow up faster than they would have “without facing issues like the pandemic and [protests following the police murder of] George Floyd.” As part of the coping mechanisms among their peers, they’ve seen a big uptick in experimentation with drugs, alcohol and nicotine vaping. Lee says that drugs, alcohol and vaping are getting more popular at younger ages. “And it doesn’t help that shows like Euphoria [an HBO series] and other movies glorify mental illness and drugs.” Sands says that sometimes she’s shocked at seeing friends pick up these habits. “It’s people I never thought would do those things,” she says. “I wonder — how can a pandemic change you so much?” Bottom line: “Life is harder than we expected it to be at this age,” says Lee. GRAPPLING WITH SOLUTIONS To better deal with the emotional turmoil, teens need something to do after school, says Carolina Day School middle school art teacher Mike Congleton. “Teenage suicide has always been a thing, but isolation is adding to this. Kids who isolate even more during the pandemic are the ones I worry about the most.” In addition to falling behind in school, “kids’ imaginations run to the negative” when they don’t have anything to do, Congleton adds. “And

phones and tech just make them more anxious.” Congleton, also an artist with a studio in Grovewood Village, says teens need ways to express their anxiety. Lately, he’s found that “kids are being more fearless with their art. They’re expressing their rebelliousness, their fears and their anger. The therapy of art is a healing thing for many kids. I’ve always seen that art is a way to release stress and anxiety.” Congleton adds that dance and theater are great avenues for teens to get involved with other people in real life while using art as a way to relieve stress. He points to Saturday and evening programs at the Asheville Art Museum and online and in-person workshops at Asheville-based Roots + Wings School of Art and Design as positive, age-appropriate outlets. Anthony, the Asheville therapist, says teens who find safe ways to spend time with their peers fare better than those who stick to screens for social interaction. “Even during the pandemic, some schools have continued to engage kids in team sports. Outside activities are safer, but amazingly, some teenagers tell me they have enjoyed playing sports inside while wearing a mask,” she says. “All through the pandemic, I know teens who have gone to gymnastics, dance classes, martial arts, chorus, marching band, drama and acting classes,” Anthony continues. “I believe that being active and involved in community is necessary for healthy development.” X

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WELL NESS

Q&A with Fabrice Julien, professor of health communication at UNC Asheville Public health is the science of improving health and safety within communities. Fabrice Julien, assistant professor of health and wellness at UNC Asheville, knows that it’s also an art. Julien teaches health communication and the theory of health promotion at UNCA. He thinks a lot about how to break through medical distrust and skepticism, as well as how that mistrust did not start with the COVID19 pandemic. Successful health communication, he says, needs to focus on “understanding how that mistrust has come about in an effort to remove it.” “I think there is a consequence to blaming individuals for their skepticism,” Julien continues. “Skepticism and mistrust are default positions from the public as soon as public health problems [arise].” Julien was born in Haiti and moved to the United States at age 8. Raised in Atlanta, he found his way to the public health field from a desire to understand politics and “the complexities related to health decision-making and explanations behind the disparities that linger in our American society.” He holds a doctorate in medical sociology and master’s degrees in public health and sociology. Julien spoke with Xpress about the causes of medical mistrust, the problem with relying on figureheads to disseminate information and why a hip-hop song was great health care communication. This interview has been condensed for length and edited for clarity. People of color and women have both been historically ignored, dismissed and even abused in the medical field. What is the health

community doing to address the resulting mistrust? The cohorts that are coming into the public health realm now are being trained on these matters and are taught to consider them. But we have to acknowledge that there’s a large group of individuals out there who are currently practicing and that may not have been part of their training. I think what’s most important here is having individuals, members of these communities, in these major institutions and public health agencies. The boardroom — is it just composed of health care workers, or is it composed of those who are being served? In your opinion, what is at the root of medical mistrust? Communication between [experts and the public] isn’t really taking place until something serious happens. What kind of groundwork is being laid consistently as time progresses? Part of the reason that mistrust is happening is there’s not enough investment during the quiet periods. Also, we have to be honest with ourselves about the financial situation around health in America — in particular how health conditions that individuals go through can end up disrupting lives from a financial standpoint and bankrupting folks. Some of the mistrust may be more reflective of the deserved bitterness, of care not being administered from a utilitarian perspective, of care being limited to those who have the means. That’s an unfortunate reality, and in a way, we’re dealing with the wrath of that reality. How can the medical field use the media more effectively to earn people’s trust?

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TALK ABOUT IT: Fabrice Julien, assistant professor of health and wellness at UNC Asheville, says successful health communication about public health should be consistent and not only happen during emergencies. Photo courtesy of UNCA In my health communication class right now, I stress that [messaging is] complex, multistepped and needs to be tailored. There are these important pillars of exceptional communication. That goes back to Aristotle and his focus on trust, emotion and reason. If the messaging is focused on trust with ethos, focused on pathos with emotion, focused on logos with reason, then you’re going to have more success reaching members of the general public. There is this myth that experts have, which is as long as you focus on just the logos side — as long as you just focus on reason, presenting the numbers, the data — that should be enough. But that’s not how the general

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public finds, interprets and evaluates information. You have to appeal to emotion; you have to appeal to trust. And oftentimes it’s not the person who’s doing the work who should have the microphone. At the beginning of the pandemic, politicians like Governor Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump would do regular press conferences that were must-see viewing for a lot of people. Neither of them are medical professionals, but their communication styles resonated with different people. What we found in the last year or so is that for one person’s figurehead, there’s a counterfigurehead. This will be an interesting case study, this time that we’re living in. What I suppose textbooks will write on this is that we took the wrong approach by having the scientists at the forefront of communication. Just because you are a pathologist or a virologist does not mean that you have done the training of how to communicate information. It’s frustrating, because I know for a fact that these agencies have health communication experts. Gov. Cuomo was an interesting case study. I have a hunch that the governor had media training, more so than some other folks. In a lot of ways the governor was appealing to all three of those pillars of exceptional communication. What would be an example of effective health communication that earned people’s trust? I think about the press conference that Magic Johnson gave [in 1991] to announce his then-retirement from basketball. It was a press conference trying to inform the public about HIV — which had incorrectly been ascribed to particular members of the American population — how it was indiscriminate about who it could infect. That press conference represented those three pillars and a lot of good came from it: HIV testing increased. A more recent example comes from the rapper Logic — the suicide hotline track [“1-800-273-8255”]. I thought that was exceptional health communication, because it appealed to pathos with his own stories with his mental health issues. There have been studies about the impact that’s had on youth, the hotline being called and saving more lives. Do you think we are living during a uniquely mistrustful time? That’s not the case — mistrust and distrust have been around for some time. I think back to Robert Putnam and his thesis on Americans bowling alone, civic life collapsing and how that was a foreshadow of what we would come to see today.

— Jessica Wakeman X

HEALTH CHECKUP

Taking life day by day

Listen to your body

WLOS anchor Kristen Aguirre touches base with Xpress about the mental and physical benefits she experiences through exercise as well as the empowerment that comes in taking life day-by-day. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? The best way for me to maintain a healthy mental space is through exercise, prayer and journaling every single morning. What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? “Does this make me feel good?” That’s the question I always ask myself when it comes to KRISTEN AGUIRRE my physical health, which is why my workout regimen is constantly changing. Currently, I go to Club Pilates at least twice a week and yoga every morning. The strength training plus stretching is great for mobility, which is something we should all be focused on as we age. What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith by Gabrielle Bernstein really helped open my eyes to the fact that everything will work out; just take a deep breath. When you battle daily anxiety like I do, you can feel like the world is caving in on you, often more than not. This book reminds the reader to be in the moment, don’t worry about tomorrow — a thought that helps calm my anxiety to this day. I also read a daily devotional. The one I’m reading this year is Daily Wisdom for Women 2022. It breaks down passages from the bible daily. As a woman of faith and spirituality, it reminds me there is a higher power in control. So, really I should only respond to what I can control in the moment. I usually read a passage then journal about it as well as my hopes for the day ahead, plus what I’m grateful for. I also just wrapped up The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson. Yet another reminder to focus on only what I can control. I focus heavily on my mental health because if I’m in a healthy head space, then I can really push myself to that Pilates class I signed up for. Also, therapy — I think everyone can benefit from this support. I could read all the books in the world, but really my therapist helps develop coping skills for me when my anxiety is heavy. Get therapy! X

Liz Roseman, founder of Sustainable Health Acupuncture, speaks with Xpress about unplugging, the importance of sleep and Chinese medicine. What are some techniques you use for maintaining your mental health? Something that I have learned over the years is that yin activities like downtime, stillness, unplugging, getting out in nature and doing nothing are just as important as more yang activities (which our society is very skewed toward) LIZ ROSEMAN and very much support my mental health. I feel so much better when I don’t turn my phone on right away in the morning. I start each day with a walking meditation with my dog. I also take breaks from social media and I am a fan of putting my phone in airplane mode for extended periods of time, including for an hour or more before bed. I also find it important to regulate the ratio of time spent with friends (which is great for my mental health!) with time for only myself (also great for mental health!). Another important tip is that if I am feeling mentally/ emotionally not 100%, I allow myself to feel it and also remind myself that I will likely feel better after a good night or two of sleep. What is your favorite way to approach your own physical health? I am very much a person who lives in her body and enjoys being physical. I lift weights five times a week, walk 2-5 miles daily, do yoga three or more days per week, eat real foods (including lots of really good dark chocolate!) and drink lots of filtered water. I aim for 8-plus hours of sleep per day. That being said, if I wake up and don’t feel up to something, like going to the gym, I listen to my body — I would say that this is the key. What is one book, podcast, documentary or article related to mental or physical health that you’d recommend, and why? The Alchemy of Inner Work: A Guide for Turning Illness and Suffering Into True Health and Well-Being by Lorie Dechar and Benjamin Fox is my go-to book for caring for the self and the inner landscape. It is extremely accessible and practical. It’s the perfect book for where we are now as a collective — at a crossroads where the old way of being isn’t working. The book goes into many different types of seeing the outer and inner world, including (but not limited to) Chinese medicine and depth psychology. And the second half of the book is a “how-to” manual to help the reader be able to access their own inner wisdom and to actualize the self, with actual practices to help ground into our own inner knowing. X

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

ARTS & CULTURE

Musical maladies

Artists contend with ailments stemming from years of playing

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com

Series

For many people, bouts of ringing in their ears go away quickly. But for Cactus, the Asheville-based hip-hop artist also known as Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, the ringing hasn’t stopped for over a decade. “It never goes away, and it drove me crazy when it started,” he says. “But I’ve learned to adapt, and now it doesn’t mess with me too much — it just means that when things are quiet, it’s there waiting for me.” In addition to tinnitus and other auditory woes, musicians are prone to various health issues tied to their profession. Xpress spoke with a few area creatives currently dealing with on-the-job ailments, each of whom was eager for others to learn from their experiences and avoid similar mistakes. GRAY AREAS Cactus’ tinnitus was initially triggered during a stressful period in his life, which the musician says is common for the ailment. But another major contributor to his 10-year struggle was his previous resistance to wearing earplugs onstage. As a 20-year-old in a loud, raucous band, Cactus remembers feeling he was “immortal and invincible” — a youthful delusion that he hopes serves as a cautionary tale to other would-be invincible types. “At night, I sleep with a fan on, and I’ve got a great white-noise generator, the Rain Rain app, on my phone that I use when I read books or meditate,” he says. “The only time it really gets on my nerves is when

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“Turns out it’s a particular type of tendonitis called De Quervain’s tenosynovitis — inflammation of the tendon that powers your thumb,” Pruett says. After consulting with a local hand doctor, she received a corticosteroid injection in June. “Two weeks after the first shot, I thought my wrist was better and resumed sleeping without a brace and played a bunch of gigs back to back,” Pruett says. “About a week later, the pain started again, a little more intense than before. When I went back to the doctor, he gave me a second injection that was extremely painful.” Surgery was proposed by Pruett’s doctor if her condition didn’t improve. Hesitant to go under the knife amid a busy tour and festival schedule, the violinist sought alternative options. Soon thereafter, she began having regular sessions with local neuromuscular massage therapist Darren Cadwell and later added treatments with physical therapists Taylor Leiby and Colin Hunt at Movement for Life. Progress is slow, though Pruett feels she’s getting stronger. “I’m learning a lot about what it’s like to have limitations and having to listen to your body,” she says. “Physical therapy seems to require working with a lot of gray areas. There’s no simple prescriptive approach, so I have to listen and decide how much to push myself and ask a lot of questions.” Being intentional, Pruett continues, is imperative. But it’s also the greatest difficulty. “When you’re used to just getting out there and playing every day of your life, that’s very challenging but entirely possible.” LIKE AN OLD PAINTBRUSH

TIME OUT: Local violinist Lyndsay Pruett has been sidelined by De Quervain’s tenosynovitis — inflammation of the tendon that powers one’s thumb. Photo by Sandlin Gaither I’m in nature and I’d like to have a peaceful, quiet moment, but can’t.” To date the most effective treatment Cactus receives is an occasional professional ear cleaning, as impacted wax intensifies the ringing. He’s experimented with switching up his diet, too, noticing that coffee and alcohol can amplify the disturbance. “Also, I’ve done a few sessions of hypnosis for it, as well as learned to meditate in a more focused way,” he says. “The trick, as crazy as it seems,

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is learning to be calm and not focus on it. Focusing on it increases stress, which increases the ringing, and it becomes a feedback loop, so you have to get in control of your mind and your stress.” Like Cactus, healthy changes have been a major part of Lyndsay Pruett’s life over the past seven months. The local violinist first noticed an ache in her wrist in mid-March 2021, following one of her first gigs back since the onset of the pandemic.

Such injuries are common for local chiropractor Brent Myers, who’s worked with a steady stream of musicians and other artists looking to recover from aches and pains. “Primarily, it’s hand, arms, neck, upper back — that kind of whole unit,” he says. “I don’t see as much in the lower body.” Myers likens many of these muscle injuries to an old paintbrush whose bristles — which he says resemble human muscle fibers — have stuck together due to not being cleaned. As such, when a musician holds an

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ARTS & CU L T U R E

Three Spirals Life Coaching with Merylee McMahan

instrument for an extended period of time, certain muscles get neglected and lose the ability to slide and move. “When muscle fibers get all stuck together, you get these overuse, repetitive motion type of injuries,” Myers says. “If there’s a nerve in there, it can get pinched or irritated and that can cause a problem, or it can just be that this chronic position has caused all these muscles to be all wound up.” Through massage, chiropractic treatment and instilling the importance of preventive exercises in his clients, Myers and other medical professionals have helped numerous area artists keep pain at bay and enjoy long, successful careers. PREVENTIVE MEASURES In line with Myers’ emphasis on keeping muscles loose, Caitlin Krisko makes it a priority to stretch prior to each gig. But it’s the commitment to protecting her voice that’s resulted in her rock band Caitlin Krisko and The Broadcast never having to cancel any of its nearly 2,000 shows over the past decade due to vocal issues. Though the Asheville-based frontwoman feels fortunate to own that spotless record, she’s quick to note that luck has nothing to do with it. Vocal training remains a major part of her routine. “Vocal warmups are also superimportant, but something that people don’t really realize is that a consistent sleeping environment can really affect your vocal health, too,” she says. When Krisko tours, she brings a particular pillow with her so that her neck and head are angled at a specific position each night. And, unless she knows she’ll be in a naturally humid climate, she also brings a humidifier. “We’re talking traveling through 10 countries in Europe, hauling a humidifier up 10 flights of stairs because I have to have it in my room every night,” she says. “When you’re sleeping in an environment that’s really moist and humidified, you’re not waking up with a dry throat or respiratory system. And especially during the winter months, you’re creating a really nice, warm, moist, regulated environment for yourself.” Furthermore, after noticing how drinking alcohol gradually depleted her vocal strength, Krisko dropped the habit and switched to water and tea. Along with proper hydration, she’s also seen the benefits of checking in with her voice each day to monitor what she’s capable of for the next performance. “There are nights where I’m like, ‘I’m at a 10 right now. I can soar.’ But

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LORD OF THE RINGS: Cactus has been dealing with constant tinnitus for 10 years but has found various coping mechanisms to help get through each day. Photo by Mike Belleme then three weeks into a tour, I might have a night where I’m kind of tired,” she says. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making adjustments in your melodies — maybe adjusting certain big notes so that you can allow yourself to have vocal stamina.” Likewise fully aboard the self-preservation train, Cactus recommends musicians get in the habit of wearing in-ear monitors or earplugs onstage and avoiding “insanely loud noise in general,” be it at shows or industrial settings. “Take it seriously, because you might not have a problem right away, but over time, the damage can stack up,” he says. “I’ve learned that I am not immortal and invincible, and that my body is irreplaceable. Health is important, and you can’t buy it. You have to find balance and maintain it. I’ve also learned how to let stress go. Sometimes, at least — I’m still working on that one.” X

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MUSIC

Good for the soul

Colston, RBTS WIN and The Build release new albums

WINTER WARMERS: Clockwise from top left, Colston, RBTS WIN and The Build provide respite from the cold weather with fresh tunes. Photo of Colston by Jules and Conrad Photography; photo of RBTS WIN by J. Mart; photo of The Build by Tony Willingham

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As with many musicians, the pandemic continues to change the way local hip-hop artist Bryan “Colston” Godleski approaches his music. But on top of readjusting to the ongoing health crisis, Godleski has also spent the last seven months familiarizing himself with his latest role as a new dad. “That has really changed my outlook on life and ways I think about myself and fatherhood,” Godleski says. “I want to be the best father I can be, and sometimes imposter syndrome flares up to trick me into believing that’s not possible. I combat these feelings with positive self-talk and affirmations from my wife and family reminding me we are all in this together.” Godleski works through these emotions and more on his new solo album, fittingly titled Imposter Syndrome. While he says self-doubt and second-guessing affect his ability to follow through with what he knows is a great song or project, the consistent quality across the record’s 14 tracks puts to rest any question regarding his artistic

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talent. Regardless, the combination of deep introspection and his commitment to work safely with others throughout the pandemic turned the album into the most difficult musical undertaking of his career. “The past two years have certainly impacted my music-making abilities, mainly due to the fact that I couldn’t meet with most of my collaborators in person,” Godleski says. “There’s a unique energy in the studio with someone bringing that energy versus having them lay the verse down on their own.” Despite this distance, Imposter Syndrome features a number of collaborations from the local music scene. C. Shreve the Professor, MiKE L!VE, Po’Folk, Philo, Cactus, Kilo Fresh, Hunter Bennett and Ave each laid down memorable verses with beats by Spaceman Jones, TRIP, CrazyHorse and other producers. And while the bulk of guests are fellow hip-hop artists, Godleski also brought in rocker Ashley Heath to contribute her smooth vocals to the song “Kid on a Mission.”

“I like to look at an album as a time capsule. People can look back on this and see who’s making moves in this city,” Godleski says. “I also just want to showcase the people that I’m a fan of. Everyone on the album is very active and trying to level up in their own musical careers. My goal is to shed more light on these artists and push them a little farther.” The unquestioned star, however, is Godleski himself — particularly when he gets deeply personal on songs such as “It’s All Good” and “Nobody Home.” Such numbers address issues including substance abuse and recovery, broken relationships and his musical partnership with Max “CrazyHorse” Hupertz. “It was important for me to highlight the lowlights in my life because I want people who can relate to feel seen. For those that can’t relate, I want to paint a picture of what it was like to go through what I went through,” Godleski says. “It sometimes brings up emotions that I haven’t felt in a long time, and other times I get a sense of relief hearing

these songs, knowing I made it through some very rough times. Overall, it’s been very helpful for me to get over some unresolved feelings about myself or others.” avl.mx/b4x ANDROID MAGIC RBTS WIN, formerly known as ROBOTS, is back with its latest album, happy_sad.jpg. The Asheville-based, genre-defying, electro-soul duo formed in 2008 after Javier Bolea and Cliff B. Worsham were introduced to each other at a local bar. Soon thereafter, the pair dropped their first EP, WIN. “I think we had that EP done within a couple weeks of meeting each other,” remembers Worsham. “We didn’t really set boundaries for each other in the studio. We just did what we felt, and it worked. I think that’s what kept us going all these years — that freedom we always allowed for the ideas to flow out in the studio.” Bolea concurs: “We’ve been so lucky to get to do this throughout the different phases of our lives. Reflecting back on all we’ve accomplished and the art we’ve created has been a trip. I feel like we’re still getting better at it, and we have so much more to do.” That chemistry remains strong on happy_sad.jpg. During the initial months of the 2020 lockdown, Worsham’s creativity flourished, resulting in approximately 50 new songs. Of those, seven were selected for the latest release. Lyrically, Worsham explains, the time spent in lockdown forced him to reflect on a number of issues explored in happy_sad.jpg. “It made for a really personal album,” he says. “But it was all a very healthy way of working through those feelings.” Within these introspective numbers, he continues, a theme of driving emerged. For Bolea, this unplanned motif is a fitting symbol of the times. Cars, he notes, represent both freedom as well as a desire for escape. “I think we all want to do that right now,” he says. The duo has likewise felt a sense of liberation in returning to area stages after a long, pandemic-induced hiatus. Though creating music in the studio brings them significant joy, Worsham stresses that it’s nothing like performing live, which “connects you directly to the people who support you,” allowing the artists “to see their reaction in real time.” avl.mx/b4u ONE-MAN BAND “I think this is going to be the last time I record an album like this,” says Tony Willingham. “It was a

really great experience, and I’m truly happy with the end result, but it was a lot of work.” The multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter is referring to Chaos Magick, his debut album under the solo moniker The Build. Willingham describes the project as “a concept album about life, death, love and our place in the universe.” And, with the exception of one sweeping guitar solo by fellow local artist Chris Young, Willingham performed and recorded every instrument on the album over the course of roughly 18 pandemic months. “A well-rehearsed band can go into the studio and knock out several songs in one session. But when you’re doing everything yourself, you kind of start with a click track and just keep adding layers until all the instruments are there, which is obviously pretty time-consuming,” Willingham says. “Most of the songs were fully written, but sometimes you’ll have an idea and you go to record it and you listen back to it and you think to yourself, ‘Whoa! Wouldn’t it be cool if this happened here?’ So you end up doing a lot of songwriting during the recording process itself.” While the sonic complexity and cohesiveness of Chaos Magick are impressive, Willingham’s lyrics are just as impactful. Though the musician says he didn’t set out to write a concept album, he notes that the recurring subjects he explores helped put his own personal problems into perspective. And such a mindset proved beneficial when, roughly halfway through the recording process, he learned that a friend had taken his own life. “That kind of changed everything for a lot of us. I kept finding myself in less-than-ideal situations, and songs just started putting themselves together,” Willingham says. “I decided to just take my hands off the wheel there for a second. I figured that the universe would work its magic, and, lo and behold, it did.” With the album now complete, Willingham is in the process of working up the songs for live settings with Felix Rodriguez (drums), Hannah Simpson (bass/cello/theremin) and Hazel Brindley (keys/trumpet). “I want all of them to feel like this is as much their band as it is mine, so I’m really letting them put their own flair on everything,” Willingham says. “I don’t think it’s important that the live band sound identical to the album. There’s really no way that I’m going to be able to get three other people into the exact same headspace that I was when I recorded it. Hell, I’m not even in the same headspace anymore.” avl.mx/b4t

— Edwin Arnaudin X MOUNTAINX.COM

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HEMP HEMP, HOORAY: Franny Tacy, CEO and owner of Franny’s Farmacy, will celebrate the grand opening of her company’s new South Slope dispensary with a ribbon-cutting at 4:20 p.m. Feb. 2. Celebrations will continue through Feb. 5. Photo courtesy of Franny’s Farmacy When Franny Tacy, founder of Franny’s Farmacy, cuts the ribbon on Wednesday, Feb. 2, for the grand opening of the company’s latest location on the South Slope, she celebrates not only a new dispensary, but the one-year anniversary of becoming the company’s CEO and sole owner. Since that time, Tacy has restructured the company, created a sustainable design for future franchises (which she expects to top seven by the end of the first quarter of this year) and launched several new products. The latest dispensary marks the ninth overall location with six current franchises. “We chose the South Slope [location] to serve tourists but still remain in and of this local community,” she explains.

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The 3,000-square-foot building, however, will serve as more than just a dispensary. The new location will also house the company’s corporate office, as well as serve as a training center, event and wellness space. Furthermore, the site will feature Franny’s Farm Foods retail shop, including the company’s first location of Canna Café, serving Franny’s line of chakra teas, coffee, CBD-infused edibles, all-organic, nutrient-dense cookies and baked goods using hemp flour, hemp seeds and hemp oil. Grand opening events include: the ribbon-cutting with facility tours and product sampling on Wednesday, Feb. 2, beginning at 4:20 p.m.; a book signing for Courage in Cannabis on Thursday, Feb. 3, 4:20-7 p.m.; and a panel discussion about CBD led by Tacy on Saturday, Feb. 5, 1-4 p.m.

While looking ahead to a major growth spurt in 2022, Tacy says her goal is to remain grounded. “We want to be very strategic with everything and grow Franny’s like a plant, with very strong roots.” Franny’s Farmacy’s latest location is at 231 Biltmore Ave. For more information and updates, visit avl.mx/b5f.

Community center The Cultivated Community Dinner Series, a monthly pop-up collaborative launched in September by Cultura/Funkatorium chef Eric Morris, returns on Thursday, Feb. 17, with its spring series. Seasonal themes will continue through 2022. The kickoff is billed as a family reunion, featuring the first

four chefs that helped launch the pop-up in 2021: Luis Martinez, Jonathan Pridgen, J Chong and Silver Cousler. All will partner with Morris on the first course, and each will contribute one of the next four courses. “I have asked each chef to create a dish that is representative of something they love about Asheville,” Morris says. As in the past, the series will continue to benefit a nonprofit selected by the pop-up’s featured chef. For the latest event, Morris chose BeLoved Asheville. The dinners, which seat 40-50 people, take place at Cultura, 147 Coxe Ave. The $100 ticket includes beverage pairings (with nonalcoholic pairings upon request). Looking ahead, the March dinner will spotlight Ashleigh Shanti, and the April dinner will feature Dan Silo, owner of Sawhorse. For more information on the series and on sale ticket dates, visit avl.mx/ap2.

Spell it out Honeybees are in “t-r-o-u-b-l-e,” and Noble Cider wants to help. On Friday, the downtown taproom and restaurant will host the inaugural Adult Spelling Bee to benefit Asheville GreenWorks Bee City USA. Seven teams of three will compete for prizes from Asheville Bee Charmer and gift cards from Noble Cider. Awards will also be given for best team outfits, so contestants are encouraged to costume accordingly. The competition, which will take place 6-8 p.m., will be run by Mitch Fortune of Mitch’s Totally Rad Trivia. Spectators can get in on the buzz by donating $5 or more and receive raffle tickets for prizes. Proceeds from cider sales, entry fees and team add-ons will go to helping

Bee City USA support and grow the local bee population. The deadline to register a team is Wednesday, Feb. 2. Email cindy@ noblecider.com by noon. Noble Cider Downtown is at 49 Rankin Ave.

Rodeo drive Cornmeal dumplings, apple-walnut bread and frybread are on the menus of the three Qualla Boundary food trucks participating in the Food Truck Rodeo taking place FridaySaturday, Feb. 4-5, at Harrah’s Cherokee Conference Center in Cherokee. EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems helped organize the event, which will run both days from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The participating trucks — all women-owned — are Sugar’s Place (mother-and-daughter team Sugar and Tasha Martinez), Lulu’s Food Truck (Marsha Ensley) and Nikki’s Frybread (Nikki Crisp). Harrah’s Cherokee Conference Center is at 123 Harrah’s Service Drive, Cherokee.

Tiger time Highland Brewing Co. will kick off the Lunar New Year of the Tiger with the release of Water Tiger IPA — the brewery’s third annual collaboration with Seattle-based Lucky Envelope Brewing Co. The celebration takes place Saturday, Feb. 5, noon-9 p.m. at Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Highway, and will include a bonfire, live music from Laura Blakely & the Wildflowers and food from Bun Intended. The first 88 visitors will receive a lucky red envelope with prizes inside.

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Roll up your sleeves Blood banks all over the country are seeing a decline in deposits, so 12 Bones Smokehouse South and 12 Bones Brewing have partnered with the Asheville Blood Collection to bulk up the supply. On Sunday, Feb. 6, 2-6 p.m., donors will receive a $20 e-gift card from 12 Bones as a thank-you for giving blood. Reserve your spot at avl.mx/b56. 12 Bones Smokehouse South is at 2350 Hendersonville Road, Arden.

Go fish Pop quiz! Tin Fish is: a) a new band; b) the latest in beach house décor; or c) a newly popular menu category. Ten clams to you if you guessed C, and no penalty if you’re not quite sure what that means. Botanist & Barrel invites diners to take a deep dive into the curious culinary craze at its downtown taproom, which will host “Explore the World of Tinned Seafood” on Monday, Feb. 7, 4-6 p.m. Anchovies, sardines, sea sprat and squid are among the dozen options participants will sample. The tasting will be accompanied by classic accoutrements, with cider and wine flights available to pair. Botanist & Barrel Asheville is at 32 Broadway, Suite 110. Tickets are $18 and should be pre-purchased at avl.mx/b57.

(Black) winter is coming The Asheville Truffle Experience, which celebrates the Périgord black winter truffle, takes place Friday-Sunday, Feb. 11-13, at the Haywood Park Hotel in downtown Asheville, as well as remote locations. Historically foraged from the woods of France, Spain and Italy, the prized Périgord is now cultivated in the Northwest and Southeast sections of the United States. The full immersion experience includes: an opening truffle and wine tasting; Saturday morning educational sessions, cooking demonstrations and a seated dinner; and a Sunday field trip to the truffle orchard at Mountain Research Station in Waynesville. Tickets and registration for the weekend or a la carte events can be found at avl.mx/b51.

Have a heart Candy conversation hearts are so grade school. Sophisticate your 44

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sweet talk with delectable heartshaped macarons by Beeswax and Butter. Six macarons in six flavors are individually decorated with love letters like “Be Mine” and “BAE.” Or, make breaking up a little less hard to do with a box of bye-bye love messages including “No, Bite Me” and “Single AF.” Boxes are $18 each and must be preordered by email at beeswaxandbutter@gmail.com; specify valentine or anti-valentine in the message. Pickups will take place at the River Arts District Farmers Market, at Pleb Urban Winery, 289 Lyman St., Wednesday, Feb. 9, 3-5:30 p.m., or at the Asheville City Market, 340 Victoria Road on the A-B Tech campus, Saturday, Feb. 12, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. For more, visit avl.mx/b5a.

Farmy business Registration is open for Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s 19th annual Business of Farming Conference, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center. The conference focuses on the business side of farming, offering beginning and established farmers financial, legal, management and marketing tools to improve their farm businesses and make new professional connections. Six of the 12-plus workshops are new this year, including “Dynamics of Farm Employment,” “Food Relief Sites as Market Outlets” and “Building Your Online Presence.” The popular grower-buyer meeting, during which farmers meet with chefs, grocers, wholesalers and other buyers will be held at lunchtime. Registration, which includes breakfast and a locally sourced lunch by Farm Burger, is $95 ($75 by end of day Tuesday, Feb. 1) with a discount for farm partners registering together. Scholarships are available for limited-resource farmers and farmers who are Black, Indigenous or people of color. For workshop descriptions, more information and to register, visit avl.mx/8ul.

Good company With the awarding of a 2022 Real Leaders Top 200 Global Impact Award for industry leadership in driving positive social and environmental change through business, Asheville’s No Evil Foods joins the ranks of such worldwide leaders like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s and Miyoko’s all-vegan food brand.

— Kay West X

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

ROUNDUP

Around Town

Asheville Arts Council preserves George Floyd protest art with exhibition, auction

PROTEST ART: These murals, which were put up on North Lexington Avenue in the summer of 2020, are now part of the Asheville Area Arts Council’s latest virtual gallery and fundraiser. Photo by David Huff Protest art is an effective tool for bringing awareness to injustices, says Katie Cornell, executive director of the Asheville Area Arts Council. That’s why the arts council decided to assist in the preservation of street murals that sprung up all around downtown Asheville following the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The art is now part of the 2020 AVL Protest Murals exhibition, which features a virtual gallery, an online auction of 27 original works and a speaker series. When the murals first started to come down, Cornell says, the arts council worked with Aisha Adams from Equity Over Everything to determine how to best preserve them. Cornell also worked with Evar Hecht, who represented the artists responsible for creating the murals. Eventually, funding from Dogwood Health Trust allowed the arts council to secure a climate-controlled storage facility. “This collection captures an important moment in both our national and local history that should

not be forgotten,” Cornell says. “We have a lot of work still to do, and this exhibit provides an important reminder of that fact.” Proceeds from the auction, which runs through Monday, Feb. 28, will be split among the Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County’s Community Outreach Providing Empowerment program and the arts council’s Arts Build Community grant program. The speaker series starts on Wednesday, Feb. 9, at noon, with 2020 AVL Protest Arts Reflections, a virtual panel moderated by Adams. On Wednesday, Feb.16, Stephanie Hickling Beckman, executive director of Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, will discuss what it’s like to be a person of color working as an artist in Asheville. And on Wednesday, Feb. 23, Sekou Coleman, executive director of Asheville Writers in the Schools and Community, will speak about engaging communities of color in local public art initiatives. To bid on the murals, visit avl.mx/b52. To register for the Feb. 9 virtual panel, go to avl.mx/b54.

Look beyond Homeward Thomas Wolfe published “Death the Proud Brother” in 1933, only four years after his controversial debut novel Look Homeward, Angel. The experimental short story demonstrates just how much the Asheville native had evolved as a writer in a brief time, says Terry Roberts, a local novelist and director of the National Paideia Center. “It is original in form — a story that doesn’t tell a story — and suggests the influence of James Joyce and other important European modernists,” Roberts says. “It describes four seemingly unrelated deaths, all of which occur in New York, and then attempts to tie the four together through the deep and profound questions we all have about death.” Roberts will lead a Zoom discussion of “Death the Proud Brother” on Thursday, Feb. 10, 7-8 p.m. The event is part of the seventh annual Thomas Wolfe Short Story Discussion, held on the second

Thursday of each month, January through April. The club is a partnership between the Wilma Dykeman Legacy and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial state historic site. All story selections come from The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe, edited by Francis E. Skipp. “[Wolfe] often gets dismissed by those who only know him for Look Homeward, Angel and criticize him for writing thinly disguised autobiography,” Roberts says. “In fact, Wolfe wrote extraordinarily accomplished novellas and short stories. The further you look into Wolfe’s life and career, you realize just how limited are many of the current views.” For more information, visit avl.mx/b5g. To register for the Zoom discussion, email wolfe@wilmadykemanlegacy.org.

Outside observer When Asheville’s Bill Slawter decided to write a memoir about his early life, he knew he had to address

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

AR T S & C UL T U R E the reality of his experiences as a white person growing up in the segregated South. “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I did come into the world with a golden passport in my pocket that has opened doors for me throughout my life,” says Slawter, a retired attorney. “I don’t know whether I felt the need to apologize for that or simply to acknowledge it as the cold, hard truth.” Slawter’s book, Sit-Ins, DriveIns and Uncle Sam: Coming of Age in the Era of Civil Rights and the Vietnam Draft, was recently published by Atmosphere Press. In the memoir, he looks back at growing up in Greensboro in the 1960s. Slawter admits the Greensboro sitins, a series of nonviolent protests that began in February 1960 and gained international attention, had little impact on him at the time. Back then, he was just an observer sitting on the sidelines. But he thinks it is crucial for Americans, including schoolchildren, to learn about the sit-ins and the civil rights movement generally. “Those who don’t want our children to learn about the past may not want to think about — and certainly not have our children think about —

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how their lives may have been made better at the expense of children with darker skin,” he says. For more information or to purchase the book, visit avl.mx/b58.

HART presents Nocturne HART Theatre in Waynesville will present Nocturne, a one-man show examining a life of exceptional loss, Fridays-Sundays, Feb. 4-13. According to a press release, audiences will “step into the psyche of ‘Son’ as he explores the effects of the incident that caused him to accidentally kill his sister at a very young age and how his family was subsequently torn apart.” Written by Adam Rapp, the play stars Jered Shults and is directed by Doug Savitt. HART Theatre is at 250 Pigeon St. in Waynesville. For tickets, visit avl.mx/97t.

ACT auditions Asheville Community Theatre will hold auditions for The Giver on Monday, Feb. 7, and Tuesday, Feb. 8, 5:30-7:30 p.m. The show will run on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, April 29-May 22.

MOVIE REVIEWS Local reviewers’ critiques of new films include: SCREAM: The fifth movie in this long-running horror saga shares its name with Wes Craven’s revered 1996 series starter, but has little in common with it on the quality side. Though this Scream’s commentary on toxic fandoms couldn’t be more relevant in today’s polarized culture, the flat direction by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not) proves disrespectful to the late, great Craven’s legacy. The film’s box-office success suggests that more installments are on the way, but despite the easy profits, it’s time to retire the Ghostface mask. Grade: C-minus — Edwin Arnaudin

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Find full reviews and local film info at ashevillemovies.com patreon.com/ashevillemovies

The Giver is Eric Coble’s stage adaption of Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal-winning book about a world in which there is no pain, but no joy, either. Director Michael Jorizzo is looking for nine or more child and adult actors. Asheville Community Theatre is at 35 Walnut St. For more information, visit avl.mx/b5b.

Pink Dog show A collection of works by Pink Dog 348 Group artists are on display in the hallway gallery at Pink Dog Creative through April 3. Mediums include glass art, oils, acrylics, cold wax, encaustic, mixed media, textile art, portraiture, landscape and abstracts. Participating artists are Lynn Bregman Blass, Karen Keil Brown, Julieta Fumberg, Leene Hermann, Gayle Paul, Joseph Pearson, Sarah St Laurent, Larry Turner and Cindy Walton. The gallery will host an opening reception on Thursday, Feb. 10, 5-7 p.m. Pink Dog Creative is at 348 Depot St. in the Asheville River Arts District. For more information, go to avl.mx/5p2.

Play time Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville has named Marci Bernstein interim executive director. Bernstein has more than two decades of theater experience, including co-founding and managing Attic Salt Theatre Company. “Marci has spent her entire adult life working in the arts as an actor, musician, writer, director and producer in New York City and in Western North Carolina,” the playhouse says in a press release. “She’s spent many years in the classroom developing programs that balance education basics with the arts.” The playhouse is embarking on its 75th season with a lineup of shows that will include Working: A Musical, The Savannah Sipping Society and Sherwood: The Legend of Robin Hood. It is offering two audition options for the 2022 Mainstage Season. One audition will be specifically for experienced actors, the other for inexperienced actors. The experienced actors auditions will be held Saturday, Feb. 12, 10 a.m.1 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 13, 3-5 p.m. The less experienced actors auditions will take place Saturday, Feb. 12, 2-4 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 13, 1-3 p.m. The Parkway Playhouse is at 202 Green Mountain Drive in Burnsville. For more information, go to avl.mx/b5c.

— Justin McGuire X

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CLUBLAND

YEAR OF THE TIGER: Roots rock band Acoustic Syndicate will perform at the annual Chinese New Year celebration at Salvage Station’s indoor stage on Sunday, Feb. 6, at 8 p.m. The band, which was formed in the farming community of Shelby, just observed its 25-year anniversary with a new recording deal with Organic Records. Photo courtesy of Salvage Station

The featured icon indicates which venues or artists require proof of vaccination for upcoming shows. Due to the evolving nature of the matter, the list may not be comprehensive. Before heading out, please check with all venues for complete information on any vaccine or negative COVID-19 requirements. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 185 KING STREET Trivia Night, 7pm ARCHETYPE TAP LOUNGE + VENUE Locals Night, 4pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY • Queer Comedy Party: Storhm Artistek 7pm • Aquanet Goth Partyk 9pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Disclaimer Stand Up Comedy (open mic), 8pm CASCADE LOUNGE Wednesday Bluegrass Jam, 5pm

FEB. 2-8, 2022

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HI-WIRE BREWING BIG TOP Free Weekly Trivia Night, 7pm HI-WIRE BREWING RAD BEER GARDEN Game Night, 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well Crafted Wednesdays w/Matt Smith (singer-songwriter), 6pm ICONIC KITCHEN & DRINKS Marc Keller (acoustic), 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Latin Night Wednesdays, 7pm RENDEZVOUS Albi (vintage jazz), 6pm SILVERADOS Open Jam w/Hamza Vandehey, 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia, 6:30pm THE BARRELHOUSE Open Mic hosted by Kid Billy, 8pm THE ODDITORIUM Bumpin' Uglies presents Stay Golden: A Tribute to Betty White, 8pm TRISKELION BREWING CO. TriskaTrivia, 7pm

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3 12 BONES BREWERY Musical Bingo w/DJ Bar-One, 7pm 131 MAIN Aaron LaFalce (soul, rock, pop), 6pm

185 KING STREET Redd (Americana, folk), 7pm 305 LOUNGE & EATERY Bob Sherill (singer-songwriter), 1pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Classic Beauties Drag Showk 9pm GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM Gluten-Free Comedy Open Mic, 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Drag Music Bingo w/ Divine the Bearded Lady, 6pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Jesse Harman and Branson Raines (bluegrass, country), 6pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich & Friends, 7pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Carrie Morrison (singer-songwriter), 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Mike Dillon & Punkadelick w/Brian Haas & Rory Dolan (punk-jazz, jam), 8pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mt. Analogue & KirbyBright, McWavy, & Disco Goddess (electronic, experimental), 9pm

OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Trivia Night w/Nick Pearl, 6pm

BREWSKIES Karaoke, 10pm

POLANCO RESTAURANT Sense: DJs and Dancing, 9pm SILVERADOS Get Vocal Karaoke, 7pm THE 2ND ACT The John Henrys (jazz), 7pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Karaoke w/Karaoke Jackazz, 8pm THE ORANGE PEEL Gaelic Storm (Celtic) k 9pm THOMAS WOLFE AUDITORIUM Fortune Feimster (comedy), 8pm

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4 185 KING STREET Empire Strikes Brass (funk, rock), 8pm

CROW & QUILL DJ Dr. Filth (old school vinyl)k 8:30pm DRY FALLS BREWING CO. Burnt Reputation (acoustic rock), 7pm FLEETWOOD'S Ape Vermin w/Twin Wizard & Istari (doom metal)k 8pm GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM BLAZE & B.Forest Music (indie, rock, folk), 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Dallas Ugly (pop country, indie folk-rock) k 7pm MILLS RIVER BREWING Gin Miller Pickers (Americana), 7pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Andrew Thelston presents Led Zeppelin tribute, 8pm

SILVERADOS Karaoke w/DJ Steph, 9pm

MILLS RIVER BREWING Alex Bazemore (rock), 2pm

THE DUGOUT Sinder Ella Band (rock), 8pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Music Winter Sound Music Festival, 2pm

THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Getaway Comedy: Nick Youssef, 8pm THE GREY EAGLE Brittney Spencer w/ Abbey Cone (country, singer/songwriter)k 9pm THE ORANGE PEEL Abbey Road Live! (Beatles tribute)k 7pm TRISKELION BREWING CO. B Forrest (singer-songwriter), 7pm

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5 185 KING STREET McIntosh & The LionHearts (Americana), 8pm ARCHETYPE TAP LOUNGE + VENUE The AVL Jazz Workshop, 7pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Beauty Parlor Comedy: Michael Rowlandk 7pm ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Mark Farina (DJ, dance, mushroom jazz), 10pm BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah's Daydream (gypsy jazz), 5:30pm BREWSKIES Pool Tournament Saturdays, 7pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Roots and Dore (roots), 2pm CITIZEN VINYL Saturday Spins, 1pm CROW & QUILL Big Dawg Slingshots (Western swing)k 8:30pm DRY FALLS BREWING CO. Awake in the Dream (classic rock), 7pm FLEETWOOD'S Phantom Handshakes, Tombstone Poetry & Sweet Fiend (indie dream pop), 8pm GUIDON BREWING Denis Coleman (acoustic), 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Laura Blackley & The Wild Flowers (Americana, folk, blues), 7pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Up Jumped Three (jazz), 6pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 • Ultrafaux (Balkan folk, Gypsy jazz, French musette, bluegrass) k 7pm • Beppe Gambetta & Casey Driessen (acoustic, Americana, bluegrass)k 8:30pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Ajeva (progressive funk), 10pm POLANCO RESTAURANT SAUXE on Saturdays: Djs and Dancing, 9pm SILVERADOS Ali Randolph Band (country, Southern rock), 9pm SUNNY POINT CAFÉ Albi (vintage jazz), 6pm THE DUGOUT Xzempt (rock), 8pm THE GREY EAGLE Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters (Americana)k 9pm

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6 185 KING STREET Open Electric Jam w/the King Street House Band ft. Howie Johnson, 5pm ARCHETYPE TAP LOUNGE + VENUE Trivia Sundays, 4:30pm ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Life’s a Drag Brunch w/ Ida Carolinak 12pm BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Valentine's Shag and Swing Dance Party w/ DJ Dave Hadden (oldies, beach, Motown), 2pm HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Soul Jazz Sundays w/ Taylor Pierson Trio, 3pm HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Blues and Brews w/ Jeffrey Lewis, 1pm HIGHLAND DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Mr Jimmy Blues & Brews w/Jeffrey Lewis, 1pm ISIS MUSIC HALL & KITCHEN 743 Scott Cook & Cary Morin (alt country, Americana, acoustic)k 7:30pm MILLS RIVER BREWING Hope Griffin Trio (acoustic, folk), 2pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Blake Ellege Band (classic rock, oldies, pop), 4pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Sunday Jazz Jam w/The Fully Vaccinated Jazz Trio, 1pm SALVAGE STATION CHNY2022: Acoustic Syndicate w/The Josh Phillips Family Unit (rock, jam)k 8pm

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

CLU B LA N D THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Bike Night w/DJ Avel Veeta, 2pm

305 LOUNGE & EATERY Bob Sherill (singer-songwriter), 1pm

THE GREY EAGLE Joe Purdy w/Earl Buck (folk)k 8pm

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Downtown Karaoke w/ Ganymedek 9pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Well Crafted Wednesdays w/Matt Smith (singer-songwriter), 6pm

FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

ICONIC KITCHEN & DRINKS Marc Keller (acoustic), 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Asheville 8 String Collective (jazz, funk, blues), 6pm

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

THE ORANGE PEEL Waxahatchee (indie rock, indie folk)k 7pm TRISKELION BREWING CO. Johnnie Blackwell (rock, blues), 3pm

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7 BREWSKIES Open Jam w/Tall Paul, 7:30pm CATAWBA BREWING SOUTH SLOPE Musicians in the Round, 6pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Monday Mashup (jam), 7pm SILVERADOS 8 Ball Tournament, 7pm THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Trivia by the River w/ James Harrod, 8pm THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Mr Jimmy & Friends (blues), 7pm THE ORANGE PEEL Muna (electronic pop) k 8pm

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8 185 KING STREET Travis Book & Friends w/Jeff Sipe, Mike Ashworth and Tommy Maher, 6pm

Cheers to a better New Year from your friends at Smoky Park SMOKYPARK.COM 350 RIVERSIDE DR. ASHEVILLE, NC 28801 828-350-0315

FEB. 2-8, 2022

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ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Grateful Family Band Tuesdays (Dead tribute), 6pm SILVERADOS Get Vocal Karaoke, 7pm THE GREY EAGLE Open Mick 6pm HARRAH'S CHEROKEE CENTER Pat Metheny Side-Eye w/James Francies & Joe Dyson (jazz)k 7:30pm

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 185 KING STREET Trivia Night, 7pm

HI-WIRE BREWING RAD BEER GARDEN Game Night, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Latin Night Wednesdays w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 7pm RENDEZVOUS Albi (vintage jazz), 6pm SALVAGE STATION Rebirth Brass Band (NOLA jazz, funk)k 8pm SILVERADOS Open Mic, 7pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia, 6:30pm

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Classic Beauties Drag Showk 8pm FLEETWOOD'S Drunken Prayer, Great Dying & The Squealers (country, Americana, rockabilly), 8pm GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM Gluten-Free Comedy (open mic), 6pm HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN TAPROOM Color of Jazz, 6pm Drag Music Bingo w/ Divine the Bearded Lady, 6pm JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich & Friends, 7pm OSKAR BLUES BREWERY Trivia Night w/Nick Pearl, 6pm POLANCO RESTAURANT Sense: DJs and Dancing, 9pm

THE BARRELHOUSE Open Mic Hosted by Kid Billy, 8pm

SILVERADOS Get Vocal Karaoke, 7pm

TRISKELION BREWING CO. TriskaTrivia, 7pm

THE 2ND ACT Russ Wilson & The 2nd Act Orchestra (swing), 7pm

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY • Beauty Parlor Comedy: Steve Vanderploegk 7pm • Aquanet Goth Partyk 9pm

131 MAIN Aaron LaFalce (soul, rock, pop), 6pm

CASCADE LOUNGE Wednesday Bluegrass Jam, 5pm

185 KING STREET The Woven (folk, country), 7pm

THE ORANGE PEEL Cory and the Wongnotes ft./Antwaun Stanley (funk, R&B, pop)k 8pm

HI-WIRE BREWING BIG TOP Free Weekly Trivia Night, 7pm

305 LOUNGE & EATERY Bob Sherill (singer-songwriter), 1pm

TRISKELION BREWING CO. Jason's Krazy Karaoke, 6:30pm

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10

THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR Karaoke w/Karaoke Jackazz, 8pm

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FEB. 2-8, 2022

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): The coming months will be an excellent time for you to explore the art of Soulful Bragging. Do you deserve any of the titles below? If so, feel free to use them liberally throughout 2022. 1. Practical Idealist with Flexible Strategies. 2. Genius of Interesting Intimacy. 3. Jaunty Healer with Boisterous Knowledge of the Soul’s Ways. 4. Free-Wheeling Joker Who Makes People Laugh for Righteous and Healing Reasons. 5. Skillful Struggler. 6. Empathy Master with a Specialty in Creative Compassion. 7. Playful Reservoir of Smart Eros. 8. Purveyor of Feisty Wisdom and Cute Boldness. 9. Crafty Joy-Summoner. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Most people who use tobacco products are at risk of having shorter life spans than they might have otherwise had. Smoking is detrimental to health. Those who smoke in their 20s and 30s may cut 10 years off their longevity. But here’s some good news: If you kick your tobacco habit before age 40, you will regain most of those ten years. I bring this to your attention because I’d like it to serve as a motivational tale for you in 2022. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will have more power than ever before to escape any harmful addictions and compulsions you have — and begin reclaiming your full vitality. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In May 1974, the Grateful Dead introduced a new wrinkle to their live musical performances. Playing at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, they amplified their music through a “Wall of Sound”: 604 speakers piled high, together channeling 26,000 watts of energy. Had any band ever treated their fans to a louder volume and crisper tones? I’d like to make this breakthrough event one of your top metaphors for 2022. According to my analysis, it will be a great year for you to boost your signal. I invite you to distribute your message with maximum confidence and clarity. Show the world who you are with all the buoyant flair you can rouse. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Philosopher Emil Cioran said he despised wise philosophers. Why? Because they practice prudent equanimity, which he regarded as empty and sterile. In Cioran’s view, these deep thinkers avoid strong feelings so they can live in cool safety, free from life’s nerve-wracking paradoxes. I agree with him that such a state is undesirable. However, Cioran contrasted it with the lives of the normal people he admired, who are “full of irreconcilable contradictions” and who “suffer from limitless anxiety.” My question for Cioran: Are there no other options between those two extremes? And my answer: Of course there are! And you can be proof of that in 2022, Cancerian. I expect you’ll be full of deep feelings, eager for new experiences and infused with a lust for life — with less anxiety and fewer irreconcilable contradictions than ever before. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 1838, 29-year-old naturalist Charles Darwin was early in his career. He had not developed his theory of evolution, and was not yet a superstar of science. He began ruminating about the possibility of proposing marriage to his cousin Emma Wedgwood. If married, he wrote: “constant companion and a friend in old age; the charms of music and female chit-chat — good things for one’s health.” If not married: “no children; no one to care for one in old age; less money for books, loss of time, and a duty to work for money.” I bring this to your attention, Leo, because I suspect that in 2022, you may be tempted and inspired to deeply interweave your fate with the fates of interesting characters. A spouse or partner or collaborator? Could be. Maybe a beloved animal or spirit guide? Have fun making your list of pros and cons! VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): What were your favorite toys when you were a child? Now would be a good time to retrieve fond memories of them and even acquire modern versions so you can revive the joy they gave you. In my

FEB. 2-8, 2022

astrological analysis, you’ll be wise to invite your inner child to play a bigger role in your life as you engage in a wide range of playtime activities. So yes, consider the possibility of buying yourself crayons, Legos, dolls and puppets, video games, squirt guns, roller skates, yo-yos, jump ropes and board games. And don’t neglect the pleasures of blanket forts, cardboard boxes, mud pies and plain old sticks. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In his novel The Story of a Marriage, Andrew Sean Greer asks, “Does love always form, like a pearl, around the hardened bits of life?” My answer would be, “No, not always, but when it does, it’s often extra sweet and enduring.” One of my wishes and predictions for you in 2022, Libra, is that love will form around your hardened bits. For best results, be open to the possibility that difficulty can blossom into grace. Look for opportunities that are seeded by strenuous work. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “It is worth living long enough to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire.” Author Marilynne Robinson wrote that, and I recommend her thought as one of your uplifting meditations in 2022. According to my reading of the astrological omens, the coming months will be a favorable time to dismantle and dissolve as many old grievances as you can. This could and should be the year you liberate yourself from psychic grunge — for the sake of your own mental, physical and spiritual health as much as for the sake of others. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Some critics view author Diana Wynne Jones as a genius in her chosen field: fantasy novels for children and young adults. She had a generous spirit, asserting, “I have this very strong feeling that everybody is probably a genius at something; it’s just a question of finding this.” If you are still unsure what your unique genius consists of, Sagittarius, I believe 2022 will show you in detailed glory. And if you do already know, the coming months will be a time when you dramatically deepen your ability to access and express your genius. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote a meditative book about moss. It was her response to questions she had been wondering about: Why has this inconspicuous plant persevered for 350 million years? While so many other species have gone extinct, why has moss had staying power through all the Earth’s climate changes and upheavals? And what lessons does its success have for us? Here are Kimmerer’s conclusions: Moss teaches us the value “of being small, of giving more than you take, of working with natural law, sticking together.” In accordance with astrological omens in 2022, Capricorn, I believe moss should be your role model. (Kimmerer’s book is Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses.) AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Author Joyce Carol Oates has been very successful and has won several major awards. But she describes her job as arduous and time-consuming. “I work very slowly,” she testifies. “It’s like building a ladder, where you’re building your own ladder rung by rung, and you’re climbing the ladder. It’s not the best way to build a ladder, but I don’t know any other way.” I wouldn’t always recommend her approach for you, Aquarius, but I will in 2022. As long as you’re willing to accept gradual, incremental progress, you’ll get a lot of fine work done. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’ve selected a quote for you to use as one of your guiding principles in 2022. I urge you to undertake a specific action in the next 24 hours that will prove you mean to take it seriously. Here’s the wisdom articulated by Piscean rabbi and philosopher Marc-Alain Ouaknin: “People must break with the illusion that their lives have already been written and their paths already determined.” It’s reinvention time, dear Pisces.

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MARKETPLACE

BY ROB BREZSNY

REAL ESTATE & RENTALS | ROOMMATES | JOBS | SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENTS | CLASSES & WORKSHOPS | MIND, BODY, SPIRIT MUSICIANS’ SERVICES | PETS | AUTOMOTIVE | XCHANGE | ADULT Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 advertise@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to advertise@mountainx.com RENTALS

SALES/ MARKETING

HOMES FOR RENT SHORT TERM RENTAL 1/1 Cabin. $499.00 per week. 10 minutes to Asheville. Call 828-380-6095.

ROOMS FOR RENT DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE OFFICE SPACES FOR RENT $550/115 sq ft. Perfect for alternative medicine practitioner, tutor, counselor, etc. Built-in sink and storage unit in space, use of common kitchen and restroom. Movein ready. Call 828-419-7009.

EMPLOYMENT SKILLED LABOR/ TRADES P/T & F/T MAINTENANCE POSITIONS AVAILABLE Seeking mature, reliable persons with basic plumbing, drywall and carpentry knowledge to work at apartment communities in the Asheville and Hendersonville areas. Positions start at $18 - $22 . Duties include routine maintenance, preparing vacant units, cleaning common areas, etc. Ideal candidate will be well-organized, pro-active, knowledgeable in troubleshooting maintenance needs and coordinating contractor services. Skilled trade replacements and extensive repairs are made by third party service contractors. Must have reliable transportation and provide your own hand tools. Must be on-call for after-hours emergencies. Credit and criminal checks required. Equal opportunity provider and employer. Please email letter of interest to Dleonard@partnershippm.com, or mail to Attn: D. Leonard at PO Box 26305, Greensboro, NC 27407. Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider.

SALES PROFESSIONAL Mountain Xpress is looking to add a new member to our sales team. This is a full-time position with benefits. Ideal candidates are personable, organized, motivated, and can present confidently, while working within a structure. Necessary skills include clear and professional communications (via phone, email, and in-person meetings), detailed record-keeping, and working well in a team environment. While no outside sales experience is required, experience dealing with varied and challenging situations is helpful. The position largely entails account development and lead generation (including cold-calling), account management, assisting clients with marketing and branding strategies, and working to meet or exceed sales goals. If you are a high energy, positive, cooperative person looking to join an independent, community-minded organization, please send a resume and cover letter (no walk-ins, please) explaining why you are a good fit for Mountain Xpress to: xpressjob@mountainx.com

RESTAURANT/ FOOD DISHWASHERS PT & FT: SIERRA NEVADA BREWING $1,000 SIGN ON BONUS + BENEFITS The Dishwasher, who reports to the BOH Supervisor, is a member of the kitchen team who will receive and organize products; wash and sanitize equipment, plates, utensils, and spaces; stock equipment as needed in order to maintain proper

BOH operations for the continuity of the guest experience. https://sierranevada.com/ careers/ LINE COOK: SIERRA NEVADA BREWING $1,000 SIGN ON BONUS + BENEFITS The Line Cook is a member of the kitchen team, who will work closely with all other positions in the Back of the House operations to prep, cook, and expedite food to the guests ordering onsite, delivery, and to-go.The Line Cook, who reports to the BOH Supervisor Team, operates grills, fryers, broilers, and other commercial cooking equipment to prepare and serve food. https:// sierranevada.com/careers/

MEDICAL/ HEALTH CARE HOLISTIC VETERINARY TECHNICIAN/ASSISTANT Veterinary Technician/ Assistant. Holistic, Sunvet Animal Wellness. Downtown Asheville. Needed ASAP. Train $15 x 5 weeks. $16 start. Motivated, efficient, great blood draws. Inventory: supplements/pharmaceuticals. We welcome you in! Email resume & cover letter to careers@sunvetanimalwellness.com. No calls or walk-ins. MEDICAL- NURSES NEEDED STATEWIDE MEDICAL- RNS $40/HR. for addictions, psych & corrections in Asheville and throughout Western NC. All shifts. Fully employer-paid medical and dental. 401(k) with 6% employer contribution. Call Morgan at Worldwide Staffing 866.633.3700 x 114 NOW HIRING COOKS & DIETARY AIDES, (1 DIETARY MANAGER) VERY GENEROUS SIGN ON BONUS $3,000 SIGN ON BONUS!!! *(After 150 Days of Continuous Employment) Next Level Hospitality Services takes the quality and service of Dietary Departments in health care facilities to the next level.

HUMAN SERVICES CHILDREN FIRST COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS IS HIRING AN AFTERSCHOOL & SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM MANAGER Duties include management and oversight of Children First/Communities In Schools afterschool and summer enrichment, including supervision of assigned staff, AmeriCorps members and volunteers. They also provide direction to program coordinators/specialists regarding related function, involvement and scope including 21st Century Community Learning Centers requirements. The Afterschool & Summer Enrichment Program Manager will represent and assist with community outreach, engagement and serve on community collaborations related to the mission. Send cover letter & resume to employment@childrenfirstbc.org. FULL-TIME POSITION: PROGRAM MANAGER Onsite Program Manager position at treatment center for LGBTQ+ individuals struggling with substance use and co-occurring mental health issues. Exp. req./45-50k. Contact info@elevatewellnessandrecovery.com.

PROFESSIONAL/ MANAGEMENT ALL SOULS COUNSELING CENTER SEEKS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR All Souls Counseling Center (ASCC) seeks a passionate and experienced Executive Director to provide visionary leadership to the organization and its staff, board, and therapists as it provides high quality mental health counseling to the uninsured and underinsured. To apply: https:// allsoulscounseling.org/ employment-opportunities/

THE N EW Y OR K TI M ES C ROSSWORD P UZ Z LE SERVICES AUDIO/VIDEO HUGHESNET SATELLITE INTERNET Finally, no hard data limits! Call Today for speeds up to 25mbps as low as $59.99/mo! $75 gift card, terms apply. 1-844-416-7147. (AAN CAN)

HOME 4G LTE HOME INTERNET NOW AVAILABLE! Get GotW3 with lightning fast speeds plus take your service with you when you travel! As low as $109.99/mo! 1-888519-0171. (AAN CAN) NEVER PAY FOR COVERED HOME REPAIRS AGAIN! Complete Care Home Warranty COVERS ALL MAJOR SYSTEMS AND APPLIANCES. 30 DAY RISK FREE. $200.00 OFF + 2 FREE Months! 1-877673-0511. Hours Mon-Thu, Sun: 9:30am to 8:00pm Fri: 9:30am to 2:00pm (all times Eastern) (AAN CAN)

ANNOUNCEMENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS AUCTION World Gravity Commission, Station 4 appraised at over $400k. Bids start at $385,000. 10 minutes west of downtown. 2.5 Acres. Creek, pond & springs. 3/2 Home and 1/1 Cabin. No Brokers. Call 828-380-6095. BATH & SHOWER UPDATES In as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty

& professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 1-877-649-5043 (AAN CAN) BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR! We edit, print and distribute your work internationally. We do the work… You reap the Rewards! Call for a FREE Author’s Submission Kit: 844-511-1836. (AAN CAN) DIRECTV SATELLITE TV Service Starting at $59.99/ month! Free Installation! 160+ channels available. Call Now to Get the Most Sports & Entertainment on TV! 877310-2472 (AAN CAN) DONATE YOUR CAR TO KIDS Your donation helps fund the search for missing children. Accepting Trucks, Motorcycles & RV’s, too! Fast Free Pickup – Running or Not - 24 Hour Response Maximum Tax Donation. Call 877-266-0681. (AAN CAN) NOTICE OF UNCLAIMED PROPERTY The following is a list of unclaimed and confiscated property at the Asheville Police Department: electronic equipment; cameras; clothing; lawn and garden equipment; personal items; tools; weapons (including firearms): jewelry: automotive items; building supplies; bikes and other miscellaneous items. Anyone with a legitimate claim or interest in this property has 30 days from the date of this publication to make a claim. Unclaimed items will be disposed of according to statutory law. For further information, or to file a claim, contact the Asheville Police Department Property and

Evidence Section, 828-2324576. NOTICE OF DISPOSITION The following is a list of unclaimed and confiscated property at the Asheville Police Department tagged for disposition: audio and video equipment; cameras; clothing; lawn and garden equipment; personal items; tools; weapons (including firearms): jewelry: automotive items; building supplies; bikes and other miscellaneous. All items will be disposed of 30 days from date of posting. Items to be auctioned will be displayed on www.propertyroom.com. PUBLIC SALE OF VEHICLE TO SATISFY A LIEN: 2012 Hyundai Sonata SE/Limited lien against Ralph Paul Maltry Jr. for $5025.00. Auto Safe Towing Inc., 474 ½ N. Louisiana Ave., Asheville, NC 28806. 828-236-1131. PUBLIC SALE OF VEHICLE TO SATISFY A LIEN: 2013 Ford Escape lien against Richard Allen Rodeghier for $6,465.00. Auto Safe Towing Inc., 474 ½ N. Louisiana Ave., Asheville NC 28806. 828-2361131. SAVE MONEY ON EXPENSIVE AUTO REPAIRS! Our vehicle service program can save you up to 60% off dealer prices and provides you excellent coverage! Call for a free quote: 866-915-2263 (Mon-Fri :9am-4pm PST) TRAIN ONLINE TO DO MEDICAL BILLING! Become a Medical Office Professional online at CTI! Get Trained, Certified & ready to work in months! Call 1-866-243-5931. (AAN CAN)

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT COUNSELING SERVICES ASTRO-COUNSELING Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Stellar Counseling Services. Christy Gunther, MA, LCMHC. (828) 258-3229.

edited by Will Shortz | No. 1229

ACROSS 1 Like court arguments

5 What travels on sound waves?

9 Heart’s home 15 Part of the foot

17 Lettered awards show host?

AUTOMOTIVE AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES CASH FOR CARS! We buy all cars! Junk, high-end, totaled – it doesn’t matter! Get free towing and same day cash! NEWER MODELS too! Call 866-535-9689. (AAN CAN)

19 “Not a problem”

23 Buster 26 Bonobo, for one 27 It’s a little longer than a foot

42 Retail figure 44 Bega who sang “Mambo No. 5”

55 Sure thing 60 Stereotypical lumberjack feature 64 Around, for a date 65 Lettered school paper that’s a snap to write? 68 First-stringers 69 Ingredient in traditional medicine 70 Film shot

53 59

6 “The Lord of the Rings” brute 7 ___-deucy 8 Van Gogh’s art dealer brother 9 1980s fad items advertised as “the gift that grows” 10 Ice pack? 11 Lohengrin’s love 12 Parking meter opening 13 Clicks that chide 18 Historically significant period 22 Singer known as the “Prince of Motown” 24 Magnavox rival 25 “You have my number!”

3 NCR devices

2 Fog-induced frost

1 International grp. founded in Baghdad in 1960

5 [Kapow!]

53 Rigging support

48 Confirmation or quinceañera

52 ___ milk

DOWN

4 Fail miserably, unless you’re a chicken

51 Pickle

45 Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land,” e.g.

49 Lettered home on the range when no one’s home?

72 Ding-y thingy?

73 Hastened

41 ___-eared

36 Bit of bar food

39 The end

71 Prevails over

38 Pulitzer winner Harper

21 23

30 Lettered adversary in a battle of wits? 37 “You ready?”

20 Celebrity dog trainer Millan 21 Articles of exercise equipment

14 Kind of bread 16 Saddlebacks, tumps, knolls and the like

POSITIVE HYPNOSIS | EFT | NLP Michelle Payton, M.A., D.C.H., Author | 828-681-1728 | www.MichellePayton.com | Mind Over Matter Solutions books, online and in-person education, workshops and sessions. Positive Hypnosis—re-learning thru positive reinforcement, Emotional Freedom Technique, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Birth Mix Personality Assessment, Past Life Regression.

PUZZLE BY SIMON MAROTTE AND VICTOR FLEMING

27 Muscled, slangily

50 Garfield, for one

28 Shout-out from the stands

54 First prez to have a 60-Across

29 A stroke ahead, in golf

55 Healing indicator

31 Thick, liquidy clump

56 Low-calorie, in beer names

32 Notices

57 Field of expertise

33 Ewing matriarch on “Dallas” 34 Pool competitions

59 Cabbage kin

35 Some R.S.V.P.s 40 Leading star in Disney’s “Enchanted” 43 Where elbows may collide 46 Ides of March reproach 47 Agent, briefly

58 Well-kept 61 Acronym of urgency 62 Leave no leaves, say 63 Like pink or purple hair 66 Fenway squad, in brief 67 “The best is ___ to come”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

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

O N S T K A O P R B I A N L T E I D M E E L D

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C T A L A O M I M A S S Z P O R T A D O I O T A N M I S D A R O O C U R I T I E I N G E I E O N I D N T

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Y O R K I P O O

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