Don Bosco — check in when you can to let us know you are ok
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LeoBloom
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Glad you’re safe, my friend.
donbosco
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#Helene and #Asheville, thoughts on my experience. Where I rode out Helene was not THAT alarming. My biggest in-storm worry was a few big trees in the side yard (I live in a friend’s second home near Fairview when I’m in NC, about 8 miles east down Hwy 74 from AVL). On a mountainside, the deck here looks out over a holler and I watched trees sway dramatically during the height of the wind and rain. Quite a few snapped off or completely uprooted. The vista to the east is drastically treelessly different now. I’ll have a better view of the sunrise. Because of the lay of the land what I was watching was not a danger to me or anyone though the bears that live down there maybe had it rough.
The private road where I live had downed trees and a wash over - neighbors wielding chainsaws cut through and the fellow across the way still had cell connection so I texted Leah on Saturday that Prince, Maxie, and I had survived.
I have an old AM/FM/Shortwave Radio and it was my tie to the world for 36 hours. That doesn’t seem like that long but to an information bloodhound amidst an unnatural disaster those minutes crept by like molasses moving uphill. I listen to SiriusXM consistently but my acquaintance with ‘modern’ radio formatting has been sporadic at best for decades now. The last place where non-internet single format radio was a big part of my life was Chapel Hill - 15 years ago now and light years away in news cycle measures - when WXYC and WCHL were my in-car go-tos. Of course I’ve never strayed far from Public Radio as an anchor signal no matter my locale (despite a spat or two - If only ‘Democracy Now!’ were 24/7).
The old AM/FM/Shortwave Radio doesn’t have as clear channels as my car - the dial requires fine tuning but also the capability to listen to all sorts of weak and oscillating stations. Big numbers for reception in East Buncombe seemed to be Chicago WGN - CINCINNATI WLW - Asheville WWNC - and Nashville’s WLAC and WSM. Somehow I caught the Mets loss to the Brewers Friday night. Saturday was obnoxiously blasting Clemson football. I’m thankful I could not find the Carolina/dook football game. Even more thankful I didn’t have TV for that.
But those weak oscillating in-and-out channels in Low-Information Radioland took me to a troubling place - almost schizophrenic in the randomness of the messaging. There were plenty of Rush Limbaugh clones - that’s no surprise, but the vigor with which small-reach Appalachian-based hellfire preachers lambast reality was stunning. Quilted into a barrage of RSV and aging remedies and ‘Buy Gold!’ advertisements I was warned in dire tones of the current communist invasion. Gracias a Dios the Spanish language evangelicals didn’t seem to be on that jag - just a prosperity gospel message instead. The story of a school janitor once a real WWII Nazi and talk about how “The economy is good but people don’t believe it - that’s what’s most important” faded loud and soft and fuzzy in the dark, dark post hurricane night. The plight of the lowly Chicago White Sox floated through as I spun the dial.
Glad to be back in a space where I can surf multiple sources and apply my own studied media literacy. Don’t get me wrong, no doubt that I could be hoodwinked. Indeed, I can thank Helene for enlightening me to some places I can go if that is what I’m after.