Oh Asheville



"Dear Chancellor Van Noort and community members,

It is with a heavy heart that I share this Citizen Times article, with my prognosis for the U.S. political economy if citizens do not take back our democracy. I also worry as a mom, resident, and U.S. Citizen who has lived in Europe twice, Asia, and spent time in Africa, Central and South America. I worry for my country, and I cannot hide this from students. To do so would be moral hazard and destroy my soul. Being a living, breathing, compassionate human person as a front line worker, like all our administrators, staff, and faculty - all better viewed as trapped participants in a game that we didn't design.

We are all doing our best, including our Chancellor, who I would never criticize online, in person, behind her back, or on social media. Ad hominem attacks are not non-violent. I support my elected and appointed officeholders, even if I disagree with their choices, policies, or reasoning. Classical liberalism offers a path to civil, reasoned discourse. Rule of law protecting free speech and freedom from religion, freedom from discrimination or bias due to class, neuro-distinction, parental status, familial wealth, race, ethnicity, immigrant status, gender identity, orientation, political ideology or lack of religion or ideology, should not be reason to negatively evaluate any human, under any circumstances. We are all worthy of freedom from sexual harassments, ideological bias and religious and political bias in evaluations of instructors and students.

I hope our political and civic situation calms, our economy remains stable, if not a bit chaotic, and our democratic institutions restored peacefully. As my daddy taught me, pray for the best, plan for the worst, and live each day joyfully and honorably - as you never know what tomorrow might bring.

As I have been posting on socials, my lived experiences as well as my scholarly expertise, interdisciplinary, liberal arts, humanities and social sciences, has helped me to formulate a lifelong love of learning, enjoy crafting an occupation from a place of intrinsic drive, authenticity, passion and curiosity.

Slowing down your monkey mind, socializing and walking in nature (or going for a trail run) clears your head for real innovative ideas to emerge.

Educational philosophy, psychology, sociology, cognitive science, developmental and emergent science that is double peer blind reviewed should inform our educational infrastructure (woods, nature, or man-made) as well as pedagogy, curriculum, and ways of evaluating educators and students.

AI as being rolled out by Grok, X, etc. is a disaster, in my opinion, for our students' cognition, moral and psychological health, and development and wellbeing. Unplugging will restore it.

Connecting with each other without devices and with nature, our Source, is a way of embodying ecological systems thinking, which recognizes all humans are interdependent upon each other, other species, and the living, breathing planet.

I believe more outdoor and indoor spaces attentive to the natural environment, repaired outdoor recreation and parks, quiet paths in the forest to breath, pray, meditate, read, reflect, play music, write poetry, generate new ideas, theories, and questions, experiment with nature, observe and connect with our original source and ancestral land, and express gratitude is needed. We don't need more human free kiosks. We need organic community building out of the linear tech classroom, much more than stadiums, e-sports betting, gaming, and corporate and franchise options for dining and entertainment.

Student and community wellbeing through time spent in the Woods is critical for mental health and community wellbeing. Because students are addicted to their screens, overstressed with economic pressures, and numbing on devices (or through substances), does not rationally imply that morally we should destroy the woods due to insufficient student market demand.

A healthier option is to encourage our students to take a walk in the woods on a particularly stressful and gorgeous day, encounter a neighbor and her dog, a bear cub and its mom, a family of owls taking care of each other, as all living beings should with theirs and other species. White men with guns and fraternities on campus are statistically much more dangerous than any injury or death that could occur in a wooded area with an occasional bear and downed tree. I've traveled over bombed roads still laden with mines in Mozambique. I feel safe in the woods.

Students are safe, and more importantly, through walking meditation, forest bathing, device free walks and classes outside with peers, their social skills, presencing capacity, sense of connection to self, soul, body, community, mother nature, each other, and their professors will heighten, and their overwhelmed nervous systems will calm. Their dopamine addictions may cause resistance, but we can do hard things. What is really driving the demolition is dark ideology, dark politics, dark money, and Neville Chamberlain style administrative response to fascism.

Being outside clears the head of stress and worry, unproductive pressures to perform, and enhances focus for artistic, athletic, and scholarly pursuits. As an undergrad, I competed in the Los Angeles marathon and ran outside more days than not, on and off campus. Being outside and unplugged with wise elders, community leaders, other species, and our outdoor playground that attracts so many well and wise people to Western North Carolina, is a competitive advantage as a university we cannot afford to lose.

Escaping to the woods and forests, our natural environment in tue Woods and by the French Broad river, is where I write my most important work - by pen and manuscript - no WiFi signal needed...Being in nature helps me and other faculty to unwind, changing up the classroom environment on occasion - even if only one time a semester, helping us to be fully present with students to educate, inspire, and attend to their holistic needs.

Being outside and unplugged with peers or reading alone aids their retentive learning of new ideas, concepts, ways of thinking, knowing, observing, experiencing and understanding - not just as a productivity perk to enhance their academic performance and boost grades (which in my classes still matter as lower level classes are book heavy, thinking, reading and writing intensive, conversation, action and team based, and 100 percent AI-proof).

Outside we can read a book, exercise, play, discuss ideas, ask questions, engage in team building exercises, meet a new friend, as well as our professor, in a much more nervous system soothing environment. Forest bathing is a scientificly backed treatment for the anxiety and depression that students are facing, that too many of us are facing under uncertain times.

We know this is a political decision requiring political action and courage to do the right thing.

Please save the Woods, thanks!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

My opinions do not reflect those of my employer and I’m not representing the university in this email. I’m simply exercising free speech and my right to express ethical humanistic concerns as an ethical humanist and community leader.

Susan Clark Muntean, Ph.D., MBA c.828-216-5011
 
Centerpiece said:
I'm all over this - as a musician and former busker. I actually busked the streets of Asheville a few years back. Wound up getting a steady gig at the Book Exchange and Champagne Bar in the Grove Arcade.
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Man, I love that place. Haven't been by in a year or more though.
 
donbosco said:
Man, I love that place. Haven't been by in a year or more though.
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Donna Has sold it to some younger guy… family man. He s seems to be ok so far. He kept most of the old staff in place and they seem to like him. Though, There will be some fundamental changes
 
donbosco said:
Justin Ferreby


“There’s a certain hour in Asheville—somewhere between the last flicker of the drum circle and the moment the mountains exhale their cold midnight breath—when dignity becomes optional, and cravings become gospel. That’s when the neon halo of the Taco Bell on Tunnel Road begins to glow like a roadside shrine for the hungry, the reckless, and the spiritually exhausted.
Walking into this Taco Bell is like stepping into a sanctuary built for America’s most unpretentious pilgrimage: the pursuit of cheap, messy transcendence. The dining room hums with a fluorescent sincerity that no farm-to-table joint downtown could ever hope to replicate. Here, nothing is organic. Nothing is locally sourced. Nothing is narrated by a guy with an undercut and a tattoo of a beet. And somehow, that feels like salvation.
Behind the counter, the staff moves with a kind of weary choreography—half-tired, half-triumphant. They’ve seen things. They’ve shepherded the bleary-eyed masses through full moons, snowstorms, bachelor-party wipeouts, and the unmistakable existential funk of a Tuesday at 11:48 p.m. They hand over each paper bag with a look that says: You’re safe now. We’ve got you.
The food—God, the food. A Crunchwrap at Tunnel Road at the end of a long day tastes less like fast food and more like absolution wrapped in a warm tortilla. It’s a reckless mash-up of textures and corporate ambition: soft, crunchy, spicy, salty, the culinary equivalent of an arena rock guitar solo. You don’t eat it because you should. You eat it because it’s there. Because life is short. Because Asheville’s kale-powered earnestness sometimes needs to be cut with a packet of Fire Sauce.
And then there’s the clientele. A rotating cast of characters that would make Fellini proud: the tattooed bartender decompressing from a double shift; the college kid arguing passionately about cryptocurrency; the middle-aged couple in hiking gear who clearly had a fight somewhere on the Parkway and are now trying to patch it together with gorditas. All of them united, at least for a few sacred minutes, by the shared truth that sometimes nothing hits like a $2 taco wrapped in wax paper.
The Taco Bell on Tunnel Road isn’t trying to be anything more than what it is: a greasy, glowing reprieve from Asheville’s curated coolness. And in that honesty, it becomes something almost poetic. A place where the messiness of hunger and gratitude collide under the gentle buzz of outdated lighting.
Anthony Bourdain once said that good food is often simple, but never stupid. And maybe this place—this humble altar of refried beans and questionable decisions—isn’t “good” in the way the magazines mean it. But it’s good in the way that matters at midnight, when your soul feels a little threadbare and the world seems too heavy.
Good in the way that feels true.
Good in the way that keeps the lights glowing on Tunnel Road long after everything else has closed.”
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I don’t care who you are or how refined your palate is..late night Taco Bell is ELITE
 
If you have ever driven from Asheville to Weaverville "the back way" or via Merrimon you've passed underneath this bridge. It has history.

"But the bridge does have a fascinating history, as it’s one of the few remaining pieces of infrastructure related to Asheville’s much-celebrated trolley system, the second largest of its kind in the country more than a century ago. The bridge, part of the Weaverville trolley line, was erected in 1909 during the heyday of our local trolley system, as part of an agreement that let the trolley line split the Coleman family farm.

Asheville and environs had 12 trolley companies back then, with the city being the hub and the different companies serving communities in all points of the compass. The book, “Trolleys in the Land of the Sky. Street Railways of Asheville, N.C. Vicinity,” provides the origin story for the pedestrian bridge:

“The (Weaverville trolley) company was able to persuade the Colemans to allow their farm to be divided. To connect the two parts, a footbridge was built over the cut and trolley line. It became a familiar landmark, surviving the trolley line and bridging the highway which succeeded it. The original footbridge was replaced by the State Highway Department when it collapsed during a rainstorm in the fifties.”

The road followed the trolley system after it shut down in the early 1930s."

There's more with photos...

avlwatchdog.org

Opinion: Weaverville’s dilapidated pedestrian bridge has a rich history. Should it be preserved? • Asheville Watchdog

Sometimes an old dilapidated footbridge turns out to be way more than it seems — and more controversial. That’s certainly the case with the pedestrian bridge over Merrimon Avenue in Weaverville (technically Business 19) that I’ve probably driven under dozens of times and never really paid much...
avlwatchdog.org avlwatchdog.org
 
donbosco said:
Man, I love that place. Haven't been by in a year or more though.
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The Book Exchange is among my wife's fave places, required stop for us every time we are in town.

Glad to hear it is still going strong even with new ownership
 
donbosco said:
To elaborate on a previous post: I lived in Weaverville for 9 years. Absolutely loved it. Blue Mountain Pizza is one of the best, homey, joints I've every had the good fortune to frequent.

I moved to Fairview and lived there for two years. There is very little "There" there though the Whistle Hop Brewery is a good place and Smokey and the Pig is pretty good barbecue for the west. Daymoon Coffeehouse is a fine spot as well.

I've now moved back to Weaverville and am happy about it.
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My parents and brother and his family all live in Fairview. How dare you leave off Angelos' off the Fairview hotspots. 😄

Weaverville certainly has a lot more going on than Fairview, but I think that's just the way Fairview likes it. Speaking of Fairview, I can't say enough about Jamie Ager. I graduated high school with him and know his family well. He'll do a great job in congress if you guys can get him there. He's exactly the type of person we need in Washington.
 
bridgetender said:
My parents and brother and his family all live in Fairview. How dare you leave off Angelos' off the Fairview hotspots. 😄

Weaverville certainly has a lot more going on than Fairview, but I think that's just the way Fairview likes it. Speaking of Fairview, I can't say enough about Jamie Ager. I graduated high school with him and know his family well. He'll do a great job in congress if you guys can get him there. He's exactly the type of person we need in Washington.
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I'll be darned if I could ever catch Angelo's open. I tried a few times but just gave up. I couldn't figure out their hours.
 
StrangePackage said:
That reads like someone prompted ChatGPT to make a funny rant about Asheville.
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Ah yes, Asheville — the place where Subaru Outbacks outnumber people and every third person either brews kombucha or used to brew kombucha but now just “consults.”


Let me be clear: I like Asheville. I really do. But this town feels like someone took a Pinterest board titled “Vibes Only” and turned it into a functioning municipality.


First off, you can’t just get coffee in Asheville. No. You must embark on a spiritual journey involving a single-origin Ethiopian bean roasted by a guy named Skyler who definitely owns at least one crystal that “aligns energy.” You walk in like, “Hey can I get a large drip?” and they look at you like you just asked them to microwave a kitten. “We have a hand-poured, sun-dried, ethically whispered roast with notes of bergamot and emotional closure.”


And the breweries—oh my god, the breweries. There are more breweries than stop signs. You could trip, fall, and land in a taproom that specializes in a saison aged in a barrel that previously held regret. Everyone’s like, “This one has hints of pine, citrus, and a subtle resentment toward corporate America.” Sir, it tastes like beer and life choices.


Then there’s the drum circle. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried to explain to visiting family why 40 adults are aggressively vibing in a park like it’s a deleted scene from Jumanji. No one knows who started it. No one knows how to stop it. It just… is. Like taxes or seasonal allergies.


Housing? Oh yeah, if you want a 700-square-foot bungalow with “historic charm” (translation: the floor is actively sloping), that’ll be $600,000. But don’t worry—it comes with a view of the mountains and your neighbor’s chickens, which are apparently unionized and louder than your alarm clock.


And the tourists—bless them—rolling in thinking they’ve discovered some hidden gem. Meanwhile locals are like, “Cool, cool, enjoy your artisanal donut topped with lavender foam and existential dread.”


But here’s the thing… you look around at those mountains, the Blue Ridge rolling in like a screensaver, the weirdness, the art, the people just fully committing to being themselves—and you kind of get it. Asheville is chaotic, overpriced, slightly smug… and somehow still charming enough that you’re like, “Yeah, okay, I’ll stay one more day. But I’m not paying $9 for coffee again. Probably.”


(…I’m absolutely paying $9 for coffee again.)
 
Headed to Lapin Bleu tomorrow, looking forward to that. apologies for the non sequitur, more for don than the board!

Wish I were at music tonight too
 
Oddball said:
Headed to Lapin Bleu tomorrow, looking forward to that. apologies for the non sequitur, more for don than the board!
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I've been by during my few recent visits to Chapel Hill and follow the place closely on social media. Mike is an old friend as is Norm (though I'm not sure whether or not he still tends bar there...he was 6 months ago). I think I'd spend some good time there if I lived in the area these days. I miss chapelboro with all my heart and soul but am pretty sure that I'll never live there again.
 
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