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DKos Asheville Open Thread: Indian art, Protest, Helene, UNCA forest, Billy Strings, Sturgill [1]
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Date: 2025-02-15
This space appears each weekend with links to news and opinion from Asheville and Western North Carolina, and the floor is open for comment and discussion. Wishing all a good day from this still beautiful part of the world.
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I am relatively new to Asheville, having moved here from Miami in 2021. I am still a board member with Artists in Residence in the Everglades, a residency program that partners with the Everglades National Park to give resident artists access to the knowledge held there.
One of the lessons I learned in this process is that these parks grew from the 19th-century conservation movement. During that time — and to this day — there was an assumption that the nature one should save and preserve had to be “pure” or untouched by people. Thus, when the national parks were established in this spirit, the federal government actively removed people living with nature from those lands because they did not fit the ideal. In the Everglades, Gladesmen had lived in the difficult ecosystem for generations, mingling with Native Americans, sustaining life, economies and unique cultures. All of them were removed. They were too messy.
Urban forests prove a different case — that forests can coexist with and enrich densely populated places. They are dynamic spaces in which human activities can be assets to the forest’s and community’s health and resilience. Regular human disturbances can create the conditions for certain species of mushrooms to grow. Regular brush clearing and thinning can help forests resist fires, and controlling invasive species can generate practices that can be adopted more broadly around the community to support native plant species. Volunteers learn about the care of the forest and each other. There are place-making and psychological benefits of the urban forest to the city. The opportunities an urban forest affords are in fact far more than the limited scope other development opportunities may have. <More>
BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. (WLOS) — As recovery progresses after Helene, most distribution centers have closed their doors. But one center still serves hundreds of people per day thanks to generous donations and volunteers from across the country.
Driving by on Highway 70 you might miss Valley Strong Disaster Relief’s massive operation is still going on five days a week in Black Mountain. Ian Monley, Co-Founder and Site Coordinator said they started serving the community right after the storm.
"We had some extras left over so we set up right on the main highway at Silverado’s," Monley said. Jenalee Tipton, Chairman of Valley Strong Disaster Relief, said the need for essentials is still very much alive. “It’s hard because yes, we all do need to try to grow, which part of that growth is starting to get back to normal," Tipton said.
"But for some of these people this is their new normal, and they don’t know what to do yet," he said.
The donations as well as the people who need them have kept the operation going. So we still have between 150-200 cars a day everyday come through.
On Feb. 3, residents took to the streets of downtown Asheville for the first of two major demonstrations in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration. The event culminated in a block party that spilled onto Interstate 240 as souped-up cars revved in celebration of Mexican heritage.
Initially, participants did not know who organized the gathering. Some heard about it on Instagram. Others received emails. Ultimately, siblings Karen and Victor Perez, 15 and 18, respectively, stepped forward. The two went on to organize the subsequent Feb. 8 rally. Both gatherings drew hundreds of participants and spanned multiple hours.
Xpress recently caught up with the siblings about their efforts. Along with the recent protests, they have launched an Instagram account, @immigrationsalertasheville, which has over 1,000 followers.
“We’ve definitely gotten busier this week,” says Karen, who, like her brother, is juggling the demands of high school and a part-time job in addition to their activism.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Click the title for more.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Four artists of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) are among Indigenous artists featured in a new exhibit at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. The exhibit is entitled “Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art” and will be on display at the McClung for the next three years.
“It was agreed upon by all of us (at McClung) that this needed to be a collaborative exhibition with Native nations with ties to Knox County,” said Sadie Counts, McClung curator of Indigenous Collections and assistant curator of exhibitions. “Everything in the exhibition was driven by our Native partners. We approached them and said, ‘The idea is about mounds. What do you want to see in this space?’ And, they wanted to see contemporary artwork, which I was very excited about.”
Counts noted that the exhibit doesn’t include any photos of mounds as requested by the tribal partners.
The exhibit features artists from the EBCI, the Cherokee Nation (Okla.), the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (Okla.). The EBCI portion of the exhibit was co-curated by Dakota Brown, Museum of the Cherokee People director, and Miranda Panther, EBCI Tribal Historic Preservation Office NAGPRA officer.
The four EBCI artists featured in the exhibit include John Henry Gloyne, Rhiannon Skye Tafoya, Atsei Cooper, and Aaron Lambert.
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