Day: December 31, 2013
Asheville’s hip-hop scene is poised to claim the spotlight
Words from the wise Michael Capra, better known to fans as Foul Mouth Jerk, has been a part of Asheville’s hip-hop scene since the late ’90s. As difficult as it can be for rappers to make a name for themselves in the city today, it was often even harder in the past, when hip-hop couldn’t … Read more
Smart Bets: Rob Morrill Photography
Leicester-based photographer Rob Morrill was a veterinarian for his first career. Following his retirement in ’99, he turned his attention to his camera. According to his bio, Morrill is “primarily devoted to dynamic floral images that were manipulated digitally, to varying degrees, in an attempt to blur the line between real and imaginary.” He has … Read more
Props for spirituality and social justice article
I would like to extend a heartfelt fist-bump to Jordan Foltz and the Mountain Xpress for last week’s spirituality issue and cover story [“Sacred Activism,” Dec. 25 Xpress]. This topic could have easily been rendered a fluff piece; instead, it offered meaningful perspectives with salient implications for how to achieve self-fulfillment through compassionate activism. The … Read more
Poetry should not be left to journals alone
Your response to the letter titled “A Place for Poetry” [Dec. 5 Xpress] by Steven Manuel was somewhat surprising. In such an arts-based community, you do well to cover every single art that I can think of … except poetry. Poetry is not just for high schoolers or schoolchildren; poetry is universally expressive. I do … Read more
Smart Bets: The Rag-Pickers Guide to Poetry
As faculty members of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, Eleanor Wilner and Maurice Manning have, between them, decades of teaching experience, many published collections of poems and (in Manning’s case) Pulitzer Prize finalist status. All of which made them the perfect team to edit The Rag-Picker's Guide to Poetry: Poems, Poets, … Read more
Tricks of the trade
A skull wearing sunglasses cackles to announce the arrival of visitors to Magic Central, a retail shop on Weaverville Highway in North Asheville. The shop appears empty except for the autographed posters of celebrities that grace the walls and glass cabinets displaying magician’s wares. Finally, shop owner Ricky D. Boone appears from behind the back … Read more
The actual data on climate change
This note is in reference to Michael Ivey’s letter “Carbon Dioxide Does Not Cause Global Warming” [Dec. 25 Xpress]. Mr. Ivey states, “Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change admits that there has been no warming over the last 16 years.” Please see the excerpt below, from the report “Climate Change 2013: The physical science … Read more
