Welcome to DKos Asheville
EST 2/13/2011
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.
“Daily Kos fights for a progressive America by empowering its community and allies with information and tools to directly impact the political process.”
Some of the 1,000 temporary homes, part of Governor Josh Stein's executive order, have arrived in mountain communities.
According to the governor's office, families have been assigned to mobile units in Old Fort, Sugar Grove, West Jefferson and Canton.
Stein's first executive order of "increasing temporary housing supply in Western North Carolina" authorized the state Department of Public Safety to purchase 1,000 temporary homes for people displaced by Helene.
The order waived certain regulations to speed up the process. The governor's office is working with Emergency Management to provide safe and warm housing.
The coldest air of the season moves in late Sunday, dropping temperatures from near 40 on Sunday morning to a wind chill from -5 to -15 degrees on Monday morning.
A strong cold front will move across Western North Carolina beginning Saturday evening with a chance of a few showers. Temperatures will drop back to near 40 at midnight and winds will pick up out of the northwest through Sunday morning.
At 9 a.m. on Sunday, temperatures will drop into the mid-30s, with wind chill readings in the upper 20s. By 6 p.m. on Sunday, temperatures will be near 30 with a wind chill near 20. Winds will gust in the 20-30 mph range.
There will be a chance of scattered rain or light snow showers or flurries Sunday morning through mid-afternoon.
On Saturday, Jan. 18, thousands of people are expected to rally for The People's March in Washington, D.C. and cities nationwide, including Asheville.
A local rally will take place from 10 a.m. to noon in Asheville's Pack Square Plaza. This demonstration is called "People's Voice Asheville: A Day of Signs and Hope."
Per the People's March website, under the same organization as the Women's March, this event aims to "amplify the voices of the People's March and demonstrate our commitment to the same principles of justice and equality."
THOUSANDS EXPECTED TO JOIN IN SATURDAY'S PEOPLE'S MARCH IN DC, WHAT TO KNOW
This march will reportedly largely be in protest of President-elect Donald Trump, as well as GOP policies.
North Carolina has joined some other states that will raise flags to full staff on President-elect Donald Trump's Inauguration Day, despite the traditional mourning period following a former president's death.
After the death of a former president, federal flag code dictates that flags should be flown at half-staff for 30 days. After former President Jimmy Carter died on Dec. 29 at age 100, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation to lower flags to half-staff for the standard period.
Several state officials have announced plans to temporarily disregard the proclamation on Inauguration Day, which coincides this year with Martin Luther King Day. The date falls on Jan. 20, within the 30-day mourning period.
Trey Adcock, executive director for the Center for Native Health, believes history was made when around 20 Cherokee people gathered at an undisclosed location deep in Nantahala National Forest in late 2024 to continue fostering the long-developing costewardship between the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Natural Resources Department (EBCI NRD), the Center for Native Health (CNH) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
“As far as we know, this is the largest gathering of Cherokee people in this place together since the removal period, which to me is really meaningful,” says Adcock.Central to that day’s conversation was the topic of Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge, also referred to as TEK.
“The Forest Service recognizes the importance of Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge,” says Maria Dunlavey, a Nantahala National Forest botanist involved in tribal forestry projects since 2019. “We have guidance to incorporate it into decision-making. We also know that TEK isn’t static; it’s an evolving body of observations, oral and written knowledge, practices and beliefs, and it’s owned by tribes. By investing in the Cherokee relationship with the land, we’re investing in that knowledge.”
And the knowledge runs deep.
“The health of Indigenous peoples is inherently tied to the well-being of the land we call home. For so many people, there’s no connection with culture when there’s no access to land,” says Bonnie Claxton, program officer for CNH Land and Wellness.
Rhyming is a passion — as well as bread and butter — for Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Asheville’s eternally exuberant, purple top hat-wearing children’s hip-hop artist.
This month, the Grammy Award-winning musician — also known as Cactus — channels his celebrated songwriting skills into a new community educational offering, the Imaginarium: Flip the Script!, a rhyme-writing workshop and performance series for local youths.
The project, generally designed for ages 7-17, launches at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19, at AyurPrana Listening Room in West Asheville. The choose-your-own-adventure, eight-week program consists of weekly classes combined with performances culminating in a capstone community hip-hop show with the whole Secret Agent 23 Skidoo crew.
The concept merges rhyme-writing techniques and 23 Skidoo’s unique brand of uplifting playfulness and creativity with elements of a classic rites-of-passage journey. An underlying objective is to offer local kids tools for healing and growth in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene.
Nov 11, 2024
Tomorrow's Cost is both a eulogy and blueprint for tomorrow, featuring many musicians from the Asheville music scene and shot in the devastation from the recent storm. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the Western North Carolina community rose to the challenge and came together as a beacon of light, showing the nation how it's done. We put aside our differences and helped each other out as a community, everyone pitching in when and how they could. But we are still trying to make it happen, and could use your help. Please consider donating at www.belovedasheville.com, one of the most trusted and reputable organizations serving WNC, or at www.floodbackart.com to help the art, music, and creative communities of WNC. Thank you!!!Rap by Secret Agent 23 SkidooSinging by Whitney Moore & Juan HolidayGuitar, Violin & Viola by Matt WilliamsBass by Ben BjorlieSaxophone by Jacob RodriguezTrumpet by Alex BradleyTrombone by Kyle SnufferBeat by Justin AswellProduced by Matt Williams & Secret Agent 23 SkidooWritten by Whitney Moore, Matt Williams, & Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
Thanks for stopping by, wishing all a good last weekend before…..your guess is as good as mine. And please check on folks and critters, it is going to be dangerously cold.
”Be safe out there” Lamont Cranston
