[cw: slavery, war, execution] The dogwoods are blooming, reminding me that it is almost Asheville’s Emancipation Anniversary. I first learned this fact in 2015. That spring, I supported Date My City and the Center for Diversity Education in organizing an … Continue reading Asheville’s Emancipation Anniversary
These are days of delights. There is nothing like Spring awe, the soul stirring of birdsong and blooms. Amidst sad and scary news the trillium unfold, holy and hopeful. As I witness this wonder, I ponder my own unfolding. June … Continue reading Transmutation
“I’m real proud of Stumptown, I know I’m a long way from Stumptown but I can’t forget, that’s my roots. That’s my roots.” – Sophie Dixon, Montford & Stumptown Stories Memory as medicine. The balm of remembering infuses the three new … Continue reading Memory as medicine
We are water. We are water. We are water. Not exclusively, of course, yet essentially so. As Indigenous people continually remind us, water is life. Before anything else, I offer unceasing prayers of gratitude for the sustenance of water. While … Continue reading We are water
“…the power in how you live. Even when doubt drags you under, you’re lifted up by all you can give. What can I say? To warm up bones that are frozen and blue? A new day will find you with … Continue reading Warm Up Bones
Everything I write is about me. My choices around what stories to study and share are informed by my connection to them. Yes, everything is interconnected. I embrace that truth, while exploring the specifics which expose my position in systems … Continue reading Keeping myself in the story
The power of parties “Get on the ground,” my friend and neighbor Odell Irby often says, referring to the importance of in person encounters. And he means it. Frequently sitting on the corner in front of his house, Odell knows all … Continue reading Get on the ground
Embracing multiple truths is not easy in a culture that prefers binaries, that tends to simplify complex realities into good/bad, right/wrong, etc. Yet multiple truths exist. We find them woven throughout the story of the Montford Park Players and their … Continue reading Shakespeare and Stumptown
Hill Street was a historically Black neighborhood in Asheville. Have you heard of it? Likely not. Its story, like the homes which once stood there, has been lost. It’s a story I’ve been studying deeply, wanting to fill in as … Continue reading What happened to Hill Street?
My everything aches when I remember that, “by 1908, around 86 percent of forested acres in the Southern Appalachian Mountains was classified as recently harvested or in young regrowth stages of development” (Ecoforesters.org). The scope of this extraction astounds. And, … Continue reading Clear cutting and change
Ami Worthen 