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Follow the trail to the issues, conversations and information connecting the region. |
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Dear reader,
Happy New Year! For the last few years, I’ve read Silas House’s New Year Prayer (now in his first published book of poetry “All These Ghosts.”) His words offer some simple ways to enjoy your life:
“Find a body of water, and be still beside it for a time. Build a fire and watch the flames. Sit on the porch. Lie on the grass. Light candles. Take a deep breath. Write a letter to someone.”
And even though we are in those dark winter days, there’s still plenty happening around the region. I’m making plans to join the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s 6th Annual Winter Hiking Challenge.
The goal is to hike 60 miles in 60 days between Jan. 1 and March 1 to encourage folks to hike during the winter. And those who finish get a commemorative patch. It’s not too late to sign up - the deadline is Feb. 25.
Personally, I think winter is one of the most beautiful times to be in the forest because without the leaves on the trees, a vista opens up in a completely new way. |
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I got a jumpstart on the challenge on the first day of the year by going to High Falls in Jackson County.
Pair the challenge with our recommendations for favorite hikes! Thank you to everyone who has reached out about their favorite trails so far. Folks have recommended Wesser Bald, Deep Creek and many others. Keep the recommendations coming!
And if you prefer to stay inside on these chilly days, check out the scrolling artform highlighted in this week’s story. And this video tells you how to make your own.
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Happy Trails!
Lilly Knoepp
WNC Senior Reporter |
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Artist Jessica White organized Crankie Fest with fellow artist Molly Sawyer. White is holding the crankie that she was be showing at the festival. (Photo: Lilly Knoepp/NC Local) |
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A sparrow flies across the paper being pulled from one spool to another within a box. As the story cranks slowly across the scroll the bird flies by squirrels, bison, and elephants printed onto the paper in a silhouetted landscape of trees.
The traditional moving picture on scrolling paper is Jessica White’s first crankie.
“I've noticed for a lot of people, the first time they see a crankie, there's just like this spark that happens and you're just drawn in and it becomes like a magical moment,” she said.
A crankie is a story of moving pictures in a box made of any material and cranked to advance the story.
White, an artist who moved to Asheville in 2009, creates prints and art books. She discovered crankies during a 2010 performance by Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle at Warren Wilson College.
The pair, who perform as Anna and Elizabeth, toured the country with their crankies even heading to NPR’s Tiny Desk concert in 2015 to share their “mural on the spool.”
Their art inspired White. “It was kind of a mind-blowing experience because I'd been struggling making these scrolls work and trying to navigate through how to make scrolls, and then I saw crankies and I realized, ‘Oh, this is exactly what my scrolls need to be,’” she said.
Asheville’s first crankie festival will show off Appalachian storytelling and craft this weekend at The Grey Eagle.
Read more... |
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Credit: Katie Linsky Shaw for KFF Health News. |
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Q&A with the Mayor of Franklin |
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The Franklin Town Council’s three-hour meeting on Monday evening had a jam-packed agenda including the transfer of the Nikwasi (Noquisi) Mound from the nonprofit Noquisi Initiative to the Eastern Band of Cherokee. I sat down with Franklin’s newly-elected Mayor Stacy Guffey on Wednesday afternoon to go over the developments.
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Q: Franklin Town Council voted unanimously to transfer the ownership of the Nikwasi (Noquisi) Mound from the Noquisi Initiative to the ownership of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. The issue will have to go to EBCI leadership before it’s official, but why was this important to you to be one of your first resolutions? |
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A: “I knew that we had support on the board for it. Our partners had done a lot of work, laying the groundwork for it. And like I said the other night, you know, it's been a long time coming and in fact too long and it's time to get it done.”
Guffey said he was taught by his family to have a connection to the land here and the stories of this place.
“I always say it's not like it's an artifact that you can put under a glass and look at it [like] a museum. It's a living place and there are people who are living people, the Cherokee people, here today who that's a part of who they are. It's a part of their story.
For some, it's a part of their practices. And if we can't honor that, if we can't protect that, if we can't in partnership return it to the people who were living there, then then we're not doing. I don't think we're doing our job as mountain people to keep our cultures and traditions alive.”
Note: Here's some backstory on the mound transfer when I covered the issue for BPR in 2019. EBCI Principal Chief Michell Hicks shared his support for the move on Wednesday. |
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Q: Another longtime issue that was on the agenda Monday was a vote about the former location of the Angel Medical Center. There had been a feasibility study done by the town to potentially buy that property and build housing along with shopping on that property. What happened to that plan?
A: “We've spent I don't know how many staff hours, how much time I've spent, other council members have spent. negotiating with HCA over this property, some folks based a large part of their campaign for town council based on the reuse of that property.
I think we had a good vision for it, a new neighborhood adjacent to downtown Franklin, something that would immensely benefit the people who live here in the town of Franklin. We had those negotiations in good faith. We were explicitly told that HCA wanted a partnership with the town of Franklin, that they wanted to see the town of Franklin have ownership of that property and be able to guide its development.
We hired Development Finance Institute to come in and do a feasibility study of that property...I'm sort of at a loss of words on how to explain it, but in in a phone call to talk about access to the property to do a phase one environmental study and why we hadn't been granted access to it for over a month and a half, I was informed that, 'By the way, HCA is not sure it wants to sell the property.' And so you can imagine it's a mix of disappointment and quite frankly anger that we've spent so much time that public expectation has been built around that property and then to have HCA essentially walk away from it.”
NC Local has reached out to HCA/Mission Health for comment.
Q: What’s next on the agenda?
“One of the most exciting things you'll hear a lot about soon is our downtown because we will be doing a downtown redesign planning process that'll include Main Street and Palmer Street. That'll look at things like aesthetics, speed control, maybe maybe some way to look at increasing, for example, the size of our sidewalks so we can have outdoor dining and more opportunities for dining and retail.”
NC Local will continue to follow both of these stories as they develop. Stay tuned! |
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My favorite trail
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Jessica White |
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Welcome to a regular feature of The Trailhead: My Favorite Trail. Each installment will feature a WNC trail. This week, artist Jessica White shared her favorite spot. Want to share your favorite trail for a future newsletter? Email me!
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White recommend's Sam Knob off the Blue Ridge Parkway in part because of the view. (All trail photos courtesy of Jessica White) |
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The Trail: Sam Knob
Sam Knob is a 2.5 mile round trip hike off of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Haywood County. The trail boasts a 6,000 ft view that White recommends checking out from on top of a big rock. |
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Why it is my favorite
White said many trails in the region are beautiful, but this trail captured her heart because of the way that the landscape changes from a sweeping meadow full of wildflowers up the mountain to a spectacular view.
“It was just like this huge field of asters that I was walking through. It made me feel like I was like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz just walking through this big giant field of flowers.”
While we think of trails as paths for hiking, White looks for another key feature of what makes a trail great: a nice rock to sit on at the pinnacle.
“And then getting to the end of the trail, seeing the view from Sam Knob - I just love having a big giant rock to sit on for a while and have this moment to just enjoy all that nature that you see,” White said.
The boulders and roots in the trail also keep her adventurous son entertained while they hike with her dog Peanut.
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