Betsy Ball

I heard the ripping of paper and a gleeful “Yes!” come from the living room. My daughter had received a birthday present in the mail from a distant relative. I smiled and left my supper preparations in the kitchen to go see what it was.

“Mommy, lookie! Barbie!”

I managed a “nice, honey,” yet my heart fell. I had managed to stave off the advent of Barbie into my daughter’s life for five years. Barbie was hushed contraband—I didn’t say much about it, but she wasn’t welcome in the house. She had been a topic of serious discussion within the circle of my women friends who also had daughters. After all, we were sure that playing with Barbie would damage our daughters’ self- image. The fi ve- year-old mind would think that she had to possess perky boobs and a teeny- tiny waist. She would pray every day for longer legs and covet that beach blond hair. Then the extensive Barbie wardrobe…. Oh my, don’t get me started! Could a request for implants and an eating disorder be far behind?

I went back into the kitchen and put on some water for chamomile tea. I had to hatch a plan. Should I confi scate The Doll with a discussion on Loving Our Bodies? Pretend that the Malibu gal got mauled by the dog? I enjoyed the detailed fantasy of a full moon ritual where my friends and I would poke pins in those perfect boobs, dismember those pointy-toed legs and throw Barbie’s head into a bonfi re as a fi nale. The teakettle’s whistle brought me out of my reverie. I knew better, and so does my daughter, so I just better calm down.

Realistically, for the most part, our daughters’ self-image will come from us. I tried to remember how many times my daughter had wandered into my room while I was getting dressed, and I started harping on about my jelly thighs or hips the size of Texas. How many times had she heard me complain about the size of my tummy? How many times has your daughter heard you complain about your weight, your hair, your upper arms, or your freckles? To think that a girl’s self-image is going to get twisted by a doll is ridiculous. Until our children are twenty-one years old, we as parents will have our homework cut out for us—some more than others.

I know, I know. There are images out there everywhere, telling our daughters they have to be stick-thin, big-bosomed, over-the-top sexy and gorgeous—all by the time they’re fourteen. You either buy it or you don’t. And, if you stick to your truth, more than likely your daughter will follow suit.

 

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Betsy Ball has lived in Asheville for over twenty years. She is a small business owner and the proud mother of a twenty- four-year-old daughter.

 

Tree Wagner

 

 

Where do you put the emphasis in your life? Is it on the mind, the body, or the spirit? Most of us have one area where we feel most comfortable, and there is where we put the emphasis if we don’t give it some conscious thought. I think each of us is born with some special knowledge about life and living… and that special gift is not the same for everyone. I have a friend who can put a room together with great style – belissimo! She didn’t go to school for this, she just has a natural, great sense of style. With me, I just know something about myself that I think is true for other people too. I need balance in my life. I need always to remember that I am a person of three parts—mind, body, and spirit. The rule I live by is to give each part of me some time.

The YMCA stumbled on this a long time ago. It’s their motto (“…developing a healthy spirit, mind, and body”). What this means is different for each person. I like jogging; you like judo. I like to attend adult classes; you like to read books. It soothes my soul to walk along the beach at sunset; it soothes your soul to sing in the choir or paint a picture. As I learn everyday, people are different but the same.

When I start putting the emphasis on one of these areas for a long period and leave out the others, then my life gets out of balance. Something is missing and it starts showing in how I feel and the way I live my life. Because this was something I realized about myself early in life, I’ve made it a habit to keep a fairly good balance between these activities within each week. It’s difficult to do them all in one day, but I can usually find time for activities that satisfy these needs throughout a week.

If you’ve learned to do this—exercised your body, exercised your mind, and exercised your spirit—then when difficult times come along, you’re resilient. Like an athlete who has trained, who has skills in her repertoire, you have skills for living, a body healthy enough to withstand stress, and a spirit that can give you courage and perseverance for the hard times. When my husband became chronically ill, all of my inner and outer resources were stretched, but I came through. Believe me, I relied on each of these—mind, body, and spirit—to get me through.

For me a typical week involves all three areas. I may jog, walk, attend a Y class, practice yoga, or walk my sweet Boxer. I may meditate, go to church, walk on the beach, read a poem I love, or write an essay. I may read a good book, watch a news program, attend a workshop, or write. My body is kept healthy, my mind informed, and my soul nourished. It’s a very satisfying way to live.

 

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Tree works and lives in Lexington, N.C. with her husband and son. She likes to run, practice yoga, walk her Boxer, and write while sipping on a latte’(which is her one vice). She is a member of Valle Crucis Writers.

 

Roberta Binder

 

Did you grow up reading My Weekly Reader in school? The publication began in 1928 and continues to flourish today. John Easterling, has fond memories of My Weekly Reader—and one particular article he read when he was ten years old, about the treasures to be found in Peru. That article planted the seed of his life’s goal.  It would be many years until he would begin his Peru adventures, but as I sit here with my cup of Amazon Rainforest Treasure Tea, I am grateful that he did.

John grew up in North Carolina; his family still resides near Charlotte. He graduated from UNC-Wilmington with a degree in Environmental Science. At 24, following his dream, he sold his ‘74 Chevy Bel Air and bought a plane ticket to Ecuador.

The gold promised in that article so many years ago proved to be elusive. So he developed a business around the beautiful indigenous textiles and ceramics. John would purchase these from the artisans, fly back to the US, sell them, and purchase another ticket to return to South America. It was a satisfying cycle of business and adventure. Later, this expanded to include gems and minerals from the Amazon. In 1985 he opened  Raiders of the Lost Art in Gainesville, Florida (which still flourishes today under another owner). Along the way, John amassed a “world class collection of blowguns.”
An adventure in the early 70s would change his life in a magical way.

“I had Rocky Mountain spotted fever [from a tick bite] and hepatitis. [My body] was extremely compromised; I had a near-death experience in a hospital in North Carolina. [With a slow recovery,] I was about sixty percent of where I really needed to be.” The doctors said they really couldn’t do much more than keep him alive.

By now known as Amazon John, there was no keeping him in the Carolina’s! Though still not fully recovered, he returned to the Amazon. “I was on a riverbank with my dugout canoe – sweating, chilled, and exhausted with a low-grade jungle fever, when the Shipibo Indians found me. They took me into their village.” Off the Shipibo went into the jungle, when they returned, they made him a tea (the very tea I continue sipping as I write). By the next morning his fever had broken and he was feeling better. “I had no idea how this experience would change my life!” John continues. After about ten days of using these Rainforest herbs, John realized he was feeling amazingly good—in fact, he reminisces, “I realized I felt better than I ever had. I was grounded, my energy was flowing, and both my mental acuity and humanness were at a whole new level of invigoration and life force.” Not only that, he noticed he was breathing easier and standing taller.

“Being newly charged, I began to hear the call of those treasure sirens again,” as he brings forth his quiet, full-on smile. “A couple of days further upriver, I stepped out of the dugout canoe into a double canopy forest.” Then and there, he became aware of something he had never noticed before. It was the powerful, clear energy coming from the forest itself. “I felt that magical moment of discovering a treasure that I wasn’t even aware I was looking for. I felt an awakening, and I realized I was standing in the highest concentration of life-energy on our planet.” There are an estimated 200,000 species of plants in the Amazon rainforest, only three percent of which has been thoroughly studied. “Plants are the treasure I have been searching for all these years. They offer amazing healing qualities and they are easily renewable.”

With his newfound health he came to realize that the herbal botanicals of the Amazon could benefit the entire world. He returned home to build a green home in Jupiter, Florida, which is where the distribution center for Amazon Herbs is now located. “This was as far away from Miami [airport, which is the jumping-off point for travel to South America,] as I could get and still have a reasonable drive.” (He drives a green electric car, too.)

Amazon John has set up several organizations to help protect the delicate Rainforest eco-system. Of the estimated original 4 billion acres of Rainforest, only about 2.7 billion remain. Over the last 50 years, more than half of the world’s tropical forests have been destroyed—and they continue to be lost at the rate of over 39 million acres per year. Over 90 different Amazonian tribes are thought to have disappeared since 1900.

The Amazon Herb Company empowers and defends Native Land Rights. Porvenir is a small Indigenous community that was established over 70 years ago when two families settled there. However, until 2003, the residents did not have legal ownership of the 13,000 acres of land sustaining them (this is equivalent in size to Washington DC). With the help of Amazon Herb Company, this community of 200 Shipibo now enjoys the security of owning this land they love.

A reserve has been established near Yarinacocha District in Peru, to protect it from the invasion of logging and other outside development. This beautiful place is home to a lush Camu Camu plantation with over 28,000 trees that are harvested twice a year for its incredible concentration of vitamin C (as well as iron, niacin, riboflavin, and phosphorous). This immune-booster, grown in the Amazon Herb Orchards, is certified organic by the USDA. The harvest is gathered by the local Indigenous peoples. In their prayer rituals before and after the harvest, they honor the gifts from the earth. In this way, they continue to manage their land, their resources, their culture, and most importantly their future.

One more treasure that Amazon John has brought about is the partnering with the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research Foundation (ACEER), represented in Peru by Aura Murrieta. ACEER is a partnership of education in the villages of the Rio Ucayali, Rio Pisqui, and Rio Caco regions. It was begun in 1991 in Iquitos, Peru, as a comprehensive environmental education program that provides educational materials for school children, teaching them to love their backyard.

ACEER not only improves the quality of education of the students, it also reaches out to educate the teachers and the village elders. The goal of Amazon Herbs role in this Foundation is to work with the local people to protect and conserve the resources of the Rainforest for generations to come. Remember the Rainforest produces 30% of the world’s oxygen.  John has become a conduit for the people, supporting the Rainforest as an agricultural treasure, rather than a cash cow of oil and precious metals.

John enjoys sharing his love of Peru and the Rainforest with all of his friends. In 2008, when Jean-Michel Cousteau was filming his PBS Documentary, Return to the Amazon, John had the opportunity to share some of the work he is doing and the pride of the Indigenous people in their sustainable communities. He encourages his friends to come along on one of his many trips (to date, well over 200 visits).
About 20 years ago he adopted a puppy from Olivia Newton-John; the two became fast friends as they remained in touch through the dog. Along the way, as Olivia was going through breast cancer, John shared his Amazon Herbs with her—which she found helped her healing process. As she regained strength, she decided she wanted to discover the source of these products and meet the extended family of indigenous people John had talked about for several decades. They went as friends, but somewhere in the Camu Camu reserve, love blossomed; John and Olivia were married in 2008 in Peru (and had a second ceremony back in Florida). I met with the two of them recently; they continue to giggle like two delightful newlyweds, radiating happiness.

It has been well over thirty years since Amazon John Easterling began developing relationships with the Indigenous people of the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Herb Company has been working directly with Rainforest communities to create new models of prosperity and sustainability. John sums up his discovery of the plant treasures of the Amazon Rainforest so well: “We live in a time of extraordinary opportunities. We can be a part of world healing.” There is harmony and balance in plants. Botanicals hold information and provide a unique harmony that always shines through. Peace within produces a shining glow outwardly.

What an incredible life story that began with ten-year-old John Easterling reading an article in My Weekly Reader…the hidden treasures that direct our lives are amazing.
A product in the Amazon Herb treasure chest that I look forward to exploring is Chocamaca—a chocolate that supports cardiovascular health!  From this certified chocoholic – I’m all about that idea! (I’ve heard it is really good too!) You can explore Amazon Herbs products at AmazonHerbs.net.

 

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Roberta Binder is a Writer, Editor and Photographer who works with international authors bringing their words to life – visit her website: RobertaEdits.com. As a Feng Shui Master noted for Space Clearing, Raising Chi, Earth Energy Geomancy, and Sacred Ceremony, she brings Peace and Balance to the lives of clients throughout Western North Carolina. Please explore: SacredEarthWisdom.com (now with a Facebook page SacredEarthWisdom featuring hints and tales).

 

Michelle Raiford

In a few weeks I will hit the Big Four-Oh. As I face a milestone birthday that signals I am firmly ensconced in adulthood, I want to make peace with a particular aspect of my personality.

Recently, I found myself crying uncontrollably at work after being reprimanded. There is perhaps no experience more humiliating than showing extreme emotion in the workplace. Every woman’s magazine will tell you it is taboo, and yet I have done it many times.  I have been this way my whole life:  super-sensitive, easily hurt, and quick to cry.  I feel the need to explore ways to develop a slightly thicker skin without losing the sensitivity that makes me a loving, compassionate person.

When I was called into my supervisor’s office, I was given a warning notice for absenteeism.  I felt an immediate sting of tears. Within seconds, I was crying.  My first thought was not to ask myself if the accusation was true. My first feeling was guilt. It wasn’t until hours later that I calmed down and realized the number of days in question was inaccurate. If my rationale had stepped in before my emotions, I would have had some leverage in the conversation. Instead, I responded like a guilty party. I assumed the worst of myself with lightning speed. The next day, I returned to my supervisor composed, but chastened.  It may have been a little late, but I stood up for myself.  I defended my absences and reminded my boss that I had filled in for others on short notice. I left her office feeling vindicated, but also questioning how I came to be so “thin-skinned.”

As I considered my sensitivity, I realized that my compassion for others runs deep—but my compassion for myself is nearly nonexistent.  I help others see their good qualities but I ignore my own.
Admittedly, I am a casualty of perfectionism.  Perfection is unattainable, so anyone trapped in its pursuit is doomed to fail.

And yet the voice of my inner critic is loud and unrelenting. She can complicate the simplest situations and inject her venom into the most innocent shortcomings.  I remember a day at preschool when we were supposed to look into a pan of water and see our reflections. Such a simple concept to an adult, but I became inconsolable when I couldn’t see what I thought was supposed to be something magical in the water.  I assumed immediately that something was wrong with me. I had failed where everyone else had succeeded. I couldn’t perceive that my own frustrated tears made it impossible to see anything.  Later in school, if I couldn’t make an A, I saw myself as a complete failure.  If a concept eluded me, I became so blocked by frustration and self-doubt that I made it impossible to learn.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I see now that my self-worth was bound up in my achievements and not in the process.  Anything less than the best simply wasn’t good enough. Without even realizing it, I had handed over control of my self-esteem to outside forces.

Now, I feel I owe it to myself to pursue self-confidence outside the specter of perfection.  Physicality is not an area in which I excel. Unlike academia, perfection has never been a goal for me in the area of physical fitness. For that reason, I began working out with a personal trainer. Through challenging myself physically, I have learned that my body can do much more than I ever suspected. Out from under the expectation of perfection, I can appreciate small victories—a set of shoulder exercises, longer sessions on the elliptical machine.

I want to train my mind and heart to have that same confidence in my ability to be a good worker, a good wife, and a good friend.  When I offer kind words to a friend, I offer some kind words to myself as well. At first this practice seemed too self-congratulatory, but that is just the critic’s voice again. I shush her and keep moving forward. I vow to build up my self-esteem so that I am not blown around by the opinions of others. I want to love myself and my experiences, so I will open my heart to myself the way I open it to others. I accept that I will have setbacks. I will cry. I will make mistakes, but I will treat myself with gentleness and respect.

I am beginning to see that perceived failures can be lessons, steps on the way to ultimate success. I surround myself with the words and stories of men and women whose names I know simply because they were willing to risk failure in order to achieve their own personal greatness. I will remember that mistakes do not make me unworthy, they make me human.  I will work to go beyond self-forgiveness to self-acceptance.  Instead of a thicker skin, I wish to fully and unabashedly inhabit the skin I am in.

 

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Michelle Raiford has lived and worked in Asheville, NC since 1997. She pursues her love of writing while working part time. She shares her life with husband James and beautiful four-legged companion Katy. She can be reached at michelle.raiford@gmail.com.

 

Lorri Gifford

I’ll admit it; I’m a massage snob. I have been giving and receiving bodywork for over twelve years and whenever I experience a session for the first time with a massage therapist, my first thought is “God, please let them be good.” So, when I was asked to write this piece about The North Carolina School of Advanced Bodywork, I did so with a bit of trepidation. Let me just state for the record that the experience I had BLEW ME AWAY! And that, dear reader, is not an easy thing to do.

When I lived in California my yoga teacher used to say:  “There are as many yoga studios as Italian restaurants in Encinitas.” In Encinitas there were five or six Italian restaurants; walking from one end of town to the other takes less than ten minutes. The same can be said in Asheville about massage and Massage Schools. With so many choices in the field of bodywork, it’s important to find the schools that stand out. The North Carolina School of Advanced Bodywork (NCSAB) is a shining example, thanks to owner/founder Kyle Wright. This school focuses on creating quality in the workforce. The proof is in the statistics.
To be a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) in the state of North Carolina, a person must pass one of three accredited examinations. One of those exams is called The National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork. Currently the National average for Massage Therapists passing the National Exam when taking it for the first time is 64%.  The Average in North Carolina is 71%. The average for Kyle Wright’s last 10 graduating classes was 100%—even including his 20+ years of teaching, his success rate is 98%.

NCSAB is located on Charlotte Highway in Fairview. What makes it unique is the fact that the facility itself is in a house. The minute you walk in you feel like you are “home.” The reception area is in the front parlor and there is a treatment room, bathroom, sitting area, and classroom on the main level. The classroom seats up to 12 students and the chairs are comfortable executive type office chairs. (If you have ever had to sit through hours of lecture time, you know how important the chair is to your comfort level). The level below the main level is another classroom with massage tables and curtains that can be pulled around each table to create the feeling of privacy when the students are practicing on one another.

“My success is based on my students’ success.”  Kyle Wright

Kyle has been involved in the field of massage and bodywork for over 27 years. His mom got him into massage when he was a physical therapist. She started going to massage school and three months later he joined her. It was a 60-mile drive each way and they would go to massage school, drive back home, and work full time jobs. At the time, Kyle became more interested in the wellness aspect of bodywork and less in rehabilitation. Between the ages of eighteen and twenty, he worked in three spas and was involved in aerobics. Health and wellness were always important to him. He has had practices from New York to Florida to North Carolina.

Kyle became interested in bridging bodywork into the medical field. In 1989 he started his career in teaching by swiping his credit card for $10,000. He had six students at the time. One of his first practices was in Jacksonville, Florida. Today two of his original businesses are still going strong in Florida. They have been sold and passed on to former students and to this day are called The Wright Centers for Advanced Bodywork. One location has been in business for seventeen years and the other for twenty-five.

His students are known as being the “cream of the crop” and professionals in the medical community seek out his graduates. Physicians and Chiropractors have taken his courses. Kyle has spoken nationally at hospitals and medical conferences. His work is highly respected in the medical community; he has also done some work with Neurologists around the country.

Kyle was once hired by Kaiser and offered an amazing salary. He lasted two weeks and left because he wanted to keep his approach “grass roots.”   He wanted to get back to the basics. The quality of his teaching was more important then the quantity that he was being asked to teach.
“If you love to help people and you love what you do, that’s what’s important.”

McGraw-Hill publishers gave Kyle a $50,000 signing bonus to write his book Structural Balancing: A Clinical Approach. This textbook is used in his Massage Certification courses and is a must-read for any body worker. I have spent time looking through it and it is a valuable reference tool for anyone in the field. Kyle has also taught classes all over the US including Boston, Colorado, Florida, and Atlanta.

The teacher that really influenced Kyle was David Scott Lynn. David taught a class called Psycho-Muscular Release & Bio-Structural Balancing. Inspired by what he learned through this class, Kyle combines this technique, strong technical knowledge, and connection to the client in his teaching approach at NCSAB. It is “deep” tissue work without pain.

Three of the first words a student and client learn when stepping through the doors at NCSAB are: deeper, edge, and less. When a client says “deeper”, this means that the therapist can go deeper into the belly of the muscle or the attachments. When a client says “less”, they are indicating to the therapist that there is a need to give less pressure or depth. The word “edge” indicates perfect pressure. It is the depth right before the pain. There is a lot of focus on teaching the students at NCSAB how to listen closely to the nervous system within the body of their client, and working with that edge.

“You don’t have to go through pain to get out of pain.”

The students and graduates of NCSAB are taught to start by approaching their client’s nervous system. The goal is to reduce the tonus (the rate at which the nerves are firing) of the body. It is all about reducing the nerve firing and balancing the muscle and nervous tension. This starts with understanding their client’s current “edge.” True deep massage happens before added muscular and nervous tension takes place. In true deep tissue massage, less pain leads to more gain.
The type of massage focused on at NCSAB is similar to Rolfing—but without the pain. And rather then a set of ten structured sessions, it is an organic approach based on each person’s individual needs, based on genetics, age and lifestyle.

“My goal is to decompress the body. If you dig in before a person is ready, a few days later, their muscles will be tighter than when they first went in for a massage.”

The Massage Therapy Program at NCSAB is 500 hours. The intention is to teach the students the proper terminology and the latest medical conditions. The students are taught to use their whole body (knees, feet, elbows, etc.) as tools, as well as the ergonomics of proper body mechanics. A good amount of time is focused on learning muscle attachments and isolating tissues. The teaching approach starts with familiarizing students with the bones—because as Kyle so aptly put it “bones don’t lie.”

Classes take place Monday through Thursday and each day of curriculum is set aside for a specific topic from massage theory to history, ethics, anatomy, and so on.

Along with classes, students are required to do forty hours of clinical time. Massages at the clinic are $30 hour and are currently offered on Mondays and Fridays. If you are looking for specialized and focused work at a great price or are interested in pursuing massage as a career and curious about what NCSAB has to offer, I HIGHLY recommend trying the clinic.

At NCSAB they keep their classes to a maximum of twelve students, believing that smaller classes with more individualized instruction is the key.
In 2009, Kyle came to Asheville because the area was known for being wellness-minded—and his teaching staff followed. While interviewing Kyle I couldn’t help but wish that I had known about his school in Florida when I first started out. I will definitely be looking their way the next time I need to take some continuing education for renewing my massage license.

As I was leaving the school I asked Kyle where he goes when he needs bodywork. He smiled and answered: “I go to my own students.” For a man that has been teaching and giving massage for over 27 years, that says it all.

 

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Lorri Gifford has been reading Tarot Cards since 1986. While living in California, she worked at The Chopra Center for Well-being as their Spa Director and a Lead Educator. In 2009 her intuition guided her to move to Asheville. Lorri enjoys writing, giving readings, coaching, and helping others develop and deepen their intuition.  She can be reached at www.readingswithlorri.com or 828.505.4485.

 

Philip Ricker

A number of years ago, a person came to me in my Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practice, who was experiencing some symptoms that had gone undiagnosed for a number of years. Her symptoms were: insomnia, night sweats, night urination, nightmares, stomach pain, constipation, and strong thirst as well as rashes, skin sensitivity, and afternoon fatigue. This symptomatic picture, to a TCM practitioner, is a strong Yin fluid deficiency with  excess heat/dryness.  This was not a woman experiencing menopause (she was only in her late twenties).  Her menstrual cycle was normal, although the flow had lessened.

She also firmly believed she was “doing everything right”.   She was eating a healthy, predominately vegetarian diet with lots of leafy greens, whole grains, and high quality protein.  No obvious problem with lifestyle, as she exercised five times a week, maybe too vigorously.  I was  baffled—until I asked one simple question.  “Do you by any chance eat a lot of garlic?”

“Of course,” she said. “I eat garlic daily. I love it because it‘s so good for you.”  To this I replied, “We need to talk.”

Garlic has been used for centuries.  Historical records of its use go back four or five thousand years in the Middle East and China.  It has a reputation in the western world as a natural antibiotic and blood cleanser.  It will kill many parasites, such as pinworms and hookworms.  Throughout history it has been used to treat various conditions such as  amoebic and bacillary dysentery, tuberculosis, appendicitis, boils, leprosy, the common cold, and whooping cough.  Added to foul water, its antitoxic quality is reputed to make the water drinkable.  More recently, garlic has been researched for its effect on hypertension, cholesterol, and blood sugar as well as for its antifungal properties. So it would seem to be a great food additive.

Garlic’s botanical name is Allium Sativum.  Allium is Latin and derives very likely from the Celtic word “All”, meaning hot or burning.  In Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine garlic is considered a folk remedy. Its properties are acrid (burning, bitter, irritating), warm, and drying. It is through this hot, burning, and drying quality that garlic is such a good remedy—but also why it can be problematic.

Garlic was one of the five foods forbidden to Buddhist priests and Daoists in ancient China. The hot, dry quality of garlic interferes with a quiet heart and calm spirit—which in turn makes meditation more difficult.  It is also not recommended to those who pursue fasting because it will create an abundance of hot yang energy at a time when the typical goal is to create a peaceful yin quality. To practitioners of Ayurveda, garlic is considered tamasic (essentially a food to be avoided). Garlic interferes with the clear yang of consciousness, clouds the mind, creates excessive sexual desires, and vivid dreams. It is more medicine than food. And of course the odor on the breath and skin can be less than pleasant.

I have been curious how garlic has become so ubiquitous in food, particularly in health food.  If you read labels you will notice few foods without garlic. It seems to be added to virtually everything.

A curious thing I’ve noticed in my informal research into garlic is that societies living in hot climates tend to use garlic as an addition to many of their foods and recipes.  This fact, on its face, seems nonsensical, since garlic is heating and drying and would cause people to be less tolerant of the heat.  But apparently, the closer to the equator one lives, the more likely garlic will be a part of the diet.  And conversely, the farther from the equator one lives, the less likely garlic will be consumed in traditional diets.

I believe the reason is quite simple. The hotter the climate, the more likely there will be a problem with the storage of food. Therefore, more bacteria, more parasites, and probably more fungal growth. It’s all about the bugs in the food—and garlic kills the bugs.  My Northern European ancestors had little need for garlic. Food could be more easily stored due to the cooler climate.

A substance that has such strong therapeutic qualities in small amounts can be over-consumed to the point of then making us ill.

To revisit my patient who was “doing everything right”—garlic was very simply too hot and drying for her. She needed to be gently cooled and nourished with yin and blood herbs and foods that supported her system.   Her heart and spirit needed to be calmed. Garlic should have been used sparingly if at all and with more caution.

One would not routinely consume antibiotics or antifungal agents or do antiparasitic treatments. And with garlic, a little bit therapeutically might be just what you need.  But large amounts of garlic can be problematic. We as energetic beings can be changed by what we consume. If we eat foods that are predominately hot and drying we will slowly become hotter and dryer.  The converse is also true.  I see so many people who are hot-natured consuming foods that are constitutionally inappropriate—and they invariably eat a lot of garlic. So, in the heat of the summer, or if you are experiencing menopausal symptoms, or if you just tend to be hot, your dietary choices are important. Eat more cooling, yin-natured foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Reduce the heating foods such as garlic, leeks, onions, alcohol, coffee, hot peppers, lamb etc.  Lists can be found on the internet by searching Chinese food energetics.

 

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Philip Ricker has been practicing acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine for over 27 years and is experienced in a variety of health issues. Trained in the U.S. & China, he is also a teacher of Qi Gong and offers classes on Saturdays. Phil owns the Acupuncture Center of Asheville where he has performed over 50,000 treatments during the past 23 years.

 

Abigail Hastings

Their faces are flush and perspiring, but these women are laughing as they put their shoes on. At Happy Body—a Pilates, yoga, and wellness center in South Asheville—they’ve just had a big hit of feel-good endorphins while working out the kinks in their bodies. The beauty of the last hour is that, not only did they stretch and strengthen and feel attuned to their bodies, but also the result was like a mood-altering drug.

“Whether I’m working hard or enjoying a soothing stretch, having body work or talking about my goals,” Barbra explained, “I always emerge energized, positive, and on the right track.”

It’s exactly the response the owner of Happy Body, Jessica Mark, is looking for. While the classic resistance machine in Pilates work is called “The Reformer,” the same might be said of Mark, whose idea for the studio relies on a refreshingly holistic approach to exercise

“I come from a dance background where we use our physical bodies to express emotion, feeling, thinking, and tell the stories of our lives,” she said. “From that exhilarating sensation of being fully alive and expressive in my body, I wanted to know more about how the body worked, how to connect to it more fully, and how to make that personal connection available to people who have not had such a positive outlook or experience with their bodies.

We so often think about exercise— think it’s something to do: move this muscle, lift this weight—without acknowledging that the body is all our physicality. Our minds, our bodies, our blood, our bones, our internal organs, and all those bodily systems that we take for granted. To get in touch with our bodies—to embrace them in whatever form they take—is a true celebration. We laugh a lot around here. It really is a joyful place.”

Their philosophy is that “when you move better, you feel better; and when you feel better, you live in a better, happier you.” To be comfortable in your own skin, to move with ease and to be pain-free, is the foundation that the rest of your life can be built on. It’s such a simple concept, one we understood as children, yet gets lost somewhere along the way. When we …and a Reformer Abigail Hastings Mind, Heart, Soul, Strength were young, running around in play and fun was effortless – recess was often the best part of the day.

Jessica emphasizes how important it is to meet everyone where they are in their own ability and in the context of their lives. Some people come in with chronic pain, some after injury. Nothing to laugh about there, but careful and thoughtful workouts address those particular circumstances to aid the body in healing. There are Happy Body instructors who have gone through similar challenges after accidents, so the trainers bring a level of compassion and knowledge to the road to wholeness.

Personal attention is great, but Mark explains that the idea behind it is more compelling: life circumstances play a huge role in physical well- being. You can’t fool the body. Tension will be held and knotted up in places; the concerns of the day are inextricably linked with body chemistry and movement. “You have helped me feel in my personal life that I can be physically and mentally strong,” one client said. “I feel that each of you has helped me go through this emotional time – you not only take care of your clients’ physical being but you also are so mentally positive.”

Life’s struggles are inescapable, and client needs will be very individual. “I think it’s important that all women feel at home in their bodies, no matter what their situation,” Mark said recently. In upcoming months, she will begin a program of free Pilates and yoga classes for women who have undergone cancer treatment. “We would love to take that journey with the women who need this support, as they reestablish a happier relationship with their bodies,” she explained.

It’s part of recognizing that there is also deep happiness in giving. This past April saw the beginning of a signature program called Class for a Cause. Two of the most popular classes were offered for donation only, with all proceeds going to a different nonprofit each month. Beneficiaries like Helpmate, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, and The Center for Disordered Eating were recognized and celebrated for the work they already are doing to make a difference in our local community.

“We’ve had such a great experience doing this,” said Mark. “We’ve decided to change our model and make every class a give-back. Beginning in July, all our Pilates mat and yoga classes will set aside 20% of the profi t for charitable giving.

And in the year ahead, we’re hoping to develop a stronger partnership with WCCJ [Western Carolinians for Criminal Justice] to give underserved women practical tools to relieve stress, feel physically stronger— which leads to a greater sense of empowerment—and create more connection and awareness with their own bodies through movement- based classes.”

No wonder Barbra calls Happy Body her “feel good” place. Feeling strong and healthy, receiving and giving, all add up to our best bodies, our best selves.

 

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Abigail Hastings is a writer who divides her time between Asheville and New York City. She teaches a writing class at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (maximum security prison for women) and has been a part of the Threadwaxing Writers Group for fourteen years.

 

Kristine Chandler Madera

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Images evoke a deep inner response, perhaps a stirring from the innate beauty or shock from the content. A thousand or more words might well describe the image, comment on its artistic value or explain the meaning of it to another, but talking about an image doesn’t bring about the same inner movement as taking in the image first hand. That’s because words and images are processed in different parts of the mind.

Pictures speak to the subconscious mind, a part of the mind that operates largely outside of conscious awareness. Language is the primary means of communication of the conscious mind, the part that is rational and logical, that plans and sets goals and sets out with the pure grit of willpower. The conscious is a fabulous part of the mind, and you wouldn’t be human without it. But when it comes to self-perception, the conscious mind hogs the show. When Descartes said, “I doubt, therefore I think. I think, therefore I am,” he equated the thinking mind with personal identity, and set the tone for the modern view of the conscious as the “executive” mind. That association implies that the conscious mind is always in charge, and that, as the leader, that it has the ability to command the body what to do.

In fact, the conscious mind runs your mental show only 20-50% of your waking day. It conserves energy, as if going dormant, when you’re daydreaming, or when you go into autopilot while driving, or in those brief, mind-quiet moments when you gasp in awe of the beauty of your newborn, or the colors of a sunset, or the grace of serendipity. These are often the most pleasurable moments, when bustle around you recedes beneath a tranquil part of yourself, perhaps accompanied by a deep feeling of connection with others, with spirit, or with the world around you.

Science has now accepted that there is a significant connection between the mind and the body, though for most people it’s still a murky relationship, with unclear roles and an excess of mystery. Adding to the confusion is that the connection between the mind and the body requires working with the subconscious mind—that non-linear, non-logical part of the mind that doesn’t respond to commands, scolding, or even a well-thought-out argument, and simply yawns at willpower. Since the conscious mind is more than happy to take the credit when all is going well, it’s often not until a time of crisis—illness, injury, the re-emergence of a destructive life pattern—that the issue of relationship with the subconscious and the mind-body even comes up. When it does, the subconscious is often vilified as stuck in the past, hidden in the shadows, that pesky part of you that sabotages your life, your health, your goals and then ducks back out of sight.

And yet, developing a relationship between your conscious and subconscious minds is primary to developing a mind-body connection. Your subconscious mind makes up about 90% of your brain volume, and is directly wired into your body. It’s the part of you connected to the electrical meridians accessed through acupuncture, to the nervous system accessed through chiropractic, to the muscles and soft tissues affected by massage, and all your other systems—digestion, circulatory, reproductive, lymph, etc. In ways that are still just being explored, your subconscious mind reaches beyond your body and connects to the environment, to other beings, and into spiritual realms.

It’s an extraordinary system. Your conscious mind is devoted to higher thought and can only hold five to nine pieces of information at any one time; your subconscious is the workhorse that holds everything else. It not only controls things like heart rate, blood pressure, and the millions of chemical reactions that take place each moment to maintain your life and health; but also stores your short and long term memories; your emotional connections to people, events and things; your deeply held values and beliefs about yourself, others, and the world; your learned skills like driving; and—this is where the subconscious gets its bad rap—it pulls you into patterns of thought, behavior, and reaction that have proven to work for you in the past.

Stored patterns are great when they help life go smoothly—who wants to keep their full focus on how to brush their teeth each time, when there are so many more interesting things to think about? You’re free to think about whatever you want as you’re brushing your teeth because your subconscious habit kicks in to allow you that freedom.

But when the habit or pattern is something that interferes with the life your conscious mind desires, that’s when it feels completely and unfairly out of conscious control. Although it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, that “out of control” is an amazing survival strategy. As you learn things, they are stored in the vast filing system of the subconscious mind. The more that the lessons you learn are tied to emotions like fear, anger, helplessness, and such; the closer to the front of the filing system they are stored, so that when a similar situation or emotion arises they are the most accessible templates to call upon. The more they get called upon, the more they become your go-to response to similar situations or threats—until the habit, pattern, belief, or reaction is automatic, and well outside the realm of conscious response. Because your subconscious mind can process millions more bits of information per moment than your conscious mind, it is constantly interacting with the environment—internal and external—and responding to things automatically that never come onto the conscious mind’s radar, which frees you up to think about more interesting things.

The subconscious is magnificent, and you wouldn’t be a thinking being without it. The challenge comes when you want to change a pattern or habit that is no longer working for you, and may even be causing illness or disease. This desire for change is what prompts most people to explore the mind-body connection, and that of course, propels them into relationship with their subconscious.

Your relationship with your subconscious mind is fundamental to your relationship to yourself; to come into relationship with it is to become a participant in your total well-being. And to build a relationship, you need to build trust and rapport, and communicate on a regular basis, keeping in mind that your subconscious is not just a partner, it’s your dominant mind system. Your subconscious has vastly more power and stamina than your conscious mind, and you can only make lasting change when your subconscious chooses to cooperate with the conscious goals you have for your life. It can feel weird and be frustrating in the beginning but it’s helpful to think of the subconscious mind as a two-year-old, incapable of rationality and driven by emotion; responding to praise, redirection, and positive reinforcement rather than scolding and punishment; comfortable with the status quo and scared of the unknown—and to appreciate the power imbalance, keep in mind that this two-year-old has way more energy than the conscious part of you.

There are some very simple strategies for working with the subconscious mind, and one is to understand its communication system. The conscious mind (for most people) communicates primarily with language—using words to explain, reason, give direction, and to think either internally or aloud. The subconscious communicates via images and pictures, emotions, feelings/sensations, memories, and metaphor.

So, rather than just telling the subconscious what it is that you want, infuse your words with the emotions and images that may help it feel safe as it inches into the unknown. Pay attention to how you feel as you do this, because this is your subconscious talking back to you—does it feel afraid, unsure, energized, anxious, or something else? Keep  the conversation ongoing, listen through your sensations and feelings, pay attention to any emotions that come up, and respond back with praise when it does what you like. When it’s unsure, use gentle coaxing through reassuring images and feelings that help the subconscious move in the direction that you want it to go. Small steps are key, knowing that as you build up trust and rapport with gentle, consistent communication, it will be more willing to make larger changes down the road.

One way to supercharge communication with the subconscious mind is through metaphor. Metaphor is a powerful convergence of mind, body and spirit, and can initiate change on all of these levels simultaneously. A metaphor, for the purpose here, is an image, feeling, idea, or object that represents something else. In meditation, they often use the metaphor that thoughts are clouds, and to watch them come and go without getting caught up in any particular cloud. I’m a water person. The cloud image doesn’t work as well for me, so I picture my mind as a still lake and thoughts as ripples on the lake that eventually smooth back out.

Metaphors are personal, and they need to evoke a connection or feeling within to work well for you, so play around with an idea until you find a metaphor that works for you. You can tell when one works—when your subconscious really gets it—because you can feel it resonate somewhere in your body. It may be your whole system that feels energized, or you may feel a swelling in the heart or the gut, tingling in the hands or the legs. A metaphor that works should carry an “aha” kind of feeling. If the feeling that you get is confusion or discomfort, try a different metaphor.

Here’s one that you can use that most anyone can connect with. Spend a few minutes getting the right imagery and intention for you before actually starting to practice this. But imagine yourself as a tree. This tree might represent how you want to feel in your life generally, or it might represent one aspect of your life.  A tree has a root system and a taproot, a trunk, branches, and some sort of foliage. Within this framework, you can build more specific imagery that represents what you want to convey to your subconscious. First, what would you like that root system to represent for you—a connection to nature, to family, to community, to purpose, to your spiritual system, or a combination of any or all of these? What does the taproot, your primary source of nourishment, connect you to? What ways do you feed yourself to bring sustenance to your inner and outer life, to your soul, to your physical, mental, and emotional needs? What else might the taproot connect you to? Keep in mind that the higher the tree and the heavier the branch system, the stronger the root system needs to be.

“This desire for change is what prompts most people to explore the mind-body connection.”

Your trunk—your body or your life or something else that you choose—should have the qualities that you want to communicate in this particular metaphor. Do you want a powerful, mighty trunk that perseveres through the ages, or a sparer, flexible trunk that will bend but not break in a windstorm? Your branches may be thick or thin, reach far out from the trunk or be safe and protected closer in. What grows on this tree? Does it attract particular animals or birds or butterflies? Where do the branches reach and how far do they go? Does the foliage flow with the seasons or does it have the steadiness of an evergreen? Is it thick and shady or does it let lots of light through to the ground below? What do each of the choices you make about this tree mean to you? Because it’s the intention and qualities they inspire in you that you are communicating to your subconscious mind, not just an image of a tree.

When you have your image and what you want to communicate with it, stand up if you can, as standing brings you into the long straight lines of a tree (if you can’t stand, then laying flat or sitting straight in a chair are okay, too.) Close your eyes and take a few long, slow, deep breaths, and relax your mind, as if slipping into a daydream. Once you’re there, feel yourself as the tree, feel energy extend down from your feet as your root system takes hold, feel the taproot anchor to its primary nourishment. Take your time, especially for your first few attempts. Once your root system is in place, feel your body become the trunk that represents what you want to convey to the subconscious, and let it flow through you until the feeling attached to it matches the quality that it represents to you. Then move on to the branches and foliage, and do the same thing. Take your time, and listen to your subconscious response, communicate with that part of you and feel the strength that comes when your conscious intention and your subconscious response come into alignment with one another. This is you in your full inner power, accessing the immense amount of energy available to you when your conscious and subconscious are working together. This is you.
Then, if you really want a challenge, try to explain that experience (and the feelings it inspired) to someone in a thousand words—or even more.

 

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Kristine Chandler Madera helps people makes positive permanent changes in their lives as a certified clinical hypnotist living and practicing in Asheville. Sign up for her free newsletter at www.MindWiseHypnosis.com. She is also the co-author of How to Meditate with Your Dog: An Introduction to Meditation for Dog Lovers.

 

Elyse Averdick
Let’s discuss the role of hormone balancing for sexual satisfaction and performance in men and women. Despite the thinking that Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) is a hot new topic, some of us have been doing this for twenty or thirty years, safely and effectively. This combined experience serves you well.

LIBIDO – Let’s talk desire, drive, sparkle. Twenty years ago, I was struck by the reality that libido and orgasm were NOT ninety percent in the mind. And that many marriages were breaking up over a biologic difficulty, not an emotional one. At least it started as biologic, then became emotional.

I found that if a woman had no testosterone in her system, she would have no libido, and be unable to reach orgasm (or at least have extreme difficulty). Having measured thousands of patients of all ages over the years and comparing the results with their symptoms, I found this to be true in most cases. So the excuse “I have a headache,” often unknowingly (on both sides of the marital fence) really means, “I have little or no testosterone.”

As a Family Nurse Practitioner, I set upon the task of saving marriages and am happy to report great success.

Case in point #1:
Mrs. Smith came in with a very low testosterone level. Her progesterone and DHEA were low as well. Three months after balancing her hormones, she excitedly ran up to me in the office, exclaiming “I never knew what my husband was missing. I feel so awful to have deprived him all these years. It’s WONDERFUL!”

Case in point #2:
Mrs. Jones, a seventy-year-old woman, had recently remarried. Despite still desiring sexual relations with her husband, she was completely unable to have orgasm. Mrs. Jones was also found to have extremely low testosterone. Once we replenished her supply, never going over what is physiologically normal for a woman, they were back making love three or four times each week, with renewed ability to have orgasm.

Testosterone, however, is not always the answer. All hormones need to be accurately measured and symptoms assessed. Balancing such things as DHEA, estrogen, progesterone, and pregnenolone are paramount. The thyroid and adrenal glands are major players as well.

As an example, DHEA, which you will hear advertised as the youth hormone, is often the first to become depleted. People who come in feeling “old”, “tired”, “no sex drive”, as well as patients with chronic illness, frequently have low DHEA levels. Sometimes increasing those levels can pull women out of menopause, their energy and desire both improving. (Please do not use DHEA without a laboratory measurement. Do not assume this is what you need. It is all about balance. If the level becomes elevated, it can get you into trouble.)

Another example is women who have a low progesterone compared to estrogen ratio. These women are prone to PMS, endometriosis, and heavy bleeding. They may have anxiety and insomnia. Progesterone is our natural tranquilizer. Their libido may be low as well.

WOMEN: NOW ABOUT YOUR MEN
Has your man become a couch potato? Are you having trouble getting him up – in more ways than one? Is he gaining weight? Has he lost his desire and perhaps his full erection? And I’ll bet he doesn’t want to talk about it.

When men’s testosterone levels drop, these are some of the symptoms he experiences. Men are quick to seek Viagra as an immediate solution, not realizing testosterone and other relevant hormones help with their moods, help them build muscle and lose fat, improve concentration, irritability, and stamina. Ask your man if he knows where the most testosterone receptors are: the penis or the heart ?

When men are aware of “low T” as it’s being called these days, they are quick to want a prescription and get on with it; kind of like a “magic bullet.” It’s much more complex than that. Testosterone has to convert from “total” to “free” to be available for the body. When men are overweight, testosterone can be converting to estrogen. The problem is not “low T”, it is the conversion. Rather than giving more testosterone, correct treatment would be to stop the conversion. Voila. Man feels better and loses weight. Woman happy.

SAFETY ISSUES WITH HORMONE REPLACEMENT
One last thought. Before considering BHRT, make sure your healthcare provider has a plan for ensuring safety. Testing can be done to check for efficient hormone metabolism through the liver, as well as knowing the exact breakdown metabolites. In other words, it is important to know what our body is doing with those hormones.

After 25 years of helping men and women balance their hormones using a comprehensive, individualized approach, it is clear we can safely and effectively bring people renewed life and vitality.

 

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Elyse Averdick has been a Family Nurse Practitioner for over 20 years. Realizing the limitations of conventional medicine early in her career, she expanded into what was then considered “alternative” medicine. She has since utilized the best of both worlds—prescribing hormones and using other regenerative technologies to help men and women reach their optimal health. She can be reached at www.MedicalHRT.com, or www.VitalityByElyse.com. Phone 828.707.8741. Visits by appointment only.

 

ANDREA CLARK
ON THE TWILIGHT OF A NEIGHBORHOOD

Laura Hope-Gill

The year was 1968. It was the year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Woodstock had yet to happen. No one had walked on the moon. The power of the image was just beginning to influence the American public as shocking images—Civil Rights demonstrations, wounded Viet Cong and American soldiers, beaten protesters at the Democratic National Convention—entered the American living room. It was the beginning of the visual culture that dominates today: the graven image come to life. It was also the year that photographer Andrea Clark came to Asheville and took a walk, camera in hand, through the city. That is, through the city as it was, back then. That city does not exist anymore.

The images Andrea developed in her darkroom live on today as the only collection of photographs documenting the Historic East End neighborhood—which once extended from College Street to Buxton Street, from the mountain slope above what is today South Charlotte Street to and beyond the river. Dense with white clapboard houses, porches hosting conversation and caregiving, the neighborhood was the grandchild of the strong migration of freed slaves of the South. But to the people who lived there, the people whose faces speak to us through Andrea’s lens, this area will always be “home.”

 

The core of this “Home” was devastated by urban renewal during the 1970s, when the houses on Valley Street (and others) were erased from the map and replaced, summarily, with a jail and a five-lane bypass of downtown. This “Home”—row upon row of houses—had sheltered Asheville’s industrious African-American families for a century. Apartments on Market Street where laundry once hung on the fire escapes and where families gathered around tables for supper, caved under the pressure of paperwork and a wrecking ball. Today’s Ashevilleans park their cars where stories of life once unfolded through screen doors and wood-frame windows. The community that dwelled in the area, despite protest and hand-written pleas, was dispersed to projects such as Hillside Street, described by some who were moved as “barracks-like dwellings.” Entire lives were changed; stories ache to be told. Andrea Clark’s photographs tell a part of this story.

“I knew that something worthwhile would happen with these photographs one day,” Andrea says in her artist’s statement. “I didn’t realize how important this Asheville collection was going to become to me and the community.  I’m very grateful that the photographs have been saved for all to see. Remembering our history is so important.  That’s how we honor people.  That’s how we stay connected.”

The collection is entitled “Twilight of a Neighborhood.” If the collection speaks to the power of the image to draw forth stories from silence, the title reflects the power of the moment. Children play in the yard. A man plows a field. Women bake. A parade of hats floats above a tall fence on a Sunday morning while the bells of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church ring across the tin and slate roofs of the neighborhood. The viewer’s imagination complements the quiet of the paper print. A man sits by the coal-burning stove. A group of young men stand proudly at the corner of Valley and Market Street. A small girl wearing a pretty dress sits in an alley, surrounded by litter and stones.

The images show the very real implications of “urban planning” and raise critical questions regarding the collective psyche of racism.

Andrea grew up in one of the most integrated communities in the Northeast. The psychology of Jim Crow was as strange to her as Cheerwine. When she took these photographs, she was living in East End, which she compared to a “movie set” for the way the neat houses were arranged on the mountainside. She felt at home as she walked around with her camera. Her new neighbors welcomed her and smiled. To these faces, Andrea lifted her lens.

Through the ages, people have ascribed a number of purposes for “art.” To be beautiful. To be true. To document. To inform. To unite. To illuminate. To heal. Andrea’s “Twilight of a Neighborhood” accomplishes all of these and more. Andrea’s images have become a civic necessity, something everyone who wants to call Asheville “home” should see.

People continue to recognize themselves and friends in the photographs, and these identifications appear on the Pack Memorial Library website. Looking at the East End images, viewers see the homes, the businesses, the youth, the children, and the elders. Pansy Johnson sits in the doorway of a home she shared with forty cats. A group of men in suits gather in front of Crown Williams Service Station. The images of houses and businesses along Valley Street render driving South Charlotte Street more of a drive through a spirit world than a short-cut to the interstate.

The world is not changed by art. Art can only inspire people to make change. Andrea continues to show her photographs and to gather the stories behind and surrounding them. She frequently works with Dr. Mindy Fullilove, professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University, applies the term “rootshock” to the repercussions of urban renewal. It is a gardening term, but it applies to people as the “traumatic stress reaction to the loss of some or all of one’s emotional ecosystem.” Together, Andrea and Mindy forge trails of understanding as people revisit the power of Neighborhood.

 

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Andrea Clark’s photographs of East End are on exhibit through August at YMI Cultural Center in East End, 39 South Market Street. She continues to work as an artist and an activist. Her book, Twilight of a Neighborhood, is available at Grateful Steps and other bookstores.

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Laura Hope-Gill produces Asheville Wordfest, a multi-cultural poetry festival hosted in 2011 at the YMI. The theme for 2012 is Home. Laura is the author of Look Up Asheville: a Journey Through Architecture.