Dear Friends,
This weekend is a time of food and fellowship as we join with Swannanoa Valley Friends for a potluck picnic on Saturday evening, and then celebrate two important milestones after rise of Meeting on Sunday.
Festivities will begin on Saturday at 5 p.m at the Meetinghouse as we gather with Friends from Swannanoa Valley Meeting for what we hope will be the first of many potluck get-togethers. As usual, Friends are encouraged to bring healthy, home-made offerings, and label the ingredients with a concern for those folks who have food sensitivities.
After rise of Meeting on Sunday, we will have a joint celebration of the recent marriage of Laura Maynard and Doug Lane and the transfer of membership of our now-longtime Friend Edie Patrick. Leftovers are likely but should not be taken for granted.
Also, Friends have the opportunity to contribute to the well-being of those less fortunate in our larger Asheville community in several ways.
First, we have our ongoing Manna Food Bank collection box in the foyer, waiting to be filled with canned goods and other non-perishable food items. Second, Friend Jim C. is collecting bed linens, blankets, and towels to be donated to A-Hope, Asheville’s primary access point for support services for homeless people. And third, Friend Susan O. is helping folks who are transitioning from homelessness to independent living by collecting small appliances, dishes, and tableware. If you have larger items such as furniture to donate, please contact her in advance. All other items can be brought to Meeting – along with your contributions to our weekend festivities!
Best wishes,
Steve
Tags: Celebration, manna food bank, Swannanoa Valley Meeting
Posted by admin on May 22, 2010 in
Other Events,
Our Friends,
Peace & Justice AWARD-WINNER ROBERT G. SMITH & DR. DAN T. CARTER HEADLINE ACLU ANNUAL EVENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 20, 2009
What: ACLU Annual Membership Meeting & Award Presentation
When: Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 2 p.m.
Where: Asheville Friends Meeting House, 227 Edgewood Road
Asheville, NC – Robert G. (Bob) Smith, the long-time executive director of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council and a citizen extraordinaire by any measure, will receive the 2010 annual Evan Mahaney Champion of Civil Liberties Award from the Western North Carolina Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union at the chapter’s annual meeting on Sunday, May 23 at 2:00 p.m. In the Friends Meeting House, 227 Edgewood Road, Asheville. The ACLU annual meeting and award presentation is free and open to the public. This year alone, Smith’s humble but powerful volunteer efforts included his support for two important causes urged by the local chapter of the ACLU – the historical NC Racial Justice Act, signed into law by Governor Perdue last August; and the Civil Liberties Resolution first drafted by the local ACLU chapter that is now being advanced by City Council Member Cecil Bothwell and several other local organizations. The keynote speaker for this year’s annual meeting of the ACLU of WNC Chapter is Dr. Dan T. Carter, a widely sought speaker, who has lectured throughout the United States and abroad, author of seven works of history, and the winner of many teaching and writing awards. Former President of the Southern Historical Association, Carter has held a half dozen fellowships and visiting appointments including Fulbright professorships in London and Genoa, Italy. He also held Cambridge University’s distinguished chair in American institutions, the Pitt Professorship as well as NEH, ACLS and NHF Fellowships. Kenan University Professor at Emory University, Dr.Carter was appointed the first Educational Foundation Professor of History at the University of South Carolina in the fall of 2000 and became Emeritus Professor in September of 2007. Dr Carter won the Bancroft Prize for Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South. (1970). In addition to the Bancroft Prize, Scottsboro received the Saturday Review Anisfield Wolfe Award, the Lillian Smith Award and a special citation from the Mystery Writers of America for the author’s success at combining “high level scholarship and the prose quality of the best mystery writers.” The book became the basis for a major NBC television docudrama in 1977 (Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys). After working as an adviser on a number of television documentaries, he joined three-time Emmy winner Paul Stekler as chief historical adviser and principle on-camera commentator for George Wallace: “Settin’ the Woods on Fire,” a three hour biographical documentary on Alabama governor George Wallace and his impact on American politics. The film, based on Carter’s book, The Politics of Rage, aired in the spring of 2000 on PBS’s series, “The American Experience” and was nominated for three Emmys. Carter and Stekler received an Emmy from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their historical research on the Wallace film. In addition to his involvement with documentaries, Carter is often called upon by the news media for his observations on American politics and history and he has been interviewed on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” as well as “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition” and “Weekend Edition;” “The News Hour With Jim Lehrer,” ABC’s “Nightline,” and Terry Gross’s “Fresh Air.” In late 2005, he was a featured interviewee on Bill Moyer’s “Now.” Carter is currently at work on several projects, including what he calls a “meditation on American political culture” as seen through the life of Asa Carter, a violent Klansman of the 1950s and 1960s who created a new identity as “Forrest” Carter in 1972 and became a successful novelist, writing such best selling books as The Outlaw Josey Wales, Watch for Me on the Mountain and The Education of Little Tree. A short business session will be held at which the ACLU members present will vote on proposed new members of the WNC chapter board: Julie Mayfield of Asheville and Connie Nash of Brevard. Refreshments will be served and the meeting is free and open to the public….
Tags: ACLU, bob smith, Civil Liberties Resolution, NC Racial Justice Act, social justice
05/21/10 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEETING This will be held at noon at Mary Olson’s NIRS office, 45 Riverview Dr. in west Asheville. Please park on the street. Please call Lew at 299-1242 for more information.
05/22/10 GOAT TRAIL WALK The Veterans Quarters is home to about 200 vets. It’s out on Tunnel Road, about a mile from the VA Hospital. Many of the residents have appointments at the VA during the day, but there are no sidewalks or bus service. So the vets have worn what they call a “Goat Trail” in the grass beside Tunnel Road. If you drive that way, you’ll usually see them dodging cars, trying to get to the hospital. This is just one small stretch of Asheville that needs sidewalks, but there are many others. Please join us for the Sidewalks for Safety walk to draw attention to our pressing need for more sidewalks throughout Asheville. We’ll start walking at Groce Medothist Church, 954 Tunnel Road, and continue to the Veterans Quarters, 1329 Tunnel Road on Saturday, May 22 at 9 AM. [One small correction: the Veterans Quarters are technically outside the city of Asheville.]
05/22/10 MAY HOPE CONCERT 2010 The 4th annual May Hope Mental Health Benefit Concert takes place on Saturday, May 22, at 7 p.m. At All Souls Cathedral in Biltmore Village. Proceeds from the May Hope Concert will be divided among A Hope, a day program for the homeless operated by Homeward Bound; Copestone Inpatient and Outpatient Psychiatric Services of Mission Hospitals; All Souls Counseling Center, which provides counseling services for the uninsured; and NAMI of Western Carolina, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness which offers education, support, and advocacy for the mentally ill and their families. The featured entertainer this year is nationally known and locally based composer, performer and producer, Chris Rosser. He has opened for John Mayer and for Nickel Creek and won songwriting contests at the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival and the Merle Watson Festival. Also performing will be Annie Lalley, Joe Ebel and Aaron Burdette, Richard Sacket and Friends, and Susan Ward. Along with the entertainment, a silent auction and a snack bar will be offered in the Parish Hall. The magnitude of this benefit has never been more critical as vital mental health services in our community have been drastically cut. Asheville is fortunate to have several agencies that are providing essential help and advocacy. Tickets are $15. Advance tickets available through 5/21/10, at NAMI.org; then link to May Hope Concert. For more information contact Richard Sackett at (828) 777-0783 (828)777-0783
or Rnotesackett@charter.net.
05/23/10 ACLU ANNUAL MEETING The ACLU Western North Carolina chapter will hold an annual meeting at 2 PM at Asheville Friends Meeting at 227 Edgewood Road in Asheville. The Evan Mahaney Champion of Civil Liberties Award will be presented to Bob Smith, Executive Director of the Asheville-Buncombe County Community Relations Council. This meeting is open to everyone. For more information call 252-7666.
05/23/10 FINAL EXIT NETWORK PRESENTATION ”What is MOST and Why Do I Need It?” This question will be answered by Ellen Kaczmarek, M.D. At the meeting of the spring Final Exit Network of the Blue Ridge Mountains, May 23rd, 2:00 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, corner of North Charlotte Street and Edwin Place. Dr. Kaczmarek, a board-certified internist with a certificate of added qualifications in geriatrics, is medical director at Highland Farms and was recently named medical director of Mission Hospitals new Geriatric Consultation Service. In addition to your Medical Power of Attorney and Advance Directive Dr. Kaczmarek recommends Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (MOST). Come learn about this document, when and why it is recommended. Advance Directive and Medical Power of Attorney forms will be available. All are welcome. For information: 828 687-7759
05/25/10 FUNDRAISER FOR HAITI There will be a fund raiser to support Mission Manna’s work with malnourished children in Haiti. It will be May 25th, 6 to 10 pm at Jack of the Wood. $10 admission. There will be music by Kellin Watson band and the Honeycutters as well as a silent auction of Haitian art and local crafts and gift certificates.
06/17/10 TRANSITION ASHEVILLE DISCUSSION ON PEAK OIL Just as climate change will affect the stability of our ecosystem, the coming decline in petroleum production will soon affect the stability of our economy and our entire way of life. Come find out about this and the Transition Town movement, which seeks to pro-actively rebuild local resilience and prepare for these coming crises. The meeting will consist of a 30-minute movie, followed by discussion.
June 17th 7:00 – 8:30 PM North Asheville Library meeting room
All Transition Asheville events:
http://transitionasheville.ning.com/events/event/listUpcoming
Tags: ACLU, benefit performance, Final Exit Network, haiti, sidewalks, sustainability, Transition Asheville
Posted by admin on May 17, 2010 in
Other Events,
Our Friends,
Passages Lena Shallit Feldmann and Ryan Patrick Lane are having a big ole’ WEDDING Saturday, the Twenty-Second of May, Two-Thousand and Ten at Four O’Clock in the afternoon.
Common Light, the Swannanoa Valley Friends Meeting house and grounds down by the bend in the Swannanoa river.
137 Center Avenue in beautiful Black Mountain, North Carolina (28711)
Following the ceremony will be a raucous reception and vegetarian potluck dinner party.
Please, PLEASE respond via email or phone with your current street address and phone number if you think you may be able to attend.
Lena: c(828)242-1954, Ryan: c(828)423-8929
301 Rowland Road, Swannanoa, NC 28778
We are looking forward to seeing you in May!
Love, Lena & Ryan
Tags: Common Light, marriage
Today’s Topics:
1. this week at Meeting (Steve Livingston)
Dear Friends,
This week after rise of meeting for worship, we will have our usual social time with an emphasis on bidding farewell to our dear Friend Ellen Frerotte, who along with her husband Jim will be moving to West Virginia. Then, during the second hour Adult Spiritual Enrichment, we will have sharing of spiritual journeys with Edie Patrick, our new Friend from Tennessee, and . . . Ellen Frerotte!
Also, Friends who are planning to attend the SAYMA Gathering next month, don’t forget the deadline for registration without paying a late penalty is May 15. That would be this Saturday. Fortunately, you can download the registration form. Just go to sayma.org and click on “what’s new”.
Best wishes,
Steve
Tags: farewell to a Friend, sayma, spiritual enrichment, spiritual journey
Posted by admin on Apr 12, 2010 in
Other Events,
Our Friends Our young friends Paola and Micala will be in a performance this week:
Bye Bye Birdie
Conrad Birdie (Elvis) is going into the army! He’s going to kiss Kim MacAfee before he leaves! Kim just started going out with Hugo Peabody! And there’s definitely some kind of drama going on with Conrad’s manager…
Performance times:
Thursday, April 15, 7:00 pm
Friday, April 16, 7:00 pm
Saturday, April 17, 2:00 pm
Saturday, April 17, 7:00 pm
Sunday, April 18, 2:00 pm
Location:
AHS Theatre
Posted by admin on Apr 12, 2010 in
Meeting Events,
Our Friends There will be a Meeting for Worship with Attention to Phil Neal held on Sunday, April 18th following our regular Meeting for Worship. Please bring photos if you have them, mementos, and your special memories of Phil in all his many ways of giving and sharing with us at Asheville Friends Meeting. To sign up to bring a pot luck dish, please call Barbara Esther.
Our loyal and dedicated Friend, Susan Oehler, creates an occasional
posting of announcements of peace activities in the Asheville area.
I’m sure some of you are ON her listing of interested folks — Friends and otherwise. But, this is such a splendid compilation that I wish to forward a few of the current ones, with Susan’s email address, that if you ARE NOT already receiving these and might like to, all you’d need to do is to let Susan hear from you: Dancewater2@gmail.com.
Read and note the times and places. Enjoy. Jim
Post Script: Note co-sponsorship of AFM on the first listing…..
WEAPONS IN SPACE on March 25 at 7 PM
“WEAPONS IN SPACE?”at The UNCA Reuter Center. Western NC Physicians for Social Responsibility sponsors Karl Grossman, who will offer his message as a question, while alerting us about our nation’s plans to weaponize and “dominate” space. He will speak on the importance of keeping Space for Peace. Karl has been an investigative journalist for 40 years, is a professor in the State University of New York system, host of nationally aired TV programs and radio commentary, author of six books including “Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power;” and winner of a John Peter Zenger award plus others. This event is free for all to attend. Please come for light refreshments at 6:30 prior to the program.
Other sponsors: Amnesty International UNCA Chapter, Asheville-Buncombe League of Women Voters, Common Cause NC, Haywood Peace Fellowship, Helen Tarasov Reed Fund, International Studies UNCA, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Southern Energy Network, UNCA Student Environmental Center, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville Social Justice Team; Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, Social Justice Council; Warren Wilson College, Peace Studies Program; War Resisters League, Southeast; WNC Chapter, United Nations Association / USA; World Affairs Council of WNC; Peace & Earth Committee of Asheville Friends Meeting; WNC Veterans for Peace,
Chapter 99.
PEAK OIL AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE on March 26 at 1 PM and March 31 at 6:30 PM
Peak Oil and Community Resilience – The challenge of Peak Oil will
require us to rethink the current system. Presented by: Laura
Lengnick, Ph.D. Director, Sustainable Agriculture Program, Department of Environmental Studies, Warren Wilson College. This is a free event. This program will be presented twice: Wednesday, Friday, March 26th 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm Riceville Community Center, 2251 Riceville Rd, Asheville, and March 31st 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm Ransom Fellowship Hall, Warren Wilson College.
SECOND ANNUAL FREEDOM BALL on April 1 at 7 PM Grey Eagle Music Hall, Asheville
Two years ago Asheville resident Edward Chapman was released from North Carolina’s death row after serving almost 15 years for murders he didn’t commit. The state sent him out the back door of Central Prison with the clothes on his back and not even a “We’re sorry,” after stealing half of his adult life. Local death penalty opponents have organized a second celebration of his release. Current Invention, James Richards and Taryn Strauss, more music TBA. Silent auction. For more information, contact Noel at noelnic@bellsouth.net
EDIBLE PARK TOUR AND TREE PLANTING on April 3 at 11 AM
Transition Asheville is coordinating a tour of one of downtown
Asheville’s best kept secrets. The George Washington Carver Edible Park is a public orchard with over 40 varieties of fruits and nuts. It was planted on landfill on Parks and Recreation land 12 years ago by volunteers who had recently completed a Permaculture course and were enthusiastic about the concept of forest gardens. It is one of the very first parks of its type in the country and is visited by people of the neighborhood and office workers from the city looking for a little relief from the concrete. The park is a testimony that there can be abundance, diversity, and self reliance in high density urban areas. It is a place where community members can meet and share the communion of healthy, delicious food.
The tour will be lead by orchardist and Permaculture teacher Professor T. Bud Barkslip (a.k.a. Bill Whipple) who has been a volunteer steward of the edible parks around town for the last 5 years. Join Bill in cultivating a playful and creative spirit towards fruit cultivation.
The tour includes hands on experience in proper tree planting and you will learn what a food forest is and how to spread the edible park idea. Meet at the Stephens and Lee Recreation Center parking lot on April 3 at 11:00 a.m. You may arrive at 10:30 if you want to learn more about pruning fruit trees. The suggested donation for this tour is $10.00/person and all of the proceeds will go to to purchasing fruit and nut trees to replace ones that have died in the park.
Posted by admin on Mar 12, 2010 in
Meeting Events,
Meeting News,
Our Friends Dear Friends,
This coming first day we will have our monthly meeting for worship
giving attention to the business of our meeting. Clerk Katherine Kowal is out of town, so Adrianne Weir will be sitting in as clerk pro tem.
Please direct your committee reports, action items, and other concerns to her, along with our recording clerk Jen Ward as usual (IE, by the end of the day today – sorry this wasn’t posted yesterday, but i couldn’t access website – ed.)
adryana.services@gmail.com
jennifer.rhode.ward@gmail.com
Minutes of the second month meeting for business are posted on our website at
http://ashevillefriends.org/newsletter/2010/1002.pdf
Our dear Friend Sarah Jane Thomas has suffered a couple of debilitating seizures and is now in Memorial Mission Hospital, room 719. Please contact a member of Pastoral Care Committee for further info on her status and what kind of visitation or contact is appropriate.
Tags: meeting for business, Sarah Jane
Posted by admin on Feb 7, 2010 in
Our Friends Our Bob Smith (executive director of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council) is pictured (and quoted) on the front of the “Mountains” Section of the AC-T (Friday, February 5) in a feature story regarding the legacy of slavery in Western North Carolina.
————–
VANCE SITE LOOKS AT WNC’s SLAVERY HISTORY — AC-T — February 5, 2010, page B1
WEAVERVILLE — Slavery in Western North Carolina isn’t the most
comfortable topic to talk about, but Tammy Walsh doesn’t think people should avoid it.
And to get the conversation started, Walsh is giving people a glimpse behind the big house on the hill every Saturday in February at the Vance Birthplace Historic Site, home to North Carolina’s Civil War Gov. Zebulon Vance. She hopes the program, “Behind the Big House,” brings the issue of slavery in WNC out into the open so people can have a frank discussion about a history that is often neglected or ignored.
People’s breathing changes at the mere thought of slavery, said Bob Smith, executive director of Asheville-Buncombe Council of Community Relations, a group that strives to develop mutual respect with a focus on ending discrimination.
But, Smith said, in order to move beyond “the elephant in the room,” people need to acknowledge slaves were “chattel” and “property.”
Accomplishments by African-Americans have been a part of WNC’s history since the 1700s, yet there is little acknowledgement on any of the historic markers or sites, according to Deborah Miles, executive director of the Center for Diversity Education in Asheville.
Miles said the setting is notable because the National Park Service didn’t talk about slavery at any of its Civil War sites until 1995. A program like this at a state site on an important historical figure raises the question in public, making it less likely to be dismissed.
And programs like “Behind the Big House” can make people question therole of ancestors as slaves or slave owners and elected leaders, Miles said. This may lead to uncomfortable questions of “how ‘unearned privilege’ might still exist in a merit-based society.”
“I believe that the more we understand about the past, the more tools we have to shape the future,” she said.
Day to day
Slaves made up 15 percent of the population of Buncombe County in the late 18th Century.
Farms in the region were relatively small in scale so the hierarchy of domestic workers and field workers was not as developed as in the plantation system, according to Walsh. There were fewer numbers of slaves to specialize in particular jobs, so they may have worked both in the fields on the farm and at other jobs in town, depending on the time of year.
But slaves in North Carolina generally had more interaction with slaves on other farms, often looking there to find a spouse, and could travel to different farms to court or visit during their limited free time.
The story becomes tangible when visitors tour the historic site in Weaverville. The modest two-story, five-room home David Vance Sr., the governor’s grandfather had built on the hill is misleading. It’s not a McMansion by today’s standards, instead it’s a modest home. But, according to Walsh, documents indicate the family was wealthy enough to own up to 19 slaves at one point, which wasn’t typical in the region.
The two-room slave quarters, a building originally owned by Robert Patton and relocated from its original location in Swannanoa Valley, had a fireplace, wooden floorboards, two windows with no panes and two doors. If people wanted light, the windows and doors had to remain open, even in winter.
There were three cabins with at least eight people per one-room dwelling the size of a medium-sized car.
Making history real
Occasionally, Walsh takes her show on the road to schools at teachers’ requests.
One request came from Sandy Tarintino, a fourth-grade teacher at Francine Delany New School. She said the most important thing about the “Behind the Big House” outreach program her students saw were the documents that let them to connect the dots in a factual manner.
Tarintino said her students’ reaction to the program was largely horror.
“It makes the abstract concrete,” Tarintino said. “You start to picture families. You start to picture a grandmother. When you make content like that place-based and put that in the context of where a child learns and where a child lives, it makes it more relevant.”
The program is based on information culled from primary source documents like court records, wills, letters and diaries, among other sources. And, Walsh said, this makes the program real and indisputable because it puts a face and a name to the people affected by slavery.
Going forward;
The legacy of slavery and the Civil War still have lingering impacts in the region, in the statistics on income, positions of power and authority, housing and education trends, Miles said.
But Smith said African-Americans cannot continue to use slavery as an excuse.
“A lot of empires were built on free labor. Subjugating people, exploiting people,” Smith said. But, since African-Americans overcame slavery, “We can overcome anything.”
Instead, African-Americans should use it as inspiration and to demonstrate that they have learned something so they may “never be slaves again, particularly in our own mind, which is where we have to free slaves from.”
Tags: black history, bob smith
