“I feel a little like Leonard Cohen to her Sylvia Plath,” I leaned over and whispered in my friend Jayn’s ear. We were at the Café Del Sol for the monthly spoken word open mic, and Sierra Bell had the mic. Sierra, who grew up in Floyd and recently graduated from Appalachian State, read three […]
“Having something to say is more important than guessing what people want to hear.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver, spoken at the Floyd County High School auditorium, September 16, 2006 The line of people waiting to meet the acclaimed author, Barbara Kingsolver, wound from the high school library table where she was signing books, out through the […]
In a private woodland setting on a warm August afternoon, Phyllis Stump transformed herself into Orlene Puckett, the legendary local midwife. For nearly two hours, Ms. Stump, a storyteller and actress, held the attention of approximately 15 of us who attended her one-woman play. Under an open tent, to protect us from the bright sun, […]
Two watersheds have created my life. I have mapped out the valleys and mountains of these singing waters in the folds of my grandmother’s quilt and the creases of the palm of my hand. These wrinkles in the landscape, and the waters that created them, carry me home again and again. ~ Jim Minick “It’s […]
The arts and homespun wares featured at Floyd Fest this year included handmade hammocks, pottery, jewelry, stained glass, leather goods, clothes, birdhouses, and hula hoops. There was even a booth with a cider press selling freshly made apple cider. Although I enjoyed window shopping and sampling Floyd Fest’s creative bounty, I believe it was my […]
“I’m always picking stuff up to use in my journals, scraps of garbage that other people don’t even notice.” ~ My son, Josh. When my husband, Joe, and I were in Asheville this past April, visiting my potter son, Josh, Joe scribbled some phone numbers on a piece of mail that he found in my […]
Meet David St. Lawrence, author, blogger, woodworker, husband of Loose Leaf reader Gretchen, and one of the most upbeat people I know. The St. Lawrence’s are new to Floyd, but because they have been connected to Floyd for so long via blogging they don’t feel like newcomers to most of us. I see them regularly […]
He lives up the road from where “The Sopranos” is filmed, stays at Chelsea Hotel when on assignment in New York City, and grows hot peppers in his New Jersey backyard. A guy who wears a ponytail and is editor of a Chemical Engineering magazine is almost guaranteed to be interesting. And he is. Vanx […]
AKA: Come to Spout or Hear Others Out. Our monthly spoken word open mic, hosted at the Café del Sol, is spearheaded by the Writers’ Circle I belong to. The idea is to promote the spoken word and create a local forum for all voices. Kathleen, a founding member of our Writers’ Circle, makes up […]
Two summers ago A’Court Bason (the artist, musician, and recluse who I wrote about here) was in our neighborhood performing an impromptu outdoor concert for the Zephyr Farm community. We gathered around on my friend Jayn’s front porch listening to A’Court play until the stars came out. As far as I know, he hasn’t been […]
In the spring of 2000 when my Asheville potter son, Josh was 20 years old, he came across an old journal he had kept when he was 16. “Everything in it was silly. I hated it,” he said, in answer to the question I posed ‘when did you start journal collaging and why?’ “I wondered […]
AKA: I call it The Magical History Tour. I haven’t made a collage since I started blogging. And what is a blog, but a blank page to fill up with images and words that tell a story? Some pages from my eldest son Josh’s collage journals were exhibited in an art show this past March […]
