People Who *LOVE* Asheville Don’t Even Know It Nearly Got Destroyed 

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Washington, DC to attend a writing conference. I arrived early for sign in, … More

You Can Still Make Small Western North Carolina Towns Your Personality

I tried my hardest not to remain my cynical self in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene. I tried to … More

Guess Who’s Back?

Last summer, I stopped writing here at Asheville Explorer because I got unexpectedly laid off (unexpectedly laid off might sound … More

Has Asheville Jumped the Shark?

Asheville has always been more than a bit of a parody of itself, but part of the reason it doesn’t … More

For Display Only

During Covid, my cousin Mikey lived in Asheville Air BnBs for two months. During his tenure here, we typically ended … More

No One Asked for My Recipe for a Nice Little Sunday, and That’s OK

I’m often tickled by influencers of all success levels (but honestly, in this case, most tickled by those of middling-to-not-very … More

The Extonization of Asheville

There’s a town in the Philadelphia suburbs called Exton that my brother and I always use as a placeholder for … More

Being a Fantastic Host Caused Me to Run Out of Gas For the First Time in Over Fifteen Years

Between the ages of 18-21, I used to run out of gas all the time. I was young and dumb … More

After Four Years, Am I Still an Asheville Explorer?

The beginning of February marked my four-year Asheville anniversary. It simultaneously feels like it should be much shorter and much … More

Asheville Needs to Up Its St. Patrick’s Game

My first two years in Asheville were all messed up by a little thing called Covid (it’s wild how long … More