|

N♦E♦W♦S
Click
for midi music, Africa
Scroll
down or select a news item below...
We
welcome your news items
e-mail.
Asheville
Media ||
Asheville Forums
Letter To The Editor ....
Pack Square to Get
Major Facelift
Asheville, NC -- Just two days after the start of spring 2004, and on the heels of a recent
battle between the Biltmore Estate and the Grove Park Inn,
both eyeing inhabiting this choice morsel of land, Asheville City Council
unanimously approved new design
plans for Pack
Square.
These plans insure the area, historically used for demonstrations and community
festivities will be kept commercial free (except for the vendors who serve the
crowds)
The Pack Square Conservancy presented a plan that will create a
magical area of lawns, waterfalls, and a large outdoor theater in the
heart of downtown Asheville.
The conservancy
needs to raise $7.5 million for construction of the park, and an additional $2
million for future park maintenance.
The plan includes a sprawling lawn near Asheville City Hall and the Buncombe
County courthouse, new roads, public restrooms( Yea!), landscaping and a new
fountain near Vance Monument.
The name "City-County Plaza" would be replaced. Non-corporate
donors who give $500,000 or more could name areas such as the Pack Square green
or, entryways to city hall and the county courthouse.
These
areas could be named for deceased individuals, families or foundations that made
"significant historic or cultural contributions to Western North
Carolina," according to the policy draft.
Asheville resident Brad Burns had a comment on the conservancy's new plan,
saying it needed design
input from local experts and asked city council to form a sub- committee with local
sociologists, architects, artists and citizens to evaluate the public space.
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Asheville Naked Bike Ride
Asheville,
NC
--
The
largest naked event since the dawn of the textile industry takes place, on
Saturday, June 11, 2004, as bicyclists in cities around the world ride naked through
their town making an impactful statement about world oil and petrochemical
dependency. The bare riders will be protesting involvement in Iraq,
promoting peace, civil rights and their personal sovereignty. Cities already
signed on include: Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto,
Canada; London,
England, UK;
Apeldoorn,
Netherlands;
Portugal;
Pforzheim, Germany; Christchurch, New Zealand; Belgie, Belgium;
Asheville,
NC;
Austin,
TX; Burlington, VT;
Chicago,
IL;
Los
Angeles, San Francisco, CA;
Portland,
OR; Seattle,
WA. Many more locations worldwide are inquiring daily.
Last year In
Asheville, some 46 riders left from the French Broad Food
Co-op, 90 Biltmore Ave., at 11 AM, Saturday, ending at Asheville Pizza & Brewing
Co. parking area (2.1 miles).
http://newfrontier.com/asheville/naked
The
World Naked Bike Ride is organized democratically through e-mail
discussion lists distributed around the world, There is no leader, only
volunteer organizers in various cities
networking
through coffee houses, health food shops, bike shops, and the world's counter
culture. This is a fun, family event. Everyone is invited, with or
without clothing.
Check out Asheville Magazine's
Political Forum
Hollywood &
Asheville
Asheville, N.C.--
"Quiet on the set!" is not a phrase you think
you’d hear while admiring the serene beauty of the peaks in Western North
Carolina. But, more and more Hollywood producers have found that these 6000+
foot peaks provide visually spectacular backdrops for the motion picture
industry.
"North Carolina has more production
complexes and sound stages than any state in the nation outside of California," said Asheville resident Michael Bigham, North Carolina
locations manager for Last of the Mohicans and a Hollywood scout. And Western North Carolina captured the
attention of Hollywood years ago.
The first movie shot in Asheville was in the
1920s. Titled Conquest of Canaan, the movie was filmed in what is
now Pack Square in downtown Asheville, and tells the story of a lawyer who
makes good in a small town.
Today, Asheville is becoming the Indie Movie
Capital of America...
Here are a few other examples of Hollywood
films and their Asheville area film shooting locations:
Hannibal
Biltmore Estate
was chosen as one of several locations for this film. Hannibal cast and crew
also filmed in the venerable Florence, Italy. The magnetic and horrifying
character of Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, resurfaces after his
escape in Silence of the Lambs, the movie that precedes this.
28 Days
This movie starring Sandra Bullock was filmed the summer of 1999
at a Black Mountain conference center that is substituted as the mental
institution in the movie.
My Fellow Americans
Shot in May of 1996, this political comedy starring Jack Lemmon
and James Garner utilized the grounds of Biltmore Estate and other Asheville
city venues, including the heart of downtown where the stars find themselves in
the middle of a parade.
Nell
Shot in 1994 at nearby Fontana Lake, this film starred actress/director
Jodie Foster. Tours of the cabin used in the film are available by either a
3-mile hike or by guided boats.
Richie Rich
Featuring Macaulay Culkin as the cartoon character Richie Rich, this 1994 comic
spoof transformed the famed 250-room Biltmore House into Rich Manor, where
Richie, along with a team of kids, fought off "bad guys.
Last of the Mohicans
Based on the novel by James Fennimore Cooper, Western North
Carolina became 18th century upstate New York. With Daniel Day-Lewis in the
lead role, this movie, widely-known for its stunning scenery, was shot
exclusively in the mountains around Asheville. Chimney Rock Park, a private
park just southeast of the city, was showcased during the film and continues to
receive calls whenever the movie is shown on television.
Dirty Dancing
Past Chimney Rock is Lake Lure, where Patrick Swayze and
Jennifer Grey starred in this 1980s hit that started a dancing craze. The view
of the lake and surrounding mountains is majestic.
Bull Durham
Kevin Costner's box office hit made use of Asheville's major league baseball
park, McCormick Field. Before recent renovations, the park was the
second-oldest major league facility in the nation.
Being There
Biltmore Estate again takes center stage as the home of a
wealthy industrialist in the film Being There. His final film
before he died, Peter Sellers played Chauncey Gardener, a dimwit who became
revered for his simpleminded ideas in this widely acclaimed comedy. Also
starring Shirley McClain
The
Clearing
Starring
Robert Redford, Willem Dafoe and Helen Mirren
|
Conquest of Canaan
First
feature to be filmed in Asheville in 1921.
Song Catcher
Filmed in 1999 in the mountains around Asheville, this movie stars Aidan Quinn
and Janet McTeer as musicians around the turn-of-the-century in rural
Appalachia. Lead actress Janet McTeer praises the mountain region, saying,
"Having a chance to hear the ballads sung in their natural home was very
moving."
Patch Adams, M.D.
Released in late 1998, this drama is based on the real life of
Doctor Adams. Featuring Robin Williams, much of the film was shot on Biltmore
Estate and the campus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Several
scenes of the Appalachian Mountains were shot off the Blue Ridge Parkway on Elk
Mountain Highway in Asheville. Robin Williams also shot parts of
Millennium Man in Asheville.
The Journey of
August King
Released in late 1995, this movie is based on the book by Asheville native,
John Ehle. It details the exploits of a traveler (Jason Patric) who encounters
and helps a runaway slave (Thandie Newton).
Forrest Gump
Several of the running scenes in this Academy Award winning
movie were shot in and around Asheville.
Thunder Road
The 1958, film
starring Robert Mitchum
The Fugitive
This national blockbuster, starring Harrison Ford, utilized
several mountain locations, including the small town of Dillsboro for the
spectacular train crash. Today, visitors on the Great Smoky Mountain Railway
can view the site of the crash. The Railway’s steam locomotive was used in
the movie This Property is Condemned starring Robert Redford, Natalie Wood, and
Charles Bronson.
Winter People
Starring Kelly McGillis, this movie was filmed in large part in
Barnardsville’s Big Ivey neighborhood. Shortly after the filming, McGillis
purchased vacation property in the area.
Private Eyes
Don Knotts and Tim Conway starred in this movie filmed at Biltmore Estate.
The Swan
The Biltmore House was first seen on the big screen in 1952
when The Swan opened starring Grace Kelly. It was to be her last
film.
Mr. Destiny
Starring Michael Caine and Jim Belushi, this 1990 comedy was
shot at the Biltmore mansion.
...and although she never made a film
here, actress Andy McDowell makes Asheville her home.
|
See also:
http://www.ashevillefilmcommission.com/
http://www.wncfilm.net/
For more information
about Asheville movie tourism or other aspects of the Asheville area, call (800)
280-0005, or write to Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 1010,
Asheville, N.C. 28802-1010.
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Area Tobacco Farmers Into Organic Crops
Waynesville,
NC - Perhaps you've seen Hemp
Hill Rd in Waynesville, it was once required by law to be grown there...hemp,
that is. Then came tobacco. Now we are
moving on from tobacco. Jule Morrow plants, harvests and cures burley
tobacco on his 100-acre
farm, just like his father and grandfather did for decades. But every year,
it gets harder and harder for him to make a living doing it.
Morrow said in the late 1980s and 1990s, he
earned more than $36,000 a year from a 12-acre crop of tobacco. Now, because
of tighter restrictions on how much tobacco farmers can grow, he said he is
lucky to make $7,000 from a two-acre crop.
So, Morrow is doing what other cash-strapped
tobacco farmers in Western North Carolina have done. He's growing crops such
as lettuce, beets, potatoes, winter squash and Swiss chard organically. He
even grows his tobacco organically.
"Farmers like me have got to diversify," said
Morrow. "If they don't, I fear they're going to find something else to do,
like pumping gas."
And with the help of the
Appalachian
Sustainable Agriculture Project, more tobacco farmers like Morrow will be
growing organic crops. The Madison County-based project is receiving a
$347,500 grant from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission to help
25 burley tobacco farmers learn to grow and market organic crops.
The commission is one of three trusts set up
by the General Assembly to distribute money from the 1998 Tobacco
Settlement. This year, the commission gave $2.9 million to 13 projects
across the state that helps tobacco farmers and workers learn new skills and
reach new markets.
"Some people complain that money taken from
the tobacco companies is going back into the tobacco industry," said William
Upchurch, executive director of the
Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. "But
they're our neighbors, the foundation of our communities. We don't want them
to be so financially distressed they can't survive."
Helping tobacco farmers like Jule Morrow grow
and sell organic crops isn't easy, said Aubrey Raper, transition coordinator
for the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. Farmers unfamiliar with
organic crops have to learn how much to grow and then how to successfully
market what they harvest. Often, they learn the hard way.
"In a perfect world, it would all go real
well," said Raper, a former tobacco farmer who now primarily grows
watercress. "But opportunities for things not to go well are everywhere.
Sometimes farmers grow more than they can sell. Sometimes they have to plow
under an entire crop."
That's why farmers like Jule Morrow join
farmer-run coops like Carolina Organic Growers Inc.,
that help market
organic crops to local restaurants, grocery stores and consumers. They also
help farmers teach each other how do things, such as passing federal
inspections certifying organic crops.
"I couldn't survive without Carolina Organic
Growers," Morrow said. "You either have to join a coop or get out of
farming."
Part of the Sustainable Agriculture Project's
grant also will help promote the Mountain Tailgate Market Association, which
serves about 100 farmers, including 30 tobacco farmers, from Buncombe and
Madison Counties.
Next year, the project and others like it
could have an even tougher time because they might not get money from the
Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. Executive Director William Upchurch said the
General Assembly passed legislation authorizing it to take $38 million from
the commission to help balance the state budget.
"We projected that we would get about $40
million next year, which would leave us with $2 million," Upchurch said.
"But we may not get that much money, and we're very concerned about it."
If that happens, the Sustainable Agriculture
Project will look more closely at local sources of funding, said Charlie
Jackson, projects coordinator and president of the Mountain Tailgate Market
Association.
"We'll do everything we can to help these
farmers," said Jackson. "The prosperity of our region is built on them. If
they lose their farmland, everyone suffers."
Michael Moore
Fahrenheit 9/11
Asheville, NC --
Fahrenheit 9/11
earned more in its first day of release
across North America than his Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine did in
its entire run. And
4 weeks later...
Fahrenheit 9/11, in which Moore
takes aim at U.S. President George W. Bush, and the war in Iraq, opened at
No. 1 after selling about $21.8 million worth of tickets in the United
States and Canada on June 25.
Asheville was the only place in Western North Carolina showing
the film
on opening day, June 25, 2004. It
was the largest turnout in the history of the town's Fine Arts Theatre.
Asheville Magazine publisher and editor J. Charles Banks, and his
wife Dhiraja arrived at the theatre around 6 PM for the 7:30 showing and the
line was almost to the end of the block. They didn't make it. All 5 shows
from morning to the 12:30 AM show were sold out! Former mayor, Leni Sitnick,
was first in line for the 10 PM performance waiting about 2 hours in the
drizzle! The show was also a sell-out on Saturday, Sunday and Monday!
The film opened in two theaters
in New York on Wednesday, June 23 to help build even more media buzz before expanding
to a relatively modest 868 theaters two days later. (In contrast, most of
the other movies in the top five were playing in more than 2,500 theaters
each.)
Including the sales from the head start in New York, the film's 1 day total
stood at $21.96 million. Moore's previous movie, Bowling for Columbine,
grossed about $21.5 million during its nine-month run, during which it
peaked at about 250 theaters, according to Moore.
"This is a testament to Michael Moore. His voice resonates across the
country in what I think we can all now fairly describe as America's
movie," said Tom Ortenberg, at Lions Gate
Films, which backed the movie.
He said in a conference call that the film played strongly in both
Democrat and Republican states, even drawing sell-out crowds in
Republican strongholds like Nassau County, New York and Fayetteville,
NC, home of Fort Bragg.
Lions Gate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., partnered on the
film's distribution with IFC Films, a unit of Cablevision Systems
Corp.'s Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, and Miramax co-chairmen Harvey and
Bon Weinstein. The Weinsteins bought the movie's rights with their own
money after Miramax parent Walt Disney Co. refused to let them release
it under the Miramax banner.
The movie cost about $6 million to make, according to Moore.
Additionally, the distributors spent less than $10 million--a
relatively modest sum--to market the movie, said Ortenberg.
Check out Asheville Magazine's
Political
Forum
New Age
Types Migrating Here
Asheville, NC --
The greater
Asheville area seems to be amassing new age types faster than any locale in America
according to a new column in the Asheville Citizen Times (A Gannett paper), this area's
daily newspaper. Many are calling it "America's New Age Mecca."
On October 3, 2003, USA TODAY also did a front page feature in their travel
section parroting the same theme.
Although the town has a population of less
than 70,000 people, and the region less than 300,000, estimates show there are over 2,500
new age practitioners here, and over 50,000 people who might fall into the category, which
the Stanford Research Institute calls "inner
directed."
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Billboards Banned
in Asheville
Asheville, NC--
The Asheville
City Council voted to ban all future billboards in the town. It also voted to the remove
all existing billboards, even those previously granted an exemption. Says councilman
Edward Hay, "This community respects itself enough to care how it looks."
There are now 48 authorized billboards in the town.
A few local and national businesses, and the sign companies are threatening suit, claiming
it is unjust and will affect their business and the people's choice.
One woman, and ad executive's wife, however, told
reporters that she didn't move to these majestic mountains to want to see billboards. She
claimed she'd rather leave her TV home as well. Five of town's seven council members seem
to agree with her. Most residents of the area seem to agree that they have been given the
stewardship to keep the area green.
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Here Comes the
Railroad?
Asheville -- Back in the
19th century, Asheville had a budding railroad schedule. For the past three decades
however, the town has been sans-passenger trains. Well, they're coming back! It is
expected that over 71,000 people a year will use the service which is expected to begin
early in the new Millennium.
It will be owned by the State of North
Carolina who will lease the rail lines from Norfolk-Southern Railroad. Currently the
closest Amtrak station is in Greenville, SC, over one hour from downtown Asheville.
The proposed rail system will have
connections to all Amtrak rail lines and cities in America. Asheville now has a Greyhound
bus service, and a regional airport 12 miles from town, in Arden, NC. A major airport is
Greenville-Spartanburg, SC, about an hour from Asheville.
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Chamber of Consciousness
Asheville, NC -- To the best of
our knowledge, Asheville is the only city in the world that has a "Chamber of
Consciousness." Loosely modeled after the regular Chamber of Commerce, the
"Chamber of Consciousness" seeks to support (through networking and marketing
assistance) new consciousness people coming into the community as well as those of new
paradigm consciousness
who have been here for years. The
Asheville Chamber of Consciousness was formed about
10
years ago, and has seen many changes. They are seeking volunteers.
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
And from Around the World... 
Fast
Food Nation
Author Turns Critical Eye on Prisons
by Gabriel Packard
New York, NY - Why is author
Eric Schlosser hanging around Swedish prisons? Well, drugs, black market
labor, pornography, and fast food can all be ruled out. He's already written
about those subjects.
In fact, he's researching a book on the
American prison system -- his third book in a self-declared trilogy. The
first two were the worldwide best seller Fast
Food Nation and his collection of investigative essays Reefer
Madness”.
”The three books are linked in many ways.
And without sounding too pretentious, I view them as a trilogy. The United
States has undergone some fundamental changes in my lifetime,” says
Schlosser, who is 44. ”I'm trying to offer an alternative history of the
last 30 years.”
Speaking in New York recently, Schlosser said
that he'd been waiting since before Fast Food Nation was
published for a chance to write about the faults of the prison system, which
frequently shocked him in visits he made while researching the book.
For a start, the prison population in the
United States has exploded over the past 30 years, from about 250,000 in the
late 1970s to the current figure of 2.1 million. That is more than
any other country.
And not just any country in the world -- it's
more than any country in the history of the world.
Of these prisoners, about 450,000 at most
have committed violent crimes.
The other 1.6 million? ”You'll have to look
at the 'war on drugs' for that answer,” he says.
People convicted of first-time, non-violent
marijuana offences are frequently given longer sentences than murderers.
Schlosser talks about a ”hippie biker” who was given 12 years for his
first, non-violent marijuana-related crime. It is not uncommon for a
murderer to get 10 years.
”It's an elaborate revolving door,” he
says. ”People with drug problems go from an environment where they're
exposed to drugs into prison, where they can continue to use drugs freely,
and then back into an environment where they're exposed to drugs. Then if
they fail one drugs test, they violate their probation order and they're
thrown back in prison.”
Young black men and young white men use drugs
at a similar rate, he says. But young blacks are five times more likely to
be arrested, and five times more likely to be poor. ”If you can't afford
rehab and a good lawyer, you'll probably go to prison.”
Three-quarters of all prisoners are African
American or Latino.
There are also about 300,000 mentally ill
people locked up and often poorly medicated.
Although he has never been sent to prison
himself, Schlosser visited a range of them while researching the book.
”Having gone into these prisons for my
reporting, I never, ever, ever want to be sent to prison for any reason,
ever,” he says. ”But if I have to, I'd like it to be in Sweden.”
In one Swedish maximum security prison he
visited (”the toughest of the tough”), there hadn't been a rape as long
as anyone could remember.
In U.S. prisons, by comparison, one in every
four prisoners is sexually assaulted each year.
Schlosser says he found in U.S. prisons a
culture of sexual abuse, violence, brutality, gang and neo-Nazi recruitment.
He thinks the prison system is ineffective,
misguided, over-extended and a waste of money. Alternative systems, such as
drug rehab and restorative punishments, are a more effective and cheaper way
to deal with many crimes.
The reason no other country in history has
imprisoned more people than the modern-day United States, says Schlosser, is
”largely because no other country has been rich enough to do so.”
Each prisoner costs 18,000 to 75,000 dollars
per year to keep behind bars. Altogether, the system costs U.S. taxpayers 40
billion dollars per year. ”That's more than we spend on our
universities,” he adds.
In California alone, there are more prisoners
than there are in France, Great Britain, Germany, Singapore and the
Netherlands combined. And the prisoners are overwhelmingly poor, mentally
ill, drug abusers, or non-whites.
Schlosser brought out some well-chosen, if
well-worn, statistics on race in U.S. prisons. One in every four young black
men is in prison, jail, on parole or on probation, he said. In Washington
DC, that number is one in two.
One in eight black men in the United States
have lost the right to vote because of a conviction or being in prison.
”There is no question,” says Schlosser, in an aside, ”that if they
could vote, we wouldn't have this president [George W. Bush].”
The book, as yet untitled, will be published
in fall 2004 or spring 2005, says a spokesman from his publisher, Houghton
Mifflin. Meanwhile, high-profile black activist Angela Davis has also
written a book on American prisons titled ”Are
Prisons Obsolete?”
The answer to this question, as far as
Schlosser is concerned, is yes.
Schlosser -- whose father Herbert Schlosser
was the chairman of the NBC television network -- became famous for his book
”Fast
Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. ”
The book was a worldwide best seller and
spent more than a year on the New York Times best seller list. It continues
to cause controversy: Schlosser says he's awaiting a subpoena which has been
issued, but not yet served, by one of the companies he mentioned in the
book.
© Copyright 2003 Inter Press Service
Satanist Claims Sex Acts Part of
Religion
Portland, OR--A Satanist charged with raping a child is
claiming that the sex acts are part of his religion, according to the man's
lawyer. Russell J. Smith, 37, of Woodbridge, a former officer at the Prince
William jail, was arrested in Oregon. Smith left Virginia with his
12-year-old daughter, Tara Sweiger-Smith, a few days before charges were
filed against him in August.
Smith offered no evidence or
argument at his preliminary hearing Monday. But his attorney, Myron Berman,
said before the hearing that his client claims the sex acts were part of his
religion. Police who searched Smith's home in August found in the laundry
room an altar and a box that contained a goat's skull and a child's bra and
underpants.
Smith had initially been charged with rape and with forcible sodomy of a
child, but the sodomy charge was amended Monday to a charge of rape. Smith's
case was sent to a grand jury, which will take up the case next month.
Source:
DailyPress.com
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Search for Spiritual Energy in Reiki
Philadelphia, PA
--
Reiki (pronounced RAY-kee)
is a Japanese technique adapted from Tibetan Buddhism that claims to
transmit healing energy through the hands. The Japanese therapy is being
studied with AIDS patients as a way to improve their quality of life. The
sole reason Catherine Holdsworth even tried reiki therapy eight years ago
was that all the massage slots were booked at the spa where she was
vacationing.
Holdsworth, a certified nurse
practitioner and a practicing Roman Catholic, was skeptical. "The first 10
minutes, I thought, 'Oh man, I got ripped off,' " she said.
Adherents say reiki taps into a
universal life energy that surrounds people. During sessions, a therapist
lightly places hands on, or inches above, parts of a client's body to open
energy centers called chakras. Recipients often report feeling heat during the process and
a deep calm afterward.
"Something happened. All of a sudden I was blown away," Holdsworth said. She
went on to earn Level II training as a reiki practitioner, one step below a master. "You have to
be a bit of a spiritual person to understand the concept of energy that's not concrete," she said.
Now, the Philadelphia area has its first federally funded research into
reiki therapy.
A two-year, $400,000 study funded by the National Institutes of Health's
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is looking at reiki's
impact on people living with advanced AIDS. The work, begun in April, is being conducted from the Center for Urban Health Policy
and Research at Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. It is the first federally funded study of reiki
as an AIDS therapy anywhere.
"We are interested in change
over time" in the clients, said Gala True, Einstein's assistant director of
medical ethics, who is principal investigator for the study. "We want to see
whether reiki decreases pain, anxiety and depression and increases quality of life and spiritual
well-being for patients with advanced AIDS."
The target enrollment is 146 patients over two years. Holdsworth is one of
the three reiki therapists who have been treating them. Data for the randomized, controlled study, in
which half the clients receive reiki and half do not, are still being collected.
"It's very difficult to study a complementary therapy like reiki using
standardized measurements," said True, who hopes that the study will begin to bridge the gap between
conventional biomedical care and complementary therapies. "There is a certain kind of suffering that comes
from being HIV-positive that just isn't addressed through conventional medicine."
Many of the people in the study are very sick and very poor, she said, and
something like reiki is foreign to them. "Sometimes we have to give them tokens to get to the
session. Some
don't have phones, or they get sick in the middle of the study," True said.
"A lot of them are really isolated because of their HIV status."
But Holdsworth and the other therapists cite anecdotal reports from clients
that the treatments help ease some pain and stress and increase well-being. A man taking prescribed
narcotics for pain, Holdsworth said, decreased his use of the medication
during the period he received reiki. Another started to reach out to his
family and participate more enthusiastically in life. "This is a society
where these people are not touched verbally or physically or even with eye
contact," she said. "They're emotionally ostracized."
Holdsworth sees two or three clients a week at her internal-medicine office
at nearby Temple University.
"In reiki, you're calling for the universal energy to come," she said.
Practitioners believe they are the conduits for the energy. "Our energies are joined for the higher good," she
said. "I go to church, I pray, and I know that there is an influence in my
life that I don't have any control over."
"Reiki is a movement of the spirit," said Bannan, a Roman Catholic who is
one of the three
practitioners in the Einstein study. "I trust and believe in that higher
power."
Reiki has detractors, in religion as well as medicine. A paper published by
the Christian Research Institute, a Protestant watchdog group in California, warns Christians about
reiki and other "therapeutic touch" practices: "It is not safe for anyone to assume that the
energy [that]
therapeutic touch enthusiasts claim to be channeling is a force of good or
godly power," the paper says. "It seems safe to conclude that it is
not, as it is clearly associated with world views that are in opposition to
Christianity and [with] practices explicitly forbidden in Scripture."
Sister Mary Joan Smith, a Catholic nun, is a registered nurse and a nurse
case manager at ActionAIDS in Philadelphia. She learned of reiki through a
presentation at work. "I hadn't heard a lot about it," she said. "And what I
had seemed off the wall. I just thought I'd check it out." She was awed,
and has since become a Level II reiki therapist. She is one of the
practitioners for the study.
"Jesus said by your fruits you will know them," she paraphrased. "That's the
good fruit that I see happening from reiki. It's a channel through which God can bless us."
Does performing reiki put her faith in jeopardy? "God's wisdom and power are
beyond what any one religion can contain, "she said. "Through research we
can augment the truth and beauty of our religion."
For information about the Einstein study, call 215-951-8137
Source: Philadelphia
Inquirer
Check out Asheville Magazine's
Spiritual Forum
Clean, Free Energy: Dream or
Reality?
Vancouver, BC, Canada-- The current rise in oil prices practically
everywhere has made the issue of alternative energy sources more topical
than ever. Are they reliable and affordable? Are scientists and governments
conducting serious research on them? If you want to find documented answers
to these questions, and to know more about cold fusion, hydrogen gas cells,
magnetic motors and other devices capable of producing energy without
polluting and depriving our planet, visit
Stephen Kaplan.
Throughout the Nineties Mr. Kaplan -- a member of the Catalyst Institute, a
newly formed non-profit organization that is supporting scientists working
on the frontiers of research concerning health and the environment -- has
been a strong and often ostracized advocate of alternative energy sources,
and he is currently working on new energy research and development. The
precious information he offers here are intended to raise our awareness on
the subject, so that we can at least send our conscious energy to a dream
worth dreaming together.
There is a growing body of experimental
evidence that indicates anomalous excess heat and transformation of elements
are regular occurrences in cold fusion experiments. In thousands of
experiments, credible researchers have immersed rods of palladium, nickel,
and titanium in water, charged them with electricity and observed not only
the byproducts of nuclear reactions, but also have seen more energy coming
out of the reactions than it takes to create them.
This was confirmed by scientists gathered at the Seventh International
Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF-7) that was held in Vancouver, BC. At that conference, Dr. Les Case, a New Hampshire engineer,
shared his path-breaking research on a cold fusion cell that appears to
dependably produce excess energy. Subsequent tests of that process by
scientists at Cold Fusion Technology, Inc. verify his claims.
Not only has there been tremendous progress in basic research, but several
companies in the United States are working hard to bring commercial units to
market. Moreover, there is also evidence that indicates that low-energy
nuclear processes can transmute radioactive elements into non-radioactive
substances. Two companies - CETI and the Cincinnati Group - have sold
demonstration transmutation devices to other scientists. The CETI power cell
was highlighted on ABC's Good Morning America and Nightline. Moreover, the
transmutation of radioactive elements by both of these devices has been
independently confirmed by other laboratories.
Although the evidence for the reality of low-energy nuclear processes is
being denied by the DOE, it has not escaped the attention of scientists
advising foreign governments. Prominent scientists from Japan, China,
Russia, Italy, France, Germany and other countries are involved in cold
fusion research. Among them is Dr.George Lonchampt of the French Atomic
Energy Commission. He successfully replicated the original cold fusion
experiment of Drs. Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, and at his urging,
the Commission is now funding cold fusion research.
Many years ago, the U.S. government ignored the scientific claims of Robert
Goddard, the inventor of the liquid-fueled rocket. Germany did not ignore
his research with devastating and almost disastrous results for the world.
Will a mistake like that be repeated today?
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Creative Conflict Resolution Goes
To School
New York,
NY --
Over the past two decades America has been plagued by the growth in
juvenile violence. One New York organization appears to goes
deeper than symptomatic relief, and is now reaching schools nationally and
internationally. Called the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program,
it's about promoting mutual understanding to facilitate greater empathy
amongst young people.
175,000 students across America
have already benefited from the program, which works in conjunction with
parents, educators and students. The RCCP model has four core
elements. It helps to build partnerships between the different
constituencies in schools, including parents, staff and community members.
It also runs a course helping teachers to strengthen emotional and social
education, providing coaching and lesson plans. Its support for the students
in conflict resolution gives classroom instruction in anger management and
team building. It also offers students leadership training to take over
roles in mediation when situations of conflict arise.
A study, involving over 5000 children, revealed that young people involved
in the program perceived the external world in a less hostile way, and also
achieved better grades in school. In another independent evaluation, 64% of
teachers reported less physical violence in the classroom as a result of the
RCCP and, wonderfully, 92% of students felt an increase in their
self-esteem.
Linda Lantieri, the project's inspirational Founding Director, has
illuminated the inadequacies of the current approach to youth violence.
Talking of such tragedies as the massacre at Columbine High School,
Ms. Lantieri notes that, "we keep writing, focusing, and talking about the
'warning signs' of a troubled student and thus continue to let ourselves off
the hook about the wider issues that create the fertile climate for events
like this to occur."
Lantieri
sees strengthening society's sense of responsibility by supporting young
people at a grassroots level, exploring how individual prejudices lead to
the breakdown of relationships, and consequent bullying. The inadequate
provision for emotional and social guidance in the US is compounded by an
inappropriately focused national budget. Measures taken at governmental
levels are focused heavily on technical innovations – a widespread
introduction of metal detectors, for example, has been proposed. Not only
are such symptomatic cures avoiding the principal issue, they are also
hugely expensive.
The Program has implemented change in a challenging area of education. The
degree to which teenagers feel a sense of social responsibility and their
own approaches to social interaction has always been supposed to be
unchangeable, ingrained in childhood through parental and social
circumstances. RCCP has exploded such a myth, proving young people
are ready and willing to learn new skills, tricks which will improve their
own quality of life and contribute towards a peaceful future.
For further information, contact The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program,
40 Exchange Place, Suite 111, New York, NY 10005; Telephone: 212-509-0022
ext. 226 E-Mail:
llantieri@rccp.org
Comment on this story:
Letter To
The Editor
Forums
Scientists
Attempt to Prove Life After Death
London, UK -- Two British scientists are seeking £165,000 ($256,000) to
carry out a large-scale study to discover if clinically dead people really
have out-of-body experiences.
Dr.
Sam Parnia, senior research fellow at the
University of Southampton, and Dr.
Peter Fenwick, a consultant neuropsychiatrist at
Oxford University, are both highly
respected researchers. Last year Parnia published a study indicating that 10
percent of clinically dead patients who were later resuscitated reported
memories while they were lifeless. Evidence includes patients recognizing
hospital staff they had never met but who helped during their resuscitation.
Others have recalled conversations between doctors.
Near-death experiences are the most common
experience and include seeing a white light, while out-of-body experiences
involve serenely observing one's dead body while medics work frantically to
resuscitate it. The researchers have founded a charitable trust,
Horizon Research, to
promote studies in the field. According to known medical science, this
should be impossible, given the absence of any brain activity. In the past,
the theory has been scorned by the scientific community. Even those who want
to believe the truth is out there have turned skeptical.
Susan Blackmore was once the doyenne of British paranormal research. She
has since retired, disillusioned, from the field. She concluded in her book
about near-death experiences, Dying to Live, that there are
scientific explanations for NDEs.
While skepticism remains, scientists are
coming to recognize that more research is necessary. In December 2001, a
Dutch neurologist, Dr.
Pim van Lommel of Hospital Rijnstate in Arnhem, Netherlands, led a team
that published an article in The
Lancet, the United Kingdom's highly respected journal of
medicine. The study showed that 18 percent of clinically dead patients,
later resuscitated, recalled near-death experiences years after the event.
Another study, this one conducted in the
United States by the father of near-death-experience studies,
Kenneth
Ring,
used blind patients, resuscitated from cardiac arrest, who likewise
described seeing their body while clinically dead, although slightly out of
focus. The book Mindsight
was inspired by this research. Fenwick and others are not positing life
after death per se, merely consciousness after death.
Nevertheless, the implications are enormous.
If near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences don't come from the
brain, where is consciousness based? "There are two ways to view the
universe," says Fenwick. "Our current world model is that everything is
matter."
In other words, everything that we think of
as "real" in scientific terms has a physical form that can be perceived by
our senses. But this model, which philosophers call "radical materialism,"
cannot explain the existence of consciousness, which has no physical
essence.
So how do we account for consciousness?
"There's a little (unexplained) miracle, and consciousness arises," Fenwick
says of the current paradigm. However, another theory proposes that the
basic building block of the universe is not matter but instead consciousness
itself. This is described as the "transcendent" view, a perspective shared
by many of the world's religions.
"This second, transcendent, view of the
universe makes it much easier to understand NDEs (near-death experiences),"
says Fenwick, who believes that science will eventually replace the material
view of the universe with the transcendent one. The advent of
quantum mechanics, which posits that matter can simultaneously have both
a physical form and a wave form is a step in that direction, he says.
So are scientific studies of the
power of prayer,
which suggest that subjects benefit from the prayers of others even when
they aren't aware that someone is praying for them.
These studies have been interpreted by some
researchers as an indication that consciousness behaves as a field, much
like magnetism, which can be affected by other fields. If that's true, then
it's possible one person's consciousness could affect another person's.
Now Fenwick and Parnia hope to add new
near-death-experience and out-of-body-experience research to these findings.
If they can raise the cash, they intend to study 100 reanimated heart-attack
victims who had near-death experiences. Research has shown that 30 of them
can be expected to have out-of-body experiences. Fenwick and Parnia plan to
place cards above the patients' heads that can only be seen from the
ceiling, where those who experience out-of-body experiences claim to watch
their resuscitation.
So will this convince the skeptics? "No,
nothing will, but that's OK," says Fenwick, laughing. "It's how science
progresses. Any research that says you have to have a major rethink in your
world model is always rejected. But it will prove that consciousness is not
in the brain."
Another thing the research proves is that
there's life left yet in speculating about the afterlife.
See Asheville Magazine
Metaphysical
Forum
|
LOCAL ASHEVILLE MEDIA...
If there are any
omissions, dead links or errors please let us know. Thanks.
Appalachian Voices
703 W. King St., Suite 105, Boone, NC 28607, 828-862-3863 E-Mail,
Website
Publication for the protection of this area's lands and ecosystems.
Free. Sample copy $3.
Asheville Citizen-Times
14 O. Henry Ave., Asheville, NC 28801, 828-252-5611, News Dept E-mail,
Editor E-mail, Website
Asheville's daily newspaper. $ .50. They will mail you a copy of their latest Sunday
edition for $5.
Asheville Disclaimer
P.O. Box 6407, Asheville, NC
28816, 828-216-2331,
E-mail,
Website
Asheville's satirical,
off-the-wall periodical. Free. Sample copy $3
Asheville Global Report
PO Box 1504, Asheville, NC 28802, 828-236-3103,
E-mail,
Website
Asheville's left-wing political weekly.
Free. Sample copy
$3.
Asheville Holistic
Alternatives
PO Box 17397, Asheville, NC 28816, 838-230-9627, Website
Asheville's holistic, new age,
back-to-the-earth, alternatives directory on the Internet. No Charge
Asheville Magazine
PO Box 17397, Asheville, NC 28816,
828-254-6620, Website
Asheville's most visited new age consciousness e-zine, seen by more than 35,000
people monthly.
Asheville Tribune
PO Box 5615, Asheville, NC
28813,828-277-1760
E-Mail, Website
Asheville's right-wing political
weekly. Sample copy $3
Daily Planet
549 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, NC, 828-252-6565
E-Mail
Weekly general interest newspaper.
Free
IWANNA
PO Box 15228, Asheville, NC 28813, 828-274-8888, E-Mail,
Website
Asheville's largest weekly classified paper. $1.
Sample copy $4.75
Laurel of Asheville
1 West Pack Square, Asheville 28801, Suit G-145,
828-670-7503
E-Mail,
Website
Monthly glossy ad magazine with paid
general editorial content.
Mountain Sangha
204 Brent Knoll, Asheville, NC 28805, 828-691-7467,
E-mail,
Website
Quarterly resource directory of consciousness. Free
Mountain Xpress
PO Box 144, Asheville, NC 28802, 828-251-1333, E-Mail,
Website
Asheville's weekly entertainment and events paper. Free. Sample
copy $3.
New Life Journal
353 Buckeye Cove Rd., Swannanoa, NC 28778, 828-285-1639,
E-Mail
Healing & Whole Foods in the Appalachians, including Georgia. Free.
Sample copy $3.
Rapid River Magazine
70 Woofin Place, Asheville, NC 28801,
E-mail
Asheville's free monthly art publication. Free. Sample copy $3
Spirit In the Smokies
PO Box 3261. Asheville, NC 28802, 828-274-7223,
E-Mail.
Monthly new age paradigm commentary and interviews.
Free. Sample copy $3
VIRATO LIVE!
10:06 AM to Noon, WPEK,880 AM,
E-Mail,
Website
Conscious talk, call-in radio, with
host Virato
Western North
Carolina Woman
PO Box 1332, Mars Hill NC
28754, 828-689-2988,
E-Mail,
Website
Monthly magazine for women. Free.
Sample copy $3
Wild Mountain
Times
PO Box 3141, Asheville, NC 28802, 828-258-0758 E-Mail
Journal of the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project.
Free. Sample copy $3
WLOS-TV Channel 13
288 Macon Ave., Asheville, NC 28804,
828-255-0013,
E-mail,
Website
Asheville ABC affiliate,
and only television station in town.
WCQS, 88.1FM
73 Broadway, Asheville, NC 28801, 828-253-6875 E-mail,
Website
One of this area's public broadcasting stations.
WPEK, 880 AM
13 Summerlin Rd., Asheville 28806, 828-257-2700,
Website
Asheville's progressive talk radio
station
WWNC, 570 AM
13 Summerlin Rd., Asheville 28806,
828-257-2700,
Website
Asheville's main commercial talk radio station.
WNCW 88.7FM
PO Box 804, Spindale, NC 28160, 828-287-8000 E-mail,
Website
This area's largest public broadcasting station. A little more homey.
ZEN of Asheville
1070-1 Tunnel Rd., Suite 10, Box 289, 877-FINDZEN
E-mail,
Website
A glossy bi-monthly highlighting body, mind and soul fitness.
Free.
|
Don't miss any news.
Sign up for
►
News
Updates
◄
Send Us YOUR news! .... ...Send Us YOUR news!
Asheville Magazine,
is seeking more news
of interest to a conscious community. Send your news items or calendar events to Asheville
Magazine via
e-mail,
or snail mail to PO Box 17397, Asheville, NC 28816. Voice mail: 828-254-6620. We are also seeking full and part-time sales people,
reporters, artists, digital graphic designers and digital photographers, and
writers.
Asheville
Holistic Alternatives │Asheville
Magazine
Events│Advertising│Classifieds │Bulletin
Board Forums
Keep
up-to-date on Asheville
►Subscribe
to Asheville Magazine's free
interactive service◄

|