Asheville Chocolate

The home of Buffy and Jimmy - where I'm staying on Happy Acres in Maggie Valley.

A friend of mine just wrote suggesting that she compile my travel blog writings into a potential book. Honesty, the idea excites me. I would totally love traveling around this country, and possibly the world, talking story, recording the tales of locals, and somehow getting paid for it. What a life that would be!

Yesterday I sat on a rocker in downtown Waynesville, talking story with a good old Southern Baptist. It was such a good indication of how much I love listening and sharing story, and how good I am at it. The fact that this 68 year old man couldn't leave me (he stayed on long after his wife, his daughter and then his grandchildren begged him to come on), that he just wanted his story to be heard by this perfect stranger, was a sign that this is joy-filled "work" for me. He told me that he spent his career teaching 8th grade social science in Charleston - and his summer Christian missionary outreach took him all over the world. I'm not here to agree or disagree with Southerners preaching the gospel to people in Africa, or the Amazon or Peru. The religion doesn't matter to me - it was the stories of wonders he saw traveling the world that kept my attention. We didn't go anywhere near Jesus. We focused on a common denominator - the overwhelming beauty of this planet earth. Bottom line - people want to be heard! I know I have both the ability to guide people to what their hearts wish to say, and the talent to record their stories.

Also while in Waynesville I got into a long conversation with a historical writer named Graham, who is a strong advocate of Dixie succeeding from the United States. Still. In 2010. Of course this is a deep subject and could cause tension if not handled properly. I'm not interested in taking sides, in agreeing or not agreeing. I'm an investigative reporter with enough information about this and that to keep conversations going. I totally defused his Dixie charge by talking about Hawaii and how it was stolen from the Hawaiians in 1896, and about the current Hawaiian Sovereignty movement, 114 years later. This man was 1/4 Cherokee and we talked about the same issue with the American Indians. Nobody can argue that as the United States expanded West the native Americans were removed from their ancestral lands - and eventually confined to relative small reservations. He didn't see that as just or fair, and believes the whole Great Smokey Mountain region of Tennessee and North Carolina should be returned to the Cherokee Nation. I can't help but agree. Then he talked about how the South was stolen by the Imperialist North which led to the Civil War. They could have left well enough alone he said, since the Southerners were a peaceful people. But the industrial North saw economic gain by owning the South, bringing it into the fold of "corporate America" - and used the slave issue to rally the people of the North against those horrible Southerners. Graham wasn't arguing the right or wrong of slavery - only that the history of the South which led to the Civil War and the consolidation of American States is a fascinating story to tell from the 21st century Southern Native son Dixie Successionists point of view. (the book he wants to write)

Also, from my point of view, there are always "good" business owners who treat their employees with honor and respect, and "bad" business owners who abuse and dishonor those who work for them. At the Henry Ford in Dearborn they showed two examples of slave owners. The bad business owner who abused his slaves (they all scattered after the Emancipation Proclamation and his business then failed) and the good business owner who taught his people skills, gave them homes to live in and rifles to hunt with. (they all stayed after the Emancipation Proclamation, got paid a decent wage, and his business thrived). I'm not advocating slavery. I'm advocating the decent treatment of human beings by other human beings. And there is something to say about the benefits of a communal society - where nobody gets paid - and everyone is well fed, well housed, well clothed, and they join in a shared vision or at least an extended family bond. The story teller at the Henry Ford talked about how the slaves of the good slave owner and his family were one big extended family. He gave his slaves time off to create crafts to sell in the public market, he lent his workshop and tools so his workers could make furniture for their homes and to sell, and he gave them all rifles so they could hunt for good fresh meat to feed their families, along with the gardens he encouraged them to plant and grow. She said that this was more common in the South, than not.

The Civil War was fueled by the Bad Slave Owner point of view, and this Media driven point of view lead to the death of 700,000 men. A very sad chapter in our American History, and a good reason why people like Graham want to separate themselves and the South from what Graham calls the Yankee propaganda machine, which he sees as still directly leading to the deaths of so many American soldiers - a great many of them his Southern brothers and sisters.

A slice of life in the South.

Right now I'm sitting in a lovely bricked coffee shop called the Chocolate Lounge, in downtown Asheville. My not-so-slim belly is in open conflict with all that delicious looking chocolate in coolers in front of me. So far my belly is winning. This wasn't so true in Dearborn, which by the way has more Arab/Americans than anywhere else in the U.S. Karen took me to this giant Arab bakery - a sugary heaven with hundreds of confectionary delights. They had mouses, and cheese cake, and napolean's and you name it - all for $1.40 a slice. Baklava for .90. I could spend $5 there and puke. And it was all so good! Really, the hardest thing I had to do before leaving Dearborn on my way to Asheville, was to not go back there and load my cooler with delicious cakes and pastries. And I have to confess, I am readjusting my attitude. The KiEarth Journey is all a part of my surrender -my learning to partake in and enjoy all the wonderful things that life offers, including that slice of carrot cake over there in the cooler that keep calling out to Dakan, "Eat me!"



The carrot cake is on the far right middle shelf. With love and blessings, Dakan