A special production of “Next to Normal” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. May 23-24, 30-31, June 6-7, 12-14 and 2 p.m. May 25, June 1, 8 and 15 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. 

As the life-threatening emergency faced in the wake Hurricane Helene ebbs in Haywood County and the reality of the long road to recovery washes over the region, so too does the task of processing the traumatic event. On Monday evening, Meredith McCarroll and Nickole Brown led a workshop at Orchard Coffee in Waynesville to help people process that trauma through writing.  

There are a few native plants whose names I call out loud like a prayer whenever I see them. This is especially true since the crazy times of the global pandemic and resulting shutdown. One of those is the whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) whose name I slowly pronounce out loud as a benediction, “world, lose strife.” And I mean it. 

Peter Conti seemed destined for a life of chronic pain. 

For nearly two years after a devastating motorcycle accident left him with a shattered pelvis and nerve damage in his leg, Conti battled depression and suicidal ideation while struggling to manage his debilitating, demoralizing condition with dangerously addictive opioids. 

You will remember that I left off last week with sharing my understanding of vibrational energy. Particularly, how it relates to communicating with the spirit world. Healing any area of our life can benefit from the same understanding of frequency.

We all notice at some point in our hustle and bustle through life that something is not quite right in our body. It could be the result of an injury, an infection, or a general air of malaise that forces us to rethink our daily activities. Many of us proceed to our doctor to have tests run to determine the best path to wellness. We follow the prescription and voilà we experience recovery… right? Recovery is our expectation, and therefore how we align our thoughts and actions, don’t we? We certainly would not have tests run, receive a prognosis and then reject the cure, would we?

By Sabrina Matheny • Rumble Contributor | Wounding one another is part of a process of healing. It sounds ludicrous I know, but it is one of the most powerful ways we humans have of getting our own attention.

Like many of the most resilient and creative people on this earth, the river of Marissa Schneider’s life has meandered through the unexpected twists and turns of trauma. Somewhere along that ride though, she found cannabis. As she moved through trauma, and the painful healing that comes after, the plant became a tool. A tool used not only to help her own soul in the process of mending, but also to help others. For Schneider, cooking with cannabis is about bringing people together. It is about healing her soul, and those of the other bodies she meets along her way. 

Barbara Robinson can find artistic inspiration wherever she may be. 

Sometimes it’s looking out over Frye Mountain from her art studio window at home, while at other times perhaps a particular barn she spots while driving through Swain County will pique her interest. Other times it’s a vision in her head that works its way out over time.

All he heard was the sound of an engine.

“I came over the rise, a place I’d ridden hundreds of times before,” Kevin FitzGerald recalled. “I remember seeing a flash of brown, the roar of a truck and…boom…lights out.”