“We thought ya’ll might need some spiritual reinforcement,” said one of two tall and thin men, weathered and worn, with guitars on their back, as they walked up to the Magnolia Friday afternoon. “You’re fighting the good fight,” one said as they launched into some really fine music. As they strummed, a Monarch butterfly made a pass through the circle of folks under the Magnolia shade.
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenburg County
Down by the Green River
Where Paradise lays.
Well I'm sorry my son
But you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
“You can just call us Jerry and Fred,” one said. “Or Fred and Jerry,” countered the other as we applauded their song.
“”I thought that was right up your alley,” Jerry said.
Yuvan, who told us his father worked with the United Farm Workers, picked up some drums while Marvin, from the Navajo nation, showed his ceremonial fan, made from special Eagle feathers given to him during his travels to other native nations.
“I like Asheville,” Marvin said. “The vibe is pure man, it’s like real. People stop and actually say hello.”
“Yeah, but they’re trying to make it into a big city now,” Fred said. “They’re trying to run all the homeless out of town. I lost my house to back taxes. Now they want to run me out of the county. I’m not goin’. I’ve been livin’ here since I was 13.”
Perry stood in the shade clutching a rosary in one hand and his backpack strap in another. He was off to find apples in the edible park. He had been by Zacchaeus House earlier, he said. It is the ministry that Amy Cantrell and Chrystal Cook opened a few years back to serve the needs of the poor and unhoused in Asheville and to advocate for justice. The ongoing work of the ministry is not certain as Amy and Chrystal have moved. The front line work they participated in, day after day, takes a heavy personal toll. Others are trying to find a way to carry on through the transition.
Jim and Francie were back around dusk. They are always welcome company at the Magnolia. Jim was quite happy to meet Marvin, whose grandfather was a Navajo Code Talker on Okinawa during WW II. Jim was a Marine then, and worked with another Navajo Code Talker named Charlie Begay.
“He was my Indian brother, he took care of me for a long while,” Jim said.
Jim and Marvin talked at length standing beneath the Magnolia in the cool night breeze. Marvin showed his ceremonial rattles, gourds and warrior feathers that he carried in a red tool box lined with brocade fabric.
As the night deepened, others came by bringing gifts to help celebrate Lamas.
I'm off for the weekend in the country for some respite from the city. More when I return to the Magnolia.
So many trees in our city are under threat with all this development. One, at Broadway and Elizabeth, near my home is girded with poison ivy, perhaps a natural way to try and repel the axe from the Broadway development.
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