Hosting conventions and social events for fans of Good Omens in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains!

IneffableAVL

Hurricane Helene Update

Hello friends,

This is going to be a long and somber update, just as a heads up.

As I’m sure you’ve seen, Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic destruction to Asheville and our neighboring cities and towns. You’ve probably actually seen more of the damage than we have as we lost internet and cell service very early last Friday morning. What we did see on the few trips out to find service was heartbreaking, as are the few photos we’ve seen.

My family is safe; our house received very minor damage, none of us were injured, and we’re not near enough to any creeks or rivers to worry about flooding, though I did go out Thursday before the storm to dig a trench to steer runoff from the property above us away from our back door (which turned out to be a wise move in the end). I grew up in Florida, so we started preparing several days in advance, but even decades of experience living with hurricanes could never have prepared us for Helene. We had close to a week’s worth of food, potable water, meds, and batteries, which helped us get through the first few days. But when we learned that it would be several weeks before we would have running water again, we knew we couldn’t stay. So we gave our remaining supplies to neighbors, packed as much as we could in our two cars (along with our somewhat traumatized kitties) and left town with very heavy hearts.

After a lot of false starts and several stressful days, we are finally settled somewhere safe to wait it out. We just learned yesterday that it will be at least 4-6 weeks before the water returns; we left thinking it would be 2-3 at most, so that was another shock to the system. We’ve still not let ourselves watch the news much; the trauma of the storm itself and having to evacuate needs to settle and heal a little bit first. What we have heard has been gutting - whole communities being cut off from help or completely obliterated; the increasing number of fatalities; the profiteering at the expense of people in desperate need of rescue - it’s so hard to reconcile the memories in my head with the reality of the situation. In my mind, downtown Marshall is still standing idyllically by the gentle river; the wonderful old buildings in The River Arts District that house some of my favorite local artists are still ready for Second Saturday, a day each month when the studios open their doors to the public and show us a peek behind the curtain. My mind is just not ready to accept that the city I call home and the mountains that I love have been so severely broken, to the point of being unrecognizable in many places.

But as I would expect from our community, there have also been amazing stories of hope, resiliency, and coming together to lift each other up. From the woman operating as a small resource center, serving up hot food from her camp stove and handing out supplies to neighbors; to the folks in Chimney Rock, themselves cut off for days and reeling from their own losses sending supplies across the river via clothesline to their neighbors in Gerton who were still cut off; to the rancher who brought in pack mules to bring supplies, including baby formula, to survivors trapped and beyond the reach of any other help - these are just a few of the many, many ways our community is rallying around each other, and it renews my pride in and love for our wonderful mountain community.

I’m sure it goes without saying that planning for IneffableAVL is on hold for the foreseeable future. I recognize that in the grand scheme of this tragedy, not being able to plan a fan convention is an incredibly minor thing. Still, I wanted to make sure I updated everyone. It’s also important to not feel guilty if you feel sad or disappointed; it’s possible and ok to feel heartbreak for disaster victims AND disappointment for the loss of something you wanted. If Good Omens has taught us anything, it’s that being human is complicated and messy, and that includes conflicting feelings of grief.

I cannot possibly begin to speculate as to when planning can begin again; the landscape of Asheville has been literally and metaphorically changed forever, and while we will rebuild, it will take time. There are some major interstates that won’t reopen for at least a year, and I have no clue what venues exist anymore or which ones might have survived the storm but won’t survive the lack of tourism. I can tell you that as of right now, my intention is to still move forward with the convention; I just don’t know when planning will resume. As I tell my daughter, I’m not saying “no;” I’m saying “not right now.”

As I said, my family and I were fortunate enough to be able to leave, and are safely settled. There are thousands of people who are not as fortunate that have no choice but to stay, and many who could have left but have stayed behind to assist however they can. So in lieu of supporting a fan convention, my ask is this: if you are able, please support Western North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety:

“The best way to help Western North Carolina recover is with a monetary donation. North Carolina has established the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund which is managed by United Way of North Carolina. Donations can be made at www.nc.gov/donate and are being used to provide grants to nonprofits working directly in impacted communities.”

That’s all from me right now. Again, I fully recognize that for those of us affected by the disaster, the convention is the least of our concerns. I also recognize that I’m responsible for opening this door, and while my family figures out how to navigate this new life we find ourselves in, I need it to not be on my mind. Hence, an update. Also, and fully transparently, I personally needed to focus on something else and reconnect with this community while I feel otherwise unmoored and adrift. Thank you for being a community that is so utterly welcoming, safe, and supportive.