Chetola Resort hosted the annual Polar Plunge as part of last week's Winterfest activities. On Saturday, plungers took to jumping in the 34-degree Chetola Lake to raise funds for local charities. Photos by Dawn Shumate
2/1/2011
Album ID: 1163122
Photos by Events - NOT FOR SALE
High Country United Way Big Pig Kiss-Off
31 photos
for sale
Area business leaders, including Mountain Times Publications publisher Gene Fowler, puckered up to a kiss a pig, after raising funds for the High Country United Way's 2010 campaign.
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
Approximately 500 people turned out for Peabody's 32nd Anniversary Charity Wine Tasting Expo Nov. 20, to sample from a myriad of wines, while also benefiting the Watauga Education Foundation.
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
11/20/2010
Album ID: 1121217
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
Valle Country Fair 2
76 photos
for sale
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
11/11/2010
Album ID: 1115804
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
ASU vs Furman: Tailgating
77 photos
for sale
Lauren snapped these before the game! For more photos (or to vote on your favorite photo so someone can win a Mountain Times prize pack), visit www.facebook.com/mountaintimes.
10/30/2010
Album ID: 1107368
Photos by Lauren Ohnesorge
Boone Boo 2010! Take 1!
46 photos
for sale
Lauren found some frights on King Street Friday as the ghouls got an early start trick-or-treating! Find someone you know? Tag them in our Mountain Times Facebook album on facebook.com/mountaintimes. We'll be out all weekend taking pictures of High Country Halloweeners! Keep checking our Facebook page!
10/29/2010
Album ID: 1106737
Photos by Lauren Ohnesorge
Boo Boone 2010, Take 2
29 photos
for sale
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
10/29/2010
Album ID: 1108648
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
Candlelight vigil to remember teen suicide victims
46 photos
for sale
To 47-year-old Mark Rasdorf, coming out was trying enough.
“I came out in 1982, so we didn’t have ‘Will and Grace’ back then,” he said.
He was in college when he told his family and friends he was gay and, while it was a life-changing event, most of the reaction was positive.
“I mean, back then, anyone who was gay was called [the “F” word] but for the most part I wasn’t that harassed,” he said.
Not so for Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi. The 18-year-old, allegedly teased by his roommate about his sexual preference, jumped off the George Washington bridge in September, ending his life.
It’s an image that sticks with Rasdorf, a graduate student in the counseling department at Appalachian State University. After all, it’s a bridge he used to drive across all the time when he lived in New York.
“To think that that kid was so upset that he walked onto a bridge and jumped off, I’m surprised I can talk about that without crying,” Rasdorf said.
And it’s not just Clementi. Justin Aeberg. Billy Lucas. Asher Brown. Seth Walsh. Raymond Chase. Zach Harrington.
All these teenagers in recent months took their own lives after alleged bullying.
Something has to be done.
Rasdorf isn’t the only one saying that. Across the country, candlelight vigils have been happening in memory of the seven teenagers. Columnist Dan Savage, even started an “It Gets Better” website (itgetsbetter.com), with messages of hope for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) teens. Celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and Adam Lambert have submitted videos urging kids not to take drastic measures and that their lives truly will get better.
“I think being different is always going to be a tough climb,” Lambert said in his video. “There’s always going to be people that are scared of it. But at the end of the day, if you give those bullies and those people that are so ignorant and fearful of your lifestyle, if you give them the power to affect you, you’re letting them win. And they don’t deserve that.”
It’s a message Rasdorf wants to spread here in the High Country, and he hopes a planned Thursday vigil will help alert the community to what he calls “an American crisis.”
“I organized all this because I didn’t see anything happening,” he said. “I was about to lose my mind over what was going on in this country.”
But Rasdorf knows it will take more than candles to prevent tragedy from striking again.
“For kids that are in such dark places that they could make choices like these… we as a society need to work with a little more vigor to help those kids,” he said. “We each have a responsibility so this community can send out a message of hope that will resonate locally, nationally and internationally. I do think there’s power in collective thought.”
The ironic thing? In this tragedy, Rasdorf feels he may have found his true calling, as a counselor to teens struggling with LGBT issues.
“I’m open to where I go with this,” he said.
An Appalachian State University “It gets better” campaign with testimonials from the local LGBT community is also being planned.
The vigil, sponsored by the LGBT Center, Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and TransAction, happened Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m. at Sanford Mall on the Appalachian State University campus.
10/29/2010
Album ID: 1106566
Photos by Lauren Ohnesorge
10-01-10 Downtown Boone Art Crawl
35 photos
for sale
The Mountain Times went Art Crawlin' on Friday, admiring art from Boone's finest and shooting pictures of your friends and neighbors.
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
10/1/2010
Album ID: 1088280
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
LMC presents 'Into the Woods'
11 photos
for sale
Lees-McRae College Theatre & Arts presents the musical comedy, 'Into the Woods,' running Oct. 1-5. For ticket information, call the LMC Box Office at (828) 898-8709.
Photos by Frank Ruggiero
