Asheville Chapter is a light shining in the darkness
John Shore of the Asheville Citizen-Times sees straight to the heart of barbershopping: after an evening of singing, "the night doesn’t feel quite so cold, nor the world so riven."
We love it when a journalist "gets it" -- latches onto the core meaning of singing together. This quiet reflection from the Asheville, North Carolina, Citizen-Times rings all the bells: friendship, intergenerational bonding, fun... you know, barbershopping.
It helps to have thoughtful, quotable members like Bill Fieffer articulating what the experience feels like: “When you’re singing with other people, you become a musical instrument. And so does everyone you’re singing with. And you’re all accompanying each other. It’s beautiful.”
And as Bryson Ley puts it, “The question is, how much is ‘we,’ and how much is ‘them’? We should all be ‘us.’ But everyone’s sense of community has withered over the last 30 years. Not here, though. Here, we make community.”