“You just ask the party-platform a question — ‘Where does the VPX stand on this?’ — and it tells you exactly the response that you most want to hear.” | A report from the front lines.
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HALLOWED STREETS of LIFE: My West Virginia and Jack Kerouac’s Lowell
As I did a deep dive into the multifaceted, and often convoluted, life of Jack Kerouac I came to see West Virginia as my version of Kerouac’s Lowell. He knew that Lowell was an integral part of his identity, which at times he embraced and at other times sought to cast off. I know that territory well.
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PASSAGES: In Praise of Paul Flaherty
I don't usually post obituaries in this occasional publication devoted to the life and times and the notable people in the villages of WestVirginiaville. But the lovely remembrance and acknowledgment below of Paul Flaherty's rich life, written by Rebecca Kimmons, pays homage to a notable person who for decades played key roles in the cultural, creative, and musical life in West Virginia's capital city.
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THE LATITUDE of NOW: Looking for real things in unreal times
I should be writing about the dire state of the country since it appears our old America is lost, even as a cohesive resistance begins to coalesce and get its act together. Or maybe I should go touch grass. (Or snow, depending.) A soul just needs to depart Dodge and try to find real, touchable things to look at, ponder or admire before returning to the exhausting front-line fray.
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GUEST POST: Weeping, Wailing & Wonder
TODAY'S GUEST POST BEGINS: This is about us, not me, but let me begin precisely here: I am an old white guy who is sick and tired of other old white guys telling everyone what to do, how to live, who to love and where to go.
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5 QUESTIONS: Going deep & writing wild in West Virginia
A Q-and-A conversation with Laura Jackson on her book "DEEP & WILD," about mountains, opossums, coyotes, writing, ramps, and that confounding state of mind known as West Virginia
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EXCERPTS | From ‘DEEP & WILD’ by Laura Jackson
Some excerpts from Laura Jackson's debut essay collection, 'DEEP & WILD: On Mountains, Opossums, & Finding Your Way in West Virginia.' SEE RELATED '5 QUESTIONS' with the author
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GLORY DAYS and POETRY
Remembering a longtime colleague on the long and crazy march through a newsroom career — one who brought the poetry to the frontlines while on deadline, as we sought to reinvent the American newspaper feature section at the outset of the 21st century.
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WEST VIRGINIA in COLOR | Series 1
Take a breather from political anxiety. And for those of us who dearly love this place called West Virginia — and for out-of-staters willing to be swayed from tired cliches — let's color outside the lines for a few minutes. Please consider the debut of 'West Virginia In Color,' a new, occasional series on people and places in the towns, hollers and hills of the Mountain State which feature a blast, a blaze, or notable burst of color.
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BLACK-AND-WHITE REFLECTIONS: Where will it all end in the end of it all?
In times like these, especially in times like these, when words are just upchucked by annihilationists, institutional arsonists and a world-historic, nihilist-narcissist whose much-kissed ring gleams with saliva, only poetry makes sense. And a few well-chosen images, quotes, and quatrains.
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A little bit of wonderful, courtesy of a John Ellison ‘Friendly Neighbor Show’ jam
It was some kind of wonderful happening as John Ellison, host of the long-running "The Friendly Neighbor Show" picked up a guitar to lead a harmonic convergence in a Huntington tattoo parlor one night recently.
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8 DAYS AFTER 9-11: At a Buddhist Retreat in the West Virginia Hills
Eight days after the frightening, world-shaking events of 9-11 in the year 2001, I was at a long-scheduled retreat at a Buddhist monastery deep in the West Virginia hills. Osama bin Laden was there, also.
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Saying goodbye to Earl one last time
Earl Goodall, my neighbor, friend, and an amiable human being, passed on at age 93 on July 5, 2024. Earl was the subject of my 2021 16-minute documentary, "When Earl Went to War", about his Korean War service, while also portraying the man's sweet, down-home character. Here's a look back at the kind of guy who never gets lifted up into the spotlight. But he has stories and adventures worth telling.
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FIRST/PERSON: Prostitute Pasta & Way-Out Family Restaurants in West Virginia
'I am dreaming of a plate full of fluffy, cheesy scrambled eggs, streaked with a couple of red skid marks of Tabasco and a side plate of triangles of buttered toast. Preferably, wheat. But I will take white, if it is all Minney has got ...'
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PROSE-POEM: ‘Lost Girl Elegy’
He digs into his wallet. Hands over a $20 bill. God bless you, she says. But where's the god for lost girls in a squalling storm? She turns to go back into the Taco Bell. He shuts off his car. Gets out. Do you have a phone? No. She says. Anyone at all to call?
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POST-ECLIPSED: Some final notations on a cosmic experience
Post-eclipse, thrilling with fellow humans at what we had just witnessed, it was a stark reminder of how few and precious are the sweet collective experiences we now share in an America riven by engineered dispute. And how utterly important it is to be reminded of the significance of shared wonder.
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5 QUESTIONS: Susan Werner on going long, Texas tuneage, and the art of the song
For folks who know the upper echelons of songwriting, 'No Depression' magazine once awarded Susan Werner some high praise indeed: “When it comes to crafting a song, Ms. Werner’s only peers are Jimmy Webb and Paul Simon.” Study up on her songcraft in our '5 Questions' with her in advance of an April 6, 2024 show in Charleston. W.Va.
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QUOTABLES: Luminous skies, mucky alleys & chiaroscuro evenings
Photographs from around the neighborhood, allied with some quotations worth quoting and notations that may or may not align, but it's all good.
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A RECORD RUN: After a legendary half-century, Budget Tapes & Records to close shop
Budget Tapes & Record will close Sunday, March 3, 2024, in Kanawha City, W.Va., after a half-century in operation. Here are two personal takes on the role this long-running establishment played in the life and times of West Virginia as an alternative, hippified haven for generations of folks.
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Saying Goodbye to Bill | In 3 Parts
Bill Hart, a dear traveling companion through this vale and holler of light and darkness, passed from this mysterious world on Friday evening, on Feb. 9, 2024. Here are some thoughts and images about a notable human being, artist, and world-class craftsman. And, to be sure, a genuinely offbeat, unconventional, and bohemian soul.
