Welcome to the June 2021 issue of WestVirginiaVille. This edition covers lots of ground. It helps to have good people as guides, leading the way.
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ELEPHANT ANKLES: Life with Long COVID
"This is a good day. I have been sick for months, but I did not die. I am happy to be here. I can do this, but I reserve the right to whine. I also reserve the right to be angry.'
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IN/PROGRESS: From “The Air My Flowers Breathe: A Love Story”
"It is a life-long struggle for all of us to stave off the disruptive, destructive forces of chaos and try to maintain order. The struggle is especially grueling for a person with autism."
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PICTURE/SHOW: Kyle Vass on taking his best shot
A little over a year into his work doing audio journalism, Kyle Vass realized every story, regardless of what medium it's being told through, needs pictures. Here's what happened next.
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MUSIC/VIDEO: “Sonata for Piano & West Virginia, No. 1”
We invite you to take five minutes from feeling harassed by the news or our own hectic heads for "Sonata for Piano & West Virginia No. 1." It offers another way of looking at West Virginia and those parts that remain uncorrupted, fresh, and true.
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RE/PRINT: Only 7 states have passed the CROWN Act. Could West Virginia be next?
While advocates of the CROWN Act promise they'll be back for the 2022 Legislative session, they're also looking beyond the WV Capitol to make change to confront white beauty standards in West Virginia.
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EDITORS/NOTE: The Art of Speaking Up
The May 2021 issue of WestVirginiaVille.com features a lot of folks speaking up, singing out, and asking, if not demanding to be heard. Here's an overview of the issue's content.
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COVERSTORY: Lady D, In Her Own Unfiltered Words
You might say Doris A. Fields, better known as Lady D, is having a well-deserved moment. Several, actually. We check in with one of West Virginia's finest singer-songwriters on the occasion of the release of her new CD, the heat-seeking "Disturbing My Peace."
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ART/WORK: A video gaze at new work by Sharon Lyn
You wouldn't think Twitter would be a place to watch an artist's development. But that would be the case with West Virginia artist Sharon Lyn. Here's a video of some of her striking newest work.
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RE/PRINT: Consuming Blackness in ‘progressive’ West Virginia
"White women were laughing and grabbing for bites of sushi off a human body. That imagery doesn't fade. Instead, it continues to enrage me. It stands as both a metaphor and real evidence of oppression and silence."
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SHORT/STORY: ‘I can see clearly now’
What happened one day out near the Beautiful River while I was pondering whether my father's was right when he got angry and said: 'People are no damn good!'
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RE/PRINT: Community Seeks Police Reform After Shooting On Charleston’s West Side
On April 30, Charleston Police officers shot a 33-year-old Black man, while attempting to make an arrest on Charleston’s West Side. The incident has left many in the community wondering why police resorted to shooting the man who had brandished a knife.
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ARTIFACTS
In the debut of 'ARTIFACTS,' an occasional, fluffy feature showcasing oddball ephemera with a West Virginia connection, we explore the intersections of David Bowie. "I Dream of Jeannie" and Chuck Yeager.
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SPOTLIGHT: Who is saying what as the Opioid Trial begins
If the first day of a landmark trial involving the nation’s three largest opioid distributors is any indication, a lot of fingers will be pointed elsewhere by those distributors in the coming weeks.
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EDITORS/NOTE: A ‘ninety-something’ issue
It was only after I got this issue's "5 QUESTIONS" answers back from a 90-something Buddhist monk in the West Virginia outback I realized I was running an inadvertent theme issue with the April 2021 edition of WestVirginiaVille.
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COVERSTORY: CHARACTERS: “When Earl Went to War”
American men of Earl Goodall's generation are famously not forthcoming about their psychological states or what it's like to go to war, people dying in front of and beside you. But this Korean War vet communicates all you need to know about that 'Forgotten War.'
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CLIMATE: “Why do you care about the climate crisis?”
The West Virginia Climate Alliance is a recently formed umbrella group that includes many key players and groups in West Virginia on the front lines of addressing climate change. So, why care about the climate crisis, anyway?
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SPOTLIGHT: To do or not to do? What the 2020 WV Legislature passed—or didn’t
The West Virginia Legislature has concluded its 60-day session after passing nearly 300 bills. What were they doing — and not doing this session? Erin Beck of Mountain State Spotlight details what got done and didn't.
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5 QUESTIONS: Bhante G on meditating via ZOOM, daily mindfulness and facing death
It is perhaps not as well known as it should be that a much-beloved, 93-year-old global figure in Buddhism has called West Virginia home since 1985. We check in with him on ZOOM meditating and more.
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IN MEMORIUM: Giancarlo DiTrappano
Recalling "Tyrant" book editor, "bad boy" of publishing, and Charleston, West Virginia native Giancarlo DiTrappano.
