What happened one night on Folklife Mountain in the West Virginia heartland. Some called it Magic Mountain.
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VIDEO: “Say Their Names”
There are a lot of names of black people, killed by police officers on this list. Below are all the names on the list. Some famous, a few historic. All of them individuals who were loved, who had dreams. Who, like you and I—had issues and challenges, joys and loves. Trying to figure out life, in all its messiness and pain.
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ORIGINALS | “THE BALLAD of KYLE T. MaGATT: About a Deplorable Fellow in a Little Red Hat”
"My emotional core for the entire cartoon is that no matter how frustrated, angry, and exhausted I am by the Kyle MaGatts (and Karens) of this country, I don't want them to die. Especially not because of a preventable virus. Not alone. For nothing."
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CHARACTERS: A Portrait of the Artist in Her Garden
Sassa Wilkes paints every day. Now, she is painting in a different fashion, using the Earth as a palette. A portrait of a West Virginia artist growing things in a big way for the first time, thanks to Covid-19.
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POEM | “Nous Celeron” by Douglas John Imbrogno
'Don’t you, Nous Céleron, wish to lay down your arms? Enter the Ohio’s cool darkness, or the Chinodahichetha! Sounding out each syllable as a Wyandotte might utter them ...
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READINGS | Two by Kiley Lee
Twitter can be a whirlwind of woe. It can also be a place of discovery, of encountering creatives working in West Virginia whose work is worth checking out and lifting up. Here are two poems and two photographs by Kiley Lee, of Paden City WV.
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A WestVirginiaVille.com Reader | aug3.2020
If you have not yet subscribed to WestVirginiaVille's free e-mail newsletter, please do so at this link: westvirginiaville.substack.com. Here is our most recent newsletter of aug3.2020.
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5 THINGS | 1 Root Beer; 1 Comet; 1 Peach Porn; 1 Kitty; 1 Nixon
In a new installment of '5 Things,' we eyeball the return of revolving root beer; the New River Gorge Bridge posing with a comet; some fresh produce peach porn; a kombucha-kitty watercolor; and where you can find Richard Nixon in West Virginia.
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VIDEO: Pulitzer Prize-winner Joins West Virginia Investigative Non-Profit
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eric Eyre will be joining the investigative staff of the new West Virginia non-profit watchdog outfit Mountain State Spotlight.
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CHARACTERS | Recalling Stick Artist-Poet-Philosopher-Shaman Boyd Carr
Boyd Carr, who died at age 88 this summer, was many things. West Virginia-based poet Kirk Judd recalls a man he describes as "one of the few true geniuses I have known. He was brilliant in his use of language and in the art of storytelling."
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A Portrait of the Artist in Her Studio & Out: Jes Reger
Jes Reger is an accomplished watercolorist based in Wheeling WV. In the first of a series of profiles of Tamarack for the Arts 2020 Emerging Artist fellows, she talks about the challenges of being a working painter during a global pandemic.
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5 QUESTIONS: When Life Hands You Quarantine, You Make a Web Series Out of It
Curren Sheldon and Tijah Bumgarner are the wizards behind the extremely entertaining web series, "Quarantine Life," which asks—and answers—the question: What do two mondo-talented West Virginia filmmakers do during a global pandemic that has locked down the usual creative projects into which they had been pouring their life force?
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ROADTRIPPING: “Ohio Rover” Homage to a Bridge
Needing to get out of Quarantine Dodge this week, we took a roadtrip out of the Mountain State and up the Ohio River, passing the stately suspension tie bridge between West Virginia and Ohio. Here's a jazzy, one-minute musical homage, which commences WestVirginiaVille's "Roadtripping" video series.
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5 THINGS | 1 Bridge, 1 Motorcycle, 1 Queen, 1 Mask & 1 Batman
Here are 5 images from the life, times and artistry of WestVirginiaVille, by staff and contributors. Including a drive-by Batman, a misty West Virginia icon and more.
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VIDEO: Not Your Average Ice Cream Truck Story
The tinkling sound of a new ice cream truck cruising the streets and cul-de-sacs of Cabell County, West Virginia, has a quite remarkable story behind it by a quite remarkable mother and son.
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TRAILER: A Peek at “Bye-Bye, Stonewall” mini-doc
Here's a peek from the trailer to WestVirginiaVille's upcoming mini-documentary, "Bye-Bye, Stonewall," on the years-long backstory on how a school in a black neighborhood in West Virginia's capital city finally got free of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson's name and mug.
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READINGS | A Stroll Deep into a West Virginia Marsh
If it’s true we are mother, father, sister, brother, related all to all, maybe that's one way to comprehend and befriend the ten thousand things. The hundreds of voices, cries, and songs rising from this manifold marsh.
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VIDEO: When the Confederate Flag Cuts and Runs
We direct your amusement to this Tiffany Thouartdope Finkton insta-rap. She made it after capturing a special moment outside the Kaoard of Education meeting to consider renaming Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Charleston WV. The fellow who arrived with a Confederate flag was definitely not reading the room.
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VIEW FROM THE PLAYGROUND: On Changing Stonewall Jackson Middle School’s Name
As adults decide the future of Stonewall Jackson Middle School's name at meeting Monday, July 6, 2020, we visited a playground in Charleston WV to find out what a group of students thought about the idea.
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POINTS of VIEW | ‘If You’re Silent About Your Pain’
A LETTER TO NEUTRAL COLLEAGUES: "I realize you may be actually confused about whether blacks are offended or feel pain from reminders of that dark period. Zora Neale Neale Hurston once said: "If you're silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it." So, I will clarify that we are offended. We are in pain."
