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."
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‘ALEXANDRIA SPEAKS’: Why Stonewall Jackson Middle School Needs a New Name
Why rename a school long named for a Confederate general? Watch a 13-year-old student in Charleston WV tell why in an impassioned plea to the adults considering whether to rename her Stonewall Jackson Middle School.
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NATUREGRAM 1 | Sheltering-in-Nature during a Pandemic
Could you use some Canadian geese, chuckling water and scenes of nature not trying to sell you something? Here is a WestVirginiaVille Public Service Mental Health Pandemic Video.
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STRIKE THIS WAY: A Crowdsourced Look at the 2018 WV Teacher’s Strike
We hereby enter these videos into the Multimedia Historical Records of the Great State of WestVirginiaVille. How Mitch got Ditched: a crowdsourced look at the beginnings of a purge.
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UNMASKED! |A Pandemic Photo Project
Yes, of course you should still be wearing a mask in public. A second wave of infections? We're not even through the first. Here are some masked inspirations—followed by their unmasked selves.
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PODCAST | A Coal River Homeless Camp Tale of Survival
Homelessness is something most people see on a regular basis here in West Virginia. But what about the homelessness we don't see? Kyle Vass takes us into a St. Albans homeless camp at the heart of community fight over their riverside existence.
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OP-ED LIMERICKS | An Absolute Artist at Failing
West Virginia writer and artist Colleen Anderson's Molotov limericks are aimed straight at the softest spots of Donald Trump's long-haul campaign to sow division, distrust, and discord across the land. We've animated a crop of three of them, yanked right from the headlines.
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UNSCRIPTED No. 1| Trump’s Good Karma
You must admit he has amazingly good karma. His entire life he has never been called to account. "Trump's Good Karma" is the first in a WestVirginiaVille video series called "Unscripted."
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A Public Service Announcement from the Juggling Community
We hereby present to you "A Juggler's Guide to Covid-19," as we believe this will be the first—and the last —of those you will see during the current pandemic.
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DRIVE-BY LOVE: Portrait of a Pop-Up Pride and Black Lives Matter Parade
There were balloons and streamers. There were rainbow flags. And lots of honks. A video/photographic portrait of a literally moving Pride and Black Lives Matter parade in Huntington WV on june6.2020
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STEPHEN SMITH | Part 1: On His Long-Distance, Grass-roots Run for Governor
As part of a new WestVirginiaVille series called, "Conversations," we sit down with 2020 West Virginia gubernatorial Democratic candidate Stephen Smith as he winds down a two-year, grass-roots campaign to upend the long reign of what his campaign dubs the "good old boy network" in state governance.
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STEPHEN SMITH | Part 2: Why We Endorse Stephen Smith for WV Governor
Why WestVirginiaVille is holding up its small megaphone with a big message: West Virginia is in sore need of systemic change. And Stephen Smith and his campaign are the only ones who seems to have thought deeply about how to get that ball rolling.