Here are some snapshots, hipshots and night shots, from wandering the highways, byways, and lifeways of the world through which my iPhone moves, in the small towns, small cities and hills of West Virginia.
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‘HOUSE IN THE CLOUDS’ launches with a pretty classy shindig
I date dating myself using the word ‘shindig.' Yet the Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as: ‘A large, lively party, especially one celebrating something.” That well describes the buzzy premiere of “HOUSE IN THE CLOUDS: The Artistic Life of Robert Singleton” on Sept. 17, 2023, in West Virginia’s capital city of Charleston, W.Va.
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A Report from the Crowdfunding Frontlines
Help support independent artistry, guerilla filmmaking, and soulful storytelling, as we wind down the crowdfunding campaign for "HOUSE IN THE CLOUDS: The Artistic Life of Robert Singleton"
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GUEST ESSAY: Sermonizing on what Joni Mitchell said
Spinning up a sermon from how Joni Mitchell's song “Passion Play (When All the Slaves are Free)" speaks to the mandate to reach out to those the powerful and mighty consign to huddling in the darkness—just as stories of the life of Jesus show him doing constantly.
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GUEST ESSAY: ‘Dad, Donald Trump and My Mountain Mama’
"As limited as his formal education was, dad was a smart and insightful person. I think he would have seen through Trump’s use and manipulation of a religious faith that was the sustaining factor in my dad’s life ..."
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INDEX: A Guide to Stories in the November 2022 issue of WestVirginiaVille
Here is a clickable guide to all the articles, profiles, Q-and-As, videos and whatnot in the November 2022 edition of WestVirginiaVille.com
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EDITOR/NOTES: Life After the MidTerms
This new November 2022 issue, I must say, is quite the thing with a whole bunch of cool features you're unlikely to see gathered together anywhere else. But first — be sure you go vote. Take someone with you ...
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THE INTERVIEW: Ann Magnuson on the art of “suRURALism” and coming to ground in West Virginia
You need several categories — performer, musician, actress, artist, etc. — to sum up the swath Ann Magnuson has cut through the cultural scene since leaving her hometown of Charleston WV. And there’s a reason she comes back so often.
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Q&A: How “The Coal Trap” led to West Virginia’s “lost decade” in clean energy
How West Virginia got stuck in "The Coal Trap" — and missed out for ten years on the clean energy revolution — is a story worth a book. How the state might get out of the trap” A Q-and-A with the author of that book.
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FIRST/PERSON: Finding Yo-Yo Ma playing cello in the West Virginia hills
Who was that man bowing a cello against a tree in the New River Gorge? Why, it's none other than one of the world's best known and loved instrumental maestros. And he has something to say as well as to play.
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BEST/SHOT: Lights, Losers, Lovers, Lillies & Leaves
A sampling of a 'Best/Shot,' photograph from the multiple spires of West Virginia's capital all seen at once, to Autumn leaves, lily pads, and some thoughtful graffiti.
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POETRY: “Fall” by Jodi Autumn
The trees in their fall-best, gaudy, in their most beautiful gowns of oranges, yellows, and reds, whispered secrets to me in / their slow, slow speech. / They told me that it’s okay that some of me is always dying. / They warned that we don’t know what is to come. / They said to prepare for the worst, / but to do it in style.
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READINGS: “THE OUTHOUSE: When you have to go, you have to go”
Over there sits a narrow, tiny, upright building of loosely-fitted, weathered boards painted Theravada Buddhist orange. It has a peaked roof covered with black shingles. It is a monk’s outhouse in the Appalachian hills. I know who built it. He’s a friend of mine.
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FIRST/PERSON: Prostitute Pasta & Way-Out Family Restaurants
'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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CHARACTERS | A visit with a ‘cozmic’ polymath prof and his harmonium
Marshall U. prof Bill Price has a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Physics, reads Sanskrit (but says he's not fluent), and has pages of peer-reviewed publications on his Curriculum Vitae. He also plays the harmonium, had a Naval Academy appointment and began yoga at age 11.
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EDITORS/NOTE: What’s up with an all-poetry edition, man? Isn’t that weird?
When I conceived of devoting an entire issue of this monthly WestVirginiaVille web magazine to poets or poems with some connection to West Virginia I didn't realize that when all was writ and done it would end up being quite so ambitious. And ... um, large ...
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INDEX: Guide to stories in September 2022 Poetry Edition
Here's a clickable guide to all the poetry and features in the special September 2022 edition of WestVirginiaVille.com
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‘A farm woman wrapped up with a world-class poet’: Irene McKinney in her own words
Irene McKinney was a nationally-praised poet and West Virginia’s very down-to-earth poet laureate. As the Hiram Poetry Review said: “Even people who think they don’t like poetry end up loving Irene, her sense of humor, her 'rhythmic, beautifully ordinary speeches of the heart.'”
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“Not All That Much” by Marc Harshman
‘Not that much, perhaps, and our only companion, / a still and remembered, peculiar silence, / a silence with weight, / and the kind of karma you can't get / from books, or gurus, or pets …’
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“The Garden You Called Eden” by Julie Pratt
‘You return to me across a chasm in time since / we last sat in your kitchen, curtains quivering in / the warm breeze, my skin damp from cutting grass / with your old hand mower, the scent of peonies / you picked that morning and of toasted cheese / sandwiches and sliced ripe pears …’
