We cut, rake, and bale / till the sun goes down and the dew settles on the fields, / then start again next morning once the dew burns off ...
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MUSICVIDEO: “Winter Walking,” when it’s not such a wonderland
A long winter grips the land. Add in cabin-fever weariness from a year-long COVID quarantine—and you can be forgiven if it seems like we are living through "a winter that never dies." Here's a music video about that.
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CDC says Kanawha County WV HIV outbreak is the most concerning in America
A top U.S. government health official says the rise in HIV cases in Kanawha County WV linked to injection drug use is currently the “most concerning [outbreak] in the United States," rivaling all the cases in New York City in 2019.
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VIDEO: Other ways of looking at a Mail Pouch barn
Mail Pouch barn signs became such an iconic, familiar image, showcased in tens of thousands of similarly framed snapshots, postcards, and saturated photographs that they are almost impossible to see afresh. We give it a go in "Chew This Way."
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ONE WORK: “Misconceptions” and Angry Black Mothers
Lady D: "I decided on “Misconceptions” because that’s how most black women are viewed. It is a misconception that seems to have been perpetrated by a society that not only de-values us, but also fears our male children."
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EDITORIAL: An Open Letter to Shelley Moore Capito
Which will it be. Either: Shelley Moore Capito stood for a president willing to launch a vicious attack mob at the heart of the U.S. Capitol. Or: Shelley Moore Capito did the right thing in the final pinch and voted to impeach such a man.
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PHOTOPOEM: “When Hay Bales Speak to You”
Let’s talk hay bales. I have, perhaps like you, been spying hay bales most all my life. Yet, in all that time haven’t met a hay bale. Up close. The other day, I had my chance.
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VIDEO: “Chasing Birds in Snow”
Take a 2-minute excursion into the heart of the heart of Nature, as a bunch of birds play leapfrog in the midst of a West Virginia snow squall.
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VIDEO: “The Edge of Day”
Thoughts on high while at the edge of day. An original short video production featuring imagery and music by Bobby Lee Messer and words by Kim Wilkinson.
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BLACK HISTORY 1: ‘I was first-class in my own mind’
As part of our Black History Month coverage, here is the tale of Mountain State native Joe Turner, part of a pioneering officer class of Black West Virginians who served with distinction in Vietnam and beyond.
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BLACK HISTORY 2: ‘Rosa Parks’ feet did not hurt’
The actual story of the stalwart moment Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of an Alabama bus in 1955 was far more powerful than a supposed frail, tired old Black lady sitting where she shouldn't.
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BLACK HISTORY 3: Name Change
When the school board stripped the name of a Confederate general off a middle school in a predominantly Black community West Virginia's capital city in 2020, the name change revealed the long and troubled history of institutional racism in America.
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Subscribe to our free, twice-monthly newsletter to learn of our gloriously variegated content (and the fact we use words like 'variegated'). Subscribe at: westvirginiaville.substack.com.
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THE FEMALE GAZE: How a West Virginia Artist Captured 100 Badass Women
Overwhelmed by the headlines, by Donald Trump, a pandemic and winter coming, West Virginia artist Sassa Wilkes couldn't get herself to her easel. Then, RBG died and Sassa found she wished to get to know the legal legend by painting her portrait. She kept on going with 99 more portraits of badass women.
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BOOK REVIEW: The True Story of West Virginia’s (Bourgeois) Revolution and Birth
The birth of West Virginia was more complex than the usual telling that it was born as a result of the Civil War. Industrial and labor forces were in play well before the war that would lead to a breakaway state carved out of western Virginia—with key support from Abe Lincoln, write the authors of the new book "Seceding from Secession."
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ESSAYS: The Rise and Fall of an American Con Man
A look back at a false prophet who was in fact a manipulative, sadistic, misogynistic, cunning con man who many people adored. We mean, of course, Robert Mitchum in "Night of the Hunter," shot in Moundsville WV. A timely essay.
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Behind West Virginia’s vaccine success story, chaos for local health departments
A surprise announcement from Gov. Jim Justice to begin vaccinating the general public caught county health departments in West Virginia — responsible for coordinating the state’s frontline response to the pandemic — off guard.
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NATUREGRAM: January Stroll Under an Azure Sky
The dried out, frosty marshlands are not really absent of life and color. You just have to hang out and look and listen more closely as you stroll the woods and walkways beside the Ohio in western West Virginia.
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ESSAYS: ‘David Bowie, Dad & Me’
Here's a new dispatch from our "Play That Funky Music Bureau"—a touching memoir of the ties between a young West Virginia-born writer and her Dad woven by the music of David Bowie—who have been 74 on January 8.
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COVID FAMILY PROJECT 1: Remain Vigilant, Plus a Recovery Tale
We launch WestVirginiaVille's year-long COVID Family Project 2021, featuring articles, videos, and audio stories from the pandemic frontlines—stories of family loss and recovery, plus people working hard to stop the rising tide of infections and death.
