The "Big Three" prescription drug firms responsible for fueling the devastating toll of West Virginia's opioid crisis are earning praise and contracts from the Trump adminstration as a key trial holding them to task approaches Oct. 19
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How to Create Your Own West Virginia Woodland Paradise
Even if you’re a “Townie” on a small city lot and don’t have acres to play with, you can still create an “island” of forest to enjoy. All you need is a little shade or dappled sunlight.
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“LAY THAT BURDEN DOWN”: A Musical Homage to John Lewis, Sung by Lady D
Check out the world premiere of the music video of the Ron Sowell/Jon Wikstrom song "Lay Down That Burden," sung by Lady D and inspired by the life, courage, and heart of John Lewis, whose example is ever more needed now in America.
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VIDEO/POEM: A Brief Visit to “Magic Mountain” in West Virginia
What happened one night on Folklife Mountain in the West Virginia heartland. Some called it Magic Mountain.
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WV governor ‘tweaked’ a Harvard COVID map. Their experts say the state’s changes are flawed.
The adminstration of WV Gov. Jim Justice has relied on outdated COVID-19 data for determing each county’s risk level and altered the methodology for determining the total number of cases. A Mountain State Spotlight reprinted investigation.
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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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ILLUSTRATIONS | The Wonderful Friend
"When I finally got to art school, a professor asked me why I ever became an artist in the first place. I told him the truth ..."
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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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GUEST POST: The Not-So-Natural Gas Boom
Natural gas and the fracking boom have changed the landscape, politics and economics of West Virginia. Sean O'Leary of the Ohio River Valley Institute addresses the claims of "a veritable rock star proponent of 'the natural gas economy.' And finds all nine of his "irrefutable energy truths,” in fact, quite refutable.
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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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READINGS |’The Question That Stripped My Daddy of His Manhood’
"I felt his shame and embarrassment. It was not my intent to shame or embarrass my daddy. But he heard the anger and reprimand in my voice. You know. Don’t-let-anyone-take-advantage-of-you kind of reprimand ..."
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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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DRAGLINE: Charleston, W.Va. officials dancing around police reform one year after beating of unarmed woman
This recent Dragline piece by Kyle Vass follows up on a Charleston Police Department incident in West Virginia's capital city in October 2019, which has dropped from the headlines. The story has not received the sustained attention it deserves and this article helps fill some of that gap.
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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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READINGS | “Please Take Care of My Friend: Heart Advice from a Stranger”
"Don't drive if you're upset. Don't beat yourself up. Know you're lovable and inspire others even if you're not feeling it. Meditate. Sing. Even badly. It changes the brain right away "
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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.
