March sneaks up on me. I still consider it the beginning of nature’s year when the earliest spring birds and flowers appear. But now there’s a somber side to nature’s awakening—an odd, empty feeling, like waking up to discover I forgot to set the alarm clock. Time has passed while I’ve been snoozing. What did I miss and why is it so quiet? Read the Full Story >>
Shepherdstown
Appalachian Noir – ‘Coal Black,’ by Chris McGinley (Shotgun Honey, 2019)
In one of the most searing dialogues of Chris McGinley’s debut short story collection Coal Black, an eastern Kentucky drug dealer known as Hellbender asks a sheriff who’s been pursuing him: “Why do you think people around here are so addicted to drugs?” He answers his own question: “It’s because of depression. There is a streak of fatalism in Coal Black that is not just informed by the trappings of the crime fiction genre, but by the socioeconomic devastation of its rural Kentucky setting. The survivalist outlook of the characters in these stories is its inevitable consequence. Read the Full Story >>
Shepherdstown Community Club Moves Forward on Strength of 75-Year History
There is a sense of community in Shepherdstown that exists in a swirling pattern focusing first on the vibrant heart of the city’s German Street before moving outward to neighborhoods both old and new. The city’s heartbeat plays its rhythm softly in the background for times gone by, and ever more strongly today. Read the Full Story >>
I Think I May Be the Luckiest Man Alive
Dow Benedict, former faculty member and Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Shepherd University, looks back on 48 years of service as a mentor, artist, and leader. Read the Full Story >>
It Happened in Dogleg Bend, West Virginia
Short story collections can rise and fall by something as simple as the order in which its stories are presented to the reader. A punchy opening tale or an evocative closing yarn can compel the audience to read further or leave an impression that makes up for the weaker stories within its pages. The stakes are even higher when the stories are interconnected like in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, a standard bearer of this subgenre, where a fictional Midwest town is the canvas upon which the characters’ lives unfold, or Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, where its main character and his drug-addled perception of the world serve as the collection’s connecting tissue. Read the Full Story >>
Big Manufacturers Want a Big Property Tax Break
Once again, the West Virginia Manufacturers Association (WVMA) is coming to the Legislature with a proposal to give large manufacturers and mining companies a property tax break. Read the Full Story >>
WVU Medicine Lands Facility in Shepherdstown
WVU Medicine plans to build a 10,700-square-foot medical office building (MOB) located on Route 45 west of downtown Shepherdstown near Sheetz, which will house two physician’s office suites—one for primary care and one for specialists. Read the Full Story >>
Shepherdstown Artist Kimo Williams Maximizes his Moment in Time
In 2018, Williams opened up his shop and decided to call the venture KimoPics Studio and Gallery. He sees the store as a means to meet new and interesting people from all walks of life that he never would have come in contact with. “I do make my photography available for sale, but more importantly, and my main goal, is to engage with those who enter my gallery on a plethora of subjects, and to create a positive camaraderie that can be sustainable once they leave.” Read the Full Story >>
Winter is Party Time for Crows
People might say a crow is a crow, but in the Potomac and Shenandoah Valley, when you see a crow it could be one of three different species. By far, the most common is the American crow, followed by the slightly smaller Fish crow. Occasionally a Northern raven will join them. All three species nest here and can be seen all year. But they’re more evident and easier to see in winter. Read the Full Story >>
Appalachian Magical Realism
In Tim Westover’s novel The Winter Sisters, the hills of antebellum northern Georgia are the setting for a clash between science and magic in a story that treads nimbly between fantasy, picaresque, and historical fiction. In 1822, Savannah doctor Aubrey Waycross is invited to Lawrenceville, a remote town that, thanks to Westover’s evocative prose, seems to exist in a perpetual time warp where America is still new and tradition coexists with progress—a community that is as distant from cities as it is from the ripples of the Revolutionary War and the brewing tensions of the Civil War. Read the Full Story >>
A Panhandle Adventure and So Much More
While some people enjoy exploring new places on their own, they can sometimes miss the special things that locals know about. On the other hand, many people just dislike the hassle of making schedules and itineraries, preferring to let someone else do the work. And some locals are so busy with their daily routines that they miss things that are right in their own back yards. To that end, Hike Adventures is a new business headquartered in Harpers Ferry (WV) offering locals and visitors alike something beyond a hike. Read the Full Story >>
At the Crossroads of Passion and Purpose: She Walked the Walk
Shepherdstown resident Tracy Danzey grew up in the Parkersburg (WV) area, in a little town called Vienna—an idyllic childhood as she recalls, suburban and wooded, with plenty of time spent outdoors and, especially, in the water. Read the Full Story >>
Clean Drinking Water Bill to be Introduced
On December 16, several members of the House of Delegates, I included, held a press conference in Charleston at which we announced that we would be sponsoring a bill that would significantly improve drinking water protection. Read the Full Story >>
Food Delivery Lands in the Panhandle with DubvEatz
Have you ever had one of those days where everything went wrong at work, you got stuck in traffic, you’re exhausted, and when you step into your home, your family is staring back at you wondering what’s for dinner? Well, you’re in luck, because all you need to do now is visit the DubvEatz website or app and order any type of cuisine you prefer, and get it delivered right to your doorstep. Read the Full Story >>
From the Dark Web to the Streets
Fentanyl, Inc. opens with the story of eighteen-year-olds Bailey Henke and Kain Schwandt as they go on a road trip across the snowed plains of North Dakota. Henke and Schwain plan on visiting family, but they have an ulterior motive: they hope their time on the road will help them kick their addiction to fentanyl, a drug they once discovered by buying medical patches on the black market. Read the Full Story >>