Bad news this morning

I woke up this morning to the news of Anthony Bourdain's apparent death by suicide. It really came as quite a shock. He seemed like someone on top of the world, but this just goes to show we never really know what's going on inside a person.

I was slow to get on the bandwagon. We don't have cable on the farm, nor do we have the state flower (satellite dish). I first became a fan after my trip to Palestine in 2015, when a friend mentioned he did a show on that. I watched and it seemed like he got it right.

He really had a knack for combing cuisine with cultural observation, political insights, and empathy. (I also have to mention that he was a fellow martial artist who was pretty advanced in Brazilian jiu jitsu.)

When I heard he was doing a segment on McDowell County, WV, I was curious but had a feeling he'd do it right. In my opinion, he did. Here's what I wrote about it in an earlier post:

For natives of the state, it's almost never a good thing when WV gets national media attention. Stereotypes, over-simplifications and poverty porn about. But I'd have to say that aside from a few minor criticisms about certain outliers, he and his crew got it right. The school featured, Mount View High School, is one of the schools my domestic partner teaches at and she knew kids well. I saw some friends as well. And I love McDowell County, which was where most of it was filmed.

I know some people had issues with it, but I think it could have been SOOOOO much worse.

I think the world will be a good bit worse without him. I know West Virginia lost a friend and advocate.

I wish him a good journey to parts unknown.

From the Front Porch to Parts Unknown

Apropos of nothing, meet Jeffrey and Maude Lebowski, new residents of Goat Rope Farm.

For the last three years, I've had the opportunity to rant on WV Public Broadcasting's weekly program/podcast The Front Porch. The premise was to bring together people with different worldviews to have civil discussions of current issues, sometimes with guests.

The program was the brainchild of outgoing WVBP's outgoing executive director Scott Finn, who is leaving to take a similar position on the mean streets of Vermont, where life is cheap and death lurks behind every maple syrup-making sugarhouse. Unfortunately, the program is probably ending with his departure as new leadership takes charge.

It was fun while it lasted. I hope they bring it or something like it back...or that we find a new venue. In any case, I'm grateful for the chance to try it. I also appreciate Laurie Lin and Jessi Troyan, who "appeared" on the program along with Scott. We had some interesting discussions.

In our last episode, we look back over the issues we discussed and debated and we also talked about the recently released episode of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown, which featured West Virginia. 

For natives of the state, it's almost never a good thing when WV gets national media attention. Stereotypes, over-simplifications and poverty porn about. But I'd have to say that aside from a few minor criticisms about certain outliers, he and his crew got it right. The school featured, Mount View High School, is one of the schools my domestic partner teaches at and she knew kids well. I saw some friends as well. And I love McDowell County, which was where most of it was filmed.

I know some people had issues with it, but I think it could have been SOOOOO much worse.

I'd encourage people to take a look at the program--and I'd be interested in hearing what others think about it.

Loaves and fishes

Welch, WV in the days when mines were booming. Or is that Manhattan?

McDowell County is one of the poorest in West Virginia--and the nation. Before the coming of the coal industry, the population was tiny, with around 1500 people in 1860. When the mines were cranking, the population ballooned, growing to nearly 100,000 by 1950. As mining employment declined, it contracted hugely. I'd guess it's now below 20,000. High poverty rates also mean high un- and under-employment. It's also a food desert.

This Charleston Gazette-Mail article by Caity Coyne is a great summary of the struggles of people there to meet their basic food needs and of local charities like Five Loaves and Two Fishes to help that happen.  Those struggles are likely to get harder in the wake of HB 4001, in which Gov. Jim Justice and the Republican legislative majority restricted SNAP benefits, throwing thousands of low income West Virginians under the metaphorical bus.  Possible federal changes to food assistance under the Farm Bill could make things even worse.

Looks like food justice fighters are going to be busy.

The article also shows the importance of good local newspapers that do in-depth investigative reporting. We're going to need a lot of that.

High water everywhere

As I write this, WV is in the midst of a scary storm, one that reminds me of this Dylan song. It looks like the town of Richwood in Nicholas County is being evacuated as nearby Summit Lake (in which I have nearly drowned several times in a way that seems eerily personal) overflows its banks. Weather like this keeps my eye on the creek and often means being flooded in or power outages. My best wishes to everyone dealing with that.

McDowell County, WV has been hit with other floods, literal and metaphorical. How to respond to one of the latest is the them of the latest Front Porch podcast.

Stay dry, y'all!

Pulling the plug

A friend suggested a while back that I blog about how Wal-Mart is pulling out of many communities, after driving local businesses out as well. Bloomberg Business has an interesting article on just that.

What's really sad is that a Wal-Mart is closing in one place where it's truly needed: Kimball WV in the state's poorest county of McDowell, which is known among other things for its food deserts. The Spousal Unit and I often rant about the retail giant, but we agree that the Kimball one gets a pass. Too bad they're pulling the plug. A lot of things just won't be available there in a place where travel is hard and people don't have much to spend.

Due to a decades-long decline in coal employment, McDowell has hit hard already. It really didn't need another hit. Wal-Mart no doubt killed local businesses. I'm not sure what will take its place.

In the event of recurring boredom...

...here's another installment of The Front Porch, a new program on WV Public Radio which features discussions of live issues with people from different viewpoints. This time it is yours truly and Daily Mail columnist Laurie Lin again discussing the whole Appalachian outsider/insider issue with Scott Finn.

If that still won't do it, here's an op-ed on state tax reform and zombies (there is a connection) that ran this week as well.

Vampires got nothing on coal companies

If you doubt that, just take a look at McDowell County, WV, which is one of the state's top coal producing counties for the last 100 years. The wealth has been sucked out and the poverty  and misery have been left behind. Folks there and around WV are working to change things, including a friend of mine mentioned in this article. But it's hard to undo a century of exploitation.

One for fun, three for real.

OK, I don't usually sit around watching stuff on YouTube. Really. But I recently discovered a hilarious web-based show that is tailor made for karate geeks like myself. It's called Enter the Dojo and is a great spoof of the martial arts world and especially "McDojos." If you liked The Office you just might love it.

Watch at your own risk.

OK, back to business.

WHO OWNS WEST VIRGINIA? You probably guessed it: not West Virginians. Here's info about a new study by the American Friends Service Committee and the WV Center on Budget and Policy.

SPEAKING OF WEST VIRGINIA, here's an interesting op-ed by a friend of mine on the state's political climate. The author, Perry Mann, is even generous enough to feed the trolls that lurk at the Gazette website.

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, McDowell County, historically one of the counties from which the most coal wealth has been extracted, has life expectancies at or near the lowest in the nation.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

This must be my week for interesting encounters and unlikely conversations. Yesterday, I headed down to McDowell County to do spend the afternoon with some children in a summer program. McDowell is one of the poorest and most economically distressed counties in the nation. The kids were in Keystone, a predominately African-American community which is a pretty marginalized place in a very marginalized county.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I didn't find it. When I got there, there were three other people who planned on meeting with this small group of kids, including a representative of US Senator Joe Manchin, one from Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, and a member of the WV House of Delegates.

For real. How cool was that?

As if that wasn't odd enough, the delegate began his presentation to the kids, one of whom was as young as six, with a Latin quote from philosopher Rene Descartes. You guessed it, "cogito ergo sum." He then discussed the implications of "I think, therefore I am" in ways that Descartes never would have thought of. And they got it.

I don't know about you, but generally speaking I can go for a pretty long time in this state without running into someone, much less an elected official, who brings up 17 century French philosophers.

You just never know.

SUPERSIZE THIS. Fast food workers are on the move for a living wage.

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. It's bad for the brain and doesn't exactly bring out the best in people.

"LIBERTARIAN POPULISM." According to Michael Lind, it's Ayn Rand in disguise.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED