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.

A fun run

It's been a fun three years, but it looks like WV Public Broadcasting is going to pull the plug on The Front Porch program/podcast as executive director  Scott Finn moves on to  the mean streets of Vermont. I'm grateful for the chance to have worked on it. If you'd like for them to bring back something like that at some point, let them know.  I think there might be a use for civil discussions between people with different points of view.  I think there'll be another episode or two in the pipeline. Here's the latest episode.

Leftovers

Well, the legislative session is finally over. Some bad stuff happened. We didn't get all we wanted and got a good bit of what we didn't. On the other hand, we had a huge successful nonviolent uprising. I guess you can't have everything.

Speaking of which, we discussed the lessons of the teachers' strike on the latest edition of The Front Porch. It's great to watch the ripples spread out around the country.

I had trouble getting published in the Gazette this year, with only one op-ed on the dangers of oligarchy getting printed.

Here's the last edition of Wonk's World, which we produced on the day before the session ended.

Speaking of the Gazette, we got the good news that the paper was bought by HD Media, a non-evil locally owned newspaper group. For a long while it looked like it would be bought by Ogden, which seems to specialize in producing not-too-readable reactionary stuff. That would have been for WV what Bedford Falls would have been if Mr. Potter took over in the movie It's a Wonderful Life.

Last word (for now) goes to Gazette-Mail political columnist Phil Kabler (who just dodged a likely bullet, as the above paragraph explains), who summed up the session pretty well here.

Long time gone

It's been several days without a Goat Rope post. I've been on the road a lot lately crisscrossing the state several times to go to citizen advocacy and lobbying trainings. Usually, these are sparsely attended, but for some unknown reason people are turning out by the scores and hundreds. I'm glad--we're going to need all the people power we can get.

Meanwhile, here's the latest Front Porch. Not my best effort, but I was burned out from the road, sick, and uninformed about the topic until the morning we recorded it.

Meanwhile, would someone please tell me when we've hit bottom?

A major catch

I could be wrong, but The Front Porch program/podcast on WV Public Broadcasting, may actually be getting respectable. This week, we had an actual US senator, WV's Shelley Moore Capito. We talked about black lung, health care, broadband and the new political era here.

Celebrity Apprentice should have won...

...at least when Gary Busey was on there. The latest Front Porch podcast is about third parties and whether elections are rigged. Alas, we recorded it before the third presidential debate.

Buzz kill

So earlier this week the Spousal Unit and I went to our favorite Italian restaurant. We had a good meal and a good time but it kinda got spoiled. In order to prepare for the next Front Porch podcast, I promised to listen to the debate between WV's two main candidates for governor. It was a buzz kill.

I should have stuck to my usual practice of talking about stuff I know nothing about, like I do here.

Anyhow, here's a link to the podcast. I think it's better than the debate anyway.

Politics and roosters

The latest Front Porch program/podcast discusses issues in the WV governor's race, Trumpiana, and the passing of my favorite rooster. There is considerable overlap between political behavior and that of roosters. In fact, living around roosters has greatly deepened my understanding of politics.

Rediscovered

If you're anything like me you are probably SOOO over the political convention season. Nevertheless, WV unusually got a lot of attention this time around. That's the subject on this week's Front Porch.

A view from up close

We produced two flood-related Front Porch podcasts this week. The first was posted here yesterday and covered WV's neglected flood plans. The latest features a talk with state senator Chris Walters, who has been working hard every day in Clendenin to help families devastated by the flood. He also has some practical suggestions for people willing to get their hands dirty.

In other news, I was sad to learn of yet more police shootings of African Americans. Here's a look by the numbers of just how bad things are here compared with other places.

Finally, here are some less depressing numbers from Pew. It looks like in the states the crime rate has declined even as imprisonment rates have done the same.

Another road not taken

The latest Front Porch features an interview with Gazette-Mail reporter and Coal Tattoo blogger Ken Ward on WV's neglected plan to deal with flooding.

On a more positive note, here's something from the UK Guardian about research that suggests goats want to form social relationships with humans. Whatever. The real deal is that they think we are stupid waiters who get their orders wrong.

Bang bang

Here's an interesting look at gun violence in America by way of Vox. I have to give WV Senator Joe Manchin  some credit for trying to take some rational action on this issue. He tried once before after Sandy Hook and took some heat for it.

Meanwhile, the latest Front Porch podcast looks at the size and state of state government in WV.

Finally, this article about how some fish can recognize human faces is not recommended reading if you plan on hitting a seafood restaurant anytime soon.

Budget meltdown

Months after the regular legislative session, ten days into a "special" session and a little over a month away from a state government shutdown, things are still a mess at the capitol. That was the topic of the latest Front Porch podcast.

Of politicians, poetry, parasites and cicadas

The latest Front Porch program/podcast is kind of all over the place. It looks back at WV's primary election and weird political history, touches on the perennial issue of outsiders, and, most importantly, discusses cicadas in a scientific and poetic manner. Here it is.

Is it over yet?

West Virginia's primary election is tomorrow (Tuesday, May 10). I don't know about you, but I'll be kind of glad when it's over. Maybe. Anyhow, here's a bonus section of The Front Porch with a focus on the state supreme court race.

Also, this column by E.J. Dionne has some interesting things to say about empathy and Appalachia. I think it's worth a look.

And speaking of wanting something to be over (in a good way), I'm dreading next week's special session of the legislature to deal with the budget. It promises to be a true goat rope.

A lively exchange

Regular readers of Goat Rope know that I'm more of a class warrior than culture warrior, metaphorically speaking. The class one isn't going so well these days as far as my guys are concerned. It's more a one-sided class beatdown. Cultural conflicts, which aren't my main gig keep popping up. One such is the subject of transgender rights or the lack thereof. That's on the menu in this week's Front Porch. I think it's one of the better ones.

Prison nation

On the latest Front Porch program/podcast, we spoke with my friend Pastor Matthew Watts of Grace Bible Church and Hope Community Development on Charleston WV's west side. This is a heavily edited version of a long conversation we had about prisons, race, mass incarceration, social changes and more.

WISDOM BOOKS. Regular readers of this blog know I'm a sucker for ancient Greek and Roman classics. Right now, I've made a decent start at rereading three classics that I plan on going through again and again: Plutarch's Lives, Herodotus' Histories and Thucydides' Peloponnesian War. (I'm about 320 pages through the first and just finished the life of Timoleon, the Corinthian leader who liberated Sicily from the rule of tyrants.) So it's no wonder that this Gazette-Mail op-ed on Thucydides caught my eye.

SAD SIGN OF THE TIMES. It's no secret that WV has a drug overdose problem and that my county of Cabell is ground zero. It was really sad for me to read that school nurses in that county are preparing to administer naxolone for opioid overdoses.

Hard times

The topic of this week's Front Porch from WV Public Broadcasting was the woes of a certain demographic you may have heard about this election season, to with the white working class. We kicked some ideas around here. And remember, no trolling till you listen to the podcast.

(Fair warning: there are some odd juxtapositions and turns of a phrase in this one.)

Into the weeds

Some people think things like the state budget are boring. I always say the breathing is kind of boring too, unless someone is choking you. Then it's fascinating. The latest Front Porch is about WV's budget woes.

The quality of mercy

It's sad, but it looks like the Second Chance for Employment Act won't make it out of the WV House. It would have allowed nonviolent nonsexual offenders with one felony conviction to petition the courts to expunge their records after five years. On the other hand, things look better for a bill that would help people regain their drivers licenses.

We talked about those bills in addition to the "religious freedom" bill and mandatory minimums on a bonus Front Porch. If you listen, it was recorded on Friday so is a bit behind the times.

For those self-identified Christians who may not have got the whole mercy memo, here's a cheat sheet from Shakespeare:

The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings,
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God himself.
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.