Michael Keller (keller@wvinter.net)
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 23:25:19 -0500
Geee, I wouldn't describe WV as "mostly backwoods." It has a lot of forest,
especially in the eastern mountains, if we can keep the developers from tearing it
all up. The radio observatory was built a long time ago, it's about a 15 minute
drive from one of the major ski resorts now. The eastern panhandle is very rolling
farmland, and only an hour's drive from D.C. They keep trying to build four lane
highways all over the state for "economic development," except in the southern part
of the state where they really need it. That's the area heavily ravaged by coal
mining.
It's a rural state with a rich history of immigrants, agriculture, music and labor
disputes. (the only time US military forces were used against US citizens was
during the mine strike in the 20s, aka "The Mine Wars." The mine companies got the
governor to call in the military, which culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain.
BTW, Blair Mountain is now being stripped by a coal company) In my job at the
Division of Culture and History, I get around the state to see a lot of the
historic areas, and meet the people. We put out a quarterly magazine called
Goldenseal about WV traditional life, and we host a number of events that feature
old time musicians and traditional craftspeople. We also put on the Biannual WV
Juried Exhibition, that's this year, you should enter. It would be good to see some
more alt photo entered.
I only know of a couple of folks doing alt process, although I know of three Cirkut
photographers and several large format folks. (you know Mark Crabtree, he's in
M'town?) And of course, there's plenty of us making our livings doing photography.
There's also plenty to photograph, whether you like landscapes, people, or
whatever.
Oh, and on accents: we don't have "southern" accent. It's a twang.<g> I lived in VA
a few years, they have a "southern accent." If you went down south and tried to
claim WV was southern, they'd tar and feather ya.
If you get down to Charleston, look me up, Bob. Maybe I can find ya some 'shine;
they keep the stills hidden in the pot patch.<g>
SCHRAMMR@WLSVAX.WVNET.EDU wrote:
> Jwellia,
>
> Actually W. Va. is a rather nice state. However, most of it really is the
> backwoods, if you know what I mean. I went to West Virginia University and
> there met students from all over the state. They told me many amusing stories
> about making moonshine, fox hunting (sans horses), small towns. W. Va. is
> so isolated a sparsely populated that it was chosen for the site of the
> national radio observatory (little electrical interference). It is however,
> a very beautiful state. I live in the northern pandandle (the only part
> above the mason-dixon line). This area is not like the rest of the state at
> all. It is more like eastern Ohio or Western Pennsylvania. Everyone around here
> speaks Pittsburghease, whereas, folks in the southern part of the state do
> have a slight southern accent. I probably should not make fun, but I do
> feel sort of isolated. There are only two people I know of in the entire state
> who are doing alternative process printing. The other person does only bromoil
> printing. I do a lot of different processes. If you think its hard to get
> people in large cities to understand what you are doing with alternative
> process printing, you should see what it is like around here. Where are you
> from?
>
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