Mr. Chiotos' Record

2010-10-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

WEST VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY TURNOUT:

YELLOW = 1-4% DEMOCRATIC PARTY TURNOUT
LIGHT BLUE = 4-7% DEMOCRATIC PARTY TURNOUT
BLUE = 7-10% DEMOCRATIC PARTY TURNOUT
DARK BLUE = 10-13% DEMOCRATIC PARTY TURNOUT
GREEN = 13-16% DEMOCRATIC PARTY TURNOUT
ORANGE = 16- 19% DEMOCRATIC PARTY TURNOUT

WEST VIRGINIA REPUBLICAN PARTY TURNOUT

YELLOW = 1-4% REPUBLICAN PARTY TURNOUT
PINK = 4-7% REPUBLICAN PARTY TURNOUT
RED = 7-10% REPUBLICAN PARTY TURNOUT
DARK RED = 10-13% REPUBLICAN PARTY TURNOUT
GREEN = 13-16% REPUBLICAN PARTY TURNOUT
ORANGE = 16- 19% REPUBLICAN PARTY TURNOUT

OVERALL WEST VIRGINIA VOTER TURNOUT

Preventing the Next Mine Disaster: UNIONIZE

2010-04-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

"Oh Say, did you see him; it was early this morning.
He passed by your houses on his way to the coal.
He was tall, he was slender, and his dark eyes so tender
His occupation was mining, West Virginia his home

It was just before noon, I was feeding the children,
Ben Moseley came running to give us the news.
Number eight was all flooded, many men were in danger
And we don't know their number, but we fear they're all doomed"

- Jean Ritchie

Coal mining is dangerous business and the people of the Appalachian Coalfields, from Tennessee to West Virginia to Pennsylvania, have come to expect disasters out of the mining industry. Mining is a job that's full of risks and packed with hard work. Miners have come to be proud of the work that they do which truly has had a great role in powering the United States for more than the last century. It's been work that's populated Appalachia with amazing people but has kicked up a lot of coal dust in the process all over our great state of West Virginia.

After 9/11, where I was less than 10 miles from the Pentagon and remember hearing fighter jets & helicopters flying over my house throughout that tense night. I never thought I would feel that tragic emotion that brought anger, anticipation, fear, mourning, and pride together into one horrendous stomach ache again. Then came the disaster at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine.

I could not work all week. I could not stop refreshing the WSAZ news page and the Coal Tattoo Blog for updates. I could not get my mind off the basic question of whether there is good in the world where 29 hardworking men are killed because of Massey Energy's disregard for miner safety. I could not get off the phone talking with students I work with and my own family members who were grieving like I was for these men and holding out hope that the four "missing miners" would be found alive. They were not. And we continued to mourn through the weekend.

Both my great-grandfather and grandfather helped to pull 11 bodies out of the Nellis mine which is a hair under 33 miles away from the Montcoal mine. On November 8th, 1943, which was a Monday, his family was watching a movie in Whitesville and they were rushed out of the theatre to Nellis. His Mother and sisters were sent home to pray for survival, his father hurried down in the mine to search for life and my grandfather stood sentry at the mouth of the mine with not much to do but hope to see those men walk out of the mine. He was 13 at the time and he saw those 11 bodies come out of the mine in a railcar without a breath among them.

He is now the ripe age of 80, and once again mourning, this time for the 29 miners that were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine. He and no one in the coalfields should have to witness a disaster like this and be reminded of a disaster they lived through 67 years ago. We have the means and technology to make these kind of massive disasters a thing of the past that exists only in our memories and history books.

Worker deaths should not happen, and we should be pushing to prevent them whenever possible. The debate becomes about what is the safest method of mining coal, since we will be mining coal for a long time coming. Even if we quickly transition from burning coal for electricity, there are a ton of uses for coal (including using metallurgical coal for the production of steel which is needed for wind turbines) which will keep it as part of Appalachia's economy. For a point of information, the Upper Big Branch mine was mostly a metallurgical coal mine and the coal mined is used for steel-making, rather than electricity, production. Massey is known to export their metallurgical coal overseas, so the 29 miners probably lost their lives not to power the re-industrialization of the United States with renewable energy, but to power the industrialization of countries like China and India. So, even if we run a completely renewable energy economy, we need to keep a focus on how we can mine coal in the way that's most beneficial to the communities under the safest possible conditions.

Flying in the face of these horrible realities,there has been the disturbing development that Mountaintop Removal proponents have been coming out with recently. From Don Blankenship Supporters to Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, there has been an effort to use this horrible mining disaster to spread support for strip mining and mountaintop removal.

Countering this opportunistic assertion is the main point of this piece.

Nevermind the horrible leveraging of this disaster to increase support for the form of mining that employs the least number of people and causes the most damage to Appalachia. While there is truth in the statement that surface mining is safer for workers than underground mining, the Blankenships and Capitos of the world would have you believe that everything is hunky-dory and safe as grandma's apple pie on a strip mine.

The way that the Blankenships of the world make the argument is that we could simply shift from underground mining to strip mining is a total oversimplification of the realities of mining. The Upper Big Branch mine was more than a thousand feet underground. To get that coal, it takes underground mining, plain & simple. I know that Don Blankenship knows more about coal than I do, he's just more comfortable with lying than I am. So, we need to talk about what the safest ways of mining are and what makes the biggest impact on increasing worker safety.

As I've heard more of the pro-mountaintop removal opinion getting out there, I became more interested in knowing the facts. I've been hearing that strip mining was dangerous work, but I've never really known how dangerous. I came to the point of wanting to counter the claim that the Blankenships of the world were making, but I didn't know the facts. So, I started crunching some numbers, making excel spreadsheets and asking friends for help. What I found didn't really surprise me, but it gave a sense of concreteness to talk about how important unions are to worker safety.

What I found was that union strip mining was the safest for miners and that non-union underground mining was the most dangerous. That said, there is little way that we can or should be using that as a justification for more strip mining. Seeing as how coal that's mined a certain way is generally mined that way for whole host of reasons, the Blankenships of the world are oversimplifying it. If we look at the two forms of mining independent of each other, because strip vs underground mining is generally not interchangeable, we can easily see that whether a mine is union or non-union is incredibly important to worker safety.

I am using the VERY basic ratio of worker deaths per 10,000 miners to create four statistics which compare both strip vs underground mining and union vs non-union mining. This leaves out a ton of really important information, like worker injury rates, black lung and silicosis, effects on the communities around the mines, the different safety rates of the different forms of underground and strip mines, the different safety rates at different companies, etc etc etc. But, what this analysis does do is further the fact based conversation about what the safest forms of mining are in the real world.

Here are the stats that I developed using statistics from 2002 - 2008 (it's pretty obvious what the stats would be for 2010 with the Upper Big Branch disaster, but it's too early in the year for good statistics to be out there). The following chart summarizes the comparisons that I wrote about earlier...

	Deaths Per 10,000 Underground Union Miners	Deaths Per 10,000 Underground Non-Union Miners	Deaths Per 10,000 Surface Union Miners	Deaths Per 10,000 Surface Non-Union Miners
2002-->	2.02	5.12	0.00	4.22
2003-->	4.37	4.24	0.00	5.73
2004-->	2.84	4.72	1.43	4.12
2005-->	2.71	3.94	0.00	2.37
2006-->	3.53	1.04	1.54	2.47
2007-->	1.49	6.68	0.00	3.22
2008-->	2.23	3.35	0.00	5.47
Average-->	2.74	5.55	0.41	3.88

So, what you can see is that in each form of mining, union mining clearly makes for safer mining than non-union mining. Underground non-union mining is the most dangerous forms for five out of the six measured years. Underground union mining is about even with non-union strip mining in terms of worker safety – with non-union strip mining having a higher worker death rate than union underground mining.

The most important thing is for unions to be able to organize mines, whether they be strip mines or underground mines. In almost every case, union mines are safer than non-union mines. Worker safety depends on the unionization of the workplace, not on a largely fictitious choice between strip & underground mining.

The United Mine Workers of America have been longstanding leaders for coal miner safety. One of the most important things that the media is missing in covering this disaster has been the discussion about the UMWA. The UMWA had 3 different attempts to unionize this mine and Don Blankenship personally visited this mine to break the union drive. One drive in particular had more than 2 out of 3 workers signed onto a union card, but the official vote failed. If we had the Employee Free Choice Act as law, the Upper Big Branch mine would be a union mine as 2/3 of the workers supported a union before they were intimidated. We need to see this law passed so we can see safer mining through a unionized workplace.

When workers knew Blankenship would have them fired if they voted for the union, they stepped back from voting it in. Workers need a united voice in the workplace. We can have the best regulations in the world on the books but if workers are not organized to be able to speak up - those regulations are worthless. As far as I'm concerned, miner unionization is the best possible solution to preventing disasters like this in the future.

We’ll be mining coal for a while and we need to be real about what makes the biggest impact on worker safety in the mines. We don’t need another Monongah (1907, WV, 362 killed), Farmington (1968, WV, 78 killed), Sago (2006, WV, 12 killed), Crandall Canyon (2007, UT, 9 killed), or Montcoal (2010, WV, 29 killed).

I hope the words that Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall issued in 1968, “let me assure you, the people of this country no longer will accept the disgraceful health and safety record that has characterized this major industry," and the words of President Barack Obama forty-two years later, "I refuse to accept any number of miner deaths as simply the cost of doing business,” will one day ring true and we can at least, today, have an honest discussion about what the safest ways to mine coal are.

Appalachian Spring

2008-06-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

boomp3.com

2008-02-20T13:56:00.001-08:00

Holy Crap...

2008-02-18T19:19:00.000-08:00

There's lots going on...

Had to take the last part of today for myself just hanging out and being human and getting space away from work with Abe and Dana and Jordan and Matt. I went in early today ready to grind out some great work and started out that way - but got hit with some pretty big and disappointing news this afternoon. Madeline (SEAC staffer) is heading out this semester to work for the Energy Action Coalition and that puts SEAC in an odd spot with her being so important to us these past few months. So - I definitely needed space after hearing that.

This past weekend was great. Going fishing was where its at - we hit up the Buckhannon River Saturday afternoon and went trout fishin. Didn't see any fish, didn't catch any fish, no nothin, but it was a gorgeous day on a gorgeous river. Hanging out with Sarah and Tadd rocks.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

Here I am at 1 in the morning on valentine's day kinda doing work, kinda messing around. It's been a great valentine's day - did work - chatted with people - watched some Dr. Katz - i enjoyed it.

Going fishing tomorrow with Sarah & Tadd - that'll be great.

This is sticking in my mind from chatting with Bobby earlier tonight...talked to a fella that had water testing from 10 years ago that say there are 4x above safe drinking water standards SDWS for Manganese.The fella just said.....ill be dead and gone before people get water here"

Getting a Schedule

2008-02-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

Here we go - write write write

I'm here in the SEAC office getting ready for the day to start and continuing with writing in this thing as often as I remember to.

I've taken these past couple of days as a weekend - and even though I did work Monday, I'm in denial about it, so I'm not thinking of it as a work day. I just happen to use my free time sitting on email in a coffee shop...Yesterday was a pretty great day off, here's what I did

-slept in
-watched a lot of the office
-stayed on the couch
-made better burgers
-made cheesecake

Posting pictures from this past Sunday's Young Dems' Day on Kayford which I'm hoping is a building effort.

Above: Chuck Nelson, retired deep miner and volunteer organizer with OVEC

Above: The crowd of good folk up on the mountain that day

Above: Susan and James Tawney who are fighting a strip mine in Nicolas County

Above: Donna Branham who's fighting a mountaintop removal project in Mingo Country

Above: The Crowd

Above: Yours Truly

Above: Rod Snyder the President of the WV Young Dems speaks

Above: These used to be mountains, and we can still save the ones in the distance

Here I Am

2008-02-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I seem to write in this thing a lot from roadside fast-food joints. I really don't spend that much time in mcdonalds and long john silver....i swear....

SEAC is sucking up huge amounts of time this week and it'll probably do the same next week. I'm headed down to the Southern Student Renewable Energy Conference wayyy down South on the Georgia - Florida border. I'm giving a fundraising workshop and facilitating a white alternative group - so it's going to be a pretty intense weekend. Here's the travel schedule:

leave Charleston, WV tomorrow afternoon & get to Clemson, SC tomorrow night
leave Clemson, SC Friday morning & get to Valdosta, GA Friday afternoon
leave Valdosta, GA Saturday afternoon and get back to Charleston in the Saturday AM

Its a ridiculous weekend - but it's going to be worth it and amazing and inspiring to be with people and all that jazz...I just wish there was a train that went the whole way...trains rock. they also choo choo

Young Dems Day on Kayford is this Sunday - this is coming together and is even going to have a video that goes up on YouTube - hell yeah! We're fancy

I'm really really looking forward to taking a week off - depending on how the February grant writing and fundraising drives go, I might could take it in late February - otherwise taking it in March. I have a lot of time off that I haven't taken and I could (if I wanted to) take a week off per month and still have vacation left over. I won't do that, but a week of little work every 2 months sounds great! Especially when spring and summer time roll around...get out and go fishing and chill. I'm planning on going fishing real soon here - probably next Friday with Tadd and Sarah and maybe Dana.

Planning on my week off being full of projects - making a lamp out of my mannequin legs...working on a garden at moms...visiting friends...a good big bunch of stuff

Anyways, things are good, I should get on to Dana's so I have a couch to sleep on...

Ready to Go! Ready to Sleep...

2008-01-25T04:37:00.000-08:00

Here I am sittin on the Marc Train at the Brunswick (Maryland) Station watching people gloomily board the train. Kinda hoping no one sits next to me so's I can put my feet up & stretch out & take a nice long nap. Either that or a gorgeous Italian woman sits next to me with a pint of Guinness. Those are my requirements - Italian Guinness lady or nothin.

Train ticket fella just walked past and took tickets - kinda looked like Santa Claus in a train guy outfit. I mean, I would expect nothing more nothing less from train people...

So, I'm riding the Marc train into DC - Then the Amtrak to Charleston - I have a lot of work to do today, but a lot of reading and sleeping as well.

Oh, it feels good to not drive - the Marc left on time and I so far have the seat to myself (haven't stopped anywhere else.

Short on Time - Breakfast is Comin

2008-01-24T06:05:00.000-08:00

well, here I am sittin at home gettin ready to take a (refreshing) shower and meet Tominda for breakfast in Charles Town.

Shortly - I'll write more later -

-Amazing last weekend at the SEAC National Council meeting

-Great week in a mix of cleaning, SEAC work, relaxing, and hanging out with family

-Riding the train down to Charleston tomorrow (got an 8 hour ride, plenty for a lot of reading, writing, and SEAC work)

-The weekend in Calhoun County is coming together nicely, keeping focused on building the WV network through having a great time and growing relationships/inspiration

-Found my old notebooks from High School with journals, writings, yearbooks, and the rest - that was real badass to read & remember the good & the hard

Well, I'm off to take a shower - I'll write more later...

no more beard

2008-01-15T10:20:00.001-08:00

Cut my beard - ha ha ha!

holy crap! i forgot that i had a face under there!

Documentary to Reggae to Brewin - Wowza

2008-01-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

How many woodchucks could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? I don't know that one but I do know how many seemingly unrelated activities could be stringed together to form a weekend and a Monday. From hiking to seeing a documentary to reggae to brewing beer to disappointment to work to sitting here in Calhoun County - add all that up together and ya get a Saturday Sunday and Monday in my life, hot damn.

After the hike, I headed directly into Charleston and missed meeting up with Larry to talk about summer music (i'll miss meeting him both Sunday and Monday too, we're real good at not talking to each other apparently). I made it there in plenty of time to do a bit of email work and head over to the Rise Up West Virginia (www.patchworkfilms.com) film showing. It was in South Charleston and there was a great turnout of organizin folk & speakin folk & supportin folk for a film that traces one Pocahontas County woman's journey to find the effects of mountaintop removal on the people of Southern WV. It was a great film and it brought a coupla tears to my eyes when I say how crucial the Mountain Keepers Music Festival that I coordinated was to the making of that film. It's pretty amazing when you really do see yourself as an imporant part of something big and something moving and something powerful. Especially seeing this one woman, Atherine Spurlin (an old-timey church singer from the Kayford Mtn area of WV), that wouldn't have gotten the attention that she got if it weren't for Mountain Keepers, is amazing. I remember being moved by her singing that day and showing people the recording of her singing over the course of the past 10 months. She was invited on stage and sang a couple of songs before the film & sang a song during the film. It was an especially moving film for me...so I bought a copy...hopefully I don't lose it...I think you can see me fixing my hat in the background of a 3 second scene while I was running all the hell over Kayford that day fixing little things and keeping the day moving (I'm a famous dude - get my signature).

After that, Matt & Trevor & Jordan & I headed on over to the Empty Glass for beers & music & talkin. I had a headache and I thought I should avoid and hangover - so I went home at maybe midnight or something like that. BUT I had a beer that I hadn't had before...maybe a sharky beer? I dunno...it was pretty fancy though.....

The beer making was pretty incredible - finally did it after 2 years of talking about ! yessssss! Got an Irish Stout and a Nut Brown a-brewin in the SEAC office right now. I mean its sitting right next to my desk, doing work and then glancing at what will soon enough be a party is not too shabby. I'm gettin pretty tired, so I'm not gonna write so much about this even though there is a lot to write. Whenever I get off this dial up internet and connected up to broadband, I'll post pictures.

Sunday was a real great day right up until evening, then it got hard - a kind of hard that I could only describe with the word HeartHurt (not heartbreak but hearthurt) - I wrote about that in my own journal....

Monday morning kept being pretty tough, but Dana & Jordan & Matt & I all went to IHOP and then watched part of Lord of the Rings. That made me feel a lot better - I'm really glad Dana & Matt are here - good folk, comforting folk.

I'm thinkin tomorrow I'll stick around here unless I end up heading over to Glenville - but I definitely have enough SEAC work & personal reflection to keep myself busy tomorrow. Figure that I'll leave again Wednesday to either up to Buckhannon to be at a documentary or down to Charleston to be at an Environmental Council event.

Here I am.

Heck of a Mornin

2008-01-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

Just got out of the shower and am gettin ready to head down to Charleston - a bit later than I expected, but it's been a fuller morning than I expected, so no worries there.

Oh, hot damn, the hike I went on earlier was epic. Well...maybe not epic, but it was pretty incredible. I'm trying to upload a video of it, but it doesn't seem to be working - especially not with dial-up. I'll put pictures up instead later on when I have a quicker connection down in Charleston.

I am so proud & glad that I took the morning and went on a hike with no one but Bob's dog Mia coming along with me. This kind of hike was something that I thought was out of the question last January when I was thinking a lot about the limitations of diabetes - but, I survived. It was a basic 2 hour hike up to the ridge and along the ridge to the natural gas pipeline cut back along and down the same ridge back to here.

Once I got up to the natural gas pipeline, I walked along that for a bit & eventually reached the other ridge. But - wasn't sure whether that was the right one and I hadn't packed enough food to potentially get lost so I just came right back along & down the ridge I had come up. Next time I'll pack a whole bunch of trail mix & get it measured out for a full meal and try out that other ridge. I should know how to get around this place and Mia's a helluva companion.

Dogs are pretty amazing - she just stays within 500 feet of me the whole time. Whether she's up the incline or down the incline, she keeps herself within hearing distance of the leaves crunching under my feet & the breaking underbrush I plowed/ducked my way through. At one point she got a smell of something, jogged off, looked at me (saying, "hey, stay here, I'll be back), and went down the incline for 5-10 minutes then came right back. So, I just sat down on a wet log, wrote in my journal, and waited until she got back. It was pretty incredible, dogs rock. Most of the time I wasn't sure who was leading who...she was in front then I was in front then she was in front looking back to check on me to make sure I hadn't collapsed then I was back in front. Good hiking buddy.

Didn't stay too much to the path - tried to- but was oftentmes climbing up 60 degree slopes it seemed like beating my way through the underbrush and fallen trees. I'm real glad I didn't get bit by a snake. There were nat gas/logging roads that I could walk on - but they would all of a sudden come to a big pile of fallen trees or there would be a trail that lead up the incline.

Before going on the hike, I gathered up some kindling for the next time I/other folks go in the hot tub, starting to run low on wood - gotta get more than we have.

So, all in all, great morning and great pace to head into Charleston for the movie...I think Viv Stockman is getting some folks together to see a reggae band at a bar in town - so I'll probably do that afterwards.

Hot damn & hittin the road!

Old Poems

2008-01-11T20:31:00.001-08:00

These are poems I found when I was rummaging through my box & bag of things that matter...figure I'll put em up here....

Abandoned Lover

A star falls,
a tear from
an abandoned lover.
He makes a wish,
a wish for love
and a wish for hope.
The meteor dissappears,
but his love will not sunder

He stays in their field,
staring at the sky,
cannot find her.
He can feel her breath,
her touch,
her cherried lips upon his.
He hears footsteps and
jolts to his feet.
He stares at nothing.

Falls asleep,
snug with his thoughts,
a warm blanket.
Awakes,
(its two A.M)
to the fading sound
of breathing.
No one is there.

A thousand nights
spent like this,
all of them wasted.
With the rising sun,
he knows
what he would not remember the nights before.
The doctors could do nothing,
she was gone.

Aphrodite's Fate

Jet black runs through your hair,
resisting it I could hardly bear.
I can see ages past in your eyes,
all the broken words and the lies.

I pledge to honor our relations,
and will not commit to intimidation.
You will receive only respect,
and only my personal best.

Your presence creates a print in my mind,
and I have never had any of this kind.
I can see you strolling through my head,
in this dream that I cannot shed.

I can see the two of us driving down the sun-swept
highway,
I can see the two of us swimming in the bay.
I can see the two of us up in the mountains,
I can see the two of us drinking in those spring
fountains.

Aphrodite’s fated hands have brought us together,
and have made my heart as light as a feather.
Are we to turn away fate,
or could I just be too late?

Church vs State

What if I was allowed into Heaven
could i touch the soil
What if the Church went to war
would its people remain loyal

Who will question blind faith
Does it have to be a martyr
Should he make a deal with the Heavens
And will he have to barter

Ares raises his mighty sword
and shaves off Aphrodite’s head
He looks at her in sorrow
As he pumps her full of lead

Ares was a sad man
who didnt like to cry
Mars was a crazy man
Who always had to lie

Jesus comes face to face with them
Keeping a stern brow
He was pledged to nonviolence
But that has ended now

The Church has been mobilized
Its believers will fight
They’ll keep their Revalations
And try to see the light

Across from them sits the Government
Which will meet its fate
The Court ended long ago
Church vs the State

You may call this a Holy War
Crusade if you will
But I’ll call it what it is
Nothing vs Nil

Future Unknown

Let us take a trip
into the future unknown
Let us see whats beyond
every corner
and behind
every shadow

I can see the great master
beckon us,
come if you will

I can see the mechanical man
beside us
take this pill

Your terrified face
comforts me
you want to stay
on this border between fiction
and harsh reality

Haikus

Material Comfort
Surrounded by things
None of them have a heartbeat
They still comfort me.

Social Classes
Red-Blooded worker
Red blood dreams of being blue
Blue blood is not real

Capitalism
The dollar is king
In the world of businessmen
People are the pawns

Doctors Creation
The created face
A mask over true beauty
True beauty is real

Conforming
Majority’s rule
constricting minorities
breathless free-thought dies

Highway's Roar

Dark, Desert,
Highway roars
Screaming pavement
Scorpions adore

A man is laughing,
a woman cries
She looks out her window
into his eyes

A fist comes through
shattering fright
A woman sprawls
into the night

Searching for anger
Searching for fear
Seaching for anything
She is near

A crime is done
time has past
The future holds
only what will last

Dark Desert
Highway roars
screaming pavement
scorpions adore

Grandma

Eighty years,
many will not live that long.
Eighty years,
few will survive it
with the strength that you have.

If it were not for you,
none of us would be here
If it were not for your attitude,
wise yet silly and disciplined yet humorous
we would never be the same.

You have kept this family closer knit
than any I have seen.
You have built a dynasty that
will endure until the last of us
has gone.

One more suicide

Things like this happen every day
Somewhere, somehow
One more Suicide, One more Dead
The Facts and Figures,
they’ve already been said

Yesterday one more killed himself;
jumped off a Bridge he did,
and to these tears
there can be no lid.

I found the news sitting on a table;
half a page devoted to the “crime.”
It was about the road and traffic,
and how those waiting
wasted their time.

Too many wet eyes
not enough shoulders.
Too many friends
trying to move boulders.

Empty Chairs

empty chairs
now filled
with friends and lovers
who seem to change with the seasons

circle of friends
now ever-changing
as they rise
to let others sit

rising to leave him
to the strangest strangers hand
rising to leave him
to the deepest depths he’ll find
rising to leave him
to the empty chairs of friends and lovers

friends and lovers
now rise
now gone
as they stand and walk
to let others come in

empty chairs
now new
but changed to old
again
the old chair stays
but made of wood it rots
to recharge the system
old chair now new
new chair now old
I Will Never be the Same Again

Our Home

Green Trees,
Flaming Blades,
Screaming Saws,
Lumberjacks.

New labor,
New jobs,
breaking ground,
losing homes.

Birds fly,
Animals run,
nothing left
but our homes

Empty Chairs

Empty Chairs surround me
once full now empty again
Friends and fake lovers rise
to make room for oncoming others

New faces
pale and blank white
I do not know them
nor will I ever know them complete

Like a never ending wheel
the chairs turn empty
now full again
As the wheel turns
to reveal new
friends and fake lovers
ever changing
to be back again

Condemned to Death

My legs pump
my arms run
even my heart sweats
The wolves are behind me
tearing away the safety nets

Outreaching branches
tear away my skin
Just like the sharks
tore away my kin

Terror is visible
to my naked eye
I will not let them win
or I shall die

Bases

First base is a hope
second is a dream.
Third lies a-waitin
with home already gone

Cut it Down

Nature flows
and nature grows
but nature never dies

Cut it down
and it'll grow back
right on through your eyes

Forlorn Lovers

Like two forlorn lovers
we will run from the law
they can never catch us
as long as we don't fall

We will jump into my car
go for a little ride
and push that speed needle
to the other side

I look into your eyes
salvation I do see
blue and red behind us
but fireworks inside

Break Up

I remember the day when my love,
my one and only true,
sat beside me.
My arm locked in hers
and our lips intertwined
I can remember the feel of her bosom
and her eyes dancing with pleasure
Green beautiful eyre
Emeralds remain in my head
for true beauty cannot be forgotten
I knew how her heart feels
as it beat only for me
I know how my heart feels as it sends out signals
like morse code with no receiver
There is nothing I would not do
just to hold her again
I have gone a thousand miles across land & sea
but I am left to remember
when she would come looking for me
For she will find another
who could do more than I
and leave me in his wake
I do wish it now
I wish to be anyone
Who can see her eyes dance with please

Die Like a Martyr

Die like a martyr
Die like a martyr
for all those you love
Die like a martyr

Your country needs you
religon too
So for your God
kill your brother

No man shall wait
and neither will fate
So if it's peace you want
Die like a martyr

Settling in for the Night

2008-01-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

Dogs are barkin in the background - the fires going in the gas heaters around the house - I'm typing on the computer - and there's a helluva quiet in the air. Well, except for the dogs there's a helluva quiet at least.

Back in Orma at the OARS house - pretty glad I didn't leave one of the stovetop burners on and burn the house down - it was a big relief seeing it still standing when I rumbled up the driveway. I got back here at maybe 6:30 and have had a pretty chill evening. Did a bit of online work, read about 30 more pages into my Hawk's Nest book, made & ate a pretty nice dinner - definitely been a chill evening. I'll be staying here until around noon or one or two tomorrow before I head back down to Charleston.

May meet up with Larry Gibson tomorrow to talk about the music for his wedding and his July 4th festival. I'm still kinda fluttery inside about planning the music for his wedding, it's a responsibility, definitely when it's a person as outstanding as Larry too...maybe I'll get Elvis to play...I mean, we're 6 months out from the July 4th festival and 7 months out from his wedding - gotta start planning - holy crap!!!

There's a mountaintop removal movie showing in Charleston (another one??? they just keep rolling them out...) that I'm definitely planning on hitting up. May look to gather a small crew of good folk from the CAYEN network to head on over to it - only know a coupla peoples' phone numbers but I'll give them a call when I get into town.

Sunday is the BIG BIG beer brewing day at the E-Council's office - we're gonna have Nut Brown & Irish Stout brewin away that'll be ready sometime in February. Under the steady direction of Mr. Matt Noerpel and with the hard labor of me and one fine Trevor Swan, this should be a great batch. The release party'll be up here at the OARS house in late February before Mountain Justice Spring Break. That'll be 2 parties from now (if you're keeping track) and we should be ready for a great weekend...hopefully there'll be some new faces to add to the Calhoun County Hike n' Hang Out Weekend regulars by that point. Well, actually, hopefully we don't blow the E-Council office up when we brew the beer - that's the first victory.

Suppose I'll be staying in Charleston Saturday - Sunday and heading back here Sunday night.

Headed into Charleston for the press conference for the outline of the Citizens' Energy Plan that various progressive groups are coming together around. Baloney Joe Manchin wants more coal and we're saying that we want green jobs & renewable energy - so the press conference went pretty well (coulda been done better). Dana spoke for SEAC and I did a little impromptu speaking off the cuff when I raised my hand and meant to answer a question but started preaching a bit instead (shut myself up quick & got back on track). CRMW, OVEC, WVCAG, WV E-Council all spoke and it was a pretty well attended events with maybe 7 delegates and a couple of state senators there. John Doyle (delegate from Shepherdstown) set up the room (go John!) but didn't end up making it to the press conference.

Was in a funk for the rest of yesterday - have a few ideas why, but a lot of it comes down to the weather. It was a grey rainy day & I can never feel quite right on those days...sunshine is badass.

When I went back to Dana's apartment to unload my remaining crap (clothes, guitar, fiddle) from there - I definitely took some mega cute pictures of her cat with a SEAC pin on its collar. It's a bird, It's a plane, IT'S A SEAC KITTY!!! So, yeah, I'm pretty satisfied with myself...check em out...

Maybe I'll go on a hike tomorrow morning.....then gather up kindling for the hot tub.....I have high hopes for tomorrow morning - I'm scared to check the weather.

I just called for one of Bob's dogs to come in...but it didn't come.......I hope it's warm enough...Mia is laying out on her rug in front of the gas heater in the workroom....wish I could remember that other dogs name...it doesn't respond to "other dog" very well.....

that's it for tonight.

My Own Personal Kingdom

2008-01-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

ha ha ha! I am king of Orma, WV - self proclaimed & sovereign.

Bob left for at least the next week earlier today and I'm looking after the place at least until he gets back in probably clear through January & February and maybe long after that. It depends on how I like the place, whether people visit (whether it gets too lonely), and how much he's sticking around. That's the place above & I'm looking to take full advantage of being here.

I am planning to grow veggies (tomatoes, peppers, gourds, etc - under Sarah Kidder's kind direction), hunt (eventually), fish (with Tadd), chill, read, sing, and have all the damn get togethers I can. This is a helluva place to grow relationships among folk in the WV youth environmental network. So - a gathering a month is what I'm planning - grow relationships among organizers to grow power in our organizing. That's what I say.

Had a real solid & nice day - it's hard to get stressed here. Bob showed me how to fill the wood-stove for the hot tub & I got a pretty good fire going (coulda been better) - so I had a nice afternoon dip in the hot tub. Chilled there for a while, then made lunch - read a few chapters - went on a walk - came back here and have been chilling ever since.

While I was reading on the porch, I watched the sun go down in the nook between the two mountains & that was pretty damn cool. I like it when it's fun to watch the sun go down - I remember doing that in Monroe County...it's a good scene.

Spent yesterday in Glenville with Sarah & Tadd & Ivan. Holy crap - I never play so much NBA Jam as when I go over there and that jerk Tadd beat me in a coupla games...gotta get him...We went on a nice ass hike around the ridge behind their trailer & there's a coupla photos from that walk below. Sarah's dogs came with us - dogs are so amazing, they just stayed right along with us - running & zigzagging everywhich way - and came whenever Sarah'd call out "good girls stay close, good girls get treats" That's way more than most people do....damn....maybe we'd stay closer if we got treats........we really need to start rewarding each other with candy. We were on our way around the ridge, more on our way to circle around it than climb straight up it, until we got a good view (i.e. i got tired) and sat and talked for a good half hour before heading back.

It was such a damn nice day that I'm glad I went and walked around and got out in it. One of the best things in the world is taking in the enormity of the hills when you see friends a couple hundred feet away on the side of a huge incline. Can really take it in when the leaves are on the ground & not blocking the view - it's an impressive thing. These two little moving figures with a backdrop of brown & gray & red, its quieting. Saw some damn cool mushrooms too...

Tomorrow, I may go on a hike, I may go down to Charleston for a press conference (WV Environmental Council is releasing our "Citizens' Energy Plan" to counter the government fossil fuelish energy plan). I'll see - I haven't gone on a good hike by myself in quite some time & I haven't gotten a good feel for the place yet...I'll see.....

Talked with Bobby earlier about making it over to the Kanawha Forest sometime here to hit a shooting range & try out his shotgun & .22 - I haven't shot a gun since I went down to Levi's when I was like 2 so I should shoot one again - especially if I want to go turkey huntin with Rhett this spring, I need to have good aim.

Looking forward to brewing beer this Sunday in Charleston - have been talking about it for the past 2 years & now we're actually doing it. Hot damn, I hope that'll be a good day - there should be very good folk there.

Back in Blogging Action

2008-01-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am in a Long John Silvers in gorgeous Gassaway, WV posting to a blog and looking at a big plate full of crumbs. This is exactly where I thought I'd be 10 years ago ("mommy, can I grow up to email people from random fast food joints in West Virginia?" i think those were my words...)

So, I've been looking at the computer a bunch today & have had a couple of low blood sugars (remedy: candy) so I have a little headache & am going to be quick in this post.

Here's where I'm staying: www.spectrumz.com/villa - a veritable back to the lander paradise that I'm going to be living at/housesitting for at least the next coupla months. It's not too shabby of a life to sit on a porch, eat lunch, see a church sitting across the road set in between two brown fuzz covered hills (no-leaved winter trees are fuzzy looking) and listen to the wind chimes blow in the breeze. I moved my clothes & papers & books & whatnots into the house earlier today and set camp pretty well.

We had a gathering last weekend of about 15 folks from around Central/Southern WV parts of the wv youth environmental network and it was a helluva time. Hiking, talking, singing, dancing, growing, drinking, and building community was the name of the game & the game was good. This is our second such gathering and I feel a strong community being built among organizing folk and I feel our work growing stronger & more powerful. There was one part of the weekend right at the end that was best and I feel great about and still makes me smile.

It was a hard weekend too as Sara Chroussis passed away last week. I've written about that in my own private journal and don't feel the need/want to rewrite what I've already expressed...but it made it a hard weekend as well. At one point I could only see her face as I looked into the brown fuzzy hills.

I'm excited to write in this thing again & I'm hoping to post to it every week and oftentimes everyday.

Quick One

2006-12-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

yep, well, lonely but enjoying Monroe. Learning how absolutely integral to social change it is to have an active and supportive community that one can readily join. Feel more like I'm on an outpost doing social change work than anything else, with more second guessing than support from the folks I work with. But, we still have the news show alive, relatively where it's supposed to be.

Going to a meeting of people to try and get some kind of work done to get news reports out of Appalachia for Free Speech Radio News. I know it's a basic training for reporters this weekend, and it'll be refining skills that I already have from doing a lot of reporting here in Monroe. But, it will be good for people to learn how to do their own media and I want to be with those people as we learn how to do it. There is some money in it, but I wouldn't think there would be enough to rely on for a steady income...as if VISTA pays a living wage...

So, this weekend'll be interesting, gotta wake up at 6:30 tomorrow to get on the road to Clay County.

I'm getting better at accordian. The nice thing about there not being much going on in the evenings is that you sit down and start to create. I wouldn't say I'm bored, boreddom is a waste, but there is definitely not much going on.

I have started demanding rather than asking people to visit me, we'll see how that goes.

This Morning

2006-11-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

This has been a pretty good morning...

laid out by my stove looking at the fire for a while last night. That was pretty nice.

Got a bunch of stuff done this morning and'll be moving on to get more done later on after I get me some lunch

cleaned a bit of my bathtub, ordered a songbook (singing rocks with people or alone, just belt out some songs), and cleared out my email account of about 1800 unread messages. I mean, i didn't read em...i just marked em as read.

emails pretty big, so i figure i should keep that tidy.

gotta take my clothes off the line later on and if it keeps as a hell of a nice day, mow my lawn.

i think i'm gonna drive up to lewisburg today and check out this health foods store up there, though. Farmers markets are done here, and I didn't can any (don't know how), so i've gotta switch over to stockpiling shit from the health food stores. i hope that the store up there has some good stuff.

looking into living more responsibly, I'm making progress I think. Playing guitar a lot more, around a half hour to hour per day. getting to know the chords...but never did have much rythym. Oh well, its playing for fun and life so I don't need to be good.

Gonna be dropping a mini disc player by this artsy woman today so she can interview these artsy kids whose work she displays in her shop. I'm pretty excited about that. I want this station to inspire people to the arts and show them that they can do it.

Workin on making this station cooler and cooler.

Yep

2006-11-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Hell yeah, well things are allright here. Not so extraordinary, but are going pretty well. Got a little bit of time before we put the news together, so i'll write in here a bit.

The past weekend was pretty damn badass with all kindsa different young folks from a lotta different towns & universities around Appalachia. I went over to Rock Creek in the Coal River Valley to meet other young folks who are interested in trying to stop mountaintop removal and move towards more sustainable jobs & lives. A lot of music and inspiring people. Went up to Larry Gibson's land on Kayford Mountain, which was pretty hardcore...mine cracks are forming quick on his land and you have to start to worry about where you step. So, hopefully we can keep up momentum and this shit can keep growing and growing.

Talked with David Morris last night for an hour or an hour and a half and he just started naming off old-time music contacts that he has around the state and gave me the contact information for thirty or forty people. So, hopefully I can be calling them sometime over the next month and can get some music from them. This station has got potential to be real cool and focus on Appalachian Pride in culture and music and art and life...but we're not anywhere near there yet.

I'm wondering how long I'll last down here. I have a real strong feeling of missing Tominda and family and Shepherdstown...it gets pretty hard sometimes.......

I do like being so close to the Coal River Valley and I like being in the Mountains a lot. I feel like I'm part of something strong, and I don't want to leave it and I would miss everything. Damn, if the people who are up in Shepherdstown were down here, we'd have a hell of a time.

The news will be getting a coupla high school volunteers pretty soon here. They'll be starting up over the course of the next month. Hopefully I can train them, then they can be reporters and contribute about a story a week sometime in the late winter/early spring. I am not interested in babysitting anyone, so they'll be getting shit done.

Hot Damn & A Bag of Chickens!

2006-11-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

Yep. Sittin here in my house, just finished breakfast. That was pretty rewarding, PB&J + Green Beans, making for a bit of a fulfilling morning. I usually just have coffee for breakfast, so having some food in the belly helps out.

Things are allright here with the radio station, I'm not too excited about the people I work with, but I'm real excited about the possibilities for the station. Monday was a pretty crazy day with accusations flying at me and a lot of pent up anger released by people. So, that was real weird, I'm just trying to get the news on the air and people hooked up with the station. We'll see if things improve, and if they don't and its a conflict ridden place, then there's no point to bring in community volunteers and no point for me to be there.

But, things are still coming along with the news, I'm interviewing a local artist in about an hour. I've been putting 2 stories/interviews a day, which takes a lot of time, but there's some time left for outreach. There's a coupla older folks who are going to be going around and interviewing local artists.

There'll be a weekend in December where a bunch of college folk who are fighting MTR will come down and help this group of people out with oral histories. This group is trying to go around and collect up as many histories and stories from people as they can, but they're doing it in a very time consuming way, so they've only been able to do 5 people so far, and older folks are passing away. So, hopefully like 10 people can come down in December and help to collect up those histories. As soon as we collect up enough of them to make it bi-weekly or monthy, I'll throw them on the station. Beatin the drum of Appalachian Pride, hell yeah

Met up with a Concord U group yesterday that was real cool and working on MTR issues. The Progressive Alliance they're called & they're pretty right on politically. Looking forward to meeting up with them this weekend in the Coal River Valley.

Looking at the Computer....

2006-10-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at the computer for wayyyy too long. Editing and writing stories can take it outta ya....

I did get some goot meetin time with folks around the county in earlier today. Met with the head of the school's energy efficiency program and then met with this woman way back in the hills who runs her whole house off solar energy. That was real cool, she was a real warm lady...good to talk with. Hope to see her more.

I love recording and talking with people. It's the editing part that kinda sucks.

Got the conference this weekend that'll be real cool. Gonna be the last damn conference I plan. More important things that we could have been spending the last coupla months planning than getting a whole buncha youths together. I'm gonna put my time, instead of just planning conferences, into planning exactly how to hook up youths with community groups.

Probably going to be taking more weekends this winter to go over to the Coal River Valley and hopefully Fayette County. I've got a lot that I need to do in terms of organizing. I want to get a better feel for the different areas of Fayette County.

I don't want to end up here in Monroe, I don't think. I'll be looking out in Fayette County.

Probably gonna be hangin out with Bobby more and more and probably Sarah Kidder too since she is from Fayette. Lookin forward to when schools go out on winter break, Tominda'll be around Charleston...Katie & Lindsey'll be around Bluefield...all kindsa folks I know'll be around Southern WV. It'll be pretty cool.

Gotta get storm windows and plastic up in my house soon. Gotta talk to Vickie about when the natural gas is actually gonna be gettin hooked up...it's cold cold cold in there.

Music is Inspiration

2006-10-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Burning a CD right now for a local woman who's this badass singer-waitress-funny-crazy lady of herself singing at the restaurant she works at. Gonna be handing it off to her sometime this week, it was crazy inspirational just sitting down recording her. The owner of the restaurant, who seemed real cool, hopped in on a few songs and another waitress hopped in. People in the other room eating were just sittin there talkin and listening to Brenda sing, all the other people that worked there came in and watched from time to time.

Music is where its at for this whole radio station down here, I mean the news is good and progressive and a community building idea. But, nowhere near the empowerment, fun, and imaginative potential as hooking local musicians up with the station here.

Just hung out with this guy this morning, Larry Mustain, for a few hours up in the northern part of Monroe County in an area called Second Creek. He's all about the history of the area there and keeping the people in the community there in tact. He's got all kindsa stuff rolling, I interviewed him about this stream restoration project that's going on. The biggest threat to the stream there that has people riled is the erosion of the stream banks...wish I could say that about more streams around...After we did that whole interview he showed me around this mill that he's keeping active that makes corn meal and buckwheat and the rest with the old stone grinder. Rusty, dusty place that he keeps rollin and making all this basic food that's supposed to make some real good stuff.

Going up this weekend and recording the Appalachian Heritage Festival in Shepherdstown. We should be able to play it here on the station sometime after next January when we have more of this stuff built up. If this station is going to start calling itself a community radio station, we're gonna have to live up to the name dammit. We gotta get more local people involved, local musicians involved, and be a tool for people in Monroe County to hear about their county and exert more control over their own lives.

We have a badass opportunity...

End of September

2006-09-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here I am at the end of a coupla months in Monroe...damn, so about a sixth of my Americorps time here is done. Crazy stuff, crazy stuff.

The station is making progress, most definitely, towards becoming a community station. It's slower than I thought it'd be though. Progress is coming along in the news, we've been on a month now and we're consistently putting together a news show every tues wed and thurs of every week. I have no clue on how many people are actually listening, but for those people who are listening, we're broadcasting access to government meetings and publicizing what organizations are doing in a place where that access did not exist before. I'm going to some crazy stuff in the news too...Board of Education meetings can get real heated, so those can be pretty entertaining. Good to see parent activism, but it runs into the brick wall of bureaucracy and nationally set rules, so there's only so much parents & local Board of Educations can do when rules are as nationally set as they are.

Went to a tractor pull last weekend, and that was pretty....well...it wasn't too pretty. Tractor went forward and pulled a buncha steel bars, then they unhooked it and hooked the steel bars to another tractor and that tractor went. Not too much to it, good place to just gather and talk, though, something to do.

Starting to hook up with local musicians and connect them with the radio station. That's where the empowerment is at, more than the news. Lewisburg has some good shows, so i'll be heading up there. Old folks' homes have good bluegrass music, so i'll be heading over there. There's a lot we can do to focus in on the talent there is right here in Monroe County and put that stuff on the radio rather than just playing what comes in from a corporate playlist. We've got a ways to go, but the music is real good times. Can sit and record a live show like nothin, it's great.

I'll be going up to the Appalachian Heritage Festival next weekend, getting back up to Shepherdstown, so that'll be pretty cool. I'll be recording that, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Anyways, I should get home and feed Baron. It's been a good two months, missing family and Tominda and Shepherdstown, but I get to go back there every so often to see them.

Weekend...

2006-08-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah, the weekend has been pretty allright. Workin on my guitar skills...which are about as lacking as the ice caps at this point. But, as opposed to the ice caps, I'm hoping they improve.

Picked up a bluegrass songbook yesterday that has a lot of good quality stuff in there..Dooley, slippin up a holler. Dooley, tryin t'make a dollar. Dooley, gimme a swaller and i'll pay ya back some day...moonshinin songs and more. I'm nowhere near able to play them yet, but eventually I'll get there. I mean, I'm not lookin to be a star, I just want to be able to jam. Clifftop, next year, I won't be sittin back listenin, I want to be playin.

Talked with a guy, Keith, yesterday at this music store up in Lewisburg who might be interested in having a show here at WHFI that focuses on acoustic music. I mean, it's a start if we can get him a show, but I'm hoping to be able to hook up an old-timer who can recall memories of playing around Monroe County with a show. It'll be cool getting things rolling with Keith, though, eventually (we gotta get comfortable with the news first off, then we can hit the really creative and cultural stuff).

He's pretty tuned into the regional music scene, so I'll have to pay him a visit from time to time. He mentioned this party that the banjo picker from the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys has every year where all kindsa people come out. I'm gonna have to hit that if I can. It'll be on September 23rd, I think around (the conveniantly named) Pickaway in Northern Monroe.

Today, I'm gonna check out getting an old truck for less than $500. I mean, I want one that'll haul shit from time to time, not one to drive every day. So, I'm gonna make some calls and maybe do some travelin, but I'm in no real hurry to get it.

I have a pretty freelance kinda weekend. I may hit up campin out and exploring in the Greenbrier State Forest. It should be nice enough that I can sleep under the stars..gotta order poles for my tent. I may just go back to the house, though.

I'm getting back into the to-do list thing, it's pretty damn necessary.

I'm not sure when I'll be going back to Shepherdstown. The weekend of Sept. 2 & 3 is the Festival of the Rivers in Hinton, and I kinda want to hit that up, but I may just miss that. I want to be around for the Historical Society's meeting at the Old Greenville Mill so I can explain the benefits of having a "Historical Minute" to them. So, I should be around for that.

Maybe Sept. 2 & 3....

Lazy Weekend

2006-08-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

Not too much going on this weekend. Might make it over to the Coal River Valley or Mingo County or somewhere. I should take this weekend to keep up with folks resisting coal...but, Bobby's away and a lot of the youths are moving into school so I'm not sure where I'll make it to. Maybe I'll give Abe a call and see what he's up to...

I've got a meeting set up with John Kidd on this coming Tuesday that'll be pretty badass. I'll show him the station and the limited amount that he'll need to know for doing his Fishing Minute for the "Monroe Today" section of the station. We'll get to set down & lay some concrete plans for how the minute'll be looking and see what we can do for it. Maybe we could get a local fishing business to sponsor it or something like that...there are a lot of possibilities and this is a pretty good one.

The Fishing Minute is the start point for community involvement with this station. The way I'm thinking about it so far is to use the "minute" idea, where a person/organization would get a flexible minute during the noon news block to talk about something of importance to Monroe County, as a platform to spring people into longer weekly/monthly half-hour shows. We're starting small with the fishing minute, but this Fall, I'm hoping to involve people with these minutes:

Historical Minute : Historical Society would have a minute to talk about historical issues, events, or places around the county. They'll be bringing this up at their September meeting and hopefully they approve it.

Health Minute : A local doctor or doctors would access the station to talk about general health and something that people could be doing or not doing. This could be tied with the local anti-drug efforts.

Welfare Forms Minute : With a different name, this would be an irregular feature, but would be an alert as to what major forms are due when and any major changes with forms people have to fill out for welfare. John Kidd's sister may help us with this.

Watershed Minute : One of the local watershed groups could use this minute towards updating people on water quality around the county. There are three (Indian Creek, Second Creek, and Greenbrier River) that could use this minute, maybe in a rotating fashion, we'll see.

Farmer's Market Reports : Report from the Farmers Market every Friday to promote that a bit more, either from the WVU extension agent or a local farmer. This'd only be useful until October and next Spring, so it might not be implemented until next spring...

Senior Spotlight : Giving an update on events that are focused on seniors, whether its an old folks home or whatever that gives the event list...haven't thought too much about this yet.

Arts Minute : The Arts Society here could give an overview of local things happening in the arts...very broad...but I just thought of this.

So, there are a lot of ideas out there and there is a lot of possibilities to connect people with different ideas.

Here's what we've got so far...

News, Weather, High School Menu, Sports scores, Community Calendar, Fishing Minute, Agricultural Extension Week.

So, we've got a good start on things and we've got a lot of opportunity to work with people on expanding that reach

Tominda came down Tuesday and we stayed together that night and went to the State Fair the following evening. Pretty badass, but I'm feeling about done with this typing thing.

Went Fishing earlier in Indian Creek...not sure if you can just pull over and fish...but I did and it was fun. Didn't catch anything, but then I don't know if I really wanted to.

Not sure what I'll do this weekend, but tomorrow'll be filled with errands and hitting up the farmer's market.

Gibbs' Visit & More

2006-08-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well, Tominda's on her way down here, hot damn, that'll be pretty cool. She'll get to see how I've tack-ied that place up that I call home, all kindsa different tacky shit around. Lamps that look like hookahs...tables with the paint peeling off...out of tune guitars...that whole place is coming along well.

Gibbs Kinderman came down today to take a look at the station and to convince Karie to stay. Gibbs is the VISTA coordinator for the Eastern Highlands of the state and Karie's the VISTA that is thinkin about leaving. It looks like he may have done his job pretty well today and found her some more money to stay until April, hopefully she can. It'll let me put some damn focus on this news project that I'll be doing...going around to meetings and trying to get different "minutes" to air on a regular basis during that "Monroe Today" block. It should be pretty quality kinda stuff. So, I'll give her a call at some point here and ask what her decision is, hopefully she stays or we'll be stretched real thin this year.

Gibbs is a badass kinda dude. He's an old guy with a big beard, lives up in the mountains of Pocahantos County and has been working in a radio station he started for the past 25 years. He's an old activist from back in the sixties. Went down for Mississippi Freedom Summer and has a pretty badass history of working in anti-strip mining work back in the late sixties and early seventies. Used to work in Ken Hechler's campaign and managed the VISTAs who did a hell of a lot in solidarity with residents of Southern WV to abolish strip mining. Oh well, he tried, but I guess he moved onto Pocahantos when no abolition bill got passed. I'll be under his wing directly, it's pretty damn inspiring, but I'll be working relatively close to him and'll be going up to visit every so often.

Went up to buy more fitting clothes to work in from this used clothes place in Ronceverte today, it was pretty cool. On the way back I stopped by the Cheese n'More store that has a buncha local Mennonite-made stuff in there and got as much as I could. I'll be hitting up the farmers market this Friday to try and get as much good local food as I can.

Went home this past weekend and saw most everyone, besides chris scott, that I'm really close to. Kathy, Sarah, Nick, Frank, Tominda, Mom, Dad, John, Katie B, everyone...it was pretty damn good. Walked around and talked with Nick and Frank Saturday night and that was pretty cool, walkin and talkin under a meteor shower. I enjoyed the weekend in a most badass fashion. Next time I go home'll be early September....either the weekend of the 3rd or the 10th. The 3rd has Contra Dancing, but it's the Hinton Festival of Rivers and I kinda want to go over there and catch some music and whatnot.

So, yeah, I've gotta clean a bit and get dinner ready for Tominda's coming in at around 9. Huzzah.

State Fair

2006-08-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

Going to the State Fair and then home! Woooo! I'll see people!

Short run down...

talked with a fisherman guy yesterday who's real interested in getting involved with the station here and'll probably have his own "fishing minute" kinda deal that we air every week, if not eventually more.

having to scale back my vision for an "old time sunday" for the time being, until we can get another VISTA. Damn, I want another VISTA here so they can take care of managing the high school people and I could go out and do a lot of cool stuff like collect music, collect news, and collect stories. I mean, it'll be cool working with the high schoolers, it just means that I'll have to be in here.

picked up my old guitar and am trying to learn that.

i'll update more later on, I suppose.

Tuesday Night

2006-08-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

Here I am sittin at the WHFI station here in Lindside at 9 PM workin on stuff. Today was pretty damn productive, but lame at the exact damn same time.

Waited around for Verizon to show up until friggin 5 PM, but their filthy asses never ever showed! so, they're gonna be getting an angry phone call tomorrow. So, I am still phone-less and I can't call Tominda or Mom or Dad or anyone cause the pay phones are too damn expensive.

Been pretty busy these last coupla days, going to meetings. Went to the Peterstown Ruritans last night, and hit the Bozoo Ruritans today. Pretty badass stuff.

After the Peterstown Ruritans meeting last night, this guy Jeff took me around and showed me what has been done down in Peterstown. The town seems to be a do-it-yourself kinda place, if something needs to get done, then by god lets do it! Showed me a pretty amazing playground that people in the community built together after organizing and raising money for almost a year. It's inspiring stuff, don't get that in too many other places. Showed me a soccer field that the Ruritans built themselves with fundraisers and a hell of a lotta volunteer hours. Talked about a bridge that the Ruritans built, simply cause it needed to get built, so they did it.

The Bozoo Ruritan meeting was a bit different, this one was pretty well advertised and attended, maybe 30 or 35 people were there. Complete with an old time band. It was about a neighborhood watch program that they're lookin to set up to deal with drugs and crime and all of that. It seemed a bit on the fear mongering side of things, but its also a lets protect our community kinda attitude, along with that do-it-yourself outlook. I had to leave early, but they didn't discuss any of the root causes of crimes and didn't talk about setting up alternatives for the kids and people besides drugs. It woulda been a good thing to put on the air if the news show was already together today.

Gonna go home this weekend, I should get there right around early evening Friday I think, then leave there early evening Sunday.

We've gotta find another VISTA for this station, itd be too much by myself. too friggin much, it'd take the fun out of it if I had to do it all myself.

A Little Bit

2006-08-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

Getting into the reporter/radio station organizer job, it's pretty fun. Going to the Peterstown Ruritans meeting tonight then the Bozoo Ruritans meeting tomorrow & immediately then to a Board of Education meeting.

Going home this weekend, hellllllllllllllllllll yeah. It'll be fun!

Just talked with a kinda crazy libertarian guy that owns a gun shop. he invited me over for dinner sometime and seemed nice enough. a friends of coal kinda guy...it's crazy how people who do the most exploitative things (he was on the stock market when I went in) can be the nicest people.

It's an interesting place, most definitely, an interesting place.

Off to Peterstown!

Clifftop

2006-08-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

I'm here in Fayetteville on a public computer at the Cathedral Cafe. Might go fishin for a little bit. In the middle of the Clifftop Old Time Festival, it's pretty badass and inspiring. Incredibly decentralized music, people coming together and making their own bands and just playing rather than depending on the front main stage, cool shit. Gonna go square dancing tonight and catch a lot of music, tonight's apparently then huge party night where people jam til dawn, so yeah, there'll be a hell of a lot to experience tonight.

Becky from Big Ugly might switch over to the Monroe Radio Project, that'd be pretty cool, cause we need someone. She's got pretty congruent values with me and it'd be good to work with her.

Good weekend, gotta find the other VISTAs from Pocahantos County....

Tominda would love it here, i wish she were here.

Before the Old Time Show

2006-08-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

I'm about hittin the end of my first week here in Monroe County, and it's pretty crazy looking towards the next year down here.

The biggest thing is that I found out yesterday that Karie is gonna be leaving the station in a coupla weeks. This puts a big strain on what I want to do down here, unless we can get another VISTA, but even then, it puts a strain on it. I mean, Karie didn't seem like she was all into grassroots community accessible journalism, she seemed like she was into keeping the station running more than values. This puts the responsibility of keeping the station running on my and Mark Blevins (full time teacher though) shoulders, leaving less time to go to community meetings and get the word out about the station. This leaves less time for me to collect oral histories to air and less time to go to old time shows and get someone who would want to put on a music radio show. There'll be more of a focus on the bare bones, lets get the job done issues.

We've got to find another VISTA, hopefully one who's got a relatively radical analysis or one who's into grassroots journalism. We'll see though, the big thing we need is somebody.

So far, my schedule has gone like this...

Sunday : Packed & moved in with the help of Tominda and Dad
Monday : Went up to Alderson and got a few things for moving in and Tominda & Dad left
Tuesday : Drove up to the High Rocks Academy and met with other activists & VISTAs for a workshop called "So You Want to Change the World"
Wednesday : First day at the station, met with Mark Blevins & got trained in the sound board, Cool Edit Pro (for editing recordings), and generally how to run the equipment. Recorded the weather report that was aired on the hour every hour...first time on the radio, pretty damn cool. Met with Tabitha Young of the Monroe County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition for a bit about their efforts.
Thursday: Second Day at the station, met with Mark Blevins again & got trained in how to use Raduga (program for playing music, kinda like Napster & Itunes). Learned that Karie is going to be leaving. Went to a meeting of the Monroe County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and wrote a story on it that will be aired soon before a public forum they're organizing on underage drinking.

So, this is coming along, it wasn't too hard once I got out there and went to a meeting. I'll be allright in this, even without knowing jack shit about being a reporter. Trial by fire is what they call it I guess.

It was odd seeing Vicki, my landlord, come out to the Monroe County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition's meeting, surprising. We hung out a bit last night, that was pretty cool.

Watched the sunset from the roof of my house a coupla nights ago, that was badass. It was plenty damn peaceful and beautiful, I saw the sun actually moving, that was a shock. Going down between the mountains rocked the shit outta seeing it go down between a coupla buildings.

I'm not having as hard a time as I feared in missing Tominda and my family, I mean I of course miss the hell out of them and am looking to go back to Jefferson County at least once a month to see them and am really looking forward to seeing them. But, it's not an impediment to anything here, it's not debilitating like I had feared. It is an awfully big place to be alone though.

So, yeah, I'm going to a old-time music festival here after I hit up a coupla yard sales and get some lunch.

Over and out.

Moving In

2006-08-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, short post. I'm moving in...always takes longer than it should. First day of training today, gotta get back to that! It's coming along well and I'm enjoying the place here. Driving on the curvey roads is a good time.

gotta get everything set up at home so I get internet and phone and everything from there.

back to Lindside for more training

Leaving Home

2006-07-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

Lookin to get breakfast with Mom and John & Tominda, it'll be a pretty damn fine omelette meal. Getting a moving truck after that and hitting the road. It'll be a long trip and long packing and long next coupla days here, hot damn.

I'll probably hit this thing up Wednesday or Thursday as my first opportunity. I've got my worries about this move, but I've got my optimism too.

Americorps Training here...damn

2006-07-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Yep, here I am at Americorps training in Atlanta. I've been relatively honest about expressing myself and what I think of how anti-poverty work should be done. Only relatively, though. Solidarity seems like a foreign word and people here are focused solely on postive work rather that working under the leadership of a community group that's trying to address toxins in their water and whatnot. It's not too radical and very much...positive focused. Which is nice, ya know, just a lot more is missing. It's not addressing the root problem of poverty, such as outside & elite control of resources by combating it. It's good work, I mean, it's just got a lot of moderate rather than radical analysis to it & I am finding myself more and more a radical. I don't feel like Coal River Mountain Watch or OVEC could get a VISTA worker...but groups feeding people could. I mean, ya know, it's Americorps, it isn't SEAC.

I just got back from a Braves game. Damn that was racist...the tomahawk & coca-cola & a lot of things, mocking the people who were here before Europeans. It was fun, baseball games are a good quality time, just racist.

I'm meeting and networking with West Virginia VISTAs which is pretty cool. Met a coupla people from Lincoln County's Big Ugly Community Center who are pretty cool and a person from up in Marlinton workin at an Opera House up there. It'll be good to keep in contact. I've definitely been vocal about my outlook on the historical internal imperialism of the coal industry & trying to be as flat out as possible. So, Americorps knows I'm pretty radical at this point, and it'll be allright I feel.

Moving down to Monroe this coming Sunday and Monday to start the job on Tuesday or Wednesday. It'll be pretty badass, i'll have to find out what internet capabilities are around Greenville and post picture here.

I'll keep posting to this though. For now, i'm about to get out to sleep and wake up at 7 am again. Cool people, cool people.

Busy Busy Busy

2006-07-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Craziness, absolute craziness. Family and friends for the past coupla days here at Mom's place. It's been damn sweet, and i'm grateful for the weather and the people and the surroundings. I'm fried, though and ready for bed.

Tomorrow i'll write something out to SEAC and focus in on the workshops i'll be facilitating...craziness, absolute craziness...

Breakfast + Work + Party

2006-07-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

Just had a bit of break fast and woke up maybe a half hour ago. Feels damn good to get up relatively early at 9 or 930 rather than noon...ya know? Better not to watch tv until like 3 then sleep til 11, that's just wasteful. I've been waking up earlier with Tominda around. Living with her has gone damn well...she has influenced my cleaning habits a bit.

I'll be going to my last day of Riverbend later today...weird...i'll miss the hell outta that place and Cheryl...started working there in June of 2003 and i'll stop working there in July of 2006...three damn years. Best place i'll ever work, I swear.

The party at Mom's house is coming up this Saturday, and it should be a damn fine time. I'm really friggin hoping the weather holds out and it's nice. There'll be a family get together during the day with something like 30 or 40 people here, then my buddies'll be coming out at around 7 or 8 to camp out down by the river. We'll hit the river the following day and swim and tube and whatnot, it looks like. Man, I'm looking forward to that.

I've picked up some useful stuff before I've left and I'll have to go around and pick it all up this coming Monday....a couch, a futon, a bed w/box springs, a cool ass office chair, and a cabinet that can turn into a computer desk. Hell yeah, maybe i'll even have an office down in Greenville.

So, it looks like most all my activism will be fused over the next year as SEAC will be working on energy justice issues, namely coal issues. I'm focusing a lot of effort on that, nowadays, as all the scattered effort of yesteryear can now be focused.

It'll be weird going from a SEAC ATC to an Americorps training....from a long and slow process of addressing root causes of oppression to a short and sweet (but vastly incomplete) process of providing process to be there for people hit by oppression. I prefer SEAC's approach, but can see value in Americorps.

SEAC & Packing

2006-07-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

On a short break from packin and SEAC work....

Looking forward to the Activist Training Camp next week in Syracuse, it'll be pretty damn cool. Brent and Abe should be coming up from Mingo and putting on a workshop on organizing in Appalachia. There'll be workshops on everything from the Bhopal disaster to anti-oppression training. If there was something about SEAC that I'd pinpoint the network on it'd be anti-oppression work...environmental degradation is oppression. Looks like there'll be people from NY, WV, IN, OH, DC, MA there and I really hope that we can bring people into sustained activism through our network.

It'll be pretty damn crammed as I get ready for the start of my Americorps position on August 1st...packing til Friday..Party Saturday & Sunday...Move Monday & Tuesday...Drive to Syracuse on Wendesday...ATC Thursday through Sunday...Drive back to Shepherdstown on Sunday...Catch a flight on Sunday evening or Monday...Americorps training on Tuesday the 24th through Saturday the 29th...settling into Greenville the 30th & 31st...then starting the radio position August 1st

I'm excited and terrified at the same time about this Americorps position...

Update + I need Breakfast

2006-07-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

Allright, so here's the update...

Successfully got moved out of the apartment. It's always weird to see a space you've lived in get so damn barren and impersonal...clean though, a hell of a lot cleaner than when I lived there...but that's part of the impersonality.

Matt came up the night before Apex did their little walk through and helped out with cleaning his room and the carpet and whatnot. They did a quick-assed walk through and the rest'll be up to Matt towards what fits his standards of clean and he'll go through the place with a check-list. So, they'll determine the amount of moo-lah I and Matt get back based off that check-list...looks like we'll be getting a good amount back, hopefully. If I don't get a check by Mid-August, I should be calling them and asking about it.

Financially, things are looking pretty good. I've been working a bunch at Grapes & Grains and have my last day coming up this week. I've had to dip into my graduation funds a little bit, which I will be paying back once I get reimbursed for the trips down to Monroe and over to Morgantown. If I can walk into my new set-up in Monroe with that $800 in the bank, that'd be pretty damned sweet.

I do want to get a rather large 4 wheel drive pickup or SUV for hauling shit from place to place in Monroe & getting around in the winter time. It doesn't look like I have the money yet, but I think I'll be able to put up to a grand towards that goal come August or September. Don't need a pretty one and don't need one that'll last forever, just need one that'll get me around when it's treacherous out there on the mountain roads and'll haul a chair or whatever from place to place.

I do want a pool table and to be saving up for solar panels as well. The pool table will come first and the solar panels are more of an..eventual goal. Damn state doens't have shit for financial incentives, so hopefully that'll change in the future to make them more affordable.

It'll be weird to leave Grapes and Grains...Cheryl has been damn good to me over the past four years and three of them working for her. Don't think I'll ever have that sweet of a job again...working for a cool ass, responsible, respectful boss in a locally owned beer & wine store. I don't know why I'm leaving that...

Check this, so many connections in this one. Tominda's dad works in mountaintop removal. I ask him whether he knows of a town named Nellis, that's where John's parents are from. He tells me they're about to rip the top of the mountain off of a mountain near there. I tell John, he tells his parents. His parents go down to Nellis for an annual reunion and see a pending permit in the local newspaper down there. They comes back up here for a Maxey family get together and we talk about it at great lengths. We are now trying to stop the project that Tominda's dad is working on. Plus John's parents know the friend of mine who is working on Mountain Justice Summer stuff in the Coal River Valley, who I point them towards. There is a town there, Nellis, which is on the National Historic Register. There is an Indian Burial Mound that may be impacted by the project as well. That Indian Burial Mound should be well protected by federal law, which trumps state law (go federalism!) and there may be a way to protect that and stop this project.

Crazy shit.

SEAC's Activist Training Camp is coming up and there is a lot to be done on their Energy Action Coalition funding. Much to do, much to do.

Gotta go to Frederick today to try some beer that we may have at my birthday party. Gotta stain the deck and chop down some underbrush to clear the way for people's camping, gotta continue to pack up my shit more efficiently than I did when I left the apartment.

There is much to do, and I haven't even had breakfast yet.

Damn

On A Break + Last Night

2006-06-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

On a break from cleaning the damn stove. Hot damn, burnt is hard as hell to get off that plate beloew the hot swirly things! I spent an hour on those alone...they suck. I'm lookin for the inside of the stove to be relatively easy, haven't used that thing since December. Used to make fries last summer, but they're too friggin expensive for a regular meal.

I'll be cleanin for the rest of the night, got my fill of social last night.

Had an off night to begin with last night, so went over to the Meck. Got there just as Nick, Kate B, and Coop were starting up a game of darts. Indulgent night...think it was 8 or 9 beers by the end and was pretty friggin blazed. Talked with Nicole V for a while too, that was pretty cool, gave some words of encouragement on getting involved in local environmental issues. Gettin better at darts too, Nick talked with the bartender about the possibility of hookin me up with an old dartboard they recently replaced for the place down in Greenville.

Hung out with Coop and Katie after that back at her place, damn, it must be nice having a creek run through one's backyard. Probably doesn't go out there much...funny how when things are close we take them for granted.

Today was pretty hardcore hangover and rainy weather that facilitated a hangover. Didn't get too much done, but got a bunch of nice naps.

Hell yeah, well, going back to cleaning. Tominda should be in tomorrow.

Cleanin

2006-06-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

Cleaning the bathroom...letting the clorox set in. I may be infected with 5 or 6 different tropical diseases by the time I'm finished. I hope someone has a malarial vaccine on the ready...

Took down some of my posters in the living room, and that was weird. Having the walls covered with comfortable sights just make the damn place seem like home & bare walls are just...unhomey and alienating. So, I'll leave up everything else til my bed moves out.

Allright, the clorox should be set in...here I come bathtub!

Threatening Rain...for the past few days

2006-06-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

Looks like the threat of rain may turn out to be more than a threat...but a nice threat cause it's been so damned hot.

The day at work here has been pretty dead, not too much eventful going on here. Magic Hat's #9 has been selling pretty well, that's a damn fine beer for a hot day. I think i'll be doing some moving later on tonight, maybe depleting my beer supply in the process, we'll see.

Hot damn, I can hear the rain anytime someone opens a door, that's a helluva fall.

Well, I'm gonna go watch the rain a bit.

Starting Up & Moving Out

2006-06-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm starting up this internet blog here device thingie as a method of recording my time in a public fashion. This will, if my own history provides any damn accuracy, be an on again - off again kinda record. It will be, though, nice to look back upon my thoughts and time and experiences.

It's a record for future nostalgia I suppose. I may give out the address to this, I may not. We'll see.

Lookin to be moved out of my apartment by the end of the week here...so I've got maybe 3 more days to get all my crap out...that'll leave me 2 or 3 days to clean the place up. I hope Apex doesn't dick me over...they are a pretty corporate landowning kinda place though and that is the history of corporate landowners, so we'll see.