Progressives and Liberals

Two people have accused me of being a "progressive" in the past few days. Well, I'm not and what's more, I really detest that label. I'm not liberal, either. Nor a Conservative, although popular belief seems to dictate that I be one or the other. Either that or the dreaded middle of the road "moderate." I'm not one of those either.

I have a friend that is very opinionated about people who label themselves. He gets very irritated with people who identify themselves as "conservative" or "liberal" because, as he says, "people let the label inform their ideologies." He says that people who proudly proclaim they are a liberal will nearly always reserve their opinions on a new issue until they ascertain what the correct liberal stance should be. Same with conservatives.

I dislike labels, too; some more than others. I really dislike that people who used to call themselves "liberals" now call themselves "progressives." To call oneself a Liberal used to mean that you ascribed to certain ideologies that challenged the status quo. It meant that you were one of the revolutionaries that would throw off the shackles of tradition and push the envelope of socially acceptable mores. It meant burning your draft card or your bra, and being against any effort to preserve traditional controls on society. In other words it meant refusing to act like a grown-up, and being damned proud of it.

"Progressives", it could be assumed, are for progress. Well, who isn't? Why do people formerly known as liberals have a corner on this word?

When people advocate for change, such as implementing a new law, they usually do so because they feel it will bring progress. But in today's label obsessed lexicon we ascribe different labels to different laws based on how they fit into our understanding of political ideologies. For example, if the law was for stricter gun controls then it would be called "progressive." But if the law was to increase controls over people who commit crimes by using illegal drugs it would not be called progressive; It would be called "conservative". Why? Both are to make a safer society. Both would be progress, wouldn't they?

The real reason that liberals are calling themselves progressives these days is because Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have made "Liberal" a dirty word. I know very few people these days who proudly say they are a liberal. Thus the switch to "progressive." It was a smart move, I confess, because who can object to someone being for progress?

But it still ticks me off. Especially when Mayor Jones says things like "our City is progressive" like he did in the days after the recent table games vote. Don't lump me in, Mr. Mayor, with people who vote for table games for no other reason than the money it will bring. Don't label me as a "progressive" that would vote to ignore the pleas and warnings of people whose lives have been destroyed by gambling in favor of a larger balance in the B&O fund.

Progress? Only time will tell.

I Demand A ReKent!

Kent Carper came as close as I've ever seen him get to smiling this afternoon after he realized that the recount of the table games vote didn't change the outcome. After all the fuss, delays and expense the aginners gained only 4 votes. Let the games begin!

Kent has been a picture of anxiety since the election, seemingly terribly afraid that the canvass or the recount would uncover too many "no" ballots. This evening he said he didn't mind if his support of the initiative cost him political points. That's probably because the cash he got from Tri-State Casino (in the form of campaign contributions) will more than make up for the lost votes. Now he can relax since Big Gambling won't be sending The Boys to visit Kent to express their disappointment with a loss.

Now, who wants to bet that Jay Goldman's old idea of annexing Cross Lanes gets resurrected by Mayor Jones? While he can't annex the casino itself (since it is in Nitro) he can surely get his hands on the user fees of the employees of the hotels and restaurants that will pop up nearby.

Our political leaders are so happy they can hardly count.

The Sorry State of Local Talk Radio

I've been listening to local talk radio since the advent of "The Morning Exchange" on WCHS 580 in the early 1990's. It has undergone many changes over the years and I have found something that I liked about each new expression of the medium, at least until now.

Other than a couple of different sports talk shows that are scattered through the weekly schedule, 580's talk show offerings are:

1. The infomercial-like "Ask The Expert" show where local egomaniacs and narcissists pay money to be on the air for an hour a day to promote their particular interest; or

2. "58 Live" in the afternoon where neo-con Mike Agnello and flaming moderate Rick Johnson host 3 hours of milquetoast banter every day. Agnello is always bringing on conservative guests who spew right-wing propaganda about the hot topic of the day, but the listeners and callers seem to only want to talk about the most innocuous of topics. The result is 3 hours of nothing every day. It is the single most dreadful show I have ever heard. While on the way home from work most days I will switch to one of our two sports stations to listen to commentary on the latest misadventures of Pac Man Jones or Michael Vick, ad-nauseum.

The other talk station, 950 on your dial, has Andy Albertini's "Andy & Company" that I posted about last week. The good thing about this early morning show is you only need to listen to it for about five minutes per hour to hear everything they have to say. You could pick up a copy of "Conservatism for Dummies" and pretty much figure out what Andy's going to say about everything. Andy's co-host and one-man "Amen Corner" does little to create interesting counter-point. The incessant drumbeat of "our government is oppressing us and our leaders are selling us out" gets very old, very quickly.

Even Jerry Waters, the nattering nabob of negativism that he was, was at least entertaining because his rhetoric raised the hackles of enough people on both sides of an issue to induce them to call the show. His downfall, in my opinion, was having school board member Pete Thaw on the air virtually every day. Pete's laugh (which, incidentally, sounds just like The Penguin from the Batman TV series) was grating and his commentary was beyond dull.

I can't believe it, but I am actually nostalgiac for the days of Danny Jones' show on 950 every morning as it was in the late 1990's. He was so much better as a talk show host than he is a mayor.

Cash Crop

Police made an interesting agricultural discovery on an obscure little street on the West Side.

Lt. Chuck Carpenter of the Metro Drug Unit said "They were very, very nice plants."

The plants were later burned before several high police officials.

The Black and White World of Andy Albertini

When Jerry Waters was unceremoniously removed from the airwaves of Charleston talk radio earlier in the year, his spot was soon filled by one Andy Albertini. Andy is a transplant from Ohio County and his show is described as "Hard Core Patriot Talk Radio." His shtick is basic neo-con with a little bit of motivational speaker rhetoric thrown in for good measure. Andy has a sycophant sidekick, whose name I don't recall. His job is apparently to make Andy sound smarter.

Lately Andy has been really out there against the smoking ban. He claims that any regulation of smoking in private buildings and businesses is tantamount to being forced to have government as one's business partner. I believe he is a cigar smoker, which would explain his commitment to smoker's rights. He isn't swayed by any theory of public health and smoking. When a caller recently tried to advocate for the public health aspect of the smoking ban, Andy accused the caller of being "the pleasure police" and against anything enjoyable. He was, in my view, unnecessarily harsh to the caller, who was only trying to explain the public health ramifications of second hand smoke.

Andy is a classic "aginner". He's against just about anything any governmental unit says or does.
For the past couple of days he has been on the Regatta Commission pretty hard because of their decision to ban the use of lawn chairs in front of the stage during Regatta performances. He has really gotten a kick out of the phrase "mosh pit" that was used to incorrectly describe the area directly in front of the stage at the concert, and he has been relentless in his ridicule of the person who used the term. Andy thinks that the logic behind the lawn chair ban is stupid (the logic being that emergency workers would have a harder time reaching the stage if there were a sea of lawn chairs to wade through), and the "mosh pit" comment is apparently proof-positive that city government is hopelessly out of touch.

In Andy's world, there is no merit in anything he doesn't understand or agree with. If he's against it, it's the most ludicrous thing in the world. If he's for it, there is no way anyone with a brain could disagree with it unless they have ulterior motives.

At least that's the impression I get from his show. Andy's world is all black and white; no shades of gray.

Seems like an uninteresting place to live.

Our long nightmare is not over...

Remember last week when the prevailing sentiment about the table games vote was "I can't wait until Saturday so this thing will be over with!"? Well, it's Tuesday and it's not over with.

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper, as is his manner and custom, has put himself in the middle of this controversy by:

• Demanding the County Commission vote on a resolution supporting table games, and then;
• Joining Danny Jones in beating the drum to pass the table games resolution, and then;
• Prematurely announcing that all ballots had been counted, and that the measure had passed by 60 votes, and then;
• Announcing that the final numbers meant that the measure had passed by 33 votes and proclaiming it a "great day for Kanawha County", and then;
• Saying that he felt the 64 ballots found on Monday should not be counted.

While he later relented and said the ballots should be counted, it was his shoot-from-the-hip original answer that reveals his true thoughts on the matter.

Could it be that his allegiance is swayed by the money that Tri State Casino donated to his election campaign?

I don't seriously think Commissioner Carper is corrupt, but he would be the first to exclaim, "Avoid the appearance of impropriety!"

He should practice what he preaches.

Table Games Pass

44,000 people in Kanawha County went to the polls to vote for or against allowing table games at the Tri State Greyhound track in Cross Lanes. A razor thin margin of 33 votes passed the measure. With a bunch of provisional ballots to be counted this thing is still close enough that it could turn out differently, but for now it seems Big Gambling has won.

Time will tell if this was good or bad for the economy, but I know already it is not good for the soul of our community. We have one of the greatest places in the country to live, but our government officials want to live beyond our means. They want multi-million dollar arts centers and libraries even though we can't afford them. They want to spend more and more money on a population that is shrinking. So they look to an economic development project that, in order to succeed, it's customers have to lose.

Certainly there are people who gamble for entertainment and can afford the losses they most likely will incur, but there are many people who can't afford it that will lose the grocery or rent money because they can't control themselves. No worries, though, because their grocery money will help finance the next big project and we'll all benefit.

But what happens ten years from now when we've gotten used to the gambling income and our government begins to live beyond its means again? I guess we'll have to look at other revenue sources.

It will be interesting to see what those are.

The Gambling Debate Makes Strange Bedfellows

The upcoming "Table Games" election in Kanawha County is creating some interesting alliances and dividing some former allies, irrespective of party lines and ideological labels. Instead of being a Conservative vs. Liberal issue, or a Democrat vs. Republican issue, this election has created a whole new voting block from the extremities of the political spectrum. Ultra right-wing, bible-thumping evangelical preachers are on the same side as left-wing, cradle-to-grave social liberals. What's interesting is that virtually everyone between the two extremes is on the same side of the issue, too.

But while it is true that extreme liberals and extreme conservatives find themselves in agreement, they come to the same position for completely different reasons.

Most extreme conservatives are morally against gambling for religious reasons. Some fundamentalist Christians are of the opinion that gambling is sinful because the Bible tells them that the Roman guards cast lots for Jesus' clothing after his crucifixion (I've always found it interesting that these same people conveniently overlook the passage where the Apostles also cast lots to decide who would replace Judas). "Casting Lots" equals gambling and therefore is sinful behavior in their eyes. Interestingly enough, most non-religious conservatives are not against gambling, except in symbolic "solidarity" with their parties majority position.

Extreme liberals are against gambling because of the social costs. We should not be providing state-sponsored gambling any more than we should be providing heroin to schoolchildren. Gambling is a drug and there are powerless people who should be protected from that drug.

Now the wild card, the unknown, in all of this is the question of how big the middle group is. There is some serious courting going on from both sides, but the heavily-funded gambling industry has too much firepower. They are on TV and radio constantly bombarding the undecided with promises of jobs and economic prosperity if only the issue passes. The other side has only the argument that gambling is wrong.

Morals vs. Money - History predicts the outcome - Money usually wins.

Charleston Round-Up

A few things happening under the radar in Charleston recently:

- Mayor Danny Jones got a pretty good spanking by some old-money Charlestonians for trashing up Mountain View Cemetery with the Fourth of July Fireworks. Although in his public statements he made it sound like no big deal, the fact is that he was read the riot act by several City "Mothers." Rod Blackstone took the blame. If it had been a big hit he wouldn't have been credited.

- Keep your ears open for at least one City Councilman to announce his resignation soon - or at least announce his intention to not seek office again. Butting heads with Mayor Jones can make one lose one's taste for local politics. There are two councilmen who are at odds with the mayor presently and rumor has it that at least one of them is talking about making a big stink when he leaves office. It should be interesting.

- "Friday Night at the Levee" attendance is dismal. You gotta wonder how long the city can spend the money on street crews and police for a party for 100 people or less every Friday night. But since this was Tom Lane's idea, you can be sure that it will get every consideration before it's axed.

- I wrote about the boondoggle park on the East End, but another proposed park for the West Side is nearly as stupid. The next time you are down West Washington Street look at the steep, grassy hillside at the Barton Street intersection and try to figure out what the hell they are thinking.

- In a bizarre, almost reality show type of behavior, former radio talk show host Jerry Waters can now be found sitting on the sidewalk outside Taylor Books almost every day. He sits and snidely comments about passers-by the same way he did about virtually everything in his talk show days.

That's all for now, I think my FiberNet service might be coming back online soon and I have a few hundred phone calls to make!

Free Wi-Fi for the East End

In an announcement heralded by state and city elected officials and the Charleston Area Alliance, it was made known today that the East End Main Street folks have secured a grant to provide free Wi-Fi internet for the entire East End of Charleston.

On the surface this sounds like a great idea. I am totally psyched about being able to sit down and blog or answer email anywhere on the East End where I live. I can get rid of my $39.95 per month Suddenlink internet bill!

But I'll bet if I worked for Suddenlink, FiberNet or Verizon and was looking at losing thousands of DSL or cable internet customers I would be singing a different tune!

How can the Charleston Area Alliance be happy about the government getting into competition with business? What's next, city-run coffee shops?

Far Werks!

Mayor Jones decided to move the City's 4th of July fireworks show from its traditional river front location to Spring Hill Cemetery on the North Side of the valley. Ostensibly this move was to save a bunch of bucks by combining the show with those that The Power were going to be shooting off that evening.

Some people around town are upset that the fireworks would be launched from a sacred place like a cemetery, and a lot of boaters are mad because one of the main reason people have boats in Charleston is to get up close to the two or three fireworks displays that are launched from either barges on the river or on trucks on the banks.

This is another one of those Jones Administration decisions that is curious in its apparent lack of thought. Here are the problems I see with the new location:

1. For more than thirty years, the fireworks have been at the riverfront. People have traditional places they meet to watch them. People always line the riverbank from the Clendenin Street nearly to the Capitol, and hundreds of people watch from boats. For thousands of people this is their family 4th of July tradition. There will be a lot of scrambling this year to find new places to watch from, but;

2. There are less places to watch from. Although the idea of using the elevation of the hilltop sounds good, the angles will make it difficult to see the fireworks from traditional places like Fort Hill, the West Side hill. The river will be a terrible vantage point and boaters will have to get out of the water to see the show. Outside of Appy Park, I can't think of a single vantage point that will be a decent place to watch from.

3. As dry as the foliage and grass is right now, putting the show on the hillside is a recipe for a brush fire. One of the great things about the riverfront show is that the ashes and embers fall harmlessly into the Kanawha.

4. Cars on the interstate will be right under the show. I would not be surprised if we have fender-benders or worse during the display.

I could write a dozen more reasons this is a bad idea, but what's the point?

Snob Knob

South Hills has the reputation of being the rich side of Charleston. Even though the largest, most ostentatious homes in town are found in places like Foxchase and Quarry Creek, it is South Hills that retains the reputation of the stomping grounds of the rich. Many people hold the erroneous belief that everyone who lives in the 25314 zip code is filthy rich. But I know better.

I grew up in South Hills. I went to John Adams Junior High and George Washington High. I know every street in South Hills, having ridden my bike as a teenager on every one of them. There is indeed some enormous wealth scattered about the hills, but there are also a few pockets of real poverty. A large segment of the area's population has always been working-class folks with incomes at or below the Charleston median. Growing up there I didn't know of the stereotypes until I was in high school, and by then I was so familiar with the truth that I didn't pay much attention to the myth. The bottom line for me was I lived in South Hills and I was definitely not rich.

Although my family's economic station was no where near the median of the families of my peers I had no trouble fitting in during elementary, junior high and about one-fourth of high school. Then things changed. Big time.

Looking back, I now know what was the trigger for the change, but I was oblivious then. All I knew was that many - OK, most - of the people who had been my friends since second or third grade were quite suddenly aloof. Guys that I had played little league baseball with were all of the sudden too preoccupied to take in a Charlies game with me. My buddies wouldn't go to the Kanawha State Forest pool with me any more and didn't invite me to go to Windemere or South Hills Pools with them. No more golf at Coonskin or Shawnee for the ol' gang: Nothing but Berry Hills would suffice any longer. Girls that I had known for years and years, and even dated, would act as if they didn't remember my name if we were to meet in unfamiliar places when they were with unfamiliar friends. It was very clear: I was no longer on their level.

It seems that these striations were revealed in the second semester of tenth grade.That was when there was no more denying that there were marked differences in the societal landscape between the "haves" and the "have mores." That's when the truly upper crust kids began to disappear from school one by one. We never knew where some of them went, and some were rumored to have been shipped off to Linsly or another far-away boarding school with names I did not know. These were the future leaders of Charleston, West Virginia and the Nation: They had to be schooled accordingly.

The next lower tier were less likely to be sent away to school unless they got into some trouble, but they were still separating themselves from the chaff with the clothes they wore and, more importantly, the cars they drove. In fact it was the introduction of cars into the high school society mix that triggered all of the separation of the classes - socioeconomic class, that is.

Now there were basically three levels of vehicular status at George Washington High School in the late 1970s. There were those with no car (I would reside in this class my entire high school career), those with cars and then there were those with really expensive cars.

The No Car people, my people, were carless for a variety of reasons, but none of them would be kids from affluent families who denied their offspring a car; no, that never happened. The carless class was made up of those whose parents couldn't afford cars for them, those whose parents thought cars were an unnecessary luxury, those whose parents felt that cars corrupt kids, those who had once had cars but had lost them because they wrecked them or had some run in with the law. There were probably many other reasons that our group had so many members (lack of driver's licenses for one), but we didn't discuss it amongst ourselves.

The largest group were the regular Car Kids. They drove anything from shiny new Trans Ams or Camaros, to the ten year old Datsun Uncle Ralph had given them. This group also had lots of pick up trucks and four-door Caprice Classics, Monte Carlos and an Olds Cutlass or two. Most of these cars were second hand or were daddy's toys that the kids were allowed to drive to school.

The chasm between the Car Kids and the Expensive Car Kids was vast. The lowest of the expensive car kids had new Corvettes. Porsche, BMW, Audi, Mercedes were typical for this group. These are the people who now, 30 years later, drive the highest priced Mercedes and Lexus models, and whose wives all drive Escalades.

And they all eat pizza at Lola's; which is actually what I wanted to write about this evening.

I finally made it to Lola's. I've been trying to get there since I first heard about it last Summer, but the place is tiny and always full to overflow. So my wife and I went a little early recently and got a table with no problem. Nice little place with interesting and expensive gourmet pizzas and lots of interesting and expensive imported beer and wine to wash it down. We had two 10" specialty pizzas and water to drink. The bill? $30. That's-a some-a pricey pizza!!

The little old house that is home to Lola's sits below Bridge Road in the curve that signals the end of the Bridge Road Business District. Its tiny parking lot and the overflow lot across the street is full of expensive machinery anytime the restaurant is open and especially on Friday night. The drivers of said machinery sit or stand around on the front porch waiting for one of the eight tables and few bar stools inside to become vacant, or for their to-go order to come out of the oven. Inside the patrons order from the pricey menu and sip their wine and guzzle their beer until their pizza comes, then they eat their crispy crust pizza with Gorgonzola cheese and caramelized onions with a knife and fork. They chat with their neighbors about the trip they took to Tuscany last summer and how dreadful the champagne is that is served in Delta's first-class.

It was like deja-vu. Like I was back in the GW cafeteria, except that none of these people would have eaten in the cafeteria.

By the way, the pizza at Lola's is good. Not to die for good, but very good indeed. All things considered I think I'd rather go to Lorobi's in St. Albans: They have pizza that is to die for, and my Ford would fit in better in the parking lot.

Festivallgone

Other than the way cool sidewalk drawing at Appy Park I did not partake of a single event at this year's Festivall. I'm not sure why - kids, work, weather all seemed to conspire to keep me distracted and when I did venture downtown at around 6:00 Saturday evening the sidewalks seemed to have already been rolled up.

There are several bloggers who wrote and posted photos of the events, and Oncee has a round up of the posts.

Last year's event was great for the first time and I was hopeful this year would be even better. But I'm wondering how the attendance was this year. A friend told me he went down to Capitol Street Sunday afternoon and the place was deserted. I heard that the Wine and Jazz event was well attended, but I know no one that went to the Blues, Brews and BBQ on Friday (I really wanted to go to see Robert Cray, but alas).

Having events scattered around town might seem like a good idea on the surface, but I think it tends to suppress attendance overall. Many of the venues are too far apart to walk and it's difficult to drive and park to all the different places. The trolleys aren't frequent enough to encourage a steady stream of riders (and I didn't know about the trolley plays until I read about them in the paper!). The "river taxi" to UC is an insufficient solution to the event-to-event commute for many folks since it only ran every 90 minutes.

The Regatta went through this same wierd tranformation in the 80's. A sponsor would step forward and want to hold the event in its neighborhood, and the sponsor hungry festival commission would acquiese. We ended up with events for this "River Festival" scattered all over town and everything just felt watered down after a while. I wonder why we always do this in Charleston? A word of advice to Larry Groce and other Festivall organizers: Pick an area and focus the activities there. The two and three-hundred blocks of Capitol and Summers Streets would be plenty of room for Festivall. Go ahead with the two big pay events at UC, but keep downtown open a little longer into the evening for those of us who can't or don't want to pay.

Just my $.02. Take it or leave it.

Charleston's U$er Fee

As I predicted a year ago, on the very day that Danny Jones took the oath of office to begin his second term as mayor, he proposed a doubling of the user fee.

Read the whole sad story in today's Gazette:

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007061835

Imagine how easy it would be to run a business if you could just have an extra few million when you wanted it. Instead of being fiscally responsible and living within your means, just grab more money from your constituency.

East End Boondoggle in the Making

I am not an "aginner." I'm not one of those people who nay-say every idea to make the community a more enjoyable place to live. I don't have a problem with spending tax dollars on projects whose only benefit is quality of life. And God knows that we have a dearth of greenspace in Charleston and recreation space is at a premium. But there is a project in the works in Charleston right now that is a terribly bad idea on so many levels it's difficult to see how anyone could think it will work.

I'm talking about the park that is being proposed for land that sits tucked away in a dreadful little corner of the East End. Here's an aerial photo. (click to enlarge).


The circled area that sits right across the railroad tracks from Laidley Field is the site that has been proposed for this park. Notice how it is bordered by a very dense neighborhood to the south. Here is a street view of that neighborhood.


This shot is taken one block from what has historically been the worst drug corner in the city: Lewis and Thompson. The row houses you see are along Dixie Street and behind these houses are other houses as you can see in the aerial shot. Almost all of these houses are rental units owned by some of the worst slumlords our city has to offer. Many of these houses have been illegally subdivided into multi-family units and the whole area is as densely populated as any section in the city. And the back doors of these houses look out onto the proposed park site.

So, some reasonable people might say, maybe a park will make a difference. Maybe it will be what the neighborhood needs to turn around. History would predict otherwise:

In the mid 1990's, a fantastic community playground, called "Celebration Station" was built not to far from the proposed park site. This wider aerial shot shows both sites. Celebration Station is at the lower left corner


Celebration Station was an amazing community project that utilized hundreds of volunteers to build an awesome playground adjacent to Piedmont Elementary School. Here is a photo taken there on a recent beautiful early summer evening.


Note how many kids are in the picture? None. Other than the basketball courts, the place is desolate most of the time, except for a few neighbor kids who live directly across the street and some rough talking teenagers that seem to always be around. (shortly after snapping this photo I was nearly hit by a shoe that was thrown in my direction by teenagers who were rough-housing on one of the children's swings - I obviously wasn't welcome on their turf). Trash is strewn about the place and graffiti covers the once-beautiful and ingeniously designed structures that were built with such care and hope. When the place was first opened I would take my kids a few times a month, but as the years went by it felt less and less safe. I don't know anyone who takes their kids there now because it just doesn't feel safe.

And Celebration Station is in a much, much safer and more accessible neighborhood than the proposed park.

People in the East End have been clamoring for recreation facilities for years and years. Mayor Jay Goldman, whenever confronted with these requests, would point at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center and say it was on the East End. Only someone who had always lived in South Hills would consider the King Center, which sits on the bank of the Elk River, as being on the East End.

The residents of the East End need and deserve a park, but not here. Granted, land is in short supply on the East End, and this land has little potential as a business location or other economic development project. But the bottom line is that, if this park is built, will be the most phenomenal waste of money we've seen in decades. And after a while residents of the East End will be run out of this park by the criminal or unseemly element that will no doubt thrive in this isolated part of town with a dense area of low and very low income housing surrounding it. And when they complain that the park has become unusable, the city fathers will say "we built you a nice park and you don't use it!"

My opinion is that this is a ploy to pre-empt the uprising that will certainly occur when the City throws several million dollars into the new library. Either that or it is a misguided attempt to fulfill a Danny Jones campaign promise. Or it might be both. Whatever the motive, it is a bad idea.

The Vandalia Gathering

One of the very best things about living in Charleston happens every Memorial Day weekend. It is like an old fashioned homecoming or family reunion, except that the family is pretty darn big.

You can read all you want to about the purpose of The Vandalia Gathering on its website, so I won't go into it here. Suffice it to say that a whole bunch of really talented West Virginians who are keenly interested in passing on our culture to future generations have been flocking to Charleston for the past thirty years.

Like any family reunion, there is food a plenty. Just about every traditional West Virginia food is available including hot dogs, hot bologna sandwiches, home made ice cream and funnel cakes.

You can also find West Virginia made food items like salsa, jellies and jam, honey and peanuts.
The site of the gathering is the grounds of the State Capitol with its beautiful lawn and magnificent shade trees. Under virtually every one of these shade trees you will find a handful of musicians jamming some old time tune on various combinations of fiddle, guitar, banjo, dulcimer and upright bass.


Year after year the same players and pickers sit or stand under the same trees and sing the same songs. Some of the larger trees hold two or more groups.


After a few years you begin to have some favorites and you can always find them right there under than same tree. The dependability of it all is comforting.


If you are inspired by all of the excellent music, you can find a few places to buy a traditional mountain dulcimer; hand made by West Virginians, of course.


On of the favorite foods at Vandalia is always roasted ears of corn. When I was a kid we always called called ears of corn "roesuneers." It wasn't until I was an adult that I figured out that the word was a corruption of "Roasting Ears."

Roasting ears of corn is hot work when the temperature is already in the upper 80's, which it nearly always is at Vanadalia.

And they roast a lot of them!

Eating a roesuneer is messy work. They are juicy and covered with melted butter that runs down your arms when you eat them. The proper form is to sit or stand, leaning sharply forward from the waist to allow the juice to drip to the ground.


I'll try to post more about Vandalia in the days to come.

How To Cook Ramps

I love Springtime in West Virginia.

For me the very best thing about springtime in West Virginia is the advent of ramps. I won't spend a lot of time here discussing ramps. You can find a lot of such discussion here, here and here.

I will, though, state my belief that ramps have an undeserved reputation. I have had the following discussion with many, many people over the years:

Me: Do you like ramps?
Them: [snarles up nose] Eeeww, no!
Me: Have you ever tried them?
Them: I don't want to, they smell terrible.
Me: Have you ever smelled them?
Them: I'm not sure, but I know they smell awful.
Me: So try some!
Them: No, that's OK.

Now if you are reading this and have never had ramps you are probably saying to yourself "eew, yuck, a post about ramps." To you I have but one thing to say: Try them. They are the most wonderfully delicious delicacy that eminates from our hills (OK, except for hot dogs).

Let's be honest: Ramps smell no worse than onions or garlic. If you were to cook a big pot of garlic in the same quanity that people typically cook ramps the odor would be very strong and hover in the house for days. And the flavor of ramps is absoulutely worth any lingering smell they create.

And don't tell me that they make people who eat them smell any worse than garlic does, I'm not buyin' it.

So, how best to cook ramps? While there are many, many ways I'd like to share my favorite recipe. This is a classic ramp dish that has no name as far as I know but George Tuttle, chef extraordinaire, used to sell a similar dish at the now-defunct and vanished Corner Restaurant on Charleston's West Side. He called it a "Ramp Sampler":

Here's what you need for a single hearty serving:

• 2 slices of bacon
• two eggs
• 6 to 12 ramps (depends on how mature the plants are and how strong you like your dish)
• 1 medium potato
• black pepper

First, cut the bacon into 1" pieces and brown them over low heat.


While your bacon is cooking prepare your ramps by cutting off the bulbs...


then cut off any parts of the stems that have a reddish color (the red parts are a little bitter when they are cooked).

Cut the leaves into 1" pieces.

Chop the ramp bulbs into small pieces.
Chop the potato into small pieces. Smaller size pieces will cook quicker and be more tender. You can peel the potato but I prefer to leave the skin on.


After the bacon is brown on both sides, pour off excess grease.

"Excess," of course, is a personal preference. Some grease (about a tablespoon) will be necessary for the next step, but some people like to leave all the grease in the pan.


Put the potatoes and ramp bulbs in the pan with the bacon and cook in the remaining bacon grease. Cook until the potatoes begin to tenderize and brown slightly.


Add a liberal sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper now. You can add more to taste after cooking.



Do Not Skip This Step! With a few drips of water, deglaze the pan. Add enough water to coat the entire bottom of the pan.


Add the ramp greens and stir, continue to cook over medium heat.


Add eggs and stir until they are completely cooked.

Remove from heat as soon as the eggs are done.

Place the concoction on a Fiestaware plate and you have yourself an authentic West Virginia breakfast, lunch or dinner! Man, oh man, is it good.


And the best part is that for the next 12 - 24 hours the lingering aroma will remind you of the goodness every time you enter your house.

As I said before, I love Spring!

Blogger War Intelligence

President Bush today used words written by an Iraqi blogger as evidence his new strategy is having an effect in Baghdad. I found this interesting because I have been a regular reader of the blog he referenced, as well as three other english language blogs from Iraq, since days after the war began. I have found them to be tremendously helpful tools for divining the truth of the situation on the ground in Iraq. It is truly astounding to be able to read the words of someone who is so affected by this thing we see on TV that is so far away.

The one blog that has meant more to me than the others is that of a girl from Mosul named Najma. She is the exact same age as my oldest daughter and for the past four years I have seen her struggle with the same life issues that my daughter faces, the main difference being that Najma's difficulties include bombs, tanks and soldiers. In spite of the war in her country, though, many of her biggest concerns and fears are about her grades and the social things that young girls worry about universally.

I have learned a great deal about Iraq, war, cultural and religious prejudice and the news media by reading these blogs. I highly recommend the practice. Here is a list of currently active Iraqi bloggers. Be warned, they vary greatly in their viewpoint from pro-America to vehemently anti-West. Some are remarkable for the way they blog about life just as most American bloggers without ever mentioning politics or the war and some are only about the war.

Omar and Mohammed, ITM

Zeyad

Iraq Pundit

Hammorabi Sam

Ambassador Fayrouz

Baghdad Treasure

24 Steps to Liberty

Iraqi Mojo

Konfused Kollege Kid

Sooni

Anarki-13

Attawie

Caesar of Pentra

Morbid Smile

Morbid Smile's Photos

Alaa, the Mesopotamian

Into the Sun

Iraqi Roulette

Marshmallow26

BlogIraqi

Faiza

Khalid

Raed

Riverbend

Asterism

Sooni

Sami

Najma

Nabil

The Talisman Gate

Ibn Al Rafidain

Husayn

Beth Nahrain

Abu Khaleel

HNK

Baghdad Girl: Cat Blogger

Sunshine

Sunshine's Mom: Mama

Baghdad Artist

I64 Footage Makes National News

AP, among other outlets, are featuring this video that was shot from Fort Hill of the Oakwood curve on I64 on Saturday.

$700K Going once...$700K going twice... SOLD for $650,000!?

A couple of weeks ago a group of investors led by former Puntam County Senator Oshel Craigo made the high bid for Sandy Brae Golf Course at an auction held by the Kanawha County Commission. That bid, though less than the stated minimum acceptable bid, was for $700,000. Lots of public comment followed the auction, most notably from the lips of Commissioner Kent Carper, since the expected sale price was in excess of $1 Million. After a lot of discussion and grandstanding for the media, a second auction was scheduled. This time the high bid was $650,000.

Now it is up to the County Commission to decide whether to accept the bid or to have another auction. Who knows? They might get $600,000 this time.

I think they should keep on auctioning the thing until it gets down into my price range. I have a hundred bucks or so to spend and I've always wanted to own my own golf course.