Post by: Clint Stealey
Town: Columbus (but originally Clarksburg and then Morgantown)

Not too long ago, I remember being bummed about how WVU would be negatively affected by the exodus of three universities from the Big East conference. Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami got up and left in the middle of the night, only to leave their siblings hanging out to dry. Of course it affected all of the sports teams, but it more noticeably affected the Mountaineers on the gridiron. I don’t think I could have pointed to one person who thought it was a good thing for WVU. How could it be a positive when it means that we lose the ability to play our second biggest rival in football in VT? Is the conference now simply going to collapse? Will WVU be in a conference that’s going to have a shot at playing for a national title? After all, playing for the ultimate prize is what it’s all about.

Fast-forward a few years and I laugh about that situation. Not only has WVU been the flagship university for the conference, but it has gained national exposure to an unprecedented level. We have won two BCS games in the last three years, beating “little known” teams from Georgia and Oklahoma. A record number of WVU football games have been shown on national TV in these past three to four years, thanks to the team’s success and the conference’s clever television contract with ESPN. Most interesting is that the ACC is the conference that has been negatively affected since the expansion. VT, Miami and BC have not been on the same level as WVU over the past three- to four-year period on the football field. The Big East has simply been better than the ACC in football since the invasion.

Not too long ago, I remember being bummed about Rich Rodriguez leaving his alma mater for a Michigan program that I feel has had its best day. I felt a certain level of betrayal and amazement that he would leave Morgantown. I do think that the WVU-Pitt game affected him so greatly that it caused him to want to withdrawal from the situation, and the Michigan opportunity was the perfect out. How could he leave his alma mater like that? How can he tell a high-school recruit he doesn’t even know “pryor” to telling Pat White and Co.? Are we going to return to a level of mediocrity that persisted during the late ’90s/early 2000s?

Fast-forward a few months and I laugh about that situation. It should be clear to every WVU alum or fan across the country that it is certainly best that this happened. Am I disappointed in missing a trip to New Orleans to watch a title game? Sure. However, it is becoming more and more clear that WVU was coached by an individual who lacks a measurable amount of moral fiber. This is exactly the type of person I would not choose to lead the Mountaineers, even if it means missing a national-title game.

Uncertainty and apprehension always seem to accompany change. However, growth and prosperity can often be at the side of change as well. When it comes to WVU football, “a change can do you good.”

Moderator’s note: Clint Stealey is my little brother, whose ass I used to be able to kick. The operative word being ‘used.’

Post By: Rebecca Burch
Town: Spencer
Website: Carpe You Some Diem

When I was a kid, there were all kinds of little local businesses. They’re almost all gone, now, but they make up such a huge part of my childhood. I’ll never forget the smell of Belle Hardware Store, and the feel of sticking my hands in the huge barrels of bean and corn seeds in the springtime. (I always got told to “get those hands outta there!” but I couldn’t resist.)

A lot of small businesses in the area have shut down for good. Our economy is moving from small, local businesses to huge, global businesses. Large megastores move in and shut businesses down, or the businesses close their doors because it’s too difficult to keep up with all the regulations and paperwork. It’s just so hard to have a small business these days, so most people don’t even try.

Last week, I met this guy:

who is the owner and CEO of Spring Creek Tofu. He informed me that it is cheaper and easier for the nation’s largest tofu supplier to purchase soybeans from Ohio, ship them to Japan, make the tofu and then sell it in the United States than it is to produce tofu from those same soybeans here in West Virginia. He says he has difficulty meeting all the regulations because there are so many bureaus and reporting agencies to deal with, and many of them have confusing or even contradictory policies to adhere to. This is one of the reasons the previous owners quit the business, he said, and the reason that he can’t produce the tofu as quickly as he needs to to meet demand — it takes so much time to do the paperwork that it takes workers away from making the product, but he can’t afford to hire someone new to do the paperwork.

Of course, the changing economy has a positive side for West Virginia. Because of internet connectivity, more businesses are locating outside of large cities, where land prices and taxes are lower and employees have nice, safe communities to raise families in. There is a huge push toward bringing more of these companies into the state. Create West Virginia is a consortium that is working to help communities in West Virginia to find new ways to improve their economic outlooks, and to produce new industries besides the ones we’ve depended on for so long. Believe it or not, West Virginia is ripe for major, positive growth — if we want it enough to accept the change. We have the technological infrastructure, safe communities, historical importance, recreation and cultural events to make these new industries want to locate here. We have hardworking, loyal, resourceful people who would make an excellent workforce for these industries. We are close enough to big cities for convenient access, but far enough away to discourage a lot of crime spillover. West Virginia truly has it all!

But reluctance to change is part of the charm of West Virginia. Some of our towns seem forever frozen in time — still stuck in days when life moved at a slower pace, and everyone knew their neighbors. In many West Virginia towns, you can still watch a movie in a one-screen moviehouse and get a Coke from a soda fountain machine. People bring casseroles when a family member passes away or a baby is born, and the grocery store employees at the few remaining Mom and Pop shops will still bag your purchases and carry them to your car. And that’s OK, too. The trick is finding a way for us to weather all the change without losing what makes us West Virginia. I have faith that we can — we always have.

Moderator’s note: Rebecca has some amazing photography for sale at her Etsy page. If you’re looking to vastly improve the appearance of the walls of your boring ol’ home, support a WV artist and buy from her!

This week on Picture West Virginia, the prompt is “Change, for Better or Worse.” Hopefully everybody who contributed last week is game for another go, and maybe we’ll even pick up another player or two. Anybody who feels a connection to the Mountain State is welcome to either submit a post for this blog, or to post on your own blog, in which case I’ll mention it here.

Any questions? Feel free to contact me at bryan@picturewestvirginia.com.

Janis Bland, a Buckhannon blogger originally from Weston, has published her “My Town” post at her blog, Juanuchis’ Way. It’s a 19-photo tour of Weston that shows some of the amazing architecture the town has to offer, including, of course, the famous Weston State Hospital. Be sure to stop by and check it out!

Props out to my Clarksburg friend Eric Lewis, who felt inspired by this fledgling blog and decided to record a song of the same name. Check it out here: “Picture West Virginia”

Thanks, Eric! Speaking of music, I’d like to invite everyone over to my personal blog (Reversing the Numbness) for this week’s edition of Friday Music, where my buddy Clash is guest-hosting. Have a band you love telling people about? Or maybe you’re looking for new music? Friday Music is a good spot for both.

Finally, there’s still time to submit posts for the first week’s topic, My Town. Also note the upcoming topics to the left — I hope more of you will participate next week!

Post by: Bryan Stealey
Town: Morgantown
Website: Reversing the Numbness

Morgantown rules. We have a vibrant music scene, a thriving arts community, a diverse population, and collegiate sports teams that are firmly planted on the national radar. Not only are we known by football and basketball fans, but Morgantown is also world-renowned in motocross circles, believe it or not. We have cool neighborhoods, museums, famous glass companies, cutting-edge medical facilities, growing industry that employs thousands of people, a happening downtown, dozens of local shops, bistros, coffee shops and bars, a great rails-to-trails systems, a new Wharf District with an amphitheater that features live music and family movies, mountain-bike trails, rivers to ride, rocks to climb, and so much more. Morgantown has really got it going on.

I’m not anti-growth or anything, but I do have to wonder just how far it’s going to go. Sure, we’ve got all that cool stuff I mentioned, but the strip malls are coming in full force, too (some of them in ridiculous places), and an overabundance of national chains are coming along with them. It’s simply remarkable how much construction is going on in this town. As the shopping centers grow, so do houses, condos and apartments. Hundreds and maybe thousands of new homes and units are underway. If you shoot a shotgun randomly in the air — please don’t — a pellet is bound to come down on something that looks like this:

Morgantown Row Houses

From that vantage point, if you turn 45 degrees to the right, you’ll see this:

Another Morgantown Apartment Building Complex

This is happening everywhere here, and it’s not just limited to condos and apartments. Housing developments are also spreading like wild fire, from starter homes to high-end McMansions. I live in a Cheat Lake neighborhood that was built in the ’80s, and builders keep surprising me by finding new places to put houses up in the development.

How is all of this going to end? What will happen to all of the older places where people used to live? Will we really get enough new residents to fill up all of these new buildings? How can we make sure our roads will handle all of this new traffic? Our arteries are already clogged — are we headed for a heart attack?

I don’t know. But if you’re one the many who are moving to Morgantown, know that you don’t have to move into a cookie-cutter subdivision with a nifty view of Interstate 79. There are other options, like this, the single coolest building in town:

The Good Council Friary

That’s right, the Good Council Friary is for sale, and if you have a cool $2.8 mil burning a hole in your pocket, it can be yours, all yours. How cool is this place? On a rainy day you can almost imagine yourself happening upon it after a long trudge through moors of Scotland. I wanted to get up close to shoot a photo of the hand-carved stone it’s constructed of, but I decided instead to heed the ‘No Trespassing’ signs. Though I have to think they would have forgiven me for trespassing against them.

Post By: Matt Ware
Town: Kingwood

I was raised in Kingwood, which is about 45 minutes south of Morgantown. Aside from having the state’s second largest festival (the Buckwheat Festival) behind the State Fair, there’s not much going on in Kingwood.

Luckily I had very adventurous and motivated grandparents and parents. I remember from a very young age going on long trips in the summer with my grandparents, camping at the many beautiful spots in the Mountain State and beyond. Coming from such a small, slow town, this travel gave me a constant itch to keep moving. More and more my “hometown” became a home base where I would rest between destinations. Here’s a handful of photos of some of the locations I used to frequent as a kid on jaunts from my home base.

Post by: The Dalai Mama
Town: Morgantown
Website: Chez Mama

This is my first post here at PWV, and I look forward to becoming a part of this blog. My town is currently Morgantown, and it has been for nearly 16 years now. I spent my first 17 years in Petersburg. I spent nearly every minute there wishing I was somewhere else. It is a beautiful town surrounded by mountains. It was a wonderful place to grow up. I just always felt like I needed to live in a place that offered a little more diversity.

I decided on WVU for college, and while I liked Morgantown during college, I didn’t plan on making it a permanent home. As a matter of fact, I’d always planned on leaving WV. The thought of that now is actually frightening to me. I absolutely love West Virginia, and can’t imagine raising my children anywhere else.

Well, I obviously never left Morgantown! I met my husband (Bryan/SleekPelt) while I was still in college. Shortly after, he pretty much landed a dream job here. Dream jobs are hard to come by in WV. So, here we are.

Anyway, since I love cooking (and food), I am going to write about some of the wonderful, local options we have here in Morgantown. For the last several years, we have bought a CSA share from Evans Knob Farm. Evans Knob is located in Bruceton Mills, about 30 miles from Morgantown. From late May to early October, we get a weekly bounty of fresh, organic vegetables. Evans Knob is certainly one of the few (if not only) USDA certified organic farms in WV. USDA certification is a process that takes years, and much hard work. The Evans’ are dedicated to their work while also practicing their farming in a way that is safe for the environment. I admire that immensely.

A few years ago, Morgantown finally got it together and organized a nice farmer’s market. Other towns in WV have really nice, big markets with such variety. That is definitely enviable, but what I love about the Morgantown Farmer’s Market, is that all products sold there must be produced within 50 miles. That’s truly locally produced! The market starts in just over three weeks. I can’t even say how much I’m looking forward to that! Much of the produce there is grown without pesticides or added chemicals. I think all of the meat sold there is grass-fed and hormone/anit-biotic free. We really are lucky to have options like that available locally. In many urban (and even some rural) areas in the U.S., you just wouldn’t be able to find fruit, veggies, meat and eggs that were essentially raised in your backyard. Just one of the many wonderful things about West Virginia!

Post By: Rebecca Burch
Town: Spencer
Website: Carpe You Some Diem

I feel sort of schizophrenic, because I am very much at home in both Charleston and Spencer WV, which are like two totally different worlds. I grew up in Belle, near Charleston, so I spent a lot of time in downtown Charleston as a kid. Now I work there but live in Spencer, which is very rural and kind of isolated. So I’m submitting two photos, if that’s OK — one of each of my “towns.”

The first one is “Livestock Market, Spencer WV.” I took this photo during a beautiful golden sunset while checking out this old livestock market. I think it’s still in use, although it has sort of an eerie “abandoned building” feel when it’s empty… which seems to be most of the year

Livestock Market: Spencer, WV

At the Foot of the Bridge

Check out more of Rebecca’s posts at Carpe You Some Diem.

Welcome to the first week of Picture West Virginia! This week’s topic is My Town. If you don’t know how this works, be sure to read this.

Take a look at the Future Topics list at the top-left of this screen for upcoming prompts; I hope you’ll consider playing along.

Thanks for stopping by Picture West Virginia. The idea of this blog is to portray West Virginia through the eyes, ears, hands, hearts and brains of the creative-minded people who really know the state. (In other words, not Hollywood.) You can read full details and find out how to participate at How Does PWV Work? I’ll be the moderator as well as a regular participant. For those of you who are familiar with my personal blog, Reversing the Numbness (where I go by “SleekPelt”), this works a bit like my Friday Music posts.

As you can see to the left, the first three topics have been announced. I hope some of you will participate, and I invite everyone who stops by to comment. I’m taking contributions now and will start posting on Monday.