This is not my blog.

Today is West Virginia Day and the state is 145 years old. The folks over at abetterwestvirginia.com asked area bloggers to think of what we could post today about positive stereotypes. I wasn't sure what to post so I started looking through some of my old posts about West Virginia ... particularly those that I made when I was still living in Ohio as an expatriate. I learned upon leaving West Virginia that sometimes you have to leave before you can appreciate where you were. Not that Ohio was bad ... but it was different and I grew to miss my family and the type of people who I grew up around (though there are the good and the bad in all cases). I am glad that I returned and now have a different perspective.

So I plowed through my old posts and came up with many in various categories. There are posts that talk about places in West Virginia ... like Berkeley Springs, Morgantown, Logan, Harpers Ferry, Snowshoe, and Charleston. Then there are posts that describe historical events and curiosities related to the state like Pearl Harbor, the Silver Bridge collapse, the Mothman, the Flatwoods Monster, our love for Tudor's Biscuits, the Pumpkin House, and even the events of the loss of the Marshall football team. Then there are the posts about interesting people and things across the state such as the Toastman, the glass lady, the WV Power, the Mortar Man, the Mountaineer, the Pride of West Virginia, my barber John, and the Clintons visiting the state recently. Then there are the picture posts showcasing some of the beauty of the state like the high mountains around Paradise, pictures of the eastern panhandle, from hiking part of the Appalachian Trail, a pleasant fall day in Charleston, an outdoor concert last West Virginia Day, or just shots around town here. Then there are those quirky posts about the Friends of Coal Bowl, the state of the mountains that we West Virginians love, standing in line to buy West Virginia glass, heading down to the Sternwheel Regatta, or picking a new state slogan. But the ones that are most special to me were those posts about family and friends and the things that I would not have been a part of in the same way if I hadn't returned home such as my Thanksgiving, attending my cousin's wedding, being with my family for my grandmother's final days, going to Camden Park with my sister and her family, having my family come to my swearing in before the WV Supreme Court, or helping a friend run for local office this past election.

To me, the theme that connects these things are the remarkable people of this state. They keep quirky things such as folklore and legends, they come together as families and communities in the face of tragedy and celebration, they imbue their local communities with color and distinctiveness, and the celebrate being West Virginians in their own unique ways. They live their lives as they want to live them and cherish those things that are important ... keeping them alive. One of the places that I most felt this recently was in a darkened movie theater in Huntington with my sister and her husband watching We Are Marshall where the feeling of solidarity and sympathy was palpable. Many bloggers around the state do a better and more thorough job of chronicling such things, but these are the ones that I've tried to capture in my posts and I've enjoyed going back and re-reading them while reflecting on where I've been and where I'm going now that I'm back in my Mountain State. Happy West Virginia Day!

Labels: meme, myphotos, stories, wv