There are few things that inspire a deeper sense of apprehension and dread in someone in recovery from a substance abuse disorder than the prospect of a major surgery. Rare is the recovering drug addict who doesn’t know a contemporary… Read More ›
West Virginia
Mountaineers Are Seldom Free: Union-Busting in the West Virginia Mine Wars
Everything on and about my person had been coated in a thick film of stale tobacco smoke. After 30 days, 10,000 miles and 4 cartons of cigarettes, the air inside the cabin of my car had obtained the same translucence… Read More ›
Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right: Progressive Third Party Politics in West Virginia
It was all Nader’s fault. Never mind the butterfly ballots and the hanging chads. Forget about Palm Beach County’s sudden and accidental infatuation with Pat Buchanan(1) and Katherine Harris’s purging of thousands of legitimate black Floridians from the voter rolls… Read More ›
We Are Our Mountain’s Keeper: The Fight for the Soil & Soul of Appalachia
West Virginia is no country for young men. Nor is it a country for old men, brown men, poor men or women. West Virginia is a country for rich men; men with no names and no faces who live far… Read More ›
Real People, Fake Weed: A Slice of Life High on Spice
There are few things in this world that feel sketchier than meeting up with a person you’ve never met before in a random gas station parking lot. One of those things happens to be meeting up with a person you’ve… Read More ›
We Promise This Will Never Happen Again: Freedom Industries Spills More Waste In West Virginia’s Rivers
Sometimes, when I come across a story about a chemical spill or environmental disaster in West Virginia, my thoughts lead me to story of the Greek Titan Prometheus. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus was humanity’s architect and benefactor. He was the… Read More ›
Rage, Rage With West Virginia Against the Dying of Their Right to Clean Water
In May of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave the commencement address at the University of Michigan and first laid out the framework of what would become his vision for America’s “Great Society.” In the speech, LBJ reflected on the… Read More ›
The Family Afterward: West Virginia Four Months After The Freedom Industries Chemical Spill
“Put a marshmallow on it.” he told her. “I’m telling you, fish love the marshmallows. Helps ’em to see the bait underwater. Normally it’s hard for fish to see bait moving around, but the marshmallow gives ’em something they can fix their… Read More ›
Requiem For an Old Mountain Mining Town: Stories From Butte, Montana
Like most of its coal mining Appalachian counterparts on the other side of the Mississippi, the city of Butte, Montana subsists today on little more than the fumes of its former glory. Now, over a half century removed from halcyon… Read More ›
Tell “The Progressive”: West Virginia’s Story Will Be Heard
My latest article on the water crisis in West Virginia, “Trust is Not a Word We Use Around Here,” (has been seen by thousands of people on my blog, Virally Suppressed and on DailyKos as part of the Community Spotlight… Read More ›
Virally Suppressed - Muckraking For The Modern World 