The ground around Jefferson County is littered with history. Literally. “I got a call a few weeks ago from a kayaker who was paddling along the shore in front of the cement kiln along the Potomac River downstream from Shepherdstown. Read the Full Story >>
Local School Receives Award
C.W. Shipley, the public elementary school in Harpers Ferry, was recently recognized by the Blue Ribbon School Program as an Exemplary High-Performing School. Only 297 schools nationwide (including two others in West Virginia) received this recognition in 2022. Read the Full Story >>
Local Artists Open Studios in November
This year’s Over the Mountain Studio Tour is scheduled for November 12 & 13 (Sat & Sun). The tour route includes 8 local studios, with 17 of the Eastern Panhandle’s most passionate artisans participating to present (and sell) work. Read the Full Story >>
A Time Satire at Shepherd University Theater
The Thanksgiving Play, written by 2020 McArthur Fellow Larissa Fasthorse, is intended to be funny, edgy, and serious. A group of terminally “woke” actors struggle to create a play for a local elementary school that presents a balanced history of the first Thanksgiving, trying to include all perspectives but without offending anyone. Read the Full Story >>
Securing Life and Liberty for All
When what we might think of as history is still present in the minds of the living, the need for an emphatic rejection of groups that seek to instigate race-based fear and political violence seems to be self-evident — so that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are secured as rights of our common future, not just hollow words left behind, buried by the burden of a hidden past. Read the Full Story >>
Readers Share Some Nature Tricks & Treats
As we spend time outside studying nature, it’s reassuring to observe familiar things year after year. And yet there always remains an element of surprise. Two readers shared their most recent nature surprises with me this past month. Read the Full Story >>
Haunted by the Unresolved
The Wild Hunt, a debut novel by Emma Seckel, is a ghost story of the very best kind, reflecting our own experiences in which we never quite know if the ghosts are real or conjured up by ourselves in the throes of our own heartaches. Read the Full Story >>
Shepherd University Football Team Prepared For Exciting 2022 Season
Are you ready for some home-town college football? Our local Shepherd University Rams open practice this week, looking ahead to their season opener on September 1. Read the Full Story >>
Shepherdstown Looks at Comprehensive Plan
The Comprehensive Plan for the Corporation of Shepherdstown is due for an update. As a first step, the Town Council has authorized the Planning Commission to create a committee of volunteers to review and assess the Town’s progress towards the goals set forth in the 2014 plan. Read the Full Story >>
Writers Conference Returns to Shepherd University
Manuscript to Marketplace, a conference for writers of all genres, will take place on the Shepherd University campus September 9 & 10 and is expected to draw attendees from across the region and beyond. Read the Full Story >>
Music on the Mountain & in the Valley
This year’s Appalachian Chamber Music Festival will explore the connections between folk and classical music, particularly with the Scot-Irish and Appalachian traditions. Read the Full Story >>
Tracking the Bats Overhead
Last Saturday night, I led a friend and her family on a bat walk. She said it was the only thing she wanted for her birthday, so I met her at her house near Ranson, West Virginia around 8:30 pm. It had rained all day but started to clear up in the late afternoon. Perfect “batting” weather. Read the Full Story >>
Asking Questions, Recovering Truth
I came across When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill just after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The reviews indicated that it was a book about women’s rage, and also dragons. What’s not to love, I thought? I did indeed love it, but I was also surprised by the tender coming-of-age story about a grieving girl, and the powerful indictment of a society that tries to force its people to sweep their traumas under the carpet. Read the Full Story >>
Freedom’s Run 2022 – Your Solution to the Comfort Crisis
So many things today compete for our attention and energy. So it’s no surprise that when we get a few minutes of peace we seek comfort. But a book I brought on a summer trip to Oregon suggests we should regularly seek to get out of our comfort zones. Read the Full Story >>
Cyber Thriller Debuts at Theater Festival
It took only 20 years for the number of Internet users to grow from a few hundred million to 5 billion people. Today, cyberattacks are constant. And because the United States was an early adopter of connected technologies, we are particularly vulnerable. Read the Full Story >>
