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 >>
Events & Entertainment
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 >>
Barbara Kingsolver Talks About Being A Writer
Barbara Kingsolver will speak at the 2022 Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence award ceremony at Shepherd University. Read the Full Story >>
Appalachian Heritage Festival at Shepherd University
“Celebrating Women’s Voices in Appalachia” is the theme of the 2022 Appalachian Heritage Festival (Sep 25) on the Shepherd University campus. Read the Full Story >>
Pollinator Palooza Event at Shepherdstown Public Library
The Shepherdstown Public Library is hosting “Pollinator Palooza,” a four-day (Sep 7 - 10), family-friendly program in its new gardens. Read the Full Story >>
Jefferson County Fair Marks End of Summer
The Jefferson County Fair is a week-long celebration of local agriculture, with arts & crafts and competitions in all sorts of categories for all ages. The main focus is on youth and encouraging the traditions of animal husbandry and farming that run deep in the local community. Read the Full Story >>
Friends of Music Announces 2022-2023 Concert Season
The Friends of Music 2022-2023 season starts this month with a performance by the Two Rivers Chamber Quartet on September 25. Read the Full Story >>
Bluemont Fair Celebrates Traditions
The Bluemont Fair, a celebration of traditional farming and crafts, will be held on September 17 & 18 2022, rain or shine. Read the Full Story >>
Common History, Different Perspective
Abdulrajak Gurnah was the 2021 Nobel Prize winner for Literature. His literary afterlife is just beginning. Born in Zanzibar, although writing in English, and living in England, he was virtually unknown among readers, even among many of the elite intellectuals of the literary world, despite being shortlisted for a Booker Prize with an earlier book and a few lesser prizes. Only one of his nine novels was still in print in the United States when he won. 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 >>
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 >>
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 >>