From Wikipedia:
"West Virginia Media Holdings is a media chain in West Virginia. It owns television stations in each of the four main media markets in the state, as well as a weekly newspaper.
The group owns WOWK in Huntington, West Virginia, WVNS-TV in Beckley, West Virginia, and WTRF in Wheeling, West Virginia, which are all affiliated with the CBS network, and WBOY in Clarksburg, West Virginia which is affiliated with NBC. It also owns the State Journal weekly newspaper."
"The largest private investor in the company is Bray Cary. Cary was formerly an executive with NASCAR, and was responsible for its television contract, and was also involved in syndication of college basketball games. The company was, however, forced to reveal that the bulk of its funding came from the endowment of West Virginia University and that many state political figures that the stations covered were also investors in the company."
So, could it be that the WVU Foundation has funded its own media outlet that is really just a mouthpiece for the politicians who approve WVU's funding?
Friday, October 27, 2006
Note to WOWK: You're Not Helping
The natural beauty of West VIrginia is a well known feature, also most cliche, of our state. All too often many of our own treat WV as their personal landfill. However, it comes to a new level when a TV station allows the kind of pollution and garbage to exist on or near their facilities as shown in this short video:
A Three Way Race / Fist Fight
The return of traditional WV politics...
At a recent campaign event for the office of Lincoln County, WV Sheriff, the Independant candidate (a male) took offence at something the female democratic candidate said. Natually he then punched her in public. He was then arrested by the Republican canadiate, who we gather is a serving law enforcement officer.
At a recent campaign event for the office of Lincoln County, WV Sheriff, the Independant candidate (a male) took offence at something the female democratic candidate said. Natually he then punched her in public. He was then arrested by the Republican canadiate, who we gather is a serving law enforcement officer.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
West Virginia University for Sale
Fresh off the rumor mill, Take Me Home has learned from a source inside West Virginia University that the “fix” may already be in for the next President of WVU. The only problem is that he may not be qualified what so ever.
The insider claims that Milan Puskar, chemical tycoon and source of the largest single gift in WVU’s history ($20 million), is pushing to name the successor to David Hardesty who announced his intent to retire back in August.
According to the source, the unnamed candidate has no experience in academia or in the management of large institutions higher education.
While I have no problem with donors getting buildings, stadiums, scholarships or much anything else named after them, the idea that the Presidency of West Virginia’s flagship institution is up for sale is an indicator of a new level of corruption in West Virginia; and that is saying something.
The insider claims that Milan Puskar, chemical tycoon and source of the largest single gift in WVU’s history ($20 million), is pushing to name the successor to David Hardesty who announced his intent to retire back in August.
According to the source, the unnamed candidate has no experience in academia or in the management of large institutions higher education.
While I have no problem with donors getting buildings, stadiums, scholarships or much anything else named after them, the idea that the Presidency of West Virginia’s flagship institution is up for sale is an indicator of a new level of corruption in West Virginia; and that is saying something.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
West Virginia Education: Failing to Help the Most Needy
It was recently reported by a study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's entitled "How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?" and based on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores and Advanced Placement testing data that West Virginia scored a “D-“ when it came to educating our poorest and most needy children.
This is of course absolutely no shock.
You can also bank on the idea that while hands will wring and protest lodged against the study itself, nothing will be done about it.
After all, West Virginia is a state that despite being the home of many poor rural student would be the first person in their family to go to college, designed a “scholarship” program to reward those who already had a great deal going for them.
I write of course of the PROMISE Scholarship program, a program to provide in state students, who reach a certain level on the various sections of the ACT or SAT test and leave high school with a 3.0 GPA in core academic subjects. The PROMISE was presented as a way to reward “good” students.
It is nothing but bunk that is little more than a back door tax cut for the upper middle class.
In his many comments on the subject, former Governor Bob Wise implied three major goals for the Promise Scholarship: Reward good students who “work hard and play by the rules,” reduce student loan burden, and keep West Virginia students in state after graduation.
Does the Promise reward good students? Both the ACT and College Board have issued statements against the use of the test as a benchmark for scholarship. While the tests are particularly good at the extremes of the scale, and therefore very useful tools in determining English and math class placement, the fact is that the scoring system can vary greatly with out any real measurable difference in academic ability. In fact, the SAT can vary as much as 125 points and the ACT by 1.43 to 2.20 points. While this variance represents no real difference in ability, it can result in a difference of thousands of dollars in scholarships. I believe that we do a disservice to both the ACT and the College Board and a greater disservice to the people of West Virginia when we misuse these tests for purposes for which they where not intended and are ill-suited. The Promise has operated as a poorly constructed fishing net, allowing many quality students to go unrewarded.
Does the Promise reduce loan debt? Certainly for those students who receive the scholarship, but that begs the question; what type of student receives the scholarship?
While there is some doubt about their ability to predict overall academic ability, the ACT and SAT can highlight certain educational disparities and level of preparedness. Both tests acknowledge that there is a direct correlation between family income and test score. Therefore it may seem that granting scholarships on the basis of these financial disparities, especially in a state so very poor, is a little misguided. For example, let us look at Webster County, which has the lowest per capita income in West Virginia, according the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs. Individuals there earn an average of $13,183 per year. (Per Capita Income or PCI) Only 9.67% of 2001 Webster County high school graduates were granted a Promise Scholarship. In the state’s wealthiest county, Kanawha ($27,508, PCI) 22.4% of the students received a Promise Scholarship. Do we really believe the kids in Charleston are twice as smart than those in Upper Glade? Or is it that those who live in the State Capitol have twice the advantages of those who live in a poor rural county? Instead of rewarding students for great achievement in a fair determination of relative ability and commitment, we are in effect punishing children for not being as fortunate as others.
We do know what type of student needs to take a loan; typically those from poor, working and lower middle-class families who are not poor enough to qualify for state and federal grants. According to Figure 1 these are the types of families least likely to receive a Promise Scholarship. We may have to wait a few more years for definitive proof, to determine the effect on loan burden, but there are doubts so long as those most likely to earn a scholarship are the ones least like to need a loan.
The new individual test score requirements for the Promise, which requires not only a 21 ACT composite, but also a 20 on all subject tests will exacerbate the problems of income disparity. With a statewide average of only a little over 16 on the Math section of the ACT it is unlikely that the promise will be in the grasp of the typical and otherwise deserving West Virginia high school senior. It cannot be ignored that even in the counties with the best Promise award rate, only about 1/3 are gaining any benefit from the program.
Finally a consideration for the third goal of the promise; to keep our students in West Virginia after graduation. For seven years I had the privilege of teaching about 50 of the state’s best and brightest high school students at a weeklong seminar. I always asked how many wished to stay in state after college and a strong majority always raises their hand. When I ask how think they must leave to find a career, another vast majority appears.
Our students do not want to leave this most beautiful and peaceful of states, but they often find themselves forced to do so. While other states have found success in retaining graduates by simply enticing them to remain in state for college, those states possessed a greater, more diverse economic base than West Virginia. I am afraid that due to the continued lack of professional and technology based jobs in West Virginia, the Promise will become a free job training program for our sister states.
While this is not the venue for discussing West Virginia’s economic development, it is a place to acknowledge that while the goals of the Promise are laudable, the only responsible question is if the current program matrix is actually doing the job we need it to do. I would argue that this is not the case and that the program, like most young efforts at social policy, needs considerable upgrading. In order to affect the former Governor’s goal in a more efficient and more socially just way, I would suggest the following: Make the Promise and West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program one unified program: the WV Promise Grant Program if you will.
Grant tuition and regular fees to any WV high school graduate with at least a 3.0 high school GPA in core courses, who then enrolls in a West Virginia college, university or community college. Private colleges would participate much as they do now. This will hopefully correct the problem of income disparity attached to the SAT and ACT.
If students stay in West Virginia up to two years after graduation (with an exemption for graduate or professional school) then the grant will remain just that. However if the student should leave the state in that time, the grant will become a loan to be repaid with a reasonable rate of interest. The combined, but not reduced budgets of the Promise and West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program would be used to make interest payments on the loans (as opposed to paying for the entire program “up front”) only having to pay full tuition and fees if the student completes all program requirements. Those that move out of state will continue to help their home state by repaying the program. The requirement to stay in state for two years will create a base population, educated and expectant, that will demand economic development and offer a ready made and talented workforce.
It should be stressed that these suggestions are just that. It would be the height of arrogance to assume that the answers to such a complicated issue lay with the confines of one mind, or even one isolated group. The best solutions are inspired by dynamic interactions of diverse stakeholders. I am firm in my conviction that should such a discussion take place that we can build a socially responsible program that will make college an option for all of our students and be a model for the rest of our country.
Sources:
SAT Factsheet, National Center for Fair and Open Testing, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/satfact.htm
ACT Factsheet, National Center for Fair and Open Testing, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/act.html
West Virginia County Profiles, WV Bureau of Employment Programs, http://www.state.wv.us/bep/lmi/cntyprof/
County Boards of Education Public School Headcount Enrollment by Grade 2000-01, West Virginia Department of Education, http://wvde.state.wv.us/
Total Awarded Applicants by County of High School and High School, 7/8/2002, WV Higher Education Policy Commission, http://www.hepc.wvnet.edu/
This is of course absolutely no shock.
You can also bank on the idea that while hands will wring and protest lodged against the study itself, nothing will be done about it.
After all, West Virginia is a state that despite being the home of many poor rural student would be the first person in their family to go to college, designed a “scholarship” program to reward those who already had a great deal going for them.
I write of course of the PROMISE Scholarship program, a program to provide in state students, who reach a certain level on the various sections of the ACT or SAT test and leave high school with a 3.0 GPA in core academic subjects. The PROMISE was presented as a way to reward “good” students.
It is nothing but bunk that is little more than a back door tax cut for the upper middle class.
In his many comments on the subject, former Governor Bob Wise implied three major goals for the Promise Scholarship: Reward good students who “work hard and play by the rules,” reduce student loan burden, and keep West Virginia students in state after graduation.
Does the Promise reward good students? Both the ACT and College Board have issued statements against the use of the test as a benchmark for scholarship. While the tests are particularly good at the extremes of the scale, and therefore very useful tools in determining English and math class placement, the fact is that the scoring system can vary greatly with out any real measurable difference in academic ability. In fact, the SAT can vary as much as 125 points and the ACT by 1.43 to 2.20 points. While this variance represents no real difference in ability, it can result in a difference of thousands of dollars in scholarships. I believe that we do a disservice to both the ACT and the College Board and a greater disservice to the people of West Virginia when we misuse these tests for purposes for which they where not intended and are ill-suited. The Promise has operated as a poorly constructed fishing net, allowing many quality students to go unrewarded.
Does the Promise reduce loan debt? Certainly for those students who receive the scholarship, but that begs the question; what type of student receives the scholarship?
While there is some doubt about their ability to predict overall academic ability, the ACT and SAT can highlight certain educational disparities and level of preparedness. Both tests acknowledge that there is a direct correlation between family income and test score. Therefore it may seem that granting scholarships on the basis of these financial disparities, especially in a state so very poor, is a little misguided. For example, let us look at Webster County, which has the lowest per capita income in West Virginia, according the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs. Individuals there earn an average of $13,183 per year. (Per Capita Income or PCI) Only 9.67% of 2001 Webster County high school graduates were granted a Promise Scholarship. In the state’s wealthiest county, Kanawha ($27,508, PCI) 22.4% of the students received a Promise Scholarship. Do we really believe the kids in Charleston are twice as smart than those in Upper Glade? Or is it that those who live in the State Capitol have twice the advantages of those who live in a poor rural county? Instead of rewarding students for great achievement in a fair determination of relative ability and commitment, we are in effect punishing children for not being as fortunate as others.
We do know what type of student needs to take a loan; typically those from poor, working and lower middle-class families who are not poor enough to qualify for state and federal grants. According to Figure 1 these are the types of families least likely to receive a Promise Scholarship. We may have to wait a few more years for definitive proof, to determine the effect on loan burden, but there are doubts so long as those most likely to earn a scholarship are the ones least like to need a loan.
The new individual test score requirements for the Promise, which requires not only a 21 ACT composite, but also a 20 on all subject tests will exacerbate the problems of income disparity. With a statewide average of only a little over 16 on the Math section of the ACT it is unlikely that the promise will be in the grasp of the typical and otherwise deserving West Virginia high school senior. It cannot be ignored that even in the counties with the best Promise award rate, only about 1/3 are gaining any benefit from the program.
Finally a consideration for the third goal of the promise; to keep our students in West Virginia after graduation. For seven years I had the privilege of teaching about 50 of the state’s best and brightest high school students at a weeklong seminar. I always asked how many wished to stay in state after college and a strong majority always raises their hand. When I ask how think they must leave to find a career, another vast majority appears.
Our students do not want to leave this most beautiful and peaceful of states, but they often find themselves forced to do so. While other states have found success in retaining graduates by simply enticing them to remain in state for college, those states possessed a greater, more diverse economic base than West Virginia. I am afraid that due to the continued lack of professional and technology based jobs in West Virginia, the Promise will become a free job training program for our sister states.
While this is not the venue for discussing West Virginia’s economic development, it is a place to acknowledge that while the goals of the Promise are laudable, the only responsible question is if the current program matrix is actually doing the job we need it to do. I would argue that this is not the case and that the program, like most young efforts at social policy, needs considerable upgrading. In order to affect the former Governor’s goal in a more efficient and more socially just way, I would suggest the following: Make the Promise and West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program one unified program: the WV Promise Grant Program if you will.
Grant tuition and regular fees to any WV high school graduate with at least a 3.0 high school GPA in core courses, who then enrolls in a West Virginia college, university or community college. Private colleges would participate much as they do now. This will hopefully correct the problem of income disparity attached to the SAT and ACT.
If students stay in West Virginia up to two years after graduation (with an exemption for graduate or professional school) then the grant will remain just that. However if the student should leave the state in that time, the grant will become a loan to be repaid with a reasonable rate of interest. The combined, but not reduced budgets of the Promise and West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program would be used to make interest payments on the loans (as opposed to paying for the entire program “up front”) only having to pay full tuition and fees if the student completes all program requirements. Those that move out of state will continue to help their home state by repaying the program. The requirement to stay in state for two years will create a base population, educated and expectant, that will demand economic development and offer a ready made and talented workforce.
It should be stressed that these suggestions are just that. It would be the height of arrogance to assume that the answers to such a complicated issue lay with the confines of one mind, or even one isolated group. The best solutions are inspired by dynamic interactions of diverse stakeholders. I am firm in my conviction that should such a discussion take place that we can build a socially responsible program that will make college an option for all of our students and be a model for the rest of our country.
Sources:
SAT Factsheet, National Center for Fair and Open Testing, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/satfact.htm
ACT Factsheet, National Center for Fair and Open Testing, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/act.html
West Virginia County Profiles, WV Bureau of Employment Programs, http://www.state.wv.us/bep/lmi/cntyprof/
County Boards of Education Public School Headcount Enrollment by Grade 2000-01, West Virginia Department of Education, http://wvde.state.wv.us/
Total Awarded Applicants by County of High School and High School, 7/8/2002, WV Higher Education Policy Commission, http://www.hepc.wvnet.edu/
Bridge Day Death
From the Associated Press, submitted by Jeff Webb:
FAYETTEVILLE, West Virginia (AP) -- Thousands of people watched a parachutist jump to his death from a bridge during a festival Saturday when his chute opened too late, a sheriff said.
Brian Lee Schubert, 66, died of injuries suffered when he hit the water 876 feet below the New River Gorge Bridge during West Virginia's annual Bridge Day festival, said Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird.
Schubert, from Alta Loma, California, had been well known in the sport of BASE jumping since 1966, when he and a friend became the first people to jump from El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot-tall rock formation, in California's Yosemite National Park.
The sport's acronym stands for the places jumpers usually leap from: buildings, antennae, spans and earth.
Lew Whitener, a newspaper photographer covering the annual Bridge Day festival for the Register-Herald of Beckley, said it appeared Schubert's chute didn't start to open until he was about 25 feet above the water. The crowd gave a collective gasp, he said.
"It was everybody kind of held their breath then an eerie silence afterward. Everybody kind of looked at each other and said 'Wow,"' Whitener said.
A large rock obscured the crowd's view of the man's body hitting the water, Whitener said.
The fatality is the first since 1987 at Bridge Day, a popular event that typically draws an estimated 100,000 spectators and about 400 parachutists to the southern part of the state.
For one day a year, the National Park Service allows people to parachute off the world's second largest single-span bridge to the national river below. The bridge, a well-known icon in West Virginia, is featured on the back of the state's quarter.
To qualify to jump off the bridge, applicants must have skydived at least 50 times.
Jumping at the festival continued after Schubert's body was recovered and taken to a funeral home. Laird said officials allowed it because weather didn't appear to be a factor in the accident. There were 804 separate jumps Saturday, officials said.
"No measurable winds or anything would appear to have contributed to adverse conditions making this any more dangerous than base jumping would ordinarily be," Laird said.
Mathis Reimann, who jumped within an hour after the accident, said Schubert's death made him think about safety.
"It's a dangerous sport and makes it clear that you really have to be careful," said Reimann, who lives in Michigan.
Since 1981, there have been at least 100 BASE jump fatalities around the world, according to the World BASE Fatality List, a Web site maintained by a BASE jumper.
FAYETTEVILLE, West Virginia (AP) -- Thousands of people watched a parachutist jump to his death from a bridge during a festival Saturday when his chute opened too late, a sheriff said.
Brian Lee Schubert, 66, died of injuries suffered when he hit the water 876 feet below the New River Gorge Bridge during West Virginia's annual Bridge Day festival, said Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird.
Schubert, from Alta Loma, California, had been well known in the sport of BASE jumping since 1966, when he and a friend became the first people to jump from El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot-tall rock formation, in California's Yosemite National Park.
The sport's acronym stands for the places jumpers usually leap from: buildings, antennae, spans and earth.
Lew Whitener, a newspaper photographer covering the annual Bridge Day festival for the Register-Herald of Beckley, said it appeared Schubert's chute didn't start to open until he was about 25 feet above the water. The crowd gave a collective gasp, he said.
"It was everybody kind of held their breath then an eerie silence afterward. Everybody kind of looked at each other and said 'Wow,"' Whitener said.
A large rock obscured the crowd's view of the man's body hitting the water, Whitener said.
The fatality is the first since 1987 at Bridge Day, a popular event that typically draws an estimated 100,000 spectators and about 400 parachutists to the southern part of the state.
For one day a year, the National Park Service allows people to parachute off the world's second largest single-span bridge to the national river below. The bridge, a well-known icon in West Virginia, is featured on the back of the state's quarter.
To qualify to jump off the bridge, applicants must have skydived at least 50 times.
Jumping at the festival continued after Schubert's body was recovered and taken to a funeral home. Laird said officials allowed it because weather didn't appear to be a factor in the accident. There were 804 separate jumps Saturday, officials said.
"No measurable winds or anything would appear to have contributed to adverse conditions making this any more dangerous than base jumping would ordinarily be," Laird said.
Mathis Reimann, who jumped within an hour after the accident, said Schubert's death made him think about safety.
"It's a dangerous sport and makes it clear that you really have to be careful," said Reimann, who lives in Michigan.
Since 1981, there have been at least 100 BASE jump fatalities around the world, according to the World BASE Fatality List, a Web site maintained by a BASE jumper.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
New Fiction from WV Author on the Sex Industry
from the Herald-mail.com:
West Virginia woman weaves dark tale of the sex industry
By CHRIS COPLEY chrisc@herald-mail.com
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Priscilla A. Rodd's new book, "Surviving Mae West," is not for everyone.
"I tend to fall on the frank side of things," Rodd said, over coffee at a tiny table at the Lost Dog in Shepherdstown. "There's room for what people might consider graphic."
"Surviving Mae West" tells the story of Tess, a 20-year-old West Virginia woman who suffers a sexual assault after her first year of college and goes into an emotional tailspin. She doesn't tell her parents, and the resulting rift drives Tess out of the house to New York, where she finds work in the sex industry.
Tess tells her story in journal entries that are spare, funny, insightful, raw, frank. About a favorite client, Tess writes, "I want clothes. How cool for a man to know your taste and size, and select the perfect dress for you to wear? I know I sound disgustingly Pretty Woman."
About her workplace, a house of prostitution, Tess writes, "Each room is equipped with a powerful shower you can use before and after The Dirty Deed. And one room sports a bidet, which I love. A tower of safe sex spiraling to the sky."
In her private journal, Tess talks about her customers, the acts she performs with them. She discusses body parts. She uses frequent strong language. Her entries are graphic but not pornographic. She is, after all, talking about her ordinary, day-to-day work routine.
"This book is rated R," Rodd said. "(Working in the sex industry) is a very removed existence from the rest of the world."
When she began writing the book, Rodd, 32, of Charles Town, W.Va., followed the dictum: "Write about what you know." So she used her own history. When she was younger, she worked as a cocktail waitress in a strip club in New Orleans. She got to know strippers. She met others in the sex industry.
"I had a friend who was a nude housekeeper — that's more common than you think," she said. "I was fascinated by this world I was always on the fringe of."
Rodd said she felt safe dipping her toes into the world of the sex industry. For her, it was an adventure, not a dead end.
"Some women were 18 and were there for a few months and then gone. Some were there for the long haul, bodies not in their peak form," she said. "Coming from a strong family, I always felt my stay in that world was temporary."
Rodd's parents are Quaker. She was home-schooled until sixth grade. Her parents have always put their faith into action. Mom is an environmental activist. Dad clerks for West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Larry Starcher.
Now Rodd has a family of her own. Husband Deane Kern is a seventh-grade English teacher in Loudoun County, Va.; he also is a writer. They have two sons, Loki, 3, and Zion, 1.
Rodd said she has a few goals for "Surviving Mae West." For one thing, she wanted the book to offer a model for people who suffer following trauma.
"I would ultimately hope that maybe (military) veterans would read this and see themselves in it," Rodd said. "Tess has symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. It doesn't have to be sexual — that was important for me as a writer. Trauma is trauma. I wanted to speak to their experiences, and to respect people with PTSD."
But another goal of the book was to show a young woman exploring her life.
"With men, it's different. You can bike cross-country or hitchhike on railroad tracks. But with women, it's more dangerous," Rodd said. "If you want to be an adventurous young woman, what can you do? Stripping is one way to do that. It's bizarre, but it's safer to work in a strip club than to bike cross-country, if you're a girl."
"Surviving Mae West" is available at Walden Books in Martinsburg (W.Va.) Mall and Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown, or can be ordered online at wvupress.com for $12.
If you go ...
Priscilla Rodd will meet fans and sign books at the second annual West Virginia Book Faire, a writers conference and book fair, on Friday, Nov. 3, and Saturday, Nov. 4, in downtown Martinsburg, W.Va. There will be book discussion groups, authors talking about their books, writing workshops, children's events, and an authors dinner. There is a fee to attend some events. For more information, go to www.wvbooks.org.
West Virginia woman weaves dark tale of the sex industry
By CHRIS COPLEY chrisc@herald-mail.com
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Priscilla A. Rodd's new book, "Surviving Mae West," is not for everyone.
"I tend to fall on the frank side of things," Rodd said, over coffee at a tiny table at the Lost Dog in Shepherdstown. "There's room for what people might consider graphic."
"Surviving Mae West" tells the story of Tess, a 20-year-old West Virginia woman who suffers a sexual assault after her first year of college and goes into an emotional tailspin. She doesn't tell her parents, and the resulting rift drives Tess out of the house to New York, where she finds work in the sex industry.
Tess tells her story in journal entries that are spare, funny, insightful, raw, frank. About a favorite client, Tess writes, "I want clothes. How cool for a man to know your taste and size, and select the perfect dress for you to wear? I know I sound disgustingly Pretty Woman."
About her workplace, a house of prostitution, Tess writes, "Each room is equipped with a powerful shower you can use before and after The Dirty Deed. And one room sports a bidet, which I love. A tower of safe sex spiraling to the sky."
In her private journal, Tess talks about her customers, the acts she performs with them. She discusses body parts. She uses frequent strong language. Her entries are graphic but not pornographic. She is, after all, talking about her ordinary, day-to-day work routine.
"This book is rated R," Rodd said. "(Working in the sex industry) is a very removed existence from the rest of the world."
When she began writing the book, Rodd, 32, of Charles Town, W.Va., followed the dictum: "Write about what you know." So she used her own history. When she was younger, she worked as a cocktail waitress in a strip club in New Orleans. She got to know strippers. She met others in the sex industry.
"I had a friend who was a nude housekeeper — that's more common than you think," she said. "I was fascinated by this world I was always on the fringe of."
Rodd said she felt safe dipping her toes into the world of the sex industry. For her, it was an adventure, not a dead end.
"Some women were 18 and were there for a few months and then gone. Some were there for the long haul, bodies not in their peak form," she said. "Coming from a strong family, I always felt my stay in that world was temporary."
Rodd's parents are Quaker. She was home-schooled until sixth grade. Her parents have always put their faith into action. Mom is an environmental activist. Dad clerks for West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Larry Starcher.
Now Rodd has a family of her own. Husband Deane Kern is a seventh-grade English teacher in Loudoun County, Va.; he also is a writer. They have two sons, Loki, 3, and Zion, 1.
Rodd said she has a few goals for "Surviving Mae West." For one thing, she wanted the book to offer a model for people who suffer following trauma.
"I would ultimately hope that maybe (military) veterans would read this and see themselves in it," Rodd said. "Tess has symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. It doesn't have to be sexual — that was important for me as a writer. Trauma is trauma. I wanted to speak to their experiences, and to respect people with PTSD."
But another goal of the book was to show a young woman exploring her life.
"With men, it's different. You can bike cross-country or hitchhike on railroad tracks. But with women, it's more dangerous," Rodd said. "If you want to be an adventurous young woman, what can you do? Stripping is one way to do that. It's bizarre, but it's safer to work in a strip club than to bike cross-country, if you're a girl."
"Surviving Mae West" is available at Walden Books in Martinsburg (W.Va.) Mall and Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown, or can be ordered online at wvupress.com for $12.
If you go ...
Priscilla Rodd will meet fans and sign books at the second annual West Virginia Book Faire, a writers conference and book fair, on Friday, Nov. 3, and Saturday, Nov. 4, in downtown Martinsburg, W.Va. There will be book discussion groups, authors talking about their books, writing workshops, children's events, and an authors dinner. There is a fee to attend some events. For more information, go to www.wvbooks.org.
Wild and Wonderful - FOREVER!
When ever I have returned to West Virginia by car it is often been an emotional event to see the “West Virginia Wild and Wonderful” sign stretching out over the highway. More than our state flag those signs, letting me know that I had come home, were a touchstone to all that is good about the home state.
But not anymore.
When you come into our great state you get an abomination that claims that West Virginia is “Open for Business”; just like prostitutes everywhere. (Would it be more accurate if they said "Owned by Business"?)
But you can help change that.
To voice your outrage at this silly and poorly thought out PR nightmare, sign this petition. Over 11,000 already have.
Read a full article here. Or an editoral here.
Get your t-shirts here.
But not anymore.
When you come into our great state you get an abomination that claims that West Virginia is “Open for Business”; just like prostitutes everywhere. (Would it be more accurate if they said "Owned by Business"?)
But you can help change that.
To voice your outrage at this silly and poorly thought out PR nightmare, sign this petition. Over 11,000 already have.
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Morgantown police crack down on sign thieves
Near the end of my first year at WVU the Arnold residence hall, at the time home to the Honors Program and most of my on – campus friends, our little society slowly degraded into a controlled debauchery; really nothing different from any other large public university dorm.
In the quest of a souvenir from their freshman days, a couple of friends, now of course pillars of the general community and faithful alumni, inform the rest of us that they had stole the street sign from in the front of the dormitory one drunken night before. They claimed that their problem now was how to get it out of the building.
We thought the sounded weird. After all a simple street sign really isn’t that big.
So we went to their room to take a look.
In their closet was said street sign.
Still attached to the steel pole it had been mounted on.
Which had a basketball size piece of concrete around the bottom.
I thought the bigger mystery was how they managed to sneak that into the dorm, up eight flights of stairs, completely drunk.
In that spirit I present this story from the Herald-Mail.com:
Morgantown police crack down on sign thieves
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Police have one word for the people who have been pilfering signs from city streets, and it's the one on that big red octagon: STOP.
Thieves have been stealing street and traffic signs, and sometimes destroying the metal posts they're hung on, Police Chief Phil Scott said Monday.
Sign-stealing is a perennial problem in Morgantown, but Scott said it started getting worse last year, particularly in neighborhoods dominated by West Virginia University students.
"High Street is always a popular one," Scott said. "And anytime that a street name coincides with someone's last name, it's a trophy."
The problem has become so common in Sunnyside that city officials are now identifying streets with green reflective tape on utility poles.
Scott said he's had enough.
Stealing signs in residential areas could pose problems for firefighters and ambulance drivers, and create serious traffic hazards. Missing stop and one-way signs "could actually be devastating" for out-of-town drivers and lead to deadly accidents, he said.
In some states, people who removed street signs and caused accidents have been charged with manslaughter. In a 1996 Florida case, three people were found guilty in a crash that killed three people, but their convictions were overturned on appeal.
Police officers often discover stolen road signs when they enter homes and apartments in Morgantown to investigate unrelated incidents, Scott said. In the past, they've seized the signs but generally not filed charges.
That's about to change.
Anyone caught stealing or possessing a traffic or street sign will be charged with a misdemeanor, he said. It's punishable by a fine of up to $500 and jail time.
In the quest of a souvenir from their freshman days, a couple of friends, now of course pillars of the general community and faithful alumni, inform the rest of us that they had stole the street sign from in the front of the dormitory one drunken night before. They claimed that their problem now was how to get it out of the building.
We thought the sounded weird. After all a simple street sign really isn’t that big.
So we went to their room to take a look.
In their closet was said street sign.
Still attached to the steel pole it had been mounted on.
Which had a basketball size piece of concrete around the bottom.
I thought the bigger mystery was how they managed to sneak that into the dorm, up eight flights of stairs, completely drunk.
In that spirit I present this story from the Herald-Mail.com:
Morgantown police crack down on sign thieves
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Police have one word for the people who have been pilfering signs from city streets, and it's the one on that big red octagon: STOP.
Thieves have been stealing street and traffic signs, and sometimes destroying the metal posts they're hung on, Police Chief Phil Scott said Monday.
Sign-stealing is a perennial problem in Morgantown, but Scott said it started getting worse last year, particularly in neighborhoods dominated by West Virginia University students.
"High Street is always a popular one," Scott said. "And anytime that a street name coincides with someone's last name, it's a trophy."
The problem has become so common in Sunnyside that city officials are now identifying streets with green reflective tape on utility poles.
Scott said he's had enough.
Stealing signs in residential areas could pose problems for firefighters and ambulance drivers, and create serious traffic hazards. Missing stop and one-way signs "could actually be devastating" for out-of-town drivers and lead to deadly accidents, he said.
In some states, people who removed street signs and caused accidents have been charged with manslaughter. In a 1996 Florida case, three people were found guilty in a crash that killed three people, but their convictions were overturned on appeal.
Police officers often discover stolen road signs when they enter homes and apartments in Morgantown to investigate unrelated incidents, Scott said. In the past, they've seized the signs but generally not filed charges.
That's about to change.
Anyone caught stealing or possessing a traffic or street sign will be charged with a misdemeanor, he said. It's punishable by a fine of up to $500 and jail time.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Morgantown High Choir to get Show on MTV
From tv.com:
MTV Show Choir follows the Morgantown, West Virginia, choir, who perform songs in four-part harmony, complete with elaborate costumes and choreography, throughout one competitive season. Tired of coming in second, it decides to perform modernized versions of current pop hits with new hip choreography.
It will premiere next spring. MTV also ordered eight episodes.
MTV Show Choir follows the Morgantown, West Virginia, choir, who perform songs in four-part harmony, complete with elaborate costumes and choreography, throughout one competitive season. Tired of coming in second, it decides to perform modernized versions of current pop hits with new hip choreography.
It will premiere next spring. MTV also ordered eight episodes.
Eight Semi-Random Things I like about WV
Just to make it clear, I love my native state; I just detest many of its public and private leaders.
Here is a list of the 8 things / people I currently like most about West Virginia: (Why only 8? Cause the man won’t give me 10….)
Here is a list of the 8 things / people I currently like most about West Virginia: (Why only 8? Cause the man won’t give me 10….)
- The Pride of West Virginia, the Mountaineer Marching Band
- The New River Gorge
- Morgan Spurlock
- Traditional Music (see Johnny Staats)
- The West Virginia Mine War (becasue we fought back for a change)
- The Capitol Building (but not most of the people in it...)
- West Virginia Public Radio
- Mountain Stage New Song Festival
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
National Record Set by Matewan Teen?
Paul McCoy, a running back Matewan, W. Va., rushed for 658 yards and scored 10 touchdowns.
Full Article
Full Article
Bluefield Daily Tele-Lie?
In my most recent post I detailed how the Bluefield Daily Telegraph described Masey Energy CEO Don Blankenship as "non-political" despite his reputation and extensive evidence to the contrary. Even the New York Times got it right in a recent article about the West Virginia Supreme Court:
"Justice Benjamin, a Republican lawyer with no judicial experience, unseated a West Virginia Supreme Court justice in 2004 with the help of about $3 million in advertisements and other support from Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive officer of Massey Energy, a coal-mining company. Massey has its headquarters in Virginia, but the company says Mr. Blankenship has spent most of his life in West Virginia.
As far as Justice Starcher is concerned, “Now we have one justice who was bought by Don Blankenship.” "
I guess the Bluefield Daily Telegraph can claim that it was a typo, or maybe you have to report from New York to see how much the deep pockets of Big Coal still dictate the political culture of our state.
Full Article
"Justice Benjamin, a Republican lawyer with no judicial experience, unseated a West Virginia Supreme Court justice in 2004 with the help of about $3 million in advertisements and other support from Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive officer of Massey Energy, a coal-mining company. Massey has its headquarters in Virginia, but the company says Mr. Blankenship has spent most of his life in West Virginia.
As far as Justice Starcher is concerned, “Now we have one justice who was bought by Don Blankenship.” "
I guess the Bluefield Daily Telegraph can claim that it was a typo, or maybe you have to report from New York to see how much the deep pockets of Big Coal still dictate the political culture of our state.
Full Article
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