ELEPHANT ANKLES: A Long COVID Memoir
Plus, a Dad's love story, a Mountain State sonata & more | WestVirginiaVille.com | june.2021
Welcome to the June 2021 issue of WestVirginiaVille.com, a multimedia feature magazine with its own way of looking at life in the Mountain State of West Virginia. This edition covers a lot of ground. It helps to have good people as guides, leading the way.
1 | Living with Long COVID
In our October 2020 issue, Connie Kinsey, wrote about her COVID diagnosis. She is still living with the diagnosis except now it has transformed into ‘Long COVID,’ which doctors are still puzzling out. From swollen ‘elephant ankles’ that preclude anything but flip flops, to fears of lifelong health damage, she tells what its like to not be able to put the pandemic behind you:
“I have been sick for months, but I did not die. I am happy to be here. I can do this, but I reserve the right to whine. I also reserve the right to be angry … COVID has stolen so much from all of us — even and especially those fools who refuse to mask up and vaccinate — prolonging this nightmare.”
READ ON: ELEPHANT ANKLES: Life with Long COVID
2 | ‘The Air My Flowers Breathe’: An Excerpt
In the debut of ‘IN/PROGRESS,’ which showcases excerpts from ambitious works-in-progress, we feature the introduction to retired WV Presbyterian minister Doug Minnerly’s memoir “The Air My Flowers Breathe: A Love Story.” It’s a love song to his 26-year-old son, Nathan, who he and his wife, Susan, adopted from a Romanian orphanage in 1999. Nathan, who has autism, has grown into a strapping young man, and therein lies a tale:
“It is a life-long struggle for all of us to stave off the disruptive, destructive forces of chaos and try to maintain order. The struggle is especially grueling for a person with autism … My life became about doing my damndest to help get Nathan as close as I can to reaching his telos—his own perfection.”
READ ON: IN/PROGRESS: From “The Air My Flowers Breathe: A Love Story”
3 | Not going to miss his shot
We’re pleased to add to our PICTURE/SHOW series a round of recent photo-journalism and feature shots by Kyle Vass. He is among the reassuring, current crop of younger, kick-ass-and-take-names accountability journalists in the Mountain State, covering the life-and-times of West Virginia and its social issues and maddening politics.
READ ON: PICTURE/SHOW: Kyle Vass on taking his best shot
4 | Sonata for Piano & West Virginia
CLICK TO WATCH ‘Sonata for Piano & West Virginia, No. 1”
When West Virginia’s maddening politics do get me down, I tend to look up. Into the deep blue skies. Into wind-rustled branches of the state’s endless trees. At hula hoop dancers at sunset on a steep-pitched mountain in the outback. As part of our MUSIC/VIDEO series, pause five minutes from feeling harried by the news or our own hectic heads and watch “Sonata for Piano & West Virginia No. 1,” a piece by my new musical confabulation, The SCRIBBLERS. Here are some ways of looking at what is uncorrupted, fresh, and true in West Virginia.
5 | A CROWN-ing aim
FROM UPPER LEFT (clockwise): Jennifer Wells, Takeiya Smith, Charkera Ervin, Danielle Walker and Myya Helm. | PHOTOS by Leeshia Lee
We’re happy to share a piece by Crystal Good, founder of “Black By God: The West Virginian,” courtesy of Scalawag, on efforts to pass CROWN legislation in West Virginia. The acronym stands for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” In a state where Black policy is not the top priority for majority-white Republican lawmakers, those legislators did what they do best — hindering progress — and bottled up the bill in the 2021 Legislature. The effort proceeds locally, spearheaded by five indefatigable women. Hear them in their own words in the audio clips at the end of Crystal’s piece.
READ ON: RE/PRINT: Only 7 states have passed the CROWN Act. Could West Virginia be next?
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Be well, stay safe. Don’t let your mask down until we get the all clear! | Douglas John Imbrogno, editor | WestVirginiaVille.com