Mad Times & Heroes with Open Hearts
A song, a poem, some scenes from the WV hills & inspiring folks for crazy days | June 2022
West Virginia singer-songwriter Sean Richardson performs a poignant song called “World Gone Mad,” which I thought about when getting ready to post word of the bracing content in the JUNE 2022 issue of WestVirginiaVille.com, seen below. The Chris Haddox tune “It Ain’t More Damn Guns” and the two Ukraine stories with their West Virginia connections (it’s a small world) speak to mad times.
As ever, the very fact of singing out, speaking out, and gathering in sane support of one other remains essential, in the face of catastrophe, autocracy, and coordinated confusion. Plus, there is the inspiration of solitude, forests, and the lifelong courage of remarkable human beings like Dave Evans. Let us take note—not just of what isn’t working in human society, but what is. | Douglas John Imbrogno | editor, WestVirginiaVille.com, a publication of AmpMediaProject
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EDITORS/NOTE/June2022: The Persistence of Meaning: I used to think once you got the words right they could change the world. I don’t believe that nearly as much as I used to. Yet, still, we persist in the face of oligarchs, wannabe autocrats and media lapdogs who want to tan men’s testicles.
‘HERO OF THE OPEN HEART’: A WV native’s international humanitarian life showcased: When “The Wake Up Call” make its West Virginia debut June 23, 2022 in the state’s capital city, the documentary will train a spotlight on a global humanitarian life that ranged far beyond the Appalachian hills where Dave Evans was born. A double amputee after a devastating ambush as an 18-year-old soldier in Vietnam, what happened next—and for 50 years in countries across the world—needs a word beyond ‘remarkable.’
“It Ain’t More Damn Guns” by Chris Haddox: Chris Haddox’s Muses seem pretty pissed off. Maybe you know the feeling. He quick-produced the song “It Ain’t More Damn Guns,” in reaction to the latest American gun catastrophe in Uvalde, Texas. He got it to his cellphone as quick as he might and it deserves a listen. An excerpt:
In my trips around the sun/ I’ve come to know a lot/ I don’t know what the answer is/ But know what it’s not / It ain’t more guns / It ain’t more shells / It ain’t more rights / Or more liberty bells / It ain’t more Stars and Stripes / Waving in the sun / But it sure as hell ain’t more damn guns.
How the Russian army helped to nationalize my country: A Ukrainian exchange student who studied in Charleston WV, reflects upon the devastation he finds all around his family home in Mariupol after the Russian invasion. “The Russian Amy came here thinking they would de-nationalize us. Well, 90 percent of the population are now nationalists,” writes Zhora Papoian.
A first-hand story about an elephant’s birth in West Virginia: They dreamed of an elephant for the parade capping off All Together Arts Week in southern West Virginia. But where do you get an elephant? A group of artists and elephant enablers decided they must do what they had to do: Manifest one.
POETICS: “Appalachian Marie Kondo” by Crystal Good: ‘I live in the disorder of a missing mother. / I sit in the middle of my mess. / I hear my mother’s voice: / You don’t need this. / This doesn’t fit. / When was the last time you used this? …’
PICTURE/SHOW: A Taste for Solitude & Forests’: A visual trip into the West Virginia outback with some historic friends: ‘Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild’s fondness?’ ~ Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh
EVENT: Russian classical guitarist strums up a Ukraine benefit: A Russian classical guitarist—and newly christened American citizen living in West Virginia—hosts a June 1 musical benefit for Ukraine, as he works passionately to counter an invasion he abhors.