another gem from the gazette.

sometimes i love this state so much it makes me hurt. it's like living in mayberry. which is a very good thing, if you were confused.

so ready

dear lord

if you've talked to me in the past year or so, you'll know i'm looking at going to chicago for grad school. very exciting! fun city, and a change of pace. just how much so?

according to the love of my life, wikipedia, pocahontas county has a population density of 10 people/square mile. chicago? 11,864.4.

YEESH.

good god by god

so, there's an election going on?

aside from getting the most rudimentary news via the internet, my current events are...not so current. when you live in a place that has a 'visiting' column in the local paper, your scope is bound to be limited. occupy wall street? gadhafi? bah, says she.

anywho, it turns out that wv has a perennial presidential candidate! let's be honest, none of us are likely to ever hear what he has to say, seeing as 175 assorted souls have already put their hats in the ring for 2012. but you, friend, really should know more about jack fellure, hurricane's finest! from a 1991 (!) baltimore sun article:

The most fervently Christian of all candidates is Jack Fellure of Hurricane, West Virginia,...who, upon declaring candidacy, sent to the Federal Election Commission a leather-bound copy of his platform, the Authorized 1611 King James Bible. ''God wrote it as the supreme document and final authority in the affairs of all men, nations and civilizations, for time and eternity,'' he says. ''It shall never be necessary to change it.''

Mr. Fellure will keep the Bible always open on his desk in the Oval Office. He is so sure of his eventual victory that he stamps all his campaign materials with the words: ''Historical Documents. Do Not Destroy. Retain For Future Use.''

what a fruit loop! god love him. incidentally, i may have mentioned this elsewhere--but i will never grow tired of the fact that hurricane (the town) is still pronounced in the colonial manner. which makes perfect sense, if you think about it--but how often does that really happen?

and, apparently jack fellure isn't the only religious fanatic running around the state. last year, my friend came to visit & picked up salvation on sand mountain, otherwise known as 'my snake bouk' (at least that's what the roommate likes to say). after she spent the next two days reading about it, i heard tale after tale of crazy-ass religious snake handling, some of which just so happened to occur in wv. specifically, jolo! the town is home to the church of the lord jesus with signs following. yep, apparently that's real. love this state.

beardy mcgee

beautiful news out of morgantown: wvu's annual beard-growing contest starts next week. as the college says,

Mountaineer Week is WVU’s way of paying tribute to West Virginia’s rich Appalachian heritage and traditions. The event aims to remind and educate WVU students about the culture that has made West Virginia what it is today.

that, and beards are hot--if they are well-groomed, accompanied by flannel, and do NOT encroach on the neck area. also, take note, city boys--they are only for mountainous, rugged and/or rural areas. otherwise, consider yourself judged.

fiesta!

years before this whole VISTA adventure started, i unknowingly had major love for one of west virginia's most famous exports--fiestaware! created by the homer laughlin china company, fiesta hails from newell, wv--at the very tiptop of the northern panhandle. any further north and you'd be in ohio or pennsylvania!

apparently i was always telling my mom that WHEN I WAS AN ADULT i would have a house full of fiesta. well, bless her heart, mom took it upon herself to start my collection early--but i didn't have a reason to use it until recently. life has gotten measurably better since then, i tell ya.

2011 is fiesta's 75th anniversary, and the special edition color? a rather mountaineer-ish shade of gold, though they prefer to call it marigold.

snow?

when 62 degrees (inside the house, with a space heater!) feels great...it's winter in wv. not really, but we are forecasted to get snow tonight and tomorrow--and it already snowed in the higher elevations of the county. i guess if it's going to be cold...

eyeballs & lady sportswriters

nothing to do with wv life--only two remarkable things i need to put down in words so as not to forget.

first things first: mary garber is fascinating! she's one of the first female sportswriters, and for a long time was the only one to cover acc sports. she also began reporting on winston-salem state and black high schools in the forsyth county area--pretty unheard of in the jim crow south, especially for a woman. there's a series of oral history interviews with her, which are just great--and a very welcome distraction from grad apps.

also: i've been reading from set shot to slam dunk, a collection of oral histories from basketball players in the early years of the nba, which was formed in 1949 with the merger of the basketball association of america (baa) & the national basketball league (nbl). so good! lots of great moments, but none as jaw-dropping (and unrelated) as the following quote from slater martin, who played with george mikan for the lakers in the 5os:

"When I first came into the league I was wearing contact lenses....I've been wearing them for thirty-seven years. In those days you wore big ones. Put water in them. Got a bubble in them, you couldn't see. You'd tell the referee, "Hey, let me change them," and he said, "Get the hell out of here and play." They didn't know what they were. You couldn't take a time-out. So when they had the time-out, I'd change them. I never lost them. They were so big they covered the whole eyeball. Took a mold of your eye; put clay in your eye, then molded it. Not like the little ones."

wow. talk about the sacrifices of our forefathers, eh, hansbrough?

canning: now with more blisters!

since last year's foray went so well, i decided, why not can something far more onerous, when i have neither the time nor the equipment to do so? typical.

this week has been crazy, what with preparation for the roadkill cook-off (which needs an explanation, later). still, i've been up to my eyeballs in apples for the last two nights, and have a refrigerator full of homemade applesauce to prove it. (SO full! applesauce in pitchers and pots and tupperware!)

some of it (eg, the pink applesauce!--what variety of apple produced this effect, i have no idea) will be kept as applesauce--the rest is going to, magically, with sugar & heat & time, become apple butter! baby brother will be getting a lot for christmas (since he, like most people, has no idea this blog exists, i think the secret is safe).

why all the trouble for apple butter and applesauce? no idea. i've never really eaten apple butter--as children, my brother loved it, while i was convinced he was eating poop on toast. i have tasted it to dispel the notion, but still prefer eggs on my toast as opposed to mass quantities of sugar. still, there's something extremely satisfying about putting food by--knowing that you've done everything from picking the fruit to preserving it.

still--as soon as the canning's done and a lone apple pie is baked, i'll be happy to not see another apple until spring!

cars

what a week. after driving up to pittsburgh, flying to chicago for a few days, and driving allllllll the way back to nc, my poor beloved car has bitten the dust. rip mazda--gone but not forgotten. i'll miss you, baby. i was really excited about our upcoming tenth anniversary, which would mark the single longest commitment that i've ever made to...well, anything.

owing to these unfortunate circumstances, my sweet/kind/loving/oh-so-generous parents had a surprise waiting upon my return from hopscotch last night...a station wagon!!!!! ten years ago, i would NOT have been amused, but wv has taught me that the following characteristics are the only thing that matter in a car:

--can you sleep in the back of it?

--comfortably?

--will it slide off the road?

yep, that's it. and thus, it appears i'm one step closer to owning the wv fantasy dream car: a pickup truck with a camper top & mattress in back. so sexy!

swoon.

and, in the spirit of 'business in front, party in back', i should mention that my amazingly rad hairdresser gave me a mullet this week. quite posh, but a mullet no less. bring on the hall & oates halloween!

muzak

sometimes i really miss living in carrboro, where there's a show every single night...and sometimes i don't. lately, my feelings have veered more toward the latter--this summer has been full of amazing bands and music. so, wv summer music in a nutshell!

1. vandalia festival: every memorial day weekend at the state capitol. where else can old-time musicians party in the shadow of the golden dome? the competitions are great (the CUTEST little boy placed 2nd in the dulcimer contest this year!) and if you know me, you know i love charleston. any excuse to go to taylor books & try a new restaurant.

2. allegheny echoes: this one may as well be called the pocahontas county drunkfest, because that's what it essentially amounted to. not that most of the week wasn't devoted to music/writing workshops--but the real event started when the sun went down & everyone gathered at the marlinton motor inn to play music. my old organization paid for me to attend (really!) and i had tons of fun...perhaps a little too much. still, i managed to gather an appreciation for pocahontas county resident and former wv poet laureate, louise mcneill. if you're at all interested in poetry, gauley mountain is a wonderful telling of pocahontas county history.

3. clifftop: some people complain that clifftop is a bougie, out-of-stater's old-time festival, and yeah, i can see that. but it's also probably the best time i've had in west virginia. a weekend of camping, music, river swimming, and square dancing was about as good as it gets. i even got married! (really? not really. but there was a ring? weird.) i only stayed for a couple of days, but plan on going for the full week next year. also, dogs are allowed, which is great for all of you pseudo-responsible, adult types.

and another thing

take a look at a new study coming out of wvu, which strongly suggests that people living in areas of mountaintop removal mining have a greater risk for birth defects. this fact sheet, compiled by the institute for southern studies, makes the study's findings clear and more than a little shocking. for example:

Percent higher risk of having a baby with a birth defect for mothers who smoked during pregnancy compared to non-smoking mothers: 17

Percent higher risk of having a baby with a birth defect for mothers living in mountaintop removal areas compared to mothers living in non-mining areas: 42

ouch. which leads into this lovely story from a few weeks back, covered in the charleston gazette's coal tattoo blog. coal industry lawyers (based out of california) responded to the study's findings with a blog post, stating:

frackin'

there's a lot more i could say, but sounds about right should suffice.

ugh.

charleston plane crash

among many, many oddities i've encountered in my time here, perhaps none is so strange as the story of the pot-filled dc-9 that crashed at charleston's yeager airport in 1979.

the cargo plane, headed up from south america, was filled with weed--at least 10 tons of it. when it tried to land in the dark, the plane overshot the runway and crashed on a nearby hill. (i've heard that yeager is the scariest place to land due to, i dunno, it being on a MOUNTAINTOP--now i definitely believe it.) best part, hands down: all the locals grabbing up as much pot as they could get after police left the scene. guess people in charleston weren't always so square. just kidding, charleston, i love you!

this video is pretty great--the nostalgia trip alone makes it worthwhile.

the logo & other wv ballers

why haven't i gotten around to this yet? clearly, jerry west is my favorite west virginia celebrity because, duh, he's THE NBA LOGO. and if you know me, you know that:

basketball + wv = love & adoration

also! i always thought he was from cabin creek--but it turns out he's actually from chelyan, which is right outside of charleston and probably my favorite geographical point on the trip there (besides skitter creek, for obvious reasons). i still haven't gotten around to reading his bio yet, but it's happening soon--can't wait to learn more about him. also, he's got an autobiography coming out in october--can anyone say 'birthday present'?

and, speaking of west virginia ballers--anyone coming into greenbrier county on i-64 will find the name bimbo coles familiar, since it's on the county sign. he was born across the wv/va line in covington, but played basketball at greenbrier east before playing at virginia tech & going on to the nba. i don't know too much about his career there, but his assist ratio was 29.41--not bad!

and, does anybody else remember kevin pittsnogle? before i ever knew anything about west virginia, he was IT. i have vivid recollections of watching the 2005 tournament while babysitting, and seeing him light it up from beyond the three-line, thinking, 'who IS this kid?!' the new york times did a profile on him a couple years back--he was teaching developmentally disabled kids, which i found equally surprising & sweet. apparently the nba didn't work out like he planned, which is disappointing, but i think the work he was doing is way more important.

so there you have it, folks--west virginia basketball. there's so much more to it than that, but i think one final image will suffice:

stranger than fiction

fourth of july discovery:

did you know that poison ivy leaves honest-to-god contusions? the more you know...

jeez louise

nothing like a good old-fashioned car cleanout to make you feel bad about life choices. after losing both my debit AND credit cards this weekend, i conducted a last-ditch search for them in the black hole that seems to be my car. (interestingly enough: it's always super-clean; leave it to me to lose things in an environment like that.) no dice on the card front. i did, however, find the following things:

--2 unopened natty lights

--3 empty natty cans

--1 harpoon beer box (which contained only 2 beers once upon a time, thankyouverymuch)

--1 blue solo cup

ouch. this doesn't even include the four loko stash & empty beaujolais bottle that has been rattling around in my trunk since last summer. let me just say: these things were NOT ALL MINE!, promise--dding folks seems to lead to drinking detritus such as this. still, it seems an apt metaphor for wv summer: messy, fun, and more than a bit confusing--how the hell does one lose two cards in one week?

obsession

...good thing allegheny echoes is next week.

capital!

this weekend's gazette has a sweet article about some homes that were shipped across the kanawha river to their current resting places. what brought about the move? none other than the construction of west virginia's awesome state capitol. (look how shiny! really though. also, have you ever wondered which state capitols have golden domes? well, put your mind at ease.)

probably the greatest part about west virginia's state capitol is that it didn't come into existence until about the same time as another domed beauty--wilson library, on unc's campus. before settling in charleston in 1877, west virginia's state capitol traveled between there and wheeling. weird, right? then, after a fire burned the capitol complex down in 1921, a fire burned down the newly-rebuilt capitol in 1927.

i was at the capitol last weekend for the vandalia gathering, which is a whole other thing, but i'll say this--charleston is great! small-town feel, but with enough arty things to keep you happy. and the views are great--where else can you leave the capital city and be in the mountains within ten minutes? oh, and get a parking ticket for only $5?

beer me, captain

wvu just announced in-stadium beer sales in an attempt to reduce binge drinking & 'uncivil behavior'. RUH-ROH. sorry, oliver luck, there's no way to make mountaineer fans more civil--but ten bucks says dana holgorsen approves.

mother's day!

after you take your mom out to olive garden, take some time to remember that mother's day was started by none other than anna jarvis, west virginian and all-around badass.

her mother, ann jarvis, had organized teams of women to tend to both union and confederate soldiers during the civil war--no matter which side the soldier served, the women treated him with compassion and neutrality. later, she created 'mothers' day work clubs' to advance sanitation in five cities. after her death, anna jarvis memorialized her mother by sending 500 white carnations to each mother in her childhood church's congregation in grafton, west virginia, in 1907. then, she campaigned to make mother's day a legitimate celebration. it caught on surprisingly quickly, and in 1914 woodrow wilson proclaimed it a national holiday.

however, like all things american, the holiday became rapidly commercialized--something which anna jarvis deplored. to wit, her thoughts on printed mother's day cards:

a printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. and candy! you take a box to mother—and then eat most of it yourself. a pretty sentiment.

—anna jarvis

anna jarvis spent the rest of her life trying to get rid of the holiday's commercial aspects, to no avail. she died in west chester, pennsylvania, in 1948, having never become a mother herself. the church where she founded mother's day, andrews methodist episcopal church, was listed on the national register of historic places in 1992, as the 'international mother's day shrine'. you can still visit it today, if you're so inclined! it's open from april 15 to october 31, and has a special mother's day service.

never? ever?

partie deux!


top ten blasts from the past in 2010

1) bob dylan—abandoned love
you know those songs that elude you for years, and then, boom! instant revelation? yeah, that’s this song in a nutshell. everything is great—the dark gypsy vibe, the lovelorn lyrics, and those harmonies. even better: i was reading as i lay dying when the obsession began, so the song always conjures up hot june days in my attic bedroom and ‘my mother is a fish.’ phenomenal!

2) joni mitchell—just like this train
even though blue is, and always will be, my favorite iteration of joni, court and spark has been pulling a dark horse for some time now. every time this album comes back into my life, it’s with a new favorite song. this time around, lines about being unable to count on anything perfectly mirrored a lot of post-graduation disillusionment i was feeling as an aimless single lady. not that there’s anything wrong with that! i wouldn’t give up my independence for anything—thus far, it’s led to unexpectedly awesome experiences--but it can be totally lonely and frustrating at times.

3) gram parsons—that’s all it took
gram parsons was another that roared back into my life this summer, and to be honest, hasn’t left yet, sparking a full-on alt-country phase. this time, the deeper cuts got the most play; ‘kiss the children’ is another oft-played track. though it’s got some stiff competition, this track has probably become my favorite track…crazy!

4) big star—o my soul
like i said, alt-country: so dominant right now. first birthday act this year consisted of blasting this song and dancing around like crazy. close to six minutes of pure bliss.

5) bob seger—night moves
CRINGE. i know, it’s bad. but so good. when you’re in the middle of the country, with no chance of male…ahem, company in sight, it seems to make all that adolescent frustration seem so…innocuous and far-behind-you. or oh-so-searingly of–the-moment? jury’s still out. either way, this song was summer 2010’s end-of-the-night anthem, even if it was just me listening to it on my ipod alone. no shame. no sex in the country, y’all.

6) otis redding—these arms of mine
this song kills. so much so that i essentially listen only to the a-side of my best of record.

7) DOESN’T MATTER WHO--tonight you belong to me
after (finally) seeing the jerk in its entirety, i can definitively state that i’m head over heels in love with steve martin. also, this song made me want to learn trumpet, just to play the solo. anybody give lessons?

8) wilco—one hundred years from now
imagine that. another gram parsons song--even if it’s a cover. wilco does the near-impossible and one-ups the original, bringing a crunchy power-pop feel to the song. perfect for rolling out of work on a sunny friday afternoon, when all you want to do is put the windows down and ride.

9) she & him—got me
once again, alt-country’s been the magic word of 2010. though some of the songs on volume one were a little contrived (especially the covers, which i wasn’t fond of, even while loving the originals), this song got just the right mix of bygone country without feeling overly schmaltzy. plus, zooey deschanel’s voice is a thing of rare, brassy beauty.

10) t.rex--jeepster

always & forever! t.rex is ten kinds of amazing, but as i was packing to head home for christmas, it really hit home anew.


top ten books of 2010

yeah, it’s pretentious. deal.


1) nabokov—lolita

i kicked off the year by reading lolita, a book that i literally thought was written in the 19th century. being shamefully oblivious to all cultural references, i dove in, and spent the next week fully immersed in the mind of humbert humbert. either he’s an exquisitely persuasive narrator, or i’m the most gullible person alive (which is more probable?)—his rosy view of lolita’s “seduction” had me completely fooled.
that is, until the second half. as humbert embarks on a journey that reminded me a lot of fear and loathing in las vegas, all the romantic notions of his relationship with lolita are stripped away, leaving the reader to see humbert’s actions as they truly are: monstrously horrifying. on the plus side, the book’s second half also provides a wonderful (and poignant) thought: ‘who can say what heartbreaks are caused in a dog by our discontinuing a romp?’

2) azar nafisi—reading liolita in tehran
i like to read thematically: according to the season, or based on what else i’ve been reading. clearly, after reading lolita, i had to reading a book about reading it! (that, and it was next on the shelf).
not only did nazar afisi explode a myriad of stereotypes about muslim women, especially in a repressive place like iran—they’re subservient, don’t have the chance for education, etc. the women in her literature study group were intelligent, charismatic, completely loveable. and nafisi’s account of iranian history, interwoven with four works of western lit—lolita, pride & prejudice, the great gatsby, and daisy miller—was one that shouldn’t soon be forgotten.

3) carson mccullers—the heart is a lonely hunter
i wouldn't say that this book was my favorite southern novel ever (just see #7 for proof), but the ending was oh-so-slaying. the descriptions of classical music were also haunting--it reminded me of how awe-inspiring good music sounds when listened to in a half-awake, half-dream state.

4) james joyce--dubliners
though i began dubliners last summer, a completely insane fall semester delayed my completion of it. so did the way i read it—this annotated edition recommended reading it straight through with no notes, to get a raw impression, then rereading with notes to get historical & biographical context. it should be noted that this was an excellent, if time-consuming, approach to the text.
to me, dubliners has the appeal of a movie like paris, je t’aime—though the stories in dubliners aren’t quite as interwoven, they provide a varied and accurate (if heartbreakingly bleak) portrait of early 20th-century life in ireland. plus, many of the characters reappear in ulysses—which just so happens to be at the top of my to-read list!
even if you find the entirety of the book to be too much for you, i strongly suggest reading ‘the dead’—the book’s final story is a triumph, an early synthesis of the talent joyce would later use in ulysses and finnegan’s wake. i just learned that john huston directed a film adaptation of the story—can’t wait to see it!

5) the man who loved books too much: the true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession
this book was a fascinating look into the world of first-edition and rare books, and the lengths some people will travel to own a piece of literary history. though i honestly can’t remember much of the story (early-onset alzheimer’s, what up?), i recall being astounded by the value people place on the written word. almost all of the books stolen are easily accessible today. it seems kind of sad that collectors prize the rarity of the book more than the work itself—then again, they probably did love the work, and i certainly understand the impulse to own something that captivates me.

6) t.r. pearson—a short history of a small place
there’s a woman in town who works at the library. a friend introduced me, saying that she was writing a novel, and loved wacky stories about small town life. so, i suggested this book. her response? ‘i can’t read that book anymore—i’m afraid i’d lift from it.’
meeting a person who loved, let alone knew, t.r. pearson’s work, was amazing—it gave me hope that more people will read & love this book, because it deserves to be cherished. a short history of a small place is like an episode of andy griffith on acid; the narrator, only a child, relays each hilariously chaotic episode with a knowing snark that far surpasses his youth. this book is the perfect porch-sitting, beer-drinking, summertime read.
even better: pearson is from the old north state and shouts out nearly every township in central north carolina. it even includes a story of a jaguar-driving, cheating wife, set in (you guessed it!) burlington. so good.
bonus karma points: while in charleston, i was searching for a copy of this to give my dad. taylor books had a copy, which forever endeared them to my heart.

7) faulkner—the sound & the fury
so, this is cheating. the sound and the fury ranks #2(3?) on my all-time favorite books (only behind my all-time favorite overblown, melodramatic work, hamlet, and perhaps moby-dick). still, a reread counts, i think. every time i read the compson family’s slow implosion and disintegration, it kills me anew.

8) ann pancake—strange as this weather has been
it’s a fact of life in west virginia, one that’s not complicated or difficult to learn: coal runs this state. and while it might be patently obvious, it’s certainly not a reality that’s loved (or even accepted) by the majority of the state’s residents. ann pancake, who got her mfa at unc (!), illustrates the tribulations of a coalfield family’s fight against mountaintop removal mining in a novel that left me equally breathless, despondent, and outraged. though it’s fiction, the message pancake delivers is not far from the truth.

the story of the see family is presented in a style similar to as i lay dying; each member chronicles the many challenges life in west virginia presents--from the specter of mountaintop removal to teen pregnancy, and dead-end careers at regionally ubiquitous chains like dairy queen and dollar general. it’s not a light-hearted book, but it’s one that needs to be read by west virginians and all those who cherish its natural beauty.

9) jean-dominique bauby--the diving bell & the butterfly
this was a book that everyone, EVERYONE, has recommended over the years. and, much like the movie the aviator, i knew that i would enjoy it, but resisted for the longest time. finally, at the end of summer, i caved. and i’ll be one of those obnoxious people recommending it from now on.
the book is as improbably light as its title suggests—in the midst of a health crisis that would topple a person of lesser strength, jean-dominique bauby is in turns sardonic, funny, pensive and whimsical. sometimes it was hard to imagine i was reading the autobiography of a man who was literally locked inside his non-functioning body—that such life could exude from a man who couldn’t move or make noise is astounding. though bauby died essentially upon the book’s release, his memoir is a reminder that no matter the circumstances, the human spirit really can transcend anything. (and the movie is very good also!)

10) alex shoumatoff--capital of hope
clearly, any book about brazil is up my alley. even if it was dry at times, alex shoumatoff’s account of the history and founding of the capital city of brasília was immensely enlightening. i’m not a big architecture person, but oscar niemeyer’s city design, which makes a large population almost invisible, is a feat in itself (similar to canberra, australia). combined with shoumatoff’s knowledge of the natural world, the book is travel lit of the most intelligent order.
plus, how sweet is this cover art?

and one to grow on:

11) paul johnson—a history of the american people
a history of the u.s., written by a british dude? i probably should’ve gone with zinn, but i saw this at the local library and felt the sudden, insistent urge to get my act together and learn my american history! it’s not bad, either—though i was always that history major, who only read novels, i find johnson’s narrative to be pretty compelling. for the most part, he’s not high-faluting, and most importantly (especially for a 1,000+ page book) concise! he treats american history through short episodes, which is crucial in keeping my limited attention span. though it’s slow going thus far, i think johnson will better my knowledge of the nation’s past, piece by (ever-so-small) piece.

better late?

over christmas, when grad schools apps should have been the primary focus, this little puppy was all i thought about. after all, my solitary thoughts on what i enjoyed this year are clearly of utmost importance. people are just dying to know. so, four months later, here they are! guess timeliness is a resolution to adopt next year.

top ten albums of 2010

1) joanna newsom—have one on me

clearly, this album was in my top ten. yet i’m not quite sure what to say about have one on me. it’s so grandiose, there are songs that i’ve heard, but still don’t really know at all. (that’s probably also a sign of my unceasing inability to focus). but that's part of its charm--how a song seems to sound slightly more exotic and interesting when you don't quite know it by heart. there's no way i could ever catch every subtlety on that album, so i expect to remain mystified/intrigued by it for years to come.

2) beach house—teen dream

at the start of 2010, i was decidedly not a beach house fan. devotion was merely okay in my book—subtle, pretty music always seems to take a backseat to sledgehammer-strong pop hooks. while snowbound in chapel hill one weekend, though, i spent the weekend listening to the new album. by monday, all i wanted to do was drive around listening to ‘used to be’. the rest of the album proved to be just as good—summer, snow, or sun.

on a day like today, after winter that seemed like it would never end, i can definitively state that west virginia spring is almost heaven. corny? yes. DEAL WITH IT.