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 He is so sure of his eventual victory that he stamps all his campaign materials with the words: ''Historical Documents.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!