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A Tribute to Ballad Singer Phyllis Marks (June 5,1927-June 22, 2019)

A tribute to Gilmer County ballad singer Phyllis Marks, who passed away June 22, 2019, at the age of 92.

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Join us in celebrating the season at the West Virginia Humanities Council's annual Holiday Open House this Friday December 13, from 4–6 p.m. at the historic MacFarland-Hubbard House, located at 1310 Kanawha Blvd. East in Charleston. Light refreshments will be provided. 🌲

2018 West Virginia Folklife Apprentice Amy Dawson & 2018 West Virginia Humanities Council Fellow Mike Costello of @lostcreekfarm + their community of farmers, foragers, and seed savers were featured in the @nytimes this week for their work sustaining and sharing #WestVirginia foodways traditions in all their complexity. Read the full piece by @amelia.nierenberg at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/dining/west-virginia-food-history.html

Join us this evening at @taylorbookswv in Charleston, 6pm, for a reading and signing of the new @ohiounivpress anthology “The Food We Eat, The Stories We Tell: Contemporary Appalachian Tables” by editors Elizabeth Engelhardt & Lora Smith and contributors Courtney Balestier, Danille Christensen, and Emily Hilliard. The event is free and open to the public. Chapters examine the breadth and depth of foodways traditions in the Mountain South, with topics like Blue Ridge tacos; kimchi with soup beans and cornbread; family stories hiding in cookbook marginalia; and African-American mountain gardens. Writer and Morgantown native Balestier will read from her chapter, “Eating to Go,” which considers the foodways and culture Appalachians who migrated north via the Hillbilly Highway brought with them to Detroit. #WestVirginia state folklorist Hilliard will read from her chapter, “The Reason We Make These Deep-Fat-Fried Treats: In Conversation with the Rosettes of Helvetia, West Virginia,” based on fieldwork conducted through @wvfolklife at @wvhumanities.

We are now accepting applications for our 2020-2021 statewide Folklife Apprenticeship Program. The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers up to a $3,000 award to #WestVirginia master traditional artists or tradition bearers working with qualified apprentices on a year-long in-depth apprenticeship in their cultural expression or traditional art form. These apprenticeships, offered to masters of traditional music, dance, craft, foodways, storytelling, and more—in any cultural community in the Mountain State—facilitate the transmission of techniques and artistry of the forms as well as their histories and traditions. For assistance in completing the application, feedback on completed drafts, or any questions, contact Emily Hilliard at hilliard@wvhumanities.org or call (304)346-8500. Drafts for review must be sent by January 10. Applications for the 2020-2021 apprenticeships are due January 31, 2020. 📷: 2018 Folklife Apprenticeship Team master salt rising bread bakers Susan Brown & Jenny Bardwell with apprentice Amy Dawson

Want to support the work we do to at the West Virginia Folklife Program to document, sustain, support, and present #WestVirginia's vibrant cultural heritage and living traditions? Donate to the West Virginia Humanities Council (@wvhumanities) this #GivingTuesday. Visit http://wvhumanities.org/donate/ (link in profile) for the many ways to give. Thank you! #wv #wvfolklife

We're so excited to be working this week with Baltimore-based producers of the @outoftheblocks1 podcast, Aaron Henkin & Wendel Patrick, on a special episode on Charleston's West Side. Stay tuned! 📷 by @wendelpatrickofficialmusic of Ron Blanks, grill master at @dem2brothers

Mothman was reported to first be spotted #OnThisDay November, 12, 1966. 25 other alleged sightings would follow over the next year until December 15, 1967. The reports of a large, winged creature with glowing red eyes were centered in the Point Pleasant area, usually in or near a vast, abandoned munitions facility known as the TNT plant. Skeptics offered various explanations, some arguing that the creature was a stray sandhill crane. • As sightings increased, so did reports of other strange phenomena. Disruption of electronic devices such as telephones, police dispatch radios, and televisions, as well as automobiles, were rumored, and there were numerous reports of UFO appearances. New York writer John Keel, connected the stories of strange occurrences to the #Mothman. Keel additionally included anecdotes regarding the presence of mysterious ‘‘men in black’’ and the tragic December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge that spanned the Ohio River at Point Pleasant. Learn more via @wvhumanities e-WV. Today Mothman is a popular subject of local folklore and is often represented as a playful, benevolent figure by artists across the Mountain State and region. Here are three different modern artist depictions of the cryptid: 1) A selfie sticker by Liz Pavlovic 2) A felted doll by Sarah Bachman 3) A cardboard cutout by Nichole Westfall

Another new food book of interest to West Virginians & #WestVirginia hot dog fans: "Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South" by folklorist Emily Wallace. Wallace features Beckley's King Tut drive-in, and the classic #wvhotdogs of chili, slaw, mustard, and onions. Find a copy via @utexaspress or your local bookstore. 🌭🌭🌭 #wvfolklife

The newest marker in our Legends & Lore Roadside Marker Program, a partnership with The William G. Pomeroy Foundation, has been installed at the John Henry Historical Park in Summers County, commemorating the legend of John Henry, “The Steel Driving Man.” • From the Summers County Commission: "The purpose of the John Henry Historical Park is to provide interpretation for future generations of American folk hero John Henry’s legendary defeat of a newly invented steam drill during construction of the Great Bend Tunnel in Talcott. John Henry was a former slave hired as a steel driver by the contractors charged with building the tunnel for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1870. Using a large hammer, his job was to drive long steel chisels held by his assistant into the hard-red shale of the Big Bend Mountain to create holes that were filled with explosives to blast the tunnel. According to the legend, John Henry drove steel 14 feet compared to the steam drill’s 9. His victory was credited for saving his job and those of hundreds of other men and boys working on the tunnel. This led to his becoming a legend and folk hero as the story of the contest spread and inspired workers everywhere." • A ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally unveil both the Keaton Exhibit and the Legends & Lore marker will be held on Thursday, November 14th at 1:00 p.m. at the John Henry Historical Park entrance off State Route 3/12 in Talcott.

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