Morgantown Magazine August/September 2017

ALL THIS JAZZ

North Central West Virginia is claiming its place as Jazz Central.

CRUISIN’ CUISINE

Exotically marked and a little elusive— food trucks spice up the hunt for dinner.

THIS IS GLUTEN-FREE?

Everyone can enjoy the treats at the new DaisyMoon Bakery.

volume 6

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issue 6

PUBLISHED BY

New South Media, Inc.

709 Beechurst Avenue, Suite 14A, Morgantown, WV 26505

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Nikki Bowman, nikki@newsouthmediainc.com EDITOR

Pam Kasey, pam@newsouthmediainc.com DESIGNER

Becky Moore, becky@newsouthmediainc.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Zack Harold, zack@newsouthmediainc.com OPERATIONS MANAGER

Allison Daugherty, allison@newsouthmediainc.com WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ASSISTANT

Julian Wyant PHOTOGRAPHER

Carla Witt Ford, carla@newsouthmediainc.com INTERNS

Demi Fuentes Ramirez, Kristen Uppercue SALES DIRECTOR

Heather Mills Berardi, heather@newsouthmediainc.com CONTRIBUTORS

John Bolt, Gordon Gee, April Kaull, Becky Lofstead

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MORGA NTOW N is published by New South Media, Inc. Copyright: New South Media, Inc. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the publisher. © N EW SOU T H M EDI A, I NC. A LL R IGH TS R ESERV ED

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EDITOR’S NOTE

I

swirl. People debate and perform and build and decorate and teach. It’s a magnet for thinkers and a factory for new ways of doing things.

Over the past 20 years, all of that energy, supported by conscientious city planning and passionate volunteers, has delivered WVU and Morgantown well together into the 21st century. Morgantown today is tastier, healthier, more inclusive, and better connected with the global community than it ever was—a truly fun place to live. You’ll see bits of that in these pages.

Another thing we didn’t have here 20 years ago: a lovingly crafted city publication. The local, celebratory journalism we practice in this magazine elevates Morgantown. By profiling our creators and entrepreneurs, it generates support for merchants who provide superior services.

By showcasing problem-solvers, it inspires more good works. By highlighting diversity, it makes us all more open.

A magazine thrives on interactive readership. I am privileged to edit Morgantown as we launch a search for a new managing editor, and I encourage you to make the most of this forum.

Follow us on social media. Tell us what matters to you, what needs to be covered, what we’re doing right and wrong. And please—visit our advertisers and thank them for supporting local journalism.

recently got over to Saigon Pho Kitchen, the new Vietnamese restaurant at the split of University Avenue and Collins Ferry Road. If you go, consider trying the Grilled Chicken Banh Mi, the traditional sandwich with a tang of cilantro on a crispy French roll that proprietor Raj Sundaram told me he is very particular about. Saigon Pho is just what we all hope for in a new restaurant—fresh flavors, a clean and friendly atmosphere, and a sense of being transported to another place.

We’re having this experience more and more in Morgantown.

When I moved here 20 years ago, my husband and I had chosen it over other places in the region for one overriding reason: the diversity of the people. Morgantown had some other things going for it, too—a food co-op that seemed rare for a town its size, a brewpub when they were still rare everywhere, and a local reporter in an active statewide public radio network.

All of that led us to expect that the people of Morgantown would be dynamic and curious. We haven’t Happy 150th! been disappointed.

Much of that dynamism and curiosity are because of West Virginia University. This year is WVU’s 150th anniversary, and it’s just as much the sesquicentennial of Morgantown’s great luck in PA M K ASEY, 1867 to be the one town in the Editor freshly cleaved western third of Virginia to win the bid for the new land grant Agricultural College of Follow us at . . . facebook.com/morgantownmagazine West Virginia. It truly was good twitter.com/morgantownmag fortune, because there’s no better instagram.com/morgantownmag place than a university town. Ideas

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EARTH IS THE BEST PLANET The spectacle of a perfect total eclipse of the sun is only possible because our moon is 400 times smaller than the sun and 400 times closer—possibly a circumstance unique in all the universe. The Great American Eclipse will take place August 21. Here’s what we remember about past eclipses.

Some of our staff will watch the eclipse through sun-safe mylar eclipse glasses like these.

“Once when I was in grade school or middle school, there was going to be an eclipse that would be visible only in Africa. I was jealous.” — Allison “I was at Fairview Elementary during a March 1970 eclipse. Our teachers didn’t let us go outside.

They wanted to make sure no one looked at the sun and then their parent would call back and say, ‘What did you do to my child?’” — Carla “I was in 8th grade during a solar eclipse in May 1984. I remember it being a big deal. We poked holes in paper plates and looked at the sun through them.

That’s not how you're supposed to do it.” — Nikki “It was some time during the early ’90s–I was young enough that I didn’t really understand what an eclipse was, and all I knew about space was largely Star Wars–related. My dad insisted I couldn’t miss the experience, so he took me outside and strapped a giant pair of welding goggles to my head. It was cool, but I was really disappointed that I couldn’t see any Ewoks.” — Becky “I was in Boston during a near-total eclipse there in May 1994. The spaces between the leaves made pinhole images of the eclipse all over the sidewalks.

It got dusk-like in the middle of the day and people smiled at each other. It was eerie and cool.” — Pam “I don’t really remember an eclipse. I’ve ordered a solar filter for my travel telescope, and I’m planning to head up to Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston, which offers a sweeping view of the city—including the Capitol dome—and an unobstructed sky. I’m sure I won’t be the only Charlestonian to stake out this prime skygazing spot.” — Zack

LETTERS

Flatwater Fan “This is great information (“Flatwater and Heritage,” June/July 2017)! Paddling on the Mon is a shared activity within my family. I try to surprise my dad with afternoons spent in our kayaks, especially around Father’s Day. I hope to venture outside of Morgantown to other flatwater areas along the Mon River.”

Abby Foster, via Facebook.

Intern Appreciation Our social media intern, Julian Wyant, got some love for a web exclusive he wrote in July for morgantownmag.com reviewing the podcast Mared and Karen: The WVU Coed Murders.

Beating the Heat “Wow this list is AWESOME (“50+ Ways to Stay Cool This Summer,” June/July 2017)! Thanks for putting it together!”

“Love this podcast! I’ve been checking daily to see if there’s a new one. Thanks for your investigative journalism, Jules.”

Elaine Schwing, via Facebook

Betsy Robbins, via Facebook

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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In This Issue

BRIAN PERSINGER, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

Cruisin’ Cuisine

Q+A

Let’s Go!

WVU President E. Gordon Gee on studenthood and universityhood.

Morgantown’s mobile munchies are coming to a curb near you.

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This year, WVU welcomes its 151st class.

Our back-to-school guide will help you navigate your way around campus.

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

In This Issue This Matters 14 Who’s This An interim director leads the 2017–18 Pride of West Virginia.

14 Do This Shop your local library.

16 Eat This Everyone can enjoy DaisyMoon Bakery’s gluten-free pastries.

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Try This Keep the neurons firing and the fun going at WVU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

18 Love This Family-owned skin care and cosmetics shop offers authentic Korean products.

19 See This

See Appalachian women in a new light September 30 at Women Speak.

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20 What’s This Morgantown-area high school students win highest honor at robotics competition—for community outreach.

22 Shop This Show your West Virginia pride.

24 This Matters To… WVU graduate student Matthew Bergman steers his EcoCAR team toward the front of the pack in 2018.

26 Support This

PopShop school of rock teaches music by playing the hits.

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28 Hear This Enjoy North Central West Virginia’s privileged position as America’s Jazz Crossroads.

Departments 6 Editor’s Note 56 The Scene

Happy expressions on MedExpress Kids Day, July 15 59 Calendar 64 Then & Now The dorms, they are a-changin’.

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EAT / LOVE / WEAR / SHOP / WATCH / KNOW / HEAR / READ / DO / WHO / WHAT

Many Sweet Returns

GREG ELLIS, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

Appalachian Apple Crumble— apple ice cream laced with caramel swirl and pie crust crumbles—is just one of two signature 150th anniversary desserts the university’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design created in partnership with Ellen’s Homemade Ice Cream in Charleston. The other, Land Grant Crunch, amps up chocolate ice cream with bits of toffee bars. The confections are showing up as the sweetest part of many of the university’s sesquicentennial celebrations all through 2017.

TOTAL ECLIPSE (BUT JUST PART) During the Great American Eclipse on Monday, August 21, the sun will be an impressive 83.3% obscured in Morgantown at 2:36 p.m. Order mylar viewing glasses or review your pinhole projector skills now.

HIT SNOOZE HOW MUCH SLEEP YOUNG ADULTS NEED

HOW MUCH WVU STUDENTS GET

8+ hours ~7 hours

Tracking data shows WVU students sleep an average amount among college students nationwide.

WHAT COMES AFTER Z? Today’s college classes of 2018-2021 are largely Generation Z: too young in 2001 to be aware of the attacks of September 11 and entirely raised in a social media environment.

Gen Z is proving to be self-reliant, innovative, and goal-oriented.

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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CHRIS SOUTHARD

THIS MATTERS

WHO’STHIS

D0THIS

New Flair on the Field

Subtext

➼ MORE PEOPLE WATCH ONE Saturday performance of the Mountaineer Marching Band than all of the university’s other music groups combined in an entire semester. “That’s exciting. That excitement doesn’t go away,” says Scott Tobias, interim director of the band for the 2017–18 season. Fans will get their first look at Tobias’s field flair when the Pride of West Virginia marches its first pregame show of the season on September 9.

Tobias has been in Morgantown for a year, having come on as director of bands at WVU in July 2016. He previously served as associate director of bands at Appalachian State University and director of bands at Central Florida University.

So far at WVU, Tobias has primarily directed the concert bands.

But with the departure this summer of Jay Drury, the beloved director of the Pride for 11 years, he’s stepping in. He led Appalachian State’s marching band for 10 years, and he’s looking forward to getting back to it. “As much support as I’ve received at other universities, I don’t think any have come close to the amount of love that this state has for its band,” he says. “Being a part of that college football scene, that American tradition, that’s fun. It’s just fun.”

A national search will bring us a new director next fall.

Meanwhile, here’s Tobias’s preview of the coming season:

➼ THE ONLY USED bookstore left in

An interim director leads the Pride.

• September 9 vs East Carolina Pirates: Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” and The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.”

• September 16 vs Delaware State Hornets: Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture,” themes from the Pagliacci with a Latin beat, and the theme from the “New World Symphony” by Dvorak.

• October 14 vs Texas Tech Red Raiders: The 150th anniversary homecoming show—still in planning when we wrote this story.

• October 28 vs Oklahoma State Cowboys: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” with guest fiddler Mikylah McTeer and “Blues In the Night,” popularized by Ella Fitzgerald.

• November 4 vs Iowa State Cyclones: A salute to veterans.

• November 18 vs Texas Longhorns: Horn bands! Tunes from Earth Wind and Fire, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Chicago. written by PAM KASEY 14

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Cull some of your old books, pick up a few that are new to you, and do good all at the same time.

Friends Book Sale Morgantown doesn’t operate out of a 373 Spruce Street storefront—but it does have an eclectic downstairs selection and unbeatable prices.

Tuesdays 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

It’s in Meeting Room C downstairs First and third Saturdays 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. at the Morgantown Public Library on Spruce Street.

Made up of book donations, the room’s thousands of wellorganized volumes are a window into our university town’s reading interests. One thing we love is mysteries, according to Janet Paine, president of the Friends of the Morgantown Public Library, which manages the donations and sale. But anything might come in, and the mix shifts continually: Someone moves away and donates her Sue Grafton shelf; a kid going away to college leaves his childhood Goosebumps volumes behind; a professor passes on, and his entire specialized collection of literature or science writings is donated.

Signs like “religion,” “languages,” and “self-help” above the shelves get visitors browsing immediately. And since volunteers date books as they come in and cull the collection every week to make room for new donations, the shelves stay fresh.

The best part is the prices. Hardcover books go for $2, trade paperbacks for $1, pocket paperbacks for 50¢, and romance novels for 10¢. Children’s books range from 10¢ to $1. Magazines, graphic novels, audio books, CDs, DVDs— all similarly priced.

Sales bring in about $450 a month. That’s money Sarah Palfrey, who came here from Summersville in April 2017 to direct the Morgantown Public LIbrary System, plans to use to expand the library’s popular children’s programming to more ages and to more places in Monongalia County.

Ready to part with some old books? Donate inside when the library is open. Or give time: The Friends of the MPL are always looking for volunteers to help with sales. morgantown.lib.wv.us

written and photographed by PAM KASEY

EATTHIS

Let Them Eat Pastries

DaisyMoon Bakery spreads the joy of baked goods to all. ➼ EVERYONE SECRETLY WISHES their childhood dream would come true. Nadia Caterina just brought her childhood aspirations to life by opening her very own pastry shop, DaisyMoon Bakery. “Ever since I was little, I always wanted a bakery full of beautiful desserts and pastries,” she recalls.

Caterina learned her love of baking growing up in a big Italian family where food 16

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was always the topic at hand. She became the head baker at Morgantown’s Terra Cafe.

“That gave me a really good taste of what a baker’s lifestyle is like,” she says.

Then, in an unfair twist of fate, she developed a sensitivity to gluten—a sticky protein present in wheat and some other grains—and had to stop working at the café. But she continued to bake for close friends and family. She came to think that

what seemed to be a DaisyMoon silly childhood dream Bakery could actually become 119 Pleasant Street a reality. “It all started 304.554.9870 daisymoonbakery.com with what I love to do—making people happy with desserts,” Caterina says.

The name DaisyMoon combines Caterina’s favorite things: daisies, her favorite flowers, and the moon, a powerful image for her as a woman because of its cycles and patterns. The word represents joy and a place of happiness to her, and that’s her goal for the bakery. “It’s not a field of flowers and it’s not a full moon, but it’s a place where anyone can go to feel special and at home,” Caterina says.

Open August 1, DaisyMoon offers a wide selection of pastries including éclairs, daisy doughnuts, and fruit tarts as well as a variety of breads, cakes, cookies, truffles, and pies. And because Caterina wants to share the joy of dessert with everyone, including those with gluten and other food sensitivities, everything is gluten-free— although you wouldn’t know it. She works hard to create gluten-free recipes that taste as good as their standard counterparts. For instance, DaisyMoon’s bread is created from a mixture of 12 flours, including almond flour and pectin powder, and takes 20 minutes to mix correctly. Caterina puts just as much effort into every DaisyMoon dessert. “There’s a balance between selling what I grew up eating that brought me the most joy and making gluten-free items that a gluten-sensitive person usually cannot enjoy,” she says. “A lot of the recipes that I use are naturally gluten-free, so you’re not missing much.”

Caterina’s favorite pastries to bake are French macarons, but a simple rainy day can halt the process. “Everything, including the weather and my hair, has to fall in the right place before I can make them,” she says. “It’s the most frustrating, but I like the challenge.” She also enjoys the challenge of special orders to meet customers’ particular needs. “I want to keep it open for them to ask for what they desire,” she says.

DaisyMoon is first and foremost a delicious bakery. It’s also an opportunity for more people to enjoy desserts, Caterina says. She imagines a customer walking in and nervously asking if anything is glutenfree, and she excitedly waves her hand and responds, “Everything.” written by kristen uppercue photographed by carla witt ford

TRYTHIS

number of whom are university professors. Play the Irish tin whistle, discuss stories in The New Yorker, up your investment game, study Paleo-Indian archaeology, understand the challenges to lawyers trying to overturn unlawful convictions—these are just some of the courses offered over the past year.

OLLI is a member organization. “Each program is different—we get to set it up the way the members want it to be,” Haislet says. WVU’s is an active program.

Haislet came here in the fall of 2016 from Missoula, Montana, where she served as program manager for the OLLI at the University of Montana. That program had more members than WVU’s 650, consistent with the community’s far larger size, but many fewer offerings—around 20 classes a term compared with 30 to 50.

Activities at OLLI go well beyond classes. The organization hosts meetings of interest groups at its space in the Mountaineer Mall. Groups in yarn arts and writing are meeting over the summer, and past groups have included music sessions with the MonRiver New Horizons Band, painting with watercolors, an astrology discussion group, and others.

In both Morgantown and the OLLI program WVU started in Charleston in 2014, the courses with the highest enrollment tend to be in the humanities. “Arts classes, Shakespeare, a film forum, and also music classes are popular,” Haislet says. “Our cooking classes are very popular, too.” In Morgantown, those are offered at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center in First Ward.

OLLI also organizes in-house concerts and group attendance for members at events like theater performances and baseball games. Farther excursions can be field trips to places like Pearl Buck’s birthplace in Pocahontas County. And members can arrange discounted group travel through the tour company Collette—upcoming trips include Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans in October and Ireland in March 2018.

Held, the former theater professor, doesn’t just teach at OLLI. He has also taken classes in healthy eating, elder law, and the Hebrew Bible. “Courses that are offered tend to be things that are of real interest to continuing learners, and we’re working on getting an even broader selection,” says Held, who is also immediate past president of the OLLI board. “Along with a vibrant arts scene and everything else we have, it’s a terrific activity to have in our community.” olliatwvu.org

Learning Lifelong

COURTESY OF OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE

WVU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute keeps the neurons firing and the fun going. ➼ EARLIER THIS DECADE , Jim Held was a theater professor at WVU. He was also teaching classes to people over 50 at the university’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, as a volunteer. One day, he says, he realized he was having so much fun teaching seniors that he would just go ahead and retire from the university.

“Seniors have huge life experience and a zest for living and so much to offer, and they’re happy to offer it,” he says. “So we end up having these vibrant discussions.”

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at WVU is one of 120 OLLIs at colleges and universities across the country, all funded in part by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Their aim is to foster community for people over 50 centered on noncredit courses and social and volunteer opportunities. “It’s learning for the fun of it,” says Jascenna Haislet, director of OLLI at WVU since 2016.

In any given quarter, OLLI offers dozens of classes taught by members of the community—people who have a passion or expertise they’d like to share, a fair

THIS MATTERS A Sampling of OLLI Fall 2017 Classes Fall term begins October 2.

THE NEW YORKER DISCUSSION GROUP Mondays, Oct. 2–Nov. 6 10–11:50 a.m.

Join us to discuss recent issues of The New Yorker. Group members choose articles, fiction, and topics to be discussed each week. All viewpoints welcome. A subscription to The New Yorker is strongly recommended.

MONRIVER NEW HORIZONS BAND Mondays, Oct. 2–Dec. 18 3–4:50 p.m.

An outlet for lapsed musicians to make music again—or for anyone to pick up an instrument they’ve never tried.

BASIC WATERCOLORS Tuesdays, Oct. 3–Dec. 19 1:30–4 p.m.

Explore how watercolors work and apply that knowledge to painting greeting cards and small works.

No experience needed.

INTRODUCTION TO TAI CHI Saturdays, Oct. 7–Dec. 16 10–10:50 a.m.

An introduction to a version of Yang-style Tai Chi. Students will learn the basic principles of Tai Chi and how to do the Tai Chi form.

YOGA FOR WELLNESS Tuesdays, July 11–Aug. 15 10–11:50 a.m.

The beginner yoga class is focused on correct body alignment, is wellsuited for senior practitioners, and is designed to teach participants how to renew vital energy and create physical and mental wellbeing through regular practice of appropriate yoga poses.

written by pam kasey MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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LOVETHIS

Complexion Perfection

This family-owned skin care and cosmetics shop offers authentic Korean products. ➼ JUST STEPS AWAY from the nightclubs, boutiques, and restaurants of the city’s downtown scene, Poppy & Daisy is a hidden gem on Fayette Street.

The skin care and cosmetics shop sells authentic Korean products.

Poppy & Daisy owner Qun Bond first became interested in Korean skin care while trying to heal her daughter’s acne problems. She had owned an antique shop before her children were born, so once they went to school at WVU, she was eager to start something for herself.

Selling the very products that helped clear her daughter’s skin made sense. Qun Bond opened the store at the beginning of 18

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March, and runs it with her daughter and son, Sarah and Enze.

The skin care industry in Korea has created some of the most popular items used around the world, such as snail products and sheet masks. The collection at Poppy & Daisy represents that. “A lot of the products have top-of-the-line, new, different, innovative ways to treat skin,” Sarah Bond says. They’re made of natural ingredients, such as a coconut gel mask that is formulated with “superfruits” that are said to be packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Many of the products include some non-botanical ingredients, such as alcohol for treating

acne; however, even Poppy & Daisy that is not as harsh 179 Fayette Street on the skin as the 304.381.2848 alcohol used in pdkskincare.com American skin care products. “There may be an ingredient that is an alcohol but it doesn’t work like one—it’s more moisturizing,” Sarah Bond says.

The makeup is also lighter to enhance facial features rather than cover up imperfections. “American skin care routines focus on covering up blemishes, while Korean skin care focuses on healing those blemishes,” says Enze Bond. Korean skin care has steadily gained popularity because it promotes healthy skin. “Better skin care is what we offer. We basically sell anything to help your skin, so you feel more confident and do not necessarily feel the need to put on makeup,” Sarah Bond says.

Many have heard of the 10-step Korean Beauty Routine, a popular regime for healing problematic skin. Poppy & Daisy sells products for each step, but also advises customers on which of the steps they need for their particular skin types.

The shop sells products to treat skin

COURTESY OF POPPY & DAISY

THIS MATTERS

THIS MATTERS COURTESY OF WOMEN OF APPALACHIA PROJECT

Kari Gunter-Seymour performs her ode “Oh You Woman of Appalachia.”

SEETHIS

COURTESY OF POPPY & DAISY

Speaking for the Hollows problems like acne, rosacea, and dullness, while also offering makeup. Mascara, lipstick, and a wide range of facial masks are all available for under $10. The cotton and gel masks target multiple skin problems—for example, a green tea mask moisturizes and soothes problematic skin. Those looking for fun designs or products for young people will find Pokemon-branded items and animal masks.

Starter packs are available for customers who want to change their skin care routines. The Honey Cera starter kit includes four products: eye serum, cream, toner, and an emulsion. “This kit has everything you would need to start out. It is very good for people who have rosacea or skin that is easily irritated,” Sarah Bond says. New customers might also like to try the Moistfull Collagen skin care kit, which includes a toner, essence, emulsion, and cream. “This line is really moisturizing and results in firming for the skin,” she says. Both kits cost less than $10. Poppy & Daisy also offers premium items, such as the Etude House 24K Gold Mask used to brighten dull skin and the Super Aqua mask

by Missha, which includes the highly sought after snail slime extract.

“Everyone can have perfect skin, you’ve just got to work at it,” Enze Bond says. “Skin care isn’t just one cream or one thing that fixes everything—everyone’s skin is different. That’s the reason we have so many different products here.” written by KRISTEN UPPERCUE

A spoken word tour dispels stereotypes and gives voice to Appalachian women. ➼ KARI GUNTER-SEYMOUR FOUNDED the Women of Appalachia Project’s Women Speak tour to help dispel negative stereotypes about mountain women. But she’s ended up doing something even better. “It has become more about building a sisterhood,” says Gunter-Seymour, an Albany, Ohio-based poet and photographer.

The spoken word showcase—which will make its first-ever appearance at WVU’s Downtown Campus Library on September 30 at 1 p.m. as part of its ninth annual tour—features short fiction, performance pieces, essays, poetry, and songs from women all over Appalachia’s 420 counties. Gunter-Seymour says artists form lasting bonds as they travel and perform at the tour’s six stops, which often leads to more collaboration down the road.

And since Women Speak often showcases writers who’ve never shown their work publicly before, Gunter-Seymour says they leave with the confidence to continue exhibiting their work. “I think we create this feeling of inclusion and self-esteem,” she says.

This is no amateur affair, though. Gunter-Seymour says Women Speak events often draw standing-room-only crowds. “People come to our events and cry. Or they’re belly laughing. We give it our all. We really tell the truth,” she says.

Women Speak’s WVU appearance is a project of WVU Libraries and the university’s LGBTQ+ Center, Women’s Resource Center, Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, and WVU Campus Read.

Visit Women of Appalachia Project’s website for more information. womenofappalachia.com written by ZACK HAROLD MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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THIS MATTERS

The MARS Mission

The Mountaineer Area RoboticS team took the Chairman’s Award at the FIRST Robotics Competition held in April 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. Made up of high school students from Monongahela, Harrison, Marion, and Preston counties, the team was recognized for its outreach in support of sustainable STEM programs in elementary, middle, and high schools across West Virginia.

slowly overcome by a sense of euphoria. “We realized it could be us, it could actually be us,” MARS member Maggie Raque says, thinking back.

When the announcer finally pronounced MARS the winner, every member of the team was overwhelmed with emotion. Their competitors Morgantown-area high school watched as MARS sprinted students win highest honor at robotics to the stage to accept the competition—for community outreach. award. “We were screaming, there were tears, there were hugs, and it was truly an amazing moment ➼ LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS that I will never forget,” says Shannon of the Mountaineer Area RoboticS, or Werntz, vice president of MARS’ nonMARS, team stood together at the intertechnical affairs, overseeing the team’s national FIRST Robotics Competition community outreach.

Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, in The students work together to build April 2017. Holding hands and shaking, large-scale robots named Marvin that are the team was waiting to hear who won “speedy and strong” according to Earl the Chairman’s Award. MARS had been declared one of three finalists that morning, Scime, chairman of physics and astronomy the last day of competition. The announcer at WVU and head coach of MARS. The team has six weeks to create the robot, drew out the suspense by vaguely listing which then competes in a game against the winning team’s accomplishments, only hinting at which team had won. MARS was other teams in regional and nationwide 20

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

competitions. But the students also work hard to start, mentor, and sustain STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—programs in K-12 schools across West Virginia, and that is the effort that this award recognized.

“The Chairman’s Award is given to a FIRST robotics competition team that builds STEM programs and has a good partnership with its community,” Scime says. FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is the international parent organization of MARS. Both organizations serve to inspire young people to engage in science and technology programs.

MARS is made up of more than 40 students in 9th through 12th grades from Monongahela, Harrison, Marion, and Preston counties. “MARS honestly is a family,” Werntz says. “We come from eight different schools across the state of West Virginia, so you’d think there would be a little natural rivalry between some groups of students, but we really all just get along.”

The competition is an opportunity for team members to be creative, Scime

COURTESY OF EARL SCIME

WHAT’STHIS

There’s been a dramatic increase in the number of opportunities for kids throughout West Virginia to do STEM-based activities, primarily robotics. MARS has played a key role in that expansion.”

EARL SCIME, MARS HEAD COACH

says, “while still using the skills they’re learning in school to do something very complicated under time pressure with limited resources in a very competitive environment.”

The students were awarded for their countless efforts throughout West Virginia. “We do STEM nights, parades, and festivals to encourage science and technology activities in the community. We also build strong local partnerships with corporations and universities to create sustainable programs,” says Werntz.

Coaches and mentors also help inspire the team. “Everyone is a volunteer—every coach, every mentor—who put in a lot of time and effort to make the program successful,” Scime says.

They meet with the students every Wednesday at White Hall on the WVU campus.

With more than 2,000 followers on Twitter and 1,000 on Facebook, MARS has captured the attention of people across the state. The team has also won many awards for its robotics, including programming and design. “MARS is a very technically sophisticated team, as well as having a big impact in the community,” Scime says. “There’s been a dramatic increase in the number of opportunities for kids throughout West Virginia to do STEM-based activities, primarily robotics.

MARS has played a key role in that expansion.”

Organizers use a five-step program called “the MARS plan” to create sustainable teams that incorporate activity in their communities. The last step of the program is to encourage team members to go out into the world and become future leaders and innovators in science and technology. MARS is proud that more than 98 percent of its graduates continue on to college. “We always say that we’re not building robots with people—we’re building people with robots,” Werntz says.

Of 3,000 FIRST Robotics teams worldwide, MARS competed against about 40 teams in St. Louis. For winning the Chairman’s Award, MARS joins FIRST’s Hall of Fame and will be invited to all global robotics competitions in the future. “There are teams that have inspired us throughout our history by the impact that they have had in their communities, so it’s humbling to realize that we are now that team others are going to be looking up to,” Werntz says. written by KRISTEN UPPERCUE MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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THIS MATTERS SHOPTHIS

Show Some Pride

Wear your heart on your sleeve—or your bag, or your pint—with these fun life accessories. photographed by CARLA WITT FORD

Blue and gold scarf, $14

Be ready for chillier evenings to come with this soft, lightweight 3' x 6' scarf with gold football accents. Paisleys Plaids and Polka Dots, 1058 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, 304.241.1497

Sheer tassel-tie blouse, $59

Perfect for dressing up a cami or tank top after those hot earlyseason games. Tuscan Sun Spa & Salon, 401 Boyers Avenue, 304.296.1325, tuscanspaandsalon.com

Mountaineers key chain, $18.99

Cotton webbing strap for your wrist; brass clip for your bag or belt loop. Tuscan Sun Spa & Salon, 401 Boyers Avenue, 304.296.1325, tuscanspaandsalon.com

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

THIS MATTERS

Clear crossbody bag, $34.00

Go from the game to an evening out with this 8" x 6" x 1.6" durable PVC bag. Meets new WVU clear bag policy.

Paisleys Plaids and Polka Dots, 1058 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, 304.241.1497

Cork-lined WV serving tray, $17.99

Serve it like you mean it. Everyday’s a Party, 3119 University Avenue, 304.598.5556, @everydaysaparty on Facebook

Clear carryall tote, $63.00

Fit everything you need at the stadium in this durable 12" x 12" x 6" PVC tote. Largest size allowable under new WVU clear bag policy. Paisleys Plaids and Polka Dots, 1058 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, 304.241.1497

Flying WV market tote, $34.99 Carry your things in style. Tuscan Sun Spa & Salon, 401 Boyers Avenue, 304.296.1325, tuscanspaandsalon.com

Drink Local WV pint glass, $6.99 So many local brews now! Drink yours from a proper receptacle. Everyday’s a Party, 3119 University Avenue, 304.598.5556, @everydaysaparty on Facebook

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THIS MATTERS THISMATTERS TO

Matthew Bergman ➼ CLARKSBURG NATIVE MATTHEW BERGMAN

is a graduate student in electrical engineering. He’s also the engineer manager of the team WVU assembled for EcoCAR 3: a nationwide advanced vehicle technology competition in which 16 universities redesign the Chevrolet Camaro. The teams have four years to turn their cars into environmentally friendly hybrids that work with both liquid fuel and electric power—while maintaining

On the competition “The competition is sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors. It is great to get into an industry-like project like this one, because it prepares students for the industry. The project takes us through the whole process of designing a car, building it, and then refining it to meet the needs of the target market while helping our environment.”

On the annual challenges “Each year the tests change. The first two years were based on designing and integrating the car.

The second year we were named ‘team to watch,’ but we lost to the sixth-place team by 1.8 points. That lit a fire in us. The third year was based on dynamic events, so we worked really hard and were pretty stoked to win fourth place. But we want to do better.

The goal for next year is vehicle optimization, and we want to show that we are a team to compete with.”

their power, safety, and consumer appeal. Bergman and his team are fired up. Placing eleventh in May 2015, the first year, and working their way up to fourth place in 2017, they’re aiming to finish the competition in the top spot in 2018. interviewed by DEMI FUENTES RAMIREZ photographed by CARLA WITT FORD

On community support “To create awareness, this year we are doing more events to let the community know what we are doing. We’ve also gotten a lot of support locally. All the companies that our car promotes provide us either money, knowledge, or components. The local sponsors that have been giving us support have helped establish more connections between companies that help us with this project.”

On the team “This is a very multidisciplinary project. With over 50 members, we have students from mechanical and aerospace, electrical engineering, computer science, communications, and so forth.

Our EcoCAR 3 team is split up into five different sub-teams: the mechanical team, the electrical and computer engineering team, the controls team, the systems modeling and simulation team, and the advanced driver assistance systems team. By working with various disciplines, you realize that any change from one team can affect the other teams in many ways, so we have to work well with each other.”

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PAM KASEY

THIS MATTERS

SUPPORTTHIS

Roll Over, Beethoven

Morgantown’s school of rock teaches music by playing the hits. ➼ THE MUSIC LESSONS Chris Russell took growing up were pretty standard— just him and a teacher, alone in a room, working on theory and proper technique.

He learned plenty, and stuck with the lessons up through his time as a student in WVU’s percussion program.

But it wasn’t those private lessons that turned Russell into a musician. “I learned so much in the classroom, but I found I learned so much more by doing it in a group,” he says. “You have to do your part or something’s not going to be the same.”

Later, while Russell was drumming for the Morgantown-based pop-rock band The 26

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

Arguments, he found himself back in the classroom teaching private drum lessons.

That became his full-time gig after the band broke up. But after a few years, he decided to take a different approach to teaching music.

It’s only rock ’n’ roll Russell opened his music school, PopShop, in 2010 with 11 students. He separated the kids into two bands and assigned each member a different instrument: keyboards, guitars, bass, drums. Each band met for one hour a week so Russell could teach them Top 40 hits and classic rock songs— everyone, all at once.

Learning songs as part of a band had several benefits. It taught the kids to work together. They learned to both stand in the spotlight and step back to support their bandmates. The ensembles also were small enough that everyone had to do their part. There was no hiding behind louder, more talented players, as one might in a larger band or orchestra.

And playing as part of an ensemble— even during lessons—provided a kind of instant gratification that one-on-one lessons do not.

And the songs? “The things that kept me in music were not Bach and Mozart.

The things that kept me in music were Billy Joel, the Beatles,” Russell says. He found it was easier to keep kids excited if they were playing songs they knew, too.

At the end of 12 weeks, he organized the PopShop version of a piano recital: a rock concert at the Morgantown Mall.

It wasn’t the best venue, especially in the middle of the holiday shopping season.

But after seeing his students onstage, rocking out to music they enjoyed playing, Russell realized he had a hit.

THIS MATTERS Now the band is looking to add more original material to its setlists, record a full-length album, and start growing its audience. “It’s really cool working toward something they love,” says Stealey’s dad, Bryan. “A kid doesn’t have to worry about getting dressed up in something they don’t want to wear and playing something they don’t want to play.”

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes PopShop has grown dramatically since that first concert, mostly through word of mouth. Last spring, the school boasted 96 students in 21 bands. Russell has refined the PopShop formula through the years—the program now holds 90-minute classes over six-week terms. Russell realized longer classes and shorter terms made it easier for bands to retain the arrangements they learned.

At the end of each term, PopShop hosts a concert at 123 Pleasant Street, giving even the youngest guitar gods a chance to play in an honest-to-goodness rock club. Many bands stay together term after term, so some have built their repertoires into full-fledged setlists. A few have even started gigging around town.

Parents are buying their kids PA systems.

Russell has watched the bands evolve artistically, growing from cover songs to original material. One student group, Before I Sleep, recently released an EP featuring three original songs.

“I have no idea where I’d be musically without PopShop,” says Annalies Stealey,

who sings, plays guitar, and writes songs for Before I Sleep. She joined the school at age 11 after spending a year in her bedroom with a guitar and a chord chart.

At PopShop, she found herself in a band with two other girls, working up Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran covers.

She moved to her current ensemble after a year, leaving the pop charts behind for a pop-punk sound influenced by bands like Green Day and Blink 182.

That’s when things began to gel. As the band’s chemistry became evident, Stealey started bringing original material to rehearsal. She’d been writing songs since fourth grade, but now she had a way to give them life.

Before I Sleep started getting gigs through PopShop—not just the regular end-of-term performances, but also at promotional concerts for the school. The music school has helped the band in other ways, too. Their debut EP, Miles Away from Home, was recorded at PopShop’s recording studio. Russell even connected the girls with a new drummer outside the program when their old drummer dropped out.

Runnin’ down a dream PopShop isn’t just for kids. One of the house bands, Noodles and the Soup, is made up of two WVU law professors, an educational science professor, and a financial advisor. A rock band with an eclectic repertoire, they play everything from Duran Duran to Warren Zevon.

Another adult group, Controlled Chaos, is made up of a pharmaceutical company director, a few WVU hospital employees, and a federal prison health services employee. Members are into punk bands like Social Distortion and Dropkick Murphys but have also started writing original material.

When students sign up for PopShop, the school has them fill out detailed intake forms: What music do you listen to? What instrument would you like to play? Do you have any previous experience with an instrument? How long have you been playing? Do you have friends already in the program? Are you willing to sing?

Although the school tries to help students achieve their rockstar dreams, instructors also encourage experimenting with different instruments and sounds.

If someone wants to play drums, Russell encourages them to try bass guitar, too, since it plays a similar role in music. If band members are really into Panic! At the Disco, Russell might suggest they explore Queen or Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles songs.

Students are welcome to return as often as they like. Some have attended for seven or eight years, content to make their music in the safe confines of PopShop. That’s fine, but it’s not Russell’s ultimate goal. He wants to see his students out in the community, making music, playing gigs, and winning fans. “That’s how you graduate,” Russell says. “You go make a band.” PopShop: 918 Fortney Street, 304.906.9336, popshopwv.com, @popshopwv on Facebook. Before I Sleep: beforeisleepwv.bandcamp.com written by zack harold photographed by juan giraldo MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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THIS MATTERS

Charleston jazz giant Bob Thompson will perform with the Crossroads Jazz Quintet at the grand opening of the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place on September 14.

HEARTHIS

“I heard her recently described as ‘the gold standard.’ She’s this generation’s answer to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.” She has in West Virginia before, but this The West Virginia Jazz Society raises the profile of America’s Jazz performed will be the first time she’s brought her own Crossroads with Morgantown concerts. band along.

The music will begin at the amphitheater around 1:30 p.m. and continue through right after another, the stroll spread the ➼ ERIC SPELSBERG AND HIS the day, concluding with a late show at bands throughout venues all over town. jazz-loving friends used to complain the Marriott. There are no cover charges, This allowed fans to personalize their about having to drive to big cities to hear although venues might have minimum the artists they loved. Then they changed experience, choosing which artists they wanted to hear, whenever they wanted, for drink or food requirements. their tune. “We decided to do something The West Virginia Jazz Society will also as long as they wanted. about it,” he says. “I mean, the road goes It proved so popular, the society started host a special concert at the Morgantown both ways.”

Marriott at Waterfront Place on Thursday, similar events in Weston and Elkins.

The group—which became the West September 14 to mark the hotel’s grand This summer, the format comes to Virginia Jazz Society in 2008—realized all the jazz cities they loved had something Morgantown with the Jazz River Festival. opening. The event will feature Vince Lewis, a West Virginia native who’s become one The event, scheduled for August 26, will in common. New York City, Columbus, of the nation’s top jazz guitarists, as well as feature six bands at seven venues along Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Washington, pianist Bob Thompson, a West Virginia the Caperton rail-trail: D.C. are all within easy driving distance of North Central West Virginia. And that, • Pianist Jenny Wilson at the Hazel Ruby Music Hall of Fame member and one of the state’s best-loved musicians. It’s a reunion for in Spelsberg’s mind, gives the region an McQuain Amphitheater the two men, who played together around unfair advantage.

• The Dan Baker Band at the Mountain Charleston in the 1960s.

Different scenes have different sounds.

State Brewing Company The ensemble will be rounded out by Atlanta has soul jazz, for example, while Russian jazz superstar Victor Dvoskin New York is known for its hard bop. By • Jared Sims with the Funk Raiders at on bass, John Jensen on trombone, and meeting in the middle, jazz fans can hear it Morgantown Brewing Company Morgantown music veteran Mark Cappellini all in one place. “We’re in the middle of the • World jazz group Veronneau at on drums. Spelsberg says he’s calling the biggest market for live jazz in the world,” Oliverio’s Ristorante band the “Crossroads Jazz Quintet” because says Spelsberg, the society’s president.

• The Dave Braham B3 Trio at Tin 202 it embodies everything the West Virginia The society became a bona fide Jazz Society is about—bringing people nonprofit in 2009 and began hosting • Sharon Clark & the Real Jazz Trio and together in the name of jazz. “That band concerts around the area. In June 2013, Reggie Watkins & The Cool Cats at the it hosted the first Uptown Jazz Stroll Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place really is the idea.” wvjazzsociety.com, @wvjazzsociety on Facebook in Clarksburg. The event employed a Spelsberg says he’s especially excited to see novel format—instead of putting all Clark, a jazz vocalist from Washington, D.C. written by ZACK HAROLD the musicians on the same stage, one 28

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

COURTESY OF WEST VIRGINIA JAZZ SOCIETY

The Real Ambassadors

COURTESY OF LET'S TACO BOUT IT

SHER YIP

We’ll remember 2017 as the summer that food trucks rolled out onto the streets of Morgantown. Who’s behind the wheel? The roving restaurateur lifestyle appeals to a certain kind of person, it turns out: part gypsy, part mechanic, all chef. They’re risk-takers, too— these vantrepreneurs invest anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. But mobility lets them serve what they want, where they want, when they want. Follow the line at any farmers’ market, mall, wedding, or festival, and you just may find yourself under a truck-side awning enjoying some of the city’s most exciting cuisine. Meet a few of our food fad nomads.

Written by PAM KASEY Photographed by CARLA WITT FORD

PYLES of

PASTA If you ever want to open a franchise restaurant, run the numbers. That’s what David Pyles and his family did. He was thinking of opening a Noodles & Company fast casual franchise in Morgantown but found that a food truck made more sense for him financially.

“Plus, you can close during winter and spend time with your family,” he says. “Opening a restaurant, you can’t do that.”

So the idea for a noodle store like many across the U.S. became the very unusual idea for a noodle truck. “There are a lot of Vietnamese trucks that have noodles, but not gourmet pasta—I think like four or five in the nation, that I was able to find.

I wanted to give Morgantown something different and see if they would respond, and it’s ended up working out.” He first rolled out in April 2017.

Pyles of Pasta has a huge menu, for a food truck.

Appetizers include mozzarella sticks and bavarian pretzel sticks. “Then for pastas we do a Cajun Alfredo, add chicken or shrimp, and a Buffalo Chicken Rotini and Cheese that’s pretty popular,” Pyles says. “We do a Bacon Rotini and Cheese that sells pretty well. I have the Chicken Bruschetta Pasta—that’s lighter, and it’s become really, really popular. And we have the Rotini and Meatballs, and that really sells.” There’s also the Philly-style A1 Steak Sandwich and a BBQ Cheddar Meatball Sub. “And people that know me personally will ask—if it’s not on the menu but I can do it, I’ll do it.”

Pyles got his start washing dishes at Cracker Barrel at 16. He went to culinary school at Pierpont Community and Technical College in Fairmont, then cooked at the Pete Dye Golf Club, Fairmont Field Club, and Mylan Pharmaceuticals. For him, now, this works out 32

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

better. “I love working for myself,” he says. “I like meeting a lot of different people. And I like change. We’re having a lot of fun.”

The Pyles of Pasta crew works the corporate lunch crowds: the medical offices at University Town Centre on Mondays, the WVU Medicine Farmers Market on Wednesdays, Teletech at the Mountaineer Mall on Fridays. You’ll find them other places on other days—follow them on social media to track them down. @davidmpyles8125 on Twitter @davidmpyles8125 on Facebook

HEARD'S Best

BARBEQUE Ever

Best Barbeque Ever built up a huge base of loyal diners in the short time it was open in Sabraton in 2015.

So when Charlie Heard closed the restaurant based on rumors a road would be coming through the building he was leasing, hungry fans pestered him. “Our main plan was to open up a packing and distribution center,” says Heard.

He used to distribute through Kroger and has a ready market for his product. “But so many people kept asking me, ‘When can you open back up?’ ‘Where can we get your barbecue?’ I saw a food truck for sale so I went ahead and did that.” He first served up his brand of delicious out of the truck he calls Heard’s Best Barbeque Ever in October 2016.

Heard had a high school wrestling record of 101–2 in his native Georgia.

After a strong showing in NCAA wrestling at the University of Tennessee, he came to Morgantown in 1986 to train with WVU coach and Olympic wrestler Nate Carr.

“I fell in love with West Virginia. I started cooking barbecue at the side of the road, like the roadside vendors we had down South, to raise money to train for the Olympics. I stepped it up a notch with my own personal recipe, the dry rub and barbecue sauce I created by trial and error.”

Heard became a two-time Olympic alternate who medaled in the PanAmerican Games and World Cup— and now he makes a medal-worthy barbecue.

The truck menu changes from week to week. “We do smothered steaks, and then we have the barbecued chicken, pulled pork, ribs, and brisket,” Heard says. The long list of from-scratch sides includes mashed potatoes and gravy, baked beans cooked on the wood-fired grill, and Southern stir-fried cabbage. The hickory-smoked barbecued pulled pork and the brisket sell quickest, he says. Also popular is the Santa Maria

Italian: a 6-inch bun with Italian sausage, peppers, and onions, covered with the pulled pork.

Morgantown barbecue lovers can find Heard at the mid-day WVU Medicine Farmers Market on Wednesdays. Or try the Laurel Point soccer fields south of the Morgantown Mall on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. Heard sells plenty without marketing but hopes to start keeping fans posted on Facebook soon.

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Let’s

TACO BOUT IT Sometimes a restaurant just isn’t enough.

Burke Manning’s family opened Pita Pit on High Street in 2005. He’d grown up all over but moved to Morgantown to help out. Now he’s co-owner of the restaurant and considers Morgantown home.

Serving food to the downtown crowd suits him—so much that, in March 2016, he bought a food truck on Craigslist so he could do it at night, too. “I spent March until the beginning of July building it, getting the equipment in, installing the sink system,” he says. “I hand painted the whole truck. It was a fun experience.” He joined the High Street late-night scene in July 2016 and, with an upgrade to what he calls “the Ferrari of generators” in September, has kept at it year-round.

“We’ve got soft and hard tacos and a Taco in a Bag,” Manning says—that’s in a bag of corn chips, often called a “walking taco.”

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

“We’ve got three different sizes of nachos, some with just nacho cheese and chips, and the bigger one gets chicken, rice, beans, and, if the customer wants, lettuce, tomato, guacamole.” Diners can load up with sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, Sriracha, and specialties like salsa verde, peach pineapple chipotle salsa, and white corn black bean salsa.

When he has the staff and the time, Manning also sometimes sets up for lunch or dinner at office buildings and student apartment complexes. He especially likes working music events.

“Like, in May, Mainstage Morgantown put on the Flogging Molly concert at the amphitheater on the river. That was really cool.” His late-night diners most like the Taco in a Bag, he says—it’s easy to walk around with. But during the day, it’s always the big nacho plate. “Every crowd’s a little bit different.”

Manning’s wife and their three-year-old son love his tacos. He sometimes hears his son playing “taco truck” on the living room floor. “This has been a good experience all around,” he says. “I’m at Pita Pit 60 to 80 hours a week, sometimes more. When I come downtown, there are 100-plus people that know me by name. I enjoy serving a good product, but also the camaraderie with the customer—being a member of my community.” @letstacoboutitm on Twitter @letstacoboutitm on Instagram

HASH BROWNS & NEW GROUNDS

Cody Thrasher started working in restaurants when he was 15.

He liked the work and the atmosphere, so he taught himself to cook. “I went to Barnes & Noble, bought the Culinary Institute of America textbook for $75, and read it from cover to cover,” he says.

He also liked the idea of being his own boss so, in 2014, he turned the key on his used, re-customized food truck. He named it for fried potatoes—a dish people everywhere like— and for all the places the truck might take him.

HBNG’s menu of international and eclectic flavors reflects Thrasher’s tastes. The Jalapeno Gnocchi Mac & Cheese topped with grilled pepperoni, a drizzle of Sriracha, and chopped scallions gets customers standing in line. The CBR Taco—with chargrilled chicken, brown sugar–encrusted bacon, and house-made sesame aioli in place of ranch—brings them back again and again.

The Blackened Vietnamese Catfish Taco, with purple Asian slaw, sweet chili sauce, and sesame seeds, is one of Thrasher’s top dishes. “That catfish is out of this world.” But even while keeping

customers coming back for favorites, the truck’s menu changes daily. “We’re out to be different. We like to say that we’re a big step away from everybody else, not ahead but in a different direction.”

Thrasher gets his produce from local farmers. “We get to know all the farmers,” he says. “The average consumer doesn’t want to buy that ugly tomato, but I’ll take it and make a sauce out of it. It really lets us support local businesses and saves us from spending more money at the larger chains, and the consumer gets a better product. It’s better all around.”

Thrasher started a restaurant in Bridgeport in 2016 called Cody’s. HBNG mostly does private events and festivals these days, but a lucky diner might catch the truck at Short Story Brewing in Rivesville on a Friday night or at the Sunday morning Bridgeport Farmers Market. Even with the restaurant to manage, he still loves his mobile kitchen. “It’s a blast. It’s hotter than hell in that thing, but it’s worth every second.” @hashbrownsnewgrounds on Facebook MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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Q A and

E. Gordon Gee has held more university presidencies than any other American—including here at West Virginia University from 1981 to 1985, when he was just in his thirties. He returned here in 2014 to give WVU the benefit of his long career in university leadership, and he brings hands-on glee to the task. We caught up with him to ask about students, families, and the university’s future.

SCOTT LITUCHY, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

with WVU President Gordon Gee

What is your best advice for new students? For seniors?

For new students, it is easy: Get involved. Yes, you need to study and apply yourself academically, but that is a given. Do not forget about the rest of your development. Remember there are 168 hours in a week—and you are only in class for about 18 of those. How will you fill the remaining 150 hours? Find one of our 400-plus student organizations to join, meet new people from around the world, take advantage of the many cultural and extracurricular offerings on campus, and study abroad, if at all possible. As we say, “Work smart, play smart.” Find your balance and make the most of every opportunity.

For seniors, this is your last year.

Make it your mission to do all the things you want to do while on campus. Create balance in your life with your academics and your social life, and focus on your upcoming professional life. And when you graduate, do not forget your alma mater. Wear your old gold and blue with pride, network with other Mountaineers wherever you land, and remember you have a support group of almost 200,000 alumni around the world.

What is your advice for parents of freshmen?

This one is hard for me because I know what advice I should give, but I also know from personal experience it is perhaps the hardest to follow. I certainly did not when I left my daughter, Rebekah, at college. Nevertheless, here it is: Let them go. You have raised your children well, and this is the time in their lives when they get to apply all those lessons you have taught them. It is their last time to be irresponsible, responsibly. They will stumble (you did, too), but they will grow and develop into full-blown adults. It is our job at West Virginia University to help that happen. They will be all right.

(And we will encourage them to phone home from time to time.)

What is the importance of West Virginia University to the state?

There are many parts to answering that question. West Virginia University is important because it is the state’s flagship land-grant university, and therefore the premier educational institution. But more

than that, our research and resources are unmatched in this state. That is why we have identified education, health, and broad-based prosperity as the pillars of this institution. West Virginia cannot thrive in the future if any of those three areas are neglected.

We have a responsibility to pour our hearts and souls into them.

West Virginia University is also about pride and loyalty. It is no coincidence that our marching band is called “The Pride of West Virginia.”

Wherever the band goes, you can see the shoulders of our citizens straighten and the smiles—and even tears— break out. It is really all wrapped up in this statement: “At West Virginia University, we relentlessly pursue world-changing discovery and innovation, academic engagement and excellence, so that we are the economic and social engine for our state.

We do it with what we call rugged determination.”

What would you like most to improve about West Virginia University?

Two things. I would love to see our students more actively explore different ideas and meet new people. That is one of the best parts of college. Too often, I notice students gathered in homogeneous groups, or with their heads buried in their phones as they walk around campus. Look up! It is quite a world we live in.

Secondly, and we are already having success on this one, I would like to see the rest of the world understand the special place that is West Virginia University. Whether it is our academics or our athletics, our research or our outreach, West Virginia University is one of the top institutions in the country and world and deserves to be recognized as such.

How can a student get a selfie with you?

That is the easy one. Just ask, whenever and wherever you see me.

And you will see me plenty. It is very important to me to be out and around with our students; it is how I learn what is on their minds and what is important to them. And do not be surprised if I show up at your 21st birthday party.

TRANSFORMING WEST VIRGINIA Economic shifts have triggered a half-billion-dollar budget crisis in West Virginia. I, however, see an opportunity.

As our state’s flagship university, we need to lead the way to a mentality of abundance—from a strategy of “cut” to one of “invest.”

Change is not about raising our ranks in the polls. It is about shifting the dialogue, recognizing our state’s proven ability to collaborate, compete, and create. We see it all the time: • February ’15—West Virginia’s Tim O’Brien earns a Grammy with the Earls of Leicester for Best Bluegrass Album.

• September ’15—WVU testing exposes Volkswagen’s cheating on pollution emissions tests. New scrutiny of vehicle emissions follows.

• February ’16—WVU astrophysicist Sean McWilliams contributes to the detection of gravitational waves, confirming a key prediction of Einstein’s 1915 theory of general relativity.

• April ’16—Morgantown native and WVU alumna Margie Mason shares in the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for an Associated Press exposé on slavery in Southeast Asia’s fishing industry.

• August ’16—Current and former WVU athletes take five medals in riflery and soccer in the Rio Summer Olympics, surpassing the wins of 43 countries.

• April ’17—Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette-Mail wins the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for coverage of the opioid crisis in West Virginia.

Keeping our accomplishments and abilities in mind, we must, first, think and speak about our state as a state of opportunity—a state of great possibility.

Second, we need to address today’s most imposing health crises: opioid addiction, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Finally, we must balance the inequities in our school systems.

Let’s embrace our best attributes, use them to meet our needs, and, most importantly, know that we are capable of change.

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Written by PAM KASEY | Photographs courtesy of WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

WVU AT 150 STADIUM REBOOT GETTING AROUND CAR-FREE WHERE TO STUDY + MORE 40

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

For 150 years, new students have arrived in Morgantown eager to become Mountaineers. As a student at WVU, you’re part of an important legacy. Whether you’re new or returning, our back-to-school guide will introduce you to university history, campus hangouts, and happenings around town. Let us help you start your semester off on the right foot.

Action HAYLEY LINDSEY, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY OUTDOOR ADVENTURE CLUB

GET IN ON THE

If there are 168 hours in a week and you’re in class for less than 20, how are you going to spend the rest? Everyone’s best advice is, get involved. Sports, service, religious, creative, international, professional, Greek—WVU has more than 450 student organizations of all kinds.

Largest is always the sports fan club Mountaineer Maniacs. “That attracts a lot of students—thousands, would be fair to say,” says Division of Student Life spokesman Jason Broadwater. The Maniacs organize student ticketing for home games, and they’re the largest cheering section at home football, basketball, and soccer games. They also set up watch parties as well as buses to some away games.

Professional clubs like the Society of Professional Journalists or the American Institute of Chemical Engineers are popular, Broadwater says. Cultural organizations for international students and for U.S. students who identify with specific cultural groups are good places to meet others with similar backgrounds. A long list of religious organizations offer fellowship to students of various faiths.

Among the dozens of service groups is MountaineerTHON, which raises money for WVU Medicine Children’s. “Their signature event is a dance-a-thon where they’re dancing for eight hours, and all the money they raise goes to pediatric cancer,” Broadwater says. A newer club is the Food Recovery Network, which aggregates recovered food from WVU dining halls and local farms and restaurants and distributes to local charities.

Check out the list of student organizations online or stop by the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership on the second floor of the Mountainlair to find out what’s happening. If there’s no club doing what you want to do, start one. “Students can complete a petition form online,” says Kim Harrison, assistant director of Student Engagement and Leadership.

“We ask them to have eight members, to encourage sustainability—we want to see them flourish and grow and be passed on from year to year. They need an on-campus advisor, a faculty or staff member who will mentor them through the growing process. And they’ll need to submit a constitution, some guiding principles for their organization.”

Don’t wait until junior or senior year to get involved, Broadwater advises.

“It’s fun, but there really is also that resume building and networking—a career development aspect. It’s important for students to think about tht from day one. It shows employers a lot about their character, leadership, and self-direction.” A September 5 student organization fair in the Mountainlair will be a good place to get started on that. studentorgs.wvu.edu.

WVUp

All Night

Weekend nights with nothing to do? That’s not a thing anymore. With WVUp All Night, there’s always something to do.

Up All Night turns the Mountainlair into a participatory three-ring circus. Something interactive is always happening in the food court—a game show, maybe, or a band playing.

“We work with the big entertainment companies to get giant laser tag in there sometimes,” says Sonja Wilson, senior programming administrator for the Division of Student Life. “It fits in the food court like a glove.” The Vandalia Lounge hosts a craft. “Students can walk in and make something and take it home with them. Build-ABear is really popular, and tie-dyeing is another activity students love.” There are tutoring and free bowling and billiards as well as movies and, sometimes, stand-up comedy. Not to mention plenty of free food.

Every weekend has a theme that’s carried through all of the activities. “We’re going to have a ’90s nostalgia weekend—we’ll have an Easy-Bake Oven Bake-Off, a ’90s game night, and have of one of those parachutes like you used in kindergarten,” Wilson says. “For Harry Potter weekend we’ll show one of the movies, the Quidditch Club will be on the plaza, we’ll have a Harry Potter dog costume contest, a butter beer station, and wand-making.”

WVUp All Night takes place from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. every Friday and Saturday night during the fall and spring semesters. Mountainlair.wvu.edu, @wvupallnight on Facebook and Twitter

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West Virginia University has played a key role in the history and development of West Virginia, almost from the moment of the state’s formation. It’s hard to imagine a more exciting time to be at WVU than as we celebrate its 150th anniversary. The university’s future is bright—but to know where we’re going, you have to understand where we’ve been.

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS …

WVU CELEBRATING THE PAST, POISED FOR THE FUTURE

written by becky lofstead | photos courtesy of west virginia university and west virginia & regional history center (see more at wvhistoryonview.org)

1860

1867 Legislature of fledgling state of West Virginia establishes the Agricultural College of West Virginia—renamed West Virginia University in 1868.

On February 7, 1867, West Virginia Governor Arthur I. Boreman signed the bill that created the Agricultural College of West Virginia, which became West Virginia University a year later.

Just a few students—all men—attended when the Reverend Alexander Martin, a Methodist minister, became the school’s first president. Classes were originally held in two locations: the Monongalia Academy and Woodburn Seminary. Martin Hall, located beside Woodburn Seminary, was named in 1889 in honor of WVU’s first president.

In 1870, just three years after the university opened its doors, Marmaduke Dent became the university’s first graduate. He went on to become the WVU Alumni Association’s inaugural president when that group formed in 1873.

Campus continued to grow, and in 1876 construction of the original section of New Hall, now Woodburn Hall, was completed.

By 1889, nine years after first being proposed, the Board of Regents voted to admit women to all but the “Preparatory Department,” and the first 10 women arrived to study alongside 198 men. Two years later, in 1891, Harriet Lyon graduated first in her class, becoming the first woman to earn a WVU degree.

Sports landed on the scene in 1891 with the formation of the first football team—not a memorable day, as the Mountaineers were crushed by Washington and Jefferson 72–0.

Fast forward to 1897 and 1902, when WVU’s two divisional campuses opened: WVU Tech in Montgomery and Potomac State College of WVU in Keyser.

A proud academic tradition began in 1904 when Charles Frederick Tucker Brooke, a WVU graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, was awarded a Rhodes

1889 Nine years after first being proposed, the Board of Regents votes to admit women to all but the “Preparatory Department,” and the first 10 women arrive to study with 198 men.

1876 WVU completes construction of the original section of New Hall (now Woodburn Hall) at a cost of $41,000.

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

1901 WVU’s first marching band forms as an all-male ROTC band of eight members.

1904 WVU graduate Charles Frederick Tucker Brooke becomes one of the first class of Rhodes Scholars.

It’s an iconic yell that may be heard at any time, anywhere around the world:

“Let’s Go . .”

“Mountaineers!” followed by a resounding

The university community has so much to be proud of in its 150th year. Here are just a few of the inspirations our WVU family is celebrating.

Grammy-winning country music artist and West Virginia native Brad Paisley is a walking billboard for his home-state university.

Basketball Hall of Famer and WVU AllAmerican Jerry West’s image is the brand of the NBA. The “Flying WV,” one of the most recognizable and distinctive university logos in the country, was inspired by West Virginia’s mountains.

John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which he sang in 1980 to christen new Mountaineer Field, is this land grant university’s unofficial anthem.

Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford. Twenty-four others have followed in his footsteps over the years.

The heart and soul of the university, the Extension Service, was established in 1912 and remains the driving force behind WVU’s service mission.

During the following few decades, the university experienced unprecedented growth in academic programs, facilities, and students. By 1948, enrollment was 8,000, and the campus expanded to Evansdale—the eventual site of the university’s new medical center complex, engineering and agricultural sciences buildings, additional student housing, and more.

It was 1945 when the first-known black woman, Victorine Louistall, earned a WVU graduate degree, and 1954 when Jack Hodge, the firstknown black undergraduate, received his diploma. Also in 1954, the WVU Foundation, the university’s private fundraising arm, was incorporated.

The ’70s were marked by anti-war demonstrations over the Vietnam War and the Kent State tragedy. Dress codes and curfews for female students were abolished, women’s intercollegiate athletic teams came to fruition, and students began to get the ride of their lives on the then-sleek and modern electric-powered Personal Rapid Transit system.

1914 Enrollment exceeds 1,000.

1918 WVU suspends operations during the influenza pandemic.

And what can we say about game time?

Whether it’s rolling out the carpet at the Coliseum or experiencing the Pride of West Virginia playing “Simple Gifts” at Milan Puskar Stadium, the goosebumps are popping.

1925 Old Mountaineer Field completed.

1934 Lawson Hill becomes the first official Mountaineer mascot.

1940

1911 Taft delivers his “World Wide Speech” from the porch of Purinton House on November 1 at the inauguration of WVU President Thomas E. Hodges.

West Virginia native Katherine Johnson, who studied mathematics at WVU in the 1930s, was the inspiration for the blockbuster book and film Hidden Figures, about three black “rocket girls.”

1929 Stansbury Hall opens as the WVU Fieldhouse.

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… TO TODAY’S TRANSFORMATION …

Today, in one of America’s “Best Small Cities,” WVU boasts 14 schools and colleges and five campuses across the state, including WVU Tech’s new location in Beckley.

New academic programs like biometrics, forensic identification, hospitality and tourism, and literacy education—coupled with modern facilities such as the Launch Lab and a new agricultural sciences facility—create boundless opportunities for WVU’s 31,000-plus students.

WVU’s status as a premier Research I University is a testament to the outstanding faculty who are detecting and studying gravitational waves, addressing the health issues affecting West Virginians, and studying and improving the shale gas extraction and production of renewable energy, among other innovations.

One project many are familiar with is the recent headlinemaking work of researchers in the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions who discovered the Volkswagen emissions scandal. The revelation spurred new research into vehicle emissions that will advance automotive technologies and reduce the impact on the environment.

The work of the WVU Extension Service continues to be lifechanging. It is making a difference for the 1.8 million citizens of this state—whether it’s rolling up its sleeves during the devastating floods that ravaged the state in June 2016 or offering programs like Energy Express and 4-H for West Virginia’s youth.

Tackling the health care needs of the state—opioid addiction, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, to name a few—is another high priority. New schools and facilities like the School for Public Health, Ruby Memorial Hospital’s new tower, and advances at the WVU Cancer, Neurosciences, and Heart and Vascular institutes are aiding those heroic efforts.

Thanks to the passion and commitment of the WVU family, the WVU Foundation achieved a historic milestone in its private fundraising efforts last fall, surpassing the $1 billion “State of Minds” campaign goal.

WVU opened a new Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Inclusive Center this past year as well, sending a clear and positive message about the importance of inclusivity and a diverse and welcoming campus.

And public–private partnerships like one in Sunnyside that blends modern housing with retail options are transforming once run-down neighborhoods near campus.

As members of the Big 12, WVU belongs to one of the premier athletic conferences in the country. Last August, three

1964 WVU’s first computer installed.

1967 Enrollment is 13,455 as WVU celebrates its centennial.

1970 Coliseum opens.

1940

1945 Victorine Louistall is the first-known black woman to earn a WVU graduate degree. In 1966, she returns to WVU to teach library science, becoming the first-known black faculty member.

WVU students earned Olympic medals at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro—including Ginny Thrasher, who won the very first medal awarded at the games: a gold in the women’s 10 meter air rifle. She is a member of WVU’s national championship rifle team and WVU holds 19 national titles. Also at the Olympics, Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence, members of WVU’s Big 12 regular-season championship women’s soccer team, won bronze medals with the Canadian team.

1948 Don Knotts graduates.

1962 WVU’s Dr. Herbert Warden performs the state’s first open heart surgery; first M.D. degrees awarded.

1968 Mountainlair opens.

1979 PRT completed.

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

Celebrating 150 AUGUST 10–16 WVU welcomes students to campus for the start of the 2017–18 academic year with events full of birthday excitement.

AUGUST 28–September 1 WVU Reed College of Media 150th events planned throughout the week SEPTEMBER 11 President Gordon Gee will deliver a State of the University address touching on the yearlong 150th anniversary celebration.

SEPTEMBER 11–18 College of Business and Economics 150th events planned throughout the week SEPTEMBER 18–22 Look for activities and events that showcase “150 Ways Students Appreciate WVU.” SEPTEMBER 22–24 Fall Family Weekend OCTOBER 9–13 School of Nursing 150th events planned throughout the week

… AND AN EVEN BRIGHTER FUTURE WVU has a storied history rich with groundbreaking discoveries, academic achievements, athletic pride, and a love for the gold and blue that beats strong around the world. That is one constant that has held true throughout its 150 years—through wars, economic fluctuations, and incredible technological advancements: WVU has been a polar star guiding West Virginians toward a brighter tomorrow. And while 2017 is a time to reflect on the university’s proud heritage, it is also an opportunity to envision and prepare for the next 150 years.

WVU has always held its mission as a land grant institution close to its heart. It is the driving force for everything that is pursued under the three pillars of education, health care, and prosperity.

So as the university moves forward, President Gordon Gee makes it clear: “We must fix our gaze on our own polar star—our mission to advance education, health care, and prosperity for all by providing access and opportunity; by advancing new, life-changing research; and by leading transformation in West Virginia and around the world.”

With its mission in clear focus, WVU is poised for its next 150 years.

OCTOBER 14 Homecoming OCTOBER 16–20 College of Education and Human Services 150th events planned throughout the week OCTOBER 20–29 Mountaineer Week OCTOBER 23–27 College of Creative Arts 150th events planned throughout the week

Look for the latest events and updates at birthday.wvu.edu

2001 Student Recreation Center opens.

1988 Ruby Memorial Hospital opens.

2012 WVU joins Big 12 conference.

2015 WVU Art Museum opens.

2017 150th birthday, February 7

2020 2016 LGBTQ+ Center opens.

1980 New Mountaineer Field opens.

1990 Natalie Tennant is first female mascot.

2008 Mountaineers upset Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl.

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Bucket List Some things you just can’t do anywhere but here. Don’t leave all of these key Mountaineer experiences for your last semester.

We put out a call on social media asking students what surprised them most about going to school at WVU and what hard-won advice they’d pass on to incoming students.

Go to FallFest, the free concert with popular performers that takes place on campus right after everyone gets back to campus. It’s a memorable way to start the school year.

Meet the Mountaineer Mascot. In 2017–18, Greenbrier County native Troy Clemons wears the buckskins for a second year.

A game at Mountaineer Field isn’t just about football.

It’s also about pride—The Pride of West Virginia, that is. See our big, brassy band march live at least once.

Put your arms around your fellow Mountaineers and sing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” after a winning football game at Mountaineer Field.

Go iceless Ice skating behind the Mountainlair.

Catch a show at the Creative Arts Center.

Performances go on year-round and cross all genres of music and theater.

Witness the annual holiday lighting of Woodburn Hall in early December.

“They somehow figured out how to build a campus that was uphill both ways.” AppalAshley @thatgirlafox

“The beauty of the falls, especially October.”

John C. Amrine @Amrine6

YOUR ROUTINE WILL GIVE YOU YOUR DAILY CARDIO WORKOUT

“The school pride and state pride was mind-blowing.”

Tracy Rondinello @tracyrondinello THIS PLACE WILL GET UNDER YOUR SKIN

MORGANTOWN CAN BE STUNNING

“How to study! It took an almost 4.0 HS me to a 2.4 first semester to realize I really didn’t know how to study!” Kat @parkerkat12 TURNS OUT, COLLEGE REALLY IS DIFFERENT FROM HIGH SCHOOL

Attend a Festival of Ideas lecture.

Canoe, kayak, or paddleboard on the Mon River or Cheat Lake.

Students from more than 100 countries attend WVU. Check out one of the many campus international events—like the International Street Festival that will take place on High Street on September 30 this year.

Take in the view from Coopers Rock and hike out to Rock City.

Go sled riding down Law School Hill.

Bike the 50 miles of the Caperton, Mon River, and Deckers Creek rail-trails.

Give back to Morgantown and West Virginia by doing one of the many service projects the university offers.

Get a selfie with President E. Gordon Gee.

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

STUDENTS SAY ONE OVERRIDING THING: MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME HERE

“Get involved with student organizations and research early on! It’s a great way to make friends and build your resume.”

Brenna Leasor @HumanBrennapede “Go talk to your professors. Get involved, take that class you’re super interested in, go out with friends / acquaintances.

4 years fly by.”

Lindsay @lindsayhypes

How to Find the Best Study Spot Is it early in the semester, or late?

Getting late :{

So early :)

Panicked?

Hungry?

No Yes

The lounge at E. Moore Hall or Brooks Hall

No, I’m good.

5th floor Evansdale Crossing

Need a break from campus?

That would be me.

Downtown coffee spots

No more fooling around!

What I REALLY need is inspiration for a 10-page paper.

What I really need is a nap.

Hungry?

Another thing to deal with.

Eliza’s at the Downtown Library.

Stay home.

Stop distracting me!

Milano & Robinson reading rooms at the downtown Library.

Find a bench in Woodburn Circle or grab an outdoor table beside Engineering.

WITH THANKS TO BLAKE HUMPHREY AND KATIE GRIFFITH

De-Stress PAM KASEY

THE BEST WAYS TO

Be Classy Build some stress relief into your schedule with classes like ceramics, billiards, or tae kwon do.

Go Zen Walk through the Nath Sculpture Garden at the Art Museum of WVU. Sweat it out Swim, run, or climb the wall at the Student Rec Center. Or drop in on a class—get your endorphins the way you like best with anything from CXWORX to Power Yoga to spin class.

Let it go Relax with a free massage during Fun Before Finals (studentevents.wvu.edu).

Get your face licked Hang out with a Hearts of Gold service dog. Ask around—they’ll be hosted in several places across campus through the school year.

Hug a tree Check out the specimen plantings and take a walk on the three-plus miles of trails through old growth forest at the Core

Arboretum, right across Monongahela Boulevard from the Creative Arts Center (arboretum.wvu. edu).

Escape campus Get off campus with friends at a downtown café.

When all else fails For more intense destressing, check out the wellness resources at WELLWVU (well.wvu. edu) and the counseling and other services at the Carruth Center (carruth. wvu.edu).

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WVU sprawls across two campuses—three, if you count Health Sciences separate from Evansdale. A flurry of new construction over the past few years has filled the greens of Evansdale in with modern facilities like the Student Health and Education Building and the Art Museum of WVU. We've mapped some landmarks to help you get oriented.

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PRT Route Rail Trail 48

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

KEY

PRT: Did You Know?

One-of-a -Kind

PEOPLE MOVER

TOTAL RIDERS

85,000,000 and counting AVERAGE RIDERSHIP ON A SCHOOL DAY

18,000

FUEL Electricity CONSTRUCTION Dodge Truck chassis, rubber tires TOP SPEED 30 mph WVU’s Personal Rapid Transit system gives riders the best of both worlds: the direct-to-destination convenience of a car with the efficiency of mass transit.

Cost and time overruns during construction in the 1970s kept the demonstration project from becoming the Next Big Thing. But for shuttling people between campuses and downtown above the fray—especially on game day—it has earned a special place in the hearts of WVU and Morgantown.

The PRT is about to enter Phase III of a $100 million modernization. Ride this fleet while you can—the third phase will replace all 71 cars in 2019-2021, so they’ll be museum pieces by the time this fall’s incoming freshmen graduate.

ON MEANS

NO

Heading from the downtown campus to the PRT? Check the light on top of the pole across University Avenue from the Mountainlair first. If the light is on, the PRT is temporarily down.

Car-free and Carefree

Morgantown’s hills reward walkers and cyclists with spectacular views—not to mention invigorating workouts. But these days, there are more ways than ever to dodge the drudgery of driving. Try a few: Strap your helmet on and claim your piece of the road—new sharrows on some streets remind drivers to share. And the Caperton and Deckers Creek rail-trails connect distant parts of town traffic-free. Bike racks can be found all across campus and downtown.

Routes are rated for cycling at bikemorgantown.com.

You can get just about anywhere around town on a Mountain Line bus—and it’s free with a WVU ID. Use the Google Transit Trip Planner at busride.org to find the best way from point A to point B. Then download the Mountain Line Bus Finder app so you can see where your bus is in real time. Go multimodal! All buses are equipped with bike racks. Mountain Line also offers accessible and assistive services; call 304.296.3869 to schedule.

Taxi service in Morgantown is better than ever. Hail Motown Taxi via the Motown Taxi app, or call 304.291.8294 or visit motowntaxis.com. Yellow Cab is at 304.292.7441. Or go independent with Uber—again, download the app. If you didn’t plan ahead for those couple of drinks, Saferide No DUI will get you and your car home in one piece. Download the app, or call 304.777.9996 evenings after 9 p.m.

LENGTH OF DEDICATED GUIDEWAY 8.7 Miles FASTEST TIME END TO END 11.5 minutes ECO-FRIENDLY Estimated to emit less than 15 percent as much carbon dioxide as the buses that would move the same number of people MOST PEOPLE EVER STUFFED INTO A CAR DURING THE MOUNTAINEER WEEK PRT CRAM

97, in 2000

WVU’s Accessibility Services runs a shuttle between many locations on the campuses. Call 304.293.7278 to schedule.

Need a car just for occasional short trips? Zipcars rent for as little as $8 an hour and they’re parked outside Bennett Tower on the Evansdale Campus and Stalnaker and Honors halls downtown.

Register at zipcar.com.

For destinations beyond town, conventional limousine and car rental service are available. There are also several bus and airline options.

The Mountain Line’s Grey Line travels between Clarksburg, Fairmont, several points in Morgantown, Waynesburg, PA, and Pittsburgh’s airport and bus station—check busride.org.

At Mountaineer Station just below the Medical Center PRT, you can catch the Baron’s Bus I-Ride 79 service to Charleston and points between (reserve at baronsbus.com), Greyhound to many destinations (greyhound.com), or the Megabus to Pittsburgh or Washington, D.C. (megabus.com).

Catch a flight with Southern Airways Express from the Morgantown Municipal Airport to Pittsburgh International or D.C.’s Dulles International Airport.

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WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEER FOOTBALL

2017 Home Games

SEPT. 9 East Carolina Pirates SEPT. 16 Delaware State Hornets OCT. 14 Texas Tech Red Raiders OCT. 28 Oklahoma State Cowboys NOV. 4 Iowa State Cyclones NOV. 18 Texas Longhorns

MOUNTAINS OF FUN FOR MOUNTAINEER WEEK #70 WVU was turning 80 when Mountaineer school spirit activities first energized students before a big game. It’s grown into a week-plus of much anticipated events like the PRT Cram and Beard-Growing Finals. Here are a few events new this year, October 20–29.

OCT. 21 PUMPKIN REGATTA Yes, it’s just what you’re thinking: Growers vs. Rowers in giant pumpkins on the river.

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

OCT. 21-22 CIVIL WAR Encampment Students from the WVU Blue and Gray Club act out a Union Army Company as they camp out next to the Mountainlair.

OCT. 23 70-FOOT-LONG PEPPERONI ROLL What better way to celebrate 70 years of Mountaineer Week than with 70 feet of West Virginia’s beloved (unofficial) state food?

OCT. 27 DAY OF THE DEPLOYED Honoring the brave men and women who have been deployed from the West Virginia University campus to serve our country.

OCT. 22 PEPPERONI ROLL CONTEST Bringing back an old tradition that gets local eateries together to make the best pepperoni rolls. Show up with an empty stomach.

OCT. 26 PEARL S. BUCK DAY The West Virginia native, activist for women and minorities, and America’s first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was born 125 years ago.

OCT. 27 NATIONAL PUMPKIN DAY Enjoy pumpkin treats all over campus, from lattes to pies—plus, express your Halloween self at a pumpkin-carving station.

Carolina Pirates. Work was completed on the east side in 2016, and now fans who sit on the west side will enjoy the same upgrades: a more spacious concourse, better traffic flow, bigger concession stands with hightop tables and flat screen televisions, more restrooms, and phone chargers. “It should really help alleviate some of the space crunch and lines and things like that that fans have had to deal with in the past,” says Senior Associate Athletic Director Matt Wells. “This will really improve the experience for fans.”

A new high-definition video board is also going in on the north end of the stadium, above the Touchdown Terrace suite. “Now every fan in the stadium will be able to view the video board and replays,” Wells says.

Clear bag policy

Stadium Reboot WVU’s beloved 60,000-seat Milan Puskar Stadium has undergone a $55 million modernization over the past two years, scheduled to be done in time for the first home game of the season, September 9 against the East

WVU is joining most Big 12 and Power Five conference schools this season in adopting the NFL’s clear bag policy for all ticketed events. Fans are limited to one clear bag—a one-gallon freezer bag or similar-sized bag—and one 4.5" x 6.5" clutch for privacy. Cameras and binoculars may be taken into the stadium, though not their cases. Keys, wallets, makeup and other small items may be carried in pockets or in a clutch or clear bag.

The policy speeds up entry at the gate and improves security. See wvusports.com/clearbag for more details.

and out. The Green Lot, on Van Voorhis Road in front of Mountaineer Station, offers single-game parking for a fee, as do the Gold, Burgundy, and Purple lots. The Coliseum lot offers free parking and is close enough to walk to the game, but you can also catch a shuttle bus to the stadium round-trip for $4.50. Medical Center PRT for all these lots except the Coliseum—Engineering is the nearest PRT station for that.

PAVEMENT Party!

There’s nothing like a good tailgate for getting into the game day spirit. Neighborly, rowdy, sober, nerdy—these days, there’s a parking lot atmosphere to suit any taste.

This will get you started.

Blue Lot Sprawling across the large lot north of Milan Puskar Stadium and in front of WVU’s Ruby Memorial Hospital, the Blue Lot is Tailgate Central, with food and drink sales, music, cornhole, and general game day mayhem. Medical Center is the nearest PRT station.

Other lots Tailgating at other WVU lots centers more on parkers and their friends and less on food concessions. Visiting fans looking for season permit parking can call the Mountaineer Athletic Club at 304.293.2294. For tailgating atmosphere, the Light Blue Lot, beside the Blue Lot in a smaller space northeast of the stadium, is more familyoriented. The Brown Lot, behind the College of Law and high above the stadium, gives panoramic views of the action below and less traffic in

Student LOT Held in the University Park courtyard, this alcohol-free tailgate features free food, music, guest appearances, and giveaways.

The festivities start three hours before kickoff and end 30 minutes before kickoff. A student ID gets you and one guest in.

Sober tailgate WVU Collegiate Recovery will host a sober tailgate before every home game. Serenity House, 369 Oakland Street, recovery.wvu.edu, @recovery.wvu.edu on Facebook Organization tailgates Lots of campus organizations host tailgates one or more times through the season. Check individual organizations’ websites or Facebook pages for schedules and locations.

Off-campus tailgates Pregame fun can happen anywhere. If friends or family are visiting, their hotel may host a tailgate—the Holiday Inn on Pineview Drive, for example, offers guests a catered tailgate with shuttle service to and from the stadium.

WVU lots open at 7 a.m. Pets must be leashed and tended to.

Recycling bags are provided in some lots—recycle paper, cardboard, aluminum, steel, plastics #1–7, and glass. Discard food waste, styrofoam, plastic bags, and and napkins in trash receptacles.

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School is starting, but summer’s not over yet. A smoothie is a delicious way to beat the heat while upping your daily serving of fruits and vegetables. You’re never far from a great smoothie in Morgantown—here are some of our favorites.

I Love Juice Bar (pictured: Very Strawberry: Strawberry, banana, and apple juice) A national chain located on the top floor at Evansdale Crossing, the I Love Juice Bar whirls up mixtures of fruits and vegetables that can include anything from almond butter to hemp seeds to Himalayan pink salt. Enjoy your smoothie outside at a rooftop table. 16 and 24 oz., $5.75–$11.75 62 Morrill Way, 304.212.7707 ilovejuicebar.com

Smoothie King (pictured: Dragon Fruit fitness smoothie: mango, coconut water, passionfruit juice blend, papaya juice blend, Stevia-based sweetener, and multivitamin) This international chain offers an extensive menu of “fitness,” “wellness,” “slim,” and “take a break” smoothies made from fresh and frozen fruits and fruit purees, all customizable with a long list of add-ins. 20, 32, and 40 oz., $5.29–$8.59.

475 Oakland Street 304.212.5561 smoothieking.com

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Terra Cafe (pictured: Green Machine: OJ, banana, avocado, spinach, apple, mint, and honey) The smoothie menu at this café alongside the Caperton rail-trail in Star City bursts with fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy ingredients; chia, protein, and espresso available as add-ins. The covered deck has a relaxed, trailside vibe.

16 and 20 oz., $4.25–$5.25.

425 Industrial Avenue 304.554.2233, terracafewv.com Facebook: @terracafewv

TK’s Fruit, Produce, and Bubble Tea (pictured: Nectar of the Gods: Mango, banana, coconut milk, maple syrup) The menu on the wall at this downtown produce shop is surrounded by hand-written specialty smoothies the owners have added over time. Smoothies are made from fresh fruits and a big list of add-ins.

Suggest your favorite combo—maybe it’ll show up on the wall. 16 and 22 oz., $4.65–$5.65.

300 High Street 304.413.4729, “TK’s Produce” on Facebook

CARLA WITT FORD

Blue Moose (pictured: Blueberry-peach smoothie with apple juice and soymilk) This sunny downtown café serves up smoothies of your choice of two frozen fruits in a base of yogurt or soymilk, sweetened with apple or pineapple juice. 16 oz., $4.50.

248 Walnut Street 304.292.8999 Facebook: @blue.moose.73

Good Eats in

Evansdale Not all that long ago, lunchtime on the Evansdale campus meant driving off-campus for food.

All that changed in 2016 with the opening of the marketplace at Evansdale Crossing at the Engineering PRT stop. Today, students at engineering, agricultural sciences, the Creative Arts Center, and other Evansdale locations have two food courts right on campus—a 1st floor marketplace and a 5th floor rooftop bar—and the options are fresh and healthy.

The Mountie Bounty on your Mountaineer card will get you what you need all over campus, from the PRT and vending machines to copies and laundry—but it’s also good at CVS, Panera, Sheetz, and other shops across town. Here are a few of our favorites.

Apollo Chiropractic 235 High Street

Burgerz and Dogz 2157 University Avenue

Campus Canteen 514 North High Street

Chaang Thai 361 High Street

Cold Stone Creamery 356 High Street

The Cupcakerie 194 Willey Street Hugh-Baby’s BBQ and Burger Shop Try HughBaby’s for hand-formed burgers, slow-smoked BBQ using Martin’s BBQ recipes, fresh-cut fries, and milkshakes that are the real deal.

Two Birds Chicken Rotisserie and fried are the two birds on offer at this chicken shack. Fresh-made sides include cole slaw and mac & cheese.

Little Donkey A Southern-Mex taqueria: tacos, burritos, and other favorites made with tortillas from fresh-ground corn, slow-roasted meats, and signature salsas.

PAM KASEY; ELIZABETH FORD

Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe The first two locations in town proved the popularity of fresh Mediterranean here. Taziki’s serves up gyros and sandwiches of grilled chicken and sliced turkey with sides that include a Greek salad and fresh-cut fruit.

Panini Pete’s / Octane Coffee Offerings at this rooftop café include homemade beignets, fresh-cut fries, and a muffaletta the critics rave about.

I Love Juice Bar One hundred percent whole fruits and no added sweeteners in these juices and smoothies.

Friendly Nails 475 Oakland Street Suite 102

The Greeks 331 Beechurst Avenue

The Grind 168 Willey Street

Lefty’s Place 236 Walnut Street

Lotsa Stone Fired Pizza 419 High Street

Morgan’s High St. Diner 250 High Street

Papa Allen’s Pizza 2163 University Avenue

Sandwich University 461 High Street

Uber Everywhere Search “mountie bounty” at it.wvu.edu for a complete list.

WORLD FLAVORS Missing that special snack from home?

Chances are you can find it at one of Morgantown’s international grocers.

Asia Royal Grocery This tidy space stocks hard-to-find fixings and includes fresh produce and frozen prepared foods.

Chelsea Square, 1137 Van Voorhis Road, 304.322.2741, @asiaroyalgrocery9 on Facebook.

Garcia’s Grill at the Cue Great tacos and Latin dance classes have made Garcia’s the heart of a community, but you can get your menudo spice mix and chile ristras here, too. 226 High Street, 304.241.1871, “Garcia’s Grill” on Facebook.

Kassar’s Food and Gifts Aisle after aisle of hard-to-find ingredients including halal foods, as well as a sizable menu of Middle Eastern meals. Chelsea Square, 1137 Van Voorhis Road, 304.599.7252 Mid-Atlantic Market Convenience store outside, Mamma Mia! within.

Specialty pastas, sauces, antipasti, and cured meats direct from Pittsburgh’s Strip District, and bread baked onsite daily. 7000 Mid-Atlantic Drive, 304.777.4686, midatlanticmarket.com Miss Shen’s Asian Grocery Another northside option new in 2016! Check out the photos online of homemade dumplings with pork, mushrooms, and Chinese cabbages—enough said. 503 Burroughs Street, Suite 102, 304.212.5787, @miss. shen.asiangrocery on Facebook.

Von Son Asian Market Fresh produce, varied meats and frozen prepared foods, select pastries, and hundreds upon hundreds of sauces, specialty ingredients, snacks, and housewares.

1389 University Avenue, 304.292.9230, @vonsonmarket on Facebook MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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ON THE CHEAP

LIVE MUSIC VENUES

Carless for the weekend? Cash-strapped, too?

WVUp All Night has you covered late, but there’s plenty to do in Morgantown that’s free or cheap during the rest of the day, too.

FREE

BUFF UP YOUR MORGANTOWN CRED The Morgantown History Museum’s collection of photographs and artifacts is open Mondays through Saturdays. Donation requested. 175 Kirk Street, 304.319.1800, morgantownhistorymuseum.org SHOW OFF YOUR HOCKEY STOP Starting in September at the Morgantown Municipal Ice Arena, you can skate for just $5 plus $3 skate rental. 1001 Mississippi Street, 304.292.6865, boparc.org RIDE THE RAIL-TRAILS Morgantown is the lucky hub of 50 miles of rail-trail along Deckers Creek and the Monongahela River. Map at montrails.org NO BICYCLE? With a Mountaineer Card, you can rent a bike—and everything from water sports gear to snow gear—for less than $13 for the weekend, including a helmet. Reserve in person at the Student Rec Center.

2001 Rec Center Drive, 304.293.2203, adventurerecreation.wvu.edu/gear-rentals

CHEAP 54

LIVE MUSIC, NO COVER Black Bear Burritos is one of the best deals in town. Its affordable meals burst with fresh ingredients, and many nights there’s live music. 132 Pleasant Street, 304.296.8696; 3119 University Avenue, 304.777.4867; blackbearburritos.com

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

Wondering what to do with your parents when they come for the weekend? There’s plenty to keep a family in any mood busy.

Coopers Rock, Mountain State Brewing Company for pizza.

Hillary Kinney via Facebook

HANG OUT BY A WATERFALL An recent outpouring of volunteer support reclaimed a near-campus oasis for recreational use. The Falling Run Greenspace has miles of trails and rocky cascades. fallingrungreenspace.wvu.edu STUDY THE STARS Located atop White Hall, the WVU Planetarium offers free shows at 8 and 9 p.m. every other Friday night. Reserve your seat online. No reservation needed for after-show access to the observatory and its new 14" Celestron telescope. 135 Willey Street, planetarium.wvu.edu

QUALITY TIME

Well, my parents’ favorite thing is to ask me to fix their phones / technology.

Sarah Rodeheaver via Facebook

123 Pleasant Street 123pleasantstreet.com

Black Bear Burritos 132 Pleasant St. 3119 University Avenue blackbearburritos.com

Crab Shack Caribba 420 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive crabshackcaribba.com

Gene’s Beer Garden 461 Wilson Avenue genesbeergarden.com

Mainstage Morgantown 444 Chestnut Street mainstagewv.tunestub.com

Martin’s BBQ Joint 368 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive @martinsbbqwv on Facebook

Metropolitan Theatre 371 High Street morgantownmet.com

Schmitt’s Saloon 245 Cheat Road schmittssaloon.com

WVU Creative Arts Center One Fine Arts Drive events.wvu.edu

Active

Hike at Coopers Rock or rent bikes at Wamsley Cycles (wamsleycycles.com) and ride the rail-trails.

Later, meet up with friends at Black Bear Burritos (blackbearburritos.com) or Crab Shack Caribba (crabshackcaribba.com) for dinner—there’s a good chance there’ll be live music. Up early? Get a classic diner breakfast at Morgan’s High Street Diner (dinerwv.com). Or head a little later to the deck at Tropics (tropicswv.com) for brunch Hawaiian-style.

Spirited

Cheer our teams on at a WVU or WV Black Bears game (wvusports.com, westvirginiablackbears.com).

Sample Morgantown’s eclectic barbecue scene with dinner at Atomic Grill (atomicgrillmotown.com) or takeout from Woodburn Shanks (morgantownbbq. com). Sunday brunch at Iron Horse Tavern (ironhorsetvrn.com)—go early to avoid the line.

Refined

Visit the traveling exhibits and permanent collection at the new Art Museum of West Virginia University (artmuseum.wvu.edu). Enjoy fine dining at Sargasso (sargassomorgantown.com) or Stefano’s (stefanoswv. com). Catch a show at the Creative Arts Center (events.wvu.edu). Try Table 9 (dinetable9.com), with its wide windows and riverside deck, for Sunday brunch.

Shopping

Shop for home décor at University Town Centre, or browse the boutiques at Suncrest Towne Centre.

Get a taste of Morgantown’s international flavor at one of the authentic Middle Eastern restaurants on High Street for dinner: Beity (beitywv.com), Jasmine Grill (jasminegrillwv.com), or Salam (salamrestaurantwv. net). You can’t go wrong with brunch at Terra Cafe (terracafewv.com).

Still not sure? Check out BOM—that’s Best of Morgantown—at morgantownmag.com for other ideas.

ELIZABETH FORD

Weekends

HACK THE COMMUTE

Life is a little harder for students who live off campus—and that’s 85 percent of all WVU students, including some freshmen.

Take advantage of these university resources to make it easier.

Home Base

Lounges on the downtown and health sciences campuses offer conveniences that students living on campus have at home. On the downtown campus, a lounge on the first floor of Purinton Hall holds a refrigerator and microwave, lockers, university wi-fi, TV, and local and national newspapers. A lounge in Mountaineer Station at the base of the Medical Center PRT station has indoor bicycle racks, showers and lockers, university wi-fi, and TV.

Free Parking

For students who drive to campus, parking can be a major hassle and expense. The university encourages students to park for free at the Coliseum lot and use the PRT to move between campuses. For those who need a different solution, a list of university and private lots and garages may be found at commuter.wvu. edu/parking-and-traffic.

PAM KASEY

A Lit tle Love

The office of Commuter Student Programs holds frequent events. Open houses, pizza parties, and ice cream socials help commuters stay connected with campus. Check the schedule at commuter.wvu.edu/commuter-event.

SECURE ON CAMPUS WVU is among the 40 safest college campuses in the nation, according to a June 2017 analysis by the National Council for Home Safety and Security. The university administration and WVU Police work hard to keep it that way, and students can do their part to stay safe, too.

Students who have registered cell phone numbers with the university are automatically enrolled in WVU Alert.

Update your phone number if you change it, and register a parent, too.

Download the LiveSafe app and connect with West Virginia University.

It enables direct and discreet two-way communication with WVU Police using text, picture, video, and audio. It also lets you virtually walk friends and family home with SafeWalk.

Put the acronym ICE— In Case of Emergency—in your cell phone contacts, followed by the name and number of a family member who knows your medical conditions. If you’re unable to respond, medical personnel will know to contact that person.

Walk in groups on well-lit streets and become familiar with the locations of the blue emergency phones on your routes.

More tips at police.wvu.edu/ campus-safety

OUT and ABOUT All October, WVU celebrates LGBTQ History Month with films, workshops, and discussions, marking National Coming Out Day and culminating in a Halloween costume party and a screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It’s just the most visible of the initiatives organized by the LGBTQ+ Center the university established in 2016. The center conducts Safe Zone workshops for any member of the WVU community who would like to be part of the visibility and support for LGBTQ issues. It sponsors events throughout the year, including a Lavender Graduation. lgbtq.wvu.edu

MORGANTOWNMAG.COM

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OUT & ABOUT IN THE MOUNTAIN CITY

1

JULY • 15 HIGH STREET

MedExpress Kids Day The 30th annual MedExpress Kids Day drew hundreds of Morgantown families to High Street. Kids tried out lacrosse and drumming, sampled treats, played in a cooling spray from the Morgantown Fire Department, and learned about more than 60 local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

MedExpress partnered with Main Street Morgantown for the day of fun.

2 3

5 6 4

7

1 City Councilman Ryan Wallace and daughter Faith. 2 Miss Copeland, Ms. Lewis, Miss Z, Baeoh, Mrs. Hastings, and Andy Nowak of Casey’s ATA Black Belt Academy. 3 Daniel, David, Ed, Eric, and Madde Hansen. 4 The Morgantown Utility Board’s MaryBeth Sinn, Ken Hacker, and Chris Dale. 5 Lisa Howell of Paint Me Pretty+. 6 Osiris Shriners Warren Elliott and Nelson Blake, and Honeysuckle the skunk. 7 Jenna and Jada Gale representing Silver Pennies. 8 Suzanne Kepple and Elizabeth Young of Friends of Deckers Creek. 9 MedExpress tent: Danin Greusel, Haley Casto, and Kylene Hinerman

8

PAM KASEY

9

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

Your local guide to life, art, culture, & more AUG/SEPT 2017

August AUGUST 12 Morgantown Farmers Market Market Place pavilion, Spruce Street, Sat. 8:30 a.m.–noon, morgantownfarmersmarket.org A wide selection of local produce, fresh breads, meats, cheeses, artisan crafts, and more, Saturday mornings all summer.

5th Annual All-American Family Festival Edith Barill Riverfront Park, Star City, Sat. 11 a.m.–4 p.m., “All American Family Festival” on Facebook Duck race, petting zoo, games, balloon animals, pony rides, water slide, and more. Proceeds support community charities. Free admission AUGUST 13 The Black Jacket Symphony Presents Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon Metropolitan Theatre, 371 High Street, Sun. 8 p.m., morgantownmet.com Experience a complete re-creation of the album, with extensive light show and video production. $30 in advance, $35 at the door

COURTESY OF WEST VIRGINIA TATTOO EXPO

Insect Walk West Virginia Botanic Garden 1061 Tyrone Road, Sat., 10:30 a.m., wvbg.org Join biologist Sue Olcott in search of winged wonders. Learn to identify butterflies and watch for other jewels of the sky on the reservoir trail.

All ages. Free; register in advance online

AUGUST 18–20 5th annual West Virginia Tattoo Expo Whether you’ve been thinking about getting inked or just like to look, this gathering of tattoo artists from across the U.S. is the place for you. Art displays, live collaborations, and a Miss Tattoo West Virginia Contest. $15 day, $40 weekend Morgantown Event Center, Three Waterfront Place, Fri.–Sun., 304.626.5541, wvtattooexpo.com

AUGUST 18

WV Black Bears vs. State College Monongalia County Ballpark, 2040 Gyorko Drive, Granville, Wed., Thurs., Fri., 7:05 p.m.

304.293.7910, westvirginiablackbears.com Our own Black Bears take on the Spikes in a three-game series. $8.50–$12.50

4th Annual Rush Run 5K Run/Walk and miniRush Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheatre at the Wharf, Fri., 4 p.m., 304.288.4697, rushrun.org Check-in at 4 p.m., miniRush at 5:30 for kids 6 and under, 5K at 7 p.m. Proceeds provide scholarships and other benefits to 4-H campers each year. $30 after August 4, children $10

AUGUST 17

AUGUST 19

Riviera + Worst Kept Secret + Wait For It Mainstage Morgantown, 444 Chestnut Street Thurs., 8 p.m., 304.291.5060 mainstagewv.tunestub.com Kick off the semester with this all-Morgantownbands 18+ show. $5

Cheat Lake Regatta Cheat Lake Marina and Crab Shack Caribba, 69 Mont Chateau Road, Sat., 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., @cheatlakeregatta on Facebook Races for watercraft of all types, a race afterparty, and Light Up Cheat Lake after dusk.

Proceeds to benefit charities and communities in the Cheat Lake area through the Cheat Lake Rotary Community Trust. Register on eventbrite.com. Races $15, after-party $25

AUGUST 16–18

Fruition 123 Pleasant Street, Thurs., 8 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com A Portland, Oregon quintet with a powerful grasp of soul, blues, and British Invasion–era pop. All ages. $10 advance/$12 day-of

Bo Harper Memorial Ride Triple S Harley-Davidson, Sat. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., 304.692.6015 @bikersbrosandbo on Facebook Five stops ending at Classics. Benefits PFC Andrew Martin “Bo” Harper Memorial Fund. $20 per rider / $10 per passenger 15th Anniversary Concert Triple S Harley-Davidson, 7300 Willie G Avenue Sat., 3–6:30 p.m., 304.284.8244 triplesharley-davidson.com Triple S celebrates its anniversary with Big Mike Griffin opening for Ted Nugent. No coolers, chairs, or umbrellas—food and beverage vendors on site. Free Western Ave. String Band Chestnut Ridge Park, 346 Chestnut Ridge Camp Road, Bruceton Mills, Sat., 6–8:30 p.m. chestnutridgepark.com Catch the dynamic leads and three-part harmonies of Western Ave.’s old-time and bluegrass classics and original tunes. Food vendor Bar-B-Qed Beast. $5, 6 and under free.

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Jazz River Festival Caperton Trail and downtown venues, Sat. 1:30 p.m.–1 a.m., wvjazzsociety.com All-day live jazz event spans six rail-trail venues.

Jenny Wilson at McQuain Amphitheater, Dan Baker Quartet at Mountain State Brewing Company, Jared Sims with the Funk Raiders at Morgantown Brewing Company, Veronneau at Oliverio’s Ristorante, Dave Braham B3 Trio at Tin 202, Sharon Clark & The Real Jazz Trio and Reggie Watkins & The Cool Cats at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place. Free; minimum purchases may be required

RON CRALTON

Weary Space Wanderer Chestnut Ridge Park, 346 Chestnut Ridge Camp Road, Bruceton Mills, Sat., 6–8:30 p.m. chestnutridgepark.com Weary Space Wanderer spreads improvisational Appalachian jam over the made-from-scratch material of local singer-songwriter Kevin Hamric. Food vendor Garcia’s Latin Market. $5

AUGUST 25–27 NEARBY Mountain Spirit Pow Wow Food, entertainment, beautiful Native American dress, and more. $5; 5 and under free with paid adult Mason-Dixon Historical Park, 79 Buckeye Road, Core, Fri., 7–9 p.m., Sat.–Sun., 10 a.m.–5 p.m. masondixonhistoricalpark.com

WV Public Theatre brings Broadway to Atria’s Atria’s, 1188 Pineview Drive, Sat., 6–9 p.m.

304.381.9616, wvpublictheatre.org Live performers will sing Broadway tunes; West Virginia–inspired signature Manhattan and feature entree, silent auction. 10% of proceeds help WVPT take music and theatre to students across the state. Reservations encouraged Steel Drum Concert Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater, Sat., time TBA, boparc.org Performance by CB Studios steel drum instruction studio of Morgantown. Free AUGUST 19–21 WV Black Bears vs. Mahoning Valley Monongalia County Ballpark, 2040 Gyorko Drive, Granville, Sat., 7:05 p.m., Sun. 4:05 p.m., Mon., 7:05 p.m., 304.293.7910 westvirginiablackbears.com The Black Bears take on the Scrappers in a three-game series. $8.50–$12.50 Arts Afire Palatine Park, Fairmont, 7–11 p.m., “Arts Afire Palatine Park” on Facebook See your favorite circus fire acts spin, twirl, dance, and fly with fire as their costar. Free NEARBY

AUGUST 24 WVU Women’s Soccer vs. Virginia Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, Monongahela

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MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

Boulevard, Thurs., 7 p.m., wvusports.com The Mountaineers take on the Cavaliers. $5 AUGUST 25 “A Season of Good Taste” Dinner West Virginia Botanic Garden, 1061 Tyrone Road, Fri., 6 p.m., wvbg.org Join chef Marion Ohlinger of Hill & Hollow restaurant for a five-course farm-to-fork meal, fourth of five in the WVBG’s fundraising dinner series. $95 per person; register on website NEARBY Jazz Italiano!

PWA Uptown Event Center, 305 Washington Avenue, Clarksburg, Fri., 6:30 p.m.

304.517.9813, tix@wvjazzsociety.com Get your jazz fix and your Italian fix at the same time with Greg Abate & Il Trio Paesano. Ticket includes three-course Italian buffet, BYOB. $20

AUGUST 26 Fourth Annual Coopers Rock Stump Jump 10K Trail Run Coopers Rock State Forest, Sat., 9 a.m. coopersrock.org/stump-jump Tackle a beautiful and challenging 6.2-mile foot tour and support Coopers Rock Foundation’s facilities upgrades. $30/$35 after August 10 High Street Cruise-in High Street, Sat., 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Get a good look at the classic and custom cars and trucks lining High Street.

Unknown Hinson and more 123 Pleasant Street, Sat., 8 p.m.

304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com He’s hilariously politically incorrect, but Unknown Hinson is not a novelty act, and his music proves it. All ages. $15 advance/$20 day-of AUGUST 27 Meet Your Neighbor Market Place pavilion, 400 Spruce Street Sun., 2–4 p.m., “Coordinating Council on Homelessness” on Facebook Friends, food, music, and activities for all ages.

Persons experiencing homelessness and those recently housed will help host the event. Music

by PopShop, Almost Blue, Flying Colors, and Jason Good Blues Band. Free WVU Women’s Soccer vs. Duquesne Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, Monongahela Boulevard, Sun., 5 p.m., wvusports.com The Mountaineers face the Dukes. $5 Songs of Scotts Run Metropolitan Theatre, 371 High Street, Sun. 6–8 p.m., morgantownmet.com The music, wisdom, and legacy of a multi-ethnic West Virginia coal camp shared through blues, rock and roll, gospel, and folk songs. Free AUGUST 28–30 WV Black Bears vs. State College Monongalia County Ballpark, 2040 Gyorko Drive, Granville, Mon., Tues., Wed., 7:05 p.m.

304.293.7910, westvirginiablackbears.com The Black Bears take on the Spikes in a threegame series. $8.50–$12.50

September SEPTEMBER 2 The West Virginia Hitchers Chestnut Ridge Park, 346 Chestnut Ridge Camp Road, Bruceton Mills, Sat., 6–8:30 p.m. chestnutridgepark.com Powerful songwriting, smooth vocals, steady

and more. Senior king and queen crowned for contributions to the community.

SEPTEMBER 9 WVU Football Mountaineer Field, Sat., noon, wvusports.com Cheer on the WVU Mountaineers as they take on the East Carolina Pirates. Airs on FS2.

NEARBY The Masons Mason-Dixon Historical Park, 79 Buckeye Road Core, Sat., 6 p.m., masondixonhistoricalpark.com A high-energy, toe-tapping show of original songs and popular favorites. $5

KATIE HANLON

Municipal Ice Arena opens 1001 Mississippi Street, Sat., 7–9 p.m.

304.292.6865, boparc.org First public skate of the season. $5/$4 children

SEPTEMBER 1–3 NEARBY 39th annual West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival This three-day street festival draws more than 100,000 visitors to Clarksburg. Events include the coronation of Queen Regina Maria XXXIX on Friday at the Harrison County Courthouse and a grand parade on Saturday, with headline entertainment The Diamonds, Moreno Fruzetti, Sal “The Voice” Valentinetti, and Dennis Tufano, plus plenty of pasta, wine, and frittis. Clarksburg, Fri.–Sun., 304.622.7314, wvihf.com percussion, and rich bass lines—plus food vendor Red Beard BBQ. $5, 6 and under free.

Boulevard, Mon., 6 p.m., wvusports.com The Mountaineers take on the Raiders. $5

WVU Women’s Soccer vs. Penn State Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, Monongahela Boulevard, Sat., 7 p.m., wvusports.com The Mountaineers take on the Nittany Lions. $5

SEPTEMBER 6

SEPTEMBER 3 The Handcrafted Cooperative Market Place pavilion, Spruce Street, Sun., 10 a.m.–5 p.m., thehandcraftedcooperative.com A juried market of the handmade and vintage. $2

Chess Club Morgantown Public LIbrary, 373 Spruce Street Wed., 6–8 p.m., 304.291.7425 morgantown.lib.wv.us Chess Club meets the first Wednesday of every month. All ages and skill levels welcome, boards provided. Free

WV Black Bears vs. Williamsport Monongalia County Ballpark, 2040 Gyorko Drive, Granville, Sun., 4:05 p.m., Mon. 1:05 p.m., Tues., 7:05 p.m., 304.293.7910 westvirginiablackbears.com The Black Bears take on the Crosscutters in a three-game series. $8.50–$12.50 SEPTEMBER 4 WVU Women’s Soccer vs. Wright State Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, Monongahela 62

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

SEPTEMBER 10 WVU Women’s Soccer vs. Richmond Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, Monongahela Boulevard, Sun., 1 p.m., wvusports.com The Mountaineers take on the Spiders. $5 Garden Party Fundraiser: A Late Summer Night’s Dream West Virginia Botanic Garden, 1061 Tyrone Road, Sun., 3:30–7 p.m., wvbg.org Support the garden for another season. Dinner

by Mike Costello of Lost Creek Farm and other local chefs; auction. Register online. $75 “A la Sousa” Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater, Sun. 6–8 p.m., boparc.org The WVU Wind Symphony presents a concert in the style of the John Philip Sousa Band. Free Mountain Stage with Larry Groce WVU Creative Arts Center, 1 Fine Arts Drive Sun., 7 p.m., events.wvu.edu This performance of the Mountain State’s live music radio show features Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, touring in support of their acclaimed new studio album, Souvenir. $24–$39 SEPTEMBER 14

WVU Women’s Soccer vs. Duke University Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, Monongahela Boulevard, Fri., 7 p.m., wvusports.com The Mountaineers face the Blue Devils. $5

Crossroads Jazz Quintet Marriott at Waterfront Place, Two Waterfront Place, Thurs., time TBA, wvjazzsociety.com Vince Lewis, Bob Thompson, Victor Dvoskin, John Jensen, and Mark Cappellini play at the grand opening of the Marriott.

SEPTEMBER 8–10

SEPTEMBER 15

NEARBY 27th annual West Virginia Black Heritage Festival Main Street & Jackson Square, Clarksburg Fri.–Sun., 304.641.9963, wvbhf.com Friday evening youth block party, live entertainment 2–10 p.m. Saturday including Soul Miners, The Dramatics, Shades of Soul,

Always … Patsy Cline Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater, Fri. 6–8 p.m., boparc.org A musical based on the true story of singer Cline’s friendship with a fan from Houston. Free

SEPTEMBER 8 SEPTEMBER 3–5

Rick Springfield & Richard Marx WVU Creative Arts Center, One Fine Arts Drive Sat., 7:30 p.m., events.wvu.edu Both artists will play full acoustic sets. $43–$83; students $23 and up

SEPTEMBER 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23 On Golden Pond M.T. Pockets Theater, 203 Parsons Street Fri., Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., Thurs.–Sat., 8 p.m. 304.284.0049, mtpocketstheatre.com The theater and cinema favorite, directed by Christian Cox. $7–$15 SEPTEMBER 16 WVU Football Mountaineer Field, Sat., noon, wvusports.com Cheer on the WVU Mountaineers as they take on the Delaware State Pirates. Airs on ROOT. COURTESY OF 123 PLEASANT STREET

WORTH THE DRIVE Farm Aid ’17 KeyBank Pavilion, Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, 800.745.3000, farmaid.org/concert This year’s all-day music and food festival in support of family farms features performances

by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, The Avett Brothers, Sheryl Crow, and many more artists. $50–$200

SEPTEMBER 21 Brian Davis Schmitt’s Saloon, 245 Cheat Road, Thurs., 9 p.m., 304.291.9001, schmittssaloon.com Help welcome country-pop singer-songwriter from Bilboa, North Carolina back to the Schmitt’s stage. $10 in advance/$20 day-of SEPTEMBER 21–23 WVU Medicine Morgantown Marathon WVU Coliseum and other locations, Thurs.–Sat. morgantownmarathon.com Thursday kick-off event and Friday wellness expo culminate on Saturday with WVU Medicine Morgantown Marathon, Morgantown Thirteener, and Mountain Mama 8K. $15–$100 SEPTEMBER 22 WVU Jazz Band and World Music Ensemble Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater, Fri., 6–8 p.m., boparc.org High-energy music grounded in swing style. Free Arts Walk Downtown, Fri., 6–9 p.m. downtownmorgantown.com See local artwork at more than 40 downtown businesses, collect bookmarks featuring local artists, enjoy live entertainment.

SEPTEMBER 22–23 NEARBY Families Leading Change 2017 Family Fest and Statewide Summit Fairmont State University, Fairmont, Fri.–Sat., @familiesleadingchangewv on Facebook Be part of this statewide effort led by West Virginia families to strengthen public education. $40, discounted pricing for families and groups

SEPTEMBER 23 Hops on the Mon Morgantown Event Center, Three Waterfront

SEPTEMBER 23 Adam’s Bluegrass Birthday Bonanza featuring Jeff Austin Band Jeff Austin taps sounds and styles

he’s absorbed from theater, jamming, 20 years of performance, and his love of live music as a fan. All ages. $12 advance / $15 day-of 123 Pleasant Street, Sat., 8 p.m., 304.292.0800, 123pleasantstreet.com Place, Sat., 2–7 p.m., hopsonthemon.com Sample more than 150 offerings from 50-plus local, national, and international breweries.

Food vendors, plus help choose the winner of the Great Grilled Cheese Challenge. $45–$60 SEPTEMBER 23–24 West Virginia Wine & Jazz Festival Camp Muffly, 1477 4-H Camp Road, Sat.–Sun. wvwineandjazz.com A Morgantown tradition. Drink wine, shop local foods and crafts, and soak up great jazz in a camp atmosphere. $20 SEPTEMBER 27–OCTOBER 1 NEARBY 76th annual Preston County Buckwheat Festival Kingwood, Wed.–Sun., 304.379.2203 buckwheatfest.com Carnival rides, livestock events, parades, arts and crafts, food vendors, and plenty of buckwheat cakes. Gate admission free; all-day carnival pass $18, $10 on opening day

SEPTEMBER 30 International Street Festival High Street, Sat., 10 a.m.–2 p.m., oiss.wvu.edu Music, belly dancing, and other celebrations of Morgantown’s cultural diversity.

Women Speak WVU Downtown Campus Library, 1549 University Avenue., Sat., 1–3 p.m. womenofappalachia.com

A juried performance of story, poetry, and song from the Women of Appalachia Project. Free NEARBY Cheat River Rockfest Albright, Sat., 3 p.m., cheat.org Local bands. Great food. Camping. $20

SEPTEMBER 30–OCTOBER 8 WORTH THE DRIVE 81st Mountain State Forest Festival Elkins, Sat.–Sun., forestfestival.com This weeklong celebration of the forest includes a lumberjack contest, miniature horse show, coronation of Maid Silvia LXXXI, and much more.

Upcoming OCTOBER 4 Stephen Stills and Judy Collins WVU Creative Arts Center, One Fine Arts Drive Wed., 7:30 p.m., 304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu The two will perform songs from their rich catalogs and debut songs from their upcoming joint album. $59 and up OCTOBER 10 Samantha Fish with Revelator Hill Schmitt’s Saloon, 245 Cheat Road, Tues.

9 p.m., schmittssaloon.com Fish is well-known as a purveyor of blues, but her real love is raw, scrappy rock and roll. $15

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THEN & NOW

Arnold Hall and Apartments gave female students a safe, if constraining, residential environment.

Seneca Hall offers the freedom of apartment-style living with the resident assistants and other supports of a residence hall environment.

Movin’ on Up When WVU’s Arnold Hall dormitory was built in 1957 and the adjacent apartments were added in 1960, furnishings included the bare necessities. The residence hall was female-only and had a dress code and a curfew.

Arnold Hall and Apartments closed its doors for good at the end of the spring 2017 semester, having served 35,000 students over its 60 years. As a partial replacement for the rooms, the university took on the upper seven floors of the south tower at University Place on University Avenue and named it Seneca Hall. Suite-style living quarters arrange two, three, and four bedrooms around a common living space that includes flat64

MORGANTOWN • AUG/SEPT 2017

FOR MORE PHOTOS

of Morgantown’s past, check out wvhistoryonview.org

screen TVs and full kitchens. Residents also have laundry facilities and study lounges on each floor and a grocery and convenience store in the building—a step up from the spartan rooms of the past.

Seneca Hall is single-gender by suite and coed by floor. Oh, and—no dress code or curfew.

Then & Now is published in partnership with WVU Libraries’ West Virginia & Regional History Center. wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu written by pam kasey