Hey World! West Virginia!

Hello, world! Just a girl from a place called West Virginia here wondering how people are unaware of the existence of this place? Fewer things irk many of the native population/residents more than hearing outsiders' ignorance or confusion. So, I'm ranting on behalf of my home state and hopefully helping every other state understand West Virginia.

The state of Virginia borders West Virginia. Like North and South Carolina and North and South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia are two separate entities as of 1863. The western part of Virginia established itself as the thirty-fifth state admitted to the union during the United States' Civil War. For over one hundred and fifty years, an individual state has existed between Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky. Richmond, Virginia Beach, and other places generally associated with Virginia are at least three to four hundred miles from West Virginia. The state is actually one of the first you'll likely come across when scanning from the east to west coast of the United States. I've once heard a saying that West Virginia is the southernmost northern state, the northernmost southern state, the easternmost western state, and the westernmost eastern state. West Virginia is "landlocked," as in not bordered by sea, ocean, or lake, but the state is the heart of the Appalachian Mountain range that runs up to the northeast region. West Virginia is for the "mountain mamas," as John Denver sang in one of our state's official and most beloved songs, "Country Roads." So, it's not a bad place for outdoor recreation, which is a big draw for our state's tourism, by the way.

No, West Virginia is not a big state, neither in size nor population. By square footage, the state is bigger than a handful of "New England states," like Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Though in population, we have more than the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and even Alaska. We have a lot of heart and history, though, with sixteen National Historic Landmarks, including the cities of Grafton, where Mother's Day was started, and Harpers Ferry, a strategical point from the Civil War. Several other West Virginia towns developed with historical reforms, like President Roosevelt's New Deal, or boomed with the industry and military demands of World War One. Back in 2008, the 1970 tragedy of the plane crash that killed Marshall University's Thundering Herd football team got some Hollywood treatment with the film called We Are Marshall. Still more recently, West Virginia strongly influenced the setting of the 2018 video game, Fallout 76. About the same time, West Virginia's schoolteachers and education employees made national news as they staged a strike protesting over pay, healthcare, and overall respect, which inspired other states to follow suit.

Contrary to the stigmatic pop culture portrayals, the people of West Virginia aren't that much different than anywhere else. Many of our ancestors were likely German, English, Italian, and/or Irish. If you see some of us in overalls and straw hats, you are likely seeing the agrarian/agricultural side of us. The state is a mix of farm life with urban, suburban, industrial, and metropolitan life. Some of us do live in the backwoods and hills, but not without running water and electricity! (I know internet and cell service can be another story though...) In my hometown right now, apartment buildings are being built on one end of town, while a small cow pasture sits on the other side! This is a small, but growing town with modern, updated schools and thriving businesses situated about twenty miles outside of the capitol city. That's just one snapshot of the "lifestyle mesh" I'm talking about. In short, West Virginia may seem like "the middle of nowhere" sometimes, but when you are "somewhere," you're not far from decently dressed, educated, and cultured individuals and areas.

In fact, some smart, talented cultural prodigies of West Virginia include: Katherine Johnson, an African-American female mathematician who worked with NASA during their first space flights; country singer Brad Paisley, athletes Jerry West, Randy Moss, and Mary Lou Retton, television personality Steve Harvey, and actor Don Knotts, famous from the old Andy Griffith Show. Not to mention West Virginia's epitome of luxury is the Greenbrier Resort.

At some point in history/geography/social studies classes, West Virginia would have been in the text, on the map, in the lessons somewhere. At some point over the last few years, West Virginia has been on some big or small screen, from the movies to the games, to the news, to the upcoming film Dark Waters. West Virginia almost seems hard to ignore at this rate. West Virginia is a real place, its own state, and with people and life not terribly unlike anywhere else! Wake up, listen up, hello from West Virginia, world!

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States_by_population

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Historic_Landmarks_in_West_Virginia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Waters_(2019_film)