Juneteenth, Father's Day And A Short Story

On this West Virginia Morning, we conclude our week of youth-themed coverage with a father who shares the memory of meeting his daughter just after she was born. Also, we hear another winning student writer – this time from kindergarten. We also have a discussion on how the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected black Americans, and we bring you this week’s Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

It’s Juneteenth; a day that celebrates the abolishment of slavery in the United States. Almost 200 years later, protests surrounding police brutality against black Americans have erupted across the country. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic, which has been hitting black Americans harder than white ones continues. In our new weekly Facebook Live show focused on health in Appalachia, Kara Lofton interviewed Dr. Lauri Andress, a public health researcher and Dr. Rachael Woldoff, a sociologist specializing in crime, race and community about racism as a public health concern. Here’s an excerpt from their discussion.

In honor of Father’s Day, this weekend’s episode of Inside Appalachia features dads. Did you know that a man’s brain is rewired when he holds his newborn baby, just after birth? Scientists have found that after 30 minutes of holding his infant in his arms, a dad’s brain gets flooded with dopamine and oxytocin, which is sometimes referred to as “the love hormone.” Thomas Burger remembers when that happened to him. Here he is telling his daughter about the day she was born and what it was like to be a stay-at-home dad in the 1970s.

We’d like to share a story of one of our first place winners from West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s 2020 Writers Contest. Charles Shelton, III won first place among kindergarten participants. Charles is from Kanawha County and his father says Charles was full of pride and joy sharing his book with us. Here’s “The Funny Things In This Book” written and read by Charles.

Our Mountain Stage Song of the week comes from The Wood Brothers. Their song “Can’t Look Away” is featured on this week’s broadcast of Mountain Stage. Which is a collection of some favorite performers who appeared on Mountain Stage in recent years during FestivALL Charleston.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Our Appalachia Health News project is made possible with support from CAMC and Marshall Health.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Caitlin Tan, Dave Mistich, Jessica Lilly, Kara Lofton, Liz McCormick, Brittany Patterson, Eric Douglas, Corey Knollinger, Emily Allen, and Roxy Todd.

Glynis Board produced and hosted this show.

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