"Muddling Through" 2020: A Year of Challenge and Adaptation

2020 has required a lot from us all. It’s been a year of challenge and adaptation.

Us & Them host Trey Kay recalls the line in a holiday classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that says, “we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” None of us had any idea how much muddling 2020 would demand. We’ve faced the pandemic and its consequences and a contentious national election that highlight the divisions in our nation. The year presented a series of choices with a clear outcome: sink or swim.

Moving ahead, Trey looks at the adaptations he’s made and which he might adopt long term.

Oh, and spoiler alert: he’s learning to like swimming outside in ice water!

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in on the fourth Thursday of every month at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.

Ed Gabriels
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Trey Kay before swimming in the Hudson River on Christmas Eve 2020. The water temperature was 33.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ed Gabriels
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Trey Kay breaking a sheet of ice before swimming in North Lake in Elizaville, NY.
Trey Kay & David Temple on Christmas Eve 2019 performing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

Program Encourages a W.Va. Hike to Start 2015

Four West Virginia state parks have scheduled New Year’s Day hikes to encourage people to get outdoors.

Participating in 2015 are Kanawha State Forest, Blackwater Falls State Park, Cacapon Resort State Park and Pipestem Resort State Park.

The national First Day Hikes program works to start Americans down on a healthy path in 2015. Last year, more than 27,000 people hiked around 66,000 miles on 885 hikes in state parks across the country.

Massachusetts began offering First Day Hikes in its parks more than 20 years ago, and the National Association of State Park Directors has issued a challenge to other states. Officials say 50 state parks across the country are set to participate.

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