Shepherd University Story Archives - Page 19 of 19 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Historian Explains Why It's Important to Preserve Your Nearby Graveyards

There are many ways to research and learn about our past, but for one historian, studying gravestones and its cemeteries is one of the best ways to find out more about a town’s history.

Dr. Keith Alexander is a professor and historian at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, but his teachings go beyond the classroom. Many of Dr. Alexander’s courses are focused in historic preservation, and part of that curriculum is going out in the field and actually preserving history…starting with a graveyard.

“I think that gravestones are a record and a tangible link to our past that triggers this curiosity among people,” said Alexander.

Dr. Alexander gave a public talk, hosted by the Historic Shepherdstown Commission, about what our gravestones can tell us. He often works with his students preserving three of Shepherdstown’s four main cemeteries. These three cemeteries are the Lutheran Graveyard, the Shepherd Burial Ground, where Thomas Shepherd, the founder of Shepherdstown, is allegedly buried, and Elmwood Cemetery, the largest in the town, which incorporates a Methodist and Presbyterian Cemetery, and a Confederate Soldiers lot.

“We walk by historic buildings all the time, we use them, we inhabit them, we don’t raise that many questions about it,” Alexander noted, “With cemeteries, they’re historical, by definition they’re historical, and they are so tangible, they are these tangible reminders of our own mortality, they are open air museums, they contain incredibly beautiful sculptures, they are parks, nature preserves often times, and they are these accessible, historical repositories.”

Dr. Alexander says as long as you have permission from the owner of the grounds, it’s very easy for anyone in the state to start preserving gravestones and learn more about the history of their area.

“You can start very, very simply, a bucket of water and a sponge or a soft bristled brush, and a notebook,” he explained, “That’s pretty much all you really need to get started. You can do some basic preservation that way, like I said, removing that biological growth, slowing down the process of decay of those stones, and then above all, recording what is there.”

He says the importance of preserving gravestones is to ask more questions.

“Every time I turn to one of these stones…okay I’ve got the data, but I want to know more. Why did people live such short lives? Why was the infant mortality rate so high? Why were there these bumps in mortality in those certain years, 1855 for example? What were the lives of the people like behind the stones? It’s the stories behind the stones, that’s what these stones have to tell us.”

If we don’t work to preserve our past, Dr. Alexander says we’ll lose those resources available to us, and could possibly never find out those answers.

Shepherd Picked to Repeat in Mountain East

College Football doesn’t just happen in Huntington or Morgantown on fall Saturday’s in the state. It’s happening in the Mountain East Conference.

The Shepherd Rams were picked by league coaches to repeat as conference champs for the upcoming season in just the second season of the Mountain East Conference. Shepherd collected 95 points in the preseason poll and was picked to finish first on seven different coaches ballots in the 12-team conference. Concord was picked to finish second and collected three first-place votes and the University of Charleston was third, receiving two first place votes.

Shepherd Head Coach Monte Cater didn’t expect the preseason pick of number one.

“I’m shocked we’re picked to finished first because of the losses that we have, but we like the idea of that challenge and I know our guys have worked very very hard,” Cater said. “We have some great leadership on this football team and we’re excited about what we have to face here in a few weeks as far as that first football game up at West Liberty.”

Despite the losses, Shepherd returns seven starters on offense and five on defense from the team that captured the MEC championship. Shepherd didn’t lose a game in the conference before advancing to the quarterfinals in the NCAA Division II Playoffs. They finished 11-1 on the year.

Shepherd prepares for 2014 football season.

Glenville State was picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll. Four of their five losses last season came by seven points or less on the way to a 6-5 record. Glenville State Head Coach David Hutchison hopes the preseason pick of 4^th is a little low.

“How will be, ranked fourth that might be right or might be wrong, we’re hoping higher than that, obviously our goals are higher than that, but how fast we can come together and become a team and family and all those things is what’s going to dictate that by the end of the season,” Hutchison said.

The conference schedule kicks off September 4^th with Notre Dame traveling to Fairmont to take on Fairmont State.

Q&A With Clawhammer Banjo Player, Chelsea McBee

For many West Virginians, the banjo represents a sense of home. That’s certainly the case for Shepherdstown-based musician, Chelsea McBee. The 29-year-old banjo player is a regular on the West Virginia music scene now, but that wasn’t always her plan.

McBee grew up in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. She graduated from Shepherd University with a degree in Photography, and she was sure she wanted to be a photographer. But during her last year at Shepherd, she discovered a love for the banjo. She even learned a unique playing style called clawhammer.

Q&A

How did your upbringing inspire your musicianship?

“I didn’t actually start playing the banjo until my senior year of college, here at Shepherd, but as soon as I started learning those old time tunes, it really, it’s all so connected, that even having grown up in West Virginia, and not necessarily played the instrument growing up, it just ties everything together, all the geography, and the history, and then the music.”

Did you ever meet people who were surprised to see a female banjo player?

“The most common reaction that I get is people are excited that I’m a woman playing this instrument, and…they can get…where once they see that, they get past, like, oh it’s not just a singer, and isn’t it so cute that she plays banjo, like, oh, I can really sit down and play a tune, and that’s…it’s good. I have a lot of young girls that come up and say they want to play, they want to perform, and I’m just like, yeah, do that, get started, play whatever you want!”

What is the clawhammer style?

“I’d say that the most recognizable style of banjo playing is the three finger picking style that is used in Bluegrass music traditionally, and the clawhammer style is more of a rhythm keeping kind of strum, and the way that you hold your hand, it kind of looks like a claw on a hammer, which is where the name comes from. So your fingers are curled up in a claw, and they hit the four main strings, and then your thumb is used to hit the top string as a drone.”

Why did you pursue the banjo?

“When I first learned a West Virginia old time tune, from a friend, he grew up in Romney, West Virginia, and played old time banjo, and he showed me my first couple tunes, and it is really cool, and I hadn’t heard stuff like that before necessarily, and it just really, really spoke to me. The music that I was listening to at the time, there was a little bit of banjo in there, but I wanted to see what else I could do with it, so really once I got started, then the process of getting to know the instrument is really what kept me intrigued and really what made me pursue playing and what else I could do with it, and that led into songwriting, and here we are today.”

Colin McQuire of the Fredrick News Post described your voice as if “Nora Jones and Dolly Parton could have a daughter and that daughter just happened to grow up in West Virginia,” does this quote effectively represent your style, and are these women musical influences for you?

“I was thrilled when I read that quote, because it’s…their two voices are, and their presence in the music scene are ones that I look up too, certainly, and are inspirational. I mean, they’re both women that have done a lot of stuff for themselves, and…so I was honored that he would use that comparison, and I think it does fit. I’ve had a couple different people…I’ve used that quote on the website and on a couple posters when I’m travelling out of the area to give people some sort of idea, and I’ve had a couple people come in because of that quote, and say, that was really intriguing. We wanted to know what that, and he’s absolutely right! So that was great. I thank him very much for that.”

How do you see yourself evolving in the future, and has your path changed since you started your musical career?

“I think the fact that I see it at all as a musical career now, has changed, and the more and more that I play, and the more that I’m exposed too, industry-wise, the more I want to do. So that feels really good to feel inspired to continue in one direction instead of wanting to experience all the things that I was experiencing before, you know, trying to take photographs, and play music, and you know, everything else that I get excited about. So the fact that I can see that as a pretty clear path of music career, is certainly something that’s changed. And as far as evolution, I hope that it continues to grow and to evolve, and you know, I can tell a big difference in my playing and singing and writing now, you know, has changed so much since I started, for the better. I hope it keeps growing and keeps getting better.”

Chelsea McBee performs around the region – solo, and with her group, the Random Assortment, and she often plays with West Virginia’s Christian Lopez Band. On the first Thursday of every month, Chelsea hosts a First Thursday Artist Series at the Opera House in Shepherdstown.

New Anthology of Appalachian Writers to Be Released

Fans of Appalachian literature will have another reason to celebrate as volume six of Shepherd University’s Anthology of Appalachian Writers is set to be released by the end of April.

According to Shepherd University Professor Sylvia Shurbutt, the anthology’s Senior Managing Editor, the newest volume will feature work from Frank X Walker, this year’s writer in residence. Walker is a poet laureate from Kentucky who coined the term “Affrilachia” with the purpose of embracing the region’s multicultural influences. Walker came up with Affrilachia years ago when he didn’t know how to describe a southern Appalachian writer who was African American.

“It’s a great term and a great phrase and it certainly is very descriptive. Frank deserves a lot of credit I think, through that word showing how diverse Appalachia really is,” Shurbutt said.

In addition to Walker’s work, the annual anthology is also a venue for new writers of poetry, fiction and more. Writers from across the country submit to the publication.

While the anthology is mostly regional to Appalachia, Shurbutt says the pieces within the publication can appeal to a variety of readers.

“All good writing does have a universal quality as well. And certainly writers like Ron Rash, Silas House and Frank X walker, they are appealing across races and regions and they are giving us something that is uniquely appealing,” Shurbutt said

The Anthology of Appalachia Writers comes from the Appalachian Heritage program that was first developed by Shepherd University’s English Department in 1998. Along with the anthology, the program hosts an annual West Virginia Fiction Competition, which is judged by the Appalachian Writer-in-Residence.

Next Year’s Writer-in-Residence will be Homer Hickam who was born in Coalwood, West Virginia, and is the author of novels such as the Rocket Boys trilogy.

Shurbutt said the program is excited to be able to host Hickam as a writer-in-residence.

“Homer Hickam has been for a long time on our short list,” Shurbutt said. “For West Virginia, he is an immensely beloved writer.”

“Though he doesn’t live in West Virginia anymore, he really has captured the essence of West Virginian’s,” she said. “He has been able to get us a portrait of the disappearing coal towns, so he is really valuable in so many ways.”

The Anthology of Appalachian Writers is supported by the West Virginia Center for the Book, which is hosted by the West Virginia Library Commission and Humanities Council.

Chelsea DeMello is a Shepherd University intern and also editor of the student newspaper, The Picket.

Tips to Protect Against Identity Fraud

The security breaches that led to issues with credit cards used at some major retailers has brought attention to the problem of identity theft.

Shepherd University recently held an open workshop for students on how prevent becoming just another statistic.

Students were quizzed on their knowledge at the beginning of the workshop and then again after the workshop to see what they had learned.

During the workshop, BB&T Spokesman Robert Hennen gave several tips to protect against identity theft and fraud, such as:

Don’t walk away from the computer or phone before logging out of the online banking site/app
Review credit card statements often
Go paperless with banking statements
Shred documents with personal information
Always make purchases from a reputable company
Before entering a credit card number, look for an unbroken key or padlock symbol to ensure it is a secure site

In addition, BB&T Spokeswoman Allena Johnson Shingleton also said another way to protect against identity theft is to make up answers to challenge questions, like putting a false mother’s maiden name.
“Never tell the truth; those companies don’t care what you put in the challenge questions, all they care is that you can answer it,” said Shingleton.

For example, Shingleton talked about the effects of having a Facebook account. While a mother’s maiden name might not be that important to us right now, because it is listed on Facebook, in the future it will be.

Students should be asking themselves, “If I’m willing to share this, how can I mitigate that risk?”

“Criminals are looking for pieces that connect,” said Shingleton.

With social media sites listing user information such as favorite movies and books, it makes it much easier for criminals to guess security questions if the right answers are provided.

In addition to these steps to protect against identity theft, spokesman Hennen said to always get a copy of a yearly credit report.

According to Shingleton, the statistics are staggering if precautions aren’t taken to protect against identity fraud. One identity is stolen every three seconds. Moreover, the majority of information is stolen from documents in mailboxes, wallets and the trash.

The average victim can expect to spend at least 21 hours and $600 clearing their good name.

A report released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2010 said West Virginia had nearly 5,000 complaints of combined fraud and identity theft. Three of the biggest fraud types were credit card fraud, phone and utilities fraud and government documents or benefits fraud.

Editor’s note: Chelsea DeMello is an intern from Shepherd University and editor of the student newspaper The Picket.

Shepherdstown on Boil Water Notice

Updated Jan. 31, 2014: As of 8:45 a.m. today the Shepherdstown, W.Va., boil water advisory has been lifted.Shepherdstown has joined the ranks of West…

Updated Jan. 31, 2014: As of 8:45 a.m. today the Shepherdstown, W.Va., boil water advisory has been lifted.

Shepherdstown has joined the ranks of West Virginia communities experiencing water problems this winter.

The town has issued a boil water notice for the next two days due to a water main break that occurred Wednesday.

Water should be boiled for at least two minutes before drinking, according to Bill Myers, Shepherdstown Water Department spokesman. The notice must stay in effect until samples come back ensuring that there is no bacteria in the water.

“It’s just a precautionary measure,” said Frank Welch, public works director.

For students who don’t have the means to boil water, Shepherd is providing assistance.

Tom Segar, Vice President for Student Affairs, said in an email that “Residence Life has placed bottle water in all residence halls affected by the water notice, Gardiner, Turner, Kenamond, Shaw and Thacher Halls.”

According to Welch, the city water will be fine to drink by Saturday.

“It typically takes 24 hours to do a sample, but sometimes the lab likes to rerun it,” he said.

However, students are still able to shower in the dorms during the boil water notice.

So far, the cause for the leak is still unknown although Welch believes it might be because the pipes are old and were installed in the 1930s mixed with the unusually strong cold weather.

“It’s got to be the pipes: We are seeing this happen all over the state. Not just here,” he said.

In Shepherdstown, more than 600 households are affected by the water main break.

Editor’s Note: Chelsea DeMello is a Shepherd University student intern and editor of Shepherd’s newspaper The Picket.