Matewan Massacre Re-enactment 2024

Attending the Massacre re-enactment has been on my bucket list for a few years.  Since retiring I have managed a World Science Fiction Convention (Dubblin 2019) and the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival (2022).  Up next are the Mother Jones Festival in Cork (2025?) and the Cumberland BC Miners Festival, especially Ginger Goodwin Day (2026?).

 

Turns out it really isn't, thankfully, a re-enactment. It's a play with lots of segments (soliloquies???) in which a character addresses the audience and provides explication of what's going on or background to the character or events. Written, directed and organized by a local woman with an interest in the area's history.  Miss Donna is how she is referred-to.

 

Hugely enjoyable and very well-done (writing and performance), my buddy, a retired union in-house solicitor, and I went to both shows. The second show a bit of a disappointment only because it lost a scene and some other bits as the event before it ran long. 

 

Mebbe 110 in the bleachers for the first show and 200 the second.

 

Sociologically interesting too. The mix of proud Hillbilly culture, fundie Christianity, and, I have to say it, cringy USian patriotism with a dollop of Trumpism all rolled-up in a ball with a very powerful local union culture was very, very interesting to experience.

 

But as Gavin, my travelling buddy has noted, there wasn't a lot, other than two of the soliloquies, if that's what they are, in the play and one display re. a relatively recent West Virginia teachers strike in the Mine Wars Museum, connecting the historic struggles by local unions with what's happening in the present.

There also wasn't a big UMWA presence at the re-enactment.  Mebbe twenty retirees, one of whom stood and shouted "God bless the United Mine Workers of America" when the play ended.

 

The Mine Wars Museum small but lovely and growing. Great to see a union making a commitment like that to its history.  Plus it gets funding from foundations etc. for things like oral history projects and a 'Black Music of the Hollers' project that is currently under way.

 

The town (village really, pop. 394) interesting in a bunch of ways.

 

Altogether I would highly recommend all of it save for the 11 hours drive getting there and the 13 hours back.

 

Here's a few stills and some video samples of the play:

https://www.flickr.com/.../dbla.../albums/72177720317158684/

 

Here's my entire photoset, categorized in albums but not yet really edited:

https://www.flickr.com/.../collections/72157722809936707/

 

Random thoughts and musings:

 

1.    Guns, guns, guns.  58% of the population of the state of West Virginia owns a firearm.  58% of the entire population, including children.  Pay $75 and you get a permit to carry a weapon in public, openly or hidden.

2.  Town of 394 has two police cars and no fire service.

3.  Great ribs at a BBQ place across the street from where stayed.  They have their own smoker.  But can't serve booze as legislation prohibits the sale of alcohol next to a church, which the restaurant is.  

4.    Lots of plastic. Cups, straws etc. that are banned here.  And I can't remember the last time I saw styrofoam cups but they were everywhere.

5.    Little tourism related to the Museum and the re-enactment.  Lots of people in big expensive ATVs racing along the trails in the area.  Not even much for the Hatfield-McCoy feud stuff.  But since coal mining has slowed tourism is the one reason the town still exists, such as  it is (two streets).

6.    Lots of far-right politics of various kinds in evidence.  From signs close to declaring Trump the Messiah to t-shirt and ball cap slogans.

 

7.    Everything starts and ends with a Christian prayer.

 

8.    Our new friend, Lester, wasn't drinking anything but water but sat with us on the porch while we killed a few beers.  The more we drank the drunker he got.  A self-described 'liberal' (in the USian sense), he owns five rifles and four handguns and says he is the only person we me in Matewan who won't be voting for Trump this year.

 

9.    I got a good chunk of the cast of the play to stand behind the Trade Union Football and Alcohol Committee flag that I brought (TUFAC folks collect such photos).  The star and best actor, save for Miss Donna, who played the police chief, refused as he will not stand behind a red star.

 

10.     The play doesn't take place where the actual events did.  That's a two minutes walk away.

 

11.    After several attempts at flagging down a server one stopped to ask if we had been served.  We said no. She said "OK then." And walked off.  LOL

 

12.  The music night at the UMWA Community Hall was great and deserved a much bigger crowd.  Guess all the ATV riders were in the town's one bar or working on their buggies.

 

13.    A nice thing about staying in a small town like this is that you can use your hotel's wifi connection just about everywhere. LOL

14.    The Matewan Massacre was part of the lead-up to the Battle of Blair Mountain.  More HERE.

 

15.    Had a bit of a union nerd geek-fest.  Museum's gift shop really needs to be a LOT bigger.  :-)  I even bought a camo Museum hat and tee.

 

16.    Despite their enthusiasm for Jesus these people are godless. No brown sauce and no pickled onions in both restaurants and shops.

 

17.    Folks astoundingly friendly. Buying stamps came with a great 5 minute chat with the village postmaster.

 

18.    The Matewan Historic House is highly recommended if you need a place to stay whilst in Matewan.  Dave and Helen own it.  He is descended from the Police Chief who sided with the miners and was later assassinated on a courthouse's steps, by the mercenaries hired by the coal mine owners.  With impunity I should add.

 

19.    The only unpleasant moment was when the US border guard listened to where we were going and why and then lowered the barriers on us and closed his door to consult with someone by phone. Bit tense.  Otherwise the long drives there and back a great chance for Gavin and I to catch-up on things.

20.    Love the accent there. Regulars in restaurants updating staff on how their kids are doing etc. Lovely, friendly people, UMWA supporters each and every one, and likely all Trump voters.

 

21.    Radio snips from the journey here. Church guy explaining how Biden has forced the banks to release all transactions to the FBI that have the key words "Holy bible" in them. So send cash. LMAO.  Creative Concrete advert:"The lord has blessed us with beautiful weather so it's time to repave your driveway".   

Advert from a uni that goes on and on about how conservative it is.  Talk show panel which reaches agreement that (a) the feminists are taking over the republican party and (b) vaccinations can result in positive drugs tests causing the loss of employment and of driver's licence.  Advert for the heapest colorectal screening clinic in northern Ohio followed by one from a lawyer who specializes in malpractice lawsuits.  Way more loonie political talk shows than music all the way down there.  On the way back we listened to pods.

 

22.    Server when I asked about the Matewan Massacre Burger: "Darlin', dont matter what side yer people wur on in the Massacre or whether you are a Hatfield or a McCoy, we're all on the side of tourism now." [She laughs]

 

23.    Condom dispenser in wash warns only for disease prevention and not birth control, reminds us all that abstinence before marriage and monogamy afterwards is the only sure way to proven the spread of disease.

 

24.    "Do you follow Jesus this close?" a popular bumper sticker. 

Lots of billboards advising us that 'beyond a reasonable doubt' he lives.

 

 

 

 

Finally! Back to Cuba!

 

 We spent Christmas 2023 at the Melia Cayo Coco.  Our first trip to Cuba since the first lockdown.  Much-needed.

We had stopped going to resorts and were instead spending our time in Cuba at casa particulars (private homes, what we tend to call bed and breakfasts) as we just found it way more interesting and fun to walk around rather than lie around as we did when at work and in need of down time.  But as Geri now occasionally needs a wheelchair we decided to return to resort living whilst on holiday.  Getting around a small town or even many parts of larger cities can be a problem if the wheelchair is needed.  Resorts work a lot better in that regard.

We had been to this resort once before.  At a guess about 15 years ago, perhaps longer.  We chose it for two reasons: proximity to the airport we'd be arriving at (15 minutes) and a close look at reports from current guests on Facebook and to a lesser extent Trip Advisor.

We tend to discount TA posts and reviews a bit as the place is something of a battleground for people with all kinds of often wacky agendas.  And it is harder to pick out the wackjobs.

The Facebook groups were full of positive reviews from people who had a long history on FB and whose other posts seemed reasonable.

This is key I think.  Cuba is going through the kind of terrible time it hasn't seen since the Special Period of the 90's.  The collapse of global tourism really hit their economy hard and that is on top of the US blockade.  So if you really want the pre-2020 experience for the next while this resort and a very few others may be your best bet.

It worked out really well.  

We had thought about other resorts where we know more people on staff that we haven't seen in a while but chatting with them convinced us that we should look elsewhere.  I won't mention those hotels as the plan apparently is to channel resources like food and high-end booze to a selection of resorts and slowly expand that pool as more becomes available.  So by the time you read this those resorts may be just fine.  

In the meantime the resorts that are receiving less by way of such things than they did prior to 2020 are more inexpensive than usual.  But cheap was not what we were looking for so...

There were two days, back-to-back, when the Melia CC didn't have white wine.  Otherwise it was fine, though I guess I should note that neither of us is into high-end scotch etc.  So no feedback from us on that.  We're happy with wine, beer and rum.  And there was lots of all that.

Oh, and one day no french fries.  Truck breakdown or fuel shortage apparently.

We had an accessible room.  It was fine, the roll-in shower nice even if not really needed as stepping over the high tubs they have in the regular rooms might have been a problem for Geri.  And me for that matter.

Friends of ours went there on our recommendation a few weeks later and had a great time.  Same experience as we had only no wine shortage.

Tips?  Take lots of $5 bills, tip less often.  And take a bunch of $20s so that you can swap them for the loonies and toonies the staff will be getting from many guests.  As with banks everywhere the Cuban ones won't exchange coins.  We swapped about $200 worth.  See below too.

We booked Air Transat's upgrade as it got us extra luggage.  So we showed up with four large suitcases.  One with our stuff.  One with menstrual supplies, toothpaste and brushes, soaps and other 'gifts' for staff.  And we, as we always do, had a couple of large suitcases (small available) supplied to us by Not Just Tourists.

Please, please: the medical supplies NJT provides you, along with the bag they come in, are desperately needed.  Not a scary thing, we have been doing it for years and often three times a year.  Never a problem.  They even provide you with a contact for delivering the bags.  

I had an extra bit of fun this year as the taxi driver I went to the hospital with has a car that belonged to his grandfather and which has been in his family since the 1950's.  And I got a photo of (not on Flickr as I don't want to cause him problems at work) and some chit-chat with the world's friendliest speed trap cop.  LOL

I made our drop with the Nursing Director at the hospital in Moron.  Much appreciated, simple and did I mention desperately-needed and much-appreciated?  No?  Desperately-needed and much-appreciated.

More on NJT HERE.  Note this is the Toronto chapter but they have chapters across the country.

Photos of the resort, odds and ends and of the NJT drop can be found HERE.

Fourth Time to Portugal for a Month

 

 It's not really travel that we do when we head to Quelfes for a month.  More like a cottage experience.  We hang out by the pool, or in our favourite local bar in Olhao or mebbe head to Fuzeta (all are at most a 20 minute drive from the villa) for breakfast on the beach...

We did have a couple of days in Lisbon as a stopover but the weather meant we only had one morning and as that morning was part of the Easter weekend everywhere we went was packed with and by British tourists.

See last year's entry for more details about the place.  Photos of the whole trip HERE.

Best bit?  We are booked again for next April.