wheeling, west virginia

i'm at the library in wheeling - a town full of colleges & universities and no health food stores - that i'm finding easily that is. i didn't get a chance to shop before i left so i'm scrounging for real food now.

driving into town, several cars honked approval - one young white lad with long, blond locks waved me down to talk about being trapped in west virginia. a couple of other young white males road by hee-hawing - hmmmm. the first huge poster in the library's foyer shows a frightened child & urges patrons to report child abuse. i use the bathroom & on each of the inside doors on the stalls, another smaller poster hangs with a fuzzy picture of a woman, beaten around the face, and urges women to seek help.

the first time a man hit me was in west viriginia - long before such posters hung anywhere in my view. it is such a beautiful state with such huge, nasty scars. wheeling is an old town, hilly & green, with 2 story brick vacant buildings, some never beautiful, snuggled side-by-side on narrow streets with old bridges spanning rivers and gullies - bridges i can't drive on, nor can any truck.

time to get back on the road! later, suzanne