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4 Kanawha-Putnam Pulse Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Our lives have been more thoroughly disrupted than any time I can re-member personally — or have studied since World War II.
Yes, absolutely, the ter-ror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 were awful, but the disruption to the daily lives of most Americans only lasted a few days. The people of New York City struggled to deal with it much longer, of course.
For most of us, planes resumed flying, business continued, bars and restaurants continued functioning, and there was never a run on toilet pa-per.
The last few weeks, I’ve been encouraging friends on social media, and in real life, to share their art. To help organize this, I created the hashtag #shar-eyourart.
Most of what I write isn’t high art. I mean, no one has ever confused my books, or this column, with “literature.” I write to entertain and amuse. In-form, too. But I’m pretty confident there will never be a Nobel Prize for Liter-ature in my future.
For what it’s worth, I’m fine with that.
You see, I believe hu-mans crave art. Maybe not the abstract stuff you see on a museum wall, but we need beauty and laughter and intrigue where the hero wins. Be-cause life often isn’t like that.
Call it escapism, if you want.
Artists, musicians, writ-ers – creative people – can struggle at times like this, though. They can wonder if what they are doing is “important.” They question whether they should be doing something more “se-rious.” (I personally strug-gled with this after 9/11
and a couple times since.)I’m here to say art of
all types is important and it’s time to share your art with the world. Do some-thing that brings a smile, or a laugh, or sparks a memory for someone else of a happier time.
Unsure if the world is ready for your art? Frank-ly, none of us is ever sure of that. But I think you owe it to the world to let us decide.
I’ve lowered the price on a couple of my books to $0.99, including one for kids, and another of my books is free. I’ve also got a bunch of stuff on my website that’s free to read.
I’m not saying every creative in the world should lose money – like we don’t already. But put it out there if you can, just to brighten someone else’s day.
The general feeling of tension in the world isn’t healthy for anyone. Espe-cially now, because it’s a lot of unknown.
Do what you can to re-lieve it.
Eric Douglas, of Pinch, is the author of “Return to Cayman,” “Heart of the Maya,” “Cayman Cow-boys,” “River Town” and other novels. He is also a columnist for Scuba Diving Magazine and a former Charleston Newspapers Metro staff writer. For more information, visit www.booksbyeric.com or contact him at [email protected]
The world needs
your art —
#shareyourartGina Wood, a specialist with West Virginia Universi-ty Extension Service’s Fami-ly Nutrition Program, says it’s easy to fill your shelves with food that’s both healthy and shelf-stable during the current COVID-19 virus state of emergency.
“Try to think about the five food groups when stocking your pantry, so you can make well-balanced meals,” Wood said.
“Canned food doesn’t have to be unhealthy,” she added. “Rinsing canned veg-etables removes some of the
sodium. You can also buy lower-sodium varieties of-ten at the same cost. Canned fruit in its own juice or wa-ter is prefer-able to vari-
eties canned in syrup, be-cause it’s a lot lower in sug-ar.
“Whole grains are very shelf-stable and versatile. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, couscous and other
grains can be used as side dishes or main courses like soups, stews and casseroles.
“There are many varieties of shelf-stable milk avail-able, but people don’t often realize fresh milk can be frozen for up to three months. Just pour out a lit-tle first, as it will expand when frozen. Hard cheese can also be grated and fro-zen. Just remember the tex-ture will change somewhat after it’s been thawed.
“If you have space in your freezer, fresh meat and poul-try purchased in bulk and
frozen in smaller amounts can save money in the long run. Frozen fruits and vege-tables are also a great choice because they are usu-ally picked and packed on the same day and retain their nutritional value. They also last much longer than fresh,” Wood said.
For more information, contact West Virginia Ex-panded Food and Nutrition Education Program Program Coordinator Gina Wood at 304-389-4870 or [email protected].
(Source: WVU Today)
WVU nutrition expert offers advice on stocking healthy foods
Wood
The West Virginia Divi-sion of Motor Vehicles an-nounced on March 17 it will start limiting the number of customers permitted in re-gional offices at the same time.
All offices will remain open and operational. How-ever, each location will per-mit no more than 10 to 20 individuals inside its offices at any time, according to a DMV release.
DMV staff will wipe down counters and chairs inter-mittently, according to the release.
This decision comes in accordance with the most recent guidelines and best practices recommended by both the Centers for Disease Control and the West Virgin-ia Department of Health and Human Resources re-garding COVID-19.
The DMV advises that most transactions can be done online or mailed in and do not require a trip to a regional office.
Online services include:• Driver’s license renewal
(if no changes, and every other cycle)
• Duplicate driver’s li-cense request
• Vehicle registration re-newals
• Duplicate vehicle regis-tration decals and cards
• Printing a driving re-cord
• Checking driver’s li-cense status.
A full list of online ser-vices is available at dmv.wv.gov and residents can contact the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles by telephone at 1-800-642-9066.
For more information about COVID-19 prevention and more, call the toll-free hotline, 1-800-877-4304, or visit Coronavirus.wv.gov.
DMV limiting number of customers in offices
As news of COVID19 de-velops and changes, the United Way of Central West Virginia is providing addi-tional assistance to the pub-lic.
In addition to keeping WV 2-1-1 lines open and staffed, the United Way of Central West Virginia is wel-coming media outlets, non-profits or any government agency seeking a central lo-cation to call. The organiza-tion’s parking lot and lobby are available to host press conferences to share perti-nent COVID-19 information which impacts the commu-nity.
Also, WV 2-1-1 is being updated in real time to give callers up-to-date and rele-vant information when they call.
Contact Margaret O’Neal at 304-340-3503 or call the main line at 304-340-3500 to request assistance to share public announcements.
WV 2-1-1 resource navi-gators can help connect in-dividuals and families with food pantries, health care services, tax prep assistance, utility and eviction preven-tion assistance and more. Those seeking help should dial 2-1-1 or visit WV211.org.
Dial 2-1-1 or text your Zip Code to 898-211; help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
WV 211 is a program of the United Ways of West Virginia.
United Way offering
24/7 info hotline
Like many other compa-nies in the United States and around the world, West Vir-ginia American Water has es-tablished coronavirus pre-paredness plans.
According to a news re-lease from the company, West Virginia American Water’s drinking water treatment bar-riers provide protection that includes filtration and disin-fection of its surface water supplies (e.g., those from lakes, reservoirs or rivers) and disinfection of its ground water sources (e.g., under-ground wells). These treat-ments are effective in remov-ing and/or inactivating virus-es and its water meets all current federal and state drinking water requirements.
To minimize the risk of ex-posure to the coronavirus (COVID-19), West Virginia American Water has initiated its business continuity plans to help provide additional stability to its operations that include water/wastewater ser-vices to homes and business-es.
West Virginia American Water continues to monitor situational updates provided by the Center for Disease Control, World Health Orga-nization and Johns Hopkins University as well as other state and federal organiza-tions.
In an effort to keep cus-tomers safe during the coro-navirus pandemic, West Vir-ginia American Water will be placing a moratorium and discontinuing service shutoffs and will continue to evaluate this moratorium as more in-formation becomes available.
Additionally, West Virginia American Water will begin the restoration of service to previously shut-off customers. If water service was turned off prior to March 12, West Virginia American Water will restart service. If your water has been or is scheduled to be shut off due to a request from your wastewater provid-er, that service shut off may still take place while West Virginia American Water works to reach an agreement with your wastewater provid-er to set up a similar morato-rium.
In addition, West Virginia American Water is requesting
that customers utilize its on-line and call center options to address questions and make payments. Rather than visiting the West Virginia American Water facilities, customers should call 1-800-685-8660 or visit myaccount.amwater.com to address their service inquiries.
For the health and safety of its employees and custom-ers, West Virginia American Water will also be suspending all nonessential field appoint-ments and will limit the amount and nature of contact with customers during all emergency field appoint-ments.
More information can be found at www.westvirgin-iaamwater.com.
W.Va. American Water forms
coronavirus preparedness plans
On March 17, all local Social Security offices closed to the public for in-person service.
The decision was made in an effort to protect the pop-ulation it serves — older Americans and people with underlying medical condi-tions — and Social Security employees during the Coro-navirus (COVID-19) pan-demic.
Social Security is, howev-er, still providing critical services via its secure online services at www.socialsecu-rity.gov.
Local offices will also continue to provide services over the phone. Social Secu-rity officials are working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion, state and local govern-ments and other experts to monitor COVID-19 and will inform the public as soon as the agency can resume in-person service.
If you need help from So-cial Security, go to www.so-cialsecurity.gov/onlineser-vices. Individuals can apply for retirement, disability and Medicare benefits online; check the status of an appli-cation or appeal; request a replacement Social Security card (in most areas); print a benefit verification letter and more.
Information to answer most Social Security ques-tions is online, without hav-ing to speak with a Social Security representative in person or by phone. Visit
Frequently Asked Questions at www.socialsecurity.gov/ask.
If you cannot conduct your Social Security busi-ness online, check the on-line field office locator for specific information about how to directly contact your local office. Your local office still will be able to provide critical services to help you apply for benefits, answer your questions and provide other services over the phone.
If you already have an in-office appointment sched-uled, a representative will call you to handle your ap-pointment over the phone instead. If you have a hear-ing scheduled, a representa-tive will call you to discuss alternatives for continuing with your hearing, including offering a telephonic hear-ing. The call may come from a private number and not from a U.S. Government phone. Remember that So-cial Security employees will not threaten you or ask for any form of payment.
If you cannot complete your Social Security busi-ness online, call the national 800 number at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). The number has many auto-mated service options that can be used without waiting to speak with a telephone representative. A list of au-tomated telephone services is available online at www.socialsecurity.gov/agency/contact/phone.html.
Social Security offices restricting services to phone, online, during COVID-19 crisis
STAY IN THE KNOW
Keep up to date on COVID-19.Go online at: coronavirus.wv.govAny questions? Call 24/7, toll-free
CONVID-19 hotline at: 1-800-887-4304
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