Former West Virginia journalist Garret Mathews got his first newspaper job in Bluefield, West Virginia in 1971, and says he became fascinated with nearby McDowell County. He has recently put some of those feelings—along with many on his own life—into an ebook titled, “McDowell County and Me: How A Rugged Coalfield Region Helped an Asperger’s Guy Become a (Halfway?) Decent Writer.”
Mathews’s college and early adulthood experiences provide a backdrop for his pieces on the county, and allow him a tie between the two—to the extent that he identifies with one of the most-challenged counties in the nation.
Mathews comes across fully likeable, as do the McDowell County people he meets, profiles and remembers.
The story above first appeared in our May/June 2021 issue.
