(Editor's Notes by Christina Myer - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Ascend West Virginia was meant to seize the opportunities presented by remote work to lure to the Mountain State those who could live where ever they wanted. The state that has lost more population than any other in the nation wanted to market itself as an outdoor playground where quality of life exceeds that where ever remote workers were stuck at the time.

So Ascend offered a total of $20,000 to those who would move to Lewisburg, Shepherdstown or Morgantown. Part of that value was a recreation package that gave newcomers vouchers to explore state parks, ski resorts, white water rafting, climbing … you get the idea.

WUSA in Washington, D.C., decided to find out how the program was working, and talked with at least one couple who had moved to Morgantown and loves it.

“I’m, like, enveloped in nature,” Jennie Smith-Peers told WUSA. “It’s Central Park or Rock Creek Park, but everything is accessible now and possible.”

But more than just glorious outdoor life, West Virginia has offered Smith-Peers and her husband something else. Sure, in a place such as Morgantown, there is a vibrant arts community, theater, exciting college sports … and still a city like Pittsburgh only an hour-and-a-half away.

The clincher, however, was not one of those features.

“My husband and I have dreams of starting businesses that we couldn’t have started in D.C.,” Smith-Peers told WUSA. “We didn’t have the capital in D.C., and didn’t have that kind of support. But here, it’s possible.”

Here, it’s possible. How often do we whose families have been here for generations forget that?

In fact, how often do we stop to wonder whether we whose families have been here for generations are part of the problem, when it comes to West Virginia’s population loss.

A dear friend of mine, who I respect and consider to be compassionate and intelligent, fell victim on social media to sharing one of those odd posts in which the author of a list was encouraging people to share made-up negative things about West Virginia in the hopes of keeping outsiders away.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure he meant no harm and was just trying to be funny. The list includes stuff like: “You should know that wolf spiders, fire ants and bedbugs have infested hotels and motels across the area due to dryer than usual weather. The woods will eat you alive with ticks and chiggers.

“Our rivers are full of drunks in tubes peeing themselves while the banjo players lay waiting in the bushes;

“Head lice now fly and we have vampire bats, and don’t even try and forget about the Moth Man …

“Oh, and no one is vaccinated.”

Delightful, right?

And obviously a joke, even if it does start out with “In regards to all the people wanting to move here from New York and California, as well as many other heavily populated cities across the country, and for those just wanting to come to visit.”

Well it was probably meant to be funny, but it reminded me of many other times I’ve heard friends and relatives “jokingly” express that West Virginia should do what it can to keep away outsiders. It seemed a point of pride that we were isolated and the population was dying or moving away.

The problem, of course, is that too many of our lawmakers have taken those isolationist and backward looking “jokes” outside the realm of comedy and made it policy.

Despite those folks, communities who have decided to make themselves appealing to and WELCOME new residents with fresh ideas are finding it works out well for all parties. We should want that across the state. We need it.

Step one is to remember those ancestors to whose legacy we cling were probably much like the people coming to West Virginia now as part of the Ascend program. And we need to remember WE are here, because generations ago someone else looked around at our hills and hollers and said “Here, it is possible.”

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com