Elaine McMillion Sheldon: The States Project: West Virginia | LENSCRATCH

When Elaine McMillion Sheldon was a young girl in Logan, West Virginia, her neighborhood was ripe with events that she would observe and write about. She loved writing, and wanted to be a journalist – journalism could be an avenue for her to go see the world, ultimately leaving West Virginia. She laughs at the irony – she resides in Charleston, West Virginia, now, with no want for leaving, and has done a lot of her work about and within the state, including Hollow, an interactive documentary about McDowell county, and most recently, Heroin(e), a Netflix original documentary of the opioid crisis in Huntington, West Virginia. Through her work, though, she reaches beyond the state, “The story of McDowell County is universal – anyone can relate to it.”