Category: Excellence and grace
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Ken Whitley: Local Hero
by Harry Minium Hero is a term that is so overused that it seems at times to have lost its meaning. You’re not a hero if you do the right thing. That makes you a good person. You’re only a hero if you do the right thing when it takes courage to do so. By…
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Mother’s Day in Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty It all began in 2020. Our annual Mother’s Day escape. Four years ago Ralph Northam’s reign of Covid despotism was underway and we were desperate to shake off the suffocating restrictions he imposed on a weekly basis. (The governor’s Thursday press conferences were a source of stress and dread for many of…
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Remembering Larry Maddry
by Kerry Dougherty What happens when corporate bean counters drive out all of their experienced workers and replace them with fresh-faced kids right out of school? Bad things. In the case of newspapers, it means hiring reporters who are unfamiliar with the area. It means all of the curmudgeonly grammarians are gone and there’s no…
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How Youngkin Can Avoid Lame Duck Status
by Scott Lingamfelter Elections produce clarity. One thing is noticeably clear after Republicans failed to achieve majorities in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly. For the next two years, the prospects for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s legislative agenda are bleak. That’s the bad news. Here is the good news: it doesn’t have to be…
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Bari Weiss: “You are the Last Line of Defense”
by James C. Sherlock Video courtesy of the Free Press. See that link for a full transcript. I recommend it to everyone. Bari Weiss recently delivered a speech that will be long remembered. She offered eloquence in the service of experience, sorrow and determination. And defined the internal, and existential, threat to America. I will…
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Thunder in the Pulpits
by Michael Giere “But this was not always so. In fact, for much of our history, it has been just the opposite. Godly men and women who were fearless, bold, strong, and savvy have been central to the American experience.” There has never been anything in history like the US Constitution, signed on September 17,…
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Voyeurism Isn’t Good for the Soul (or Politics)
by Shaun Kenney The scandal of the week involving Susanna Gibson is an indictment of our politics. Shame on us all for participating in it. HAMLET Get thee ⟨to⟩ a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it…
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Roanoke’s Remarkable Symphony Under the Stars
by Scott Dreyer As more folks are putting the Covid lockdowns in the rearview mirror, larger gatherings are occurring, as seen by the crowds at the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s (RSO) “Symphony Under the Stars” on Saturday, August 26. The hillside amphitheater in Roanoke’s Elmwood Park was packed by music-lovers as the sun went down, the…
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The Virginia NAACP Has Proven Itself an Obstacle to Improving the Educations of Black Children in Virginia Public Schools
by James C. Sherlock I just read that the NAACP has issued a warning against traveling to Florida. Which must have come as a surprise to the 3.5 million Black citizens of that state. It did not surprise the NAACP board of directors chairman Leon W. Russell, who lives in the Tampa area. His defense:…
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An Utterly Inspiring Woman
By James C. Sherlock Cheri Shores died Saturday, May 13. She was simply one of the most gracious, generous, skilled and inspiring people I have ever met. Cheri and her husband Lance in 2006 opened their first Citrus restaurant in Virginia Beach a couple of blocks from where my late wife and I lived. Jo…