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Columnists

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Is Phase Two Of Trump‘s Peace Plan In The Gaza Strip Doomed To Fail? – Part I

Phase one of Trump‘s twenty-point peace plan in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 9, called for a ceasefire, cessation of military operations, along with a hostage and prisoner...

FRED FIRST: Approaching the Longest Night

Yes, you’re right—if you’ve even noticed—that this space has been neglected for some weeks now,...

A Life Well-Lived: Shirley Padgett Lester (1947-2025)

Shirley Padgett Lester of Vinton went to her heavenly reward October 4. Below is the...

BOB BROWN: How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden “Presidency”

Permit me to think out loud as an old-fashioned person who respects authority, history, and...

JOHNNY ROBINSON: The Gratitude Perch

On the old road up Mill Mountain, part of Roanoke’s fabulous greenway system, there’s a...

Riding the Hangzhou Express

by John Robinson The three gray-suited workers hover like bees over the gracefully-shaped nose of the most beautiful train I have ever seen. OK, so...

A Multi-Layered Tragedy

by Hayden Hollingsworth Everyone is in agreement about the terrible event in Tucson: It was a very public tragedy. How ironic that it should...

Nothing is Impossible

by Mary Jo Shannon One of the most inspiring women I have ever met was Frances Landers, a housewife from El Dorado, Arkansas who...

Saved From Becoming Too Spiritual by Mark Graham

I had the blessing after Christmas of taking a fourth pilgrimage journey to Israel—the Holy Land, the Promised Land. I keep thinking that...

College Boys and K-Nines Create “Atmosphere”

by Jon Kaufman Friends, when last we spoke a congregation of teenaged hooligans were plundering my home, seizing any and all consumables they could...

Rack of Lamb with Warm Apple & Lentil Salad

by Leigh Sackett Now that we are in the 3rd week of January to most  Christmas is a distant memory but I mourn the...