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Columnists

BOB BROWN: The American Flag

All my life, I’ve loved the American flag. I was taught there is something special about our flag, that it is never trampled upon in war or peace, and...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: There Is No Need For A U.S. Ground War In Venezuela

The easiest way to overthrow Nicolás Maduro, the narco-terrorist dictator of Venezuela, is to finance an insurgency....

SCOTT DREYER: Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Americans celebrate Thanksgiving today, and along with Canadians in October, are the only people on...

DAWN CUSTALOW: Pocahontas Reframed and Thanksgiving

I just returned from the 9th annual Pocahontas Reframed film festival 2025 in Richmond, VA,...

SCOTT DREYER: “Forgive Me When I Whine”

This poem, of unclear authorship, reportedly comes from the dark Great Depression days of the...

Recipe of the Week: Watermelon Banana Split

I was cutting a watermelon for a cook-out at my neighbors and it occurred to me very suddenly, that watermelon is such a...

Wretched Bits of Being

In the great outdoors of the Roanoke Valley, have you noticed all those odd yellow, orange, or gray patches on alpine rocks or...

How Do You Keep Going When Things Get Tough? By Carey Kinsolving

"By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's, I mean," wrote Mark Twain. If you're reduced to human resources, there's...

Walter Cronkite . . . Please Come Back

“And that’s the way it is.” When he signed off the nightly news with those words, we all went to bed believing that was...

Routines, Ruts and New Experiences

I have to start this article with a big praise to all of the folks who coordinated the “Diamond Dash” in downtown Roanoke...

Off the Beaten Path in La Dolomiti

“Buon giorno.” We’ve passed many day hikers today –the Italians love their mountains and love hiking among the high peaks- but the woman in...