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Columnists

BECKY MAUPIN: A New Season, New Expectations

Motherhood, I'm learning, is a series of seasons. None of them are truly easy; they're all hard in different ways. We make it through one challenging season only to...

BOB BROWN: Aging Poetically, Part II

Jan called today. “Ed died Thursday… he is in a better place.” Ed, a retired...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: The US Media’s Monomaniacal Obsession With Nancy Guthrie’s Kidnapping

I do not mean to downplay the tremendous tragedy of the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie's...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Barack and Michelle Obama Are Neither Apes Nor Monkeys

I read an article from the BBC on February 6 entitled, "Trump says he 'didn't...

BOB BROWN: Aging Poetically, Part I

Too often, the human race is a race against time. Until recently, I was a...

One Man’s Treasure Indeed

China provides the U.S. with lots of inexpensive goods.  In return, the U.S. sells back to China many high-end luxury products. Here's a case...

A Perspective on Teachers

It’s that time again – back to school season.  Nearly every advertisement is telling us about hip new fashions and clever new school...

Groundhogs, Bananas, Bluebirds, Peanuts and Other Miracles

It’s a reasonable question to ask: Why do groundhogs love a tropical fruit, bananas? Why do monarch butterflies set forth on...

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...