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Columnists

BOB BROWN: The Recent Sale of the Brooklyn Bridge, Part One

The 2025 election results in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Seattle are troubling to me, a student of the human mind. The election of “democratic socialists,” and the...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Trump’s “Great Gatsby Party” At His Mar-a-Lago Club on October 31 Was In Poor Taste

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is our country’s largest anti-hunger program for men,...

FRED FIRST: Winter is Coming: Make Ready!

Though a few poetic souls and tree-hugging types like me will make soft cooing noises...

BOB BROWN: “I don’t see how I can go on like this”

The round, sad Asian American face of the 26-year-old single Soldier sitting uncomfortably in front...

SCOT BELLAVIA: God in the Library

Talking to strangers about God is a muscle I don’t work very often. But I...

A Little Frustration Never Hurt Anybody

Should I do what I can to make my child happy?  It seems like a simple question and it is one that I...

Almost a Game Show Gazillionaire

Show of hands, how many of you would like to earn ,000 for one day of work?  Those of you who failed to...

A Natural Resource: Our Quiet Audiosphere

The matter comes not uncommonly into conversations: how might we sustain, in our corner of southwest Virginia, those  amenities and virtues that make...

Lucky to Live a Most Blessed Life

It is 9:30 in the morning. I look out the window at the counterpane of snow that fell throughout the night, at the...

“Please Don’t Pick That Flower!”

On my frequent “walk-abouts” with students in my biology and environmental studies courses, I set a couple of important rules for our hikes:...

When Suffering Clouds the Sun

It’s a bright time of year, and the beauty of the greater Roanoke Valley has opened to its full splendor. We are so...