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Columnists

BECKY MAUPIN: The After Bedtime Search

Picture this: You manage to get everyone fed and the dinner aftermath cleaned up. Then starts the bedtime rodeo that includes 4 meltdowns, 3 sips of water, 2 more...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Israel’s Second Sum Of All Fears

I first heard about a dirty bomb in early September 1993 when an IBM coworker,...

BOB BROWN: What Happened to Happiness?

We can quibble about the origin, even the definition or meaning of “happiness,” but I’m...

FRED FIRST: Homeward Bound

It would happen: the trip back to Floyd. And then it wouldn’t. And then it...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) Needs To Be Censured

Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), who appears to be a self-important crackpot, tried hysterically (without officially...

LUCKY GARVIN: The Rose and the Bower

Even though I stood well away from them in the broad doorway of our cardiac resuscitation room, I could see them clearly. I noticed...

BOB BROWN: A Virtuous Life

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) described virtue as the habit of choosing the mean between two extremes: excess and deficiency. For example, courage is the habit...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Putin Has Turned Trump Into A Chump

Russia fired a massive 367 drones and missiles on thirty Ukrainian cities and villages after sundown on May 24. It was the worst aerial onslaught on...

FRED FIRST: Gaggy Veggies I Have Loathed

I figured I might as well get another use out of the short personal essay I read recently at out little writers’ gathering here....

BOB BROWN: The Human Spirit

The human spirit is that which leaves the body at the moment of death. In this sense, the spirit is life itself. It is beyond...

DAWN CUSTALOW: Virginia Tech Graduation – One for “The Books” and Service

Virginia Tech held its 150th yearly graduation with commencement on the field at Lane Stadium for all 6000 graduates on Friday, May 16. The...