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Columnists

SCOT BELLAVIA: Am I Proud to Be an American?

How proud are you to be an American? I posted that question on Facebook a few years ago on the Fourth of July. I wasn’t asking how proud or embarrassed...

BOB BROWN: “Portraits of the Human Person”

On the night of June 21, 2025, President Donald Trump said all seven B2 Bombers...

BECKY MAUPIN: The After Bedtime Search

Picture this: You manage to get everyone fed and the dinner aftermath cleaned up. Then...

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...

The Intricate Geometry of Grief

by Lucky Garvin Just after midnight, the old lady heard her husband in distress. She got up to go to his bedroom, fell at...

Popular Photography: The Immortal Light of Our Age

by Fred First It is late October. The seasonal cycle governs our lives, indoors and out, as summer and autumn morph into one more...

Recipe of the Week: Slow-Cooked Brisket in Onion Gravy

by Leigh Sackett I like Halloween because it is simply of the senses. It requires a fun state of mind that is more than a...

The Dog And The Door

by Robert Adcox Most people love adventure, and they love dogs. That's going to come in handy in about a hundred words or so...

Small Cities, Big Ideas

by John Robinson Despite the efforts of many, I have never been one to appreciate poetry like I probably should, but Nikki Giovanni’s got...

From The Older Brother’s Room

“The Roanoke Valley is a great place to raise a family.”  I hear that statement a lot.  As a father to four children...