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Columnists

BECKY MAUPIN: Overwhelmed Doesn’t Mean Ungrateful

If you’re on social media for any amount of time, you pretty quickly see that there is mixed content. Some of it is positive and gives you really good...

BOB BROWN: When the Underdog Bites Has Rabies, and a Mean Owner

We have a strong human urge to identify with the “underdog.” There is nothing new...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Is Phase Two Of Trump‘s Peace Plan In The Gaza Strip Doomed To Fail? – Part II

Unfortunately, Trump’s present ceasefire as of October 9 is analogous to the armistice signed between...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Is Phase Two Of Trump‘s Peace Plan In The Gaza Strip Doomed To Fail? – Part I

Phase one of Trump‘s twenty-point peace plan in the Gaza Strip, which began on October...

FRED FIRST: Approaching the Longest Night

Yes, you’re right—if you’ve even noticed—that this space has been neglected for some weeks now,...

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...