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Columnists

ANDY PITZER: Silent Barter

Take a look at your salt shaker the next time you sit down at the dinner table. Or the canister of Morton’s Salt in your cupboard. Now take a gander...

FRED FIRST: Spaces: Inner, Outer & Other

I exist even still in a “liminal space” (which could be a whole other post—with...

ANDY PITZER: Paraphrasing GPT

When I come to think about it, probably the one thing I’m most proud of...

BOB BROWN: IF YOU LOVE YOUR BRAIN, TAKE CARE 0F IT, PART THREE

This is A Brief Educational Summary of Neuroscience 101, Part THREE, our final section. These...

SERWAN ZANGANA: It’s time for positive change in Roanoke City, vote James Creasy for Sheriff

An enthusiastic and experienced law enforcement officer, a veteran deputy, is eager to bring changes...

LUCKY GARVIN: CAN YOU HEAR ME?

He was out mowing the lawn, her robust eighty-year-old husband. Then, it seemed to her, the mower, still running, wasn’t moving. She looked out...

SCOT BELLAVIA: What Are Alexa’s Pronouns?

I’ve heard it said that we've welcomed robots into our homes without hesitation because they don’t look like us. Had the Roomba and Alexa...

BECKY MAUPIN: Back-to-School Doesn’t Have to Mean Back-to-Sick

It happens every year like clockwork. The backpacks are still new. The lunchboxes aren’t even sticky and stained yet. The grumbling about homework hasn’t started...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: The Epitome Of A Stupid And Naive American

I read a sad article in the Daily Beast entitled “Anti-Woke Dad Who Fled With Family To Russia Sent To War Zone,” written by Josh...

BOB BROWN: WORRY

Worry is rampant today. Worry is the enemy of peace of mind. There is a sense of unease infusing the conversations and expressions of...

FRED FIRST: Elsewhere Is a Place Worth Living

A year ago this week, our residence in Floyd County was full of boxes and crates—a house no longer home. In a week, we...