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Columnists

BOB BROWN: Anger, Forgiveness, and Atonement

Every poll from Gallup to Pew Research Group confirms that anger is engulfing America. We are angrier now than ever before, and what makes it worse is that our...

FRED FIRST: Small Wonder

This is all I’ve got: a few unremarkable images and some brief words about them....

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Stop Bullying Denmark and Greenland

The last time that the U.S. seriously wanted to purchase Greenland from Denmark was in...

FRED FIRST: I Think That I Shall Never See

I signed up for a four-session poetry class through the OSHER Life Long Learning program...

BOB BROWN: “The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulder”

To maintain fairness and minimize bias, this column deliberately attempts to refrain from critical judgment...

FRED FIRST: Lonesome Highway: First Steps

Sunday 6 Apr 2025 2:18 a.m. What I want to write about here over the coming months will be harder than anything else I have...

BOB BROWN: The Spiritual Mind

It is challenging but informative and even encouraging to discuss what some have called the “vague term of spirituality.” William James (1842-1910), anAmerican philosopher...

FRED FIRST: Sapsucker Economics

This longer-than-usual piece was bound for “book three” that Covid extinguished. The working title was going to be “One Place Understood” with a dozen...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Tesla Terrorists Should Do Hard Time In Prison

There are presently only five Tesla dealerships in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The closest one to Roanoke is located in Richmond, which is 189...

DAWN CUSTALOW: Language Learning in an Expat’s World

Ex – “out of”; patria – “country.” Expat – I didn’t even know this expression until I had left my native land of Virginia,...

BOB BROWN: Good Teachers

My Mother and Dad were Good Teachers My mother (1898-1971) had six children. I’m the youngest. She was 14 when she married my father (1892-1985);...