Letter: ‘Just Let Me Call Virginia Home’
From the scenic Shenandoah And the Piedmont’s freckled hills To the Tidewater’s windswept shore Where the dogwood blooms, with the coming of Spring The Old Dominion reigns evermore.
Column: Infusing Is Semi Amusing
So here I go again; heavy-duty chemotherapy for the first time in nearly three years. As such, I thought I’d try and write another column while actually sitting in the Barcalounger at The Infusion Center (as I did three years ago: “Chemo-Cocktailing at the Depot” was that column’s title) and see what my pen has to say.
Column: Peculiar Presence
In the last few months, out of the blue, I have received electronic correspondence from each of my three oldest childhood friends (none of whom have remained adulthood friends, though all three remain of interest to me) commenting on my cancer diagnosis; each having stumbled across one of my cancer columns online, presumably after initiating a Google-type search for yours truly.
Letter: Harvest for The Hungry
Every year Coldwell Banker holds a food drive to help the Capital Area food bank.
Editorial: Interrupting Harassment and Bullying
Empowering bystanders to intervene, students to set boundaries.
With a controversial and much discussed new movie, "Bully," coming out this week, local school districts continue to wrestle with the issue of bullying in the schools.
Editorial: ‘Practices That Undermine Trust’
Virginia gets a failing grade on ethics rules.
The State Integrity Investigation is "designed to expose practices that undermine trust in state capitols — and spotlight the states that are doing things right."
Column: “Here, There And Everywhere”
The Beatles sang it on their “Revolver” album back in the mid 60s. My wife and I danced to it in the late 70s when we selected it as “first song as husband and wife” – in 1978. And recently we felt it, three years after my stage IV lung cancer diagnosis, as our reaction/assessment to the many similarly diagnosed individuals who’ve shared their lung cancer stories with us. Who knew?
Column: “Early Results Show Stable Disease”
There’s five words e-mailed from my oncologist that I can live with (Duh!). Certainly better than the previous nine words e-mailed eight weeks ago regarding my then current CT Scan: “Scan results show progression. We’ll talk more on Friday.”
Editorial: So Hard to Imagine?
Poor families face challenges that officials and many of the rest of us have trouble envisioning.
The Commonwealth of Virginia and even Northern Virginia includes many poor families and individuals. But officials seem to have trouble wrapping their brains around some of the difficulties this can cause.
Column: Look What She Saw—Sort Of
Well there’s five seconds that fellow super-market-shopper won’t have back anytime soon. The question, the curiosity is: will she have nightmares and/or live to regret staring at me so intently that I think I may have seen the whites of her eyes – and it wasn’t even remotely dark?
Commentary: Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colorectal cancer affects men and women equally, is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer, and the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. It was estimated that over 141,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2011 and of those cases roughly 50,000 Americans were expected to die. It is important to note that despite these statistics, colorectal cancer is a highly preventable and treatable disease if caught early.
Editorial: Reenacting a Dark History?
Turning back the clock in Richmond.
Who could have anticipated that our elected officials would take African-American History month and Women's History month so seriously that they would literally try to turn back the clock?
Column: Protecting Residents in Tax, Road Debates
Congress finally has acted to ensure payroll tax relief for 170 million individuals and families through the rest of 2012. This additional tax relief is critical for maintaining the momentum of the economic recovery, and Northern Virginians will realize an average savings of $2,000 per household.
Column: A Raw Deal for Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia is getting a raw deal from Governor McDonnell. While we need transportation investment to support this economic engine of the state, at least $1.5 billion in transportation funds are being diverted to wasteful and unnecessary projects in rural areas. Meanwhile, the state refuses to adequately fund Dulles Rail, leaving Northern Virginia taxpayers and toll payers to foot the lion's share of the bill.
Spotlighting Teen Dating Violence
The George Huguely trial in the death of Yeardley Love has captivated the attention not just of our region, but of the nation. Love was 22 and a student at the University of Virginia when she became a victim of teen dating violence. Appropriately, this February marked the annual Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. The continuing story of Love and Huguely’s relationship reminds us that we each have a role to play in ending teen dating abuse and domestic violence in our community; the consequences are too real to be ignored. But, there is hope as our community has already made impressive strides toward a future where our youth better understand how to create healthy relationships.