Hard Water

Rain…The word alone forms a complete prayer. Spoken as a plea or demand, the simple invocation has been a common mantra across the Southeast this year. The congregation of thirsty supplicants included, until recently, those of us living in the Rivanna Watershed, which in the past four years has been shy about 40 inches of […]

Inside the criminal mind

By now, the photographs of flak-jacketed police officers mingling in the yellow-cordoned parking lot of a strip-mall has become a familiar image in the daily newspapers. The leftover scenes from recent sniper attacks convey the desperation that comes with trying to comprehend madness. Faced with irrational, wanton brutality, it’s natural for people to seek cause-and-effect […]

Seen and heard in Charlottesville

Goodbye Bypass? Not just yet The Western Bypass may be dead, for now, but the unbuilt road still casts a long shadow over local transportation politics. Last spring, the nearly insolvent Virginia Depart-ment of Transportation cut the $180 million Route 29 Bypass from its six-year plan. Politicians from southern communities like Lynchburg and Danville continue […]

This writer’s life

George Garrett is a storyteller and has been since his age was measured in single digits. It was then that Garrett says he decided he wanted to be a writer, even though he had no clue, at the time, what it meant to be one. Today, after more than 60 years practicing his craft, Garrett […]