Essays
ESSAY- Neanderthal rights: Payback for our ancestors' genocide of them?
Published on Mar 5th, 2009
0 comments A Neanderthal model graced the cover of last September's National Geographic, which studiously avoided the word genocide to describe the clash between us and them.NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC The ancestral...
ESSAY- Doubling down: Obama raises stakes on Bush's Afghan disaster
Published on Feb 26th, 2009
0 comments "If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer," Yogi Berra once said. President Obama should do the same. The president's recent interview with Canada's CBC television network...
ESSAY- Text and Learn: Somethin's happening here....
Published on Feb 19th, 2009
0 comments Something is quietly happening to us. Very quietly. So quietly that it's probable we don't even recognize it's happening. Will we recognize it this summer when it expands to our kids and grandkids...
ESSAY- The anti-zombies: These marathoners move among us
Published on Feb 12th, 2009
0 comments Like zombies, they arise in the dead of night, while the rest of us are paralyzed in the lowest depths of sleep. Without so much as a smidgen of dawn to relieve the blackness, these creatures rise...
ESSAY- Puff this: What Michael Phelps should have said
Published on Feb 5th, 2009
0 comments Michael PhelpsPHOTO BY JD LASICA Dear America, I take it back. I don't apologize. Because you know what? It's none of your business. I work my butt off 10 months a year. It's that hard work that...
ESSAY- Dour prez: Why Obama is scarier than W.
Published on Jan 29th, 2009
2 comments The president in Austin.PHOTO BY Jack Thielepape Dave Eggers preceded his memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius with a section titled "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of this Book," a...
ESSAY- Assured destruction: Why bail-outs could destroy the Union
Published on Jan 22nd, 2009
0 comments   "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority...
ESSAY- You, a Nazi? Don't be so confident
Published on Jan 15th, 2009
0 comments Don't answer too hastily, but have you ever wondered what you would have done if you grew up in Nazi Germany? Of course, we all hope that we would have had the moral strength to stand against that...
ESSAY- Despite crisis: It's a wonderful life... really
Published on Jan 8th, 2009
1 comments His last dime lay in the palm of his hand– what would he do with it? The year was 1935, and our country had been knocked flat by the Great Depression. My grandfather, Pat Cassidy, had made...
Capra in Charlottesville: It really was a Wonderful Life
Published on Dec 18th, 2008
0 comments   The spoils of peace:  the author poses with posters for two landmark local film events. PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER The recent showing of It's a Wonderful Life at the Paramount Theater...
ESSAY- Burst bubble: Why oil fell and where it's going
Published on Dec 11th, 2008
0 comments Fuel for thought Oil prices have dropped at least 60 percent since July. And they fell without the benefit of a gasoline tax holiday, new anti-speculator regulations, or a windfall profits tax on...
ESSAY- Better bailout: How Congress could have eased the crunch
Published on Dec 4th, 2008
0 comments Frank: "We don't have a choice now of debating whether this is a good or a bad thing."PHOTO BY JEFF MYERS/FLICKR Many observers are comparing today's financial situation– crisis is the...
ESSAY- Sky Big Brother: Does religion make people nicer?
Published on Nov 20th, 2008
0 comments In his new movie Religulous, comedian Bill Maher makes wicked fun of the religiously credulous. But it turns out that the folks who believe in talking snakes and 72 virgins per martyr may be on to...
ESSAY- Virtual feast: Go beyond Thanksgiving dinner... in Rome
Published on Nov 20th, 2008
0 comments Picture this as you gather around your holiday feast: In the olden days, there were people who ate dinner while reclining on a horseshoe arrangement of wide, deep couches arrayed around the dining...
ESSAY- Fall ball: don't rake the leaves or tinker with daddy
Published on Nov 13th, 2008
0 comments Greg Rogers, right, gets engulfed October 30 in leaves on the UVA Grounds, with the Rotunda in the background.PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER Leaves are falling from the trees. This year, instead of burning...
Vinegar Hill: the long almost-goodbye
Published on Nov 6th, 2008
0 comments   tasty vinegarPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO "Vinegar Hill closing?"   I gasped, as I listened to the radio. The Hook had reported that the 32-year-old theater was closing after its participation...
ESSAY- Kingfish effect: Why Obama can't help your economy
Published on Oct 30th, 2008
5 comments Obama in Charlottesville a year agoFILE PHOTO BY TOM DALY Since I can't support a man who so blatantly panders to American self-involvement that he offers a "gas tax holiday" instead of an honest...
ESSAY- Media frenzy: Press whipped lawmakers into broken bail-out
Published on Oct 23rd, 2008
0 comments Brooks: "By rejecting the rescue package on Monday, they have made the psychological climate much worse."PHOTO BY MATTHEW AND PETER SLUTSKY It's mid-October, and the Wall Street bailout that was...
ESSAY- Vigilance front: Doctor, my eyes have seen the Web
Published on Oct 16th, 2008
0 comments My contact lenses are dried out; everything's turning milky. I'm blinking and squinting into the glare of my iMac: just one more blog, one more web site. I need to keep going.  After all, what...
ESSAY- Monster's bail: What Grandma said about global finance
Published on Oct 9th, 2008
2 comments I remember Grandma clearly: "I don't care what anyone else is doing." "If it sounds too good to be true, it is." "What goes around, comes around." Unfortunately, as the burgeoning destruction of our...
ESSAY- White Tornado: Could John McCain have ADHD?
Published on Oct 2nd, 2008
0 comments Cindy and John McCain at a campaign stop in Chesterfield, Missouri.PHOTO BY CHRIS DUNN Impulsive. Easily distracted. Hot tempered. Gets into fights. Despite intellectual potential, does poorly at...
ESSAY- Kafkaesque: What's wrong with federal 'enhancement' cash
Published on Sep 25th, 2008
0 comments For two hours this summer, I lived a Kafka novel. In the Warrenton Visitor's Center along with 35 others, I listened as the Virginia Department of Transportation explained eligibility for federal "...
ESSAY- Biopsy tale: Turning fear into joy
Published on Sep 11th, 2008
10 comments "I'm going to hang up now, so I can scream." Still clutching the receiver, I sank to the kitchen floor and let out a howl. A nurse had just relayed my biopsy results.  Although I hope that you,...
ESSAY- Bummer crop: the food you get for $50 a week
Published on Sep 4th, 2008
0 comments As the cost of food continues to rise dramatically, Americans face serious choices. For the vast majority of us, the question is rapidly becoming, "How much more of my income can I actually afford to...
ESSAY- The move: You can never really leave Hartford
Published on Aug 28th, 2008
0 comments It's that time of year when the streets of Charlottesville are full of U-Hauls and the owners of pickup trucks are suddenly the most popular members of their social circles. Students and new faculty...
ESSAY- Freedom's front: Hey, I volunteered for Afghanistan
Published on Aug 21st, 2008
0 comments Lee Payne with Afghan soldiersPhoto Courtesy Lee Payne It seems that over the last few months the media and our would-be national leaders have taken a much-needed new interest in the issues going on...
ESSAY- Plastic ban: Mayor's short-sighted plan to 'bag it'
Published on Aug 14th, 2008
4 comments Whole Foods Market won't offer plastic shopping bags at their stores after Earth Day this year. It is a savvy move for the upscale natural foods retailer, which estimates that by the end of the year...
ESSAY- Invisible hand: Sometimes it needs a helping hand
Published on Jul 31st, 2008
0 comments Remember how you reacted to your micromanaging boss in a past job? He was forever looking over your shoulder, constantly threatening you. In return, you worked as little as you could get away with....
ESSAY- Dumb drivers: Choosing congestion over inspiration
Published on Jul 24th, 2008
0 comments The plus: With Uncle Sam reporting that American driving actually declined last year for the first time since the 1979 Arab oil embargo, we're spewing less pollution and less greenhouse gas, creating...
ESSAY- Keep or toss? Attitudes, like frocks, need examination
Published on Jul 17th, 2008
0 comments Keep it or toss it?  It's hard to let go of burdensome junk– it doesn't look like junk when it's hanging in your closet or snuggled in your drawer.   A silky white blouse beckons to...