They're here! I don't normally expect the Stayman apple to appear until about October 15, but they showed up today in my travels and they are beautiful, big, tart and perfect for my butternut squash soup.
The soup is good without the Stayman, but it becomes memorable when it is the season for an apple whose peak is only a few brief weeks in the fall. The more tart the apple, the better the soup. Now, I gotta go find a good butternut squash.
Mill Mountain Theatre's lively production of the musical version of "Legally Blonde" picks up a slow-ish pace in the second act and becomes a good evening's entertainment on the Trinkle Main Stage.
The movie version launched the career of Reese Witherspoon 20 years ago and this is generally the same story with a few added touches to accommodate the musical emphasis. In fact, the real love story in this version becomes interracial (though without a kiss at the end to seal the deal, it becomes awkward).
Through the first act, much of the dialogue/lyric was difficult to decipher, but it seems to have worked itself out by the second half and created a fun evening of song and dance ... especially dance, which was lively, athletic, and enthusiastic.
Director and choreographer Kristen Brooks Sandler ("Mama Mia" and "A Chorus Line") handles a wealth of theatrical talent deftly. The production calls for a large group of actors, but partly because of Covid, the MMT production does quite well with a dozen, several of them playing multiple parts in the production.
Mill Mountain Theatre's Producing Artistic Director is the producer, a task well-suited for her.
The familiar plot involves a young, bright, seemingly empty-head young UCLA student (majoring in fashion merchandising) who decided she has to follow her boyfriend to Harvard Law and in an unlikely turn of events, she not only follows him but outshines him.
"Legally Blonde" runs through Oct. 17 and you can buy tickets by calling 540-342-5740.
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| That's (from the left) Tom Field, Me and Gene Marrano. |
Yesterday's appearance on Gene Marrano's "Bu$iness Matter$" at Blue Ridge Public TV in Roanoke was more like in-breeding than a family reunion. Here sat Gene, Tom Field and me talking like it was 2010.
Tom helped formulate the business plan for the now-defunct (and legendary, I might add) Blue Ridge Business Journal before leaving it (something I only found out at this interview) and I came in as editor beginning with the second issue. That lasted about 20 years before. In the interim, Tom returned to the BRBJ (where Gene had become a freelance contributor) as general manager.
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| I like these photos by WBRA's Lisa Fenderson. |
Tom and I saw the writing on the wall, resigned (I "retired" because I could) and started Valley Business FRONT. Eventually, the Journal died of its own inefficiency (and not because of a "bad business model," which The Times' publisher claimed.
Anyhow, I left the FRONT a few years ago in order to finish a novel ("CLOG!") and ultimately Gene took over as editor, where he is doing a yeoman's job. Gene has never been afraid of work.
It was good to sit and chat about old times and new developments for 26 minutes and I even got to pose with my old bud Cookie Monster (and I took home a PBS coffee cup). 'Twas a good time for us.
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| My old bud and me. |
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| Megan Schnabel |
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| Neil Harvey |
Got a note while walking a bit ago that Megan Schnabel, Metro Editor at The Roanoke Times, will now work for Cardinal Press, the new, online-only staff-raiding upstart operated by ex-RT employees.
Megan, a solid professional, was a business writer/editor at TRT, who took my post as editor of the Blue Ridge Business Journal when I left to co-found a business magazine (FRONT) a few years ago. She didn't last, moving back inside the Times building, and the BRBJ failed under Times leadership. It had thrived for more than 20 years with its business model, called by the then-publisher of TRT Debbie Meade "a failed business model," which it was not. That publisher is now with Cardinal in a top, founder's position.
I mentioned to the executive news director, Dwayne Yancey, the other day that Cardinal was giving The Times quite a bit of competition and he said that was not true, since it was online-only and didn't accept advertising. I think I'm right in my assessment. Cardinal's raiding and other job opportunities are hurting a Times news product that also today lost Neil Harvey, a solid courts reporter for quite a while, to Radford University.
Right now, The Times is in the emergency room from a news standpoint and Cardinal hasn't even published its first edition (and won't for a bit).
Already, it is leaning heavily on other Lee Enterprises properties ("sisters" to The Times) for news coverage, some of which has to do with the Roanoke/New River Valleys, most of which doesn't. It has replaced Doug Doughty's long-time excellent coverage of the University of Virginia sports with dispatches from the Charlottesville Daily Progress, what was once considered a small, inferior paper to TRT. Not any longer.
News from Richmond and the General Assembly--long a strong point for TRT--is being handled by the Times-Dispatch and Roanoke mentions are all but incidental. Schmidt's coverage, we are promised, will heavily emphasize Roanoke/New River issues and representatives.
Harvey's loss adds to an ever-increasing bailout from a newsroom that went for more than 10 years without giving employees a raise and only recently accepted a union. We'll see how effective that union is shortly.
I'm waiting to hear about the future of people holding the newsroom together at this moment: Columnist Dan Casey (the only reason a lot of people get the paper); high school sports reporter Robert Anderson, who does a yeoman's job on a difficult but vital beat and has big readership; Lawrence Hammack, Jeff Sturgeon, Alicia Petska, Casey Fabris, Alison Graham, Mike Gandolff, Tad Dickens, Mike Allen and Todd Jackson. Two publications at Smith Mountain Lake (magazine and newspaper) and the photo department have two employees each. That's the bulk of what's left and boys and girls, that's not enough--even though these people are superb journalists.
I haven't seen any reference to sports coverage by Cardinal Press or the other publication that recently announced its birth in Roanoke, former reporter Henri Gendreau's Roanoke Rambler, which is publishing now. The Times leans heavily on sports, but when Doughty left under what I understand was a questionable circumstance after more than 40 years with the paper, even that titan got shaky.
This journalistic soap opera isn't over. In fact, it is my guess is that we're nearing the end of the beginning and at the end of the end, one will be standing and I won't predict which. That's waaaaaay above my pay grade.
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| McGill University Photo |
While the nation's Republican governors in fully Republican-run states were screaming "bloody murder!" over President Biden's mask-wearing and vaccination mandate yesterday, the Associated Press went to work building the case for both.
From a recent study of 600,000 cases of Covid-19 April through mid-July, we find out that unvaccinated people are 4.5 times (that's 450 percent) more likely to become infected and 10 times more likely to become hospitalized than their stubborn brothers and sisters. Those unfortunate enough to follow the advice of those governors, Fox News or Tucker Carlson are 11 times more likely to die of Covid complications.
Imagine sitting in a study group of 11 people, knowing that one of you would survive the next few weeks. That's a living room full of people who could be your sons, daughters, cousins, nephews ... Tell those loved ones that 90 percent of the people in the hospital with Covid have not been vaccinated against it.
Even among old people (I'm 75 and am one of them), while vaccination's effects are waning for them, the shots still remain around 80 percent effective and with the upcoming booster shots, from what I've read so far from trusted sources (that would not be Fox), protection will again soar.
For those of you who are more chicken than eagle, let me say that the shots don't hurt. I've had my two and they are a slight pinch, even when the nurse giving them is one of those "shove it in the shoulder and move along" military types. The damn shot doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt!
Please, please, regardless of what the far right tells you about "individual rights" and the left's desire to strip you of them, this is a national health emergency, not a game of one-upmanship. We have lost a substantial number of people thus far and the emergency is still in full force, thanks primarily to the effort to get people to stubbornly refuse what has been proved to be effective treatment and behavior.
Get the shot(s). Wear the mask outside your home. Please, do it for the children, if for nobody else. Their death rates are already soaring.
The CDC director recently said, "We have the scientific tools we need to turn the corner." The implication is strong: If we don't use the scientific tools, we die.
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| Henri Gendreau (left) of The Rambler and Dwayne Yancey of Cardinal Press at Dwayne's retirement gig. |
It strikes me today as Cardinal Press announces its new publication in this region that we've come a hell of a long way from the time 57 years ago when I first sat at a typewriter in the sports department of the Asheville Citizen.
The evolution has gone something like this: lead (hot type), to paper (cold type), to digital-plus, to digital only, to non-profit.
The two new publications announced this week--Cardinal and The Rambler--will be all digital and they will be structured completely differently from the newspaper, which inadvertently inspired them.
Henri Gendreau's Roanoke Rambler is an investigative/literary weekly publication that is up and running. Cardinal Press was announced today as an internet-only alternative to the Roanoke Times, though it will not compete for ads. The publication has business support and is non-profit.
These types of publications are springing up all over the country and they are likely the future of journalism, a welcome evolution. It is considerably less expensive and environmentally sensitive to produce journalism on the internet only.
Print publications spend gazillions of dollars on printing and mailing or hand-delivering and neither of those will be an issue for the online-onlys. The issue will be staffing. Cardinal plans to begin with a full-time staff, small but experienced.
Both new publications say they will depend heavily on freelance writers in a market that is saturated with them (us, actually, since I'm a freelancer). The pay in this area ranges from nothing at all to about $500 for a feature story. Gendreau says his publication will pay $100 for news stories and fiction. Cardinal has not announced its pay schedule.
One of the very real drawbacks to opening a new publication is paying writers. What are they worth? What will they cover? How much expertise do they bring? When and how will writers be paid? They are all questions to be answered, but so far both the new publications are heavy with former Times journalists, which is a good thing.
I want to sincerely welcome both new publications because every locality needs a brisk, competitive press. Roanoke is lagging without competition for its ever-shrinking daily newspaper, but this should pump up the volume a bit for everybody. It will also put some of The Times' journalists, who went for a decade without a pay increase under Warren Buffett's company, in a better position. My guess is that there are a lot of quiet smiles around The Times today.
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| Dwayne Yancey has a new direction for his career. (This is Yancey at an Overnight Sensations production where he was one of the playwrights.) |
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| Luanne Rife |
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| Former Times Publisher Debbie Meade |
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| Yancey, a little dressier. |
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| This is the creek beside the trail going to the falls. This is a watercolor PhotoShop version. |
I've been trying to shake this dang summer cold for a week and today I thought I'd push the envelope a bit, driving up into Botetourt County in order to hike up Roaring Run, one of my favorite spots.
No matter how often I go up this magic place, it never ceases to amaze me with its natural beauty and today's light--following a heavy rain--was especially grand. I've shot photos of just about every foot of Roaring Run, but today, as always, it looked different than it ever has before. And I love that place. Here is my view from today.
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| Keynote address presented at the 2018 conference at Hollins. |
I was sad to see the announcement from Roanoke Regional Writers Conference Director Liz Long that the 2022 conference will not be held.
Liz wrote, "We're postponing RRWC22. We're incredibly fortunate to partner with Hollins [University] every year, but with [its] current Covid rules (incredibly limited attendance, no group
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| Director Liz Long and Founder Me |
She adds that the conference will go under full power in 2023 and she says she will "fully welcome your presenter and topic suggestions when we get closer."
Before Covid, the conference (which I founded in 2008) had never been canceled for a year, but had brief postponements because of snow. Liz is absolutely right in postponing for a second straight year because Covid is unforgiving and a conference under abnormal circumstances would lose its effectiveness, its charm and its value.
I do regret that for the second straight year, the RRWC will not award its Sarabeth Hammond Memorial Scholarship to a Hollins student in a writing curriculum. There are some talented women in the Horizon Program who need the money.
In its years of proper functioning, the Writers Conference has helped build a community of writers in the Roanoke and New River Valleys and has either sold out or nearly sold out every year of its operation.
There was obviously a need from the beginning and the conference has helped build an extremely strong and successful organization that has helped produce successful books, freelance work and writers groups in the area. That was always the ultimate goal. It has never been about gerunds and dangling participles, but about writers getting to know each other and to learn from each other.
The conference will be back and with Liz's leadership and the full participation of a strong writing community, it will remain strong and productive. Meanwhile, call a writer and chat. It will do you both a world of good.
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| The Roanoke Times building, where The Times doesn't live any longer. |
Kelly writes that the front section of the paper (including Page 1) will be all-local and that following it immediately will be what has been the Virginia section (which was local). Editorial (run by Kelly while the paper looks for an editor to replace the departed Dwayne Yancey who is leaving for a "new venture in journalism," according to Kelly) will follow that.
Kelly says the editorial page will be "picking up editorials from sister papers in Virginia." That suggests there will be no Roanoke-created editorials until a new editor is in place.
Sports will retain a position of prominence. The features department will be minimized, having a section front only two days a week.
I'm wondering how "local" the front section can be with all the departures in the newsroom in the past months and years. Already "local" coverage has meant stories from Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Bristol, Richmond, Martinsville, Danville and the like where the owner of The Times has other papers and stories can be shared among them.
I honestly don't anticipate more local--meaning Roanoke Valley/New River Valley--coverage. It will simply be a different presentation of what is now being run, a re-packaging, if you please. Lipstick on a pig, perhaps.
Dwayne Yancey's departure has yet to be fully explained (he's promised me a full explanation very soon), but Kelly's hint gives some credence to a response to a Facebook post of mine last week. The guy responding ventured that Dwayne would be joining James Madison University to teach journalism. Sounds reasonable, but we'll wait and see. Dwayne is not a man without options and his aging parents live in the Harrisonburg area.
I mentioned yesterday that a former Roanoke Times reporter is working on a new news site and now I have some details from Book City (here):
"There’s great news for those who understand the importance of the local press as a community builder. Former Roanoke Times reporter Henri Gendreau is behind the effort, which he describes as a “local investigative news and literary website in Roanoke.”
"The site will focus on local news, and also feature occasional original poetry and fiction delivered via a weekly newsletter.
"Are you interested in potentially contributing the emerging project? Gendreau is especially interested in hearing from talented short story writers. Writers will be compensated with a minimum of $25 per poem and $100 per short story."
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| Dwayne Yancey |
About an hour ago, I posted on Facebook that Dwayne Yancey is resigning as the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times, a position he has held for some time. He has been with the paper since August 1982.
Dwayne is a guy who is leaving an indelible mark, an old-line journalist who understands the place of newshounds in a community. He has the awards to prove his bona fides and is a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame, not something given out easily and rarely presented to people still working.
In an internet communication, Dwayne said the choice to leave was his and that he will likely have more to say about it after he is gone. His last day is Friday (August 20).
The Times has been hemorrhaging institutional memory and enormous journalistic talent for a few years now and that surgery (to mix a metaphor) is making its way into the bone. The reporters remaining--and there are some excellent ones--have to be thinking long and hard today about what their futures are. I did a story for The Roanoker magazine a bit ago about all the journalists (print and electronic) who are leaving the field, primarily because they can't make a living in it any longer. It was a sad piece and it's getting sadder.
Dwayne's dad has been ill in recent months, which led him to settle into the Harrisonburg area to help provide care. I don't know if that has to do with Dwayne's resignation, but we'll know eventually.
As many of you know, Dwayne is a successful playwright and his plays are often being presented in several countries at the same time. My guess is that will continue because he loves it and he's good at it.
He is so good at being an editorial page editor that I believe him to be at least the very best in Virginia. His award shelves would testify to that. He is as productive as any newspaper employee I've ever known and his editorials are always fair, always minutely researched and beautifully written. I'm not sure if he's a liberal or a conservative because he plays in both ballparks on occasion, but I know he always knows what he's writing and what it means.
He has been a fierce defender and promoter of Southwest Virginia, the most ignored part of the state and his occasional series on economic development in that section have been memorable.
I don't know how a small-town newspaper replaces a guy like Dwayne Yancey, or even if it can. I hope it will try because we need that kind of rare advocacy, written by a man just about everybody--regardless of your side of the political spectrum--respects.
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I thought I might finish this piece without mentioning Dwayne's sartorial peculiarities. It's generally not worth mentioning that a particular journalist dresses like the proverbial unmade bed. But Dwayne exceeds that. He dresses like a bum's bed that rests under a municipal bridge. It is part of who he is and even when he wears a coat and tie--which is often--they don't usually match anything and they look like they came from the Salvation Army adult bin where everything's $1.
He hasn't had a haircut that I can determine since ... well ... I don't know since when. But it's been a while and we're not talking about Covid Hair.
But Dwayne is and always has been who he is, a man without airs, without pretense and without any sign of ego. He's also a great journalist and I don't know a lot of people I would call that.
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| That's me accepting the proclamation from Mayor Sherman Lea and Vice Mayor Trish White-Boyd. |
Today was officially--according to City Council--Dan Smith Day in Roanoke and I was tickled to receive the attention (I do love attention). It was to honor my 50 years as a journalist in Roanoke. But to put it all in perspective, I'll quote legendary manager Casey Stengel as he was being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame:
"Thing is, if you hang around long enough, they can't ignore you."
I was given the opportunity to put on a coat and tie, which I rarely do any longer; to introduce my sweetie (Linda Kay Simmons); to hug my buddy Vice Mayor Trish White-Boyd; and to say "hello" to the three newest members of Council.
I also saw reporter Jeff Sturgeon of The Roanoke Times, though I didn't recognize him immediately with his mask. I did manage to tell him what a superior job of reporting I thought he did over the weekend with his story about Councilman Robert Jeffrey and some shady dealing. It was a prime example of why we need a vigorous press and I was proud to know him.
In accepting the proclamation, I said:
"Let me take just a minute to thank all the legitimate Roanoke journalists who have been aboard parts of this 50-year-ride. You are my heroes and your contributions to our city have been profound.
"Don't give up on the press because it is under attack. That has always been the case, but never has the press been the enemy of the people or of the truth.
"Thank you for recognizing that."
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| That's Judy Dickerson, my grand-parent-in-law representing some of the family that couldn't make the presentation. Thanks, Judy. |
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| This is Susan, my marketing director and chief photographer. |
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| John Levin of Mill Mountain Theatre offers congratulations. |
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| That's me with my sweetie and Judy. |
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| More Princess and me. I love that lady. |
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| My buddy Vice Mayor Trish White-Boyd reads the much too-long proclamation. |
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| Thanks, Trish. (Yes, I did get a hug.) |
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| Are there legal limits on how pretty a councilwoman can be? |
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| LindaK and me outside council chambers. |
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| Susan stops to pose while LindaK takes over the marketing duties. |
Cardinal Just Flew Past the Newspaper This past weekend, with a loud THUD! Cardinal News, the Roanoke-based online news publication, announ...
