I discovered this morning that The Roanoke Times published my latest letter to the editor; it appeared on November 21. (This was my letter about drawing comparisons between the January 6th attack on the Capitol and protests by Black Lives Matter.)
Thanks, as always, to the editorial staff of The Roanoke Times for the opportunity to share my point of view with my neighbors.
“A Roanoke Thanksgiving”
I am thankful for
fine friends, gracious neighbors, and presently forgotten adversaries,
the smell of smoke outside, its rich and deep and ageless burning notes that sound upon the palette,
the hills under all my days, which pluck up my breath,
all the countless “hellos” their slopes will yield,
the mountains’ incandescence in this cooling season,
the colors now igniting their high and wooded perches,
this new home, this Old South,
this ranging, easy vale of firming winds and firm tradition,
its gentle people, and their surprising hearts —
this fair, far Star City.
~ Eric Robert Nolan, Thanksgiving 2019
Construction proceeds slowly but surely off Campbell Avenue at the site of the now-extinct bus station.
I love the phrase “extinct bus station” — like it was too big and slow to adapt, and stone age hunters ran it down to oblivion.
I actually had a hard time picking out the best shot of the moon yesterday up at the north edge of town. These might have been the better shots.
Virginia.
Looking north.
Seriously, though, has anyone ever noticed that the building for Appalachian power has some goddam Stalinist architecture?
It’s like something out of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Or maybe it’s just a catbird.
Roanoke, Virginia.
I found this praying mantis on one of my Autumn walks, up north of downtown Roanoke. He looked like he was hastily leaving the city. Maybe he was fed up with pesky people taking his photo.
The Bates Motel sign is an especially nice touch.
(Kirk Avenue in Roanoke, Virginia.)
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 