Tag Archives: Roanoke

It’s what they call a “near missile.”

Before you call Roanoke a small town, remember — it’s got its own ICBM.

I’m kidding.  It’s not a nuclear missile.  I think it’s a … rocket of some kind?  I’m too lazy to google it.  It’s outside the Virginia Transportation Museum.

Why do I so badly want it to be a stolen Russian rocket, reminiscent of 1982’s “Firefox” with Clint Eastwood?

Update: I have just been informed by a few people that this actually was a nuclear missile at one point.  Apparently what we’re looking at is a Jupiter-class rocket that once held a nuclear warhead?  And here I was only joking above …



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The Roanoke Times publishes my latest letter to the editor.

I am so happy today to see The Roanoke Times publish my latest letter to the editor:

Letter: Beware those who would criticize knowledge

As always, I am grateful to the editorial staff of this superb regional newspaper.  The Roanoke Times is the primary newspaper for Southwest Virginia, and its Sunday readership throughout 19 counties is estimated at 230,000 people.

I’m also pleasantly surprised that this particular letter seems to have struck a chord with people the way that it did.  After it was carried by a number of newspapers in Virginia and by Newsday in New York, it was shared with a combined 733,000 readers.  That would make it the most broadly circulated single item of all of my writing.



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Newsday prints my letter to the editor about the word “overeducated.”

I got some more amazing news today, guys — Newsday printed my most recent letter to the editor, about the word “overeducated” being thrown around by our national politicians.  You can find it right here in yesterday’s paper.

My letter was edited down considerably for length, but I am still quite honored to see something I authored appear in this major regional newspaper.  Newsday is the America’s 10th largest paper, and the third largest in New York State.  It has a weekday circulation of 437,000 in the New York metropolitan area, and reaches nearly half of the households on Long Island.

I really am grateful to Newsday’s editorial staff for deciding that my letter merited the attention of its readers.



The Salem Times-Register prints my letter about the defenders of Ukraine.

I learned a little while ago that the Salem Times-Register printed my recent letter about the courage of the Ukrainian people protecting their homeland.  You can find it right here.

Thank you, Editor Shawn Nowlin, for allowing me to share my thoughts with my neighbors in Southwest Virginia.