40 Years of Festevents in Norfolk

40 Years of Festevents in Norfolk

(Crawfish and corn are a popular menu item during Festevent’s Bayou Bon Vivant) By Jeff Maisey Forty years ago, Downtown Norfolk was a very different place that it is today.  The waterfront property was either vacant or in derelict condition. The crime rate was high....
NEWS: Showtime at The Pavilion in Portsmouth

NEWS: Showtime at The Pavilion in Portsmouth

(Hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia opens the 2022 season at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion)  By Jeff Maisey Concerts are back — finally — in Portsmouth, and the 2022 season will be one to remember. After a couple years of dashed hopes due to a tear in the tent top roof...
Good Sense and Good Magic 

Good Sense and Good Magic 

  By Tom Robotham And I go on believing in the possibility of love. – Pablo Neruda Twenty years ago, during my stint as editor of Port Folio Weekly, my friend Mike Pearson suggested that I get together with one of his colleagues at Old Dominion University—poet...
ESSAY: American Studies

ESSAY: American Studies

By Tom Robotham Thirty-five years ago—10 years after I graduated from college—I decided to go back to school to pursue a master’s degree in American Studies. At the time I had no plans to become a teacher. My decision was motivated purely by a desire to gain a deeper...
ESSAY: American Studies

ESSAY: The Sins of Our Fathers

By Tom Robotham I know a lot of people who’ve ordered ancestry test kits like 23andMe, but I’ve never felt compelled to do so, since I already know a great deal about my family history. My mother, especially, was interested in genealogy, and when I was still very...