by Jeff Maisey | Apr 17, 2022 | News, News & Views, Robotham
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...
by Jeff Maisey | Mar 22, 2022 | News, News & Views, Robotham
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...
by Jeff Maisey | Feb 21, 2022 | News, News & Views, Robotham
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...
by Jeff Maisey | Jan 19, 2022 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham Music…is not simply a distraction or a pastime, but a core element of our identity. – Daniel Levitin, The World in Six Songs The other day, I pulled from one of my bookshelves a volume that I’ve revisited often over the last few years: Daniel...
by Jeff Maisey | Dec 15, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham So this is Christmas, and what have you done? – John Lennon When I was a kid, the Christmas season was the most exciting time of the year. Ushering it in, shortly after Thanksgiving, was the arrival of the Sears Christmas catalogue—or “Wish...
by Jeff Maisey | Nov 29, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham As the holidays approach, I find myself thinking about my all-time favorite movie for the season—Holiday Inn (1942), starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, which I’ve loved for nearly 50 years. The movie’s biggest claim to fame is that it...
