Downtowner Jack Was One of a Kind

Downtowner Jack Was One of a Kind

(Jack Armistead couldn’t resist a photo with this historic marker in Flagstaff, Arizona) By Jeff Maisey News of the passing of John “Jack” Armistead was announced on Facebook. Reaction from friends and acquaintances in the comments space was of shock and...
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

(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...