America’s Best Idea

America’s Best Idea

  By Tom Robotham Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. – John Muir Thirty years ago, when I began contemplating the idea of moving from New York City to Norfolk, I made...
Virginia Arts Festival Announces 24th Season

Virginia Arts Festival Announces 24th Season

(Hong Kong Ballet’s “Alice” will be a visually spectacular performance) By Jeff Maisey The Virginia Arts Festival announced its 24th season in a ceremony attended by corporate sponsors, the media, and leaders from other arts organizations.  The many highlights of the...
America’s Best Idea

The Demise of Common Culture

  By Tom Robotham Recently in a public speaking class I teach at Old Dominion University, I decided to show my students a YouTube video of a commencement address that Peter Dinklage gave to the 2012 class of Bennington College in Vermont. I’d had the good fortune...