ESSAY: Thoughts and Prayers

ESSAY: Thoughts and Prayers

  By Tom Robotham Let me ask you a question: Do you pray? If so, for what and to whom?  I used to pray a lot. Throughout my childhood, I attended services at a lovely old Episcopal Church virtually ever Sunday, and for several years I served as an acolyte. In...
Progressland 

Progressland 

  By Tom Robotham Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, which I had the opportunity to visit twice. When it opened, I was just shy of my 8th birthday—the perfect age to appreciate the exhibits, it seems to me, in that I was old...

OPINION: Moment of Reckoning

  By Tom Robotham  On the evening of June 1, I was watching CNN’s live coverage of a peaceful protest near the White House. It was quite encouraging, given that rioting and looting had taken place in various cities the night before. Then, without warning or...
ESSAY: Thoughts and Prayers

Living with Books

  By Tom Robotham  As my friends and family members know, I own a lot of books—somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000, by my estimate. Many people have a lot more than that, of course. Years ago I did a feature story on a retired Norfolk librarian who had about...
ESSAY: Thoughts and Prayers

Social Distancing

  By Tom Robotham On March 6, I was scheduled to depart for Rome in the company of Jeff Maisey, the publisher of this magazine, and another friend. It was the beginning of my spring break, and I’d been looking forward not only to connecting with history, but also to...
ESSAY: Thoughts and Prayers

Utopian Visions and Harsh Realities

  By Tom Robotham Much of the discussion about socialism…is entirely pointless, because of the failure to agree on terminology. ~ Theodore Roosevelt.    In today’s political arena, no word is bandied about more carelessly than “socialism.” Diehard supporters...