by Jeff Maisey | Sep 8, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham On the evening of September 10, 2001, I was watching Band of Brothers with my then-8-year-old son. At one point, he asked me if I’d ever been to war. “No,” I told him. “I was lucky. I missed the Vietnam-War draft by just a couple of years. I...
by Jeff Maisey | Aug 19, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
(Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s new music director Eric Jacobsen) By Tom Robotham Recently, for another publication, I wrote a piece about the dawn of a new era for the now 100-year-old Virginia Symphony. As of July, the orchestra has a new music...
by Jeff Maisey | Jul 24, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
Words & Photo by Tom Robotham Late last month, I spent a week in New York City. It was my first visit to my hometown since 2018, and in the days leading up to the trip, I had a lot of mixed emotions. On the plus side, I was looking forward to spending time...
by Jeff Maisey | Jun 21, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham Of all the holidays we celebrate in this country, the Fourth of July is my least favorite. One reason is that it brings back unpleasant memories from childhood. Back then, in my neck of the woods, at least, it was dominated by one thing: illegal...
by Jeff Maisey | May 24, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham Last December in this space I wrote an essay about my renewed interest in studying French with an app called Duolingo. I’d fallen in love with the language while taking it for two years in college and have always wished I were fluent. Alas, I...
by Jeff Maisey | Apr 27, 2021 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham A strange thing happened to me a couple of months ago: I woke up one day and had no desire to open Facebook. For many people, that wouldn’t be noteworthy. I have a number of friends who rarely look at the site. But for me it was significant....
