ESSAY: The Call of the Mountains

ESSAY: The Call of the Mountains

  By Tom Robotham In the woods…a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson The older I get, the more I appreciate the approach of springtime. It is heartening, as I sit here on a...
ESSAY: The Call of the Mountains

Prologues to What is Possible

  By Tom Robotham  I dwell in Possibility / A fairer House than Prose – Emily Dickinson  On January 20, I turned on CNN first thing in the morning to watch the long hoped for departure of Donald Trump. As he flew away I was overwhelmed by a sense of relief. The...
ESSAY: The Call of the Mountains

The Road Not Taken 

By Tom Robotham Thirty years ago this month, I moved from New York City to Norfolk. When I told my friends and co-workers of my plans, they thought I was nuts. One senior executive at Hearst Magazines, where I was working at the time, went so far as to call me a...
Practicing

Practicing

(Tom Robotham — on the left — has been perfecting his French with Duolingo so he can better converse in the future with local Parisians like this street vendor selling books and art along the River Seine) By Tom Robotham  J’apprends Français. Well, a...
ESSAY: The Call of the Mountains

Now What?

BY TOM ROBOTHAM On the morning of Nov. 7, I was watching CNN, fervently hoping that they would finally call the election in Joe Biden’s favor. When they did, at 11:26 a.m., I let out a whoop that was likely heard throughout West Ghent. Van Jones—a CNN commentator whom...
ROBOTHAM: See You at the Pub

ROBOTHAM: See You at the Pub

(Columnist Tom Robotham was among the first to enjoy the patio when Taphouse Grill in Ghent reopened in late summer) By Tom Robotham  Ten years ago, I wrote an essay in this space called “The Soul of the Pub”—my reflections on the appeal of pubs in general, and The...