Maybe I went to see her because she was right here in my town or because I read this about her on Wikipedia: Rachel Baiman is the co-founder of Folk Fights Back, a musician-led national organization that puts together benefit concerts and awareness events in response to the Trump administration. But I really saw her […]
-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press with a smaller selection of photos on February 27, 2020. For 11 years now, Floyd has been letting the good times roll at the annual Mardi Gras Costume Ball to benefit Blue Mountain School (BMS). Held at Dogtown Roadhouse, the annual community celebration has been described as […]
1. Playing chess is like driving in a city, and the chess pieces are like cars confusing me by going every which way in different directions. 2. It’s all chickadees and titmouse out there, but I can’t believe a word they say. I should be excited for spring but don’t feel like we really had […]
The dancers literally lit up the Dogtown dance floor at the 11th Annual Floyd Mardi Gras Costume Ball last night! It’s the biggest fun-raiser of the year for Blue Mountain School. Watch for more to come in this week’s Floyd Press.
The last few weeks of my brother’s lives played out like the conclusion of a dramatic Hollywood script, a plot with a twist. The road trip they took, two weeks before the first death, became the beginning of a larger journey, the one in which they would both leave this world. I have decided to […]
I sit in silence hands poised on keys with no set routine to guide me waiting for the click of imagination to move through fingertips looking with squinted eyes for what isn’t seen or spoken I stretch the range of combinations to see what can be opened to break the pose to hold the balance […]
1. I only have a window of opportunity when poetry breezes through. It’s like watching the clouds and seeing pictures in them, but if I look away for a minute, they’re changed or gone. I can recall what blew in but it’s never quite the same putting it in words, more like recreating first-hand information […]
-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on February 13, 2020. The Floyd Contra Dance is marking its 30th year bringing the American version of English country dancing to Southwest Virginia. At Saturday evening’s contra dance, dancers promenaded and swung their partners to the upbeat tunes of the Rhythmajigs on the Floyd Center for […]
I dreamt that death was a bus ride a long loop of a familiar route and that love was a daisy chain held dear to the body I left my luggage in the village hangout where I played pinball in the ‘60s I left my sons’ baby clothes in a lock box If I have […]
But sometimes he paints butterflies and birds. It was Valentine’s Day at the Taubman Museum of Art, and we were surprised and delighted by the Huntopia installations of Hunt Slonem, which spanned several rooms and were arranged as home décor. I was told by one of the museum staff people that Roanoke’s Black Dog Salvage […]
I had an IPA beer called Cigar City Fancy Papers and a Raspberry Wheat called Purple Haze at the Blue 5 in Roanoke. It was the first part of our Valentine weekend date after swimming in the heated pool at a nearby hotel. We were drawn to the Blue 5 because our regional talent songwriter/guitarist […]
1. Is swell the mutant plural of well? 2. When does fantastic become fanatic? 3. “They told me I only have 45 seconds up here, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week. I’m thinking maybe Quentin Tarantino does a movie about it. In the end, the adults do the […]
