2007.12.30
2007 -- The year we all prevailed
Take a load off, Southwest Virginia.
Look back over 2007 and exhale. We survived another year. It wasn't easy. It never is. But as Al Jarreau famously crooned, we got by.
2007.12.27
Same field, new job
In March, Donald Burnette's employer yanked the rug from under him.
Circuit City, the big box-electronic retailer he had devoted 19 years to and had sacrificed his back for, laid him off.
Without warning.
But nine months later, Burnette has found his footing in another job.
The Roanoke man joined Audiotronics in October as a deliveryman. Though he'll always have pain, the job is less taxing on a 44-year-old man who has undergone three back surgeries.
Creative details
On this celebrated day, 100 little girls are clutching dolls decked out in the "God-given" talent of Nancy Burgess.
Burgess is a seamstress. But to say she sews is an understatement.
She creates.
YMCA branch to get a makeover
Just in time for New Year's resolutions of healthier living, members of the YMCA Family Center have some added motivation:
A better and bigger Orange Avenue branch by midsummer.
The phenomenal growth throughout the Roanoke Valley YMCA also has launched discussions of expansions at the Kirk Family Center and Salem Y, less than three years after the new downtown building opened.
Officials say they have to enlarge the two largest branches to keep up with membership, which has tripled to 18,000 members in just three years. Those plans will be firmed up by spring, Executive Director Cal Johnson said.
That's nice, but the exciting news now is that the Family Center, which right now is the smallest and dingiest of the Y's three branches, will grow.
2007.12.21
Merry Christmas
Dear readers: I'm stepping away from the computer for a few days. However, I stumbled upon this thoughtful piece of reading recently in the archives of The Orlando Sentinel. Yes, I worked there many years ago, but I didn't write this. Because it ran on the editorial page almost 15 years ago, it was unsigned so I'm not sure who wrote it. But the author doesn't matter. The message does. I trust you will gain as much inspiration from it as I did.
Peace begins within.
That message is particularly poignant this time of year.
In this season of peace on Earth and goodwill toward men, individuals have
within themselves the power to cultivate peace. Perhaps the most important
lesson given to us by a carpenter's son from Nazareth is that the power to
spread peace is not the sole domain of heads of state who can so easily wield a
major influence, for good or ill, over daily international affairs.
Everyday people - a teacher, a coach, a homemaker, a member of the clergy, a
shopkeeper - might not have the direct ability to solve great world crises.
Through patience, tolerance and understanding, however, they do have the power
to end conflicts in their families, in their neighborhoods and in their
workplaces.
Indeed, peace and goodwill are gifts that people can extend to each other
daily. The ability to do a good deed exists in everyone - by speaking an
encouraging word to a troubled child, running an errand for an elderly person,
or giving a fellow motorist a break in traffic.
The choice to exercise that ability, though, remains with the individual.
Peace and goodwill are the remnants of that first Christmas in Bethlehem. The
message that came forth from there was that much of the anger in the world could
be dispelled by following His example.
2007.12.20
Homeless debate requires empathy
The plight of Roanoke's homeless has been in the news lately.
City council members have worried aloud from the podium whether homeless people from other areas were piling into Roanoke because services are too plentiful. On Friday, Mayor Nelson Harris is expected to announce a regional, 10-year plan to end homelessness in the city.
But what you might not remember is that this isn't the first time city leaders have had a serious discussion about the homeless.
2007.12.18
Give, and give where it's needed
"Jesus is the reason for the season."
"What would Jesus do?"
The phrases are catchy, but have they become gimmicks that do little more than give us a pass on personal accountability in certain circumstances? Do they deflect attention from what our role should be and onto Jesus? Remember, he's done his part.
Are we so busy spouting popular expressions that we don't fully explore what's beneath them, what's expected of us?
2007.12.16
Bowers hasn't called it quits
What's next for David Bowers?
"I don't know," the former mayor said Thursday, two days after losing a bid for chairmanship of the Roanoke Democratic Committee to Tony Reed, a political novice.
That vote of the party's committee members was the fifth time in 10 years that Roanokers snubbed Bowers' political aspirations.
You would think the man who would be party chairman (or mayor or congressman or city councilman) would take the hint.
Not Bowers. He's not ready to concede -- yet.
2007.12.14
A Damascus road conversion?
During the four years I was on The Roanoke Times' editorial board, one of my dreaded required rituals was proofing Cal Thomas' column each week.
Thomas is a conservative columnist whose work read more like the predictable regurgitation of a party line rather than his own personal and reflective thought. He too often saw the world in stark black and white, with no consideration for shades of gray. Thomas is a man of faith, and my readers know I have no problem with that. But his work seemed to reflect a man who wore his faith on his sleeve, and I do have a problem with that.
So imagine my surprise this week when I read his column telling his evangelical brothers and sisters to get over their fixation with a religious litmus test for presidential candidates! An excerpt:
2007.12.13
Democrats show why party lacks any unity
Is it any wonder the Roanoke Democratic Party is in turmoil?
Tuesday night was a defining moment for the party, and these folks seemed to be making up a way to count votes for a critical leadership decision as they went along. The disappointing part is that this week's meeting at William Fleming High School was tame, so I'm told, compared with previous years.
Sure, everyone was on best behavior at the committee reorganizational meeting. The atmosphere was cordial. No one pitched a fit. No one cursed anybody out (at least not publicly).
But let's face it: The selection of the party's next committee leader was short on, well, organization.
About this blog
In her signature plainspoken style, Michigan native Shanna Flowers peels away the layers and gets to the heart of the issues. No pretense. Just straightforward perspective. Shanna writes about local people whose circumstances reflect decisions made as near as City Hall or as far away as the halls of Congress. Other times, she weighs in on a topic because it is incredibly ridiculous. Or heartening. Or fascinating. Read Shanna's column three days a week, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at roanoke.com
