The truth sets us free. Deniers betray it by blaming the media for the pandemic’s spread. Social distancing, like social media, reveals meaning across time, distance and place. I was reminded of that truth in two recent encounters. The first came in a Facebook post from a distant cousin in my hometown, a place decimated by decades of denial. My cousin shared one of those inflammatory…

By Dale Peskin The weekly newspaper was lost on the driveway. The blossoms that fell from the adjacent cherry trees covered a baggie that looked as if it had been discarded by someone who had just tested positive for COVID-19. A thin fold of newsprint was stuffed inside. …

Failing its community, the Loudoun Times-Mirror and Loudoun Now struggle for survival and relevance in a time of crisis. By Dale Peskin Last week’s edition of The Loudoun Times-Mirror was lost in the driveway. The blossoms that fell from the adjacent cherry trees covered a baggie that looked as if…

The ambush came without warning. Five thousand steelworkers in Youngstown, Ohio lost their livelihoods on Monday, September 19,1977 when the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. announced the immediate closing of its Campbell Works steel plant. It was, at the time, the single largest mass elimination of jobs in the nation’s…

One of the lessons of Virginia’s current political scandals is that our political leaders ultimately fail us. Perhaps we expect too much of them. The responsibility for ensuring a fair, just, respectful and caring community is ours. We can decide how to live our lives while, at the same time…

For five blocks between Reston Parkway and Town Center Parkway, Reston Town Center showcases a community’s vision of managed growth for our times. For better than two decades, it has delivered flocks of affluent suburbanites to toney office suites, apartments, retail shops and restaurants. The scene has been bustling and…

For five blocks between Reston Parkway and Town Center Parkway, Reston Town Center showcases a community’s vision of managed growth for our times. For better than two decades, it has delivered flocks of affluent suburbanites to toney office suites, apartments, retail shops and restaurants. The scene has been bustling and…

In Virginia, it can take a long time to come to terms with obvious truths. For those of us who came of age at a time when America began to confront its sins of history, one correction in the Trump era came as an encouraging development. Nearly 50 years after…

In Virginia, it can take a long time to come to terms with obvious truths. For those of us who came of age at a time when America began to confront its sins of history, one correction in the Trump era came as an encouraging development. Nearly 50 years after…