The Valley Blue Dog: The Manchurian Candidate and Eskimo Barbie

Steven Sisson

Column by Steven Sisson Is the McCain-Palin campaign fueling racism, hatred and divisiveness? Of course, the answers to the question are yes, yes, yes, but wait one cotton-picking minute, Blue Dog! Calling the Republican presidential nominee John McCain The Manchurian Candidate conjures images of a 1960s Vietnam prisoner of war being brainwashed and collaborating with…

Education: How many children left behind?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Twenty, twenty-five, close to thirty percent of students who start the ninth grade in the Shenandoah Valley aren’t graduating high school in four years, according to figures released by the State Department of Education on Wednesday. But are the numbers an accurate reflection of how many children are…

Harrisonburg: A feast fit for a Royal

Chris Graham

Story by Andrea Schrock Wenger Bibb lettuce that traveled about 10 miles from Marlan Showalter’s farm to the table formed the base of a veggie wrap that was among the fare served at Eastern Mennonite University dining hall’s first “harvest meal” of locally-grown food, held Oct. 1. “The meal was amazing,” said Leah Risser, a…

Harrisonburg: WWLD?

Jim Bishop

Story by Jim Bishop For those who’ve asked, “What Would Lloyd Do?”, some possible answers to this not-so-rhetorical question are provided in a new play with music written by and starring Ted Swartz and Trent Wagler, that will premiere at Eastern Mennonite University’s fall homecoming and parents weekend. In the two-act, 90-minute play, a struggling…

Harrisonburg: EMU reports small drop in undergrad enrollment

Jim Bishop

Story by Jim Bishop Fall semester 2008 enrollment at Eastern Mennonite University finds a small drop in undergraduate numbers, while graduate programs held steady, and the Adult Degree Completion Program had a significant increase. EMU has 185 first-year students enrolled the fall semester compared to 203 last fall. Traditional undergraduate enrollment – first-year through seniors…

Shepherd Bliss: Slow Food Nation attracts 50,000 … beneath the surface

Contributors

Column by Shepherd Bliss “Come to the table,” Slow Food Nation invited. And come to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend they did — around 50,000 people attending perhaps the largest food celebration in American history. Tables and straw bales appeared in the heart of the city’s Civic Center around a victory garden on about…

Rockingham: EMU students learn more about why they’re there

Jim Bishop

Story by Jim Bishop So, why are you here? A rather strange question, perhaps, for the president of Eastern Mennonite University to ask those who filled Lehman Auditorium Wednesday for the opening convocation of fall semester, but he had good reason. “Most of us think about education in terms of what it will do for…

Love among the wrinkles

Carl Larsen

Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen Old folks need love, too. Maybe not as often or as vigorously as do the whippersnappers, but – hey, they ain’t dead, they’re just old. Hollywood, to a great degree, has forgotten about the older population – those folks who faithfully trudged off to the movies at…

What do the Games mean to China?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Never underestimate the Chinese. Bill Crutchfield, the CEO of the Charlottesville-based Crutchfield Corp., learned that on his short jaunt through Hangzhou, China, carrying the Olympic Torch in May. Tens of thousands of young Chinese among the 1 to 2 million people lining the streets that day were sporting…