Letters: More Jobs Needed
The Centreville Labor Resource Center, the 3-month-old project of Centreville Immigration Forum, is open and operating.
Bulldogs Are Getting It
In September 2008, I wrote a letter to the editor titled “Bulldogs Just Don’t Get It.” My detailed essay described my frustration with the behavior of the Westfield High School student body during various athletic events. I had no idea how many other people felt the same way I did until folks I had never met thanked me for having the courage to write a letter exposing the behavior that they, too, detested.
Column: State Shirks Transportation Responsibility
Maybe we should rename our County The Bank of Last Resort.
Column: “Battling Cancer”
I suppose, as a cancer patient, there’s a presumption/understanding that not giving into cancer and its potential ravages is an ongoing battle – to the death, if you will. And I imagine, on many levels, some truer than others, it is. War is indeed waged – so to speak, in hopes of defeating this horrible disease (enemy).
Letter: Community Invited
On Feb. 17, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community held a Quran exhibition at Centreville Regional Library between 3 and 6 p.m. Translations of the Quran in 43 different languages were on display.
Letter: Support Appreciated
On behalf of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Virginia, I want to thank everyone for the sympathy expressed in response to the vandalism at our Mubarak Mosque under construction in Chantilly. To the Editor:
Column: Marking Time
As much as I don’t want to be ever-mindful of today’s date – relative to when I first learned of my diagnosis, that Thursday three years ago this very week, when my Internal Medicine doctor called me with the results of the biopsy (confirming the malignancy); and of course all that had preceded it and all that has happened since.
Letter: Shared Values
The following is an open letter to the Ahmadiyya Islamic Community.
Column: "Diseased"
But not sickness. Not health, either, as last week’s column ended. At least that’s the way I characterize my having stage IV lung cancer. And I don’t know if I’m splitting hairs here, since I’ve never worked in a salon, although I do get my hair cut regularly; but I have been accused of speaking double-talk.
Editorials: Access to Activities for Home Schoolers; Action in Richmond; Changes in Gun Laws
Families who home-school their children in this area take a burden off crowded schools, and off taxpayers who pay on average between $12,000 and $16,000 per year per child in school depending on where in Northern Virginia.
Column: Back On The Juice…
The chemotherapy juice, that is. Going forward now, every three weeks until I’ve completed six infusions, finishing sometime around mid May barring any foreseen – and previously experienced blips (meaning delays): levels, counts, readings, etc., that would compel my oncologist to stop åhe treatment and await results of a retest
Commentary: Dulles Rail Phase II: A Common Sense Approach
This spring the Fairfax and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will be required to make a final decision to opt in or out of Phase II of the Dulles Rail project. Rail through Tysons past the airport and into Loudoun is the largest public works project in the history of the Commonwealth and it has significant financial implications to the counties, its residents and businesses, and especially to the users of the Dulles Toll Road. As the Dulles corridor and Tysons are the economic engines of the region and the Commonwealth the project also has telling implications on our future job growth.
Letter: Waste of Taxpayer Money
I recently received a "Richmond Update" from Del. Jim Le Munyon advising: "I have proposed an additional $400,000 in the state budget for the State Police to more effectively conduct background checks for individuals desiring to purchase a firearm. Recently, a constituent brought to my attention the significant delays some purchasers were experiencing in receiving the results of their background checks …"
Column: "Progression"
There’s a word – in a medical context, anyway, that you don’t hear every day. And if you’re a stage IV lung cancer survivor – like me, 35 months post-diagnosis, it’s hardly the word you ever want to hear – or see – describing the most recent CT Scan of your lungs (Mediastinum) where your malignant tumors have been in "partial stable remission" going on two-plus years now. "Progression" means growth. Growth means the relative calm under which you’ve existed for the last few years is officially over.
Editorial: About Halfway
Always entertaining, the high-stakes session of the Virginia General Assembly reaches new heights this month.
The user-friendly website for the Virginia General Assembly plus live-streaming of the legislative sessions might make you believe that most of the important decisions in Richmond are being made out in the sunshine.