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Take the Wilderness Road and you’ll find the Appalachian first lady who fooled Washington

Columns

WYTHEVILLE, Virginia — Most people meet this town zooming past it at 70 mph. Interstate 77 comes up out of North Carolina. Interstate 81 runs down the Great Valley toward Bristol. They cross here, share a few miles of pavement, and then split again. Truckers stop for diesel. Families stop for a bathroom. Then they are gone. They miss the better road. U.S. 11 runs right through downtown as Main Street. In this part of Virginia, it is also called the Lee Highway. Before that it was the Great Road, the wagon road that carried settlers south out of Pennsylvania and Maryland and down ...

Dear Annie: Sick of the silent treatment

Columns

Dear Annie: I have been married to my husband for 18 years, and I love him deeply. He is kind, hardworking and devoted to our family. He will fix anything that breaks, drive across town if one of the kids needs something and make me coffee every morning without being asked. In so many ways, he shows up. But emotionally, I often feel completely alone. Any time I try to talk about something difficult, he shuts down. It could be a concern about money, something one of the kids is going through, a decision we need to make together or simply something he said that hurt my feelings. The ...

The Greece speech

Columns

Back in my college days (American University, Washington, D.C.), required reading included the works of Greek playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Long after graduation they remained on my bookshelf. It was believed for generations that these men, along with philosophers Plato, Cicero and other great minds, could teach us. At too many of today’s colleges and universities we find courses in LGBTQ+ history and, according to Campus Reform, a 2023 course at Harvard “aimed to teach students how to prepare for a diversity, equity, and inclusion-filled future.” Harvard is not ...

Woman experiences an extreme case of constipation

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a healthy, active 69-year-old female. I’ve had problems with constipation for several years, and it’s recently worsened. When I had my first colonoscopy, the doctor at the time, who’d been doing colonoscopies for 50 years, told me that I had the longest colon he’d ever seen. When I had my second (and most recent) colonoscopy, which was postponed for two days because I needed a stronger laxative to clear my colon, he told me my colon was so convoluted that I probably shouldn’t have another colonoscopy. Over the past few months, I have gone for up to ...

Dear Annie: Can’t keep everyone happy for the holidays

Columns

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for six years, and every holiday now feels less like a celebration and more like a negotiation. My family lives about an hour away. My parents host a big Thanksgiving and Christmas every year with my siblings, nieces, nephews and all the traditions I grew up with. My mother starts planning weeks in advance, and she takes it very personally if we are not there. She will say things like, “It just does not feel like Christmas without everyone together,” which makes me feel guilty before we have even made a decision. My husband’s ...

Let them eat cake — and candy, too

Columns

I fell into a net loop watching old commercials the other day, reminiscing with videos of escapist Calgon bubble baths, roving dog food chuck wagons and smiling folks settling into bed with “The Clapper.” At one point, I stumbled on an ad more anachronistic than any of its contemporaries: a commercial for Kool-Aid. Kids playing hard — dribbling basketballs, roller skating and swimming — needed something icy cold to drink. In burst the Kool-Aid Man to save the day, breaking down the walls between thirst and refreshment. It’s a commercial ostensibly for kids, but ...