Commentaries & Essays

As North America looks ahead to Monday’s solar eclipse, Charlottesville writer Betty Joyce Nash looks back to a time when the world seemed smaller and easier to comprehend.  

Betty Joyce Nash was a newspaper reporter when the Klan came to town in Hendersonville, North Carolina 28 years ago.  As Charlottesville prepares for its own visit from the KKK, Nash, who now makes her home in central Virginia, remembers covering the Klan in 1989.

For most of their lives William and Bessie Hudnall, lived in Northumberland County in the tiny village of Ophelia on the Chesapeake Bay. They've been married for 79 years. He's 102 and next month she'll be 98. For Valentine's Day they look back on their lives, beginning with a card sent by William to Bessie's sister.

Seventh grade was not a good look for me. Physically, mentally, hormonally, and sartorially - I was a mess. My body was at war with itself: my voice cracked, my face was broken out, and my arms and legs felt like hand-me-downs from a much lankier, less coordinated, older sibling.

I tend to worry. Frankly, these days we have a lot to worry about. To be honest, my worrying is not a new problem. During our wedding ceremony years ago, the pastor sprung an extra vow on me. He wanted me to promise that I’d never worry. I responded by stepping away from the altar. We have a photograph to prove it.