My mother, sisters, and brother live at the Outer Banks. But I bet none of them stepped foot on a beach more than half a dozen times in the past year. One of my sisters probably hasn’t stuck toe in sand in several years.

Pathetic.

But when was the last time I took a hike in the mountains? Been a while. Although I’ve been tubing, and canoing, I have yet to raft the New River. My son and daughter have never been fishing. I think that’s criminal.

Now is a great time to hit the city and National Parks. There are ten state parks in SWVA alone.
You can also try (http://www.poremsky.net/swvapark.html) as a resource for parks to visit. The song birds are out, and the plant life is incredible. I was walking down by the New River in Bisset Park yesterday and spied some gold finches, a blue bird, geese, and other water fowl that were moving too darn fast and evidently didn’t want to be recognized. Wildwood Park is a great place for identifying area wildflowers. A couple books I like to use are Wildflowers in Color by Arthur Stupka, and Wildflowers of the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains by Oscar W. Gupton and Fred C. Swope. For bird watching try Birds of North America, with the Golden Field Guide series.

I recently flew to Michigan on a business trip. Michigan is a beautiful state, but boy, is it flat. As we landed in the bowl of the Roanoke Valley, I was reminded of the rich visual landscape we live in. And it’s right here in my own back yard.

-Lucinda McDermott Piro

One of my favorite scenes from Elf with Will Farrell is when he takes his love interest to Chock Full-a Nuts in New York City to have what is advertised as The World’s Best Coffee—and she does a spit take. I use to live in NYC and admit that I too have been a victim of this false advertising.

However! Right here in Southwest Virginia we’ve got a secret. Are you listening? We’ve got the world’s best coffee. Dark Hollow Micro Roasters in Sugar Grove, VA is owned and operated by a husband and wife team who, after much research and traveling to globe, settled in Southwest Virginia to roast delicious fresh, organic, and fair trade java. I heard John speak at an Entrepreneur Express Workshop in Marion, VA not too long ago, and found his story to be quite compelling. So compelling that I had to try this coffee. I scolded him for not bringing samples after speaking so convincingly about his product! Didn’t catch his last name and their website is still under construction. But I did stop at a store on the way home and bought a pound of the blend Cowboy Up! ($8.65) which I highly recommend. You can purchase the coffee from the website.

Hopefully, John will flesh out the “About Us” section of his website because it’s a great tale of following one’s passion. Virginia’s Great Southwest is fertile ground for entrepreneurships, and there are so many avenues of support in SWVA for small business owners either through the Entrepreneur Express Workshops offered through Virginia Start Up or through the Virginia Department of Business Assistance. The workshops impressed me with how much useful information is offered for free to new business or potential business owners. Southwest Virginia opens its arms to the small business owner and is willing to give a leg up in many ways. Come on down!

-Lucinda McDermott Piro

Southwest Virginian prisons are welcoming imported prisoners from out-of-state and I say this is great. The article talks about how Virginians will need to increase their crime level in order to keep criminals from out of state out of our prisons. My question is, why keep the imported people out? Having these prisoners come into our prisons will not affect us in anyway, except for the better. It will be better to have imported criminals in our prisons because people in the area are not committing enough crimes themselves. We are filling our prisons with out-of state criminals because we are not keeping up with the amount of criminals needed to fill our prisons, great right? Sounds like it to me, not to mention the money coming to the state from Wyoming who will pay close to $19 million to have 300 prisoners imported. The $19 million coming in will save taxpayers money because they are being charged for the newest prison in Tazewell, which opened in September. So a message to Virginians is to keep doing what you’re doing and we will save money and our streets will continue to be safe.

-Jerrid Morelen

My Name is Jerrid Morelen I am currently a junior at Radford University. I am majoring in economics as well as finance. My hometown Is Chesapeake Virginia, I graduated from Great Bridge High School in 2005. I am aspiring to be a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch and maybe someday open up my own firm.

Okay—I know we’ve all complained about the rising cost of gas. . . but COME ON! This morning I could not believe my dependable, “cheap” gas station listed regular at $3.39! What!? Two days ago it was $3.27. 12 cents in two days? Incredible. I called my husband. “Go to the Citgo between Long John Silvers and Burger King! It’s still $3.27! Got it. I pulled a U-ee and slid into the Citgo. Okay. . . they didn’t take credit cards at the pump, but no matter. I felt like I had found the Holy Grail. I prepared the “thank you” I was going to give the cashier, applauding them on their wherewithal and courage to stand up against the evil OPEC. In my head I was composing the e-mail I would forward to my friends; GO TO CITGO ON ROUTE 11 BY THE BURGER KING! Oh wait till I tell the owner how I will express my gratitude via the power of word of mouth! I’ll be a valued customer!

I entered the store, passing the Skoal display (it was on sale too). I handed over my credit card and began my speech. “Thank you so much for daring to keep your prices down. I so appreciate—”

“You’re lucky. We’re right in the middle of raising them.”

“But. . . . ” Any normal person would have just stopped. But no… For some reason, I thought that I would make a difference by lauding their efforts with three syllable words and yes, I did mention that e-mail.

They could have cared less.

Heartbroken, I had yet another revelation.

I spoke with a friend of mine who lives in Tidewater. Price of regular there today? $3.11. WHAT!? Our gas is more expensive!? Now what kind of sense does that make? Okay, everything else is cheaper here. And I guess in the end it is all relative. I was doing a cost of living comparison with Boston and nearly everything was doubled in price there except beer and pizza. Beer and pizza are cheaper in Boston than in Southwest Virginia. And there you have it: three of life’s necessities: gas, beer, pizza.

-Lucinda McDermott Piro

People process grief in very individual ways. People heal in individual ways, and on their own schedule that they may not even be aware of.

It’s April 16, 2008. One year ago I sat nearly all day at my television. I called friends that are students, faculty and staff at VA Tech during the nightmare. It started with checking the weather in the morning, then “News Break”. Little by little information trickled in, augmented by video shot on a student’s cell phone. Then the press conference where they admitted at least 20 were shot. Audible gasp from the bystanders. What?! 20!? And then the unbelievable final tally: 32.

I had to travel a few days after the incident. I flew to L.A. I wore my orange and gold ribbon. As I navigated through airports and security people either looked with curiosity at my ribbon, or smiled sadly. As I flew over and across the country, various people from all over the world expressed their sorrow. It was weird to be from such a small place that people knew about. They would ask, “What’s it like there?” I answered, “We’re all heartbroken.”

Today my daughter danced with her studio, The Center of Dance at the Haymarket Theatre in a celebration for all of the victims, and notably Reema Samaha who was a dancer with the Contemporary Dance Ensemble at Virginia Tech. CED had orchestrated the event. On the Friday before the shootings, CDE’s recital performed their spring concert. They had invited my daughter’s class to dance with them. It was my daughter’s first performance on Pointe, and Reema’s last dance of her life. Over the past year, The Center of Dance has performed in three memorials for the Virginia Tech victims. Each time has been heavily emotional for my daughter and the other young girls whose ages range from 12 to 18. My daughter spoke for them all though when she said to me each time; “This is such an honor.” For me, as I watch Reema’s fellow dancers carry on without her, leaving a space in the choreography where she would have been, I am filled with the certainty that she is there. There is an aura of love and yes, peace. Again, my daughter put it best; “It was like she was hugging the whole building.”

I have been moved by this company’s need to share the process of their grief and healing in a very public way. I am impressed by their generosity of spirit to involve all area dance companies. I am touched to my core by their need to continue to dance. As we all must.

Bad things can happen in small communities. But small communities know how to come together to prevail.

-Lucinda McDermott Piro

Like some might think, Southwest Virginia is nothing but a bunch of farms, land, and nothing to do. I will admit that I was ONCE one of those people. I am originally from Chesapeake, VA. where there are things and events going on all the time. I am close to the beach, am surrounded by numerous restaurants, and have an array of options when it comes to finding “something to do.” I am now a senior at Radford University, and people still ask me “Why did you decide to go there? There’s nothing to do in that area!” I’m not going to lie, coming to SWVA from the coast was a big change; but not necessarily a bad one.

As I said before I am a senior at RU and have been playing soccer all four of my years here. Playing soccer and participating in extracurricular activities has given me the opportunity to travel to different states as well as to the many different areas of the SWVA region. Blacksburg has a great main street that is filled with a variety of shops and restaurants. Even though some of the restaurants look small and pretty much like “a hole in the wall,” you would be surprised on how amazing their food really is. The stores and shops are great and you can find things that you wouldn’t normally find in a larger suburban area. One word can describe Christiansburg, “unlimited.” Talk about restaurants; I can name 10 right off the top of my head. There is a mall, a Wal-mart, Target!, I mean what else do you need? Harrisonburg is also “blowing up” per se. For outdoorsy people, there are countless amounts of parks, hiking trails, and beautiful sites to see that you certainly couldn’t get or endure being in a city where you are surrounded by nothing but buildings. With an abundance of things to do, why do people still hold this everlasting thought that Southwest Virginia is a bunch of “nothing”? And trust me, I haven’t even come close to naming everything that this region has to offer. Seriously, not even close.

Being a young adult and living life to the fullest, I can see myself reaching my goals and enjoy doing so in Southwest Virginia.

My name is Chelsea Archer and I am currently a senior at Radford University. I have played soccer all four years for my school and I love to just hang out with my friends. I’ll be graduating in May with a degree in Communication and will be returning to Radford next year to finish my Master’s degree in Corporate and Professional Communication.

This past Tuesday night, April 29th, 2008, Southwest Virginia lost one of its greatest promoters. Dr. Forrest Benedict Green, better known to friends as “Fess” died after holding on for a week in intensive care from being struck by a car while riding his bike at the entrance to Bisset Park in Radford. He was a professor in management at Radford University, a historian, and a civic leader. It was a tragic end for this larger than life man whose 2003 book “Wilderness Road Odyssey” was based on his bicycling the 850 miles of the Wilderness Road over a period of four years.

I worked with Fess on a project for putting together a documentary on the Wilderness Road. I chuckled when I read that his RU colleague and fellow Pathways member Liz Altieri referred to him as a “bulldog”. She meant that if he had a viewpoint different from yours, he would firmly hold his ground. The last time I saw Fess was in a meeting for the Wilderness Road Documentary Group. We got into a passionate discussion about historic integrity. Fess didn’t back down, nor did I. But because of that we both came to an understanding and quality filled collaboration—not compromise. If you’d like a sample of his delicious tenacity, read this article he wrote in which he challenges other historians.

Fess was a dedicated cyclist and very detailed oriented. I’m sure he would take every safety precaution possible. Nearing retirement, he and his wife have been building a home on the South Carolina shore. It’s too sad. The driver of the car which struck Fess, Ryan Brinkley Sherman was only 20 years old. At the time of this writing, he has not been charged.

Twenty years old. Fess was sixty-seven.

Life is so fragile. It’s easy for me to get stuck in the pondering of age and what that means, and the argument of “life is short” vs. “life is long”. I’m sure if Fess could speak he would argue with “life is short”, and Mr. Sherman going through whatever he is currently living through must be feeling, “life is long.” Fess’s students have an exam of his to take tomorrow. Many of them will be pondering these questions as well, and most likely feel very, very strange and sad.

Southwest Virginia is grateful for Fess’s short life. He was a charter member of the Pathways group which has created beautiful trails for walking and biking in Wildwood Park and Bisset Park along the New River. Pathways is sponsoring a Ride of Silence on Wed. May 21 to honor Fess. Check their website for further details.

With his book behind him, Fess was a driving force in getting the Wilderness Road designated with Virginia Tourism. This is just a partial list of his accomplishments. The whole United States is grateful for Fess’s contributions in the armed forces, particularly in Vietnam. Seems weird to have survived Vietnam, only to be struck down by a careless driver at the entrance to the park he helped enhance.

There will be a celebration of Fess’s life Sunday, May 4 at 7pm at the Ken Bondurant Auditorium in Preston Hall at Radford University. The Green family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Fess Green Wildwood Park Memorial Fund in-care-of Pathways for Radford. Pathways will be on hand at the celebration to accept donations, and starting May 5th will accept online donations at http://www.radfordpl.org/pathways/.

They can also be mailed to:

Fess Green Wildwood Park Memorial Fund
c/o Pathways for Radford
P.O. Box 1283
Radford, VA 24143

If anyone would like to share Fess’s experience of biking the Wilderness Road, read his marvelous book based on his journal writings while biking the trails from 1994 to 1998. “Wilderness Road Odyssey”, ISBN-13: 9780936015941, can be ordered from the publisher, Pocahontas Press by going to their website at http://www.pocahontaspress.com/. If you’d like to try biking the Wilderness Road yourself, visit http://www.cyclingdoubleheader.com/WRR.html where folks can go on an organized bike tour.

Life is short, so live it up. Life is long, so fill it up.

Happy trails, Fess.

-Lucinda McDermott Piro

Teenagers.

Does the phrase raise the hair on your neck? Unpleasant memories? Current fears?

My husband and I have been working with the youth group at our church for the last couple of years—actually, with another parishioner, we started the group because, being a small church, there wasn’t one. Sunday School stopped after the 6th grade and we realized that a lot of the teens in the church were drifting away at a time when they probably needed an entity that could love and support them most. So we started Teens @ Grace, or T@G. None of us had any background in youth ministries. In fact, I would say all of us would be the last pick for such a venture. But we knew that the kids in our community needed something. There is no place in our town of Radford other than the library that is appropriate for teens to hang out and do the socializing that is so necessary to their social development. Okay—that sounds really antiseptic—but where can a teen go to be with other teens that is safe?

We started a teen club that would meet once a month called Club 210 (the address was 210 4th Street). High school garage bands could play there and we accepted a donation for a different charity each month. We converted the basement of the church to look as much like a club as we could; lights, stage, biggums speakers. . . When we could get the bands, it was a great evening and successful. Sadly, our lives have become busier and we can’t maintain the club as we did. I wish we could have the club going every week on a Friday night. Imagine if someone decided that for a business? Or how about the equivalent for a Chuckie Cheese for teens? In areas that have Books-A-Millions, and Barnes and Nobles, I hear the teens hang out there. Malls become a gathering place, but because of that many have curfews for anyone 18 and under without a parent have been imposed. One of my freshmen college students was kicked out of a Roanoke mall recently because she was 18 and with friends.

Does your community have a safe and appropriate place for teens to socialize? Wouldn’t an investment like that symbolize an investment of the community’s future?

We were able to arrange a rebuilding mission trip to New Orleans last year, and are planning another trip this summer. For the past three years the T@G kids have collected toys for a local Christmas toy charity, and they’ve done other helpful work in the community. I’ve watched some progress from sullen, seemingly apathetic bystanders to a step-in-and-take-charge helper. I saw perspectives change before my eyes when we entered New Orleans and they realized how truly blessed they were. I saw the light of understanding turn on when one fifteen year old heard a single mother tell of life for her and her three teenage children in a small FEMA trailer. These evolutions are stunningly beautiful to me, and I’m quite proud to have played a part. It’s one of the reasons I came back home to a smaller area—to be able to engage in something bigger than myself.

So I highly recommend engaging with the children in your community in some way. There’s no better investment. After all, they ARE the future.

-Lucinda McDermott Piro

Not until I started going to school at Virginia Tech have I witnessed a town with such an affinity for being “local.” With the new Wal-Mart moving into Blacksburg and additional “big-box” retailers popping up all over Southwest Virginia, is it going to be possible to “Be Local” within the next ten years? Is Southwest Virginia just going to turn into every other town in Northern Virginia, with the same retail chains scattered across a ten mile radius?

In a recent article, The Roanoke Times writes about big-box retailers, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, that are threatening the existence of local wilderness shops. It is expressed by local shop owners that the only advantage these big-box retailers have over them is size. Local shops have unique product lines and employees with an abundance of knowledge; two qualities that big-box retailers lack. So, if the products and customer service of local vendors both outshine big-box retailers, why do they continue to be built in Southwest Virginia?

My name is Mackenzie Ebling and I am currently a senior at Virginia Tech. In my spare time I enjoy hanging out with my friends and watching the Food Network. I will be graduating from Virginia Tech this May with a major in Marketing Management.

One of my fondest childhood memories is going with my Dad to the hardware store. Actually, in Glasgow, Virginia, the hardware store was also the general store. If you were lucky enough to have lived long enough to have a memory of life before Home Depot and Lowe’s, then you know what I’m talking about.

First, there’s the building. Two or three steps up on worn treads that went the length of the structure. A narrow porch and through two tall windowed doorways into a darkened and deep space that seemed to stretch out to forever with shelves and shelves of everything you would ever possibly need. And ahhhhh! the smell… Sawdust, nails, sweet feed, seeds and tobacco. I remember the bins of nails and screws. They looked so luscious! I wanted to sink my hands into them, cupping the nails as if they were water but OUCH! These stores were tactile. They were sensory-overload potential. They were warm, and people knew your name and offered you an ice cream sandwich or nutty-buddy from the freezer. You could get what you needed to mend the fence and cook dinner all at the same time.

Blue tin cookware and overalls. Painter pants and aprons. Canned goods and saws. Wrenches and ceramic depictions of Jesus. A round of rat cheese next to pickled pigs’ feet and Slim Jims. Old men in rockers on the front porch; “My, my, look at how you’ve grown! Good golly, Billy Mac, she’s a weed!”

Where are those stores now? Where are those places where our beloved senior citizens can rock and keep an eye on the community? Do we honor them with a front row seat in our towns, or do we hide them away in politely titled places like “Senior Centers”?

Do we have stores or community places where it is safe for children to congregate with kids their own age, or to interact meaningfully with other generations? Do we make the children in our community feel welcomed or valued on a daily basis?

In our effort to grow Southwest Virginia, are we making the effort to retain what makes us unique?

-Lucinda McDermott Piro