| Hattie Friedman loves to go to her schoolâs library and admires the librarians there. Hattie said she has not found a book she felt was inappropriate in a school library. The worst, she said, is some cursing. When the eighth-grader heard about attempts to restrict access to books that might be considered inappropriate for students, she said, she worried what could happen. âThe books would basically just be Dr. Seuss picture books if they wanted to do that,â Hattie said. For more than a year, Virginia Beach has had a series of debates about the content of books and whom should be allowed to categorize or have access to them. The latest iteration is a policy proposal for school library books that is under consideration now by the school board. The result so far has been disagreements among the public and officials and a concern from some board members about the possible repercussions of their vote. Read more in the Sunday Main News section
Becky Morrison, a 30-year Poquoson High School teacher, was selected by Joint Base Langley-Eustis as the 2023 âHometown Hero.â She spent Friday flying in the back seat of an F-16 Thunderbird as the aerial performers practiced for this weekendâs Air Power over Hampton Roads air show. Morrison, an 11th grade history teacher, created the âPoquoson Veterans Projectâ at the start of the 2017-18 school year. The project paired Morrisonâs advanced placement history students with a local veteran with the goal of bridging the gap between students and veterans. Read more in the Sunday Main News section Dr. William R. Harvey enjoyed many moments of athletic celebration in his 44 years as president of Hampton University. None surpassed hugging the cheerleaders and players on-court in Boise, Idaho, in the pandemonium following the No. 15-seeded Piratesâ 58-57 upset of No. 2 Iowa State in the 2001 menâs basketball NCAA Tournament. In their sixth year in Division I, the Pirates had long since outgrown the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. They moved in 1995 to Division I and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, then to the Big South in 2018 and, this academic year, to the Colonial Athletic Association. Receiving the CIAA Jimmy Jenkins Legacy Leadership Award in Baltimore in February â eight months after retiring as Hampton president â brought Harvey full-circle as he reflected on his legacy in collegiate athletics. Read more in the Sunday Main News section
Having devoted the latter part of his life to preserving Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, Richard A. Stewart, the islandâs honorary mayor, is gone, dead at age 79. In the wake of the stalwart community historianâs death, though, the island lives on, primed for its second wind. As it did during his lifetime, Stewartâs presence looms large on Pocahontas Island, a community of some 70 acres bordered on three sides by the Appomattox River, just over the bridge from mainland Petersburg. The islandâs documented roots reach back to 1732, when enslaved people were first taken there to work in tobacco warehouses. By 1800, more than 300 free Black people lived and worked there, making it one of the largest communities of its kind in America. Stewart owned and operated the islandâs Black history museum, founded in 2006. The two-story yellow clapboard house trimmed in brown today is stuffed with artifacts he collected during his lifetime, including old-fashioned agricultural tools, 19th-century horseshoes, photographs and art, a Ku Klux Klan robe and a set of shackles likely used in the restraint of enslaved people. Read how to contribute in the Sunday Break section
âJustice, justice thou shalt pursue.â â Deuteronomy 16:20 And boy, did she ever! The âNotorious RBGâ (surely the least likely but most appropriate street name ever meme-etically conferred on a Supreme Court justice) was famous for pursuing, even harrowing, her elusive prey, Justice. In the Virginia Arts Festival one-person play that rocked the sold-out Attucks Theatre on Tuesday, Ginsburg (channeled, even embodied, by actor Michelle Azar) owned the controversy over her staying in office too long, thereby enabling Donald Trump, whom she detested, eventually to appoint a third conservative justice after she died in 2020. Ginsburgâs excuse/explanation was simple: She was certain Hillary would win. Or it could be, as âAll Things Equal,â by supercharged playwright Rupert Holmes intimates, that, having herself been pursued and harrowed by Death all her life (the death of her sister in childhood, her mother at age 48, and her beloved husband, Marty, later in life), Ginsburg may have thought sheâd finally learned how to beat the Reaper by personally defeating his minion, cancer, so many times. Read more in the Sunday Break section
Real estate agents give a variety of items to their clients to celebrate the closing of their new home â such as a bottle of wine, a gift basket, flowers, a home warranty, professional services or gift cards. Richard Calderon, a real estate agent with RW Towne Realty, gives the gift of a helicopter ride in the skies above Hampton Roads. âI feel like this is just more memorable, and it showcases the area,â he said. A former Navy aircrewman and California native, Calderon said the idea came about because he missed flying. Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section
J.R. and Amy Anderson are so proud of their son, Ethan. The sophomore has started in all 48 games for the nationally-ranked Virginia Cavaliers, who are No. 14 in Baseball America and No. 21 in D1Baseball.com. Anderson, a Cox High grad, is ranked in the top five in all of the Cavaliersâ offensive categories, including first in doubles (22), third in average (.388), hits (76) and on-base %, and fourth in runs (48), homers (7) and slugging % (.607). But what brings them even more joy is seeing what their son is doing off the field.
Read more in the Sunday Sports section Note To Readers: A reminder that Parade magazine is now only found along with your e-edition of either The Virginian-Pilot or Daily Press each Sunday morning. Print copies of Parade magazine ceased after the November 13th issue.
Don Johnson
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