by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Jan 29, 2019 | Viewpoint
Paper Power For almost 75 years, we’ve put ink on paper to tell the cooperative story. Even in this digital age, we believe that print is still a powerful communications medium. February 2019 This magazine you’re reading was born in 1946, in the fresh dawn of a world...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Jan 1, 2019 | Viewpoint
Wise Words from Washington … … George Washington, that is. Father of our country. Our first and one of our finest presidents. Native of Virginia’s Northern Neck. Little remembered today, his 1796 Farewell Address contains warnings and wisdom that still ring true at...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Nov 1, 2018 | Viewpoint
Homeplace Going home is the perfect way to celebrate the sacred days that close out the calendar year. November-December 2018 All of us have a homeplace: it may be the place of our birth, where our forebears dwelled, where we were raised, or where the gravitational...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Sep 28, 2018 | Viewpoint
Our North Star Cooperatives are an enduring testament to the power of shared principles and local purpose. October 2018 October is a time of outdoor change and indoor reflection. Of gathering in, and giving back. Of chilly nights under the gossamer gaze of a hunter’s...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Aug 31, 2018 | Viewpoint
An Ode to Solitude Once in a while it’s refreshing, restorative … and essential … to spend some time with just yourself. September 2018 We’re social animals. Yet the need to get away is ancient and universal. When English poet George Gordon Byron wrote the passages...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Aug 1, 2018 | Viewpoint
Binding Wounds, Visible & Invisible A veterans-support organization is issuing a national call to arms to make sure that those who served in uniform receive the help they need to heal on the outside … and the inside. August 2018 Woodrow Wilson Reeves was my...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Jun 30, 2018 | Viewpoint
Summertime Magic Remembering vacation trips with family … and long, languid days with boyhood friends, doing everything we wanted, and sometimes nothing at all. July 2018 For the 16th consecutive summer, we’re publishing in our July issue the best entries in our youth...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | May 31, 2018 | Viewpoint
Just Another Electrifying Day The electric service that we often take for granted is actually a critical ingredient in the daily rhythms and rituals of family life. June 2018 Eeeekkk! Eeeekkk! Eeeekkk! A groggy head stirs in the pillow’s soft valley. Eyes open...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | May 1, 2018 | Viewpoint
Hear the Falconer! The digital age has expanded our horizons. But it’s also shrunken our shared experience … and created some challenges for our resilient republic. May 2018 More than half a century on, it remains a vivid memory. “Duck and cover.” In the early...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Mar 1, 2018 | Viewpoint
Get-up-n-Go to the Gaff-n-Go! In early May, you can watch over 150 lineworkers eager to demonstrate their climbing, rescuing, power-restoring skills at the largest rodeo in the East for the pros who keep the lights on. March-April 2018 In the idol worship of youth in...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Jan 31, 2018 | Viewpoint
A Place Apart Nestled into a corner of west-central Virginia is our highest and least-populous county, Highland. While its Maple Festival annually draws tens of thousands of visitors over two weekends, a true appreciation of its wonders is only possible through visits...
by Richard Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor | Dec 31, 2017 | Viewpoint
56 American Heroes Our nation’s founders risked it all for a chance at self-governance, and ended up building the finest, freest and longest-lasting democracy in history. January 2018 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they...