News

Across Virginia,  thousands of children have been diagnosed with a variety of mental health conditions like Autism... Bi-polar... Schizophrenia... Depression.

Bob Bersson debuts a new occasional feature on The Spark, short, creative non-fiction, with his story “The Cairo Rooster.”

Jeff McCormack’s long relationship with plants includes starting Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Garden Medicinals and Culinaries, co-founding Virginia Plant Savers, and being lead author of Bush Medicine of the Bahamas,  an ethno-botanical study of the native uses of medicinal plants on San Salvador Island.

JMU Math Professor Laura Taalman talks about the joy(?) of higher mathematics and Sudoku.

JMU student Shanell Dowling reads “Won’t You Celebrate With Me” a poem by Lucille Clifton,  in honor of Black History Month.

Who makes up the Occupy movement in Virginia?

To honor Black History Month, JMU student Kirsten Warne reads Major Jackson’s poem Urban Renewal XVIII.

Hop grower Stan Driver talks about his fantastical vines, and the burgeoning Virginia hop-growing business.

Blue Mountain Brewery Hops

Realist painter Todd Kenton Yoder talks about his approach to painting and his desire to tell a story with his work.

When Staunton’s Ellen Butchart unexpectedly lost her job working on the creative side of Rosetta Stone, she responded by going back to school for an MBA in sustainable business.