Advising Alger
On this edition of The Spark: Martha Woodroof steps aside and lends the interview chair to JMUPresident Jon Alger.
View ArticleHow I See Me In You
On this episode of The Spark: Martha Woodroof speaks with Jennifer Lockard Connerley, who paints portraits that, she admits, contain something of herself.
View ArticleA Finely Tuned Machine
On this edition of The Spark: Skilled piano technician John Schaldach shows there’s more ways than just performance to be involved in making beautiful music.
View ArticlePressing On
On This Edition of The Spark: Emily Hancock loves language and words, and also loves old-fashioned methods of printing them. She revels in using vintage foot-powered or hand-cranked presses, and...
View ArticleInspired by Elkton Life
On this episode of The Spark: As we heard in part one of Martha's conversation with now-retired Sara Robinson, she was an early woman cracker of the glass ceiling. This week we hear that Sara, who was...
View ArticleAdjusting to Life After Combat
On this episode of The Spark: Rusty Noesner retired two years ago after six years in the Navy. He spent five of those years as a Navy Seal, including a year of combat duty in Afghanistan. These days he...
View ArticleGoodnight Songs
On this episode of The Spark: Batesville's Emily Gary and her musical partner, Tom Proutt, recently collaborated to set a hidden trove of the late Margaret Wise Brown's previously unpublished poems to...
View ArticleBorn to Read
On this episode of The Spark: Last fall, high school junior Eleanor Alger took time out from her honors classes, busy extra-curricular life, and college tours to read some 500 children's books. Eleanor...
View ArticleDyed by Her Own Hand
On this episode of The Spark: Harrisonburg's Claudia McClain picked up her knitting years ago when she put down alcohol. And not being able to find the right yarns, she decided to design and...
View ArticleSay Hello to the Hemp Bus
On this episode of The Spark: Meet industrial hemp farmer Rick Trojan, who has been traveling across the country in the, “Hemp Bus,” advocating for the production of Hemp.
View ArticleHistory With a Soundtrack
On this episode of The Spark: Author Preston Lauterbach says he likes history that has a soundtrack – hence his first two books: The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ’n’ Roll, and Beale Street...
View ArticleFinding Your Voice
On this episode of The Spark: Dick Orange has always loved to sing. So when he moved to the Charlottesville area after a long career as a teacher and school administrator, Dick decided to make singing...
View ArticleVirginia's Climate... a Story of Change
On this episode of The Spark: Martha speaks with climate journalist and research scholar Stephen Nash. He discusses his passion for telling the stories that illustrate climate change in our state and...
View ArticleDeployed, and On Guard
On this episode of The Spark: Scott Price discusses his time in the Army. Scott, as a VMI graduate and Army Captain, wanted nothing more than to be a good soldier.
View ArticleA Poet Emerges
On this episode of The Spark: Part two of our conversation with Scott Price. Scott had never wanted anything but a career in the Army. Then a back injury took his career, his marriage failed, and he...
View ArticleMaking a New Home in The Valley
On this episode of The Spark: Anastasia Suslaev came to America at the age of 10, knowing two words of English. Since then she'd gotten her undergraduate degree from Eastern Mennonite, her Masters from...
View ArticleCuba Bound
On this episode of The Spark: Peter Van Acker, and his wife Susan, have traveled all over the world. They recently went to Cuba because they wanted to experience the island before the expected flood of...
View ArticleCuba's Amazing Cars
On this episode of The Spark: Martha continues her conversation with Peter Van Acker about his merry Cuban adventures... and they talk a lot about the amazing cars he came across.
View ArticleGetting Your Duck Pins in a Row
On this episode of The Spark: Cory Lay tells us how he stumbled upon an opportunity to become a Duck Pin Bowling technician at Harrisonburg's new Ruby's Arcade.
View ArticleThe Dreaded BluesLady
WMRA's Martha Woodroof meets Waynesboro blues singer Lorie Strother, who grew up living on the streets of Boston. Now, even though she’s got five children, a master’s degree and a good job, she still...
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