Author Archives: Doug Cumming

I just received the sad news that Lou Hodges, the elder statesman of this Journalism & Mass Communications department,  has died at the age of 83. Farmer, preacher, professor, profane and funny Christian ethicist, the grumpy and joyous man who … Continue reading →

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Nov. 16, 2015 The lay governing body of Lexington, Va.’s historic Episcopal church voted 9-6 to remove the name R.E. Lee from the church’s name, falling one vote short of the super-majority of 10 it needed to … Continue reading →

The late Marshall Frady, a New Journalism magazine writer from Georgia, wrote in a way that gave some of us a sugar high. Others felt his prose was too rich. Anyway, when I dip back into his books, I find … Continue reading →

from the book Bylines: Writings from the American South, 1963 to 1997, by Joseph B. Cumming, Jr., 2010. Joe Cumming was a most unusual sort of journalist. For twenty-two years he covered the American South for Newsweek magazine, the very … Continue reading →

They tied a body bag around Cyrus Hall McCormick. The next day, I discovered what they were doing to this bronze campus statue of one of our biggest donors. They were catalyzing the greenish patina back to its original bronze … Continue reading →

“The case of the three species of protozoan (I forget the names) which apparently select differently sized grains of sand, etc., is almost the most wonderful fact I ever heard of. One cannot believe that they have mental power enough … Continue reading →

A good radio voice can work magic, especially in the west African nation of Ghana. Kojo Yankson, visiting our journalism department for the week, has that voice. His father is a biology professor. Kojo had spent about 12 years in … Continue reading →

I. Out of nothing above the infinite falling of snow. I lie on a couch face up watching it fall. The thought of infinite dropping dots fills my mind, silently dropping as numberless as the crumbs of stars scattered across … Continue reading →