Brinton’s Bridges
When the Heavens Open
“Everybody’s come together and just done what we have to do to support each other,” said Kayla Slone to CNN, after eastern Tennessee was recently hit by a devastating flood. “That’s just what we do.” Slone has delivered home-cooked meals to people displaced by the...
Faith and Fitness
As a teenager, Phanta Lansden battled obesity, anxiety, and self-doubt. She was bullied because of her weight. By the time she reached her mid-20s, she weighed almost 300 pounds. Later, as senior pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina,...
Sleepwalking to Catastrophe
In March, the head of the United Nations announced that the world's efforts to combat global warming have been insufficient. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said, "We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.” Climate experts say that limiting...
Remembering a Fifty-Year Flood
Meteorologists use statistical measures to rate rare storms. According to The Baltimore Sun, a "100-year flood means that there is one chance in 100 of a flood or storm in a year. A 500-year flood means there is a 0.2 percent chance." Not that these numbers guarantee...
Hamburgers and Climate Change
‘We are going to be eating the rainforest in our burgers," said a scientist named Holly Gibbs. "This is our moment as Americans to step forward and leverage some pressure to save the world." According to The Washington Post, forest advocates are convinced that...
Brutality is the Point
"For MS-13, the brutality is the point," said Assistant US Attorney Alexander Blanchard. Opening arguments were held on Monday, May 9, in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. On trial were five members of MS-13, accused of kidnapping and killing a 17-year-old and a...
The Past Is Never Dead
"The past is never dead," said William Faulkner in his novel Requiem for a Nun. "It's not even past." He was right. The past emerged several months ago in London, when a well-preserved Roman floor was discovered under the streets. Experts consider the mosaic -- more...
Canary in the Coal Mine
"We are at a moment of reckoning," said Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Unless we take action to reduce carbon pollution, the world will face a warmer and deadlier future. We are at a tipping point, according to a...
Ministry for the Future
It was getting hotter. That’s what Frank May noticed at sunrise, as he looked out the window of his apartment in India. Taking a deep breath, he felt like he was in a sauna. The temperature rose to 103 degrees, with a humidity of 35 percent. Across the city, people...
Night of Terror
A new memorial has been built on the northern bank of the Occoquan River, near the Workhouse Arts Center and the former Lorton Reformatory. When the prison was known as the Occoquan Workhouse, it was the site of the Night of Terror, a turning point in the suffrage...
Sorcery Search
Bible Gateway is a website that allows people to read and search the text of numerous translations of the Bible. In the year 2021, searches for the words "sorcery" and "sorceries" saw the biggest spike, increasing 193 percent over the previous year. The topics people...
Lord of the Rock
Northern Virginia contains a particular granite known as “Occoquan” Granite. According to the Geocaching website, between the Piedmont and Coastal plain regions of Virginia, along the Occoquan basin, resides a major outcrop of Occoquan Granite. This...