BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — The day before our nation celebrated independence from the Crown, I got an urgent email that seemed to be from the president of a university where I teach. Except maybe I should mention this email came… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Early last month, I saw an online ad attacking Bobby Hanig, chairperson of the Currituck County, N.C., Board of Commissioners, while he was still seeking the Republican nomination to be the North Carolina State Representatives… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — It started on a Sunday with a basket of unmatched socks, as all great tragedies do. My wife set it in the living room and instructed the kids to pair them. We have three girls, two… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Bobby Vaughan and I spoke well before Veterans Day, when I was working on a story that involved the Farmer Veteran Coalition’s efforts to build strong roots in Virginia, connecting veterans to agriculture. I’d hoped to… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — The words we use matter, and there is a word I care about that is unfairly maligned in our increasingly partisan discourse. That word is rhetoric, misused by opponents of certain ideas as shorthand for what… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Farmer, writer and artist Rick Friday, whose cartoons appear in The Independent News, made national news last year after a cartoon criticizing salaries of Big Ag executives angered an advertiser of Farm News, which canned him.… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE VIRGINIA BEACH — Dr. Kenneth Chandler, deputy city manager in Virginia Beach, spoke with students from eighth through 12th grades last month during the annual African American Male Summit at Princess Anne High School. The event had been… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Everything good in my life comes from joining the U.S. Navy. I came to Hampton Roads, met my future wife, attended college, found work as a reporter, had kids. Et cetera. Service in the Navy is… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — The Independent News seldom gets to engage in the sort of H’wood biz “slanguage” pioneered by Variety. So you may want to sit down before reading on. A glossary of terms appears at the bottom of… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Both The Virginian-Pilot and The Daily Press recently wrote about a TV journalist leaving the Hampton Roads market after a few years, treatment the organizations seldom give their own people. It reflects an absurd understanding of… Continue Reading