Column: Diagnosed But Not Sick
Having/being diagnosed with cancer/a terminal disease is neither fun nor funny; however, unless I find some humor or wishful thinking in how I approach this situation, I don’t suppose I’ll be approaching it much longer. To me, it’s always been mind over matter, and even though these matters are rather serious, I still don’t mind.
Editorial: About the Gazette, a Connection Newspaper
The paper you're reading, the Mount Vernon Gazette is one of 15 papers published by the independent, locally owned Local Media Connection LLC, serving the suburbs of Metropolitan Washington in Northern Virginia and Potomac, Md.
Commentary: Feds Approve Voting Law Changes
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice approved Virginia’s voting law changes for use in the Nov. 6 election. Many are questioning why DOJ approved the changes.
Letter: Expand Use of Sworn Testimony
August is a good month to take a step back and think about what improvements can be made in the discourse occurring in the civic arena. In August, the Board of Supervisors (BOS), Planning Commission (PC), Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), and Park Authority (FCPA) are all in recess along with the MVCCA.
Letter: Supports Natural Resource Parks
I write to clarify the position of the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia on the development of Westgrove Park, in response to Jay Spiegel's Aug. 15 letter to the Mount Vernon Gazette.
Column: Life in the Cancer Lane
Having been there and done that now for three and a half years certainly helps. And however familiar it may be and/or has become, it doesn’t exactly help to pass the time or affect the results, unfortunately. Cancer sucks! That much is clear. Now and in the future.
Editorial: Starting School Prepared
First day of school is Sept. 4; local nonprofits provide school supplies and weekend food.
With school beginning in a few weeks, area charitable organizations have been collecting contributions of new backpacks, calculators, other school supplies, money and gift cards and winter coats to help the tens of thousands of truly needy Northern Virginia students.
Column: A Pill a Day…
Hopefully will keep the cancer at bay. (I’d say “away,” but let’s be realistic, three and a half years past a NSCLC diagnosis, there is no way, generally speaking, that stage IV lung cancer disappears into the ether; it’s classified as stage IV for a reason.
Column: Derive to Survive
Now that I can taste food again, or rather have food taste like normal again, my attitude is much improved.
On the Way To Improving U.S. 1 North of Fort Belvoir
The other day, I came across and article about the widening of Route 1 in Woodbridge. Between that and the coming federally-funded widening through Fort Belvoir, I often get queries from constituents who want to know why Route 1 is being improved there, but not between Woodlawn and the Beltway. There are two reasons — planning and money.
Column: Choosing My Words, Respectively
It has been brought to my attention by some regular Kenny-column readers – who are friends, too, and whose opinions I value, that my most recent batch of “cancer columns” (as I call them) were not funny; in fact, they were more depressing and negative than anything, and not nearly as uplifting and hopeful as many of my previous columns have been.
Editorial: Readers Respond on TJ Admissions
"Stop making smart 8th graders feel inferior because they are not admitted."
Readers responded to last week's editorial, which cited a civil rights complaint about the apparent lack of access to gifted and talented programs and admission to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
Column: A Life Worth Living, Still
It might be my age (as in getting older), or it might be the fact that I have cancer (you think?), but my brain and the related physical and mental tasks it coordinates are not exactly working at peak efficiency.
Editorial: Separate and Unequal?
If we don't believe that poor students are less innately talented, then the disparities in Northern Virginia are truly unfair.
The numbers are eye-popping. Latino students are 22 percent of Fairfax County Public Schools students, but 2.7 percent of the incoming Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology freshman class, the class of 2016. Of the 480 students, seven are black. That's 1.4 percent, while black students are 10 percent of the county school system.
Column: Circumstances Be Damned
If only it were as easy to actually live it as it is to write it. As much as I believe what I write, it’s still difficult to ignore certain facts (“the underlying diagnosis,” as I often refer to my diagnosis) and the feelings associated with it.