This past year has taken on a retrospective aspect both in my working life as editor of this magazine and as a woman and mother making it through life day by day.
I started off 2016 writing about how much has changed in Northern Virginia over the past decade (the magazine just celebrated 10 years!) and what the plans are for the future. As a Northern Virginia native, it wasn’t hard for me to track the growth of the area through my own years. And I wrapped up the year with writing our Insider’s Guide to Northern Virginia for any newcomers who now call this place home and spotlighting local artisans.
So much has happened this past year, locally, nationally and globally, that when looking back I strive to find the positive and the hope that can come from any negative that has happened. And it is not hard to find this combing through the art exhibits and personalities that are striving to make a difference in the area.
Alexandria resident Flory Jagoda, a virtuoso and Holocaust survivor, let us into her life and told us how music is the impassioned legacy of an unforgotten past. Congressman John Lewis spoke with us about how he still puts his faith in the Spirit of History. All of our six Northern Virginians of the Year have made it their life’s mission to give back to the community by supplying female military members with a bit of pampering, advocating for children and those with disabilities and working to make sure our growing immigrant community has a voice. Local author and poet Kwame Alexander has taken his words to the stage at area schools teaching about the empowerment of our words. And at a showing during the Washington West Film Festival in October, we were shown an emotional tale of two local strangers being brought together by the gift of life through a kidney donation.
And in a year where many are being shot and killed by police, it was “nice” to take a look into our own police departments and find the work they are doing to keep our residents safe:
• “Not For Sale: Fairfax County fights growing sex trafficking“
Favorite stories I worked on:
The powerful intersection of neuroscience and visual art in Reston
Glamping: 10 best local spots for camping with the luxuries and comforts of home
Best from local authors:
We Are Still Tornadoes
by Michael Kun & Susan Mullen
St. Martin’s Griffin
Back when a handwritten letter sent through the post office was the way of communication, two recent high school grads, Catherine and Scott, kept their deep friendship going while she was away at college and he was at home working in his dad’s store. Learning to become adults, they riff on the latest music, gossip about their latest relationships and help each other as their families diminish by way of one parent’s adultery and another’s death. With a story told through the letters they write, readers get an intimate look at how a young relationship grows. (November 2016)
The Carnival Campaign
by Ronald G. Shafer
Chicago Review Press
When only white men could vote, election day was in March and the candidates didn’t campaign for themselves, there came “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” The 1840 presidential campaign is what gave us an inkling of the campaign marches of today. Ronald Shafer outlines the story of Whig party candidate Gen. William Harrison’s campaign that brought grassroots programs, rallies and political and personal mudslinging. Now, because of the practices engineered in 1840, we have them to thank for the atmosphere of present-day elections. (September 2016)
by John Matthews
Bluebullseye Press
The one place that is a terrorist’s political ground zero is the State of the Union address: All politicians are in-house with the exception of one, who is ferried away to an undisclosed location should something go wrong. John Matthews takes us to this spot of destruction as terrorists make this event a target. From the opening chapter the antcipation is high and only builds throughout the book. NSA operatives are called in to rescue the lawmakers and find those who are responsible for the attack. They are even on the lookout for those standing next to them. (March 2016)
by Jennifer Close
Alfred A. Knopf
After a quick romance in New York City after 9/11, Beth and Matt marry and move to Washington, D.C., so Matt can work on the Obama campaign. Beth loyally follows and has a hard time adjusting to the new city. But once the couple befriends Texas-born White House staffer Jimmy and his wife, Ashleigh, Beth begins to find a life she likes. Drinks, dinners and political talk run the gamut, and soon an invitation for Matt to run Jimmy’s own campaign in Texas turns a close-knit friendship into one of jealousy, angst and infighting. Get a peek into the world of ambition and politics and what it does to relationships. (July 2016)
The Gilded Years
by Karin Tanabe
Atria Books
Ex-Politico writer Karin Tanabe takes readers back to the late 1800s in the Northeast, where college campuses are a playground for young women looking to escape from their parents’ homes and forge lives of their own. But Anita Hemmings has a secret that she must keep to continue this life: She is a black woman attending a college as a white woman. In her three years at Vassar, she has moved under the radar. But her senior year brings a new roommate, romantic intrigue and the possibility of being found out. (June 2016)
Almost Mortal
by Christopher Leibig
köehlerbooks
Alexandria lawyer Christopher Leibig takes readers into the world of Sam Young, a public defender with a knack for truly understanding people. It isn’t until there is a serial killer on the loose and a confluence of multiple clients that his psychic abilities go full throttle. Readers are enticed with mystery and intrigue, and the strong cast of characters mingle this world’s morality with a higher power’s true intentions for mankind. (May 2016)
Outside the Magazine:
Favorite books I read this year:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem
You’ll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein
Shows I binge-watched:
Stranger Things I’m a child of the ’80s, and, sans the monsters and alternate worlds, this brought me back.
Vikings This show is a mix of Sons of Anarchy (which I loved!) and the good seasons of True Blood.
The Crown I was a fan of Mad Men and Downton Abbey, so this was a perfect option to fill the historical show spot.
The election (it has to be mentioned):
The election took up a lot of my time this year. The standouts I take away from it:
Megyn Kelly and Katy Tur. Both of these women journalists shined this election cycle.
And what I did to avoid it …
This year, technically the end of last year, we became a cat and dog family (dogs: Jax, 3, Penny Lane, 2; cats: Casper and Gidget, both 1) so my husband and I de-stress by watching bizarre videos of cats and dogs.
Cat in a bath (if it could only be this easy)
Weird dancing with cats workout of the ’70s
