By Bill Edgin: Growing up in Tomball, TX, I knew I was gay by the time I entered high school. But I also knew to bury this secret deep and never tell anyone, as I had been taught from an…
Category: First Person
First Person: For me, Sen. Saslaw’s track record and moral fiber make him the obvious choice
By Mimi Dash: Experience matters. Look no further than across the Potomac River at the job House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing to an inexperienced president and administration. But as our Democratic Party drifts further and further to the left,…
First Person: Want to know what matters most to Fairfax high school students? Let one tell you
By Trisha Rahman: As a student currently attending a Fairfax County Public high school, I am familiar with many of the issues high school students care about. Yes, we think about test scores, our football team stats, even Ariana Grande’s…
First Person: A visit from Dick Saslaw convinced me to support Yasmine Taeb
By Julie Galdo: Recently I had a visit from State Sen. Dick Saslaw (D-35) for the first time in 36 years living in Falls Church, and I was disappointed. Instead of sharing why he was running again, Sen. Saslaw spent…
Sonny Schick, 50-year host of Mason Crab Feast, remembered
Mason District Democratic Committee has lost one of its favorite sons. Adolph “Sonny” Schick was known to many as the host of the annual Mason District Crab Feast but had many more facets to him, as shown in the following…
Resolutions: For me, myself and a better planet
Ed. Note: Are you making resolutions for the New Year? Tell us about them! newsletter@fairfaxdemocrats.org By Mala Rajamani: As I disentangle from the anticipations, the optimism and the ‘joie de vivre’ of the holiday season, and peer into the year…
First Person: After knocking on the door, dialogue helped find common ground
By Brandon Thurner: “What are Abby’s views on energy, specifically nuclear power?” “We commute to work – what can Abby do to fix the traffic back-ups on I-95?” The young couple had recently relocated to central Virginia from deep-red Alabama…
First Person: A school shooting is a family matter for me
By John Parks: The Parkland school shooting hit me hard, as teaching runs deep in my family. My mother was a teacher as are two of my children, one a principal. And I have 7 school-age grandchildren. When a shooting…
First Person: Gun violence nightmare persists from school to parenthood
By Kenny Bledsoe: Editor’s Note: Remembering the Columbine mass murder of April 20, 1999, on its 19th anniversary. I was in 9th grade when two teenagers donned black trench coats, armed themselves to the teeth, and set about systematically murdering 12 of…
First Person : Nothing in my military career prepared me for this conversation
By Shyamali Roy Hauth: How does an 18-year old immigrant woman whose parents are both college professors and steeped in a tradition of non-violence end up in the armed forces? I was working three part-time jobs and struggling to pay…
First Person: A hateful encounter just increased my determination
By Marion Stillson: I love distributing literature to the public, using a wheelchair as I have done full time since I was twenty-three. And I am good at it: good at catching the mood of an oncoming pedestrian, good at…
First Person: A stand with youth brings hope
By Linda Liner: Despite the blustery cold, I felt my heart lift watching the students of South Lakes High School in Reston stage a 17-minute walk-out on March 14, exactly one month after the slaughter of 17 students in Parkland,…