Oliver!

My musings of summer return me to a memorable Danville Public Schools summer musical of 1991 (there you go, Spiro T. Agnew). Our production was Oliver! held in the auditorium of Bonner Middle School under the direction of Marcia Dalton. Danny Davis had put together an orchestra; and he was our music director. Marcia... Read More

Essays

August 8, 2024

Inside the Method of Acting with David Phillips

Pulling up to rehearsal on a Harley Davidson with a big, burly beard and covered in tattoos, David Phillips is not your average actor, nor your average biker. Phillips has been acting for over 40 years, getting his start in his seventh-grade drama class. His drama teacher, Mrs. Johnson, took the class on a... Read More

Action

August 6, 2024

Inside OWE Arts & Culture: Meesha Walker

It wasn’t in art class that Meesha Walker first discovered and began to develop her artistic talent, but rather during her other classes, when she would find herself doodling in the margins of her notebooks. Those class-time doodles began to extend to lunch breaks and other free time. When anime became popular again in the... Read More

Collage

August 4, 2024

Schadenfreude Tuesday (A Mamie and Solly Story)

(Scene: On Wednesday, Mamie is driving a minivan pulling a rental trailer, jammed with consignment furniture that didn’t sell, on the road toward home, 900-miles away. She and husband Solly are rehashing what happened the day before.) Mamie (singing the first phrase, then speaking): On the road again … glad it’s Wednesday … view out... Read More

Fiction

August 2, 2024

A Golden Legacy: Danville Museum Celebrates 50 Years of Art and History

Nestled in the Old West End of Danville, the Sutherlin Mansion stands as a silent witness to the city’s rich tapestry of history. For the past half-century, this stately Italianate villa has been home to the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History (DMFAH), an institution that has become the cultural cornerstone of the community.... Read More

Cover Features

July 12, 2024

Movies You Missed from 20 Years Ago: Catwoman

Catwoman (1/10 Rating) Released July 23, 2004 Streaming on Amazon Prime. For rent/purchase on all major platforms. Genre: Superhero, Action, Crime, Fantasy PG-13: Action violence and some sensuality. 1h 44m I should be reviewing Before Sunset, the brilliant sequel to Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, both movies in the top 250 movies of all time... Read More

Movies You Missed

July 11, 2024

Dads (A Mamie and Solly Story)

“Tea?” asked Mamie, turning her head toward him, raising her eyebrows. Solly glanced at her from the driver’s seat, seeing a slender woman, endearingly familiar, proffering a traveler’s mug with a dangling tea bag string. In the air conditioner’s gentle breeze, her graying hair stirred in rhythm with the string. “Sure,” he... Read More

Fiction

July 10, 2024

Eclipse Over Danville

I’m writing on a “partly cloudy, “partly sunny” (meteorologist terminology) day. Clouds sometimes obscure the sun, subduing the glow from above, and shading the glow of spring’s later-blooming perennials from below. But these clouds make for a more “normal” dimming of the day than that seen back on April 8th: the eclipse of the sun.... Read More

Essays

July 9, 2024

Catch or Caught

Transferred, that concept, beauty, to a fifty-yard pass, its ark a rainbow might envy, its sure-handed catch a combination of concentration as perfect as your stare from a crowded room when I wonder if its reception is mine to snare.

Poet's Corner

July 9, 2024

Inside OWE Arts & Culture: Chris Stovall

Chris Stovall was born into a musical family. His father was a jazz musician and his mother, a vocalist, also liked to draw. With this background, Chris, a visual artist, illustrator, and muralist, is both inspired and motivated by music. “I’m a musically based creator,” Chris told us regarding his creative process. “I enter into... Read More