Centreville Centre View

The Alexandria Film Festival is celebrating its 20th season by adding a summer film series this year. “We thought we’d pull out all the stops for our 20th anniversary,” Patti North, Founder and Executive Director of the Alexandria Film Festival, explains. “There were just so many good films out there. We went out and looked for films that we thought would interest our audience and chose three curated films from a distributor we often use.” All are Virginia premiers.

Bicyclists do face a number of challenges on the Fairfax County bike trail network but when an e-bike comes flying by at relatively high speeds the danger elevates. In late May, the Fairfax County Police Department was on the scene of a crash involving a vehicle and an e-bike at Cedar Lane and Electric Avenue in Dunn Loring. The adult male cyclist was taken to a local hospital in life-threatening condition.

From the waters of the Potomac River and the city of Alexandria down to the coastal ports of Norfolk, then heading west to the state border, every resident of Virginia would be impacted by NextEra Energy’s proposed $66.8 billion acquisition of Richmond-based Dominion Energy if the deal receives final regulatory approval. The Energy Commission of Virginia met June 9 to address, among other items on its agenda, that specific proposal.

Before 12-year-old Alexa Paino took the floor for her routine at the Junior Women’s Rhythmic Twirl U.S. Trials — the highest competition for a junior American twirler — she grounded herself with a powerful reminder. “I wasn’t comparing myself to the other competitors; I kept telling myself to stay focused on myself and enjoying the experience,” Alexa, a rising eighth grader at St. Mark’s Catholic School in Vienna, said.

The Dolina siblings of McLean represent a generation of strength and athleticism. On May 26, 19-year-old Mikayla Dolina won the Junior 67.5-kilogram division by 50.5 kilograms at the United States Powerlifting Association Ultra Nationals in Anaheim, California. She broke three International Powerlifting League Junior world records with a 423-kilogram total, beating the 2021 record by 23 kilograms. Her lifts included a 158-kilogram squat and a state record 92.5-kilogram bench press.

Richard W. Stewart, retired Colonel, has newly released a book, “Combat Historian” (Collecting and Writing American Special Operations History from Desert Storm to Afghanistan 1991-2002). His book answers the question, “Why did I become a historian at all, let alone a combat historian.” That’s all he ever wanted to be (except briefly when he flirted with being a veterinarian or an astronaut as so many children did in the 60s).

Each spring when May rolls around, everyone is ready to stretch out on the lounge chair by the pool but that has its drawbacks in the form of sun cancer, so early in the month is “Melanoma Monday” to raise awareness. Melanoma is the most invasive skin cancer and can be fatal. It can start as an innocent looking mole or just normal skin with little signs that can become life threatening in just six weeks.

May’s Mental Health Awareness Month is another touchstone to help remind our community about the resources available to them and their loved ones here in our hometown. Chief among these is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Behind each call, text, and chat is a real person. I know this because I lead HopeLink, a regional mental health nonprofit that operates the 988 service for Northern Virginia. We have been connected to this community as a provider of behavioral health services since 1963.

For anyone who has gone down into a dark, damp cellar with a dirt floor, lit by a fading flashlight beam, it is scary enough. It is a place one feels waited for, with draped cobwebs and skittering sounds while being surrounded by the cloying smell of decay — but a cellar below a cellar is worse.

For over 47 years the Skip Castro Band has been a musical component on the east coast, opening for famous blues artists, hitting the college towns, and keeping up the local sound that’s kept them going all these years. They didn’t hit the big time like the Stones or Led Zeppelin, but that’s okay, their name is out there and the members love the rock band lifestyle, so the smiles are genuine.