More on Virginia.

In the modern age of Virginian history, massive developments came about. In 1964, the world famous Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was opened. By 1976, the Washington Metro began to link Washington, D.C. with the growing population centers in Northern Virginia. By the 1980's, Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads region achieved the greatest growth and prosperity. The reason is mostly because of the employment related to the federal government agencies and defense (and an increase in technology in Northern Virginia) were concentrated in those regions. Shipping in the Port of Hampton Roads started to expand which continues to the 21st century as new container facilities were opened.  Coal piers in Newport News and Norfolk had recorded major gains in export shipments by August 2008. The recent expansion of government programs in the areas near Washington has profoundly affected the economy of Northern Virginia whose population has experienced large growth and great ethnic/ cultural diversification, exemplified by communities such as Tysons Corner, Reston and dense, urban Arlington. The subsequent growth of defense projects has also generated a local information technology industry. In recent years, intolerably heavy commuter traffic and the urgent need for both road and rail transportation improvements have been a major issue in Northern Virginia. The Hampton Roads region has also experienced much growth, as have the western suburbs of Richmond in both Henrico and Chesterfield Counties. On January 13, 1990, Douglas Wilder was the first African American to be elected as Governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction when he was elected Governor of Virginia. That was a very historic time. Douglas Wilder worked among many levels of government before he was elected governor. Wilder governed as a centrist when he was in office. Virginia developed information technology locations during the days of Internet plus network communication. In 1993, the Washington area had the largest service providers. In 1996, the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia first accepted women applicants. In 2000, more than half of all Internet traffic flowed along the Dulles Toll Road. The Pentagon was attacked in 2001 in Arlington, Virginia by extremists.

By 2016, 70 percent of the world's internet traffic flowed though Loudoun County.  Bill von Meister founded two Virginia companies that played major roles in the commercialization of the Internet: McLean, Virginia based The Source and Control Video Corporation, forerunner of America Online. While short-lived, The Source was one of the first online service providers alongside CompuServe. On hand for the launch of The Source, Isaac Asimov remarked "This is the beginning of the information age." The Source helped pave the way for future online service providers including another Virginia company founded by von Meister, America Online (AOL). AOL became the largest provider of Internet access during the Dial-up era of Internet access. AOL maintained a Virginia headquarters until the then-struggling company moved in 2007. In 2006, former Governor of Virginia Mark Warner gave a speech and interview in the massively multiplayer online game Second Life, becoming the first politician to appear in a video game. In 2003, over 1 million customers lost electricity due to Hurricane Isabel. I lived through that time. There was the Virginia Tech massacre when one student killed 33 people (including the murderer who committed suicide) in 2007.  In 2007, Virginia speedily passed the nation's first spaceflight act by a vote of 99–0 in the House of Delegates. Northern Virginia company Space Adventures is currently the only company in the world offering space tourism. In 2008, Virginia became the first state to pass legislation on Internet safety, with mandatory educational courses for 11- to 16-year-olds. In 2013, by a slight margin in the Virginia Governor's race, the state of Virginia broke a long acclaimed streak of choosing a governor against the incumbent party within the White House. For the first time in more than thirty years will the Governor and the President be from the same party. There was an Earthquake in Virginia in 2011. I felt it too. In 2019, Ralph Northam is still the Governor of Virginia and Justin Fairfax is the Lieutenant Governor. Rlaph Northam was wrong to be involved in blackface years ago, and Fairfax has been accused of sexual assault against a woman. These controversies remind us that we should always follow the Golden Rule. Racism and sexual assault must be condemned and opposed at every circumstance. I am consistent to believe that Northam and Fairfrax ought to resign, because we can't be hypocrites here. If a far right Republican did something racist, then we condemned it all of the time. If a Democrat does the same thing, then we also ought to condemn that also. We must treat people right, learn, reject bigotry, and believe in justice for all. The old Dominion state of Virginia is representative of America is, and we (who are Virginians) a'int going anywhere.




The culture of Virginia has always been diverse. To understand the culture of Virginia is to understand that much of Virginian culture is Southern culture. Without black people, there is no culture of Virginia. Also, to understand Virginia is to comprehend its region. I live in the Hampton Roads region. We have a distinct culture, geography, occupations, economy, etc. than other regions of Virginia. There is the Eastern Shore, the Chesapeake Bay region, North Virginia, Central Virginia, Southern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, the Blue Ridge Highlands, and Appalachia. I have been to Northern Virginia and the Eastern Shore too in real life. One major part of Virginian culture is the study of colonial Virginia, the Civil War era, and the modern era of our time. There is Colonial Williamsburg, there is the U.S, Civil War Museum, and there are other museums that celebrate the culture of African Americans. Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and other human beings all reside in Virginia. The Piedmont region is most famous for its strong Southern American English dialect. There is the Tidewater accent. Virginia has over 8.5 million people. English, Spanish, and other languages are spoken in the state of Virginia. 62 percent of Virginians are European Americans, 19.8 percent of Virginians are African Americans, 9.4 Virginians are Hispanic people, 6.8 percent of Virginians are Asian Americans, and 2.9 % of Virginians are biracial human beings. 0.5 percent of Virginians are Native Americans and 0.1 percent are Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. Most Native American people live in the Tidewater region. Centuries ago, many people of English and Irish descent lived in Virginia. Scots Irish people heavily were in the northwestern mountains and the Shenandoah Valley.

Most African American Virginians are descendants of enslaved Africans who worked on tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations centuries ago. They heavily came from West and West Central Africa (from Angola and the Bight of Biafra heavily). The Igbo ethnic group of what is known as southern Nigeria were the single largest African group of slaves in Virginia. That is why most African Americans are descended from Western and Central Africa. My DNA test results show a significant amount of Nigerian and Congolese heritage. The Great Migration caused many black Americans to come to the North from Virginia, but now, there is a reverse trend of many black people moving into Virginia (and other states of the South). Many Hispanic people live in Northern Virginia. There is a large Salvadorian population in the D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia, and there is a large Puerto Rican population in Hampton Roads (which is at Southeastern Virginia). Vietnamese Americans live in Northern Virginia. There is a large about 45,000 Filipino American community in the Hampton Roads area, many of them have ties to the U.S. Navy and the armed forces. Most Virginians embrace Protestantism and Baptist teachings. There is a large Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim including other religious populations. Virginia's economy is mixed with a service economy, agricultural economy, and other federal government jobs. Northern Virginia is the richest economic region of the state. The military is heavily involved in Virginia from the veterans to the largest Naval base on Earth which is the Norfolk Naval Station. The Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military personnel and assets of any metropolitan area on Earth. Tourism is found all over the state including technology related businesses. Cuisine in Virginia include barbecue, country ham (as found in Smithfield, Virginia), grapes, crabs, other seafood, etc. There are many art museums in the state. Virginia also names a state Poet Laureate, currently Ron Smith, whose term began on July 1, 2014. From state fairs, the Virginia Film Festival, the VCU French Film Festival, and other celebrations, Virginia has great cultural institutions.



Geniuses are found customarily in the past and present. They will exist in the future too. She was not only a genius, but she shown her glory in articulating the pain, the strength, and the intellectual power of black people. Her name was Sister Lorraine Hansberry. It is fitting to write about her. As we approach the 80th anniversary of her birth, we contemplate about her life and legacy in a wide reaching fashion. When I was younger, I knew little about her life. Today, I understand more about her exciting life indeed. From watching documentaries, reading books, and studying other information, it is clear to witness that Lorraine Hansberry was one of the greatest playwrights of all time. She wrote plays not only to develop fictional characters. Many of her plays were related to her life. She was born and raised in Chicago. She knew of the plight of Brothers and Sisters in the ghetto, and she was an activist who allied with fellow heroes for justice. Hansberry was a history maker as being the first black woman author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her play A Raisin in the Sun described the lives of African Americans in segregated Chicago trying to own a home in an integrated community. She won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards being the first black dramatist, the first woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Her friends were Nina Simone, Paul Robeson, and W.E.B. DuBois. Always in favor of black African liberation worldwide, she shined her light in many ways. She loved many people, and Lorraine Hansberry was her own woman. She was not only beautiful. She was always young, black, and gifted. When we salute her, we salute the best in ourselves.



As we see the 2010's end and the start of the 2020s, we witness a lot of changes in the world atmosphere. The start of the 2010s saw a global financial recession worldwide, more awareness of climate change, and the complexities of the war on terror. The European sovereign debt crisis existed along with austerity policies being executed in Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. Economic factors led to the rise of populist movements like 15-M and Occupy movements. That is why Occupy Wall Street grew heavily in NYC and worldwide. The economic and political problems in the Middle East caused some unrest in Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen, as well as civil wars in Libya and Syria, in a widespread phenomenon commonly referred to in the Western world as the Arab Spring, with repercussions from the conflicts continuing into the 2020s. Today, America is a global superpower with China being assertive in trade deals with other nations (and their economic initiatives). America and China still have disputes in the South China Sea and in Africa over political plus financial interests. North Korea and South Korea still are debating their futures. Music and culture increasingly became more globalized with artists like Beyonce, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Jay Z, etc. Osama bin Laden was assassinated by U.S. forces in Pakistan. The ISIS movement spread in the 2010s before its defeat in Iraq as a governmental entity. Russia has expanded. The migrant crisis as a result of wars and economic dislocation have allowed people of color (black people and those of Arabic descent) to travel into Europe. The Internet in the 2010s have advanced with wireless networking devices, mobile telephony, and cloud computing. There is now 5G broadband and data being displayed in many locations. iPhone 11 is here presently. Debates about civil liberties are represented by the stories of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. We still have a problem with mass surveillance and information privacy (and how private entities and the government must not violate human civil liberties). There are more women and other representation in parts of society, but oppression is still here in a high level globally.  Major natural disasters included the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the Nepal earthquake of 2015, the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami, and the devastating hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Dorian, Haiyan (Yolanda) and Sandy. The Dorian Hurricane has destroyed lives heavily in the Bahamas in 2019. The Black Lives Matter movement defined a decade in them confronting police brutality. Various populist movements in general dominated this era of time. Therefore, the 2010's certainly made history in enumerable ways.

By Timothy