I have known Miles Davis as a colleague at Shenandoah University for more than 20 years. During that time, I have come to know him as a thoughtful leader who respects all perspectives and understands that listening is essential to effective leadership.
Miles does not limit his conversations to people who agree with him. He genuinely wants to understand how others see an issue, particularly when their experiences or perspectives differ from his own. He asks questions, listens carefully, and searches for common ground. These qualities are especially important when disagreement all too often leads to division rather than dialogue.
His commitment to building bridges extends beyond words. Miles made the effort to learn Spanish so that he could communicate more directly with Spanish-speaking members of the Winchester community. Learning another language requires humility, discipline, and a sincere willingness to meet people where they are. To me, his decision reflects something fundamental about his character: Miles does not expect people to come to him before they can be heard. He takes responsibility for reaching out to them.
I believe his respect for others, willingness to listen, and commitment to building bridges would make him a valuable member of City Council. I proudly support his candidacy to represent Ward 1.
Bryan Pearce-Gonzales
Winchester
Vote 'Yes' on reproductive freedom
Virginia voters will consider three proposed constitutional amendments in the Nov. 3 election.
While canvassing in my neighborhood, I have met people who oppose the "Right to Reproductive Freedom" amendment for religious reasons. I respect those beliefs, but without guaranteed access to abortion, women can face profound consequences, including future infertility or early maternal death. We have seen the tragic results of outright bans in Texas and Georgia.
A "Yes" vote gives a woman the right to discuss her health with her doctor, not the legislature. It makes abortion allowable, not mandatory, and keeps lawmakers out of private medical decisions. Virginians should vote "Yes" to protect both personal freedom and women's health.
Mary Martin
Boyce
Childlike behavior from the president
When I was a young lad playing pickup baseball on our corner sandlot, we usually had just one ball to play with. That was never a problem, until one day, a kid who was apparently insecure announced to us that, "If I can't be the pitcher, I'm taking my ball and going home."
The rest of us were more than surprised. And by the way, we let that boy leave and I ran home - a block away - and got an old baseball that we used.
The point is that I was reminded of that incident the other day, when President Trump proclaimed that if his name couldn't be restored to the Kennedy Center, he would close the building permanently. The next day, he trumped himself by saying he's considering tearing down the renowned National Center for the Performing Arts, built in the early 1960s and later named for President Kennedy.
Folks can argue about absolutes where Mr. Trump is concerned. The one thing I know for certain is that has the most childish personality of any president in my lifetime.
Edward L. Jaffee
Winchester
Trump showing his intelligence?
I have heard a lot recently from Donald Trump citing his immense intelligence and "high IQ" and telling us all that the potential threats of AI (cited by technology industry professionals as a major concern) are "a hoax."
Well, as someone who spent the last years of his career in information technology and cloud computing working intimately with the technologies that power AI today, I have to say that (although - full disclosure - my own lilliputian IQ may be far lower than our president's) I sorely doubt that (even as the genius he claims to be) he lacks the intellectual capacity to really understand the nature of AI and it's benefits and potential threats. All that aside, that by no means is a statement by me that our president is not a true genius.
Look at history, for example. It took about 300 years for the internal political leadership rot to bring the Roman Empire to ruin. Adolf Hitler, himself a self-proclaimed intellectual and political giant and his minions, took 15 to 20 years to bring Germany to ruin. Our genius president, Donald Trump, and his minions have brought the world's greatest democracy and the world's richest country - once the envy of the free world - to the point of fascism and ruin in only about 18 months! If that is how you define genius…then I agree!....we indeed have a "genius" as our president.
James Jennis
Winchester