Author: Jessica Kronzer
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Jessica Kronzer, contributor
Jessica is a recent graduate of James Madison University. She studied media arts, journalism and political communications. Jessica has enjoyed providing the valley with thorough in-depth coverage for four years. She is passionate about reporting on women’s issues and social change movements. In the future, she’s hopes to write about politics, culture and people in D.C.
JMU 2020 grads will finally get their graduation – if they go
A year and four months after earning their degrees, JMU’s class of 2020 will walk the stage Sept. 3. The graduates will become the first class to move their tassels at the Atlantic Union Bank Center, which opened in Nov. 2020. But some alumni feel it’s too little, too late.
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For graduates, it’s been tough. It’s been ‘weird.’ But it’s been ‘wonderful.’
This year, several contributors to The Citizen have been upper-level JMU students, who will graduate Friday as part of the class of 2021. They have weathered more than a year of social distancing, online classes and the constant threat of getting sick. So, we asked them to reflect on what it was like to finish college under the pandemic’s cloud, how they’ve been challenged, in what ways this has changed them and what they’re thinking about as they prepare to walk across the stage.
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Co-op’s roots grow deeper as the store gets bigger
What started as a two-aisle “little natural food store” has grown into the now decade-old Friendly City Food Co-op — which just keeps growing. The store spent much of the last year gradually phasing in its 2,000 square foot expansion. And as the store celebrated its 10-year anniversary last week with a series of in-person and online activities, store leaders are dreaming of opening a second location over the next decade.
Blue flags and Denim Day raise awareness of sexual violence
Exactly 6,581 little blue flags flapped in the wind as they lined James Madison University’s Quad last Thursday. Each flag represented a JMU student who has or will be sexually assaulted in their lives, based on the student population and the national sexual assault rate.
Despite light at the end of the tunnel, JMU continues enforcing COVID-19 guidelines
Even as guidelines have adjusted to recommend three feet of distance between students in K-12 schools and a growing number of students receive vaccines, JMU continues to enforce on- and off-campus COVID-19 rules that were part of a “Stop the Spread” contract all students had to sign before returning to campus last fall.
A downtown park? No more parking decks? Hburg residents have chance to shape city’s future
Harrisonburg community members can inspire a new vision for downtown to help shape its next 20 years, such as what to do with the lots where the two downtown parking decks stand.
Amid the pandemic, EMU student-athlete has hit his stride
Isaac Alderfer, an EMU junior, pulled down his mask, then went to work running the mile at the Roanoke Invitation on Jan. 30. He won the race, finishing four seconds ahead of the next runner, but he also smashed the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s record in the mile with his time of 4:11.91. He beat the conference’s previous record from 2017 by roughly three seconds.
He nearly died on U.S. 33 and has some thoughts on how to improve it
Tristan Miller described the coma after his 2016 car accident on U.S. Route 33 as seeming like one long dream. In it, Miller would fall from a skyscraper toward his car on the ground, but just before he’d hit the car, the dream would restart.
