Focus on Faith
By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke (Va.) Times
07/11/09
Since 1972, thousands of Southwest Virginia’s children have passed through Holy Land USA on church field trips. I was one of them.
The second time I boarded a bus and rumbled through Robert Johnson’s scale model of biblical sites in Israel, I was 37 and employed as The Roanoke [...]

Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke (Va.) Times
May 16, 2009
I can’t remember whose idea it was to perm my hair the day before my baptism at the age of 12.
While the words of the preacher and the sensations of immersion have long since faded from memory, a few images remain crystal clear.
I can still picture the baptismal tank [...]

In writing this blog it’s tempting to only recount the successes, to post only photos of the beautiful finished dishes and regale you, gentle reader, with semi-authoritative recipes.
In short, it’s easy to make cooking look easy.
But cooking is not easy. Nor is it safe.
…
That’s when I saw the catfish in the Kroger seafood case.
And that’s [...]

You can put in baking powder. You can put in cracklings. You can even add jalapenos and bake it in a muffin tin.
But whatever you do, don’t you dare put sugar in my cornbread!
Read this essay at biscuitpower.com…

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke Times
Feb. 8, 2008
BLACKSBURG — The thief must have been disappointed.
I can imagine the frustration when he, or she, realized that the handbag stolen from my trunk on a recent Sunday wasn’t really worth all the trouble.
My wallet was bare of easy cash. I’d already spent my weekly $20 coffee and lunch [...]