Amber Logsdon

On the flat track of Funky’s Skate Center on South Main Street, Paula Kiser is known as “Grim Nemesis,” inspired by the Greek goddess of divine retribution. But when the skates are off, she can be found behind the circulation desk in Carrier Library. She has been involved with the Rocktown Rollers, a roller derby team made up of players from all over the Shenandoah Valley, since the team started in 2008. Kiser started studying at JMU in 2002 as a history major. She got her master’s in 2008 and has been working at Carrier since 2010.

James Madison was a small man, weighing only about 100 pounds and standing at a mere 5 feet tall. If asked about his favorite animal, he would probably say that it would be his horse, Liberty. His favorite color was black. When he married his wife, Dolley, he was 43 and she was 26; he would claim that it was love at first sight. There are many who could say they know of Madison, and what he and the other Founding Fathers did in the late 1700s to build the United States.

Twenty-three years ago, author and activist Nikki Giovanni came to Harrisonburg as a guest speaker. To welcome her, Joanne Gabbin organized a small gathering of other African-American female writers held at Wintergreen Resort. What started as a simple gathering of women celebrating sisterhood and life soon became an annual event — and a tradition held for nearly 25 years. They call themselves the Wintergreen Women Writers’ Collective. Since then, the Collective has expanded its membership from 10 to nearly 50 women, including founding members Giovanni and Gabbin.