Coffee shop talk

The new head of the Fredericksburg Area Museum looks back on her first month in her new position and shares her vision for celebrating the region's histories — plural.

The founder of Failsafe-ERA explains how her family's unexpected encounter with incarceration sparked her life's work in helping others through a nonprofit. 

This month, Free Press Editor-in-Chief Joey LoMonaco sits down with Fredericksburg Police Department Chief Betsy Mason to discuss everything from Flock Safety cameras to a series of unsolved assaults on the Canal Path. Mason also shares the personal significance of becoming the first woman to serve as the city's top cop, a position she's held for the past six months.

Griffith, who has served as the president of Germanna Community College for the past five months, discusses the past, present and future of higher Ed., as well as her island upbringing. 

Host Joey LoMonaco sits down with Kahn, whose Eagles will face Emory University for the Division III men's basketball national championship on Sunday in Indianapolis. 

Joy and Joey discuss the former's decision to run for City Council in Ward 2, and her experience in office for the past two-plus months. Also, food things. 

This month, host Joey LoMonaco sits down with Eto Otitigbe, an MIT-educated engineer-turned-artist who has spent the past year designing an installation where a slave auction block once stood in downtown Fredericksburg. 

This month, Joey talks with Dr. Anand Rao, the director of UMW's Center for AI and the Liberal Arts. The two discuss the robotic technology's ability to disrupt and what it means for us humans. In a meta-ironic twist, the audio file got so scuffed that it required AI mastering to salvage. 

For this month's episode, host Joey LoMonaco sits down with Meghann Cotter, the longtime Executive Director of Micah Ecumenical Ministries, to deconstruct narratives about homelessness. 

Diggs, the current chair of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors also known as "the dancing deputy", opens up about his childhood traumas and how he emerged on the other side as an individual who doesn't fit preconceived molds. His memoir, "Beneath the Scar," is available on Amazon.