Port City Notebook is written by Melynda Dovel Wilcox, who along with her husband David, is a 29-year resident of Alexandria. Their identical twin daughters are graduates of Alexandria City High School. Her notebook includes an eclectic mix of observations about topics of interest to Alexandria residents.
She is a two-time past president of the Alexandria PTA Council, and has previously served as PTA president at George Mason Elementary and George Washington Middle School. She currently serves as President of the Board of Trustees of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, and was formerly vice-chair of Advocates for Alexandria Aquatics. She spent several years as an AVID tutor for Alexandria City Public Schools, and is also a freelance writer and editor. She recently completed an extensive history of Westminster Presbyterian Church (Alexandria) and the Civil Rights Movement that will be published as a book in Spring 2023. Her passions are yoga, reading, cooking and traveling with her family.
In October 2015, Port City Notebook was named Fact Check of the Week by The Fact-Checking Project of the American Press Institute, an educational organization affiliated with the Newspaper Association of America.
About the cover photo: This photo was taken from a packet of 16 postcard-size photos of the City of Alexandria that was sent to my grandmother, Mrs. Joseph Frazier, in September 1952. The sender, Mrs. C. S. Wilburn at 427 E. Nelson Avenue, Alexandria, likely was a guest at an inn that my grandparents operated along old Route 33 between Elkton and McGaheysville, Virginia (near the current Massanutten Resort).
Port City Notebook 
Dear Melynda,
I have read your posts often, and typically agree with the various sentiments you express.
I haven’t been compelled to comment previously. This week’s blog comparing cars and guns was just so spot on, I felt the need to write.
Thank you for writing this; I do hope you might somehow be able to share it in a local paper, The Patch online papers, or even The Washington Post.
Thank you for developing such a thoughtful, and well presented case.
Suzanne Richardson
Thank you so much, Suzanne. I’m glad you enjoyed my post. It was one that I have been wanting to write for some time, and when I wrote it, I had in mind that I would try to submit it to some other publications, so thanks for that vote of confidence! Please let me know if there are other issues that you are interested in reading about.
Melynda