Chivalry Thy Name is Bubba written by Robin Traywick Williams

 

Writing from her 'farm-ette' in Virginia, the author, an award-winning newspaper reporter, comments with affectionate humor on life in a rural county on the brink of suburbanization.

 

Despite the rural locale of many of the columns, the themes are universal, and the writing is funny and sophisticated. Mrs. Williams muses on why women want to join men's clubs and predicts the divorce of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. The author's treatment of eating ice cream, watching tv, gardening and taking piano lessons transcends the specifics of her home in Goochland County and gives the reader a new way to look at these everyday activities. Readers will never turn on a garden hose again without laughing at the memory of Mrs. Williams' losing battle with 100-pound, 200-foot hoses during a drought.

 

Other routine activities remind Mrs. Williams of her childhood, and she is at her best when she is poking fun at herself and the eccentricities of her family. 'There are two kinds of men in the world and I've been married to both,' she tells us in a hilarious treatise on men who can fix anything and men who can't.

 

An animal-lover of the first rank, Mrs. Williams writes often about adventures with animals, both wild and domesticated ('I'm not sure where the numerical break point is between 'cows' and 'cattle', but it's certainly in double digits.').

 

Thought-provoking as well as entertaining, Mrs. Williams often shares her insights into living a happy life. In one column, she explains how to do nothing and why it's important sometimes. In another, she gives a funny update on her grandmother's advice on dating that parents everywhere will want to copy for their adolescent daughters.

 

These columns were originally published in various newspapers and have since appeared on countless refrigerator doors and office bulletin boards.

 

Robin Williams has more energy and more fun than anybody you know. When she began sharing her hilarious view of such topics as modern male chivalry and how to get your spouse to stop smoking, her columns became an immediate hit. She has a wonderful sense of both the ridiculousness and the importance of everyday events.

 

A graduate of the Hollins University masters writing program, Robin attended many of the colleges and universities of Virginia as an undergraduate. In the 1980s, she was an award-winning reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and followed that with an award-winning stint as editor of a rural weekly newspaper.

 

She ran a close second in her first steeplechase and in her first campaign for the Virginia General Assembly, but she came home a winner when she married Charles 'Cricket' Williams. They have a daughter and a full complement of cats, dogs, horses, fish, hermit crabs, and, unfortunately, ground hogs.

 

Robin Williams is currently the chairman of the Virginia (Horse) Racing Commission and legislative liaison for Lt. Governor John H. Hager. September 2000