Some bouts mean more than others. The struggle against bulldozers and development is no laughing matter. It concerns the look and temperament of a place, and if a battle is lost, hardly anyone can call for a do-over. What would that even mean? In light of major changes underway in McIntire Park, we consider the history of Vinegar Hill, which inspires in many people feelings of regret over a place lost to backhoes and notions of “improvement.” Those very emotions were captured a couple of years ago by William James, a local playwright who penned Vinegar Hill Revisited. Another kind of theater—and battle—earns our attention this week, too, but it’s far lighter in spirit than matters of road-building and urban renewal. We speak of CLAW, the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers, that outlandish mix of circus and charity that sprang up monthly last year and will return for one time only this weekend. Whether it’s bouts between beauties or man against the machine, we’re getting you the story week after week. We’ve been fighting deadlines to do it for 20 years, and we’re glad to say, we haven’t lost one yet.
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Paging through the archives
“‘I saw Zion Union as they tore away her bricks,’ begins a monologue by Mary Lou. ‘That beautiful Church was like a well-robed Lady, gorgeous.
They stripped her naked. We got to see her bared planks. What her bricks had covered for all those years, from 1907 to 1964 was revealed to the world. Then the Wrecking Cranes and the Battering Rams came to rape her! Threw her to the ground and penetrated her! She had stood before them helpless, humble and chaste; and they laid her down to the earth, prostrate and disgraced.’”
—Scott Weaver quoting William James’ play, November 27, 2007
Getting covered
Nov. 4, 2009
