The first thing you notice is the noise. A constant stream of stuttering engine rattle, like the choke of a stalling lawnmower: the very sound of internal combustion. And then down on the asphalt, a foot drops and the rumble whips into a roar, the kind that hits your solar plexus first and then shoots […]

Every year, Thomas Jefferson’s birthday marks a tradition that presumably would’ve made the dude proud. On April 13, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression celebrated the 20th annual “Muzzles,” awards given “to those responsible for some of the more egregious or ridiculous affronts to free expression occurring in the previous year.” […]

Fifty years ago, John Kennedy’s first 100 days as president were drawing to a close and his approval ratings topped 80 percent

It’s Oscar night and things could be going better. Jim Zarling is doing stand-up in front of a crowd of 25 or 30 people at the Southern and, for whatever reason, he’s having trouble connecting. His first few jokes get some modest laughs, and then he flubs—totally flubs—a routine about cult members. He hits the […]

How do you lose a courthouse? It seems a lot more challenging than, say, losing your car keys, and yet Virginia has lost courthouses by the fistful to fire, age and poor record keeping. But in a cow pasture just outside Scottsville, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society is working with a team of archaeologists and […]

Google, says Vaidhyanathan, is “really fabulous for shopping, but it’s not so great for learning. Google limits our fields of vision by filtering out things that might surprise or disrupt or disturb us.”

Anyone who’s been to UVA in recent months has surely walked away wondering, “What’s up with that black fabric wrapped around the tops of the columns at the Rotunda? Is UVA in mourning or something?” Turns out, it’s part of a much larger effort to completely overhaul the entire building. Stately though it may seem—architectural […]

If UVA gets sufficient state support, then President Teresa Sullivan can add nearly 100 new faculty positions to accommodate a 1,500-student increase.

The $30 million renovation of St. Anne's lower campus, which includes new athletic fields as well as K-8 classroom buildings, is winding down.