The politics of pie: Cuisine from the American Revolution

Some study history through hieroglyphics or bone fragments. Nancy Siegel looks at what we ate, and the political statements food made about the fledgling American nation during the 18th and 19th centuries. Every school child learns about the Boston Tea Party and the dumping of highly taxed tea into Boston Harbor. Not so well known […]

Kudzu defies no-trespassing warning

What do you do when “the vine that ate the South” takes up residence in your neighborhood—and your neighbor doesn’t get rid of it? One concerned Crozet resident pulled up some vines in a nascent kudzu infestation last year on property owned by the Rockbridge homeowners association—and was reprimanded by the HOA president for her […]

Bond broken: Vet sues investment adviser for allegedly bilking retirement funds

Broker Charles Almy’s wife Katharine was involved in one of Albemarle’s longest—and most bizarre—lawsuits. She sued author John Grisham, St. Anne’s-Belfield development director Alan Swanson, and his wife Donna for emotional distress from accusing her of writing anonymous letters and for going through confidential school files to obtain a sample of her handwriting. Now Almy […]

On guard: Opposing camps face off as sun sets on Confederate statues

Confederate monuments have toppled across the South since the slaying of George Floyd at the hands of police. In Charlottesville, statues of generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson still stand, and continue to attract nighttime patrols from both statue defenders and opponents. In the wee hours of June 28—three days before a law went […]

Radio silence: Progressive station signs off; Saga sacks six, gears up for more acquisitions

WPVC has been a reliable progressive talk radio voice on Charlottesville’s airwaves since 2015. But on June 17, the low-frequency station went off the air. Michigan-based corporation Saga Communications has reshaped the Charlottesville radio landscape in recent months—Saga has laid off staff from the local stations they own, and filed legal petitions to shut down […]

Writer and a fighter: Larry Kramer’s normal heart

Reposted from 2015. Larry Kramer died from pneumonia on May 27, 2020. Larry Kramer has had his finger on the pulse of what it is to be a gay man for the past 50 years. His 1978 novel, Faggots, and its depiction of the partying, promiscuous ’70s made him a pariah on Fire Island. His […]