Go with the glow
My Christmas spirit sense starts tingling early and often here in Charlottesville. Way before Carter Mountain Orchard serves its first apple cider donut, I’m half-deranged with holiday anticipation, eager to […]
C’mon, get happy at the Brooks Family YMCA
Let’s say you hate going to the gym, i.e., dragging your flaccid, corporeal form over to that place where, when you walk in, you’re supposed to stride toward a bunch […]
Citizen filmmaker
If Frank Capra magically came back to life and decided to remake It’s a Wonderful Life in Charlottesville, Chris Farina would be his George Bailey. The guy itchy for travel, […]
A journey of discovery on the James River
Something about October makes me melancholy. The waning light, the dropping leaves. Back-to-school schedules, and the looming pressure to make happy holidays happen. All I really want to do is […]
So you think you can sing?
In the late summer (August) of my life’s autumn (61 years old), I heard about a University of Virginia singing group for people who can’t sing. A little bell rang […]
C’mon, get happy
Not all Charlottesville happy hours are alike—each bar/restaurant is happy in its own way. From seriously gritty to spacious and luxe, there’s a range of options to keep a (slightly […]
More than a gym
When someone as fit and accomplished as Nicole Hawker opens herfirst-ever gym, you might think she’d call it No Pain, No Gain, or Good Luck Keeping Up with Me. An […]
Just the facts
Who can say why it’s fun to sit with a group of friends, in a room of strangers, competing to see who can correctly answer questions like, “What sitcom character […]
Standing up for yourself
I didn’t see the ocean until I was in seventh grade, when my friend Sallie (future homecoming queen) invited me (congenital nerd) to Amelia Island with her family over spring […]
It’s the end of the world as we know it…
Some say the world will end in fire (thanks, Canada), / Some say in ice (running through the wireless veins of Chat GPT). / From what I’ve tasted of CODE […]