Ask ChatGPT to profile a driving instructor, and your AI pal may tell you about Dave Rocco. An amiable, barrel-chested fella with a shaved head and stubbly beard, Rocco began teaching driver’s education during his 18 years as a high school football coach and teacher. After nearly two decades in public and private schools, including […]
Back in 2019 BC (Before COVID), most of us didn’t think much about the virus-riddled air we were breathing. Now, the idea that personal protective equipment like facemasks can help us avoid airborne pathogens is pretty well agreed upon. Not convinced masks work? No problem. The folks at Clean Air Cville want to help us […]
Annie Temmink and David Hadwin wanted to meet people. They decided to offer strangers bad advice. “We thought, ‘What would be the easiest way to talk to new people?’” Temmink says. She’d seen a “bad advice booth” photo from Burning Man and put her passion for sculpture and stage design to work on a cardboard […]
Yoshihiro Tauchi doesn’t speak much English, but he knows the language of sushi as well as anyone. “He started from the bottom,” says Sana, Tauchi’s daughter, who acted as a translator for a recent interview. “That helps him understand—when he is making sushi—the whole process.” After years in the fish business, doing everything from product […]
It’s called the Sugar Shack, but don’t get the wrong idea. The accessory dwelling unit in the Fifeville neighborhood, designed by Oak Five Architecture, is named for the dandelion wine once made there. “It was a place where lots of stuff happened,” Oak Five principal Kate Snider Tabony says. “[The former homeowners] sold the dandelion […]
The unassuming storefront at 128 Chancellor St. has long belied the Center for Christian Study’s extensive research and scholarship space. And just a few months ago, the square footage behind those doors was expanded even further. Residential and commercial building firm Alexander Nicholson was tasked with the expansion project—namely, to use every last bit of […]
The cult classic coming-of-age movie Napoleon Dynamite turned 20 last year, but the main characters—Napoleon, Pedro, and Uncle Rico—are still kicking around their old stomping grounds. About five years ago, the film’s core ensemble of Jon Heder (Napoleon), Efren Ramirez (Pedro), and Jon Gries (Uncle Rico) hosted a Dynamite film screening and post-movie conversation with […]
The Tom Tom Festival is doubling down on inclusivity while the rest of the country seems to be betting against it. The theme of the 2025 festival’s opening day is “civic futures,” and the idea, according to organizer Paul Beyer, is to bring the most influential local minds together to talk about their “big vision” […]
The snowstorm brought bad news. Tuesday’s varsity basketball game, which would decide whether the Blue Ridge Barons or Miller School of Albemarle Mavericks would land the No. 1 seed in postseason play, was postponed to Thursday. For Blue Ridge seniors like Colby White, a 6’3″ guard, the snow delay meant two things. One, White and […]
New survey data shows that only 2.8 percent of Charlottesville’s homeowners are under the age of 25—a number that’s notably lower than state and national averages. According to a recent report from the web-based consultancy Construction Coverage, the share of home purchase loans that originated in Virginia in 2024 was 4.4 percent. That ranks 29th […]