Susan Sorensen, Author at C-VILLE Weekly

Nature made: Form follows function in Suzanne Crane’s botanically inspired tiles

Graduate school brought Suzanne Crane to Charlottesville, but clay has kept her here. With her husband, Matthew Crane of Arterra Design and Construction, Crane opened Mud Dauber Pottery in 1996, and began making tiles “to give my collectors a way to use wall space to show my work.” She initially made framed tile murals, with […]

Susan Sorensen | June 13, 2014

Arts

Monticello High opens doors of opportunity with Urinetown

Madeline Michel doesn’t care for musicals. “I hate them,” she laughed. “They’re boring, and I can almost never sit through the second act.” Which begs the obvious question: Why in the name of Stephen Sondheim does the Monticello theater director devote countless hours every spring to putting together a high school musical? “It’s all about […]

Susan Sorensen | May 8, 2014

Living

A bumpy road: Failure may be the secret to your child’s success

Several years ago I received an e-mail from a mother who was putting together an end-of-season celebration for my youngest daughter’s soccer team. In addition to party details, the message requested money to buy trophies for the players. Trophies? For a team that had just gone 0-8? Ridiculous, I thought. But I didn’t want to […]

Susan Sorensen | April 2, 2014

Arts

The Oratorio Society of Virginia sings in the season with Christmas at the Paramount

At 7:30 sharp on a recent Monday evening, Michael Slon, conductor of The Oratorio Society of Virginia, took his place before the chorus. “Deep breath in, blow it out,” Slon said, and the Municipal Arts Center on Fifth Street filled with the sound of 83 sopranos, altos, tenors, baritones, and basses, warming up for their weekly […]

Susan Sorensen | December 19, 2013

Living

Admit one: Campus tours allow prospective students to test the university waters

My parents didn’t take me to visit any colleges when I was a teenager. I’m sure they would have, if I’d asked, but neither of them attended college, so it never occurred to my mom and dad that they should have a look-see at the place their first-born would spend her post-high school years. In those pre-Internet days […]

Susan Sorensen | August 13, 2013

Arts

A broken elbow, snow days, and a $30,000 price tag: Behind the scenes of AHS’ Hello, Dolly!

Supporting cast If Cunningham is fierce and Morris is the good cop, Greg Thomas, director of the show’s pit orchestra, brings the levity. To ensure that only musicians can hear his direction during the show, Thomas speaks to the orchestra through a system of green garden hoses that they press to their ears. During rehearsals, […]

Susan Sorensen | May 7, 2013

Living

C-VILLE Kids! Book deal: Must-reads for 6- to 9-year-olds

(File photo) I spent most of the summer between fourth and fifth grades in the Long Lake public library. It was hot in Minnesota that year, and the library was one of the few air-conditioned buildings I got to visit. The librarian, who played bridge with my mother, was quite good at suggesting books I’d […]

Susan Sorensen | June 1, 2012

Living

C-VILLE Kids: Behind the wheel with a new driver and her nervous mother

“You allowed her to drive home from the DMV?” my shocked friend asked me outside the high school that our daughters both attend. “They all want to, but nobody actually lets them. Are you crazy?” That’s precisely what I asked myself on a sunny March afternoon when, spanking new driver’s permit tucked into the glovebox, […]

Susan Sorensen | June 1, 2012

News

Graduates head to colleges thanks to the I Have A Dream Foundation

National Honor Society member Joey Wright will study electrical engineering at Old Dominion University in the fall. (Photo by Nick Strocchia) If you saw Joey Wright on the Downtown Mall, you probably wouldn’t give him a second look. Just shy of 6′-tall, brown-haired, and wearing the ubiquitous teenage uniform of jeans and a North Face […]

Susan Sorensen | May 29, 2012

News

Safe Schools initiative assesses bullying problem in local schools; hot button issue sparks national debate

(Illustration by Dongyun Lee) Thirteen-year-old Alexis is a talented singer who reads at an 11th grade level. She says she wants to go to college and then law school, so she can become a lawyer and “defend people who can’t defend themselves.” Her mother, Samantha, makes sure she frequently tells her daughter that she is […]

Susan Sorensen | April 3, 2012