Journalist Sonia Nazario exposes the plight of illegal immigration

Sonia Nazario knew she wanted to be a journalist when she was a teenager. Growing up in Argentina in the 1970s, she witnessed the country’s “dirty war,” during which a terrorist military tortured and murdered 30,000 citizens. Nazario remembers asking her mother why the dead included reporters. “My mom said these reporters were trying to […]

ARTS Pick: Tom Segura

Humor mill: Stand-up comedian Tom Segura dishes out deadpan takes on everything from family matters—the key to marriage is “intimidation and fear;” his “stupid cousin” wants to invent a way to drive his car with a cell phone—to getting older and “confusing words like conscious and conscience.” The Netflix and Comedy Central regular finds the […]

ARTS Pick: Riley Baugus

Lucky strike: North Carolina blacksmith Riley Baugus was a craftsman by day and a master musician by night, playing his self-made banjo with friends in old-time string bands, when he got the call from Hollywood. A friend assisting with music direction for Civil War epic Cold Mountain had recommended him to T Bone Burnett, who […]

ARTS Pick: Tim Summers

Digital strings: Reflecting on the 20 years since he co-founded the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, violinist Tim Summers hosts a discussion about the shifts that classical musicians and composers face in the digital age as streaming, electronic amplification, and computer-generated music take hold. Summers will play selections from Bach and Berio, and field questions about […]

ARTS Pick: “Welcome to Night Vale”

Live cast: The popular podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” launched in 2012 as “A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overheard while we all pretend to sleep…” Now with millions of downloads, and four illustrated published volumes, the show is on the road. “A Spy […]

Clown downer: IT Chapter Two is not very scary or funny

The problem that has always plagued adaptations of Stephen King’s IT is that the two halves—kids and grown-ups—are not equally interesting. Nostalgic coming-of-age tales of scary monsters and friendship are inherently more engaging than 40-somethings with bad memories. Chapter One put us in the shoes of teens navigating the treacherous waters of growing up while […]

Grace by design: Walé Oyéjidé uses fashion to tell stories

“The way that a story is told is just as important as the story itself,” designer Walé Oyéjidé told a National Geographic Storytellers Summit audience in January. Oyéjidé, who’s also a director, writer, filmmaker, musician, and lawyer, tells stories by using fashion design to dispel stereotypes and biases. In his ongoing photography project “After Migration,” […]