For those of us who grew up dueling with long cardboard tubes from the center of wrapping paper rolls, our days of swordplay needn’t be over. (My nephew dubbed those tubes “DOOT-da-doos” because they also double as instruments.) In my mid-life renaissance, I’ve leaned harder into my weirdo ways. I play Dungeons & Dragons weekly […]
For those of us who grew up dueling with long cardboard tubes from the center of wrapping paper rolls, our days of swordplay needn’t be over. (My nephew dubbed those tubes “DOOT-da-doos” because they also double as instruments.) In my mid-life renaissance, I’ve leaned harder into my weirdo ways. I play Dungeons & Dragons weekly […]
Charlottesville’s own Chris Martin, founder of bakernobakery, took her pan dulce on the road this Labor Day for a takeover at Del Sur Bakery in Chicago—and sold all 730 pastries in just four hours. Invited by Del Sur’s pastry chef and owner Justin Lerias, Martin called it the biggest bake she’s ever done in a […]
The Women’s Initiative has a new leader: Nicole Thomas, Ed.D. As she stepped into the role of executive director of the Charlottesville org in August, Thomas brought more than a decade of experience in higher education and nonprofit leadership, with a career rooted in equity, wellness, and trauma-informed care. Most recently, she directed UVA’s Contemplative […]
A single car no longer sufficed. Kevin Driscoll, his wife, and their young daughter needed another way to get around. But instead of a second car, they chose a different set of wheels. “I debated a long time on getting an e-bike because it was kind of a big purchase,” says Driscoll, an associate professor at […]
Appalachian folk hero Tyler Childers returns with his neotraditional blend of country, bluegrass, folk, and honky-tonk. The Kentucky-born singer-songwriter has earned several Grammy Award nominations over six albums. On his seventh, Snipe Hunter, Childers rocks out, dabbles in ragtime, and connects with his interest in Hinduism. Ticket sales benefit Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund, as […]
Charlottesville Opera celebrates the timeless works of Rodgers and Hammerstein with Oh, What a Beautiful, Enchanted, Impossible Evening. Featuring performers James Robinson, Nicola Santoro, Kristen Marie Gillis, Andrew Payne, and piano by Jeremy Thompson, the show weaves selections from the golden age of musical theater with the opera company’s history of performing favorites such as […]
Spotlighting Shakespeare at his most playful, The Two Gentlemen of Verona follows Proteus and Valentine, two young men who swear nothing can come between them—until amorous affections enter the scene. Loyalties are tested, disguises donned, and hearts broken as friendship tangles with romance and characters stumble through the beautiful, messy chaos of growing up. And […]
Here’s a failed movie pitch: A 1980s-era top 40 solo artist of some success finds his way into a time machine and emerges in 2025 with the songwriting and production knowledge of all the years he missed in between. Yet in spite of that new understanding, he stays comforted by the tastes that defined his […]
Chet’la Sebree is the author of Blue Opening, a poetry collection published earlier this month, as well as Field Study, winner of the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and other work. She is an assistant professor at George Washington University and teaches in Randolph College’s low-residency MFA program. She spoke […]
Some childhood interests turn out to be just a passing fancy. But that was not the case for Fiona Balestrieri when she was a young musician. “My first instrument was actually the fiddle,” she says. “I only played that for a year because I discovered the Irish flute. … The sound of the wooden flute […]