February 08: Your living space

Off the table Question for Gordon Latter at Kane’s Furniture: How can I protect my wooden dining room table when my kids use it for arts and crafts? Answer: Latter tells us there are two main tactics for keeping glues, paints, inks and all manner of liquids from marring the centerpiece of your dining room. […]

February 08: Home style

We see hundreds of them every day. Houses are everywhere, just like cars. Yet most of us are better at identifying Subarus and Chevys than we are at figuring out whether that place on the corner is a bungalow or a Cape. Which is ironic, since it’s the houses we live in, not the cars. […]

February 08: Value shuffle

The new year is here, and with it comes the arrival of certain yearly items for which we each give a shout of joy. Usually, real estate assessments aren’t of this particular group. But for those of us wishing, hoping, trying (and, depending on your faith and/or desperation, praying) to sell our houses in this […]

February 08: Fraternal twins

Jackson-Via Elementary School was the last of the city’s elementary schools to be built. Named after two eminent educators, Nannie Cox Jackson and Betty Davis Via, the school off Harris Street in southern Charlottesville opened in 1970. Like most of the city’s elementary schools, it is the centerpiece of its small neighborhood—in this case, one […]

February 08: Hot house

Modest at first glance, this little cottage off Rugby Road charms us more the longer we look: There’s that organic-looking stone wall and the big boulder in the driveway, lived with rather than excavated, which connect the house to its site. There’s the sheltered entrance a little below street level, and the classy standing-seam roof. […]

We Ate Here

Mas’ spicy baba ghanoush seared our tongues enough to prepare us for a greasy chorizo that slid down our throats. Relief came in the form of a golden Hoegaarden draft, followed by an extra rare tenderloin soaked in a delectable orange sauce. A delicate crabcake dipped in fresh creme finished us off. No mas.

Drink wine like a real man!

Think of the connection between wine and money like that between manhood and penis size: Whether you buy into the myth, or stridently reject it, you still want to know how big it is.

Sex Files: In control panel

How reading erotica can help you get in the mood for sex was the subject of my last column. Now it’s time to start taking on the idea of watching adult entertainment and porn.

The reviews are in

The review as a form of literature is, I think, a natural way of thinking. I truly believe that it is part of our human nature to have opinions about the things in which we come into contact (books, movies, art shows, fashion shows, food, service, etc.) and to impart those opinions to those around […]