Just weeks ago, Caterina Martini was celebrating the first birthday of her daughter, surrounded by friends and family at a large gathering. Hugs and kisses passed freely from person to person. Life changed quickly for Martini and her family on March 10, when the Italian government issued a national quarantine to fight the spread of […]
As mayor of Charlottesville during the violent white supremacist invasion in 2017 that killed Heather Heyer and injured dozens, Mike Signer earned a place in the city’s history, and in the national spotlight. Now, Signer has turned his leadership during the Summer of Hate into a book—one that, like the Charlottesville book written by former […]
Imagine you’re a young person in Africa. Your community is strong and supportive. You have everything that you need—until one day you’re kidnapped, put in chains, and packed tight into a ship with hundreds of other people who look like you, but whom you don’t know or understand. You see others die on the ship […]
Back in 2013, Julie (who asked that we not use her last name) bought a house in Rose Hill, a small, historically African American neighborhood roughly bordered by Preston Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Harris Street. The house had gone into foreclosure during the housing market crash, and had been neglected for a while. After determining […]
Making an IMPACT “It has been almost four years since the father of my kids was deported to Mexico due to his stay in the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail,” said Fanny Smedlie, reading a statement from her friend Karla Lopez. Smedlie, a member of the Executive Committee of the Church of the Incarnation, addressed a […]
On March 7, Virginia’s legislature passed the Conference Substitute to House Bill No. 1537, which will allow localities to control the placement of their war memorials. In other words, our city will soon be allowed to remove the statues of Confederate generals from our parks. After the violence of Unite the Right in August […]
To the community: Due to the approach of the coronavirus, the hug-man will be suspending hugs on the mall until further notice. Because of what I do, I cannot take precautions between each hug to prevent spreading or catching the virus, and it is an ideal way to spread it. And I don’t want […]
Down at the narrow end of East Market street, past the eclectic, slanting houses of the Woolen Mills neighborhood, there’s a little white chapel. It’s been there since Christmas of 1887, perched on the bank of the Rivanna River at the very edge of the City of Charlottesville. The history shows: the white paint […]
Since last week, when health officials warned that Americans should prepare for the inevitable spread of the coronavirus here in the U.S., at least 12 Americans have died and new cases have been emerging almost daily. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that Americans should be prepared for the spread of the […]
On February 10, local conservative radio host Rob Schilling posted a photo of a Black History Month poster from Cale Elementary School on his blog, with the headline “Fomenting dissension at Cale Elementary.” Three days later, Albemarle County Public Schools Superintendent Matt Haas left a comment agreeing that the poster was causing dissension among students, […]