On a recent sky-blue spring day Monticello hosted a gaggle of reporters atop Montalto, the mountain across from Monticello that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation snatched from the poised paws of hovering developers last year when the property came up for sale. The occasion for mountaintop sunning? On May 1, twice-daily tours of the property began, continuing whenever the weather is fine through October.
On a recent sky-blue spring day Monticello hosted a gaggle of reporters atop Montalto, the mountain across from Monticello that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation snatched from the poised paws of hovering developers last year when the property came up for sale. The occasion for mountaintop sunning? On May 1, twice-daily tours of the property began, continuing whenever the weather is fine through October.
Maria sighs, leans against the wall and smiles wearily: “I’m tired,” she says. “I already worked today, at the dry cleaners.” It’s nearly 5pm and Maria is about to start her shift as a UVA housekeeper, cleaning Bryan Hall. “It’s a lot of hours,” says Maria, but she depends on both part-time jobs to pay the bills. Neither provides benefits.
Jennifer L. Geddes, an associate professor of religious studies and co-program director at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at UVA, is currently researching a book titled The Rhetoric of Evil, How People Think and Talk about Evil. Her work has been gaining national notoriety at a time when politicians and cable news personalities increasingly use “evil” to describe everyone from murderous despots to members of Congress. We asked Geddes why we should think twice before declaring something “evil.” Here\’s some of what she had to say.âJay Neelley
The recent “living wage” activities attracted boatloads of local media attention, but one special report you probably haven’t seen is creating a buzz around campus.
O.K., it\’s nearly summertime, but that doesn\’t mean you should let your brain rot for three months. Keep the academic vibe alive by digging into these books from UVA faculty, ready just in time for the dog days.âEsther Brown
Friends can sometimes turn against each other at the slightest provocation. A 15-year-old Albemarle County student learned this cruel truth the hard way while walking near Friendship Court late Friday, April 21.
Earl Washington, Jr. came within nine days of state-sanctioned deathânow he\’s looking for some compensation. Proceedings in a federal civil suit began in Charlottesville last week, pitting Washington against the estate of Curtis Lee Wilmore, the investigator who produced a false confession from Washington in 1983 for the rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams. Washington\’s lawyers charge that Wilmore violated questioning procedures by feeding their client details that led to a false confession.
The trial of Dale Anthony Crawford, a former Manassas car salesman, was scheduled to start May 1. However, a last-minute crisis will leave Crawford awaiting trial a little longer. Crawford’s defense attorney Liz Murtagh was diagnosed with a serious illness April 26; the trial will be rescheduled next week once Murtagh knows the course of her treatment.
Getting lost sucks. Imagine how much worse it is when you\’re in your 80s, it\’s pouring rain and you\’re in the middle of the woods 220 miles away from home.
A few weeks ago, Susan Marcell returned from vacation to find that her neighborhood roads had been re-surfaced. “It’s uneven, it’s got ridges all over it, it’s still kicking up pieces of tar under cars,” says Marcell. “There are whole sections that have been missed or that are miscolored. I can’t believe this is always what happensâbut if it is, we’ve got a problem.”