No doubt the ancient Greeks had something we might call a culture, as did the Persians, Egyptians and Phoenicians. An Appalachian quilt, a plate of spaghetti or a vase is created according to values, principles and traditions; these cannot be proven or disproven. Culture is irrational. To maintain a culture you have to guard it, […]
On Friday, November 8, Architect-Mayor Maurice Cox delivered a jargon-heavy lecture on his vision for the future of Charlottesville–something about creating public spaces through the juxtaposition of built form and whatnot. On Saturday, a green cardboard dragon-car trampled picnickers and excreted pavement on the floor of Nature Gallery. The two events had nothing to do […]
For Dominick Palamenti, theater is a family affair. He first became involved in theater while living in Italy, working in Shakespeare troupes. When he moved to New York City to study acting, he met Sea Aviar, whom he married. Aviar was originally from Virginia, and when the couple decided three years ago to move back, […]
Before Amanda Schmitt knocks on an apartment door at Hope House in Charlottesville, she rearranges the cloth bags draped around her shoulder to find a free hand. A girl named Alita (whose last name is being withheld to protect her identity) answers the door; the teenager isn’t the daughter of the house, however. She’s the […]
Full-body Spandex suits, skates with weapon-like blades, Bonnie Blair and maybe Dan Jansen – this is what "speedskating" means to most of us. To some 15 members of the Blue Ridge Speedskating Club who show up at the Charlottesville Ice Park every Sunday morning, however, it means much more. It was not an easy task […]
The Beltway sniper was not, as many talking heads predicted, an international terrorist or a Marilyn Manson fan. The prime suspect, John Allen Muhammad, is a Gulf War veteran. His sidekick, 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, seems to be a lost youth who followed the wrong role model. Malvo’s case may be extreme, but it is […]
Thursday, October 24, was opening night for the Virginia Film Festival. Who among those attending the start of the "Wet"-themed, four-day cine-palooza didn’t have at least a few butterflies? Certainly not Mike Kennedy, who took the seat next to me at the Culbreth Theatre. Unlike most of the attendees, Kennedy, a social worker from Salem, […]
Plink, plink, plunk: The previous night’s rain convenes in small pools on the dusty wood floor. It’s a Sunday morning at the former Frank Ix Building, an old silk factory turned exhibition space on the corner of Monticello Avenue and Second Street S.E., and three UVA art students – Liz Pisciotta, Margaret Gabriela Vest and […]
By now, the photographs of flak-jacketed police officers mingling in the yellow-cordoned parking lot of a strip-mall has become a familiar image in the daily newspapers. The leftover scenes from recent sniper attacks convey the desperation that comes with trying to comprehend madness. Faced with irrational, wanton brutality, it’s natural for people to seek cause-and-effect […]
Wherever waters gather, be it bay or brook, monitors will soon don their hip boots to mark the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Charlottesville resident John Murphy hasn’t yet picked his site, but knows he’ll be somewhere in a "riffle" – the bubbly part of a stream – counting bugs. Between October 18 […]