“No pipeline.” “Climate action now.” “That awkward moment when you burn your own planet.” On December 6, a crowd of about 70 sign-carrying protesters gathered at Charlottesville’s Free Speech wall to demand the city and state government take immediate action against climate change. Carrying their handmade posters, musical instruments, and reusable water bottles, the activists […]
On one of those fall days that starts out cool and warms up in the afternoon, hinting at the change of seasons, a group of 15 to 20 young skateboarders gathers in the upper corner of the Charlottesville Skate Park. Ranging in age from about 10 to 19, the kids are dressed in everything from […]
“We were scattered all over the country, never to meet each other again until we were in another world,” wrote enslaved laborer Peter Fossett after his family and friends were sold in Monticello’s 1827 and 1829 estate sales. Thomas Jefferson died in debt, and soon after his death his family auctioned off the crops, furniture, […]
Snowy roads didn’t stop about a dozen people from making their way to the Carver Recreation Center last Tuesday for a brainstorming session on something that’s been in the works for nearly 10 years: the Three Notched Trail. The Rivanna Trails Foundation is spearheading the effort to build a 25-mile-long paved pedestrian and bicycle path […]
You wouldn’t notice the cameras if you didn’t know what to look for—but once you see the first one, the others are easy to spot: black balls hanging from telephone poles like sinister Christmas tree baubles. Rosia Parker noticed the camera near her house in Westhaven when the city installed it over the summer. She […]
My first semester at the University of Virginia was full of surprises. I was surprised to learn just how difficult college classes are, how frustrating roommates can be, and how competitive everything at UVA is—just to name a few things. What I found the most surprising though was that in October—a little over a month […]
In times of war, everything that it means to be human is out in the open. We cannot hide from the truth about ourselves. We must either live up to our morals or live down to our baseness. It’s what happens when our values as a society fracture, but in those cracks, the parts we […]
Back when I had a side hustle as a winery tour driver, customers sometimes asked me to choose our next place to visit on the fly. If we were near Crozet, I invariably headed to White Hall Vineyards, which is out of the way and offers a feeling of discovery. You approach on a gravel […]