The case in which the Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner is being sued for automatically suspending driver’s licenses without notice and without consideration of ability to pay, Stinnie v. Holcomb, was back in court March 25 after a big victory before Christmas. That’s when federal Judge Norman Moon issued a preliminary injunction reinstating the plaintiffs’ […]
Alice in Blunderland: Arden of Faversham’s murderously funny mishaps
“Comfort thyself, sweet friend; it is not strange / That women will be false and wavering.”—Franklin, Arden of Faversham (Act 1, scene 1) Maybe the scheduling was merely coincidental, but witnessing the debut performance of the early modern true-crime drama Arden of Faversham on International Women’s Day felt particularly wrong—and perhaps more comical because of […]
Arrest made in online threat against Charlottesville High School minorities
By Samantha Baars and Lisa Provence As thousands are celebrating literature at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, a less-exalted missive from the nether regions of the internet, threatening ethnic cleansing at Charlottesville High, has closed all city schools for a second day Friday. Around noon Friday, Charlottesville police announced they had arrested […]
Unheard stories: Voices of Adult Learners showcases a different side of Charlottesville
For more than two decades, the Voices of Adult Learners reading has brought a diverse range of writers and experiences to the book festival. “We think it’s really special, given the turmoil in Charlottesville over the last couple years,” says Carol Coffey, executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Adult Learning Center. “We have this amazing […]
Stress center: Abrupt resignation further dismays dispatchers
When the executive director of the city, county, and university’s troubled Emergency Communications Center abruptly resigned last week, questions and concerns started circulating among the center’s employees. “Barry [Neulen] was doing so many good things for us, and we were singing his praises to anybody and everybody,” says one employee. “I wholeheartedly believe Barry did […]
The baron of baked goods: Luck, talent, and “some darn good pie” led Brian Noyes to foodie fame
Serendipity has been a good friend to Brian Noyes, owner of the acclaimed Red Truck Bakery. With locations in Marshall and Warrenton, Virginia, 45 employees, and orders pouring in online, Noyes’ business is better than ever and his homespun image endures, in spite of his enormous success. He tells the story of that success, and […]
Writing the footnotes: The author of Booker Prize-nominee Washington Black
Award-winning Canadian author Esi Edugyan’s latest novel, Washington Black, begins in the brutal world of a Barbados sugar plantation in the 1830s. But the story, quite literally, soon soars beyond, as the young boy Washington Black escapes from the plantation in a hot-air balloon, spirited away by an English gentleman-scientist named Titch. The book traces […]
Essential voices: VA book fest panel looks at music as a change agent
About 100 miles outside of Berlin, Germany, author Tim Mohr stood in a snowy field gripping an axe in his hands. He’d borrowed a friend’s car to get there, and, anticipating neither the sub-zero cold snap nor the fact that he’d have to chop frozen wood in exchange for an interview with a former member […]
Novelist Don Winslow offers insight into the drug trade
Crime author Don Winslow has spent nearly the past 20 of his career writing about the Mexican-American drug trade. “My number-one job and my first priority is to tell a good story, and a good crime story,” says Winslow. Winslow first became interested in the Mexican-American drug business in 1998, after hearing of a massacre […]
The courage to be earnest
When Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was growing up in Spring Valley, New York, he didn’t realize writing was a career path. He felt drawn toward the art, even though he was unaware that “actual human beings” composed Harry Potter books, science-fiction, and the fantasy works and anime he enjoyed. “I didn’t come from a place where […]
The (multi-) million dollar parking lot
The City Yard is large, central, under-used, and under government control–so why hasn’t it been developed? By Jake Mooney To attempt a walk west from Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, through the former site of Vinegar Hill and towards Preston Avenue, is to feel the full weight of city leaders’ historic disregard for the people and places […]