Month: April 2013

Categories
News

What’s Happening at the Jefferson School City Center?

Chicka Chicka
State Senator Creigh Deeds reads Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to the children at the YMCA child care center at the Jefferson School City Center to celebrate "The Week of the Young Child." (Photo courtesy of YMCA staff)

Senator Creigh Deeds popped in to the Jefferson School City Center to read to the young people at the YMCA child care center on Thursday April 18. Deeds acknowledged “The Week of the Young Child” by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to the preschoolers.

“He actively engaged the children in an instructional way,” said Ikeia Prince, Director of Child Care Services. “He was asking them questions about colors and they were answering correctly. And the children were extremely witty!” After Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, the children asked for another book and he read more.

“The Week of the Young Child” is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  The purpose of “The Week of the Young Child” is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.  However, Deeds arrived with no publicity or camera crew in tow and genuinely appeared to enjoy spending time with the children.

The YMCA childcare program at the Jefferson School City Center is a licensed child care center for infants and toddlers through Pre-Kindergarten. Enrollment has grown to 55 children, and the center can serve 69. Almost half the children who attend receive some form of scholarship.

Teaching peace in a violent world

John Hunter
John Hunter, former Virginia teacher and creator of the World Peace Game, will speak at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center on Monday

Knowing that ignoring violence will not make it go away, John Hunter seeks to teach peace in our often-violent world. On Monday, April 22, 5:30 pm, John Hunter will present “World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements” at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Hunter created the world peace game where fifty world problems are on a 4’ x 5’ plywood board and 4th graders are tasked with solving them without war. The goal is to develop critical thinking skills and compassion. “We find the students want compassion and to decrease suffering,” he said. “There’s a natural inclination to help each other.”  Hunter recently released a book by the same title. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Walk it out

Weekly walking groups sponsored by The Women’s Initiative help women relieve stress and gain energy. Walking groups follow routes from the Jefferson School City Center and go through surrounding neighborhoods. Groups meet at noon and 6 pm on Mondays, and are open to all. For more information, contact Eboni Bugg, LCSW at 434-202-7692 or ebugg@thewomensinitiative.org. 

Looking for artists

Vinegar Hill Cafe is featuring the photography of Adam Mohr. Stop by and see his photographs of Charlottesville and other interesting places.  Artists interested in displaying your work at the Vinegar Hill Café should send an email to vinegarhillcafe@jabacares.org.

Me-Time

Info-Tainer Mr. Alex-Zan will present “Take a Break… to be Around for the Breakthrough” especially for women at a Pre-Mothers’ Day event on Saturday, May 11. Sponsored by Martha Jefferson’s Starr Hill Health Center at the Jefferson School City Center, the event will be held at Carver Recreation Center between 1:30 and 5 pm. Mr. Alex-Zan is an entertainer and educator who facilitates creative and interactive presentations for a variety of audiences. A native of Charlottesville, he was one of twelve blacks to first desegregate Virginia public schools in 1958.

The event will also feature guest vocalist Barbara Edwards and the Dynamic Mime Duo. The afternoon will include information on wellness assessments, stroke awareness training, massages, Zumba, stress reduction, cooking demonstrations, and a tour of the African American Heritage Center.

JSCCLogoOneInchWideJefferson School City Center is a voice of the nine nonprofits located at Charlottesville’s intergenerational community center, the restored Jefferson School. We are a legacy preserved . . . a soul reborn . . . in the heart of Cville!

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News

Brain in a Jar: Author of book on family’s experience with Alzheimer’s comes to Charlottesville

Brain in a Jar, by Nancy Bercaw. Image courtesy Nancy Bercaw.

Virginia is deep in writer Nancy Bercaw’s blood.

Her mother and father both grew up on family farms in central Virginia, her mother in Culpeper, her father near Palmyra. Like all his brothers, her dad, Beauregard Lee Bercaw, attended UVA. While he was in medical school there, his father began deteriorating. The disease he had wasn’t widely known at the time, but the young Bercaw understood: This was Alzheimer’s. He knew he wanted to devote himself studying it—and eradicating it.

The Bercaw family’s relationship with the disease is the subject of Nancy Bercaw’s book Brain in a Jar. She’ll make a book tour stop in Charlottesville this weekend to read from it. We caught up with the Vermont writer during an earlier stop in Iowa.

“I grew up talking about scary things very easily, and emotion very rarely,” she said. Hers was a household where science and disease were always topics of conversation, even when the facts were frightening. The brain and its decay were part of dinner table talk, but there was one word her father wouldn’t utter. The name of the disease that killed his father, whose atrophied brain floated in a glass jar on Dr. Bercaw’s desk as a reminder of its terrifying power, wouldn’t cross his lips.

“Alzheimer’s disease he would never say by name,” she said. “It was always ‘what my father had.’”

As he got older, Beau Bercaw became more and more fixated on the disease. He didn’t have a high-risk gene profile—tests revealed he and his daughter both had a gene that indicates they may or may not get it—but he became almost obsessed. He took dozens of supplements a day. He spent hours filling in sudoku puzzles, trying to keep his mind sharp.

In the end, it didn’t stop the terrifying march of Alzheimer’s. He was diagnosed in 2009, at the age of 71. He died at 72—the same age his own father lived to.

As she cared for her declining father, Nancy Bercaw’s mind was awash in thoughts of family, of legacy, of disease and inheritance: “Am I born to have Alzheimer’s? Am I born to be a Bercaw? I was grappling with all of that.”

So she wrote about it.

“My father was getting sicker, and I started blogging about it. I realized the blog was sort of becoming a book. I was also thinking I wanted to hold onto memories of my father—the good ones. And Brain in a Jar was born.”

Bercaw will read from her book at 11am Saturday at New Dominion Bookstore on the Downtown Mall. Writing it and sharing it are part of her own personal push back against the disease that’s left its mark on her family.

“My thoughts on the matter are until we have a pharmaceutical cure, we need to have a lot of philosophical debates, and some philosophies for living,” she said. “If I have to live with the possibility of getting Alzheimer’s, I have to have a philosophy for life. And mine is to travel, see the wonders of the world, get everything out of my time on Earth and make so many memories that maybe I can’t remember them all anyway.”

Categories
Arts

Local record shops anticipate sixth annual Record Store Day

“For me, every day is Record Store Day,’” says Gwenaël Berthy. Since 2010, Berthy has been the owner and sole staff member of Melody Supreme, a vinyl-only record store on 4th St. downtown. Record Store Day, founded in 2007, is an international “holiday” founded with the intention of helping to keep stores like Melody Supreme in business in the era of digital downloading, by providing exclusive limited-edition releases aimed at die-hard fans and collectors. The event invariably draws a crowd at record stores around the world, as collectors line up hours before opening in the hopes of grabbing rare (and expensive) releases from their favorite artists. “I am like a priest, in church on Christmas Day.” Berthy says, “I never see these people the rest of the year.”

Berthy is looking forward to Record Store Day re-issues of several classic records, including The Roots’ Things Fall Apart, Daniel Johnston’s Fun, the respective debut albums by The Zombies, Orange Juice, and Hüsker Dü, and the first Pink Floyd single. He’s also excited about newly-released archive material from Nick Drake, Fela Kuti, and Big Star, and a Sub Pop compilation of unknown acts entitled Sub Pop 1000. “I have never heard any of these bands [before], but it’s good,” he says.

Dominic DeVito, a longtime employee of Charlottesville’s remaining Plan 9 location in Seminole Square, is anticipating a re-issue of the 1980 debut triple-album by Half Japanese, as well as a new single by The Invisible Hands — not to be confused with the singular local band Invisible Hand, the pluralized group is a rock outfit from Cairo, fronted by ex-Sun City Girl and Sublime Frequences label-owner Alan Bishop.

Every record clerk I spoke to excitedly mentioned the forthcoming full-length “cover album” by onetime Charlottesville resident and former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus, who has recorded his own version of Ege Bamyasi, the legendary experimental-funk album by the German group CAN, in it’s entirety. Malkmus’ version of the album is a Record Store Day exclusive, retailing for almost $30, and sure to fetch greater prices online in the future.

Another ubiquitous mention is the re-release of the notorious Zaireeka, the 1997 Flaming Lips album which was released on four CDs, intended to be played simultaneously in order to hear the album in full. In addition to containing many of the Lips’ best songs, it’s also never been issued on vinyl, for obvious reasons.

“I guess you need four turntables to listen to it,” says Sidetracks owner Cal Glattfelder. “Well, you could listen to them one at a time,” points out his employee Patrick Shelton, “if you don’t mind all those 90-second moments of silence,” when the songs’ critical elements are concentrated on the other 3 LPs.

Glattfelder is excited about Record Store Day, and is hosting four live acts in the store to promote it. Between Noon and 5pm on Saturday, Willie DE, the Anatomy of Frank, Sons of Bill, and The Fire Tapes will each pack into Sidetracks’ tiny storefront. “It’s going to be pretty crowded, particularly for Sons of Bill,” Glattfelder says, “Maybe we’ll have to have some folks out on the sidewalk.”

“We’ll be opening up a little early, probably around 9:30, since usually there’s a crowd waiting outside,” Glattfelder says. “We usually have about 20, 25, maybe 30 people by 10am.  It’s crazy, there’s a big rush right when we open, a lot of people running in to grab things first. I wish it was easier to get more copies of things, a lot of time you don’t even get any copies of the stuff you thought you were going to get. There’s a limited-edition Dave Matthews live record that’s supposed to be coming out, everyone’s been calling about it, we’re all calling each other, it seems like nobody actually got the thing.”

But while the in-demand items can disappear quickly, unwanted vanity releases can remain in stock for months. Berthy, who is more hesitant in his enthusiasm for Record Store Day, says Melody Supreme will be stocking about 120 items. “This year I took only the things I know I can sell,” he says. “I still have some stuff [left over] from last year.” Record Store Day has a reputation as a business-booster, akin to Black Friday sales in November, helping to keep record stores afloat. But when asked if the event helps keep the books in the black, Berthy responds “Not really. It’s a lot of work, and a big payout, a lot of this stuff is very expensive. All day I am like a machine, ringing up a line of customers, with no time to talk to any of them, say ‘How is your day?’—  I really do appreciate it, though. But I wish I could have that same business, spread out through the year.”

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Stan Winston Festival of the Moving Creature

The UVA Grounds will be crawling with fascinating creatures at Saturday’s Stan Winston Arts Festival. Publicity Photo.

Wild things

Chances are, your favorite creature feature stars the work of makeup and special effects master, and UVA alumnus, Stan Winston. The eponymous Stan Winston Arts Festival of the Moving Creature at UVA is the culmination of a yearlong workshop in which students bring their creative and engineering skills to life with help from visiting artists from The Stan Winston School of Character Arts in Los Angeles, founded by Winston’s son, Matt, in honor of his father’s lifetime dedication to all things creeping, crawling, and spectacular to look at.  Info at www.virginia.edu/arts/visual_arts/events/moving_creature.

Saturday 4/20 Free, 2pm. UVA Arts Grounds (festivities will continue at Nameless Field at 3pm).

 

Categories
News

Alleged Elks Lodge shooter indicted, cop cleared of criminal wrongdoing

Two men were wounded in an officer-involved shooting at this spot on 2nd Street NW near the Downtown Mall on March 16. Photo by Graelyn Brashear.

A grand jury has indicted the man police say shot another Elks Lodge reveller on March 16 before being shot twice by a city cop.

According to court records, Franklin Donnett Brown, 56, of Albemarle, was indicted on one count of malicious wounding for shooting Leon Travis Brock, 22, of Culpeper County, and one count of using a firearm while committing an act of malicious wounding—both felonies.

Search warrant affidavits filed in the wake of the incident, which took place in the early hours of a Saturday morning less than a block from the Downtown Mall, detail what police believe happened: The two men were involved in an argument that started in the Elks Lodge on 2nd Street NW and spilled out into the street. An onlooker told police several men jumped on top of Brown before Brown advanced on Brock and shot him once.

Records report officer Alexander Bruner arrived on the scene immediately after and fired at Brown at least twice. One of Bruner’s .45-caliber bullets hit Brown in the back.

Both Brown and Brock were taken to UVA Medical Center for treatment. Bruner was put on paid administrative leave—standard procedure for police-involved shootings—but has since been cleared of criminal wrongdoing by police, according to Charlottesville Police Lieutenant and spokesman Ronnie Roberts.

“There’s been a lot of time, a lot of man hours spent on this case, and a lot of interviews conducted by detectives and supervising staff to work through this,” Roberts said. “From the police department side of it, the criminal investigation has been resolved, and no charges are filed in relation to the case.”

A separate internal probe into the incident by the department’s office of professional conduct is now under way, Roberts said, and Bruner will remain on administrative leave until that investigation is resolved.

Categories
News

Eighth graders collaborate with UVA to establish stream buffers

Community Public Charter School eighth graders spent last Wednesday morning in the sun, sharing the findings of their nine-week river study project with parents and friends. Photo: Elli Williams

Kathryn Durkee’s eighth graders at the Community Public Charter School got out of the classroom last Wednesday, and spent the morning splashing around the Rivanna River. The students were wrapping up a nine-week-long project, during which they collaborated with Youth-Nex, UVA’s Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, and other local conservation organizations to restore buffers along the river and develop a better understanding of stream health.

“The goal was to get them really engaged in the topic,” Durkee said. “They identified a problem, found a solution, and saw it through to the end.”

Durkee’s students began researching local environmental issues earlier this year, and decided to focus their attention on restoring health to waterways like the Rivanna. After reading up on issues like sedimentation and foreign plants, they planned a hands-on project that involved planting native plants along the shore in Darden Towe Park.

“They were all able to find a part to engage in,” Durkee said. “Some may have been more interested in the horticulture and planting aspect, while others really liked the computer research or water testing.”

At last week’s event, the students guided guests along the river and through the park, pointing out their recently planted spice bushes and elderberry plants, and explaining how the presence of macroinvertebrates can indicate the health of a waterway. Parents, teachers, and graduate students watched as about a dozen kids tossed their shoes aside and sloshed through the river, equipped with butterfly nets, pH testing strips, and turbidity meters.

“The water’s really clear today,” student Emma Freeauf said as she examined a small plastic aquarium holding two crayfish caught by classmates. “Sediment is the biggest problem here—it was really cloudy the last time we were here and we couldn’t see anything.”

The project was funded by Youth-Nex, which awards money each year to teams of UVA researchers to collaborate with other schools and groups on projects that promote healthy and well-rounded kids. UVA faculty Eileen Merritt and Sara Rimm-Kaufman led a team of graduate students from several different disciplines—including psychology and environmental science—through the project, getting their hands dirty alongside the middle schoolers.

With the river study wrapping up, Durkee said she is already collaborating with the Rivanna Garden Club to  plan the next long-term, hands-on outdoor assignment for her science classes.

“A bad day outside is always better than a good day in the classroom,” Durkee said.

Community Public Charter School eighth graders spent last Wednesday morning in the sun, sharing the findings of their nine-week river study project with parents and friends.

Categories
Arts

UVA’s innovative Ruth Caplin Theatre opens its doors tonight

Tom Bloom, chair of the drama department at UVA, leads a tour of the new Ruth Caplin Theatre.

The lobby of the new Ruth Caplin Theatre at UVA was still filled with hard hats yesterday as workers rushed to ready the state-of-the-art theater for its big debut performance of You Can’t Take it With You this evening.

Tom Bloom, associate professor and chair of the UVA drama department, says that the unveiling will be both a “huge relief and a thrill” after eight years of planning and approximately two and a half years of construction, which ran right up against opening night deadline.

Construction of the innovative theater and expansive Jeffersonian lobby, which conjoins the new theatre with the Culbreth Theatre and the Helms Theatre,  was largely funded by a 4 million dollar gift from Mortimer Caplin, a UVA alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences and UVA Law.  The theater is named for his wife, a supporter of the arts.
 
Plans for the 300-seat theater were modeled after the work of pioneer architects Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler, who are responsible for the design of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, and also the vomitoriums of Ancient Greek and Roman ampitheatres (vomitoriums are actually tunneled passageways that allow actors to travel on and off stage rapidly, not the fabled rooms for decadent feasters to purge). These “vom” entrances, the thrust stage, and the steeply sloping seats, all allow the actors and audience members to see each other clearly, and afford a sense of intimacy.
 
Though the architecture’s inspiration may date back millenia, and the serpentine windowed facade is a historic nod to Mr. Jefferson, the Caplin boasts cutting edge staging technology, including a digital IOS lighting and audio control panel, a high-definition projector for film screenings, a sprung stage for dance performances (one of Ruth Caplin’s favorite art forms), and automatic shades that can dim the theater’s natural lighting at the touch of a button, whenever the plotline takes a dark twist.
 
You Can’t Take it With You premiered last night in a private performance honoring the contractors and builders who brought the theater into existence, and will open to the general public this evening. 
 
The play will run April 18-20 and April 24-27, all performances are at 8pm. Tickets are $14 ($12 for seniors, UVA staff, and alumni association members; $8 for students), and are available either online or by calling 434-924-3376 or at the UVA Box Office, located in the lobby of the Drama building.
Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Joe Pug

Blue collar poet Joe Pug plays the early show in Friday’s double-header at the Southern. Publicity Photo.

Better yet

In song, Joe Pug is a wizened storyteller, but the folk troubadour has just five years of a music career and two albums under his belt. A working man’s musician in the American tradition, Pug draws comparisons to songwriter demi-gods Dylan and Prine. He left a job as a carpenter in 2008 and has worked hard on the road ever since, building a fervent fan base through grassroots ethics, while cultivating his reputation as a folk music prodigy—all signs of good things still to come.

Friday 4/19 $12, 7pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.

Categories
News

Green happenings: Charlottesville environmental news and events

The garden at Monticello. File photo.

Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com.

Garden variety: This weekend marks the beginning of Virginia’s 80th annual Historic Garden Week. Starting Saturday, April 20, visitors are welcomed to more than 250 of the Commonwealth’s most beautiful and historic gardens, homes, and landmarks. Tours in the  area run Saturday through Tuesday, and include Charlottesville, Albemarle, Nelson County, and Wintergreen.

Sunday fun day: Environmental nonprofit Earth Week is hosting its 13th annual Eco Fair this weekend. On Sunday, April 21, come to the Main Street Arena on the Downtown Mall between noon and 6pm to check out local exhibitors, music,  vendors, food, and more. The event is free and family friendly, and will include a book swap and workshops on home energy, brewing kombucha, and green living recipes.

Gold medalists: The Piedmont Environmental Council has received the 2013 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award for land its conservation program. The PEC’s nine-county region has more than 357,000 acres of privately protected land, making it one of the most successful areas in the U.S. for private land conservation, according to a press release. PEC’s Vice President of Rural and Conservation Programs, Heather Richards, accepted the award at the Environment Virginia Symposium in Lexington last week.

Categories
Living

Straight up: Getting frank about how to make the best martini

James Bond may prefer his martini shaken, not stirred, but whatever you do, make sure the vermouth is cold! File photo.

Spring has finally sprung, and with the change in the weather comes a change in many folks’ drinking habits. In particular, the increased orders of the king of all drinks—the martini.

This time of year, we bartenders see a rise in sales in the clear spirits categories like vodka and gin. Now I’m not saying, by any means, that people don’t order such standbys in the winter, but they definitely order more martinis once the weather breaks. This is a very sensitive category. It’s pretty easy to upset a few people at once by mentioning the proper way (or ways) to make the clear elixir. However, regardless of how it’s made—shaken, stirred, up, rocks, etc.—there are three things that are a must in a martini: gin (O.K., O.K., or vodka), vermouth, and ice. It needs to be strong and cold.

Different variations on the drink include with or without vermouth (we’ll get to that in a second); with or without dashes of bitters; shaken (gasp!); stirred (ahh); gin (hells yes!); vodka; twist of lemon; olives on a pick. Then comes the fun—ratios! Do you like it 50/50? Ice rinsed with vermouth? How about a half-ounce stirred in? All of these variations are key to the happiness of the person partaking in the ritual. Yes, a ritual. This drink is held in such high regard that the process of making it and the questions asked are so revered that this is the holy grail to some folk of the drink world.

Now back to vermouth. With or without? Here’s the better question: Why not? A martini void of vermouth is nothing more than a chilled shot of vodka. Vermouth brings the sexy. It brings texture and silkiness and depth of flavor. It makes it a drink. The problem is that we, as a majority, don’t treat vermouth properly. It’s a wine at heart. Aromatized and sometimes fortified, it still begins as a wine. You have to keep it cold and sealed to lengthen its life in all forms-, red or white. If you work at a bar or have it in your liquor cabinet at home and it’s been open longer than a couple of weeks without being kept cold, throw it out. When you walk into your local watering hole, ask if it’s kept cold. If it isn’t, order a gin and tonic or a Moscow Mule instead. This is how we abandoned the practice of using vermouth in our drinks. When stored and applied correctly, it creates a magical mix of serenity in a glass. So I ask you, please try it again. Try different ratios, bitters, and garnishes.

After you throw out your vermouth, here are the brands I recommend, both sweet (for the Martinez and Manhattan) and dry:

All of the Dolin brands. It’s a product from Chambery and it’s very versatile in so many variations of the martini.

Cocchi makes a few products that are very well worth visiting, including Americano (a blanc aperitif wine), Vermouth di Torino (a rich and vibrant sweeter style of vermouth), and Americano Rosa (a new product from this house—a flavorful addition to the aperitif family).

Lillet makes aperitifs in the bianco and rosa styles, too. You’ll recognize the Lillet Blanc in the recipe for the Vesper, the original drink of James Bond.

Nick’s choice

Stir 2 oz. London dry gin (like Tanqueray or Beefeater), 1 oz. Dolin vermouth, and 3 dashes of Regan’s orange bitters over ice, strain up, and garnish with a twist of lemon and a lemon rind-stuffed, gin-soaked olive.