Month: June 2013

Categories
Living

Five Finds on Friday: Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm

Photo by Beyond the Flavor.

On Fridays, we and The Charlottesville 29 feature five finds from local chefs and personalities.  Today’s picks come from Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm, whose beautiful cheeses were featured last week in a Southern Foodways Alliance dinner at The Whiskey Jar, celebrating the region’s finest female purveyors of food.  Hobbs-Page’s picks:

1)  Amy’s Arugula Salad at Pippin Hill Farm Table and Wine Bar, with Albemarle sour cherries, duck confit, sunny side up farm egg, and Caromont Farm’s chévre.  “I frequently go to Pippin Hill because of its close proximity to Caromont Farm. I am in awe of Amalia’s food and the Southern Albemarle Ridge view.  There are moments when everything comes together for me — I ‘vacation’ here.  I cannot stop thinking about this salad.  Simple, yet balanced, bright and harmonic.  This is field-to-fork at its best and a lot closer than Napa.”

2)  Chicken Curry and/or Pork Dumplings with Sesame Noodles at Got Dumplings.  “On Saturday mornings my day begins at 4 a.m.  After way too much Shenandoah Joe Smoky Mountain Roast on an empty stomach, I NEED these dumplings to survive!  They pan sear them just a bit for a crunchy edge and dress them with a citrusy  ponzu sauce.  The chilled noodles are perfectly dressed with a not-too-sweet sesame sauce and dusted with toasted sesame seeds.  They also provide spicy Sriracha for those who can handle spicy food in the morning (which I can).  Lately, I’ve been adding a dose of Radical Roots greens on top.  Authentic street food you can eat while walking around the market.”

3)  Spices at the Spice Diva.  “They make me want to get in my kitchen and cook.  The shop is a jewel, and I hate to blow the whistle because it’s so tiny, I fear that when folks figure out what FRESH, VIBRANT, QUALITY spices can do for chefs and home cooks alike, you won’t be able to get in  there.  Currently my favorite curry blend (and there are many) is the Vadouvan, a French green curry too complex to contemplate.  We have a lot of cabrito to use up around here, and this makes it easy.  The black truffle salt isn’t bad either. The list goes on and on.”

4)  Stewed Cabbage and Pinto Beans  at Mel’s Cafe with freshly chopped onions and a side of stewed tomatoes.  “Tastes like my Momma’s, and that is saying something.  Pete’s on the table and the tea is sweet.  Got a tear in my eye.”

5)  Jalapeno Cheeseburgers at the Howardsville General Store.  “Caromont Farm is out there (off winding country roads) and our culinary choices are limited, so thank GOD for Gwen and her crew!  Burgers are real, tomato is home grown, the crinkle cuts are fried to order, and the chicken salad and coleslaw are homemade.  Get the cheeseburger with jalapenos and take a book.  This is a fine local experience on the banks of the James River.”

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The Charlottesville 29 is a publication that asks, if there were just 29 restaurants in Charlottesville, what would be the ideal 29?  Follow along with regular updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Categories
Arts

Discovering a local comic artist at The Telegraph Gallery

Panels from a comic by local artist Francesca Rowan. Image courtesy of the artist.

The Telegraph is unique in Charlottesville for its wide selection of zines, indie comics, and small press books. Among these are several works by local artists, including a short comic by the young artist Francesca Rowan titled Alencia.

This zine-style stapled booklet contains a short sword-and-sorcery story about a young heroine who uses her skills in magic and fighting to vanquish undead forces. The story is simple and clear, and her character begins to develop in interesting ways by the end of the seventeen pages.

Rowan’s draftsmanship has stronger and weaker moments throughout the story. Her drawings are simple and are influenced by some of the naïveté art styles which permeate indie comics as well as contemporary illustration. The goal of this drawing approach is to reach for emotive clarity rather than representational clarity, which suits the art of storytelling. Some of Rowan’s drawings are confident with clean marks which elegantly depict motions and actions. On page twelve (spoiler alert) the first panel depicts the heroine lopping off the head of a desiccated undead lady-creature. This drawing in particular fantastically captures a slice of time. The image is reminiscent of the graphic stylized drawings of Mike Mignola. Some of Rowan’s drawings, however, are less confident, and revert to generic depictions of faces and objects. This seems to happen most often when Rowan is describing intricate facial expressions or larger environments. In general, she seems most comfortable rendering monsters and small atmospheric moments.

The storytelling, however, is very interesting and well thought out. She leads the viewer through each moment of the story effortlessly. Rowan shows us around each scene using shifting aspects to build suspense as the undead creep from their graves. The drawings and panel compositions direct the viewers to each important moment as it happens, without relying on narration or predictably consistent jumps in time. One of the most fantastic aspects of comics and visual storytelling is that when done well, the craft becomes invisible.

The writing in Alencia reads a little campy. It fits so perfectly and absolutely in the fantasy genre. The dialogue is functional and economic except for an occasional arbitrary exclamation. It seems that the story is designed in an episodic manner. Rowan introduces conflicts which are not resolved and gives small glimpses of characters, like Alencia’s talking cat companion, which we immediately want to know more about. These elements create the beginning of what I imagine could be a fairly interesting story arc. Even the subtitle, “A Noble Deed – First Story,” suggests additional chapters to follow.

Alencia is not a masterpiece, but the work is lighthearted and fun to read. There is no mention of when future stories or chapters will be released, however this sort of work only gets better the longer an artist pursues it. I look forward to reading future installments.

-Aaron Miller and Rose Guterbock

Categories
News

What’s Happening at the Jefferson School City Center?

ASG
Jerod Patterson, Kristin Neff, Alene Meadows, and Jorie Barna from ASG greet visitors at the Jefferson School City Center with free condoms and offers for HIV/Hepatitis C testing.

The AIDS Services Group (ASG) celebrated National HIV Testing Day at the Jefferson School City Center on Thursday, June 27. In collaboration with Martha Jefferson’s Starr Hill Health Center and using space provided by JABA, ASG expected to test about 50 individuals for the HIV virus and Hepatitis C. ASG provided information on their programs which build community for people living with, affected by, or at risk for HIV or AIDS.

Alene Meadows, Quality Improvement Standards Manager at ASG said, “The best part of today has been watching people come in and knowing the question has been on their mind… and then walking out knowing their status. It makes a difference.”

The staff at ASG provided pre- and post-counseling and were able to tell the clients their results within 20 minutes. They also had volunteers on the downtown mall directing potential clients to the Jefferson School City Center.

Maintenance problems derail some programs at Jefferson School City Center

On Tuesday, June 25, a malfunction with a water heater and portions of the heating and air conditioning system flooded parts of the building and caused the building to be evacuated. It was completely shut down for two days. The Women’s Initiative, Martha Jefferson’s Starr Hill Center, Mary Williams Center, Vinegar Hill Café, and parts of Carver Recreation were flooded with hot water and antifreeze.

As a safety measure on Tuesday morning, the YMCA kept the children outside while waiting for their parents to pick them up. “The children were calm during the evacuation and enjoyed their extended outdoor time. The teachers were continuously interactive with the children singing songs and having storytelling time. We kept the children hydrated with plenty of fluids,” said Ikea Prince, Child Care Director.

The Vinegar Hill Cafe officially reopened on Friday morning, but other portions of the Jefferson School City Center most affected may not re-open until Monday, July 1. To keep updated, check the status on the Jefferson School City Center’s Facebook page or check with the nonprofit directly.

Sit on it

On Saturday, July 13, Common Ground Healing Arts will be hosting it’s second annual Sit-A-Thon, a community meditation event. Both experienced meditators and those who have never meditated are welcome. Common Ground is seeking to raise $50,000 with this year’s event, all of which will go directly toward charitable care. Common Ground will provide over $200,000 in charitable care this year.

Phoebe Haupt, Program Director at Common Ground said, “the Sit-A-Thon is the most Blissful Fundraiser to hit Charlottesville—an opportunity to invest in your own wellness, expand your mindfulness practice or just learn how to meditate while supporting a good cause.  Anyone can join us—from beginner to advanced. There is no minimum donation—though we have some amazing prizes for the top fundraisers.”

Carver Recreation Center to Present “An Evening of Jazz” featuring the Riseband and Show

Charlottesville Parks & Recreation will host “An Evening of Jazz” on Saturday, June 29 from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm at Carver Recreation Center at the Jefferson School City Center. The Riseband & Show is a Washington D.C. area band which performs oldies but goodies as well as jazz and Motown. This program is open for anyone ages 18 and up for a cost of $15 per person.  Included in the cost is heavy hors d’oeurvres by Mel’s Café. Register online.

Literacy Volunteers new tutor training

Literacy Volunteers has seen an increase in requests for services since moving to the Jefferson School City Center. There are many students currently on a waiting list to be assigned a tutor. The next tutor training is scheduled for Saturday, July 13, 9:30a m to 4 pm. Food from the Vinegar Hill Café is provided for lunch.

New tutor trainings are designed to give volunteers all the skills they need to be great tutors. No teaching experience is necessary but patience is helpful. Register for the July 13 training or get more information by calling 434-977-3838.

JSCC logoJefferson 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!

 

Categories
Arts

Summer stocked: The Heritage Theatre Festival returns with guns out

Annie Oakley (Emilie Faith Thompson) and Frank Butler (Jonathan Elliott Coarsey) are loaded for laughter in Heritage Theatre Festival’s season opener Annie Get Your Gun. “The thing I love most about Annie Oakley is that she is very no-nonsense about what she wants,”said Thompson. Photo Michael Bailey.

The construction is complete, and Robert Chapel is ready to dig in. As Heritage Theatre Festival’s Producing Artistic Director, Chapel is eager to launch the company’s first full season in two years following the opening of UVA Drama’s new Ruth Caplin Theatre.
“I’ll be doing five shows: two in the Caplin, two in the Culbreth, and one in the Helms, and for the last two weeks of summer, all three theaters will have shows at the same time,” he said. “I’m gonna stand in the lobby and watch people funnel off into each theater.”
One of Charlottesville’s revered local traditions, the Heritage Theatre Festival has been offering summer theater variety for nearly 30 years. The addition of a new 300-seat venue has invigorated the department, and Chapel returns to his programming formula with an eye towards fun. “It’s become very apparent over the years that the audiences want musicals and lighter fare over the summer,” he said.
When the UVA Drama buildings were built in 1978, department chair David Weiss and his colleagues conceived of the Heritage Theatre Festival as a way to make use of its new venues in the summer months. Initially the programming was committed to historical, classic American plays like The Patriot, but the limited range of material made it apparent that they would need to expand the content or repeat productions. By the mid-’80s the festival found success with its first contemporary ticket for The Foreigner by Larry Shue, a slightly slapstick two-act comedy built around human nature and absurdity. “It’s the biggest hit we’ve had. Even to this day,” said Chapel.
The 2013 season casts a collection of plays that will engage, provoke and entertain, beginning with Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun (June 27-July 6). The rousing, romantic musical is based loosely on outlaw Annie Oakley and stars Culpeper resident and New York City transplant Emilie Thompson. Thompson performs in two productions this season, but is most excited about playing the notorious cowgirl. “This score is incredible, and Annie Oakley is a character women everywhere dream of playing,” she said.
Chapel is enthusiastic about the choice as a season opener. “I always try to start the summer with a classic American musical,” he said. “It remains one of the greatest musical scores ever written for musical theater.” (Think “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”)
According to legend, Rogers & Hammerstein were asked to write Annie Get Your Gun, but handed it off to Irving Berlin. Chapel enjoys retelling the backstory about how Berlin, “a New York Jewish guy” questioned his qualifications to write about “hillbillies,” and then went home and wrote four songs over one weekend that helped define the lexicon of American musical theater.
While the main offerings are lighthearted, Chapel couldn’t pass up a chance to stage the Tony Award-winning drama Red (July 3-July 13), which takes things in a more complex direction with its moving story about modern artist Mark Rothko and his internal struggle over producing art for commercial use. “I had heard about Red in New York. Then I got the script, and literally began to cry at the end of the play,” Chapel said.
The Tuna, Texas small town satires have been a mainstay at HTF, and this season brings the series finale, Tuna Does Vegas (July 17-August 3). The laughter in this final installment will be provided by performances from Evan Bridenstine and J.P. Scheidler, both UVA Drama grads who return year after year to collaborate for the Tuna shows at the HTF.
Many actors return to the Heritage to hone their craft, while others have built careers that are far too busy with Broadway roles and television gigs. Chapel spoke gleefully about a missed opportunity with one of his most notable UVA Drama alums. “The fun story is that the one person that we should’ve cast that we didn’t was Tina Fey. She was one of our students, but I don’t think she’s ever auditioned for us,” he said.
The crowd-pleasing centerpiece of the season is the Marvelous Wonderettes (July 23-August 3), which came to Chapel through the suggestion of Wonderettes fans and word of mouth from patrons. It’s a feel-good musical tribute to the girl groups of the ’50s and’60s and also features Emilie Thompson in a leading role.
The most interesting, and possibly most challenging offering of the new season is Next to Normal, a vibrant rock opera on a serious topic. Six actors relate the story of a woman’s mental illness and her family’s coping strategy through a performance of 30 original songs. “I saw it on Broadway and it is very moving,” said Chapel. “I have what I think is one of the best casts I’ve ever had in this show.” The play won three Tonys, including Best Original Score, and takes the entire HTF season to a cathartic conclusion.
The high quality of the productions and the caliber of the performances attracts around 18,000 people to the HTF each summer, and while many of the attendees come from out of town, it’s clear among the insiders that Chapel and his team have built something special. “Heritage Theatre Festival is full of hardworking artists who truly want to put on the best theater possible for this area,” said Thompson. “Bob is a wonderful leader for the company, and really makes you feel valued as an actor. This is certainly one of my very favorite theaters.”
Most theater people have it in their blood, but one need look no further than the twinkle in Robert Chapel’s eyes to see his passion for the performing arts. “I get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and say ‘my gosh, I get paid to go to work today,’” he beamed.

Categories
News

For the moment, the GOP’s standard-bearers are barely standing

Cuccinelli Odd Dominion
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Photo ©Carrie Devorah/WENN

Well, that sure didn’t take long! If you had asked us even a month ago which party was the odds-on favorite to sweep this year’s statewide elections, we would have (reluctantly) given the nod to the Republicans. Even though Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is a hugely polarizing figure with politics far to the right of the Commonwealth’s increasingly purple populace, he was deftly winning the personality war with Democratic contender Terry McAuliffe, whose hyperactive style and big-money fundraising roots simply weren’t clicking with Virginia’s voters.

Well, the Macker hasn’t really made any great strides in the likability department, but the Old Dominion’s elephants have suffered a series of unfortunate events so grave that it may end up sending him—and his Democratic ticket-mates—to Capitol Square by default.

It all started with the unexpected primary election of Chesapeake pastor E.W. Jackson, who came out of nowhere to capture the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. We will not waste precious space here cataloging Pastor Jackson’s long and voluminous history of outrageous statements, financial problems, and purported drug use. Suffice it to say that Jackson set the absurdity bar very high when he was compelled to utter these words at his first post-victory press conference: “I do not believe that birth defects are caused by parents’ sin. I do not believe that yoga leads to Satanism.”

This, it goes without saying, is terrible news for the Cooch, who desperately needed a pair of boring, moderate candidates flanking him in order to make his own extremism more palatable. Instead he now has Reverend Wackadoodle on one side, and Republican state Senator Mark Obenshain on the other. Now, Obenshain—who is running to replace Cuccinelli as AG—isn’t quite as kookalicious as Jackson (who could be?), but his legislative record still presents a minefield of potential embarrassments. This is, after all, a man who once sponsored a bill that would have required any women suffering a miscarriage to report it immediately to the police.

Add to this delightfully deranged political mélange a series of increasingly visible Republican scandals, and Cuccinelli and company’s path to political power seems to grow longer by the day.

The latest black mark to besmirch the Virginia GOP’s brand came courtesy of Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife, who, according to a recent story in The Washington Post, “have billed the state for body wash, sunscreen, dog vitamins and a digestive system ‘detox cleanse,’” while also using state employees to run personal errands for their children. On top of that, Cuccinelli himself has recently been forced to defend the conduct of his staff after an assistant AG was castigated by a federal judge for providing enthusiastic assistance to two energy companies currently fighting lawsuits from citizens over natural gas royalties. (It should come as no surprise that Cuccinelli has received more than $111,000 in campaign contributions from one of these companies.)

At this point, if we were advising Terry McAuliffe, we’d tell him to gather up his running mates and repair to a bomb shelter for the next 10 weeks. After all, there’s nothing the man could do to Virginia’s Republican candidates that could possibly be worse than what they’re currently doing to themselves.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Mind the Gap

City Center for Contemporary Arts hosts Mind the Gap, a building-wide benefit for Live Arts, Second Street Gallery, and Light House Studio, to help close the gap in their annual fundraising goals. CCCA will be packed with local food and entertainment, from food carts on the street to brews with a view on the roof deck. Sip while enjoying favorite local acts Moby & the Dicks and Erin & the Wildfire. A ticket will also get you into a live jazz and wine tasting room, the karaoke room, and the silent disco.

Saturday 6/29 $50, 8pm-2am. City Center for Contemporary Arts, 123 E. Water St. 977-4177.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJoEEQmN15Y

Categories
Arts

Down on the Bayou: Anders Osborne’s evolving New Orleans Sound

The genre-jumping songwriter and accomplished guitarist, Anders Osborne, brings his melting pot of rock to the Jefferson. Publicity photo

Through a two-and-a-half-decade career, Anders Osborne has consistently proven to be one of New Orleans’ most versatile musicians. Since releasing his debut album in 1989, Osborne has become a Crescent City mainstay, able to vary his sound from edgy Bayou blues (2001’s Ash Wednesday Blues) to introspective soulful folk-rock (2007’s Coming Down). He’s collaborated with some of the Big Easy’s best, performing in the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars super group that included Dr. John and members of The Meters, and he’s also an accomplished songwriter. A stint as a hired gun in Nashville yielded a number one country hit for Tim McGraw, and Osborne also co-wrote two tunes on Keb Mo’s Grammy-winning album Slow Down.

His sound took a turn with 2010’s acclaimed effort American Patchwork. It now wanders between Cajun-hued journeyman blues and aggressive improvisational rock, anchored by worldly-wise lyrics that often cover his struggle to overcome addiction. Osborne has started mixing it up in the jam band world—recently collaborating with Gov’t Mule and even earning a spot in one of Phil Lesh’s rotating Friends line-ups. He chatted with C-VILLE ahead of a Saturday night show at The Jefferson Theater.

 

C-VILLE Weekly: Between Coming Down and American Patchwork, you made a pivot to a louder rock direction. What inspired the change? 

Anders Osborne: “I went through a lot of life changes. With those came a lot of clarity and the desire to include a lot more muscle in the music. It was a natural progression; I found myself going back to some of my favorite old rock records by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and I decided to incorporate those influences. I also started to get geeky with my guitar rig and it didn’t take long for me to get comfortable.”

Your gritty guitar style has a lot of influences that are sometimes hard to pinpoint. Can you explain how it developed? 

“I try to play with as many people as possible and pick up different things from my contemporaries. Throughout the years there have been so many influences, including a lot of horn players. I like to incorporate the melodies and phrasing of guys like John Coltrane and Miles Davis. In my early days of playing, I was really into Ry Cooder and Robert Johnson, and lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.”

Speaking of the Grateful Dead, you recently headed west to jam with Phil Lesh at his venue Terrapin Crossroads. Are you a longtime Deadhead? 

“I didn’t get into them until they had the ’80s commercial break with “Touch of Grey.” I had to pedal backwards and look at everything they’d done before. Also, a local New Orleans player Billy Iuso, who was in my band for about two years was a huge fan, and he turned me on to a lot of their best recordings.”

“Phil is very meticulous; he’s looking for a specific thing with each band that he puts together. A few days before our shows he sent me a list of songs, so I had to quickly learn the material before we could get together and go through it. It was a fun experience.”

You moved to Nashville for a song-writing gig and wrote “Watch the Wind Blow By,” a No.1 hit for Tim McGraw. Was cracking that code rewarding at all? 

“It was surprising, and rewarding, especially because it wasn’t one of the songs I wrote as a staff writer. It was just one of my general laid back tunes that someone happened to hear and thought I should demo. It brought me to another level of artists looking at my songs. Tim is also originally from Louisiana, so we had that connection.”

Since you collaborate with a lot of fellow New Orleans musicians, how would you characterize the city’s current music scene?

“I tour a lot, so I wouldn’t say that I totally have my finger on the pulse. There are a lot of nuances to the scene down here. For a long time it was dominated by funk, but lately I’ve noticed a singer-songwriter revival. Plenty of brass bands are still around, and we also have a heavy metal scene, or what I should probably call Southern hard rock. It feels like everything has found its place and a lot of different styles are mingling together.”

“It’s also a place where artists from different genres can really work together. Next week I’m playing in a band called Dragon Smoke with Stanton Moore and Robert (Mercurio) from Galactic and Ivan Neville on keyboards.”

Is a new studio album in the works? 

“I have a new full-length record coming out September 10. I headed two hours west and recorded it at Dockside Studio near Lafayette. I can’t reveal too much, but I’ll say it continues to be more rock in the vein of American Patchwork and Black Eye Galaxy. I’m really proud of this one.”

 

Categories
News

Education Beat: Albemarle to up technology ratio

Walton Middle School teachers Susan Rigby and Jon Barber discuss the search for Walton’s new assistant principal during last week’s School Improvement Plan meeting. Photo: Tim Shea

Our regular Education Beat reporting is the result of a partnership with the nonprofit community news platform Charlottesville Tomorrow, which covers growth, development, public education, and local politics. 

The Albemarle County School Board last week agreed to implement a one-to-one technology initiative—a computing device for every student, starting with grades six through 12—as part of its “digital conversion.”

Albemarle spokesman Vincent Scheivert said that the goal of the initiative, which he expects to be cost-neutral or show a savings within five years, is to provide all county students access to digital resources and content when and where they need it to happen.

Early estimates show the one-year total cost for new devices and professional and curriculum development will be nearly $1.5 million, or $213 per student, based on county’s 7,000 middle- and high-school students. Funding in the current budget will cover nearly all technology costs, Scheivert said, and the county will be looking at ways to reprioritize the budget to direct money for professional and curriculum development to prepare teachers to use the new technology.

That curriculum development will get underway in the coming months, Scheivert said. One resource will be Project RED, a 2010 study and analysis of technology integration in schools.

Schools take on summer building projects

Both Albemarle County Public Schools and Charlottesville City Schools are making improvements to their infrastructure this summer.

In Albemarle, construction is already underway at Murray High School to accommodate students whose classes have previously been housed in trailers. The project includes renovating the main wing of the charter school located off of Rose Hill Drive. The 6,680-square-foot project, which was awarded to North Star Companies of Warrenton, Virginia, has a price tag of $328,797.

In Charlottesville, the city is improving lighting at Charlottesville High School and updating school drinking fountains division-wide. At CHS, workers are replacing the site lighting from behind the school to the annex near the baseball field. The new lights, which will cost $495,000, are the last phase in fully lighting the school’s perimeter. The city is also spending $129,000 to ensure its school drinking fountains comply with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. These regulations mandate such issues as spout height and distance from walls, as well as hand controls and numbers of ADA-compliant drinking fountains per floor.

Walton parents weigh in on assistant principal search

Nearly 30 concerned parents and teachers gathered in the Walton Middle School amphitheater last week to discuss improving school climate. The school administration had come under fire recently for numerous student conduct issues at the Albemarle middle school.

At the heart of the conversation was filling the school’s new assistant principal vacancy. Walton assistant principal Edmund Leclere will be leaving to focus on at-risk and special needs students, and parents were emphatic that his replacement instill discipline. Parent Lisa Cannell said that the students needed to have “a healthy fear” of the new administrator.

Assistant director for educator quality Clare Keiser said the new hire will have experience as an assistant principal and that the position will be filled within the next two weeks. Assistant superintendent Matt Hass said that there are four strong candidates already working in the division.—Tim Shea

BULLETIN BOARD

Rewriting the rulebook: On Tuesday, June 25 the Charlottesville School Board will continue its five year policy review. The last in a series of three meetings, the work session will be held at 5pm in the CATEC auditorium and will cover revisions made to policies in the previous two meetings. For more specific agenda information, visit http://esbpublic.ccs.k12.va.us.

Comp camp: Registration is now open for Albemarle County Public School’s summer computer programming academy, CoderDojo. The free program, which runs from July 8 to July 26, teaches computer science skills for grades K-12, regardless of experience. Morning and afternoon sessions are offered, and parents are welcome to participate with their child. Students are encouraged to pre-register for the popular program at: www.k12albemarle.org.

Rachel Savoy. Photo courtesy subject.

MEET YOUR EDUCATOR: Rachel Savoy, 2nd grade teacher, Burnley-Moran Elementary School

If you had to pick one, what do you think is the single most important issue facing the public schools today?

Budget cuts are inevitable these days, but larger class sizes really make a negative impact on the learning that takes place inside a classroom. As a nation, we want our students to excel in all the core subjects and lament that our students are “falling behind,” yet we are simultaneously not giving schools the right number of personnel that it would take to facilitate that strong academic growth. Additionally, another issue is making sure those adults that do work with students are highly qualified, and that we are attracting strong candidates to our teaching profession.

What is your favorite example of a rewarding experience you’ve had in the field of education?

In general, the most rewarding aspect of teaching is when your students make good choices in how to treat one another, and you know it is because you have worked on those skills all year. My students are much more loving and forgiving than any adult I know, and when given the space and chance to practice those skills, they really blow me away.

What is your favorite part of classroom teaching?

My favorite aspect of teaching is being able to expose students to things that they never knew before but that they will end up loving. I teach second grade, so students are so quick to adopt the things you love as an instructor. There is so much power there.

Categories
Arts

Film review: World War Z

Left to right: Mireille Enos is Karin Lane and Brad Pitt is Gerry Lane in WORLD WAR Z, from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films.

Brad Pitt’s attack on zombies fails to capture the trend

It’s not that World War Z is bad. Any movie with star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster—whose resume swings from Stranger Than Fiction to Machine Gun Preacher-—can’t be bad. It can, however, be pretty mediocre.

Fans of Max Brooks’ novel World War Z would probably say the failure comes from subverting the novel’s structure—a collection of accounts of the zombie war set 10 years after its end—and setting the movie at the beginning of the conflict. Maybe that’s the problem, but I’d argue a movie’s job isn’t to be faithful to its story’s origins; it’s to be an entertaining movie. World War Z is not. It has all the elements of a decent zombie adventure story, but it’s so derivative it’s impossible not to spend the movie tracing the story arcs back to other places.

For example, Gerry Lane (Pitt), a U.N. investigator, spends much of the film looking for patient zero, the first person infected with the virus (or whatever it is) that’s turning people into zombies. See also: Contagion. Of course, he’s retired and lured back into service. See also: Rambo: First Blood Part II.

More derivation: The zombies can move really quickly (Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake) or really slowly (George A. Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead). The music sounds like Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” (The Exorcist). The world seems to be ending (every apocalypse movie, but let’s go with the recent spate, including This is the End, Warm Bodies, The Host, and the Resident Evil series).

And in what must be coincidence—because the screenplay isn’t smart enough for it to be purposeful—a World Health Organization doctor tells Gerry not to hit zombies with blunt objects because it just riles them up. If you recall Blazing Saddles, co-
written and directed by novelist Brooks’ father Mel Brooks, you shouldn’t shoot Mongo because it just makes him mad.

That’s a long way of saying the mind wanders when it should be concentrating on the zombie plague, which crashes down in the first 10 minutes. The following 100 minutes are spent fleeing and figuring out what went wrong, and the bursts of zombie menace are timed to stave off boredom while Pitt broods. It doesn’t help, by the way, that his name is Gerry, and that his boss’ name is Thierry (which is pronounced, as we remember from French class, “Terry”).

The other thing one notices is the movie’s confused gender politics. Gerry is married to Karin (Mireille Enos), who does a pretty good job keeping the family alive. But of course she’s attacked and he saves her. Then there’s a convenient plot excuse for her to stay behind with the kids while he saves the world.

Gerry teams up with a tough Israeli soldier (Daniella Kertesz). But then he has to save her, too. It’s as if the four credited screenwriters (all men) couldn’t decide whether to let the women kick ass or make dinner, so they let them half-do both. And as we all know, saving the world is man’s work.

Maybe the women will have other things to do in the sequel. Because you know there’s a set-up for a sequel, right? Of course you did.

Will it be mediocre? Does a zombie love human flesh?

 

World War Z

PG-13, 110 minutes, Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

 

 

Playing this week:

42
Carmike Cinema 6

Before Midnight
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

The Big Wedding
Carmike Cinema 6

The Bling Ring
Vinegar Hill Theatre

The Company You Keep
Carmike Cinema 6

The Croods
Carmike Cinema 6

Epic
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Fast & Furious 6
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Frances Ha
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

The Great Gatsby
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

The Internship
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Iron Man 3
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Man of Steel
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Monsters University
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Mud
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Much Ado About Nothing
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Now You See Me
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Place Beyond the Pines
Carmike Cinema 6

The Purge
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Oz The Great and Powerful
Carmike Cinema 6

Scary Movie V
Carmike Cinema 6

Stories We Tell
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Star Trek Into Darkness
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

This is the End
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

 

Movie houses:

Carmike Cinema 6
973-4294

Regal Downtown Mall
Cinema 6
979-7669

Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
244-3213

Vinegar Hill Theatre
977-4911

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: The Sweater Set

Folk scene fun gals, The Sweater Set, play a buttoned-up set at the Blue Moon Diner. Photo by Shervin.

Contemporary folk duo Maureen Andary and Sara Curtin, a.k.a. The Sweater Set, first met as teens in a Washington, D.C. church choir. In the years since, the pair has taken their vocal training and friendship on the road, developing multi-instrument arrangements that include the ukulele, banjo, glockenspiel, and even the kazoo, layered with “elaborate lyrical gossip.” Their signature sound has earned them a Washington Area Music Award for Best Contemporary Folk Group, and made fans of Dar Williams and concert-goers across the globe.

Friday 6/28  Free, 8pm. The Blue Moon Diner, 512 W. Main St. 980-6666.