Month: December 2013

Categories
Living

Trust issues: When it comes to vets, don’t believe everything you see on TV

Is your veterinarian being honest with you? Mike Fietz urges pet owners to not believe everything they see on TV. File photo

I got an email this week imploring me to watch a recent segment on “20/20” titled “Is Your Veterinarian Being Honest With You?” If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Stephen Colbert, it’s that headlines consisting of ominous leading questions are always trustworthy, so I was eager to see this fearless foray into the dark underbelly of my own profession.

What I got instead was a batch of clips heavily edited to generate suspicion and mistrust of a vast group of men and women who have, in good faith, chosen to spend their lives helping animals. There were brief assurances that most veterinarians are just fine (aww, thanks!), but those asides weren’t enforced with giant text splashed across the screen like the scary bits were. The overall thrust was clear. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The report is framed by interviews with a disgruntled former veterinarian who says he was tasked with “upselling” clients on services and procedures. He recalls being berated by his boss for telling one owner to simply monitor a dog’s lump, and being told to use the “c-word” in order to scare people into more procedures. “Was it cancer?” asks the reporter.

“No,” sighs the ex-vet. “It was a benign fatty tumor.”

That’s the entire exchange. And I find it more than a little baffling, honestly. On the surface, I agree with him. Any time I diagnose a benign fatty tumor (called a lipoma, and found very frequently in dogs), I recommend that owners just monitor it. They cause no trouble at all, and I’m averse to unnecessary cosmetic surgery. But the veterinarian being interviewed says nothing about how he came to his recommendation. I can’t give that advice without first confirming what I’m dealing with, and I do that by performing a simple aspiration—sucking some cells out with a needle and taking a look at them under a microscope. Usually, it turns out well. It’s just fat. Keep an eye on it, and go home in peace knowing that I didn’t make my recommendation based on a wild hunch.

But sometimes that simple test reveals something ugly. Sometimes it is the c-word. And if I find out, I might be able to cure that dog now with a minor surgery rather than let it develop into a severe problem months or years down the line. I agree that people shouldn’t be scared out of their wits, but I fail to see how this kind of precaution is upselling. From where I stand, it’s common sense. If the owner just wants me to say “don’t worry, everything is fine” regardless of what might be wrong, then why go to a vet in the first place?

The segment went on to generate similar suspicions about vaccines and dentistry, both important parts of animal care. Sometimes it was right, showing a few bad apples recommending vaccines more frequently than advised based on current knowledge. Other times it was wrong, showing off a pit bull with an ostensibly healthy mouth despite the camera zooming in to show an obvious mass growing on the dog’s gums (seriously). But isn’t that kind of disparity to be expected in any profession? Isn’t it too easy to throw a few sketchy veterinarians, dentists, mechanics, or (ahem) television reporters into the spotlight, and forget about all the good ones?

My career is absolutely dependent on trust, and I’m well aware that if I lose it, I lose everything. It is impossible to take proper care of a patient when every decision is clouded by suspicion of an ulterior motive. Reports like this are frustrating because they remind me that trust is so easy to dismantle from a distance, but can only be built up-close. I hope that readers do watch the segment, and find it comforting rather than frightening. How? There are so many excellent veterinarians in Charlottesville (and beyond), and if you’ve spent time working with one of them, you know that they are nothing like the caricature presented in “20/20”’s cynical scare-piece. You don’t trust them because you have to. You trust them because they’ve earned it by taking good care of you and your pets. That is their job, after all.

Categories
News

Education beat: Local schools and employees face new benefit landscape

The Jackson-Via Elementary “Bully-Nots” performing their original piece, “Be a STAR.” The students work with school counselor Kristin Ullrich to learn bullying-prevention techniques. Photo: Tim Shea

Our Education Beat coverage is the result of a partnership with Charlottesville Tomorrow.

Recent local and national changes to employer benefit systems have added another layer of planning that Charlottesville and Albemarle schools must account for as the two divisions head into budget season.

In the coming months, the two school divisions will provide greater numbers of employees with health insurance, and are being forced to adapt to alterations within the Virginia Retirement System that shift more investment responsibility to teachers and administrators.

In August, the University of Virginia announced that it would stop providing health insurance to the spouses of employees who were eligible to receive coverage through their employers. When the new rules take effect January 1, 32 employees previously covered by the University will be added to Charlottes-ville City Schools’ books, and approximately 40 to those of Albemarle County.

Despite similar numbers, the two divisions are forecasting different futures because of their health insurance benefits.

Charlottesville fully insures its employees, which means the division pays a premium to an insurance company, which in turn processes and pays claims and assumes the risk of providing coverage for insured events. The premium fluctuates, depending on the number of people on an employee’s plan. Fully-insured plans are generally more expensive because the health insurance company is carrying more of the risk.

Albemarle self-insures, and therefore acts as its own insurance company, directly paying claims to healthcare providers. Unlike the city schools, it pays a flat contribution per employee. Self-insured entities generally bear more of the risk of extending health benefits.

Charlottesville is predicting increased costs due to new health insurance enrollees. Budget documents show that the city schools will incur about $92,000 of additional costs for the first half of 2014. The potential cost for the 2014-15 budget year is estimated at $193,000.

That number could increase to about $225,000 if employees choose expensive plans, said Carole Nelson, Charlottesville Schools’ director of human resources.

Lorna Gerome, Albemarle’s director of human resources, said that because January is a time of flux for insurance plans due to open enrollments, and because many of the new individuals coming onto the county’s plan are spouses of current employees, the impact is not expected to be significant.

What’s more, Gerome  said, the relatively large pool of insured employees at the county schools—there are roughly 6,000—will help buffer against a major cost increase there.

In addition to discussing the impacts of UVA’s decision, at its November 12 meeting, the Charlottesville School Board began discussions on whether or not the division should follow suit with UVA, and require eligible spouses to receive health insurance through their employers. Nelson said that this conversation is not uncommon in the area.

Charlottesville School Board member Ned Michie said that since the division’s health insurance was taxpayer-funded, he didn’t think it was “irresponsible” for the Board to think about it. But Charlottesville School Board member Jennifer McKeever disagreed with the move, arguing that employees’ families would lose out.

Charlottesville School Board Chair Juandiego Wade said the division isn’t planning on forcing eligible spouses from the division’s health insurance, but that the division has to “keep all of its options on the table.”

Gerome said that Albemarle is “not planning on taking that action at this time.”

Albemarle and Charlottesville are also determining the extent to which they will extend coverage under the new requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Under the ACA, employers will be required to offer health insurance to employees who average 30 or more hours of work per week during their contract periods. Officials from both divisions said that long-term and frequently used substitutes, tutors, and instructional assistants make up the positions that are most likely to qualify for insurance.

Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Rosa S. Atkins said that while the division values all of its employees, the approximately $6,000 per person could add significant costs.

Albemarle offers part-time employees health insurance, Schools spokesman Phil Giaramita said, so the extent to which the ACA will impact the county would be seen in premiums going up or down, depending on how the market reacts, but not in new enrollees.

While health insurance changes impact teachers and administrators in the present, changes to the Virginia Retirement System are impacting how they might spend their golden years.

Currently, five percent of each paycheck goes into VRS. Once the changes take effect, all new employees and all existing employees who chose to opt in will see four percent contributed to the VRS’s traditional pension plan, and will have to choose how to invest the remaining one percent.

School divisions across the state are also expecting a nearly three percent increase in mandatory VRS payments, from 11.66 percent of full-time payroll going into the system, to 14.5 percent. This would result in about an additional $2.4 million in expenditures for Albemarle and $900,000 for Charlottesville.

“We certainly support fully funding the retirement system,” City School Finance Director Ed Gillaspie said. “It’s regrettable that the General Assembly did not fully fund the system all along, since now we are in the position of playing catch-up with costs that significantly impact our budgets.”

 

Meet your educator

Photo: Courtesy Charlottesville City SchoolsPat Cuomo, Assistant Principal, Jackson-Via Elementary

What has been the most challenging aspect of becoming an administrator?

When I became an administrator, I quickly realized that my decisions and actions impacted a large group of stakeholders. I make every effort to ensure that each decision I make is seen through the eyes of the different groups I interact with on a regular basis.

In what new ways do you support student learning?

Prior to becoming an administrator, I was an elementary school teacher and also spent a few years supporting instructional technology in the classroom. I enjoy bringing 21st century technology and classroom applications to the teachers, staff, and students at school.

What are you doing to engage the community at your school?

Jackson-Via has a supportive community with a committed Parent Teacher Organization. We plan community events such as parent/teacher conferences at a local church, host community events such as Rocktoberfest, and also encourage local businesses and organizations to get involved at our school.

How will you respect your school’s history and culture while making the decisions necessary to educate young people for their future?

Jackson-Via Elementary School has a rich history. Each year, we honor that history at our end of year ceremony by giving out the Betty Davis Via Award and the Nannie Cox Jackson Award. Both awards are presented to outstanding fourth grade students. As we look to the future of our school, we remember our beginnings and hold true to our motto: We do whatever it takes!

 

Categories
The Editor's Desk

Editor’s Note: On soul searching

I’ve been asked many times why I got a divinity degree, and there isn’t a simple answer. When I think about the enduring weight of student loans and the concrete impact it’s had on my professional life (virtually none), I begin to wonder myself. But that kind of hindsight sells short my own path, ignores who I was when I decided to go back to school. And it also misrepresents the transformation I underwent as a young school teacher on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Ultimately, I went back to school to study theology and its practical applications because I had rational questions about big things, like my soul, that needed sorting out. And those rational questions arose from experiences, moments of enlightenment, that were impossible to explain with the language and understanding that was available to me at the time.

My generation, Generation X, has been deeply engaged in pulling back the curtains, peering into the dark corners, gazing into the mirror, and wandering the globe in search of answers we can only find by looking into our own hearts. We’ve reached an age when we are starting families, settling down, and realizing that there are some things you can’t ever pin down. It’s an interesting time for us: We dropped out and tuned out and now, like prodigal children, we’re trying to fit in and sink roots without letting go of what we discovered. In the process, we are learning how to be happy.

This week’s cover story  looks at how members of three very different generations have coped with one of the nagging 40-year questions that has shaped counterculture, (and pushed toward the mainstream) since the last Age of Aquarius: Are our souls connected to each other through some higher consciousness? It’s a puzzle tailor-made for an encounter with the moral and religious fragmentation initiated by globalization, and one that was also confronted by Carl Jung and many others early in the last century.

Welcome to the new New Age, where young people like Nick Lasky aren’t asking whether there’s something bigger out there so much as trying to figure out how to plug it in.

Categories
Living

The new New Age: A fledgling UVA society has millennials talking about psychic fulfillment

UVA business major Nick Lasky founded the Society for Awakening Souls, which now boasts 50 members, as a communal outlet for fellow students to explore spirituality through mystical teachings and metaphysical insights. Photo: Martyn Kyle.

I met Nick Lasky the day after my birthday during Charlottesville’s first-ever psychic festival. The tarot card reader, festival coordinator, and UVA fourth year wore a striped Baja hoodie and long hair under a fuzzy pink bunny hat.

“So you’re the reporter,” he said.

I’d come to the Aquarian Bookshop on the Downtown Mall to understand how Lasky, a business major with a concentration in marketing, had gotten so involved in a scene I associated with the ’70s and Venice Beach, the world of astrologers, crystals, and earth chakras.

Turns out Lasky is part of a new generation exploring spirituality through mystical teachings and metaphysical insights. Unlike many older people I’ve met with similar curiosities, he also openly shares his beliefs with anyone who will listen.

“A few summers ago, I hit the road and started traveling to music festivals,” he said. “I think when you’re out just experiencing the world on your own or with open-minded people, you start letting go of the societal constructs that are probably subconscious.”

Lasky has embarked on an inward journey to bring self-awareness to the center of his life. Researching all he could on his own, he began meditating daily, practicing yoga, and eventually became certified in reiki.

“Meditating helps you ground and internalize whatever you’ve been experiencing and reach higher and higher states of consciousness,” he said. “It turns you on to other things, like hypnotherapy and energy healing and mystical spiritual experiences like synchronicity.”

Synchronicity is a Jungian concept where two or more events occur that appear to be meaningfully, but not causally, related. Like longing to listen to the song stuck in your head and then hearing it on the radio.

“When it happens a couple of times you’re like ‘OK that was a pretty strange coincidence,’” Lasky said. “When it starts happening over and over again you think ‘OK, there’s something to this.’ You realize things aren’t random chance, that there are other things in play.”

In early 2013, he supplemented his personal practice with classes at the Aquarian. The courses provided the educational structure he didn’t know he’d been looking for.

In September, Lasky founded the Society for Awakening Souls at UVA, a group for students to share spiritual experiences and techniques for expanding consciousness. It’s an idea he developed after a 10-day meditation retreat on the West Coast this summer, and, though the group is only five months old, the Society already has 50 members.

“I wanted to give people, especially young people, a context for what is going on,” he said. “When I was having my spiritual awakening, I didn’t have anybody at UVA or in Charlottesville who I could talk to about it. It’s become my life over the last couple of years, and I know a lot of things now that I didn’t know then.”

The awakening

I sat with 30 Society members in a semi-circle, watching a smile play on the lips of John J. Oliver. The professional psychic and owner of the Aquarian Bookshop was telling us the story of his unusual career.

“So I’m standing in the hallway and my first conscious psychic experience happens to me. I’m suddenly standing over here, looking at myself standing over there, watching myself over here,” he said. “I’d never heard about out-of-body experiences at this point. I thought I was having this fantastic wonderful dream.”

Clad in black, Oliver spoke in a low, soothing voice, making careful eye contact with each one of us. He saw ghosts throughout his boyhood, he said, and as a teen became deeply involved in judo and a daily practice of stillness meditation (what he described as “non-religious Zen”). His first out-of-body experience led him to try his hand at automatic writing. After months and many pages of illegible scribbles, a friend asked to watch him perform the act. The results were unexpected.

“I sat down and started meditation, and instead of just automatic writing, I have this sensation like water or electricity flowing up through my body, over the chair, crawling up my scalp, and it’s like my throat was talking all by itself,” he said.

When he repeated the experiment for his mother, he thought he fell asleep in the chair. “But she and my friend had this look on their faces—and I know that look, I’ve seen it many times since. It’s the look of someone who had just been with the entity that speaks through me. He said his name, then he spelled his name, then he told all these fantastical stories of how he knew me since ancient days. At first I thought they were pulling my leg, but my mother cannot lie,” Oliver said. “I knew that Jerhoam, as he called himself, had been talking to them for over an hour.”

John J. Oliver, a professional psychic and owner of the Aquarian Bookshop, began channeling the voice of a spirit who calls himself Jerhoam as a teenager. Oliver has worked on police investigations as a “psychic detective” and been featured on the reality television series “Haunting Evidence.” Photo: Martin Kyle.
John J. Oliver, a professional psychic and owner of the Aquarian Bookshop, began channeling the voice of a spirit who calls himself Jerhoam as a teenager. Oliver has worked on police investigations as a “psychic detective” and been featured on the reality television series “Haunting Evidence.” Photo: Martin Kyle.

The students around me appeared as riveted as I was. Oliver, who Lasky knows through his part-time job at the bookshop, was one of several psychic guest speakers to visit the group this semester. Typical meetings include 15-20 minutes of guided meditation and discussions of member experiences. At the end of every meeting, the group gathers in a circle to set a collective intention to help others or one another along their spiritual paths.

When I asked him what he meant by spiritual path, Lasky’s brow furrowed. “A spiritual path is just deconstructing the programs you live from, whatever you’ve lived from that’s not the truth. It’s opening up to a higher consciousness or the divine or whatever you want to call it, but basically connecting with spirit, with the earth and with yourself,” he said.

He spoke without a trace of self-consciousness about ideas I have entertained in private, if not aired in public, ones that critics dismiss as delusional, naïve, or trippy. The practical side of me avoids association with woo-woo New Age stigma, and rationally, I am skeptical of anyyone who makes extra-ordinary claims. But my mind is open and in my gut I believed that Lasky was on to something.

“You learn that the most important thing is the present. Especially with being in school and the crazy pressure to focus on your career—you start to ask ‘What about now? Why am I planning five years down the road when I’m alive right now?’” Lasky said.

I told him my own similar story. Several years ago, I was a millennial desperate to nail down my future, relentlessly questioning my job, my city, and my long-term relationship. A set of coincidences led me to yoga and meditation, and one morning I woke up and cried tears of relief. I saw that the present was a gift I’d been rejecting, and for an instant, it seemed, a window had opened to allow me to see beyond myself, to the peace of deep connection to something bigger than me.

Lasky looked thoughtful. “For me, a lot of it was realizing the abilities I didn’t know I had until I started experiencing them. Like synchronicity, and psychic— “ He cut himself off. “Just being more in tune with other people and being able to say, ‘This is what you’re thinking right now’ and being correct.”

“So once you saw synchronicities,” I asked, “when did you make the leap to be able to say to someone else or yourself ‘this is going to happen?’”

Lasky looked perplexed.

“[Being psychic] is not necessarily that you’re predicting the future. You get a feeling. It’s more about using your intuition. People who are mediums or connecting with spirits might be different, but… If you’re using tarot cards, it’s about having a deep understanding of the cards and picking up what you pick up and working with that on the spot,” he said.

Lasky implied that psychic ability hinged on reading people, not crystal balls. That divination is merely a product of interpreting some ineffable quality between us.

Categories
Arts

Further musings on 2013’s musical offerings

Kurt Vile’s Walkin’ on a Pretty Daze landed in the top 10 on many critic’s lists in 2013. He played cuts from the album at the Jefferson on July 18. Image:Tom Daly/Jefferson Theater

The default opening act for many of 2013’s concerts was the local duo Grand Banks, which sprang back to life in 2013 after several years of infrequent shows. While keyboardist/singer Tyler Magill’s other project Mss. went on hiatus, he and Davis Salisbury rekindled their improvisational ambient noise duo. Where Grand Banks’ material was once abrasive and theatrical, its recent performances—along with Salisbury’s solo appearances under the name Dais Queue—became increasingly restrained, thoughtful, and unpredictable.

Kurt Vile made one of the 2013’s most acclaimed and popular records, but the real highlight at his July 18 concert at the Jefferson was his touring partners, The Swirlies. The Boston-based group is one of several early ’90s American acts, like The Lilys, that sprang up in the wake of the ’80s shoegaze movement. The group’s explosive musical energy, both dreamy and aggressive, made for one of the best sets I’ve ever heard on the Jefferson’s stage.

Andrew Cedermark (former local musician and a previous author of this column) returned to town on July 20 and was joined by new wave group Weird Mob and folker Erik the Red. Cedermark is now based in New York City, and he assembled a touring band to support his latest album, Home Life. Whereas his concerts once gained vitality from their ramshackle unpredictability, the new Cedermark Revue is thoroughly professional and competent, delivering new material with a road-tested synchronicity, and sacrificing little of the shambling energy that defines him as a performer.

Fellow New Yorkers Woods are a beloved indie institution, but their July 23 concert disintegrated into a forgettable, formless jam, unaided by the late hour of the set (the band got stuck in traffic en route). Still the evening was a success, as opening act Parquet Courts stole the show and delivered a charming, enthusiastic performance that captured the best aspects of its sly, witty album Light Up Gold.

Left & Right relocated from Charlottesville to Philadelphia this autumn, and made the most of its farewell by playing in town nearly twice a month in the summer. Drummer Zak Krone got to fulfill a personal musical fantasy on August 3 by sitting in for one song with Roanoke’s excellent Eternal Summers—it was a perk for helping to fund the band’s Kickstarter campaign. And though he wasn’t listed on the bill, Real Estate’s Matt Mondanile made a surprise appearance that night with his side project Ducktails, making it a memorable evening at the Tea Bazaar.

I was sad to miss Magik Markers’ September 5 appearance here, but I did catch two shows elsewhere on the same tour. The group’s wild, sprawling rock songs, descended from Sonic Youth and Royal Trux, were perfectly conceived and barely held together.

Former Charlottesville resident Matthew Clark has lived in California for several years, but in September he appeared in town with the heavy psychedelic act Residual Echoes. The audience was surprised by Maxx Katz, who joined the band on guitar and flute, before her band Miami Nights performed at the Main Street Annex later that same night.

Ian Svenonius is the brainy, stylish provocateur behind Nation of Ulysses, the Make-Up, and Weird War, and I had the pleasure of interviewing him and seeing his new act Chain and the Gang perform in August. Distilling decades of rock decadence into pure, groovy pseudo-stupidity, Chain and the Gang are not to be missed.

Though Charlottesville has no shortage of weekly and monthly dance nights, the Grits & Gravy Soul and Funk Revue remains the finest, and this year it finally settled into a permanent residency at the R2 Club behind Rapture. DJs Rum Cove and Brother Breakdown have the finest selection of classic 45s one could imagine, and their dance nights are invariably fun, as groovy cuts from yesteryear fill the floor with enthusiastic dancers. They continue to spin on the third Friday of every month.

Godspeed You Black Emperor’s October appearance at the Jefferson was spectacular, and as great as the one I’d seen exactly 13 years before. The band’s new material is even better suited to live performances, and the epic, droning, instrumental soundscapes were perfectly accompanied by a live 16mm film projection.

I’m not a concert promoter, but once in a while I’ll hear through the grapevine that a friend of a friend is looking for a show, and I’ll help grease the wheels to make something happen. This was the case with Suicide Magnets, a Providence-based group that came through town on September 19. Wendy Hyatt and drummer Chris Urany (aka “Jesus Crust”) lived in Charlottesville briefly in the late ’90s, and I took a chance and set up a gig for them at the Tea Bazaar.

Thankfully, the risk paid off. Opening with an Eno-esque ambient solo set by Tyler Magill, and transitioning seamlessly into an epic jam from a seven-piece ensemble line-up of Great Dads was a hard act to follow, but Suicide Magnets topped that effortlessly with a brief, focused set of jangly, fucked-up, damaged, garage punk tunes. Its short, simple songs were more aggressive in intent than in style, sounding more like Dead Moon or Hell-Kite than any thrashing hardcore act. The band played a half dozen songs in under 15 minutes, then politely but firmly declined requests for an encore and were probably the best thing I heard all year.

Prior to its recent Charlottesville show, I’d caught only half of a song by Baltimore’s Horse Lords, but that was enough to make me a fan. On November 1, I finally heard a full set and it was spectacular. The band plays groovy, instrumental math-rock that is thoughtful and visceral.

I ended the year on a heavy note, with back-to-back concerts by Guardian Alien, Great Dads, and newcomer Gnatcatcher at the Tea Bazaar, and Horsefang, Miami Nights, and Company Corvette at the Main Street Annex.

Part one of Feedback’s favorite concerts of 2013 can be found here.

Do you have tickets for a 2014 concert? Tell us about it.

 

 

Categories
News

Red light safety check, CFA Institute moves in, Gander Mountain retaining wall tumbles: News briefs

Construction at the CFA Institute’s new location in the former Martha Jefferson Hospital building should be complete by mid-January. Photo: Courteney Stuart


Red light camera safety called into question 

As Albemarle weighs adding red light cameras to another busy county intersection, the effects of the cameras on traffic collisions at the intersection of Rio Road and Route 29 is coming under scrutiny.

According to data reported by The Daily Progress, the county has collected almost a quarter of a million dollars in revenue from tickets since the cameras at Rio were installed in 2011, and the number of red-light violations has declined significantly. But law enforcement officials’ main argument in favor of the cameras—that they contribute to public safety by reducing collisions—may not be so clear-cut.

Red light cameras may indeed reduce the number of right-angle, or T-bone collisions at intersections, but according to the Progress, the cameras have had no effect on the number of total crashes at the Rio crossroads. There were 38 the year before the cameras were installed, 49 in 2011, 31 in 2012, and 33 by July of 2013. Data from 2011 shows the majority of those accidents—67 percent—were rear-end collisions. That could suggest the cameras have led to one type of crash being swapped for another.

A 2007 study by the Virginia Department of Transportation supports that claim. It found that crashes attributed to red-light running went down at intersections where the cameras were installed, but rear-end crashes increased.

A police spokesperson told the Progress that the department is undertaking a long-term study to examine the impacts of the red-light cameras. Meanwhile, an engineering study of a possible Pantops camera location has already begun, and the Board of Supervisors is preparing to take up an ordinance allowing schools to install cameras on the stop-arms of its buses.

 

CFA Institute moves in

The lights are on and CFA employees are happily at work in their new digs in the former Martha Jefferson Hospital at the corner of Locust Avenue and High Street, according to the project manager, Guy Williams, CFA’s head of finance and risk management. Employees moved in over the past two weeks, said Williams, and are enjoying the nearly $25 million renovation that converted the old hospital into 136,000 square feet of Class A office space that Williams said will qualify for LEED Gold certification.

Previously headquartered in the Fontaine Research Park in Albemarle County, the Institute is the global nonprofit that offers the top certification for investment analysts. Each year, hundreds of investment professionals from around the world come to Charlottesville to take the exam.

The move brings nearly 400 jobs into the city—45 of them new—and Williams said many of those positions have already been filled.

To help sweeten the deal for CFA, the city offered the same incentive it offered World Strides, which moved from Pantops to Water Street two years ago: a 50 percent discount on the increase in property taxes attributed to the renovation for 10 years.

Among the cool features of the newly renovated property is a Living Machine, a man-made wetland which operates like an estuary by pumping and filtering wastewater, allowing it to be reused for certain functions.

 

Retaining wall
collapses near Gander Mountain 

Charlottesville’s branch of Gander Mountain—a chain that carries outdoor gear and hunting equipment—has closed one lane into its Route 29 store entrance after a retaining wall collapsed near the parking lot. According to NBC29, the lane was closed immediately after store managers spotted the problem on Sunday morning, which was presumably a result of the weekend’s rainstorm. The property is owned by developer Wendell Wood, who did not return a call for comment.

Gander Mountain, located near the Woodbrook Drive intersection of Route 29 across from the Rio Hill Shopping Center, opened its doors in the fall of 2013. The Charlottes-ville store was part of a sizable expansion last year, and was the fourth branch to open in Virginia.—C-VILLE writers

Construction at the CFA Institute’s new location in the former Martha Jefferson Hospital building should be complete by mid-January.

 

Categories
Living

Overheard on the restaurant scene: This week’s food and drink news

Sam Fisher of Relay Foods. Photo: John Robinson

Looks like we’re down to zero meatball places. One Meatball Place, the West Main Street spot that served up beef, chicken, and vegetarian meatballs on sandwiches and a la carte, has closed its doors after 15 months of business. Taking its place in the hands of new owners will be Public Fish & Oyster, a seafood restaurant that will feature freshly shucked oysters, a raw bar, and an extensive list of craft beer, cocktails, and wine. Public Fish & Oyster is expected to open in early February.

For those of you who have loved dining at The Downtown Grille for the past 15 years, don’t panic when you see the “closed” signs. According to managing partner Robert Sawrey, the steakhouse-style restaurant will be closed for about six weeks starting on January 1 for an extensive renovation. Sawrey said he “never wanted to own an old and tired restaurant,” so it’s time to replace the kitchen appliances, make over the dining room, and update the menu by adding things like more vegetarian options and a lobster roll. Sawrey expects the project to be complete by February 12.

Pippin Hill Farm is offering a new tasting room menu item, baked snapper en cocotte, for a limited time this season. A fresh piece of snapper is served in a pool of oven-roasted tomato sauce with calabrian chiles sprinkled on top. The fish dish is best paired with a glass of the winery’s most popular red, Cabernet Franc.

Have you tasted the 2008 Blanc de Noir at Trump Winery? According to international dining and travel guide GAYOT.com, maybe you should. GAYOT.com set out to find the best bubbly in the U.S., and in December the Blanc de Noir was named one of the top ten American sparkling wines. The wine is made via Méthode Champenoise with 100 percent Pinot Noir grapes, and ages in both stainless steel and French oak barrels. After aging in the bottle for at least three years, the wine features the savory flavors of toast, coffee, caramel, and honey, with a hint of lemon and malt. In November 2013, Trump Winery owner Eric Trump was named the Rising Star of 2013 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine for his work with Virginia wines.

Jeans fitting a little snug after a few weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas gorging? Relay Foods offers weekly meal plans online, complete with recipes and shopping lists, to help you get back on track after all the heavy holiday home-cooking. The recipes focus on fresh, local winter ingredients like parsnips, butternut squash, and fresh greens, and are meant to be light and easy to replicate. Recipes include winter vegetable couscous, pistachio rosemary pesto with pasta, curried butternut squash, and stuffed cabbage soup. Check out www.blog.relayfoods.com for more information.

Categories
Living

A Charlottesville wine lover takes on the grapes of Sicily

Not unlike here in Central Virginia, winemakers in Sicily take pride in producing wines specific to the area. File photo

We all know the “locavore” movement is in full swing, as evidenced by the evolution of restaurant menus across the country, and countless articles and books written about the local food scene. Charlottesville thrives in the midst of farms and locally grown food, and as Virginia gains credibility as a wine destination, our little town also takes local pride in its winemakers. There are few places that produce so many commodities within tight borders as we do, or so I thought.

My husband (I’m still getting used to this term) and I recently took our honeymoon in Sicily, where local pride abounds like I’ve never experienced. We started out in the northern city of Palermo, headed south along the coast, and finally landed at the base of Mount Etna over the span of 10 days. Each town we passed through showcased slightly different riffs on local cuisine, ingredients, and wine. The wine part is very important here, as it is the main reason we ended up in Sicily in the first place. The residents of each area of the island (which can be traversed in about six hours from coast to coast) rely so heavily on what they grow and produce that they are not even aware of what the next town over may have to offer. Each small town may as well be its own island within the island.

When scouring the wine list at a restaurant in Trapani on our first night, we found that the selections were solely from this particular region. One of the wineries holding more than a few spots on the list is Fondo Antico, whose wines I was already familiar with. We actually poured a couple of them at our wedding, so this really brought our trip full circle. Fondo Antica produces excellent wines spanning from nero d’avola, which hails from Sicily and is the most recognized grape from the region, to a passito-style dessert wine.

We had the opportunity to tour the winery and to meet Agostino Adragna, who runs the sales and marketing aspect of the family business. We tasted wines not available in the states, and he kindly sent us off with a few souvenir bottles, which we were giddy to try. One was a Grillo Parlante, a white wine made from the grillo grape, which is also indigenous to the island. This bottling in particular was bright, minerally, and had a ton of gleaming acidity whetting our palates before dinner. Tavola is currently pouring the Fondo Antico nero d’avola by the glass if you’d like a taste without flying across the Atlantic.

Our next destination was a historic town called Modica, which is located just outside the towns of Ragusa and Vittoria, both major producers of reputable wines. A young winemaker named Arianna Occhipinti is making waves in Vittoria where she crafts natural wines, without the use of chemicals or pesticides. She’s a seminal figure for the new generation of wine lovers, and has been making exceptional wines since 2004. She got started in the industry at the age of 16 with her uncle, Giusto Occhipinti, who undisputedly produces some of the best wines in Sicily at his own winery, COS. Her selections include a local specialty called Cerasuolo di Vittoria, which by law is a blend of only frappato and nero d’avola grapes, both of which are native to the area. Frappato is a one of a kind red wine grape that is light in body and color, and has an amazing floral aroma and tart acidity. When blended with nero d’avola which is dark, smoky, and broods warm ripe fruit, it creates a nice blend of these two polar opposites. The Cerasuolo di Vittoria is not available in Charlottesville, but Occhipinti’s SP68 Sicilia Rosso, which is also a blend of nero d’avola and frappato, is available for $29.99 at Mona Lisa Pasta. Her second label  and side project, called Tami, was started with a few friends to introduce simple but good wines to younger wine drinkers at an affordable price. The Tami frapatto 2012 can be purchased at Market Street wine shop (uptown) for $18.99.

Moving further south towards the looming (and recently erupted) Mount Etna, we arrived just outside the sleepy town of Randazzo, surrounded by a grape lined mountain scape. We stayed in a house at the base of the volcano, shrouded with nero d’avola vines that we later learned were sold to nearby winery Tenuta Delle Terre Nere, which is one of the oldest and finest wineries in this area. We had the opportunity to visit the winery, and were given a surprise tour of some of their highest vineyard sites situated at 800 meters. Olive trees and terraced grape vines as far as the eye can see. We even had the pleasure to meet the owner, Marc de Grazia, who additionally runs a wine importing company bearing his name. The grapes of nerello mascalese, nerello cappuccio, nero d’avola, catarratto, and frappato grow rampant, and the wines from the Etna appellation are becoming more recognized in the states. The soils here are carpeted by volcanic rock, stones, and ash, which the vines (some as old as 130 years) love. The wind from the mountains and the salt from the sea intermingle within the grape clusters to create wines that are micro specific to their vineyard site. An affordable choice from Tenuta Delle Terre Nere is the Etna Rosso 2012. It’s a blend of nerello mascalese and nerello cappuccio, and is available at Market Street Wine Shop for $21.99.

The wines from Etna are lean and fierce. They are unlike any other wines from Sicily—but then again, the same can be said of all the others. For an island to have such a drastically diverse landscape and changing micro climates, it makes sense that the wines and foods dwelling in each place would differ. It was made very clear to us that the people of Sicily are not part of the rest of Italy, and that their roots grow deep but stay local—just like Charlottesville.

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Knockout: Victims of brutal Downtown Mall assault want arrests, and answers from police

A couple’s late night stroll on the Christmas-lit Downtown Mall turned to terror in the early morning hours of Friday, December 20, when they were brutally assaulted by three men in what appears to have been a random act of violence.

Even though one of the victims, Jeanne Doucette, managed to take photos that appear to show the assailants as they kicked and pummeled her boyfriend Marc Adams to unconsciousness, Charlottesville Police still do not have any suspects. Doucette says there were other witnesses to the crime, which allegedly occurred just outside the Wells Fargo building at around 1am as she and Adams walked from Miller’s to Rapture, and she is baffled as to why the police haven’t shared her images more widely with people who could have seen the suspects earlier in the evening.

“I cannot understand why they didn’t let people know what happened,” said Doucette, who still bore injuries from the assault when she met for an interview a week later. “Those pictures might have prompted some tips.”

The images she captured are blurry but nonetheless appear to corroborate her account of the night’s events, including the brutality of the beating, during which she says the assailants joked and laughed, even stopping to hug in the midst of the onslaught.

Doucette said the assault occurred after she and Adams, both 39, had met for a drink at Miller’s after Adams finished his shift as chef for a downtown food cart. They headed east up the Mall toward Rapture to end their night with music, when Adams tripped and fell in front of Derriere de Soie lingerie store, a block from Miller’s. As he was getting up, a man approached quickly, said something that Doucette couldn’t make out, and kicked Adams while he was on the ground, before being joined by his friends who beat Adams severely, breaking his ankle, cracking ribs and knocking out one of his teeth.

The grainy photos that Doucette took with her phone (posted below story) show the faces and clothing worn by the three alleged assailants, all black males. Doucette estimated the men were approximately  6’ tall and in their mid-20s or early 30s. In one photo, Adams is lying on his back on the Mall with a man looming over him. Doucette said the man was kicking Adams when she took the picture. In another picture, a large man in a black coat and light colored shirt appears to be moving towards Doucette’s camera as Adams is on his knees in the background.

While Doucette suffered bruising to her head and tearing of the cartilage in her ear, Adams bore the brunt of the men’s aggression, sustaining broken bones and a concussion that he said has robbed him of any memory of the incident and its immediate aftermath.

Flooded with fear and adrenaline, Doucette said, she reacted quickly after the assault began, confronting the first assailant.

“I came up and pushed him away and said, ‘What are you doing?’” she recalled.

The incident escalated when the man responded by striking her.

“The guy hits me repeatedly in the ear,” she said. “My earring was stabbing me in the head over and over.”

Two other men soon joined in the beating, Doucette said, and while they primarily focused on Adams, a local musician who at 5’5″ and 140 pounds was outsized and outnumbered, they would occasionally strike her.

“When he’d tell them to stop hitting me, they’d hit me twice,” said Doucette, who is 5’2″.

Doucette said she and Adams repeatedly tried to escape, but the assault continued east up the Mall and stopped in front of the Wells Fargo bank. Doucette said she threw her purse at the men, hoping that when they saw the cash inside they’d simply take the money and leave, but they had no apparent interest in robbing her. Instead, she said, they seemed to delight in the brutality.

“They were laughing, high-fiving, hugging, and then returning to kick him,” said Doucette. “There was some kind of camaraderie to it.”

The men were accompanied by a woman, who Doucette said repeatedly screamed at them to stop. The men ignored her pleas. Doucette said she had never seen the men before and there was nothing in her behavior or Adams’ that would have provoked the assault. Both victims wondered whether the episode was an example of the so-called “knock-out game,” in which assailants randomly strike an innocent passerby with the goal of rendering them unconscious. Several such assaults have resulted in the deaths of victims. Adams and Doucette checked Youtube for videos of their own assault in the days after it happened, but have found nothing. The cheerful demeanor of their attackers, however, has them wondering if they were targets of some kind of game.

“Maybe if we had played dead, they would have stopped,” said Adams. “If the point of the knockout game is to knock out, we kept getting up to help each other. We didn’t play right.”

Adams describes himself as a “passive person,” and while he said the head injury erased his memory of the attack, he doesn’t believe he could have said anything to provoke the men’s wrath.

“He’s the most non-confrontational person I know,” Doucette agreed.

The attack finally stopped after Doucette started taking pictures with her cell phone and several passersby appeared to be calling 911. By the time police arrived several minutes later, Doucette said, the assailants were gone. Adams, who had been briefly knocked unconscious, refused to be transported by ambulance to the hospital that night despite Doucette’s and emergency responders’ urgings. He also declined to be interviewed by police, although he called the next day to add his report to the information given to police by Doucette.

“My brain was messed up,” he said, repeating what Doucette has told him about his post-assault behavior. “I kept saying I wanted to go home.”

The next morning, Adams said, he did go to the hospital. In addition to the concussion and facial bruising including a black eye, x-rays confirmed his cracked ribs and fractured ankle. Nearly two weeks after the attack, the physical wounds are healing, but both Doucette and Adams are troubled by what they see as a lack of response from the Charlottesville Police Department.

“It’s like they don’t care,” said Doucette, who said she called police on December 29 to follow up on the investigation and was told that the case had been suspended due to a lack of information and had not been assigned to a detective. “I don’t understand why they couldn’t even have the courtesy to call and say we’re not even going to look for them,” she said.

According to CPD spokesperson Ronnie Roberts, investigators canvassed the Downtown area after the assault but did not find anyone matching the description of the alleged assailants. Police did not release Doucette’s pictures to the public, Roberts said, because they believed surveillance video from the bank might offer clearer images, and they hoped officers might recognize some of the men in Doucette’s photos without tipping them off that they were being sought.

Roberts said police requested the bank video on Friday, December 27, a week after the attack, and had not received it as of Sunday, December 29. On Sunday, Doucette finally posted the pictures she’d taken to her Facebook page and said she quickly received several tips that she has passed on to police. Her frustration at the lack of an investigation is palpable.

“I feel forgotten about,” Doucette said. “I feel like I’m not safe.”

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One of three men allegedly involved in a December 20 assault. Photo: Jeanne Doucette

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What’s Happening at the Jefferson School City Center?

Jefferson School group
Representatives of the nonprofit organizations housed at the Jefferson School City Center meet monthly to discuss plans.

Jefferson School Tenants Celebrate First Year at Jefferson School City Center

As 2013 comes to an end, the tenants at the Jefferson School City Center would like to share what made their first year in their new home special and what’s in store for 2014. All of the tenants are especially thankful for our broad community of supporters who helped make this year so successful! Here’s to a happy new year!

African American Heritage Center

The African American Heritage Center will recognize Teresa Jackson Walker-Price, the winner of the Reflector Award, recognizing her service to the Jefferson School City Center and the community at the Jefferson School Foundation gala on January 18, 2014.

The award is named after the Reflector, Charlottesville’s African American newspaper published by T.J. Sellers to “reflect the progress of our community and race.” The Reflector award is given to a community member whose service embodies the core values that drive the work of the nine tenants at the City Center: activism, entrepreneurship, and social and cultural equity.

Price is a native of Charlottesville and a graduate of both the Jefferson graded and high schools. After high school, she attended Hampton Institute, graduated, and returned to Charlottesville to become its first African American librarian in a public school. Price is known as a behind the scenes organizer and she was a catalyst in efforts to save the Jefferson School. Her quiet yet deliberate activism continues today as a member of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Advisory Committee.

Literacy Volunteers

Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle (LVCA)  has experienced a year of growth at its new home this year. Since its move to the Jefferson School, LVCA has  seen a huge increase in demand for tutoring services. “We’ve also seen growth in the number of tutors who dedicate their time, energy, and hearts to helping our students,” says Executive Director Ellen Osborne. “And we know part of that growth is due to our new home and increased visibility.”

In 2013, LVCA recruited and trained 109 new tutors. Once tutors are trained, they are matched with an adult who is either learning English as a second language or improving his or her basic literacy skills. “We have students from 44 countries,” says Osborne. “It makes for great conversations between our tutors and students as they learn about each other’s cultures.”

LVCA will host its next tutor training on Saturday, January 18 from 9:30am-4:00pm. To register or learn more call 434-977-3838.

Carver Recreation Center

Carver Recreation Center has had an outstanding year in the new Jefferson School City Center. Taking into account registered enrichment classes, group exercise sessions, Fitness Center attendance, athletics events, teen center visitation, and other programming, Carver has had over 100,000 patron visits in 2013.  Highlights include:

  • Carver hosted nine weeks of Charlottesville Parks & Recreation summer camp sessions, serving 200 local children.

  • The free Teen Center has gained popularity over the past year. Provided as a community resource, the Teen Center is a supervised indoor space with a wide variety of table games, board games, and video games (many of which focus on active movement).  It’s a safe and fun place for kids ages 11 and over to play and socialize close to home.

  • Gymnasium Playgroups for children five and under have been very successful as well.  150 kids a week participate on average in these open play sessions.  These programs are designed for interactive play between parent and child.

  • Carver has hosted a number of great special events in 2013 such as our “Evening of Jazz” concerts, a community flea market, Daddy Daughter Dance, Friday Night Live teen dances, and a Holiday Craft Party and looks forward to planning new events for 214.

JABA’s Mary WIlliams Community Center & Vinegar Hill Cafe

JABA has enjoyed being able to offer food from its Vinegar Hill Cafe, socializing opportunities at the Mary Williams Community Center, and services through its onsite clinic to its members during their visits to the Jefferson School City Center. “We haven’t had one specific moment that is our highlight for the year, but rather our highlight has been the opportunity to share this amazing experience with our center members as they return to the school they attended as children or that their own children attended. We have enjoyed listening to their memories and making new ones together,” Kelly Carpenter, Mary Williams Community Center Manager, says.

JABA’s nurse Cheryl Petencin, who runs the clinic for Mary Williams members, and Geraldine Brooks, JABA’s case manager serving Charlottesville are also marking the end of their first full year at the Jefferson School City Center. “The new clinic has been [an] improvement over the old location,” says Elyse Thierry, JABA’s publicist. “Our case manager, Geraldine, had been housed in the Department of Social Service for 15 years, but the move to the Jefferson School City Center brought her right back to 1951, when she was a student there. There has to be a tie-in to New Year’s and life coming full circle!”

Martha Jefferson Starr Hill Health Center

The opening of the Martha Jefferson Starr Hill Health Center at the Jefferson School City Center has been the highlight of the hospital’s community outreach activities in 2013.  The center’s childhood obesity focus is directly in line with the needs of the community and the location is helpful for reaching populations the hospital’s community outreach programs target.  All services at the center are free of charge. A few highlights as of November 30, 2013 include:

  • Miranda Trent, Certified Nurse Practitioner, saw 79 people for initial wellness consultations and had 447 follow-up office visits.

  • Thirteen Teen Health Ambassadors were trained.

  • Over 450 community members attended a community health education activity/program at the center, including over 150 who attended a Fashion Show/Health Update for women.  The health update included a breast health talk targeted to African American women.

“Next year we will focus on bringing in more children, teens and families for our childhood obesity programming.  Also, look for a Baby Basics Moms Club starting in January 2014,” said Jackie Martin, Director, Community Benefit.  “We are glad to be in this community and are happy the community is coming in to take advantage of what we have to offer.  My favorite event this year was the Fashion Show/Health Update held in partnership with the African American Heritage Center and Chihamba’s 24th Annual African American Cultural Arts Festival.  The event was well attended and it gave us a great opportunity to have fun and get some important information out to the community.  The Jefferson School City Center has been a great location for us.”

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!