Sunday night, expect a dynamic mix of soul, funk, and reggae from Davina Jackson, a former backup singer for The Wailers, who will be joined for a live streamed concert by her son, rap artist Atreyu.
Up on up: It’s a family affair when Davina Jackson and Atreyu go live in The Front Porch’s Save the Music series. Expect a dynamic mix of soul, funk, and reggae from Jackson, a former backup singer for The Wailers, who will be joined by her son, rap artist Atreyu. The pair is frequently seen performing with their central Virginia band Wild Common. The concert will also be broadcast live on WTJU (91.1 FM), and donation proceeds will benefit Piedmont Housing Alliance.
Like so many others, I’ve been taking a lot of walks lately. My walk, and getting the mail, have become the highlights of my day. In this, my quarantine life resembles my life when my first child was born. She came, too, in early March, and life slowed down enough that, for maybe the first time, I began to notice the progression of spring.
As I paraded up and down the Brooklyn blocks to get her to sleep or, more often, just to give myself something to do, I watched the world wake up, and I marked every flower. First the daffodils and forsythia, then the azaleas and the tulips. The magnolias gave way to the cherry blossoms. Finally, the rhododendron and the roses.
Here, we are lucky enough to leave near Meadow Creek, and this spring, with nowhere to go, I’ve watched the bare brown banks come slowly alive. I’ve noticed the first yellow wildflowers, lesser celandine (which a friend later informed me were invasive), and how the buttercups have shown up now, after the violets. My girls have been delighted by the preponderance of robins in the yard, the occasional flash of a bluebird. In the creek we’ve spotted lizards and snakes, and once, I swear, a turtle.
As cities around the world have seen how clean the air gets when auto and air travel drastically decrease, many people have also discovered a newfound connection to the natural world around them. That matters, because, while global emissions levels have dropped, they haven’t dropped enough.
To have any hope of mitigating the most disastrous effects of climate change, we will need to sustain much bigger shifts after the pandemic is over. So far, rational argument and evidence have failed to persuade the world to change. Perhaps remembering this time, when so many experienced nature as a source of solace and delight, will be what saves us.
Karen Walker, owner of Hedge Fine Blooms, says she has lost most of her spring and summer wedding business thanks to postponed ceremonies. Photo: John Robinson
With its array of elegant wineries and historic inns, nestled in between the picturesque Blue Ridge mountains, Charlottesville has become one of the country’s top wedding destinations. Last year, over 1,500 couples said “I do” in the area, according to The Wedding Report. And in January, brides.com named Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards one of the best wedding venues in the U.S.
But due to the ongoing pandemic and stay-at-home order, hundreds of weddings have been put on hold—right at the beginning of the industry’s busiest season. And that has taken a heavy toll on vendors.
The Catering Outfit has been forced to postpone over $300,000 worth of business so far, says sales director Courtney Hildebrand. And because many of the weddings it was hired to cater have been pushed to next year, it is difficult to take on any new clients at the moment.
Though it has received some relief from its landlord, TCO did not get a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, forcing it to find new ways to bring in revenue.
Since March, it has sold to-go and heat-and-eat meals, as well as meal kits, out of a tent in its parking lot. Offering a new menu every day, the drive-through has been busy, and has received a lot of positive feedback, says Hildebrand.
The company is also operating a food pantry for out-of-work food service employees. “If they bring a pay stub on Mondays and Thursdays, they can get a free bag of groceries,” Hildebrand says. “And we have partnered with a couple of different companies to provide hot meals to first responders and hospital workers.”
For freelance vendors like photographers, the situation can be more complicated. Jen Fariello is used to shooting weddings nearly every weekend from spring to fall. But now all of her weddings up to July 25 have been postponed. And—like many other vendors—she has not received any government aid.
“Three businesses I know in Charlottesville have gotten their PPP loans. A lot of the [others] haven’t heard back,” Fariello says. “A couple of people have been trying to get unemployment. But as self-employed people, it’s complicated…you have to prove that you’re going out and trying to get a job. But we still have jobs. We’re [just] trying to keep our businesses alive.”
Photographer Jen Fariello. Photo courtesy subject.
With some couples not wanting to wait a year to get married, Fariello has been able to shoot family ceremonies in backyards and gardens, she says. She’s also done a few engagement and maternity shoots, but demand is low overall.
Officiant (and former Charlottesville mayor) Dave Norris is just as frustrated with the lack of assistance wedding vendors, and other small businesses, have received, while multiple wealthy corporations have been bailed out.
Norris has been able to bring in some income by officiating at-home ceremonies. However, he’s lost over 90 percent of his spring wedding business, with most ceremonies being rescheduled for the late summer or fall.
Hedge Fine Blooms has also lost most of its business thanks to postponed weddings, as well as canceled proms, graduations, and other events. To keep the lights on, it’s currently offering contactless flower delivery and curbside pickup every day, and has provided floral arrangements for at-home ceremonies, says owner Karen Walker.
Due to the types of services they provide, other wedding vendors have not been able to adapt alternative business models. Wedding planner Sarah Fay Waller, owner of Day by Fay, has had all of her clients push their weddings to September or later, leaving her without income for several months.
Fortunately, says Waller, her husband’s job is keeping their household afloat. But she recognizes that “for other vendors…to not have that income coming in is a real detriment.”
At Old Metropolitan Hall, “we are just trying to keep the clients we have encouraged and happy, while also trying to book new clients for the end of 2020 and into 2021,” says sales director Sarah Beasley.
Fortunately, “we have seen a ton of inquiries for couples who are needing a new venue after their original wedding date had to be moved,” she adds. “Venues have definitely been teaming up in the last few weeks trying to pass off clients when their dates no longer match the original venue’s availability.”
Still, times have been tough, as nearly everyone Beasley knows in the venue business has been furloughed or laid off.
For Hildebrand and her colleagues, only time will answer the biggest question: What will weddings be like once this is all over? And can vendors survive until then?
She speculates that people will continue to be wary of large gatherings for a while, and that small, intimate weddings at outdoor venues—with plated meals, not buffets—will become a trend. Couples may also choose to elope instead, putting their reception off until they feel safe enough to have it.
“We have to ensure the health of our guests [and] servers,” says Hildebrand. We may “have servers wear masks and always have gloves on, and even have guests and tables spread out more. It’s going to be a very different look I think for a while.”
Smaller ceremonies require fewer vendors, Fariello points out. And with millions of Americans currently out of work, people may not be able to spend a lot of money on weddings.
“It will take a couple years for our industry to come back to the level that it was,” Fariello predicts.
For now, vendors urge clients to postpone, not cancel, their events, and to not fight with vendors over deposits or retainers.
“We’re not trying to take money from our clients, but clients need to realize that those funds [cover] operating expenses…so much of the work that goes into a wedding happens all year, and not just on the wedding day,” says Fariello. Instead, “work with your vendors to figure out how we can have safe weddings.”
Other ways to support the industry include hiring a photographer to take a home portrait, buying food from catering companies, getting a Mother’s Day cake from a local bakery, or treating yourself to some flowers from an area florist.
Couples planning a wedding for 2021 should also book early, Waller adds. Due to all of the weddings currently being rescheduled, vendors may not be available later.
Most important, current and future clients can “meet in the middle” with their vendors, says Beasley. “Everyone is going to unfortunately lose something during this time, and it would really help the industry stay alive if people could be gracious and kind to one another right now, remembering that we’re all in this strange season together.”
Also on c-ville.com, see how three local couples are adapting their wedding plans.
Audrey Nguyen and Ben Rosenblum were married on the courthouse steps on May 4. Photo: Meredith Sledge Photography
It’s to be expected that one’s wedding day will include a few stressors—the guest shuttle didn’t arrive on time, there’s a stain on the bride’s veil, the band left a crucial instrument behind. What’s less predictable: A global pandemic shuts down the wedding altogether. Here are three local couples embracing the change.
May the 4th be with you
Audrey Nguyen and Ben Rosenblum
Original wedding date: May 2, 2020
New ceremony date: May 4, 2020
New wedding date: April 24, 2021
There’s something to be said for looking for a silver lining. For Audrey Nguyen and Ben Rosenblum, who had planned a May 2 wedding at Mount Ida Farm & Vineyard, it was the ability to make their new wedding anniversary—the one they’d wanted initially—a reality.
“We’re both really big Star Wars fans,” says Nguyen. “When we decided to get married, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we should try to get married on May the 4th.’” The date, a Monday, wouldn’t work with their schedules, so they settled on May 2. But when things started shutting down due to coronavirus restrictions, they realized they could make it work with a simple courthouse wedding.
“As far as bad scenarios go, we were still actually able to get married on what would have been our ideal wedding day anyway.”
Photo: Meredith Sledge Photography
After saying “I do,” the couple headed to Mount Ida to pick up some beer and wine, then swung by The Catering Outfit, where their catering team had prepared a wedding-night meal kit. Their planner, Karen McGrath of Anne Arden Events, brought flowers to the ceremony, and their photographer, Meredith Sledge, caught the whole thing on film.
“It was really nice to still have all of our vendors involved,” Nguyen says.
That’s not to say the couple, who met six years ago while attending UVA, didn’t hit some snags when it came to re-planning their wedding. While they’d settled on a May 4 ceremony, they decided to move the real wedding celebration—with friends and family—to next April. One problem: Next spring, Ben’s groomsman’s wedding is the first week of April, Audrey’s maid of honor’s is April 17, and one of the bridesmen is getting married two weeks after April 24.
It was a complicated shuffle, but it all worked out in the end—with another silver lining: Because her wedding ring got caught in New York City, Nguyen now has two: the last-minute replacement she wore May 4, and one she’ll save for next year’s much-awaited big day.
Patt Eagan and Anika Kempe. Photo: John Robinson
See you next year
Anika Kempe and Patt Eagan
Original wedding date: May 23, 2020
New wedding date: May 29, 2021
Sixteen hours after Anika Kempe and Patt Eagan made the call to postpone their wedding, all the details were in place. With a few immediate family members in the high-risk category for COVID, and others having to travel internationally and from the West Coast, says Kempe, they felt confident in making the tough call.
“Neither of us could imagine getting married without any of these people present,” Kempe says. “We let our guests know on March 23, so relatively early into the current pandemic reality.”
Once they decided on postponement, with the help of their wedding planner, Bryce Carson of Richmond-based Roberts & Co., the couple began checking with vendors about availability. Their venue, The Clifton, offered Memorial Day in 2021 at no additional charge, which was a bit of foreshadowing for how well the process would go with the other companies they were working with. One by one, each of them—Amy Smith Photography, Ana Cavalheiro Fine Jewelry, Bryce Carson, Gregory Britt Design, MS Events, Nicole Laughlin MUA & Co., and Sam Hill Entertainment—was able to postpone to May 29, 2021, with little trouble.
“We’ll never appropriately be able to express our gratitude to them for their support, generosity, and understanding,” Kempe says.
As the bride notes, she and her husband-to-be may have had to postpone the wedding, but “everything besides the date remains the same—venue, vendors, and anticipation.”
Lena Turkheimer and Mark Owen shared their backyard wedding with guests through Zoom. Photo courtesy subject.
Screen time
Lena Turkheimer and Mark Owen
Original/new wedding date: April 11, 2020
Much like the virus’ early news coverage, Lena Turkheimer and Mark Owen felt like their wedding plans were changing day-to-day. After Early Mountain Vineyards—the venue where they’d planned to have their spring celebration—announced it wouldn’t hold any weddings while Virginia’s stay-at-home order was in effect, the couple started dreaming up Plan Bs.
“We pretty immediately knew that we wanted to have it in my parents’ backyard, weather permitting,” Turkheimer says. They hoped to include their immediate family and wedding party, then pared down to only their parents and siblings, but even that was an unrealistic expectation, given that their siblings were spread out across the country.
Finally, they decided to include just their parents and broadcast the “I dos” via Zoom for everyone else. Once the decision was made, everything came together—the morning of the ceremony.
Turkheimer’s parents assembled the arbor frame the couple initially planned to use at EMV, and the bride and her mom decorated it with flowers while Owen and Turkheimer’s dad set about figuring out the video feed, Macgyvering a rubber band to an iPad on a standing desk.
“It was not the prettiest,” Turkheimer says, “but it was great because none of the guests could see behind the scenes.”
As for the wedding “guests,” those near and far really got into it, with the bridal party donning their suits and dresses for the occasion.
“The tuxes were often paired with shorts, though, and we had a few people in bathrobes,” Turkheimer says. “One of my friends is staying at her parents’ house, so she decided to attend in the only formal dress she had there—her high school prom dress.”
When it came down to it, having the smaller-scale day allowed the couple to focus on what matters most, Turkheimer says: “Getting to marry each other… [and] the support of our closest friends and family.”
The Rivanna River and trails are seeing more patrons than usual, as people search for a reprieve from quarantine. Photo: Jack Looney
Just about everything has changed in the last month—and as our habits have shifted, so has our relationship with the local environment.
“People aren’t flying, people aren’t driving,” says Jamie Brunkow, the senior advocacy manager of the James River Association. Those transportation changes have effects for our air and our water. “Typically we think of that as less smog and less air pollution. But a lot of the nitrogen that ends up going into our rivers, going into the [Chesapeake] Bay, comes from the air.”
StreetLight Data, a firm specializing in transportation data, has been tracking the change in vehicle miles traveled all over the country since the COVID crisis began.
From the week of April 19 to April 25, Albemarle County drivers covered around 75 percent fewer miles than during an average week before the crisis. Charlottesville drivers were even more conservative, covering 82 percent fewer miles than in a baseline week. That drop-off is less pronounced but still visible in more rural counties—in Buckingham, for example, drivers only drove 40 percent fewer miles.
Charlottesville’s airport saw 84 flights canceled due to coronavirus in just the second half of March. Air travel has become a central concern for environmental activists—one widely repeated statistic says for every person who takes a round trip flight from New York to London, 30 square feet of ice is lost from the arctic. And short flights, like the Charlottesville airport’s regular connections to nearby hubs in Philadelphia and Charlotte, produce more harmful emissions per mile than longer flights.
Additionally, decreased traffic means the world is quieter and darker, which is good for animals like birds and frogs. “A lot of disruption in species reproduction has been attributed to the disruption of their light receptors or ability to hear calls for mating,” says Chris Miller, the president of the Piedmont Environmental Council. “There’s a lot of evidence that truck noise, car noise, and light pollution interfere with those natural cycles.”
Meanwhile, with social distancing in effect, outdoor spaces that remain accessible are seeing increased visitors. This March, the trail near the John Warner Parkway saw 607 bikers and pedestrians per day, according to the City’s trail counter. That’s roughly four times more than the 130 people who used the trail per day in March of 2019.
Lisa Wittenborn, program director of the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, says that the increased foot traffic is a double-edged sword for the Rivanna. “We’re really excited that people are out and using the resource,” Wittenborn says. “We hope people are being careful not to impact the river. That people are picking up after their dogs, and picking up their trash and not disrupting the banks, and that sort of thing.”
The crisis is having other messy effects. “They’re seeing evidence of the toilet paper shortage in the wastewater treatment plant,” Wittenborn says, “because of the things people are flushing. Those wipes say they’re flushable but they’re not. They can cause clogs and backups and sewage leaks. You don’t think about the little impacts.”
Overall, though, this period is a sort of experiment in a possible, more sustainable future: Zoom meetings aren’t fun, but they do decrease emissions. “There’s something about a hard stop like this that really forces you to reevaluate the frame and how to move forward,” Brunkow says. “It’s going to be really interesting to look back at these unintended consequences to see where things change.”
Maybe those changes will manifest as subtle attitude shifts. “I do think that this whole experience has brought to the forefront the importance of having these wild or semi-wild open spaces that we can all enjoy together,” Wittenborn says. “It’s gotten a lot of people to stop and really pay attention to what’s going on outside their windows. Seeing flowers bloom they’ve never noticed before, watching birds, whatever it is. I think people are much more in tune with the natural world right now. Because we’ve slowed down, and we have a chance to just observe.”
Rachel Hightman worries that graduate schools will assume UVA students did poorly in a class if they chose to not receive a letter grade PC: Eze Amos
With courses moved online for a significant portion of the spring semester, colleges across the country have had to decide on the fairest way to grade students in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. While some institutions, like Yale and Columbia, have opted for mandatory pass/fail policies, others, like the University of Virginia, have implemented a credit/general credit/no credit system, with the option to receive a letter grade. However, students had to choose between the credit and letter grade for each course by the last day of classes, April 28—before most final exams.
Since UVA Provost Liz Magill sent out a university-wide email announcing the policy on March 18, hundreds of students have protested against it on a variety of platforms, from Twitter to The Cavalier Daily, citing the numerous ways in which it puts certain students—particularly those of low socioeconomic status—at a disadvantage.
After reading about the challenges some students have experienced taking online classes, second-year Zaki Panjsheeri wrote an article for the Virginia Review of Politics advocating for a universal credit/no credit policy.
“There are some privileged students who can go home to a very safe living environment—like my own—who don’t have to work, are more or less safe financially, and can comfortably sit in their childhood bedroom and get a GPA boost…while there are other students who are fighting for their financial lives,” he says. It’s also important to consider “students’ mental health…lots of them are going into unstable family environments [and] abusive households.”
And on April 28, “many professors didn’t have grades updated at all,” he adds. “So you had no idea what kind of grade you were going to get.”
Second-year Tatiana Kennedy, who created a petition advocating for a universal credit/no credit policy, has many friends who are first-generation, low-income students on the pre-med track, some currently working as EMTs. Choosing between the credit and letter grade option was very stressful for them, she says, as “medical schools require you to have grades for all of your classes, if your school permits you to have [them].”
Even if a graduate school accepts courses receiving a credit versus a letter grade, “they are going to automatically assume that you did worse in those classes,” adds second-year Rachel Hightman, who identifies as a first-generation low-income student.
Third-year Summer Stewart, a first-generation and transfer student from a lower-middle class background, ultimately felt that she had no choice but to opt in to letter grades, because she intends to go to grad school, and is unable to take any more extra credits at community college.
“I definitely am jealous of other schools that are letting students make the decision after getting their final grades,” says Stewart, who has had to deal with spotty WiFi in her rural home, as well as other issues that impacted her learning experience. “I understand they are trying to put emphasis on how well you did amidst the pandemic…[but] it’s really making us all take a gamble.”
UVA is not the only school in Charlottesville that’s implemented such a policy. Piedmont Virginia Community College gave students until May 4, the last day of classes, to choose between receiving a pass/fail/incomplete or a letter grade for each of their courses. Sophomore Tyler Tinsley, who plans to transfer to a four-year university, believes the deadline was “kind of unfair,” as many students still have to take their final exams, which usually make up a significant portion of their grade.
“My worry is that if I take a P…maybe universities don’t want to see [that],”he adds. “It’s transferable, but it’s still up to the [university] whether they do or do not accept you.”
In response to student backlash, Magill released a statement April 25 explaining UVA’s rationale for the new grading policy. The university decided to have students choose their grading option before final exams because it did not want the credit option to be “understood as shorthand for receiving an undesirable grade.” However, it would include on all students’ transcripts that CR/GC/NC was the default grading option for the semester.
Before making this decision, “school deans and other academic leaders sought the input of faculty, students, and staff at the university and at peer institutions,” she added. “I heard from dozens of students advocating passionately for mandatory CR/NC, and dozens of students advocating just as passionately for their desire to have the ability to choose a grade for a course.”
But to Panjsheeri, the “dozens of students” Magill heard from do not compare to the hundreds who’ve signed Kennedy’s petition, as well as the nearly 1,400 students who’ve responded to UVA Student Council’s survey on the grading policy.
According to the survey’s preliminary data, about 50 percent of respondents preferred the current CR/GC/NC grading system with the option to receive a letter grade, while about 30 percent preferred it without any letter grades. However, 90 percent disagreed with the university’s deadline to opt in to letter grades, believing that students should have been able to see their final grades first. And 45 percent felt that the university did not adequately consult with students before making grading policy changes.
Per Magill’s latest statement, UVA will not make any more changes to its grading policy. In that case, the university has “a responsibility to collaborate with other universities, graduate programs, and medical programs,” Kennedy says. It “needs to insure that if a student decided to take [credit], it won’t impact their future.”
Owner Chrissy Benninger holds up a tray of biscuits at Bluegrass Grill and Bakery. The breakfast spot will not reopen, she announced this week. Photo: Ashley Twiggs
Bluegrass blues
What gives a town its character? It’s a complicated question, but here are two easy answers: great food and local rituals. For years, Bluegrass Grill and Bakery has offered both. There’s the pre-meal ritual of waiting outside, rain or shine, for a chance to squeeze into a rickety wooden chair in a little diner with mandolins hanging from the rafters. Then there’s the whole wheat biscuits, groaning stacks of pancakes, and specials like the Hungry Norman—eggs Benedict and sausage links on an English muffin, with blackberry jam and goat cheese. (Often, too, there’s the post-meal ritual of running to the ATM, because you forgot that the place only takes cash.)
That’s all gone, now. This week, owner Chrissy Benninger announced that the coronavirus shutdown left no path forward for Bluegrass. After 19 years, the beloved spot has closed for good.
Benninger says the prospect of an indefinite period at partial capacity spelled doom for the restaurant. She was granted a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, but she turned it down—the loan would’ve covered wages, but wouldn’t have been able to cover rent, insurance, or worker’s compensation. “The numbers did not even close to add up,” Benninger says. “My heart did not win this one.”
“I am extraordinarily proud of what Bluegrass has become,” she says. “I’m proud of my staff and what they gave to that place. Both my children worked there with me.”
Every day, Charlottesville becomes slicker and sleeker, home to more and more tech companies and luxury apartments. Now it’s down another weird, charming diner. Bluegrass “represented the flavor of the town,” Benninger says. “Charlottesville—it’s quirky. Every town needs one of those places. It’s somewhere to feel safe. It’s somewhere to feel like, it’s home.”
____________________________
Quote of the Week
“My message today is that we will reopen Virginia next Friday.”
—Governor Ralph Northam, speaking at a media briefing on Monday, May 4
____________________________
Opening up
With pressure mounting nationwide to “reopen” the country, Governor Ralph Northam announced Monday afternoon that Virginia could begin reopening as early as May 15.
COVID-19 tests performed last week showed a decline in positive cases in Virginia, indicating that social distancing efforts have slowed the spread of the virus here. Hospitalizations for coronavirus also remain below the state’s emergency capacity. But nationwide, a recent Trump administration report forecasts new coronavirus cases to hit 200,000 a day by month’s end.
Phase I of reopening, which could last two to four weeks (or longer), will continue to limit social gatherings to 10 people or less. People will still be advised to wear facemasks in public and stay home as much as possible, especially if they are vulnerable. Though teleworking will be encouraged, businesses—including restaurants, retail, fitness, personal care, and entertainment—will be allowed to reopen with industry-specific guidelines. All establishments will be required to use face masks, as well as implement physical distancing measures and enhanced cleaning practices.
If cases continue to decline, a second phase would ease additional restrictions on businesses, and limit social gatherings to 50 people for approximately two to four weeks. Vulnerable populations will still be “safer” at home. When there is no evidence of rebound cases, the state will enter its final phase of reopening, lifting all restrictions on social gatherings. However, it remains unclear as to when vulnerable populations will no longer be asked to stay home.
____________________________
In Brief
Guilty
On April 30, white supremacist Daniel McMahon of Florida pleaded guilty to charges of levying racially motivated threats of violence against local activist and community leader “D.G.,” a would-be candidate for Charlottesville City Council who subsequently dropped out of the race. McMahon faces an additional charge for cyberstalking, and could serve up to six years in prison.
Comeback kids?
UVA continues to ponder whether to bring students back to Charlottesville in the fall. This week, the school sent out a survey asking students for input on a handful of potential options, including mixing online and in-person classes, breaking the semester into chunks, and even holding classes on the weekends to thin out the crowds in academic buildings. The university says it will announce its final plans by mid-June.
Money moves
At its May 4 meeting, City Council agreed to add the roughly $250,000 it received under the CARES Act for coronavirus relief into its current Community Development Block Grant plan. The money will go toward public services, economic development, and administration/planning. An additional $500,000 the city received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be used for housing assistance and community and economic development.
Fresh paint
While it’s now legal to remove Confederate monuments, downtown’s Lee and Jackson statues are still up, and still getting vandalized. On Thursday, April 30, an unknown culprit likened the generals to COVID-19, scrawling “THE PANDEMIC” on the base of the Lee statue, with an arrow pointing upward. City employees removed the graffiti Friday morning, but the incident remains under police investigation.
Members of Charlottesville's Muslim community break fast together in 2018. Shared meals like this are impossible this year. Photo: Mohammad Halaibeh
Coping with coronavirus is hard even when you’re surrounded by all your favorite creature comforts. And observing Ramadan, the month-long Islamic holiday that includes fasting during daylight hours, is an arduous task even when there isn’t a pandemic sweeping the globe. This year, the two have coincided. Ramadan began on April 23, and local observers have had to adapt to a holiday altered by a pandemic.
“What’s different is that at the end of Ramadan we’ll have a celebration called Eid, where a whole bunch of people come together and eat together,” says Charlottesville High School junior Abdellatif Yahya. “But we can’t do that because, you know, the coronavirus thing, six feet apart. It’ll just be us, my family.”
Yahya lives in town with his parents and three younger siblings, but he was born in Cairo. His immediate family came to the U.S. in 2006, and his extended relatives live in their homeland, Sudan. Yahya is one of a number of refugee students in Charlottesville who are juggling not just the holiday and the pandemic but also the college admissions process.
“Some of these students are Muslim, and they also have kind of said, ‘because we’re fasting, it might be hard to keep up with my homework, it might be hard to stay in touch with my teachers,’” says Rebecca Hill, the acting executive director of the Better Future Foundation, which provides counseling to students like Yahya.
Yahya, though, is an experienced faster. “[The] first time, your stomach feels weird. But the next day your stomach gets used to it. Your body knows that you’re not going to eat anything until this particular hour,” he says.
Now, with schools closed, he’s staying busy studying for the AP U.S. history test and teaching himself how to code—and observing the holiday with his family.
“Ramadan is when Muslims they say that hell’s gates are closed, and it’s the time to read the Quran and give charity, and do good,” says Yahya.
That charitable spirit has animated the Islamic Society of Central Virginia, Charlottesville’s masjid, or temple. During a normal Ramadan, the community breaks fast together at the mosque a few times a week, with a festive catered meal, says Mohammad Halaibeh, the society’s outreach secretary. With large gatherings outlawed, that’s not possible.
“We estimate a decent number of community members have been affected by the COVID situation,” Halaibeh says. “What we’re going to do starting this week is buy food in bulk—meat, chicken, oil, dates—and make boxes and distribute these boxes to families in need.”
The ban on gatherings disrupts other important elements of the holiday, too. “One of the hallmarks of Ramadan is the night prayer,” Halaibeh says, when people gather in the mosque after the evening meal.
While other religious traditions, from Passover Seders to Easter Sunday services, have been held online this year, the Islamic Society’s night prayer won’t be streamed.
“In Islam, you can’t just hold a prayer service over the internet,” Halaibeh says. The idea is that “you can always pray by yourself, so you don’t need internet to do it.”
“People have been praying in their homes,” says Halaibeh, a radiologist by trade. “Obviously it’s not the same as being in the mosque or the masjid, and seeing other people. It’s like watching a soccer game on TV [versus] being at the stadium.”
Still, the notion that some things can’t, and indeed shouldn’t, be replaced with a Zoom meeting might feel refreshing. “You don’t have to hold prayers in the masjid for them to be valid,” Halaibeh says. “They are valid anywhere you pray them.”
Megan and Rock Watson of Sliced. Cake Bar know that times are tough, but it’s as important as ever to celebrate milestones and holidays. They post regularly about their offerings on Facebook and Instagram (@sliced.cakebar), and are running a Mother’s Day special: Get 15 percent off orders of $25 or more until May 10. Photos by John Robinson
Growing up, Megan Watson ate a lot of great food at home. Her mother cooked delicious meals in the way of Julia Child. But she was also very health-conscious and “not a baker,” says Megan (i.e., not into sugar). The family enjoyed treats like cakes for celebrations only, and for Megan, every slice was its own special occasion.
“It didn’t matter what kind of cake it was, or where it was from,” she says, laughing. “If it was called ‘cake,’ I was going to eat it.”
When Megan married and had her own family, she baked cakes for birthdays and other special occasions. And her cakes were good. Really, really good, says her husband, Rock Watson, who, like his wife, didn’t eat a lot of homemade cake growing up (“because of my circumstances,” he says, he was more of a Little Debbie snacks kind of guy). But when his grandmother did make one, it was bliss.
Now the Watsons share their mutual love of cake with all of Charlottesville via their mobile bakery, Sliced. Cake Bar.
As its name suggests, Sliced. offers cake by the slice, in addition to whole cakes, and cake pops. And, because it’s based around a bar concept, cake flights (like a wine-tasting flight, but with multiple flavors of cake) and buttercream frosting shots are on the menu, too. And the flavors are endless: chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, strawberry with vanilla, coconut, confetti, lemon, carrot cake…the list goes on.
The Watsons usually set up at the Key’s Corner Indoor City Market and tow their adorable bakery trailer to local vineyards like Grace Estate and King Family. Megan bakes for weddings, baby showers, graduations, retirement parties, and those “just because” orders, too. More than anything, the Watsons love hearing the stories behind why folks chose a certain flavor—and laugh when customers breathe a sigh of relief upon finding out there are no raisins in Sliced.’s carrot cake.
Sliced. began after Megan semi-retired from her social worker job with Region Ten. Word of her baking prowess had gotten around, and she was getting requests for custom cakes. Oftentimes, she’d do it just for the cost of supplies and the knowledge that she’d made someone’s day, but eventually Rock encouraged her to make a business out of it. The couple established Sliced. in summer 2017, and it began to pick up speed after the Watsons participated in the Charlottesville Investment Collaborative’s entrepreneurship workshop.
Like many local small business owners, the pair had big plans for 2020: Park their trailer at more spots and grow their social media presence (the photos of Watson family members in the quippy “Sliced, Sliced Baby” and “Cake Slayer” shirts are aces). They were also set to move the baking operation into a commercial kitchen. After a busy February, they seemed poised for success, but in March, it all screeched to a halt. Markets, wineries, and other spots closed, and Megan, who bakes every item from scratch, didn’t feel safe preparing food for others to eat until she knew more about the COVID-19 virus and how it was spread.
After sorting out safest baking and delivery practices, plus a few other things with the help of the CIC, Sliced. is once again open for curbside pickup as well as contactless delivery orders. It’s reopened not just for business reasons, but to bring a bit of sweetness to the city.
When life feels difficult and uncertain and terrifying, as it does during a global pandemic, it’s important to still “take a moment to think of the things that we’re grateful for, and what we can celebrate,” says Megan. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and other milestones don’t just stop when times are tough, and continuing to mark them as we normally would—perhaps with a cake—can be a great comfort.
“When you’re facing adversity or crisis, finding that silver lining in things—that reason to celebrate, to raise your spirit—raises your hope,” adds Rock. “Hopefully with cake, we can be part of that encouragement. During this time, there’s still reason to celebrate.”
Wednesday afternoon, Chef Soledad Liendo will teach you how to make puff pastry. Photo courtesy subject
Rise and shine: How’s your bread game? There’s no end to the crusty loaves being touted on social media these days. One glitch in this rising trend, though: There’s a run on yeast. But don’t let that deflate you. There’s another baking movement that doesn’t require a leavening agent at all. The Happy Cook’s Puff Pastry from Scratch class with Chef Soledad Liendo takes you through the process of building a puff pastry with a firm roller, flour, and layers and layers of butter, resulting in irresistible, airy treats.
