Month: June 2020

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News

Willing watchdogs: New Police Civilian Review Board votes to give itself more power

Rosia Parker, along with other members of the People's Coalition, urge the council to accept the bylaws of the Police Civilian Review Board on Oct. 21 2019. Photo: Zack Wajsgras

Two and a half years after the events that sparked its creation, the official Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board held its first meeting on Monday. National events have led to increased scrutiny of police departments, and so the inaugural meeting of this body dedicated to police oversight was highly anticipated (to the extent that any municipal government meeting can be).

Beginning in 2018, an initial, city-appointed CRB spent a year researching community oversight of policing, and proposed an ordinance and bylaws that would create a powerful permanent oversight board. In 2019, City Council voted through a revised set of rules that weakened the board in a variety of ways, including centralizing power with an executive director, removing the requirement that the police department attend community listening sessions, removing the ability for the CRB to review complaints that are sustained by the police department, and limiting the board’s access to raw stop-and-frisk and use of force data.

Then, in January, three new city councilors took office. Since then, community activists have lobbied for City Council to revisit the initial ordinance and bylaws, noting that all these councilors promised on the campaign trail to support the initial CRB.

City council has repeatedly kicked the can down the road, refusing to re-vote on the initial bylaws until the new, more permanent board members took their seats. “What we’ve said all along is that the new board members can tell us how they function best,” explained Mayor Walker at a City Council meeting in early June.

Now, the new board members are in place, and they’ve told council what they want. On Monday the board voted unanimously to adopt the initial bylaws (although there was debate over how much input city council would have in that decision). “The community spoke through the initial board by saying they wanted a very strong CRB,” said Nancy Carpenter, a member of the new board.

Harold Folley, Walt Heinecke, and Elizabeth Stark, community members who have advocated for the adoption of the initial bylaws, all spoke during the public comment in support of the new board’s desire to revert to the original bylaws. Rosia Parker and Sarah Burke, members of the initial CRB, also voiced their support.

Watson, noticing that Police Chief RaShall Brackey was on the call, asked if Brackney would like to comment on the proceedings. The Chief did not express any particular viewpoint on the actions of the board when handed the mic. “I’m here to just listen like everyone else to see what the interests of the board are and how we can all move forward,” Brackney said.

In a 2019 interview with C-VILLE, Brackney said, “I’ve never been able to understand or get a clear answer as to why there was the development of a Civilian Review Board here.”

Local civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel noted in public comment that the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus plans to introduce legislation at the state level that would institute civilian review boards around the commonwealth. If the caucus’ legislation makes it through the all-blue state government, the CRB could find itself with more power than even the initial bylaws provide.

These dry-sounding municipal decisions have real human stakes: Dorenda Johnson, a lifelong Charlottesville resident and member of the new board, spoke about the importance of a powerful body when she introduced herself.

“I have such a strong passion for it because I have two sons that are young, African-American sons,” Johnson said. “With all that’s going on across the nation, I see that there is a dire need for this to be in place.”

 

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News

Telling the truth: Local schools overhaul history curriculum

Adrienne Oliver, an instructional coach for Albemarle County Public Schools, believes all students will be able to see themselves in the history of the United States, once the Reframing the Narrative program is implemented. PC: John Robinson

As protests against police brutality continue around the country, school districts are tackling another form of systemic racism and oppression: whitewashed history. Since last year, Albemarle County Public Schools has been working to create an anti-racist social studies curriculum, elevating the voices and stories of marginalized people and groups, which are often misrepresented by (or entirely excluded from) textbooks. And now, the district is one step closer to implementing the curriculum—called Reframing the Narrative.

Last week, the district’s history teachers—joined by over a dozen partner organizations and more than 100 educators from Charlottesville City Schools, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, and other districts across the state—met virtually to begin constructing a more comprehensive and inclusive U.S. history curriculum as part of the Virginia Inquiry Collaborative.

Fully addressing our country’s legacy of slavery, racism, and inequity is not an easy task, and “dependency on textbooks of any kind will only preserve the status quo and dominant narratives,” says Adrienne Oliver, an ACPS instructional coach who participated in the virtual workshops. “The current state standards continue to uphold such narratives, and so a heavy reliance upon outsourced materials is, in my view, antithetical to our work.”

Rather than find new textbooks (Oliver says she has yet to see an anti-racist one), the curriculum will rely on relevant texts and resources, primary source materials, and classroom discussions and activities—all working to “resist a retelling of dominant narratives and put learning into students’ hands,” says Oliver.

After a team of editors reviews and refines the results of last week’s workshops, inquiry-based U.S. history units, containing learning plans and assessment tools, will be uploaded onto an online platform for ACPS teachers, along with those from CCS and other districts, to use starting this fall.

Under the anti-racist curriculum, all students will be able to see themselves in the history of the United States, examining it from a variety of non-traditional perspectives, says Oliver. Black and brown students, along with others from marginalized backgrounds, may feel more acknowledged and empowered, as they study untold stories of resilience and resistance.

The revamped history courses will also better prepare students, especially those who are white, to deal with uncomfortable issues in our country, points out Bethany Bazemore, who graduated from Charlottesville High School this year.

“The only way as a society we’re going to get past this is if white people learn to be uncomfortable,” says Bazemore, who is Black. “Black people have been uncomfortable for 400 years and counting.”

“You need to understand and reckon with your history to really address the problems of the present,” adds program leader John Hobson. “It’s all connected.”

Last summer, ACPS partnered with the Montpelier Foundation to jump-start the Reframing the Narrative program. With the support of a $299,500 grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, history teachers from the division participated in professional development workshops at Montpelier, along with other field experiences and learning opportunities, during the school year.

Through these initiatives, educators “are able to understand possibly their own bias, and reflect and grow from there,” says Virginia Beach social studies instructor Nick Dzendzel, a participant in the Virginia Inquiry Collaborative. “It provides a whole new atmosphere inside of a school [or] department for those educators to start pushing for what they know and want to be right for the students—and not just adhering to what’s been done before.”

The CACF grant also helps to pay teachers as they develop the new curriculum outside of school hours, and funds student field trips to Montpelier, “centering the voices and experiences of enslaved people and the descendant community” at the former plantation, says Oliver.

Next year, the process will start over again, as Albemarle teachers update the division’s world geography curriculum for freshmen and world history for sophomores. The following year, the eighth grade civics and 12th grade government curriculums will also get an anti-racist makeover.

In partnership with ACPS and other state school districts, Charlottesville City Schools also began updating its social studies curriculum last summer. Participating teachers (who receive a stipend) have taken professional development courses at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center focused on local Black history, as well as curriculum-writing workshops and field excursions around Charlottesville.

Last year, CCS Superintendent Dr. Rosa Atkins was among those appointed to the Commission on African American History Education, which is currently reviewing the history standards and practices for the entire state. By September 1, the commission will offer recommendations for enriched standards related to African American history, as well as cultural competency among teachers.

The white supremacist violence of August 11 and 12 was a catalyst, says Oliver, but these massive curriculum overhauls were years in the making. Grassroots organizers and activists, along with individual educators, have been advocating for and implementing anti-racist curriculums across Virginia for some time.

“If you’re doing this [alone] in your own classroom, it’s easy to get weighed down by barriers, by administrators, and by parents for working against the grain. It’s hard to do that every day,” says Virginia Initiative participant Sarah Clark, who teaches U.S. history in Virginia Beach. “But when you’re involved in projects like this, it’s like a rejuvenation…I’m not doing it alone.”

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News

Radio silence: Progressive station signs off; Saga sacks six, gears up for more acquisitions

Jeff Lenert's progressive talk radio station WPVC has been forced off the air by communications giant Saga. Photo: Eze Amos

WPVC has been a reliable progressive talk radio voice on Charlottesville’s airwaves since 2015. But on June 17, the low-frequency station went off the air. Michigan-based corporation Saga Communications has reshaped the Charlottesville radio landscape in recent months—Saga has laid off staff from the local stations they own, and filed legal petitions to shut down competition.

When Jeff Lenert started WPVC, “the whole idea in developing the radio station was to turn it on and pass the mic to people to let them tell their stories,” he says.

WPVC had Black Lives Matter organizers on in April 2017, one of the first local outlets to do so, says Lenert. The station also offered the area’s only Spanish-language programming.

“So many people are asking why,” says Mindy Acosta, who hosted a show in Spanish. “It’s very sad. We tried to give information to the people.”

Last year, Saga petitioned the FCC to shut down WPVC and four other low-frequency radio stations in Charlottesville. The petition alleged the five small stations’ underwriting amounted to commercials, which is forbidden for non-commercial broadcasters.

Lenert says his lawyer assured him the petition wouldn’t stick. But legal bills—combined with threats from “neo-Confederates” to Lenert’s underwriters—spelled doom for the small station.

“We generated $1,048 last month in underwriting revenue,” says Lenert. “How [does Saga] know I exist? Am I taking away their money?”

Saga announced June 18 that it was temporarily suspending its quarterly cash dividend, a sign that it’s eyeing further acquisitions. “By preserving the company’s cash position, the company believes market conditions may present attractive acquisition opportunities,” says a Saga statement.

Lenert predicts that during the next FCC filing window for frequencies, Saga will try to take over 94.7.

Meanwhile, over at the Saga-owned Charlottesville Radio Group, six people were unceremoniously shown the door, including some of the stations’ best-known personalities.

The Corner’s Jeff Sweatman was given the ax March 20 while his morning show was still on the air, although he says “no comment” when asked about the manner of his ouster.

Adam Rondeau, co-host of country WCVL’s “Brondeau Show,” was given his pink slip April 15. His co-host, Bryan Shine, decided to depart as well. “The decision to leave was because they weren’t investing in the station and they weren’t investing in the community,” says Shine.

“They make money hand over fist,” he adds.

“Big Greasy Breakfast” host Max Hoecker had been with the Rose Hill Drive stations since 1989, when they were locally owned by Eure Communications, and on 3WV since 1992. He got pulled into the general manager’s office June 5, told the “Big Greasy Breakfast” was no more—it’s been replaced with a syndicated show—and sent on his way.

And Rob Schilling’s local WINA talk radio show has been sliced in half to one hour.

Last fall (pre-pandemic), the company canned operations manager and WINA morning host Rick Daniels, who worked there for more than 30 years. And longtime WINA morning co-host Jane Foy learned she was out of a job the night before she returned from vacation.

Charlottesville Radio Group GM Mike Chiumento did not respond to requests from C-VILLE Weekly.

“We got a lot of lip service that we were a local station,” says Shine, who is now hosting a podcast with Rondeau.

Lenert thinks Charlottesville Radio Group and Saga could afford to have the “Big Greasy Breakfast,” and coexist with stations like WPVC, which generate $1,000 a month. “But they choose not to in an effort to dominate the local radio market,” he says, “which appears to me every month less and less local and more syndicated.”

 

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News

Foot on the gas: Anti-pipeline activists fight on, undeterred by Supreme Court

If constructed, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will cut through these scenic Nelson County hills PC: File photo

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would be allowed to cross underneath the Appalachian Trail. Dominion Energy, the pipeline’s main backer, has characterized the Supreme Court’s decisions as a significant step forward for the controversial project.

If completed, the pipeline would carry natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina. The project’s initial price tag was $5 billion, but more recent estimates say it will cost as much as $8 billion. Gas was supposed to be flowing by 2019, but the Southern Environmental Law Center says that less than 6 percent of the pipe has been installed so far.

The project has been slowed in part due to years of dedicated work from grassroots activists, who have fought tooth and nail to stop the pipeline from slicing through the Appalachian wilderness. They say the project will have devastating effects on water quality and wildlife in the area, and that it’s not economically necessary.

“This is a major victory for the project,” Dominion says of the decision in a press bulletin. “It paves the way for the ACP to be completed and bring jobs to the region, stimulate the economy and lead us to a cleaner energy future.”

“They’ll parade the decision to shareholders, and probably make some additional press releases to make [the pipeline] seem like an inevitable project,” says Daniel Shaffer, a geospatial consultant for the anti-pipeline coalition Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance. “But it really doesn’t change their situation.”

It’s worth taking a closer look at the terms of the case that came before the Supreme Court. In 2017, the project secured a key construction permit from the U.S. Forest Service. Then, in 2018, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond vacated that permit. Dominion challenged the Fourth Circuit’s decision, and that’s the challenge that went to the Supreme Court.

Lew Freeman, the executive director of ABRA, says the group is “disappointed, but not entirely surprised” that the Supreme Court ruled the way it did. “We’re quick to point out that this is only one of several issues on which the Forest Service permit was struck down,” Freeman says. “Those other reasons for vacating the permit were not challenged by Dominion in this case.”

In other words, the Supreme Court case doesn’t ensure that the Forest Service permit will be reinstated—it just removes one of many hurdles that Dominion will have to clear when it requests another Forest Service permit.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, which is dedicated to protecting the environment, has led the legal opposition to the pipeline. After the decision last week, the SELC noted that eight other permits for the pipeline are still in question.

“Their certificate of public necessity and convenience is under review,” says Shaffer. “They can’t cross any water anywhere. Can’t take any endangered species. Can’t cross under the Blue Ridge Parkway. We don’t know what will happen with the Forest Service permit.”

And in January, a permit to build an invasive compressor station in Buckingham County’s historically black Union Hill neighborhood was thrown out.

If all of this conflict over permits seems confusing and convoluted, that’s exactly the point. Tying up the project in time-consuming and costly litigation has been one of the anti-pipeline group’s core strategies from the beginning. Shaffer says now, he’s “absolutely” optimistic about the possibility of eventually killing the project, “much more so than I was when I first joined the fight.”

ABRA, which is an umbrella organization that coordinates more than 50 environmental groups from West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, continues to fight the pipeline on other fronts, too.

Construction on the project has been halted since 2018, but when it resumes, Shaffer says, ABRA and its subsidiaries will be ready to resume their construction monitoring. Shaffer says they’ve also lent a hand to groups fighting other non-renewable energy projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline or the Header Improvement Project.

Recently, ABRA published a paper that demonstrates how even small amounts of construction in the area can cause significant environmental problems. “Land disturbance in the Appalachian mountain area, because of its excessive rainfall and steep slopes and fragile topography, can spawn landslides with very little disruption,” Freeman says.

“Long term, obviously, we hope it won’t be built,” Shaffer says. “Short term, we hope to keep everybody engaged, to supply our legal partners with any information we can, and continue keeping people educated.”

“I don’t make predictions about what’s going to happen in a political or legislative or legal sense,” says Freeman, when asked if he thinks the pipeline will ever be finished. “I will say this: I believe that this project was wrongheaded from the beginning…We’re going to continue to fight it.”

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Arts Culture

PICK: Alice Clair

Alice Clair plays her part to Save the Music on Sunday. Eric McKeefer

Tuning in at home: With her mixture of thoughtful lyrics, environmental consciousness, and passionate music, Alice Clair is a singular talent—one you’ll often find jamming with her psych-rock band The BLNDRS. The folk rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, and mandolinist performs for The Front Porch’s ongoing series Save the Music. Donations benefit Georgia’s Healing House.

Sunday, 6/28. 8pm. facebook.com/frontporchcville.

Categories
Culture Living

Chilled Out

A late-spring freeze may be the reason there’s no fruit at the finish line for many area wineries. file photo

Wineries everywhere are facing unprecedented challenges as they have been forced to adapt business models and get creative during the COVID-19 outbreak. Local wineries were presented with an additional threat in the form of weather. A warmer than average winter brought early grape budding. This can be good, because it provides more time for ripening later in the season. However, it also brings risk, and these buds were exposed to multiple spring frosts capped off by a polar vortex during Mother’s Day weekend. This last event brought more than frost, in some areas it brought temperatures well below freezing, which damaged and killed nascent grape buds.

There are a variety of techniques used to protect vineyards when cold is expected. Stephen Barnard, winemaker at Keswick Vineyards, says they use “burn piles, wind machines, drain machines, and irrigation” to keep warmer air circulating. Some wineries even fly helicopters in hopes of bringing warmer air down to the ground. Of course, this requires labor and money, and many simply don’t have the resources to do much more than watch and pray.

Others rely on the specific characteristics of their vineyards to protect the vines from cold. Lee Hartman, winemaker at Bluestone Vineyard, says they planted vines on a hill “with our earlier breaking varieties at the top so cold air can drain away,” and Emily Pelton, winemaker at Veritas Vineyard & Winery, explains that “typically our elevation protects” from cold weather. But, Pelton expects that Veritas will harvest slightly more than half of what it initially projected this year. “You can clearly see that the biggest influence here was elevation,” she says. “Low spots were completely toasted, with 100 percent of shoots affected. As you move up the hill towards the top at about 950 feet, you start to see less and less damage.”

The problem with relying on the movement of warm air to protect the vineyard comes when you simply run out of warm air to move. Jake Busching of Hark Vineyards and Jake Busching Wines says with a freeze, even closed buds can be killed. “Prior to May 10, the frosts we had experienced were marginal, with losses to maybe a 30 percent loss. However, on May 10, we experienced a freeze, which is significantly different from a frost.”

Busching estimates that Hark experienced a loss of 95 percent of its potential fruit for the 2020 vintage. This represents approximately 3,200 cases of production and vanished sales. Unfortunately, this tale of severe damage is repeated by many others. Chelsey Blevins, winemaker at Fifty-third Winery & Vineyard, says her entire Louisa site, and approximately 80 percent of the winery’s sister vineyard site located in Free Union, is lost.

Tyler Maddox, vineyard manager for Fifty-third, explained on social media that, while it’s good news that the vines themselves survived, keeping the vineyard healthy requires the same amount of labor and investment even without the reward of fruit at the finish. This can be particularly demanding for smaller operations that are already financially challenged by coronavirus.

Certainly, not every winery experienced the same degree of damage. Maya Hood White, associate winemaker and viticulturist at Early Mountain Vineyards, reports that Early Mountain “for the most part got very lucky” with damage primarily in vineyard areas planted with chardonnay and petit manseng. Kirsty Harmon at Blenheim Vineyards, had varying degrees of damage. “We have had damage to our vines in the lower spots in the vineyard…based on elevation and where the cold air was not able to keep moving. Some blocks in those areas have been completely wiped out.”

With very little fruit from which to make wine, Hartman hints at an uneasiness perhaps shared by many, “The one-two punch of sales plummeting and ‘farming for free’ is going to hurt many across the state, leaving some to close their doors willingly or unwillingly,” he says. “We’ll see a boom of wineries buying out of state fruit…a fear I have is that many wineries might [decide to buy wine every year]. And that would lead to a loss of identity and a loss of value to Virginia grapes and farms.”

Yet, there is clearly hope that is buttressed by both a high-quality, productive 2019 vintage and the very strong consumer support that’s been evident during months of winery closures and social distancing. Blevins, for whom the 2019 vintage was her first as a head winemaker, says they have “absolutely beautiful 2019 wines aging in the cellar that will help keep us going.” Hartman too says there is plenty of wine to be sold: “Our biggest saving grace currently is our inventory…So maybe your best defense in a bad year is to make too much in a good year.”

According to Busching, customer support of the industry has been “heard and appreciated more than folks imagine.” Robust consumer support is undeniably a very positive indicator. Barnard is adamant that 2020 represents only a small setback for an industry with strong forward momentum, “We have never faced anything like this before, but we are resilient and we will get through this, I am positive that better days and months are ahead of us.”

Categories
Culture Living

PICK: Darden Towe Scavenger Hunt

Soulful search: Tired of the indoors and in the mood for a little outdoor adventure? Look no further than Darden Towe Park’s Solo Scavenger Hunt. Download a scorecard, find clues, search for items, take photos, and connect with new people by posting online. It’s an old-fashioned adventure game for all ages, and an interactive way to embrace your wild side during these socially separate times.

Through 9/25. Darden Towe Park. facebook.com/grounded.relating.

Categories
Culture Living

PICK: Spanish Bread Pudding Cooking Lesson

Teaching Treat: Budin de Pan, a sweet bread pudding and a popular breakfast offering in many places around the world, isn’t something you’ll find on most American tables. But now, with the help of The Happy Cook’s online cooking series and chef Soledad Liendo, a graduate of the International Institute of Culinary Arts in Buenos Aires, you can prepare this simple, decadent treat in just an hour. Recipes and ingredients sourcing provided at sign up.

Wednesday, 6/24. 2pm. $20. Zoom required. thehappycook.com.

Categories
Arts Culture

Spike Lee goes deep into the emotion of conflict in Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods follows the reunion of Vietnam veterans trying to locate gold they buried in the jungle during the war. Netflix

To say that Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is ripped from the headlines is to give those headlines too much credit. Filming wrapped last summer, but the movie is more rooted in this moment than the latest breaking stories. Even its flashbacks have more to say about the present than the 24-hour news networks.

Like in his previous two works, Chi-Raq and BlacKkKlansman, Lee tears apart any notion that fiction should be separate from the world around us. He’s as much a political tactician as he is a cinematic technician. Lee isn’t just asking important questions. He’s demanding immediate action.

Fifty years after serving together in Vietnam as part of the 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One), four African American veterans reunite in Ho Chi Minh City to fulfill a promise to their fallen commander, “Stormin’” Norman (Chadwick Boseman). The survivors are Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.).

The promise is more than just symbolic: While on duty, the Bloods, as they call themselves, buried gold deep in the jungle to be retrieved after the war. At the time, Norman framed it as part of the struggle for reparations and black liberation, but back home, the years have not been equally kind to the Bloods. The love was never lost, particularly for Norman, and the bonds of shared war experience cannot be erased, but circumstances beyond their control force them to decide if they’re in this for each other or for themselves.

Everything you’ve heard about Lindo’s bravura performance as Paul is true. For decades, Lindo has been a familiar face portraying memorable characters in excellent films, but we’ve never seen him like this. We meet Paul as the MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporter who is the least comfortable returning. He is the quickest to anger and paranoia, whether aimed at the Vietnamese people they encounter or his fellow Bloods. His rage is free-floating, looking for somewhere to attach itself. He is certain that he is not getting his fair share in life.

Lee has always been eager to have villains espouse the political beliefs of people he hates, as when David Duke (Topher Grace) all but quotes Trump directly in BlacKkKlansman, but Lee loves Paul and wants us to do the same. He believes that this man has been robbed of his chance at happiness. Though Lee does go for Trump, Paul is not a punching bag to attack his supporters. He can’t stand Paul’s candidate, but he feels Paul’s pain.

Lindo steals the show, but the entire ensemble is excellent. The flashbacks of the five Bloods before Norman’s death show all the actors at their current age; we’re not seeing what happened, but how the events live on in their minds. The lighting, emotional music, and narrowing aspect ratio in these scenes show how Norman is a legend in their minds—Boseman, who made his name depicting historical figures and superheroes, is a perfect choice.

Bolstering the emotional, sociological, and artistic achievements of Da 5 Bloods is the way it contextualizes things we may already know but fail to understand. This can be minor, such as using “We don’t need no stinking…” from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as more than homage, signaling the true narrative and political sentiment of foreign invaders having the gall to demand identification from the local population. This can be major, as when we hear the conversations between Viet Cong soldiers before they’re ambushed. They’re humans with their own story, not just obstacles for the heroes. Context also factors into radio broadcasts from Hanoi Hannah, the famous radio propagandist, portrayed here by Veronica Ngo during the flashbacks. She is the enemy, but the things she says about the state of black Americans to demoralize U.S. troops are accurate. Her intentions are not honest, but if what she says is true, does that make her wrong?

Da 5 Bloods began as a script by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, the pair most famous for The Rocketeer, and was to be directed by Oliver Stone before Lee and co-writer Kevin Willmott took over. It was then that the perspective shifted to that of the black veterans. One can imagine the story as a straightforward adventure/thriller, with four men who never fully left the war behind them. That sounds like a fine film, but if it had been produced as written, we never would have had the immediacy of Da 5 Bloods. The film opens with archival footage of Muhammad Ali questioning why he should fight when the Vietnamese are not the ones subjecting him to racism. When a Blood, who fought for rights that he did not have at home, comes into conflict with a Vietnamese person who lost family in the war, there is no resolution. Both have a shared history of colonization, yet were pushed into conflict by forces that did not treat either as human beings. Everyone’s lives were deeply affected by the war, but no one’s was improved. The memories remain, sometimes as PTSD, sometimes as landmines. The war does not end when the last shot is fired. It remains with everyone it touched. Da 5 Bloods is not just a war film or a story about these particular men. This is America put under a microscope in the sun, and we need to understand what we’re looking at before it all catches fire.

Da 5 Bloods / R, 155 minutes/ Streaming (Netflix)

Categories
Culture Living

Local chefs unlock creativity during virus lockdown

Travis Burgess used his quarantine time to test his pizza-making skills and refine his poke bowl recipes. Courtesy of subject

As lockdowns hit the area this spring, it seemed like everyone and their mother broke out the sourdough starter—professional chefs included. Travis Burgess, co-owner and chef at Bang!, Bizou, and the new pasta-to-go spot Luce, experimented at home with a cast-iron sourdough focaccia that only an enviable few will ever get to try. He admits he enjoyed his momentary home-cooking career (he and his team are now providing contactless takeout and manning a Bizou outdoor pop-up), and became especially obsessed with thick-crust pizzas and crisp, modern-ingredient poke bowls.

Other local eateries, such as MarieBette and its Petite sister, thinned their menus to combat the strain of the COVID-19 slowdown. “We’ve been cutting down our experimenting and sticking to the tried-and-true items,” says owner Jason Becton. Not immune to a little boredom-induced innovation, Becton found room on his smaller menu for a new grilled chicken sandwich called the Fluvanna, with cheddar, arugula, basil mayo, red onion, and roasted tomatoes. Meanwhile, Petite MarieBette added the Afton to its repertoire, a fried chicken sandwich topped with slaw, chipotle mayo, and housemade pickles.

Ivy Inn’s father-son duo, Tom and Angelo Vangelopoulos, used the extra time to test an expanded flavor profile, teaming up to add classic Greek moussaka and souvlaki to the menu for the restaurant’s June 18 reopening for regular service. (Ivy Inn hosted a dinner on June 19, and pledged 100 percent of its sales to Lending Hands, a Charlottesville nonprofit that supports recently incarcerated individuals.)

Restaurateurs were not the only ones counting the days till they returned to a busy kitchen. Malik Poindexter, culinary arts teacher at Albemarle High School, misses teaching in person.

Travis Burgess

“It’s hard to see the drive and passion when we aren’t face to face,” he says. “It’s hard to coach them through their mistakes. Many of them are still learning that it won’t always be perfect the first time, it takes practice.”

Every chef seems to agree that cooking with people and for people is what makes their jobs truly special. “The co-workers and the adrenaline rush from a busy service were probably the two things I missed most during my brief stint as a home chef,” says Burgess.

Becton says his cooks “miss the pace of having a dining room open,” while he looks forward to  “interactions with customers and being able to talk to our regulars.” Even under quarantine, cooking, it seems, is all about the people. —Will Ham