C-VILLE Weekly took home 12 Virginia Press Association awards in 2020’s News and Advertising Contest (full results here). We offer hearty congratulations to the other publications in our competition group, and, most importantly, we express our deepest gratitude to the people who shared their stories with us over the last year.
News
C-VILLE’s coverage of the local criminal justice system yielded first- and second-place finishes in the Public Safety Writing category. Editor Ben Hitchcock earned first place for his reporting on the jail’s coronavirus policy, police-community relations, and the police department’s arrest of a homeless man on the Downtown Mall. News reporter Brielle Entzminger won a second-place award for her stories on the summer’s protests, allegations of racial profiling against the local police, and the next steps for the area’s racial justice activists.
Art Director Max March won first place in Page Design for his work on our Tree Issue, and second place in Front Page Design for our Health Issue.
Former art director Bill LeSueur earned third place in Page Design for his work on O’Hare’s feature on aboriginal art.
Advertising
Ad designer Tracy Federico won second place in the Education, Churches, and Organizations category for her Shelter for Help in Emergency ad, and third place in the Food and Drug category for her Seven Hills ad.
You know that when we say 10 feet or less, we really mean 10 feet or less
The truck-eating bridge on the Corner has dispatched 15 trucks since the beginning of 2019, according to CBS19 meteorologist and dedicated truck-tracker Travis Koshko. You’d think the drivers would learn, but they never do: Like clockwork, delivery after delivery gets disrupted when the unassuming bridge scrapes the top three inches off of yet another vehicle. You gotta be trucking kidding me!
For truck’s sake, people. Staff photo.
You can’t afford to live here
Charlottesville doesn’t have enough housing stock for everyone who wants to live here, and the price of houses is rising as a result. 2020’s fourth quarter saw the area’s median home sales price increase 13 percent from the same period during the previous year, according to the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. The city has recently begun to take steps to remedy the situation, like refurbishing and expanding multiple public housing complexes, but there’s still lots of work to be done.
You have strong opinions about the scooters
Are they the future of personal mobility, an exciting harbinger of a greener and more cost-effective future? Or are they dangerous irritants that make driving a headache and our sidewalks impassable? We’ve got no official stance, but we bet you do.
He’s zooming. But should he be? Photo: Eze Amos
You want to flee for a weekend getaway during UVA graduation
It’s bad enough that the students choking the roads nine months of the year, but parents and siblings and grandparents too? Forget about it. Memorial Day weekend is all well and good, but around here, the best time to get out of Dodge is the weekend before.
You’ve watched a City Council meeting to the bitter end
Charlottesville’s City Council has plenty on its plate, and its meetings often run into the wee hours of the morning. But this is a city that cares about its future and cares about its government, and twice a month legislators and activists and community members pour themselves a cup of joe at 6:30pm and settle in for three to six hours of municipal presentations and debates. Tax rates! Zoning code! Special use permits! It’s bracing stuff.
We feel you, Vice-Mayor Magill. Photo: Eze Amos
You’re so over Thomas Jefferson
Sure, he penned some good turns of phrase, but he was a plantation owner who had six children with a teenager he enslaved. He was a smug aristocrat whose hypocrisy knew no bounds. Some leaders around here talk a big game about equity, and then make people walk past gleaming statues of this guy every day. Really people? Really?
You love Dave Matthews
He’s a bona fide local legend who reached the highest highs and never forgot where he came from. His band is full of instrumental virtuosos, and he’s done immense amounts of charity work during the latter part of his career. And let’s be honest, who can resist “Crash Into Me?” Come on. You’d have to have a heart of stone.
You cannot stand Dave Matthews
He’s an overexposed dad-rocker who hasn’t been relevant in two decades. His voice sounds like a door hinge in bad need of some WD-40, and wearing pajama pants on stage wasn’t cute, either. And no, we haven’t forgotten the time his tour bus dumped 800 pounds of poop onto a sightseeing boat in the Chicago River.
You consume local media
For a town of its size, Charlottesville has an impressive network of journalists working in a variety of mediums—print, TV, radio, and, yes, Twitter—to keep everyone informed about what’s going on around here. In recent years, national and international media have regularly shone a spotlight on the city, too, but the local news, well, they’re the people sticking with it every day. (Okay, we might be a little biased on this one. But the point stands.)
You get really, really defensive when someone from New York tries to tell you about bagels
Back off, city slickers. Bodo’s bagels are hearty and toothsome. Your order is ready in minutes, no matter how long the line is. A sandwich costs like $4. A deli egg will knock your hangover out of the park. Hating on Bodo’s is like hating on The Beatles: We get it, you just like being contrarian.
We get hungry just looking at it.
You’ve caught a free show at the Pavilion—by standing on the Belmont Bridge and craning your neck
Sure, you can’t see the stage, and yes, the acoustics are bad because the shell is facing the other way. But there’s something special about free live music. When concerts come back—sooner rather than later, we hope!—we’ll be excited to lean on the railing, look down onto the mall, and hear a few tinny chords from the best seats outside the house.
You’ve got an answer to the riddle “Why did the salamander cross the road?”
Each February, around 1,000 salamanders set off on their winter migration…from one side of Polo Grounds Road to the other. Since crossing the street is a dangerous undertaking for the little lizards, it’s become a local tradition for volunteers to gather on wet winter eves to shepherd the critters to the other side safely. Now that’s a good way to look out for your neighbors!
A local salamander. Photo: Devin Floyd
You know that we all experience Charlottesville differently
Any Charlottesville resident who’s been paying attention knows that the city means many things to many people. This is our town’s defining feature: We all live here, and we’re all rooting for the place to succeed, but we have hugely different life experiences, hopes, and priorities. We’ve put together this list to poke fun at a few of the city’s idiosyncrasies. (And believe me, we could have kept going.) But it’s not up to the alt-weekly to determine what makes a local, and we hope everyone who lives here feels like they can take ownership of the place. If you say you’re from Charlottesville, then you’re a local in our book.
Journey by foot: Keith Lee now calls central Virginia home, but his teaching and choreography work began at New York’s storied High School of Performing Arts, and was followed by decades of dance artistry everywhere from the American Ballet Theatre to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As artist laureate, resident choreographer, and director of diversity and inclusion at the Charlottesville Ballet, he offers local access to the world premiere of his newest piece, And the VIII Journeyed. The virtual program includes a screening of a mini documentary that celebrates Lee and his career, as well as a panel discussion with others in the film.
Ben Benson records his dialogue for The Lovers, Reversed. Publicity photo
Take a listen: With a pivot to podcasts, UVA Drama’s New Works Festival is all ears this year. The fifth annual student-run fest offers five short audio pieces (including one musical), which will be streamed on WTJU. Faculty mentors Dave Dalton and Doug Grissom realized audio dramas were a creative solution to replace the currently paused live theater experience, but the logistics involved lots of coordination. “Strategy and The Lovers, Reversed, for example, both take place with a limited cast in one location, so a lot of the conflict is resolved in dialogue,” says Dalton. “FUNeral and Half-hour Ride North, by contrast, initially had a lot of visual elements built into the scripts.”
Beginning 4/27, Free, times vary. new-works-festival.pinecast.co.
Fest in place: With the announcement of its 2021 season, Festy takes a big leap forward by staying seated. Instead of the multi-day jam-out camp-out that’s fueled past Festys, this year’s event sticks with its COVID-inspired model of single shows (in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) and VIP-style pod seating. Well suited to the new vibe is North Carolina’s Mipso, with its acoustic-driven dark hollar pop and graceful harmonies derived from traditional folk.
Bringing down the house : Amiri Baraka’s 1964 play The Slave takes place during a race war and ends with a deadly house collapse. As final as that sounds, local playwright and vocalist Ti Ames (right) continues the story: See About the Girls is set 14 years later, and imagines that Walker Vessel’s biracial daughters survived the house collapse. Now young adults living in the aftermath of the war, they grapple with their father’s past, as the world around them once again begins to crack at its foundation.
Kristen Musselman is the new Chief Hiking Officer for Devils Backbone Brewing Company. Publicity photo
A Woman with Backbone
How’s this for a job description: Hike East coast mountains, drink beer, take pictures, and get paid $20,000. That’s the deal Devils Backbone Brewing Company announced this year, and unsurprisingly, outdoor enthusiasts flooded the brewery’s inbox with applications. After reviewing thousands of eager hiker-drinkers’ pitches, DBBC appointed UVA alum Kristen Musselman to be its first Chief Hiking Officer.
Musselman, who currently works as a wilderness therapy field guide in Colorado, says she’s ecstatic to be spending the next six months hiking through all 14 states of the Appalachian Trail, while exploring little-known paths and outlooks along the way. “Like most things, there is no guidebook or roadmap that could have properly prepared me for how to be alone on this trail adventure,” says Musselman. “It’s the skinned knees, sweaty back, failed summits, and wrong turns that have continued to teach me how to be an outdoors woman and have given me the courage to continue taking on new challenges.”
Part of the hiking officer’s job is to visit each state’s best overlook, as chosen by Devils Backbone Instagram followers. To commemorate the journey, the brewery partnered with artist Dr. Tyler Nordgren to create Savor the View Vienna Lager labels that feature images of the overlooks.
“My three big passions are movement, people, and spending a ton of time outside, which is exactly what the CHO position was offering,” says Musselman. “I have such love for the outdoors and for connecting folks to the things that build them up.”
As for her recommendations for unknown hikes around Charlottesville? “First of all, I love Devil’s Marbleyard for a stunning boulder field climb, the Rivanna Trail for a trail run, or one of the many wineries, breweries, or coffee shops around the C’ville area for a post-hike read,” Musselman says. “Venturing a little further, a trip to Wintergreen, Sky Meadows State Park, Raven Rocks, or Bearfence Mountain are well worth the drive.”
Follow Kristen Musselman on her interstate journey via the brewery’s Instagram @devilsbackbonebrewingcompany.
Love of nature
Starr Hill Brewery is also connecting with the outdoors. The beer maker recently announced its Love Your River campaign, in partnership with the James River Association. For the month of May, one dollar from every six-pack sale of The Love, its unfiltered wheat beer, will go to river cleanup efforts. Additionally, Starr Hill is hosting two designated cleanup days for the James, in Lynchburg on May 2, and in Richmond on May 16. Volunteers will receive a T-shirt and an invitation to a thank-you reception. As the JRA says, “Be a James changer!”
Splendy’s back
C’ville frozen dessert lovers got some good news last week: Splendora’s Gelato is back. Its new brick-and-mortar location in The Shops at Stonefield is not open yet, but gelato (including many classic flavors) is available for pickup or delivery on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The virtual-for-now shop is also offering a variety of vegan cupcakes, with some of the proceeds going to AAPI Women Lead, which is dedicated to advancing the rights of Asian and Pacific Islander women in the U.S. Check out @splendyscville Instagram to see what gelato flavors are currently on tap, and text (757) 408-0719 to place an order.
Wine-ing back up
Another sign that life is returning to normal, or at least getting close: Market Street Wineshop will welcome shoppers inside beginning May 1. The local mainstay has kept the vino flowing during COVID by maintaining a personal connection with customers, and those services won’t change, says co-owner Sian Richards. “We have customers who drop us a line when they need a restock, and we put together a case of wines to their taste and budget,” she says. “Others ask us to pick out what we think will go with dinner that night, or their weekly menu, and then they just pop by to grab their order curbside.”
Special beer packs, a continuation of virtual wine tastings, and a refresh on the food and cocktail selections are among the reasons to keep your card on file at MSW. To learn more, visit www.marketstwine.com. —Will Ham
Former UVA basketball standout Anthony Gill didn’t make the NBA right off the bat. The forward earned 2015 and 2016 Third-Team all-ACC honors in his junior and senior seasons under Tony Bennett, but went undrafted after graduating. Gill headed abroad, and spent a season playing for Yesilgiresun Belediye in Turkey, and three years with Khimki in Russia.
Recently, however, Gill has started to find his footing in the big leagues. The 28-year-old signed a two-year contract with the Washington Wizards, and after starter Deni Avdija went down with an injury, Gill found himself with an opportunity. He’s averaged 16 minutes, 9 points, and 4.7 rebounds across the team’s last three games.
“The guy works harder than anybody on our team,” said Wizards coach Scott Brooks this week. “He comes in every day. He comes in early. He’s always cheering his teammates on.”
Area leads the way on vaxes
The Charlottesville-Albemarle area is setting the pace for vaccine rollout in Virginia. As of Tuesday morning, Albemarle County had the highest proportion of the population to have received at least one vaccine dose of any locality in the state. 56 percent of the county has gotten one shot, and 37 percent is fully vaccinated. In the city, 52 percent have one shot, and 32 percent are fully vaxed. Statewide, those numbers are 43 and 29, respectively.
That doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels: The Blue Ridge Health District, which includes Charlottesville and Albemarle, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Fluvanna counties, reported 19 new cases yesterday. Since early March, the health district has consistently registered around 30 new cases per day.
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Quote of the week
“My great-grandfather had to take a literacy test and find three white people to vouch for him just to be able to register to vote.”
—Virginia gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McClellan, speaking about her voting rights plan on the Downtown Mall this week
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Attention, attorneys
With Chip Boyles serving as city manager for the time being, Charlottesville is now beginning to look for people to fill other high-level vacancies in the municipal bureaucracy. This week, City Council will hold a closed meeting to interview potential candidates to be the next city attorney, the elected government’s legal advisor. Former city attorney John Blair left earlier this year to become Staunton’s city attorney.
Give me the bat news first
Three of Virginia’s native bat species are 90 percent extinct, reports the Virginia Mercury. A deadly fungus called white-nose syndrome, which arrived in the country about a decade ago, has swept through Appalachian bat species, decimating the population of northern long-eared, little brown, and tricolored bats. Biologists have been working to help the nocturnal critters, but the disease continues to spread.
Whispering woes
Last week, UVA’s newly constituted Naming and Memorials Committee solicited suggestions from the community on the future of the Frank Hume Memorial Fountain. The fountain, better known as the Whispering Wall, has long been considered a piece of quirky school color, thanks to the way sound carries from one side of the curved bench to the other. But Hume, the monument’s namesake, was a Confederate soldier (and, later, a Virginia state legislator). At a recent listening session, every caller recommended scrapping the wall in its entirety, reports the Cavalier Daily. Last year, two students started a petition, which now has more than 2,100 signatures, to remove the monument. In the last week, the statue has been vandalized twice, and as of Monday, it’s been fenced off.
While virtual learning has been difficult for many students and families, Albemarle County will offer a permanent online school for those who prefer learning outside the classroom. PC: Jack Looney
It’s been over a year since the coronavirus forced local schools to shut their doors and teach thousands of students online. Thanks to a significant drop in COVID cases and the arrival of the vaccine, many students and teachers have returned to the classroom, with health and safety precautions in place. Some students, however, continue to learn from home—and may have the option to do so permanently.
In addition to offering in-person instruction five days a week, Albemarle County Public Schools plans to launch an entirely virtual school this fall, equipped with its own principal, teachers, and students. Though virtual learning has been difficult for many students and families, county teachers say some children will benefit from a permanent virtual option.
Unlike current virtual instruction, the standalone school will offer a full schedule of synchronous classes taught by live instructors. And students will be required to have their webcams on at all times.
“Students who are learning online will still be able to be a part of the base school community,” explains county schools’ spokesman Phil Giaramita. “They can participate in athletics and clubs. They can run for student government. They still have all of the capabilities of the social part of school.”
Because the online school will have its own set of teachers, students won’t have to deal with the challenges that come with hybrid learning. In order to comply with social distancing measures, those in fourth grade and up are currently alternating between in-person and virtual instruction, combined with independent assignments. Some teachers have been required to teach students in the classroom and on Zoom at the same time, a set up Albemarle High School geography teacher Chris Bunin describes as “really challenging.”
According to the ACPS’s latest survey, eight to 10 percent of county families—1,000 to 1,400 students—are interested in enrolling in the online school. More than 80 percent of the division’s families responded to the survey.
Since March 15, pre-kindergarteners through third-graders have been able to receive in-person instruction four days a week, while fourth grade and up can come into the classroom two days a week.
But 42 percent of the school division—around 5,000 students—are sticking with online learning for various reasons. While some do not yet feel safe returning to the classroom, others have learned and performed better in a virtual setting.
Virtual learning has been especially helpful for English language learners, explains ESOL instructor Gini Knight, who currently teaches virtual classes at Monticello High School.
A lot of my students actually do better virtually, because the nature of language learning is you need to see someone’s mouth, and you can’t do that very easily when someone has a mask on.
Gini Knight, Monticello High School ESOL teacher
“A lot of my students actually do better virtually, because the nature of language learning is you need to see someone’s mouth, and you can’t do that very easily when someone has a mask on,” says Knight, pointing to the mask mandate the school division must follow.
Zoom breakout rooms have also made it easier for students to collaborate on projects, and for teachers to work on-on-one with those who are struggling.
“They all can see the exact same thing at the same time. They can share their screens. It’s almost as though we’re closer together. And it’s more of a shared experience,” Knight says.
On the elementary level, third grade teacher Kate Gerry has seen her “wiggly kids” benefit a lot from virtual learning.
“They’re just pacing their room while I’m talking. They’ll come over and unmute and tell me what they’re thinking and keep pacing. And they’re totally there and attending and it’s not an issue, since no one is sitting right next to them getting bumped into,” says Gerry, who currently teaches virtual classes at Broadus Wood Elementary.
“They can also read out loud and there’s no one next to them who can’t concentrate,” she adds.
Teachers have found online learning to be helpful for students with social anxiety, who may prefer to work in their own private space. The all-virtual school will also be beneficial for those who are homebound due to a prolonged illness or injury.
When the pandemic shuttered schools last spring, nearly 1,000 households in the school division did not have access to high-speed internet. To bridge this digital divide, ACPS purchased hotspots for families in need, and partnered with Comcast to provide a subsidized low-cost internet plan.
“With the technology capabilities we’ve given to families, [the online school] wouldn’t be exclusionary. Almost anyone who wants to participate would be able to,” says Giaramita.
In the coming weeks, principals will reach out to families about their plans for the fall, but parents will have the option to change their minds once the school year begins. If there is enough demand, the school division hopes to make the online school a permanent option for all students.
The division’s plans for next school year will be discussed at the next school board meeting on May 6.
Delegate Sally Hudson recently launched Ranked Choice Virginia, a nonprofit aimed at educating people about ranked-choice voting.
PC: Eze Amos
If you’ve voted in more than a few elections, there’s a chance you’ve cast a ballot for a candidate you didn’t particularly like. Maybe you would have voted for someone else, but you knew that candidate didn’t have enough party support to win the race, and you didn’t want to “throw away” your vote. Under our country’s winner-take-all election system, this predicament is all too common.
But in the past two decades, more than 20 cities and several states have turned to a different system that gives voters a wider range of options in elections: ranked-choice voting. 57th District Delegate Sally Hudson is working to bring this system to localities across Virginia.
“Right now we have a problem,” says Hudson. “We have lots of people running for office…but our ballots just aren’t built to let voters choose who they really want when more than two people run.”
Beginning this July, all cities and counties in Virginia will be allowed to use ranked-choice voting for their elections, thanks to Hudson’s bill, which was passed last year by the General Assembly. After the bill’s passage, Hudson set up a nonprofit, Ranked Choice Virginia. The aim of the organization is to do educational and advocacy work across the state, encouraging local legislators to take advantage of the new law.
Under a ranked-choice voting system, voters can rank candidates in order of preference, without their other rankings hurting the chances of their first choice. They can also vote for as many candidates as they want. If their favorite candidate doesn’t win a majority of the first-choice votes, their vote then counts toward their second choice.
“This way you ensure that whoever wins has genuine broad-based support from the community,” says Hudson. “You can’t just win by rallying a small, vocal slice.”
Hudson points to Virginia’s crowded gubernatorial race as an example of the merits of ranked-choice voting. Five candidates are competing for the Democratic nomination, with former governor and fundraising powerhouse Terry McAuliffe currently leading in the polls.
“When you have lots of people on the ballot…it’s really hard to tell who the consensus nominee is,” says Hudson. “Voters often have to choose between voting for who they really like and the person they think can win.”
With ranked-choice voting, “even if it turns out your candidate doesn’t win, you can still weigh in on the consensus with your second choice,” she adds.
Our ballots just aren’t built to let voters choose who they really want when more than two people run.
Delegate Sally Hudson
In cities that have implemented this alternative voting system, candidates have significantly changed how they’ve campaigned. Instead of slinging mud at the opposition, they focus on the important issues in their communities, making races more positive, clean, and productive.
“It forces candidates to reach out to voters from a lot of different corners of the community and talk about what really matters to people,” says Hudson. “If all you’re doing is dunking on your opponent, it’s going to be hard to win those second-, third-, and fourth-choice votes.”
In addition to increasing voter turnout and engagement, ranked-choice voting has led to a major uptick in women and people of color running for office—and winning. Over the past decade, women have won nearly half of municipal ranked-choice elections, according to electoral reform nonprofit Fair Vote.
Localities with ranked-choice voting also can skip party primaries or runoff elections, saving them a lot of time and money. While parties can still endorse their preferred candidate, they no longer keep the underdogs off the ballot.
According to Fair Vote research analyst Deb Otis, some groups have argued against ranked-choice voting, mainly because they strongly benefit from the winner-take-all system. However, both Democrats and Republicans have supported ranked choice, and adopted it for a variety of elections.
“In some cases, cities or states need to upgrade their election equipment before running ranked-choice elections. All modern voting equipment is ranked-choice capable, but cities or states who are using equipment that is more than 15 years old may need to upgrade,” says Otis.
“There are plenty of other reasons that cities and states update their voting equipment, such as better election security, so time is on our side as election administrators are already in the process of phasing out older equipment,” she adds.
Though most Republicans in the General Assembly opposed Hudson’s bill, the Virginia GOP will use ranked-choice voting this year to nominate their candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.
On the municipal level, Arlington County is already exploring adopting the new voting system. The locality’s elected officials and registrars office will have to collaborate to make the shift.
“We should expect to see [Arlington] be one of the first movers,” Hudson says. “It would be great to see Charlottesville consider it as well.”
