Lindsey Buckingham performs at the Paramount Theater on April 27. Publicity photo.
Going his own way: After 33 years with Fleetwood Mac, rock legend Lindsey Buckingham certainly needs no introduction. He’s still going strong as a solo act, and last year Buckingham released his self-titled seventh studio album, a pop-rock record with catchy drum loops and breathy vocals. Known for his complex arrangements, Buckingham is the sole instrumentalist on the album, playing guitar, keyboards, percussion, and more. Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, it’s short, but it sure is a good time.
Wednesday 4/27. $49.75-229.75, 7:30pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net
Everything Everywhere All At Once, starring Michelle Yeoh, is upending clichés, and winning over audiences everywhere. Photo: A24
Co-directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All At Once is a relentlessly entertaining, hilarious parody of the nonstop kinetics and overused “multiverse” concepts of recent comic book and action movies. Although it’s heavy on its cartoonish, Sam Raimi-esque mayhem, the consistent likability and humanity make the film peculiarly uplifting. This science fiction/kung fu hybrid glories in over-the-top silliness but, ultimately, it’s a good-natured story about grappling with late middle age.
Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) stars as harried working mom Evelyn Wang, who’s barraged with existential dilemmas and annoyances: the laundromat she co-owns with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) is failing, and he’s having serious doubts about their marriage. Their daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), can barely stand her mom. And her surly, estranged father, Gong Gong (James Hong), is visiting from China. During a meeting with stiff-necked IRS bureaucrat Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), Evelyn finds herself drawn into a battle spanning multiple universes that alters her mundane existence and reveals her own extraordinary, untapped abilities.
Once it gets going, Everything Everywhere All At Once continually ups the ante with unpredictability and nonsensical humor at a furious pace. Highlights along the way include a farcical reworking of the “Dawn of Man” sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film’s loony tone is exemplified by the characters’ arcane arsenal in their many kung fu melees, where weapons range from a fanny pack to a Pomeranian.
Everything’s success is largely due to its cast, which shines not only in main roles, but also as their characters’ various incarnations intermingling throughout alternate universes. Yeoh deftly combines vulnerability, athletics, and comic skill in her winning character(s). Returning from a nearly 20-year acting hiatus, Quan is outstanding as Waymond. For viewers who grew up watching Quan as Data in The Goonies or Indiana Jones’ sidekick Short Round, his return is like a reunion with a dear childhood friend. Quan doesn’t disappoint: He’s a natural on camera, and his nerdy charm belies his martial arts expertise. Curtis dives headfirst—almost literally—into the frumpy, sour Deirdre. And as Gong Gong, prolific character actor Hong is still killing it in his 90s. It’s a pleasure seeing this movie stalwart in such a big, meaty role.
Directors Kwan and Scheinert designed Everything Everywhere All At Once for audiences with tiny attention spans, but they work within this frantic form playfully enough that even viewers who hate high-speed, stylized gimmickry can enjoy it. It isn’t deep, nor does it aspire to be, but it mercifully lacks the sermonizing, preciousness, and nihilism that have spoiled other recent movies. It’s unpredictable, funny, engaging, risqué, goofy, and just plain fun in ways that few movies are. Within its pandemonium lurks what will likely be the most enjoyable movie of this season.
Morgan Hurt and Gabriel Garcia have created a cult following for their Kitchenette sandwiches, including the Hot Wet Beef (above), which “started it all.” Staff photo.
“It was the Hot Wet Beef that started it all,” says Morgan Hurt.
Kitchenette, the lunchtime sandwich shop Hurt co-founded with her partner, Gabriel Garcia, boasts 22 different subs, hoagies, and rolls. But the Hot Wet Beef, a juicy roast beef hoagie with eggplant and pepper spread, is the OG. The inspiration came after a bite of a roast beef sandwich in Brooklyn, a sensory experience Hurt describes as beautiful. That’s when the couple realized Charlottesville needed a place that would “combine sandwiches with actual food.”
With 20 years of restaurant experience between them, Hurt and Garcia are well-prepared to take on a casual, gourmet concept. “Dealing with food is fun!” says Hurt, a Charlottesville native who met Mexico City native Garcia while working at an Asheville, North Carolina, restaurant. In 2006, they moved to C’ville and worked at Vivace and The Whiskey Jar before opening Kitchen Catering and Events, in 2013.
They hadn’t forgotten about that magical moment with the roast beef sandwich in Brooklyn, though. In their free time, they found themselves crafting subs for friends, and trying out new flavor combinations. Hurt gushes about the appeal of sandwiches. “They are just the perfect food! They’re portable and you can do anything with them,” she says. In 2017, the pair opened Kitchenette, intending the sandwich shop to be a side project to their catering business. But when the pandemic slowed the events business, Kitchenette became their focus.
In June 2020, Kitchenette moved from a warehouse to a cozy Victorian home, tucked off of East High Street. The space is bright and has a familial feel. There’s a jar of dog treats for pups, and kids love the tables’ novelty salt-and-pepper shakers, which range from dinosaurs to kiwi birds. The new location came with a vintage clawfoot tub in the bathroom, and Hurt jokes that “the sandwiches are so messy, we offer a bath!”
A restaurant space gives Hurt and Garcia the opportunity to flex their culinary creativity and have some fun. Their stuffed sandwiches boast bold flavors and fresh ingredients, with quirky names to match. “Honestly,” says Hurt, “we have to restrain ourselves because we get very dorky with it.” Some, like Penny and Oliver’s Dream, are named after their dogs. Others, like The Ramona, are named after soccer moves. Even AC/DC’s Angus Young gets a shout-out with the Angus Yum. The Squeal is a slappin’ pork and bacon sammie with apple-ginger chutney, while The Jive Turkey’s blend of turkey, cranberry mayo, and crunchy onions elevates your average day-after-Thanksgiving concoction. The flavorful sides include curried chickpea salad, tangy kale salad, and soup of the day.
It’s guided by one goal: “We like to make it for our palates,” says Hurt, “It’s always something that we would want to eat.” Customers agree, say Hurt and Garcia, who love how regulars are always down to try the daily specials. “A lot of people are like, ‘I’ve never had anything bad here, so sure!’” says Hurt. “That’s really cool because they trust us to make it right.”
If Kitchenette is new to you, that’s part of the plan. The eatery’s founders purposely kept advertising to a minimum. “It’s given us the opportunity to learn as we grow,” says Garcia. “We feel lucky that we’ve grown more organically.” Yet it’s hard to keep good food a secret in Charlottesville, and their reputation has spread, well, through word of mouth. “We used to have slow days. There are no more slow days,” laughs Garcia. They’ve also noticed more and more customers ask about parking. “We’re like, this is cool!” says Hurt. “It means they’re not from the neighborhood, we’re spidering out.”
But Hurt and Garcia won’t let the growth change a thing. Their goal for Kitchenette is simple: “We just want it to taste good,” Hurt says.
UVA’s George Rogers Clark monument has been relocated to an undisclosed storage facility. Photo: Sanjay Suchak
It’s been more than a year since statues began coming down in Charlottesville—where are they now?
Johnny Reb
In August 2020, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to take down Charlottesville’s first Confederate monument: a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier known as “Johnny Reb,” who stood outside the county courthouse for 111 years. That fall, the board decided to send the mass-produced “At Ready” statue to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, which planned to erect Johnny Reb, along with his two cannons and pile of cannonballs, on the Third Winchester Battlefield. The New Market-based organization has publicly opposed the removal of Civil War monuments, and installed its own new Confederate memorial in 2019.
Nearly two years later, the cannons now mark a battlefield artillery position—but the statue and cannonballs have yet to be put on public display.
“[The statue] will be re-erected in the coming months at its new permanent location,” SVBF CEO Keven Walker told C-VILLE in an email. “The final location for a monument that will utilize the stacked cannonball casting is being considered.”
According to the group’s proposal, the statue—re-dedicated as The Virginia Monument—will “mark the location where Virginia Troops fought and died for Virginia on that particular field,” while the cannonballs will “be used as a bronze element for a new stone monument [marking] the location where artillery played a decisive role in the outcome of the fighting.” A marker will also be installed near the rebel soldier, “relating the history of the monument itself and recognizing its significance and detailing its journey to the battlefield.”
Robert E. Lee
Five months after moving crews hauled off the infamous Robert E. Lee monument to a city storage facility in July, Charlottesville City Council donated the bronze statue to the Jefferson School African American Center, which plans to melt it down and use the bronze to create a new public artwork—but the project, called Swords Into Plowshares, could be brought to a halt. At a hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court last week, Judge Paul M. Peatross ruled that a lawsuit filed against the City of Charlottesville and the Jefferson School by two organizations that bid on the statue—the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation—could proceed.
Peatross sustained the plaintiffs’ claim that the city does not have the authority to melt down the Lee statue due to a state code section forbidding localities from destroying war memorials. Last year, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the law did not apply to statues erected before 1997, but the code has since been amended to apply to all war memorials—regardless of when they were erected. Peatross also sustained two of the plaintiffs’ other claims: that the city violated the Freedom of Information Act during a December meeting regarding the awarding of the statue, and that the bidding process fell under the Virginia Procurement Act, allowing the plaintiffs to seek legal relief.
If they win the case, the plaintiffs—represented by the same attorneys as the Monument Fund, which sued the city for trying to remove the Lee and Jackson statues in 2017—want the Jefferson School to return the statue to the city, and for the bidding process to be redone, with the school barred from participating. A trial date has yet to be announced.
“We’ll continue the process of community engagement,” said Jefferson School Executive Director Andrea Douglas of Swords Into Plowshares in an email to C-VILLE. “We hope that people will participate in this step as it is as important as the outcome of the case to our goals.”
After standing for decades in places of prominence in downtown Charlottesville, the Johnny Reb, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson monuments were all taken down and hauled away. Photos: Eze Amos
Stonewall Jackson
Unlike Lee, Charlottesville’s statue of Stonewall Jackson has been kicked out of the city and shipped to the other side of the country. In December, City Council voted to sell the bronze monument to LAXART, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organization that plans to use it for a new exhibit titled MONUMENTS, featuring decommissioned Confederate statues paired with contemporary art pieces inspired by the historic relics.
According to LAXART’s proposal, the Jackson statue will be “the centerpiece” of the innovative exhibit, which is expected to open at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art next year.
Renowned Black artists including Ja’Tovia Gary, Torkwase Dyson, and Abigail Deville are slated to create contemporary artwork. Additionally, MONUMENTS will include public programming and educational materials, providing broader context.
In December, LAXART director Hamza Walker told the Baltimore Fishbowl that he was currently in discussions with six or seven municipalities, two colleges, a museum, and one family about borrowing Confederate monuments, and that he hoped to obtain around 16 statues in total. However, Walker has since faced some roadblocks—in December, the city of Baltimore declined to lend four monuments to the exhibit, and in January, the City Council of Charleston, South Carolina, held off on voting on Walker’s request due to a lawsuit.
Sacajawea, Lewis, and Clark
After City Council made a last-minute decision to remove the city’s statue of Sacajawea, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark along with the Lee and Jackson monuments, the statue was immediately sent to the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center in Darden Towe Park, which committed to working with Indigenous peoples to create a new exhibit properly contextualizing the statue.
Since then, the statue that depicts the Lemhi Shoshone interpreter in what many perceive as an offensive, cowering position has remained in limbo, sitting in storage at the center. In December, council held a meeting to vote on the center’s bid on the statue, but Executive Director Alexandria Searls requested the councilors hold off. Sacajawea’s descendants had made an amendment requesting permanent control over the statue, which Searls was unsure the center could legally grant and needed to be approved by its board of directors. No one had told the descendants they could not make last-minute changes to the legal document, explains Searls.
Later, Searls learned that the process of transferring the statue to the center had been done incorrectly, due to “a complete breakdown in communication.” Searls says she was told last year that the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors had agreed that the center—which is on land owned by the city and county—could take ownership of the statue, but a few weeks after council’s December meeting, the county’s legal counsel told her the board never took a formal vote.
The county now wants the center to set aside money for the potential removal of the statue from the park, in case it shuts down one day. Because she does not feel comfortable raising more money until the exhibit is officially approved—the center already has $70,000 in commitments from donors—Searls is currently looking into bonds and is waiting for the county to tell her its stipulations.
“The situation is now in the Board of Supervisors’ hands,” says Searls. “[It needs] to be solved in 2022 or else the money is not going to be ours.”
“No decisions have been made by, nor any proposals from the Board of Supervisors in relation to the Lewis, Clark, and Sacajawea Statue,” Albemarle Supervisor Donna Price told C-VILLE in an email. “I am also not aware of any particular timeline for this matter.”
The Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea statue was moved to Darden Towe Park’s Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, where it remains in storage. Photo: Alexandria Searls
George Rogers Clark
Just one day after Charlottesville took down its racist monuments, the University of Virginia removed its George Rogers Clark statue, depicting Clark on horseback attacking unarmed Native Americans, with three white frontiersmen holding guns behind him. Clark, who was born in Albemarle County in 1752, perpetuated genocide against Indigenous peoples and stole their land during and after the Revolutionary War.
Beginning in September, a university committee—co-chaired by a citizen of the Monacan Nation and a UVA faculty member—consulted with representatives from 13 Native American tribes about the future of the statue, which remains in an undisclosed storage facility.
“The University and the tribes discussed options to remake the park space where it once sat,” UVA spokesman Brian Coy told C-VILLE in an email. “UVA plans to engage a landscape architect with Indigenous landscape expertise for a proposal for the park redesign.”
In a report of recommendations for UVA President Jim Ryan, Virginian tribal leaders also urged the university to establish a formal tribal consultation policy; appoint tribal liaisons; dedicate an admissions office position for Native American recruitment and outreach; increase its Native American student and faculty population; give tuition waivers to citizens of Virginia tribes; develop a Native American law program and legal aid clinic; and offer a class on Virginian tribal history to all students and faculty.
The other monuments
The Confederate monuments in downtown Charlottesville and next to the Albemarle County courthouse have been the subject of controversy, litigation, and, of course, removal. In some neighboring counties, Confederate monuments still stand in front of the courthouses.
Source: The Historical Marker Database and the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Confederate monument at the Orange County courthouse sparked protest in March after a judge called for its removal. By PlannerGuy/Wikipedia
Orange County
“They fought for the right. They died for their country. Cherish their memory. Imitate their example,” reads the Confederate monument in front of the Orange County courthouse. Controversy over the monument swelled in late March, according to the Culpeper Star-Exponent, when Orange County Circuit Court Judge David B. Franzén called the statue “an obstruction to the proper administration of justice in Orange County,” in an email to Orange County leaders. That message prompted a fundraising email from Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves, who joined a protest in support of the monument and called for Franzen to step down.
Nelson County
Erected in 1965 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the memorial stands near the courthouse in downtown Lovingston. Its inscription reads “In memory of the heroic Confederate Soldiers of Nelson County who served in the War Between the States, 1861-1865. Love makes memory eternal.”
Fluvanna County
Dedicated in 1901 “To the memory of the Confederate soldiers of Fluvanna County 1861-1865,” the memorial is on courthouse grounds in Palmyra.
Louisa County
Four years after the Confederate monument was dedicated in Palmyra, Louisa County dedicated its own monument “in memory of the courage, patriotism and devotion of the Confederate soldiers of Louisa County, 1861-1865.”
Local Ukrainian egg-decorating parties have raised more than $16,000 (and counting) for several humanitarian aid organizations. Photo courtesy Val Goodman
For almost a decade, Charlottesville resident Valerie Goodman has created Ukrainian eggs for fun—but when Russia invaded Ukraine, she saw the eggs as a way to raise money and awareness.
Since March, Goodman has hosted egg-decorating parties for up to a dozen people. At the events, the minimum donation is $25 per egg, but Goodman says attendees have been averaging about $50 per egg, or about $500 per party. So far, over $16,000 has been raised for Ukraine.
Egg decorating in Ukraine is traditionally a springtime activity, but has associations with Easter. Decorations can have both religious and symbolic meanings: Spirals catch evil. Hollow eggs capture bad energy. Others represent love, prosperity, and wealth. These eggs, known as pysanky, derived from the Ukrainian verb meaning “to inscribe,” have inscriptions made with beeswax, rather than paint.
Before each party, Goodman washes and prepares the eggs, donated by neighbors, and brings kistka and Ukrainian dyes, which she purchased from the Ukrainian Gift Shop in Minneapolis.
The kistka, a special writing implement used to decorate the eggs, looks like a copper funnel attached to a wooden stick. Beeswax is melted into the funnel by holding it over a flame, and at the opposite end is an opening the size of a ballpoint pen from which the wax can emerge in fine detail. The eggs are then dipped in watercolor Ukrainian dyes. Once the wax gets stripped off, the design remains etched on the surface, and the eggs are shellacked. The whole process takes roughly two hours.
When Goodman announced that she would be hosting egg-decorating parties, she received an overwhelming amount of support—she scheduled 30 parties right away.
“The only thing I want to get out of this is that we come together and give to Ukraine, to people who need it right now during this horrific time,” says Goodman.
Each individual party decides together where the money will go, and it’s up to the host to collect what’s been raised, and make the donation on everyone’s behalf. GlobalGiving, Heart to Heart, World Central Kitchen, International Rescue Committee, UNICEF Ukraine, Red Cross Ukraine, and Doctors Without Borders are among the humanitarian aid organizations that have benefited from the egg-decorating events.
The parties have primarily been attended by middle-aged women and their friends, but attendees come from everywhere. Malati Mari Kurashvili, a yoga instructor from the country of Georgia who has lived in Charlottesville for seven months, compared Ukrainian egg decorating to that of Georgians. In Georgia, eggs are primarily decorated with religious symbols and dyed red, while Ukrainian egg decorating includes a variety of symbolic meanings.
Being right on the border with Russia, Georgians have also been significantly affected by the war, and Kurashvili wanted to find a way to offer support to Ukrainians. She says the situation has been hard for Georgians, who have faced conflict with Russia for years.
“It’s just very triggering, this situation, because we’re scared that we’re going to be next,” says Kurashvili. “The Georgian government right now really took a very neutral position so we wouldn’t get affected as Ukraine, because we can’t resist like Ukraine’s doing right now.”
“We have Russian ties, and their armies are halfway into the capital,” she adds. “We will be destroyed in a heartbeat. So I tell you the truth, everybody’s very scared.”
Kurashvili has been moved by the support that Charlottesville has shown for Ukraine.
“I was very, very grateful at how kind and really caring people are here, because they really don’t have anybody out there,” says Kurashvili. “They have no connection to Eastern Europe, but they still care to do all this.”
While Goodman initially planned to host the egg-decorating parties until Easter, she says they’ll continue as long as people show up for them. Her next steps include looking for a matching grant for the funds that have been raised, and recruiting local artists to make eggs that can be auctioned off. And when the war ends, she wants to host the parties again to raise money to help rebuild Ukraine.
“As [people] finish the process and start to reveal their egg by melting off the wax, they love it, ” says Goodman. “And then I say, okay, now let’s give some money to Ukraine. Because that’s what these families would be doing if they weren’t running for their lives.”
“Look at us, we’re safe and we’re lucky enough that we can help,” she adds. “So dig into your pocket, let’s go, let’s help.”
To sign up to participate in an egg-decorating party, visit https://life12.schedulista.com.
Novelists John Hart and Corban Addison (pictured here with their attorney Renée Flaherty in 2019) are freelancers who work from home or remote locations, and who sued the city and county over the business license tax. The city lost the case brought by Addison in circuit court, and the Virginia Supreme Court is now considering the city’s appeal. Photo: Eze Amos
To tax or not to tax
The Virginia Supreme Court is considering the merits of an appeal brought by the City of Charlottesville in a lawsuit over who is required to pay its business license tax.
Best-selling author Corban Addison sued the city in 2019 after receiving a letter telling him he was required to pay the tax based on his income as a freelance writer for current and previous years.
“I have lots of author friends, and none of them at that point that I knew was paying a business license tax in the county or the city,” Addison says. “It was just sort of logical because I wasn’t inviting customers. I didn’t have… a physical plant that was just creating intellectual property and licensing it to publishers.”
Addison, who is also an attorney, read the city code and didn’t see how it applied to freelancers.
“My response to the city was, how am I a service? I mean, that really is the nub. The fundamental issue in the case, even now in front of the Virginia Supreme Court,” says Addison.
The Charlottesville Circuit Court agreed with Addison and ruled against the city. The Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments in the city’s appeal on April 20.
Attorney Keith Neely with the Institute for Justice, the organization representing Addison, says the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling could have significance well beyond the City of Charlottesville.
“There are many municipalities across the state of Virginia that share similar tax codes,” says Neely. “So this could have some far-reaching ramifications on taxpayers across the commonwealth.”
A similar lawsuit brought by author John Hart in Albemarle County has been stayed while the Charlottesville appeal continues.
Same pattern
Last week, the Charlottesville Police Department released its 2021 annual report, revealing the continued disproportionate arrests of Black residents.
Both in 2020 and 2021, 56 percent of people arrested in Charlottesville were Black, while 42 percent were white. Only about 15 percent of the city’s population is Black, according to the 2020 census.
However, 2021 had 831 arrests—a slight decrease from 2020’s 922 arrests.
Last year, there were no homicides, but around a 20 percent increase in “crimes against persons,” including 19 forcible rapes, 121 aggravated assaults, and 496 simple assaults. In 2020, there were four homicides, 17 forcible rapes, 115 aggravated assaults, and 368 simple assaults.
Though there was a slightly more than 5 percent drop in “crimes against society” in 2021, there was about a 17 percent rise in “crimes against property,” largely burglaries, destruction of property, thefts of motor vehicles, and other larcenies. The largest uptick was thefts of motor vehicle parts or accessories, which rose from 47 incidents in 2020 to 172 in 2021.
Despite calls from community members to reallocate police funding to community services, this month City Council approved a $20 million CPD budget for the next fiscal year—a nearly 7 percent increase from last year.
CPD’s 2021 annual report shows that arrests in the city have dropped, but the disproportionate arrests of Black people has continued. Photo: City of Charlottesville
In brief
High roller
It could be your lucky day—a Powerball ticket worth $50,000 purchased at the Fas Mart on Rolkin Road on November 1 hasn’t been claimed. The ticket matched four of the first five winning numbers—9, 25, 34, and 44—and the 8 Powerball. The winner must contact the Virginia Lottery before 5pm on May 2 to take home the prize.
Order up
After doing takeout only at its new IX Art Park spot for the past two years, Lampo will reopen its original Belmont location for dine-in this summer. But if you still want to grab a slice to go, Lampo2GO will remain open at IX.
No relief
The Virginia Rent Relief Program will stop accepting new applications on May 15. State officials claim the program has recently received a surge in applications, and may not have enough funding available to fulfill the requests. Those from households that make less than half their area’s median income—or with one or more people who have been unemployed for at least 90 days—will be prioritized until the deadline.
Slow down
The family of Rahmean Rose-Thurston unveiled a new memorial on Fifth Street last week, in honor of the 23-year-old Charlottesville resident who died in a motorcycle accident on the road in 2020. In the last six years, seven people have died in accidents on Fifth Street. Last month, the city lowered the speed limit from 45 to 40 mph, and announced plans to hire an engineering firm to consider additional safety improvements.
Anti-anti-racism
Former Agnor-Hurt Elementary assistant principal Emily Mais filed a lawsuit against Albemarle County Public Schools claiming school employees harassed and retaliated against her after she used the term “colored people”—instead of “people of color”—during a training session, and complained about the division’s anti-racism policy. The complaint alleges Mais, who is white, was forced to resign due to a “racially hostile and divisive work environment” in August.
A statement from “a majority of full-time staff and a growing number of part-time staff” at the Montpelier Foundation demands immediate parity with MDC and the reinstatement of fired staff. File photo
A dispute between the Montpelier Foundation board and the Montpelier Descendants Committee over a power-sharing agreement reached last summer has now snowballed into what appears to be a full-on revolt by staff at the fourth U.S. president’s historic estate.
“By revoking parity with the MDC and by firing and suspending staff, TMF has attempted to co-opt the meaning of this ancestral space, and in the process has done irreparable harm to the security of and accessibility to these culturally significant resources,” reads a statement released Saturday, April 23, on a new website, montpelierstaff.com, and signed by “a majority of full-time staff and a growing number of part-time staff.”
The controversy erupted in late March when the Montpelier Foundation board voted to reverse its June 2021 decision to rewrite the bylaws granting the MDC the right to recommend at least half the members of the board. The stated goal was to create “structural parity” by giving descendants of the enslaved workers who built and ran Montpelier equal say in determining the future of the site.
The reversal prompted immediate backlash from the MDC, Montpelier staff, and historic preservation groups including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns Montpelier and leases it to the foundation.
Foundation Board Chair Gene Hickok insisted the board would still create structural parity by appointing descendants itself; he blamed the situation on the MDC for refusing to recognize two descendants put forth by the board as contributing to structural parity.
“That’s not partnership. It’s not collegiality. And that’s not what the original understanding of our relationship would be,” he said in an interview earlier this month. Neither Hickok nor Montpelier CEO Roy Young responded to a request for comment for this article.
The situation further deteriorated last week when Young fired multiple high-level staff members including Executive Vice President and Chief Curator Elizabeth Chew and Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration Matt Reeves.
According to the statement from remaining Montpelier staff, those firings came in retaliation for public statements in support of the MDC and have created a “culture of fear” for those staff members who remain.
Hickok initially released a statement defending the board’s actions and placing the blame on MDC. After last week’s firings, the foundation board released a new statement with an offered compromise. MDC could put forth a list of 15 people from which nine would be chosen to serve on the board. Half would begin serving July 1 and the other half would be installed on October 1.
MDC attorney Greg Werkheiser said that was a move in the right direction, but he said the delay in installing some of the MDC-recommended board members was a deal-breaker.
“The reason they would do that is because by splitting up these new board members, they maintain their two-thirds majority,” Werkheiser says. “And in those four months, they will not rehire the fired staff. They will fire additional staff. They will take actions against the current serving MDC board members, and they have the power with a two-thirds majority to actually expand the board and dilute any new MDC members they put on.”
The Montpelier staff also reject the foundation’s compromise, and do so using charged language.
“In short, the Board is offering a type of ‘three fifths compromise’ which will allow TMF to retain full control and sideline the MDC as an equal steward of the site,” staff write, referring to the agreement in the U.S. Constitution that said three-fifths of the enslaved population would be counted when determining taxation and representation.
The staff statement describes the devastation wrought by the foundation’s actions.
“TMF has defiled archaeological ethics and museum best practices by endangering the data and research of the site,” it reads. “At present, there are open excavation units that are abandoned mid-excavation. Artifacts and other archaeological samples remain unprocessed.”
The foundation’s actions are not just “unethical and immoral,” the staffers claim, they also violate federal law.
“Archaeology is an inherently destructive science which rests entirely on proper recording and protection of data and the direct involvement of a site’s cultural descendants,” the statement reads. “By leaving this site abandoned and removing staff with institutional knowledge, Montpelier’s ‘leadership’ has put the property’s cultural heritage at risk, the stories at risk, and the ability for this information to be shared at risk.”
The MDC has previously called for Young and Hickok to resign; the National Trust released a statement condemning the firings and suggesting the foundation change leadership.
The National Trust did not respond to a request for comment on whether the Montpelier lease could be revoked.
The Montpelier staff statement repeats the call for foundation leadership to resign and says there is only one acceptable path forward.
“There is no justifiable reason to trust any proposal that does not begin with immediate parity with the MDC and the reinstatement of fired staff who steward Montpelier’s historic resources,” it reads.
Courteney Stuart is the host of “Charlottesville Right Now” on WINA. You can hear interviews with Greg Werkheiser and Gene Hickok at wina.com.
Support local creative projects at Charlottesville SOUP, held this year at Eastwood Farm and Winery on May 1. File photo.
Slurp and support: Celebrate local arts, and enjoy a cozy dinner with friends at Charlottesville SOUP, a public dinner series that supports creative projects. Attendees are served a delicious dinner from Tilman’s, including a sandwich, salad, and dessert, and local artists will give short presentations on current projects. At the end of the night, each attendee votes for a project, and the winner is awarded the artist grant, which is funded entirely from ticket purchases.
Watch out for a wandering Bear at UVA Drama's production 16 Winters, or the Bear's Tale. Publicity photo.
Exit, pursued by a bear: The queen is in hiding, the king is wallowing, and everyone is pursued by a bear in 16 Winters, or the Bear’s Tale, an imaginative comedy set in the 16 years between acts three and four of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Written by Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, the music-filled play examines real-word issues like patriarchy and male privilege, and explores how we can create a new path in the wake of repression. UVA Drama’s production, directed by Kate Eastwood Norris, features a Shakespeare-influenced set design that allows the Bear to roam freely. Be careful when you exit!
Through Saturday 4/30. $8-14, 8pm. Culbreth Theatre, UVA Grounds. virginia.edu
During an Earth Day march on Grounds, hundreds of UVA students demanded that the university stop all investment in fossil fuels. Staff photo
By Kristin O’Donoghue
About 200 students calling on the University of Virginia to divest from fossil fuel industries marched across Grounds to the park near the coal plant on Earth Day, April 22.
Marchers first met at the Rotunda, where leaders of DivestUVA shared opening remarks, beginning with recognition of the Monacan Nation, the “historic caretakers of the land.”
“We should all be dedicated to acknowledging and utilizing our privilege and position for change, and strive for an activism that is decolonizing, self-aware, and as equitable as possible,” said one speaker.
DivestUVA organized the march with a list of specific demands: that UVA and the UVA Investment Management Company, UVIMCO, fully divest by the end of the year from any company whose primary profit is from the extraction or distribution of fossil fuels; that the university remove the influence of fossil fuel companies from its administration and educational spaces; and that both UVA and Charlottesville have an environmental justice report done to see effects of the city structure on BIPOC communities, and then act to remediate the damage done.
Alex, a fourth-year student, read a poem she wrote about the university’s complicity in the climate crisis.
“It makes me angry to see the university that I love and care about fund an industry setting the earth on fire,” she said.
The students then took off toward the coal plant, to chants of “Hey Jim Ryan, the planet’s dyin’!”
Homemade signs included slogans such as “I speak for the trees” and “This is not what we meant by ‘Hot Girl Summer.’”
When one of the organizers asked the crowd what brought them there, a student called out, “I don’t want the world to end.”
The marchers were energized, and the force of the group appeared magnetic as a few onlookers joined them.
Zack, an aspiring lawyer specializing in Indigenous peoples’ law, was one of those who came to watch—and then got involved. He even addressed the crowd, saying: “I noticed the engines of the train tuning out the chants of climate activists marching.”
Josh Vana, director of ARTIVISM, an organization that connects resident artists and activists in the central Virginia Area, spoke next.
“I’m here to talk about power,” Vana said. He warned the students about the “Virginia Way,” a term describing how entrenched power works to pursue business as usual while refusing to respond to those calling for justice.
Vana discussed the group’s efforts to prevent the building of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which he called the “largest climate change catalyst right now in our region.”
The pipeline spans 303 miles, from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, and the project is both over budget and behind schedule. Vana pointed people to StopMVP.org, where they can join the fight.
“Stay loud,” he told the students. “Agitate, educate, and organize.”
The event concluded with an “email zap,” during which students individually sent emails with the DivestUVA demands to UVA President Jim Ryan at the same time, in an effort to flood his inbox and force his attention.
